#I also made this for Amy's anniversary since it's coming up soon.

[piko-power]

Been feeling emotional lately and I wanted to write something based on my headcanon about Sonic and Amy's relationship. (This can be platonic as well if you want to view it that way. I don't mind!)

TW: Self-hatred, implied suicidal thoughts, and parental death (mentioned)

Quick note this takes place right after Frontiers and when Tails, Knuckles and Amy returned and also before The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog.

-

"Amy? I know this is probably a dumb question to ask, but..." He paused, ruffling his quills to find better words to ask. He really doesn't wanna sound completely stupid.

"I highly doubt that." Amy chuckled, looking away from the sunset to face Sonic. After taking care of some Badniks in the city, they needed a breather. She never knew that Sonic out of all people would invite her to watch the sun set in the horizon but is she complaining?

She gets to spend time with him, as usual, and got to watch the sunset. It's a win win.

"Whatever it is you want to ask me, I'm here to answer." She puts her hands together and smiled widely.

Gosh, why is she so darn sweet? The answer's obvious, but...

Sonic looked to his right for a moment before opening his mouth.

He feels incredibly uncomfortable, but it was too late to turn back. No matter how much he hates to ask, he needs to know.

He hopes he was right.

"Do you still love me?"

"..."

They both stared at each other. One waiting for a response, and the other caught off-guard by such question.

"...What?" She muttered, flabbergasted.

Sonic, you are you idiot, he scolded himself.

Amy tried to speak, but she was just so surprised. Eventually, she just, burst into laughter. Sonic was startled but the sudden laugh attack.

He never heard her laugh like this before. The loud little giggles and the occasional snort. It was kind of funny. He sort of laughed along with her, despite feeling like a dummy.

"I-I'm- HAHA! I'm s-so sorry, Sonic! I-I didn't mean to la-ha-haugh!" Amy tried to breathe but the laughs just keep coming. "Heheh, it's alright, I guess." Sonic chuckled, looking away from the wheezing hedgehog. He did sound stupid there, didn't he?

Amy took a few deep breaths, and wiped the tears from her eyes. Sonic crossed his arms, wishing he never asked that pathetic question. "So, the question was dumb?" He quietly asked, hoping that Amy won't respond to that one.

"No! No! Of course not, Sonic! it's just..." Amy took another deep breath. Opening her eyes, she can tell that Sonic was looking off to the distance, arms crossed and everything. She can tell he looked hurt somehow.

Reading the room, she became soft and approached him. "I promise you, I wasn't laughing at you." She spoke. "I just... Wasn't expecting you to ask me something like that."

"Honestly... Me neither." He shrugged, still looking away. "I thought is was obvious, so why ask?"

"...What's obvious?"

Sonic turned to face Amy, slightly surprised to hear that. "I... I thought you... Don't- I mean-! No, no, of course you still do-! But I don't know that-! But I know you, and I- ...I shouldn't worry about this kind of stuff." He rubbed his arm.

"I don't know, I was just... Thinking about some things lately and..."

Amy frowned. "Sonic...?"

"I'm sorry. Just... Just pretend I didn't say anything. It was dumb of me to ask. I shouldn't worry about that or anything relating to love." He spoke out the last word, trying to sound all grossed out about it. "I don't know what's up with me."

"Sonic-"

"I didn't mean to bother you, alright? I'll leave now." Sonic was about to run off when a hand grabbed him by the arm.

"WAIT!"

Sonic turned to see Amy, her grabbing a hold of him with worry in her eyes. He can tell she doesn't want him to leave.

She doesn't want him to leave her.

"Sonic... Of course I still love you." She said with a small smile. But the smile didn't last too long. "I just never thought you'd care about that."

Sonic blinked.

Releasing his arm, Amy backed away and adjust her headband, feeling nervous. Sonic walked back up to her to fix her headband.

They both looked at each other.

Amy looked down at her feet, feeling sad. "I... Never thought you actually cared."

Sonic's ears pinned. "I- Of course I do. I just- I just don't feel the same. You know that. Right?"

"I've always known."

There was a longer beat.

"Even as a kid, I've always known I can be very loud with my emotions. I just love to express myself." She said. "Throughout the years, I just wanted to follow you, and show you how capable I can be. That I can be... Your hero someday, or be... Useful."

"Whoa, whoa. Hold up. 'Useful?'" Sonic repeated the last word in shock. "What are you talking about, you've always been useful- You are the toughest hedgehog I know close to Shadow! Why would you think otherwise?"

She giggled sadly. "I don't know, I just... You always run away from me, even if I wanted to say something that isn't romantic for once. I'm not just a fangirl, you know."

"Hey, I knew that since forever. I know you mean well."

"Then why didn't you say anything? Why didn't you tell me that you liked me in the first place? Even if it's not, like, 'I feel the same for you' kind of like?"

"I..." Sonic was stuck, not knowing how to answer that. He really didn't know.

"If you said anything, maybe... I wouldn't have tried so hard. To convince you that I'm not just a little girl or whatever... That I... Actually have a purpose."

"Wait, what?" Sonic's ears went up for a moment. "'Purpose?' Amy, what are you actually talking about? Why are you saying all this?"

"Doesn't matter..." She mumbled, turning away.

"I think it does??" Sonic said, voice a little louder, wanting to get her attention. "Are you saying that you're not worth being part of the team? Because, lemme tell you right now, that is NOT true! I am grateful to have you here, Amy Rose!" He tried not to sound so demanding and harsh, but he just wanted her to listen.

"Never, EVER, think that you aren't worth being in this team! For years you ventured with us, becoming stronger and braver every time. Do you have any idea how proud I am of you?"

She didn't say anything. She could only look at the grass, holding her hands together.

"Heck, if it weren't for you, Shadow would never have helped us! You even befriended a robot and saved a Flicky's family for Pete's sake! You've done so much for not only us, but for the whole world, Amy."

She stayed silent.

"I can't believe you would think otherwise, after all of this time. Why? Why would you think that...?"

There was still no response from the light pink hedgehog. She just looked at the ground, refusing to face her hero.

"Amy... Please look at me... Why didn't you tell me any of this...?" Sonic spoke softly, taking a step towards her, almost placing her hand on her shoulder. "Is this why you were so quiet lately? Why you didn't go to your usual chases, or talk about our future?"

Amy blinked a few times, fearing he would quickly get the hint.

"You think that... You're not worth my time? Or anyone's time?"

She shuts her eyes.

"I thought you'd be better off without me..." She quietly croaked.

His eyes grew.

I thought you'd be better off without me?

Better off? Without Amy??

...Why??

"Amy, why the hell would you think that?!" He shouted. "For the past couple of days, I've been thinking about us when we were younger and how much you've changed. Ever since we defeated Infinite, I noticed some changes. You stopped chasing me around with that hammer of yours, you didn't even ask me out. I can't even remember the last time that happened."

Amy held her own arm.

"I can't even remember the last time you said you loved me."

She held her arm tight, almost scratching it.

"I thought... You, were better off without me."

Amy spun around with a gasp, tears glossed on her sea green eyes. "WHAT?! No, that's not true, Sonic!"

"I thought you've had enough of me. Back then, I thought I was too harsh. I knew you were nice and bubbly and have a big heart, but you just... Love me so much."

Amy looked away again, feeling upset at herself.

"Almost every time we came across each other, you want to go out or you wanna talk about our future together or whatever. I thought it was so weird. I'm not a romantic kind of guy, and I thought you were so..."

He stopped himself. He never wanted to finish that sentence. He doesn't want to say anything like that about her. He never wanted to, even when they were younger.

"...annoying?" Amy finished.

A small gasp escaped his mouth.

"N-No. No!" He stuttered. You're not annoying-!"

"YES I AM!" She screamed.

He jumped from Amy's shriek that echoed around the fields.

"What's make you think that I don't do any of those things anymore, Smart Alec?" She barked. "During the first few months of the Eggman War, I realized how extreme I really am to you and how all lovey dovey I can be and how obnoxious I was to you."

"You are not-"

"I'm not finished. She spoke up.

"Hearing word that you were presumably... dead, I was just... Not having a great time. At all." She held her arm again as she continued.

"During the time, I looked back at my memories with you. They were so bittersweet and wonderful to look back on, until... I truly understood how annoying I was to you, and possibly to a few people. I don't care if we were younger, it was still recent."

"Amy-"

"I was already feeling upset because of your loss, but opening my eyes on the person I became meeting you, I... I wanted to be stronger than that. More, special, than that. I want to be someone people can actually look up to. Someone people can actually love."

"Now listen here-"

"I AM NOT FINISHED, SONIC." She demanded calmly.

Sonic, running out of patience, just sighed. and listen.

"I tried. I really did." She continued. I tried so hard to get over you and focus on the war. I tried so how to stop loving you, but... When I tried, I just... Felt worse, somehow."

Tears came in once more when she looked at Sonic.

"It hurts me knowing that I have to force myself to give up on the one person who made me who I am today. I didn't want to do that, but I thought if I did, I'd be a better person."

"Ames..." Sonic muttered out her nickname. A nickname he came up with on the spot, unknowingly. His eyes were soft and sad.

"But I just... Couldn't. You just 'died,' and I don't want to do that! I don't want to stop loving you because you were the first person I met after-! ..."

She quickly stopped herself before going too far.

"After what?"

Welp, too late.

"...After I lost my parents." She said quietly, beginning to cry.

Something hurt in his chest. Very badly, after hearing that. She never talked about her parents before. Now he knows why.

"They were always there for me when times of tough, and they helped me even train with my new hammer, which my daddy made for me. Of course now it has some upgrades thank to Tails, but it was still nostalgic to me. They loved me very much and would do anything to keep me safe."

Crossing his arms and leaning slightly, Sonic sighed, listening to her story. He felt awful.

"I was only seven when I lost them. I was way too young. I hated thinking about it, but I remember them telling me to keep running and protect myself no matter what happens. Then I just, ran off. Leaving my parents with those robots."

Sonic gasped quietly. He knew what kind of robots she was talking about.

"I wanted to protect them from those robots but I felt so scared, even with my hammer. I didn't know what to do. I just ran away. Like a coward." She clinched her fists tightly, wanting so badly to kick her younger self in the face.

"Ever since, for almost a whole year, I blamed myself for the doing the one thing I wanted to do. Keep my family safe, in thanks of keeping me safe. I was by myself ever since. Though, I tried to find a new family. A new place. A new home, anything to make me feel happy again. But... No one would take me..."

Replaying the memories of strangers ignoring her plea from back then, to even some kids befriending her, only to leave her in the dust when she was in trouble, continuously stab her heart every time.

"No one. Literally no one would take me in. I was a loud, weak, sobbing mess to every person who had every right to walk pass by."

It hurts Sonic hearing her say that about herself.

"But as time goes on, I kept on walking. On my own, hoping one day I'll find my place. My new family. I found these tarot card one day and they cheered me right up. They were right up my ally. Then, one card... Heheh, you know exactly what was on that card."

He smiled slightly. "Sure do."

"It was how we met. On Little Planet. Then I met Tails and Knuckles. And ever since, I truly believed I found my new home. You guys, but especially you. You were the first person that I met after I lost my home, and I couldn't be more happier."

She smiled widely. "Not only did you change my life, but you saved it as well. That's just one of the many reasons why I love you!"

Then, she stopped, her smile fading away instantly. "But... When I got older, I became more aware of my actions and wanted to deal with it. But sometimes I set aside those worries, because, that's what you do best, right? No worries at all!"

"Yeah..." Sonic "agreed."

"But it never truly bothered me until we lost you. For months, I was having a horrible time, while trying to be there for the Resistance, being stuck between not wanting to give up my love for you, or just stay the way I am and not change at all. I feel... Stuck. And worthless, knowing that I don't know how to change for the better."

"Don't say that. You're not worthless." Sonic spoke. "You shouldn't kept all of this to yourself during that time. Did you at least talk to someone about it? Cream, Rouge, anyone?"

"No. I was too busy working and checking up with the rest of the rookies during the war." She continued. "Plus, I didn't want to worry anyone if I did anyway. They were worried about you, so what's the point?"

"Everyone was there for each other during that mess! You know darn well they'll be there for you when you need them most!" Sonic corrected in a harsh tone. "And we were there for you since forever! You really think your feelings don't matter?! You really think I don't care about you??!"

Amy was slightly scared by Sonic's yell, but she knew he wasn't being rude. "I-I..." She stuttered. "I don't know!"

"..." Sonic sighed was again, but sounding tired and fed up with the way Amy is treating herself right now.

"I really don't know. You were gone, everyone else was busy, I don't want to get in anyone's way, and I don't know if I should give up my love." She said. "Everything was going so fast in my head and I hated it. Every second of it. I just want my worries to go away. I just want you to get out of my head! I just want to be happy! I just-!!"

She gripped harder on her arm. Sonic quickly held onto her arm, wanting her to release it carefully. "Amy, stop! You're hurting yourself!"

"I just don't want to be alone again!" She sobbed. "I just wanted a family again!" I just want to be reminded that I'm important after so long! Why can't I have this?! Why can't I have any of this?! Why am I trying to hard when I'll just lose everything all over again?!"

"Amy, STOP IT!"

"Why can't I be better?! Why can't I change?! I just... I JUST WANT TO BE BETTER FOR YOU! FOR EVERYONE!"

"AMY!"

"WHY CAN'T I DO ANYTHING RIGHT??!"

"AMY ROSE!!"

Sonic yelled out her name loud enough for Amy to finally hear him. She looked up to see his face, full of anger and fear. He was letting out shaky breaths.

Great, Now look what she did. He's upset. And it's all her fault.

"God... What am I even doing... I should've have told you that stuff, but I just have to be honest..." She sniffled, looking down. "I really can't do anyth-"

"Stop." He barked. "Stop it. Right now."

"Don't tell me what to do."

"Don't you ever say those things again! You hear me?" He grabbed her arm up to get her to face him again. "Don't EVER say that again!"

"I-"

"EVER!"

Her lips quivered, and broke down into sobs again. "I'm sorry, S-Sonic. Please don't be m-mad at me."

"Amy, why didn't you tell me how you were feeling lately?! Or anyone?! Why would you keep this from us?! Why would think that you're not important?!"

"... ..." Amy just cried softly, refusing to say another word.

"Why would you ever try and give up on your love for me after all this time?"

"Because you don't love me."

...

...

The only thing that could be heard over the silence was Amy's heartbreaking cries. Sonic's head was racing with so many things to say but he just... Couldn't.

He held his hands on both of Amy's arms to try and comfort her, not knowing what to do with all this information.

He felt stuck as well.

"I'm sorry-"

"Stop saying that. It's not your fault. Okay?" He rubbed her arms in a little circle. "It was never your fault."

She was hiccuping more quiet sobs, still refusing to look at him. "I-I'm sor-ry, S-Sonic..." "No, no, no." Sonic spoke. "It's not your fault, Amy... You didn't do anything wrong, okay...? You just didn't know what to do..."

"I'm sorry..."

"You've done nothing wrong. You have nothing to be sorry about. You were brave back there and you still are. You are strong and you have a heart of gold. The biggest heart I've seen in fact." He continues on, rubbing her arms to comfort her.

"You've done so much. For us, and me. I am proud of you. We all are. Always. You are an amazing hero, Amy. You have no idea how important you are."

At that moment, the words she longed to hear, she broke down into louder sobs and fell to her knees, not being able to control her crying anymore. Sonic comes down to his knees and held her. Tight.

He hugged her.

He hugged her, for a long time.

He began rubbing her back, hushing softly.

"I want you to hear me, okay? I want to hear what I'm gonna say." He said. He couldn't see it, but he knew Amy nodded her head slowly. He took in a deep inhale...

"Amy, just because I don't feel the same, that doesn't mean I don't care. Okay?" He goes on. "But I do love you in my own way. I've always thought you were the most happiest, energetic person I've met in a long time. And even though I'm not the biggest fan of romance, I still enjoy your company."

Amy's cries has calm down at this point.

"We were younger. We were kids. I didn't understand that whole 'love' shtick and thought it was all yucky and stuff. But getting older, I know it won't change someone's life just to be with that someone. In fact, it makes that someone's life better. Some people aren't into relationships either, and that's okay."

Amy then sniffled loudly before Sonic continued.

"You are a great person, Amy, and you have no idea how lucky I am to have you here today. In a way, you pretty much saved my life too. You've came a long way to be the person you wanna be. I am proud of you. So, so proud of you. Okay? Don't forget that."

He rubbed her back again, soothing her cries and calming her down much better.

"Don't think that you're feelings don't matter, alright? I care about everyone's feelings, including yours. Regardless if I love you the way you love me, I'll do anything to make sure that frown goes upside down. I'll do anything to make sure you're happy."

He broke up the hug for a moment to face her, seeing all the tears dripping down her face like a small waterfall. "And another thing... I'm sorry if I made you believe that you don't matter. Like I said before, I've been thinking about how different we were towards each other and... I feel like I should make it up for you."

"Sonic..." Amy said hoarsely. "Don't say that. You weren't 'harsh' to me. We were young, like you said."

"I know, but..." Sonic said. "Hearing all of this now, all of the thing you kept from me..."

He sighed.

"It's kind of funny that we both wished to be better for each other, huh?" He chuckled weakly. "But... Listen, Amy... You did change for the better, both for yourself and for me. You've done so much right instead of wrong, alright? And after everything that happened, and after all this time, you still love me. That's pretty crazy..."

"Of course I do." She giggled quietly. "You've done so much for me. During that time in the war, it was a big struggle for me. I wasn't sure if I should keep going. Like, at all..."

His emerald eyes grew for a second. He caught what she meant by those last words. "Amy..."

"But... All I can think of was you. Your smile. Your bravery. Your big heart." Amy softly touched Sonic's chest where his heart is.

"For a while, I could only think about our relationship, but the last few months of that time, you yourself, and as an wonderful person, is all there is in my mind. If I give up, I think you wouldn't like that." She said, once again, holding her arm.

"No. I wouldn't." He held her arm gently and rubbed with with his thumb. "Don't tell anybody this, but back at the Death Egg, it was just basically me and my thoughts, and sometimes those stupid allusions that pop up to mess with me every month or so." He laughed.

"What?" Amy grew concerned.

"Anyway, during the first few months, I was thinking about our friends and wondering, hoping, that they'll be okay without me. I think back to our childhood sometimes. When I first met Tails, Knuckles and you. Some weeks my mind focused on Tails and how he's doing right now. Sometimes Knuckles. And even the Chaotix. I was even wondering what was Shadow's problem with me and why he joined Eggman. Granted, I was worried about him too."

"Sonic..."

"Then I thought about you. You, Knuckles and Tails were the ones I thought about the most, because... You all mean the world to me." Me said, his voice cracking slightly.

Amy's eyes lit up like stars.

"I thought I was being too hard on you sometimes, looking back at our moments. I thought maybe I made you believe that I... Hate you. But I thought it was ridiculous cause you know me! I get along with pretty much a lot of people! But sometimes... It's rare for my worries to catch up with me but when it does..."

Amy held Sonic's hand. He took notice and was surprised at first but looked up to see Amy's smile.

Haven't seen that smile in a while.

"Sonic. You were never hard on me. You were such a sweet hedgehog and you still are, even though I can be too much sometimes. You didn't make me believe that. I did that to myself, haha..." Amy said, giggling and wiping away her tears.

"You know, we have a lot in common after all."

"Yeah. I guess we kinda do." Sonic chuckled.

"We both don't want to worry anyone or even ourselves." They both said perfectly in unison.

Realizing that, they both laughed together. "Jinx! You owe me some Chaos Cola!" Amy said, unable to stop herself from laughing again.

After a moment, Sonic stopped to hear Amy's adorable laughter. He smiled, relieved to hear and see her smile and laugh again after all that drama earlier.

"Aw, where have you been Amy's smile? I've been looking everywhere for ya." He then booped Amy's button nose. "Boop!"

Amy squealed loudly. He never booped her nose before. "Oh, my Gosh!"

"Agh! I'm sorry!"

"No, no, no, it's okay! I wasn't expecting that!"

They both continued laughing for a while, just sitting on the ground with all their previous worries and concern washed away like it never happened.

It really has been a while since they bonded like this. They both needed this laugh. They both needed all of this.

Eventually, they calmed themselves down and relaxed, looking at one another.

Amy smiled. "Sonic?"

"Yeah?"

"Thank you. For everything."

He smiled as well. "You're welcome. Though, I should be thanking you too. For supporting me during my worst times. Your love and kindness means a lot."

They both back up on their feet and notice the sunset was gone. "Aw. It's over." Amy pouted.

"Hey, it's alright." Sonic said, placing his hand on her shoulder. "There's always next time! Of course, if you're not busy or whatever."

"Haha. Sure." She responded, her voice sounding much better already.

They both look out to the twilight sky, the sky being dark purple with a hint of blue and pink. "Also, uh, thanks for lending me a help back there with those Badniks."

"No problem! Anything to help out my darling Sonic!" She winked

"Pfft, wow, been a hot minute since you called me THAT." He said.

"What? Ya don't like it?" She teased.

"NO! I mean- Kind of- But it's not that I despise it!"

Amy cracked up once more. Sonic just rolled his eyes. "Whatever, dude." He laughed.

Amy sighed, feeling a whole lot better after what happened. She looked out to the horizon where the sunset was, then back at Sonic. "Thanks for taking me out here."

"Anytime. Been a while since I watched the sun set. Every now and then I like to slow down and just... Admire the most special things about life." He then said, looking right at Amy.

Her whole face goes red and her eyes grew huge.

"AAAAAAH!" She screamed, looking away and covering her face. "What? Was it something I said?" He teased back. "YOU ARE SUCH A DORK!" She squealed, causing Sonic to go into another laughing fit.

Sonic thought it will go badly when he asks a stupid question. It did, but only for a while. There were some tears but then everything was better again.

He hoped someday Amy can talk to him more about her feelings, and maybe he should tell others about his as well, since he doesn't talk about his time at the Death Egg that often.

And probably other stuff too.

He and Amy should hang out more often. He remembered that Amy's 14th birthday is coming up. He missed her 13th, so why not make up for lost time!

"Hey, your birthday is coming up soon. I'm going to assume that I'm invited?"

"Of course! I'm planning something very special, too! But you'll have to wait til the right date comes! It's a surprise." Amy winked again.

"Cool! I'll be there!"

She smiled widely, lucky to have met this blue hedgehog. "I know you will."

He smiled also, but rests his face for a moment to say, "Hey, can you promise me something?"

"Sure."

He held her hand.

"Whenever you feel down or if there's something you want to talk about, please come to me. Know that I'm always here for you."

She looked into the emerald green of his eyes.

"Always." He repeated.

Her eyes sting with tears for a moment, but she took a deep breath to relax herself.

She then placed her other hand on his, smiling. "I promise."

-

Happy Early 30th Anniversary To Amy Rose, One Of My Favorite Characters In The Franchise.

To those having a rough time right now, always remember that you are loved. You are special. I am proud of you. You've done so much and you're doing great.

Never give up, not even on yourself, because there a lot of people out there who care for you and love you. I have to remind myself this every day and I want to remind you too.

This year has been tough for a lot of people as of late but it's going to get better. It's gonna take a while but it's going to be better. I promise.

When negative thoughts hit, let is pass, and keep living.

[jazeswhbhaven]

At Summer's End, September Begins <3

(lmao at my fucking crappy quality thing I made)

Welcome to Fall, ya'll!

I know there's some new folks here so as per each monthly update here at some housekeeping rules:

It's chill here, but I don't tolerate any kind of foolishness including but not limited to: racism/homophobia/zoos/p3dos/harassment. If I catch you doin' something weird like that on the low, expect a block from me.

Requests are slow, so feel free to send 'em but it could take me a while to get to it. Please don't rush me <3

Don't bring your beef with another specific user in my inbox to indirectly call them out. I'm not a mediator.

Opinions about the game negative and positive are welcome here. I believe in folks venting. Also understand though that I may not answer it depending on my mood. I also have opinions of my own so very fair warning if you do want my honest input.

No minors interacting with any posts of mine on this blog. WHB is not only an adult game, but I cuss a lot and make a lot of inappropriate thirsts posts so this space ain't for ya'll sorry.

What's Happening This Month for My Blog??

Well, lmao. I kind of forgot my goals for last month because my blog was interrupted by being shadowbanned for a few days so it really threw me off. But here's what to loosely expect this month!

More Inbox Requests being posted

Reacts for: Michael's Christmas Story | 5 Kings Card | Recap React of Mammon's origin story

More sketches of Cain, for the love of fucking hell if I can sketch out a full body of Astra for ya'll I will

That's pretty much it??? I know I have to work on my Masterlist and organize it but for now it's very WIP. I also expect that there's a Gehenna Event coming up because we got the new boi Amy showin' up like he did. I mean that should be good since a lot of Satan stans have been missin' their man (Astra too, she's been in Niflheim and Tartaros a lot in my fic blurbs)

Am I really gonna go for Zagan's future L-card?

Yes. Unless it doesn't look like it would be worth it. I would hate it if my money were wasted on a subpar story and experience. I'm callin' it but I bet they'll do that evolve thing for him (maybe) unless they only do those for revivals?

A Little Shoutout for ya'll! <3

I just want to say I'm very appreciative for all the interactions, follows, my moots, oomfs, and enjoying me enjoying this rollarcoaster of a damn horni demon game. We're nearly close to the anniversary of it's release and there's been a lot that's happened so far. I pretty much shit on fandoms a bunch because I haven't really uh...had a good experience majority of the time, but it's been alright here. I may be speaking too soon because there's always something ain't it? Lol But at any rate, ya'll are lovely, creative, and I'm glad to be included.

Thank you for dealing with me and my crazy, your lovely admin~ ♡( •ॢ◡-ॢ)✧˖° ♡ʕ·ᴥ·ʔ

[hemmingslftv]

Hellooo, how are you? Could you write one using the 24 with ash? ^^

“You’d be a great dad” // A.I

Rating: T

Word count: 2.1k (sorry if it’s too long or too short)

Warning: swearing and a Frozen spoiler I guess but that’s it

Requested: based on the prompt 24 “you’d be a great dad”. Requests are open!

Author’s note: Hi! I’m really good lately, thanks for asking! I hope you’re doing well. So this is my first request ever, thank you very much! I don’t think it is my best work but I hope you don’t hate it and I promise I will do better next time. Also, I’m still getting used to writing in English so please if something is wrong feel free to tell me, any kind of feedback is appreciated. I’m sorry about the title but I couldn't think of anything better.

Masterlist

It was almost 7 PM and you were more than exhausted. It was your sister and his husband’s first wedding anniversary and you had offered to take care of their almost 3 years old daughter, Amanda, so they could spend the night alone. It seemed like an easy task at first. You loved your niece with your whole heart and you thought she liked you too, at least until today.

You had had lunch with your sister and Amanda at your place and then your sister left while Amanda was taking a nap. As soon as she woke up and realized her mum had left, she started to cry. You weren’t expecting her reaction, so you didn’t know what to do at first. You offered her some white chocolate ice cream that you know she loved, but she didn’t want it. You had put on one of her favorite TV shows but she didn’t seem interested at all. “I want my mommy” she yelled over and over again. You tried comforting her with everything you could think of but nothing seemed to work.

Almost an hour later, she fell asleep crying on your couch, You sighed relieved and covered her with a blanket, After taking aspirin to try to soothe your headache, you returned to the living room and decided to build a tent for whenever she woke up. When you were a kid, you and your sister spent hours building tents all over your house and playing hide and seek so you thought that maybe Amanda would enjoy it too.

By the time she woke up, you had everything set. Your mattress was on the floor and a few curtains and bedsheets were hanging from the ceiling. You had also set fairy lights all around the room.

“Y/N?” you heard Amanda’s tiny voice from the couch and approached her as soon as possible so she wouldn’t start crying once again. “Hey, baby, are you hungry?” You asked, having prepared for every possible request she had while she was sleeping. “No” she simply answered before sitting up. You could tell she was amazed by the lights as she was staring at them one by one. You smiled proud at yourself and you sighed hoping the calm would last this time.

“I thought maybe we could watch your favorite movie while laying on the floor if you want to”. Amanda stood up, took the remote from the table, and handed it to you. “Frozen” she said while she made herself comfortable on the mattress. You put on the movie and gave her some water she at first refused to drink but ended up giving in and drinking it. Everything seemed to go by smoothly until the scene where Elsa and Anna’s parents' boat sinks.

You had your eyes locked on Amanda from the beginning of the movie, making sure she was okay and you could see the pout starting to form on her face, You paused the movie and asked her if she was okay. “Is mum gone?” she asked starting to cry once again. You tried to hug her but she didn't let you.

“What? No! Of course not Amanda! She will be back tomorrow morning, your parents are just having dinner out, they’re not dead” you tried to explain, but it was too late, Amanda wasn’t listening. After twenty minutes trying to calm her, you didn’t know what to do anymore and you didn’t want to ruin your sister’s night so you tried calling your best friend but she didn’t pick up. There was only one other person you could think of, Ashton.

You and Ashton had been dating for more than half a year but had only made it official 3 months ago, so everything was still kind of new. That’s why you hadn’t thought of calling him straight away, you didn’t want to bother him and you didn't know if you were ready to introduce him to your family yet although your niece probably didn't count as introducing him to your family. You had met at a music store, you were looking for your first guitar, as you had been wanting to learn for a long time and he offered to help. You two had got along instantly and when he asked you for your number, you gave it to him happily. A few weeks later, he introduced you to the rest of the band and you fit so well in the group you were even surprised.

You sent Ashton a text first, not wanting to disturb him in case he was at the studio since they were working on a new album. After waiting not so patiently for about 4 minutes you decided to call him. He picked up at the third tone, “thanked god” you sighed.

“Hey babe, is everything okay?” he asked.

“No, are you busy?”

“I was just finishing the studio session, what happened? do you want me to come over?”

“Nothing happened, I’m fine. It’s just that Amanda won’t stop crying and I just don’t know what to do anymore” your voice cracked at the end, you were desperate.

“Who is Amanda?” Ashton asked, the confusion clear on his voice. You sobbed softly not being able to repress your frustration anymore. “Okay, you'll tell me later, don't worry. I’ll be there in ten, please don't cry, I love you”

“Thank you, Ash, I love you too” you hung up and went back to try to calm Amanda without success. As soon as you heard the bell you ran to open the door and you hug Ashton, hiding your face on his neck. He was quick to hug you back wrapping his arms around your waist and running his hands through your hair, You relaxed at his touch and after a few seconds, you were ready to speak.

“I’m sorry you had to left the studio early, I didn't know who else to call”

“You don't have to be sorry, you know you can always call me” he leaned in to kiss you and you couldn't help but smile, you felt so lucky to have him by your side. Amanda wasn’t crying anymore and as soon as you realized, you looked for her, afraid something might have happened but she was just sitting on the floor, her eyebrows knitted together while she looked at you.

“Hi Amanda, I’m Ashton” he said coming closer to her. You were prepared for her to start screaming but she didn’t. “Hello” was her only answer. “Ashton is here to play with us” you explained. “Ashton is your boyfriend, right?” Amanda asked with curiosity.

“Yes, he is. But he’s also a great friend of mine who is here to play with us” you repeated, making sure she understood he was a friend so she wouldn’t be afraid of him.

“I know he is in a band, can he play for us?”

“Well, I don’t know if he wants to, he's been working all day”

“I can play for you, could you bring me your guitar, y/n?” he said while sitting on the couch.

“Yeah sure, but you don't have to Ash, you must be tired”

“I know, but I want to”

“Okay” you said while you went to get the guitar. By the time you came back Amanda and Ashton were having a conversation about some TV show you had no idea existed and you smiled relaxing a little bit.

“Sorry to interrupt” you said stepping into the room and giving Ashton your guitar. You sat on the floor next to Amanda and you were able to sit her on your lap and hug her for the first time that day.

“What do you want me to sing?” he asked while tuning your guitar.

“Maybe an old one” you answered hoping he would accept this time, you used to be a fan of the group when they first started and you had been dying to listen to him singing one of his old ballads, but he never wanted to.

“Ugh, fine” he groaned, giving in, and you cheered making Amanda laugh. Her laugh was music to your ears, especially after all the crying and yelling from earlier. Every bit of tension that was still in your body disappeared as you heard Ashton starting to play “Wherever you are”. He played a few more songs and Amanda enjoyed every single one. She even got up to dance to some of them and she begged for one more after every song. After a while, you looked at your phone and realized it was almost 9 PM and Amanda hadn’t had dinner yet.

“Fuck” you muttered feeling guilty. Amanda gasped.

“You said a bad word” she said making Ashton laugh and making you blush.

“Yes, I’m sorry Amy, I won’t do it again. Do you mind staying here with Ashton while I make dinner?”

“I can make dinner babe” Ashton offered while standing up.

“No!” Amanda southed and she held onto his leg so he couldn’t keep walking “you stay, y/n makes dinner” she stated.

“Ouch” you said, kinda hurt by her words, “okay, stay here with uncle Ash, and please behave”

After having dinner, you sat on the couch watching Ashton and Amanda play with her dolls. You couldn't help but wonder why he hadn't had any trouble getting along with her and you had been trying to play with her the whole afternoon and it had been impossible. When you saw Amanda yawn, you decided it was time to go to bed. She asked Ashton to tell her a story and he did while you stood on the door of the room she was sleeping in, your heart melting at the sight of them. She fell asleep before the story ended but Ashton finished it anyway and made sure she was tucked in before placing a kiss on her forehead.

“I’m exhausted” you said once you were both sitting on the couch. You rested your head on Ashton’s shoulder and he put his hand on your waist bringing you closer until you ended up laying on the couch with your head on his lap. You turned to look at him, your back pressed against his leg. He smiled at you.

“You know you can trust me, right?” he asked, pulling a strand of hair out of your face.

“Of course, Ashton. I trust you”

“Okay then, why didn’t you tell me before? I’m not mad babe, just disappointed. I thought we knew everything about each other and it makes me sad that you kept this from me. Did you think I would leave you or look at you differently? You should know I'm not that kind of guy. I love you and support you no matter what” your confusion was growing with every word he said until you realized you hadn't told him who Amanda was. You sat up and turned to face him.

“Oh my god Ashton, did you thought she was my daughter?” Ashton nodded slowly “she’s my niece, oh god, I'm sorry you thought that. I was just taking care of her tonight. But what you said was sweet, I support you and love you too, always”

“That... makes sense. If I’m being honest I was a little bit scared” you started to laugh as you saw him relax.

“I wouldn’t have kept that from you, you know that. Besides, do you picture me as a mother? I mean, haven't you seen I’m a disaster?” he laughed at your words.

“You’re not a disaster, she probably just had a bad day”

“Well, she hasn't cried since you arrived so the problem was me” you sighed, starting to feel frustrated once again. Ashton hugged you, placing you back on your previous position.

“You’d be a great dad” you covered your mouth with your hands as you realized you had said it out loud and you blushed “that sounded a bit weird, I don’t wanna scare you away but you know, if we ever had kids, you would be a great dad, you were awesome with Amanda today” you tried to explain yourself.

“When we have kids, you will be the best mum” he said before leaning in to kiss you “I love you, y/n, you're not gonna scare me because you think I’d be a great dad, I’m planning on spending my whole life with you, and that includes having kids”

“Oh my god, Ash, what did I do to deserve you? You are the best, I love you. Thank you for coming, I don't know what I would do without you”

“I love you too, now let’s go to bed, you could use some sleep”

[the28thofseptemberr]

just like you: an analysis | part 1

the jly third anniversary was almost a whole month ago, so i know i’m definitely late to this, but... here is a post regardless :)

the “just like you” lyric video is full of hidden messages and hints - the fact that it has newspaper articles and clippings as the background is a clever concept that allows a lot of messages to be hidden. since there are so many possible places to hide hints, i may not be able to cover them all, but here are some that fans have found.

first of all, there’s a lyric that says “and when i’m down i need somebody to talk to”, and in the video this appears:

there’s a “H” in the background, which forms the sentence, “and when i’m down i need H”. so who is H? we all know who H is - harry. this is reinforced by the fact that harry usually signs his tweets as H:

let's talk about the meaning of the lyric. “and when i'm down i need somebody to talk to” - this “somebody” is probably harry. so when louis is down, he needs to talk to harry, and harry will comfort him and make him feel better. note the use of words - need, not want. louis needs harry. i don't know about you but i find it just kind of beautiful and sweet because it shows they're always there for each other.

moving on.   

you can clearly see that the “s” in “she” is detached and is separate from the rest of the word. it's basically a “he” but with an “s” attached. the full lyric is “i wanna lay where she lays”, but according to the visuals, louis wants to lay with a male partner (probably harry), but has been forced to turn “he” into “she”.

also, note that the eye below the “s/he” is a green eye. and who has green eyes?

harry has green eyes. meanwhile, eleanor has hazel eyes:

so louis put his husband's eyes in his lyric video, not his girlfriend's.

a quick little fact - aside from black and white, the primary colors used in the video are blue and green (also some red, which i think is louis' favorite color). you can see this from the thumbnail of the video, which features blue and green:

the song and the lyric video circles around the media. in the lyric video, the lyrics are all newspaper cuttings and the background of the video are newspaper articles. if you look closely, the newspaper articles in the background talk about the lgbtq+ community, black lives matter, and also shades the music industry.

for example, an article appearing in the video talks about black lives matter:

and this one discusses feminism and the lgbtq+ community:

bear in mind that the music videos are made with the artist's consent, which means that louis saw every single article put into the music video and agreed to them. it's not a coincidence or a mistake, louis approved all of these articles.

throughout the video, louis also inserts a few references to george michael, like he did here:

george michael was an artist that had a lot in common with louis. they were both in a huge boyband, they both went solo, they both signed their contracts at 18, they both love amy winehouse, etc.

george michael was forced to be closeted for many years, and he said it put a lot of mental stress on him. in the song, louis sings "i'm just like you", which could also be interpreted as singing it to george michael, aka he's just like george michael. as i said before, they have many things in common, but mainly they were both forced into the closet. george michael was signed under sony, and so is louis - george had a legal battle with his record label (this is mentioned in one of the newspaper articles), but lost and ended up having to buy his way out of it.

here’s another picture from the video:

this appears when louis sings "if i had it my way." in the background is an article about george michael, which contains the words "come out" and "his boyfriend." so, if louis had it his way, he and harry would come out.

and in the background of this shot, there’s an article mentioning washing machines:

and... well.

here’s another picture:

in case you can’t see it, the article says “two weeks before they can return home.” sound familiar? us larries know about the two week rule, which basically states that louis and harry try not to be apart for more than two weeks (i'll be making a post about this soon).

the article says that it will be two weeks until they come home. in harry's song, canyon moon, he sings "two weeks and i'll be home." “home” is another larry thing, as louis wrote a song called home, harry sung "you bring me home" in sweet creature, louis' compass tattoo points to “home”, etc.

i don't know if this means anything, but the style the lyric video is in (the newspaper clippings making up the words) is the style typical ransom notes are made in. maybe this could signify that louis is being held hostage (not literally) by his management. this is sort of a reach though.

anyway. that was part one! part two will be up sometime... hopefully soon lol. let me know what you think!

[welcometotheocverse]

Marvel OCs ( wip )

Name: Nico Ikol

Story:

Faceclaim: Logan Lerman

Summary: Let’s get one thing straight, Nico was absolutely not some kinda norse god Okay? Nor the reborn version of one or whatever. They were just a normal kid. 

Okay so they sorta had a knack for getting people to agree with them and fine they’ve been having dreams about a blonde man with way too long hair and lightning and then there’s the whole...powers thing.

But I mean, aside from that.

And oh yeah the guy from their dreams is at the door claiming he’s their lost long brother. 

Name: Ruth Parker

Story: tbd

Faceclaim: Rowan Blachard

Summary: Ruthie Paker has been dubbed her brother’s shadow from the first time they arrived at their aunt and uncle’s doorstep. The siblings have been together through everything; their parent’s deaths, their adoption by their aunt and uncle, their uncle’s death. It was the Parker kids against the world.

So when Peter starts acting weird Ruthie’s the first ( and it starts to dawn on her, the only one) who notices.

Name:  Astrid Odinsdotter

Story: tbd

Faceclaim: Dove Cameron

Summary: Loki wasn’t the only child stolen from a battlefield. Nor was he the only one Odin and Freya raised as their own. Astrid was raised along side her brother as the princess of Asgard unware of her parentage; but her world gets thrown into utter chaos first when her brother is exiled to Migard and then when her true parentage is brought to light.  

Name: Grace Wilder.

Story: tbd

Faceclaim: Kat Graham

Summary: tbd ( takes place in Runways) 

Name: Isabelle Nyx

Story: tbd

Faceclaim: Holland Roden

Summary: Heir apparent to Nyx Incorporated, Isabelle like all of the PRIDE kids seems to have it made. Never mind the fact that her best friend killed herself or that her friend group fell apart soon after. 

On the anniversary of Amy’s death, Isa tries reaching out to her former friends but out of everyone, Alex Wilder seems to be the only one interested in mourning Amy with her. She’s surprised when the others join them, and even more surprised by what they find out.

“Fuck our parents. How about we actually run away.”

Name: Michelle -Miche- De Santos

Story: tbd

Faceclaim: Siena Agudong.

Summary: Miche  knows the church of  the Gibberin is evil, knows that they paste on happy grins to prey on runaway kids. She knows because they killed her sister. The problem is no one believes her. It doesn’t matter though, she’s not gonna stop until she figures out how to make people see the rich assholes for the evil they are.

Except that she wasn’t planning to find the very children of the people she’s sworn vengeance against. 

And apparently, they ran away.

Name: Lucille Harkness.

Story: tbd.

Faceclaim: Amber Benson

Summary: Lucille knows about Agatha Harkness, how could she not. She grew up on stories of the witch that betrayed her coven ( Lucille’s coven) and committed the most atrocious of acts against their own during the time of the Salem trials. Agatha’s name was whispered in Lucille’s family, a warning of how reaching for forbidden knowledge could corrupt; a horror story of the witch who slaughtered her own kind without a care in the world. 

Still she never expected to find any trace of her in her lifetime, never expected Agatha to be more than whispers and campfire side stories, much less find out she’s in  a bubble of  Chaos Magic in a small town in New Jersey. 

Name: Nancy Keener

Story: The Mechanic

Faceclaim: Sadie Sink

Summary: tbd

Name: Tracey Stein.

Story: tbd

Faceclaim: Sophie Lillis

Summary: Tracey has known her dad was evil since he beat her brother over a B-. She’s also known better than to think anyone would believe her. Except for of course her brother. They both knew it, they covered for each other, protected each other and that was enough. Even when their social group expanded to include the other PRIDE kids, it had always been her and Chase against the world. When Nico’s sister died and their little friend group falls apart it’s still the two of them against the world. 

And then on the anniversary of Amy’s death the siblings find themselves at Alex Wilder’s house of all places. Turns out her dad’s not the only evil asshole in their parent’s little social club. Turns out all their parents are.

Turns out they have to runaway. 

Name: Gwendolyn -Wendy- Maximoff

Story: tbd.

Faceclaim: Millie Bobby Brown

Summary: Finding out her brother was a mutant and that the men who came to look for him when she was five years old, finding out she herself was a mutant, finding out there was a special school for mutants. Gwendolyn Maximoff thought the weirdest parts of her life were behind her. She’s starting to settle in at the institute, starting to call it home, and she has her big brother with her which is the most important night.

Then overnight Peter disappears. Months go by with Hank and the professor poring over resources and Wendy wondering when her brother might come home. When they finally find him she demands to be the one to go find him.

As it turns out she might be the only who can; and that’s how she finds herself in Westview New Jersey...on an entire different dimension. 

Name:  Kamila Maximoff

Story: ( Love ) Persevering 

Faceclaim: Malina Weissman

Summary: Kamila lives in Westview, a little town in New Jersey where nothing out of the ordinary ever happens. Kamila lives with her older sister Wanda and Wanda’s boyfriend Vision who might as well be her father for all intents and purposes. Life s simple in Westview, Kamila wakes up every day and goes to school. She helps babysit her little cousins and gets help for her advanced courses from Viz. She and Wanda are as close as ever...she thinks.

Kamila doesn’t always remember what she learned in school. Their neighbor Agnes gives her the creeps. She doesn’t remember the twins turning 1, or 2, or 3. She doesn’t know why Wanda’s the closest thing she’s had to a mother but she is. She wakes up screaming sometimes with nightmares of Vision’s body and her sister screaming and turning to dust. She feels like time isn’t passing and is passing too fast at the same time. She remembers things..things that never happened. ( why would she ever be in sci-fi YA novel looking lab? Why would Wanda?) 

Kamila lives in Westview New Jersey with her family; in a suburban little town where nothing ever seems to happen. But she’s starting to think their lives are anything but boring. 

Name: Anne Rogers

Story: tbd

Faceclaim: Sarah Michelle Gellar

Summary: Steve Roger’s genetic clone. Shield’s pet project. Avenger’s Family Member. Darcy Lewis’ girlfriend. Anne’s gone through a lot of changes throughout her existence. And a lot of loss. 

She refuses to have Darcy be one of them.

“I’m not gonna ask again assholes. Where the hell is my girlfriend?”

Might end Tyler Hayward’s entire career and existence.

Name: Audra  Ward.

Story: tbd

Faceclaim:  Zoey Deutch

Summary: Audra doesn’t remember much before her brother gained custody of her as baby. That’s what happens when your grandparents and uncle are a load of abusive assholes ( that much Grant did tell her) She doesn’t know what led to their deaths, how Grant was able to find her and gain custody when he was a teenager himself. She doesn’t know anything other that the life they build together after.  Still she has her  brother, and school,  and her life is...well not normal. One does not simply have a normal life with a brother who works for S.H.I.E.L.D but all in all her life is good. It’s her and Grant against the world, and she has a plan to graduate early and find her own calling helping to keep the world safe from H.Y.D.R.A. like her big brother does. 

Then Grant’s team finds a break in  tracking down a hacker and her life gets decidedly  more messy.  

Other Plot bunnies:https://welcometotheocverse.tumblr.com/post/651928008282816512/marvel-plot-bunnies

[letsperaltiago]

we'll turn this better thing to the best

HAPPY MAY 15TH, EVERYONE!

Prompt #57: "This is probably a bad time, but marry me?"

This is just me not being able to resist writing something about Jake and Amy celebrating (or trying to) their 3rd anniversary as a married couple. This is also me, yet again, beating around that smut-bush, huh??:))

Or 

Jake and Amy try to have a sexy anniversary-morning, but Mac Santiago-Peralta has other plans 

Read here or on ao3!

Nothing could ever come close to beating, even marginally, waking up to Jake Peralta already having his arms around middle in the lulling position that was spooning the length of her body like a perfectly fitting puzzle piece: a leg nudge in between hers while the other wrapped around them and his fingers mindlessly playing with the hem of her shirt. 

The appreciation for the current state they were in was especially appreciated and heartwarming when it was taken into consideration that there’d been multiple, horrible parts of their timeline where he hadn’t been around to do so.

Everything from the sudden chaos of being sent into WitSec with Holt to him and Rosa being falsely convicted were periods they both tried to not think of and dwell on. But of course, given the powerfull impression these times in their lives had made on them, it was sometimes hard not to compare; hard not to feel that much better simply because Jake was around and not taken from her anymore. They always made sure to appreciate the other, even during eventual fights or disagreement, and if they had to say one “positive” thing about the involuntary distance WitSec and prison had forced upon them it was that it had definitely only made them grow even fonder and stronger.

So this year, another year of waking up in his arms on what she knew was an extra special day, she obviously felt crazy butterflies zooming around her belly and snuggled back closer into his hold on her with still closed eyes and a tiny content smile on her face.

This year’s anniversary had to be enjoyed for its small, tiniest moments, she knew. There was no time nor energy, they’d agreed, for grand gestures and outings when this May 15th all at once held the same special sentiment as previous year yet also a completely new range of feelings.

Today, for the past three years, May 15th had been a special date which held a dear place in both Jake and Amy’s hearts as it reminded them of the day that sealed their love for eternity. Although this year, their third anniversary, May 15th 2021 to be exact, was simply a tiny bit more special than usual: this year they weren't just the two of them - this year they had a teeny tiny son and he was as soft and sweet as he was time-craving and a tiny character of his own. Especially on a day like today, filled with an extra dash of love and reflecting upon the past, life before Mac seemed vaguely blurred: not in a bad way per se, just not as perfectly chaotic and wonderful as now that Mac Peralta was around.

Amy, still somewhat half-sleeping, quietly relished in her husband’s affectionate embrace and in the thought of having her entire world, Jake and baby-Mac, within the four walls of her home on a special day like this, but nonetheless also made sure to give some extra appreciation to the fact that Mac had been sleeping since she last fed him before bed last night. Considering the intense teething period he was currently going through that was truly a miracle she did not dare to fully believe in, but perhaps, just maybe, her little one could sense that it was mommy and daddy’s day today.

The feeling of her husband switching a bit in his spot against her back paired with a pleased sigh caught her attention hinting at the fact that he was surely somewhat awake, and though Amy wanted him to enjoy the tiny amount of sleeping in Mac they were currently offered, she also happened to crave his woken presence, deep brown eyes and loving smile.

“Happy 3 years of childish, distracting marriage…” as if on cue, having read her thoughts, Jake mumbled tiredly into the back of her head before reposition himself closer to have his head rest in the crook between her shoulder and neck nuzzling his nose tiredly into the side of her face.

Gosh, she loved him so much it still, even after 6 years together, came crashing down on her like a huge wave of giddiness and first date-feelings. She smiled to herself at his congratulations. “Dito. It’s been 3 great ones, huh?”

“It has..,” He yawned loudly, “… Especially when our son decides to sleep in like this.”

“Especially then, yes,” she huffed out a small laugh sharing the sentiment even though the fact that her baby very rarely needed night feeds anymore also meant he was growing up - too fast, if you asked her. Her barely 7-month old was wonderful and both parents had the time of their lives watching him grow up. Yet it was no lie that from time to time it’d hit Amy just how fast, almost by the day, her son grew, learned a new skill and became more of a an actual person. Sometimes even to an extent where it’d overwhelm her leaving her feeling borderline… sad? Even though it had been exhausting for the first few months, and still was from time to time, she also now kinda missed the little things like the ritual of breast-feeding. She loved sleep but loved the primal, instinctual feeling of nursing her son, even more the closeness that came with it, more.

“What time is it?”

Jake’s groggy voice snapped her out of her tumbling train of thoughts and forcing her to open her eyes to check the clock on her night stand.

“6 AM which means-“

Jake knew what his wife was about to say, but beat her to it and changed then and there somewhat narrative of their morning.

“Mac should be waking up anytime soon, I know but, babe, let him stay in bed till he asks to be picked up… Perhaps this is the morning we get lucky?”

Amy wanted to question what exactly that was supposed to mean but he beat her to it an said question was quickly answered by her husband’s warm lips sending thrills down her spine with the way they gently placed small, tender pecks to where his head had previously rested. Immediately she felt her body perk up in reaction to this and the heavy, tired feeling from before was gone within a matter of pecks. Alas, in the back of her mind, Amy knew and was still somewhat aware of three things:

One: where she wanted this to go

Two: where this could take them

Three: where her son was sleeping just 20 feet from their bed

“Jake,” the full-on whine that came out of her as provoked directly by his kisses was ascribable to two facts:

Firstly that, yes, she of course reacted by the book to her husband’s touches. But also, secondly, and if not more realistically, the fact that their sex-life had definitely simmered down for the past months - that’s what having a baby will do to you - and that it really didn’t take much for either of them, even less than before, to get foolishly, easily impassioned by the other’s intimate cues. One kiss, just a bit deeper than the casual peck, was apparently enough to throw all sense of control out the window.

If they used to be turned on by the other as effortlessly as faucets then they could now definitely be compared to gardens hoses playfully twisted by a kid’s hand as to block the water surge: bu with one move, the letting go of the hose, the water flow would pick right up where it’d been blocked within a matter of milliseconds and there was no stopping the powerful rush.

By then his hands, having previously rested on the soft remains of her baby bump that she tended to feel insecure about but he, on the other hand absolutely loved, had moved up under her night shirt only to continue to her breasts which definitely didn’t help her stay cool in the moment.

“Babe… ” she whined again even though she also definitely did not put  up her strongest fight: she loved nursing her son, and although the two matters were far from comparable, she would also be the last one to complain about Jake benefiting from her breast in… other ways.

“… Mac is in the room.”

“We can be quiet,” his pecks had evolved into love bites and passionate suckles the minute his hands made their way under her shirt, and by now it seemed like they’d reached the point of no return - sleeping baby son only feet away and all.

“You know we can’t,” she breathed heavily voicing her gradual subjection to the development of the moment while simultaneously trying to stay aware of her surroundings. Alas in vain and only to come to terms with having miserably, doubtlessly failed the second Jake managed to flip her to her other side thus enabling him to push her onto her back and using his weight kiss her even more deeply than before.

“Well…” he chuckled allowing himself a short break from her lips to speak although, obsessed and addicted, making sure to pick up where he left up as soon as his talking allowed a natural pause.

“… Either that or we’ll have to explain to our baby son why mommy and daddy were making weird noises in bed.”

“Jake!” she exclaimed at this statement, the hypothetical scenarios in her head getting too real, causing Jake to react right away by pulling away using his arms to hover his weight over her thus allowing her some space and them to look get a proper look at each other.

Suddenly his before aroused expression was replaced by a note of concern in both his eyes and voice. “I’m so sorry! We can totally stop if you don’t want to go any further. I didn’t mean to cross a line.”

Amy herself paused momentarily, mostly out of surprise since their mutual consent, after having been in a relationship so long, was rarely explicitly verbalised: generally being very attentive of the other during sex and knowing the other’s body and signals so well they could easily tell when to stop and when to move forward. Unless they were straight up experimenting and treading unknown land, their intimate moments had rarely to never caused this kind of sudden halts. So seeing this extra considerate side of her husband, although she never doubted that it was there to make her feel safe, made her heart flutter momentarily reminding her of the feeling of Mac’s tiny kicks inside her womb months ago.

“Hey, don’t worry,” she reassured him by reaching up to run her fingers through his curls aka. an attribute of Jake’s which their son (to her very immense satisfaction) had inherited. “I know you meant well and I didn’t mean to proclaim like that,” she made sure to throw on her warmest smile and eyes to reassure him. “I was just being weary of Mac, but I think I need to allow myself some…not very mommy-like pleasure.”

He smiled letting her speak out.

“Also I just, like completely out of nowhere, remembered reading this article pointing out that babies this young won’t actually… ” she tried to form her point in her mind whilst her husband looked at her with an amused smile on his face “… like, they won’t be affected by it so, I guess we could…”

How come she all of the sudden, as a woman in her late 30s, suddenly felt like a silly teenager when talking about something as natural to them as sex?

“Honey,” he disrupted her internal spiralling running a hand through her hair the way she’d so lovingly done just seconds ago. He trailed and picked at it where was spread out across her pillow with his fingers as his amused grin took on a more comforting nature. “We don’t have to do anything you don’t feel comfortable with, okay? Today’s date, and the fact that your butt will forever be the bomb, just got me caught up in the moment. But I totally get it if you feel weird doing anything with Mac around and you shouldn’t have to compromise that - even for me. It’s more than okay,” he lowered himself to peck her forehead before refocusing on her face and what she was about to say.

And how she loved him even more for always taking into consideration her feelings and reactions, even after 6 years together, but something about his strong arms flexing under his weight on either side of her head, his ruffled-up curls and already saturated, glowing even, pink lips made something in the back of her mind click. She quickly did the math in her head:

Mac was still an infant lacking anything near the ability to understand the nature of the sounds his parents were making and the concept of sex. He was feet away, safe in his crib with no direct outlook on them, and all of this was not even taking into consideration that he was still fast asleep. It was now or never - or so it felt like.

“Jacob Santiago-Peralta,” her eyes suddenly switched to a shade of dark, almost black, brown Jake hadn’t seen in quite a while immediately causing more than just his eyes to bulge. “We’re definitely inaugurating our third year as a married couple and we’re doing it now.”

And seeing a more than convincing look on his wife’s face Jake didn’t have to be told twice before crashing their lips together, resuming him repositioning himself between his wife’s thighs to give her sacred body, the one that carried their son for 9 months, the love it so very much and rightfully deserved.

Within minutes the very limited pieces of clothing they slept in were discarded, thrown carelessly onto the bedroom floor as if they were discovering each other for the first time, and after a reasonable amount of foreplay (mostly timewise since Mac waking up was just a matter of minutes) Jake painted a trail of sloppy kisses along his wife’s sleek collarbone as he, after a lot of shifting and moving around during preceding sexy actives, repositioned himself one last time.

Under the weight and spell of his naked body, physically and metaphorically,  Amy was desperately writhing having thrown all sense of control and modesty out the window a long time ago and grasped onto his upper back in a demand for more and an urge she’d put aside so many times these past months for the sake of dedication to being a mother.

“God, please don’t laugh at me when I definitely, ‘cause I will, finish within 5 minutes,” she finished her sentence with a moan as he bit down on the skin spurring her collar bones. Perhaps 5 minutes was even an optimistic exaggeration when her body already felt on the urge of exploding and he hadn’t even entered her yet.

She could tell her very honest comment earned her a soft chuckle, but she was too far gone and caught up in a whirlwind of pleasure to care plus, even if it would only last minutes, she just needed her husband inside of her now.

“5 minutes sound incredible, Ames,” he breathed out frankly not even minding the fact that their before very vigorous stamina had definitely gone downhill since having Mac. Instead he simply appreciated his favorite feeling in the world which, since the day he got to feel it for the first time, was the one of Amy Santiago wrapped around him.

Though he would never give it up permanently for anything in the world, even incredible sex with his incredible wife, he was just as excited as her to slip out of his father-role for what would probably end up being just a matter of 20 minutes in total or so. He was breathing heavily, growling, as he redirected his lips to hers where he hoped to, although the method had been proven faulty before, quell her upcoming sounds of pleasure.

“I love you,” she claimed out of breath bracing herself for the wonderful stretch she knew was approaching by the second.

“Love you too,” he sloppily replied between kisses. “So much,” was added in closing of the exchange of words of love as he braced and steadied himself for the initial thrust.

Then, planted so horribly perfectly that they could’ve sworn they were taking part in a movie, a cry cut through the thick intimate tension without delay bursting the bubble Jake and Amy had formed around themselves in the heat of the moment.

Becoming a parent came with the incredible ability to completely switch your focus within matter of seconds and thus react to whatever need your baby called out for. Right then and there was a perfect example, and though picking up where they’d come to, which was so close, seemed dangerously tempting they both knew there was no way they were actually going there.

They were a married couple wanting to celebrate each other and their love, yes, but first and foremost, even more importantly, they were parents.

Jake carefully bent his arms not needing the leverage anymore and lowered himself onto his wife before rolling onto his back besides her. Both started blankly into the air for second, almost unknowingly recreating the scene after their first time together, not saying anything but burning with repressed lust on the inside.

Then they broke into a collective chuckle.

Amy turned onto her side to look at her husband’s profile, taking it in before he imitated her action and they were left staring into each other’s eyes with knowing, amused expressions.

This was really their life now and though not always as easy as being “just married” it was definitely the life they’d always wished for and felt blessed to have. The irony of it all which existed in the clash between their love and physical yearning for each other, and their shared responsibility and love for their son, interruptions considered, was all at once humorous and tragic. But even then they had no doubt in their minds: their love for each other was unbreakable and celebrating their three years of marriage with their so very loved son interrupting much needed sex was still collectively considered somewhat perfect.

Nothing could ever take away the melting feeling she still got whenever Jake looked at her like he did now, so calm and in love, and knowing he now also shared that look with their son still reminded her of a surreal, perfect dream. He had so much love for the both of them: so much that she was sometimes convinced of the fact that it couldn’t be real. But then times like these reminded her of the fact that it was indeed very much so and that she would marry him all over again if she was given the chance.

The fussy sounds coming from the crib increased by the second and Jake knew that the second either of them decided to get up for their son, which would be sooner than later, this tiny bubble of an amorous moment would be gone. And so he decided to just go with what felt appropriate because, really and truly, looking at her right now he felt as if he could marry her all over again.

“I know our baby is screaming for attention, and that he needs it more than me and that this is probably a bad time but… marry me?” He smiled widely running a hand through her tousled hair earning him a just as wide smile of appreciation and adoration back.

She leaned in and offered him a kiss, long and tender but controlled as she knew she’d have to get up now. Managing to not get caught up she pulled back caressing his cheek with the hand that allowed him to feel the soft stroke of her wedding band and engagement ring.

“First I’m going to go get our son, but then…” she leaned in and gave his lips a final peck, this time withdrawing just enough to look at him but still have their noses touch before finishing what she’d started, “… Yes, I will marry you all over again, as many times as you want, every day, week, month and year, for eternity and beyond, Jake Peralta.”

[vaelynez]

Sooo, I started writing this in June of 2019. It was an idea for a story called ‘Heroing is Funny Like That’. I was drafting the idea, but I never finished it. Maybe one day I will, I make no promises. I decided to share it, because why not?

It’s quite old so the characterzation might be a bit off because I was really new to the fandom. But, no harm no foul. Improvement amIright? Also, this story is outlined or planned I was toying with the idea, so the summary is kinda eh.

Anyway, hope you enjoy this.

Summary: Before Cosmo died, Tails trusted Sonic he would save her, but he didn’t. Ever since there’s been a divide in the two brothers' relationship that got worse over the years. But when Tails is injured in an ambush by Eggman, Sonic has to learn to trust himself. For the sake of the city, and the relationship with his brother.

Words: ≈1830

“Sonic!” he cried. He took a few steps towards him, and he backed up, placing his hands up protecting him. “Sonic, ummm.” He stopped talking as he grabbed his arm placing something in his gloved hand.

“Tails, this was all that was left.” He shut his eyes trying to block out his small cries. He clutched the seed slowly walking towards him. He rested his head on his stomach, and he felt his tears run down his leg.

“It’s not true!” he cried. “Cosmo was just here! I heard her voice!” He pounded softly on his chest, but he didn’t say anything, letting the kit process what had just happened.

“Sonic! I had faith that you would save her! I believed in you! I believed in you!” He stopped hitting his chest as he slid onto the ground, his cries turned into screams of disbelief. But he didn’t say anything.

Those words. As soon as he said them, a ping shot through his chest. He wanted to cradle the young fox and apologize, but he didn’t. He let him blame him because he knew how much it hurt to lose someone. Sonic knew he couldn’t comprehend what was happening.

He thought it would be better to let him use him as a reason for what had just happened because he longed to make it easier on the young kit. But death wasn’t easy, loss was one of the hardest things to go through. But what he didn’t know was what was going on in his head, and what had happened to him in the past.

This wasn’t his first loss.

But he didn’t know this, so he tried to let himself be the reason. But little did he know it would just make it worse. Tails didn't just lose Cosmo that day, he lost his trust in Sonic, and Sonic didn’t just lose a friend, he lost trust in himself to be the hero he was proclaimed to be. But one thing was for sure, their relationship would never be the same, and neither would either of them.

4 Years Later

Sonic

He felt the wind in his quills. The pounding of the dirt road under his feet and heard it crunch under his feet. A feeling he’d never get over, running. He had always loved to run for as long as he could remember. He ran when he just needed a pass-time, or when he was bored, and when things got stressful all he wanted to do was run.

That was today, he just needed to clear his head. Needed something to take his mind off things. Despite what people would think, after a while, he did get tired, like now. He had been running since the sun had barely lit up the sky now it was noon.

His legs burned, his throat was dry, and his chest was tight from trying to breathe. But he pushed past it because if he stopped he wouldn’t start for a while, then he’d have to face his thoughts which he didn’t want to do just yet. So he carried on, the bright summer sun beating down on his deep blue quills. The bottom of his feet burned, friction caught up in his shoes- which never seemed to be able to keep up with him- but he didn’t care.

He didn’t stop, he just kept going. He knew he should have stopped, normally he didn’t push himself so far, but today- God he just needed to think about something else. For everyone else, this day was a good thing, and it should have been, but he couldn’t find joy in it. He clenched his fists in speed up, despite telling himself not to, he didn’t listen. He couldn’t sleep all night and left the house at 4 in the morning.

He should have stopped at some point, but he didn’t.

He kept going, faster, then when he thought about it again, he went faster. He knew he had seen a few of his friends a number of his times, just to show how many times he had been around the trail that barely made it through the clearing of where Amy’s house was, a small little get-together celebration to celebrate. The trail he was taking was around 17 miles long, but he deterred from it many times, making the- to most people- daring trail 93 miles.

The past few times he passed Amy’s house he heard her yell to him, and it was coming up, he saw it in the clearing. This time, there were a group of people out there. Amy, Cream, Vanilla, Knuckles even, but he didn’t slow down.

“Hey! Sonic!” Amy called. He ignored her, and tried to speed up, but found it too hard.

“Mr. Sonic, can you stop for a minute? We’re-”

“You heard her stop for a minute!” Knuckles snapped.

He almost did. For once, he wanted to stop, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it. So he kept going. The 19-year-old had never been good with emotions, so he tried to run away from them. Especially on days like today. The speedster kept on, ignoring the callings of his friends. He didn’t hear someone come up behind him, he didn’t expect anyone to even try and catch up with him despite not going full speed. But he was knocked out of his thoughts when he was tackled to the ground.

Sonic looked up in shock as he held him down. He pushed him off, standing up letting the rubbery feeling of his legs set in. He struggled to stand but didn’t dare show weakness to who was standing in front of him.

“Shadow, what the hell?” Shadow stood in front of him, his arms crossed staring down the younger hedgehog. Sonic had no clue he was even at Amy’s, he wouldn’t have expected it of him.

“You know it’s rude to ignore people, you made Cream cry,” he said nonchalantly. Sonic clenched his fists and looked away.

“Shut up, Shadow.”

“You always do this! Every year!” Sonic put a hand up to silence him, he flashed a small- fake- smile.

“Now, Shadow. You should know I’m not much of a partier-”

“Bullshit. I’ve been following you for a while now, something's bothering you. How long have you been out here?”

“Depends, what time is it?” he asked.

“Quarter to 2,” Shadow replied raising an eyebrow.

“So about 10 hours,” Sonic replied shrugging. It was longer than he had thought, but at this point, he really didn’t care.

“Are you stupid?” Shadow yelled. He shrugged again. He would have run away if his legs weren’t killing him.

“I couldn’t sleep,” he said. The next thing he knew, he was hit to the ground, Shadow’s hand balled into a fist. “What was that for?” he retorted.

“Just trying to knock you out, you’re exhausted.”

“You can tell?” Sonic asked looking at the ground.

“One, can you hear yourself? Two, you can barely stand.” Sonic sighed. He knew he sounded like a dying anything. He had just hoped Shadow didn’t notice, even if it was wicked noticeable.

“I’m fine,” Sonic replied rolling his eyes trying to look amused

“No, you’re not. And don’t think I’m trying to let you vent on me, because I’m not. I’m just making sure you don’t kill yourself. Go home.” He bit his lip. He didn’t think he could handle being home, not today. He couldn’t stand the memories of what happened.

“Sorry, no can do, Shads.” He tried to sound uppity, but the fact he had to blink away tears said otherwise.

“Go before I drag you there,” Shadow grumbled. Sonic sighed, surprised. Either Shadow was really irritated or worried, normally he’d try and kill him for calling him that. He went for irritated, it wasn’t like Shadow cared about him or anything, right?

“Fine. But only to get you off my case!” he snapped standing up brushing some of the dirt out of his quills getting ready to run ‘home’. Why? Because he had no other choice, and truth be told he just wanted to take a shower and sleep. But he knew he couldn’t.

“And get some rest, you need it.” Sonic smiled sadly.

“Didn’t you hear me before. I can’t sleep, not today.” And with that, he speeds off, arriving at his once shared home. Now, the entire thing was empty until he stepped in. All it reminded him of was that day he came home. The day he found out what he was hiding from him. There was so much guilt and the worry that it never stopped. He wasn’t even sure if he counted as a sidekick anymore, not like this.

Most people considered him to be. Nobody noticed how far they had grown apart. Everyone thought they were fine and moved on. But they hadn’t spoken in months. One of them could be dead and they wouldn’t even know. It was a sad reality, but the last time they spoke was on a mission when Tails had to warn Sonic that the roof was collapsing and had to leave.

He never even thanked him.

The last time they talked outside of a mission? He didn’t know. Sonic covered his head with his hand and slid down the wall. It was this day their relationship went to hell. The anniversary of the defeat of the Matrex 4 years ago.

The day Tails moved out, 3 years ago.

A day he always spent alone.

Sonic threw the towel to the side basket in the bathroom. He grabbed his shoes and threw them on as well as his gloves. Although he wasn’t a sweaty mess anymore, his shower hadn’t made him feel much better. He sluggishly made his way to the couch flopping on top of it sighing.

“Never again.”

He winced. His aching legs agreed as he sat them on the arm of the couch, ignoring- or at least trying to ignore the voices in his head that played through.

“Sonic! I told you to stop doing that!”

“Not today you didn’t.”

“You get the point,” he chuckled.

“I don’t get why you’re making such a big deal out of this.”

“You’ll get dirt all over the couch!”

“I’m sorry you never took a step outside, Tails,” he playfully taunted.

“Oh, shut up!”

Sonic let out a small whine from his throat turning his head blocking out the memories. He covered his head with his hands and tried to fall asleep but he couldn’t. He never could, despite how exhausted he was. He just laid there not really sure what to do. He was bored out of his mind but didn’t have the energy to do anything.

It wasn’t like he had much better to do. Everyone else would probably be together celebrating. But he wasn’t in the mood, it wasn’t like him, but he’d end up just playing it off as he was sick. He sighed. It was going to be a long day…

Aaand that’s the end I never finished the first chapter but I do have a folder of brainstorming for this story. 💕

[rose-sunlight]

Can You See The Sparks?

Pairings: Jake Peralta/Amy Santiago, Ray Holt/Kevin Cozner, Charles Boyle/Genevieve Mirren-Carter, Sharon Jeffords/Terry Jeffords

Warnings: One mention of childbirth (non-graphic)

Summary: The Squad get together for a Fourth of July party!

A/n: This is for the @b99fandomevents​ Summer 2020 Fic Exchange written for @impossiblyizzy​! Hope you enjoy!

One thing that Jake had never known throughout his years of knowing Captain Holt and his husband: they had the biggest back yard he’d ever seen growing up in the rough parts of Brooklyn. They had a large brick patio, and their garden was surrounded by a stereotypical white picket fence. The grass was perfectly watered, and Jake knew that Kevin had probably calculated the exact amount of water his grass needed to get that specific shade of green, Jake wouldn’t expect anything less.

Upon seeing their yard for the first time in daylight, he’d immediately suggested a Fourth of July party around their house. What with the arrival of the latest Nine-Nine baby, Mac, Amy was desperate to get out of the house, meaning their tradition of going to the Peralta-Santiago household would have to be put on hold so the new parents could finally feel more—well, human.

It wasn’t that Amy didn’t want to host, Amy loved hosting parties and conversing with her colleagues, but when she had a screaming baby attached to her, wailing because the noise, or the lack of his father by their side (yes, Mac had turned into a daddy’s boy), or the lack of food being delivered directly to him. When Holt and Kevin had agreed to his suggestion, and invites had been given to the squad and their families, he could feel Amy’s tension around the holiday ease and evaporate, even after Mac had thrown up on her uniform before she left for work.

So, here they were, on the Fourth of July, surrounded by the Squad, their family members, and pets. Although most dogs had been left at home (Charles and Genevieve could not bring their six dogs through Kevin’s freshly vacuumed house). Diaz had however fought to bring Arlo, considering him as her plus one as she had no family members coming. So, on their perfect green grass that had probably cut with nail clippers, Cheddar chased after Arlo, brushing past the legs of Terry and his wife, arms slung around each other as they watched the twins and Ava play tag with Nikolaj and Iggy.

The kids careered around a large oak tree at the back of the garden, spinning around as they laughed, running back towards where Charles and Genevieve manned the barbeque, all different assortments of traditional American foods sizzling on the grill. That wasn’t all, though, as Kevin was cooking pizzas and making potato salad, cakes, casseroles and more. Kevin worked side-by-side in a comfortable silence with Rosa as she made cocktails for the adults.

“Can you pass the potatoes?” Kevin asked, quietly and without small talk. He was observant, and throughout their years of small conversations, Kevin knew all too well that Rosa hated small talk.

She passed them wordlessly, watching him as he began to chop them up for the potato salad.

Rosa hovered as she went to pick up the cocktails, turning to Kevin once more, “What made you change your mind about us?” She asked, “I mean, you hate cops.” Her mannerisms were blunt, Kevin knew she wasn’t trying to offend; she was just a very direct person, and he respected that more than he did others. He did, however, had to think about her question.

When did he start to trust his husbands co-workers? “I don’t hate the individuals. I dislike some aspects and prejudices in the system, yes, but I never hated anyone.”

“Oh.”

“If I had to pinpoint the moment my feelings around the nine-nine changed, it would be mine and Raymond’s anniversary, when Charles taught him how to cook. It was quite memorable.”

Rosa nodded “Oh,” She said again, unsure how to either end the conversation or continue it “well, I am…glad you don’t. Like, hate us, anymore.” She responded in her most sincere voice.

Kevin nodded towards the drinks on the side “Those cocktails can go on the table outside. Use coasters, though, please.”

Rosa nodded, leaving their kitchen and passing the living room, where Amy and Jake were sat with Holt, Gina, Scully and Hitchcock. Surprisingly, through the first few months of Mac’s life, Hitchcock and Scully had been surprisingly attentive towards Mac and Amy. Jake would never admit it, but Scully was responsible when it came to children, and he did feel bad that his two kids refused to talk to him since they had grown up.

Mac sat with wide eyes searching around the room, looking up at his grandpa Ray, who was bouncing him on his lap. Amy didn’t think she’d ever seen her Captain so relaxed and smiling, cooing down at the baby occasionally in between leisurely conversations with the small gathering sitting in his living room. Granted, his kind of cooing was a lot more observant than most, saying things like “did you know you have the perfect weight for your age right now? Yes, you do, McClane, you’re perfect!”. Holt and Kevin were the only ones who would call Mac by his full name, which made it personal to his grandpa and grandad (because if we don’t have separate names, Jake, how will he call for us individually?).

The food began to pile high on the outside table, and soon enough, everyone was called to eat. Specifically for this gathering, Kevin had brought a smaller table for the kids to eat at, and was enjoying watching all the kids have their own conversations at the table, most lead and dominated by Iggy, whose presence was as infectious as her mothers, who was also leading the conversation at the adults table. Kevin looked down towards Mac, who had been passed to him now, and adjusted the baby so he was more upright on Kevin’s knee, his arm wrapped around Mac’s torso protectively. Kevin smiled at the thought of Mac joining the kids table in a few years, and smiled even larger at being able to watch him grow. Raymond offered him the bowl of salad he had prepared previously, knowing he wouldn’t eat the burgers or anything that greasy. He gratefully accepted, and settled into a cycle of eating his food then paying attention to Mac.

“Oh, wait, it’s nearly seven, we need to be at the field at nine p.m.,” Amy said, nervously checking her watch

Charles, ever the time-sensitive character, began to sweat and fidget in his chair, eating his burger as quick as possible—he had wanted some more unique 4th of July food to be served, but Holt had restricted him to strictly traditional meats, “oh, uhm, it’s fine, if we leave now, we can probably make the end, right?” He turned to his partner, who took his hand and calmed him down.

Gina groaned, “Oh my god, you guys, don’t get your panties in a twist. We’ll be fine, if we’re late we can commandeer a bus or something.”

“How long does it take to get to the park?” Amy ignored Gina and directed her question to Kevin, her eyebrows furrowed.

Kevin checked his own watch “Only a seventeen minute walk. We’ll be fine, Amy.” His voice was reassuring, and so she relaxed, nodding happily. When it was time to go, Holt disappeared into their back room, digging through the things he had brought for the kids, and reaching the best fourth of July tradition—sparklers. He handed them out to the kids (with parental consent, of course,) and watched them happily hold the unlit sticks as Kevin went around and lit them.

Cagney and Lacey began to act out a wand battle worthy of being in Harry Potter, crying out curses that made Jake start to laugh too, practically begging Amy for a sparkler too. She nodded with a laugh, and watched him childishly join in with the twins in their battle.

Nikolaj and Ava, despite their five-year age gap, wrote each other’s names with the sparklers, and then began to circle and dance with the sparks, all the time being warned to be careful by their dads. Iggy was in her own world, twirling around like a princess, dancing with her sparkler like she was a ballerina preforming for the masses.

Mac watched all the pretty lights from his stroller, making grabbing gestures and watching his dad dancing around with Cagney and Lacey. Amy noticed, when she checked on him for the fifteenth time, that he was laughing, full on laughing, for the first time. His giggles were indistinguishable from those of the other kids, but she started cooing, and Mac laughed harder, looking at his dad dancing around.

“Jake!” She called out to her husband, who span around “Jake! Jake! Look, he’s laughing!” She excitedly informed him, and Jake looked to Mac, and felt his heart burst. His son was laughing at him. He’d smiled before, but at four months old, he was uncontrollably giggling.

Uncle Charles appeared, phone in hand, “Ohh! I captured the moment, Jakey, don’t worry!” He patted Jake on the back

“Thanks, Charles.”

The group set off walking to the park, the kids taking turns pushing Mac’s stroller, giving Amy and Jake a break, even if they had to make sure the stroller wouldn’t capsize.

Amy was talking with Sharon, who, throughout her journey into motherhood, had been a source of comfort. They often bonded over their experience of labour at the precinct, too, even if Sharon didn’t have to give birth there.

“You’re doing good,” Sharon reassured her, “when we had our first babies, we had almost no clue what to do. You’ve either done your research or are a complete natural.”

Gina nodded, the one and only time a compliment regarding Amy had ever slipped from her lips “Yeah, I mean, when Iggy was Mac’s age I was neck-deep in barf and decaf coffee.”

Amy blushed; compliments on her parenting had become the most gratifying thing to hear (other than ‘don’t worry, I’ll feed him this time’, of course). She found herself a little lost for words, but regained them fairly quickly “Well, I had younger brothers and little nieces and nephews growing up. And I read almost every book there was on…everything. Wasn’t prepared for birth, though.”

Sharon and Gina both winced “Yeah, they don’t put that in the lovey-dovey books, do they? If they did, I don’t think a single woman would want to go through that.” Sharon said

Amy could only laugh her agreement, hoping that the word ‘episiotomy’ would fall out of her memory and vocabulary one day.

When they arrived at the fireworks, the carnival was already in full swing. Terry had been bribed by all three daughter’s pleading eyes, and so far, all three had won a teddy bear (the biggest from the surprisingly easy strength test), and Terry was out a good twenty-five dollars on games and fair-rides. Gina probably had lost the same amount, although she had spent everything on the rides; Iggy never really wanted anything from the games booths, which must be a first for any child ever, Gina had tried to convince them. Charles was out much more, and Nikolaj was now a proud owner of a tiger, teddy bear, and a DIY crystal kit. He’d also been on every ride conceivable with his parents, and was currently sharing a huge wad of cotton candy three-ways.

Holt and Kevin watched as the kids came up to them after every win, proudly displaying their new item for the pair to hold while they went off to do another ride. Holt would smile, and actually mean it. After Ava dropped off her final win, a mock-forensics kit, she turned to sit in between the two of them.

“I want to be like you and daddy, Uncle Ray!” She had told him (Ava called them Uncle Ray and Uncle Kevin, because grandpa never felt right for the Jeffords family), and Holt had wrapped his arm around her and let her snuggle in close—for warmth only, he was sure.

“Really? Well, I have a few friends at the academy, Ava, I will make sure that they have a spot open for the class of twenty-thirty-six.” He said it deadpan, as he often did, but Kevin knew there was a touch of sincerity to his promise too.

“Promise?” Ava had asked, extending a gloved finger.

Holt looked at his husband, who was smiling back “Oh, I suppose I do promise.” He said, shaking her pinkie finger with his. She skipped off to tell her dad, leaving the couple alone.

Kevin laughed as Terry listened intently to Ava relaying the story, before looking to Raymond “Do you ever think about how we have managed to adopt a fully-fledged, albeit slightly delayed, adult, and somehow become entwined in others’ lives, so much so that we are now uncles and grandparents?” He asked.

Raymond pondered for a second, watching the separate families “yes, it is odd.”

“Do you ever regret not having kids….adopting them?”

“It was never allowed when we were in our prime.”

Kevin nodded, looking towards where Ray was staring Jake, grabbing Amy by the waist and kissing her softly, while still keeping one hand on the stroller, “I know. I just sometimes wonder how it would be different.”

“I do too. But, although we are late, I do think of Peralta like a son. We’ve watched him grow over these few years, from a childish boy to a grown, responsible man with a family. Who is still a childish thorn in my side, if I am honest. I think that describes having a child perfectly; watching them grow.” Raymond seemed sentimental—to anyone else, his voice remained unwavering, but to Kevin, he could sense the fondness, the same fondness that he himself carried.

“I would not change it, either.”

“I know you wouldn’t. He’s strangely ours.”

Nikolaj came running up to them, barrelling into their conversation with brazen confidence, the same type his father and mother had, “Mister Kevin! Mister Raymond! The fireworks are going to start!” He had run off as soon as he had arrived. He never called them uncle or grandpa, but that was okay, because Kevin and Holt both knew he had issues with attaching himself to others due to his past. They never asked it of him, anyway. Kevin stood up, dusting off his pants, and began to grab the various toys left with them, before parents came to try and help them out.

The squad and their families all huddled in a muddy and cold field, making sure they didn’t lose anyone in the massive crowd forming, most kids sitting on the shoulders of adults. Jake had Iggy on his, who was pulling his hair softly to direct him on where to go, all the time giggling as he obliged to her requests, before standing next to Amy.

The display was amazing, colours of red, white and blue flashing across the starry night sky canvas, painting it in different colours before sharply dissipating. The crowd would let out ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’ every time something vaguely interesting happened, and Jake couldn’t help but join in, looking to Amy, whose face was perfectly illuminated in a glowing bright light. He squeezed Iggy’s hand, yelling up to her.

“Can you see the sparks, Iggy?” He was looking at Amy, who had rolled her eyes at the cheesy joke, but for Iggy the meaning was the fireworks, obviously.

“Yeah, Uncle Jake!”

Amy wrapped a hand around his waist, allowing herself to be embraced, dodging Iggy’s leg as it swung in the air “Eyes on the fireworks, Peralta.”

Jake leaned into her touch, “Baby, you’re a firework. Katy Perry, she’s always right.” Amy giggled, but it was drowned out by another loud boom. Mac had big ear protectors on, but his eyes still flickered across the sky. Amy’s heart swelled again, her family surrounding her as the fireworks spurred on.

She was so glad that they were invited to Holt and Kevin’s. This was just perfect.

Little did they know, Holt and Kevin had already decided between themselves to make this a tradition to carry on for decades.

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[world-without-authors]

15th anniversary of our madness!

Yes, you read that right. Today, April 13th 2021, marks the 15th anniversary of when I was crazy enough to bring out the idea of a crazy roundrobin crossover on the Moony Witcher Forum.

When on that day, April 13th 2006, I made a post with the general idea for Mai Dire Fine I never thought I would be starting a saga that would be still ongoing 15 years later.

But here we are, with me and Aelit still working on its latest sequel of sorts, The World without Authors. Compared to back then, our writing skills improved a lot (Mai Dire Fine was not a good story) and, while there’s always more we can still learn, we are proud of our improvement.

So, where are we? We published recently the 10th chapter of The World without Authors, which is currently around 69.000 words – we’re already closing in towards Blank Sprite‘s length (77.000) and that’s just part of the first arc, Scattered Shards. Adding in the previous stories, we’re past 320.000 already.

Even with The World without Authors‘s “all-stars” cast, we still only have a total of five characters from Mai Dire Fine, only three of which (Sergio, Nikki and Kathleen) were part of the main cast as the other two (Faith and Virgilia) were introduced towards the end… well, technically there’s a sixth character, the mysterious “Professor”, but his identity is spoilers as of now. I believe there might be enough hints between The World without Authors and my older behind the scenes post for you to be able to guess his identity already, but the reveal is meant to be a nasty surprise that will set up the second and third arcs, Venezia Immortale and The Dove and the Crow. Yes, we’re planning (well… sort of planning) that far!

But enough of that, let’s head to the celebration specials!

Unfortunately, the Q&A session was a complete failure. We didn’t receive any question by the deadline, but the mailbox is still open! Feel free to ask us anything, we’ll make a Q&A post as soon as the question come in, and we’ll keep it updated every time new questions arrive.

We still have a few more goodies, though. The first is a bit of an experiment on my part, I took one of my early PPC missions, A Very Awkward Exorcism, alongside a couple scenes from the interlude set chronologically just before it, Planes, Guns, Clones and other usual PPC Stuff, and gave them a complete makeover into a comic. Yes, I made what I believe might be the first full PPC mission in comic form! You can download it in PDF format (Trigger warning for rape, contains some partial nudity) here. I hope you’ll enjoy it!

Another thing I made is a special anniversary illustration, in which our characters, and a few we borrowed, from all over our works enjoy some partying. With all the things happening due to the Unravel they deserve some off time, don’t  you think?

Let’s start with the back row, left to right.

First one is Ai Minase, from Koikatu. She has the distinction of being the “adopted canon character” of The World Without Authors – while we have other canons working with Strike Dove, she’s the only one who became part of the main cast on a deep level. While Hayate Yagami, her crew, the Razgriz and Long Caster also work with my main cast, they’re more of external allies. Her dress looks a bit like a tablecloth, but that’s a canon-ish outfit of hers: while she never wears it in her route, it is in her character card in the slot that gets used during dates in normal gameplay.

Next to her we have Keiko Caterina Turbo, Sergio and Nikki’s daughter with her own PPC spinoff, Wings of Canon: Second Strike. She is also the only survivor of the Second Strike cast, having lost Shiro and Saki in the Unravel, and as such the role of representative of her series is all on her. She also doesn’t like skirts, at all, why do you ask?

Then we have Hajime Irene Turbo, Keiko’s half sister/alternate incarnation from the timeline in which Sergio got together with Ami instead. She’s an original The World without Authors character, but still related to characters from my previous works. Fun fact: Keiko and Hajome’s birthday, April 13, in indeed based on the day and month we began Mai Dire Fine. If we consider HQ Standard Time (the PPC’s timeline) to coincide with the real world, they turned two years old today.

Next is Hajime’s mother, Ami Tanegashima. Mentioned first in I don’t like luxury cars to pave her way for her posthumous role in Blank Sprite, we can consider her the representative of my Blank Sprite original characters here. She’s now stuck with the absurdity of not only having a daughter she never thought she could have, but also of said daughter being currently only four years younger than her. Considering Ami’s small frame, there will likely be plenty of times in which she’s mistaken for Hajime’s younger sister… also, now that she’s 20 years old and of drinking age in Japan, she discovered she actually likes alcohol. And can deal with it surprisingly well despite her light build (as opposed to Sergio and Nikki who both can’t hold their liquor)… yes, she had more than a few glasses here. Luckily, she doesn’t drink very often.

Toasting with her is Aya Kibokami, the “fragment” that split off Madoka Kaname at the end of Blank Sprite. As such, she’s here as a representative of canon characters of Blank Sprite. Due to a certain scene of Madoka Magica, in which Madoka expresses a desire to go out drinking with her mother (who really enjoys drinking) once old enough, there is fanon of her eventually developing the same taste for liquor. While we’ll likely never know if the canon Madoka would, Aya is the other heavy drinker of my cast and here is depicted finally having a toast (or two… or a few…) with Ami to celebrate the success of their “Save Sergio and Homura from their spirals of self-destruction by making them defeat Vera and save Madoka together” master plan.

And, of course, fussing over Aya’s excessive drinking we have Kuroko Tenshimi, AKA the “split fragment” of Homura Akemi retaining the memories of the Blank Sprite Incident. While her and Aya haven’t featured yet, they did make it to the Unraveled World. However, I don’t plan on making them part of the main cast yet (in fact, I’m planning to reduce the amount of characters we’re following as the cast is getting too big), and I’m actually considering having them star in their own The World without Authors spinoff, but nothing set in stone yet. Oh, and fun fact about them, they did already have a bit of starring of their own as they were the hosts of the Third PPC HQ Hunger Games. How Nutmeg TV managed to get hold of them for that will forever remain a mistery.

Next, a character very few of you are likely to be familiar with. Nina De Nobili, the title character of the Nina, the child of the Sixth Moon book series. Acting as a representative of the Mai Dire Fine canon characters here, she’s been chosen since, as I said in the past, we started Mai Dire Fine on her author’s forum, and even received encouragement from her to keep writing at one point… despite the fact we were basically butchering her work. However, everyone has to begin somewhere, and Moony Witcher (real name Roberta Rizzo) knew that, so I’m glad she didn’t shoot down our hopes – I might not be here now with a 300.000+ words saga under my belt otherwise. Nina is not planned to reappear in the Unraveled Worlds, as she’s from a series intended for children that wouldn’t mesh well with our current plots.

The little guy sitting over the counter doing karaoke is Conan Edogawa from Detective Conan (anyone insisting on calling the series Case Closed can leave now). He’s again a canon character featured in Mai Dire Fine, but there are plans to involve him and some other characters of his series in the third arc. Also, as you can guess by Nina’s reaction, he’s a terrible, terrible singer.

Leaning on the couch we have Hiro Shirogane, our Gundam pilot. He’s a fully original character created for The World without Authors whose original concept was made by Aelit, although I was the one developing his backstory and relationship with Miksa. I admit that for a while we weren’t too sure about what to do with him, but I hope his current subplot will be enjoyable.

And now, the front row. Leftmost is Hanami, Nikki’s alternate from Kathleen’s alternate timeline (and as such a The World without Authors original). She’s been adopted by the Kinomotos (as she’s also an alternate of Sakura) and is now living with them. Something that debuted in this illustration are the glasses: those are her timeline’s Sergio, and she doesn’t actually have a need for eyesight correction. She had the lenses replaced with fake ones, and wears them due to them being one of the few things she has left of him, though they’re also a good way to differentiate herself from her “sisters”.

Then we have Sakura Kinomoto from Cardcaptor Sakura herself. If we go by name only, her first appearance in my works would be Mai Dire Fine, but that particular Sakura ended up becoming Nikki so it is safe to assume her first appearance was actually in the first mission of Wings of Canon, my main PPC spinoff, titled Don’t Forget The Canon, and she has been confirmed alive in the Unraveled World, in which she is now legally Nikki and Hanami’s younger sister. As in the comic I posted above, her hair is actually lighter than Nikki or Hanami’s as most CCS media have her with a light shade, but Nikki and Hanami both derive from the 1998 anime that had a darker brown as Sakura’s hair color.

Next to Sakura is Syaoran Li from the same series, who instead did appear as himself in Mai Dire Fine. He was badly OOC though, and if the The World without Authors incarnation of him does remember Sergio, things might a bit tense between them at first… though, hopefully, just until he gets explained that no, the “Sakura” Sergio was in love with was actualy Nikki and there’s no need to be jealous.

Then we get to Kathleen Leone. She is not the Mai Dire Fine incarnation of the character, but an alternate made for The World without Authors. Despite that, she started considering the main timeline Sergio as her own brother even before he had to kill her timeline’s, due to the latter’s descent into madness. We haven’t been able to give her much space until now, due to the action being mostly in the air, but that will change soon. I won’t spoiler anything, but Chapter 11 will be a big turning point in the story.

Of course, holding arms with her is Faith Leone, Everything I said about Kathleen applies about her too, as they’ve arrived in the Unraveled World together. We haven’t shown much on our plans to develop her so far, but trust us: we’re going to both fill in more of her bakcstory, and give her chances to shine soon.

Cutting the cake together we have Sergio Turbo and Nikki Cherryflower, both of which made their first appearances in Mai Dire Fine and appeared in all sequel works. For as much grief the Unraveled World is bringing them, it is arguable they’ve gained more than they have lost, as they’ve both got their families back thanks to it. Fun fact: their outfits are loosely based on the ones they wore during Chapter 7 of Blank Sprite.

Last but not least, Corolla. Introduced in Don’t Forget The Canon, she’s my most successful character. Defined by Aelit “Kathleen, but written well” way before we started working on The World without Authors, it isn’t a suprise they synergize so well together… much to Sergio and Nikki’s dismay. Here, is she more excited for the cake, or because they are cutting it together like it was a wedding cake? Probably both.

And that’s it, 15 years of writing, condensed in one image. We hope you’ll keep following us in the future!

[until-theend-oftheline]

Out of the Shadows - Part 2: In her Shadow

Pairing: Clint Barton x Reader

Warnings: Minor character death(s), domestic abuse (mentioned), underage rape (hinted, not glorified what so ever and not graphic), incest (hinted, not glorified what so ever and not graphic).

Square Filled: Domestic Abuse (marvel fandom) for @badthingshappenbingo and Crying for @clintbartonbingo

Word Count: 2700ish

A/N: This is written for @thorne93 writing challenge. I am so sorry I am late! The entire series is for her challenge and it’s inspired by Greek Tragedy by the Wombats and Drive you mad by Amy Shark. 

Clint is a mix between comic book version and MCU. He is deaf and has no wife and kids. The world is a bit closer to MCU and it takes place somewhere between CAWS and CACW mostly.

Betaed by: @jewels2876 thanks darling

Out of the Shadows Masterlist

***My fics are not to be saved nor posted on any other sites without my express written permission.***

The Black Hood, or Aurora as she had named herself to Clint, had learned from a young age to trust no one. Everyone close to her had hurt her or let her down in some way or another. You can’t get hurt if you don’t ever let anyone close to you. 

Clint had challenged Aurora in her ways of thinking over the years. Sometimes directly, telling her that everyone needed somebody sometimes. He told her of his best friend and how she once hadn’t been all that different from Aurora. He told her how she hadn’t trusted anyone but herself and even still to this day kept her walls up to most people. She had seen the value in friendships though. She believed in loyalty and love even if she might not be willing to let most people know that just yet. 

Aurora smiled when Clint spoke of Natasha. Not just because she agreed they were anything alike, but because Clint always spoke of her with such warmth. The smile on his face was contagious and he had a way of making her a part of his life through his words. Soon she didn’t only feel as if she knew Natasha, but also the rest of the team Clint became part of. Bruce was as broken as she felt at times. Tony struggled with demons just like her. Thor had pride and belief in his own skills that she saw in herself as well and Steve Rogers sounded like he was just about as stubborn as Clint kept reminding her that she was herself. 

Clint made her feel like she was a part of something the one time a year he visited her. He offered her a way that she really could be, but even if it became increasingly alluring she couldn’t make herself take that leap. Not even for the man that she trusted with her face, her heists, and her heart. 

Aurora hadn’t loved anyone or anything for a long, long time. Even if she wouldn’t admit her feelings to his face, or even to herself, they became increasingly harder to deny. His kisses made her toes curl, his arms tightly wrapped around her made her feel safe and laughing with him gave her a sense of home. All sensations she hadn’t felt for years, if even ever. Which was the reason she hadn’t let the relationship go beyond the kisses and cuddles they somehow always ended up sharing, talking about the year that had past. 

When Aurora needed something she would go out and get it. No matter if it was a drink, food, dance, sex or something else. She attached no emotions to the action or whoever she did it with but with Clint… she couldn’t do that. She wanted to be with him. She thought about how he would feel. How he would make her feel. She even thought about what the moments would be like after. Which scared her most of all. So she wouldn’t let their relationship go that far. Just being in his company, made her want to trust him and it became harder and harder for her to turn him down, whenever he asked her to come back with him. She couldn’t. She had done things no one could forgive, not even Clint. She would end up hurt and alone again. Living alone was easier and safer. Life was better on her own. 

It didn’t stop her from thinking about him in the year that passed between him dropping from a vent in whatever hotel room she was staying in at the time. Even if she had grown to expect him every year on the anniversary date of when he first appeared, he always managed to scare the crap out of her dumping from the ceiling. Clint had almost gotten himself shot over the years on that account and he most definitely had gotten several punches on that account. Still hadn’t prevented him from appearing that way until the day he showed two months before their anniversary knocking on her hotel door. 

Aurora looked through the peephole on the door, before lowering her gun with a frown. She quickly holstered it before pushing open the door looking past Clint up and down the hallways before stepping to the side, letting him in. 

“Did you lose your calendar? And who taught you how doors work?” she teased as she closed the door, but stopped when she turned around. Unshed tears welled in his eyes as he stood a few feet from her taking her in. 

“I needed to see you,” he confessed and Aurora instinctively opened her arms to him, inviting him closer. 

“I’m here,” she promised as Clint took a few quick steps forward into her embrace. He leaned forward, resting his head against her shoulder, letting his tears fall as he wrapped her arms around her waist and she put hers around him. 

“It’s okay. I got you. I’m here,” she repeated as she hold him, letting him cry against her as long as he needed to. Not until his body stopped shaking and his tears subsided did she lead him towards the couch in the middle of her suite.  

“Do you wanna tell me about it?” she asked gently as she sat down next to him, keeping her hand in his. She gave it a small squeeze as Clint took a deep breath, letting it out slowly as he began telling her his side of the story she had already been following on the News. 

He told her about how Tony had created Ultron fearing the battle of New York that the Avengers had won a few years ago wouldn’t be the last attack the world would have to face from space. He didn’t trust the Avengers would be enough to hold back another attack and that they would be able to keep the world safe so he had created what he thought would be mankind's best defense.  

He told her of the twins from Sokovia, that Clint had quickly grown to feel responsible for even if he had no reason too. He didn’t explain it like that but Aurora thought it to herself. Clint had a huge heart. Bigger than anyone she had ever met before in her life, and he seemed to just naturally collect broken people. Natasha, Aurora, Wanda, and Pietro. When he hadn’t been able to protect the latter when the young man, in fact, had died saving Clint’s life it had shattered him. He had held it together for the other’ and for Wanda, the twin sister. Normally he would have gone to Natasha with something like this, but from what Aurora could gather she was suffering too, only for different reasons. This battle had taken a toll on her and Clint hadn’t wanted to burden her too. 

More than that Natasha hadn’t been the one he needed. Aurora ignored him telling her that. Being needed was almost as bad as needing someone else. It only got you hurt. Instead, she wrapped her arms around him again, gently rocking him in her arms in silence for a while. 

“I love you,” Clint muttered tightening his hold on her when Aurora froze. He had expected her to react like that but he could no longer hold back what he had been feeling for years. She was more than just a mission to him. In fact, she hadn’t been since SHIELD had fallen and yet here he was seeking her out year after year because he wanted too. Because he needed her to know that he cared, that someone else could too. She could have a family if only she chose to come back home with him. 

“No you don’t” Aurora released her hold on him, pushing him away from her with a hard look. So hard it made Clint flinch and Aurora almost regretted her action. If only he hadn’t said that. He was already hurting and she didn’t want to hurt him further. He was wrong though. He didn’t love her. He loved the idea of her. Just like men before he had. Men she had let stay in their belief until she had stolen their money and disappeared in the night. Clint wasn’t those men. She didn’t want to lie to him any more than she was willing to let him lie to himself. 

“I do,” Clint looked down, to avoid the fire shooting from the woman’s eyes. 

“You think you do. But you don’t know me. You don’t know the things I’ve done,” she hissed and Clint looked back up at her shaking his head. 

“I don’t judge people by their worst mistakes. So even if I knew, which I don’t because you refuse to let me in ...” Clint yelled, but when he saw the shook on her face he stopped. He took a deep breath, before calmly finishing his sentence. “It wouldn’t change how I feel about you.”

Aurora looked at him in disbelief as she let his words sink in. She opened and closed her mouth a few times before she made a decision she never thought she made. She told him the truth. The truth she had never in her life shared with another person. A truth she had been carrying on her own for over half of her life. 

“I killed my parents,” she blurted out, hoping to shook Clint to take back his words but he didn’t even as much as flinch, so she continued. “I killed my parents and I took their money. I have lived off my inheritance for all of my life. That’s why I never keep any of the money for myself.”

Her words were true, even if they weren’t the entire truth. She hoped that they would make Clint back off. Maybe even stop seeking her out every year. Her attachment to him was becoming dangerous. A clean break now would be better and she knew she couldn’t be the one to make it. Clint wouldn’t ever give up on her, even if she broke his heart. It was better this way she thought. But Clint saw right through her half-truth. 

“They hurt you…” Clint concluded, never taking his eyes off her when she took a step back as if Clint’s words had slapped her across the face. He wanted to move towards her and pull her into his arms as her eyes began to water. He didn’t. He knew she wouldn’t let him. Not right now. She was opening up to him, just like he had wanted her to for years. Clint knew that one wrong step would make her shut down.

Aurora didn’t say anything. Instead, she spun around heading the bedroom. Clint closed her eyes, breathing in. He feared he had lost her, but before he could even begin to decide between leaving or staying she reappeared back in front of him. She dropped a folder in his lap, before turning around, starting to pace the floor.  

Clint opened the folder to see a huge mansion in flames; presumably her childhood home. He frowned as he began flipping through the pages. 

Billionaire couple dies in a house fire. Leaves behind 16-year-old daughter.

Uncle takes in Y/L/N heiress. 

Y/L/N orphan put into foster care.

Y/N Y/L/N turns 18. What will she do with her inheritance? 

21-year old Y/L/N heiress disappears after clearing out bank accounts.

“Y/N…” Clint looked up from the papers and Aurora froze. “That’s your name?”

“It was,” she answered without facing him. “A lifetime ago. Not anymore.”

Clint nodded, looking back down to the papers. Recognizing a pattern. Clint was a spy but he was also an heir himself as well as a survivor of abuse. 

“The foster home saw you as a paycheck. Your uncle didn’t believe you when you told him what they did,” Clint concluded before looking up in her eyes. She looked so much like a hurt animal and Clint wasn’t sure if she was gonna lash out or run. Either way, he wasn’t letting her go. Not know. Not when she had come this far. 

“And my parents what did they do to me?” she stared Clint down, almost challenging him to guess her suffering. 

“They hurt you,” Clint answered simply. 

“He told me he loved me,” Aurora’s voice broke and tears started to build in Clint’s eyes along with hers as he realized the nightmare she had lived. “It started when I was eight. She knew. I told her and she hit me. She hit me every day since. She blamed me. And he kept… She told me I stole her husband. I was their daughter and they…”

Aurora stopped her hysterical rant and she just stood there staring at Clint. All light had gone from her eyes as the night she had put an end to her nightmare no doubt flashed through her mind. “I blocked their bedroom door and I set fire to the house. I killed them.”

“You were a child and you saw no other way out. You’re not a murderer. You’re a survivor,” Clint stood up, taking a tentative step towards her and Aurora fell into his arms, sobbing as she let him hold her. 

He held her for days. Listening as she opened up sharing her story. Listening to the men and women that hurt her after she received her inheritance. He told her about his past as they stayed hidden in the hotel room together for weeks. He told her about his dad and how he had lost most of his hearing. He told her how his brother had taken a different path in life from him, but that he still loved him despite all his flaws. Clint meant it when he said he didn’t judge people by their worst actions. He judged them by their heart and will to carry on.

Aurora told Clint how someone all her life had wanted something from her. Money, recognition, sex. Everyone she had let close to her had let her down in one way or another. So she disappeared. She became a vigilante in her own way. She stole from the type of people that had always hurt her and she gave to kids like the kid she had been once. 

She hadn’t trusted anyone since she was 21, not until she had met Clint. She let all her walls down with him. She let him see her, all of her as she was. Wounds and all. She let him love her in spite of it. She shared her bed and let herself feel what life could be like. For a brief moment, she let him and herself believe he had convinced her to come back with him. She let herself hope that he was right when he told her his friends would help her. They wouldn’t judge her for her worst actions any more than he did. She let herself dream of a life where she could trust again. 

She let herself feel his touch and his love, clinging to him as they moved together, holding back her tears when he whispered how much he loved her. She wanted to say the words back but she couldn’t. She knew that she would be gone before the night was through. 

As the moon shun clearly through the windows, illumination Clint’s naked sleeping form Aurora pulled herself from the bed. She pressed a soft kiss to his cheek, softly whispering the words she couldn’t bring herself to say when he was awake. 

“I love you.”

She pulled on her clothes and grabbed her bags, giving his naked form just barely covered by the sheets one last look, before placing a note next to his pillow on her empty side of the bed. 

“I’m so sorry. I can’t be the person you want me to be. Thank you for everything

- Aurora”

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Clint Barton Tag Team

@feelmyroarrrr @scarlettsoldier @hellaqueerangelofthelord @danijimenezv @becs-bunker @smoothdogsgirl @avengerscompound @grace-for-sale @mizzezm @girl-next-door-writes @sorenmarie87 @docharleythegeekqueen  @myfanficlibrarium @dottirose

Out of the Shadows

@dark-night-sky-99

[sambergscott]

you showed me something i can’t live without

entry for the b99 summer 2019 fic exchange for @b99fandomevents. written for @dailyb99 (tumblr)/valeriee (ao3) who requested jake x amy angst after amy’s start over comment during casecation

He can’t even look at her. Once the bomb has been diffused and Pam is in handcuffs and Bruno Rojas has an increased security detail, Jake and Amy are free to go home. The car ride is awkward AF, tension thick in the air like a pea soup has descended on the city. She doesn’t rest her hand on his thigh as he drives, they don’t sing to Taylor Swift, they don’t stop at their favourite Thai take-out as they drive past. They don’t say a word until they’re inside their apartment and even then Jake mutters that he’s getting a shower under his breath, leaving her to it.

He undresses slowly, numbly, and stands still beneath the shower, the hot water burning his skin. His face is wet with tears, his mind cruelly replaying Amy’s words. Start over. Start over start over start over. With someone else. Who is not him.

He stands in the shower until the water runs cold, wrapping the monogrammed ‘Mr’ towel (a gift from  Terry and Sharon from their wedding registry) around his waist. Everything is a horrible reminder of them, their soon-to-be-over marriage, as he returns to their bedroom, to the framed wedding pictures on his bedside table, the ‘Mr’ mug of coffee waiting for him.

She’s already in bed, sipping the herbal tea in her ‘Mrs’ mug, her face pale and drawn in, dark bags beneath her eyes. He immediately - guiltily - looks away, grabbing his t-shirt and sweatpants, mumbling something about changing in the other room.

He ends up on the couch re-watching Die Hard. If his marriage is over, at least he still has his favourite movie franchise. Correction: now his marriage is over.

It’s a sharp, painful reminder, a nightmare end to what was supposed to be a romantic anniversary celebration. How far they have deviated from his plan. They were supposed to be tearing each other’s clothes off by now and instead they can’t even bare to be in the same room.

His phone buzzes with a text from Rosa, informing him of how worried Amy had been when he was stuck inside with an explosive device, how much Amy loved him and that obviously she didn’t want to start over with anyone else. You two are soulmates, you dumb-dumb.

He closes his eyes and shoves his phone down the side of the cushion. It doesn’t matter what Rosa thinks. Amy said what she said. If he doesn’t want kids, she’ll divorce him.

The terrifying thing is, he doesn’t want kids. Or he didn’t. He doesn’t know how to feel anymore, his arguments against having a baby all pooh-poohed by the debate squad, his thoughts muddled by the need to do anything necessary to keep Amy. She is the best thing that’s ever happened to him. He can’t lose her.

He hears shuffling footsteps make their way into the living room, his wife, wrapped in their comforter, appearing in view a few moments later. He can tell she’s been crying too and hates himself for putting her through that. But also hates her a little. Because she’s the one who uttered the words start over. This whole thing is her fault. Or Pam’s. He doesn’t even remember how this whole thing started anymore.

“Hey. Can we talk?”

“I think we’ve done enough talking for today, don’t you think?” He snaps, hating the way she visibly recoils.

“We can’t leave things like this.” She gestures between them. Things haven’t been so awkward since Florida. “My parents always said never go to bed angry.”

“Well my parents solved all their marital problems with divorce. So.”

He did it. He said the ‘d’ word. It's out there. Can’t take it back now.

“You want a divorce?” She whispers, her face crumpling.

He shrugs noncommittally. “You’re the one who mentioned starting over.”

“I said I didn’t want to. I love you, Jake. I planned to spend the rest of my life with you. But I’ve always wanted kids... and if we can’t do that together...” She breaks off, pointlessly scrubbing away her tears with the back of her hand. New ones fall anyway. “This hurts me too, you know.”

“Does it?” He asks emptily. “If it was such a dealbreaker, you should’ve made that clear before we got married. Hell, you should’ve made it clear years ago before I got so invested.”

“I didn’t think I needed to. I thought you loved kids!”

“I do. But that doesn’t mean I want my own. I love Nikolaj and Ava and Iggy, but I also love giving them back to their parents at the end of the day and being able to get on with my life.”

“And that’s your opinion set for life, is it? You’re never changing your mind?”

“I don’t know,” he says honestly.

“You don’t know?” Amy repeats. “Our marriage is about to fall apart and you don’t know. Thanks, Jake. That’s great.” She shakes her head, walking away.

“I don’t know anymore because I don’t want to lose you,” he spits out. It comes out angrier than it’s supposed to, but it does the trick. She turns around. “I didn’t want kids because I was scared. I had a crappy childhood and we work a lot and I’m terrified of being a bad father.”

Her expression is unreadable.

“I love you so much,” he continues. “This life we have here... it’s better than anything I imagined. Like I said earlier, I was as sure about asking you to marry me as I was about becoming a cop. But I was still scared of marriage. Scared of ending up like my parents, alone for so many years. It wasn’t until you were walking down the shredded paper aisle that I wasn’t anymore.”

“What are you saying?” She murmurs.

“I’m always going to be scared of ending up like my dad. Just because things are scary, doesn’t mean I shouldn’t do them.”

“Can I sit down?”

He nods silently, shifting so there’s room for her. She grabs his hand, lightly rubbing the pad of his thumb over his wedding band. He swallows the lump in his throat.

“I don’t want you to say these things just because you think it will save our marriage,” she says seriously. “I want you to want kids. We’re only going to end up in the same place a few years down the line if you commit to having children you don’t want. And that’s not fair on me, or you, or them.”

He thinks about it - really thinks about it. He thinks about the way his heart flips whenever Nikolaj says he loves him or when one of Amy’s nieces climbs into his lap and asks him to read a book or when Cagney and Lacey bring him cookies into work. They’re always oddly shaped and contain more chocolate chips than any other ingredient, but their little smiles light up whenever he pops one in his mouth and tells them it’s delicious. And as scared as he is, he loves the image of a mini-Amy he conjures in his mind.

“I do want to have kids,” he promises. “With you.”

Her lips twitch. “You’re sure? You’re not scared anymore?”

“I am so scared. Maybe even more now so than before,” he confesses. “But I was scared in there with Pam and I handled that. And me and you make a pretty good team, don’t we?”

“The best team,” she agrees, smiling for the first time in hours.

It’s so beautiful - she’s so beautiful - that Jake can’t help but smile back. “We can do anything.”

“We can.”

“So,” he hesitates, looking nervous again, “are we good?”

“We’re good,” she says, leaning in for a kiss. It’s soft and tender yet equal parts desperate. She giggles when she pulls away. “It’s you and I, by the way.”

All the heart ache disappears with a whoosh.

“We’ve just decided to have kids together and you’re seriously correcting my grammar?” He narrows his eyes playfully.

“Of course! I won’t have you impose poor grammatical habits onto our unborn child.”

“I love you,” he responds.

“Love you too, babe.” She combs her fingers through his damp, messy curls, biting her lip. “Want to practise baby-making in the other room?”

Jake grins. “Race you there.”

[another-sonic-blog]

The Dark Prince: Epilogue: Not The Dark Prince

"Today is the first Independence anniversary for the Acorn Kingdom! Not too long ago, the Acorn Kingdom was under the commands of their tyrant King. Everyone expected the Rebellion leader Princess Sally Acorn to take over the throne. However, informants declare that a secret member of the Rebellion, whose face had not been revealed yet, has been picked by the people of the Acorn Kingdom to take over the throne. He goes by the name of-"

"Cream, stop watching that!", Amy turned off the TV of her leaving room.

"But they were going to reveal the name of the new King!" Cream said winning.

"You have been too obsessed with this new King, you don't even know his name nor his face...what's with this guy anyway?" Amy said as she looked at herself in the mirror, making sure that her hair looks decent for work.

"He is just so mysterious! The news is always talking about him and about the things he has done or the Acorn Kingdom...Weirdly enough, the Acorn Kingdom never let a single picture of him infiltrate...I wonder why?" Cream said thoughtfully.

"He is a secret Rebellion member, if his identity was revealed, then the Kingdom would probably go after his loved ones."

"Rouge?!"

Amy and Cream turned around to find Rouge drinking a cup of coffee. "What?"

"How long have you been there?"

"Half an hour", She said as she took a sip. "I used to be spy honey...I remember some old tricks."

"I forgot that just two years ago you used to work for G.U.N hehe... well at least you are doing good as a self-defense trainer." Cream said as she made room for her bat friend to sit with her on the sofa.

"And you are doing good as a Pre-K teacher yourself Cream.", Rouge took a seat next to her rabbit friend.

"I am really happy you are here Rouge but I am just leaving to work," Amy said as she opened the door, ready to leave.

"But we even haven't talked about the wedding yet!" Rouge said almost screaming as she saw Amy leave.

"We will talk about it as soon as I get back home!

And with that Amy left.

Rouge and Cream looked at each other, already knowing what they were going to do next.

They turned the TV and watched the breaking news.

The news reporter was shown quickly on the TV, still announcing the breaking news. "Who would have thought that the new King of the Acorn Kingdom will be no other than the re-owned worldwide superhero-"

Then, both Rouge and Cream yelled in unison...

"IT'S HIM!"

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It has been another busy day at Momo's Cafe, AKA Amy's cafe. Although she was thankful that her cafe had become more popular these days, she was still thankful that everything was working well.

She looked up at her phone, looking at it proudly, she was able to buy herself a smartphone. She received a text message from Sonic clearly saying: "Can't wait to see you!"

Amy smiled with the text, it has been two weeks since she last Sonic and she was super excited to him. She texted back: "I am cleaning up at the cafe, you can come if you want."

"Alright :)" He texted back.

She put her phone away and put on some music to start cleaning up. Her last employee left and since Amy was the owner, she made a thing that it must be her the first one to arrive and the last one to leave.

To leave

It has already been two years and still no signs of him. She really wonders if she is worth waiting for him this long. She wanted him to be there for the wedding, but it seems like she wasn't going to see him anytime soon.

Amy used a towel to clean the underpart of the cashier's table. As if she was under it, she heard the cafe's door open. Steps getting closer to her as they finally made a stop in front of the cashier, waiting to get service. Amy was having a bit of difficulty getting herself up from the underpart of the table, as she hit her head.

"Can I have a cup of black coffee?"

Amy heard a someone from the other side of the cashier say, as she stopped from touching her head, she quickly stood up to face her client.

"Sorry sir, we are closed-"

This must be a dream.

Amy must have hit her head too hard because the one standing right in front of her, asking her for a cup of black coffee was no other than Shadow the Hedgehog.

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.

.

This wasn't like in the books, where both protagonists end up kissing each other after a long time of not meeting.

Their feelings were never like that, and Shadow was aware of that. Before, Shadow would be worried about that fact. Now, it didn't matter, it was unique. It wasn't fictional....

their feelings were real.

And now they were here, alone, drinking coffee on the place where everything began. Quietly, their eyes crossed each other, not knowing where to star.

"So...how you have been?" Amy asked trying not to make eye contact. Shadow took a sip of his coffee before answering, keeping his cool.

"I've been alright"

That was it. Shadow couldn't get words out of his mouth. He really was trying to make any motion possible to show that he was happy to be here.

"What-um..what you?"

"What?"

"What about you?" Shadow finally was able to pronounce his words properly. He didn't know why he was getting so nervous for. It was just Amy, the girl who he had a crush on since forever, nothing to be worried about right?

"I've well since you left two years, I kept working on my cafe and now it's gotten more popular. Also that I've been busy planning a wedding." Amy said simply, still trying to fully realize that the Dark Prince was in front of her.

"Oh...A wedding?...things between you and Sonic must be pretty good then." Shadow sighed, what was he expecting? He clearly told Sonic to go after Amy, and for him to make her happy. It had been two years, so of course their relationship had developed. Of course Sonic would want to marry her, who wouldn't? At least Shadow would do it in a heartbeat.

So if he knew...why was there still a pain in his heart?

Oh, yes...because he had hoped that Amy would have waited for him. But he knew that it would be selfish of him to ask her to do so.

"Ummm, yes we are good but I am planning Rouge and Knuckles' wedding. They asked me to do it, so of course, I said yes. Don't get me wrong, I love planning but it can be stressing at times."

"Wait, so Sonic and you?"

"What about us?" Amy said a bit weird out by Shadow's question.

"You know..you both are...a thing?"

"No, we never dated. I couldn't bring myself to think about anyone else after what Sonic told me." Amy took a sip once again from her cup, already knowing where this was going.

"What did Sonic told you?"

Shadow was panicking. Sonic couldn't have told Amy about the letter...right?

"Mmm...where should I start?... I am not perfect, and I may have hurt you-"

"STOP!"

Shadow could feel his cheeks getting hotter by the second. He had never felt this flustered before. He hated himself as he realized that he had lost his cool.

"I am sorry...I won't talk about it again." Amy said smiling a bit, proud that she made Shadow get pink like that.

A few minutes passed again in silence as Shadow had gotten his composure back. "So...you waited for me? Although I told Sonic to be with you?"

"Sonic always put others before himself. He knew that you loved me so he stepped aside. He asked me if I was ok with it...you know...If I was ok with waiting..."

Amy sighed as she remembers the scene clearly from two years ago. Sonic showing her the letter Shadow had left. Reading Shadow's true feelings was what made Amy come up with an answer.

"And I said yes."

For a moment, Shadow couldn't' hear anything but his heartbeat. For a small fraction of a second, Shadow couldn't see anything but Amy. That 'Yes' stumble his ears again and again, almost like a melody.

It may be a simple word, but for him...it meant everything.

All of this time, he was scared that all previous feelings Amy had for him were gone. But now, seeing her eyes glow like that as if she was about to cry. Her lips trembling, and her body ready to jump into his arms.

"Are you still looking for an extra worker?" Shadow smiled, hoping that his words will resonate with her.

"Yes..." Amy took one second to stop her voice from cracking. " I can't promise you a good paycheck but...I promise you that I'll never fire you... Will the Dark Prince comply to these terms?"

Shadow couldn't wait to get Amy into his arms. After two long years of being part of the Rebellion and learning more about himself, he was ready to start living. Although he still had questions about love and how it should be treated, he knew that the only way to learn was to experience it.

And he wanted to experience everything with Amy. Their time was ending, the two lovers had no one to stop them from loving each other. It was the beginning of the end, but what a beautiful ending it was.

Sonic had finally arrived at Amy's Cafe but he couldn't bring himself to interrupt the beautiful moment the two were having. At last, his promise to Shadow had been fulfilled and there was nothing else to do but watch. He smiled out of happiness as he watched the two share a small kiss. He learned to watch from afar and appreciate the little things life brings him. He was truly happy for them both.

Shadow smiled and held hands with Amy. He closed his eyes and opened them slowly as to savor the moment, not wanting to let go, he sighed and answered her question...

"I am not the Dark Prince anymore...but if you want, call me the Dark King."

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The Dark Prince Epilogue: END

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Previous Chapter: https://another-sonic-blog.tumblr.com/post/185970145230/its-been-a-while-since-sonic-had-seen-shadow-he

The Dark Prince: Chapter Nine: A Confession

A/N: This story came out from a small idea, now it has become a complete story.

Personally, I think this is the best ShadAmy fan-fiction I've written. I want to thank everyone who has followed this story to the very end. Especially those who comment and inspired me to keep writing.

There's really not much to say, I will probably take a break from writing stories with multiple chapters. I'll like to get my ideas going by writing one-shot stories, so of course, if anyone has prompt ideas feel free to message me.

Thank you once again to everyone who read "The Dark Prince" I have loved writing this story and its sad to let it go.

But all things that start well, end well.

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[scrapyardboyfriends]

Jenny’s Belated Live Blogging - 10th October 2019

- I’m torn between being so complacent since it’s the end and the fact that we’re coming off of a drought and I’ve barely been watching the show anyway that I’m fine with them only having three scenes plus the Rob/Vic scene...and also being outraged that they keep shortchanging them, especially when the alternative is...horrible???!!! None of it would be quite so hard to swallow if literally any of the stories were good but if it’s all going to be repetitive filler, why not just give me three extra scenes of Robert eating ice cream and Seb doing laps around their table while Aaron gives him high fives each time he passes? Or let me watch them go play with toys or ride on trains. Haha. Just...at least that would feel new since they haven’t been on as opposed to the rest of this bullshit that everyone has to be tired of at this point. Sigh...

- But also I’m glad Seb was out of his pram and standing!! and has a new giant elephant stuffed animal and was matching Aaron in his outfit today. And Aaron got to sort of interact with him. (GIVE AARON SEB GOD DAMNIT!) 

- And the little allusion to their anniversary trip was nice. I’m glad they remembered and put that in. And I hope Robert got to eat ALL of that ice cream himself. And I like that Robert just wants to spend all his time at home with his family with their weird normal. 

- But also give me more. 

- Anyway...the rest of the nonsense...

- Again, I still CANNOT believe this weed story is still going on and more important than Robron apparently. Like...really?? I don’t even know where they’re going with it. I mean...I guess it’s still vaguely amusing but it should have been a week long comedy plot. It’s been going on for literal months. It’s been going on really since Robert’s exit story started kind of. It’s absurd. The fact that this is one of their big ongoing plots is very concerning and telling. They NEED something more gripping any exciting. 

- And Vanessa/Tracy vs Kerry/Amy is not it. If I have to watch them all have the same conversations anymore, I’m going to lose it. Where is that going? Are more people going to find out? Not soon, I’d gather, since Vanessa and Charity are fleeing to Cornwall. They’re going to miss all the fun. Also...is Noah going with them? Aren’t they supposed to be watching Sarah? And why after breaking up Dan and Kerry am I being made to watch their heart to hearts? When will it end?! 

- Speaking of having the same conversation...DEAR GOD the Nate and Moira stuff is PAINFUL!!! They’ve literally had the same set of scenes this entire story and I’m SOOOO tired of episodes ending with them making out. Why can’t the episode end with Robron making out? Or literally anyone else. And again...Moira seems fucking miserable with Nate and looks like she’s enjoying Cain’s company way more. NOTHING MAKES SENSE!!! And don’t even get me started on Nate’s “Feelings” for her. I just want Cain to murder him. Or you know...Robert’s going to prison for murder...he could kill him on his way out. If he and Aaron come back for Chas, they could just casually pull a Kieron and run him over with their car??? Yes? I think it would be excellent. 

- Anyway...if Robron are not the A plot in at least one episode next week...I will yell a lot. Low Bar here...

[cptnsantiago]

take me home

3/?

~ christmas sweater

read on ao3

Jake has told Amy about the moment he knew he’d marry her a thousand times. She loves hearing it, and it was so was them that he never really got sick of telling her the story. 

So he’s almost completely thrown when she asks him for a different story, seven years into their marriage. 

“When did you realise you loved me?” 

He slowly lets the newspaper fall into his lap, the crossword they had been doing together already forgotten. “I’ve loved you for so long I’d really have to think about it, Ames.”

Amy is playing with the curls on the back of his head as he thought; and it takes a moment to remember. He’s loved her for almost ten years, so to pinpoint one moment he knew was hard. There had been so many moments where his love for her was reaffirmed; anytime she went along with his jokes, the day she shot him in the leg to save him, when they actually got married, when she went through many hours of labour to have their children. 

Amy falls asleep on his shoulder before he can figure out his answer. It made sense, she was tired, being pregnant with their third child. She needed all the rest to deal with throwing up twice a day while dealing with a five and a two year old. Jake did all he could to help, kept the kids occupied as long as he could but that meant he couldn’t be there to hold her hair back. 

She reassured him that he was doing a brilliant job, even if she had to hold her own hair back at least she didn’t have two kids screaming in their bathroom as it happened. 

He loved her so damn much - but he couldn’t figure out her question, when?

The answer comes to him as he’s digging through an old box a few days later, scavenging for more sweaters because their kids had inherited their mother's genes of being cold all the time. Even when the heat was blasting and they all had layers of blankets over them already. 

But he finds it, the ugliest sweater ever created. 

It was covered in crooked snowflakes and Christmas colours that didn’t quite match. It had been their first Christmas as a couple and she had recently taken up knitting. Not soon enough apparently. 

He remembers walking into the precinct to find her focused so intensely on the needles and wool in front of her, a tutorial video playing off her phone, as she probably waited for the exact minute she could start work. Spotting Jake, she rushed to stuff the equipment into her work bag and locks her phone all while trying to seem very casual. 

With Jake’s curiosity piqued, he interrogates her in the most flirtatious way possible until he finds out she had been knitting for him. Amy had been blushing so hard that he dropped it, pretending to forget so she would stop freaking out even if it was the cutest thing in the world. In reality he was so excited to see what she was making him, and it also made him feel the need to step his Christmas game up. So gone was the boogie board he’d originally bought for their six month anniversary out of indecisiveness and back to the hell mall with hell people during the hellish holiday season. 

He ended up getting her an expensive nerdy stationary set he saw her eyeing while shopping for her own families gifts. It wasn’t an adorable homemade gift that he was beyond excited for, but he knew she’d like it anyway. 

Jake struggled to stifle his laughter when he first saw the sweater. He’d ruined the paper in his excitement so he had zero control over his facial expressions. Amy deserved all the credit for trying considering it was the first thing she had ever knitted to completion. 

The more he observed the uneven snowflakes across the sweater, the more it hit him. He was so completely in love with Amy Santiago. 

His entire body heated up with the realisation, so much so that he was ready to take his hoodie off in her heated apartment. Jake had liked Amy for a very long time, and he knew he was falling in love with her. But looking up at her concerned face after observing it for a minute, he knew. 

He loved this sweater and he loved her. 

There was no doubt about it. He was truly lost for words for once in his life and he knew she was panicking with the lack of his reaction. So he just kisses her, soft and quick but with the purest of emotion behind it. 

Jake loved Amy Santiago, a woman who was great at many things. Just not cooking or knitting. 

Those skills had since improved exponentially over the years. Amy had set her mind to it and now with great focus she could cook anything she wanted. Her knitting skills were still a bit rough, but she didn’t dedicate as much time to it - especially after her disastrous second attempt for Charles’ birthday (even though Charles was allergic to the brand of wool she had bought, so it wasn’t her fault). 

He doesn’t know when the sweater had been put into storage to be forgotten about, but he was glad for this extremely cold January morning to find it. 

“Daddy, what’s taking you so long!?” Their second born is growling from the blankets with Amy, and it starts a chorus of all of them complaining about being cold. 

He then rushes to slip the sweater on before running with the other old NYPD hoodies to make sure his family was so toasty they’d probably start sweating. 

“That sweater is ugly.” Luna grimaces, holding her hand to her mouth to stop herself from laughing as he had to do years ago and Amy is blushing just as much as she did all those years ago. 

“Hey! Don’t be rude, Luna, you’re mom made this.” Jake brags, wagging his brows in Amy’s direction. 

Luna works even harder to hide her giggles, but Amy begins to tickle her and the laughter rips out of her. It starts an afternoon of crazy shenanigans which leads to Amy attempting to show Luna how to knit. 

Jake has their son passed out on his chest next to Amy. He has to be careful when he leans over to tell her. “This is how I knew, by the way.”

“What’s that?” Amy hums, her needles still as she looks towards him. 

“Getting this sweater, this is when I knew I loved you.”

[mobius-prime]

132. Sonic the Hedgehog #73

The Truth is Out There

Writer: Karl Bollers Pencils: Steven Butler Colors: Frank Gagliardo

We open in Knothole Village, the morning after the strange TV takeover detailing Robotnik's life story. Sonic has had Nate and Uncle Chuck make a gift for him to give to his parents - two golden wedding bands made out of power rings for their anniversary!

That's actually incredibly thoughtful of him. Nate gets ready to leave back for Mobotropolis, and at the same time, Sonic gets a call from Sally to return also, so Sonic says goodbye to his parents, Uncle Chuck, and Muttski, and together they head out.

Meanwhile, Sally is sitting in her room talking to Nicole about their "recent findings," when Elias happens to walk in, overhearing and asking if there's anything she'd like to talk about. She seems a bit reluctant at first, but Nicole encourages her to talk to her brother. Elias agrees, saying that he dislikes how they've felt they have to avoid each other lately, that it's been awkward since they never knew the other existed for the majority of their childhood. But now he has something on his mind and wishes to talk to his sister one on one, to which Nicole again agrees.

Well then! This does make sense - after all, Elias was never truly raised as a future monarch, while Sally was groomed all her life to be the next queen. Sally suggests he tell their dad, but he refuses, saying that King Acorn has been too busy worrying about their mother's illness and the affairs of the state and probably wouldn't listen.

But meanwhile, in orbit above the planet, something strange is going on. Snively, who as we saw in StH#72 is alive, is being introduced to the satellites above the globe.

Well this is probably a good sign! One last satellite activates in orbit, the I-SAT unit. We pop back over to Mobotropolis, where Sally has gathered a group to speak to about her and Nicole's findings. During this whole sequence, on the right side of each page, we see each satellite linking up to another one, two by two, until all eight have become linked…

Sally and Nicole begin to lay it all out for the others - two months ago the first satellite activated over the Devil's Gulag, coinciding exactly with the mysterious breakout of all its prisoners. One week later, the second one activated over the Southern Tundra, causing increased seismic activity, and Sonic, Tails, and Nate corroborate that this caused avalanches in the area. Three days later, the third satellite caused a band of Robians to activate in the Great Rainforest, when Sonic was attacked in the temple. And the very next day, the fourth satellite launched the group of asteroids towards Mobotropolis on the day of both Sonic and Elias' return. Four days later the fifth satellite activated over Big Kahuna Island, causing the half-cyborg squid monster to attack the team sent there to rescue Nate. The next day the sixth satellite activated that beam over Knothole that reversed its time displacement, and the seventh activated last night, just before the Robotnik broadcast. Strangely, the amount of time described would only account for about sixteen days between the first satellite activating and the sixth one, meaning that if the first one really did activate two months ago, there's been a gap of almost a month and a half between the sixth and seventh ones. Perhaps… the satellites just felt like taking a break, and nothing of note happened at all between then and now?

Well, that's not good.

Sonic immediately races out of the room towards Knothole, and begins roaming around, calling for his mom, dad, Uncle Chuck and Muttski. He checks their house, checks all the rooms, but the place is totally empty. Not a single Robian is left in Knothole. None. And back in orbit, as Snively cowers, the incredibly mysterious and not-at-all-obvious-who-it-is figure cackles maniacally at the sight of a dejected Sonic alone in the village…

Tales of the Great War (Part 2): The Big Bad One

Writer: Ken Penders Pencils: Art Mawhinney Colors: Barry Grossman

The beginning of this story informs us that it takes place before the previous one. It would kind of have to, because as Tails and Amy continue to read their history book under Jeremiah's supervision, Uncle Chuck walks in safe and sound. Apparently he's been coming here for years now (which would imply that he's had his free will for years, incidentally, meaning that the events of this comic have stretched on for longer than I previously estimated given that he only regained his free will at the beginning of the second era), and was heavily influenced by Kirby's works in his youth to become a great thinker. Tails and Amy ask him to add to the story and tell them how the Great War started, which he tells them from his own memory rather than from the book. After branding Nate a traitor to the kingdom, Naugus and Kodos celebrated their victory, but as these things go with malicious liars, they both turned on each other for their own purposes. Kodos tried to kill Naugus when his back was turned, but Naugus had already suspected treachery, and thus used an illusion to only make it appear like he was there while really being safely in the lab, next to the portal to the Zone of Silence.

Tails asks how Uncle Chuck knows all this stuff, considering even Kirby didn't have the full story, and Chuck explains that since he was a robot, while he was a spy he could simply download any information he needed from Robotnik's database into his own brain. He then continues the story - for a long time, the Overlanders and Mobians stayed separate, with nothing worse than the occasional skirmish breaking out. However, one day an Overlander scout and a Mobian scout encountered each other while out on patrol. Neither wanted to fight, so they instead agreed to tell their respective sides that the other side was far more well-equipped and knowledgeable about the land, to discourage any thoughts of war. However, a band of military Mobians overheard and captured them, dragging them before Kodos. As we know, Kodos loved the idea of war just as much as he hated Overlanders, so he was not pleased with their agreeableness. Thus, he decided to break both their necks where they sat.

Ouch, man. This guy is cold. Of course, as soon as both sides received their notes they were convinced that the other side was full of dangerous and brutal savages, and thus began to gear up for war. We'll have to wait to hear what happened next however, as we've got a situation in orbit to take care of first…

[storytell]

A detailed (ish) breakdown of TARDIS AU (Part 1/2).

PERSONALS DO NOT REBLOG!

Buckle up, guys, this is going to be a long long ride. The TARDIS au was started by a small group of us on October 5th of last year and is as of now our most developed group au ever. Since its one year anniversary is coming up, I’ve decided to outline some things about the au to encourage people to interact using the characters from it. This WILL be a very, very, very long post, so it’s going under a cut.

NOTE: I wasn’t a part of some conversations revolving around characters and relationships not involving me. If some descriptions seem vague, that’s why.

Part I: The Factions.

The factions are defined very loosely, as they’re subject to change at the drop of a hat. Here is how things are at the beginning of the au’s concrete timeline:

The TARDIS crew: Mark Twain/The Adventurer, Louisa May Alcott, Edgar Allan Poe, F. Scott Fitzgerald

The Time Agency: Akutagawa Gin, Jono Saigiku, Suehiro Tetcho, Tachihara Michizou, Mushitaro Oguri , Sakaguchi Ango

Prisoners of the Time Agency: Ayatsuji Yukito, Akutagawa Ryuunosuke, Yumeno Kyusaku

Torchwood: Fukuzawa Yukichi, Edogawa Ranpo, Tanizaki Jun’ichiro

Misc.: Nikolai Gogol, Ookura Teruko, Scottie Fitzgerald, Nick Carraway, Margaret Mitchell, Herman Melville, John Steinbeck, Howard Phillips Lovecraft, Lucy Maud Montgomery, Nathaniel Hawthorne

Here is how the factions look at the end of the end of the au’s concrete timeline.

The immortal TARDIS crew: Mark Twain/The Adventurer, Jono Saigiku, Suehiro Tetcho, Edogawa Ranpo, Howard Phillips Lovecraft, Lucy Maud Montgomery

Former TARDIS crew/Earth, 21st century: Louisa May Alcott, Edgar Allan Poe, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Mark Mitchell/”Mitchy” ( @asheard ), Margaret Mitchell, Ookura Teruko, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Tanizaki Jun’ichiro, Herman Melville, Scottie Fitzgerald

Time Agency: Akutagawa Gin, Tachihara Michizou, Sakaguchi Ango

Torchwood: Fukuzawa Yukichi, Mushitaro Oguri

Other/Unknown: Ayatsuji Yukito, Akutagawa Ryuunosuke, Yumeno Kyusaku, Nick Carraway, John Steinbeck, Nikolai Gogol

Part II: The Characters

Mark Twain/The Adventurer ( @asheard ): The quote-unquote “main character” of TARDIS AU, The Adventurer was thought to be the last of the timelords after he killed them all during the time war. Loosely fills the role of The Doctor, but canon timeline doesn’t include much past the Pandorica. He’s also only regenerated twice, and we’ve taken liberties with how timelords work for the sake of the AU. 

Louisa May Alcott ( @praevari ): The Adventurer’s first companion and only intended companion. Worked at a library for a long time until she was suddenly whisked away by a timelord. She has a keen interest in learning alien languages. Loosely fills the role of Rose.

Edgar Allan Poe ( @inkblccded ): An unintended addition to the TARDIS crew, Poe insisted on tagging along when his best (only) friend Louisa was taken by The Adventurer. Prior to canon events, he was a detective who quit his job after being unable to solve a murder case whose culprit was actually an alien.

F. Scott Fitzgerald ( @chiassosanctum ): Former captain of the time agency from far into the future; defected and decided to cause chaos, causing him to become wanted. A stowaway of sorts on the TARDIS who ends up staying there permanently. Very well-versed in alien technology. Loosely fills the role of Jack Harkness.

Akutagawa Gin ( @tranquilsongs ): Acting captain of the time agency at the start of canon events. Angry at Scott’s percieved betrayal, she dedicates herself and her team to pursuing him no matter the cost.

Jono Saigiku ( @praevari ): A timelord under the influence of a chameleon arc, The Interrogator thinks he’s human at the start of the timeline. He’s one of the higher ranked officers in the Time Agency.

Suehiro Tetcho ( @asheard ): A human with incorporated cyberman parts, assigned to protect Jono at all costs. He’s the only person who is aware of Jono’s secret, and keeps said secret from him as per his orders.

Mushitaro Oguri ( @asheard ): The “cleaner” of the Time Agency, Mushitaro is in charge of fixing any messed-up timelines caused by time travelers. Tormented later by Edogawa Ranpo.

Sakaguchi Ango ( @tranquilsongs ): The supervisor of the quarantined prisoners of the time agency. Very, very tired.

Ayatsuji Yukito ( @asheard ): Prisoner of the time agency. Carrier of a highly contagious alien disease which kills people who come into contact with him within an hour.

Akutagawa Ryuunosuke ( @inkblccded ): Prisoner of the time agency. Host of a parasite which can fight or complete other tasks for him at the cost of years being taken off of his life.

Yumeno Kyusaku ( @tranquilsongs ): Prisoner of the time agency. The result of experimentation on hosting an alien creature that would cause hallucinations to whoever hurt the host.

Fukuzawa Yukichi ( @praevari ): The leader of Torchwood. Adoptive father of Edogawa Ranpo.

Edogawa Ranpo ( @inkblccded ): A half-timelord who doesn’t know it yet. Briefly met The Adventurer during an incident with cybermen, but wasn’t picked up by him until years later. VERY loosely fills the role of Amy. 

Tanizaki Jun’ichiro ( @deviantsbliss ): Ranpo’s best friend. Insists on coming along with him in the TARDIS, but honestly ends up being a fourth wheel.

Nikolai Gogol/The Fool ( @asheard ): A timelord driven crazy by the constant sound of drumming in his ears. He tries to take over the earth like twice but honestly don’t worry about it.

Ookura Teruko ( @deviantsbliss ): A Futurekind from the end of the universe. Kept as one of his special ‘pets’. Eventually rescued by the TARDIS crew.

Frances Scottie Fitzgerald ( @tranquilsongs ): Scott’s thought-to-be-dead daughter. Actually adopted by The Fool and warped so badly that she no longer recognizes Scott as her father. Eventually rescued by the TARDIS crew.

Nick Carraway ( @chiassosanctum ): Space lawyer. He’s just kind of there and also very tired.

Margaret Mitchell ( @asheard ): A human from earth who was dragged along by the TARDIS crew. She eventually loses her memories after briefly becoming half-timelord as a way to protect her. Loosely fills the role of Donna Noble.

Herman Melville ( N/A ): Margaret’s grandfather. One of the only people outside of his companions that The Adventurer respects enough to salute to. Loosely fills the role of Wilfred Mott.

John Steinbeck ( @giftandguile ): A tree person bounty hunter hired by the time agency to capture F. Scott Fitzgerald at the start of canon. Doesn’t like when people breathe near him, apparently.

Howard Phillips Lovecraft ( @deviantsbliss ): A mysterious immortal not even The Adventurer can figure out. He meets the TARDIS crew out of order and ends up marrying The Adventurer after the mortal members of the crew leave but again don’t worry about it. VERY loosely fills the role of River Song.

Lucy Maud Montgomery ( N/A ): Made on a planet at war out of Twain’s genetic material. Technically his daughter. Loosely fills the role of The Doctor’s Daughter. Ends up staying with the TARDIS crew.

Nathaniel Hawthorne ( N/A ): Honestly just there as an NPC. Future husband to Margaret after she loses her memories of the TARDIS crew.

BONUS: Mark Mitchell “Mitchy” Fitzgerald ( @asheard ): Half The Adventurer and half Margaret Mitchell. Lives a human life rather than a timelord life. Ends up left on earth by his timelord counterpart.

PART III: Important relationships.

The progression of relationships between each character at the beginning of the series is as follows:

The Adventurer, Louisa, Poe, and Fitzgerald: Initially began as a romance between the two pairs (Mark and Louisa + Poe and Fitzgerald), however they all end up in a relationship together. After the mortal crew leaves, The Adventurer leaves Mitchy behind because he’s human and can live and die with them, much to the [mixed reactions] of the former original TARDIS crew. The four of them end up getting married.

The Adventurer and Jono Saigiku/The Interrogator: Initially friends on Gallifrey, the Adventurer promised the Interrogator that he’d fix his blindness and get rid of the constant sound of his heartbeat after the latter was damaged by looking into the time vortex. It never happened because the Adventurer ran away, but they reconcile when Jono receives his timelord memories back.

The Adventurer and Edogawa Ranpo: First having met when Ranpo was a little kid, the two started off rough when the Adventurer broke his promise to come right back to bring him on the TARDIS. But, after a long while of traveling together and Ranpo choosing to stay on the TARDIS after becoming immortal, they see eachother as a sort of found family.

The Adventurer and Herman Melville: Melville is one of the people that the Adventurer would do anything to protect. Also close to the only person the Adventurer respects on that level.

The Adventurer and Howard Phillips Lovecraft: The latter was an enigma to the former at first, since they’d been having their meetings out of order. But soon, Lovecraft started to become someone who would occasionally help on their adventures. Even before the mortal crew left, the Adventurer was made aware that this was the person he ended up with. It wasn’t till after they left, though, that the Adventurer and Lovecraft had the event that would lead to them getting married. Lovecraft has since traveled with the Adventurer and the immortal TARDIS crew.

F. Scott Fitzgerald and Akutagawa Gin: Scott was Gin and Ryuunosuke’s surrogate father since they were young, and as such they had an extremely close relationship. Scott’s eventual betrayal led Gin to dedicate herself solely to tracking him down. Their eventual reunion was rocky, but ended relatively happily.

F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ookura Teruko, and Frances Scottie Fitzgerald: After rescuing his not-daughter and his daughter from the Fool and a long process of getting them to realize that the Fool was bad, Scott came to see them both as children to him.

F. Scott Fitzgerald and John Steinbeck: Steinbeck is trying to kill him. Scott takes every possible opportunity to annoy him. That’s really it.

Akutagawa Gin and Tachihara Michizou: This was one of the relationship conversations I don’t really remember, so I’ll try and sum it up as best as I can: Tachihara kept trying to comfort Gin during her time with the TARDIS crew and eventually it worked. I’m pretty sure they got together.

Jono Saigiku/The Interrogator, Suehiro Tetcho, and Edogawa Ranpo: Things started off with just Jono and Tetcho; Tetcho was always programmed to stay with Jono throughout everything. Ranpo only came into the picture after he was picked up by the Adventurer, purposely getting himself caught by the time agents literally so he could hold both of their hands, to which they responded with varying levels of confusion. Things escalated during the Pandorica; Tetcho was thought to have waited 2000 years alone for Jono, but Ranpo had become immortal after the Pandorica and gone back in time to wait with him. They’re in love.

Jono Saigiku/The Interrogator and Nikolai Gogol/The Fool: Jono is mostly unnerved because they both hear the constant sound of ‘drumming’. Mostly he doesn’t want to end up like the Fool.

Mushitaro Oguri and Edogawa Ranpo: Ranpo loves to annoy Mushitaro by leaving well-placed sticky notes throughout the messed up timelines. This is literally what led Mushitaro to quit his job and join Torchwood.

Ayatsuji Yukito, Akutagawa Ryuunosuke, and Yumeno Kyusaku: The three of them spoke a lot, being prisoners in adjacent cells for a very long time. Eventually, because of reforms to the time agency, Ryuunosuke and Kyusaku are allowed to leave. Ayatsuji’s consciousness is put into a plastic double of himself (like Rory!) so he too can leave. Ayatsuji and Ryuunosuke are then gay and in love for pretty much all time with their child Kyusaku.

Fukuzawa Yukichi and Edogawa Ranpo: Fukuzawa loved Ranpo a lot. And then he decided to run off with a timelord without a word. Of course, that didn’t make him love Ranpo any less, it just made him worried. Sometimes the Adventurer will drop by so Ranpo can tell Fuku he’s still alive and okay and that he’s also kind of a timelord now.

Edogawa Ranpo and Tanizaki Jun’ichirou: Ranpo was Tanizaki’s lifelong friend and secret crush, but things between them slowly start to get more strained and distant, until Tanizaki decided to just leave the TARDIS with the rest of the mortal crew.

Nikolai Gogol/The Fool, Ookura Teruko, and Frances Scottie Fitzgerald: The Fool didn’t really hold any emotional attachment to either of the girls, viewing a former as a pet or a means for entertainment and the latter as a way to get a leg up on the TARDIS crew.