#Hungry is a game where your parents left you and your sister alone for a week and you are very hungry and mist cook for you both

[thepandalion]

I'm gonna learn a game engine with my month and a half of "uni won't start" so. Which of my horror games should I start with

[6rookie-writer0110]

We didn't run out of time

The Incredibles x Male Reader

Request - how about Incredibles x Male Reader who's the oldest kid in the incredible family and his power was to manipulate kinetic energy like he tanks a punch from Mr incredible and can now use that energy to punch kick or headbutt something or someone with the same amount of force as that punch and is also very durable like falls from a plane and is totally also imagine after hero work he forgets to release the kinetic energy and lightly kicks a bouncy ball and suddenly it's bouncing all over the room and knocking/breaking stuff

Your parents left you in charge of your brothers and sister. Your parents went out for date night and you don't want anything to ruin their night.

“Mom and Dad left me in charge,” You said.

“We know, we were there before they left. I'm hungry and I don't want vegetables for dinner” Dash said.

“We are not eating ice cream for dinner,” You said.

“Why, not!?” Dash whined.

You are holding Jack-Jack, he is saying gibberish. You are the oldest son and sometimes they will leave you in charge when they go out etc. Sometimes, Dash would try to break the rules and you would try to stop him.

You did buy dinner and it was Chinese food. Dash raced to the table first, he grabbed the food and starts to eat it. You put Jack Jack in the high chair and you start to give him food. Everyone starts to eat and Jack-Jack is making a mess while he eats.

After dinner, you and Dash start to play video games. Violet is getting ready for her first date

“Are you going to make water come out of your nose?” Dash teased then laughed.

“Not funny!” Violet yelled.

He is still laughing and you tried to hold it in.

“Dash, leave her alone,” You said.

“Can't believe mom and dad let Violet go on a date” Dash said.

“Don’t embarrass me when he gets here, I mean it” Violet said.

“We won't embarrass you, stop being a drama queen,” You said.

“Whatever, Y/n” Violet said.

A bit later, Tony rang the doorbell. Violet tried to open it first but Dash used his speed to open the door, then you stand behind him.

“Hi, I’m Tony and I'm here to pick up Violet,” Tony said.

“Where are you taking her?” You asked.

“We will watch a movie then get something to eat,” Tony said.

“You better treat Violet right or I'm going after you” You said.

“Me too. We know where you live, Tony” Dash said.

You and Dash glared at him and he started to stutter.

“Leave him alone! We have to go! Oh, Y/n go check on Jack-Jack and he is- “ Violet said.

She rushed out of the house, and then you and Dash heard loud noises. You and Dash try to stop Jack-Jack from fighting the raccoon in the backyard. It took a while but you and Dash managed to break up the fight.

Later, while watching TV with your brothers suddenly robbers tried to break in.

“What do we do?” Dash asked.

“We are heroes. We will stop them, Dash get ready” You said.

“I’m ready, Y/n” Dash smirked.

Dash used his speed to mess with the robbers and take their weapons. Then Jack-Jack unexpectedly uses his laser eyes, then you use your energy to punch them through the wall.

“That was awesome!” Dash smiled.

He used his speed to tie up the robbers. Then your parents come home earlier and they are speechless.

“What happened?” Bob asked.

You and Dash started to talk once then Helen called the cops. Later, Violet came home and she couldn't stop smiling.

——

The next day… your mother Helen is making chocolate chip pancakes.

“Kids, breakfast is ready!” Helen yelled from the kitchen.

You, Violet, and Dash start to race.

“No point in running because I have speed, duh” Dash smirked.

You are holding your baby brother Jack-Jack.

“Have you heard of the story about The Tortoise and the Hare?” You asked.

“No. Why?” Dash asked.

“You should read it and you will know. Jack-Jack let's get cookies!” You smiled.

He loves cookies then he used teleportation. You and Jack-Jack beat Violet and Dash.

“Not fair! You cheated, Y/n” Dash said.

You, Violet, and Dash started to argue.

“Stop it! All of you are going to be quiet and eat the pancakes” Bob said.

You three didn't say anything.

“Now, you all can eat, and don't make a mess,” Helen said.

Everyone started to eat but Helen sighed, she was hoping no one would make a mess. You and Dash asked for more pancakes

✬ ✯ ✬ ✫

You and your family are trying to stop Syndrome. You are on the jet with your father, and the engine caught on fire.

“Let's jump on the count of three,” Bob said.

“I don't know about that,” You said.

He puts your hands on your shoulders and he knows that you are scared of heights.

“Three!” Bob yelled.

He pushed you out of the jet and you are screaming. Bob jumps out then you use your power manipulate kinetic energy, and you land on the ground so hard that it breaks in half and you aren't dead.

“Are you okay, son?” Bob asked.

“I need a minute,” You said breathing extremely hard.

The others got kidnapped, and now you and your dad have to stop Syndrome. It didn't take long to find them but Syndrome thinks he will win the fight.

“Just give up and I won't hurt them,” Syndrome said.

“We won't give up!” You yelled.

“We will fight as a family and we won't leave anyone beyond,” Bob said.

“Wake me up, when the lame speech is over” Syndrome laughed.

His robots arrived and they were huge.

“Get ready to fly,” Bob said.

“I’m ready, dad,” You said.

He picks you up then he throws you toward the robot. You punched through the robot and it collapsed. Then you start to fight Syndrome then your father joins and starts to help you.

After the fight, you and Bob found the others. They hugged you and Bob and you told them that you fought Syndrome.

✬ ✯ ✬ ✫

It started to snow and Dash woke up and he started to smile. He runs through the house to let everyone know that it's snowing outside. Now everyone is in the living room and Jack-Jack is playing with a ball.

“You all can play in the snow but wear gloves,” Helen said.

“Can we go outside right-” Dash said.

Jack-jack throws the ball at you, you try to kick it lightly but you forget to release your energy. The ball started to break everything in the living room, and Violet used her power to protect everyone. Bob used his strength to catch the ball.

“Y/n, you forgot to release your kinetic energy. We could have been hurt, we talked about this” Bob said.

“Sorry, dad. I forgot it won't happen again” You said.

“Your father is right. Go release your kinetic energy then you will play in the snow” Helen said.

“Okay, mom” You said.

You went to the training room to release your kinetic energy. Much later, you went outside to play in the snow with your family. Dash and Violet started to throw snowballs at you then your mom started to help you. Everyone is having fun throwing snowballs at each other.

Much later, everyone went inside and changed clothes. You helped your mother make hot chocolate and bake cookies.

[misamofr]

STEPBROTHER!SUNGHOON X READER

Warning : nsfw , porn , masturbation others 😃

……………

sunghoon is your step-brother and he loves watching porn he also always plays with his dick while watching it today your parents left for a trip so you and sunghoon are alone and he was in his room watching porn and playing with his dick , you on the other hand you where in the living room.

You just came from school still wearing my uniform a mini skirt with a shirt a bow was tying your long hair you decided to see your step brother you knock at his door and open it

-“hi!” you wave at him

sunghoon didn't even look at you when he spoke

-“hi, what do you want?”

You look at him confused

-“ What are you watching?”

sunghoon didn't even bother to hide the porn from you, he just kept watching it and pointed at the screen with a grin on his face

-“This is what I'm watching. Do you want to see more?”

Honestly you always wanted to fuck with sunghoon you always find him hot as fuck and when you watch him play video games you think how you can suck him off right now.

You tought that it was the opportunity to get closer with your step brother and nods and sit next to him.

As sunghoon kept watching the porn, he didn't seem to mind that his little sister was sitting next to him. In fact, he even started playing with his own hardened member under the blanket on the chair.

As the video continued, it became more explicit. There were scenes of anal sex and double penetration.

Sunghoon's hand moved faster on his cock as he watched He didn't even notice your presence anymore, completely engrossed in the porn and his own pleasure. His other hand reached over to grab your thigh, starting a gentle massage that slowly increased in intensity.

Feeling that sunghoon was touching your tight you whimpered softly taken by surprise.

Sunghoon grinned at your comment, not bothering to hide his lustful gaze. He continued massaging your thigh, his other hand still working on his own cock.

-“So, do you like what you see?” he asked with a smirk.

Getting more and more shy by his touch you just nodded and blush.

Encouraged by your response, Sunghoon leaned closer to you and whispered in your ear.

-“Maybe we should try something like that sometime... just for fun.”

-“y-you think so?” Perturbed by his touch you look away and starting to get more and more red.

As Sunghoon continued to whisper in your ear, his hand began to move up your thigh, closer and closer to your covered pussy. His other hand stayed busy with his own cock, still completely visible. His breath was warm against your ear.

-“Mmm, maybe,"

he whispered, smirking.

-"But first, why don't we watch them finish? It might give us some ideas."

He chuckled softly, still running his hand up and down your thigh.

The video continued, showing various positions and acts of sexual pleasure. Sunghoon's touch on your leg became more insistent, almost like he was trying to mimic what he saw on screen. His cock twitched in his hand as he watched.

You decided to take his hand on your tight and caress softly Sunghoon looked down at your hand, his eyes darkening with lust.

-"You like touching me like this?"

He asked, his voice low and husky. His fingers brushed against your inner thigh, teasingly close to where your panties met your sensitive skin.

-“yes I like it…” you said softly getting more and more excited.

Without warning, Sunghoon suddenly pulled away from the video and turned to face you. He took your hand in his and guided it down to his cock. His eyes locked onto yours, filled with a hungry desire.

-“Touch me like that,” he whispered hoarsely.

You start touching him with your soft hand

Sunghoon closed his eyes and moaned softly, his hips beginning to rock slightly towards you. He gently pressed his cock against your hand, inviting you to stroke him. You could feel how hard he was becoming, his flesh straining against your touch.

Hearing him moaning and whimpering you’re getting more needy and starting to get wet.

As you continued to touch him, Sunghoon's breathing grew heavier. His fingers found their way back to your inner thigh, teasingly brushing against your sensitive folds through your panties.

-"Mmm.. that feels so good,"

-“do you like it? Do you want me to go faster sweetie?”

Sunghoon's cock throbbed in response to your touch, a bead of pre-cum forming on the head. He leaned in closer, his hot breath fanning across your neck.

-"Yes... go faster," he whispered huskily.

You smiled and start to go faster feeling him getting more closer.

As you picked up the pace,

Sunghoon's moans grew louder.

His fingers slipped under your panties, rubbing against your clit in time with your strokes.

- "Oh fuck yes," he panted, arching his back slightly.

Feeling his hand on your panties you whimpered and getting more wet than ever.

He keep touching you and slide a finger on your wet pussy and you moaned.

-“mhhh.. kitten you are so wet for me”

The rhythm between your strokes and his fingering was intoxicating.

It wasn't long before Sunghoon's hips began to buck against your touch, his cock throbbing in anticipation.

-"I'm close," he warned hoarsely.

-“me too hoon…”

Feeling the urgency in your touch, Sunghoon's fingers danced faster against your clit, seeking to bring both of you to climax. His cock twitched violently in your hand as he let out a long, low moan.

-"Oh fuck...”

As you feel his warm cum on your head you licked it As he looked down at you, licking his cum off your hand, Sunghoon's breathing grew shallow. His hips jerked once, his cock thickening further before pulsing in your hand, shooting its thick, creamy load onto your hand.

Sunghoon's eyes were closed

tightly, his face contorted in

pleasure. As you caressed his

cheek, he slowly opened his eyes

to look at you.

-“That was... intense,”he panted softly.

You giggled and start kissing him

Sunghoon chuckled softly, his

breathing still heavy. "You're pretty

cute yourself," he replied with a

smile, reaching down to gently

wipe away the cum from your hand.

end 😱😱😱

This is my first time doing this and sorry for the mistake ��

What should I do next ?

[again-please]

2, 4, and 27! 💖

A TAKER! thank u for indulging me 💖 💖 💖 :)

2. Describe their tent setup! What's on the outside? The inside?

I think Neve's tent has a lot of drying bundles of herbs/flowers and potion ingredients in various stages of preparation outside her tent and a little cauldron. Inside, very organized, but as homey as she can make it: a quilt on her bedroll, as many books as she's been allowed to stash away forming a few "tables" with lanterns set on them, her clothes folded and set out for the next morning, and a writing station with her quills and ink.

4. What would your Tav's romance scenes look like? How many would they have?

I think the Neve companion romance is slow. For the sake of not writing a whole ass novel I'll do the first one: early stage romance scene would probably involve finding her off by herself writing in her spellbook at the tiefling party. It's apparent she's never really been to a party before and is too overwhelmed to mingle. You essentially get her talking about her bullet journaling style to open up lmao and then while flipping through she accidentally shows you a page where she tried to draw a diagram of a Mindflayer and it's....so bad. You can ask her to rip it out and give it to you and she signs her name with a little heart. There is no way in hell to sleep with her at this stage but you might be able to hold her hand and tempt her to come party.

27. What is the worst thing they've ever done/said to someone they love?

Neve essentially spent most of age 12-15 taking care of her half-sisters, and I think she took a little while to come around to loving them. She definitely spewed a lot of pent-up vitriol about her dad and stepmother at them when they were first born, and one day just walked out the door and left them alone in the house for hours when they were crying because she couldn't take the parentification for the sake of her dad's replacement children any more. Eventually she came home to find that neither of the actual parents had come back in that time either, and that the girls were hungry and dirty and terrified and would probably continue to be that way if she didn't decide to be the one to take care of them.

ask game!

[theoddshq]

CREST SHEN (xiao zhan fc) the odds are in your favor! Please report to your nearest Capitol Agent to be prepped for the 74th Annual Hunger Games!

OOC

     Alias/Age/Pronouns/Timezone: Kim, 22, she/her, GMT+2 (currently +8)

Triggers: none. 

    If you had to describe your muse as a canon Hunger Games character, or mix, who would you compare them to and why? somewhere between a Finnick and a Haymitch - he definitely seems like a Finnick on the surface, all charms and smiles, until you dig deeper and all the veneer peels off, and you’re left with someone who never managed to fully leave the arena and has been coping by trying to forget about it rather than trying to enact any change outside of himself. 

     Anything else? all good, thank you! 

BASICS

[XIAO ZHAN, TRANS MAN, HE/HIM] The 74th Annual Hunger Games are upon us and here comes CREST SHEN, a DISTRICT FOUR MENTOR. Word around The Capitol is that they’re CHARMING and PERCEPTIVE but can also be EXTRAVAGANT and CARELESS. According to sources, they’re 32 and were once described as light glinting off golden rings, the bubble and fizz of champagne in a flute, forced laughter, standing alone on a stage. What a character! As we always say, may the odds be ever in their favor!

BIOGRAPHY

The eldest of five siblings, the boy who would come to be known as crest grew up between sea and shore. On some days, he helped his parents care for his little brothers and sisters, as well as two aging grandparents…but on others, he would leave their home and work their family trade : that of fishing and diving for delicate seafood and, most importantly, the precious abalone pearls capitol stylists would have sold a kidney for.

As the first link in a chain of luxury products destined for the heart of Panem, the Shen family fared better than most, though no one would’ve gone as far as to call them well-off. At any rate, their work put enough food on the table to feed nine hungry mouths, and in the four years between his coming of age and that fateful Reaping, he could have counted on the fingers of a single hand the number of tesserae he had to claim in order to support his siblings.

The income their trade brought home did not make the work any less grueling, though. Diving into the deep, day after day, was tough enough on him, young and spry as he was ; for the older members of his family, it was another ball game entirely. Every evening, as he chopped fish and rolled dough alongside his parents and watched his grandmother’s salt-cracked hands bleed as she set the plates on their children’s tables, he wondered what it would take to bring them a miracle.

As it turns out, it took an escort’s hand dipping into the glass sphere of the Reaping, moving along dozens of other names before plucking out a single scrap of white paper out of it. When the careers of District Four started to move in to volunteer in his place, the words escaped him before he could think them through. No, let me do it. There was his opportunity, the riskiest gamble he could take, but also the one that would yield the highest reward. if this was where fate had led him, he would not let it slip through his fingers.

Unlike a career-born tribute, he hadn’t prepared much of a strategy for the interviews and training phase, or a persona to present to the world…but as it turned out, he had more of an affinity for the cameras than he knew. While he was neither the strongest nor the most popular competitor, his friendly nature, humor and more-than-respectable performance in showcases earned him his fair share of sponsor attention, which he did his best to cultivate in the days leading up to the games. Crest, a childhood nickname earned by his knack for always catching the top of the waves, became the one he was known by. Time passed faster than he would have thought possible, though, and before long, he was on the podium, poised to run.

In a departure from the usual formula of survival-in-the-wilderness, the 59th Hunger Games took place in a seemingly-idyllic city, full of narrow, winding streets and nooks to hole up in (think the layout of santorini). This did mean, however, that there were nearly no supplies to be found outside of the cornucopia and a few select drop points, quickly forcing most of the tributes into confrontation for any hope of food. On top of it, various areas of the city seemed to fall victim to floods and landslides at random, making it extremely difficult to settle in one place to wait the competition out. Crest would later learn his arena was based on the ancient legend of the sunken city of Atlantis, a hit for the Capitol’s old-world enthusiasts and literary aficionados.

Starting out with the rest of the career pack to stock up on food and necessities at the Cornucopia, crest and his district partner, an eighteen-year-old girl named Maristela, betrayed the rest of the District One and Two tributes by stealing away in the dead of night with as many supplies as they could carry, then leading them in a merry chase around the arena until, wearied and starving, they were caught in a mudslide. The District Four pair eventually agreed to part ways for their own alliances, hoping they would not meet again before the end, for better or for worse.

While Maristela continued to take advantage of the unpredictable terrain by luring other tributes into traps, Crest observed that a single part of the city seemed immune to the disasters that struck it seemingly at random : its tallest tower, the centerpiece of the arena, under which the cornucopia had eventually sunk and disappeared. Making his way back, he invested it by killing off the couple of tributes that’d taken refuge inside and barricading every entrance but two, effectively turning the tower into the best defensive position he could find. While he spread his resources across various nearby caches, just in case his theory would not hold up, and often stalked out in search of his fellow tributes, the tower became his main haunt for resting and licking his wounds. Out on the big screen, his lording over the arena from atop his perch earned him a new nickname going forward, the Prince of the city.

Though he made a few alliances after Maristela for shelter or medical knowledge, all of them were short-lived, with Crest often choosing to betray those who’d chosen to trust him before they themselves could decide to turn on him. On her side, Maristela picked most of her adversaries off fair and square, but as they promised, did not attempt to seek him out until the two of them were the only ones left.

In a confrontation long-remembered, the Gamemakers forced them together one last time as the city crumbled away into the depths around them. Maristela was older and had superior experience with wielding weapons…but as they tumbled, wrestling, into the churning water, diver-born Crest gained the advantage. He remembered little of the ensuing struggle, only that he saw little of it and heard even less. their flailing made them sink all the faster, and he could only think to hold her underwater for as long as he could. At some point, she must have grabbed onto the arm choking her off and dug her teeth into it ; the immediate memory of pain blended in among all the others. The audience waited with baited breath for nearly a full three minutes before the boy broke the surface again, gasping for breath…and alone. ( He would remember the sound of that last cannon for the rest of his life. )

Crest woke up in a white room, so neat and devoid of life he thought for a moment he had died after all. It took his mentor, his escort and no fewer than three of his attendants assuring him he had indeed survived for him to believe them. He felt as battered as if he’d been tossed inside a barrel full of rocks, and the Capitol’s doctors kept him in observation for a couple more days after he woke up. Still, he’d lived - and he’d won. The capitol hailed him as a champion, and for a moment, their adoration worked to soothe him. Even so, he longed to leave, to reap the rewards of the choice he’d made.

When he went home after the games’ closing ceremony, to his parents’ overjoyed tears and his siblings’ embrace, he truly believed the hardest part was over. He held them close as usual, laughed off their concerns and tried to resume his life as if he’d never left in the first place.

He made it about two weeks before they found him out. The arena had left him with his life, but also a crippling fear of the depths. He could not stand to live in their new home, not when it squatted so close to the sea, nor help their parents dive as he used to despite his best efforts. The water closing in over his head sent him into a panic, and every night, he woke up in a cold sweat, expecting their home to cave in around him. not only that, but every time he tried to spend time with his siblings, their faces would morph into that of younger tributes, a ceaseless reminder of the blood on his hands. When an invitation from president Snow rolled around shortly after his victory tour, he found himself almost glad to leave district four behind. the capitol was garish and decadent, and he could barely begin to understand how its inhabitants’ mind worked…but after a year of struggling to take even a few steps out of victor’s village, the foreign land it offered was a relief. He could bear with the unwanted attention and the loneliness, he thought, if he could simply live again.

Just some eight months after the games, Crest featured in an exclusive interview. In it, he talked at length about the new opportunities his victory had afforded him, the way the Capitol had opened his eyes to his true potential, and concluded it with the announcement he’d be staying in the city for the foreseeable future.

His fans eagerly welcomed the news, and soon enough, he had more invitations on his hand than he knew what to do with. each party introduced him to vices he didn’t even know existed : liquors that painted the world in new colors and smoke that could dull pain, pills to kill his fear and make his heart beat again. He could not have told you whether he chose them or simply fell in, and perhaps it didn’t matter in the end. They allowed him to pass for a whole person, someone who could still quip and joke effortlessly ; someone who, if he could not be the boy his family knew, was more lively than a shell. standing in the limelight made him feel warm, and before long, crest found himself chasing after it. He changed his body first to try to erase the games, getting rid of nearly all his scars, then to keep up with the capitol’s trends. After all, he’d made his home there, for better or for worse. although he occasionally went back to visit his parents and siblings, he could never bring himself to stay for very long, both because of his old fears and the newer shame he felt at the betrayal of his own nature. The money he’d earned from his victory would keep them safe and sound, and that would have to be enough.

What choice did he have, after all? He’d dug his grave sixteen years ago ; the least he could do was lie in it.

WRITING SAMPLE

[REDACTED]

STATS

     Deceive - 2

     Fight - 1

     Lore (knowledge) - 2

     Notice - 3

     Physique - 1

     Provoke - 3

     Rapport - 3 

     Resourcefulness - 1

     Stealth - 2

     Will - 1

[jmbringitonworld]

The Great Uncle Papyrus

Papyrus had never been as determined to do a job well as he was now, left alone to babysit his tiny niece while her parents went out on a date for the first time since Elys had been born. He absolutely would not fail this most important of duties! Especially not when his brother and his sister-in-law were counting on him! He would show them how capable a babysitter he was and they would be so impressed with him that they would shower him in praise (and hopefully trust him to help them out more often). And he always loved spending time with his dear niece, she meant so much to him and he dearly hoped that she would grow to love him just as much as he did her.

At almost nine months old, Elys was still very tiny, but she was also very active and Papyrus was relieved that she didn't take too much after his lazybones of a brother. THOUGH MAYBE IT WOULDN'T BE TOO TERRIBLE FOR HER TO BE A JUST A LITTLE BIT LAZIER, Papyrus thought as he pulled the young monster-human hybrid out from underneath the sofa where she had just crawled, the infant letting out an excited squeal, and carried her into the kitchen to place her, safely, into her high chair. He then proceeded to try to entice her to eat the unappetising mush her parents had assured him was proper food for babybones. He was a little sceptical, but trusted Frisk, at least, to not joke about this and to be sufficiently knowledgeable about good food. Her standards for food were certainly higher than his brother's. And it seemed Elys's standards were even higher, as she scrunched up her face in disgust and resolutely turned away from the presented spoonful of "chicken and veg with sweetcorn mash" (though it definitely didn't look like any such thing to him). Papyrus looked on the brink of tears at her refusal and loudly pleaded with her.

"NYOO! PLEASE EAT, TINY ELYS! IT IS THE TIME SANS AND FRISK SAID YOU WOULD NEED TO BE FED AND IF YOU DON'T EAT THEN YOU WILL BE HUNGRY AND I CANNOT LET MY TINY NIECE GO HUNGRY! I WOULD BE A TERRIBLE UNCLE! AND YOU WOULD HATE ME AND MY BROTHER AND DEAR FRIEND WOULD BE SO DISAPPOINTED IN ME AND-"

Elys immediately stopped scowling and started laughing delightedly at her uncle's antics. Sensing this perfect opportunity, Papyrus swiftly shoved the spoon into the baby's mouth. He "Nyeh heh heh"d in victory. The rest of the meal proceeded much the same way.

After quickly cleaning up all the mess made, both in the kitchen and on the baby, Papyrus carried his niece back into the living room and gently placed her in her playpen, before sitting down beside her. Skeleton and infant soon lost themselves in their games, playing with all of Elys's toys, Papyrus happily chatting with his niece about the puzzle potential of each of the toys and Elys, in turn, encouraging him with various squeals and excited noises. Suddenly, a loud trousle of bones rang out and Papyrus quickly answered his phone.

"Hi Pap," Frisk's voice greeted from his phone. "I'm just calling to check up on you guys. How's everything been going? I hope Elys hasn't been giving you too much trouble, I know how much of a handful she can be."

"GREETINGS FRISK! YOU NEED NOT FRET OVER US. I, THE GREAT UNCLE PAPYRUS, AM MORE THAN CAPABLE OF LOOKING AFTER A SINGLE BABYBONES, SO PLEASE RELAX AND ENJOY YOUR EVENING WITH SANS," Papyrus reassured her, his voice full of confidence as he struck a cool pose that, had she been able to see it, would most definitely have left the human in no doubt as to his competence as a reliable temporary caretaker for her child. "I HOPE MY BROTHER IS TREATING YOU WELL."

"He's treating me just fine, Paps, thanks," Frisk giggled happily. Then Sans's voice cut in.

"that's 'cause being with you is such a treat, babe, you dessert only the best. and donut worry, the real treat is coming up later tonight, it's scone to be a real sweet night."

"SANS!!" Papyrus interjected angrily, while Frisk could be heard laughing in the background. "HOW DARE YOU MAKE SUCH TERRIBLE AND TASTELESS PUNS ON A DATE! CLEARLY I MUST LEND YOU MY DATING MANUAL AGAIN, SO THAT YOU CAN LEARN PROPER DATING MANNERS!"

"heh, sorry bro, i'm just not as cool as you. and thanks for lookin' after the kid for us, we really appreciate it"

"NO PROBLEM AT ALL BROTHER! I AM ALWAYS HAPPY TO HELP YOU, YOU KNOW THAT. YOU CAN RELY ON ME WHENEVER YOU WANT"

"i know paps. you really are the coolest."

"WELL OF COURSE I AM. ANYWAY, YOU TWO SHOULD GO BACK TO YOUR DATE. REST ASSURED I HAVE EVERYTHING UNDER CONTROL WITH TINY ELYS, SO DO NOT WORRY AND COME BACK WHEN YOU CAN. WE TIRA-MISS-U BOTH," Papyrus said, very proud of his incredibly clever and obviously superior pun, while in the background, Frisk could be heard once more dissolving into laughter. With a loud "NYEH HEH HEH!", he hung up the phone, then turned back to his young charge. Only to find the place empty, with no baby in sight.

"NYEH?! ELYS, WHERE HAVE YOU GONE?!" he called out anxiously, franticly swivelling his skull all around as he tried to locate his missing niece. When his searched turned up empty, he dashed madly from room to room, desperately calling her name and looking into every nook and cranny that could possibly hide a baby (and even many that could not).

What... What would he do if he couldn't find her? How could he ever forgive himself if anything happened to her on his watch? How could he possibly face his brother? His sister-in-law? Maybe... maybe he should call Undyne? Or Sans and Frisk? But wait, if he did that, then the couple would have to cut their long awaited date short, and the two had been so looking forward to some quality time together! And, with the daily struggles of being new parents, on top of their jobs, they deserved a break. Sans, who used to be such a lazybones, constantly napping and slacking off, had really stepped up and risen to his responsibilities as a husband and father, losing sleep every night to comfort and care for his daughter; he looked more exhausted than Papyrus had ever seen him, even though he looked happier and more motivated than ever. And Frisk, who had done so much for him, his brother, his friends, heck, all of monsterkind, who, even during her maternity leave, kept in touch with the monster embassy and gave a helping hand there whenever they needed her, she deserved a night all to herself and her husband, free from stress and worries.

He wasn't going to ruin their special night. He wasn't going to let his family down. He was, after all, The Great Papyrus! He could handle this challenge all by himself and prove to everyone that he was dependable, reliable, trustworthy. And he'd start by finding his precious and irreplaceable niece. Resolve renewed, he continued his search with unmatched vigour and dedication, eyelights blazing with magic and red cape billowing heroically behind him.

As he passed by Sans and Frisk's bedroom, he couldn't help but notice a sock on the floor. He reflexively came to a halt and narrowed his sockets at the offending article. IS SANS STILL LEAVING HIS SOCKS ON THE FLOOR? EVEN NOW? UNBELIEVABLE! Papyrus internally grumbled to himself in disgust. Part of him urged him to ignore the sock and carry on his search, but years of dealing with his brother's slovenly habits compelled him to march toward the item and pick it up. Then he noticed even more socks on the floor! HAS MY BROTHER GOTTEN EVEN WORSE?! HOW DOES FRISK PUT UP WITH HIM? He entered fully into the bedroom and looked around. The bottom drawer of the chest of drawers was opened slightly, with socks spilling out all over the floor. He meticulously collected each and every wayward sock, checked that they were indeed all clean, then folded them up. As he bent down to return the clothes to what must be the couple's sock collection, he noticed a large lump inside the drawer. Curious, he poked the lump and it moved, socks shifting aside to reveal the sleepy, confused face of the very person Papyrus had been so desperately trying to find!

"ELYS! I HAVE FOUND YOU AT LAST! I AM SO HAPPY TO SEE THAT YOU ARE SAFE, I WAS WORRIED SICK ABOUT YOU! PLEASE NEVER DO ANYTHING LIKE THIS AGAIN! MY SOUL CANNOT HANDLE IT!"

Filled with overwhelming relief, sockets steadily leaking magical tears, he carefully lifted Elys into his arms and held her to his rib cage tenderly. The baby cooed happily at him, a large, happy smile on her soft, chubby face, before she hooked one hand around his cervical spine and dug another into the red fabric of his scarf, then yawned widely and pressed her face into his clavicle, falling right back to sleep, feeling safe and comfortable in her uncle's arms.

Papyrus held his tiny niece even closer, his soul pulsing with love. Pressing his forehead very gently to hers, he made a vow deep in his soul. No matter what, he promised that he would always be there for her when she needed him, that if she were ever lost, then he would find her again, just like today.

______________________________________________________

I... I did it... I can't believe I actually did it. This was so incredibly difficult to write, because as much as I adore the guy, I had the hardest time getting into Papy's head, I just don't think like he does and neither do any of my (many, many, many) OCs, so trying to keep him in character was a constant struggle. I probably failed quite a bit, but I had to try. I really love Papyrus and I don't see many stories of him being an uncle, so I just had to write this out. Our cool dude deserves it! We need more Uncle Papyrus centric fics!

Once again, I was hoping to have a bit more interaction between skelly and baby, and once again Sans and Frisk got in the way and hogged the screentime. Also, some might notice the similarities between how this drabble and my previous one end. All I can say is, they're brothers, what do you expect?

Elys belongs to Frans Queen @shayromi . I know she's still just a baby in this, but I hope I did her justice. ( •̀ ω •́ )✧

Shout out once again to my dear friend @wolfkice , who continues to be an inspiration to me and whose art I'm the biggest fan of. Thanks for your encouragement, I wouldn't have been able to get this out as quickly as I did without you. You're a star, buddy! (o゜▽゜)o☆

[erwinsvow]

𝐢 𝐜𝐚𝐧'𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐩 𝐦𝐲𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟

for the 𝐝𝐞𝐛𝐚𝐮𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐝 collab <3

summary: you've always been fond of your step-brother, jean, despite how much he tries to avoid spending time with you. he finally reaches his breaking point when he sees you talking to eren, though.

warnings: step-cest, slight manipulation (reader), possessive behavior, teasing + edging, fingering, oral sex (m receiving), degradation, rough sex, creampie, jean is a good boy and reader is a fiend

author's note: i hope everyone likes this!!! i'm thinking about creating a step-cest series, let me know who should be next! tagging the lovely @yeagerslut & sending a big thank you for creating this collab! <3

Jean can never really peel his eyes away from you, no matter how hard he tries. At first it was subtle glances, like staring at the exposed skin of your supple thighs from his place beside his mom, when she was first introducing you and your father to him.

His first thought, besides the fact that it’ll be nice to have a sibling in the house with him every once in a while, is that your dress is incredibly short. So short that he wonders how you’re allowed to leave the house in something like that. If it was up to him, he wouldn’t let you, that’s for sure.

He quickly remembers that it’s not up to him, and that it’s not his place to be worrying about the length of your hem. Jean tries to suppress the strange, sudden burning feeling in his chest when he thinks about you wearing something as short as that when he has his friends over. No, that won’t be allowed.

He’ll have to tell someone about it, at some point, because he can’t stand the unusual jealousy he feels stirring at the idea of one of his friends looking at you while you’re wearing that.

His thoughts are cut short when his mother tells you two to get acquainted, while your dad and her head to the kitchen to prepare dinner. Jean almost doesn’t want them to leave, doesn’t want to be left alone with you and those legs and that dress, but he doesn’t have any say in the matter.

Your first words to your new step-brother are carefully calculated. In fact, you've been deciding everything carefully. The way you did your hair, the dress you’ve chosen that’s much too short for a family dinner but it’s not like someone can stop you, even the pink lip gloss you reapplied in the car before entering the house. Everything has its purpose, its place, with one goal in mind: see how long it takes for Jean to crack.

“I’m so excited to finally have a big brother, Jean!” you let out in a cheerful, chirpy voice that doesn’t match your insidious thoughts at all. You close the bridge separating you two with a few steps, wrapping your arms around his neck and pulling him down into a hug.

It’s so sudden, so unforeseen that he stumbles a little, letting his tall figure be pulled by your efforts and arms wrapping around your waist for support. And before he knows it, the sweet smell of your perfume is invading all his senses and leaving him with nothing to think about except you.

He takes it all in, the lingering scent of shampoo in your hair, something fruity, he thinks off-hand, the feel of your soft skin on the back of his neck, your cheek against his, but especially the way your breasts feel against his chest.

He pulls away before you want him to, and you begrudgingly allow him to, recognizing what a challenge it’ll be. But you’re always up for a challenge.

The first few months pass by in the blink of an eye for you, and dragging on and on for him. Jean tries to avoid interactions with you since that first meeting, but it’s hard to when you’re living in the same house as him. Even harder when your bedroom is right next to his, his mother offering up his assistance to help you move boxes and get settled while she and her new husband go out to dinner.

It’s ridiculous, the way he flushes bright red when he opens boxes and suitcases filled with clothing he doesn’t want to look at, all short skirts and sun-dresses and delicate panties that he tries and fails not to stare at.

You keep your gaze away, knowing exactly which suitcase you had given him to unpack, while you organize books on the shelves of the room and sort knick-knacks.

“Won’t it be nice sharing a wall?” you comment, adjusting a frame on your nightstand and not meeting Jean’s eyes. “I think it’ll be fun to have you so close.”

Jean chokes on the water he was drinking, gasping for air and trying to process your words all at once, when you finally turn around and smile. A smile that he thinks should be illegal, given the way it’s innocence personified when you’re actually a little devil.

He leaves a little bit after that, calling out that he’s not hungry when you knock on his door for dinner, but you don’t miss the way he sounds breathless, or the panties missing from your drawers.

Every challenge gets easier, right?

It doesn’t take long for your behavior to get a little out of hand, especially when the two of you have so much alone time together. Your parents are gone all the time, frequenting dinner parties and double dates, and not coming back until late at night.

Jean tries his best to keep away. While he had once been the friend whose house was always available for sleepovers, movie nights, and the like, he was now keeping everyone away. Every time your parents’ car left the driveway, Jean followed suit, either hopping into Connie’s Jeep or walking the short distance to Sasha’s place and leaving you alone.

He was hoping no one would notice, but of course someone did, and of course that someone was Eren.

“We can’t do my place again,” Sasha says, absentmindedly reaching for the bag of chips which Connie yanks out of her reach. “My dad’s having people over.” A swat to the back of Connie’s head gets her back the snack quickly.

“How come we can’t do Jean’s place like usual?” Eren asks, reclining back in his seat and enjoying the panicked expression on Jean’s face. “There something wrong with that new sister of yours?” Jean chokes back a cough.

“No.”

“Does she always have friends over, or something?”

“No.”

“Then it’s settled,” Eren says, bringing his hands together. “Jean’s place it is.” Shit, Jean. Better come up with something quick.

“We- we can’t do my place!” he sputters out much too loudly, meeting the gaze of every person in the room.

“Any reason why, Jean-bo?” Eren asks.

“I- we- what if she’s not okay with having a bunch of loud-mouthed idiots sleeping over?” Shitty, but it’s the best he can think of when he’s so concerned with keeping everyone away from you.

If you behave like that with parents in the house, how are you gonna behave with his friends around? He doesn’t wanna take the chance to find out.

“How about you call and ask, dumb-ass?” Connie suggests, shoving his phone at him and waiting with a confused look. Jean lets out a defeated sigh, knowing how this phone call will go.

Your loud, chirpy “I’m perfectly fine with that, silly! I’ve been waiting to meet your friends..” can be heard through the phone and answers Eren’s question.

Jean searches for a reason, any reason really, to keep this sleepover from happening, but realizes that he’s failed miserably when all his friends appear, clad with pillows and overnight bags, on his front door. “So,” Eren begins, with a wolfish grin on his face that Jean wants to punch right off, “Where’s the sister? It’s only polite to say hi, right?”

As if you’d been waiting for the cue, you poke your head out from the living room, that very same innocent and sweet smile gracing your face.

“Hi,” you, stepping out to greet his friends in the foyer. “It’s so nice to meet you all.”

Jean immediately regrets the fact that he never had that conversation with you about the length of your dresses. It always sat in the back of his head somewhere, though it was incredibly easy to dismiss when you would come sit next to him on the couch, dress riding up frequently and exposing more skin that he somehow always found himself entranced by.

Today the dress of choice is yellow, and though it does, in fact, cover everything it needs to, it doesn’t leave much to the imagination either. Jean almost feels like a schoolboy again, blushing at exposed shoulders and thighs, but he can’t help it when you’re clinging right to his side as you greet his friends.

“I’m Eren-”

“Hi, I’m Connie-”

“Ignore these two, I’m Sasha-” All meet each other at once. You let out a laugh at your step-brother’s funny friends, glancing up to see his expression, but all you see are signs of anger. Your smile dims a little, but picks right back at up when you notice the way Eren looks at you, and the way Jean looks at Eren.

A plan is working itself into creation in your head before you can help it, deviousness taking a hold on you as you smile brightly in favor of Eren over Jean. Your step-brother’s been keeping his distance all this time, but you’re about ready to force his hand.

You don’t miss the way Jean’s jaw tightens, his hand clenching into a fist at his side as he guides the group to the living room. Your original plan changes quickly, following them into the space and taking your usual place on the couch as you scan the various video games laid out.

“Eren, will you sit with me?” you ask in a gentle tone, one that Jean is all too familiar with. “I don’t know this game, can I watch you play first?”

“Don’t you have work to do, or something?” Jean blurts out without thinking, his only thought centered around getting you out of the room and as far away as he can.

“What work? It’s summer,” you reply, watching your step-brother’s cheeks turn red.

You’re not helping matters for Jean, as he watches Eren sit where he usually does, teeth clenched so hard his jaw hurts. He doesn’t think he could get more angry, until he notices Eren’s hand move to your knee, squeezing quickly but lingering entirely too long. There must be steam coming out of Jean’s ears at this point, watching this interaction between you two.

“Yeah, Jean, she can stick around to watch. Anything for your little sister, right?” “I’m not that much younger than you guys, you know,” you reply with a laugh, adjusting your position on the sofa and purposefully lifting the skirt of your dress for a second before letting it settle. If someone were looking, which both Jean and Eren were, they’d catch a glimpse of black panties, and they both did.

Jean is seeing red now, standing up without realizing why, ready to yank Yeager away from you, when the doorbell rings again. It stops Jean in his tracks. “That must be Marco,” Sasha reminds, looking up from the games to glance at Jean with confusion. “Aren’t you gonna go get that?”

“Y-yeah. I’ll be right back.” Jean locks eyes with you as he leaves the room, and you dejectedly sigh, leaning away from Eren. It’s no fun to mess around with another guy if Jean’s not there to see.

He guides Marco into the living room, and you greet him with a quick smile before giving your full attention back to Eren.

The next few hours are fun for you, and unbearable for Jean. Every time he spared a glance to you, you were pouring over Eren, asking questions about the game and insisting on clarification, leaning in much too close and supporting yourself on his shoulder as he explained another trivial rule to you.

Jean didn’t like any of it, not the way you laughed sweetly and played with your hair while talking to Eren, not the way your legs were on display and Eren’s sleazy hands kept finding its way back to them, none of it. What he couldn’t stand, though, was how you didn’t shy away from his touch and found any and every way to keep it going.

He’s at his limit when you go to your bedroom after dinner to change into pajamas, knowing what to expect from your nightwear. If he’s lucky, you’ll pick a big t-shirt and shorts, but he’s seen first-hand the silky slips and cotton sets you prefer to sleep in.

Jean doesn’t think he can handle the look on Eren’s face if you come down the stairs wearing one of those, so he lets his anger do the thinking for a minute when the others are fighting over snacks and who gets the couch versus the floor.

Eren’s waiting near the bottom of the stairs, looking at something on his phone when Jean approaches and glances quickly to make sure you’re still in your room.

“You better knock it off, Yeager, I’m serious,” he says, trying to contain his anger and keep his voice down. His words come out in a low grumble that he barely recognizes, body stiff and trying his best to intimidate Eren. It doesn’t seem to be working. “Knock off what?” Eren questions nonchalantly, amused that his suspicions were proving to be correct. Looks like Jean had a little thing for his step-sister after all.

Jean’s eyes unwittingly flit to the top of the stairs again, before he forces his gaze back to Eren, but the quick gesture isn’t missed by his so-called friend.

“Oh, I see. You want me to stop being so buddy-buddy with your step-sister, huh? You better tell that to her first, you know. She’s been all over me since the minute I met her.”

The sly smirk playing on his lips only makes Jean want to cave his face in all the more.

“You better watch it, you son of a-” Eren clicks his tongue to interrupt Jean.

“Come on now, Jean, you can’t really expect me to stop. I mean, it’s not like she’s my sister, right?” Eren says, with a strange look in his eyes as though he was tempting Jean to blow his cover.

Eren walks away to rejoin everyone in the living room, leaving Jean seething by the stairs and you in your bedroom, pressed against the door and clinging onto every word.

All night you had known Jean was getting agitated by your constant flirting and touchiness with Eren, but he hadn’t been close to cracking, or so it seemed. The fact that he even confronted Eren had your heart pounding in your chest, wondering if tonight might finally be the chance you had been waiting for. You hear Jean’s heavy foot steps walk away, and you decide that it’s all or nothing, now.

You leave your room and close the door gently, dressed in a pink camisole and shorts that were sure to get Eren’s attention for long enough for Jean to finally crack.

Just as you began the descent down the stairs, you heard footsteps coming back and were greeted with Jean at the foot of the stairs.

The look in his eyes was something you hadn’t seen before, something entirely different from the reserved, hesitant Jean you had gotten so used to.

No, this Jean was someone else, a mix of want and desire and shame pooling in his pretty eyes, looking at you as though you were the prey he had finally cornered.

Before you know it, Jean is in your bedroom and your back is pressed against the door roughly as his lips stay on yours and refuse to pull away. His tongue is hot in your mouth, and his hands feel as though they’re burning your skin with the heat they are radiating, groping your ass and the soft skin of your back as he explores your body. All the things he’d wanted to do for these last few months, that he’d forced himself to repress, finally coming out.

You moan into Jean’s mouth at the sudden feel of his hands on your tits, grabbing blindly and pinching your nipple roughly and suddenly, causing the moan to turn into a loud squeal. Jean clasps his free hand over your mouth.

“Shh, now,” he begins, staring into your eyes and making your core heat up uncomfortably as you realize your little challenge was finally over. You feel the wetness between your legs growing, pussy throbbing just at seeing Jean be so dominant for once. “We don't want anyone to hear, do we?”

You shake your head quickly to answer his question, having completely forgotten about the multiple guests just a floor away. You expect Jean to pull away, to tell you that he’ll take care of you after they’re all gone, some other time, but he doesn’t.

He pulls his hand away and leads two fingers to your mouth, guiding them into your willing mouth, latching your lips around them and sucking while swirling your tongue, getting them wet as he wanted.

“You know how long I’ve wanted this? Huh? Since the day I met you, that’s how long. And you’re such a fucking tease all the time, you know how unbearable it's been?” Jean says in a deep voice, his eyes observing your mouth continuing its work. You moan around his fingers, wanting to speak but no words come out.

He pulls his fingers away and leads them straight to your throbbing pussy, running one up and down your slit teasingly as you hold back a loud moan.

“P-please, Jean, please do something, I- oh!” Jean shoves the two digits into your tight hole without any warning at all, causing your whole body to shake at the sudden fullness.

“This is what you wanted, isn’t it, you dirty slut? You wanted your big brother to get fed up and fuck you senseless, didn’t you? Say it,” he orders, fingers pumping in and out and his hand grazing your clit with every motion, causing you to moan as your body tenses. You can hardly process his words because of the pleasure you’re feeling, but his other hand finding your throat brings you back quickly.

“Say it. I won’t ask again.”

“Y-yes, Jean, I-I wanted big brother to fuck me, oh, yes-” You lose your thoughts again as his pace increases, making you squeal again before you clamp your mouth shut to make sure no one hears you. Your stomach is tensing and you know you’re so, so close, one more touch from Jean would have your orgasm washing over you like lightening spreading through your body, when he suddenly stops.

You gasp loudly at the sudden emptiness, feeling your orgasm dissipate as you buck up and clamp down against nothing at all. Jean’s fingers are in his mouth, tasting your wetness as you try to catch your breath and protest against the way he’s teasing you, but your pleas are met by deaf ears.

“Jean,” you moan desperately, clinging to his shoulders, “please, please, let me cum, please-”

“No. Filthy sluts that mess around with their big brother’s friends don’t get to cum,” he says gruffly, as you whine again and try to release yourself from his tight grip. It’s useless since he has you caged in, firm hands on your waist dragging you to the bed and throwing you on top of the soft covers.

“Please, I promise I’ll be a good girl,” you plead, using your sweetest voice and big. teary eyes to win Jean over, but it’s still useless.

“I said no,” he repeats, hovering over you and his hands finding their way to the bottom of your camisole. He pulls the skimpy top off of you quickly, revealing your tits. Your nipples harden at the sudden cool air, and Jean’s fingers find them once again, pinching and teasing as you moan into your pillow, desperately bucking your hips up for contact between your legs, to no avail. His hot mouth finds your nipple, flicking with his tongue as his hand plays with the other, before he pulls away quickly.

You whine again at the loss of stimulation, before you see Jean pulling down the band of his grey sweatpants and leaning back against the headboard.

“Prove to me that you deserve big brother’s cock,” he says, revealing his hard dick as it snaps against his stomach. “With your mouth. Now.”

You don’t need to be told twice. You reposition yourself, ass in the air and head at Jean’s crotch as you stare at his pretty, pink cock with wide eyes. You’d expected him to be big, but not like this, though you don’t have time to dwell on it as he grips it firmly and taps the angry, pink tip against your lips.

You hang your tongue out, spit collecting and falling all over his length before you finally take as much as you can into your mouth, sucking and swirling as your hands move up and down the rest that you can’t take.

“Just like that-” Jean begins before breaking into a loud moan. You pop him out of your mouth and keep stroking with your hands as you whisper for him to shush.

“What happened to being quiet, and everyone downstairs will hear, and-” You’re interrupted as Jean grips his cock and shoves it back into your mouth, gagging suddenly at the unexpected movement.

Jean stares at your obedient mouth, following his instructions without any sign of the brat he was so used to. As you cup his balls in your hand, he feels them tighten and knows he’s not gonna last much longer like this. He guides your head away from his cock, admiring the drool and spit on your face and the glassy eyes he’s longed to see.

“Jean, I wanna-”

“I don’t care what you want, sweetheart,” he says, a false sweetness in his voice that’s making you feel dizzy. “You’re gonna ride me now, you got that?”

Jean’s hands are firmly set on your hips, positioning you just as he wants as you hover above his leaking cock. You grind down quickly, desperate for friction on your throbbing clit, before Jean stops your motions with the tight grip he has on you. “Are you gonna make me repeat myself?” he questions, in a tone that makes you positive that you don't want to make him angry. You shake your head immediately, taking his dick in your hand and lining it up with your wet hole, before slowly sinking down.

“Oh, god-!” you let out, before clasping a hand over your mouth. You had never felt quite so full before, the stretching burn making heat course through your whole body, as you bottom out and clench hard. “Come on, baby, you know how long you’ve been begging for this? Don’t get shy on me now,” Jean says, and you regain your senses slowly. You start moving, up and down, just like he wants and speeding up as you feel your cunt gush against Jean.

You’re sure to be making a mess, but you can hardly care when your brain feels so cloudy and distracted at how good Jean feels inside you, and you start the grinding movement again. Jean entertains you for a minute, before grabbing your hips even tighter, nearly at a bruising grip now, and snapping his own hips to thrust into you.

You’re blabbering now, utterly senseless as Jean fucks you mercilessly. You know you’re being loud, but you just don’t care, not when Jean is hitting that one spot inside you that has you seeing stars before you know it, your hands on his shoulders and holding on for life.

“Are you close, baby? Are you gonna cum all over your brother’s big cock?” Jean teases, feeling you clench down harder and knowing he won’t be able to hold on much longer either. “Yes, yes, yes! Jean! Oh, Jean-” you finally feel the tight coil in your stomach snap, unaware of your own movements and surroundings as you focus on the pleasure Jean’s giving you. You yell out, cumming so intensely and shaking on top of Jean, twitching once more when you hear Jean groan and feel hot ropes of cum inside you.

Your throat feels dry and scratchy, heart pounding as you come down from your high. You feel Jean’s grip, much softer now, lead you off of his cock and lay you next to him on the bed. It’s a mess, and you don’t know how you’ll clean up with everyone downstairs and surely they’ve noticed you’re both still gone-but you still don’t care.

All you care about is the sound of Jean’s heart beat from your position on his chest, and the way his hands feel on your skin as he holds you close to his warm body.

“So,” he starts off quietly, “was it how you’ve been imagining it all this time?” You’re not looking at him, but you know he’s smiling.

“Mmh,” you hum contentedly, “even better.” You feel his body rumble with a laugh, and his hand reaches to cup your face and lean into you for a kiss. Just as your lips meet, you hear a sharp knock at the door.

“Might wanna hurry up, you two,” Eren calls out from the other side of the door. “The others are getting suspicious.”

[whateverthedragonswant]

So you have 3x12 where Eddie meets Ana for the first time. When Eddie apologizes to her later, they have the whole "And maybe there's value in learning you don't like horses" dialogue. After Ana says to him that she understands he was upset because she failed to look out for Christopher even though it's her job. He looks down and nods, nor does he refute it or reassure her. She failed his son and he doesn't deny it.

And the episode ends with Eddie listening to Buck's advice about Christopher skateboarding.

The next episode, Eddie has shaved and looks clean cut.

Chim talks to Eddie and Hen about Maddie, that Albert has said there's no passion between them. Here, Eddie is finishing getting dressed and he has on his short sleeve uniform shirt, same as Chim. When Buck appears, he's in his long sleeve uniform shirt, same as Hen.

Eddie: "Does it matter what he thinks? Only you know how you feel about Maddie."

Eddie: "Do you love her?"

Chim: "Yeah."

Eddie: "Does she love you?"

Chim: "It's unclear. I mean, I feel like she does but neither of us have said those exact words out loud."

Buck interrupts to let them know that the interim captain wants them to do a line up. Hen mentions that she can't believe Bobby left them with this guy. Once Hen and Buck move ahead, Eddie turns around and stops Chim, speaking to him privately.

Eddie: "Hey, I get taking things slow but tomorrow isn't promised to anyone. So if you love her, tell her."

Then there's the infamous "asking out for a meal" scene later in the same episode and that whole parallel:

Eddie: "You hungry? You wanna grab a bite after we drop him?"

Buck: "Absolutely. I haven't had a proper meal since Bobby left."

When they open the ambulance door, they see Chim and Hen covered in blood from their patient. Buck says he just lost his appetite while Chim hurries to call Maddie, telling Buck "To ask your sister out on a proper date to tell her I love her." He ends up taking Maddie to dinner later on where he tells Maddie he loves her and she tells him why she can't say it back but that she does feel the same.

Then the well collapse happens in 3x15.

Then in 3x16, after the apartment building fire rescue, Buck wants to celebrate.

Buck: "We should hit up that bar on Pico, you know, the one with the loaded fries. The first round's on me."

Eddie: "Wish I could, man. Christopher's hosting his first sleepover tonight. Hey, you're more than welcome to come and celebrate with a bunch of 9-year olds."

Buck: "Ha, the rest of us will toast your absence."

Hen tells Buck she and Karen have a date night planned already, which Bobby also echoes for him and Athena. Chim tells Buck he wanted to spend time with Maddie so Buck lets him go and goes out to celebrate alone.

Later on, after seeing how lonely Red's life is, he talks about it with the 118 who try to explain to Buck that Red seems okay with how his life turned out and sometimes people just so their separate ways. Only Bobby and Eddie attempt to reassure Buck that they are family and what happened to Red and his team won't happen to them.

Then in 3x18 Abby comes back. But the episode ends with Buck spending time with the 118 fam at May's graduation party, mostly taking pics with Maddie, Christopher, and Eddie.

Then in 4x03, Eddie is "terrified" of the "future" aka Hildy. To the point where he disconnects the internet while Buck and Christopher are playing a video game, says they're taking a break from the internet, and tells Buck about how every time he goes online, there's an ad for a coffeemaker. Buck and Christopher later prank him with a new coffeemaker arriving that Eddie is relieved was just a prank but annoyed with Buck in the moment.

In 4x04 and 4x05, Buck's relationship with his parents and their issues as well as the truth about Daniel come to the forefront. Eddie is supportive and there for him as much as he can be.

In 4x06, Eddie is told to move on by Bobby, the 118, the universe, and Buck is the indirect catalyst for it by bringing Ana up in front of the 118 as well as being forefront for all of the emergencies of getting people unstuck, minus two of them (the octopus and the washing machine kid). By the end of the episode, Eddie asks Ana about for breakfast and thus their dating begins.

And of course we have the whole moving on speech Eddie gave in the guise of getting Brian to bring the truck to an emergency scene:

Eddie: "I needed your help. We needed your help. You were there."

Looking at all of this laid out, without going into the second half of season 4, how does anyone not see the Buddie layout? How does anyone think this was leading to Ana for Eddie? Eddie asked Buck out, twice. The first time was when Bobby wasn't around. It came off as a casual 'hey let's grab some good after' way but the wording of the invite is what gives it away besides the dialogue with Chim and Buck and the timing of the scene as well as the parallel between Eddie and Chim this episode. The second time Eddie asked may not have been just the two of them and more family-oriented and even more casual, but the writers purposely chose for each one of the 118 to dip out to spend time with their significant others, two of them confirming a pre-planned date night, and Eddie was the only one to extend an invitation to Buck to spend time, not knowing that the rest had date nights planned. If it was just about Buck and his journey during this episode, then they had no need for Eddie to extend that invitation. He simply could have said stopped at "Christopher is hosting his first sleepover tonight" and let that be that. But they chose to do differently.

Bottom line, Buck's not ready. Eddie is. And even though I think they started leaning into Buddie starting with 3x01, I'm willing to bet the 3x09 apology and 3x12 were the game changers for Eddie. 3x15 was important as well, but Eddie was already undergoing some sort of change before then as evidenced by his changing look in 3x13 when compared to 3x12. Eddie was trying to not only get back on his feet but also to take his own advice. "Does it matter what he thinks? Only you know how you feel about Maddie." "I get taking things slow but tomorrow isn't promised to anyone. So if you love her, tell her." "You hungry? You maybe wanna grab a bite after we drop him?" "Wish I could, man. Christopher's hosting his first sleepover tonight. Hey, you're more than welcome to come and celebrate with a bunch of 9-year olds."

Considering we haven't really seen too much (if any) of Eddie explicitly inviting Buck out anywhere or over to his house where Buck really isn't a guest, these two scenes should absolutely make everyone sit up and take notice.

Eddie has feelings for Buck and they made sure to show it to us time and time again:

In 4x06, he was being pushed to let go of those feelings and the status quo of the Buckley-Diaz family in a way, and move on. And that's why this scene is so important:

"Traitor." It's meant as a comedic line due to the 118 suddenly being curious and pushing Eddie to ask Ana out aka not having any excuse not to move from Buck. But it's more than that and it's cemented by Eddie poking fun at Buck for having a book in his hands (which draws attention to the actual book in Buck's hands for the audience) and Buck asking Eddie what he thinks Ana's love language is. Which not only brings the Ana topic to the forefront and serves its purpose for this scene but also subtly shows that Buck is not returning those feelings (in this moment; he's completely oblivious) and is pushing Ana at him. Which is also why Eddie rolls his eyes when talking to Buck earlier about Ana, and Buck says "You mean Christopher's pretty English teacher." With the push from Bobby, Eddie finally realized he needed to move on. And who better to move onto than someone who would be great for Christopher to have around? That it would be nice and easy with?

But considering what we did see play out in the second half of season 4, Buddie is definitely working their way to where eventually Buck will be made aware of those feelings, one way or another. And just how he will respond.

[ickle-ronniekins]

home for the holidays || christmas promises

A/N: hiii everyone! ya girls are here to provide a christmas collab entitled “home for the holidays” that we couldn’t stop freaking out about together like a bunch of dorks. we’ll each be writing two installments each for a four-part total series! alexa ( @harrysweasleys ) will be posting chapter two! super excited for this and thank yoooou to alexa for being just as excited about this collab and for being so patient with my wacky schedule!

desc: would it really be christmas at the burrow without a snowball fight just as the clock strikes midnight on christmas? fred’s happy to have you at his favorite place during his favorite time of year, and the excitement of the holidays seems to have him in a lovey-dovey mood.

pairing: fred x reader

word count: 1.4k

alexa and erica’s combined taglist(s): @mintlibri @seppys-return-to-madness @how-do-life-does @fopdoodledane @fredd-weasley @iprobablyshipit91 @laneygthememequeen @snakesonaplane-7 @keoghans @acciotwinz @the-hufflepuff-of-221b @62442-am @wtfweasleyy @thoseofgreatambition @sleep-i-ness @shadychaoticcollection @haphazardhufflepuff @afriendlyneighborhoodhufflepuff @kageyama-i-want-tobiors @letsfightsomeorcs @theweasleysredhair @hxfflxpxffs @wand3ringr0s3 @finecole @angelinathebook @highly-acidic @zreads @susceptible-but-siriusexual @hollands-weasley @andromedaa-tonks @cappsikle @mytreec @imseeinggred @idont-knowrn @auroraboringalis57 @godricsswords @annasofiaearlobe @alwaysasadaesthetic @starlightweasley @thisismysketchbook @izzytheninja @imboredandneedalife @hemmoporro @valwritesx @hannalannno @heavenlymidnight @msmimimerton @oh-for-merlins-sake @grierpilots @mikumana @pit-and-the-pen @diary-of-an-onliner @theweirdsideofstuff @vogueweasley @hufflrpuffforfred @phuvioqhile @marvelettesassemble @almostweepingbanana

“Fred! Y/N! Would you two get back out here! Ginny, blimey, can’t you wait a moment before sending another one my way? Bloody hell!”

George’s yelps echoed from outside the Burrow. His voice sounded very loud, because that’s how it always seemed during a snowfall, didn’t it? It always seemed especially quiet as the ground became covered in a blanket of sparkly white. It’s as if the falling snow could silence the entire atmosphere.

You tried to push Fred toward the snowball fight that was unfolding between his siblings, but he yanked you back to him and pressed you against the side of the house, hidden beneath the shadows of the night. The faint light of the moon highlighted his twisted features of hunger.

“Fred, they’ve called us five times now, I reckon we’ve got to get back out there, haven’t we? Besides, poor George is getting absolutely pummeled by your sister,” a laugh escaped you as you watched another snowball smack George right across the head. He groaned in frustration and shoved Ron into a nearby snowbank for laughing at him.

“Don’t care, that game’s for children anyway,” Fred told you. You could see his breath in the air and it was becoming increasingly difficult to not pull him into the nearby garden shed.

You snorted. “Says the boy who suggested it in the first place.”

“It was only so I could get you alone out here, actually.”

Fred revelled in the sneakiness of your actions. His parents were just inside, his siblings a few mere feet away, and yet he was about two bloody seconds away from pulling your jacket right off --

“Freddie!”

He hummed against your lips and listened intently for that moan he knew all too well, the one that sent him into a dizzying spiral each and every time he heard it. “Can’t help it, love,” he cooed as you pushed playfully against his chest. He secretly loved it, you fighting your own overwhelming instincts and trying to shove him away from you, despite yourself, because he knew how much you wanted it too. Your eyes glistened with obvious yearning.

Against your better judgement, you decided to indulge your own hunger and yanked him closer by the collar of his jacket. “What’s the matter, Freddie? Didn’t get enough last night?”

A slight sigh escaped him and he was immediately transported to your final evening in the castle before returning home for the Christmas holidays. The copious amounts of firewhisky had earned him a night full of heated kisses and a morning filled with a throbbing headache. But here he was, just hours later, and it was nothing that the feeling of your lips on his couldn’t cure. Though, as his mouth moved against yours, he began to feel drunk all over again.

He trailed his hands across your hip bones and underneath your shirt a bit, his fingertips grazing your exposed skin. It’s as though every part of him that touched you was setting you on fire. “No, darling, I definitely did not get enough.”

“Okay, then let me make you a promise.”

You piqued his interest. Fred pulled away but kept close as he waited for your proposition. He couldn’t help but notice the sparkle of the snowflakes that had fallen onto your eyelashes, and how the tip of your nose and cheeks were so rosy from the cold weather. If he didn’t get you alone, and really alone, quick enough, he felt like he was going to spontaneously combust.

“If you behave, and help me obliterate Ron for getting me square in the gut with a snowball, then maybe we can pick up where we left off last night sometime later.”

He wiggled his eyebrows at you as he raked his teeth through his bottom lip, eager for later to be right bloody now.

He nearly growled before pushing you back up against the side of the house, his mouth eagerly finding yours again, before a rogue snowball (definitely charmed by one of his siblings) smacked him right in the side of the head. He heard Ron, George, and Ginny fall into a fit of raucous laughter before running out of sight yet again.

He rolled his eyes and turned back toward you, nearly melting at the sight of your sparkly eyes and rosy cheeks. You sniffled a bit -- the cold always did make your nose a little sniffly -- and you pulled gently on the collar of his jacket. He felt heat rise up in his legs, into his stomach and his arms, and finally felt his face flush a crimson red, all because of how absolutely bloody adorable you looked into your little pompom hat and scarf that was far too large it looked like it was swallowing you whole. And yet, you were the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen in his life.

“What?” you asked, raking your bottom lip through your teeth at the sight of him going googly-eyed.

“Nothing,” he said quietly before tightening his grip around your waist and resting comfortably against you, his breathing finding synchronization with yours. “You know mum’s been absolutely dying to have you here, and for Christmas, no less.. I reckon she’ll even make you a sweater.”

You arched an eyebrow in surprise. “Oh really?”

“Yeah, really.”

“Well that’s kind of her,” you replied, the rosy colour of your lips resembling that of your cheeks, and Fred found himself internally whining and desperately trying to suppress his feelings of eager want down into the depths of his soul. Later. You were making it bloody difficult though, especially when you said, “I’d love my own sweater knitted by your mum. But there’s nothing quite like wearing yours.”

It sent his heart soaring. He honestly felt himself dropping to his knees with weakness, and he swore to himself that if he had a ring, he’d ask you to be his wife right then and there -- no script, no plan, just unwavering love. He leaned himself further against you to hold himself upright and you giggled teasingly at the weight of him on top of you.

He knew how much you loved wearing his sweater. Or any of his clothing, really, but especially the cozy sweater. You wore it more than he did, actually, but he didn’t mind. Looked way better on you than it did him, didn’t it? He loved how the sleeves were so long it went past your hands, how the oversized material hung loosely over your body, but in that adorable type of way he loved to see each and every time you two would wake up from a nap in the school dormitories. But if there was one thing he loved more than seeing you in it, it was taking it off of you.

Bloody hell, mate, pull it together.

He bit down on his lip and jokingly pulled your hat further down your head so it was almost covering your eyebrows, and you scrunched your nose and giggled, once again making the butterflies in his stomach dance around in delight. “I’m really happy you’re here.”

You batted your eyelashes at him, “Freddie boy, how can you go from being so incredibly alluring to so sweet and sincere in mere seconds?”

“Dunno,” he replied, ignoring the calls from his siblings again, “but I reckon it’s one of the reasons you fell in love with me, right?”

He meant it as a joke, as he did mostly everything. He expected you to laugh, or to playfully punch him in the gut, but was pleasantly surprised when all you did was blink as the gentlest of smiles tug at your lips. “Of course it is.”

Just then, in the quiet stillness of the night, you both heard the church bells in the village begin to ring, signaling midnight and the official start of the holiday.

Cheers from the front yard erupted, and by the look in your eye, Fred could tell that you figured you should both get back out there and celebrate with the rest of them. He agreed, but he forced just a few more seconds, testing fate or destiny or whatever it was, and as you began to walk out toward them, he gently spun you around and caught your lips with his. There was nothing hungry or wild about it; it was, if anything, one of the purest exchanges you’d both ever shared.

When you both pulled away, you hovered close to one another, your breath visible in the cold winter air, and Fred made sure to keep his hands wrapped around your neck and entangled in the strands of your hair. He caressed your cheek with his thumb, gently, tenderly. His voice was so soft, so quiet, his words gently landed in your ears like the snowflakes soundlessly melting into the ground. “I love you, beautiful. Happy Christmas.”

“Happy Christmas, Freddie.”

[babybluebex]

Hi! I just re-watched avengers endgame. Can you do a fluffy fic where Peter babysits Morgan while Peppers away and there just bonding ☺️☺️

absolute [peter parker x stark!reader]

➽ pairing: peter parker x fem!stark!reader (y/n) ➽ word count: 580 ➽ summary: with you out of town and pepper and tony going on a mission, tony recruits your boyfriend to babysit your sister.   ➽ warnings: literally none (except canon fuckery and spoilers for revenge of the sith lmao) ➽ a/n: i am SO sorry this took forever to get out i had a Weird Few Days ™ but here it is !! enjoy!!

Peter looked at the little girl, and she looked at him. Peter had always had a soft spot for Morgan, and perhaps a softer spot for her older sister. But you were out of town at a robotics competition, and Tony and Pepper had been called on a mission. And so, Peter was left alone to babysit Morgan. 

“So…” Peter began, shoving his hands deep into his pockets. “You hungry? Mr. Stark left some money for pizza.” 

Morgan shook her head. 

“Right,” Peter mumbled. “Umm, wanna watch TV? Read? Invent a time machine, or whatever it is that you Stark kids do…” 

“Can we watch a movie?” Morgan asked, and Peter sighed in relief. 

“We sure can, munchkin,” Peter said. “What d’ya feel like?” 

Morgan skipped over the couch and settled easily, and she beckoned Peter over. He had been in Mr. Stark’s house before, sure, but never without you or Mr. Stark himself there. It felt… Weird. This house by the river was probably the most technically advanced living space in the world, but there was no way that Peter felt comfortable at all there. “Daddy told me ‘bout this movie,” Morgan started. “About space and stuff. Can we watch that?”

Peter sat down next to Morgan on the couch, and he chuckled dryly. “There’s a lot of movies about space, munch,” he said. “Can you be more specific?” 

“There’s a princess, Daddy said,” Morgan remarked. “And these cool sword things.”

Peter nodded slowly, a smile creeping over his face. “Right,” he said. “We can watch Star Wars, No problem.” 

You hadn’t told Pepper or Tony that you were coming home. To your dismay, the Midtown robotics team hadn’t advanced to the finals, meaning that you came home a day early. You figured it would be a nice surprise for your parents, at least. Ever since you had come to live with the Starks, you were constantly amazed by their generosity and kindness (even if it meant dealing with Tony’s annoying quips), and you were excited to come home every day to tell Pepper and Tony and Morgan all about your day and what you had learned. 

“It’s over, Anakin!” you heard a shout from inside as you slotted your key into the door. That was Peter yelling. Fairly usual for your boyfriend to yell Star Wars quotes. “I have the high ground!” 

“You ‘und’a’mestimate’ my power!” you heard your little sister say, and Peter gave a wheezing laugh. 

You pushed the door open, and you stared ahead at Peter standing on the couch, holding his fists by his head as if wielding an invisible lightsaber. Morgan was standing in front of him in the same pose, but she immediately forgot everything about the game when she saw you. 

“Y/N!” you sister squealed and ran to you, and you hauled her up into your arms with a grunt. “You’re home!” 

“Surprise, babe!” you giggled, and you rubbed noses with her. “Where’s Mommy and Daddy?” 

“Went on a mission,” Morgan said. “Left me with Pete.” 

“Oh, no!” you gasped dramatically. “Not Pete! How could they?” 

“Hey!” Peter whined. “That’s not nice.”

“I’m not known for being nice,” you said. “I’m a Stark. Or haven’t you heard?” 

“Oh, I’ve heard,” Peter scoffed. “I’ve heard plenty from your dad.” 

“So, did you guys just watch Revenge of The Sith, I guess?” you asked. 

“Yeah,” Morgan nodded quickly. “But, Peter?” 

“Yeah?” Peter asked, stepping closer. 

“Why does Queen Padme look like Thor’s girlfriend?”

[yourgoldengirls]

Lonely

Pairing: Rick Grimes x F!Reader

Summary: After the fall of the prison, the reader finds herself alone with baby Judith mourning her family while trying to survive.

Warnings: angst, fluff

W/C: 3360

Ao3

A/N: Yes, I am writing this while there is a HUGE list of assignments that I am currently ignoring. Please enjoy my attempt of failing college. If you like it, please reblog and leave a comment. This is my first time writing fanfiction so I am open to criticism, but I am also a sucker for compliments. English is not my first language so if there is any mistakes please let me know.

--

She doesn’t remember ever feeling so lonely.

Of course, before all this she was always alone, living in her small apartment in the city and working in her cubicle.

But now, as she sits in an abandoned car in the middle of the desert road with the baby in her arms, she feels lonely.

Before, she didn’t know what was like to have a family, to care and rely on someone, to share your fears and joy and journey with people that care deeply about you.

So yes, before she was alone. But she wasn’t lonely. She wasn’t missing anything.

You can’t miss what you never had.

Now, while she is scare and hungry in the middle of the apocalypse holding an already asleep Judith, she feels lonely.

Now she misses her family.

She misses Carl’s laugh and jokes, and the way he would always come to her when he wanted to talk about his fears or when he wanted help to prank his father.

She misses Maggie and their late night talks in the guard tower while they were keeping watch (their apocalypse sleepover, as they like to call) when they would just pretend to be two friends in the normal world gossiping about the neighbors and boyfriends with Beth.

She misses Daryl and his shy demeanor, how he always would hunt for them even when they already had food enough as a way of showing he cares without having to say it.

She misses Glenn and his sweetness, the way he would always make sure she ate something before taking shifts clearing the fence. The way he took care of her as she was his little sister, since he found her in one of his runs back in Atlanta and toke her to the camp without questions.

She misses Michonne and her sass, they afternoon training and how she never lets anyone touch her katana but agreed in showing her how to use it.  

But most of all she misses Rick.

God, she misses him so much it hurts.

Their relationship was complicated at first.

Back in Atlanta, they became friends. When he showed up, she had already formed a strong bond with Carl, so it made sense she would also become close to his parents. Lori had always trusted her with Carl when she was not around (a.k.a in the woods screwing Shane) so the boy started seeing her as a source of comfort and protection.

When he was shot back in the farm, she was by his side every day, reading and playing games until he was strong enough to leave the room.

She held him when they found out about Sofia. Dried his tears when he cried at night. She was always with him while his parents were dealing with their broken marriage.

When they lost the farm and went back in the road, she would take care of him, giving him her food and coat at night. With Lori pregnant, Rick was always looking after her, giving her his food and making sure she and the baby wore the safest they could be in the apocalypse, with monsters everywhere, so she took upon her to worry about Carl.

Rick was constantly worried about the baby, starting to lose his mind trying to find a solution to keep everyone safe. But there is so much a man can do at the end of the world.  

So, one night when everybody was sleeping and he was up keeping watch, he broke down.

--

She was laying next to Carl, holding the boy, and trying to keep him warm the best she could. The others were already asleep, but she could never keep her eyes close these days. Always worried she would never open then again.

So when she heard sniffing noises she knew it was Rick, the only one awake besides her.

Carefully not to disturb the kid sleeping next to her, she stood up and when to sit next to him.

"Hey"

Rick look at her and gave her a small smile, too tired to try and hide his tears from her.

"Wanna talk about?"

He just kept looking at her and sigh. Looking at him up closely, she saw how exhausted he looked. He was thinner, his hair and beard were longer, and his eyes had dark circles around. She knew she didn’t look much better.

"I’m scared." he whispered so quietly that if she weren’t so close, she wouldn’t be able to hear it. "Everybody is counting on me and I just.. I don’t know what to do. I’m disappointing everyone."

In that moment she looked at him and she swore he never locked so small. So unsure of himself. The strong and forceful leader of the group was nowhere to be seen.

"Hey, that’s not true. We all know that you are doing your best." she told him, eager to comfort him, to take him away from those demons that was starting to craw up on his shoulders.

"What do you do when your best is not good enough?" he asks her looking so lost, hoping that she had the answers to all his questions and could fix him somehow.

She then took his wands and forced him to turn and face her, to look her in the eyes, hoping that what she had to say next could penetrate his skin and comfort him best if he had all his attention fixed on her.

"We are going to be okay, Rick. As long as we are together, we are going to be okay. We’re going to figure it out. I promise."

He just looked at her and smile, squeezing her hand but didn’t let go.

"Plus, you are going to have another baby soon. Can’t go around losing all hope now, right?  If anything, we have to try harder." she tries to bring his mind in something to look forward to, something to keep going.

"Is not my baby." he says and she is more confuse than ever.

"What?"

"Is Shane’s baby." he says and his voice is so small that she thinks that she heard wrong, but the look in his face tells her she didn’t.

"Oh, Rick.."

She then takes his face in her hands and he cries harder, letting his face fall to her shoulders while she holds him.

She holds him until his tears dry, then his head movers from her shoulders to her lap and he closes his eyes while she plays with his hair until he falls asleep.

They found the prison two days later and he hugged her so hard she thought her ribs were going to break.

--

After that night, they became closer and closer. Like Carl, he starts to look for her when in need of comfort and reassurance. They would be constantly talking and making plans for update the prison, going on runs together and always having each other’s backs.

When Lori died giving birth, she didn’t allow herself to cry. The moment Maggie show up with the baby in her arms and Carl with that devastated look in his face, she knew she had to be strong for them. The tree of them.

So while Rick was grieving, she was taking care of his kids. Judith would be in her arms constantly and Carl was always on her toes. She notices that the boy was trying to hold back in front of everyone, so at night she would always bring the kids to her cell and hold a crying Carl while Judith was sleeping.

When Rick showed up looking like himself again, he came to her while she was feeding Judith. He sat besides her and watched the baby girl like she was some sort of angel in the middle of a battlefield. Too pure for this world. He then looked at her and she smiled at him and told him that it was going to be okay.

And he believed her.

After that it was natural that they would gravitate towards each other. She was taking care of his kids after all, and he was so lost that it was disorientating. The whole world was a blur, and she was the only thing keeping him grounded. She became his rock.

Every time he saw her talking with Carl, making sure he was eating, playing with him in at attempt of bringing him some sort of childhood, he felt like he could breath again. When she was holding Judith, feeding, and singing to her, he felt the ache in his chest decreasing.

Every time she would hug him, smile at him, or do anything as looking at his direction, he felt like she was the only thing holding his head above water, the only thing keeping him from drowning.

Piece by piece she collected him.

So it wasn’t a surprise when one day their hugs started to last longer, when the kisses on the cheek moved closer and closer to the mouth, when the gazes became silent conversations.

Everyone notice they pinning around each other but they knew that it was all that was going to be. Both too afraid and feeling too guilty to act on whatever was going on between them.

They needed to take things slow. It wasn’t fair to any of them to jump into something so soon after Lori’s death. It wasn’t fair to Lori, Rick, Carl. It wasn’t fair to her. So they needed time.

But that’s the thing with living in the end of the world. Time is a luxury. A privilege that you can’t really count on.

When the prison fell the only thing in her mind wore the kids. She couldn’t remember who had Judith, where Carl was, she couldn’t find anybody. She was starting to panic when she saw Judith placed on the baby chair on the floor, seconds from being eaten by a walker.

She quickly picked her up and ren as fast as she could. She ren so much until her legs started to give up. She didn’t have time to think about anything else. She just had to take her out of there.

Now she doesn’t know where she is. She doesn’t know how long is been since she left the prison. She doesn’t know if anybody else is alive, and if they are, she knew she will never find them again. She is scare and have no idea how she is gonna keep her and Judith safe.

Up until this moment, she been living from fruits and some cans she found in some abandoned cabins she crossed along the way. But she is getting weaker. She can’t really hunt without a proper weapon and a baby in her arms. She tried going in the city to scavenge some stores for food to Judith, but she was only able to collect a few things before the baby started crying and attracted walkers from every ware. After that she gave up on that idea and started looking for some place safe enough to spend a few days so she and Judith could have a proper rest.

She never allows herself to sleep when she stops to rest, afraid to wake up surrounded by walkers. So when Judith wakes up, she feeds her with the formula that is left and starts walking again. At this point she doesn’t even feel the pain in her legs anymore, is like her body is moving by himself, she is numb.

Judith seems to understand that something is wrong, never complaining, even when she is tired of being carried all the time, and when she is hungry she just pulls her hair, seeming to understand that making noises is too dangerous. Being a baby born in this world, Judith sems to have a different way of behaving that any other babies that she was ever seen. She is still to young to speak, but she makes the cute little noises as if she were trying to communicate, making the woman smile every time and pretend that she is understanding every “word”.

She is immersed in one of her conversations with Judith when she sees the sign. Stopping suddenly, she reads again and again, as if the words would change the minute she looked away and it would be all a projection of her imagination.

But it wasn’t.

So she starts running.

Even though she has her doubts about the existence of an actual sanctuary in this new world, she must check. Is the only scrum of hope after so long. And even if the said sanctuary exists, there is no guaranty that is run by good people. At this point, she has already learned to not trust the living.

So as she starts to get closer and closer to Terminus, she slows her pace not to dry attention before she has the opportunity to check the place.

But then suddenly there is an explosion and gun shots.

She holds Judith closer and tries to hide in a place that allows her to see what is happening but there is too much smoke, so she decides to stay there until is over. Even if there are good people in this place, there is not much help she can provide in this situation with a baby in her arms, and no gun. So she waits and waits until there is no more gun shots.

Judith is surprisingly calm during all this, so she decides is safe to get out of the hidden place and try to see what is going on. All kinds of things go though her mind as she walks towards a little commotion of people walking in direction of the woods, away from Terminus. She is mostly scare of crossing the way of bad people, but she has to see, the seed of hope never living her chest as she goes in direction of the first group of people that she encountered since the fall of the prison.

Maybe they are good people. Maybe they will welcome the lonely woman with the baby in her arms and offer her a place in their group. It will never be the same as being with her group, her family, but at least she would be safe, Judith would be safe.

Or maybe they are awful people and she is about to face another nightmare, another demonstration of what hell is like in the hands of the living, and all hope will be crushed again in front of her eyes.

Of all the things passing trough her mind, finding her family was definitely not one of them. Not once she thought that they wore alive and she would see them again.

At first, she thought that she was seeing things, maybe she was delirious. After all, how long can a person live without enough among of water, food and sleep and still expect to have a healthy function mind? She was going insane, that was definitely it.

But then she saw Daryl running towards Carol and everyone’s faces of surprise and relief and there was no way her mind could create that. Daryl running to hug someone? Not even her delirious mind could made that up.

She stood there paralyzed, trying to ground herself into believing that this was actually her family standing in front of her, when Judith cries draws everyone’s attention to her.

Next thing she knew Rick was running in her direction with Carl in his toes and she was being engulfed with the tightest hug she ever received in her life. Suddenly she was overwhelmed with all kinds of emotions and everything around her was Rick. The smells, the touches, she couldn’t see or think about anything that wasn’t him. After so many days, weeks (was it months? She stop counting so long ago) without knowing if he was dead, alive or something in between, she didn’t know which emotion was stronger. Relief, joy, surprise, love?

When Carl join them in the hug, she starts crying and they all fall to their knees on the ground. It was too much. Knowing that both kids were safe and in her arms was more than she could ever wish for. Her main goal during all this was to keep them safe, and to spend all this time in the road thinking that she had failed, that Carl was gone and she didn’t do anything about it was killing her more quickly than the lack of food or water ever could. Knowing now that he was alive was like receiving a tank of oxygen deep in the ocean, she could suddenly breath again.

When Rick pull back to look in her eyes her smile couldn’t be brighter.

"Sweetheart, is that you? Is it really you?"

When did she became sweetheart?  

He starts to caress her face and kiss her tears away with such tenderness that she starts crying even harder. He then smiles and takes Judith of her arms as Carl takes his place, hugging her like she was the last parachute in a plane crash.

"Oh, my baby.. I thought I lost you." she says in the most maternally way there is, while caressing the boy’s hair. "You are never leaving my side again."

The boy then laughs, and her smile grows because oh, how she missed that laugh, and everything falls into place.

"Yes, ma’am." the boy says full of joy and hints of laughs on his smile. "I missed you."

"I missed you too, honey." she says. "So very much."

They get up when the rest of the group starts to approach them, each member with smiles bigger than their faces, hugging her tighter than ever before.

Then Carl take Judith in his arms and Rick starts walking towards her again, holding her face with both hands and pressing their foreheads together. He closes his eyes and smiles before pressing a kiss in her lips and she is suddenly seeing stars.

Nothing could prepare her for this moment, not every novel she once read or the songs she used to listen. There was not one thing that was ever written about love that could describe this feeling. She wasn’t even sure if she could call it love.

It was stronger.

It was the kind of thing that would get you through anything, this feeling was the most powerful thing on earth, she was sure of that. With their mouths pressed against each other, she was sure that the only thing allowing her to breath was his lungs and his blood was only circling in his body due to her heartbeat.

They were one soul in two bodies.

She entangles her fingers in his messy hair and smiles in the middle on the kiss, making him smile as well as they break the kiss.

"I can’t believe this is real. You are here, and.. and Judith is here." he then looks at her with so much admiration in his eyes that she feels shy all the sudden. "You kept my daughter safe."

"Of course I did." she’s mine too.

"I guess I should have known." he than laughs. "You’ve been protecting my kids since day one. You are like the mama bear of the apocalypse."

She than laughs and shoves him playfully.

"I am not!"

"You are, you totally are." they laugh together as she shakes her head.

"He’s right, you totally are." Carl says and she is suddenly remained that they are not alone, and that he saw her kissing his father. But she doesn’t have time to be afraid of what he might think because when she looks at him, he has the biggest smile on his face.

Rick then takes her hand and kisses her knuckles; love is his eyes and she know that her face must mirror his.

"What now?" she asks him.

"Now.. we survive."

In that moment she knows she will never fell lonely again. She found her family, her kids, her love. She was home.

[raysofcrosby]

37 and 45 for matty please!

37. “welcome to fatherhood” + 45. “you’re getting a vasectomy. that’s final.” w/ matty tkachuk

The one thing you and Matt both agreed on from the moment you got married and even before, was that you wanted to have at least, 4 kids. He grew up with a brother and sister while you grew up an only child, both of you wanted your future kids to experience life with a sibling by their side. 

And Matt especially had been eager to start a family from the moment the words “I do” left both of your mouths. He spent most of your reception whispering into your ear all of the things he had planned for the nigh, how he couldn’t wait to get you alone and just how excited he was for your honeymoon in Turks and Caicos— “I hope you don’t plan on leaving the room for the first two days...you know, adjust to the time difference and all.”

It was only an hour time difference between Turks and Caicos and your permanent summer residence in St. Louis, but Matt didn’t care— it didn’t matter, and the two of you definitely didn’t leave the room until your third day into your two-week honeymoon.

Which is why it was no surprise to anyone that you found out you were  pregnant a little over two months later when you were packing up to go to Calgary for the season. You were packing up some of the bathroom stuff when you came across a box of tests from your bachelorette party when it was decided the group of you would play “pregnancy test roulette” which thankfully— no one was actually pregnant.

But there was one left and instead of taking it with you or just leaving it behind, you decided to use it and see if maybe the back to back...to multiple back nights on your honeymoon and even then after, resulted in you being pregnant. Matt came into the bathroom, having stripped down to his gym shorts by the time he reached your bathroom only to see you holding the pee stick in hand.

“Is that?”

“I’m pregnant.”

He only stood there shocked for a few seconds before he swept you up into his arms and kissed you, the excitement shining in his blue eyes as he put you down and smiled. “We’re gonna have a baby.”

Your pregnancy was actually...pretty idyllic when it came to first pregnancies. Your appointments all went perfect, you were in good health throughout and even though at most times you were sure that your moodiness would chase Matt away at any given moment, he never faltered. He was with you every step of the way whenever the Flames schedule permitted it.

He took pictures of the ultrasounds to send to family, if he was on the road he’d always send you a text asking for a bump date, and then get a little cheeky asking straight up for a size check on your chest because he ‘wanted to see how the boobs are looking.’ He was loving, attentive and you felt more than lucky to be able to have him with you throughout.

You were sitting in the friends and family box at a Flames game when your water broke all over the nice fancy carpet floor of the suite. Both your Mom and Matt’s were helping you out of the suite, your last words to Keith before leaving for the hospital being “tell him my water broke, but do not let him leave this game!” A wish that Keith abided by and that Matt, when in an intermission, sent you texts worrying about missing the birth. You assured him that you doubted that you’d be having a baby in the 20 minutes of third period hockey.

The Flames won, Matt skipped media and came rushing to the hospital to be by your side, making it right as you were getting your epidural. Your families were in the room with you, waiting to pass the time and trying to distract you from your contractions. By the time you were fully dismayed, both you and Matt were escorted to the delivery room Brady yelling out via FaceTime that he hoped Matt didn’t pass out.

Out of all the books and websites you read and from the stories some of the WAGS had shared from their experience and friends experience, the pain was definitely worth it in the end. At one point, you thought that Brady’s chirp might actually come to fruition and Matt would pass out, since he was starting to look a little pale, but thankfully it never happened and his color returned once that small little cry erupted throughout the room, bringing the both of you to tears as he brushed your hair back and kissed your forehead, whispering small praises as you held the baby on your chest.

Grayson Tkachuk proved to be every bit his father. From the moment he was born— he was just always fussy. Fussy when he was tired, when he was hungry, when he was and and even when he was happy, he couldn’t stay still and couldn’t stay quiet. You were thankful that both of yours and Matt’s parents stayed around for a few weeks to help you and Matt adjust to parenting, especially you since right after Grayson was born, that following week was the Flames longest road series of the season.

Your late night FaceTimes with Matt and even the ones he had on free days, you could see that he was feeling sad and even a bit guilty that he wasn’t there to help you out. But you assured him that your parents were a great help and that if he felt so bad, he could change the first dirty diaper Grayson had the moment Matt came back. “Sure, it can’t be that bad.”

Matt came back late one night, your parents were all away in their guest rooms and you were struggling to fall asleep after Grayson’s last feeding. You felt gross, tired and in desperate need of a shower, but that didn’t stop Matt from cuddling you into the bed and kissing you endlessly.

“How’s my baby?” He mumbled, kissing along your jaw.

“He’s sleeping, thankfully.”

“No, my other baby.” He laughed, leaning up on an elbow. “You, you dork.”

“Oh, I’m—“ Graysons cry came through the baby monitor and you sighed, nudging him away and standing up. “I’m feeling like that.”

He shook his head and for up with you. “Come on, let’s go see our baby.”

You walked down the hall to Graysons nursery, his cries getting louder as you neared the crib. You knew what kind of cry it was, ready to tell Matt what he needed before he picked up Grayson and shook his head. “His butt is heavy.”

“Diaper change, Matty.” You laughed, walking with him over tot he changing table. You helped Matt get Grayson undressed from his onesie, Matt instantly gagging at the smell the was coming from Grayson.

“Oh my God, it’s leaking!” He groaned, shoving his nose into the crook of his elbow and looking at you with pleasing eyes. “He burst the diaper.” 

“You called dibs on the first diaper change of your return home. You smiled, leaning up and kissing his cheek as you patted his shoulder. “Welcome to fatherhood, Matty.”

++

Eight years and three kids later,  you’d become all too familiar with those signs of pregnancy— or so you thought you had. Grayson was a random positive pregnancy test, Madelyn was a ‘watch your period tracking app religiously’ planned kind of pregnancy and Sienna was not quite planned, since you found out you were pregnant with her only 7 months after having Madelyn.

You and Matt loved having the three of them so close in age—Eight, six and five— and while the three were also at each other’s throats over the smallest of things, toys, food, who’s car seat went where, they were also all extremely close. Most mornings, it wasn’t rare to find both girls cuddled with their big brother in his bed, or him sleeping on the floor in between their beds.

Their favorite time of the year, which also happened to be yours and Matt’s as well, was when both families got together at the Tkachuk’s lake house during the week leading up to the 4th of July. It was endless days of laughter, watching your kids play with their cousin and coo over the newest and smallest member, a baby boy Emma and Brady had welcomed only two months earlier, making their four year old son Tucker, a big brother.

Nights spent grilling out and enjoying the night summertime air only to wake up early the next morning to go out on the water— you loved it all. It was arguably the best time of the year.

Until the worst stomach cramps you ever felt in your entire life, ended up with Matt rushing you to the hospital where doctors listened to your assumptions of maybe it being your appendix. It was...a pleasant surprise when they came back and told you that you were pregnant before being told to relax while they brought an ultrasound tech in to make sure that everything was going okay.

“Pregnant.” You huffed, rolling up the tank top and stuffing it beneath your bathing suit top. “Pregnant! I was just pregnant!”

“Actually...it’s been awhile, five years. We wanted to wait a bit since Mads and Sie were so close in age.” He replied, spinning himself around in the stool. “And hey, with this being baby number four, we reached our goal.”

“And after baby number four, I’m staying celibate.” You mumbled.

You went back on birth control after Sienna was born, but it just never agreed with you. Through the last five years, you’d been through the implant, the pill, the iud— and all of them messed with your hormones so much that you and Matt went strictly back to condoms, much to both of your disdain for them.

“Alright, Y/N, I’m here to check to see what’s going on with your little one today,” the tech smiled, walking into the room. “Not your first rodeo?” She laughed, picking up the gel as she nodded at your rolled up t-shirt.

“Our fourth.” You replied, no longer phased by the cold feeling against your skin.

“Well congratulations again,” she smiled, turning on the ultrasound machine before picking up the wand. “I assume that you know what this is?”

You and Matt both nodded as she placed the wand against your belly, moving it around. “Can we do that thing we did with Madelyn? Guess the gender and whoever’s right gets to pick the name?” Matt smiled, holding your hand as he rested his chin on your arm.

“As long as you don’t turn it into a bet with your teammates.” You nodded, glaring at him. “I’m still not amused with the fact you almost let Sienna’s middle name be Sam because Sam guessed the gender correctly.”

“Sam’s not too bad—“

“Sienna Sam Tkachuk?” You asked, raising an eyebrow. “It doesn’t flow Matthew! If this is a boy, we’ll let him use his winning bet as a middle name, but no more bets with the guys.”

The ultrasound tech laughed as Matt started to blush. “Okay, agreed.” He said, kissing your knuckles before looking towards the tech. “So how’s baby number four looking?”

“Well, you’re definitely not around 8 weeks like you thought you were. You’re more around 12 weeks and the babies are doing great. The pain you felt was probably more having to do with your pelvic floor trying to prepare for them.”

“See, babe? The babies are fine.” Matt smiled, looking at you before snapping his head back to her. “Wait, babies?”

“Babies,” she smiled, turning the screen towards the both of you and pointing at the three different figures on the screen. “Baby A, Baby B and Baby C, and they’re all looking good in measurements and I don’t see any worry you should be having.”

Your jaw dropped and you felt Matt’s grip on your hand fall as the both of you stared at the screen in shock. “Babies...plural...three,” you said, letting out a small laugh. “Triplets?! I’m having triplets?!”

“Mhhm, and I’ll get these scans for you. But just know that they’re doing great and with multiples, your doctor is probably going to want you to check in a lot more. So when you go back home, be sure to make an appointment as soon as you can.” She smiled, handing you a paper towel before walking to leave the room.

Matt got up and walked towards the screen, staring at it before squatting down beside you and staring at your belly, poking it. “Huh...I guess I can kinda see a bump. I can’t believe there’s three mini us’s in there.” He turned to you with a big smile, only to let it falter as soon as he saw your glaring eyes.

“You’re getting a vasectomy. That’s final.”

[thatsbucknasty]

she used to be mine (x) waitress au

summary: Inspired by the broadway musical. Y/N Beck is a pie baking force to be reckoned with. She’s pregnant with her lazy ass husband, Quentin Beck’s baby. As everything around her turns upside down, Doctor James Buchanan Barnes charms his way into her life.

pairing: Y/N x Bucky

tags are closed

chapter 10: I didn’t plan it

Two months pass and I realize it’s only a matter of weeks before I meet my baby girl. I’ve been working hard to save more money but I’m still not even close to the amount I’m gonna need for the birth AND the divorce. It’s been really hard to put my pride aside and accept the help my friends offer, I guess I’m used to being left to my own devices since I was very young. But I love my little family. Bucky and Sam drive me home every night after closing and Wanda has been bringing me gifts for the baby. Nat’s contact will be handling my divorce and she said they would give us a payment plan so that it won’t be so difficult to pay all at once. I still don’t understand how that’s gonna work but I trust her. She’s being very strange though, but Natasha’s one of those people who deal with issues on their own and compartmentalizes everything. Still, I’m worried about her. I guess I can’t judge her, we’re the same in that department.

Old Nick hasn’t been around much lately, says he’s taking care of his health. Guess my pies aren’t the healthiest meal for an eighty-something year old man. Maybe I should start adding more vegetables to my own diet, I’m creating life inside of me after all.

-

“Hey boys, what can I getcha?” Wanda flirts with Steve at the counter and Bucky laughs, he seems to be getting used to their corny, slightly inappropriate conversations.

“Oh I don’t know, sweetheart. What’s the special pie today?” Steve flirts back at her.

“Well, Y/N made her famous ‘Slutty brownie pie’ today and if you want, I could make it even sluttier-”

“Guys! Not in front of my salad, please!” Sam scolds them and Bucky’s just laughing at Steve’s red cheeks. Wanda rolls her eyes at him and motions Steve to follow her away from the group.

I come out of the kitchen ready to leave and see Steve and Wanda making out in the far corner of the counter, while Bucky and Sam talk about an AC/DC concert they both attended back when they didn’t know each other. Sam’s also taking care of his diet it seems, but Bucky’s stuffing his mouth with my brownie pie. I don’t actually understand how he can eat so much and still look absolutely stunning.

“Guys! Keep it in your pants. It’s movie night, we’re leaving!” I scold them and Steve’s blush has reached his ears and neck at this point.

“Thank you! I’m glad to know I’m not the only one who thinks those two are such horny teenagers”. Sam throws his hands in the air and hangs his apron, ready to go.

“I think they’re adorable, but I’m tired and hungry, and I don’t want any more pie today so let’s go, where’s Nat?” I look around trying to find the redhead.

“She said she needed to be alone tonight but she’ll be at the party tomorrow”. Wanda says and we share the same worried look on our eyes.

“Oh, okay. Shall we?”

We get to Bucky’s apartment and today’s pick is on Steve cause tomorrow’s his birthday. He chooses 1986’s Labyrinth. We order pizza and sushi and enjoy the magical spectacle on the screen.

I can’t stop thinking about my divorce and all the bills that are waiting for me in the future. Raising a child isn’t cheap. Bucky holds my hand at one point, under the blanket that we’re sharing. I guess he senses my worry and tries to make it go away. I’m glad he does. Lately I’ve just been letting myself fall for him because fighting against it it’s a lost cause. He’s the sweetest guy, brings me home safely anytime he’s able to, he cares about my friends and most importantly, he’s patient and doesn’t rush me to do anything I’m not ready to do. His parents raised him right, what’s a girl supposed to do?

-

Next day is organized chaos, thanks to Wanda and her frantic need for everything to be perfect. She really loves Steve and he’s a good guy. They deserve each other, truly.

Nat’s helping Sam hang decorations around Wanda’s backyard. It’s a mixture of 4th of July colors and Happy Birthday signs. We’re not doing the whole fireworks thing, since Wanda’s birthday present for Steve wouldn’t like the noise. But there’s a flatscreen set up to watch them on tv.

I’m in the kitchen, chopping some tomatoes for a pico de gallo I’m making. Bucky’s setting up the barbecue outside and I can see him from the window. He keeps messing it up and starting again, making the funniest, exasperated faces. I told him Steve could do it in no time but he insisted he’s the birthday boy and should just enjoy this day.

Speaking of Steve, he’s on his way. It ain’t a surprise party but we still wanted to set everything up before he got here.

-

We’re all enjoying the cool summer breeze, watching football on a projector Wanda set up in the backyard, we have hotdogs and guacamole and chips, the guys have beer which of course I can’t have, but Bucky was kind enough to make me an entire jug of pink lemonade just for me. I’m not really interested in the game, to be honest and my bladder is full so I separate myself from Buck and look around to realize Natasha isn’t here. Since this is not my house and I need to find the restroom I ask Wanda for some help instead and we enter the house together. 

She points me to the toilet and I open the door to find Nat and Sam wrapped around each other, half naked.

“OH MY GOD! What’s happening here?!” I immediately cover my eyes and close the door.

“Y/N, you’re okay? What is it? Don’t tell me you found a rat cause I hate them so much, Gosh I told Steve we should’ve done this at my place, is way cleaner”.

“I- I- no- um. It’s not a rat it’s a- um. I’m sorry-”

“Y/N! Let me explain-” Natasha comes out the restroom with her blouse half buttoned up, makeup almost completely ruined.

“I don’t- I don’t need you to expla- can somebody please lead me to another bathroom or something? I’m about to piss myself!”

“Sure, honey, let’s go”. Wanda grabs me, she apparently understands what’s going on, looking at Nat’s disheveled state and brings me upstairs to another room.

-

“What’s going on? I heard the girls yell”. Bucky enters the house and sees Sam and Nat cornered in the kitchen, looking like they’ve seen a ghost.

“Nothing, man. I think it’s time for me to leave. Say happy birthday to Steve for me”. Sam kisses Nat on the cheek and leaves the house.

“Wha- Natasha, are you okay?” Bucky stands there awkwardly, trying to break the tension.

“I’m fine, but the girls and I need to talk privately. Would you distract Steve for us? He doesn’t need to hear about this. Tell him we’re talking about pregnancy stuff with Y/N or something”.

“Oh-kay? Are you sure you’re alright though, you seem-”

“I’m fine, Bucky. Now go talk to Steve, he’s out there alone on his birthday”.

“Well, he looks fine! He’s watching the Patriots destroy the- Okay got it, see you later”. Bucky awkwardly scurries down to the kitchen and grabs a couple more beers and brings them outside.

-

“Knock-knock”. Natasha enters Steve’s bedroom and sees Wanda sitting on the bed.

“Hey”.

“Hey. Y/N still peeing?”

“I don’t think so. But I think she’s crying”.

“God she’s always so dramatic”.

“Hey! You should’ve told us! Do you know how worried about you we’ve been? We thought you were sick or something! Not wanting to hang out with us. We were supposed to plan a baby shower for her by now but you’ve been M.I.A.”.

“ I know, and I’m sorry”. Nat sighs and knocks on the bathroom door.

“Y/N, come out. We know you’re done so let’s go. We need to talk”.

-

I wipe my tears. I don’t know why I feel betrayed. Sam and Nat are my best friends, I should be happy for them. Damn hormones making me cry like a little baby every time something’s out of place.

“Hey”. I sniff and open the door to see Natasha rolling her eyes at me.

“Why the hell are you crying?”

“Oh I’m sorry for being a hormonal mess but seeing two of my best friends, one of them who’s married by the way, making out like horny teenagers would definitely cause me some distress!”

“Uh huh, and how is this any different to you and Bucky holding hands and making eyes at each other every single minute? May I remind you, you’re still married too!”

“Oh my God, Natasha, you did not! I’m getting a divorce, you know that!”

“Yeah, I know. And I understand and not make a fuss about it, until you decide to judge me for the exact same thing you’ve been doing!”

“Why- ah. Sorry, I know I’m looking like a complete hypocrite right now. It’s just- you guys are my friends and you’ve been acting so strange lately, it had me so worried and I feel like I could’ve been there for you, just as much as you’ve been there for me. You guys are my sisters”.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. But Sam and I wanted to figure out what we wanted first and you know how I am. I fall down the rabbit hole and I keep it to myself cause I’m too proud to admit I’m weak”.

“Natasha, please. You’re anything BUT weak. You’re the one who’s always showing us how strong we really are!” Wanda chimes in and holds both mine and Nat’s hands in hers.

“Okay girls, listen up, from now on we need to make a pact that whenever one of us starts to close off from each other, we will make an intervention for that person and keep ourselves accountable for our shitty ways to cope with men, and life, and money problems, and cleaning obsessions, is that clear?” Nat kisses the top of my head and Wanda laughs at her declaration.

Somehow I feel like everything’s about to change, hopefully for the better.

-

chapter 11: she used to be mine

[marginalgloss]

It occurred to me recently that I haven’t posted here for about nine months, and that if you knew nothing about me except for this blog, you might think that it something of a cliffhanger that I ended it on a post about expecting the arrival of my first child. (Or perhaps that would have been an entirely fitting way to end it.) Either way: I am fine, and we are fine, and last November brought the arrival of my son Robin into my life. I have been very busy almost every day since.

There are a couple of cliches about parenting that remain indisputably true. The first is that they grow up so fast. And the second is that nothing prepares you for it. We thought we were entirely ready and pretty well informed but from his delivery onwards nothing went as planned. We thought we’d feed him when he was hungry, and we’d put him to sleep when he was tired; and change his nappies, and play with him, and love him; and what else was there to it, really?

It turns out there is a lot more to it than that. Before Robin I never realised how polarised, how strained and how political people’s feelings are about matters of childcare. We’ve ended up raising him in ways we had never previously considered, partly out of necessity, and partly out of the kind of habits that grow into paths of desire across the days. Consciously or not I judge people who do things differently, and no doubt they judge me too. In spite of the reams of available literature it turns out that for many things — perhaps even most things — there isn’t necessarily a right or a wrong way to proceed.

Here is a third cliche that turns out to be extremely valuable: every baby is different.

The question of literature is a tricky one. In search of assistance I read a few parenting manuals; some of these turned out to be better than others, but I’ve yet to find a good book about what it means to be a father. Most books aimed at new dads are of the ‘pull your socks up’ variety — the kind of thing where the author imagined it thrust upon some feckless deadbeat by a weary spouse. But, being reasonably conscientious, and looking for something with a bit more depth than a guide to how to change nappies, I’ve found most books about parenting have little of interest to say to new fathers.

Being a dad is an odd thing to write about. I’ve read and heard people talk about how new mothers ought to be proud to be joining a kind of grand universal maternal tradition, one which predates even humanity itself. (Animals surely know about babies; witness my cat Louie’s endless patience with Robin’s various attempts to pull his ears off.)

People do not generally talk about the grand traditions of fatherhood in this way. And for good reason: a lot of men today wouldn’t be happy to follow the example of their own fathers, let alone imitate the conditions of detachment and distance that defined fatherhood for centuries. I want to say that expectations of fathers today have never been higher; but this is only because for most of recorded history, we had no expectations of fathers at all. In the space of perhaps two or three generations we have gone from the idea that a father should only have to provide for a child’s upkeep (and not slap them around too much) to a very immediate understanding of dadhood as a central plank of parenthood.

Perhaps a lot of this speaks more to my own insecurities than it does to anyone else’s. Still, I feel like there’s an easy camaraderie between mothers that isn’t apparent between fathers. My wife has developed a little circle of local mums with whom she’s in constant communication, whereas the WhatsApp group we created for the fathers in our NCT group has languished in silence. I don’t really have anyone with whom to compare notes. And what would we say if I did?

The pandemic has put us in an unusual situation. Ordinarily I would have had two weeks’ paid paternity leave, plus any holiday time taken alongside that. So I took three weeks off work — but I’m still working from home every day, as I have been since March 2020. This means that instead of watching me disappear to work five days a week, my son has spent every day of his life together so far with both his parents. I don’t even know where to begin with writing about the way this has changed us; perhaps I won’t know how to talk about it until it comes to an end.

It does mean that parenting feels like it has consumed my life in ways that might not have otherwise been the case. Being at home for so long with a new baby was a remarkable opportunity, and in the early days — through winter and the Christmas lockdown — it didn’t feel like I was missing out on much. Things are a little different now. Every absence independent from my family feels like it requires a negotiation as much with myself as with anyone else. And I don’t only mean literal absences. Someone new has come into my life and they have no tolerance for anything else that might be meaningful to me. So many of the things against which I used to define myself have necessarily had to be neglected.

It goes without saying that I haven’t written much. Whatever free time I have at the moment is normally spent collapsed in an exhausted heap on the sofa, watching TV. I can count the number of books I’ve actually finished in the last eight months on one hand; I have started and set aside perhaps two dozen. I feel very remote from the person who spent several years documenting here every book he finished.

Games have fared a little better. In the early days, when I found myself with some late night hours to myself, I picked up the remastered Bioshock collection. It took me months, but I eventually finished all three: the first game is a masterpiece, the second is a very decent sequel, and the third is probably the greatest missed opportunity in all of gaming. (I ended up writing several thousands of words about the games, over the course of weeks — the only thing of substance I’ve written since Robin was born, in fact — which I since abandoned, in a fit of self-doubt and impatience with my own tortuous style.)

But I mean it when I say that the first game is a masterpiece. I had forgotten just how immensely absorbing it is — a journey into another world that’s less realistic than it is gloriously theatrical. Every time I think about it I feel like I want to replay it again. And it never really occurred to me before that Bioshock is about parenting as much as it is a picture of Objectivism in decay. It hits different now, as the kids say.

While driving over the weekend I passed the word ‘DADDY’ outlined in rich pink flowers, laid in memorial at the centre of a roundabout. It made me flinch. Every time I see that word in whatever context it seems to come with an intimation of departure. And in the same way every time I think about this game it seems laden with the feeling of a dying fall that nobody ever really seems to talk about. You play as a kind of genetically modified clone, returning home to his unwelcoming father and near-absent mother in a demented inversion of the Odysseus tale; and the only good you can do in this world is to rescue the handful of innocents left within it. You have to become a father yourself, in a sense. But your days are numbered.

The ending of the original Bioshock is often written off as a bit of a joke. You fight a deliriously incongruous final boss, and then depending on your actions through the rest of the game, you get to see one of two final sequences. In the bad ending, the denizens of Rapture somehow steal a nuclear submarine, and it’s implied that something very bad follows. But the good ending has more to it than that. You return to the surface, and it’s implied that you adopt some of the Little Sisters you rescued down there as though they were your daughters. There’s a brief montage of scenes from an assortment of lives. A graduation. A marriage. A child reaching for a parent’s hand. And then a death bed. The hands of your daughters reach out for you one last time.

After perhaps twenty hours of gameplay this sequence is perhaps less than a minute long. It feels rushed, awkward, sentimental. But as a coda, it also has the outstanding benefit of being perfectly real.

[weeb-writor]

Babysitting Aizawa’s 6... no 10 Nieces and Nephews

Hey There! Today we have the second part to the Aizawa fic I posted a few days ago! It can act as a stand alone so don't worry if you haven't read the first one! Ill try to post it here but I'm new at this. Also isn't much Shouta x you in this, just domestic fluff! More a set up for the loving in the next work, I hope you'll still read it anyway. Reader is neutral and I hope you all enjoy!

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Aizawa Shouta x Reader

Aizawa’s mom goes into the hospital for an emergency surgery and all his siblings turn to you to watch their kids, but you don't remember there names let alone their kids.

Words: 2610

Part One  Part Two  Part Three  Part Four  Part Five

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You look a bit of mess currently. You were sitting at home in your pj’s with about 20 pictures scattered around you and 20 pieces of paper. You looked like one of those crazy conspiracies theorists. When in reality you were only trying to learn your boyfriend's family’s names and likes, in preparation for Christmas of course. It was not going so well all you could remember was Saika was the eldest sister but which sister was she exactly? You looked between the two pictures on the table. None of the Aizawa’s age so that didn’t give away and you couldn’t remember if she had the long hair or the bob. 

“God help me.” You mumbled with a sigh as you threw your head back. By some great miracle a phone call pulled you from the task. Surprised to see it was Aizawa you picked it up with a smile.

“Hey baby.” He said

“What’s up love? Aren’t you in class?” You said a tiny bit concerned.

“Should be but my mom’s going in for some emergency surgery, so me and my family are going up there.” 

“Oh, are you alright?? Do you want me to come?” You rushed out to him

“No, and I’m fine. It’s a fairly low risk surgery from what I’m told. There is of course something you could do for me.” He said lowly

“And that would be?” 

“My siblings need someone to watch their gremlins and I had the perfect person in mind.” He said with a light chuckle. You knew right away who this mysterious person was. Part of you wanted to say no because it was a lot of young kids but the other part of you knew you were gonna say yes.  Even if he didnt say so, Aizawa was worried and he didn’t need to be stuck watching the kids, none of them did.

“Yes, of course! Tell your siblings to bring them to my place. I got a few toys from babysitting years ago.” You said getting up to get ready.

“You're a lifesaver.” He said fondly

“Says the hero, I love you babe, everything is gonna be fine and of course be safe.” You told him

“Love you more, kitty cat. You’ll be great, see you when I get home.” He said hanging up. Well now you were panicking. How many kids were there again? What about their parents? You couldn’t even remember their names. How are you supposed to greet them? Holy shit what did you get yourself into is all you could think as you rushed to clean your house. You were barely finished when the first knock came, you opened the door with a small smile.

“L/N!” A tall black haired man said. He looked like Shouta no doubt but he had an undercut and was taller.

“Please call me Y/N.” You smiled at him.

“Aww, you're too sweet! Seriously, how did Shouta end up with you?! Anyway, This is Haru and Jun, they are gonna be good little boys for you, right?” He paused as the boys nodded. “Thank you so much we should all be back to pick the kids at 10!” He said as he started to leave. You waved him off and showed the boys in.

“Alright! So I’ve got a few toys and I think i've got all the cartoon channels. I want to make sure we get all your cousins here first before we do something really fun.” You said to the little boys who immediately went to sit on your couch and watch the cartoons that were playing. You let out a huge sigh of relief. It was done prematurely as a knock at the door was heard. You opened it to reveal his two sisters which was which you didn't know.

“L/N you sweet little lifesaver! This is the rest of them except Rei, Daisuke, and Maki. They all walk together from school, we let them know to come here so don't worry about walking to go get them. Also, only two of them are still in diapers so you should be fine! Thank you so much, love.” The shorter one rushed out before she left, pulling her sister with her. You looked done at the baby that had somehow got into your hands.  Alright this one was obviously in diapers, the one grasping on to your pant leg barely standing up was probably the other one in diapers. Okay you were now surrounded by um.. 6 six kids, maybe more you weren't sure. 

“Okay, now that we're all here, wanna play a game? It's really fun I promise.” You said with a cute little smile but you were lying. You only wanted them to introduce themselves and say who their parents were. You had no idea how to make it fun.

“What kind of game?” A little girl asked, wait you knew this one! She was the only young girl when you first met all the siblings, it was Nozomi, right?

“A umm…. A… A scavenger hunt! Yeah! We're all gonna introduce ourselves and then get into groups by who your Mama's and Papa’s are and see who can find all the treasures first! Whoever wins gets a super cool prize.” You said hoping they didn't ask too many questions about the game you just made up. Which they didn't they all were giggling and saying incoherent things excited to play.

“We’ll go first since we're the oldest. Im Haru.” The tallest one with his hair pulled back into a ponytail said. “I is Jun! Our papa is Shiori! Can we play now??” The cute little blonde one said. Okay 2 down, Tall and hair pulled back is Haru, Small and blonde is Jun, they are both Shiori kids. 

“Oh us next, us next! I'm Tetsuya, that's Umi, my lil sister, and Yukio is the one on your pants. My mama is Shizumi!” The boy said. He was a cute pudgy boy with black hair that covered his eyes. Umi, the little girl had her dark blue hair in two pigtails on top of her head.  Lastly the little boy holding on to your pants also had black hair but it was super curly.

“L/N, Oni-chans at school and Taiyo is too small.” Nozomi said with teary eyes. Okay so the one in your hand is Taiyo, another one of Saika kids. Okay you got this. You made it through all 7 kids, you would worry about the 3 at school later.

“Its alright me and you can be a team okay?” You said as she beamed up at you nodding. Alright with that you went to place the sleeping Taiyo on your bed. You left the door open so you could hear if he started to cry or moved around too much. You took a sheet and made a makeshift sling for… Yukio, right! 

“Okay so there are 3 hidden treasures around the house! One is a pink treasure chest filled with jewelry and prizes. The other is a huge blue fluffy whale, be careful it may bite! Lastly, there are 2 little lions wandering sound, we gotta catch. I'm gonna get you guys nets of course! First one to get all of these things and show me them gets a super cool prize!” You said as they erupted into cute tiny roars!

“Okay here are your nets! May the best team win!” You smiled at them as they took off. You felt a little bad for the Aizawa cats you had just set up to be chased but something told you they wouldn't mind. They were always so attention hungry this would probably please them.

“Okay then, lets go Nozomi!” You said grasping the young girl's hand. You knew where everything was of course so you just followed her around. Only helping her when you heard kids getting close to the hiding spots or helping her try to catch the cat. You guys had been playing for about an hour now, only needing to catch the cats who caught onto the game and were running for their lives.

“Kitty cat c’mere!” Jun said as he chased the gray cat around.

“Yeah! We jus wanna win.” Haru said following his brother. You laughed as the cat gently pawed at boys. Now that you were thinking about it there were so many boys in this family. Only 5 girls out of all these boys, Aizawa’s genes were strong for boys. You didn't get long to think before you saw a flash and heard a camera click. You turned to see 3 older children one with a camera.

“Oh man, Uncle Shouta is gonna be so happy.” The girl said with a smile. She looked to be about 12 and was blonde, if you had to guess she was Jun and Harus’s older sister. There were two boys next her one was probably the oldest of all the kids.

“Sorry for letting ourselves in, we were just knocking for a while and you didn't answer.” The older one said as they bowed.

“No no it's quite alright! Sorry for not answering, my hands are a little full!” You said as you had Taiyo still slung around your back and Umi squirming in your hands. 

“Yeah, we can see that!”

“Daisuke! Rei! We gotta catch the kitties so I can win a prize.” Nozomi said, rushing off to her brothers. You made a mental note of who was who.

“Oh no problem! Uncle sho’s cats are easy to catch.” Rei said and he was right, you just had to know how. He went over to the counter and got the cat treats and sprinkled a few on the floor. The cats came running and began eating as fast as they could. He then took the blanket/net and put it over the 2 cats and picked them up, they compiled so easily it was almost comical.

“Oh! Yay! I wins right?? I get the prize!” She said dancing around you.

“Yes you do! I should go get dinner ready but you can pick anything you want to take home.” You said booping her nose. She did a little gig before taking off like she knew what wanted.

“Alright, who wants to help with dinner!” You called to the kids you roared with agreement, racing to the kitchen

“Oh you three would you mind helping and introducing yourselves?” You asked as you took out a few different ingredients.

“Oh yeah! No problem! Im Daisuke, the eldest of all the Aizawa’s cousins. First year in high school actually! This is my little brother Rei, he is a middle schooler. Then the girl snapping pictures is Maki-chan she’s the closest to my age! Oh, Saika is my mom and uncle Shiori is Maki’s dad. What can we do to help out.” He said with a smile.

“I think they said introduce yourself but whatever.” Maki mumbled kind of chest fallen. You only laughed and pointed out what they could do while you helped the kids and before long boom, dinner was done. You might have to convince Aizawa to have kids soon cause they were actually helpful. You all set the table and sat down to eat, almost forgetting about Nozomi.

“Can I have this!” She rushed to you holding a black cat plushie that had red eyes. Aizawa had given it to you when he went on a mission that pulled him from home for a month. You gave a small smile to her.

“Of course! I said you could have anything you wanted, I meant it. Let's eat right now then you can go snuggle and lay down.” You said moving to pick her up and help her to the table. Your table of course wasn't big enough so the big kids were in the living room, the younger kids ate with you and the babies you fed first were now napping. You let out a breath, it was 7:30. They should be done by 10:00 at the latest and the younger kids would be asleep by 8:30, so you could say you had this in the bag. Dinner was peaceful to your surprise and now you were all washing up and laying down on the makeshift beds you made in the living room. Maki was taking pictures as you had put all the younger children into your shirts, it was quite a sight to behold.

“Alright everyone lay down!” You yelled as you grabbed the youngest and began rocking him back and forth. 

“We is ready” Umi said as she snuggled into her blankets

“Ready for what?” You asked cautiously.

“When we visit uncle Sho’ta he tells us ‘tories at nighty time.” Tetsuya slurred to you.

“Oh, okay then…. Um. Once upon a time there was a pretty Pink cat, who lived in a kingdom full of all kinds of cats. One day he got curious and left the safety of his kingdom. He went into a forest and everything was fine until he bumped into a big huge black wolf. He wanted to run back into the safety of his kingdom but the icy glare of the wolf kept him still. The wolf slowly opened its jaws…. Showing off its rows of bone crushing smile. The pink cat thought it was over for him until the Wolf smiled at him. ‘Your a little far from home, huh? Its okay I get lost sometimes! I can take you home.’ The wolf said, her tail starting to wag. The cat didn't know what made him say yes but he did. He continued to say yes time and time again, long after they had become friends. He said yes so many times to the cat he thought he might run out of yes’s to give. But when the wolf asked him to leave the safety of his kingdom behind and run around the world with him, though it frightened him. He said yes again without hesitation. And that's how the pretty pink cat learned to fly.” You said, it was a cheesy story with no real plot but it worked. You looked around to see everyone sleeping even the bigger kids. You let out a breath you didn't know you were holding. You looked at the lot one more time before you went to work on something you had been meaning to all day. You continued to work on it even as 10 o’clock hit and you said goodbye to the kids one by one. Only stopping when a familiar set of hands wrapped around your waist. 

“What’s this, kitty?” Aizawa asked as he kissed your neck sweetly.

“Ahh, nothing much! Just a family tree with pictures and the things about your family.” You said as you stated proudly at your work.

“Oh that's sweet. I saw the pictures Maki took and that you let Nozomi have your cat, I know it was special to you.” He said nuzzling further into your chest.

“It's fine, I told her she could have anything and to be honest, I'm wrapped around every single last one of them’s thumb and I would do anything for them so it really was nothing.” You said playing with his hands.

“God, I love you, how did I end up with you? I mean god I just love you. Let's get in bed. I wanna cuddle you, Right. Now.” He said turning you around and picking you up.

“Yes, sir.” You said clinging to him like a koala.

“Oh and babe, you got Shizumi and Saika mixed up.” He said into your hair.

“GOD DAMMIT”

[remmushound]

Mud Dogz Rising, chapter 2: Daniel

The Lotus family were one of the most influential families in the Hidden City, with a bloodline dating back to almost four hundred years B.S (that is, Before Shredder). Though near every rat in the city could be traced back to the first Lotus immigrants five hundred years ago, the only ones with any true power was always the oldest son, whose father was the oldest son, and grandfather was the oldest son, and so forth. The current sire had six daughters and six sons, and the youngest of the brood was a tiny runt of a rat named Daniel.

Though he was constantly surrounded by brothers and sisters and servants, Daniel often preferred to play alone. Being only one of so many, it was easy for Daniel to slip away while his littermates were getting ready for bed, and out into the garden unattended he went. There was a massive fence around the garden to seal it off from the rest of the undignified yokai on the other side of it; at least, that’s what Daniel’s dad always called them, so Daniel would too! The yard was littered with things to do, and it didn't take long before his searching brought him to a discarded soccer ball laying in the flower bed.

Playing by himself meant that there was no chance of his bigger brothers and sisters bullying their way into his game. He could play at his own pace, using his own rules, and there was no one around to tell him otherwise! The game he chose to play was a simple one: bouncing the soccer ball off of the titan-shaped statue at the center of the water fountain! The ball would bounce back to him, and he’d toss it back, and it would bounce back again. The game was simple and stimulating and entertaining! At least, it was until a misthrow sent the ball flying into the sky and over the garden wall.

“Aw…” Daniel’s ears went down and he whimpered, “I liked that ball…”

The rat stared at the wall for several moments longer before looking around. There were no guards that he could see, no servants. No one to snitch on him if he were to, for example, sneak over the wall to retrieve his lost ball. The ivy was certainly high enough for him to climb, and it would be for a few seconds. Just long enough for him to get his toy…

Climbing the wall was a lot harder than he had expected it to be; his body was designed for climbing, but that didn't mean the first time wasn’t difficult. Up and over the ten foot wall he pulled himself, and when he got to the top he strained the length of his neck trying to find any way down. He leaned a little too far and instead of the soft descent he had been trying to achieve, he fell fast and landed hard with an undignified squeak.

The breath was knocked from his chest with the stinging impact, making him cough as he struggled to find his feet. The sidewalk beneath him was incredibly dirty and had left a stain in his new pearly clothes! With a whine of terror, imagining what his parents might do to him if they found the stain, he did his best to wipe it away with his paws. That only seemed to make things worse, and then he saw how icky his paws were. How gross all of him was! He had to get it off somehow! He tried to shake it off, but it clung stubbornly. He tried to groom it next, but every swipe of his tongue was so gross that he couldn’t do more than three, and there was still so much more of him that needed cleaning!

Then he saw his ball, and all thoughts of needing to get clean were quick to fade away! His ball wasn’t very far at all, and without another thought the boy was running across the street to get to it. He didn't notice the speeding cart coming until the rider screamed at him to move out of the way. By then, it was too late for him to do anything but turn and stare with widening eyes as he froze in terror.

The cart struck him hard, his tail caught in the wheels to further drag him along the dirt road with a painful, searing burn until the cart was able to stop. Daniel was screaming by that point, his tail painfully tangled and body battered and bruised, but thankfully not pinned. His ear was bleeding a lot now and throbbing too, and swiping a paw over it felt weird. The rider jumped out of the mystically-imbued cart and, though Daniel reached out to the yokai expecting help, all he got was anger.

“What are you, suicidal?!” The yokai growled, grabbing Daniel by his collar and yanking him out with no care for the wrapped state of his tail. The tail came loose with the force of the grab, but not without significant pain that made Daniel cry out even louder. The yokai shook him hard. “Stay out of the damn street!”

Daniel was crying of both fear and pain. No one had ever spoken to him like that and he couldn’t imagine why they would! He was the one who got hurt and he getting yelled at, and now his clothes were all dirty and he hurt and he still didn't have his ball! His fur stuck up at all ends and now his tail was all bendy and he was missing some of the fur on his side.

“Where are your parents?!”

Daniel, shaking, raised a paw to point at the mansion. The Yokai had to do a double take at the grandeur of the place before his attention turned fully to Daniel with narrowed eyes.

“You live there?”

“Yeah…”

The Yokai bit his lip. He looked down both sides of the street, making sure he wasn’t being watched, before he picked up Daniel by his clothes.

“Come on.” He shoved the rat into his cart and Daniel was in too much pain to argue, “today’s my lucky day.”

***

“Doku!” Madam Daishi hurried toward her husband, her expression distorted in fear and her hands quickly as she held the letter tight enough for her knuckles to turn white. Her fur was a pale, snowy white with black patches doted throughout to make her look almost like a Dalmatian, one particular patch on her forehead like a heart, “Doku!”

Her husband turned to her with a confused expression on his face, “Daishi, what is wrong?” He was a simple, dark brown rat with black eyes.

“It is Daniel!” There were tears in her eyes, worry melting through her voice as she appealed to her husband and handed him the letter, “Someone has taken him! They want money for his return.”

Doku looked over the ransom, his face unreadable. “Seven hundred thousand yen…”

“We have the money— we must give it to them!” Daishi insisted, “We must get Daniel back.”

Doku didn't react. He gave a low hum and then crumpled up the paper carelessly. “No.”

“No? What do you mean no?”

“That much money is not worth Daniel. He is not first born.” Doku tried to walk away, but his wife stopped him.

“He is our son!”

“We have five others.” Doku met evenly, “And we’ll have more. The twelfth born is worth nothing.”

~~~

Daniel didn't know what was happening. He was still hurting and he was still bleeding. He was supposed to be going home after daddy gave the bad yokai the money— why wasn’t he going home? Why was he still here, in this crowded, heated space with all of these other rats? There were so many of them, all stacked in wire cages that hurt their feet and wouldn’t let them stand. Daniel hated it. He wanted to go home! It had been days, and he was desperately hungry, and the air stunk of ammonia and filth.

The bad yokai was back, and this time he had another yokai with him; a fox yokai. Daniel didn't know what they were talking about because they were whispering, but he didn't like how the fox yokai in the nice suit was looking at him. The next thing he knew, he and several other rats were being carried away in their cages and loaded into a big cart together, their enclosures stacked on top of each other and held down with ropes and tough knots.

The cart started to move. As it rolled down the streets, Daniel saw other yokai and children like him and he tried to call out to them for help, but it was like they couldn’t even see him! Still he tried, and he tried and tried some more.

“Kid.” Said the rat yokai in the cage under him, his pelt a dingy, grayish color. “Don’t waste your energy. They don’t care about us.”

“B-but I gotta go home!” Daniel said, and then he yelped when the cart hit a bump and the rope securing him shifted slightly. “Please, I’m not supposed to be here!”

“None of us are!” The older rat snarled, “You think any of them care?”

“Do you know where we’re going?”

“I have a pretty good idea.” The rat muttered bitterly. His dark eyes turned back to Daniel, and then to the shifting ropes. It looked like they hadn’t been secured properly. If one cage was freed, then… “Hey kid. You got a family, right?”

“Y-yes sir.”

“And you wanna get back to them?”

“Y...yes sir…”

“Then I need you to reach through those bars and move that rope off of your cage. Now!”

Daniel yelped at the sudden demand, but did as he was asked. He reached his arm through the bars as far as it could go and was able to grab the rope, but quickly pulled back when his arm bent the wrong way.

“It hurts!” Daniel whined.

“Keep going!”

And so Daniel did. This time, he shoved his entire arm out up to his shoulders and pushed the rope in spite of the pain. The rope slid off of his cage with a pop.

“Okay… what now—?”

Before he got an answer, the cart hit another bump and Daniel’s cage was flung free. It flew through the air as if the cheers of the other rats propelled it, and then hit hard and then broke apart with several impacts. Daniel’s cage dislodging set off a chain reaction that caused each of the other cages to tumble free, one after the other, until all of the doors were popping free and the caged rats all ran for their freedom, Daniel included.