#(when i say i could become the next doctor i mean in an au where i don't hate acting and actually did that thing and tried to become

[ssaalexblake]

it's funny bc, i was thinking about that letter baby peter capaldi wrote about wanting to be an actor to help the doctor when he got older, and how when he was the doctor they dug it up again.

Then I thought how, it's unlikely anybody born somewhere between like 85-95 would ever have that happen to them bc said sentiments would probably have been posted online when tweens or teens, and people born between said years were taught the dangers of the internet and would have been conscious of anonymity.

Then i thought how, people born after that in the years of facebook's normalisation campaign to have you put your whole name and face and personal details online means that we've probably sprung right back round to being able to dig up stuff said as children or teenagers and say it on tv.

I know i, on one of my 'you'd never know it was me bc i practiced internet safety' accounts, when i was 14, spoke about loving doctor who on the internet. Was probably obnoxiously 14 and sappy about it. Would bother me if it got out. Account still exists. I could become the next doctor and you'd never know, though.

[lani-heart]

|| series masterlist || next // previously ||

genre(s) -> angst, fluff, smut, non-idol, hybrid au, poly au paring(s) -> ( eventually ) ATEEZ x reader warning(s) -> mentions of violence, mention of putting down / death, etc. words -> 4.2K

abstract -> "Lets make it up to eachother!"

y/n's perspective

“She’s awake! Get the doctor!” I heard and my vision was doubled while my head was throbbing. Where was I? The last thing I remember was…

“Then why don’t you run?”

Did he actually run? Was he finally free like he wanted? How does a hybrid escape without pretending to be human? Oh yeah… the black market. 

If he did... I hope it was successful and not all for nothing.

“y/n? How are you feeling?” I heard and I looked to my side. “Jeno… how’s school been?” I offered him a smile and didn’t have to see his face to know he was concerned for me. “Good, I've been focusing on this internship and well I try my best to not lose sleep,” he said and I smiled. “Haechan should learn from you,” I said and I heard his soft laughter. 

“How… are they?” I asked and he sighed. “Let’s get you checked out first. I’ll let Taeyong-hyung explain,” he said and I knew it was probably bad. 

“Y/n the doctor is gonna come in and do some tests, you’ll be given pain medication and you currently have stitches so this will scar. We’ll set up future appointments” I heard as I saw Johnny enter the room. 

I wonder if they're okay. 

seonghwa’s perspective

Last week we were finally let out. That would mean she's dead or alive to have them do action. I don't know what they did to San or Hongjoong yet. But I was in observation to see if I should be considered for a breeding farm. 

I heard them talk… I had no chance of adoption. My only option was a hybrid farm where their only purpose is to reproduce. It also gave me little hope that she was alive. 

I know she’s scared of me… but she would’ve tried to convince them otherwise. I also did hear that Yeosang and Wooyoung were code greens ready for adoption but Wooyoung has been in the medical wing. 

“If I could, those tigers would be shipped off. Hongjoong is excessively violent, he killed her. What am I supposed to tell San? Or Wooyoung? Those hybrids are far too dependent on her. If they knew, San would become a bigger threat to himself and Wooyoung would join him” I heard. She was dead…?

I may have not had a lot of hope but a part of me hoped she was alive. Oh, Hongjoong… we caused a mess.

“Seonghwa, you have a check” I heard as they opened my curtain. I saw the employee now opening the glass door. “I’m sorry,” I said… and he looked at me confused. 

“If… if I didn’t help her she’d still be alive. Even then I could’ve stopped–" "Seonghwa none of this is your fault, I'm sorry your future isn’t looking too bright,” he said and I felt the tears run down my face. 

“My future was never meant to bright”

yeosang's perspective

She was alive. I knew she had to be… there's no way she'd die. 

I was in isolation. My records unfortunately were publicly known when I was in here. The accident at a popular apartment complex where politicians, CEOs, and even idols lived took pictures of what happened. They warned me… she called in asking if I was gonna be put up for adoption. If… she was dead. I would get a horrible punishment for defying her… maybe even move the country? 

“Yeosang, are you ready for some air?” I heard one of the employees. I remember him being called… Jaemin? He was a friend of hers. “Any news?” I asked and he sighed. 

“Don’t worry, she’ll be fine” he said and I nodded. “Do you believe that?” I asked and it caught him off guard. He was supposed to make me feel better. I know he’s not allowed to say anything…

“Look… she’s the strongest person I know. The last time I saw her, Johnny promised to make sure she was alright and my friend worked with him. She’s in a stable condition”

liar. He was lying… 

“You don’t believe me do you?” he asked and I shook my head. 

“She’s… not in stable condition. In fact, they're trying their best to monitor her at all times–” “What’s wrong with her?” I asked and he sighed. We started walking outside as he looked to think about what he’d say. 

“Hongjoong when he clawed her jaw hit a vein connected to her heart. The week before when Kun was there, she flatlined but I  know she’s stable now we just need her to wake up. If not she might be in a coma for longer than we’d hope” he explained and I could only feel hatred for those tigers and myself… I pushed her, and I misinterpreted her feelings. She was scared of them… and even us. 

“Is there hope?” I asked and his smile said everything. It was forced and I could see the glassy look in his eyes. “There's always hope” 

Liar. 

wooyoung’s perspective

“Wooyoung you need to eat, we don’t want to put you up with the purple code hybrids. She’s not gonna be happy when–” “How can she feel anything? She’s not here… she’s dead isn't she?” I cut him off. The doctor sighed and shook his head. 

“No, she's not dead,” he said and I didn’t believe him. 

“Do it for her… don’t you think she’ll be distraught to see you in a worse state than before? When she saw you she said she was heartbroken. To know that you were a depressed hybrid… that those who promised her to take care of you weren’t–" "She’s not here!” I yelled. 

“Let me mourn her… she isn’t coming back,” I said and I was fully convinced. She would’ve been here already, she’s gone. I should’ve been there.

“Wooyoung you need to take care of yourself, your weight is dropping and you’ll start to get sick..” I turned him out. I didn’t feel hungry… not when I used to live a fantasy almost two weeks ago now. I was hopeful at first…

but then she never came back. 

san’s perspective

The world… stopped. 

My world stopped�� code purple. For hybrids who are dangerous to themselves, mainly ones who experience such stress, or depression they harm themselves. 

Would it be so bad to be with her again? Constrained and isolated… How was Wooyoung doing? Was he like me? 

I missed the feeling of that collar on my neck, the feeling of her warmth, I miss her. Where is she? How long has it been since I've been here?

Surely only a few hours… I wonder when she’ll be here. Maybe in a few hours? 

“San, how are you feeling?” I heard and I finally saw someone after they put me here. “I’m… tired,” I said, I was tired, my mind felt like I was spinning and I felt sick. 

“Do you remember what I told you last time?” he asked me. “What?” I asked and he sighed. “San, I've been here three times a day for two weeks now,” he said and I was confused. I laughed, “It's only been a few hours…” I said and he shook his head. 

“I’ll remind you later, today we thought it would be good to take you outside” he said and I shook my head. “San, do you remember when you arrived here after the fight? You lost any sense of time and thought you lived the same day over and over again. You improved so much afterwards… she would want you to improve and get adopted again” he said and I shook my head. 

“I am adopted, she’s my mate” I said and he sighed almost like he was tired. 

“San, we’ve been having the same conversation for the past two weeks, almost three times a day” 

hongjoong’s perspective

My hands felt dirty… They didn’t let me go to the cells anymore. 

I need to get rid of her blood. I didn't mean to kill her. I… where was Seonghwa? Was he okay? Did he get adopted already? Maybe she’s alive and she took them… but not me.

I don’t deserve it… besides living with humans?  I hate them… I hate her… but I want to apologize. I hope she’s okay. I want her to be okay. But is she? Why would they send me away if that's the case, they were preparing to send me off. 

I was slowly accepting what I was destined for… I was gonna die. Born into a circus, I was always gonna die. 

“You’re scheduled to leave in three days” I heard. It was the main doctor… “Dr. Doyoung will take you in to check your wounds,” he said and I was unchained from the ground to be led to the medical wing. 

He knocked on the door when it revealed another employee… and Wooyoung? He looked… starved. His eyes looked lifeless and dark circles prominent. 

He looked up at me to not even react. They led him away, speaking to him in a cheerful voice as if wanting to cheer him up. “You ruined the lives of four hybrids,” the behaviorist said to me. 

“What's wrong with him?” I asked and he scoffed. 

“The healthiest right now is probably Seonghwa and Yeosang. Yeosang though is still clinging to her being alive, while Wooyoung has refused to be cooperative with this severe depressive episode, even San has lost all sense of time and is worse. All humans aren't evil, but you let that control you and even ruined your own chance to actually live” he said as I went inside the room to see the doctor. 

I… I'm sorry…

y/n’s perspective

“Two weeks?” I asked and they nodded. “Johnny and Jeno tried their best to take care of you… but you were asleep for two weeks and they thought for a minute your body was in shock, especially after your flatline last week. 

“I… what?” I was confused with everything. Two weeks I was out… What happened to them? “You’re okay physically, the tests they've done should help and it looks like they helped you gain some strength to walk despite being comatose for two weeks” he explained and I nodded. 

“Curious about anything?” Taeyong asked and I wanted to ask but I was scared. “I’m curious. Curious as to why you were suddenly scared of your hybrids. Kun told me that your hybrids said you started to be detached and started avoiding them and it was clarified that you were scared” he said and I nodded. 

“When I did the interviews… Hongjoong mentioned that hybrids do anything to survive even if they pretend to like their owners” I said and he laughed at me. “You’ve clearly forgotten how those three looked at you. Wooyoung used to– actually has been obsessed with you for years, Yeosang is the most overprotective hybrid i've ever seen and San? He loves you… he was your first hybrid and he… he’s a code purple right now” he said and i stopped. I felt frozen… 

“A… a code purple?” I said hoping I heard wrong and he nodded.

“He’s lost track of time… he thinks it's been hours. His mind is scattered in events, sometimes he’ll think he’s there because he attacked you and become depressed, or he’ll think the attack was minutes before and scream that he’ll kill that tiger. The worst of it is, right now… he’s waiting for you to show up in front of him. He thinks it's been hours and you’ll recover soon, for him it hasn't been two weeks”' he explained and he wiped my cheek.

“He… he’s no, you're messing with me. San… I need to see him!” I declared and he grabbed my elbow. “You shouldn't be so rash. No one knows you’ve recovered… Kun thinks you're as good as dead. He was there when you flatlined and thought there's no hope” he said and everything was overwhelming.

“I need to see him,” I pleaded and he smiled. “And we will, just let me go to the station first. We’ll go later today, I want to take you back home–" "No” I refused and he sighed.

“The blood is clean… Wonyoung had people clean your apartment–" "It won’t feel right with them not there” I argued and he sighed. 

“Give me a few hours then, I'll call Yuta and Shotaro, they'll take care of you,” he said and I sighed. “I’m a grown woman I don’t need to be taken care of” I argued and he nodded. 

“Okay… but they’ll meet with you to make sure you're okay, '' he said and I nodded. “I can walk–” “I need time alone… I know where they work” I said and he nodded. “Be careful, you just–” “Taeyong please” I pleaded and he nodded as he left. 

I couldn't stop the tears flowing down. I was an idiot… I doubted them and I failed Hongjoong… I need to talk to him–

“Why are you crying again?” I heard as I noticed a man in front of me. It was the man that helped me before. “It's been a long day” I answered and he nodded.

“I’m sorry to hear that, but please don’t cry, surely whatever it is it can be fixed?” he said with a  cheerful smile. “Have you ever owned a hybrid?” I asked and his eyes widened. “Only one,” he said and I nodded. “How do you know their feelings are genuine and they actually love you?” I asked and he chuckled. 

“That's an interesting question… Well, hybrids are known for faking they care but that's a rare few. If you treat them with love and care I can assure you they will be the same” he said and I nod. 

“What if they fake it though, even if you love them to the best of your ability?” I asked and he hummed. “Well, a hybrid can fake words, but the things they do have meaning. Where– I mean hybrids are like animals by the end of the day. They have animal habits they follow, like uhm bunnies circle around their owners, fox hybrids are dependent on owners and usually bond to one person for the rest of their life–" "What about canines and panthers?” I asked and he chuckled. 

“That's a weird pair?” he laughed and I smiled. 

“Well, panther hybrids only really expose themselves to their owners when they fully trust them so sleeping is a big one. Uhm… panthers are actually known to cook or feed their mates as an act of love? –” San often would feed me off his own plate and make me eat more… and he would always say how he preferred sleeping in my room.

He was showing he trusted me… 

“– Dog hybrids however, are known to scent their mates and groom them? So dog hybrids will often fix their owners hair or males would often scent their owner to tell others to back off” he explained and suddenly Yeosang made much more sense to me. 

“I can tell you're a good hybrid owner… any hybrid would be lucky for someone to care about them like you do” he said and I smiled. 

“Thank you…?” I didn't know his name. “Oh? Uhm my name! My name is… Yunho” he said and I smiled. “Thank you, Yunho! My name is y/n” I said and he smiled. 

“It was my pleasure, ah! I think you dropped this?” 

Yuta and Shotaro were spamming my phone. 

I was now in front of the infamous building… The Seoul Hybrid Rehabilitation Center. 

I entered and I was immediately greeted by a shocked Haechan. I smiled at the boy who couldn’t even produce a sentence. “YOU'RE OKAY!” he yelled and I laughed as he hugged me tight. “We were convinced you weren’t gonna wake up” he muttered and I ruffled his hair. “Where's Kun?” I asked and he sighed. “Kun cares about you a lot… so does Doyoung but Kun sees you like his little sister–”

“Haechan, what's going on with him?” I asked and he sighed

“He’s planning on sending Wooyoung and San to Jeju’s Rehabilitation Center, as for Yeosang… There's a threat of legal action with his previous owner, Seonghwa is going to be moved to a breeding farm, and Hongjoong is being sent out of Korea '' he explained and I was speechless. 

“W-What?” I asked and he nodded. “Kun right now is out but he’ll be back soon–” “Take me to San,” I said and he shook his head. “Only Kun and Doyoung have the key to get in there… and you're not supposed to be allowed without them knowing,” he said and I smiled. 

“Please, let me see one of them?” I asked and he nodded. “I can take you to Yeosang,” he said and I nodded. He talks to have someone come get me and lead me to Yeosang.

“y/n?” I heard and saw Renjun. I smiled softly and offered a hug. “I'm so glad you're okay! When did you get discharged” he asked and I sighed. “Maybe two hours ago?” I said and he scoffed. “You should be resting–” “I need to see if they're okay” I cut him off and he nodded. 

He leads me around the green code hybrids seeking adoption until we go towards the ones who have not been cleared for adoption. 

“He’s missed you a lot,” he said and I smiled. He opened the curtain and I saw he was asleep. “Jaemin has been trying his best to cheer up him and Wooyoung but it's been hard for them,” he said and I nodded. “I’m only doing this cause I know he won’t hurt you and he is still your hybrid,” he said as he opened the kennel and waited for me to enter. 

I nod and go in to kneel close to his bed. I pet his ears softly as he whined and opened his eyes slightly. “Hello, sleeping beauty,” I said and his ears flattened on his head. 

“Are you real?” he asks as he grabs my hand, tightening it as if I'd disappear. “I’m real, Yeosang,” I said and he sat up looking at me for what felt like a few minutes before he started crying. 

“Please, be real! I…  I miss you” he said as he hugged me tightly. I rubbed it back as he sobbed. “I’m here, I promise,” I said and he pulled away to look at me. I wanted to cry too… so many times I got into my head that he faked everything to hide away from his owner when I should’ve known better. 

His hand cupped my jaw to where my bandages lay. “Does it hurt?” he asked and I smiled. “I’ll heal,” I said and he nodded. 

“I’m sorry for making you adopt them–” “It's not your fault… I got in my own head. Hongjoong is rough around the edges–” “You shouldn’t defend him” he said angrily and I smiled. 

“Yeosang…. He was wronged. I should’ve voiced my thoughts sooner, but he deserves a second chance. What you suggested was sweet… he’s lived tormented by humans so he deserves to feel loved even if he doesn't know how to accept it” I said and his eyes widened. He nods…

“You’re too good to be real. I still don’t believe you're actually here… maybe you're a true angel visiting me in my dreams'' he said and I chuckled. “I don’t have wings or a halo,” I said and he chuckled. 

“Doesn’t mean you aren't an angel to me” he said and I smiled. 

“y/n?” I heard and I looked behind me to see Doyoung. “Did Haechan tell you?” I asked and he nodded. “I-I’m, why didn’t they tell us you were awake?!” he asked and I smiled while looking at Yeosang. “Well, I did wake up two hours ago,” I said and Yeosang laughed. “You should be resting,” he said and I smiled. 

“I know… Doyoung. Can I see San?” I asked and he sighed. “I don’t have the key… Kun has taken charge of seeing Hongjoong and San, I only see them to check up on them” he said and I nodded.

“And… Wooyoung?” I asked and he sighed almost nervously.

“He’s… he needs to see you”

Yeosang was gonna be checked one last time by Doyoung while he led me in front of Wooyoung’s kennel. “Be careful with him… he’s been worse than I've ever seen him” he said and Yeosang didn’t want to let go of my hand. 

“I’ll be here when you're out, I promise,” I said and he didn’t look convinced. “When have I ever lied to you? Or broken a promise?” I asked and he nodded. 

They leave me alone with Wooyoung’s key. I knock before opening the door… It's to tell the hybrid I'm going in. I open it and see that he’s already staring at the door. His eyes widened. 

“y/n?” he said and I noticed how hoarse his voice was. How skinny he was… how tired he looked. “Hello, Woo,” I said, trying my best to offer a happy smile as I felt my vision blur. “You're… alive?” he said, confused and not moving. 

“Missed me?” I said and I sat down on the floor to sit at eye level with him. “I…” he was speechless. I smiled as I hugged him… his tears and sobs broke my heart. The way he tightened his grip on my body and let out cries was the only thing I could focus on. 

He struggled with words as he sobbed. 

“I... I lost- any hope that you were alive!” he let out and I felt a serious ache in my heart. “I’m sorry,” I said and he shook his head as he let go and ghosted his hand on my jaw. “It's not your fault,” he said and I knew what he suggested. 

“It's not his fault either… I should’ve talked about what I was feeling "I said and he said nothing but hugged me. We sat there on the floor with him hugging me in silence.

“Wooyoung '' I heard as I saw Yeosang in his regular clothes and his collar. “Yeosang?” he said as he lifted his head without letting me go to see his friend. “The doctor wants to see you so he can discharge you,” he said and he tightened his grip on me.

“I’ll still be here… you get to be in comfortable clothes and your collar again,” I said and he nodded letting go but did move to leave.

“She’ll still be here,” Yeosang said and Wooyoung nodded. “Can… Can we get food from that street food market?” he asked and I smiled. “Anything you want,” I said and he nodded. He leaves but not without looking at me one last time and giving me a slight smile.

Progress…

“Are you gonna take in those tigers again?” Yeosang asked and I sighed. “I hate how I… I want to give them a second chance. A better chance without me being scared of them… I took them in because they wanted a better life and I didn’t even try like I did with you, Wooyoung, and San” I explain and nod. 

“I don’t trust them” he said and I smiled. “And you have every right to,” I said. 

“y/n?” I heard and I saw Jaemin who looked at me with the biggest smile. “How are you doing?” I said and he chuckled. “You see Yeosang, she’s okay,” he said and Yeosang nodded. “Jaemin? Can you take me to Seonghwa?” I asked and he sighed. “The tigers are gonna be transferred–” “Kun can’t do that, I'm still their owner,” I said and he chuckled. 

“You're the same as ever. Let me take you there then, I'd rather not be sued and in debt even more than I am” he said and I chuckled.

“Yeosang, stay here for Wooyoung,” I said and he shook his head getting ready to argue– “He needs someone here, and I’ll be back,” I said and he nodded reluctantly. 

I followed Jaemin when I noticed he was also a code green hybrid. “Seonghwa, you have a visitor,” Jaemin said as he opened the curtain first. 

He looked at me shocked. 

“You're… I’m sorry! I should’ve stopped Hongjoong, please I-I’m so–” “Seonghwa it isn't your fault '' I said while giving him a smile and he looked at me with wide eyes. 

“I’m sorry for not offering you what I did to my hybrids' ' I said and he looked confused. “You deserve a second chance… so does Hongjoong. Let me make it up to you” I said and he shook his head. 

“I… I should be asking that of you!” he said desperately and I smiled. 

“Let's make it up to each other then!” I said and he was frozen… “I… why do you still want me?” he asked and I shrugged. “You’re a sweet hybrid… a farm doesn’t suit you at all,” I said and I could see tears forming in his eyes.

“I… I really am sorry I wasn't–” “It's not your fault, you… were the sweetest. You tried so hard to earn a place with me and I know you deserve it. So I'm sorry for letting Hongjoong’s words get into my head, I really do think you deserve better Seonghwa '' I said and he was silent. 

“Do you accept me?” I asked and he smiled softly. 

“If you’ll take me” 

@wonuangel @danirael @angelsaway @krissroo @minkysmilk @mayonnaise-on-toast @robertsbbygirl @superbbananananana @hyukssunflower @kitty4hwa @justconniez @senpai-of-doom @kibs-and-bits @caityelise99 @ilovekinny @ateezennie23 @wooahaelemons @purplelady85 @watamotee33@chidess97 @littlelostdemonofthelight @maliamaiden @burntarm1n @spooo00oky @eastleighsblog @momo-peachy @kitstar1117 @quartzpirate @sunnyhokyu @iwishiwasrichasfuck @theginger543210 @pandolinka @ddaeing @kpopnightingale @slid3er @kekdo-520 @puppyminnnie @sparklinghwa222 @calicanbeevil @itsvxlentine @atinism @loumin908 @smally97 @rxnexxi @acetruepunk @majesticbeluga @namjooncrabs @tashizxy @itstheghostofmypast @smilefordongil @teeziny @totallynotlyntv @kyeos4ng @prodsh00ky @acescavern

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[preet-01]

Since we're getting into fall weather here, I've been watching period pieces. So here's part one of a maxiel renaissance au with artist max

note: I have very little idea of how money worked in renaissance rome so some suspension of belief is needed for that. though it is a very interesting topic to study based on the little research I did - there were so many types of coins in Italy's history and vary based on the duchy

cw: dubious consent, prostitution

word count: 3287

part one ||| part two

Daniel sighs as he looks at the pouch of coins – ten florins and five grossi. It wouldn’t be enough to get groceries, medicine for Mark, and supplies for Oscar’s apprenticeship.

He would need to ration, Mark’s medicine was a necessity. For all Mark says his leg doesn’t pain him, the doctor had been clear that if they wanted Mark to heal properly then the medicine was necessary. It would take four florins to get all the medicine and bandages – leaving him with six florins and five grossi. 

Five florins would get him the supplies for Oscar’s apprenticeship. Signor Cordiani provides most of the materials Oscar needs, but he would need to get his own paper and drawing materials. It also meant that they would need to continue buying the materials as Oscar runs out of them, which left him with one florin and five grossi. 

He could get some vegetables and hopefully, he’d be able to make a stew with the few ingredients they had at home. That should last them a few days. They would have two grossi left which Daniel could give to Oscar just in case he would need to buy snacks whilst at his apprenticeship during the day. 

The journey from the market to their small home is quick. Neighbors greet him with smiles as they have seen him grow from babe in his mother’s belly to the man he now is. Girls giggle and wave, while men either avert their gazes or leer. Though the girls will do no more than giggle and wave, he is handsome, yes, but he has no money. Or at least not enough to entice any girl into marriage with him. And certainly not when he’s dedicated much of his adulthood so far to taking care of his brothers – marrying him would mean helping him take care of a younger brother who was being apprenticed and an older, bedridden brother. 

Oscar is already home when Daniel gets there. Busy mending his cloak, he doesn’t notice Daniel until the door shuts. Scraps of fabric and thread rest on the table next to Oscar, Daniel will need to buy stronger thread and warmer fabric soon as the warm sunny days become cold dark nights sooner and sooner with each passing day. 

“I’m sorry,” Oscar mumbles when he looks at the meager groceries and abundant supplies for his apprenticeship with Signor Cordiani.

“Don’t be,” Daniel says. He tries to smile at his little brother so he may reassure him that everything is fine and they are not extremely tight on money at the moment. He needed to be the strong one among the three of them, he needed to take care of his brothers. Mark’s injury kept him chained to the bed with only a few moments of walking every day and Oscar was yet young but the only one of the three of them who had the potential to make a name for himself. So he needed to be strong and work whatever jobs he got to provide for his brothers. “Signora Carini will be giving me an advance on my monthly wages soon,” he lies. It won’t be an advance on anything since Daniel does not have a set wage, he gets paid based on how many clients he has, on how many jobs he takes. “Could you go get water from the well? It was not on my way here,” he asks. 

Oscar nods and goes to get some water. Meanwhile, Daniel heads to Mark’s room with the medicine and bandages in hand. Mark is where he had been when Daniel went to work in the morning. Though able to walk a few steps with a cane, the pain in his leg kept him stuck on the bed. 

“You didn’t need to buy that. My leg barely even hurts anymore,” Mark grumbles when he sees the items in Daniel’s hands, “the coin could’ve been spent on something else.” Daniel simply raises his brow when Mark winces as he tries to sit up on the bed. Mark had turned to metal work instead of becoming a vendor when their parents were still alive – metalworkers made more money than vendors. 

The accident happened a few months ago. 

A scalding pot filled with liquid metal had fallen on Mark’s leg. Though the liquid metal hadn’t touched his skin, the heaviness of the pot had broken Mark’s leg and it had burned his skin. The healing process, the doctor has told them, would be slow. Their household had gone from two incomes to one at possibly the worst time ever, not that Daniel would say such a thing to his brothers. 

He couldn’t bear to witness their guilty looks or have Oscar not follow his dreams to help Daniel. 

Without another word, Daniel peels back the bandages he had done in the morning with the little bit of medicine they had left. Slowly, he cleans the wounds, trying his best to not hurt Mark or worsen the injury. “I spoke to Lucia,” Daniel brings up.

“Hmh?” 

“Oscar’s apprenticeship starts soon and you will need someone to help with your leg,” Daniel says, “she’s agreed to come by once every day to check in and make sure you do your daily walk.” 

“Daniel-” 

“Please, just go along with it for my sake? I worry,” Daniel cuts him off. Mark sighs but nods. Daniel knows that Mark isn’t happy about it, but for Daniel’s sake will do it. 

________

Daniel had wanted to explore. 

With a desire for adventure and a wish to see the world, Daniel spent much of his younger years studying cartography. He had been good at it. 

He’d been sixteen when their parents died. It had started as a fever spreading through the city. They’d all gotten it at one point or another, but while they pulled through, their parents hadn’t. Mother was the first to die and his father’s will to survive had lessened until he joined her. 

All hopes of his dreams and aspirations died along with them. There really was no other option. 

Oscar was just a child, barely eight years old and unable to understand what had happened to their parents. Mark, while older, had to work even more than he previously did. With longer hours and more time spent working, he couldn’t raise Oscar. Nor could they afford to pay someone to look after Oscar. 

So Daniel stowed his maps in a chest. Hiding them out of sight but unable to part from something he had loved so much. He’d suppressed his wanderlust and turned his attention to raising his little brother. 

He took menial jobs while Oscar was at lessons with other children in their neighborhood. Three to five-hour jobs with little stability so he could earn some money to lessen Mark’s stress and take care of food expenses. He’d done that until he landed on the doorstep of Signora Carini’s artists’ workshop. 

It’d started innocently. Signora Carini needed a male model for her workshop and he fit the ideal description. Classes at the workshop only lasted a few hours and there was stability. A consistent flow of coins helped them save money for Oscar’s tuition as he grew older. They couldn’t afford anything extravagant, but life was comfortable. 

Everything was okay until Mark’s accident. Daniel had thought about returning to his cartography and contacting his old tutor. He’d started to dream again of leaving the streets of Rome to see the world beyond what he knew. 

But leaving Rome was not in Daniel’s destiny. He was never going to escape the streets he grew up in. Not anymore. He knew that now. 

“Artists are romantics,” Signora Carini had told him when he went to her after Mark’s accident, “and you, my dear, are very pretty.” 

She had caressed his cheek like his mother used to do when he was younger and led him into a private room some artists rented out when they wanted to work without all the noise. 

Ophelia, one of the other models, was in the room. Moans and the smell of sex filled the room as Matteo, one of the regular artists at the workshop, fucked Ophelia. “What?” Signora Carini kept him there as Matteo fucked Ophelia and left her there with five florins — three more than they earned for being models. 

Matteo was the first to take him. Unlike there had been with Ophelia, there were no pretenses about what would happen when they were in the private room. The canvas went untouched as Matteo painted Daniel’s bare skin with bruises and cum. 

At least Matteo was handsome. Daniel could pretend that it was just another dalliance he had — no different from the men Daniel slept with before. 

Others were not so handsome. Nor did they let Daniel pretend like it was just another casual fuck. They wanted more control. They wanted him to smile prettily and let them move his limbs all under the guise of setting him in the perfect pose for a painting that would take thrice the time it should to be finished. 

“You’re much prettier than the girls the Signora has,” the man, Lorenzo, says between grunts. Daniel doesn’t say anything, just fakes a moan as he thinks of all he would need to do once he gets home. Mark should be taking his evening nap and Oscar off at his apprenticeship, giving Daniel enough time to bathe and wipe away any evidence of the things he’d done. If he was fast enough, he’d be able to have dinner on the table before Oscar got home. 

Thankfully the man doesn’t finish inside of him. Most did not listen to that request, too lost in taking their own pleasure. “Same time next week,” the man says when he’s leaving. Five florins rest on the table next to Daniel when he finally has the wherewithal to get up and wipe himself clean for the time being. 

Depositing the coins in his pouch, he goes about cleaning the room and storing the half-complete sketch for next week. 

Daniel is setting up the easel when his next client is let in. “No need for pretenses,” the man says, stopping him. “How many clients have you had today?” He questions. 

“Four already, Master Alberto,” Daniel answers. 

“Oh Daniel, my brightest pupil,” Alberto says, reaching forward to caress his cheek before pushing off the robe. “You would have made an excellent cartographer, but being a whore is your true calling,” he continues. 

Daniel doesn’t moan this time around. Just lays there as the man once meant to teach him the ways of cartography now charts a course of bruises and bites on his skin. He had never liked Daniel making much noise — not when Daniel was his student and certainly not now that he’s his favorite whore. 

Master Alberto always liked to enter Daniel when he was on his back, wanting to see the moment his cock breached the most private part of Daniel. He’d keep Daniel on his back for a few thrusts as his arousal grew at the sight of his once star pupil taking his cock. But sooner than later, he’d take Daniel like a dog takes a bitch in heat, pounding into him with little care about anything other than reaching his completion. 

Sometimes — when Daniel had taken many clients beforehand — he’d reach his peak quickly. Daniel hated those days. Not because he wanted his former tutor fucking him for longer. Rooms were rented based on hours, not orgasms. 

On those days, he’d have Daniel warm his cock. He’d keep it in Daniel’s mouth until he was hard again and then fuck Daniel again. So Daniel hated those days and prayed that Master Alberto would run out of his time. 

Daniel had wanted to explore the world. He had wanted to make maps and find new places. He had been good at it. The best student of Master Alberto — sixteen and filled with so much promise. 

________

Daniel would model for one of the workshop classes at the start of every week. It was the one day that Signora Carini wouldn’t schedule any private modelings for him. 

That is always Daniel’s favorite day. He’s not always naked on those days and the artists are there to perfect their craft, not have an excuse to fuck him without suspicions of being sodomists. 

One artist from the British Isles would always tell him a story of some far-off place he’d visited before coming to Rome. Stories of exotic people in the east and the vast seas in the west filled the classes. 

At the end, he’d always thank Daniel and say his goodbyes. Never once had he requested a private session or touched Daniel in any manner that wasn’t respectable. 

Daniel had always liked him best, just as he liked the start of the week best. 

“But I have the workshop?” Daniel asks, confused by Signora Carini guiding him toward the private room. He doesn’t earn more than two florins, but he likes earning those two florins. He likes starting the week with the handsome man from the British Isles who tells him stories and is kind. 

“Signor Verstappen is paying a lot and he requested you,” she tells him, “Ophelia will model for today’s workshop.” 

Inside the room, Signora Carini orders him to strip and put on the robe most of the models wear for private sessions. “Be good for him Daniel, he may be Dutch but he is very wealthy.” 

Daniel is tying the robe tightly across his waist when a blond-haired man steps into the room carrying his own canvas and paints. 

Handsome and foreign. Daniel could do this. He just needed to smile prettily and moan. 

“Ah, you must be Daniel. I’m Max Verstappen” the man, Signor Verstappen, says with a thick accent that makes his name sound unfamiliar. “Lewis spoke wonderfully about you,” he continues. 

Daniel had many clients ever since Mark’s accident, but he doesn’t remember any Lewis. There was Matteo, Alberto, Lorenzo, Cosimo, and Alexander, just to name a few of them. But no Lewis. 

“Lewis?” Daniel asks, wondering if one of the men has given a false name. He wouldn’t be surprised, some of the things they liked doing with him could ruin lives if even rumors spread of them.

Lewis, Max tells him, is the man from the British Isles who would tell Daniel tales of his travels. Max just keeps talking as he sets up his canvas and supplies. Daniel isn’t entirely sure of what he is saying, but Daniel just nods along. None of the other clients cared much about conversation unless it was to tell him how he’s prettier than some of the girls they’ve seen or how to pose to capture the light just right. 

“You are, of course, perfect for this,” Max says as Daniel zones back into the conversation. 

“Huh?” Daniel questions. 

“For Bacchus,” Max replies, “oh good, there’s oil.” The vial of oil rests on the table where artists would leave coins for him. 

For the next three hours, Daniel has his oddest day of work. 

Max doesn’t fuck him. Doesn’t touch him in any manner that would be considered blasphemous by the Church. Doesn’t make any comments about how pretty he is or how good he would look with a cock in him. 

Nothing. 

Absolutely nothing except sketching his pose on the canvas. He talks and talks and talks, but all of it concerns the painting or how different Rome is from Amsterdam. 

The same happens the next day. Daniel goes to the workshop and Signora Carini leads him to the private room where a robe and fruits are laid out on the bed. Wine and a laurel wreath rest on the table with the vial of oil. Pillows and draperies are nearby in a basket. And at the center of it all is Max Verstappen setting up his canvas and paints. 

Nothing happens, except Max spreads the oil across his chest and moves his limbs in the perfect position. He places the grapes and other fruits around Daniel, covering Daniel’s bare and oiled skin. 

For three hours Max paints him. 

“Do you like being a model?” Max questions. 

“It is a job,” Daniel says noncommittally. It’s not exactly what he had wanted, but it helps provide for his family and allows Oscar to achieve his dreams. If there was another option, he wouldn’t choose this, but this was his only option as he had never been able to hone his skills in any other line of work due to stopping everything when he was sixteen. All he had was his face and body – two things a lot of people wanted to pay a lot for. 

Max makes jokes more often than not. He makes his jokes and looks at Daniel from where he’s sat behind the canvas, and then doesn’t laugh until Daniel laughs. He asks questions about Daniel’s brothers – gives Dutch pain remedies when Daniel talks about Mark’s injury and listens intently as Daniel talks of how talented Oscar is. Max talks a lot about his painting and how he had searched everywhere for the perfect muse, the perfect model to embody Bacchus. 

It goes like that. Max asks him random questions while Daniel wonders when the other man would get it over with. Wondering when the other shoe would drop and Daniel would need to fulfill Max’s desires. Everything seems too normal. It makes him feel not like the whore his usual clients sought, but an actual artist’s model and muse he’d thought he would be when he first stepped through the doors of Signora Carini’s workshop. 

He breaks on the eighth day. After seven days, a week, of laying on the small bed with fresh fruits adorning his naked body, a glass of wine in hand, and oil on his chest instead of coating his hole, Daniel finally asks Max when he’ll fuck him so they could get it over with. 

“Wha-What??” Max sputters, his typically steady hand wavering as he holds the paintbrush just centimeters away from the nearly completed canvas. “Why would- what???” 

“You’re not here to fuck me?” Daniel questions, the grapes resting on his crotch falling as Daniel sits up. “Just to paint?” He grimaces when he sees traces of grape juice staining his skin. 

“Of course, I am here to paint. It is a workshop,” Max replies. 

Daniel just looks at him. Artists didn’t take private rooms to just paint. They didn’t fondle models and request oil to be on all the tables just to paint. They didn’t spend a fortune in the workshop almost every week just to paint. Daniel had seen more than his fair share of painting that would never be completed because the so called artists would rather fuck the models than hone their craft. 

Artist’s workshop was just another name for a brothel, only this way they didn’t have to worry about it impacting the lives they lived outside of these four walls.

He was not the crazy one for asking why Max just kept painting him instead of doing what every other man did. He wasn’t. 

“I have to go,” Daniel says. Rushing to get up, he feels the juice of all the fruits squeezing and oozing underneath his limbs, but he does not get up. He needs to be away from here and from Max who doesn’t want to fuck him and just wants to paint him. People don’t want to paint him, they want to fuck him. He’s not a muse or anything like that, just the favorite whore. 

“Daniel-” Max starts to say, but Daniel doesn’t wait around to hear it. 

_______

Part 2 (Max POV) will be posted in about a week

[eyeritestuff]

“I’m home.”

——

Tom (Eddsworld) x Reader [FUTURE AU]

Characters: Tom

Warnings: none,, just sad or whateva (send help)

Author’s note: don’t ask where i got inspo… short bc erm yah :3 i didn’t check for typos so oopsies !

——

The night was bleak, but yet somehow managed to house life with all of the neon city lights. You let out breath, only to see it animate as smoke in front of you. It was nothing you weren’t already used to, however living in America for 10 years will make you appreciate the little sun home had.

You had just got off the plane and were awaiting a bus to your hotel. You came here on impulse.. you were starting to get anxiety at the idea. What was the whole purpose of this trip? You tried to quell it, and so you looked down at your phone to see a missed call from- oh.. oh.

Immediately, you unlock your phone and redial, and with the same amount of swiftness, the other side picked up.

“Hello?”

His voice, it sounded so different. It was woven with misery. It’s not the him you knew. Of course, in the past he always had his monotone and sassy way of responding, but it’s.. different. Does he even know? He hasn’t called you all this time up until this point.. he had to know.

“Tom..?”

You choked out. Why were you getting emotional? This didn’t make any sense. You missed him, yes, vbht he hurt you. It’s probably the nostalgia from being at here again. At home.

But home didn’t look like home anymore.

“ahh.. y/n..,” he sighed and your breath hitched, “i’m sorry.. i’m so so sorry.”

You grabbed your stuff and got off of the bench you were sat at and started walking.

“Please don’t hang up, and listen. I don’t know why I didn’t call. I think about you every night. I was mad... I think I was mad. I was hurt you didn’t even hesitate to leave. I didn’t show up at the airport the day you left and I regret it everyday. The promise you made all those years ago.. we were teenagers, I know, but I can’t help but remind myself of it every time I think of you.”

Your walking pace started getting faster. Next thing you knew, you took a sharp left turn, then a right, then you continued on straight. Your body was guiding you at this point, but you didn’t care. As long as the tears didn’t fall. You listened intently as his breath hitched and couldn’t help but feel your stomach turn.

“I got the letter you sent me.. and I never wrote back. I’m sorry. I read it everyday. I tried writing back, and I’ve kept every draft. I want to read it to you one day.. I don’t know when that day will be, but y/n.. when I read the last part.. when you said ‘Til infinity.. did you really mean it? Do you still love me? Did the feelings ever leave?? Y/n I can’t begin to apologize enough..”

Next time your conscious decided to check up on your surroundings, you were in a building signing a visitor list with your shoulder prompting up your phone to your ear.

“Y/n.. I love you. I never stopped loving you. I was hurt, and I was upset.. that I lost the only person I ever recognized as a part of me. I didn’t want your happiness to depend on me. I wanted you to have the world, and the luxuries I couldn’t afford you. For fuck sake y/n, I could barely afford repairing Susan. I saw how much you wanted to become a doctor.. so I thought letting you go would be best,” he let out a sad chuckle, and it made you flash a sad smile in return, “I’m probably not making any sense, am I? Whatever.. I just needed to get this out to you.”

You found yourself standing in a doorway to an office. You didn’t dare make a noise once you realized where you were: It was his office.

How’d you even think to come here.. when did you even ask the front desk for directions? How’d you know— well, you knew what he was up to because Matt did keep in contact. Still, it made your stomach do flips.

You heard him speak twice over because you hadn’t dare hang up, “Y/n… you don’t have to say anything but..” He stopped, and so did your heart. The feedback from the phones was enough to make the back that was facing you turn. To say he looked different was an understatement.

You watched as his frown turned into a shaky smile, then into a frown again, but this time he bit down on his lip. Probably to stop the quivering. You couldn’t tell if he was crying due to the goggles he had on, but you knew he was in shock by the way he shakily stood up.

Your heart sank watching how he tried to stay strong for you.

The tears fell when he hung up.

The sobs followed when you closed the door behind you.

Tom slowly moved from behind his desk to get closer to you, only for him to run towards you after watching your legs struggle to keep you up. Falling into his arms, you clung onto him for dear life. He smelled so nice.. the alcohol scent was softer now.. did he lay off a little? All the memories your dream job helped you repress came rushing back. He was your first kiss, your first boyfriend, your first true best friend… your first everything.

“I left you.. I broke our promise, and I’m so sorry Tom-” he interrupted, “You were my responsibility and I avoided you because I was being selfish.”

You looked up at him, and him down at you.

“I love you so much… you look so miserable… yet you look so pretty.. you’ve grown up.” You tried to smile but you realized it probably looked like you were dying, and the awkward laugh you choked out ended up sounding like a whimper.

Burying your face into his chest, you spoke muffled, “I regret leaving you. I was selfish.. and I didn’t think of you-” “No y/n-” “Listen.. please.. I don’t need the money. At least not anymore. I wanna be here with you again. I wanna be with you.. again. I wanna have the stupid family you always spoke about.. you know.. the one with the mutated dog and a daughter with the inability to tell her left from the right..”

You heard a chuckle rumble from him and began to pet your head, “I can’t believe you remember that..” Oh his voice sounded sad.. like he was crying. Brace for rejection, is what you told yourself.

“Id like that a lot y/n..”

You looked up to see Tom, now without his goggles.. Oh his eyes… what happened to your love when you were away. You couldn’t help but cry harder seeing him like that. You weren’t there for him. You watched as his face grew pained watching your reaction. Like a child, you rubbed your eyes, but the tears wouldn’t stop.

“Tom… I love you so much. There’s so much I want to say but I can’t manage to stop.. barely even speak… could you ever forgive me..? For doing this to you.. for leaving you like this..”

You felt his hand gently grace your face.. what once was a soft hand turned rough.

“I’d forgive you a hundred times over if it meant I got to hold you again.”

[valleydean]

Chapter 5 [Read Here]

CHAMPION Part III of Heavyweight a deancas boxing au by valleydean (emmbrancsxx0) read from the beginning | playlist | tip

SUMMARY: Brooklyn, 1933. Dean Winchester, the number one contender, trains to become the next Heavyweight Champion of the World, and this time he won't let anything get in his way. Title holder Castiel Novak has second thoughts about retiring, especially when someone from his past arrives in New York and asks for his help. Meanwhile, a new contender rises to fame and threatens to complicate both of Dean and Cas' ambitions - and their relationship.

CHAPTER PREVIEW:

Dr. Meganolopis’ voice came out staticky through the radio’s speaker: “I’m sorry, Doctor! I forgot being a head surgeon means you cut into whatever body you want, and take out whatever organ pleases you without any paperwork whatsoever!”

“Well, Doctor, I’m sorry you’re so forgetful,” came the reply of the titular character, Dr. Desire.

Castiel heard Dean’s breathless chuckle in response. From his place on the living room couch, he glanced down at the rug, where Dean was doing his pushups. The neck and armpits of Dean’s t-shirt were darkened with sweat. The shirt was riding up the small of his back, leaving a sliver of skin above the waistband of his gray sweatpants. He wasn’t wearing any socks or sneakers.

As far as training sessions went, this was certainly more casual than most. However, Dean seemed determined to get in what he could before Castiel left town next week. Evidently, that meant conditioning through Dean’s favorite radio show.

The rest of the house was quiet, with Eileen at an NWP meeting and Sam still at work despite the fact that the sun had set an hour ago. Maura was asleep in her wicker bassinet, as she had been since Dean stuck his finger into his whiskey glass and gave the baby a taste to “soothe” her. Sam hated when Dean did that, but Castiel wouldn’t breathe a word of it because it seemed to work every time.

“How much longer do I have to do this?” Dean asked, his voice strained from exertion.

Castiel took his eyes off the satisfying way Dean’s back muscles moved beneath his shirt with every pushup to glance at the clock on the mantel. It was almost half past, which meant the radio broadcast would be over soon. “Until the end of the show.”

To his credit, Dean didn’t complain. He did look up at Castiel with slyly twinkling eyes to say, “Could use a little more incentive.”

Castiel rolled his eyes for show, despite the fluttering wings in his chest. He kicked his legs off the couch and climbed down to the rug with Dean. He laid on his back, placing his head beneath Dean’s face. When Dean lowered himself down, Castiel caught his lips in a quick kiss before Dean pushed away again.

Dean laughed embarrassedly, his cheeks a little pinker than they had been a second ago. When they met in another kiss, Castiel couldn’t help the pocket of laughter in his throat from coming out.

“You’re so off the cob,” Dean teased.

Castiel narrowed his eyes at him. “It was your idea.”

“Whatever,” Dean grumbled, lowering himself back down again. That time, Castiel lifted both hands and ran his fingers through Dean’s hair. Dean laid down fully on his stomach and kissed back, parting his lips into it. One of his hands cradled the top of Castiel’s head and the other stroked Castiel’s cheek. He tipped his head slightly to get a better angle for the kiss.

Castiel let it consume his every thought. He forgot completely about the radio show. But, apparently, Dean was still listening because after a few minutes, he ripped his lips away from Castiel’s and said, “Hang on, hang on.”

Castiel frowned, annoyed.

On the radio, Nurse Piccolo was saying, “You had your chance and you blew it! I wish you hadn’t, but you did. Roger is my fiancé now, and that’s final!”

“It isn’t final until you tell me that you love him more than me,” Dr. Desire answered in his stern transatlantic accent. The torrid affair between the couple had been a central point of the story for at least a year now. “So, say it! You can’t, can you?”

The familiar outro music swelled. Then, the broadcaster said, “That concludes this week’s episode of Dr. Desire—”

Dean groaned petulantly. “Man! I hate it when they do that! Now we gotta wait a whole week to find out what she says!”

Castiel brushed his fingers through Dean’s hair, realizing that he wouldn’t find out for himself. Next week, he’d be gone. It was likely he’d miss every episode for a while. “You’ll have to tell me what happens.”

The sparkle in Dean’s eyes faded. “Or you could just not go.”

“It’s only four months,” Castiel reminded him. After Dean had come home high that night two weeks ago, Castiel had asked Michael and Gabriel to renegotiate the tour’s contract. Somehow, they’d reached an agreement of four months and seven cities, with an extra fight in Las Vegas later in the year. There would be a total payment of $500 grand, which was one hundred thousand less than what they would have gotten under the original terms—but Castiel was willing to sacrifice that amount of money to be home. Fortunately, his team seemed to agree.

It was for the best. Castiel didn’t want to be away from Dean for so long. Besides, four months of bouts seemed more manageable than a straight six.

“And you said you’d visit me in Kansas City,” Castiel said. “That’s only two months from when I embark.” It would probably feel like a lifetime. Castiel wished Dean could just come with him.

“Yeah, yeah,” Dean dismissed sullenly.

Castiel picked up Dean’s hand where it rested on his chest and thumbed gentle circles into his knuckles, not knowing what else to say.

“You gonna miss me?” Dean asked, tone light, but Castiel heard the vulnerability behind it.

“Of course.”

“Yeah? Which parts?”

Castiel shook his head, unamused. “Every part.”

“Welp,” Dean grunted, picking himself up by the arms so he could move to lie down half on top of Castiel. “That’s too bad, ‘cause I’m definitely gonna miss some parts of you more than others.”

Castiel raised a brow with interest. “Will you?”

Dean hummed. He stroked his hand down Castiel’s side, past his hip, to rest on his thigh. “Big time.”

[norcumii]

Fic title: Non-compliant Weapon (Rexobi, Murderbot AU)

(regarding this fic title meme prompt)

Ok, there’s two ways this could go. One, the slightly more predictable path of some flavor of reincarnation AU where the Jedi Organization (some kind of meddling well-intentioned doctors-without-borders type group) has gotten neck deep into several volatile disputes and need help, so they’ve gotten a generous donation of sec-units from, I dunno, Palpatine Industries (Insidious Industries is more fun, but a little too on the nose). Of course, these sec-units come with pre-programmed sabotage routines up to and including Order 66, and of course sec-unit Rex manages to wriggle around those.

The more interesting idea I had was a bit...messier.

The plunnie starts with the notion that for a full three hot seconds, some megacorp in the galaxy decided that clones were the next big thing and just mass-produced a whole bunch of them. There was enough outcry that the project was scrapped, the company went broke, and the clones were shoved in cryostorage to become someone else’s problem when all the lawsuits were done. Shortly thereafter, sec-units became a thing because that skirted some all the nasty ethical issues.

Decades if not centuries later (...I have no idea when the Murderbot books are supposed to be other than The Future), whatever megacorp bought up various assets discovers they have a bunch of illegal product sitting around frozen in a warehouse. It turns out that the cheapest method of disposal is actually to thaw them and toss them a small agro planet to colonize (the potential fallout if they just space the clones or keep them in a basement somewhere is just too high for profit margins, much to the relief of everyone else).

And that’s how Rex and his brothers end up thawed, with some nice genetic repair work, on a brand new planet all their own, and no idea wtf to do now since they aren’t expected to just fight something. Since Rex is one of the more restless clones, he ends up doing resource management, taking surplus out for trade and scrounging interesting stuff to bring back. And one day he walks into some space!army surplus store to discover in the back there’s an old sec-unit and its cubicle. Rex starts off feeling weird but wildly sympathetic to this deactivated fighting unit, only to become REALLY creeped out when he asks in passing about it – and learns its being kept around for eventual spare parts.

Rex is not okay with this. He dithers a bit, but ends up purchasing the whole unit and brings it home.

Cody gives him a bit of hell, but he gets where Rex was coming from, so he sort of resignedly welcomes their new sec-unit: [some clever punning/l337 speak version of Obi-Wan Kenobi].

So it turns out that this sec-unit is defective. It’s good at fighting, but it doesn’t like to fight. It talks. It talks a LOT. It’s astonishingly good at negotiating.

It also flirts with everyone except for Rex, which Rex is absolutely not put out about in the least. Really. He’s not irked. It’s a good thing. This damn thing comes out of the box flirting, that’s disconcerting so it’s kinda nice that Rex doesn’t have to put up with that – especially since it’s quickly decided that since the sec-unit does talk anything in circles, it’s most useful going with him to help him barter. And hopefully keep him out of trouble, though Cody is the only one to say that, the bastard.

Since this is a Murderbot AU, that means it turns out that there’s actually something Very Valuable on the clones’ new homeplanet, and at some point they’re actively defending themselves and/or having to diplomat with hostile bodies who are Not Impressed that a sec-unit is one of the main negotiators.

(It helps when things go pear-shaped, of course, since said main negotiator can dish out and take some extreme damage. So that's not too different from canon.)

Things finally settle down, Rex and Obi-Wan return to venturing out on the regular, until one day – probably after some spectacularly vicious flirtation with someone trying to kill them – Rex just blurts out, “I have never been able to figure it out. You will flirt with anyone and anything, the more hostile the better.”

“It’s a wonderful distraction tactic.”

“Oh, I’m aware. You specifically pick out pet names to enrage people.”

“It’s hardly my fault the Duchess didn’t like to be addressed as ‘my dear’!”

“It kind of is, but…” Rex hesitates, then shrugs, still not looking at Kenobi. “You have never once flirted with me.”

Silence. Rex sneaks a few glances, and Obi-Wan is refusing to look back at him. Finally, when it’s clear Rex will play the waiting game, Obi-Wan just shrugs right back. “I don’t know how to do it sincerely. Flirt for real with someone I like.”

Rex goes through several stages of oh with embarrassing speed. He twists around to stare. “What – but – even from the very beginning?”

Obi-Wan continues to not look at him. “I might have been...less unaware than my prior owner believed.”

Rex blanches, well recalling his own long time in stasis – a cold, mostly dreamless state of unconsciousness. The notion of being even somewhat lucid across those long decades is nightmare fuel even before considering the indifferent way the guy at the store had talked about spare parts in a box.

Then there are super-awkward cuddles, eventually leading to some kind of queer platonic aro and/or ace ship happily ever after. ^_^

Thank you, this was a fun challenge!

[dreamingcloudie]

❛❛ In which; Dottore as a streamer... ❜❜

✎ ❛❛ I'll have to admit, this character is quite... alluring.❜❜

Pairing(s): Streamer!Dottore x (kinda) Game-Character!GN!Reader (Mordern AU)

Genre/Format: N/A (headcanons)

Warning(s): wrote this at 6am without thinking straight so possible grammar mistakes and sentences that don't make sense

Notes: There really isn't much of x Reader here, sadly :( I might write more of this in the future but idk

I know i have requests to do but this idea came out of nowhere and it was too tempting to not write something for it— I've only written headcanon once so this is short. I have no idea if I'm doing this right 💀

Let's be real, this guy would probably stream live torture on the darkest part of the internet

BUT, let's just pretend in this AU he's not an evil doctor man <3

He is a tired university student who majors in biology and thrives to earn a position in the medical field

And that means becoming a coffee addict and endless nights of staying up late to study 

Sleeping? What's that?

I can see him being so focused on his studies to the point where he doesn't interact with the internet much

If someone showed him a popular meme he wouldn't understand 

Boomer

L

Due to how busy he is, he doesn't have the time to find a job

He lives off of the money his parents send him every month lol

That was until someone introduced him to the wonders of the internet…

One of his friends—Childe, told him something about a streaming platform and he should go check it out

And that night when he got home, he pulled his laptop out and searched for it

He also learnt that people can earn money streaming whatever

For instance, most of the people streams "let's plays"

He scrolled down a little and he found people streaming… questionable things, and he was baffled they get paid for it

So that means, he could stream anything he wants and he'd earn money from it, as long as he has a certain amount of viewers 

Say less

And an account was made 

This basically becomes his part-time job now

He usually streams to tutor struggling students and you best believe they were very thankful 

He'll sometime do "study with me" streams too

As he takes his fifteen minutes breaks from studying, he'd talk to his viewers 

And when I tell you this man has the driest humor ever—

That's what got his channel to grow

Viewers would clip his dry ass jokes and post them onto other social media platforms, which caused his view counts to blow up

As he got more and more popular, his viewers would beg him to do gaming streams

With how dry his humor is, they thought his commentary would be gold…

And they're absolutely correct, they get to see a different side of him too 

Surgeon simulator is the very first game he was introduced to by his fans, to get him interested in gaming

Man's cursing every time when he accidentally drops something

"Now, we put this lung over— Shit."

Cue chat spamming the Kek emote 

It's been months since he started to stream and things are going pretty well for him

He comes back home from his lectures today to find his Discord server is filled with loads of fans telling him to check a game out, mostly because of a certain character

The general chat is flooded with hundreds, and I mean hundreds of pictures of them

And Lo and Behold

It is you

The moment he first has his eyes on you, his jaw drops

God DAMN YOU LOOK FINE AS HELL

Not to mention that harness you have on you—

Ahem

Anyways

He doesn't even know who you are or what game you're from

But man he's head over heels for you already 

The next time he starts his stream, the first thing he says is:

"Everyone was going crazy on Discord yesterday about a game character. And now my question is…

"Who are they and which game are they from?"

Babygirl took his first step into the world of simping <3

[petitelepus]

hello again can u please have a part 2 of the slave tengen x wife's x reader please you left me waking on eggs shelf (I can't spell)

Summary: Your slaves start giving birth and you call the doctor to come and help you and Tengen. While you wait, you talk and then you welcome the babies to the world.

Warnings: Pregnancy, Babies

A/N: Slave!AU, Demon Slaves, Gender Neutral Reader, Tengen Uzui, Makio, Suma, Hinatsuru

PART 1 - PART 2

The next 6 hours were maybe the most stressful ones you had ever experienced during your life and you had been an undercover cop in some bad places where being exposed would have certainly cost you your life.

The doctor you had on speed dial had come to your house at record time when you called her and told her that the two of your Demons had gone to labor at the same time.

Doctor Muta was the best in her field when it came to treating Demons of all sorts. She had helped when Hinatsuru had gone into labor and you also trusted her to treat Suma and Makio.

When you had called and told her there were 2 Demons giving birth, she had taken her husband with her who usually assisted her in the hospital.

Honestly, the doctor was a blessing because you knew nothing about giving birth. You had seen it on TV, but you were in no way qualified to help in it.

Tengen had woken up the moment you called the doctor and when the Doctor and her husband arrived he was protectively guarding his mates… But because Doctor Muta had helped Hinatsuru, Tengen knew he could trust the good doctor.

It wasn't easy to wait outside the bedroom where Suma and Makio were giving birth. You and Tengen were walking around each other as you waited. Time seemed to slow down and it felt like forever…

But then you heard crying and you both perked up and looked at the door. The said door opened and Doctor's husband peeked out, mask on his face so you couldn't see his smile.

"Congratulations! You got a healthy baby girl!" He said and you smiled excitedly. A girl! You looked at Tengen who looked amazed by the fact that he had a daughter.

"My daughter…" He murmured and the man nodded before he heard his wife call for him to come back and help her with the second baby.

"Just a second, you're about to become a dad again!" The husband laughed as he closed the door and you turned to look at the Demon beside you.

"You're doing very well Tengen," You told him and he nodded but couldn't exactly return your smile.

"I know, but…"

"But?"

"I'm worried…"

"Oh," You nodded, "Why?"

"Will I…" He swallowed, "Will I be able to keep them safe?"

"What do you mean?" You frowned a little, "You're fantastic mate and father!"

"Am I?" He looked at you, "I couldn't protect my wives when those men took us… Hell, if it weren't for you, they or our babies wouldn't have made it…"

"But that didn't happen," You reminded him, "You shouldn't worry about what might have happened because it didn't happen. Think about the present instead."

"What if…" His frown deepened as he thought about the worst-case scenarios that would have ensued if it hadn't been for you.

It felt unnatural to see such a confident Demon feel so… Uncertain. Tengen took great pride in his looks and strength, and how loving and dear his wives were to him. So seeing him look so afraid almost broke your heart.

"Tengen, you're forgetting that you aren't alone." You smiled as you gently patted his back, "You have Hinatsuru, Makio, and Suma and a fresh litter of babies that need you now. Your wives, no matter what, are there for you, and Hell, I'm here for you guys and your babies."

"I'm…" He swallowed as he looked at you, "And I'm thankful for that. That you saved us."

"It was the best thing I ever did." You said and as Tengen looked at you, he could tell you weren't lying or trying to sugarcoat anything.

The Demon was about to say something when you guys heard another cry coming and you both looked at the door excitedly… But no one came to tell you how the babies were doing.

You and the Demon were growing anxious and were about to knock on the door… When you heard the crying again, you both sighed in relief. Babies must have been alright.

The door opened and the Doctor's husband stepped out, taking off his mask and smiling ear to ear to you, "Congratulations! You got a girl and a healthy set of twins!"

"T-!" You and Tengen gasped, "Twins!?"

"Yes!" The man laughed, "Would you like to come and greet your babies?"

"I…" Tengen swallowed and automatically looked at you, "Can Master come also?"

"Of course!" The man nodded and you looked at the Demon, stunned, "Are you sure?"

"Absolutely," He nodded and the both of you stepped into the room, and as soon as you saw tired Suma and Makio, but no babies. Tengen rushed to his wives' side in record time.

"W- Where are the babies?" The Demon asked and Suma smiled tiredly, "Doctor is cleaning them."

The male let out a sigh of relief and then he looked at both of his wives so lovingly, your heart almost ached.

"You're amazing," He smiled, "Both of you and Hinatsuru."

"Thank you, dear," Makio smiled and Tengen returned the sweet gesture before he asked, "Which one is whose?"

"I got the girl and Makio got the boys," Suma replied and you could see how her husband's red eyes gleamed in joy, "You are all amazing. My amazing wives…!"

"Here comes the babies!" You all heard and turned to look to see Doctor Muta and her husband carry three small bundles in their arms. The Doctor handed a baby to Suma and her husband handed one to Makio and offered the third one to Tengen, "Would the proud daddy hold his baby?"

"With pride…" Tengen nodded as he accepted the baby wrapped in a nice fluffy blanket. You took a peek and noticed that the Suma's girl had her mother's dark hair while Makio's twin boys had their father's gorgeous silver hair, much like Hinatsuru's child had.

"They are gorgeous," You thought out loud quietly, and the Demons couldn't have been prouder. You were also proud of them and you felt honored to share this sweet and tender moment with them.

"Oh, officer, a word?" Doctor Muta asked for you and you stepped aside, but you were feeling wary, "What is it, are the babies alright?"

"Absolutely!" The good Doctor chuckled as she took her mask off and showed you that smile of hers, "Babies are wonderful, but just like with any Demon, make sure to keep them out of the sun, and until they get their teeth, they can nurse on their mother's milk."

"I see," You nodded as you registered this information given to you, "Thank you Doctor for all your help."

"Don't mention it!" She laughed, "Demons are interesting beings, aren't they? So versatile, strong, and yet they have their weaknesses."

"I understand," You nodded, "Please, send me the bill so I can pay you."

"Understood. I'll come and see the newborn and parents in a week."

"Thank you, Doctor," You smiled, "You were a huge help today!"

"Always a pleasure to help you!" She laughed as she picked her stuff, and husband before leaving. You smiled as you moved to join the fresh parents, but you noticed a movement by the room's entrance-!

"Is everything alright?"

It was Hinatsuru, holding her baby! You and Tengen gasped as you saw her and you immediately rushed to her, "Hinatsuru, what are you doing here?" You yelped as you helped her to sit down on the bed.

The fresh mother smiled as she looked at her fellow wives, husband, and their children. She smiled, "I couldn't stay away from my husband, wives, or our new babies."

"Tell me next time!" You pouted, but you couldn't stay mad when you saw all 4, no, all 8 of them together. They were so happy, a perfect family really.

You smiled as you reached for your phone and opened the camera, "Let's take some pictures of you guys for the album!"

"You have an album of us?"

"After this day, I will!" You grinned, excitedly "Alright, everybody, please look at the camera and smile!"

They smiled and that was the first picture of them in your first album out of many that would come as the years would pass. You smiled as you looked at the perfect picture, but then the Demons called you, "Master, come to the picture with us!"

"Me?" You blinked and they smiled, "You saved us and gave us a life. We consider you as part of our family."

"Ah…!" You nearly cried as you nodded and walked to them, turning the camera the other way and taking a picture of all 9 of you and your huge family together.

[fallen-gabrielle]

I have a hurt/comfort AU/fic for KND where Father becomes amnesiac. Not decommissioned, just amnesiac.

The story starts with a fight between Nigel and Father, and it escalated quickly where Nigel accidentally hurts Ben too hard to the point he almost died. Nigel called an ambulance because even if he hates his uncle, there is a line he won’t cross (can’t say the same for Ben but that’s why he’s a villain). Anyway, Nigel warns his dad about it (Monty and his wife are recommissioned in this AU for giving expositions and maximum angst). Nigel see that Monty is super protective of his brother and worries a lot about him and Nigel feels bad about the situation. Ben is in a coma for a few days.

During that time, Monty takes the DC under his custody because yes, the social services can still be dicks. And that my headcanon about the uno bros and the social services is always the main backstory for them in my stories/AUs. At first, the DC fucking hate Nigel for almost killing Father and living under the same roof is not easy for either of them. Nigel’s parents do appease the tensions though.

Once Ben wakes up, he’s got amnesia from the physical trauma. But he didn’t just forget a few things, no no, he forgets pretty much his whole life: he ‘s back when he was around 8 years old, when Grandfather was still in power. So before the Kids Next Door nor the social services dramas. Idk, he has a lot of issues, his subconscious brought him back during a time when he was feeling slightly fine, and that meant when he was with Monty. So of course when Monty learns about that, he gets the most brilliant dumb idea… to lie to Ben. He’s going to pretend that they were never separated by the social services and that the original KND operatives didn’t treat him like dirt (both are the reason Ben became evil in my headcanon). Everyone else was just sitting like ‘that’s a bad idea’, especially the DC because they know their father well, and he doesn’t like when people lie to him. But since the doctors said it could be dangerous to force Ben to remember everything at once, the family accepts to lie to him for the time being.

So Ben goes live with his brother too, the whole family is reunited. Ben learns to know his children and it’s super cute, fluffy, and sappy. They are of course kinda afraid of him but this Ben is actually very nice. After some time, the DC actually prefer their father like this. They also start to hate Nigel less cuz they have a better dad now. Nigel realizes that Ben was indeed a different person before becoming Father. At this point, Monty already told Nigel about all the angsty stuff that happened, so Nigel starts to have genuine sympathy for Ben. The whole family spends quality time together, it’s nice, Monty is happy to see Ben happy.

Of course the KND are aware of Father’s condition and asked Nigel to watch over him to find the right moment to send him to the artic prison, but after a while, Nigel isn’t on board with it anymore. While he does want to send Father to the artic prison, he just doesn’t want to do when Ben is in this state. Ben still needs medical attention cuz his physical trauma was kinda severe, and it would be too easy to trap Father when he’s powerless (amnesiac!ben means he’s also unaware he has powers). Nigel learned to know his uncle better and doesn’t want the knd to give him a second reason to hate them. Nigel wants to avoid the original drama that solidified Father’s hatred for the knd. The organization pressures Nigel to choose his side, even his friends of Sector V start to look down a little on him for sympathizing with their worst enemy.

And since it’s me we’re talking about, there will be a moment where everything turns into shit eventually. But honestly, I haven’t really thought about the actual ending of it. Ben does start to remember everything: the feeling of betrayal and abandonment from his brother, the social services and the knd in general, and of course, that it was Nigel who put him in this state (even though it was really an accident). He gets his powers back but doesn’t control them well (doesn’t remember much on how to control them, plus the emotional and psychological pain messes with it). Nigel tries to reason with him, and has to explain the whole truth cuz Ben was not doing well about the feeling that everyone just straight up lied to him. It kinda works, but the knd show up, ready to capture Ben. Nigel is exasperated by their actions cuz he was trying to prevent his uncle from becoming Father all over again. Ben was confused as to what to think about his nephew after he revealed everything but Ben still chooses to protect Nigel from the knd and that where the story ends.

There’s a lot of super sweet moments in this story between the characters, but also some angsty ones. Monty gives Nigel the cold shoulder at the beginning but then apologize to his son for exemple. I just wanted a story where Monty and Ben could be happy together and stuff. Nigel learns that not everything is black and white and there’s nuances everywhere, the DC get to be actual kids and have fun with their father, playing games and whatever. Ben being in general wholesome is always one of my favorite prompts.

[snowdice]

Folds in Paper: Book 2 (Chapter 1: Reprieve) [Folds in Time Universe]

Fandom: Sander Sides

Relationships: Janus/Patton, Remus & Roman, Logan/Virgil, Roman & Patton & Logan

Characters: Janus, Patton, Emile, Remus, Roman, Logan, Virgil, Remy

Summary: Janus is trying. After spending months trapped in time with his enemy turned... something else, Janus is trying to find meaning in a world where he or anyone else could rewrite history with one simple mistake.

During his leave from the Time Preservation Initiative, the time distortions that have been causing disastrous ripples in time have not gone anywhere. His partner's past is more mysterious than ever and old and new alliances are shifting. Can Janus figure out what is going wrong with time before that time is up?

The problem with time travel… you never how long you have before the clock strikes 12.

Chapter Summary:

Things are harder, better, but harder.

Notes: Time travel AU, mystery, enemies to lovers, alcohol, sexual innuendo, character with depression, character with ptsd

This is a fic I’ve been writing on study breaks that you have probably all already seen at this point. I’ve slightly edited it for wording and grammar, but not for content from my previous posts. Feel free to send in asks to direct it because I’m not 100% sure where this is going and you can help decide if you feel so inclined! You can see the process I went through to build this at this link.

I also have a playlist on youtube (because Spotify didn’t have one of the songs I wanted).

This is Book 2, Check out Book 1 and the other part of this series here.

“What’s this?” Janus asked when a giant bowl was set on the coffee table in front of him.

“We’re eating on the couch tonight,” Emile said cheerfully.

Janus raised an eyebrow and switched off the tablet he’d been using. “Why?” he asked, setting the device aside.

Emile shrugged and set a second huge bowl down next to Janus’s. “For fun,” Emile said. He turned back towards the kitchen and Janus leaned forward to look in the bowl. It was spaghetti with some sort of creamy sauce and a few different vegetables mixed in along with some shrimp.

“I made green tea too,” Emile said, coming back into the room with two mugs.

“Thanks,” Janus said, taking one of the mugs with a small smile.

“What were you doing?” Emile asked as he took a seat beside Janus. He nodded at the deactivated screen now sitting on the end table.

“Just playing some puzzle games,” Janus said.

“That sounds fun,” Emile said with a smile.

“Head doctor said they might be a good thing to do to pass the time when I told him to fuck off after suggesting reading.”

Emile sighed. “Dr. Figueroa is my colleague. You could try to be polite.”

“I thought I was supposed to be my authentic self in therapy,” Janus replied.

Emile just huffed and rolled his eyes. Janus couldn’t help but smile as he picked up his mug of green tea.

The last few months had been…different. In a lot of ways, Janus’s life had become harder than it had been before. It had been easy to do nothing but eat pre-prepared meals, go to work, and pass out in his empty house every day. It wasn’t good for him. He’d known it even then, but it had been easy. This was not.

Emile had offered, insisted really, that Janus move into his house for a bit just to get back on his feet. He’d taken time off of the TPI which would have been given to him anyway since he’d spent so long trapped in the past. He’d had to give a report of what had happened, and he’d mentioned Patton, but he hadn’t mentioned everything. They’d offered him a shrink when he’d asked.

Janus had told Emile he needed to tell him something about why he’d been distant, so he wouldn’t end up chickening out, but he’d asked for a bit of time to figure out what to say. He’d finally worked up the courage to talk about it with Dr. Figueroa two weeks ago. Much like with Patton, it was easier to talk to someone who hadn’t been involved in Janus’s mistake, but it still wasn’t easy.

He was running up on the deadline he’d given Emile for having that talk. It had to happen soon, and they both knew it, but Emile was just patiently waiting for him to suck it up. It felt… wrong to use his kindness without him knowing the truth, but it was also nice to get to spend time with his brother. He didn’t even dare to hope that he’d still have the chance once he told him.

He was moving back into his own house in less than a week. He’d tell him then so if Emile ended up kicking him out of his life, he wouldn’t have to kick him out of his home too.

For now though, everything was fine. Harder, more complicated, and in threat of imploding at any moment, but fine. Fine wasn’t something he’d really felt in a long time. Or at least, fine while in his own time wasn’t something he’d felt in a long time. There’d been a few moments with Patton sitting next to the fire outside the hole in the ground they’d slept in for those few months where the man would turn to look at him and he’d felt fine. Yet, Patton had been right. Those moments were unsustainable with how Janus was actually feeling deep down.

“This is good,” Janus said, after taking a couple of bites of the pasta in front of him.

“Well, I always was the only one in the house that could cook,” Emile said, and that was true. “It was either learn to fend for myself or eat a cheeseburger for every meal.”

“Hey, I had a good burger seasoning.”

“Not for every meal, Janus.”

“Meat, dairy, bread. What more could you want?”

“Vegetables, Janus.”

“You could have put pickles on them!”

“I don’t like pickles.”

“That sounds like your problem, not mine,” Janus argued.

Emile shook his head, turning his eyes to the ceiling. “How have you been surviving on your own?”

“Well, I mean,” Janus said. “Badly.”

“Right…” Emile said. He leaned over to bump their shoulders together. Janus flashed him a smile.

“Speaking of,” said Janus. “Could you physically force me to pack tonight? I meant to do it today and instead I ended up playing puzzles games.”

Emile chucked. “Sure, I’ll help you after dinner.”

“You don’t have to help me,” said Janus. “Just make me do it.”

“Maybe I want to help,” said Emile.

“Oh, yes, packing. The most entertaining of Thursday night activities.”

Emile hummed and then glanced at him. “Remember when you helped me pack for college?” he asked.

“Mmm, I do,” Janus replied.

“I was so stressed about going somewhere new,” Emile said, “that I avoided packing for weeks. Every time Mom would ask me how packing was going, I’d tell her it was going fine but in reality, I hadn’t even started. You came home two days before I had to leave because you were going to help me move into my dorm. It’s like you could sense no packing had been done the moment you stepped through the front door.”

“You were doing your ‘hiding the broken horse statue from mom’ shuffle,” Janus said with a smirk.

“Well, you walked me straight to my room and we packed everything up in those two days,” Emile said. “You made it so much easier.”

“Yeah, because I hovered over you until you did it and did half of it for you,” Janus snorted.

“It wasn’t just that,” Emile said. “You also found the music streaming station run by the university and put that on and talked about what your freshman year was like. You also had tips on what things I should and shouldn’t pack when moving into the dorm.”

“You still took all of the cartoon character stuffed animals despite my advice.”

“I thought there’d be more space on the bed,” Emile frowned.

Janus snorted.

“But anyway, just having someone else around made me happier. It wasn’t just about the workload being halved either. You being there made me feel less lonely and reminded me I’d always have someone to come back to.”

Janus internally winced. He was sure Emile hadn’t meant to make him feel guilty in any way. In fact, he probably was trying to do the opposite, but him saying that just reminded Janus that it hadn’t been true. Janus had abandoned him for literal years and hadn’t been someone he could always come back to.

The last few months, Emile had proven himself to be at least close to who he was before Janus had messed with time. There were a couple of differences here and there, and Janus could not be sure if they were from him changing time or from him avoiding his brother for the past three years and him naturally changing. Most memories they shared that Janus cautiously brought up or Emile mentioned on his own were consistent with what Janus remembered, but he hadn’t pushed too hard or dug too deep. It just made him feel more guilty about avoiding the man for so long.

It made him want to ignore the man more, because it seemed every choice Janus ever made only hurt him.

…

Well, perhaps not the college radio station when helping an anxious 18-year-old pack up his childhood bedroom.

He should probably tell Emile that his words made him feel guilty because that was obviously not the intention and he’d want to know. He should probably apologize properly for leaving him alone for three years without an explanation. He should probably provide an explanation for those three years.

He should probably go see the head doctor again soon.

(He should probably stop calling Emile’s colleague who was in the same field as him a head doctor derogatorily in his head.)

For now, he just glanced at Emile. “You’re trying to bully me into letting you help pack with logic, aren’t you?”

“I am,” Emile confirmed without remorse.

“Fine,” Janus sighed, “but only if you let me do the dishes for you.”

Emile took a long moment to consider the offer. “You drive a hard bargain,” he said, “but okay.”

“And no doing anything sneaky like getting bags ready for me on your own while I’m doing it or the deal is off,” Janus said.

“You always think of all possible loopholes, Janus,” Emile sighed.

There was a long silence.

“Agree, you prick,” said Janus.

“No promises,” Emile replied cheekily with laughter in his eyes, and things were good for a moment more.

[sea-owl]

Remember how I said how I like to make AUs of my AUs? Well, I got one for the polin portion of my Yandere Bridgertons AU.

Instead of Colin becoming too comfortable with leaving Penelope alone until he's deemed her ready because he can rely on his siblings. (Aka my excuse in attempt to keeps some of the books long time jump) Colin has some sort of freak out during her second or third season and steals her away in the middle of the night.

Maybe it's after Benedict's and Sophie's wedding. Anthony, Benedict, and Colin were in having a drink celebrating Benedict finally finding his soulmate again when Benedict makes a comment that catches Colin's attention, and not in a good way.

"It feels so freeing finally having Sophie with me, especially after I thought I was going to lose her."

Colin looked confused. "What do you mean?"

"Had the charges not been dropped who knows what would have happened to Sophie in that jail, and there would be nothing I could do to stop it," Benedict explained. "I felt so helpless, and useless. The Bridgertons protect their soulmates and there was nothing I could do without making it worse for her. I still plan to cut out that bitch's tongue though."

Anthony nodded in agreement. "I know what you mean. When Kate had her accident, I could only sit by and watch her heal. The doctor is very lucky she did heal perfectly."

Neither noticed their younger brother stiffening up. He always knew that his little nymph would never be taken away by another suitor, but what if something happened out of his control and he wasn't home? What if she got sick? Or hurt? Or some bastard decided he would force her? Or she decides she actually does want to be a spinster for the rest of her life and runs away to where he can't find her?!

No, Colin would not let that happen.

Colin stands. "Excuse me gentlemen, I have some last-minute preparations to make for my trip to Ithica."

Starting by adding a detour.

Penelope was surprised to see Colin still at Number 5 when she came to tea the next day, and not any other member of his family.

"Colin!" Penelope exclaimed. "I thought you would have left already."

Colin smiled. "Without saying goodbye to my favorite person? Never."

He offered her some team which Penelope accepted. She paused; the aroma of the tea smelled very sweet.

Colin let out a nervus laugh. "Sorry Pen, I accidently spilled too much sugar when I was making it for you."

"It is alright, you'll make me the perfect cup one day," Penelope joked. She took a sip of the tea. Damn, he really did put lot of sugar in it. "Eloise tells me you plan to next visit Ithica?"

Colin nodded. "Yes! The home of your namesake is it not?"

Penelope laughed. "Yes. Queen Penelope of Ithica, who waited ten years for her husband Odysseus to come home and fended off suitors the whole time."

Colin muttered something under his breathe that Penelope didn't catch. Actually, she was having trouble hearing him in general.

"Colin I'm sorry, can you repeat-oh!" The cup dropped from Penelope's hand. Why did she drop the cup? It was not so heavy a minute ago.

Colin moved closer, sitting right next to Penelope. He brushed a piece of hair out of her face. "It's okay Pen, just go to sleep."

"Colin-"

Colin caught Penelope. He didn't want to poison her drink, but he couldn't risk her saying no and rejecting him. Saying she only saw him as friend, or worse like a brother. Besides they can take this trip together as their honeymoon. She'll understand when she wakes up and he explains it to her.

By then they'll already be on their way or even better crossing the border into Gretna Green.

Colin loads into the carriage with Penelope, gently laying her head in his lap. He strokes her hair as they begin moving.

[thewritingbeforesunrise]

BALLERINA - Chapter Four.

A Jake Kiszka AU

Physiotherapist!Jake x Original Female Character

Previous Chapter

A/N: This is chapter four of the story about ballet dancer Iris and physiotherapist Jake. This is quite short, but I promise you, the next one is longer. Next part will be out on Friday. Consider this a little sweet present to cheer you up and help you get through tomorrow. I hate Mondays. Again, this is a slowburn, but I promise, it will be worth the wait.

P.S. The wait is almost over.

Please, feel free to let me know what you think about this!

Word count: 1.6K

Warnings for this chapter: 18+ ONLY for brief mentions of masturbation and oral sex, talking of physical rehabilitation and medical stuff (I am not an expert, I apologise for any inaccuracies), poor mental health, fluff, verysoft!Jake.

If you are interested, you can join my taglist here.

_________________________________

The week proceeded well and on Friday, the doctor who had operated on Iris, Dr. Allen, came into her room to talk to her and check her leg.

He told her he was very happy with the work she had been doing with Jake and that he was positive that after three more weeks she would be dismissed from the hospital.

Iris was both happy and sad.

She was so happy to finally go back home but, at the same time, she couldn't bring herself to think about what her yet so miserable life would become when she won't be able to see Jake anymore everyday, for the usual rehabilitation sessions.

She had gotten to the point where she needed him like air. She even dreamt about him at night, when she could sleep and she wasn't plagued by nightmares.

One night she had jolted awake from her sleep thinking he was in the room with her. His presence in the dream had been so overwhelmingly real that she felt the touch of his hands on her body and she felt like crying frustrated tears when she discovered she was alone.

The only thing that allowed her to find a bit of relief was slipping her trembling hand in her panties underneath the covers and finish what he had so skillfully started in her dream with his warm tongue and callous fingers.

She was ashamed of herself at the beginning, but at that point, she honestly didn't care anymore.

Every time he came into her room it was becoming more and more difficult for Iris to suppress and ignore the dull throbbing ache between her legs.

On Monday morning he arrived and she told him rather sadly that she would be dismissed in three weeks time.

"Why are you wearing such a pout, Iris? Aren't you happy to finally go home?" He asked her, curiously.

"Well, yes" she replied and then confessed to him "but I am sad because I won't see you anymore."

He looked at her with a puzzled expression and then bursted out laughing.

She didn't understand what was happening. Her confused expression made him laugh even harder.

After he caught his breath he told her, still snickering "Oh my God, darling, I am absolutely not abandoning you like that."

And then he grabbed her hand.

"When you will be at home, we are going to continue with rehabilitation with the same schedule we kept here. That means that you are stuck with me everyday for at least three more months. And when we are done with ordinary rehabilitation we can start something more specific, like trying to get you back to dancing, how does it sound?" He said all of that while smiling proudly.

Iris was mesmerized by his words.

Their meaning was slowly sinking in and she felt hot tears start to form in her eyes.

She didn't think she could be this happy again.

Iris didn't know what to say so she threw her caution to the wind, grabbed his shoulders and hugged him as tight as she could from the bed.

He didn't expect this and neither did she. His back muscles felt so strong but soft at the same time under her touch.

He returned the hug just as tightly as hers, pressing her even more against his chest. Her face rested in the crook of his neck and so did his in the crook of hers.

It was almost too much for her sanity.

His hair was so soft on her cheek and smelled wonderfully like vanilla shampoo. She inhaled deeply like he was her own personal drug.

Iris wanted to overdose on him.

Then, she felt him shift so he could speak right in her ear.

"You won't get rid of me so easily, darling, you have my word." He whispered, his hot breath on her skin making her head feel dizzy.

She shivered at the feeling of his lips so near to her skin and he noticed.

She saw the little smirk on his lips when the hug broke and she had to look away.

That only made his smirk deepen.

He spoke again, his voice, deep and raspy, intruding Iris's thoughts like never before.

"So, I think it's time to help you put some clothes on. I've had many complaints from some of my patients on your same floor about a girl walking around in just a shirt. And, since among my patients you are the only one under sixty years old, I assumed that you are the girl they are talking about." He said that in such a serious tone that he almost made her believe in what he was saying.

Seeing her confused expression, he clarified with a toothy grin.

"I am messing with you, I didn't have any complaints" he laughed and, finally, she did the same.

"But I thought that you might want me to help you to figure out how you can put some pants on when you are cold without hurting your healing leg." He said sincerely.

She had to admit she had thought about asking him to help her do exactly that but, of course, he beat her to it.

He showed her how to do that, using a pair of joggers of his that he kindly lent her. He insisted on her keeping them even though she had her own clothes and she finally gave in, blushing deeply and caressing the soft black fabric of his joggers with her sweaty fingers.

His hands never left her body, steading her constantly when she needed him.

"So you told me that I am your youngest patient here, really?" Iris asked him curiously after a while, when they had finished and she was in her bed again, the skin of her legs warming up thanks to his joggers.

"Yes, you are and you are even the least handsy one." He said, laughing, a bit embarrassed.

"What do you mean?" She asked and he laughed, again.

"I mean that among my patients, well, my female patients, I have some crazy admirers. Last year, there was a lady in her nineties who needed rehabilitation because she had broken her femur. And every time I helped her stand, she would inexplicably grab my ass, and not even that subtly. She wasn't only touching, she was genuinely groping me. Every time, when I asked her not to do that, she kept telling me that she had done that because she had to steady herself or she would fall down" He told her sheepishly, a light blush covering his cheeks.

She couldn't believe what he was saying and she couldn't stop laughing but, in all honesty, she couldn't blame the lady, at all.

"And I am not finished. Once she also tried to sneak her hands to my front. Her husband was so jealous that once he pulled me aside and told me to stop hitting on his wife or he would hit me." He finished his sentence with a wide contagious smile.

"Oh my God, you have even gotten a real threat." She told him, still laughing.

"I do a very dangerous job" he told her with a wink.

Her eyes landed on his forearm and she noticed again the scars he had there.

"These scars on your forearm were caused by one of your patients?" She asked him, laughing.

"No, that is an injury caused by my very own little brother who thought that jumping off the roof when I was on the porch was a good idea. He didn't even have a scratch on him after, because he landed directly on me and on my arm. And this is what I got" he said, smiling despite the painful memory.

"Well, now every time you look at them you are reminded of your little brother" she told him.

"Have you got brothers or sisters?" He asked her, curiously.

"I have got a younger sister, she is studying in Paris now. We are very close. Sometimes when I can't sleep I call her and we talk until one of us falls asleep. But she has exams now and I don't want to bother her" she told him and he listened, attentively.

At that moment, he reached for his back pocket, fumbled with his phone and handed it to her with a new contact page open.

"If it's ok with you, we can exchange numbers so when you can't sleep you can call me instead of tossing and turning around uselessly. I mean it, Iris" he said, his eyes were so brown, sweet and honest that she wanted to cry.

Iris tried to tell him that she didn't want to bother him but he quickly dismissed her excuses. "You won't bother me, I am here almost every night till late, so don't worry. Before being your physiotherapist, I am your friend and friends always help each other." He was serious.

She blushed, but she did as he asked and thanked him.

After the usual rehabilitation he left her.

In the evening, she received a message from a new contact.

Unknown:

Are you running around half naked again? I am hearing some commotion from your floor. ;) J.

She laughed alone in her room and then answered him.

Iris:

No, it's not me. I am completely tucked under the blanket you sent me the other day (I have never thanked you properly. Thank you!) Are you sure the commotion is not caused by your ninety-year-old grabby friend? ;)

She quickly saved his number and got a reply almost immediately.

J:

I am happy you like the blanket. And thank God the lady is at home now.

Iris:

I love it. Thank you again.

J:

Goodnight Iris. Sleep well. See you tomorrow.

_____________________________________

She smiled stupidly at the screen and slept peacefully for the first time in weeks, thinking about his sweet calm brown eyes glimmering in the soft morning light.

Next chapter

Taglist: @why-ami-on-here @sammyslappers @spark-my-nature @jessicafg03 @highladyofasgard @sparrowofthedawnsworld @doodle417

[ladyevol]

The Shadow of the Moon pt.1

[This takes place in my Witchtrials Au's version of season 8, and this part follows Scar with mentions of Boatem, Cleo, Bdubs, and Etho. TW: Angst, Horror elements]

Another accident and another death. Why did this keep happening to him?

Ever since he was a child, Scar had always been unlucky. The earliest memory that he could remember was of getting hit by lightning as a toddler, which led to the scar on his face and down his chest and arm. His mother was gone for the day and left Scar with Bdubs and Etho. Normally, Bdubs was an exquisite babysitter, until Etho came around. When the man was around, he became a complete yes man, following him around like the moth goes to the flame. Needless to say, things didn't end up well.

Years later, Scar was first hired as a builder and his luck only got worse. Almost as if the universe itself knew that if he were to perish while working he would just be brought back thanks to the angel's magic, his accidents went from dangerous to straight up deadly. It even became a running joke among the other builders, mister diesalot some would even call them. Worse yet, his friends had started killing as well to the point where he had become the biggest target on the island. Sure, at least the other builders kept his things safe, but it was still incredibly frustrating and painful. It hurt so much every time.

With an irritated groan, the man sat up and rubbed his face while laying facing the man. All of his equipment was gone along with the materials he had spent days gathering. All that he had were his clothes because he always kept spares in the chest next to the boatem respawn rune. Sure, Scar knew that he was a rather distracted man, but this was too much. He swore that he didn't die so much on purpose like Grian had assumed. Accidents just seemed to follow him.

After making sure that he was clothed and his prosthetic leg was in the right place, Scar stood up and walked to the bottomless hole in the heart of the town in the hopes that something had survived. The night made it harder to see into the darkness, making Scar's hopes even slimmer. "Man, not again. It is the sixth time this month! There is no way that Mumbo and Impulse will let me borrow their iron again." He sat down at the edge of the hole and stared into its depths, looking for answers rather than his resources. "Why am I like this, Boatem Hole? Maybe Grian is right. Maybe I do have a problem. Should I see a doctor? What type of doctor could even help me? My angels, I'm talking to a hole now. I have officially lost my mind." He snickered and shook his head before looking up at the moon. At least it shined beautifully tonight.

"Your problem is that you lack control."

Scar froze and slowly moved his face to look at the hole again. "W-what? I- I was joking, I- did I actually lose it?!"

"How can you lose something that you never found?"

"Hey! I like to think that I'm a pretty sane person!"

"I'm talking about control. Poor little witch, so powerful, and yet, you have no idea of the power you have."

"Mom always said that I am pretty strong," he hugged himself, "but I'm far from a full-fledged witch. I don't even know what my aspect is. All I can do is use some of my mother's powers."

The voice from the void laughed. "She fears you, Scar. All of them do. The angels, the watchers. All of them are scared of what I can do. What you can become."

"But- why? I don't want to hurt anyone!"

"Don't you?"

Scar noticed something brushing against his back and turned to see a bow on the dirt. His bow. He was certain that wasn't a moment prior. "I- those were pranks! It was just me messing around! I knew my friends would come back!"

"That doesn't mean that they didn't feel pain though, did it? You didn't care if they got hurt as long as you got your fun, as long as you caused chaos."

Scar scoffed, "I'm pretty sure that is more of Grian's thing." He began standing up, with his bow and came in hands. "I'm going home."

"You can do that, but if you do, that won't stop you from dying again and again. You will just keep getting hurt. They will keep hurting you."

Scar stopped, "what are you on about?"

"It is true that you are accident prone, but how many times have your so-called friends killed you? Pushed you into this very pit that you now refuse to listen to." Scar didn't respond, he just looked to the side. "They don't care about you, Scar. They see you as a joke. Poor little clumsy Scar, the biggest punching bag in all of Hermitcraftia."

Scar took a deep breath, "I- I suppose that if I became a full witch, I wouldn't die as much and I could use it to help everyone too, as long as the angels didn't find out. They wouldn't get it. They don't understand that not all witches are evil. I'm not evil and neither is my family." He paused, "can you help me become a witch? You don't seem afraid of me, despite knowing what I am.

"I can. I can even show you how to show the angels that not all witches are bad. We will turn their world upside down. "

"Ok, I'm listening. How do I learn to control my power?"

"You just have to come closer."

Warily, the man stepped towards the hole.

"Closer." Once again, he walked to the edge.

"Just a little closer now." Once more, he obeyed until he was standing at the very border.

"I can't walk any closer without falling now!" He argued. This time, there was no response. With a frown, he leaned a bit forward to try and look inside the hole, "hello? Are- are you still there?"

Scar continued staring, waiting. He was so focused at looking into the void, he failed to notice something coming from below until it was already hooked around his ankle. "What the?!" Before his eyes could even register what was going on, the man was pulled into the abyss. The light of the moon became further and further away until all that there was around him was cold darkness.

Scar fell into the void.

[rapha-reads]

20 questions for fic writers!

Tagged by @nooowestayandgetcaught an entire eon ago!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

Currently, 5! I'm hoping to get at least one more in the next few months.

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

21,282. Eh. Slow work.

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Of the 5 published ones: 1 original work, 1 Romeo and Juliet work (for Tybalt x Mercutio), 1 BBC Merlin work and 2 works for the Bollywood movie Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (I swear I will finish it).

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

N°5, The Creature (Original Work, 12)

N°4, Small Matters in Big Cities (DDLJ, part 2 of a series, 26)

N°3, Build Me An Empire (Merlin, 34)

N°2, Golden Lights On The Roofs (DDLJ, part 1 of a series, 51)

N°1, Ignorance Is Bliss (R&J, 104)

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Of course! As I am more of a reader than a writer, I try to comment as much as I can, and I love it when an author answers, so when I do put on the writer hat, I try to interact with the people kind enough to read my stuff. It's basic courtesy.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Definitely Ignorance Is Bliss. It's focused on the relationship between Tybalt and Mercutio and it's canon compliant, so you know how that ends. The next Tycutio I write is either a Modern AU or a Canon Divergence/Everybody Lives fix-it, because my boys deserve some love and happiness.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

That will be Golden Light On The Roofs! It's a post-canon fic, taking things up from where the movie ends, and it's maybe the fluffiest thing I've written.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Nah. I barely get love, where would I get the hate? XD

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Nope! I don't mind reading it, but I am way too ace to actually write it. I'm not part of the Aces Who Write Filthy Smut Club.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

Oh, oooh, okay, so, I have not published any crossover, but it's something that I truly want to do! I have an entire idea for this. I am writing a Torchwood/Doctor Who fic that fixes Ianto's death (as one does), and the central crux of it is that Jack's corral is actually a Tardis that ends up imprinting on Ianto and becomes a huge spaceport that's connected to all of time and space and the multiverse, and in that spaceport, every type of encounter is possible. It's an endless playground that allows me to make various characters meet, and I have a lot of ideas. I just need to finish the main fic before getting on with the crossovers. Some day.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

...To my knowledge, no.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

I translate my own work! The next fic I'd like to post soon is a Merlin fic that I wrote first in French. I'm currently rewriting it first in French and then I'll translate it to English, and I'll post both versions. So that people who read French can also see my style in my own native language. That beng said, I wouldn't mind having my fics translated in other languages.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

A fic, no, but my siblings and I are co-writing an original novel together.

14. What’s your all time favourite ship?

Hard to say. My oldest ship, that I'm aware of, is Tycutio (Tybalt and Mercutio, R&J). My main one these days is Merthur (Merlin x Arthur). Honestly I'm not too attached to either ships or fandoms, they come and go, and it all depends on my mood or what hyperfixation I'm stuck on at the time.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

I don't think I have something that could be considered a WIP that I wouldn't finish. I have fragments of text that could be added to a bigger work, or not, but all the actual WIPs I have, meaning, works with a clear beginning and a general direction, I will finish them. Maybe not now, maybe not next year, but at some point, I will. I don't like rushing.

16. What are your writing strengths?

I have been told that I have a strong style, as in, syntax and use of language, and then descriptions and general atmosphere. The kind of works of mine that people have read and commented most are actually not my fictions, but my essays and thesis, mostly in French and English and also a few in Spanish, and professors and teachers have always praised me for my prose. Well, one teacher a long time ago said that was too much purple prose, but that's one out of dozens of teachers and profs, so who cares.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

I get too much into depicting the atmosphere, the descriptions, the characters' emotions and thoughts, and I get stuck on progressing the plot or making them interact. That's the thing that makes me write so slowly, actually, the fact that I get stuck on how to advance the plot.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

See above. I already write in several languages, but whatever the language, dialogues don't come easy to me. Even in French! When I know the character very well, it's easier, like Tybalt, Mercutio or Merlin, but when it's a new character or one I'm not too attached to, its harder. One dialogue that was surprisingly easy to write outside of my favs listed above, was the banter between Simran and Raj (the DDLJ fics), because I have watched DDLJ countless times and it's one of my most favourite movies ever, so even though I don't speak Hindi, I was inspired.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

That'll be Romeo and Juliet! Back when I was a teen (around 12-13yo), I wanted to write a rewriting of the play in prose, starting during the main 6' childhoods (Romeo, Juliet, Mercutio, Tybalt, Rosaline, Benvolio), because I always thought "They're the main heirs or children of the major families of the city, they're nobles and the same age. They definitely knew each other before the play started. The play states that the grudge between the families has started anew in recent years, meaning that before, there was relative peace, so it wouldn't be too outlandish to think that these kids actually grew up and were educated together, so from that point, it changes the events of the play, right?". And so I started writing an entire plan, chapter by chapter, different parts, "1 - Childhood in Verona", "2 - Exile in Rome/Mantua/Florence", "3 - Back to Verona", etc, and I started researching, reading biographies of Shakespeare, the origins of the story, life in Verona in the 12th century... I never finished it, and it stayed as a plan, but it's one of the projects that I definitely want to finish.

20. Favourite fic you’ve written?

Well, in light of above, and if we're only talking about the fics I have posted... Ignorance Is Bliss. I love that one, I'm really proud of it. And it makes me really happy whenever I get a kudo or a comment!

Thank you for the tag and sorry for how long it took me! Life has been messy this past year.

Tagging if they want: @marloviandevil @hopelesshawks @regulusrules and anyone else who'd like to do it, just tag me!

[soundcrusher]

Lightlost knows best

Everyone, part 2 of season 3 from my ongoing story set in the sentient sg/Lost Light au from @cuppajj i out!

I hope all of you will enjoy this part just as much as I did. (Also, I'm gonna admit it, I missed writing sg/ll. I really did.)

Trigger Warning: none

..>:<..>:<..>:<..>:<..>:<..>:<..>:<..>:<..>:<..>:<..>:<..>:<..>:<..

Sometimes Tankcrusher wondered where in life she made a wrong turn. Was it, when she joined the Decepticons? Was it when she got together with Thrillchaser? Her friends did say that she should have chosen a grounder as her partner. But with her look, the grounder would have been a speedster and then Phoenix would have looked more like the mech she was currently holding down. 

Maybe the wrong turn was, when she decided to let the prime stay with them and give him the job in her bakery. If she didn’t, then she wouldn’t have to sit at the medic’s office with Rodimus in her lap, while pinning his arms to the side and making sure he wouldn’t kick or bite the poor doctor trying to see if everything was okay with him. Or maybe the wrong turn was taking Rodimus to the doctor in the first place. From what she could see, he looked fine, but her “Mama Bear Programming”, as Thrillchaser would have called it, just reared its head and made her worry, even if there was nothing to worry about. 

“Roddy, by the love of Primus, could you just calm down? The doctor won’t do anything. Not as long as I am here with you.” Whispered the femme quietly, while the doctor had his back turned to them. “The longer you keep thrashing around, the longer we will have to stay here.” Tankcrusher only meant well, when she said that, but the look she got from Rodimus made her second guess her choice of words. He looked almost scared, as if he was expecting the doctor to pull out some kind of torture device annd use it on him, no matter if there was a second in the room or not. 

Maybe that’s why Tankcrusher let out a long sigh, before she asked the doctor if he could go out for a moment while she talked with her son. And considering how relieved the mech looked as he heard that he could walk out, it wasn’t surprising to her how fast the good doctor was out of the room. “Alright…” Said the femme as she grabbed Rodimus and sat him down next to her. Keeping an optic on every possible exit way imaginable. And yes, that also involved the windows and vents. After all, if Phoenix was bold enough to escape the doctor by jumping out of a window, then she was sure Rodimus would do the same. Sometimes, the resemblance the two shared was uncanny. And Tankcrusher didn’t just mean their looks. “You’re acting like Phoenix whenever I had to bring him here, until he made up his mind to become a medic. I thought you were a grown mech, and not some little sparkling scared of the good old doctor.” Joked the femme, which oonly got a scoff from Rodimus as a reaction. 

“I’m not a sparkling…” Muttered the prime, after crossing his arms over his chest and looking down at the floor. The pattern down there was, after all, quite interesting. “But if you want to know, I just don’t like medics. Never have, never will. End of story.”

“But it doesn’t sound like the end.” Was all she said, as she placed a servo onto Rodimus’ shoulder. Giving him a comforting squeeze. “It sounds more like you want to say something, but you’re too scared because saying it would only make you realize that it’s true. That it’s part of your past and… you’re too scared to admit it, because then it would feel like you’re admitting that it is true.” Tankcrusher gave Rodimus one more squeeze, before putting her servo back in her lap. Watching the prime’s mind work on what she’s said and how it could relate to him. 

“And how would you know that?” Asked Rodimus, after a short moment of silence. To which the taller femme only laughed. “I do have a conjux who left me and my son after all. I know how it feels to pretend that something isn’t true, but… no matter how much you pretend, in  your spark you know that it’s true. That the lie you’re telling yourself is only going to distract you from reality for so long. And then, you find yourself fearing that admitting to the truth is only going to break you further. But it’s not… because you have something or someone to live for.”

Rodimus scoffed at that. “Sounds like your conjux was an idiot for leaving you and Phoenix.”

“Well, Thrillchaser has always been an idiot, but that’s why I took him as my conjux. He was…  different from the other mechs. Taking me as I am and never complaining when I loomed over him or pinned him against a wall and-” Rodimus didn’t want to hear more. No, this was too much information the mother of his adopted little brother was giving out. So, he quickly covered her mouth, before stopping out for a moment. 

Tankcrusher has a conjux, and the conjux name is Thrillchaser. And Rodimus knows a mech named Thrillchaser who, for some reason, was always looking at Phoenix whenever he would pass the youngling in the halls of the Lost Light. 

And then there were the times he would spot Thrillchaser when they were on other planets…

Does this mean Lightlost somehow managed to hunt Phoenix’s father down and torture him? But for what reason? Revenge on the behalf of another? Rodimus wasn’t sure if that sounded right. Not when both Phoenix and Tankcrusher sounded like they accepted that Thrillchaser wasn’t part of their family. Then again, the Lost Light was someone who was full of surprises. Maybe they had an ulterior motive behind it? Or maybe they simply wanted to have something to do? The thought alone made Rodimus shudder and fear for what they had planned next. 

“Hey, me talking about the things I loved to do with my conjux are no reasons to shudder.” Chuckled Tankcrusher, as she softly took Rodimus’ servos into her own and pulled them away from her mouth. Smiling warmly down at the prime, before smirking.  “But if you want something to shudder about, I could talk about that one time we went to that nice drive in theater and scared a bunch of organics.”

“Primus no! Bessie, please, don’t! I will let the doctor examine me, if you don't start talking about what you did in that theater!” 

Tankcrusher could only laugh, as she saw the comically wide eyes and panicked expression of Rodimus. If those opposing him could see him now, they would surely laugh at his expense. Although, she soon enough stopped, before softly patting the prime’s helm. This was the first time he called her ‘Bessie’. A name only those part of the family were allowed to use. “Alright, alright. I will stop, if you promise not to bite the good doctor when he gets too close to your face.”

“Tch. I can’t promise you anything.

After the examination was over, and the doctor didn’t lose a digit, both Tankcrusher and Rodimus made their way back towards the bakery. And while the femme told the speedsteer about the time she finally admitted that Thrillchaser wasn’t coming back, the prime slowly opened up about the things that happened to him. He didn’t tell her anything, but he somewhat explained why he reacted the way he did when she first took a look at him and why he nearly bit off the doctor digit, when he got too close. Earning a sympathetic look from the taller femme, before she commented on how she would love to meet this ‘Lightlost’ to give them her own two cents on the matter. To which Rodimus was quick to say “NO!” Letting her know that he wasn’t on board with her trying to fight Lightlost. Not when Phoenix seemed to still be attached to them.

While Rodimus and Tankcrusher had their small ‘adventure’, Phoenix was making sure everything was running smoothly at the bakery. Serving every customer to the best of his abilities, before going back into the kitchen to make another batch of cookies. Even Dominus helped out by delivering orders in a small basket to either the tables outside the bakery or to the nearby homes. Leaving Phoenix alone then and there, but only after the youngling reassured the turbofox that he would be alright. There was no Cybertronian who could come into the back of the bakery without him noticing after all. But then again, Lightlost wasn’t any other Cybertronian. So, Phoenix didn’t notice them, when they entered the bakery and walked straight into the kitchen. Only a small chuckle from the holo-avatar alerted the youngling to their presence, but by then, Lightlost had already placed their servos onto Phoenix’s shoulders. Pressing slightly down, which caused the youngling to supcounsicly make himself smaller while his wings went down in fear. Giving Lightlost even more leeway to loom over the already frightened youngspark and only adding more to his rising stress levels

“Hello there Phoenix.” Said Lightlost softly, as to not startle their little bird any further. But they couldn’t help the gleeful smile forming as they saw how the youngling tensed after hearing his name from them. Looks like their little ‘field trip’ hasn’t erased the memories of his correction. Good, no, perfect. It means that Lightlost still had something to work with and reassured them that Phoenix knew his place. “Do you know how worried I was after the captain and you left me? After you decided to leave me behind? What if something would have happened to you? I couldn’t live with myself, if someone dared to hurt the both of you.” They said, while moving their servos to slowly turn Phoenix around and hug him tightly. Softly patting his helm, while making sure he couldn’t escape the hug. “And just look at the mess you got yourself into, little bird. Do you really think anyone is happy with having you back on Cybertron? I’m sure that there are many who want you gone again. The looks of your customers sure enough prove it.” Lightlost said, as they smiled down at the youngling in their arms. “How about you come with me? I know what’s best for you after all.”

Phoenix didn’t know what came over him. Yes, he was confused. Oh so confused, because he still saw Lightlost as a parent, but at the same time, he couldn’t forget what they had made him go through. But at the same time, he suddenly didn’t feel scared, like he should be. He felt something else. An emotion he couldn’t place. Maybe it was confidence? Or maybe the fear made him go mad, because Phoenix took all his strength together and pushed Lightlost away from him. “NO!” If they thought they could come and take him back, they thought wrong. Phoenix won’t go back, not when he finally was with his mother again. 

Although, the little act of rebellion coming from Phoenix didn’t seem to make them happy. No, Lightlost looked unhappy, maybe even angry. And seeing that, made Phoenix shrink back in fear. 

“No?” Asked Lightlost. “Oh, I see how it is.” They said as they took one step back, but never leaving Phoenix a chance to run from them. “Oh Phoenix, Phoenix, Phoenix. Haven’t we had this talk before? Just because you think you’re so mature now, doesn’t mean that you know everything. But if you think you’re such a grown up mech, then go ahead. Walk out there and  have a talk with them, without this!” Phoenix’s optics widened as he saw Lightlost pull out his old visor. The visor that was taken from him the first time he boarded the Lost Light and one of the only things that has given him some sort of safety from his old crew. “H-how?” Was all the youngling could stutter.

“Do you really think they would tolerate you otherwise? Do you think they would talk with you, if you weren’t wearing this? I have seen their looks, Phoenix. How they stare at you. How they silently judge you. But if you truly feel like you’re more accepted by them than by me, then go ahead. Go out there and see how they treat you. But should you realize that they don’t accept you the way I have, then I won’t say I told you so.” Lightlost said, as they placed the visor into Phoenix’s shaking servos. Watching as the youngling’s optics filled with tears, while he clutched the visor close to his chest. 

And that’s the moment Lightlost decided to leave. Not only because they could see that they managed to do the first step of their plan, but also because the turbofox was returning. And they didn’t want him, nor Rodimus and Tankcrusher to know they were here. Not yet. 

“But if you truly believe that you can live amongst them, put them to the test, Phoenix. But don’t come crying to me, when my words come true.”

“After all, I know what’s best for you.”

[otame]

Raimon Eldritch Chronicles; AU Timeline; PART ONE

Post-Ina11OG/Pre-Ina11GO-Season 1: (Fyi, instead of 10 years, the gap between FFIs are 15 years in this AU, just so that some things make sense.) After graduation, Gouenji decided to go to senior high in Okinawa, where he pursued his studies. There, he eventually met Higan Bana, a red haired female with red eyes, and you know where this leads, but for the sake of it, I’ll say it; they basically fell in love, and ended up in a relationship. At 17 years old, Bana became pregnant, and, mixed emotions swell in; they haven’t even gotten to college yet, she’s 17 years old, they’re about to graduate. But one thing’s for sure, they’re keeping the child, it wasn’t the kid’s fault anyways. But that kid will feel otherwise once she’s older. 7 months pregnant, and turns out, the pregnancy had rendered Bana to become terminal, meaning that she could die if she kept the baby until birth. Gouenji pleaded and pleaded to the doctors to find a way to save both Bana and the baby, but unfortunately, there was none. This caused Gouenji to swirl in a haze of depression for the next two months, and it was only on July 24th, that he had realized and learnt his lesson. Bana was in labor, and in the last two hours that she and Gouenji had, they were able to clear some things out. One hour left, she smiled sadly and said “Sorry that I hurt you like this...”, while Gouenji shook his head; it wasn’t Higan’s fault that she’s terminally pregnant.

“At least name our baby girl, hold her before you breathe your last breath...”

“Shuuya...her...name...is Arazen.” And the flatline beeped while the baby was snuggled in her arms, cooing in slumber. For the next hour, Gouenji was crying, both in loneliness and happiness, as he cradles the baby in his arms. For the next two years, he had been joining in part-time rackets to earn money for taking care of Arazen, often coming home tired from both studying and working, but nonetheless was happy to see Arazen giggle and chuckle as she started to learn how to walk. “Papa?” the little toddler chirped while Gouenji was writing on his notes. He dropped his pen and notebook, and blinked on his stupor. “Papa!” Arazen happily repeated. He sobbed and cradled her for the next two hours. Kidou was blinking in surprise when he decided to visit Gouenji to check on him. “What the hell?” he said while watching Gouenji fix Arazen’s diaper. “I can explain.” “Um, I don’t think you need to...I already get the gist.” For the next year, Gouenji was able to finish high school, graduate, yet he decided to keep on taking care of Arazen. Kidou, unknowingly to him, slowly developed attachment to the kid, and maybe feelings for the toddler’s father. But those feelings can wait. Now, he is content with helping Gouenji and Arazen. But things are about to escalate quickly to a scale and angle they never thought could happen. Objects were floating around Arazen’s room while she was giggling because she bumped her head on the wall, and activated her psychokinetic abilities for the first time. “What the fuck.” the two males thought when they saw Arazen floating around like it’s zero gravity in her room, the kid now 3 years old, happily giggling. “Look Papa! Father!” Arazen smiled. It was even more surprising when she made her first Molotov cocktail, and exploded a teddy bear that she was annoyed at, solved radicals at the age of four, already knew how to cook pancakes, and was able to differentiate metonymy from synecdoche. “An unstable genius...” Kidou smirked, while Gouenji sighed and smiled, knowing that raising Arazen was going to be anything but normal. He didn’t need it to escalate to this. His daughter, his only remaining link to Bana, was kidnapped. Seething in rage and blinded by hysteria, he and Kidou traced her to a secret facility, which the tracking itself took a year. Planning to break in and actually doing it was another story, another year for both segments. But hell as if they’re not going to do a suicide mission to save Arazen. Apparently, Arazen...or her being labled as G-007 ALEPOU...a psychokinetic Nine-Tails...Hysteria... wasn’t the only one needed to be rescued. A-001 PIGASOS...an aerokinetic pegasus...Tenma? Aero? B-002 ELAFIA...a harmony-based deer and peacock hybrid...Takuto?Harmonia? C-003 LYKOS...a pyrokinetic wolf...Kyousuke?Pyro? D-004 GRYPAS...a phytokinetic and gyrokinetic gryphon...Shinsuke?Flora?Gyro? E-005 HIPOGRY...an electrokinetic hippogriff...Aoi?Electro? F-006 FIDI...a hydrokinetic serpent...Ranmaru?Hyrdro? He recognized PIGASOS...wasn’t he the kid he saved with a puppy from falling planks?

His eyes shook in horror as he realized what this facility was for...Kidou was repulsed, though he tried to remain calm, but the mere thought of mutating young children with their already pre-existing abilities to turn them into bloodthirsty killing machines for war made him very nauseated. The kids technically did become what they were experimented for, but it backfired onto the damned scientists who had the balls to mingle and tamper with the kids. One scary thing about kids is that they’ll act on emotion. Meaning, if you give a kid a chance to kill someone they hate, they will do so without hesitation. And damn, with the amount of bloodshed happening in the facility because of seven kids, it was fucking genocide. Man, are they gonna have to hide for a year or two before returning the kids to society once they find a way to sedate their abilities.