#I forgot what half the cookies names were

[k1rbyl0v3r]

guess who is trying to get their old crk account back they lost in 2023?

yeah I am, I never told yall but back then I was a huge fan of crk, but I kinda lost interest but I guess you can say I'm still in the fandom

[notmeowse]

That AMA marks the end of Dragon Age.

In my opinion.

I'll start by saying that I have played all 3 of the previous games repeatedly, I've loved the series for 15 years, more than half my life. These games inspired me to become a writer and they've shaped a lot of my tastes and interests in shows and writing -- to say they were formative is kind of an understatement. Don't want to go on and on about how much I loved them, that's not the point here.

I didn't care for Veilguard for pretty much all of the reasons people have already discussed at length on Reddit and Tumblr. The writing is comprehensively bad, the romances are easily the worst Bioware has written by pure virtue of having the most cookie-cutter pacing and shallow characterization I've seen across their games, the lore has been shafted in every direction, and the nuanced storytelling and roleplay I came to expect from the series has been taken out back and shot in the head.

All, apparently, in the name of a "clean slate". It seems to me that, rather than familiarizing himself with the existing lore of the game he took the creative reins on, Epler clearly had a vision for Dragon Age (or perhaps a different IP entirely) in his head that he decided to transplant into the game (and possibly Trick? But they've said so little beyond defending their work that I can hardly theorize what direction they were coming from). That being a sanitized, wildly self-contradicting, morally absolute shitshow focused on distancing itself from the previous games as much as possible. Now, I know it's unrealistic to blame one person entirely, and I don't blame him entirely. Corinne was there. Trick was there.

But if it wasn't already evident from the numerous interviews Epler's given on the game as well as his participation in the Q&A's (while the actual lead writer of the game has been completely absent in not just the marketing, but in most fan-related interaction pre and post-launch outside of BSKY), this AMA seems to have confirmed, more than anything else, that Epler doesn't understand the game nor does he understand its audience. Neither does Corinne Busche, who despite being Game Director for only the last two years of development, has been answering lore questions a) like she has any fucking clue and b) like she thinks Dragon Age is a cozy-gamer IP, meant to appeal to people that want uplifting stories with uncontroversial characters, morally upright heroes, and unquestionably evil villains.

So as of today's AMA, I think I've finally had enough. We're just outright retconning the lore in Reddit AMA's now, I guess. Among other things. I'll provide a few examples, just so we're all on the same page.

This was part of Epler's response to why Solas didn't have his cult following in the game (insert "We Kind of Forgot" meme here):

Solas' experience leading the rebellion against the Evanuris turned him against the idea of being a leader. You see it in the memories - the entire experience of being in charge ate at him and, ultimately, convinced him he needed to do this on his own. And his own motivations were very different from the motivations of those who wanted to follow him - he had no real regard for their lives or their goals. So at some point between Trespasser and DATV, he severed that connection with his 'followers' and went back to being a lone wolf.

The fact that this (the not caring bit) directly contradicts the writing in the actual game is absolutely INSANE to me, moreso than the lack of Solas's spy network (which he apparently carried with him for 10 years only to conveniently drop right before the ritual? Because he clearly had them research Rook?). But in regards to the not caring -- here's a line from Solas's memory of killing Mythal in Veilguard, which. I'll get to Mythal in a minute:

Why should I not tear down the Veil, and bring back immortality to all the elven people? They deserve it!

Which is it? Does Solas care about the people he's saving (the venn diagram of people he's saving vs. the people following him is surely a circle, i.e. elves) or not? Does he even care about the spirits trapped behind the Veil anymore or is it just convenient to abandon them and have him only care about elves, now? What happened to saving The People? What happened to him not identifying as an elf in his conversations with a Dalish Inquisitor? And what the absolute fuck happened to him wanting to bring back the magical marvels (that the ancient elves did in fact achieve) that were greater than anything we see in Thedas today? Here's what Epler has to say about elven magic, now:

I do agree that the elves have had their place in the sun at this point. [...] The thing about the Evanuris is that, ultimately, they were able to take a very specific type of magic and shape it into doing what they wanted. But even their understanding of magic was only skin deep [...] Even the magic that Tevinter wields, the magic of the Southern mages, is different from what the Evanuris used. The magic of the Evanuris is powerful but it's sterile, and it's constrained. So while the Evanuris have made magic work in a way that's more predictable and understandable, it's not the only kind of magic out there, and even then, I'd say they understood it at a very surface level. People were confidently describing how the natural world worked back in the 16th century. Very few of them were right.

First of all, Tevinter has been stated in previous games to have clumsily adapted ancient elven magic for their own, but they did adapt it. To the point where even Solas is surprised that Corypheus achieved effective immortality -- by binding himself to a dragon the same way the Evanuris did. So, cool, more contradicting the lore here. "They understood it at a very surface level" you mean when all of the magic of the Fade wasn't locked behind the Veil? You mean when magic flowed freely through the world? What do you mean, Surface Fucking Level? The entire point of the Dalish elf culture is what they lost; this wasn't the ancient elves thinking the sun revolved around the earth, the Veil was their fucking Library of Alexandria burning. Oh my god. I still cannot believe he said this.

And how have the elves had their day in the sun? I'm sorry, was Arlathan not given to... the Veil Jumpers? Instead of the Dalish? What happened to all the Dalish clans in the south, who had no infrastructure when the world was apparently blighted to hell? I guess they're just gone now! They've had their day! The story of the Dalish and the Evanuris is over (also confirmed in this AMA), and it apparently ends with the final snuff of the candle that is their culture. Congratulations, Chantry, you've won! Only took two genocides and a double blight, but we're done with the Dalish now! We get your mind-numbingly superficial factions instead!

What happened to Mythal, by the way? What happened to "She was betrayed as I was betrayed, as the world was betrayed! Mythal clawed and crawled her way through the ages to me, and I will see her avenged!" What happened to the reckoning that will shake the very heavens? John's answer to this:

People grow and change over time. Mythal's essence - and in particular, the fragment of her spirit that Morrigan carries, that she got from Flemeth - is not the same Mythal who he knew millennia ago. Centuries of living in this world and being around the kinds of people Flemeth found herself around - the Hero of Ferelden, Hawke, the Inquisitor - changed her views, and made her realize her own culpability in turning Solas into the kind of person he is now.

Oh, right, okay. So she was pissed for like a thousand years, got her big speech about the impending "reckoning" out 10 years ago, and then she just chilled out because the last 3 heroes were neat people. What a fucking joke. And yes, here is the confirmation that the Evanuris story is over --

The story of the Evanuris is done - the gods are dead (or imprisoned) and Thedas is in a state of flux and uncertainty. I imagine that whatever happens next is going to be a surprise to everyone, including the people of Thedas."

So I guess Mythal's reckoning is never coming. One of the most fascinating characters in the series, shrouded in mystery for those first 3 games, PROMISING US a blaze of glory, only to fizzle out in this one. Again, and I can't emphasize this enough, for Epler's clean fucking slate. And we've not just tied up her story, but also the Veil and the Blight:

When Solas bound himself (or, depending on your ending, was forcibly bound) to the Veil, it severed the connection that the Blight had to the waking world. The reality is that the Veil has been leaking ever since the Magisters first entered the Black City, and the dreams of the Titans gave it its terrible and awesome power. Now that the Veil is fully repaired, the Blight lacks that motive force, and being so close to the epicenter of that change has stripped the Blight in Minrathous of its vitality. It's calcified now - dead - and Bellara/Neve no longer suffer its effects. If they'd been anywhere else, further from that epicenter, it would've likely been different and they still would be looking for a cure.

So the Veil is permanently fixed now because our half-dead Dread Wolf bound himself to it (a decision I still don't understand) and that somehow fixed every single hole ever poked in it. Fully repaired. No more holes, no more "Veil is thin here" because tons of people died in the same spot, nope, we're washing our hands and leaving it (and the spirits) behind us because we've wrapped up both the series-long Veil storyline and the blight storyline in a big red bow.

And Epler tells us Solas not only bound himself to the Veil but fixed it entirely in one fell swoop, no ritual required, just a little slice to the hand. Again, all in the name of a clean slate, so any future installments or media centered around Thedas can turn away from this story.

Then there's this. What we can expect from future installments, I freaking guess. The aforementioned roleplay getting taken out back and shot:

Q: "What lead you to the decision to step away from active conversations with the companions as in previous Bioware games, where you can initiate them at any moment and ask exhaustive questions?"

John: "For us, because of tech limitations, it became a choice between exhaustive investigate conversations, or letting the companions move more freely around the Lighthouse. With the kind of experience we were going for, one where seeing the team grow around you is paramount, we felt that seeing them interact in common spaces (and in each other's rooms) made more sense."

Literally confirmed that they chose companions moving freely about the cabin over ... interacting with them outside the handful of cutscenes we got. Who in their right mind would think this was a good call in a Dragon Age game? A series that quite literally prides itself on complex character interactions and storytelling? So they could... sit in different places? Are you kidding me?

They don't see an issue with the game's reception. They don't have any interest in addressing or responding to criticism. They're either happy with their choices or EA's got a gun pointed at their heads, I'm honestly not sure anymore. I used to believe the latter was true, but looking at both Epler's and Busche's responses today, I'm inclined to believe the former.

So I think that's it for the series. Not that I thought it was going to get another game after this, but on the absolute off chance it did, what would be the point? The best stories were ruined. Anything left they have to tell is going to read a lot like Veilguard -- superficial, morally absolute, flagrantly disrespectful to the lore, and delivered in a very poorly written package.

[nor-ay]

Our first masquerade ball - (unrequited love story) 

Shadow Milk Cookie thinks that you are... Odd. Different, if you will. It’s in the way you roll your eyes at White Lily Cookie, in the harsh tone that slips out when you find someone annoying, or in the way that you always seem to be out of place. But don’t get him wrong; he certainly enjoys that. He thinks that you have great potential to be his right hand. He just needs to give you a little push on the right path. Sweet talks to you a little until he gets in your good graces and WHAM, controls you like a puppet. It's a win-win situation; he gets to have you on his team and breaks your friend's spirit. 

At least, that is what he initially thought, but that changes when you accept his gift and lie to your supposed friends. You lie to Pure Vanilla Cookie, and that has him clapping and laughing like a king entertained by the best jester there is in his kingdom. He almost can’t believe it! There is no need for him to break your perception of Pure Vanilla Cookie or the nature of Cookies. You already have resentment towards them. 

… 

You think that Shadow Milk Cookie is testing you. That has to be the only explanation for the gifts and fever dream. It’s not like it bothers you, but when you look at Pure Vanilla Cookie, you feel guilt growing and wrapping itself around you. He’s not deserving of this whole situation… Shaking your head, you try to push all these thoughts away. You’re not evil—

Apple Faerie Cookie’s voice cuts through your thoughts. “Cookies! Let’s go to the top of the Spire!” 

“I sincerely hope we’ll find what we’re looking for!” You find Wizard Cookie’s reply relatable. You’re tired too. And desperately wanting to get out.

“I bet you will! Now, shall we?” 

“Um…you guys can go ahead, I have to go, I mean, I forgot something.” You hate how your voice sounds so suspicious! Cringing at yourself, you try to smile. 

GingerBrave is looking at you strangely, and Pure Vanilla Cookie is unusually silent. Strawberry Cookie is the one to break the silence. “Really…? Are you sure?” 

“Yeah! I mean, what's wrong? I’m sure you all can live without me for a bit, right?” You try to laugh, but it sounds forced. When did you become so awkward around…your friends? 

Wizard Cookie frowns “Well, the way you—“ 

“All right! [Name] Cookie, I trust you; I’m sure you’re going to do something helpful! Just be careful.” GingerBrave without realizing it, saves you from being interrogated. And again, your lungs fill with guilt. You find it harder to breathe and the smile on your face falters. You’re not evil. 

“Can you not—ugh, never mind.” Wizard Cookie gives up. And you internally thank the witches for it. 

“Right. Thank you. And- please…be careful on your journey.” Ah, this is what you’re doing now. You don’t feel part of them. You never did. Not even with the five ancient heroes. You were always more of a confidant. Hearing Pure Vanilla’s worries, comforting White Lily Cookie after discovering her other half. Playing along with Golden Cheese Cookie, helping out Dark Cacao Cookie and Holyberry Cookie with their tasks. You never felt like you belonged. And so you grew resentful. 

You turn around and go in the opposite direction. Silence is the only thing you hear while going down the stairs, and you have to blink quickly to stop the tears from falling. You were not lying before when you said that you forgot something. When you arrive at the same spot where you woke up hours ago, the doll is still there. Sitting down, you pick up the mini-you and hug it tightly. Closing your eyes, you confess to no one. “I don’t know what to do… I miss when things used to be easy… I don’t want to hurt them. I’m just, so so so sick and tired of the same things over and over again…it’s like I’m trapped in a loop.” 

…

You don’t know how long it’s been since you parted ways with GingerBrave and company. But, unexpectedly, the doll in your arms starts moving on its own. So you let it go, waiting for its next move. 

Clap

A Colombina mask appears in front of you. It’s beautiful. You smile, thinking it’s a bit ironic. Perhaps even mocking that he gives you a mask. Is this his way of telling you that you’re two-faced? 

Nevertheless, you still put on the mask and follow the doll through some large hallways. Arriving at a luxurious ballroom. “How did we not see this?” You ask, completely in awe. The tiles on the floor are so white that you can see yourself reflected on them.

“Well… I had it hidden, of course; did ya forget that you’re in my domain, mhm?” It takes you a second for your brain to register who answered. 

“S-Shadow Milk Cookie!?” 

“Awe…are you really that surprised to see me? Well? Go ahead!” You notice how he’s also wearing a mask similar to yours. 

“Uh…ah-“ You don’t know what to say. Sweat begins to collect on your forehead. You begin to panic. You have to say something!! But, what can you say that he doesn’t know already?

Before you can think of anything to say, you hear Shadow Milk Cookie groan, as if annoyed. “Ughh right, I’m going too fast, this is a masquerade ball, you’re not supposed to know who I am.” 

“O-kay, let's start over!” You watch dumbfounded as he claps twice and the ballroom fills with different puppets who are dancing and talking to each other. 

You watch all this and can’t help but laugh, and, oh, it feels so freeing to be able to be as loud as you want. Everything is so out of the blue that you just can’t help it. Shadow Milk Cookie seems to be interested in what is making you laugh so much. “I’m sorry…this just doesn’t make any sense, and I love it.” 

He smiles, seeming pleased. “Now, THIS is the type of audience that I like! Alrighty! Let's get to it.” He closes the distance and takes your hand. He runs cold, you shiver at the contact.

You feel relaxed, and that should make you worry, but, as Shadow Milk Cookie gives you a twirl and spins you around the ballroom, you can’t. The giggles don’t seem to stop coming out and your eyes are all teary from all the laughter. Your hands are tightly grasping his shoulders and it doesn’t surprise you how agile he’s on his feet. It’s so easy to let him guide you. 

“Awww look at you! You’re enjoying yourself so so so much! Aren’t you going to ask me where are your frieeends?” 

“Well…,” you start—

“Oh, wait, WAIT, don’t tell me! You finally realize that it’s not with them that you belong? Especially that dreadfully, painfully, unbearably Pure Vanilla Cookie?” You can’t fully read the tone in his voice; it seems playful, but the hate he has for them inevitably seeps in. 

“That’s right,” Your smile wavers as you revert to your natural state of being. “It took me a long time, but… I’ve finally understood who I am and what I want.” A sudden bravery fills your heart as you finally ask him- “Please, take me with you!” You surprise yourself by the loudness of your voice.

Have you always been that desperate to escape your life?

“…” His eyes blink several times and it feels like the whole ballroom has grown silent. You start to feel self-conscious and—

His laugh fills the whole ballroom, and in just a second, Shadow Milk Cookie dips your body back dramatically. You grip onto him like a lifesaver and- and you’re out of breath. “Perfect,” you hear him say. His voice is lower than you’ve ever heard. “Alright, since you asked so nicely…you’re with me now!” 

“Huh, so…”

“Oops, looks like I have to go, feel free to explore my humble domain, hehe!” 

He’s gone in the blink of an eye. All the puppets that were dancing vanished too, all left behind in the ballroom was the mini-you doll and your racing heart. 

“…Did he lose track of time?”

Okay!! I actually struggled a bit with the dialogue. In my mind, there were so many different things about what Shadow Milk would say in certain situations! But, I’m happy about how it turned out. I hope you enjoyed it too!! AND, this is important, the story is going to be on hold until we get episode 8 of Beast-Yeast. It’s not like I can’t improvise, but if I continue, and then they release ep 8, I know that I’ll end up rewriting everything, and I don’t want to do that, to be honest. 

Besides that, I’m already thinking of writing Shadow Milk x reader with a trope that I really enjoy!! Orr some headcanons (maybe nsfw, still unsure about that).

@notboomm @fyodors-belovedxoxo

[moonlit-imagines]

Headcanons for being the forgetful Avenger

Avengers x reader

warnings:

a/n: it not too long i so sorry

prompt: @glitchy-bean: “Hi!!! I hope you're doing good!!! Could I request smth with a really forgetful reader + the avengers gang? More like found family than anything romantic at all with a teen reader if that's okay!!!”

“well sorry” -you, consistently “i cant remember everything”

“you can’t remember anything” -nat

“yeah, y/n, were you dropped on the head as a baby or something?” -tony

“cut it out, guys. it’s not their fault they forgot thor’s birthday. besides, hes had a couple thousand” -steve

“are you calling me old, captain?” -thor

“at least im not the only one” -steve

it wasn’t just birthdays you forgot

much much more serious than that

rendezvous points, mission details, plans of attack, perp descriptions, where you put your keys, where you put your gun

you name it you forgot it

i mean—not always, but enough for it to be the running joke

“keep your comms on, y/n. not having a disaster like last time when you couldn’t remember whether to cut the red wire or green wire” -tony

“you wish i cut the wrong one” -you

“uh, no, that’s very harsh. i moreso wished you didn’t scare us half to death by nearly digging your grave” -tony

“oh ok i forgot” -you

“who left their macaroni and cheese in the microwave?” -vision

“damn! its cold. and crusted a little. how long did i leave this in here?” -you, poking your tray with a fork “and why are you using the microwave? you dont eat”

“this is a shared space, is it not?” -vision

“he’s got you there” -steve

“you’re just ganging up on me because you’re all miserable and you want me to be miserable too. i’m going to drive one of tony’s expensive cars now, you can’t stop me” -you, storming out

you walked right back in

“what’d you forget?” -steve

“wallet, phone, keys” -you

tony noticed

“where is y/n going with my car?” -tony

“not sure, just out” -steve

“probably gonna forget their turn signal and crash into someone’s car” -tony

as far as missions went, though, you were a bit of a powerhouse so you didn’t really need to be looked after on that front…just had to make sure not to blow anyone else’s cover

“hey, what’s the codeword again?” -you

“check your wrist, kid” -nat

“oh, right…okay thanks” -you

“*gasp* was i supposed to give the signal? i just kinda went in” -you

“ok, who told y/n they could give the signal. speak up now” -tony

*clint loudly snickering over comms*

kinda forgetting what you’re talking about in the middle of sentences sometimes but like, just glitching out

“something smells like it’s burning” -you “my cookies…”

you forgot to set a timer

and forgot you were making cookies

the avengers honestly did find it endearing

just a hyper kid who cant get their thoughts in a solid line

but they’d continue making jabs at you constantly

“maybe wanda can fix your memory problems” -tony

“i will not” -wanda

“oh well nevermind then” -tony

honestly with all your forgetfulness, you worried as you dusted away if anyone would forget about you

taglist: @alwaysananglophile // @locke-writes // @sweetheartlizzie07 // @queen-destenie // @johnmurphyisqueer // @captainshazamerica // @ravenmoore14 // @canarypoint // @procrastinatingsapphictrash // @swanimagines // @randomfandomimagine // @petersgroupie // @summersimmerus // @scarthefangirl // @bad4amficideas // @sheridans-dynamos // @simsrecs // @prettysbliss // @skdkdkckfk // @simp-legend // @wild-rose-35 // @nekoannie-chan // @evilcr0ne // @v0idl1nq // @ruvaakke // @thedarkqueenofavalon // @amirahiddleston // @beth-gallagher22 // @brutal-out-here // @rqmanoff // @elenavampire21 // @mymelodymia // @pheonixfire777 // @deanzboyfriend //

[mr-celestial-writings]

Christmas Cookies

Day 4: Baking

Pairing: Kyle "Gaz" Garrick x Male! Reader

Summary: Kyle was thankful that he was given the Holidays off. It meant he got to spend time with you, his darling boyfriend. The Cookies are just a bonus.

Call Of Duty Masterlist

Celestial's 25 Days of Christmas!

================================================

Kyle leaned against the counter, a smile gracing his features. These quiet moments were rare. He watched you go over the recipe, occasionally scurrying around to grab the ingredients you needed.

"Careful, love, you're gonna trip if you keep running around like that." He chimed, you looked at him.

"Oh Bite me, Kyle." You retorted, but the soft smile on your face takes away any bite in your statement.

Kyle had met you a few years ago, you two had bumped into each other at a cafe you both frequented. You were... a breath of fresh air. Somebody Kyle desperately needed. You two had hit it off, and the rest is history.

"I'm just sayin, babe," Kyle laughed as he came up behind you, wrapping his arms, "All that runnin around, you might trip 'n drop somethin, might bust you're handsome ass."

Kyle laughed as you swatted at him.

"I will ban you from the kitchen, Garrick. Don't fuckin try me."

Kyle pouted, "Aw, c'mon, Pretty Boy, you wouldn't do that, you love me too much."

You laughed, rolling your eyes as you went to go back to making your cookies. "You're right, I do."

Kyle chuckled, holding onto you as you bake, "You sure I can't help?"

"Don't need it, Ky. Don't worry. Thank you, though." You replied, you turned you head to place a kiss on his cheek. "They'll be done in an hour, hour and a half at most."

Kyle hummed and nodded, "Fair enough. Your just making sugar cookies, right?"

"Right. No better way to celebrate the season."

He smiled, resting his chin on your shoulder. "Gonna make them cute shapes? How 'bout icing?"

You facepalmed gently, "Cookie Cutters! That's what I forgot!"

You made your way over to the drawer and rummaged around. You pulled out the metal cutters and returned to your position. You hummed as you went to make the cookies.

Kyle couldn't tear his eyes away, thankful that you two were only together as civilians. Kyle would be dead a hundreds times over if he was on the field with you.

Kyle found that when he was with you, his world shrunk down to just the two of you. He was some elite soldier, he was your Ky. Kyle also found that he wouldn't trade that for the world.

The cookies were a nice bonus, but Kyle was just especially happy to be with you.

================================================

a/n: Kyle deserves more love. He's literally a main character, you play as him too! Put some respect on his fucking name.

[crowandmousewritingco]

Holiday Hardships

Paring: Marcus Acacius x gn!reader

Words: 1.3k

Rating: G

Summary: The party rages on leaving Marcus no time to grab your final present.

Author: Mod Mouse

Notes: I'm cutting it close with getting my entry in for the What Could Go Wrong writing challenge hosted by @beefrobeefcal. But here it is! For my prompt I got Marcus Acacius needs a last minute gift and can't leave the house. I hope you enjoy!

‘Why did I think this was a good idea?’ Marcus thought to himself as another round of cheers exploded from the living room. All he wanted tonight was to have a quiet New Years Eve with some expensive wine and you by his side. There was a new series he wanted to binge watch tonight with you since he saw the trailer for it, and he hoped to do just that. But just like Jack Frost, someone nipped away his fantasy. Lucius pulled the “You Owe Me” card for him, saving Marcus from a faculty party last year where he played Santa instead of Marcus. ‘Tis the fucking season.

Many guests gathered at his house for a modern Saturnalia New Years Eve party though “Saturnalia” was stretching it as a theme. Mostly it was an excuse for excess drinking and partying all through the night. Strangers in bedsheet togas filled the space as they danced and drank cheap beer. It was a night to remember despite they would all have hazy memories in the morning. He was lucky he lived away from everyone because he knew the neighbors would complain about the bass filled music shaking his walls. 

Everyone from the College of Ancient Studies had gathered here tonight for the wild evening. Lucius was bound and determined to win a round of beer pong since he had a historical losing streak. But he always challenged the champion of “Gladiators,” a self nominated name for the group of local rugby players, hence his tendency for losing. Geta and Caracalla were already upstairs ruining the new bedsheets with whatever activities they decided to try out on Marcus’ time. The two grad students had charmed half the TAs and tended to research their theses with hands-on learning. 

Marcus sighed and rubbed his eyes pausing in his refilling the snack table. A mess of chip crumbs and puddles of beer seeping into the untouched fruit cake coated the cheap table cloths giving the area a layer of stickiness. The premade gingerbread was already missing a wall and leaned dangerously to the left, making the icing drip onto the table. It reminded him of your yearly tradition to make cookies so you two would have a treat as you opened presents. 

His eyes widened at the realization. The craziness of the party had taken so much time away from holiday preparation that he completely forgot to get you the last present. Marcus cursed but the music overpowered his frustration. ‘Okay okay no time to panic,” Marcus thought to himself. There was no time to find an open store, and he couldn’t leave his house at risk of it burning to the ground from the party. 

‘Think Marcus!’ He thought as he paced the kitchen floor. What could he possibly do? Anything he thought of felt shallow and unworthy of you. He sighed and leaned his hands against the sink, a buzz of ideas filling his head as he tried to think, the loud music not helping him brainstorm. None of them seemed possible. Marcus scratched his beard in thought as he peered out the kitchen window. A fresh blanket of snow covered the backyard giving the county home an added holiday glow.

Glow? Marcus furrowed his brow remembering a recent purchase. Quickly he rummaged through piles of plastic bags from his last errands run, and he smiled when his hand brushed against the box. Marcus glanced behind his shoulder. No one at the party would notice his short absences. He had a plan brewing, as he made a mental list of what materials he needed. Marcus weaved around the party dodging guests as his arms filled with required objects. He was going to make this perfect for you. 

All you wanted was a drink. It was the only thing getting through the required family gathering you were forced to attend. You were hard set on leaving at 9 giving you plenty of time to party with the boys. When Marcus told you of the change of plans, you were a little sad but you knew it would still be fun. You liked hanging out with all the other professors and grad students letting loose one last time before the spring semester started. 

There was a long line of cars parked outside your house and you were suddenly worried that you would have to walk a mile just to get inside. But as you drifted towards the driveway you smiled as you saw your normal spot roped off with red rope strung from traffic cones. A handmade signed read “VIP” was attached to a wooden stack in the ground and you couldn’t help but chuckle. 

You quickly parked and gathered your bag, ready to join the festivities. As your shoes crunched under the freshly fallen stone as you walked up to your front door, something caught your attention. Another handmade sign hung from the wooden porch fence, this time reading “Winter Wonderland this way.” This confused you since you knew this wasn’t the theme of the party. 

Curiously you followed the signs instructions lending you around to the side of your shared house. When you peaked around the corner, you were greeted with decorations galore.  Green garland decorated the wooden fence in undulating waves. Small baubles hung from the fence posts in a multitude of colors. With a small click you opened the gate with a creak and gasped as you saw the scene in front of you. 

A warm glow illuminated from inside the enclosed space as Marcus stood in the middle of the backyard. Gentle holiday music drifted from the speaker giving the area a festive mood. It truly was a Winter Wonderland in your backyard. You swore this wasn’t like this when you were here, adding to your curiosity. At the sound Marcus turned, his smile warming your heart. 

“Marc this is amazing,” You smiled as you slowly twirled, taking in the festive sight. The warm glow emanated from the small fairy lights that were strung on the hanging planters woven in the branches of the shrubs and trees. Quickly you hugged your fiance and Marcus smiled, lifted the glasses of wine above your head to keep it from spilling. 

He quickly kissed your head taking in the familiar scent of your perfume. “I know tonight didn’t quite go as planned, but I thought a little us time would do us some good.” 

You lifted your head from his chest finally noticing the alcohol in his hands, and you smiled. “You know me so well.” 

Marcus gently handed you the flute and you happily took a sip. The bubbles tickled your nose, but you always loved the taste of champagne. It reminded you of how you met Marcus. A  holiday party where you two were the new professors and you discovered you shared the same passion for Homer’s epics. And the rest is history. 

With a tip of his glass he said, “Here’s to us. May the new year be full of our love and happiness.” 

You repeated the action, clinking the glasses together, a wide smile brightening up your face. “To us.” 

Marcus sipped on his champagne and kissed your cheek just as the last song ended. After a few seconds of silence, Auld Lang Syne wafted through the white backyard. Marcus chuckled. “How very appropriate. Here” He carefully takes your flute from you, setting both on the glass patio table. With a low bow he asked, “May I have this dance?” 

You laughed covering your mouth with your hand. “Always the gentleman. Yes I will have this dance.” You replied, setting your bag on the concrete steps. 

Marcus stood back up this time, his own smile gracing his lips. He held out a gloved hand to you and you graciously accepted. With a gentleness he reserved only for you, he pulled you into his chest, the warmth filling you with a sense of security. The party raged on inside, but the only thing you could focus on was Marcus’ heartbeat. The boys could wait.

Credit to @strangergraphics and @inklore

All Works Taglist:

@for-a-longlongtime @romanarose

Pedro Characters Taglist:

@littlemisspascal @burntheedges

@carusolikey @thebeldroramscal

@morallyinept @lady-bess

@pedrostories @rivnedell

@pascalsanctuary @readingiskeepingmegoing

@jessthebaker @pedrit0-pascalit0

[friendly-neighborhood-boricua]

[3] Career Fair

Summary: James holds a parents' career fair, to which Liam's mom is invited.

Notes: Marauders modern elementary school AU, kindergarten teacher!James Potter x nurse!reader, mom!reader x son!OC (Liam), inspired by this post by @ravishinglavishingluvr. Hah, remember last time where I said I was updating semi-regularly? Ok well I actually mean it now, I promise lmao. Not edited but I'll do that tomorrow. Also kinda short, sorry

A/N (1/8/2024): okok I came back here to change the names of some kids bc I forgot that this is a marauders au so I can use the names of like real kids from harry potter smhhhhh please don't get mad at me this is my first time writing an au

Previous Part: Seeing Each Other Around Town Next Part: Liam and James Make You A Birthday Gift Series Masterlist here

James ended up pushing the career fair back a couple weeks because there was a conflict in the schedule

(not because you emailed him back saying you wouldn’t be able to come the day he had originally planned it)

(and definitely not because he asked you to send him your shift schedule so he could make sure you could come, and you were working overtime for two weeks straight)

(James was pretty sure your work schedule violated some labor laws or something, but he was in no place to question you)

Liam is soooo excited for the couple days leading up to the career fair

Because his mom is cool af and he can’t wait to show everybody just how badass you are

(You had Liam pretty young, so you’re totally the parent who all the kids think is the coolest person alive and who all the kids’ older siblings have crushes on and who all the kids’ parents judge because of your age and assume you’re irresponsible, but we don’t have to talk about that)

James is also excited because he hasn’t had a real conversation with you in a couple weeks and he really just wants to talk to you

Poor Sirius and Remus have had to deal with him swooning and fawning and over you and also helping him frantically prepare for this career fair because “guys it HAS to be perfect”

But at long last, the day finally arrives

James scheduled the career fair in the afternoon so he could threaten children with canceling the event if they misbehave, so both he and his kids are bouncing off the walls in excitement all morning

He eats lunch in the library with Remus and Sirius, and they both spend the entire time hyping him up

(It’s mostly Sirius tho)

“You’ve got this, Prongs—be smooth—be nice—you’re a nice bloke, that’s not gonna be a problem for you—”

And eventually, it’s time

The parents that are participating in the fair arrive ten minutes before James has to get the kids from the cafeteria so he can explain to them what’s going to happen (because god knows the majority didn’t read the goddamn email he sent)

You’re a little late (profusely apologizing again, and it reminds James of the first time you met back at parent-teacher conferences) but you read the email the night before (and take another piece of James’ heart hostage while you’re at it) so it’s no worries

James’ summary instructions take a shorter amount of time than expected, so the ten or so parents all get to talking

And ofc James takes this opportunity to talk to you

You’d emailed back and forth about the fair but you hadn’t really talked in person since that night in the grocery store, and James was starting to feel like he’d die if he went another day without talking to you

So he’s plotting his route to you across the classroom when he notices you’ve secluded yourself a few steps away from the majority of the parents’ conversation

James is also horrified to discover you look slightly uncomfortable

Like you’re somewhere you don’t belong

And of course James can’t have that

So he sidles up next to you and asks how your day is going, if your boss gave you a hard time getting off work early, how the chocolate chip cookie dough from a month and a half ago was—anything he can think of, really

By the time James has to go get the kids from the cafeteria, you’re smiling and laughing, and James desperately wants to keep you like that all the time

He shakes himself out of his daydreamy state on the way to the cafeteria because this is your JOB, James, you can’t be distracted by your favorite student’s mom. His sweet, kind, whip-smart, dazzling … mom …

(In the back of his mind, James knows he’s screwed, he just has no idea what to do about it)

(CERTAINLY not act on it, because that would be a complete conflict of interest and totally unprofessional of him)

(But it’s just a crush)

(It’s fine)

(Right?)

ANYWAY

Liam’s on the lookout for you as soon as he steps through the door, and he beams the sweetest little chubby-cheeked smile when he finds you and points you out to his friends

You wink playfully at him, and he and his friends giggle excitedly as they sit in their seats

If James is being completely honest with himself, the career fair was a little disappointing

The majority of the parents’ presentations were kinda lame

And they didn’t make their jobs understandable or appealing for the kids

Dean's mom (she’s regional manager of a popular grocery store chain) complained to the class about her boss pretty much the whole time

Luna’s father, a rather eccentric professor at the local university, just spewed a bunch of nonsense technical jargon about the soul or the meaning of life or something that not even the adults in the room could understand

And Draco's dad (he owns the local insurance company and is just obscenely wealthy, which explains quite a bit of his son's attitude) straight up said he hated his job, so there’s that

But then there was your presentation

James is sure he’s in love by now because you made being a nurse sound so amazing

You talked about how you’re in charge of taking care of people when they’re sick or hurt, how it’s nice to be able to help people, how even when your job gets hard, you feel like you’ve made a positive impact at the end of the day

Once the parents left, James asked the kids who’s presentation they liked the most

And ofc every kid in that room agreed that yours was the best

And a solid 75% said they wanted to be a nurse lmao and he was just so proud

Proud of his kids and also you because your presentation was just so fucking good

As James is taking the kids out to the buses, Liam thanks him for inviting you to the career fair

Ofc James says it was no problem and that you’re really cool, so it was a pleasure to have you there

And Liam kinda gives James this … look … and is like “… yeah, my mom is cool …”

And James gets this horrible feeling that Liam somehow knows

Knows he’s completely smitten for Liam’s mom

Fallen head over heels

Practically in love at this point (though James has a nasty habit of throwing that word around willy-nilly)

(Liam kinda freaks James out a bit sometimes lmao)

Next Part: Liam and James Make You A Birthday Gift

[raemaryllis]

Number 6 is kind of a random post!

Random things that I frequently forget exist and are canon in Tcf/lcf

1. Choi Han canonically has three ancient powers.

2. The exact words Eruhaben used to describe Cale’s face are “a bit fancy.” What’s even better is, from that phrase alone, Alberu is immediately able to deduce that it is Cale he is talking about.

3. Rasheel beat the crap out of Dorph and the lion was never heard from again(not in any significance or that I remember anyway. It’s been a hot minute since I read the end of part 1).

4. Ron and Beacrox never had their housewarming party. Cale and Raon even said they would bring gifts.

5. Alberu has other half siblings aside from Robbit and the third prince(who still doesn’t have a name).

6. Lee Chul Min of Earth 1 became a guild leader.

7. Hubesha exists. Add onto that, Priest Gersey exists(I know, I know, they are major antagonists in the later parts of part 1, but it’s been a while ok?)

8. Cale left a priest robe for Clopeh to find, along with a note. Clopeh probably still has it. I’d wager that’s one of the first items on display in the future museum he establishes.

9. (Mentions part 2!!!!!!———>) So far the only person to hide in the ceiling without being uncovered(not undiscovered tho) was that random tail Imperial Prince Adin put on Cale when the Roan envoy arrived at the Empire. This includes xxxx xxxx xxx and Cale himself.

10. Hannah could technically be the youngest swordmaster. Choi Han is over 100 years old and Bud is in his mid thirties. (Of course, that also depends on how skilled Clopeh was at her age too).

11. Cale smacks Beacrox on the head. He then proceeds to dump water on him. He then pats Beacrox’s head with a ‘disgustingly gentle expression.’ Lol.

12. Cale plots his own demise at one point(I could never forget this gem, but every once in a while I just get so surprised that it’s canon and not some sort of crack fic. Not to mention Alberu feeling like he lost to WS because Cale said his cookies were better).

13. Alberu brews tea as a hobby.

14. During the test where Cale is invisible, when they meet Eruhaben but he’s been tricked by the WS/SG, Eruhaben and Raon are about to fight. Meanwhile Cale is, of all places, curled up in a ball between them. Like, why would you just sit there?! Ik he can’t be seen or touched, but still! Also Eruhaben called him a rat. :(

15. On and Cale go on a father-daughter undercover mission disguised as academy students. (I would actually really like to read a fic where they go undercover at an academy in their world, not a crossover or au.

16. Taerang came from Earth 3, right? So hypothetically, since there is a Kim Rok Soo on Earth 1 and 2, does that mean there’s also one on Earth 3? Just something I like to think about. Also, it’s supposedly a mashup of Earth and Cale’s current world, right? So hypothetically speaking, does that mean that both Kim Rok Soo and all of the characters from The Birth of a Hero could possibly exist in one world? I just think that’s cool. I’d like to see that.

17. Cale was gifted an evil sword/dagger from the former Emperor of Mogoru. According to Raon, it has an ‘evil aura.’ Though he does give it back, and I genuinely can’t remember it being of any significance since then.

18. They roleplay going on a walk/ having a picnic in front of the secret entrance to the basement of the Alchemist Bell Tower.

19. Canonically, members of the Penguin tribe apparently waddle around in black outfits and make the best butlers, as stated by Whitiria. Because if that doesn’t scream fantasy cliche I don’t know what does.

20. Cale has two different fears at the beginning and during the war with WS. One is to be the last one alive at the end of the battles, similar to his life as Kim Rok Soo; the other is for his life as Cale Henituse to be just a dream. Both are extremely sad and so like him. It’s not really something I forgot, but it’s also something I think the fandom just doesn’t talk about enough. Like, we all know(and love) to talk about the test on Wind Island, but what about the illusion Elisneh traps him in? To imagine himself waking up as Kim Rok Soo the day after; like all that he experienced, his entire family he built, was all just a dream? That’s heart wrenching. That for me is genuinely one of the most impactful moments in the novel.

Now spoilers for part 2 for those who don’t know what I was talking about on number 9.

///////////////

Cale and Choi Han were discovered in the ceiling by the WS when they sneak into the Dubori territory Capital. Funnily enough though, the only reason Choi Jung Soo was discovered was because he was so shocked by Cale coughing up blood that he was discovered by the Carnage Demon and then they fell through the ceiling.

///

Edit: I edited some of these cuz they’re not actually accurate. In case anyone’s wondering.

[makerofmadness]

itai itai no SICK SICK - a Cookie Run fanfic

(I spent like two months writing this whole thing lol. If you're wondering how long this is: I hit the text block limit [it's 1,000 in one post btw] and lagged out the post editor and my phone started heating up)

Warning for Heavy Angst & Whump, Hurt/Comfort, as in "a crap ton of hurt but eventually things get better"

Inspired by the song ベノム by Kairiki Bear (title comes from the lyrics)

Starring: Alchemist Cookie ft. Vampire Cookie and others

(Note: some implied Sparkvamp. Doesn't really go any further than the games themselves, though, so I didn't think it was worth tagging as ship but thought it was worth warning for)

TW: Alcoholism (or whatever Vampire is), (Self-Inflicted) Poisoning, Self-Harm (Via Poisoning), Suicidal Themes, (Cookiefied) Hematemesis

(Please tell me if more should be added to the TW, I will update accordingly)

Cover drawn by @driftwoodmfb (background by Nou/from the song's MV) and thanks to my friend @/sleep.starvedd from discord for the writing advice for one scene. And thanks to literally all my friends who read this before it was finished (@softichill @boom-fanfic-a-latta @organichotchoco and also @cosmoknightchaos who wasn't even in this fandom) couldn't have made it without ya.

(Story under the cut. Enjoy)

Grape juice.

She couldn't escape the smell of it within her home. Every day, every time she walked anywhere except for her room/lab, and especially any time she saw her own brother.

Alchemist Cookie's existence was less happy than it would've seemed from the outside, or than she really preferred to present it to others. And it all came down to one thing:

Vampire Cookie.

Embarrassing, was it not? How much he relied on her, his little sister, to keep him healthy, to keep the house tidy, to keep him together. He didn't ever take care of her, she wondered if he'd even notice if she were to ever fall sick and need taking care of, or if he'd just be happy to have that awful nagging away from him, as if she didn't nag with a purpose. 

As if he'd even have a long enough attention span to look after her. 

Ugh.

She shook the thought out of her head as she sat down at the table for dinner, alone. Vampire Cookie has gone out that night- he was always either at home or at Sparkling Cookie's juice bar, it was a struggle to get him to go anywhere else. She was half-considering calling Sparkling Cookie just to beg him to send her brother home, but she knew that would be unreasonable to ask of him like that.

Sparkling Cookie was nice. She liked Sparkling Cookie. He was kind to her; he showed her how to mix drinks once and she tried to apply that skill to her alchemy sometimes. She saw him too often. She somewhat resented him too. She would've resented him more if she hadn't met him.

It wasn't fun having to be called over so often, to pick her own brother up like that, to shoulder him home as he'd confusedly ramble about this and that, as he'd seem to have forgotten who she was...

It hurt. She felt sick just thinking about it.

It'd come back to him, it always did. He promised he always forgot everything from time to time like that, the times he'd forgotten his own name still scared her, but that he'd never really forget her.

She didn't believe it. One day he wouldn't see her every day, and then he wouldn't remember her when he sobered up. One day he'd be around and she wouldn't be. His lifespan would outlast hers. That was what little she really understood of his condition. And how she resented it.

She didn't really understand her brother and how he operated. She worried for his health as he seemed to only consume grape juice some days, and seemed bored or averse of normal sustenance. She tried everything in her power to get anything good into his diet, despite his resistance.

"I don't need that stuff, sis," he'd always tell her, "all I need is grape juice. That's what keeps me going."

She couldn't help but worry for him. He never seemed to worsen despite his diet being built on what should've been unstable grounds- the opposite was the case, actually: he was considered quite the strong and ethereally handsome Cookie by most. He was popular, he had many treasures, and nothing ever seemed to get to him. Everything was well with his life. "Cheers to a wonderful life!" He'd say sometimes.

Was she an afterthought, or did he just not see her distress?

As a Cookie, he was many things: Carelessfree. Unaffected by her pain. An immortal being who would outlive her.

Who would take care of him after that?

She had only ever talked about this to him once. And he told her she was "too young to start thinking about mortality." She was still what would be considered too young for that. But how could she not? Life was at alchemy's center, and her brother was an immortal vampire who would definitely outlive her.

And yet here she was, still trying to make him eat his vegetables because it was 'good for him' or make him go to check-ups with Dr. Bones Cookie because he was too lazy to bother going out that far for something without a promise of juice. He didn't need any of this. She really did know it deep down. But she kept doing it anyway.

She would never dare say it, but maybe deep down she just wanted to pretend he was normal.

...Her brother probably would've crumbled from juice overdose by now if he had been normal.

From that poison he sustained himself on.

But the alternative would've been...

She picked at her plate, having lost her appetite suddenly. She much preferred devoting as much time and energy as possible to shutting herself away in her lab, away from her brother and the grape juice smell that came off of his very dough, and endlessly researching and experimenting until he found his way in somehow and made her stop pushing herself so hard. Her life's work had been researching Life Potions. Her Life's work had been to extend her own lifespan

She got up from the table, leaving her plate untouched. Perhaps Vampire Cookie would just eat it for her. She knew he wouldn't bother. He didn't typically bother with normal Cookie meals, when he did it was either to please her, to participate with a group, to look normal at events, or for the flavor. He wouldn't be eating a random salad by himself.

...she decided to go over to the phone and make a call. To a number she had to have memorized by now:

"...hello? Sparkling Cookie? Yes, it's Alchemist Cookie, I was just wondering if my brother is going to come home soon... ... ...A party, huh? Well... Whatever. Just- If you don't mind me asking, could you, uh... cut him off sooner rather than later tonight...? I'm just- you see, I might be busy tonight, so I'd prefer it if he could come home by himself tonight, safely... ... ...Thank you. I knew you'd understand. Have a nice night."

She put the phone back on the wall and began walking away, but felt... hollow.

Of course he'd have gone to a party without telling her anything. It wasn't as if she'd be worried sick if he came home late...

Maybe he'd come home sooner if he couldn't have more, though...

Whatever. It didn't matter. He always had more lying around, anyway. In the cellar, or in his room, or in the kitchen, or wherever he could store it. He'd even tried to use her vials, more than once...

And then he'd just lie around and do nothing with her. They never really spent time together, it felt. Sometimes they'd go out and do things, social events and the like, but she craved something personal. Meaningful.

For their entire existence, had they ever really just hung out? One time, she had done a favor for Cherry Cookie, and said cookie had talked all about her plans that day with her sister, Cherry Blossom Cookie. Those two had been planning to go on a picnic together that day. And hearing about those plans, all Alchemist Cookie had thought was: Why didn't MY sibling do that with me...?

She sat down on the couch- and looking at the furniture she started to feel ashamed for not being happy. While she had specifically made sure that their home looked normal enough, it very obviously showed through that they had... more than average to spend, with how nice everything looked, shining and sparkling even within the dim lighting of most rooms.

She didn't know where he got it all from.

He didn't have to work, and she was more interested in her passions, and her working options were limited at her age anyway. No one made any money, really-

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the front door opening, and a voice shouting for her:

"ALCHEMIST COOKIE~!!"

Before she even had the opportunity to say a word or leave the room, a certain fanged Cookie slumped in. She could smell the grape juice saturating his dough. She suppressed a gag. That smell had gotten stronger than usual. She could even see a stain on his coat.

...she wasn't surprised.

"So- *hiccup* 'scuse me-" he plopped himself down next to her, while she just tried to stare off onto space. She had better things to occupy her mind with, things that her brother wasn't interested in in the slightest except for maybe that one time. She'd just escape into her mind while her body would stand in until he either had his fill of rambling to her about 'the wonders of taking breaks' or-

"Sparkling Cookie said you called him, eh...?"

Her jam ran cold. Even though he had no anger in his voice.

"..." she avoided looking at him, knowing that the best she could really say was the truth, "I-I just- you see... I was going to go work in my lab, but I... wasn't expecting you to be home this soon-"

"I mean, duh. No juice, no Vampire Cookie."

He didn't even stick around just to talk to his friends...?

"But, why's that the issue...?"

"..." Was he really that oblivious? "If you had too much, I would have to help you come home... but if I'm working, then I won't be at the phone, so I won't even know-"

"Oh, I see: You're worried about me, aren't ya?"

She was torn between two responses: 'Yes. All the time. Every day. And I don't know how much longer I can take it for.' And 'Worried that you'll try to come home yourself anyway and end up in some stupid or dangerous or stupidly dangerous situation, yes.'

Both went unsaid. Instead, just:

"Yes."

"Awww, you know what I always tell you, sis..."

Vampire Cookie leaned into his sister, affectionately wrapping an arm around her and pulling her closer to him. The warmth and love of a familial embrace could no longer reach her.

"Don't worry about everything so much! It'd do you wonders to-"

"How can I not?? I never asked to have to look after my big brother, just because HE can't put down the STUPID JUICE GLASS-"

She immediately slapped her hand over her mouth. That wasn't supposed to come out.

"..."

"...I-I'm going to my lab."

She got up with her brother's arm giving away from her surprisingly easily, given that he was usually slightly stronger than average, and walked away without looking back. 

She didn't even see the look on his face. But she could care less.

Alchemist Cookie just walked away, practically without thought, her legs carrying her all the way to the door to her lab. As she entered and shut it behind her, however, she suddenly lost her will to carry on.

...

Oh. Her eyes had sprung a leak. Embarrassing.

Alone, nothing and no one to grant her solace, something dark within her mind that had been brewing for a long time began to concoct an idea out of festered, fermented emotions:

If he was going to nourish himself on poison every day, she thought:

Two could play at that game.

It took about a week to gather the ingredients. In that time, somewhere deep down, she had been hoping that something would happen to change her mind. It was a decent amount of time, she thought, looking at the grand scheme of her pathetically short existence. 

But nothing did. In fact, she only had her current thoughts affirmed.

Not by any change, but by a lack thereof: by stagnation. 

By that stagnant grape juice her life had been drowned by.

She couldn't even really focus on or enjoy her work anymore because whenever she tried to get 'in the zone,' her thoughts would always go back to her brother.

One day, which she had spent almost entirely in her lab, her brother came home from the bar- not by himself, but being shouldered by his acquaintance Cinnamon Cookie- who interrupted her planning just to inform her that her brother was home. The nerve of that Cookie. (...she had to have gotten a call, right? She didn't leave her lab the whole day, so...)

"*sigh* How much did Vampire Cookie drink...?"

"...uh- N-nobody knows..."

"...ugh. Whatever."

No one ever kept track.

Days went by and her brother was none-the-wiser to what she was planning. Despite all the time he spent at home...

She had a hard time keeping him out of her room, though. She couldn't lock the door to her lab, so he'd always get in. But her reagent-gathering was sporadic and unplanned, she had nothing written down...

Then came the day she finally decided that she was ready.

This would be the perfect concoction. Acridly flavored. She was turning it into an experimental melting pot, a pot of completely random reagents. Not really. She was very much aiming for the most toxic ingredients she had as she grabbed them from around the room. With the test subject being herself. 

By the end, once she'd had enough of tossing things in the pot, she watched the final color end up as a vivid pink. The mixture had bubbled and fizzed during the mixing process, but now it was... completely still.

Deathly still.

It was almost tranquil, the way it sat. She stared at it for a moment, before scooping some of it into an empty flask she had laying around.

She swished it around a little, staring blankly. Nothing changed about it.

Whatever this nocuous cocktail would do, it wouldn't be anything good for her...

She knew this would be it. This would show him. He'd finally understand. This would teach him a lesson.

She wanted to -------

She slowly took the flask up to her lips.

Bottoms up.

Immediately she felt it burn as it rushed down her throat.

It hurt. It tasted foul. She made sure to get down every last drop, swallowing a steady stream of death-

Something inside her told her to spit it out. But she was set, she refused to go back: She would show him. 

Once she'd gulped it all down, she put the flask down on her work table. Already she could feel the effects: A stomachache was setting in, she felt incredibly nauseous and dizzy, a pain began to burn her chest from the inside, her eyes began to spill water and something buried within her once-logical mind was still yelling at her SPIT IT OUT-

But she couldn't. It was far too late for that.

There was no going back.

~~~

She staggered out of her room with an aching sensation filling every inch of her dough. Her head especially was beginning to throb with pain- but really, her entire body was in general agony.

Her head was spinning, to the point she was starting to see double, and this combined with the sudden shortness of her breath that she couldn't tell if it was just her panicking or if it had been yet another effect of her concoction made walking to the living room take...

She didn't know how long.

The numbers on the clock, she couldn't read them anymore. She couldn't recognize them. She couldn't process any of them. 

Her head hurt even more trying to do so.

But she eventually found her way in, and, after further difficulty bumping into the furniture, finally managed to sit herself down.

She lay back on the sofa, but even cessation of action did nothing to make breathing an easier task. She could feel her heart beating in her head chest. It was speaking over her reason. Shouting over it.

'Why even bother sitting out here? You know he's not going to notice. Even if he does, he won't be concerned. Get to work; Be productive with your time at least...'

She shook any thought from her mind the moment her brother came into the room. She felt too weak to even spend the energy talking to him, she wasn't even sure if she would be able to get a coherent word out anyway, but surely he'd at least ask how she was doing. And then when she didn't answer, he'd look at her, and then he'd notice something was wrong-

But he just walked on by.

He said something, but she couldn't focus on the words. And it didn't change the fact that he just left the room anyway.

(Maybe it sounded like "Love ya, sis" but she couldn't tell. She wouldn't have believed it, anyway.)

That woefully familiar miasma of grape juice hit her senses, worsening that already overwhelming nausea of hers. Stronger than ever. Or was it the same as usual...? Everything just felt worse like this...

'...what a joke. He just walked right past you. He probably didn't even realize you're here. He probably forgot you again.'

The leaks were back, gushing, overflowing- and she didn't have the energy to fix them. Agonizing all alone, with this toxin eating away at her system...

If it didn't crumble her tonight, she'd try again tomorrow. And the next day. And the day after that. And over and over again until he finally noticed that something was wrong...

She slept unrestfully that night, and even though the effects of the concoction had mostly subsided by the afternoon when she woke up, she still felt tired.

She planned her routine out from there: Every day, once she woke up (frustratingly, it was already difficult to keep to her usual schedule), she would immediately take a drink of the poison before she even went to eat breakfast. She'd then just let the day play out as she rapidly grew ill, and see if her brother ever asked about her health.

He didn't ask her. One day, two days, three days- she seldom spoke to him, as he'd be either in his room lazing around or indulging in the one thing he cared about in the world, or at Sparkling Cookie's- and she was just exuberant to see the look on his and Vampire Cookie's faces the inevitable day she'd come in to do her usual 'nag-and-drag' routine and at best not even have the physical strength to get her brother off the floor and at worst-

'You could crumble right in front of him and he wouldn't say a thing. He doesn't care about you. He's NEVER cared about you.'

She didn't care anymore.  That night, though- her brother staggered home with his arm over another Cookie's shoulder again. This time, however, it was Sparkling Cookie himself who accompanied the drunken Cookie through the door.

She didn't know this until the two of them walked into the living room, where she was leaning over the left side of the couch trying not to pass out from exhaustion.

"Oh. Well, hello there, Alchemist Cookie!" Sparkling Cookie smiled at her with a warmth that she couldn't feel.

"He-ey, lil sis! *hic*" Vampire Cookie gave a loose, lazy wave. "How ya doin???"

Alchemist Cookie didn't want to speak to either of them. Tiredness was the bulk of the reason, she really hadn't vocalized much at all in the past few days since her experiment had begun, but really what could she have said to either of these Cookies?

Sparkling Cookie. The Cookie that ran the juice bar. The Cookie that called her on the phone at bare minimum three times per week just to pick her brother up from said juice bar. The Cookie who did nothing but serve that disgusting, baneful juice. 

She really resented Sparkling Cookie.

And her brother... 

Immediately flopped himself next to her, as close as possible, forcing her to take in that grossly prominent grape juice smell, as if it weren't hard enough to breathe already. And lovingly, he started clinging to her side by the arm, practically leaning all of his weight into her as if he hadn't been a heavy enough burden-

His body was as cold as always. She knew to expect that from him. She was always prepared to feel that. And normally the physical cold was easy to ignore thanks to the emotional warmth. But she just couldn't feel that anymore...

She was so, so cold.

"Alchemist Cookie? You're shivering... are you alright?" Sparkling Cookie looked at her carefully and with concern, coming closer to her. She couldn't get up. "You look... unwell..."

...

She tried to say something, but all she could get out were wheezing breaths and a hacking cough she couldn't cover up.

Sparkling Cookie put his hand to her forehead. She didn't have the energy to get it away.

"Hmmm... you're not burning up, but you sure look sick. And you sound sick, too..."

"Yeeeeaaaahhhh... ya look kinda funny..."

Her brother's face was practically pressed into hers as his spacey eyes made direct contact with hersand she hoped he would notice how they had dulled to lifelessness by now as she turned her head too, and even just that caused her a splitting headache that she did her best to ignore because she wasn't going to let Sparkling Cookie see that.

"...eh, doesn't look like much. Looks like Alchemist Cookie like always. *hiccup* You're fiiiiiiine~ It's whateeeeeeever~"

He didn't notice. He didn't care.

Sparkling Cookie sighed and pried Vampire Cookie from her, gently but still causing her pain yet again. Vampire Cookie just leaned to the other side of the couch, oblivious just as he always was.

"Don't be a buzzkill, Sparkling Cookie!! *hiccup* I was all nice and comfy right there... Can't a Cookie just give his lil sis a hug in peace?? What's this world come to... *sigh*"

The look on Sparkling Cookie's face seemed disappointed but unsurprised before his attention shifted back to Alchemist Cookie:

"Thank goodness it was a slow day at the bar tonight. There's no way Vampire Cookie would be able to take care of you like this..."

If he was implying what she thought he was implying, then she wished she could just get up and run away, but she knew the air would leave her faster than it could get to her.

She didn't want him hanging around her house. Her brother had enough access to grape juice already. She wasn't going to let him have the idea of bringing bar nights into their house. She already couldn't escape them normally.

She just barely scraped together enough energy to shake her head, weakly. She tried to get up, now that her brother was off of her and couldn't weigh her down.

The dizziness set in immediately as she could barely find balance in her feet, waving her arms around trying to find a support-

Sparkling Cookie's hands approached to help stabilize her, but she slapped them away before they could make contact. Purposefully.

"A-Alchemist Cookie, let me help you to your room, please. You're clearly too weak to stand on your own..."

As she tottered towards the wall to lean against it, she glared back at him and tried to mouth her answer: 

I want you gone.

She knew he could lip-read decently enough. She knew the way she mouthed it was obvious enough.

She didn't care.

She saw his feelings on his face. In his eyes. The shock, confusion, worry. Hurt. She didn't feel bad. Not for the barkeep that drove her and her brother only further apart. Maybe a little, for the mixologist that'd always bring out some set of old alchemy textbooks from the back when she needed to hang around, that she'd practically had memorized from the amount of times she'd read them all front to back. She turned away before staggering over to the hallway. 

"G'nighty night, sis~, don't *hic* don't let the... what's the sayin again? Whatever, sweet dreams..."

She turned in early that night. She didn't have anything better to do anyway. She couldn't do anything else like this. She couldn't do alchemy anymore. But she didn't care.

She was beginning to accept the struggle to sit up or even just to open her eyes in the morning, the way her vision would still be so blurry and unfocused even after putting her glasses on that she wasn't certain they were even on her face, the lingering aches and pains that hung over every moment...

"...Alchemist Cookie...? Alchemist Cookie!"

This wasn't part of the routine.

She had been sitting there at the edge of her bed for who-knows-how-long likely a minute before she realized a voice she knew all too well was inside her room.

Vampire Cookie.

She looked over to see him leaning with his back to the side of her cauldron pot, holding one of her vials.

She just barely mustered the words with airy breaths in-between: "Wh-what are... you doing... up... this ear...ly!?" 

"Uhhh... first of all, it's 4 in the afternoon." He walked to her as she sulked in place without energy to move. "Second of all, Sparkling Cookie told me that last night, he noticed you were feeling... more than a little under-the-weather. So I came in here to check on you, and I saw... whatever that is."

He pointed over to the cauldron. Her heart skipped a beat.

"Well, I looked at it and thought that maybe you'd finally made more of that wonderful pink juice that you'd kept insisting was 'just an accident' and 'you didn't have the recipe for.' So, I couldn't help but have a little drink..."

Ah, yes, the 'Pink Juice Incident.' The one that had dyed most of the kingdom pink with love. She had been so confused that night when both her brother and Sparkling Cookie came and started thanking her profusely for "that delicious rosé juice" and "the boost in business for the day." That was the first time Sparkling Cookie had ever been over at their home. (And she wished the two of them could've been a little less... excessively romantic.)

...but her brother had been so sweet that night. When he wasn't rambling on and on about how debonair Sparkling Cookie looked in pink, he was giving her a pat on the head or saying about five times total "cheers to my brilliant sister and her alchemy!" despite no one else raising a glass with him, and she'd felt all warm and fuzzy on the inside...

It almost made her wish, in some deep selfish recess of her mind, that she could make it again. Just so he would praise her some more. She craved that validation.

...but she couldn't. And even if she could, she wouldn't. She couldn't poison him like that just for her own needs.

Wait...

He drank the poison...? He drank her concoction!?

The look on his face changed from pleasant reminiscence to light disgust.

"But that stuff tastes awful...! What did you even put in there?"

...of course he wouldn't be affected. Her potions never worked on him. Even when she wanted them to.The 'Pink Juice' affecting him was only a result of how haphazard that entire concoction had been.

She had once sought out to transmute her brother alchemically, to create some kind of potion that could eliminate that listless juice addiction of his. And yet none of them ever worked on anything but a normal Cookie.

There was that one time his personality seemingly inverted out of nowhere, where he started dressing and acting like her for a few days and even researching alchemy (...seemingly), that she never got an explanation for, until she came up with a potion to put him back to normal...

No. She knew her potions wouldn't have suddenly started working on him. She made all her concoctions with the reference of how to affect a normal Cookie, all the way down to composition. He wasn't normal. She had a whole pile of failed attempts at a working Flavor Reversal Potion by the end of her prior experiments in futility, after all. And she used them as the basis for the cure.

...in which case, she certainly couldn't have 'fixed him' by the end of it when he encroached on her field, so how did he return to normal...?

...

Had he really just been messing with her the whole time...?

She'd somewhat started to appreciate him more after that incident. At least, she realized her problem with him was less about him and more...

Whatever. She didn't care anymore. "No juice, no Vampire Cookie," in his own words.

She tried to get up to her feet- and immediately she envied her brother's ability to levitate as the pain shot up through her legs.

"OW!!"

"Alchemist Cookie??" 

"You... you drank my... my poi- my potion...!?"

"Yeah. So?"

"...grrrr..." she didn't look at him, but felt a sudden burst of... not as much as strength as it was anger,and yet it still wasn't enough to give her hands the strength for fists, "why... why can't you... why can't you just control yourself for once!?"

It could hardly be called a shout, but she couldn't do that anymore. 

But she could spit venom just fine.

"...sis, what do you-"

"It's always drink this, drink that...!! All for you, you, YOU...!!!" She pushed him to the side and dragged her legs over to her prized pot. Looking into it, it didn't seem to have had much taken out of it, and yet she still felt furious that he had taken what was hers. As she turned back around and made sure to make direct eye contact, further infuriated by the confusion that met her, she put on a sarcastic tone and gestured sloppily as she mimicked her brother's voice: "Can't you make some juice with your alchemy?' this and 'Can you stop bothering me about alchemy when I'm trying to enjoy my juice?" that *pant*... and then you have the gall, to come into my room, and try to just drink anything that wasn't meant for you... and when it's not that, you're looking through my research notes, to see if they have anything about juice... because THAT'S ALL YOU EVER CARE ABOUT-"

Unable to keep up with her own shouting, she suddenly entered a violent coughing fit. She couldn't breathe. Vampire Cookie looked a mix of horrified and... mortified.

She had to support herself on the side of the cauldron to prevent herself from keeling over, with how light-headed she was getting. She'd started spitting venom, but she felt as if she were going to start spitting jam.

As soon as she could get a breath back in, as she saw that fanged Cookie take just a few quivering steps toward her with a face of remorseful shock, she shot a glare in his direction and finally gasped out:

"Why, does everything, have to be, about you...!? You... about your juice... is that... all I'm good for, to you...? Making juice, for you...? Taking care, of you...?? Catering, to you...!?!"

"..." Her brother stood frozen by her cold words. "...A-Alchemist Cookie, you know that's not true, you're not-"

"It's always, juice for you, juice for you..." As she gazed fondly into the contents of the cauldron, her mouth formed a twisted, broken facade of a smile: "But this, is for ME... this... makes me... feel better..."

It was funny to her, almost. The purpose of this entire experiment had once been to make her brother see what he was doing to her himself. Nourishing himself on that poison of his every day. 

That crimson venom dripping from his fangs as he bit into her life.

But she didn't care anymore. She wasn't doing this for him anymore.

She had long lost her original intent.

But really, her intentions now had always been there, lurking deep down within the darkest crevices of her mind. Just waiting to bubble to the surface.

Her routine poisonings had begun to feel almost comforting to her, in some form. Because at the very least, it was something she had control over. She could control her own degradation except she knew it was progressing at an uncontrolled rate. She was doing this to herself. No one else was. She took a sense of pride in that, a sense of power, a sense of control.

Control. She needed control. She couldn't control her own mortality, she couldn't control her brother and his behavior. This pernicious potion was the only way to control anything, she thought...

So what if her health was deteriorating? She had every right to make it deteriorate.

This wasn't right

"(Feel better...?) Is it... a cure or something...?"

The inquiry snapped her out of her blissful thought, but she didn't look at him. She just thought:

He was right about that one thing: That this was, to her, more nostrum than noxious in the grand scheme of things.

She'd prescribed it herself to her own heart, the one true remedy for its malaise: Her own personal, hand-crafted, home-brewed panacea. 

This would make everything better.

And so, she answered accordingly:

"Yes..."

"(...well, guess I shouldn't be surprised about medicine tasting bad...) Sis... I-"

"Sh-Shut up..."

Her head snapped to look at him and it hurt so much to make such a sudden movement, and she ignored the guilt that had been shining in his eyes and glared as she panted out:

"Get out... of my room... I'm done, talking... and, give me back, my vial, now...! *gasp* And then get out...!!"

She held out her hand. She would've pointed to the door with the other if she could trust her legs to keep themselves standing on their own, without propping herself up still. Vampire Cookie looked at her dejectedly before making his way toward the door, handing her the vial as he walked past but otherwise not stopping to look back...

Until he was at the door.

Just before he left through it, just before he could give her privacy, he looked back at her and said:

"...Could... could you at least... air out the room a little...? I-I just noticed that it's a little... I don't know, mephitic in here...? And you know I'll be able to smell this from-"

"Out...!!

"(...I-I'm sorry...)"

He shut the door, leaving her alone to her own devices in her ill-lit, shadow-casted room where the curtains hadn't been touched in days. She sighed.

'Finally. Almost thought he'd never go away...'

Now there was nothing keeping her from her precious elixir of death life... so-to-speak. 

She didn't want to miss a dose. She rationalized it in her head, one should never skip even just a day's dose of their medication, after all. It just wasn't healthy...

She was really becoming an addict of her own. Addicted to her own misery. Pushing away, hitting away even the very idea of relief. She didn't even do anything of worth anymore, passing through life devoid of passion, of her passion- once she had dreamed of making great discoveries, but now what knowledge could be held in a mind too tired to think...? She reminded herself so much of her brother: Drinking, doing nothing, and decaying in her room; Dozing off in dreamless sleep and waiting for her doom; Hardly ever leaving, barely living in this tomb.

What a miserable creature she was. Maybe she deserved this anyway.

Bottoms up.

Over the next few days, she'd stopped keeping at some point. Of how long it had been since she'd started her slow march toward the end experiment. The days were all congealing into a mass of constant fatigue languor, not helped by her now inconsistent sleep schedule... most of her schedule was 'sleep' now, really, or a state between sleep and awake that she couldn't tell the difference between anymore because she just couldn't do anything else and even thinking was becoming too much of an energy sink sometimes.

She didn't even really have the energy to make her meals anymore. Sometimes she was too queasy to stomach anything. Sometimes she struggled to leave her room in the first place. The times she had done so, when the hunger got too much to bear, she'd noticed that her brother had started waiting around the kitchen more. Sitting at the table sometimes, trying to coax her into joining. "Are you going to keep me waiting for lunch?" or "Don't you think a sandwich would be nice right about now...?" ...he wasn't very subtle.

...one time he got desperate enough to try cooking something. It wasn't very good, he really had no idea how to prepare a salad if burning it was ever a possibility and especially in the way he did it, but...

The only thing she could easily put down was that burning potion of hers. But she was finding the simple act of swallowing to become more and more difficult thanks to the sheer pain of everything in her body.

And it was just another late afternoon, who-knows-how-long after this had all began, after her heart had crumbled and fallen apart, and she was about to take her potion again. Up to her mouth, running down her throat...

But she had to spit it out halfway through because she couldn't swallow it.

"ACK!!"

Something was wrong. More wrong than ever before.

It hurt.

It hurt.

She'd never felt more SICK.

She started coughing, forcefully, oxygen making its escape. Her body was trying to expel something.There was something in her that needed to get out.

And it came out.

Onto the floor and her hands as she dropped her flask, causing it to shatter there with the mess of...

Strawberry jam.

Nausea, pain, vertigo- everything was making her head spin, the room was spinning all around her, her vision was doubling, tripling in an instant and she could hardly keep her balance on her feet, her head was growing light and yet it was still heavy with soreness, everything was in pain-

She fell over onto her back. The lights above her looked all the brighter and stung her eyes. She could hardly keep them open; she didn't want to. She was beginning to fade in and out of conscious, anyway. Her consciousness was beginning to fade in and out of being, anyway.

This was it. The culmination of her experiment: A date alone with death, with toxins flowing through her.

Her crumbled body would lie alone within her room, not to be found for days. Weeks. Months. YEARS.

...

She was full of fear. 

Those leaky eyes of her wouldn't stop, not when this wasn't what she had really wanted, deep down in the crumbled pieces of her heart, though she had long stopped admitting it to herself.

The one thing she'd wanted, needed, was...

Something she'd never get to see herself have, if she were to crumble now.

But she had no way to control the outcome of this. She never had. That cocktail of death had been dooming her every day she drank it. There was no going back.

'This is goodbye...'

~~~

"...Al...mi...C..ki....?... 

(Why did this have to be such a slow process...? Why hadn't she crumbled yet? Was there something keeping her alive, some force of will? Was that really powerful enough to keep her from the brink...?)

(...she didn't want to crumble, but she had gone too far to save herself. And no one else was there to save her. Now she was stuck in a slow atrophy from the inside-out. 

She could feel her insides crumbling. 

Jam and leftover poison still oozed from her mouth, dripping down her face- and within her mouth just tasted so odiously foul and yet she couldn't spit any of it out. Her eyes could hardly keep open. She was just about to let them close, finally, to plug up that incessant leakage, even if she feared she may never open them again...)

"ALCHEMIST COOKIE?!!"

(Wait...)

(There was a voice, and footsteps that, even with the ringing in her ears, were close enough to make out, and they sounded far too fast for any normal Cookie to be running at...

She knew a Cookie who wasn't normal.

"Alchemist Cookie!? ALCHEMIST COOKIE!!!! WAKE UP, PLEASE!!!!!!!"

She just barely opened her eyes again as the ringing cleared to find the face of a Cookie staring down at her, that had gotten down next to her on the floor, that, even though her vision was blurry, she could make out had crimson hair and deep purple eyes...

Vampire Cookie...? 

"Alchemist Cookie!?!?! What on Earthbread happened to you...!?!"

(He... found her. He actually found her. That shouldn't have happened, and yet...)

"..." She was scared to even try speaking. It'd be a waste of what little breath she had, anyway. It wasn't as if he'd ever listen to her, right?

...could she even speak? Could she even breathe? Was she even still...

No. No, the agony was undeniable. It said everything without words. Even if her body had broken down, even if it wouldn't work as she wished, she was very much still in it.

"...N-nevermind, you can tell me later. J-just- just relax, okay?? Just stay... calm..."

He got up and ran away- and while she couldn't get up to watch him leave, she was already feeling no less than sheer despondency. It wasn't disappointment, no- that would imply she had expected better of him, that she had had any hope left in her that he wouldn't just tell her to 'chill out' like he always did and then abandon her there to break down in desolation-

She never heard the door close.

She was ready to let the darkness take over her field of view again. She didn't hear the footsteps returning...

But she heard the sound of wings flapping towards her.

Looking as far towards the door as she could in her position, with her blurring vision she could make out some small, round blob of red flying in through the door and stopping right beside her- and in a sudden 'poof' of smoke, what was left was the taller figure of her big brother.

He came back

?

"Help is on the way, sis...! We just have to... wait right here, not move... and I'll be right by your side, I promise..."

(...oh. She didn't have a phone in her room, did she...? He had... called for help...?)

He knelt down next to her and rested his hand on her forehead. Cold to the touch, as always. But something about it was... soothing, to the slightest extent. Maybe it was because of how much she had been burning up on the inside. Maybe it was just the feeling of care that she felt within those eyes that were finally looking at her with clarity.

(...just for once, she felt grateful she didn't have a lock on her door. That she hadn't been able to shut him out. Just this once. Otherwise, she would have...)

"...Alchemist Cookie... what even happened to you, sis...? D-did the medicine you make not work? (I should've known it wasn't working, why didn't I...) What kind of sickness do you even have??"

"..." She didn't know whether or not to tell him what she had really been doing at this point. Two parts of her were conflicting, fighting for dominance over her crumbled heart: One of them held her original intentions, the other held those that had been more latent. Neither of them really felt like 'her.'

"...you know what, I'll just... leave that to Dr. Bones Cookie to figure out. That's their problem, not yours. You probably... don't even know, do you...?"

She did know. She knew what she was sick with.

She knew what made her sick.

She would've been able to tell him right now, in perfect detail, if she could just speak, she thought.

(Wait... who did he say...? She had to have misheard that, he was way too lazy to go through that much trouble...)

"(...that look in your eyes...)" He sounded confused and... guilty. Since when did he feel guilty...? (...there was that one time...) "But..."

She couldn't tell if he was shocked or in shock, but whatever it was, it left him silent for a few seconds before he said, with an uncharacteristically perturbed voice:

"A-anyway, I'm just... lucky I could smell... all of this from my room, otherwise, uh... (Heh, maybe it's a good thing you didn't open the window when I asked you to, right...? Haha...)"

(Sometimes she forgot how good his senses were... when they weren't being fogged by his favorite intoxicant. Actually, maybe that was why she had forgotten: Because they were always too numbed to function to the fullest...)

...the one thing she could clearly see was the discomfort he was trying and failing to hide, trying to keep his eyes on her and away from the red, sticky, sweet substance spread on the floor...

Unfortunately, it was also on her- splattered on her dress and body, seeping into the undersides from where she had fallen into this red, disgusting mess, and there was still some left over around her mouth that she was unable to wipe off. 

She knew her brother could sometimes get a little squeamish- it only ever showed, really, when he was 'low on juice,' though. He didn't have the capacity for any such feeling otherwise, she thought. 

...he did tend to drink more after physical exertion, though...

She saw a mild burgundy glow coming from where she knew his eyes to be

"I'm... starting to wish I didn't take Sparkling Cookie's advice right about now..." His stomach growled like some kind of animal. What did he mean by that...? "Uh... (good thing I don't like jam as much as juice, otherwise I would've... n-no, no need to think about that...) Rushing around sure works up a thirst, huh? Let's just, hope they... get here, in time..."

("like jam")

(...the alternative...)

...

Seconds passed, maybe a minute, and the two of them just stayed together in silence. It felt like an eternity. What was taking so long...?

...

Alchemist Cookie's body was so ridden with toxin at this point, she didn't know if she even had enough time to wait for them. It was so unfair. Why did she have to change her mind? Why did she have to feel so conflicted? She didn't understand herself. She didn't understand anything. 

...

"...V...Vam...pire... C-C-Coo...kie...?"

The words fought to escape her throat. Vampire Cookie immediately snapped to full focus:

"Wh-What is it, sis...??"

"...A...am, I... g...gon-gonna..."

She gasped for air as she tried to communicate. It was taking so much of her breath. She hadn't spoken in so long, too, that she wondered if her difficulty forming the words was because of her fatigued and deteriorating condition or if she just didn't know how to anymore, if that were even possible.

But with her brother's full concern attention, she choked out the final words as those annoying leaks in her eyes outflowed, for what she knew could be the final time they ever would:

"...crum...ble...?"

Why was she even asking him this?

Why was she even asking him this...?

..why did she want to hear what he had to say...? To a question that was surely unanswerable for him?

...

Was it just to see how he'd react...?

(...just to see if he'd react...?)

His eyes widened as soon as the words escaped her mouth.

"N-NO, NO!!! I-I mean, no!! Don't- That'll never happen, I won't let it...!" She could just make out the white of his fangs... as he was giving her some attempt at a comforting smile, even if she could tell despite the fading of her sight that it was faltering. "Don't even think about that, sis!! J-j-just- just relax, like I said, and everything will be fine... you hear me? You'll be fine, you'll be a-okay, please, I- I won't let anything happen to you, just... just hang in there, I... I..."

She felt a few drops of something slowly drip onto her face. That facsimile smile came to grief.  

"...I-I don't know, if I can do anything... Please, just, hang on... I can't lose you, sis..."

He was...

He was crying.

His voice was breaking up as he desperately sobbed out his pleas: "D-don't make me lose you like this, sis, not like this, not this early... p-p-please, you have to hang on, just hang on... you- you know I really- you know I love you, y'know..."

I love you

Hearing those words, she finally felt a wave of peace wash over her, gently lighting up the darkness that had veiled her world of hurt all this time.

All this time, those were the words she had been crumbling to hear. The words she had wanted, needed to hear.

The words her body was currently breaking down over.

She was beginning to wonder if it really had to come to this just to hear them.

The exhaustion had finally worn down on her too far to persevere. Her muddied eyes so dull and lifeless were coming to a close.

"A-Alchemist Cookie!?!?!?! N-No, stay with me, STAY WITH ME!!!! ALCHEMIST COOKIE!!!!!"

Her hearing was fading away, and the last thing she heard was:

"...I need to go make another call, or three..."

"...when is she going to wake up?? IS she going to wake up!?!"

"S-slow down, slow down!! I'm doing everything I can!!"

Alchemist Cookie's eyes just barely cracked open. It was so... bright. 

Was she...?

...she was lying in a bed, under the covers- she could recognize that feeling. She wasn't wearing her usual clothes, either- she couldn't feel those. And the smell of the room was very... antiseptic. And... like ice cream...?

She was still in pain, she was still sick, but it felt... less so than before. 

(...she could hear a beeping sound...)

Her head felt lighter, but not light-headed. More so, as if a weight had been taken off... 

Her hat was gone.

She was...

...finally beginning to see clearly...

It was so brightly lit, the entire room. Bright and clean, white and lighter blues all over the room... 

After a few blinks, she began to make out her surroundings in more detail: There was a sink in one corner, a chair and a table in the other. Looking down without moving her head she saw she was... definitely in a bed, just as she'd felt. With calming blue covers pulled up to her waist.

...She was wearing some kind of pale blue outfit with darker dots. She couldn't feel much covering her arms beyond the shoulders.

Finally budging her head just slightly to the left, ignoring the aching that still followed her head's movement (yet it still somehow still felt less than how much it had hurt to move before), she saw her arm lying out to the side, and...

There was... an IV tube, hooked up to...

Some kind of... heart-shaped plastic bag...? A bag full of... red, on some kind of white and cyan-striped stand, hooked on by... bones?

She heard the beeping coming from next to the head of her bed, out of her field of view, but she could tell what it sounded like. (She wasn't sure if it sounded... right or not... She wouldn't be surprised.)

There was only one place this could be:

Dr. Bones Cookie's clinic... which was more like a fun-sized hospital, really. It was located at the opposite corner of the kingdom as her and her brother's home (Dr. Bones Cookie had expressed their wishes to have it built more toward the center of the kingdom when they moved in, but there wasn't any room.)

And looking to her right, she saw her brother and the doctor themself chatting away... closer to 'frantic bickering' than 'chatting.'

"C'mon, Doc, just tell me she's going to be okay, tell me she'll wake up-"

"H-hold on!! I'm a doctor, not a miracle-worker! And, to be frank, a miracle's the exact kind of thing we need right now..."

They looked down at their clipboard as her brother crossed his arms, seeming uncharacteristically on-edge. The doctor looked over in her direction, and...

"...Oh, my. Well, we officially have a miracle on our hands...!"

Vampire Cookie turned over towards her, locking eyes with her, and gasped.

Alchemist Cookie could immediately see her brother's dark eyes light up with emotion like a moonlit night sky through a window, despite the bags under his eyes that she never would have imagined him with (at least his eyes were their normal hue). His mouth grew into a smile so visibly brimming with... elation and relief. He didn't seem to be able to hold back:

"ALCHEMIST COOKIE!!!"

Vampire Cookie transformed in a poof and flew right at her, rattling the poor doctor's bones.

"C-CAREFUL!!" Dr. Bones Cookie cried. "Bats are known for spreading diseases, you know...!!"

Her brother ignored them and landed next to her head with maybe a little too much impact (but it didn't hurt more than she could ignore), immediately snuggling into her. That round, red juice bat with pointed ears and sleepy eyes- his body was as cool as ever, even in this form...

And yet it was just barely warm enough that she almost smiled. Almost.

"You're okay! You're actually okay....!"

"...I'm... here...?"

Dr. Bones Cookie grabbed her brother by the wing, lifting him up and away from her. Standing right next to the side of the bed, they held the bat up to their eye socket level, squinting at him with an annoyed look.

"Be careful!!" they warned.

"Well, sorry..." Vampire Cookie said sarcastically before poofing back into his usual form, which visibly startled the poor doctor. "But my dear sister almost crumbled..." he continued, and shrugged, "can't I celebrate that that didn't happen...?"

The doctor pointed at him with their pen and said: "A-as long as you don't touch her until I'm certain her condition is stable!! Do you even realize how brittle her dough was back there!? I'm surprised she didn't crumble before-"

"Okay, okay!! *sigh* I'll just, stand here, just... let me talk to her for a second, okay...?"

"..." They said nothing, but backed up slightly, nodded their head, and motioned as if to say go ahead before turning away to look at their clipboard papers. Probably something to do with her.

Alchemist Cookie looked at her brother, and he looked at her- eye to eye in complete reticence, and the uncertainty hanging in the air applied pressure, for someone to make the first move. She couldn't move her limbs, and her mouth tasted bittersweet. She just lay there, trying to communicate with her eyes to just go on and say it- whatever it was he had to say.

Her brother's expression became more somber as he finally shattered that tension looming between the two of them:

"Sis... why did you do it?"

"...?"

"Why did you..." the words came out of his mouth with an unsteady, shrinking tone: "poison... yourself?"

...it wasn't possible. He'd thought it was medicine. She'd told him it was medicine.

"...you... know...?"

"..."

The two of them just stared at each other, in seconds on end of uncomfortable eye contact and silence except in the midst of it she could hear Vampire Cookie mumble under his breath, something like "where did that spark in your eyes go...?" (and... she didn't know how to answer.)

"...Sparkling Cookie saw some... things around your room... put two and two together."

"...?" Sparkling Cookie had been there...? When??

Seeming to read her confusion, he went on: 

"...I... called him, Herb Cookie and Mint Choco Cookie over when you passed out... I-I didn't know what else to do, they know more about that 'healing' stuff than I do..."

(...That was how she made it, wasn't it...?)

"...T-turns out, Sparkling Cookie couldn't really do anything for you since you were... not awake, you know. Can't give a drink to an unconscious Cookie and all..."

She was glad he didn't get to. The thought of it made her sick to her stomach... 

(How was her stomach faring...?)

"So, he ended up, uh, looking around your room, 'cause we didn't, uh, kn-know what happened, and, uh... yeah."

He seemed... increasingly unsettled the more he recounted. She had a feeling she knew why.

"...He... said he recognized some of the things you had in there from what he read in some books. I think he meant the books he keeps checking out of the library for ya, 'cause he... said you absolutelywould have known, what those things would do to you, s-s-so..."

 "..."

She didn't really know what to say to him. She hadn't planned for anyone to recognize her reagents and their uses... or lack thereof. She didn't have an excuse planned. 

Vampire Cookie stared at her, contemplating, before he took a deep breath and said: 

"...why did you do it? Why would you ever... do that, to yourself...? I just- I, I don't understand..."

She could see the tears beginning to pile up at the corners of his eyes, and it... still perplexed her, to some degree. As she readjusted to speaking, she blankly queried:

"You... care...?"

"...th-that shouldn't be a question..."

Alchemist Cookie looked away: "I... thought you didn't."

"...Wh-wh-what made you... what made you... think that...?"

(Her eyes looked back at him again. The look on his face... why did he seem so... upset?)

"..."

This was it, this was the moment she had been waiting for this entire time: The moment when she would look her brother dead in the eyes and finally divulge to him the disease that had been plaguing her mind, say the words, "you did."

"You did this to me."

...

But as much as it burned the back of her throat, the words just never came. And her head ached with the thoughts that she couldn't express.

She couldn't bring herself to say that.

She felt something burst in her eyes again. Embarrassing; there was no way to hide it this time.

Why did things always have to be so UNFIXABLE...?

"A-Alchemist Cookie, you're... y-you're crying..."

"I-I... I..." The words were so, so hard to form. Nothing felt right. Everything felt wrong. She felt so, sowrong. She couldn't take being wrong. But... her feelings had to come out. And they came out; she finally managed to spit it all out: "...I just... I couldn't... I couldn't take it anymore... I can't take it anymore..."

"...take... what...?"

She sniffled: "...you're always... it's always grape juice, it's all... it's everything to you, it's everywhere,every day, all the time, and I... I-I just feel like I'm nothing to you... I have to take care of you, when you get drunk and that's all the time... you can never take care of yourself or come home by yourself or do anything yourself... and you pass out and say weird things and you forget your own name and you forget my name a-and-"

Her voice was collapsing in on itself like a buckled floor, but she fought weary and bleary through the instability:

"A-a-and that's all I ever... all we ever do together is... because you're always so... intoxicated... it's like you forget about everything else... you forget about me... and you're always just..." She was breathing so hard that it hurt, "you never spend real time with me. It's always either at the bar o-or, or when you're at home you're still just drinking and drinking and..."

A heavy acid rain was drowning her voice and face. She didn't know if she was able to purge everything that had ravaged her on the inside, if she could get everything out in the right words, if her words would be right at all...

But... those feelings needed to get out.

She needed to get those feelings out.

It wasn't wrong just to feel, was it? When these feelings were designed to tell that something was wrong.

"I just... just... wanted, f-for you... to care about me... I-I couldn't take that, that... that I didn't matter as much, to you..."

"Alchemist Cookie..." he was trying to cover his face with his hands, she could see the glimmers of guilt in his tears, but he didn't look away from her. Contrarily, his stare became much more fixed as the words solemnly spilled from his heart mouth: "...you... you mean more to me than I can... I-I don't know what I'd do without you-"

"I know, s...someone has to ta-ake care of you... that's, the problem... I have to, but I can't... I can't take it..."

"Th-that's not what I... (crumbs, I didn't mean it like-)"

"I can't... I can't keep taking care of you... I'm sick of it... I'm sick of grape juice... I'm sick of seeing you drunk all the time... I'm sick of LIVING LIKE THIS...!" She coughed, but she could still breathe. She persisted: "I- I- I can't- I can't... I can't keep doing this... for the rest of my life... knowing that I'm going to crumble before you ever will eventually and then who will take care of you after that??" She took a deep breath. "I-I-I... I'm just a normal Cookie and you're not... Wh-why do we have to be so unequal...?Wh-why- why do I have to be to be so INADEQUATE...!?"

"D-don't say that, STOP!!!" He slapped his hands over his mouth immediately, his eyes widening and looking down at them. After seconds of evident processing, slowly returning to meet her gaze again, his next words were immediately at a lower volume and gentler tone: "...Please..." He almost reached one hand out at her before stopping himself, "Alchemist Cookie, you're my little sister, you shouldn't beworrying about... stuff like this, you shouldn't be thinking anything like this, you're... you're too young for that, you... you're..."

His hands went back up to his face again, this time burying himself enough to muffle his voice just slightly.

"You're too young to crumble... I don't- You have a whole life ahead of you, you have- you have so much time left, why would you... wh-why cut it short...?" 

(...why was that his fixation...?)

"..." the waterworks still welled in her eyes, but her voice grew stabler yet also quieter, colder just like his hugs. But she couldn't move. "...I just... wanted things to change. I wanted to be happy."

"...you weren't happy..."

It wasn't a question.

Vampire Cookie folded his arms, eyes cast down, tears trickling and... contemplative.

"...I... didn't even realize... I-I mean, I guess I started to-"

(Started to...?)

She cut him off:

"Of course you didn't notice, with how happy you are all the time. You're really lucky, aren't you? Life's so good to you all the time... Everyone wants to be friends with you, you just have everything and you never have to work for it, you never have to care about your health because you're special... and you tell me I need to stop worrying about things, but I have to worry about you because you don't worry about anything, but I- I need to worry about you because you'll probably get into something stupid while you're drunk or just stop... stop taking care of yourself everywhere that matters and, I can't let you do that, I can't let you be alone when someone has to take you home and... and..."

She felt as if a world's worth of weight was upon her, a world of pain that she was forced to live in. Alone.

"I just don't understand, why you get to be so happy, when I don't..."

"...I'm not."

"...wh-what?"

"Alchemist Cookie, I... it's not like that, but..." as he stared into her eyes again, he sighed: "...I don't never worry about anything, I'll admit it. The truth is... I'm... always kinda worried... sorta... you know..."

He looked over to something out of her field of view- by the head of her bed. It was where she heard the beeping sound coming from.

"...you're always working yourself so hard, sis... too hard... you basically never relax, I have to remind you to sleep half the time. You think I don't get worried about you...?" He paused before continuing: "I... kinda always felt like something like this would happen someday- not the same thing, but... that you'd just give up taking care of yourself because you're so dedicated to your work. Or that one day I'd just come into your room and see that some experiment gone wrong did you in, and..."

(His breathing hitched...?)

"...I-I... I can't lose you like that..."

"..." Alchemist Cookie blinked away any remaining droplets. Still processing what she was hearing, her only words were: "You're going to lose me eventually..."

"...I- I know. I don't like to- I don't want to think about that... any of this... I-I've always tried to not think about it..."

"...is that why you drink juice all the time?"

He attempted to mumble something under his breath- but he was just loud enough and he was just close enough that she could just barely make it out:

"(I don't know. Maybe more than I need to, I guess...)"

"..."

...

As the saying went: "The first step is admitting you have a problem."

He started speaking clearly again, looking back to her yet another time- and he looked just a little more regretful than even before:

"...I know it's nothing like... what you've been going through, I'm not trying to compare that, I just... want you to know that I do care about you, sis, I just... gosh, when you yelled at me that one time- what was it, two weeks ago now?- I knew something was wrong, but I didn't know it was this much-"

"You mean... the time I yelled at you, in my room...?"

(...she felt just a small pang of guilt about the intensity of her ire in that moment...)

"Hmm? Oh, that was... that too I guess, but I mean earlier than that. Where was it again? Living room, I think...? Yeah, that! Probably two and a half weeks ago, I think..." 

"...that was..."

...two and a half weeks ago...?

...she hadn't even been poisoning herself for that long, and things had escalated this far...?

How potent was that solution of hers...? 

...

Despite the nagging of her own insatiable interest, she knew that, perhaps, this was a knowledge that was better of not known, to herself at the very least. For her own sake. She didn't want to stare into that abyss again.

...

Two and a half weeks ago. She had outpoured her anger two and a half weeks ago.

Two and a half weeks ago, her feelings had finally boiled over. She had gotten to concocting her plan to poison herself with that sick solution...

And for what? For what had all of this been?

Would this have really been the solution to all her problems?

...

If she hadn't survived to explain everything to Vampire Cookie, he wouldn't have realized a thing. He wouldn't have stopped drinking grape juice. He probably would've started drinking more of it just to cope with the loss...

...

Two and a half weeks ago.

Somehow, he had kept track of the time.

And he remembered. He remembered her outburst.

He remembered her.

...

While she was beginning to think back on those weeks, on everything she hadn't paid attention to before, her brother kept on talking:

"That was when you told me you didn't want to, uh, look after me..." he hugged his arms around himself and looked down to the side, embarrassment showing through the regretful smile he was trying to put up, "I, uh, didn't even really get it fully until I was talking to Sparkling Cookie one night, when I went out... and uh, he told me that he always calls you to take me home when I, can't do it myself... and I didn't even realize how often you had to do that, I thought it was just a few times, haha..." his laugh didn't really sound amused as he brought one hand up to his face, "...I didn't even... remember half of those times..."

"...yeah. I can guess."

"And I thought that was all that you meant. So, I told him to stop calling you, and-"

"You... got your friends to take you home, didn't you...?"

That night Cinnamon Cookie had carried her brother home, then the other time that Sparkling Cookie did the same... How could she have been so oblivious...? 

"...I... didn't even realize you had done that... I even talked to them, but..." her eyes turned away from him, "I... guess I was just so focused on how you were still drinking grape juice, I didn't feel like anything was changing..."

"...I...is that why you did it, then...? Above everything else? Because I have to drink juice?"

"..."

She fell more silent than she would have expected to be at this question. She was imagining, over and over again in her head, the various reasons she could give for why she had done what she did- many of which had something to do with grape juice- and the exact ways to lay it out, to get the perfect emotional response, but...

No. None of it felt right, really. None of it was perfect.

Even now, with them spilling everything within their hearts to each other- none of it was perfect. She knew she had so much more to say, and he probably had more too, but the flow of conversation would carry them away before they could get it all across, when they weren't holding themselves back. How long would it take of conveying these ill-defined feelings in words, over and over again, until they finally understood each other? Would it be days? Weeks? Months? Years?

"...I-I don't know..."

Really, that was both true and untrue- she had a multitude of reasons, compounding upon each other to poison her mind- but...

None of her reasons were right. Nothing. The action she had taken in and of itself was just so wrong, there was no way she could justify it anymore. Why had she done that to herself!? It hadn't done any good in the end. Things had been changing for the better around her, Cookies had been caring for her well-being, and it was exactly because she had been so dedicated to her own self-destruction that she had not seen any of it...

(...she really needed to apologize to Sparkling Cookie, didn't she...?)

And to her brother...

She knew it would be foolish of her to tell him, "it's because you don't care."

Because she knew that was wrong.

She was seeing that on full display right now.

She had seen it the entire time.

But it was only now beginning to click.

"...you were... you were actually trying to care for me when I... started doing this, weren't you? When you checked in on me... and I yelled at you..."

"Oh. Yeah. Uh, when Sparkling Cookie told me you were... 'sick,' he pretty much... banned me from the juice bar, temporarily. And told me to cut back on the juice until you were better. And... I knew he was probably right by that. How was I supposed to take care of you if I couldn't even take care of myself?Uh... yeah. But I don't really know how to 'cut back,' so I kinda... went back and forth on too much and too little. Left me really thirsty a lot. Thought it'd be fine to try and look for a drink around your room that one time, but... (gosh, the stuff you said there was... I probably should've seen all of this coming...) I didn't want to..."

He seemed to grow more uncomfortable talking about this, scratching the back of his head nervously.

"I knew I wouldn't be able to resist. So, I just... decided to stay out of your room, after that. You know how I get when I'm... 'low on juice,' right...?"

(He hadn't kept trying to check up on her in her room after that, but she had noticed him hanging out around her more anyway, the few times she left the room. He had... tried to make sure she was nourishing herself...

...Those two and a half weeks, he really had been able to tell she was sick... No thanks to any toxicant, but the few times she'd communicated with other Cookies... and he had done what he could with what he was given, each time...

She really never had needed to dance so close with death, had she...?)

"..."

He always drank more after physical exertion.

But she could only really think of one time she had seen him get ravenous

The day he became abnormal.

Split wood on the floor

Spilled puddles of red

Desperation dripping with hunger

Violet consumed by burgundy 

"...yes. I don't want to think about that..."

"...am I really that scary...? Well, I guess if Dr. Bones Cookie's a good metric to judge by, then... (heh...)"

Alchemist Cookie's eyes moved to the other Cookie in the room. She could see that Dr. Bones Cookie was trying to let the two have their moment and focus on whatever papers were on their clipboard, but couldn't do much to hide the anxiousness on their face looking back and forth between those and the siblings.

She knew that they'd always expressed their own concerns about Vampire Cookie and his condition, but they certainly seemed to know more about the type of Cookie he was, about his needs, about how he functioned in general... but Vampire Cookie would rarely ever show up for scheduled checkups. Alchemist Cookie always did for her own, and she... hadn't considered asking them about him. 

...how had she missed something so obvious?

(...she'd been missing obvious things for the past two and a half weeks...)

"...Dr. Bones Cookie?"

"H-huh!?"

The doctor, startled at the mention of their name, almost dropped their clipboard but managed to catch it in the nick of time. Vampire Cookie tilted his head, but said nothing.

"G-Good Tingly-Bones! Is there something wrong???" the doctor asked as they checked through their papers, making sure they were still in order. (Alchemist Cookie was dreading when she would have to hear whatever those said...)

"No. I just... I know my brother has to drink juice to sustain himself, right...? But... is that really true? Is there really nothing else he can-"

They immediately sighed, as Vampire Cookie shifted uncomfortably in place but didn't say a word. They started to explain:

"Err, your brother is an... interesting Cookie. His dough contains around 10% strong grape juice- that would be strawberry jam in any other grown Cookie, but-"

"He's different. In a lot of ways. I know already."

She didn't intend for that to sound so bitter.

"...w-well," they continued, "they don't exactly put too much about vampires in medical literature, so what I do know is limited, but... normally they have to drink the jam of other desserts... but if his body's composition substitutes juice for jam, then-"

"My brother substitutes juice for jam as well..."

Vampires were jamsuckers- She'd heard about that. She'd never seen her brother personally do such a thing... except in a few scuffles, but that was just the way he fought dessert monsters and such- he didn't do such things recreationally, and never to another Cookie.

...But what she saw in movies and read and novels, heard about in horror stories, about Cookies like him, the things she tried to deny due to the occasional discrepancy and knowing her brother wasn't a monster...

How could she keep denying her brother's namesake at that point...?

Vampire Cookie turned his back to the other two, as if he didn't want any attention paid to him. 

(...they were kinda talking about him as if he weren't right there in the room, weren't they...?)

Dr. Bones Cookie paid him no mind:

"That's my theory, at least. But make no bones about it, he certainly does have it in him to drink jam if he's desperate enough..." they shot a mildly disgruntled look in her brother's direction, "Never set up a jam transfusion with a starving vampire in the room, if I've learned anything..."

She could see shivers travel up her brother's back, and his face turned redder than its usual tinge- but the way it burned his cheeks was unfamiliar compared to the drunken flush she was accustomed to seeing him with. He whispered a "sorry" under his breath with his eyes pointed towards her.  Dr. Bones Cookie's focus appeared to shift before Alchemist Cookie could bargain ask any further questions:

"Speaking of which: Vampire Cookie, I need to discuss a few things with you..."

Dr. Bones Cookie pulled Vampire Cookie to the side- or at least, they tried to. Vampire Cookie wasn't so easily moved. 

"What things...?"

"Err, concerning the patient. I-I know this isn't my field of expertise, but I... I just have a few concerns, and, um..." the doctor glanced over at Alchemist Cookie for a moment, and then returned their attention to Vampire Cookie as they lowered their voice to a whisper that was still not low enough for her not to hear: "(have you thought about signing her up for counseling with Chamomile Cookie...??)"

"..."

Vampire Cookie seemed more compliant after that. The two stepped a bit further away- just far enough that as they talked to each other quietly, she couldn't hear a single word they were saying. Probably something about her that they didn't want her to hear just yet, she assumed...

(...counseling... they were going to put her into counseling...

Something about that knotted up her stomach further than it had already been twisted. Counseling was for Cookies who needed help, for Cookies who cried. Alchemist Cookie didn't need help, she didn't cry.

...

Oh, who was she even kidding at this point?

Gosh, she was really SICK, wasn't she...?)

...she was caught between a rock and a hard place.

Juice or jam.

...

Nothing could ever be perfect, could it? He seemed so deeply discomforted with just the sight of strawberry jam, and of course he'd be: Hungering for the lifeblood of another living being, that was... a disturbing idea, even to her. It wasn't even up for consideration.

Neither of them would be happy like that. 

She didn't want him to be unhappy like that. 

...in the back of her head, she did ponder what life would be like like that, if he drank jam instead of juice. But the reveries of her brother being more active, more aware, more... there were quickly broken by visions of him sucking the life out of other Cookies' necks like a scene right out of a horror movie.

She didn't think he would hurt her... maybe. Otherwise she probably wouldn't be alive right now.

(...once she thought about it, what she pictured of her brother acting ideally... wasn't even that different from the way he was acting right now, or... even how he acted normally... when he wasn't too drunk, at least...)

That grape juice aroma that had lingered around their lives, it was by no means a good thing. It would've been so much better if they could just be rid of it entirely. But they couldn't have that. Life would never be perfect. But for what they could do, for what they did have, it was just something they had to put up with.

'It could've been worse' was never the best thought to turn to- but even it had its uses...

...

It could've been worse.

He could've been so much worse

He could've been like those vampires from the movies and myths, cruel and uncaring and violent- some cold count, creeping around the darkness, hunting unsuspecting Cookies like a predator stalking its prey...

But for all his flaws, all his shortcomings, everything he could improve on, everything he should improve on...

He cared about her. Enough to try cutting back on juice by himself. Enough that he cared about her happiness even when he didn't know the full extent of her pain. 

He came all the way out here to the hospital just to be by her side, when normally such a thing was too much work to him. He tried to respect her boundaries when he saw it was getting to her. He tried to cook for her, when he had never touched a stove, because she wouldn't eat...

She'd thought he wouldn't have cared if she were to crumble right before his eyes. 

Those same eyes had dampened her crumbling face with a gentle rain of tears as he said "I love you..."

(He loved her enough that he was willing to put in the effort to make a change.

He didn't really know how to do it the best way, and maybe things could never go as far as she'd have dreamed of, but... maybe, they could work it out...)

"Alchemist Cookie?"

She had been lost in her thoughts for long enough that the other two had finished their conversation and walked back to the side of her bed. Dr. Bones Cookie was trying to address her while her brother was standing next to them... and while she couldn't read his expression, it didn't seem very joyous.

"...what is it?"

She could read their deliberation in the stuttering of false starts, of "well"s and "you see"s, as they struggled for words, nervous sweat running down, before they at last got a sentence going:

"(How do I say this...) S-so, from the jam test results and what your brother said was found in your room... Good Tingly-Bones, kid, you shouldn't even be alive right now!! H-How much of that mixture of yours did you drink!?"

She wasn't shocked by their disbelief- she'd felt about the same way, after all. But what surprised her, thinking about how to answer their question... was the answer she ended up giving:

"I-I... don't know... I think it was... I drank it every day, for... a week, and a half...?"

(Two and a half weeks didn't leave much up to interpretation. But it still just felt too short... but... no, no, things had really just deteriorated that quickly. And that was what confounded her so. And yet it all blurred together in her head and dragged on for so long...)

"...how much of it every day, exactly...?"

"...I-I wasn't keeping track, I just filled the vial in my room, I think..."

She could hardly fathom the lack of plan or reason in what she had no way of denying had been her own fully conscious actions. She wasn't even sure what to think of herself at this point.

Dr. Bones Cookie sighed, murmuring something about 'treatment' before speaking with a resigned voice: "I-I'll just... keep it brief: That concoction contained some of the most dangerously toxic substances known to Cookiekind... and those substances are all over your body right now. Most of them don't even have known antidotes...! I've given you what I could, but most of what I can do is treat the symptoms until this clears out of your body on its own... (hopefully). You'll be staying here until I'm certain you're in a good condition...!"

None of this was anything she didn't either already know or couldn't have figured out on her own. And yet, hearing the words said out loud, she felt the weight of her circumstances really sink in.

...but one thing stood out to her, regardless:

"...I-I can't go home...?"

"Your body can't fight this on its own. I-it's going Tibia LONG road to recovery, but with proper care... (well, let's just hope your condition stays stable, at least...)."

Alchemist Cookie frowned. Did they really have to try lightening the mood like that...?

"...Dr. Bones Cookie...? How long will it be...?"

"...my best guess right now is at least a month..."

(...that didn't sound like a concrete estimate...)

Vampire Cookie pulled his cape over his face. 

"D-D-Doc said that..." he started with a lachrymose voice, "that no one can really do anything but hope for the best right now. Nothing else. We c...can't control what happens, s-so..."

He turned away and began walking towards the door sulkily.

"I should get going, visiting hours are over. I'm taking too much of their time anyways..."

It didn't even feel as if it had been that long. Were visiting hours that short? Or... how long had he been waiting for her to wake up...?

The sound of his footsteps as he trudged to the door made Alchemist Cookie feel... something that called her to ask, just to make sure:

"You'll come back tomorrow, right...?"

He stopped just before he could touch the handle, at first seeming completely frozen for a few seconds before he at last responded:

"...y-yeah, of course...! Just..." he looked back at her, "don't go anywhere! Okay?"

And with that, he opened the door and staggered out, letting it slam shut behind him.

The weeping was loud enough she could still hear it, unmoving for minutes until finally fading away.

And thus, Alchemist Cookie was left to intensive care. 

Not exactly the intensive care unit, but she couldn't be picky like this.

"...Dr. Bones Cookie?" Alchemist Cookie said. "...when do you think I'll be able to move, or... touch things.... or do anything again?

"Hmm... well... you're able to communicate. That's a good start."

The recovery process over the next few days didn't have a lot to do, with her being stationary as Dr. Bones Cookie managed her condition and kept it from worsening. Even just the fact she hadn't been able to eat for those days was causing problems; Dr. Bones Cookie explained to her that had her brother not told them at the scene about her malnourished state, they would've immediately put her onto parenteral nutrition... which would've triggered refeeding syndrome. She had to be slowly and carefully replenished, gradually increasing back to normal amounts... via catheter in the arm. It wasn't even certain if the damage to her stomach could heal in full.

(She asked them to give it to her while she was asleep. She wanted to be able to move freely the moment she recovered)

Despite this lack of action, her second day of regained consciousness was... not what she would call boring, with a curiosity like hers. She was constantly asking questions about her condition, and when she wasn't doing that, she was thinking over it herself. After all, medicine was a key facet of alchemy.

Would she ever be able to do alchemy again? Was she still even Alchemist Cookie without that? She didn't have anything else that had defined her at this point. She didn't know what to think of herself.

As promised, Vampire Cookie came to visit, more punctual than she had ever seen him been in her life. He seemed a bit less 'out of it' than when he had left, from the moment he was allowed into the room. But he still seemed a little off, the way he was so obviously catching his breath, sweating, as if he had ran all the way there from their home.

...

That was it, wasn't it.

That wasn't it for the odd behavior, though- as soon as he could breathe, he immediately went on questioning her about how the doctor was treating her (well), how comfortable she was (as much as she could be), if she was doing any better (...)...

...he was more alert than usual, more agitated. It was apparent to her that he was still depriving himself, even though she was no longer in his care. He kept pulling his cape over his mouth whenever he wasn't speaking, and when he did speak, she couldn't help but notice that faltering tone of his voice. That barely noticeable reddish tinge tainting his eyes, threatening to consume

...he seemed hesitant to stand too close to her. Whenever even just a hand or a foot would cross some theoretical line, he'd pull it back immediately, as if he couldn't be near her. 

...

That conversation she had had with Dr. Bones Cookie must have really gotten to him, hadn't it? Everything she had said that day in general, to the point he's ended up in a situation like this: denying himself the satiation that would give himself security here.

"I-I'm sorry if I'm a bit... antsy today, I just... i-it's just been really stressful with everything happening, I just-"

His stomach grumbled, shutting him up and putting a look of apprehension clear on his face. He backed a few steps away from her. 

She rolled her eyes, just as a gesture to tell him that his fears were all in his mind: He wouldn't do anything to her; it simply wasn't in his nature.

She trusted him.

She wasn't used to doing that, now that she thought about it. But after what happened in her lab, she felt she could start.

...

The following days of slow recovery, each and every one, he would come in like this. Every single day, for every last minute allotted to visit, he would keep his distance from her, yet still question her as much as possible. She could tell this was eating him up, but she didn't really know how to address it. She didn't want him to be unhealthy.

"...just remember to feed yourself, silly," she said abruptly one day as he left.

"Huh? O-of course I will, I haven't been... d-don't worry about it, sis. It's��your turn to relax, anyways."

"But-"

The door cut her off. She made a mental note to shift her research into vampirism the moment she could pick up a book again. Whenever that day would be. If that day would ever come. Every single night, as she was dragged down into sleep, her greatest fear was that she wouldn't rise the next day. 

It was the very next day that she would finally regain the strength to move. She didn't try to sit up without the support of the bed- she wasn't sure she was quite ready for that yet- but she could finally lift her arms. Every movement ached, and it was clear her mobility still had a lot to improve on, but it was there. 

After some discussion and a close examination of her dough, Dr. Bones Cookie finally supposed they could relent on the 'no touch'

She saved her energy for when her brother arrived, and the moment he sauntered in looking in much better shape than when she had last seen him. He seemed less tired, no signs that he had ran- probably started walking sooner, given he still arrived on time- and he immediately was much more comfortable standing close to her. His eyes were perfectly purple, too. Calling him out must have made him get himself together, she supposed.

It was almost jarring to see how much more relaxed his demeanor had become, however.

"Alchemist Cookie, hey! What's up? How's it been?"

...well, he was acting more like his usual self, at least. Casually leaning against the air, floating next to her with his arms behind his head- it was the grape juice smell that confirmed it to her, though: He really had listened to her this time.

She felt nihility creeping up on her. Even though she had been the one to tell him to do it, she still felt this bitter-tasting fear in her that now she had been stable for long enough, things would just go back to the way they had been before. That he would forget this had ever happened. That he'd stop caring again...

"I'm still stuck here. Not much has changed... except for this:"

After some struggle to muster up her energy, she lifted her arms up and held them out and open. And immediately, Vampire Cookie gasped:

"Wait... does this mean what I think it means...?"

He tossed a look at Dr. Bones Cookie, who, after a moment's pondering, seemed to realize what he was referencing and answered:

"W-well, I suppose so... but if you're going to do that again, then you at least need a SHOWER first for sanitation's sake-"

"I washed my hands, that's good enough for me!!"

"H-hey!!!"

Paranoid as they were well-meaning, the doctor tried to grab hold of his cape, but he had already poofed into his smaller form before they could stop him (and all they could do was sigh in resignation). And before Alchemist Cookie could react, she found herself hit square in the chest by the force of what could've easily been mistaken for a baseball if he hadn't been so soft. 

She took the smaller juice bat into her hands gently, holding him out in front of her. The smile on his face was almost infectious... 

"You look so stupid right now, you know."

She couldn't help it. It was such a big, dumb smile.

A big, dumb, warm and loving smile.

"You really..."

Her mouth twitched and her eyes softened. He really was that happy to see her get better. He really cared that much.

"You..."

She took him up closer to her face, and as he nuzzled against her cheek...

She smiled.

She hadn't had a true, happy smile on her face in so, so long.

She hadn't felt truly happy in so, so long.

She had forgotten what it had felt like, to feel secure in the world, that others loved her; to feel that love as it existed right next to her in all its warmth without obstruction or oblivion; to feel all warmth of emotion through the cold of the physical body. She felt that emptiness being filled.

He felt warm to her. She didn't mind if he was cold to the dough. The warmth and love of a familial embrace had finally reached her, and she felt happier than she could ever remember being in recent times. Maybe ever. She didn't know anymore, and she didn't need to; It didn't matter. She was just so happy to have this moment, to have her brother here with her, to be here right now and to experience this joy.

This love.

"...sis? You're crying all over me, y'know... are you alright?"

"Y-yeah, this is... *sniffles* I've never been better..."

She hugged him close to her chest, with all of her limited strength. As limp as her arms were... perhaps that was a good thing: She likely would've crushed him otherwise. She was squeezing him as if she'd never gotten a hug before, as if he hadn't given her one a million times over. 

...he had. But this time, it just felt different. She wasn't being clung to obnoxiously by a tipsy Cookie; this was a genuine moment of reciprocal tenderness, where everything felt just right.

This was something personal. Meaningful. 

"...well, I'm not complaining."

"I-I can't remember the last time I was this happy..."

She felt all warm and fuzzy inside...

She felt so happy to be alive.

"(...maybe Dr. Bones Cookie was right...)"

"What was that?"

"Nothing."

(She had a feeling she knew what he meant... and maybe she didn't have to worry about it. It would spoil the moment, anyways.)

Her recovery seemed to go by a lot faster after this, with her gradually regaining strength in her limbs even if the pain remained. Her brother continued visiting everyday, and now she was the one asking him questions- making sure he was still taking care of his own needs (even if he looked like it already), that they would be hanging out as much as possible the moment she was out of there (she already had several activities planned out), and...

With his little juice bat self nestled in her hair, she asked:

"...why didn't you ever tell me you weren't happy?"

"...hmm?"

"I remember what you said, you know. You said you aren't really that happy."

"...well, why didn't you ever tell me you're never happy?"

"..."

"Besides-"

"I just didn't think you'd care, I guess."

"...Alchemist Cookie-"

"B-but, you always talk about how much you love your life, right...? How do you love your life if you aren't happy??"

"...you know, sis, there's always going to be stuff that makes you unhappy. And sometimes you can't do anything about it. But... I guess what I've learned is... not to think about it all the time. You just have to think about the stuff that makes you happy instead, y'know...? Like, say..." 

She felt his wings pressed down on her head.

"My most precious treasure."

"...what would that be?"

She tilted her head, her eyes shifting upwards despite not making him more visible. He replied, shortly yet sweetly:

"My brilliant little sister who's the smartest Cookie on Earthbread."

"..."

She didn't feel as if she deserved to be called that. But... it felt good hearing someone say it. 

Hearing him say it.

"Love ya, sis."

"...love you too."

For a moment, she didn't really feel sick anymore.

~~~

The poison was finally clearing out of her system; the battle was over, and she had been victorious. But alas, war was not without its casualties:

Dr. Bones Cookie had been quite apologetic, and very apparently frustrated about their own limitations the entire time, even if no one held it against them that they were essentially running an entire miniature hospital by themself. When Alchemist Cookie was finally discharged, she was essentially wheelchair-bound. She wasn't incapable of walking, but the pain and fatigue that it brought was too much to be reasonable, and she was far too at risk of stumbling, falling, getting hurt-

The amount of time it would take to recover her walking ability was uncertain. If she ever did, then the disuse of her legs would likely mean she'd need physical therapy to be able to use them again. But at this point, she was just happy to go home...

Even if she would still need some degree of taking care of. The doctor still recommended she spend most of the day resting at the very least. Her brother would have to take care of her, against all protests of hers. She had been taken care of for long enough. 

She was certain it made him no better than what he had been. 

But he seemed... just fine with this prospect...?

"What if I never get better...? What if you're stuck taking care of me for the rest of my life?"

"C'mon, sis, aren't you the one who goes on about giving stuff in return...? Honestly, you shouldn't have been giving it in the first place, but... hey, at least now you get to sit back and relax, right?"

"..."

"...come on, give yourself a break for once. You deserve it, you know."

...

Recovery really was going to be a long process...

But she had her brother, and he was actually going to put in the effort to moderate himself. And she had never been more happy to be in those grape juice-smelling rooms of their home again.  

(The smell had just barely begun to fade...)

And there at home at last, they were surprised by her brother's friends- Sparkling Cookie had been trusted to watch the house for all the times her brother was out to see her, and with how Vampire Cookie had so excitedly relayed the news to him that she was coming home that day, he had invited Herb Cookie and Mint Choco Cookie over to welcome them home. 

...the latter two were clearly more there for her brother, and she supposed she couldn't blame them as beyond the belated 'thank you's for keeping her alive until the ambulance had arrived, she didn't really have anything to say to them either. They just didn't really know each other that well. 

...

But the former, sitting to the side and patiently listening to the rest, chiming in here and there- she wheeled right up to him and plainly stated:

"I'm sorry."

"...for what?" He tilted his head slightly.

"..." she took a deep breath, in and out: "you were just trying to help me, and I was... really mad at you. You didn't deserve... that."

"...oh. Oh. I see... It's alright, Alchemist Cookie. I'm just happy to see you've recovered from your... sickness..."

He looked deeply uncomfortable with just that one last word. 

"...you don't have to sugarcoat it, you know. I know you're the one who found out."

"..." his smile fell: "I won't pry, but... just know," he said with a gentle tone as he pushed some of her hair away from her face, "you can always come talk to me if you need someone to listen."

"..."

She smiled.

"...thanks, Sparkling Cookie." 

That very night when they had come home together, once everyone else had left and it was just her and her brother again, as she was still getting used to her new mode of movement, Alchemist Cookie found she had trouble getting through the door to her own room. She would be able to just barely reach the doorknob, but the true problem lay in that her door opened outwards... and she wasn't that good at maneuvering herself, thus she didn't know if she could find a way to get around the door hitting her when it opened. She didn't know how to keep it open as she entered, either.

...she ended up having to ask Vampire Cookie for help, already. Just to get the door for her.

(...maybe asking for help wasn't so bad after all...)

She realized immediately upon entering the room how much tidier it was compared to how she had left it, after she had messed it up creating her concoction and neglected to clean up after herself. But now, even that poison of hers had been scrubbed from the cauldron, and under the moonlight through the now open curtains she could see: Neither jam nor venom spat smeared the floor...

Good riddance, she thought.

(She'd have to thank Sparkling Cookie for this, most likely...)

Stains were left behind- forever to remind of that incident, never able to be scrubbed clean. But perhaps some things were best left unforgotten.

Once she was close enough to her bed, she was able to use her limited walking ability to get herself into it. Crumbs, that hurt really bad. 

...and her brother came to tuck her in, even though she tried to reject it. 

"This is humiliating...!"

"There's nothing humiliating about a little TLC, sis."

"It just feels so... It's like you're treating me like a kid."

"...Alchemist Cookie, you are a kid."

"..."

She'd never really thought about it before, but...

She was a kid. Yet she'd never really gotten to be one. Always at work in her lab, always worrying about things she couldn't control... and always taking care of an adult who wouldn't care for himself. That had been her life for so long. That had been her 'normal.'

She didn't know how to live without asphyxia. She had always wanted to breathe, but now that she could, she didn't really know what to do with herself. Everything she could do had long since faded to obscurity in her mind. All those hobbies of hers had grown dusty, forgotten...

But... she could work on it now. She could go out and make friends and read books and look at the stars and do anything she wanted. She could finally enjoy alchemy again.

She had made a mental note earlier, hadn't she...? To get to work on something?

...she could throw that aside for now. Right now wasn't the time for that.

...she could spend quality time with her brother and he wouldn't be too drunk to remember, maybe. A lot of the plans she had come up with for them would probably need modification, given her current indefinite condition, but she wouldn't let anything stop her from having this, now that she had it. 

She knew she could've had it more smoothly, but there was no going back. Things could've been worse, anyways. Better not worrying about things out of her control.

She had bettering things to think about now.

That very second day she was home, after getting changed out of that hospital gown she had left on (getting dressed was difficult, but it was something she could do by herself, lying on her bed...)- which she would have to wash and return later- she had her first real meal in a long time, and he was the one who cooked it. He insisted on learning this on his own, on learning to do things for himself. 

For her.

(He was adamant on washing that hospital gown too)

It tasted... not too bad, really. She could appreciate the effort this time. She put on her best smile, and happily ate away. Even if it wasn't the best.

Maybe someday it could be great.

Just watching her eat seemed to overwhelm her brother with so much emotion, that before she could even take her last bite she found him crying over her shoulder with nothing but pure joy.

"W-welcome back, sis...!"

It had been so long since she had been in another Cookie's embrace and really embraced it for herself; something about it just brought her own emotions out. And the two of them spent a good minute or two crying in that awkward position, him standing next to her sitting at the table by that mediocre meal still cooked with love, just grateful that they were both alive and had each other and that they could finally communicate.

And it was their unspoken promise to put communication above all, because that could've saved them so much hardship in the first place.

And they were never going to let anything like this happen ever again.

Over the course of the month, healing had its bumps in the road. Alchemist Cookie and Vampire Cookie were trying their hardest to get better, to make things better- and they were getting better, of course. But both of them would sometimes fall back into old habits: Vampire Cookie would occasionally fail to keep himself in check, and Alchemist Cookie's issues were a chronic mess. He'd sometimes fall to temptation and drink enough to forget, and in turn she would cry her eyes out and sometimes fall to her darker urges, and he would cry his own eyes out the moment he saw what he caused.

But they were both aware, willing to communicate, and ready to work on it all; For themselves, for each other, for family. They'd try to keep an eye on each other, to keep an eye on themselves- Vampire Cookie especially. And the day he was able to go out to the bar and come home by himself, without needing another Cookie to cut him off- the two of them couldn't have been happier. 

Beginning about a week and a half after she came home, her sessions with Chamomile Cookie were... cathartic, in a sense. She had been hesitant to spill to some Cookie that she didn't know, but the soothing, floral aroma of the cabin was enough to put her mind at ease, and she was assured that she could talk about anything on her mind. Knowing she wasn't forced to wrench things out against her will, she just started talking about her day. 

...and eventually, she started loosening up, started spilling her feelings out over a cup of tea, and she found that a burden had been lifted. Chamomile Cookie would listen to her; that Cookie wasn't that conversational, but she was a Cookie who Alchemist Cookie could confide in. 

She was able to engage more socially with other Cookies again. Pretty much the moment her acquaintances had found out she had 'been sick' (of course, certain details were never to be disclosed) and saw the lingering effects, they were all over her, so to speak. Always well-meaning, but sometimes they were a bit much. 

...she'd never really thought of herself as having many real friends. Maybe really any. She just didn't keep in touch enough. She loved having friends, but they always came and went. But seeing so many Cookies going out of their way to talk to her again made her think, perhaps the problem was just that she hadn't been able to see them.

Gingerbrave was ever the friend to all, of course- the moment he'd seen her rolling around the Cookie Kingdom, he had so many questions about what happened to her and if she was healthy and, really, she didn't want to answer most of them. Fortunately, he wouldn't keeping pressing after she asked him to stop. 

He tried to make an effort to include her in any big events- even if he didn't know too much about how wheelchairs worked or how to accommodate for them. But she did notice some construction work being done on the library for a while, and by the end of it a ramp had been installed. 

She just had a hunch on who ordered that, even if it never directly came up between them. But she had it in her head to repay him someday, whenever she could figure out something suitable.

She was happy to go to the library again. She used to spend so much time there, immersing herself in stacks of books from opening to closing while the the smell of paper would stimulate her hunger for knowledge... 

She decided to try actually checking out the books she'd read this time, to read at home for a change. Things had gotten much brighter around the house anyway; she actually had enough lighting to read, now. She wasn't sure if it was just from opening the curtains or what, but...

One day, she ran into Sparkling Cookie, returning those old textbooks she had memorized over. It... made her laugh once she realized what he'd been doing. Even if she had to thank him again. 

(When had she last laughed, again...?)

Once, and only once, she even had Wizard Cookie of all Cookies just walk up to her out of the blue and hand her a 'get well soon' card, muttering something into his scarf that she couldn't quite make out.

...she couldn't exactly call it a half-hearted effort considering he left an entire hand-written message, but...

'Dear Alchemist Cookie,'

He had written that above the card's printed-on 'Get Well Soon!' message. The rest continued below:

'I sincerely hope that you're in good health right now.

What happened to you? Did you get injured or something? Some kind of alchemical accident?

(P.S. if that's what happened, maybe try MAGIC next 

Actually whatever happened, just get better, will you? It's so BORING without you around! I miss debating with you, honestly. (Don't tell anyone I said that or you're as good as crumbled)

Sincerely,

Wizard Cookie'

...it was so funny to her, she had to stifle a laugh when she read it. This was his best attempt, just to say that he cared...?

...he cared...

Even her bitter rival cared.

...Cookies cared about her. Cookies looked at her when she came by, smiled at her, listened to her speak about alchemy on end...

(And maybe they'd always done that. But she'd never looked for it until now.)

And if no one else had time for her some days, she could always come home and cozy up to her brother on the couch at night, and he'd wrap an arm or his cape around her while she read herself to sleep or ramble to him and he'd try to keep up. And he was so pleasantly cool, just enough to warm her heart.

And whatever the future would be, however much she'd recover in the months proceeding, she knew: It was better.

[galaxysupreme17]

Mother-Daughter Day

Y/n = Your Name

Agathario x daughter!reader!

The golden morning light filtered through the curtains as Y/n shuffled into the kitchen, still rubbing the sleep from her eyes. Her hair was a mess of tangles, and she yawned as she blinked at the scene before her. Agatha stood at the counter, elegant as ever, with a steaming cup of tea in one hand and a faint, amused smile on her lips. Across the kitchen, Rio was a whirlwind of energy, tearing through cabinets with a dramatic flair as she gathered snacks, bottles of water, and what looked like an emergency whistle.

"Morning, sunshine!" Rio greeted brightly, practically bouncing across the room to ruffle Y/n's hair, completely ignoring her obvious sleepiness.

Y/n groaned, ducking away from her mother's hand and swatting at it half-heartedly. "Do you ever wake up tired?" she grumbled, rubbing her eyes again as if the act alone could protect her from Rio's unrelenting enthusiasm.

"Never," Rio declared, her grin impossibly wide. She held up a bag of trail mix triumphantly. "And today's special! We've got a full Mother-Daughter Day planned-Agatha's turn first, then mine. It's going to be amazing. Snacks, fun, fresh air..."

"And overwhelming amounts of energy, apparently," Y/n muttered, earning a laugh from Agatha.

Rio pouted dramatically, clutching the trail mix to her chest. "Hey, don't make fun of my energy! You'll appreciate it when we're halfway up the trail, and I'm the only one carrying the snacks."

Y/n sighed, too sleepy to argue, and shuffled toward the kitchen table. "Do I at least get breakfast first?"

"Of course," Agatha said smoothly, setting her tea down and walking over to Y/n. Her sharp blue eyes softened as she reached out to smooth down Y/n's disheveled hair. "Ignore her. We'll start slow, something calm, and ease into the day. I've got just the thing in mind."

"Calm and slow?" Rio repeated, narrowing her eyes at her wife as if the words themselves were offensive. "We're going hiking later! How's she supposed to prepare for that if you spend all morning sipping tea and reading books?"

Agatha didn't even bother to look at Rio. She gave Y/n's cheek a quick, affectionate pinch before guiding her to sit. "She doesn't need preparation for a hike, darling. She's young and full of stamina. Unlike some people who need all that trail mix to make it up a hill."

Y/n snorted, looking between her two mothers. "Are you two seriously arguing about my stamina right now? It's not even 9 a.m."

Rio dramatically touched her heart as if she'd been mortally wounded. "How dare you take her side, Y/n? I thought we were a team!"

"She's on the side of logic, Rio," Agatha replied, smirking as she poured another cup of tea and handed it to Y/n. "And, as usual, that means she's with me."

Y/n took the tea with a small smile, the warmth of the cup seeping into her hands. "Okay, but what's the plan? You're being mysterious, and that's always dangerous with you."

"Dangerous?" Agatha echoed, placing a hand on her chest in mock offense. "Please, I'm the very definition of responsible."

Rio let out a bark of laughter, tossing a granola bar onto the counter. "You? Responsible? Need I remind you about that one time you got Y/n to levitate cookies out of the jar so you didn't have to get up?"

Y/n burst into laughter, nearly spilling her tea. "Wait, I forgot about that! You told me it was a 'practical magic exercise.'"

Agatha smirked, unfazed. "And it was. She learned precision and control, didn't she?"

Rio shook her head, laughing. "You're incorrigible, Aggie." She stepped closer, wrapping her arms loosely around Agatha's waist and resting her chin on her shoulder. "But I guess that's why I love you."

Agatha rolled her eyes but didn't pull away. Instead, she leaned back slightly into Rio's touch, her smirk softening into a genuine smile. "Flattery won't get you out of carrying your own snacks."

"Worth a try," Rio murmured, kissing Agatha's cheek quickly before letting her go.

Y/n watched the exchange with a mix of amusement and fondness, sipping her tea quietly. Moments like this, the small, everyday gestures of love between her mothers, reminded her just how lucky she was to have them both.

"So," she said, breaking the moment, "what's this mysterious plan of yours, Mama?"

Agatha's smirk returned, her blue eyes sparkling with a hint of mischief. "You'll see," she said cryptically, turning back to her tea as if that answered everything.

Rio groaned dramatically. "Why does everything with you have to be a secret?"

"Because it keeps life interesting," Agatha replied smoothly, earning another laugh from Y/n.

A short drive later, Y/n found herself stepping out of the car in front of The Velvet Brew, a cozy little café tucked away on a quiet street in Westview. The scent of fresh coffee and pastries wafted out as they walked through the door, the soft hum of conversation and jazz music creating a warm, inviting atmosphere. It was the kind of place that made you feel at home instantly, even if you hadn't been there in years.

"This place..." Y/n started, glancing around as a flicker of recognition crossed her face.

"It's been a while, hasn't it?" Agatha said softly, her gaze lingering on her daughter.

Y/n smiled faintly, her eyes sweeping over the familiar details-the worn leather chairs, the mismatched tables, the handwritten chalkboard menu that hadn't changed much since she was a kid. "We used to come here all the time. Just the two of us."

Agatha nodded, her blue eyes warm with nostalgia. "Back then, it was our little tradition. Hot chocolate for you, chamomile tea for me, and one of those oversized cookies you always insisted on."

Y/n chuckled, her smile widening. "I remember. I used to try to eat the whole cookie by myself, and you'd always warn me I'd regret it."

"And you always did," Agatha said, her tone dry but affectionate. "But you'd never listen, stubborn as your mother."

Y/n raised an eyebrow. "Which mother?"

Agatha tilted her head with a knowing smirk. "Both, unfortunately."

They found a table by the window, the same one they used to sit at when Y/n was younger. Agatha ordered their old favorites without needing to ask, and when the hot chocolate arrived, topped with an impressive swirl of whipped cream, Y/n couldn't help but grin.

"Still the best hot chocolate in town," Y/n declared after her first sip.

"Told you," Agatha replied, leaning back in her chair and watching her daughter with a fond expression.

For a moment, Agatha simply watched Y/n as she savored her drink, her eyes sparkling with the same quiet joy she used to have as a child. Agatha's gaze softened, her thoughts drifting. "You know," she said, her voice quieter now, "your smile... it's identical to Rio's."

Y/n blinked in surprise, setting her cup down. "Really?"

"Mm-hmm," Agatha said, her lips quirking into a small, wistful smile. "Your eyes, too. The way they light up when you're excited about something. It's uncanny. Sometimes, I look at you and see her so clearly." She paused, her gaze steady. "But at the same time, you're entirely yourself. A perfect blend of the two of us."

Y/n's cheeks warmed under her mother's affectionate words, and she ducked her head, embarrassed but pleased. "You're getting all sappy on me, Mom."

Agatha reached across the table and gently brushed a strand of hair from Y/n's face. "It's allowed," she said simply, her hand lingering momentarily before retreating.

They spent the next hour talking and laughing, their conversation flowing as easily as it always had. Y/n shared stories about her recent magical training-omitting anything that might make her mother worry-and Agatha offered her trademark mix of practical advice and witty sarcasm.

"Your shielding spell needs work," Agatha said at one point, her tone almost teasing.

"I know," Y/n admitted, stirring her hot chocolate idly. "It's just... complicated."

"Magic is always complicated," Agatha replied, her voice softening. "But you've got the potential, sweetheart. You need to trust yourself. You've come so far already."

Y/n nodded, her chest warming at the encouragement. Agatha wasn't always overt with her praise, so it felt all the more meaningful when it came.

After finishing their drinks, Agatha stood and held out a hand. "Come on, we're not done yet."

Y/n followed her outside, curiosity piqued, as Agatha led her a few doors down to a small bookstore. The moment they stepped inside, Y/n's eyes lit up, her tiredness from earlier vanishing completely.

"This place hasn't changed a bit," she said, running her fingers along the spines of the books on a nearby shelf.

"Not at all," Agatha agreed, taking in the familiar scent of old paper and faint vanilla that always lingered in the air.

Y/n wandered through the aisles, her fingers skimming over titles that caught her eye, while Agatha followed closely behind. Every now and then, Agatha would make a suggestion, plucking a title off the shelf and holding it out for Y/n to inspect.

"You used to read this one every night," Agatha said, handing her a worn copy of a fantasy novel.

Y/n smiled as she took the book, flipping through its familiar pages. "I loved this one. You used to read it to me before bed."

"And you always insisted I do the voices," Agatha chuckled.

Y/n laughed, shaking her head. "Your dragon voice was terrible."

Agatha feigned offense, placing a hand dramatically over her heart. "Excuse me? My dragon voice was flawless. You have no taste."

"It was nasally and weird," Y/n teased, grinning. "You sounded like a dragon with a cold."

"Unbelievable," Agatha muttered, though the corners of her mouth twitched with amusement.

They spent nearly an hour exploring the bookstore, reminiscing over the books Y/n used to love and discovering a few new ones to add to her growing collection. When they finally left, it was with a small stack of books that Agatha insisted on paying for despite Y/n's protests.

"It's my treat," Agatha said firmly as they returned to the car. "Consider it a reward for putting up with me all these years."

Y/n rolled her eyes but couldn't suppress her smile. "You're not so bad, Mom."

Agatha raised a brow, her smirk returning. "Don't let Rio hear you say that. She'll get jealous."

Y/n laughed, climbing into the car and glancing back at the bookstore one last time. The day already felt like one of those memories she'd held onto for years, warm, golden, and filled with quiet joy. By the time they got home, Rio was practically vibrating with excitement, waiting at the door with her hiking pack already slung over her shoulder.

"My turn!" Rio exclaimed, grabbing Y/n's hand and tugging her toward the car.

"Did you even let her breathe?" Agatha teased, leaning against the doorframe with a smirk.

"She'll have plenty of time to breathe in the fresh air," Rio shot back, sticking her tongue out at her wife.

Agatha shook her head, her smile softening as she watched them go, her gaze filled with quiet affection.

Rio's idea of fun was so different from Agatha's. While Agatha would have preferred something calm and relaxing, Rio was always full of energy, pulling Y/n along on spontaneous adventures. This time, Rio had taken Y/n on a nature hike through one of Westview's most scenic trails, her enthusiasm unflagging as she led the way.

"Come on, slowpoke!" Rio called over her shoulder, her voice light and teasing as Y/n trailed behind, panting a little.

Y/n groaned, trudging up the path. "How do you have this much energy?"

"It's a gift," Rio said with a grin, slowing her pace to wait for Y/n. Once Y/n caught up, Rio draped an arm around her shoulders. "And don't think I didn't notice that bookstore bag. What did you and Agatha get up to?"

Y/n smiled faintly, her voice softening with the memory. "She took me to the café and bookstore we used to go to when I was little."

Rio's expression softened, too, a nostalgic glint in her eyes. "That sounds nice. She's good at stuff like that-making memories. She always was, even back then." She smiled, glancing sideways at Y/n. "I'm glad she's still doing that with you."

"Yeah," Y/n agreed, a small smile tugging at her lips. "She's good at ensuring I never forget things like that."

They continued their hike in comfortable silence, Rio's hand still resting on Y/n's shoulder as they made their way through the trail. The trees around them were tall and green, the air cool and crisp. It felt peaceful as if time was slowing down for them.

Eventually, they reached a clearing by the lake. Rio spread out a blanket and unpacked some snacks, offering Y/n a sandwich with a grin before leaning back and resting her hands behind her head. The lake shimmered under the sun, and the sound of water lapping against the shore added to the moment's tranquility.

"This is my favorite spot," Rio said, her voice a little softer now as she gazed up at the sky, her eyes distant. "It's peaceful, don't you think?"

Y/n nodded, taking a bite of an apple slice. "Yeah, it is. It's... nice to just be here. With you."

Rio turned her head to smile at her. "I'm glad we're doing this. Spending time together, I mean. I missed a lot when you were younger, but I'm here now. And I'll always be here, okay?"

Y/n's chest tightened with emotion, her heart swelling at the sincerity in Rio's voice. She met her mother's gaze, the soft expression on her face matching Rio's. "I know, Mom. I'm glad you're here too." She leaned back a little, her fingers lightly brushing the grass. "I've missed you."

Rio smiled, a bit of emotion in her eyes, and she pulled Y/n into a tight hug. The familiar warmth of her mother wrapped around her, grounding her in a way she hadn't realized she needed.

"You're one of the best things that's ever happened to me," Rio said, her voice thick with emotion as she squeezed Y/n tighter.

Y/n returned the hug, resting her head on Rio's shoulder. "You're not so bad yourself," she murmured, her voice warm with affection.

Rio pulled back slightly, her hands resting on Y/n's arms as she studied her daughter's face. "You've got so much of me in you, Y/n. Your stubbornness, your sense of humor-it's all mine." She smiled softly. "But your face? That's Agatha. You've got her the shape of her face... and the way you carry yourself-always so composed, but underneath, there's this spark. It's like I'm seeing her all over again. The only thing you've truly taken from me is my inability to ever sit still."

Y/n smiled, feeling a rush of warmth at her mother's words. "Mama said something similar about my eyes and smile matching yours. I guess I'm the perfect mix of you both."

Rio's eyes softened with admiration, and she gently cupped Y/n's cheek. "You really are. The perfect mix. And I'm so proud of the person you've become."

Y/n met her mother's gaze and a quiet understanding between them. "I'm proud of you too, Mom. For everything. I know it wasn't easy coming back."

Rio shook her head, a soft laugh escaping her. "It wasn't, but it was worth it. Being here with you and Agatha, it feels like everything finally makes sense again. Like I've found my place. With both of you."

Y/n rested her head on her mother's shoulder, letting the peacefulness of the moment wash over her. "It's nice having us all together again. I never thought it would feel like this."

"Me neither," Rio whispered, her voice thick with emotion. "But here we are. Together."

They sat in the sun-dappled quiet, the world feeling just a little bit smaller and softer as the bond between them-so deep and enduring-grew stronger with every word and shared moment.

When they returned home, the sun set, casting a warm golden glow over the house. The light spilled through the windows, creating soft patterns on the floor. As they walked inside, the smell of something savory drifted from the kitchen. Agatha was stirring a soup pot, her movements graceful and effortless. She glanced up as they entered, her lips curling into a small, amused smile as she raised an eyebrow.

"Did she survive your little adventure?" Agatha asked dryly, the familiar teasing tone in her voice.

"Barely," Y/n quipped, kicking off her boots and letting them clatter to the floor.

"She loved it," Rio replied, a playful gleam in her eyes. She walked over to Agatha, slipping her arms around her wife's waist and resting her chin on Agatha's shoulder, her touch warm and familiar.

Agatha leaned into Rio's embrace, closing her eyes briefly as she rested her head briefly on Rio's shoulder. The peaceful moment felt like an anchor, grounding them all in the chaos of their lives. "Good. As long as she's in one piece, I won't complain," Agatha said, her voice softening, a rare glimpse of vulnerability showing in her usually sharp demeanor.

Y/n smiled at the two of them, her heart warming at the sight of her mothers. Even after everything, their bond was so strong, so unshakable. It made her feel like she was truly home.

Dinner was simple but delicious, and after they ate, the three of them curled up on the couch in a cozy tangle of blankets. The soft glow of the lamp beside them bathed the room in warmth as they shared stories from the day, each trying to outdo the others with their retellings. The teasing began immediately, as it always did, each one trying to one-up the other, their laughter filling the room.

"Okay, so whose half of the day was better?" Rio asked with a mischievous grin, leaning forward as if she were about to deliver a serious challenge.

"I'm not answering that," Y/n said immediately, shaking her head and holding up her hands in mock surrender. "Not getting caught in that trap."

"Smart girl," Agatha said, smirking at Rio as she affectionately reached over to ruffle Y/n's hair.

Rio pouted, crossing her arms dramatically. "Fine, but we all know it was mine." She tilted her head back with a teasing smirk as if to say, It's obvious, right?

Agatha snorted in amusement. "Keep dreaming. You wish."

Y/n just laughed, leaning back against Agatha's shoulder, feeling the warmth of her mother's presence and the soft, rhythmic rise and fall of her breathing. "You guys are ridiculous," she said, rolling her eyes affectionately, though the fondness in her voice was unmistakable.

Agatha kissed the top of Y/n's head gently, her lips lingering there for just a moment longer than usual. "And you love us for it," she said, her voice soft but teasing, as if it was a truth they both knew all too well.

"Yeah, I do," Y/n admitted quietly, her voice almost a whisper. The words felt heavy in the best way, settling in her chest like a warmth she never wanted to leave. In this moment, she realized just how much her mothers had shaped her, how they had given her everything she needed to feel safe, loved, and truly at home.

[beardedjoel]

closer | part four

joel x f!reader. non-apocalypse au.

series masterlist | main masterlist | ao3  

chapter summary: you go to joel’s house, unsure of what to expect when you finally confess how much you want him, and what follows doesn’t disappoint in the least. 7.4k words.

warnings: 18+ MDNI, smut, age difference (joel is 42 and reader is 25), porn with some plot, soft!dom joel, fingering, mutual masturbation, dirty talk, praise kink, pet names for reader

a/n: if you held out to this chapter to get to the good stuff bless you !!! *saluting emoji*

Joel had spent the rest of his evening sobering up, now left with just his thoughts about what an absolute mind fuck that moment in the hallway with you had been, and the ensuing argument with Tommy. His brother really got under his skin with all the shit he said, but Joel also hated that he was right about most of it. He sighs, leaning back on the couch and trying to equally distract himself with the TV and at the same time, sort out his thoughts. A sudden knock at the door takes him by surprise, but the shock only increases when you’re the one standing on the other side of it, looking beautiful and enticing in your summery outfit, standing with your hands wrung nervously in front of you. Yeah, I’m fucked, Joel instantly thought to himself.

“Hi,” you squeak out, giving Joel a timid smile. 

“Hi,” Joel says, giving you another one of his boyish grins. “To what do I owe the pleasure?” Joel asks, leaning on the doorframe. He can’t believe he’s the one feeling slightly awkward at seeing you now, worried that he possibly overstepped with you again earlier.

“My mom… wanted me to bring you - oh, shit!” You realize, looking down at your empty hands. “The cookies,” you say, biting your lip. “There were cookies, but I forgot them.” You can’t believe in your rush to see Joel, you’d left them sitting on your counter.

Joel laughs, noticing the tenseness he was feeling loosen up, and seeing your teeth bite those perfect, inviting lips he’s unable to let you leave for even a minute to retrieve these cookies for him. “S’alright, why don’t you come on in,” he says, low and rumbling, his eyes quickly giving you a once over. Your heart jumps in your chest and you nod. 

“Okay,” you say, already breathless from the nerves of what you’re about to do. You step inside, slip off your sandals, and walk towards the middle of the room. Now that you’re actually getting a good look at it, his house is pretty much what you’d imagine - quaint, put together, and it feels cozy and lived in. Dark gray couches and chairs, wood coffee tables and features, and a large television make up the living room you’ve now stepped into. It’s tasteful, but definitely decorated by a man, having an overall, undeniably masculine feel to it. You realize you’re just silently taking in and judging his home, and feel self conscious at the way he’s looking at you expectantly.

“You have a really nice home,” you mumble, half looking down at your feet. “S-sorry about the cookies.”

“I don’t care about those cookies, if I’m honest,” he says, his head cocked to the side as he steps a little closer to you. His voice is getting lower, and your heart is pounding out of your chest. You think it might just be loud enough for him to hear as he draws nearer to you. “I’m sorry about earlier, darlin”, I had a little too much and was eager to see you again and see what you were thinkin’. Shouldn’t have put you on the spot like that, though,” he apologizes, his eyes a bit softer and wider than usual as he looks down at you. 

“Oh…” you breathe, unsure what to do next, avoiding his eyes as you inspect the ground. “That’s okay, Joel. That’s actually kind of most of the reason why I came here,” you admit to him. 

“Didn’t just come over to deliver some cookies, then?” Joel is now right in front of you, and he gently puts his fingers on your chin, tilting it upwards to meet his eye line. You almost shrink back out of nerves, but melt when you catch a glimpse of his dark eyes boring into you, two pools of desire staring right back at you. 

“N-no, I didn’t,” you say, bravely not breaking eye contact. 

“Didn’t think so,” he says, “Why don’t you tell me what you’re really here for.”

“I just… I needed to say that the other day, it was okay. More than okay. I wanted to do that, and to keep doing that with you. I was just nervous, it didn’t mean I didn’t want it. You make me nervous.”

“Nothing to be nervous about, girl,” he says sweetly, looking at you with soft eyes, but he can see his words have had no helpful effect on you. “I really make you that nervous, huh?”

“You do, more than you could know.” you admit, breathing out a long breath, wanting to steady yourself before your next words. “You told me to say what I want. I’ve been wanting to talk to you, been wanting to… kiss you like that. I- I’ve been wanting you and… watching you since I got here.” Once the words are out of your mouth, you can’t believe you’ve admitted it to him, but it feels good, so good. It’s out in the universe now, up to Joel to reciprocate or not.

“Oh, baby,” he tuts, almost condescendingly, but it turns you on, his gaze hardening with desire at the confirmation of your feelings towards him. “You think I haven’t noticed? The way you eat me up with your eyes? Always lookin’ at me when you think I can’t see it,” he says with a little head shake, and his voice has gone deeper with suggestion. You gasp a little, looking up at him with a shocked expression. He simply smirks, knowing he has you all figured out. 

“Bet you’ve been thinkin’ about me, haven’t you? What you’d do if you could get me alone like this? If I wanted you too?” he continues, and your knees feel like jelly. 

“I do, every day,” you manage to squeak out, nodding in response. You can’t believe he’s seen right through you, and this entire time you had thought he wasn’t paying any attention to you. He lifts a hand up again, holding a forefinger and thumb on your chin now. You feel your whole body shudder at the touch, and Joel’s smirk grows as he notices the effect he’s having on you. You stare back eagerly, awaiting whatever he has to say next.

“You sure this is what you want, darlin’? Be honest now,” he says. 

“Yes, so badly… please,” you whisper, feeling desperate now that it’s so close within your reach. 

“Just what I wanted to hear,” Joel responds simply, his eyes going a shade darker. You can barely breathe as his hand slides to cup your cheek, and in one fluid motion he’s leaning down closer to you, his lips brushing against yours. You flutter your eyelids shut and lean into the kiss, putting a little more pressure into it, until Joel pulls away slightly. 

“Shy little thing you are,” he hums, and the rumble of his voice so close to you sends another shiver up your spine. “S’okay, I don’t mind, we can take our time,” he says gently, stroking your cheek again. You want to prove him wrong, you want to unleash yourself and give in completely to it, so you lean forward again, tilting your head up and deciding to fully commit to it. You won’t mess it up this time, you think with determination.

You grab the back of his neck, feeling his thick, gorgeous hair under your hand and press your lips back into his hard, immediately deepening the kiss. Your lips part enough for his tongue to slide in and you groan a little at how incredible it feels, like a dream. He tastes slightly of beer, and you take it all in, the wetness of his mouth on yours, and delicate slide of your tongue against his now. You are quickly losing control, grasping harder at his neck, your nails scratching along the skin as your mouths and tongues come together again and again. Joel groans, one of his hands sliding up onto your shirt and squeezing your breast. He makes a satisfied grunt when he feels you have no bra on, thumbing your nipple through the fabric. You moan into his mouth at the sensation, hips automatically arching towards him as he pinches and flicks at it, the buds now hard and aching for him. Your core is burning hot, already tingling and turning with desire, desperate for him to touch you more. You practically gasp when he suddenly grabs your hips, pulls his mouth off of yours, and spins you around, pulling your back and ass flush against his front. He holds you tightly against him by putting his arms around your hips, his head nestling in the crook of your neck. You look down at his strong, tanned arms holding you and feel your knees go weak again - this feels better than you could have imagined.

“Bet you thought I didn’t notice how you got all dressed up in your little bikini just for me the other day did you? Or the way you walk around with that perfect body making me go crazy, smiling like the prettiest girl I’ve ever seen,” he purrs, and you are writhing under his grasp, your pussy beginning to ache and pulse at his words.

“Y-yes, it's all for you. I just wanted -“ you trail off, feeling embarrassed. 

“Wanted what?” he commands, his grip on your hips tightening.

“For you to notice me,” you blurt out. 

“Done much more than notice you, you sweet thing. You’re makin’ me wild, you know that? Wantin’ you day and night? Knowin’ I shouldn’t...”

“R-really?” you ask, even though the answer seems obvious at this point. You’re simply having a hard time believing this isn’t some fever dream right now. “Why s-shouldn’t you?” you say, your body trembling slightly at the way his hands are now roaming over the front of your body, teasing you.

“Isn’t it obvious, baby?” he rumbles, placing a kiss on your neck. “You ever been with a man like me? Someone older?” he asks quietly, his voice hushed and breath hot against your ear. 

You shake your head, then say a soft, quiet “no” in response. He makes a small, pleased hum at your answer. 

“J-just a few people, here and there. Nothing really,” you reply breathlessly, thinking of the few drunken hookups or shorter-lived relationships you’d experienced during college. None of them felt like this - they hadn’t known what they were doing with you, hadn't been able to drive you wild like Joel already was able to. “No one like you,” you add quickly, hoping he’ll like to hear it.

“Good,” he purrs, his grip on your hips tightening as he pulls you even closer to him, your ass now pressing even harder against his crotch, feeling how hard he already is. “I like bein’ the only one,” he says, and the possessiveness of his words sends another wave of desire through you. You grind your hips back into him slightly, rubbing on his cock, to show him how you felt about what he said. 

“Oh, you like that then, baby? You like when I’m a little jealous?”

“N-nothing to be jealous of,” you barely breathe out, trying to tilt your head in the direction of his, your lips looking to find his again.

“That’s right,” he says, his hand on the waistband of your shorts now, the tips of his fingers threatening to dip below and explore. “Cause this is all mine,” he continues, his fingers going slightly lower but not anywhere close to where you’re throbbing for him. You breathe heavily, and a small whine comes out of you involuntarily when he slides his hand down, his fingers brushing along the outside of your pussy. He’s gentle, yet to explore further, just stroking your lips, teasing a bit of a finger further in periodically. You melt into him, your head lolling back onto his chest. He tilts his head down and kisses your neck, the scratch of his beard adding wholly to the feel and experience of it. It sends a shudder through your entire body when Joel suddenly sucks lightly on the skin there, his breath coming hot down your neck and chest. He sucks harder as his fingers feel slightly deeper in your slit, just how slick it is, biting down on your neck a bit. You let out a breathy yelp at the sensation, never having any man do that to you before.

You’re trembling, and you know Joel can feel it. You’ve never been so nervous to be with someone like this before, and you don’t know exactly why. There’s something so defined in the way he carries himself, the way he treats you, and it makes you worried you aren’t experienced enough for him. 

“Shh,” he pulls his hand out of your shorts and tries to soothe you a bit, holding you tightly to him and rocking slightly. “You sure it’s okay?”

You gulp and nod, willing your body to stop shaking underneath him. “I wish I wasn’t so nervous,” you scold yourself out loud. 

“How about this, sweet girl…” he says, and you tilt your head enough to look back at him, your eyes meeting his. “You be okay if I just take control from here? You won’t have to worry about a thing that way.” Joel leans in and kisses the side of your face and you melt into it before he plants another one on your neck, eliciting a breathy moan and nod in response to his question. 

“Okay… yeah,” you decide, “Tell me what to do.”

“Okay,” he says, a devious smile crossing his face. “First thing, let’s take a look at that pretty little pussy,” he says into your ear, voice low and suggestive. You just nod again, already undone by everything he’s doing, and willing to do anything he wants to next. You don’t know what you thought his plan was, but it certainly was not for him to pull away, spin you around, and start pulling your shorts down right there as you stood in the middle of his living room. You step out of the shorts now bundled at your feet, and Joel’s lust filled eyes linger on your panties - red lacy ones you’d picked out hoping he might see them. The smirk that comes across his face as he eyes them gives you a rush of satisfaction. 

“Do you like them?” you ask shyly, already thinking you know the answer. 

“Oh, I do,” he replies quietly as he stares. “Do a little turn,” he commands, making a spinning motion with his hand. You slowly spin around, revealing the thong strap with a bit of lace at the top that makes up the back of your underwear. Joel groans quietly and before you can continue turning back towards him he grabs your ass, both hands fisting full of your plush flesh there. “Perfect ass,” he murmurs, “Askin’ to be smacked,” he says, giving one of your cheeks a light tap as he lets go of where he was grabbing onto you. You turn back and Joel is on you again, his arms pulling you right against him, this time facing from the front. 

“Smacked? W-what, have I been bad?” you ask, half teasing and knowing you’re no good at this dirty talk stuff. You haven’t had nearly enough practice to know what to say, but Joel seems to say whatever comes to his mind. 

“As a matter of fact, you have,” he says suggestively, and you see a sly grin cross his face. “Saw you up in your window those few times, teasin’ me.” You feel your face get hot at the confirmation that he saw you, despite it being for him. 

You let out a small nervous chuckle. “You saw that, huh?”

“Gonna act like that wasn’t all for me, your little show? You know, I’ve been turned for days after seein’ that, just that little glimpse of ya,” he says. You smile a little more confidently now at the confirmation that it had such an effect on him.

“Did you… touch yourself thinking of me?” you say, running a hand down Joel’s chest now. The fabric of his t-shirt is soft, but you can feel his toned chest and stomach underneath. You sigh as your trembling fingers reach lower, resting on the waistband of his jeans. 

“Sure did, you naughty thing,” Joel says, “And don’t think I don’t know about what you do, when you rush off after seein’ me outside, goin’ off to think about me while you touch that little pussy of yours.”

You gasp, mouth hanging open in shock that he’d guessed that much, that it seemed he’d been observing you just as much as you had him. “I-uh-“ you stutter, completely turned on and embarrassed at once. 

“It’s alright, baby,” he coos, a finger fiddling with the waistband of your underwear now. “Makes me happy that I turned you on so much.” He reaches down and feels you through the outside of your panties now, and you know he must feel how you’ve been getting wet, soaking through the fabric already. You’re dazed, and as he grabs your hand, leading you to his couch and sitting you down, you allow him to move you around without any resistance - you’re complete putty for him. 

Joel stands above you, and leans over your body on the couch, bringing his hands to the sides of your panties and pulling down, revealing your bottom half in full now. Joel lets out a groan, seeing your pussy lips already swollen and ready for him. 

“Tsk,” he tuts, “Look at that wet little pussy, just for me,” he says, delicately swiping a finger through it, causing your hips to buck forward towards him. He kisses you deeply, hungrily, and you soften into it, just loving the way his lips feel against yours, the urgency behind it. He’s palming your thighs, his large fingers covering so much of them as he strokes his fingers along the skin there. You are aching, dripping, on the verge of begging for him to put an end to your misery and just touch you. 

“Joel,” you gasp, pulling away from the kiss. 

“Hm, what is it baby?” He continues to kiss your face and trails then down to your neck, eliciting a small moan from you. 

“P-please, touch me,” you say, unable to take another second of his hands being so close yet so far away. 

“Thought I was the one makin’ the calls here,” he says with an arched brow, and you can tell he gets off on it. He wants that control, to know you’re at his whim, pleasuring you when he wants, making you come when he decides to. 

“S-sorry,” you say, feeling lost. You don’t know how to go about any of this, you’ve never had a man offer to do what he did. 

He slides himself down over you slightly, then pulls your tank top over your breasts and just… stares for a few moments, taking it in, appreciating it.

“Shirt off,” he commands, and you lift your arms up so he can pull the tank top over your head. He discards it on the floor, not once taking his eyes off your naked form sprawled open on his couch, every nerve in your body on fire under his gaze. He finally brings his head down to your chest and begins flicking his tongue on each nipple, taking equal time with each one.  You squirm, feeling another rush of warmth and wetness between your legs, panting hard now as you rub them together slightly trying to relieve some of the throbbing.

“You need my fingers on that pussy, don’t you?” he says, noticing your writhing movements and quiet whimpers. Simultaneously he takes one of your hard nipples back into his mouth and rolls his fingers over the other, rubbing gently. A moan like you’ve never made escapes your lips, and you’d normally be embarrassed, but it feels so good, your thoughts too clouded to care. You pant, nodding furiously.

“P-please, I need it, I need it,” you call out, feeling like crying at how much your cunt is aching now. Your deliriously half lidded eyes look at Joel, and he looks downright sinister now. 

“You’re being so good, waitin’ for me, I think you deserve that,” he smirks, and you feel like you’re starting to catch onto his game, and you have to admit - it’s fucking hot. You wait with baited breath as his hand dips down, his finger starting to rub circles on your clit and your hips instinctively rise up to meet his finger harder, wanting more from him. You practically yell out a moan at the feeling of his finger giving you that bit of relief you’d been dying for. 

“My, my, you are absolutely gorgeous, baby,” he says, the vibration of his mouth over your nipple sending a shiver through you. 

You make begging, whining sounds, panting and moaning as his finger circles your clit slowly, and he increases the speed slightly at your noises. He begins to tease a finger at your entrance, slowly pushing it in.

“How’s that, baby?” Joel asks, kissing the curve of your breast and sucking lightly.

“S-so good,” you pant in response, feeling your climax rising up inside of you, feel it close, within your grasp already. “Can I ask for more, please?”

“So polite and sweet, you insatiable little thing,” he says, biting his lip slightly. He pulls out and adds a second finger, sliding them both into your pussy and you grind your hips onto his hand at the sensation. He rubs your clit with the other hand as he steadily pumps his fingers in and out of you, the sound loud and sloppy echoing through the living room. 

“Taking it so good,” he coos, watching his fingers pump as deep as they go inside of you.

“Need more… I need your cock, Joel. I want you to fuck me,” you yell out suddenly, unable to take the urge to have him fill you anymore. You know he said that he had control over what you’re doing right now, but you think fuck it, as your mind keeps drifting to having him inside of you. It takes everything in him to not whip out his cock and pound it into your soaking wet pussy, but he decided that he wanted to take things slower with you. He wanted to treat you well, give you what you deserve, not rush into things and hurt you in some way.

“Oh darlin’, not today, I want to enjoy this perfect pussy of yours nice and slow,” he says, peppering kisses over your chest again but more tenderly this time.

“I-I’m on the pill and everything, I swear,” you say desperately, just trying to think of any reason he wouldn’t want to sleep with you. 

“Sweet girl, it’s not that,” he laughs a little, and you whine as he completely removes his fingers and he moves to reach a hand up to stroke your hair. You look down at him with fraught, pleading eyes. “Just wanna give you some respect, darlin’, treat you right, okay?” You frown a little but understand where he’s coming from, nodding in agreement. 

“Just let me take care of you, okay?” he adds sweetly, and you smile at the tone he’s using, so soft and gentle.

He moves to sit next to you on the couch, then tugs on your hips, pulling you onto his lap so that you’re facing him, legs straddling him. You’re feeling half drunk on the desire and look down at him with bleary eyes and wrap your arms around his neck, leaning close. The heady desire in your wide gaze almost has Joel regretting his decision to not fuck you tonight, and his cock strains against his jeans a bit harder. He kisses you, reaching a hand in between your parted legs and playing with your clit again, stroking it along with the slit of your pussy. You immediately grind your hips, the position you’re in on top of him only increasing the pleasure as you push down onto his hand. 

He lets out a groan as he slides two fingers back in, feeling how easily it slips inside of you, how wet and ready you were for him. He dares to add a third one and you cry out a little, the way he’s stretching his fingers inside of you.

“Look at you, taking all my fingers like that,” he groans, looking down at where his hand is connecting to your body. You bury your face in his shoulder as you ride his fingers, increasing the rhythm in and out of you. His thumb is steadily rubbing your clit while he curls the fingers in the most perfect way and you moan into his ear, his name spilling out of your mouth. His other hand is now in your hair, pulling lightly, then stroking your back, landing firmly on your ass and squeezing hard. It’s like he can’t get enough, finding new places for his hand to explore.

“Joel… joel…” you say urgently, breathless.

“Let it out baby, let it out. Let me hear you come for me,” he purrs, nosing the side of your head and ear while keeping up the steady push of his fingers. You’re shaking, your hips rocking onto his hand, sliding over his legs quickly. “Let me feel you come all over this hand, filthy girl. Do it,” he commands.

“My god. Oh my god,” you call out, and his last commanding words send you over the edge, your orgasm beginning to rock through you, sending your hips and body shuddering, coming onto his fingers. You pull your head off his shoulder, dipping it back and exposing your face and neck. Joel grips your chin with his free hand, holding you steady, and watches your climax as it crosses your face, your mouth open and letting out moans that only serve to make his cock painfully hard now. 

“Atta girl, just like that,” he praises, and it’s incredible, his fingers hitting the perfect spot inside of you as your whole body trembles at his touch, fire coursing through your belly and tingling on every inch of you. Your climax slowly subsides, and you breathe heavily, daring to slowly open your now heavy eyes. You see Joel with an intense, satisfied grin on his face. He pulls a hand up and brushes the hair back that’s now stuck to your face with sweat. He kisses you, a tender, sweet kiss now and chuckles. 

“That was gorgeous, baby,” he says, and you smile shyly, tilting your head down a little. 

Coming down from your post-climax haze, you’re now very aware of his cock, feeling it hard and pressing against his pants underneath you. You slide off his lap and kneel in front of the couch, reaching up for the belt on his jeans. He grabs your hand, stopping you from going any further. 

“Woah, darlin’, that’s alright. Wanted tonight to be all about you,” he says, grinning. 

“B- but I don’t want you to not - you’re turned on, and I want to… help.” You look up with a furrowed brow, confused as to how he couldn’t want this.

“‘Course I’m turned on, when I’ve got your pussy all over my hand, you lookin’ beautiful like that, but I’ll be alright. We’ll get to that another time.”

“You’re sure?” you ask hesitantly, hands planted firmly on his thighs.

“Promise ya,” he says, leaning forward and cupping your cheek, planting another kiss on your lips. Joel reaches underneath your arms and pulls you back into his lap so that you’re sitting sideways over him, wrapping his arms around your lower half and resting you against his chest. You lean into it, breathing in his scent and smiling. Joel starts to stroke your bare back gently with his fingers, and the feeling alone of his hands on you like this could turn you on all over again. You shiver a little at the electric touch and pull your arms around his neck. You’re painfully aware of his hand increasingly going lower and lower, and feel like you already need him again, the familiar wetness coming between your legs.

“I make you feel good tonight, baby?” he asks suddenly, planting a kiss on your head, sounding so sweet, and you smile. 

“Mhmm,” you let out a small sleepy moan, nuzzling your face against his neck. “Thought that was obvious,” you chuckle a little nervously. His hand gently squeezes and kneads your ass that’s perched on his lap and you make a small whining noise without meaning to. 

“What’s all that?” Joel asks deviously, “Didn’t get your fill?”

You feel a little flush come over you at how easily he’s turned you on again but you pull your head off of his shoulder and try to look him in the eye. “Guess not,” you say with a small smirk. Joel returns it and glances down at your naked body sprawled over him, the gears in his head turning as to what to do to you next. He grabs a hold of you, spinning your body so that your back is against his chest. 

“Listen, baby, if I touch you again, I don’t think I’m gonna be able to handle it without things gettin’ painful for me, so let’s get a little creative, okay?” His voice is low next to your ear. 

“Okay.” You nod. “You’re in charge again,” you say, and he smiles into your neck, the words clearly exactly what he was hoping for.

“Good girl,” he whispers, the sound of it rumbling across your skin and making you twitch and shiver a little. You do wish he’d just fuck you senseless already, but he seems to be the one setting the rules here, and you realize rightfully so, you’re the one who’s let him. 

Joel reaches a hand down and strokes through you again, feeling how wet you’d already gotten again. “Christ, you’re so swollen for me, look at you,” he marvels, teasing your folds apart with his fingers. You breathe a little sigh of relief as his touch eases some of the aching going on between your legs. 

“You’re gonna touch yourself now, baby, while I watch you and take care of myself. You do a good job with all that, and I’ll finish you off, okay?” Once again, you know it’s not a question - this is how Joel has decided you two are getting off. You’re feeling skeptical and shy about touching yourself in front of him, and it must read openly on your face. 

“Um, okay, I’ve just never touched myself in front of anyone,” you admit timidly.

“Think of it like this - let me see what you’d do to yourself when you’d think of me, hm?” he says. You think you can handle that, so you smile a little and nod in approval. 

“I can do that,” you say, wanting desperately to hear what you think he’s about to say. 

“Good girl,” he smiles, and it’s music to your ears. Your heart starts to beat more wildly as he moves you off of his lap and sets you on the couch, standing up in front of you. You sit awkwardly for a moment, adjusting yourself in the seat to try and look as sexy as you can.

“Okay, darlin’,” he says, nudging your legs open wider with his knee as he stands in between them. “Go on now.”

You take a shaky breath and reach your hand down between your legs, gently feeling the outside lips of your pussy. The look on Joel’s face immediately emboldens you a bit, he looks desperate to see more, squirming a bit where he stands.

You look down at yourself, still feeling embarrassed to look Joel in the eye while you do this next part. A finger slides down into your slit, rubbing your clit slowly, and you watch as your finger starts to become slick and shiny as your hips grind a little onto it. Joel grunts a little at the sight.

“Look at me,” he commands, and you snap your eyes up to his face, then downward. He has a determined, absolutely hungry look in his eyes as he reaches to his belt and undoes it, unzips his pants, reaching in and pulling his cock out. It springs free, and he immediately fists it, stroking lightly. You try not to have a visceral reaction to it, but fuck. It’s bigger than any cock you’ve ever taken, or seen, for that matter, and you are barely paying attention to what you are doing to yourself now with your jaw slack and your eyes wide and trained on his dick. 

Joel chuckles devilishly, beginning to stroke himself faster. “Focus up, darlin’,” he says, and you try to move on from the surprise of the sheer size of Joel’s cock, but it’s hard to do as you watch his hand move along its length. 

He suddenly stops, and holds out his hand, palm up to you. “Lick it,” he says, and you stare a little stunned and wide eyed for a moment before leaning forward and running your tongue along his hand, finger still rubbing on your clit. You stare up at him as you do it, light moans coming out as you coat his hand in your saliva. It’s strangely erotic, tasting the salty skin of his hand and the leftover remnants from where he touched your cunt earlier. He fists his hand around his cock again and the sound is much louder, your saliva making the shaft slick as he returns to a slower pace, enjoying it. 

“Let me see you put a finger in,” he says, and you immediately move your index finger to your opening but stop there, slowly circling your clit with your thumb. 

“How many?” you ask, looking up at him alluringly, finally starting to feel more bold. 

“Oh, filthy girl,” Joel tuts, tugging a bit harder on his cock. “Just one for me now, don’t wanna rush anything.” You frown a little and whimper, knowing it’ll get a reaction out of him, but you slide one finger inside of yourself, beginning to pump it in and out. Joel makes a small groaning sound at the sight, his eyes glued to where you’re beginning to fuck yourself harder with your finger. 

“Yeah, that’s it, sweet girl, add another one,” he moans, his movements becoming even quicker on his cock and you try to match his pace as you add another finger and continue rubbing your clit. You’re moaning at the sight of it all, the way his cock is so hard from just watching you do this, the way Joel’s strong hand is moving over it like his life depends on it. You want his cock in your mouth so badly, you want just a taste of him if he’d let you, and seeing the little bit of precum on his cock makes you salivate and lick your lips. Your hips are arching up into your touch, wet and sloppy noises the only sound in the room for a few moments as Joel’s fist slaps into his flesh over and over. 

“Please Joel, let me taste you,” you beg through your panting breaths, desperate to have the length of him inside of you in some way. 

“Shit, you cock hungry little thing,” he grunts out, shaking his head, but he doesn’t stop what he’s doing. You are writhing, desperate to hold out until Joel can make you climax instead, but it’s so difficult when your view is what it is right now. You can tell Joel is close, he’s panting hard, a sheen of sweat on his face, and his cock looks like it’s absolutely throbbing. 

“Into my mouth,” you try begging once more, thinking he’s about to come at any moment. 

“No,” Joel says, voice strained, and you frown. “Let me paint those gorgeous fucking tits,” he grunts out. 

He doesn’t wait for confirmation, but instead continues watching your fingers plunging into your pussy as he climaxes, his body shuddering slightly as ropes of cum release out onto your chest. He almost leans his head back, closing his eyes, but he can’t tear his eyes away from the way his cum is coating you. You stop moving your fingers, simply relishing in the sight and feeling of his climax. Joel groans out a few expletives along with your name, breathing heavily, and he still stands over you, looking down with that post orgasm bliss on his face while you smile up at him. 

He leans down, placing his hands on either side of your body on the couch, getting his face close to yours. He moves one hand to your chest, swiping the cum up onto his fingers and holding it up to your mouth. 

“There’s your taste of me,” he says gruffly, and you open your mouth almost immediately, craning your neck forward to take the fingers in deeply, licking and sucking them clean. The look on Joel’s face is a mixture of surprise and satisfaction, feeling like he’s seeing a new side to you now that he’s gotten you out of your shell a little bit. 

“Good fucking girl,” Joel says each word slowly and carefully, then smirks as his fingers pop out of your mouth, completely cleaned off all his cum.

“I did a good job for you?” you ask, suddenly feeling a bit shy again as you seek his validation. 

“Oh, yes,” he replies, pressing his lips to yours deeply, and he opens his mouth to slide his tongue over your lip. You shudder a bit and return it, your tongues flitting in and out of each other’s mouths. Your hips are bucking upwards, missing the pressure of your fingers now, and you moan desperately into Joel’s mouth. Joel reaches between you and slides his fingers down your slit, immediately pushing three fingers inside of you, picking up right where you left off. He pushes them in hard, and you inhale sharply, the immediate feeling of him filling you so much taking you by surprise. His fingers move furiously, pumping in and out of you, and your body tries to squirm away from the intensity of it once he puts his thumb on your clit. But the way he’s hovering over you, your body below him on the couch, you have nowhere to go, and he’s relentless with his speed now, curling his fingers inside of you.

All you can do is make strained moaning sounds as he places his lips to your neck and sucks on the skin, trailing his lips down and doing the same thing on your chest. You know it’s going to leave a mark, and you don’t care, you can’t care right now with the way everything feels so incredible. Your whole body is shaking with the intensity of his movements, your climax practically at your fingertips as your hips push back into his fingers, driving him deeper.

Joel murmurs praises into the skin of your neck as you continue lifting your hips. He presses a hand down on your thigh hard, holding you in place, leaving you to take exactly what he’s giving you. And what he’s giving you is absolute fucking ecstasy. Your crying moans urge him on, and he’s pushing all three fingers as deep as he can, and everything suddenly feels… different as he hits the most sensitive spot inside of you. You let out a little yelp, surprised by the sheer intensity of it as he hits it over and over.

“Look at you… tight fuckin’ pussy, taking my fingers so good. You like when I fuck you hard like this?” he growls, plunging his fingers more aggressively into you, enjoying the loud, sloppy sounds he’s making as you leak all around his fingers.

You simply moan, long and low, in answer as he curls his fingers and hits that spot again. Holy shit, is the only thought running through your mind, over and over again.

“Of course you do, you fuckin’ dirty little thing. My perfect girl, taking my fingers however I want you to.” His words make you practically scream, his name on your lips repeatedly as you feel the sensation of your impending climax beginning to overwhelm you.

You stutter, trying to say his name again, let him know you’re going to come, but he already knows, of course he already knows, because he’s kissing your neck again and telling you.

“That’s it, baby, come right on this hand again,” he says before sucking on your neck again. You’re completely devastated, the orgasm burning through you as your hips spasm and grind down. He’s keeping up the pace, his fingers hitting deep as you ride it out onto his hand. You scream his name and practically lose all sense of anything else you’re saying or doing while your entire body is taken over by the fiery, tingling sensation as you come.

“My… god…” you breathe out, muscles finally loosening from the way your entire body had tensed up during your orgasm. Your head flops back onto the couch and you feel your whole body go limp as you try to steady your breathing. You don’t even dare open your eyes, you’re in such a haze right now and don’t want it to end. Joel’s lips find yours and press into you, and you lazily return the kiss, bringing an arm up so you can gently stroke his cheek. He pulls back, taking in the satisfied smile on your face, closed eyes, flushed cheeks, and wild hair, and he thinks you look more gorgeous than he’s ever seen you.

“Had your fill yet, baby?” he asks, sitting down next to you and nuzzling the side of your hair with his nose. His smell so close to you is immediately intoxicating all over again, and you don’t know how you’re expected to leave this man’s side.

“Mm-mm,” you shake your head, “Not even close.” Joel laughs heartily, and the sound lifts your heart - you don’t think you’ve made him laugh like that before now, so you peek your eyes open and look over at him, grinning in response. “Don’t worry, we’ll save that for another time,” you assure him, rubbing your eyes to try and make yourself more alert.

"Now what makes you so sure there’s a next time?” he teases you, and your eyes widen in shock. You don’t think he’s being serious, but…

“I- I just thought… you seemed to like it too…” you stutter, tripping over your words around him yet again.

He laughs again, that hearty laugh you’ll be chasing hearing forever, you think, and grabs your face.

“I’m just messin’ with ya, darlin’,” he reassures you, capturing your surprised, pouting lips in a kiss. You giggle a bit into his kiss and then deepen it for a few moments before standing up off of the couch, getting dressed. Joel gives a slight look of disapproval at the fact that you’re putting your clothing back on, but lets you go ahead anyway.

You’re unsure of what your next move should be. Should you stay over longer? Stay the night? Would Joel even want you to stay the night?

“Why don’t ya head home, sweet girl,” he says, answering the question before you can even ask, standing up next to you and wrapping his arms tightly around you, pulling you in. “I’ve got an early morning tomorrow.”

“Okay,” you reply, understanding but feeling disappointed. “Can I see you again? Tomorrow?” You look at him with eager eyes, praying his answer will be yes. Now that you’ve crossed this line, there’s no going back, and you want more of him, need more of him.

Joel chuckles. “Impatient, impatient,” he drawls. “Sure thing, I’ll be ‘round tomorrow evening.”

You give him a hopeful smile, waving your goodbye to Joel after stealing one last kiss. You rush up to your little apartment, barely bothering to turn on any lights as you run over to your bed and promptly scream into your pillow like you’re fifteen years old again. Once you get the rush of excitement out of your system, you sit up, eyeing the plate of cookies on the counter and laugh loudly to yourself. You pad over to them and pick one up, biting into it and smiling to yourself, unable to help the feeling that this man is going to ruin your life in the best way possible.

[weministertomonsters]

Naga Father (Araza) x gender-neutral reader - 2

"Just a few kids from school won't hurt, Mr. Araza. You have to give Sam a chance at a normal life," you say in exasperation, shaking some food into your cat's bowl and balancing the phone against your shoulder.

You've been babysitting Sam occasionally for a few months, enough to feel somewhat comfortable with pressing the subject of holding a birthday party for Sam.

"He's not normal," is Mr. Araza's reply, and you grit your teeth for a second before you blow your breath out slowly, forcing yourself to calm down.

"I know you're trying to toughen him up in your own way... But he's going to end up hating you if you don't ease up now and then. Sam is smart, you know. He can figure out how to live in a world of humans on his own."

"I know what's best for my son," Mr. Araza says, and you hear the shuffle of papers in the background.

"Oh, are you working? Did my call interrupt you? Sorry, I'll hang up now. Just think about it, okay?"

Before he has the chance to respond, you hang up.

"He's a tough nut to crack, Ginger," you say to your orange cat who is happily crunching down on his food. "I wonder what happened to make him like that?"

On a whim, you grab your phone and look his name up. There he is, featured in an article from a prominent news station. He was one of the two nagas rescued from a monster trafficking ring that got busted fifteen years ago. There's a picture of him with the other monsters that were rescued. He's staring blankly at the camera, a blanket wrapped around his thin shoulders. The other naga was too weak and passed away in the hospital. Everything makes sense now.

You put your phone down and stare hard at the wall. No wonder he's so fiercely protective of his son and pushing him to survive the best he can. Your phone buzzes and you look down to see a text from your best friend, Cora.

Hi Tobi, it reads, I know this is short notice, but I totally forgot I had a marriage counseling appointment today and we can't leave Annabelle alone! Do you have 2 hours to spare? I made chocolate chip cookies this morning!

A smile curves onto your lips and you type a reply.

I'll be there in 10 minutes

Cora only lives a couple of blocks away, so you end up walking there. Cora and her wife are in the driveway, ready to leave.

"Tobi, you're an angel!" Cora says, coming forward. "I present to you my devil spawn."

Annabelle squirms restlessly in her mother's grip, nibbling on her forearm. The five-year-old had new teeth coming in and apparently, her mother's arm is a serviceable chew toy.

"She's got a ton of energy today," you laugh and scoop her up.

The pup smells like baby shampoo and cookies. You wave her parents off and hoist her onto your shoulder.

"So what do you want to do?" You ask her.

"I want ice cream!" She yells, her knee catching you in the ribs.

"Oof. Isn't it a little too close to lunch?"

"I want a burger too! With cheese!"

"Demanding, aren't you? An alpha in the making for sure. Okay. We'll have burgers and ice cream. Just don't tell your mommy okay?"

She grins and nods. The commercial strip is within walking distance and even if it's a bit far away you figure Annabelle could use a long walk. As you walk together you're making a mental note not to marry a werewolf. Even a half-werewolf would be hyper, but Annabelle is out of this world. She's so bouncy that half the time her feet aren't even on the ground. You're forced to herd her around now and then so she doesn't hop off the sidewalk.

You're relieved when you reach the ice cream shop because it has a fenced-in playground.

"I'm going to make a sandcastle!" Annabelle shrieks, charging towards the sandbox.

"Okay, darling." You grab your phone and text Cora.

Bestie, what's up with Belle today?

Too much sugar :( my bad. I caved and let her have frosted flakes for breakfast Cora texts back.

Oh boy. Then ice cream is going to be a bad idea. Idly you walk up to the swings, wondering how you're going to convince her to get something else. And then you notice Mr. Araza and freeze. He pauses too, looking down at you. You have to put a hand up to your face to hide your grin because he's on the monkey bars. It's sturdy enough to hold his weight, but he looks ridiculous. His son is underneath, head craned up to look up at his father.

"Hello," you say politely.

"Papa is stuck," Sam says, turning to look at you. "Help him, Tobi."

You gulp down a burst of laughter and bite your lip hard, trying not to let your amusement show. Mr. Araza's golden eyes narrow, and his tongue flicks out, tasting the air. His eyes turn into annoyed slits and he lets out a huff. His tail is wound through the rather sophisticated monkey bars, and you can see he's stuck in more than one place.

"How did you even get up there?" You ask.

"I was... Teaching Sam how to climb," he says, and you can't help the small laugh you make this time.

"I do not find this humorous, neither should you," he hisses. "My tail is going numb. If it's not too much trouble, I would appreciate a hand."

You glance down at Sam. "Hey, I brought a friend with me, and she's the same age as you. Maybe you could play together?"

Sam looks doubtfully at Annabelle, who has forgotten about her sandcastle and is digging a hole in the sandbox. Then he nods and shyly slithers over to say hello. You turn back to Mr. Araza and put your game face on.

"How about I make you a deal? Promise to actually think about throwing a party for Sam, and I'll help you."

His pupils widen in shock. "You can't be serious," he scoffs.

You reach out and poke at his tail. "I dunno, Mr. Araza. You seem stuck pretty good."

"For heaven's sake," he rolls his eyes and his shoulders slump a little. "Fine. Quickly now, I look ridiculous."

You grin. "Then it's a deal," you say and walk around him in a slow circle, calculating.

You're not sure how you're going to get him out. The monkey bars are about six feet high, and he's right on top.

"Okay, I think I've got this," you say and begin to climb.

The next ten minutes are the most awkward ones of your life. You almost fall off twice. Mr. Araza twists his upper body to look at you, and his mouth turns down.

"You're going to hurt yourself this way."

"I'm good," you say, hooking your feet against the bars as you grab the thinnest section of his tail at the end. "You've kind of tied yourself into a knot here, mister," you tell him. "Can you move the end of your tail to the left?"

His tail moves, the end of it curling around your wrist.

"Okay," you mumble.

You succeed in freeing that section and move upwards.

"You're not a cat, you know. You can't fit in just any space," you tell him and you wrap your arms around his tail and press your chest against it like you're about to lift something really heavy.

Which is exactly what you're about to do. His tail is a solid hunk of muscle, his scales rasping against your bare arms. Maybe you press a little too hard or something, but he hisses and it's not a  normal hiss. It's a "get your fucking hands off me right now" kind of hiss.

You jerk your hands back. "Sorry, sorry," you say.

You have just touched softer, more sensitive parts of his tail where scales have been ripped away. Naga scales are incredibly hard to damage or remove but after your research this morning, you can guess how that happened.

His claws clank against the bars as he repositions himself. He won't look at you but maybe that's a good thing. If he looks at you, he'll be able to tell that you know.

"Just get on with it," he mumbles, wiping sweat from his forehead.

You take a deep breath and carry on. He doesn't make a single sound after that, not even when you have to pull so hard that he shudders.

"Need some help?" An employee from the ice cream shop calls over, finally having noticed.

"No, I've got it," you call back.

Just one more section to go. Araza is sprawled on the monkey bars, his torso pressing against them. That can't be comfortable. The way he's gone so still and pliant worries you.

"Are you okay?"

He nods, his hair falling over his face.

"Look at me," you command. "Please?"

He darts a furtive glance over his shoulder. His eyes are glassy, like he's partly somewhere else. Not good. Quickly, you balance your feet on the bars and tug. He comes free and falls off the monkey bars with a thud, taking you with him.

"We're okay," you say to Sam and Annabelle, who look up curiously.

"They're playing," Annabelle giggles to her new friend.

Sam looks worried, but then smiles and goes back to playing. You realize your legs are tangled up in his tail and gently extract them.

"You okay?"

He shoots upright, rolling over to the underside of his tail is against the floor.

"I'm fine. Thank you," he says airily, brushing leaves out of his hair.

All signs of vulnerability are gone.

"Great," you say, trying not to sound too bright as you stand up and dust yourself off. "I'm sure you won't do that again," you laugh.

He flexes his claws. "I have learned a valuable lesson. Your human trappings are terrible replacements for trees."

"Try a park next time," you suggest. "Were you here for ice cream?"

"I promised him a reward for his hard work in school. I did not think he would suggest such a ridiculous-"

"We're here for ice cream too!" You say brightly. "How about we all go in and get some?"

If Mr. Araza is about to protest, Annabelle's excited screaming knocks it out of him.

"Please do not tell me that is your child," he says flatly. "She is untrained."

"She's just a kid," you say. "She can be very loud, I'll give her that."

"Come on," you tell the two children, "let's go get ice cream."

Later on, after you've dropped off a sleeping Annabelle- amazingly enough - at her home and gone home with a gift of a box of chocolate chip cookies, you get a call from Mr. Araza.

"I have made up my mind," he says.

"About the birthday party?"

"Yes," he says, and you begin to dance in triumph.

"On one condition," he adds sharply. "I don't know what a party entails. I'll need your help."

"Oh, you don't have to ask twice!" You say happily.

Maybe the upright naga is finally warming up to a little living...

~ • ~ • ~ • ~

The amount of times I mention "ice cream" in here, lol! 😭

[bagerfluff]

Cookies and Cuties

Nico di Angelo x Mortal Male Reader

Prompt - Meet Cute

Part 1 - Part 2

AN - If you have any ideas for a story with this reader then ask and you shall receive

Nico walked down a path through New York.

He had just finished a quest, kill some monsters that were walking around.

Nico was tired.

Not only were there more monsters, but Nico had to shadow travel a lot to even live. So now he was walking down a path with lidded eyes and stumbling.

The sun was slowly going down in the sky and Nico could tell that in a few hours, maybe four or five, the sun would set.

Nico knew that he could shadow travel back to Camp Half-Blood or somewhere safe, but he was too tired to.

Nico leaned against the building and looked around. No one seemed to pay attention to Nico. Either they didn’t notice or they didn’t care. Nico was kinda glad for that.

Nico kept looking for something.

Maybe a satyr, or another half-blood but Nico saw nothing. Nico suddenly felt hungry. He could hear his stomach rumbling and Nico felt more tired. Nico realized that if he ate that maybe he could shadow travel.

Nico looked around again.

He was in the middle of a busy city, and there was nothing around. Expect. Nico’s eyes caught something.

It was a little building in between two buildings that looked like office buildings. It looked to be made out of wood.

It had two big windows on the left and right and only enough wood in between for a door. Nico looked up and saw a sign that read, The Ghost Rose. Nico furrowed his brow, what could a building named

The Ghost Rose sell.

Nico pushed himself off the wall and started to walk to the store. Once Nico got in front of it he looked inside the windows.

He could see a few people sitting at tables as well as a young man walking around with a notepad talking to a few of them.

There was a counter with a young woman behind them walking back and forth. Walking up to machines, reaching under the counter, and then ringing a bell. The right side of the counter had a glass, showing a bunch of desserts that Nico didn’t know.

Nico walked into the shop, a coffee shop Nico had realized. When Nico opened the door a bell rang and Nico looked up.

A little bell was in the way of the door. Nico could now smell flowers. Nico looked down and around.

He could see flowers sitting on window sills and hanging from the ceiling. “Hello. Welcome to Ghost Rose. If you take a set, I will be right with you”, Nico looked to the source of the voice. In front of him was the same young man who was walking around.

He had h/c h/l hair that looked messy, like he forgot to put gel in it. The boy had e/c eyes that had bags under them, like Nico’s. He had s/c skin and was wearing a white shirt with tan suspenders and black pants.

The outfit reminded Nico of how Leo dresses.

Despite how tired the boy looked he still had a smile on his face. Nico looked at the suspenders and one of them had a name tag.

Y/n.

Nico looked at the boy and realized how good he looked. His hair matched his eyes, and the smile he had looked cute.

Nico looked away and nodded, Nico couldn’t be thinking like that. Nico walked, more limped off, and found a table in the back that nobody was sitting at.

The flowers that were at the window sill wilted.

Nico glared at them and looked out the window, trying not to look at the flowers. Nico liked people watching.

It took his mind off whatever was wrong in his life, and that boy. Nico was still thinking about him. Him and his hair and eyes and smile.

Nico shook his head and focused on the window. Nico saw a man walking his dog, a woman with her boyfriend, and an old man walking with a cane. Nico felt his eyes get heavy.

He was tired and wanted to sleep. All of the adrenaline for the fight had worn off, and now Nico was feeling like he had just gotten hit by a truck.

Nico’s eyes were slowly closing when Nico heard footsteps behind him. Nico turned his head away from the window and to the footsteps.

That’s when he saw Y/n.

He was standing in front of the table with a notepad in one hand and a pencil in the other. “Hello sir. I’m Y/n and I will be your server today. What would you like?” Nico looked at the boy. Y/n was taking his order. Nico didn’t know what he wanted or what they had.

“I’ll just have a black coffee”, Nico might be from the past but he knew that black coffee was probably his best choice. Y/n nodded and Nico noticed something. Right above the name tag was a pin. It looked like a flag.

It was a rainbow.

Why the boy had a rainbow flag Nico didn’t know.  The boy nodded and wrote something down before smiling and leaving. The boy walked over to the counter and ripped the paper off the notepad. He then handed it to the girl.

The girl smiled and they began talking for a bit. The boy smiled and his face got red before he walked to another table. Nico thought Y/n looked cute when he blushed but Nico pushed that thought away again.

That was wrong.

Nico couldn’t think about a boy like that. That’s what he was told. Nico looked outside the window again. This time he saw two boys walking down the street holding hands. Nico looked at them, he didn’t feel disgusted.

Just jealous.

Nico glared at them through the window and rested his head on his hand. Nico looked at the couple as they walked by. Nico thought about Y/n, then he was mad.

Why was Nico feeling like this?

Nico heard the footsteps again and glanced over. Y/n was there placing a coffee cup down along with a cookie on a napkin. Nico was about to say that he didn’t order that when Y/n spoke up. “The cookie is on the house Pretty Boy”,  he smiled at Nico before walking away.

Nico blushed and looked at the cookie.

A few minutes later Nico had finished the coffee and half of the cookie. The sun had gotten lower in the sky and despite the coffee Nico was still tired. But Nico had to get back to Camp Half-Blood. Nico got up and reached into his pocket.

Nico didn’t know how much the coffee was so he placed ten bucks down and hoped that was enough. Then Nico grabbed the cookie and started walking to the door. “See ya Pretty Boy”, Nico looked behind him to see Y/n smiling at him again.

He had a broom in his hands. Nico waved at him and walked out. Nico walked down the street with the cookie in his hands. Though Nico was still tired he figured that he had enough energy to make it to camp.

So Nico was just looking for a place to shadow travel. Nico looked down at the cookie. The napkin was still under the cookie. But that’s when Nico noticed something. Nico stopped walking and pulled the cookie away from the napkin

A number.

A number was written on the napkin with only four words.

Call me Pretty Boy. 

[mr-celestial-writings]

Baking Disasters

Pairing: Conner Kent x Male! Reader

Summary: Who doesn't love baking with their partner? Especially when you found a bunch of Halloween themed recipes! I mean, what could possibly go wrong?

Trigger Warnings: None!

================================================

When you had found these recipes online, you had intended to make them yourself if you even could make them. Just you, your thoughts, and your kitchen.

Yet, on a call with your boyfriend, you had let it slip that you were planning on doing some baking.

Conner, ever the gentleman, offered to help. He had nothing better to do, besides, he loved spending time with you! So in Conner's eyes, it was a win-win! He got to spend time with you and get some delicious treats!

You two scheduled a good time for both of you, giving you some time to gather what you would need and make sure you had the recipes saved.

You had full faith in yourself and Conner. You two were one hell of a team. So what could possibly go wrong?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Well, the day came. Conner had come over to your place. At first, everything went well!

You had gotten the recipes pulled up and got to work. It started small, making pumpkin cookies and other such treats.

Then it started going south. It started small a first.

"Hey, babe, was this container powdered sugar or Flour?" Conner asked, looking at you. In his hands he held one of the glass jars you used to contain your baking ingredients.

It was easier than having to dig around for everything in the cabinets.

"Should be Powdered Sugar." You replied, focusing on mixing the batter you were working on at first.

"Cool, Cool. And my sweet, beloved boyfriend who I love more than life... Where are your measuring cups?" Conner Questioned as he sat the glass jar on the counter.

"Second Drawer, left of the sink." You answered, setting the bowl on the counter as you went to open the drawer in question.

Conner gave a nod, "Sweet." He grabbed the measuring cup size he needed, and you went back to the sugar cookie mix you were working on.

You were on Cookie duty, and Conner was on Icing. It was simple as that. It was a good balance and i kept things orderly.

You began scooping the cookies onto the cookie tray, humming softly to yourself. Conner was focused on trying to make the icing perfect.

For some reason, though, The icing wasn't mixing like it was supposed to. Conner just brushed it off, though. It would probably still be good.

"Sooo, why the sudden interest in baking, [Name]?" Conner asked, leaning against the counter as he watched you put the Cookies in the oven.

You gave a shrug, "Dunno, just figured I should try it. Besides, the recipes I found looked really yummy. They seemed simple enough too."

Conner smiled softly, "Fair enough. Wanna watch a movie while we wait?" He asked.

You closed the oven door and smiled. You nodded, "Yeah, why not? We got time to kill?"

You hadn't even realized you had forgotten to set a timer at that point.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was an hour and a half later, you and Conner having just finished up some Horror movie.

Conner sniffed the air, and his eyes widened. "The Cookies!" He said.

You and him stood up in a panic and hurried to the kitchen. You rushed to open the oven and a plume of smoke came out.

Conner hurried to open a window, venting the smoke out.

You got your oven mitts on and pulled out the burnt cookies. You set charred mess on the counter and sighed.

"Damnit, I forgot to set a timer." You admitted, staring at your ruined cookies.

Conner brought the bowl of icing over with a sympathetic smile, "At least we still have the icing..." He said, offering the bowl.

You went to stick your finger into the icing and eat it, but the moment it reached your tongue, you gagged and hurried to wash your mouth out. "Icing is also a lost cause." You said weakly, slumping down onto the floor. Conner joined you in your defeat.

"Well... at least we tried?" He said softly, You smiled and laughed.

You agreed in a nod, "Yeah, we did, and it was also an excuse to spend time together." You said, looking on the bright side of things.

Conner laughed, wrapping his arm around your shoulders and holding you close.

"Damn right it was, I wouldn't trade today for anything, mess ups and all."

You rested your head on his shoulder, "Neither would I, Kon. Neither would I."

================================================

a/n: Another character close to my heart. I'm so happy that I'm trying to write for all these characters, even if I'm not the best.

Seriously though, if you haven't had any pumpkin baked goods, go out and make some! or maybe buy some! They scratch part of my brain so nicely.

[two-white-butterflies]

WAITING FOR A BUS

I'm a traveling man straight from a can, I'm a thousand miles away from my number one fan.

Pairings: Aemond Targaryen x Reader, Daemon Targaryen x Reader (MODERN)

Description: A new promotion at work prompts you to move into a small modest town with your boyfriend, Aemond Targaryen. There you meet a few friendly faces. It seems like life is going where it's supposed to. That is until you meet your new boss, Daemon Targaryen, who is your boyfriend's estranged uncle.

It doesn't help with the fact that you've been having dreams about him since birth.

TW: MENTIONS OF PAST NON-CON, SEXISM, TALKING DOWN ON WOMEN.

masterlist | chapter seven

credits to vera-kozhemiakina for the picture.

Daemon's house was strangely beautiful — though his aesthetics remained dark and melancholy, it was an opposite to the exterior of his house, it was covered with light and flowers. Your grip on Aemond's hand tightened, feeling out of place in the big mansion. His other hand reached for the door-knob, opening the heavy doors with ease. Everyone was gathered in the living room, seemingly sharing stories about each other's lives.

"(Your name), you look amazing!" Harwin complimented while holding a tray of cookies in his hands. He was wearing his 'househusband' apron, which told you that cooking wasn't done yet. "I brought some wine," you raised your hand a little bit, showing him the bottle of wine on your hand. He placed the cookies down on the coffee-table. He gently tapped Rhaenyra's back, motioning for her to take a bite — but his wife seemed to be focused on Alicent's story.

Aemond's hand finds itself on your waist again. He gives you a soft smile, and he takes the wine out of your hand. "I'll put this in the kitchen, you should talk with the ladies while I do that." he suggested and you nod, quickly finding your way beside Helaena.

———

His uncle carried an aura that always pissed Aemond off. He's only been in Daemon's house once, but it was enough to give him a migraine. He places the wine loudly on the counter, interrupting the conversation between Laenor and Daemon. "Aemond," the man responded bitterly while taking a taste of his wine.

"Rogue Prince," Aemond replied with an icy eye that was narrowed slant in anger. "Don't make this dinner complicated. You might just regret it." he warns, turning his eye to meet Daemon's. He was a little taken aback by his uncle's expression. How long has it been? A thousand years since they've fought, he almost forgot how rabid the man could get. Daemon's eyes were those of a wild-hound, staring at his nephew from his feet to his head.

"What do you mean by that?" the man challenged, placing his glass on the sink. Daemon takes a deep breath, and he tries to calm his anger. A single strike from his fist would deem the man incapable of thought, but he was better than that — he could cause more pain with his words. "What do you want from her?" he asks, feeling his body tighten with every word.

"Uncle, you're doing too much. Calm down." the man smirked while crossing his arms, his eyes didn't take a second off the older man. "She doesn't even remember who you are. She loves me more." he taunted feeling venom leak from his every word.

Daemon clenches his fist, but he does well to hide his anger. "You are unsure. I can't blame you, nephew — eternal love cannot be broken by a charlatan, though you may try." the man decides with that answer for now, but he intends to add on it in the future. He doesn't understand what kindness you see inside of Aemond. His nephew was stupid and immature, not even reaching half of his prowess.

Aemond laughs loudly, his voice vibrated through the room. His mind flashes back to you in the past. Hands tied on the bed-frame, eyes flowing with tears and begging for death. Now that was eternal love. Relationships can only form when death is an element.

"You are lucky to have died before she got captured." he chuckled to himself while opening the wine-bottle with a sharp knife. "I'm sure that you couldn't have saved her from me." he added with a smirk, before turning his back on Daemon.

Before he could take another step outside of the kitchen, Daemon's fist already made contact with his body.

'How dare he?' Daemon thought as he continued punching his nephew. Aemond deflected a few of his punches, but he suffered more in return. The boy might've studied martial arts, but Daemon was a trained soldier. Daemon was supposed to land another blow, but Laenor pulled him away quickly — fearing that the family would see Aemond's marks.

Aemond laughed again, spitting blood on the floor. "You may hurt me, but you'll never change what happened." he taunted once more, feeling the wine spill on the floor. Daemon breaks free from Laenor's hold, and he pins the younger man to the wall. "What did you do you little bitch?" he cursed feeling dark-blood pump through his veins. His anger saved you. But his anger could also murder his nephew.

"You should've seen her, Daemon. She and her sister were pathetic." he laughs and another punch landed on his face. It was Harwin Strong who just walked in scene. Harwin remembers you — his bastard sister's sister, a childhood friend that treated him like a brother. He loved you. He was family. Aemond falls to the floor, unconscious.

"You fucking idiots," Laenor cursed while staring at the boy's beaten down body. "This is why I fucking hate men," he cursed to himself while running his fingers down his hair. "You've finally done it. You killed someone." he yells at Daemon while staring at the blood-stained floor.

Daemon's eyes widened and he points in Harwin's direction. "I didn't give him that hard punch, Harwin did!" he argued while staring at the boy's body too. Harwin kneels down on the floor, reaching for Aemond's neck. "Bad news, there's a pulse." he stood up, wiping the blood in his apron. It wasn't his intention to knock the boy out, but he did mean to maim him permanently.

"That's not a bad fucking news," Laenor rolled his eyes while peeking through the door. Good. You were still talking to the family. He reaches for the doorknob, and he locks the door properly. "How are we going to wake him up? We have dinner in an hour?" he cursed mentally, hearing the doorbell ring on the other side of the house.

"That's probably Aegon — he's watching the kids. Under no circumstance is he allowed to see this." Harwin mumbles while monitoring the cctv camera from his phone. "Hey!" Daemon glared at the man, seeing another person have access to his personal camera. "Shut up," Laenor rolled his eyes while staring at Harwin's phone. The man was right. It was Aegon and he was heading right to the kitchen.

Aegon knocks on the door. He was whistling a soft tune, and a smile was etched on his face. "Not the right time, Egg." Harwin yells out, trying to mask his nervousness. "Uhh okay, but one of the kids peed in their diapers." he reported while looking back at the crying kids behind him. "My youngest son is in tenth-grade, I think that's one of yours." Harwin replied with an eye-roll, and the man walks away again — realizing that it was in fact, Jahaerys.

———

Aemond has been gone for quite a while. You couldn't think of anything else except his well-being.

HONEYBUNCHSUGARPLUM🫦 4:29PM Aem, where tf r u?

Alicent peers through your shoulder, fighting back a small chuckle. "Don't worry, darling. He's probably kept in the kitchen." she comforted, pressing a soft hand on your shoulder. You smile for a bit, before remembering that he had no cooking skills.

"Yeah, in our family it's mostly the men who cook." Rhaenyra adds while combing through Jahaera's hair. She always wanted a daughter of her own, but after her recent miscarriage — she and her boyfriend never tried for another baby again. "Well, you'll find me cooking in our house more often." you attempt to stand up, feeling your phone buzz slightly.

ThomasDee_Targ69 4:43PM Do me a favor and don't go inside the kitchen.

Your eyebrows furrowed. What were they doing?

Helaena talks for the first time this evening. "They're probably making a nice surprise for the kids," she gave you a small smile, before returning back to stitching. You decided in that very moment, that you liked Helaena. She was put-together, and it was rare to see a child of 17 do that.

———

Harwin remained squatted on the floor, his hands were pressed to his chin as he attempted to create a worthy alibi. "Sherlock, you better save our asses." Laenor cursed, already down to his seventh glass of wine. He was clearly panicked with the idea of killing someone. Daemon couldn't resist a chuckle, remembering the enemies that Laenor used to slay.

"I can't think with you yelling, Watson." the man spat, returning back to his thoughts. Daemon assumed that there would be more bad-blood between them, but there was happily none. They acted like an old married couple most of the time. "We've been here for thirty-fucking minutes, he could have a concussion." he laid out while taking another sip of his wine. Laenor needed something stronger. Tequila or vodka? Anything that would take his mind off the situation.

"He doesn't." Daemon piped, knowing the first signs of a concussion. Laenor rolled his eyes again, "How do you know that? Harwin has the hand of a fucking bull." he cursed again and Harwin raised his fist, showing that his hand was indeed big. "This big fucking hand is about to meet your face if you don't shut up." he threatened, earning a chuckle from Daemon.

"I have a plan." Harwin tilted his head. "I'll carry this S.O.B up to the guest room, until he wakes up. Make sure that they are all distracted." he explained and Daemon nodded. The plan was a little faulty, but he could feign innocence if they were ever caught.

"What does S.O.B mean?" Daemon frowned, and Harwin looked at the both of them. "Son of a bitch." he replied, watching as both of the man cringed.

next chapter >>

tags: @namelesslosers @immyowndefender @ammo2022 @perihelioneclipse @gracielikegrapes

[orionsstory]

that kind of devotion can't be ignored | Anarcia (4)

A/N: happy birthday to me !! it's also my hundredth post, so it felt fitting for it to be a new chapter lol trigger warning for implied murder in a dream !! just in case -

It had been three days since Anetra had started to hunt down the person who broke into the store, however, it seemed she was no closer to finding the perpetrator than when she started. She sighed, dangling her feet off the side of a building, gazing up at the stars above her. She was frustrated, this was the first case she had been asked to help with and everything seemed to lead to dead end after dead end. The police were being as helpful as ever, which was not very, and she was just about ready to give up on assisting the case if she didn't hear about it soon. She shook the thoughts from her head and focused her attention on the street below, watching the people as they passed by, all but simple dots from how high up she was. 

From the street, a particular pink-clad dot stuck out. Maybe she was wrong, but she knew it was Marcia. It had to be. Anetra noticed the blonde while she was on her patrols, wherever she went Marcia would always seem to appear. It was like clockwork. Part of her found it cute, but another part of her was a bit scared by it. She couldn't exactly place her finger on why, so she pushed the feeling in her stomach deeper, yet it persisted time and time again. She watched Marcia, a small smile finding its way onto her face. She yawned, deciding it was time for her to head back. Before she left, she threw Marcia a wink- she wouldn't be able to see it, but that wasn't the point.

-

She entered the apartment half an hour later to find Sasha in the kitchen, cracking eggs into a bowl full of batter. "What're you making? And why, it's like...3 in the morning." Anetra asked her, slinging her hoodie onto the coat rack and leaning on the kitchen counter. Sasha motioned her head toward her phone where a recipe was pulled up, "Lemon cookies, it's our boss' birthday tomorrow and I've been so busy I forgot I promised to bring them! So I'm trying to make 50 tonight." She sighed, playfully glaring at Anetra as she laughed at her.

"The apartment is going to smell like lemon for weeks! Like you doused the place with Lysol." Sasha chuckled as she mixed the batter, "Could be worse. Could be like when you burnt that pizza." Anetra huffed, rolling her eyes as she tried to swipe a lick of the batter. Sasha swatted her hand away, "No tasting until I'm done, you forget I have to make 50 of these."

Anetra pouted, her big brown eyes pleading with the other girl.

Sasha sighed in defeat, "Fine, I'll make 51."

Anetra laughed, cheering for her victory. "So, how was patrol? Anything interesting? Kick anyone's ass?" Sasha hummed as she added another ingredient to the bowl. Anetra drummed her fingers on the counter as she recounted her night, getting a cat out of a tree, and helping a woman carry in her groceries, the usual. Sasha nodded along attentively as she portioned out the cookies on the tray.

"Did you see Marcia again?"

Anetra froze for a moment, the pit feeling in her stomach returning at the mention of her name. She tried to recover, stuttering out a yes, but Sasha had caught on. "What's wrong? Did something happen?"

Anetra sighed, "No...nothing out of the ordinary, at least." She retreated back to her thoughts for a moment before continuing. "Sash...I feel...I feel weird about her, and I don't know why." She looked up, Sasha's careful eyes seemed to be examining every part of her. "In what kind of way?" She finally spoke, "Like do you like her? Or is it something else?"

Anetra paused, mulling over the question in her head. Sure, she thought Marcia was cute and intriguing, but like her? Anetra had only known her for about a week or two, and while the flirting was fun- a real relationship with real feelings? Anetra didn't think she was ready for that. Besides, Marcia knows Lotus, not Anetra. She might not even like Anetra.

Sasha interrupted her thoughts, "I know what you're doing. You're overthinking, aren't you? What's on your mind?" Anetra sighed, sitting at the counter stool. "I don't know Sash...Marcia's sweet and all but...I don't think a real relationship would work out. It's just for fun."

"Then why do you feel worried every time you see her? It's because you care about her, right? That's more than any other girl you've saved." Sasha cut right to the point, causing Anetra to groan.

"Maybe. I don't know. But, she doesn't even know me- she knows Lotus. It wouldn't work out..."

"Why do you say that?" Sasha pressed on.

"Well- Lotus is flirty, confident, and strong. I'm not. I'm- I'm awkward, I have trust issues, and I constantly doubt myself. I'm practically the opposite of what she knows."

Sasha sighed, putting a hand on her shoulder to reassure her. "Neech, you know that's not true. She's there within you, all those great things about Lotus have to come from somewhere. And I don't think Marcia would be the kind of person to judge you because of those things. You and Lotus are one and the same, even if you don't think so."

Anetra averted her eyes, nodding as she took in Sasha's words. Deep down, that's what scared her the most. Mixing her two lives together scared Anetra more than any villain. Keeping them separate felt like the best way to prevent anyone from getting hurt...but Marcia was proving to make that very difficult. Hell, she had only told Sasha after they had lived together for a month and known each other for more than a year- she had only known Marcia for a week.

Sasha kissed the side of her hair and ruffled her hair, "Why don't you go take a shower?" she suggested, "The cookies should be done by then, gives you a chance to relax." Anetra smiled, "That sounds great, thanks Sash...I really appreciate you, y'know?"

Sasha smiled, "I know."

-

The hot water ran through Anetra's hair and down her body, pooling on the white tile below her. She ran her hands through her hair, carefully washing it as she thought back on Sasha's words. Sasha was right, of course, but Anetra still couldn't accept that- Lotus still felt a world away from her. She groaned, trying to shake the thoughts from her head and focus on what Sasha said. She and Lotus were the same, she just had to convince herself of that.

She changed her focus to the music, the soft songs from her playlist echoing through the bathroom, drowned out by the sound of water. She lightly hummed along to the words, the soap suds from her shampoo dripping down her body. The scent of green apple filled the room, the elements around her all working to soothe her mind. After another half-hour, she finally stepped out of the shower, toweling off her body.

Just as she finishes drying her hair, she hears a quiet buzzing coming from her hero costume. She recognizes it as the communicator inside her mask, rooting through her costume to find it. She places it on her face, answering the call with a wary "Hello?". This was more than odd, to say the least, HQ knew she was off duty at the moment, and she wasn't a popular enough hero that they would call her for emergencies.

"Hello, am I talking to Lotus right now?" The voice on the other end spoke, Anetra's brows furrowed- this wasn't the voice of one of the regular dispatch officers. "This is, yes," she replied, "is everything alright?"

"I'm Detective Barnes. I'm sorry for the late interruption, but we really need you down at the station. It's in regards to the jewelry store break-in."

Anetra perked up at that, "Did you catch them?"

The voice on the other line hesitated, "I-it's complicated. If you can come on down, we can give you the rundown. Best to do it in person."

Anetra agreed, promising she'd be at the station in fifteen minutes or less. She practically raced to put her suit back on, spitting out a flimsy "I'll tell you later!" to Sasha as she flew out the door. She soared through the night sky, arriving at the station in a record eleven minutes. Detective Barnes greeted her at the door, leading her back to the evidence room.

"As you know, we found a note at the original crime scene- we didn't think the contents of it were too important at the time, but...while we were sorting through it again, we noticed something on the back." He passed an evidence bag to her.

Anetra examined the writing on the note, written in perfect cursive on the lined piece of notebook paper were the words 'I will make you pay.' She furrowed her brow at the note...certainly ominous, but what did this have to do with her? She flipped the note over, and it suddenly caught her eye- on the back, neatly drawn was a lotus.

Chills ran down her spine as her hands shook- someone was after her? "Why didn't you tell me sooner?" She eventually managed to respond, setting the evidence bag back down. Detective Barnes picked it back up, putting it back where it belonged as he struggled to answer her. "We...we didn't think it was important at the time...that it was just a doodle." Anetra grew frustrated, cursing out the police in her mind- but choosing to keep her composure. She didn't speak, simply nodding. Her eyes seemed to be blank as her mind raced.

She returned to the apartment dejected and silent, lost in her thoughts. She gave Sasha a lame excuse about being tired before she locked herself in her bedroom, curled up under her blankets with her oversized hoodie and emotional support stuffed animal, a duck she creatively named 'Quack'. She squeezed Quack tightly against her, burying her face into his soft body. Her mind raced with the words from the note- racking her mind to think of who she could have made an enemy of.

She wasn't a big hero, she wasn't supposed to have enemies. She's tackled low-level thugs and petty criminals, but those weren't the kinds of people to seek revenge. At least she didn't think they were, but clearly, she was wrong. To say she was now even more paranoid was an understatement. Her mind kept racing with thoughts of her family, friends, and Sasha being targeted because of her, and it made her feel sick.

She tossed and turned in her bed as she struggled to fall asleep. Every time she closed her eyes, she saw the words from the note scrawled into the back of her eyes. She eventually passed out from pure exhaustion, her body unable to keep up anymore.

-

Anetra found herself in a dream, she frantically looked around- she seemed to be in a destroyed section of New York, smoke surrounding the area. A scream suddenly erupted from somewhere nearby- a scream Anetra immediately realized was Sasha's. "SASHA!" She called out, desperately trying to move, yet tied down by an unknown force. She looked around, stricken with panic. She glanced down, her eyes widening in horror with the sight that greeted her.

Marcia lay cradled in her arms, blood pouring from her head and her chest. Her soft blonde hair was stained with red blood, soaking into her pastel pink sweater. Anetra desperately shook her, the blood from Marcia spilling onto her arms, soaking into her costume. Onto her hands. "No...no, no...Marcia...please-" She pleaded, tears welling up in her eyes. She choked back a sob as the blonde remained limp, tears fell from her face onto Marcia's delicate face, now ruined with the deep red.

Suddenly, a loud cackle echoed all around her. She looked around, her eyes desperately searching for the source as the laugh became louder and louder. She held onto Marcia tighter, her heart rate now increasing in leaps and bounds. "WHO ARE YOU?" She screamed out, her question swallowed up by the laughter growing louder and louder. It overwhelmed her senses, Anetra desperately tried to cover her ears, but the laughter continued to grow louder until she thought she might go deaf. She bent over Marcia's body, her hands clamped over her ears as hot tears streamed down her face. She was convinced this was it, until-

-

She awoke with a start, shooting up in her bed as her alarm blared on her bedside table. She panted, brushing her hair from her face as she tried to get her breathing under control. The whole thing was just a dream, thank god, but it felt too real for her liking. Her hand fumbled around as it sought her phone, finally turning off the alarm.

She groaned, rubbing her face with her hands. She forced herself to leave the bed, leaving Quack carefully tucked under the sheets. She gazed at herself in the mirror as she braided her hair for work, an empty husk staring back at her. She looked a mess- dark circles under her eyes,  her skin seemed paler, and her stomach fumbled loudly. She sighed, reaching for some concealer to try and appear normal.

She emerged from her bedroom several minutes later, the smell of eggs and bacon wafting through the air. She felt a pit in her stomach as her eyes landed on Sasha, the scream from her nightmare barging to the front of her mind. She winced.

Sasha smiled, brightly as ever, as she laid a plate on the counter for Anetra. "Morning! I saved you a cookie from last night." Anetra mumbled a 'thanks', picking at the egg in front of her. She could see Sasha looking at her, her eyebrows furrowed as she tried to decipher the girl in front of her.

"Neech, what's wrong? You've been upset ever since you came home last night. Did something happen?" She finally spoke up.

Anetra sighed, her thoughts going back on forth on whether or not she should tell Sasha. On one hand, she didn't want to worry her- but on the other, it was practically impossible to lie to Sasha.

"Yeah...uh, last night the police showed me this note from that break-in...it was threatening me specifically." She took a shaky breath, feeling Sasha's hand comfortingly rubbing circles on her back, "And then last night, I had this dream...I heard you scream, and then I looked down and...and I saw Marcia, she wasn't moving and was covered in blood."

Sasha enveloped her in a tight hug, her head resting on top of Anetra's. "Neech, baby, I'm so sorry. That sounds horrible. I take it you didn't sleep well?" Anetra nodded. "Well, make sure to take it easy today. And hey, I know the note seems scary, but promise me you won't worry about it too much. It's probably just some asshole messing with you." Anetra tried to speak up, but Sasha beat her to the punch. "And Marcia and I will be fine, I promise. Look, I'll be extra careful today if it will make you feel better. You already have my location at all times."

Anetra sighed, calmed by Sasha's words. She nodded, "Okay. Thank you Sash, I really appreciate it, you know. I feel like I've been saying that a lot lately." Sasha released her, smiling. "Good, I'm meant to be appreciated. Now hurry up and eat, you need some fuel in you."

-

After breakfast, Anetra was back on the subway and headed to work. Doja Cat's 'Boss Bitch' blasted in her ears as she waited for her stop, going over today's schedule in her head. Despite Sasha's words, she was still on edge- constantly checking Sasha's location and looking around at the people around her, looking for any sign of a disturbance. 

She entered the gym, waving to the secretary as she made her way to her room for today's sessions. Once she got into her work, the day seemed to pass by in a blur. The training sessions were intense, leaving Anetra exhausted by the time lunch rolled around. She slumped down in the seat next to her coworker, Aura, and pulled out her lunchbox. Aura was the resident bodybuilder of the gym, who worked with a lot of Anetra's clients as well.

"You look rough. Tough sessions?" Aura asked. Anetra nodded, "It's like everyone's suddenly been booked for some action movie lately...my body is so sore." She groaned.

"Tell me about it, my clients have practically doubled. Guess it's superhero season." Aura nodded, and Anetra laughed. "My favorite time of the year."

Aura chuckled and rooted around in her lunchbox for a moment, pulling out a vanilla cupcake. "Here, take this. To celebrate the busiest season of the year!" Anetra smiled, taking the sweet from her, "I didn't know you baked- didn't you almost burn down your house when you tried to make cookies for the Christmas party?"

Aura flushed a bright red, faking offense. "It wasn't that bad! But no, I didn't make these, so don't worry- they're edible. My, uh...friend, Robin, made some for me. I've got a bunch more at home. Too many, actually. I need to start, like, giving them away."

Anetra laughed, taking a bite out of the cupcake. She had to hand it to Aura's friend- the thing was damn near perfect. "Well, it's really good. Send my compliments to her, seriously, this is amazing." Aura beamed proudly, promising she would pass the message along.

-

In between her patrols that night, Anetra sat on the top of a building, looking down on the people below as she often did. After she returned home from work, the police alerted her that they were analyzing the note for any DNA remnants, but reassured her they were certain it was an empty threat. That helped to reassure her, and her current patrol was running as smoothly as ever, which greatly calmed her nerves.

From the corner of her eye, right on time, she spotted the blonde who had been invading her thoughts. She felt the pit in her stomach return- her nightmare coming to the front of her mind. She shook her head, pushing the thoughts back down. Even if the threat may not be real, Marcia was still putting herself in danger to talk to her, which she needed to fix.

She flew towards the girl, careful as to not be spotted by her. She quietly descended behind her, trying her best to hold in her laughter. "I just saw her! Ugh, where'd she go?" Marcia whined, scanning the nearby buildings in the area she was just in.

"Looking for someone?"

Marcia let out a gasp and slightly jumped, whipping around as Anetra fell into a fit of laughter.

"That's not funny! You scared me!"

Anetra tried to calm down, trying to stifle her laugh (however she was failing miserably).

"Sorry, sorry, I-I didn't mean to scare you." She eventually spoke, "But you've been following me around like a lost puppy, I figured you'd be happy to see me!"

Marcia suddenly flushed bright red, "You...you saw that?" She squeaked out, anxiously playing with a strand of her hair.

"Baby, it's my job to notice everything in this city. But don't worry, I think it's cute." She winked, making Marcia flush even harder. She stepped closer to the girl, "You know, if you're that desperate to see me, you can always just message Sasha. It's better than putting yourself in the middle of a crime scene."

"I, uh, I didn't want to bother her, she seems like a busy woman."

"I'm sure Sasha would prefer you text her instead of putting yourself in danger too, I promise you won't bother her." Anetra reassured her, giving the girl a soft smile. Before she could say anything else, she was interrupted by a buzz from her communicator asking for backup. She sighed.

"Listen, I've gotta go, but we should hang out soon. Just promise me you'll test Sasha this time, okay princess?"

Marcia blushed again, and a small "okay" left her lips. Satisfied, Anetra threw her a wink before soaring through the air, off towards the action.