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gwynposting · 3 years

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All Along the Watchtower (Ch. 3)

This story takes place after the “All Along the Watchtower” ending of Cyberpunk 2077, so spoilers ahead.

NSFW chapter ahead~

AO3 Link | Ch. 1 | Ch. 2

Panam was never one for being able to hide her emotions, and the attempted smile betrayed by the rest of her cringing features gave testament to it. Cassidy, on the other hand, looked upon V with amusement.

“Yeah, uh,” V started with an awkward cough, “guess the rockerboy part of Johnny didn’t overwrite my brain yet.” She stared down at Cassidy’s borrowed guitar with a tinge of blush on her cheeks before handing it back to him.

“Well anytime you want to start learnin’, give me a holler,” Cassidy said with amusement as he set the guitar in his lap and plucked away at an idling tune.

V smiled in appreciation and turned to Panam, “So, what’s the plan for tomorrow anyhow?”

Panam leaned forward, the fire in her eyes sparking. “We’re meeting up with a contact of ours that’s worked with us and other Aldecado families in the past - Bryce Bane. We’ve used Bryce as our point of contact for operations in the Tucson area in the past - we figure it’s a good idea to help get general intel as well as see how we can help solve your problem.”

V nodded along, “And we can trust this Bryce?”

Panam scoffed, “Could you trust Rogue?”

V grimaced in recognition. “Only after convincing her a 50 year old terrorist from her glory days was trapped inside my head.”

“So unless you got another cyberpsycho inside your noggin’, I wouldn’t get too friendly with them.” Panam could see the disappointment creep along V’s face - she was rather decent at hiding it, but the subtle quiver of the lip always gave her away. “But,” she resumed, “with all the gear we’ve gotten from the Arasaka raid, it’d be hard to say no to a fresh load of biz coming their way.”

“Right…” V hesitated. “Okay. So - who, when, and where?”

Cassidy let out a chortle, “Mitch wasn’t kiddin’ about you city slickers.”

V smirked, giving her forehead a few taps, “I blame the ticking time bomb in my head.”

Panam broke in, “We’re due to meet them around noon, on the western side of the city outskirts. Now, I don’t have reason to suspect they’ll pull anything, but it never hurts to come prepared. V, you’ll be accompanying me to the meet while Cassidy, Mitch, and Carol provide overwatch.”

“All eggs in one basket, hmm?” Carol interjected, sizing up the roster for this mission.

“More like this is our first meet with this city and I need to make sure we get off on the right foot. And that means no itchy or jumpy triggers. I know I can count on the vets for that.” Panam looked around the table to mixed reactions. “With that being said,” she continued, “I want to perform some reconnaissance of the area so we can set up 3 separate areas of vision around the meeting place. That means we’ll be setting out early tomorrow - around sunrise - to set up.

“Mitch, V?” she gestured towards each respectively, “You two are going to drive out today and use the drone to do some recon. Note the terrain in the area and try to find overlooks that give a good view of the entire meeting sight as well as any paths to the area.”

V and Mitch made eye contact and nodded in agreement. “We’ll set out right away then,” Mitch said.

Panam smiled and nodded in affirmation, “Excellent. We’ll reconvene later tonight when you two return and go over the finer details.”

“Preem. Anything else?” V asked.

Panam shook her head, “Nope, that’s it. Just lemme know when you two get to the site.”

“Yes, mom,” V smirked, and Mitch failed to suppress his own smile. Panam shot her a deadpan look of annoyance.

Mitch and V broke off and made their way over to the mechanics station. The Aldecados had set up shop in an abandoned warehouse of some sort - its floor had been picked clean so there hadn’t been much cleanup required at all. But now, it housed the mighty Basilisk, along with the plethora of other vehicle repair necessities.

Mitch pointed to one of the corners, “Drone case is over there. I’ll grab a couple battery cases just in case.”

“What for?” V asked.

“Well, never know if we might need to use the active camo when we get there. And if we do, I’d rather we be able to get a full scan of the area. Not cut corners, y’know?”

“Good thinking,” V said with a huff as she lifted the hefty clamshell in her arms.

Mitch made his way back over, battery packs slung around his shoulder, and together they set off to their ride.

“How well do you know this Bryce?” V asked.

“As well as you know any fixer in Night City, really.” Mitch responded with a gruff. He was set to leave it at that, but looked over to V’s expectant face. “We didn’t have a particularly contentious past, it’s just been quite a while, and well... we’re runnin’ blind right now. A lot can change in 3 years.”

V felt the gnawing of doubt creep back into her mind, despite her best efforts to keep it suppressed. The last thing she needed right now was to fall into despair before they even tried their first option. But even the existence of those lingering thoughts sent worry through her, every setback felt so severe and her mental health so weak, like fractured porcelain held in place by glue. A vace drifting through the air in slow motion, desperate for someone to catch her before she reaches the harsh and unyielding floor below.

Mitch seemed to be able to read the apprehension of V’s face, “But hey, we worked with some great techies back in Tucson. If they don’t know what to do, then they sure know someone who will.”

A shaky smile formed on her face, but hopeful words did little to soothe her anxiety. But she didn’t have much time to ruminate over her thoughts as they pulled up to Mitch’s ride. They took turns loading their equipment onto the bed before climbing inside the cabin.

“Alright then, let’s get this started,” Mitch stated with finality.

V slung the canteen over her shoulder and let it rattle to the floor with a clank. She whinged at the sharp sound but was far too tired to react. It felt as if her entire body had a layer of dirt, like a second layer of skin. Yet all in all, it had been a very uneventful day, and she liked it that way. Though, she couldn’t say the same thing for tomorrow, whatever that would hold. V had been used to working with fixers in the past, but this time it was different. She wasn’t some solo anymore, money and fame the only thing on the mind. She was part of a family once more, her clan. When things went wrong, everybody had to suffer the consequences for it, whether physical or emotional. She had everyone else to think about. She had -

Judy. V smiled as she saw the soft hue of blue light bleed through the cracks of the garage door. She shrugged off her jacket and hung it on the coat rack, pausing as she flexed and stretched her stiff limbs. In a similar fashion she shuffled off the boots from her feet.

V made her way over to the garage to poke her head in, but stayed silent as she saw Judy sitting in her desk chair, BD wreath wrapped around her head. But something caught V’s eye - many things, really. Judy’s hands clenched the armrests of her editing chair, her thighs pressed together as her legs writhed small motions back and forth. Her chest rose up and down with deep breaths, and the skin visible from the cut of her shirt was painted a deep blush.

V was about to raise an eyebrow in concern, but was interrupted by a soft mew that escaped Judy’s lips, followed by a much lower moan. V chuckled in response, Couldn’t wait for me it seems, she thought to herself. Deciding it wasn’t the best for her to interrupt Judy’s alone time while filthy, V made her way to the bathroom to wash away what she imagined were kilograms of sand and dirt from her body.

Of the few comforts she had gotten used to in Night City, hot water would have been one of the highest. The Bakkers had raised her through the traditional nomad lifestyle, but clearly she had softened up in a few ways. Shivers shot down her back as the cold water began rushing over her body, washing away the caked dirt and leaving goosebumps behind.

V was meticulous when it came to cleaning, especially with her cybernetic implants. She gave extra care to clean the creases and ports of her mantis blades. She had never had a problem with them so far, and she planned to keep it that way. It had been a recurring fear of hers that some mechanism would fail her when she needed them most - whether they failed to open properly, or extended on their own without command. In those moments she could almost hear Panam rage at her tombstone for being stupid enough to let something like routine maintenance lead to her downfall.

Just as she finished rinsing the suds from her hair, she heard the bathroom door open and close. She turned her head to see Judy rolling her panties down her legs, bra already discarded on the floor. Without a word, Judy climbed inside and pressed V against the shower wall, capturing her lips with her own. Her hands betrayed her neediness as they traveled along V’s skin and down to her ass, roughly taking hold of each cheek. V yelped in surprise at the onslaught, but quickly gave in. V’s hands, momentarily idle, found new life as they began to roam up along Judy’s curves, coming to rest upon her cheeks.

Judy paused and broke away, leaving both of them panting for breath. They looked into each others’ eyes, lidded and wanting. “Didn’t hear you come home,” Judy breathed.

“Didn’t want to interrupt your fun,” V smirked, “plus, I felt gross.”

Judy’s hands began shifting, creeping around V’s front, “Probably woulda jumped your bones anyways.”

V’s response was cut short by her own sharp exhale as Judy ran a hand along her hardening shaft. Judy bit her own lip in smug satisfaction as she felt V’s desire manifest within her grasp, before leaning back in, breathing warmth on chilled skin, and taking V’s lip between her teeth. The two came together once more as their lips interlocked, broken apart only through momentary calls for air or teasing bites. Judy’s hand began tender strokes, back and forth, along V’s length. Judy couldn’t help the butterflies that poured through her as she felt V’s hips begin to thrust ever so slightly - signs of a woman too pent up for her own good.

But Judy also felt that need, and it was quickly tended to. V’s curious hands traveled downwards until they reached Judy’s waiting sex. Her fingers teased along Judy’s entrance, lightly brushing over her clitoris. Judy flexed under her touch, her thirst finally given life. But V, not one to tease at the moment, deftly inserted two fingers and began to give slow, languid thrusts. A flare of pride rushed through V as Judy began to push into her grasp, grinding her clit against the palm of V’s hand.

Each needy thrust and flex spurred the other on, as they fed off each other's need and want, pressing into each other, grasping, thrusting, their pace increasing with every shaky breath. Their kiss became sloppy and unfocused, disrupted through their descent into pleasure. The drone of the shower head and the cool of the pouring water faded into the back of their minds - all that mattered was their touch.

Judy hovered over V’s lips, to whisper, “V-” as if but a gasp. V closed the distance once more and captured Judy’s lips as she came undone beneath her. Shivers radiated through Judy’s body as V’s fingers coaxed her through her orgasm. V’s free hand brought Judy closer, pressing her against V’s body for support as she came. Judy broke their kiss and slumped her head into the crook of V’s neck, her moans becoming muffled.

But her comedown didn’t slow Judy’s pace - if anything, it increased her fervor. As she regained her footing, Judy changed tactics. Instead, she focused along V’s erogenous zones, kissing and leaving love marks along V’s jaw and neck to below her ear, stroking to the tune of the heady thrusts that met her hand.

V was holding on, prolonging her suffering, until she heard Judy plead, “Please V -” and she came undone. With each stroke V shivered, her hips spasmed unpredictably and unpracticed, almost fucking the hand wrapped around her throbbing length. Each release brought haughty gasps that sent fire through Judy.

With one final languid squeeze, V nigh collapsed on top of Judy. “Woah there,” Judy helped lean V back against the shower wall.

V returned the smile, albeit weary, before leaning in to give Judy one last kiss, “Couldn’t stop thinking about this all day.”

“My my, what a pervert~” Judy floated.

V snorted, “Says the one sending me nudes mid-op,”

“Details V, details,” Judy reached for the soap once more. “Think we need to get cleaned back up, hmm?”

“And then we go straight to bed,” V concluded.

“Right. Bed.”

#cyberpunk 2077 #judy alvarez #judy x v #v x judy #female v #AATW

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sign-from-god-complex · 5 years

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A Gift From Me To You - Chapter 6

Chapter Summary: Virgil has a chat with Remy and considers his relationship with Roman.

Warnings: Food mention, some minor negative thinking and mentions of bullying

A/N: Sorry this chapter is a little bit shorter! I was just trying to make sure it was actually finished in time, so I didn’t spend much time fleshing it out the way I usually do.

AO3 Link // Link to Chapter One! // And Two! // And Three! // And Four! // And Five!

The sound of the cafeteria was loud in Virgil’s ears as Remy studied him from across the table, their expression blank. Virgil tugged restlessly at the sleeves of his hoodie—despite having already revealed his soulmark to them he wasn’t particularly anxious for it to become common knowledge. He valued his privacy.

He hadn’t even told his moms about it. When Virgil had come down for breakfast—even though, internally, he was still screaming incoherently—he had acted as if nothing was different.

It had been just like every morning.

Bree was in the kitchen dishing up the eggs. Virgil had swung himself down into the chair next to Thomas, ruffling his hair slightly and ignoring his squeaks of protest as he batted his brother’s hands away. Liv had stumbled down the stairs, complaining that it was far too early. She’d kissed her wife, taking a seat opposite her two sons and Virgil had watched her, eyes vacant, as he tried to stop his hands from shaking.

Because it hadn’t been every morning. It had been that morning, and Virgil was panicking.

He knew he had to tell them eventually, but quite honestly, he wasn’t really ready to face the questions he knew they would have. He didn’t know any of the answers!

Something in him doubted he ever would.

“Okay, so lemme check I’ve got this right.” Remy raised an eyebrow, popping a chip into their mouth before continuing. “Roman Prince is your soulmate, he doesn’t know, and you’re worried that you’re not good enough to date him and or Patton. Am I correct?”

Virgil winced slightly, nodding his head. Even after his talk with Patton, Virgil was feeling less than ideal about this situation. He understands that it’s his “responsibility” to let Roman know or whatever, but there were just too many ways it could go wrong.

What if Roman hated him for running into him in the corridor earlier and was just being polite when he offered to help him up? The rumour about his soulmark had probably been going around all day—what if he thought Virgil had faked his soulmark to be with him? What if, when Patton found out, he got that disappointed look in his eye, regretting that he’d ever convinced Virgil to go ahead with it?

What if Virgil ruined their perfect relationship, just by trying to have some happiness of his own?

Remy inhaled sharply. “Okay, well, first of all, you’re an idiot, so jot that down.”

Virgil raised his eyebrows. Not exactly the encouraging piece of advice he had been hoping for.

“Wow, thanks, Rem,” he snarked, “This is really making me feel better.”

He glanced out the window over towards where Roman, Logan and Patton generally sat, trying to catch a glimpse of the three of them, but was greeted only by empty space. That was odd, he could have sworn they were there when he and Remy had walked by on their way to the cafeteria—it was impossible to miss Patton in that skirt. Where could they have gon-

Virgil was jerked out of his confusion by Remy grabbing his hands from across the table, causing him to jump.

“Oh my god! I can’t believe you don’t think you’re good enough for that asshole! Does my opinion mean nothing to you?!” Remy threw their hand onto their chest dramatically. “I have good taste in friends, Virge—the best—and you certainly wouldn’t be my best friend if you weren’t the most awesome person I know.”

Virgil grimaced. “Right, well regardless of whether or not that’s true-”

“Oh, it’s true.”

Remy had a look in their eyes like they were daring Virgil to argue, but he didn’t rise to the bait. It really wasn’t worth his energy to argue with them right now.

“That’s what you think though, Remy,” Virgil sighed, “I don’t know that they’ll think the same.”

Remy popped another chip into their mouth with a smirk. “Well, if they don’t love and respect you for the amazing person you are I’ll beat them with a stick.”

“Remy…”

Virgil rolled his eyes. Remy was… protective is probably the word he’d use. Ever since they were little kids and Virgil would get picked on for not having a soulmate Remy would stand up for him, getting themself in trouble but keeping Virgil out of it at the same time. They insisted it was worth it, no matter how many times Virgil begged them to stop.

The day that Remy got suspended for punching some asshole who’d been calling Virgil names, Virgil had cried into their shoulder for hours. It had felt like it was his fault, like if he’d been better—more likable or more like everyone else—then Remy wouldn’t be in the position they were in. If he’d been different, Remy could have just gone through their schooling being the bossy, slightly disruptive kid that they were, instead of the problem child Virgil had forced them to be painted as.

But as Virgil had wiped away his tears, spilling those thoughts into Remy’s embrace, he had felt his best friend stiffen. They had pulled away, grabbing Virgil’s shoulders so he was looking them directly in the eyes before speaking.

“I would get myself expelled a hundred times over to make sure you never have to suffer again, yeah? You don’t deserve the things that happen to you, Virge. Not by a long shot.”

And to this day Virgil had never seen Remy look so serious. Normally they joked around—always a glint of mischief in their eye from some hilarious story Virgil was undoubtedly going to be hearing—but at that moment Remy had been entirely sincere, begging Virgil to believe them.

So he had.

Or at least he’d tried to. It was still hard for him to believe that he was worth all the energy Remy was freely expending, but he made an effort to accept that it wasn’t going to change any time soon.

Remy waved their hand back and forth dismissively. “I know, I know, not helpful. Look, look at it this way. What have you got to be afraid of?”

Virgil narrowed his eyes. He could give Remy an alphabetised list of what exactly he had to be afraid of here, starting with, “a - agonising pain as his heart was broken by the boy he was in love with,” and ending with “z - zombies.”

You can imagine what the rest of the list was like.

“No, for real!” Remy continued, “You didn’t even have a soulmark yesterday! You were perfectly content to live out the rest of your days finding love on your own. That was your whole thing! Let’s say the universe was wrong—Roman rejects you and is a total asshole and perishes by my hand—then you just live your life the way you always planned to!”

They smiled reassuringly. “If you think about it, Virge, nothing’s really changed. ‘Cept you’ve gotten a little bit more of a push to go after what you want.”

Virgil considered that for a moment, taking a bite of his sandwich. Yeah, it’s true that he had previously been happy to find love without a soulmark, but it wasn’t fair to say nothing had changed. Everything had changed. Because now, instead of Roman being some teenage crush he would get over by the time he’d finished high school, he was apparently the person Virgil was supposed to spend the rest of his life with.

And Virgil just couldn’t imagine that.

It was ridiculous, almost, given the amount of time Virgil had spent fantasising about Roman, but Virgil couldn’t picture growing old with him. He couldn’t really picture quiet moments alone, or Roman coming home from work to greet him with a kiss, or romantic date nights. It just felt wrong. Even throwing Patton into the mix didn’t fix it—didn’t dissolve the feeling of unease that came over Virgil when he tried to imagine this future the universe had so clearly planned out for him.

But Remy was right—and more than that, he was right—when he’d said that he didn’t need a soulmark to find love. If Roman didn’t want him, then he didn’t want him either. And if that strange feeling never left his chest, Virgil didn’t have to stay; he could find a place where he did feel comfortable, he was sure.

He hummed. “I guess you’re right.”

“Of course, I’m right!” Remy beamed, before allowing their tone to grow softer, “And hey, if Roman really does reject you—which I’m sure isn’t going to happen, but if he does—I’m here. You’re never going to be alone. Emile and I would be happy to have you live with us for the rest of your life if you needed to. I promise.”

Virgil would never dream of imposing on them both that way, but he didn’t show it. Instead, he painted on a smile—a small one, didn’t want Remy getting suspicious. “Pinky promise?”

“Pinky promise,” Remy laughed.

Virgil cleared his throat, hoping to steer the conversation away from him for a moment. “So, uh, how’s Emile doing anyway?”

Virgil watched as his best friend’s eyes lit up, almost immediately going on about Emile’s grades and how well he was doing in his classes despite it only being his first year at uni and how much they missed him, blah blah blah. Virgil knew that Remy wouldn’t care if he zoned out a little bit—they’d had their serious talk for the afternoon, and honestly, they were probably perfectly happy to just talk Virgil’s ear off for the rest of lunch.

So he let his mind wander, and truly, where else could it possibly wander to but Roman.

The first time Virgil had seen Roman, he had not liked him.

They’d been in the same gym class their first year of high school and Virgil hadn’t been able to explain what it was, but something about Roman bothered him. It might have been the way he smiled, the way he’d strut around the room like he owned the place, the way he’d talked himself up to anyone who would listen. Virgil hadn’t been sure, but it made something in his chest tighten every time he’d looked at him.

He hadn’t spoken to him; Virgil wasn’t an idiot, Roman was capital-p Popular and he didn’t feel like getting beaten up at high school as well as elementary. Any feelings Virgil had had towards Roman, positive or negative, had stayed firmly between him and Remy.

Remy hadn’t particularly had an opinion of Roman, to begin with. They’d had the chance to be dragged into those friend groups—of course they had, they’d always been a charmer—but they’d declined in favour of staying with Virgil. It was possibly one of the nicest things Remy could have done for him, but naturally, they acted like it was no big deal. To them, there’d really been no other option.

So their interactions with Roman had truly been limited, and despite Virgil spending most of his gym lessons trying not to stare—trying to figure out how one person could be so unbelievably arrogant, or at least that’s what he’d told himself—Roman hadn’t been a common topic of conversation.

That was until Virgil signed up for backstage crew for that year’s musical.

He hadn’t known that Roman did theatre—really, considering how loud he was, Virgil knew surprisingly little about him—but the first time he’d shown up for rehearsals Roman had been there. Virgil later found out that Roman had gotten one of the lead roles, and from that moment when Virgil first saw him, he understood why.

He could still picture it, down to the second.

The backstage crew kept slightly different practice hours to the cast and so when Virgil had arrived at the school hall, their rehearsal was already underway.

Roman had been standing centre stage in the middle of a solo. None of the set had been organised yet, so it was all natural lighting, nothing present on the stage outside of himself and a chair they used as a makeshift prop, but there was something in the way Roman moved that made you forget that.

He commanded the space, every gesture filling up the entire room and every expression cutting directly to your soul. You could feel the energy coming off of him in waves, every inch of passion and power drawing the eyes of every single one of the room’s occupants, forcing their minds to a place far different than the empty stage he stood on.

And his voice.

Virgil wasn’t bad at singing, himself—he was usually in tune and his voice had a recognisable sound. It wasn’t something he’d ever worked at though, far too self-conscious about drawing attention to himself to ever pursue anything so bold.

Roman, however, was absolutely astounding. His voice had been clear, but warm. The emotion had been thick with every single phrase uttered, painting a picture full of reds and yellows and browns and gold, producing a masterpiece of sound. Virgil had been able to hear every word, but more than that: Virgil had been able to feel every word. It was like Roman had been pushing the song deep into his chest, ensuring with every fibre of his being that he was understood and that this story was told.

Virgil had been aware he was essentially standing there slack-jawed in awe, but considering he hadn’t been the only one, he hadn't felt as self-conscious about it as he may have had otherwise. And as Roman had finished his solo, beaming at the thundering applause from his peers, Virgil had had a realisation.

He didn’t hate Roman. He had a crush on him.

He wasn’t going to say it was a welcome realisation. Virgil hadn’t thought of himself as gay, but he hadn’t really thought of himself as straight either. Quite honestly, it just wasn’t something he’d thought that much about. But after that moment, he hadn’t been able to stop thinking about it.

Couldn’t stop thinking of Roman frantically pressing his lips to Virgil’s for the first time, running off of the adrenaline of his most recent performance. Couldn’t stop thinking about Roman dragging him out for a picnic, the two of them trading lazy kisses in the midday sun. Couldn’t stop thinking about Disney marathons cuddled up on the couch, Roman playing with his hair and singing along to all the songs.

Just… couldn’t stop thinking about Roman.

He’d already paid the fee to be a part of the musical, so Virgil certainly wasn’t going to back out now—even if Roman’s face made him want to turn on his heel and run in the opposite direction every time he saw it. Instead, he’d resigned himself to spending the entire musical avoiding him, but Roman had clearly had other ideas.

Roman had made it a point to thank the crew at any opportunity he had been able to get. Normally Virgil would’ve appreciated that—the crew never gets enough recognition for the work they put in—but the way Roman had been so completely sincere in his congratulations and well done’s had been infuriating. He’d almost wished he could have gone back to hating him.

Roman being a good person had been equally as bad as Roman being a stuck up, self-obsessed asshole because if Virgil hated him for being an asshole he could feel justified in his feelings.

If Roman was an asshole then he deserved Virgil’s ire—deserved the way Virge would rant about him to Remy for what could be considered a socially unacceptable amount of time, complaining about whatever dramatic and disruptive antic Roman had planned that day. If he was an asshole then things were easy; Virgil knew where he stood and he was happy with that.

If he was a good person, however, then he didn’t deserve Virgil’s romantic feelings anywhere near him. If he was a good person the way he seemed to be, giving sincere thank you’s and planning gifts for teachers and running fun warm-up sessions and stealing another piece of Virgil’s heart with every smile he displayed…

Well, Virgil didn’t know what to do with that.

When he found out Roman had started dating Patton Hart, he hadn’t been surprised or upset. He’d never been foolish enough to expect to end up with the high school's resident Prince. He’d been happy for him. Really. After all, Roman had deserved better, and Patton was definitely better.

But maybe Virgil deserved something better too.

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Chapter 7

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#sanders sides #sanders sides fic #lamp/calm #virgil sanders #roman sanders #ts sleep #remile #prinxiety #I'm so pleased I managed to get this finished #lo can write

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thebrotherscupheadandmugman · 4 years

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Fiery Frolic! With Grim Matchstick!

Before you read: This is a rewriting of the main game Cuphead. Characters, certain dialogue, music, and locations obviously do not belong to me. This is best read with the OST playing over it.

Before you start reading, I now have a Patreon you can donate to as well if you should want to support where I wish to take this project! Patrons have unique opportunities to help bring this story to life, so please check it out or become a patron if you feel so inclined! Too young or unable to give financial support? That’s perfectly fine! You can also support this project, and my future ones by reblogging these episodes for free! Oh, and here’s a link to all published episodes. Enjoy!

As the brothers crossed the second rainbow bridge in Isle Two, Mugman couldn't help but stare up at the tall spire with nervousness. Even from here, they could see a large, green tail that wrapped up and around the castle tower. Cuphead continued to drag Mugman across the bridge, even after the older brother's feet stopped moving. “Mugs, we at least have to cross the bridge before the sprinklers stop working.” “I-I-I know, I just...” Mugman gazed fearfully at the broken castle ahead of them. He suddenly pulled out the list of debtors and began reading it. “M-maybe there's someone else we should fight first!” Cuphead placed a hand over Mugman's and gently pushed his hand down so he could see his face. “Mug, we're here now. It'd waste more time ta run around and find any a the other debtors in the isle.” Mugman whined at that. “I know, but...” He let out a huff in frustration. “I-it's a dragon, Cups! A real-life dragon! You know how many times Elder Kettle's said he lost fellow knights to dragons!! A-and they're trained for combat! How can we possibly stand a chance to a fire-breathing dragon?!” Mugman began biting his nails through his gloves, clippings flying off his fingertips with each chatter he made.

Mugman imagined a dark scene, where the dragon angrily roared at them with burning, glowing yellow eyes as he flew around his castle with razor-sharp teeth bared out at them. The dragon breathed fire that burned so brightly, it made the sun seem dim in comparison, making the entire landscape darker as his eyes could only seem to focus on the yellow and orange flames.

Cuphead quickly waved the thought cloud away with his hand, only to notice Mugman had began to chew on his straw now. “Mug, yer such a worry-wart! Stop chewin' up yer straw, and quit bein' a sippy cup.” Cuphead tried as he grabbed Mugman by his right wrist to pull him across the bridge. “Everythin's gonna be fine!” “H-how can you be so confident about this?!” Mugs asked, his straw flying out from his teeth once he opened his mouth. “Because. When the two of us stand together, there's nothin' that can take us down.” Mugman lowered his head anxiously. That was a little comforting, but could the two of them truly take down a dragon? Cuphead noticed, and gave his brother a reassuring pat on his right shoulder. “Everything's gonna be fine. Swear on my straw.” “You swear on your straw?” “Uh-huh!” Cuphead nodded with a wide smile. “Cross my heart, hope to crack, stick a sword in yer back! Besides,” Cuphead took off the glove on his left hand, revealing the lavender ring on his finger. “We got this new weapon, and you've got invincibility on yer side thanks to that swell, new, magical Super Art.” Mugman pulled out the Super Coin labeled with II from his pocket and looked at it. “You're not going to try it?” “Nah.” Cup shook his head, “I'd rather be able to do massive damage and end things quicker.” “Can't end it if we don't survive it.” Mugman argued, but sighed and placed the coin back in his pocket. “But you're right. It'd make no difference if we put off this fight and run out of time, or if we fight him now and lose.” “That's...not what I was goin' for, but we'll roll with it!”

Our heroes stood outside the castle and looked up at the stone spire from the grass below. Cuphead let out a whistle at how tall the tower stood. They could hear a ferocious roar from outside, one that shook the ground from where they stood, followed by an exhale of air. Mugman quivered in his boots, clinking in fear as the dragon roared again and exhaled. It was starting to form a pattern. “J-j-just why is he r-roaring like that?! D-does he know we're here?!” “Maybe we should find the window his tail is coming out from, and sneak in from behind.” Cuphead thought. “Y...yeah, that's actually not a bad idea.” The brothers walked around the left side of the tower, and found the dragon tail that stuck out the window and wrapped around the tower. “Do you think he's looking this way?” “I dunno, I can't see from here. Uh, hang on, lemme try somethin'.” Cuphead removed his straw from his head, and angled one end to form a perfect 'L' shape. He then bent the bottom of his straw towards him just a tad and looked through the end of his straw to try and see inside, but he couldn't quite see through the window, and ended up staring right at the stone wall. “Ugh, I still can't see!” “Here.” Mugman grabbed his little brother's handle and lifted his head off his shoulders, just enough to see past the wall. “Ack!” The child squeaked, not quite expecting that, but it was just the extra height he needed. “Perfect, thanks!” Cuphead moved the straw back up to his eyes, looked inside the security castle, and saw the tail leave the room and trail around the corner. “Mug, he ain't even in the room!” Cuphead announced as he removed the kink he made in his straw before putting it back in his head. Mugman put his brother's head back on his shoulders, then Cuphead turned around. “Gimme a boost, we can sneak right in!” Mugman nodded. “O-okay...”

Mugman put his hands together to give his brother some footing, and Cuphead placed his right foot in the mug's hands, holding onto the older's shoulders for balance. “Ready?” Cuphead asked. Mugman nodded. “Just climb in though. If you jump in, you'll make too much noise when you land. Now's not a good time to be a showoff. And do not touch his tail!” Mugman whispered. “Well duh!” Cuphead hoisted himself up in Mugman's hands, grabbed onto the inside of the stone window sill and pulled himself up. “Watch the tail, watch the tail!!” Mugman warned cautiously. Cuphead pulled himself as close to his right-hand side as he could, placed his left foot on the window and pushed himself forwards, quietly landing inside the castle. He stuck his straw out the window from the other side. “Take my straw!” Cuphead whispered. Mugman grabbed onto the red straw and gave a small tug. The straw was suddenly yanked back into the castle, taking Mugman along with it. “Eep!” The screen shook with the sound of a crash!

Cuphead looked down at Mugman as he laid on the ground, holding his head as stars and birds circled around it. After a few moments though, Mugman shook them off and stood up. “Well, we're in.” Mugman said as he looked around at the ancient castle. “Let's follow the tail to find Grim.” “Mm-hmm.” Cuphead agreed.

The boys silently followed the large green tail around the corner, only to find it trailing up a spiral staircase. “Wha- how long is his tail?!” Mugman whispered. “We have to climb all the way up?!” “We have to climb all the way up, without stepping on his tail, and without falling off the other side!!” “But his tail is basically the same size as the stairs! How we supposed to do that?!” “Uh...just watch your step?” “Great. If we don't accidentally touch him, we'll fall off the side and shatter.” “Well that's optimism.” Mugman sighed.

The brothers began to climb the stairs, they were careful not to brush the dragon's tail or step off the ledge. After what seemed like an hour for the kids, they finally reached the top of the stairwell, both practically crawling their way up those final few steps, heaving and wheezing as they tried to catch their breath. How could anyone ever have climbed all the way up while wearing such heavy armor?! “Why...couldn't...have...the princess...built this place...with an...elevator?!” Cuphead panted. “Elevators...weren't...invented...until...1853...guh!” Mugman wheezed.

After a few moments of catching their breath, the brothers finally stood, ready to continue their search for the roaring dragon at the end of the tail. They walked forward and entered one last room before they finally spotted this mighty, ferocious dragon.

Grim Matchstick laid in the middle of the room on his back, his short arms and legs sticking lazily up in the air, almost like a dog or a cat. His long, lizard-like tongue hung out from his wide-open mouth limply, even lying on the stone floor some as his chubby tummy gently moved up and down with each breath. Grim roared loudly, then exhaled. Then, he roared again, but this time, there was a definitive snorting sound to it, followed by a slight sigh. “He's snoring?!” Cuphead whispered, causing one of Grim's ears to twitch. “This is...definitely not what I was expecting.” Mugman admitted, but he still didn't want to be the one who woke up a sleeping giant. “How exactly are we going to do this?” Grim's ears twitched again, and he suddenly stirred, causing Mugman to jump right into Cuphead's arms with a hushed gasp.

Grim closed his mouth and rolled over on his stomach, curling his long neck against his legs as he sleepily mumbled something. “That was close.” Mugman breathed. “Well, we still gotta get his contract!” Cuphead argued, dropping his older brother from his arms. “Ack!” Mugman squeaked as he landed on the stone. “Shh!” “Yer the one screaming.” “Just wait.” Mugman stood and brushed himself off, small gray dust clouds forming as he did. “If he's sleeping, we can snoop around and try and find it without waking him!” Grim's ears twitched again as Mugman explained. “We don't have to fight him!” Was someone trying to steal one of his scales again? “For once, we don't have to resort to violence!” They seemed like good-natured folks, but they also sounded like kids. Why would two kids need a dragon scale? “Mug, we might not have time for that.” Time? Oh no...

Grim finally opened one of his eyes to see what was going on, which Cuphead noticed immediately and looked on in fear. “Look, I think it'd be easier to make up for lost time than it would be to try and fight a dragon,” Mugman explained, oblivious to the shadow that loomed over him and his brother. “Uh, M-Mugs?” Grim looked down at the kids, unintentionally towering over the boys. As Mugman looked back and he squealed in fear as he saw the large dragon glaring down at them. No doubt Grim heard what Mugman said. They were ceramic toast. The dragon huffed out a bit of smoke as he stretched his wings.

Grim let out as quiet of a yawn as he could to avoid frightening the children, small sleepy tears pricking the corners of his eyes. “H-h-h-holy smokes! I d-d-d-didn't even hear you two come in! S-s-s-sorry about that, I had a rough n-n-n-night's sleep last night, so I didn't r-r-r-really clean as much as I sh-sh-sh-should have.” Grim stuttered, genuinely feeling sorry about his messy castle. The brothers looked at each other, unsure of how to react. Grim noticed his tail ended up wrapped around the castle again, so he unraveled himself from both the inside and the outside of the tower. “So, wh-wh-wh-what brings you two to the security castle? Is there s-s-s-something you n-n-n-needed?” Mugman opened his mouth to speak, but only various noises managed to come out. Grim lowered his head a bit, just to try and make himself look less intimidating. “Aw, I'm sorry, I-I-I-I didn't mean to scare you! You two can ask me a-a-a-anything! Honest!” “Anything?” Cuphead checked. “Anything. I promise I won't g-g-g-get mad.” “Promise?” Repeated Cuphead. “P-p-p-promise.” Grim nodded, his ears perking up cheerfully with a smile as his tail wagged behind him. “T-t-t-trust me. I'm known for m-m-m-my patience.” “Well...Okay.” Cuphead toyed, acting like the innocent little kid he wasn't. “We need your Soul Contract.”

Grim's warm smile dropped at that, his ears drooped lowly. He never told anyone about his deal with the Devil. Grim's wings twitched instinctively as he straightened his neck up once more. “H-h-h-how d-did...?” Cuphead was growing nervous himself now, as he saw the dragon make himself taller again. “Uhh, n-now remember, y-you promised not ta get mad!” He tried, slowly losing his nerve as every bit as much as Mugman had. “D-d-d-did the Devil himself send you?!” Cuphead flinched at that. “Uhhh...” The brothers both nodded, more out of fear than anything else. Grim sighed and looked away to try and hide his quivering lip. “Y-y-y-you two don't seem like th-th-th-the type for the D-D-D-Devil's l-l-l-lackeys.” Grim took another deep breath, gaining control of his emotions for the time being. He turned his head back at our heroes and looked down at them with slight guilt. They were just kids. Children. And from the conversation they had earlier, they seemed like good kids, too. “Ah, w-w-well, y-you see,” Mugman started, “w-w-we basically, uh, went somewhere w-we weren't supposed ta, a-and things k-kinda got outta hand!!” The poor boy was terribly frightened and unable to quite read the dragon's body language well. “W-w-we really don't wanna, b-but--” Mugman's mouth suddenly felt dry, too dry to speak. “But you were t-t-t-tricked?” Grim concluded, looking down at Mugman. Mug slowly nodded, afraid to break eye contact with Grim. Grim sighed again. He truly felt bad. “I....I'd l-l-l-love to h-h-h-help you out. I t-t-t-truly would.” Cuphead and Mugman looked hopeful at that. “B-b-b-but I c-c-c-can't just...leave.” In an instant, their hopes fell. “I-I-I-I can't j-j-j-just give over m-m-m-my Soul Contract t-t-t-to you.” Grim looked away. “If I do, I-I-I-I'll have to l-l-l-leave. I'll h-h-h-have to leave my f-f-f-friends, a-a-a-and th-th-th-they'll be s-s-s-so w-w-w-worried a-a-a-about me. I-I-I-I don't want them t-t-t-to worry about li'l ole me.” “Little?” Cuphead whispered. “So...I g-g-g-guess this puts us a-a-a-at a bit of a s-s-s-standstill. A c-c-c-case of 'your soul or mine.' R-r-r-right?” Neither one of the brothers liked where this was going. Grim spread out his wings and gave them a gentle flap. “M-m-m-my soul and my Soul Contract belongs to me. A-a-a-and no one else! I-I-I-I'm sorry. T-t-t-truly, I am. B-b-b-but if you w-w-w-want to get it from m-m-m-me, th-th-th-then I must challenge you.” Grim reached into a drawer with his tail, pulled out the contract, then shut the drawer again. He showed the boys his contract, then put the scroll behind his back. He began to flap his wings and lifted his body off the ground. “Take it f-f-f-from me, if you dare!!” Grim suddenly took off out the window and into the sky with a large gust of wind that knocked Mug over and sent him rolling into the wall, just beside the window. “Oww!!” “C'mon Mugs, we gotta get moving!” Cup said as he pulled his older brother up by the hand and tried to lead him outside. “I ain't fightin' this lizard withoutchya!”

The brothers hopped onto a cloud passing by the window and saw Grim just a little farther out. Our heroes began to skip across the sky, jumping from cloud to cloud to catch up with the dragon. Grim suddenly burst into view from the right, his wings morphed into thin, large hands with wriggling fingers and kept his real arms around his chest as he stretched his lips out with a, “Booooo!” Although it wasn't exactly scary, Mugman was so frightened by having to fight a dragon that it got the preteen to jump and squeal. Grim couldn't help but snicker just a tad. Yes, it was mean, but he always got a kick out of startling people. Mugman pulled his straw down to his mouth and took a large gulp of milk from his head to rid himself of his dry mouth. Meanwhile, Cuphead took a deep breath and pulled up his shorts as he braced himself for the battle ahead.

Grim's eyes suddenly swirled and went zany as he charged up his dragon magic. Cuphead hopped onto a cloud ahead of him, not too far above, pointed behind his own head and snapped. The green Roundabout bullets swirled behind him, just above his brother, then swung forward to hit Grim in the base of his neck. Then, green magic rings fired out from Grim's eyes and straight for Cuphead, then for Mugman, each with a third pink one that followed behind the first two. “Ah!” Mugman threw himself towards the next cloud, jumping down on the surface directly below Cuphead and avoiding the attack. Mugman saw another cloud that was higher up, where he could get a better view and made two hops up to it. Meanwhile, Cuphead ran forward to beat the train of magic rings to the next nearest cloud, then, he let himself roll forward and off the cloud. The end of Cuphead's straw closed up to form a white-gloved hand as he continued to flip forward, the hand slapped against the pink magic, giving the child a slight boost. This, unfortunately, wasn't enough, however, and as soon as Cuphead landed on the edge of the cloud, he began to wobble and quickly fell with a shriek. “Mugman!!” Mugman quickly looked back and saw his brother dangling from the cloud with his right hand. “Cuphead!!” Mugman rushed over to the other side of the fluffy platform, got on his hands and knees and grabbed his little brother's wrist to pull him up. However, as Mugman began to pull his brother up, Cuphead noticed how Grim's eyes went zany again, just like before. “Mugman, hurry, he's gonna attack again!!” Mugman groaned as he yanked the other up, and once Cuphead was close enough, Cuphead grabbed onto the ledge with his free hand and helped pull himself up. “There you go! Whew!” Cuphead stood, spun his head around backwards and started firing, ready to dodge. Mugman tried to get up but felt a tug on his left arm that told him he couldn't. “Wha-?!” Mugman tried to pull himself up again but got the same result. He looked down to see what the problem was and saw two little cloud puffs had embodied themselves to grab onto Mugman's glove and pull his hand down into the cloud completely. “Oh no!! C-Cuphead, help me up, I'm stuck in the cloud!!” Cuphead gasped at that and spun his head forwards again to try and pull Mugman out. Grim fired out three more eye ripples at the brothers, and Cuphead tried to pull his brother out even harder. “Cuphead, watch out! Move!!” Cuphead suddenly threw himself over Mugman and let all three attacks slam against his back. The boy hissed in pain and wiped his eyes before looking back at Grim. He seemed to be getting farther and farther away. “Mug, you gotta start shootin' at him. I'll try and getchya out!” Mugman gulped but nodded with a serious expression. If they didn't do anything but dodge, they'd never be able to end the match. Cuphead wrapped his arms around Mugman's chest and pulled, as Mugman began to snap at Grim with his free hand.

The sound of a tinkling piano was heard as the green tip of a tail wiggled through the cloud-cover below, almost as if waving to the audience on the other side of the screen. Suddenly, the tail jut upwards towards the brothers which caused Cuphead to let go of the mug and launched Mugman into the air and onto another cloud above. “Oof!!” Mugman hissed in pain, feeling the bruise already forming on his belly as he slowly got up. “Well, at least I'm out...” He looked down at Cuphead, “hey! You can reach that cloud down there!” Mugman pointed. “Either he's flying backwards, or he's pushing the clouds back by making wind! Aim behind your head instead of turning it, it's too dangerous at this height!” “Gotchya!” Cuphead winked as he gave his brother the a-okay sign with his hand. Cuphead dashed off the cloud, then threw a Smoke Bomb to give him the extra boost he needed to reach the lower cloud Mugman pointed to.

Mugman pointed straight at Grim, and began to fire again, jumping onto another cloud close by in order to keep the dragon in sight. Mugman winced in pain as he landed, but he tried his best to push it aside like he'd always seen his little brother do. Cuphead bent his arm back behind his head, and began to shoot his Roundabouts again, watching his green bullets circle around and hit Grim. Thankfully, the dragon was big enough that aiming wasn't majorly important.

Grim watched as the children moved closer and began to suck in air. He pushed his tummy upwards, seemingly puffing out his chest as the brothers continued to hop from cloud to cloud, Mugman always trying to stay higher up, and just a tad further back. Grim suddenly released his attack, coughing out a large meteor at the boys as he threw his short arms down and to the sides, then he wasted no time in preparing another. The meteor snaked down, then back up before it would start to curve and fall back down again. Mugman stood his ground, not moving from the cloud he was on. He estimated that the dip and the rise of the meteor's path should have been equal to each other in height and that he should have been safe from where he was. Unfortunately for Cuphead, he'd already hopped in the air once the attack was launched and found himself in the path of the meteor! The child rolled his body forwards as he flipped, letting his legs stick out at an angle to try and make himself flatter to avoid crashing into the fiery rock. While Cuphead had successfully avoided slamming his whole body against the attack, the boy in red reached his left palm out towards the cloud to be able to land on his feet and scraped his elbow. “Ow!” Cuphead hissed, patting out the fire on his elbow as he stood. Something about that felt funny. It didn't feel like just a normal scrape, it felt different. Almost warm, but not at all in a pleasant way. Too warm. So warm, that it actually hurt. “What was...?” “Cuphead, incoming!” Mugman warned.

When Cuphead looked back at the dragon, he'd coughed out yet another meteor that sailed upwards first, unlike the one before. Cuphead got a running start, then jumped up onto another cloud above him, and Mugman didn't take long to join him. Cuphead held his left arm in pain. If Mugman wasn't standing right behind him, he'd be able to fire at him, but before Cuphead could tell Mugman to move, his older brother seemed to notice him holding his elbow. “You alright?” He asked, glancing down at Cuphead's elbow briefly, as he continued his fire. “'M fine, my elbow just...” Cuphead trailed off, not knowing the proper word to describe the way this felt. “Stings?” This caught Mugman's attention, but so did the next meteor Grim coughed out. “Hang on!” Mugman wrapped his left arm around Cuphead's waist and started running. “Move with me!” The brothers stepped off the cloud and let themselves drop onto another one close by. Mugman paused for a moment, waiting for the attack to move a little closer, then jumped directly into the trail of dark smoke the meteor left behind, and onto another puffy, white platform. “What'd you do?” Mugman asked as he kept an eye on Grim. “I scraped my elbow against one of the meteors, and now it kinda stings? But not really?” Mugman grabbed his little brother's injured elbow and brought it closer to his face as he continued firing. “Lemme see!” He looked down at Cuphead's elbow an immediately saw what Cuphead was talking about, thanks to the hole left by the fire on his shirt.

Cuphead's elbow was black and slightly charred. The cup burned himself. Dishware didn't get burned by the same things most people would, such as hot water, or hot food. Even brief contact with an open flame wouldn't feel as hot for them as it would for someone else. It took far more heat for a ceramic or metal being to feel pain than the average Joe, so neither of our heroes had experienced the burning sensation of touching a hot pan, or drinking hot cocoa before it's cooled. That was why Cuphead didn't know how to describe the pain he felt. “You just got a little burnt, it's nothing major.” Mugman informed, looking back at Grim now. “Burnt?” “When someth- shoot!!” Mugman grabbed his brother's right wrist and pulled him along as he jumped down onto a lower cloud. Cuphead hadn't even noticed Grim cough out another meteor. “When something's too hot for our bodies to withstand, it leaves a burn, which causes pain. But because we're made of ceramic designed for holding hot coffee or tea, most things won't burn us.” Mugman explained, moving in front of Cuphead as he continued his fire towards Grim. Neither one of them noticed the sound of the piano as the tail wriggled behind Cuphead. Mugman turned his head to finish his explanation as Cuphead finally began firing behind himself again. “Luckily for you, it's a minor burn, we can just wash off the soot with some dish soap and elbow grease late- Cuphead, hightail it outta there!!” Cuphead glanced behind him and rushed out of the way onto a lower cloud as Mugman jumped up to a higher one, just before the tail jut upwards.

Seeing that his meteors didn't seem to work, Grim switched tactics again and let his eyes go zany as he shot out four magic eye ripples, the fourth one being pink, just as before. Mugman saw the incoming attack, and squat down low to duck out of the way, but as the pink ring soared above him, he jumped back up to try and parry the magic, only to miss, and get hit in the face. “Ouch!!” Mugman tried to stay standing and stumbled back as a result. “Mugs, watch yer--” Cuphead knew it was too late. One wrong misstep and Mugman plunged off the cloud with a loud shriek, and with nothing but the carnival below to break his fall. Cuphead lunged forwards, as far as he could manage, and pushed Mugman and himself onto another fluffy cloud. “Mug!! You okay?!” Mugman sat up and held his right cheek as he hissed in pain. “Yeah. Ugh, I sh-shouldn't have tried to parry.” He let go of his face to see the crack that formed from the attack. “Ow! Thanks for the save.” The brothers quickly got up and moved closer to the dragon, both trying their hardest to build up their Super Meter and both so close to a full meter.

Once the brothers got close enough, Grim noticed the charred ceramic on Cuphead's elbow, and a pang of guilt shot through him. “D-d-d-did I burn you?” He asked meekly, trying not to sound half as guilty as he felt. “Wh- of course ya burnt me!! You shot giant fireballs of death at us!!” “Oh, I-I-I-I'm sorry!” “Wh- I- sorry?!” Cuphead seemingly spat back, but he spoke more out of disbelief rather than anger. “Don't m-m-m-misunderstand my flames – I just meant fun and games.” Grim admitted, although it was a bit of a lie to himself. It was the only way he could trick himself into attacking these kids. He wasn't actually fighting them, he'd tell himself, he was merely play-fighting. Grim pushed his thoughts to the side, and began to suck in air as he prepared another attack. “What flames?!” Cuphead asked. Grim paused, completely still for a few moments as he pretended to think.

After about one second, Grim answered. “Th-th-th-these flames!” He joked and coughed out two flaming meteors that weaved up and down in a crisscross pattern. “Ack!!” Cuphead jumped over the higher fireball and managed to roll onto another cloud safely, then looked back to watch Mugman. Mug looked around the sky to find a safe cloud between the two meteors, but the only cloud that was safe was the one directly across from him, which he would have to cross the path of the intertwining fireballs to reach. Mugman had no choice, however. He took a deep breath, got a running start, and lunged across the gap between him just as the meteors flew towards him. It was evident Mugman wouldn't make the jump before the attacks crossed. “Mugman!!” Cuphead cried. He couldn't see his brother anymore thanks to all the smoke from the meteors. However, it almost seemed like there was more smoke than usual.

Not seeing his brother made Cuphead's heart sink. He balled up his fists in anger and wiped away the dots of milk that tried to form in his eyes. “I ain't letting you get away with hurting Mugman!!” The child roared, not looking back at the dragon as he snapped faster, and more vigorously than he ever had in his life. He could hear the green bullets swivel around and hit Grim, and he could feel his Super Meter building now more than ever.

Suddenly, tiny blue bullets joined the barrage of attacks that hit the dragon from the cloud of smoke left behind. Cuphead instantly felt hope well up inside his very soul and he could just barely make out the sound of his brother's voice coughing.

As the smoke cleared, Mugman was waving the gray clouds away with his right hand as he shot at the dragon with his left. “Good gosh!” The mug hacked, “That literally blew up in my face.” “Mugman!!” “For future reference, the Smoke Bomb works better when you don't throw it at a flaming object that's two feet away from your face!” Cuphead sighed in relief, then turned back to look at Grim.

“Also, as an addition to what we were saying before, those don't count as flames! They're just rocks on fire!!” Cuphead shrieked back, the anger from before having completely dissipated. “Wait, th-th-th-they don't?” Grim asked. “Nuh-uh!” The cup huffed sternly. “Oh...Well...uhh...” Grim stammered, not changing his facial expression as he slowly slid backwards and off the screen.

Mugman quickly hopped from cloud to cloud, passing Cuphead as he tried to chase the seemingly fleeing dragon. “Where'd he go?!” “Cuphead, after him!” Mugman suddenly heard a whooshing sound from behind him, but he only managed to catch a glimpse of a scaly green tail. “Wait a minute!” As a large gust of wind continued to push the clouds forward, Mugman suddenly heard a fiery fwoosh from behind, and saw that something pink had rolled out below the clouds under them. The boy turned around and saw that Grim had lowered his head down behind Cuphead and him, and that he'd not only rolled out his tongue below, but he was also blowing out fire from his nostrils as he slowly flew closer to an oblivious Cuphead. “Cuphead, move!!” Mugman called, but it seemed his brother couldn't hear him. “Mugman, do you see where he went?!”

Eventually, Grim ran out of breath and had to stop breathing fire. He quickly took in a sharp breath to refresh the attack, but noticed the inattentive red child that stood on a cloud just above him. Regardless of what Grim was trying to do, the dragon didn't see it as very fair if he unexpectedly snorted fire at the boy with absolutely no warning.

Grim puffed out smoke from his nostrils with a deep whistling sound into the air above, and unfortunately right into Cuphead's face. “Ack!” Cuphead was blinded, and began to cough and hack aggressively as he tried to wave away the smoke. “M-Mugma--” The boy was cut off by his own choking. “I-I can't see!!” It was clear to Mugman that his brother didn't notice the approaching dragon behind him. Mugman swallowed the lump of anxiety in his metaphorical throat and dashed back from cloud to cloud to reach his little brother, only to freeze up when he got too close to the dragon for his liking. Mugs looked back to see if there was another cloud he could use as a safety net and looked back to Cuphead, holding out both his arms. “C-C-Cuphead!! J-jump forward!! Quickly!!” Cuphead still couldn't see anything, but his brother sounded close, so he jumped towards the sound of Mugman's voice, eyes still glued shut as he sailed into the air blindly.

Once he could finally breathe fresh air again, Cuphead managed to open his eyes as he started to fall. Mugman caught Cuphead in his arms, but at the price of stumbling and falling off the white puff. Luckily for the ceramic duo, Mugman managed to grab onto the edge of a cloud below, and swiftly swung his little brother up and over onto the cloud with impressive speed and agility. “Pull me up!!” Mugman called, firing back at Grim with his free hand. Mugman's feet dangled only mere inches above the dragon's tongue and he didn't like it one bit. Cuphead ran over to the other side of the cloud and bent over to help his brother up, having learned from Mug's mistake earlier. However, an orange fireball holding a large, burning matchstick in his left hand and wearing a blue shako on his head marched out from Grim's mouth with grit teeth, followed by another, grinning orange flame, then another, then another. Both the brothers realized that if Mug wasn't pulled up soon, he'd be burned by the Fireball Marchers. ��Wuh-oh!!” “Hurry!!” Cuphead yanked his older up by his arm, then grabbed his shoulder to pull him up the rest of the way, just before the leader with the shako reached the cloud. “Let's get to higher ground!!” Mugman advised, able to feel the heat from the marching fire below. “We're in the air right now?!” Cuphead reminded. “Whatever! Higher clouds! You know what I mean!!”

The boys moved away from Grim, both doing their best to keep a constant fire upon the mighty dragon. “Cuphead, do you have enough for a Super?” Mugman asked. The younger cup looked over to his brother and nodded. “Should I use it now?” “No! Not yet!” Mugman glanced down at the clouds below them, then back at the clouds behind them. “The strong wind's pushing the clouds towards Grim, if you try to use it now, you're bound to wind up with nothing under you to land on!” Mugman looked back at the dragon, keeping his line of fire on him as he thought. “The first Super lasts about three seconds before you drop back down.” Cuphead did his best to stay close to his brother, so that he could be ready whenever he gave him the signal, all while keeping his aim ahead to hit Grim. “But it'll be hard to judge the distance a cloud will be in that time while fighting like this...” This put the mug in a tough spot, using the Super in this type of field was risky, but they wouldn't last long simply chipping away at the dragon with their weaker attacks. If Mugman made a mistake, his brother would fall onto the Fireball Marchers below and get hurt. “Mugs...” Cuphead grumbled, growing impatient. “Alright. I'll keep an eye on the incoming cloud formations and try to time it so you have something to land on without getting burned again. In case I botch it up, I'll try and stay as close as I can so you don't fall.” “Wah? Mug, what if I accidentally hit you?” Cuphead voiced. “You won't, I promise. I'm only staying close by as a safety precaution! There's no harm in playing it safe.” “Right.” Cuphead nodded. “Once you finish the attack, switch to your new short ranged weapon, and try and stay within range, but not too close!” “Golly! Great thinkin' Mug!!” Cuphead agreed, and just like that, the plan was underway.

However, that was just when one of the Fireball Marchers suddenly made a noise, and broke the formation on the tongue. Mugman noticed the new sound and looked back to see the rouge fireball suddenly leap towards the two of them! “Woah!” Mugman suddenly pulled his brother back by his shirt, “jump, Cup,” and hopped up to another, higher cloud. “Wait!” Cuphead saw that the fireball could still reach them from their new height, and pushed his brother forward, forcing the mug to stumble two steps forward out of harm's way. As the younger cup jumped up, he let the marcher sail under him and into the cloud-cover below. “Good catch,” Mugman said, looking back with a thumbs up. “Ah! Wait!” Mugman rushed behind Cuphead then began to fire at Grim again. “Use it now!!”

Cuphead quickly pulled out the Super Coin from the depths of his pocket and flicked it into his head with his thumb in one, swift motion. He could feel the built-up magical energy grow stronger inside his body before the child let instinct take over. Cuphead jumped up in the air, lifted one leg up, and cracked a wide, confident grin as he aimed his head right at the dragon. “Take a sip a this, lizard-breath!!” He cried, then launched out the milk in his head with a mighty blast! Grim visibly tensed up at the attack upon impact and he let a loud yelp of pain escape his throat by mistake.

True to his word, Mugman moved along the traveling clouds and stayed close to his brother. As Cuphead began to fall back down, he just barely managed to land on the edge of a cloud below, with the help of Mugman, who grabbed his shoulder when he started to wobble forwards. Just as planned, Cuphead switched his weapon when he landed, and the next time he snapped, a small, lavender ball catapulted from his fingertip and crashed onto Grim's snout with a plop! “Auh!” Grim choked out as he flinched again. “This is working...” Mugman gasped softly, “keep on 'im, Cup!”

Suddenly, the brothers heard the strange, whiney sort of groan again and looked down to see another Fireball Marcher crouched down and facing the left, towards Grim. “Cuphe-!” “Already on it!” As the fireball lunged towards the ceramic duo, Cuphead took a short hop forwards and onto a lower cloud, closer to the dragon, before quickly jumping back onto the previous cloud once the flame had begun to sail towards him for a second time. At the same time, Mugman leaped and flipped backwards onto a lower cloud that was closer to the tongue than he'd like. “Ah!” He hissed, feeling the heat from the fire below. Mugman loved warm drinks and blankets next to a toasty, cozy fire, but this was too hot, even for him. It wasn't painful, but the fact that he could easily be burned scared him. The boy glanced back to find another fluffy platform, hopped onto the higher one behind him, and started firing again. “Cuphead, keep a safe distance!! I'll hang back!” Cuphead mentally acknowledged his brother's plan, but was too absorbed in the battle to physically show him, other than by getting some distance from the approaching dragon by hopping onto another cloud. “Try to stay higher up!” Mugman warned before he suddenly felt a drop land right on his nose. “Hnn?”

Cuphead had heard Mugman's strategy and glanced behind to try and find a higher platform, when he heard another matchstick marcher ready up for another attack. Cups glimpsed down below and saw this one facing the right, away from Grim, and towards Mugs! “Mug, watch out!!” “Ha?” Mugman saw the Fireball Marcher jump up and gasped as he quickly pulled out the new Super Coin. As Mug flicked the coin with his thumb, he jumped back and caught the enchanted charm in his head.

All at once, the boy could feel the magical energy from his Super Meter and the magic he dropped in his soul combine and increase dramatically. As if instinct took control, Mugman jumped up and crossed his arms below him in a circular motion as he tucked his knees into his chest. His soul, fueled by the magic, projected the illusion of his head, grinning despite appearing to be on the brink of death as indicated by the hollowed-out, black eyes. His head suddenly laughed in a deep voice, one that clearly wasn't Mugman's. “Ha ha ha!” The mug suddenly leaped out from the mouth of the illusion before it shrunk away with a few, large drops of milk, but rather than the typical blue appearance, Mugman was gold, and he glimmered and glowed so brightly, he almost looked transparent. Or perhaps he was transparent. “Woah! This is...I feel great! Fantastic! Ha ha!” He laughed confidently, oblivious to the other marcher that suddenly lunged at him. “Eek!” Mugman expected to get rammed and burned by the flame, but the fireball merely passed right through his body. “Good gosh! This sure is swell!!” Now Mugman was brimming with confidence, knowing that nothing could touch him. The child fought without fear.

Mugman dropped to a lower cloud, still keeping his distance from Grim, but not worried about the fire below. Mugman quickly began to fight recklessly, oblivious to the fading shimmer and how his body flashed between his normal and golden state. He heard another Fireball Marcher prepare for another leap, but when Mugman saw that he was facing him rather than Cuphead, he only scoffed. “Take your best shot at me, sucker!!” He taunted with confidence, just as his body ceased its flashing form and reverted back to its normal state.

The fiery marcher launched at Mugman and not only violently crashed into him, which caused the screen to shake, but also left a large, painful burn on his chest. “Ow! Ouch! Ow! Get it off, put it out! Ow!!” He shrieked, prompting Cuphead to look back. Mugman was laying flat with his stomach on the cloud, shirt and gloves still steaming and sizzling from when he presumably pushed the Fireball Marcher off and put out the fire it started on his shirt. “Mugman!” Cuphead rushed over to his brother and helped him back up to his feet again. “Are you alright?! What happened to your invincibility?!” “Owww.” Mug whimpered. “Y-you tell me.” He hissed as he held the burns on his chest. “I-I didn't realize that had such a short time-limit!” “Mugs...” “D-don't worry about me! Ow. We need to knock this guy out! Pronto! Focus on attacking him!” Mugman tried as he leaned onto Cuphead for support. It hurt so much just for him to stand, but they had to press forward. “Mug, yer hurt!” “I know, but we can't back down now! We'll worry about me later, but for now, we need to take this guy down! The longer we're fighting, the worse off we are!” Mugs groaned. Cuphead begrudgingly nodded. “Right.” He made sure his older brother was able to stand and got closer to the dragon again.

Mugman hopped up, wincing in pain as he moved, and focused his shots on Grim as he watched his little brother. Despite being hurt himself, Cuphead didn't let it bother him in the slightest. Meanwhile, Mugman was severely slowing down due to the pain, and would always take a precautious jump back whenever he saw the Fireball Marchers get ready to pounce. The burns to his chest certainly did no favors to the bruise that he got earlier, and all this moving around was making the crack on his cheek throb in pain. Mugman felt another drop on the right side of his rim, this time it rolled down and traced along the crack in his face, which earned another pained hiss from the boy. Elder Kettle didn't say anything about rain before they left, did he? Or maybe it was just dragon slobber?

“Kablooey!” Cuphead called as he expelled the built-up magical energy from his body out both his fists. As he fired the new Ex Move, a larger, lavender ball launched out and onto Grim's lower jaw, splashing all over his face.“ Owie!!” Grim yelped. “Why ca't you hoo husth g-g-g-githe uh ahleahy?!” The dragon questioned, wishing the children would just admit defeat and go home! “Over my empty head!!” Cuphead retaliated, just as the wind drastically picked up. The boy snapped his fingers once again and the lavender bullet catapulted forwards and smacked Grim right between the wings, then bounced off and hit the back of his neck, just behind the head.

The dragon shrieked in pain. The attack was just enough to trigger a reflex in his wings that caused them to freeze up and stop moving. Grim's eyes bulged out of his head as his body involuntarily shuddered. The dragon rolled his tongue back into his mouth as he glided across the sky, motionless for a few moments. The sky suddenly grew very dark as black clouds rolled in from seemingly nowhere. Rain quickly began to pour down over the three debtors, soaking them all within seconds.

Grim suddenly reared his neck upwards as the clouds darkened his form into nothing more but a large silhouette. There were three voices, each making a different sound. One laughed, another made a silly, warbly, babbling sound, and the last timidly wooed as if mimicking a ghost. “What was...?” Mugman asked, looking up at the silhouette in fear. A head rose up to look Cuphead right in the eyes. “One...” It said before another head on the left side rose up next to the other. “Two...” It taunted, before a third head arose on the far right, grinning maniacally at the cup with an insane look in his eyes. “Three!” Suddenly, the three heads closed in on the boy, forcing Cuphead to take a step back. “You'd b-b-b-etter flee! Brawrahahahah!” The hydra taunted, just as a loud crack of thunder crashed throughout the sky. “Cuphead, back away!!” Mugman warned, and Cuphead didn't at all hesitate.

However, Cuphead surprised Mugman with how far back he retreated. Cup pulled out a Smoke Bomb and dashed as far back as he could, then turned on his heel and lunged across at least four more clouds before he stopped behind his brother. Although Mugman didn't think much of this, he glanced behind at his brother for a moment as he observed Grim in his new form. “Good thinking, Cups. We don't know what this fella's capable of now. We should hang back and watch how he fights!” Mugman informed as he kept a line of fire.

The trio of hydra heads juggled themselves up and down in a way that seemed complex but was a fairly simple pattern. The outer two heads quickly spat out a goopy-looking fire cluster into the air, followed by another and another. At first, Mugman thought these would be easy to dodge if they only kept a safe distance, but one stray bullet from the Peashooter, and a cluster exploded in four different directions, one of course, that headed straight for our heroes.

Mugman flipped forward to dodge, then looked back to make sure Cuphead was safe. “Cuphead!” He called over the thunder and lightning. “Switch your weapon and focus on dodging if you accidentally hit one of those attacks!” Cuphead looked up at Mugman stiffly. “Focus on building up a Super, and end it quickly!!” A soft groan escaped from the older brother. “Hurry!” Mugman turned back to focus on their new strategy.

However, Cuphead couldn't hear what his brother had said at all over the rain, wind, and thunder. The child wasn't focused on the battle at hand at all anymore. Rather, Cuphead looked all around at their surroundings. A large, three-headed, fire-breathing dragon in front of them, gray and black clouds as far as the eye could see, trapped Heaven knows how high up from the world below. Another strike of lightning caused the child to tremble as the rainwater collected in his and his brother's head and overflowed, spilling down the sides. As high up and as soaked as they were, they were bound to be struck by nature's cruel electricity. Cuphead hardly moved aside from his own shaking, not that he could hear himself clinking over the sudden and violent storm. The boy watched his brother as he fought the dragon, unable to move from the one spot on the cloud as tears began to well up in his eyes. A soft hiccup escaped the child as his heart pounded against his chest. A sudden bolt of lightning lunged dangerously close to his brother's head, and the child nearly screamed, but his voice seemed to catch in his throat and turn into a mix between a sob and a cough. “M-Mugs!” Cuphead whimpered softly, sniffling as he shook violently, paralyzed with fear.

Mugman continued to shoot at the hydra as he made sure to watch out for the fire clusters to avoid hitting them. After a short while, however, Mugman noticed that Grim's center head took a deep breath, and knew he was preparing something. He turned back to warn Cuphead, only to hear his little brother suddenly start wailing loudly as soon as another, deafening clap of thunder echoed throughout Inkwell. “Cuphead?!” It had become too much for the child to bare all at once. Cuphead had his face raised to the sky as he wailed and sobbed in fear, terrified. Terrified that he was going to be electrocuted by the lightning. Terrified that his brother was going to be electrocuted by the lightning.

Mugman quickly looked back at Grim, then rushed over to his baby brother as fast as he could. The second he wrapped an arm around Cuphead, his little brother suddenly clung to him for dear life, sobbing and screaming into his chest. Before Mugman would even attempt to try and calm his beloved little Sippy Cup down however, he rushed up and lunged them both onto a higher cloud, and not a moment too soon.

Grim's center head morphed into a large, red flamethrower, and unleashed a massive beam of fire onto where the brothers once stood. He breathed in again and attempted to burn the brothers once more, but he hadn't seemed to notice they had moved. “Hey, g-g-g-genius! They moved up th-th-th-there! The angry-looking head on the right bickered. “W-w-w-well I didn't n-n-n-notice that!!” The center head defended. “And n-n-n-now's not the time t-t-t-to be arguing!” “Right! W-w-w-we need to defend our s-s-s-soul!!” The one on the far left agreed gleefully with a nod. “L-l-l-let's go!” They all cheered.

“Cuphead, what's wrong?” Mugman asked, keeping his little brother close as he pushed him against his aching chest. Cuphead managed to blubber something out, but it was far too distressed for Mugman to be able to make anything out. Another crashing boom of lightning and Cuphead whimpered as he hugged his brother tighter. “A-ah! N-not so tight!!” Mug hissed in pain, but now he understood.

Cuphead had been absolutely terrified of lightening ever since he was six. The three of them had gone to see a movie for Cuphead's birthday, and in the grand finale, the antagonist had been violently and graphically struck by lightning. The child had been terrified of getting electrocuted ever since. When they were kids, Mugman would always have to hold Cuphead close and stay with him until the storm either passed, or Cuphead fell asleep. However, Cuphead stopped waking him up in recent years, Mugman thought he'd been sleeping right through the storms and just assumed he'd gotten over his fear. He must have thought wrong.

Mugman looked back at their foe, grit teeth and a grave expression lining his face. This was a fine time for him to find this out. He knew he wasn't going to get Cuphead to do much more fighting, but if he'd tried to tell him to sit it out anywhere, his brother would not only still be terrified, but at risk of getting hit. No matter where Cuphead moved to, he'd always be in the way. He had to think of something, and quick. “I-it's okay, Sippy Cup, don't panic, alright?” Mugman hoped that the nickname would at least soothe him in some way. “Y-yer gonna be alright, alright? Just...” Mugs began to fire at Grim once more with his free hand and held on tighter to his brother with the arm he had wrapped around him as he continued to move towards him. “Hang on tight!” Mugman braced himself for the remaining battle ahead and for his brother to increase his grip over his injuries.

Mugman rushed just a little closer to Grim and attempted to build up enough of his Super Meter to at least use some Ex Moves, all while carrying his caterwauling mess of a baby brother. The crying child wasn't about to go unnoticed by Grim, however. “Wh-wh-wh-what's wrong with him?! I-i-i-is he hurt?!” The center head asked, quite clearly very concerned. “Wh-wh-wh-what's it matter to you?!” The right head barked. “H-h-h-he's not important, we are!!” The left head tried to remind. “He is a m-m-m-mere child!!” The center head argued as he glared at his other two heads. “He is trying to t-t-t-take our soul!!” The left head scolded. “We have every r-r-r-right to kill them both!!” The right head growled before he suddenly nipped at the mugs. “S-s-s-stop that! C-c-c-can't you see there's something wrong?!” Their arguing suddenly gave Mugman an idea, but he'd have to get dangerously close.

Mugman briefly stopped his firing to yank a cloud out of the sky and throw it closer to the hydra on the left side. Mugs continued his fire once more and jumped over onto the cloud he just smacked back into place and shot at the farthest head from beside the outer right head. “Hey ugly!! Fix yer aim, I-I'm right here!!” He taunted, which prompted a snarl from the angry head. “D-d-d-don't make him even madder, k-k-k-kid!!” The center head warned, but it was too late. The right head suddenly spat out multiple fire clusters at the boys, which Mugman promptly shot before he jumped off to another cloud.

The clusters split apart and hit the two other heads, who both yelped in pain before glaring daggers at the offending head. “Smooth m-m-m-move!!” The left one growled. “E-e-e-even I w-w-w-wouldn't have fallen for that!” “Sh-sh-sh-shut up! Y-y-y-you don't even want to defend the fate of y-y-y-your very soul, a-a-a-and you're upset at me?!” Suddenly, the left head spat out two other fire clusters at the right head, which Mugman quickly shot so that they'd hit all three heads again. “Oh, now look who's the g-g-g-genius!” “G-g-g-guys, we need to stop arguing!” “L-l-l-look, wise guy! If you think f-f-f-fer a second that I'm going to l-l-l-let you get away with a-a-a-attacking myself like that--” “Well at least I d-d-d-didn't do it on purpose!!” Suddenly, the right head lunged forward and bit the left most neck beside it, resulting in the left head to retaliate by chomping down on the right one's cranium. “Ouch!! Stop f-f-f-fighting with yourselves!!” The center head begged, but it was too late.

Mugman seized the opportunity and began firing once again while they were distracted. Thankfully, Mugman's plan had worked, and they were distracted enough by themselves that they hadn't noticed him shooting. Right now, it wasn't about beating the hydra, or doing massive amounts of damage to him. This was about building up his Super Meter, ending this, and calming his brother down. This was about survival. “G-g-g-guys, p-p-p-please! Stop f-f-f-fighting!!” The center continued. Mugman got up closer to the center and hoped that he could do this with just one hand. He had just over enough for one attack, and Mug knew the heads couldn't stay distracted for long! Upon seeing the boy, the center head glanced between the two, still arguing, heads and Mugman, practically cradling his shaking brother with one arm. The same boy who'd been shaking in his presence just moments earlier. Grim had to commend the boy for his bravery, but knew he still had to stand his ground. He puffed out a sigh, then took a deep breath, preparing his flames. “Please work...” Mugman begged to himself. He glanced over at Cuphead and, in an attempt to try and calm him down, he decided to use the whole 'signature move' baloney that Cuphead had been begging him to do. Mugman took a deep breath and concentrated the magical energy built up in his body out his right fist. “Mega Blast!” He jut his hand out forward, but the magic gave a blue spark in both hands for a brief moment, then fizzled out. Mugman internally panicked and promptly tried again, knowing this was his only chance. “Mega Blast!!” Once again, the magic sparked, but fizzled out. If he let go of Cuphead, he could fall. If he didn't try something, they'd be burnt to a porcelain crisp. Mugman took one last deep breath and focused entirely on his magic and the target. He balled up his fists as he unintentionally shot a glare at the dragon, then threw out his fist one last time.“Mega Blast!!”

Finally, the magic shot out one fist and collided into the hydra with a great force. The two outer heads drooped down with 'X's in their eyes, the one on the left side's cheeks puffed up as his tongue hung out haphazardly from his mouth. The center head snapped back, 'X's also in his eyes, before his head tilted down slightly. “Yes!! Oh! Oh! Oh dear mercy yes!!” Mugman shouted in utter relief, but it wasn't over yet.

Mugman held onto his brother as he leaped onto the hydra's back and scoured under his wings. Before long, Mugman found the contract and checked it, but before he could get off Grim's back, he suddenly felt overwhelmingly dizzy and unbalanced. Mugman's world suddenly began to spin and he clung onto the reptile's back for dear life just before the dragon lurched forward without warning and back into the tower, away from the storm.

Grim lowered a wing down for the brothers to climb off once they were inside. “H-h-h-here.” He murmured softly. Mugman was a little confused, but he took the offer and gently climbed down onto the stone, both he and his little brother dripping wet. “I-I-I-I'd offer you a-” Grim cut himself off with a slight hiss of pain. “A towel, b-b-b-but you'll just get soaked as soon as you s-s-s-step outside again.” Grim had changed back to normal now, with only one head visible, but the dragon was still covered in wounds and bandages from their battle. “Y-you're...? Not mad?” The dragon shook his head. “No.” He looked down at the pair with a somber expression and a sigh. “What's done i-i-i-is done. A-a-a-and you earned that f-f-f-fair and square.” Grim fell down onto the stone floor with a huff, just to rest his injured body. “Holy s-s-s-smokes...you two certainly didn't hold anything b-b-b-back...” A pang of guilt shot through Mugman. “W-we're sorry.” “D-d-d-don't be...I just hope...th-th-th-that whatever happens...It h-h-h-happens for the best.” Grim looked up at our heroes. “You two should g-g-g-get going.” “Right.” Mugman nodded, his dizzy spell having passed, “come on, Cups...” Cuphead whined and sniveled quietly into his brother's chest, still terribly frightened from the violent storm just outside.

As Mugman carried his little brother back down the stone stairway, he rubbed the child's back soothingly. “I didn't realize you were still so scared of lightning...” Cuphead only whined in response. “I'm sorry. If I'd known, I would have tried to do something sooner.” Cuphead sniffled a few times, and Mugman sighed, rubbing the base of Cuphead's handle with his thumb a bit. “I...” Mugman looked over at Cup as he spoke, giving his baby brother his full attention. “I w-was tryin' ta be b-brave a-and...” The boy was cut off by another hiccup before he dove back into his brother's chest. “Aww, Sippy Cup...” Mugman hushed. “You don't have to worry about being brave around me when something scares you that bad.” Cuphead mumbled something into Mugman's shoulder that sounded just a bit like 'I don't?' “Of course not. You're already one tough cup. The toughest cup I know, alright? But you can't always be tough like that. And that's okay...Because you have a big brother like me to help you out when things get too scary and tough.” Mugman continued to rub circles into Cuphead's back as the two descended down the stairs. “After all, you're always here for me when I'm scared. So it's only fair that I'll be there for you when you're scared. Okay?” Cuphead turned his head to breathe a little better, still leaning his head against Mugman's chest. He sniffled a few times, wiped his eyes and nose, then pulled his brother into a hug. “...mokay...” The child mumbled.

Missed the past episodes? Want to check for the next one? Here’s a link to the list of episodes currently published!

#Cuphead and Mugman: Don't Deal with the Devil #Word on the Wind! {Rebloggable Content}#Cuphead: Don't Deal with the Devil #Cuphead #Mugman #Grim Matchstick #Rewriting #Drabble #Fanfiction #Fanfic

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amazable01 · 5 years

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And the Puppets Danced- Chapter 5

A/N: THE LONG AWAITED CHAPTER (I hope) IS HERE!!! Sorry about the wait, everyone, but things happened in my life. But I’ve got the chapter here. I wanna know something, though.

Do you guys wanna see a longer fic, with more filler, and it takes longer to produce, or a shorter fic, with more action, and you’ll get the important things quicker? Lemme know in the comments!

A03 link here

I wake up to the sound of something chirping, and a spicy smell. I sit up, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes to see Logan and a figure laying against the fireplace. Something is bubbling in the cauldron, probably the source of that mysterious scent.

I turn, a hooded figure silently entering the house. They look up, the shadow of night obscuring them. “Ah, you’ve both woken. Good. It was worrying when you two didn't wake. I would rather not have to use medication, you know.”

“Who…” I start, voice wavering. “Who are you…?”

“Oh. I’m sorry! I seem to have left my coat on.” He pulls down the hood, revealing a man with round glasses and a soft face. Hazel eyes sparkle in the firelight, framed by freckles. He smiles. “I’m Emile Picani, the court physician for his majesty, King Roman of Animoterra.”

“Animo… terra?”

He chuckles. “Our kingdom. It’s quite beautiful, isn’t it?”

“So the king… his name is Roman?” I ask. Roman… Roman is the target.

He nods, moving to take off his coat and boots. After, he walks over to the fire, sighing. “And here I thought his habit of passing out near the fire was done…” He picks up the man laying by Logan, setting him on a bed nearby. “So, how’re you feeling?” He asks, turning to me.

“Feeling?” I ask, pondering. “I… I think I feel alright. I don’t feel inherently bad, or wrong…”

“Anything scraped, or broken? It’s important to make sure you’re fully alright before we start any kind of physical therapy.”

I look around myself, and feel. “Not that I’m aware of. I’m glad that fall didn’t cost me an arm and a leg…”

He laughs, and I grin. “That’s amazing, oh my goodness!”

Moving closer, he lays a hand softly on my shoulder. The area tingles from the alien touch. “But seriously, friend. Are you alright?”

I nod. “I think I am. I hope I am.”

He pulls back. “It’s incredible. You two recovered from a near-death fall in only 2 and a half days.”

I freeze. Two and a half days? We only had ten days to start with! Tomorrow we’ll only have seven days!

“Woah, woah. Careful there.” He helps me sit down. “I don’t need you straining yourself too much.”

“Only a week…”

He gasps. “Oh, you want to go to the ball!” He slaps his hand into his face. “Of COURSE you want to go. Why wouldn’t you? Even the king and his consort are going to attend, why wouldn’t you want to go?”

Ball? I like balls! Balls are fun, and dancing is fun! And food is fun, too!!

“Yeah! I wanna go to the ball!”

He grins. “Well, I’ll help you, then! Everyone deserves to go to a ball!”

I giggle. “Thank you so much! I’m so excited!”

He smiles. “We’ll have to get you two something nice.” He blinks. “Do you like ball gowns?”

I nod. “Yes! I do! A lot, actually…” I feel my cheeks warm.

“No need to be embarrassed.” He explains. “I do enjoy the occasional dress myself. And a masquerade ball is the best time to do that.”

“Masquerade ball?”

He nods. “It’s a ball where we all wear masks.”

Uh oh… That makes it more difficult to find the king… “That sounds like fun!”

He nods. “Indeed. But, YOU need to get some sleep.”

I pout. “But-”

“No buts here. You need your rest if we can get things ready for this weekend.”

I nod, sighing. “Alright.” I move beside Logan, curling up with the other despite Emile’s protests.

“Well, at least tell me your name.”

I mumble “Patton” as I drift off. My last feeling is Logan’s soft breath on my shoulder before I let myself fall into the blackness.

Taglist:

@cloudchaser7 @lightning-skys @fantazyiskey @moonstone-fox @ierindoodles @altruistic-skittles @residentanchor @khadij-al-kubra @fluidityandgiggles @thats-so-crash @another-sandersidesblog @uwillneverknowwho @i-will-physically-fight-you @pathos-logical @pattonly-anxious @wolfie-kinz @dedaartist @demonvirgil @tellmehowtoexist @pandagirl0730 @imasmallchild @virgil-sxnders @jemthebookworm @purplesoul-at-hogwarts @changeling-ash @kaileah-kat @xxfoxit @indanegalaxy @astral-eclipse

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elizaviento · 6 years

Note

If you are up for it: Reader waking up in the middle of the night to see Flesh Curtains Rick sitting outside and writing/composing a song? Finds out it is a song about them, maybe some melancholic vibes?

Okay, I really tried to be more precise with your request, but Rick wouldn’t allow it. He had other things in mind. I still hope you enjoy it!

This will be a continuation from my other Flesh Curtains Rick request titled Helping Hands.

Holding Out

(Flesh Curtains Rick x Reader)

NSFW – 2900 words of straight up, unapologetic smut.

(FYI: Helping Hands can be found in the Rick Fic Masterpost link in my blog description.)

*****

After Rick dropped me off at my house that first night, I honestly expected to never see him again. But, I kept his number in my phone as a reminder of the mutual fun we shared. Every now and then, I’d pull his contact up and my mind would immediately be back there on that ratty old couch in that shitty bar with Rick aggressively stroking his cock while growling the filthiest shit I’d ever heard in my direction. I wasn’t exactly innocent but it was the most erotic experience of my life up to that point.

One day, not long after that fateful night, my boyfriend caught me staring at my phone with a goofy far away look on my face. At least, that’s what he called it. And, the more time that passed, the more I realized that Todd was a complete idiot, just as Rick assumed. It was little things at first – like the way he always wiped his mouth on my hand towels after brushing his teeth, staining them with toothpaste.

Or the way he would enter my living room and change the television channel while I was in the middle of a show or movie. “Oh, you were watching that?”

Or his shitty taste in music. “Are you listening to that Meat Hooks band again?”

That was the last straw. “They’re called the Flesh Curtains, Todd. You know that!”

Soon after, I told him I was done and then completely ghosted on him. He kept trying to contact me for a while afterward. He even wrote me a sappy love letter and left it on my front porch. “I planned to propose to you this summer,” he lied. But it was done and I could continue to relive that night with Rick without guilt.

I wasn’t a moron. I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that Rick had plenty of groupies to choose from each and every night. No, I’d never see him again unless it was in the crowd of another concert. And, that was fine. That was… normal.

Or so I thought.

It was 2:00 am when I was awoken by a loud knock on my front door. Naturally, I was terrified. No one knocks on your front door at 2:00 am unless someone is gravely hurt or dead. My mind conjured up every possible disaster until I heard a voice calling my name from outside.

“Heyyy – hey sexy girl! Let – lemme in!”

I knew that voice. I began to slowly creep toward the door to look through the peephole.

“Shit, is this the right house?” I heard the voice say, after another round of pounding knocks. It couldn’t be…

It was. Rick Sanchez was standing on my front porch in the middle of the night. What kind of dream was this?

Another round of knocks rained down on the door before I snapped out of my shocked stupor and realized that my neighbors would eventually get pissed enough to call the cops. I peered through the peephole one more time to confirm that I wasn’t going insane before I slowly unlocked the deadbolt and cracked the door. He was facing away from it, running his long fingers through his tousled hair, but turned on a dime to press his face in the crack the moment he heard the lock disengage.

“What the hell?” I asked, more to myself than him.

“Hey, baby. I was think – thinkin’ about you and thought I’d stop by.”

He looked absolutely gorgeous and I was on the verge of throwing the door open to drag him inside and straight to my bed before I reined myself in. I was a reasonable human being who practiced self control on a daily basis. I couldn’t let one man completely unravel me, even if he was a member of my favorite band.

“Do you even know where you are right now?” I asked through the crack. I kept my chain lock in place, preventing the door from opening any wider. He pressed his face in closer and attempted to peer around me to see inside my house.

“That – uh – that idiot boyfriend of yours here?” Okay, so maybe he knew exactly where he was.

“No. I broke up with him a few weeks ago.”

“And you didn’t call me?” he asked, trying to push the door open further. The chain lock tightened and halted his progress. If I didn’t know better, I’d say he looked offended.

“You’re kidding, right?”

“Come on, baby. Let me – lemme in and I’ll eat your pussy ‘til you cry.” He reached his hand through the crack and fisted the front of my t-shirt in his hand. “I – I can’t stop thinkin’ about you, ” he growled, pulling me further toward the crack until my face was pressed against it. I was paralyzed, his filthy mouth rendering me completely helpless as he leaned forward to press his face as close to mine as he could, running his tongue along the side of my mouth.

I pushed him back just enough to close the door and fumble the chain lock from its track before throwing it open again and pulling him inside – just how I had imagined. He was more than receptive, wrapping his arms around my waist to pull me close and began licking and nipping his way from my jaw to my neck. He slithered his hands under my shirt and flattened them on my stomach, gliding them up until he cupped both of my tits in his enormous hands. I whimpered and leaned my head back when he reached my collar bone and slid his tongue from one side to the other, slowly circling his palms on my hardened nipples.

We didn’t make it to my bed. We didn’t even make it to the couch. He pushed me to the floor in the foyer, rid me of my t-shirt and panties and began his assault on my body.

“Such a – such a naughty girl,” he growled in my ear as he ground his leather clad bulge against my naked pussy. I wrapped my legs around his torso to keep him there, the friction absolutely delicious. “I-I-I told you to call me, didn’t I?” I could only whimper again in response as he roughly rolled both of my nipples between his thumb and index fingers. “Now, I – I’m gonna have to punish you.”

Oh dear god, I could have came right then and there. But he pulled back, robbing me of the sweet friction, leaving my cunt throbbing with need.

“No – nope. Naughty girls don’t get to cum. Not – not until I say so.”

Holy shit, why was this making me so wet? I’d never been submissive or even considered it. In fact, I was usually the aggressor in normal sexual situations and thought I was content. Obviously not. But, I was completely unsure of what to do or say. What was the magic response that would coax him to completely defile me?

“Rick.” I sighed, recalling that he enjoyed hearing his name. Could that be the key?

“Shh,” he chided, moving one hand from my breast to cover my mouth. The other moved to the floor beside my head to hover his body above mine —just out of reach. “Be quiet, sweetheart. Don’t — don’t wanna wake the neighbors, do we?” I shook my head, eyes wide. “Thaaat’s a good girl,” he praised, lowering his head to gently plant his teeth in my collar bone.

“Oh fuuuck” I moaned, muffled behind his hand. I could literally feel my pussy dripping and I flushed in humiliation. He tsked me with a shake if his head at my reluctance to follow his rules but continued his lecture nonetheless.

“I-I-I’m gonna teach you a lesson, little girl. For not — for holdin’ out on me. For makin’ me fuck my hand while I waited for you.” He sank his teeth into the other side of my collar bone, marking me, before he continued. I kept completely silent, hoping to keep him happy.

“Mmm, I’m gonna — gonna lick that pussy, baby. Suck on that clit. Until you — y-you’re juuust about to cum. And, then…” He let the sentence hang as he removed his hand from my mouth and began kissing his way down my body, pausing at my tits to lavish each nipple with his tongue and teeth. I squirmed and panted below him, unable to stifle the breathy moans. Realizing my mistake, I flicked my eyes downward to catch his gaze. He smirked around my nipple before releasing it with a pop, knowing he’d successful broken me like a wild horse. Again, I felt my cunt gush and throb.

Finally — finally — he settled between my thighs, lifting and spreading them wide.

“Keep — hold ‘em up for me, sweetheart. Hands here – behind your knees.” I did as he instructed, shoving each hand behind each knee to keep them raised and spread. And, lying there nude in my foyer, I was completely vulnerable.

“Oh, yesss,” he crooned, caressing my inner thighs. “Such a — such a good girl for me.”

At this point, I was trembling in anticipation, my pussy aching for attention. I needed him to touch me — right then — or I would die. When I felt his thumbs spread my lips wide and a warm puff of his breath ghost across my exposed clit, my entire body jerked in response.

“Oh, baby. You want – need it bad, don’t you?” The tender tone of his voice suggested that he expected a reply this time.

“Yes, Rick. Please!” I begged, my voice thin and strained. He hummed in approval and lightly sucked my clit between his lips.

The pleasure was immediate and intense, forcing another full body jerk and an involuntary cry. Being seemingly satisfied with my submission thus far, he refrained from scalding me further in favor of sucking just a little bit harder.

“Oh my god oh my god oh my god,” l chanted in a strangled whisper, struggling to keep my hands behind my knees and away from his thick, coarse hair. I was mere seconds from orgasm, feeling my cunt clinch in preparation.

And, then he stopped.

The change in sensation was so abrupt that my body remained tense in anticipation of immense relief. But, nothing. And, the ache returned — tenfold.

“Wha — what?” I huffed between the thundering beats of my heart. I heard Rick chuckle from below me and I flushed in humiliation once again. He had me and he knew it.

Then he resumed – lapped at me, sliding his tongue up and down the length of my wet cunt over and over, applying slightly more pressure each time the tip of his tongue swiped up my clit. He was building me up again – higher and higher; tiny shock waves bringing me closer and closer.

“Rick, oh god. Rick, please,” I pleaded. “Please, more.”

He seemed to read my mind as he pressed the flat of his tongue firmly on my clit on the very next upward swipe. My whispered pleas soon became desperate cries. Just. A little. More.

Then he stopped.

I literally sobbed and gripped the flesh behind my knees tighter, digging my nails deeper. A moment that felt like a year passed before he resumed again, kissing each of my thighs while pushing two fingers up to the knuckle.

“Oh my god!” I cried as my cunt automatically clamped around the intruding digits. Rick chuckled again and slowly withdrew. Then pushed back in.

I was on the verge of hyperventilation, my head swimming. Keeping quiet was now impossible. I moaned with abandon has he slowly finger fucked me, hooking his fingers to press my g-spot with each stroke. My legs were trembling and I was so sooo close again. If he stopped this time, I knew I would cry.

He stopped.

I continued to tremble as I removed my hands from behind my knees, grinding the heels of my palms against my eyes to prevent the tears from flowing freely. I hated him. I hated him so fucking much.

“Fuck you,” I sobbed, lowering my legs and clamping them closed. The ache was literally painful at this point and I wasn’t as much of a masochistic as he clearly wanted me to be. But, he closed his hands around my knees and lifted my legs up and over his shoulders, ignoring my small protest.

“You – you’ve been so good, baby. It’ll be worth it, I promise,” he soothed, lowering his face back to my swollen pussy to push his tongue inside. Now that my hands were free, I fisted them in his hair so he couldn’t get away from me again, grinding my wet cunt on his face.

“Use your fingers again. Suck on my clit,” I demanded, tugging his hair. Then, thinking better of it, I added, “Please?” I felt him moan against me before leaning back to slide his fingers through my folds.

“I-I-I knew you could be sweet,” he praised, placing a soft kiss to clit before continuing, “As sweet as this pussy.”

Then he completely unleashed on me – sucking and swiping and flicking with his mouth and tongue while fucking me vigorously with this fingers. I had been so over stimulated by his prior teasing that the sensory overload was intense.

“FUCK!” I screamed, clamping my thighs around his head. “Please don’t stop, Rick! Please, please!” I begged. He hummed deeply against my clit while shaking his head from side to side and I came so suddenly and forcefully that my back arched off the floor, grinding my oversensitive clit harder against his tongue. And, as I came down, he continued to soothe with gentle kitten licks, causing me to whine his name in ecstasy.

When I saw him rise from between my legs, I barked out a laugh. His hair was totally disheveled from my insistent yanking and his face was completely drenched.

“Oh, you – y-y-you think that’s funny, huh?” he asked, crawling back up my body. Instead of answering, I grabbed the front of the strip of cloth he passed off as a shirt and pulled him in for a kiss.

“I have a bed, ya know,” I said, nodding my head toward the hallway leading to the bedroom. Without another word, he hoisted me up and over his shoulder and took me there.

———-

The following morning, I woke before him and spent an hour watching him sleep, trying to understand how this could have happened. How did I get lucky enough to be chosen that night at the bar? Was it because I was the only person wearing Flesh Curtains gear? Why did Rick take a shine to me? I’m nothing special – just an average girl with a painfully average life. It could have been nothing more than his desire to get laid and that’s exactly what I’d chalked it up to – until tonight. He’d intentionally sought me out, fucked me stupid and didn’t leave immediately afterward. How odd.

Unable to resist any longer, I ran my fingers through his messy hair. I heard him groan before he rolled over to face me. When he tried to pull me in for a kiss, I playfully shoved him away.

“Morning breath!” I joked, giggling when he overpowered me and pressed his lips to mine regardless. When he flopped back down on his back, I asked, “Why did you come here?”

“Told you – I couldn’t stop t-thinkin’ about you,” he rasped, scrubbing his hand down his face.

“Humm,” I mused, still uncertain.

“Uh – mind if I take a shower?” he asked.

“Sure. Towels are in the bathroom closet.”

He climbed out of my bed and strutted to my en suite completely nude and I didn’t even try to hide the goofy grin that spread across my face.

“Come join me, babe,” he coaxed, reaching a hand toward me.

“I’ll be there in a sec. Let me put on some coffee.”

When I heard the loud squeak of the faucet and the whooshing of water coming from the shower head, I got up and pulled my robe from the back of the closet door. In his rush to fuck me last night, he had ripped off his clothes and tossed them all over my room. I laughed to myself at the memory as I plucked each piece off the floor. When I got to his leather pants, a small folded piece of paper fell from the back pocket. I wrestled with my conscious for about two seconds before I gave in and gently unfolded it.

The handwriting was barely legible, but one thing stood out like a sore thumb – my address, scribbled in the bottom left hand corner. I scanned the rest of the page, trying to decipher the letters enough to associate them with actual words. And, when I did, I literally gasped.

They were song lyrics – with my name peppered throughout.

The End.

#rick and morty #rick sanchez x reader #rick sanchez #fanfiction #flesh curtains rick #flesh curtains rick x reader #fanfiction request #holding out

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cartoonlonk-a · 6 years

Text

So @maskedl0ve and I did a shippy questionnaire thing for our two muses. It was very fun and hilarious! Especially since they aren’t even dating. Basically Link found this girly magazine with dating questions in it and he dragged Claus along to answer them with him.

I encourage you and your ship partner to do it too!

What was your first impression of me?

Link: Hmm...lemme see. Ya seemed so skeptical! Dunno if it's 'cause I look different or my enthusiasm...Either way, ya looked cute uvu ♡ Claus: Well....i was cautious, to say the least...I wasn’t used to anyone greeting me the way you did, much less a complete stranger...I thought you were teasing me or mocking me, or that you wanted something out of me. So I guess my first impression was just ‘Who are you and why are you acting that way?’ he feels a tad guilty now rip

How accurate do you now think it was? On which counts do you think you were totally wrong and on which were you right?

Claus: Wrong on pretty much all accounts. You weren’t teasing me or mocking me or trying to gain my trust so you could manipulate me. You actually...did want to be my friend. Despite what I looked like you were genuinely happy to meet me...I guess that’s a way to describe you, you’re genuine and kind and caring and brave, the opposite of what I was afraid you might be. Link: Aww that's sweet! Yo're no longer skeptical 'bout me maybe the choices I make buh might point still stands, yo're still cute

What is your idea of a truly romantic evening?

Link: I dunno...Claus, do ya wanna take a romantic nap with me? Claus: Uh...I dunno how a romantic nap would work but...sure, that sounds good to me. I cant think of anything fancy for a ‘romantic’ evening anyway...just eating a cozy dinner and then resting

If I promise not to get upset, can you tell me something that you'd like to change in me but don't have the nerve to tell me?

Claus: STOP BEING SO RECKLESS. PLEASE STOP PUTTING YOURSELF IN DANGER FOR ME. And please, tell me when something is wrong...okay..? Link: ...haha....No promises ;3 buh somethin' I would change? Gosh...I wish ya would smile more!

Apart from the most obvious one, which other two areas of your body are the most sensitive and responsive?

Link: O-oh...I can't say my ears? U-uh...my stomach 'n'.... he's too embarrassed to say the second one Claus: S-Sensitive and responsive??? UHH— I don’t kNOW??? A lot of my body is mechanical and for the rest of my body...I don’t know???????? Distress.png

Which three parts of my body are your personal favourites and why?

Link: 👀 Claus: U H............ blushing d-do I have to..? I-- uuughhh. well....I guess....Your eyes, your hair, and your smile...does a smile count? I-I don't know...A-AND STOP STARING AT ME LIKE THAT! Link: Very flattered Aww those are my favorite too! Actually, I love all of ya! Buh...if I MUST pick three, it'll be yo'r hair, eyes 'n' freckles! Oh I love yo'r freckles! They're like stars!!! ♡

Which is your dream destination and why?

Claus: is blushy from the last thing dream destination..? Um...I dunno...sorry Link: Trick question! 'Cause I don' got a dream destination. I wanna keep explorin' everythin'! Aaaaa, I nevah wanna be at a point where I have walked every inch of th's earth. Findin' new Hyrule 's a good enough answer too, I guess.

Which fruit/vegetable do you think I resemble and why?

Link: Either a carrot, for obvious reasons or a pepper. Angriest lil vegetable Claus: s t a r e s ....honestly, I dunno again. I guess a pineapple? I don't really think it resembles you but it's the first thing I think of when I have to think "Link and fruit” Link: I was expectin' ya ta call me somethin' green, buh pineapple works too

Can you remember your earliest childhood memory of happiness and that of fear?

Claus: goes dead silent ..... he lowers his gaze ...i don't know if i remember my earliest memory of happiness...but......of fear..? ......yes..... Link: .... these aren't very romantic.... Claus: yeah....

Your favourite aunt/uncle/cousin and why?

Link: Don' have any :/ Claus: neither do I....

If I discover you lying to me, what will be your reaction?

Claus:.................... his expression is actually pained. I'm sorry........ Link: Ah.... he looks pretty hurt too. I'd also say sorry.... 'n' ....It was for t-the better ehehe.... otherwise, I'm terrible at lyin' Claus: is dead silent w e lp

What are the qualities that draw you to people that you can base a friendship on?

Link: Not tryin' ta kill me????? I GUESS?¿ Claus: I keep saying I don't know for these questions but... I don't know. I'm not exactly...the best at making friends. and he doesn't exactly feel worthy of having friends rip

Your first crush – what drew you to her/him?

Link: Funny story 'bout that. After I left my home island the world was so much bigger. I saw so many new thin's...in other words, I liked them 'cause they were someone not on my island Claus: fidgets .....um.....well....he uh.....he...despite what I was he...cared about me, even when being shown what i was, what I could do, he cared about me and tried to make me happy...he wasn't afraid of me... looks to the side Link: He sounds nice !!

How would you characterize a perfect girlfriend?

Claus: y-yeah.... STILL TRYING TO HIDE FACT RIP but uh-- now this question um... i don't know..? wow i keep saying that... someone just...nice and caring, someone who won't be afraid of me or won't hate me, someone who...despite everything about me won't...think i'm a freak....someone who i can be around and...not be afraid..? Link: gasp Claus!!! If I wore a dress ‘n’ said I was a girl, can qualify for yo'r girlfriend? 👀 Claus: WHA--!? S-STOP THAT! Link: laughs Ya didn' say no~! Okay...buh no one 's perfect so I cannot answer th's question u-u

Your first date – where did you go, what did you do and how long did the relationship last?

Link: Never been on one! I'm probably way too much ta handle as a date too, haha. Claus: never been on one too.... just looking to the side

In your next life, would you want to be my lover once again?

Claus: falls silent ......... in a next life..? ....in my next life...I hope I can meet you without all these broken pieces... and maybe...I'd be able to smile a lot more for you... Link: for once, he's blushing O-oh...ya know, I like ya jus' the way ya are now, right? I wouldn't want ya ta change. Buh, 'ae...it would be really nice ta see ya again...who knows what kind of dummy I'd be then. Claus: blinks a bit when he sees Link blushing. Honestly, he does want to change...he wants to be different, he wants to be better, he wants to be able to breathe without always feeling like there's some weight crushing him. He wants to meet Link like how he was before he had his world shattered. He wants to be someone who could maybe admit what he feels without feeling severe guilt... of course, he's not gonna say a word of this... Well, if you end up similar to how you are now, then I'm certain I'd be happy to meet you again Link: AHDJENTEKSK N-NEXT QUESTION He is red oh lord

If you were asked whom you would like to be born again as, the answer would be…

Link: I-I can answer th's for Claus! He'd be a dog again! Claus: HEY! I ALREADY TOLD YOU I WAS NOT A DOG! The teeth aren't natural. crosses his arms and frowns a bit Link: HOW DO YA KNOW? Actually...! Ya act more like a gruffly cat more than anything. They might not be real buh they fit! Claus: groans If my teeth aren't natural then that means it's not linked to ''''whatever I was in my past life'''' Link: Fine. Next question :T

Would you like to enjoy a bath with me amidst the yellow and pink rose petals?

Link: wiggles eyebrows Claus: N O Link: Baaaaaby why do ya gotta break my heart like thaaaaaat? fake cries Claus: NEXT QUESTION!

Can you narrate to me your proudest moment? plus fake sobbing between the question

Claus: U H......U H HE ACTUALLY DOESNT KNOW HELP Link: ...Well for me it was fi--- keep it vague climbin' up th's suuuuuuper big tower! So high it probably touched the clouds! No one really believed in me makin' it all the way up. Buh I did it! Aw man, I wanna do that again sometime.

Which is your favourite flavour of ice cream, your favourite junk food and your favourite dessert?

Link: Rocky road! Claus: hmm...I guess I'd have to say...sherbet? Junk food though....I can't really eat that much anymore without getting sick....I do like french fries though so maybe that? And my favorite dessert....I don't know. Link: Yo're so unsure of yo'reself

Do you feel alone, when I'm not around?

Claus: uhm......depends... Link: mmm...'s lonely out sailin' all the time. Go without seeing people for days. So...in a way, yes, I feel alone

What has been your scariest dream? Which has been your most frequently recurring one?

Link: U-uh.... looks away I'd prefer not ta share...sorry, Claus. Claus: ..............I'm....not sharing either.........

Which has been the best decision you ever made?

Link: Leavin' home to save my sistah, definitely. Claus: U h...... DOESNT KNOW ONCE AGAIN ...........there's....one, maybe but....I don't want to say it

Which is the decision you regret the most?

Link: ears lower Mmm...I wish I grabbed his hand...I could have....I could...have...everythin' would be different... Claus: his expression becomes pained and he watches Link. He's silent and starts to reach a hand towards Link but seems to hesitate a little. ....... moves his hand back into his lap I'm sorry, Link... Link: hes holding out his left hand while the right holds it and rubs his palm with the thumb 's fine... looks at Claus with a pained smile Guess ya can't always help someone...I did my best though. Claus: he looks sad, though he gives a small nod yeah...you did everything you could, that's what matters...

If you won the lottery, what are the first three things you would do and which are the five things you've been most longing for, that you would buy?

Claus: There's not really much that I want that money could buy...I would more than likely either give the money to my family and friends. Link: Aw that 's sweet! I was also gonna say that. I have everythin' I want 'n' money 'sn't what I'm after. So I spend it on people I love~

If your house was on fire and you had a chance to grab only five things before leaving, they would be…

Link: Easy. My photobook, Puko 'n' my family shield. Claus: As long as dad, Lucas, and Boney are safe. .....My jetpack, maybe the book I'm reading and....and.... he trails off, looking to the side The scrap of mom's dress.... Link: .... doesn't say anything, just stares at the magazine with a sad expression

What can you cook for me?

Link: I'm not the best at cookin' buh I can cook fish at least? Do ya like fish? I can make fish 'n' put a lemon slice on top of it. Claus: I...don't really know how to cook...I want to learn though..but I do like fish, so if you ever made it I would like it. Link: 's okay if ya don' know! If ya ever do, ya should let me be your food tester. Buh looks like I gotta make ya some fish the next time I come~

Will you ever doubt me over my loyalty?

Claus: we'll see. I need to learn first. And, a h... hears the next question. This is...hard. It's not that he thinks Link would ever be disloyal, not that he thinks Link is bad, he just...feels like there are so many other people better than himself. People who actually deserve Link... I wouldn't doubt you. but he'd still worry over if Link ever realized just how terrible of a choice he was... Link: Tilts his head at Claus in curiosity...he took a minute to respond, which was a bit worrisome I am glad ya have faith in me! I'm more loyal than yo'r dog. If I could, I'd give ya my whole right arm! 'n' for my answer, no, I don' ever doubt ya. Claus: his lips pull into a thin line and after a few moments he gives a little nod alright. But...please don't give your right arm. It's not a pleasant thing. after all he knows from experience--

The one argument your parents had, that you would try and avoid with your partner, would be over…

Link: ... fiddles with his thumbs mmm...sorry...they...I never seen them fight before. I'll have ta ask the next time I see them...buh, I guess that means I wouldn't want ta argue with ya at all. Partners or not Claus: I...don't know if I remember any arguments my parents had...maybe...playful ones but...I don't remember anything serious... his brows furrow a bit, he seems concerned then he shakes his head a little but, I agree, I don't want to argue with you if I can help it.

Which is your favourite asset/body part on a man/woman and why?

Claus: That-- I uh-- well-- rubs the back of his neck with his left hand I...I guess I'd say the eyes...Eyes are just...nice to look at... Link: The face. I lovd everythin' 'bout someone's face. Says so much 'n' 's the main place ya stare.

The most embarrassing thing that ever happened to you was…

Link: OH NO...NOT SAYIN' Claus: I'm not saying either. Sorry.

If our relationship doesn't work out, do you think we can remain friends? If no, why not?

Link: If our relationship didn't work... looks at Claus, then back at the magazine ...I would want ta...It'll feel weird without ya in my life. I dunno...everythin' 's a lot happier with ya around. he's coyly smiling with a light blush Claus: blinks and his eyes widen a little bit. He actually looks...surprised ....you're...happier with me around..? Link: looks back at him with a smile 'a-ae! I hope that isn't cheesy. Haha. Ya really did make my life a whole lot funner Claus: ......I... looks down no you don't I'm just... hes just surprised Link actually is...happier with him around... ....I'm happier when you're around too... his cheeks turn a very faint red. Link: !!! YAY Jumps up to hug him, nuzzling cheeks I'm glad! Claus: YELPS, BLUSHING H-HEY--!

Who are you closer to – your mum/dad - and why?

Link: ...My grandma :/ Claus: freezes and goes silent can....can I just skip this question?

What upsets you most in a relationship and what makes you the happiest?

Link: Hmmm.... I dunno, somethin' that would upset me 's arguments. I don' like ta fight. 'n' jus' bein' around that person makes me happy Claus: i think it would be similar for me too. Fighting and the person I care about being hurt.... especially if he's the reason it happens.... and being around the person would probably make me happy.

What is your perception of how people see you? I.e. what do people think when seen you two together?

Link: The perfect duo. Maybe we should change that ta perfect couple Claus: I know what they think when they see me...I don't know what they think when they see us together. But...perfect duo? Are you sure about that link? Link: shrugs I can't read people's minds buh I think we are a fun duo! We make people laugh. Claus: We make people laugh..? actually looks a tad confused and surprised by this. claus...please....stop doubting that you can actually make people happy Link: Yeeees. 's like yo're the grump that everyone loves 'cause yo're easy ta get worked up 'n' I'm the idiot who makes get that way! Haha

#{ we never got to all of them but I think this is a lot already lol #and if my other ship partners wanna do this with me just HMU !! }#◜Take a selfie of this moment!◞ ▬ ❧ ( IC )#◜Minigames!◞ ▬ ❧ ( Memes )#maskedl0ve #◜Don't forget there's a rainbow after every storm◞ ▬ ❧ ( maskedl0ve )#{ GOO DRAWS }

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rinusagitora · 7 years

Text

The headrest for my soul.

Fandom: Bleach

Characters: Karin Kurosaki, Toushirou Hitsugaya, Jinta Hanakari, Ururu Tsumugiya, Yuzu Kurosaki

Pairings: HitsuKarin-centric, platonic JinKarinUru, mentioned familial HitsuHina, implied RenShuuKiraHina

Words: 9600+

Summary: Canon divergent, post TYBW ARC. For HitsuKarin Week 2017, mainly using the prompt “with you I am home.” WARNINGS-- suicidal ideation, explicit description of suicide by drug overdose, depression, codependency. Yuzu is her reason to live. Ururu and Jinta are her sanity. But Toushirou? Toushirou is her home. Without him, she is naught but empty hole.

FFN | AO3

Her nights, even when her sleep was segmented by half hours or hours of wakefulness because of hollow presences, came to a close with sweet dreams.

At one time, she preferred to say her day started with her dreams-- of her mother still alive and always with a smile, of the roar of the crowd after her team’s victory at internationals, of her peaceful death and her centuries-long career as a shinigami-- but she turned twelve and then decided it was easier to deal with the next day, days of inaction against the monster that was the junior high rumor mill, when the one prior ended on a good note.

When her dreams ended, she awoke on her own, two or sometimes three minutes before her alarm. That morning was not such was not a morning.

Her twin’s voice floated through her dreams. She blinked herself free of them and smiled at her twin above her.

“Mornin’,” she yawned. It was hard to be angry at Yuzu on schoolless Sunday and even harder to when she felt her twin’s loneliness. Who was she to turn away such a lonely girl, even at seven in the morning on their only day off?

“I’m making waffles. Do you want any?”

She hummed affirmative as she rubbed away the crust in the corners of her eyes. “Yeah. Lemme brush my teeth and I’ll be down.” She said. For some reason, she wasn’t really awake until after she brushed her teeth and got a cup of coffee in her. The later, though a premature habit, was mostly a consequence of her midnight escapades with Jinta and Ururu after Ichi-nii lost his powers. Her habit continued mostly out of addiction.

She grabbed her phone off the nightstand, sent Ururu and Jinta a quick good morning text, and made her way into the washroom. Her phone was an extension of herself, in many ways, her closest link to the Shouten kids when she was away from them. Like Yuzu was her reason to live, those two were her sanity. They stayed in touch after Ichi-nii regained his powers. Even if they couldn’t slay hollows anymore between Ichi-nii’s iron thumb and his posse’s unwillingness to keep their adventures on the down-low after her brother’s reinstatement. They only people who understood her tribulations, she couldn’t lose them.

She sat at the table when her teeth were finally clean. Yuzu had already set her food out; a pile of chocolate chip waffles, drizzled with syrup and butter and blueberries on top. Her twin’s were plain waffles with whipped cream, strawberry sauce, sliced bananas. She couldn’t help but note how it reflected them as people in many ways. Yuzu’s was fluffy and colorful, while her’s was muted with the addition of an ingredient that gave her’s a very different taste.

Her powers were her addition. She only wished they made her sweet like chocolate chips.

It was stupid how that difference seemed to rule her life.

Her phone buzzed twice in her shorts, and just a moment later, she felt his presence.

Your boy’s here, Jinta’s text read, he’s coming to you.

“What’s got you grinning all the sudden?” Yuzu chirped.

“Toushirou just texted me. He should be here in a couple of minutes.” It was only half a lie, she thought. It was sort of hard to explain why a friend gave her a heads up since Toushirou’s phone couldn’t call her own because he came from a different dimension.

“Ask him what he wants with his waffles.” Yuzu told her as she slipped out of her chair.

“Uh… he’s boring, so just make for him what you made me.”

“Alright,” Yuzu stood and made her way to the stove. “I wonder if you two are married, with how much you know about each other. I mean, I dunno how you finagle it out of him. He's so quiet….”

She laughed as her cheeks warmed. “My womanly wiles, I guess.” Her sister laughed too.

His every footstep seemed to pass longer than the last, like he dragged himself through a deep molasses lake, and everything she did to occupy her time-- ate her breakfast as slowly as possible, rinsed her plate, brushed her teeth again, brushed her hair, dressed, simply didn’t quicken time’s pace.

But he arrived, alas. She hopped down the stairs, rather slipped halfway down and fell the rest of the way, as he jogged up the walk and threw open the door just as he knocked.

“Toushirou…” she beamed as he blinked at her. “Good to see you here.”

“I would compliment your appearance, but you look a little bedraggled.” He replied as he brushed past her. “Tsumugiya told me your team will be going to regionals, though. Congratulations.”

She laughed sheepishly as her cheeks warmed. Like Yuzu was her reason to life, and the Shouten kids were her sanity, Toushirou was her joy. He so easily made her chest bubble with some elation, so easily made her cheeks warm, so easily made her feel welcome. She loved him because of that.

“How’ve you been? I hope you haven’t been overworking yourself.” She said after they had seated themselves on the sofa.

“I’ve been alright.” Toushirou replied.

“That’s so vague.” She chided him.

“I happen to be fine with alright. I did just come out of the worst period of my life, so this normalcy is welcome.”

She smiled at him. The Great War had been hard on many shinigami, it was good to hear that, even though he had lost many men, he still fared alright. “That’s the sort of answer I wanted, you know.” She said then. “For a captain, you’re sure bad at being thorough. I hope your reports don’t suffer.”

“Hey, that was uncalled for.” He scoffed.

Yuzu delivered his waffles. He thanked her twin. There was only a moment of resentment towards Yuzu, because she had wanted to talk a little more, but it only lasted that moment after she remembered that Toushirou was still there and they had the entire day together.

“How’ve you been, Karin?” Toushirou asked as he pulled apart his waffled with his fork.

“You already know that my team’s going to regionals, so there’s not much else to say.” She replied. “I’m still having a hard time in school. I’m eeking by, but...” but she would rather be dead. She would rather use the powers that rushed through her veins. And Toushirou knew that, it just wasn’t something she could discuss in her twin’s presence. He had already scolded her for it, anyways, told her that she still had purpose in the World of the Living. Obligations to her team, because without her they wouldn’t go anywhere let alone regionals. Obligations to Yuzu, because her sister couldn’t take yet another loss. Obligations to Ururu and Jinta, because without her they would be virtually alone.

“You’d be doing much better if you just got a tutor.” Yuzu chirped. She leaned back and glared at her twin past Toushirou’s hair. Yuzu stuck tongue out at her.

“Will you be staying the night?” She asked.

“No, I have to leave after supper.”

“Take me for a walk then.”

“I can do that.”

“And then lunch.”

“Doable,”

“And ice cream,”

“Also doable.” He said. “Would you like to join us, Kurosaki?”

She briefed a sigh of relief as Yuzu shook her head. “No, thanks. I’ve got homework and some shopping to do for supper. You guys enjoy yourselves, though.”

“We will, thank you.” Toushirou said. She smiled gratefully at her twin over his shoulder, but her twin merely cleared Toushirou’s plate.

Naturally, their walk-lunch-ice cream-not-date became an entire day-not-date. It no longer surprised her, just because it was so easy to lose herself with him-- from time to stress to loathe to that dreadful facade she used. They ended up on the soccer field and their game devolved into a wrestling match which he definitely won after her picked her up and held her over his head, as if a threat that he would throw her to the ground and cackle as she moaned about her broken bones. They picked up pizza and then ice cream, and they ate their ice cream upon a swingset in the same park.

It was date-y and it wasn’t date-y, like most of their outings were. She had learned to ignore her anxiety, his sweetness, and she had learned to hold her tongue before she said something that would’ve ruined their friendship.

“Your sister is going to kill us when we go back and we can’t eat supper.” He snort as he lamely rocked.

“You may not, but I’ve got a hollow leg.” She responded.

“Impressive, I suppose.” He grumbled.

Alas, pure peace was out of their reach. A scream ripped through the air and stomach churned as noxious reiatsu stirred in the air.

A hollow.

She dropped her ice cream and took off. Toushirou cussed as he took chase.

“Karin, stand down!” He bellowed. “I may be off duty, but I cannot stand by and let the living fight against hollows! It’s negligent!”

She swiped at his feet with a kick, but he merely jumped over her leg. He grabbed her by the front of her shirt and pinned her to the wall. He was impervious to her narrow glare and she was too weak to fight against his raw power.

“Do not be so immature. You know very well this isn’t personal.” He snarled.

“And you know how much this means to me. You know this is my purpose.” She growled back. “Nobody has to know. You can lie on your report.”

“That’s not how it works. Since the Winter War, surveillance of the captains when they’re out of the Seireitei has increased. I cannot because we are being watched.” He told her. “Please, I’ll make it up to you, but this isn’t negotiable.”

Her tightened limbs laxed and Toushirou released her. “Let’s go. I want to at least watch.” She groused.

“You can do that.” He replied as he popped a Soul Candy.

They took off again, his gigai’s hand wrapped tightly around her wrist to prevent anything more on her end, and skid to a stop where the hungry energy was most concentrated. The hollow was a big, ugly thing, with a long face and its eye sockets atop tall stalks, and between its slimy tendrils was spotted webbing it used to glide.

Toushirou drew his sword and her anger melted away as he charged. He was majestic as he fought, his every movement controlled, powerful, graceful. He made it look easy. He was a master.

She loved that about him, too. She’s just frustrated by how stuck she was, how weak it made her. Weak was a strange thing to call herself, when her voice was like a lion’s roar and her quads were as hard as packed clay, but it was all bravado. When it came down to it, to the people that mattered, she was weak and helpless and unrespectable.

“Are you alright?” Toushirou asked before he merged with his gigai.

“Not a scratch.”

He sighed as he picked up her wrist. His gigai held her so tightly it left finger-shaped bruises around it. It didn’t hurt much, but it was noticeable. “Your sister is going to kill me when she sees this.” He said. “I’m… really sorry. For this and… and for shoving you, and the rest of that. If I had my own way….” His lips tightened as trailed off. If he had it his own way, she would already be a substitute shinigami.

It still pissed her off.

“I know.” She replied.

“Will you forgive me?”

“I’m not angry.” She replied. Not with him, at least.

Her brow furrowed. “A true apology,” she started, “requires the intent to never repeat one’s mistake. Seeing as this will happen again in the future I can’t forgive you because you’re not really sorry.”

Toushirou’s expression was unreadable, but she could tell she hurt him. It was cruel that she couldn’t bring herself to mend the situation, like the petty child she was.

“... I forgive you.” She said, because no matter how much she hurt she always gravitated back to him. “I was trying to make a point. It’s out of our control, so it doesn’t bother me.”

It didn’t seem to soothe Toushirou, but he continued anyways. “Y-you dropped your ice cream back at the park. Let’s go get you another cup.”

“Okay.” She could do that, if it made him feel any better, because she kind of felt like shit too.

Yuzu, when they finally got home, fetched her a cold compress for her wrist. She didn’t miss the glower her twin shot Toushirou. She wondered what misunderstanding would spawn if she didn’t come up with a story.

“I tripped on my shoelace going down some stairs. He caught me before I killed myself.” She said.

Yuzu hummed, unconvinced, but her twin was used to being stonewalled and wasn’t the type for confrontation.

It was just the three of them at supper. Her father always seemed busy when Toushirou was around and she never really knew where Ichi-nii went. But their absence was fine by her-- she didn’t risk humiliation with just her sister’s presence.

Still, she hated Sunday nights. Toushirou left those nights. He tore part of her away and took it with him every time.

It wasn’t right when Toushirou was gone. She was so lonely, and it was a strange since part of her was afraid of what tragedy commitment would bring, but he seemed to complete her in some way. They clicked. They clicked unlike her classmates, they clicked unlike her teammates, they clicked unlike her very own sister. It wasn’t like she hadn’t tried, her friendships just… sputtered out in the span of weeks. She was like a jigsaw piece in the wrong puzzle when she was among the spiritually oblivious. It was only with Toushirou and the Shouten kids that she felt at home.

Sometimes she wondered what was wrong with her, sometimes she wondered if her love for them was a sign that she would be much happier in the Seireitei, but that train of thought last resulted in an emergency skin graft by Urahara. Those things escalated-- from all nighters so maybe she would walk into oncoming traffic on her way to school and not even notice, to toying with scissors with some sick hope that she would gather the bravery to just cut herself open, to dangling her toes off the edge of a bridge.

Sometimes, Ururu and Jinta made it better. Most of the time they just made it hurt more, but she gravitated to them like she gravitated to Toushirou.

Dwelling on it only makes it hurt more, you know. How about you think of his next visit? It’s inevitable by now. Ururu’s message read.

I know but I can’t stop. I hurt all the time when I’m not with you guys. It’s kinda sad how dependent I am, but you guys are the only ones who understand me. She messaged back.

>Your family loves you. Ichigo too, he’s just bad at showing it. You can depend on them.

I love them too, even Ichi-nii, but there’s no trust here. There’s lies, there’s facades, we’re all trying to hide something or everything, mostly how much we hurt. It’s been like this since Mom died. We’re just trying to take care of ourselves so we don’t burden each other but it doesn’t work. I’m not sure how to fix it, though. Part of me plain wants to exceed Ichi-nii so I can spit in his face for lying to me but I just want some honesty.

It’s got to start with someone, don’t you think?

She frowned. My efforts are just as futile as with Toushirou.

Ichigo is your family and he’s not as self-absorbed as you sometimes think. You’ll have a much easier time building rapport with him.

You make it sound like it’s so simple. When has anything been simple with the Kurosaki?

She dumped her phone in her bag, rolled over, and tried to get some sleep.

She knew she had a handful of admirers-- a couple of boys who’d fallen for her talent, a couple more who thought she would’ve made a cute accessory, a couple of curious girls since she was so open about her sexuality.

Even those few hadn’t left her notes in the past.

“Hey, dude, your hands are shaking. Is your blood sugar low or something?”

The letter crinkled as her fists tightened. It was a love letter, she knew it was, and it terrified her for some reason. Fear of rejection was something she suffered too, which was one reason she hadn’t spilled her guts to Toushirou, and as it was something she sympathized with, it would break her heart to turn someone away. But what if it was Toushirou? She pegged him as the sort to just come out with it, but perhaps he wanted to be romantic.

Her heart dropped into her gut as she finally opened it. She didn’t know Toushirou to be a poet.

Jinta’s eyebrow quirked as he peeked over her shoulder. “‘I know you don’t like love letters and empty words, but I’ve fallen hard.’ What the fuck kind of haiku is that? What junior high student even writes haiku? Go outside, like damn.”

She stared dumbly at the penmanship. It didn’t match any of her admirers or her friends, and the anonymity frightened her.

So she crumpled it and tossed it in the wastebin. “It doesn’t matter, Jinta. Let’s just go. I have homework to procrastinate and pizza parlors to patron. Where the fuck is Ururu anyways?

“She caught a cold.” Jinta told her as he stuffed his fists in his jacket pockets. “Y’know, I never thought a bunch of eighth ‘n ninth graders would be so into dating. Isn’t that supposed to be saved for high school or something?”

“Are you throwing shade at me?” She scoffed.

“Nah, you don’t take it as seriously as some others.”

“I dunno, I’ve been so into Toushirou for awhile now.” Nobody liked somebody for two fucking years with barely any contact with them if they weren’t lovesick.

“He’s different though, so you have an excuse.”

She blinked at Jinta. “How so?” She asked dubiously.

“I’m not stupid, Karin. I don’t approve getting so attached to Toushirou like you have since all that is so complicated, but he has the decency to be honest with you and makes you feel less lonely when he’s around, so I can’t really hate him.”

She frowned as they walked. She was a masochist if she loved Toushirou despite how much it hurt to be apart, despite that they may never be together.

Jinta nudged her with his elbow. “You live too much in your head, Karin. Open up a little.” He said.

She laughed sheepishly. “Sorry, I’ve got a test tomorrow and taking up a lot of my attention for some reason.

“Sure, a test.” He rolled his eyes.

It was a beautiful Friday afternoon. Too beautiful to be cramped inside, berated with some lecture about agametic reproduction. The sky was clear and impossibly blue, and the sun was above her school and out of her eyes, and the temperature was perfect for t-shirts and shorts and to run around on a soccer field.

Those were the sorts of days she wished to spend with Toushirou….

A chill ran down her spine, then. A grin split her face. That was most definitely his reiatsu she felt. It was almost like magic. He never came on Fridays and especially not when she was in school, but like she willed him to appear, he was there.

Her hand shot up and she asked to be excused to the nurse’s. Before her teacher even asked about her sudden affliction, she was gone. She ran faster than she ever had in the past, ran all the way home and didn’t slow down, not even when her side cramped or when her shoulder slammed into the gate, she didn’t slow down until she was out of her shoes and stumbled down the hall.

“Toushirou!” She gasped.

His eyebrows shot into his hairline. “You look like hell.”

She wheezed as she propped herself on her knees. Toushirou dragged her to the couch where she collapsed and grabbed her a glass of cool, lightly salted water.

“Did you run all the way here?” He asked as he held the glass to her lips. His other hand supported her neck as she chugged. Really, she could’ve done it herself, but his touch was welcome. She got to stare into his beautiful eyes like that.

She pushed the glass away, wiped her lips, and then nodded. Toushirou chuckled for some reason.

“What?”

“You’re just a weirdo.” He said as he watched her prop herself up and sip. “You skipped school and ran something like three and a half kilometers. You’re so stupid it’s actually flattering.”

“Why’re you here so early?” She asked.

Toushirou merely shrugged. “I finished with my work early and decided to spend my weekend with someone I actually like instead of babysitting a bunch of drunks.”

Her face felt hot. She was grateful she could blame her rosy flush on her run. Still, she reached for the remote on the end table. She might kiss him if he complimented her again, and that would lead to a mess….

“How has school been?” Toushirou asked as he climbed onto the couch and pulled her legs over his lap.

A snort ripped from her esophagus. “You know how I am.” She said.

“Karin, you need to keep your grades up. I know you think most of what you learn in school is worthless to your future, and perhaps the material is, but school develops your work ethic now that you will need as a shinigami. The Winter War and the Great War were exceptions to our lives. We’re warriors, but we’re bureaucrats on our regular days.” Toushirou chastised her.

“I have tried, I’m just stupid.” She scoffed.

“Untrue!” He snapped. His sudden severity startled her. “You’re brilliant, resourceful, quick on your toes, down to earth. I know academia doesn’t come easily to you, but you just need a little help. I’d help you if I understood the material, but I’m certain you can find a tutor who can cater to your unique learning style.” He said. “But don’t you ever denigrate yourself like that again, have I made myself clear?”

Her brows furrowed as guilt squeezed her heart. She knew Toushirou just wanted to help, and he was partly correct and she was just mulish, but it all seemed futile when she already knew the path she wanted to take with her life.

But how he, equally stubborn and even more stoic, still put up with her immaturity was the real mystery. She was just grateful he was still there….

“H-how long are you going to stay? The weekend or just tonight?” She asked.

“The weekend, so long as the Seireitei doesn’t fall apart.” He replied. “If you’ll have me, that is.”

“You know you’re always welcome here.” She said.

They stared at each other, oblivious to the children’s show that played on the television that she ought to change. But his eyes were beautiful and he looked at her with care and concern that she couldn’t look away.

“... take a nap, you look like shit.” Toushirou finally said.

She was awfully tired, she thought as her eyes fluttered. But his visit was so out of the norm that an irrational part of her feared that she had finally lost it and he was just a hallucination and she would wake to nothing. So she pushed him onto his back and then laid herself across his front, her ear on his hammering heart. He couldn’t disappear that way.

“H-hey, inappropriate, Karin….” Toushirou stammered.

“Relax,” she giggled, “I just need a pillow.”

Toushirou’s heartbeat was like a hypnotic lullaby. It made her eyelids heavy and put her into some entranced, lucid dream state. She thought how odd it was that he was so warm and supple despite the artificial vessel he was in. But Urahara was a genius. That man made the most persuasive gigai. She wondered how he performed such miracles like gigai and her migraine meds, but she was thankful either way. He made everything she loved so tangible.

Yuzu wasn’t pleased when she was found on top of Toushirou. Her twin’s eyebrows were pinched just slightly as she was jostled awake, and her twin was awfully curt with Toushirou the rest of the night. There were two possibilities for her sister’s displeasement-- Yuzu either thought Toushirou deliberately hurt her and she covered for him the same way she covered for Ichi, or Yuzu had figured out Toushirou was a shinigami or some other force that intended to steal her away. She hoped it was the first. It was much simpler to dispel an abusive situation than something that she partly hoped was true.

The evening was otherwise peaceful. She was restless when she retired, though. Her day didn't end and it didn't begin. She didn't dream that night so when her eyes fluttered open at godforsaken four o’clock in the morning it still felt like the night before. But she was simply too excited to rest any longer.

She quietly made her way to the bathroom to shower, a change of clothes under her arm. Was she truthful, she planned to sluff at the Shouten with Toushirou and Jinta and Ururu, start her weekend early, but Toushirou already reamed her a new asshole through her ears so she figured she ought to at least attend.

There was a knock at the washroom door as she brushed her teeth. It was Toushirou, a little bedraggled with even messier hair with a strap of his tanktop had fallen down his thin shoulder and his pajama shorts ridden up to his waist.

“What the hell are you doing up?” He mumbled as he wet his toothbrush beside her.

She was half-tempted to just tell him she was a morning person, but she couldn’t bring herself to lie to him. “I couldn’t sleep.” She said through her toothpaste. She was amazed she was even articulate before her coffee.

Toushirou hummed. They were silent as they brushed their teeth.

“You’ll be going to school today, won’t you?” Toushirou asked as he combed his hair. “I assume so if you’re dressed like that.”

“Yeah,” she replied as she rolled her stiff shoulders. “Saturdays are half days and I don’t have practice so I’ll be home earlier.”

“I’ll come pick you up in that case. We can go out for burgers or something. I’ve had this ridiculous craving lately….”

She laughed as her cheeks warmed. She used to not peg Toushirou as the sort to suffer from cravings, but he was an early adolescent like any other, in the middle of some awkward transition with body acne and mood swings and crushes and---

That love note returned to the forefront of her mind. He was still a captain, he had the ability to smother his reiatsu beyond what her immature sensors could feel. What if all the exceptions he made for her-- like reference her by her given name, visit her, insistence he paid for her meals when they went out, little objection to her shenanigans, his patience and his support-- was because he returned her feelings and she was just too stupid to realize it until then?

What if she could turn that time into an actual date?

“I’ll bring a change of clothes, then.” She said, and she admired her ability to at least act cool when she was about to go into cardiac arrest.

“You’re fine in your uniform, really.”

“Um, don’t you know jackshit? You don’t go out on the town in your school uniform.” She scoffed.

“You’re, like, fourteen, and it’s not exactly clubbing.”

“No, but I am going to look hot as hell because I want to.”

“Your uniform is already complimentary. At least, Tsumugiya tells me some gentlemen have a fetish for young women in school uniforms.”

“Toushirou… do you have something you’re trying to tell me?”

Toushirou merely rolled his eyes. “I’m gonna start breakfast. Is there anything you want?”

“... French toast, with cinnamon and fruit” she replied, “but Yuzu’s gonna be pissed when she finds you in her kitchen.”

“I’ll just put on some coffee in that case.” He grumbled. “I have no idea what I did to infuriate your sister so much….”

She merely laughed abashedly. She wasn’t sure where to start with her family’s issues.

She sat on the counter as Toushirou prepared their coffee. It was even more delicious than Yuzu’s coffee, and something delicious about the serenity and domesticity of that morning. There was a sort of perfection to that morning, as if it was a taste of happiness with him.

Yes, she thought, that was the day she would tell him, she thought. That was her first step towards happiness.

She had promised her attendance, but her attention was another thing altogether. Concentration on boring numbers and words was impossible when her perfect weekend was so imminent. She daydreamed about her confession, she even wrote an outline in the margins of her workbook so she knew exactly what to say, and then an outline of their entire date. Burgers first, then the arcade, then the park where she would tell him.

The perfect, almost fairy tale-esque feeling lingered. She dreamt of their kiss, of the I-love-yous and the tears that would certainly follow. It would be magical and she would make sure of it.

Her leg bounced as she felt Toushirou’s approach fifteen minutes before the bell. Those prior hours passed quickly, but those minutes seemed to be the longest of her life. Her heart pounded harder against the back of her ribs as the seconds ticked by. They said a watched pot never boiled, and it seemed true, but where else could she direct her attention? The reality of her daydreams which took her breath away? Risk her phone taken if she messaged Jinta and Ururu about her anxiety which would postpone her weekend until her father could come fetch it from faculty?

But those seconds passed, finally, and she bolted out of her homeroom like it was on fire for her locker in the dressing room. She garnered many stares as she raced, and she was certain that was Yuzu that shout her name as she took stairs three at a time. But there wasn't anymore time to waste-- not for homework or hollows or family, not when time already sped towards Toushirou’s departure for the Seireitei again.

Toushirou cocked a brow at her as she approached. She was warm under his gaze and eager for whatever compliment he gave.

“I have so many questions, I don't know where to begin.” He said, and her heart sunk. “I mean, you look very nice, but you didn't need to dress up. Your uniform is just fine.”

“Nonsense, nobody goes to town on a Saturday without looking nice.” She scoffed. But he liked it, and that was all that mattered, she thought as she caught his wrist. “C’mon, now! Pizza can’t eat itself!”

“I-I thought we were going out for burgers---”

“Oh my god, burgers then. We have a totally flexible schedule, you know. We could go play soccer first, and then work up an appetite, and then eat. But I’m hungry so we’re not going to do that.”

Toushirou fell beside her. They slowed to a lazy shuffle, and he took his hand back to fold his arms.

“It nice today.” She remarked, followed by a pleasant sigh. “How long do you think we’ll be out?”

“I’ll get you home before supper. I don’t need your sister on my case even more than she already is….” Toushirou involuntarily shuddered then, as if her sister was some cannibalistic boogeyman that breathed down his neck that very moment.

Still, she couldn’t help but be disappointed that they had only a handful of hours before supper. She would have to make it even more perfect in that case so Toushirou didn’t stand a chance against that princess.

She sent a message to Ururu and Jinta to cover any hollows that Ichi-nii’s friends couldn’t. She wouldn’t let anything jeopardize the perfect night she confessed.

It was a feat in and of itself that she kept her food down. Her belly churned and twisted and spasmed the closer her fated hour loomed. And she convinced herself it was silly, because she was certain Toushirou wrote that letter and she was certain they would be together for years if not the rest of their lives because it was impossible for her to imagine her life without Toushirou.

She had fallen just behind him as they made their way through the throngs of people and labyrinth of streets. She was heavy and her mouth was dry as a sponge. Every step felt like she trudged through a knee-deep landslide instead of air. She swore she would faint if her heart hammered any harder. She had experienced fear in the past, as hollows bowed over her and drooled on her cheeks, but she would’ve rather stuck her head right between its teeth than go on another step. She was half tempted to just scrap her fairy tale and go on as friends, but she was Karin Kurosaki and she didn’t have an ounce of cowardice in her bloodstream.

She caught Toushirou’s wrist. He spun around and the ethereal color of his eyes sent shivers down her spine.

“I love you.” She blurted. His eyes bugged out of his skull. “I love you.” She marvelled at how easily that iteration tumbled out, and then the dam broke. “I’m irrevocably in love with you, Toushirou. I’ve been in love with you for so long, and I love everything about you. You don’t patronize or infantilize me, you treat me as your equal even despite our obvious differences in capability. I-I know you can’t answer all of my questions, but I know you don’t do anything to put me down or keep from me what I can know. I feel so much stronger when I’m with you, like I can make my way through all the impossibilities I’ve been handed.” She laughed then, blissfully. “And you’re so beautiful, you know? Majestic, breathtaking, like a dragon. You’re everything I want to be and everything I’ve wanted in a partner.”

Toushirou’s chest heaved as he panted, as if she had give that speech while he ran for his life. His eyes were so emotive. He looked ecstatic, hurt, regretful, mournful, so many things but many of them filled her with a cold sense of dread.

“Karin,” he croaked in some heartbroken tone. He quickly wiped the tears in from his eyes with the back of his hand and she honestly thought she would puke on the spot. Why did he sound like she had just informed him of someone’s death? He wouldn’t cry if he loved her, right? Whywhywhy did he cry---

“I can’t.” He said. Her grip lost its strength. His hand fell back to his side. Everything from her neck to her knees turned to jelly and she fell to the pavement. She didn’t even feel the impact of her knees on the ground, like the entire world fell out from under her and left her suspended in a vacuum.

“Wh-what do you mean?” She knew she cried with him, by the hoarseness of her voice. Her cheeks felt sticky and she couldn’t breathe through her nose.

“I can’t love you.” He said.

“I-I don’t understand.”

“I can’t love you. I can’t do it.”

Her fists caught his shirt as if he was her only attachment to reality. “I don’t understand. Don’t? Can’t? Won’t? Why? Was it something I did? Is it some rule in the Soul Society?”

“Because you don’t love me!” He sobbed. “You love what I do. You reek of dissatisfaction, Karin, you tell me all the time how bad you are at being human and you're so eager to finesse your skills as a shinigami. You live vicariously through me, I am the closest to death you can achieve without actually going through with it.”

“You misunderstand. That's only a part of it. I love you because we’re alike. I've discovered through knowing you that I'm meant to be a shinigami. I don't love you because you're like my death, I love you because I feel at home with you, and with other shinigami I'll be at home. They're two different things!” She bellowed. “Do you understand what it means for me to feel like I belong, don't you? I don't even feel that with my own flesh and blood.”

“Of course I understand, but this isn't love. You've imprinted on me.”

She screeched and pound her fists against his chest. “Why aren't you listening to me? You always listen to be, what makes this different? Don't you love me? Wasn't it you who left that haiku for me? Isn't that why you keep visiting me? Isn't that why you're so nice to me?”

Toushirou was still as she pounded her weak fists against his ribs. They garnered stares because of her tantrum, but she couldn't bring herself to care. He had torn yet another bone from her body.

“Why? You've been my friend for so long and I know you love me, but why can’t you do it now.” She sobbed as she grabbed his shirt again.

He pried her fingers from his shirt. She couldn't look him in the eye. “I should go.” He spoke softly, like how Ichi-nii spoke when he held back tears. “I'm very sorry, Karin.”

His footfalls faded from earshot and her breath followed. She felt much like a river stone as the crowd dispersed. She couldn't help but think she may eventually be worn away like one.

She knew it to be Jinta and Ururu that found her and carried her home like a dumb pack.

The blood had returned to her legs on the way home, but the ground beneath the soles of her shoes felt like uneasy waves of stormy seas.

She was delivered to her room. She sobbed as the fell back into her mattress and held tightly around her.

“I'll never have anything good, will I?” She lamented as she squeezed her eyes. “I always ruin it, or it’s taken from me.”

“I'm not going anywhere. Neither’s Jinta. You're stuck with is, even after you die.” Ururu told her.

“He's stupid to do that to you.” Jinta said. “He led you on, he left you. It's his fault. He's the sort that gets off on hurting girls.”

She frowned. She was familiar with those sorts, older boys who thought girls were their right and had no problem diddling other girls even if they had girlfriends. Toushirou didn’t seem like the sort to do that. He was noble and chivalrous and kind. It was her who had crossed that line-- her foolishness, avarice, dependency. She had chased him away.

But perhaps they were right. She always cut herself the short end of the straw. She wished she could make sense of it as quickly as she made sense of everything else, but reality hadn’t quite settled in.

“Is it bad that I can’t agree with you?” She whispered. Ururu merely nuzzled her cheek.

There was a knock at her bedroom door, then. The three of them nearly jumped out of the window, skittish by habit, but they relaxed. Yuzu’s reiatsu was behind it, sweet and bitter and concerned. She knew her twin couldn’t tell who was behind there, and even if Yuzu could, she doubt it mattered. Jinta and Ururu had come over in the past, they were just a couple of friends hanging out.

“Karin, I know you’re in there. I won’t come in. I know you grieve privately. But just listen to me, okay?” Yuzu said. “I-I saw Hitsugaya-kun outside of school today, but since you guys aren’t together, I assume something happened and he left. Karin, I know he’s probably hurt you for awhile now but you’re better off without him. And if he ever shows his face again, I’ll bash it in.”

Her features pulled into a silent, painful sob. She wished the world to disappear again, let her gather her thoughts, but it appeared the universe and its puppets were content to be cruel.

She hated how obvious her misery was. Her body felt like it had been stuffed with rags. Her movements were slow and graceless, and her silence prompted many comments. She swore the reverent hush that fell over her class was so she couldn’t hear the gossip. Karin Kurosaki has finally broke, do you think it had anything to do with that boy she was with yesterday? Yeah, I saw her sobbing in the street Saturday after school. You think he dumped her? Her team noticed too, with her lackluster performance. Eventually, she just vomit and she was excused to the nurses.

Of course, She wasn’t one for the nurse’s office. She knew her ailment couldn’t be cured with an antiemetic, because Toushirou was still gone and she hated herself.

A couple of clubs had been released so the entrance wasn’t empty. It didn’t matter though. She just needed her sneakers and then---

She paused as she opened her shoe locker. Another note was laid across her sneakers. Tears immediately welled in her eyes and her hands shook. Its presence made her doubt the other love note was from Toushirou, he didn’t seem like the sort to torment her like that over a virtual breakup, but she just didn’t know him anymore.

She tore it into dozens of pieces regardless. She sobbed as she made her way to the plastic wastebin by the door, and she knew every eye in that place was on her because Karin fucking Kurosaki hadn’t fallen apart ever before.

Fuck them. Fuck him. Fuck everyone. If they wanted a show, she would happily cater she thought as she brandished a lighter from her bag and lit the pieces aflame. They fluttered into the wastebin, she shrieked, and then kicked the flimsy thing across the room where another student narrowly missed collision.

“Fuck. You!” She roared. She crumpled to the floor and held herself as she wailed. She was a pitiful sight, fodder for the rumor mill that would certainly rip to pieces in the future like she had that letter, but she was too empty to care anymore.

Jinta’s arms wound around her shoulders and he squeezed her tightly.

“Fuck off.” He spat. The entrance was void in moments. “And fuck that bitch, too.” He said, more dolefully, as she rocked. “Fuck that stupid, holier-than-thou son of a bitch. He’ll burn eventually. I’ll drag him kicking and screaming into Hell myself.”

Toushirou would burn just like that letter that stunk up the place with the smell of burnt plastic, and her life would return to some mundane routine that wouldn’t even kill her.

She screamed at the top of her lungs.

Days, weeks, months, and then a year, and then two and then four years. Time didn’t feel quite like it used to. It felt like slime-- shapeless, mouldable to her mood. Sometimes she was sad and it passed quickly, and sometimes it dragged like her limbs. But it all felt like one day, like it was still that dreamless weekend.

Even with time to gather her thoughts, she couldn’t say how she felt about Toushirou. As an adolescent, his friendship was something that kept her afloat in a world that seemed against her. He kept her grounded, he reminded her of her purpose, and in some ways, he was a symbol of the inevitability of the fulfillment of her destiny, of company with like-minded people. Though Jinta and Ururu had learned how to remind her of her purpose there in the World of the Living, they never could fill the hole that Toushirou left.

She hated that she needed someone like Toushirou, even after he left, but she was needy and codependent. She eventually came to terms with that.

Yuzu was enthralled to never see him again. She never did explain what their relationship was. Just a friendship she destroyed, nothing abusive.

Like how she gravitated to the river after Masaki’s death, she gravitated to it again because ice was just frozen water. She liked to submerge her legs. They often went numb after a minute or two, but the ache took her mind off the one in her chest. Though the thought to completely submerse herself frequently crossed her mind, she worried that the stubborn, instinctual part of her would crawl out.

It began to reaffirm her place in the universe when college after college refused her. Her high school grades were less than favorable thanks to her shot ambition. It made every day harder and harder. Though her father promised her that there was always a place for her in the Kurosaki clinic, it never sat totally right with her.

Her needs had been torn from her hands and spat on over and over again. First with her mother’s death, and then by Ichi’s savior complex, and then by another boy just like him who thought her isolation kept her safe.

Not anymore. Her destiny, she thought as she flicked the bubbled to the top of the needle and squirt them out, was in her own hands. She didn’t care anymore-- not for Toushirou, even though they would be coworkers in the space of years, not for Ichi, who seemed to think her feelings were his plaything, not for Yuzu, because she often felt like a lead weight or a big wall that kept her from her needs even if her twin was the only one who really gave a damn.

Since the clinic was so small and understaffed, they didn’t have the checks and safeties hospitals did for their access to morphine. She just needed the key to the locked cabinet and that was it.

She briefly considered to inject herself in her carotid since it was virtually a straight trip down to her heart and lungs where the damage needed to be or into her brain, but her hands shook and she feared she would miss so she just settled or her arm. Four vials worth would kill her either way.

She curled up on her side on the gurney. For a handful of moments, there wasn’t anything, but then she felt dizzy and breathless. Her vision when blurry, but when she touched her cheek with her weakened hand, it came back dry. When she blinked, she was beside her clammy and blue-lipped body with a chain connected between their breastbones. She knew as long as that chain was connected to her body, she could be revived. She grabbed the end that connected to her withering vessel and tugged with hope that she could tear it out, but it just yielded more chain. So she pushed that body onto its back, wrapped her fingers around it, and slammed her fifty-two kilos into it. Her trachea collapsed with a crunch, like she had stepped on a styrofoam cup or a pop can, and the chain was freed.

There was a knock sometime later, she couldn’t say exactly when, but she had somehow landed in the plastic chair with her back to the clock. She knew it was Yuzu behind the door, increasingly worried as nobody answered behind a locked door into an examination room during clinic hours. She knew her twin called Ichi because she couldn’t find her fucking key and she needed to open the fucking door because she couldn’t find Karin and he knew what she had been like lately. She knew her brother immediately slammed the door shut and Yuzu fell into hysterics just beyond the wall. But nothing swayed her. Not even Ichi’s broken-hearted, teary gaze, or their father’s palpable grief, or Ururu’s pink eyes and puffy cheeks.

“You’re a fool, you know.” Ururu told her as she leaned her behind against the wall next to the gurney. Jinta stood on her other side, eyes locked on the floor. She told herself it was because her body was still in the room and it didn’t look quite right. Wasn’t Ichi supposed to be on the phone with the coroner’s?

“I know.” She murmured.

Jinta cleared his throat like there was something caught in there. “How’re you feeling?” He asked.

“I dunno. Tired. I can’t take a deep breath, but that’s it.” She answered.

They were interrupted by two middle-aged gentlemen in polyester jackets. They came to collect her body, silent because of Jinta and Ururu’s presence, but their expressions were conversation enough. So young. I have a daughter this age, you know. I can’t imagine….“You realize what the fuck you’ve done, right? Permanently traumatized your family. You know this, don’t you?” Ururu growled as the collectors were finally gone.

She knew Ururu meant her kin, but she couldn’t help but think of them. She wouldn’t have vacation to the World of the Living unless she was a ranked officer. She had forgotten about that. It made her wonder if they could visit her in the Soul Society. But perhaps they wouldn’t. Perhaps they would forget her. Part of her hoped so, part of her wanted to take them with her. What a selfish girl.

Jinta nudged her with his narrow hips. He was taller than her by then, with salmon scruff on his chin and thinner eyes. She almost smiled when she thought about how pretty they had all become.

“Don’t worry. Ururu’s gotta give you a hard time since we’re the only ones you seem to listen to anymore.” He told her, and then he grinned. “You’ll be the greatest fucking shinigami ever. Even better than the Kenpachi.”

“I dunno who or what that is.” She paused. “I’ll learn though, I guess.” She paused again. “How do you think Toushirou’s going to take this?”

“Hell if I know. I don’t even know why you still think about that shitstain after he up and left you like that.”

“I’m going to be working with him someday, maybe even as a captain if my reiatsu pans out.” She reminded Jinta. She shuddered. “Do you think… he could love me this time around? Now that I’m dead?”

Ururu and Jinta glanced between themselves.

Ururu’s eyes turned to her finally. “... he’s on his way.” Her friend whispered. Her heart clenched. “You can ask him. We can stay if you want, or stand guard while you get your affairs together. Or sock him. I'm fine with either.”

She pushed herself to her feet and pulled the two of them into a hug. She loved them, more than she loved herself or anyone else. And that was cruel she knew, because her family loved her too, but those two were time and battle tested and there was no one she would rather have her back.

Her heart came to life as she felt his presence outside the clinic. It pound erratically, as if her heartbreak was fresh. Her scowl deepened with his every step closer, and she wound her arms tighter and tighter around her friends.

“Could you… could you guys give us a little privacy? I'm a big girl. I can take care of myself.” She uttered. Her arms fell to her sides as her friends slipped away. She saw a flash of his hair outside the door, and her heartbeat did that again as she strained to listen to what kept Toushirou a moment longer.

If her lip so much as wobbles, I’ll take your fucking head off. Not so fast, Jinta. I’m itching to blow a hole through him. It made her smile. Those two were ever-protective. And so was she. They were, especially in that moment, all she had. And they were the best she had.

Toushirou entered the examination room she occupied and shut the door behind him. He didn’t look any older and certainly not any taller. It was as if it was just days ago he terminated their friendship. But his hair was longer, his fringe tickled his jaw, a little messier as if he ran his fingers for some hours.

They stared at each other. She didn’t even open her mouth, and neither did he. Admittedly, she had daydreamed several monologues over the years. Some were apologetic and how she wished she wasn’t so foolish, some plead for his return and for his friendship, some were livid because who the fuck wrote her haiku after they effectively dumped her? But they all seemed inappropriate. Strangely enough, nothing seemed appropriate.

The silence was still pregnant with something she couldn’t quite put her finger on.

“Y…” Whatever Toushirou was about to say fizzled out like a sparkler. He cleared his throat and tried again. “I saw your sister on the way in. I don’t think she’s stopped crying.”

“When did you start caring?” She said dryly. It always came down to other people, it seemed. Hadn’t she been miserable long enough? She couldn’t tell if people just forgot that she had feelings too since she didn’t share often, or if shinigami had some philosophy that one must lead one miserable lifetime in order to be obliged to fulfillment. “She never liked you and you never liked her.”

Her animosity surprised her, truthfully.

“It’s true that she didn’t like me, but I never disliked her.”

“Is that how you felt about me? What I someone you just didn’t dislike? Jinta says you just wanted pretty company to take your mind off your work and shit, I think I agree with him.” She spat.

“That’s untrue. I like you.” He said. “I felt the same way as you did at one time. I loved your company because I got to live vicariously through your childhood, and… I loved you.”

Her chest felt a lot of weird things she couldn’t verbalize.

“Then why did you abandon me?” She croaked.

“I was afraid of… this. That you’d grow to miss being apart so much that you’d kill yourself for me.” He smiled sadly. “I supposed my efforts proved futile. Really, all I wanted to do preserve your natural life.”

She scowled. It sounded very Toushirou-like. She wondered just how founded his fears were.

“This wasn't for you. I killed myself because there's no prospects for me here. I have a skillset that's more useful for the Seireitei.” She told him.

“And how much of it was self-sabotage?”

She couldn't say.

“Is that all?” She asked. She was done with that conversation.

“You know it's not.” He thought too highly of her. She thought too lowly of him, it seemed. How time had skewed their perspective of each other.

“Then go on.”

Toushirou’s eyes flicked down to her limbs. “You're so skinny. I swear. When did you get so skinny? You used to have an enormous appetite. Nobody with your appetite can be so skinny.”

“I stopped playing soccer so I stopped working out. I just run now.”

Toushirou’s lips tightened and his eyes watered. “I'm sorry to hear that.” He cleared his throat. It was strange how she couldn't hear her own blood and barely heard her friends, but his voice was so clear and his heartache made her ache as well.

Toushirou shuddered as he sighed. “You're still very beautiful. You've always been so pretty and dignified, you know. I never stopped loving that about you.”

“But do you love me?”

Thus ensued another staring contest.

“At least care about me?” His silence hurt as much her first heartbreak, like a knife between her ribs.

“I'm trying to come up with something that's not going to end up becoming a corny speech. I'm not in the mood for the Shouten kids to find some other sore spot to prod at.”

“Perhaps a better question is if you want to… try again?” She said.

“Do you? You sounded so bitter moments ago, Ka-- Kurosaki. It gave me the impression that you hate my guts, at least as much as Tsumugiya and Hanakari. If I'm totally honest, I expected you to knock my teeth down my throat the second you saw me.” He said.

She dragged her hands down her face. Even in her death, everybody seemed fine to keep things from her. “Toushirou, just answer my fucking question.”

He nodded, as if he feared yet another heartbreak but by her that time.

She had considered it, at one time, but that was reality and those were daydreams.

She cleared the space between them in two strides. They wrapped themselves in each other. He felt like a blanket, like her bed, like the first day home after some long mission abroad.

Toushirou stood on his toes and kissed her like she was air and he was a man who nearly drowned.

“I'll get everything in order for you once we get to the Soul Society. I'll get you into the academy, I'll tutor you if I have to so you can catch up. I-if you don't want to stay with me, my sister would love to have you. Her husbands are a handful but they'd like you too. And you'll make a wonderful shinigami. You're driven and you're brilliant and---”

“Shut up and kiss me.” She sobbed. His lips peppered over her face as she squeezed him.

“Let’s go home first.” He said.

Yes, she thought as his hand slipped into her’s. Home.

#A lil early I Kno #bleach #but I'm supe busy tomorrow #hitsukarin #hitsukarinweek2017 #jinta hanakari #karin kurosaki #toshiro hitsugaya #ururu tsumugiya #yuzu tsumugiya #platonic jinkarinuru

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natural--trash · 7 years

Text

Tag thing, wanted to do it for some time but now im at my comp and stuff so uh yeah anyways

Rules: once you’ve been tagged you’re supposed to write a post with eighty-two truths and then tag twenty-five people

I was tagged by @fluffyliontae

Name: tsu (just call me that, or susu or smth yknow)

Blood type: A-

Nickname(s): susu, mym

R/s: single

Zodiac Sign: libra

Pronouns: eh whatever, on some days its he > she > they but it can also be a diff order so yeah seriously whatever floats your boat

Favorite TV Shows: W - Two Worlds (same), a Persona 5 anime could be one of them but there’s none

Long or short hair: long

Height: 162cm or so

Do you have a crush on someone: romantic none, aesthetic ones? squishes? hoo boy

What do you like about yourself: my eyes, that cute scar on my hand

Right or left handed: right

List of three favorite colors: too many, i mostly like colour combos, but light blue, black and #540003 i guess

RIGHT NOW

Eating: nothing, i had brownie ritter sport a bit earlier tho

Drinking: water

I’m about to: draw

Listening to: Believer - Imagine Dragons

Kids: 0

Get married: nah

Career: I want money

MOST RECENT

Drink: water

Phone call: i think my uncle??

Song you listened to: before Believer there’s Bonfire on my spotify playlist but rn its Queen by History

HAVE YOU EVER

Dated someone twice: nah

Been cheated on: thats a long story

Kissed someone and regretted it: dont think so

Lost someone special: hmm

Been depressed: yeah

Been drunk and thrown up: never drunk alcohol

Kissed a stranger: nope

Had glasses or contacts: yeah

Had sex on the first date: nope

Broken someone’s heart: not that im aware of it

Turned someone down: kinda??

Cried when someone died: yeah

Fallen for a friend: im aro, that doesnt work

IN THE LAST YEAR HAVE YOU

Made a new friend: yes

Fallen out of love: no

Laughed until you cried: yes

Met someone who changed you: mhhh dont think so?

Found out who your true friends were: kinda (I’m sorry that I’m always answering like this omg)

Found out someone was talking about you: cant remember

Kissed someone on your fb list: i dont use fb

WHICH IS BETTER

Lips or eyes: eyes

Hugs or kisses: hugs

Shorter or taller: taller

Romantic or spontaneous: platonic

Sensitive or loud: sensitive

Hookup or relationship: friendship

Troublemaker or hesitant: hesitant

FIRST

Best friend: have conatct with both or them but we’re not as close? although I still don’t mind lying/rolling around on his floor

Surgery: does removing my wisdom teeth count? (does it?)

Sport: swimming (I wish I hadn’t stopped)

Vacation: Turkey

DO YOU BELIEVE IN

Yourself: depends on the day (same)

Miracles: yeah

Love at first sight: i dont rly believe in romantic love, but other than that yeah has flashbacks to when x impulse bought a ps vita

Heaven: i want to

EXTRAS

How many people from your fb list do you know irl: i still dont use fb

Do you have any pets: i used to have a duck

Do you want to change your name: yeah kinda i’d prefer something gender neutral

What did you do for your last birthday: i played video games at home bc i have no friends

What time did you wake up today: idk, fell asleep again

What were you doing last night at midnight: internet

Something you can’t wait for: when i move out

Last time you saw your mom: some minutes ago

What is one thing you wish you could change about your life: how my brain is sometimes

Have you ever talked to a person named tom: yeah, had a classmate with that name

What’s getting on your nerves: loud noises in the morning, often ppl i dont consider as friends

instructions: You can tell a lot about a person by the type of music they listen to. Put your music on shuffle and list the first 10 songs, then tag 10 people. No skipping.

(should i do the whole thing?? ok lemme get my phone pls note that i havent gotten the p5 ost yet)

Obtained a Berry! - DP OST

actually there comes some more Nintendo OST

Awake -BTS

Young Forever (unplugged ver) - BTS

crow tit (jpn) - bts

Mein Block - Sido

We don’t talk anymore - Jungkook

a song i do not remember what it was

Faint - Linkin Park

La la La - naughty boy

i think its time to make a new playlist bc i dont listen to some pop songs anymore

so uh yeah the whole thing it is

5 things you’d find in my bag:

tissues, a shit ton

wallet

probably some paper

charger

phone

5 things you’d find in my bedroom:

desk

clothes

stuffed animals

bed

my computer

5 things i always wanted to do in life:

Travelmore

Get a job i love

Own a cat

Get a life I like

Have ppl I’m close with that are not far away

5 things i’m currently into:

video games

persona 5, fire emblem heroes (they deserve their own point)

kpop

art

ummm edgesthetic?

5 things on my to do list:

go to a BTS concert

get a part time job

learn Japanese and perhaps Korean and get better at French

visit all the countries I still want to go to

get better at drawing

5 things people may not know about me:

I would love to study video game development but I’m too scared of what’s after that plus there’s no way I’ll get accepted hahaha

i love min yoongi and his mixtape bc he idk he helped me think that maybe not everything in my life will be shitty later and that maybe I’ll be able to be happy one day

I’m currently in a more down phase

i have problems with my sense of reality

i have a cute scar on my hand

Top 10 BTS Songs Tag:

House Of Cards (Full Length Edition)

House Of Cards [OUTRO]

Good Day

No order from here on

4. I NEED U (Japanese Ver.) 5. FOR YOU 6. 쩔어 (Dope) 7. 등골브레이커 (Spine breaker) 8. 24/7 = Heaven 9. Blood Sweat & Tears 10. Not Today

I have time

10 groups/artists you like besides Kpop/liked before Kpop:

nqrse ❤︎ ❤︎ ❤︎ ❤︎

Fall Out Boy

Panic! at the Disco

DAOKO ❤︎ ❤︎ ❤︎ ❤︎

Casper

Die Ärzte

I think that’s it

DAT ADAM

uhh I liked Abingdon Boys School at some point

idk the old Sido songs aint bad?

10 favorite non-kpop songs:

ダイスキ - DAOKO

BANG! - DAOKO

Das Grizzly Lied - Casper

パラサイト(Parasite) - nqrse feat.まふまふ,luz

ECHO - まふまふ (mafumafu) feat.nqrse

p much any song sung by nqrse im sorry im trash hmu and ill link you some good stuff

Believer - Imagine Dragons

Bonfire - Felix Jaehn, ALMA

Die Vergessenen 1/2 - Casper

omg i totally forgot about OSTs Toberu Mono from The Last Stiry, too much from Persona 5 liek Beneath the Mask, Last Surprise etc

10 favorite movies:

i don’t watch enough :c

10 favorite tv shows, including anime & cartoons:

W - Two Worlds

Acchi Kocchi

Psycho Pass

I’m giving up

10 things you enjoyed before kpop/enjoy besides kpop, that won’t fit in the lists above:

music

art

video games

esp atlus n nintendo games!!

cute soft stuffed animals

flight rising

sarma

collecting cute key charms

collecting cute things in general

dancing

ten tag last movie you watched: i dont know

last song you listened to: that one song mentioned above by Daoko

last show you watched: I Hear Your Voice

last book you read: Der Vorleser by Bernhard Schlink, don’t read it

last thing you ate: chocolate

if you could be anywhere in the world right now where would you be: Tokyo

when would you time travel to: itll be spontaneous

first thing you would do with lottery money: buy a loft

character you would hang out with for a day: P5 Protagonist

time right now: 23:52

the ‘or’ tag

build a snowman with v OR have a snowball fight with j-hope

get coffee with suga OR get ice cream with suga

go to the cinema with jimin OR the amusement park with jungkook

do a dance cover with j-hope OR sing a duet with jin

kiss rap monster OR cuddle suga

babysit with jimin OR dogsit with v

meet j-hope’s family OR have v meet your family

film a commercial with j-hope OR film a sketch with v

hug jimin OR hold hands with jungkook

go to paris with jin OR go to london with suga (sorry been to paris already)

film a drama with jin OR do a photo shoot with rap monster

attend an award show with rap monster OR wear couple t-shirts at the airport with jungkook

spend a lazy day with suga OR explore a city with j-hope

fall asleep next to jimin OR wake up next to jungkook

make up a silly rap with v OR a silly choreography with jin

have a fun picnic with j-hope OR a fancy date with jin

have jungkook serenade you OR have v sing you to sleep

have a dance party with j-hope OR sing karaoke with suga

go camping with jimin and v OR go to the beach with rap monster and suga

cook with jin AND bake a cake with jimin

have a sleepover with the hyung line OR a birthday party with the maknae line

celebrate halloween with jungkook, suga, v and j-hope OR christmas with rap monster, jimin and j-hope

rules: answer the questions with the first letter of your name, then tag 10 people. If the person who tagged you has the same initial, you must use different answers. you cannot use the same word twice.

What is your name? - Tsu

A four letter word? - text

A boy’s name? - Tom

An occupation? - tailor

Something you wear? - t-shirt

A color? - turquoise

A food? - tomato

Something you find in the bathroom? - toilet

A place? - Tokyo

A reason for being late? - traffic

Something you shout? - yells

A movie title? - something that starts with “the”

Something you drink? - tea

An animal? - turtle

A type of car? - tesla

Title of a song? - Tage wie diese - die toten hosen

I’m,,, maybe later @mama-kisu @metroid-fr (you can do the non kpop stuff) eh whoever wants i guess

#upgraded trash

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trash-trashaf · 7 years

Text

Nobody Quite Like This Ch. 3

Fandom: Voltron

Summary: The Paladins of Voltron have discovered a prisoner Galra ship. Hoping to find Pidge’s brother and father, they decide to sneak onto the ship and look for them. What they don’t expect to find is this: a mysterious human boy and girl, passed out behind bars

Word Count: 2464

Relationships: Matt/Shiro, others to come

Characters: Shiro, Keith, Lance, Pidge/Katie, Hunk, Coran, Allura, Original Characters, Matt(mentioned)

Warnings: Language

A/N: Third chapter of first Voltron fanfic, woot! I’ve gotten more views on AO3 then I thought I would so I’m excited! Link: http://archiveofourown.org/works/10326254/chapters/22829777

Thank you for reading and feedback is welcome!

Chapter Three: No I in Team

“So this is the training room?” Skylar asks as she peers around it. Hunk nods as he follows in after her. “Yup. It’s pretty neat.” Sky continue to walk around the room, quiet as she looks. She turns to Hunk. “How do you activate it?” he grins and walks over to a wall, causing a panel to pop up. She crosses the room to stand beside him and look around on it.

“Can I try it out?” “Sure! I’d, uh, start at the beginning level though.” he recommends and shows her how to set it up. She sets it to a beginning hand to hand combat level and steps into the arena. She activates the shield that was given to her as the gladiator rises from the floor. She crouches slightly, eyes trained on it. It’s scanner flashes and is immediately running towards her. She tenses up to brace for impact and throws her shield up at the last moment, catching it under the chin and throwing it upwards.

Hunk gaps as she’s quick to grab an arm and swings it into a wall, causing it to shatter and deactivate. She turns to him, eyes bright and shining. “Can we up the level and amount?” she asks excitedly. “U-uh...um, yeah. But...I’m coming in just in case you need help.” she rolls her eyes as he sets up the panel. “I can take them all on my own.” she snorts out as he steps in.

“Yeah well...just to be safe.” he activates his bayard, pulling up his cannon.

Several gladiators rise from the floor and are quick to turn on Sky, attacking her at once. A few have staffs of their own, but she twists and turns to block the objects with her shield, taking a few punches to the gut in the process. Her arm snakes out and grabs one by the leg and, with a spin, manages to knock the group around her down. In the process she breaks its leg off and takes several steps away. She beheads the closest one by bringing her shield down hard and steals its staff. Realizing she brought the shield down too hard and got it stuck in the floor, she abandons it and brings up the staff just in time to block another one from electrocuting her arm.

“Watch out!” Hunk yells as another slams its leg in the back of her knees, causing her to fold over and drop the staff. She rolls over just in time for a staff to miss whapping her in the side. Hunk fires up his cannon, blasting the nearest gladiators to her. They turn on him, seeming to realize she isn’t the only one in the arena. Skylar’s quick to react though and gets up before tackling one, crushing it under her weight. She yanks the staff from it and with a hard swing, beheads the last two. The simulation stops, causing the broken pieces and staffs to disappear through the floor.

Skylar pants hard and slowly looks to Hunk. “Thank...you..” she gives a small smile, which Hunk returns. “You’re welcome...that’s what a team is for, right?” she walks towards him, stretching her arms in the air. “Maybe I should listen to someone who’s been here longer, huh?” she laughs. He chuckles a bit as well. “Yeah, maybe. Though I think you could have started a little higher level. You absolutely destroyed that first gladiator.” he follows her out of the training arena. Skylar beams at him. “You think?”

“Definitely.”

***

“Do you think there’s any way to turn this into a fighter ship?” Pidge asks as they approach the escape pod. Roaron gives a shrug. “Perhaps. I’d have to take a look inside it first and even then I’d need a few parts. Mainly a couple of laser guns to attach and a set of controls for those.” he shows Pidge where the panel is and she cuts through the metal with her bayard. Roaron kneels down, Pidge leaning down beside him to look in it.

“It looks easy to rewire into a more stable and compatible ship.” she comments, pushing her glasses up. Roaron snorts. “Yeah, until you add rewiring to new weapons and a second seat inside.” “A second seat?” she questions, glancing to him.

“Well, yeah. You think I’m fighting without my gun woman then you thought wrong.” he stands up and looks down to her. “Besides, before we can get started I’ll need to make the weapons. Or get them. Just getting them would be nice.”

“Yeah, Allura’s just going to give up some of the castle’s laser weapons for you” she lays the sarcasm on thick. “Maybe there’s a storage somewhere with some old tech. I’ll have to ask Coran at some point.” she stands up beside him. Roaron side eyes her. “You know, I could probably get some really good ideas if I could see the inside of one of the lions.”

“And try to steal it? I don’t think so.” a voice comes from the doorway, causing them both snap their heads in that direction to see the red paladin. Pidge rolls her eyes. “This is almost worse than you and Lance. Do you just keep stalking him everywhere he goes?” Keith shrugs as he leans up against the door. “Until I have a reason to trust him, yes.”

“Oh? And what about the other one, Skylar?”

He laughs. “She doesn’t seem as smart as him. More brawn than brain. Besides, Hunk has been with her practically since she got up.” Roaron chuckles darkly. “I want to see you say that to her face emo boy.”

“What did you just say??” Keith snaps, stepping forward threateningly. Roaron crosses his arms over his chest.

“Yain’t deaf. You heard me.”

“Ladies, ladies, stop fighting, you’re giving me a headache.” Pidge groans, rubbing her temple. “Listen, how about this: you two fight for it. Keith loses, he has to start respecting you and you get to see the lions. Roaron loses, he doesn’t get to see the lions and we figure out how to build a good ship another way.” she holds her hand up as Keith starts to speak. “No, you’re using the training sticks, not real fucking weapons.” he looks offended, but his mouth shuts.

Roaron narrows his eyes at Keith, quiet for a few minutes. “I’ll take you on. But I want some referees so they can tell who gets the kill shot first.” Pidge claps her hands together. “Great! I’ll round up the others.” she starts to walk out as Roaron clears his throat. She stops and looks to him. “What?”

“You’ll need to distract Skylar and keep her away from the training area...she might interfere with the battle if it looks like I’m losing...and she won’t hold back.” she goes quiet for a minute.

“I’ll have Hunk and Lance distract her. Any hobbies she loves?”

“Baking.”

“Perfect.” she walks out the door. Keith glares once more at Roaron before walking away from the door and into the hallway. Roaron lets out a huff and shakes his head before walking out the door himself, it sliding shut behind him.

***

“Do you even know what any of these say?” Skylar questions as she picks up a tube of space goo, looking at the label. “We’re not entirely sure...but Hunk has a knack for creating some good food.” Lance replies, leaning against the counter. He pouts a bit, wishing he could watch Keith get his ass kicked by the newbie but no, he’s stuck here making sure the other one doesn’t ruin everything.

Hunk takes the tube from Sky and adds it to the bowl. She leans over slightly, sniffing the batter. “Mmmm...kinda smells like strawberries.”

“Let’s hope it tastes like them.” he replies, glancing over to her. He dumps the bowl into a square pan and places it into the oven.

Lance groans and sprawls over the table. He squints at Skylar. “Weren’t you shorter before? I swear you were shorter yesterday. Like. Two inches shorter.” she shrugs. “Maybe I’m finally getting my growth spurt I should have gotten back in 6th grade.”

“I’m pretty sure someone doesn’t grow two inches in one night once out of puberty.” Hunk says, resting lightly against the counter.

“Well...I don’t feel any taller. Roaron would be able to tell.” she glances around, her eyebrow dropping into a questioning look. “Which….where is he, by the way? I haven’t gotten to see him all day.”

“Well...um-” “He’s with Pidge, checking out the lions.” Lance interrupts, glancing to Hunk. Sky frowns a bit before tilting her head.

“How about we go meet up with them and lemme look at them too?” she asks, eyes trained on Hunk. He glances away. “We have to wait for the food to bake. I don’t want it to burn.”

Lance sits up and slides off the table. “I can go get him for you, if he’s still there.”

“Great! I’ll go with you.” she stands up straight and starts to follow him. “Wait wait wait...have I...shown you my secret stash of food?” Hunk questions, laying a hand on her shoulder. Lance quickly makes his escape as she looks back to Hunk. “..No?”

***

“Okay boys, let’s make this fight clean.” Pidge says as she sits back in one of the chairs behind the particle barrier. Shiro sits beside her, having agreed to be referee, with a little bit of convincing. Keith and Roaron are both dressed in their respective suits, Roaron in his Galra one that he landed on the ship with. Instead of real weapons they have two wooden swords so they don’t seriously injure the other. “Begin!” Pidge calls out.

Roaron bends his knees slightly, eyes trained on Keith. He knows the hot headed emo boy will probably be the first to make a strike if he waits long enough. Sure enough, after a few minutes of being motionless, Keith huffs and rushes him, bringing the tool out slightly to the side. Roaron tilts his sword to the side out in front of him and blocks Keith’s attempt at side swiping him, instead kicking out at his shins and just barely skimming them as Keith jumps back.

Roaron is quick to rush him this time as he’s unbalanced and there’s a loud crack! As the weapons strike each other again. Roaron presses hard enough to bring Keith’s own sword to his neck, but he has enough strength to keep it from quite touching it. Keith grits his teeth and shoves Roaron back, causing him to just catch his balance as he’s forced back a few steps. Keith rushes once again, cutting up from underneath but Roaron catches him with his own sword, stopping him long enough to kick out and catch Keith’s knee, causing him to collapse. He’s quick to roll and jump back up before Roaron can pin him with his sword. Both pant a bit, eyeing each other up.

“What’d I miss?” Lance whispers as he kneels beside Pidge, eyeing the arena where both are standing looking at the other. Pidge leans a bit towards Lance. “Both are decently matched: Keith’s quick but Roaron has the strength to block his attacks and sense to guess where he’s going to strike. It’s kinda interesting. It’d be cool to see how he stands up to Shiro but..” she glances towards Shiro, who’s too distracted by watching the fight to pay attention to them. “He doesn’t have a beef with Shiro so I don’t think he’d do it.”

Lance pouts a bit as he watches the two. “Too bad. That’d be so cool to see. Though I wouldn’t doubt Skylar beating up Shiro.” Pidge looks at him in alarm. “Why??” “You have to get the story from Hunk. He’ll tell it better than me.” she eyes him before returning her attention to the battlefield.

Keith is the first to move again, bringing his sword up and clashing once again with Roaron’s. What he doesn’t see coming is Keith’s leg, nailing him in the gut, causing him to cough hard and fall back. He brings his sword up as his back slams into the ground, blocking Keith’s deathblow. He pants and grits his teeth.

“Why don’t you give up, pretty boy?” Keith hisses out, pressing harder against the sword, bringing it dangerously close to Roaron’s neck. Roaron gives a smirk.

“Because I’m too stubborn to.” he launches forward, knocking Keith’s sword away in the process and pins his sword under his neck, causing Keith to lift his chin a bit. Both pant heavily, glaring at each other as the arena shuts down.

“Match set! Roaron wins!” Pidge calls as she stands up from her seat. Both of the wooden swords disappear and Roaron steps back from Keith before sticking out his hand. “Good match. It’s been awhile since I’ve been against someone skilled.” Keith eyes his hand before taking it and shaking it. He drops it first and walks away, heading to the door.

Roaron watches him go before glancing at Shiro, who shrugs. “He’ll come around.” Roaron snickers a bit: imagine the emo boy sulking. He keeps the thought to himself and rubs his stomach lightly, already knowing a pretty big bruise is going to form there. He glances to Pidge and chuckles a bit. “I think we’ll have to save exploring the lions for a couple days. He got me pretty good.” “I bet that knee hurts more than your gut though.” she comments. “Yeah, he was kinda limping out the door.” Lance adds, grinning.

“Do you need a healing pod?” Shiro questions, looking slightly concerned. Roaron waves his hand. “Nah, I’d just like some water.” “I’ll come with you: Hunk’s magic ought to be done by now.” Lance comments, walking out of the door with him in the direction of the kitchen. Pidge and Shiro glance to each other. Pidge glances down before looking back up.

“How long?”

“How long what?” Shiro asks back. She frowns slightly.

“How long were you and Matt together?”

Shiro tenses up a bit and glances away. He swallows hard. “A few months before the Kerberos mission launched. That’s why he never got to telling you. Our minds were focused on the mission and we spent our free time with each other. I...I think he was afraid that I’d leave him so he didn’t bother to announce our relationship to anyone.” he glances down to Pidge.

“He didn’t keep it secret on purpose and...neither did I. I was just respecting his wishes.” she stares at him hard before nodding sharply. “Alright.” she says before heading out the door. Shiro watches her go before sighing and walking after her.

#voltron fanfic #voltron #original character

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