#Finally on time for the day yay! It’s pitch black out and that means I got bad pictures though oof

[fuumiku]

day 6 & 7 : date & food

Page order is from left to right but read panels from right to left

[skyward-floored]

Whumptober Day 28: Sacrifice

Yeah I’m basically just going to do the rest of these a day behind I think... If a miracle occurs and I can get some of these out on their proper days then yay! But uh... probably won’t happen. Yeah.

It probably doesn’t help that this one is stupid long 🙄

Read on ao3

Warnings: well. Um. Discussion of death. Thinking about death. And... temporary character death.

————————————————————

The sacrifice of one leads the way for the many.

A chill went down Sky’s spine as he read the inscription, and he stepped back to let the others read the words on the stone as well.

“Well, that’s not creepy,” Legend muttered, and Sky couldn’t help but agree with the sentiment. The fact that the words were written on a pitch black stone in red letters didn’t help either, and Sky glanced around the room in unease.

The dungeon so far had been somewhat creepy, but not to this level. The room they were in now was large and dark, lit only by oddly purple torches along the walls that made the rock with the inscription shine strangely. Another similar dark stone stood on the other side of the room, but it was blocked off by bars, and there appeared to be no way through.

“What do you think it means?” Wind asked, standing on his toes to better read the inscription.

“Obviously a sacrifice of some kind is needed for us to continue,” Warriors said, and Time nodded slowly, rubbing his chin as he studied the stone.

“But what kind? I mean... my favorite spoon would kind of be a sacrifice, right?” Wild asked a little hesitantly, and Time shook his head.

“...I don’t think so,” he murmured.

The room went quiet as they all looked at the stone again, and Sky glanced across the room to the other identical one, squinting a little as he noticed something. He stepped over to the bars, and felt something cold land in his gut as he saw a faint outline of a handprint on the opposite stone.

“I think... the sacrifice has to be one of us,” he said in a quiet voice.

“No, no way,” Four said with a rapid shake of his head, stepping away from the inscription. “We’re not doing that.”

“I agree, that’s not an option,” Time said firmly.

“It must mean something else,” Twilight said, glancing around. “Look around for any switches or something, there’s got to be another way out of here.”

The other Links spread through the room, mostly around the perimeter, but Sky stayed by the bars, an odd feeling keeping him there. He studied the metal, then the ground, and saw a slightly darker ring of stone on the floor. It was faintly outlined in red, but nothing happened when Legend and Hyrule walked over it on their way across the room.

That must be where the sacrifice goes...

The heroes searched the room for a long time, checking every nook and cranny, trying various items to get past the bars blocking off the other part of the room. But nothing was found, and nobody’s items were able to get through. They even started trying combinations of things, but Time finally put a stop to it, saying it was getting late.

None of them spoke of the inscription as they made camp for the night, and nobody mentioned how the door they’d come in through was barred off as well.

Nobody talked about how they were trapped.

Sky couldn’t help thinking of it though, and the thought he’d had in the back of his head the entire time they’d been combing the room was slinking to the forefront of his mind again.

And as he got into his bedroll along with the others, he found sleep hard to come by.

They’d been in this dungeon for a few days now, and hadn’t been the best stocked when they’d gone inside. Nobody wanted to admit it, but they were low on water, starting to get low on food, and it would only get worse since they were trapped in this room.

They were running out of time, and there was only one way out.

Sky felt the cold feeling in his chest come back, and he rolled over, staring over at the bars that blocked off the other part of the room.

It must have been extremely late now, and the others were all asleep, worn out from the various trials of the dungeon. Nobody else was awake— they hadn’t set a watch since there was no way for anything to get in here— and Sky slowly sat up, still staring at the bars as the words on the stone ran through his head yet again.

The sacrifice of one leads the way for the many.

It was the only way through.

Sky breathed out, and looked back at the others, listening to their soft breathing. Wind was spread out like a starfish, half on top of both Warriors and Twilight somehow. Wild was curled up by the rancher, and his feet were dangerously close to hitting Hyrule in the face, the traveler back-to-back with Legend. Four was near his head, and Time was a little further away from him, more by himself then the others, but still plenty close.

All of them here, with homes and loved ones to go back to. They had so much to lose, but Sky... he had so much to make up for. So much to repay.

And between watching one of them sacrifice themselves, or being forced to endure a slow death of starvation and dehydration, trapped in this room with freedom so close...

Neither of those were options.

Sky swallowed, then slipped out of his blankets, quietly putting on his boots. He stood, then after a moment’s hesitation, fastened his sailcloth around his neck, comforted by the weight of it.

The familiar smell wafted around him as he walked across the room, and he held tightly to the pendant as he stepped into the darker circle on the floor, his hands surprisingly still.

He’d faced death countless times before, and found himself oddly calm as he stared it in the face yet again.

“I am the one,” he whispered.

Nothing happened for a few seconds, but then a quiet rumble came from the floor, the bars in front of Sky slipping away before his eyes.

He breathed out, and stepped past them, the bars immediately sliding back into place behind him. Sky slowly stepped towards the stone on the other side of the room, the handprint more obvious now that he was on the other side of the bars.

He wondered if it would be painful.

“Sky?”

He startled and looked behind him, seeing Twilight sit up and rub his eyes. The rancher looked around in confusion at the sight of Sky’s empty bedroll, but then their eyes met, and Twilight’s went wide with horror as he realized all of a sudden what he was doing.

“Sky!”

His shout woke the others, and before Sky could blink, all of them were by the bars, staring or shouting at him.

“Sky, what are you doing?!” Wind cried, his eyes wide. “How did you...”

“Sky, I don’t know what you think you’re doing, but come back,” Time said in a voice that was much less steady then usual. “This is not the way.”

“You don’t need to do this,” Warriors said carefully, hand outstretched towards him. “We’ll figure something else out, just... Sky, don’t.”

Sky couldn’t stand the heartbreak on their faces as they talked to him, and he turned back around, facing the stone again. The handprint had disappeared, but he knew it was waiting for him.

He stepped towards it, and the others’ voices grew more frantic.

“Sky don’t you dare!” Four shouted, banging his hands on the bars separating them. But Sky ignored him and the shouts of the others, and continued to walk alone across the room.

“No, Sky!”

“Sky! Stop please!”

“The sacrifice of one leads the way for the many,” Sky recited quietly, and their desperate shouts finally quieted at his voice. He turned back and gave them all a sad smile, and looked over all of them again, his companions, his friends.

His brothers.

“That’s what the inscription said. This... this is the only way through.”

“It can’t be, we’ll find another way Sky, please,” Twilight begged, but Sky didn’t move.

“We’re almost out of water, and there isn’t any other way out,” he said softly. “One of us has to do this.”

“Sky,” Legend choked out, but Sky took the last few steps towards the stone without looking back.

He inhaled, taking in one last breath of the sweet smell of his sailcloth, then squared his shoulders and pressed a hand to the pitch black stone.

“SKY!”

(...)

Sky crumpled the moment his hand touched the pedestal.

He didn’t cry out, didn’t let out so much as a gasp, and Twilight could only watch in horror as he dropped to the floor with a quiet thump.

The bars lifted mere moments later, all entrances and exits opened, and Twilight bolted forward, rushing with the other Links to Sky’s side.

“No no no Sky, come on,” Four choked out as they all dropped to his side, and Warriors shoved past them all, turning Sky onto his back and pressing a hand first to his wrist, then his throat.

Twilight’s heart was in his throat, and he could only stare at Sky’s blank eyes, open, but lacking any of their usual warmth. He was reminded horribly of that nightmare Lanayru had given him all that time ago, but he couldn’t tear his gaze away, just like then, no matter how much he wanted to.

Warriors might’ve done or said more, but Twilight could only stare, and he didn’t check back in until the captain finally pulled away from Sky.

Twilight looked at him with a desperate feeling in his chest, but Warriors only shook his head. The captain’s eyes had a dull look to them as he looked at them all, and he reached forward with a shaking hand to carefully brush Sky’s eyes closed.

“There’s nothing we can do,” Warriors whispered, closing his eyes. “He’s gone.”

Twilight felt like he’d been dropped into the frozen lake at Snowpeak.

“He... he can’t be,” Wind said, voice trembling. “He can’t, that’s not...”

Hyrule moved forward then as well, hands already lit, but the moment he touched Sky, the desperately hopeful look on his face slipped away.

“There’s nothing to heal,” he said in a small voice. “I can’t do anything.”

“But there has to be something!” Wind gasped, his eyes already watering. “Don’t... don’t we have any fairies? They’ve brought us back so many times, there must— there has to be—”

“Get up Sky,” Legend demanded, hand trembling as he gave Sky’s shoulder a hard shake. “You can’t do this to us, get up.”

Sky didn’t move.

Twilight stared as Legend shook Sky harder, his face desperate, and Warriors finally tugged the veteran away, placing his hands on his shoulders.

“He’s gone, Legend,” Warriors said in a voice so full of grief that Twilight almost didn’t recognize it. “There’s nothing we can do.”

Wind let out a sudden sob, and Twilight quickly pulled him into his arms, the sailor crumpling in his hold. Warriors looked away as Time placed a shaking hand on Sky’s cheek, and the others all looked down at him, shock and grief and too many emotions to name on their faces.

“He’s not dead, he’s not,” Legend choked out, looking wildly around at the others, as if hoping someone would agree with him. But nobody spoke, Four silently crying, Wild looking like his world was crashing around him, Hyrule merely staring much like Twilight was, like he couldn’t quite believe it.

“Why would he— why?” Wild choked out, and Hyrule leaned against him, looking equally overwhelmed. “How could he—”

“He did as the stone said,” Time finally whispered, his voice somehow equally heavy and weak. “He did it for us.”

Wind let out a muffled wail in Twilight’s arms, and Twilight closed his eyes, unable to take in the scene any more.

Sky was gone.

(...)

Somehow they made it to the boss room.

They couldn’t stay in the dungeon forever (Sky had been right, they were running so low on supplies but why like this, why—), and through the haze of grief that had fallen over Twilight, he was glad that Warriors had taken charge.

Time seemed like he was floundering, barely replying to anything anyone said to him, his face eerily blank, and Twilight himself couldn’t summon up the energy to try and figure out what to do next. Nobody else was in any state to do anything, and as soon as Warriors realized, he took over.

He quickly settled into captain-mode, all emotion rapidly shoved to the side in favor of getting them moving again. Twilight could see it on his face, the blank look in his eyes as he gently prodded them all to their feet.

He’d slipped behind a mask, and Twilight was too lost in his head to even be too worried about it.

Twilight carried Sky’s body as they continued through the dungeon, barely a word passing between anyone as they trooped onward. He tried not to think about exactly what it was he was holding, and when he glanced down, he could almost tell himself that Sky was merely sleeping, eyes closed, his bangs falling over his face.

They hadn’t even discussed leaving him in the room where he’d fallen. None of them were going to leave Sky alone down here, in an eerie dungeon thousands of years from his own time.

Twilight felt another wave of grief hit him, and he looked down at the skycloth they’d wrapped around him.

Oh Goddesses, what are we going to tell Sun?

A thick sniffle came from where Wind was walking, and Twilight looked over at him, the sailor stubbornly walking onward despite the tears pouring down his face. Four was next to him, clasping his hand, and Twilight was sure Wind wasn’t the only one crying.

But they kept walking. They needed to get out of here, and then...

Wild pulled his hood over his face nearby, and Legend continued on at the front, his shoulders faintly shaking.

...Then we can grieve.

After several rooms that Twilight barely even took in, they finally went through what had to be the boss door, large and ornate. Twilight was the last through, and he gently set Sky’s body by the wall out of the way.

Something clattered, and they all drew their swords.

A dragon made entirely out of bones stomped out from behind a pillar moments later, a screeching roar coming from its throat. It glared down at them all, purple eyes glowing, and the sight of it set something burning in Twilight’s gut.

He wasn’t the only one, the sight of an enemy seeming to light something up in all of them, and they all ran forward with enraged shouts.

The fight wasn’t long, all of them fighting with an intensity that didn’t surprise Twilight in the least. Legend was the fiercest of them all, attacking like a madman, and as the others knocked off the bones on the dragon’s feet, the veteran lunged forward with an enraged cry.

His sword slipped into the ribcage of the dragon, cutting into the purplish core that laid inside. It let out a roar louder then any it had before, and the others took from Legend’s cue, jabbing their swords at the ribcage and dodging the spiked tail and teeth.

Time finally smashed straight through the ribcage itself with an especially fierce jumping slash, and Legend darted in, the dragon screaming as its core burst from the countless attacks. It writhed around the room, letting out increasingly louder screams before collapsing suddenly into faintly purple dust.

Legend fell to a knee once it was gone, and Twilight saw his shoulders shaking as he wiped his face with his sleeve. Time put a hand on his shoulder, and said something that Twilight didn’t catch, but Legend leaned into the hold, his head bowed.

Nobody was injured enough to dip into their meager supplies, and so they didn’t linger, heading for the stairs that had appeared at the dragon’s death.

The boss was defeated and the dungeon clear, but the victory felt hollow as Twilight gently lifted Sky’s body again, and headed for the exit. None of them spoke as they climbed up the stairs that had appeared in the room, and the only sound was an occasional muffled sniffle.

Twilight felt even more hollow as they finally emerged from the stifling dungeon, blinking in the early-morning sunshine that met them. They’d been spilled out into a forest clearing, more of a garden almost, birds chirping happily as the sun filtered through the leaves.

Twilight wanted to scream at the beauty of it.

Wind abruptly sat down on the grass, his eyes red, but finally dry, and the rest of them either sat beside him, or spread out, poking around the clearing, still nobody speaking.

Twilight walked around as well, Sky still cold in his arms. He wasn’t sure why he felt like he couldn’t set him down, but he didn’t want to think about it too hard. He was afraid if he did, the grief would sink it’s jaws so tightly into his heart he wouldn’t be able to do anything.

He’d let that happen once. He wasn’t keen on doing it again.

Twilight stepped idly toward a small paved area, moss growing between the bricks and up a small pedestal. A bird chirped happily from a branch above his head as he leaned down to look at the stone, and Twilight realized suddenly there were words on it, half covered by moss. He shifted Sky around, and scrubbed the plants away, squinting at the inscription.

The sacrifice of one leads the way for the many.

But if made from pure love, then death will not tarry.

Twilight stared, the weight of Sky’s body in his arms heavier then ever as he felt his heart suddenly speed up. Death will not...

Sky opened his eyes.

Twilight cried out and nearly dropped him, saved only by Wild bolting over and grabbing his arm.

“Sky?!” he gasped, and the others immediately ran over at his shout, Twilight sinking to his knees as he stared at his brother.

Sky stared up at the leaves overhead as the others leaned over him, and Twilight felt himself begin to shake as he didn’t move.

Sky, please, please tell me I didn’t imagine that, please—

“Rancher...” Four began in a small voice when several minutes had gone by. “I don’t...”

Sky suddenly jerked, letting out a series of thick coughs that made no less then half of them shriek in surprise.

He blinked several times, looking like he was trying to get his bearings, but then nearly everyone crashed into him, hugging and crying and yelling at him for being the “worst idiot self-sacrificing Hero they’d ever met.”

“Don’t do that ever again!” Wind sobbed, hiccuping with relieved laughs as he hugged Sky.

“How are you alive?!” Wild gasped, his cheeks wet as he clutched Sky’s hand.

”Gods Sky, we thought—” Warriors began, but his voice broke and he clenched tighter at Sky’s shoulder, shaking his head as he turned away.

“Never do that again,” Time said in a heavy voice, his own eye shining, and Sky could only look around at them all as they stared at him and clutched at him.

“It... did it work?” Sky said finally, voice raspy, and Twilight nodded, feeling like his heart would give out from the events of the past several hours.

“It worked,” he replied in thick voice, and smiled shakily at Sky. “We all hate you for it, but it worked.”

Sky opened his mouth again, but was cut off by Legend giving him a punch to the shoulder, his hand shaking as he stared at him.

“You— you’re horrible Sky,” he choked out, then joined the others in hugging him, his face buried in Sky’s chest. Sky hugged them back, and Twilight clutched his hand in his, skin cool but no longer icy, a healthy beat pulsing through his wrist.

He heard someone sob, and Twilight clutched tighter at Sky’s hand as everyone hugged him, clutching his hands and shoulders and holding him close as they reassured themselves that he was alive alive alive.

[aspiringtrashpanda]

THIS IS SO SELF-INDULGENT. "Witch" immediately made me think of my OC Ruth, who I introduced at the very end of my super long Leviathan x F!MC fic, "The Speedrunner's Guide to Romance". She watches over one side of the portal between the human world and the Devildom, so Levi and the MC can visit each other freely. Mammon guards the other side of the portal. That's all the context you really need. Find the prompt list HERE.

── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ──

DAY 14 Prompt: Witch Featuring Mammon Additional tags: booty call, just witchy things, acquaintances with benefits, mild toxicity

Perhaps if she had been sleeping, then she would have missed it entirely.

Only Ruth hadn’t been sleeping, and the loud ding had interrupted her midnight study session. A night owl by nature, she had been very immersed in a book on ancient runes that she had scored from a black market dealer. The shady character had managed to rob the Witty Sorcerer and was pawning off items to those involved with the occult. She didn’t quite buy the authenticity of his claim –as she was acquainted with Solomon herself and found him rather slippery– though she supposed that breaking into one of his many human world abodes could have resulted in a few useful tomes. However, she was just wondering if the book was legitimate (some of the Latin seemed bizarre.. Clunky, as if it had been run through a translator) when the irritating ring of a device knocked her out of her thoughts. 

She checked her cellphone, her favorite tarot card set as a screensaver staring up at her without any new notifications. 

Huh. Weird. 

She turned back to her book, eyes scanning two sentences in their entirety before the noise sounded again. Another glance at her phone promised that she hadn’t missed anything. The time taunted her from the screen. Who was trying to get in contact with her at 2am? For a moment, she sat there, wondering what had made that shrill, electronic noise. Glancing at the TV, she decided that a lack of static ruled out any chance of possession or her last summoning gone wrong. She had made sure to send the ghost back to its realm at the end of the seance, right? She used her locked cell phone screen to check her reflection, ensuring that no specter lurked behind her shoulder. 

It finally hit her upon the third ring. Oh, how could she forget? The whole reason she had lucked into her quaint cottage by the seashore was through her connection to the Devildom. Mild amusement tinged with embarrassment tickled the nape of her neck as she unlocked the drawer that held her D.D.D. –in a bedazzled case gifted by Asmodeus through Solomon. Ruth had a suspicion that it was part of the initial pitch to sacrifice her time to the whims of Leviathan and his lover. 

Though, she supposed you were worth it. She had become rather fond of you and your visits, after all. Leviathan she could give or take. He was always so jumpy around her, as if she posed a threat to him. Had you told him about the enchanted fishing net she had joked was to catch his ass if he hurt you? 

A swift tap of her password and the device screen was instantly overtaken by a message she had not expected. 

1:58am - Avatar of Gambling Yo.

Ruth's stomach flipflopped. Why was he texting her?

2:02am - Avatar of Gambling U up?

He had to be kidding. Or, she was seeing things. This couldn’t possibly be real. Maybe it was Leviathan, trying to contact her because his D.D.D. was broken. 

Wait, no, that wouldn’t make sense. Either his other half, or Solomon even, would message her in his stead. Wait, would that mean you were in trouble? 

2:03am - Avatar of Gambling Yay or nay “Ugh,” Ruth groaned, shuffling her feet as she spun in a circle, indecision –her worst enemy– tugging at her wrists. “Okay. Whatever. It was probably a mistake.”

Though she didn’t want to admit it, she knew it wasn’t. No matter how many excuses she could toss at the wall, they all bounced back with the same answer: this was a booty call. 

2:05am - Witchy Vibes™ I think you meant to message someone else…

Sure enough, her hunch was confirmed by the next message, lighting up her screen alongside memories of a stupid mistake under a full moon, of the first and only time she had tested the limitations of her pact. 

2:06am - Avatar of Gambling Nah Thinkin bout you

She cursed her heart for rabbiting against her ribs, the scene playing as if it were yesterday behind her chocolate eyes. His hair had shone like lightning in the shadows of her room, his lips hot as sin against her skin. They had melted into one, compressed into some shimmering jewel, and she had giggled into his ear when he insisted on snuggling afterwards. He was gone by morning, as was her decorative antique piggy bank.

He had left a note.

‘Til next time.xoxo

Well, he had warned her, hadn’t he? 

Ruth took a moment to reread the text messages, squinting at the lack of punctuation, at the sloppy typing. With a sigh, her thumb tapped on his contact, her conscience prematurely gnawing on her ankles. 

The line rang once before Mammon answered with a flourish, “Ruth! Baby, how ya doin’?” 

She could hear chattering in the background, the ring of slot machines and the cheers of the victorious. “Mammon, are you drunk?”

“Mmm, maybe tipsy,” His answer was crisp and clear, his tongue carefully articulating his words. Or, Ruth supposed, articulating as well as Mammon ever did. She heard the sly smirk in his voice as he proposed, “Care to summon me?”

She hesitated, and hated the way she instantly took stock of her room to ensure it was clean enough for a, uh, visitor. “I don’t want to take advantage of you.”

“That didn’t stop you last time.” 

Ruth swore she rolled her eyes so hard, she saw the Celestial Realm. She worried her bottom lip, considered the date and whether she had anything planned for tomorrow. Did attempting to brew a pesticide that wouldn’t poison the environment out of fermented tea count as a mandatory lab experiment?  

“Well? What d’ya say?” Mammon crooned, and Ruth tasted honey on her tongue. “Wanna have some fun?” 

She had made up her mind the moment he had answered the call, and she knew it.

“Fine. Give me thirty minutes.” Though she tried to sound unbothered, her skin was already buzzing with anticipation, aching for his touch. “And bring the demonus.”

── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ──

OBEY ME! MONTH MASTERLIST

[yong-bokk]

all in²

pairing: special agent ! lee felix x medical examiner ! reader

genre: f for fluff and felix

warnings: mentions of dead bodies and a ghost.. or a murderer... or a ghost murderer

welcome back to skz criminal investigation division !!

today

i’d like to introduce you to special agent lee felix yongbok ( ⁎ᵕᴗᵕ⁎ ）

he’s one of the two agents with the prettiest long blond hair in the division in the whole wide world

also has the prettiest !! freckles !! that looks like stardust sprinkled all over his cheeks

to conclude: felix looks like a tiny ball of sunshine,

especially when he smiles ,,

BUT he can kick ass real hard ᕙ(⇀‸↼‶)ᕗ

very good with weapons and combat in general

he also has the deepest voice which comes in handy during interrogations

“stand up and show your skills you know the drill”

+12983742 points for intimidation >:

don’t u worry though

bc he’s nothing but a cuddle bug and the sweetest ball of fluff to his loved ones ‧⁺✧(⁙´ワ`⁙)⁺

and that will include u

ESPECIALLY u

but first ! u’ll have to meet him

so u, my precious reader, are the new medical examiner in the office yay!!!

it has only been a week since u started ur new job and u’re still trying to adjust

but thankfully u have seungmin, the senior medical examiner and also ur new partner, who has been so so helpful and friendly

u’ve been so busy during ur first week with work and all the transfer administrations that u haven’t got the chance to formally meet everyone

so far u’ve only met, well, seungmin

and the unit chief, bang chan, who is very friendly too

but one day !!

an unfamiliar face showed up at the medical examiner’s office |ω・)

GUESS WHO

i’m going to give u a clue

long blond hair, prettiest freckles, and a BLINDING smile

YES

FELIX (♡ > ◡ < )

he came to ur office to fetch a report from seungmin

and that’s when he saw u for the first time

u were bagging up a few articles of clothing to send to forensics

felix never thought anyone could make a lab coat look so pretty

but THERE U WERE LOOKING LIKE AN ANGEL

u: exist

felix’s lovestruck braincells: (⸝⸝⸝ᵒ̴̶̷ ｡ ᵒ̴̶̷⸝⸝⸝)(⸝⸝⸝ᵒ̴̶̷ ｡ ᵒ̴̶̷⸝⸝⸝)(⸝⸝⸝ᵒ̴̶̷ ｡ ᵒ̴̶̷⸝⸝⸝)

cue: felix embarrassing himself in front of u

“hi, i’m here to r-report”

?????????

u are ??????(・ ・ ? confused

bc the most beautiful person u’ve ever seen just popped out of nowhere and says he’s here to report?

what does he even have to reportksljflkasdf

“hi! uhm i’m sorry, report what?”

“the medical report….?”

????????????????what????????

“OHH u mean u’re here for the medical report? hold on”

……

out of his entire lifetime

his brain choses to be dysfunctional right there in front of u

felix, deep down inside: i want to. (」｡≧□≦)」 D I S SIPATE. (」｡≧□≦)」

“oh right y-yeah, for the burn victim”

u hand him a copy of the report u had prepared and walked him through some of the findings

“we found something in the victim’s ear but i think we haven’t heard back from the lab-“

“hey yn they ran out of the cookies u wanted- oh! (｡･o･｡)ﾉ hey felix!”

“h-hi seungmin”

seungmin looks at him weirdly bc ??? what was that

who is this and what have they done with felix, his giggly cuddlebug of a friend

ANYWAYS

after u finished going through everything, felix said thank u and bolted out of ur office so quick

chan: “u okay there, buddy? u look.. uh”

“……that’s exactly how i feel too”

since then on

he never stops thinking about u

also keeps reminding himself of how embarrassing he was and gets sad over it again • ʖ̯ • )

not that he knows but !! u keep thinking of him too

u’re a little sad that all u know about him is that his name is felix (he didn’t even tell u himself :c ) and that he’s one of the special agents in chan’s division

but u two don’t see each other again after that for awhile

the next time u saw him was when u got back to ur office after lunch break

felix was fetching another report from seungmin

and he was all smiley and giggly (❁´▽`❁)*✲ﾟ* with seungmin but the moment u walked into the room

he just smiles awkwardly at u and rushes out

u figured that he’s uncomfortable whenever u’re around

:(

and it was like that for a very long time

he’d come in with chan sometimes for the reports

and he’d be like buddy-buddy with seungmin but whenever u’re there he’s just hhshdfhshfgotta go

u wanted to be his friend too because he looks so lovely to be around :(

little did u know that he’s just shy because he likes u like A LOT and his brain just short circuits whenever u’re within his eyesight :(

u got felix going dumb da da dumb (sorry)

but stop being sad bc

here comes !! the twist to the plot !! (｡✧ᴗ✧｡)

one day

u were working late and we’re talking like LATE late because

(1) seungmin was out of office for a hearing, and

(2) suddenly 4 new bodies came into the office in a span of 2 hours?!@?!?!@# and u were currently in the brink of breaking down ；—；

but seungmin didn’t raise no quitter

with the power of coffee and anime by ur side, u started working through the bodies one by one

it’s a little past midnight now and u were quite sure the last light outside ur office turned off a couple hours ago and

u see

u could just leave and have seungmin work at it in the morning

but the caffeine in ur bloodstream said u wouldn’t be able to sleep once u get home anyway so

(๑•̀ㅂ•́)و back to work (๑•̀ㅂ•́)و

u were scraping something from the last victim’s nails when suddenly ??? the lights went off

ok let’s be real

u are ⁿᵒᵗ afraid

u work with dead bodies every. day. but it’s god knows what o’clock in the morning AND NOW it’s pitch black and u just hhhhSHDFHS

ur hand went into ur pocket to fish out ur phone but then u remembered that u left it to charge on ur table AT THE OTHER SIDE OF THE ROOM

reader u dummy

u didn’t know how long u froze in that same spot bc ???u’re kinda afraid and u couldn’t see anything

but suddenly u heard the sound of glass shattering and someone’s groan and u thought

this is it this is ur END

seungmin is going to walk into this office tomorrow and find 5 bodies instead of 4

u crouched as a horrible attempt to hide from the ghost……….. or potential murderer…………. honestly u don’t know which one’s better (maybe bc the answer is NOT BOTH??!)

u were internally cursing about how u could’ve had a scalpel in hand for self protection but instead all u had with u was a goddamn TOOTHPICK when u felt something? or someone?touch ur shoulder

“hey-“

“p leasedon’t kill me i’m new here i really don’t know anything pleaseiwon’t sayanything to anyone”

“YN IT’S ME”

“THEY EVEN KNOW MY NAME ALREADYSDKFJSK I REALLY DON’T WANT TO D-“ Σ(ﾟДﾟ；≡；ﾟдﾟ)

“i’m not here to kill usdfskdfjs it’s me!! felix”

,,,,,,,,

felix? (･Θ･)

well

that was

,,,,,,,,embarrassing

“w-what are u doing here?”

“the electricity got cut off and i heard hyunjin say u’re working late and probably still down here so… (´ . .̫ . `) i came here to check on u”

u could barely make out his face in the dark but he was close enough u could see him smiling at u

the two of u just stayed there crouching on the ground and u were just about to say something when suddenly the lights flickered on again

( 〃．．) ohsldkfjs he’s so close and if he keeps smiling that lovely u swear u’ll combust

“are u gonna go home yet?”

“i-i’m not done yet”

“oh ! i’ll wait for u”

“WHAT no it’s late go home”

!!!!

“exactly! it’s late!! i’m not letting u go home at 3 in the morning by urself”

so u quickly finish and when u’re done u found felix nearly dozing off on ur table </3

how can a person be so CUTE ◕︿◕

he walked u home and offered u his jacket along the way

(wouldn’t take no for an answer)

it was a little awkward bc the two of u are just very very Shy

but u enjoyed his company

when u finally arrived at ur apartment,

the two of u just stood there for a little while, u fiddling with ur bag and him with his earring

“i-“ “hey-“

“sorry, u go first”

“i apologize for scaring u earlier…. whenever we meet i just always embarrass myself”

he mumbled the second half of his sentence and ur sleep-deprived brain couldn’t make out what he said but !! he looked so disappointed (っ◞‸◟c)

so u gave him a tiny hug

“no, thank you for checking up on me earlier and for walking me home”

:o

felix was bright red

shy shy felix shy

“no worries..” ⁄(⁄ ⁄•⁄ ⁄•⁄ ⁄)⁄ “i guess.. i uh- i’ll get going, yeah? see u tomorrow?”

“see u tomorrow, be safe”

felix waited until u went inside and then let out a giggle

u hugged him

this is the BEST day of his life

it doesn't even matter if his house is on the other side of the city

he’d walk u home every day if it means u would hug him again

bonus:

“thanks for walking me home again” (⌒⌣⌒ )

lix looked like he was about to ask u something

but all he could say is his usual “no worries”

u see

felix has been meaning to ask u for ur number for a WEEK now but he just couldn’t seem to get the words out of his head >:

he was just about to chicken out once again when u fished out ur phone and gave it to him

“u know… i’d say text me when u get home but i don’t have ur number”

smooth reader very smooth (＾⌒＾*)

he thanked the heavens he didn’t drop ur phone when typing in his number because boy was he SHAKING

the two of u stayed up all night texting and neither could stop smiling that day

[natigail]

Phil made Dan go on a TV game show | 30.03.2021

Phil: What about you, Dan? Release some luck onto us.

Dan: Oh! Actually, I thought about this the other day. This may be a bit niche. *laughing*. Phil, do you remember when you made me go on a TV game show?

Phil: Oh my god, yes. I'm glad you remember that.

Dan: Did people know about this? It might have been mentioned. Ancient, ancient!

Phil: Have we ever told this?

Dan: So, this was like eight years ago. Or was it when I first met you? I have no idea.

Phil: It was literally, I think you'd known me for six months and I was like, let's do this.

Dan: I was pretty new to the concept of the World of Phil. Phil is like... I mean at the time you were like: Hey, if there's a TV game show, I'm going to freaking apply to it. 'Cause I think you worked out, only so many people assume that they are going to get on a TV game show.

Phil: Yeah.

Dan: So if you just like, as a very bored student, apply to every game show or to be in the audience for every TV show. You'll probably actually do it at some point. And Phil was on the Weakest Link, so he was like: hey, there's this new TV show and it was on ITV in the UK and it was called "Red or Black" and the idea was... they were going to get like 100,000 people live on this TV show at the same time. And they were going to split them in half and make them either choose red or black. And they were going to do a series of 50/50 splits until there were just two people. Then they were going to roll the roulette wheel and one of them, depending on red or black, would just straight up win a million pounds. So this was a crazy idea that was just about how many times can you get 50/50 lucky and then one of you are just going to walk away with this cash. And we just applied, and then we got an email being like: You're on! Dan and Phil, come to this stadium at this time and boom, there we go. And it was weird as hell.

Phil: It was such a weird day.

Dan: Basically, they filmed all of these stunts. Like they made us hoard into this event and then they were like: 3, 2, 1 - red or black? And we were like... pff, I don't know, black? And then they were like: You win! You made it through to the next round. What does that mean? Go home! What, so we travelled all of this way just to come and then they were like, it's black, go home. For the next month, they kept inviting us to these things were we would spend like six hours waiting somewhere and they do a weird and then, it's red! Half of you stay, and that was weird as heck.

Phil: There was a weird bit though, that I think we- I got back down to the final like 5,000.

Dan: Yeah.

Phil: So did Dan. And there was a bit where they brought out six fortune cookies and we all had to pick one.

Dan *laughing*: Oh, yeah.

Phil: And Dan picked one and I picked one. And then, so we opened our fortune cookies. I got a thing that said: You lose! And Dan got one that said: You win! And then they just ushered Dan onto this big black bus and drove him away? That was like... where are you taking him?

Dan *high pitch*: OH YEAH! THEY TOOK ME ON THE FREAKING BUS. And it was like, woo, woo, woo! And all of these people from this TV show were just like: YAY, we won! And I was just like: Where the fuck are you taking me? I only did this because my weird friend wanted me to go on this TV show. I don't want to do this without him!

Phil *fond*: Yeah.

Dan: I don't want to talk to freaking Sandra. And then they just took me on a mega bus to Leeds for like two and a half hours. And then they did a thing where they were like: Stand in a field, this side or this side. And then a skydiver is either going to have a- and I was like: what the hell is happening? And basically, I got down to like the final 32, which is insane. I mean that's luck. That's luck right there.

Phil: Out of 100,000, that is crazy.

Dan: I got filtered right down to the final 32. And I honestly- I didn't even want to be there. I was like set me free. *laughter* I want to go HOME. I want to know, can I have a drink? I don't want to be a prisoner of this TV show anymore. And then I got to this final one and then I lost but I mean, that is crazy. The idea that I could just have continued to be held captive by ITV and Ant & Dec but yeah...

Phil: Yeah.

Dan: Thanks for that, Phil. That was pretty weird. Good way to get know someone.

Phil: So you could say that was lucky because you got so far but also very unlucky because you didn't win, so it was a big waste of time.

Dan: Yes, absolutely.

[theres-an-impulstor-among-us]

Iskall, Mumbo and Grian + All refusing to go to sleep for the writing prompts?

i’m starting to think this fandom has a thing for seeing the hermits all sleep deprived :P /j

Requests are still open! Please read pinned post before requesting.

...

  “Lads, the opening of Sahara is upon us,” Grian announces to his friends outside the doors of their giant shop. “But there is something very important we haven’t done yet that we HAVE to do before we open tomorrow.”

  “What’s that?” asks Mumbo dubiously. He knows Grian well enough that he has genuinely no clue what to expect from his best friend. 

  Grian gives a grin. “A sleepover. We’ve all been working extremely hard these last few months-.”

  “Some more than others,” mutters Iskall amusedly. 

  Grian ignores them. “-and we deserve a break. I suggest an evening of games, followed by lively discussion in one of our bases.” 

  “Why are you suddenly talking like someone from the 1800s?” demands Iskall. 

  Again, Grian ignores them. “I suggest my base, but you’re welcome to recommend either of yours. Also, someone will need to bring snacks. Bagsie not me.” 

  After a moment, Mumbo raises his hand. “I’ll bring snacks.”

  “Yes!” Grian beams. “Excellent. Iskall, you can choose the games we play.” 

  “Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Mumbo asks, as Iskall’s eyes light up. “I’m a little worried about what they might put us through.”

  “Oh don’t worry, I’m gonna choose the most deadly ones,” Iskall says, grinning. “Be prepared.”

  “Wonderful…” 

  Grian laughs. “I was thinking more like we go to the casino and spend one last big chunk of our diamonds before Sahara opens tomorrow.”

  “Of course you would suggest the game that costs the most money,” Mumbo sighs. 

  But at Grian’s and Iskall’s hopeful looks, he relents. “Okay, I guess as long as we keep our spending under control…”

…

  “That was NOT “under control”,” Mumbo says, as the three leave the casino later that night. “It’s a wonder we have any diamonds left at all.”

  “That was awesome!” Grian enthuses. “Yay gambling!”

  “I still say we should have spent some of our diamonds at Run,” says Iskall, somewhat poutily.

  Grian snickers. “Buddy, that’s your game. You’d be giving diamonds to yourself.”

  “Uh huh. Your point?”

  Mumbo suppresses a yawn. “Is it time for the “sleep” part of the sleepover yet? It’s getting late and Sahara opens tomorrow.” 

  “Not yet.” Grian bounces ahead. “Come on!”

  Exchanging a look, Mumbo and Iskall follow. 

  The sky is dark blue but not quite properly pitch black; the sun has set by now, but the moon hasn’t fully risen yet. Grian turns to beckon to his friends. “Let’s go for a fly! Quick, while we can still see.”

  With that, he takes off into the air. 

  Mumbo and Iskall follow with their elytras, keeping close to their friend to make sure they don’t lose him. After a while, they start to enjoy flying through the night sky, all three even breaking away to perform some stunts. 

  At last, Grian takes them down near his base. The three land on the outside ring, panting and laughing. 

  “That was amazing,” Mumbo breathes. “I love flying.” 

  “Oh boy.” Iskall lets out a yawn. “Now I’m getting a bit tired. 

  Grian unexpectedly pulls off his shoes and socks and dashes for the ocean. Before anyone can stop him, he dives into the cold water.

  “Grian, what the heck?!” Iskall yelps. 

  “Come swim with me!” Grian calls back, floating on his back. 

  “No! It’s gotta be freezing in there!” 

  “Grian-,” Mumbo begins.

  But Grian dives underwater, so Mumbo breaks off his sentence with a sigh. “What is wrong with him?”

  “Heaven knows.” 

  After a moment of watching their friend, Iskall crosses their arms. “We could just leave him and go to bed.”

  “He’ll end up killing himself in one way or another,” responds Mumbo reluctantly. “Is it just me or has he been a bit weird tonight?”

  “What, you mean blowing all his diamonds on a gambling game, going for a fly for no apparent reason, and then impulsively jumping into the ocean at nearly midnight?  That’s weird Grian behaviour to you?

  "Well…” Mumbo pauses. “When you put it that way…”

  Iskall chuckles. “No, I do see what you mean. There IS something odd about him.” 

  Just then, Grian pulls himself out of the ocean and comes to stand in front of them, sopping wet and grinning a little too wildly. “That was fun! What next?”

  “Sleep,” Mumbo responds, suppressing another yawn. 

  “Noooo, not yet! I’m not tired!”

  “I am,” Mumbo says. “And don’t forget, we have to get up early for-.”

  “Oh, stop mentioning Sahara!” snaps Grian suddenly. “Just stop it! I’m sick of hearing about the stupid opening!”

  A pause follows this.

  “Grian.” Iskall places their hands on Grian’s shoulders, ignoring how wet his jumper is. “What’s going on with you? Is everything alright?”

  Grian’s scowl falls and he lets his head drop. “I don’t want to sleep, that’s all.”

  “Why? And what’s with your outburst just now?”

  “I…” Grian sighs. “I’m nervous. We’ve worked on this project for months and we’ve poured our hearts and souls into it. What if it goes wrong? What if it fails? What if the opening goes well but we don’t get any business? What if the opening DOESN’T go well? I just… I just don’t want to go to sleep because when I do, morning will come, and it’ll bring the opening with it, and I’m not ready. I-I’m not ready.”

  “Buddy…” 

  Iskall pulls Grian into a hug, again ignoring how wet their clothes are getting. “It’s okay, Grian. We ARE ready. Like you said, we’ve been preparing for months. Everything will be fine.”

  “And even if something does go wrong, we’ll deal with it,” adds Mumbo, joining the hug. “We’re two redstone geniuses and one of the best builders on the server. There’s nothing we can’t handle.”

  “We’re a team, remember,” Iskall reminds him. “You don’t have to hold all your worries on your own.”

  Grian falls silent, considering this. Finally, he lets out a single sniffle. “Th-Thanks. Sorry for being all weird tonight.”

  “I mean, you ARE weird,” Iskall chuckles. “But it was fun, not gonna lie. Just what we needed the day before the opening. But seriously, we should probably go to sleep now. The last thing we want is to be sleep deprived at the opening.” 

  Grian grins sheepishly. “Yeah, you’re right. It’s way past bedtime. I might end up being too overexcited to sleep, though.” 

  “Same,” Iskall says amusedly. “But we gotta at least try.”

  Less than ten minutes later, the three are fast asleep.

[the-silentium]

Murphy day Pt. 4

Masterlist - Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 -  Epilogue

Pairing: Bad Batch x Reader

Words: 3480 words.

Warnings: Medical stuff without much detail. 

A/N: YAY last chapter of this series! This was a lot of fun! Hope you guys stay tuned for more Bad Batch fics! Don’t forget to leave comments, always much appreciated!

Fors is an Original planet. I do not give permission to people to use it for their own fics, the planet, the animals, the Nightmares, the lore or anything related to Fors. Thank you.

At first, you felt numb. It felt like your mind was wandering around, completely separated from your body. Where you should be feeling your hands and feet, there was only nothingness, a way too cold nothingness. 

Then the soreness poked at the corner of your brain, slowly assaulting your nerves, crawling up your body until all you could feel was a mass of terribly aching limbs. A constant discomfort deep within your throat prompted you to cough it out to relieve yourself of the nagging feeling, the weak attempts miserably failing to alleviate the sensation of something invading your throat. 

As you tried to raise a hand to rub at your neck, you realized that something was keeping it down. Something warm. And tight. 

Like Tech's hand when he was pulling you away from the predator on your tail. Or when he was dangling in the air on the verge of death, the only thing keeping him from disappearing into the abyss being your fingers clutching his hand. 

Fear flooded your system, fighting the exhaustion paralyzing your limbs. Your hand closed around the warm soft object in your grip, your hold tightening despite the pain radiating from your fingers. You couldn't let go. He would die. Your friend would die. 

You didn't hear the yelp over the frenetic heartbeat booming in your ears, your closed eyes projecting you directly to that day when the dark sky offered the perfect camouflage to the draconic reptile. He was concealed in the dark, waiting for you to drop your guard. No. He was waiting for you to drop Tech so he could feast on his flesh. 

Your eyes flew open in terror as the hand in yours slipped slightly, your fist crushing it with all your might to keep it secure. 

The unexpected brightness brings tears to your eyes, the first droplets falling down your cheeks before a familiar figure invaded your personal space, his other hand flying to your shoulder in a comforting grip. 

His lips were moving, trying to tell you something that you couldn't hear over the hammering of your heart or your quick breathing or the hectic beeping sound on your left. 

Lifting your head a little, pain exploded behind your eyes, forcing your head back down immediately. Your eyes moved to your hand, still imprisoning another's in its vice grip. The sight made you relax slightly. You'd not dropped him. 

Before your attention could return to the person hovering above you, his hand on your shoulder retreated as someone else took his place from your other side, a total stranger that looked oddly familiar in some way. He moved quickly around you, talking to you while putting something terribly cold onto your chest multiple times before removing something taped to your face and removing the thing down your throat. 

You coughed as you felt the thing move out, more tears leaking down your face at the effort. 

"You're okay Y/N." You finally heard, your mind concentrating on what was around instead of yourself. "You're okay." He repeated in case you still didn't hear him, his other hand returning to your shoulder. 

His dark locks seemed even wilder than they were in the jungle, although they weren't slick with sweat and rain anymore. His armor was off, leaving him in a black skin fitted suit that allowed you to appreciate just perfectly fit he was beneath all that composite. His tattoo was still intriguing, but his eyes reminded you too much of someone else to let yourself wander about how soft the ink would feel beneath your fingertips. 

"T-" You coughed at the roughness of your throat, increasing the pulsing feeling into your skull. 

"Don't talk yet." Hunter chided, getting closer as the other man moved around, checking machines and bags disposed all around you. Where was water when you needed it?

"Tech's fine. All he got was a bruised hand." His gaze moved to your joined hands on the bed. "No wonder. You've got a hell of a grip." 

Your eyes widen in realization that you were still clutching him in a terribly tight grasp, pain erupting from your white fingers as soon as you relaxed the tension. 

He shook his hand once before massaging his digits to resume the blood flow. He turned to you, all traces of pain washed off his face, relief, and exhaustion taking its place. 

"You scared us all to death, you know that?" 

You frowned, unsure as to why. 

"Tech said that the fall should have been fatal." It clicked in your head, your fall replaying back in your head, the air hitting you full force, your stomach on the verge of your lips, the screams resonating in your ears. 

"Somehow, you survived the fall and we took you to the closest GAR medical outpost." 

You frowned, looking around to the room but were interrupted by a light flashing directly into your eyes. You blinked, surprised but tried to maintain them open for the apparent exam. 

"Follow the light." The doctor softly instructed, obliging as he moved the light from right to left. He nodded in approval. "Does it hurt somewhere?"

You nodded slowly, a finger pointing at your head the best you could with your stiff joints. 

"Your head?" You nodded in confirmation. 

"Your pilot will be monitored closely for a while. As of now, her vitals are good and I'll give her something for the pain." He addressed Hunter, the latter nodding in understanding. Your head tilted to the side, your eyebrows dipped in a frown. Pilot? "Keep her rested, no moving around like the other one." He finished on a disapproving tone and pointed look, pressed some buttons on a machine right beside you, and left the room when Hunter promised to keep you in bed. 

"We had to pass you as our pilot so you could be treated here, so play the game." He whispered when the doctor exited the room and turned to meet your confused face.

Your eyes widened, quickly shaking your head because you don't know shit about ships! What if someone asked you about stuff GAR related? Hissing, you abruptly stopped, your head spinning and hurting. 

"Stop that. You may have survived but you had a severe concussion, some internal injuries, broke an arm, a few ribs, and have lots and lots of bruises." His eyes roamed your face, analyzing the different colors painting your skin, although you couldn't care less because your eyes caught the cast enveloping your right arm. 

You were fucked. You'd never be able to go home and act like you didn't go out on Murphy day. You'll get punished, your life will become more miserable, people will avoid you even more than they already did. Maybe they'll quick you out of the village! 

Your face must have shown your panic or maybe it was the fact that the beeping sound accelerated along with your heartbeat, but Hunter got closer, his hand reaching for your shoulder once more. 

"What's wrong?" 

"T-" You coughed before clearing your throat. Your mouth felt like it was full of sand, but you had to get it out. "They'll know-" You winced. "-I was out." 

"Well. I'm sure they know by now." He looked sheepish, scratching the back of his head like that, almost uncomfortable to tell you some precious information. "You've been out for a bit less than a month." 

"A month?!" You choked, eyes widening in shock. This couldn't be possible. He must have hit his head too.

"You're awake!" The door to your room opened swiftly, letting inside the rest of the batch, all without armor. Tech hurried to your side first, taking your bruised hand in his and staring at you like he couldn't believe it. 

"I am." You answered in a daze, still distracted by the fact that you missed a month. 

"You should be dead." He whispered in awe. 

"Jeez, thanks for the vote of confidence." You coughed as Hunter called his brother, horrified. 

"No, I mean… I'm happy that you're alive! All I'm saying is that you had a 50% chance to die from a 48 feet high fall. But headfirst?! Your chances were close to none!"

You gulped. "Cool?" 

"He should be thanking you instead of telling you all that." Hunter pointed out, a hard look on his face directly focussed on his little brother. 

"Thanks," Said brother whispered, his free hand scratching his neck in shame. "for saving my life. Twice." 

"No thanks needed. You'd have done the same." You moved your hand so you could give him a comforting squeeze. 

"Sarge told you you'd survive the day Y/N!" Wrecker approached from Hunter's side, happiness lacing his voice. 

"And I told you guys would give me your bad lu-" Your smile disappeared as soon as you took in the bandages covering his naked chest. Some patches of exposed skin were tainted from a sick yellow to some dark green, worrying you to no end. 

"What happened to you?" You croaked, coughing when your voice raised in pitch. 

"There." You heard Crosshair’s low voice before a cup appeared in front of you. 

"I don't think she shoul-" 

"I want it!" You hurried out of breath, cutting Tech before anyone could think about following his instructions. 

Taking the cup from Crosshair's hand, Hunter approached it to your hand not attached to a cast. 

"Good to do it yourself?" 

"I'll try." You shrugged, fighting past the exhaustion in your bone to lift your hand to the white carton cup, only for it to burn up all your energy. "Shit."

The good point was that whatever the doctor gave you was working perfectly, the throbbing in your head was gone and the pulsing in your hand as well. 

"Here." The cup reached your lips and very slowly, Hunter tilted it to appease your thirst without drowning you in the process. You would have been mortified at the idea of being helped like this, but in this very precise situation, all you could think of was drink. 

Lie. This is not sweet! Bacterias! You almost spit it out by reflex but remembered at the last second that they surely wouldn't give you undrinkable water. It was difficult, but you forced yourself to swallow. 

Once satisfied, you lifted your head to signal to Hunter to back off. You hummed your thanks, smiling gratefully and totally ignoring the smirk Crosshair send his tattooed brother, focussing your attention on Wrecker instead. 

"What happened?" You repeated yourself. 

"The giant snake hit me with its tail." He shrugged like it was nothing. "I'm fine, don't worry. I've survived worse!" 

You stared him up and down, wondering how in the universe he could have survived that. Its tail was rock hard to allow it to move underground. There was no way- 

"What could be worse than a Basilisk wanting you for dinner?!" 

"That'll be a story for another time." A woman said from the door. "Now that you are awake we need to run some more exams." She smiled warmly at you, and you immediately knew that you liked her. "You can all come back later."

"Aw already?" You chuckled slightly at Wrecker's disappointment. 

"Unfortunately. But I promise to take good care of her for you all." She replied, entering the room to get to the machines at your side. 

"We'll be back." Hunter promised before bending to your ear, whispering cheekily, "You're a hell of a catch. Never think otherwise." Leaving you agape to follow the others out without a glance back. He didn't need to, the heart monitor told him all he needed to know. You were mortified. He had heard you by the river.

Crosshair saluted you in the doorway, Tech patted your hand, Wrecker waved and Hunter smirked before closing the door. 

"I've never seen them so worried about someone else other than the four of them. It's nice to see them opening to someone else." She smiled, noting information on her datapad. 

If only you knew… I know them for only 2 hours top.

________________________

You gulped down the last bit of your small breakfast, the tasteless bread leaving a soggy feeling in your mouth. 

You'd slept like a baby after Mylana finished to examine your cast, reflexes, and more. Your strength returned during the night, allowing you to lift your cast-free left arm to feed yourself. 

Patch, the clone doctor assigned to your case passed to assess your improvement and informed you that he'd remove the nasogastric tube so you could eat by yourself. Removing the thing was nasty, definitely something you didn't want to live again but it was worth it. Or so you thought. Because the food here was depressing compared to Fors’ vast variety of fresh fruits, meat, and vegetables. 

It was only when Patch presented himself that you realized how different the Bad Batch was from the rest of the clones. He was the very first 'normal' clone you encountered. It pushed you to think about how the batchers must have had it hard, to live in a world where everything must be identical and you're not. They had no chance to conceal it, to be themselves like all the others because they were physically different. They had no chance to try and save themselves. It was infuriating and unfair. 

"How's breakfast?" Tech asked from the door, moving uncomfortably from a foot to the other. 

"Not what I'm used to but it’s edible." You shrugged, waving him in. "Don't be a stranger, I'm your pilot after all."

Tech chuckled at that, closed the door to sit at the foot of the bed. For a while he sat there, watching his fingers, sometimes pressing them together but never facing you. 

"You don't have to apologize for anything Tech. I don't know what's bugging you, but it's fine. I'm alive." You told him honestly, surprising him. 

"I-What I said yesterday was inappropriate and I'm very sorry. It's just- I watched the recording times and times again and- Why did you let go of my hand?" He finally met your eyes offering you disbelief, confusion, sadness, and betrayal on a golden plate.

"I told you there was nothing to apologize for. I let go of your hand because I didn't want to drag you down with me." You lifted your hand when he opened his mouth to interrupt you, effectively shutting him up. "I'd do it again. Don't beat yourself over it, because it's not your fault Tech." You ended firmly, no trace of your previous amusement on your face. 

He analyzed your face for a second before averting his eyes. 

"How's your hand?" You asked, eager to fill the silence. 

"Still bruised." The corner of his lips lifted slightly as he showed you his colorful hand. "I couldn't close it at first, but it passed." He chuckled. "Oh, and I had to wash my armor at least 3 times to get rid of the phosphorescence." 

You laughed full-on before pain shot through your chest at the movement. 

"Don't make me laugh!" 

"Slept well then." Hunter entered followed by Crosshair and Wrecker with a black shirt on this time. 

"Best night of sleep I had in a while Sarge." You beamed. It was true, the life in the village was hard enough. Not because of your work, but because the incessant persecution was heavy to bear. 

"Good to hear. We came back after the exam but you were asleep." He positioned himself at the foot of the bed, letting Wrecker all the place to sit in the chair at your side. 

"Thanks for letting me sleep then!" 

"Even if we wanted to wake you, Patch would've had our asses before we even opened the door!" Wrecker laughed, stopping his poking of the fluid bag hanging near his shoulder to smile at you. 

"He just wants me to be discharged sooner than later." You batted his hand away as he resumed his movement. 

"Speaking of discharge, we'll take you back to Fors as soon as you're cleared." The playful smile fell of your face in a heartbeat. 

"Oh. Ok. Thanks." 

"What's the matter?" Crosshair approached at Hunter's question, clearly wanting to know the answer. 

"Nothing. Can't wait to go back." You faked a smile that didn’t reach your eyes, not fooling a single clone in the room.

"What is it?" The sniper inquired, surprising you that he'd care about your feelings and well, you. 

"It's just… I'm done. People know that I went out on Murphy day and they certainly think me dead right now." You explained.

"Well, they'll be happy to see that you're not." Tech tilted his head, not understanding where the problem was. 

"No one misses the village's freak. Ever. They won't throw a celebration because I'm alive, they'll kick me out for breaking the law, and because I'll attract them bad luck." 

Silence fell over the room and suddenly you felt an urge to pull on the needles in your arms and hand and run out the door to avoid the conversation and all the shame accompanying it. 

"You're not a freak." You scoffed at Wrecker, all the insults thrown at you during your life echoing in your head like a curse. 

"Wanting more than just living the life that was imposed on me at birth doesn't fit under the norms on Fors. A female having weapons is not acceptable, even less a female hunting. Working a physical job instead of stayin' at home is not exemplary. Plus, I'm still single! I told off the guy who asked for my hand after my dad died and went as far as menacing him with a knife. After that, I was pretty much a goner." You recalled painfully, hands clenching around the sheets, eyes closing in shame.

"I'm always being stared at like a freak show, pushed around by my supposed peers, thrown in the mud when possible, or let behind in a storm. Oh let's not forget that I went out on Murphy day. Now, that's the dumbest shit I've ever done but damn did it felt good to break their stupid law! I'm sure I'll be exiled at best or executed at worse." 

You finally took a deep breath in, canalizing your frustration to not take it out on the medical equipment helping you get better. The silence was heavier than before and you thought that maybe the drip Patch showed you for the episodes of pain could help you relieve some of the pressure crushing you. 

"Your planet is hell." Was all Crosshair had to say for you to smile again. 

"It is." You confirmed, eyes still closed. 

"We need a pilot." That got you to open your eyes, confused at Hunter. 

"So? I'm not a pilot. My planet doesn't even have datapads." 

"We'll train you." Tech and Wrecker were as surprised as you were, although your big friend was the most enthusiast out of the group. 

"Really Sarge?" He asked, hopeful. 

"Wo there, calm down. We've known each other for 2 hours!" You reasoned in disbelief. He couldn't possibly offer you a job, an escape route out of your misery, after walking alongside you for 2 hours more or less. "You don't know me!" 

"On the contrary, I've learned plenty in 2 hours." He countered, his serious eyes telling you that he passed his time analyzing your actions, your motives, who you were. 

It was really tempting, but you couldn't help to feel that this was rushed. It was, right?

"Freaks help each other." Crosshair added putting a stop to your doubt. They were the same as you. 

"I told you already Cross." You smirked at him. "You're not defects. Simply the improved versions of your species." You nudged his arm pressed at the foot of the bed that he was leaning on next to Hunter with your sheet covered toes. 

"You seen Patch?" He lifted an eyebrow at you, not believing that after seeing the real deal you still talked highly of them. 

"I did. Really handsome." You paused, to bit your bottom lip. "But that just means that you guys are even more handsome." He scoffed and you laughed, happy to get a smirk out of him. 

"So, wanna become a pilot?" Hunter reiterated, waiting. He seemed so patient, unbothered, but you could see it beneath the surface. He was anxious to know the answer. 

"On one condition." Held your chin high, ignoring how Wrecker's face split into a wide grin and how Tech straightened at your side. 

"Name it."

"I wanna touch that tattoo of yours." You smirked. 

Wrecker exploded in laughter, Tech blinked in incredulity until it dawned on him and his cheeks became pink from the blood rush and Crosshair simply rolled his eyes, pushing himself off the bed. 

"Deal." He smirked in turn, not once moving his eyes from your lips. 

Finally.

[apocalypticwafflekitten]

Never Too Much

Maul x ASD!Reader 

A/N: I am SO ASHAMED OF HOW LONG IT’S TAKEN ME TO GET THIS OUT HOLY CRAP I”M SO SORRY! BUT IT’S FINALLY HERE!!!! YAY!!! ...pretty please forgive me! (Also, If anything is wrong or offensive, please please let me know so that I can fix it! I tried to keep it as gender neutral as possible, but I’m used to writing with a female reader in mind, so if I’ve slipped up and missed anything that would label a gender, feel free to let me know as well! Other than that, I hope you enjoy this story!)

Original Imagine/Summary: This is for the lovely @localnightmare13! They requested a story with a gender-neutral reader who has ASD and is a little insecure about it. But we all know that Maul is always ready to make you feel loved and cherished in this world, so it’ll be alright!

Warnings: I’m not... I’m not sure if I’ve made it 100% crystal clear, but the reader has ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder)! So if that throws you off your rhythm, then by all means, you don’t have to read this story!

Other than that, miiiiild angst if you squint. It’s mostly the reader feeling insecure about themselves, and wondering about their relationship with Maul. There is crying involved, so you maaaaaay want tissues. Maybe?

Word Count: 2.6k

He could feel you walk up beside him, though it wasn’t the tapping of your shoes against the smooth floor, nor was it the soft brush of your hand on his shoulder that told him you were here.  

It was a ripple through the force. A wave of worry. A spike of something else he couldn’t quite place.  

But you smiled at him. A large smile, like always, as if nothing was wrong. He was baffled, confused, but he decided to ask later. After the syndicate meeting perhaps. 

~~~~~~

The members of the syndicate gathered before the throne, and chatted to themselves while they waited on you and Maul to arrive.  

It had been a while since you had lead a meeting. Your last mission had you bedridden with a nasty wound to your side for weeks while you healed. This was the first time you’d be leading a meeting in nearly a month and Maul could feel your stress shedding from you in waves. 

As you entered the room, you resisted the urge to wring your fingers in your hand, but despite your nerves, you missed leading the meetings. You enjoyed knowing about everything that was going on in the syndicate, and you enjoyed getting a say in how it was run. It was a fun job for you.  

That is, it usually was. But for some reason, unknown Maul, today you were trembling.  

Still, even in your fear, you held your head high and began the meeting as normal. 

“What do you plan to do about the Pyke’s incessant demands for increased revenue on a quarterly basis.”  

There was a beat of silence as all waited for your response.

“What do you plan to do? What do you plan to do?” (Y/N) muttered under their breath, “What do you plan to do?”

You paused for a second before speaking,

“The Pykes will face an ultimatum. Settle with a singular 5% increase for this standard year with potential for growth in the coming years, or face no increase for the foreseeable future. It seems to me that their annual profit is quite sufficient as is, but their loyalty is important to this syndicate.” You answered in a confident tone. 

“Only a five percent increase?” The Pyke representative scoffed as he huffed into the room.  

You shuddered, startled by the brash, nearly offended tone the representative held.

But before you could stutter together a drefute, Maul was already speaking.

“You should realize the generosity put forth by this offer,” He warned with an edge to his voice, “I would have offered less. Your loyalty is only important to the survival of this syndicate. Not crucial. There are many others who would gladly take your place. And your tardiness inclines me to speak on behalf of this deal’s overruling.” 

The Pyke representative grumbled at Maul’s reprimand, but agreed to the deal nonetheless. He sat quietly in his seat for the rest of the meeting, knowing better than to challenge you or Maul. 

“Are there anymore concerns you wish to bring to the table?” You ask, and Maul doesn’t fail to notice the way you rub the palm of your hand in fast, worried, repetitive circles with your thumb. Nor does he miss the sharp spikes of fear that shivered their way across the Force.  

That was strange. Especially for you. He knew you. You were never one to fear meetings like this. You’d held so many of them that it was like a routine at this point. You didn’t fear the syndicate leaders, and you knew how to deal with their demands. Then again, you were just getting back from a long leave, and a lot had changed since the last meeting. Maybe that was the cause of your distress. 

“Maul, dear?”  

Your voice pulled Maul from his musings, back to the throne room and the present meeting.

“Yes (Y/N)?”  

“The Black Sun leaders had some questions for you regarding the additional tax on their income.” 

And so Maul delved into discussions with the Black Sun, but in the back of his mind he was still worried about your fear, and why it had reared it’s terrifying head this day.  

~~~~~~

There was an uncomfortable, prickling itch at the back of Maul’s neck the rest of the day. His chest would feel constricted; he would shudder out heaving breaths. And yet, he was fine. He knew he was. It was you that he was feeling. You and the worries that consumed you today.  

He wanted to take the day off. He wanted to be by your side if you needed him, or free to be there even if you wanted space.  

But today was full of meetings, paperwork, and every other responsibility ever imagined for a royal. It seemed that today was jam packed with everything he didn’t want to do, not sparing even five minutes to be with his darling.

It was all too much when, in the middle of a pitch meeting for new city developments, Maul felt a jabbing pain at his temple, and stinging in his eyes. Something had gone wrong. 

“So, if we can, the city would greatly benefit from the addition of --”  

“Senator.” Maul cut them off. The senator stopped, confused and visibly displeased, “Something urgent has come up, and it is necessary that I attend to it. We can continue this discussion at a later date. I’ll send you the details as late as tomorrow morning.” 

Maul stood from his chair and rushed out of the room, leaving a confused and frustrated senator in his wake. 

The stabbing pain returned, searing a grimace on his face as he reached out to feel for you in the Force. 

Oh my love? What’s gone wrong?  

~~~~~~

He found you in the middle of the garden’s greenhouse. He heard your crying first. The anguished wails jabbing right into his heart. Then he saw you huddled on the floor, clutching your ears; your eyes screwed shut  in what he could only imagine to be the intense, stinging pain.

He was by your side, kneeling next to you in a second.  

His eyebrows knit, and he had to keep himself from touching you, realizing the severity of your sensitive state. He had to be careful.

“My darling,” Maul ventured with as gentle a voice as he could, “Love, what is it? How can I help you?”  

It took a second, but you responded with shivering hyperventilations.

“Its...it’s too much....There’s too much sound, too much light. I...I need it to be quiet...I-I need everything to sto-op.”    

There was a flash of panic. This had happened before, yes. Maul knew what to do, but still, there was just the smallest worry that he wouldn’t be able to help you. That no matter what he did, he couldn’t ease your senses’ sensitivity.  

But he couldn’t dwell on that worry right now. He had to take care of you. He figured your room would be the most comfortable place. With the blinds closed, and the room far away from any commotion in the palace, it should be a good spot for you. 

“Is it okay if I pick you up?” Maul asked, “I can get you somewhere dark and quiet, but I need to pick you up.”  

Your eyes cracked open just the littlest bit to see him hovering above you. Your nod was small, but it was enough. Maul scooped you into his arms and carried you to your room as quick as he could.  

The sheets were cool and soft against your skin. A welcome feeling to pull your attention from all the noise. Except now there was no noise. It was quiet, and the room was dark enough that only a shadow of Maul’s outline could be seen. 

He wrapped you in the sheets which offered you their soft, sweet embrace. The darkness was gentle. Plush like a cloud so that could rest, far away from the garden’s garish light. And the quiet....oh the quiet. It was a wave of relief. A wave of peace. You felt weightless in all this silence. Your muscles let go of their tension, and you could breathe again; loose and free. There was only one sound came through minutes later to break the blessed silence.  

“My darling?” His voice was smooth. Gentle, unlike the crickets and chirping birds from the garden. His voice was the only sound you were willing to welcome now.

“Hmm?”  

“Would you like me to stay with you, or would you prefer to be alone?”  

“Alone for now please,” Your voice was a whisper, sounding far too loud within your head than it should, “I’ll come out to finish my duties in a little while; once I’m feeling better.”  

“You needn’t worry about that my dear. You can rest for the remainder of the day if you wish.” He whispered, gently stroking some hair away from your face. 

“Thank you Love.” You left a kiss on the palm of his hand and closed your eyes, slipping into blissful silence once again.

~~~~~~

It wasn’t until later that day that Maul got the chance to talk to you.  

The night was cool. Leftover light peeked over the horizon as the sun fell across the sky.

When you walked into your bedroom that evening, your face was sullen, and he felt that sharp sting of fear ripple in the Force.

Maul stood from the bed, brows furrowed, and came to stand behind you where you stood at the dresser. His hands traveled to your shoulders and started rubbing little circles across your shoulders as he asked the question that had been on his mind all day.

“My darling love, what’s going on? You’ve been so quiet today. Every time you walk by me, there’s a cry in the force. What’s hurting you?”  

His plea was almost desperate. How he wished he could help you, but he didn’t know what was wrong. It was eating away at him horribly.

You stood still for a moment, meeting his eyes. The sincerity there, the care. It brought your dam down. Tears flowed as you pulled away from him, unable to pull your worries from your throat. 

“(Y/N)?”  

Maul’s eyes widened and you could see the second his heart snapped. You pulled away from him. You had never done that before. 

“My dear why do you back away?” He whispered to you with an outstretched hand. His voice trembled as he spoke, “...Have I done something dear?”  

You whipped your head up to look at him. 

“Oh. No. No Maul. It’s not you. It’s just...” You sniffle as Maul lets out a bated breath. It was a slow breath, but he was relieved in some small sense that he wasn’t the cause of your problem.

He watched you intently as you struggled to find words. HIs eyes bore into you. The gold of them burned with concern, and the crease in his brows; the frown on his face. You turned yourself, unable to look at him as the guilt built in your gut. There’s was silence before your voice rang through.

“Do you..do you like being with me?”  

Maul’s eyes widened further, impossibly so before he stepped closer to you.  

“What?” His voice was weak. For once in his life, Maul could say that he was scared, and he wasn’t hiding it well. 

“Well, um, do you like being with me?”You asked again, “I know I’m a lot to handle sometimes, I mean, look at what happened this afternoon!” An annoyed huff left you, “Someone else would probably make your life easier, and I just-“

Maul rushed forward and grappled you into an almost bone-crushing hug. You could feel his nose brushing at your neck as his arms held tight.

“You are never, and could never be too much for me to handle. No one could make my life easier than you. And even if they could, I wouldn’t want it. They wouldn’t be you. No one else could come close to you. There will be hardships, yes, and this afternoon carried such a hardship, but I’ve never loved you less for them, nor will I ever. Darling, where do these thoughts come from? Why do you doubt my love?” Maul pleaded, holding your shoulders tight, his eyes desperately begging for an answer.

‘Its...It’s not...I know you love me.” You breathed, trying to figure out how in the world you were going to explain this, “I”m just worried that....that I...well, my.....my disorder...I was a mess in that meeting, and I was a mess this afternoon, and I know that I’ve been away for a while, but I just...I worry that I’m...that I’m not enough. For the people, for the city...for you.” 

He’s still. Stone-still to the point that you couldn’t tell if he was still breathing. But your quiet sniffles seemed to break him, and his eyes began to fill with tears.

“My darling,” His voice was so sincere, “The city, these people, even the syndicate will never weigh your worth based on your disorder. And neither will I. Ever. I know it’s hard for you. Some days more than most. Even if I don’t share the experience, watching you is enough to know that your hardships take a heavy toll.”  

He paused, watching you. Gaging your response; the widening of your eyes, and the knitting of your brows. When you said nothing, he took it as his cute to continue.  

“My dear, you care so much for others, see the good in others, but you don’t ever seem to see it in yourself. The way you feel for the people around you astounds me. The way you hold their opinions and needs so close to your heart, and try to do for them everything that you can, it’s a completely different perspective. It inspires me. You give this job, this world, this life a meaning. You make me want to try my love. You give me a reason to push past the hardships, and keep trying. And that’s so much more than enough.”  

 A moment of silence.

You felt gutted. You wanted to cry, and squeal, and scream, and sob. Was that...He....? He really means all of that? You’re...you’re enough?” 

“Darling?” Maul’s voice broke through your clouded thoughts; a wave of concern rippling into your ears. 

You don’t think, you just cling to him, holding him as close to you as you can, s sob ripping itself from your throat. 

You can’t stop the sobbs, and the tears, and the aching in your chest that feels like you’re being constricted. Gosh, why is it so hard to breathe?  

“I know my dear. I know. Let it out. Yout deserve to let it out,” He whispered as he stroked your hair and held you tight. “I hope that someday you’ll be able to see yourself the way I see you...the way everyone sees you. Until then, I’ll hold you tight and tell you everything wonderful about yourself until you can believe me. Until you can see the good in yourself.”  

Your sobs died down to a whimper, and you lifted your puffy, watery eyes to look at Maul.  

It took a second before you could speak; lingering whimpers and sniffles stuck in your throat. 

But when you were able to, you spoke with a quiet voice, so full of gratitude and love, and tenderness that Maul was almost thrown back by the ripple created in the force. 

“Thank you Maul. So, so much.” 

“Anytime my dear. Anytime.” He whispered once again, tenderly wiping a tear from your cheek before placing the gentlest of kisses to your forehead.  

You swear you had never felt so loved as you did that night. It was a night that would live with you for the rest of your life.   

~~~~~~~

Tags! 

@justalittlecloud @fanficsforheartandsoul​

[lonelyreputation]

Twenty-Four Hours

a/n: Hello!!! I’m back again with some more fluff!! Yay! Not even a touch of angst 😌 In this little piece of writing we have Fiancé!Shawn!! Enjoy! ALSO major thanks to @saysweartogod-og who came up with this idea when I was at a loss at how not make this prompt a cliché of saying bye to Shawn before he leaves for a tour!! Emily always showing up with her creative ideas😌😌

Also, all your nice words make me cry 🥺I love reading your thoughts!! THANKS A MILLION FOR ALL YOUR SUPPORT! 💞😊

REQUEST: Pulling away from a hug that you wish would last longer

Let’s Chat!! | MASTERLIST

Warnings: None!

Word Count: 3.2K

With a wedding, there comes a lot of traditions.  The bridal shower, bachelor and bachelorette parties, picking out that one dress that feels magical, rehearsal dinners, and the old wives tale of not being able to see your future spouse twenty-four hours before you walk down the aisle.

A whole twenty-four hours.

It was insane really, you had friends who had just gone the night before their wedding without seeing their future and they seemed to be doing just fine.  But your mom got yourself stuck in your head with traditions this and traditions that. You didn’t know how much you believed in the myth that your marriage with Shawn would be doomed before it started if you saw him before your wedding.  But you weren’t willing to take the chance.  Just in case.

You had spent the day with Shawn and the bridal party, enjoying each other’s company like you did when you were teenagers.  There were a lot of drinking games involved that you barely participated in, but would partner up with Shawn if he gazed at you with gentle, pleading eyes.  It was going to be a long marriage if you couldn’t start saying no to him.

With having an early afternoon ceremony, it was the night before your twenty-four hours would go into effect, the last night you would spend with Shawn as his fiancé.  It was a curious feeling; definitely one of excitement because you would finally be able to call Shawn your husband.  But a bit odd because the more you thought about it, the more you realized that nothing would really change.  You two already lived together, already had sex, and already acted like a married couple.  The only change would be your last name and the extra band on your left hand that would leave your skin considerably paler than the rest.

You had just finished getting ready for bed and looked at the time.  It was nearing ten o’clock and you had about fourteen hours left with Shawn until the twenty-four hour rule would come into effect.  Spending a whole day a part from him seemed like torture, but it was a small price to pay for a lifetime with him.

The sound of the toilet flushing and the sink running brought you out of your thoughts.  You were curled into the hotel room’s duvet when Shawn appeared shirtless from the bathroom, sweatpants hanging on his hips.  He turned off the bathroom light and then made his way to the front of the room to turn all of the lights in the room off.

The darkness blanketed the room like the duvet weighing you down, but soon enough, the duvet lifted slightly off your body and you felt the mattress dip down.  Shawn inched his way closer to you so you were able to feel his breath hit your face, “Hi.”

You let out a small laugh, “Hey there.”

Before you knew it, Shawn’s strong arms reached out and pulled you in close to him.  A loud laugh escaped through your lips as Shawn nuzzled his head into your shoulder and pressed soft kisses on your neck.  You were so content with your life right now; every heartbreak you went through before Shawn, every heartbreak you went through with Shawn…everything led you to this moment, laying in bed, with Shawn as your fiancé, feeling like everything was perfect.

“So close,” Shawn mumbled into your shoulder before he brought his head up to look at you.  His face was so close to yours that you could see the excitement in his eyes, even through the pitch black, “Can’t we just elope? I wanna be able to call you my wife right now.”

You let out a laugh as you brought a hand up to his face, brushing away some of his curls, “I think both of our parents would murder us if they weren’t there.”

“Fair point,” Shawn fell back onto the mattress with a thump.  The warmth that radiated off him caused you to close your eyes and scoot closer to the heat of his chest, “It’s just so close.”

You nodded her head against his chest, “Just a little over a day now.”

“And you want to do that twenty-four hour thing?”

“I mean, yeah,”  you lifted your fingertips up to his stomach and started lightly drawing shapes, “Don’t want to jeopardize anything.”

He let out a deep breath, “If you really want to…” He sounded hesitant on the tradition and you poked his chest until he offered up more information, “It’s just––I think it’s a bit silly is all.  We’ve been together for years, and supposedly not seeing each other for twenty-four hours will make or break our marriage?”

“We’ve gone longer without seeing each other before,” you alluded to all the times Shawn had gone on tour and you wouldn’t see him for months, “and besides,” you pressed a kiss to his cheek, “Just think about how exciting it’ll be to see me walking down the aisle.”

A fond smile crossed over his face as he brought a hand behind his head, “I’ve been dreaming about that for years now.”

A smile lit up on your face, much like Shawn’s, when the two of you thought about meeting each other at the end of the aisle.  Like him, you had been dreaming of that moment for years now, probably longer than he has.  

Your dreams were full of him standing with his back to yours, styled up in a sharp black tuxedo, as Brian stood by his side whispering in his ear how breathtaking you looked walking down the aisle.  You could already feel it in your stomach, the giddiness mixed with the nerves that came with walking down the aisle toward a new future with the person you would love forever.

And as you fell asleep in Shawn’s arms, you dreamed of the hydrangeas lined up by the pews, the blue charm bracelet Shawn gifted to you on your first Valentine’s Day together that would be clasped around your wrist, and the look on Shawn’s face when you two were finally able to look at each other after twenty-four hours.

A dream soon to be a reality.

•••

The morning you woke up you were already wishing that you stuck to only not seeing Shawn the night before your wedding instead of the full twenty-four hours.  The realization came to you when you woke up before him and lifted your head up to see him slightly snoring, one hand on his stomach as his chest moved up and down, with the corners of his lips turned upright.

Your heart ached that you were going to have to go a full day without seeing him.  But you already had your rehearsal ceremony and dinner last night, so there was no excuse to have a gathering of people again.

Shawn woke up not long after you, a lazy smile on his face as he pecked your lips after saying one word that made your insides explode; tomorrow.  You didn’t want to go down to the morning breakfast that was being held somewhere in the hotel for just you and your wedding guests.  You wanted to spend all the time you could with your future husband.

The moment just after the two of you were fully awake were spent in silence, enjoying each other’s presence, snuggled up under the covers.  It wasn’t until you were both texted by each of your mother’s requesting your presence in the breakfast room before all of the guests started showing up.  Reluctantly, you two trudged to the bathroom, getting ready side by side.

You followed Shawn out of the room and reached for his hand after he pressed the down arrow for the elevator.  You leaned into his side and rested your head on his arm, wanting to be as close to him as possible with your time ticking down.  When the elevator came, the two of you silently stepped in as he pressed a kiss to your temple.  

Even after years together, butterflies still erupted in your stomach after every gesture of affection Shawn made, and you knew that it would still ring true when you’re seventy and graying.

Thankfully, the elevator didn’t make any stops to pick anyone up, so you continued to enjoy Shawn’s company in silence.  When the elevator dropped you off at the lobby, you quickly walked past the glass doors, a few screams erupting for Shawn were faintly heard, and while he would normally go out and say hi to his fans, you were his only priority for the next few days.  

Once you were in the private room that held the breakfast, you saw a few family members already sitting down and eating.  When your mom and Karen saw the two of you walk in, they took their napkins off their laps and walked to you with beaming smiles.

“There are the love birds,” your mom said in a sing-song voice, “How was your last night together as fiancés?”

“Relaxing,” you said as you pulled away from Karen’s hug, “We were both exhausted so we passed out.”

“Likely story,” Aaliyah said with a smirk as she passed your little group with a plate of scrambled eggs and an assortment of breakfast meat.

“Aaliyah,” Karen reprimanded her daughter, as you and Shawn both let out an awkward laugh, “If they said they fell asleep, then they fell asleep.” Karen’s hard stare on her daughter softened when she turned to face you and Shawn, “I hope you two just slept.”

“Mom,” Shawn whined as you felt your face reddened, the carpet becoming more interesting than either of your mother’s questioning gazes.

You piped up, “I swear we just slept.”

Karen patted your cheek, “Oh, honey, I believe you,” she gave you a warm smile, one that gave off the impression that she had accepted you into the family a long time ago, “I believe you more than this one,” she jabbed her thumb over at her son, which only caused him to whine even more.

As family members and friends slowly trickled in, you and Shawn would greet them together or part ways for a brief moment to make sure you thanked everyone for coming.  Even though you would only be separated for a split second before you wrapped a hand around his arm, it felt too long.  The rest of the morning went like that, slow and always being by each other’s side.  

Breakfast was over and now you and Shawn were checking with your wedding planner to make sure everything was good to go for the big day tomorrow.  Part of you was worried that something was going to go wrong.  It almost seemed too good to be true that nothing had gone wrong yet, but you trusted your wedding planner when she informed you that everything was set.  Only a teeny tiny weight that was lifted from your shoulders.

After the meeting with your wedding planner went better than expected, you were in a car to one of your favorite restaurants.  It was just past noon, you had just under three more hours with Shawn.  And much like the rest of the day, you spent the car ride in silence.  This would be your final thank you said together to your guests before you were Mr. and Mrs. Shawn Mendes.

The lunch went off without a hitch; jokes shared by friends, toasts said by both of your parents, and stories told by your grandparents.  You had not stopped smiling throughout the whole ordeal and that was partly due to the fact you kept gazing at your husband-to-be who sat next to you.  Every time he rested a hand on your knee out of habit, you smiled.  Every time he stole a piece of food off your plate, you smiled.  And every time he leaned in close, his breath tickling the side of your face, to whisper how much he loved you, and only you, into your ear, you smiled.

Guests were coming up bidding you farewells and saying how they couldn’t wait for the big day tomorrow.  You would laugh and agree with them; I’ve been waiting for this my entire life, Shawn would always say in response as he looked down at you with a glint of love he always held for you in his eyes.

It was quarter to three and your mother kept reminding you every ten minutes how much time you had left with Shawn. Now, it was only your closest friends and family left in the back room where lunch was held.  While your families mingled and your friends laughed, you and Shawn were still sitting at your seats, chairs facing each other, knees touching.

“Can’t we just do the thing where we don’t see each other the night before?” Your voice was shaky as you squeezed the top of Shawn’s hand that was resting on your knee, “Tweak it just a little.”

Shawn let out a small laugh, “Last night you were going off about how you didn’t want to jeopardize anything, what’s changed?”  You shrugged your shoulders and broke eye contact with him.  “Hey, look at me,” Shawn softly whispered with care in his voice as he lifted your chin up with the tips of his fingers, “Not getting cold feet, are you?”

“Shawn,” you weren’t in the mood for joking.  It was the day before your wedding and you should feel the happiest you’ve ever felt in your life.  But for some reason you felt devastated.  There was a weight in your chest that became heavier whenever the clock ticked closer and closer to three o’clock.  You couldn’t wait for tomorrow––to finally be able to call Shawn your husband––but you didn’t want to be separated from him.

“Sorry, sorry,” he offered you a smile, but you failed to return it, “But what’s up?”

You were silent, focusing your attention on your breathing.  You opened your mouth, but closed it back up quickly when you felt it go dry.  You tried to swallow down your emotions, pressure building in the back of your throat as you told yourself you weren’t going to cry.  You didn’t care that your jaw hurt from clenching your teeth so hard, or that the stinging behind your eyes was causing your throat to feel scratchy.  

You weren’t going to cry.

With one more try, you opened your mouth to share your worries, but your mother had successfully cut you off, “Okay, lovebirds!” Her voice was far off, not wanting to disrupt the moment you two were sharing, “Officially less than ten minutes! Time to start saying your goodbyes!”

“Shawn.”

But instead of saying his name in a berating tone, you said his name out of desperation.  A single tear leaked from your eye, voice cracking, as your breathing grew heavier.  It seemed to click with him that you were upset about parting ways with him.

He immediately pushed his chair back, reaching down to your hand, and pulling you right up into his chest for a bone crushing hug.  You pressed your cheek tight up against his chest, hands clutching the back of his shirt, no doubt wrinkling his navy button down shirt.  His taut arms were wrapped equally as tight around your waist.  It was a bit difficult to breathe, but that didn’t matter to you at the moment, spending time without Shawn before the wedding already felt like you were suffocating.

With each kiss he pressed to the top of your head, a tear would fall from your eye.  There was no emotion other than joy that described how you felt about marrying Shawn.  He was your person––your home––and you felt safe in his embrace.  From the first time he hugged you, you could feel the care.  He was gentle with his touches, but there was always a firmness to his hugs, a need for him to protect you.

His hugs felt like home; a place you were able to confide your deepest sorrows, a place where he made you feel safe and appreciated for the person you are.

He pressed another kiss to the top of your head as he went to pull away, but you weren’t ready, so you only wound your arms tighter around his torso.  He let out a deep sigh, not wanting to be away from you either, “It’s just twenty-four hours,” he whispered only for you to hear, “Twenty-four hours in exchange for a whole life time together.”

A lifetime together.

You smiled through your tears and loosened your grip around his waist.  He took advantage of the little room you gave him as he slightly bent down and wiped his thumbs under your eyes, “I can already picture you walking down the aisle,” his eyebrows were pulled together, eyes glistening with tears that had yet to spill over as he smiled, “You’re going to look so damn beautiful.”

You choked out a laugh, tears still spilling out over your eyes.

“My dreams are coming true,” a tear finally slipped past his eye, “In just twenty-four hours, I won’t need anything else in the world.”

Instead of a cry of sadness, a cry of happiness passed through you as you dove your head back into Shawn’s chest.  You could feel a few pairs of eyes on you, but that didn’t concern you.  Your only concern was to be as close to Shawn as possible before your mother interrupted one of your moments again.

You savored everything from the hug; the fast thump of his heart against his chest, the scent of his shirt that had made its way into your clothes that were mixed in the wash, and the security that his hands brought when he rubbed up and down your spine…you tried to memorize everything.

Your mother didn’t have to come over to break up your moment; you knew that ten minutes was up and that it was time to part ways.  Shawn was first to pull away, and while you hummed into his chest in protest, you would rather have your moment ended by Shawn than your mother who was politely staying a distance away.

With his eyes closed, Shawn tilted his head to press a soft kiss to your lips, the last kiss before your wedding.  The kiss tasted salty from the small tears that continued to slowly fall from both of your eyes, but you still felt him pour all of his love into it.

Reluctantly he pulled away and gently rubbed his nose against yours, “See you in twenty-four hours, Mr. Mendes.”

It was the first time today where you felt the pre-wedding jitters in your stomach disappear.  The weight you felt on your shoulders, the anxiety you felt creep up your stomach; it all disappeared in that moment.  

“See you in twenty-four hours, Soon-to-be Mrs. Mendes.”

[forestwater87]

(first apologies if this is a duplicate; I got a "bad request" notification the first time I tried to send this ask) but anyhow; I saw your tags on my Lucretia post and i am not sure how to reply to tags?? but i want to see your version of that scene! (if you still want to share) I love Lucretia very much and love to see other peoples' takes on her. anyway, I hope you are having a good day!

OH MY GOD YAY!! 

I mean, cool, whatever. I guess I could share a little bit of that fic. That’s fine.

(yayayayayayayay eeeeeeeeeee)

Okay, part of me wanted to blast you with the entire chapter, but that’s 25-ish pages so I’m forcing myself to show restraint here and only include the tail end. There’s a little bit of context missing, because it’s the last section of Chapter 10 of a fic that so far has at least 32 chapters, but I think it all makes sense. It’s basically just “here’s what happened in that cycle when everybody else was a statue person” and it was, you know, not a good time. (There’s some implied Magcretia, sorry not sorry.) 

Plus it’s really good. I know that sounds arrogant, but I’ve spent the last 4-5 years hating every word I’ve ever written, and I’m going to enjoy this confidence for as long as it chooses to stay.

So anyway, I hope you enjoy! 

There are no line breaks on tumblr anymore so this is the part where the actual writing starts:

When the Hunger arrived, it was a relief more than anything.

Lucretia had been in the middle of defending The Starblaster from a group of marauders climbing like ants all over the dented and hastily-repaired sides of the ship, trying to figure out if she could possibly shake them all free without having to resort to the magic she’d deduced made it possible for the court to find her, when the sky turned dark and everything went gray. 

And her first thought was, Oh thank Pan. (She wasn’t a religious person at all, but enough time with Merle had made the casual prayers second nature.) This nightmare was almost over. In less than an hour, she’d have her family back.

She was so close to seeing Magnus again.

“Fisher, get back in your tank!” she shouted, abandoning the shield she’d been summoning and sprinting to the helm — she’d spent so much time this year running for her life that she could race from one end of the ship to the other without becoming winded. None of the marauders had made it onto the deck, but she felt the air above her head crackle with a spell that blazed past, and as she reached the controls she heard the now-familiar amplified voice call, “You are under arrest for multiple counts of evading the authority of the co — what the hell’s going on here?”

Oh, great. All her friends were here. Now all she needed was for the boar and crocodile to make an appearance.

As the officer began to interrogate the marauders (his side of the conversation still blaring loud and clear), Lucretia took advantage of the confusion to throw the ship forward. She’d had enough foresight to keep the way in front of The Starblaster clear for just this purpose, and while a few hundred yards of ash-colored grass were flattened, she was able to get the ship into the air.

She pointed it up, away from the Hunger — up into space, into nothingness, into any universe except this one, somewhere she’d stared at and imagined but now was finally going into . . .

If she could get the damaged, shuddering ship up to speed and break through the atmosphere, that was.

If not, everything ended here.

A tentacle of swirling darkness stabbed into the ground inches away from her ship, forcing her to swerve hard and nearly lose her footing. She threw all her weight on the acceleration as more of the Hunger’s tentacles latched onto the planet, the labored roar of the engines nearly drowning out the screams of panic from the people below.

As The Starblaster rocketed over a shining city with strange statues and up into the sky, a whisper made Lucretia look around — before realizing it had come from inside her own head.

We’ve been looking for you.

She frowned, clutching at the helm even tighter. Was this some sort of new thing the Hunger could do, or one last awful trick played by this hostile planet?

Another whisper, louder and lower-pitched: You’ve been evading judgement for some time now.

A massive column of the Hunger collided with the planet directly in front of her. It was so close, she had no choice but to try and blow through it, even though that meant taking the biggest risk she had all year. But The Starblaster’s momentum was impossible to halt, and the mile-wide column was impossible to go around, so she gritted her teeth, hunched over the controls, and slammed on the accelerator.

The second she crossed into the Hunger, everything went silent and black.

Everything, that was, except for the whispers: 

Lucretia, you have always let others take action and responsibility while you sit back and watch. You tell yourself this is worthwhile, but you know it is a lie. And yet when it is smartest and safest to proceed with caution, you take the most reckless path, because you refuse to admit you might be wrong. Your past sins are sloth, envy, and pride. How do you plead?

How did she plead? She didn’t plead for much of anything, except to survive long enough to fly them into the next cycle. The Hunger buffeted at the ship, wrapping smaller tentacles around its sleek metal body and trying to keep it from plowing forward; it might kill her — kill them all — but not knowing what else to do, she used Mage Hand to open the nearest window without leaving the helm and cast Fire Shield around the ship. It was weak and flickering compared to the spells of protection Merle could create, but the Hunger fell back with deafening shrieks of pain as flames licked the air around The Starblaster. 

The awful whispers weren’t letting up, though, digging cold fingers deep into her mind and sending a chill shudder down through her very soul.

Your present sins are no less grave. You kill without remorse. You have allowed yourself to become vindictive and spiteful. You have not abandoned your past failings, but have added new ones since our initial audit. We see fit to add to your current list of transgressions the crime of wrath. How do you plead?

Suddenly there was a break in the shimmering darkness, a bolt of ash-gray sky widening like a tear in heavy fabric — and then she was through, outside of the Hunger and so far above the doomed planet that she couldn’t see the ground below. She let out a scream of triumph, the noise tearing like sandpaper along her exhausted and dry throat, and angled the ship until it was almost vertical. The Starblaster shot forward as though with one last burst of strength, shuddering as its engines were pushed to the absolute limit . . .

The ship suddenly jolted to a halt, mechanisms whirring like a swarm of angry bees.

Lucretia turned to the still-open window and saw the entire view had been replaced with blackness, oily-iridescent tentacles spilling into the ship as others wrapped around it. She threw all of her weight on the acceleration, but it didn’t move; then, after a single grinding moment, The Starblaster began to fly backward, pulled back toward the core of the Hunger. 

She could hear its gnashing teeth.

“NO!” The word exploded out of her, coming from somewhere far below conscious thought. She abandoned the helm just long enough to run to the window, ignoring the tentacles that curled around her ankles as she pointed her wand at the offshoot of the Hunger that had its hold on her, aiming for where the base met the rest of the massive column, and shot off a burst of lightning. There was another hideous wail and the tentacles around the ship shuddered and pulled away, just a slight loosening of their incredible grip.

Her entire body shaking with terror and fury, she pointed her wand at the same spot and cast Finger of Death. 

The screaming was like a sonic blast — a thousand million voices filled with rage and pain and fear — knocking her onto her back and sending her skidding across the bridge. She scrambled to her feet, stumbling over her robe and lurching to the helm. The sound of the engines returning to full blast was like the roar of a furious animal loosed from its cage, and the last of the Hunger fell back as the ship threw itself up into space. It felt like the air was shouting with every conceivable emotion.

As the panic subsided and her head cleared, she realized it wasn’t the air screaming; it was those whisperers.

So much rage. So much wrath.

No remorse.

No different than the monster she tries to flee.

They were growing louder with every word, overlapping and running together until she struggled to pick out individual phrases —

She betrays the people she supposedly loves most

She destroys a family — destroys the memory of the family

Robs them of themselves

Who has the right?

No one has the right

The sound was becoming unbearable, deafening. Her ears felt like they were leaking; she lifted her hand to one and her fingers came back covered in blood.

It didn’t make sense — it wasn’t an external sound — it wasn’t an external force, but something ripping her apart from within.

It was the sound of going mad. 

At that point she was barely able to understand anything 

leaves him to die in agony in a hell she helped create

takes advantage of the innocent who make the mistake of believing in her

such a sweet boy, and all you do is lie to him

do you think you can make these decisions for the world?

the heartbreak you will cause

the betrayal

pride — such unfathomable pride

the deaths you will cause

the lives you will ruin

the blood that stains your hands

coldhearted — cowardly

wrath — envy — sloth

pride

PRIDE

Our judgement is decided.

You have been found wanting.

Something hardened in her chest, calcifying her lungs and making it impossible to breathe. Lucretia doubled over, her hands scrabbling to keep the ship moving, as her flesh turned hard, brittle, the feeling like casting Stone Skin but somehow it’d gotten inside . . .

She couldn’t move her tongue. She couldn’t breathe. Blackness crowded the edge of her vision — not like she was blacking out, but like her eyes just suddenly weren’t there anymore

everything went wobbly, the universe becoming untethered just for a moment

And when it stabilized, she realized she could move again, see again. She took a deep, tremulous breath and turned back from the helm, sliding to the floor in a heap.

It was less than a second, before the I.P.R.E. crew fully materialized, but she didn’t see it happen. As soon as the surreal, smoky outlines of her friends wavered into being, she dropped her head in her hands, a sob she’d been holding back for months finally escaping her throat.

She did it.

Magnus’s hands closed around her upper arms and he gently tugged her into an embrace. She could feel the cool steel of the bridge under her knees, heard the voices of all her friends speaking all at once. She was dimly aware she was talking, mumbling nonsense to herself as she waited for the world to stop spinning.

The last thing she was aware of before slipping into unconsciousness was Magnus’s breath on her forehead and his warm fingers combing through her hair.

[mirkwoodshewolf]

Never have regrets; Joe Mazzello x reader

*Author’s note*

Hey guys well here I have another Secret Santa gift. As a part of the Get Down Give Joy giveaway I would like to present @stewielover95​ with your fic. Yes dear I am your secret Santa. I really hope you like this fic in the end, I struggled with it at first but then I finally had a good direction to go with it. Anyways I also want to thank @warriorteam1924​ and @thosequeenboys​ for creating this splendid give away, after the LONG AND HELLISH year that 2020 has given us, it was very sweet of them to create this little give away to brighten up our holiday spirit (esp. since we can’t really see our families this year. Even if you can, PLEASE BE SAFE!!!). Now I’ll stop typing so that you all can start reading, hope everyone enjoys this lovely little fic with our beloved dino boy Joey Mazzello :) 

Warnings: Joe’s chaotic child behavior (MAY CAUSE CAVITIES), fluff, parental angst, parent death, mentions of suicide, a small very subtle HINT of COVID (word isn’t mentioned but still think I should give warning), 

Taglist:

@plethora-of-things​

@waddles03​

@psychosupernatural​

@ixchel-9275​

@simonedk​

@queensdivas​

@queen-paladin​

@jd-johndeacon-or-jackdaniels​

@queendeakyy​

@geek-and-proud​

@wormzteef​

___________________________________________________________

I was peacefully sleeping.  After working long hours at my job I wanted nothing more than to just stay in bed all day and sleep until lunchtime.

“Hey baby~” Joey’s voice cooed in my ear.  I felt him kiss my cheek and I let out a tired groan. “Good morning.”

“Joey!” I whined. “Go back to sleep.”

“No. The sun’s awake, so I’m awake. Which means we have to snuggle and make out.” I cracked an eye open and looked up at him.  His auburn hair all messed up from his constant tossing and turning that he does in his sleep.

“We’ll make out when the rooster crows.”

“But babe there aren’t any roosters in New York.”

“Exactly.” He faux a gasp as he collapsed back on the bed.

“How could you? And I thought you loved me?! I knew it. You’re only in it for the money! Or the childhood fame crush! Or was it for Ben? It was for Ben wasn’t it! I knew you two were having an affair behind my back!” god he was such a drama queen.  But he was my drama queen.

“Yes we’ve been sneaking in text messages behind your back.” I teased him.

“Okay that’s it!” I then felt him wriggle himself under the covers and I felt myself go from my stomach to my back in a split second.

“Joseph Francis Mazzello III! What the f—NO AHHH NO DOHOHOHN’T! DON’T TICKLE ME!!” I thrashed around trying to get him off of me but he had me pinned right down to the bed.

“You gonna get up now?” I heard him say from under the covers.

“JOHOHOHOE!!!” I screamed out in laughter. “Plehehehehease!”

“No not until you either say you’re gonna wake up. Or until I hear an apology.” Then I heard the dreaded sound and feeling of his deadly raspberries being blown on my stomach, just an inch over my bellybutton.  And it was even worse now that he was growing out his beard.

“Okay! OK! OK! OK! OKAY STOP! I surrender! I surrender!” his head soon peaked out from the covers as his face was just a few inches away from mine.  His shit-eating grin spread across his face, while his eyes twinkled with that same mischievous spark that made me fall in love with him. “I hate you.” I whined.

“Aww and I hate you too.” He moved closer to my lips and kissed me. “I hate you—so much.” His voice lowered down as he deepened the kiss. I felt his hands cup the sides of my face while my arms wrapped around him.

My right-hand stroking through his already messy hair while my left wrapped around his back.  After what felt like an eternal make out session, we finally separated from each other and stared at one another.

“Alright you have my attention Joey.”

“Yay!” he cheered softly. “But in all seriousness, we need to get up. We promised my mom that we’d help with the Christmas decorations.”

“Okay. Now get off me yah goober so that we can help her.” He got off of me and I sat up but I was quickly pulled back onto the bed, laying against Joe’s chest.  Him grinning smugly at me as he kissed me on the lips.

“Sorry, had to get my morning kiss from you.”

“And the morning make out session wasn’t enough for you?”

“Morning make outs and morning kisses are two completely different things.” He told me in that philosophical tone of his.  You know the one you use to make yourself sound smarter.

“Ahh I see. Well thank you Professor Mazzello on explaining the differences between the two.”

“That’s Dr. Mazzello to you. But you are most welcome. Anything for my best student.” I pecked his nose and got back up but found myself being pulled back again towards Joe.

“Joey!”

“Sorry, sorry I couldn’t resist. Okay for real this time, go on. I’m right behind you.”

“Why don’t you go first and I’ll be right behind you?” I suggested.  He sighed and pulled the covers off of us and went to sit up but this time I grabbed his hand and pulled him back onto the bed.  I pecked his lips before taking off out of the room.

We both raced down the stairs and towards the living room when I felt Joey catch me in his arms, pick me up and spin me around.  Laughing manically while he did it.  I myself couldn’t help but giggle when a female voice said.

“Ah-uh Joseph! No horse playing in the house.”

“Sorry mom.” He said as he sat me down.

“Sorry about that mama.” I said.

You see, Joe and I had been dating for practically ten years. We actually met through our good friend Rami way back when we were all on the Pacific.  I was part of the costume department, and I was Rami’s assistant costumer.  So whenever he got into Snafu’s character of course he tried to flirt with me and I’d play along off of his character telling him he didn’t have a chance.

Between takes the three of us became thick as thieves and kept in contact.  Then one day when we were all on break, Rami set Joe and I up to meet at the beach so that the two of us could talk to each other.  At the time of filming, Joe and I had been really shy around each other and we both liked each other (of course neither of us had the guts to say it to the other).

But after spending our break at the beach together that’s when Joe made the first I love you confession and—the rest is history as they say. When the three of us reunited for Bohemian Rhapsody and got to know Ben, Lucy, Allen, and Gwilym, our little family had now grown bigger.  And it was after filming a concert scene in Japan (with some help from the actual Queen band themselves) that Joe (yes still dressed as early 70’s John Deacon) proposed to me.

So for 2 years he and I had been married.  Of course like all couples we have our fights and disagreements but in the end we patch through them and not let it run our lives. Oh and I almost forgot, since I had been so close with the Mazzello family throughout our entire relationship, I had the privilege to call Joe’s parents, my parents even before we got married.

“I swear you both remind me of—” that’s when mom trailed off sadly as she looked down.  Joe and I grew sad too as we thought about his dad.

“We miss him too mom. God I—I can’t believe this will be our 3rd Christmas without him.” Joe said as he walked towards his mom and gave him a hug.

“As much as I wish he could be here with us, he wouldn’t want us to be sad on his favorite holiday.” She told us.  She took a deep breath in and cleaned her eyes of her hidden tears. “There now, I’ve got breakfast all ready for you two. Once you’re done, Joseph, I want you to bring in the Christmas boxes from the garage and set them in the living room. (Y/n), you and I will get the Christmas decorations from the attic.”

“Ma’am yes ma’am!” We both saluted.  We went to the kitchen and ate our breakfast.  After that we went to our stations and helped Mama Mazzello with the Christmas decorating.

It took almost all day but we came to a pretty good stopping place today decorating wise.  We put up some of the minor Christmas displays up all over the house (like small animal plushies, Christmas pictures of the Mazzello family throughout the years, etc.) Joe managed to get all the outdoor decorations set up and displayed, and mama and I set up the Christmas placemats on the tables.

It was now a bit past 5pm and it was pitch black outside. Joey and I were cuddled together on the sofa and I looked out the window and shook my head.

“I still can’t get over the fact that it gets dark at freakin 4o’clock now.”

“I know it’s crazy. My mom’s never liked it, have yah mom?”

“Oh it messes up my schedule everytime!” Mom cried out from the kitchen as she was prepping dinner.  “Hey (Y/n) are your mom and Derek still coming to the party?”

“Yeah. They said they’d be taking the train from Virginia instead of the plane. I think they said they’d be coming up sometime next Wednesday. I’ll call them later tonight to confirm that.”

“Alright well I’ll get the guest room set up for them.”

“You know you don’t need to do that.”

“Nonsense you guys are family. And it’ll be a lot safer here at the house than taking a hotel room with everything that’s going on.” She said.

“Yeah that is true. Thanks mama.”

“Okay well come and make a plate you two, dinner’s ready.” We stood up and got our dinner (steak and potatoes) and ate at the dinner table while playing on Freeform’s 25 days of Christmas was the Santa Clause.

Weeks later and it was the day before the Mazzello Christmas party and arriving in less than an hour was my mom and Derek.  If your curious as to why I call my dad Derek, well he’s not really my dad. He’s my stepdad but I really do care for him.

He and my mom met up shortly after I graduated from high school after my parents divorced.  My real dad and I…well—we don’t talk at all.  Our relationship is very strained so why don’t we just leave it at that?  But when my mom met Derek, he’s been the father I wished I had.

He’s loving, supportive, kind, funny, and he’s always there whenever my mom or I needed him.  He was there for me when Joe and I were going through a bad patch in our relationship, he was there for all my birthdays and movie premieres, and he was even the one to walk me down the aisle at mine and Joe’s wedding.

I was doing the last final touches of cleaning up the house for my mom and Derek’s arrival, as well as Joe’s siblings, nieces, and nephews. I heard the door open and a stampede of footsteps soon came running towards me.

“Auntie (Y/n)! Auntie (Y/n)!” I was soon glomped by 4 little nuggets.

“Hey there kiddies. Oh I’ve missed you four soo much! How have you all been?”

“I lost another tooth see?” Joe’s niece Samantha said opening her mouth to show me her missing tooth.

“I learned how to ride my bike!” his nephew Matthew aka Matty exclaimed.

“Oh big boy now huh? Bet you were better than your uncle Joey was.”

“I heard that!” Joe called out.  He along with this brother and sister came through the living room and I hugged my brother and sister in laws.

“Hey guys Merry Christmas.” I greeted them.

“Merry Christmas (Y/n).” his sister Mary said as she and I hugged each other first.

“Even though Christmas isn’t until tomorrow.” His brother John said.

“Okay Scrooge. Get over here John.” He gave me a kiss to my cheek and the two of us embraced each other. “Joe’s told me about your little league’s championship win. That’s amazing.”

“Yeah those kids did me proud.”

“You know if you could convince Joe and (Y/n) to hurry up with getting kids of their own, they might give you some new champions.” A female voice soon spoke up.  Soon coming around the corner of the house along with Mama was my own mom as well as Derek.

“Mom!” I whined.

“Now, now (m/n) don’t go pressuring her just yet. There’s still plenty of time for her and Joe to have kids. Say when their 50.” I chuckled and shook my head at Derek’s statement.  I walked up to them and first hugged my mom.

“Did you guys have a safe train ride?” I asked.

“It went well. Much less crowded than I expected.”

“That’s cause you’ve always done the Metro mom. Metro and train are two totally different things.” I told her.  I turned to Derek and he said with a smile as he extended his arms out.

“Come here baby girl.” I smiled and went into his arms and the two of us hugged each other. “Don’t just wait till the holidays to come see us. How will your mother and I survive?”

“I’m sorry Derek, work’s just been crazy lately. Directors have been wanting me to do costume designing and fittings for them left and right.” I said as we released each other from the hug.

“And why wouldn’t they? You’re incredibly talented.” Joe said as he came up and quickly pecked my cheek.

“He’s right. I remember you staying up way past your curfew designing costumes for your tech theatre class back in high school.” Derek continued. “And all those times of drawing on napkins and the corners of the morning paper. I swear you doodled sketches like it was no one’s business.”

“You stayed up pass curfew?” my mother snapped.

“Thanks a lot Derek.” I muttered angrily.

“Hey had to come out sometime right?” I playfully nudged him and said to my mom.

“That’s in the past mom. No need to talk about it now.”

“Oh you can be sure we’ll discuss that later little missy.” She lectured as she waved her finger at me.

“Alright, now the rooms have all been prepared for you all in advance. Mary, John you’ll take your old rooms. (M/n) and Derek the guest room has been made up for you all and of course the kids get the cloud bedroom.” The kids all cheered. “Now everyone drop your bags off in your designated rooms and we can all gather around the table for some dinner.”

I helped mom with her bags and guided her and Derek to the guest room while Joe went to help his mom set up the table for dinner.

“So when can we expect future grandbabies from you and Joe (n/n)?” my mom asked.

“If you keep pestering me about that then you won’t have any grandbabies.” I teased her as we came to the room.  “Here we are, I cleaned it up myself. Hope you guys will be comfortable.”

“It’s great (y/n). Thank you.” Derek assured me.

“Tell Virginia we’ll be down in a moment once we’re finished unpacking.” My mom said.  I nodded then left the two of them to unpack their stuff.

As I came down the stairs, I already saw Joe being attacked by all his nieces and nephews.  The kids were climbing all over him like a tree, all of them talking over the other and squealing like little piglets.  

God seeing Joe with those kids it—really did make me want to have kids with him.  He’s already a fun uncle, I’m positive he’d make a great dad.  Probably spoil our kids to no end but—he could be the discipliner if he needed to.

“Ow! Who’s on the head?!” Joe exclaimed.  I shook my head at his nephew Matty who had half of his body on top of Joe’s head.

“Alright you kids break it up.” I told the kids as I grabbed Matty and held him in my arms.

“Auntie (Y/n), will you sing for us tomorrow at the party like you did last year?” He asked me.

“You bet she’ll sing for you kids. And hey how about we do one better. How would you kids like it if your auntie (Y/n) and I performed together?” Joe asked joyously.  But the kids all let out a groan.

“No uncle Joey you can’t sing!” complained Sammy.

“Excuse me?!” Joe gawked offensively.

“Yeah uncle Joey, you don’t have that good of a singing voice.” Matty agreed.

“And too loud sometimes.” His other niece Katie or as I like to call her Kitty-cat said.

“My own kin turned against me. That’s it you three are in BIG trouble. C’mere!” he went to grab his nieces who quickly ran off his lap and hid behind me.

“Save us auntie (Y/n)!” the girls chorused out.  I shielded the three of them and stood before Joe as his face got right up close to mine.

“You know we could team up and catch them together.”

“I don’t betray kids Joe.”

“So—they’ve turned you too. Fine. I’ll take you down first.” Suddenly he picked me up over his shoulder and proceeded to spin me around and around like a helicopter.

“JOEY!!” I exclaimed through my laughter.

“Then surrender the kids to me or the spinning continues.” He threatened.

“Well then this game’s gonna have to be put on hold cause it’s time for dinner.” Joe’s mom spoke up.  The kids all raced to the dinner table while Joe put me back down. I stumbled a little but he caught me and asked.

“You okay?”

“I’ll live. Just next time don’t spin me around so fast.” I kissed the corner of his lips before heading towards the sinner table with Joe right behind me.  Soon enough we all gathered around and had ourselves a pre-Christmas family dinner.

Soon it finally arrived.  The most wonderful time of the year, Christmas eve.  All the gifts were now placed under the tree wrapped up in various Christmas themed wrappings or color schemes of silver, red, gold, and green. Now it was really beginning to look like Christmas.

“Alright guys, as per tradition we shall start off with (Y/n);s annual Christmas performance.” Mama Mazzello said.  I stood up from Joe’s lap as everyone applauded.

Derek at the speakers ready for my signal for him to turn the first song on.  I nodded and he clicked the play button and soon my first song (in fact the very first song I ever sang back when I was a teen for my family) Faith Hill’s “Where are you Christmas”.

It’s also my mom’s favorite song and every year since I sang it back when it came out in 2000 she’s wanted me to sing it just for her. As I sang I could see the tears forming in my mom’s eyes as a wide smile spread across her face and she lip synched the words.  The kids all stared at me in awe, and my beloved Joe Mazzello he was entranced.

He’s always teased me of how I should be a singer instead of a costume designer and back when we were both involved with Bohemian Rhapsody he’s sworn that he’d get me up on stage with Queen and Adam Lambert to sing with them. Thankfully that hasn’t happened (and I hope it continues that way) so Joe’s just had be do private concerts for him.

After the song was done they all clapped as I told Derek my next song and helped him search the right version of the song.

“This one right here?” he asked to confirm.

“Yep that’s the one.” I told him.  I turned back towards the family and now playing on the speakers was Carrie Underwood’s “Do you hear what I hear?” I fingered the piano chords against my thigh, pretending that I was actually playing the keys (even though I can’t play to save my ass, even with Rami’s help).

That song required a lot of breath work and correct timing but I managed to pull it off and once the song concluded everyone clapped again. This time for the final song, I took out two chairs and set them before everyone.

Joe took this as his cue to come up and help me set up the finale song, especially since he was going to be joining me on it this year. We had been practicing this since November, he wrote the script and everything and we rehearsed it and rehearsed it and rehearsed it.

“For this final song I first want to thank my director and partner Joe Mazzello for writing the script for this little skit you will see.” Joe nodded as he came in with two cups of hot chocolate (his being made of almond milk of course).  The two of us sat side by side and Joe clapped his hands together and said.

“And…..action!” I took a sip of my hot chocolate and said my first line.

“I still can’t believe you can finally drink hot chocolate.”

“Hey almond milk saves lives.” He said his line.

“Personally, I’d never drink that stuff but so long as it helps you. I’m glad I could share this tradition with you.”

“Me too babe.” My phone then dinged and I said.

“Oh my god!”

“What? What is it babe?”

“It’s already pass midnight. My mother’s gonna kill me!”

“Whoa, whoa wait a minute. Don’t tell me you’re going out there!” he said as we both stood up and he gestured toward the window.

“I have to Joey. Even if it’s 20ft of snow out there, it’s nothing compared to the wrath of a mother who doesn’t like their baby staying out past curfew.” I broke the 4th wall and turned to my mom who crossed her arms and looked at me with a playful scowl.

“C’mon just give her a call and explain it to her. It’s way too cold out there for you. I won’t let you freeze out there.” Derek then turned on the song “Baby it’s cold outside” the Seth McFarlane and Sara Bareilles version.

The two of us walking in circles of each other with me trying to head out of the living room and Joe coming around in front of me singing Seth’s part while I sang Sara’s.

Every now and then he’d take my hands in his and giving them a kiss.  Or he’d brush a strand of hair out from my face, gingerly brushing my cheek with the back of his finger.  But just as we got to the end of the first verse, there was a knock at the door.

Joe and I stopped singing as Derek cut off the music and we all turned our attention to the door.

“Mom is—anyone else coming?” asked Mary.

“No.” she simply stated.  Four more knocks rang through the house.  The kids were started to get frightened as they ran up to their parents.

“I’ll find out who it is.” Said Mary’s husband Dylan.

“No, no, no. You just stay with your kids Dylan. I’ll go see who it is.” Derek offered as he left the living room.  After about a minute my mom followed behind him and the next thing I heard was my mom saying.

“What are you doing here!?” it—it couldn’t be.  I raced out of the living room as Joe tried to reach out for me and stop me but he was too late.  I came around and walked down the small hallway staircase that led to the front door and there at the door was someone I hoped I’d never see again.

For there standing at the door in his famed fedora hat was my dad.

He looked older than the last time I saw him, his hair going grey from the stress and wrinkles forming at the end of his eyes.

“I know I don’t have a right to be here, but……”

“That’s right you don’t!” I snapped.  My mom and Derek looked up at me.

“(Y/n) go back upstairs. Derek and I can handle this.” My mom told me.

“(Y/n)?” my dad asked in awe.  I glared at him and crossed my arms over my chest. “Wow look—look at you. You’re……practically grown up.”

“Yeah.” I snapped shortly. “You’d know if you’d pay attention instead of just criticizing me all the time.”

“I know. I……that’s actually why I came here.”

“How did you even know we’d be here (F/n)?” my mom asked.

“Well as part of the NYPD I’ve been—keeping tabs on our daughter. And found out who she married and where she was currently living at.”

“You’ve been spying on me!? Great even when you’re no longer apart of this family you still have to spy on everything I do!” I snapped. “So have you come to complain about my husband now? How I should’ve married a doctor or a cop? How I’ve thrown my life away by marrying an actor?”

“No.” he said. “I haven’t come to do anything like that. I just…..”

“No you know what? Let me start off since you never listened to me then, but you’ll hear me now!”

I walked down the steps and even though my mother tried to get me to go back upstairs, I got out of her arms and got right in my dad’s face and sneered at him.

“For years I’ve tried to be the perfect daughter you said you wanted! And for my childhood I tried to follow in your footsteps. But as I became a preteen you began to nitpick at everything! The color of my hair, what type of clothes I should wear, how I should wear my makeup, you even didn’t like the fact that I wanted to get my ears pierced! Said it was for criminals and goth kids to get their bodies pierced. You called me a delinquent!”

“I-I-I know I did. But now I’m……”

“It doesn’t matter what you have or want to say. The verbal abuse you gave me throughout my life has been nothing but a stab at my self-esteem. I tried to commit suicide by the time I was 16 because of you! You did that!”

“I’m sorry (Y/n).”

“Where was the sorry back then? Where was it? All you told me after I got back from the hospital was that it was my fault for disobeying you.” I once again got in his face and sneered lowly, “So whatever you have to say forget it.”

I turned around and walked up the steps.  As I got halfway up my dad tried to say to me.

“(Y/n) please. I’m trying to make amends for that now. I know I’ve done and said awful things to you in the past. And looking back on it, it’s made me feel absolutely disgusted with myself. I’m your father, please forgive me.  It’s Christmas time.” I lowered my head before turning my head towards him.

“Derek’s my father. Now get the fuck out of my life.” I said lowly to him while I glared at him.  I ran back up the stairs and headed right towards Joe’s room.  I slammed the door and hid myself in the corner of his room, curled myself up into a tight ball, and tried to keep my tears at bay but every now and then a tear fell from the corner of my eye.

I heard the door open and softly shut.  The bed softly dipped down; and the familiar smell of Joe’s cologne hung in the air.

“Please Joe I—I’m not in the mood.”

“I know. That’s not why I came up here though.” I felt him rub my back in soothing circles. “Baby girl, I—I think you should really talk to your dad.” I raised my head up at him, my jaw dropped in shock and my eyes bug-eyed.

“You can’t be serious.”

“C’mon babe it’s Christmas…..”

“So?! I already spoke my mind to him!”

“No. You ranted in anger. You’re not supposed to be angry or any other negative emotion during Christmas.”

“Joe you—” I took a sharp breath in. “I’ve told you what he’s done to me. The neglect and verbal abuse he gave me. How am I supposed to suddenly let it go and forgive him!?”

“I know it’s not easy…..”

“I don’t believe this….you’re actually taking his side!!” I snapped as I backed away from him.

“I’m not! All I’m saying that is if you continue to hate him for the rest of your life, you’ll never be truly happy. Babe please I’m just thinking about what’s best for you.”

Oh my god—it couldn’t be.  He wouldn’t…….

“You called him.”

“What? No!?”

“No. No, no, no, no, no, no, not-it-it-it all makes sense. How else could he pick up this address? That whole detective bullshit you reached out to him and called him up didn’t you!?”

“(Y/n) I—”

“TELL ME THE TRUTH!!” I screamed at him.  Silence rang out through Joe’s childhood room as he and I stared eye to eye with each other.  Not a single one of us flinching or breaking eye contact.

“Even if it was me, as I told you I was only trying to help.”

“How!?” I snapped. “Be thankful your dad died a good man!” At the mention of his dad, Joe’s face grew hard and angry.

“I know. I was lucky. My dad was a kind man, and generous and forgiving. But get this (Y/n), I won’t get to experience that type of father love ever again! And I would give anything to have him back here! To have gotten to know you as my wife instead of my girlfriend! To one day see our children! So be thankful that your father is still alive and healthy!” his voice quivered and choked as his voice got steadily louder.

“Joe, I—”

“All I wanted was for you to make amends with your dad because you never know which day will be your last!” he stormed out of the room and slammed the door shut.

Goddamnit! Now I feel like shit.  I sighed heavily and fell down onto the bed and felt the tears stream down my face.

After calming myself down and cleaning myself up, I walked downstairs and there was my mom, Derek, Joe’s mom, and siblings.  The kids weren’t there so I assume Mary and John sent them to bed after what had happened.

“If you’re wondering where Joe is he left. Didn’t say where he went he just—took his coat, hat and scarf and just left.” John said.

“I wasn’t going to ask that.” I walked over to my mom and said. “Where’s (f/n)?”

“What?”

“Please mom I—just tell me where he went.” I said urgently.

“He told me he was staying at the Milton motel just 15min. away from here.” I raced and grabbed my winter gear and keys.  My mom calling out to me but I didn’t hear her as I got on my bike and took off down the streets.

When I arrived at the Milton, I went up to the front desk and asked to see a (F/n) (l/n), I told the concierge that I was someone close to him. She called him up and told me he’d be down in a minute.

I sat down in the lobby and waited for him to come down.  I heard the elevator ding and soon coming out of it was (F/n).  He turned to his left and when he saw me, his eyes widened.

“(Y/n)?” I stood up.  He slowly walked towards me. “But I thought—”

“First I want to say this before I say something else. You suddenly showing up the way you did was uncalled for. You can’t expect an apology after the years of neglect and verbal abuse you gave me. Even from the smallest little thing about me that I wanted to change, you insulted me to no ends.” I took a deep breath. “And as much as I want to never want anything to do with you again—someone once told me that if I continue to hate you for the rest of my life, I’ll never be truly happy.”

“I’ve looked back on my actions and every day I hate myself for what I’ve done to you. So—will you give me another chance?”

“I won’t forgive you right away and start calling you dad.”

“I’ll take what I can get. Thank you (Y/n).” he extended his hand out for me to take.  For the first time in years I took my dad’s hand and we shook on it.  “Do you want to spend Christmas day with us tomorrow?”

“I’d like that very much. Plus I’d—I’d like to get to know the man that stole your heart.” My eyes widened.

“Joe! Shit I almost forgot! Ohh but where could he be? He could be anywhere!”

“Just a minute (Y/n), let me make a call.” He took out his phone and made a call. “Hey Jeremy, it’s me. Yeah hey listen I know it’s the holidays but I need your tracking skills.” I saw him nod and hum in agreement, “Okay just a second,” he placed the phone down against his shoulder and asked me, “Do you have his number?”

I told him Joe’s number and he relayed that to his friend. Wow I guess he really is a police officer.

“Really? Great. Thanks Jeremy. Yes you have a Merry Christmas too. See you after the New Year. Bye.” He hung up his phone and said. “His cell was last pinged at the Rockefeller Center.” I thanked him and raced out of the motel and back to my bike.  I revved it up and raced on down to Rockefeller Center.

The monument around Christmas time.  I stood before the giant, beautiful tree and raced towards it on foot.  I looked around for Joe till I finally found him on the other side of the two angel statues playing their horns.

“Joe!?” he turned around and looked at me before glaring softly and turned back around.  I raced towards him but he still refused to look at me.  “Joey……I—I talked to him. My dad. And—it’s gonna take some time but I…..I told him I’d give him another chance.” He didn’t respond back, hell he still didn’t even look at me. “I was way out of line. I shouldn’t have accused you like that. I mean, even if you did call him I shouldn’t have snapped at you like that. I was angry and—those feelings that my dad gave me when I was a kid I’ve tried to bury them for years. And seeing him for the first time in forever it—made me feel like that extremely insecure girl I once was. And I didn’t want you to see me like that.”

Again, he remained silent and stoic.

“And I shouldn’t have mentioned your dad. He wouldn’t have wanted us to fight, especially on his favorite holiday. I’m sorry Joe.” Nothing. Not even a smug Deacy grin. “Joey?” why wasn’t he answering me?

I slowly approached him and everytime I tried to lean forward to look at him, he just turned his head further away from me.

“Joe please? What more do you want me to say? You were right and I was wrong? That Ben should really be with you instead of Gwil? What can I say that will help you say something to me?” he crossed his arms over his chest and huffed at me.

I sighed sadly and looked up at him.  Okay, I get it.  Guess he’s really upset with me and I could possibly expect him to go stay with Rami and Lucy for the next month or so.

“Alright. I get it. You don’t want anything to do with me anymore. I deserve it. I was a real bitch to you. But I just want you to know that I’ll always love you, and that I hope you find the right girl for you. Even if it’s not me.” I turned and walked away from him when I suddenly felt two arms wrap around my waist and pull me up against a comfy coated chest.

“And just what makes you think that I would want anyone else?”

“What?” he gave me a cheeky grin. “Oh you son of a—” I proceeded to hit him in his chest screaming profanities at him.  All the while he kept laughing and holding my arms back.  He then proceeded to peck all over my face with kisses.

Soon my anger turned to laughter as I calmed down and surrendered to his kisses.

“You’re a real jerk sometimes you know that.”

“But you married me in the end right?” I nodded as he once again wrapped his arms around me.  “So you really talked to your dad? Not just yelled at him.”

“Yes. I—even invited him for Christmas lunch tomorrow.”

“Well look at you making progress!” he exclaimed proudly before taking off my beanie and ruffled my hair.  I exclaimed and tried to shoo his hand away from my head.  He chuckled then readjusted my hair to some level of normalcy.  “In all seriousness babe, I’m glad you took my advice.”

“Yeah. I mean like you said, I’ll never truly be happy till I let go of my anger. And I haven’t realized til now just how much that anger has been weighing me down.”

“I could see it every time your dad was even mentioned. I hate seeing you be that angry.” he embraced me from behind, nuzzling his nose into my hair.

“I’m—also sorry about….you know what I said about your dad.” He placed my head over his chest.

“I forgive you. We were both angry and said the first thing that came to mind.”

“But I shouldn’t have spoken ill about your dad. He really was a sweet guy.”

“That he was.” He smiled the smile he inherited from both his parents.

“Like father like son.” I giggled.  He chuckled and took my hand then as we walked back to my bike, we both looked up and saw that snow was starting to fall.

“Well, looks like we’re getting a White Christmas after all.” He said.

“Indeed, just prepare for the avalanche of feet from the munchkin army come morning.”

“Don’t I know it. But you’re also forgetting one other kid.” He looked at me confused. “You yah big man child!”

“Hey you’re just as crazy about snow as I am!” we then proceeded to nag at each other over who was a bigger fan of the snow, even going as far as to see who would crack first tomorrow morning once we’d see the snow on the ground.

[trashyswitch]

Patton's Cookie Escape (GONE WRONG)

Patton tries to escape from the pantry with a box of cookies. But he ends up getting himself stuck in the doggy door! Thankfully, Patton isn't alone for long, and Janus tries to both free Patton, and take advantage...

Yay! I'm on time again! Whoop whoop! Thank goodness for this week off work! I'm getting LOADS done! Now, please enjoy this extra long fanfic for today!

This is Tickletober Day 15: Stuck

“PATTON, WHAT DID I SAY ABOUT STEALING FROM THE DOWNSTAIRS PANTRY?!” Logan shouted from the pantry.

Patton giggled to himself as he quickly sprinted up the stairs with a box of cookies and pushed the door to the basement right open. Patton accidentally tripped on the last stair, but quickly took off sprinting after getting himself up. Patton sprinted through the hallway, towards the back door and tried to turn the door knob. But...the door wouldn’t open! He tried pushing and pushing, but the door wouldn’t open no matter what he did! So, Patton looked around and tried to think of another exit in the house. Could he crawl out a window without breaking the cookies upon impact? Probably not. Could he use another door? Well considering Logan had probably blocked off the front door, Most likely not.

Finally, Patton looked at the back door and gasped. The doggy door! Patton forgot about the doggy door! So, Patton set to work to escape. He pushed the cookies through the flap, and started crawling himself in the doggy door. He managed to get his shoulders through the doggy door in a diagonal angle, and worked his ribs and belly through the doggy door frame. That seemed to get through the door pretty nicely!

Now, his hips. Patton pushed his hips into the tiny door frame and tried to push himself through. But, his hips didn’t fit! They were too big! Patton struggled a little more, and tried to wiggle his hips through. But he just couldn’t get his hips through! He was just too thick in the hips! Patton mentally cursed his feminine hips as he tried and failed to push himself through. No! Come on, stupid butt! Get through!

Patton finally gave up and decided that the doggy door was a no go. So, he started slowly sliding his body backwards to get back into the house. But...his body wouldn’t move. His belly was capable of contorting, but it wouldn’t be enough to slide himself out!

“...Uh oh…” Patton said quietly to himself as he realized he was stuck. Patton struggled a little bit more, but soon gave up. Patton’s frustration soon turned into slight panic as he wondered just how long he was gonna be stuck here. “H-Hello? Logan? Can you help me? I’m stuck!” Patton yelled for his friend.

There was no response. Patton widened his eyes as his mind started to swirl with panic.

“Logan?! LOGAN! VIRGIL! ROMAN?! JANUS?! REMUS! SOMEONE HELP!” Patton shouted. Patton tried kicking the ground with his toes. “HELLOOO? HELLOOO?!” Patton shouted. “LOGAN! PLEASE HELP ME! I’M SORRY I TOOK THE COOKIES! JUST PLEASE HELP MEE!” Patton begged.

Patton hung his head as he realized yelling for Logan would be no use. Logan must’ve walked up the steps and into his room, and there was no way he was gonna be able to hear anything from there.

He had really done it this time. All for a box of freaking cookies! Patton growled and pushed the cookies aside. He wasn’t hungry for them now. He was too busy trying to get himself out of the mess he got himself into.

Patton waited a few minutes for someone to notice his beige-colored pants, his black socks and his big butt on the inside of the doggy door.

Thankfully, it didn’t take long for someone to see Patton’s legs sticking out of the back door. Whoever it was, made themself known by dropping the stuff in their hand in pure awe. Patton gasped and struggled to listen. “Hello?” Patton asked.

Whoever the person was, was silent for a moment. But then, the father heard something:

“Patton?!” Someone reacted.

“Hello?! Who’s there? Can you help me?” Patton asked.

But the person bursted into high-pitched laughter at the scene in front of him. “HOHOHOLY CRAHAP! HAHAHAHAHA! How...how did yohou-” the person asked, grabbing his foot and his leg.

Patton let out a sigh of relief. They were gonna help me! “Thank you! Just pull me-AHAHA!” Patton ordered before guffawing.

The person had grabbed Patton’s thigh and squeezed it, tickling him in the process! “Sohorry! Just please be careful! My legs are a little ticklish.” Patton told them.

“That’s alright.” The person replied.

“Who are you?” Patton asked.

“It’s Janus!” he replied.

Janus?...Oh yeah! Deceit! That was Deceit’s name! Patton forgot about that for a moment. “Hi Janus! I uh...got a little stuck.” Patton told him.

Janus chuckled. “Really? I didn’t know that. I thought you were just sitting here playing.” He replied sarcastically.

Patton groaned. “Please no more jokes till I’m out.” Patton begged.

“No promises.” Janus replied. Eh...fair enough.

Patton sighed and tried to wiggle himself free a little. Though he managed to wiggle himself back and forth, he still couldn’t get through with his big hips and butt being too big with the door.

“Ihihi looks like you got yourself stuck in there pretty good!” Janus reacted.

“You think?” Patton replied.

“Do you need me to pull you out?” Janus asked.

Patton nodded his head. “Yes please!” Patton begged.

“Okay.” Janus grabbed onto Patton’s ankles and started pulling Patton backwards. Patton tried to push himself out as much as he could, but he could barely do anything thanks to his arms being outside the doggy door. Finally, Janus stopped pulling. “Goodness gracious Patton! Why in the world did you think crawling through this door was a good idea?!” Janus asked.

“I don’t know. I don’t wanna talk about it. Just please get me out of here?” Patton begged.

Janus looked at the man in surprise. He could tell Patton was agitated with himself, but...why? “You don’t need to be mad at yourself. We’re working on it. Alright?” Janus told him.

Patton sighed and rested his chin on his hand while Janu tried to think of how to get him out. Not really thinking, Janus grabbed onto Patton’s lower thigh and tried pulling. But Patton jolted and squeaked! “HEY! Whoa...What did I say about being careful, Janus?!” Patton asked.

Janus was growing tired of Patton’s attitude. He understood Patton may be annoyed that this happened, but that doesn’t mean he needs to let his anger out at him! But Janus’s thoughts started to turn into an idea. It seemed like the ticklish thighs gave him an idea on how to cheer him up…

“Hey Patton?” Janus called.

“Yeah?” Patton responded.

“I’m gonna call someone to help us out, and keep you company until they come over.” Janus explained.

Patton nodded. “Uuuuh...Okay.” Patton replied. “You can’t pull me out like this?” Patton clarified.

“I can try, but it’d be quicker if we just called someone to help cut you free and lower the risk of hurting you.” Janus explained.

Patton nodded, putting full trust in the man. “Thank you Janus.” Patton said thankfully.

“Of course! It’s the least I can do for a toddler.” Janus joked.

Patton was about to say something, but quickly stopped when he realized what Janus just said. “I-...What?” Patton reacted. “I am not a toddler.” Patton reacted.

“Technically you’re not, but you certainly proved yourself to be a toddler...” Janus mentioned, poking Patton’s foot to refer to Patton’s tight situation.

Patton sighed. “Promise not to tell anyone except for the person helping me?” Patton pleaded, feeling embarrassed by his circumstance.

Janus smirked to himself as he put his phone down beside him. “Yup! I can do that.” Janus replied. “And while you’re waiting…” Janus started scratching on the sensitive inner skin of Patton’s thigh.

Patton squeaked and started kicking almost right away! “Hehehey! JANUS! This is no time for-” Patton’s protests had fallen on deaf ears as Janus only added a few fingers to the scratching. “GahahAHAHAHAMES! JAHAHAN!” Patton shouted at him.

“Yes Patton?” Janus responded.

“KNOHOHOCK IHIHIT OHOHOFF!” Patton ordered.

Janus giggled. “I’ll knock it off once you knock off the attitude.” Janus replied with a smirk on his face. The reality was: even if Patton stopped his attitude right then and there, Janus probably would’ve continued to tickle him. This was an unbelievably convenient scenario where Patton could only move so much. And the best part? It wasn’t Janus’s fault at all! It was Patton’s own fault for getting himself into this mess! So that made everything justified!

“Ohoho COHOHOME OHOHON!” Patton shouted back at him as another pair of fingers started tickling his other stuck thigh. “HAHAHAHA! StAHAHAP IHIHIT!” Patton begged.

“Okay. Just one more thing:” Janus told him as he retreated his hands from his thighs.

Janus scooted himself a little closer and gave Patton’s hips a squeeze. Patton jolted in surprise! “aaAAEEK! Uh oh...WAHAIT NOOHOHOHOHOHO!” Patton shouted before falling into a fit of laughter. Janus was only squeezing his hips. That was all he was doing! It was one simple act, that was turning Patton into a giggly mess. “PLEHEHEHEASE! WHYHYHY TIHIHIHICKLIHIHING?!” Patton asked him.

“Because you got yourself into this mess! And I wanna make sure you never get yourself in this mess ever again. How do I do that without scarring you mentally or physically? Why, by tickling you, of course!” Janus explained. “And I happened to hear from a nosey bird, that you happen to like tickling.” Janus mentioned.

Patton rested his useless hands onto the concrete ground while he giggled and laughed with a slight blush on his face. The truth was, he wasn’t exactly wrong in his statement…

Janus soon started tickling Patton’s lower belly with one hand, and resumed his thigh-tickling with his other hand. Patton squealed helplessly and hung his head as laughter overcame the father. “NOHOHOT MYHYHY BEHEHEHELLYYYYY!” Patton squealed.

“Ooooh. Okay! Looks like I’m going for the knees a little early then.” Janus declared with a smirk as he pinned Patton’s calf down and started skittering a finger behind Patton’s knee.

“WAIT- Nohohot thehere! Cohohome ohohon! Ihihihi’m gohohoing crahahazyhyhy!” Patton begged.

Janus guffawed. “Your laughter dropped in volume! How could you be going crazy if your laughter had dropped significantly?” Janus asked.

Patton attempted to lift his leg up, but he couldn’t no matter how much he tried. To make things worse, Janus had decided to lay on both calves and switch between tickling the left knee pit, and the right knee pit. Right, left. Right for a while, left for a second then back to right! Then, left for a while, right for a little and back to left for a while! Patton was giggling and pushing against the doggy door frame in a struggle to get away. Everything in Patton was screaming for him to go forward to escape the hands, but this only got Patton MORE stuck than he was!

Patton shook his head and covered his face in embarrassment. “Plehehehehease stahahahap! Thihihihis ihihis ehehembahaharrassihihing!” Patton begged.

“Okay. I suppose I can give you a break.” Janus offered and wiped away the ghost tickles.

Patton took in some breath and took a few minutes to recuperate his oxygen. He was growing tired from the tickling, and his lungs were slightly limited due to his stuck situation.

“Hey Patton...you okay?” Janus asked.

Patton nodded. “Yeah, I am. Can you help me out now? Or is that helper here?” Patton asked.

Janus smiled and looked to his right. Another person was standing beside Janus, trying not to burst out laughing. “Hello Logan. Can you please help the poor Patton please? He’s stuck in the doggy door that’s not even meant for him.” Janus explained briefly.

Patton’s eyes widened in horror. “LOGAN?!” Patton shouted.

Logan bursted out laughing at Patton, revealing his presence to the father. Patton groaned and covered his face with his hands. “Yup! The helper is here! And by helper, I mean Logan Sanders!” Janus told him.

Patton whined. “JANUS!” Patton shouted at him.

“What? You wanted help, didn’t you?” Janus teased.

“But-...Janus!” Patton shouted back, not wanting to reveal his house crime.

“The reason why he doesn’t want me here, is because I was a witness to his cookie-stealing crime.” Logan explained.

Janus gasped and let out a long “Ooooooh!” upon putting the pieces together. “You were escaping Logan by going through the door, so you could eat your cookies in the backyard!” Janus put together outloud.

Patton growled and started getting very annoyed. He swung his fists around in childish anger. “I WANT OUT OF HERE!” Patton ordered.

“Oh my! It looks like Patton is in another angry mood! Looks like my tickling didn’t do enough!” Janus reacted.

Logan giggled. “Tickling, huh?” Logan clarified.

“Yeah. Strange how it didn’t work. Should I try again?” Janus asked.

“Sounds like a wonderful idea! Can I help?” Logan replied and asked.

“Sure!” Janus replied happily.

“Have you tried his toes yet?” Logan asked next.

Janus gasped and gave himself a facepalm. “No! I haven’t! I’m such a dummy!” Janus reacted.

“Oooh! Want me to help you with that? I think if we tickle him and pull, we may be able to get him out!” Logan plotted.

Patton squeaked and covered his mouth in fear, yet slight excitement.

Janus smirked and nodded. “That’s a great idea! Let’s do it!” Janus declared.

Logan went for the left foot, while Janus went for the right one. They grabbed Patton’s ankle’s with one hand, and started skittering their fingers on both of Patton’s feet at the same time.

“BAAAHAHAHAHA! WAHAHAIT, DOHOHOHOHON’T! HAHAHAHAHA!” Patton shouted. The ticklish father held his head in ticklish shock, and wiggled everywhere he could despite the little room.

“One…” Janus counted.

Logan nodded. “Two…” Logan continued.

“THREE!” They both yelled at once and pulled as hard as they could!

Patton’s belly and ribs came sliding into the house! But thanks to the angle, Patton’s body quickly halted at the shoulders. His upper ribs, his shoulders and his head were the only things sticking out the door! While this made laughing a lot easier, this also posed a problem for getting the rest of his body inside the house.

But as it turns out, Patton already knew what to do because he was already turning his body on an angle! “Okay! My shoulders should be able to fit now.” Patton told them.

“Okay. On 3!” Logan told him.

“THREE!” Janus shouted quickly and pulled Patton’s ankle. Logan blinked in surprise at the disobedient action, but smiled upon seeing Patton’s body pop out of the doggy door and back inside the house! “WE DID IT!” Janus shouted excitedly.

Logan smiled and high-fived the deceitful side. “Exceptional job, Janus!” Logan complimented proudly.

Patton was laying there, giggling his lungs out. He was still giggling from the ghost tickles that were plaguing both of his feet.

Janus smiled and walked up to Patton with a hand out. “You want some help up?” Janus offered. Patton smiled, grabbed his hand and used it to get himself up.

...But not before pulling Janus down and attempting to tickle him back.

Janus didn’t react to any of the squeezes or finger skitters on his ribs, armpits or sides. He just lifted himself up and turned his body around onto his back and laid there. Patton’s smile started to drop as he realized he wasn’t ticklish in any of the spots he was trying. But then, Patton tried his neck…

“EEEP! Pahahatton...dohohon’t yohohou even- heheHEY!” Janus squeaked, pushing away the fingers as best he could. Patton’s smile immediately returned! He found a ticklish spot! It’s not bad, but it’s certainly something!

Patton kept Janus in a constant stream of giggles by tickling as many of the available neck spots as possible, to keep him guessing. Finally, Janus fell into louder, more bubbly giggles as Patton tickled both sides of his neck at once! It seemed like Janus had taken on Thomas’s infamous ticklish spot! So, Patton happily got his revenge for a little while.

And even though Janus got a much more satisfying counter revenge against Patton, it was still cute to be able to see Janus all giggly and adorable. Patton would eventually decide that getting stuck in the doggy door led to some bittersweet results in the end! Even if it was a little embarrassing.

Less than a week later, Patton got himself stuck in the doggy door again.

[purple-nana]

Barriers

Part 7 - Angst, Fluff

1.4k words   ( Part of the Dorm of us Series)

Warnings: Cursing~

You bit your lip as you walk through the crowded hallways.Your eyes searching for the familiar figure of a person, examining your surroundings as you pass by.

The chattering sounds of the people around you makes you even more anxious. You were too embarrassed to face him again. As if you still have a face to face him.

It has been almost a week? Yeah, a week has passed ever since you started to act like this.

The embarrassment was too much for you to handle.You just—can't. You have only one mission to accomplish today. And that is arrive to your locker without interacting with him.

After that, things will be easier. You can go home to the dorm and—immediately lock yourself in your bedroom. Cause no sis, you aren’t interacting with anyone at the dorm. 

If any one of them found out, which you were already sure that one of them already knows about it since you have been acting weird this week. It’s a good thing that it was the weekend. You can lock yourself all you want, and not give a damn to your dorm mates.

You kept on turning your head from side to side in hopes of not meeting him. Not worrying even that you were already looking like a meerkat.

You really have to avoid him.

At last, you finally made it to your locker without seeing him.

‘That’s a relief’ you mumble under your breath.

if it wasn’t for the heavy books that you need to place in your locker, then you would’ve been home by now. However, an aching back was the second least thing that you want right now.

You organized your books, checked if anything was missing and you’re done! You happily closed your locker with the thought of being able to go home after the tiring week of avoiding that guy. At least you succeeded—

“Hi.” 

There he was. Na Jaemin, Leaning against the locker that was right beside yours. He was giving you a smirk that you wanted to erase from his lips because of how annoying it was.

well,

Mission failed.

What was he doing here? Didn’t you just made sure that you avoided him completely?

“H-how? Wait—what?” You gasp in disbelief.

Jaemins lets out a chuckle, then stands up to face you. “Oh come on y/n. How can you possibly avoid me when we our classes are in the same building?” His lips form into a small grin.

Oh, right. You sigh in realization.

But you didn’t see him the whole week? So did he—

“Yeah sweetie, I gave you your needed ‘space’,” He made quotation marks in the air as he says ‘space’ then he crosses his arms. “Why are you even avoiding me by the way. You even let me sleep on the couch.”

Oh that. Ahm so basically you and Jaemin were supposed to be roommates. However something might’ve just happened.

A week ago.

You saw it again. It was the same nightmare.

You hated it. You need to wake up.

So you did. You woke up, catching your breath while cold sweat drips from your forehead, again.

It was starting to get to you, you couldn’t even count how many times you’ve had that dream.

And still, you kept on waking up with your forehead covered in sweat and tears in your eyes. It still haunts you.

You were thankful that you have Jaemin by your side whenever you wake up.

Giving you cuddles and he comforts you until you slowly get back to sleep.

But tonight was different.

It was the same dream, same feeling, same scenes yet, tonight’s dream was somehow more painful, if that was even possible.

You turned to look at Jaemin, who was still peacefully sleeping beside you. You didn’t want to wake him up, he seemed too peaceful for you to bother him with the same nightmare.

You just needed some fresh air.

You wore your slippers and went to the balcony. The air was cold and refreshing in contrast to your state.

Sitting down, you thought about that dream. That damn fucking dream. Why does it even haunts you to this day? You were supposed to be okay but here you are, the one only person who was still hurting.

Tears fell from your eyes. You just want it stop, everything was already over, everyone has already move on yet—you were still who you were from those years back.

You buried your head in your arms as you continue to sob. 

In the midst of your crying, you suddenly felt a large figure wrap his arms around your waist. Hugging you from the back. You didn’t even bother to lift your head, you already know who it was anyways.

He rested his head on your shoulders. “Why didn’t you wake me up?” He softly says.

“I didn’t want to bother you with the same stupid dream Jaemin.”

“No it’s not stupid y/n, it’s fine you know i’ll be always here for you.” He says softly, bringing his hand to your head to gently play with you hair.

Yeah, he was always there. He always have his shoulder for you to lean on, he was always there for you. you knew you could trust him but—maybe you were too scared?

Scared that something might happen if you said that, you enjoy being with him, being in his embrace. That you enjoy his presence alone. Maybe—you were too afraid that things might change.

The atmosphere was calm, maybe too calm that you accidentally blurted out something without your conscience. Maybe it was too late, cause Jaemin probably heard it due to his surprised reaction.

You lifted your head to look at him.

“W-what did you say?” Jaemin mutters in astonishment, his eyes blinking rapidly.

“What?” You asked, immediately trying to remember what you just said. Which you wished you didn’t.

Realization washed over you as soon as you remembered.

“I-i didn’t said anything,” you stood up, making Jaemin confused,”I-i gotta go to sleep now bye.” You sprinted towards your room immediately shutting the door behind you, leaving Jaemin dumbfounded.

You lean against the door, it doesn’t matter if Jaemin sleeps on the couch today. You’ll die of embarrassment if you spend just a minute with him.

The words echoes through your head, did you really just said that? 

It keeps on replaying on repeat.

‘I like you, Jaemin.’

Things really might change from now on.

Present.

You stared at Jaemin in belief. Why was he even asking? Didn’t he heard your ‘so-called’ confession last week?

He just stares at you, innocently. 

“I-i, I got to go now. See you bye!” You said as you ran away from him, your mind immediately thought of more ways to possibly avoid Jaemin.

It was true that you need to talk about this to him but for now, you need to run away from reality.

Since your plans of going home extra early and lock yourself behind the walls of your bedroom was now officially cancelled, you decided to just spend the rest of your time in a coffee shop.

It was a nice place to go after the exhausting day that you’ve been through. 

You spent your time reading your textbooks and reviewed a couple of past lessons cause you never know when a test is coming.

You ordered a couple glasses of strawberry milk, and you looked up to check the time.

7:30 pm

“Oh that explains why it was so dark out already.” You turn to the window, the sky was pitch black.

You should probably go home. You packed your things and went back to the dorm, which was a bit empty?

The lights were off, and the boy’s shoe rack were empty. ‘They probably went out’ you thought to yourself.

You saw a note on the table. 

‘be back late! don’t wait for us -the boys’

That means, you have the whole dorm for yourself! Finally some alone time!

You rejoiced at the thought of you finally having your “me time”, chanting ‘i’m alone, i’m alone’ in a weird tune. 

You kept on dancing and and chanting cheerful words that you were sure that the neighbors might’ve probably heard. But you didn’t care, embarrassment later, just dance for now.

“I’m alone, y/n is finally alone yay she’s alo—”

“What the fuck are you doing?”

You froze. “alonee?” You speak slowly as you check the person who was oddly in the dorm when you were supposed to be alone.

“I should’ve taken a video, that was a rare moment.” Jaemin smirks at you.

The thought slowly sinks into your mind. The both of you are going to be together, alone.

“Oh shit.”

Previous   Masterlist

Next

A/N: I’m so soriii for the super freakin late update. I hate school work so much : /. I’ll try to update as quickly as possible!

[ashdoesfandomarchieved]

Lower Decks Prompt: The Warp Core Four (Mariner, Tendi, Boimler, and Rutherford) are stuck adrift in a shuttle waiting for rescue, and do their best to entertain themselves while they pass the time

ao3

Boimler wakes up on Rutherford’s shoulder. The two are flopped out on the floor, Rutherford seemingly conscious, but quiet. Tendi and Mariner are leaning against the wall of the tiny shuttle, legs intertwined. Every once in a while, they pass a bottle of unknown liquid back and forth. 

“This is fucking bullshit,” Rutherford finally says, staring blankly up at the ceiling from his reclining position on the floor.

Mariner lets out a high-pitched giggle. “Ruzzer-Rud-Rutherford said-he fucking said bullshit,” she wheezes. 

“He also said fuck,” Tendi agrees, taking another swig of her drink. 

“Tendi said fuck-”

“I’m going to die in the middle of uncharted space with the dumbest people in the galaxy,” Boimler presses his face into Rutherford’s shoulder. There’s not much room in the tiny, tiny escape pod, plus his friend’s shoulder makes for a good pillow. 

“Aw, come on, we aren’t dying.”

“I see you’re not disputing the dumbest people comment.”

“Shut the fuck up.” 

“In the time that I was unconscious, you managed to fuck up Rutherford’s implant—why does he have a swearing mode, by the way?—find alcohol and get piss drunk. Where did you even get that? We’re in an escape pod,” he sighs, gesturing toward the suspicious brown tinted liquid.

“Pffft, wasn’t on the escape pod,” Mariner grins. 

Tendi frowns. “Where was it-”

“Please do not answer that.” 

“Laaaaame,” Mariner boos, grabbing the bottle from Tendi and taking a gulp. “You should try some, get buzzed up. Might loosen that stick up your ass.” 

“He has a concussion, dumbass,” Rutherford says, gently patting and Boimler’s head. “Your hair’s soft,” he adds. 

“RUTHERFORD SAID DUMBASS-”

“I KNOW HOW TO MOTHERFUCKING SWEAR MARINER-”

“RUTHERFORD SAID MOTHERFUCK-”

Boimler sits up, jerking away. “Can you guys pipe down?! Please?” He presses his palms into his eyelids. “Or just eject me into space already?” He drops his hands. “Also, again why would you get drunk we are stranded in uncharted space-”

“Don’t worry about it, Boims, I already contacted the Captain. She’s sending us a sweet, sweet ride that’ll be here in a few minutes. We just gotta hang tight and keep you awake.” 

“Kinky,” Tendi says, giving them a thumbs up. 

Boimler groans, burying his face in Rutherford’s shoulder again. “God, just let me die.” 

“No can do, Princess.”

“You’re too fucking pretty to die,” Rutherford agrees. 

Mariner spits out her drink. “Wait what.” 

Tendi nods, whipping Mariner’s spit off her cheek. “He is small and soft and baby.” 

“Wait what-” Boimler lifts his head off Rutherford’s shoulder again. “I’m not-shut up!” 

Mariner wrinkles her nose. “But he’s Boimler.” 

“Yeah!” 

“We’re all hot, I don’t know what to tell you,” Tendi sighs, thunking her head back against the wall. 

“You think I’m hot?” Rutherford and Mariner ask in unison. 

Boimler faceplants back into Rutherford’s shoulder. “I’m in hell. I’m in actual hell.” 

“You don’t believe in hell,” Tendi snorts. 

“If I did, this would be it.” 

“Cogito ergo sum,” Rutherford says. “Hell is other people,” Rutherford translates at Tendi’s blank stare. “It’s a concept from that one Terran screenplay No Exit that like. Explores ethics and the philosophy of existentialism.” 

“Existentialism is for wimps. Just become a nihilist like the rest of us,” Mariner mutters. 

“First of all, you’re not a nihilist, you’re an absurdist. Second, existentialism isn’t for wimps, it’s a highly intellectual branch of philosophical thinking that stems from-” 

“Yawn. Big words.” 

“At least your implant seems to have reset itself,” Tendi snickers. 

Rutherford tries to glare at her and fails epically. Tendi’s either too cute to be mad at or Boimler’s missing something here.

He’s probably missing something, he decides. The room has started spinning again and that stabbing pain behind his eyes is back.  Yay. 

“That’s a misinterpretation anyway,” he says, blinking hard as his vision goes in and out. 

“What?” Rutherford’s voice seems far away. Weird, he’s sitting right next to Boimler. 

“When people say ‘hell is other people’ they usually mean that our interactions with other people are hell, but what Sartre really meant is that we are trapped in other people’s interpretations of us.” 

Mariner blinks. “You’re hurting my brain.” 

“What the fuck does that mean?” Tendi yawns. It’s very cute. 

“It has something to do with choice and creating meaning out of a universe that instrinticly offers none and-” Rutherford pauses. “And my brain hurts too much to explain.”

Mainer raises her bottle in agreement. “It’s up to you, Boims.”

“Do I look like a philosophy major?” He grits his teeth against the red hot behind his eyes. It’s getting worse. 

“You weren’t doing too bad a minute ago.”

“Yeah, because I watched the fucking play.” His fingers start tapping against his thigh. 

“Oh my god, you watch old timey philosophical plays?” She gives him a half grin. “Cute.” 

“Told you he was pretty.” Tendi gives him finger guns. 

“Shut the fuck up, pretty and cute aren’t synonyms.”  

“Look, if you would just get over whatever hangup you got with him-” 

“I DON’T HAVE ANY HANGUPS OVER BOIMLER!” 

“Can you guys be quiet for five minutes,” Boimler hisses, hands over his ears. “I swear to god-”

“...Cerritos to Beta 278b, do you copy…” static crackles over the comm, making the four of them wince. 

“Aaaand that’s our cue,” Rutherford says. “Mariner-” 

“On it.” Mariner stands up, suddenly alert. Boimler blinks up at her in surprise. He was certain she was completely inebriated a moment before…

The shuttle jolts, making them all scramble for purchase, and then there’s a soft tingling under Boimler’s skin. 

“Oh great they’re beaming us directly-” Rutherford starts.

The shuttle disappears in a flash of gold and is replaced by a sterile, white room. 

“-there,” he finishes with a relieved grin. “Cool.” 

“Okay, let’s get your dumb, dumb ass to medbay,” Mariner says to Boimler cheerfuly, throwing his arm over her shoulder and dragging him off. He, predictably, trips over his own feet and gets a mouthful of her hair. Rutherford sidles up to his other side and steadies him. 

“Slow down dumbass, he’s still concussed.”

“Yeah, that’s why I’m taking him to med-DID YOU JUST SAY DUMBASS WITHOUT YOUR IMPLANT BEING FUCKED UP?!”

Boimler groans, dropping his head onto Rutherford’s shoulder. Tendi pats him on the back in consolidation. 

“I’m allowed to swear-”

“OH MY GOD.”

Whether there’s a god in this universe or not, something takes pity on Boimler and lets his vision fade to black.

__________

Three days later, he’s still on bedrest. Mariner flops down on his bio-bed--breaking like 7 different regulations at once--and pulls out her data padd. 

“I read your dumb play, it was pretty shitty.” 

“Thanks.”

“I did happen to find an old holo recording of it from like. The 21 century? You down?” She waves the padd at him invitingly. 

Boimler sighs. Moves over far enough for her to slide under the thin bed covers with him. “When T’Ana yells at you, I am not taking the blame.” 

“Uh huh.” She props the padd up on her knees and clicks on the video.

Boimler falls asleep about five minutes in, head dropping off on her shoulder. It’s finally quiet.

____________

[imalwaysintune]

Barbershop Au

This is purely for my own indulgence, as I thought of this idea and couldn’t get it out of my head. I woke up at 5:30 am this morning in a cold sweat and intensely wanted to write about these four funky little men in a barbershop group. No I don’t know why.

Also, I got my new laptop today (yay!) and this is the first thing I’m writing on it, so it’s basically officially cursed now. I also blame @ggracee for fueling this fire.

Enjoy! Stuff under cut!

------------------------------------

In the Archives:

Martin had been quietly working on his notes when he suddenly felt the air behind him grow colder. His stomach dropped and he turned his chair around, just as he saw the air shift and Peter fade into view. It was terrifying the first time he’d seen it, had seen the way the space shifted and how it looked like the universe was going to collapse into a black hole.

But it hadn’t, and Martin had gotten used to Peter’s comings and goings. Peter himself, on the other hand, was another story. He was cold and heartless, and he had ripped Martin from all his friends and would chastise him every time he even so much as look at another member of the archival staff.

Martin sighed as he leaned his head on his hand, and waited expectantly for Peter to start talking. It was just better this way.

“Hey, Martin. I see you’re busy here doing... things. Um, you know, I was wondering if I could ask you a favor,” Peter seemed almost nervous, to Martin’s surprise. He didn’t normally look Martin in the eye out of habit, but this seemed intentional. 

“As if I have a choice?” Martin sounds bitter, probably more bitter than he meant. He had just been having a rough day, rougher than usual. He wanted nothing more than to talk to Jon, but Peter made that virtually impossible.

“Oh come on Martin, I deserve more credit than that,” Peter looked at Martin directly then, and he looked nervous. It would’ve taken Martin aback if he cared enough. He just rolled his eyes and made a lazy gesture with his hand that roughly meant “go on”.

It wasn’t until that moment that he realized Peter’s hands were held behind his back, and he appeared to be holding something. When he brought his hands forward, they were holding something that looked like a piece of clothing. It was covered with red and white pinstripes, and Martin just stared at with mild surprise.

“So, I know we aren’t really friends. At least, you don’t consider me a friend. But there was no one else we could ask. We lost out last tenor to the Hunt and Elias doesn’t want to switch just to spite me now that I forced him to sing lead, so... you’re basically our only hope,” Peter was almost stumbling over his words, and in that moment he seemed more human to Martin than he had ever seen the man.

“Okay,” Martin said, remembering how much fun the show choir had been when he was in high school. That felt like so long ago now.

“Okay? Just.. okay? Like that? No fighting? You don’t even want me to beg?” The nerves that had fueled Peter just a second ago were replaced with bewilderment. 

“I mean, you can if you want. But, I have nothing better to do, and frankly, the prospect of seeing Elias in that ridiculous suit you’re holding is just too good to pass up,” Martin said as he sat upright in his chair. He grabbed the suit from Peter’s hands and left the room, going to one of the many bathrooms that were littered around the institute. 

He didn’t know what he expected of the suit, but he was pleasantly surprised when he felt the fabric grow and shrink to fit Martin’s form. He absentmindedly wondered what kinda freaky fear magic was used to make the suit fit so well as he examined himself in the mirror.

For how ridiculous he thought the fabric design had looked before, he quite liked how it flattered him. It made his ginger hair pop, and his body looked good. He’d never worn a suit that was properly tailored to him, so it was a nice change.

He walked out of the bathroom and back into the room where he knew Peter would be waiting. His eyes lit up as they landed on Martin, standing up from where he had sat down and walking over to the shorter man. 

He beamed like a proud dad as he pulled out two more items from seemingly nowhere. He held out an iconic boater hat in one hand, and a bright red and white cane that matched the pattern of the suit. 

Martin had the urge to laugh, something he hadn’t felt in awhile, so he let the laughter flow as he grabbed the items from Peter. It almost felt surreal, but it would seem that the being who took away all of Martin’s happiness would also be the one to provide it

Skip forward a few weeks to Elias’s office:

Martin stood outside of Elias’ office, debating whether or not he should follow through with his plan. However, as he figured Elias would already know he was there, he opened the door anyways.

Elias’ was staring up at him from the huge desk in the middle of the room, and Martin swallowed hard.

“Can I help you, Martin?” Elias drawled, looking up at Martin expectantly. 

Martin crossed the room towards Elias, holding a stack of papers that looked like they were dangerously close to spilling everywhere. When he got to the desk, he dropped all the papers on the desk and started rifling through them, looking for a specific paper.

When he finally found it, he picked it up and walked around the desk, coming to settle next to Elias. He placed the paper down and pointed to a specific area on the page.

“I was trying to practice my part of ‘Coney Island Baby’, but I can’t get this one phrase here on page 7. I was wondering if you would work with me on it so that I have something to compare my part against and maybe it can help me-” Martin was abruptly cut off by the dreaded feeling he got when Peter was about to show up.

Sure enough, the space in front of them started to shift and soon Peter was just... there. Martin mentally chastised himself for being so careless. Of course Peter wouldn’t want him talking to anyone outside the time he allowed, even if it was to get help.

“Now, Martin, you surely know why I’m here. I have to say I’m majorly disappointed in you,” Peter didn’t sound disappointed. He sounded like he always did. His inflection rarely changed but it didn’t stop the words from stinging. 

“Look, I’m sorry Peter, but I was just asking for Elias’ help on a part. If you don’t let me ask him for help when you’re not around, how am I supposed to get better?” Martin regretted challenging Peter as soon as the last word left his house.

Peter didn’t look angry. Far from it in fact. He looked like he’d been struck by genius. Martin’s stomach dropped when Peter finally revealed his brilliant idea.

“Here’s an idea. You can sit in the Lonely until all your sheet music is memorized! You need to learn to be part independent, Martin. You’re in the big leagues now.

Before he knew it, Martin felt the air around him grow thick as him and his papers were thrust into the dimension. Right before he lost complete contact though, he managed to thrust out “Can I at least have a pitch-pipe-” before disappearing into the Lonely.

It was Elias who broke the silence, sighing heavily. “You know, Peter, just because I offered you Martin to use for your secret little experiment doesn’t you can take him away from his work. He was doing important filing-” And suddenly with another ‘whoosh’ of Peter’s hand, Elias was destined to join Martin in the Lonely.

He could almost imagine the fit Elias was having, but he told himself that it was all for the best. This was the most productive they were going to be until Simon showed up.

Ah Simon Fairchild, the wild-child of the group. He was unpredictable, rarely showed up rehearsals and yet always seemed to know the sheet music intimately. It was as frustrating as it was liberating, to know that at least someone was serious about the group. 

Oh well. At least this fun little experiment will test if his boys are up to the test.

A non-disclosed theater:

A few weeks after the “Lonely” incident, Peter, Elias, and Martin all gathered at the theater Peter had rented out for their rehearsals. Martin thought it was a bit much, but Peter thought the huge auditorium was perfect. Martin couldn’t even fathom how much something like this cost.

Suddenly, Martin had the familiar sinking feeling in his stomach. He looked over towards Peter, who was smiling giddily. 

To Elias’ left, a being popped into view. He was wearing a dark green suede suit, brown and tan saddle shoes, and a wide brimmed hat that outlined his face like a halo.

Martin had never seen this person before, but Peter was looking at the figure in elation, walking over to him and enveloping the figure in a hug. 

When Martin looked towards Elias for any sort of assistance, he sighed and rolled his eyes.

“Martin, this is Simon Fairchild. He’s our Baritone. Even though he rarely shows up to rehearsal, I have to admit, he’s a borderline musical prodigy,” Elias explained to Martin. 

Peter and Simon seemed to be in deep conversation, and Martin strained his ears to hear what they were saying.

“-but it seems entirely unfair that you would send them into the Lonely without me. I could’ve helped them! They could’ve been out in half the time. Plus, I’ve never actually been inside The Lonely so it truly would’ve been quite an enlightening experience-” At this, Martin couldn’t stand to listen to Simon again. Talkative, that one.

He turned towards Elias and opened the sheet music for the latest song Peter had assigned to them and got to work. If Simon and Peter wanted to goof off, that was on them. At least he and Elias would be productive.

“One, two, a one two three four-” Martin began, and him and Elias erupted into wonky two part harmony. It wasn’t the most beautiful thing, but it was the most alive Martin had felt in months. 

- THE END!

-----------------------------------------------------------

This one is so cursed I’m sorry-

I just really wanted to write about these stupid cursed men if they joined force and made a barbershop group. I don’t have everything I wanted to write about in here, so maybe there will be a part 2 if it seems like y’all want it. Don’t be afraid to hit up my ask box and my ao3!

Words: 1708

[tohellandbackanthology]

holy crap we’re 51% funded: announcing the Community Book program!

Hi folks! The whole To Hell + Back team has been utterly blown away over the last couple of days by the response you guys have had to the launch of our Indiegogo campaign and the support you’ve shown our little (big) book--we’re 51% funded after less than 48 hours online, which is beyond our wildest dreams for a self-indulgent fan project we dreamed up in a backyard over some chocolate almonds!

(Not sure who we are or what this project is? Check out our Indiegogo page here!)

We are well aware that given current global events, many people are understandably concerned and/or uncertain about their personal finances, and may not have expendable income to contribute to our crowdfunding campaign while it’s running even if they very much want to own a print copy of To Hell + Back: A Destiel Anthology. With this in mind, we’ve had a handful of extremely thoughtful & generous members of our fandom approach us asking how they might be able to purchase additional copies of the print books through our fundraising campaign, and then have us gift them to fellow fans who are experiencing financial hardship. Amazing, right? We certainly thought so. 

After much careful thought and discussion between ourselves about how best to make this happen while remaining totally committed to both fairness and transparency, we’ve worked a little behind-the-scenes magic and would like to present to you the To Hell + Back Community Book Program (or CBP for short)!

Community Book Program? “What is that?” you ask

Essentially, the Community Book Program has been set up as a special set of perks and add-ons right on our Indiegogo page that will allow people to not only buy Community Books to gift to other cash-strapped fans (that they may not necessarily know personally), but to pay for shipping to them as well by choosing a Community Ship add-on that allows the buyer to select whether that book goes to someone in Canada, in the United States, or somewhere else around the world. The Community Books perks and add-ons will be available for purchase until end-of-day Wednesday May 6th, 2020.

For buyers and donators, there are two different ways to provide Community Books:

Number 1: To access the Community Books perks directly, please go here, select either the one or two book option with the gorgeous black-and-white promo art by @kayrosebee​, click “get this perk”, and proceed to checkout! Once you’ve clicked “continue to payment”, you will then be asked to agree to the Terms of Use, and click “continue to payment” again. The next page that loads is where you can choose add-ons. If you scroll down below the pink Checkout button, you will see a section entitled “Perks you may also like”, and you can select “add perk” for your choice of Canadian, US, or International Community shipping for the books you are donating. Please ensure that you are purchasing adequate shipping for your selected number of books! 

Additionally, please note that in order to check out with option 1, you will be asked to put in your mailing address--don’t worry, we will know to disregard these ones for Community Books when it comes time to ship, and we will be creating unique shipping labels specifically for the lucky recipients. They will not ever see any of your information. Your privacy is paramount to us.

At this add-on stage, you may notice that you have the option to purchase either one or two more additional Community Books, as well as shipping for them. You can purchase up to 4 Community Books total this way, as otherwise Indiegogo will not allow you to check out with multiple regular perks at one time. If you would like to purchase more than 4 CBP books at a time, please contact the mod team directly so that we can assist you with this.

Number 2: If you would like to purchase a perk for yourself but also donate books to the CBP within a single transaction, please go to our Indiegogo page, select the perk you want for yourself, click “continue to payment”, and then follow the instructions above to get to the add-on screen! From there, you will be able to add on either one or two Community books and the corresponding Community Ship option of your choice. Again, please ensure that you are purchasing adequate shipping for your selected number of books! 

If you are one of said cash-strapped fans who would like a chance to get a print copy of the To Hell + Back anthology that you wouldn’t otherwise be able to, we strongly encourage you to enter the Community Book draws (US residents link) (Canadian residents link) (International residents link) before Wednesday May 6th 2020! 

Limit of one entry per person please--multiple entries for the same person will be deleted! We will randomly draw names and announce winners on Saturday May 9th, 2020. The number of names selected from each of the 3 draws will be based on the number of Community Books that have been purchased for each of the 3 shipping destinations by the May 6th deadline. If you are the lucky winner of a Community book, we will contact you via email to obtain your shipping information...yay!

Finally, please look below to read a little FAQ we’ve put together that we hope will help answer some of the most common questions we think we will get about the CBP!

Community Book program FAQ: 

Q: Why are the Community Ship options listed as costing $1.00? 

A: For a few reasons--first, because Indiegogo will not allow us to create a perk that costs zero dollars. If we could have, we would have! 

Secondly, we wanted to find a way to make sure the considerable costs of shipping would be covered for Community Books in a manner that would a) not artificially inflate our fundraising total, as shipping costs are calculated separately, and b) not require the person donating to know the name or the address of the person the book will be going to, since they won’t have that information at the time of purchase. The shipping price of the $1.00 perk will be included at checkout.

Q: What if I want to donate a book directly to someone I know and not have them participate in the draw?

A: That is incredibly sweet of you! We recommend that you either:

1. Do a separate transaction: purchase a perk and put in your friend’s address 2. Purchase a perk that includes multiple books, or 3. Purchase a single-book perk for yourself and make use of the “one extra print book” add-on before you complete your purchase. 

Please note that if you choose option 2 or 3, please be aware that all books included in your order will be shipped to your address, and that you will be responsible for any additional shipping costs required to get your donated book to its final destination.

Q: Why can’t I just order a book for my friend and make special arrangements with you guys to ship it to them? 

A: Listen, we totally get how that seems like it would be a simple thing from the outside, but if this anthology project reaches its fundraising goal, we are already about talking 500+ physical books plus merch that our team (who also have full-time jobs! School! Other hobbies! One very cute kid!) will have to sort, pack, label, and ship come October 2020 (fingers crossed!). 

In the best interest of getting our supporters their products in a relatively timely fashion, of our vital need for administrative organization, and of our general sanity, it is very important to us to be able to streamline that process as much as we possibly can. It is our sincere hope that the fewer exceptions we have to handle, the fewer mistakes we will make...and we just want everyone to be happy!

Q: What if I’m looking to donate something in an arrangement/quantity that isn’t covered here? 

A: Please contact us directly to pitch your idea or concern! We are happy to chat, and the worst we will say is, “sorry, no, we can’t do that!” (And then probably say “sorry” three or four more times...have we mentioned that 6 of 8 of us are Canadian?)

Q: What if your anthology doesn’t meet its fundraising goals? Do the CBP draw winners still get books?

A: If To Hell + Back: A Destiel Anthology does not meet its fundraising goals, all money given to the campaign gets refunded directly back to our wonderful supporters, and the print books do not get printed. This means that if that is what happens, then no, unfortunately the draw winners will not receive print books. Nobody will, and we will be sad. That being said, at the time of writing we are already halfway funded! We are very hopeful that our crazy dream of a print anthology will become a reality!

Q: Can I purchase a Community Book without also purchasing Community Shipping?

A: Technically you can, yes. We’d like to strongly encourage you not to do that, and ask you to consider that we want to put these books directly in the hands of as many Dean/Cas fans as possible. Paying for shipping in tandem with the Community Books ensures that we can make that happen, and that more of whatever money is left over after all of the books have shipped and the project’s expenses have been paid can go directly to our charity of choice: WISH Vancouver. If any Community Books end up orphaned (ie, are purchased without shipping), they will likely become part of a giveaway that happens after the fundraiser has closed for good. 

This FAQ may be added to as more questions arise, but in the meantime, your trusty mod @justholdingstill​ has thrown down the gauntlet by purchasing the very first Community Book with International shipping...woo!