#I found it amusing but mostly interesting and fascinating since it manages again to explain my functioning well without stretching anything

[tangleweave]

War and Peace

There was a brief thought of how odd it was (less so since she’d begun her adventures in Spaces but still rare enough) for her to have to look up to meet someone’s eyes. At 5'10", and with her confidence often seeming to add three inches, War was tall for a woman. Her embarrassing stumble only inspired that one thought since she couldn’t really find it in her to be irritated by his amusement. She only managed to softly scowl. Knowing if their positions had been reversed, War probably would find such stubbornness combined with wobbly legs amusing too.

War huffed silently and relented a little, letting his hand on her waist help balance her. Swallowing pride would always suck. He was surprisingly light with his touch and she did have to appreciate that.

“Skuttle-who?” The ginger muttered, mostly to herself, as Bill called out his order. His talking to seemingly no one gave her an idea of what exactly Skuttlebutt was. The disembodied response confirmed her suspicion. He’d likely be able to feel the way she tensed slightly when the ship spoke. AI’s like that, ones that seemed to lurk while seeing and hearing all, would never fully cease making War uncomfortable. But, she thought as the food was presented and her neck muscles unwound. At least this one calls me by my name.

Bill was hardly finished with his apology for the lack of flavor before War had taken two of the bars, one in each hand, and devoured half of the not-actually-chocolate in her right grip. She’d taken the same, ‘What would be the point in poisoning me now?’ Approach to the food that that she had with the water. Also as she’d done with the water, War was swift with her consumption. The way she ate was truly rapid, though not messy or obscene, and could really only be described as efficient. She was refueling. Nothing more. Nothing less.

“Food is food. Taste never matters.” War shrugged and slowed down a little on the second ration. Playing as though she was slightly less desperate for food after the first (she wasn’t), but actually taking the moment to give Bill another once over. His analysis of why she’d crashed was sharp.

Given the sheer enormity of the galaxy, it was unlikely Bill would even have heard of who, of what, War was truly fleeing from. However, War had no intention of risking it. She generally found the idea of covering with a lie to be tedious though. Lies often had to be covered with more lies and then there were all the details to remember. It was something War could do, but usually she preferred straight up avoiding lies if possible.

So she decided her response would be a light curving up of her lips joined by an easy half truth. Only going back as far as the reason she’d been on that particular ship. “I like to think of it less as fleeing and more making something not my business.” War did a stunning job of acting like the fact he’d fed her had edged off some of her suspicions.

She continued to lean tentatively into the hand on her waist, but as he guided her the calories from the rations gradually kicked her healing back into gear. The bruises that covered her turned green at the edges and shrank like a retreating tide while she explained. “I paid for a ride with a merchant who apparently drew the attention of some Ravagers.” War shrugged again. “It wasn’t really a squabble I was interested in getting stuck in the middle of. Though clearly my flying of spaceships needs some work.”

Her consumption of the ration bars was a thing of fascination to Bill; himself a product of engineering that prized efficiency, he found kinship in her attitude towards the flavorless supply and even in the way she ate the bars, not shoveling them with desperation but simply finishing them off as quickly as she could, like her mouth had more important things to do than eat.

He took note of how she seemed to ease a little more now that she had something in her stomach. Perhaps it meant that she might find reason to summon trust and a calmer demeanor. Even so, it was clear she wouldn't be satisfied until she'd found whatever she was seeking aboard her vessel, so he continued to guide her to the hangar bay at the fore of the warship.

"Ravagers." Now that was a term he had reason to know. Though he had a healthy respect for some who had found shelter and kinship with that notorious band of brigands -- Quill, Gamora, Groot among them -- he was not a proponent of their organization on the whole. He found thievery detestable, armed robbery and assault no less so. There was a reason the Nova Corps arrested on-sight those carrying the Ravager brand upon their clothing.

"I am glad you were able to escape, then. Did you leave behind any valuables with this merchant, or were you able to secure your possessions aboard the ship?" Then he glanced down at her, suddenly catching on to a piece of the tale she'd not explicitly shared. "For that matter... do you know what became of the merchant and their home vessel?"

The line of inquiry was barely out of his mouth before they were approaching an enormous airlock door. Proximity sensors bade the thick door to yawn open, leading to the massive bay, at the far end of which hung the backdrop of open space -- but less than fifty paces away from the entrance was docked the husk of the vessel she'd crashed.

[azenta]

I've always thought your answers and explanation to be very tert Ti...If you don't mind, could you explain what led you to retyping?

Ah yes finally... The question i was waiting for.

The main and simplest reason is because I switched of paradigm, for the one named CT: Cognitive Type. This approach has a visual typing method called Vultology, and from the videos I sent in the server the result was revealing most likely FiSe ("ISFP") with conscious Ni, thus the little l-l- thingy in my bio which stands for function consciousness.

Of course, simple visual analysis didnt convince me on its own at first, but when I read the theoretical part, it convinced me really fast. They basically articulated everything I conceived about Cognitive functions and got an objective methodology to assess them, which is the lacking aspect and biggest flaw of the jungian mbti (j-mbti) system mostly used on tumblr.

Anyway, when I read about "Ji lead", I had to constate two things:

1. It did still fit with my way of processing quite well, and which you, anon, and many others, have been also reporting about me.

2. It was overlapping a lot with the Ni-Ji descriptions made in J-mbti, especially the Ni-Ti one.

When I got into Fi descriptions, I got a bit flabbergasted. Within one single function, they explained everything I tried to convey within four ; Ni-Fe-Ti-Se. But when i read the Ti one, it was the most unrelatable shit i have ever read of my life. Ni was still relatable as well, but the only reason why i didnt retype to NiTe instead, else than because my vultology doesnt match NiTe one, is because of their theory on cognitive development and consciousness level.

As i mentioned, i have Ni "conscious", and within this theory, conscious functions share equally the energy used for cognitive processing with the leading function. So, it means Fi and Ni are used in equal measure, like a symbiotic whole. It's like if both were dominant, almost. However, if energy is restrained for some reasons and one has to be sacrificed, Fi will remain predominant.

Of course, this doesnt tell why I think Fi dominance explain my process better now, so here is the link, as it would take me way too much time and energy to write it myself when i have an article at my disposition to do the job for me. However, big disclaimer here: it is outdated and needs to be rewritten. Some parts are still "Meh" and this is why it needs to be revisited. But the overall is still very potent and i could relate to most parts.

Also, in this theory, my Se is still pretty much dead even tho it is still technically auxiliary. It is unconscious, and development requires some Ego work. And i am still in the lower stage of my Se development, according to how development happens through this paradigm (which i also fully agree with). I am even ironically more advanced in my Te development, which is near consciousness.

Anyway, I am derailing. There is a lot more that could be said, because the main reason of my retype is about the theory switch i have made. It would requires me to explain a whole theory which is masochistic at this point, especially when knowing the author himself has taken years to write it down, and is still refining it. But in the J-mbti, i'd still type as INFJ, however the CT theory aligns way more with my own conception of cognitive functions, so I identify way more with FiSe overall, which is not necessarily the same as "ISFP" in the J-mbti.

If you want me to explain some specific part of my retyping or have questions about this theory overall (like, wtf unseelie means lmao), i will gladly answer.

[adashofniallandasprinkleoflunacy]

does alien harry like titties? or does he just stick to apples and pussy?

Yeah I don’t see why not, not even aliens are immune

And what’s funny is he’d be so perplexed about his affinity for them. Like he’d lay on her with his head buried in her chest while she plays with his hair, practically drooling and falling asleep, and all she’d hear is a drunken mumble of, “Mammary glands are literally just sacks of adipose tissue meant for thermoregulation, nutrient storage, and feeding offspring. I don’t understand why I’m attracted to them, they don’t have any reproductive value!”

“Please don’t refer to my tits as ‘mammary glands’ ever again.”

“Sorry. I just…I can’t find the evolutionary link to why they produce a sexual reaction and it’s driving fucking mental. It makes no sense.”

“Maybe the reasoning behind it isn’t so scientifically cut and dry.”

Harry lifts his head for a moment, blinking his eyes at her drowsily, yet full of interest. “Elaborate.”

“Maybe it’s psychological.”

“How so?”

“God, this is going to sound ridiculously clinical and borderline Freud-like, but maybe you’re attracted to them because of an underlying reproductive value.”

“Explain.”

“Well, maybe your brain sees breasts as a symbol of passing on your genetic material, considering their main purpose is to sustain offspring. The natural instinct of any living organism is to pass on their DNA, and since mammary glands are technically meant to help that DNA survive and develop into a bloodline, that could possibly be your missing link. Maybe that’s where the sexual appeal stems from: the fact that they indirectly support an evolutionary primal urge.”

“But I don’t want a child.”

“Your hormones can’t differentiate between whether you do or don’t. They’re automatic, so your reaction is automatic.”

Harry stares at her in thoughtful silence for a moment, processing her theory and cross-referencing it with everything he’s researched about humans and their scientific background. He dismantles her hypothesis, studies it in pieces with immense scrutinizing precision, and then shuffles its contents back together, absorbing it as his own. She makes a great point; her opinions have a solid foundation, and though they’re based mostly off brain games instead of concrete data, he’s come to learn that humans rely heavily on the psychological aspects of things to find solutions to their problems. And more often than not, they manage to find a successful explanation.

Harry has never been one for implications and loose-ended deductions— he’s always preferred palpable proof as the source material for his beliefs, courtesy of his scholarly tendencies— but he can’t deny that he finds Y/N’s speculations fascinating. They’re refreshing, logical, complex, and completely different then what he’s used to. He never even thought to take the cognitive factors into consideration; he just assumed it was all purely physiological, and in doing so, limited the scope of his results. Despite being part of a civilization that is centuries more advanced than anything he’s found on earth, he’s shocked to find that a simple college student has managed to best his years of experience. The human mind is fucking insane, pun intended.

Harry glances up at Y/N once more with an awed tinge to the emerald green of his eyes, and then proceeds to plop his head back down against her chest, wordlessly surrendering to her working theory. His voice weighs in delicate and sleepy, full of admiration and fondness. “You’re so hot when you’re clincal.”

The girl smiles to herself softly, continuing to gently scratch at his scalp like before, swimming in his praise. It feels good to have her wits complimented by someone she holds to such a high standard. “I’m glad I could enlighten someone of your academic standing.”

“‘Enlighten.’” Harry murmurs through a chuckle, huffing in amusement and allowing it to mold into a long yawn. “Nice one.”

[keelywolfe]

FIC: Welcome to Backwater ch.7 (spicyhoney)

Summary: Stretch knows he can't really depend on the kindness of strangers, but oh, sometimes he wishes he could.

~~*~~

Read ‘The Kindness of Strangers’ on AO3

or

Read it here!

~~*~~

It was with a heavy, weird-ass book in hand that Stretch returned to the heat of the afternoon. This time he made haste getting back to the store while his knees were cooperating, almost jogging on the sidewalk and waving to any regular customers as he passed. The sun was on its downward path by now and the strollers were out in full force, the Human moms and pops pushing them hardly paying him any mind past a ‘good afternoon’ as he went by.

His knees were back to the wibble-wobbles when he slipped through the door, the bell announcing him with a muted clank. The first thing he noticed was that Red wasn’t behind the counter. He was standing at the back of the store, leaning on his cane and blocking off the hallway that led to both their living quarters. Yeah, that looked like insurance that Stretch couldn’t hurry on past him upstairs; Red wasn’t quick, but he also wasn’t stupid, and Stretch could feel his hard gaze scrutinizing him from across the store.

Wonderbar.

Stretch pasted on a grin and tried to act like someone who hadn’t been recently felt up by Red’s little brother in the public library. Not that Red said that he couldn’t, but some things, (for example, random groping) could probably be inferred.

“hey, what’s up?” Stretch said brightly.

“my bro called,” Red said bluntly, and Stretch’s feeble hopes deflated like yesterday’s party balloon. So much for discretion.

“i can explain,” Stretch blurted, “it wasn’t my idea, seriously, i was only—"

Red interrupted him with an amused snort. “easy, kid, don’t haul out your guilty conscience on my account. all he did was give me the gist of things, said you had yourself an unexpected adventure.” Red jerked his head towards the hallway. “g’wan, string bean, you can use my bathroom. take a shower and cool off.”

A cool shower pouring down on his dirty, sweaty bones sounded like Eden itself right about now, apple not included.

“thanks,” Stretch said gratefully. He skirted around Red, who didn’t move, only squatted there like a grouchy stump in the middle of the doorway while Stretch squeezed around him. Must be tempering his kindness with a little extra asshole to keep things even.

On his way to showerland, Stretch took a quick detour to leave the book on the coffee table amidst the clutter. Maybe he could ask Red about it, get the cliff notes version.

The shower in the downstairs bathroom was stuck with the same crappy water heater as upstairs, not that it mattered since Stretch was about ready to cuddle with an iceberg to cool off. Added bonus, the showerhead was a lot better and it managed to crank the feeble water pressure up to its max. There was a cheap plastic stool sitting in the tub, way too short for Stretch. He sat on it anyway, knees almost up to his chin as the cool water poured down on him and washed away the sweat and filth.

He was shivering a little by the time he was done, dragging a ratty towel over his dripping bones. The pile of his clothes was missing and there a new folded bundle sitting on the closed toilet lid. He must’ve been out of it more than he thought, he’d never even heard Red coming in. Unless laundry fairies were a thing and wasn’t that idea a lot more pertinent than it was yesterday.

Stretch picked up the bundle and part of it fell on the floor. Pajama pants, luckily not a pair of Red’s although it might’ve been hilarious to see Stretch wandering around like a scrawny hulk who sprouted upward out of his clothes instead of sideways. They were red plaid flannel and worn to the stage of being shiny at the knees and elbows. Probably an old pair of Edge’s, the fit was pretty close and not too many Humans wore their waistband quite as skinny as a guy without a waist.

(he was not getting a cheap thrill out of wearing a pair of Edge’s pajamas, no matter what his libido was trying to tell him)

He wandered out into Red’s living room, still squeegeeing his skull dry with the damp towel, and saw the sofa was made up with some blankets and a pillow, the television remote set helpfully in reach.

“you done?” Red’s voice echoed up from the store and his peculiar gait made its way down the hallway until he appeared again in the doorway. “then lay down and turn on the boob tube, zone out awhile. you’ll feel better.”

“what did your brother tell you?” Stretch asked. Not that he wasn’t willing to do what he was told. The couch was saggy in the middle, but the blankets were clean and smelling of laundry detergent. They felt blissfully cozy after the cold shower.

“said you met edgar allen,” Red said. “under less than stellar circumstances, i’m guessin’, since i don’t think ya got an invite for a meet and greet with the local scarecrow.”

This time his shiver had nothing to do with the temperature. Edgar Allen was an okay guy, (guy?) but Stretch was still on the fence about the corn’s attitude problems. “not exactly, no. thanks for the heads up, by the way.”

Red tilted his skull to one side, baffled, “heads up about what?”

“i dunno,” Stretch leaned up on an elbow to see him better and hopefully increase the effect of his dirty look, “maybe when you’re warning me off from the local landmarks, you could’ve touch on that fact that a stroll through the fields might involve the corn trying to hold me as a captive audience?”

“naaah,” Red scoffed. Stretch didn’t miss the way he absently started picking at his gold tooth; that was a nervous tell right there and maybe all this wasn’t just concern but dealing with a little guilt that Stretch’s latest town bonding experience was less than top notch. “that's why the damn scarecrow is there t'begin with. ‘sides, even without him you’d have gotten out before dark. anyway, never expected you to go tromping off into the corn in search of a maze, sorry i misgauged the direction of your dumbass.”

“no, i’m sorry, not your fault.” Stretch couldn’t hold back a yawn so wide it nearly split his skull, yeesh, it wasn’t even dinner time and he was ready to sleep for a week. The imaginary hamster running on the wheel in his head wasn’t quite as ready and it decided to race back to thoughts of Edge sitting in the library, alone. Researching he’d said, so intent on his books from the so-called restricted section, like a bargain basement Hogwarts. “hey, what does your brother do?”

“mostly he’s a pain in my ass.”

It was said with great feeling and Stretch snerked out a laugh. Yeah, kinda a universal trait with little brothers. “no, seriously, i mean, for a living, what does he do?”

Red shifted his feet, his cane scraping the floor. “why are ya askin’?”

“curious. bored,” Stretch shrugged, “take your pick.” He didn’t really want to explain to Red that his brother wasn’t just a sexy pair of legs in boots anymore, (but those hips would never be forgotten). He was interesting, no, fascinating. This whole town was turning out to be some kind of puzzle and it seemed to him that Edge might be a big piece. He’d said that figuring out Backwater was a fool’s errand, but he’d never met Stretch’s kind of fool before.

“kid—” Red sighed and that resigned tone snapped Stretch out of his whimsies. He cringed internally. What was he even trying to do here, he owed Red so much and not just for the job, and here he was digging for information about his bro after Red already warned him off, not once, but twice, so maybe what he was really digging was his own grave, if he didn’t knock it off.

“nevermind,” Stretch said hurriedly. “i shouldn’t’ve asked, none of my business, i get it.”

Red shook his head. “that ain’t it.”

Stretch tried on a little laugh, ha ha, see, it wasn’t that big a deal, right? “look, the state of your brother’s ass aside, i get it. that’s your little brother, and i didn’t forget what you said. we only bumped into each other at the library, i’m really not trying to get into his pants.”

He left off on making it a promise; he was telling the truth, but why take the chance on not keeping it.

He didn’t expected the hand that suddenly scruffed over his skull, like the noogies he used to give to Blue when he was little…well, okay, Blue was still little but noogieing was off the table since he’d started his guard training.

This wasn’t like that childish roughhousing, Red’s knuckles only scraped softly along his coronal sutures. “no, kid, you don’t get it. my bro can handle himself, it ain’t him i’m worried about. but you? don’t ya got the feeling you ain’t up to any new affairs of the soul right now? might want to take it easy awhile.”

That unexpectedly gruff kindness made tears sting in his sockets. Stretch guiltily leaned into that touch to absorb every drop, and how was it he could accept it from Red when he couldn’t take it from his own brother? “i don’t get you. you barely even know me. why are you so nice to me?”

Red huffed out a laugh. “you want i should be an asshole? okay, but i gotta warn ya, i’m a contender when it comes to dick moves.”

“thanks, but you can keep your dick in your pants.”

“your loss.”

“seriously, though, what i mean is. i just don’t get it. this place is so weird, but everyone is nice.” It didn’t exactly line up with Stretch’s view of the world. His brother was always nice sure and Snowdin hadn’t been too bad, if you didn’t count the fact that all his friends were from drinking his nights away at Muffet’s. The surface world ran about fifty-fifty with Monsters being on the kinder side of the scale…until he got dumped and found out he lost all his friends in the divorce, how was that for loyalty.

Red only chuckled. “now you’ve gone and cursed yourself. can’t say everyone is nice, you ain’t met everyone yet.”

That was true, fuck, he hoped the universe wasn’t listening and if it was, that it didn’t decide to drum up a little drama. “red?”

“yeah, kid?”

Stretch craned his head back on the pillow and met Red’s crimson gaze upside-down. “thank you for being nice.”

“don’t tell anyone. i’ll lose my resident asshole status.

“secret is safe with me, promise.” Stretch yawned again and the cow bell suddenly jangled loudly out front, startling them both.

Red shouted. “yeah, i’m coming!” He tossed over his shoulder back at Stretch, “take tomorrow off, sleep in, you ain’t had a day off since ya got here.”

“thanks, boss.”

Stretch started to settle in, nap ahoy, captain, hard to starboard and all that, and his eye lights snagged on the book. Shit, he forgot to ask Red about it. Probably didn’t matter, Red’s ingredient label kinda went equal parts of cryptic and cryptid, so he probably wasn’t gonna give the right answers even if Stretch figured out what to ask.

Wait.

If Red and Edge want to share the part of the local Obi-Wan with their mysterious ways, that was fine. He already had the perfect person lined up to ask about the town’s history. Well, part of a person, anyway, the most important part.

Plan formed, Stretch turned on the television and snuggled into the blankets, letting the dulcet tones of Pat Sajak lull him to sleep.

He didn’t dream.

~~*~~

The next day, Stretch headed over to the theater bright and early, still munching on the muffin Red handed off to him as he settled on the stool for the day with his latest book, this one with a bare-chested pirate embracing a busty Human woman as the ocean sprayed up over the hull over them. Seemed to Stretch that would be less smokin’ sexytimes and more cold and wet, but what did he know, his closest encounter with the ocean was extra salt on his Applebee’s margarita.

“thanks, mom,” Stretch said as he took the little paper lunch bag Red held out to him. Red only grunted and didn’t look up from his book. In the midst of rummaging for his tasty free breakfast, Stretch hesitated at the front door.

He felt a little guilty even though Red was the one who told him to take the day. Before he started working at the store, was Red really sitting there all day long, twelve hours of a cash register and customers while he drank beer and soaked up a little romance language in the form of a cheap paperback?

Not that Stretch was judging, hell, if that made Red happy, more power to him. Still, there had to be more to his life than that, didn’t there? Maybe he’d see if Mitch sold sudoku pads at the gas station, pick him up one along with a six-pack. Hard to guess if they carried that kind of entertainment; Mitch was either some kind of crossword grand champion or the kind of guy who ate ketchup on his cheerios and Stretch still wasn’t sure which.

The first movie showing wasn’t for another hour, but Igor didn’t make a fuss when Stretch asked him if he could go sit down early. (and holy shit, the proprietor’s name was actually Igor? He wasn’t sure if the guy’s parents hated him or if the universe sense of irony rolled a natural D20 when it hit this town.)

Igor only grunted and handed over two cups of popcorn without being asked, handing back a crumpled dollar in change. Aww, Stretch had a usual, see, he was settling into town just fine, suck it, Edge.

(don’t think it, don’t think it, don’t think it…)

Stretch made his way to the theater to his regular seat, propping his sneakers up on the chair in front of him. The popcorn he set aside for now, it wasn’t exactly his idea of a breakfast treat and that muffin Red gave him was still settling into his magic. To be honest, he wasn’t entirely sure if Doris could show up very long before the movie. He was no expert, but he did know that ghosts could have some peculiar rules about manifesting. Hopefully this wouldn’t mess with her morning routine, whatever it was.

He didn’t have to wait long. Maybe Doris could sense him or maybe she could just feel it when a living person came into the theater. She slowly came into focus next to him, pale ectoplasm coalescing, and the already cool air chilled even further.

Doris happily sniffed at her popcorn as she said, whispery soft, “Good morning, Stretch, you’re here very early.”

“yeah, took the day off work,” Stretch said. His voice sounded too loud in the empty theater, not even the elevator music was playing yet. “i need your help with something.”

He might as well have flipped Doris’s switch to ‘on’. She lit up, a smile curving her pretty mouth and seeming more solid than ever. The seat behind her was barely visible through her pale pink dress as she said eagerly, “Of course, anything that I can do.”

So that was how Stretch came to tell her the story about Edgar Allen. He didn’t leave out any details, including the bit about the kids shouting at him not to go in the field, the corn closing in around him in a dizzying maze of green, Edgar Allen’s assistance, and Edge’s cryptic warning that the scarecrow would disappear with the harvest.

Doris listened to it all raptly, her eyes wide and startlingly blue, and she never flickered once the entire time. The only unsettling sight was a single trickle of blood running down the side of her face, gathering in a heavy droplet on her chin.

“My, that sounds terrifying,” Doris breathed, unaware of the irony of her saying that while a slender thread of ghostly blood ran down her cheek. The droplet swelled fatly, growing until it finally fell with a plip onto her dress, leaving behind a perfectly round spot that would slowly vanish, only to be replaced by the next drop.

It didn’t really bother Stretch much anymore; he was getting used to it and an old memory of blood was nothing compared to his recent woes. “yeah, it was spooky all right.”

“But I’m not sure I can help you,” Doris continued sadly, “There wasn’t a scarecrow in my day, not that I remember. But the corn. Yes. That I recall.” She shivered delicately and her chair let out a strange groan of springs. “A person could get lost for days in the corn. I remember…” Her already faint voice went softer and Stretch strained to hear her, her gaze distant. “I remember one year at harvest time, they found a skeleton in the field, it was awful. Oh!” She gasped and pressed a gloved hand to her mouth, “I’m so sorry, it was a dead person, not a skeleton like you!”

“no offense taken,” Stretch assured her. He slouched down in his seat even more and waggled his feet, his untied shoelaces laces bobbing against the seatback “huh. so at least one person died out in the corn.”

“I’m afraid I don’t remember much about it,” Doris admitted. “whoever it was, they weren’t local.”

“uh huh.” An outsider, then, like him, getting munched up by the corn triffids. “who owns the corn fields, anyway?”

“I…” she hesitated, then apologetically. “I’m not sure. I don’t know if I’ve forgotten or if I never knew.”

Another mystery. If he was gonna play at Sherlock Holmes, he really needed to start taking notes. Maybe get a pipe.

“welp, either way, edgar allen bro out there saved my ass,” Stretch told her. He picked up a piece of popcorn and didn’t eat it, only crumpled it between his fingers and let the mangled bits fall to the floor, “and he’s gonna die come harvest time. i feel like i owe it to him to at least hear his story, you know? edge wouldn’t tell me much, just gave me that book and a scavenger hunt.”

“This Edge person doesn’t sound very nice,” Doris said disapprovingly. Her mouth pulled down into a frown that flashed briefly to a bloody smear. “Is he local?”

“kinda? he’s a monster like me, so he could only have been in town for a coupla years. since we came to the surface, anyway.”

Sudden relief washed over Doris’s pretty face. “He’s not a human, then.”

“nope, he’s another skeleton monster.” That seemed to satisfy her. Note to self, Doris wasn’t real keen on Humans, in a way that didn’t seem like it was only about the way they ran away when they got a good look at her. That mystery wasn’t all too mysterious, not with a big, bloody clue flickering in and out of view like a gory version of a kid’s flipbook. If that was a going away present from another Human, he didn’t blame her for being wary. He wondered if she’d met Edge before but Stretch hesitated to bring up that idea, or to mention Red; he didn’t want her to feel bad if she didn’t remember. “yep, another skeleton monster in town. he’s kinda rough around the edges, but he’s okay.”

“Okay, is that all?” Doris said with unexpected mischievousness, “he didn’t sound simply ‘okay’ when you were describing him.”

A blush flared hotly in his cheekbones and Stretch hunched down in his seat, weirdly embarrassed in a way he hadn’t been with Red. At least Red could see what he was staring at, Doris only had him waxing poetically about Edge’s hips to go by, and Shakespeare he wasn’t.

“yeah, yeah,” Stretch grumbled, and damn, he should’ve brought along his hoodie, at least he could’ve hidden from the laughter shining in her translucent eyes. She had a dimple in the cheek on her good side and it deepened as Stretch admitted, “could be that i enjoy the view. but that’s it, okay? just a little sightseeing, i don’t need any souvenirs.”

“Uh huh,” Doris clicked her tongue thoughtfully, “Stretch, my mama always told me you can’t hurry up a good time by waiting for it.”

Other people were starting to come into the theater now. One of them gave him a curious look, but they didn’t stop, only followed the others down to the front row.

“the only time i’m looking for is in the nick of,” Stretch sighed. “guess there’s no way around it, i’ll have to read the book.”

He should’ve known not to try to find an easy way out; seemed like all his shortcuts had abandoned him, lately.

Doris laid a hand on his arm and a sudden chill sank its teeth in deep enough for his bones to ache. “I’m sorry I couldn’t help,” Doris said softly.

“nah, you helped plenty,” Stretch told her. She had. Now he knew that scarecrows were slightly more recent, at least within the past century and that maybe the cornfield wasn’t quiet as safe as it’d been played off to be. At least a cornfield without Edgar Allen in it.

The lights started dimming, the first credits beginning to roll. His popcorn was cold, the butter congealing it into clumps of greasy blobs that stuck to his fingers. Stretch ate it anyway, hey, it cost him a dollar, and laughed with Doris as Buster Keaton escaped from a bumbling crowd of cops by grabbing onto a passing car.

His phone was in his pocket, tucked in deep and only lightly pressing against his femur through the thin cloth of his shorts. It vibrated once in a quick, staccato burst while the movie was playing but Stretch ignored it.

That was one lesson he’d learned very well while they still lived under the mountain; if you focused on the task at hand, you didn’t have to think about the ones you left behind.

~~*~~

tbc

[ranmanjuu]

Me again sorry if I’m spamming can request how the boys react to going to the future with mc be everywhere’s in lockdown thank you and stay safe love you~ (๑ゝω╹๑)

there’s probably a shit ton of them hcs around these parts and i feel like i’m just re-wording a lot of things so like,, ahaha i’m sorry. also the character cast is u-t forces cause ngl we have a lot of oda forces request previously and the coming requests dw just showing love to my kasugayama boys

—shingen:

the moment you stepped into the good ol’ modern times, the first thing you realized was that there’s a pandemic going on and with shingen being immunocompromised, it’s surely a danger more than ever. without a word, you quickly drag him into your apartment first thing’s first.

you quickly told him to take a shower (to which he’d probably jokingly invite you in, but to be fair, he doesn’t really know how bathtubs and shower heads are used). you didn’t have men’s clothing, not for his size so to say, so you just settled with your big, stretchy jackets you had.

after explaining the situation, you did consider going to the hospital for his treatment,, on one hand, if shingen doesn’t do it, he’ll. . .you know. and if he does, there’s a chance that he could get infected (with hospitals being a breeding ground for the virus). 

in the end, you decided to do it.

even after that, you were always careful with things like going out, mostly you taking care of the shopping and everything. you kept reminding him to wash his hands, social distance, etc.

and frankly, while he understands social distancing, he doesn’t like it. he just wants to hug and kiss his deity lover! prepare for the man to just recite poems so damn dramatically for this.

(^ this includes the amount of pickup lines increasing by a lot. the fact that he can now search some up from google doesn’t help.)

there’s a lot of things you do in quarantine, and you’ve found that the amount of carpentry has increased significantly prior to this.

said carpentry ranges from tables and chairs, to small decoration carvings of birds and the likes. the smell of wood now wafts in the air more than ever.

you’ve now replaced yukimura for his dieting of sweets. his illness may be gone, but teeth problems could still arise! but shingen can have some modern candy once in a while, as a treat. 

as for the reaction of the future in general—shingen finds it so, so warming how relatively peaceful it is compared to the sengoku. yes, protests are happening and there’s practically a new type of war going on (he most certainly advocates for human rights, etc), but it’s a step to a new light. a world he wants.

—kenshin:

you’ve had conversations of the future before—most of them on a,,, bizzare note, with the topic being on swords and war (or lack thereof), etc. a silent agreement was made between you two to not have kenshin be in the future since he’s missing one of the things he ‘needs to live with’ (them being war, sake, and you).

but a lot of improv had to be done when the wormhole was much more stubborn and managed to pull you through.

right after you figured out what happened, a security guard immediately came and told you to wear a mask (considering it’s a must). you had to haul kenshin back to your house before he attacks the guard with his sword.

after cleaning the two of you from any virus, you began running things over to him about the future. aaaand he’s already thinking about keeping you in your house by any means so you don’t get caught by it.

but you managed to convince him otherwise, you did have to go shopping and the thought of kenshin doing it with all the foreign technology around him made you sweat nervously.

no, kenshin, sake isn’t a need but you will buy it for him cause he won’t be able to survive, you feel.

you thought a peaceful modern world was bad enough for kenshin to reside in, ohoho, wait until you realize he can’t even go outside and fight sasuke and all that jazz.

a thought crossed your mind to learn how to duel and fight using mop sticks but he shot down that thought.

in the meantime, most of your days were spent in the garden with his sea of bunnies (how they got there, you don’t know) and mostly tending to them so they don’t contract the virus (kenshin almost flipped when you told him that rabbits could do that).

and by night, you spent it by looking out to the city skies (but the light from the buildings doesn’t hit like the stars do) and drinking sake.

he’d also be against social distancing, but—unsurprisingly—only to you. after a while that rule goes out the window as he cuddles you to death from being touch-starved.

i feel like he’d be interested in the past (or future, to him) wars just because. he’d read up about the wars from all sorts of places. and sometimes, you’d catch him with a deadly smile and say, “that sounds like a great idea, i should wage one like that.”

you had to remind him no, you can’t start a war cause you want to.

—yukimura:

he’d flip straight up by the idea of there being a pandemic in your time. you never talked about this when you told him you came from the future!

he’d probably groan at first with the thought of having to hole up for a long time, but he’d quickly understand. it’s for the benefit of the immunocompromised and the old, he’d like to help by following the rules.

besides, he has you. he’ll cope.

at first, his plan was for you to just let him do all the work during lockdown, like going out and stuff. he was non-chalant, if a bit stubborn.

until you mention groceries.

you start firing him questions, do you know what we need? do you know how much of it we need? or which one is which at all?

he shuts up after that.

yukimura will definitely do those workout things on youtube, and you’ll probably be roped into it. rip to you but you’re gettin’ buff during these lazy times.

small, silly arguments would most likely be the norm for you. it’s a bit of spicy bickering back and forth, you both find it amusing and it’s a way to stimulate the brain, no matter how stupid the topic is.

it can range from if mugwort mochi is better than chestnut dumplings, and you’ve even gone out to search for light topics to have small debates over.

occasionally, he’d invite you outside to watch the skies. the colorful lights from the tall buildings kind of reminds you of the loud fireworks during the festival back in the sengoku—only if they became stars instead.

much like shingen, yukimura is thankful of the positive changes in the future. horrible things may have stayed, but as long as there are people advocating for a fair and peaceful world, he can spend his days beside you.

—sasuke:

as any situation, sasuke was prepared as ever. the second you went to the modern days, he pulled out a spare mask (dw it’s clean) from his pocket and handed it to you. remembering the rule of mandatory masks, you quickly put it on.

you couldn’t really have a discussion about time-travel in the open, so you both went to your apartment.

sasuke is definitely well-versed in the virus, dumping most everything he knows unto you to better arm you with it yourself.

somehow, he could calculate how much groceries and overall shopping in any timeframe. a month, two, etc. so you find yourself bringing him out shopping with you.

since he’s now in the modern world, the amount of him being holed up kinda increases. if he’s learnt so much from a youtube tutorial, imagine the absolute machine he’d be by the end of it.

yeah he’s that guy who learns 45 million skills.

sasuke might seem unbothered by having to keep distance from you, but he really isn’t. you can tell; by the way his lips tighten, or the way his eyebrows furrow sometimes.

would regularly remind you to wash your hands, and would always say to take a bath each time you go home from the outside. if you’re ever sick, he’ll somehow have the perfect medicine ready.

you binge watch shows all the time, it’s another form of bonding cause you two already know about them. you’d spend nights on the couch with a blanket and snacks, discussing about things ranging from theories to crack cotent.

you really wouldn’t trade it for the world.

—yoshimoto:

honestly, yoshimoto isn’t even much interested in the future. mostly just how far art’s gotten (and trust me, it’s gotten so far). such is the situation when the wormhole caught you two.

he probably got sidetracked from the first art he could see (probably street art in this scenario) after you barely identified you went to the future.

again you must haul this pretty man after being told off by a security guard for not wearing a mask.

your biggest problem is probably his massive fascination with modern art. endless hours were used to have a talk that, no, he can’t go to an exhibit right now.

so you improvise.

you gave him a hand-me-down phone, or just share a laptop, and teach him the concept of digital art, along with how to operate certain social medias so he can browse around.

downside is he is currently—and unknowingly— planning to get you broke by commissioning artists. also he may or may not’ve been doing posting questionable things on his accounts (you really shouldn’t’ve given him one,,)

and so to fix the problem created to solve a problem, you decided to take it into your own hands.

popping out all the drawing supplies you’ve ever had, you began to doodle anything and everything, every day. and each one, you’d show it off to yoshimoto like a child to their parent.

and each time, he still looks at them so lovingly, no matter if it could hypothetically be classified as chicken scratches. as long as you make it, in his mind, it’ll be something worth cherished for.

but your strong suit has always been stitching, so you start a lot of projects of art on clothing. it counts as the one above.

oh—you know those pretty cloth masks? you now have about 100 of these at least, courtesy to yoshimoto.

[twstedgrils]

Oc Master Post

Alright! I finally have all my ocs designed and written down! This is the official debut post for this oc blog! It’s really long (gotta go through 10 ocs lmao) so I’ll put a read more so it’s easier to scroll past. If your interested, please read and even ask me questions! I really want to interact with this fandom since everyone seems so nice and funny!

And yes, I did put grils instead of girls on purpose...I’m funny I swear

So I first want to say that my ocs are in an au, one which has NRC have female students (but still in low numbers) and an 8th dorm based on Captain Hook (making Ramshackle the 9th). Also Crowley is a tiny bit nicer to our mc in this au, mostly cause he’s basically her weird dad lol

There’s another addition to this au, but that’ll be addressed in my MC insert’s bio.

I’ll also list additional info that the text in the refs don’t address, including body types because I wanted my ocs to be diverse in that aspect.

Another thing, shipping. Oh great seven, shipping will be a free for all for me. I really like shipping. So any ship and every ship will be possible (as long as it’s not with Cheka or Ortho, cause no. Human Grim is fine, but he has to be in human form). With that in mind this blog will be very self-indulgent when it comes to shipping and such. 

I’ll come back to this to edit when I develop these girls more.

So first off we’ll start with my MC!self-insert!

I didn’t know what outfit to put her in, since Ramshackle doesn’t have a dorm uniform, so I just put her in her pjs (which were provided by Crowley).

Birthday: Feb 4 (my b-day lolol)

Best Subject: Math

Worst Subject: PE (for valid medical reasons)

Hobby: Drawing

Homeland: Not of TW

Body Type: Average

Charlotte (or Charlie as people call her) is usually quiet, especially when she first arrives in TW. But the more she’s comfortable around the people, the more she reveals her inner sass. She doesn’t want to admit it, but she’s as much as a dumbass as the ADeuce duo.

She’s also has albinism, but she used to constantly dye her hair into a more strawberry blonde so she wouldn’t get picked on by other kids. This condition also leads to her having to take many breaks during PE so she won’t burn.

She may like cats, but Grim really tests her fondness for them. But once it’s found out he can take a human form (and becomes more chill due to the amount of energy it takes to maintain said form) the two actually become the best of friends, which shocks the first year gang. 

Design Inspiration: White Rabbit and March Hare

Birthday: Feb 29

Best Subject: History

Unique Magic: Golden Doorknob (Summons a golden doorknob on any surface, making it a door to anywhere the user thinks of. Example, placing the knob on Ramshackle's walls and walks into NRC's Cafeteria via the door)

Worst Subject: Chemistry

Hobby: Track

Homeland: Afterglow

Body Type: Pear shape

Whitney is what you expect from a rabbit, timid, nervous, shy, anxiety filled, and easily intimidated. At first. If you manage it anger her, suddenly you’ll be hit by both a Scottish war cry and a rabbit kick. When she’s angry, she’s a rage filled bunny who throws the most foul of curses. Her switches are rivaled to Deuce’s bad boy switch. And just like the boy, when she calms down she get’s very flustered. 

She doesn’t talk to many people, as she hates attention. But after some she does become acquainted with the boys, almost on the line of friendship with each. 

Design Inspiration: Shere Kahn and Tigger

Birthday: Set 28

Unique Magic: Fun! Fun! Fun! (turns any part of their body into a bouncy spring. Often the tail is used)

Best Subject: PE

Worst Subject: Chemistry

Hobby: Basket Weaving and making jewelry

Homeland: Land of Pyroxene

Body Type: Apple shape (broad shoulders)

Kaya is seen as a tough no bs girl, many females admire how she can go woman-to-man with the Savanaclaw males. But actually she’s nothing but a goofball that loves to tend to baby animals and make cute things. She has a talent for making beautiful woven baskets and earrings. She helps Ruggie a lot whenever she sees him overun by errands. 

She does have a tendency to nap anywhere and everywhere like Leona and Silver, but she apologizes sheepishly when woken up. Because of her napping habit, she tends to stay up late into the night.

Design Inspiration: None

Birthday: May 24

Unique Magic: Second Chance (let’s the user go back to a certain point to try again. Only activated when close to death)

Best Subject: Chemistry

Worst Subject: History

Hobby: Singing and baking

Homeland: Coral Sea

Body Type: Petite

Wendy is a very small moon jellyfish mermaid. She was home-schooled by her mother under the sea, while her father ran a business on land. She visited land often to see her father, fascinated by all neon lights shining in the city.

She’s very quiet, like she’s actually a selective mute. She doesn’t tend to hangout with people because she fears most don’t like her because of her selective muteness. Oddly enough though, she’s always seen with Floyd, to the bafflement of everyone. She finds the eels mannerisms amusing.

She loves to sing, but doesn’t want anyone but her secret singing buddy (Daria) to listen to her. Her voice is very high pitched, but soft that it’s almost hard to hear. She also loves baking, often seen helping Jade and Floyd with preparing the sugary foods and drinks Monstro Lounge offers.

Design Inspiration: Iago and Jasmine’s red outfit

Birthday: Aug 5

Unique Magic: Dancer’s Delight (charms anyone who sees her dancing, perfect for distraction)

Best Subject: None

Worst Subject: None

Hobby: Dancing

Homeland: Land of Hot Sands

Body Type: Hourglass

Layla is like that one person who teases everyone and sees most as her friend. She uses both her height and pretty features to get a rise and fluster anyone. Her main victim is Jamil, much to his displeasure. She gets along great with Kalim, fueling his antics of carpet riding and shenanigans. But she does help Jamil in taking care of Kalim, often seeing the snake whisperer overworked.

She’s usually seen hanging out with Kaya and Whitney (with the rabbit being flustered by both of the taller females). She’s drawn to most in the Savanaclaw dorm, as she has the urge to pet their ears. She and Kaya are in the same class, so the two always buddy together, helping each other if needed.

Back home she comes from a line of exotic dancers, always entertaining other for money. With this in mind, she practices her dancing everyday. She hopes she can live up to the expectations her family has put on her. She’s not wealthy, but she’s not poor, so she doesn’t get too surpised over Kalim’s wealth. But she still does, especially when Kalim once offered to get her a tiger cub (she refused though).

Design Inspiration: Myself and Medusa (Hercules tv show)

Birthday: Mar 27

Unique Magic: Snake Eyes (paralyzes anyone with her stare if activated, even herself if she looks in the mirror)

Best Subject: History

Worst Subject: Math

Hobby: Painting and singing

Homeland: Isle of Lamentation

Body Type: Chubby

Daria is another quiet and reserved girl, she’s not shy per say but she prefers people to approach her than the other way. She doesn’t particularly like that she was sorted into Pomefiore, cause all she wants to do is paint and sing. This leads her to grow close to Epel and anger Vil. She purposefully doesn’t do anything to her appearance, only brushing her hair as she hates tangles. 

She tends to stay in a secret area with Wendy, singing with the fellow quiet girl. If not that then she’s doing artwork in her dorm room, ignoring anyone who dares to pull her away from her work. Often times this leads to both her and Vil having a glaring contest cause she didn’t sleep (”Too busy painting” she says.) or forgot to do her morning skincare routine.

Design Inspiration: Phosphora (Kid Icarus) and Electra (backstory)

Birthday: Jul 16

Unique Magic: Sparks Fly (allows the user to transfer any electricity from any device around her into her prosthetics)

Best Subject: Math

Worst Subject: None

Hobby: Modifying her prosthetic limbs

Homeland: Rose Kingdom

Body Type: Top heavy

Elina is the mom friend, always giving others affection and helping them when she can. Because of her affectionate self, she treats Ortho like her little brother. You’ll often see her playing with the boy, or in her room working on her prosthetics (with Idia helping). She loves making her limbs look non-human, but she has more human structure legs for school (as to not weird out her classmates too much). She’s made them since young, always improving and modernizing her limbs.

Because of a tragic accident, she has prosthetics for both legs and her left arm. And has trauma over car races or cars going over the speed limit. She never mentions her family around others, but it shows how much she cares for them. The same could be said for her friends.

Design Inspiration: Chernabog

Birthday: Jun 6

Unique Magic: ???

Best Subject: History

Worst Subject: Chem

Hobby: Making Clothes

Homeland: Valley of Thorns

Body Type: Shortstack

Maria is basically the opposite of Lilia, while he looks young but acts maturely she looks mature but acts like a complete child. Most believe she’s staff before she has to explain that she’s a student. She’s not a brat (thank sevens) but she is very naive and innocent. This causes for her dorm mates to become somewhat protective if someone makes a pass on her (she never notices cause she thinks they’re just being nice). 

She has a talent with designing clothes, no one can explain why. Many have approached her to pay for her designs, but she refuses. She says she much prefers to just make and gift her designs to anyone. When she’s working, it’s the most mature you’ll see her. Everyone she’s interacted with has at least one thing she’s made, whether they wanted it or not.

Design Inspiration: Hook and Scarlet (the female animatronic from the pirate ride)

Birthday: Dec 25

Unique Magic: The Sea’s Rage (a passive ability that allows the user to access inhuman strength, allowing her to lift even Jack or Malleus)

Best Subject: None

Worst Subject: All

Hobby: Pick-pocketing

Homeland: The Savage Seas

Body Type: Flat (Looks average thanks to her corset)

Jessie is the dorm leader of Bonäuber, a dorm based upon The Captain of the Seas, who is held almost as high regards as the Great Seven. She’s a very childish and extremely cocky girl. She always praises herself for being the best out of everyone, when in actuality she’s not the brightest. The only thing she is good at she is shooting a gun, loving a good hunt. She also has a child fascination for board games, so she often plays (and loses) with Azul and Idia. 

Most don’t like her because she has a bad habit of stealing from anyone and everyone. This is because of her hard childhood, having to steal to survive with no family. The Savage Seas, and the isles among it, were tough on those with no wealth. It wasn’t until a kind pirate gifted saved her from a beating and gifted her a gold coin, her first coin. She now wears the coin on her neck and vows to become a pirate as great as The Captain, using her loot to make others who were in her shoes to have a good life. Because of her ambitions, she always goes for the rich when looting, Kalim being her main target. But because of how nice and generous he is, she gets flustered and runs away without a single coin. (It’s really cute ngl)

As a dorm leader she’s overly not strict, the most she can be is over how clean the dormitory is. Uniform isn’t strict as well, only forcing those in the dorm to wear the striped shirt, vest, belt, bandanna, and boots. Bottoms can be anything, and the corsets were optional. Most dorm members were interestingly mostly females, which confused many. 

Their dorm building is a functioning pirate ship, usually docked on a deserted island. Occasionally the dorm will go on an adventure, since most are those who love the sea and can’t stay in one place. 

Design Inspiration: Smee and Tick Tock Croc (and maybe Louis from the princess and the frog)

Birthday: Oct 3

Unique Magic: When I’m Human (let’s the user take a human form with little drawback, like Kalim’s Oasis Maker. This slowly wears off if the user is over emotional, most commonly anger.)

Best Subjects: All

Worst Subjects: None

Hobby: Making tea and treats for Jessie

Homeland: The Savage Seas

Body Type: Hourglass (looks more exaggerated thanks to her corset)

Sammy (what Jessie calls her) is the vice dorm leader of Bonauber, she’s very mysterious and weird to most in the school. She’s always by the shorter girl’s side, and always takes care of her. She is a big enabler, sharing her ambitions with the leader. She’s very humble about her intelligence and abilities, often only giving praise to Jessie. She’s almost like a mother for the leader.

She’s secretly a crocodile that saved (and traumatized) Jessie when they were younger. As she saw the little girl run from an adult, causing the reptile to attack the adult. She didn’t know why, but at the time a sudden feeling of protecting for the girl took over. Ever since then the reptile was drawn towards the girl, almost obsessive. It wasn’t until she developed her unique magic that she stuck with the girl from childhood. Jessie never realized, as Sam is very keen on keeping the object of her affections(?) in the dark. If anyone threatens the two, Sam will open her eyes and glare with her slit pupils as scales appear faintly.

And that’s all of them! After posting this I’ll start working on two things.

1: cards, I want to draw cards for them as if they are canon characters. I’ll work on the school uniform cards first!

2: Grim’s human design, this one will be easier as he’ll just be a sketch. 

Again, feel free to ask any questions! I’ll answer with in character sketches! (with more elaborating in artist’s text) I’ll try my best to answer as many of them as I can! You can also dm me if you wish to just talk about twst with me!

[randomfandomimagine]

You Owe Me (Reese x Reader)

Character: Reese Wilkerson (ft. Malcolm, Stevie, Dewey, Hal, Lois & Jamie)

Fandom: Malcolm in the Middle

Categories: Reader Insert, Female!Reader

Title: You Owe Me

  Summary: Y/N seems to see something in Reese that everyone else ignores, so she tries to be nice to him. Things complicate, however, when she realizes that people might not be as wrong as she thought about Reese.

I just couldn’t understand. The more I stared, the more confused I became. I had seen it, Reese was aggressive and sometimes even cruel. He was a bully sometimes. Why did I find him so interesting? Why was it that, even as I watched him chuckle to himself while doodling on that text book, I still wanted to hang out with him?

A voice I recognized got me out of my thoughts as I finally spotted Malcolm and Stevie eating lunch at a close by table. I leaned off the wall and headed their direction.

We weren’t really that close, but they were the ones I got along with best. Especially now that Dabney, Lloyd, Kevin or Cynthia weren’t there. I felt inhibited with so many intelligent people.

“Hey, guys” I called them, earning curious glances from them. “Mind if I sit with you?”

“Go… ahead” Stevie replied with a small smile that I reciprocated.

“Hey, Y/N” As all response, Malcolm moved his bag so I could sit down with them. “Don’t you sit with your friends?”

“Let’s just say that they’re not really my friends…” I glared in their direction as they boisterously laughed in my absence. “Especially behind one’s back”

“Sorry to… hear that…” Stevie said, making me look at them again instead of my ex-friends.

“Yeah, what happened?” Malcolm asked me as well.

“Never mind that, I’m with you now” I showed them a cheerful smile and shrugged. “Forgive me if my conversation isn’t too interesting, though, I’m not as smart as you two”

Both Malcolm and Stevie mumbled humble replies, slightly flustered by my compliment.

“Hey” I hadn’t noticed Malcolm’s brother had walked up to us.

“Hi, Reese!” I waved at him, earning only a brief glance and a reluctant wave back.

“Give me your book” He demanded from Malcolm, who rolled his eyes.

“What’s wrong with yours?”

“I got artistic, but didn’t realize I was using permanent marker”

When Reese opened his book to a random page and showed us his masterpiece, I giggled at the sight. It was full of goofy doodles like rockets, skateboards, skulls, pirates and even some comical stick figures fighting like ninjas. He heard me laughing and dedicated me a cute toothy grin filled with amusement and pride in his work.

“Don’t… encourage him” Muttered Stevie.

“I’m not giving you my book!” Malcolm complained. “Just because-“

He was interrupted by his brother as he stole the bag from Malcolm, grabbed his book and then punched him in the arm.

“Thanks!” Reese then proceeded to leave like nothing had happened, with his brother’s unpainted book.

What went on in his mind? What was behind all that goofiness and violence and why couldn’t I pinpoint it? Even worse, why did he fascinate me like that?

I watched him as he walked away grinning, satisfied with the outcome of the scene. I still couldn’t understand why I found him so interesting. Maybe because he was oddly charming, or just because he was a mystery to me.

*

The next day went on as usual. My stupid friends pretended like I didn’t even exist, and I didn’t know if that was worse than knowing they insulted me behind my back. Whatever, I knew I could hang out with Stevie and Malcolm and they wouldn’t mind. Maybe I couldn’t talk about science or math with them, but we did chat about TV, videogames and comics.

I walked into Reese on my way out, right after the bell rang announcing the end of the classes for the day. We hadn’t really interacted much other than because of our mutual connection with Malcolm, but I smiled at him like I always did.

“Bye, Reese!” I waved at him, and he frowned as usual. This time, however, it wasn’t the only thing he did.

“What are you up to?” He exclaimed, holding me by the shoulders and shaking me.

“What?” I was confused by his sudden outburst and tried to get away from his grip, but he was really strong.

“Why are you always so nice to me?”

“And why not?”

“Tell me!”

“You’re hurting me…”

Reese paused and let go of me, watching me intently. His greenish eyes focused on me with suspicion. I took a step back, staring at him as well and waiting for his next move.

“Bah…” In the end, Reese rolled his eyes and walked away, leaving me alone.

A part of me shouted that maybe people were right about him. Maybe he was a little crazy and was nothing but a bully. A small side of me, however, looked into his behavior without really meaning to. Maybe he was so used to people being mean to him that he was suspicious when someone was nice for a change.

“Don’t let him intimidate you” Malcolm’s voice startled me as he had arrived behind me without me noticing. “You’re smarter than him”

“I’m not that smart”

“You’re still smarter than him”

I stared at Malcolm, surprised that his own brother talked like that of him. I shook my head, knowing that their family dynamic wasn’t really my business. I sighed and continued on my way outside the building, with Malcolm walking next to me.

“Did I say something wrong?” I asked, still confused about his reaction. “I just said ‘bye’ to him!”

“He’s paranoid” Malcolm tiredly explained. “He thinks you’re going to pull a prank on him or something”

“Just because I’m nice”

“Yup… Why are you that nice, by the way?”

“I don’t know, I just want to be!” I shrugged, self-consciously pushing the books I carried against my chest. “I think he can be sweet too… Deep down…”

To my surprise, Malcolm broke out in loud guffaws of laughter. After a few seconds, he looked at me and slowly calmed down.

“Wait, you’re serious?”

“Okay, maybe deep deep down… But still…”

“Look, Y/N, you’re really nice” He put a hand on my shoulder. “But I think you’re too nice to think that highly of Reese”

“He’s your brother!” I complained, shocked that he spoke like that.

“Yeah, and I will always defend him” Almost like he was surprised by his own words, he looked around to make sure no one heard. “But… don’t tell him I said that”

“What…?” I stuttered as he left. “But I thought… You said…”

That family sure was weird. But maybe that was why I was so drawn to them.

*

I couldn’t get Reese off my mind for some damn reason. Random moments of watching him goof around school kept popping up in my head. Like that time he squirted water in his mouth using a tiny water gun. Or the day I surprised him singing the catchy song to a commercial, he interrupted himself to say hello back to me, and continued. And how every time he did one of those things he chuckled or giggled to himself. I found him to be… endearing, adorable even.

I still didn’t let him take over my life, he just piqued my curiosity, that was all. But I continued with my day to day as usual, not being all that bothered when I bumped into him. Instead I kept hanging out with Malcolm and Stevie, went to class and forgot about him. Until one day he made me focus on him by the force.

I was walking around on my free period, taking in the tranquility of the school playground without all the people talking, shouting and laughing. But I guess he either had a free period as well or just skipped class, because Reese was there too.

“Hey, Y/N!” I heard his voice calling me, so I turned around to face him.

“Ah!” I squeaked when I was instead welcomed with something hitting me hard.

Something exploded over me, falling onto my head. When it did, it covered me with a gooey substance that spread through my clothes and stuck to my hair. I immediately heard him cracking up, coming to meet with me.

I was confused, but overall I was angry.

“You should have seen your face!” He pointed at me, holding his stomach as he continued laughing.

“Reese, you dumbass!” I pushed him with so much force that he lost balance and fell on the floor. “What was that for?!”

“Ha!” He said, even as I towered over him sitting on the ground. “That will teach you!”

“Teach me what? To hate you like everyone else?” I hoped my intense glare would pass on to him how absolutely furious I was since I couldn’t put it into words being so rattled.

Reese frowned, remaining silent for a moment, but he recovered quickly and stood up.

“No, to trick me trying to be nice!” He pointed a finger at me again, this time accusatorily.

“Trick you? Trick you?!” I looked up to the sky in exasperation, grunting in annoyance. “Ugh, Reese! You’re a brute and a jerk!”

“I… I…” He was suddenly rattled too.

“Maybe people are right about you” I told him before I stomped away.

I was glad that people were in class and the hallways were empty, otherwise they would all have laughed at me and maybe even give me a weird nickname that would haunt me for years. I made it to the bathroom and watched my reflection in the mirror to analyze the damage.

I spent at least fifteen minutes in the bathroom, trying to get that goo off me. My clothes were completely ruined and I would have to throw them away, it was impossible to clean them no matter how many times I put them in the washing machine. But I had managed to mostly get it off my hair. When I was rinsing it for the third time, a knock came to the door.

“Occupied” I bitterly said to whoever was trying to get in.

“Y/N, it’s me, Reese” I rolled my eyes even if he couldn’t see me through the closed door. “You there?”

I didn’t reply, I was still mad at him. I didn’t know what I had done wrong, but mostly I was upset that I saw something in him that wasn’t there. He wasn’t sweet deep down, he was just cruel. What did I do to him to deserve such prank?

“Can we talk?” He insisted, knocking again. “Y/N?”

I continued giving him the silent treatment, even if a part of me wanted to shout at him and tell him to go away. The only sign that I gave him that I was still there was the sound of the water running.

“At least let me talk to you, you don’t have to say anything” His voice sounded genuinely regretful, almost… vulnerable. It was the softest I had heard him speak.

Malcolm was right, I was too nice. Heaving a resigned sigh, I turned to the door.

“Come in…” I budged, willing to at least let him, maybe to punch him in the arm.

“I can’t, it’s the girls bathroom” In any other moment, I would have found that comment cute. But not then, I just felt aggressiveness towards him at that moment.

“What a shame” I sarcastically replied, focusing on my reflection in the mirror again.

“Please, Y/N, I… I’m sorry!” He stuttered for a moment until he recovered. “You’ve been so nice, I want to apologize!”

I hesitated for a moment, but in the end I walked to the door and opened it. Reese jumped up when we were suddenly face to face, but before he could say anything I returned to my spot in the sink. He stood in the doorway, staring at me as I wrung water off my hair.

“I didn’t mean to do it” He began saying effusively, still not trespassing the threshold.

“Then why did you, huh?” I eyed him for a moment before returning to the task of cleaning my hair. “You seemed to be having fun too…”

“I thought you would find it funny, not hate me!”

“Funny?!”

“Yeah! A friendly prank!”

“How is this funny or friendly, Reese?! How-?” I cut myself before I lost my temper and took a deep breath instead.

“I feel terrible…” I wanted to believe him, but now I was too wary of him. Especially since his hands were behind his back and it felt like he was up to something.

“Why did you do it?” I tiredly asked him, trying to keep myself calm.

“I… I just wanted to get your attention!”

“You already had my attention!”

“Really?”

“Yeah… But maybe now you’ve lost it…”

A very awkward silent settled, and Reese fidgeted in the spot. Then he finally put his hands in front of him, so I feebly glanced at them.

“I made another one” He held a big water balloon, presumably filled with the same disgusting substance from before.

“I swear, Reese, if you throw it at me, I will-“

“No, it’s for me!”

“What?”

“Then we’ll be even”

He showed me that wide cute grin again and I swore under my breath, hating to be so vulnerable to its charming nature. I watched the balloon in his hands, considering the payback opportunity.

“It will get all over your clothes” I warned him, walking closer.

“I know” He calmly shrugged as I closed the distance between us.

“Wouldn’t you get in trouble with your parents if you went back home looking like this?”

“I don’t care”

Once we were at arm length distance from each other, I paused dramatically.

“What about your hair?” I carefully studied his reaction, even if it was a late one.

“I…” He gulped, and there was clear agitation both in his features and his voice. “I-I don’t mind”

I stared at him, but he did not falter. I looked at his hair, realizing how perfectly styled it was. He probably spent a long time spiking it every day. Moving slowly, I took the balloon from his hands, but even then he did not back down.

“Yes you do” I gave him the balloon back. “You love your hair”

“Just do it, Y/N” He returned it to me, setting his hands over mine with determination to convince me. “It’s only fair”

I cocked an eyebrow and lifted the balloon over my head. Reese shut his eyes tight, bracing for the impact. He really was willing to let me do it to make it up to me!

Feeling too guilty to go through with it, I turned around and threw it at the sink instead. Reese gasped at the sound of the balloon exploding, but opened his eyes to see how the gross contents of it were spread all over the inside of the sink.

He gawked at me, blinking repeatedly as he assimilated what I had just done. Or rather, what I hadn’t done.

“Why didn’t you…?” He began, showing me a cute confused frown that reminded me of a puppy. Damn him and whatever I saw in him.

“Look, that I’m mad at you doesn’t mean I actually hate you” I sighed, smiling at him. “And I shouldn’t have said that either, I was just angry”

“Say what?”

“That you’re a dumbass… It’s not true, you’re not dumb”

He smiled, but instead of that toothy wide grin of his, it was a much smaller but much sweeter one. It looked more genuine and serious than the other goofy grin.

“Thanks” Reese finally said, and I smiled wider too.

For a moment, we both stayed silent, staring at each other. Then he suddenly took his plaid shirt off, leaving him in a yellow T-shirt, and handed me the plaid one.

“What are you doing?” I said before I considered taking it.

“Get changed” Reese energetically shook it until I finally took it from him. “Then at least you don’t have to wear that gross wet shirt”

I chuckled when he turned around to give me a little privacy. It was just that, gestures like those that told me that Reese was something more than what people thought he was.

“Fine” I grabbed the hem of my shirt, but stopped before pulling at it. “Don’t peek”

“I won’t” To reinforce his statement, Reese covered his eyes even if he was still facing his back to me. “I promise”

“Good” I quickly took my shirt off and put it over the sink as I put my arms over the sleeves of his plaid shirt. “If you do, I’ll punch you in the face”

“Good one” Reese laughed, thinking I was joking. I didn’t blame him for not taking my warning seriously, though, I wasn’t exactly threatening.

As I buttoned up the shirt, I noticed Reese slightly moved his head, tilting it to look over his shoulder. He slowly uncovered his eyes, so I glared at him.

“Don’t you dare” I said to keep him from giving in to the temptation.

“Sorry” He looked straight ahead again, covering his eyes and now also facing the ground.

I watched him carefully as I finished getting changed, and was glad to see he came through. He didn’t move other than to shift his weight from one foot to the other.

Moving to stay in front of the mirror once more, I saw that his shirt kind of suited me. It was a little too big and too long, but I looked okay.

“I know what to do!” Reese suddenly said, breaking the silence. “I’ll cook you dinner!”

“What?” Taking advantage that he still wasn’t looking, I quickly combed my hair as best as I could. “You can turn around now, by the way”

“I’ll cook you dinner!” He excitedly said, now facing me. “To make it up to you!”

I tilted my head, endeared by the sweet thought. I observed him as I rolled up the sleeves so they didn’t cover my hands, but he seemed determined.

“Are you serious? You can cook?” I examined his features, looking for any hints that he was teasing me.

“Yeah!” He nodded, excited. “What do you think?”

“That’s fair, I guess. You kind of owe me one”

“What would you like to eat?”

“I don’t know… Surprise me”

“Great! I’ll pick you up… Wait, I don’t know where you live”

“Do you have a pen?”

Reese held one finger up and proceeded to rummage through his pockets. He pulled out some coins, an empty gum wrapper, a napkin, and finally a permanent marker. Probably the one he used the other day to wreck his book.

I took it from him and wrote my address on his hand. As I did, I felt him staring at me and it made me smile a little. Were we… flirting?

“There” I returned the marker and he grinned widely.

“Cool!” Reese blew on his palm so the ink dried faster. “Pick you up at 8!”

Even if I felt stupid when my cheeks started burning, I couldn’t help but to also be excited myself. It was my chance to get to know him better and spend some time alone with him.

I hoped he hadn’t noticed I was blushing, but my hopes were foiled when he started snickering.

“What?” I averted my gaze, even if he playfully shoved me a little.

“You look small in my shirt” Reese replied, clear amusement in his voice.

“Shut up” I shoved him too, although a chuckle escaped my lips.

*

When Reese parked the car, I took a look at his house from the copilot seat. It was a medium size house, and the lawn was yellowish and unattended. The house itself seemed a bit messy, but somehow still homey.

We both got out of the vehicle, still silent as we had been since he picked me up. We had only said ‘hello’ to each other. Why were we so awkward all of a sudden? After the moment we shared in the girl’s bathroom, I thought it would be easier to chat with him. But maybe it was harder because of that moment we shared. Our relationship had evolved from being almost non existent to kind of flirty.

“You… You look hot” Was Reese’s attempt to break the heavy silence.

“What?” I mumbled to buy some time, feeling how my cheeks flushed.

“I mean…” Reese scratched the back of his head as we walked to the front door. “You usually look good, but tonight you look great and uh… yeah…”

I bit on my bottom lip as we stopped at the threshold and he occupied himself with looking for his keys. When he found them, however, he stopped before putting it on the lock.

“My parents are gonna love you” He said to change the subject, smiling at me.

“Wait” I put a hand over his arm to keep him from opening the door. “Your parents?”

“Yeah” He shrugged nonchalantly. “They wouldn’t let me have the house, and they insisted on meeting you”

“Your parents” I repeated, feeling overwhelmed to be meeting them.

“Yeah!” Reese insisted, now opening the door and letting me come in.

“O-Okay…” I was just… Why was I nervous all of a sudden? He was probably only introducing me as his friend, nothing more. Did I want to be introduced as something more?

“Dinner’s almost ready” Reese told me, a hint of pride glinting in his green eyes.

“Smells delicious” I genuinely said, because even if I couldn’t tell what there was for dinner, I sure was looking forward to eat it.

“Thanks, I-“ He interrupted himself, frowning as a sudden thought seemed to hit him. “Wait, where’s dad?”

That said, Reese walked away muttering something about his father eating the food prematurely. I stood there, but I laughed a little since it seemed like the apple didn’t fall far from the tree.

“Hey, Y/N” Malcolm greeted me, walking into the room with me. “You look pretty”

“Thank you!” I played with my hair, relieved that at least my appearance was actually good. I chuckled, though, remembering Reese’s way of expressing the same thing. “Reese thought so too”

“Hi!” Someone else said, a slightly high-pitched voice. “You must be Y/N, I’m Dewey”

“Hello, Dewey” I smiled at the younger boy. “Then you must be their little brother”

“Yeah, but Jamie is the youngest now”

“I bet is a pain to have Malcolm and Reese as older brothers”

Malcolm rolled his eyes at me, but his younger brother laughed.

“I like her” Dewey said before returning to the kitchen, where Reese’s voice mixed with a male one that I assumed was his father’s.

I leaned on the wall and Malcolm gently nudged me in the ribs.

“You doing okay, Y/N?”

“Yeah, why?”

“You look a bit nervous, I don’t know what gave it away” He grabbed me by the wrist and softly pulled at it, making me realize I had been anxiously chewing on my nails.

“Sorry” I sighed, tightly holding my hands behind my back not to do it again.

“It’s fine” He shrugged casually. “But really, are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m just… freaking out a little”

“Why?”

“I’m really awkward around parents, you know?” Just thinking about meeting them caused my stomach to churn. I really wanted to make a good impression on them. “I… I just wanted to be friends with Reese and now I’m suddenly meeting his whole family”

“You didn’t expect to fall in love with him, huh?” Malcolm smirked at me, and I gawked at him for a moment.

“I… I’m not in love!” I whisper-yelled, hoping Reese didn’t hear. “Okay, maybe I have a crush, but…”

“Don’t worry” Malcolm chuckled. “I can keep a secret”

“You better, Mr. Smarty Pants” We both laughed at his new fond nickname.

Before he could come up with a witty or sarcastic response, however, a woman approached us.

“Hello! You’re Y/N, right?” I opened my mouth, but she continued before any words came out of my mouth. “I’m Lois, Reese’s mother”

“Hi, Lois, I-“ Without further ado, Lois took me to the kitchen to meet with the rest.

I looked over my shoulder to Malcolm in a silent request for rescue, but he shrugged a little even if with an amused grin plastered on his lips. Lois kept on talking, so fast that I barely understand anything. I caught Reese’s name somewhere in that myriad of words, but that was about it.

“You look like such a nice girl” She patted my back and basically pushed down into the chair. “Sit down, dinner’s almost ready”

The kitchen was a mess of people talking loudly, running around as well as the noise of cooking and plates clinking. Malcolm was the only person to stay calm in that craziness, as he serenely sat down in front of me and picked up a breadstick from a basket at the center of the table.

I thought that Reese could have warned me. A simple heads up would have sufficed, but he preferred to hide the fact that I was having dinner with his parents and brothers. He didn’t tell me that his parents were that eager to meet me either. Nothing.

Now I assumed I was to expect a couple of hours filled with awkward silences as well as lots of embarrassing questions about myself.

“Remind me to kill Reese?” I asked Malcolm, who boringly chew at the breadstick.

“Deal” He managed to make me laugh when he outstretch his hand over the table.

We shook hands to seal the deal as we waited for dinner to be ready.

*

I tried to be as polite, kind and helpful as possible. I offered to give Reese a hand with dinner, but he wouldn’t let me. The family insisted that I wasn’t allowed to set the table either, I was their guest. So I just sat there, patiently waiting to eat.

When the food was finally on the table, my stomach growled in hunger at the sight of the delicious rotisserie chicken with potatoes and varied great-smelling sauces, as well as the freshly baked bread. Did Reese make all of that himself? I was honestly impressed.

The bunch of us immediately started eating, giving our compliments to the cook for the exquisite feast. Who knew Reese was such a good cook?

Then we started chatting, and so it began. It was pretty insane:

Lois kept talking about how I could be a good influence on Reese and that lately he hadn’t been as reckless, ever since he spent more time with me, all this while the aforesaid complained under his breath.

Hal –the father, he had introduced himself –asked me lots of questions, wanting to know if I was in the same class as Reese and such. At least I assumed he meant to avoid any of those awkward silences I dreaded.

Dewey seemed to be more intrigued about what Reese had done to get me to come, did he threaten me? Had he intimidated me into that torture? He couldn’t understand why I was there.

The little one, Jamie, looked from one to the other in curiosity.

And Malcolm, all the while, was having the time of his life watching the whole thing while I suffered in silence.

“Malcolm” I kicked him under the table and mouthed the following words. “Please. Help”

“Okay” He finally spoke up, smiling in spite of himself. “Mom, dad, leave her alone. You too, Dewey”

“Sorry” Lois sat at my right, patting my arm. “We’re just excited that Reese decided to do something nice for you”

“Yeah, that means you’re quite the catch!” Hal cheerfully added.

“Stop it!” Reese said as he stood up to get the dessert. “You’re gonna scare her off!”

I had to chuckle in spite of it all. After the anxiety inducing start of the night, we were now having a more casual conversation. Then Reese put a soufflé over the table and we dug in too, moved by the delicious smell of his baking creation.

“This definitely makes up for everything” I bumped my shoulder against Reese’s as soon as he sat down to my left. “It was the best meal I ever-“

“Make up?” Lois repeated in outrage. “What did he do?”

“Oh, no…” I uttered, realizing I had messed up. “N-Nothing”

“For the love of god, Reese!” His mother insisted. “What did you do to this poor girl?”

“I didn’t do anything!” He defended himself, even if he wouldn’t meet with her eyes.

“He, uh…” I piped up, wanting to fix my mishap. “It’s kind of silly, really. No biggie, Reese was just…”

“What happened, Reese?” Hal asked him tiredly, but his son didn’t reply.

“He was sitting outside with his legs stretched out, right? And so, uh…” I gulped, seeing as Reese remained silent. “I passed by him, but I was reading a book as I walked and I tripped over his legs. Funny, right?”

“Reese, what did you do?” Lois didn’t buy my story at all.

“I threw a water balloon at her” Reese confessed. “Filled with goo”

“You did what?!” Lois’ volume suddenly increased, so much so that I winced at her shouting. “Are you really that stupid?!”

Reese clicked his tongue but didn’t respond. He didn’t seem surprised, offended or hurt by her words. He just accepted it, like he was used to it. It made me feel bad, that he truly thought himself to be that stupid or useless.

I noticed his elbows rested on his thighs instead of over the table, so I placed a hand over his forearm and squeezed it softly. When our eyes met, I smiled at him and he did too. Then, he didn’t seem all that bothered by his mother’s lecture anymore.

*

Everything settled down in the end and I ended up having a great time with the Wilkersons while we played charades after dinner. Lois was still convinced that I would do Reese some good sticking by his side since I was such a ‘good influence’ but everyone else relaxed and focused on the game instead of me.

When Reese and I got back in the car so he could drive me home, I was equally relieved yet sad to leave. His family might be a little crazy, but they were genuine and I appreciated them.

“So…” Reese began after a while, keeping his eyes on the road. “How did you like my family?”

“They were cool, but they were a lot”

“I know”

Another moment of silence followed, so I decided to lighten up the tension.

“You still owe me one, you jerk”

“What, why?”

“For what you just put me through!”

“You’re right”

“And… Wait, that’s it? No buts?”

“No, I should have told you as soon as I knew we wouldn’t be alone, but…” Reese frowned saddly. “I didn’t want you to get mad or not come. It was stupid, I’m sorry”

“Reese, you’re not stupid” I wanted him to stop feeling like that. “Maybe you’re not as… harmless or sensitive as I expected you to be, but you’re not dumb”

“What do you mean?” He pretended to be nonchalant, but I noticed how tightly he gripped the steering wheel.

“Just because you do stupid things, that doesn’t make you stupid”

“Why are you saying this?” Reese stopped the car, and I realized we had arrived.

“Because I know you think you are and I don’t want you to” Flustered by what I was admitting, I watched my house through the window. “Just because people say it, you don’t have to believe it”

He might not be the brightest, and he was a bit of a brute sometimes. But I had seen he could be sweet too, maybe even sensitive. He was just a bit of a mess, but then again so was I. After all, I knew what it felt like to have no friends, or to be judged by people. Or to hide my true feelings behind a facade. Mine was too nice, his was violent.

“What do you say we try this again some time?” Reese interrupted my train of thought. “Alone”

“No families?” I smirked, teasing him for the night we had just experienced.

“No families” He grinned, turning to face me completely.

“That sounds nice”

“Great”

“Great”

“It’s a date”

“Yeah, and it’d better be amazing”

“Why’s that?” I frowned, pausing when I realized he was smirking at me now.

“Because, as I said, you still owe me, remember? And-“ I was cut abruptly when he let out a mischievous chuckle, and his lips suddenly covered mine.

The kiss only lasted a few seconds, but it was surprisingly tender and filled with emotion and I treasured every milisecond of it. When we broke away, we looked into each other's eyes. In the end, I chuckled happily and so did he.

Tag list: @xionroxas // If you want me to add you or take you off the tag list, go ahead and tell me!

[shatteredglassanimated]

Shattered Glass Animated Season 1 Episode 3 - Transform and Rise Up!, Part 3

The Decepticons get to know their new allies a little more, but introductions are cut short when they discover they were not the only Cybertronians who crashed on earth and Overlord Sumdac is far from done with the Resistance...

“Failures! The whole lot of them!” Sumdac snarled, hauling his wrench at the wall next to the unfazed secretary-bot who had just reported to him. That was perhaps the only downside to having a non-human assistant, Sumdac thought. Machines might be more reliable, but they also lacked the satisfying utter fear in their eyes. They would not flinch, no matter how much his wrath flared up and that irked him. Everything he owned ought to fear him. Oh well. At least the robots were obedient. Not like that resistance-scum that had yet again managed to elude him. How they’d managed to somehow completely destroy that techno-organic abomination that some of his finest scientists had failed to contain or control was completely beside him. He’d been so sure that had them this time! So sure he had retreated to his laboratory for two days and had ordered the secretary-bot not to disturb him until his return. Clearly they’d had help. Perhaps even from the inside? Now here was something to consider. The more he thought about it, the more it made sense. The high-tech weaponry, advanced enough to rival his toughest police-drones. The way his camera-bots seemed to mysteriously malfunction whenever a fight ensued between the resistance fighters and his own forces. Sumdac stroked his chin in thought. Yes, it seemed like the only logical conclusion. But who? It had to be someone high up, a human, obviously, intelligent enough to counter-engineer Sumdac-drones. Perhaps-

The comm on his desk sprang to life, interrupting his thought process. Sumdac growled and brought his fist down on the answer button, activating the small monitor. Seeing just who it was that had called him did nothing to improve his mood. A sturdy blond man with a much too eager look in his eye and a shiny badge pinned to his shirt. “What is it, Captain Fanzone?” Sumdac asked, in a tone that would have made a snow storm feel warm. “I am quite busy.” “Good morning, Overlord Sumdac,” Fanzone chattered giddily, either ignoring or not noticing his employers foul mood. “Me and the crew did a bit of clean-up in downtown, y’know, bringing back the drones that got shattered before the scavengers got to ‘em. We found a camera-bot and retrieved it’s footage - which is crispy clean, by the way. You couldn’t find a human making pictures like that in that situation! This is why I love machines-” “What did the footage show?” Sumdac interrupted, before Fanzone was able to descend into one of his unbearable gushing fits. He’d appreciated the man’s complete and utter loyalty and devotion to all things technological back when he’d hired him as his chief of police, but after soon thirty years of listening to his endless drivel, Sumdac wondered if perhaps he should have gone through with making his personal police force a hundred percent non-organic. At least robots had an off-switch. “Right, right! Well, I wouldn’t believe it if I hadn’t just seen it myself, to be honest I still don’t believe it. It’s amazin’, it’s groundbreakin’, it’s-” “Just send me the footage,” Sumdac groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose. He felt a headache coming up. “Right away, sir!” A file popped up on his computer and Sumdac send the data over to the flat-screen facing his desk. As much as Fanzone liked to overstate, he had been right about the quality of the material the camera-bot had carried. The picture was sharp as could be. And what it showed raised Sumdac’s interest. Four gigantic robots, apparently able to transform into flying vehicles at will battled with his monster, each displaying a different set of skill and powers. The footage cut off when one of the beasts’ tentacles grabbed and crushed it in mid-air, but Sumdac had seen enough. He’d been right after all. The resistance had had help. Help from above. No wonder they had disabled his cameras. If he’d discovered their little secret earlier...although ‘little’ was perhaps not an apt descriptor for it. A sense of nostalgia overcame him as he thought back to that fateful evening fifty years ago. At that time he’d thought of his find as a once in a life-time occurrence. He wasn’t particularly angry to be proven wrong, though. Without knowing it, the resistance had possibly handed him just what he needed to sniff them out. He turned to switch on his computer, went through some files until he found what he was searching for, then contacted Fanzone again. “I am about to send you a probe of an energy signature. Do not attempt to find out what it belongs to, it is extremely rare and way over your head. You will feed it to a regiment of your police drones. And then you will dispatch them and let them search.” “So we’ve got a lead, sir?” Fanzone asked. Sumdac smirked. “Indeed we have. Tell the drones they have orders to take any robots they find and bring them to me, undamaged. And if they find any humans accompanying them, they are authorized to use lethal force.” ______________________________________________________________ A lean, great figure, raised it’s hand away from it’s head and left it’s hiding place outside the Terrordrome’s main tower to drop down onto and automated aircraft and onto the street. Transforming into a standard motorcycle and racing towards Downtown. ______________________________________________________________

Meanwhile, in an old abandoned factory on the outskirts of Detroit, the resistance in question were up to face another day. It had been a rather quiet two days since the incident and they’d gotten to know each other a little better. Currently, Amicable Archer had settled himself on Blitzwing’s shoulder and was rather enthusiastically explaining all the things that placed a bow above a regular plasma gun. The Decepticon listened and nodded politely after every second word or so, although he couldn’t for the spark of him understand what this conversation was actually about. But it was still fascinating to listen to a being that was so small and so vulnerable compared to him and his fellow ‘Cons, yet still threw himself into battle against opponents so much bigger and more lethal than himself to protect other humans. Lugnut and Cyrus were sitting side by side on an old assembly line, watching their respective partner and wishing desperately for them to break off and return. Neither of them knew how to talk to each other. Cyrus had mostly gotten over his discomfort after he realized the Decepticons were in no way associated with Sumdac, but they still unnerved him to a certain degree. So much so that he had forbidden Penny to interact with them until further notice. And although she had sulked quite a bit about his decision, she’d ultimately agreed to stay hidden in her room in their side of the factory, much to his relief. Lugnut felt much the same about the humans. He was by no means an organo-phobe, it was more that he’d never had the faintest idea what he was supposed to do with them. Most of the organic life he’d encountered in his life-cycle hadn’t really been intelligent enough to communicate in a way that he could understand and with how squishy and fragile organics were he’d always felt a mere touch with his giant metal claws was enough to make them wither away and/or break. True, this Cyrus looked a lot more put-together than his smaller companion, but still just as soft. The uncomfortable silence between them stretched out with every second, only highlighted by Archers’ and Blitzwing’s light-hearted chattering. Eventually, Cyrus gave an awkward cough and turned to Lugnut. “Umm, so. This ‘Cybertron’...is it...far away from earth?” “Very. Though without a proper star  map, I will be unable to tell you the exact distance.” “Ah. And, err...where did you guys say you came from again?” “New Kaon. It is the main capital of our colonies, a safe haven from the Autobots and their tyranny.” “Huh. Kinda like our factory’s a hideout from Overlord Sour-puss out there?” “...You could say that. Although New Kaon is much superior in size.” “I mean, if it’s supposed to host a whole bunch of you guys, I’d imagine it’d have to be.” Cyrus lifted one corner of his mouth in an uneasy smirk. Lugnut made a noise that could have been a laugh, but Cyrus couldn’t be entirely sure. The behemoths’ face wasn’t exactly what you’d call expressive. He came to the conclusion that, if Lugnut hadn’t been at least a bit amused by his comment, he’d have moved away by now and decided to leave it at that. The two of them continued to sit together in silence, though there was an air of comfort to it now. At the same time, Megatron and Blackarachnia were standing in the repair room. The techno-organic was checking the monitors showing  Starscream’s vital signs. He was still in stand-by, his condition having neither worsened nor bettered since her last check-up a few megacycles ago. Blackarachnia wasn’t sure how to feel about that. She supposed she should be glad he wasn’t going off-line at least. Megatrons was silent beside her, his optics firmly set on his second-in-command. She didn’t have the spark to tell him to leave and to be quite honest, there was no real need for her to do so either. It wasn’t like he was peeking over her shoulder non-stop. When Megatron hadn’t spend time getting to know their new human friends better, he had been in their makeshift med-bay, not saying or doing anything, just waiting for Starscream to wake up. Every time she came in, he would just mutely make room for her. The only time he had asked if she could tell him anything about his condition had been when he had entered the med-bay the morning after she had operated on Starscream to get his arm fixed on her behest. “We’ll just have to wait,” Blackarachnia had told him, trying hard to avoid his gaze by stubbornly busying herself with patching up his mangled servo. And that had been that. She finished her check on the monitor showing Starscream’s sparkbeats and ex-vented a little, turning to face Megatron. “I know you probably don’t want to hear this, but some time we have to discuss our next move. Particularly how we’re going to contact New Kaon.” She looked him right in the optics. “If what the humans say is to be believed, our crash-landing happened 50 of their years ago. And if my translations are correct, that means-” “We have been missing for 50 stellar cycles,” Megatron finished her sentence. There was fatigue in his voice. “I know. And you are right. Our main objective as of now should be to get in contact with our people. They need to know we haven’t perished. And that our expedition has been successful.” He ex-vented heavily, throwing one last look at Starscream and then turning towards the door. “Perhaps the humans can be of help. Their technology may not be as advanced as ours, but it has proven useful once already. If not communication, maybe we will at least be able to send a message.” Blackarachnia nodded, following him outside. When they entered the main hall they found themselves confronted by a very eager Blitzwing and not much less eager Amicable Archer standing on his shoulder. “Amicable Archer has just offered me to accompany him on one of his ‘patrols,” Blitzwing said, a wide smile on his face plate. “I feel that would help me learn more about the locals and their situation. With your permission, I would take him up on that offer.” Amicable Archer nodded. “Indeed! Methinks the metal knight would make a fine companion against Sumdac’s forces of evil.” Blackarachnia threw a cautious glance at Megatron. She knew he was usually more than capable of handling sudden requests, but it was safe to say the last few solar-cycles hadn’t really gone well for him. To her surprise, Megatron gave Blitzwing a soft smile with no trace of irritability or fatigue in it. “A good idea, Blitzwing. But do make sure to stay in contact. If this Sumdac is really as dangerous as our new friends say, he might well have something unpleasant waiting for us.” Blitzwing beamed. “I will! We will be back in about 2 megacycles.” “I doeth not know what that meaneth, but our watchful march should take no less than two hours,” Archer chimed in, putting his hands on his hips and striking a confident pose. __________________________________________________________ The two took off, Blitzwing transforming into jet mode in order to be less conspicuous. As Cyrus had told them in a rather bitter tone, drones flying their routes above Downtown wasn’t really anything special to the citizens and since everyone would be too busy keeping their head down and avoiding directly looking at whatever Sumdac aircraft was currently hovering over them, no one would notice that the jet was, in fact carrying someone. During their flight, Archer would occasionally point out places in which the resistance had fought (and won, as he never got tired to proudly proclaim) particularly tough battles against Sumdac’s forces. Ironically, the overlord’s stubborn refusal to use humans as well as robots in his newly instated police had made things a lot easier on the rebellion when it came to armed conflict. Since they weren’t in any danger of seriously harming some poor innocent sap who was forced to attack them they didn’t have to hold back and could use their bestowed weapons and abilities to their hearts’ content. As long as they made sure the civilians were evacuated first, of course. “After all, ‘tis our noble creed to protect the good people of Downtown from harm, not causeth them harm,” Archer said, crossing his arms and smiling proudly. “Funny,” Blitzwing mused. “We Decepticons have a similar ‘creed’, as you would say. We are programmed to respect and protect life at all costs. Before we came here, that usually meant the AllSpark. But you humans are life as well, which means we must protect you, too.” He paused for a second, before continuing: “Your little planet is so strange to me. You humans are so much smaller and so much more fragile than us and life has dealt you a heavy hand. Yet you just keep going and fighting the force that oppresses you, risking your life every time. It’s admirable, really.” “Oh, thou dost flatter, sir knight,” Archer chuckled, scratching the back of his head. “We doeth our best, but alas ‘tis not nearly enough to fully tame Overlord Sumdac’s forces, sadly. There art times I doth wish-” Archer suddenly interrupted himself and leaned forward to get a better look at the city passing below them. “Do I seeth smoke there?” A grey column rose in the distance before them, accompanied by a warm orange glow. “You humans have rather curious traditions,” Blitzwing said, chuckling nervously. Archer’s eyes widened. “Those arenst any traditions, friend! I knoweth these old factories, they have been shut down long ago when the tyrant Sumdac retreated the assembly of his armies into his fortress. Some of it’s old machinery musteth malfunctioned!” “But if I understand correctly, those buildings have long since been vacated. Why is it an issue if they get destroyed?” Blitzwing asked confused. “The fire couldeth take over to the city! Sumdac cares naught for the people who live here, so he will not send pawns to extinguish it in time if ever. We needeth to act!” Archer said, already fumbling for a particular arrow in his quiver. “Understood. Hang on tight, Archer.” Blitzwing turned towards the burning factory and put his thrusters to full power. Archer yelped as the sudden increase in velocity pressed him back into his seat. The two of them arrived and touched down a few meters away from the factory, Blitzwing transforming back into robot-mode as soon as the surrounding buildings hid them from sight. “Thankfully, our noble benefactor hast prepared me for this kind of calamity,” Archer beamed. He raised his hand to pull down a gas mask from a hidden pocket in his hat. The two took off into the fire. Blitzwing lowered his cannons, shooting ice beams into the highest fire walls. Ice crystals solidified in the spots the beams hit, suffocating the fire nigh instantly. Archer aimed arrows at the flames at his partner’s blind side, the tips of the projectiles releasing fire extinguishing foam upon exploding. In less than half an hour the fire was mostly under control, though Archer insisted on checking for any smaller flames they might have missed. They went deeper into the empty building, Archer lighting the way with yet another arrow. The ash and grime on the walls seemed to swallow the light as it hit them. The slowly melting ice created a steady background dripping. After the crackling and roaring of flames only a short time prior this place now seemed entirely too quiet. Archer had never liked places that were too quiet. It reminded him of... Cutting the memory off before it could fully form, Archer cleared his throat and stopped to turn to Blitzwing. “Well, it seemeth our work here is done. Shall we-” A quiet noise coming from the darkness interrupted him. It was a quiet, high-pitched sob, echoing from the high walls in an eerie manner. Blitzwing frowned. “It sounds like someone’s vocalizer is malfunctioning. Quite badly, in fact.” “We calleth that ‘crying’,” Archer said, slowly following the noise. “‘Tis a sign of distress and sadness among us humans. Though our youngest ones also often useth it to obtain things they doeth desire.” Not sure he entirely understood, Blitzwing followed the human. The light of the glowing arrow came upon a small human boy, curled up in the middle of the factory’s hall. His head was buried in his hands and he didn’t seem to have noticed them yet. Archer smiled warmly and approached the boy, extending a hand towards him. “Now what is a young one like you doing in a dismal place such as this? Didst thou get lost?” Blitzwing narrowed his optics. Something seemed off about this small organic. Archer had told him that humans were very susceptible to smoke and heat, to the point where it was impossible for them to function in an environment that had both aplenty. How had this little one be able to survive in here this long? And then the boy raised his head. It was only for a split-second and an organic eye wouldn’t have been able to catch it, but for a Cybertronians advanced optic it was visible enough. A flicker, like on a faulty monitor. Blitzwing’s optics widened. He jumped forward, servos closing around Archer’s body, just before an ear-shattering explosion blasted out the factory’s windows. ___________________________________________________________ Cyrus hated waiting. Especially if he had to wait alone. Sitting down and smelling the roses had never been his thing, not since Overlord Sumdac’s machines had overrun the city. Not that there had been many roses to smell after that. Aaron and Blitzwing had been gone for far too long for his liking now. And judging by the uneasy way Lugnut shifted beside him, he wasn’t the only one to think so. “Cyrus, was it not?” The voice startled him out of his thoughts and he jumped, looking upwards to meet Megatron’s worried blue....eyes? Lights? He wasn’t sure what they called it. It took him awhile to process what had been said to him. “Er, yeah. Yeah, that’s me.” “I do not mean to offend, but your human companion and Blitzwing have been gone for quite a while now. This patrol of yours, how long does it usually take?” Cyrus frowned. “Not that long actually. And seeing as they were doing it from a bird’s eye view it should’ve taken even less time today.” “I see,” Megatron answered. He seemed about as unsettled by this answer as Cyrus was. “Hey, um...you said you can stay in contact with each other, right?” Cyrus asked. Megatron nodded. “Maybe you should, y’know...contact him? Blitzwing? Just to be safe, I mean.” A penetrative beeping noise sprang up from Cyrus’ belt, making hism jump for the second time. “Sounds like somebody needs a check-up,” Blackarachnia pointed out. Cyrus looked down at the source of the noise, a small round device with a sleek white surface, his frown deepening. “No, that’s a distress signal. Archer, me and Pe- everyone else in the resistance has one of these communicators. We use it to call out to each other when we’re in a pinch.” He took the deice of the belt and tapped a button. “You okay, Archer? We’re all kind of starting to worry over here.” “As you should,” a metallic sounding voice responded. Megatron, Blackarachnia and Lugnut tensed up at hearing it, Blackarachnia even hissing slightly. “I must say, I never would have thought organics capable of constructing such a neat little communication device. It is remarkable primitive, but for your kind even that can be considered impressive.” Cyrus’ hand tightened around the communicator. “Who are you? What did you do with Archer?” “Nothing. Yet. And as for who I am...I am sure your new ‘allies’ can tell you more about that. We have met once before, after all,” the voice responded. Cyrus felt like he could hear the smug grin of its’ owner. He grit his teeth. “What do you want?” “First of all, I want to make sure that this is heard by the rest of the Decepticon-scum. Are they present?” “We are all here, Autobot,” Megatron answered, spitting out the word ‘Autobot’ like an insult. “I assume Blitzwing is with you as well?” “And you’d assume right,” the voice chuckled. “He is a bit worse for wear, but he’ll live...probably. Since you already deduced who I am, I will skip the introductions and get straight to the point. I know you are in possession of the AllSpark. And if you want your comrade and your precious little organic pet back, you will give it to me.” Megatron glared at the communicator in Cyrus’ hand. “We will need time to think about your offer. Give us a megacycle to debate.” “Stalling won’t help you, Decepticon-scum,” the voice spat. “But if you insist on wasting your friends’ time, you shall have your megacycle. And when it has passed, I expect to see you at these coordinates, with the AllSpark.” A light in the device flickered and it went out. Cyrus pressed another button on the surface, hurrying over to a control panel attached to a monitor and connecting the communicator with it. The screen flared to life, showing a map of Downtown with a small red dot flaring up to mark a specific spot. “I know that place,” Cyrus said, leaning forward. “It’s one of the abandoned factories on the other side of the city.” He turned back to the Decepticons, face hard. “If we hurry, we can make it there in under half an hour. We have to leave, now.” “Cyrus, it is not that simple,” Megatron said calmly. “We cannot rush into this without thinking. If this Autobot gets the AllSpark into his servos, this entire planet will be at risk.” “You’re not seriously suggesting that we’re refusing, are you?” Blackarachnia asked incredulously. “He’s got Blitzwing! And who knows what he’ll do to that human!” “Yeah, what she said!” Cyrus spoke up. “I’m not leaving Aaron with some crazy alien murder machine! I thought you Decepticons were the good guys and now you’re actually considering letting two hostages get who knows what done to them?” “You are both far too emotional.” Lugnut had stood up from his place on the assembly line and was now glaring at both Cyrus and Blackarachnia. “For once, I agree with Megatron. Handing the AllSpark over to the Autobot Empire is certain death. Two lives are not worth the prize of billions.” “So that’s it?” Blackarachnia asked, narrowing her optics at him. “We just let Blitzwing and the human die?” “We all must make sacrifices for the greater good,” Lugnut said gravely. “Do you think this is easy for me, Blackarachnia?” “I don’t know,” she hissed. “Isn’t it?” “Enough, both of you,” Megatron cut her off. “This is no time to argue amongst ourselves. Lugnut, I agree that the AllSpark must be kept from the wrong servos at all costs.” The big Decepticon straightened himself and opened his mouth to say something, but Megatron wasn’t finished. “However, I also share Blackarachnia’s feelings on the matter. We have already almost lost a fellow Decepticon yesterday. I do not wish to experience that again. Neither should an innocent human become victim of our wars.” Megatron turned and walked over to Cyrus, kneeling down in front of him. “Cyrus. You have stated that you know the place the Autobot has chosen for the exchange. Do you know it well enough to show one of us the ways around and inside it?” Cyrus nodded. “Yes, I think so. Aaron and I used to scout out these buildings regularly, in case we needed another hideout.” “Good,” Megatron said. “Then I would ask you to help us to prepare a nasty little surprise for our Autobot-friend. Though I must warn you, it won’t be without risk.” “Eh, what else is new?” Cyrus answered, giving a grin. “If it’ll knock that kidnapper down a few pegs, count me in!” Megatron smirked. “Oh, I should hope that it does. Here is what I need you to do...” ______________________________________________________________ Hothead rebooted to a a voice frantically calling Blitzwing’s name. In his processor he identified it as belonging to the organic who called himself Amicable Archer and whom Blitzwing had, apparently successfully, tried to protect from a booby trapped hologram. He groaned in annoyance, forcing the rest of his systems to reboot so he could access the situation and more importantly get Archer to stop yelling at him. His optical sensors reactivated slowly and he lifted his helm to see Archer standing on his chest, only a few centimeters away from his face-plate. Hothead quickly scanned the human’s body for any damage. Aside from a few tears in his costume and some grime on his face, Archer seemed unharmed. “Will you stop yelling at me, human?” Hothead snapped, still only half rebooted vocalizer making his voice sound hoarse. “My audials are functioning quite nicely.” Archer blinked in confusion and took a few steps backwards, but then shook his head as if recovering from some kind of stupor. “My apologies, friend. Thou seemeth to be rendered unconscious from that explosion and with the way the ghastly shadow knight treated thou, I wasnth sure you wouldeth make it.” He paused for a moment, as if uncertain about what to say next. “I couldeth not stop noticing that thine visage seemeth to have changed, along with thine manner of speech and demeanor. Artst thou truly not hurt?” Hothead ex-vented slightly. “No, I am alright. It is a long story. I am not the Blitzwing you know.. Let us leave it at that for now.” Suddenly remembering Archer’s earlier words, he frowned. “Who did you mean by ghastly knight? What-?” He tried to sit up and found that he couldn’t move his arms. A hastly look downward, revealed that someone had wound a thick metal cable tightly around his upper body, pinning his arms to his sides and keeping his cannons from lowering. Archer looked at him miserably. “I tried to stop him, but he tooketh my weapons and threatened to hurt thee.” “Not that he would have been able to stop me even with them. But I wanted to stay on the safe side. You never know with organics.” Hothead and Archer turned their head towards the source of the voice. A slender-looking Autobot with white armor-plating and a red triangular visor covering both of his optics was leaning on against the opposite wall with his servos crossed, giving a smug smirk. “I see you’ve finally decided to join us.” Hothead growled, trying to break his bonds. “You! I remember you, you cowardish, puny Autobot! Release me at once!” The Autobot chuckled. “So you can slag me like you almost did last time? I think not. And I’d advise you to behave.” He lowered his helm, so his line of sight now aligned with Archer. “You wouldn’t want anything to happen to the organic, would you?” “Touch him and you’ll burn, Autobot!” Hothead snarled. “Always so barbaric. You Decepticon-scum really are just mindless war machines,” the Autobot ex-vented in mock disappointment. “The only thing your kind is good for is destruction. Yet here you are, pretending like you’re actually capable of protecting anything.” Hothead flinched and grit his denta, lowering his helm. “Thou art wrong!” Both Hothead and the Autobot turned to look at Archer in surprise, who had lifted himself up to his full height and was now glaring at the Autobot. “Mine companion mayeth possess fearsome battle prowess, but that doeseth not make him less of a knight! He didst protect me from thy nefarious trap after all, didst he not?” For a moment, neither of the two Cybertronians said a word. Then the Autobot laughed. “You’ve certainly trained him well! If he was a little bigger he’d probably be easier to take seriously too, don’t you think?” Before Hothead could answer, the Autobot raised his helm as if listening for something, then put a digit to his auidal and smirked. “I’d love to stay and chat, but it looks like your friends just arrived with my AllSpark.” He walked out of the room, pressing a button on the other side of the entrance. A metal door slowly closed on cue. The Autobot grinned at them before it closed fully. “Don’t go anywhere.” _______________________________________________________ Megatron and Blackarachnia made their way into the burnt out building, carrying the AllSpark between them. Blackarachnia grimaced at the heavy smoke-smell in the air. It wasn’t bad enough to have a negative impact on her organic half but still strong enough to make her a bit uncomfortable. “Are you alright, Blackarachnia?” Megatron asked, giving her a worried look. “I can carry the AllSpark by myself, if you feel unwell.” Blackarachnia shook her helm. “I’m good. We should focus on getting Blitzwing and Archer back.” They stopped in the center of the hall, carefully lowering their cargo to the ground. “I see you’ve used your time well.” Blackarachnia and Megatron whirled around, taking defensive positions. Behind them stood an Autobot, servos crossed and an extremely smug expression on his face plate. Blackarachnia’s optics widened. “I know him! He was one of the ‘bots who boarded the ‘Nemesis’.” The Autobot laughed. “So you remember me? I’m flattered.” “I remember you getting your sorry soulanoid kicked by us,” Blackarachnia sneered. “Figures a spineless wimp like you would result to taking hostages.” The Autobot gave a derisive huff and put a hand on his hip, looking both of them over. “The name is Prowl. Though after this is over I won’t stay here long enough to get more acquainted.” His visor set itself on the AllSpark. “Leave it here and retreat.” “I think not, Autobot,” Megatron said coolly, stepping forward and drawing his sword. “Let us see the hostages first.” Prowl gave him an irritated look. “You will see them once I have the AllSpark. Now step away.” Instead of answering, Megatron gestured Blackarachnia to step aside, raising his sword over the AllSpark. “I do not like to repeat myself, Prowl. Release the hostages or I will destroy the AllSpark.” Prowl stiffened. “You wouldn’t dare.” “Wouldn’t I?” Megatron responded coldly, returning Prowl’s glare with steady optics. The Autobot hesitated, standing in place. Time seemed to stand still as the three Cybertronians stood off against each other, trying to figure out the enemy’s next move. _________________________________________________________ “Are you certain this is the right place?” Lugnut asked, optic trained on the wall in front of him. Cyrus was currently feeling said wall with both of his hands, teeth grit in frustration. “Give me a break, I haven’t been here in weeks! Ah, there we go.” He peeled off a part of the wall, revealing a hidden panel and pressed one of the buttons. Cyrus stepped back and watched nervously as the seemingly solid steel folded in on itself to form an entrance about Lugnut’s size. “Gotta be honest with you, I had no idea if this old  delivery gate even still worked. We found it some time during our second or third visit here and noted it as a possible emergency exit, if we ever decided to camp here. Guess I’m glad we didn’t now.” They entered the building together, treading carefully. After a while, Lugnut suddenly grabbed Cyrus carefully with his claw, making him yelp in surprise and placed him on his shoulder. “It is dark in here. I do not wish to step on you by accident,”he stated, when Cyrus gave him a confused look. “Er..thanks.” Cyrus stood up and balanced himself on the side of Lugnut’s helm. “Though maybe give a little warning next time.” Lugnut nodded. “Understood.” They made their way through the halls, Lugnut’s searchlights showing them the way. “Pick anything up yet?” Cyrus asked, stretching to look ahead into the darkness. “A faint Decepticon-signal, but it is dampened. Blitzwing must be damaged to some capacity.” Lugnut’s optic shrunk, an expression Cyrus had learned to identify as his version of a scowl. “The Autobot-filth will regret this.” “I hear ya,” Cyrus growled. “Still got a bone to pick with that guy for kidnapping Aaron.” Lugnut and Cyrus followed the signal until they came to a locked heavy metal door, not unlike the hidden one Cyrus had used to get them in. “The signal is clearest here,” Lugnut said, eyeing the door up and down. “They must be close.” “Great! Put me down, so I can-” Before Cyrus had the chance to finish his sentence, Lugnut retracted his right arm and rammed it into the door full-force. A loud crash, amplified by the echo of the empty hallway rung through the air. ______________________________________________________________ As soon as the sound reached the hall, Prowl whirled around. “What the-?” Blackarachnia lunged for him before he could run - only for her servos to close around nothing as the hologram of Prowl disappeared into thin air. She caught herself, cursing. “Slag! Of course he’d use that trick again.” “That was a mistake, Decepticon,” Prowl’s voice came from the shadows around them, impossible to pin down. “Your friends will not appreciate this.” Blackarachnia and Megatron positioned themselves back to back, searching the darkness for some hint of their opponent. “He has us pinned,” Megatron said through grit denta. “If we move he will either attack or flee without us even seeing him.” “Yeah, he- wait, seeing?” Blackarachnia’s optics widened. “That’s it! How was he able to react us in exactly the right way, if he was never really here? He has to have been close by. It was the same on the ‘Nemesis’! He attacked Lugnut right after his hologram was destroyed, as if he was just a few steps away.” She turned her helm to Megatron. “Fire your cannon about a few mechanometers to the right!” Megatron raised his free arm and fired at the spot she had pointed out. A startled yell came from the area the shot had hit and a heavy ‘clunk!’ filled the hall. The Decepticons turned, Megatron aiming his searchlight towards the sound. Prowl lay on the floor, glaring up at them and holding his left servo. It was almost entirely shot off, only a fracture of a base skeleton and a few sparking cables remaining. “You’ll regret this,” he growled, pushing himself to his pedes and taking a shaky step towards them. Before either of the three could do anything further, the door behind him was blown open, shrouding the room in smoke. When it cleared again, Lugnut stepped into the room, Cyrus and Archer riding on his right shoulder, while he supported a limping Hothead on his left. “Where is that  Autobot-filth?” Hothead shouted, trying and failing to push himself away from Lugnut and stand on his own servos. “I will incinerate him! Let me go!” “Thou art barely able to stand, friend,” Archer chuckled. “Perhaps thy vengeance can waiteth until a time thou art well again?” “Listen to the human, Hothead,” Lugnut said. Hothead growled, but he stopped struggling. “Hey guys,” Cyrus called to Blackarachnia and Megatron. “Where is that Autobot?” Megatron looked around, frowning. “It appears he has gotten away.” “And he didn’t exactly leave us with good wishes,” Blackarachnia added grimly. “We should go after him.” Megatron thought for a moment, then shook his helm. “We should get Blitzwing and the AllSpark to safety first. The Autobot was hurt. He will not come far.” After gathering up the AllSpark and Blackarachnia doing a quick patching up of Hothead’s wounds, the group took off in vehicle mode, Cyrus and Blackarachnia riding on Lugnut, while Archer remained with Hothead. When they arrived back at the resistance’s base, they were greeted by a bust-in entrance. Rubble from the door was strewn about and destroyed Sumdac-drones littered the area. “What the spark happened here?” Blackarachnia exclaimed. “Oh nothing to worry about really,” a familiar voice answered her. Megatron perked up upon hearing it, hope and joy filling his optics. Could it be-? It was. Starscream stepped out from the base’s entrance, smiling. “It is good to see you all again. Though we did have everything under control.” He turned his helm and raised his hand to give a (very gentle and disproportionate) high-five to a small girl with short pink hair who had made herself comfortable on his shoulder plate. “Hi Cyrus, hi Aaron,” she beamed, waving a wand-like object with a glowing tip at the two other humans. “I made a new friend!” _________________________________________________________ Prowl dragged himself through the empty narrow side streets, flinching every time his ripped off arm emitted a spark. This solar cycle had not gone at all like he imagined. As if waking up on this primitive planet wasn’t bad enough, that disgusting techno-organic had actually managed to see through his technique and now he would have to spend precious time to find a repair shop. At least things couldn’t possibly get any worse. A metallic noise sounded to his right and he turned his helm. A large assembly of drones, a sinister-looking ‘S’ engraved on their torsos stood there. “Energy signature match,” they chanted in unison. “Retrieve subject. Return to base. Retrieve subject. Return to base. Retrieve-”

[duhragonball]

Dragon Ball Z 207

A couple of episodes back, Videl asked Gohan to teach her how to fly.    Today, she’s come to collect on that lesson.   

The problem is that Gohan flies by manipulating the ki in his body to propel himself in midair, but Videl doesn’t even know what ki is.    So Goten blows up a rock to demonstrate what they’re talking about, but Videl has never encountered such a thing before.  

And Videl gets pretty frustrated over this, probably because Gohan and Goten take it for granted.  

This episode has always fascinated me, because it’s the first time that DBZ really goes into how the super powers work.   In Dragon Ball, Goku starts out about the same level as Videl.    Maybe a step behind, even.    But he learns superhuman abilities so gradually over time that it’s hard to tell where the line is between regular martial artists and gonzo-powered martial artists.    Flight didn’t really become a thing until Tien showed up, and sustained flight over long distances wasn’t really a thing until the Saiyans Saga.  

In DBZ, Gohan didn’t even learn ki from anyone.    He just zapped some wood in one episode to start a fire.    That was around the time Piccolo abandoned him to fend for himself for six months.    I assume Piccolo taught him how to fly later on, but I found it curious how Gohan managed to master ki control on his own.   Yeah, he was a prodigy, but still.    

So it’s kind of interesting to see him trying to explain it to someone else.    in Dragon Ball, this sort of knowledge had to be discovered by traveling the world and proving your worth to some obscure master.    Gohan seems to think that everyone knows about ki, and Videl just calls it something else.   I suppose this is because Gohan’s lived his whole life surrounded by people who know about it.  

Gohan sends Goten off to play while he gives Videl a demonstration.    He doesn’t really explain how he’s making a li’l energy ball in his hands, except for vague instructions like “clear your mind”, and the repeated assurance that all living things have ki energy.   

But it’s not so easy for Videl to replicate his ability, an this really seems to bother her.    I’m not sure why, unless it’s because she’s used to being pretty good at martial arts, and she doesn’t like running into a technique like this where she knows nothing about it.   

They break for lunch, and Videl praises Chi-Chi’s cooking as much better than what her cook makes back home.   Chi-Chi realizes Videl’s rich, so she asks how many rooms they have in her house.  

Videl isn’t even sure, so she guesses fifty, and Chi-Chi immediately starts to take a liking to her.    She asks Gohan when they plan on getting married.

And Gohan does a spit take, only his mouth is full of rice and he spits it all over Goten.   

Later, Videl finally gets the hang of Gohan’s lesson, and she looks so happy when she pulls it off.   Gohan’s impressed that she managed it so fast, but she still has to learn to control her ki in order to fly.  

Meanwhile, Goku’s training in Otherworld.   The South Kai shows up to talk smack, and to introduce his latest acquisition, Papoi, a warrior from the South Galaxy who recently died.   

King Kai suggests that Papoi enter the 25th Budokai, but I don’t see how he can.   Goku’s been given permission to return for one day, and maybe Papoi is entitled to the same privelige, but why would he want to blow it on this?   He could fight Goku whenever he wants on the Grand Kai Planet.    Anyway, King Kai show off by having Goku switch from two-ton weights to ten-ton weights.    The five-fold increase is difficult for Goku until he turns Super Saiyan, which is why this episode is often cited by battleboard nerds trying to calculate power level charts or mathematically prove that Goku could beat Superman.   In any event, South Kai and Papoi suddenly decide they have other plans for that day.

Back on Earth, Gohan checks in on his students to find they kind of suck at this.   Goten just keeps jumping up and down, while Videl looks like she’s trying to launch herself into the air through sheer force of will.

But Goten can actually understand Gohan’s instructions, so he figures it out first.    Unfortunately, he only manages to get into the air, and when he tries to go fast he ends up crashing into the ground.     Goten wishes Videl would leave so they could train more seriously, but Gohan can’t send her away until she can fly, so he’s gotta wait.  

Videl insists on staying until she gets it down, but fortunately she’s a quick study.    By the end of the day she manages to float a few inches off the ground, which really impresses Gohan, since he never dreamed she’d get this far on her first day.

Of course, Goten picked it up much more quickly, but Gohan explains that he understood ki already. 

So Videl decides to leave, but she insists on returning tomorrow.    Gohan tries to talk her into practicing alone, but she won’t hear of it.  

So then Gohan suggests that Videl cut her hair.    She blushes and asks if he prefers girls with short hair, and he backs off and says all this stuff about how short hair is better in a fight, since it can’t get in your face and it’s harder for an opponent to grab it.   

Then Videl gets upset and flies off in a huff.    In her aircraft, I mean.   She isn’t good enough at flying to fly home under her own power. 

Meanwhile, Trunks turns Super Saiyan while training with Vegeta in the gravity room at Capsule Corp.    Vegeta had no idea he could do this, but Trunks wants to train harder, because he heard from Goten that he and Gohan plan to enter the Budokai next month.  

So Vegeta decides to test Trunks’ power with some sparring.   Trunks doesn’t get it at first, but Vegeta offers to take him to the amusement park if Trunks can land a single blow.    Also, Vegeta’s been hitting the steroids pretty hard lately.   Dude looks like a He-Man doll. 

Trunks gives it a shot, and he actually does manage to hit his dad once...

...And Vegeta instinctively hits back.     He’s visibly worried at first...

But he’s okay, albeit a bit upset that Vegeta didn’t warn him he would be fighting back.   Nothing a trip to the amusement park can’t fix.

Before they go, Vegeta asks how Trunks stacks up compared to Goten, and Trunks says he’s a little stronger, mostly because he’s a year older and Goten can’t fly.  

Now, episode 2 of Dragon Ball Super establishes that Vegeta didn’t take Trunks to the park until after the end of the Buu arc, but I consider this to be bullshit.   I prefer to think that he took him immediately after this episode, because he said he would, after all.   

Back at Gohan’s house, Videl returns the next day, as promised...

With a really short haircut.  Okay, so I know there are fans who prefer the original pigtails look, and I get it.    It’s a cute design.    But for me, nothing  can top this short hair look, because this episode provides a story to explain it.   Gohan told her to cut her hair, and then the next time we see her, she has shorter hair.    And neither of them are willing to admit why this has happened, but we know, don’t we, folks?

This here is chemistry.    If I off-handedly suggested some lady make some aesthetic change, and then she actually went and did it... well, I’d probably react a lot like Gohan, to be honest.    That’s a lot of pressure, to have that kind of influence over someone’s look.     Then again, you gotta figure this is exactly why Videl did it.   Not because he suggested it, but because she knew it would drive him wild if she went through with it.   The pigtails just can’t compare to that.

[psychosistr]

A Playful Spark- Chapter 5, Present Day

Summary: Quackerjack returns to the hideout he shares with his electrifying partner and some interesting facts come to light when they have a conversation regarding their names...

Notes: Final chapter! Hope everyone enjoyed the short but (mostly) sweet and fluffy ride xD

-First Chapter-

<-Previous Chapter

~Age: No Longer Sure~

Quackerjack kicked open the door of his current hideout with a chuckle, a bag of stolen goodies hoisted over his shoulder. “Oh Sparky, I’m hoo~ooome!” He called up towards the top of the lighthouse.

“Don’t call me Sparky!” Came the immediate reply of his electrically themed partner in crime from up the stairs.

Quackerjack giggled to himself as he hauled the loot up the stairs so he could show it off to the other super villain.

The insane toy making enthusiast had been introduced to the amped-up lightbulb liberator through another super villain named Negaduck, who, together with Quackerjack, his partner Megavolt, and their cohorts Dr.Bushroot and the Liquidator, formed a terrifying group dubbed “The Fearsome Five” that briefly took over St. Canard and regularly committed great acts of theft and mayhem throughout the town.

While he didn’t see the others as regularly outside of Fearsome Five (Fearsome Four if Negaduck was absent) work, he’d formed a rather special bond with the charged menace and found himself spending more and more time with the rodent. They worked exceptionally well together, able to match each other’s strengths and weaknesses quite well.

It also didn’t hurt that Megavolt was just as insane as Quackerjack AND that he shared the jester’s love of puns, jokes, and theatrics.

Aside from their bond as villains, though, Quackerjack couldn’t help but feel a certain kind of kinship with the unhinged rat that he hadn’t felt with anyone in a particularly long time. Even outside of causing mayhem and destruction, he liked spending time with the other villain doing whatever either one of them felt like in that particular moment. It didn’t take long at all for the two to become partners in more than one way…

As he reached the top of the stairs and tossed the bag into the room carelessly, Quackerjack finally got a good look at his electrifying counterpart.

The yellow-wearing rat was currently hard at work on some blueprints for a new gadget that he said would give them control of every electronic lock in the city- allowing them to steal its most heavily guarded items with ease. Megavolt had a strained look of concentration on his face as he frantically scribbled across the paper, likely trying to jot everything down before he forgot about it again.

With a mischievous smirk, Quackerjack snuck over to his distracted partner and placed his hands over the other villain’s goggles to cover his eyes. “Guess who, Sparky?”

“Quackyyy!” Megavolt groaned in frustration as he pulled the toy maker’s hands off of his goggles. “I told you to stop calling me Sparky!” As if in counterpoint to his claims, or as a demonstration of his nickname, a small spark of electricity jumped from his whiskers when he turned to glare at the duck.

“Aww, lighten up, Megsy!” Quackerjack teased, putting his hands on the other’s fluffy cheeks so he could squish them together. “Sparky’s a great nickname!”

“No, it’s annoying.” Megavolt said while swatting the other’s hands away with a pout. He then folded his arms and looked away, clearly sulking. “Can’t you call me something else since we’re, you know, dating?” He paused, blinked twice as if something just occurred to him, then looked back up at Quackerjack with a confused expression. “We..are dating, right, Jackie? Or is that something I just thought up?”

Quackerjack giggled quietly and wrapped his arms around his partner’s neck with an amused smile. “Yeah, Megs, we’re dating.” Megavolt’s short-term amnesia problem had made the first few months of their relationship interesting, resulting in many times where Quackerjack had to remind him of the TRUE nature of their partnership. He didn’t mind repeating himself a few times- after all, it just meant he got to do little things like give Megavolt a first kiss all over again! “Besides,” He continued after giving the rodent a smooch on the tip of his long nose. “If we weren’t dating, you wouldn’t know my name!”

He let go of the confused rat and walked over to where he’d left his stolen goodies, pulling out an equally mixed assortment of valuables, money, and snacks. He found one of his favorite chocolate bars and peeled the wrapper off so he could take a big bite, humming in satisfaction as he ate.

“I know your name?” Megavolt asked, walking over to join Quackerjack and take out the loot. He grabbed a chocolate bar as well and peeled it open to take a bite.

“Mhm, you said it a minute ago- you called me Jackie.” Quackerjack explained, finishing his chocolate bar and tossing the wrapper aside carelessly.

“I did?” Megavolt questioned, still looking confused. “I thought I called you Quacky?” He finished his candy as well and tossed the wrapper aside in a similar fashion.

“You did, but you called me Jackie, too.” Quackerjack paused briefly to think over a rather crucial bit of information. “Say, Megsy, I don’t think we ever actually TOLD each other our names, did we?”

“Did we?” Megavolt wondered aloud, trying hard to remember if they had or not. “We must have, right? How else would I know YOURS?”

Quackerjack shrugged. “Could’ve just been a lucky guess. Buuuuut-” He cartwheeled over to the still confused rodent and pointed at him dramatically. “You should tell me your name, too, Sparky!”

Megavolt gave his companion a half-hearted glare. “If I do, will you quit calling me Sparky for five minutes?” When Quackerjack just shrugged again with a giggle, Megavolt rolled his eyes. “Fiiiiiine. But you have to promise not to laugh!”

“Sure thing, sparkles.” Quackerjack teased with a chuckle, one hand moving so he could cross his fingers behind his back.

Megavolt grimaced at the irritating pet name and hesitated a moment more before glancing away and finally revealing his name. “…It’s..It’s Elmo…”

Quackerjack’s previous chuckling came to a sudden and abrupt halt.

A simple name. Four letters, two syllables.

A once familiar word he hadn’t said aloud in who knew how long.

“El..mo..?” He repeated the name back, his voice trembling as he stared at the rat in disbelief.

There’s no way…

He couldn’t be…

“Yeah, yeah..” Megavolt said irritably. “I know, it’s a dorky name. Go ahead and get it out of your syst-AAAH!” He yelped when the clown suddenly tackled him to the ground, hovering over him with a strangely desperate and bewildered look on his face. “Owww!” He whined from the pain of hitting the ground, reaching around to rub the back of his head. “What was that for Quack..er..jack..?” He trailed off when he finally took notice of the way the duck was looking at him. “What???”

Quackerjack didn’t answer his friend at first. Instead, he just reached down with shaking hands and began to remove the other’s hat and goggles.

Everything else about him fit: The name, the rest of his face, the engineering brilliance, the fascination with electricity, the way they got along so well, his sense of humor-

He wanted so desperately for his assumption to be true, but he HAD to be sure.

Once he finally had the confused rat’s hat and goggles off of his head for a change, he let out a choked gasp. “Elmo..”

There was no mistaking it..

The brown hair and the shape of his head confirmed it.

He may have changed a little due to age and his eyes had shrunken quite a bit, but he really WAS Elmo Sputterspark.

While he was busy being blown away by this revelation, Megavolt was getting frustrated from his position beneath the jester on the floor. “You’re weirding me out, Quackerjack..more than usual..can you just get o-?” His complaining stopped when the bird above him suddenly wrapped both arms around the electric rat in a tight embrace and he buried his face against a yellow-clad shoulder. “Quacky..?” He asked with a frown, clearly confused by the other’s extra-weird behavior.

Quackerjack’s body began to tremble as he held onto the smaller man, almost as if he were afraid to let go. “Heh..heheh..ehehaha..” A sudden giggle-fit consumed him that rapidly escalated into full-blown manic laughter. “HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAHAAHAHHAHAH!”

Megavolt finally had enough of the duck’s odder-than-usual behavior and managed to sit up, giving the duck a light shove so that he began to roll around on the floor during his laughing fit. “I don’t get it- what’s so funny?” He asked with an annoyed pout.

“LIFE!” Quackerjack answered breathlessly between his loud bouts of laughter. “Life is HILARIOUS, Elmo! LIFE! Woohoohoohaha! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAA!!” The insane clown eventually gained enough control over himself again to sit back up and give the beyond-confused electrophile a proper explanation. He did so by reaching into the chest area of his costume and pulling out something that was carefully preserved in a plastic baggy. “Do you remember this?” He asked, handing the object over to Megavolt.

“??” The rodent took the offered bag with a curious tilt of his head. He saw that inside the baggy was a worn out photograph of a young rat boy and an older duck boy dressed as a pair of prisoners with the words “Jackie and Elmo, PARTNERS IN CRIME!” around the white boarder. “This..This is..me..and..” Megavolt stared at the image for several seconds before something seemed to click in his mind and he turned to the smiling duck with wide eyes. “You…” Unfortunately, he seemed to get the wrong meaning from the picture because this time he was the one to tackle the other to the ground. He held the grinning madman by the front of his shirt while his other hand held the picture tightly. “Where did you get this?! I swear, if you hurt him, I’m gonna-!!”

“Slow your roll, Mo.” Quackerjack giggled, thinking the other looked so cute when he was all protective and angry like that. “I’m not THAT much of a masochist- I wouldn’t hurt myself over a picture.”

Megavolt apparently still didn’t get the meaning behind the other’s words, electricity sparking along the hand that was holding the duck’s colorful costume serving as a clear sign of his frustration. “What are you talking about, Quackerjack?”

With a smile that was slightly less insane than his usual ones, Quackerjack brought his hands up towards his bizarre hat-mask combination. “You don’t have to call me that, y’know. I already told you, Mo-” He pushed the fabric up enough to reveal his face to the other super villain. “Call me Jackie.”

Megavolt stared long and hard at the face below him before, with a blink that left his eyes wider than before, a jolt of electricity visibly passed up his body and through his hair- as if the realization was trying to physically manifest itself. “!!” He dropped the picture and brought a quivering hand to the clown’s face, touching it as though he wasn’t sure if what he was seeing was real or not. “J..Jackie…?”

Quackerjack grinned up at the stunned rat and placed one of his own hands over the one on his face. “Took you THAT long to get it, Mo? Guess you really did fry your brain, huh?”

“You-You were wearing a mask!” The rodent looked slightly embarrassed over being called out in such a way. “How was I supposed to know it was you?!”

“Are you kidding me?” Quackerjack asked as he sat up abruptly, knocking both of them over in the other direction so he was on top again. “I used the same name as my toy company! How could you not know?! And why didn’t you ever come visit me, you jerk?! I was worried sick!”

“I…I forgot..” Megavolt admitted with a frown, bringing a hand to his head as a look of pain crossed his face. “I couldn’t remember where you lived..or where I lived..I couldn’t remember where to find you or what your company was called..I barely remembered my own name, but I…I tried so hard to make sure I at least remembered YOU..I-I couldn’t remember your voice, but I tried to hold on to your face..” He opened his eyes and looked up at his closest friend in the world with an expression full of pain and remorse. “I’m…I’m sorry, Jackie…I tried..I-I really..”

“Elmo..” Quackerjack’s expression softened as he sat back up, pulling the other into his arms the same way he had so many times when they were younger. A hand instinctively found its way to the other’s slightly singed hair and pet it in a familiar, soothing motion. “It’s alright, buddy..we’re together now..” He hugged him tighter and planted a kiss on his cheek. “I’ve got my partner in crime again.” He tilted both of their heads down so that their foreheads could touch and he closed his eyes with a peaceful smile on his face.

“Heh, me too.” Megavolt said with a small smile, wrapping his own arms around the older duck and holding onto him just as tightly. “…Hey..Jackie..?”

“Yeah, Mo?” Quackerjack asked while opening one eye so he could look into the other’s shrunken pupil.

The sight that greeted him was a bright smile on that familiar-yet-new face. “Guess I’m finally old enough to take you out for that drink, huh?”

“Pfft! Hahahaha!” The question earned a snort of laughter from the duck. “I guess you are, kid!” He jumped up to his feet agilely, pulling the maniacal rat up with him. “C’mon, let’s paint the town red!” He joked while pulling his red mask/hat back into place.

“We’ll light up the night!” Megavolt cackled in agreement, putting his own hat and goggles back on and sparking brightly with electricity while taking Quackerjack’s hand in his own.

Jumping down the stairs two at a time while Megavolt walked at a steady pace beside him, Quackerjack couldn’t resist bringing up something that he felt needed to be said. “Oh yeah, by the way- I kicked your old man’s butt.”

Megavolt let out a loud laugh at that. “Really? Great! He was a jerk!…At least, I think he was…”

Quackerjack chuckled in agreement. “Yeah, he was. He punched me, so I kicked his butt…and his head, guts, ribs, and chest. Your parents refused to come back after that, for some reason.” He giggled gleefully as he remembered the feeling of beating the obnoxious rodent with such primal rage. He was suddenly jerked to a halt when he realized that the voltage junkie behind him had stopped moving. “Hm?” He tipped his head all the way back so he could see Megavolt upside down behind him. “What’s up, Megsy?”

Megavolt had a dark scowl on his face, eyes narrowed. “He HIT you?!” Sparks began flying off of his body as he seethed in anger. “Ooooh, if I ever get my hands on him, I’ll-!!” He didn’t even finish his threat, he just let out a frustrated shout and shot electricity out in a wide burst around himself and Quackerjack.

The crackling energy tickled as it raced across the duck’s body, like it always did whenever his partner let loose. He was more than used to it and often enjoyed the feeling, but, for some reason, it seemed especially attractive to him in that moment.

“Ya know, Mo..” He began with a giggle, wrapping his arms around the other villain’s shoulders. “You’re kinda cute when you’re crazy.” He pulled the startled rodent that was still standing a couple steps above him into a surprise kiss.

At first, Megavolt was too startled to do anything, but his body guided him in the proper way to kiss his partner back while his mind was still catching up. When they eventually broke apart for air, Megavolt had dull waves of static circulating around his body that were being passed along to Quackerjack’s own, causing their respective fur and feathers to fluff up slightly.

“You’re cute when you’re crazy, too, Jackie.” He said with a slightly unhinged grin. “And I love you for it.”

Quackerjack returned the grin with a less-than-sane smile of his own. “Love ya too…Sparky.” He finished with a hysteric laugh at the glare the other man shot him.

Together, the pair ventured out into the night with plans to muscle their way into a fancy restaurant and, likely, steal the wallets and valuables of the rich customers while they were there.

Many things had changed for them over the years: Neither had gotten what they dreamed of in life. Neither of them had a family or a home to go back to. Neither of them were sane, and probably never would be again.

However, those things mattered far less than what had remained the same between them:

They were still the best of friends and partners in crime, no matter what life threw at them.

<-Previous Chapter

End Notes: Decided to keep the last chapter short but sweet. This was a lot of fun to write and it was fun revisiting one of my first ever villain ships. I have plans for future fics involving these two, as well as my other favorite villainous ship from the Fearsome Five XD

Also, since this is the end, just wanted to share the fact that I partially based the events of this fic off of the relationship between my cousin and his husband. They met when they were kids, with my cousin being about 8-9 years younger than his future husband. They were close friends growing up and, around the time he got into high school, my cousin started to realize that he was gay and, at the time, the only one he told was his best friend, who also came out to him as being gay.

My cousin ended up developing a crush on his friend and eventually told him, but his friend had to turn him down because of his age. They got separated for a while and lost touch just because of school and work and life- my cousin finished high school early and went to college and his friend’s company had him move out of state, plus it was before the big boom of social media so they didn’t have as many ways to keep in touch.

They met up again years later in a gay bar in New York and started flirting with each other, and eventually started going out. It wasn’t until they’d been dating for a few months that they finally realized who the other was: My cousin’s then-boyfriend came over to his apartment to pick him up for a date and, while he was waiting for him, he looked at the pictures my cousin had on his wall and shelves and stuff, and spotted one of the two of them from when they were kids.

Needless to say, they had a big “OH MY GOD, IT’S YOU?!!!!” moment before they broke down laughing and caught each other up on their lives. They’ve been together for over twenty years now and they were one of the couples that rushed to the courthouse as soon as gay marriage became legal in New York XD

[imagine-loki]

Packless Monsters

TITLE: Packless Monsters CHAPTER NO./ONE SHOT: 26/? AUTHOR: nekoamamori ORIGINAL IMAGINE: Imagine you’re a werewolf who ends up in the company of Loki in the Avenger’s tower after saving Pepper’s life RATING: M NOTES/WARNINGS: Also on AO3 click here

     “Stark, have you had any luck finding out where that box came from? Or how it got under the Christmas tree?” Cap asked over breakfast Monday morning. Loki and Thor must’ve told Cap and Tony about the collar Jareth had sent you.

    “It came in with the mail. No one thought anything about yet another Christmas present coming in. We all get so many,” Tony answered finally, sounding frustrated. “Jarvis is screening any future mail that comes for the puppy so we don’t get any more nasty surprises,”

    “I’m not a puppy!” you growled down the table at him, though you were relieved that the team had looked into it and were finding a way to keep something like that from happening again.

    *

    You held tightly to Loki’s hand as you boarded the SHIELD jet that came to collect the team after breakfast. “What’s wrong?” Loki asked when your grip tightened on his hand.

    You loosened it sheepishly. “Sorry. Nervous. I’ve never flown before,” you explained.

    Loki gave you the barest hint of a smile. “Nothing to fear, little wolf,” his tone had changed, getting a harder edge around the SHIELD agents. He was more hostile and defensive around them, though in the absolute most polite way possible. It was a defense against how badly they disliked him. All it made you do was to comfort your Loki and get him to smile again. You also saw what he wouldn’t say: even holding your hand was showing more sentiment and feelings than he wanted to display in front of these strangers.

    You dropped his hand and smiled at him when he looked at you to see what you were up to. He was so used to your presence nearly always including physical contact that the absence got his attention. He huffed in exasperation when he realized that you’d read him too well and had taken his comfort into account above yours. He draped a possessive, protective arm over your shoulders, glaring at the agents who dared look at you. “Finally found a Midgardian whose company you can stand?” one of the older agents teased. You grinned, he had seen through Loki’s act too.

    “Yes, this little mortal amuses me. And she’s mine,” Loki glowered at the man who was looking you over, interested in the person who Loki could stand.

    “I’m no more mortal than you are, your highness,” you teased, sticking your tongue out at him. He turned to you with a disapproving look, he’d been avoiding announcing you were a werewolf. You bounced up on your toes to kiss him. “Drop the act, Lo. They’ve seen through it. Besides, we’ve been plastered kissing all over the tabloids and news. I think they know you like me.” Loki sighed heavily in exasperation, but his cold mask faded away.

    “Annoying puppy,” he grumbled in loving exasperation.

    “Stubborn god,” you teased back. With that settled, you finally took seats in the jet. Tony handed over the briefcase that held his Ironman suit. The rest of the uniforms and weapons were also given over to the agents, except Mjolnir, since no one else could lift it.

    The jet took off and you watched out the window like an excited child, fascinated. The novelty wore off quickly, though and you settled back in your seat. Loki was reading, as per usual. You peered over his shoulder to see what he had chosen. It was some text on magic you couldn’t read, so you lost interest in that quickly. You looked around for something to do. Loki wrapped his arm firmly around you and pulled you against his side without looking up from his book. “If I’m telling you not to go looking for mischief, that is a bad sign indeed, little wolf,” he teased, still holding you firmly. You stuck your tongue out at him in reply. He handed you a book. “Read quietly,” he told you firmly, but warmly. “I dislike flying and I feel better knowing you’re safely here with me as opposed to bouncing around annoying everyone,” he explained.

    “Fine,” you huffed, but it was in teasing. You curled more comfortably against him and opened your book. He kept an arm around you, but relaxed his grip. Everyone else seemed to relax once you were occupied as well.

    “Um…Mr. Loki, sir?” a terrified looking, obviously new, agent was standing in front of Loki a couple minutes later.

    “Mr. Loki?” you giggled at the odd term of address. The kid flushed.

    Loki rolled his eyes. “They refuse to address me by my proper title,” he told you mournfully. “Though they manage to address the cat-man by his proper title,”

    “Loki,” Thor’s voice was a warning, but not a severe one, just a simple reminder to his brother to behave and stop tormenting the agents.

    The kid found his courage again. “Sir, it’s regulation. You know the rules,” the kid was clearly terrified as he held up the item in his hands. It looked like some sort of manacle a metal/technology/magic hybrid of some creation.

    Loki sighed heavily and and pushed up his sleeve, holding his arm out. “Very well,” he finally consented, though was obviously upset about it.

    You perked up, feeling his uneasy and displeasure, snarling softly and shifting your position to one better to defend him. “What is that?” you demanded of the kid, who finally seemed to realize you might be dangerous too.

    “SHIELD believes that I am a danger and insists that my powers be bound while I am on their airship,” Loki explained while the terrified agent did his job and secured the manacle around Loki’s wrist. You growled, glaring at the kid who was upsetting your Loki. Loki petted your hair, calming. “Hush, love. It’s alright, just inconvenient,” he soothed. “And if there is an emergency, they will remember I am useful and deactivate it. It’s not hurting me, so there is no need to scare the poor kid,”

    “You don’t deserve it and it’s upsetting you,” you replied, fighting back more growls. Instead, you pouted over the manacle on his wrist and fiddling with it to make sure it was laying as comfortably as possible against his skin.

    “Ma’am. You get one too,” the kid agent said, coming back with a second manacle.

    Loki was standing defensively in front of you before you’d gotten a good look at the silver manacle. “No,” he protested. “She’s allergic to silver and there’s enough in that thing to kill her,” Loki snarled at the kid.

    “It’s regulation, sir. All werewolves on the Helicarrier need to be controlled so they can’t shift to wolf and endanger the crew,” the kid recited.

    “Son, don’t,” Cap said, coming over to stand with Loki in front of you. When he had backup, you reached out and took Loki’s hand, scared of this confrontation. Loki reached his hand back, letting you wrap both of your arms around it. This was a situation where you couldn’t fight effectively. You had to be extra nonthreatening to the humans so they didn’t see you as a monster. “We’ll take responsibility for her.”

    “I’m sorry, sir. The orders come directly from Fury. He said to remind you about the meeting and the mission,” the kid added cryptically.

    Cap sighed, seeming defeated by the kid’s message. “Stand down, Loki,” he ordered. Loki didn’t move. “Loki. We’re not going to hurt her. Stand down.” Loki took a step back, but stayed ready to defend you, still mostly in front of you. Cap turned to you. “Y/N, I wouldn’t ask or allow this, but Fury made the order. I don’t care about that, but we need to show Fury how much silver affects you so he won’t try to pull this stunt again, especially when the team isn’t around to watch out for you. He only listens to hard evidence. Please, try?”

    “No!” Loki protested.

    “Brother, it is important that we show Fury that she is different from the werewolves that he usually deals with. Do this now while we are here to protect her,” Thor bid his brother to see reason.

    Loki looked at you. “Which one of them would you like for me to kill first?” he asked you pleasantly.

    “Lo, let them play out their dominance game with Fury,” you told him, holding one of your wrists out to Cap. You glared between them both, then gave a look to the rest of the team. “I’m putting a lot of faith in you all,” you told them firmly, still scared and refusing to let go of Loki with your other hand.

    “And we won’t let you down,” Cap replied with such honesty that you knew it to be true, no matter what happened, they would defend you to the last. The agent rushed in quickly while Loki sat beside you again and quickly fastened the silver bangle around your wrist.

    The effect was almost instant. The silver was stronger in the bangle than it had been in Tony’s necklace, though not nearly as pure as whatever was in that collar. It didn’t burn your skin, but you were nearly immediately lethargic, the wolf curling up to sleep, defending herself against the silver. You slowly, lethargically, curled yourself against Loki, laying your head on him and closing your eyes.

    “Love?” Loki asked, concerned at how fast the silver was taking you down. You cracked an eye open and tried to look up at him.

    “I have never seen silver have that effect on a wolf,” one of the agents commented.

    “It affects her worse,” Cap explained as your eyes closed again. “She’s a natural born wolf, not a made wolf like the mercenaries and lone wolves you deal with. She’s also female and weighs at least a hundred pounds less than every wolf you’ve ever met,”

    Loki fought to keep you awake, but it was a losing battle. He reached for your wrist. “She can’t handle this. It’s cruel to ask her to try,” Loki snarled at them.

    “No,” Cap ordered him firmly. “Y/N, are you alright?” You managed to nod and murmur something that might have been a ‘yes’. “Let her sleep, Loki. Let Fury see what silver does to her so he doesn’t try this again,”

    “Love? Y/N, look at me,” Loki ordered when you just moaned instead of doing anything. It took effort, to open your eyes enough to look up at him. “Did you hear the Captain? Are you sure you’re alright with this plan?”

    “Yes,” you managed to get the word out before your eyes closed again. You were getting dizzy and nauseous from the effort to stay awake and fight the silver. Loki sighed, though you could hear the concern even in that small noise. He lifted you and settled you in his lap, his arms wrapped protectively around you.

    You must’ve made a noise when he moved you. “Hush, love. I’ve got you. You’re safe.” With that reassurance, you passed out, succumbing to the silver.

    *

    “What the hell is wrong with her?” a man’s voice demanded, fighting through your haze of lethargy. The silver was gone, but it was so hard to fight your way up from its effects.

    “We tried to tell you that silver affects her more strongly than the other wolves,” Nat replied firmly, defensively.

    “We’ve been living with the wolf for months now. Trust us to knew more about her than you do,” Tony added, actually defending you.

    You were safe in Loki’s arms and he was holding you effortlessly. You felt the tension in him, though. He hated you being in this state. “Come on, love, fight through it,” he bid you softly when he realized you were starting to wake. It still took a few minutes and urging from him and the team to fight your way awake.

    “I hate silver,” you groaned when you finally fought awake, though you were groggy still and your brain felt fuzzy and ached, like you were hung over.

    Loki chuckled softly and kissed your forehead. “Are you awake enough for me to put you down?” he asked softly. He would know that you wouldn’t want to be carried in front of strangers.

    You nodded. “I’m awake,” you told him. He carefully set you on your feet. You were on the bridge of the Helicarrier in front of a man in an eyepatch. He was a very intimating man, an alpha if you ever felt one, though he wasn’t a wolf.

    Introductions were made, this was Director Fury. He apologized sincerely for the treatment and promised you’d be immune to the silver rule from now on. There was a tour of the helicarrier while Fury explained operations on board and some of the missions they were working on. He stopped in front of a conference room on one of the lower levels and gestured to Nat.

    “I am sorry about this, Y/N. We couldn’t tell you who we brought you here to meet until we got here. Fury was just a red herring. Thanks boss,” Nat nodded at him. He returned the gesture. Loki stiffened beside you. “Loki, knock it off. If we had told you, you would have told her,” she added at his glare.

    “Would not,” he protested.

    “Don’t lie, love. It hurts my nose,” you reminded him patiently, which was impressive with how your head ached. He chuckled and kissed the top of your head.

    “Sorry, darling,”

    “Jareth and the Alpha would both have beaten the shit of her if they had found out about this meeting before it happened,” Nat continued, ignoring your adorableness. She was kind about it.

    “So who am I meeting?” you asked, that was important. You knew that was important no matter how fuzzy your brain was.

    Instead of answering, Nat opened the door to the conference room you’d been standing in front of. You and Loki stepped through first, together, steeling yourselves for whatever you’d find on the other side. Thor was right behind you, followed by the others.

    There was a lone occupant of the room, a man sitting at the head of the large table. He looked to be about 25, but he was ancient. You dropped Loki’s hand and went to the stranger. Loki didn’t stop you out of sheer shock. You fell to your knees in front of the stranger, your head bowed. You were completely enthralled by the man and overwhelmed by the sheer power of this alpha wolf. It took a lot of power to enthrall an Omega. A lot of power. It was stronger than anything that you’d ever felt before.

    “Fenrir?” Loki and Thor demanded incredulously at the same time, staring at the man in shock and confusion.

[loyaltyburdened]

five times kissed

send me five times kissed for a drabble about five times our muses kissed // @shcdidgood

          ok so this is p long obv, so i’m putting it under a cut!

I. ‘I LOVE YOU’.

          the words hit him so hard that it knocks the breath out of him. one second passes, then another, and another, and another… he’s breathless, speechless, and slowly trying to wrap his head around the three words that just left her mouth. he blinks repetitively off at nothing in particular, can hardly feel her eyes on him, slowly letting the GRAVITY of those words process. his heart hammers, his stomach flips, skin grows clammy and tingly with goosebumps, and the hair on the back of his neck stands on end.

          he can feel the heat spreading like a wildfire over his body, reaching every nook and cranny. flames lick at his skin, all the way from his collarbone to the tips of his ears. in any and all scenarios he’d EVER gone over in his head, HE was the first one to admit it. this had thrown him through a loop– he hadn’t been expecting it. then again, he also hadn’t been expecting the talk about benny either… el was just FULL of surprises tonight it seemed…

          just like the feeling of her pulling away from him. that was enough to pull mike out of his thoughts, to allow his voice to finally return to him, and for him to quickly leap into action.

         what was SUPPOSED to be a harmless night of mindless stargazing had turned into one deep, personal conversation after another, and now here they were...

          “ i– ” he stuttered out, feeling the next words tumbling out of his mouth so quickly that they might as well had been falling over each other, OVERLAPPING, “ no, el– wait, i– ” he didn’t want her to get the wrong idea. he didn’t want her to think that he was rejecting her! so what did mike wheeler do?

          he reached for her, pulled her towards him, and kissed her. a big, deep, breathtaking smooch. he pulled back just enough to still be able to feel her breath on his face, to stare into her eyes, and try to regulate his own breathing as he gathered his thoughts. finally, he leaned back in to press his forehead to hers, eyes fluttering shut and finally responding, “ i love you too… ”

          then a giggle escaped him, then another, and the next thing mike knew, he was in a fit of them. laughing at himself for being so dumb, laughing because of the relief that fell over him, or the immense JOY he felt upon hearing those eight letters and finally managing to say them back.

          either way, mike continue to laugh then leaned in to kiss her again.

II. SOAP OPERAS

          it wasn’t exactly mike’s idea of entertainment, but he endured them because EL liked them, so here mike was, sitting on the couch in hopper’s cabin, watching them with her. he was only watching with mild interest, though he’d mostly been glancing over at el out of the corner of his eye. every once in a while he’d hear her quietly repeat the actors’ lines under her breath and he’d feel the corners of his mouth twitch upwards. she was too cute. even if he wasn’t really a fan of these things, it was worth it to watch them with el because of the amusement of her love for them. her being happy was enough to make mike agree to just about anything.

          el ended up repeating a particularly CHEESY line from the female lead, and mike couldn’t help himself. he turned his attention to her, reached out to tuck a stray curl behind her ear, and smiled when he’d gained her attention. the male lead said his line next, and mike followed suit, repeating the words to her, just above a whisper.

          “ you drive me crazy... ” definitely not far from the truth. el made mike experience things that he never had before. she made every nerve ending in his body go haywire, and she was always on his mind. she made him crazy. crazy for her. 

          after the successful line delivery, mike leaned forward, capturing her lips in his. he only pulled away from her ( or more like JERKED away ) when he could hear hopper’s boot-clad feet marching up the steps of the porch.

III. THE PATH TO SUCCESS

          it had been about a week since mike found out that he’d actually be able to go to NYU to pursue his dreams. mike had always been fascinated by science, and he wanted to get as far away from hawkins as humanly possible, so applying to a school in new york ( or, MULTIPLE ONES, really ) was a no brainer. mike had his heart set on NYU, but tried not to get his hopes up. really, any of them would be fine, but NYU was one of the BIGGEST, one of the BEST, so how could he not pine after that one?

          when the letter had first arrived, he had to have holly open it for him. his nerves had been too out of wack to even attempt it. but he knew, as soon as he saw that LOOK on her face that he had gotten in. when karen found out, she’d hugged him so tightly that it was a miracle that he could actually still BREATHE afterwards, but she made him is favorite dinner and even got the ingredients to make homemade ice cream. mike hadn’t remembered her doing THAT since he was really little. it was still nice though, and he appreciated it all the same.

          once he’d gotten free of his mother’s grasp, before dinner was ready, he’d called el. she’d been the first person he’d actually wanted to tell. thankfully, she answered on the third ring. before she could even get her greeting out, mike started talking. he couldn’t help it. the words, “ I GOT IN!!! ” spewed out of his mouth before he could stop himself in a mixture of excitement and still disbelief. he happily chattered on about that until karen had to practically PRY him off the phone. he promised to call her back after dinner and reluctantly hung up.

          true to his word, mike had, and continued to do so until the both of them had to finally call it a night. if el had felt anything other than pride for him, he hadn’t picked up on it.

          a few weeks later, around that same time, mike had already been asleep. he’d turned in early that night, practically COLLAPSING onto the bed after his closing shift at blockbuster. he had to’ve only been actually asleep for maybe an hour, hour and a half, before he was stirred awake. he could register the voice, but couldn’t place it. it sounded too warbled in his foggy mind and it was too dark to make out much of anything.

          then, the lamp on his side table was clicked on and he was temporarily blinded, then JUMPED when he saw el. when he actually realized that it was el standing there and not some creep there to rob him, he visibly relaxed, though his heart still hammered in his chest.

          “ you scared the SHIT outta me! ” he yelled in a hushed tone, though there was no malice behind his words.

          “ i got in, ” was the only response he was greeted with, accompanied by a letter being shoved into his face.

          after taking a second to collect himself, mike reached forward and took the paper from her, looking it over and reading the same response he’d gotten a few weeks prior. el had gotten into NYU, too. immediately, mike’s face lit up, smile stretching from ear to ear.

          “ el, oh my god, that’s-- that’s AMAZING! ” he had to fight to contain his excitement, or, at the very least, keep his voice down so that no one would hear them. it hadn’t been the first time they’d had to be quiet from sneaking into each others’ rooms in the middle of the night, and he doubted it would be the last. “ you didn’t tell me that you were trying to get into NYU, too! ”

          “ i wanted it to be a surprise, ” she replied with a light smile of her own.

          and it certainly was. a HUGE surprise! not that mike didn’t think she could do it, because he thought that el could do anything she set her mind to. she was one of the smartest people he knew. he was just surprised because he hadn’t seen it coming. he hadn’t expected to see that he and el would be going to the same college TOGETHER! but he wasn’t complaining. oh definitely not! in fact, he couldn’t have been happier!

          wordlessly, he set the acceptance letter onto his bedside table and reached for her. once he had her in his grasp, he tugged her down onto the bed with him and held her close, snuggling against her.

          “ this is so awesome, ” he murmured into her hair, “ i’m so proud of you, el. ” he squeezed her for emphasis and pressed a sweet, lingering kiss to her forehead.

IV. TALK SHIT, GET HIT

          a busted lip, sore ribs, bruised knuckles, and various other small cuts that littered mike’s body was none other than the result of what happens if someone EVER disrespects eleven. mike could usually give a stern warning and threat if they were to call her a freak, a shove against the lockers and a DEMAND for them to take back what they said if cruel words such as ‘dumb’ or ‘stupid’ was spat out, but one thing that mike wouldn’t tolerate and would NEVER tolerate was someone EVER accusing el of being promiscuous or otherwise. even if they so much as HINTED at it, mike wouldn’t hesitate to lay them flat. ... which is exactly what happened.

          mike just remembered jumping on them and then having to be pulled off, followed by a grueling trip to the nurses office, then the principal's office. it went without saying that he was most definitely SUSPENDED. he’d gotten suspended for a week and had to wait in the principal’s office for karen to come pick him up. he knew, before she ever even showed up that he was screwed.

          sure enough, the entire car ride home consisted of her scolding and lecturing him. he tried to explain to her that he’d only done what he had because he was sticking up for el, but karen had told him, as admirable as it was that he’d stood up for his girlfriend, that was no reason to be fighting... and then she told him that she was at least glad that he won and that she was proud of him for defending his girlfriend, buuuuuut that still wasn’t enough to warrant NOT being grounded when he got home.

          thankfully, he’d managed to get a relatively SHORT sentence-- well, shorter than what it might’ve been otherwise... a week. he would be grounded for a week, and when he got to go back to school, he could have all of his privileges back. mike didn’t even try to fight her on it. yeah, he wasn’t HAPPY about it, but the fear of running his mouth and being grounded for even LONGER was probably the least appealing thing to him at that moment. so, he kept his mouth shut, went up to his room, and quietly skulked.

          a part of him contemplated sneaking downstairs to watch tv while his mother was out -- something about ted’s tire getting a flat and she was going to have to go pick him up from work while he was getting it fixed -- but before he could bring himself to heave up off of his bed, his thoughts were interrupted by a light tapping on his window. glancing over, he saw that it was el.

          after carefully easing himself up off of his bed -- those damn sore ribs -- mike moved over to the window to let her in. he barely managed to say anything at all before she was checking him over.

          “ el-- el, i’m alright, ” he tried to reassure her, pulling away from her grasp and moving back over to sit down on his bed. she joined him and listened as he went on to explain what had happened. it pretty much lined up exactly with what she’d heard-- not that she had any reason NOT to believe what mike said, anyway. but it also didn’t make her feel any better about the situation either-- well, sort of. 

          she’d be lying if she said that she didn’t like the fact that he’d beaten someone up to defend her honor. she liked that a lot, actually.

          at least he didn’t look as bad as she’d feared. the old mike probably would’ve come out of something like that a lot worse. the new mike-- the mike from the ninth grade and onward didn’t take anyone’s shit. he might not have ALWAYS won the fights that he got into, but he was one hell of a scrapper.

          mike could feel her eyes on him still and he turned to look at her. he opened his mouth to say something, but she cut him off before he could. the sudden pressure against his lips made him wince and pull back.

          “ ah-- hhh----- ” he quietly hissed, gingerly running his tongue over the busted part of his lip before looking at her apologetically. “ i’m sorry, el, just-- it’s sore, and-- ” the words died on his lips slowly as he felt her hands caressing either side of his face, carefully pulling him back in. he let her.

          she was more gentle this time, and though mike could still feel the slight sting, it was nowhere near as bad as before. and, just like his fight earlier, everything became a blur in his mind. he would only be able to recall everything clearly later on when his brain wasn’t confused over whether or not it should be registering pleasure or pain.

V. STUDY SESH

          to mike’s credit, he TRIED to help el with her studying. he tried to help her prepare for a big exam or help her with a part of her homework that she couldn’t quite get, but it never really worked out the way he’d planned. it was honestly a miracle whenever eleven managed to retain something. and it wasn’t because mike thought she was dumb, or that she couldn’t comprehend it. no, it was because nine times out of ten, she was too damn distracted to actually get what he was trying to explain to her. it would be damn near exhausting and frustrating if not for the fact that she was cute as all hell and that he loved her. she was lucky.

          “ el, are you even listening? ” mike couldn’t suppress a sigh. he did his best to give her his most UNAMUSED look.

          “ no, ” she answered simply, giving him, what mike liked to call, one of her shit-eating grins. she knew very well that she hadn’t been paying him a lick of attention and she felt no remorse for it either.

          “ c’mon, el-- ” mike pursed his lips, index finger tapping at something on one of the pages of the textbook he currently had laid open. “ how’re you supposed to pass if you don’t pay attention to what i’m telling you? ”

          el responded with a shrug, making mike hitch up his shoulders and puff out his cheeks in mock annoyance. he couldn’t ever really bring himself to get too upset with her.

          el giggled at his silly expression and responded again, but this time, wordlessly with a peck to his cheek, quickly deflating mike and causing color to spread to every inch of his body.

[calimera62]

Krolfred headcanons nobody asked for...

I wanted to write some Krolfred headcanons for a while, but @penhales’s HCs made me want to write some! Please bear in mind those are only headcanons, I don’t claim it can happen in canon if you disagree with some of them!

Now that’s cleared, here I go:

Krolock had his eyes on Alfred since they met, possibly even before that since I think Krolock definitely knew about Abronsius and Alfred being here since they step a foot inside Chagal's inn (because, hey it's not everyday you had strangers coming into your territory!)

While he focused more on Sarah, Krolock also intended to have Alfred and not only for Herbert’s sake, because Krolock too was interested in Alfred and I think, if there were no Sarah, Krolock would have focused more on Alfred.

Because, let's face it, even if he put more efforts in seducing Sarah, he definitely seduced Alfred as well.

Krolock himself is seduced by Alfred, mostly his innocence. He’s attracted to it, and he’s also very eager to conquer it in some way. Part of him wants Alfred to stay innocent, another part of him wants to turn Alfred. I think he would be curious to know how Alfred would be as a vampire.

Despite his fear of Krolock, Alfred is fascinated by him ; Krolock is such a mysterious and sophisticated man after all. Despite what he is, I think Alfred would like to be like Krolock: someone handsome, sophisticated, in control, cultivated, a cool figure of authority. He would definitely be his role-model if Krolock was not a vampire.

What Alfred heard in the graveyard (aka Krolock’s thoughts and the conflict inside of him) only increased his fascination for him, and he grew to feel, not only fear, but also pity, sympathy.

I headcanon Alfred being fascinated by what’s forbidden, the dark while being afraid of it ; so a small part of him could understand why Sarah is attracted by the Count, despite how dangerous Alfred knows he can be.

Alfred knows it’s wrong, and he knows Krolock is the enemy he and Abronsius have to fight, but he can’t help it and tries to fight his fascination for him.

Krolock knows the conflict inside Alfred and he definitely enjoys that game of cat and mouse they’re playing. 

Krolock also knows what Alfred dreamt about in Carpe Noctem, and knew he left some impact on Alfred, which would explain his “Alfred's soul already belong to me” in Sie irren, Professor.

Alfred has trouble seeing his worth and while Krolock mostly said it to seduce Alfred into the dark, I think he... meant it when he told Alfredhe found him brave and daring. I think he honestly think Alfred is capable of having a bright future, without the Professor.

Alfred wears a cross around his neck, Krolock has a problem with that.

Krolock could grow to give Alfred some nickname, beside “My boy”, “My dear boy”.

Krolock is very good at reading Alfred. It’s something that amazes and annoys Alfred. While Abronsius has (in my mind) some affection for his student, he never quite understood him, his dreams and his desires, and there’s Krolock who can see right through him (it’s basically canon, in Vom der Schloss)

I believe, in a way, Krolock sees his human self in Alfred, the man he has once been and someone a part of him longs to be again.

Krolfred HCs with vampire!Alfred:

Let’s imagine Krolock got Sarah and Alfred back at the end of the musical.

Alfred is expecting revenge from Krolock, after what he and Abronsius did. He never expected Krolock to took him in and willing to guide and teach him the ways of the vampire life as well, but he did. And he’s giving him as much attention as he’s giving Sarah.

Sure, he taunted Alfred because he became what he and Abronsius swore to fight, and because Krolock predicted this moment, but he still acted as his vampire mentor.

While Alfred is still wary of Krolock, he grew used to his presence and came to see him as more than he used to see him.

Alfred doesn’t want to sleep in a coffin at first, and wants to sleep in a bed. Krolock indulges him, for a while.

Herbert, Magda and Sarah are his vibrant fledglings, all three in love with the night and when Krolock wants some sort of calm, comforting silence, he would spent time alone with Alfred. He would sit and write or play piano while Alfred would read. Sometimes, Krolock would ask Alfred to read aloud, and Krolock would listen.

Despite the bloodlust, Alfred managed to stay as human as possible, clinging to his human feelings. It both amuse and fascinate Krolock.

Alfred is also very much like the part of Krolock that see his condition as a burden. He’s the only one to feel this way, so it makes him special in a way.

That’s all for now! I’ll update or make a new post if I find other headcanons!

[evakteket]

Watchlist update

The usual: When it’s been more than three weeks since a fic was updated we consider it to be on hiatus and remove it from the watchlist. However, we don’t cancel our subscriptions and if one of the removed fics gets updated again, we’ll put it right back on the list.

The usual II: feel free to send us an ask if you have suggestions for fics we should check out – even if they’re not Evak-centric!

Update summary:

Completed: 2 Added: 4 Removed: 0 (hallelujah)

News:

Alphabet Aerobics by @nofeartina NEW

Rating: explicit. And is it ever. There are 26 letters in the English alphabet, and the author has set out to write 26 chapters of pwp, one for each letter as Isak and Even play a letters sex game. And yes this is smutty, yes the plot is virtually non-existent, but there are feelings and character development as well as very well-written, imaginative smut. - kit and immy

tender (is the night) by kittpurrson (@towonderland72) NEW

For the record, this is written by one of the Evakteket librarians. She has not been allowed an opinion on whether to put this on the watchlist or not, as the other librarian thinks it's amazing. In this magic AU Isak and Even accidentally soulbond - however, while a bond mate is something Isak has desperately yearned for, Even is not at all enthused. Deliciously understated, fine-tuned angst and a well-built magical concept will keep the reader on tenterhooks. - immy

a careful hypothesis of the heart by StMisery NEW

This AU, while not extremely Norwegian although it's set in Oslo, shows Isak and Even as co-workers who inch their way from quite a bit of dislike for each other towards, well, we would be very surprised if Evak isn't endgame. Engaging and entertaining as the guys slowly make progress, and featuring an adorable Magnus. - kit and immy

I Tveksamhetens tid by Always_and_ever (Swedish) NEW

Even is having doubts about his and Isak's relationship in this angsty fic, set ten years from they got together. The updates are short, but every one packs a serious punch, escalating the inner and outer conflicts. Isak and Even are very human and real as grown ups here, and if you can read Swedish you should definitely check this out. - immy

Vivid in Black and White by @fxckxxp COMPLETED

Complete, rec here.

All Stories Are Echoes by sebastianL (@e-sebastian) COMPLETED

Complete, rec here.

Still on the watchlist:

Er vi lykkelige no? by Frieda Echte @friedaechte (Norwegian)

Mixed POV of Isak and Even’s first summer together, starting on Isak’s birthday. Gorgeous, understated everyday scenes, where some days are good and some are not so good, sometimes there are misunderstandings and mistakes, but being Isak and Even they figure it out as they go. A moving, lovely read for those who can read Norwegian. Note that it’s rated mature. - immy

Blood vs. Water by bri_ness (@brionbroadway)

This author’s Big Brother AU was a gameplay treat, and this Survivor AU promises to be just as addictive and fun. We’re looking forward to another round of Snakesak playing the game, skilfully written nods to canon and messy relationships. There’s no need to have watched Survivor, the game is explained in the notes as you go. - immy

I skyggen av solen by Kudzibisa (Norwegian)

Charter holiday AU where Isak and Even meet on the plane. Isak is on holiday with his dad and little sister, while Even is travelling with Sonja, for one week of sun and sea and things getting in the way of spending time together. Norwegian charter tourists are perfectly portrayed in this, expect to cringe a lot if you can read Norwegian. - immy

glovarm/iskald by liljesmoothie (Norwegian)

Isak is so deep in the closet in this AU in Norwegian that he’s managed to get to 27 without experiencing love, and has basically run away from Oslo to a job on Svalbard. Enter Even, coming to film at Isak’s workplace, the Global Seed Vault. The setting is fascinating and the progress towards a relationship is sweet, but note that there’s homophobia, internalised and otherwise. It’s not rated by the author, but I’d say it’s mature. - immy

Legitimate Expectations by @champagneleftie In this AU Isak is a lawyer specialising in matters of freedom of the press, and the setting seems wonderfully real. His life as a successful young lawyer (with some interesting SKAM character colleagues) is all neat and tidy, until there’s an Even-shaped spanner thrown in the works. Beautifully written, this is perfect for fans of grown-up Isak and Even with careers. - kit and immy

the truth about my disguise by mikaeloboukhal

The first chapter of this childhood friends AU is the beautifully paced story of Isak and Even growing up, until Even moves away, and it continues to be well worth reading from there. This is a lovely, well written, well characterised take on the reunion trope. Watch out for your heart though, it’s it for some breaking. - kit and immy

Digging upwards by Allieverwas (@grensevokter)

Few fics go into season 2 Isak, but this AU (where he meets Even in April 2016) does, and the author does it excellently. It’s a captivating story about Isak’s life while living in Eskild’s basement storage room, with a lot of details making it very realistic, and the characterisation is amazing. It feels very true to canon while being an AU, and I absolutely love how this important period in Isak’s life is depicted in this fic. - immy

all i wanna do is be near by hippopotamus (@evenshands)

A 5+1 future AU where Isak and Even were friends as teenagers and meet again a couple of years later, this has a confident Isak and lovely dialogue. So far it’s bittersweet and a bit heartbreaking, and we’re very excited about where it goes. Mind the explicit rating. - kit and immy

Like barn leker best by Kikki1 (Norwegian) 

In this AU, student Isak has just broken up with his boyfriend, but he knows Even from school and is not a fan. Since his crap boyfriend is (mostly) out of the picture Isak needs a roommate. Enter Mikael. An engaging story featuring an annoyed and a bit weary Isak, amusing rather than angsty, and quite realistic about being a young gay man in Oslo. A very satisfying read for those who can read Norwegian. - immy

You’re my (arche)type by @evakuality 

This is a fairytale AU that isn’t based on a specific story, but rather on the archetypes found in fairytales worldwide, where the interaction and characterisation is shaped by the archetypes each of the characters belongs to, and by the struggle against the confines of the archetypes. It’s an interesting and very well written take on nature vs. nurture and rigid societal structure, and the characterisation is wonderful. - immy

Hjerterytmer og ekstraslag by Without your breath (@livreddare) (Norwegian)  Hospital AU where Isak is a nurse and Even is a surgeon in training at an emergency department, packed full of realistic detail and gorgeous slow burn (so far). I adore the characterisation in this, and it’s always a treat to read a well-written AU in a setting the author knows really well. If you can read Norwegian, don’t miss out on this. - immy

Forsvarlig behandling by Frieda Echte @friedaechte (Norwegian)  In this hospital AU get-together, nurse Isak gets a patient (oh yes) with a somewhat annoying girlfriend (oh no) tagging along to the ED. Vividly detailed, engaging and funny, this promises to be a very special treat for those who can read Norwegian. - immy

[delicatefury]

TDPL 10,000 HITS Celebration! ~ Scene 4.1: Reunion.

It’s a week late, but like I said, this feels right. A little over a year ago, I posted the first snippet of what became The Dark Path Lit by Sun and Stars. Now, I’ve got 3 chapters posted, working on the fourth, and I’ve already reached 10,000 hits. So as a thank you for sticking with me and/or joining me this last year, here’s the edited, updated, and expanded first snippet. Scene 4.1, aka Reunion:

(Oh... and...

)

Lightsaber waving Togrutas claiming to be Jedi. Terrifying bald women, with two lightsabers, attacking the kid. Mysterious robed men ordering them about, also with lightsaber.

What the Kriff have they gotten themselves into?

Now they were holing up in a cave with the Togruta, a “padawan,” whatever the Sith hells that was, fleeing from terrifying bald woman, and waiting on Mr. Mysterious and Robed. He knows the kid said something was coming today, that things were going to change, but Han could do with a little less change if it came with a lot more answers.

He’s beginning to miss Goldenrod. At least the droid might’ve had some sort of reference for the situation. Right now the three of them are completely winging it.

Here’s the situation as Han sees it. Leia is still sick, and whatever the hell she was doing with Luke this morning hasn’t exactly helped. She’s still too quiet, too compliant; she hardly fought when Han picked her up out of the speeder and carried her into the cave. This… thing that is going on with the Force, it’s really messed her up.

Luke is… practically vibrating actually. He’s seeing something that Han isn’t, but that’s pretty par for the course nowadays. His attention is completely absorbed by the Togruta girl. Can’t blame him for that. The girl’s pretty enough, but he knows that’s not what Luke’s interested in. It’s the lightsaber at her waist and her ease with it that’s got his attention.

Luke’s pretty easy like that.

The Togruta is standing guard over the cave entrance. She’s waiting for her master, the mysterious robed man. Han pats the blaster on his hip once or twice, reassuring himself of its weight. He’s not sure what to make of her. She seems nice enough, but he’s known plenty of perfectly nice people perfectly willing to stab you in the back at the first opportunity. Nice means nothing. 

Himself? He’s got his blaster, he’s got the twins, he’s got his wits. It’s not the worst situation he’s found himself in. But his hands are sweaty and his breath feels too shallow. They’d left before things got too intense, but that witch and man fighting… Han’s never seen Luke clash with anyone who’d used a lightsaber before. If it looks anything like that, Han’s gained a lot more respect for the kid.

But with the speeder unburdened of its supplies, there’s really not much left to do but sit and wait. The sandstorm that Luke promised that morning has started to pick up. It’s looking to be even worse than the one they got caught up in on Tatooine, the kind that can strip the meat from your bones if you’re not careful. Part of Han hopes the robed man completely misses them because of it. That would be easiest. Sorry you gotta wait for the guy, scary lightsaber girl, but we’ll go our separate ways now. Hope to never deal with you or crazy bald woman ever again.

Yeah. Not likely.

For starters, his gut’s not kicking up a fuss. He’s not sure if he can trust the guy, but the man isn’t exactly a danger. Except it’s more than that. He’s got an absolute lack of a bad feeling about this. And that’s putting him on edge. He’s always got at least a bit of a sense on the way a situation is going to play out. You don’t get to be one of Jabba’s best smugglers if you can’t anticipate the pros and cons better than the rest. But he’s got nothing. That undercurrent of anticipation is there, but not to run. Kinda reminds him of an ack dog waiting for its master. Or maybe… he laughs a bit to himself about this, but it reminds him of Luke whenever he’s got a new Force trick or Jedi artifact to show him and Leia. That’s what he’s picking up in this cave.

And it’s setting his teeth on edge, because there is absolutely no reason for him to be feeling this way. So instead of relaxing, like the mood seems to warrant, he’s pacing the wall near Leia, watching Luke and the Togruta girl.

“Will you stop, nerf for brains. you’re making my headache worse.”

Those are the first words Leia’s spoken since she last went into that creepy meditation with Luke.

“I’ll relax - Fine. I’ll stop. As soon as Luke gets over here.” 

Leia rolls her eyes. Han wants to rejoice, his little spitfire is getting some of her vinegar back. “You’re such a mother gundark. Luke! Han wants you away from the entrance.”

“Traitor,” Han mumbles. It does the trick though. Luke comes back to join him and Leia, the Togruta trailing after him.

“What’s wrong with the entrance, Han? The storm isn’t going to really hit for another hour or so.”

“Yeah, well, call me paranoid, but I don’t like presenting a nice obvious target when people are trying to kill me for no damn good reason.” Han grumbles.

The Togruta is smiling at him, clearly amused. He has to fight the urge to stick his tongue out at her. He’s older than all 3 of them, he has to set a good example. Be the adult.

“So what’s your story half-pint?” Be mostly an adult.

“My name is Ahsoka Tano. I am a Jedi padawan, thank you for asking,” There is snark there. She’s probably only being so polite because it’s a first meeting. And she’s a - wait.

“A Jedi?f”

“I know you probably don’t get a lot of us out here, ever, but yes. I am a Jedi padawan. We follow the ways of the Force.” Force damned, but that explains Luke’s fascination. Someone else other than him claiming to be a Jedi? Hells, the kid probably thinks this whole fiasco was worth it for that alone.

“I know what a Jedi is, sister. What I want to know is why you were out in the middle of the desert. What were you looking for?” He has to be the cynic. Between wide-eyed idealism and a politician who actually believes what she’s selling, someone has to keep their feet on the ground.

The girl, Tano, doesn’t think too highly of his question. She’s squinting at him, like she can see right through him. If she’s anything even remotely close to the Jedi of old, maybe she can. Before she can reply, though, there’s a commotion at the cave’s entrance.

Han doesn’t give Luke a chance to fight him. He’s got reach on the kid and he uses that to his advantage. One lanky arm loops around Luke’s waist and hauls him back towards his sister. In nearly the same motion, Han’s got his blaster up and stuck himself between the twins and the stranger at the cave entrance. Leia’s scrambling up behind him. Always on the same wavelength, she grabs onto Luke, holding him in place, forcing him to help her stand. Han barely pays her attention. He’s focused on the entrance.

“Hello there,” a man’s voice shouts over the growing noise of the wind. It’s muffled, but Ahsoka seems to recognize it.  

“About time you showed up, Master. I was beginning to think you got lost.”

“Apologies, I had to finish up some unpleasant business first.” The man’s stepping forward to meet the girl, and his garb reminds Han of Luke in so many little ways. Like the kid, he is got nearly every inch of his skin covered, obviously prepared for spending time in the desert. But he’s pulling the scarf away leaning down to talk to the Jedi kid.

It’s great that Ahsoka seems to trust the man, but Han’s policy is generally to keep a steady hand on his blaster until he can verify for himself. He barely knows Ahsoka, for all that Luke’s already managed to make friends through the time honored tradition of barely surviving someone trying to kill you together. But if Ahsoka, a Jedi whatever, is calling the man ‘Master’ is he a Jedi too? He’s got the saber, though Han knows that that doesn’t necessarily mean anything. And the familiarity of the man is driving him up the wall.

The man, the Jedi, has finished giving Ahsoka her instructions, and she heads towards the cave entrance with a nod. Han prepares for the worst. Ahsoka, while mainly an unknown, had at least already helped them. Now he’s being left alone with the man, one twin incapacitated, the other showing really questionable judgement. 

The Jedi raises his voice to call back to the padawan, something about a heating unit and tea. Then he turns his attention to the three at the back of the cave.

“Now, as for you three…” he starts. Han stiffens at the voice. It’s light and casual, with a crisp Coruscanti accent, but there’s an undercurrent of absolute authority. Han hates to admit it, but he panics a little at the tone. With the man’s focus on them there is no doubt in his mind; the force of that gaze, hooded or not, bears all the weight of Luke at his most somber. This man is a Jedi. He is a Jedi and Han is just a kid. He’ll freely admit that now. Just  kid with no ship to escape to, no Chewie for backup, and he knows Luke and Leia are Force-Sensitives, that the Jedi can probably just take them with him if he wants to, but Han has to keep them safe. Because they are so much smaller now, and so much more reckless, his princess and his farm-boy. Sure he has his blaster, but the memories from his childhood are so much fresher now. Against a Jedi, a real Jedi, the blaster is just so much junk.

The man shifts to face them fully, face still obscured by the folds of his cloak, the outline of an auburn beard all that is visible in the half-light created by the glow sticks Luke had insisted on packing.

“I am certain you’ve heard this before,” the Jedi says, voice droll, “but the Jundland Wastes are not to be travelled lightly.”

Han can feel Luke’s sudden tension beside him, coiled tightly, but he can’t figure out why. All he knows is this Jedi has no karking clue where in the galaxy they are. Did the man damage his head out there?

“Tell me, young ones, what brings you out this far?”

Despite his ingrained wariness, the kindness in the voice has Han dropping his guard. “This ain’t Tatooine, old man,” he says, rolling his eyes. He pauses mid roll, realizing that he may be poking the sleeping kraayt right now.

“We’re in the Goazon badlands, Master,” Ahsoka calls over the noise of the storm, hauling in what looks like saddlebags from a swoop-bike. Her tone is teasing, but a little disbelieving. So she doesn’t think the Jedi would get things that wrong either.

“Are we? Hmm… curious.” Han can hear the raised eyebrow accompanying that statement. But Luke is nearly trembling next to him, and while Han doesn’t know the Force from the sand around him, the air is saturated with a vague, tentatively hopeful feeling. Before he can stop the younger boy, Luke lets go of his sister and ducks under Han’s arm.

“Ben?” his soft question cuts though even the raging wind blowing across the entrance. Is he asking for guidance from his ghost? Should Han be worried? Luke’s reaching for something, reaching without moving an inch but Han can feel it. He’s sure everyone else can too.

The padawan pauses in her tasks to watch the scene unfold. Han can see her mouth the name to herself, white brow-markings furrowing. He can feel Leia pulling in closer, tucking herself under his other arm. She seems to only have a vague idea of what is going on in her brother’s head. Seems intent on reassuring Han that Luke knows what he is doing. But Han’s attention is immediately drawn back to the Jedi.

The edge of the beard twitches slightly upward, almost like the Jedi is smirking, and his hands go the the edges of the cloak. He pulls the hood down and reveals a much younger and gentler looking man than Han was expecting. The now-teenager pegs the Jedi as his own age, or rather, what his age was before things went to the ninth Corellian hell over the planet last week. The Jedi’s auburn hair is as neatly trimmed as his beard. His eyes are blue-green and kind, and the hinted smirk is instead a lopsided, but fond smile. But though the Jedi looks familiar, Han can not place him. Had he been famous during the clone wars? A survivor of the purges?

The Jedi speaks again and his next words stop Han’s train of thought dead.

“Hello, Young Luke. It is good to see you again.”

It becomes clear to Han that everyone else in the cave has frozen. See you again? What the kriffin’ Sith Hells did that mean? Him, Luke, and Leia? They’re in the wrong place and the wrong ages and no one here has had any clue who the kriff they are. Leia must be thinking the same, because the tension in the room snaps back with a vengeance, ratchets up in intensity by several degrees and she reaches up to grab at Han’s vest, torn between hiding from this absolute stranger and protecting her brother.

But even without directly seeing him, Han can tell Luke lights up.

“Ben!” The blond boy pushes entirely past Han’s protective, grasping reach and darts across the cave’s floor. The Jedi kneels down just in time to catch the boy as he flings himself into the other’s arms. “Boy am I glad to see you.” Luke buries himself as far as he can go into the embrace, hands clutching the fabric at the man’s shoulders as tight as his small fists can. Han can hear the telltale sniffle of a trying not to cry Luke Skywalker, muffled in the layers of the man’s tunics as all the fear and worry of the past week leaves the boy in a rush.

For his part the Jedi, Ben, clutches the boy back just as hard, folding him up in his arms so Luke nearly disappears behind the dark brown sleeves of his cloak.

“It is all right, Luke,” he mutters into blond hair. “I’m here, I’m really here.” He pushes the boy away for a moment and looks him over, tip to toes. “I’m glad to see you’re in one piece.” His eyes linger on Luke’s right arm, right above the wrist, eyebrow quirking, and Han knows that wasn't an accident.

Without letting go of the boy, the Jedi looks up and catches Han’s eye, beard twitching upward again, before turning to the girl still tucked into his side. “That goes for you too, Leia.” She stiffens at the acknowledgement and Ben turns that intense gaze back to Han. “And you as well, Mr. Solo.”

And somehow that is the last piece needed for it all to slot into place. The blue lightsaber. The smirk. The accent. The twinkle in the eye. Ben.

Han knows this man.

It is the padawan who breaks the following silence, supplies forgotten at her feet. “You know these guys, Master Kenobi?”

And there’s that smirk again, the one that asked Han a lifetime ago: who was more foolish?

“Oh yes, Ahsoka. Luke and I are old friends, aren’t we?”

Han and Leia have inched forward, her fist still lightly gripping his vest, and he can see Luke’s sunshine smile through the tears as he nods his head vigorously.

“Yep, we are.” The boy sighs. “I missed you, Ben,” he whispers, head bowing close once more.

The Jedi, Ben, desert wizard and generally crazy old fossil as well as a, apparently former, Force ghost, bends his head until their foreheads meet, smile turning soft and fond.

“I missed you, too.”

[paladinofklance]

And I find myself at home. | Klance fic

Read on AO3

This is done by me;

Tumblr: paladinofklance

AO3: moonandstarlight

Summary: Lace goes home, and this time around he has a special someone he wants to introduce. A 'going home' fic, for Lance's birthday.

One thing that is harder than being away from your family for long periods of time, is probably telling your family the reason you won’t be available and home for so long is because you’re flying around in a big metallic lion in space. It’s three and a half year ago, that he had to sit down and explain them this, after being away for over two years. Something that is harder than telling your family you’re in space is coming home and them thinking you’re dead.

It haunts him, the day he came home for the first time after so long. They thought he was lying, they were crying and cursing him telling him that they didn’t believe this was their son, it haunts him. Even after all the yelling and the crying, for his mom to properly look at him. Tears streaming down her face, as she held him close, finally being surrounded in the known warmth of his mom. He’d cried a lot, his family had cried a lot, and the worst part; telling that he was going to go back, and there’d be a long period of time, where they wouldn’t see each other. He doesn’t think of the broken faces that stared back at him.

There have been times, where they have been able to send small messages -courtesy of Pidge- but what do you even ask or say? Lance has no idea.

But as soon as he sees earth’s beautiful and well-known surface pipe forth, their pod descending out of the clouds, every question and every word he has thought of these last couple of years, they pour into his brain, ready to be told to every member of his family.

He’ll tell his younger sibling, cousins, nephews, and nieces of the wonderful animals and creatures they’ve endured. He’ll tell his older siblings and cousins about all these dangerous missions they’ve tackled along their way. He’ll tell his parents, grandparents, great grandparents, aunts and uncles about the bonds you make when you’re in space, how he has been lucky enough to form bonds that he won’t ever forget, of his other family that keeps him safe out there. He’ll tell his whole family of how he found the love of his life in space.

It has been hard always being far away from everything and everyone, but somewhere along he was lucky enough to find peace with it. “-You’re looking wistful.” There is a giggle beside him and he quickly glances towards the man who is sat in the seat beside him.

Keith.

What a journey they’ve been through just to get here. It’s Lance's favorite thing about space; Keith. There has always been tension between them, and really Lance couldn’t really ever put a name on it until one mission. They were simply turning a corner and Keith’s unbelievably long and wild hair flew into his face. Keith made a ridiculous face, but it made it dawn on Lance. He was so in love with that idiot.

He feels a pinch on his arm, “you’re flying, stay focused,” Keith states, and Lance gives him a long glare. “I hope you’re ready to meet my family. I’ll just say it again, they’re one big mouthful.” Lance has first experience here, and honestly, he believes he’ll have a hard time adjusting. He had always been used to having at least ten people talking over each other, that isn’t exactly going to happen when you’re only seven people on a ship. “Lance, I think I’ll handle. They sound amazing, so I can’t wait,” Keith says, and Lance can feel a smile split onto his face.

“Though, I have one request.”

“Come with it.”

Lance gives Keith another glance, his brain short circuiting at the sight. Keith has always been a catch, which Lance applauds himself for a lot. But with the sun coming in through the window, shining onto his features and sharpening them, he looks angelic. His hair is tied away into a bun, and his clothes are a little messy after sleeping, but somehow he manages to make Lance’s heart fly into his throat. His mom, aunts, and sister will find him pretty, he is sure. “You’ll wait with introducing me, they’ve been waiting over three years to see you, please let them hug you. Afterward, I’ll say hi.” Keith gives a genuine smile, his voice firm. Lance simply agrees.

Lance can feel his joints getting anxious as they near Cuba, the sun sparkling and making the water look magnificent. He takes the right turns, scouting over the coast. They near themselves fields that separate houses, and then he is sliding forwards, eyes caught onto the big old house, his home. “Keith, I welcome you.” He lands skillfully on a bare patch of land, removing the invisibility cloak. He adjusts to the sun shining into his face, and there they are, familiar faces watching with amazed and surprised faces.

Lance admits, he falls out of the pod, but it doesn’t matter because soon he is sweeping up children and running into the mass of people. There are words blurred over each other, Spanish and English thrown together, and Lance didn’t know you could miss a blur like this so much. He is hugging more people than he can remember ever hugging, his cousins, nephews, nieces, uncles, aunts, siblings, grandparents, great grandparents and they’re all smiling. There are new faces, but he hugs them too, they’re his family just as much as the next.

Then he turns, and there are his mom and dad, smiling and crying and he dives forward so fast that he feels his dad grip them tight to steady them. “My baby, I’ve missed you so much.” He feels his shirt go wet, and his cheeks grow damp against the fabric of his dad’s shirt, but he doesn’t care, because he’s missed them so much too.

There go several minutes, before his mom pulls away, his dad holds on a few extra seconds, before he is pulling away from him, a smile on his face, that almost seems amused, and then his eyes turn to his mom and Lance understands. “Now, Lance McClain, how dramatic do you need to be? ‘I’ll be home in two days. Bringing someone I would love you to meet.’? Do you know what a situation you put me in, big house cleaning and invitations sent out to everybody... Now, where is the pretty face I need to see?” A smile lights up his mom's face, and Lance skips out from the mass of people, to see Keith chatting with one of his younger cousins. It makes his heart swell.

“Love, this is my family, and everybody, this is Keith,” Lance says with a smile and Keith gives a small smile, “hi.” It’s new to see Keith grow this shy, and Lance can’t help but love the soft look that crosses his boyfriends face. He turns just to see his mom emerge from the group of people, stepping down to inspect the both of them. “Oh, he is lovely." She smirks, and Lance grins triumphantly, while Keith’s cheeks grow pink. “Name’s Jimena, and this is Lance’s dad, Xavier." Lance has always loved his mom, a fierce woman with sarcasm on point, her and Keith would probably get along well. His dad is more laid back, loves doing a lot of activities, which means his whole family always have some family activity. What he adores the most though, is the amazing dynamic between his parents. Also, their cooking is amazing, and it’s delightful to still see them cook together after 30 years of marriage.

Lance’s mom takes a long look at both of them again, “let’s get you introduced to everybody, and then I believe you’ll have some fascinating stories to tell, while we prepare dinner.”

. . .

After several stories, told by mostly Lance with his overly dramatic hand gestures and in hushed voices, going to loud boom’s of surprises, his mom announces that everybody needs to take a seat at the table. It’s a hustle, and exactly like Lance remembers it. It was fun getting to tell the tales of what he, Keith and the rest of the crew have been up to, to people who don't consider that their normal everyday life. He liked their surprised faces, the unbelievable look in their eyes when he told them things that really shouldn’t exist and happen.

The whole house is engaged in a spicy scent, the essence of his families cooking. The table is filled with plates and stools sat closely together to fit everyone. His siblings are carrying food inside, looking as colorful and amazing as he remembers; it makes his mouth water.

Lance place a hand on the small of Keith’s back as they walk towards the table, he pulls out Keith's chair, before he is sitting down himself. His eyes are running along with every movement, watch as the kids fight over who gets which stool, and as adults try to separate the kids. “Your family is enchanting, Lance,” Keith murmurs against his shoulder and Lance takes a glance towards him, his whole face breaking into a giant smile.

They end up sitting with his mom, sister and younger brother -poor Noah- along with nieces, cousins, grandmothers, and aunts, which really sets Lance's nerves off. The women in his family can be loud and wild. They’re all looking towards them, and Lance has been a victim of those eyes enough times to know when an attack is loading. Fighting in space will never compare to what these women can do as a whole. Lance is glad Keith is a steady guy.

“Since the guys got their action stories for the day, what about you two tell us about your first date, your first anniversary and such." His mom smiles kindly, taking some meat for herself. Keith still looks calm, he even still has a smile on his face. “Background information first; we’ve been together for two and a half year now, Keith pined for years and I love him,” Lance says, smirking at the light slap he gets on his arm, he guess he deserved that.

Keith is blushing when Lance turns to look at him, it looks beautiful. “Corazon, will you tell about your first date? Because I hope Lance took you out for a first date, or we will be having a long talk, mister.” Keith brightens up, and Lance perks in interest, completely ignoring his mom’s comment as Keith place his fork. They have talked about their feelings, and of their first date afterward, but never has he heard Keith’s version of their day.

Keith gives a small smile, “he did take me out. We were in in a new solar system to rescue a planet called Anurita. It’s a planet known throughout the universe as a culinary planet, because of the wide selection of food they serve. It wasn’t a particularly wild mission, and since Hunk was really interested in the food, we decided to stay a couple of days afterward.” Keith is bright as he begins the story.

“We had taken a couple of walks to greet the inhabitants of the planet, some eight feet creatures with four big eyes, but very kind and helpful.” Keith smiles, and Lance remembers them. They were various shades of pastel colors, shooting towards the skies, while their four eyes -two eyes on each side- rested four different places. They were a kind race, with big knowledge on manners and food, so it was a success for Hunk. “We returned to the castle, and when we were sitting alone in the common area, Lance asked me nervously; perhaps I would like to go to a cafe he had spotted earlier. I think that might have been the first time I’ve ever seen him that afraid, and that is amazing, considering we meet all kinds of things in space.”

Lance let a hand settle onto Keith’s thigh, squeezing softly and receiving a smile in return. “I, of course, said ‘yes’ and later on, after hours of figuring out what I wanted to wear, Lance came knocking on my door, holding a single flower, which to be honest was quite ugly, but the thought was really nice,” Keith says, “they have ugly flowers,” Lance states, giving a bright grin. It’s mesmerizing to hear their first date from Keith’s point of view.

“The date was at the cutest little cafe, they served some delicious pasta like food and the tastiest desserts. It was a little awkward on the way there, but after time it was like back to normal. We talked, bickered and laughed, and honestly, it is one of my favorite memories. I’m glad Lance initiated to go to the take the next step, because he is great, even when he lies and tell I was the one pining. It was us both,” Keith states, and his mom breaks out in a loud content sound. Then, Lance starts recognizing the women in his family again, as they loudly start gushing and asking, anything between heaven and earth.

. . .

Keith fits into his family. He can keep up with the constant movement, and the loudness and God Lance couldn’t ask for more. He doesn’t wander around with Keith, instead, Keith leaves him hanging to go talk to someone, or to play some catch. Therefore, it isn’t a surprise that it takes Lance a good couple of minutes to actually locate the man. “So, I’ve talked to mom. My room is rented out to all the kids, so we can either sleep in the living room or set up a tent.” Keith turns towards him, quickly giving a glance at the living room, and then returning his orbs onto Lance. “I vote for the tent.” Lance knows a smirk is evident on his lips, shame him all you want, Keith is one hot piece and really he wouldn’t be able to even kiss him goodnight if they were in the living room. He knows his family.

No wonder though, Keith raised his eyebrows at him, “Lance, I am not going to have, you know, when your family is around,” Keith murmurs, casting his eyes around. “So, you want to sleep in the living room?” Lance prods softly, stepping a little closer, “no, we are definitely taking the tent,” Keith says, Lance smirks at that, leaning down and placing a kiss into Keith’s hair.

It takes some time to get the tent out, but soon enough they are walking towards the garden, a trail of kids following them, claiming they want to help. Keith is enjoyable to watch when he interacts with kids, they seem to surround him and constantly try to get his attention, which Keith seems to give them since they stay interested. He is laughing, playing small jokes on them and talking vividly about everything they end up discussing. “Let’s put it over there, there are shadows from the trees, so hopefully it won’t get too warm." Lance points towards the end of the garden, before directing his eyes back onto the small crowd around their feet. Keith carries the things over there along with Lance, his eyes straying to the place and then back towards the house, that is in a good distance between each other.

“You're a piece of goo, Lance McClain,” Keith says, crossing his arms, a classic move. Lance throws Keith a smirk, before pulling out the manual to the tent, “let’s wait for tonight, to see what you really have to say." He easily dodges the deathly glare Keith gives him, by leaning over and pressing a quick peck to his cheek.

. . .

When Lance finally emerges from the tent the next day, the sun is stood high on the sky and shining down on him, filling him up with energy. He suspects he’s been asleep for a long time because when he woke Keith was nowhere to be seen and the tent was starting to feel like a sauna, even though it isn’t under direct sunlight. “Lance is awake!” There is a yell and then all the kids' cheer, watching him as he makes his way to the door leading into the kitchen.

All the kids are dressed in hats and caps, blocking the sun. They’re wearing dresses or bathing shorts, and he has already suspected what they’re going to spend their day doing, but it’s stepping into the kitchen that settles it. His mom and aunts are stood packing everything in bags, making sandwiches and packing fluids. Lance looks another time, and there is Keith helping along with the sandwiches while keeping a heated conversation with his mom. “Lance, you are alive,” Keith speaks with a smile, tilting his head to the side slightly to allow Lance to place a kiss on the plush skin of his neck. “Let you sleep in today, luckily you didn’t fry out there,” his mom says, folding another sandwich in, that is passed from Keith.

“I would sleep through frying, it’s a luxury sleeping in,” he says to his mom, stealing a piece of salad from Keith’s hands. “Glad to hear you enjoyed your slumber, instead I found some help from Keith.” Lance watch as his mom place a hand on Keith’s arm, “don’t you think we have enough?” She asks, and Keith nods, laying the knife down, “it'll have to be now.” Keith and his mom share a smug smile, which makes Lance question what exactly they have just discussed.

Lance decides to leave it, instead of turning to face the man in his arms. “Slept well?” Lance questions, grinning when Keith’s hands catch onto his shirt, “slept amazingly well,” Keith answers, meeting Lance’s lips contently, pressing softly for a few ticks, before breaking away and giving a smile. “Let’s go get some swim shorts on.” Keith pulls Lance after him.

. . .

Varadero beach is just as Lance remembers it; a crowd of people, sand castles, pizza shack and hot sand blending out into soft blues. His hand tightens around Keith’s as their gathering of people start heading to an empty spot. Kids are already running towards the ocean, having been told the whole shebang of how to handle the ocean.

They settle in an open spot, spreading out blankets and pulling out towels. Some of his cousins and siblings lay themselves down to sunbathe, and the women pull out magazines and sunglasses. The younger cousins and Noah pull their shirts off, before racing towards the ocean after the small kids, already shoving each other. The men pull their shirts of slower, some laying down to tan as well.

“Wanna go check the water?”

“Heck yes,” Keith answers, giving a smile, a little shaded by the worn out ’Space Cadet’ cap he is wearing. “Let’s go play some frisbee.” Lance’s older brother, Nathan, smirks along with his older cousins.

Keith slowly pulls his shirt off, revealing the toned abs he has gained over years. They’re firm and very eye pulling, making every guy and girl somehow direct their eyes to his stomach. Lance follows suit behind, along with his cousins and brother, grinning as the warm sun hits his skin.

“Damn, you get ripped in space,” his sister, Anna, says, holding a hand over her eyes to block out the sun. Not long after her comment, most of the people around them have turned to inspect their bodies. "We don't just lounge around," Lance states, rolling his eyes, but with a playful smirk playing on his lips. Honestly even he is amazed over how they stay so well in shape, they look great.

Lance wince as he feels a poke in his side, turning to Nathan who is grinning satisfied. "Kind of a bummer that my little brother looks better than me," he says, eyes mirroring Lance's blue ones. Before Lance can react in any way, there is a shriek behind him, which makes his instinct kick in, just for him to make the same sound seconds later when he is thrown over a shoulder. He bops around surprised on his brother's shoulder as he looks down to see feet flying over the sand and running straight for the ocean.

He hears another shriek, and then a splash. "Nathan, know that I fucking despise you." Lance groans as he feels Nathan get to a stop, and then he is getting thrown towards the water.

. . .

Lance tips into the tent, a smirk already on his lips and a dirty comment on his tongue; the sentence is already starting, when the words die on his lips. A soft smile replace the smirk, and he lets out a quick greeting to let the three people already in the tent -who are very occupied at the moment- know he is there.

"Lance! Keith let us braid his hair, and then he would braid ours," Tiana says as she takes a pause from the thick locks of hair in her palms. "Tiffany already did her side, so she is getting her hair braided," Tiana continues, casting her eyes back onto Keith's hair, going back to slowly braiding it. "Keith is quick and good at braiding!" Tiffany laughs and Lance lets his eyes wander over the scenario, to fully let it in; Keith is sat in between the two sisters -Lance's nieces from Anna, he'd only gotten about a year with Tiana before he left for space- who both look equally excited and awed. Keith's hair is parted in two braids, one already made clumsily, but fairly well for a three-year-old. The other side is looking a bit better -Tiana is seven years after all- but it does not beat the braids Keith is producing. Tiana has her hair tied into an amazing French braid, while Tiffany is getting the same cornrows as Keith. "I have a lot of hair, so I had to learn," Keith says after some time, making them both nod.

Keith finishes one side, shifting to the next. "What then happened in Texas?" Keith asks, Lance laying down slowly beside the three who turn back into their own little world. "Yes, then we are stood looking at this weird piece of art, on a hill. Mommy holding Tiffany and me beside the art, and daddy trying to take a picture of me." Tiana giggles and Keith smiles, a genuine and warm smile that warms Lance's whole body. "Then, suddenly I see the car roll and daddy is still taking pictures, and suddenly mommy and Tiff is running after the car, while it drives down the hill!" Tiffany and Tiana giggle, while Keith gives a chuckle, finishing the last braid for Tiffany.

Lance can feel himself chuckle along, leaning his head into his palm and letting his eyes switch between the three people. Tiffany lights up as Keith mutters he is done, springing around and leaning over and latching onto him. It's a sight too cute to bear.

"Done!"

Tiana scrambles around to face Keith and Tiffany, smiling brightly. "Thank you, then I didn't have to do this all by myself." Keith sighs, faking a heave after a breath. "More hair?" Tiffany looks up, but Keith smiles sadly, brushing some of the fairy hair away from her forehead.

Lance is a weak, weak man. He can feel his whole body getting warm over watching these scenes unfold themselves.

"You both better get inside, it's getting late." Keith crawls towards the tent entrance, both girls following after him. "Night uncle Lance," Tiana says, before crawling out, "night!" Tiffany giggles, before raising her arms up, and not seconds later Keith is picking her up and taking her along.

God, Lance loves this man too much.

. . .

Lance pass the ball to Keith, letting it roll slowly, so his cousin, Simon, is able to take the ball before Keith is able to. They're playing soccer with a few of his younger family members, all of them convinced Keith and Lance must suck since they have lived in space for so long, that they probably haven't played soccer for a long time.

Now, Keith and he may be two of the most competitive people in this whole known universe, but the small people running between their legs are so into this, that how could they not let them win and believe?

Keith jump to the wrong side, letting the fifth goal for the young ones go in, making a hysteria of screams erupt. They'd decided to say; the ones who reach five first, they win and are the ultimate winners. The mass leaves behind Keith and Lance as Lance see his mom wave them in for ice, apparently to celebrate their big win. He damn well hopes him and Keith will get some ice cream too, it's too hot to function.

"And we are supposed to believe you two train daily up there?" Nathan asks with a grin, making Lance roll his eyes. He and Nathan are too alike sometimes for things to be fun, he knows it makes sense since Nathan is his big brother and he's always thought he was the coolest person to ever come across -just after his dad and mom, of course- and so he adapted traits from him. Later on, Nathan then adapted some from him. "Let's play," Lance's oldest cousin, Sarah, states. Lance shares a look with Keith, whose eyes are already shining with the urge to win, and honestly, that still turns Lance on so quick.  

"Shall we say, two against two?"

"Nah, everyone who wants to join your team can be on it, we'll try holding our ground."

They end up playing two against five, and Lance is all aboard showing their future loss in their opponents face. Most of his family is watching, so finally he doesn't have to be the one losing.

He definitely has some advances now, he trains daily at least two times, in all kinds of environments and with every kind of drill and exercise known. To add on, he has a teammate who does all those things too, so they have some advances. The kids were right, they haven't played for years, but at least Lance still remembers the game, this will be fun.

They let the other team start, and soon Nathan is calling to Noah to pass the ball, but let Lance tell you one thing about Keith; he is quick on his feet. Before Nathan's eyes, Keith sweeps in to take the ball, while Lance makes his way up towards the goal. Keith and he can work side by side without a single word shared, countless mind melds with his team does that. They can fight as one while being five, all knowing their place and their strengths.

Lance see his dad running after Keith, who gives one glance back before returning his eyes to the ball and then onto Lance, soon after a kick follows. Lance gets the ball and with a quick kick, he sends the ball flying into the goal.

. . .

Safe to say they won that game, but it was a lot of fun, so really winning doesn't matter most.

After the game, they all got an ice cream, while they talked over their different tactics in the game, and just like always his dad had a whole speech about how he'd thought under the game. Keith sat listening to it all intently, while drinking his water, and no wonder to Lance Keith would also get along great with his dad.

. . .

"Let's see how boyish your room is," Keith states, trailing up the stairs after Lance. His mom had asked him if he had shown Keith his room yet, and to be honest he'd totally sweated it out, even when he'd been excited about showing his copy of space. "How do you imagine it?" Lance asks, eyebrows raising slightly, "at least some secret nude photos and like Batman covers, something like that." Keith shrugs, "I'll show you my secret stash of photos, but first my cool room. Now, look past all the sleeping bags." Lance stops up outside his door, an 'L' half heartedly hanging on the door.

Lance opens the door, and it is like walking into a time capsule, there are Star Wars posters hung up on the blue walls, a bookshelf full of fantasy books and glow in the dark stars plastered just about everywhere. "Cuter than I  ever imagined it," Keith says, stepping inside.

Even when there are just about eight sleeping bags in the room, it doesn't ruin the cute childhood vibes that Lance is receiving by standing in this room. Memories from all through his childhood running through his brain as he watches the different things that make up his room.

He loved everything about space when he was a kid, therefore the theme. Even when he got older, he still left his glow stars hanging on the wall, they simply hold too many memories to just peel off.

“Want to know about a thing I once read?”

“Come with it.”

Lance looks Keith up and down, a smirk spreading on his lips. “You are supposed to have sex in your childhood bedroom,” Lance says after some time, surging forward and entangling Keith in his arms. Keith’s loud laugh is muffled into Lance’s shirt, and with his foot, Lance closes the door.

Hands go down to grab sweet cheeks, and to Lance’s surprise Keith seeks out his lips. “I’ll let you have one thing, then.”

. . .

Keith walks into the tent five minutes after Lance, a smile on his face and two freshly made braids, reaching just a little under his shoulders. "Pretty boy," Lance smirks, turning off his phone to watch Keith close the tent and strip off his shorts. Keith makes a content sound as he stretches his arms up, reminding Lance how much he appreciates Keith's body. When the shirt rides up, it shows just a piece of the toned abs on Keith's stomach, which are only one part of his body that is toned. His calves, arms, and thighs -Lance swear, Keith could probably strangle Lance with his thighs if he wanted- are equally toned.

But beside this, Keith also has the softest curves.

He has a sharp dip by his waist where his hips broad out to follow down to magnificent thighs. Lance can't become luckier than he is.

"Tell me stories." Keith brings Lance's eyes away from the spot that was slowly making him fall into his own space. He gives his boyfriend a smile when their eyes meet. "I believe there must be some good ones," Keith continues, leaning closer and placing a kiss onto his jaw.

Lance falls back onto the blow-up mattress they're lying on, opening up his arms, to which Keith dives in with a chuckle. "Well, don't know if you'd figured yet, but I was a space kid by heart," Lance starts, "my biggest dream has always been seeing space, and I would tell all these visions to my family, how I would collect star dust and visit a planet such as Neptune." Lance grins at the memories, "My family always supported those dreams, so they'd do all these things to make me happy."

Lance tightens the hand on Keith's waist, "for example Anna would make homemade glow in the dark stars with me. Nathan would wait all night until the stars were the clearest, to look after shooting stars and constellations, and my mom and dad would always buy me tickets to my favorite movies about space and such," Lance states, laughing at those times. He remembers most of them clearly, he would buy watches just so he could set an alarm for the times there would be meteor showers or something, so he and Nathan could watch them. He and Anna who also had glow in the dark paint everywhere in weeks, making them look like fireflies when they were outside. No surprise, they went around singing 'Fireflies' all those weeks.

"Sounds amazing," Keith says, "it is, was. I sometimes hate that I wasn't home for most of Noah's younger years, I would have loved to do so many things with him, do what Nathan and Anna did with me." He can feel his eyes drop closed, a sigh escaping past his lips, don't get him wrong; he loves his life, he is where he is supposed to be and he knows that, but he misses his family, has since the first day they left for space. He has always been all in for his family, so it hurts him to see them grow up and pass on without him here to witness any of it. He didn't even get to see his own little brothers first day of school, and he has always loved Noah to pieces because suddenly he was a big brother.

"You know what? I and dad used to camp every summer, just us two somewhere in one of his favorite nature locations. Dad has always been such an outdoor man, and because I loved watching the stars, it was the perfect mix." Lance leans his head over onto Keith's, instantly calming him down for now. "We once accidentally placed our tent on some ants, it was not a pleasant time to be alive, God they can bite those small creatures!"

. . .

He can hear his uncle's loud voice announce he is still in the tent, and suddenly Lance has to square himself together to find out how to greet the family member who is about to pass through the tent doors.

Lance hates feeling like this. Years in space fighting all these kind of things, fights that leave behind scars physically and mentally, it tears on you. Lance has days. Days where things just don't hang well together, days where some things simply just don't make him feel well.

He despises himself for this because finally, he is at home with all his family, the family he has wished to see for over three and a half year, but he is now laying in this way too hot tent, feeling uncomfortable just at the thought of getting up. He's tired, he is drained and most of all, he is feeling empty.

The strength that he has gained over years, that doesn't help mentally. He knows he can handle these days, but usually, he has about six other people in the castle, not a whole family around him. Don't get him wrong, because God he could use a group hug, but loud noises freak him out, remind him of those times when fights don't go as planned and when they don't end happily ever after.

Curious eyes peek inside, and a heavy weight is lifted from Lance's chest when Keith's eyes meet his. This is a person who gets him, who he doesn't have to explain anything to because just like him, he has experienced these things too.

Keith doesn't say anything except stepping inside and slowly laying down beside Lance. He isn't touching and he is not trying to initiate it, Lance appreciates that he gives Lance the choice.

He turns onto his side, and moves close, closing his arms around Keith's middle and then letting his head fall into the crook by his neck. Keith responds calmly, turning around slightly and moving up his arms to cradle him closer, fingers running through his hair.

It's calm, it's familiar and it is Keith. It all together keeps Lance grounded.

"I'm hungry," Lance mumbles into soft skin, a chuckle meeting his statement. "Let's get some food then, there are bagels." Keith hugs him tighter, "okay." Lance untangles himself, trailing after Keith when they make their way out. His grip on Keith's hand is deadly, but he hopes it isn't too bad. "Morning sweetheart, finally able to get your legs moving?" His mom looks towards Lance, and the two make eye contact for a long time, his mom's eyes shifting with emotions. Her eyes go from his to Keith's and they stay there for some time, before she slowly returns her eyes to his, a soft smile on her face, but saddened at the edges.

"Bagel and orange juice?" Keith asks and Lance nods. It's quiet, even the younger ones in the kitchen seem to understand as they silently put Nutella on their bagel. His mom and Keith help each other make his food, working smoothly together just like were they one.

The eating part is also mostly silent, just except his dad turning on the radio once he steps inside, eyeing the silent crowd. Lance sees his mom send him glares, but he doesn't mind the music, it's silent and familiar.

He feels like everyone and everything is watching him, trying to understand and trying to not interfere. They look surprised and saddened like they can't really understand what is happening. Lance doesn't blame them, it's unlike his normal personality.

Keith cleans up afterward, placing it all away, before turning to him and taking his hand, "I need to activate myself," Lance states, tapping his finger on his thigh. The stares and the feelings all bolting up, he needs to move.

. . .

After two hours of running and a shower, both with Keith, Lance feels better, for a word of saying. He talked with his mom and dad about this, just to let them better understand. After that, he decided to go watch Noah and a few of his cousins play some new game, mostly looking and coming with small comments.

Mostly it saddens him that he has to feel like this when he is finally home, but for his family to understand how space is, they'll have to know this side too. Life works this way.

He follows after his cousins, who are all running down the stairs after having played the game enough, which means they got extremely bored when he stumbles into Louis -his young nephew from Nathan- and Tiana who are running around after each other. It's no surprise really, with so many kids running around this house, there is bound to be some grating on each other's nerves.

"Hey, you two," Lance bows down and with a small smile he picks the toy out of Tiana's hands, holding it out of reach for both. "We don't do these things, we share and play together." Both kids look at him with small scowls, but he brushes them off, instead leaning down and placing a kiss on each cheek on them both. It's not uncommon that they kiss each other's cheeks, Lance has actually missed the gesture.

They both groan, looking at Lance with the same scowl before their eyes catch something behind him. "Keith!" Tiana is loud, and Lance winces slightly. "Lance just made my cheek all wet by kissing it, tell him to stop almost licking me." Tiana crosses her arms, wiping her cheek. It makes Lance smile wider.

"Do you kiss Lance?"

"Time to time, I might," Keith says with a smirk. "Does he kiss your cheek too?" Tiana asks further on, "yes, all the time." Keith nods along. "Wet cheeks?" Louis latches onto Keith's leg, "yeah, he just licks it. Guess I have to really scold him, going around licking all our cheeks." Keith smirks again, but his eyes go soft when he looks at Lance and then the kids surrounding him.

Lance can feel his smile getting wider.

. . .

The next morning, Lance wakes up before Keith. He feels fresh, ready and good, so he gives Keith a peck into his hair, before emerging from the tent. The sun is up, but the grass is wet and the air still a little colder, so he will shoot at the time being around seven.

The kitchen door is stood open, and Lance skips inside to meet only his mom and oldest aunt, both mixing batters of some kind. "You're up early," his aunt says, dusting off her hands. "Just felt like waking up. Now, is there anything I can help with?" They both chuckle as they nod, "of course, you can start on the pancakes. Your dad is supposed to bring the melons in any minute, so I think I'll start on those," his mom answers happily, pushing her bowl of batter closer to him.

He grips the bowl and brings it with him towards the stove, where two pans are already put out, butter placed beside them on the counter.

Not long after he is starting on the first couple of pancakes, his dad sweeps into the kitchen holding one watermelon and two honing melons, both looking delicious. "You're up early," his dad states, "so you all keep saying, but what if perhaps you're all just up late." Lance receives three identical looks of humor, that makes him laugh out loud.

He works with the three of them smoothly, all of them talking excitedly along to all kinds of things. It goes from food to socks, and then from socks further on to wormholes. It's interesting, just like his family always is.

"Now tell me, son, what about Keith?" Lance looks towards his dad, who is preparing eggs, some to be boiled and others to be scrambled. "What about what?" Lance asks, this making his mom and aunt look up from their task of making buns. "You know what we mean, where do you stand?" His mom grins, "we stand strongly?" Lance asks, watching as they all roll their eyes and then send him raised eyebrows to continue.

"We're in a really good place, I mean we know how to handle our differences and to communicate, because of how we got along before we got together. I love him so much, and really I could probably go all bases, but we are good right now and we are taking it in our own tempo." Lance looks down at the pancakes, a smile forming on his face just at the thought of Keith.

His mom chuckles, "you're both so smitten."

. . .

It's later on, just around six and the fire is crackling outside. It's their last day here, and to be honest, Lance would love to stay here for at least a month, but five days is about what you can take out from your calendar when you have to defend the universe.

There is loud laughter from outside, and he can hear people screaming after marshmallows, chocolate and crackers, all getting comfortable around the big bonfire. He's inside, for now, trying to locate his old ukulele, so they could have some songs around the fire, just to bring it to the ultimate level.

He finds it after a good five minutes -his family has a lot of crap-, but afterward, he sprints downstairs, and out the door. Keith is sat beside Anna, them both wearing a sweatshirt, even when the weather is at a stable temperature. "Party is here, ready to get this signing going?" He raises up the instrument as he sits down beside Keith, who looks at it with intrigued eyes.

His dad is the first to suggest a song, a known classic by The Beatles; Let It Be.

His family sings along loudly as he plays the chords, watching everyone's reactions and eyes. Their emotions showing through both their eyes and their body language. Lastly, his eyes land on Keith, who is sat swaying along, while switching his eyes between the ukulele and everyone singing along, a wide grin on his lips.

The song is nearing its end, and to be completely honest Lance's eyes haven't moved from Keith for a long time. Keith raises his eyes up, and there they are, the single most beautiful eyes, containing colors from all over the universe. Lance can't help but lean in and meet Keith's lips, song stopping and Keith giving a surprised sound.

"Lance got distracted, good going Keith!"

Lance flicks off Nathan.

. . .

One thing that is truly the hardest, is saying goodbye to your family, never really knowing how it will look when you get back.

He got his goals achieved, he told his family every shenanigan he has so far had up in space and he told them about the love of his life. In return, they told him everything he didn't get to experience while he was out there.

He knows, his family probably won't ever really understand what he is doing, and to be honest he probably won't ever too. But what helps, is that they still support him and that he gets to see their smiles once in a while and that they get to see he is okay too, that they don't have to worry every day how he is, because he is just fine. He's told them where he is, where he'll be for some time, and yeah it was hard, but they know.

He cries for a long time when he says goodbye, he hugs people for minutes, the dark night getting darker and darker. Keith even cries some, when he says bye to his mom and dad -Lance knew he would get along amazingly well with them- and when he says goodbye to the young kids he has been running around playing tag with this whole visit, he gets tackled and kissed on the cheek along with Lance.

He might leave for years, but he knows that when he returns he'll have the same loving family on earth.

They promise after hours of goodbyes, to let them see the ship fly towards the sky, the last joke from Nathan -who says maybe it's just fake- and maybe because they all somehow also need some proof to keep on believing.

Lance helps Keith in, before placing himself in the passenger seat of the pod. Keith takes the steering wheels, and they let the engine start before they're descending high into the sky.

He's missed his other family just as much.