#they're just a light brown with a ring around 'em but like. they're still brown...........

[mattodore]

#river dipping #i'm in cas (finally... i got distracted downloading new cc) and i'm with my sister atm #and she looked over at theo and said she liked his GREEN eyes....... #like his WHAT eyes? #GREEN??????????????? #they're just a light brown with a ring around 'em but like. they're still brown........... #right.................................. oh my god #they're definitely supposed to be like a golden brown... do i have to switch to a different swatch or something #she's laughing at me now. . . about to get in a fist fight with a minor

[doctorbrown]

DOCTOBER '23 ⸺ 「 22 / 31 * CONSTELLATION 」

April 19, 1886

❝What do we need to learn about the stars for, Miss Clayton?❞ young eight-year-old Margaret—Maggie—Barnes pipes up, trailing close to her teacher's back. All the students, and Clara as well, had foregone their usual schoolday clothing in favour of warmer clothes and garments they wouldn't mind getting dirty on this late-night lesson. ❝They're all the way up there; it's not like we can get 'em, not like the plants you showed us last week. Those were pretty.❞

❝One moment, dear.❞ Clara ushers the last of the children into the town square, keeping a mental tally of everyone as they pass through the light of her lantern. All ten are present and accounted for.

Bringing up the rear are the Thompson siblings Max and Christopher, ages ten and twelve respectively, and as they get closer, Clara overhears enough of their conversation to twist her previously calm expression into a frown.

Christopher is grinning, telling stories about ghosts that come out at night to steal away people when their lanterns go out. Sophie Doyle screeches, causing Clara to jump.

❝Christopher!❞ Clara says sternly, and her tone of voice is enough to immediately grind that conversation to a halt. ❝I'll not have you frightening the younger children.❞ Christopher jams his hands into his pockets and grumbles a half-hearted apology that Clara knows is insincere.

❝Do you see the lanterns over there? Mister Brown has kindly offered to help set up our experiment for this evening, so go straight over there and join him and don't keep him waiting.❞ Emmett, as if on cue, waves to the approaching group of schoolchildren as an eager chorus of yes, ma'ams and agreements ring out from the students.

Clara smiles. Though this had been her job for several years now, it was taxing being Hill Valley's only schoolteacher. Emmett was a big hit with the children, ever since he had first offered to assist with some of her lessons.

His infectious enthusiasm brought an energy and life to the lessons that resonated with the children. They associated him with fun and excitement. He had a way of presenting the information that was still informative yet never assumed that even the youngest child was unable to appreciate and understand all that science had offered.

They were eager to learn, for when Mister Brown was joining in on the lessons, it meant something much more interesting than reading their books and writing and memorising was in store. They were taken in by his grandiose gestures and his obvious passion.

When he taught, he made sure everybody understood, and it was the mark of an intellectual—an expert—to be able to present complex material in a simplified way without sacrificing information.

❝Mister Brown knows about the stars too?❞ Maggie asks, sounding far more enthused about the idea than she'd been just a moment ago.

❝Of course he does.❞

Emmett invites the children to gather round with a sweep of his arm and now brings attention to the golden telescope set up at his side. Clara comes to stand at the opposite side of the telescope and the kids form a sloppy half-circle around their teachers, outlined by flickering red-orange lights.

❝Now children,❞ Clara starts, sweeping her gaze across each of her students' faces, ❝before I outline tonight's experiment, there is something I need to make clear. This telescope is a delicate piece of equipment, so Mister Brown and I will help each of you when it's your turn. Show him the same courtesy you would show me and be careful with the equipment. Do you understand?❞

Another chorus of agreements ring out and Clara nods, satisfied.

❝Good. Now, you'll remember that our lessons the past few days have been focused on astronomy and identifying the major constellations in the sky. Tonight, we are going to use this telescope to actually look at some of them. Mister Brown went through a lot of effort to get us that star chart for our lesson.❞ Emmett bends down and pulls out the star chart from his backpack, neatly folded to avoid wrinkles or damage.

❝Does anybody remember any of the constellations?❞

Immediately, Victoria Davis shouts out, ❝The Big Dipper! Daddy told me about this one even before our lesson. Oh, and there's a little one, too!❞

❝Well done, Victoria,❞ Emmett chimes in, and the young girl beams. ❝While those are some of the most recognisable stars in the night sky, they're not actually constellations themselves. They're called asterisms, which is a group of stars that can be part of a larger—❞

❝—So what?❞ Celia Ford pouts and crosses her arms over her chest. ❝It's not like they're important. They're just stars.❞

Emmett and Clara exchange looks. Clara looks ready to scold the young lady for being rude, but Emmett, unperturbed, continues. ❝So what? The stars are incredibly important. Why, they have been the objects of fascination and intrigue for hundreds of years!❞

He gestures to the sky where the stars twinkle overhead, pinprick lights punched through a sea of perfect black.

❝And, Celia, they are important. Let's take Victoria's examples of the Big and Little Dipper. As I was saying, they're part of two larger constellations: Ursa Major and Ursa Minor. Or, Great Bear and Little Bear.❞

Emmett lifts his head to the sky, searching for the constellations in question. Once he spots the telling bowl of the Big Dipper, he shuffles around to stand in the centre of the children and crouches down to their height, directing their attention skyward with his finger.

While Emmett has the attention of the children, Clara comes around to the telescope and adjusts it until it points at Ursa Major, but not without first stealing a long glance at Emmett while he's distracted.

❝Do you see it there?❞ It takes a second, but the children answer in the affirmative. ❝That's the Big Dipper, but if you follow it this way❞—he slowly traces a path through the neighbouring stars, completing the line through some of the more difficult to see stars—❝you get the rest of the constellation which makes a large bear in the sky.❞

After a moment and a few nods from the kids, Emmett moves his finger back to the top of the bowl of the Big Dipper and lets it stay there.

❝How many of you have heard of the North Star?❞

❝I expect all of you to say you have, because we covered this on Thursday and Friday in preparation for tonight's experiment.❞

Emmett smiles. ❝The North Star for a long time was one of the most important stars in the sky.❞ He traces a straight line through the night sky, avoiding some of the dimmer surrounding stars until he reaches Polaris, shining brightly at the end of the Little Dipper.

❝If you can imagine it, it's called the North Star because it always points to true north and is located almost directly above the North Pole. And this made it very important for people to know if they were travelling on long journeys. Sailors used it to navigate the high seas, people would use it to find their way home if they were lost.❞

Emmett stands and rubs at his knees while Clara slots in without missing a beat. ❝The North Star has another name, Polaris, which we still use today, and you'll note that it's the last star on the handle of the Little Dipper. It forms part of the tail of the bear of Ursa Minor.❞

Clara looks over the children again and there's even a spark of intrigue in Celia's dark eyes that wasn't there a moment ago. They're buzzing with excitement, and Clara knows that they won't have much by way of attention left if they don't get to the heart of the experiment. Many of the children are already staring longingly at the telescope.

❝Emmett, would you help them with the telescope? I think we've talked enough. It's positioned on Ursa Major right now, but let them try and find Polaris and look around the sky a little.❞ The kids make several shouts of excitement and the sloppy half-circle dissolves into a horribly uneven single-file line.

❝Miss Clayton? Why are they bears?❞ Maggie asks, looking up at her teacher. ❝Why not a dog? Aren't dogs better at helping find people?❞

#doctober 2023 #whether or not this would actually happen idc i wanted to write a field trip with teachers doc and clara #they tag-teamed lessons and you can't tell me otherwise #with clara being the only schoolteacher around but also a very highly respected woman in hill valley #i'm sure the board (and parents) would agree to this little late-night excursion #other very strong contenders were clara and doc taking young jules and verne out to stargaze and #doc and clara in the 20th century stargazing on a date and both of them lamenting the light pollution that wasn't there a hundred years ago #&; a great idea can change the world 「 hc 」

[orange-ghost]

I think I'm the only New Yorker who doesn't hate the subway.

Don't get me wrong-- the people on here can be nuts. The delays suck. And it can be dangerous. But at the same time, they're a great spot for people-watching? And I think growing up on them taught me a lot.

When I was 13, I noticed that a lot of my peers didn't like who they saw in the mirror. They'd always talk about how social media made them feel ugly, or bad about this, that or the third. I never understood. The way I saw it, people just... looked how they looked. Pictures didn't mean we all had to be that way, too. Not to me, at least.

I was also attending a visual arts high school at the time, and I noticed a lot of students' artwork on the walls. Some of them I really liked. Others, I didn't really lock them into my memory.

So I made up a game for my one-hour commute: every day, I have to look at everybody I see around me, and just notice something them that I thought looked nice or unique. No judgments, no oogling or negative comments, that's against the rules. Just... notice. And I always found something. Didn't even have to force it; it was easy.

Pretty black hair. Hooked noses. Smile-lines. Nicely-trimmed beards. A cane with stickers on them. Intimidating leather jackets. Glasses I wanted. Stretch marks. Deep brown eyes. Cool dreads.

It made me actually notice how diverse we all were. Like, damn, we really are built different, huh.

While I was doing this, I'd also take brief notes on what they were doing. Most just sat around thinking about whatever, but sometimes I saw friend groups talking. Married couples with kids. Solo riders holding poles with an engagement-ringed hand.

Strangers who I found especially beautiful often rode the rails alone? Like this 20-30-something guy with a short black ponytail & a leather jacket that I never saw again. Or this chubby light-skinned girl who was about my age-- had long, unkempt curls, glasses, and a bunch of Studio Ghibli pins on her bag. (I saw her all the time and always thought she was really cute, but never chatted her up because I'm a coward.)

And the strangers who didn't stick out to me, they often had people who loved them. Some were married, or at least engaged, or there with a girlfriend. Some had biiiig groups of friends who I could tell in that moment probably knew & cared about them deeply. And a bunch of them were alone here, but easily could've had somebody waiting for them at home, yk? Or friends & family they were on their way to see.

And why wouldn't they? Beauty is skin-deep and subjective, in the eye of the beholder. And to see that, all I had to do was just... look around. These people probably weren't models. Or social media influencers. And other people still liked 'em.

We're not supposed to be the same. That's part of the fun of living. And we're not supposed to all fit in some weird standard box. Especially one that can't even make up its mind. I remember as a toddler & a small kid, the TV would drone on and on about needing to be thin.. But now that it was 2017, I was seeing and hearing people drool over BBWs or whatever the word was. And I figured there were more important things in life than trying to fit a swaying box that's just gonna drop you in ten years, anyway.

All subjective. Kinda like the artwork that I would see on the walls.

Some of it fascinated me. Some of it didn't. And I wasn't the only one-- my other friends found themselves captivated by different pieces, ones that I didn't think much about. They probably saw things that I didn't. And none of us had a say over how much they're worth, or how much they meant to somebody.

I'm really glad I made up that game back in the day. I think it helped it helped me maintain a good body image, and deconstruct some biases I'd been taught. It also showed me that it's really easy to just... not judge people. Closemindedness is a choice. And it's a pretty easy one to persist past & overcome.

Man. I miss those train people now. I hope that they're all doing well. Wherever they may have gone.

#nyc #nyclife #nyc life #memories #new york city #thoughts #mental health #body image #my writing #writing #memoir #new york #ny #nyc subway #subway #subway creatures #brooklyn #manhattan #diversity #beauty standards #beauty

[we-are-inevitable]

give me vaquero kelly or give me DEATH, JAC.

"Amanecer," Jack breathes, breaking the delicate silence. "Sunrise."

They're in the back of his truck.

They're in the back of his truck, and David has just barely begun to fall asleep, but Jack is right: the sunrise is just barely coloring the sky a brilliant orange, the blue fading more and more by the second. Like paint strokes, David thinks to himself- all the more something to associate with Jack. Paint, sunrises, late nights and early mornings.

"Sunrise," David repeats, voice soft and clouded with exhaustion. "What's so special about sunrise?"

"Nothing," Jack answers. "Everything. Sunrise is what you make of it."

"What do you make of it?"

David is met with silence. He lives with it. Understands it. His eyes, burning with the need for rest, land on Jack's face, on his dark brown skin, on the planes of his face carrying generations of stories, of history, of significance.

He's still wearing his hat.

"I think sunrise is a way to connect," Jack says slowly. "With who, I don't know... Do you believe in heaven?"

"I don't know what I believe," David answers. "Kind of. It's different in Judaism, but... I still don't know I don't think anyone ever will. Do you?"

Jack shrugs. He's silent for another few seconds, before whispering, "Nos vemos al amanecer. Means 'I'll see you at sunrise.' My Mama... she used to say it all the time." He has a faraway look in his eyes, hand reaching up to take off his hat, and David watches mesmerized as his curls fall in a messy, perfect ring around Jack's head. "Most of the time, she'd be talkin' about meetin' at the barn, makin' sure all of the horses were okay, but... I don't know. She said it a lot when she got sick, too."

"I'm sorry," David murmurs on impulse, and Jack shakes his head.

"Don't say sorry for somethin' that ain't your fault," He says, his accent thick, his drawl intoxicating; his voice gets heavy when he's tired. David would fall in love with it if he let himself. "Anyway, she... Usually, I'd wake up real early and go talk to her, even when she was sick. Sunrise was always our time. I like to think, wherever she is now, she still thinks about meetin' me. La extraño todos los días."

David nods, silent, and rolls onto his side. Jack follows suit, and then they're staring at each other. David readjusts Jack's flannel over his shoulders, and Jack's eyes follow the movement; Jack himself is in nothing but a white t-shirt and jeans, the same from last night. Last night, which feels like it was so long ago despite the fact they haven't yet gone to sleep.

The world comes alive with the sunrise, though, and so does Jack Kelly, however sleep deprived he may be. His golden smile, his bright eyes, his up-and-at-'em demeanor... He's sunrise on a summer morning and David can barely stand it.

"She's proud of you," David says eventually. His voice is barely above a whisper. They're out in the open- a field, only accessible by a dirt road, in the uncovered bed of a truck- but this feels too intimate to risk anyone hearing, even if the closest person is acres away. "You have to know that, Ahuvi. She's proud of you."

Jack smiles, something sort of sad but still appreciative. It's lopsided and it doesn't quite reach his eyes. It's gorgeous.

And as Jack reaches for David's hand, as Jack takes it all in- the rising temperature, the birds singing their good mornings, the light breeze that seems to be dragging in the new dawn- he speaks.

"I think she'd like to know that I'm sharin' my sunrises with someone special."

#you inspired me and ily for it #small town au #jack kelly #newsies #davey jacobs #david jacobs #livesies #ask a jac ! #newsies musical #newsies live #newsies broadway #small !! town !! au !! #son tag #javid #javey

[real-kastek]

Darkened Drabbles: Chapter 12

Best Buds

(Prompt: Kris & Susie run into Toriel & Sans; both of the duos are on a date.)

"Cut it out..."

"Just let me see 'em then!"

"No! Just…agh!"

You brush away the girl's claws, fending off her assault.

"Come on, you're always hiding them! What've you got? Blue eyes? Yellow?" Susie's grin drops away, "…do humans have yellow eyes?"

You grumble, pushing through the diner's exit, the soft jingle of the bell ringing out.

"No...no? I don't know, but-"

Your eyes go wide as you scramble out into the cool fall air, narrowly avoiding the dragon's grasp.

"Come here!"

"No!"

"Just let me look, you weirdo! I won't laugh, promise!"

"You said that when I showed you my ears!"

"That was a sneeze, not a laugh, now let me just- AHA!"

You feel your shoes scraping against the concrete. You should be moving. Why aren't you moving? Why were the customers in QC still staring at you and not far in the distance?

"Hold still!"

Scaled hands wrap around your sides, lifting you just an inch from the ground as you continue to squirm in her grasp.

"Wiry little…would you stop fidgeting?! I just wanna see!" Susie pouts, a growl picking up in her chest, "If you don't stop I'll-"

You had the power. You just needed to act. To deny. You would break free!

You weakly squirm in the dragoness' arms, to her annoyance. She groans, lazily carrying you off to the building's side, away from prying eyes.

"Fiiiine."

You squeak, the air shooting from your lips as you're wrapped in a soul-crushing hug. You blink back the dizzying images of twisting trees and multiple dragons, barely sensing the maw resting in the crook of your neck.

"…come on. We've been like a…th-thing, for a while." The mauve girl's breath shudders against you, warmth painting your cheek, "Just wanna see what you look like. Never see your eyes under all that."

Scales brush up past your hair, patterns of glittering purple pressing against your cheek.

"…please? Won't laugh if you have big cute-" She clears her throat, "D-Dumb, dumb blue eyes. Or something."

You slump down into her arms, a sour look twisting in your features. Had she really never seen your eyes? It had been almost a month and…she's never seen your eyes. You sigh dejectedly. Did she really need to? You kept your hair long for a reason, but you didn't mean to hide from her. You didn't mean to make it seem like you were…

You glance back up at the dragoness, her cheeks flushing a deep purple, amber irises avoiding your gaze.

"Ugh…fine." You shake your head, "Just…no laughing. If you laugh, I'm-"

The air in your lungs is seized once more with a spine-shattering embrace, the dragoness beginning to snort softly in your ear. Before the world can darken to nothingness, she pulls away, a sheepish, fang-laden grin plastered on her maw.

"…still do that snorting thing when you're happy."

The dragoness' eyes narrow, one last huff echoing out.

"So…can I…" She grumbles quietly.

You roll your head limply from side to side as you feel your feet connect back with the sidewalk, "…I guess."

The girl's smile returns as she closes in, her eyes and lips only inches away. You suddenly feel very claustrophobic with your back to the diner's chipped walls, a frenzied monster looming over. You swallow sharply, her claws gently grazing up from under your hair's shroud, light slowly filtering through as she reveals what lay hidden. Your chest tightens, heart racing.

"K-Kris?! Susie?!"

Hair falls into your eyes as Susie's hand snaps back to her side, leaving you in peaceful darkness.

"Wh-What are you two…?"

You gently pick at brown strands of hair, fixing the already messy form into something slightly less messy. You didn't like showing your eyes, but really, you just didn't want to fix your hair most days. You sigh, giving up on the effort.

"come on Tori, they're just close friends. really close."

You freeze.

You force your gaze further down the sidewalk, hands tensing at your sides. Those aren't the voices you want to hear. Not now. Not together. Why together? This isn't the convenience store. This isn't school. This was supposed to be safe, sacred.

"i'm sure the kid was just playing around; maybe they had something on their face. something you can only see if you're two inches away."

"Th-That is, but…Kris?! My child, what is happening? What were you two doing?"

Your eyes follow up from the ground, your mother's spotted purple dress skirt coming painfully into view. You attempt to avert your gaze, only finding soulless, eyeless sockets staring back from her side.

"H-Hi Ms. Tori- I-I mean Ms. D-Dreemurr!"

In your vague sense of consciousness, you can hear Susie audibly gulping, her claws tapping together as she wrings them mercilessly.

"Hello Susie. Hello…Kris."

You wince. You know that tone. You have about ten seconds to say your piece.

"H-Hey m-mom." You choke, swallowing down the tightness in your throat, "We we're…uh, I mean, S-Susie and I were just h-having lunch, and she…food!" You spring to life, tone raising by the second, "I-I had food on my forehead! She was getting it off!"

Toriel crosses her arms, eyes narrowing from behind her glasses.

"…you had food on your forehead, young one?"

"…yes?"

She pinches the bridge of her nose, "…what kind of food did you order?"

"Th-They got a grilled cheese! Y-Yeah!"

Your eye begins to twitch as the dragoness nudges you in the side, a self-satisfied grin blooming on her maw.

"Ah, I understand. So, there was a piece of bread stuck to your forehead, correct?"

The scaled girl goes silent, maw snapping shut as she shrinks from the world.

A bemused sigh emanates out in the sudden quiet, a weak chuckle breaking through, "happens to me all the time kid. bit of cheese, soup, an entire cinnamon roll."

The self-proclaimed skeletal janitor approaches you, laying a boney hand on your shoulder, his beaming grin causing a strange combination of frustration and relief to bubble up from your chest.

"honestly, seems like this whole thing is just a sticky situation, huh?"

You stare down.

Frustration. The feeling was definitely frustration, not relief.

The agonizing silence is broken once more, a delicate snorting soon forming into full-blown laughter.

"tori, come on, it wasn't that funny. i'd even say it was pretty-"

You close your eyes, gritting your teeth.

"…cheesy."

Forget it. Better to be sent to your room for the rest of your days. This was inhumane.

"S-Sans, please! I-" Toriel allows another bout of giggling to break forth, "Th-This is not the time!"

The smaller skeleton chuckles deeply, peering back up to you with a wink.

"aw, come on Tori. kids were just goofin' around. they're probably just friends like we are."

Your mouth hangs agape, the skeleton continuing to grin wildly back.

"O-Oh, well, I-" You glance at your mother, her cheeks flushing red, "I'm not sure it's…quite the same."

Your eyes dart between the two monsters, panic swelling in your chest.

"i dunno. what do you think, kid? you think your mom and i make good pals?"

You can't think. Your mind is going blank. What is happening? Are you being saved? Is this some kind of hell?

"U-Uh…yeah! You two look like good friends. Yep."

A nervous grin returns to Susie's maw as she nods along.

"exactly. we're all good friends. so, you two been friends for a while now? seen ya running around town, look like you get along."

"Y-Yeah! Kris and I have been together for, think a month now or-" Susie chokes, sputtering through the words, "WE'VE BEEN HANGING OUT TOGETHER FOR A WHILE."

The girl's roars echo across the town. She stares up and into the sky, away from the current situation.

You sigh. This wasn't going to end.

"…sometimes hang out after school." You grumble, energy leaving your body, "Go to QC's, sometimes out by the lake. It's fun. Haven't…" You pause, "…she's special to me. It's been nice having someone I can talk to."

You meekly glance at your mother, her eyes softening.

"Didn't really get along in class a lot. But now we do. She's…a good person." You chuckle painfully, watching as your mother opens her mouth to speak, only to shirk away, her lips pulled into a quiet smile.

"…i'm glad kid. sounds like you two are good together. always good to have a pal." Sans mutters, a softer tone to his words.

"so…never really been to QC's." The skeleton's voice picks right back up in seconds, a thin mockery underlying the clacking of his mouth, "what would you recommend for two buddies going to grab some grub tonight?"

Toriel clears her throat, a hint of pink burning under her fur, "Yes Kris, do you know what QC has on the menu these days? I'm not sure the last time we all came here as a family. I remember you and your brother would always visit when I was busy at parent-teacher conferences. Oh! Do they still have that adorable little hot chocolate with the bunny-eared marshmallows? Oh, you used to love those! I remember when you and Asriel would play pretend with them and do these funny little voices that-"

"QC's cinnamon rolls are good. Maybe try the stew, it can be a bit heavy though. She has salads, but make sure to ask for them finely chopped, otherwise you'll get whole carrots and celery mixed in." You rattle off anything you can think of, heat burning in your cheeks, "And, the…uh…french fries are good. Yeah. Yep."

Sans casually stuffs his hands into the pockets of his hoodie, his smile appearing to widen even more than thought possible, "nice. love some potato sticks. needs ketchup though. they got ketchup?"

You nod, looking off into the distance.

"cool. thanks kid, no wonder your mom likes you. i've heard rave reviews."

You grit your teeth, lips turning inwards.

"well Tori, you wanna see what they got on the menu? leave these close buds for a bit?" The skeleton passes by your frozen form, lazily meandering down towards the diner's corner.

"Y-Yes, I, well-" Toriel smiles back, turning to you with a much darker expression, "I hope you two will be…safe, getting home. Okay?"

You suddenly struggle to breathe, the air becoming trapped in your throat as you begin choking.

"W-Will do Ms. Dreemurr! Promise, we'll get home safe!"

The dragoness leans an arm on your shoulder as you continue struggling for oxygen.

"Yes…I'm sure you will return home safely. And be safe in general." Toriel sighs, adjusting her glasses back up along her nose, "I love you my child. I will see you at home later. Have a good evening."

A flicker of a smile rests on her fuzzy face before she dances past, following the clacking skeleton close beside. You hear your mother begin to laugh once more from some distant joke, echoing in the residual bits of mind you still maintain.

"Sooo…" Susie clicks her tongue, leaning down to your eye level, "What'cha wanna do now?"

You blink.

"…breathe. Live. Hide in the Dark World for the rest of my life."

"Nah, still need you for the group project. Besides, your mom seemed cool with us being friends, right?" The dragoness wraps her arm around your shoulders fully, beginning to meander down the sidewalk with you in tow.

"Wha-" You choke once more, clearing your throat of tightness, "What do you mean?"

"Seemed cool with us being friends. Think we're still in the clear, don't think she knows we're…y-ya know."

You stare up at the softly grinning dragon, "Susie…she knows. She one-hundred percent knows."

Her eyes go wide, piercing amber glowing under her mane, "H-Hey, you don't know that she knows! I mean, clearly they're a thing though! Like, how obvious can you be? Seriously, your mom's super into him."

You freeze in place once more, face burning, "Stop."

"What? Kinda cute in a weird way. Like, he's dorky and short, she's tall and smart. It works." Her lips are pulled into a fanged grin, "Kinda like-"

"I hate this." You mutter.

The dragoness pauses, placing a finger to her lips, deep in thought.

"…you think they've…ya know. Like-"

"Please stop."

"What? I'm just saying. They might've-"

"I'm begging you."

"Think they've b-"

"If you finish that joke I'm breaking up with you."

#fanfic #deltarune #krusie #romance #friendship #kris x susie #kris dreemurr #susie deltarune #soriel #sans #toriel #I-was-a-massive-soriel-shipper-in-the-past-and-I-couldn't-resist-this-request

[jaassmmmiinne0420]

Here’s my story from wattpad hope you enjoy it 🩷

I've been reading a lot of Dolan twin stories and, since i'm a fan of the Vampire Diaries, you'll notice references to the show; that's why they may seem familiar

Hi my name is Emily Ruiz I live in New Jersey, I'm 18 years old and a senior in high school. As an only child, I often am home alone because my mom, a travel nurse, and my dad, a pilot, are frequently away for work.

A little about myself: I'm 5'4 with brown eyes, glasses, and brown, mid-to-long hair, plus a sprinkle of faint freckles on my face. My body is fair; I'm not too skinny but do have a little belly. I have fair skin and enjoy parties now and then, but i'm mostly a homebody and a total movie fanatic. I love all kinds of music— a good song is a good song to me. I sometimes wish i had a sibling but my best friends Rosa and Megan are like family. We've been inseparable since the 3rd grade.

They Meet

I can't believe it's finally my senior year! It's such a bittersweet feeling -- I'm totally ready to be done with school, but it also feels like just yesterday I was heading off to my first day of first grade. But anyway, I've been debating whether to dress cute or comfortable since, unfortunately, I still have to go to school. I've decided on a plain black semi-cropped shirt with some olive green cargo pants and my trusty black high-top converse. For makeup, I'm keeping it light, totally clean girl aesthetic of me, and I slicked my hair back into a bun. After texting Megan, one of my best friends, to let her know I'm ready, I head downstairs to the kitchen to grab a granola bar and one of those breakfast to go drinks. I hear a honk outside my house it must be Rosa and Megan, my two besties.

*skip car ride*

It's like scene from a movie we all stand together in front of the school. Rosa says, "Well, here we are again," and Megan adds, "Yeah, but this time we're seniors." I chime in, "And we're going to rule the school!" with a laugh. It's so cool that the three of us have four classes together. " Ms. Morgan must have learned from the past three years not to put us in all the same classes" I joke "Yeah given all the times we had to be separated but still kept talking to each other" Megan adds with a laugh. After we say our goodbyes, I head to my first class of the day. While studying my schedule, I accidentally bump into someone. " Oh I'm sor-" i cut off " No trust me it's my fault" he says with a gentle smile "Yeah I had some fault not looking up and all" I playfully say. The bell rings signaling it's time to get to class, " Well I better get going" the stranger says I nod and give him a little smile before I leave as I'm walking away I turn back around to see him still looking at me I face forward I begin to think, who was that?

I get to my first class, trying not to think about the guy I bumped into. I couldn't help but wonder why I've never seen him before. So, I decided to text the girls about it.

Me - Hey guys, you'd never believe what just happened

R🌹- What !?

M🩷- What!?

Me- I just ran into this really cute guy 🤭

M🩷- How cute😗?

Me- Okay, first dibs, and based on looks i'd give him a ... 8.5

R🌹- Em I know it's not any of my business but what about dean?

Dean. My ex boyfriend of two and a half years. We had a challenging relationship, and even though we broke up, we would still talk about getting back together. But this past summer, something changed, and i couldn't stay in that forever

Me- I don't know, I gave up on that. I still love him but i just can't do it anymore.

R🌹- You know i'm just looking out for you i just want you to be happy Em so tell us all about this 8.5 .. based off looks

Me- There's not much to tell. We bumped into each other in the hallway, said sorry and went out separate ways

M🩷 - Well if you see again and we're with you point him out

R🌹- yeah and if we're not try to sneak a picture 🤭

Lunch finally arrived, the girls texted me saying they're in the cafeteria. I texted back saying okay, but I had to use the bathroom. As I walked out of the bathroom, I hear a thud.. please don't tell me I accidentally hit someone with the door, I ran outside to see my victim. He groans while holding his head "Careful with that!" he says " I'm sorry, but what do you have against the door?" I ask as I try to hold in my laughter " Apparently my face" he laughs as I help him off the floor and then I realized it was the guy from earlier this morning "We have to stop meeting like this" I joked, he just looks at me weird " Damn how hard did I hit you?" I asked while touching his head "We met?" he asked confusingly " Yeah we bumped into each other earlier this morning" I say trying to jog his memory. " Hey are you sure you're okay?" I concernedly asked " Yeah I'm just gonna head to the nurse thanks tho" he says as he walks off rubbing his head. I see Rosa and Megan coming my way " Hey Em! Who was that?" Megan asked, I explained what happened and they just start laughing, " But I must've hit him pretty hard because he didn't remember us bumping into each other" I added " I'm not surprised you probably gave that poor guy a concussion" Rosa teased. I roll my eyes as we walk to the cafeteria as we're sitting at our table I can't seem to get this guy out of my mind, I felt bad I kept thinking how he must not like me because of how many times I already hit him and it's barely the first day. School finally ends and I still haven't seen him I genuinely wanted to apologize, the girls and I make our way back to my house we hang our for awhile until they both get called home. We say our goodbyes they leave and I close and lock the door, I head upstairs to my room take a quick shower put on a big t-shirt and shorts and put on a movie and caught myself falling asleep.

Authors Note : Did anyone catch the grease reference 😂 anyways this is kind of my first story hope you guys liked it lmk if y'all want more xoxo J🩷

#fanfic #writing #dolan twins #magcon #vampire diaries #grease

[mx-julien]

Zane is curious to a fault and that's my favorite flaw. remember in Prime Empire when he had Unigami's hardrive with him because he just wanted to study it? delectable. amazing. so i offer you a more descriptive and entirely different telling of That Time The Mechanic Exposed One Of Zane's Character Flaws.

a "vaguely after s8" timeline and Some General Robot Gore, but none of the End Of The Season Plot things. wanted to spoil myself a little bit bc i love underexplored character flaws and broken robots. (you can read it on Ao3, too, if you'd like - coming soon)

///

Concrete walls don't clash with many colors. Not with red plastic, gold wiring, titanium plates, or steel screws, though the lack of a window means the only real light Zane has comes through the wraught iron bars. They're rather crude, if he's being honest; they only used rebar, not even the nice, smooth, round kind of bars they have in Kryptarium. They should rethink calling him their "Most Valuable Prisoner" if this is the kind of conditions they put important people in.

He'd halfheartedly kick at a rock, but all of his motors are shot except for the ones on his neck, abdomen, and right arm; also, there are no rocks nearby. So he just lies there, half propped against a wall with his left arm detached and strewn about to the side of the cell that's illuminated.

The rectangles of light coming through the rebar are interrupted by a figure wearing a bowl hat. In a few moments The Mechanic standing outside Zane's cell, "Little nindroid," he leans in, keys jangling on his hip, "You didn't think I wouldn't come back for ya, did you?"

After a moment to process the double negative, he tries to right his head and mostly succeeds, though his vision is still slightly tilted to the left, "No," he uses his one good arm to push his back further up the wall, so it looks more like he's sitting than considerably incapacitated. "What surprised me was your stupidity in bringing me here," he looks pointedly around the room, "Or did you not realize that you led us straight to your base?" Zane looks the mechanic in the one good eye he has.

He just laughs, "Like you'll ever make it back to tell 'em!"

A few goons of various heights dressed in tattered brown leather jackets and ripped, stained light wash jeans make encouraging comments. The shortest one is a man who raises a fist and yells, "Yeah!" While the tallest one, a woman, chuckles and the one that's mostly obscured by the Mechanic curls one hand into a fist and hits it against their palm. An ode of what's to come. Oh joy.

"Be quiet-" they comply, rather promptly at that. He searches the key ring and, after what felt like ages, opens the cell door. "You're going to give me that capacitor real nice like," he motions his hands in a 'come come' manner that Zane discovers he finds incredibly demeaning, "Or I'mma take you apart until I find it like the Good 'Ol Mechanic I am." He leans down - still out of arm's reach - but too close for any semblence of comfort, "Like I've wanted to for so long. You get me?" He smiles, showing of his teeth shining with gold and silver.

The metal piece replacing his eye has a few lights in it that stare at Zane like they're expecting him to blink. "We destroyed it-" he narrows his eyes, "Do you really think we'd keep around a device capable of holding that much radioactive energy?"

"No," he stands up and wallks backwards until he can lean his back on the bars, "I think you are curious enough to want it around to tinker with - to figure out all its secrets and whatnot. But smart enough to know that your other little ninja friends wouldn't agree." He takes out a cigarette and flicks the lighter, bringing some more brightness into the room before snuffing it out after it's served his purpose, the butt of the cigarette glowing a dark red, "So you either have it or you know where it is."

Zane feels a tangible sense of checkmate as he sees the ash fall between oily human fingers, but it's not over yet. "Fine," he finally raises his head the last several degrees to straighen it fully, if only to see the Mechanic smirking around his cigarette, "But if I don't tell you where it is, how is taking me apart going to help? You'll never find it if I'm not intact."

"Tell it to me now," he shuts the door, letting it make a clang so loud it makes the tallest henchperson flinch, "And you won't have to see me rilfling 'round that chest of yours to see where the memory stick's at." He pulls a pair of foot-long pliers out of one of his overfilled pants pockets and smiles in a way that's bordering on the edge of deranged.

This is Zane's own fault and he's fully aware that he deserves what's coming to him. But he can't help feeling relief when a door down the hallway is kicked in and "Hands off the nindroid!" echoes through the room.

The goons spring to their feet just in him for Nya to incapacitate the shortest one and push the mid-sized one against a wall. It's enough to keep her occupied that the tallest one puts her arms around Nya's neck in a choke hold. Only to have Cole barrell through the hall and haul her over his shoulder, flipping her over onto the ground.

Just recovering from being pushed, the last one high tails it out the door.

"Darn hard to find good help these days," not to be forgotten, the Mechanic quickly locks he cell door and throws the keys across the room, coming to rest near what used to be the nindroid's left elbow, "Oh well," his other hand grabs wire cutters out of an inner coat pocket, "Guess we'll have an audience, eh, nindroid?"

He takes only two steps closer before the bars groan and bend behind him. The Mechanic spins around, shocked. Nya chooses that moment to walk through the new opening in the rebar, drag him a few feet closer to her by grabbing his shirt, then punch his lights out.

Cole watches it happen, a few of his dreadlocks obscuring one of his eyes, while he's still holding one of the bars in his hand. He promptly throws it aside after his eyes land on Zane's... rather disheleved look, "Hey buddy," he bends down at his right side, putting a hand on his back so it's easier to sit, "Not looking too hot," he scans the room, finally able to process the extent of the damage, "What the hell did they do to you?"

"They tore that arm off," he uses his head to gesture to it, as if there are some other remains of a titanium android's arm lying around in close proximity, "And then it joined me as I was pushed off a building." Zane puts a hand on Cole's shoulder, "But I gathered what I could of it and I'm okay. All the important things are intact."

Finished tying up the two goons and the Mechanic, Nya walks in, surveying the damage she, Jay, and Pixal will have to repair, "What did they want from you, anyways?" She takes off her gi to use as a makeshift bag to hold the large arm plates she's picking up, "They seemed to specifically go after you after they regrouped."

He's lifted into the air, his legs uneven: the right showing too many wires to be fully intact inside and the other being so crumpled it became an inch shorter. Cole's supporting all of his weight, one arm gripping the area where an arm used to be and his right holding on to the metallic one that's slung around his shoulders.

"They were looking for the capacitor from last week."

"That thing?" Cole walks sideways through the opening so Zane's legs don't catch, "But you destroyed it a few days ago? Why'd they think- don't tell me you didn't..."

Pointedly, Zane looks the hallway, admiring the bent bars and one piece of pig iron laying on the floor. Nya stands up, gi in hand, and leaves the cell, putting her other hand on her hip and sighing, "Zane. This is why-"

"I know- but it stores so much energy that it might be useful if I can just-"

"Just what?" Cole readjusts his grip on him, making the loose pieces in his legs rattle and clank together, "Get captured again? Damn it, Zane, this is one of the many reasons we destroy those things; so we don't have to deal with another burnt down monestary or worry about someone getting kidnapped like this!"

"I-" he lets his head hand down, giving him a clear view of the wreckage that is his lower half. His voice gets quieter, ashamed, "I hadn't fully realized that."

After a few moments of silence, Nya gets out her phone to call the commissioner. He's dragged out the door and up some stairs onto the roof. Zane's set down against an air conditioning unit, propped up.

Cole just situates himself to his right, holding his one good hand. He runs a hand through his hair and takes a deep breath, letting it out ten seconds later. A minute later, he finally speaks, "Just-" he turns his head to look away from Zane, to where the Bounty will presumably show up soon, "We can always get you one from Borg; the guy has everything," he squeezes his hand, "Except- except you. We only have one of you, and I'd like to keep this Zane in one piece."

"I'll..." he leans forward a little, catching Cole's eye, "I will try to restrain myself -  in the future, that is - when it comes to things like this."

The latter just nods, accepting the apology as one might tuck their rightful mail into a coat pocket after a neighbor returns it.

Zane's not forgiven, yet, just understood.

Nya comes up after not much longer and sits on his other side, where his left arm would be usually when it's not shattered into pieces, held in a bag made from the gi of the water ninja.

Soon, the Bounty will descend out of the clouds, but right now it's quiet. Zane closes his eyes, shutting off visual sensors and allowing his head to rest on the AC unit behind them. If he sits here long enough, he just might forget how damaged his legs are.

And how the capacitor sitting right next to his heart has never felt heavier.

///

yes i made the mechanic sound a little bit like an american southerner; yes i am a southerner; yes i edited for clarity so others could understand

also this was very much supposed to just be adjacent to the Curiousity As A Fault thing for Zane, THEN i realized that the Mechanic was in that Prime Empire scene and just gave up and finished writing anyways because this is for fun

edit (2022): WOW this is questionably written... I need to edit this and post to ao3 bc some of these scenes and the grammar is... rough

#ninjago #ninjago headcanons #ninjago fanfiction #zane julien #cole brookstone #nya smith #ninjago mechanic #robot gore kind of #LRGwritesthings #lego ninjago #zangst kind of

[poormeowmeowcollector]

First Kiss, But Not On The Lips

Pair: Tony/ace!Loki (platonic)

Warnings: mentions of insomnia, nightmares, panic attack, isolation and alcohol.

Notes: Basically, the idiots in love trope is my favourite. Tony is a bi mess, Loki doesn't care about a thing (or cares about too many things), Thor is a himbo and Steve is trying. Also, yes, Loki has the ace ring (and a pride flag in his room) and he legally cannot sit like a normal person. And Steve lost the bet because he didn't expect Tony to find out about his crush on Loki within a month.

Read on AO3

"You know what, I get it. We all deserve second chances and blah blah blah, but can't Loki redeem his name on another solar system? What about Jötunnheim? He did a genocide there too!" Tony argues. At least he moves past the redeem part.

"I told you they would not accept me," Loki sighs at Thor, trying to appear stoic. But Tony sees the disappointment in him. Because he knows how to spot it in the mirror.

"Fine, he can stay for a month as a testing period. But if he causes trouble, he's gone," Steve decides. He loves speaking out the decisions even though no one will disagree.

And Thor smiles widely and hugs his brother. But Tony can still see the disappointment in Loki.

~~~

Sleeping is hard while knowing he's in the same building. Tony expected it, but it's still annoying.

"You know he was a victim too, why are you so afraid?" He asks himself but no answer is given.

He knows he won't be able to sleep, and there is a broken suit waiting for him in the lab.

Well, if he's about to pull an all nighter, he better be productive.

~~~

Tony had gotten his all nighter on a schedule. He would wait until Steve is asleep, go to the lab, and return to his bed only one hour before Steve wakes up. Of course and they all noticed his dark circles and moodiness, but he would blame nightmares and get away with it. Not that he was lying.

And, apparently, Tony is not the only one with sleeping issues.

Thor was claiming that Gods don't need sleep or nutrition. But Thor is also a sleeper and eats every time like it's his last time. But Loki doesn't. He barely touches whatever food is placed in front of him or drinks a little water and he looks more sleep deprived than Tony. But no one has the guts to say to a thousand years old powerful cranky god to go sleep or to eat, not even Thor.

And he doesn't talk. It's been days since his voice was heard. Thor doesn't like it, but the few times he mentioned it or tried to get Loki to speak or take part in a talk, he only got a glare. And Tony still doesn't know how Thor still makes Loki even get out of his room.

~~~

Once again, Tony is working on a new suit, during his favourite inhuman hours. Because two things come out at 3am, the devil and Tony Stark.

But the first dude is not helping Tony with the non functioning leg that's driving him insane.

"It's not going to work," Someone comments from the lab's door. Who the hell is up that late?

"Excuse me?" Tony turns around, only to face Loki leaning against the door frame.

"Remaking the joint to resemble a human's is not going to work. You need less strength and more flexibility, probably even another material," Loki explains, staring at Tony. He makes a small nod. Loki then straightens himself and walks closer.

"You know about mechanical engineering?" Tony asks.

"Science, magic, it's all the same on Asgard… and I happen to be the Master of Magic, and therefore…" He trails off, something sad blooming in his eyes. Homesickness, Tony recognises with ease.

"Alright, so, how do you think we'll make it work?" Tony asks, a grin on his face. But instead of answering, Loki just lifts his sleeves and grabs a wrench.

Tony watches as Loki plays with the machine—he looks more like he plays than like he's repairing something—and uses his magic to change the elements on the materials, green glows appearing and disappearing. And, after the five minutes it took him, the leg is perfect.

"Wow…" Tony whistles. Loki grins and sits on the working table, spinning the wrench on his fingers.

"It will probably last for a millennium or two," He shrugs, like it's something easy. And Tony is more impressed.

And they go on with the suit, finishing it before it's time for Tony to go and pretend he's sleeping. And Tony would use this time.

"Well, I didn't know you're good at engineering," Tony trails off. Loki shrugs in response, again sitting on the table with his legs in lotus position.

"You never asked,"

"Yeah, sorry about that. You are just too…" He suddenly can't find the word.

"Cold?" Loki asks, raising his eyebrows at Tony.

"Reserved is how I would phrase it, actually," Tony responds, making Loki hum.

"You know what, nevermind. I'm asking now. What do you like? What don't you like? Just rumble about things," He decides, big brown eyes staring at Loki. And he responds with another shrug.

"I don't know… it is quite late, so I'll probably head to my bed. Good morning, Stark," He jumps up and leaves, before Tony can even think of stopping him.

Right, he's just waiting for people to ask…

"So… Do you remember the rumble offer? Cause it still stands," Tony eyes Loki. And Loki responds with a smile.

~~~

The next morning, Loki didn't appear. Thor explained that he crashed on the bed. And it must be the hell of a sleep because he got out of his room three days after. Again, while Tony was working on a suit.

"Hey, wanna help?" Tony yells at Loki as he walks outside of the lab. And Loki nods a yes and gets to work.

"Still not sleeping, Stark?" He asks, his smart eyes pinned on the helmet of the suit.

"No rest for the wicked," Tony smiles. Looks like he's more talkative now that he's fresh.

"Tell me about it…" He sighs. Then, he grunts a bit, probably gotten hit by some remaining electricity.

Tony hadn't noticed before how pretty Loki's smile is.

And Loki takes the opportunity and starts to talk. Tony learns a lot about Loki during the Great Rumble. Dandelions are his favourite flowers, thanks to the Æsir library he became an encyclopaedia of random fun facts (even took it far enough to share some), he's a cat person, he loves classical music or music without lyrics, and then he starts sharing some stories of him and Thor as kids.

But Tony notices other things too. He noticed that Loki's eyes seem to glow when he talks about things that make him happy, he moves his hands around, he has this cute little smile that makes his face shine. And when he talks fast, his Nordic accent slips out—just some trilled 'r's or some harder sounds—and he also has a stutter that slips out. And Tony finds all of those so beautiful, but he can't say it.

"Your turn," Loki says. And Tony freezes.

Because his mind is nothing but simping for Loki, right now.

"I… em… Ya know, I…" He mutters, trying to think of something. But, Goddamnit, those shining green eyes pinning on him and waiting are so distracting.

"I'm actually bisexual, but more attracted to women than men," He snaps, finally finding something. But what if Asgard is not so accepting? Earth is having issues with those things and those guys live in the middle ages.

"Oh, nice," Loki shrugs after noticing Tony's brief pause. And it's enough to relax Tony.

"And… Dammit, this is so hard… I like cheeseburgers?" He squirts. "I don't know, can't think of something right now… when something pops up, I'll let you know," He gives up and rubs his nose bridge.

"No worries, you're hot anyways,"

Loki grins after seeing how red Tony's face became. And Tony clears his throat in hope of containing himself somehow.

"Alrighty… How's the helmet going? Tony moves the subject away. He sees Loki short-circuiting for a long moment, before remembering what they are doing here and grabbing back the helmet.

"It won't let me fix it… whenever I try to do something to the source of the issue, I get striked," He answers.

"Have you tried plastic gloves?" Tony asks, not even looking up from the hand he's oiling.

"For the helmet?" Loki asks, his eyebrows furrowed at Tony.

"For your hands, you idiot!" Tony screams, his head snapping heavenwards. Why did he agree on this?

"Fine, fine… Norns, dauðlegir eru svo stuttir í skapi... —Norns, Mortals are so short tempered…" Loki mutters under his breath.

"You know JARVIS can translate from Old Norse to English, right?" Tony snaps.

Loki shrugs and leaps into the working table and walks across it with three big steps, jumping back down with grace and opening shelves to find the gloves.

"They won't fit," He yells at Tony.

"Whatcha mean they won't fit?" Tony yells back.

Loki jumps on the table again and ends right behind Tony.

"I mean, they won't fit. They're too small," He answers to Tony's ear. Tony has learned how much Loki loved climbing on furniture, so he just turns around instead of jumping around and cussing at the God.

"Come on… how big are your hands?" He asks. Loki grabs Tony's hand and places his palm against his own. Tony's fingers were beginning on Loki's second joints, his fingers long and thin. And Tony licks his lips, because he knows what big hands mean…

Stop being horny over deities, you idiot! It didn't end well with Jesus and it won't end well with this one too! The, usually silent, voice of reason reminds him.

"Maybe you can magic them into fitting…" He suggests. Loki nods and stretches the left glove with his right hand, a green light making it bigger as he slides his hand inside.

"Thank you, Stark…" He smiles and climbs back on the table, eyes pinned on the helmet as he's playing with the screwdriver. It's been two weeks since he came here, and he still uses only last names. But when Clint called him Odinson, Thor, Steve and the Hulk had to physically hold Loki from snapping the archer's neck. And no one dares to call him Laufeyson or even think about it.

"Hey," Tony snaps. Loki flinches at the sudden noise but composes himself right after. "Sorry, didn't mean to scare ya," Tony apologizes.

"It's fine… What do you want to ask?" Loki shrugs one shoulder, placing the helmet on his right and the screwdriver on his left.

"Why do you call everyone by their last name but don't want to be addressed as so?" He asks.

"I'm not anyone's friend, and first names feel too familiar for such a situation. And, I won't stay for a long time…" He answers, the livid glow in his eyes fading just so.

"And, your last name?"

"I don't have one…" He whispers, with what Tony recognises as shame in his voice. Tony frowns and walks closer, staying outside of Loki's personal space.

"But you're Thor's brother and he's an Odinson," He studied his words before speaking. The last thing he wants is to trigger Loki, even as an accident.

"On Asgard and Jötenheim, last names work differently. You choose the name of the parent who you are closest to and then add the -son, -dottir or -barn. But Odin and Laufey were not close at all, and Frigga could help but she chose to keep me at arm's reach. So, no last name…" Tony can see how Loki was trying hard not to show emotions, but he is so close to breaking.

"You know, with this logic, only Thor has a last name. Don't tell Steve, but Howard was a first class terrible father. Steve's dad abandoned him and his mother, after beating the poor woman. Clint's parents made him run away and go to the circus. Natasha was given her name in the Red Room, she doesn't know who her parents are. And Bruce's was violent too. The only people with decent parents are Thor and JARVIS." Tony should move the topic away, but he didn't. At least he tries to patch it up on the last bit.

"And Dum-E," Loki adds, with a barely visible smile. A fake one. Tony hears the robot's joints moving as he lifts his upper part.

"And Dum-E," Tony agrees with a smile, and the robot makes a few happy noises. Loki laughs.

"You know, he says he loves you," He turns to Tony.

"If that's so, he earned some nice oil," Tony grabs the oil and applies some to Dum-E's joint. It doesn't stop making those mechanic noises and when Tony is over, Loki's smiling at him from the table.

"He still says he loves me, right?" Tony asks. Loki makes a slight nod, not abandoning his small smile.

"And that you are the best dad," He adds. Tony laughs and pets Dum-E before heading back to the table. But he still won't get too close to Loki, he is very strict with his personal space.

Loki grabs back the helmet and starts poking it around with the tool, now ignoring Tony.

"So, you don't feel like talking, huh?" Tony asks.

"If you mean the topic you want to talk about, then no," Loki snaps, not raising his eyes. Tony nods, he knows better than invading Loki's personal space.

And Loki didn't open his mouth for the rest of the night. The next morning, he would pretend nothing happened, but Tony would see how something changed in him. How his eyes darkened and his face became colder.

~~~

The next night, Loki is even more grumpy. So, Tony avoids speaking, or making anything that has even the slightest chance to irritate him.

"You're scared of me…" Loki finally speaks, his voice soft like a whisper and his fingers playing with the black ring on his ring finger. Tony looks up from the metal glove he's making to stare at Loki.

"Should I be scared?" Tony asks, careful not to say the wrong words.

"You are too picky about what you do around me. Why not do that if not because you are scared?" He answers. And this is where Tony lets himself frown and talks without thinking.

"Maybe because I don't want to make you feel bad?" He lets his words come out without filters. And Loki raises his eyebrow at it.

"Well, you don't lie about it. But why are you so dedicated to this?" He narrows his eyes and crosses his hands, body leaning towards Tony.

And now, he can't answer. Why does he care so much? It's not that they're old friends like with Rhodey or ex-s but still friends like with Pepper. They're not even teammates. Loki said it himself, he will leave after the one month Steve gave him.

So, why does Tony care so much?

"Hmm, nice answer…" Loki snarls and looks away, playing again with the other hand of the suit.

"You're a cold son of a whore, you know that?" Tony spits, his eyes stabbing Loki. He now raises his glare again, but he looks more confused than before.

"I beg your pardon?" He blinks.

"I try to be decent towards you, okay? The reasons behind it don't matter. Could be fear, guilt, interest, it means jack. And you question me on how I dare be decent towards you and why and what I want from you! You know what, I have a question for you. Why can't you accept being treated as a normal person? Are you that messed up in the brain or you just love so much being alone and miserable?" Tony lets his thoughts come out as they are, not giving a care how much they will hurt Loki. But the moment he sees Loki's reaction, he regrets it.

The room gets cold enough for Tony to see his breathing. Loki leaves the tools and the metal hand beside him and locks his feet on a tight fatal position, his hands on his face and pulling some hair with enough strength to pull them out and his shoulders rising and falling too fast.

And Tony knows what this means… It means he messed up badly.

"Crap! Hey, buddy, I'm sorry. I didn't mean those things…" He sprints closer. Loki raises his hand towards him, a green glow erupting from it and sending Tony flying to the other side of the lab.

Loki mutters something to this in Old Norse, before jumping up and leaving, his feet shaking as he was trying to walk towards the exit. But he manages to vanish in the dark corridor anyways.

And this time, Tony definitely messed up the worst way possible.

~~~

For the next two weeks, Loki doesn't get out of his room. And it only makes the knot in Tony's stomach grow tighter. He asks Thor all the time how Loki is, if he eats, if he sleeps, if he needs something. It's a wonder Thor hasn't grown tired of the constant questioning. And the answer is always the same, "I don't know, he won't let me in,".

And if everyone on the tower has learned something about Loki, is that things are bad when he keeps Thor at arm's length.

Tony wants to go and check on Loki himself, but he bets his right hand that Loki will spit curses at him, and he has every right to do so. So, he has to settle down on annoying Thor and worrying with him.

"You know what? It's my fault," Tony admits to Thor the night before Loki leaves. And Thor furrowed his eyebrows.

"What do you mean?"

Tony explains everything that happened that night, and Thor smiles with sympathy and touches Tony's neck.

"You were right on your words, that's why Loki reacted like this. He doesn't want people to know too much about him… But he won't be mad at you." He answers.

"But, why do I care so much? We barely know each other…" Tony asks.

"Have you thought of love?" Thor suggest. Tony is about to smack Thor for saying something like this, but it makes sense.

"Do… you don't happen to know if he's queer, right?" Tony makes the big question.

"I know very few Æsir who are not your definition of queer, but Loki was never open about those things. You better ask him…" He shrugs.

Well, Thor has a point. But Tony can't exactly ask Loki what his sexuality is while he's like this. So, he better wait till it's time.

"Thank you, Point Break…" Tony pats Thor's back. And then, JARVIS yells at them that Steve wants everyone in the central room.

And there is everyone here, even Loki. Well, an emotionally drained and mentally exhausted Loki, but he's there.

"As you know, your month has passed…" Steve begins talking, his Captain Voice on. Loki nods and lowers his shoulders to appear smaller.

"I'll be on my way, then…" He mutters, voice low and breaking. Steve wants to smile, but Loki's reaction stops him.

"So, you don't want to be an Avenger?" He lets his Captain mask fall, eyeing Loki with worry. And every single one of the Avengers is now doing the same. Tony hadn't realised that this antisocial emo little God had become so popular.

Loki lets his lips make a smile so big Tony bets it hurts like hell.

"You mean I can stay?" He asks, his voice now louder and livid.

"Can't see a reason to kick you out," Steve smiles too.

And Loki drags him to a hug tight enough to break the poor soldier in half, smiling like a sunbeam and rumbling thank you again and again.

"Alright, can you let me breathe?" Steve wheezes. Loki makes a small oh sound and lets go of the hug.

"Sorry, Steve," He hums, not breaking eye contact.

"Steve? Where's the "Rogers"?" Clint asks, his eyebrows raised and his hands signing along even though he wears his hearing aids.

"Well, since I'm about to stay, there's no point in calling you with your last names, is there?" Loki shrugs.

"Alright, you know what we need? A party. Who's with me?" Tony claps his hands and yells, glad to see everyone agreeing.

~~~

Apparently, being an alien God makes you hold your liquor a lot. Tony knew about Steve, but he didn't expect those two to have this stamina as well.

But Thor has started losing his balance and yelling at everyone how much he loves them in Old Norse and Loki's accent and stutter are showing, but he is just sitting on the bar and watching over the chaos.

This is your chance. He's happy and drunk enough, what could possibly go wrong? Tony thinks and stumbles towards Loki before he sits on a tall stool.

"So, are you having fun?" He asks, smiling at Loki and sipping on his scotch. It's fine, he's done this countless times before and he can do it now.

"It's quite nice, yes…" Loki hums, now turning to face Tony.

"And, em… Sorry about the other night… It was too much, should have been midler on ya," Tony mumbles, trying not to lower his eyes and break eye contact. Loki makes a soft nod.

"It's fine, you don't have to apologize… And you were quite right about some things…" He gives Tony a small smile as he talks, making him relax his shoulders a bit a mouth a thank you.

"And I wanna tell you something… I also talked to Thor about it… And I think… No, I'm pretty sure I have a crush on you. And, that's why the care and stuff…" Tony rumbles, his eyes big as he searches for reaction. But Loki stays untouched.

"I am… flattered… But I'm also asexual," He breathes out, staring back at Tony for a reaction.

"Oh, sorry, I didn't want to make it uncomfortable…" Tony rushes to apologize. Couldn't he see the black wedding ring? It's a symbol of asexuality!

"You know, things can work out platonically. I mean, you do start to grow on me…" Loki responds, smiling just a bit.

"Really? I mean, you don't mind?" Tony grins at the response, his eyes big at the God. Loki shrugs.

"Yeah, If you are okay with not getting laid with me…"

"Oh, thank you! Thank you so much!" Tony gives Loki an ear to ear smile and grabs his right hand, kissing gently the black ring.

Loki's cheeks and ears get bright red and he bites his lower lip. Tony is quick to let go of his hand.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. I didn't want to make you uncomfortable…" He chunters, now lowering his glare and playing with his glass.

"It was… nice…" Loki whispers, most likely to himself. But Tony still snaps his head up.

"Seriously?"

"Yes… And…" The red blush appears back in his cheeks as he fidgets with his sleeves. "It was the first time someone kissed me…"

"No way!" Tony exhales.

"I know, embarrassing…" Loki bites his lip again, breaking eye contact.

"I'm actually honoured. Not a lot of humans had the chance to steal the first kiss of a God, you know," Tony grins, hoping the joke is not that bad.

Loki reacts with a snorting sound and a light punch on the ribs, that sends Tony straight to the floor and makes the glass scatter in pieces.

"Oh, dear, are you alright?!" Loki squirts at Tony.

"I think I need a safeword…" Tony grunts.

He is sure that Loki will grimace on the joke, but instead, he giggles like a highschool girl.

"Most definitely yeah," He sighs, handing over an identical glass with the one they broke.

From the back of the room, no one sees Thor laughing as Steve sighs at the view of Loki and Tony and handing over the twenty dollars of the bet.

#Marvel fanfic #one shot #tony/loki #ace!Loki #fluff #marvel fluff #marvellousaces #maholidaybingo2020 #marvel fandom

[yikesharringrove]

If you are ever feeling up to it can we get more of Stvee showing Billy his panties. Like maybe they're dating now but Billy still insists every day that they have a deal. Or just some porn, maybe Billy saving up an getting Steve an expensive set or taking him out somewhere and making Steve show him in the bathroom before fucking him right there. I just liked the other ones you did for it.

Ooh damn, this one might have to go up on ao3 soon.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Smut

-

After the ring, it was a natural progression to become something more.

There were already having plenty of sex, already spending more time together than not, the only thing really left was letting themselves be emotionally intimate.

Which, they were working on. But sometimes, Billy found it easy to talk to Steve, knew he wouldn’t judge him or laugh at him or do anything besides kiss him.

So they were doing well.

But Billy still insisted they had a deal. Made Steve show him his panties every single day. 

But at this point, Steve loved the attention.

Loved the way Billy’s eyes would glaze over when he would tug off his clothes, show off pretty lace and smooth satin.

And Billy loved getting him pretty things to add to the collection.

He would come to Steve’s place with panties, or jewelry, or make up for him. And Steve felt, well he felt like a sugar baby. And he wasn’t mad at that feeling.

So when Billy brought a box to him one Saturday evening, from some nice place in the city, Steve felt like a fucking princess.

“What’s the occasion?” Steve pushed the pink satin ribbon off the box, no doubt tied on by a saleswoman with a sensible haircut.

“I need on occasion to buy you somethin’ pretty?”

“No, but this is more than pretty. I know this store. This is nice.”

“Yeah, well, thought you deserved something nicer than the usual stuff.”

Steve gave him a look through his lashes, opening the box.

It was a beautiful set. Cream satin, soft and buttery.

There were several pieces, all vintage looking and pretty.

There was a bra, a few pairs of panties, garter belt and stockings. There were also a few other pieces, a matching slip, a pretty babydoll.

“Jesus, Billy. How much was all this?”

“Don’t worry ‘bout it. Just wanted to treat you.” Steve leaned over the table, kissing Billy softly.

“Thank you, Bill. Gimme like, half an hour.”

He took the box, racing up the stairs.

He put on some make up, just light, something to fit the pinup feel of the lingerie, eyeliner and lipstick.

He stripped down, fingered himself for a few minutes, getting himself lubed and opened up, ready for Billy.

He put on the matching set, the panties had a few ruffles on the butt, made of the same silky material. The garter belt was the same satin, had a peplum ruffle around the waist. The bra had the same ruffle trimming each cup. The stockings were nude, had a seam up the back of each leg.

He put on the pearls Billy had bought him, the floral perfume that had been a gift a few wees ago.

And finished it all off with Billy’s brown leather jacket.

He came down the stairs quietly, found Billy sitting on his front porch. There were a few stubbed out cigarettes next to him. Steve opened the door as quietly as he could, posing with one leg cocked, leaned against the door frame.

“Bill,” he kept his voice soft.

Billy turned around, chocking on the smoke in his lungs when he saw Steve.

“Holy shit,” Billy managed to say through his coughs.

Steve turned around, looking back over his shoulder.

“You coming?” Billy stubbed out his cigarette, stumbling blindly up the into the house behind him.

Steve turned, wrapping his arms around Billy’s shoulders. Billy’s fingers skimmed over his hips, up under his jacket.

“So beautiful.” He nosed along Steve’s neck, smelling the sweet perfume. “You’re perfect.”

“How you want me?”

“Jesus, any way. Literally any way at all.”

Steve took his hand, leading him into the kitchen. He pushed himself to sit on the counter, spreading his legs enough for Billy to slot between them. He was holding onto his hips, drinking in his body in the nice lingerie.

“You should wear my clothes more often. Look so sexy, Baby.” Steve threw his head back when Billy attacked his neck, sucking a good sized bruise onto the side of it.

“Bring some shit over, then. Let me play dress up in boyfriend’s clothes.” Billy huffed a laugh, his breath hot against Steve’s neck. “Let me put ‘em on just so you can take it all off.”

“Oh, Sweet Thing. Gonna leave this jacket on. Gonna fuck you lookin’ just like this.”

Steve moaned a little when Billy went back to suckin’ his neck. He spread his legs a little more, let Billy press up against him.

“Love it when your dick gets hard in your pretty little panties,” he rasped in Steve’s ear, grinding their hips together. “Look so good.” He pulled back a little, looked at the outline of his dick in the panties, the tip of it flushed red, peaking over the top of the top of the panties.

Billy ducked down, pressing a kiss to the head of his dick, sucking the shaft through the panties.

“Oh fuck.” Steve tangled his fingers in Billy’s hair, holding his weight up with one hand braced behind him.

Billy mouthed along his dick, leaving a wet patch on the front of the panties.

“Bill, want you to fuck me. Want your cock, Billy.” He was whining, knew Billy loved it when he got needy.

“You need prep?”

“No, did it myself. For you.” Billy grinned at him, pressing another wet kiss to the tip of his dick before standing up.

He took one of Steve’s legs,tossing it over his shoulder, pressing a kiss to the inside of his knee, undoing his belt.

He shifted Steve’s panties, pulling them to the side to display his hole.

He lined up, watching as he pushed in, the way Steve stretched open around him, sucked him in.

“You’re so perfect. Take me so well.” Steve had his head thrown back, was painting heavily. Billy’s jacket had slipped off one shoulder, revealing more of his pretty bra, the strings of pearls.

Billy wrapped his arm around Steve’s hips, holding him in place while he began to buck his hips, start fucking into Steve properly.

Steve braced his weight on his hands behind him.

“Billy, fuck, go faster.” Billy scraped his teeth along Steve’s jaw, picking up the pace.

“Absolutely fuckin’ beautiful, Stevie.” Steve let his weight drop, laying back on the counter, his arms over his head.

The jacket was open, showing off the pretty lingerie, his lips were painted red. Billy was gonna lose it.

“Baby, I’m close. Want you to cum first. Wanna watch.” He shoved down the panties enough to get at Steve’s cock, stroke him off fast.

“Bill, I, don’t get any on the lingerie. Don’t wanna, don’t wanna ruin it.” Steve’s voice went all breathy as he came, getting spunk all over Billy’s hand, his t-shirt.

Billy gave a few last bucks of his hips, filling Steve with his cum.

Billy let his leg fall off his shoulder, leaning forward to kiss his chest, moving up to connect their lips.

“You’re perfect.” Steve bat him away.

“Yeah, I fuckin’ know. Go get me a towel. Your cum’s literally dripping out of me.” Billy groaned.

“Ooh, Baby. Gonna get me goin’ again.” Steve rolled his eyes.

“Towel. Now. Or no panties tomorrow.” Billy whined. “I mean it.” He huffed, pushing off Steve to get a dish towel, cleaning him up gently.

“You gonna model the other stuff for me? Had a few other outfits in there.”

“Yeah, but no more fuckin’. I’m still sore from Wednesday.” Billy grinned, tucking his dick back into his jeans.

They had gone hard Wednesday, had fucked for hours all over Steve’s house, and twice in the Camaro.

Steve slid off the counter, readjusting the panties. Billy watched his ass as he slunk to the stairway. He looked over his shoulder, the jacket falling back down off of it.

“You comin’?”

“Just did.”

#yikes writes #lemons #steve harrington #billy hargrove #steve harrington x billy hargrove #billy hargrove x steve harrington #harringrove #harringrove fic #harringrove ficlet #harringrove drabble

[pink-peony-princess]

Thank you for loving me/S.M

"Baby, time to get up hon, you've got work in an hour," Shawn whispered in my ear, peppering kisses from my brow down to my chin. His calloused fingers- from his favourite hobby- the guitar- running up and down my arms.

"Mmm, morning," I smiled leaning up to meet his soft kiss.

"Is that coffee I smell?" I asked, sitting up slowly, pulling my (Shawn's) favourite over-sized sweater off the arm chair at the side of the bed and standing up only to be pulled into my favourite spot in the world, Shawn's warm embrace.

"Do you really think I'd be so silly as to wake you without the coffee pot at the ready?" he laughed, kissing my temple again, before taking my hand and leading me down the hallway and into the kitchen.

Both Shawn and I worked for the City of Toronto Fire Department, me as a recently qualified paramedic, and Shawn as a firefighter and paramedic. It had been a tough few months for me, the job was demanding and taxing, but I loved it, and I had Shawn and all my work mates to help guide me.

"Sit," he pointed to the barstool where a cup of coffee in my favourite mug and omelette was waiting.

"Ahhh I love you!" I groaned, flopping down in the chair, shovelling a piece of the fragrant food into my mouth.

"I take it it meets your expectations," he laughed, coming to sit next to me.

"Exceeds!" I mumbled around the next mouthful.

Am hour later and Shawn had dropped me at my station, before headed off across town again to his station.

As I made my way into the station the familiar sounds of saws, engines and various other equipment- once so threatening now seemed to welcome me home.

"Hey El." my work partner and paramedic in charge Jo called, coming to meet me at the locker room door.

"Morning, how are Eli and Felix today?" I asked referring to her two little boys.

"They're okay. Eli had a meltdown before school this morning at having to get out of bed, but once I reminded him that Mummy can't go to work and save people if he doesn't get up and go to school all was well. I swear if the kid doesn't become a firefighter or a paramedic himself one day I'll walk to the moon!" she laughed.

"Aw, he's so sweet, it's so cute how you're his idol, speaking of don't we have that school group coming today?"

"We were supposed to, but due to budget cuts'" she rolled her eyes "the department is no longer able to fund it, apparently it's too expensive and labour intensive to have people out of action."

I sighed," How are we supposed to encourage the next generation of they can't see it for themselves. I mean I became a paramedic because my school had a field trip to a firehouse."

"You're preaching to the choir here girl, you're preaching to the choir." she laughed, turning and walking out. I went about putting my stuff away before heading to the kitchen/common room where we all spent our time inbetween calls.

The day turned out to be a slow one and by eleven o'clock I was doing laundry- (only having been called out once) when Mo one of the longest serving fire fighters and overall cool dude appeared by the door.

"You've got a visitor El, there's someone waiting for you it on the apparatus floor."

"Thanks Mo, " I smiled, putting the clothes I had been folding down and heading out the door.

When I got to the apparatus floor, I was slightly shocked. There was Shawn, leaning casually against a Pilar waiting for me a brown bag in one hand- a bunch of sunflowers (my favourite) in the other.

"Shawn... What are you doing here?" I asked, still stunned.

He beamed running and picking me up.

"I had to come speak to chief Hachette about an arson case so I thought I'd surprise my girl. Do you have time for lunch?" he asked just as Jo walked out, stopping in her tracks. She looked so surprised I thought she was going to faint for a minute.

"And who's this?" she asked with a smile, coming over to stand in front of us where Shawn was still holding me.

"Jo meet Shawn." As soon as I said it I knew it was a mistake. A mischievous grin came over her face and I suddenly felt sick at all the intimate details I'd shared with her about our relationship on long nightshifts-mostly under duress, but still.

"Right so we're going to have lunch before we get another call," I spoke quickly, tugging at Shawn's arm to get him to walk before Jo had an opportunity to embarrass me.

"She seems nice," Shawn commented as we found a quiet spot to sit in the grass behind the firehouse.

"She is," I agreed as he handed me a turkey and Brie sandwich from my favourite deli downtown.

Half an hour later and lunch was done all too soon, duty unfortunately calling for Shawn leaving me alone to face the scrutiny of Jo.

"Girrlll, OMG, he's fiinnnee El. I hope you've locked him down cause I want me some of that," she spoke a million miles a minute running to catch up with me a la I made my way back into the common room and through to the laundry to finish folding the clothes from earlier.

"Well, speaking of," I dug around in my breast pocket, pulling out the engagement ring Shawn had proposed with over the weekend on a mini getaway to the Hamptons.

The scream that left Jo's mouth was louder than expected and sent the whole house into a frenzy. Mo and several of the other firefighters including Tiny and Bug to come running.

When they realised there was no actual issue they turned around grumbling about how we'd pulled then away from the basketball game theyd been placing bets on.

"So when, how, where all the details," she demanded grabbing my arm and jumping up and down. Just the thought of the romantic evening Shawn and I had spent made me giddy again.

However before I got a chance to response the bell went off overhead signalling an incoming call

"Main to 41... Possible GSW, 56th and Main."

I sighed.

It was probably some gang related drug issue again there were plenty of lovely people , but that side of town had a reputation.

"41 responding," I spoke into the radio on my shoulder l before running to the trick, jumping in and flicking the switch to the lights and sirens.

When we got to the scene all was well at first, the cops were already there assuring us it was safe to enter, however just as we were about to leave having treated a minor self inflicted wound a man brandishing a gun leapt from a concealed closet.

"Give me all the drugs you have b*TCH." He yelled before either Jo or I could take in what was happening.

"You know we can't do that sir," Jo spoke calmly. Moving to try to assess the man, who's head was bleeding heavily.

"I said give me the f*cking drugs b*TCH ."

He yelled again, storming towards me. The next few seconds were a blur, I heard a shots, there was immense pain in my abdomen and leg and then I crumpled to the floor, whacking my head in the process.

"El, El. Omg, stay with me." Jo panicked.

"41 to main we have an officer down, urgent assistance required for a GSW, EMS required now!" she shouted down her radio.

"Hurts," I gasped as the initial shock wore off and the pain hit, everything seemed to ache, my leg, my ribs, my head. The room was spinning and I was having trouble breathing no longer able to keep track of the flurry of activity.

Somewhere in the chaos,I'm not sure how long after the incident I heard his voice, Shawn's voice and at first I thought I was dreaming, but I managed to open my eyes and there he was, looking down at with with so much fear.

"It's alright baby, I'm here now, we're going to fix it up, you'll be just fine. Can you tell me where it hurts?" he asked.

I went to move, instinctively seeking his comfort, but he stopped me, and I instantly wanted to cry, more than I already was.

"You have to stay still Princess."

I let out a loud groan as he placed an oxygen mask over my face.

"El? Can you hear me?" I grunted, the effort of actually forming words seeming too hard right then. I could feel hands all over me, and as much as I just wanted to be left alone, I also knew , they were trying to help me.

"It hurts," I cried again.

"I know it does honey, but you're going to be okay. I'm here, and so is Connor and Jo, and we'll look after you, and then when we've got you all comfy we'll take you to get all fixed up, how does that sound?"

"Okay, lets get her onto the bed, and then we can assess her from there," Connor suggested, appearing by my side, with a back board and neck collar that Jo had brought over.

"Okay, we're going to roll you onto the board El just let us do all the work okay?" Shawn said.

I let out a serious of screams as they rolled me, gripping Shawn's gloved hand like my life depended on it.

"We'll get you sorted yeah?" Shawn tried to reassure me as they strapped me onto the bed so I was safe, and then starting to push the gurney out the door and towards the entrance of the ambulance which was no more than ten metres away.

"Shawn ," I whispered, tears falling down my face, mixing with the blood which I could feel was congelling on my face.

When we were in the ambulance Shawn and Jo attached me to the hundreds of leads which I was so used to attaching to others while I lay there helplessly.

"I've started some morphine," Jo patted my arm gently as Shawn pulled a blanket over my body as I drifted off into fairy land.

Ten minutes later and we were pulling into the emergency bay.

The automatic doors opened, where we were met with a hoard of staff, ready to assist, the first person being Brian, Shawn and my mutual friend and colleague.

The look of horror on his face when he saw that it was me on the gurney was unsettling.

"She's a priority one, bed four, resus," he directed Shawn, following behind. " What do we know?" He asked, starting to attach monitors and leads to me all over again.

"GSW on scene, while responding to an incident on the other side of town. Wound to leg and abdo, possible broken ribs and concussion." Shawn reeled off.

I wasn't aware that they'd even assessed me, clearly I'd lost consciousness at some point and I wasn't even aware of it.

I lay there mulling over this lapse in memory, letting the chaos wash over me like a wave.

The last thing I was aware of was Brian shouting orders at the floods of nurses, and Shawn standing helplessly in the corner, red-faced from crying, before everything went black.

"Ah, can you turn the lights off!" I groaned as I came to again, reaching to rip off whatever annoying piece of wiring was sitting over my face "My head hurts," I added as a dull.ache consumed my thoughts as Shawn's worried face came into view, his frame helping to block out the blinding light as he bent over the bed.

"Oh thank God I was so worried," he cried kissing me with so much force I forgot to breathe, making the monitor go crazy for a second. "How are you feeling he asked, stopping me from pulling at the thing on my face which turned out to be oxygen tubing

"What happened?" I asked,. I remembered the main.events but the rest was fuzzy, whether from my injuries or from the drugs I had no doubt been plied with I wasn't sure

"You were shot while on-call, drug exchange gone bad, you scared me so bad baby," he whispered, brushing hair out if my face as Brian made his way into the room clearing his throat to announce himself.

"Hi El, it's good to see you awake, how are you feeling?" He asked coming to check a few things on the monitors before flipping my chart that sat at the end of the bed open.

"So as you know you had two gun shot wounds, one to your left let and one to the abdomen, luckily for you they were both clean shots and we didn't need to do anything other than clean and irrigate the areas and stitch you up. You did however manage to fracture three ribs when you fell as well as sustaining a sizable concussion.

"So what does that mean work wise?" I asked. Shawn must have sensed my nerves, because he was sure to keep a hand intertwined with my, the other tracing soft patterns up and down my arm.

"We'll unfortunately, during the fall you fractured your tibia, which has left you in a cast, and pretty well imibilised, I'm sorry to say you'll be relying on this big guy-" he slapped Shawn in the back, "for the next week at least while everything settles.

You'll be in a cast for at least six weeks and off work from a minimum of two weeks with rehab worked in. Rest up El, give me a yell if ya need anything," he spoke to Shawn as he left the room.

"I'll lose my job," I cried, the thought of not being able to do what I loved terrified me.

"No you won't Brian said you'll be sore for a bit and need to rest, not that you'd lose your job, besides now you'll have a real reason to boss me around, I'll be your slave". He laughed covering .me with a blanket and lifting my bung leg to rest it in a pillow.

Besides when you're well enough there are some people who'd like to see you.

"Get some rest and we'll work it all out when you wake up.

True to his word, he helped me with everything, toileting, showering (which proved to be a challenge with the cast), dressing, getting up and down stairs, making breakfast, lunch and dinner, and forcing me to take pain medication when I was too stubborn to admit I needed it.

By the end of the first week though, I was miseeable,.not used to doing nothing but sitting in my behind.

"You my dear, need to get a coat on we're going out!" he announced, coming over with said coat and helping me to stuff my arms in.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"SSH, it's a secret," he grinned, before carrying me to the car and making sure I was all buckled up.

Half an hour later and we were pulling up to the firehouse, where a few of the guys were sat outside playing cards as we made our way (me hobbling haphazardly on crutches) into the firehouse

"Hero in the house!" Mo called out and they all came running.

"I'm so glad you're okay. You scared me girl." Jo sniffled coming to hug me.

"Ouch still a little sore." I laughed leaning into Shawn for support as she blubbered all over me.

"Well sore is better than the alternative.

If it weren't for this one," she pointed to Shawn "you'd be dead."

"You've got yourself a keeper,"Mo added with a smile.

"Well if Mo approves it must be true." I agreed. "I think I'll keep you." I added, causing everyone to laugh.

"Thank you," I whispered to Shawn when the others were out of ear shot.

"For what?" he asked.

"Just for being you and for loving me," I shrugged, snuggling futher into his embrace, feeling greatful just to be alive, let alone call this wonderful human mine.

#shawn mendes #shawn mendes imagine #shawn #shawn mendes fanfic #shawn mendes imagines #shawn peter raul mendes #shawn mendes blurb #doctor!shawn #mendes triplets #werewolf!shawn #peter mendes #raul mendes #shawnblr

[pinkpeonyprincessblog]

Thank you for Loving Me

"Baby, time to get up hon, you've got work in an hour", Shawn whispered in my ear, peppering kisses from my brow down to my chin. His calloused fingers- from his favourite hobby- the guitar- running up and down my arms.

"Mmm, morning," I smiled leaning up to meet his soft kiss.

"Is that coffee I smell?"I asked, sitting up slowly, pulling my (Shawn's) favourite over-sized sweater off the arm chair at the side of the bed and standing up only to be pulled into my favourite spot in the world, Shawn's warm embrace.

"Do you really think I'd be so silly as to wake you without the coffee pot at the ready?" he laughed, kissing my temple again, before taking my hand and leading me down the hallway and into the kitchen.

Both Shawn and I worked for the City of Toronto Fire Department, me as a recently qualified paramedic, and Shawn as a firefighter and paramedic. It had been a tough few months for me, the job was demanding and taxing, but I loved it, and I had Shawn and all my work mates to help guide me.

"Sit," he pointed to the barstool where a cup of coffee in my favourite mug and omelette was waiting.

"Ahhh I love you!" I groaned, flopping down in the chair, shovelling a piece of the fragrant food into my mouth.

"I take it it meets your expectations," he laughed, coming to sit next to me.

"Exceeds!" I mumbled around the next mouthful.

Am hour later and Shawn had dropped me at my station, before headed off across town again to his station.

As I made my way into the station the familiar sounds of saws, engines and various other equipment- once so threatening now seemed to welcome me home.

"Hey El.", my work partner and paramedic in charge Jo called, coming to meet me at the locker room door.

"Morning, how are Eli and Felix today?" I asked referring to her two little boys.

"They're okay. Eli had a meltdown before school this morning at having to get out of bed, but once I reminded him that Mummy can't go to work and save people if he doesn't get up and go to school all was well. I swear if the kid doesn't become a firefighter or a paramedic himself one day I'll walk to the moon!" she laughed.

"Aw, he's so sweet, it's so cute how you're his idol, speaking of don't we have that school group coming today?"

"We were supposed to, but due to budget cuts'" she rolled her eyes "the department is no longer able to fund it, apparently it's too expensive and labour intensive to have people out of action."

I sighed, "How are we supposed to encourage the next generation of they can't see it for themselves. I mean I became a paramedic because my school had a field trip to a firehouse."

"You're preaching to the choir here girl, you're preaching to the choir." she laughed, turning and walking out. I went about putting my stuff away before heading to the kitchen/common room where we all spent our time inbetween calls.

The day turned out to be a slow one and by eleven o'clock I was doing laundry- (only having been called out once) when Mo one of the longest serving fire fighters and overall cool dude appeared by the door.

"You've got a visitor El l, there's someone waiting for you it on the apparatus floor."

"Thanks Mo, " I smiled, putting the clothes I had been folding down and heading out the door.

When I got to the apparatus floor, I was slightly shocked. There was Shawn, leaning casually against a Pilar waiting for me a brown bag in one hand- a bunch of sunflowers (my favourite) in the other.

"Shawn... What are you doing here?"I asked, still stunned.

He beamed running and picking me up.

"I had to come speak to chief Hachette about an arson case so I thought I'd surprise my girl.Do you have time for lunch?" he asked just as Jo walked out, stopping in her tracks. She looked so surprised I thought she was going to faint for a minute.

"And who's this?" she asked with a smile, coming over to stand in front of us where Shawn was still holding me.

"Jo meet Shawn." As soon as I said it I knew it was a mistake. A mischievous grin came over her face and I suddenly felt sick at all the intimate details I'd shared with her about our relationship on long nightshifts-mostly under duress, but still.

"Right so we're going to have lunch before we get another call," I spoke quickly, tugging at Shawn's arm to get him to walk before Jo had an opportunity to embarrass me.

"She seems nice," Shawn commented as we found a quiet spot to sit in the grass behind the firehouse.

"She is." I agreed as he handed me a turkey and Brie sandwich from my favourite deli downtown.

Half an hour later and lunch was done all too soon, duty unfortunately calling for Shawn leaving me alone to face the scrutiny of Jo.

"Girrlll, OMG, he's fiinnnee El. I hope youve locked him down cause I want me some of that." she spoke a million miles a minute running to catch up with me a la I made my way back into the common room and through to the laundry to finish folding the clothes from earlier.

"Well, speaking of... " I dug around in my breast pocket, pulling out the engagement ring Shawn had proposed with over the weekend on a mini getaway to the Hamptons.

The scream that left Jo's mouth was louder than expected and sent the whole house into a frenzy. Mo and several of the other firefighters including Tiny and Bug to come running.

When they realised there was no actual issue they turned around grumbling about how we'd pulled then away from the basketball game theyd been placing bets on.

"So when, how, where all the details," she demanded grabbing my arm and jumping up and down. Just the thought of the romantic evening Shawn and I had spent made me giddy again.

However before I got a chance to response the bell went off overhead signalling an incoming call

"Main to 41... Possible GSW, 56th and Main."

I sighed.

It was probably some gang related drug issue again.there were plenty of lovely people , but that side of town had a reputation.

"41 responding," I spoke into the radio, before flicking the switch to the lights and sirens.

When we got to the scene all was well at first, the cops were already there assuring us it was safe to enter, however just as we were about to leave having treated a minor self inflicted wound a man brandishing a gun leapt from a concealed closet.

"Give me all the drugs you have b*TCH." He yelled before either Jo or I could take in what was happening.

"You know we can't do that sir," Jo spoke calmly. Moving to try to assess the man, who's head was bleeding heavily.

"I said give me the f*cking drugs b*TCH ."

He yelled again, storming towards me. The next few seconds were a blur, I heard a shots, there was immense pain in my abdomen and leg and then I crumpled to the floor, whacking my head in the process.

"El, El. Omg, stay with me." Jo panicked.

"41 to main we have an officer down, urgent assistance required for a GSW, EMS required now!" she shouted down her radio.

"Hurts," I gasped as the initial shock wore off and the pain hit, everything seemed to ache, my leg, my ribs, my head. The room was spinning and I was having trouble breathing no longer able to keep track of the flurry of activity.

Somewhere in the chaos,I'm not sure how long after the incident I heard his voice, Shawn's voice and at first I thought I was dreaming, but I managed to open my eyes and there he was, looking down at with with so much fear.

"It's alright baby, I'm here now, we're going to fix it up, you'll be just fine. Can you tell me where it hurts?" he asked.

I went to move, instinctively seeking his comfort, but he stopped me, and I instantly wanted to cry, more than I already was.

"You have to stay still Princess."

I let out a loud groan as he placed an oxygen mask over my face.

"El? Can you hear me?" I grunted, the effort of actually forming words seeming too hard right then. I could feel hands all over me, and as much as I just wanted to be left alone, I also knew , they were trying to help me.

"It hurts," I cried again.

"I know it does honey, but you're going to be okay. I'm here, and so is Connor and Jo, and we'll look after you, and then when we've got you all comfy we'll take you to get all fixed up, how does that sound?"

"Okay, lets get her onto the bed, and then we can assess her from there," Connor suggested, appearing by my side, with a back board and neck collar that Jo had brought over.

"Okay, we're going to roll you onto the board El just let us do all the work okay?" Shawn said.

I let out a serious of screams as they rolled me, gripping Shawn's gloved hand like my life depended on it.

"We'll get you sorted yeah?" Shawn tried to reassure me as they strapped me onto the bed so I was safe, and then starting to push the gurney out the door and towards the entrance of the ambulance which was no more than ten metres away.

"Shawn ," I whispered, tears falling down my face, mixing with the blood which I could feel was congelling on my face.

When we were in the ambulance Shawn and Jo attached me to the hundreds of leads which I was so used to attaching to others while I lay there helplessly.

"I've started some morphine," Jo patted my arm gently as Shawn pulled a blanket over my body as I drifted off into fairy land.

Ten minutes later and we were pulling into the emergency bay.

The automatic doors opened, where we were met with a hoard of staff, ready to assist, the first person being Brian, Shawn and my mutual friend and colleague.

The look of horror on his face when he saw that it was me on the gurney was unsettling.

"She's a priority one, bed four, resus," he directed Shawn, following behind. " What do we know?" He asked, starting to attach monitors and leads to me all over again.

"GSW on scene, while responding to an incident on the other side of town. Wound to leg and abdo, possible broken ribs and concussion." Shawn reeled off.

I wasn't aware that they'd even assessed me, clearly I'd lost consciousness at some point and I wasn't even aware of it.

I lay there mulling over this lapse in memory, letting the chaos wash over me like a wave.

The last thing I was aware of was Brian shouting orders at the floods of nurses, and Shawn standing helplessly in the corner, red-faced from crying, before everything went black.

"Ah, can you turn the lights off!" I groaned as I came to again, reaching to rip off whatever annoying piece of wiring was sitting over my face "My head hurts," I added as a dull.ache consumed my thoughts as Shawn's worried face came into view, his frame helping to block out the blinding light as he bent over the bed.

"Oh thank God I was so worried," he cried kissing me with so much force I forgot to breathe, making the monitor go crazy for a second. "How are you feeling he asked, stopping me from pulling at the thing on my face which turned out to be oxygen tubing

"What happened?" I asked,. I remembered the main.events but the rest was fuzzy, whether from my injuries or from the drugs I had no doubt been plied with I wasn't sure

"You were shot while on-call, drug exchange gone bad, you scared me so bad baby," he whispered, brushing hair out if my face as Brian made his way into the room clearing his throat to announce himself.

"Hi El, it's good to see you awake, how are you feeling?" He asked coming to check a few things on the monitors before flipping my chart that sat at the end of the bed open.

"So as you know you had two gun shot wounds, one to your left let and one to the abdomen, luckily for you they were both clean shots and we didn't need to do anything other than clean and irrigate the areas and stitch you up. You did however manage to fracture three ribs when you fell as well as sustaining a sizable concussion.

"So what does that mean work wise?" I asked. Shawn must have sensed my nerves, because he was sure to keep a hand intertwined with my, the other tracing soft patterns up and down my arm.

"We'll unfortunately, during the fall you fractured your tibia, which has left you in a cast, and pretty well imibilised, I'm sorry to say you'll be relying on this big guy-" he slapped Shawn in the back, "for the next week at least while everything settles.

You'll be in a cast for at least six weeks and off work from a minimum of two weeks with rehab worked in. Rest up El, give me a yell if ya need anything," he spoke to Shawn as he left the room.

"I'll lose my job," I cried, the thought of not being able to do what I loved terrified me.

"No you won't Brian said you'll be sore for a bit and need to rest, not that you'd lose your job, besides now you'll have a real reason to boss me around, I'll be your slave". He laughed covering .me with a blanket and lifting my bung leg to rest it in a pillow.

Besides when you're well enough there are some people who'd like to see you.

"Get some rest and we'll work it all out when you wake up.

True to his word, he helped me with everything, toileting, showering (which proved to be a challenge with the cast), dressing, getting up and down stairs, making breakfast, lunch and dinner, and forcing me to take pain medication when I was too stubborn to admit I needed it.

By the end of the first week though, I was miseeable,.not used to doing nothing but sitting in my behind.

"You my dear, need to get a coat on we're going out!" he announced, coming over with said coat and helping me to stuff my arms in.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"SSH, it's a secret," he grinned, before carrying me to the car and making sure I was all buckled up.

Half an hour later and we were pulling up to the firehouse, where a few of the guys were sat outside playing cards as we made our way (me hobbling haphazardly on crutches) into the firehouse

"Hero in the house!" Mo called out and they all came running.

"I'm so glad you're okay. You scared me girl." Jo sniffled coming to hug me.

"Ouch still a little sore." I laughed leaning into Shawn for support as she blubbered all over me.

"Well sore is better than the alternative.

If it weren't for this one," she pointed to Shawn "you'd be dead."

"You've got yourself a keeper,"Mo added with a smile.

"Well if Mo approves it must be true." I agreed. "I think I'll keep you." I added, causing everyone to laugh.

"Thank you," I whispered to Shawn when the others were out of ear shot.

"For what?" he asked.

"Just for being you and for loving me," I shrugged, snuggling futher into his embrace, feeling greatful just to be alive, let alone call this wonderful human mine.

#shawn mendes #Shawn #shawnmendes imagine #shawn mendes blurb #Shawnblr #shawn peter raul mendes #raul mendes #peter mendes #mendes triplets #doctor!shawn #werewolf!shawn #pinkpeonyprincessblog masterlist #pinkpeonyprincessblog #thank you for loving me

[dis0rderlyconduct]

Note: I have decided to publish the actual story of the concept album I'm currently writing before I attempt to release the music itself (since that will likely take quite a while).

This story takes place on the planet of Xolaria, the setting of a centuries-long war between Humanity and The Emery. It follows the adventures of Derek, a human who's entire life has been filled with this going conflict.

This is most definitely a passion project of mine, but if you like what you see, let me know. I'm not an amazing writer so if you have writing tips, let me know those too.

Without further ado, I present the beginning of something that will hopefully someday be something pretty neat:

Great Emery I: The Arcane Protocol

1. A Sigh Against The Echos Of The Damned

As the breeze whispers though the brown autumn leaves freshly strewn across the back yard, a tired man takes a seat in a back porch swing. In his hands, he grips a refreshingly warm cup of instant coffee. He looks down at his watch with an uneasy sigh.

"21:59. About time for the evening fireworks," he says to himself with a sense of false enthusiasm. He looks out into the night sky and traces the stars down to where they meet the black horizon. He feels a sense of anticipation- H.E.F. Intelligence says that sometime within the next fifty years The Emery will attempt to push past The Front. Will tonight be the night? He shakes the thought off- every night, it crosses his mind that tonight could be the one, and every time he lets himself down.

As the clock strikes 22:00 the horizon begins to light up in faint white flashes, as if a timer somewhere in the distance has been set off. In his head, the man does a count- "Fourty-five, fourty-six....fourty-eight? I think that was two of them." As he nears one-hundred, he finishes his coffee and stands up with a stretch, only for a look of confusion to cross his face.

"They're still going? They always stop at one-hundred. On the dot." He pulls his cellphone out of his pocket and looks at it- no new messages.

"Must be nothing. Maybe Em had a few extra bombs to spare tonight." He slides his phone back into his pocket and turns towards the back door. As he grabs the door knob, he gets a sudden urge to take one last look towards The Front.

As he turns around, a blinding flash lights up everything around him. Instinctively, he drops to the ground and covers his head with his hands. Seconds later a deafening bang rings out from the direction of The Front, followed by intense ringing in his ears. Looking up from the floor of the porch, he is awestruck with what he sees.

A blood-red mushroom cloud rising against an orange sky has taken the place of the picturesque scene from just minutes before. At the base of the mushroom cloud, he sees a tsunami of dirt, dust, and debris racing towards him, stretching thousands of meters into the air.

He quickly jumps up from his prone position and runs into his house. As he slams the door behind him, the house begins to violently shake from the impact of the shockwave. As the shaking subsides, he races to his front room window.

In the distance, the pride and joy of all of humanity, the capital of New Humania burns in a blaze. As he takes in the scene, a sharp scream rings out from his master bedroom.

"DEREK!"

He turns and runs to the room, swinging open the door. In the opposite corner of the room, he sees his young wife sitting in the fetal position, clutching tightly to their newborn daughter.

"Mel. It's okay, I'm here." He says in a panic as he runs over to her.

She looks up to him, tears running down her face, her green eyes piercing deep into him. Her voice lightly rings out with a shake.

"Please don't go."

"I have to Mel. You know that. It will be treason if I don't." Derek responds, beginning to realize what he has to do.

"But if you dont, at least we can die together. All of us, as a family."

"I'm not going to let that happen. We are going to stop this, then I will be back. Everything will be back to normal."

Mel's face begins to take on a more stoic expression.

"Don't make me a promise you can't keep."

"When have I ever broken a promise, Mel?"

She thinks for a second. "Well, you did promise we would get a dog when we moved in here." She lets out a nervous laugh.

Derek rolls his eyes. "It's going to be okay. I'm going to take care of what I need to do, and then I will call you when I am on my way home, okay?"

Mel nods. "Okay."

Derek gives his wife and daughter a long hug, then stands up and turns to the door, trying to find the strength to take the first step.

He had studied it for years. He had trained, rehearsed, and prepared all his life. Yet, for some reason, he never thought he would see the day.

Whether he is ready or not, The Arcane Protocol has been initiated.

#original story #fiction #concept album

[nitewrighter]

Reidan acting like they're just engaged/married for a mission and seeing how well the two of em work and mesh together prompt!

They’re in their 20′s here, this is Post-Dragonback.

—

“And everyone tells us we haven’t been together long enough, that we’re too young, all that nonsense,” said Aedan, “But between all the Talon attacks, Null Sector invasions–No time like the present, you know?”

“Well we assure you Mr and Mrs–” The Vishkar realtor, glanced at her tablet.

“–McGillicuddy,” said Aedan and Rei at the same time, Rei twisting the ring on her left hand.

“Mr and Mrs McGillicuddy, you’ll find no safer apartments than in a Vishkar development,” said the realtor, “And you said you were a… scientist, Mr. McGillicuddy?”

“Mycologist,” said Aedan, resting his chin in his hand, “I have a particular proclivity for the amanita genus. Have you ever heard so lovely a name as the ‘destroying angel?’”

“Can’t say that I have. The Vishkar corporation has a great interest in the life sciences,” said the Realtor, “I can’t speak to our human resources department, but you could have a very comfortable position with us.”

“Don’t worry, he doesn’t bring his work home with him,” said Rei with an easy hand wave, “The kids should be fine.”

“Kids..?” Aedan’s eyes widened and he glanced at her.

“Potential kids,” said Rei, elbowing Aedan, “Vishkar’s supposed to have amazing schools, isn’t it?”

“Yes–kids–schools,” said Aedan, quickly turning his attention back to the realtor.

“Y’know, Null Sector, world ending, now-or-never stuff to think about,” said Rei.

“Vishkar is happy to provide couples and potentially growing families all the support they need,” said the Realtor.

“How kid-friendly is the neighborhood?” said Rei, “Everything’s so… sleek around here–”

“Hard-light technology is highly adaptive,” said the Realtor, checking her watch and now moving to usher them through the apartment, “And we make a point of allowing for large parks in the area for excellent quality of life. We’re in the process of putting one such park together for this development.”

“Parks!” Rei repeated, “Yes, we saw a lot of construction coming in here, didn’t we?”

“Loads of construction,” said Aedan, “Amazing how you’re able to take such swathes of the city so fast.”

“Hard-light does allow us to speed things up considerably,” said the Realtor, now several feet away from them, clearly trying to signal them into the next room.

“With so little resistance from the locals, too!” said Rei, making a point of lingering in the hallway with her arm hooked in Aedan’s, “You turn on the news these days and—”

“It… greatly benefits Vishkar’s competitors to paint us in a negative light,” said the Realtor, quickly, “But the quality of life in our developments speaks for itself. Now, I’m afraid we are on a schedule–”

“Oh of course, of course,” said Rei, walking down the hallway with Aedan.

The Realtor smiled with some relief and then let another door slide open. “So to finish off our tour, here’s our master bedroom,” she said, gesturing around, “As you can see you’ve got a gorgeous view of the city. Payment options are in the tablet I’ve given you.”

“Could you show us the showers work one more time?” said Rei, “Vishkar technology is so elaborate–”

“Oh the smart features of the bathroom are very intuitive,” said the Realtor, briskly walking to the door,  “But I’m afraid we’ve run well over our allotted tour time. But I’ll leave you to look around the apartment some more and we can discuss pricing when I return.”

With that the realtor headed out the door and the bright vapid grins decorating Aedan and Rei’s faces were replaced by cool, methodical expressions.

“Such a big apartment!” Rei said, walking through the apartment and stepping up on a chair to check the light fixtures for bugging tech.

“Gorgeous place,” said Aedan, pulling a listening device out of one of the lamps.

“Nice neighborhood,” said Rei, pulling a near microscopic camera out of the smoke alarm. After a brisk sweep, they met back up in the living room. 

“Standard showroom, seems clean,” said Aedan.

Rei brought a finger to her ear. “Marti? You there? We stalled as much as we could. You’ve got about 90 seconds until she gets back to her office.”

“Roger. We’ve gotten the data we need. The twins will set up the usual mission evac. How was playing house?”

“Oh we were adorable,” said Rei, heading for the door, “Meet you on the roof?”

“Meet you on the roof,” said Marti, clicking out of the comm network.

“McGillicuddy?” said Rei, looking at Aedan as they walked through the hall, “Really?”

“You made me sacrifice the hair for this mission–”

“It’s only for a week, you big baby—”

“You made me sacrifice the hair so I’m keeping the brogue. Anyway, the sooner I get this contact out, the better,” said Aedan, itching at his should-be-brown eye.

“You look good blonde, though,” said Rei.

“I look like an asshole blonde,” said Aedan.

“Little bit,” said Rei with a grin.

“Meanwhile you look amazing–” said Aedan.

“What can I say? Mom’s ashkenazi,” said Rei with a toss of her thick heat-styled curls, as she and Aedan took the stairs to the roof, “You know, that was a nice touch back there.”

“The ‘evil mushroom scientist’ bit? Oh I’ve been around enough of Vishkar’s types to know what they pick up–”

“No, I mean the part where you went sheet white when I brought up kids–Very organic,” said Rei.

“Oh–yes–that,” said Aedan, rubbing the back of his neck.

Rei paused on a stairwell. “…you weren’t acting,” she said, her brow crinkling.

“Well even for our dramatis personae, that’s… that’s a bit young,” said Aedan, continuing up the stairs.

“The role is young, stupid, horny rich couple, happy to show up, join Vishkar’s cult and gentrify the hell out of this city,” said Rei, “Of course my character would want kids to cement that.”

Aedan snorted. “Well, you’re the actress–”

“Stunt,” said Rei, with a slight smirk, which faded as they ascended the stairs, “Why do kids freak you out?”

“Kids don’t freak me out,” said Aedan, “The prospect of me ever having kids–that–I–I–don’t like to think about it.”

Rei’s brow crinkled a little. “Is this.. some kind of clone thing?”

“No–well, yes–well it’s nothing to do with mum. I’m my own person I just–It’s just–”

“Just what?”

“I wasn’t born, Rei. I was made,” said Aedan, “Nanites are dangerous–We don’t know if a human is capable of carrying something like me. If I ever–You know, we’ve ventured way too far into the realm of the hypothetical, so we should just–”

“So you’re scared of… what… whatever kid you might have might… burst out of someone like in the old sci-fi movies?” Rei tried to present the scenario as something ridiculous, but one look to the horrified expression on Aedan’s face and she pushed her hair back from her face, “…sorry.”

“I mean–yes, that’s probably not going to happen,” said Aedan, glancing off, “But I–I just don’t know if a nanite-based embryo might… hurt… whoever’s carrying it.”

Rei put a hand on Aedan’s shoulder, “I’m sorry, I really didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable like that–”

“No it’s fine–It’s the mission, it’s the role—I should have thought ahead on it…”

“I don’t think it would, if it means anything,” said Rei, as they reached the door to the roof.

“What?” said Aedan.

“If you ever had a kid–you’re talking about it like it’s a monster or a parasite, but… it’s still human,” Rei ruffled his hair a little, “You’re still human.”

“…give or take several trillion nanites,” said Aedan, glancing off.

“But anyway–deep hypotheticals,” said Rei, opening the door, “Nothing we need to worry about right now.”

“Right, said Aedan, running a hand through his dyed-blonde hair as he watched Rei step out onto the roof where Marti, the twins, and their dropship were waiting, “Nothing to worry about.”

#reidan #follow for more Gency kid facts #moiraspawn