#I dunno I’m sorry my mind feels a bit in a haze so I’m kinda fucked up HA

[helpimhyperfixating]

How do you think naga!jotaro would be like? Like would him and Mer!jotaro be similar or they both pretty different I’m curious on what you think of the big snek man >:3

They would both be different but also very much the same

For both are still Jotaro. He’s still the same stoic man, and given my take on hybrids in general he would also have similar instinct fuelled emotions like Mertaro has. But it’s still vastly different.

But as I said, it’s still Jotaro. So for instance that massive instinct to protect? No matter what hybrid I write, that’s inherently Jotaro so that will always be there.

I have requests for the big snake man (and wanted to tackle the au myself as well for a long time) already so he is coming, you can count on that :3

Big tail tho, very good, very nice cuddling to be curled up in it >:3

It’s just a vastly different environment and capabilities between those two. Both amazing in their own right, which is why snek boi deserves his own story 😌

[darkficsyouneveraskedfor]

Code of Conduct 2

Warnings: this fic will include elements, some dark, such as cheating, noncon/dubcon, and other untagged triggers. Please take this into account before proceeding. It is up to curate your online consumption safely.

Summary: your boss has a difficult time keeping his personal life from bleeding into his work. 

Characters: Steve Rogers, this reader is known as Rosie.

Author’s Note: Please feel free to leave some feedback, reblog, and jump into my asks. I’m always happy to discuss with you and riff on idea. As always, you are cherished and adored! Stay safe, be kind, and treat yourself💜

💼Part of the Bad Bosses AU💼

"This is a nice place," you look around a the brunch bistro and rub your arm. The upscale venue isn't your usual joint. You're a grab and go girly aside from your girls' nights. 

"Peggy likes it," Mr. Rogers spreads his shoulders wide as he peruses the menu in his hand, dwarfing the patio style chair, "I'm more of a pub food guy but guess it's a bit early for that." 

"Oh, well, thanks for bringing me," you smile, "I... I don't eat out a lot." 

“No?” He wonders, “guess it’s no fun eating alone,” he chuckles and tilts his head, “kinda why I asked you to come.” 

“Uh, yeah, I don’t mind so much but I’m a homebody. I like to sit at home with Mitzy and knit.” 

“Mitzy?” He narrows his eyes, “so not a husband, a girlfriend. 

You chortle, “my cat.” 

“Oh,” his cheeks tinge a little pink, “right, the picture on your desk.” 

“Yeah, her,” you smile broadly, “she usually steals my yarn though so I don’t get much done.” 

“That’s cute. Peggy doesn’t like pets,” he sits back and puts down the menu. “I cat sat for Bucky for a week back when we were engaged...” 

“Mr. Barnes has a kitty?” 

“Don’t let his hard exterior fool you, he’s not as bad as he looks,” he scoffs. “So...” he slaps his chest and drags his hand down to his stomach, “getting peckish? Whatcha thinking of getting?” 

“Hmm,” you lean forward and browse the offerings, “maybe the beet salad.” 

“Beets?” He makes a face. 

“Uh, yeah, my mom always used to have beets. I dunno.” 

“Oh yeah, you’re close with your mom.” 

“Was,” you keep your eyes on the menu, “she... passed.” 

“Uh, wow, I’m sorry. I...” 

“It’s fine. Oh, reminds me, I sent your mom her flowers for the month. Lilies.” 

“Ah, thanks. Yeah, I should call her,” he says, “but lately, I just haven’t had a chance. Every time I do, it’s just another argument with Peg--” 

He stops himself as the server returns. Your chest pangs in sympathy. Peggy hadn’t sounded happier earlier. You wonder why. Marital stuff. You’re not so sure you ever want to find out. 

“Do we know what we want?” The pretty redhead smiles. 

“Ladies first,” Mr. Rogers gestures to you. 

“Oh, sure, um, could I get the beet salad?” You say. She scribbles on her pad and looks at Mr. Rogers. 

“Ah, sure, I’ll get the roast beef with the caesar salad, dressing on the side please,” he smiles and offers his menu, “oh, and a refill on the coffee.” 

“Sure thing,” she takes both menus and heads off.  

You turn your attention to the window and look at the flower boxes just on the other side. Your eyes wander up to a passerby walking a tiny white dog and you grin. You continue to watch the world pass by, a serene glaze rolling over your vision. 

As the waitress returns with the carafe to fill Mr. Roger’s cup, you sit up and blink away your haze. He smirks over the rim of his cup and sips. You give a guilty shrug. 

“Sorry.” 

“No, it was... it’s fine. You looked... peaceful,” he says, “what are you thinking about?” 

“Nothing, really, croissants.” 

“Croissants?” He muses as he places his mug on the table. 

“Yeah, for next weeks meeting. Croissants or scones.” 

“Both?” He suggests. 

“That works,” you agree. 

“Hm, you look like that, thinking of work?” 

“I was thinking but not,” you say.  

“Right,” he nods and looks down glumly. “Wish I could get my mind to stop.” 

“Mm, I guess... I guess you’d have a lot to think about.” 

“Well, I can’t complain, you take care of most of it,” he runs his fingertips along the cup handle, “you really do just make everything easier. I never have to worry about you, Rosie.” 

“It’s my job,” you trill. 

“And you do it well and with a smile on your face. Some days... that smile keeps me sane,” he says. 

It’s your turn to blush. He can be so cheesy. You’re quiet, not sure what to say. You should thank him, maybe? 

“Well, what about a gift basket?” You cheep. 

“Huh?” Confusion lines his forehead. 

“Oh, my, sorry, I was thinking out loud,” you giggle and sit forward, “for Mrs. Rogers? She seems stressed, you too. You could send her a surprise and maybe... maybe take her somewhere nice. Not a restaurant, too busy but—but--” you keep yourself from rambling and press your fingers to your lips as you cup your chin. “Sorry.” 

“No, no, I like it. A gift basket, yeah, chocolates?” 

“She likes vanilla lattes so maybe a gift card too? She can treat herself.” 

“How do you know that?” He asks. 

“She always sends me for one when she comes in,” you shrug, “I’m more into the cinnamon dolce myself.” 

“Cinnamon, hmm, me too,” he agrees. “Where we you thinking I should take her?” 

“Oh, now I think of it, it might be expensive,” you cringe and drop your hand to the table. 

“She’s my wife, I shouldn’t worry about the money,” he says, “so?” 

“I’ve never been but um, like, a spa? Or maybe a massage place? A couples’ massage? Get the tension out?” 

“Mhmm,” he nods and his eyes narrow, “that isn’t a bad idea.” 

You grin and twiddle your fingers restlessly. Now that you can smell the kitchen, you are pretty hungry. You jitter your leg under the table as Mr. Rogers toys with his tie. 

“Too bad,” he says, “any man would be lucky to call you their wife. Maybe one day, huh?” 

[tomurasprincess]

Greeting! 👉❤️👈 anon here! I had a really strange dream recently and thought I’d share what I remember. Maybe give you ideas or entertain you. (Some parts don’t make sense though.) It’s not too explicit and detailed (escpecially the sexual parts) but kinda long.

Fair TW warning there is or might be:

kidnapping, dub-con/non-con, mindbreaking, stockholm syndrome, forced pregnacy, manipulation, pregnancy sex, blood, implied death

I was in the BNHA universe and in the city at a bar waiting for my sister. Then comes someone (I don’t specifically remember which character sadly) offers me a drink and foolishly dream me accepts it. We have a nice chat while we drank. Dream me thought he was pretty nice and sweet. Suddenly he takes my arm and walks me out of the bar dispite my rebuffs. I tried to escape but his grip was too tight. I even though I don’t remember the kidnapper’s face I had a feeling he’d kill me easily.

He took me to a tall building what I assumed to be his home. When I was in his home (don’t remember if it was a penthouse or apartment) he sat me down, leaving and returning with pen and paper. He wanted me to sign a contract for some reason. My reaction was ‘what kind of 50 shades of Grey bullshit is this?’ since it reminded me of it. It had a couple of pages to some I don’t recall the text because I skimmed through it (I got the feeling he wanted a family or something). I only remember dream me signing it because I was in intimidated by my kidnapper, glaring daggers at me. I was nervous he’d through me through the window and let me fall to my death if I didn’t.

After I signed it he grabbed my phone then took out a flashlight and told me to follow the light. Felt like I was at a doctor’s appointment again. He then added in that if I took my eyes off it he’d punish me. I did my best but my eyes were drawn to the large window in the bathroom, taking my eyes off the light.

He turned off the flashlight saying, “You took your eyes off it” with narrow eyes.

There was a low grumble to his voice and scary. Like he was going to kill me. I apologized so much to him. As much as I wanted to fight and escape right there part of me was too terrified to do that, thinking I’d be killed in the process. So dream me acted submissive as a method to lower his guard and gain his trust.

Luckily he forgave me, telling me “Don’t do it again” in sickly sweet tone.

The flashlight thing went on until he was satisfied. I really don’t know why he used it I think it was a method to see if the girl he kidnapped was submissive to his liking. (I thought using the flashlight was kinda dumb but at the moment I was too nervous.)

He picked me up bridal style and took me to the bathroom, propping me on the sink (I guess doing it on the couch wasn’t a good location to him). The sexual bit here was nearly a blur. I know that he kissed me and my body, and I almost felt everything. Warm and good. That burning stretch and fullness. My arms laced around his neck to pull him closer, enjoying every moment. Is this kind of dream possible? During that moment I was almost convince it was real and accepted my fate. I still wanted to escape strangely enough. He finally cums and I felt gross but loved it, knowing his intent on getting me pregnant. When that happened I know I was crying out how happy I was and how much I wanted his baby and to be a mom (even though we just met). With me in his arms he took me to his bedroom to rest.

A timeskip happens (a couple months?) and I was still with my kidnapper. Surprise surprise the barstard did get me pregnant. At this point really I don’t know if he actually mindbroke me (and I got stockholm syndrom) or I was keeping up the loving partner act then make my escape. Here was what I knew I could move around but couldn’t leave his home, and my phone was thrown out the minute I signed that damn contract.

I was waiting nervously in the bathroom, looking at the baby bump. Now that I was pregnant I had to worry about the baby. If I left I’d be free but endanger my family. If I stayed I’d be of course stuck, never see my family, but the baby would have a father (as messed up as dream me reasoned). I dunno why I didn’t straight up and walk out the door since it wasn’t heavily secured, but I think I was scared putting the baby in danger.

My kidnapper returned and as if my body was possessed I ran to him, hugging and kissing him, telling him “I missed you so much!” and “…how lonely I was”. He was in a good mood, rubbing my tummy and returning my kisses. I then ask if we could see my family or his, and that’s when his loving demenor shifted back into his cold and murderous one.

I don’t know word for word but he said ‘why would you want to? You have everything could you want here. Isn’t being with me enough to make you happy?”

I didn’t reply, afraid that any answer I’d give him would anger him. He seemed happy with my nervous display, picking me up to his bedroom. I was in his lap. Oddly enough excited, knowing what was going to happen. I didn’t seem to care that I was pregnant, wanting to please my kidnapper (I think he became my “husband”).

As soon as I knew it I was riding his cock (I can’t recall in super sexual detail so I don’t now if there was any lacatation kinks or anything. We were clothes through). My legs wrapped around his waist and arms around his neck. This pleasurable and warm sensation returned. I shouldn’t be enjoying it but I was.

I recall that I said I’ was sorry for making a stupid request and promise not to do it again’ adding in “I love you��s and “so happy being with you”.

Through the haze my kidnapper was saying that he was glad I learned my lesson, to not something stupid like that again, and that eveything was for my safetly and the baby’s.

We finish and he leaves. I manage to get my shit together and get some common sense to escape. There was a the large window that I could open in. My kidnapper sees me open it and tries to stop me with violent intent. I make a decision to jump out of the window.

I was falling quickly down, passing the buildings many floors. Instead of splatting on the ground my the speed of my fall slowly decreased (my quirk?). I safely landed and ran away from the building. I asked for help but most people ignored me. I tried to look for heros if they were on patrol but none were around. I asked this one man (again my brain fails to recall which character or who it was T-T). He was the only one that helps me try to get away. Apparently he witness me get kidnapped but didn’t do anything because how dangerous my kidnapped was, and he was surprised to see that I was still alive or managed go escape.

The man and I ran to a bridge. He had to carry me because I was getting tired and my feet where sore. My kidnapper ended up finding me somehow in the city, holding a knife. He somehow reached us in seconds, stabbing one of us. He pulls the bloodied knife away, glaring at me and leaving. When he was gone I felt something warm run down my belly. I then realized he somehow stabbed me in the stomach. I didn’t feel pain just the blood streaming out of my wound. The man and I were in shock of what happened. I was still in the arms of the man that helped me, leaning my head on his shoulder while I watched blood ooze out, wondering if the baby was alive or dead before closing my eyes.

Then I woke up.

That was basically my dream. It was interesting to say the least and was questionable in some parts. I think I’m reading too much erotica 😂. Glad it wasn’t real, and that I woke up in my actual bed unharmed. To be honest it was scary how close to real it felt.

My brain is still boggled which characters kidnapped me and who tried to save me. I’m still trying to figure out which fit the bill. I think

Sorry for the flipping long dream sum. It kinda reminded of you and I wanted to share it. Hope you’re doing well and staying safe!

-👉❤️👈

Oh my god, I envy this dream too. I rarely remember my dreams, especially not in so much detail. This was really amazing to read, thank you for sharing.

I honestly have a series in mind for Shigaraki once I free up my requests/to do fics that includes forced pregnancy, Stockholm syndrome, and mindbreak. 👀

[robinrunsfiction]

Okay but basement gerard being in awe that he can get the reader off with his fingers (female pronouns if thats okay :) )

Experiments

Pairing: Gerard Way x Female Reader Rating: Mature (light smut) Requested By: Anon Word Count: ~1900 Author’s Note: I really liked working on this story! Sometimes writing smut can get difficult because I feel like I’m writing the same thing over and over, but this request gave me a different focus

You and Gerard sat on the cool ground next to the pond hidden deep within the park that was halfway between each of your homes. It was where you regularly met up to hang out and pass time together, but when you called him today to see if he was free, you had something specific in mind. You had been chatting happily about a movie that was coming out soon, but now there was a lull in the conversation so you decided this was your chance.

"Hey Gee, can I ask you a question? It's ok if you don't wanna answer," you asked. You couldn't help how the words came out, but they seemed anxious.

Gerard shifted nervously at your sudden change in tone. "Umm, yea, of course."

"What do guys think of girls with no experience, if you know what I mean."

Gerard's mind went blank for a moment before the question registered. "Oh! Umm, I dunno. I mean, I umm don't have much experience either, so I don't pay attention when other guys are talking about stuff like that. They can be kinda gross."

"Oh," you paused, considering the next question on your mind. The real question that you were beyond nervous to ask. "Because I was thinking... ya know how last year I went out with Scott? Well we didn't do anything, umm, under the clothes ya know, and I kinda wanna at least... have a little more experience in that regard before we move into the city for school. So I was wondering if," you drew out the last word, before closing your eyes so you wouldn't see his reaction, "you wanna maybe experiment a little bit? Together?"

When you opened your eyes again and glanced over at Gerard, his cheeks were rosy red, much like your own, and he wore a look of surprise. "Really? Me?"

"Yea, I trust you Gee. We've been friends for a long time and we don't have to go very far if you don't want and if not, that's ok -"

"I'd love to," he said, cutting you off. "I mean, I'm happy to help," he smiled nervously. "Sooo, when do you wanna start?"

You swallowed hard. You would climb in his lap and start making out with him immediately, but that would make your feelings for him obvious, and you wanted to keep those separate. You liked Gee, a lot, but you were pushing those feelings aside for the purposes of this endeavor. "Whenever," you shrugged, trying to appear nonchalant glancing up at him. 

He nodded and then started to lean in. Your breath caught in your chest as your lips met his. They were as soft as you'd imagined as they moved against yours. Then one of his hands was cupping your cheek, before sliding back to run through your hair. You leaned into him, clutching at his t-shirt, soft from years of wear. You decided to take things further as you deepened the kiss, as your tongues moved against each other. Your head was spinning as his other hand found your bare knee.

Suddenly you heard a noise in the distance, and even through your lust-filled haze, you realized people were coming up the path toward where you were. You pulled back and smiled at Gerard, who looked equal parts stunned and delighted as a family walked by on the path behind you.

"Wow, I, umm," he breathed as he ran his hand through his hair.

"So far so good," you smiled.

"Yea, do you wanna go someplace less... public?"

"My parents are home. Shit, I forgot I told my mom I'd be home for dinner tonight," you said glancing at your watch.

"Do you wanna come over to my place after?" Gerard offered.

You smiled as you tucked your hair behind your ear. "Yea, sure," you nodded.

"Cool," he replied, running his hand through his hair.

"Ok, I'll see you soon," you said getting up and Gerard scrambled to his feet as well. 

You and Gerard walked back to the park entrance in silence, your hands brushing occasionally, but you weren’t sure you wanted to grab his hand. You didn’t want to scare him off. Before splitting off and going your separate ways, you gave him a hug and headed home, your heart pounding in anticipation of the rest of the night.

When you got home, you tried not to rush through dinner with your family before running up to your room to change. When you went to prom the previous year with your boyfriend at the time, you bought a cute lace bra and panty set, but since things didn't go the way you'd planned, they remained unappreciated in your drawer. You pulled your shorts back on, and threw on a zip front hoodie. You took a moment to check yourself in the mirror before rushing to Gerard’s house.

You went around the back door like usual and rocked back on your heels as you waited anxiously for Gerard to let you in. It felt like forever when he finally opened the door, hair still damp, as he had apparently taken a shower.

“Hey, come in,” he greeted you, nerves evident in his voice as you followed him into his room. He shut the door behind you as you stood a few feet apart, unsure who should make the first move.

“Soo-” you started.

“(YN) can I tell you something before we go any further?” Gerard cut you off.

“Yea, of course, anything,” you replied.

“I just want you to know, I just wanna be honest… I really like you (YN), as more than a friend. If that complicates things and you wanna go, that’s ok.”

A smile broke out across your face. “That’s more than ok Gee. I… umm... the reason I asked you to do this with me was because I trust you and I like you too. I was trying to tell myself that I could pretend I didn’t have these feelings, but if there’s no reason to pretend I don’t, then...” you shrugged.

In an instant Gerard closed the distance between you, grabbing your face in his hands and kissing you deeply. When you pulled back for air you took a step back and unzipped your sweatshirt, letting it fall off your shoulders and onto the floor.

Gerard looked awestruck as he took a step toward you, tentatively placing his hands on your bare waist. “You’re so beautiful (YN),” he said softly.

“Thanks Gee,” you smiled, looking up at him through your lashes.

“Do you wanna,” he nodded toward his bed.

“Yea, sure,” you said, taking his hand and walking over, climbing onto the Star Wars sheets. He climbed in over you as your lips reconnected. You laid back as he caressed your side, seemingly unable to get enough of the feeling of your soft skin.

He pulled back and looked up at you. “Can I?” He asked, nodding toward your chest.

“Yea,” you breathed, as his hand connected with the lace material of your bra. His touch was gentle and he started to kiss on your neck. “Gee you’re making me feel so good,” you murmured.

“Good,” he said against your neck as he continued to press kisses against it.

“You can umm,” you said nodding down, and Gerard took the hint, reaching behind you to undo the clasp of your bra. He fumbled with it for a moment before it came loose and you discarded the garment.

“Shit,” he said under his breath. “Sorry, you’re just so beautiful, it’s… wow,” he said with a goofy smile, making you laugh.

“Again, you sure know how to make me feel good,” you smiled.

"That's all I wanna do. I wanna make my girl feel good," he said before leaning in to kiss you again.

Your mind was spinning again. 'My girl' he said. He called you his girl. You were so happy, you couldn't help but smile into the kiss.

Eventually his hand ran down your body to your hip. Desire and excitement was running through you, but this move made you nervous.

"Hey Gee," you said breathlessly. "I'm not ready to go all the way, but if you wanna… use your hands," you trailed off.

He looked up at you, and he smiled. "Yea, I can do that."

He sat back and you watched as he carefully unbuttoned and unzipped your shorts, as if he was unwrapping a present on his birthday. You lifted your hips as he slid the denim material down your legs, and he dropped them somewhere near your bra as he took in the sight of you laying in his bed, only in your underwear.

He smiled as he laid his body over yours, his thigh rutting between yours, and your hips moved against it, seeking friction. You and Gee made out like this for a while before he trailed his kisses down your neck and his hand found your hip again.

"Are you sure?" He asked.

You nodded. "Yea, really sure."

As he traced the skin just above the waistband with his fingers, you couldn't help the soft gasp that escaped your lips. He looked up at you wide eyed as you started to blush furiously. But then he slid his hand under the waistband and ran his fingers gently between your legs. Tentatively he let one finger trail down and then it dipped slowly into you. 

You let out another gasp and Gerard's eyes were back on you. "Are you ok? Do you want me to stop?"

"No, no, please don't stop," you moaned. 

He started to move his finger in and out as your legs spread further apart. You glanced down and saw Gerard was watching your reaction. Then you felt a second finger pressing in and you covered your mouth with your hand as another moan escaped your lips. Then after pumping in and out a few times, he brought his thumb to massage against your clit and your back arched off the bed. 

You had never felt this good from head to toe before, like every part of you was electrified. You had your eyes closed and bit your lip as the realization that it was Gerard, your friend, the guy you liked more than anyone else in the world, that was making you feel this way. Not much longer your back arched again as you came around his fingers, moaning his name.

As you opened your eyes, you glanced down at Gerard. He was looking up at you awestruck. "Gee that was incredible," you panted. "I've never felt like that before."

"Really?" He asked as if he almost didn't believe it.

"Yea," you nodded excitedly as he shifted up and kissed you again. He wrapped his arms around you rested your head against his chest. You both laid silently, enjoying the moment together.

"Gee?" You asked softly.

"Hmm?" He hummed.

"Did you mean it when you called me your girl?"

He looked at you adoringly and nodded. "Yea, I mean, if you wanna be?"

You nodded back. "Yea, I really do."

He replied simply by leaning in and kissing you deeply, a smile on both of your faces.

[catrasredemption-moved]

I asked about the whole superhero thing no i dont mind

TW: Blood, mentions of serious injury, drugs, vomiting 

Hey I just wanted to see if you’re

Delete.

I was wondering if

Delete.

You’re such a fucking idiot sometimes I swear

Delete.

Adora sighed heavily, staring at the blinking line mocking her in the text message box, Catra’s name adorning the top of the thread, the last text in the thread from Catra over a week ago - Looks like they’re replacing the door you broke. Still think they should leave it as a monument to your insanity

The blonde slumped back into her couch, staring at the ceiling, as if it would give her the words to fix whatever had broken between them.

“What am I doing wrong?”

There wasn’t a simple answer, unfortunately. Because Adora wasn’t wrong - she understood Catra wanting to help people. It was the whole reason she had signed up for army (and look how that turned out). But what Catra was doing was dangerous, and that hostage situation at the bank just proved how quickly something could go to hell. She’d been shot. She could have died.

And hearing her write it off as no big deal made Adora want to punch something.

She pressed her fist against her forehead for a long moment, then looked back at her phone.

You’re so annoying and I hate you and I miss you and I wish I knew how to make you understand that what you’re doing is dangerous and TERRIFYING and

Delete.

A heavy, single thud at the door drew Adora out of her haze. She waited for a moment, thinking it had been one of the neighbors, but then it happened again - one loud thunk against her front door. She set her phone aside and stood slowly, grabbing the baseball bat they left near the couch. She didn’t really need it, but she was alone for the weekend, and having backup never hurt, right?

Another, heavier thud. Adora stepped close enough to look out the peep hole. It was half blocked by something dark, although not in a way that seemed intentional. She braced the bat with one hand and reached out to open the door...

And almost screamed when whatever was out there fell with the door opening. A faint groan reached her ears; a slim hand wearing a fingerless glove braced against the doorframe. Adora dropped the bat and immediately threw the door open.

“H-Hey Adora,” Catra rasped with a weak smile. One arm was keeping her upright on the door frame, the other held protectively against her chest in a way that screamed ask me how many ribs are broken. Her goggles were hanging around her neck, lenses cracked. Her “patrol hoodie”, as Entrapta had endearingly called it, was ripped in several places, and Adora could see blood on the black fabric. Her eyes were glazed over, chest heaving as she panted and swayed. “Sorry, I... d-didn’t know where else to go...”

Her knees gave out. She dropped like a rock, only stopped by Adora quickly grabbing her and helping her stay upright. The hand left the door, clawed fingers digging into Adora’s shoulder instead, Catra’s face pressing into her shirt. She was shaking. Or maybe that was Adora. Maybe it was both.

Adora pulled her inside and kicked the door shut. Catra laughed breathlessly. “Thought we... talked about door kicking...”

“Shut up,” Adora said with no heat, bending over to tuck her arm under Catra’s legs and wrapping the other around her back. She picked her up, carrying her to her bedroom. “What happened?”

“Oh, ya know... stupid... vigilante stuff...”

Her voice was faint, wavering. “No, hey.” Adora nudged her a bit. “Stay awake. You gotta tell me what happened.”

She adjusted Catra so she could get a blanket off her bed, then carried her to the bathroom. “Just... Just gonna... make you mad...”

“It won’t.” That was a lie. But it didn’t matter. “It won’t, Catra, I promise. Just tell me what happened.”

They settled on the bathroom floor together, Adora wrapping Catra in the blanket and leaning her against the tub before getting the first aid kit out from under the sink. “That um... that gang, ya know? The Horde or whatever. The one with the shitty blonde pickpocket kid. Turns out they also got a big lizard guy.”

She shuddered as Adora helped her get her jacket off, then the long sleeved shirt. Catra wasn’t exactly an amateur vigilante, and she’d had an actual genius helping her upgrade her gear for months. Adora could feel the kevlar in the jacket and shirt. What the hell had they been using that cut through it so easily?

“Fucking baited me. Shitty pickpocket kid had some lady in a corner. Lizard took me down as soon as I hit him.” She hissed as Adora tugged off her binder - the last layer of her defense. The fur underneath was matted with sweat and drying blood, and there was definitely something shifting wrong under the arm she held close. “They got me pinned down ‘n’...”

She wiggled to free her other arm and tilted her neck to point out the fresh needle hole. Shit. “Dunno what it was. Kinda paralyzed me for a bit, though.”

“How long ago was that?”

“Fuck, I don’t remember...” Catra’s eyes fluttered, her head dipping. “Time s’it?”

Adora tucked her fingers under Catra’s chin to bring her head back up, and checked her phone. “Almost midnight.”

“Um... it was around six, I think? After Scorpia and Entrapta left.”

“Wait, they’re gone?” Adora demanded, momentarily distracted. “Do they know you went out?” Because that was the rule, Catra always told her roommates she was going out, and she stayed in contact with them. Entrapta had (happily) lost an entire weekend of sleeping souping up some earpieces so Catra could report back to them on a re-purposed police radio.

“They went home for the weekend.”

Home. Home for Scorpia was in the Fright Zone district of Grayskull, nearly three hours. Home for Entrapta was Dryl, just over two hours. There was absolutely no way Catra had been staying in contact with them.

“We’re not done with this,” Adora said fiercely as she started disinfecting the cuts. Catra hissed, gaze sharpening for a minute. “What happened after they drugged you?”

“I woke up in a warehouse and a bunch of ‘em took turns usin’ me as a punching bag and for target practice or somethin’.” Catra shrugged one shoulder wearily.”Think they’ve... figured out some of my tricks. There were no shadows.”

No shadows. Which meant no access to the Shadow Roads Catra used to easily escape. “How’d you get away?”

“They got distracted. They stayed really close at first, ya know, so I couldn’t break through, but a couple of them started swingin’ at each other. I got invisible and got out.”

She was so pale. It was scary. Adora tried to focus on patching her up rather than worrying about what wounds there were that she might not have been able to treat.

“M’d-dora?” Her voice was shaking, pupils shrunken to little pinpoints.

“Yeah?”

“Think I’m gonna be sick.”

Adora helped Catra turn and lean over the edge of the tub as she heaved, bringing up mostly bile. The drug, Adora was sure. She rubbed Catra’s back until the fit passed, and Catra collapsed against the ceramic, gasping. There was no blood, at least. That was good.

Catra drifted in and out of consciousness as Adora finished tending to the worst of her wounds, then carried her to the bedroom. She put one of her old army t-shirts on the smaller woman, who practically swam in the fabric. It wasn’t something she was too worried about Catra bleeding on.

“I’m going to get you some water,” she said as she tucked Catra into bed; a hand grasping her wrist stopped her.

“Stay?” Catra whispered, voice small. And how was Adora supposed to say no to that?

“Yeah. I’ll be right here. I promise.”

[aceavatar]

Warmth

18 yr old Aang x Female reader

Genre: FLUFF

Word count: 2417

Warnings: mentions of death

Dialogue like this: “hello” is speech

Dialogue like this: ‘hello’ is sign

Y/n was quiet.

Her voice was, but her mind wasn’t.

She was always thinking about something interesting. Science, history, agriculture, bending forms, legends, she knew about them all. But she never spoke of them.

She could physically speak, but mentally couldn’t. When a fire nation soldier almost ended her life, she couldn’t call for help. That’s how it all started.

She carried around paper, pens, and ink so she could communicate with people in the small fire nation village.

Despite being an earthbender, after the incident, she ran away. She ran until she found herself in a foreign village. Thankfully, a kind woman who owned an orphanage welcomed her with open arms and an understanding mind.

Y/n walked cautiously and blended in. She survived. She was pushing through, just letting the days pass in a haze.

She always felt like she was a puzzle that was missing a piece. For most of her life, she assumed it was her parents. While she had people who cared about her, it was never a parent’s love. Never love for her real self, never love just for her.

She gave up on it. When she turned 13 and the 100 year war ended, she decided that she would push her feelings away and travel.

After three long weeks of walking, you finally reached a stopping point. A beautiful little town was your stopping point, for now of course.

Using your bending, you made a little tent out of earth to sleep in. Next, you put all of your things in the tent and made a stone door so nobody could steal anything. You made your way to the small village that was a little ways away from camp to get some dinner from the market.

You admired the quant place, scanning your eyes around until you saw a fruit stand.

You gently walked over and looked at what was on sale. You picked out an apple, a pear, and some cherries.

“That’ll be four pieces.” The man behind the counter said, smiling.

Your face dropped. You left the money in your bag. You held up a finger, signaling him to wait a second.

“Everything okay, ma’am?” He asked.

You shook your head no, pulling your empty pockets out, showing you didn’t have money.

“Oh, I’m sorry, I can’t give it to you for free, my father would kill me.” He said with a frown.

“I got it!” A new voice said.

You and the fruit stand guy turned your heads to see the new person.

He was tall, probably around your age, wearing a hood covering most of his face, and had pale skin.

He dropped the four pieces into the stand guy’s hand and scooped up the fruit.

You put your hand to your chin and then move it down in front of you, signing a thank you.

“You’re welcome.” He said, easily understanding you.

You motioned your hand for him to follow you, and he did, carrying the fruit.

He followed you all the way to your little makeshift campsite.

“Hey, are you an earthbender?” He asked.

You nodded, gently taking the fruit from him and setting it down. You bent the tent door thing open and grab your bag, pulling out four coins. You held your hand out to give them to the boy. He just shook his head.

“It’s on me.” He said kindly.

You thanked him again, and offered him a cherry. He picked it up and smiled, putting it in his mouth as you put one in yours.

You grabbed your writing supplies and started to write.

While you did that, the boy earthbended a little seat for him to sit on, in front of the fire you hadn’t made yet.

Hi! My name is y/n. I don’t speak. Thank you for paying for me.

You handed him the paper and he read it. “Nice to meet you, y/n! My name is Aang. You’re very welcome. When traveling, you can rely on the kindness of strangers.”

Maybe when you’re the avatar.

You wrote down, jokingly of course, with a smile.

He laughed and pulled his hood away from his face, feeling comfortable around you. “That is true.”

You grinned at him, tossing him another cherry.

“Want me to start that fire for you?” He asked.

You nodded, glad you wouldn’t have to figure out how to light it yourself.

He quickly sent a little flame into the wood, which lit up.

You signed thank you, again.

“I can read sign, you know.” He said.

You smiled.

‘Thank goodness.’

He smiled at you. “So, what has got you traveling?” He asked.

‘Needed to get away. Lived in an orphanage. Need to find myself.’ You signed.

He nodded. “I understand needing to get away.”

‘Is that why you travel?’

“Yeah.”

‘What happened?’

He looked hurt by the question. You quickly shook your hands, signaling him never mind.

“It’s okay. I broke up with Katara.” He frowned.

‘You defeated firelord with her, right?’

He nodded. “I dunno. I thought she was the one.”

‘I’m sorry, Aang.’ You signed.

“It’s all right. I needed to get away too. And find myself, as well. I didn’t realize that until you mentioned it. She was a part of me.”

You nodded in understanding.

“So, enough about me and my sad stuff,” he said, brushing off the subject, “why are you looking for yourself?”

‘Sad stuff.’ You signed, making both of you laugh. It ended up turning a little serious, though.

“That’s why you don’t talk too?”

You nodded.

“I’m sorry for whatever happened. We are in an era of peace now. It will get better.”

‘Thank you for that, by the way.’

“My pleasure!” He laughed a little.

‘Soooo, how old are you?’ You signed, trying to get to really know this famous kid.

“Eighteen. Well, one hundred and eighteen technically.” He laughed, “you?”

‘18 as well.’ You smiled.

“Do you know where you’re going?” Aang asked you.

‘No.’

“Me either. Wanna travel with me?” He asked. “I kinda need a friend right now.”

‘Yes!’ You signed excitedly. ‘You’re my first friend.’

“Well y/n, I’m honored to have that title.” He said with a smile.

The two of you traveled high and low. He wore a hood because he was tired of constantly getting recognized. He enjoyed seeing everyone he met, but he just wanted to be a normal teenager for a while. It was about a month after you two met when:

‘Aang,’ you signed, tapping his shoulder.

He turned around and raised his eyebrows. His greyish eyes met yours kindly.

“Yes?”

‘Cold.’ You signed.

He nodded and bent a little fire in his hands, warming them. He then took yours and held them in between his.

You smiled and looked at him thankfully, mouthing the words thank you to him.

He smiled. That was the closest you had gotten to talking to him.

“How about we stop for the evening?” Aang asked. You nodded.

The two of you made yourselves your tents of earth, and you set up a little fire pit. It was cold; the two of you were traveling to the South Pole to see his friend Sokka. He said any friend of his was a friend of yours, and how you needed to meet them.

After eating a small dinner, the two of you said good night to each other and went to your tents.

You curled up on the ground in your sleeping bag, closing your eyes.

A few hours later, your eyes snapped open from a nightmare. You sat up, rubbing your eyes.

You sighed, bending open the tent door. A cold air whooshed in, chilling you to the bone. You glanced at the fire pit, which was barely smoldering any more.

You reluctantly stood up, wrapping your arms around yourself, and made your way over to Aang’s tent.

You knocked on the rock, hoping it would wake him.

It did not.

You sighed, deciding to open his door.

Inside, you saw him curled up in his sleeping bag.

You tapped his leg, hoping that THAT would wake him, but no.

That boy was a heavy sleeper.

You sighed, and decided to do something you never did.

“Aang?” You whispered. “Aang.” You whispered, more forcefully, shaking him a little.

His eyes snapped open, and he sat up abruptly. “Y/n, are you all right?” He asked, worried.

You nodded, signing, ‘cold.’

“Here, come on in.” Aang said, bending the tent to be a little bit bigger, scooting to the side so there’d be more room.

You stepped in, and sat down next to him. He closed the door and made a little fire in his hands, illuminating the dark little tent.

You both looked at the flame, then at each other.

Aang looked back down and passed the flame to one hand, bending water from the air with the other.

He put the two together, making a “tsssssssss” noise, making steam.

Warm steam.

You smiled, inhaling the warmth.

“Now, sleep? We’ve got a long day tomorrow.” Aang said after a minute.

You opened your eyes and looked at the boy holding a flame so you could see each other. You nodded and smiled at him, and he smiled back.

“Sleep next to me, we’ll both be warmer.” He said tiredly, patting the area beside him.

You nodded and lay next to him.

In the morning, the two of you woke up, arms and legs tangled together.

You never knew how much you loved affection until that day. You just never had it, and you didn’t know what you were missing until then.

“Good morning, y/n.” Aang said tiredly.

“Good morning, Aang.” You said back.

He sighed, then opened his eyes in realization.

“Y-you, you said something!” He gasped. He really loved the sound of your voice, he wanted to hear it more.

“I did,” you murmured, looking at him.

He beamed and hugged you tight, feeling pride and lucky that he was the first to hear what you sounded like. He felt special. It made him tear up a little.

“I love your voice.” He said.

“I love yours too.” You replied quietly, still not having found your voice quite yet.

It was weird for you, speaking was. But it made Aang so happy, and it made communication easier, so you stuck with it, even though it was still mixed with sign, and took some getting used to.

“We’re almost there.” Aang commented.

“It’s getting dark though.” You said.

Aang nodded, making a flame in his hands. It emitted light, but not quite enough.

He sighed, “Where’s Appa when you need him!”

‘Appa?’ You asked.

He nodded. “My flying bison.”

Your jaw dropped, you had never seen one before. To be fair, you hadn’t really seen much at all, but you knew Appa was a rarity.

“I can’t wait to meet him.” You whispered.

“He’s gonna love you!” Aang grinned, throwing an arm around your shoulder.

He discovered you loved being touched, so he decided when he could, he’d be close to you and physical, whether it was bumping shoulders, leaning on each other, or sharing warmth from his hands. He really liked making you happy. In fact, he hadn’t even thought about Katara since he started traveling with you.

While he loved his friends dearly, you were the breath of fresh air that he needed.

“Camp?” You asked Aang.

“Yeah.” He said, setting his bag down. You set yours next to him, and you made the tent for the night. It wasn’t so big you couldn’t feel the heat, but it wasn’t super cramped either.

The two of you walked in and sat down. You eagerly held out your hands, dying to feel warmth from Aang.

He closed his eyes and breathed out of his nose, steaming up the tent. He then reached out and took your hands in his and warmed them.

You smiled at the feeling, both of the warmth and his hands.

“Let’s put our sleeping bags together tonight, what do you think?” You asked Aang.

He nodded. “Good by me.”

The two of you got situated, facing each other. You decided to take another risk. You cuddled into him, moving your arms around his waist and pulling him closer.

It surprised him a little, but he certainly didn’t mind. He pulled you closer, and you put your head on his chest, his rested on yours.

You sighed, smiling a little bit. “Your heart’s racing.”

“So’s yours.” Aang commented back, making you laugh a little.

You gently drew circles onto his back under his shirt with your now warm hands. He closed his eyes happily.

“Hey, what happened here?” You asked, feeling a scar.

“Lighting. From Azula.” He murmurs.

“The princess?”

“Mhm.”

“I’m sorry.” You said.

“Don’t be. I survived.” He smiled a little bit.

You looked up at him, making him glance down at you to see what you were doing.

“I like your eyes.” He says absentmindedly.

“Thank you,” You laughed. “I like your tattoos.”

He laughed a little too, then went back to the moment.

He gently put his hand on your cheek, making you close your eyes.

Now it was his turn to take a risk.

He moved down and gently kissed you.

You slowly opened your eyes with a smile on your face, only to see a bald blushing teenager.

“I’m sorry, I-”

You cut him off with another soft kiss.

“I really like you.” He finished his sentence.

“I really like you too.” You said back.

He smiled and hugged you tighter, closer to him.

The only thoughts going through Aang’s mind were how lucky he was that you were his. How he thought he had his life figured out, but when it turned upside down, he realized something. Maybe it wasn’t right side up to begin with. You stabilized him, and gave him the love that he lost over one hundred years ago. That hurt spot in his heart, not from the lightning, but from losing his people, almost went away when he was with you. Especially when you were in his arms and when your lips were on his.

That was a feeling he never wanted to let go of.

You were a puzzle.

You found the missing piece.

The feelings you pushed away came rushing in.

You felt happy.

You felt special.

You felt loved.

You were happy.

You were special.

You were loved.

[baekchelor]

𝕕𝕒𝕪𝕤 𝕠𝕗 𝕕𝕖𝕔𝕖𝕡𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟

pairings: George Mackay x reader genre: romantic comedy rating: pg13 synopsis: on the set of his new film, golden boy George Mackay learns a basic human truth: that the heart is deceitful above all things.

❝ have  you  ever  been  in  love? horrible  isn’t  it?  it  makes  you  so  vulnerable.  it  opens  your  chest  and  it  opens  up  your  heart  and  it  means  that  someone  can  get  inside  you  and  mess  you  up.❞                                                                                                                         ―neil  gaiman

ONE | SCRIPTS & BONDS ◄ ᴘʀᴇᴠ

The first read-through for Dharma happens three weeks later at a film studio in London. Although George allowed Daisy to sleep at his place last night, he didn't even say goodbye when he walked out on the girl deeply asleep on the wrong side of the bed. He wanted to be early as usual, and leaving coffee ready on the kitchen counter didn't fall bellow a No-Strings-Attached relationship, so he didn't bother. There are only Greta Gerwig and some staffers to greet when he's ushered into the venue.

"Y/N isn't here yet," George observes, tired blue orbs scanning the room.

"Don't worry," Alma smiles. She's already slipped a coffee cup into his hand, the way she always does in work mornings when she's well aware George is still half-asleep. The boy snickers to himself, his manager is so predictable. "She'll be here."

"She's probably still with Henry," George surmises. Y/N isn't known as The Witcher’s princess for nothing.

Alma shrugs, encouraging to slurp his Americano and mind his own business. George is well aware this chat makes him look foolish and inexplicably jealous. Thankfully, Alma gossips along, "I don't doubt for a second she may have slept with him last night. But she won't be sleeping in, I can guarantee you that." George tilts his head, asking for more in tell. Alma's red-stained lips stretch open in a yawn. "She always comes on the dot, apparently. Never early, never late."

More interested than he should, and with an amused grin, he consults the time on his phone. Nine o'clock. "Thirty more minutes, then." He places the iPhone on the table in front of him, next to his script. "Let's time her." Alma chuckles, shaking her head. George plays dumb, opting to dramatically smell his coffee before proceed and take another sip from his cup. He picks up the thick white booklet, lines already colour-coded per actor, and starts to read through it.

Dharma is set in 1857 India. Aakesh, a penniless Hindi boy —portrayed by Dev Patel, the main lead— has always known his social standing is a consequence of wrongdoing in his past life. Y/N plays Marina, a wealthy Spanish girl Aakesh believes to be his past life love and the trigger of his attempts to clean his karma. George's character becomes involved when Colonel Edmund Thorn (Michael Fassbender), concerned about the safety of his fianceé, Marina, assigns James as her personal guard. They fall in love.

Thumbing through the middle section of his script, where the plot starts to thicken, it suddenly dawns on George how much acting this movie is going to require of him. His character demands him to declare his devotion to Marina with mere gazes, words few. Still, each movement of his body vociferates a heartfelt love, deepest that any he's ever impersonated.

George closes his eyes, trying to get in character. He imagines himself having this conversation with someone he desperately loves. He pictures Daisy in his head. Her thick, ash blonde hair and smiling eyes, the pink warm of her cheeks and the heat of her mouth when he kisses her.

It feels like cheating, though, because his character is supposed to be in love with Marina, and although Daisy is a girl he enjoys spending time with, he is not in love with her.

George's sigh exits in a long, laboured stream of breath.

"Everything all right?"

The voice is sweet, with an upward lilt to it. It sounds hesitant too, but like it's trying not to be.

The boy looks up. Y/N is studying him, dark-haired and flushed, the expression on her face shy.

"Oh, hello there," George smiles, clearing his head of its haze. He rises from his seat and extends a hand. "I'm George."

"I know," she giggles, holding it. Her palm is cold, whereas George's is warm. "I'm Y/N. I really admire your work. I’m a big fan… Probably had seen all your movies."

George can't help feeling a little sheepish at that. "Thank you," he says. Their arms fall back to their sides. "Same here. Without the 'I'm Y/N' part," he jokes, and he wants to slap himself for being that lame.

"Geo’s friend is a big fan of your boyfriend," Alma quips from behind her. She's too practical to ever get star struck. "I'm Alma, by the way. Geo's manager."

Y/N smiles charmingly as she shakes Alma's hand. And George finds himself in a daze, he loves the way she behaves, how her voice sounds like and the welcoming aura she irradiates.

<< The fuck is wrong with you?>>

"Nice to meet you, Alma." She turns back to George and smiles wider. She has small, pink lips; like petals. "I can arrange a meet and greet if you'd like."

"Thank you," George says, smiling back in spite of himself.

Y/N's eyes twinkle as she coyly shrugs her shoulders. She's wearing a tight little skirt George is sure Daisy owns too. It just doesn't look as good on her as it does on the girl who's currently in front of him.

"Whoa! Look at us getting along," she cheers, eyes transformed into two crescent moons, "Must confess I came prepared to try to break the ice." She seems to check herself then, pursing her mouth and laughing all of a sudden. "Sorry, that made it sound like we're going on a blind date or something."

George laughs along because her giggles are contagious and it is kind of funny. "We kind of are? We're playing star-crossed lovers and didn't even do a chemistry test. I'm pretty much going into this thing blind."

"Aren't we?" Y/N looks like she's glad to find someone in the same boat. "I was just telling--"

"Henry" George quips. His mouth stills awkwardly over the last syllable. He's not sure why he's letting himself be so familiar with this girl when they've only just met.

Y/N doesn't seem to mind, though. "Oh, no, no," she rolls back on her heels, "Henry and I are kinda...well..."

It puts George at ease for some reason. "Oh I see," he says affably with absolutely no bite to it, and Y/N's soft smile flashes again. "You were saying?"

"I was saying," she continues, "I was telling Dev about the no chemistry test thing, and he goes:" her voice fakes a man's voice, heavy British accent and everything, "you guys don't need it. Look at you both! Would look so good together.'" Y/N shakes her head a little, chuckling as she exhales. "I wasn't sure how to react."

"My friend Dean said the same thing," a smile creeps without George's consent as he confesses Dean's mischief. Y/N lets out a soft Oh. "I guess we just, I dunno-"

"You just have natural chemistry," Greta pipes up out of nowhere. She softly squeezes Y/N's cheek fondly. "Still on time, uh? You never change."

"It's all on Vanessa," she giggles with equal fondness. Vanessa is her manager slash personal assistant. George thinks the actress relationship with Greta is reasonable since they've worked together before in a movie he can't remember the name, but she stared alongside Timotheé Chalamet.

The director strikes up a bit of small talk about Y/N's last movie, The Selection, where she and Tom Holland bring the book to life in Netflix's screens. If George remembers it correctly, Holland plays a prince and Y/N portrays a commoner who is selected to compete for the prince's heart. The movie seems a cringe, but for some weird reason, George has decided to watch it once he gets home. Hopefully, Daisy will be gone by then, and the boy would stop at the convenience store to buy beer and popcorn.

George picks up his phone. Stealthily, he checks the time. Nine thirty-five. He and Y/N have been talking for approximately five minutes.

<<On the dot>>, he thinks to himself, recalling Alma's words. Then he hears his name. "Pardon?"

Y/N is saying, "I'll go sit with Dev. Catch up with you later?"

"Yeah, of course," due to his actor demeanour George can hide the disappointment trapped between his words. He understands she has to sit with Dev, their characters interact throughout the entirety of the film. "Do what you have to do."

"Talk to you later then," she shoots him a bright smile, her pink gums gleaming inside of it.

Greta is calling for the rest of the cast to take their seats around the square actors' table. Call it luck, but Dev and Y/N's sits are right across the chair labelled Mackay. The brit places his phone back on the table and slides into his chair.

"By the way," she says, turning around again. "Do I call you, George? Or..."

"Or?" flipping back to the first page of the script, he folds the cover back neatly as he questions the girl with his eyes.

"Your manager called you Geo." Y/N returns her inquisitive gaze. "That's your nickname?"

"Sort of," George laughs. "Very few people call me that way."

"May I?"

He shrugs, "Sure." As he rubs his palm over the script, he decides, on a whim, to try something new. How James, his character, calls her: "Ms Marina."

The crinkles in the corners of Y/N's eyes make the risk worth it.

"Okay," she says, walking backwards with her hands entwined. "Let's have fun today, Geo."

"Flirty Thirty” A gleam of the eye, a quirk of the lip, and it isn't Marina talking anymore, is Y/N tittering.

The room erupts in laughter. George's laughing the hardest of all.

"Y/N," Greta scolds half-heartedly. "Don't break character."

"Sorry, G," Y/N apologizes sweetly. "I thought I would break the ice."

Somehow, George finds himself smiling.

Today marks the fourth official Dharma read-through, and the tenth time they've gone over the entire script. George gets why Y/N is antsy; he is too. He can't wait to start filming in Mumbai, to smell the air of the streets, hear the whir of traffic and fast-paced Hindi. He can't wait to feel James in his bones in every take, the character encasing him, flesh and blood.

Fact is read-throughs are boring. So d*mn repetitive. George is just glad he's got perfect girl Y/N Y/L/N around to make things bearable.

Gerwig sighs in resignation. "Let's break for lunch," she says, addressing the entire group, "Reconvene in an hour."

George catches Y/N's eye and mouths, Padella? Y/N nods vigorously, flashing two thumbs up and a bright smile. The one the boy has grown fond of.

"I'm dying," George tells her a few minutes later as they walk to the restaurant. Luckily for both, it is near the film studio.

"Same here," she agrees. "One last read-through then India, here we come!"

"But we go through the script three times each meeting," George is half-whining, half-sniggering at the way Y/N's eyes roll to the back of her head. "We'll probably take even longer than usual today because of your little adlib."

"Sorry..."

"It was fun, though." Quickly, George reaches out to ruffle the hair on the top of Y/N's head. He wants to touch her. He just doesn't know why nor how and he doesn't want to make her feel uncomfortable. He cares too much for her. "Not a lot of laughs in this love story of ours."

Y/N doesn't bother smoothing down the mess. "Can you imagine loving someone as much, Geo?"

"Uhm..." George brushes a fingertip against his own fringe. He needs to get it trimmed before they start the live shoots. "I don’t know. Their love is something out of this world.”

"Yeah," Y/N watches the movement casually. "It is."

They get to the restaurant and the waiter, who is clearly a fan of hers, greets them enthusiastically.

"You two are so good looking," she gushes, but George knows the compliment is directed at Y/N. The waiter, who's tag reads Flo, merely is trying to be polite by her use of pronouns. "You get more and more dashing every time I see you." Y/N gives her the prettiest smile, and Flo enthusiastically looks at George, beyond happy for the reaction she got out of Y/N. George would be thrilled as well if the prettiest girl at Padella smiled at him in such a way...

<<What?>>

Padella has become a familiar haunt. They'd gone after the first read-through —when George discovered Y/Ns favourite food was any type of pasta— and every read-through after that, always ordering a dish they haven't tasted before and two glasses of wine. Not exactly in keeping with the diets, but George reckons these cheat days won't hurt. He and Y/N have taken to exercising together too, fitting in the gym sessions between their Dharma meetings and other schedules.

"I gained weight when I was a teenager," Y/N admitted during one of their workouts. "I had to work out to keep the weight off. Not like you." She'd smiled her sweet, bright smile, and George could imagine her being just as likeable with double the meat on her bones.

"I grow a beer gut like that," he'd told Y/N, snapping his fingers. "So I have to work it off, too."

In record time, Flo brings their dishes, leaving a courtesy starter on the table. George grabs his fork and swirls it through the fettuccini. It makes a pleasing, gooey sound as he incorporates the Pomodoro sauce.

"Oh, right, if I may Ms Marina," George says, giggling. The actress hums in return, mixing the contents of her own plate. "Do you want to come over for dinner tomorrow? My sister is cooking carbonara, your favourite."

"Oh my god," Y/N looks up from her dish, mouth-watering at the mere thought of her favourite food. "She won't mind me crashing your dinner?"

"No," George replies, slouching over his bowl. "She asked me to invite you."

"Really?" her orbs go a little round. "Why?"

A mouthful of bolognese disappears into George's mouth with a slurp, "I might have mentioned your love for Italian food."

Y/N takes a sip of her rosé, "Won't you mind me crashing your sibling dinner?"

"Nah," he smiles. “We're friends." He swallows the food he's chewed into the side of his cheek and tries not to meet Y/N's eyes. "I kind of like hanging out with you."

"Oh," she answers instantly, so blasé, pink across her cheeks. George adores it. "I kind of like hanging out with you, too."

George glances up then, and they share a knowing smile before going back to their food. It's oily and red, a little salty. George knows he's going to have to wash his teeth and throw a box of mints into his mouth before they go back to the read-through, but he doesn't care. It's delicious.

Their comfortable silence is broken when Y/N's phone rings inside her Rebecca Minkoff’s bag. She pulls it out, glances at the screen, and gestures to George that she's going to take it outside.

"I'll be right back," she says; tongue running over her teeth. The boy nods, just as Y/N answers the call and turns.

"Hey, H," George hears her say as she pushes through the door. "What's up?"

Cavill, he thinks to himself, sucking up to another curtain of fettuccini.

Fleetingly, he wonders if he should tell Y/N to bring a date—as in Henry. But the idea is pushed to the back of his mind when Flo comes by their table to ask if they would want more wine, and it doesn't resurface, not even when Y/N strolls back in from her private call.

In her pale silk blouse and tight little skirt, the one Y/N owns too, Daisy looks every bit as gorgeous as she does in her Basic House ads. George gotta admit. Yet he feels a little itch when he looks at her, it bothers him, so he focuses his attention on the other Daisy in the room. His sister.

She's setting down a plate of sour bread on his dinner table, her hair tied back in a ponytail. Luhan watches her lazily, admiring the classy decoration of the table. It looks out of a restaurant. Much better than Padella's.

"Since when my sister's become a chef?" he says playfully. His sister giggles in response, her attention too immersed in the preparations. She wants it all to be perfect. Scratch that, more than perfect.

Only then George returns his gaze towards the other Daisy, and he notices she's staring at him, a pout on her pretty red lips.

"Why not?" she asks. George wants to roll his eyes, but he's too polite to do so. He lets her continue the tantrum, "You know I used to have a poster of Henry Cavill in my old dorm, right? The whole time I was in University?" George barely nods. "So please, please, please, please, please... Please, George. Let me meet his girlfriend, hmm?"

"No," he answers. The hurt in Daisy's green eyes confirms he's been too harsh. He reaches up to tuck a loose tendril of hair behind her ear. She lets him do it, wearing a small and sweet smile. "I'll get jealous, baby," he lies in an attempt to soften his previous words.

She laughs, hiding her face as it turns a flattering shade of crimson. She's always been flattered by stuff like this and George doesn't understand why. They're not a couple, to begin with.

"Okay," she circles the table, fingers lacing into George's as she sits on his lap. She plants a kiss against his lips, "I'll get going then. Call me later?"

"Yeah," he pecks her on the tip of her nose and her eyelashes quiver.

The moment Daisy leaves, her namesake, George's sister Daisy, pops his head from the kitchen.

"You know, Henry is my celebrity crush too," her feet express her enthusiasm in small jumps. "I'm so excited!"

"You what?" George's nostrils flare, "Why every girl I know is infatuated with him?"

The doorbell rings before George can retort any further. His eyes flick over to the wall clock on impulse. 8PM. Of course.

"She's here," Daisy smiles, hands flapping at her sides. She combs back her hair, pauses, and repeats the action two more times.

It reminds George of the time he'd run into Brad Pitt backstage at an award show in Los Angeles. He was already famous by then, but he'd still tugged at the sleeves of his tux obsessively, hoping the jacket was sitting squarely on his shoulders, right before he'd said hello.

He walks to answer the door as Daisy places the pasta on the table. Y/N's standing in the corridor with a bottle of red in one hand.

"Ms Marina," George drawls, "Is that you, in my humble home?"

Laughing, Y/N kisses both his cheeks in greeting. George chuckles, taking the wine, and suddenly, he feels his face burning hot. "On the dot, as always."

The girl blushes. At least he's not the only one.

"Come on in," George waves her through the door. "My sister is dying to meet you." He can hear the hissed Geo! like a whip slicing through the air.

Y/N snaps her knuckles, a smile pulling up evenly on both sides, "Hello, Daisy."

A demure, cotton-soft voice replies, "Hello, gorgeous. It's so nice to meet you.”

"Likewise,” the actress beams.

Save for a few bites of pancetta, the serving plates look as though they’ve been licked clean.

"That was so, so good Daisy. The best carbonara I've ever had" Y/N compliments the cook. "Thanks for letting me try it."

"Any time" she replies, looking like a kid who's just been handed a present. George smiles at her, pouring both girls another glass of wine.

The night has gone well. Being the outgoing type, Daisy wasted no time in making Y/N  feel comfortable in her brother's home. She'd seated her next to George at the table, fussing over them both as she peppered Y/N with questions about her last two projects. She'd let slip that she'd watched every season of The Tudor's and Y/N's smile had been bashful.

"I loved Henry's work," Daisy had admitted, and George couldn't help but giggle at how quickly his sister's face coloured in bright pink.

George offers Y/N the last bit of burgundy in the bottle. When the latter declines, licking at the wine-stained seam of her mouth, he pours it for himself.

"You don't have to be so formal with me," Y/N tells Daisy, her tone already fond. George can tell she likes that. "I'm a big fan of Henry too. I had the biggest crush on him before I even met him." Her face is still a little rosy. She blushes really easily, and George likes it.

“It still feels weird. Henry is your boyfriend!”

"It's totally fine. Trust me," Y/N reassures her. "We can fangirl over him as Geralt every time you want. I don't mind."

Daisy squeals.

"Okay, enough girl talk." It isn't jealousy what makes George scoff. At least that's what he tells himself. He reaches into his pocket for cigarettes. "I'm just gonna go for a smoke, okay?"

Daisy’s pretty face pinches, "I wish you'd quit. Those things are horrible for you."

"I'll just have one," he bargains, sweet as honey. He pats his belly, crafting a compact sound. "I need it. You fed me too well, sister."

Y/N sniggers and Daisy rolls her eyes. Pointedly, she asks, "Do you smoke?"

"Sometimes," Y/N answers. “But I agree, it’s nasty.”

George watches as Y/N —the traitor—agrees with his sister, "Anyways, you should come with me so I can show you around."

"You shall," Daisy encourages.

“I don’t know,” the actress murmurs but George has already hooked his fingers behind her elbow and is half-hauling her out of her seat. "C’mon, let's go."

"Fine. Lead the way, Geo."

They take the elevator down to the pool area on the fifth floor, where smoking is permitted. George puts a cigarette in his mouth, holding his lighter in front of it, so the flame ignites it.

Y/N takes a long sigh. "Daisy is great," she says quickly. "She's so much like you."

"Thanks. I guess?" George exhales, the smoke curling in a ribbon of diaphanous white. "You’re still seeing Henry, uh?"

The other smirks. "You say that like you know it for sure."

"Alma likes gossip” George licks his lips. They taste of wine and olives.

The girl shrugs. "It’s kinda..." she answers. "It's on and off."

"Oh?" George blows a few smoke rings, rounding out his mouth and flicking his tongue to create the hole in the centre. "Mind if I ask why?"

"No particular reason," Y/N rushes the answer. "I’d rather not talk about it. Sometimes it... it just doesn’t work, ya know?”

Without thinking, George makes an offer he didn't realize was on the table. "Whenever it doesn't work," he says, "you should just hang out with me," he quickly continues, a little freaked, words rushing out, "and Daisy. Me and Daisy."

Y/N laughs, just once: its all gums and perfect pearly teeth. "Do you feel sorry for me?"

"Hardly, Mrs Prettiest Face On TV," George retorts mildly. Y/N laughs again, and George can't tell if she's sarcastic or earnest. Not that it matters. "It's just you and my sister got along really well, and I–"

"Thanks," Y/N cuts in. Her eyes are particularly feline in this light, and her voice is a degree more gentle than it was before. "I'll take you up on that."

She watches him smoke in silence for a few more minutes, the night air clouding with the filmy exhaust of his cigarette. When Y/N yawns, George stubs it out. Then he loops his arm around her waist.

Unconsciously, she leans into the touch. "It's weird," she observes, "that we didn't know each other two months ago."

"Really weird," George concedes, slightly buzzed from the wine and only half-aware that something has lifted between them. "I’m glad it's two months later."

In the days leading up to India, dinner at George's become a regular thing. Every two nights, Y/N will show up with something to add to the table: wine, desserts and beer, a floury baguette wrapped in paper or a basket of fresh fruit.

Sometimes Daisy joins them, and the conversation flows like blood through veins. At around midnight, Y/N will excuse herself to give the siblings their space but not before George extracts a promise from her to work out or watch a movie the following day. (She happens to love cinema as much as him.)

Other times, when Daisy is out with her boyfriend and the other Daisy isn't smouldering George with text messages asking him to dine with her, go to the movies with her, come to the theatre to see her, bla bla bla; George will chat idly with Y/N until the wee hours of the morning. The ice in their drinks will crackle and melt, diluting their colour, as they discuss their childhood dreams and the trajectory of their careers. They recount their upward climb in show business, the slow decline of some of their peers, and the fear that they might someday be in the same boat. They joke about their management and how both companies have long given up on damage control when it comes to their love lives.

George tells her more about caring, candid Alma, and Dean, his co-star and now best friend.

"Blake and Schofield are real-life BFF's?" George’s companion asks incredulously, "I stan so hard."

In turn, Y/N confesses him Sam Mendes is her absolute favourite director, and George promises to introduce them. She also voices about Henry, their ups and downs and the fact half of their circle of friends categorize their relationship as toxic.

"Keep that to yourself," Y/N adds after a brief lull. "I've never told anyone about it."

"They won't hear it from me," George swears, taking a gulp of watered-down Pilsen. He doesn't even tell his sister.

Dharma begins its live shoots three months after the first read-through.

Y/N and George are scheduled to film in Mumbai for four weeks. Alma informs George it's likely they will extend to six due to Greta Gerwig's infamous obsessive compulsiveness. His actors often end up filming simple scenes over and over again for days, because the director doesn't think the natural light or the colour of a couch or the feeling is quite right.

"Already cleared it with the boss," Alma shares brightly. She means the head of his management, who happens to love George, as all CEOs love their biggest star.

"Fine with me," the actor says. "I don't mind staying in Mumbai a little longer." He's worked with less pleasant directors than Greta before, and a little OCD won't take the fun out of filming with Y/N.

He's pleased to discover that the other feels the same way.

"Let's press for six weeks," Y/N says as they climb into the luxury car waiting for them at the airport. She speaks in a natural tone of voice, as though there isn't a swarm of fans screaming outside the vehicle. "I had only been here once, years ago, I lived in a small city near Mumbai called Pune for almost two months.”

"How come?"

"School stuff... I can't wait to rediscover India. Have you ever been?"

"Nope," George says, sliding off his sunglasses and running a hand through his hair. "Count me in on the exploration."

The way Y/N looks at him like he's her closest person in the world right now makes George's insides warm.

ɴᴇxᴛ►

@loulouloueh​

[krizaland]

Hcs for Zim liking someone he knows is with Dib

Ooh! Let the chaos begin!

Here’s the song I used btw

From the very first day you set foot in the skool, Dib’s eyes were on you!

You had it all! You were smart, funny, attractive, and even open minded!

Whenever someone bullied Dib for being weird, you would always stick up for him. You even listened to him ramble about his paranormal studies.

Dib was beyond overjoyed when he discovered that you also shared his love of the paranormal!

From that moment on, you and Dib were inseparable! You would always sit with Dib at lunch and tell stories of your paranormal encounters

Little did you know, Zim had also taken an interest in you.

Never had Zim expected a human to be so attractive! Just looking at you was enough to make his PAK spark like crazy!

Zim couldn't believe that a FILTHY human could be so beautiful! He had to know why you were so attractive! Every time he asked why you were so pretty you would always shrug it off and say you were born with it.

Eventually, Zim’s warped mind came to the conclusion that you weren't human at all. Clearly you were another alien in disguise!

After hours of research, Zim became convinced your were actually an Enchantling, an alien from the planet Enchantix.  

Enchantlings were renowned for being the most beautiful beings in the galaxy! Zim nearly fainted when he saw a picture of what they looked like.  When his PAK reactivated him, Zim knew there was no doubt about it!

You had to an Enchatling in disguise! There was no other explanation for your beauty!

As much as Zim hated feeling attraction, he took comfort in believing you were an Enchantling.

Since you clearly weren’t human, his attraction to you shouldn’t interfere with his mission.

Or so he thought.

The next day at skool, Zim couldn’t take his eyes off of you. All he could was imagine what you looked like under your supposed ‘disguise’.

His PAK sparked so much he got stuck to his locker for almost two minutes! It certainly didn’t help that you were the one who yanked him free.

“There we are! How did you get stuck up there anyway?” You asked sympathetically as you gently put him down.

Zim tried to speak but his words melted into gibberish.  It wasn’t long before,

WHUMP!

Zim’s face kissed the ground.

You let out a gasp. You were about to check up on him but there was no need.

“REACTIVATING!”

ZAP!

Zim’s PAK sent out a small electric shock and revived him from his trance.

Zim shook away the excess shock and rubbed his head.

“Oh my god! Are you ok?” You squeaked as you tried to hold out a hand to help him up.

“ZIM IS FINE! I-I mean, I’m perfectly fine! Yes! Perfectly fine!” Zim laughed nervously as he swatted away your hand.

“Okay then….Well since you’re ok, I was wondering if you’d like to sit with me at lunch” You offered gently.

Zim’s eyes widened and his PAK sparked once more.

“Eh?!”

“I know. I know. I usually eat lunch with Dib but he’s not here today. Plus I kinda want to get to know you better. Dib always says you’re an alien but I bet him 10 dollars I could prove him wrong.” You explained as you rubbed the back of your head.

And just like that, Zim’s bubble of euphoria popped.

“Dib” Zim spat out his name like it was poison.

He was so captivated by your beauty that he had forgotten that Dib liked to hang around you. Just the thought of Dib even being in the same room with you was enough to make Zim’s blood boil.  His hatred of Dib aside, he couldn’t risk him trying to expose you too!  Zim didn’t want to see your beautiful guts spewed all over an autopsy table!

“So…Is that a no or?”

“I ACCEPT YOUR OFFER! I mean, sure why not?” Zim cleared his throat as he regained his composure.

“Great! Now, c’mon! Let’s get a good seat!” You chirped as you grabbed Zim’s hand.

More gibberish fell out of Zim’s mouth as his PAK begun to spark again.

Zim finally managed to pull himself together when you sat him down next to you.

“Aren’t you going to get your lunch?” Zim asked as he gestured to the mile long lunch line.

“Nah, the last time I ate the garbage they served here I puked my guts out! I bring lunch from home now.” You shuddered as you pulled out your lunch bag.

“The skool lunches make you sick too?” Zim’s eyes lit up.

“Oh yeah. I can’t believe they even call that filth food!” You ranted as you took a bite of your lunch.

“Right? How could humans even eat that DISGUSTING GARBAGE?!”

You let out a giggle at Zim’s overdramatic behavior as you continued to eat.

Zim’s PAK sparked a bit at the sweet sound of your laughter but he was too busy ranting to notice.

As lunch went on, you begun enjoying Zim’s rambling and even agreed with him on quite a few things.

Zim soon found himself enjoying your company as well. He was surprised by how much you had in common with him.  Not to mention you were an excellent listener.

BRRRING! BRRRING!

The lunch bell rudely interrupted you and Zim’s conversation.

“Aw, man! Looks like you’ll have to tell me that Dib story later, Zim.” You sighed as you went to throw away your trash.

“Curse that infernal bell!” Zim growled as he watched you get up.

“I know. I know. But hey, maybe we can hang out again sometime!” You offered as you flashed him a warm smile.

“Really?! I mean! Yes! We shall continue this conversation tomorrow!” Zim announced as he pointed at the ceiling.

“Eh…I dunno about that..Dib’s supposed to be back by then and he doesn’t really like you all that much.” You explained as you rubbed the back of your head.

“ARGH! Dib!” Zim growled as rage begun to boil deep within him.

“So yeah..Sorry I guess. Well, see you around!” You chirped as you trotted off to class,

“Oh don’t worry, Y/N. You most certainly will.”

After skool, Zim stormed into his base, threw off his disguise and flushed down into his scheming lab.

“That smelly Dib! He will not be exposing beautiful Y/N on my watch!” Zim ranted as he gathered assorted mechanical parts.

“Let’s see how the smelly, squirmy Dib-worm likes having his secrets exposed.”

Zim let out a maniacal laugh as he begun to work on his next invention.

The next day, Zim arrived to skool with a large purple megaphone in hand.

It did’t take long for both you and Dib to notice Zim’s new toy.

“What are you up to, Zim?” Dib’s eyes narrowed as he approached him.

“Yeah, what’s with the megaphone?” You asked as you gestured to the megaphone.

“Oh you’ll see…” Zim let out a dark chuckle.

Dib’s eyes widened a bit.

“Wait what are you-”

Zim tapped the megaphone a few times before bringing it to his lips.

“ATTENTION HUMANS!”

Both you and Dib covered your ears as the megaphone let out an awful shriek.

“Heh. Sorry about that.” Zim chuckled as he adjusted the megaphone.

Zim cleared his throat and tried again.

“I HAVE COME TO MAKE AN ANNOUNCEMENT! THE DIB-WORM IS A BIG HEADED STINK BEAST! HE HAS A HUGE CRUSH ON Y/N!”

“WHAT THE?! HOW DID YOU FIND OUT ABOUT THAT?!” Dib wailed as he grabbed the sides of his head.

“THAT’S RIGHT! HE’S GOT ALL KINDS OF MUSHY GUSHY FEELINGS FOR Y/N! HE EVEN WANTS TO HOLD THEIR HAND!”

Dib was about to lunge at Zim but you stopped him.

“Dib? Is all that stuff really true?”

Dib fumbled over his words for a moment before regaining his composure.

“Ugh. I guess you were bound to find out sooner or later. Go on, run off. Our friendship is ruined.” Dib sighed as he hung his head in defeat.

“Well I wouldn't say that. I’d consider it more of an upgrade.”

Dib’s eyes lit up as he turned to look at you.

“Wait. You’re not grossed out?”

“What if I told you that I felt the same?” You asked playfully.

“I would say this is the greatest day of my life!” Dib sang as he pulled out into a tight hug

“SO I’M MAKING A CALL OUT-EH?!” Zim dropped his megaphone when he saw Dib hug you.

“Looks like your plan backfired, Zim.” You chuckled triumphantly

“WHAT?! BUT-”

“But nothing, Zim! Y/N loves me too! And next time we’re going to expose your secrets! Together! As a couple!” Dib mocked as he snapped a finger in Zim’s face.

“As a couple!” “As a couple!” Dib’s words rampaged throughout Zim’s mind.

“No! No! NO!! I WON’T STAND FOR THIS MADNESS!!”

And with that, Zim ran screaming back to his base.

Back at his base, Zim threw off his disguise and returned to his scheming lab.

“I can’t find a new road anymore. To lead forth the heat of this love’s war.”

Zim let out another enraged scream as he tugged on his antennas.

Once he was done screaming, Zim threw on a white lab coat and a pair of green goggles.

He then begun to gather as many mechanical parts as he could find.

Once he had the parts he needed he pulled out a few alien tools and got straight to work.

“Somber clouds embrace the night. Crowds of monochrome paint the twilight.” Zim sang as he continued to work

“Rays of sunlight cast the dawn. They shine one by one. Yet I know, this light won’t reach you!” Zim growled as he wiped away a few sweat beads.

“Ah, the world around me blurs away. Yet even so, will I continue to fall for you?” Soon the lab seemed to melt away into swirls of monochrome.

“I know it’s true, yet I don’t know what the hell to do! Oh how can I begin? How should I begin?” Zim heaved as he closed his eyes for a moment.

“I have been fooled. I’ll show you!”

Zim’s eyes burst open as his imagination begun to run wild.

“Let’s go fighting from the start! I’ll tear the world apart!” Zim stomped his feet and imagined the Urth crumbling beneath him.

“No I can’t stand to see you be with anyone but me!” Zim imagined himself smashing a monochrome statue of Dib.

“Your passion will not win! When ardent love is sin!” Zim continued his imaginary rampage. Stomping about and smashing more Dib statues.

“But from my core my feelings will prevail when love is war!” Zim let out a maniacal laugh.

It didn’t take long for him to notice his megaphone lying on the ground.

“Crying out words through my purple megaphone. Broke it right from the start!” Zim picked up the megaphone and slammed it back onto the floor.

“Even if I try to stretch into your love’s gaze, there is nothing that can clear this great haze!” Zim growled as he imagined himself looking up at a stormy sky.

“Ah, the dark clouds leave my eyes, revealing a clear sky!” The clouds slowly left the imaginary sky.

“But I don’t feel right, seeing the light.” Zim shook his head and looked away from the imaginary sky.

“I can’t control my true feelings’ soul and body How can I begin? How should I begin?” Zim hugged himself for a moment.

“The one thing I won’t do. Is shed my tears in front of you.” Zim balled up his fists and gnashed his teeth.

“I LOVE YOU SO!”

“Let’s fight, shooting for your heart! I swear I’ll hit the mark!” Zim roared as he pressed a button.

The ground shook for real as Zim’s freshly made battle mech sprung to life.

“It shouldn’t have to be this way! I’ll have the final say!” Zim sang as he threw off his lab gear and hopped inside the mech.

“Upon your silent gaze, I will take your breath away!” Zim begun to press button after button.

“And with the wind I will shine above him all and make you fall! Be prepared for my attack!” The base’s roof lowered as the mech emerged from the top.

“Despite my losses, I will fight this battle without end! Love is blind! And Endless bliss! The only way to break this spell is by your loving kiss!”  Zim took a deep breath before stomping out of his base.

“This is war”

[eagesoldartblog]

Pay It Forward Chapter Two: Coming Home

Lewis’s foot taps slowly, glowering at a scalding hot chocolate decorated with the most tacky orange color he’s probably ever seen.

His name is Arthur Kingsmen.

Counting down from ten, he calculates each breath. Each puff giving away more of the bubbling anger threatening to explode.

He’s a mechanic, the head mechanics nephew.

Thick, sweet smells muse around him. Hands tightly laced together, shaking lightly.

A generous person, he paid off your car with the blink of an eye. Grinding his teeth, the tap tap taping quickens faster and faster, relentless and angry.

And I don’t have the cash or ability to pay him back. Chewing on his cheek, he finally lets out a strained sigh.

“Are you going to keep pouting, or what?” Vivi’s voice snaps Lewis from his trance, dampening his anger at once, “Or are you still pissy mcpisserton?”

Lewis blushes, shoulders sinking, “Is it that obvious..?”

Vivi slides the tray across the table and tears into her own croissant, shrugging, “Yeah, you’re brooding again.”  

Lewis glares at her, rolling his eyes and sipping from his hot chocolate, “A bit on the nose, don’t ya think?”

“On the nose is my middle name,” Vivi smirks, gulping back her own coffee, “But legit, what’s with the sour attitude? Arthurs chill, he would have done it anyway.”

He shoots her a look, scoffing, “He would have? Are you kidding me-?”

“Wow,” Vivi interrupts him, grinning, “Didn’t take you for a financial advisor, Lewis. Or better yet, you lookin’ for a sugar daddy to help pay off your loans?” Lewis- mid sip- chokes on his hot chocolates, face burning and eyes wide.

“No. That’s no-”

“Either way you’re out of luck, he owed me a favor,” Vivi smirks, “But its cute that you think that~”

Lewis huffs, leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms. Keeping it up for... who knows how long, Vivi wasn’t counting and wasn’t about to. She leans forward, a smirk twisting across her face.

“You’re blushing, Lew Lew~”

He was. The darkened warmth across his face made it entirely noticeable that he either drank too much of his drink too quickly, or was fixated on a certain someone. Vivi was willing to bet at this point.

“I’m- I- it’s cold outside.” He tries.

“It’s actually a Mild-day.”

“There was a draft breeze.”

“And we’re no where near a window, so that was probably you~” Vivi teases, wholly expecting the less than rough warning tap against her shin.

“I mean, if it is about Artie, who can blame ya? The guys a golden ticket in disguise of a man. Plus, he’s hot-“

Lewis could blows steam from his ears with how heated his face was, “Vivi, please. It’s not a crush, I wouldn’t have a crush on someone after one meeting.” He hisses, pointing his finger at her gruffly.

Vivi could only laugh, kicking her feet onto Lewis’s lap, “You did before.”

“That was different!” Lewis snaps back desperately, “Besides, Xavier was a one time thing. I know it was funny when I fancied them-”

That guy-! Vivi burst out laughing, “Oh man, I wonder how he’s going to feel when he catches wind of you falling for a different tradesmen~”

Lewis halts, frozen in place before slapping his palms against his face. ”I’ve had enough, let’s stop talking.”

“You should fill me in on why you’re still mad.”

Lewis pops up, frowning and glaring at her, “I am still aggravated, for a few reasons. But I’m still annoyed about Arthur if that’s what you’re worried about.”

“Because-?”

”Because he paid all of it.”

“Well-?” Vivi shrugs, clearly confused as she takes an obnoxious bite from her hash brown, “At least you don’t have to worry about it. That was a blessing, and then…” she trials off, shrugging, “you can probably work and pay him back if you want? Hell i'm sure Uncle Lance will hire you if you want.”

Lewis blinks, confusion consuming his features as he stares at her, “I- I’m sorry? Lance?” He says, momentarily released from his out of emotional crisis.

Vivi nearly flicks her straw- just to watch his expression turn sour when he gets hit- but decides against it, “The boss? Short mechanic, Arthur's uncle, he was under the hood while we were there-“

“Okay, yes, but- why are you calling him uncle?”

Vivi crosses her arms and stares at him.

Clattering of other people eating fills Lewis’s ears uncomfortably, and he stares at Vivi quietly.

Sweat soon beads down his face from their staring contest.

Sighing, Vivi takes a long sip of her coffee, “I’m still astounded how you managed to know no one in this town despite living here.”

Lewis thumbs his fingertip harshly, considering her words carefully, “I lived on the other side of town. Besides, my mother homeschooled me and my sisters for a little while and I started working not too long after.”

“Didn’t you also join a few sports and clubs?”

Lewis nodded weakly, realizing he completely lied, “I- yes, I did. Mostly in the summer! Or... whenever I found time.”

That's right, they bonded over their affinity for going above and beyond in every field.

No wonder she remembers what information you’ve shared. His thoughts hiss and bite, giving him the faint throb of a headache. “Now it's your turn, you didn’t answer my question.”

Vivi waves him off, “Don’t get snippy it’s bad for your skin, I was getting there.” Back to a calmer state of mind, Vivi relaxes and continues, “I’ve known Arthur a good portion of my life, and he was the smart kid in high-school, so I obviously leeched off him for support.”

she takes a long sip, somehow emitting more steam than previously. As she pulls it from her lips, the haze drifts around her face like smoke, framing it well. “We hung out most days after school and I got into Lance's good graces, he’ll warm up to you after a bit.”

Interesting, they’re friends.... maybe that’s why he paid it all off? He may fancies her- but wait, didn’t she say he owed her?

“Will he take kindly to the fact that his nephew paid off the damages?”

Vivi shrugs, “I dunno, explain it to him. He might give you the bill, or not, who knows.” She says curtly, stretching her shoulders.

Lewis nods, taking more than a moment to consider the information. But he very quickly makes his judgement on his actions over the course of the coffee date. That was wildly inappropriate! Apologize this instant.

He shouldn’t ever let his emotions run wild like that, never let them take control when control wasn’t needed.

He needed to calm down.

Taking the cup, Lewis takes a sip of the remaining hot chocolate, and swallows it slowly. Focusing on the warm nutty base and the cream of the milk, how it all accentuate one another. The lingering smooth liquid soothes the burn in his throat and Lewis releases a heavy sigh, “Thank you Vivi, I appreciate it immensely.”

And yet, his mind is stuck in the meticulous fingers combing through, followed by the stench of car oil and caked in dirt.

Stop thinking of him.

A hand falls on his bicep, and Lewis jumps up in response, eyeing her suspiciously, “Don’t worry, Lew. Just let this go, because I promise you... you won’t ever be able to pay him back.” She smiles, an edge of sadism lacing her voice and Lewis can see the tempting claws trying to ensnare him.

Don’t take the bait! His mind warns, recognizing this challenging tone that always had him off and doing the strangest of things. And yet his curiosity fights against his and demands to know every secret she has hidden behind those pink glasses. You sure are getting a kick out of this, aren’t you Vivi? “I’m sorry?”

Vivi holds her hands in surrender, but her eyes speak legions if snakes, “Arthur's really difficult to pay back, I’ll have you know. So be careful with what you do for it.”

“I don’t see how this is necessary-“ he saw where she was going and he didn’t want to be the target of her tricks.

“It’s because of your thing,” she says, referring to it like it was something forbidden from speaking aloud but all so tempting, “I know how you feel about it, but it’s really a losing battle. I would suggest you just pay it forward to someone else.”

That... was not something he is capable of doing. Lewis wanted to argue. Wanted to explain that it would rip into his skull for days if he didn’t clear his debt the instant if had been set. This man would be the death of him. Lewis figures, mentally ringing his palms to release the stress.

Lewis, noticeably more agitated and determined, looks up at her starkly, “How?”

“How what?”

“How can I get back at him?” Lewis asks, owning every amount of bitterness laced in his voice. Quirking an eyebrow, Vivi sighs and rests back, “Yeesh...” she sighs, as if it only now just occurred to her that she was friends with someone who will have the best credit score no matter what. She lets out a sigh, relenting, “Okay fine. Maybe like.... invite him over to your house for dinner? That’s the only way I can really see you getting away with it. Arthurs a serious philanthropist.”

“Dinner?” Lewis considers it, going over it in his head about three times before he steels himself with a nod, “Ah! Okay, I can probably do that.”

He could do it, which is what really mattered there. It didn’t cost much and he knows how to cook, surely he can surprise and delight the pesky mechanic.

“Just a warning, though,” Vivi begins, smirking, “Don’t let him see what your making him, or let him know how much it would cost.”

This should be interesting... “Why?”

“Because, I’m ninety percent sure he will simply forward you the dollar amount of the meal.” She shrugs, knowingly however, a story must have been brewing in her stomach, and most likely about him.

Could anyone fault Lewis for thinking that?

“Such as...?”

“To put it simply,” Vivi starts, moving through her purse for her wallet, “I once brought him over and made him this typically really traditional but kinda expensive Japanese meal. He loved it, but he looked up how much it would cost and wound up giving back the cash.�� Trailing off, she hums forlorning, “By the way, want me to pay...?”

”No.” Lewis says sternly, glaring almost in his response, switching to a sweet and gentler tone in the next, “I’ll pay for it, this time, okay?”

Vivi nods, standing up and stretching, “Alrighty~ try not to go bankrupt with your tip!” She jokes.

Just because she mentioned it, Lewis made sure the tip was double the amount of the bill. Walking down the street, Lewis kept his gaze glued to the pavement. Drifting from the cracks and weeds in the sidewalk and its progression into a finer and cleaner white concrete. Freshly cut grass tickles his nose, bringing his attention to the stained glass he spent most of his life peering through. 

Finally, Lewis hums, lips pulling into a wide smile as his steps quicken into a jog, and then a run, joyfully bounding down the sidewalk. Instead of rushing in through the front and through the restaurant- something his parents made explicitly clear- he side stepped into the ‘backyard’. The dumpster is a good distance away, and lacking the usual foul smell most other disposal units had. Strange the difference his home had to the inner city restaurants Lewis notes, scanning the area quickly for any active workers, or even employees on their break. No one else was present.

Anxiously excited, Lewis skips up the back porch, taking half a second to admire the freshly blooming flowers of the surrounding gardens. 

“Mama!” Lewis eagerly opens the door, ducking through the door frame and stepping inside, he examines the kitchen. Glancing over the familiar surfaces, decorated and covered with various objects- from the mail divider over the bin to the dishes drying in the rack, to the pictures taped to the fridge with sprawled crayon from Paprika. 

“How cute,” Lewis’s hums, fingertips drifting from surface to surface. Taking note of various new magnets mixed in with the old. Such as a new addition of star magnets- which Lewis can only assume was meant to encourage them. Along the walls was a new collection of scenic imagery, such as snowy lakes and spectacular sunsets. The girls had been showing an interest in painting before he left, hadn’t they? He’s only glad they decided to pursue it.

A bubbling draws his attention to the stove. Ah, someone must be here then, Lewis smiles, lifting the lid and peering into the boiling pot. 

A gasp, “Lewis?”

Papa flies into view, head jutting past the wall, a tired but excited look in his eye. A basket of ripe fruits and veggies is quickly discarded on the table, just before Lewis is pulled into a hug. Hard kisses pressed against his face all over, a squeal rupturing in his ear.

“Lewis! I’m so glad to see you!”

To say he didn’t expect this would have been a bold faced lie. Wrapping both arms around him, Lewis hoists his father up.

“I miss you too,” he says, gaze drifting to the basket of freshly picked veggies and back to the pot, “Is Mama here?”

Papa draws back, lips tight and panic drawing over his face, “She left a moment ago, to go see where you were-!”

Oh no. Its Lewis’s turn to panic, “Ah- is this about the car…?” he tries, wary.

And he was right to be, Papa’s expression shifts, a grimace etched into his face. He steps back, both hands on his hip, and stares at Lewis expectantly, “Not exactly, we were more concerned on why you had taken so long to come back.” Oh, yes that would explain the frequent calls the past few days, only received in remote parts of the area. Lewis stiffens, seeing more just on the brink of his fathers tongue, “But, while we’re on the subject, I would like you to explain yourself.

Lewis sighs, “Vivi and I were taking turns driving, and she fell asleep behind the wheel. We didn’t want to keep you all waiting another night…”

The grimace grows tenfold, “We could understand if you needed to stay the night somewhere, Lewis.” His tone is even more so irate, closer to exasperation. Before Lewis could apologize again, Papa fished his phone from his back pocket, “Give me on sec- Hello darling!”

Lewis watches him trail out of the kitchen, smiling cheerfully and speaking clearly to Mama- “Yes, he just arrived.. yes, it was a sleeping accident.”

Resigning to the night of scolding he will most likely receive, he sighs. Just as a smaller presence creeps up behind him.

“Hi Lewis,” shove, Lewis stumbles a small bit, head whipping back to see a slightly taller version of-

“Belle!” His arms open to scoop her up in a hug- but her arm waved him away.

“Give me a minute.” She hisses under her breath, “Mom’ll be home soon, I gotta make sure this gets done.” Coughing into her arm, she sends Lewis a look, “Uh.. how was school?”

The twinge of awkwardness that seems to completely surround him makes Lewis hesitate. His mouth opens for a short moment, but quickly closes, “It went well. I’ll elaborate more later, would you like some help?”

“No, I’m fine.” He’s shut down faster than he thought he would. Huh, since when did she become so irritable? Perhaps teenage hormones..? He remembered being bad when he was small, … for the most part.

Shifting away, Lewis shuffles out of the kitchen, not wanting to give himself a chance to dwell on the ambiguous and faulty memories he always had, “Alright, I’ll leave you to it then. If you need anything, I’ll be here.” Barely getting a mhm in response, Lewis sighs and slinks off to his room.

His room is clean, completely dusted and the bed made perfectly. Everything was in it’s perfect place - Surely his mother’s doing. Taking it in, Lewis could hardly tell that it was still his, considering the one he had in the dorm rooms- plain white walls with two crosses, while his desk took the brunt of his anxiety and stress.

But here? It seemed as if it was just as carefree as he was before he left. Leaving Lewis with a ball of awkwardness welling inside his stomach. That, or anxiety, considering his Mother will be home soon. With enough scoldings to boot.

Grimacing, Lewis falls against his bed, collapsing against the pillow. He missed them a lot.

In retrospect, driving like that was far from safe, and it would have been much better to stay the night somewhere. He would’ve come home the next day to hugs and kisses and an attempted pat on the head, and then he would be able to focus on what was truly important.

Not… Arthur.

Scowling, Lewis twists himself over and folds the pillow over his head. Squeezing wouldn’t do a thing at all, he knew that! Repeating to himself that he needs to pay more attention to his family, his studies, and not a mechanic who shamelessly paid off his entire car bill an-

Gosh… darnit. Sighing, Lewis shoves the pillow aside, biting his lip and sagging even more. He missed them, dearly even. A pang of guilt hitting him. How on earth did he forget about his parents, his family? He was thinking of them the entire way back and for a majority of the semester, and then they slip his mind from a single encounter with him-

Lewis physically cringes.

Perhaps he should make something, as an apology for them. At the very least his parents. That car was under their name, and yet he went and smashed it.

And yet, for one reason or another, he offered to help. And then did, with no input from him on the matter.

Who was he…?

There’s a tornado of thoughts swarming his brain, each one revolving around him. The one person he didn’t want to think about anymore.

Arthur Kingsmen, a mechanic working under the head- who in turn was his uncle. He has a reputation of extreme charitability and generosity, doing things that astounded others in how much it helped, with little self benefit. An admirable trait, he’d admit. A trait that grew increasingly more infuriating for Lewis. Even if that hardly made sense.

Even more nonsensical- Arthur claimed it was because he came from a good family. What did that mean? Was he well acquainted buddy of his parents that he missed? Someone new who spent a lot of time with them while Lewis was away? A stalke- No. That’s just ridiculous, Lewis. Don’t demonize him for helping you. The angel on Lewis’s shoulder yelled.

He’s just a nice guy.

Laying back, Lewis mindlessly stares at the ceiling. Going back and forth on what was wrong with him right now? He doesn’t normally get so fixated on people, and never really for anything that made him angry! Small crushes, fascinating professors- even Vivi was the apple of his eye when he first met her. So why Arthur? Because he essentially took a huge debt of his shoulders? …. Anyone would be thrilled for this, and yet it detested him. Preposterous!

Just be thankful that you’re home, Lewis. When mom comes home, you and her will have a talk, and then you can spend as much time as you want with your little sisters. Father and Belle must have missed him, and yet he’s holed up in his room.

Sliding off his bed, Lewis creeps closer to the door, hyper aware of the creaks of the floor, and even more aware of the small sounds outside of his bedroom door. You shouldn’t be this nervous. Lewis reminds himself again and again, resisting the urge to press his ear to the door to listen for anything out of the ordinary. Lacing his extraordinarily large fingers around the doorknob, he gently opens it and steps out, padding down the hall to the living room.

Belle is lounging on the couch, engrossed in the documentary on physics she was watching (How interesting!) whilst glancing to the kitchen every few seconds.

Furrowing his eyebrows, Lewis glances up to the clock, and back down at her. A thought bubbling suspiciously, “Belle, what are you doing home? Shouldn’t you be in school?”

Belle flinches at his voice, a similar attribute she kept over the year, and twists around to look at him. Hm, and he thought Cayenne was the only one with an attitude.

She responds bluntly, “I had a fever last week, so they haven’t let me leave the house.” With that, she stands up and stretches dramatically, adding, “I’m only cooking because I’m hungry. I managed to convince Papi to let me buy some ramen~ so I’m going to enjoy trashing my stomach.”

“Huh, and I thought I had a drop in diet quality.”

Belle spins on her heel, the smallest pout in her face as she walks in, “Ya, sure. Makes sense that the good and holy Lew- Lew only made sure to get the HEALTHIEST of food. And Horton hears a bitch-ass liar.” the last of it comes out in a flurry of a whisper.

Gasping, Lewis spins his head around to see if his Papa was standing over their shoulders, just in case. Although for her to be saying that, they had to be in the clear. “I could smack you, Belle.”

”Do it.”

There was no way he could simply go and smack his little sister.

But he can to a brat.

He follows after her, ducking under the archway, and quickly bops her cheek. Not enough to hurt badly, but similar enough time show that he isn’t accepting of those words out of her mouth. Belle, not turning away from her pot of instant garbage noodles, slams her elbow back into him- tries to at least.

“Hey-!”

Lewis smirks back at her, filling a glass with water and sipping lightly, “What? You earned it.”

Face twisted, Belle opens her mouth like she was about to retaliate, but slumps with a huff, “I was hoping college would eradicate your third parent syndrome. That’s suppose to be my thing.”

“The only reason it wasn’t was because I didn’t want you to grow up too quickly,” Lewis admitted, shrugging, “Besides, I still am your older sister.”

“Sometimes,” Belle points out, and it looked like she was ready to point something else out before Lewis patted her head in a completely patronizing way.

“On weekends and some Wednesdays,” Lewis chuckles, “regardless, I have a guilty conscious if I don’t ever help out.”

“Well you took away our jobs around the house.” Belle says, tearing open the packet of powdered broth, “You want bratty sisters, Lewis? That’s how you get em.”

“Well, Mama will be there to ensure that doesn’t happen.” Lewis takes another sip of his drink to hold up the air of “sophistication” as Belle rolls her eyes.

And right on cue, the door opens, familiar footsteps walking in and an air of dread slamming Lewis directly in the stomach. “Mama-!” He rushes past Belle, who he faintly heard mention that he’s in trouble~ as he went in and faced the beast.

The piercing gaze is the only that stops Lewis in his tracks, and any apology he had in his throat, now uncomfortably sitting in his throat.

“Good morning, Lewis,” She hangs up her purse, expression stony, only shifting to a soft smile as she wrapped his arms around him, “I missed you.”

Frozen, Lewis took a moment to adjust to the sweet gesture, wrapping his arms around her shoulders, “I missed you too, Mama.”

“Now sit down,” Her expression turns a silvery cold, and Lewis knew in the way she distances herself that he was in trouble. Complete with folded arms and a signature glare.

Any apology he had suddenly felt inadequate.

“Would you like to have this conversation in your room?” His mother asks coldly, and Lewis barely notices that her knuckles were almost bulging from how tense they were.

“Uh-“ he stumbles, more stiff than he has been in his entire life, meekly murmuring, “my room, please.”

“Follow me.”

Lewis could have sworn he was walking to his death bed. The walk was nearly a blur, and he could only imagine what she would say when they finally closed his bedroom door.

“Sit down, let me get a proper look at you.”

… That wasn’t exactly it, but close enough.

Lewis ungracefully plops down on his bed, ruffling the blankets and clenching his knees tightly together. Hands unsurely moving from squeezing the fabric or his own fingers. Eventually he settled for clasping his hands together. Slouched- until Mama gave him a look.

Hands press against his cheek, fingers drifting from his cheekbones to his forehead to his chin in a way that’s both intensive and gentle. One of her palms holds his jaw and face steady, while she scanned every part of him delicately.

He was expecting a stern talking to, not… not this. Surely he earned a punishment for his irresponsibility, and yet she’s looking him over like she looked over Cayenne and Belle whenever they took a tumble in their earlier years. The shock must have been evident when she began prodding his knee. Mama quirks an eyebrow.

“Yes, Lewis? Is something the matter?”

Lewis stumbles over his words, “A-.. I just- I didn’t think you..”

The corner of her mouth curls into a smirk, and she pays his hair, “One of my children got into an accident- a severe one at that. I’m only doing what is right,” Her face softens a tad, before taking a seat beside him, “Since you haven’t been escorted to the hospital, I wanted to make sure nothing else was wrong. No pulled nerves? Any sprains? I would like to know now so that way we can ensure you live happily.”

He shouldn’t be as moved (and confused) as he was. Of course. Of course she wanted to make sure he was okay! A twang of regret and guilt for doubting her twitches in his stomach, along with a plethora of unsavory emotions.

Then, with a sigh of what Lewis can only assume is relief, she continues, “Your father informed me what had happened. That you came home sleep deprived to see us faster. Is that correct?”

No matter what he said, the guilt burrowing in his stomach would worsen. He nods, haphazardly, “That’s partially true. Vivi was sleeping a majority of the way and she offered to drive home. But while I was asleep, she had fallen asleep behind the wheel.” The more and more he recounts this, it feels like he was accusing her more and more. With that in mind, he quickly tacks on, “Of course- she did suggest that we stop and sleep, but I figured it would have been easier to drive the final stretch-“

Mama nods solemnly, pressing her fingers against her lip- something she did when she was lost in thought- “I see. If that is the case then I’m glad to know that only that car was damaged and neither of you two.”

Gripping the sheets, he waits for her eventual added answer, there always was one. Something to reaffirm her suspicions or what Lewis could do as “punishment”.

Finally, she stands up, not before turning to him, and he faintly recognizes the glimmer in her eye, “I’d like to hear that this never happens again. And while it is being graciously handled by Arthur, I’d like you to extend your help to him for the remainder of your break.”

”What-?” he says breathlessly, shoving himself up. Wait- how did she-?

Mama quirks the smallest smile, “Well, considering he is going out of his way to ensure you will still have a vehicle before you return to school, I believe it is the least you can do to make it up to him.”

He stands there dumbfounded, hands hovering in front of him like he was about to grab something. Unamusedly, Mama watches him carefully.

“Yes? Is there an issue, Lewis? Offering your assistance for the summer is a suitable enough repayment, even more so now that he is helping you like this.”

“How-? How did you kn-“ she must have spoken to him, of course she would know that he is both paying off his car bill, as well as- “I mean.. you’re- you’re okay with him doing that?” He asks finally, tripping over his words.

“Of course I am,” she said matter of factly, flicking her finger to have him follow her out, “I figured he would have done something like this when he called. He’s always been this way.”

“Yes- but he’s a total str-“

“Speaking of Arthur,” she either didn’t catch what he was about to say, or elected to ignore it, turning to him pointedly, “You have thanked him for his generosity, correct?”

“Well- I-“ Lewis’s head swam with more thought than he could tread through, “Of course I did, but-“

She nods curtly, making her way to the kitchen, “Perhaps you can do so again when he comes over later.”

Coming over when? Lewis freezes, eyebrows knitting anxiously, “What?”

“Yes,” she responds smoothly, brushing a hand over Belles head and going into the kitchen, “I was going to bake him something for him. Have him over tonight. We were all planning for you to be home tomorrow, so nothing is fully prepared yet. However, it would be nice to have a friend over before that.”

A friend? Since when? He wanted to ask, but his words catch in his throat, and she’s already positioned in the kitchen beside the sink, clearing away the dirty dishes that had accumulated.

She glances over at him, nodding to the covers, “Please pull out the flour and eggs for me?”

Lewis did as he was told, blankly as he combs through his thoughts for an excuse- or anything that would soothe the anguish rushing over him in pounding torrents.

“... I’m still concerned on why he did it..” he admits, pulling out a large bowl to pour the necessary materials, “I don’t know why! He just- said he would pay it off..” he bites his lip, unsure if he had the mere right to say this after his mother sung the mans praises, “I’m honestly peeved over it.”

Mama straightens as he said that, pursing her lips, “Why is that?”

“I just.. I don’t know why he did! It was far from necessary.” Arthur wasn’t his friend. The two didn’t know each other. Although it was apparent his parents knew him, all the more startling. Mama didn’t respond, humming.

Glancing over his shoulder, Lewis chews on his lip, knowing fully well that she was aware of his peculiar issues.

“Perhaps prepare him something. Cake.”

“Cake?” Would he even like that..?

“In fact,” his mother continues, maybe having noticed his odd and troubled expression, “I’m sure he would appreciate anything from you, even if it was a rock.”

Lewis frowns, picking through his thoughts, “Then-.. what flavor do you think he’d like?” He asks, only to get a shrug in return- something his mother never did.

“It’s been a long while, so I’m unsure.” She said, turning to him with a faint smile decorating her face, with the smallest hint of mischief, “Would you like to take over preparations?”

Three seconds pass, but Lewis had to take one look at her face to know that she wanted him to make it. Sighing, he nods, “Sure. I can do that. Any idea what time he would arrive..?”

Mama smiles, and steps past him, pulling vanilla extract from the covers, “He gets off work at around six, so I wouldn’t doubt it that he’d arrive anywhere from half after until eight.”

Glancing at the clock, Lewis nods. He had plenty of time. At least he could make up for the damage.. in the little ways he could.

What sort of cake should he make then..? Lewis runs over the various types of cake, humming to himself. Vanilla, chocolate, banana, pumpkin, red velvet, carrot, marble, coffee..

Carrot, popping into his mind like the mechanic himself, Lewis could only frown at how the thought refused to settle. Imagining how well it seemed to match the pesky mechanic.

He better like it. Lewis nearly hisses, Or so help me god.

A laugh pulls Lewis out of his thoughts, drawing him back to his mother leaving the kitchen, “You’re lucky your father hadn’t begun preparing anything with the oven, Lewis. Now while you’re doing that, I’ll be leaving to pick up your sisters.” For barely a minute, he wondered if Vivi would taunt him for his apparent lie of his sisters needing to be picked up from “school.” But before he could think of an ‘excuse’, (more like explanation that his abuela was their teacher)

But with the shut of the front door, Mama was gone. Leaving him with his task.

Taking a deep breath, Lewis set off to work.

[hvlfwygod]

strangers | ben & chase

summary: Chase finds someone he can understand. Both he and Ben get a better idea of what they’re up against.

"Yeah, that makes sense," Ben said into his phone. He was sitting in a cafe with Chase, sipping a coffee and trying to manage with the spotty wifi. He listened to Hazel talk for a few more seconds, nodding even though she couldn't see him doing it. "Yeah. Thanks, Haze. I'll talk to you soon." Reluctantly, he hung up.

They'd spent the last few days exploring the town, but it'd been a lot of dead ends and the same story, over and over. Fox was saving the town, but no one could really say from what. Ben thought every seemed exhausted, too, but it was harder to bring that up in casual conversation. At least, based on the brief phone call he'd just had, he wasn't alone in thinking this whole situation was weird.

"Okay, I talked to Hazel and Rae," he told Chase. "They think this whole thing is really fishy."

Chase sipped his hot chocolate and leaned back in his seat. "I don't know. It's weird that everyone's looking at him like a new Jesus Christ." He chewed his lip. "And I don't know what we're gonna do with the guy once we're done with the hag. Like you said, he's not breaking any laws, and it's not like we can just tie him up and cart him across the border without anyone noticing."

Ben sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Yeah, I don't know." He stared at the steam rising up from his cup. "I don't understand why people are so willing to believe in him, either. Now that Hazel and Rae explained it to me it just feels so, wrong? Like, he's taking all their profits for himself." He sighed again. "Maybe once the hag is gone it'll be different?"

Chase rubbed his hands together and sighed, shrugging one shoulder. "She might be using the mist to make him seem really good in their eyes?"

Ben nodded. "Or make everything look more dire?" He leaned back in his seat. "I don't really know how that stops him now, it's not like he'll just give everything back."

"Yeah." Chase sighed and ran his thumb over his lip. "Do you think we could... I dunno. We could freeze all his assets? I don't know how that works." He stood suddenly. "Do you want anything to eat? I think I'm getting a sandwich."

Ben shifted and reached for his coffee. "Um, sure. Whatever you're getting."

There was only one person ahead of Chase at the counter, a young woman gesturing towards the case of sandwiches in the midst of a conversation with the barista. 

“–don’t know what you’re saying.” The end of her sentence lifted in volume enough to be overheard and, oddly enough, understood. Each word was laced with frustration, but absent was the accent that had given them so many headaches. One finger tapped the glass. “Look, that one, okay? Please, god.” Chase walked up to the counter and tipped his head to look at the woman, giving the barista behind the counter a small, somewhat sympathetic smile. He waited until they were done with the woman's order before ordering his, and he felt as though the best way to get through might be to follow after her lead, though he didn't want to be rude. He wasn't sure if Ben ate meat, but didn't want to go back to ask. "Uh, hi. Can I just get two of the vegetable sandwiches?" He looked at the price that showed up on the register so that he wouldn't have to ask four times what it was and then paid, nodding along to the barista's chatter, and giving a small smile over to the woman as she waited as well.

She was already staring at him, though her returning smile did appear sheepish at being caught watching. "Sorry," was drawled to him in a decidedly American voice, at odds with the Newfoundland flannel-and-raincoat uniform she was wearing. Chase could guess she was his age, give or take a year on either side. "Didn't wanna creep you out, but– are you a tourist?"

Chase nodded slowly and ran a hand through his hair. "Yeah, the accent give it away?" He sighed and shrugged one shoulder. "Where are you from?"

The girl twirled one of her twin braids around a finger, a hint of a laugh in her expression. “Um, yeah, we’re speaking the same language. Austin, where the sun still knows how to shine. You?”

Chase laughed quietly. "It is kind of a different language, huh? I think even if they had a different accent I'd have a hard time understanding what they were saying," he said softly with a shrug. "Well, right now, New York. What brings you all the way up here?" He raised his eyebrows.

"My job." She rolled her eyes and turned to grab her sandwich from the barista with a quick word of thanks. "Mind if I take a seat with you? I'd like, kill for a conversation where I know we're talking about the same thing."

Chase ran a hand through his hair and bobbed his head as he stood up a bit straighter. "Oh, yeah, sure!" He nodded his head over in Ben's direction. "I'm with my—" He paused, looking for a word and then figured it was too much to explain, especially if they were still trying to keep a cover. "Friend over there." He nodded and then took his sandwiches once they were ready. "I'm David, by the way."

"Minnie. Pleasure to meetcha."

Chase bobbed his head and walked over to Ben. He placed one plate in front of him and placed the other in front of himself. "Uh, Luca, this is Minnie. She's from Texas so she wanted to sit with us, since, y'know, she can actually understand us." He took a seat and looked to Minnie. "You said you worked here?"

Ben had been watching Chase talk to the stranger with a steadily growing interest. That interest turned into faint concern when the stranger accompanied him back to the table. Ben sat a little more upright in his chair as the new person joined them. "Oh, um, sure." He tried to make eye contact with Chase, to silently ask, what the hell? He was unsuccessful; all of Chase's attention was on Minnie. Ben followed his gaze and offered a tight smile as a greeting.

Minnie twiddled her fingers at Ben as she dragged a chair from another table over. "Hey. I'm an artist so no, not here." A note of distaste stuck out in her voice, but she didn't sound offended. She smiled at Ben. "Are you from New York too?"

Chase shook his head. "Oh, no, I meant... You said you worked here in town, right? What kind of art do you do?" He clung to the ability to speak to someone who wasn't Ben.

Laughing at her mistake, she nodded. "Oh, sorry, yeah. Half a year now or so, kinda goin' with the flow, painting, sculpting, tattooing and the like. "

Ben felt a surge of annoyance. New York was a big state, but Chase couldn't have picked anywhere else? He nodded to Minnie's question but didn't say anything else, taking a small bite of the sandwich while the other two continued to chat. When Minnie mentioned how long she'd been there, though, Ben leaned a little closer. "Um," he interjected, "that's really cool. Was it um, hard? Finding work here?"

Chase glanced at Ben when he spoke, then looked back at Minnie. "Oh. Yeah, we heard that there was some sort of, I dunno, hard times lately?"

Minnie looked between the two of them. "Um, no, it was pretty easy. Things were kinda shitty here and then a bunch of new jobs opened up, so I grabbed one."

Ben frowned. "Where? Sorry, um," Ben reached into his bag and pulled out the notebook that he'd been using. "Were they at any of these places?" He showed her the first page.

Chase glanced at Ben and then back at Minnie. "We're doing a project on the local economy. For our business class," he clarified.

A crease appeared between her eyebrows, but she took the paper anyway and scanned the list. "Yeah." She pushed it back to Ben.

He nodded once and dropped the notebook back into his backpack. "Okay. Yeah, we noticed that a bunch of places are being bought up, so I was just... curious." Ben considered the risk before he decided to ask another question. "Do you know about the guy who's doing all that?"

"Yeah," she repeated and quirked an eyebrow. "He owns my job, small town, I've met him here and there. Whatcha want to know?"

Ben faltered. "Um. We met him, too, the other day. He was saying that he's been doing a public service?" He glanced at Chase, then back to Minnie. "I guess we've been trying to get, everyone else's opinion on that, too? Do you think he's improving things?"

She threw a quick glance over her shoulder and leaned on the table, lowering her voice. "Nah."

Chase looked from Ben to Minnie and ducked his head a bit closer. "Really? What do you think?"

"Okay, it's not that bad. Some things are improving. He's fixing up a lot of shit. But things weren't that bad to begin with, he coulda just not come in the first place and let the people living here keep working on it. Now they– we, I guess– all owe him."

Ben found himself nodding along. "I noticed that, too. From what we've been reading, there was nothing really, um, that bad happening. And I don't see how him owning all the profit makes this town better off?"

"Peelin' paint does not a charity case make. Now he just controls everything." Minnie seemed to remember her sandwich for the first time and picked it up to start eating.

Chase hummed in response and looked at Ben, quirking an eyebrow at him. He picked up his own sandwich to eat as well. "That's... interesting that you think that."

For the first time Ben found himself really appreciating how terrible this man was. He felt anger twist inside of him. This guy was using a monster to exploit an entire town for money and control. Ben finished his coffee. "Yeah," he agreed, a little late. "Thanks for answering my questions."

He got a shrug in response from her. "Sure. Thanks for the company."

Chase felt like that meant that she was going to leave soon, but was still desperate to be around someone who he could understand that wasn’t Ben. He swallowed the bite of his sandwich that he was chewing. “Do you know if anyone else feels that way? Or is everyone just too friendly to say anything?”

Her eyes flicked between Chase and Ben. “I imagine there’s others in the same boat. This is for a school project?”

"The question on the economy was." Chase nodded. "The rest is... I think we just want to keep you around because I can't understand a word anyone else is saying," he admitted sheepishly, with a small laugh.

Ben resisted the urge to roll his eyes at Chase, and nodded along with him. "Yeah, it's been... surprisingly hard to adjust." He returned to his sandwich, letting Chase have his time to talk to someone else, since he seemed so desperate to.

Confusion cleared from her face as Minnie laughed. “I get it. But it’s nice to have each other, I bet. How long’ve you been together?”

Chase blinked and shook his head quickly as he understood what she meant, the tips of his ears and roots of his hair turning slightly pink. "Oh, I... We're just... We're... He's my sister's..." He opened and closed his mouth and pressed his hand into his cheek as he shook his head again. "We're not together. It's... nice to have someone around though, I guess, yeah." He found himself very interested in his sandwich.

Ben saw the roots of Chase's hair slowly start to change and leaped back into the conversation, pulling the attention back to him. "That's so funny," he said, forcing a chuckle. "We've never gotten that one before. We're just classmates." Ben turned his body a bit so he was looking at Minnie more directly. "Did you come up here all by yourself?"

His effort to distract her from Chase’s hair seemed successful as she refocused on Ben. She laughed when he did. “Oh, sorry, must’ve misread that. No, some of my family came too- lifesaver on having people to talk to I can understand, even when they’re on my nerves. It’s just you two in town, or school trip?”

Chase's hair faded back to normal— or, at least to the normal colour of the disguised hair, as he got over the temporary embarrassment. "Oh, I bet a family trip here would be great." He sighed and turned his sandwich over in his hands, letting Ben answer the second question as he ate.

"Just us," he said, figuring if he lied it might be obvious to her when she failed to spot any other visitors after this. "We're researching a few towns around here before we head back to school."

“Oh, cool. Which ones?” Minnie smiled at him.

"Um," he tried to remember which towns Chase had said the other day. "We stopped in Cape Breton before this, and we'll probably go to, um, PEI after this."

She whistled. “Quite a road trip. Nowhere else in Newfoundland?”

Ben shrugged. “If someplace looks interesting, maybe. We’re kind of winging it.” Did people wing it on road trips? Ben had no idea, but he hoped she’d accept this answer.

Chase swallowed and nodded. “Yeah, we were in Quebec for a bit, but since neither of us speak French it wasn’t really, like... a thing.” He laughed a bit. “Just thought we’d explore the Maritimes.”

Between the efforts of the two of them, she seemed to accept the answer without trouble. “Fun! I’ve always wanted to do that, just get in a car and drive wherever the wind takes me.” She checked her watch, a simple accessory with a leather band. “Ugh, my break’s totally almost over. David and Luca, you said?”

He was almost a little relieved to see her have to go; at least it would mean no more questions he was unprepared to answer. “Yeah.”

Chase smiled and gave a bit of a nod, sad to see her go. "Yeah. It was nice meeting you, Minnie."

She wrapped up the rest of her sandwich and stood. “Yeah, pleasure. You wanna chat again before you skip town, I work down the street. Company’s nice.”

"Sure." Ben pulled up another smile and waved as she walked away, then focused back on Chase. "That was weird." 

Chase nodded, actually considering this, and turned back to Ben after he watched Minnie walk away. "Was it? She seemed friendly."

Ben frowned, finally letting his annoyance show. "Yeah, Chase, it was." He rubbed his face. "At least she also thinks what's going on is fucked, too. I felt like I was going crazy."

Chase frowned at Ben and leaned back as he lifted his shoulders in a shrug. “Yeah, at least that means that some people might feel the same way that she does. Makes what we’re gonna do with him in the end a bit easier? Like let the town deal with him?”

Ben was quiet for a moment, his knee bouncing. Chase still had no idea that Nemesis had visited him, and he thought it was a bit too late to bring it up now. He picked up his sandwich and put it back down. "We need to get rid of the hag first, I think, before we can figure out how to deal with him."

Chase rubbed his jaw and nodded. “I think we’ll have to kill her after we destroy the totem, and I think we’ll have to do it in a dream.” He frowned and finished his hot chocolate, now cold from how long it’d taken him to drink.

"So our next step is finding the totem,” Ben sighed. “And destroy it in a dream. Super easy, right?”

Chase raised his eyebrows at Ben. “Never say that things are super easy. You’d die in a second in a horror movie. Let’s go investigate a creepy lighthouse, what could go wrong?” He shook his head.

Ben breathed out a small, humorless laugh. "Well, fuck, I guess I'm screwed, then."

[crystalninjaphoenix]

Chaos Theory

Part Ten

(Finale. I scheduled this whole series so the final part would go up on Halloween. This fic is my spooky special! Hope you guys have enjoyed reading as much as I’ve had fun writing <3)

"I hate this guy so much,” Marvin muttered. “He gives us no information, then makes us climb stairs.”

He also tried to kill us, JJ added.

“Well, that’s a given.”

Chase didn’t participate in the banter. He was too busy making sure Schneep was getting up the staircase well enough. A difficult job, when his friend kept stumbling and tripping over the steps. Chase was going to make sure nothing happened to him. Because god, he’d spent the last few hours terrified and grieving and he wasn’t going to let that repeat ever again.

“Huh. There’s a door. The last staircase didn’t have a door.” Marvin stepped aside so the others could see the metal door blocking their way to the third floor.

Chase frowned. “That looks...ominous. But, well, we have to open it, so do it already.”

Marvin nodded, grabbed the handle, and with a heave he pushed the door open. The four staggered into the room beyond.

A voice rang out. “Welcome, everyone, to the final challenge!”

The room was brightly-lit, studio lights shining into every shadowy corner. Cameras were set up around the walls, and the walls themselves were lined with screens. A few were linked to the cameras in the room, but many showed areas around the city, including the exteriors and interiors of all the buildings that the group had visited during the course of this twisted game.

“Guys!” A voice shouted, followed by a clattering rattle.

Part of the room was blocked off, a wire mesh reaching from floor-to-ceiling, caging off a corner. Inside the blocked-off section was Jackie, fingers poking through the mesh holes as he shook it.

“Jackie!” Marvin shouted, distressed.

What happened? JJ asked.

“What happened was this fucking coward decided to shoot me with a dart and I passed out,” Jackie said, scowling. “But nevermind about that. Are you okay? Wait...wait, Henrik?!”

“Surprise, he’s alive!” Chase said, smiling despite the situation. Schneep managed to focus on Jackie and give a small wave.

“Oh my god.” Jackie shook his head, grabbing his hair with his hands. “Oh my god,” he repeated with a breathy laugh and a smile. But that relief faded to confusion. “How, though? I-I saw—”

“What you saw was no more than a clever—and expensive—ruse,” a voice said. “Believe it or not, finding really good fake bodies is pretty difficult. Especially if you’re not going to explain what you’re using them for.”

Everyone’s attention turned towards the source of the voice. On the opposite wall, an especially large screen was mounted on the wall, displaying a blank red image. Underneath the screen was what looked like a makeshift control panel, a desk with all sorts of electronic, technical devices, wires running from consoles of buttons and disappearing into the walls. In front of the control station was a simple swivel desk chair. And sitting in the chair was a man wearing a mask.

“Oh my god, it’s him,” Chase gaped, unconsciously shifting his body so he was in between the man—the gamemaster—and Schneep.

“Oh great! I’m gonna fucking kill him!” Marvin’s eyes flared bright green.

“Whoa, hey, before you go any further, let me explain why you’re not going to want to do that.” The gamemaster picked up a device from the table, one resembling a remote control. “Now, you should notice how you four are standing on tile, but the floor beneath your friend Jackieboy’s feet is made of metal. Do you see that small box near the ceiling? That’s wired up to deliver 6 amps of electricity through that area. Which may not sound like a lot, but—” He laughed. “—is actually definitely enough to kill a human being. And that’s going to go off in, oh...let’s see, how long is it until your time’s up for the game?” A timer popped up on the screen behind him, showing 22 minutes, counting downward. “Oh yeah, that long! Unless I deactivate it with the code that I keep stored inside my head and nowhere else.”

Marvin’s eyes dimmed back to their normal blue. He looked the gamemaster over. He didn’t look like anything special. Wasn’t taller or heavier than average. His hair was ordinary brown, and wild like someone had messed it up in a fit of rage. He wore a black jacket, blue jeans, and a black t-shirt with that symbol—red skull inside a circle divided in four parts—on the chest. But then there was that mask. That red mask with that white smile, and black eyes that you could feel staring at you. Not to mention how this guy apparently planned out everything. “Fuck you,” Marvin growled, but he made no further move.

But there has to be a way to get Jackie out of here! JJ signed. Is there some way to get that code?

“There has to be,” Chase said. He looked at the gamemaster. “Look, there’s gotta be a way for us to win this, right? You wouldn’t put us in an impossible situation! That would kinda defeat the purpose of this being a game.”

“You’re right!” The gamemaster twirled the remote like a baton. “You guys have gotten farther than anyone’s gotten in a long time, but can you go all the way? Why don’t you all take a seat? I bet you’re getting tired of carrying your doctor friend around, and I can tell you that’s not going to wear off for a while.”

Schneep had the presence of mind to flip the gamemaster off.

“Second time tonight, that’s a new record.” The gamemaster leaned back in his chair. “Alright. Here’s how it’s going to work. I’m going to ask you four riddles. You can work together to solve them. If you get them all right before time runs out, then you win! If you don’t get them all before the time limit, then that current’s going to set off. And if you give me a wrong answer at any point, you get a warning shock. Alright?”

Chase had never before wanted to shoot anyone so badly. He looked around at the others.

“Guys, we’re not really in a position to negotiate,” Jackie said. He was surprisingly calm, for being told his life depended on getting the right answers on a riddle quiz.

“Negotiate with my flaming—ugh, fine,” Marvin grumbled. He sat on the floor, crossing his legs. “Might as well get comfortable.”

I suppose we have to, JJ sighed.

“Yeah.” Chase looked back at the gamemaster. “Okay, we’re ready for your riddles.”

“Great!” The gamemaster clapped his hands once, then stopped halfway before clapping again. “Here, first one’s a freebie. What walks on four legs in the morning, two in the afternoon, and three in the evening?”

Oh that one! JJ signed. I know that one.

“It’s like, the stages of life, isn’t it?” Jackie asked, biting his thumbnail. “Baby, then adult, then an old person with a cane.”

“Technically kids walk on two legs, too,” Marvin pointed out. “And teenagers.”

“It’s simplified,” the gamemaster said. “But anyway, you got that one right! Good job, point for you.” He pressed a button on the control station, and a green checkmark appeared on the screen beneath the timer. “Now, second riddle. Listen carefully to the words: Can you answer this? If there’s a room with seven people, then you walk in and murder four, how many people are in the room?”

There was silence for a moment. Then Marvin spoke, “Five, right? Cause you’ll stay in the room, the four dead bodies will stay in there too, but the three people would probably run away.”

“Are we counting dead bodies as people?” Chase asked.

I think we would, that would make the riddle more difficult at first glance, JJ added.

“Yeah, so five?” Jackie asked.

“Five. The answer is five,” Chase said.

“Oh, I’m sorry ‘bout that.” The gamemaster pressed a button on the remote.

Jackie suddenly shrieked, jumping and stumbling back. “Sh-shit,” he stammered. “That—that—I wasn’t expecting—”

“Oh my god, are you okay?!” Chase asked, half-reaching towards the mesh wall before realizing it might shock him too.

“I-I-I’m fine,” Jackie said, shaking his head. “I just...that felt...weird.”

“Do we not count the bodies, then?” Marvin asked, pulling his fingers nervously.

“I mean, I guess we don’t?” Chase guessed. “But I don’t want to get it wrong agai—ow! Schneep, did you poke me?”

Schneep had. “Words...” he said. “Listen...listen to the...word...ing.” Even that small phrase had taken a lot of effort to push through whatever haze of drug was in his system, and his head immediately fell forward. Chase staggered a bit as Schneep leaned more weight on him.

“Listen to the wording?” Marvin frowned. “The riddle was ‘if there’s a room with seven people, then you walk in and murder four, how many people are in the room?’ What could you hear in the wording there?”

JJ’s eyes widened. No, that wasn’t all! he signed hurriedly. There was a first question. He asked, ‘can you answer this?’ It’s a yes or no question!

Chase’s jaw dropped. “Oh, you bitch. Alright, then. Yes, we can answer that question.”

“There you go!” Another checkmark appeared on the screen behind the gamemaster.. “Doing pretty good for time. Now, this one’s a simple format of a riddle, pretty standard. Now...what belongs to you, but other people use it more than you?”

“My fucking...YouTube videos, I dunno,” Chase mumbled. He laughed suddenly. “What about ‘my life’!? That’s totally the answer, guys.”

“Chase, please, don’t fall apart now,” Jackie said softly. “We can do this. We have plenty of time left.”

“My...breath when I’m giving CPR,” Marvin mumbled, rubbing his head.

JJ frowned. I don’t think it’s anything that specific.

“Well, obviously, we’re just throwing things out there right now,” Jackie said. “Gets you warmed up.”

“What, you weren’t warmed up by my last four sets of puzzles?” The gamemaster sounded slightly offended. He shook his head.” Well, that was three wrong answers in a row.”

Chase’s eyes widened. “Wait, no, those don’t—”

Jackie screamed, falling to the floor. A few loose blue sparks danced around the mesh. Once it was over, he lay on the floor, panting. JJ dropped to the floor beside him and started asking if he was alright. Chase would’ve done the same, if he wasn’t concerned he’d drop Schneep. Marvin, meanwhile, shot to his feet. “Those clearly weren’t serious attempts, you fuckwad!” he shouted.

“But they were attempts!” The gamemaster laughed. “And any attempt is a good one. Unless, of course, it’s wrong.”

“I’m going to kill you. I’m seriously going to kill you once this is over,” Marvin said in a low voice. “You better hope you can run fast enough.”

“Kill the body all you want, you’ll never be able to get rid of me.” The gamemaster’s tone shifted suddenly, becoming dangerously serious. Then it returned to normal. “But hey, you still don’t have the answer. How much time do you have left again?”

JJ suddenly looked up, and made a simple sign. It was like a flick; he touched his index and middle finger to his forehead, then twisted his wrist until his fingers were facing in front of his face.

“‘Name’?” Marvin repeated, confused.

“Oh, wait, that’s the answer!” Chase said excitedly. “Your name! It’s yours, but you don’t really use it except to sign papers, other people use it for you all the time.”

“Oh, very good.” The gamemaster sounded impressed. Another check mark appeared on screen. “And now...your final challenge.” He stood up, and recited:

“Only one color, but not one size. Stuck at the bottom, yet I easily fly. Present in sun, but not in rain. Doing no harm, and feeling no pain. What am I?”

“Ah fuck, it’s a multiple clue one, I hate these,” Marvin mumbled. “What’s present in the sun but not in rain? Like a—”

“Don’t say anything!” Chase shrieked. “Any answer counts!”

Well, he can’t understand sign, JJ said, suddenly grinning. What if we talked so he couldn’t know if we were guessing or not?

Marvin’s eyes widened, and he smiled as well. I like the way you think, he signed. His hands were slower than JJ’s, but somehow elegant. I was thinking some kind of insect or animal.

Jackie slowly stood up, shaking off the effects of the shock and processing the conversation. No, that wouldn’t make sense for the color and size clues, he signed. His movements were slower and bigger, but they got the point across. What animal comes in different sizes but just one color?

Besides, animals feel pain, JJ added.

So now we know it’s an inanimate object! Marvin argued. That’s a start.

“...You know, I feel like you’re plotting,” the gamemaster suddenly said. “Maybe I should...stop that.” He took out the remote again.

Marvin’s head whipped toward him. “No—!”

Too late. Jackie screamed again, falling against the mesh wall this time, muscles spasming. For a moment, his mouth opened and closed silently, and then his breathing resumed.

“Okay, we’re gonna have to...figure this out on our own,” Marvin said, stunned.

They all fell silent. JJ knelt by Jackie, checking on him again. Marvin scrunched his eyes closed, pushing his hands against them and swaying as he thought. Chase, for his part, sank to the floor. Schneep leaned against his side, a few mumbled words escaping as he tried to figure out the riddle too. But Chase could only watch the timer count down.

Was it going to end here? There were worse places for it. But still, if it was going to end, he didn’t want it to be here. There were cameras recording, this sick gamemaster would probably get some amusement from it, and everything was brightly lit. There wasn’t even a shadow to hide in—

Chase stopped. Wait a minute...he glanced over to Jackie, who didn’t look too good, still slightly trembling from the last shock. If he was wrong, then...he looked back at the timer. And he took a deep breath. “It’s a shadow,” he said.

The others looked at him.

“The answer, it’s a shadow,” Chase repeated. “It’s always black, but it changes shape depending on what’s making it. It’s stuck on the ground. You need the sun to make one. And it’s not alive, so it can’t do harm or feel pain.”

Silence. And then, the gamemaster began laughing. “Well, done, Mr. Chase Brody!” He began clapping. “Well, guess you’re better at this than your name would have you think.”

“Gee, thanks,” Chase said dryly.

“You’re welcome!” The gamemaster typed something out on the remote’s keypad. The timer on the screen stopped, three and a half minutes left. There was a slight buzz, and a previously unnoticeable door in the mesh wall swung open. Instantly JJ darted inside, lifting Jackie up and half-dragging him out.

“I have to say, I’m impressed.” The gamemaster dropped the remote. “You’d be surprised how many people don’t finish this game. A lot of people watch just because they want them to fail, but I think it’s a lot more interesting when someone wins. I applaud you. All of you.”

“I’m sorry, ‘people watch’?” Chase repeated. He looked at the cameras around the room.

“Of course. You don’t think I go to all this effort and then just don’t show off?” The gamemaster chuckled. “Besides, I need funds for this. And the easiest way to do that is to make people pay to see it.”

Jackie suddenly burst into laughter. “You’re a Dark Web vlogger,” he giggled. “I-I’m not surprised.”

“I am not a vlogger, I just make games for people to enjoy. There’s a difference.”

“Can we shut up about this?!” Marvin turned to the gamemaster, approaching him before stopping halfway. “What’s going to save you now, huh?!” His eyes turned green.

“Nothing, really.” The gamemaster shrugged. “But you won’t. Not because you’re a good person, but because...do you really want the others to see you do something like that?”

Marvin stiffened, looking over his shoulder at the others. They were all staring at him. “Fuck,” he muttered. He turned back to the gamemaster. “You, sir, are an absolute dickface of a DM. You stalk us for two years at least, and you expect to just get away with it! You may walk out of here now, but will you in the future?”

“That’s a good question. I mean, some people are always up for a sequel, aren’t they?” The gamemaster tilted his head. “And for the record, I’ve been following you for three years.”

“Why?!” Jackie suddenly blurted out.

“Well...I was actually originally interested in your friend Jack.” He laughed at the shock on their faces. “Oh yeah. Those interesting little moments in his videos, October three years ago? I thought that was his own little ARG he was setting up, and I’m not one to turn that down. But then I realized, it’s no augmented reality...for you it’s just reality.” He paused. “It’s...interesting, how many people attached to YouTube find themselves staring into an evil that wears their own face. Whether that’s a pair of demon twins hunting the souls of your listeners, a rogue virus that’s copied your face—or mask, in that case—or a twisted entity made out of the dark twisted souls of a pair of siblings you wronged in your past life. It’s almost like something about the platform attracts the supernatural and unexplained...” He shrugged. “But that’s just a theory.”

Jackie got to his feet. “So...you expect us to just let you walk out of here?”

“Actually, I expect you to walk out of here and leave me alone. And, well, if you won’t, I do have this.” He reached inside his jacket and pulled out a gun. “Can’t hurt to be safe.”

JJ shook his head. You’re mad.

“Oh hey! I know that one!” He imitated the sign. “I should really learn more of that, or maybe ASL. That could be useful. But that’s for the future.”

Chase narrowed his eyes. “Are you going to leave us alone after this?”

The mask’s smile seemed to widen. “What do you think?”

Silence.

“Well, now.” The gamemaster sat back down in his chair once again, taking the safety off the gun. “I think you know the way out, don’t you?”

And with nothing else to do, and a feeling of unsatisfaction, they left.

— — — — —

“We can’t seriously just let that guy go!” Marvin said the moment they were out of the building. “He could come after us at any moment!”

“Marvin, yes, I agree,” Jackie said tiredly. “He’s a danger to us and to other innocents. But it’s nearly 6:30 in the morning. None of us have slept. Schneep’s still fucking...I dunno, half-unconscious, and I’m feeling pretty shitty myself. We can’t do anything right now.”

Marvin actually stomped his foot. “Fine. Yes. But it sucks!”

It does, JJ agreed. Honestly, as soon as we are able, we should go after him. 

Jackie bit his lip. “That’s gonna be tough...I’ll bet you anything this guy’s good at covering his tracks. Maybe I could do some hacking, try to find whatever Dark Web website he’s posting these...games on. But I don’t know.”

“Guys, please, not now,” Chase said dully. “I...I want to go home.”

Jackie sighed, then gave a small, exhausted smile. “Yeah, me too. We should also maybe return the stolen car.”

“We can do that tomorrow, now let’s go the fuck to sleep,” Marvin said, climbing into the passenger seat of said stolen car.

Jackie laughed. “That sounds like a good idea.”

JJ, Jackie, and Schneep ended up in the back of the car, with Jackie sandwiched in the middle. Chase was still driving, turning on the car and setting off through roads that were starting to fill up with early morning traffic. The sky overhead was a dark blue, no longer black.

Jackie wrapped an arm around Schneep in a one-handed hug, pulling him close. He was really here. He saw him die, but he was really here. “Don’t you ever scare me like that again,” he muttered, blinking back hot tears. Schneep laughed under his breath, mumbling something about how he would try not to.

They had no way of knowing if this was over. Jackie was tired, burnt out from a night of adrenaline.

But they were all here. They were all okay. His friends were going to be okay.

Jackie sighed, closed his eyes, and it only took a few seconds for him to drift off.

[poison-rat]

Tattoo Flowers Snippet 3

This has been a long time coming but I finally wrote more! As the other two parts say, these are in no particular order. I may go back and edit those as well so I may repost those tonight. Hopefully I'll continue to feel inspired to write this!

Snippet 1 & Snippet 2

♡♡♡

Dan sat in his shop at the end of the day, finishing up a design. He was planning a charity day where he would do simple tattoos for $7 and donate the money to a local charity. He did it twice a year but he liked to switch up the designs every time for a new theme. This one was flowers. Not for any reason. And definitely not for his new neighbor. He pushed the thoughts from his head and continued his steady lining.

A customer came in for a touch up and another came in for a simple bee tattoo with her girlfriend. He made sure they were satisfied and handed over the care kit and began to run through the process of healing for her.

He smiled softly as the girlfriend said she knew how this worked and would take good care of her. "Alright. Looks like you're in good hands. Let's get you paid out then."

He brought them to the register. The girl with the bee tipped very well and thanked him and even said she may be back for more. Dan watched the two leave, hands intertwined. He couldn't quite explain why his heart gave a small leap at the sight of two people in love.

He yawned and checked his phone for the time. It was already late and he figured closing up shop ten minutes early wouldn't hurt. He put the charity design papers into a file and stretched on his way to the door.

As the bolt clicked into place, a hand smacked the glass and made Dan jump two feet back. "Shit!!" He moved back to it and looked out.

The hand's owner, Arin, stepped into view, panting and trying to talk. "Sorry! Sorry!" He gestured to the door and made a twisting motion, silently asking Dan to unlock the door.

The artist undid the lock and let him in. "What the hell, man? You could've just come and knocked on my door later if you wanted to talk." He went to his fridge and grabbed a water to give him.

"Yeah, but... uh..." Arin trailed off. Obviously, that had not occurred to him. Dan chuckled at the pure confusion on his face. "Shut up."

"Oh, no, this is gold. You forgot we were neighbors?" Dan moved to lock the door again and started to clean up.

"I'm sorry! I got all confused and lost track of time and flustered!" Arin huffed and shoved his hands into his pockets. "I did come down here to ask you if you wanted to come over but now I take it back!"

Dan's hand froze on the cup of ink he'd been using during a brainstorm session. "Ask me over?" He turned to Arin, who looked a little more flustered and pink in the cheeks than the running from his apartment would account for. "What for?"

The florist shrugged. "I dunno. We've been neighbors a week. I figured we could get to know one another." He smiled lightly towards Dan. "It's not gay. It's just some neighbors making sure that when one of us throws a wild house party, the other won't be as mad as they could be."

"You've obviously put some thought into this." Dan dumped the cup and began rinsing them. He turned and saw Arin picking up some papers and stacking them. "Oh, you don't have to do that."

"It's fine, man. Repaying the favor for you helping me set up shop." He smiled as he tossed the balled up wads into the trash.

Dan nodded with a weird haze in his mind. Arin wanted to have dinner with him, he was helping him clean up, he ran from his apartment just to catch him?

"So? How's about it?"

"Huh?" The man blinked and looked over at the man speaking. Arin was now closer, holding some other dishes Dan had overlooked. "What?"

"Dinner at my place? The whole reason I came down here?" Arin wiggled his eyebrows, making Dan laugh slightly.

He thought for a moment then shrugged. "Yeah. Sure. It sounds better than reheated chicken fingies." He took the dishes, careful to avoid getting Arin's hands wet.

The florist looked confused again before breaking into a grin. "Fingies? Are you serious?"

"Yeah! Chicken fingies!" Dan grinned, "They're my favorite. I've called them fingies for years, man. My mom gets a kick out of it every time I go see her and she gets some for me."

Arin laughed. "It is cute. Just didn't expect that out of you."

Dan nodded. "Yep. I'm a bit of a kid at heart."

"It's cute."

They finished cleaning up in relative silence. Dan made sure the signs were off, locked up, and followed him to his apartment.

The apartment was a bit bigger than Dan's, but looked crowded with assorted art and various video game memorabilia on the walls and plants on tables and shelves and hanging all over. It was definitely much cleaner than Dan's and had that lingering smell of spring instead of weed and coffee. And a bit of lasagna, as he noticed Arin going to check the oven.

"Oh, shoes off please. You can leave them by the door."

Dan nodded and looked to the side and saw a few pegs with jackets and various pairs of shoes tossed haphazardly underneath. He toed off his sneakers and went into the living room. A plush white couch sat in the middle in front of a TV. A grey and white fluffy cat was rolling around on said couch, scratching their back. Dan gently reached down and rubbed the cat's belly. The cat responded with freezing then relaxing because it was being pet.

"That's Mimi. She's lazy." Arin came out of the kitchen and smiled at the kitten, who went from Dan's hand to rub against Arin's leg. "Glad she didn't scratch or something. She has a tendency not to let go."

"Yeah. That would suck." Dan looked to Arin, slightly shy. Arin must have detected it and waved him to sit down. "So lasagna for dinner?"

"Yeah. It's still got a good ten minutes. My oven is kinda shitty and it's still frozen in the middle." He grabbed a remote and hummed. "Do you like Mario?"

"Uh. Yeah. It's been a while since I've played but I could pick it up easy." Dan watched as Arin went to change the game in the system. He'd never seen that system before but then again he hadn't played many games past Game/Cube. "What are we playing?" He looked away as Arin bent at the waist, both out of modesty to not stare at his ass and to just not stare at his ass in general.

"Super Ma/rio Bros. I don't have many two player games." Arin grabbed two controllers and turned to hand one over. "Here."

Dan took the controller gently and let Arin get them into the game. Arin explained the controls and they were quickly on their way. It took Dan a moment to get used to a controller again with his thumbs but after that he was having tons of fun.

They got so into the game and riffing off one another and telling stories that neither remembered dinner until there was a burning smell wafting through the apartment. "Oh, shit-" Arin leapt up, Dan hit pause, and they rushed to the kitchen. Black smoke billowed out as the door was opened and both stared at the charred block of pasta.

"I don't think it's frozen in the middle anymore." Dan slipped the oven mitts on and pulled it out to drop it into the stovetop.

"Damn. I completely forgot. That sucks." Arin poked at it with a butter knife.

"That's okay. We could always order takeout. I know a good place for Thai." Arin nodded, a bit of a disappointed look on his face. Dan patted his back, "It's alright, man. It happens. I can't tell you how many times I forget popcorn or some shit cause I'm busy. Now come on, let's order Thai."

Dan pulled up the website and they searched the menu for a bit before he called the order in. They resumed the game until the food arrived, then they turned it off for the time being and turned on some old monster movie Dan suggested.

Stories continued to pass between the two as well as bits of food as Arin was unaccustomed to it and wanted to try everything. Dan obliged, happy to see Arin enjoyed the food and wasn't still hung up on burning dinner. It wasn't an hour later that Dan was yawning and his eyes began to grow heavy. Arin noticed and patted his arm. "Hey. You should probably get headed home. Get you some sleep."

"Nah. I'm having fun here." Dan yawned again, nullifying his point. Arin poked and prodded him as he wiggled off the couch. "Alright. I'll head out. We should do this again sometime." Dan started for the door, grabbing his shoes. "Weekly thing or something."

Arin smiled and Dan copied it unconsciously from the sheer joy behind it. "I'd like that. Now go home before you fall asleep on your feet." He pushed him gently out the door and watched to make sure he got inside okay.

Dan dropped his shoes to the floor and keys onto the side table. As he collapsed into bed, he was already beginning to dream of a certain florist in a Ma/rio outfit.

[shapeshifting-arch-mage]

Port Town Grillby’s RP, Part 2

Well... after all of that, we finally have our fries. We'd better eat them up quick- the sooner we finish, the sooner we can get down from Baku's lap. But before we can take a bite, the free-roaming parasite spits its fries out! What the-?!

[Haze] Haze honestly wasn’t completely sure how or why he was here, but, hey, he was a curious parasite, and this area was new to him, may as well explore. The scene he walks in on does a mix of cause a grow in curiosity, and just weird him out a hint, adjusting his sunglasses and glancing over the few others in here, namely pausing his eyes on Baku- the only one he knew- before hesitantly strolling all the way in, hanging back to watch this interesting scene with furthering curiosity, eye-lights shining behind his sunglasses.

[Frisbee] Frisbee would quietly watch, he doesn't know what to say, neither does mun. So he just watched.

[Baku] Baku startled when he felt a sudden biting pain in his arm, nearly knocking Temmie out of his lap but managing to keep them in place. However once the bite strengthened and he felt some of his energy draining he growled as the lights in his eyes flared up for a second before stabilizing once again. He then yanked the creature off his arm without toppling Temmie and slid it across the counter despite wanting to throw it into the wall but managing to keep his cool. "Little pest, again wit the bs o' me gettin' funkin' attacked when I did nothin' wrong." It was clear Baku was irritated but he managed to calm down after taking a deep breath. "Just tryin' ta relax while enjoyin' a bro an' a fan's company fer funk sake, is dat too much ta ask jeez." It was at this point Baku heard the familiar sound of the door opening and turned to see who had entered, grinning when he spied a familiar face. "Yo Haze, how's it hangin' haven't seen ya in a while, whatcha doin' at Port Town broseph."

[Johan] Johan watches from a bit aways as his parasite is yanked off in a way that makes it painful just to watch. It rolls slightly before getting its bearing and looks up to Baku, clearly upset about that, before slinking away. Johan tries not to react, but the word pest echoes through his mind. Finally, the squeaking of the opening door pulls him out of it and he looks over to the newcomer. “Hello?”

[Rave Witch Temmie] "awawah!1!"

Baku's reaction to the parasite startles us, and reminds me a little of our first meeting... except of course, that yellow thing obviously wasn't trying to protect me from Baku like Carrie was. Pfah.

Oh, no... some of the fries spilled. Ugh...

We scoop out a handful of the fries that didn't spill and stuff them in our mouth. We need to start eating, now.

[Haze]  Haze watched this all with confusion, but jumps some when finally addressed, giving his normal smile to Baku, shifting where he stood a moment, before walking up and offering a simple high five in greeting, "Yo yo bro, uhh... Dunno exactly, jus' uhh, checkin' shiz out, lookin' round ya know??" He says simply, before glancing at the other voice that gave a soft hello, grinning some, "Heyo broski, names Haze, what’s your name??" This time, a hand is outstretched in more of fist-bump gesture, looking to the new face curiously.

[Rave Witch Temmie] Nom nom nom... Huh? Someone else is in here? And he knows Baku, too? We can't ask him who he is just yet, as we haven't finished chewing our fries. We need to focus on that. Just forget about Baku for a second... just chew the fries, just chew the fries...

[Frisbee] Frisbee would keep spectating, growing anxious again, so many parasites from what he can tell, even if they were friendly, he was thinking on how this group should be enemies, ah he's thinking too hard again, rip.

[Baku] Baku makes a noise of surprise when the food spilled but quickly cleaned it up before his favorite shorts got stained. He then huffed at the peep, "Don't like it than don't bite me next time aiight, it was a jerk reaction so sorry but deal." It was at this point Haze greeted him and he grinned as he returned the high five, "Ah gotcha, well this is a p' cool place so can't blame ya." This is when he noticed the other person in the room and grinned, waving slightly, "Yo didn't see ya there, what's up my man?"

[Johan] Johan watches everything going on silently, but when he’s greeted he can’t help but let off a small smirk. He reaches his hound out in a fist as a response of sorts. “Heya! My name is Johan!” before the impact of the fist bump by now, his hand suddenly shifts before clasping the other’s hand. He grins innocently as if he doesn’t know what he’s doing wrong. “But you could call me Dedtimee!” the yellow parasite by now decided to get away from the crowd and looks around for some random person elsewhere in the pub. An NPC you could call it. If it finds one, it latches onto the back of the person’s neck and starts doing its thing soft enough to somehow not be noticed. It’s basically just a neon leech at this point.

[Rave Witch Temmie] Nom nom... gulp. We finish our first mouthful of fries. We take a second handful, trying to keep any more fries from spilling out of the container while Baku jostles us about as he moves.

[Haze] Haze looks at them curiously-if he was a dog his tail would be wagging for sure-smiling big before letting a slight hint of confusion dawn onto his face as they grasp his hand, "Uh..heh, 'ight broski!! Nice to meet ya...??" He says simply, "That ain’t quite how ya do a fist bump though bro, ain’t gonna lie, but you do you," Seems Haze doesn’t care too much about the failed fist bump, though he does cast another glance down at his hand as if he'd been hoping for one for some inevitably non-important reason.

[Rave Witch Temmie] Who is this guy.

Why does he know Baku.

Why are we still sitting here on his lap.

We put our second handful of fries in our mouth. Nom nom nom...

[Frisbee] Frisbee was uh.. sitting there, quietly having a sudden panic attack, yep he's uh... not okay, so... don't mind him shaking in his seat and being in the corner of said seat now.

[Baku] Baku turned back and relaxed in his chair once more. However shortly after he noticed Frisbee freaking out and raised a brow bone. "Yo you aiight broseph, ya don't look so good, maybe you should get a room at the hotel an' crash fer a bit or heck maybe even head home, seems like that skele you were wit before has forgotten 'bout ya anyway." As he was talking his arms wrapped around Temmie once more so that she wasn't jostling about as much.

[Rave Witch Temmie] "mmrrrmrrrgh... mmmrghtr rrt mrrr..." We can't talk with our mouth full. We quickly finish chewing the fries and swallow hard. Ouch... that took more effort to swallow than I would have liked. Too bad we don't have a drink... "awawaaa... Bakuuuu... i gotta eat my friiiiies..."

It's a little harder for us to get the fries out of the container and to our mouth with him hugging us like this. I can already feel my heart- or is that my soul- shaking like a leaf. Wait, maybe he's doing this on purpose to prolong our stay. Ugh, that scumbag... His hug does feel kinda nice, though... 

[Johan] Johan soon lets go of the other’s hand and nods. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.” after a moment his hand goes to fidget with his necklace nervously as he stares at what the other is wearing. At this moment he finally wakes up completely and realizes what the others are wearing. God does it hurt his eyes. “Excuse me for a second.” Johan stands and goes over to Baku and RWT and tries his best kind smile, a bit nervously. “Hey, Tem? I just wanted to see if you were OK. Last night you... well I don’t remember quite clearly but I do remember worrying about you. I’m not sure what it was but I do know you left and I blacked out, woke up under a table or something... How are you today?” He didn’t realize he was about to ramble until the last part where he just skipped to the point. He looks tired still. None of this has woken him up at all.

[Rave Witch Temmie] "t-today?? awawa... i was realy hungry... i gotta eat my fries but Bakus makin it kinda hard..." Looks like Temmie and I are getting back into the habit of speaking as one. Baku's unexpected return last week had thrown off our coordination and has been making it hard for us to act in unison lately, due to our conflicting feelings about him. Good to know that we're making at least some progress on being able to act like one individual again...

[Haze] Haze wasn’t entirely sure as to what to do right now, eventually settling with sitting beside Baku, the ears of his hat flopping some as he just plops himself down, glancing curiously at the Temmie in Baku’s lap, head tilting some.

[Rave Witch Temmie] "Hnnnn, this is so creepyyyy...

Baku's hugging uuuusss... It's so creepyyyy... It's kinda nice...

But it's so CREEPY...!! Maybe we should hug him back...

Ugggh!! We need to finish our fries!!"

Our minds are racing a mile a minute. We need to eat our fries. Baku is distracting us. The others are distracting us. We need to eat our fries.

Baku is hugging us~  WE NEED. TO. EAT. OUR. FRIES.

[Frisbee] Frisbee would take a minute or so to reply, shivering.

"Th-thinkin' too much yo." He would glance to the others, attempting to relax again. "Oh he never seems to forget, he'll find me sooner or later..."

[Rave Witch Temmie] We attempt to grasp a single French fry from the container with the limited amount of space our arms have. Once we have it in our grip, we sneak it into our mouth. munch, munch...

[Baku] Baku lowered his arms so that they were wrapped around Temmie's waist so that it was easier for her to eat and then nodded. "Well either way maybe ya should head home fer a bit, get some time ta yerself before he comes back."

[Johan] Johan sighs and smiles. “At least you’re alright then.” He looks to Baku and considers just stealing the tem out of his arms and walking off with them. Of course he can’t do that though. “Well... I don’t feel comfortable here and you don’t seem comfy either... I would suggest to go elsewhere but I’m starving and I need food so... I guess that’s out of the question?” He shrugs nervously. By now that NPC from before would faint, causing a cluttering sound from falling headfirst into the table. The parasite jumps off and slinks into hiding before anyone can suspect anything hopefully, but that sound might’ve just attracted unwanted attention.

[Haze] Haze glances over some at the clatter of some random person falling against the table, casting a glance around... Was no one else put off by this? Because he sure as heck was, tilting his head some more and glancing to Baku, "This place is all up freakin' wacky..." he mutters simply.

[Rave Witch Temmie] Okay, phew, we can move our arms again. Just a few more fries to go, and then we’ll be done. Our throat’s feeling a little uncomfortable from being made to swallow so many fries so quickly (up to six or seven at once), but if it can just hold out for two more mouthfuls, we’ll be home free. We scoop out our third handful of fries, but before we can put them in our mouth, we hear someone’s head bang against the table.

“EEEEP!1!!1” Startled, we squeeze our paw around the fries we’re holding, hug the container against our chest with the other, and whip our head in the direction the loud bang came from.

[Frisbee] Frisbee was about to say something, but the noise caused him to jump and look over, confused once again, but he would quickly look back at Baku, frowning. “Yeah brah I really should, but this place intrigues me. I feel like I should look ‘round a bit while I still can, then go back home.”

[Baku] Baku looked at the person who was talking to Temmie and raised a brow bone, though the curiosity on his face soon vanished and was replaced with a glare. He then moved to say something but was cut off by a loud bang which startled him slightly and he instantly turned his head to look at where the sound had come from. When he saw the person fainted at the other table confusion flashed across his face before it went completely stoic. It was at this point Frisbee distracted him with talking and Baku turned his attention to that, nodding. "Yeah like I said this place is full o' cool stuff, walkin' around can be real interestin' so I totally get what ya mean bro."

[Johan] Johan heard the sound and seeing everyone react he then pretends to be startled, not making any sound along with it though as to not draw attention to his delayed reaction. Soon he looks around for a place to sit near RWT, feeling like he should talk to them. He also goes to order food, not seeming very sure of what to eat. He ends up getting chips. The parasite peeks out of hiding to see that everyone but Johan seemed to hear the sound. Dang. It can’t get away now can it? It then slinks back into hiding hoping to wait the attention out.

[Rave Witch Temmie] Who was that? What happened to them?? Are they okay?! As worried as we are about the person who just fell, we can’t check on them yet because we’re not done with our fries! We move our fry tray back into our lap and stuff the fries we were holding into our mouth.

munch munch, nom nom... Only a few more fries left after we get this mouthful down. We can eat the rest of them in one more bite.

Just keep chewing, just keep chewing... Let’s hug Baku after this- no, just keep... chewing...

[Haze] Haze seemed a hint more curious about the passed out bar patron than everyone else apparently, because he actually walks over, poking at them some, though he wasn’t observant enough to notice the nearby hiding parasite.

[Frisbee] Frisbee would soon get up, going over as well, silent as he thought on what to do, he couuulld pick them up and place them somewhere... but honestly he didn't want to, he couldn't be bothered to do so, why did he walk over anyway? Hm...

[Rave Witch Temmie] Okay, phew, the others are getting up to check on whoever fell over. That means we can keep focusing on our fries. Munch munch munch... Just chew and swallow. Chew and... swallow. There we go.

Ow, our throat’s getting sore...

“We’re almost done, Temmie.” I think to her. “Just one more bite, okay? Just one more. Can you hold out for one more bite?”

“awawa... ok...”

“Thank you, Temmie. You don’t know how much this means to me, that you’re willing to do this. Thank you so-”

“can we hug Baku after th-”

“Just focus on the fries, Temmie.”

[greenergrassinsafermeadows]

Chapter 12

He’d made a definite mistake.     Ok, so Clara’d been putting in some overtime lately. Which meant she wasn’t at home as much. Which meant she wasn’t with him as much. Which was not ok. However, Craig quickly learned that eating half a loaf of bread and using a migraine as leverage to keep her home for the day was NOT worth it. He groaned into the pillow he’d buried his face in. The noise from the air conditioner was grating and all together too loud. Had it always been too loud? Even with the lights turned off the room was still far too bright, he didn’t even bother lifting his head anymore. “Claraaaaaa…. I’m gonna die. My skulls gonna explode and I’ll die. You’ll need to clean up the brain chunks after I’m gone.”    Clara only sighed, crossing the room and sitting down beside him as gently as she could, he still whined as the mattress shifted. “Payton. You kinda did this to yourself sweetheart. I’m not sure what you want from me here.”   “A little sympathy and compassion maybe? These are my last moments.” “You have about 20 ‘last moments’ until the Excedrin should kick in. I think you’ll make it.”   “No I WOONN’T” He rolled over to look at her, wincing and shutting his eyes again because fuck way to bright. “Turn the lights back off you jerk..” “The lights are off Payton.”   “Well turn off the fucking sun. My eyes are being stabbed out of their sockets.” She didn’t answer, and he almost panicked when he felt her get up. “I’m not leaving,” She whispered, “I’ll be right back ok?”    He only whined again, and alright maybe a few tears were beginning to burn the corners of his eyes, but god damn his head hurt. He was focused on pressing the heels of his hands as hard as he could against his eyes without blinding himself when Clara returned.     Again she sat beside him and gently pulled his hands away with a murmur of “Jesus Christ honey don’t liquefy your eyeballs.” Before laying a cool washcloth over his face. “That’s about as close to turning off the sun as I can get without imploding the entire solar system and killing us all.”    “.............Thank you.” She settled next to him, wrapping an arm around him as carefully as she could. Immediately Craig curled into her, clenching his fist in her shirt as the throbbing pain in his head worsened with the movement. “Why don’t you try and get some sleep Payton, let the meds kick in.” She spoke softly enough that it didn’t hurt to listen, that was already an improvement. He managed a weak “ok.” before letting his mind shut off, finally falling asleep through the haze of pain.

   He woke up an hour or so later, still groggy and a bit nauseated, but no longer convinced he was on death's door. Clara hadn’t moved, or at least it didn’t seem like she had, the cup of water resting on the nightstand said otherwise. He moved slowly, testing the waters, it wasn’t excruciating anymore, but he didn’t have the energy to make it farther than rolling sideways and resting his head on her chest.   “Hey,” She still spoke in a whisper, not wanting to risk making things worse, “You alright?” “Mhh..” He hoped that sounded affirming enough, he didn’t feel much like elaborating.     It must’ve been, because she reached over and grabbed the water, holding it out to him. “You need to drink some, it’ll help.”   Making another noncommittal sound he complied. She was right. Upon awaking his throat felt gummed up and uncomfortable, the water helped with that much at least. “Do we have any Mountain Dew in the fridge?” Was his first coherent sentence.    Clara snorted a laugh. “Glad you’re feeling better. We do, you can have some later, caffeine actually isn’t the worst idea.” She stopped smiling though, her face flickering from concern to contemplation, “So… are you ready to talk about why you thought sitting down and eating half a fucking breadloaf was a good idea?”    Ouch. Why couldn’t she just be stupid? This would be a good time for her to be stupid. “I… Thought it was the gluten free kind?” He tried. She didn’t look impressed. No dice.    “You mistook it for the clearly labeled bread in completely different packaging that I’ve had in my kitchen since we started dating?” “Yyyyyyyyyy...es..?”    “Payton.” “..........You needed a day off. You’ve been working nonstop, you’re gonna turn into Boringfuck Mc’shitski at this rate. I did this for you. You’re welcome.”    She somehow managed to look even less impressed. “So it’s about the overtime?” “Yes. I just told you. I did this to save you from yourself. You can thank me anytime now Clara.”     She huffed in frustration before sitting up and pulling him into her lap, cupping his face and pressing their foreheads together. “Payton. Is this or is this not because I’ve been busier and had less time to hang out with you?”     “It’s uh…… it’s” He couldn’t meet her eyes at this point, opting instead to look down at his own hands. Clara let out another sigh and hugged him tighter. Craig rested his chin on her shoulder and decided that staying quiet seemed like the best course of action.     “I’m broke as shit and I like my job,” She started, “I’m doing something I enjoy and trying to make some extra money from it. It doesn’t mean I don’t love you and want to spend time for you, it just means I have other things going on in my life.”      He wrapped his legs around her waist and clung to her, taking a few deep breaths before speaking, “But- But this is every day!  Clara how can I not think that- that you, I dunno- don’t-” don’t love me anymore. He couldn’t quite get that last part out. It hung in there air like smoke after someone left a plastic container on the stove by accident and part of it melted and made the whole kitchen smell bad.    “Ok.” Clara said, finally breaking the burnt-plastic silence. “I get it. Payton I’m sorry. I got caught up in doing something with my life again and, yeah, I got a little carried away. I don’t need to be doing ten hours a day, you got me. I’m sorry you felt like it was because of you. I can tone it down, work extra two-  maybe three days a week, But I’m not fucking abandoning you alright? I promise.”    He nodded, “I just- I missed you and- and I thought…” “Payton.” Her tone was firmer now, “I need you to listen right now. I love you very, very much. I’ll still make time for you. But you can’t do this shit again. You can’t just make yourself sick so I have to drop everything without notice. I still have to actually do my job.”    “But-” “No buts. I’m being serious right now. You can always ask me to make time for you when you need it but this? Kinda manipulative. Obviously not fun for either of us. Don’t do it again.”     “...Ok.” “Promise?”     “Sure.” She pulled back, looking him in the eyes. “Promise.”     “Fine- alright. I promise.” She nodded, satisfied, and kissed him briefly before picking him up. “Ok. Let’s get you some soda and a dinner you aren’t allergic to.”

[rwbyremnants]

THIS CHAPTER: Snuggles, foot-teasing, cock-worship, cock-kissing, ball-licking, handjob, blowjob.

Finally Ruby is getting closer and she's all about it. Fun times!

NEXT: Shit hits the fan.

=Chapter 10

A couple of days passed without anything else happening. Ruby and Yang were both nervous-yet-eager about “playing” with each other, but Yang felt so embarrassed about finishing too early that she only allowed Ruby to jerk her through her shorts a little here and there - and even then, usually not to a finish. All the reassurances in the world from her sweet half-sister that she wanted to try again, and would never dream of holding a grudge against her for it, couldn’t help her feel comfortable enough to give it another go.

Meanwhile, Ruby seemed to be fine with Yang teasing her, but actually doing anything significant to her thighs or anywhere else made her so blushy and flustered that she stopped right away, even though Ruby tried to tell her that she didn’t mind. Both situations began to make the blonde feel like the light was always green but she had run out of gas.

As for everything else, it was going fairly well. Sunday had been another day full of family-fun activities; they all went to the beach again, and this time Ruby and Yang were very well-behaved. Their dad mostly seemed to want to relax, or occasionally tease Summer, who only really wanted to tan or read her book. Yang noticed that she glanced at her before removing her top to lay on her stomach again, but she and Ruby only exchanged an awkward glance before going back into the water.

The parents were mostly busy during the day once the work week started again, though Dad was the only one legitimately out of the house. Summer was around most of the time if she didn’t need to run to the store or the post office, but needed to concentrate on her online shop, so she would only emerge during lunchtime, or occasionally just to say “hi” or go to the bathroom. Dinners were pleasant, evenings were spent watching TV. A casual routine.

Though Ruby did start dragging Yang into playing some of her games during their many hours together. Yang still didn’t really get into it as much as she did, but she had to admit beating up digital enemies did have a certain appeal.

“Grab the golden hammer!” Ruby was encouraging her in a shrill voice. “HURRY! It’s gonna disappear!”

Swallowing hard, she spammed a few of the keys on Ruby’s keyboard. “Which one picks shit up again?!”

“THIS ONE!” Her finger tapped a key, and she relaxed, slumping over next to Yang. “Phew! Just barely got it…”

“Good… oh man, I don’t know if I can handle another round of that. I’m sweating!”

Giggling, Ruby gave Yang a kiss on the cheek. “Well, you’re my hero. But it auto-saves, so you can just exit out when the next level starts.”

“Yeah. Yeah, I’m gonna do that.” After she did, she sighed and turned in the chair to Ruby. “Sorry, I’m not used to all that frantic action, and I forget which keys are what!”

“Oh yeah?” Nuzzling Yang’s neck, she whispered, “Did you wanna try some other kind of action?”

Rolling her eyes, she grabbed Ruby around the waist and began to tickle her, just enough to get her to squirm away so she could stand up from the chair. Then she stretched her limbs overhead, yawning slightly; she hadn’t been breathing enough while playing through the level and now she was paying the price.

“Aww, did you wanna take a nap?”

“Shut up, Ruby.”

“No, I meant it,” she told her as she slid an arm around her back for a little side-hug. “I think we’re allowed during the summer.”

Smiling down into her hair, she kissed her scalp, prompting Ruby to let out a quiet sigh of contentment. It was true that they could get up to some mischief… but she wasn’t sure she wanted to, especially not with Summer still downstairs. After all, they didn’t have a lot of success with things like that, and she didn’t want to risk being found out, anyway. Maybe a nap was a better idea.

“Come lay down, big sis.” She pulled her to the bed and turned down the sheets, smiling up at her. This time, it was a casual, pleasant smile instead of one of her little mischievous smirks. When Yang smiled back and kissed her forehead, she bit her lip and averted her eyes, blushing again. A few days was not long enough to make the shine wear off.

So Yang did lay down. Ruby curled around her back, being the big spoon for once despite being shorter. “Jetpacking”, Yang had heard it called somewhere. It was so comfortable…

“So I looked up showtimes for Princess Mononoke and… it looks like they’re not doing that one, but they are doing Akira. You like actiony stuff, right?”

“Mm-hmm,” she sighed in complete contentment. “And like I said… I’d watch anything with you.”

Some kind of nervously excited noise came from Ruby, and Yang grinned into the pillow. Then she whispered, “I’ll get tickets when we wake up.”

“Mmm… mkay.”

“And… I can’t wait to watch it together.” A little kiss on the back of her neck. It was the last thing she knew.

Yang didn’t know how long she had been out when she first woke up. Or where she was. It took her a few minutes to realise it was Ruby’s room and not her own dorm, or even the guest room. Where was Ruby?

At her computer, of course. Slaying monsters. She rolled over and just watched her there for a minute, gazing at her sharp, determined expression, the wiggling rump pushed back against the stem connecting the seat of the chair to the backrest. The way her hands always seemed to know exactly where to go on the keyboard to defeat the hordes of enemies.

That was the real reason she didn’t bother to speak up. Of course, the warmth of the bed and the slight haze of lingering sleep helped a lot, but she might have said something anyway if Ruby didn’t look so fully focused on her game. Not that she really had to say anything, because when the level came to a natural break, she tapped a key to pause it and sighed, swivelling in her chair to glance at Yang.

“Oh!” she breathed when she saw violet eyes staring at her, and she smiled. “Hey! Good morning. Or afternoon, or whatever.”

Voice still raspy with sleep, she said, “Hey.” Then she rubbed her face and yawned, “You kill all the… all the things?”

“Yeah, most of ‘em,” she laughed, turning and wheeling her chair over to Yang. It didn’t roll very well on the carpet, so she had to grunt and push a little, which made Yang giggle.

“Good. Mm… how long was I out?”

Glancing at her alarm clock — it had Disney characters on it, and had apparently been next to her bed for years and years — she said, “About an hour and a half.”

All Yang did was nod. It wasn’t that important, given that they were on vacation… but she did feel a little bad for wasting time she could be spending with Ruby. So she managed to grumble, “Shit…”

“What? What’s wrong, did you miss a show on TV or something?”

“No, I… wanted to be with you instead of… passing out like a douche.”

At that, Ruby’s expression turned a lot softer as she watched her roll more fully onto her back and prop herself up on her elbows. “Aww… it’s no big deal, honest. I kinda… liked you sleeping in my bed. It was cute, and…”

The blush made Yang ask, “And what?”

“And… n-now my bed’s gonna smell like you even more. I like that.” But then she was clearing her throat as if trying to pretend she never said what she said. “Anyway, it’s cool, sometimes you just… need a nap, right?”

“Yeah, I guess. And… I felt really good, sleeping here. Felt at home. Like… man, I really like your bed, I guess.”

At that little revelation, Ruby smiled, biting her lip as she thought about that for a few seconds. Then she lifted a leg up… and began to tease over Yang’s lap with her foot.

“Uhh… what are you doing?”

“Nothiiiing,” she drawled even while she continued the same action. It didn’t feel terrible, but neither was it that amazing, either. “Just trying to show you how welcome you are to say in my bed.”

Sighing, Yang fixed her with a disgruntled, sleepy glare. “For the last time, I do not have a thing. Okay?”

“Come on, aren’t you a little curious?”

“Nope.” She had to pointedly ignore the teasing little toes now; curious, yes, but she didn’t want to encourage the teasing.

“Yaaaang…” When Yang only rolled her eyes, she finally pulled her leg back and looked down at her lap. “Okay, okay. Sorry.”

Another sigh. “Great, now you’re making me feel guilty about this.”

“I’m not trying to… I swear, I’m not.” The look she shot up at Yang was uncertain. “You know I was just teasing, right?”

“Yeah, I do,” she told her with a little shake of her head. “Now get over here.” Ruby stood up and crawled into bed next to Yang timidly. Yang lifted the sheets and wrapped them around both of them.

“Sorry.”

“Shhhh. You’re fine.” She kissed Ruby’s forehead, and the tension left her shoulders and neck. “Oh, come on, I was just- you don’t have to be so worried about pissing me off. I know what happened… way back when, but like, we were kids. I’m an adult now. You think I’m going to be that mad because you’re teasing me with your foot for a few seconds? Give me a little more credit than that!”

Shrugging, she whispered, “I know. It’s dumb, both me teasing you and me thinking you’d really be mad about it. Just… I really like you, tons more than I could ever expect, so like… I worry. Worry that I’ll do the wrong thing and you’ll… I dunno. That your crush will be over when you realise how lame I am, or something.”

“Okay… okay, yeah, I get it. I worry, too; not the same way, but I can see where you’re coming from.” Kissing her again, she whispered, “Sorry I was grumpy. I just woke up, I guess… it’s not much of an excuse.”

“No, I know you can be grumpy when you just wake up,” she half-giggled, and Yang smiled into her hair. “I love you so much; I just wanna be your perfect girlfriend, perfect sister… perfect anything you want me to be.”

“Then just be the perfect Ruby. Like, whoever you are, be as much of a you as you can. That’s all I want.” To her surprise, a little sob floated out from below her face, and she whispered, “Shit, what did I do?”

“Nothing,” Ruby told her as she clung tightly to her. “You’re so good to me! I’m so happy!”

“Well you don’t sound happy!”

“I know! I’m dumb, I told you I’m dumb!” But then they were both sniffling a little and holding each other tight, pulling back to kiss each other’s wet cheeks. Allowing for a release.

When they finally dried up and began to kiss in earnest again, Yang felt herself smiling more and more. Yes, it had been hard for them to have something close to a fight about something so pointless, but they had resolved it - and even better, they felt closer now. Nothing bad about that.

“Oh,” Ruby laughed softly eventually. “Hello, down there!”

“It’s… nothing you’re doing,” Yang told her in a deadpan tone. “Just a reaction to how close you are.”

“Mmm… I like ‘reactions’, I guess.” As Yang was sighing in disgust, she nuzzled into her neck. “Wanna try again? Get out the condoms? Maybe if we start now…”

“Nah, not yet. I’m still… weird.” That was the best way she could summarise. As she traced fingers through Ruby’s hair, she whispered, “We don’t have to do anything; it’s just a boner.”

Nodding, she kissed Yang’s cheek. Then she whispered, “I wanna get a look at it. Like… a good look this time. And if you do or don’t come while I’m poking around, it won’t matter, and… I’ve just been really curious ever since that first morning, and I only got a few seconds to look when I was trying to put the-”

“Yeah, yeah, fine. Um… I hope you’re not too disappointed. But I guess it won’t hurt anything for you to look.”

Grinning, Ruby pushed the blankets away, which was the thing that made Yang regret her offer the most. She was so comfy! But then she was nuzzling her crotch, and she forgot to be angry. Even through her shorts and underwear, Ruby seemed to be magnetically drawn to that area of her body; it would have been annoying if she didn’t enjoy the results so much.

“Mmm, you’re getting harder,” she mentioned as she kissed the length before dragging the shorts down. Then she was facing the panties, and she bit her lip as she glanced up. “Can… I take your little friend out? I know you already said, but…”

Yang understood. Once she nodded, she braced herself as Ruby pulled her underwear down to around her knees.

The way Ruby licked her lips the moment she got an eyeful of Yang’s anatomy gave her a lot of mixed feelings. She both wanted to tell her to stop, and to keep going; she was nauseated and inflamed with desire. Did Ruby really want to see it this badly? Did she really like what she saw? Yang didn’t. She was mostly indifferent, but there were plenty of times she looked in the mirror and hated having something like that, since most women did not. Being feministy about it was supposed to mean it didn’t matter… but it mattered to too many people for her to pretend she didn’t care at all.

“It’s so big,” Ruby was breathing softly as she wrapped delicate fingers around it, pushed it from side to side. She wasn’t truly revving up to do anything yet; as she had said, she wanted to really look at it. “What’s this line?”

“Huh? O-oh… it’s, um… I dunno, but it goes all the way down.”

“Really? Oh wow, you’re right! Over your balls and into your-” Then she swallowed and cast a nervous glance at her. “Sorry, you probably don’t want me poking around your butt.”

“Hey, it’s your funeral,” she snorted, though she was definitely less confident than she normally would be. Was this really okay? Sure, they had come close to having full-on sex before, but that was a lot more frenzied and they never actually got to the moment. This took more careful consideration from both of them.

Lips pushed into the underside, cutting off her words. She could tell by the way Ruby’s silver eyes kept flicking to it that she was most curious about the head, but she was working her way up to that.

“Yang?”

“Wh-what?” she whispered with a gulp.

“You smell so good…” Then she blinked, smiling afterward. “You twitched!”

“Huh? I… what, you mean my dick did?”

“Yeah, I felt it! When I said I like how you smell, it definitely- there it did again!”

Blushing slightly, Yang averted her eyes. “S-so what? You’re telling me you like my… it’s weird, and I can’t help it!”

“You don’t like that I like it?”

“I don’t think my half-sister should be telling me my dick smells good, no! That’s kind of not normal!”

She let out a little “oh” before kissing the side of the shaft, shifting up a little more. There was a flicker of guilt, but Ruby got over it. They were both getting over it. “Then… what will you say about your half-sister wanting to know how it tastes?” Her tongue flicked out, and they both shivered. “It’s so warm…”

“God…” Another kiss, higher. “Ruby, you really wanna… do this? Put me in your mouth?”

“I told you, I wanted to try that out in the hallway.” Another deep breath as her face drifted higher, and Yang tried not to watch her soft pink lips, not to stare down her tank top at the brief glimpses of creamy cleavage. Not to want this more than she was saying she did. “Like… I knew you had a dick, but until I saw it sticking out like that, I… I didn’t think about it being real, and something I could… touch. And the minute that turned into a thing for me…”

Why not start being a little more bold? Ruby seemed to be having no problem. “You wanted it?” A slight nod. “It’s so weird for me… but you wanted to touch it. To… kiss it?”

She kissed it. Just a little one, but against the head this time. As Yang was shivering, she drew back and licked her lips again… and this time, her eyes closed in bliss as she groaned in detached satisfaction.

“Shhh! You want your mom to hear us?”

“She’s out, grocery shopping,” Ruby whispered as her eyes opened again. Then she smirked. “Besides, I think you’d be okay with her hearing you. I mean, you didn’t mind poking her with this.”

The little squeeze had a stab of fingernails to it. So Ruby hadn’t completely forgiven her for that; she knew it was too good to be true. “I’m sorry. You know that, I told you it was-”

“Shhh,” Ruby told her, the whisper sending an air current over her erection that made her shiver. The fingernails vanished. “I’m teasing again. Just let me know if you want me to back off so you two can be together.”

“Ruby, stop. I love you, and… your lips are the only ones I want to see wrapped around my cock.”

If Ruby could tease, then Yang could tease right back. Of course, she didn’t count on the teasing making Ruby blink and turn as red as a stoplight. Flustered, she let out a nervous giggle and looked down at Yang’s dick as if it had sprung up out of nowhere.

“I… I w-want… to try that,” Ruby said, a little more honestly. “I’m just… I’m afraid I’ll be really bad at it. And I don’t want you to… to not like it.”

“Can’t be any worse than me misfiring,” Yang tried to joke. It worked, and the shame in Ruby’s eyes turned to sympathy; at least the focus was off her own nerves. “Anyway… I um, I was exaggerating; I’d like to see how that feels, too, but I don’t want you to try it if you’re not ready. Like, we could quit right now and go watch Netflix. It’s cool.”

“Well, I’m at least gonna jerk you off,” she muttered, and Yang snorted. Then she kissed the head again. “Is this okay?”

All Yang could do was nod. Another kiss, on the border between head and shaft. Another right on the tip. Ruby licked her lips again, shivering and closing her eyes as she relished the taste.

“It’s really that good to you?”

“Oh yeah. I mean, it’s not like, as good as ice cream or anything, I’m not that weird. But it’s kind of… salty, with a little tang. Tangy Yang; I like it. And with the scent… like…”

She definitely wanted to say more. Instead, she lowered her mouth and began to swirl her tongue around the head. Yang strangled an outcry of surprise behind one of her hands, eyes wide and watching as her half-sister got bolder and bolder, lips plying at the tip as her tongue tasted further down.

Ruby was going down on her. Really going down on her.

“Are you sure we should be doing this?” she couldn’t help but whisper as Ruby started moaning slightly around her head. “It’s… I’m st- I’m still trying to figure out how I’m okay with just kissing you!”

Pulling off her for a second, she whispered back, “And I’m still just kissing you! It’s… just not on your mouth!” The little giggle made Yang grunt in annoyance, which only made her giggle louder. “Come on, it’s not like guys and girls don’t try this all the time in school! No biggie!”

“But I’m your-” There was no point in finishing that; they both knew what she was going to say. “Fine, but like… I don’t know. Nevermind, I’m just freaking out.”

“Do you want me down here instead?” To illustrate, Ruby moved her mouth down to kiss Yang’s sack. Yang breathed a sigh of relief, and Ruby noticed, leaning her head against Yang’s thigh for a second. “You do. This is easier for you, huh?”

“Well…”

When Yang didn’t keep going, Ruby kissed her thigh instead of doing anything else. “You want me to stop, don’t you?”

“Well… no, but… I don’t… know if I can handle…” Then Ruby kissed her sack again. “Hnh… it’s nice, but not… in a sexy way? Yet still sexy. I don’t know.”

“This is easier, though. I get it, like… I’m the same way with you doing anything to me down there.” As she kissed, she stroked a little, just enough to keep Yang hard. “It’s definitely going to feel good, but I’m too nervous to let it happen. We’re both kind of… yeah.”

Nodding, Yang swallowed as Ruby began to use her tongue on her sack a little here and there. It was so gentle; she knew that if Ruby was too rough with her there, she would get a lot less docile, but for now she liked it and didn’t mind her continuing. “You get it. I’m all about you giving me head, it felt great, you were doing great, I just… can’t seem to let you do it without flipping my wig and telling you to stop. What the hell?”

“It’s because it’s sex. Oral sex, sure, but still, like… more than just me nomming on your balls or giving you a handjob.”

“You sound like such a sailor,” Yang laughed, and Ruby grinned at her for a moment, taking a break with her mouth even though her hand kept going. “Mmm… this is good. Just whatever we’re doing now.”

“Jerking you off.”

“You know what I mean.” Ruby started in with her mouth on her sack again, and Yang sighed, “Nnhhh… you’re getting pretty good at that, whatever it is.”

Just as Ruby shrugged, she also took one of Yang’s spheres into her mouth. Yang almost shouted at her to be careful… but she was already being so careful that she felt like it would have been redundant. So instead, she merely sat back and enjoyed the strange, warm sensation. Teeth did graze her once or twice, but way less than she was afraid they would. She only did it for a few seconds before switching to the other ball, which felt about the same to Yang, just on the other side.

By this time, Yang could feel herself getting a little closer. Determined not to make a repeat of last time, she whispered, “You’re about to make me… come.” It was a nasty way to put it, but she didn’t want to cause any confusion like last time.

“Yeah? Again?” Ruby was only curious, not disapproving or teasing. Her lips pressed into the slight wrinkles of skin between sack and shaft. “Can… I try again? If you’re about to finish… I’m really…”

“What is it?” Yang asked, trying not to buck her hips.

“I’ve been wondering what that’s like ever since I saw the panties with your spunk in them,” she breathed urgently as she sat up a little more, kissing the head again. “Like… it’s gross, but I wanted to try it right then. Even though it was already finished and out, and everything.”

Yang couldn’t help it. She had to reach down to caress Ruby’s cheek. “You wanna taste me? You’re… like, you want to not just try… but really suck me off?”

“If I thought I could handle it, I’d want to give you a real blowjob,” she told her in no uncertain terms, and Yang felt it twitch - or really, they both did. Another kiss, and she could see that Ruby was embarrassed but pushing through it. “Come in my mouth. Please?”

That almost made her lose it there and then. But she held on, enough to whisper, “It’s gonna happen s-soon… so you’d better stahHHHAH!”

Ruby’s mouth was around her immediately, the hand stopping stroking for long enough for her to get a good seal, to begin moving her tongue around the head again. As she had already known, her mouth really did look good like that… wrapped around her cock.

A few more strokes and she was spurting, hard. She could tell by the way Ruby’s eyes flew open that she hadn’t been truly prepared for the feeling, and there were a few gagging noises, but she managed to keep most of it in, swallowing furiously and ignoring the tears that sprung to her own eyes from the effort. Yang, meanwhile, was a mess of writhing and growling through the teeth digging into her bottom lip. It was definitely the hardest orgasm of her life, and she had her half-sister’s pretty mouth to thank for it.

Once Yang was very clearly spent, Ruby sat back a little and pushed a hand into her mouth for a second. She looked to be struggling, and took a few steadying breaths to keep herself from losing it, whatever “it” was. Yang hoped it wasn’t her lunch. Then she bent down and took her again.

“Ruby, what are you doing?!”

“Getting the rest,” she breathed as she took a break. Sure, there were remnants still making their way out, plus a drip or two Ruby had let get past her, but Yang didn’t think they mattered. Apparently, they did to Ruby; she was getting it all, as if she needed to.

Once she finished, she still kept kissing all over that area, though they were light and loving instead of truly meant to arouse. When she felt one down closer to her ass, she bumped her back with her heel.

“What?”

“What are you doing?” Yang asked again with a weak laugh.

“Showing you how much I liked that,” she told her easily, taking her head into her mouth again and letting it fall an instant later. It was just as well, because Yang had winced at the feeling; it hadn’t been long enough for her to be able to fully enjoy that again.

“Well, you can quit now; I know you liked it.”

“But… I like this. I like doing this still. It’s… I love it, Yang.” It was almost as surprising to Ruby as it was to Yang. “Wow. I knew I kinda liked your dick, but seriously, it’s the most fun to just… do this for you. Make you happy this way, the way only I can do. Even if I’m not that great at it yet…”

“Are you kidding? You were amazing! Like… come here. Just come up here, okay?”

Glancing down at the dick, Ruby pouted. “But…”

“You can go back to that later,” she snorted. Regretfully, Ruby gave it a final kiss and crawled up to rest next to Yang. “Good. Now, why do you think you weren’t good?”

“Because it was my first time, and I barely know what I’m doing?”

“Well, sorry to burst your bubble, but that was pretty great to me. Like, I can barely think anymore, you made me come so hard! So… just because you’re not ready for a ‘real blowjob’ doesn’t mean it was bad! It was like, jerking me off - which I already love - but with a bonus mouth around the tip! Who could hate that?”

“Not me! It makes me so wet,” she confessed, which made Yang blink. “Which like, I’m still not sure I’m into doing anything about that… but maybe soon, we can try something on me. Just… not right now. Right now, I just wanna lay here and think about how I have you inside my stomach.”

So that was it; that was why Ruby insisted on getting every last drop. She wanted a little of her lover inside of her. And if they weren’t quite ready to do that through the usual means…

“I’m glad you do,” she whispered as she kissed Ruby’s nose. The brunette with the red streak looked up at her, and she kissed her on the lips, ignoring her own flavour so she could enjoy the feeling of her sister’s mouth on her own. “And… I’m glad you seem to like my balls so much.”

“Hey, doesn’t everybody like to play with balls? Look at how many different sports we have,” she joked, and they both snorted. “And I could do more. Later, when you can go again; I know dicks have to recharge.”

After that, Yang was too busy laughing about rechargeable dicks to take the conversation seriously.

[k-itsmaywriting]

Motel on the Hill (Bucket List!AU)

+ Soulmate/Reincarnation!AU

Warnings: mentioned character death

Obi can hear the crackling of the fire and bubbling, drunk laughter outside the motel from where he lies on the stairs. His head lulls to the side slightly when he shifts the arm beneath it. The stars streaking against the night sky turn, and in the corner of his eye he can just peek at the red hair in the dark.

He watches as Shirayuki takes a swig from her beer. A sigh falls from her lips as she leans into the rail of the motel stairs. “And those two over there,” she points to the other side of the campfire they retreated from. It’s far away now. “…The guy with the blonde hair and the girl next to him with the pretty blue. They’re cute together too.”

The stars are too full and pretty for Obi to bother sitting up himself to look, but he knows anyway. “Y’mean Suzu and Yuzuri? Yeah, they’re good together.”

“Isn’t her hair such a pretty colour?”

“Mm…” He mumbles. “It’s like…cotton candy.”

“A baby blue,” Shirayuki sighs as she rests her elbows on her knees. “And her hair looks so healthy too,” she muses. “I wonder if she’s naturally blonde. It doesn’t look like she needed to bleach it first. I’m kinda jealous…”

Obi turns his head to look at Shirayuki. “Your hair’s pretty too. It’s like…” Like fire. An ambitious, red flame that burns down the mountain forests but is so brilliant no one dares to put it out.

Shirayuki looks down at him. “Like what?”

“…Like red frog lollies.”

All he can hear is the embers and faint laughter in the distance until Shirayuki smacks her hand against her lips. She drops back onto her elbows and laughs into the stars as she kicks the heels of her boots into the air. The sound rings like bells and is warmer than the dying heat of the campfire. But it’s enough. She’s enough.

She lets herself fall back down onto the stairs next to Obi, staring up into the sky with him. “Are you having sugar cravings or something?”

“Dunno,” he chuckles. “It was just the first thing that came to mind. I do miss sweet things a bit, though.”

Shirayuki huffs, “Sweet things, huh? Figuratively or literally?”

“Bit of both,” Obi says. He shifts again, this time bending his knees and propping one over the other. “So, what exactly brought you here on this bus trip?”

She hums in thought for a moment. “It’s always been on my bucket list to travel around this part of Lyrias – the mountains, I mean. I don’t really know why but it feels like…home…even though I’ve never been before.”

“Do you know about all the libraries that used to be here like, hundreds of years ago?”

She nods. “Yeah. And apparently they had…these flowers that glowed, and they were fused with stones to keep in the gas that caused a rare illness. It’s a shame those flowers are extinct now. I would’ve loved to study them…”

“It would’ve been before the war, wouldn’t it?” There is a sinking, empty feeling in Obi’s chest when he says that, like a part of his soul is torn away when he mentions it. And he felt it just before too, when Shirayuki mentioned the Olin Maris.

Wait…how does he know what they’re called?

“What about you, then? Why are you here?”

Obi turns his head to Shirayuki, and finds her staring at him. “I don’t know,” he says. “It’s been on my bucket list too, but I’m not entirely sure why I picked Lyrias in particular.” He feels his throat dry under the honesty. “There was just…something about it that makes me want to be here.”

His words are met with a nod of understanding. He expects Shirayuki to turn her head again now to continue looking at the stars again, but she doesn’t.

Her lips gape open as she breathes in a small gasp, her eyes widening just a little. The night reflects in her irises, darkness dancing in forest green like auroras. Obi finds himself prisoner to them.

For some reason the thought makes familiarity wash over him.

Shirayuki suddenly nudges her hand against his. Neither of them pulls away. “Is it okay if I say something weird?” she asks.

Obi nods. “Yeah, what is it?”

She takes in another deep breath. “I feel like we know each other from somewhere.” Her voice is so low, so sure of it. “I know we’ve never met before, but…I feel like…” The words catch in her throat and her cheeks dust pink instead. “I feel like I’ve been looking for you all my life.”

Obi finds all the air has disappeared from his lungs. “Like...soulmates.” There’s no question in his statement.

Shirayuki sits up on the stair. “Forget it. That was…just a stupid joke…”

“You’re not laughing, though.”

Obi finally sits up, immediately taking the beer bottle next to him and holding the rim against his lips. He stares out towards the last sparks of the campfire begin to disappear into the dirt as he drinks. “I mean, I…feel the same.”

Because he feels like he’s been in love with her for centuries, despite only meeting her on the bus the day before yesterday – the girl with the headphones who couldn’t stop taking pictures of nature out the window. But now he can barely remember anything but her and the mountains of Lyrias and this motel they’ve been at since the afternoon.

“So,” he swallows, “at least there’s that.”

Shirayuki’s hand suddenly plucks the beer bottle from Obi’s and comes up to his shoulder. She gently pushes her fingertips into it, and Obi lies back down on the stairs. She leans over him, the orange bauble of the pendant around her neck hovering above his chest. As her eyes bore into his, seeing through him, she tilts her head curiously while one of her hands come up to cup his cheek. “It certainly does feel like we’ve met before.”

Heat rushes to Obi’s face and he isn’t entirely sure if it’s the alcohol or the dark haze in her eyes that meets his that makes it so.

She searches him still, as though looking for certain cracks or scars on his skin to help her remember. Her gaze falls to his chest and she brings down a finger to the V of his shirt.

Breathless words fall from her lips. “Can I kiss you?”

He doesn’t dare blink, doesn’t dare take his eyes away from the way hers dart down to his mouth. “Please do,” he whispers.

Shirayuki’s heart beats one more time before she leans down further, sealing their lips together.

The moment their lips touch Obi feels his blood flare freely. He sinks into the kiss, into the hand Shirayuki has slipped to the back of his neck.

Shirayuki pulls away. Obi chases. But she giggles and keeps her hand pressed into his chest as she shifts her legs to either side of his hips.

He feels his body shiver underneath hers, hands moving down to her thighs. The whimper he drinks in from her when she kisses him again drives him mad as he runs his fingers against the soft skin under her skirt.

Shirayuki’s breath laced with alcohol is hot against his skin as she moves her knees down one step. In the haze, Obi’s head falls back against the stair and it leaves an opening of his neck that Shirayuki takes to her lips immediately.

He can barely recognise the breathy moan that comes out of him. He arches into her and his head—

His forehead hits a thin edge of metal.

Obi suddenly brings his hands up to Shirayuki’s shoulders, “Hold up—wait, wait—“

Shirayuki is off him in a second, her eyes wide. “Are you okay?! Did I—“

“N-no! It wasn’t—“ He tries to lift himself up, but he hits his head against the underside of the stair again. “Ouch!”

“Okay, okay,” she breathes, “I’ll just…”

The warmth of her slips away as she moves off of him. Obi holds a hand against the side of the step as he slides out from underneath it. He sits up and runs his fingers through his hair nervously. “Sorry, that was kinda….”

Shirayuki laughs, turning her head away. “I’m sorry, that’s my fault. And besides, the stairs aren’t really…”

They both look down at the steps, thin and faded with old paint. It looks like it will collapse under their weight if they aren’t careful.

Obi looks at Shirayuki again, hesitating for just a moment before he murmurs. “My room?”

She glances down, to the side a little. She looks up at him again through her eyelashes and presses her lips into a thin line. “Yeah.”

Obi slowly stands up on the stair, blood rushing in his ears. He extends a hand Shirayuki takes, and pulls her up with him. Their hands remained locked together as they stumble up the flight towards the second floor of the motel and discard their toppled beer bottles on the stairs.

Obi paces back and forth from the door, rubbing the back of his neck as he looks back and forth from the bed and the clock to the window. The sky is still black, but he knows it won’t be for much longer.

Heaving a sigh, he walks back to the bed where Shirayuki sleeps. He places his hand on her arm and gently shakes her. “Hey, wake up,” he whispers.

Shirayuki groans and turns over. It takes her a few seconds to rub her eyes and open them. “Obi…?” Her eyes dart around in the darkness, unable to find where he is. “What is it…?”

“I just wanted to ask…” He clears his throat. “Do you want to come with me for a bit?”

“I…what?” She crawls onto her knees in front of him. “Why?”

“To watch the sunrise. Apparently there’s a really good spot that’s only a five minute walk from here. Want to come?”

Shirayuki’s eyes finally adjust to the darkness for she looks straight at him. She nods slowly, and starts to climb out of the bed. “Okay, I’ll come with you.”

Obi waits in front of the motel while Shirayuki changes clothes in her room across the building. On the way down the steps, Obi picks up the empty bottles of beer and throws them in the bin under the stairs. He looks up at the stairs between him and the slowly bluing sky. But when he pictures his figure lying on the stairs with Shirayuki on top of him, he presses his sleeve against his reddening face and looks away.

Shirayuki arrives at the bottom of the steps on the other side of the motel, and they leave together.

They follow a wide dirt path into and through the dense forest. Trees thick and tall tower over them in the dark and leave only small openings that peek into the sky above. The soles of their shoes sink a little into the dew as they step cautiously, only occasionally tripping over stones deeply embedded in the ground.

They reach the bottom of a hill leading to a small clearing.

“It must be over there,” Obi says. His steps on the hill gradually broaden until he’s running up until he reaches the clearing.

He turns around to face Shirayuki a few steps behind him. “Be careful, it’s actually a cliff over…”

Shirayuki stands at the base of the hill and when Obi sees her eyes as wide as saucers and skin sickly pale he knows something is wrong. There is a cold sheen of sweat on her neck and he swears her knees shake.

“Oh my god…” Her breath is shallow and comes too fast. She’s going to faint. “Obi…!”

Obi bolts down the hill and rushes towards her just as her knees buckle. “What is it?! Are you—“

Images flash behind his eyes and he sees all of it – the daggers, the arrow and a girl running up the tower. He sees greenhouses, oceans, libraries, snow and Shirayuki. Shirayuki with the orange bauble in her hair, Shirayuki standing her ground against tall, snobbish men in the castle, Shirayuki screaming his name as he breathes his last breath on the battlefield and Shirayuki ShirayukiShirayuki—

When he comes to he’s fallen, backside on the ground. The greenery around him flashes white with thick snow. He looks down and Shirayuki is halfway up the hill on her hands and knees, still shaking.

“This is so that I can become strength for both you and…” The instant is blank. “…and for myself, too. May I stay here?”

It’s a voice – his voice, speaking words he never remembers saying until now.

“Of course.”

Shirayuki crawls up the hill, hand by hand, foot by foot in the dirt and faint grunts fall from her chest. He’s not sure if the warm puffs of air between them are real or not.

“I’ll be depending on you from now on, Obi.”

Obi reaches a trembling hand towards Shirayuki. “Are you okay?” he asks breathlessly.

Shirayuki grasps his hand firmly and collapses into the dirt. “I lost you…” she whispers, “I lost you in the war…”

“I saw it,” he says as he slips a little down the hill next to Shirayuki. “I’m…”

Hot tears fall down the back of Obi’s hand. They mix with the specks of dirt and slide down his skin. Shirayuki cries on his hand as she cups her other hand on top of his, her grip only tightening further. Obi’s chest fills with grief.

Obi grits his teeth and bows his head, pressing it against Shirayuki’s knuckles with closed eyes. “I’m sorry for leaving you, Miss.”

Sobs and hiccups heave Shirayuki’s chest. “No, don’t say that, please…Don’t call me ‘Miss’. Don’t say sorry. I never want you to say sorry ever again.”

Before Obi can protest again, Shirayuki takes one of her hands behind Obi’s head and tucks him to her chest. It shakes too much and her heart is too fast for comfort as she tries to breathe her sobs away inside.

“It makes sense now…” Shirayuki says. “Why we’ve both always had coming to Lyrias on our bucket lists, why it feels like we’ve been looking for each other our entire lives. It’s because we were right here in the past, centuries ago. And I…”

Obi feels both of Shirayuki’s hands come back to his cheeks and she lifts him away. He opens his eyes suddenly to find Shirayuki gritting her teeth, biting back the tears that continue to threaten to fall from the forests of her eyes. The dirt on her hands rub onto his skin and he finds himself from hundreds of years ago missing the dry brown clad on her palms and fingers.

“We’re here now,” Obi says, throat tightening. “And I’ll never leave you again, Shirayuki.”

Her face begins to relax in the light of the sunrise. She begins to blur behind misty eyes, and when Obi blinks he feels the warmth of tears on his cheeks.