#I also woke up with slight a headache on the left but it has only been on the right now.

[sepiasys]

Took a melatonin gummy to aid in sleep only to wake up/awaken 5 hours later. And I am well aware of the fact I woke up three times.

It is 3am.

Is it so much to ask that I have anything resembling a sleep schedule? Am I not allowed to rest like a normal person should be able?

[blackypanther9]

Very first Period – Teen!Daughter!Reader x Father!Alastor

WARNING!: Mention of blood, cursing, slight bit of angst, talking about how babies are made, talking about why the period is happening and what happens AND MORE ! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED !!! I MEAN IT ! DO NOT READ THIS IF THE BABY MAKING MAKES YOU UNCOMFY !! I tortured Alastor...

A/N: Lol Alastor had to educate himself and teach you what was happening and all the shtick. RIP Alastor Hazbin, guys. I think he died five times before he even explained anything to you and then another 10 times as he educated you. (Pic belongs to rightful owner)

Words: 4 726

TAGLIST: @meg-giry1 @wen01203

You felt like shit, utter shit. Your lower belly was hurting and you didn’t understand why. You didn’t tell your Father, Alastor, anything about this, not wanting him to worry too much about you. A few days ago, you had a massive headache and now this. For crying out loud you were only 14 years old !

You decided to sleep a bit more, but then your Father, Alastor Hazbin, the Radio Host, barged into your room.

“Rise and shine, Darling~!”, he happily said.

“Daaaad...! Just five more minutes, please...”, you whined.

The Radio Host looked at you in confusion and looked at the time. You already slept in two hours more than usual and that on your and his free day too !

“Cher, you slept two hours longer in than usual, and that on our day off too. Are you alright ?”

You turned to him and looked out from underneath your blanket.

“My lower stomach hurts...”, you admitted, knowing it was no use to lie to him.

Alastor looked at you in worry.

“Oh dear...”, he muttered and left the room in a hurry.

It didn’t take long for your Father to return with a cup of a hot drink. He put it down on the night table.

“Here you go, Cher. My Mother taught me how to make this. She said if a woman has lower stomach pains, this will help the pains to subside.”, he said.

You looked at him and smiled softly.

“Thank you, Papa.”

“You’re welcome, my little doe. Now...do you want to cuddle and stay in bed until you feel better ?”

You nodded gently and made grabby hands towards him. Alastor chuckled and got into your bed in front of you. You immediately crawled over to him, put your head on his chest and smiled happily, snuggling into your Father. The Radio Host wrapped his arms around you and held you, while you enjoyed the comfort he gave you.

As the tea was cooled down, Alastor handed it to you and you drank the cup empty, then fell asleep on your Papa, who didn’t mind it at all.

It was afternoon when you woke up again and needed the bathroom. You carefully got up from your sleeping Father’s chest, crawled to the edge of the bed and then got up, making your way to the bathroom. After you were done emptying your bladder and washing your hands, you returned to your Father and weirdly enough, fell quickly asleep again. This never happened before, were you sick ?

As Alastor woke up, he grimaced. He felt something wet and sticky on his upper right thigh, it seemed to have soaked through his pants. He tried to move carefully, to not wake you up, but it seemed to have been fruitless. You woke up and made a noise of disgust and discomfort.

“What’s wrong, Cher ?”, the Father asked gently.

“I feel wet and sticky between my legs, Dad...”

“Did you perhaps wet yourself ?”

You gave him an offended look.

“Ewww ! Papa ! No !”

He lifted his hands in mock offence.

“I was just trying to make sure, Cher.”

As he moved you and himself, he felt that the mattress was also wet.

“What in the...”, Alastor said in confusion, disgust and worry.

“Papa...is it just me, or does the mattress feel....wet too ?”

“I feel it too, mon ange (My Angel).”

Then you froze and Alastor could feel you clench your legs.

“What is it, Cher ?”

“P-Papa...I-I’m scared...”

“Why are you scared ?”

“I...I think I am causing the sticky mess, b-but it doesn’t feel like I am wetting myself. I-I can’t stop it either. Papa, what is this ?”, you asked scared out of your mind.

Alastor hated that you were scared, because he was scared and worried too. Just what was happening ?! He took a deep breath, held you close to his chest and then tore the blanket off of both of you. His eyes went wide in horror, while you screamed.

The wet, sticky patch was blood. A pool of blood and it came from you.

“Fuck !”, Alastor cursed in a small panic.

He got quickly out of the bed and looked at his brown pants, his right pant leg was colored blood red too on his thigh. Your blood red.

“P-Papa, d-don’t leave me ! I’m scared !”

He looked at you, his daughter. He knew he couldn’t stay. He had to call a doctor. His house doctor.

“I-I’ll be right back. I need to call a doctor. Don’t panic and don’t move. P-Papa will be right back, Ch-Cher !”

Then he rushed off, while you started to sob and stare at the mess you made in bed. He sprinted to the house phone and quickly called his doctor.

“Doctor Thomas Hugo, how can I help you ?”, Alastor’s house doctor answered the call.

“Mr. Hugo ! It’s my daughter, she is bleeding out !”, the Radio Host panicked.

“Mr. Hazbin, please calm down. How old is your daughter ?”

“Fourteen !”

“Where is she bleeding out ?”

“Her woman parts I assume ! Her pants are all red and so is the mattress !”

“Has it ever happened before ?”

“No, never !”

“So this is the first time. I see...”

“How are you so calm about this ?! My kid is dying !”, Alastor panicked.

The doctor chuckled in amusement.

“She isn’t dying, Mr. Hazbin. Your daughter is having her menstruation week. It is normal.”

Alastor was confused and worried sick.

“A what now ?”

“Ah...I suppose you never heard about menstruation week before...Every month, for a whole week, a grown woman is going through it. It is normal. If you need further information, you need to seek out a library and get a biology book about woman and their menstruation week.”

After a bit more of convincing, Alastor hung up, changed his clothes and rushed out of the house and quickly drove to a library. As he arrived he went to the exact section, his doctor told him the education book would be at. He found it quickly and went to the register. The librarian gave Alastor a strange look.

“My doctor recommended it to me for my daughter. I am a single parent.”, he said as he noticed her look.

“Oh, I’m sorry. I thought you were a pervert.”, she said softly and checked the book out.

It confused the Radio Host, why he would be considered a pervert for purchasing the book ? He hurried back home, checked on his daughter, who passed out and then quickly started to read the book. As soon as he started to learn what was actually happening he got embarrassed and uncomfortable. So she wasn’t dying, her body was just growing up even more.

He looked at you and sighed gently.

‘This will be very uncomfortable to explain to her...’

He knew he was in for a long explanation...

-Time skip-

As soon as you woke up and saw more blood oozing out of your womanly part, you whimpered. Alastor heard and came into your vision, by kneeling over you and blocking your sight from all the blood you lost.

“Cher...we need to talk...”

“H-Huh ?”

“Listen...this is difficult to talk about...but I’ve called Doctor Hugo and explained your situation and he recommended me a book to educate myself and you in this. He claimed it was normal and...I know what is happening to you now, mon petit (My little one).”

“W-what IS happening to me, Papa ?”

“Your body is growing up, that’s what’s happening. You have your menstruation week.”

“What...is that ?”

“Well...every month you have a menstruation week. In that week you will bleed out, but it is never harmful. I...never wanted to explain to you where babies come from, but now...I have no choice but to tell you, so this makes sense to you. So are you ready for the most uncomfortable explanation you will, hopefully, ever have ?”

All you could do was nod and your Father sighed, sitting down to your right side and running his left hand through your hair, to calm you down.

“Well...when two people love each other, a man and a woman, they get wed. After they married they usually start to want a family, which means they want a child and...”, Alastor swallowed thickly, “...they go and sleep together, but not in the sense that you think. They kiss and all that and at some point they get undressed. A woman and a man always have different...tools between their legs. That’s why we are referred to man and woman, we have different genitals. These genitals have to...connect deeply and after a while of doing the deed, the woman ends up pregnant with a baby in her belly. This whole baby making progress is called: Sex or, as I rather like to call it: sexual intercourse. Can you follow my words ?”, Alastor asked, very uncomfortable.

“Kind of ? I mean...how do these genitals connect ? How does a baby go inside ?”

“Ah...”, he swallowed thickly again, “Well, you see, my Dear... The man’s genital is inserted into the woman’s genital and they move around until the man has something, called an orgasm. In that orgasm he can make the woman pregnant and she has the tool to carry a baby inside her. It is called a womb. You can’t make a baby without the other part either, besides you adopt a child. You, my beloved daughter, have a womb and something called egg cells. Every month your womb prepares to have a baby and if it doesn’t happen in that month, everything will start to...expire, practically. To get it all out, the dead egg cells and the preparations your womb made, you will bleed out. There are many words for this event. Menstruation week, shark week, period, strawberry week and so on. It usually goes a whole week and then it is over and you are perfectly fine again. It is practically just a cleanse.”

You scrunched your nose up in disgust.

“Eww...I never want to have intercourse with a man. Yuck.”, you said with your tongue sticking out of your mouth.

Then you looked at your Father again.

“So...I’m not dying. I am just having my womb cleansed and it will take a whole week ?”

“Exactly. The blood loss is also supposed to be healthy for you. You have an exchange of blood, which is good. But a period is always different.”

“What do you mean ?”

“You can have more than one egg cell and if that happens, you will lose more blood. And at some point too much blood loss can make you feel dizzy. You can also experience cramps and they can vary from moment to moment. Sometimes they aren’t there, other times they just make you feel uncomfortable in your own skin and other times they actually hurt. Your lower belly pains might have been cramps setting in, my Dear.”

Alastor could tell you already hated this new development of your body.

“Great, so I will also be in pain when I am bleeding out. It isn’t bad enough that it feels like I am wetting myself without any control about it. Not to forget what a mess I am making...”, you groaned annoyed.

Your Father chuckled uncomfortably.

“You will also have cravings for different kinds of food and you will be extremely moody.”

You groaned again.

“Dad...please end me. I don’t want this.”, you begged.

“Sorry, Cher. But I can’t take this off of your shoulders. I already made a list of what I should get you. You will need some more hygienic utensils, like pads, for your underwear. We will need wet wipes, a few more washcloths, some bleach, Blood Thinner Tablets to clean the sheets and clothes, sweets, chocolate and some spices. Get washed up, as long as I am shopping. Don’t worry about the bed or the mess you will be making on your way to the bathroom, I will clean it all up when I return.”

“Okay, Papa...I love you.”

The Radio Host smiled at you and gave you a kiss on your forehead.

“I love you too, mon ange.”

Then he got up and left the room, not long later he also left the house and drove off. You got up and out of bed, entered the bathroom and let some warm water into your bathtub. You will take a long, warm, relaxing bath...

-Time skip-

You were just done with washing up, as you heard your Father return. Yet you were too afraid to get out of the tub, the water slowly turning cold. You couldn’t stop the blood flow and you had tears of frustration in your eyes. Why won’t this damn nightmare stop for at least a few minutes ?!

“Cher ! I’m back !”, your Father called and you heard his footsteps.

Soon enough he was in your room with the things he knew, you needed. You were nowhere to be seen.

“Cher ?”

“Bathroom, Papa.”, you replied with a sob.

Alastor’s smile dropped and he put everything down on your desk, then knocked on your Bathroom door.

“Cher, are you still in the tub ?”

“Yes.”, he answered with a sniffle.

“Do you...want me to come in and talk what upsets you so ?”, he asked gently.

A hiccup and water was moving.

“Y-yes...”, you stuttered out.

Your Father took a deep breath, closed his eyes and then opened the door.

“I’m not seeing anything, Darling.”, he said, trying to not be a pervert.

“Pa, you saw me naked at least twice already. There is nothing new to it.”, you giggled softly.

“So you want me to look ?”

“Dad, I know that you aren’t like other men. So stop being silly and open your eyes, before you fall into the tub or stump your toe.”

“Alright, Cher.”, he said gently and opened his eyes.

He looked at you in worry and confusion.

“So, why are you still in the tub, with lukewarm water none the less, Cher ?”

Your smile dropped and you glared at your body.

“The flow won’t stop. New clothes would be stupid to put on at this rate. Pa, it feels nasty. It feels like I am peeing even though I am not. I hate it. Make it stop, please.”, you begged him.

Your Father gave you a sympathetic look and left the Bathroom, returning with a small package. He sat down on the edge of the tub and held it up to your vision.

“These are Tampons, Cher. They are a piece of fabric and at the end is a string attached. I got from each different thickness two packages. This one is supposed to be the average size and thickness.”, he explained, feeling uncomfortable.

Oh, how he wished his Mother was here now, she would have had no issues teaching you this. He had to read in a damn biology book about this and now he has to teach you. He is VERY uncomfortable, but for you, his sweet daughter, he would do anything. Even leave his comfort zone to help you. You two were in this together.

You tilted your head to your left in confusion and looked at your Father.

“Why is a string attached to it ?”, you asked.

Alastor gave you a gently, yet wobbly, smile. He opened the package, carefully pulled one Tampon out and unwrapped it, then showed you the whole thing. You were confused, but ready to listen.

“The string here is there so you can pull it out. The whole piece of cotton fabric has to go inside you, where the blood comes out. It won’t hurt, don’t worry. It will stop the blood from flowing out of you and soak it up instead. When it is full, you will know, then you pull it out and replace it with a new one. Also, each time you go to the bathroom to relief your bladder, make sure to change your Tampon. It is hygienic and you will have a longer time before you have to change it again.”, he explained gently.

You looked at the small thing in wonder, yet in uncertainty too.

“Where does it go and....will it even fit ?”, you asked.

Alastor gave an uncomfortable chuckle and nodded.

“It will fit, don’t worry, as for where...the book I read in, has a very good description as a picture, I will go get it and show you.”

“Okay !”

Your Father got up and left the Bathroom, soon enough entering again with the biology book. He opened it and turned the pages until he had the side, then he turned the book around and showed it to you. Your eyes widened and you blushed deeply.

“Oh my stars...”, you muttered.

He lowered the book again and gave you and awkward nod.

“Indeed...”

“Okay then...Can I have one now ? So I can get out of the tub ?”, you asked gently.

Alastor nodded, took out a new packaged one, while you stood up in the tub, opened it for you and gave you the Tampon. You took it out of the Package, pulled on the string to make sure it was connected correctly, spread your legs and then gently inserted the Tampon. It felt weird...but you almost forgot about it after it was fully inserted.

Your Father looked away in respect, not wishing to make it any more awkward as it already was. Then you carefully got out and tapped his shoulder as you were wrapped in your towel. He turned around and looked at you.

“All done ?”, he asked.

You nodded gently with a small smile.

“Feeling better too, Cher ?”

“A bit, yes.”

“Good. Get dressed, I still have to show you another useful thing you will need to wear.”

“Alright, Papa.”

With that Alastor collected the open package of Tampons, the book too and left the Bathroom, letting you get dressed. After you were all dressed up, you entered your Bedroom and saw your Father taking off the soiled bed sheets. He stopped in his tracks when he saw you.

“Can I help ?”, you asked him, feeling guilty that you ruined the sheets.

“No, no, Cher.”, your Father quickly denied.

Then he finished tearing off the dressing of the mattress, seeing the damage it took. A huge red stain. The blanket also had a red stain.

“This will be taken care of easy enough ! Now ! Sit down at the foot of the bed, mon petit !”, your Father said, chirpy.

You did as told and Alastor sat down next to you soon enough, another box in his hands. He opened it and pulled out a white, long slip looking thing.

“This is a pad. The underside has a piece of paper on it, you tear it off and it is sticky. You put it into your underwear for extra measures to not soil your clothes. There are short ones and long ones. I bought from each length 2 packages. You tell me which ones were the most useful and I will stock up on it. Understood ?”

You nodded your head, close to crying. Your Papa went above and beyond to help you. He gave you the pad he was holding.

“Fasten it into your underwear now, mon ange. I will clean the sheets in the bathroom in the meantime.”, your Father said and then took the soiled sheets, entering your bathroom to wash them.

You quickly did as he instructed and were happy that the pad stayed stuck in your panties. Then you entered the bathroom and saw Alastor already trying to get the blood out of the sheets. The water was cold and it was already pink. He seemed to have no issues to get the stains out. He stopped and looked at you.

“Go to my bedroom and lay down, Cher. Your menstruation must take a tool on you. It is your first time after all ! You might feel sleepy again. It is normal to feel drowsy the first time it happens.”

“Are you sure, you don’t need my help, Papa ?”, you asked unsure.

“I am very sure, mon petit. Go lay down.”, your Father assured you.

You nodded gently and then left for your Father’s bedroom, laid down in his bed, cuddled into his blanket and fell back asleep.

-Time skip-

You were woken up by your Father and the sun started to set.

“Cher, what do you feel like eating right now ?”, he asked you gently.

You were in thoughts. As much as you wanted to say it was Jambalaya...it wasn’t. You had no appetite for it. You wanted something sweet.

“I crave something sweet...which is bad..you don’t like sweets...”, you sighed saddened.

“Cher, it’s alright. You have cravings now, you can’t control that. However ! I might be able to eat ONE sweet dish with you, but that will be for dessert !”

“What will that be, Papa ?”

“Beignets of course !”

Your eyes flashed in happiness.

“You can make them ?!”

“I sure can ! Hahaha !”

You hugged your Dad quickly, but winced in pain as your cramps have returned. Alastor noticed.

“What is it, Cher ?”

“Cramps...I moved too fast...”

“No worries, my Dear ! I will make you the tea again and you will be just dandy !”, your Father tried to cheer you up.

You smiled happily and nodded.

“I would love that, Papa.”

“Now...how about I make us some Crawfish Étouffée, as main course ?”

You nodded quickly. It had been a while since you had that dish !

“Yes, yes ! Please Papa !”, you said happily.

Alastor chuckled and rubbed your back.

“Alrighty then !”

You yelped as your Father lifted you up and carried you, bridal style, out of his room, down the stairs and into the living room. He put you down on the couch and then left for the kitchen. He returned a bit after, with a cup of tea and set it in front of you. It was still steaming.

“Here you are, mon ange.”

“Thank you, Dad.”

“My pleasure, Dear.”

Then he left the room again and started to prepare everything to make Crawfish Étouffée as main meal and Beignets as dessert. You pouted that you weren’t supposed to help, otherwise he wouldn’t have put you on the couch.

Your Father turned on the Gramophone and to life sprang a Jazz song, called “Broadway Rose”. You hummed a bit along, while your Father moved a bit to the tune. After some minutes you drank your tea and the next song came on, which was “Do just as I say”.

“Do we have only Victor’s songs playing right now, Papa ?”

“We do, Cher ! Is it not to your liking ?”

“No, no ! I love it ! I was just wondering.”

“Alright, Cher.”

As soon as your pain subsided, you stood up and entered the kitchen.

“Can I help, Papa ?”

Your Father looked at you.

“Only if you feel better, Cher.”

“I do.”

“Well then, you can ! Can you chop the onion, green bell pepper, parsley and the celery, while I prepare the crawfishes ?”, he asked and pulled out some crawfishes.

Some were dirty, so you nodded.

“I can !”, you chirped.

You quickly got everything ready, washed all the ingredients and then got to chopping, while Alastor took over the sink and washed the crawfishes. After he was done with washing the crawfishes, you were done chopping and he turned on the stove.

He made a roux first until it was a caramel brown, then he added your chopped ingredients.

“Can you get out the minced garlic, Cher ?”

“I will.”, you answered and retrieved it.

You gave him a teaspoon and as your chopped ingredients looked tender enough, to Alastor’s liking, he added two teaspoons of garlic to it.

“In the upper cupboard is Chicken stock, Cher. Can you please go and retrieve it ?”

You did as asked and he soon added slowly four cups of it. After all, they needed a serving for two. Everything was doubled, BUT the garlic. You weren’t a big fan of it. Alastor then added salt, pepper and more seasonings.

As soon as the mixture was boiling, he reduced the heat and put a cover over the pot, letting it simmer and only stirred it from time to time. While it will take for the next step a bit over 15 minutes, your Father started to prepare the rice already, by washing it and then adding it into another pot. He cooked the rice, knowing it will take a while anyways.

Then he waited a bit, while he smiled at you and instructed you how to make the beignets.

By the time the Crawfish Étouffée was finished, the beignets were in the oven, baking. Your Father quickly finished up the Crawfish Étouffée on both of your plates and then you both went into the Dining area. You both sat down and started to eat it, carefully, as to not burn yourselves. You hummed as the flavors exploded in your mouth and you felt happy.

As you were almost finished with consuming the dish, the beignets were ready, so your Father left to get them out of the Oven. He put over them some powdered sugar and then plated some of them, bringing them into the dining area.

“There are more in the kitchen.”, he informed you gently.

You nodded your head, as you two continued to finish your dish.

“I really missed your Crawfish Étouffée, Papa.”

Alastor chuckled gently.

“So did I, Cher. So did I.”

You gave your Father a gently smile after you finished your plate. You waited for him to finish too, no matter how much you were dying to try the beignets. After he finished he gently took a beignet and tasted it, humming in delight. You took one too and gently bit into it. Sweetness and flavor exploded in your mouth, but it wasn’t too sweet. You hummed and leaned back in your chair.

“These are delicious, Papa !”, you said after you swallowed.

He chuckled.

“They truly are, mon ange.”, he agreed and ate another one.

After you finished eating, cleaned the table, the dishes and your Father put away the leftovers of the beignets, he turned to you.

“Your bed is still wet, so I suppose you can sleep with me tonight, Cher.”

You nodded your head and left the kitchen, changed into your sleeping attire and then entered your Father’s Bedroom. You crawled into his bed and waited for him to arrive too. He did so quickly, changed in his bedroom, got ready for the night and then joined you in his bed. He hugged you close to his chest, which gave you comfort, you didn’t even know you needed.

You turned around and he laid on his back, while you put your head on his chest, curling up on him.

“You are the best Papa in the world, you know that ?”, you asked sleepily.

Alastor was shocked as you said that, but then smiled warmly and hugged you a bit tighter.

“Now I know for certain, mon petit. Sleep well.”, he replied and kissed the top of your head.

You smiled happily.

“Good night, Pa.”

Together the both of you fell asleep, exhausted.

Alastor was exhausted from the rollercoaster of emotions he had, the trips he made and practically ran around town to not leave you alone for too long, with the cleaning he did and the immense relief that you were not dying.

You were exhausted from the whole fiasco the two of you had when your period started, the blood loss and from the bit of work you did. Your first day with your first period, was anything BUT easy.

But together...you and your Papa pulled through.

Masterlist HERE !

[takusan-no-ai]

A Helping Hand

PAIRING: Peruere/Jean x Male Reader (Romantic) (Separate)

SUMMARY: Their crush on (Y/N) only grows stronger after they witness a kind act

Peruere never has a moments rest; not as Arlecchino and not as “Father”. She has to balance a life that leads to no happy endings for herself. All for the sake of her children. And although it is a tough burden to bear, it was a necessary sacrifice for everyone’s sake.

At least, thats what she thought. Until she met you, a young man who just wanted to lend a helping hand to those in need. Life dealt you the wrong cards that led to a more difficult path; not much money, not much strength, but a lot of courage.

Lyney said you wanted to help out at the orphanage for a little, just to see the kids smiling faces. Peruere was cautious at first, and even though she allowed you entry, she kept their more “dangerous” activities in the dark. Freminet was tasked with keeping an eye on you, as a safety precaution.

Slowly, however, you began to weave your way into her heart. She had more time to sit back and think, the children were happy, and…she was happy. For once, in a long time, she actually smiled. Not having to bear the burdens of responsibility alone was relaxing. A feeling she hoped to never forget.

A soft humming voice lead Peruere towards the room of sleeping children. It enchanted her, like a lyre played to lure in unsuspecting travelers. Only she knew whom the voice belonged to; (Y/N).

His voice held a honey sweet melody, and a comforting embrace. Like her voice. Peruere rubbed at her eyes, “It’s too late to be thinking like this,” she whispered. A yawn escaped from her mouth, despite her best efforts to remain silent.

The lullaby came to an abrupt stop. He turned around to look outside the ajar door, only to find nothing. He smiled softly, a slight chuckle escaping himself.

Peruere hid away on the side of the house, having rushed out of view. Her heart was pounding, a small, barely noticeable blush tinted her skin. The humming had resumed, slightly louder this time. “He knows,” she thought. Sighing in defeat, she slumped down to the ground and relaxed on the wall of the house. Her eyes became heavy, and before she knew it, Peruere was fast asleep.

She woke up with a blanket and pillow that day.

Another day of endless work. Piles of notices, requests, complaints, and everything else tiresome swarmed up what used to be a clean office space. She took one day off…one day…and it came to this. Jean could feel another headache incoming.

A knock on the door gave her a rush of relief. A conversation, even if it were more work, was a small break from the inevitable. Her hero, you, walked in. A fellow knight that worked closely alongside Jean for a long while now. You’re also a long time crush of hers.

The smiled that graced your face fell immediately. “He knows.” Jean knew the gig was up immediately, and leaned over her desk, giving up without even trying to deny it; she was exhausted!

Dark circles under her eyes, a grumbling stomach that wants brunch, aching bones, stiff shoulders, and sore wrists. You got to work, grabbing and taking her home, where she can sleep in bed. You even left a plate of pizza from Cat’s Tail for her to eat when she wakes. With Jean taken cared of, it was time to get to work.

After a nice long nap, and a full stomach of pizza, Jean was ready to head back. However, upon opening the door to her office, she saw a clean stack of papers, filled out completely. Her office was shining so brightly it looked brand new. And a sweet aroma from the potted dandelions filled the air.

But none of these were as shocking as what she’d seen in front of her; (Y/N) was passed out in her desk chair. Slumped over and snoring softly. She giggled before sighing, “If I was more diligent…you wouldn’t be putting in so much effort.” She walked towards him, brushing his hair gently.

She looked at him with a smile, blushing as she continued to pat him. She didn’t notice the knocking on the door for but a moment. “Ah! Yes come in.” It was Kaeya giving a brief report on his recent trip to a fatui base. As soon as he was there, he was gone.

And once again, Jean hadn’t noticed a change in her surroundings; she hadn’t noticed that the snoring stopped, or that the chair creaked slightly. That is why it was a shock when she was suddenly engulfed in a warm and tight embrace.

She looked up at him, (Y/N), a blushing and shocked face gazing back at him. He only smiled in return, burying his face in the crook of her neck.

“If you weren’t so selfless, I wouldn’t have to.”

- Fin

[lolxdswag123]

Who’s the bad influence? Pt. 3

Rafe Cameron x reader series

Authors note: this is the third part of the series, I just put them all in a masterlist that I have pinned on my profile.

Warnings: mentions of alcohol, unhealthy family dynamic

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When I woke up the next morning, all I could think about was getting rid of my pounding headache and unbearable dry mouth. After throwing it all up last night, I thought I would've gotten everything out of my system. Obviously not.

I was partially thankful for Rafe being there for me the night before. The other part of me was mad he had to see me that way. I wasn’t exactly embarrassed- that isn’t the right word. We grew up together. He’s seen me embarrass myself plenty of times. I couldn’t place a finger on what I was feeling, but it was somewhere in between a heavy awkwardness and a slight comfort.

I sat up, clutching my head, and searched for my water bottle from the night before. I picked it up, but on second thought decided not to drink out of it. My mouth had been on it before I used the mouthwash last night.

I checked my phone, seeing that it was only 8:30, and saw 3 missed texts from my friends.

One from Sarah:

Hey, Rafe told me you guys made it back. Let me know if you need anything!

She's the best.

Another from Kie:

Sarah said you left with Rafe last night? I feel bad for you

And one more from JJ:

Sorry for last night

I made a mental note to respond to them after I found some water and Advil. I slowly got out of Sarah's bed, hearing voices downstairs. I followed the sound of the voices until I reached the kitchen where Rafe and Topper had clearly just cleaned.

As I enter the room in search of water, Topper says, "So, Megan really didn't stay over last night?"

I grab a water bottle out of the refrigerator, turning toward them to listen to their conversation. "Nah," Rafe replied, shaking his head and putting the remaining empty beer cans from the counter into a large trash bag.

Topper shook his head in disbelief, "I feel like you're lying, dude. She has been all over you lately."

I froze in place, trying not to announce my presence until I hear the end of this conversation.

"I told you, I'm not feeling it." Rafe said dismissively, tying off the garbage back and setting it aside. As he turns to grab more cleaning supplies from underneath the sink he notices me.

His eyes catch on me for a moment, a smirk in the corner of his mouth, before returning to his duties.

"Morning," he says, grabbing a roll of paper towels and a spray bottle.

"Morning," I reply, walking around the counter to sit in the chair next to Topper. "So, who's Megan?" I ask, looking at my brother for an answer.

"Just this hot girl that has been all over Rafe the past few weeks," Topper shrugs, saying it as if it's common knowledge.

"Ooooh," I say, "Do you have a picture?" I ask, masking my true intentions with feigned interest.

"Yeah, let me pull up her Instagram." Topper says, pulling out his phone.

Rafe breathes out harshly before saying, "I told you, I'm not into it."

I glance up and lock eyes with him for a moment, raising my eyebrows in question. He shakes his head in response.

The silent exchange goes unnoticed by my brother, who had already pulled up Megan's Instagram. He holds out the phone for me to take, allowing me to scroll through her photos. I had to admit, the girl was hot. She had long, thick hair and glowing skin. Part of me admired her, and part of me also resented her existence. I scrolled through all of her recent photos before coming across a recent photo at the beach.

"Damn, Rafe," I said, "She is hot!"

"See?" Topper encouraged, "That's what I'm telling you."

Rafe rolls his eyes, not acknowledging our comments. We sit there a little while longer as Topper recounts all of the events from the night before. I zone out, not really caring to hear about all of the stupid kook drama. I find myself instead watching Rafe as he finishes cleaning. I start to wonder more about this Megan girl.

I was snapped out of my thoughts as Topper announced, "And that's why right before you came down here I was just thanking my good buddy Rafe for not letting my baby sis sleep at a pogues house. Right Rafe?" He looked at Rafe proudly, seeking his confirmation.

"Anytime, Top." Rafe said dryly, "Now I don't want to be that guy, but you guys need to go before Ward gets back. His flight is coming in early."

We both nod, standing up from our chairs. Topper said he was going to grab his keys from upstairs, but I already had my purse ready to go. I just needed to give Rafe his clothes back.

I walked toward him in the empty kitchen, about to ask what he wanted me to do with them, but he spoke up first, "You can just keep those for now. Give them to Sarah or something next time you see her." He said, nonchalantly.

I nodded, taking a sip of my water. I leaned against the wall as he grabbed a bottle of water for himself. "Rafe?" I ask.

He hums in acknowledgment.

"Thanks again, for everything. It means a lot." I say genuinely, smiling bashfully up at him.

He looks at me, then back at the hall, then back to me and a smirk crosses his face. "No problem, you feeling okay today?"

I shrug, "Not the best, but I expected it."

He nods, stepping closer to me, "You need anything?"

My heart beat picks up a little bit but I shake my head and try not to show how our close proximity is affecting me, "All good, thanks."

He nods, extending a hand to the sleeve of his sweater on my body, “This fits you well,” he says, his fingers playing with the fabric.

I blush, looking down at his hand, “It’s nice.”

He takes a step closer, about to speak again when Topper calls out, “You ready?”

I take a step back from Rafe, causing him to drop his hand, “Yep! Coming!” I call back, turning to leave the kitchen.

Before I exit the the room, I give Rafe a small smile, which he returns.

This is the Rafe Cameron I know. Not the one everyone always tells me about. Not the one they’ve made up those horrible rumors about. This right here is my version of Rafe.

The ride home with Topper is silent. We’re both terribly hungover and we only speak briefly about stopping for breakfast.

When we arrive back at my house I immediately go to my room to get cleaned up. I still felt disgusting from the night before.

After showering, drying my hair, and putting on a change of clothes I text Kie to see what everybody is doing today.

I go downstairs to the kitchen to find Topper cooking lunch. The smell makes me queasy, so I opt for some crackers from the pantry. I take a seat at the kitchen island in front of him and find myself looking up this Megan girl on Instagram again.

“Where are mom and dad?” I ask after a while, looking up from my phone.

He stirs the pot on the stove and replies, “I think they had some golf tournament at the club today.”

I nod, of course they do. To my benefit, this means they will probably be there most of the day. This means I can enjoy my day with my friends without their permission or their judgment.

With excellent timing, Kie texts back:

Me JJ and Pope are hanging at the Wreck if u wanna come

I smile, standing up from my place and leaving the kitchen to get my purse.

“I’m going out!” I call to Topper when I reach the bottom of the stairs, where my bag is hanging.

“Where?” He asks.

“The Wreck,” I respond, walking back to the kitchen and giving him the most innocent smile I could, “Don’t tell mom and dad?”

He shakes his head, scoffing, “They don’t want you hanging out with them for a reason, you know.”

I purse my lips, looking away, “If you don’t tell them I went, I won’t tell them how drunk you were last night.” I propose, sticking out my hand for him to shake.

He shakes his head again, rolling his eyes but extending his hand to shake mine, “Fine. But be home before dinner. We’re meeting them at the club when they’re done golfing.”

“Deal!” I say, walking away and heading out the door.

When I arrive at the Wreck, Kie and Pope are both helping Kie’s parents bring out food and JJ is lounging at a table with his feet up. I walk up behind the counter and greet everyone, immediately grabbing a tray from Kie.

“Ah, Y/N! So good to see you!” Mrs. Carrera says to me, giving me a side hug.

“Good to see you too!” I say, handing out drinks to the people at the counter.

“Tell your parents we say hello.” Mr. Carrera says, patting my back as he walks past.

I nod, turning to JJ who was watching the scene in front of him.

“Hey blondie!” I say, getting his attention. “The sooner you help, the sooner we all get to hangout. Get to work.”

JJ scrambles out of his chair and heads toward me, hand now above his brow at attention. “Yes ma’am!”

“Thank you, Y/N,” Kie rolls her eyes, handing JJ an apron.

We work for about an hour before the lunch rush dies down. Kie’s parents kindly made us meals to repay us for our service. I finally was able to eat without feeling like I was going to spill my guts again.

We all sat around a table in the corner, finally getting to relax.

“So Y/N,” Kie said, looking with disgust at the boys shoving their food down their throats, “What happened last night? Sarah said Rafe came to pick you up?”

I nodded, looking away, remembering all of the previous evening, “Yeah, Top gets weird about me staying at guys houses so…” I lied, not wanting to say that he actually looks down on all of them- even though they already knew that part.

Kie nodded skeptically. I knew she knew the truth, but she also knew how much I hate hurting their feelings over the way my family perceived them.

She brushed it off, continuing the conversation, “So you had to ride back? With Rafe? I bet that was a nightmare.”

I held back a smile, looking down before replying, “It honestly wasn’t that bad. I ended up getting sick last night and he was really sweet about it-“

Our attention was diverted from the conversation as Pope started choking on his sandwich. JJ patted him on the back until he stopped coughing, finally reaching to take a drink of water and croaking, “We’re talking about Rafe Cameron, right?”

I nod, looking at my friends shocked expressions.

JJ decides to speak up after nobody else does, “Rafe Cameron, and sweet, don’t go together. They just don’t.”

I looked around, all of them nodding in confirmation.

“I tell you guys all the time, he’s not as bad as you think.” I say, not sure if I’m convincing them or myself.

Kie shakes her head, looking at me with furrowed eyebrows, “Y/N. Not as bad as we think? You know everything he’s done.”

I shrug, “Maybe it’s more rumors than you think. That’s all I have to say.”

They all share a look that tells me they don’t agree with me, but let it go anyways.

“Okay since you want to call him sweet, what could Rafe Cameron possibly have done that deserves that?” JJ says, seeming clearly annoyed.

I look around, deciding whether I want to share this with them. They will probably just judge me now, or think I’m turning full kook. I decide to only share some of the details.

I pause for a moment, intertwining my hands in front of me before finally speaking, “He brought me a water…”

JJ laughs out loud immediately, and Pope snickers, but Kie looks at me to continue.

“A water?” JJ practically shouts. “Anyone could bring you a water. That’s nothing. What else you got?” He asked, but it really sounded more like a challenge.

It really wasn’t my place to be defending Rafe to any of my friends. Heck, I had barely talked to him in years. But the little girl inside me who was his best friend felt like I owed it to myself- my younger self- to not let them speak badly about my old best friend.

“He tied my hair back for me and sat with me in the bathroom.” I said slowly, scanning their faces, gauging their reactions.

Pope’s mouth immediately fell open. JJ rolled his eyes, digging his knife into the table, and Kie raised her eyebrows like she was impressed.

“Wow,” Kie said, nodding slightly, “If it wasn’t Rafe we’re talking about that actually would be kinda sweet.”

I roll my eyes, holding my hands up in surrender. “Whatever.” I say, “You guys are right. I’m wrong.”

We hangout there for a while, just talking and making plans for the week when Sarah and John B show up. They pull up two chairs, sitting at the table with us and joining into our conversation.

Sarah stops listening, looking down at her phone with a smile.

“Hey, Y/N,” she says, turning her phone around to show me, “My dad just got back and ran into your parents at the club.” On her phone was a selfie of my parents, her dad, and Rose. “Aren’t they cute?” She smiles.

“Adorable.” I smile brightly back at her, before checking my own phone and seeing the time.

“Shit!”

“What’s wrong?” JJ asks.

I scramble out of my seat, grabbing my purse and flattening out my hair. “Do I look like I’ve just been working in a kitchen?” I ask.

“Yeah… kind of.. why?” Kie asks, now everyone’s eyes on my frantic behavior.

“Oh, I just told Topper I’d be there to meet him and my parents for dinner.” I say, smoothing down my tank top the best I could. “Does anyone have perfume?” I ask, looking at Sarah and Kie.

They both shake their heads. Great. I apologize to everyone and say my goodbyes before rushing to my car, throwing on a spare pair of heels from the back and hurrying off to the club.

When I get there, I scramble as quickly as possible to find my family, accidentally crashing into someone on my way there, while adjusting my heel.

“Woah!” They say, grabbing my arms to steady us both.

“I’m sorry,” I say, not making eye contact in my rush to find my parents.

Once the hands don’t leave my arms I think ‘who does this guy think he is?’ and then I look up at him.

“You good?” Rafe asks, trying to catch my eyes, hands still gripping my arms.

I meet his gaze, nodding and taking a deep breath. “I’m sorry, I was supposed to meet my family here but I’m late so I was just trying to find them before I get in too much trouble.”

His mouth quirks into a slight grin, nodding and saying, “Come on.”

He takes my arm, leading me through the club. We stop and say our courteous hello’s to a few people, and then eventually find a large table that both of our families were sitting at.

My parents look me over disapprovingly, as if they know exactly where I’d come from. I greeted them, walking around to take my seat- trying to cause less of a scene than I knew I would. Rafe pulled out my chair next to Topper’s and then took his seat next to mine.

“Y/N!” Ward said, standing to give me a side hug.

“Hi, Mr. Cameron,” I smiled at him warmly, taking my seat, “Great to see you.”

He nods, “You as well. Have you perhaps seen my daughter today?” He asks.

I nod, glancing uncomfortably between him and Topper before saying, “Yes, she was just at the Wreck with me and John B.”

His face falls and he shakes his head, “Ah.”

My parents both pursed their lips with embarrassment, shaking their heads at me.

Rafe leaned close to my ear, teasing, “Is that why you smell?”

I feigned offense, pushing his shoulder and letting my jaw drop. He smiles, shaking his head and looking down.

I didn’t miss the heavy eyes that I felt from Ward observing this interaction. I glanced up, meeting his eyes and I swore I could see the hint of a gentle look on his face for about half a second before he looked away.

I looked down at my lap, listening as the adults began to converse about the upcoming party that the club was hosting as a fundraiser.

I stopped listening early into the conversation. I leaned over to Topper, making sure everyone was preoccupied before whispering, “You didn’t tell them, right?”

He turned to me, eyebrows raised in ignorance, “Tell them what? That you were with the pogues last night and today?”

My eyes widened, as I looked around the table- making sure no one else heard, “Yeah, that.”

He shrugged, a cocky look on his face, “You said you’d be here, you were thirty minutes late. I couldn’t lie to them.”

“Topper!” I whisper-yelled, “What does that have to do with last night?”

He shrugged again, “Just thought they should know if their daughter is making our family look bad, that’s all.”

I stared at him for a long time before turning away. I couldn’t believe him. My parents are going to lose it. I’ll be grounded for at least a week. This isn’t the first time this has happened.

I take a deep breath, my fingers tapping on my legs under the table as I try to calm myself down. It doesn’t work. I closed my eyes for a second when I felt breath on my neck.

“You wanna get some air?” Rafe asks, in a low voice.

I lock eyes with him, nodding immediately.

(pt. 4 in progress)

[sulumuns-dootah]

20.12. Buer - Hot Chocolate

    ༺☆༻

⟡ Masterlist ⟡ 

₊˚⊹.* The Yule festival of Hell *.⊹˚₊

    ༺☆༻

Being sick sucks. And now even more because today is the day the holiday festivities are officialy kicking off in Paradise Lost. You've made plans with so many demons, but that all went out of the window the moment you woke up with a sore throat so bad you couldn't speak.

So now you're laying in your bed and watching your favorite show to distract yourself. It is kinda working, but you still feel bored in comparison to what you were supposed to be doing originally. You were planning to go to an animal shelter with Morax, lunch with Buer, then helping Marbas with some last minute gift wrapping and then you'd go to a banquet thrown by Lucifer.

Suddenly there's a knock on your bedroom door. Inviting the person in, your visitor reveals themselves to be Buer, ”Oh hello, how are you doing?”

“Well I can speak again at least... Somehow.” you whisper as loudly as possible.

“You are aware we can help you, right? Afterall we all are healers.”

“I know, but I don't want to bother you with something so small. I should be fine for the big celebration.”

“Nonsense. It doesn't matter if it's only a cold or something more serious. Never hesitate to ask for help. We're here for this exact reason.” Buer sits down on your bed next to you. The way he spoke made you wonder if he was only talking about your illness or if he meant it more as a motivational speech regarding other things like mental health as well.

“Buer, I'm fine. You don't need to worry about me.”

“And yet I still do.” he says and gets up, leaving the room without another word. That was... an interesting exit, but he surely has some reason for it.

Few minutes go by and he still isn't back so you resume the show you were watching and try to not think anything about what just happened. The episode slowly comes to an end, when Buer is back in your room with two steaming mugs.

“Here, I've made some hot chocolate for you. It's still really hot, so please be careful.” he hands you one of the two mugs and settles beside you on the bed again. You mutter a small 'thanks' and focus back on the show and so does Buer.

When the drink cools down enough for you to drink, you take a sip. The delicious sweetness and creaminess warms your throat and you start feeling slightly better. Even the headache you became aware of now that it has been lifted from you.

The next episode slowly comes to an end as well as the mug, which is now empty, and your sore throat is gone as well as the slight fever you also didn't realise you've had. There are still few episodes left of the show and you wonder if Buer is going to stay even now that you're healthy.

“This show looks interesting. Would you mind if I stayed to see it until the end?” Buer takes the empty mug from your hands and places it on the bedside table

    ༺☆༻

But wait, this demons also has a gift for you!

"Keeping oneself healthy is very important. I am here for healing your wounds and for your mental health, please accept my gift. "

[i-fondued]

Ghost | Sinners in Secret | Chapter 22

Chapter Twenty Two - The Examination Incident Pairing: Cardinal Copia x Reader/Sister of Sin x Papa “Terzo” Emeritus III Rating: Explicit Warnings: Plot, smut, etc. See AO3 for full list of tags! A/N: AHAHA I MANAGED TO FINISH IT! Next chapter will be the long awaited Prime Mover ritual and then after that will be the ritual threesome binding 👀

As always, this chapter is has been reviewed by my beta, @lurancyvenom whom I love! However, as always I snuck this out only half edited because I'm a terror and you should all know how terrible I am!

Full Chapter List - HERE AO3 Link - HERE

The first thing I remembered was the sound of hushed whispers, the crackling of the fireplace, and a slight purring. I was aching all over, barely able to steady my breathing let alone move, so for the first few moments I came back into my mind and my body, I just listened to the sounds of life around me. 

I could hear Imperator and Papa Nihil speaking softly somewhere off to the lower right; Papa Nihil’s oxygen hissing off and on. To my far lower left was what sounded like Secondo and Primo, speaking softly in Italian and playing something that sounded like it might be chess. Without even looking I knew it was Swiss at my feet, I knew the feeling of his contented purrs rumbling against my legs better than anything else. I could feel someone was holding each of my hands, and my heart constricted with affection as I knew exactly who was holding which hand. 

Copia was on my right, his mustache slightly tickling the palm of my hand as he mumbled something into it. Terzo was on my left, the unmistakable feeling of his silk clad thumb brushing back and forth over my knuckles. I couldn’t exactly make out what they were saying, but I had a gut feeling they were praying for me.

Slowly, my bleary eyes opened up and I fought the urge to hiss at the low light and the headache it was already causing. My vision was hazy at first as I tried to focus on the faces of those that I loved. Neither man had noticed my open eyes yet and I couldn’t help but soak in their disheveled, handsome faces. Copia’s hair was falling in his face and he was lacking his Clergy paints, which made him look sinfully handsome. Terzo’s hair was also a mess, doing its best impression of a 90s boy band member, his Papal paints so smudged and marked by tear tracks his face looked gray more than anything else. 

I looked down at my feet and I saw Swiss curled in an almost half moon around my feet and legs. He had his face buried in my calves and I couldn’t help the small smile that slipped out. At first I thought he was wearing a long sleeve shirt, but the longer I looked at him the realization dawned on me; he wasn’t wearing a shirt…he was covered in bandages from his wrists to his neck and down his torso. My heart clenched painfully as I remember what he’d gone through with me, how close we came to losing each other. A hazy smile spread on my face as I squeezed both my companions’ hands, however I wasn’t prepared for the snowball effect that one minute action would have.

Both Copia and Terzo shot to their feet at the same time, knocking their chairs to the ground in almost synchronization. 

“Lucifero all'inferno!” Both cried simultaneously, looking between each other and my smiling face. 

“Hi boys…” I croaked, voice thick with lack of use and emotion as tears bubbled up in the corners of my eyes. 

In an instant they started towards me on the bed; tears falling from their tired eyes, cursing me for being reckless in Italian that I only half understood. However, in all the comotion they woke my ghoul. Swiss leapt onto all fours like a startled cat; hissing and growling at Terzo and Copia as they continued to shout at both me and the other family members present. As he prepared to tackle Terzo, who was starting to crawl up on the edge of the massive four poster bed, his eyes locked on mine through the silver of his mask. 

“Sun…shine?” he asked quietly, hand slowly reaching out towards me. I couldn’t help the enormous smile as I nodded at him. 

“Can’t get rid of me that easily,” I teased 

My big, soft, sweetheart of a ghoul let out a little whimper before practically pouncing on me, burying his face in my stomach and purring so loud it felt like my teeth were chattering in my mouth. I let out a little grunt from the force of him landing on me but nothing really hurt, so much as startled me; however Copia and Terzo were instantly like two mother hens. They both leapt onto the bed, attempting to grab at Swiss who would growl and swat at their hands as they attempted to separate us.

“La schiaccerai, grande idiota!” You'll crush her, you big idiot! Copia snapped. “She needs time to recuperare, Swiss Ghoul.”

All that earned him for his efforts was a hiss from the ghoul, and Copia threw his arms up in frustration, muttering under his breath about him being unruly as Terzo decided to try his luck. He held the morning newspaper in his hand, rolled up, as he kneeled with his hands on his hips next to us. 

“Il Cardinale ha ragione, Ghoul. Se non lasci andare ti batterò con il giornale di stamattina…” The Cardinal is right, Ghoul. If you don't let go, I'll beat you with this morning's paper…

“Non pensare che non farò venire un altro ghoul e ti trascinerà nella tana dei ghoul se non sai comportarti bene, sì?” Don't think I won't make another ghoul come and drag you to the ghoul den if you don't know how to behave, yes? Copia growled, narrowing his eyes at my ghoul as he tried to hide in my arms while I tried to hold back full laughter now. 

“You don’t understand how it felt…” Swiss whined, sounding like an oversized baby. I couldn’t help the giggle that bubbled out. “I’ll never let her out of my sight again.”

“Might I remind you, Multi Ghoul, that she was in your sight when she was drugged?” Terzo teased, giving him a playful shove. 

“Low blow, Papa…” Swiss hissed, and I could tell he was frowning under the mask. 

“Alright, you three, enough. I’m okay, and what happened is nobody’s fault but Veritas.” I sighed, reaching out to take the paper from Terzo before he could get any ideas. “We should all have anticipated that he would try and take advantage when we least expected it.”

There was a murmur of conversation that broke out between the older Emeritus’ and I could see the flash of something like guilt on Secondo’s face. I knew I needed to speak with him, but knowing how strong willed he was I knew he wouldn’t like to be cornered in the room with family. I tucked a mental note to the side to remember to see him before the next ritual. 

Copia and Terzo scooted to sit right next to me, snuggling me between them as they each took one of my hands and placed them in their laps. Something told me this had been their default position while I was unconscious. Slowly but surely the rest of the Emeritus clan joined us on the comically huge bed. 

On the right side nearest their brother, both Primo and Secondo sat. Both seemed content to let me ramble on about what had happened and how I was feeling. Primo especially, his face had a deeply worn and haggard look as he spoke with Terzo. 

“He has been struggling a lot with everything going on, Amore. He has been remembering his own riti e cerimonie with his Prime Mover this whole week,” Copia whispered in my ear, noticing my curious and concerned face as I looked at the eldest Emeritus brother. “Almost losing you brought back a lot of bad memories and long buried emotions for Primo…”

My heart beat painfully as I leaned into Copia’s shoulder; while I had been thinking about how close we were to losing each other, I hadn’t even stopped to consider what it would have done to the rest of the family. I squeezed his hand tighter, Copia pressing a soft kiss to my forehead in response. 

On the left side, nearest Copia was Imperator and Papa Nihil. Originally they had kept to their spot at the loveseat by the fireplace but now they had moved closer to us and something on Imperator’s face made me pause when she and I locked eyes. 

“Sister…” I started but she held her hands up to pause me. She looked between the three of us and Nihil before sighing, already rubbing at her temples. 

“Papa Nihil and I have been discussing the idea of postponing your Prime Mover ritual…”

“W-What?” I sputtered, heart thundering anxiously. Did something more happen while I was out? Did I miss something about my credibility? I felt my hands grow clammy and both Copia and Terzo started to say something, but Imperator silenced them again. 

“We’ve been discussing the idea of postponing because of your attack, it’s nothing you’ve done. We spoke with the Clergy healer. They would like to visit with you before they approve for you to go through the ritual,” Imperator continued. “They would come by first thing in the morning to check on you, and ultimately they would make the final call. As it is, it's already 3am the morning of the ritual. There is much to be done if we are to continue as planned.”

“No but I…” I started to speak but again, Imperator cut me off. 

“We are just worried about you, Sister. You’ve been through something traumatic, I mean you quite literally died. Though thank Lucifer that he saw fit to send you back to us. You need rest and to gain your strength back…”

“We cannot, will not, postpone.” Even I was taken back by the tone of my voice, heart thrumming strong behind my sternum. I sat up to my full height, posture poised and strong, as I spoke up again quickly before Sister Imperator could continue. “If we postpone the ritual, anyone still loyal to Veritas would have all the ammunition to pose an opposition to the Emeritus line and my ascension. They may decide to take a bureaucratic approach or they may follow in the footsteps of their leader. I, for one, am not willing to find out if Lucifer will bring either Papa or the Cardinal back from the dead as well.”

It was silent when I finished speaking, nobody quite sure what to say. Terzo and Copia looked equal parts shocked and turned on at my tone, a deep smirk on Terzo’s face told me exactly what he was thinking and I struggled to prevent myself from blushing. Primo looked proud of me, his tired eyes and grandfatherly smile making me feel strong and more sure of myself. Secondo looked impressed that I'd had the guts to put Imperator in place. Papa Nihil looked at me like he was just seeing the leader, the Prime Mover, I would become over the years. He also was looking at me like he actually agreed with me for once, my face clear in the surprise from the eldest Emeritus family member.

“Sorella is right, Seestor,” Nihil sighed, taking a rickety breath from his oxygen mask. “As much as I too would rather she rest, get her strength up beforehand, I can’t help but admit she has a good point.”

“Papa Nihil…” Imperator sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose as she looked at the men around us. “We don’t want her to push herself too soon…”

“Sister, with all due respect…” I started but Terzo placed a hand gently on my shoulder, causing me to pause before going off on my planned rant. 

I looked up at him, his warm eyes and soft smile finally making me squirm slightly, with a blush on my cheeks. His mismatched eyes left mine and locked with Copia’s as the other man gave him a swift nod. Both turned to look at Imperator, eyes growing hard like hot steel after being dipped in cool water, and Terzo was the first to speak.

“I am Papa, am I not, Sorella Imperatore?” This wasn’t Terzo’s voice, warm and light. No this was his Papa voice. It was hard and sharp, barbed with needle-like talons, as his white iris seemed to flash with impatience. 

“Of course, Terzo but I-”

“Papa, Imperatore. You will address me as Papa, si?”

“I apologize, Papa,” Sister spoke sheepishly, almost a ghost of a blush on her cheeks as Terzo cocked his head to the side in an imp-like manner. “I mean no disrespect to you, Cardinal Copia, or to Sister of course. I am merely worried about the two coming rituals and long evenings ahead of her.”

“Seesor!” Nihil groaned, looking almost embarrassed for me as she spoke of what came after the binding ritual. 

“I’m sorry but it's the truth! We all know what is coming at the end of these long days, you’ll be on your honeymoon in a matter of days either way.” Sister said, frustration leaving out of her very fingertips as she waved her arms around. “She is the future of this family, Papa, and not just for the papacy. She is also responsible for continuing the Clergy line as well. Beyond that I know how deeply you both care for her, we all care very much for Sister… I do not want to see another Prime Mover end in tragedy because we couldn’t think beyond the optics.”

Nobody spoke at first as the truth of her apprehension hung in the air; Imperator couldn’t help but flicker her gaze to Primo, who looked more shocked than any of us. His face was slightly pale under his paints as he solemnly looked to his hands for a movement before gazing forlornly out the large windows onto the moonlit countryside. 

“Let the healer check me over at first light. If they think I am truly unfit for the ritual then we will postpone,” I said softly, giving Imperator a small nod.

“What if they don’t feel you are fit for it?”

“Then we’ll postpone a day, but nothing more. I do not want anyone to take advantage of the situation.”

“Of course, Sister…” Imperator sighed, clearly put out by my taking command, but as I tried and failed to stifle a yawn, Copia shifted into action. 

“I think we have had enough excitement to last us a lifetime, si? We will let you rest, Terzo and I can stay here with you along with your multi ghoul so there is no funny business. Then, come first light, we have them check you out and we know what we will do. Okie Dokie?” Copia clapped his hands together as he stood up from the side of the bed, practically shooing the Emeritus clan out the door. 

“Yes, Cardinal,” I yawned, suddenly exhausted as Terzo helped lay me back against the pillows. 

“We will be back in the morning, Sister. For now, just rest,” Secondo spoke softly, reaching to squeeze my hand before he too left. 

As the wooden door shut, it dawned on me it was the first time I’d been alone with my lovers in weeks. I smiled sleepily at them, reaching out with my arms wide open for them. Neither man needed much convincing as they both quickly worked to kick off their shoes and come to settle on either side of me. I sighed contentedly as Terzo buried his face in my neck, pressing loving and gentle kisses to my skin. Copia cupped my cheek and turned me to look at him as he rested his forehead against mine. 

“You scared us all, Topolino…” He whispered against my skin, the sound of tightness in his throat causing my chest to ache. 

“I’m sorry.” I sighed, feeling worn down and drained emotionally. “I scared myself…”

“It was not your fault, Amore. We know this, si?” Terzo whispered as he curled around me, his hand curling around my waist and holding me tightly. “Veritas is getting exactly what he deserves from the sounds of it.”

“He very much is. I can promise you that, Sorella.”

I felt someone curling up around my legs, a warm heat soothing the sore muscles in my thighs as someone rested their head. I looked down as Swiss looked up at me with worry deep in his eyes, his tail flicking back and forth agitatedly. 

“You aren’t allowed to leave me, I don’t ever want to feel like that again…” Swiss murmured, I couldn’t help the wobbled smile I gave him. 

“I don’t plan to go anywhere for a long, long time.”

…

The soft sounds of movement in the hallway outside our room woke me from a deep sleep.

I startled slightly, disoriented and feeling foggy, as I sat up and looked around for a familiar face. The bedroom was warm with a fire blazing in the fireplace and the heat of my companions surrounding me like a warm blanket. I smiled softly as my eyes drifted across Copia and Terzo’s sleeping faces. Both men stirred as I moved but we had spent all night with our limbs tangled between each other. I tried my best to slip out of the bed unnoticed, but as I was just about off the bottom of the bed, scooting on my hands and knees, a hand wrapped around my ankle. 

“Back to sleep, Amore.” Terzo’s voice was deep, grumbly, and thick with sleep. His hair was messy and falling in his heated gaze. 

“I have to pee…” I giggled as I tugged my ankle half heartedly from his warm hand. “Plus I think they are waiting outside our door.”

“Bene, vai in bagno…but then right back in bed, si?”

“Yes, Terzo.” I smiled at him as he let go of my ankle and stretched out lazily. 

“Good girl.” He chuckled as he slipped from the bed, wrapping a black silk robe around himself and heading towards the bedroom doors as I shut the bathroom door. 

After taking the time to use the bathroom, wash my face, and stare at my reflection in the mirror I finally came out to find Swiss had joined us again with not only two visitors but a spread of breakfast items on a cart. I felt my mouth instantly watering and stomach growling as I ignored the rest of the people in the room and made a beeline for the buffet. 

“Glad to see you awake, Sunshine.” Swiss teased, hip checking me playfully as I snagged the plate he was holding out for me. “Imperator and the Emeritus brothers are in the living room with Copia. The healers are here to examine you, they told me to tell you they’ve been trying to kick Papa out since he answered the door but he won’t leave you…”

“I’m not alone, I have you with me.”

“He won’t take that as an answer, though I’ve tried.” 

“Terzo, get out!” I snapped grouchily, stalking over to where he was pouting with two other Sisters of Sin. “The sooner we get this over with, the sooner we can get a move on for the ritual today.”

Terzo looked at me with an unreadable expression for a moment before sighing and tugging me into his arms. I practically hissed at him as he forced me back into the bed, placing my plate on the nightstand as he tucked me in. 

“Do not leave her side, Multi Ghoul.” was all Terzo said before placing a gentle kiss on my forehead and heading towards the bedroom doors. He paused and looked back at me, smiling softly. “I will be waiting just outside here for you, Tesoro.”

“I’ll be right out when I’m done, okay?” I felt my heart ache for the longing and worried look in his eyes as I nodded at him. “No more near death experiences. I promise.”

“Si, si. I will go.” He laughed, finally heading out of the doors as I listened for the sound of his retreating footsteps as they shuffled down the hallway. 

I turned back to the two women who had now moved to bow their heads to me before sitting on the edge of the bed. They both were dressed relatively modestly compared to the other sisters I’d seen roaming the halls here. They were wearing shin length black dresses, both with A-line skirts and scalloped lace trimmed petticoats underneath. The dresses had snug fitting sleeves that stopped right at the crux of the elbow, from there down was form fitted linen sleeves that had buttons from their wrists all the way up, allowing them to be able to unbutton them and roll them up as necessary. Over their dresses they both had a white pinafore, the white section over their chest pinned in place, and wore both the wimple and habit in the same white fabric. I was surprised to find they looked more like catholic nuns than siblings of sin; I smiled and waved awkwardly from my spot on the bed. 

“Your Grace, I hope we are not disturbing you at such an early hour.” One of the Sisters spoke, she was the older of the two and she looked to be around forty or fifty years old. “My name is Sister Cynthia, this is Sister Amelia. We’ll be the ones to do your examination.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you both, but you can just call me Sister…I’m not exactly used to the Prime Mover titles yet.” I blushed as I spoke, Sister Cynthia smiled kindly as she spoke to Sister Amelia in Italian. 

“I understand, Sister, whatever you are more comfortable with of course.” She said, taking the clipboard that the other Sister held out to her. “Now I just want to go through a few things before we start the physical checks, yes?”

“O-of course.”

“You can continue to eat, it will only help bring your strength back.” Sister Amelia said, her voice sounding even younger than she looked. 

“Oh, okay. T-thank you!” I stammered, suddenly anxious. Swiss, sensing my apprehension, came to sit on the other side of the bed next to me. His long legs crossed as he scooted close. 

“Now Sister, we want to make sure you are feeling up to this event in all possible ways. Physically of course but also emotionally, spiritually and mentally.”

“I understand.”

“Secondo had told me that you’d been practicing quite a bit with him over the last several weeks, are you feeling prepared for the ritual?”

“Yes, I am.”

“There are quite a bit of complicated latin and ritualistic practices with this particular ritual. Do you feel ready to perform these things? Especially in front of an audience?”

“For the most part,” I chuckled sheepishly. “I won’t lie and say the idea of the entire monastery watching me doesn’t freak me out. But it's something I’ve been working on tackling my anxiety and learning to be more comfortable in a crowd. I know it comes with the territory of being the Prime Mover.”

“You are very perceptive, Sister.” Cynthia chuckled, marking something down on her clipboard. “I have to ask, you seem so calm considering not only your kidnapping but your near death experience.”

“I…” I started to say before pausing, tilting my head to the side and pausing to try and consider what she was saying. 

I didn’t really have a response for that one. Why was I feeling so calm? I couldn’t help but think about the other times I’d had something miraculous happen to me since I joined the siblings. Between finding out I’d been handpicked by Lucifer and guided to the Abbey back home for the two men that slowly grown to mean so much in my life, undergoing a blood ritual only to meet Lucifer myself, summoning a full body ghoul of my own, and having Lucifer step in and save my life…a kidnapping seemed mundane. 

“I think after you’ve been through what I have the last six months or so…being drugged by a scorned childhood friend of your satanic cult leaders - slash - future fathers of your children seems…underwhelming in a way…”

Sister Amelia had to cover her sudden laughter with a cough as Sister Cynthia wrote down a few notes on the clipboard before raising an eyebrow at me. “Intervesting view of the situation, Sister.”

“I’m pragmatic at best, totally mental at worst.” I chuckled, putting my finished plate back on the nightstand. "I'm sure that reality will catch up with me in a few days once the adrenaline wears off."

After a few more rounds of questions, filled with times where I felt I may have not answered the questions in the way they expected or wanted, Sister Cynthia had Sister Amelia put away the clipboard. I sat up straight as she had me slip my robe off leaving me in just my normal knee length silk nightgown. 

“Your ghoul, Swiss, explained that Signor Veritas used the link between you two to hurt you without marking you, yes?” Sister Amelia asked, cautiously placing her hand on top of mine as she spoke. “He did not try anything physical with you?”

“Unless you call sinking an antique hunting knife into my sternum physical…”

“Be nice, Sunshine…” Swiss growled, though I could tell he was fighting back a smile.

“Apologies, Sister.” Sister Amelia blushed, clearly unsure of what the protocols were for asking me about any physical trauma. “What I mean to say is…did he force himself on you?”

Oh. OH.

“Oh Satan, NO.” I blushed bright red, shaking my head and chuckling awkwardly. “Good Lucifer help him had he tried.” 

“He would have ended up missing a rather important part of himself.” Swiss grumbled, giving me a wink and I gave him a playful shove as Sister Amelia seemed relieved before continuing with the exam. 

I was poked, prodded, and checked over not once but twice before she came to the scar on my chest. I hadn’t seen it yet as it was covered with a large piece of gauze and tape. Carefully and slowly, she wet the paper tape and peeled it back. I winced slightly at the pulling sensation before I peaked at the scar myself. 

“Assolutamente affascinante…” Absolutely fascinating… Sister Amelia mumbled, leaning in close to the shimmering gold scar. I could even admit that I was shocked at not only the size but the color too. 

Settled between my breasts about two inches below my clavicles was a long spindly line about four inches long. There was a slightly raised scar line, barely noticeable at a distance, but the most shocking part was that it looked like someone had painted over an old scar with gold metallic paint. It was shimmering slightly in the flickering firelight as Sister Amelia and Cynthia had me move around, mimicking what might happen with my movements during the rituals. Both women seemed surprised that it was cool to the touch and that, in a few places, the gold was following my artery lines. 

They paused and spoke back and forth in Italian, both seeming like arguing at points, before turning to me with a small smile. Sister Amelia busied herself with packing up all the supplies as Sister Cynthia sat next to me, taking my hand gently. 

“I’d love to say we could take the credit for how wonderfully you’ve healed but the credit for that has to go to His Eminence below.” She laughed before turning her eyes on mine, suddenly very serious. “I am going to give my blessing for you to be prepared for the ritual today, however I will be making the stipulation that you are to do the Prime Mover ritual and only the Prime Mover Ritual today. I know that the original plan had called for the binding ceremony tonight on the eve of Yule, however I worry you will be too worn out for any rituals by sundown.”

“Y-yes of course, Sister Cynthia.” I sputtered, slightly shocked she approved me at all after our mental health portion. 

“Yule has a better forcast for a marriage anyways.” Sister Amelia teased, winking at me. “Better predictions for childbirth.”

I blushed bright scarlet, Swiss bursting out laughing next to me as my face grew hotter and hotter. 

“Congratulations, Prime Mover.” Sister Cynthia laughed as both of the healers headed towards the bedroom doors. “Hopefully the next time we see you is for a prenatal appointment, yes?”

“I will never get used to everyone wanting to know and knowing about my sex life…” I groaned burying my face in my hands before slipping my robe back on. 

“You are the sole person responsible for carrying on the Emeritus name,” Swiss continued laughing, throwing an arm around my shoulders as we headed to the living room to share the good news. “If you don’t think those two men of yours are going to make it their sole mission to get you knocked up before they go on tour next year, you’ve got to have your head up your ass.”

“I hate you.” 

“I love you too, Sunshine.”

[cannibal-nightmares]

apothecary's log: cannibal's schizophrenic insomnia survival guide

this is just an extremely extremely loose review on one night of drinking this tea, for anyone's interest. I'm not going to edit or formalize this, especially given that this is based around sleep, so I want to depict my thoughts as they were. (also slightly interesting to see how my text patterns change)

foreword: I picked up this tea just because I wanted something lavender-tasting; I genuinely did not expect anything to actually become of it's effects, though I probably would have if I had actually read the ingredients.

physically: actually made me sleepy, which was unexpected, as per my original (un)intentions of buying this. made me a bit disoriented-- I couldn't tell if it's similar to the imbalance melatonin causes me, or if it was due to general induced-sleepiness paired with the symptoms of chronic vertigo. "dizzy" isn't quite the word here: it feels like the wakefulness from sleepwalking, like I move and then I realize I've moved, it unbalances me, I resolve the slight panic, repeat. it's like trying to do a task while high. maybe I'll try actively doing something for my curiosity the next night. I really didn't experience anything unpleasurable (ex, some teas that give me heart palpitations)

mentally: didn't experience much change in my mental state other than feeling I could freely slip into daydreams (with paranoia and constant critique, this is not always the case). background chatter remained at the same volume, corherency, and tone. I felt my focus alter: normally when I "get off track," I make mental tabs on where I was and where to reference back to after I go down a rabbit hole, but with this tea, no tabs were granted. I barely felt slightly annoyed with this, much less concern (though any semblance of "panic," as described, was mildly entertaining within the context), so, so far, no unpleasant mental effects.

I tried to do some cross-referencing on some of the ingredients in this tea, but results were mixed and contradicted each other, and--I'll be honest--my tired hypochondriac ass got a bit spooked trying to read about consuming poppy (and then confused... more on this later). I'm sure I could read on it upon a mornings wake.

waking up: I woke up interrupted to a phone call, but had felt like I had been waking up, anyways. I woke up sleepy, but not drowsy or miserably tired. I'm not sure that I moved much in my sleep, which is often a problem for me; as for dreams, they were busy and plot-thick but might have been due to how stressed I've been. They did physically feel a touch different, though, so there's room for further observation, especially because I think i was grinding my teeth again, based on a mild headache (something that seems to have lessened and momentarily disappeared in taking cbd+cbg+∆9, but i have otherwise ground my teeth for far more than a decade now). Upon continually waking up, sleep gently melted away and has left me comfortably alert. Its hard to tell what dizziness is from vertigo or the tea; honestly, probably the former. Similarly, after standing up, I almost immediately starting hallucinating bugs (without fear and without total recognition until they vanished), which on one hand I wouldn't consider to be the factor of the tea, and on the other, I don't commonly see stuff upon waking up.

Overall, in its purpose, I slept through 5 hours. I'll take that as a win. Only after one night, 9/10, so far would recommend. Also it's delicious.

Some general unorganized notes of contrast: Valerian root (found in "Extra" Sleepytime brand tea) doesn't seem to do anything for me while awake, and induces consistently mildly disturbing dreams; CBD+CBG+∆9 is fast-acting in calm--doesn't make me sleepy or necessarily keep me asleep, but puts my mind and body at ease to make for productive and stress-free rest (of what I get); melatonin causes drowsiness as it kicks in and has me "fast travel" through the night, which I find more uncomfortable than productive

[acidmatze]

I’ll be there for you (Yes, like the Friends theme) Chapter 2

Summary: After being in a coma for two years Vash wakes up, not being able to remember Anything that has happened since he was “a teenager”. How is he gonna adapt to living in a world so strange and unfamilliar? Not very well yet but at least there's candy! Pairings: None so far

Warnings: Vash has panic attacks sometimes. Hospital setting (for now). Is “This is Extremely slow-paced” a warning…? It is now. Discussion of Vash's injuries and scars.

Words: ~3.6k

Chapter 1 here Chapter 3 4 5 6 7

Vash thought he knew how to dress himself but turned out that was harder than expected with one hand. Luckily, the nurse helped him out.

Now he was sitting on the bed with fresh clothes that allegedly belong to him already but he didn't recognise; besides his red jacket, which he clings onto like a lifeline.

A different nurse brought him a whole lot of stuff to occupy himself with that was now cluttering the bedside table, the broad headboard of the bed and the shelves on the other side of the room.

He was also given a flower in a pot. Vash had only a vague idea of Flowers so seeing one and being able to touch it and smell it was mindblowing to him.

And now he has his very own!

He had thought all flowers would be red, cuz way back Rem only ever described red ones but this one was actually blue!

He gently touches one of the petals. It feels very soft, almost fuzzy.

Not at all like what Vash has expected.

But it turns out a whole lot of things are not the way he expected them to be.

He touches the petal again and pushes it up and down like a handshake.

„Hello flower. I don't know what you are but you're very pretty. I just woke up and have never seen something like you before. I thought you were all red.“

Vash looks over to his bedside table.

Apparently the staff only had a vague idea of what might appeal to a teenager, or well, someone who thinks is a teenager, so they just brought seemingly Everything.

There are various plushies, colouring books and coloured pens, stacks of white paper for him to draw on, some really funny magazines that seem to be for teens? a few knicknacks for him to toy around with, something that vaguely looks like a tablet they had on the ship but smaller and not see-through, something that looks even more like a tablet but still not see-through, something that he could identify as an Actual Radio, candies, books and other stuff. It was everywhere. Everywhere.

On the floor sits a large plastic box on wheels filled with funny shaped colourful blocks. Vash assumes he had to stack them together and build things with them?

He lets himself on the ground and is surprised to be still much higher up than he thought. Just how tall had he gotten?

He waddles over to the box and starts digging around in it.

It is kinda weird to do that one-handed but it's not like he has a choice anymore.

Vash decides not to waste too much time thinking about it or else he would cry again and he was left with a slight headache from the last time.

What should he build?

There are wheels in the box as well so he grabs four of them. Maybe he can build a jeep?

He needs bars to connect them and also a thin square piece.

While digging through the blocks he can't find what he is looking for but finds a whole lot of other interesting shapes.

Maybe a jeep isn't the best idea and he should start with something easy?

Houses should be easy, right? They are just squares.

All the blocks are so colourful but the buildings outside are rather dull to look at.

Maybe he should build a house with many colours then. Maybe somewhere they exist.

But no, he wants to be realistic.

So Vash digs out only the white blocks for now. Turns out there aren't that many of them though. So he digs out all the blue blocks as well.

After a while he realises that all he does so far is sorting them by colour and he ended up with five piles with one colour each.

This is stupid. Or maybe he is too stupid for this.

His stomach starts to growl.

Lunch was only soup, as a precaution just in case eating actual Food for the first time in eternities would get him sick.

So now Vash is mighty hungry again.

What would he do for a burger.

He wonders when the last time was he had a burger.

Or pizza. Oh man, pizza.

Now his stomach is really growling.

He doesn't have pizza here but the nurse did bring him candy.

Vash gets up again and hobbles over to the bedside table. He's still wobbly but its's only a few steps so he can manage.

There's a colourful bag with long red strips of something squishy inside.

It says „sour“ on the bag but Vash doesn't have much experience with Sour things so he rips it open with his teeth and stuffs three of those strips in his mouth.

And it instantly feels like an explosion. As if a basket full of berries exploded in his mouth and then someone threw lemons at him.

Vash scrunches his eyes shut and shakes his head like it's wet and he needs to dry it off.

Panicked squeaky noises escape his mouth.

Oh shit, this is Sour! And very very chewy.

Vash quickly starts chomping down on the weird sour gummy-like stuff while fighting the tears in his eyes.

Theres also some funky powder sprinkled on it and that prickles even stronger on his tongue than the Soda did.

Oh no he does Not like this very much, thank you!

He washes the unbelievably sour taste down with the rest of his soda but sadly that tastes terribly sour right now as well.

Vash thinks he's not going to be able to taste anything else for a while.

The whole world is now prickly and sour. His tongue feels so raw he feels like he could scrape a carpet clean with it.

Vash coughs a few times and it sounds an awful lot like choking.

He then flings the bag into the nearest trash can.

What's the next thing?

It's chocolate.

He knows chocolate! He had it a few times at Home, but not very often.

Vash opens the purple wrapper around the chocolate bar and breaks off a piece.

It's even sweeter than the one he knows. It's a different kind of sweet than the soda, this time more gentle and calming on his tongue.

Another piece goes in his mouth. And another. And another.

After two minutes of happily munching on sweet chocolate-y goodness Vash realises he managed to eat the entire bar.

The door opens again.

It's yet another nurse holding a tray with what seems to be Vash's dinner.

She looks at him holding the very obvious chocolate wrapper in his hand and Vash feels slightly guilty.

Just like when Luida caught him eating in bed. Or in his room, period.

He would bring food in his room with him and then forget to take the dirty plates back to the kitchen.

„Oh, after eating all that I hope you still have room for dinner. We are having tomato soup and sandwiches today.“

Oh boy, even more soup. But tomato soup has more „weight“ to it than the stuff he had for lunch, which was just a bit more than broth with star-shaped tiny noodles.

The nurse sets the tray down carefully on that moveable table thing connected to the hospital bed.

„After dinner the physical therapist will come over to talk to you. Were you prepared for that?“

„Uh.. Yeah.“

Vash flops back down on his bed and starts dissecting the sandwiches.

One has salmon on it and two things he doesn't know.

Both sliced, one green and one yellow.

The yellow slice is thicker and feels a bit oily almost.

The green feels cold and wet and is very thin.

„Have you never seen cheese and lettuce before?“ the nurse asks.

Oh! The yellow one is cheese! Vash knows cheese but never saw one that looked like this.

„I know what cheese is but never saw cheese like this before.“

The nurse nods.

„I assume it was extremely rare when you were younger. In cities like this it's almost common now. Thanks to the geodomes farming is now an actual possibility and not just a fairy tale.“

„What's a geodome?“ Vash shoves the cheese in his mouth and makes a disappointed face. It doesn't taste very cheesy.

„Oh they are giant indoor greenhouses, completely made of glass. They are pretty much self-sustained once we got enough plants growing in them and we can farm in them.“ „Plants?“

Now Vash is confused.

„Oh! No, no not those Plants.“ The nurse grabs the potted flower and shows it to Vash.

„Plants like these. Only the first geodome had to be powered by a Plant and by now it doesn't need it anymore either. As long as everything is taken care of they keep themselves going without humans having to do much. Maybe you can visit one one day? I think you would like it.“

Vash nods and digs out the pieces of salmon from his sandwich.

He would like to visit very much even though he cannot imagine at all how such a place would look like. All he knows is the desert.

„Do you always eat every ingredient one by one?“

„I... uhh.... I dunno.“

Vash takes the second sandwich, egg tomato and ham, and eats it normally.

The egg makes everything mushy and Vash scrunches up his face again.

The taste isn't bad but the texture makes his skin itchy.

He finishes it in a few big bites to get it over with and then tries the soup to take his mind off the bad texture.

The physical therapist is a tall thin lady with slightly greying blonde hair who introduces herself to Vash as Christine. Or Mrs. Kleinert. But it's okay if Vash calls her Christine.

„I want to take a good look at you first. Damage assessment, so to speak. Can you take your shirt off by yourself? Also, do you want me to talk to you like you're a teenager or an adult?“ Vash wrestles his shirt off as gracefully as a dog trying to run on hardwood flooring.

„I.. I don't know. I know I'm not actually 15 but I don't know how I'm supposed to feel about this yet.“

„That shirt looks awfully big on you. Seems like you lost some weight. We could get you new clothes if you want? You didn't had much on you when you were brought here. Also, I will talk to you like a teenager then. If this starts to bother you let me know.“

Vash sits back down on his bed and Christine scoots a bit closer to him on her small stool.

„I have to touch you for this. If you can't take it then tell me. This is an uncomfortable situation for you and I don't want to make it worse. But it's easier for me if you do let me touch you.“

Vash nods.

He had already caught glimpses of his very battered body while changing his clothes. Of course he had no idea where all these scars and metal plates and weird wirings thats seemed to be under his skin came from. He was especially scared about what looked like metal grating over his heart. Just what happened? But maybe he also didn't wanted to know. Not yet.

Christine prods around some of the larger scars on his chest and abdomen.

„Do you feel this? Does it hurt?“

Vash shakes his head.

„Doesn't hurt and I don't feel much.“

„We have no idea what exactly happened but some of these wounds look like you've been shot at. There are also burn scars on your back. And some titanium rods in your spine and hips, to keep your bones together. So you had a spinal injury at some point. And this-“ she points at the metal grating over his heart „This looks like someone was seriously out to kill you. And they almost succeeded. But the way it was treated seems so old-fashioned to me. Nobody would use materials like these anymore. If you want, the surgeon can take a look at it at some point and we can talk about if we can maybe exchange it with something more... subtle. Or maybe not. Maybe you like looking tough.“

She chuckles.

„What about all these wires?“ „Hmm.. that is a good question. We don't know. We could risk it and remove them but they may be serving an important purpose. Like those in your left arm. It seems like they connected to your prosthetic. And from there they run all the way up to the top of your spine. It's very intricate and clever, really. So you get your nerve signals directly from your brain and not your muscles in your arm. Gave you a lot of feedback as well too, probably.“

Christine was done prodding around and gestures for Vash to put his shirt back on.

„You seem very calm and collected about this. I honestly thought you would freak out when you see how you look like now.“

Vash shakes his head.

„I guess I have accepted that what I remember last is not very helpful anymore. I don't even know how much time has passed.“

„Well, we can only guess. But at least I can tell you that you have been here for a little over a year. In a coma though. Sometimes you were awake for a bit but doesn't seem like you can remember that. Maybe it's for the best. You looked a whole lot worse back then.

Anyway. You're in fairly good shape now. There's no reason for me not to start regular therapy. Do you wanna walk around the hospital a bit? Think you can do that?“

Vash nods.

„I think my soupy brain can handle more things I haven't seen yet.“

Christine let out a giggle.

„Soupy brain? Where did you get that one from?“ „I don't know. It was just in my head suddenly.“

Vash decided that he didn't liked the hospital very much. Nothing to do with the staff or anything, he didn't like how it looked. The wallpaper in his room is already boring and outside in the hallway the situation did not exactly improve. He counted a grand total of five pictures on the wall and the only splash of colour was a green sign in front of the nurses room.

To be fair, he had only seen the floor he was on. Maybe the other ones are looking better but he got tired pretty quickly and wanted to go back.

Christine did a few dexterity exercises with Vash for his right arm and then left.

Now he was lying in bed and had no idea what to do.

The nurse had also brought him a pajama that luckily fit him cuz Vash absolutely did not wanted to sleep in his day clothes but also not in the hospital gown.

The nurse also told him that she was on night shift and if he needed anything he could call her. Karina was her name.

Well, maybe he should indeed call her.

Vash was feeling a bit uneasy.

He pressed the button on his bed and a few seconds later the speaker went off.

„This is nurse Ramona, how can I help you?“

„Uh.. this is Vash.. Uhm.. I don't know what room I'm in but nurse Kari-“ „Oh is that Vash?“

There was some commotion and shuffling on the other end.

„Hey this is Karina, what do you need?“

„Uh.. you said if I need anything I should call you. I think I could need someone to talk to before i go to sleep, if that's okay.“

„Oh sure! I got a bit of time right now. I'll just go check on another patient and then I'm right with you, okay?“

„Okay, thank you.“

And then Vash rolls back onto his back and stares at the ceiling. So he is awake. Truly awake, no doubt about that.

He is not „15“ anymore, seemingly in a body he barely recognises as his own and everyone he knows is probably long dead. Plus, he has no idea what happened in the time between his last memory and now.

He is surrounded by so many things he has never seen before and barely knows what they are called and nothing about how they function.

It's like waking up in a completely different world.

The door opens and nurse Karina walks in.

„Hey, are you still awake?“

„Yeah. How's the other patient doing?“ Karina sits down on the same stool Christine had sat before and leans her arms on the bed.

„Oh she's fine. Just some minor surgery but she's very worried about everything so I went to tell her that her vitals are fine and there's no need to be anxious. How are you?“

„I'm worried.“ Vash sighs.

„Oh no! Not you too!“ Karina giggles and playfully hits his shoulder.

Vash wonders how old she is. Older than him? But how old exactly is he?

„What are you worried about?“ Vash sighs again.

„Everything. It's just... a lot. I wonder if I am really awake now? Will I instead wake up in my old room again? Is this real? Or am I maybe already dead? Will I wake up at all after falling asleep? What if I fall into a coma again?“

Karina hums.

„That's an awful lot of questions. And none of them are great material to fall asleep to. But there's only one way to find out! Do you wanna fall asleep by yourself or should I get the baseball bat?“

„The what?“

Karina stares at Vash as if he just asked what air is.

„You don't know what a baseball bat is? You don't know baseball?“

„Uuuuh...“

Karina huffs and quickly gets out one of those small tablet-like things he has seen a few other patients use. She taps around on it while muttering.

„Doesn't know what baseball is. I can't believe it.“

„Hey! I literally just woke up! I'm happy I know what my name is.“ Vash feels a bit insulted. Also flustered.

As if he Should know what all of this is but somehow doesn't. Did he know before? Did he also have one of those things?

Karina holds the tablet-like thing directly in front of his face.

On it are several pictures of... something.

It's long like a pipe but not hollow. Also one part is much narrower than the other.

„I'm just teasing you, don't worry. Also, this is a baseball bat. You hit baseballs with it. Or unruly patients who don't want to sleep.“

„Hey!“

Vash kicks the blanket up a bit.

Karina giggles.

„Don't take everything I say so serious. No patient will get hit with a baseball bat. Except for you.“

Vash lets out a snort.

Then his attention is back on the device in her hand.

„What is that?“

Karina lifts it up, the screen now showing a dog instead of pictures of this... baseball bat.

„Oh this? This is a phone. You can call people, among many other things. You can also play games on it. Or show people what a baseball bat is.“

Vash sighs and flops back into the pillow.

„I will never live that down, will I...?“

Calling people. Does it have a maximum distance? Or can he call people from all across the planet? That would be so cool but how does that work?

„Did I also have one of those on me?“ Karina shakes her head and then points at the small radio.

„No but this is yours actually. We found it in your backpack. There wasn't a lot of stuff in it though. Another shirt that was so dirty and sandy we had to throw it away, a few pairs of socks.. nothing spectacular. We also found painkillers. Are you in pain right now?“

„Well, my left arm hurts. It's as if the skin is too tight. And like I'm lying on it but that can't be cuz I don't have...“

Vash swallows thickly.

This isn't even what he thinks is the worst about this whole situation. Eventually he will get used to it and learn how to do everything one-handed. But it's the thing that brings him back to reality the hardest.

„Ah so I guess that's what the painkillers were for. Do you want some now?“

Vash shakes his head.

„No. The pain only comes for a few seconds and then its gone again for a bit. How do you call people? How do you know who you're calling? Can you choose who to call? How does it work? Is it like a walkie-talkie?“

His rapid fire of questions makes Karina laugh again.

„I don't know exactly How it works but I can show you more tomorrow. I don't have to work tomorrow but I can come as a visitor if you want?“

„Yeah that would be cool.“

Karina reaches over and ruffles Vash's hair.

„You should get this cut short. Long hair really doesn't suit you that much. You look old. I'm gonna bring some clippers tomorrow and give you a haircut. But now you should sleep. I promise you that you will wake up again. Sadly not in your old room but you will wake up. Okay?“

[skz-bee123]

Kim Taehyung x reader

Word count: 1k

You unlock the door to your apartment and walk through it. Tugging your shoes off you throw them on the ground before turning around and closing the front door.

Today had just not been your day, everything seemed to be going wrong and you just had enough. It had gotten to the point where you just wanted to go home so you went and told your boss that you weren't feeling well and he let you have the rest of the day off.

Once you've closed the door to your apartment you walk down the hallway passing the lounge only to hear the tv on. You pause for a moment as you don't remember leaving it on but then again you were really forgetful so it was more than likely that you did.

You walk past the lounge and carry on to the kitchen where you dump your bag on the table in the dining room. You move into the kitchen and walk to the sink, you grab some pills to help lessen your headache and grab a cup filling it up with water before taking the pills.

You close your eyes and start to rub your neck a little trying to ease the slight ache there. You jump when you feel someone's body press up against yours from behind and hands come up to your neck to rub where you were. You're about to let out a yell but you catch the smell of their scent and the familiar feel of their hands and you know straight away who it is.

"What are you doing here? I thought that you and the boys were working late tonight?" You ask, leaning into him.

"Yeah, that was the plan, but we finished most things and everyone was exhausted so they decided to let us have the rest of the day off." He replies back to you.

Once he finished talking you turned around and placed your arms around his neck as he placed his arms around your waist. You smile up at your boyfriend before leaning up to place a kiss on his lips. You break off the kiss when you both are in need for air and you put your head on his chest and you feel his hands come up to play with your hair.

"Are you alright?" He questions you.

"Yeah, I just wasn't having the best day. I woke up late with a headache and because I was already running late I couldn't have any breakfast. I also didn't check the weather so on my way to work it started raining and I didn't have an umbrella. I also forgot my lunch at home where was really annoying. I just wasn't feeling 100 percent you know? So I asked my boss for the rest of the day off and he let me." You explained your horrible day to your boyfriend.

"Aww baby, why don't you go have a shower and get changed into some warm clothes. I'll get us some junk food and we can sit on the couch and watch some movies together. How does that sound?" You boyfriend smiles at you.

"Perfect, thanks Tae."

"You don't need to thank me, baby girl, just get your cute butt in the shower," Taehyung says while giving a light smack to your butt. You look back at him with a playful glare on your face before turning back around and walking to your bedroom. Once you've reached your bedroom you grab some underwear and a pair of shorts and a t-shirt that Taehyung had left at your place before walking into the bathroom.

After you've finished your shower and have gotten changed you walk back out into the lounge to see that your boyfriend has gotten some food as well as selected a movie. You walk over to the couch and plop down next to him. he turns to you with a smile on his face and wraps his arms around your waist pulling you closer to him.

"What movie are we watching?" You ask him.

"f/m," he says while reaching over you to grab the blanket that's lying beside you and covers the both of you with it. Silence falls over the both of you as the movie starts but once the movie's about halfway through you start to feel your eyes droop and before you know it you're asleep.

You awake to the feeling of kisses being pressed all over your face and a small giggle escapes your lips. You open your eyes to see Taehyung hovering over you with a big smile on his face. A smile just as big forms on your lips before it's replaced with a frown.

"I'm sorry," you whisper to him.

He furrowed his eyebrows, "what for?"

"I fell asleep during the movie."

"It's alright," he says with a laugh escaping his lips before he presses a quick kiss to your lips. He then stands up and turns the tv off and grabs the food on the table, taking it to where you presume is the kitchen. He returns shortly after, his hands-free of food and makes his way over to you. he grabs a hold o your hands and pulls you up. he then turns around, still holding your hands, and starts walking down the hall.

Taehyung opens up your bedroom door and takes you over to your bed, pulling back the covers and picks you up before gently lowering you into it. He then goes back to your bedroom door and closes it while also turning off the light. Taehyung walks over to the other side of the bed, pulls back the cover and lays down next to you.

He puts a hand underneath the pillow that his head is laying on while his other wraps around you, pulling you to where you're basically laying on him. Your hands start tracing invisible lines on his t-shirt while his hand starts playing with your hair as he presses a kiss to the top of your head. A smile spreads across your face as you feel him kiss you.

"I love you Tae," you whisper to him.

"I love you too baby, now go to sleep."

A quiet chuckles leaves your lips. You snuggle closer to Taehyung and it isn't long before your eyes shut and you've fallen asleep again.

[lavenoon]

Hiya! I went to have a nap to get rid of a headache and ended up having a small dream of Hatchling AU but with a slight twist.

After the angst of one of the boys snapping at them, instead of just bowing out of missions/avoiding them, they swap time slots entirely. Now instead of working the Day, they work at Night and interact with Dusk.

They thought maybe this would work out better for them and it did!... For a bit. Dusk also snaps at them, scaring them in the same way in the little angst drabble you wrote.

Robin starts thinking that maybe being an agent isn't what they thought it be and starts second guessing themselves to the max. Robin, desperate for some form of 'good enough', asks to get swapped to Tech in the guise of 'will improve my performance if i could make these work/fit better'.

Robin is unaware of how well they've actually been doing because of Dawn and Dusk's reactions to them and the Heads (cant remember the word) decided that if this really good up-and-coming agent will work better with gear/tech made by themself then hell yeah.

Robin gets to work in the labs/on tech for as long as they want so long as they accept any mission the Heads deem as needing their immediate attention. Robin agrees and that's where they've been for a few weeks now.

They've managed to dodge Dusk and Dawn while heading to the labs and neither know where Robin went.

Dawn and Dusk both still want to apologize but their little thief/bird has vanished, leading them to thinking they may have quit or been fired.

The Heads send them a mission detailing they need to use a special device/trinket a lab tech made and have to go pick it up.

Not in the mood to be dealing with another person that probably doesn't like them/is afraid of them they barge right in.

The Tech tells them to hold for just a moment so they can grab the device. A moment that told them that the Tech was Robin.

Robin turns around, with their mask on, mid-explanation of the new device only to freeze at the realization of who they're debriefing to.

I woke up after that.

As I type this i have no idea how the living/home set up would work (maybe the tenant thing didn't happen in this version) since the dream never left the agent side of things.

I also have no idea if the other ever found out that they started getting visited/working with the person their counterpart was annoyed with.

I'm going to have another nap now because typing this out without glasses brought the headache back.

Hope you have a wonderful day/night dear, Take Care!

Oh I am totally normal about you dreaming of Hatchling AU totally totally

I went a little off the rails, so the rest goes under the cut - 1.7K words, and I won't apologize <3

So like this the neighbor thing really wouldn't work - only creating more isolation for Robin. They go home to an empty house, and they have nothing to soften the blow of everything happening at work.

So when Dawn snaps at them, they decide to take the hint and just switch shifts entirely. There they run into Dusk - and they're already more hesitant about everything.

That's a bit of a speedrun there - because Robin then obviously finds out there's another celestial animatronic star agent, one they haven't been aware of at all. And Dusk knows of the newbie Robin too - so it's not hard to connect them back to the agent Dawn used to work with. He's quiet, not as flashy as Dawn, and doesn't outright snap at them - so that's good?

Dusk has to wonder just how much Dawn exaggerated, because what he sees is a quiet agent who is obviously still having new job jitters. There's none of the crazy ideas or impulsive comments that Sun always complained about, and he wonders how much of that was exaggeration or maybe just an indication that they weren't suited for the undercover work.

They do look happy parkouring, and he doesn't begrudge them the glee of that - it's the first time in a long time that he doesn't look for the fastest way to a target, but rather the most thrilling one. And they keep up!

So for Dusk, this is an arrangement he can live with, even if he feels a bit like a babysitter for the rookie sometimes. Dawn meanwhile goes through much of the same, more agents refusing to work with him, and then he hears from his counterpart that Robin works with him now and has undergone a rather drastic personality change, and somehow... That doesn't feel right.

Dusk also doesn't stay happy for too long, because when there's a group of hostiles and Robin is just way too reckless? They can't take that seriously either, and suddenly he knows what Dawn was talking about.

That... Maybe isn't the most tactful thing to point out while he's making sure they aren't bleeding out from their freshly acquired stab wound.

Robin doesn't say anything after that.

They're dead silent, and don't look at him anymore.

He's obviously not surprised when they don't come back for a while - but when weeks turn into months and there's no sign of them again, he does kind of get antsy.

Because Sun and Moon continue to share notes, and Moon does feel bad about his almost panicked comment that, well... He wasn't actually angry, just frenzied by the newbie he decided he'd keep an eye on actually getting stabbed while he was there. Sun of course also isn't happy - somehow hearing that Moon threw Dawn's words back at Robin in that kind of situation also makes him think that he wasn't quite the friendliest person either. He didn't even give them the benefit of doubt - and their sudden personality shift does make him think.

They somewhat settle for the thought that Robin quit after getting stabbed - surely that just wasn't what they signed up for. And while it hurts to think that they'd never get to apologize, they feel like a short-lived rivalry is better than a short-lived rival.

So when Dawn is instructed to pick up a new spy device from the labs, he's certainly not expecting to see a familiar face. (It does explain the almost ridiculous design of the device, but he can't deny that it could work)

They don't expect to see him there either though. And, oops, they aren't really in the mood to be bubbly or quiet now (: He gets a glare, before they turn back again, continuing with their explanation of the device in a much sharper tone than before.

Dawn deflates, just a little. He did that - Dusk and him, both of them.

"You still work here," also isn't quite the best way to voice his surprise, as gentle as he does it. Because Robin has had enough. They snap around to him, barely contained fury evident in their expression.

"What, expected I was fired for being that much of a failure?"

Uh oh.

If there were anyone else in the room, they might have been surprised at the ruthless star agent pacifyingly raising his hands and stepping back from the tiny in comparison lab tech now glaring daggers at him. Hell, even Dawn is surprised that this is his course of action. But still, he's proud, and he needs to set the record straight.

"That's not what I said -"

"Yeah, but you said plenty. And Dusk made sure I remember, too."

They turn their back again, and Dawn... Dawn doesn't like this, at all. None of this. They sound sad and angry and almost crushed and he hates that. That's not how they're supposed to be.

So for the first time in ever, maybe, he swallows his pride.

"We were wrong. I was wrong. To say those things, and for how I said them. I'm sorry."

If he had a tongue, he'd bite it, but even so the excuses and justifications struggle to escape anyway. They have no place here, and even Dawn is aware of that.

Robin doesn't react past hunching their shoulders, but he can't see their expression.

"... Didn't know you know those words. So what, how's Dusk gonna surprise me?"

He clenches his fingers, then slowly unfurls them again. Easy, easy - do not snap at the newbie. That's what caused this mess in the first place.

"Dusk watched you get stabbed. He was concerned, and acted out of line, and I'm sure he'll apologize himself. I cannot and will not do that on his behalf."

"It's great that he watched, I didn't quite get to. Was a bit too dark."

"The lights -"

Robin throws him a withering look past their shoulder. He flinches back, and not just because of how their eyes shine with tears they're holding back.

"I was preventing the lights from being turned on. Dusk was busy, he didn't even see the guy aiming for the switch - and I didn't see the knife. We're even."

Wait. Wait a moment - gears start turning, and Dawn's eyes widen in realization. Dusk saw, and Robin didn't -

"He was using nightvision. The sudden light would have overloaded his optics, blinding him for at least a few seconds - if not damage them entirely."

Seconds of blindness or even total loss of vision - neither are good in a fight. And Dusk didn't even see? Didn't even pay attention?

It seems he trusted his little rival more than he was even aware of.

Robin continues to mumble, fiddling with the device in front of them, unaware of his little moment.

"I wasn't sure. I just know how afterimages work, and nightvision binoculars. I was thinking. Just not enough."

"You were thinking more than him. Or me, for that matter. We both got used to our routine, and that's on us, not you. We falsely took it out on you."

Because isn't that exactly what he did? Got angry at them for thinking outside the box he built around himself?

Robin turns back to him, sizing him up - as if they hadn't seen him before. Fresh eyes, maybe, or a new light now. Maybe they're a bit of a sucker, but they haven't forgiven either of them yet - they just want to, because they don't enjoy the grudges. They also, deep down, still crave that validation - the acknowledgment of the star agents. Having one of them admit to his own mistakes and apologize seems like a reasonable first step. Maybe there's hope for them yet.

But they're also curious, and now thinking of routines and being stuck in old ways helps a certain question they kept to themself resurface.

"... How'd you two get this job?"

Dawn wants to balk, shoot it down - where did that come from? It's irrelevant, and frankly -

And frankly, the hesitant look on Robin's face extinguishes all the fight in him. He's not Eclipse, he can mention some things without revealing his entire identity.

"We have family, at another location. Code name Horizon -"

Their eyes light up, and he wonders if they've worked with his blueprints before. They sure had all the opportunities at the lab.

"- and he got us the job. We were transferred, to keep the risk to a minimum, but we got in."

"That's lonely."

He doesn't want to think about that.

"And you, little thief? Got caught stealing?"

The deflection works - they smile, and puff out their chest just a little.

"Got scouted. Guess how. ... Not the stealing."

Dawn laughs softly, just for a moment, but the amusement rings in his tone, too.

"With you, I wouldn't be surprised if you simply walked in and declared yourself an agent."

It catches them off guard, and they snort - a hand flying up to cover their mouth immediately, but he heard. It gives him hope, too.

"... Almost. Caught someone on the roof during their smoke break, and apparently me dodging the alarms was cause enough to drag me right in and well, a job that condones climbing around on other people's property? I got excited."

But then their expression falls again, and their shoulders slump. They aren't doing that anymore, or any of the other things that excited them about this job. They're just hoping to not mess this up, too - it's all they have left here.

Dawn notices, too, and does correctly reach the assumption that they grieve the fun they used to have. And as much as it stings, he also knows a single conversation won't fix that.

That's okay. He'll come back - and he's sure Dusk will, too, as soon as he tells him about this development. For now, he points towards the spy device still lying on the table.

"Tell me how it works. I'll take it seriously."

Because that's what he can offer. He can be professional, and he can treat them as an equal - he didn't before, but he'll be sure to do so now.

Robin smiles, if a little hesitant.

"Take it with some fun, too. You could use it."

... Yeah, maybe he could.

[luvmmarner]

Anthony Cirelli - Together

This was dedicated to @cellythefloshie your writing has inspired me to do something. I wasn't sure about and now I love it so much, so thank you! I hope you enjoy this <3 TAGLIST ; @bolts-nation (not going to @ two times!^^) Sequel to 'i hate u not' read the first one first WC: 8785 I got carried away. If you liked this fic maybe consider joining my TAGLIST --

You moaned in discomfort as you covered your face with a pillow as the sun's rays penetrated the window curtain even in spite of the curtain's best efforts to keep them out. – the sun still was managing to peek through. You were suffering from a severe headache, and all you wanted to do was go to sleep until it went away. You made an effort to close your eyes, but at this point, you were fully awake, and there was no way that you could go back to sleep.

After you got out of bed, your eyes finally adjusted to the new lighting. Only after that did you realize where you were. Oh god oh no. This couldn’t be happening. You were sleeping in Tony's bed. You couldn't even recall how you got there, and you had no desire to investigate further. You vowed to yourself that you would never communicate with Anthony ever again, and you intend to keep that promise. Now it seemed like that promise was down the roof.

You didn’t have anything on except for your panties. You were technically naked. Because none of your clothes were in sight, you made the quick decision to rummage through his drawer and steal some of his clothes in order to get out of there and come back later to return them.

You hurriedly put on a sweater that had his jersey number ‘71’ on it and some jeans that managed to fit you. You were just about to leave, but a note on the side-table caught your attention.

Good morning, beautiful.

I’ll be at practice when you probably wake up. 

Your favorite coffee is on the table.

I love you. - Anthony

You were aware that this was wrong. You ended your relationship with Anthony for a good reason, and that reason was because he didn't care about you. That was your opinion nonetheless, and it appeared to be that way while the two of you were dating. You crumbled the letter and threw it in your jean pocket.

You didn’t even bother getting the coffee that he brought for you and instead left as quickly as you could. You didn’t want to hang around in case he came home. You didn’t even know what time it was. Your phone was dead.

–

As you went home and managed to charge your phone and the notifications from the previous night came rushing in so did messages from Anna. One reading ‘Are you okay girl you bailed without notifying me’ You quickly texted her to let her know that you were okay, and then you dialed her number and spoke to her.

“Yeah, I woke up in Tony’s bed… I don’t remember anything” You said sighing frustratedly as you told Anna about the note and who you supposedly left with that night. 

“Did you text him maybe he could tell you?” She suggested. “No no. I’m not messaging him. He’s a scumbag… I woke up with nothing on I was obviously drunk.” You spoke with slight frustration and annoyance. You didn’t want to text him. You weren’t a couple and you wanted to make it clear to it by not texting him back.

“I got to go. I hope you figure this out, hun. Also, don’t forget you promised to go to the hockey game tonight. Better not bail” Anna said before hanging up. 

As Anna hung up the phone call, a long, drawn-out sigh escaped your mouth. Now you had to go to his hockey game. You guys booked those tickets for Anna, but you didn’t want to go after waking up in ur ex's bed. It wasn’t like you were going for him and you were going to make that quite clear.

Besides that you were still confused about everything, all you wanted to know was what took place that night. How did he end up in the same club as you? As you looked at Anna’s Snapchat it immediately addressed that question. You were at the most popular club, so of course he was there as well. As you stared at the videos you seemed to remember some things, but they weren’t exactly in order.

; “I’m taking you home. You’re way too drunk and I don’t want you to get hurt.”

; “Go to sleep. I love you.”

You turned off your phone and started getting ready for tonight. You made sure to always wear his jersey number whenever you went to any of the games that you did attend. But not tonight; instead, you choose to slip into a jersey representing the Florida Panthers. Even though you were not a fan of the Panthers. You didn't want to wear Anthony's number, especially since you woke up last night in his bed. You didn’t want him to get any wrong ideas.

Since Anna was the one who provided the tickets, you never gave them a thorough check to see where you were seated at. Until you did… Your throat started to feel constricted all of a sudden, making it difficult for you to breathe. Of course, Anna bought the glass view tickets. Your worst fear has come true.

You managed to calm yourself down. This could actually be the best thing ever. You weren’t wearing his jersey. You were wearing the other team’s jersey specifically number ‘19’. He’ll get the moto without having to talk with you. You were excited now. 

You two grabbed popcorn before heading down to your designated seats. The farther you got down the rows. The pit in your stomach grew. You were really about to do this…

As the warmup began, your focus immediately shifted to Anthony's. All you wanted was for him to take notice of you. As soon as he did. It was impossible not to crack a smile. Finally. It was as though he was unable to tear his gaze away from you. In addition to that, he couldn't help but notice your jersey. He immediately backed up into the glass you were in front of. 

“Jerk” you whispered, but clearly not silent enough as you gained looks from other people nearby.

“Ooh look he’s staring at you,” Anna said nudging you with her elbow. 

“He also stared at my jersey, so I’m actually feeling way better now.” You said adjusting yourself in your seat. 

As the game started right off the bat Florida managed to score. You showed your appreciation for the away team. It was awkward, but it was so worth it to see the look on Anthony’s face.

The Panthers managed to win 7-1. Anthony managed to get 6 penalties and ended up getting benched in the 2nd period. This was the worst he had performed and it was probably thanks to you.

To say the least, you were delighted, and this was despite the fact that Lightning fans hurled insults at you as you passed by. In the end, it was well worth it.

When you returned home and got dressed into pajamas. You decided to end the night there and head to bed, so that’s what you did.

You groaned as your eyes once again adjusted, but it wasn't because of the sun from the morning. It was because of your phone. It was going off continuously without stopping. It took some time for you to become accustomed to the light from the phone. But once you did, you were finally able to identify the person who had been messaging you at two in the fucking morning.

You rolled your eyes and scoffed ‘pathetic’. You ignored the texts and just blocked his contact you didn’t want to engage with his stupidity. He needed to quit his act and stop acting like he cared about you. You put your phone on DND and went back to sleep. 

–

You were awoken by a knock at your door. Your alarm clock showed the time 7:19AM. You groaned ’this better be worth it’ you muttered under your breath. You unwillingly trotted to your apartment door opening it to find Anthony there. He pushed past you inviting himself in.

“First you wear our rival’s jersey. Then you block my contact. What’s wrong with you” he demanded in a hostile tone.

“No no!” You said shaking your head before continuing “I wake up in your bed and I don’t even remember for crying out loud. Then you write me a note completely phased like we are together. I don’t understand just please tell me wh–”

Before you can finish your sentence, he grabs your face and his mouth crashes down against yours. An electric-heat rush runs through your entire body. You couldn’t help, but let out a groan. When his tongue slides against yours. You felt butterflies erupt in your stomach that traveled down to the rest of your body. As he deepened the kiss – the taste of cinnamon became more and more evolving it made the kiss so intoxicating that you didn’t want to stop. You were under his spell and you couldn’t help, but remember everything that night. His arms wrapped around your waist pulling you closer. His teeth gently nibbled on your lip. The kiss was so demanding and harsh that it was silently screaming ‘your mine and only mine.’

You pulled away completely out of breath. “I remember. I’m so sorry. I love you. I thought you didn’t care about me. I was wrong.” You said as tears started to form and fall from your face.

“Shh. shh… I understand baby. I forgive you. Your mine and I’m sorry I made it seem like I didn’t care. I love you so much” he calmly said as he rubbed your back wrapping you in a tight hug.

“I love you too. I’m yours forever.” You said – as you gave him a hug back.

[mccall-muffin]

Love vs. Hate - Part 22 // Joe Liebgott x OC

Summary: While Liv has to recover from her being hit, another Patrol is planned and First Platoon is leading it. The war takes more and more its toll on Liv's mental as well as physical strength.

Warnings: Language, War wounds, slight Angst

A/N: These chapters are really hard to write tbh. Takes its toll on me too ;) And sorry Babe!

Here is my Masterlist

Tags: @brassknucklespeirs, @liebgotts-lovergirl, @lieutenant-speirs

My head hurts. It feels like my brain is pulsating against the top of my skull. What happened? Slowly I try to open my eyes. Something is blocking my left eye, but I don't know what it is. When I finally open at least my right eye entirely and my left a little, the sun blinds me. Damn, how long have I been gone? Carefully I try to sit up, but now the pain spreads from my head to my whole body. Groaning, I sit on the floor and grab my head with my hand but immediately jerk back as a sharp pain jolts through my cheek. "Fuck," I grumble to myself.

Then it all comes back to me. We were attacked. I was going to join Joe and Alley in the foxhole, but... Something went wrong. I quickly push off the coat lying on me and examine my pants, but nothing is on them. However, when I run over my legs, I feel the wounds. "Fuck, did someone take off my pants?" I ask myself. Only now do I look around. I am in the CP. "Fuck," I mutter again and sit down on the edge of the barrier. Now the headache has come back. I prop my head up in my right hand and rub my forehead. And then I am overcome by nausea. I stumble out of the foxhole, fall on my knees, bend over and vomit into the snow. The buzzing in my head doesn't get any better. I wipe my mouth and sit back down.

"Well, look who finally woke up," I hear a voice, but I don't look up. I know it's Winters. "How long was I gone?" I ask, caring little for formalities right now. The pain is too big for that. "About three hours. Another hour and we would have taken you away." Now I look up and look the captain in the eye. "Well, Merry Christmas to me. How bad is it?" I ask, and Winters presses his lips together. "Dick, please. How bad?" Dick lowers his gaze before picking up a mirror and holding it to me. Hesitantly, I take it and try to look at myself.

I swallow once. A thick stitched wound is emblazoned under my left eye. My whole left eye is blue and swollen, and there is still blood in my hair. My lip is also cracked, and I look like I've just been god-awful beaten up. "Jesus Christ," I mutter. "It'll get better, Liv," Winters assures me. "Thanks for the pep talk, Dick, but this..." I point to the wound. "Will never go away. God dammit!" Winters takes a deep breath and looks down at the floor. "These aren't my pants," I say then, and Dick looks me in the eyes again. "No, they're not." Questioningly, I look at him. "You had all sorts of shrapnel in your legs, Liv. Doc had to treat the wounds and stitch some up. Your pants were useless, so I got you new ones." "Doc changed me...?" I ask, looking down at myself. "Don't worry... Joe changed them.“ "In front of you?" Dick looks at me with amusement. "I know you don't think I'm stupid, Liv..." "It's okay. I'm sorry, Dick." "Here," he then says and throws me my flask. "This was in your pocket, along with that." He puts something in my hand. When I open it, it's my compass. The one I got from Don, Penk, and Skip. When I open it, it has a slight crack in it. "Thank you," I say thankfully and look at Dick.

"Okay, let's send someone to the boys and let them know you are awake." "Oh, that's not necessary. I can go myself..." "No," he interrupts me immediately. "I want you to stay back here for a while. Not forever, but certainly for a few more hours." "But..." "That's an order, Sergeant!" "Yes, sir," I say immediately, hanging my head. "Do you have a pen, Captain?" I then ask, and he looks up in confusion. "I just want to write a few words to Don and Joe, nothing more," I say, and Dick takes a pencil out of his breast pocket and tosses it to me. "Oh, and can you let Doc know that I need something for the pain?" "Sure."

Don's POV: I sit convulsively in my foxhole with Bill. My thoughts keep circling back to Liv. We still haven't heard anything, and it's been hours. I'm starting to get worried. Doc came to see us an hour ago and said they'll take her away if she doesn't wake up soon. I sincerely hope that does not happen. I can't go on without her. "She'll be fine, Malark. Don't worry," Bill says when he sees my worried look. "I hope so, Bill... I hope so."

Suddenly we hear footsteps behind us then I see Doc coming toward us. He crouches down to us and looks at me. "What's the matter Doc? Is something wrong with Liv?" I ask immediately. Doc looks me in the eye for a moment. "She woke up..." "What?! And how is she?" "She has a headache, probably a concussion, but that's to be expected. Winters is keeping her back for a few more hours so she can recover. I just went to see her and checked her out. I expect she'll be her old self in no time." Relief spreads through me. "See, what did I tell you?" says Bill, putting a hand on my shoulder. "Here, I'm supposed to give you this. Do you know where Liebgott is?" Eugene then asks, holding out a piece of paper to me while holding a second one in his hand. "I think he had to take a piss," Bill breathes, "Okay, give this to him when you see him, will you?" We nod, and I take the second piece of paper as well. "What is it?" asks Bill when Eugene has disappeared. "It's from Liv."

I'm fine! Don't die, or I will kill you! Love you -L

I have to smile at her words. It's just Liv. "And what does she say?" "That I shouldn't die." Behind Bill, I see Joe coming back. "Hey Joe," I call out to him, and he comes over to us. "What's up?" he asks immediately. He, too, is worried about Liv. "Liv woke up. Here, this is for you," I say and hold the note to him. I can see relief in his eyes before he takes the message and disappears into his foxhole.

Joe, I'm fine. Please don't worry about me. I hope to be back with you soon! Thank you for everything! Love, -L

Liv's POV: When Dick finally lets me rejoin the others after several hours, I feel the stares at me. My eye is still swollen, and the scar looks terrible.

"Liv," I hear someone call after me, and I turn around. It's Buck walking toward me. I notice him falter briefly when he sees me. "How are you?" For a moment, I just look at him. "Are you sure it's okay?" I nod, then bite my lip. "It has to be." For a moment, we stand there. "Where's Don?" I ask, and he points his head toward the front. "Thanks," I say, turning away. "Liv?" he calls after me, and I turn to face him. "Yeah?" "Good to have you back." I nod and then continue walking.

I quickly find Bill and Don's foxhole. They are both asleep, and I slide into the hole with them. Don wakes up immediately and looks at me. "Holy shit!" he curses, waking Bill up and taking me in his arms. "You don't know how glad I am that you're okay." I force myself to smile as he pulls away from me. "You must have gotten something there," Bill says with a smile, and you raise an eyebrow.

Don eyes me, then grins. "You look like shit." "Wow. Thanks, Don!" I say, unable to suppress a small smile. He puts an arm around my shoulders. "Come on, sweetheart. You know what I meant."

After a while, I look toward Joe and Ally's foxhole, but I can't spot Joe anywhere, so I turn back to Don and Bill. "Where's Joe?" I ask, looking at the two of them, who exchange a look. "Guys?" I ask again emphatically, already imagining the worst. "Winters called him into HQ as a runner. After you got hit, he couldn't think too clearly, and it all got a little too much for him."

I look at Don and let his words run through my head. "He'll probably be there for a few days," Bill now adds, and I nod. "Okay... I uh... I'll head to First Platoon, then," I mutter, climbing out of the foxhole. "Liv? Take care of yourself, okay?" I nod and then join the others.

I last saw Joe a few days ago. Dick kept him behind all the time, but at least he was safer there than at the front. Still, it hurts not to see him.

I received a few pills from Doc that should help if the headache gets too bad. However, he pointed out to me that I should only take them if they were unbearable since he doesn't have any more of them.

That's easier said than done because regularly, it feels like my skull is about to explode, and nausea overcomes me again and again.

January 1st, 1945 - Bastogne, Belgium

With folded arms, I stand leaning against the jeep and listen with half an ear. I don't believe all this holy crap anymore. The priest had just finished the service. "Fight well for God and your country. God bless you all. Stay safe." I snort in amusement and shake my head. "You're not much of a believer, are you?" asks Peacock, who has come to stand beside me. "Why should I, after God gave us all this?" "Point taken."

"That's it. Nothing to worry about. We die now; we die in a state of grace. Isn't that right, Babe?" Muck shouts, and I have to

I later round up the guys and explain everything about the planned patrol. "We go until we make contact."

"Peacock's leading," Bull mutters, looking over at Peacock. "That asshole couldn't find a snowball in a blizzard," George adds, and I look at them both. "Stop it now, George. He's not leading - I am," I say, and they both look at me. "Oh hey, Liv. You sure? We don't wanna screw up that pretty face any more than it already is." "Luz, just shut up, okay?"

"Sarge?" then Julian walks up to me. "Julian." "Let me be the lead scout." I exchange a quick glance with Johnny, who raises an eyebrow. "Back in line, private," he says, and I nod. "Move out. Tactical columns, men."

Behind us, I see Gene about to join the patrol, but I stop him. "Gene, it's a combat patrol. Why don't you stay back and keep out of trouble?" He looks at me for a moment, then nods. "Yes, sergeant." "Right. Move out. Go."

We walk silently in one direction for a while. Again and again, I exchange glances with Johnny, who seems as tense as I am. Suddenly, we hear gunfire aimed at us. "Fire! Get down! Get down!" I shout, and we take cover behind some logs. "Shit!" I quickly realize that one of our men is hit and completely caught in the crossfire.

"Johnny! We got a man down!" I call out to him and then see that Julian was shot in the neck but is still alive. "Fuck!" I curse. "What have we got?" shouts Johnny back over the noise. "Kid's down," I call, and he looks past me at the bleeding Julian. "We gotta make a move."

"I can get him, sarge," Babe calls out, lying on the floor in front of me. I nod at him. "Suppressing fire! Suppressing fire," I shout to the men.

Babe somehow tries to get to Julian, but the Krauts reopen fire every time he scrambles forward. "Stay there. Don't move. Stop moving, or they'll keep shooting," he shouts at his friend. "Babe, for fuck's sake!" I now yell at him, who keeps trying. "I can do this!" Babe assures me, but I see black.

"What's happening, Liv?" Johnny then calls out to me, and I give him a slightly exasperated look. I have the decision to make. "We're pulling back. We made contact," I then call out. "I gotta inform Peacock!" Babe's shocked look hits me as he hears my words. But then he turns back to Julian. "Don't move. Don't move, or they'll keep firing. Stop moving!" "God dammit!" I curse again as the fire doesn't diminish. I also fire again in the direction of the Germans.

"Fuck. Sarge, what--?" Babe then shouts, but I interrupt him. "Pull back! We gotta pull back!" Johnny nods and grabs the first soldier next to him. "Let's get the hell out of here! Let's go!"

"Come on, stay with us. Hold on! Stay with us! Look at me. Stay with us! Hold on," Babe still calls out to Julian, making no move to retreat. "Babe, move! Now!" I shout to him, but he ignores me.

"Don't move; we're coming back. We'll get you out of here. Hold on." Now I grab Babe by the collar and pull him to his feet. "Go. Let's go! On me, move! Come on, let's go." I push him in the direction of the others, and reluctantly he allows himself to be pushed. "Come on, Babe!"

"Where the hell are we?" shouts Johnny a little later, and I look around. "Straight ahead. Straight ahead."

I walk right up to Peacock when we return to the others. "Tom, we got a casualty," I inform him, and Johnny stands beside me. "Who?" he asks immediately, looking at the men. "Julian. He got hit in the neck. He was still alive, but we had to pull back. We made contact at the enemy line," I explain to him. Meanwhile, he turns to George. "Okay! Set the radio up on the rock." George executes the order, and Peacock radios into the CP. "Easy CP. Easy CP. Lightning, over. I need a jeep at the CP. Eyes sharp!"

A short time later, Peacock is gone, and suddenly Winters comes up to us. "Martin? Liv!" We both look up. "Sir?" asks Johnny, and Winters looks at us before spotting Babe, standing behind us but still entirely out of it. "What's going on?" "They got Julian," Johnny says. "He's alive. We gotta get him," Babe interjects, and I give him a stern look. "We don't know that," I say sharply.

"Did you hit an OP or their line?" Winters asks. "Their line." "We gotta get Julian!" Babe says again, and I give him another admonishing look. "No! Now fall back." "Where's Peacock?" asks Winters then. "At the CP," Johnny says, and Winters looks thoughtful. "We couldn't get to him, captain. Babe tried. We couldn't get to him," I say, hanging my head.

Winters nods understandably and then tells us all to pull back. My gaze wanders to Babe, who gives me a disappointed look. I suspect he blames me for not being able to get Julian. I take a step toward him. "Babe..." I say, but he immediately turns away.

Johnny puts a hand on my shoulder. "He'll get over it," he says, trying to smile at me encouragingly. I rub my eyes for a moment, then sigh. "I don't know what he expects me to do. He would have died just the same if I had let him go. It was an impossibility." "I know that, Liv. And Heffron knows that, too. Give him time." I hang my head, then nod.

[whumperofworlds]

Whumptober Day 15: Rest

Now on AO3!

Fandom: Final Fantasy I

A/N: I love writing these two a lot, so this one was also fun to write! Also, I... am having trouble writing more of this, but hopefully I'll get to it before the month is up!

I only own Drusus, Keme, and Veles. Everything else belongs to Square Enix.

TAGS: @gala1981

CONTENT: slight strong language, sickness, a lot of fluff stuff

ENJOY!

_____

@whumptober Day 15: Makeshift Bandages | Suppressed Suffering | "I'm fine."

Drusus wasn't sure what happened. When he woke up this morning, he felt a throbbing headache hit him. Not only that, but his throat was sore—no matter how much water he drank, he couldn't get rid of the soreness his throat had. And finally, his nose was stuffed up, making breathing difficult.

Keme knew what was up the moment they left for work. He had asked his husband if he was alright—Drusus didn't even give him a "good luck" kiss before they left, as he usually did. 

"I'm fine," Drusus had said, and yet, he still looked out of it. Was he upset with Keme? No. That wasn't it. Drusus looked… exhausted, judging by the bags under his eyes and the fact that he coughed constantly.

Keme's thoughts were on Drusus all day, and after he returned from a mission, he decided to confront his husband. Clearly, Drusus was hiding something from him, which was out of character for the Monk.

He arrived at the door to Drusus' office, before knocking it. A few moments had passed, to the point Keme even thought that Drusus had already left. However, he heard his beloved's voice from behind the door, "Who is it?"

Keme noted that his voice was hoarse and raspy. He raised a brow, before he answered, "It's me. Can I come in, love?"

Another pause, before he heard coughing from behind the door.

"Come in." Drusus answered.

Keme opened the door and entered, only to pause when he noticed Drusus' trash can was full of tissues. Sitting at his desk was Drusus, scribbling down another signature on a piece of paper. He glanced up, smiling slightly. Keme's heart would have skipped a beat at that sight if he hadn't noticed how strained it was.

"Hey, babe," Keme said, glancing at the trash can for a moment. Usually, Drusus cleaned his trash can before he began to work. Why was it full? Unless…

"You're sick," Keme pointed out, and he couldn't help but glare at his husband. This wasn't the first time this had happened, and he was frankly tired of how stubborn Drusus was.

"What?" Drusus asked, and Keme could see the panic in his eyes. "N-no I'm not."

"Then explain this," Keme said, gesturing at the tissue-filled trash can. Drusus glanced at it for a moment, before he shook his head.

"Allergy season," Drusus lied, covering his mouth with his fist when he coughed.

"...It's not even spring," Keme sighed, shaking his head. "Babe, we've discussed this before. When you're sick, you should be resting, not working!"

"I'm fine, dear," Drusus insisted, glancing back at his paperwork. "These papers are due today, and I have to—cough—work on them."

Of freaking course.

"Drusus." Keme said, his voice stern.

That caught Drusus' attention, as he glanced at his husband, eyes wide. "Did you just—" Drusus tried to say.

"Damn right I did," Keme interrupted, his arms across his chest, giving Drusus a disapproving look. "Look, you need to go home. Veles can take care of the paperwork and all. You're too sick."

"Babe, please," Drusus insisted, "Veles has enough on his plate, and—"

He didn't realize that his hand was close to the small ink bottle, until he accidentally knocked it over. Ink spilled all over the paperwork, soaking them in black.

"Fuck," Drusus cursed, gritting his teeth in frustration. Could this get any worse?

Keme's glare grew intense, before he turned to the door. "That's it," Keme said, "I'm getting Veles."

"Love, no—" Drusus protested, but it was already too late; Keme left the office. Drusus sighed, running a hand through his hair. Why does Keme get so stubborn about him?

_____

Veles insisted to Drusus that he'd handle the paperwork, and despite Drusus' protests, he eventually went home with Keme. Keme had apparently told Veles that he was taking the day off too—he needed to care for Drusus so he could recover quickly.

Once they were home and Drusus went to bed, Keme held a hand on Drusus' forehead, before pulling back with a hiss.

"Sheesh," Keme commented, "you're burning up."

"...I know," Drusus sighed, sinking in the covers until his head was the only thing exposed.

Keme glared at Drusus once more, and Drusus wanted to sink further in his covers sheepishly.

"How long have you been sick?" Keme asked.

"Since… this morning," Drusus admitted.

Keme's glare softened a bit then, sighing. "At least you didn't wait till days later like last time."

"...'m sorry." Drusus muttered.

"Just…" Keme said, "don't do it again, please? Whenever you're like this, I worry about you. It hurts me that you hide something like that from me. I get that you work hard, but rest whenever you feel under the weather."

Drusus gave it a thought for a second. Perhaps Keme was right—if their roles were reversed, Drusus would worry to death over Keme if he had fallen ill, and would insist Keme to rest. The mere idea of making Keme worry over him hurt him. His husband shouldn't be worried about him like that.

"...All right, I'm sorry," Drusus apologized.

"Pinky promise?" Keme asked, his pinky raised.

Drusus merely smiled despite his sickness, before he reached out and had his pinky intertwined with Keme's. He could keep promises easily.

"Pinky promise."

[prettynhot]

13.01.2024 Sat restarting,revolving n readjusting.

new day,new me:) i’ll start talking about last night first. after i logged in here with my journal update, i left my course place n got home. while i was walking though, i witnessed the first snow falling in my city for this winter!

the snow was incredibly pretty and delicately falling with a slight cold breeze. the breeze moved my hair quite romantically, i was blushing from the cold so with my cute red cheeks n red nose, delicate snowflakes in my hair n outfit, i looked and felt like i was in a movie. people were passing by with literal awes and someone even offered to carry my bag for me! people are so nice <33

after i got home i ate my dinner,got some sweets and as i sat down to relax,i fell asleep😭 i woke up to a call from my sister, facetiming me to ask what to wear for her bday celebration. she just turned 30 this year! i still cant believe she is 30 now,she has that young aura n energy which makes everyone feel like she’d be in her 20s forever. crazy that shes stepping into her 30s now. im excited for this new chapter in her life, feel like its going to be her best one yet:)

after talking to my sister, i got up,changed from my outdoor clothes to my comfy sweatpants n thin,soft long sleeve,grabbed water n cleaned up my room a bit. after that i shopped online for a while and danced for at least 2 hours.

it was soo much fun!!! i hadnt danced in a quite long while n totally forgot how in touch with my femininity n grounded it makes me feel! while i was dancing ag’s new song played, titled ‘yes and’ which i quite liked!! then i saw that time flew by n it was nearly 12 am, which i was waiting for in order to celebrate my sister’s bday:) we facetimed at 12 exactly n i even blew candles for her! she got so happy n told me all about the presents she got n how her bday celebration went. we talked a bit but i needed to study so i had to hang up :(

then, since i had not studied at all ever since i got home,i sat down n studied for a good 2 hours, brushed my teeth n my hair n had a nice night sleep😴

woke up in a good mood, drank my morning water n had a filling, delicious breakfast with a good load of veggies, a whole lot of protein n some carbs. it was soo yummyy^^

then i got ready, decided to postpone the glamming for my little tc thing, since i didnt want a crush to get in the way of how my exam goes, knowing i wouldnt be as comfortable in all glam.

so i took the exam! it went quite nice at first but as time went by, nearing the end of the 3 hrs, my focus got harder to maintain n i didnt even realize i had a headache from constrating so hard! even though i didnt feel like i did as good as i was capable of, it still wasnt horrible n i know the result will be decent. so im pleased yet eager to do more!

after the exam, i had a class with my teacher:) the one whom i have a little crush on:) he was exceptionally smiley today! he asked me how my exam went, kiinda checked me out(i mightve even made it up honestly😭but lowkey felt it though!) chatted with us for a while. then his class starts, as usual hes very interactive with with everyone n me, jokes around n stuff.

one thing i really like about him is that he always looks at me while he’s telling a story about himself or anything personal really. its as if like hes telling that to me only as he is only making eye contact with me. it makes me feel super special!

it was quite hot in the classroom so i wanted to open the windows yet he was cold so he didnt want me to,and joked about that the whole class.

and he even came rlly close n sat beside me.specifically right beside me. just to talk to me.

UGHHHHHHHH

losing my pretty mind over that.

this man literally tried to sit on the heater to talk😭hes also absurd sometimes.

AND ALSO!!

HE TALKED ABOUT HOW HE IS TRYING TO NOT BREAK STUDENTS HEARTS NOW. WHILE LOOKING AT ME. HE WAS LIKE ‘IM WATCHING MY WORDS NOW SINCE I DONT WANT TO BREAK ANYONES HEART’. WHILE LOOKING AT ME. CUZ I TOLD HIM HE HURT ME THE OTHER DAY??

look, i might be delusional(likely) but come on, what would you think in my shoes?

i’d like to think that it was intentional so i will:)

n that was all for my little crush talk.

after his class i stayed on the place where i took my courses to study a bit more. while i was there, one of the founders of that place, offered me fruits n even cut them up for me🥹 hes usually an unusually cold man so i was quite suprised! but it made me very happy nonetheless!

after i was done, while i was leaving the course i came by the owner of the course place n chatted with him for a while, he’s the bestest! hes very intelligent and sweet!

that’s all i have for today! i texted with one of my best friends as well, we promised to meet this monday to visit our national library. we’ll see how everything goes!

im trying to readjust n revolve, into the girl who is disgustingly overeducated, into the girl who is balanced and feminine, into the girl who has everything together in her life<3

same time tomorrow?

[hav-vok]

cross posting from the wrong blog.

Oct 5

I'm not okay with my body image right now because I have to pack for Disney and the weather is warmer than I expected so I can't just hide in a big hoodie and I wanted to look cute but I just don't think I'll look cute or nice or anything other than a big fat blob of awful and I really don't want to ruin this with a fucking breakdown about how fat I am and how none of my clothes fit.

and the worst thing is I have no one but S to talk to this about. I have no girl friends I can't just pop up and say I feel like crap hype me up and help me find something fun to wear. I've never understood those scenes in coming of age films where the girls are all sat around in one room trying on each others clothes and doing each others hair. I never got that. I've never had anyone like that. I've never had a best friend that way. I've never even had a friend that way. not for 15 years.

half my life. half my fucking life I've not had friends to confind it and talk about this with and work through the trauma of societies expectations with. half my life. the half where it's mattered. no one cares as a kid. a little kid. but man as soon as you're aware of what this fucking world has its eyes on and what it deems is good and right and everything is it banishes as wrongs it's just traumatic trying to do anything else with that .

and now somehow I'm meant to have dinnerrmmmmmmsurbdn

I broke and nearly threw my phone so I dropped it and punched my leg lots instead.

I'm great. I'm good. I'm doing absolutely fine. about to go on the holiday of a lifetime apparently. what a delight.

Oct 6?

I keep opening and closing social media. like someone opening the fridge again to see if new food has magically appeared.

I realised that when I say friend, in most cases I think I should say acquaintance. because they're not friends. we were tied by a common place and most of our conversation rotated around that common place. maybe all I get are acquaintances. and I need to be okay with that level of relationship somehow.

Oct 8

so today I get on a plane for the first time ever and no matter how much I try I can't freak myself out about it which is good I guess. everything will be fine and it'll be so much fun and such a delight ✨

I'm sat in an airport waiting for a plane to arrive. it's ten minutes late which is wild but hey ho.

security was stressful and wild but nevermind I got through with only one misshap which for my first time isn't too bad.

getting random pain in my left toes though and knees hurt occasionally, and a slight headache which I blame on stress and stimulation.

Oct 12

so we'll Disney was a big ball of surreal crazy

idk why but mornings were not good for me. next time we go away like that I need to prepare for mornings better.

yesterday I felt quite bad, waves of sickness if I stood for too long, sharp pains in my stomach and guts. felt better if I sat for a while. didn't feel good enough to eat so I had a small yogurt, a few mouthfuls of lunch (cauliflower and pork mostly) and an apple when I got home. not lots of water either but I just didn't feel good. also got to experience a wheelchair for the first time ever, useful but not hugely.

feel a little icky today still but I'll try and eat nice plain foods here and see how it goes. Sam is out to work all afternoon so if I end up sitting in the bathroom then that's what happenes.

Oct 15

bs: weak+tingly hands, sore feet, achy hip R, little snotty, sleepy, weepy eyes, sore L shoulder

ms: flat, concerned about money this month

went to bed about 11ish last night, don't remember taking the hoodie off, don't remember S coming to bed, woke up a couple times during the night, once where the roof of my mouth was intensely itchy so I had some CBD , went back to sleep till S alarm at 8.40. 9.5 hours ish maybe ? obviously still tired from travel and Disney. but back at work today.

Oct 16

bs: mild cramps, can't tell if ovaries or intestines. L hand bad pins and needles during night, especially 3rd finger. sleepy

I was very snotty yesterday, and a bit coughy and had several long sneezing fits. I took some meds and went to work and it seemed to clear up. wondering if there's some dust or mould or something that affects me in my studio room. but it's so small and compact I don't really know how to go about changing that, since I have so much stuff. and things in this house get mouldy even in the warmer months let alone over winter when it's damp. oh to have central heating.

[azaleaaxolotl1]

When Get Into An Argument With Them

Characters: Scaramouche & Kaeya

Warning: Angst to fluff, slight mentions of not eating and overworking in Kaeya’s part, mentions of blood and injuries in both parts, Scara is soft, and cursing, that’s all! Enjoy!

Summary for Scaramouche Part: Scaramouche was off doing his Harbinger duties, while you were also at work doing your business. You come home per usual, always wanting to see Scaramouche’s face, you never did recently. When he came home, you gave him an earful, to which he only responded with his side of the story.

“I try my hardest to please you! You don’t think I want a bit of affection after a little while!” I yelled. I was starting to get stressed and angry. I can taste the acid in my mouth now from my stomach.

“And what do you think I’m doing? Nothing?! I have duties to fulfill! I am a fucking Harbinger for Archon's sake! When will you ever understand that!” Scaramouche yelled, with anger coming out, getting more louder after each word.

Your banter and his went back and forth with each other. This went on for a long time. And Scara had enough of it.

Instead, of releasing all his anger out on you, he went outside, for your well-being.

There, you stood by yourself, in the middle of the room, where the unexpected event took place, you were now standing alone. You hadn’t even realized the tears running down your face.

You put your hand toward your cheek and felt the wetness from your tear, which made you cry even more.

You went to your shared room, went to bed, and cried yourself to sleep.

—

The next day came around, you woke with heavy eyes and a pounding headache from last night. You turned around to see that Scaramouche wasn’t there. You lifted the cover to find any wrinkles on the sheet to see if someone was sleeping next to you.

Nothing, only a few wrinkles, but it gave you a clue that Scaramouche didn’t sleep with you like he usually did. (Not in a sexual manner)

You hurriedly did your morning routine, such as showering, brushing your teeth, etc.

Once you were finished, you went downstairs and looked around. You didn’t see Scaramouche at all. Not even in the kitchen or

the shower.

‘He didn’t come home.’ You thought to yourself.

The thought of it almost made you start crying again.

You made your breakfast rather quickly and left the house in a hurry.

You also worked for the Fatui and knew the hardships of working in the organization. But, —from the rumors you heard— you thought being a Harbinger wasn’t quite hard of a job, the more you progressed in the job, you got a higher rank, which cause a heavy load of work to be shoved off your shoulders.

You showed up to work and saw many people. They all funnily looked at you but you shook it off. You continued your work routine like you did almost every day and sooner or later, the sun was going down.

You were looking at the sunset out the window. In your daze, you hadn’t heard someone call out your name until they tapped you on your shoulder.

You jumped slightly by the sudden scare.

“Hey, Y/n. Is everything alright?” They said.

You recognized the voice instantly and turned around to face them.

“Hey Childe, and yes, I am… alright.” You hesitated to say the last word because you knew you weren’t alright. Your s/o didn’t come home last night and you were worried.

You both stayed silent for a few minutes until you decided to ask the burning question that was eating you on the inside ever since this conversation started.

“Have you seen Scaramouche today?” You asked.

“Um- yes, I have. He’s in his office. He has been cramped in there all day, even last night.” Childe said, with ease, not knowing the event that had been placed last night.

“Thank you, Childe.” You said, bowing down. You walked away from the conversation, but before you can head off, Childe grabbed your wrist.

“He’s in a bad mood, be careful.” He said, looking at the floor.

“I see, thank you for your concern.” You said, releasing from his grip and walking off to Scaramouche’s office.

You approached his door. Taking in a deep breath and sighing back out. You knocked once and had no answer, you then opened the door.

You saw Scaramouche’s head on his desk, he was sleeping. His hat is on the side of his desk.

You slowly and carefully tiptoed to him.

You were now close enough to him to see his face.

You saw redness at the side of his right eye, which indicated that he was crying a lot, the redness from crying, spread to a tiny piece under his eye, mixing in with the blackish-brownish color underneath his eye. You still saw tears coming out of his eyes, but he was sound asleep.

You hesitantly reached out your hand to feel his cheek and felt the cold flesh along with the wet stains on Scara’s cheek that burned your fingertips. What burned, even more, was the way the tears dropped and collided with your hand.

He started to wake up due to the sudden contact. He rubbed his eyes and saw you in his vision. “Y/n, is that you?” He said, his breath a little shaky and leaning into your touch. “Shhhh, yes, it’s me.” You said, quietly.

Just by those few words, he stood up and pulled you in by your waist, engulfing your elegant scent. He nuzzled his neck into yours.

You stroked his back.

“I’m sorry, Scara. For saying those things to you. I was being selfish.” You said, in a calm and quiet tone. He raised his head.

“No you weren’t, as much as I hate to say this, you’re right. You have every right to be mad at me, but don’t you ever fucking dare to yell at me again, that’s my job.” He said, going back into his previous position.

You hugged him and staying that position for a couple of minutes before he retracted.

You gave him a warm smile. He couldn’t resist any longer and went down to kiss you. You were surprised since you would be the first to initiate a kiss between you two.

You melted into his kiss. You felt the love in the kiss, not something that was fake.

Pure love.

You wanted nothing more. You fell in love with him, and he fell harder.

Summary for Kaeya: You and Kaeya got into an argument about his flirtatious side. He said some nasty comments, saying how he was not the problem but you were. He said that when you were in the battle, you weren’t strong enough, which causes him to do all the work. You did not let that slide.

“Oh come on! Do you think I’m the problem, Y/n? I do all of the work, when you just sit there, acting like I’m just your servant. You have some nerve to come at me, saying I’m too flirtatious, oh give me a break!” Kaeya said, with pure anger in his voice.

You took a step back. You looked like you were in shock. You needed to think of something to

come back at him, but you thought of nothing.

You lowered your head.

Kaeya was smirking due to his win in the argument.

“Do better.”

That was your end game. You started bursting into tears on the spot. You were too embarrassed, so you ran off into your shared bedroom and locked yourself in there. Leaving Kaeya there, standing with both hands in his pocket which signaled that he fucked up.

But Kaeya didn’t want to do anything about what he just caused. He is egotistical!

So instead of giving you cuddles and kisses, with an apology every few seconds, he turned on his heels and went to the Knights of Favonius Headquarters, fulfilling his Cavalry Captain duties.

—

You woke up feeling like a mess, with a huge headache that felt like you drank too much last night. You moved your hands to feel the bags underneath your eyes. It felt swollen like you just got stung by a bee.

You walked into the bathroom and saw the mess in front of you.

Your hair was all over the place, you could see every single strand. Your eyes were red from crying. Your mouth is bruised from holding back the sobs. Your cheeks are wet and cold.

You were truly a letdown.

A disgrace to everyone.

You did everything you normally did in the morning.

You went back into the bathroom to check yourself out and you looked ten times better, doesn’t even look like you have been crying all night.

You put your hair in a high ponytail and had your bangs resting out.

You walked downstairs to see that Kaeya was not there.

‘He probably went to work.’

You grabbed your sword and walked out without making any breakfast.

‘Making breakfast is a waste of time, I need to train.” You thought

—

This is my last commission to do. You were asked to clear out a small hillichurl camp nearby.

You did everything with ease. You defeated them all.

While you were in Mondstadt city you were starting to feel a bit dizzy. You shook your head to pass off the pain and it worked.

‘Maybe I’ll do one more commission.’ You thought to yourself, repeating the same thing you said an hour ago.

You took in as many requests as possible. From defeating monsters to dropping off packages.

You were overworking yourself, feeling the same,

Dizzy.

Just..

1.

Another..

2.

Commission…

3.

Bam.

You hit the ground in front of angel share, going to grab a drink.

—

You woke up with a huge headache, wait, is this Deja Vu?

You looked around, trying to regain sight.

Once you did, you saw Lisa and Jean standing next to each other, Amber in her thoughts, Barbara healing you, and finally, the man himself,

Kaeya.

He was holding your hand as tight as possible.

“They should be okay now, and waking up any second,” Barbara said, with a worried tone.

“Do you know why they blacked out?” Amber said.

“They were overworking themself, way harder than all of you combined. And they didn’t eat at all. As crazy as it seems, they still took it like a champ, everyone came to their aid and brought them here.” Barbara said, straightforward.

Kaeya looked up at Barbara, not realizing you were awake.

You shut your eyes because you didn’t want anyone to see you were awake.

I mean, Jean and Lisa saw but didn’t say anything because they too, wanted to listen to what Kaeya was going to say.

“They were overworking… themself? And was not eating?” He said, squeezing your hand tighter, tighter than possible.

A tear ran down his cheek and everyone noticed.

‘Kaeya, are you alright?” Jean asked.

“This was all my fault. Y/n and I got into a serious argument and I said some… words I don’t want to repeat. I guess they got to their head. What was I thinking?” Kaeya said, crying even more.

You decided to stop pretending to sleep. You opened your eyes carefully though.

“Mmm, Kaeya?” You said.

He shot his head up and embraced you in a bear hug.

“We should go,” Lisa said, dragging everyone out.

They left and Kaeya then straddled you, his face resting in the crook of your neck.

“I’m sorry.” He said, kissing your neck.

He became a broken record. Repeating ‘I’m sorry’ with a kiss.

He then looked into your eyes.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean for you to get hurt, this was the last thing I never wanted to happen. I didn’t mean to lose my cool, I just was frustrated, and- and I wasn’t thinking straight. I was being a total… a total dickhead. I understand if you don’t want to be with me anymore, I wouldn’t either. I’ll understand-

“I love you.”

“Completely. Everyth-… what?”

“I said I love you, Kaeya, and I will never stop loving you. Of course, we will a few arguments here and there, but we can work them out. We just need to communicate. Please.” You said.

“Oh, archons.” He said, crying even more. You don’t know if they were happy tears or sad tears, maybe both.

You felt weak though.

“Kaeya…”

“Yeah?”

“Can you please get off me now? I know this is supposed to be a loving situation but, it’s getting hard to breath and it’s hurting me more.”

“Ah, right. As I will.” He said, getting off top of you and sitting back into his chair.

“When we get home, I am making you every recipe I know into food, I never want to hear again you’re not eating, you hear me?” Kaeya said, in a stern voice.

“Aye Aye, Captain.”

You both started laughing.

“I love you too, Y/n. More than you do. Than anyone. To Celestia and back, a couple hundred times.”

After Kaeya said that, he went in to kiss you and you gladly accepted. Although after a few seconds, you couldn’t breathe so you pushed him off.

“Water.” You coughed out.

“Oh right, I forgot. Don’t tell Barbara.” Kaeya said, laughing.

No matter how angry you two would get at each other, you both solved them out, which made your love for each other…

Unbreakable.

Would you guys like to see some on Wattpad or more of these one-shots?

Please request! It would help me a lot and would let me know what you all prefer.