#I come home with headaches and not even from what they're usually from

[neck-thats-made-for-bruising]

This school is like a fucking hive mind or something everyone makes the same stupid jokes

[imgae-insertshockedgasps-16]

okay i've seen a few Just Some Guy!danny aus and they've consumed my brain so here you go, it's under the cut, you're welcome and thank you (ps it also combines part of a prompty type thing i saw the other day, props if you know it)

Danny was not entirely sure how he got here.

He was just walking along, bopping to some great interdimensional tunes, eating his tuna fish sandwich - with ectoplasm and pickles, of course - when KABLOW there's this big ole tightie-whities-on-the-outside wearing guy.

Now, Danny's not great at keeping up with the times, but he's pretty sure this is that Superman dude.

Said SuperDude was staring at his headphones and making vague "hey take them out pls so can converse" gestures, so naturally Danny pops the Interdimensional Walkman out of his chest to pause his wicked music, and then puts the whole kit and kaboodle back behind his rib cage.

"What's up? Did you need help or something? I mean, I'm pretty solidly retired but I guess if it's super important I can-"

SuperGuy abruptly stopped staring and started speaking, "Uh- no, no, thank you. Although I'm sure you could be helpful if I did need you! But, ah, well, was that a Walkman?"

Ohhhhh, Danny totally gets it now.

"Oh, dude, I gotchu. You want me to hook you up, right? Don't even worry about it, I know a guy who'll give you one a these babies for free! You're Kryptonian, right? Yeah, I totally get it, you wanna listen to some music from your home planet, no problemo my newly-minted friend, give me, like, ten seconds-"

And so Danny tore open a neat little portal and stuck his head through it, asking Technus to pretty please give him another Interdimensional Walkman, no he didn't even break this one-! He ran into a Kryptonian who heard him rockin out and wanted to know where he got the beats, and he'd told them that he could hook them up! C'mon Technus, you can't let them down! They're all lonely! They want to learn about their culture!

-----------------------------------------

Clark has no idea what's happening.

He had been searching for this ear-splitting, headache-inducing noise, and had come across a guy dancing down the sidewalk.

Not unusual, right?

Except that the terrible noise was coming from this man's - kid's?? He can't quite tell how old he is - headphones!

Of course, he didn't want to be rude, so he politely gestured for the man to remove the headphones. The man then proceeded to reach into his chest and pull out some kind of - Walkman?? Do people still use Walkmans?

Clark was naturally concerned, so he activated a spot of x-ray vision, just to see what's going on in there, and was promptly horrified.

This man was using his chest cavity as a storage compartment!

Two wallets, a key ring, a lunch box, some sort of odd thermos, bits and bobs of random parts and tools were all tangled around - and occasionally in - this guy's organs!

Suddenly, Clark realized that he'd been staring for a while, and the man was now talking. Something about coming out of retirement to help, oh dear, Ma would knock him around the head if he kept being so rude, "Uh- no, no, thank you. Although I'm sure you could be helpful if I did need you! But, ah, well, was that a Walkman?"

And now he was speaking rapidly, something about music from Krypton? Clark's pretty sure that not a whole lot survived the explosion, and he'd be pretty surprised if this guy just happened to have-

A vaguely Lazarus colored portal??

What in the world-

-----------------------------------------

"Thanks Technus! You're the best! I owe you one non evil scheme related favour!"

Danny zips up the portal and turns around, fiddling with the tapes and Walkman in his hands as he goes.

"Here you go! I wasn't entirely sure what genre you'd want, I don't really listen to a whole lot of Kryptonian stuff to be honest, it's usually too heavy on the vocal for me- not that vocals aren't great! But I want a whole band experience, yaknow? I'm not really looking for individual singers. Anyway, I just had him go for a couple songs of each major genre, but if you want something different you can totally-"

"Wait, hold on, you're telling me that there's Kryptonian music on those tapes? Playable by that Walkman?"

"Uh, well, yeah. Isn't that why you tracked me down? And, technically, I mean, they're ectoplasmic tapes and an Interdimensional Walkman, so. Hey, did you know that kryptonite is actually super-condensed ectoplasm? And since it's filled with the anguish and suffering and fear and whatnot of your entire home planet dying, it only negatively affects your species! Pretty cool right? Oh, shit, was that insensitive, I really didn't mean to be, I just thought that maybe you'd want to- ACK!"

Danny was not expecting SuperMuscles to get so close. He thrust out the IW and tapes and dropped them into SuperFellow's hands, "Listen, I gotta run. I'm supposed to be at a o-chem study group right now and they're totally gonna be pissed. Hit me up if you want a different tape."

And the proceeded to run in the opposite direction, duck into an alley and turn invisible, and fly over to the cafe his study group was in.

"Listen, I know I'm late but you'll never believe why-"

[mimimui]

genshin boys when you're sick

includes: albedo, childe, scaramouche, tighnari

tags: established relationship, fluff, endearments, teasing from scaramouche, scara has an anemo vision here

a/n: I DIDN'T KNOW WHAT TO DO FOR SCARA + it was only supposed to be hcs but i got carried away :') tmi i should be bedridden rn so idk how i'm still able to write this .. enjoy !

"(y/n)," albedo calls out, moving from his desk to your bedside. it's been a while since you stepped foot in dragonspine, so the effects its weather had on you wasn't surprising. "are you feeling better?" he asks, to which you reply with a painful cough.

albedo sighs worriedly, bringing his hand to your forehead to assess your body temperature. "i can't let you stay at my tent, your temperature won't go down here," he says, thinking of ways to bring you back to mondstadt. you're wrapped up in his coat, shivering from the cold.

"bedo, i'm fine," you say weakly to reassure him. "we can walk down dragonspine, i just need to wear more layers." you sit up from the bed, but then your spliting headache makes you wince. "ow..." you complain, and albedo is quick to wrap his arms around you.

"my love, i'll ask for knights to pick you up from here." albedo rubs your back gently, letting you rest your head on his shoulder. his comfort doesn't take away the pain of your headache, but it's reassuring. "thank you, bedo," you say softly.

"i'll take care of you while they get here. get well soon, my love."

childe is instantly worried about you when teucer tells him you've been in bed all day. he opens the door to his bedroom to see you wrapped in a mountain of blankets. usually, he'd find it cute, but he has a feeling you're sick.

"darling, i'm home," he says, pulling the blankets down to see you sniffling underneath. he regrets answering to his mission when he sees you sick. "(y/n), i'm sorry, i shouldn't have left you alone." childe quickly damps a towel with cool water, placing it on your forehead gently.

"it's okay, ajax, you didn't know." you hold his hand and smile weakly at him. his pouting face easily makes you laugh, but your happiness is short-lived as you sneeze again, which makes childe squeeze your hand. "i can go to the pharmacy to get you medicine, but i don't want to leave you alone again..."

"i'll be fine, you can head out to the pharmacy."

"maybe i can ask tonia to head out for me-"

"ajax." he laughs at your suddenly stern tone, saying he was just joking.

"i'll be back, darling. wait for me, will you?"

constant 'i told you so's flood your ears as you watch scaramouche wring your jacket before hanging it on a branch. you two were casually out on a walk when it began to rain. this didn't stop you, however, as you cheerfully ran around.

scaramouche took protection from under a tree, scoffing as he sees you enjoying the rainfall. the rain has since then stopped, and now your sopping, sneezing, body sits next to his legs. "i told you the rain would make you sick."

"i know, you've told me like, 20 times now." you cross your arms as you sneeze again, earning a loud sigh from scaramouche. he finally sits down, but you don't look at him, as you sneeze once more in the other direction.

his constant scolding was getting a bit irritating until you felt a gust of wind coming from beside you. you turn to look at scaramouche, whose head was facing the other way. his hand was producing a constant source of anemo, which was slowly drying your clothes.

"you always play in the rain and get sick and guess whose liability you become? mine!"

"i'm sorry..." "ha? why are you sorry? anyway,"

lucky for you, tighnari is the best at taking care of others when they're sick. he knows exactly what medicine they need and how much rest they should get. "stay in bed, dearest, you're still sick." one problem: he doesn't let you do anything.

even if it's just a small cough or cold, he's quick to make sure you stay in bed. he always makes sure to stay with you though, so it's not all that bad. when he has to go out, he asks collei to watch you for him. of course collei is worried about you as well, but she at least lets you have a little more freedom.

"don't tell tighnari you let me go out, okay?" you and collei went for a stroll just outside your hut, the nice breeze being easy to breath in. "i won't (y/n)," she whispers, not wanting to get caught by the other forest rangers who don't know you're out of bed.

as you and collei enjoy your stroll, you hear a familiar voice in the distance, and a shiver runs down your spine. "..collei, i have to run," you tell her, and she nods her head. tighnari got back earlier than you thought, and he caught you both outside the hut. "(y/n)! hey!"

you run, or rather, jog, away from tighnari as he (slowly) chases you. you laugh as you playfully scream, the other forest rangers admiring the sight of the two of you playing cat and mice. when he finally catches up to you, he grabs your wrist and drags you back to your hut. "nari, i just wanted to go for walk."

"i know, but as your caretaker, it's my job to look after you. get better first, and then we can walk all you want."

thanks for reading (˶ᵔ ᵕ ᵔ˶)

[urgonnaneedabiggership]

Could you make a fic where Miguel gets the female reader pregnant and they're happy but he's worried about her safety? Maybe have a villain find out? Cause some angst?

Risk Something (You're Losing Me)

Pairing: Miguel O'Hara (Spiderman: Across The Spiderverse) x Fem!Reader

Warnings: Language. Spoilers (Miguel's backstory is mentioned). Angst! Alert!, Unplanned pregnancy!Alert.

Word count: 4.3K

A/N: Since I had already established some background and emotional intimacy, I thought I could write this as a sort-of-sequel to my previous one-shot Host of a Ghost. I was so excited to write this, especially because I don't usually write angst but I like to push my boundaries and leave my confort zone. Hope that it pays off and, of course dear anon, that you like it <3

Part III

You’d never really believed in long-distance relationships. After being witness to so many unsuccessful ones, you’d cataloged the entire concept into a box labeled “certain failure” and tucked it away in the back of your head. And yet, with an inconsistency worthy of your friend Hobie, you’d gone and gotten yourself involved in no less than an interdimensional relationship.

How? Well, that was a good question.

All it took was five simple steps:

Step one: Live a regular life. Go to school, graduate, and try to go for a Ph.D. that gets you working near genetically modified insects for just the right amount of time for you to become careless enough to let one crawl onto your backpack, take it to your apartment, and let it sting you. Throw in some negligence, forfeit going to the hospital, and go on about your afternoon. Warning, some side effects like loss of consciousness or intense headaches can be expected.

Step two: Congratulations! You’ve now become a super-powered person with abilities that range from climbing walls and performing gravity-challenging parkour to creating a sticky web-like element that helped you swing from one building to another. Toy around with your new talents, and grow comfortable with them before realizing that you can actually use them to be the much-needed help your city needs.

Step three: Turns out you’re not the only one with this kind of ability out there. There’s a whole Spider-Society full of similarly enhanced people who try and do their best to keep their own dimensions safe, and you’ve not only caught their eye but have actually been invited to join them. Let your new guide Jess Drews show you around, and explain all the benefits that come from joining a team such as theirs. If you decline, you can go back home and that’ll be all.

If you’re interested, it’ll be necessary to convince the leader but they could use some extra help so it shouldn’t be particularly hard. It sounds like an amazing chance. Information you wouldn’t have access to otherwise, mind-blowing facilities where you can polish your newly acquired abilities, possible new friends that actually know what you’re going through…Say you’ll think about it. Right as you’re about to leave, the most fucking gorgeous man you’ve ever seen in your entire life walks past without paying either of you any mind, busy while speaking to another Spider-Person. You ask who that is, turns out he’s the aforementioned leader, “will I ever have to work with him?”, you ask. “Probably, eventually” Replies Jess. Ask when you can start.

Step four: Do your best to earn your place in this elite group. Successfully improve your fighting skills, read everything available on interdimensional traveling and the multiverse. Understand it almost instantly because that’s how smart you are, kudos to you. Realize that for some reason, despite never actually interacting with you, Spider-Society leader Miguel O’Hara tends to stare. A lot. Is it because you’re progressing as fast as Jessica says or because she’s a complete liar and you’re actually doing it all wrong? No idea. All you know is that even during mundane scenarios like laughing in the hall with all the newest additions to the team or in line at the cafeteria, you feel a certain tingle in the back of your head that makes you turn around. Of course, the moment your eyes meet, he turns around and leaves. An odd one, yes. But you’ve also heard things. Rumors, here and there about his life before creating the Society. Whispers about a lost family and some video archives being the only evidence that they even existed in the first place. And, of course, the fault he had in the destruction of their dimension. You sympathize with him, despite his apathetic attitude towards you. You’ve seen him interact with those he’s closer to, and you know there’s more to him than he lets on. You’d be elated if he ever let you take just one look at the smidge of his old self that sometimes peeked out from behind the iron curtain. Well, not really. One look wouldn’t be enough. If anything, it would only cement your feelings for the man.

Step five: Curiosity killed the cat. We all know that. You know that. And yet, you decided to go snooping around Miguel O’Hara’s computer and personal files until you accidentally switch his computer on for long enough to let the videos he’s always watching start playing. He…his daughter…an entire lost life gone before his eyes. Then, before you could do the right thing and turn the computer off, an eerily familiar voice called at him from behind the camera. So, of course, you had to keep watching. Long story short? All those oddly constant stares, that coldness towards you, unwillingness to look you in the eye, was because of two reasons: first, you were a nearly identical interdimensional variant of the wife he’d lost in the dimension he unwittingly erased from existence. Two, as he’d confessed after realizing you’d found out about the truth, Miguel had come to terms with the fact that he was in love with you, not as a replacement for somebody from his past but as a new presence in his life that he’d been struggling to watch from afar, unwilling to let all his repressed feelings spill out like water from a broken dam. Until that night, of course.

Now, eight months later, you’d come to realize there was actually a sixth step you’d never actually considered until now that you were in this…situationship.

Step six: Uncomfortably avoid every and all circumstances in which interdimensional disparities and canon consistency regarding your relationship could come up. Don’t say anything like “Well, it’s been nice but I’ve got to go back to my own dimension” because that would remind him that his dimension was not yours too. That you were after all still a stranger in a strange land. Which of course also meant never inviting him to stay in your dimension.

Deep inside, you knew that all those details would eventually cause problems, especially regarding the inner conflict Miguel was always dealing with knowing what he was doing…what you were both doing, went against his strongest principle. But by God he was happy. Happier than he’d thought he could ever feel again. More than he deserved. So he just ignored those intrusive thoughts and focused on whatever task was at hand. And you were too. Even after just eight months, life without him already seemed unimaginable. He was your first thought in the morning and your last before you went to sleep, and more than once his presence beside you had been not just a figment of your imagination, but a part of your reality as you felt his strong arms wrap around your waist and pull you closer whenever you strayed too far from him in bed as he groggily whispered, “¿Y a dónde crees que vas, preciosa?”, Or when he buried his nose in the crook of your neck, lining it up with soft kisses that sometimes ended up in both of you being late for your assigned tasks. With so much on the line, you were more than happy to avoid those spiky subjects. It seemed like such a small price to pay with all you were getting in return.  

You weren’t sure of where all this was going, but none of that mattered. Right now, you were together. Inside the Spider-Society you were a great team and each one was a valuable asset. Outside, every second spent in your arms was enough to make him forget Spider-Man. To you, he was Miguel and nothing more. And that was all you needed.

Life was good. You were happy with the way things were. Until, as it usually happens, a necessary disruption came quite literally crashing into your life in the shape of a fifteen-year-old that carelessly swung around a corner and crashed into you after you’d been chasing him like the rest of the Spider-People after receiving Miguel’s message.

“Miles?” You asked, recalling his name, which you’d actually been hearing for quite some time since the circumstances of his existence started being a problem for your boyfriend. The boy didn’t answer. He just looked at you, his eyes filled with confusion and fear until you hesitantly took a step aside to leave the escape route open for him. If anything he looked even more baffled, but when the noise of his pursuers reached your ears he rushed down the hall and you lost him after he took a sharp turn.

Before you could be spotted, you ran in the opposite direction and hid around a corner as you tried to call Miguel on your watch. Of course, it was in vain. Well, Plan B. Fortunately, this time you did get a reply.

“(Y/N)?”

“Peter! Yes, it’s me! Where are you?”

“Where do you think? I’m going after him like everybody else. I need to get to him before…sweetie, please just get back in there, Daddy’s on the phone right now…I need to get to him before- “

“He’s already left the headquarters,” You informed him.

“Wait, you saw him?”

“About a minute ago. He was on his way to the North exit.”

“(Y/N), are you sure you should be a part of this chase right now?”

“Why not? Jessica is there, isn’t she?” You replied, smiling to yourself. Good old Peter B., looking out for you like some sort of self-appointed brother figure.

“Well yeah, but she’s not running, kid. Although I don’t think she should be on one of those death machines either, I don’t what she’s…”

While he kept on rambling for a bit, you looked around and wondered if you’d ever seen the building this empty.

Empty.

Your eyes slowly ran along the pearly white walls until they landed on the hallway that led to the room where the Go Home Machine was kept. Practically unchecked, if Spider-Byte had joined the pursuit.

“P.B., I’ll talk to you later,” You absent-mindedly replied, hanging up on him without waiting for an answer as you dashed down the hallway.

You kept thinking about that poor kid’s eyes. After having all that information unloaded onto him, instead being given enough time to somewhat process everything he now had to escape from the very people he was supposed to feel safe amongst. When he sat on the floor right in front of you right after the crash, he was sure you would immediately hand him over. Maybe a few months ago you would’ve done it without hesitation but now…things had changed.

There it was. The Go-Home Machine. You thought you saw a purple blast inside that let you know Byte was still there. However, if your theory was correct, Miles would have to go through that hall and therefore, you. A few minutes later, a sudden voice booming from your watch startled you.

“(Y/N)!”

“Miguel? Where are you? I’ve been trying to…”

“(Y/N), listen to me! Miles lured everybody out on purpose, he’s trying to get to the machine. I can see your location back at the headquarters and he should be coming your way in less than a minute!”

“Alright. I’ll handle it.” You replied, ending the call before he could ask you to elaborate on that.

Sure enough, light footsteps came in your direction shortly after. Right as Miles entered your field of view, an alert issued by your watch made your stomach drop and a dreadful feeling fill your chest. However, you’d made up your mind. There was no going back now.

Mile spotted you at the end of the hall and stopped in his tracks. His eyes were determined, not as afraid as a few moments earlier. If he was there that meant he’d somehow gotten past Miguel. You fought back a smile when you wondered how pissed he’d be about it. Having his ass kicked by a teenager was something that, maybe under different circumstances, you could tease him about.

“He’s a delight, isn’t he?” You finally spoke, trying to somewhat lighten the mood while taking a step toward the kid. However, he got in a defensive stance, furrowing his eyebrows in distrust.

“It’s okay, I’m not going to hurt you, I just want to talk.” You assured, showing him both your hands, “Miles, listen very carefully. This is exactly what Miguel was talking about a while ago. At this very moment. Right now, I’m supposed to stop you from getting to that machine and handing you over,”

Of course, he took another step back.

“Miles I’m not going to do that,” You assured him.

“Why not?” He immediately asked, constantly looking behind him, wondering if this was just you trying to stall him like, unbeknownst to you, he thought Peter had tried to do a while ago.

“Because I’m sure there’s a better way to go about all this. I love him so much, I do, but he’s so afraid that I don’t think he’s willing to see other possibilities and by the time he does, it might be too late for you. Now go before anybody else gets here.”

You didn’t have to tell him twice. Miles darted past you as soon as you finished talking, taking a second to look back before reaching the dimly lit room where his ticket home was. His eyes scanned your face and darted down for one second before he looked up at you, a new worry in his eyes that had you wondering whether his spider-sense was strong enough to perceive something you’d just found out yourself.  

“Are you going to be okay?” Miles asked, his eyes looking down for a moment once again. Did he know? Did he mean “you” as in just you or as in…?

“Yes, don’t worry. Now get out of here.” You insisted. With one last hasty “thanks”, he ran into the room as your left in the opposite direction. You weren’t worried about Spider-Byte. She was a good kid, and she’d do the right thing.

The right thing. What did that even mean anymore?

You’d deal with the moral implications later. For now, as you found yourself on the other side of the headquarters, your mind was set on finding Miguel. Maybe you could try and talk some sense into him, make him reconsider whether this was…

“What the hell was that?”

By now you’d gotten used to Miguel’s habit of sneaking up on you. Usually, hearing his voice coming out of nowhere brought a smile to your face. This time, you closed your eyes and winced as you felt his presence behind you.

“Don’t even try lying. I know that voice you used in the call. The one for when you’re about to ignore whatever order I’m about to give you, so I checked the cameras.”

“Miguel, I…” You began to explain yourself just to be harshly cut off.

“(Y/N), what were you thinking? Do you realize what you just did? Do you have the slightest idea of the consequences…?”

“I do realize that you just asked a fifteen-year-old child to stand by and let his father get killed right before calling his existence a mistake, Miguel. What were you thinking?”

“I was thinking of our safety, and that includes Miles’. You’re right, he’s a kid and that means he’s selfish and immature enough to endanger everything we’ve all been risking our lives to protect for years.”

“Miguel, listen to me,” You insisted, “You’re scared. I know. I am, too, but have you ever considered that maybe there’s another solution? Do we even know for sure that allowing the kid to go and try to save his father is going to cause any real damage?”

“What if it does? Are you just going to tell me “Sorry, Miguel, you were right” and that’s all? (Y/N), Dios mío, piensa. Gwen said the same thing but we couldn’t trust her with being objective because he’s her friend,”

“Wait, what do you mean couldn’t?” You asked. Miguel clenched his jaw and turned away, unable or unwilling to look at you.

“Miguel, please tell me you didn’t send her back. Not with how she left things back there,”

His absolute silence told you everything. Shaken, you took a step back.

“What is wrong with you?” You hissed the disappointed look in your eyes hurting like a sharp dagger to his chest.

“(Y/N), mi amor, I’m just trying to…”

“You’re such a hypocrite,” You angrily spat out, “You go around preaching about how important sticking to your stupid canon is and the delicate balance of the multiverse when you know damn well that what we’re doing goes against every single one of those things,”

“No, no, that’s very different,” Miguel disputed,

“How is it different?” You argued back, boldly moving closer to him wishing you were taller so you could face him, “I’m from another dimension, there is no way that we were supposed to meet from the beginning. You had your world, this world, and when you tried to live another life in a different one, an entire dimension was destroyed. I had my world, and for all I know maybe there was somebody there that I was supposed to meet but thankfully I ended up here first so I could meet you. But you know what? My universe is fine, yours is too and I swear I had never been happier in my entire life.”

“You’re right.” He muttered in deep thought.

“Yes, I am. And maybe…” You started to say, a relieved smile tugging at the edges of your mouth until he looked up and the expression in his eyes made your throat dry up.

“We’ve been messing with fire all this time. There is probably somebody you can be with without endangering your entire dimension. And this…this is the hand I was dealt and I should just accept it and live with it. You’re right. Maybe this was all a mistake from the beginning.”

“No. No, come on, you don’t mean that.” You shook your head in denial, lifting both your hands to cup his face in your hands, to bring him close like he had done the night you finally could let all the love you felt for him escape its confinement in your chest.

Miguel grabbed your hands before you could touch him and moved away from you before releasing them as he finally built up the courage to look you in the eye.

“Are you serious?” You asked, your voice quivering with anger as you felt tears begin to dwell in your eyes, “So that’s it? You’d rather sacrifice us than find a different way to solve this?”

“Well, what did you think was going to happen, (Y/N)? That this would go on forever and we’d keep pretending everything is fine and that you don’t have to wear a fucking machine on your wrist every time you come to see me because even the cells in your body know you were never supposed to be here?”  

“Oh, right, so you expect me to believe that you always knew this was going to be temporary? Then what was this? Something to take the edge off after a rough day until you decided it was time to stop fooling around and just be done with it?”

Deep inside, you knew what his response was going to be, but every inch of your heart silently pleaded for you to be wrong. To pull you into his arms and apologize for trying to send you away and promise that you’d get through this because you loved each other and that was all that mattered.

“I don’t know why you thought it was anything else,”

For a minute, you wondered if this was all actually happening. Maybe this was all a nightmare fueled by all the training simulations you’d gone over lately, and you’d wake up crying just to find Miguel asleep next to you, his wide back slowly rising and sinking with every calm breath he took. Your crying would wake him up and he’d furrow his eyebrows and ask what had happened.

“I had a nightmare, that’s all,” You’d say, wiping your tears off and trying to downplay it. But he knew better. He always knew better. He would pull you close and bury your head in his chest, placing a kiss on top of your head while warning you that he was the only one allowed to have nightmares because otherwise he’d have to start comforting you too and neither would get a full night of rest. And you would laugh softly as you drifted off, lulled by the warmth of his chest and his smell of sage lotion and cheap fabric softener.

But no. You were very much awake, and instead of comforting you with promises and reassurances, he was walking away from you after delivering the final blow to your heart.

Since he had his back turned to you, you felt free to let the repressed tears freely fall down your face as you helplessly watch him go until he disappeared around a corner. All of a sudden, you felt as if the walls of the headquarters had begun to close around you to asphyxiate you, and the sound of the returning Spider-People made you realize you didn’t want to be there for one more second.

Thanks to your watch, you were back “home” in a few seconds.

“Home”. Your empty apartment where you’d lived alone for years. Where he’d never set foot, and at least in that way it was free of his memory. Or so you thought until you looked over your shoulder at the ajar bathroom door. Inside, atop the porcelain sink, still rested the positive pregnancy test you’d left there before having to rush over to the headquarters to help with the latest anomaly.

That memory felt so distant now. As if it had happened years ago, in a different life. You suppose in a way, it did belong to another life. A life that was over now.

Numbly, you made your way toward the ragged sofa, collapsing on top of it as soon as you were close enough. It was only then that the full weight of the last day and a half sank in and, as you gently wrapped your arms around your stomach, you let the tears fall until your throat burned, the dusty cushions muffling your broken sobs.

“I’m sorry, I don’t think I heard correctly, you did what?”

The seriousness of the situation was enough for Peter to fasten a small strap in Mayday’s baby carrier to make sure she won’t go anywhere for a few minutes as he waited for his friend’s platform to reach ground level. He couldn’t be chasing his toddler around and ripping Miguel a new one at the same time.

“I did what I had to do. It’s for her own good,”

“Right, because you’re such an arrogant…” He paused to carefully place his hands over Mayday’s tiny ears, “…such an arrogant dick that you think you know what’s best for everyone, including a fully grown, intelligent, woman like (Y/N)”

“Shit, Parker, do you think it was easy for me?” Miguel uttered, pinching the bridge of his nose before resting his face against the palm of his hand, “What I said about this being the hand I was dealt…I don’t know how I’m supposed to deal with that. Hell, I don’t even know how I’m going to keep myself from showing up at her dimension to try and get her back here the first chance I get.”

“And why would you have to keep yourself from doing that?” Peter asked patiently. It sounded like a better alternative to “Miguel, I love you man but I swear you’ve got the emotional availability of a tree stump. Beats me how (Y/N) was able to get you to admit your feelings without prying your chest open with a jigsaw to see your pounding heart for herself.”

“She was right. We were never supposed to meet in the first place. Not like this. It’s not…”

“Miguel, I swear if I hear the word ‘canon’ even once in this conversation I’m going to drive my head through a wall,”

“Just because you don’t take anything seriously doesn’t mean everybody’s the same,” Miguel hissed back.

“That’s where you’re wrong. Last time I didn’t take something seriously, I ended up just like you will unless you get your priorities sorted out. Alone, and regretting not focusing on what was important,”

“This is important,” Miguel stubbornly argued.

“More important than what you had? Look at yourself. Just forty-eight hours ago you were as happy with (Y/N) as you’d been for the past eight months. And as happy as I’ve been with Mayday and my wife who, by the way, wouldn’t even be with me if it wasn’t for that kid you just called a mistake. And do you see my dimension going up in flames? Or yours? Or hers?”

Unable to find an argument against that, Miguel remained silent, his eyes fixed on an empty spot on the wall in front of him.

“Listen, I know you’re afraid. You don’t want her to get hurt, but if you love her as much as you claim to, then you’re taking the choice of a coward right now. And you can’t afford to be one, especially now.”

“Especially now?” Miguel inquired, turning to look at his friend who, much to his surprise, pressed his lips together as if he’d made a mistake and instead focused on getting Mayday’s hair out of her face.

“My point is; I know you well enough to know you worship that woman. And she thinks you’re pretty decent too. And I can tell you from experience that you’re going to regret it for the rest of your life if you let this come between you.”

Not knowing what else to add, Peter gently patted Miguel’s shoulder before leaving the room, hoping he’d given him enough to think about. Hopefully, enough to make him change his mind.

Meanwhile, Miguel hadn’t moved since Peter left the room, mulling his words over.

Two, particularly, had stuck with him for some reason.

Especially now.

[rockatanskette]

Semi-related to my post on how human conservation practices, but I have a cold today, and it's got me thinking about biological altruism—the biological imperative to put other creatures ahead of yourself, to benefit the group.

When talking about possible interactions with other species, we talk a lot about humans being crazy and thrill-seeking and impossible to kill. Never use a warning shot as an incentive to keep humans out of a fight; it'll just make them angry. And that's true. But a valid criticism I've seen in the "Earth is a death world" community is that according to our understanding of evolution, every planet must be some form of death world. Competition fosters evolution—the wolf with sharper claws survives when its litter mates die. You can't reach space travel without some casualties along the way.

But the dog survives because it makes friends with the strange ape carrying a sharp stick. And the strange ape survives because it befriends the wolf. Underneath the death world is an inextricable and undeniable layer of the bond world; the love world; the world, together.

I imagine some worlds are not death worlds. They're peaceful and tranquil. I suspect there are worlds far more deadly than Earth, where the skies rain diamonds, harder than any substance we know with the species to match. And I imagine that they are united in their confusion at the duality of humankind.

Today is a great example: I have a cold, and I want someone to take care of me, but the people who would are immunocompromised, also sick, or live 8 hours away, respectfully. I also want no one within the walls of my apartment or I will eat them. I feel gross, I feel tired, and I don't want a single human being anywhere near me, even if they did bring soup.

In my constant scrolling through my phone today, I decided to look up why the hell I feel so bad—why everyone feels so bad when they're ill. And the answer surprised me. I always thought it was because your immune system is active, so it's using a lot of your energy. That is part of it. Another part is that your brain and body are communicating across the blood-brain barrier to fight the infection, which is rare and energetically expensive.

But that doesn't explain everything, and according to more current research, it could also be what's called the Eyam Hypothesis: that we feel so gross, so we instinctively isolate from other people. We're too tired to deal with others, and so we don't infect them. Misanthropy for the good of the species. Of course, it can also backfire: one of the criticisms of the Eyam Hypothesis is that humans also instinctively care for each other. If my brother has a headache, I drive to the store for Advil.

Personally, I think it's a little bit of both: biological altruism. Either way, the majority live on. The first thought I had this morning when I woke up wasn't "I feel gross" it was "there's no way I'm going to work today." And while that might not be everyone's first thought, you don't even have to be a particularly altruistic person to not want to leave your home or your bed when you're sick. It's inborn.

And so when the human named Ismail comes down with a case of the interstellar common cold, his alien friend Dyos grows very concerned. Ismail is usually intensely social, almost off-puttingly so. Some crew members joke about how his quarters are for sleeping and prayer only; if he's home alone? You should be worried. But when Dyos demands an answer to the severity of Ismail's malady, the other humans just nod knowingly.

"Nah, he's okay, the medics already cleared him. It's not a severe infection."

"But there are so many...fluids. And his body has changed color."

There is a moment of confusion there until they remember that Dyos's species can see in the infrared color spectrum.

"Nah, that's just a low-grade fever. It should break in the next couple days."

"But he doesn’t want to play chess today," Dyos insists.

"Ohhhh," says human Claudia, finally understanding. "No, that's normal. Humans don't like being around other people when they're sick, it's supposed to be one of the major evolutionary advantages. Protect your community from your illness and the genes live on."

"So we're just going to leave him alone?" Dyos is troubled by this. He can go for weeks without speaking to another life form, but he has seen Ismail grow despondent when unable to participate in social gathering.

"Oh, no," human Claudia says, laughing. "We're going to employ one of the other most longstanding human evolutionary advantages."

There are many to choose from and Dyos settles on, "middle age?"

"Sort of," human Claudia opens up a small shipping container and holds up a brown paper bag tied with a colorful ribbon. It glows brightly in Dyos's vision, almost as brightly as human Claudia's smile. "His nanni's hot soup, express delivery."

[dronebiscuitbat]

Oil is Thicker Then Blood (Part 22)

Uzi did finally get that baby bag.

It wasn't much, a glorified swaddle made from a purple blanket that wrapped around her torso so that Tera could rest at her side without pulling while she walked around. It had been almost scary, she'd seen new mothers walk around with them all the time when she was younger.

And now… here she was, baby strapped to her side as she went home. Home as in, her dad's apartment, her apartment, or maybe not anymore, after today.

N had gone off to pick up the newly made crib early that morning, yes morning. Neither of them had needed to go outside for a least a week, and they're schedules were starting to cycle back into what other drones would consider normal.

But even then it gave them a little time to talk about how raising Tera was going to work.

Her room in her apartment was too small to raise a baby in, it was almost too small for her, with stuff just shoved unceremoniously wherever there was room. It was too messy, and dangerous! Her railgun was still in peices on the couch, and while it was broken there were still several parts that could discharge and hurt someone.

Which left N's apartment, which had plenty of room, as it was nearly empty, he'd brought in the very little stuff he owned (blankets, pillows and plush toys) but all of that easily fit in the bedroom with plenty of room to spare.

Plenty of room for her stuff.

And that thought on it's own made her fluster, they'd spent plenty of nights together, especially recently. But it had always been under the pretense that she'd be going back home eventually. That she didn't live there.

Robo-god she was about to see her dad. Her dad which had zero context for what she was about to unleash on him. That her and N were together now, that he had a granddaughter, that she was… moving out.

So much had happened this week. Hell, so much had been happening almost every week. And all of it was stressful, wether it be life threatening or just life changing, it seemed like after years of nothing happening, it was all catching up with her with everything happening at once.

“Doorman?” A voice she recognized, a voice she really didn’t want to see, preferably ever, but especially not right now, with Tera awake and babbling from her bag.

“What is it Lizzy?” She deadpanned, not bringing any attention to the baby strapped to her side even though that was clearly what caught the other drones attention, her pink eyes locked to the bag in surprise.

“Oh shit, that was actually your kid?” Lizzy immediately asked, making Uzi roll her eyes as she remembered that Lizzy was the one that had initially exposed her.

“Yup. This is Tera.” Admitting it at first felt strange, like her tongue had wanted to reject it, but it quickly settled into contentment, yeah, this was right. And honestly, trying to make Lizzy feel bad about something felt too good to say anything else.

“I had wanted to keep some things private, but somebody took a picture of us bringing her home.” Yeah she wasn't going to let Lizzy get away with that without a jab or two, she'd caused a bigger headache than what was already happening, and Uzi was itching for some revenge, even if it was just light teasing.

“Oh come on! Like you wouldn't have done the same thing.” She snapped back, although she sounded less bratty than usual, although wether that was V's influence or the fact a baby was present was unclear.

“Snapped a picture, totally, blackmail is blackmail, immediately post it to every inbox in range… No.” She replied, not wanting this conversation to last much longer than it had to, she didn't particularly like Lizzy, her being a main source of her suffering for a long time.

She just needed to get that jab in.

Lizzy just scoffed, looking her up and down and crossing her arms as if searching for something, probably something else to mock her for, Uzi found herself rolling her eyes again, turning to walk away from her and the conversation before Lizzy started talking again.

“Sorry or whatever, I thought you were just babysitting or something. Didn't think it'd be a big deal.”

Holy Shit, was Lizzy apologizing?

“Uh.” Honestly Uzi wasn't sure how to respond, she'd wanted her to feel bad sure, but she wasn't sure if that was even possible, and she'd never in a million years think she'd be hearing Lizzy apologize.

“Yeah, sure.” Is what came defensively out of her mouth as she walked away, Tera blew a raspberry at Lizzy from the bag, giggling when she got pink hollow eyelights in return.

Okay, so maybe she could keep her edginess and still be motherly figure to Tera, that hadn't occurred to her as an option, a part of her thought she'd become a different person, and maybe she was around N and Tera behind closed doors, but here? She didn't feel soft, she felt like she always did, slightly bitter, like licorice.

She passed more drones on her way, some didn't seem to notice her which was absolutely fine with her, but some definitely did, stopping and staring at the neighborhood goth carrying around a giggling baby in a cute little purple swaddle.

She could understand why they were staring, it was quite the image, but it didn't mean she had to like it.

Tera on the other hand was loving the attention, each set of eyelights on her produced another laugh and some rolling that had Uzi holding the side of the bag so she wouldn't roll out onto the floor.

One drone was a little too obvious for Uzi's liking, staring at the bag like it would suddenly come to life and harm him.

“Hey! Stop staring and mind your business!” She turned to the guy, who immediately looked scared out of his mind, his purple eyelights hollowing as he nodded.

“Yes ma’am sorry!” He raised his hands before scampering away with his tail between his legs, if he had one, that is.

She smirked a little before moving on, it was a powerful feeling, to scare someone off, and it was satisfying as well, she didn't like the way he was looking at her baby.

She finally, finally reached where she wanted to be, well not wanted, she wanted to be anywhere else. But where she needed to be.

She knocked. Which was weird because it was her door, she had the key to get in whenever she wanted. But it still felt like the right thing to do at the moment, she heard shuffling from the other side of the heavy steel, great, her dad was home.

Her dad, the one who'd left her to die, the one who left her alone to cry herself to sleep after her mother died, the main reason her core had such heavy shielding protecting the softness inside. Why her first instinct to any problem was to yell at it, or turn to science to better choose violence.

She held a lot of resentment towards him, something she'd shown time and time again, a part of her wanting to hurt him the same way he'd been hurting her. But she could never bring herself to hate him, not when she did still have memories of him being a halfway decent father, holding her when she'd have nightmares, giving her piggyback rides, being the first one to teach her about mechanics, and give her her first toolset.

“Coming!” Khan shouted, he'd been drafting of some blueprints. Not of doors, but of something for N, if he wanted it.

A cap for his tail, made out of solid steel and form fitting, so it slid right over the needle, it was just a concept for now, he didn't have the exact measurements of his tail and he wasn't even sure N would want something like that, he seemed to have good control over it. But if Khan had a tail with a stinger, he'd want to make sure his infant daughter couldn't accidentally grab it, just to be safe.

So really it was gift for Tera, but, nonetheless.

He opened the door, surprised to see his daughter of all drones knocking, she never knocked, she lived here!

“Uzi? Why'd you knock? Did you lose your key?” He tilted his head in confusion before his eyes followed the strap of the baby bag, he blinked, and tiny purple eyelights blinked back.

“I-is that?” His voice almost immediately turned warbly, he didn't hadn't ever seen Tera before, he didn't realize how much she looked like his daughter, at least when she was also a pillbaby.

“That's Tera Dad, can I- can I come in?” Her voice sounded muted, not like the fiery rebellious drone he'd come to know as his daughter, he moved out of the way wordlessly, eyes still trained on the tiny droneling at her side.

She was giggling at him, rolling madly in an attempt to escape her confines, Uzi dipped her arm into the bag and lifted her up into her arms.

“Stop squirming Jellybean, or you're gonna fall.”

Tera was just happy for the attention attempting to roll more even though she was trapped in Uzi's hands. She sighed.

“Sorry, she has a lot of energy.” She smiled warily at her dad, who looked like his core had been ejected and thrown halfway across the room.

All he could see was his wife, the first month or two they had Uzi and she was a cryer, there were no moments of silence in the Doorman household, if Uzi was left alone for even a millisecond she'd begin to wail which meant either Nori or himself would have to be with her at all hours.

And Uzi shared her mother's stress lines, looking a little bit worn out but satisfied and happy, eye's shining with so much raw affection for the child in her arms that Khan knew, without another word spoken, that he had a granddaughter.

“That's quite alright dronelette…” He managed to force out the words, hopefully without sounding too strained, he wanted Uzi to feel comfortable enough to talk to him, to tell him things. Even if she thought he didn't like it.

And a part of him didn't, she was 18, not quite even an adult yet but her birthday was coming up soon. And dammit she was still his daughter, watching her grow up this much in such a little amount of time was harrowing, and only reminded him of how much he'd missed while wallowing in his grief.

Another part of him was almost giddy, a granddaughter, a granddaughter, it was honestly something he never even hoped to have, Uzi had never been one to make freinds, much less romantic connections.

“Yeah- uh, this is Tera, N's daughter.” She repeated, obviously nervous and tired. Khan wondered if N looked equally run down. And if perhaps Tera was the same level of clingy Uzi had been.

“I wanted you to meet her, since I've been spending so much time with the both of them…”

He could only bring himself to smile and nod, but wanted to freeze as Uzi came toward him and outstretched her arms, he clumsily stepped forward and took the tiny droneling into his arms, core stopping for a moment.

“She learns names pretty quick, oh, and she's a hugger, so uh, beware.” She warned, still seemingly nervous, he was sure he'd know exactly why soon, although he had a feeling he might already know.

Khan looked down at the baby, which felt like lead in his hands as she smiled up at him, weirdly silent considering all the babbling he'd just heard.

“Tera, this is Khan.” Uzi spoke softly to the baby, standing beside her father as he looked like he was about keel over. “He's my dad.”

Tera's smile grew bigger, although she didn't attempt to say his name, perhaps more than a single letter was too much for her. Instead she blew a goofy raspberry, rolling around in his arms for a moment before rolling into him, giving him a hug.

Tears sprung up in his eyes as something in his core snapped, he held her closely, and a sniffle escaped his voice box before he could stop himself.

“Dad?” Uzi sounded slightly worried for him, she'd known he'd might have some kind of reaction to seeing Tera, but this was a little more then she'd expected.

“I-I'm alright! I just-” He blinked away the tears and tried to steel himself, thoughts running a mile a minute. “I see why you warned me. Hah…”

“Yeah… you should have seen V, you could see the exact second her core melted.” Khan only could nod, the droneling now pressed up against him made a chirping noise, happy and content at any love given to her.

“But ah…that's uh, not the only reason I came here, just to… introduce you to a droneling that… that you're not gonna see often. You are gonna see her often, A-at least I hope you do, C-cause she's not just N's… she's-she's mine… too.” She rambled and sputtered as she tried to find the words to say, Khan felt himself smiling as she continued, she was expressing a want to have him around, that he wouldn't be mad. That'd he'd want to be-

“She's your granddaughter… dad.” She finished, looking more stressed then ever, like he could ever possibly tell her that he didn't want to be in her life anymore.

He winced as he remembered all the times he did indirectly. Leaving her alone so he could throw himself into another project, neglecting the one person he still had as family simply because she looked too much like Nori to look in the eye.

And she really looked like her now.

He looked back down at Tera, at his granddaughter, and felt himself begin to tear up again. She was smiling at him, babbling and cooing up at him as he launched forward and hugged his daughter with all his might.

He felt her tense, then, thankfully, she relaxed, mindful of the child as she curled up in his arms much like she did when she was little, and she'd needed comfort from a nightmare. He felt her visor press against his chest, breathing shaky, like she herself was about to cry.

How could he have left her, how? What kind of parent was he that he left his own daughter? What kind of man?

And how could she have ever forgiven him? He knew he could never forgive himself.

“I'm sorry dronelette, I'm so so sorry.” He cracked out, petting her hair, he felt some kind of pressure on his back, her hand most likely, and she almost laughed, though it sounded pained.

“I'm still… so angry at you.” She admitted, slowly, though not pulling away. And he felt more pained steel settle in his core, he deserved this… whatever she needed to say. If she needed curse at him, to hit him even, he'd deserve it, although he hoped she wouldn't in front of Tera.

“But I missed you more.”

And thats all it took for them both to sob like newborns, her face burying into his shoulder as she let years worth of coiled pain escape her, despite all she'd done, how much she'd grown, she was still 18, still much a kid herself.

And they remained like that for some time, at least until Tera got uncomfortable being sandwiched between them and began to fuss, which finally ended the long overdue hug between father and daughter.

“H-here, give her to me.” She stammered out, either slightly embarrassed or still a little emotional, and Khan did as he was told, handing daughter back to mother.

She rocked her until she stopped fussing, and Khan led them both to the couch with his hand, still recovering himself.

She flopped on the couch like she carried the entire weight of the world on her shoulders, Tera held gingerly until she was placed between them do she could freely roll around, which she did happily.

“I'm assuming that means N is my son in law now?” He chuckled out, trying to lighten the somewhat oppressive mood that had settled over them. She blushed heavily, sputtering out a surprised response.

“We're not- he's- uh… He's my… boyfriend now yeah.”

He laughed, even though he saw it coming a mile away, he thought he might be more upset about it then he was, but N had more than proven Uzi was his priority, even over himself at times.

“And you need help moving your stuff out?” He continued, smiling through the small amount of pain the thought caused him, she was growing up, but if that hug had shown him anything, she still needed her dad, and he couldn't ignore that, he wouldn't, not anymore.

Next ->

[yuri-is-online]

Hello author!! Congrats on 500 followers! I love the way you wrote "Plead the Fifth", Floyd's callback to the Portfest event was my favorite part. If its okay, can I pls request prompt 12 with Jade, Riddle, and Jamil? Thank you! 🫶💙

12. You had a wonderful time dancing and flirting with someone at the ball, only to find out from your friends the next day that was your crush. And you have no idea if they knew it was you they were dancing with.

Bless you for catching that friend I was a bit worried no one would know what I was talking about. I thought it was so funny how offended they all got at being called adorable! other than Rook but yk

EDIT: I straight up did not realize I wrote this for Riddle twice oh my fucking god. I'm so sorry please feel free to message me with a separate request I am so sorry again my brain is fried.

notes: they/them used for Yuu. Severe violations of privacy and playing with emotions for Jade, and Jamil is fresh out of clown school, let us pray. I was listening to dancing with a stranger on loop while writing this so sorry if they're a bit angsty. The other event requests can be found on my masterlist here.

Jade

"Look." Jade is smiling and Azul has a tension headache. "You see how they've played this particular song fourteen times today? They're going to try and switch things up and listen to something else after the sixteenth loop but-"

"What in the hell does this have to do with anything?" Azul asks to be charitable, he already knows what this is about. Or he thinks he does anyway.

"I was wondering if you would be so kind as to add it to the playlist for the Lounge. Just for tonight." There is a really strange tone to Jade's excitement, almost like he has no idea what he is doing and is just as thrilled by that as he was whatever brought him home in such a... state last night.

"Because if I don't you'll add it yourself and give Floyd back the password to the account?"

"I am so very glad we could reach a mutual understanding." Of course Jade has a plan, it had started formulating the instant he saw you dressed up for the formal Crowley had put together.

Boring. That's what this night was supposed to be. These masks were supposed to hide people's faces, sure but he knows them too well. Maybe if this was a different school where people were less predictable- But then there was you, and all his reason fell away.

"May I have this dance, stranger?" He is surprised you accept, delighted with how natural it feels to follow his lead. He was expecting this to be much, much harder.

"I was wondering when you were going to ask." You sound shy, flattered even, without the defensiveness he usually associates with the lead up to your trysts. Could it be- "I thought I felt someone watching me." -you do not know. The mask has worked for one lucky eel.

"Ah prefect," he greets you as usual, with a bow and a gesture to an empty seat "always so good to see you at the Mostro." This time he has selected a booth out of the way, towards the back and far too big for just one customer. Pity you hadn't brought those small fry with you, he was so looking forward to letting Floyd play with them. "Did you come here with something in mind? Or shall I make a suggestion?" You are so nervous you don't notice that he has failed to give you a menu until you finally bother to look up at him.

"I really just came here to talk..." how painful, you are looking away again. Jade is sure he is the best looking fish here, if you are that desperate to see him in the water he can certainly improvise.

"I am always willing to lend a sympathetic ear." He bends at the waist to hover his face just above yours, so close that you are force to return your eyes to his again. He watches as your pupils dilate and breath catches as the music in the lounge plucks a familiar song as if his magic lets him read minds.

"Go fuck yourself." It's missing the venom he'd like but as he traces your jawline with his gloved hand directly over the lipstick stains he'd left last night he thinks to himself that he is just fine with that. Jade is not in the mood to share your fire, it is such a rare thing for a mer to see after all.

"I would much prefer to leave that to you." He kisses you, quickly before you can fully ignite and waste your precious sparks on the public. "Funny story actually, I had such a nice time at the Masquerade last night I thought we should have ourselves another little date tonight. Do be gentle with me, I only had so much time to prepare." But waste or no he cannot deny himself the satisfied laugh that spills from him when you yank him back into a kiss and prevent him from running his mouth. Just what is he to do with you? Oh he has so many ideas...

Jamil

"Ha I thought I'd find you here." Jamil does his best to ignore Ace's voice, instead focusing on the hoop and sinking his throws into the net. Forty-One. "Aww not gonna ask any questions?" Forty-Two. "You know they talked to me. They always do." Forty-Three. "Said some reeeeeeal interesting stuff." Forty-Four. "Mushy too. Like seriously, you should both just get over yourselves and-"

Forty-Five. Jamil purposefully bounces the ball off the ground hard, not even bothering to watch Ace scramble to avoid it before shoves his face into his towel as if it can wipe away his embarrassment as well as his sweat.

"They are better off not knowing." He catches the ball Ace tries to hit him with, taking a little delight in how annoyed his junior looks before he realizes that it isn't going away as quickly as Ace's other pouts.

"Seriously? Where'd you get that idea from?" He sounds angry, Jamil has to remind himself and the seething pit in his stomach that Ace is Yuu's... friend. They are just friends who spend a lot of time alone. Alone together. Alone together inside a dormitory where Yuu live practically alone, a lot of times on nights when Jamil is alone in Scarabia with preparations for a party you aren't guaranteed to attend unlike those Unbirthday Party's Riddle has that you are at so much you might as well be part of his dorm.

Not that Jamil thinks about that a lot or is thinking about that at all when he gives Ace his best "superiority" complex smile.

"They were willing to make out with a stranger behind some thick curtains, clearly they don't have any strong feelings for anyone in the school and I would just be-"

"Has it ever occurred to you that you are responsible for this situation in the fucking first place." This isn't normal jokey Ace. Normal "girls just wanna have fun Ace," no this is Ace as serious as Jamil wishes he always would be during... anything at all really. Funny how that side only ever seems to come out when he needs to distract someone. Funny how the pit is screaming how it only ever comes up when he is talking about you. "You get close to them one day, then you insist you can't talk to them because you are too busy taking care of Kalim. You give take advantage of them not being from Twisted Wonderland to give them things anyone would recognize as being romantic gifts but roll your eyes at the idea when confronted. Seriously it is a miracle they still like you and didn't think to try getting over you sooner."

Yuu is kissing him. They have what they can grasp of his face in their hands and are kissing him so painfully slowly. It's too much to bear, he can't keep to his senses and denial. Jamil pulls them further behind the curtains and kisses them. For one brief incandescent moment he allows himself to believe this is fated. That if the masks were gone, that if you were under the Scarabia curtains you would be holding onto his shirt just as tightly.

"You told them didn't you?" Ace doesn't bother to actually answer, the footsteps echoing down the hallway as he goes to leave answers Jamil’s question for him.

You are always beautiful.  His breath catches in his throat when he sees you, the pit swallowing itself as he realizes the urgency to the speed at which you close the gap but pause just before making it into his personal space.

“Can we talk?”  Ace’s words from earlier echo in his mind.  Has it ever occurred to you that you are responsible for this?

“Of course.”  He purposefully places the basketball back onto the rack he had been using as an excuse to center himself.  “Would you let me take you to dinner?”

“No.”  You sound as if you hate yourself for saying it, but the instant it leaves your lips he smiles.  “No, I need you to tell me here because I can’t stand this stupid game of you taking your insecurities out on me.  Just what do I need to do for you to understand…”  Your nerve seems to be failing you now that he’s right in front of you.  But he isn’t cruel enough to make you wait.

“I like you.”  It’s not all of what you want to hear, and not all of what he wants to say.  But he’s in a sweaty gym uniform and you look like you’ve been crying.  Apologies are best made with food, and he loves you well enough to know your worry’s been eating at your apatite as much as it has his.

[masonmyluv]

Part 4

A/N: things are getting more interesting from now on 🤭

Summary: Fermin is sick, so you’re taking care of him and also meet his best mate.

You can find the other parts here

"Hey"

His voice was groggy on the phone when he picked up. "Hey. Are you coming today?" You asked. "Sorry I completely forgot to tell you. I'm not feeling very well" he groaned, probably frustrated he forgot. "It's okay... if you want I can pass by, bring you the new stuff" you suggested. "Yeah, if you have time" he coughed. "Sure. Can I come now? Or is it too late?" You asked, looking at the clock. 4 pm. "No, it's okay" he replied. "Okay I'll be there in an hour".

Before packing your books, you made a list with what to buy. He wasn't very specific with what was not well with him, but you supposed he got the flu, so you typed some things on your phone and left your apartment.

While you were decided which sweets to buy, Fermin was freaking out. His place was a mess, he didn't even unpack his bag from the National camp, he didn't wash the dishes and he didn't change his clothes for two days. The fever he got made him not leave the bed that much. So he put the dishes into the dishwasher, threw his clothes from the bag into the washing machine and put on a fresh pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt. Then he cleaned the living room and kitchen for a bit, and turned the tv on. Now he knew how you felt when he came into your place.

"Hi?" Fermin asked, picking up his phone. "Hey Fermin, it's me. I forgot to ask you where you live" you chuckled. Damn, having a crush on you made him look stupid. "Yeah I'll share the location" he replied. You were both two idiots (in love).

"Hey" he said, opening the door for you. "Nice neighbourhood" you said, passing by him. "You didn't have to" he said, helping you with the bags in your hands. "Well, I remember someone bringing me coffee and breakfast, so it felt just right to do this. Especially since you said you're not feeling well" you blushed, taking your shoes off. "Well thanks, but this is not really food? Like they're ingredients" he asked confused. "Well yeah, I thought I could cook my secret recipe for when I'm not feeling well" you said, following him to the kitchen. "You don't have to" he said. "I know, but I want to" you shrugged. "And here are the notes I made. And we have to do a presentation for next time" you said, placing your books on the kitchen island. "Me and you?" He asked. "I don't know yet. Professor M. said he'll think about it. But you need to come to the class to present it together" you explained. "Well I can come, but I'm a bit sick" he chuckled. "That's okay. I bet you're not in for a project" you said, getting the ingredients out. "Not even for keeping my eyes opened" he said. "So what are you making?" He asked. "Chicken soup. And a dessert, I hope you can eat it" you said. "Usually maybe not, but coach told me to do anything to be fully recovered in a week, so..." he shrugged, sitting on the bar stool, watching how easily you made your way through his kitchen. Like you actually lived here. It felt so domestic being like this with you.

He browsed through your notes, groaning when a sharp pain went through his head. "You okay?" You asked worried. "Yeah, I have a headache" he replied. "Maybe you should lay down" you suggested. "But the courses—". "Go on the sofa" you said. "So bossy" he smirked, but you were right. No point in forcing his brain to do anything if it was in pain. He laid down, still having a view of you in the kitchen. "Here. It's for headaches and fever. And put a blanket on" you sighed. "Food is almost ready, so don't fall asleep" you said, noticing how his eyes got drowsier. You went back into the kitchen, finishing the last things when the door bell rang. "You stay right there" you warned him. "I'll take it".

"Hola?" The guy you opened the door to said. "Is Fermin home?" He asked. "Yeah hi. He is a bit sick. Come in" you said politely. "Gracias" he smiled, coming in and discarding his shoes. "Fermin cabron..." he said, sitting near Fermin on the sofa and started talking in Spanish. You went to put the food into the dishes while you heard them talking and caught some words novia, muy guapa. "Food's ready" you announced and the boys came to sit at the kitchen island.

"Fermin didn't tell us he had a girlfriend" the guy said smirking. "Y/N, this is Gavi and Gavi this is Y/N, a colleague from university" Fermin introduced the two of you. "Nice to meet you" you smiled, taking a bite of your food. "She's a fan actually. Has a t-shirt of you" Fermin said casually and you choked on your food. "That so? Maybe I can sign in for you some time" he offered. "Yeah that would be great thanks" you said, kicking Fermin under the table. "It's good that there is someone to take care of him, poor guy. He really wanted to train today" Gavi said with puppy eyes. "If he rests, he'll be back in no time" you said. "But he has to study right?" He asked and you nodded. "Yeah actually we have a project together, so tell me when it's okay to come" you said to Fermin. "Well I'm already a bit better thanks to you, so maybe in 2 days? That okay?" Fermin asked and you nodded.

"You walked here?" Fermin asked as you washed the dishes, even though he told you to just leave them, you couldn't. "Yeah". "It's pretty late. I can ask Gavi to drive you home" he suggested. "If he doesn't mind me" you shrugged. "He won't. Thank you for today. You didn't have to—". "I wanted to. And I'll see you in 2 days" you said, taking your things. "Yeah see y'a. And goodnight" Fermin smiled.

"So... you're together?" Gavi broke the ice. You burst into laughing and so did he. "That was so lame" you said. "I know I know, sorry. But he's very focused on football, so I didn't know if he had someone" he explained. "But I forgot about university and pretty girls" he added. "It's just this year that we started talking more. His friends dropped out and I'm the only one who's actually going to classes so" you shrugged. "And I like helping people and he needs help with all this. Wouldn't want him not scoring goals" you grinned. "You're a fan, that's amazing. And I don't feel weird" he said. "Most of the girls are like omg Gavi, let's take a picture, they try to kiss me and so on. I don't like it and neither Fermin likes it" he said when you have him a confused look. "I wouldn't like it either" you said. "Thanks for the ride. Goodnight" you said as you arrived in front of your building. "No problem. And maybe we'll meet again. Maybe at a game" he said. "That would be nice. Bye" you smiled, waving at him.

Gavi ⚽️

She's a keeper ;)

Gavi's text startled Fermin as he was stalking your Instagram. Of course Fermin knew you were one to keep, but he wasn't sure you two were on the same page. You were a neat smart girl who knew what she wanted and he was a football player, travelling a lot. He remembered hearing you talk with a girl about what you want in a future relationship: I want stability. He could be that, but travelling a lot wouldn't be it. You needed someone who was there with you, not away playing football. With this sad thought, he went to sleep, knowing he had to forget that stupid crush.

Hope you like it 🥰

[if-mirrormine]

the morning after

summary: the follow up to drunken confessions

pairing: grayson x mc

word count: idk bestie alot

based on the request: you had a drabble that was grayson drunkenly confession his love to mc at a party and it was chefs kiss and i remember sending an anon message saying that i think a follow up of the next day would be amazing. i can't find the ask anymore but think in my original anon message it was something like they talk about it and mc reciprocated and they get together the next day (yay fluff) and it's either the day before or the day of callies birthday party and they're planning on telling everyone at the party but oh no mc never shows up and grayson only got to live his dream for a few hours before mc goes missing for 10 years be (yay angst). You replied like "sounds like a good drabble idea" and bestie I haven't stopped thinking about it since

**unedited//this is kinda all over the place and idk how good it really is but i think my eyes will start bleeding if i look at it any longer**

request a drabble here!

grayson wakes with a start and a pounding in his head that rocks his senses. he pauses, willing his headache away and failing miserably. groaning, he slumps back onto the bed and drags a hand through his hair.

he feels movement beside him and squinting in the harsh light of the morning, he sees mc sitting next to him on top of the duvet, their laptop on their lap. they pause their work to smile at him.

"morning, sleepyhead!" they say as they reach for a glass of water on the side table and hand it to him. "i was wondering when you'd rise from your coma."

he takes the glass and drinks from it greedily, the cool water soothing his dry throat. "what time is it?"

they hum. "a little past eight."

he groans again, leaning over the mc to put the glass back on the side table. "why didn't you wake me up sooner?

they scoff before going back to their work. "you don't think i tried? you sleep like the dead, gray."

he hums in reply and lies back down on his pillows, his arm slung over his eyes. now that he's more awake, his headache has worsened to a steady throbbing behind his eyes. his mind drifts back to the night before and everything he did to get to where he is now. he remembers the party and drinking way more than he usually would, losing the mc somewhere along the way and reuniting with them. telling them he’s in love with them. twice.

embarrassment takes over, flooding his sense and twisting his stomach. he can’t believe he was so reckless, he should never be allowed to drink again. the thought alone of what they must think of him is makes him groan again, his face buried in hands.

"gray?" they say, nudging his side. "you okay over there?"

i don't think i'll ever be okay again, he thinks to himself but all that manages to come out of his mouth is a muffled, petulant no.

they shuffle on the bed next to him, the old bed frame creaking slightly and he peeks out from under his arm to see them leaning over him. "is it your head? i think there's some paracetamol in the medicine cabinet, if you want." he's quick to shake his head, groaning when that only exacerbates his headache, and they chuckle softly. "only you would martyr yourself over a hangover," they tut, staring down at him in amusement. "wait here, i'll go get them for you."

they're off the bed and out of his room before he can even comprehend it. with another groan, he sits up and, glancing down at himself, he realises that he's in pajama bottoms and one of his sleep shirts. he barely remembers getting home let alone changing into sleepwear which means the mc mustve done it for him. somehow that's even more embarassing than his drunken confession.

"here you go, gronk," they say, suddenly reappearing next to him with two white tablets and his half filled glass of water. he takes the medication and swallows it down in one fluid motion before turning to look at his best friend with a critical eye. they don't seem to be out of sorts. there's no pity in their eyes when they look at him, put off by the idea of him being in love with them for the past six years. no, it's as if the whole thing didn't even happen. they're still mc, he's still grayson. best friends. nothing more, nothing less. for all his hoping though, he knows that's not the case.

"so," he starts, clearing his throat, his anxiety at the situation rises to new levels. "about last night -"

"you mean your love confession?" they clarify and his eyes widen exponentially. this can't be real, he thinks. lord, if you're out there, kill me now please. despite his embarrassment though, they can't keep from smiling at them. "i was wondering when you'd bring that up."

"i- um... i-i don't know what you're talking about," he says quickly, his face burning red and his eyes anywhere but their face.

they pout at him, reaching out to take his face in their hand. "don't chicken out on me now, donohue. you know how long i've been waiting for you to finally say those words?"

he's looking at them now, only half because they're forcing him to by holding his face, and he can't believe the loving smile on their lips. "what?" is all he manages to get out and it makes them chuckle, his cheeks somehow getting even warmer.

"gosh, do i need to spell it for you, gray?" they move their hands from his face to his shoulders, where they proceed to lightly shake him, mindfully of his pounding head. "i love you too!"

"you do?" the words don't make sense in his ears, in his mind. the mc loving him? no, that can't be. he must be going deaf. or crazy. yeah, definitely crazy. sure, he's a little young to be going senile already but there's obviously no other explanation, right?

they laugh again and return their hands to his face. without another word spoken between them, they pull him close, kissing him softly and stealing all the air from his lungs.

he freezes momentarily, unable to comprehend that this is truly happening, but his hands are settling on their hips and pulling them closer. im dead, he thinks. ive died and gone to heaven.

it feels like an eternity has passed before they pull away. still stunned, he peels his eyes open to look at them, that smile of theirs that he loves so much spurring one of his own into existence.

"believe me now?" they quip and he shakes his head slowly, his lips parted and still tingling.

"no," he says, breathless. "maybe if you kissed me again."

amused, they lean forward and give him a peck on the lips, so quick it might as well have not happened at all, and he pouts, following after them when they leave.

"don't tease me," he whines and their smile widens slightly. "why didn't you say anything?"

they shrug. "i was too nervous. guess that makes us even, huh?"

he wraps his arms around them and pulls them onto his lap, resting his forehead against theirs. "say it again."

they hum, their arms going around his neck. "that i love you?"

"yes."

"i love you, gray."

"i love you more."

they're about to protest when he kisses them again. he kisses them long and soft, like he's wanted to every day for past six years and he doesn't stop until his lungs are empty. and even then, he attempts to go back for more.

laughing, they press their index against his lips as they sit back on his lap. "easy tiger," they say. "don't want you suffocating on me."

again, he pouts. "'m making up for lost time." he doesn't know where the boldness - or the neediness - comes from but he chooses not to think about it too much. he's waited for this moment for a long time and now that's it here, he doesn't want it to end.

"sorry, gray; ive gotta put my foot down here," they laugh. "ive got a busy day of errands and you're already late for class."

"i can miss one class," he attempts but they simply shush him again, now using their whole hand to cover his mouth.

"not on your life, mister." against all of his muffled protests, they climb off his lap, moving to the other side of the bed where their laptop sits, turning it off before looking back at him. "youve waited so long, what's a few more hours until callie's party?"

he shakes his head vehemently, ignoring his headache for time being. "nope, can't do it," he insists. "i'll die before then."

"you're so dramatic," they say with a roll of their eyes before moving to kiss his forehead. "school first. and then i'm all yours at seven."

"do you promise?"

"pinky swear."

hooking his pinky finger around theirs, he can't keep the smile off his face. "okay. seven o'clock then."

"seven o'clock," they agree and with one last chaste kiss, he watches them climb off his bed and leave his room, laptop in hand. he lies back down and rolls over onto his stomach, pressing his face into a pillow and screaming in excitement.

he can already tell that this is going to be a great day.

[chaepu]

Don't Let Her Win - Kim Chaewon

pairing: kim chaewon x reader genre: fluff

"Can I get a gin and tonic?" You say to the bartender as you sit by the bar.

Another weekend at the club with your friends has finally taken a toll on you. The blaring sounds of the bass in your ears, your head is in your hands as you try to calm the headache brewing.

The drink is placed in front of you and you take a sip. You look around the club and see your friends dancing, having the time of their lives. You shake your head and wonder how they're able to do this for the fourth weekend in a row. So deep in your thoughts you don't even notice a woman standing next to you at the bar.

"Could I get a whiskey sour?" you hear the woman next to you say to the bartender.

You take another sip of your drink and the woman turns to you, "Do you come here often?"

You look over at her and chuckle, "Actually yes, every weekend this month so far."

"I knew you looked familiar," the bartender hands the woman her drink and she takes it, "you come here with your friends" and she points to your friends in the crowd.

"You're very observant" you note.

"I would recognize a pretty woman who ends up sitting by the bar by herself when she's usually dancing with her friends." she states.

"Headache," you say, "I think the constant partying is wearing me out finally."

The woman nods her head. "How come I've never seen you around?" you ask her.

"Maybe you're always drunk whenever you're here." she shrugs.

"That I am, I can't argue you with that." she laughs. "What's your name?"

"Chaewon." she says.

"Chaewon…" you hum, "Y/n."

"Pretty name for a pretty girl" Chaewon says.

"So what brings you here?" you ask, waving the bartender down to get another drink.

"Friends celebrating a birthday" Chaewon answers.

"Do they know you're here and not with them?"

"I'm sure they'll manage without me." she smiles and sips her drink.

You spend the next hour talking with the bobbed hair woman and your drunk friend runs up to you and puts her arms around your neck, pulling you close. "Y/n, I met this girl, should I take her home?" she screams in your ear, trying to be heard over the music.

"Are you physically able to take her home is the question, you look drunk as hell" you say to her.

"Well I am but that's not the point," your friend releases your grasp and notices Chaewon, "Oh who's your friend?"

"Nayeon, this is Chaewon. Chaewon, Nayeon." you say and Chaewon says hi.

"You're cute, is Y/n taking care of you?" Nayeon says and you face palm.

Chaewon chuckles, "she is."

Nayeon nods her head and speaks to the both of you now, "so should I take the girl home?"

"Does the girl want to be taken home Nayeon-ssi?" you jokingly ask.

"Of course, who wouldn't want to go home with this?" she says as she points to herself.

"Well if you can physically make it and she wants it, go ahead. Have fun and be safe" nayeon squeals and kisses your cheek before running towards the crowd.

"Do they always ask you before they fuck someone?" Chaewon laughs.

"I think she just needed someone to tell because she was going to do it no matter what I said." you reply back.

You notice Chaewon stiffen up while turning her body to face the bar instead of you.

"Are you okay?" you ask her.

Chaewon hesitates, "Um there girl at the end of the bar, that's my ex."

You slowly turn yourself to take a look at the girl. She's gorgeous.

Chaewon playfully slaps your arm to gain your attention, "Well don't stare too hard damn."

"Sorry," you reply "She's beautiful." you say.

"Yeah, I know." Chaewon looks up to see her ex laughing with the mystery girl while touching her arm. She sighs.

"When did you guys break up?" you curiously ask.

"Like two months ago. Dated for about 8."

"That's awhile." you state.

"Yeah." Even in the loud club, you can hear the silence between the two of you, the first in hour. Chaewon looks up to see her ex kissing the girl at the bar and sighs again. "I think I'm going to go." She says as she gets up from the bar stool. You grab her hand.

"Whether or not she knows you're here, don't let her win."

Chaewon looks at you with confusion. You don't speak, rather leaning in to capture your lips with hers. Chaewon immediately kisses back, moving her hands to wrap them around your neck. Your hands are on her hips as you pull her closer to you. You don't know how long you're kissing until you pull back. Looking at her dazed eyes, you give her another quick peck. She smiles. Chaewon's hands still circled around your neck, you turn your head to look back to see her ex not there, but the girl she was with still sitting at the bar.

"I guess you won." You say to Chaewon.

"Yeah, I think I did." You turn your head back to face Chaewon and she's not even looking at the direction of where her ex was, but instead at you. "So do you need to tell your friends too or can we just leave?" Chaewon smirks at you.

"I think we're good to go." you say as you get off from the bar stool and take one more sip of your drink before Chaewon is pulling you towards the exit.

maybe you won too.

--

a/n: second post! thanks for reading the first one! this is a newer imagine (not really reviewed, wrote it in like 30 minutes), but i hope you enjoy!

[pasta-in-the-pudding]

I just read ur Masky angst post and I now need a fic where the reader and Tim both bond over the hallucinations they’ve been having ☹️☹️

The reader starts getting them but avoids telling Tim, then one day he notices the reader staring at an empty window facing the forest. At that moment, something clicks and he just KNOWS. So he approaches the reader and they talk abt it, from then on its them against the world or that weird tall man…

—love ur work btw 🙏

I'm not doing the font thing anymore im tired of it 😭 anyways YES i love this idea!!

Divider credits go to @saradika-graphics! Go follow them and support their work

Thank you so much for requesting!!

Tiresome (part 2)

It saw you, you know it did

You don't think you were supposed to see it, though

Ever since that night with Tim, things have been....different

You find yourself drifting off almost constantly, and when you come back to the present moment you are almost always facing the forest by your apartment

Then the ringing starts

At first it's barely noticeable, just a ringing in your ear every now and then

But it continues ramping up the closer and closer you get to the forest, if you were to sit out on your balcony your hearing would be completely filled with the ringing

The ringing gives you headaches, really painful ones that never seem to go away

You go to the doctor to see if they can give you any prescribed pain meds, but they don't have anything except a recommendation to drink more water and spend less time on electronics

Eventually you get so tired of the ringing that you decide to just pop any kind of pills that look like they'd do something

You eventually reach Tim's mystery pills, he still hasn't told you what they're for, and the label has been scratched off so you can't even see a name or dosage

Nothing else has worked yet, so you decide to take your chances and pop a pill into your mouth

After about 30 minutes, the pills kick in and everything becomes quiet.....still

Life is normal again, not filled by the eerie sense of dread and fear you have whenever you glance at the forest

The ringing is gone

The pills work for a little bit, but then your condition worsens

You begin seeing static at random times, and whenever your vision returns, you are standing right outside of the forest

You begin to take more and more pills per day, and with how many Tim has, he doesn't seem to notice

You've begun to notice a schedule of sorts to your hallucinations, they happen every evening around 6pm and every morning around 7am

Exactly when Tim leaves and returns

You begin trying to resist these weird spells, locking yourself into your bathroom when you hear the ringing

However, if you don't give in, you will eventually get a brain splitting migraine and begin vomiting this thick black goopy substance

You are able to hide your condition for a while though, despite this

One night when Tim gets home earlier than usual, he finally seems to have confirmation in your strange behavior

The sliding door to your balcony is wide open, the cool night air blowing the curtains into the apartment

You are standing at the edge of the balcony, leaning against the railing with an almost empty stare into the forest

Tim comes up behind you, pressing a hand to your back and asking if you're alright

You won't move your gaze away, only dreamily whisper "He's coming to get me"

This is when it clicks for him, seemingly he understands everything at that moment

His eyes widen, he grabs you by your shoulders and shakes you lightly "Hey, hey, listen to me. Whatever you think you see, you don't. He isn't real, he isn't coming for you."

You sleepily look back over to the forest, before your breath catches in your throat and your entire body fills with fear "He's coming to get me" You say with a trembly voice

"He's coming to get me! He's coming to get me! He's coming to get me!" You repeat over and over again, desperately trying to escape Tim's grasp so you can run off

Tim rushes you inside, locks the balcony door and closes the curtains, all while you are still adamant that "he's coming to get you"

He sits you down on the couch and grabs a few pills from a nearby bottle, stuffing at least 3 into your mouth and making you swallow them

"Y/n, you have to listen to me. He is not real. I know he seems really real, but he's not real. He's a hallucination your brain created, just like me, ok?"

It is then that you puke all over the coffee table, the pills coming right back up with it, the same black goopy substance coating the carpet

"Shit, shit, shit" Tim mutters to himself, picking you up and carrying you into a spare closet

The lights begin to flicker and static covers both of your visions

He sets you down in the closet and holds onto you for dear life, shushing you and trying his best to close the door with limited vision

You don't know how many hours or days you two stayed like this, hunched together in this small closet, being unable to see and only being able to pray that he leaves soon

When he does finally leave and your vision clears, you are both quiet for many hours before you finally speak

"He's coming for both of us"

[finnpeach]

Someone who always drinks coffee and only drinks tea when they feel unwell being found out by an observant work crush.

Person A coming into the office one morning, expecting to see their attractive work crush B with their usual coffee order (iced oat milk latte, two pumps of caramel), but instead sees them steeping a bag of tea in a mug.

"What's that?" A asks, taking note of a tissue poking out of B's pocket.

"Oh, it's, uh... tea." B looks a little embarrassed.

"Uh-huh. You feeling okay? You only drink tea when you're sick." A knows them too well.

B clears their throat. "Just a little cold out today, is all."

A nods, deciding to drop it, and sits diagonally across from B to start work.

As the day drags on, B's cold makes itself more apparent. They're snuffling into tissue after tissue, whisking off to the hallway to blow their nose. And the sneezing. It starts as soft, rapid stifles: "H'NDKT'uh! H'GXTsh! Hihh... H'GDTShh!" That leave their nose streaming, sniffling, and with a pounding headache. They always catch them off guard and never seem to have time to cover. A blesses them each time, wondering how long B is going to last with this miserable, snotty cold.

After lunch, B returns looking absolutely exhausted. They have given up trying to stifle and have decided to wear their scarf in the office even though the heating is on. The sneezes come practically every two minutes like clockwork, followed by liquid sniffling and tired nose blows.

They're both in the middle of the same web meeting when the next round of sneezes hit. A is able to watch B, both on the screen and in front of them at the desk, as they rush to hit the mute button and succumb to the fit.

"H'uSSHhhiew! Hh'ITSShhh'ih! Huh'iTSSHhh'ue!" They're too late for the tissue and sneeze uncovered towards their computer, creating a contagious mess. The sneezes are wet and spray the keyboard, the desk, everything around them. Person A is absolutely mesmerised by their sneezy cold and thanks god that this meeting is recorded. B blows their nose into a tissue and drench it immediately. A watches them on the screen and counts three, no, four tissues until B is finally done.

They privately message B, 'Bless you x' to which B blushes and hearts the message. B writes back 'Don't bother, I'm going to sneeze again soon 🤧', and true to their word they sneeze again ten seconds later. "H'ihhSHHhhiew!"

At the end of the day, when they're packing up to leave, A stops by B's desk and leans against the desk.

"Are you ready to admit you're sick yet?" A teases, watching the feverish flush on B's face burn brighter.

"I... mbay have caught a little cold." They sniffle and rub at their nose, looking sleepy and exhausted. "I really dod't feel good."

A pencil rolls off their desk as they pack away their laptop.

"You don't say." Person A crouches down to pick up the pencil, and is nearly face-to-face when B's breath starts to hitch. There's no time to move out of the way.

"Huh'uSSHhhh'ue! H'utsschhiew!" The warm, sickly spray hits the lower half of A's face as they rise up. B doesn't seem to notice, too exhausted to do much more than sneeze and snuffle as they dig out a tissue. Their breath hitches erratically, eyes pinched shut. "H'UDTSShHhhue!" The final wet, unrestrained sneeze is only halfway caught in the tissue. A few droplets spray A's arm. Any hope of not catching B's cold is completely gone now.

"Doesn't sound like a little cold to me," A chides, helping them stand up. "C'mon, I'll buy you another tea before you go home. And I better not see you in the office tomorrow." With how contagious their sneezes are, A doubts that they'll be in tomorrow either. They walk together out of the office and to the nearest coffee shop, B sneezing and sniffling as they go.

[yunwangja]

the prophecy | verse 17: hand on the throttle

masterlist | last verse

you've been feeling terrible all day, but you can't stay inside any longer. despite your high fever and pounding headache, you have to venture out because of your growling stomach. your nose is clogged, and your sinuses throb with every step you take. you can barely breathe, and your vision is blurry, but you push yourself forward.

your phone buzzes in your pocket, a reminder that you texted kou and tobio. you didn't even care that your messages were a jumbled mess of typos and incoherent words. all you can think about is getting to the convenience store. it's not far from your place, but tonight, it feels like miles away. every step is a struggle, and your body feels like it's made of lead.

as you step outside, the night air is like a punch to the gut. the chill seeps through your clothes, making you shiver violently. you wrap your arms around yourself, trying to conserve what little warmth you have. your breath comes out in ragged puffs, each one a reminder of how sick you are. the street is eerily quiet, the usual bustle of the city muted by the late hour.

your legs feel weak and wobbly, each step an effort that drains your energy further. you focus on putting one foot in front of the other, but it's hard to stay upright. the sidewalk seems to tilt beneath you, and you reach out to steady yourself against a nearby wall. your head throbs, and the pain is so intense you can barely think. "just a little further," you tell yourself, though you have no idea if it's true.

you pass by darkened shops and closed cafes, their windows blank and unwelcoming. every now and then, a streetlight flickers overhead, casting long shadows that make you feel even more disoriented. you stumble, catching yourself just in time, and lean against a lamppost to catch your breath. the world spins around you, and you close your eyes, willing the dizziness to pass.

as you start walking again, you notice how empty the streets are. it feels like you're the only person left in the world, a solitary figure struggling against the night. the cold bites into your skin, and you huddle deeper into your coat, wishing you were back in your warm bed. but there's no turning back now. you need to get to the store, no matter what.

at this point, you don’t know if you regret going to the park the day before. you had been so excited to spend some time outside, but then the rain came. it had been a sudden downpour, soaking you to the bone before you could find shelter. you remember shivering under a tree, hoping the rain would stop, but it didn't. by the time you got home, you were already feeling the first signs of a cold. now, you're paying the price for that decision, and you can't help but wonder if it was worth it.

your phone buzzes again, but you ignore it. you can't afford to be distracted. you keep your eyes on the ground, focusing on each step. the pavement is uneven, and you trip over a crack, nearly falling. you catch yourself, but the effort leaves you gasping for breath. "come on, you can do this," you whisper, trying to muster some strength.

finally, you see the faint glow of the convenience store sign in the distance. it's a small beacon of hope in the darkness, and you feel a surge of relief. thank god, you think, quickening your pace as much as you can. but your body has other plans. the dizziness returns with a vengeance, and your vision blurs even more. you sway on your feet, struggling to stay upright.

each step is a battle, and you're losing. your legs feel like they're going to give out any second, and your head is pounding so hard you can barely think. you stumble again, and this time you can't catch yourself. you fall to your knees, the cold pavement biting into your skin. the world tilts and spins, and you feel a wave of nausea.

shit, am i going to die? you think to yourself as you struggle to get back up. but your body won't cooperate. you manage to get to your feet, but you can barely stay upright. you take a few more steps, each one more difficult than the last. the convenience store is so close, but it might as well be miles away.

just as you're about to collapse again, you see someone running towards you. their figure is blurry, but you can tell they're moving fast. you try to call out, but your voice is weak and strained. before you can say anything, your legs give out, and you fall to the ground.

just as everything goes black, you hear the sound of footsteps drawing closer and feel someone’s arms around you.

notes

i forgot to mention this so i could establish it last verse: i hope this doesnt sound too complicated but aside hell week tobio's also attending a training camp (yk s4... yeah smth like that) i hope that's not too confusing

yn sounds drunk on the texts lol but hear me out: i pictured the feeling when ur head hurts so bad and you feel so sick and i thought one won't really care what ur typing anymore so hence::

if i was overdoing it, let it happen for the plot thank you <3

last verse

taglist: @fiannee @debussy42 @samvagejkflxhrt @diorzs @kagtobis @lovingvi @tea-drinking-nerd @iamfontenlos @jaynawayna @divinityghoul @zahrawr-writes-fanfics @punkhazardlaw @loveelylacey

[haveyouseenthisskeleton]

Can I get how UT, US, Uf, sand would react to their s/o having a best friend who doesn't like monsters. How would they act when they are around or when the s/o isn't looking?

I did the main boys because why not.

Undertale Sans - He can tell your friend is not a big fan of his bones. He stays quite cordial when you're here, maybe a bit colder than usual, but when he's all alone, he turns a bit passive-aggressive lol, trying to make them stay away from him as far as possible. He's not too comfortable.

Undertale Papyrus - He doesn't understand what he did wrong for your friend to not like him. He had been friendly, even playing dumb to make them laugh but nothing worked and now they're talking to him like he's some sort of innocent naive dog, which is one of the things he hates the most. He keeps trying, but with less and less enthusiasm, simply ignoring them when they're getting on his nerves.

Underswap Sans - Blue treats them like the Karen they are when you're not looking, taunting them and doing all he can to piss them off just to watch them run to you to complain about "your monster torturing" them. He will never get tired of this. Blue is a little jerk when he really wants to.

Underswap Papyrus - He's so uncomfortable and will avoid at all costs to stay alone with them. When they are, Honey is simply standing there, awkwardly silent, avoiding eye contact as he's screaming at his S/O to come back now in his head. Talking to strangers is already awkward to him, but talking to strangers who clearly despise him is on a whole other level. Save him, please.

Underfell Sans - He pretends to be the sweet perfect angel when his S/O is around, but as soon they are out of sight, Red is antagonizing your friend and taunting them to get a reaction, just because he thinks it's so funny. He can't stop doing it. His best achievement is that one time your friend screamed at him so he showed off one of his blasters and they suddenly crawled on the floor screaming like they were getting murdered. He laughed so hard that day. Best memories.

Underfell Papyrus - He ignores them. He doesn't talk or look their way, he doesn't make remarks when they forget to serve him food when they invited the both of you and he pretends he didn't see them when his car "accidentally" rolled over their feet once just because they might have tried their luck a little too much.

Horrortale Sans - Your friend is giving him a headache and he doesn't hide his hostility towards them, whether you're here or not. Oak doesn't like them, and he wants them gone from his house. He's going to growl at them, huff at their face, and antagonize them until they leave. And don't come back lol.

Horrortale Papyrus - He doesn't feel good about this. He can tell your friend is not liking him and it makes him very uncomfortable since he's not very confident about himself. He knows he's scary, but the fact they're looking at him only like that is just making him sad. He won't say anything while they're here, but he will definitely talk about this with his S/O next, asking them to either talk to your friend about their behavior or not bring them home when he's here. He doesn't want to deal with that.

Swapfell Sans - He's grumbling because S/O wants him to make a coffee for the bitch sitting in his living room that clearly hates him. So Nox takes that horrible coffee Rus bought him that smells like old dirty socks, and he serves them that, with five spoons of salt in. He pretends to be shocked when your friend spits it out on the table and then victimizes himself by saying they did that only because they don't like him and they clearly want to put him into trouble. Nox then sips his coffee, watching chaos spreading as you start to argue with your friend.

Swapfell Papyrus - Your friend called him a trash bag so when they visited a few days later and you asked him to serve your friend some cake, he took the trash bag and emptied it on their plate, not giving a care in the world about their scream of horror and disgust. He might get in trouble for this with his S/O but he doesn't care. He's way too satisfied to take offense to a small lecture lol.

Fellswap Gold Sans - "Your boyfriend wears a dress? Maybe he needs to see a therapist, these kinds of things are weird." "YOU'RE WEARING WHAT LOOKS LIKE AN OLD DEAD ZEBRA SO I WOULDN'T OPEN MY MOUTH IF I WERE YOU. ALSO, YOU HAVE A HOLE AT YOUR BUTT AND Y/N IS TOO NICE TO TELL YOU." What? You started first. He's innocent your honor.

Fellswap Gold Papyrus - "He's always clinging to you, what is he, six years old?" Coffee gasps in shock. Your friend can't say another word. Wine stands up from the couch, grabs their soul and yeets them out of his house by the window. Don't insult Coffee, it's not that hard.

[louellaby]

FORGET-ME-NOT

REPLACED!MC AU

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W A R N I N G

May contain bad grammar, limited vocabulary, and OOC characters. Please mind that English is not my first language, and it takes a lot of courage for me to post due to my anxiety and paranoia.

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taglist: @books-and-catears @owl778 @yourlocalgrass @kaiserkisser @hhurric4ne @amberheavendremurr @yu-ulda @bk-4-trash-fire

PROLOGUE | CHAPTER I | CHAPTER II | CHAPTER III | LOUE'S LETTER | CHAPTER IV | CHAPTER V | LOUE'S LETTER | CHAPTER VI | CHAPTER VII | CHAPTER VIII | CHAPTER IX | CHAPTER X | LOUE'S LETTER | EPILOGUE

E P I L O G U E

「 I'm Right Here! 」

"Y-You're not really going to k-k-k... m-me, are you? I know you won't...! Y-You are all a bunch of sweethearts, after all, and you're all just messing with me right now! Y-You can't do this to me...!"

"Have you forgotten, Lady Soley? They're demons. And with one command from me, you'd be gone."

In the Devildom, the lives of the demons continued on as usual. The streets were bustling with noise, the shops full of customers, the forests as quiet as they have ever been, and the servants of the castle were all busy preparing for an upcoming festival which should bring more cheer to the realm. But in that particular castle, a man sighed deeply as he eyed the paper that slowly crumpled in his grasp.

"That's the 16th sigh this minute, Lucifer," Diavolo lightly chuckled as he watched his friend with an apologetic look. The prince knew what Lucifer was extremely bothered with.

It had already been four weeks since school ended. Everyone should be on vacation, including Lucifer and Diavolo, but they couldn't stay away from this specific problem. Why? Because it was the case of their failed human exchange student, Soley Day, who was thought to have disappeared months ago during their trip. That's right, no one outside the group knew what really happened to her. It's all a big secret.

"What are we going to do about this, Diavolo?" Lucifer sighed once more before dropping the paper on the table and leaning back on his chair. He tried to soothe his headache by rubbing his temples, hanging his head to the back. "I'm supposed to be on a trip with my family, and you told me two months ago that you would handle this on your own."

"I know, I'm sorry, but I really need your help on this one. I thought I could handle it, but it turns out this is a bigger problem that we hoped for, considering everyone's wondering where Soley has disappeared to. It has become a huge headache."

"Yeah, I can feel that." Lucifer sat up straight again and looked at his friend. "Does the Celestial Realm have a problem with this as well?"

Diavolo shook his head, "No. For reasons unknown to me, they left this one alone. The only problem now lies in Soley's family."

"I see, so that's what's bothering you. Despite their title, they're still just humans, Diavolo. It would be easy to deceive them."

"... Do you really think that that's the only way left to go?" The prince got bothered by Lucifer's reason. He knew Lucifer was getting impatient that he'd suggest something like this, but... is that really what it has come to? Deceiving humans who he wanted to gain the trust of?

A lot of time has passed. Eventually, even Diavolo understood how irritable Lucifer has become, the more the paperwork kept piling on and on. And so, the Avatar of Pride was dismissed for the day.

"You know, it's rare for you to admit you want to spend time with your family," teased Diavolo, enjoying the sight of Lucifer's face turning red as the man got up from his seat.

"My family is important to me, Diavolo. Every single one of those seven; they're all important to me. That will never change." Lucifer left the room, hurrying back home where seven people were waiting in chaos for him to return.

"Family, huh..?"

"Mother! Father! I'm back!" A certain girl with light orange hair and lime green eyes exclaimed, excitedly running out of a limousine and rushing into the arms of her awaiting parents.

"Soley! Welcome home! We were so worried about you! So, so worried!"

"I told you you didn't have to worry so much. I'm fine and in one piece." The girl then looked towards the man who stood behind her parents. "Heath!" She ran past the couple and jumped into the man's arms; an action that surprised both the man and the couple, along with the other servants surrounding them.

It was the first time in a very long while that their young lady showed any closeness or emotion towards her butler. While most were happy about this unexpected development, some were suspicious. Nevertheless, everyone was happy with the events, and her parents were so proud of her.

Little did anyone know, a translucent figure with tears in her eyes was watching them up close.

"Mother! Father! Heath! That's not me! Everyone! Listen to me! I'm right here!"

Despite her constant shouting, her unbearable protests, her desperate efforts in making them notice her; not one of them reacted to her presence. Every time she tried to touch any of them, her hand went through their bodies as if they were made of air; but it was, in fact, her own figure that was the problem.

"Come, Soley, we prepared a party for your return. All of your friends are here, and they can't wait to see you!"

"Alright, I'm coming, but after the party, can we have our own time together? You know, as a family?"

Once again, everyone around them was taken aback. Even the invisible form of her, who cringed at the suggestion.

Everyone knew Soley wasn't one to spend time with her parents anymore. Not since she grew up and had her own friends that she called her family. Because of the surprise, Soley's parents hugged the girl with tears in their eyes. They were so happy to hear that their precious daughter wanted to be with them again that they didn't even question anything. The ghost just watched it happen; her claws digging into her arms and her biting her lip in frustration.

"How dare that fake steal all the attention meant for me... I refuse to take this!"

That day had been a difficult one for the young lady. She watched in pain as her impostor lived the life that was meant to be hers. She did her best trying to get just anyone to notice her. Most painfully, she watched as the fake walked through the halls of the place she called home, with the man she held closest to her heart.

"Heath, I have a question."

"Yes, my lady?"

The two of them were in Soley's room. Heath was helping the lady prepare for the grand party happening later that day.

"What would you do if someone confessed their romantic feelings for you?"

"Oh, no. No, no, no. You're not doing this to me."

The butler dropped the brush he was holding, freezing in place as he locked eyes through the mirror with the girl in front of him. "I, uhm, I-I beg your pardon?"

"If someone confessed to you, what would you do?"

"Heath, don't answer that!"

The more the questions popped up, the wider Heath's eyes went. His brows furrowed. He suspected everything would've been a joke, but the look in Soley's eyes told him they weren't. And so, putting his heart on his sleeve, he opened his mouth in response.

"I suppose it would depend on my own feelings as well, my lady."

"What do you mean?"

"I will be happy and accept the confession of the person if I also feel the same way for them as they do for me."

"But if you don't, then..."

"Then, no, I'm afraid."

The lady sitting in front of the mirror removed her gaze from Heath and placed it on another. Soley's ghost gasped in surprise when she realised her impostor was staring directly at her, a smirk on her face forming before she opened her mouth and spoke to the butler again, her eyes not looking away from the spirit.

"What about me?"

"... my lady?"

Soley got off the chair and approached the butler, who stood still in confusion. She reached out and held both of his hands in hers, longingly staring at his eyes.

"What if I tell you, Heath, that I have feelings for you? Would you accept them?"

"My Lady, I—"

"Don't worry about your job, Heath. It's secure, and I'll keep it that way no matter your answer. I just want to know how you feel about me."

"No, please. Don't do this to me...! Y-You can't take Heath away from me, ple—"

"I..." The butler paused for a moment. And at that moment, all of his precious memories with his lady rushed through his head, displaying themselves one-by-one.

Heath stared into Soley's eyes just as she had hoped he would. His breathing quickened the more he realised the weight of the situation. But that was a moment he had always been waiting for. The moment he thought would never come. Not even in a million years.

"... I love you, Soley."

"What do you suppose happened to Soley's soul up in the human world?"

"Everything went according to plan, Young Master. Lady Soley had seen her life taken away from her, including the one she felt romantic feelings for. She is currently on a breakdown as we speak."

"What about MC?"

"MC is doing better than before. Their bond with the brothers has deepened greatly."

"Good. Perfect. ..... It's time to find a new exchange student. This time, let's hope they won't be as troublesome as the previous one. And even if they are, we can count on MC to handle it."

"Of course, my Lord. I will prepare the papers."

The moment the Seven Rulers of the Underworld and their human master returned from their family vacation, they were met with stacks and stacks of papers with information about new candidates for the exchange program. As the prince and his butler expected, a tsunami of complaints and disagreements washed over them. After a long while of discussions, everyone agreed to close the exchange program temporarily until they could find the perfect students for it.

Little did they know, a human sorcerer was watching them from his crystal ball in the human world. The moment his deep blue eyes glowed, a piece of paper appeared in his hands. He studied its contents for a moment before placing it in an envelope, a smile appearing on his face as he held the letter out towards the white raven that rested on its perch.

"Deliver this to the prince of the Devildom. Tell him I'm interested in his so-called exchange program."

"Your wish is my command, Lord Ceowald."

「 LOUE'S LETTER | THE END.

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Loue's Note:

Whether you've been here since the beginning, or you've just stumbled upon this story recently, I thank you so, so much for taking the time to read this! Thank you for the ones who supported me all the way (you know who you are) ! I'm really grateful for the wonderful reactions I've received! ♡♡♡

Forget-Me-Not has reached its end; but just as one story ends, another one begins. I hope you look forward to my next replaced mc au!

I give you lots of hugs and wish you the sweetest of dreams whenever you fall asleep.

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[tnbc-thoughtsandheadcanons]

Helloo! Do you have any headcanons of what Jack and Sally would act like drunk.? and their reactions seeing one another drunk? I’ve never seen any headcanons for this lol but I still think they would be cute no matter what!

I normally don't make these types of headcanons, but I guess I can give it a try..!

Jack:

He gets real giddy and starts to sing a lot without even realizing it.

Out of the two of them, he tends to be more of the lightweight.

He forgets about some things when he's drunk, like becoming less aware of how tall he is, and will accidentally hit his head more on doorways than he usually would.

He does get some pretty outside-of-the-box ideas for Halloween, so there's that.

It's a striking comparison to his usual dapperness - as he gets a little disheveled during these times.

He's prone to suffering from hangovers and will get awful headaches the next morning.

He still scares extremely well while he's drunk, but has a bit less control over himself and what he does, so he tries to avoid it.

Sally:

She gets even more unsteady with her feet and is guaranteed to trip and/or fall if she doesn't have any assistance.

^ Her stitches come out especially sloppy like this, so she usually has to fix them at a later time.

The giggly type, she finds a lot of things and jokes funny when she's in this state.

She becomes particularly clingy and will hold onto + be close around Jack until she sobers up again.

She passes out when they get home and sleeps really well on these nights when they're tippling.

Her limbs seem to have a mind of their own and will do things she's not aware of, usually being mischievous or sneaky.

More Headcanons:

Jack makes sure to stay extra close to Sally while she's like this so he can help balance her and prevent any accidental falls or detaching limbs.

Sally always provides some remedies for Jack's hangovers and will care for him until he recovers.

They feel extremely comfortable with each other and will drink together sometimes, they tend to talk a lot and have lengthy conversations that don't make a lot of sense.

They kiss and make out a lot while drunk, becoming more physically intimate than they normally would.

Bonus: This doodle from the official crew