#DO YOU KNOW HOW HARD IT WAS TO NOT USE THE LINE 'danny was practically pogging' WHEN SAM SAID HOT CHOCOLATE

[breannasfluff]

Running the flower store is a nice break. Danny’s got to do a bit more math than expected–no, Mr. Lancer, that doesn’t mean percentages were useful–but Harleen didn’t lie about the job. He sells the odd book, waters the plants, and moves the bouquets in and out of the flower fridge. 

On the second day, someone comes whirling into the shop, slamming the door behind him.

“Hi, can I help you?” Danny has on his best customer service face. 

The guy spins around and does a double-take like he wasn’t expecting to see Danny. “Who are you?”

“I work here. Are you looking for a book or flowers?”

The guy has dark hair, almost black with a hint of brown in the sun and blue eyes. He’s bulky enough that he likely works out. Laugh lines are starting at the corner of his eyes. “Where’s Harleen?”

“She’s on vacation for a few days. I’m watching the store for her in her absence.” Danny can’t help but tense, keeping a sharp eye on the stranger. What if he intends to rob the store? Danny’s got his taser, but that won’t help from behind a counter. Subtly, he reaches for intangibility, keeping it ready on a moment’s notice. He’s not about to get shot–again.

“I’m Dick,” the guy says. “Sorry about the interrogation. It’s just…Harleen never takes a vacation. She must trust you to watch the shop.”

Danny shrugs because he really has no connection with the girl. “It’s just a job. Can I help you with anything else?” He’d really prefer Dick finish his maybe-or-maybe not legitimate business and leave. 

“Right!” Dick swings back to look at the rest of the store. “I am going to see my friend later, it can’t hurt to bring some flowers. Got a suggestion?”

Normally, Danny would join the customers as they look at flowers, offering what suggestions he can. Now, he stays firmly behind the till. “The daisies are a nice pop of color. We have a few bouquets of dry flowers if you want something that lasts longer.”

Dick hums and considers the flowers. “Maybe the daisies.”

Danny rings him up, still keeping an eye on Dick. “I’ll let Harleen know you dropped by looking for her.”

“I’d appreciate it. Do you know when she’ll be back?”

He does, but there’s no way he’s telling. Who knows why Dick wants to know–if that’s even his name? “She’ll be back soon.” He defaults to his blandest smile. 

Dick wilts slightly under it, pulling the daisies toward him. “Okay, thanks. See you later.”

Not if Danny can help it. Maybe he should stay late tonight, just to make sure the guy doesn’t come back and try to break in. Explaining how he fended off a burglary might be a little difficult, but Harleen doesn’t deserve to have her shop trashed. And if she’s a friend of Pam’s, then she can be an acquaintance–friend?–of Danny’s.

Harleen laughs so hard she’s wheezing when Danny warns her about “Dick” and his off-vibes. 

“I’m guessing you know him,” he says, giving her a scowl. He’s been practicing his scowls. Batman’s famous for them. 

“Do I ever!” Harleen cackles, half lying across her counter. Finally, she hauls herself up with a grin. “No wonder Pam likes you.”

“Couldn’t let this place get robbed.”

“You did good, Dan, don’t worry. I appreciate you watchin out for the store.” She glances around at the plants and books with a soft smile. “This place is my baby. It’s nice to just have a…normal job. I’m laughin because Dicky is probably the most harmless person to come into this store and you clocked him as a robber.”

Danny sniffs and looks away. He’s learned to listen to his instincts and his instincts said that guy was Trouble with a capital T. Maybe it’s the kind of trouble Harleen likes, but he’s not about to get mixed up in it. 

Read the rest here!

[sihtsisdrowkcab]

DP x DC prompt - Villainess AU

Hey! So I found this promt and just had to write something with it!

https://www.tumblr.com/kuroishuuha/714717053010984960/dp-x-dc-prompt-villainess-au?source=share

Prompt

-Danny is transported into a novel/game where he is the villainess fiancé of the male lead.

Knowing that only death awaits him at the end, Danny tries to end the engagement (who knows if death will stick this time - Danny is not gonna risk finding out)

Meanwhile, Jason finds himself as the male lead of a novel/game he never read/played

The system in his head is telling him that the only way to get back home is to have a happy ending with his fiancé

So we have Danny who is desperately trying to end his engagement and a Jason who is trying to woo his fiancé (and cursing the original male lead - because the guy must have done something horrible for his cute and nice fiancé to be desperate to break up with him)-

Story

Danny was so over this. He thought this would have been easy, maybe not on his parents part god knows they don't give up without a fight, but his fiance has shown nothing but disdain for him his whole life (even if he wasn't here for 90% of that life) He thought he'd only have to tell his fiance that he didn't want to marry him, his fiance would be ecstatic and run into the sun with Ophelia and he'd get the weight off his shoulders and wouldn't have to worry about dying anymore and yet...

"No."

Danny just looked at him with horror "What do you mean no?" He practically yelled.

"No, I won't break off the engagement."

"Why not!? You hate me! You've hated me since the moment we met! I know you want to be with ophelia!"

Jason looked like he was trying to read his face which makes no sense, if anyone should be trying to read the other's face it should be him!

Danny grabbed Jason's shoulders and shook them, he knew he wasn't acting like a proper gentleman, but his life was on the line! "Have you lost your goddamn mind? What in the world is wrong with you?" He paused, took a breath and let go of the teshis shoulders. He was sure this had something or the other to do with politics, he just couldn't wrap his mind around it at all. He took another step back, he had to appease Jason somehow. "Look, neither of us wanted to get married and neither of us really knew what we were getting into when our parents signed the agreement and had us agree to this, my parents won't back down but from what I know of your parents they'll let you back out of this no problem. My parents will be pissed but that's neither here nor there. There is really no reasonable excuse for why we shouldn’t break off our engagement." Danny said smugly, crossing his arms over his chest. There was no way Jason could deny all of that.

-

How could Jason deny all of that?! He was acting completely out of character, which was funny because he hardly knew what his character was like at all besides from second hand accounts. When he was told he just had to get a happy ending with his fiance he had thought this would be a piece of cake, he had brushed everything else off and took this as a really weird miny vacation, how hard could it really be to marry your fiance? Everything was already set up, it couldn't fail.

Except for the fact that apparently he was a dick and hated his fiance and she was done with all that, which he would have cheered on the fiance any day, get rid of that dick 100%. But now he was here in that dick's place and having to deal with his stupid problems and his fiance wanted to divorce him! How was he ever going to get a happy ending out of this? He did eventually want to get home no matter how annoying Bruce could be at times.

His fiance huffed drawing his eyes to him, he really was very pretty, he had no idea why Damian seemingly hated him. Sure he was being annoying as hell right now but really that was all Damian's fault.

"look i don't know why you seem to be fighting for this, it seriously seems like you just forgot everything!"

Jason froze, should he go with that? It really would be rather convincing seeing as he really didn't know Damian at all.

Danial paused, his eyes widening as he fixed on Jason's hesitance, seemingly picking apart all that he was and assessing him not adequate.

"You really don't act like Damian at all..."

He froze again, was that a good thing? Was this gonna be what gave him away?

"Did you hit your head or something? Temporary amnesia?"

"Y-yes!" Was he messing this up, would Danial believe that?

"Then why are you fighting so hard to keep the engagement? You don't know me at all."

Shit. shit what did he say? How did he convince Danial to keep the engagement if his other self hated him and this self didn't know him?

"I-I heard how wonderful you were from my parents and- and fell in love!"

Danial backed up with a distured look on his face, fuck he shouldn't have said that. "Love? After just hearing about me? That’s… kind of creepy."

“I just want to get to know you!”

Danial looked at him, his shoulders slumped and he looked resigned as he said "fine we'll keep up the engagement for now.” yes! “But when you get your memories back, we're breaking it off.”

Not great, but at least he knew that wasn’t going to happen. 

 He turned around to leave, oh wait. "I haven't told anyone else I've lost my memories so could you keep that one to yourself?" He asked, turning back around.

Danial looked at him suspiciously. "Why haven't you told anyone else? Not even your family?"

Fuck again! Why couldn't he just get this right? "Of course my family knows!" He really hoped Danial never met them because they absolutely did not. "but no one at this school does, i don't want them to treat me like i'm made of glass like my parents." Not completely off base, they've been tiptoeing around him all summer, probably because he was acting so weird.

"that makes sense." Danial sighed, he looked suddenly like the whole weight of the world was upon his shoulders. 

Jason screwed up his face, he had definitely been the one to place it there. He wanted to go over to him and tell him that they could break off the engagement after all but he really couldn't do that. "I'm sorry." He settled for instead.

Danial looked surprised. "You’re apologizing?"

"Yeah, I've made this so much harder for you than it really had to be. And you don't really know me anymore and I really don't know you."

Danial looked at him with something akin to empathy. "It's hard being thrust into a world that's unfamiliar to you isn't it? No one you trust or know around you and having to be something your not."

Jason looked at him in genuine shock. "H-how?"

Danial looked panicked for a second before he gave a light laugh. "I may not have amnesia but I do have expectations from everyone around me." He rubbed his arm. "Everyone says you're way out of my league and that I'm lucky to have you." This time his laugh was bitter.

"If anything you said about the old me was true it was really the opposite."

Danial gave a snort that Jason couldn't help feeling was the prettiest thing he's ever heard. "oh believe me i down played it."

Jason looked at him aghast. "Downplayed it!? Just how bad was I??"

Daniel gave him a sympathetic pat on the shoulder and a smirk, "Now that, my friend is a talk for another time. Danial moved past him brushing his shoulder, what felt like a shock passed through him and he went stiff. When he finally came to his senses he was all by himself, What had just happened?

[mynameisjag]

Y'all are mean. Here’s a WIP using Jason from Gotham Knights.

There are no nice places in Gotham, especially in Jason's self proclaimed territory, anything new and shiny, quickly became tainted and broken.

So it was a surprise to him to see a little coffee shop had opened up near one of his safe houses, and he did mean small. Tucked away in a little corner, no sign pointing to the entrance to let one know you had to climb up stairway to the second story. Hidden away, quiet with its patrons never speaking loudly, the smell of baked goods didn’t even escape with each swing of the door.

He’s not exactly sure how he found it, and that should be concerning, since all he can figure out was that he was hungry for something, something that no matter what he made or bought couldn’t seem to satisfy. He just…led himself here…his feet taking him where he needed to go…

The atmosphere was quiet, drowsy and comforting like being smothered by one of those fancy blankets Bruce somehow always snuck in. The older man had seen to much of what cold weather could do to a body and the fear of finding any of his children like that lingered in his mind enough to risk traps to sneak in fluffy blankets to ease the worry.

It didn’t help that they were always black and reminded everyone of being curled up within Bruce's cape.

Just holding his cup of warm hot chocolate close and closing his eyes, he could practically feel the cover the cape that used to be able to hide him from the world. The comfort in heaviness around him, the ‘forbidden’ treat that Bruce got him because Alfred would surely be upset if he found out Jason was given sweets before bed. The rhythm of a slow and always steady breath that would lull him into a sleepy state.

Even with his slow sips, it seemed as though his drink ended too soon and opening his eyes to stare down into his empty mug caused the feeling before to slip away…leaving him feeling mournful…

Probably for the best, he could spend all his time here reminiscing about days that were long buried and forgotten about six feet under…

“Treat for the road?”

Jason tried not to let the server know that he actually managed to startle the vigilante by appearing out of nowhere, covering it with clearing his throat and trying to send a charming smile to young man, who just lifted an eyebrow in amusement.

Yeah, kinda hard to hide your body jerking back in surprise when your body is built like a fucking tank…

“Treat?”

This time Jason had managed to notice the tray the other was holding out to him, what appeared to be two muffins sat there, “What?”

Danny, if the name badge was telling the truth, just playfully rolled his eyes with a grin before gentle shaking the tray, “You looked like you could use a pick me up later, so here, on the house.”

“Umm, are you sure?”

“Positive, Beautiful.”

“Oh, you call all your customers Beautiful?”

“Only the ones that are and so far there has only been one,” Danny did a quick glance back over at the counter, noticing a line forming, before refocusing on him with a smile, “take the muffins and come back anytime.”

The plate was set down on the table with a wink and a sway of the hip as the guy headed back to the counter.

It wasn’t until later that night when Jason had stopped for a quick break, Dick stealing the other muffin, did they both noticed the small paper attached to the bottom…a phone number with a smiling face and the words ‘call me, Beautiful’.

There was no stopping the high pitched squeal that his older brother managed to make, “It’s just like a scene from Agent A’s shows!”

-*-

A glance at his mirror had him doubting…

Compared to his brothers, he always felt…not to standard of looks…

He knew he was a walking wall of a man, took pride in it when it came to making criminals literally piss themselves just at the mere sight of him

Dating…dating was harder to deal with then running a whole criminal organization…

Sure there were those that were more then willing to throw themselves at him because he fit their type but most of the time they didn’t fit his and it always ended up feeling one-sided with unmet expectations.

Even though he shouldn’t, he felt sliver of shame course them at the thought of how he wanted to be taken care instead of taking care of someone else. He was killer, he had blood on his hands, he could make others grovel at his feet with just a simple huff.

But he would love to just…not be that…for even just a little while…

To find himself curled up on someone’s lap, gentle hands soothing away his aches, and a voice telling him it was okay to just exist in that moment.

He glanced back at the number…maybe…he shouldn’t…

-*-

“Give the guy a chance!”

-*-

“Hey Beautiful, did you come back just to see little ole me or are you here just for my sweets?”

Jason could feel his face heating up.

-*-

Months passed…secrets revealed…

Finding out your boyfriend was either a crime lord/technically ‘Prince’ of the Realms was…honestly not the strangest thing they had gone through.

Really it just made everything fall into place when pieces started clicking together, it was abit of a rough talk…neither of then were particularly too good at having to sit down and have a serious talk.

But they made it...

Even if Jason couldn’t believe that out of everyone, Danny wanted him…and he could admit to himself at least…that he wanted the smaller man in all his forms…human or…the towering Ancient of Space…

Currently they were both were cuddling on their couch, half dressed and comfortable.

Danny was just staring up at him, eyes wide with actual sparkles, all lithe and pretty, all dangerous like a skillfully designed blade that only a master craftsman could forge.

He was powerful, bought about by surviving battles with God like beings, has seen worlds and universes, timelines…and he was cuddled up to Jason, looking at him as though he was the most amazing person he had ever come across.

“You're so pretty, Jason.”

“I’m built and I look like a wall…”

Danny was sitting up now, causing a deep blush to spread across the vigilante’s face as the smaller male settled on his chest, arms caging him in and face closing in till they were only a few inches apart, “Lovely, gorgeous, beautiful, I will not have you saying anything lower then that about yourself, I’d have to fight off every suitor that looked your way in the Realms. Strong, willful, a wonderful,” there was a deep purr that resonated through him into Jason, the feeling of absolute attraction echoing into him, “protector.”

“Oh…you like that I can protect others, huh?”

Blue eyes were slowly mixing into a turquois, the Halfa’s other side leaking through into his human form, the purring somehow intensifying, attraction melding with a burning desire that had Jason gulping at the feeling.

His hands slowly coming up to rub the tensed up legs that had caged him in, a flutter of want races through him, “You like how I protect my territory?”

“Protecting your territory, helping others, all without expecting something in return, so very pretty in your kindness, your selflessness, so very, very, pretty…”

“Oh?”

“Love your scars, want to kiss every one of them, give your sacrifices the appreciation they deserve, want to wrap you up and feed you sweets, want to wash the blood off after your fights and treat you gently, want you, just…I want you…”

Yeah, if it wasn’t for the intense, nearly smothering feeling of it in the air, Jason would have been clued in by the heaviness that was resting on his chest and the way his partner was panting with pupils blown wide.

Hands went from gentle petting to traveling along a tampered waist, under the oversized galaxy shirt, the muscles hidden underneath trembling at the soft caresses, the feeling of power being held back like a switchblade with a weakening spring lock came to his mind. Jason held that power in the palms of his hands, literally and figuratively, “You going to take care of me?”

A hiccup of the word yes as Danny’s arms began to tremble, he wanted to…do anything…anything that the beauty beneath him asked of him…wanted to do so much…but he wouldn’t do anything unless he was told to.

One hand slipped out from under the shirt to come up and caress Danny’s face, so gentle that he closed his eyes and rubbed his cheek into the calloused palm like an over eager cat, could feel his fangs slipping out, the purr turning into a rumble that was vibrating through both of their forms.

“Alright.”

Eyes snapped open to stare down at the vigilante, everything freezing for the moment, waiting to hear his permission again.

Jason just grinned up at him, “Alright, take care of me.”

The moment moved forward as Danny practically lunged himself into a kiss, hands desperately reaching and pulling, body shaking with anticipation…

-*-

The footsteps would have been unnoticeable to anyone but the trained and unfortunately got Jason, he was trained and he was able to recognize the step pattern.

“…mmm…Jay?”

“Go back to sleep, gotta take care of something real quick.”

“…miss you…”

“You’ll miss my body warmth, you adorable little leech.”

Silently moving out of the bed to creep toward the kitchen where he could hear two people whispering now.

No surprise when he found Dick and Tim being nosy as hell, one was in his fridge, the other trying to break into Danny’s laptop.

It also wasn’t surprising when the argument that broke out woke up Danny.

What was surprising was the state of dress…or really…undress the man appeared in.

Dick broke first.

“Why are you naked?”

“Because it’s,” a glance at the stoves clock, “2:30 am.”

Danny pushed past him, full ass naked and not giving a damn as he trotted over to the cabinet for a glass, “Break into people’s places, deal with the consequences.”

Tim was doing his best to not look at anything but the floor while Dick went the opposite reaction and took in the whole view, giving an appreciated glance over and even lingering on the areas with certain imprints.

“Little Wing! Are you not going to introduce us!?”

“Introductions are for reasonable hours,” the shortest of them casually filled the glass with water before turning to face them, taking a slow sip, “so in the most politest way I can put this, please get the fuck out of my apartment, I’m up, I’m awake before I should be, so I’m gonna rail my lovely boyfriend till we both pass out again and I’m not going to cover the mental scars you might get if you stay.”

“Oh, he is spicy!”

[thebucketpail]

A little blurb based on this thought that I had

When You Accidentally Kill a Clown pt. 1

Pt. 2 Ao3

This is not ideal. Danny thought deftly as he stared in shock at the absolutely massive problem he had just created for himself. He blinked slowly, trying to bring his brain back to speed. Definitely not Ideal.

Not even one week in Gotham, that was all it took to make such a big mess, thank you very much Fenton Luck. Danny had been accepted into Gotham U, having qualified for practically a full ride scholarship, and started next week. He had been in town to get settled for about three days when he was walking back to his apartment from a nearby Batburger.

Unfortunately a certain clown mistook him for a Wayne and well… yeah, he needed help with this.

“Hey Danny what’s up?” Sam’s voice rang as the call finally connected.

“Sam I think I have a problem,”

“What? Your roommate’s too Hot?΅ she joked

“No- no it's not my roommate-” he squeaked out. Shit how would he explain this? Logically Sam would be perfectly normal about it, probably even ecstatic, considering he did just-

“I killed the Joker” Danny blurted plowing past the sputtering noises coming from the other end of the line, “I didn’t mean to, i was just walking back to my apartment and he jumped out of an alley and tried to kidnap me, and you know I hate clowns and he caught me off guard, and well humans are a lot more squishy than ghosts and I think I used a bit too much force, but yeah.” he paused for a breath, “I killed the Joker, At least I think it's him. Ancients, Sam the bats are gonna kill me for this”

The tinny laughter he got in reply did nothing to calm Danny’s fraying nerves.

“Sam don’t laugh what am I meant to do?’’ He hissed

It took a few more moments for Sam to collect herself before she responded. “I’m sorry Danny, that's just so you of you to manage killing the Joker your first week in Gotham. Holdup, I'm gonna get Tuck real quick.”

As the sound of shuffling and footsteps filled the receiver, Danny tried calming down. Breathing deeply he walked over to examine the body. Yep, he thought, definitely the Joker, that pasty face and greasy green hair were hard to mistake, even for a non-Gothamite. Danny wrinkled his nose at the acrid stench rising from the smoking crater in the clown’s gut. You can never be too sure though, so Danny reached over to check for a pulse. Nothing.

The distant bickering died down as Tucker’s voice rang from Danny’s phone.

“Duuue, did you really?”

Danny took a shaky breath, raising the device back to his face, “Y-Yeah, he’s dead,” God please don’t let him come back to haunt me. ”Tuck what do I do?”

“Honestly man, I think you should just leave him, someone will find him eventually,” Tuck replied, the nonchalance oozing through his voice.

“I don’t know, I feel like we should tell someone or something-”

“Holy Shit!” Danny froze at the new voice coming from behind him. “Is that really him?” Red Hood asked incredulously. Ancients that's THE RED HOOD. Danny is so double dead.

“Tuck, I think someone found out,” he whispered into the mic, not taking his eyes off the imposing Figure that was the literal RED HOOD.

“It’s probably fine,” but Danny cut him off with a strangled yelp as Red Hood turned to face him Muscles tensing, shifting from shock to Ancients Danny hoped that rage wasn’t directed at him. That hope slowly dwindled as the vigilante stalked toward him, hand drifting toward the holster at his hip. Danny gulped.

“Did you do this?!” Hood seethed, and Yup Danny was going to die again today. What should he say? ‘Yes mr red hood sir I killed the Joker please don’t kill me’ no, no he should not say that. So he settled to let out a strangled squeak and a small nod.

Danny couldn’t breath as Hood crouched to assess the body. I didn’t breathe when Hood stared him down. No Danny didn’t even breathe when a distorted laugh rang through the air, or when Tucker and Sam anxiously screamed at Danny to respond.

“I Can’t believe the Fucker’s finally dead,” Hood breathed, kicking the dead clown for good measure. “What’s your Name Kid?”

Finally Danny let a relieved sigh escape his lips, he Probably wouldn’t die again tonight.

“Um, Danny?” he said tentatively, his voice rising toward the end making it sound more like a question. Hood just laughed more.

“Well Danny, do you like burgers? I've got to thank you somehow.” Dany was in shock. What. the actual. Hell. slowly he nodded because what else was he supposed to do when RED freaking HOOD offered him food for killing a literal terrorist on accident. “Good, I have to make a few quick calls but don’t go anywhere.” and he walked a few paces away, leaving Danny in Shock and confusion.

Slowly he raised the forgotten phone to his ear. “Uuuuh Guys…” he waited a moment for the yelling to die down before continuing, yeah, this might be interesting.

[evilminji]

Thinking About Ghost Writer's Library ( o.o)

Yeah, that's right folks! It's ya girl! Back on her bullshit, with PONDERING TIME. But like? GW? Is AT BEST? Somewhere around Victorian or Edwardian, given his aesthetic, right? And? Granted! It COULD be, he just vibes SUPER HARD with this Hot New Look(tm).

But like?

He is Baby.

They basically ALL are Baby. It's the... no, A(!) Baby area of the Zone. A place where sentient life is JUST sort of beginning to happen. On the COSMIC, INTERDIMENSIONAL, scale of things. What, after all, is a MERE few millenia? When the average is counting things by Eons? And even WORSE? When your ENTIRE COUNTRY and HISTORY is? What... CENTURIES?

Zygote. You are not but an infant. Back to daycare with you.

Which of course, leads the baby sitters. Even the occasional Adult. SOMEONES got to watch them. But it's not like THEY want to volunteer their eternity. They have Obsessions to follow. And there are A LOT of Baby Zone's to watch! More forming every day! The great dance of Life And Death etc etc, Yada yada!

Who's being punished? Make them do it! *Clockworks in long term plan*

But! Not the point here! Though fascinating to consider! The POINT? GW->Baby. His Library? Larger then then any Earth libraries, yes. But! Still SMALL. A BABY'S collection of books! Still growing. And for all his bragging and posturing? FAR from the Zone's BEST Library.

It likely doesn't even get to make the LONG FORM list.

Which Danny? Who is STILL banned? Quickly figures out. Because? Amity Library is... DECENT. It's working with the funding It's gotten dispite the damage ghost fights have done. Danny loves that library. He does. But... he also? Kinda has run out of things to READ.

And like HELL is he gonna BEG to enter GHOST WRITER'S Lair. Mister "Love Christmas or I'll torture you with it" can SUCK [REDACTED] and shove it up his [REDACTED BUT WITH VIOLENCE THIS TIME]. So? He asks, vaguely of course, Mr. Ho the librarian what he should do.

The man practically froths at the mouth at the thought that there is some BASTARD denying children books over PETTY PERSONAL BULLSHIT. Wants to meet this guy out back. "Talk books". Mr. Ho is like a bazillion years old and a tiny grandpa, he's amazing and Danny STILL kinda wants to be him when he grows up.

But since Danny won't let him deck Ghost Writer. He shows him how too look up other libraries in the area. Which... sparks An Idea(tm). He thanks his favorite librarian and races home. Makes a Bee Line for the Far Frozen.

Can he LOOK at the Infinity Map, Frostbite? He knows taking it is only for Important Events, but... why, you ask? Well...*explains*

Which is how he ends up, with a pen and paper, watching Trained Yeti Map Makers(tm) quickly sprawling out Map after Map, as Frostbite (who is apparently the only one AUTHORIZED to do this, who knew?) formally asks the Map in? Weirdly specific and oddly phrased ways, for the best libraries? Huh?

Ooooh! Frostbite is authorized because he's the only one TRAINED in the exact workings of the Map. Yeah, that makes a lot more sense. When Danny was using it, it dragged him at like Mach bajillion all over the place and he had to keep rephrasing things.

So? He can go now, right? Since he has the directions?

What do you mean "not quite"?

Danny finds out he needs an "Adult Escort". Because he is Baby. And much like children can not fly to Peru alone from halfway across the globe, so too, they can not LEAVE the baby zones to travel through Adult Territories where they could get Ended by accident, WITHOUT Adult supervision. Safety first!

D:< He just wants BOOKS!

Fine! Clockwork is old as BALLS! Older probably! He's LITERALLY TIME! How's THAT for OLD, huh?! Can he GO NOW!? He just wants to check out their ghostly sci-fi section! He's curious AF! He bets they have ALIEN Sci-fi! Come oooooooon!

Clockwork, of course, let's himself be dragged along. Because this is hilarious. AND going to terrify so, SO many assholes. Which is Funny :)

Danny gets his library card to *Unpronouncable without several neck bones humans do not have*, which is the size of Jupiter's BIGGER BROTHER. It isn't even the "Best" library. Just the closest. Danny has a manic... everything, the Fenton blood is strong with this one. So Many Booooooooks~!

And yeah, school books or whatever, probably a great learning resource.

BUT THE SCI-FI AND COMICS SECTION! It goes on for MILES! LITERAL MILES! *incoherent noises of joy*

Needless to say, the Librarians think he's ADORABLE. Such an eager reader! And so SMALL! A BABY! Look at his lil hands~! Be careful with the books, okay sweetie? Oh heck yeah! He WILL be!

And obviously? He gaurds those books with his LIFE. That's his Premium VIP Celebrity Gucci Bespoke Comics of The Multiverse Access! You'll have to pry it from his multi-dead, still smoking, Ended 5Ever hands!

The problem with THIS is?

Even with careful book covers? Those are CLEARLY glowing books. Like... day glow. Unnaturally glowing. The OTHER problem, is UNLIKE that baby GW? Adults can make their books multilingual. OMNILINGUAL. Is this book in French? Or Ainu? Yes. If it's YOUR language, then that's what you're reading in. Is it a bit clunky at times? With things that don't translate well, having to be explained in side notes? Yes. But better then not being able to read them at all!

And of course, comfort and repetition breed mistakes. You get too used to doing something. Forget you're supposed to be HIDING it. Maybe you go to college. Maybe the world moves on. You bring down a government agency with your friends. Become an infant king, much to the unspeakable alarm of the adults who SHOULD have been watching and protecting you. Maybe you have WORDS with them. Who's to say.

You're tired. It's been a long month.

You just want your coffee and a snacky lil treat. Something yummy for the you. Surely you've earned it, right? You've been good. So you take your sweet new alien sci-fi epic, your scrunkly feral Racoon lookin self, and you crawl like the half dying man you are. Towards the sweet relief of sugar and caffeine. Pride? You don't know her. Gib the coffee or you bite.

Unfortunately! There is some shitty "the Youth Today blah blah blah, let try and catch them of gaurd with loaded questions to prove my point and make a whole generation look dumb" reporter on campus. You see them out of the corner of your eye. They clearly think you are the weak link.

They are making their way towards you, mic raised.

Ah. Tragic, they have chosen death.

Before they can reach you, you raise your voice and not so much throw them under a bus, as drive the bus over THEM. Because THIS Coffee shop is the Punk hangout spot. And you've made casual friendly acquaintances with the six foot something, Sam clone from Scotland, whose life goal seems to be "Fight God".

And THESE fine folk DEFINITELY want an interview :) Have Fun, Thorn!

Needless to say, the clips go viral. With Danny sitting in the background, coffee and muffin achieved. Minding his business. Reading his glowing book. Which everyone ignores, on campus. Because EVERYONE knows Danny can make things glow! It's his weird minor power. Some lab accident in his teen years. NBD

But like... no body ELSE "knows" that. So it attracts attention.

Which would be FINE.... if he was reading an EARTH book.

But he's NOT.

And someone recognizes it.

Maybe it's Martian. Kryptonian. Could be Asgardian. Depends on the crossover you want! Because it could be ANY crossover! Lost books. Not just the Great Classics(tm) that people like to save. But the silly ones. The small ones. The equivalent of dime store novels and cheap drug store comics. Children's books. Banned books. The things Powerful People tried to erase from history itself. The things TIME tried to erase, with the fall of nations and the coming of war.

The destruction of worlds.

All of it there.

Imagine it. Standing on a planet, far from the world that was once your home, KNOWING in your heart that everything is gone. Everyone. That NOTHING but what you carry with you remains. And looking up one day to see, in the background of some average and silly video? Not "War and Peace" or "Great Expectations" or some other likely exported peice... but? Some youth reading that overly dramatic trashy sci-fi book that your cousins wouldn't stop raving about. The ones all the adults were SICK of hearing about.

It would NEVER have passed the bar for export.

It was silly and embarrassing but culturally significant.

It's... it's right there.

How?

Wouldn't the desperation that fills you be suffocating? Are there others? Is that an original? How is it here? How can he READ it? Who taught him? Who IS he? Is he one of us? Where? How? HOW?! Please. PLEASE!

And Danny? Would have no idea! :)c it's great~

@hdgnj @hypewinter @the-witchhunter @ailithnight @mutable-manifestation @nerdpoe

[mattybstqrn]

𝐁𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐂𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧 - 𝐈.𝐆

𝚠𝚊𝚛𝚗𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜: 𝚔𝚒𝚜𝚜𝚒𝚗𝚐, 𝚒𝚖𝚙���𝚒𝚎𝚍 𝚜𝟹𝚡

Female Reader x Isaac Garcia

Y/n, the best friend of the kind and caring Danny Walter, who is always there when she needs him and gives great advice. The two had been best friends because of their love for acting and theater and studying movies which they both thought no one did but themselves until they met each other.

The two had meet in the 8th grade and both immediately became friends because of their love for acting. They were so glad to find a friend who had the same interest and had been friends ever since.

Y/n loves Danny, he's like a brother to her and she couldn't see yourself not being his friend. The two planned to audition for the play that was going on at school and once they got the cast list everything went downhill.

Danny didn't get the part he hoped for, his cousin did, and Danny was pissed. Y/n felt bad for him, he worked really hard, and everything was tossed into the trash, like it was nothing. 

Isaac on the other hand was extremely excited that he got the roll, especially since that meant that he got to run lines with Y/n. The Garcia boy had been crushing on her for a while, but he never wanted to admit his feelings for her so he tried to get her attention by hanging out with other girls, bringing girls over to the house when he knew she would be there or making out with girls right in front of her locker.

Y/n thought it was kind of gross, she didn't care if he had girlfriends, or bought girls over to the house but the fact that he did it in front of her locker was what she found weird and disgusting. 

Y/n hadn't talked to the boy a lot so whenever he was around, she didn't talk to him much. She did think he was cute, but she never bothered to tell him, but now that the two were playing the lead roles, they had to practice with each other and go lines together. Alone.

Which meant they could get to know each other some more.

Y/n rang the Walter's doorbell, she had earlier talked to Isaac suggesting that the two practiced together, Isaac immediately agreed and told her to stop by after school.

So, she did.

But she had no idea what Isaac was planning to do or say. You see most of the Walter's were busy today meaning it would just be the two of them, alone. In the house. With no adults.

Isaac ran over to the front door, opening it for Y/n, "Hi, Isaac," she politely smiled at the boy, "Hey," he greeted with a sly smile, Y/n looked at him wondering what he was thinking, meanwhile Isaac was admiring the girl and her outfit, she wore a tight, white short sleeved dress, that just about covered her knees, with a black jean jacket.

"So... should we start practicing?" Y/n asked the raven-haired boy, snapping him out of his thoughts, "Yeah," he nodded leading you upstairs to his room.

Y/n wondered why they were going up to his room, but you just figured it was for privacy reasons. You didn't mind going into his room, but it was kind of weird, you had never been into his room, or anyone's room other than Danny's and Cole's.

The two stood in the middle of the Garcia's boys room going over their lines.

Y/n was wondering how the hell he got the part.

His acting was... not great. He could definitely use some lessons. "Okay, Isaac, you sound like a robot." Y/n told the boy, she didn't want to hurt his feelings, but he needs a lot of help with the whole acting thing.

"Where's the emotion? the sadness? the happiness? the excitement? we're about to practice a kissing scene, for goodness sake! and you sound bored." Y/n was over this whole thing, Isaac didn't know how to act, and she didn't know how to help him.

Isaac looked at the girl confused, he understood what she meant but didn't know what to do, "Can we just try again?" he questioned with a sigh, "Yeah," she nodded.

The two went over their lines, again. 

This time there was more emotion in Isaac's voice, but it still didn't sound right, Y/n ignored it, just wanting to get over with it already. 

The two continued going over their lines, "I love you," Isaac read aloud, Y/n paused looking at the boy in confusion, that really caught her off guard, "Isaac. That's not the line." 

"I know, I-I love you," he hesitantly blurted out, "What?" she asked with confusion and shock in her tone, "I-I think I'm in love with you," he admitted, "W-what are you talking about? we barely know each other," 

"We know each other a lot more than you think, I know a lot about you." 

"L-like what?" she questioned.

"Like how you bit your lips when your nervous, or how you love acting so much that you tried to audition for a show, but you didn't get in, but that's just because they can't see how talented you are, I know how talented you are and so does everyone else and sometime you forget that yourself and-" Y/n then cut him off, smashing her lips into his.

Isaac was shocked by her actions, but he wasn't complaining, he kissed back, enjoying this moment. Y/n pulled away from the kiss, she was happy that she finally kissed him. All that stuff about not talking to him and not liking him was a lie, she had huge crush on him and had been keeping it a secret from everyone including him for quite some time.

She was embarrassed, he always had a girl by his side and deep down she was jealous that she wasn't one of those girls, but now that she knows how he feels, she couldn't have been happier.

"I love you too," she breathed out, butterflies erupting from her stomach.

Isaac smile at the girl, happy that they both felt the same way. The two were so caught up in the moment, they were just happy, relaxing in silence and... then she started ranting, "Ugh, I feel horrible, you're Danny's cousin and he's my best friend and I just kissed his cousin who I've been secretly crushing on for a while and-" Isaac then cut her off by pulling her into a kiss.

"I figured that was the best way to shut you up," he shrugged slowly pulling away from the kiss, "You were right," she nodded, she took a deep breath calming herself down, telling herself to relax and that Danny wouldn't mind, okay that might've been a lie to herself, but she just hoped for the best.

"You good?" Y/n nodded.

"We should probably take a break?" 

"Or... we could practice the kissing scene?" Y/n suggested, completely ignoring his suggestion, Isaac's cheeks started turning a bright red, Y/n could tell he was flustered because of the way he was stuttering, "Okay then," she chuckled at the boys stuttering.

The once again went over their lines, Isaac was really trying but it wasn't quite right. The two then started to lean in, Y/n was flustered as was Isaac.

They had secretly been crushing on each other for so long and now they were having their moment, for the second time today.

Their lips perfectly landed on each other's, moving in sync, both feeling butterflies. Their lips fit perfectly together.

The two stood there, Y/n placed her hand on Isaac's cheek bringing him in close as he wrapped both hands around her waist, both smiling into the kiss, Isaac started dragging her backwards, both of you falling onto his bed, but swiftly switching places so he was on top.

Y/n let out a yelp and giggle as Isaac started kissing down her neck. Stopping what he was doing, the two sat up, just admiring each other, bring her closer to him, Isaac ran his hands through her hair and softly tugged. 

Lifting her head up to look at the boy, as she sat crisscrossed in front of him. The two then started kissing again and then started taking off their clothes, shirts, pants, undergarments. 

And I think you know where this goes 😉😏

[house-of-past-lives]

Can we sit and talk about some of the scenes in cars 3 that i liked?

This proves my past theories that they're pretty friendly with each other- past all of the New Gen's hard exteriors, they are just a bunch of goofballs... hence me giving snippets and shenanigans I think they do! Mainly following-

Cruz Ramirez.

Chase Racelott.

Bubba Wheelhouse.

Ryan Laney.

Daniel Swervez.

Lightning Mcqueen.

Jackson Storm.

Cam Spinner.

Tim Treadless.

And vague mentions of the other New Gens!

Welcome to my new series:

Next-Gen shenanigans.

SCENE 1:

With the races finishing off for the night, all the press and security lined up for the interview for Jackson Storm, being hosted by Darrell Cartrip and Bob Cutlass, was set to begin.

With the press' camera shutters flashing and illuminating the small stage that the 3 cars parked upon, you could see Jackson's simple, but practically iconic, smile shining through as he then looked at Darrell, who had begun to talk. "Alrighty then, let's get onto the details about tonight's race - how's it feeling to be in the top lead so far, Storm? I mean, let's be fair here. It ain't much of a surprise, but it's gotta feel good!" He let out a hearty laugh as the crowd followed. Jackson glanced away for a moment, feigning humbleness. "Come on, let's cut these guys some slack. Without those legends, someone's gotta pick up the pace. If it isn't them, then we all already know who it'll be." He chuckled, letting the camera's shine illuminate his livery. But as Bob had gone on to ask another question, no one had a single clue what was happening right behind the stage.

"Guys, are you sure about this?! He'll kill us!" Cruz stated, watching her familiar racers begin to absolutely ruin the interview.

"Cruz, come on, relax! I think this one's deserved for that stunt he pulled earlier." Chase rolled his eyes, looking up at the string that led up to the side of the stage. "Plus, it'll be fun. If he's such a tough guy, this won't do a thing." Danny let out a laugh, holding another string as Ryan held the last one. "Let's be honest- he's had this coming all week." Bubba blinked from the sidelines, wanting to be involved enough to see, but avoid most punishment. "Whatever happens, it's on you guys."

"Oh shut it Bubba."

Lightning was lucky enough to be passing by as they were doing this, quickly rolling up and startling them. "What are you guys doing?"

"...nothing."

Lightning stared at them, unamused. "You guys are ridiculous, I know what you're doing."

Ryan nearly dropped his string in surprise, causing the others to whisper-yell at him. "Don't tell our crew chiefs!"

Lightning stared, before laughing. "What? No! I'll help you guys. This stuff's always fun. 'Scuse me, Cruz."

Cruz blinked and watched. How did they get here? Why are they planning this now? She doesn't want to get in trouble- is Tex gonna be mad? She hopes not. But she did as he said and quickly reversed.

Lightning easily passed by, rolling to the side of the stage, already knowing he was visible and knew what would happen. Darrell quickly saw him and called him up, causing him to grin and roll up the ramp. This did not amuse Jackson but kept it played for the press. "Champ, good to see you." "Storm." They nodded in acknowledgment.

While Lightning went on to sabotage the interview, the others had prepared for the best possible moment.

While Jackson was facing toward the 2 interviewers, Lightning was lucky to get a side glance at the racers, who peaked over and quickly held up a tire, telling him to go.

He quickly moved himself to look at Jackson. "Hey, Storm, your crew chief's callin' you!" He got the racer's attention, quickly reversing down the ramp, letting the #20 begin to turn, and looking to the side of the ramp, wondering why Ray was calling him mid-interview.

He wasn't given enough time to even shout as he saw the bright liveries peeking out from the edge of the stage before he was practically blinded.

All of the racers laughed as he was practically shot at by some sort of light adhesive, causing him to shut his eyes. Right after, he could feel something cover him, and to add on, as soon as he opened his eyes, he heard the pop and the sudden cold cover his hood from what he could only assume was extinguisher agent. What did he hear right after?

The cackling of the racers he knew all too well, and the following of the crowd.

"Hey, Storm! You look good in pink, man!" Bubba laughed as Jackson shook the foam off of him, revealing his newly coated livery, now covered in bright pink glitter.

Lightning offered a wheel bump to Chase, before hearing the furious racer.

"MCQUEEN!"

"Uh oh."

"GO GO GO-"

Danny could hardly yell out past his laughing, and right after drifted around and sped off, causing the other 5 racers to skid off right after them, Cruz hesitating and meeting eyes with the furious Jackson.

"CRUZ, MOVE!"

"Oh- OH- NO NO NO I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING!-" She yelled as she quickly reversed and drifted around, racing right up to the rest of them, Jackson right behind them as they all cackled.

Cam and a few of the other racers sitting behind the pits with their cans of oil had been chatting, Rich sitting next to him as Tim sat in front of them with J.D. and Harvey beside him. "Hey, did you guys see where Ryan and the other morons went?" "Nope. Haven't seen them since this afternoon- said they had something to go do."

Tim hummed as he took a quick sip of Nitroade before hearing a faint noise of the squealing of tires and loud laughing and yelling. Stopping, he squinted as he saw a few lightly illuminated liveries. "...Oh no..."

This caused the others to look at him before looking turning to where he was looking. Poor Cam didn't even get a chance before getting his can of oil splattered all over him and seeing a fleeing Cruz try to regain her treading. "I'm so sorry - I'll buy you another!" She panicked, hearing the other racers laugh at him before the rest of her friends passed them. They didn't even get much of a chance before seeing Jackson speed by and seeing his glitter covered livery, and that made them shift their attention and laugh at him and the small peices of foam still flying off of him.

...it was a long night.

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

OK THIS TOOK ME FOREVER BUT I LOVE THEM SO MUCH 😭 they're such cuties. Hope you had a lovely day today! I'm going to be offline for a little, don't know when I'll be back!

This was in fact not proofread- let me know of any mistakes!! I am currently leaving the country so I'm on the road right now.

Bye!! ♡

[agendabymooner]

9 to 5 || f1 drivers (5)

(SPIN OFF OF COLOUR ME YOUR COLOUR (WIP) and RUSH)

Summary: Lorelei Hester ‘Lester’ Alessandro is a bassist first and Daniel Ricciardo’s partner second. But it seems like another role is added to her resume as she begins her weekend in Baku as Toto Wolff’s children’s babysitter. 

Chapter summary: Daniel Ricciardo stopped by to say hi to what the team principals had considered as threats to their drivers - it was very hard not to get distracted by Soren and Tia Wolff after all. AND Lester Alessandro envied the Wolff cubs' intelligence as Soren was already on his fourteenth short story on a Thursday noon (he just started reading the book that morning).

Content warning: family-centric content, people trying not to swear in front of children, Uncle Danny content, Australia references, Christian Horner mentioned, Hearth sister!OFC x Max Verstappen relationship, Hearth sister!OFC x Charles Leclerc relationship. 

masterlist

v. the little weapons of destruction distraction

Fourteenth story. 

They were barely halfway through the day and Tilly and Toto’s eldest son had finished thirteen fairy tale stories. The thick book of Grimms Fairy Tales, if she was being truthful, would be something that she’d be able to read in the span of three days. Six hours, if she was motivated enough. 

But as she sat there with her own book opened, she couldn’t help but wonder if Tilly worked extremely hard on getting these children to read a lot. 

Lester knew that the kids she was babysitting were fluent in four languages, but she didn’t know if fluency came with the fast paced reading comprehension skills that Soren obviously had been showing. 

Soren Philip Alphonse Wolff was born to an unmarried couple, Tilly Marie (Hearth) and Toto Wolff. When he was born, it was almost like the wall that Toto used to protect his heart broke down. Despite the obvious features that came from Toto, Ren was more like Tilly, if you were to ask Lester or anyone close to them. Timid, shy, but if you ask him about his books and the characters, his eyes would brighten and he would endlessly ramble about it. At the age of five, you would think that he would be talking about dinosaurs (he likes dinosaurs) and rockets (and he likes rockets too) but not Soren. Soren would share his interest in children’s literature to anyone who would like to listen.

So it somehow didn’t come as a surprise when the boy finished his thirteenth story and moved on to the next. He was so occupied by it that he could hear no one but the characters and the background noise. 

“Zia Lori,” a tiny voice beside her spoke, making the bassist turn and give Tia a smile. The girl looked up at her aunt and raised the colouring book that she was just working on. “Do you like it?” 

There were colours outside the lines but Lester could tell that Tia tried staying inside the shapes while she used different crayons. Paddington had never been this vibrant until now. 

Besides from the initials of her name, Tia Christie Vienna Wolff had more commonalities shared with her namesake. She had Toto’s temperament and the way of how she thrived to colour without going outside the line just proved how she was practically Toto’s carbon copy. 

She had a tendency to get frustrated whenever she sat herself down in front of the shape sorters and she couldn’t fit the right animal on it. The first time she (a year and a half during that time) threw the blocks out of frustration, bewilderment was written all over Toto’s face. But when he turned to look at Tilly for an explanation all she said was, “Haven’t you looked at the mirrors lately?” Still to this day, Toto’s reminding his mini me to take a breather first before her temper goes down to shit. Her perfectionism and the frustration that came with it? Yeah. That was all Toto, and ironically, neither of the parents had ever set some expectations for the children. 

“Like it? What do you mean? I love it!” Lester exclaimed, giving the little girl a high five. 

“But look,” Tia pointed at the colours outside the line, “this is bad.”

“No it’s not,” Lester shook her head, “that’s an accident, and an accident isn’t bad sometimes.”

“What’s acc-ent?” Tia tilted her head, curious about the foreign word that came out of her aunt’s mouth. 

Lester chuckled, both at her curiosity and the fact that she could speak as much German and French (and Italian) as she'd like yet not know the word accident in any language, “It is when you do something that you did not mean to do. Like… Oops!” 

“Ah!” Tia nodded enthusiastically. “Acc-ent!” 

“No, no, Tia,” Lester instructed, “follow Zia Lori… ready?” 

“Mhm!” Tia nodded again. 

“A…” “A…” 

“…k…” “…k…”

“si…” “si…”

“…dent.” “…dent.” 

“Accident!” Lester said the word faster.

“Accident!” Tia repeated with a clap of her hands. 

“There we go,” Lester nodded approvingly. She should teach kids about phonics. It seemed fun to teach. “You do so well at words. Do you read with Mama every night?” 

“Yes,” Tia said meekly, shying away from the woman as she continued, “Mama reads English… and French… and I-t’lian! But she only do French and English more. Papa teaches Italian.” 

“Ahh,” Lester nodded. “It must be exciting reading with Mama, eh? How do you like it?” 

“I love Mama! She reads so well,” Tia paused while she thought of something, “but Papa can do Eeyore more. He sound sad! I love Eeyore! But! So-en reads books to me too!” 

The little lad sitting across the two paused from reading and looked up from the page he was reading, wondering why he was called by Tia. Not sensing any cry for help, Soren returned to his book. 

“I hope Adelmo— when he grows— he can listen to me read,” Tia said with her eyes twinkling. “I can teach him F-ench! Like Mama!” 

According to Tilly, Soren and Toto often hover over Tia. They tended to be more protective when it came to Tia—perhaps it’s the effect of being the only girl in the family. Soren loved his sister a lot and would always read her books, trying to raise her as another version of himself.

Toto loved his kids equally, no doubt. His older kids (not with Tilly) were the subjects of his love alongside his little ones, but even they couldn’t deny that Tia was the most loved one. 

But it seemed like Tia, despite being everyone’s favourite, loved her little brother Adelmo more. It never caused any rift between siblings, but Tia tended to be protective of Adelmo more than anyone. 

At least none of them were bitter or arguing over who liked who. They all loved each other equally. It was just an observation that Lester had done. 

“He’ll grow soon enough, Tia,” Lester told the little girl. “But, right now, he has to feel better so when you get home… you can tell him about your trip with Papa.” 

“Hey, hey! Are those the mini Tillys I’m seeing?” The kids’ eyes widened at the voice as they turned and gasped. 

“Zio Danny!” “Oncle Dan!” 

“I have different names in different languages,” Daniel hoisted the two kids up in his arms as he grunted, “You two are becoming more like your dad. So heavy and tall!” 

“Not tall enough,” Soren crossed his arms with a huff, “Papa is tall like a building!” 

“Godzilla!” Tia exclaimed as Soren nodded in agreement.

“Or… Or King Kong!” It was Tia’s turn to nod enthusiastically. 

“Yeah, he’s incredibly tall, indeed,” Daniel turned and walked towards his girlfriend, leaning forward to kiss her on the temple as he asked, “What have you and the little wombats been up to?” 

“Wombats?” Soren slightly shoved himself away from Daniel’s face as he asked, “what is a wombat?” 

“Ahh, I forgot, you haven’t been to Australia yet,” Daniel let out a ‘tsk’ with a shake of his head. “Your Mum and Dad are depriving you of those little adorable creatures! We need to get that fixed. Tell your Mum or Dad to take you there next time.”

Lester chuckled quietly before finally answering, “We have been doing a lot of colouring and reading so far.”

“‘s that right?” 

“Yes,” Lester insisted with a widened pair of eyes, “too much reading if I am being honest.” 

“Oh! Uncle Dan!” Soren placed his hand on top of Daniel’s head, making the Australian look at him with a slight frown. “Guess what? I’m reading Hansel und Gretel!” He shook himself off from Daniel’s hold and grabbed the opened book from the table, raising it as Daniel looked down at the book.

A frown etched on Daniel’s face as he said, “Ren, lad, I can’t understand this.” 

“What do you mean?” Soren asked. Walking up to Lester, Soren raised the same book for her to read. 

At least Daniel and Lester could agree on not being able to read German. At this rate, they’re both thinking that Toto and Tilly were raising intellectuals. The next Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Hypatia of Alexandria, if you would ask either of them. 

“That explains why Uncle Daniel can’t read it,” Lester found herself chuckling, “we both cannot read German language, Soren.” 

“Oh,” the boy murmured, “okay.” 

“But are you loving it so far?” Daniel asked, now sitting next to Lester with Tia perched on his lap. 

“Yes,” Soren nodded eagerly, “I am about to finish the story!” 

“Such a smart boy,” Lester complimented Soren, the little boy’s cheeks turning red at the compliment. Much like Tilly, her children always shy away from the compliments thrown their way. They were the sweetest children that Lester had met. It was probably because her younger siblings and her nephews and niece are just chihuahuas in the form of human beings.

Lester looked up at her beau, “I am more worried that you’re here and you’re not where you’re supposed to be now.” 

“I got here first before any of the people in the grid does,” Daniel told her smugly. “Some of them are just hearing that the kids are here this weekend and it will be an absolute disaster if all of them found the two at once.”

Tia and Soren Wolff were what Lester could call the tactical team of Mercedes. Well… of any team to be fair. Anyone from other teams could get easily distracted by the kids. Jenson at some point had joked about the two working for their father in Mercedes to distract Red Bull’s drivers hours or days before the race. 

At some point Christian had wanted to ban the kids from visiting their motorhome, but why? The kids were toddlers and entering the school-aged stage. They know nothing about tactics and driving besides from “Papa! Look, cars go fast!” But they still had Tilly’s heart and the drivers, if you were to ask anyone on any team, enjoyed being around Tilly. The Wolff kids often lifted the spirits up in the grid. 

The most fortunate driver to spend his time with the children would be Lewis Hamilton. Not only did he drive for Mercedes-AMG but he was Soren’s godfather. He had been Tilly’s best friend first before Toto was Tilly’s partner. Toto had gotten more softer on him once Stevie changed her surname to Hamilton on Valentine's Day. The other two didn’t stand a chance. 

Max Verstappen was certainly trying to be on Toto's good side. It took him a good while to convince Sylvie, his now-girlfriend, that he hadn’t meant to screw her over once— so you could barely imagine convincing Toto that. Not only was he trying to appease the older man, but he had an opportunity to prove that he’s a good uncle to the kids by babysitting them. Perhaps to prove that he would be a good father as well, but it wasn’t the right words to say in front of Toto Wolff, of all people. 

Charles Leclerc was fairly close to becoming a welcome face at some point, if it hadn’t been for the fact that some gossip page decided to take the context out of a private conversation where he said that he wouldn’t have a child with someone who nearly broke him one way or another. He was speaking of an ex-girlfriend who wouldn’t let go. But once that the story had spread out and his girlfriend had gotten a hold of it, she ran straight to Toto. Yeah, no. Still to this day, Toto wasn’t as convinced that Charles’ intention was to remain true. 

But still. Tia and Soren were what the team principals assumed to be Mercedes’ little weapons of distraction. Especially with Max Verstappen? Yeah. Christian Horner definitely did not want the kids near him during the race weekends. But it wasn’t like he could say it upfront. Max was fairly close to marrying Sylvie. Max’s family was practically connected to Toto’s. 

“Who was the first to hear that?” Lester asked her beau with a brow raised. 

“Charles,” Daniel answered with a shit-eating grin, “but he can’t get out of his media duties.”

“Wow, if Ferrari only made time for their strategies instead of putting their drivers in front of a camera for their spare time,” Lester feigned satisfaction as she sighed dramatically, “just imagine the podiums that they could get.”

“A lot!” Soren piped up before his guilty eyes looked up at the adults, “I am sorry, Zia and Zio. Papa and Mama said it is rude to listen to adults talking.”

“No, it’s alright, mi niño pequeño,” Lester smiled sweetly at the boy. “Thank you for apologizing.”

Daniel only shrugged, “But he isn’t wrong.” He and Soren exchanged grins. 

If there’s anything that Lester had learned at the very beginning of her relationship with Daniel, it would be that he would be one to encourage Soren to say something that a smart-ass would say. Tilly told Lester once that Daniel was the devil on her shoulder back when she started in her racing teams in 2014. Like that shoey during the Silverstone 2014. That was all Daniel.

So it wasn’t much of a surprise when Soren nodded at Daniel’s approving look. Soren was smart, indeed, and clearly Daniel’s trying to “corrupt” his brain with mischief and whatever it was he’s concocting at the paddock. 

Maybe this was what they meant when Soren and Tia were Mercedes’ weapons of destruction. And they were both being influenced by a Red Bull driver. Ironic.

[fishyvamp]

18+ MDNI GN!Reader x Danny Johnson aka Ghostface (smell kink

Just picturing Danny with a stressed out reader spouse. They're working on a big project and in he comes after be gone for what you had been told was a work trip. Your sitting there in your office chair leg bouncing loudly the excess fabric of your sweats rippling with each bounce. Hoy haven't even noticed he's home, oh his sweet foolish Bunny. Look at you the way your brows are knit, how dark the bags under your eyes are, how disheveled your clothes are. All of it so completely and utterly perfect because he know it means one.

Your body hoisted up and taken to the bedroom as he licks and kisses every inch practically tearing off your shirt so his bite along your chest purring along your collar bone. Digging into your sides.

He wants you to relax, needs you to give and submit. Tomorrow will be your turn to help him come undone, but in this moment. It's his job to remind you why you said yes to this isolating marriage.

His teeth grazing a trail down the center line of your chest teasing the happy line of your barely exposed pubic hair as he pulls your pants down so he can feel your heat against his face. He can hear you whining something along the lines "it's been days I'm sorry, you don't have to do this..." Oh but he does has to otherwise he'll go insane beside he doesn't tolerate the scent. He's addicted to it. Addicted to the way your musk just invaded every pore of him. The taste having him melt the more he laps at the heat of your sex kissing the tip before moving down to enjoy the sweetness of your entrance.

"Such a good bunny, did you miss me?" Your husband moans eyes rolling back forcing himself to look up seeing your pleasure ruined face.

It's almost enough to have him teetering over the edge with his cock so painful hard and restricted by such oppressive garments. His efforts redoubling hearing your moans as he never falters in his desperate pursuit to make you forget whatever pointless endeavor you were participating in before. Don't you know your purpose is to distract him. To make him feel like he did a good job with his "stories."

"stories" he happily whispers in your ears when has you headlocked cock buried in that beautiful ass of yours tears falling from your eyes from overstimulation. The thought of you never connecting the dots of your husband's confessions has him aroused far more then it should, your innocence to his transgressions just adding to the intensity.

Look at you so cock dumb do you realize who you're fucking? Who has you in his web of lies? Who has so many faces that you'll never even meet?

Fuck, he can't get over it needing to fill you not once or twice, but so many more. Past the point where his balls were empty dripping out of your fucked and well used hole. Body so limp. He's happy to have you Bunny. He's happy keep you well fed, well loved, and well fucked.

[karlachgale95]

Hearts of the Multiverse--Chapter Twenty: Father of Mine

              It had been a week since Luke, William (and Agatha by extension), Rose, Max, Edward, Markus, Connor, and Lt. Anderson had joined them. Luckily, Miss Lilith Clawthorne and Gale had figured out a spell that made it possible to add more rooms to the shrine without altering its physical structure. They were like dimensional rooms open only to the people who lived in them.

              He had roommates now: Miles, Giorno, Zuko, William, Danny, Yugi, and Arven. And it was nice to have his own space, or at least, an eighth of a space. It was alright; the room was huge. Whatever Miss Clawthorne and Gale had also designed each of their parts of their room to their tastes. For example, lots of wolf plushies and wallpaper in his corner. Danny’s room was decorated with glow-in-the-dark moons, stars, and planets. There were posters of people in weird helmets and suits standing on the moon. Miles’s corner had cartoon posters and a few collectible figurines Hunter assumed he had before he came here. Zuko’s room had a few small dragon statues made of jade. There were maps detailing both Tokyo and his home in the Fire Nation. Arven’s room was lined by recipes and pictures of himself with Mabosstiff. He seemed happier in those pictures. There were a couple of pictures with him and Flap in his own corner; he understood the importance of having those memories with him. William’s corner had a bunch of movies and Broadway posters, books, and figurines lining his shelves and walls. He seemed to be big into older movies and shows, especially if they featured magic. He and Luz were probably going to get along. Giorno’s room was regal: nice pillows, blankets, and wallpaper. The wallpaper itself was black while most of the bedding was varied purple hues. He had a few paintings hanging on his wall; they all looked pretty old. Yugi’s space was decorated in old Egyptian mythology (he had explained it to both Hunter and Arven who were unfamiliar with the history). He had several puzzles and games they’d been putting to use over the past couple of days.

Ever since the meeting last week, Kaiba wasn’t openly antagonistic to anyone. Although, he never seemed too antagonistic to Jotaro, Zuko, Arven, or himself. Had it been that night they’d tried to help him? Hunter didn’t know. He’d even tried at an apology to Katara. It was a start.

Today he was practicing a rune Gale had been teaching. Hunter still wasn’t sure how a normal human was able to practice magic without the Titan’s language. Gale insisted there was a goddess who helped channel magic, but he always skimmed over their questions when they tried to ask more about her. Sokka, Zuko, and Suki were offering combat and sword training, but he didn’t need that. He’d had plenty of physical training during his time in the Emperor’s Coven. While the trio’s training was likely not as heinous as Belos’s training, he’d rather train with his weaker element. He needed to get better at magic, now that he had it. He owed Flap that much.

Tracing the rune was easy, but evoking the magic was another story. He’d tried this one rune over ten times now; it was supposed to make him invisible. However, he was still very much visible. He shut his eyes and tried again.

“Evanesco!”

Peeking his eyes open, he saw that he was still visible. He groaned and laid his head down on the desk in front of him.

“Working with magic takes a while,” William spoke up. “You’ve got to know what you want to do and commit to it.”

“I know what I want to do,” Hunter snapped. He lifted his head up, aware that he was frustrated and taking it out on the wrong person. “Sorry. I just want to get better at this.”

“Hey, it’s okay,” William said with a small smile. “I mean, I do, too. Magic is hard to master, but I think with the right amount of focus and emotion put behind the spell.”

He stood up, closing the book in his hands. “Maybe you should take a break, both of you.”

Giorno glanced up from his book and shook his head. “I need to figure this out. There are so many ways this could end badly. I can’t let that happen.”

After he said that, Miles walked into the room, causing Giorno to casually put it down into a bag he kept on him. Miles raised an eyebrow, but he didn’t say anything about it.

“It’s chaos out there,” Miles said. “Adora challenged Sokka to a friendly duel, and he didn’t know she’s basically trained her whole life to be able to fight with—whatever. How’s it going in here?”

“Terrible,” Hunter answered. “Magic shouldn’t be this hard. Luz was able to do more by now—why can’t I?”

“How much practice did she have to get so good? Also, didn’t the Owl Lady teach her?” Miles asked.

“Yeah, I guess I should consider that,” Hunter admitted. “It’s just hard. I mean, it’s been a long year. Everything is so different. I lived my life being told what to do. And now, with everything going on, I feel so underprepared, and I hate it! It feels like I should know what to do, where to go, and how to work for it, but I don’t!”

“Kind of sounds like you’re relying on old tactics that used to work that don’t work so well anymore,” Miles said. “It’s like you said: everything is different. So, you can’t rely on the skills of the person you used to be. You gotta be willing to adapt.”

“I’m adaptable,” Hunter argued.

“Oh yeah?” Danny’s voice interjected. “Think fast!”

Hunter acted instinctively as something white flew in his general direction. He caught and threw back the object with twice as much force. Danny yelled, “whoa!” as a pillow phased right through him.

“Seems like you’ve got a handle on quick-time reactions,” Miles said.

“I guess so,” Hunter said with a shrug. “It’d be nice to get my magic under control—or at least—useable.”

“Maybe you’ve got to find your inner fire,” Zuko suggested.

At that moment, Yugi and Arven walked into the room. Both were covered in flour.

“What happened to you two?” Danny asked.

“Usagi, Josuke, and Okuyasu happened,” Arven grumbled. “I was helping Chibiusa make a pie for one of her friends, and Yugi wanted to help. So, we did that. We baked an apple pie, and those three jerks found it. Needless to say, Chibiusa was upset when we came back to check if the pie had finished cooling. There was a flour war. And now Rei is making all of them clean it up; we didn’t participate.”

“That’s actually kind of hilarious,” Danny said.

“Shame you guys went through all that effort for nothing,” William said.

“It’s a shame Chibiusa’s efforts were wasted,” Arven said, crossing his arms. “If I worked that hard on food for someone I cared about only for some rando to eat it, I’d be super peeved.”

“We can always help her make another one when she comes back from school,” Yugi said.

Zuko stood up. “Actually, I’m going to be busy today. I promised my uncle I’d help him at his shop.”

“You sure about that, Zuko?” Miles asked. “Kind of looks like it’s going to storm out there.”

Peering outside the window, there was, indeed, no sunlight. Dark, finger-like clouds clawed through the sky, as if they’d stolen the sun.

“If it gets too bad, I’ll just stay at the tea shop. It’ll be fine,” Zuko assured him.

William picked up the remote. “Maybe we should at least check the weather first?”

And there was Vox in a human disguise; there was a shorter woman with him with pink hair in tornado twin tails. The black blouse and skirt she wore were fashionable and sparkly.

“What are they up to?” Miles asked with a scowl.

“I’m here with business entrepreneur, model, and influencer, Vel,” Vox said, gesturing to the woman beside him. “So, you want to tell us about your new project?”

“Of course,” the woman, Vel, apparently, said with a huge grin. “As Val’s started making many clubs for more *ahem* mature audiences, I thought I would make a joint for only the most elite, glamourous, and in-the-know kids. We’ve got modern music, mocktails, celebs, you name it. And the entry fee is reasonable, too. First-time entry is completely free. We’ll be opening later this week!” She grinned almost the point of a smirk. “It’ll be a hell of a time. To any of my doubters, well, just come and see.”

“Well, that’s an obvious trap,” Giorno said. “Given what Kakyoin has told us, she’s just as evil as the TV guy and mothman.”

“True,” Miles said. “But what happens to the people who have no clue? She could be trying to steal their souls.”

“It would be a waste of time,” William said. Giorno gave him a soft glare. “Right.”

Miles raised an eyebrow. “What’s going on? Did I miss something?”

Giorno shook his head. “It’s nothing you need to worry about.”

“I thought you said, ‘no more secrets,’” Miles pointed out.

“Miles, trust me on this,” Giorno said. “Everything is fine. I’ve got it under control.”

Miles crossed his arms. “Uh-huh. So, that’s why you always look super tired and spend all night reading. What’s in that book, anyway?”

“It’s none of your concern,” Giorno shot back.

“I don’t buy that.”

“And I have other stuff to do today than bicker with you,” Giorno said, getting up, tucking the book into a bag he slung over his shoulder. “Just, please, stay out of this, Miles.”

He rushed out before Miles could get a word in edgewise. Miles shook his head. “He’s not getting off the hook that easy.”

Miles walked out, probably to follow Giorno. No one did anything to stop him, so were they accomplices to whatever happened?

“I’m…going to head out, too,” Zuko said. “I’ll just…yeah.”

And so that left Arven, Yugi, Danny, Hunter, and William to their own devices. William was the first to speak up, “So, have they told each other that they…?”

Danny shook his head. “And at this rate they probably never will.”

“Well, that’s sad,” Yugi said.

“I think that’s the least of our worries,” Hunter spoke up. “What do you think Vel is planning? Why go through the trouble of making a hangout spot for kids?”

“Miles was probably right,” Yugi said. “She likely wants to steal people’s souls. It’s a divide and conquer scheme. They’ve already got a lot of people covering the park areas. Having people inside the cities is their next move.”

Pretty soon, they’d be surrounded. Every area would be covered in Deathbusters spies and monsters. There wouldn’t be anywhere to hide; not even the shrine would be safe!

Hunter shook his head and took a deep breath, counting down on his fingers like Gus had taught him. Now was not the time to have a panic attack. They could still beat them, right? He stood up. He needed to talk to the others. Maybe they’d have a plan.

“Hey…I’m gonna go talk to my family.”

“And then there were four,” Danny commented.

“Sorry. I just…need to talk to them.”

“It’s okay, Hunter,” Yugi said. “We understand.”

Hunter nodded and sprinted to the main room where Luz, Amity, Gus, Vee, and Willow were already hanging out. Amity had Vel’s ad playing on her scroll.

“This is everywhere on Penstagram,” Amity said, her face scrunching up with worry.

“Don’t worry, sweet potato,” Luz said. “We won’t let anyone get hurt by those creeps.”

Willow was the first to look up and see Hunter. When she did, she ran over to him. Willow was a calming force he desperately needed right now.

“I saw,” Hunter said. “Innocent people might die because of this.”

“We’ve gotta make sure that doesn’t happen,” Luz spoke up. “With all the new magic I’m learning, I should be way more prepared this time to take on those daimon!”

“They’ve got a vampire, three demons, a witch, and two insane inventors on their side. We can’t just rush into a fight,” Gus argued.

“Well, we can’t just do nothing,” Luz argued. “There’s gotta be something! Something we can do to help!”

A thought dawned on Hunter. “What if I’m not the only one here…”

“What do you mean, Hunter?” Willow asked. Her eyes were full of concern.

“What if I’m not the only one here who has a talisman?” Hunter asked. “What if Luz has one? What about Amity? Gus? Vee? Willo—?”

He was cut off when Willow wrapped her arms around him. He felt his face heat up. “It’s alright, Hunter. We’re not going to let those guys steal anyone’s heart. Trust me.”

He stayed in the hug for a moment before breaking away. He did his best to give her a smile. “Th-thanks Willow. It’s…just scary. I don’t want anyone to get hurt, and…I don’t want to get caught again.”

“We won’t let them,” Willow assured him.

Hunter desperately wanted to believe her. However, the low roll of thunder and gray sky did nothing to assuage his worry. And in any case, they still needed to see what Vel was planning with that club. It was going to be dangerous. He wasn’t sure if having the people he cared about most going into a death-trap with him was horrifying or reassuring.

Usagi bounded into the room with Mamoru and those two girls: Haruka and Michiru. Hunter couldn’t say why, but there was something off about those two. Although, he felt like a jerk for being so suspicious over Usagi’s friends. However, Zuko agreed with him. It was like they were always just around the corner. Maybe they were connected with the witches? Alastor?

“Hey guys!” Usagi said with a wave. “What’re you talking about?”

“Oh, that new club that’s opened up,” Gus said casually.

“It looks like a bad idea,” Mamoru commented. “I mean, there weren’t even any limits as to how many people could be in the building at a time. I’m pretty sure that violates basic firecodes.”

“I give it a week,” Haruka said. “Before it’s shut down.”

“Hey, were Giorno and Miles mad at each other?” Usagi asked. “Miles was yelling about a book, and Giorno kept insisting it wasn’t a big deal. Did he forget to turn in a library book?”

“I think it’s a bit deeper than that,” Hunter said. “They need to talk and sort things out.”

“Oh?” Michiru asked, raising an eyebrow. “How long have they been together?”

“I don’t know if it’s like that,” Hunter said. “Although…it’d make sense.”

For example, Danny and William’s comments earlier. But he wasn’t going to comment on a plausible relationship that wasn’t his to comment on.

“Guess what?” Usagi chirruped, bringing him out of his thoughts. “We got invited to a fancy party! Miss Lily was told that Mamoru’s friend, Edwards wanted to meet the best and brightest from the new generation!” She leaned in with a grin and whispered. “That means us!”

“Are there going to be a lot of people there?” Vee asked.

“More like a lot of academics in search of a scholarship,” Haruka scoffed. Michiru crossed her arms. “What? It’s true.”

“Edwards is a kind man,” Mamoru said. “He’s incredibly wealthy—a self-made man.”

“A lot of self-made people aren’t really self-made,” Luz muttered.

“Nevertheless,” Michiru continued. “They’re fun parties! You should all go. It kind of looks like you could use it.”

“I’m going,” Usagi said. “It’ll be super fun and…” she glanced to Hunter, her eyes lighting up in recognition of discomfort. “it’ll be safe.”

“True,” Michiru spoke up again. “There will be security guards and a…strange owl-bird-tube-thing posted at the front at all times.”

“Hooty?” Luz asked.

“You know him?” Michiru asked. Her calm and pleasant smile slipped, as one’s calm and pleasant smile does when the mention of Hooty comes up. “Why is he…like that?”

Luz shrugged and laughed.

“I find him strangely endearing.”

The group had failed to notice another lurking in the corner of the room: Kakyoin, Jotaro, Avdol, and Polnareff.

“Kinda stupid for this guy to be throwing a party during the middle of all these attacks,” Jotaro commented.

“I assure you, Edwards is a smart man,” Mamoru cut in sharply. “And the party is perfectly safe.”

“Like how that festival was perfectly safe, right?” Jotaro countered.

“You could’ve just said no,” Michiru reprimanded.

Jotaro looked at her then Haruka and shook his head. “Who said I wasn’t going? Gotta make sure no one gets hurt, after all.”

“How noble,” Haruka said with a snort.

Jotaro glared at her and muttered something under his breath.

“I take it the event is formal attire,” Kakyoin interjected quickly.

“Most assuredly,” Mamoru said.

“Fun,” Jotaro said, leaning back against the wall.

“It could be fun,” Luz said with a half-smile.

Hunter wasn’t so sure. Their hearts were on the line, he didn’t trust Haruka and Michiru, and…Belos was out there…somewhere. What if he was looking for them? What if he found him? What if he found his friends?

Would the people he loved most be safe?

He felt a hand on his shoulder, “Hey kid.”

It was Jotaro. He continued. “Don’t know what you’re thinking, but you look like you’re gonna hurl.” He paused. “You’re gonna be fine. We won’t let that creepy old fuck hurt you.”

Hunter tucked his arms closer into his body. “Th-thanks.”

“Don’t make yourself an easy target,” Jotaro said. “You gotta hit hard, especially if you know a weakness.”

“Um…okay. Thanks. I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Jotaro is right,” Luz said with a grin. “We’ve got this!”

“Yeah!” Gus agreed. “Belos is going to Belose again!”

While the others laughed, Hunter still couldn’t help but feel uneasy. They had strength in numbers, but their enemies kept coming back with new powers, people, and weapons.

Glancing back to his friends who had gone back to the conversation of the party, he took in how excited everyone seemed to be. Willow and Luz broke from the conversation, looked at him, gave him a weary smile and a thumbs up. They were nervous, too. Scary considering they were two of the most confident people he’d ever known.

              If they were having doubts, what did that mean for their future?

              …

              Miles followed Giorno; he wasn’t going to let him walk away from this. He wanted—no—needed answers. He promised.

              They were walking down the streets aligned with several shops, restaurants, and arcades. Giorno was surprisingly able to outpace him. At one point, he lost sight of him entirely. He took a deep breath and refrained from screaming in the middle of the street.

              What was that book? Why was he guarding it so much? Why was he keeping secrets? Would this…would this be like it was with Gwen all over again? He couldn’t take that kind of emotional betrayal again. As it was, he was ready to snap. There was already so much going on; if Giorno betrayed him, he wasn’t sure what he’d do next.

              “Hey!”

              Miles froze dead in his tracks for just a second. He knew that voice instantly. The rapid footsteps behind him kicked his own legs into gear. He glanced behind to see Miguel O’Hara pushing past people; his eyes were dead set on Miles. Crap!

              “Stop! Stop him!”

              Miles pushed forward, ignoring the concerned and confused looks of passersby. He kept running until he saw another figure, waiting patiently up ahead: the vampire, Morlun. Ahead and behind were death, and he couldn’t use his webbing, not while he was in civilian clothing. Morlun grinned, the corners of his mouth like the crypt-keeper.

              Was he going to die here?

              Someone quickly dragged him backwards into the shop on their right. It was completely dark inside. What kind of place was this? How would they be safe in—?

              The front door clicked and then disappeared entirely.

              “Fuck,” he heard Giorno murmur.

              “Giorno?” Miles questioned. “What’s going on? Where are we? Why did you run away?”

              Giorno glanced away. “I’m not sure where we are, but Morlun is out there.”

              “Yeah, and Miguel.”

              “So, that’s what he looks like,” Giorno noted. He paused. “I’m sorry.”

              “Dude, just tell me what’s going on! I might be able to help you!”

              Giorno shook his head. “It would be better if you weren’t involved. Please, Miles, I need you to stay out of this.”

              “Why?”

              “Because you two are facing a very…grave future,” a voice above, maybe through an intercom spoke up.

              “Who are you?” Miles asked.

              “I am merely an entity who seeks to bring enlightenment to your situation,” the voice explained. “Perhaps once this tour is over, we can all be friends.”

              “Unlikely,” Giorno said.

              “We’ll see. Now, one at a time,” the voice instructed.

              Miles wasn’t sure what he meant by that until a wall popped up, separating him and Giorno. “H-Hey!”

              “Miles?” Giorno’s muffled voice questioned from the other side of the wall. “Are you alright?”

              “I’m fine,” Miles assured him. He stared up at the ceiling. “Who are you? Why are you doing this?”

              “Please move forward,” a familiar voice instructed. It was that ghost-man hybrid. This must be Alastor’s doing! “Move forward and all will be revealed, especially little secrets someone may be hiding.”

              It was quiet for a moment before he heard Giorno speak up again, his voice harsh and like a bee’s sting. “Leave him out of this. I’m warning you.”

              “Your powers are spiritual-based,” the ghost-man drawled. “I’m not frightened by a child who has yet to comprehend the full extent of harm he can inflict on others.”

              “Giorno,” Miles tried softly. “Let’s just get through this. I promise, whatever it is, I’m right here, alright?”

              “Miles…you don’t know what they’re talking about.”

              “And whose fault is that?” Miles asked. When Giorno went quiet again, Miles sighed. “Look, it doesn’t matter what happens here. We’re friends, and I’m not just going to abandon you, leave you to Morlun, or let you make a deal with some devil. I’m with you all the way. Now, let’s just go ahead and get this over with.”

              “…alright.”

              Miles tried to clear his mind. Giorno obviously knew more than he was letting on; he and William both had been acting weird. And now he was supposed to find out what exactly was being kept from him. Plus, Alastor was involved, so that was always fun.

              A light shined ahead. It was an old-timey projection screen. Miles walked toward it as it began to play:

              Morlun flung him across the room, his body landed next to someone else. Through a blurred lens he saw blond hair and a bloodied purple outfit. Miles saw that his video image was bleeding from his right arm, stomach, and from a few cuts on his face. Whatever happened before must’ve been brutal.

              He feebly grabbed the person beside him. “G-Giorno…no…please don’t be…”

              Giorno’s eyes were wide open as they had been when he’d sacrificed himself when Alastor cornered them. His body looked bruised, battered, and possibly more than Miles appeared to be. But…he couldn’t be.

              “It’s your turn, now, Spiderman,” Morlun said, sauntering over to him.

              Mirror Miles tried to stand, but he faltered. “His soul. Give it back!” He was screaming through his own tears. “Give it back now!”

              “His soul is nothing but a talisman now,” Morlun droned on. “You exhausted all other alternatives, your friends have fallen, and now it’s time to give up this game. It’s been fun, and you were a worthy adversary, as well as your ill-fated love, but I’ve no patience left. Unless, of course, you’d like to see your parents perish, too?”

              Even battered Miles glared up at Morlun. “L-leave them alone…stop this!”

              “Do you surrender?” Morlun asked. “Surrender and I leave them be. Surrender, and I will not consume the one you love.”

              Miles was quiet for a moment. “Can he come back if you don’t…?”

              “It’s a possibility,” Morlun said. “Depending upon your butterfly’s determination.”

              Who in the hell was he talking about? Also, by love, did he mean…? Miles felt his face heat up and his guts knot as he continued to watch the screen.

              “Alright. I’ll do it, then. I give up.”

              Morlun grinned wickedly as he placed a hand on Miles’s shoulder. “I knew you’d make the right decision.”

              Actual Miles looked away from the screen as he heard his voice shriek and then quickly cut off.

              “Tragic, isn’t it, Mr. Morales?” the infamous, staticky voice commented behind him. He turned to glare at the Radio Demon who smiled and waved in response. “Utterly terrible. This is what happens when you decide to romance someone so below you. He lives in this timeline, you know? And you…well, you have a lovely funeral.”

              “This has happened already,” Miles surmised. He glared at the Radio Demon. “Where is he? What’ve you done?”

              “More like, what can he do? Or rather, what’s he going to do with you?” Alastor asked, the room darkening as his smile was the only visible feature. “He’s been keeping secrets from you, Miles. Sure! In the timeline you’ve seen, you fall by Morlun’s hand. In another…”

              Miles shook his head slowly. “No…I don’t believe you. He would never!”

              “Oh?” Alastor asked, grin getting wider. “Why don’t we see if you’re right?”

              He waved his hand, drawing back a curtain, leading to a room that looked like a movie theatre. Alastor gestured for Miles to walk inside and disappeared. He heard his voice on the screen.

              “What’ve you done to him?”

              Miles walked in and stared at the screen. In front of this movie version of himself was Giorno’s father, the priest, and Giorno. Although, Giorno was a lot paler than he should’ve been, and his irises were crimson red.

              “Giorno? What did you do?” Miles murmured under his breath.

              His father, Dio, continued. “I needed to revive him—a soul is a heavy loss. However, I, DIO, know how to handle such situations.”

              “What is that? What is that in the center of his forehead?” Movie Miles asked.

              “I’m sure Kakyoin has told you about fleshbuds,” DIO said. “My son was a little put off by the stories he’s heard from your friends. It was a simple measure to make him more amicable to our work.”

              “In other words, you’re controlling him!” Miles argued. “You can’t do that! He’s your son!”

              “It may seem extreme, but I’ll do anything to have my son by my side as we seek our revenge on those who have wronged us.”

              He gestured to the halved remains of the Radio Demon; that smile branding his face, even in death.

              “Now, Mr. Morales, will you join us?” DIO asked. “If you do, you can become beyond those who would hurt you. I would offer you immortality, as well.” His face darkened. “If not, you will be considered amongst our enemies and dealt with swiftly.”

              This version of himself paused. “…I won’t allow you to control the person I love or hurt the Joestars. I’ll save Giorno, no matter what.”

              DIO scowled. “I thought you would know better. Clearly, the Crusaders taught you nothing. You’ll be the first blood, then. Giorno, my son, kill him.”

              It was as though a switch had flipped. Giorno’s eyes locked onto Miles and within seconds, he was standing in front of him.

              “Giorno! Wait!”

              Giorno didn’t seem to hear him as he jammed blade-like fingernails into Miles’s neck. His eyes widened in shock before he quickly fell to his knees, gasping and trying to say something. Real Miles knew he probably wouldn’t be able to say anything.

              “And this is what will happen should you refuse my deal once again,” he heard Alastor comment from the front of the theatre. “I know you’d like to save Mr. Morales as much as I’d like to not die by your father’s hands. So, last chance, Mr. Giovanna. The next time I ask, the price will increase, and he’ll be included.”

              Miles rushed to the front of the screen. Seeing Alastor extending his hand out to Giorno who’s red eyes and distant stare said it all. If he noticed Miles were there, he didn’t give any indication. He couldn’t let Alastor trick him into this deal. Even if this were real…it wasn’t his fault! There had to be another way!

              “You’ll keep him and his family safe?” Giorno asked.

              “Of course,” Alastor said. “And once you’re properly mine, I’ll use my connections to erase your father from the equation entirely. Your power will give me enough of a pathway to do that.”

              “If I do this…you will leave Miles alone.”

              “Absolutely. He won’t hear from me, or by extension, you, ever again.”

              Giorno looked at Alastor to his hand, surrounded by a magic green glow. He was considering it! Miles tried to stop him, to call out to him. “Giorno! Stop! Don’t! We can find another way!”

              “You’ll have to think of something better than that,” Alastor’s voice mocked in his head.

              As Giorno reached his hand up to meet Alastor’s, Miles rushed in and grabbed Giorno’s hand. This seemed to shake Giorno out of whatever spell he was under. “Miles? What are you doing?”

              “More like what are you doing?” Miles countered. “You’re trying to make a deal with Alastor! You’ll die! I’ll-I’ll never see you again!”

              “Maybe that’s for the best,” Giorno muttered. “Miles, I would love nothing more than to stay here with you. Surely you know that. But there are so many ways that ends badly. I don’t want to hurt you or anyone in the Joestar family. They’ve been good to me.”

              “You won’t,” Miles assured him. “All we need to do is work together. We’ll find another way. No one is going to die, especially not us. You promised, and I’m going to hold you to it.”

              Giorno paused. “Miles, you don’t…”

              “I’m really tired of people telling me what I don’t understand,” Miles said. “I get it. There’s real danger here, and it’s scary. But I’m not willing to face it without you, so, unfortunately for you, you’ve gotta keep your word. Or does that mean anything to you?”

              Giorno stood up, his face was unreadable. “Of course it does. But you…you’re important to me. I’ve never cared about someone the way I care about you. That’s why I’m willing to do whatever it takes to keep you—”

              Miles cut him off. “And I’ll do whatever it takes to keep you alive.”

              “Then we’re at an impasse.”

              Alastor cleared his throat. “I see you need time to think it over. You can explain your situation entirely to Mr. Morales. I’ll give you thirty minutes’ time. If you haven’t come up with the correct answer by then, I throw you back into the streets with O’Hara and Morlun.”

              With that, he disappeared, and the doors in the room vanished. The last, remaining light in the room flickered off as Giorno caught his hand. He could make out his eyes and the outline of his face in the pitch dark.

              “If I don’t take the deal now,” Giorno spoke in a low voice. “If something bad happens in the future, and you…you’re hurt. He’ll want both our souls—not just mine—to save you.”

              “Nothing bad is going to happen,” Miles objected.

              This time Giorno cut him off and dug something out of the bag on his shoulder. “Oh yeah? So, explain the memory we just watched! Explain the one you watched! It’s all in here! You wanted to know so badly what was in this book? It’s all the times we’ve died: you, me, the Joestars, Hunter, everyone! Everyone in this book…they possess a talisman. I’ve been trying to come up with a way to counteract it, but I’m the root cause for at least 50% of them. How am I supposed to help you when I’m the reason you die?”

              His grip got tighter as he sat down on the ground; Miles followed suit. Miles didn’t know what to say. He wanted to help, but how could he help someone dead set on self-ruin? They sat there in silence for a few minutes, far longer than he would’ve liked. Were they close to their deadline? What would Giorno choose? He couldn’t take the deal! He just couldn’t! Miles needed to convince him otherwise. Well, he could try one thing. Hopefully he wouldn’t end up looking too stupid after this.

              “You know,” Miles began. “I care about you a lot, too. You saw that in the memories, didn’t you?”

              Giorno’s grip lessened. “Miles…”

              “I meant what I said,” Miles said. “I’d like, when this is all over, to be able to hang out with you. I’m pretty sure we can manage it, even with our responsibilities. I’ll show you all the rare quiet places in New York. We could study together, grab dinner from a place that claims to be Italian. You can tell me if it sucks or not. No monsters, no demons, no vampires. Just us.”

              “Just us?” Giorno repeated, he leaned in a little closer. “All of that sounds nice, if it’s possible.”

              “What would you want to do?” Miles asked, the room suddenly got a little smaller and possibly warmer.

              “We could explore Italy,” Giorno suggested. “There’s plenty of quiet places I know of; beautiful when the sun falls. If you’d like to, we could spend time painting what we see; I know you’re good at that. Even if I’m not so skilled, I’d like to see your perspective. Then we could get some real Italian food, and you’ll be able to tell the difference.”

              “I’d like that,” Miles said. He leaned in a little closer. “It will be possible, you know? Trust me.”

              It was quiet. Giorno furrowed his eyebrows. “Just so I’m clear…this is a confession, correct?”

              Miles nodded.

              “Good.”

              As quick as his heartbeat, Giorno leaned in and kissed him. Miles felt his face heat up as he kissed back, trying to keep calm and collected. He’d seen this happen in some of the tomes he read, but he had no idea if Giorno had felt the same way in this timeline.

              At least before anything went horribly wrong, he had this.

              Giorno slowly broke away. “Alright…I’ll stay with you, Miles. I swear.”

              “I’m happy to hear it,” Miles murmured. He got up, extending his hand to Giorno. “Now, let’s find a way out of here.”

“Sure you two can stop making out long enough to do that?”

Miles froze and turned his head. Standing in the corner were Danny, Zuko, and William. While Zuko and William had the common decency to look at either the ceiling or floor, Danny smirked at both of them.

“How long have you guys been here?” Miles asked.

“Long enough for all the dream vacation planning,” Danny said.

“We don’t have time for this,” Zuko said. “We need to get out of here.”

“How did you find us?” Giorno asked.

“Well, we decided to help Zuko when those weird girls showed up at the shrine. I…couldn’t hear their thoughts. It was making me uneasy,” William explained. He pointed at Miles and Giorno. “Now, your thoughts were loud and clear. That’s how we found you, well, that, and Danny’s ghost powers.”

“As conflicted as I am over how you found us, I’m still grateful,” Giorno said. He took Miles’s hand and got up. “Now, like Zuko said, we need to get going.”

Green flames rose around the walls of the room. Out from the shadows stepped Alastor, Vlad, and a third devilish man with giant red wings and regal clothing. Birds of a feather, Miles supposed.

“I suppose you’re not taking my deal?” Alastor asked.

“No,” Giorno said firmly. “Never again.”

“That’s a shame,” Alastor said. “Obviously, there’s no danger to you, seeing as you’re surrounded by your friends…and more.”

“Golden Experience!”

Alastor stepped backwards as Miles felt a gust of air whoosh past him. Alastor shook his head. “I’m not going to fight you. Like I said, there’s no point. Besides, we’ve already made sure you’ll make a deal eventually.”

“What do you mean?” Zuko asked.

“You didn’t,” William murmured behind them. “All those people…you didn’t! You can’t!”

Giorno marched over to Alastor and grabbed him by his coat. “What did you do?”

“You’re not the only one who wants to know the contents of that book,” Alastor said. “I just provided the lists of the names of talisman holders to those who would value it most.” He glanced over Giorno’s shoulder. “Might want to let your friends, the ones who are in danger, know how much you’ve cost them.”

“MUDA!”

Alastor went flying backwards, blood dripped from his jaw. He rubbed the base of his chin, smiling and laughing maniacally as he disappeared. Vlad and the other man remained.

“You know Daniel,” Vlad spoke up. “I could help you, should you wish to join us. No one has to get hurt.”

“In your dreams, Vlad,” Danny shot back.

“I’m sure you’ll come to consider it,” the other man interjected. “When the vipers strike and you’re left poisoned and struggling to survive, you’ll find us to be the sweetest antidote.”

“Ew to literally everything that just came out of your mouth,” William said.

“Consider it.”

The two disappeared, leaving everyone confused, angry, depressed, or a combination of the three. William ran his hands through his hair. “This is bad! Really bad! They could be on their way to attack everyone now!”

“You’re right,” Giorno said. “I…don’t know what to do. I’m sorry.”

“Giorno,” Zuko began. “What was on that list?”

“It was people who hold talismans in their hearts,” Giorno explained. He handed Zuko the book he had been carrying. “Might as well share it, since all of us are targets now.”

Zuko flipped through the pages, his eyes widening as he examined the names. After a few seconds, he slammed the book shut. “Why didn’t you tell us?”

“That’s partially my fault,” William said, stepping in. “I thought if we hid the names, everyone could be safe, even if just for a little while. I should’ve known Alastor would make copies of the names.”

“He could be messing with you guys,” Danny spoke up. “Who’s to say that ‘list’ is accurate? Just because it was in the library, doesn’t mean they didn’t make it up.”

Giorno shook his head. “No. It’s real. I found memory tomes to make sure he wasn’t lying. It’s happened before.”

“Just because it’s happened before,” Zuko said. “Doesn’t mean it’ll happen again. I’ve got an idea.”

“Where to?” Danny asked.

“Still the same as before,” Zuko said. “If there’s anyone I know who can help us, it’s my uncle.”

Miles walked over to Giorno, unsure of what to do. He didn’t want to overwhelm him (more than he already was). He settled for grabbing his hand. “You made the right choice. Those guys just…”

“Had everything planned?” Giorno asked. “Now everyone is in danger because I didn’t take the deal.”

“Everyone is in trouble because Alastor is an ass,” Miles argued. “We’ll get through this. We’ll beat Alastor, Morlun, and your dad if they decide they want to hurt anybody, especially anyone from our group. Besides, I’m Spiderman, and you’re one of the toughest stand users in your world, right? It’ll work out.”

Giorno squeezed his hand. “I’d like to believe you’re right.”

…

Katara was taking a few minutes to play with Sobble. She’d befriended him at the festival, and now he had begun to follow her around the shrine. It was easy to teach him how to use his abilities, since they were both waterbenders. Although, the water gun was a little different from her usual offensive attacks. They’d gotten through that, and now they were practicing aqua jet. Now it was back to her lesson.

Today Ami was with her; the sailor senshi of water and intelligence wanted to study Katara’s techniques. It wasn’t in Katara’s nature to dismiss someone who wanted to learn. Ami brought her Seel with her; she and Sobble seemed to get along well. While they played and trained with each other, Katara brought out a copied waterbending scroll she learned long ago. They stood in front of the pond at the back of the shrine.

Katara pulled her arms inward, causing the water to roll the same way. Then she pushed the small waves she created outward. Rinse and repeat. “Natural water is controlled by the balance of the sun and the moon. Waterbenders, just like the sun and moon, push and pull water back and forth to bend. You try!”

Ami took a deep breath and tried the movements as Katara had. However, the water wasn’t budging. Ami’s face fell. “I’m not sure what I’m doing wrong.”

“Your movements are a little rigid,” Katara said. “Try to go with the flow of the waves. If you keep up with them, they’ll keep up with you.”

Ami shook her head and tried again; her arms matching the pull of the water. It began to sway back and forth. Katara grinned. “That’s it! You’ve got it!”

“Really?” Ami paused and smiled. “Neat! I thought I’d never get it!”

“Honestly? I wasn’t that great when I first started,” Katara said. She sat down near the pond and gestured for Ami to do the same. She waved her hand inward and levitated a ball of water between them. Warping it into a small stream, she sent it zipping through the air, circled around the two of them, and then gently above the flowers in Rei’s garden. “You’ve got to be more fluid, no pun intended. Once you master that, waterbending is pretty easy. Though, it still takes a lot of practice.”

“Bending is so amazing,” Ami said. “Thank you, Katara. I promise I’m going to get better at this! I’ll study the techniques you’ve taught me several times a day!”

Seeing her so determined was kind of inspiring. “I’m sure you’ll be great at waterbending, Ami. Although…why did you want to learn waterbending specifically?”

“I…” Ami blushed. “Well, I want to be able to protect my friends.” She shut her eyes. “I know I’m not the strongest sailor guardian. When I went against Sailor Neptune a couple of weeks ago, I lost miserably. But you went up against her and protected Hunter. Scientifically speaking, your waterbending is more powerful than our abilities.”

“I’m sure that’s not true,” Katara said. “Not completely. Like I said, these things take lots of practice. And you’ve got a lot going on: you’re a scholar, a friend, and a warrior. It’s a lot to juggle. You’ve gotta find your balance.”

“Balance,” Ami repeated. She nodded. “I’ll keep that in mind. Oh look, there’s Usagi.”

True to Ami’s words, Usagi ran out of the shrine, grinning as though she’d just won the hugest Pai Sho match.

“Guys!” Usagi chirruped. “Haruka and Michiru offered to take the girls to the new spa so we can get ready for the party together!”

“That’s awfully generous,” Katara said. “How can they afford it?”

“Well Michiru’s a world-class violinist and Haruka is a famous racer,” Ami said. “They probably make decent money.”

“Who cares about all that?” Usagi asked, that grin never leaving her face. “It’s a free day of pampering!”

Usagi sometimes reminded her of Aang when they had first met. She was carefree, idealistic, and kind. Unfortunately, those traits could get her into trouble; after all, she’d been targeted by the daimon before. And if Usagi was a target…

“Are you sure we should be going off for that sort of thing right now?” Katara asked.

“It’ll be fine!” Usagi said. “The boys can handle themselves.”

Katara raised an eyebrow and glanced into the open doorframe of the shrine. Josuke, Joey, and Sokka were all fighting over the same bag of chips, despite there being other types on a table nearby.

“And who will win the chipmaggedon of 97?” Gus announced.

“It’s 95, actually,” Rei spoke up.

“Nuances,” Gus said dismissively. He continued with a grin. “Will it be the brains and the brawler from the Southern Water Tribe, Sokka? The luck-based strategist, Joey Wheeler? Or our heart and healer, Josuke Higashikata?”

“I never even got to try this flavor!” Joey argued.

“It’s my favorite, it should go to me,” Josuke argued.

“It ALWAYS goes to you!” Sokka griped.

One of Gus’s illusions popped into the middle of the fight, grabbing the bag of chips, disappearing, and handed it to the real Gus. “No! It goes the amazing, master-illusionist, Gus Porter!”

“HEY!”

Katara gestured to the scene. However, Usagi seemed determined. “I’m sure they’ll be fine. Besides, Jotaro and Zuko will keep them in line.” She grabbed Katara and Ami’s arms. “C’mon! Please! It’ll be so fun!”

Her eyes were as wide and pleading as a baby saber-tooth moose lion cub.

“Fine,” Katara said with a sigh. “But only because we need to make sure everyone stays safe at that party.”

“Yay!” Usagi said, hugging Katara. “Thank you! I can’t wait to spend time with you guys! It’s gonna be so much fun without…you know…all the noise.”

Katara blushed. “That’s fair. They can be a little…loud.”

“Oh right! I forgot to mention something,” Usagi said. “Haruka and Michiru said they wanted to visit the library first. So, we’ll go there, and then to the new spa!”

“The library?” Katara asked. “That might be good for us, too.”

“Don’t tell me Ami’s gotten to you,” Usagi said.

“You could do with a little more studying, Usagi,” Ami said. “Besides, Katara is right. We could use this time to make sure there’s no new attacks in our near future.”

“You two have got to lighten up,” Usagi said. “I can see this spa day is critical.”

Katara laughed. “You know Usagi, sometimes you really do remind me of Aang.”

…

“Hey Chibiusa,” the Collector spoke up. “Who’s the pie for? Looks awesome! Can I have some?”

“No,” Chibiusa said a little more quickly than she intended. When the Collector looked hurt, she blushed. “Sorry, it’s just that I worked really hard on this, and this is my third attempt. Those jerks with the big gullets already ate the other two I made with Arven and Yugi.”

“Oh,” the Collector said. “Older people can be so greedy, right, King?”

“I don’t know,” King said. “I’m usually the one who eats a lot of food at home.”

“I remember,” the Collector said. “You ate like so many pizza bagels. I thought Mamadalia was going to flip out.”

“Some mom she was,” King said sarcastically.

“Yeah…”

The three were on their way to their new art class. King had been staying over to visit Luz and her friends. Plus, he seemed to like Jotaro (even if he was kinda scary to Chibiusa). Since the Collector wanted to stay with King, he ended up visiting the shrine a lot, too. Ash and Lillie didn’t want to take lessons, but Frisk had said they would show up a little later. They needed to do something first.

Why did the Collector look so sad, anyway? Who was Mamdalia? Well, she wasn’t anything like stupid Usagi; she knew it was impolite to pry. Still, she was curious.

“So, who’s the pie for?” King asked.

“U-Um, well, it’s for someone special,” Chibiusa stammered.

“Like a best buddy?” the Collector asked. He turned to King. “You never made me any pies. Why does her best friend get a pie?”

“I think the person she’s talking about is a little more than just a buddy,” King guessed (annoyingly correct). “Besides, I’d need help, and Eda has a tendency to make the ingredients for pie walk out the door.”

“That makes sense…maybe we can get Arven and Yugi to help us, too,” the Collector suggested.

“They might,” Chibiusa said. “They’re really nice.”

They walked on until they reached the rec center. There he was: Masanori Tsuzuki, Chibiusa’s crush. He made such beautiful sculptures; she wanted to get to know him better, at least. He was holding a bouquet of roses; there were so many, and they were so beautiful!

She wondered if she was lucky enough to be the one they were…

And then Mr. Wright showed up with Miss Fey and her cousin, Pearl. Masanori’s face fell. Who had he been expecting?

And then Chibiusa remembered that Michiru usually taught the class.

He was going to give those roses to Michiru!

“Where’s Miss Kaiou?” Masanori asked.

“Well, she’s absent today, but Pearls didn’t want to miss the class,” Mr. Wright explained. “And I was an art major before I went into law, so I agreed to help, just this once.”

Darn that Michiru!

Well, she wasn’t here today. So, Chibiusa had an opportunity to get closer to Masanori. It would be fine!

“Nick, Mystic Maya, these are my new friends,” Pearl said, dragging the taller lawyer and his shorter mystic assistant with her. “This is the Collector, Chibiusa, and King!”

“I’ve actually met King,” Mr. Wright said. “His mom used to stay with me. How is Eda doing?”

“Pretty good, we’ve been staying with Raine,” King said.

“Although, you could just live with us,” the Collector said. “I mean, the castle is huge, and there’s no way any of those monsters can get in there! It’s in the sky!”

“I don’t know,” King said. “I kind of like living with just Raine and Eda. It’s like we get to be a family now.”

“Oh…sorry.”

There it was again! That sadness. It was kind of familiar; like how she felt when no one wanted to be near her in the thirtieth century: extreme loneliness.

               “I didn’t know you had friends from other universes, Chibiusa,” Masanori said.

              Chibiusa smiled. “Yeah! We’ve been getting along well!”

              “That’s great,” Masanori said with a hesitant smile. “But…I don’t know…I don’t wanna scare anybody.”

              “I haven’t been scared yet,” the Collector bragged. “The monsters here are kind of boring compared to the Boiling Isles.”

              “Sounds scary,” Pearl commented.

              “It’s not that bad,” King said. “I mean, there’s a lot of good witches and demons there, too.”

              “Not like the witches here,” Chibiusa said.

              “Definitely not.”

              “Hey guys!”

              Wally, Mokuba, Bede, Silver, Syaoran, Sakura, Hop, Hau, and Toph walked over to the group. Mr. Wright raised an eyebrow. “I thought you two,” he gestured to Hop and Hau, “said you weren’t into art.”

              “Toph convinced us to come,” Hop said. He leaned closer to the group. “There could be witches anywhere.”

              “I sure hope not,” Masanori said, almost looking as though someone had walked over his grave.

              Chibiusa panicked. Hop was going to scare off Masanori! She pushed him away from her crush, laughing a little. “He’s joking! Hop’s a kidder.”

              “But there are witches everywhere,” Wally said. “It’s pretty spooky.”

              Masanori scratched the back of his neck. “It’s getting pretty late. We should go inside now.”

              With that, he sped off into the building. Chibiusa turned to the others in a huff. “Great going, guys! Now Masanori will never talk to me again!”

              “That’s probably just as well,” Mokuba shrugged. “Artists don’t make much money.”

              “Shows what you know!” Chibiusa argued. “Art is a beautiful expression of oneself! I can’t believe you would say something like that, Mokuba!”

              Mokuba flinched, like he’d been stung. Chibiusa was too mad to care.

              “He is related to Kaiba, cut him some slack,” Hop said with a grin.

              “And you!” Chibiusa said, pointing a finger at Hop. “You’re the reason Masanori ran off in the first place! I can’t believe you’d scare him like that! Don’t you have a brain?”

              “Hey! I was just trying to be honest!”

              King tapped her shoulder. “Chibiusa, don’t you think you’re being a little too harsh?”

��             Chibiusa looked around. Her friends did look hurt, but so was she! She’d had to deal with Usagi, Josuke, and Okuyasu’s thoughtlessness this morning. She didn’t need the same from her friends. She shook her head and ran inside.

              …

              It was awkward. They were sitting together. But how was he supposed to navigate a relationship with Miles? Is that what they had? True, he’d wanted this. Now that he had it, he felt more vulnerable and worried than ever. The others were talking, a bit somberly. This world was nothing but painful for him. He was marred by failure here. In Italy, he was reminded of those who never made it home, sure. However, there was still some light mixed with the loss. Here, in Tokyo, he was constantly making mistakes. He thought it had been a good idea to keep Alastor a secret. That didn’t work; it almost and may cost Miles his life. He thought he didn’t have any family; it turns out he had one and he’d just endangered them. He thought keeping the list of talisman holders was a good idea; now almost everyone knew who had a talisman.

              “Giorno?” Miles asked. “You doing okay?”

              Giorno shook his head, but he didn’t say anything. What was there to say?

              “Uncle,” Zuko began. The older man was very hospitable. He seemed kind. It was clear Zuko trusted him, and that didn’t seem to be something so lightly gained. He had made them some tea and sat down with them to discuss the situation. “We’re not sure what to do next. We don’t even know who knows about the talisman holders now. We’ve got to protect everyone, but there may not be any time!”

              Iroh looked at the list, perhaps trying to come up with a plan of action. His eyes widened and his brow furrowed when he looked further down. “Nephew…it says…”

              “I know,” Zuko said, shutting his eyes. “But I can’t think about that. I’ve gotta think about what’s best for everyone. What happens next could be because of us.”

              His uncle sighed. “I know you want what’s best for everyone, Zuko. It’s what makes you a good leader. However, I think this situation calls for help from those who have years of experience.”

              “Experience in fighting monsters?” Danny asked.

              “Fighting evil,” Iroh corrected.

              “We can’t just sit here and do nothing!” Danny objected.

              “I’m not saying that!” Iroh said. “I’m just saying that it shouldn’t be wholly up to any one group to defeat your opponent. Those who would try and end the lives of so many people should be brought to justice by the people.”

              “What if they already have a way of getting to them?” Giorno questioned. “What if it’s already too late?”

              “If you allow yourself to think it’s too late, then it will be,” Iroh said. He stood up. “I, for one, do not believe fate is so harshly determined. Perhaps help will come from the likeliest and unlikeliest of places.”

              “Will you help us, Uncle?” Zuko asked.

              “Of course,” Iroh said. “As will others. You merely need to ask.”

              Giorno turned away. A heartwarming family moment wasn’t exactly what he needed to see right now. He looked at Miles; he was staring out of the window, as though he were searching for someone.

              “Morlun or Miguel?” Giorno guessed, keeping his voice so the others wouldn’t intrude on their conversation.

              “Both…and more,” Miles admitted. “Also, what you said and…did…are you sure?”

              Giorno paused and looked at the table. “I don’t try to lie about my feelings on things. Granted, I’m not generally an open person, and this is all new to me. I’ve never cared about someone like this before. However, I… like you, Miles. You were kind to me, even when I wasn’t very honest with anyone. You talked to me, shared your music with me, you treated me as a friend, like someone who had someone who cared about him for once. And you saved my life. I will do anything to make sure you and your family stay safe during all this.”

              When he turned back to look at Miles, he looked like he was going to cry. What had he messed up now?

              “Thanks, Giorno. I’m glad someone sees me that way,” Miles murmured. “And I’m glad it’s you. I like you a lot, too.” He paused and turned to Giorno. “I’ll be real with you; if this is an official thing we’re doing, then this is the first time I’ve ever been in a relationship. I never thought I’d be able to trust anyone again until we became friends. And…I think you’re one of the coolest people I know. You took on a demon several times, you run…your own business, you help protect people who can’t protect themselves, and you’ve looked out for me ever since I got here. You kept me safe when I didn’t even know it, and I don’t want you to have to do this alone anymore. I’m going to help you, and we’re both getting out of this. I’m not letting Alastor, your father, or anyone hurt you ever again.”

              He was always looking out for himself. Was it okay for him to accept Miles’s offer? This would be the first time he established something with someone without materialistic reciprocity. Miles thought he was someone good, and he liked him for who he was. Their connection was genuine; it was heartwarming and terrifying. He might not have known how to approach this, but he was going to try his damndest.

              “Well, look who it is.”

              Giorno rolled his eyes. Astarion, along with his partner, Tav, the wizard, Gale of Waterdeep, and the patriarch of the Joestars, Jonathan Joestar walked over to their table.

              “Yes?” Giorno asked, raising an eyebrow.

              “Couldn’t help but overhear your conversation,” Astarion said.

              “Not to fear,” Gale said, almost-knowingly. “I checked. We are the only other people in this shop.”

              “Are you sure?” Zuko asked.

              Gale nodded. “I cast detection to make sure we were the only ones here.”

              “Well, what do you want?” Giorno asked.

              “Is that any way to talk to those who want to help?” Astarion countered with a smirk. He turned to Zuko. “Curiosity, who’s on that list?”

              “I don’t trust you,” Zuko said bluntly, clutching the list tighter.

              “I’m hurt,” Astarion said, holding his hand over his heart.

              “They really do just want to help,” William spoke up. “If they had any intention of hurting anyone, I would’ve been able to hear it.”

              “Maybe we can trust the psychic,” Miles said. “Besides, Gale has helped us a lot.”

              Gale did a small bow. “I am a wizard of the people.”

              Tav and Astarion scoffed.

              “No need to be so rude.”

              The four sat down at their table. Wonderful. Giorno was tempted to leave, but he might as well hear what they had to say.

              “We’ve got a plan for countering your vampire problems,” Tav said. “There’s two enemies down.”

              “Are we going to be allowed to know what the plan is?” Danny asked.

              Tav shook their head. “It might not work, and if it falls into the wrong hands, it definitely won’t.”

              “Great plan,” Danny said. “It might not even work.”

              “You try to counter a vampire who is literally only allergic to radiant energy and another who can stop time!” Tav argued. “I swear Cazador was easier to beat than these bastards.”

              Astarion frowned. “I’d argue that point, but you did tear him apart.”

              Tav paused. “I did not mean to make light of your past, Astarion.”

              “I know, love,” Astarion said.

              “The point is,” Jonathan interrupted. “Dio isn’t a threat to be taken lightly.”

              He turned to Giorno, making his stomach sink. “Giorno, whatever he has promised you is a boldfaced lie.”

              “Do you think I’m an idiot?” Giorno asked. “I know that, and I don’t need you to tell me.”

              “Shut up and listen,” Astarion hissed. Tav moved to stop him. “No, I’m not staying quiet on this. You want to push everyone away who tries to help you? Be my guest. You stay alone, you’ll die alone. Your father will find you, and he will make you an immortal whether you want to be or not. Much more than that, those you loved or cared about become his playthings! You’ll endanger everyone if you don’t take what’s being offered to you now. If there’s one thing you can take as truth from me, it’s this: you’ll never get your life back if you lose your humanity, Giorno Giovanna.”

              Giorno stood up, ready to fight him. How dare he! How dare he…he…Astarion didn’t know anything. His blood felt like it was boiling; he hadn’t been this mad since he fucked up Cioccolata. Yes, he knew Astarion was a vampire, and he might or might not have some experience in this field, but Tav also said the vampire they fought was weaker than Morlun and his father. It wasn’t the same. He had no idea what kind of pressure he was under! He had managed to stay cool and collected through everything: a shitty childhood, taking down powerful stand users in the mob, dealing with a demon who slowly sapped his life away, and finally finding someone worth protecting whose life was in immense danger!

              “I know it’s a lot to take in, but I—we want to help you,” Jonathan said. “I know what it’s like to feel like your whole world is falling in on itself.”

              Giorno started to walk away. “You have no idea what my life is like.”

              “Giorno!” he heard Jonathan protest.

              “No,” Iroh’s voice cut through. “He needs some time to think this over.”

              “Alone?” Miles asked. “Giorno, you can’t. There’s…”

              “Miles, please,” Giorno said. “I just need some time to think things through. I promise, I’ll meet you at that gala tonight.”

              “Alright…”

              He sounded hurt and dejected enough to almost make him turn around, but he couldn’t. He needed to calm down and think of a way to beat Morlun, DIO, Alastor, and any other fucker on his own.

              …

              He was sure he’d seen him again. His hands were shaking, even as he tried to steady them when he took a sip of tea. He hadn’t told Franziska. He wasn’t sure what to tell Franziska, and Phoenix wasn’t home. He was all alone in his apartment; Bucciarati and Abbachio had left to go investigate an old warehouse for some sort of monster, and Franziska was out shopping for food. He had no one to tell that Manfred Von Karma was back from the dead.

              He’d been walking the streets of Tokyo, meeting with Miss Skye to discuss the forensics she performed on a personal project he’d discussed with no one. It might pay off eventually, but now he had bigger problems. Von Karma had almost blended into the crowd, and if the man didn’t regularly haunt his nightmares, he might’ve missed him. The worst part was when they locked eyes, the latter smirked and disappeared. It was almost identical to his nightmares.

              So now he was doing his best to calm down. Surely Franziska would return soon, and they could form a plan of action.

              That’s when he heard a loud knock on his door. He almost fell out of his chair. The knocking persisted. What should he do? Did he have a weapon to pry it open? The knocks were getting louder—more impatient. They had vast amounts of technology and numbers on their side! Should he open it and get it over with? What did he want, anyways?

              “Hey nerd!” a familiar, non-Von Karma voice called out. “You in there? Your boyfriend asked us to check up on you.”

              Miles marched to the door and glared at Eda the Owl Lady and her partner, Raine.

              “Geez, you look like you’ve seen a ghost,” Eda commented.

              “Something like that,” Edgeworth muttered. “Come in and have a seat. Could I get you some tea?”

              “That sounds nice,” Raine said. They took a seat while Eda plopped down next to them. “Is everything okay, Mr. Edgeworth?”

              Edgeworth poured a cup of tea and handed it to Raine, not looking at them. “It’s nothing.”

              “Doesn’t seem like nothing,” Eda said. “C’mon, spill, what’s up?”

              Edgeworth sighed. “It’s a long story, and I’d rather not get anyone else involved.”

              “Doesn’t help anyone to keep it bottled up,” Raine said. “Besides, we’re in our ‘helping each other out era.’ Or, at least, that’s how Luz put it.”

              “Is that really how the children talk in 2024?” Edgeworth asked.

              “Maybe everyone talks like that, and you’re just out of the loop,” Eda said.

              “In any case,” Raine interjected. “We need to be open and honest with each other. We don’t want anyone to get hurt by something we could’ve dealt with earlier on.”

              “I don’t suppose you’re being specific to anyone’s situation?” Edgeworth mused.

              Raine sighed. “I hate that the kids didn’t think they could trust us to help them. They seem dead set on handling things by themselves. I’m afraid they’re going to get into a lot of trouble being stubborn.”

              “Not that you’d know anything about stubborn people, Rainstorm,” Eda teased.

              “Surely not,” Raine said sarcastically.

              Their affection for each other was terribly saccharine, but also something he himself wanted to be able to express eventually. He loved Wright, but sometimes it felt like he could do more, like something involving love and care was broken. He often wondered if Phoenix would have preferred to been with someone who could show him their affection more clearly.

              “Hey!”

              Edgeworth looked back up at Eda and Raine; both seemed even more concerned now.

              “You were staring off into space. What’s going on?” Eda asked.

              “I thought I saw someone I knew,” Edgeworth said. “Twice now. He’s supposed to be dead. However, given how the dead have been given a second chance at life, I believe it might be more than merely ‘seeing things.’ I think my old mentor, my father’s murderer, has risen from the grave.”

              Eda and Raine were quiet for a moment, taking in his words.

              “What do you suppose he wants?” Eda asked. “Was he a witch? Demon? Tyrant with an invisible, punchy-ghost?”

              “He was a prosecutor,” Miles said. “His record of being beaten was only beaten by one defense attorney.”

              “Let me guess,” Eda said. “Phoenix?”

              Edgeworth nodded. “I’m worried. Even if Wright doesn’t have a talisman, they said they needed hearts to fuel some sort of grand plan, and his was unusually bright. What if he…”

              “Look, we’re not gonna let that happen,” Eda said. “I mean, Phoenix was kind enough to let us stay with him when we had nowhere else to go.”

              “Exactly,” Raine agreed. “In fact, we’ve got a plan to get rid of a lot of the threats lingering out there. Perhaps, he’s in league with the Deathbusters. We might be able to get rid of them all in one fell swoop.”

              “What’s the plan?” Miles asked.

              “It’s top secret,” Eda said. “If someone infiltrates your mind, you wouldn’t be as aware. No offense, but you’re not a human with magic.”

              “I suppose Luz knows, then.”

              “Actually, we’re not involving the kids.”

              “Not that I don’t agree with your morality, but isn’t that slightly hypocritical?” Miles asked.

              “They’ve gone through enough,” Eda said. “They shouldn’t have to defeat an entire shadow organization. They could get hurt.”

              “I’d like to help,” Edgeworth said. “Perhaps I can’t do magic, but there must be some way I can help put a stop to this!”

              “No,” Eda said. “You’ve already done enough by telling us about your mentor. We can handle the rest from here.”

              “But Wright, his life, I want to fight for him just as much as you want to protect your loved ones!”

              His sincerity had even caught himself off guard. Raine and Eda seemed too stunned to respond. Edgeworth readjusted his cravat and cleared his throat. “Apologies. I lost my composure for a moment. I would just like to make sure he remains safe.”

              “Don’t worry,” Eda said. “We’ll keep him safe and you, too. Don’t be so quick to discount yourself, Edgy-boy.”

              He hadn’t given much thought to that point: what if Von Karma ignored Wright entirely? What if to get to Phoenix he sought revenge on Edgeworth first? In any case, they were both in a decent amount of danger.

              Edgeworth fished an older picture out of his wallet. It had been from a time when he was garnering his reputation as the Demon Prosecutor. He stood stiffly beside Von Karma, finally being recognized for all his hard work. It had been everything he had ever wanted, and he didn’t stop to question why he felt so hollow in that moment, until Phoenix stumbled back into his life.

              “This is Von Karma. If you see him, let me know.”

              “Kind of looks like a good gust of wind would blow him over,” Eda commented.

              “I wouldn’t be so sure,” Edgeworth mused. “The man carried a bullet in his shoulder for years.”

              “You do realize Belos was hundreds of years old, pretty much the embodiment of a living curse; we beat him,” Raine pointed out.

              “Isn’t he alive again?”

              “And we’ll get rid of him again,” Eda said, a little tersely. She sighed and smoothed her hair. “Please, just leave this up to us. We can handle it.”

              As much as he wanted to believe them, Edgeworth wasn’t so sure. He hadn’t believed in such redundant and basic concepts like ‘good vs evil’ before now, but it seemed to him that evil was among them, and no matter how good tried, evil seemed to be oddly overpowered.

              …

              Joseph flipped through the tomes in front of him. None of this added up. It seemed to him that Miles’ situation was steeped in coincidence rather than causation. Yeah, if there’s a villain who can literally tear apart timelines opposing him, it would serve to say the timelines would get a little messy. He was surprised DIO hadn’t ripped any holes in time with all his shenanigans. For all he knew, he probably did, they just hadn’t suffered the effects yet.

              Given Jotaro wasn’t getting into any fights with Giorno, it could be that he wasn’t evil. However, there was the possibility that Jotaro didn’t even know. In which case, he needed to find Jotaro as soon as possible to warn him.

              The table in the middle of the library was taken up by a skeleton, a woman with pale skin, pinkish hair, and clothes that looked like they were actually a part of her body, a man with wiry, brunette hair, tan trench coat, and pinstripe suit, a woman with dark hair, magenta jacket, t-shirt, and jeans, and a man with a regal gray shirt tucked underneath a red vest, slacks, and red sunglasses fixed over top of his graying hair. There was one chair left at the table, and he was tired of standing and reading. He casually strode over to the group.

              “Do you all mind if I take a seat here?”

              “Of course, take a seat,” the pale woman said. Joseph was now able to note she had a giant gemstone—no—a pearl in the middle of her forehead. Bizarrely enough, she still struck him as more normal than most enemy stand users.

              “What’s your name?” the man in the vest asked.

              “Joseph,” he said, trying to play casual. No need to give out too much information, especially with the probability of DIO pawns being out there. “And you?”

              “My name is Stolas,” the man said with a small bow. “What brings you to this place, Joseph?”

              “i was gonna ask the same thing,” the skeleton spoke up. “kinda wondering what your thoughts on all these monsters are.”

              “Obviously they’re terrible,” Joseph said. “What else am I supposed to say to that?”

              “then, why don’t you and o’hara focus more on them rather than some kid?”

              Joseph narrowed his eyes at the skeleton. “Who are you?”

              “casual observer,” he said. “you can call me sans.”

              “What do you know about me? Do you work for DIO?”

              “do i look like i got a fleshbud in my skull?”

              “Some help him because they want to,” Joseph argued.

              “why would i want to? so he could kill a good majority of the people in this broken timeline? d’ya think i’m a numbskull?”

              “So,” Joseph asked, furrowing his eyebrow a little bit. “Why do you seem so opposed to what O’Hara is doing?”

              “because he’s got it all wrong. the kid isn’t gonna cause some collapse of a timeline by saving his dad. what destroys the timeline is determination of an absolutely unstoppable force. i should know.”

              “Well,” the man in the pinstripe suit interjected. “It depends entirely on the event and universe. Should one try to change something that has already happened, yes, it could very well rip apart the fabric of space-time. However, the event hasn’t happened, and given where we are, I’m not sure it ever will. All of reality could be destroyed because we’re all here, together.”

              “As depressing as he’s put it,” Stolas said. “He’s correct. I’ve studied my grimoire, but none of these events should be happening. Quite frankly, these universes should’ve imploded upon themselves many moons ago.”

              “Well, who are you three? You seem to know more than O’Hara does, even with his technology,” Joseph said.

              “His ventures are quite noble for a human,” the man in the suit said. Stolas, the pearl-woman, and sans nodded in agreement.

              “Quite condescending, aren’t ya?” Joseph asked.

              “You get used to it,” the woman in the magenta jacket spoke up. “He’s the Doctor, by the way. And I’m Martha Jones.”

              “Nice to meet you, I guess.” Joseph shook his head. “What I don’t get is this: if you three know so much, how come you haven’t been able to solve this mess?”

              “We’re all unique in the sense that we recall some memories of this mismatched world,” the pearl-woman said. “But everything involving major events has been completely wiped away.”

              “It’s as if there’s a block, preventing us from remembering,” the Doctor said thoughtfully. He wasn’t staring at anyone in particular, which was messing with Joseph more than it should have. “What are you doing with your fingers?”

              Joseph glanced down to the table. He’d just been tapping his fingers against the table. He didn’t understand what the big deal was. It might’ve made a little more noise, given his prosthetic, but it shouldn’t have been anything for alarm.

              “Sorry, didn’t mean to interrupt your genius,” Joseph said sarcastically. “We humans have to do something to weather boring conversations.”

              “you didn’t seem too bored to me.”

              “Hmph.”

              “If I might ask,” Martha spoke up. “Who is O’Hara?”

              “Someone who I thought had good intentions,” Joseph said. “Now, I’m not so sure.”

              “His intentions might be ‘good,’ but good intentions are only good if the person knows the outcome,” Martha said.

              “Spoken like a true medical student,” the Doctor said.

              “Given I’m one of two humans here, I think I can speak better on the human condition than most others here,” Martha said. “Most of us have done something we thought good, noble even, only for it to blow up in our faces. It’s a part of life. Could be that your friend thinks he’s in the right, when in all actuality, he doesn’t have enough information to make an informed decision.”

              Joseph gave her a smile. “Could be that you’re right, Miss Jones. Could be that I’ve been played for a fool.”

              “Not a fool,” Martha said. “We’re human. The best part of that is our lack of staunchness. We’re more flexible to change and adaptability.”

              Joseph scratched his chin. “You make a good point.”

              He stood up. “Thank you. You’ve given me a lot to think on.”

              As Joseph exited the library, a group of teenage girls passed him by. Some of them seemed familiar. Not that Jotaro would know any of them; his grandson wasn’t overly fond of girls. They probably didn’t know him.

              In any case, he had his new mission now. He’d talk to Speedwagon, and they’d decide what to do next.

              …

              As everyone filed into the library, Katara wondered why they were here. True, she had convinced Sokka to give her some of the books he’d taken back, so it was kind of convenient, but why did Haruka and Michiru want to come here?

              As though, reading her mind, Michiru spoke up. “We attend the Infinity Academy together. Our midterms are coming up soon, so we’re just picking up some books for our papers. We won’t be but a little while. In the meantime, I encourage you to check out some of the literary classics: Twain, Dickens, Thoreau. For those of you unfamiliar with our world, some of the best realism writers might help you understand it.”

              Haruka laughed and shook her head. “Or you could always read some manga. Way more fun.”

              “Haruka,” Michiru warned. “I’m trying to help them. What do you think their interpretation of the world will be if they pick up Berserk?”

              “That the world is full of liars, and we should never trust anyone? I don’t know, seems like a pretty good lesson to me.”

              “You’re quite the cynic, Haruka,” Amity commented.

              Haruka shrugged. “Losing your parents will do that to you.”

              “Oh,” Amity stammered. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know.”

              “Don’t worry,” Haruka said. “It was a long time ago, and Michiru and I have each other’s backs.”

              “That’s so sweet!” Luz commented.

              Except for the parental death part, yeah.

              “You girls wait here,” Michiru said. “We won’t be long.”

              They disappeared to the upper levels of the library. Ami explained there were a lot of autobiographies up there. Although, the blue-haired senshi did express an interest in learning who they were writing about.

              Katara broke away from the group and walked into the secret library. Others were leaving just as she got inside. She recognized the Doctor and Martha Jones. The woman with the pearl in the middle of her forehead was new, but Stolas was not. He seemed concerned, as though he’d misplaced something.

              He looked to Katara, “Ah-um-hello! Would you mind terribly keeping an eye out for my Via? I can’t seem to find her. She was in the secret library with me, but she must’ve went off somewhere at some point.”

              “I’ll see if I can find her,” Katara said.

              “Thank you! Thank you so much!”

              Katara walked into the room, placing the books onto a cart for return. “There. Hopefully that’s the end of that.”

              If Kaiba returned his ill-gotten books, then that would be the end of it. However, that wasn’t very likely. She was still a little mad, even if he had apologized. He should have never mentioned bloodbending. If he was truly as smart as he claimed to be and done all this research on them, he would’ve known how taboo a subject it was to discuss. The only times she’d ever used bloodbending was to prevent Aang and Sokka from getting hurt by Hama’s bloodbending and when she thought she’d found her mother’s murderer. She never wanted to use it again.

              From the corner of the library, she could hear sniffles. She walked over to the corner of the library and saw Via huddled up with her face buried in her arms.

              “Via? You okay?”

              She looked up, tears still in her eyes. “He said he’d spend time with me today. He spent the entire day reading and debating with all those other people. No matter where we are, my dad always ignores me.”

              “He seems really upset that you’re missing,” Katara countered.

              “Then why does he keep ignoring me? It’s always like this! He promises to spend time with me until he finds something better to do!”

              “That does sound pretty bad,” Katara agreed. She was quiet for a minute before deciding what to say next, “You know, my father was away at war for a long time. My brother and I didn’t see him again until we found Aang.”

              “Is this some story where you’re going to make me feel bad for being mad at my dad?” Via asked.

              Katara shook her head. “Actually, I was mad at my dad. Even if I realized that that he was out trying to make the world better. I knew what he was doing was important, but I couldn’t help but feeling like we needed him, too. I was pretty angry at him when we found him again.” She turned to Via. “I think it’s okay to be angry. But don’t lose yourself in your own anger. Maybe you can have fun here without him.”

              “But my dad knows so much more about the human world than I do,” Via argued. “The last time I came here, people were so mean. They shoved me around, called me names, and screamed in my face.”

              Katara felt bad for this girl. It was obvious she needed someone to help her out. Well, she didn’t have to look any further. Katara stood up and held out her hand. “Hey, I was new here, too. I still don’t understand some stuff, like the arcade or the fascination with malls, but I’m with a pretty good group. Do you want to hang out with us for a little while? We’re getting makeovers and going to a formal dance today.”

              Via looked as though she’d been offered the world. She nodded and grabbed Katara’s hand. “Thank you. It…would be nice to make a friend here.”

              “You can consider me one, then,” Katara said with a smile.

              As they made their way to the others, the door to the entrance swung open. A very tall and built man, hunched over, walked into the secret library, brushing past the girls. It’s like he didn’t even notice them. The strong scent of iron followed him; it was then Katara noticed the trail of blood following the man who had collapsed against a bookshelf.

              “We should…help him?” Via guessed.

              Katara nodded and rushed over to the man. She did a cursory glance over his wounds. The skin across his abdomen had been cut. It wasn’t anything she couldn’t heal, but it would cause problems if she didn’t do anything. She whipped out a steady stream of water from the cantina strapped to her side and held it over the man’s wounds.

              The man looked up at her. “Who are you?”

              “My name is Katara. I’m a waterbender. Don’t worry, I’ll have this healed soon.”

              “G-gracias.”

              Thank you. Luz had taught her that.

              “If you don’t mind me asking, how did this happen?”

              “It’s…complicated,” the man muttered. He hissed as one of the wounds began to seal itself shut. “How’d you learn you could do that?”

              “I healed myself,” Katara said, preferring to leave out the details of what happened when Aang first tried to learn firebending.

              “It’s remarkable,” the man said. “I wish I had that sort of ability. Seems all I’m good for lately is destroying stuff.”

              “You know, that’s what Master Jeong Jeong said about his firebending when he saw I could do this,” Katara said. “I’m sure destruction isn’t the only thing you’re good at. Unless…you’re one of those witches who likes to take pure hearts.”

              “No, I’m not a witch,” the man said. “I’m just a guy trying to do his best to keep everything from falling apart. If that means getting mauled by a vampire, so be it.”

              “DIO or Morlun?” Katara asked.

              The man paused. He narrowed his eyes at her. “The latter. How do you know about Morlun?”

              Katara froze. She wasn’t sure who this man was, he could be anyone. She needed to tread carefully. “Some people in our group were infected by some sort of spider-totem. We did our research here to find out what that meant and why Morlun wanted to attack them.”

              The man took in her words and nodded. “And who’s in your group?”

              “The girls out there,” Katara said. “Why?”

              “No reason,” the man said. “Are you sure that’s the entirety of your group?”

              Katara nodded. Via should know she was lying, but she didn’t give it away. She’d have to thank her later. “Although Toph is staying with Mr. Wright. She’s our friend, too.”

              “The Blind Bandit, no?” the man asked. “She’s in quite a few of these books.”

              “That sounds about right,” Katara said, rolling her eyes.

              The man laughed. “You don’t seem surprised.”

              Katara sighed. “No. I’m not. If you ever meet her, you’ll know what I’m talking about.”

              “Maybe I will,” the man said. “I’m sure I’ll see more of you and your group around. It’d be a shame to waste your healing powers just on me.”

              Why did that sound like a promise…or a threat?

              “I didn’t catch it,” Katara said. “What’s your name?”

              “My name is Miguel O’Hara.”

              Katara’s heart dropped. She’d been helping Miles’s biggest threat this whole time. She almost slipped up and dropped her smile. No, that wouldn’t do any good. She just needed to finish healing him and get out of here as quickly as possible. So, she did so.

              “Alright, you should be good to go.”

              “I feel better already,” Miguel said. “Thank you, Katara. Don’t waste that gift you’ve got.”

              “I haven’t,” Katara said. “And I’ll continue to use it.”

              “Good.”

              “We have to go,” Katara said. “The others are waiting for us. C’mon, Via.”

              “Hasta luego.”

              She knew that one, too. And she hoped to the moon spirit above that she wouldn’t.

              …

              Giorno was just trying to clear his head. He’d clear his head and rejoin the others. Everything would be fine. He had to keep everything in check. He would not let his emotions get the best of him.

              He sat on a park bench; the weather had turned colder. It was fall now. He wondered how much time he’d spend in this world before he went back home. He knew Kaiba, along with Miles, and a few of the others who were more technologically adept were trying to get everyone home, back to the time and place they had left.

              Now everything was more complicated. He cared about Miles, and he would make sure no harm came to him, but the danger kept increasing. He didn’t know if he could stop it.

              “Hey.”

              He glanced up, ready to fight. It was just that Steven kid from the Kaolinite incident. Giorno rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. “What?”

              “Whoa!” the boy said, sticking up his hands defensively. “You just looked like you were upset. I wanted to see how you were doing.”

              “Oh, I’m just fine,” Giorno said sarcastically.

              “Uh-huh,” Steven said. He sat down on the bench next to Giorno, “Then I guess you don’t mind if I take a seat, huh?”

              Giorno felt his eye twitch. “That’s fine.”

              They sat in silence for a minute. Was he expecting a conversation? He glanced over at Steven who seemed to be content looking at his phone, grinning at some text someone had sent him. It was that girl who’d been locked away with him and the others.

              “You know,” Steven interjected. “Eavesdropping on someone’s conversation, even if it’s just texts, is considered rude.”

              “…my apologies.”

              It was halfhearted, but that’s all he could manage right now.

              “It’s cool,” Steven said. “Connie was just telling me about some formal she was going to tonight. Apparently, Kaiba thinks it’s a deathtrap. What do you think?”

              “It could be,” Giorno admitted. “That’s partly why we’re going today.”

              “Oh, so everyone else is going, too?” Steven asked. Giorno nodded. “Hey, at least that should be fun!”

              “Yeah, fun,” Giorno scoffed.

              “Do you not like stuff like that?” Steven asked.

              “It’s not that in particular,” Giorno said. “It’s complicated.”

              “…It’s the monsters, right?”

              Giorno laughed without any humor. “You’re going to have to be more specific than that: do you mean the daimon who are after a laundry list of people’s pure hearts? The two sailor guardians who are after the same thing for some fucking reason. There’s also a group of demons wanting me to make a contract with them to guarantee everyone’s safety, God knows what happens to me! No—wait—what about fact that my father wants to turn me into a monster who will kill every single family member I never knew I had until I came to this place? Or, the other vampire who wants to consume the souls of everyone with a spider totem, which just so happens to roundabout to the whole demon-contract thing again. And for some fucking reason, it’s all tying back to me and the person I really care about.”

              He hadn’t meant to lose his composure. But, once it was all out there, he realized maybe his tirade was a bit justified. At least, Steven’s shocked face was sort of a confirmation bias.

              “Wow…that does sound like a lot,” Steven said after a moment. “Are you trying to deal with this by yourself?���

              “Yes,” Giorno said quickly. “No one else needs to be involved.”

              “You realize you’re gonna burn yourself out doing that, right?”

              “Then what do you suggest?” Giorno snapped. “I’m not involving Miles in this.”

              “Does Miles know that?” Steven asked. “Did you talk to him about this—about how overwhelmed you are? Kind of seems like a conversation you need to have, or at least try to have. Because you can’t do this alone, and you can’t leave him in the dark.”

              “What do you know?”

              “I know that when I tried to do the same thing you did, it nearly destroyed my relationship with Connie. She was so mad at me when I tried to take Homeworld on by myself. She didn’t talk to me for weeks. And honestly? She had every right. We both had been training, we could’ve come up with a better plan together. I just went off and did what I thought was best.” He paused, seeming downtrodden by the memory. “It can feel like the whole world is out to get you, and maybe it is, but you can’t do it alone. Terrible things happen when you try to tackle so much by yourself.”

              When Giorno didn’t say anything, Steven chuckled and continued, “Besides, Miles is Spiderman. If you tackle this together, you shouldn’t have any problems.”

              He did make a good point. Perhaps going alone wouldn’t be an option. But he didn’t want to see anymore death, not this time. He knew it would probably be a constant in his line of work, but if it didn’t have to happen, why will it into existence? Still, acting like a loner would probably get him, and now by extension, Miles, into the clutches of Alastor, his father, or Morlun.

              He’d acted so stupidly. He’d left Miles with the others and gone off on his own. But what was he supposed to do? Everything Steven had just said was so strange. He wasn’t used to needing to depend on others.

              “I just don’t want Miles to get hurt,” Giorno said.

              “I know that,” Steven said. “He probably does, too. But you can’t push people away.” He stood up and held out his hand. “Let people help and life gets a lot better.”

              “Usually I’d slap your hand away,” Giorno said. “But I’m at a loss, and…you might have a point.”

              Steven chuckled. “C’mon, this place is getting cold, and we’ve got a formal to go to.”

              …

              Frisk and Gohan showed up a little later than everyone else, and yet, their sculptures were coming along better than most. Gohan was sculpting this dragon-creature that looked so adorable, she wondered if his dad or mom was a mangaka for a living. Frisk, on the other hand, had been sculpting a humanoid, goat child out of the clay. It was also pretty cute. However, Chibiusa’s sculpture of the painted chalice in her mother’s room was not going as well. The small jewels and wings alongside it looked clumpy and uneven, but she didn’t know how to fix them. Eventually she tossed up her hands and took a step back from it.

              “Would you like some help?”

              Masanori gave her a smile and began to help with the edges of the clay chalice. To be honest, it looked even better than it did in the portrait! It was amazing!

              “Wow! That’s amazing!”

              “You think so?” Masanori asked. He grinned. “You’ll love this!”

              He gestured to his own project; it was a woman, with a very familiar face and hair in the shape of an angel in elegant robes. Michiru.

              Chibiusa bit her tongue. “It looks nice.”

              “Just nice?” Masanori questioned. He tapped his finger against his chin. “I guess I could work on the hair some more! Thanks for the motivation, Chibiusa!”

              With that, he turned back to his own work. So much for that special connection. Maybe her mom had been wrong about all of that. It was frustrating: she wanted a friend she’d be able to keep forever, someone who wouldn’t go away, someone who wanted to be her friend just as much as she wanted to be theirs. She did like spending time with some of the other kids, but it was inevitable that they would have to go back to their own worlds. Mokuba’s brother, even as smart as he was, couldn’t guarantee they’d all get to see each other again. Chibiusa was so tired of permanent goodbyes; she couldn’t take another heartbreak like Puu.

              “Hey Chibiusa, what’s wrong?” Gohan asked.

              “Oh?” She hadn’t even noticed she had tears at the edges of her eyes. She quickly wiped them away. “It’s nothing.”

              “Doesn’t look like nothing,” Sakura said. “C’mon, no one here is gonna judge you!”

              Silver opened his mouth but was shot down by a glare from Hop.

              “Well, it’s just that it’s very lonely in the thirtieth century,” Chibiusa explained. “Mama said I’d meet someone very special here, someone who would be my friend forever. I know it’s selfish, but I’d like that. Since I’m going to be the next Moon Queen, I’m going to live a long time, and I’m already alone a lot. I don’t want to be even lonelier!”

              She paused when she noticed everyone (sans Masanori) was looking at her. “S-sorry. I just thought, if I found that special person Mama was talking about, I wouldn’t have to be all alone anymore.”

              “Well, maybe you don’t have to be,” the Collector spoke up. “After all, whoever was trying to keep me out of this world wasn’t able to. I mean, I know we’re kind of stuck here for now, but maybe King and I can keep coming to visit you.”

              “Yeah,” King agreed. “When we’re not repairing the Boiling Isles, that is.”

              “Repairing? Did something happen to your home?” Chibiusa asked.

              “Well, Belos kinda destroyed it when he took over the titan’s skeleton,” King said.

              “Maybe I can visit your world and help fix things,” Chibiusa suggested. “Mama’s magic is all about healing the world, maybe if I practice enough, I could help you!”

              “You’d be willing to do that?” King asked.

              “Of course!” Chibiusa said, smiling again. “Not only would it be good practice for becoming queen, but…it’d be nice to help a friend.”

              “Well, if you need anyone to crack some skulls,” Toph spoke up. “You know who else to call.”

              “Maybe Belos,” King said.

              “I’m pretty sure Luz can beat him again,” the Collector said.

              “Maybe she doesn’t have to this time,” Syaoran said. “We’ve got our own abilities. Pearl can channel the dead, I’ve got elemental magic, Sakura has her cards, Hop and Hau have legendary creatures by their sides, Bede has fairies, Silver and Wally have pretty strong pokemon, too, Mokuba’s monster cards can actually hurt those daimon, I’m not sure exactly what Frisk can do, but they have a pretty strong aura, and Toph can literally bend the earth and metal to her will.” He paused. “And you, Gohan, King, and the Collector are stronger than all of us. I think all of us together can beat that old goopy-guy no problem.”

              “Hey maybe we can form our own club!” Pearl suggested.

              “With them?” Silver asked, gesturing to Hop and Hau.

              “You’d at least be better than stupid Usagi and her friends,” Chibiusa said. “They can’t seem to agree on anything.”

              “Good point,” Silver said. “I do love being better than other people. Alright, I accept. What about you, Bede?”

              “We could probably help Mr. Kaiba if we worked with each other,” Bede said with a sigh.

              “I think it’ll be fun,” Hau said. “We can hang out together, fight the bad guys, and find all the good spots to eat.”

              “You sound like Usagi,” Chibiusa said.

              “Nothin’ wrong with having a little fun while taking care of business,” Hau said.

              “We should come up with a cool team name,” Hop suggested. “Something like Team Legendary!”

              “Too predictable,” Bede said.

              “What about Team Skullcrusher?” Toph suggested. “You gotta admit, it would make us sound pretty tough.”

              “How about a more nonviolent name?” Gohan suggested.

              “Your loss,” Toph shrugged.

              “What about Team Titan?” The Collector suggested. “Titans are so powerful and strong!”

              “Wouldn’t that basically be giving away that we’ve got a titan in our group?” Mokuba asked. “We don’t want to draw attention to ourselves, we just want to help.”

              “That’s a good argument,” King said. “Plus, I’m way less despotic than I used to be, or so Eda says.”

              “What about Team Guard ‘Em All?” Wally suggested. “It kind of sounds like Gardevoir and our purpose is to protect everyone, right?”

              “It’s kind of dorky,” Toph said, “But I think it could work.”

              “Better than Team Yell, anyways,” Bede said.

              “I like the name,” Frisk said in an almost whisper.

              “Then it’s settled,” Chibiusa said. “We’ll be the better hero group! No, the best hero group!”

              “Yeah, even if—,” Toph cut herself off. “Get behind me, now!”

              Everyone jumped behind Toph and avoided nearly being crushed to death as Eudial’s van crashed into the building, coming close to hitting the wall of rock Toph had put in front of them.

              “Nice instincts,” Hop commented.

              They heard heels clack against the tile floor. Before anyone could stop him, Masanori stood up and went past the barrier.

              “What is he doing?” Hop asked, dumbfounded.

              Eudial hopped out of her van, surveying the area, flinching. “Whoops. I did not mean to do that. Man, it’s gonna take ages to repair that.”

              “Who are you?” Masanori asked.

              Eudial glanced over at him. “Oh, there you are.”

              She pulled her blaster from her coat, and just as she was about to pull the trigger, Mr. Wright and Miss Fey stepped in between Masanori and the witch. Miss Fey looked to Masanori, “Masanori, get back behind the barricade!”

              Masanori nodded and ran back behind the rock wall as Mr. Wright glared at the witch ahead of him. “Targeting more children, huh?”

              “Well, even if you don’t have a talisman, we could always use your pure heart crystals to awaken our Messiah,” Eudial said, raising the gun again.

              Chibiusa needed to think fast! She needed to transform. To the left of their group was a wall of desks. This was her chance! She ducked behind the discarded chairs and tables, transforming into Sailor Chibi Moon.

              She jumped over the rock wall and aimed her heart wand at Eudial. “How dare you come here and try to steal the hearts of people trying to create such beautiful art! I am Sailor Chibi Moon, and in the name of the moon, I’ll punish you!”

              “If you two are just going to be annoying, can you at least not put up much of a fight? I’ve got a long day ahead of me. I’ve got a gala to attend later on, and my work schedule is just hectic right now.”

              “Do you honestly think we’re going to be sympathetic to you?” Mr. Wright asked. “C’mon, your work is legally, not to mention, morally terrible.”

              “Says the lawyer.”

              “Hey, Nick has great morals! He and Mr. Edgeworth are always helping me and Pearl out! Even Franny helps! And I’ll be darned if I let you use his heart as some sort of fuel for anything!” Maya protested.

              “Ugh, Chibi Moon, Mr. Wright, Maya, move! I can get a clearer shot if you move out of the way.”

              The earth underneath their feet slid out from under them, causing them to go either left or right. Rocks from the wall were thrown at the speed of sound by Eudial’s head, and then straight at her. She barely dodged them.

              “Hey! What are you trying to do? Kill me?” Eudial complained.

              “That’s the idea,” Toph said.

              “A noble endeavor,” a voice sneered. “I’m afraid the only ones who will by dying soon are those nearest to you.”

              Chibiusa didn’t recognize the voice, but the Collector and King did.

              “Belos!”

              A man appeared from the ground, almost as though he grew out of it. He wore a green uniform, similar to English medieval clothing, a white cape, and had long hair that looked like it needed a brush.

              King and the Collector both jumped over the wall. The man laughed. “Oh please, I’m not here for a fight. I’ve simply come to collect associate and tell her of the news we received.”

              “What do you mean?” King asked. “And what did you mean by those near to us would be dying? Talk!”

              “I’m not frightened of children,” Belos said. “Besides, you can’t kill me. Not while I’m tethered to my new allies.”

              He chuckled and handed Eudial a piece of paper. She glanced over it for a few seconds, her eyes widening. “Is this what it looks like?”

              “Precisely,” Belos said with a small smile. It creeped Chibiusa out.

              “Get away from them!” a familiar voice shouted from the opening in the rec center.

              It was Seto, Karlach, and Wyll. All three of them looked ready to fight.

              “And there are three of them now,” Belos said. Eudial raised her gun, but Belos shook his head. “No, the grand design is to have them all in the same area.”

              “What are you going on about?” Karlach asked.

              “You hurt any of these children and I will send you to the hells myself; that’s my solemn promise as the Blade of Frontiers,” Wyll said.

              “Goodbye, for now,” Belos said, placing his hand on Eudial’s shoulder. He glanced to King. “Tell Luz that I do look forward to seeing her again.”

              “Wait! What are you—?” King tried to ask, but before he could, Eudial, Belos, and her van had vanished to parts unknown.

              “Did you know what that was about?” Mr. Wright asked Seto.

              “Talisman holders,” Seto said. “They know. They know exactly who and who doesn’t have a talisman now.”

              “Seto,” Mokuba said. “That man said you three…”

              “He’s mistaken,” Seto said quickly. “I don’t know where he got this information, but it could get a lot of people killed. I don’t have pure heart, so there’s no way I could—!”

              He cut himself off and sighed out of frustration. “I need to go warn the others. Karlach, Wyll, Miss Fey, Mr. Wright, go back to Kaiba Corp with the kids and stay there for now. You’ll be safe there. Don’t come to the gala.”

              “You’re crazy if you think you’re going there alone,” Karlach said. “One of us will stay with the kids, and the other will go with you.”

              “I’ll stay with the kids,” Karlach said. “Wyll is better with fancier events, anyways.”

              “I rather like your dancing,” Wyll commented.

              “Can we focus?” Seto asked.

              “Of course, your lordship,” Karlach said sarcastically. “Don’t worry, we’ve got a handle on this.”

              “I have my doubts.”

              “You know, we can help you,” Toph said. “I nearly took that witch’s head off.”

              “No,” Seto said. Before she could protest, he added, “It’s not because I don’t think you can handle a few monsters, but that’s the scheme. They want to get as many pure hearts as possible into one area so they can strike all at once. The less people attend, the worse their odds at pulling off a huge heist.”

              “I guess that makes sense,” Toph grumbled.

              “There’s gotta be something we can do,” Hop complained.

              “There is, stay away from the gala,” Seto said.

              “But we can help!” Sakura protested.

              Seto ignored her. “Karlach, can you please take them home? We won’t be long.”

              “You two better come back in one piece or I’m wringing both your necks, yeah?” Karlach warned.

              Kaiba rolled his eyes. “Do you honestly think I’d let the Deathbusters take me out?”

              “We’ll be fine, love,” Wyll assured her.

              As everyone else was turned away, Chibiusa heard the Collector say, “I’m starting to think Chibiusa was right and that all the older people have no idea what they’re doing.”

              “That’s what I’ve been saying!” Toph complained.

              …

              The punch at the gala was alcoholic, and Usagi had drank a lot of punch. Right now, Miles stood with her on the balcony, waiting for the effects of the drink to wear off a bit. The fresh air seemed to be doing her a little good. She wasn’t spouting stuff about desserts and the theory of relativity anymore.

              He hadn’t seen Giorno since the tea shop, and he was starting to get worried. Did he get attacked? And if he did, by who? Miles should’ve never let him go off by himself. But he hadn’t known what to do at that moment. He was afraid if he pushed the issue, well, then their relationship would be very short lived.

              Was that even what they had? He didn’t know what to make of any of this. Then again, why should any relationship in his life be easy to comprehend?

               “Hey Miles,” Usagi said, poking his cheek. “Why do you look so upset? We’re at a party! It’s ‘sposed to be fun!”

              Miles chuckled. “Sure. Fun.”

              “Is this about Giorno?” Usagi slurred. She came up close to him. “Don’t tell Miles, but I think he likes you. He was so upset that you were in danger back at the Pokémon event. I told him everything would be okay! And it was!”

              “He was upset?” Miles asked.

              Usagi nodded. “Oh yeah. Even when that weird octo-lady attacked him, he was more worried about you.”

              Miles felt a little better and at the same time, a little guilty. He knew that Giorno must care, why kiss him, if he didn’t? But…Miles didn’t know how to help him, and he wanted to help. He wanted to keep him safe.

              “Miles?” Usagi asked. “Do you like him, too?”

              Miles was quiet for a moment and then nodded.

              “Then you should tell him,” Usagi suggested. “I’m sure it’d make him happy.”

              “I did…” Miles said. “And it did, for a few seconds. But then Alastor ruined it, and now we’re in a lot more trouble than we were before. I think I might’ve caused it. I didn’t mean to give him more trouble to deal with.”

              “Hey,” Usagi said, almost accusatorily. “Don’t ever be sorry for loving somebody! In fact, I’ll deal with Alastor and anyone else who tries to get in the way of love! For I am the pretty guardian!”

              “Usagi, keep your voice down” Miles urged. “There are other people inside.”

              Usagi giggled. “Oh, right.”

              She walked over to Miles and gave him a hug. “In any case, I won’t let anyone hurt either of you. I know what it’s like to feel like the other person is always just out of reach. It used to be that a lot of things and people were keeping me and Mamo apart, but we found our way back to each other.”

              She paused, broke away, and laughed. “I guess I’m being dramatic, like Rei says. But I think both of you should be happy. Kind of seems like you both need it.”

              “Thanks, Usagi,” Miles said with a small smile. Talking with her had actually made him feel better.

              “Miles?”

              He turned to see Giorno standing in the doorway. Usagi glanced from him to Miles. “I’m feeling better now…I’m gonna go find Mamo!”

              With that, she scurried off and left them alone.

              “Hey.”

              “Hey,” Giorno said. “You look nice.”

              If it hadn’t been so inconvenient, Miles would’ve almost forgotten that he was wearing a suit tonight. To be fair, they both were just to get into this place. Still didn’t make it any less tedious.

              “You do, too.”

              Giorno walked over and leaned against the guardrail. “Sorry for running off earlier. I…just got a little overwhelmed.”

              “No, I understand. It’s my fault. I just…I wanted…I don’t know,” Miles said.

              “Miles, it’s not your fault. I just don’t know how to do this,” Giorno said. “I want to be completely honest with you. I’m not sure if it will make things better or worse, but I need you to know that I care about you, even if I have a hard time expressing it. Before you showed up, my relationships and interactions were purely transactional. And then you came into my life. You were my first true friend, and you helped me at my weakest, defended me against everyone else, even if it could’ve hurt your own reputation. I…didn’t understand it. Not until I used what I thought would be the last time of my stand’s ability to save you did I get it. Even then, it still scared me. I’ve never had someone try to risk their life for mine, not with the express intentionality of saving me because they liked me. And when Alastor…when he hurt you, I knew I’d do whatever it took to keep you safe. I thought I could do it alone. I didn’t have anyone else to help me growing up, for the most part. I spent my childhood living in fear. My mother constantly left me alone, and my stepfather…well…I’d rather not discuss it. Not now.”

              He paused and then glanced up at the moon. “I never envisioned needing anyone. I learned very early on that I couldn’t rely on others.” He turned back to Miles and smiled. “But you were different. I’ve been trying to keep you safe using the same tactics I used alone. But we’re a team now, no? Partners. So, I realize, I’ve been approaching this the wrong way. Miles…would you like to stay with me? No matter what happens next? I swear, I’m not going to shut you out.”

              Miles felt his heart swell up. That was the most tragic yet sweetest proposal he’d ever heard. He walked over to Giorno and wrapped his arms around him in a tight hug. “Sounds good to me. Like I said, I’m not going anywhere. We can win—together.”

              Giorno seemed a little surprised, but soon he relaxed. “I’m glad you think the same.”

              He grabbed Miles’s hand and leaned in. All of this: the moon, the music, this moment felt almost too good to be true. Miles shut his eyes and waited.

              However, they were interrupted.

              “You two need to get out of here now! I think he knows—oh—I am so sorry,” Katara’s voice cut in.

              “Who knows?” Giorno asked.

              “Miguel O’Hara, that’s who,” Katara said. “I stumbled into him at the library and—!”

              She was cut off as the familiar, icy tone of said man cut in. “And she very kindly healed me after you two left me to deal with Morlun alone. Thanks for that, by the way.”

              Miguel stood behind them, looming like a statue. Miles almost tripped backwards, but Giorno caught his arm.

              “Are you really so obsessed that you’re gonna keep chasing me even when there are way bigger problems out there?” Miles asked. He turned to Katara. “Also what did he mean you healed him?”

              “He was bleeding, and I didn’t know who he was,” Katara explained. “I came as soon as I could to warn you!”

              “I’m not blaming you,” Miles said. “Thanks, Katara.”

              “You’re welcome!”

              “I wouldn’t be so quick to be nice to him” Miguel said. “If it weren’t for him, those witches wouldn’t possess a list of talisman holders right now!”

              “What?” Katara asked.

              “That was Alastor’s doing,” Giorno explained. “He was upset I wouldn’t make a deal with him. Miles had nothing to do with it.”

              “That tracks.”

              “Hey! Toma esto en serio! Now they know where all the talisman holders are. They’ll be able to summon whatever grand weapon the talismans united creates and use it to destroy everything once and for all, and then no one is safe!”

              “We’ve been trying to stop them!” Miles protested. “It’s not like we’re standing by while people who have talismans get attacked!”

              “You mean like that friend of yours? The scared kid? He’s come close to getting caught by the deathbusters several times. We can’t let them get their hands on any talisman anyone might possess.”

              “Wait…” Miles said with a pause. “Because it kind of sounds like…”

              “You’re working with the two rogue senshi,” Giorno finished.

              “And that means he’s looking for talisman holders, too!” Katara said, whipping out a straight line of water. She turned them into sharp icicles she launched at Miguel, without even giving him the chance to stand up. He blocked them with the back of his arms; they shattered on impact.

              Giorno grabbed Miles and Katara. “All of us need to get out of here! NOW!”

              Suddenly, the doors shut as a purple mist filled the room; there was an abrupt chorus of screams that were cut off in mere seconds as several thuds hit the floor.

              Miguel looked from the doors to them. “You three stay here. I’ll deal with you later.”

              “What, so you can swoop in there and steal the talismans?” Miles asked. “No way!”

              “Look, this weapon could get us all home and prevent us from collapsing the timelines,” Miguel explained. “Although, I’m not surprised you’re doing your best to stop that again.”

              “People could die,” Miles argued. “Lots of people!”

              “Well, what am I supposed to do?” Miguel asked. “For all I know, this is all your fault anyways!”

              Giorno glared at him. “Take that back, now.”

              “And lie?” Miguel asked. He shook his head. “You two should really learn exactly who you’re allying yourself with. The fragmentation and loosening of timelines started with his timeline! Why do you think you’re all here to begin with? If he hadn’t screwed up his timeline so bad, none of this would be happening! You’d be home, safe! You wouldn’t even have to worry about any of this talisman business! If people die here, it’s his fault.”

              “That’s not true!” Miles argued, barely dodging Miguel’s grab. He turned to Katara and Giorno, urging them back. “You’ve gotta believe me!”

              “You know,” Giorno began, his voice low. “I read something in the library the other day about a man, pretty lonely and pathetic who disrupted an entire timeline, destroying it. So, then he felt a pressing guilt to watch over all the other timelines. Who’s to say that man’s actions didn’t start all of this in motion?”

              Miguel’s eyes widened before he shook his head. “I fixed the damage I caused!”

              “Doesn’t seem like it,” Katara added in. “From what Sokka told me, the timelines were still frayed. If anyone’s good for research, it’s my brother.”

              “I am the only one who’s been trying to fix things,” Miguel said, his eyes wild. He was about to go off again. He raised both his arms. “You have no idea what I’ve sacrificed, the amount of trouble I went through just to form a place that could help everyone! But because one person decided to be selfish, everything is going to unravel! We’re all going to die if I can’t fix this!”

              It looked as though he was going to take a swing at them, so Miles jumped in front of his friends. He planned to grab Miguel’s arms and try to push him away, but Miguel froze. He appeared just as confused as they were, well, except Giorno. Giorno stared directly behind Miguel.

              “Who are you?”

              Directly behind Miguel an old man clucked his tongue. He wore a tan fedora, shirt, slacks, and gloves over his hands. “You know, I the greater good only works if there’s a greater good left to fight for, Miguel.”

              “Joseph,” Miguel’s voice hissed. “What are you doing?”

              “Keeping you from doing stupid shit, apparently,” Joseph said. He held something invisible in his hands as he jerked them backwards, causing Miguel to stumble as well.

              Giorno took this as an opportunity. “MUDA!”

              Spiderman 2099 went flying backwards, over the balcony. He caught himself, but Miles wasn’t sure Giorno knew he would do that. He decided to not think about that.

              The man, Joseph, walked forward, eyeing Giorno. “That’s crazy. You’re like the spitting image of him!”

              “Of DIO?” Giorno guessed. “So I’ve been told.”

              Joseph seemed confused, as if he didn’t know what to do next. He scratched the back of his neck. “Is Jotaro safe?”

              Giorno nodded. “We’ve been staying together at the Hikawa Shrine.”

              “Really? I guess you both know about who your dad is—well dads—I should say?”

              Giorno nodded. “Look, I’ll answer any questions you have later, but we’ve got to get in there and save our friends, including Jotaro!”

              Joseph nodded. “Gotcha!”

              “MUDA!”

              The glass to the room cracked wide open, revealing….

              …

              *Ten minutes prior*

              Hunter walked through the courtyard with Willow. It was a nice night, not exactly a full moon, that was gonna be in a couple of weeks. He charted them in case he ever came across a friendly werewolf. How cool would that be?

              No, it was more like a bright crescent. Apparently, a lot of people embodied the moon: Yue/Yukito, Usagi, and Sokka’s girlfriend (who had also gone by the name Yue). Maybe the moon was their key to getting home, that or Kaiba.

              “It’s a nice night out,” Willow said, grabbing his arm. “Serene and peaceful. Makes it better that I’m with you!”

              He felt his heart leap. Willow smiled at him, pulling him closer. Even if everything else was going wrong, he was glad he had Willow back.

              They sat down near a patch of flowers growing in a fenced area, stargazing. Everything was so calm, so different than the craziness of the past few days—weeks—months—years. If he thought about it for too long, his whole life had been pretty crazy. Being the Golden Guard was never easy or quiet. He was always either studying or going on missions for Belos. His first act of rebellion had been keeping Flap; he never regretted that decision. Flap had been his first real friend. Then he’d actively rebelled against his duties and joined Hexside’s Flyer Derby team; he’d met Gus and Willow. Plus, Darius had helped him create his own social media. He got to keep his friends! When he found out the truth, when he found out about being a grimwalker, his life had been uprooted. A part of him had wanted to stay blissfully ignorant when it first happened, but if he had, he wouldn’t have gone back to Hexside to help everyone when Adrien attacked the school. And he’d actually enjoyed his time in the human world—sans being possessed by Belos…and Flapjack sacrificing himself. Now he was studying under Mr. Clawthorne and learning to make palismans, enjoying his time with his friends, and he had the best, strongest, and most beautiful girlfriend in all the Boiling Isles. His life had never been better, and it was because of all the crazy events that had happened in such rapid succession.

Although he was scared now, there was still some positives to his situation: the new people they’d met, like Usagi, Zuko, Sokka, Katara, Miles, his roommates, other guests of the shrine, and even Kaiba had been pretty good friends to have during all this bizarre business with the talismans, demons, witches, and…Belos. How he was alive again, Hunter didn’t know. He was acting just as self-righteous as when he’d died. He hadn’t flinched when he tried to kill him…again. If it hadn’t been for Miles grabbing all of the talismans in that moment, the witch and Belos might’ve gotten away with them. It didn’t matter if they were a family once, Belos still wanted him dead. He tried to tell himself that it didn’t matter, that he had family besides Belos, but sometimes, it was just hard to get over. He’d spent so many years of his life trying to gain his uncle’s approval and love, and it didn’t mean anything.

“Hunter, are you okay?”

Willow’s voice snapped him out of his thoughts. He rubbed the back of his neck. “Um-yeah. I’m fine…what about you?”

“I’m worried, I’m not gonna lie,” Willow said. She squeezed his hand. “But I’m also determined to keep you safe!”

Hunter could feel himself blushing, but it also warmed his heart. “Hey, tomorrow do you want to go out? Just the two of us? Usagi said there was this really nice restaurant not far from the shrine, and I’ve been saving up enough yen doing odd jobs here and there. I thought…it might be nice.”

Willow looked up at him; her eyes were so pretty in the light of the moon. “That’s so sweet, Hunter! Of course I’d love to go!”

“C-cool!”

“You might want to postpone those plans.”

Both Seto Kaiba and Wyll Ravengard walked up the stone path leading up to the mansion, they seemed to have noticed Hunter and Willow hanging out in the courtyard ahead of them.

“What do you mean?” Hunter asked.

“I mean that everyone here tonight is in danger,” Kaiba said. “They can’t enact their little plan if they don’t have at least three of the talismans. I’ve read that much.”

“So Katara was right,” Willow said. “You didn’t return the books.”

“If I had,” Kaiba said. “I would’ve missed one of the most important memories. So long as they don’t get three talismans, they can’t enact their little summoning ritual. I’m not sure what all it entails, but a lot of people will die if that happens.”

At that moment, all the doors in the house slammed shut, as did the windows. The windows fogged up by some purple mist as the screams inside were cut off by coughing and thuds.

“And they’re going to pull it off if we don’t stop them now!”

“We need to find a way in,” Willow said. “Let’s try the back door; I saw Miles and Usagi go out to the balcony earlier. Maybe we can regroup with them.”

All three of them nodded in agreement, rushing to the back entrance. There was some sort of squabble as they heard Giorno yell “MUDA!” A man, with the stature of a statue went careening over the side of the balcony overhead. Wyll acted quickly and pulled everyone away from the man. The man, for his part, was able to grab onto one of the ledges on the lower levels and land on his feet. He glared up at the balcony as they heard glass shatter.

His attention turned to the four of them. “You—all four of you—stay right here.”

Kaiba laughed. “I’d hardly take orders from someone like you.”

He turned to the Wyll, Willow, and Hunter. “This is Miguel O’Hara. I’ve been informed that he’s working with those rogue senshi. Isn’t that right, Mr. O’Hara?”

“You don’t understand,” the man said. “I’m only doing what needs to be done!”

Wyll grimaced. “I think, as two mature adults here, we have very differing opinions on what needs to be done. After all, who blames children for the actions of fate? I’m sure you’re aware fate is a very fickle lady.” He frowned and shook his head. “We can’t control what the deities seem fit to throw at us, but we can control how we approach our own circumstances. We can guide our own fates to something better than was originally intended.”

“You have no idea what we’re up against,” the man countered. “There’s no way to fight back against total erasure. If all spacetime continues to bleed from the very gushy wound, eventually, it’ll give out. It’ll be a total implosion.”

“And you know this how?” Kaiba argued. “Because by my estimates, you have no idea what in the hell you’re talking about. You’re going off baseless assumptions!”

“I don’t have time for this,” the man said.

“Neither do we.”

“Dolor!”

Miguel was blasted backwards by a dark red hue of malevolent energy. He tried to get up again, when he was tossed aside by a red blur that emerged from the ground. The bright yellow grin and red eyes automatically struck terror. “Well hello there!”

“Alastor, what are you doing here?” Kaiba growled.

“Helping a friend,” Alastor said. “Can’t have Mr. O’Hara ruin my fun, can I?”

“You’re the one who started this!” Kaiba argued. “You’re the reason we’re all in danger!”

“No, that’s Mr. Giovanna’s fault. You can discuss that with him later. Oh! Do tell him I look forward to working with him and Mr. Morales in the very near future. Of course, you’ve seen what comes next, haven’t you, Mr. Kaiba?”

“As much as I don’t care for Giorno, Miles is a valuable asset. You keep away from him!”

“Careful, Mr. Kaiba, one might begin to consider you actually have a human heart.”

Wyll shook his head. “He’s trying to distract us! Come, we need to get inside. We can climb the walls!”

“I’ve got a better idea,” Hunter said. “Everybody just lock arms.”

Kaiba raised an eyebrow. “Why?”

“Because I can teleport us up there. We can help Giorno and whoever else is trying to fight off whoever set off that trap.”

“I'm skeptical that you could, yet intrigued that you may.”

“Just grab an arm!” Willow said.

As soon as they were interlinked, Hunter focused on the balcony and with a few zigs and zags teleported them just above the stone floor, careful to avoid the glass.

              There were a few people, already inside, fighting against a group of daimon that looked like one of those weird marionette monsters in Cosmic Frontier. The guests—their friends were passed out and scattered along the ballroom floor, even Hooty was unconscious. And it seemed like he had tried to hit a couple of the monsters before zonking out. Giorno, Miles, Katara, and some old guy they’d never seen before were doing their best to keep them away from innocent party guests, but they were quickly being outnumbered. Not only that, but they seemed to be multiplying every time they were broken by Giorno’s Golden Experience, Miles’s and the old man’s strength, or Katara’s waterbending.

              “Hey,” Willow said, turning to Seto. “Do you think you could summon one of those monsters of yours? I think I’ve got a plan. I’m going to group all those monsters together with vines. You hit them with your monster.”

              Kaiba nodded. “Go ahead.”

              Willow turned back to the monsters, her eyes glowing green as vines sprouted from the marble, ensnaring the marionette monsters. Kaiba shuffled through his deck, placing cards into another field, the graveyard, if Hunter was reading his disc-thing correctly.

              “I summon Blue Eyes White Dragon!”

              The massive dragon with features of its card name appeared in the room. It threw its head back and launched a beam of light at the marionettes, incinerating them all. Kaiba smirked. “And that’s how you dispose of trash.”

              He turned to Willow. “Thank you for your help, it was very kind.”

              “Gods, you sound like Astarion,” Wyll said with a laugh.

              “Don’t ever say that again.”

              Hunter decided to turn to the most responsible person in the room, who could fill them in on what they missed. “Katara, what happened?”

              “Eudial released a smoke bomb that knocked everyone out and the horde of daimon that Willow and Kaiba took care of. And now, she won’t leave.”

              They had neglected to see Eudial fuming in the corner of the room as others started to wake up. Eudial stamped her foot. “I could just set the whole place ablaze to reduce the stench of failure.”

              “Calm yourself, Eudial,” an eerie voice chastised. Hunter’s heart sank as Belos materialized from the floor. “It will all end soon; this wasn’t the proper night. The moon wasn’t full.”

              “You understand waterbenders are at their most powerful under a full moon?” Katara asked. “I don’t care who you are, if you try to hurt my friends, I’ll put an end to it!”

              “Such fire from a waterbenders,” Belos remarked. “You young heroes are all the same, so arrogant, so strong in the belief that you will always triumph if you believe hard enough. But good, true good, always triumphs in the end.”

              The old man laughed. “You can’t be serious! You go around murdering people and still think you’ve got some sort of moral high ground? Not to mention that most of your targets are children.”

              “Well said!” Wyll agreed. “Actually, I had a rather similar line of thought just earlier.”

              “See?” Belos asked. “You’re all very well the same. You have the same dead ideas, you repeat yourselves, and you will be doomed to repeat this cycle. No matter how the outcome of our future battle plays out, you’re going to face the harsh truth that your truth is faulty. Soon enough, everything will end, and none of you will have to suffer anymore. Isn’t that far more pleasant of an outcome than to keep eternally fighting for heartbreak and evil?”

              “You’re wrong!” Hunter objected. Belos looked at him, and even though he never wanted to see his uncle again, he couldn’t help but argue. Sure, it wouldn’t change anything, but he needed to stand up to him! He wouldn’t continue to be his uncle’s pawn. “The only time I was suffering was when I was being controlled by you! I thought we were a family. I used to think you cared, all I ever did was try to earn your respect—you love. But it was never going to happen. Ever since I met Luz, I’ve met friends—people I love—and people who love me! This world is beautiful. Yeah, even this one. Sure, it’s a mess, and not everyone always gets along perfectly, but that’s kind of what makes it special. If we didn’t have our idealism, if we didn’t fight for the people we love, we’d be soulless husks—like you. You can’t steal their hearts! I won’t let you hurt them!”

Hunter waited, but Belos merely sneered at him and turned away.

Before Hunter could speak up, Mr. Ravengard did. “Excuse me, but it seems to me you could at least acknowledge what your son is saying.”

“He’s not my son,” Belos said simply.

“In any case, you raised him, did you not?” Wyll asked, his glare fixed on Belos. “He just poured his heart out, and you can’t even be bothered to acknowledge him?”

“What business is it of yours?” Belos asked.

              “For the record,” the old man said. “I think you’re kind of an ass, too. I wouldn’t ignore my daughter or my grandson if they had something important to tell me.”

              “I’ll say this now,” Wyll said, drawing a sword that looked like it was made from fire. “You try and hurt any of these children, and I’ll make sure your reanimation ends permanently. I swear on my oath as the Blade.”

              “We’ll see,” Belos said. “Come, Eudial. We’ll be off now.”

              Belos and Eudial disappeared in the blink of an eye. Hunter’s knees wobbled, he might’ve toppled over if Willow hadn’t grabbed him.

              She kissed his cheek. “I think that was very brave.”

              Hunter wiped his eyes. “Th-thanks.”

              Seto chuckled. “I’m jealous. I wish I could’ve done the same with my…father.”

              “Hopefully you won’t have to,” Hunter joked, wiping his hands on his shirt.

              “Hey, uh,” Miles interjected. “Sorry to interrupt the moment, but we should probably wake up the others.”

              “You’re right,” Seto said. “I’ve got a lot to explain. You’ll stay with me tonight. I can’t risk anyone ending up in the hands of the deathbusters. Not now.”

              “What did you find out?” Giorno asked.

              “A lot,” he looked at Katara. “I did mean to keep my word to return the books, but this was important. I had to make sure. And I was right. Everything Belos just said confirms it.”

              “What did he mean?” Katara asked.

              “They need three of the talisman holders,” Kaiba explained. “As long as they can gather three, they can force the rest to follow. I don’t know how, but they’ve built some sort of technology that needs three forms of bio-signatures. Once they’ve got that, every other talisman holder is doomed. And Alastor just gave them a list of every single person who has one hidden inside them. I…received the list from Alastor, too. I think he’s mocking us.”

              “Of course he is,” Miles said.

              “Let me guess,” Giorno said. “You blame me?”

              Seto shook his head. “Given I wouldn’t have made a deal with the Radio Demon, either, it would be hypocritical. That, and I’m tired. If we don’t make our next moves carefully, there may be none to play.”

              …

              Alastor wiped his hands on his jacket. “Thank you for another forgettable fight!”

              Miguel struggled to stand up. “Don’t flatter yourself. The vampire kid and the warlock did most of the damage.”

              “And you’re going to boast about that?” Alastor asked, raising an eyebrow.

              “Why help them?” Miguel asked. “You’re just going to make them suffer!”

              “And you’re not?” Alastor asked. “By Lucifer, they’re right, you really are a hypocrite!”

              “…It’s not my intent,” Miguel said. “Under different circumstances, I’d leave them be. But I can’t. I figure you already know that, diablo.”

              “It’s Alastor.”

              “Alastor,” Miguel said. “Why are some of the spaces blank on the list?”

              And reveal a good majority of his clientele, his business partner, her girlfriend, and her father to be talisman holders? He thought not. Besides, his management would definitely have a problem with that, and while he was still tethered to their will, he couldn’t make a slipup that huge.

              “Who knows?” Alastor shrugged. “It’s a mystery to me!”

              “You’re not one of the—?”

              Alastor laughed in his face. “No! I’d never even taken the chance at releasing the lists if I were.”

              Alastor paused. “May I ask a question?”

              “…Go on.”

              “You do know that if you hurt Mr. Morales, I will have to end you, right?”

              “Why do you care?” Miguel asked.

              “Because those heroes,” Alastor explained. “They’re the key. Perhaps you don’t see the use in them, but I do. You’re a fool if you can’t recognize their souls’ potential. If you leave it alone, I’ll be the one to watch the light leave their eyes. Simply do nothing, and your precious timeline problem will be handled. You can even have the talismans. All I’m interested in is souls.”

              “The two are intertwined,” Miguel argued.

              “Unless you can separate them” Alastor said. “I can do that. And I feel like Mr. Giovanna and Mr. Morales will be needing to make a deal with me very soon.”

              …

              When Kaiba said he was keeping everyone at Kaiba Corp, he was serious. He’d brought Miles’s parents from the shrine, just to make sure they were safe, or to make sure Miles wouldn’t go after them if something were to happen. In any case, Miles was grateful.

              Right now, everyone was in the couch pit, watching a movie. Mokuba had managed to get Seto to sit down for five minutes and join them, he grumbled about being too busy, though. All of the older people, his parents, Peter, the BG3 Gang, both Mr. Joestars (which was weird because Jonathan turned out to be Joseph’s granddad), Avdol, Luke, Mr. Wright, Mr. Edgeworth, Raine, Eda, Alador, and Darius took up council in a secure meeting room. Miss Fey and Polnareff decided to stick with them, probably because they either got bored during the meeting or they were asked to keep an eye on things. Miles decided it was likely the latter.

              Seto had explained everything to everyone else, so the atmosphere was tense. For now, Miles was trying to forget about him and Giorno being a target. He was content to watch this god-awful romance movie with him and their friends as he drifted in and out of consciousness.

              “This guy is clearly a stalker!” Sokka complained, pointing at Edward Cullen’s face.

              “This movie is trash,” Kaiba agreed. “Who picked this film?”

              “You guys need to see the beauty in bad movies,” Sasha argued.

              “No, I think pretty boy had it right,” Haruka said.

              For some reason, Haruka and Michiru were on the list of talisman holders. Miles wasn’t sure why, and he was kind of curious to know. However, Usagi didn’t want to press the issue. She didn’t want to scare her friends.

              “Vampire romance is bullshit,” Jotaro argued.

              “Tav seems pretty happy,” William said. “Not every vampire is evil.”

              “Because Astarion is such a great example of a stand-up guy,” Kakyoin argued.

              “He is helping us, so…” William argued.

              “Why is everything in this film blue?” Amity asked. “Not that blue is a bad color, it’s just like, they filmed in blue.”

              “Actually, they did,” Steven said. “They put a blue filter over everything to make it seem more creepy or isolated, I think.”

              “How do you know that?” Connie asked.

              “I…read it somewhere,” Steven said.

              “Do you like this movie?”

              “It’s got a cute concept.”

              “Steven!”

              “I agree,” Usagi said. “To love someone so much you’d live forever with them—that’s gonna be me and Mamo!”

              “Hopefully I won’t be a vampire,” Mamoru commented. “Though, if I get to be with you, it’d be alright.”

              “Aw! Mamo!”

              “I regret every single one of my life choices that led me here,” Kaiba muttered under his breath.

              As things began to wind down and people started to relax and doze off, Miles felt Giorno pull him closer. “This movie really does suck—no pun intended.”

              Miles laughed. “A lot of people watch this film to make fun of it.”

              “I guess I could see the value in that.”

              Miles leaned against Giorno; today had been long and bittersweet. He was going to sleep for as long as he could, no matter how much his mind begged him to stay awake.

              “Hey Miles,” Giorno murmured.

              “Mmm?”

              “I…wanted to let you know that none of this is your fault. It doesn’t matter what Miguel said. You’re not responsible for any of this. And I’ll help you prove it.”

              “Thank you, Gio,” Miles said with a sleepy grin. “And just so you know, I feel the very same way about you. You’re one of the coolest people I know; I won’t let anyone say otherwise.”

              “Thank you, Miles, for everything.”

              …

              Rio Morales just wanted to check in on Miles, even if Jeff said they were fine. The wizard-man, Gale, had set up some sort of protection spell around the building, and he was keeping watch with his strange vampire friend and the knight. This world was weird. The sanest person they’d met was Camila, and she was a saint. She’d gone with her daughter to the ‘Demon-Realm’ to help fight off some sort of slime creature with just a bat.

              Astarion had provided them a list of names of people who would be targeted by those evil witches (apparently there was a Wizard of Oz distinction between good witches and bad witches). A lot of the children were being targeted. Rio wasn’t sure what these talismans were, but she did know she wouldn’t let anyone hurt Miles. She was praying that their plan would pay off.

              Rio, Karlach, Raine, Gale, Jonathan, and Darius carried blankets, making sure everyone had one. Karlach frowned. “Hold on.”

              She glanced around the room, spotted a desk and sighed. She walked over to it, took a quick drink of some sort of potion, and picked up the tall, lanky boy in the white coat who had a paper stuck to the side of his face.

              “He’s gonna run himself into an early grave,” Karlach muttered. She laid him down into an open area of the couch, putting a blanket over him. “Poor soul.”

              “Wyll is right,” Jonathan spoke up. “You would’ve made a good mother.”

              “Nah,” Karlach said, shaking her head. “My child would’ve been absolutely wild.”

              She paused. “But it hasn’t been so bad. I don’t mind helping these two. They deserved better than they got.”

              Rio smiled. It was nice to see someone happy here. She continued to walk around the room until she found Miles with Giorno. If they were trying to keep anything secret, they were doing a terrible job. Miles had fallen asleep with his head on his shoulder. Rio chuckled and placed a blanket over them. She was sure he’d tell her on his own time.

              “Will you help me?”

              Rio looked at Jonathan who was standing beside her. “With what?”

              “It’s a long story, but Giorno…biologically speaking…he’s mine.”

              “I thought that vampire guy was his dad?”

              “He is,” Jonathan said. Rio raised an eyebrow. “It’s complicated. The long and short of it is that DIO stole my body. He won, and he wants to ruin Giorno’s life. His life has already been hard, and I want him to know that I’m on his side, but I was long dead before he was born. If I could have protected him, I would have. I want to protect him now. I don’t want DIO to manipulate him or force him into doing something he’ll regret, perhaps for eternity.”

              “I…what can I do?” Rio asked.

              “Just talk to him,” Jonathan said. “Every attempt I’ve made falls on deaf ears. I don’t know what to do to convince him to let me help. Perhaps, coming from someone he trusts, it might make a difference.”

              “I can try,” Rio said. She frowned. “Probrecito.”

              Even if Jonathan’s story was a little strange, she wouldn’t allow someone who had protected her son to be turned into some evil, undead creature.

              None of these kids would get hurt, not while she was around.

[leviathanlazarus]

Smother the Flame in Your Heart - Part V

Read on Ao3

Pairing: Danny Wagner x Sam Kiszka

Word Count: ~4900

Warnings: some sexy time [18+ only!]

This was a really fun chapter for me to write. Hope you enjoy <3

---

“You sure you’re ready for this?” Sam asked while he watched Danny get dressed, a sight he never got tired of. But it was particularly endearing and strangely arousing this evening, because his boyfriend was pulling a goofy green and red striped Christmas sweater over his head. “Us Kiszka boys go pretty hard for the holidays.” 

“As we all do in this town,” Danny said, stepping in front of his mirror. He straightened the hem of the sweater, then fiddled with the red and gold pom-poms lining the collar. He cocked his head to the side. “Is this too stupid?”

“Nah.” Sam remained lying on Danny’s bed, legs folded up behind himself, resting his chin in his arms, gazing up at him. “I like it.”

Danny caught his gaze in the mirror for a moment before whipping around. “But you’re dressed all nice. Should I not wear this ridiculous sweater?”

“It’s ridiculous and you look ridiculously hot,” Sam said, stretching his arms out to grab at it. “Want me to wear one too? I don’t mind. In fact, it’d be even hotter if we matched.” He craned his neck upward while trying to pull Danny down: “I want everyone to know we’re together.”

Danny liked that idea. “Okay,” he said, taking Sam’s hands in his own while he turned to look at his open closet. “We could match. But how stupid do you want your sweater to be? Shamefully, I have a few to choose from.”

Sam rolled off the bed and met him at the closet, humming as he rifled through the different materials. A red and white sweater caught his attention, the front stitched with a garish silver reindeer, the shoulders adorned with little bells. “What about this one?” he asked, holding it up against his torso. “You got it from the women’s section in Goodwill, right?”

“Josie got it for me. So, yeah, probably.” 

Sam snickered. He stepped back and unbuttoned the much nicer, much more stylish shirt he’d started out with, and pulled the sweater over his undershirt, imagining how many other Christmas parties the sweater had experienced before. This one would be the best though, he thought, because there would be unlimited booze, weed and he had a sweet, sexy man on his arm. A man who just happened to be a vampire, Sam remembered, which prompted the question of, “So you’re gonna be okay tonight?” 

Danny went to his dresser, inspecting his array of necklaces. “Yeah, I think so. I’ll be with you–that always helps.”

“I just know it’s gonna be a decent amount of people,” Sam said, coming up behind him to wrap his arms around Danny’s middle. “If you feel overwhelmed or something, just tell me. We’ll dip out.”

Danny smiled at him in the mirror. “Maybe we could have a signal if I just need a break.” 

“Okay. What signal?” 

After a brief moment of consideration, Danny said, “Honestly, you’ll probably be able to tell from my face.”

Sam brought his own face to the side of Danny’s neck and playfully nipped at his skin. “And what a beautiful face you have, Daniel. It’s hard for me to not look at you all the time so, yeah, I’ll be cognizant of that.”

Temptation was still always strong with Sam but as the days of them being together had gone on, Danny felt more and more like he was in control of it. He hadn’t lost that control with Sam since Halloween despite the numerous, exceptionally challenging moments, which was practically every time they did anything more than just kiss, and he wanted to keep up that streak for as long as possible. He’d prepared himself well in anticipation of this Christmas party and was repeating the same mantra over and over in his head: I can do this. I can do this because I love Sam and I won’t hurt him ever again. 

Nevertheless, Danny felt the rising mountain of another challenge facing him when he and Sam arrived at the shared Kiszka house. They weren’t the first to arrive but the few friends around couldn’t offset the jarring titillation of Sam’s twin brothers, titillating because not only were they also very pretty like Sam with their high cheekbones, soft dark eyes, strong brows and plush lips, but Danny instantly realized that all three of them smelled similar. And smelled very good. Standing there in the kitchen with all three of them, while Sam crouched in front of the fridge for specific beverages his brothers hadn’t put out yet, Jake readied plates of appetizers and Josh sidled right up to Danny to ask him a hundred questions, Danny could smell all of them more distinctly than anyone else in that house. 

Sam still made his mouth water like no other. Danny was confident there was no one else on the planet who would ever smell as good–he’d become even better to Danny’s senses since their first night together, since Danny’s adoration and respect of him grew stronger by the minute. But Josh and Jake smelled divine too–Josh smelled brighter, like the scent of sunshine itself weaved through his veins. Jake smelled greener and darker, like his soul lived in the depths of a pine forest. There was something connecting all of them, a natural, deep scent so similar, nearly identical, between all three that Danny didn’t really have words for but what his jagged senses zeroed in on as soon as they were all in the same room. 

“I like the sweaters,” Josh said, toying with one of the pom-poms on Danny’s. “It’s cute that you guys are matching. We’ve been wondering when we’d all meet–Sam’s been hiding you.”

“No,” Sam said, rising from the lower level of the fridge with two beers in hand. “It hasn’t even been two months.” He wasn’t saying that to diminish the relationship, which he hoped Danny knew–he just wanted his nosy brother to know that boyfriends and girlfriends meeting the family was not normally an instantaneous thing. Not only that, but Danny had expressed concerns about this meeting–and not just normal boyfriend concerns–well before the time had finally come. 

“What’s this?” Danny asked when Sam thrust one of the beers at him. The label was unfamiliar, depicting a snow-covered tree against a night sky. “A special Christmas beer?”

“Exactly,” Jake said, glancing over while he plated stuffed mushrooms. “They’re disgusting, which is why they’re not out for guests.”

Sam laughed, twisting the top off of his bottle. “I bought a six-pack for all of us to try. It’s not that bad.” 

“I feel like you’re lying,” Danny remarked, but he took a sip. The taste of overly hoppy beer accosted his tongue, the aftertaste as though he had inhaled and somehow swallowed the standard artificial smell that was Christmas. He coughed and set the bottle down on the counter. “Jesus Christ, Sam. Please don’t drink that.”

Sam shrugged as he swallowed. “I don’t waste alcohol, even if it’s bad alcohol.” 

“In this case, I believe you should,” Josh said, then opened the fridge to pull out a tray of red and green jello shots. “Danny, have this instead and ignore Sam’s bad taste.”

Three jello shots and two and a half beers later, Danny was riding a warm, languid buzz. He was sitting on the couch sipping and watching, feeling somewhat detached but not in an isolated, dreary way–actually, he was really enjoying observing Sam. His new boyfriend was so bright and talkative with everyone, moving from person to person, from group to group, with admirable ease and subtle grace, although Danny could tell just how buzzed he was too. Danny never minded hanging back a bit and listening. He liked bouncing from each conversation, storing tidbits of useless information away, but at this Christmas party there was an abundance of interesting information being thrown about and observations to take in. From paying such close attention to Sam and intermittently chatting with Kiszka friends and the brothers themselves, he felt like he was learning a lot. 

“Dan the Man,” Josh greeted, planting himself in the leftover space on the couch. “Do you approve of the party?”

“Yeah, absolutely,” Danny said with a soft chuckle. “It’s fun. You guys know a lot of people.” They really did–the house was packed. The psychological distraction of being a new guest was helping in overriding the thirst that always lingered, but being right next to another Kiszka caused a sudden jolt of unhinged desire. It was just how it was, Danny knew, but it didn’t make his condition any less frustrating. Sometimes he wished he could just tell people to back off because he wanted to literally sink his teeth into them so badly. 

“I’m glad you’re here. I know Sam is too,” Josh said, relaxing back into the couch, balancing his cocktail on his knee. “He was really hung up on you after Halloween. I couldn’t get much information out of him then but since you two have officially been together, all he does is talk about you.” Josh chuckled, smiling warmly at him. “Or rather, all he does is gush about you.”

“Really?” Danny asked, looking around the living room to try and locate his boyfriend again, but he’d disappeared. “That makes me feel better.”

“Better?”

Danny cleared his throat, looking at Josh again. “Yeah, y’know–I just felt bad about being MIA for a while there. But I was dealing with some stuff, I guess, and didn’t want to bring him down.”

Josh literally waved those words away. “No need to worry about that now. Besides, you two really look like you’re made for one another.” He leaned in until their shoulders were touching; Danny wasn’t sure if Josh truly was always this inclined to be close to people or if he was also veering on the edge of being drunk. “Sam’s never had a real best friend before. Besides Jake and I, I mean.”

Danny appreciated Josh foregoing prefacing or ending that statement with the proclamation of it being so early in the relationship, perhaps too early to say that; it was true. Danny and Sam had become fast best friends beyond just boyfriends. He’d never had much of a best friend either. Sam was everything he’d ever wanted times a thousand.

Once he and Josh both went to get fresh drinks, Danny went off to actually find Sam. Weaving through the other guests, he was relieved with how much easier things had gone on as the night progressed. It was the first time he felt close to normal in a long time; no one in the house knew him as anything other than a normal guy. It was only when he ran into Jake that he felt that sudden onset of abnormalcy once again. Why did the Kiszkas have to all be so tempting?

“Hey man,” Jake said, slurring his words a little, wearing a black puffer jacket that looked a little too big on him. He seemed considerably drunker than Josh and Danny, wavering a bit while he stood in front of him, half-blocking his way through the kitchen. “Do you smoke?” 

Danny found it amusing that Jake was offering that when he already looked stoned. He figured that was just an intrinsic characteristic of the twin at this point–the dark features perpetually shadowed, the sleepy, rough voice. “Yeah, I’m down for a smoke,” he agreed, though a little ripple of worry nagged at him. Wasn’t this how things had begun with Sam?

Jake led the way through the kitchen, stopping to grab himself and Danny two more beers, then through the back door. A fine layer of snow was underfoot, coating the wooden deck, and Danny realized that he’d forgotten to grab his own coat. The air was surprisingly mild though, lacking the usual bitter Michigan wind that would nip dangerously at his exposed skin; instead, the trees were still and the slate gray sky remained cloudless and silent. He watched as Jake pulled a blue and green glass bowl from his jacket pocket, then used his forearm to brush a square of snow away from the deck railing, resting his beer and the bowl on top while he fished around in another pocket, retrieving a little plastic container of weed. 

“Are you having fun?” Jake asked, hair hanging in his face, the angles of his face in shadow, illuminated by the lights overhead, as he crumbled a bud. 

“Yeah, dude,” Danny answered, taking a sip of his beer. The cold had an advantage, actually–the air was so stiff that Jake’s scent had diminished. “Thanks for letting me join. I haven’t been to a Christmas party that wasn’t just my family in a while.”

Jake nodded, packing the bowl, then looked up when he was done, eyes scanning Danny. “Aren’t you cold?”

Danny shook his head, drinking again. “Nah, I’m okay,” he said, resting his beer next to Jake’s as the bowl and lighter was being passed to him. “It’s kinda nice out, actually.” 

“Sam said you play a bunch of instruments,” Jake said, hands in his pockets while he waited for Danny to pass the bowl back to him. “Drums, right?”

Danny nodded as he exhaled. “Drums, guitar, ukulele. I’ll try anything.” 

Jake looked pleased, pink cheeks curving with his toothy smile. “That’s awesome. We’re all musicians.” 

“Yeah, Sam said you and Josh basically forced him to play bass when you guys were younger.”

Jake laughed before taking his hit. “‘Forced’ is an exaggeration,” he said, then inhaled the cherry still glowing. “But yeah, we needed a bass player. Now he loves it. You should jam with us sometime.”

Danny smiled, although carefully. No good in showing his fangs. “That’d be sick, man. I’d love to.” 

Jake smiled back again. “Sam’s never had a boyfriend before, you know,” he said, leaning back against the railing while Danny took the bowl. “It’s interesting.”

“Why?” Danny asked, genuine curiosity strong with the aid of alcohol and the high now seeping into his brain. 

“Sam had a lifetime of being babied, which sometimes involved getting bossed around. Now, I think he likes to be more in charge,” Jake explained, looking thoughtful, face half-turned to gaze out at the dark, snow-covered yard. “But now I’m curious–you look sort of like the type who’d be leading, but maybe you’re not? You’re quiet. You don’t have an ego about you.”

Danny laughed a little, surprised and actually a little flattered at how well Jake could read him beyond his physicality while being far from sober. “No, I don’t think so. But yeah, I mean, I’d like to think it’s equal,” he said. He couldn’t tell Jake that Sam had told Danny he liked not being in charge. At least not in the bedroom. “Sam’s very quick to say what he likes and doesn’t like. What he does and doesn’t wanna do.” 

Jake took the spent bowl back from Danny and tapped out the ashes. “Yeah, that’s very Sam. We should all be more like him.” He looked up at Danny again, smirking. “Just maybe with a little more tact.”

Danny was feeling exceptionally good by the time he was searching for Sam again. Other partygoers were beginning to leave and he realized then how late it was–nearly midnight. He found himself stumbling a bit as he meandered through the house, finally finding his boyfriend emerging from what Danny presumed was his own bedroom.

“Oh hey,” Sam greeted, smiling so big that Danny knew he was pretty plastered as well. He was holding something behind his back, arms tucked behind himself. “Enjoying yourself?”

“So much,” Danny said, craning his neck to try and sneak a peek at what Sam was coveting. “Whatcha got there, Sammy?”

Sam shuffled to the side, still hiding whatever it was behind himself. “Your present. But I forgot to wrap it so I gotta go do that.”

Danny laughed. “You’re giving it to me tonight? It doesn’t need to be wrapped.” His face fell quickly and he said, “Oh shit. I didn’t bring yours with me.”

Sam laughed. “Chill. I didn’t expect you to get me anything at all.” Not exactly a lie, but he was glad to hear Danny had–he would have been pissed if his new boyfriend had neglected to. He stepped forward to quickly brush his nose against Danny’s, then bolted away and began to bound down the stairs. “Be right back! Go wait in my room.”

Danny did, sitting on Sam’s bed and gazing around the room in wonder. It felt so intimate to be in there. A person’s bedroom was a vivid window into the intricacies of their interests, desires, hopes and accomplishments and Sam’s was endlessly fascinating. From the artwork and photographs that dotted the walls and surfaces, all framed, some mounted, to the softness of the sheets beneath him, the rich, dark wood of the dresser, bedframe, desk and nightstand that all matched; even the pile of dirty laundry in the corner was interesting to Danny, in part because it smelled so viscerally like Sam. He’d happily sleep in that pile just as happily as he’d sleep in Sam’s bed, which he was gleefully looking forward to doing. 

“Okay, I’m back,” Sam announced from the hall, careening into the doorway with an abrupt stumble. “Oops!” Danny laughed, both humored and alarmed at his boyfriend’s level of clumsiness while inebriated. He stood up and guided Sam into the room, and instead of going back to the bed, Sam dragged Danny down to the floor with him. He dropped the gift, wrapped a little messily in shiny green paper, into Danny’s lap and looked at him with excited, expectant puppy eyes: “Open it.”

“You really didn’t have to get me anything,” Danny said, running his fingers over the paper.

“Shut up, yes I did,” Sam said with a scoff, scooching in close. “Open it.”

Danny wasn’t sure what to expect, but he wasn’t expecting to receive what Sam had chosen for him. It was just something he’d mentioned in passing and not particularly, objectively special–Joni Mitchell's Blue--and his jaw dropped as he pulled back the paper and saw it in its totality. It was something he would have gotten for himself eventually, but the fact that Sam had zeroed in on that random comment he’d made weeks ago made it truly special. 

“Wow, Sam. Thank you,” he said, so much love squeezing his heart that it actually hurt. After a few more seconds of bewilderment, he tore his eyes away from his present and laid his gaze on his real gift, leaning in to kiss Sam’s lips softly. “This is awesome. Thank you so much.”

Sam giggled, wrapping his long limbs entirely around Danny, climbing over into his lap. “You’re welcome, beautiful.” He ran his fingers through Danny’s hair. “What’d you think of the party? Sorry I kept disappearing.”

“It’s okay. I got to talk to your brothers more,” Danny told him, hands on Sam’s waist. “They’re really cool. I like ‘em a lot. I hope they like me too.” 

“They do. Jake’s sorta particular with who he smokes with.”

“Oh, you saw that?”

“No, but I wish I did. He told me about it.” 

Danny brought one hand to Sam’s face, fingers grazing his flushed cheeks. “So where’d you keep going off to?” 

Sam rolled his eyes and groaned. “I’m too popular. People kept wanting to take shots with me and shit.” He rolled his hips, arching his back and bringing his face closer to Danny’s. “It was exhausting.”

Danny’s hands roamed back down to that narrow waist as he laughed. “Oh yeah? It’s exhausting being so popular? Please.” 

Sam tilted his head, grinning. “Please what?”

“Get real.”

Sam ducked, planting his mouth on Danny’s neck. “I am real, Daniel. Real popular, real drunk, real ready to have the present I want the most,” he said, pawing below at Danny’s crotch, which forced Danny to completely move his present aside for safety. 

“Maybe we should help your brothers clean up,” Danny suggested, too late–he was already getting hard with Sam’s wanting, wandering hands and the comfortable weight on top of his thighs. But he still felt better by offering.

Sam only scoffed again, kissing his neck and grinding on top of him. “They can do it themselves. Come on, Danny,” he pleaded, lifting his head to make eye contact. “Kiss me again.”

“Gladly,” Danny told him, cupping Sam’s face to do just that. Sam relaxed against him, limbs loosening, letting Danny take the lead there. The challenge surged up within his body like another invisible mountain–the urge to do much more than kiss softly with only lips and slight tongue–but he held fast, held onto Sam tightly, literally, and told himself that he didn’t need anything else. He was fully satiated no matter how much his body tried to tell him otherwise. 

Sam was feeling far from satiated. He moved wantonly on top of Danny, extra-squirmy from the alcohol and from the hormones that had subsequently been raging quite ferociously all night. “So, Danny, tell me,” he began, having to cut himself off when Danny found the ticklish spot below his ear. Sam laughed and snapped himself away, pinning him back against the bed by his shoulders. “Seriously. How’d it go tonight? Like, no uncontrollable urges?” 

“Obviously not,” Danny assured him, reaching his hands beneath Sam’s–really, his–sweater. “Otherwise I wouldn't still be here.” 

“So you were okay?” Sam pressed. He felt a little guilty about leaving Danny alone for as long as he had. It hadn’t been his intention. He was just easily distracted, even more so while under the influence, and had been to so many of these parties with his brothers that it felt natural to move along with it no matter what was happening.

“Yeah, I was okay.” Danny pet the fine hair beneath Sam’s navel. “Gotta be honest though. Your brothers were kind of a challenge.” 

Sam crinkled his nose with suspicion. “Why?”

Danny thought nothing of his next words while wound up in his beautiful, silly, thoughtful boyfriend: “Well, you all smell so similar. So good. Like, unbelievably good.”

That made jealousy rear its ugly head inside of Sam. He could feel it tightening his limbs until it was like he was made of twisted metal, making his heart charge and pound against his ribs. Instinctively, he almost got up out of rage, but he took a breath somehow–Danny’s expression held no desire, no lust, nothing to actually make him insecure. Sometimes it was hard to admit to himself but Sam had to do it sometimes–the world didn’t always revolve around him. 

His natural competitiveness, however, didn’t simmer so easily. But Sam was often good at turning that into part of the fun. He hummed and loosened his muscles, spread his thighs even wider over Danny’s and held that beautiful face in his hands, the heel of his palms pressed against the sharp, broad jaw. 

“Who smells the best though?” Sam asked, leaning forward to bring his neck just half an inch away from Danny’s mouth. “Be honest.”

Danny’s hands trembled slightly around Sam’s waist. “You do. Definitely the best, Sam.”

Sam curled his fingers in Danny’s hair. “Do you think I would still taste the best?”

Though he loved teasing, Danny was finding this verging on the edge of Sam taunting him, and he was finding himself verging on the edge of losing control again. “Yeah, you would,” he said, trying to go along with it. Trying to be normal. “I don’t think anyone else could compare.”

Thankfully, Sam toned it down. He laughed happily and circled his arms around Danny’s shoulders to plant a giggly kiss on his lips. “Thanks,” he said, pulling back with a sigh. It was easier to be honest when booze was involved. “I got jealous for a minute.”

“Yeah, I sensed that,” Danny said, petting Sam’s back. “You don’t need to be.”

“Everyone else should be jealous,” Sam went on, touching Danny’s ears, his neck, his jaw, his lips. “I’ve got the coolest, sexiest man on the planet.” In that little moment, he didn’t even really remember Danny was a vampire at all. Not until Danny smiled wide enough to show those fangs, and a hot surge of arousal ripped through Sam’s belly. 

“Same goes for me,” Danny told him. He flicked one of the little bells on Sam’s sweater. “You still are even in this stupid thing.” 

“It’s your sweater,” Sam reminded him with a goofy grin.

By the time Danny had both himself and Sam completely naked and on the bed, it sounded like Jake and Josh were the only ones left in the house. The sound of loud chatter and dishes being clinked together and the kitchen sink running acted as a bit of a cover for the relentless stream of sighs, squeaks and moans Sam was making, but when Danny rolled Sam onto his side and began to stroke his cock, wet with lube, Sam got even louder–so loud that Danny was sure he could be heard down below in the kitchen.

He clapped his hand over Sam’s mouth, who gave out a muffled little cry while Danny rolled his lower body on top. “Hey now,” he said, lips touching the shell of Sam’s ear. He pushed his hips forward while using his other hand to spread Sam’s legs a little, giving him just enough room to slide his cock between his thighs. “You gotta quiet down a bit.”

Sam shook his head and Danny heard him say behind his palm, “They don’t care.”

“I think they just said that to you to be nice,” Danny replied. He cared. Sure, Josh and Jake could guess what was happening in Sam’s bedroom, but he didn’t want the twins’ first impression tainted by actually hearing it. His dick was slick with lube and sliding easily between Sam’s thighs with each shove of his hips, the sensation velvety and warm, a little novel. Anything with Sam felt good, and most of the things he’d done with Sam felt new even if he’d done them before.

Sam reached an arm back to grab at any part of Danny he could, clawing at his shoulder before he got a handful of his hair. It was hard to be quiet but it was not hard to be in that position, with Danny draped over him, smothering every inch of Sam he could with his body and touching him, stroking him and humping into him, like it was all he ever wanted to do. Sam whimpered and wined against Danny’s palm, eyes closing tight when Danny closed his fist around his cock harder while coarse hair and firm abs rutted up against his lower back.

The most difficult thing for Danny was not to give into those ugly, relentless and unwanted desires he constantly had to fight. He’d gotten better at just dealing with that one part of Sam’s allure–the scent that was so strong and enticing–but it was always so much harder in these intimate moments. All that bare skin, the sweat, the heat, the musk–it all drove him wild, made him move faster and with more vigor, and the only real thing stopping him was knowing how much he’d regret it if he did it again, even if Sam asked him to. 

When Sam came with a loud but stifled whimper, body shuddering into Danny’s, Danny tucked his face through the curtain of silky hair against his neck. He was so close, even closer with how tightly Sam’s thighs squeezed his cock and how he thrust his ass back against him; Danny’s lips parted and he pressed his teeth against Sam’s skin, carefully avoiding the use of his actual fangs. If he could do that, he could do anything, he thought, and the slight victory helped him abruptly careen over the edge, his heated slick warming Sam’s thighs as he let out a long huff of relief.

Though he knew better even while drunk to say it, Sam was a little disappointed Danny didn’t just let loose and actually take what he needed, what he wanted so badly. But when he rolled over to look at his man, Danny looked so happy, all flushed and smiling, and he brushed back Sam’s hair to inspect where his mouth had been. No bite mark, no imprint of his teeth, not even a hickey–just a temporary, faintly rosy reminder that he could persevere. He could treasure Sam and they could be normal boyfriends. 

“I love your smile,” Sam told him, wrapping his leg around Danny. He felt hot and sticky but had zero intention of getting up to change that. 

Danny’s smile grew; Sam’s did in turn. “I like yours too,” he said, running his thumb over Sam’s bottom lip. “You’re so pretty, Sammy.”

Sam covered his face in his hand–Danny always made him uncharacteristically bashful. “Mm. Thank you, Danny.” He peeked through his fingers at his now very amused looking boyfriend. “You’re a god.” 

Danny laughed. “I wouldn’t go that far.” Still, hearing that was leagues better than hearing what he often said to himself. 

---

Tagging: @mackalah @sparrowofrhiannon @starbuggie @lightsofthe-living-gvf @sanguinebats @clairesjointshurt @bizzielisteningtogreta

if you'd like to be tagged in any of my fics, you can go here or DM me :)

[sheinthatfandom]

prompt: Asking permission to send a dick pic

rating: T

word count: 632 of the words in story idk how many in the texting picture

pairing: blackpool polycule, konosuke takeshita/Bryan danielson

@wrestleprompts hopefully I’m doing this right lol

“Okay, walk me through this so I understand. Bryan asked for a dick pic? Your dick?”

“Hello Yuta, I believe so yes.”

He sighed tiredly, “Hello Konosuke, can you tell me exactly what was said?”

“Well, we talked about my plans for upcoming matches. I told him that Don thinks Kenny and I should go for the tag titles but I was thinking the international championship.”

Yuta nodded along even though Takeshita couldn't see him. “Okay umm, so what, Bryan invited you to BCC?”

Yuta fought back against the hurt feelings bubbling up inside him. Bryan promised he would discuss with the group any future prospects instead of what he did with Danny.

“No no no, I do not want to join the Blackpool Combat Club and Bryan never asked me.”

Claudio walked out of the bathroom a cloud of steam drifted in behind him as he titled his head to Yuta. A silent message, he quickly shook his head letting his boyfriend know all was well.

“Okay, so you were talking about your career and which alliance you were joining okay, where did the dick pic talk come from?”

Claudio coughed out a laugh and quickly tried to cover his mouth to not interrupt the call. Yuta playfully hit the Swiss man's still wet arm before Claudio seated them both on the bed. Yutas back pressed against a warm chest.

“Ah well, I don't feel comfortable telling you. I just wanted to make sure it was okay. I don’t want to cause a rift.”

“Oh man no there’s no rift. We’re all allowed to go outside the group and me and Bryan are good now.”

Claudio kissed the side of Yutas head and he smiled. The thought of Bryan and Konosuke together was an interesting one. They both have beautiful long, soft, pull-able hair. And Takeshita looked like he’d make great noises once he had someone meticulous in doling out pleasure and hearing them. The intrigued hum from Claudio signaled Yuta wasn’t the only one thinking of the pair together and liking it.

“Look if you’re interested in him and you want my permission you got it. Send him the dick pic. Do you need advice on how to snap the photo?”

He could practically hear the eye roll through the line, “no I can do that myself thank you. Good bye Yuta”

“Bye Takeshita, have fun.”

Claudio squeezed Yuta around his middle, pressing a soft wet kiss to his neck.

“How are you feeling Hase?”

“I was telling the truth, I don’t mind Bryan and Konosuke. I’m just protective of the club I guess.”

A thoughtful hum was his only reply, the silence making Yuta continue.

“I know this is supposed to be a school and we’re going to have to bring more guys in someday but-“

“-You don’t wish to have everyone we train also share our bed. That’s understandable meine liebe, but that’s not going to happen. I don’t think any of our dicks could handle the strain.”

“Claudio!

“I mean, if we had 100 students even with the 4 of us that’s only so many holes we could fill.”

Yuta was crying through his laughter, his abs hurting from laughing so hard. “Oh my god Claudio, I can’t!”

“Neither can I, even with pills I can’t see it being done. I guess I’ll just have to fill myself with you then.”

Yuta was flipped onto his back before he realized it but he didn’t complain. There was more important things to focus on, like sweet Swiss lips against his.

[uniasus]

Damian couldn't say why he felt compelled to visit Dani after her last class, but he is. Complete with a stuffed animal, because he's a vet and sometimes it's nice to have something to hold when recovering from an injury. Not that he's supposed to know that and -

There's someone in Dani's classroom already. He's their age, maybe a few years older, and fussing over her. Damian can't understand the language they are speaking, which is only half a surprise because he knows a lot but Dani knows more. It's rather impressive actually, as he told Dick last night.

He freezes as the other man suddenly pulls Dani into a hug. She tenses, but then relaxes into it a way Damian hasn't seen her do before. She's usually so full of energy and passion, practically floating as she lectures, but here she is, sagging into the hold of another man.

Damian realizes two things. Whatever melty thing happened yesterday and her sudden recovery? Not a normal thing for her. She's still recovering, thankful for support and care. The other is, Damian can admit he wants to offer it to her, but someone else already is.

He starts to scoot back, surely she won't want his gift. It's too sudden, they've barely talked, and he wants to offer her a stuffed dolphin?

"ttt," he scolds himself softly.

Dani and the other man look at him.

"Dami!" Dani says, a beam on her face. Up close, Damian can see she's tired and fighting it. Feels the sympathy for the struggle of hiding night life consequences from day job activities. He wants to tell her he knows, but it doesn't feel like the time.

"Hello, Danielle."

"Come, meet my cousin."

Oh, Damian likes that word. He walks into the lecture hall, shoulders back, squeezing the stuffed animal tightly. No way he's giving it to Dani in front of her cousin, who is staring at him with narrowed eyes. There is a high risk of Damian looking like a fool, giving a gift. That will not happen in front of a stranger.

"Dami, Danny. Danny, Dami. And Dani!"

Dani grins as she finishes the round of pointing, delighted at how similar their names are. Danny chuckles, leaning an arm on Dani's shoulder, but while his voice is light his eyes are hard.

It's the same big- brother stare Dick gave to Damian's friends. But more, somehow. The look is sweeping, calculating. Less Dick Grayson and more Nightwing.

If Dani is part of the vigilante life, it stands to reason her cousin might be too.

"Short for Damian?" Danny asks.

Damian goes to answer yes, but pauses when he realizes the question is in Arabic. Perhaps Dani has talked about him.

"Yes," he answers back.

"Danny is short for Danyal," he offers.

And now it's Damian's turn to scrutinize him, from head to toe. The fighter stance, the blue eyes, dishevelled black hair.

How eerily similar he looks to Dani.

Dani, who also knows Arabic, looks between them. Then folds her arms and stares at Danny. She asks a question in the language they had been using before, the one Damian doesn't know. Danny shakes his head, the way his hair falls so familiar. As is the fierce look on Dani's face.

Bruce doesn't have siblings. Nor does Talia. Dani and Danny, Danielle and Danyal. They're not cousins.

Damian scowls. He wants to ask, but also doesn't want to step into the family fight. Dani is recovering from a quite literal meltdown.

Danny turns to him and asks a question in Arabic again. He looks almost shy asking. "Is your full name Damian...Al Ghul?"

In answer, Damian drops his gift for Dani and wraps his arms around Danny. His missing older brother (whom he always assumed was dead), here. In Gotham.

He pressed his face into Danny's chest, not crying but eyes leaking, and Danny's arms encircle him, Danny's face pressing into Damian's neck.

"I honestly thought the adoption line was a joke you tossed at Vald," Dani says. Arabic again, and Damian notes that she uses the language to include him but also to keep the conversation private from anyone in the hallway.

"That he was so fruity he couldn't even tell I wasn't Maddie's or Jack's?"

"Or that sons were a dime a dozen, and Vlad had his pick."

"I'm missing something," Damian mutters, pulling back. Danny squeezes before letting go.

"Tonight's not a good time, but this weekend, I'll fill you in. Both of you," Danny says, looking at Dani.

"You're paying for lunch and dinner."

----

Later, once the Wayne's are brought into the loop too, Jason can't stop laughing. "Your first crush was the clone of your big brother? That's taking big bro worship a bit far, don't you think?"

Damian flings a dagger at him.

So Dani ends up going to university after completing her GED and getting a degree and becoming a historian at 24.

She later applies to Gotham University as a History teacher.

Damian, also 24, ends up getting a veterinary degree and also starts teaching at GU. Mostly so he can monitor any students that was to get a PhD or seems supervillain like.

Damian is very curious about the new History teacher that has been everywhere in the world, can speak a dozen of languages, and is incredibly beautiful intelligent.

Sometime later, the JLA gets into a tough spot regarding ghosts and the paranormal, and Constantine calls up an expert to help them out.

It’s Dani.

She makes a summon circle and starts chanting. She gets rid of the threat, but starts melting.

Dani vanishes into thin air, and Damian is prepared to not see her at work tomorrow, but to his surprise, Dani shows up completely healthy (if not a little tired)

Damian and the Bats are now very concerned

Eventual serious chaos.

Any media is welcome as long as you tag and comment :))

[omegasmileyface]

Another prompt: the "Danny drinks from the wrong thermos" post (: -Lemonade

@ectolemonades (post in question) :)

ao3 link cuz i like doubleposting

---

"Hey, Phantom!"

Danny looked down to see a shouting teen. He was in the middle of a battle, but the ghost chimera he had been fighting was currently recovering from a nasty hit, so he was willing to break for a little conversation. In his humble opinion, it would have been a pretty bad protector-protected relationship if he never talked with Amity Parkers.

"Did you bedazzle your thermos?"

"Wh—" Danny's attention turned to the glowing Fenton Thermos in his hand. It was covered in little holographic stickers of planets and video game characters and rockets. His eyes widened. "Oh, man, thanks for pointing it out! I didn't even realize this... wasn't mine!" He laughed lightly and not at all nervously as he reached into the tiny pocket dimension he had almost perfected and pulled out his typical, undecorated silver-and-green capsule.

Just about time, too, the chimera stood up right as he had the thermos primed to suck it in. With the threat gone, Danny touched down to try to clean up some debris.

The teen from before approached him. "So what was up with the little colorful thermos?"

Danny laughed, a little more genuinely this time. "I guess I just picked this up earlier and thought it was one of mine. Suppose I can't be the only one in town to use Fenton products, huh? I'm gonna have to remember where I found this." Of course, the Thermos was one of his own, decorated out of necessity. He rushedly tucked it into the same pocket dimension to keep the kid from looking too closely. The cover story he'd come up with should mean the recognizability of the stickers wouldn't matter, but better safe than sorry.

"Maybe you should start personalizing your equipment! It was cute. Anyway, good job out there, man!"

As Danny beamed, he imagined decorating the thermoses he used as Phantom. The thought went away just as soon as his brain wandered back to the reason there were stickers on the other in the first place.

The previous winter...

"If there's any upside to how this school refuses to turn the thermostat above 60°, it's the excuse to drink hot chocolate." Sam picked up a travel mug and sat back from her reading to drink.

"You know, if I didn't know better, I'd say you were more of a coffee person," Tucker said, without looking up from his own.

Danny gasped. "Thanks for the reminder! I brought this new tea today, it's this coconut Thai stuff? I didn't think it would go well with lunch today so I totally forgot about it until now." He reached into his backpack and pulled out a standard-size Fenton Thermos.

Tucker raised an eyebrow. "Uhh, pretty sure that's a ghost hunting thermos, dude."

"Well, duh. We have a dozen prototypes and altered models just sitting around our house, I'm not gonna buy a thermos when I can use a perfectly fine one for free. The metal is still airtight, easily cleaned, and insulating. The attributes that make a good container for reduced-form ectoplasm are the same attributes that make a good drink holder."

"Honestly, Tucker," Sam cut in, "he's been drinking from those since the snow came—" (Danny interrupted with something about "hot chocolate season". They both ignored him) "did you think he was just sippin' ghosts?"

Tucker's expression was that of someone who would have been concerned if he wasn't used to just about anything. "I didn't even notice. Still though, that can't be good. Do you have any in other colors, or something else to make sure you don't accidentally mix them up? Here, even, you can have these to denote 'food, not foes' if you want." He dropped a handful of Nintendo stickers onto their desk.

"Relax, Tuck, I think I can tell the difference between an energized, contaminated, active thermos and a metal cylinder full of hot liquid." Danny leaned back and opened the container.

Unless "coconut Thai" is some kind of Fenton family code for "just the straight-up Box Ghost", the stickers would probably be necessary.

[evandarya]

Ghosts Don't go to High School

{Read on AO3} {Chapter 7}

Chapter 8

Tim was woken up too early by one of his phones ringing, it took him a minute to find it in the dark. It was his vigilante line, the caller ID marked it an unknown number. He answered it anyway.

"This better be important," he grumbled.

"You messaged me, kid." Tim placed the accent and the smokers growl immediately.

"Constantine?"

"Yeah. Listen, I don't have a lot of time, but you need to stop looking into the Ancients. The more you look for them, the easier it will be for them to find you, and that is nothing but trouble." He said cryptically.

"What does that mean?" It was too early for riddles.

Tim heard the wizard sigh on the other end of the line. "Ancients are powerful beings, and as the name implies, they are old. They have power over the very concepts that govern our lives. Time, space, life, death, even dreams."

"Like Greek gods."

"Older than Greek gods, they are more like the Titans. How did you even hear about them?”

"There's a…well, he calls himself a ghost. He mentioned them." Tim sat up and checked the clock. He'd only gotten a couple of hours of sleep.

Constantine was quiet for a while before he spoke again. "Phantom?"

"You know him?"

"I know of him. He's powerful, but only dangerous if you piss him off. My advice? Stay away from Phantom and the Ancients. Leave the ghosts to the ghost hunters." With that Constantine hung up.

Ghost hunters, huh? Tim pulled his laptop closer to him. He had some research to do.

It took Tim no time at all to find people calling themselves ghost hunters. It seemed like most of them had websites. Horrible websites that were hard to navigate. One, in particular, caught his eye: “FentonWorks, LLC”. They were temporarily closed, but under the About Us page, Tim was met with a family photo of a large man in an orange jumpsuit next to a red-haired woman in a teal jumpsuit. They must be Dr. and Mr. Fenton. Standing in front of them was a girl with long red hair and a boy Tim recognized as Danny Fenton.

Ghost hunters showing up in Gotham at the same time ghosts do? It could be a coincidence, but Tim hadn’t believed in those for a long time.

It looked like Red Robin was going to visit the Fentons.

But first, he had school.

***

School was boring without Danny. Tim tried hard not to think about why that was too much, but since it was boring it dragged on and on. The only plus side was he got to use the school's darkroom to develop the pictures he had taken the other night.

The darkroom didn't see much use; most kids used digital cameras for their photo projects. Tim owns and uses a digital camera sometimes, but there was something unique about film cameras that digital cameras didn't quite capture.

Developing film had become something of a meditative practice when he was a child, and he found himself falling into the same rhythm as he developed his graveyard pictures. It was a calming hobby that required him to pay careful attention to timing and measurements for the negatives to be usable. He also enjoyed the thrill of seeing if his hard work had paid off, or if he had wasted a roll of film on blurry pictures. Tim finished fixing the negatives and rinsed the film before carefully removing the negatives from the film tub and hanging them to dry. As he squeegeed the water from the strips he studied the tiny images.

Headstones backed by the Gotham skyline. A full moon shining from behind the cloud cover above the old Wayne Tower. A tree in the cemetery that had just started turning colors for autumn. He had taken two dozen photos of Gotham for this project, but only seven or eight had the look he was going for. He'd have to take more at some point. He stopped at the bottom of the strip and sighed. It’d didn’t look like his picture of Danny was going to turn out. It was blurry and looked like he had red eye. He could fix the red eye and sharpen the image in photoshop, but he had hoped for a clear photo.

He hung the negatives in the drying cabinet and made a mental note to pick them up before he left school. He’d scan them into his computer at home rather than use the school’s computers. Just as he was finishing up cleaning the darkroom the bell rang for his next class.

***

Finding Danny’s house was pretty easy; all it took was looking up his scholarship information and Tim had it. It felt strange to knock on the door— Tim was sure Batman would have just let himself in and waited in the shadows, but the Fentons hadn't done anything wrong, and breaking into a civilian's house seemed unnecessary.

So Tim knocked and waited for an answer.

“Who’s there?” a familiar voice called through the door. Of course, Danny was new to Gotham, but even he must have learned not to open the door to strangers.

“Red Robin. I need to speak to the Fentons.”

There was a long pause before Tim heard Danny unlocking the door. He yanked the door open a crack and glared at Tim. “Why?”

“There’s a ghost in town, and I heard they were ghost hunters.”

“You don’t want to talk to them about ghosts,” Danny said, stepping out onto the stoop and leaning against the door jamb. “Trust me, nothing good comes from getting them started.”

Tim noticed Danny wasn’t wearing his hoodie. He couldn’t remember ever seeing Danny without it. Danny had more muscle definition than he was expecting, and in the light spilling from the house, Tim could see faint white scars on Danny’s left arm, partially hidden by the way his arms were folded across his chest. All in all, Danny struck an attractive figure.

He was also standing between Tim and potential information.

“And why is that?” Tim asked, standing up straighter. He and Danny were usually the same height, but the Red Robin boots gave Tim a couple of inches, and he was going to use them.

“Because Dad will never shut up once he gets going. If you have things to do tonight, I advise against going to them for ghost stuff.”

“Danny,” someone called from inside the house. “Who’s at the door sweety?” A red-headed woman wearing a teal jumpsuit came into view.

“Dr. Fenton,” Tim said.

“Oh, you’re one of those vigilantes! Cardinal, right?”

“Mom, oh my god. It’s Red Robin.” Danny said, holding his face in his hand.

“Oh, that’s right. What are you doing here? It’s almost eleven.” She said, checking her watch.

“I wanted to talk to you about ghosts if you have the time.”

Dr. Fenton brightened considerably at that. “Of course, we have the time!”

Dr. Fenton was only too happy to lead him into the house. She insisted he have a seat in the living room while she made tea. Danny followed close behind, arms still crossed over his chest.

As soon as they were alone he turned to Red Robin. “Is this about Phantom?” Danny whispered. He had his head tilted toward the kitchen as if he were listening to his parent’s movements.

At Tim’s nod, Danny continued. “He hasn’t hurt anyone, or done anything wrong.”

“We don’t know him, what he’s capable of, or anything about him,” Tim said, noting how Danny’s fingers drummed a nervous tattoo on his upper arms. “If you know something about him, you should tell me.”

Danny huffed in amusement. “I can tell you two things. One: Phantom has never willingly hurt anyone, and two: they,” —at this Danny jerked his head back towards the kitchen— “can’t know Phantom is here. If they find out, it will be bad for him and me.”

“You’re protecting him? Why?”

Danny opened his mouth to respond, but before he could a loud voice reverberated through the house. “I get to blather on about ghosts?!”

“I warned you not to get him started,” Danny said, glancing over his shoulder toward the voice. “He hasn’t been able to talk about ghosts for months.” Tim gave Danny a bewildered stare, which Danny responded to with a fanged grin. “You brought this on yourself," Danny said just as Maddie and Jack Fenton came into the living room. “You guys have fun,” Danny said. “I’ll be on the roof.”

Maddie set down a tray of tea, cookies, and fudge, which Tim declined. “So,” Maddie said, “What do you want to know about ghosts?”

***

Two hours later, Tim made his way to the roof. Danny was still there, a half-eaten pizza sitting on top of the air conditioner and a telescope set up, pointing at the sky. He didn't acknowledge Tim's presence at first, busy adjusting the telescope.

"Can you even see anything in Gotham?" Tim asked. He never was one for astronomy, and there was so much pollution, both light, and smog, that it was hard to believe there were stars up there at all.

"I can get a pretty good look at Betelgeuse. Sometimes Sirius is out, and Polaris is always visible on clear nights,” said Danny. "But you're not up here for stargazing."

"No, I'm not."

"You didn't tell them about Phantom," Danny said it like it was a fact.

"No, I didn't." How Danny knew that was beyond Tim. All the Robins spoke quietly so they aren’t accidentally overheard. He knew it was almost impossible for someone outside of the living room to have heard his end of the conversation. Danny could have guessed based on his dad’s overzealous replies. The way Danny had spoken before, mentioning Phantom would have gotten a major response from his parents.

"Why not?" Danny’s quiet question broke him from his musings.

"They said ghosts were non-sentient, just ectoplasmic imprints of post-human consciousness. That they are inherently evil and bent on the destruction of the human race." Tim was watching Danny carefully as he repeated the speech he'd heard no less than three times over the past couple of hours.

‘I’m sure they did.” Danny said bitterly. He looked down at this telescope for a few quiet seconds before asking “Do you believe them?”

"The first time I met Phantom he saved me from a thug who would have put me in the hospital. The next time we met, he put himself in danger to comfort a young ghost. An evil being wouldn't have done that." Tim said. Danny kept his gaze on the telescope. “A non-sentient imprint of post-human consciousness wouldn't sit on a water tower eating a cheeseburger staring at the moon."

Danny did smile at that, turning towards Tim so his too-sharp canines caught the light. So he hadn't imagined the fangs, interesting. "So, are you going to lay off Phantom now?"

"It's not safe for metas in Gotham. They can be taken advantage of or used to hurt people."

"Phantom's not a meta, he can take care of himself. There are metas all over the city, hell, one of them works for Batman, same as you." Danny said, poking at the Red Robin insignia on his bandoliers. "You should be looking for the metas that could actually use your help." At that Danny glanced over Tim's shoulder before taking a deep breath and stepping back.

"I'm not aware of any metas in Gotham." If there were metas, they'd have to find them and–

"You wouldn't be. They're too scared of getting kicked out of the city or arrested to ask for help." Danny crossed to the edge of the roof and looked out across the city.

Something was nagging at Tim. Something about the hurt in Danny's voice, combined with the fangs. "Are you a meta?"

Danny laughed, caught off guard by the question. "I wish. It would make a lot of things easier."

"Powers don't always make things easier," Tim answered automatically.

"No, they rarely do," Danny said.

"Danny," Tim said, switching tracks. "You know Phantom, you're in touch with him." Danny gave him a guarded look, arms crossing his chest again. "I want to set up a meeting with him."

"Why?"

"Just to talk, maybe open a line of communication. We want to find out more about him and the other ghost, Cindy." Danny shifted his weight, glancing behind Tim again. It took everything in him not to look, to pretend not to notice.

"I don't know. I'll have to talk to him first." Danny said, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Okay. When you talk to him, contact me on this." Tim handed over a communicator. "We can set up a meeting place."

Danny took the device and turned it over in his hands before popping it open. He typed something into the device and Tim's wrist computer beeped with an incoming message.

>>Why are there emojis on this? 👻

"Really?"

"I'll talk to him, see what he says," Danny said, slipping the communicator into his pocket. Danny went back to his telescope and started breaking it down. "I can't guarantee he'll want to talk."

"Okay, just let me know what he says."

Danny nodded but didn't turn from his task, and Tim took that as the end of the conversation and grappled to the next roof.

He wondered about the metas Danny had mentioned as he made his way across the city. Were there kids out there who were scared of being arrested because they had powers? He'd have to look into that. And Danny. The son of ghost hunters was in contact with and protecting a ghost. There was something between Danny and Phantom, it shouldn't make a dark, jealous pit simmer in his chest but it did. Tim mentally shook himself and pushed those dark feelings down. He and Danny were friends, nothing more. He had no reason to feel jealous over a ghost.

[phantomphangphucker]

Phic Phight - Wes Finally Snaps

For: @hauntedchilis @lexosaurus

Danny’s down for being used but only for unconventional means

Danny and Wes glance at each other, both scowling after a beat. Danny laughing, “of fucking course they’d stick us together”.

“I really really hate the universe sometimes”.

“Yeah I’m sure you do, Wes”.

Wes flips him off for that one, before everyone glances back to the teacher; who was some out-of-town substitute that was gonna be here for the better part of the entire semester due to Mr. Trent fucking up his lab shit and damn near blowing off his own fingers. That man was more of a danger to himself than any ghost could ever hope to be.

“Alright now that we’re all paired off-”. Earning him lots of groaning since most people didn’t exactly like their assigned partners. “-relax I simply want a short presentation on something that is unique, vital, special, or anything else along those lines, about Amity Park”, grinning, “I am new so this would be a wonderful and more interactive way to get to know everyone and this town”. What the man doesn’t know is that kind of statement is only going to encourage people to fuck with him. Especially Danny.

Danny sticks out an arm and claps his hand on Wes’s shoulder unnecessarily hard, ”Wes, you may use me”. Which gets him probably one of the only smiles he’s ever gotten from the wannabe sleuth; it’s a mean smile but at least the teen looks more than a little starry-eyed.

---

“So let me get this straight. You won’t let me use any of your actual proper power crap?”.

Danny just smirks and nods very meanly.

Wes scowls, “oh come on”, and gives him a pretty solid death glare. Which Danny rolls his eyes, “be more creative than that Wes. Who knows, maybe you’ll discover something even I don’t know”. Now that, that seems to perk Wes’s interests.

“Fine”, pointing aggressively, “but you better not cop-out at the last second purely to give me a shitty grade”.

“Wes, your ahem ‘conspiracy theory bullshit’ is practically part of Amity’s charm anyway. It literally doesn’t matter”.

Wes glares up at the sky, “oh how I hate this town”; making Danny laugh at his expense something fierce. Looking back down at Danny, “well get up then you stupid ghost, show me what I’m working with”.

“Oh I don’t think so. I’m just gonna lay here like a useless sack of potatoes. I’m already pulling my weight in this shit by just letting you do this”.

“Fuck. You. Empathically”. Wes actually bends down, pulls Danny’s arm over his shoulder and tries hauling him up; Danny meanwhile was one hundred percent serious about being a potato sack, and is thus staying completely limp. Not like he’s hard for Wes to pick up anyway, which actually makes the sleuth pause, “how do you weigh less than my backpack”.

“Oh maybe because you stuff yours full of your silly little notes and sticky pads”.

Wes absolutely drops him, very intentionally aiming for Danny’s head to land square on a rock. The thunk sound is painfully loud and Danny scowls, “now that, that was just mean”.

“You couldn’t even be bothered to try and stop your fall, you gravity nullifying bastard”, blinking, “wow you are seriously going to just let me do whatever huh”.

“Fuck around and find out, pal”.

And with that Wes hauls Danny back up and full force yeets Danny into a tree. Did Danny maintain his limpness? Absolutely; he knew how to commit to a bit. Wes jogging over and staring down at him, “huh. Do your bones glow when you break them? Why?”.

“Do you seriously think I’m actually going to explain that? But if you think my perpetually injured ass didn’t already know about that then you’re kidding yourself”. Besides, in Danny’s opinion the answer was really obvious. The ecto acting up in the break to work on healing said break. Like duh. Wes clearly agrees as the guy mumbles about the super healing factor he assumes Danny has; which Danny will neither confirm nor deny.

And then Wes goes and dumps an entire bottle of ectoplasm on his face. Danny blinking it out of his eyes, “and why do or did you just have an entire bottle of ectoplasm on you?”.

“Research”.

Danny just rolls his eyes at that, while raw ectoplasm does what it does whenever it’s in contact with his ecto-field for any prolonged amount of time and starts gaining mild whispy sentience.

“Wow, that’s impressively freaky looking”.

Danny smirks, “you should see what happens with black ectoplasm, that shit’s some very vocal crap”.

“There’s black ectoplasm? Ectoplasm comes in different colours?”.

Okay, that Danny has to sit up at, pointing at the teen, “how the fuck did you not know that?!?”.

“Is that how your eyes can turn blue?!?!?!?”.

“Fucking OBVIOUSLY!?!?”.

Wes looks like he’s having a mild crisis or two; fucking good honestly, serves him right. Wes’s stunned expression breaks as a bit of the ectoplasm drips off Danny’s face onto the ground, the sorta whisp floating off into the air aimlessly. “Eat them”.

“What”.

Wes blinks at Danny and looks him straight in the eyes, “eat them. Be a ghostly man and eat them”.

Danny scrunches his face up at Wes but obliges, very aggressively stuffing one of the Whisps in his mouth and effectively chowing down. Swallowing, “you know, if you weren’t such a truth-obsessed bitch we could actually maybe be friends”.

“Yeah no. You are, like, the worst”.

“Cut deep why dontcha”.

“Not as deep as your oblivious folks”.

“Wow fuck you”, Danny wipes off as much ectoplasm from his face as he can and lobs it at the other teen; earning him one very offended squawk and some erratic flailing.  Wes then slaps him, so Danny slaps him back; which obviously leads into a slap fight. And sure maybe Danny lets his head do a three-sixty just to fuck with the guy, but whatever.

Wes actually gags at him, “oh you suck so much”.

“What can I say? I enjoy being everyone’s problem, but especially yours”, shrugging exaggeratedly, “sure I’ll be Mr. Teachers for a class instead, but I'm a bigger picture kinda guy”.

Wes scowls, “no you’re not!”, and throws his hands out, “if you fucking were you wouldn’t be keeping shit like yourself secret from the world!”.

Danny screws his face up aggressively, “excuse me but what?!?”. Did Wes have it in his head that keeping himself secret, literally protecting himself and others, was somehow the bad choice? The actual fuck.

“You’re literally hiding the threat of half-ghost hybrid creatures from the public! WHAT DO YOU MEAN ‘what’?!?”.

“Well EXCUSE ME for not wanting to be fucking DISSECTED?!?!”, gesturing wildly, “or accidentally help the government make super soldiers outta half a sources they don’t even think have FEELINGS or can feel PAIN! Fuck you!”.

“They wouldn’t-”.

“Are you REALLY stupid enough to believe that?!? Holy shit!”, facepalming and shaking his head, “I thought you were supposed to be the smart one in this town”.

“I AM!”.

“Then why the FUCK would you think me giving up any aspect of myself to the freaking government or public would be some kind of great plan?!?”.

Wes counts off on his fingers very aggressively, “public safety! Better defences! Medical advancement! Maybe I don’t know! Actually start getting along with you fucks!”.

“Wes! The last fucking thing the people who tried to NUKE AN ENTIRE DIMENSION want to do is-”, air quoting mockingly and with a sneer, “-‘improve relations between the races’”.

“THAT ISNT EVEN WHAT I SA- wait NUKES?!?!?”, and sputters.

Danny rolls his eyes harshly, “yes nukes, Wes. Not even a year ago”. Danny scowls almost threateningly when Wes just stares startled at him. “Get off your frickin’ self created pedestal. Do you ever wonder why none of the ghosts ever try to expose me? Huh?!? Literally ALL OF THEM KNOW! But humans-”, grimacing meanly, “-are too fucking bigoted. And you’re not any better!”, jabbing the other teen in the chest with a finger, “literally the only actual reason you think my shit should be public knowledge is because you are human, and have no fucking knowledge about ghosts”, dropping his hand, “the only reason I don’t give you more shit and trouble is because you don't fucking know better”, scoffing, “ignorance at it’s fucking finest”, waving around dismissively, “Sam would say human privilege making you oblivious, or whatever”.

“… well… well if the public knew then everyone would know better-”.

“Oh yeah? Well how many ghosts would get dissected and tortured and destroyed before humanity ‘understood’ enough to actually get off their shit?!? Sorry not sorry, Wes, I don’t take gambles like those”.

Wes sputters a bit, grumbling, “you’re just exaggerating”, muttering to himself, “it wouldn’t be like that”.

“No. You’re just, again, ignorant. It is already ‘like that’”.

“What”.

“Come on, you think I don’t hack and keep tabs on the G.I.W.? I’m not fucking stupid! Ancients if you had any forethought you would’ve hacked them your damn self. It’s not like it’s hard to find! Since there’s so. damn. much. there”.

“Excuse me for not having your sidekicks skills!”, Wes sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose, breathing. “Fine. Maybe, maybe, I’ll… consider all of that”.

Danny blinks at him and throws up his hands, “holy shit finally. And Wes? If it’s anything, literally anything, Red? The girl who became a hunter out of pure hatred for me? Yeah she agrees with me”.

“Wait so she finally figured out either you or that she’s working for another hybrid?”.

Danny stares at him and facepalms, seriously? “Is that seriously what you care about?”, and laughs disbelievingly to himself before just descending into a fit of giggles and lays down on the ground. Wes joining after a beat and sitting down.

Danny wheezing, “how have I never thought to try and smack you with how dangerous what you’re doing is before?”.

“‘Cause you’re a dumbass!… and I’m still holding out on actually fully believing you”.

Danny snorts, “course. Whatever floats your boat, asshole”, sighing, “but have we really come out of this with more of an understanding of each other?”.

Wes blinks up at the sky, “huh. Guess so… fuck you still though”.

“Right back at you, you fake ass sleuth”.

Ah sweet sweet normalcy re-achieved.

…

“So…”.

Wes shakes his head, “alright what other weird shit can I get you to do”.

Danny absolutely laughs at that.

---

By the time presentation day came around everyone had actually figured out their shit, and the presentations were as baffling, absurd, difficult to look at, and silly, as everyone pretty much expected.

Mikey and Kwan did one on all the weird wavers and forms that people had to sign to stay in amity for any amount of time so that the city wouldn’t get sued to oblivion for damages, injuries, or traumas; course most of them were the ones that visit spots teams had to sign. Undoubtably Kwan and his buddies damn near forced that on the poor nerd.

Emilie and Hanna did theirs on elderly hand-to-hand combat, it was almost entirely a slide show of old folks beating up or chasing the Box Ghost; which yes, pleased Danny immensely.

Dale, Star, and Todd -the only uneven team- did theirs on medical practices of all things. They were also decidedly shady about where they got all their example items, everyone damn well knew they were stolen from the hospital or nurse's office though.

Jack and Lily did theirs on Wes actually, which the entire class couldn’t stop laughing over even if the teacher seemed less than impressed and Wes could be heard audibly scowling the entire time interspersed with shouted ‘BUT I’M RIGHT YOU ARE ALL JUST BLIND!’s and ‘I AM NOT CRAZY!’s.

By the time it was Danny’s and Wes’s turn Wes was already a poked bear and Danny was a hyena in full cackle mode. Wes winding up having to just drag Danny up to the front, the rest of the class are already snickering or pretending to be uninterested to maintain appearances.

“I hate every last one of you”.

Danny snickers, “I don’t… mostly”, and snickers; multiple people roll their eyes at him.

Wes just scowls, lifts Danny up like he’s just a really long plushie -which Danny just goes stiff as a board for because why not- and ‘snaps’ Danny’s back like a glow stick over his knee, shakes him, and boom glowstick Danny; which Danny might have helped along by internally moving around the closer to the surface ‘activated’ ectoplasm to most of his bodies skin surface. Wes does jazz hands: “SEE!!!!!”.

The whole presentation just descends into madness from there.

Wes dumping buckets worth of ectoplasm on Danny’s head, ripping off hair to show it still wiggling, opening and shutting his mouth like a wooden puppet on a random blob because Danny is again just letting Wes do shit without helping especially when Dany thought it would be comical, turning a homemade hairspray flamethrower on Danny’s face to show just cold steam instead of burns, using Danny’s blood to dissolves some sticks, and so on.

All while just repeatedly shouting: “SEE!” and “LOOK!” and “IT! IS! OBVIOUS!”.

When Wes eventually just runs out of his ideas, and his lung capacity, Danny chuckles, “and that’s our presentation”, while dripping a mess of gunk slowly down onto the floor.

The poor fucking janitor.

The teacher also looks horrified.

But hey! At least the class is having a blast. Some pounding their desks, laughing into their hands, wheezing trying not to laugh, or recording the Hell that was going on.

Danny turns to Wes, lifting up a hand for a high-five, “well done, sleuthie partner”. Wes crouches down on his ankles, forearms on his knees, and speaks into his hands, “I… fuck you”, looking up to the class, “also, fuck you all, but nothing I’ve said touches the G.I.W. ears yeah? Ugh”.

That gets the entire class to pause for a solid minute before Danny turns around facing the board and sticks his hands up in the air, “YES! I HAVE BURNED THE CONSPIRACY NUTS TRUST IN THE GOV DOGS!”, spinning around on Wes wildly, “now you can become your true government-fearing, tinfoil-hat-wearing, microchips-in-our-brains, ruling-class-are-lizard-people, deep-web-truth-seeker; self! HA!”. Wes punches him in the shin and the class fucking loses it.

The teacher blinks and breathes harshly after a bit, “I.. I actually think both of you might need therapy”.

Danny gives the guy a goofy thumbs up.

End.

Prompts: Wes and Danny are assigned to work on a school project together and Wes and Danny are assigned to work on a school project together