#I probably wouldn't have thought anything if I hadn't seen a lot of other people express this

[ante--meridiem]

I'm so sorry for nitpicking this tag because I do sympathise a lot with this sentiment and fully understand why the girl would be upset and fully believe you have the right to prioritise your friends over your relationship, and I'm replying to you specifically Dae because we've been mutuals for long enough that I trust you to take this in good faith and not as me trying to attack you - but the phrasing here is reminiscent of a trend that's been bothering me in posts rightfully complaining about amantonormative pressure to prioritise romantic relationships over previous friendships, which is to act as though the amantonormative rule is wrong not because it tries to impose a rule at all, but only because it imposes the rule in the wrong direction.

People have the right to be hurt at being deprioritized, but people also have the right to choose and change their priorities. There's no hard rule of either "romantic relationships come first" or "pre-existing relationship come first" that everyone should be bound to. People also have the right to decide that not being above a certain level of priority is a dealbreaker for a relationship or a friendship and there may not be any way of resolving things that makes everyone happy.

And it really really sucks that it's usually the platonic friends that get the short end of the stick in that dilemma. But that's just not something that can be solved by imposing a rule in the opposite direction.

Saw a reddit post today about a girl who was upset that her childhood best friend replaced a photo of the two of them in his wallet with one of him and his girlfriend. And while yeah, she was being unreasonable with a lot of what she was saying, I totally understand the sadness of a friend "replacing" you with someone they have romantic feelings for. Makes it worse when the top comment is this

Every single comment on this post is about how family and romantic relationships always take precedence over friendships. I don't have anything more to say to this aside from the fact that... this is why it's hard for aroaces to imagine futures for themselves. Society drills it into your head that you're going to live in a world where you are no one's priority if you don't have romantic relationships and it fucking sucks

[idkwhatimdoinghere1655]

So Special - Lando Norris

<word count - 5350> |part 1 - Nerd|part 2 - Rumours|

The weekend had gone by, and you and Lando had spent your time doing very different things. He had been productive, spending his two days in the garage with his dad, perfecting your DT project. He couldn't care less that you had told him not to finish it.

He had said he would do it, and now he was damned sure that it would be the best one in the class. Lando and his dad had come up with some genius ideas, even if it was only meant to be a simple little wood-work task. 

It would probably be quite obvious that you hadn't done it in the workshop, but Lando had a feeling that you wouldn't care. Also with the help of his dad, Lando had gotten his homework rattled out within an hour. 

It wasn't quite the same as having you there to help him through it, since your way of teaching him was a lot better than his dad's, but it was better than nothing, that was for sure. 

You, on the other hand, had spent your weekend holed up in your bedroom, not wanting to come out for anyone or anything. Your parents had offered to take you out to any restaurant of your choosing, go somewhere with your friends, anything. 

But, you had declined all of their suggestions. You simply didn't feel like going anywhere. All you could think about was how much you were dreading going to school on Monday, how much you didn't want to see anyone in any of your classes.

It genuinely seemed like your worst nightmare at the moment, but you still had to go in. The minutes ticked by slowly over the weekend, every single one heightening the anxiety of being back in school. 

The most likely scenario was that people would have forgotten it by now and moved onto something else, but the feeling that that wasn't the case was overwhelming, crippling and soul-destroying. 

Even doing your maths homework felt near on impossible. A task that would normally only take you a few minutes took you nearly 2 hours, since trying to work with the numbers made nervousness swirl in your stomach. 

The ever present thought was Lando. If anything, you figured he had it the worst out of all of this. His friends mocked and ridiculed him at any chance they got, he couldn't even get the bus anymore without throwing in the towel and getting off early, and you didn't want to be around him anymore. 

Guilt mixed into the cesspool of emotions that you were feeling, but the pure fear of being in school and getting the mick taken out of you overshadowed that. You just wanted to get your education and run as far away from that damned place as you could. 

Once Monday morning had rolled around, you reluctantly got onto the bus, not wanting to walk in the frosty weather. Lando's mum would've given you a ride, but you didn't want to be seen getting out of his car. Now that would be pure social suicide. 

On the bus, you saw that Lando wasn't there, which made things easier. But, you sure as hell weren't sitting at the back near his friends. You shuffled onto a seat next to some random kids in a year below you, but you'd much rather do that than be subjected to Lando's friends.

School was relatively empty when you got there, most people going to sit in the canteen before the bell went for their first lessons. You made a beeline to the lockers, hoping that no one would be there.

Thankfully, there wasn't a soul in sight as you quickly punched the code into Lando's locker. You knew the code since you'd had to leave his homework in there a few times in the past. You pulled his jumper out of your bag and stuffed it in. On the top, you placed a small note of gratitude, before closing the locker back up and going over to yours to put in some of your textbooks.

To your surprise, your locker wasn't empty like you thought it would be. Inside was a small, plastic bag. Just like you had put on Lando's jumper, whoever had been in your locker had put a note on top of it. 'I promised I'd get this finished, and I am a man of my word'. 

You knew that handwriting off by heart, since it was one you often plagiarised. Opening the bag, you saw your fully finished, absolutely faultless DT woodwork project. You were baffled by how clean the cuts and joints were, and it was surely going to get you the best mark you had ever gotten in DT. 

The first genuine smile that you had cracked in days grew across your face, truly touched by the gesture. You had told him not to bother, that you'd do it yourself, even if you really didn't want to. "I did it right, yeah?" a voice suddenly broke you out of your small bout of happiness.

Lando was leant against his locker, hands in his pockets as he looked at you. His face was tired, it didn't have the life to it as it used to. His eyes were equally as lethargic, no longer holding that cheeky spark that they always had. It was like the colour had dulled out, leaving them more greyed over than blue. 

"Yeah, you did. It's great, thanks," you mustered up a small smile, barely even a fraction of the one you had earlier. For some reason, your brain still couldn't make you look him in the eyes as you talked to him.

"Anytime," he replied, his gaze fixed on your side profile. He was thinking the same about your appearance too, your face had sunken and your eyes weren't as bright as he remembered them being. 

"I don't think anyone's going to say anything, you know..." he mumbled, half hoping you'd heard him, half hoping you hadn't. The words sounded like he was trying to convince himself more than he was trying to convince you, since he wanted to believe that they were true. 

He didn't want to see you upset anymore, he didn't want to have to distance himself from you, he didn't want to have to change his entire routine. All he wanted was his life right back to the way it was. 

The life when you two were friends, where he'd get to spend time with you. The life where he got to be Lando Norris, the cocky little shit to the rest of the year, but a softie for you. The life where everything was perfect again. 

"I don't think it's that easy, Lando," you said, your eyes still glued to your feet as you avoided eye contact with him. Even the sound of his name on your lips made his heart flutter uncontrollably. He wanted to hear more of it, he wanted to hear it every goddamn day of his life if you'd let him.

"Please? Can we just... just try to ignore it and still be friends? I just want to be your friend again, I mi-" he started to plead, the desperation evident in his tone. His face fell as he was cut off, knowing that both of you were in deep shit before the day had even started. 

"You what, Lando? Bit of trouble in paradise for our most prolific love birds?" some random guy in your year interrupted him, standing beside Lando. He had never seen fear in a person's features like he did on yours in that very moment.

You didn't think you could handle hearing another word of it, so you dashed past the both of them and down the hall, trying not to let the tears fall down your cheeks. He hadn't even said anything overly hurtful, but the panic of what he could have said had set in.

"Not gonna run after your girlfriend, Lando?" he further teased, and Lando could feel his fists clenching at his sides, his knuckles turning white due to how hard he was holding them. He knew that a comment like that wouldn't have normally set you off, but it just showed how bad the situation had gotten. 

"Go fuck yourself," he spat, walking to the canteen and sitting down on a table away from his friends. They had seen him come in, but he didn't care. They were the last people he wanted to talk to. 

For the first time in his life, he was desperate to get to lessons and have some much wanted distraction from everything that was going on. As soon as the bell had gone, he jumped out of his seat and took the shortest route that he could think of to the science labs for biology. 

Not to his shock, you were already sat in your seat, hunched over your textbook and exercise book. Lando took his seat, a few down from yours on the long, wooden benches. The start of the lesson was silent to begin with, before you were all assigned to do some questions with the people sat around you.

Lando tried to keep focused on the questions, but he couldn't help but hear his own name coming from your side of the table. As he discretely watched from the side, he saw as your head snapped up to the girl next to you. Lilly. 

Goddamnit, of course it had to be Lilly. The one girl who Lando was for sure certain was desperate for him. "Sorry?" you said, eyebrows furrowed in confusion. You hadn't been listening to a word she was saying, so you had to do a double take now that she was suddenly talking about Lando. 

"You spent the weekend with Lando, no? Since he's your boyfriend and all, I assumed what I heard was true," she said, her voice laced with a sickly sweet venom. The jealousy she felt was obvious, and it did give you a slightly masochistic sense of satisfaction. 

"No," you curtly answered with a small shake of the head, before returning to answering the questions by yourself. Lando couldn't see Lilly's face since she was looking at you, with her blinding mop of bleached blonde hair being the only thing he could see. 

"What? So it's not true?" she pressed, clearly looking for a reaction that you weren't willing to give her. 

"No, no it's not," you declined again, your leg bouncing up and down nervously. Lando grinned to himself, proud of you for sticking up for yourself and not giving in. He just hoped you had the willpower to carry on being as strong as you were, since he knew how sensitive you were at the minute.

"So the two of you didn't spend this weekend, practically locked in his parent's house by the lake while the bed was creaking-" 

"Right that's enough." you said, your voice firm and leaving no room for disagreement. Lilly looked a tiny bit shook by your defiance, but Lando was sat there, wide-eyed. He never told anyone about the house by the lake apart from Max, and the likelihood of him telling Lilly of all people was slim to none. 

But he was more taken aback and impressed by your steadfastness. He had expected you to be in tears by this point, but it was a more than pleasant surprise. He still couldn't see Lilly's face, but he could imagine the annoying pout as her lips were pursed together.

"I don't know who you heard that from, but that is complete and utter bullshit. I spent my weekend at home. As for Lando? I couldn't really give a shit, but he wasn't with me. Much to your dismay, he wasn't with you either,"  you carried on, and your conversation had pricked up some of your class' listening ears. 

Lilly looked like you had just slapped her, her mouth agape and eyes wide as she looked at you. "I... you..." she stuttered, unsure of how to respond. As much as Lando was glad that you were sticking up for yourself, he was also feeling a slight stabbing pain in his chest. 

You 'couldn't really give a shit'. The worst part was that he couldn't tell if you meant it or not. He doubted that you did, but there was always the small question of what if? What if you had meant it?

If he was being honest, the thought of you not caring scared the life out of him. It wasn't something that he wanted to believe, not at all. He knew that the two of you weren't on the best terms, not by either of your faults but you still weren't friends, yet that didn't warrant you not caring at all, right?

The one person whose opinion he idolised, the one person who he wanted to see everyday, the one person who he could be himself around didn't care. It simply didn't register in his mind that that was even possible. 

By the time Lando had snapped out of his thoughts, the teacher had resumed his lesson and you and Lilly were sat in silence, a scowl still plastered on her face. The rest of the lesson wasn't focused on biology, at least not for Lando. 

Both of you left as quickly as you could and went to your favourite respective places to spend your break times. Lando didn't know where you'd be this time, since you moved just about every five minutes. 

He knew that your little outburst would get back to his friends by the end of the break, and he didn't want to be there when they inevitably found out. He couldn't figure out what they'd say to him or how they'd react, but he knew there would be more teasing. 

He was upset enough as it was, and he didn't need them to make it worse. Lando stayed away from the canteen, just aimlessly wandering through the near-empty halls. As he approached the lockers on his third lap of the school, his ears picked up the sounds of a familiar voice. 

"You think you're so special, don't you?" she said, and he could have sworn that all he could see was red. Lilly. And there was no doubts in his mind over who she was talking to.

"I bet you're loving all of this attention, aren't you? You probably started these rumours yourself, didn't you?" Lilly carried on, Lando staying behind the wall while he listened to her onslaught. He hadn't seen you, but he could picture the look on your face. 

"Why the hell would I make up such awful things about myself? I'm not an attention seeker like you, I don't want this happening," you retorted, a smirk growing on Lando's face as he heard you. He was glad you weren't running off and crying anymore, but he assumed you were bottling it all up as a way of coping. 

"Please, you're just annoyed that Lando would never actually date you, aren't you?" she said, and you were both gobsmacked. You knew that that was why she was getting pissy with you, but you didn't think she'd spell it out point blank. 

"What, like he'd date you either?" you shot back, stunning Lilly into silence. Initially, she was right to assume that her saying all of these things would reduce you to tears, but today you had built a shell around you - one that almost seemed impenetrable. 

But, hidden beneath the tough exterior and firm words, Lando could hear the faintest of a wobble in your voice. Lilly wouldn't pick up on it, but he had. Maybe it was just because he knew you so well already, or maybe it was just because he liked you so damn much that he noticed all of the tiniest little things about you. 

"Please, I think anyone would rather date me over you," she said after a few moments, the come back taking longer for her to think up than she would have liked.  You nearly laughed in her face, nearly told her what a massive bitch she was and how most people would rather be dead than date her. 

However, someone swooped in. "I know I wouldn't."

"Oh, hey Lando, we were just talking about you," Lilly instantly stepped in, her voice suddenly turning nauseatingly sacchariferous. She stepped closer to him, batting her false eyelashes at him as if it would put him under her spell. 

"Yeah, I heard." he said, his voice betraying none of his emotions. Lilly could tell that something was up with him, but she chose to ignore it and carry on trying to woo him. 

"I was just saying how-"

"I heard it. And I don't think you have any right to say any of that about Y/N. She is a much better person than you, and you're stupid to think she'd make those rumours about us. That's something you'd do. Also, I'll reiterate. I would rather date her than you any day of the week." he said, not missing a beat between sentences.

Lilly stayed quiet, that familiar scowl finding its place back on her face. "Fine, yeah, whatever," she scoffed, rolling her eyes as she stormed away from you. 

You let out a breath that you hadn't realised you had been holding, finally feeling the weight of the day pressing down on you. You had done so well to keep it all bottled up as you stood up for yourself, but now it felt like the adrenaline had worn off and your resolve was crumbling. 

Once she had gone, Lando turned to you and saw the tears in your eyes. "Hey, no, don't..." he softly said, approaching you. He was unsure whether he was allowed to hug you or touch you or if he was supposed to just leave you alone to cry. 

He contemplated it, but he couldn't force himself to walk away. You had let all of the fear and the upset of the weekend and the past couple of hours to build up, and now it was finally too heavy for you to hold up. 

"Can I... can I please just..." he started, not knowing how to ask the question. He didn't want to outright ask if he could hold you, but he didn't know what else to say. Instead, he hovered his arms awkwardly around you as if he was gesturing at hugging you. 

"Mhm," you hummed, your arms going around his neck as his wrapped around your waist. It was nice to be close to you again, to have you again. He also felt a rush of affection. He didn't know how long to hold the hug, how tightly to hold you, where to put his head. 

Did he rest it on top of yours? Bury it in the crook of your neck? Just... keep it there? 

Despite his inner turmoil, his instincts took his hand up the the back of your head, fingers tangling in the strands of hair. "Please don't cry, c'mon, it's OK," he mumbled, hating the way you shook with silent sobs in his arms. 

He knew you had kept your emotions all bundled up inside all day, but he couldn't handle you being so upset. "I'm sorry..." you mumbled, but he couldn't make out the words as they were muffled by his chest. 

"Hm? What did you say?" he gently asked, looking down at you as you looked up at him. It had just dawned on him how close you were, and how easy it would be just to lean down and kiss you like he- no, no. Not the time. Not yet, at least. 

"I said I'm sorry," you repeated, his eyebrows furrowing in confusion. 

"Sorry for what?"

"I'm sorry for... avoiding you, not being your friend, being a complete and utter bitch to you, and-" you started to ramble, more tears falling from your eyes. 

"Hey, no, no, I won't hear it. None of this is your fault, absolutely none of it. OK?" he reassured you, needing you to know that you hadn't done anything wrong. All you did was nod, before hugging him tighter and resting your head back on his chest. 

His white button up was slightly see through with tears, but he'd be able to hide it with his blazer no problem. "Shh, please don't cry," he carried on trying to soothe you, his mind going through thousands of other things he wanted to say.

'You're too pretty to cry...' was the first thing that came to the forefront of his brain, but that was too much too soon. He felt your shudders against him stilling as you opted to just stand there in his embrace. He wasn't complaining, he would stay like that for as long as you'd let him.   

From down the hall, he could hear the faint pattering of footsteps. Lando didn't want to say anything, he just wanted to let them walk by and they'd likely ignore the two of you. Once you heard it too, you pushed back from him so that there was a sizeable gap between you both. 

He was disappointed, to say the least, but he understood your trepidation. It was a good job that you had stepped away, since the person that walked by was one of Lilly's friends. She was probably already floating around, spreading as many lies as her single-celled brain could muster. 

"I'll... see you later, yeah?" you weakly smiled, checking the time and seeing that it was nearly time for your next class. 

"Yeah, course. You getting the bus or do you need a ride?" he asked, confident that his mum would happily pick you up down the road and take you home. 

"A ride would be nice," you nodded, and he was slightly taken aback by the fact that you hadn't argued with him. You were as stubborn as the day was long, but he was happy you had relented  quickly on this occasion. 

"You just start walking home and we'll find you somewhere along the road," he told you and you nodded. 

"Sounds good," you lightly chuckled, the sound welcome to his ears. He hadn't heard any semblance of a laugh from you in nearly a week, and he was unbelievably grateful that he had gotten to hear it again. 

"See ya," he smiled as you walked away, a wave of contentedness washing over him. Even if it has come as a result of some of the toughest days of both your life and his, he had gotten to hug you. To actually hug you, to touch you more than your fingers just brushing together when you handed something to each other. 

It was what he had wanted, and he had finally gotten it. The price was hefty, but he had gotten it nonetheless. Now, he was counting down the seconds until he'd get to drive you home, spend more time with you, talk to you again.      

The rest of the day wasn't actually too bad. Just the odd comment or two, but it was nothing compared to what the pair of you had been getting over the past few days. Lando actually found a few of them quite funny, when he thought about it. 

"Hey Norris, your girlfriend is feisty, eh? Bet that makes her fun for you," one of the boys in your year said, as if it was meant to hurt or upset him. Instead he just laughed, shaking his head. 

"Feisty? Very," was all he could get out before walking away to get to his next lesson. Lando had never been so prudent with getting to his lessons, but he found that it was the best way to spend his time. 

Hour after hour went by, and before he knew it, Lando was practically running out of the front doors of the school and towards his mum's car. She was parked in the same spot that she always was, and he hopped in the back in preparation for you to get in too. 

"Why are you sitting back there?" she asked, looking at him in the rear view mirror. 

"We're picking Y/N up down the road," he said, leaning over the center console to turn on the heated seats on your side, as well as leaving his jumper from the day on your seat. He had found the one that you had returned to him in his locker, but he wanted you to have the one he had already worn.

There was something strangely intimate about you wearing his jumpers as a source of warmth and comfort, but he wasn't opposed to it. He knew that a lot of girls stole their boyfriend's hoodies, but this wasn't quite that scenario.

He wanted it to be, there was no doubt about that, but this made him feel like you two were a few steps closer to that. You were always happy to wear his jumpers, but he sometimes wished you wouldn't return then just so that he could ask for them back. Not that he wanted them back. If you wanted them, they were all yours. 

"Oh are we now?" she smirked, finding her son's actions towards you as endearing as hell. He was shaping up to be the boy she wanted to raise, and she was so proud of him. She could tell his crush on you was definitely developing, and the distance between you clearly made him want you more. 

"Yeah, we are," he said, leaving no room for her to say no. Well, she wouldn't have said no since it was cold and she didn't want you walking such a distance in such cold temperatures. 

"Does she know we're taking her home or have you just decided?"

"I asked if she wanted a ride and she said yes, so we're picking her up," he reiterated, plugging his seat belt into the socket and getting comfortable against the leather of the seats. 

"OK, OK," she chuckled, shaking her head. Igniting the engine, Lando's mum pulled away from her parking spot and started driving down the road, looking out for you. As she glanced at the rear-view mirror, she could see Lando's eyes glued to the window, searching for you on the pavement. 

She knew he had seen him by the way his eyes lit up and a small smile crept its way across his lips. Pulling up on the pavement, she rolled the passenger side window down as she called out to you. "Your chauffeur awaits," 

Clambering in the passenger side, you saw Lando's jumper on your chair, instantly taking your blazer off and replacing it with the garment. It was so much warmer than your coat, and you felt so much more comfortable in it too. 

You didn't fail to notice the heat that emanated from the seat as well, the added care making butterflies spark in your stomach. "You really don't have to go to the effort of picking me up, you know." you said, feeling slightly bad that she was going out of her way to take you home. 

"Well it was Lando's idea. He just told me we were picking you up and here we are," she told you, and you could sense the blush that coated Lando's cheeks. 

"Mum c'mon, don't..." he mumbled, crossing his arms and avoiding her gaze in the mirror. He had a slight pout on his face, and it reminded her of when he didn't get what he wanted when he was little. He was always adorable. 

You just giggled at him, and it was music to his ears. Seeing you warm and cozy in his hoodie was definitely something he wanted more of, and he wasn't sure how much more waiting he could do before he cracked and acted on his impulses. 

Yet, he didn't know what he'd do if you rejected him, or said you just wanted to be friends. He never wanted to be just friends with you, he wanted it all with you. He wanted you to be his first real girlfriend, the one you can never really forget. 

And he could only hope that you wanted the same from him. His gut feeling told him that it was obvious that you were feeling the same. Why else would you hug him, accept a ride home from him, wear his jumpers?   

He didn't care, all he did care about was the fact that his heart was dead set on the notion that you did like him back, but his head was throwing doubts at him. 

After a short drive and light conversation, you pulled up outside of your house. Instead of his mum this time, Lando wanted to be the one who walked you to your door. Getting out of his seat and taking a few steps forward to your door, he opened it forward and stood to the side. 

Grabbing your bag out of the footwell, Lando carried it to your front door as you walked together. "Do you think we could go to the library tomorrow at second break? I tried to use the textbook to do the biology, but I really couldn't understand. Plus, I think my knowledge of female anatomy could really be helped out by you," he joked, and it was refreshing to see a bit of Lando's regular cheek coming to the fore. 

If someone else had made the comment, you would've been pissed off, maybe a little upset. But not when it was Lando. His usual sense of humor was coming back, and it was like things were slowly returning back to normal. 

"I think the textbook is a better help on that subject than I am," you countered, and Lando just smirked at you. 

"Probably, but I'm much more of a hands-on learner. I'd like to have the real thing in front of me, you know?" he quipped, and you couldn't help but laugh at him. Now this was how things were meant to be. Just you two, laughing and enjoying being in each other's company. 

"Sure," you agreed. Well, not to the hands on learning, just to teaching him the stuff he didn't understand. Your way of explaining things was good for Lando, it made him understand it a lot better than the teachers could. 

"Can I get a hug before I go?" he tentatively asked, his brain working overtime to try and think of a joke to play it off in case you said no.

"Course you can," you said, your arms finding their place back around his neck as you leant into him. Just the feeling of you in his arms was enough to get his heart racing, and he felt the ever similar urge to just lean down and kiss you. 

A soft smile found its way onto his mum's face - who was watching on from the car. Seeing the both of you so miserable was dreadful, so now seeing you making up and going back to the ordinary was more than enough for her. 

There was no missing the fond, soft look in her son's eyes. It was nothing but pure affection and admiration, and it was clear how much he cared for you. She had never seen such adoration from him, and she should have guessed that it'd be you. 

From the first time your name had ever slipped past his lips, she should've known just by the way he spoke about you. And now, there you were. The two of you, as you were meant to be. 

You and Lando bade each other farewell, and he waited until you were safely inside the confines of your own home before walking back to his mum's car and getting in the passenger seat. "You two seem to have made up," she said, a slightly teasing tone to her voice. 

"Yeah, something like that," he agreed, knowing it was more than that. Or so he hoped. If only he knew that things weren't that simple, that the rose tinted glasses would be ripped from his face just as quickly as they had been put there. 

A/N - Hello lovely people! Chipping away at all the stuff I have half finished, which is part 2 to Hotel Girl, the requested part 2 of Ceilings, a little old Charlos thing, a Lando thing and Max's birthday special! I have to do one for old Maxie since we have the same birthday so we can roll our birthday specials into one. Have a great night, love y'all! 💖

tag list: @oh-austin @avni-sarai @cheriladycl01 @mariedeyes223 @daemyraforever56 @toriiez @robotchickenmerp

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[fandomfaeofveryfewf4cks]

I'm seeing a lot of people saying they're excited to see Charles realize he's in love with Edwin, but...y'all... I think he knows? The whole season he seems like he knows exactly how he feels about Edwin, but was denying himself the romantic aspect of those feelings. And there are SO many reasons for why he'd be doing so.

First off, he has said he doesn't want to end up like his dad. I'd wager he doesn't want to have a serious romantic relationship with anyone because he's worried he'll end up treating them like his dad treated him and his mum. I do think he had feelings for Crystal, but maybe he didn't believe it could become something lasting. She is living after all. He very well may have figured she'd grow up and move on to someone else, but at least he'd have had a girlfriend for a little while, almost like he would've if he hadn't died.

Similarly, as well as wanting a girlfriend/ partner, he may have always thought he HAD to have a girlfriend like lots of people think they HAVE to find a significant other of the opposite sex to settle down with like they're expected to. For someone who clearly wants to be alive, it's understandable for him to be reaching for what he was taught to be the "normal" experience for normal teenage boys.

It doesn't help that his dad very well could've been homophobic, so Charles never felt like it was safe for him or the boys he might've crushed on. Not to mention, it was the 80s, so he was probably being taught boys liking boys was wrong and/or would get you killed, even if his dad wasn't the one saying it.

I feel it's also worth mentioning that he's known Edwin for 30 years. That's nearly twice as long as he had been alive. Edwin had shown Charles a kindness he'd seen little to none of before and then kept being kind to him. He was unapologetic and sometimes harsh about voicing his opinions, but also listened to Charles'. He knew what it was like to hide things about yourself like Charles did. Charles may have even clocked Edwin was gay from very early on.

I headcanon he probably more or less went from ignoring it cause it's Edwin, to feeling weird about it but not showing it, to getting curious and learning more about it, to looking up "how to be a good ally" to accepting Edwin and reassuring himself that if Edwin does come out to him, he will make sure he knows that Charles will always accept him for who he is, and that this wouldn't change how much they mean to each other nor the respect they have for each other. (Really, he seemed so ready for that confession. It wouldn't surprise me if some planning went into what he was gonna say. Just didn't expect it to happen in Hell.)

Anyway, my point is that Charles seems to have put Edwin on something of a pedestal. He sees him as kind and good, and Charles will protect him with everything he has so that he may remain so. Charles can't help but love Edwin, but he will make sure that love is from a selfless place. Partially so he won't be taking anything Edwin shouldn't have to give, but also because he may not think Edwin would want to give or take anything to or from Charles if he saw the things Charles hates so much about himself which possibly includes: all the things his dad said was wrong with him, everything he grew up being told was wrong with people like him, all the things he sees of his dad in himself, and possibly more.

AND! Edwin is an upper-class(?) white boy from 1916. Charles is a queer punk from India. He may have thought Edwin would have had some prejudices against him even subconsciously for a while when they first met, which would have also been an acceptance-of-feelings deterrent.

Ultimately, if it turns out Charles also needed over 30 years of looking at his friend like that to figure out he like likes Edwin, I'll still love it. But I'd also be surprised. Boy was blushing and giggling for Edwin since they first met even while dying of fucking hypothermia. I swear.

[morganwrites12672]

Abandon

Sam Winchester x Reader

Summary: After the worst fight he's ever had with his father, Sam goes to the only person he can for comfort.

Word Count: 2.2k

Warnings: ANGST. John is a piece of shit. Arguing. Crying. Daddy issues.

A/N: Have fun crying!

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Whenever Sam had finally gotten back from visiting her, he hadn't expected Dean and John to be waiting up for him in the small living room of the motel. He awkwardly shrugged off his jacket before tossing it over the back of the couch.

He could feel his father's eyes burning into his skin. John must be pissed off about something. It seemed like Sam couldn't do anything without upsetting the older man. His good mood vanished.

"You have something you want to tell me?" John asked, and Sam just knew. He knew exactly what John meant. There was nothing else that would have his father looking this pissed.

Sam swallowed thickly, he shoved his hands into the front pockets of his jeans. He looked between Dean and John. John looked pissed, his fists clenched, his jaw tight. Dean looked different. He looked almost happy, he looked satisfied. A smug smirk tugged at Dean's lips.

Dean was convinced that John was going to fix everything. He thought that his father would be able to fix this. Once all of this was over, Sam would stay. Everything would work out. If only Dean didn't put so much blind trust into his father. Maybe then he would have realized what would actually happen.

"No sir."

Sam knew that his father wouldn't be satisfied with this response. No, the older man would be pissed off. Nothing Sam said would make it right. No matter what he did his father would still probably lose his shit. This was going to be an argument from Hell.

"Don't you fucking lie to me!" John growled. He pulled something out of his pocket, a letter. Not just any letter though. The letter. Sam's acceptance letter for Stanford.

"How-" Sam didn't get to finish his sentence.

"You applied for Stanford," John said. It was a statement, not a question. The evidence was quite literally being gripped in John's hand.

Sam's nerves coiled in his gut, ready to explode. He could feel his heart hammering in his chest. This argument was the very thing that Sam had wanted to avoid at all costs. He wasn't quite sure how he had planned to avoid it though. Telling John might have made it better rather than the older man figuring it out, or being told by someone else.

"I'm going," Sam blurted, standing up a little straighter. He wouldn't keep letting his father walk all over him. He would go to Stanford. After everything he had sacrificed for other people, he would do this for himself. Hunting could wait a few years.

"I just want to-" For the second time that night, John cut Sam off.

"Like hell you are! I won't let you abandon this family," John snapped as he stood. He slammed the letter down onto the table. He couldn't believe the way Sam was speaking. "Would you really do that? Would you really abandon your brother and I?"

"No. Dad listen, I am going to Stanford!" Sam shouted back at John. He wasn't abandoning Dean or his father. No, he was just trying to go to college.

"It's that damn whore," John sneered. It didn't matter that he was talking about his friends daughter, he was also talking about the girl who he thought had been a bad influence on Sam. "She's been putting all of these ideas into your head. She-"

It was Sam's turn to cut John off. Hearing his father talk about her that way made Sam's blood boil. He took a steadying breath. Just yelling at his father wouldn't do any good. He needed to be somewhat logical. Though, he struggled to think of anything decent to say after what he had heard his father call her.

Dean was watching everything go down. Now that he'd seen how this argument was going he might have a few regrets. He'd seen Sam and his father argue, a lot. It had never been this bad though. Hearing what his father had to say about her though, that made Dean regret everything. Being around her was the happiest Dean had ever seen his brother. He couldn't believe that his father would insult her like that. She wasn't a bad influence on Sam, not in the slightest.

"Don't call her that," Sam said through a clenched jaw. "She has done nothing wrong! It was my idea to apply for Stanford. I am not abandoning this family! I'm going to college!"

"Don't you fucking come back! If you aren't going to do the job, and be apart of this family, don't you ever come back," John snarled.

Sam's expression changed in an instant. He felt his chest tighten, panic spreading throughout his body. He knew by looking at johns face that his father wasn't kidding.

Sam grabbed his jacket, the letter from Stanford, and his laptop case before walking out the door. He had a lump in his throat as he walked down the row of motel room doors. Looking around the parking lot, he was thankful that it was empty.

"Sammy! Wait!" Dean yelled, running out of the motel room door after his younger brother. He was panicking at this point. Things weren't supposed to end like this. He couldn't believe that Sam would leave like this.

"Don't call me that," Sam snapped at his brother, not bothering to turn around. "Leave me the hell alone Dean."

The older Winchester brother stopped in his tracks. He had fucked up, everything had went wrong. It was too late now. Sam had clearly made up his mind. There was nothing Dean would be able to do to stop his brother.

Sam walked. And he just kept walking. His jacket protected him from the ice cold gushes of wind blowing. He walked towards the only place he had left to go; her house. She was his escape. He needed her, right now especially.

The disgusting words that John had spoke of her made Sam's blood boil. He walked faster. He stuffed his hands in the pockets of his jacket, hiding them away from the brisk cold.

She was the best part of his day. Hearing his father call her that, and the way the older man talked about her made him sick. She deserved so much better. She didn't do anything wrong. No, the opposite. She made everything better.

The thought of her smile was only able to hinder the tears building up for so long. Sam only walked faster. His long, gangly legs could only carry him so fast though.

The walk to her house didn't take long. Sam practically ran. His eyes had long ago welled up with tears, he sniffled as he finally spotted her house. He walked up to the front porch and hesitated. It was late. What if her parents answered instead of her?

He didn't knock on the door. Instead, he sent her a quick text asking if she could open the front door for him. He prayed to anything out there that might listen to him that she was still awake. He wouldn't risk her parents coming to the door, even if he knew that they wouldn't be upset.

His tear stained cheeks glimmered in the moonlight. He wiped at his cheeks with the sleeve of his jacket, trying to hide some of the tears from view. However, he knew that the second she opened the door that she would know. It would be impossible for her not too.

She could take one look at Sam and read him like a god-damn book. It was nice to be understood like that. Dean and his father had never actually listened to him about anything. He felt like an outsider. He don't feel anywhere near like that around her.

His train of thought was interrupted as he heard the click of a deadbolt sliding open. The front door creaked open. Standing in the doorway, there she was. Her pajama pants hung low on her hips, exposing a small section of her waist before her tank top covered the rest of her skin up. She looked tired as hell, yet she still gave Sam a gentle smile.

She stepped aside wordlessly, letting Sam into the house. Her eye brows drew together in concern as she noticed his tear stained cheeks. As Sam stepped inside, she quickly (and quietly) shut the door. The dead bolt snapped into place.

As she turned around she noticed that Sam had already began walking to her bedroom. Her house was more like a home to Sam than any other place. He did spend a lot of time here. Not that her parents minded.

Her parents loved Sam. They had always welcomed him in with open arms. And, they ignored all of the times they caught Sam sleeping over. They just appreciated that their daughter was spending time with someone her age. Having such a an odd lifestyle made it difficult to maintain friendships.

Whenever she walked into her bedroom, Sam was already sitting on her bed. His head was titled downwards, his eyes seemed to be locked on her rug. She noticed that he had discarded his shoes and jacket already. His jacket hung on the back of her desk chair, and his shoes sat in the corner of her room.

She sat next to Sam and wrapped an arm around his shoulders. He shuddered beneath her touch. More tears burned at his eyes and he fought to keep the emotion out of his voice as he spoke

"H-he found out," Sam whispered in a fragile voice. With anyone else he would have cringed at how vulnerable he sounded. He sniffled again, trying to prevent the tears from pouring down his cheeks again.

Her heart dropped. She was suddenly wide awake. That was the worst possible thing that could happen. She still remembered how excited Sam had been to show her his acceptance letter. All of that excitement had been ruined by John.

"Oh my God. . . Sam-"

"I'm still going to S-Stanford," He looked up at her as a few tears finally escaped down his cheeks. "My dad. . . my dad told me not to come back."

She didn't hesitate before pulling him into a tight hug. It was awkward since they were both sitting down but she didn't care in the slightest. Sam broke down in her arms. Hot tears poured down his cheeks.

"It's going to be okay, you're going to be okay." Her voice was gentle, the polar opposite to how his father had spoken to him earlier.

It was moments like this that made Sam realize how lucky he was to have her. He wouldn't know what to do without her. Especially tonight. His heart has been brutally ripped apart by his father, now she would work on helping him pick up the pieces.

They were always there for each other. It was something that could be so very simple that most people didn't notice it. The way that Sam would subconsciously reach for her anytime things went South, the way she always seemed to find her way into Sam's arm after a case or fight with her parents, the way she always made sure Sam had somewhere to go.

And yet, the two had stuck with the title of best friends. Neither one of them wanted to change it much, not yet anyway. There might have been occasional thoughts that definitely weren't the kind you thought about friends though.

Her warm touch brought Sam back to the present moment. It reminded him that things didn't have to be so bad. He might have lost his father, and maybe even Dean too, but he still had her.

"You can stay here until you leave for Stanford."

Sam' head jerked up. That was months away. He had planned to- he actually didn't know what he had planned to do. He would have figured something out though. No matter how hard it was.

Sam cleared his throat, "No, I can't ask your parents to do that."

"Too bad," She retorted. "You live with us until you leave for Stanford." Her voice was firm and left no room for argument.

Her parents would understand. They always did. Even if her father and John were friends, she knew that her mother would be able to persuade her father into letting Sam stay with them. Her mother was good at doing that. Nobody could say no to that woman.

"Thank you," Sam whispered. He then rubbed his eyes, wiping away the tear streaks. It would never make sense to Sam. He couldn't believe that she cared about him this much. He was a black sheep with his family. He was the one who caused problems and didn't belong. He didn't feel that way here. He felt just as much apart of the family as she actually was.

The two fell into a comfortable silence. She kept her arms wrapped around Sam. He felt like her arms were the only thing holding him together. His own father had just kicked him out! Sam couldn't believe that Dean had shown the letter. It hurt.

None of that mattered right now. He couldn't go back in time to fix things. He had to live with everything that had just happened. He had to figure it out.

Maybe things wouldn't be so bad. He could get through anything with her by his side.

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A/N: The biggest thanks to @tranquilitybasegrunge and @thatsthewaythechrissycrumbles for beta reading parts of this for me!

Tag List: @thatsthewaythechrissycrumbles @aidansloth @jaredpadonlyyyy @zeppette @moonl1ghtsworld @tranquilitybasegrunge

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[melodic-haze]

☆ — DEMO TRACK: sub!Arlecchino (GI) x dom!Reader

☆ — TYPE: NSFW

☆ — CONTENT WARNINGS: Pet play, using a hidden vibrator in public, reader with a cock/strap referred to as the former, ROUGH sex, spanking, a lot of painplay actually, blood cuz have you?? Seen her nails????? What the hell, overstimulation, dumbification 🫶

☆ — NOTES: I haven't actually played Genshin since the eternal Ayaka timer lol but anyway I got carried away I think LMAOOO I just have a huge thing for authority figures who are all subby for me 😞 I might do an aftercare continuation post idk

☆ — PARTS: Part 1 (you are here), Part 2, Part 3

I really need to put a collar on this woman and call her my personal attack dog

This tall, scary woman who wields a SCYTHE, this Harbinger slash one winged fallen angel with crosses for eyes, this person who people call 'Father'???? Imposing as hell, very much the type that you can't look at in the eyes or else you're probably marked for death next.......but who could EVER expect that all that would go off and crumble down at the mere sight of you with a collar on your hand, a smile on your face and the intent to reduce her into nothing but your personal little pet?

Intimidating? Oh, please. Maybe she'd cut everyone else, but she wouldn't dare do that to you! Not even when she has a vibrator stuffed in her pussy. What's she gonna do realistically, hurt you? Oh no no no she wouldn't dare do that, you've done nothing wrong, could NEVER do anything wrong so whyever would she do that to you?

You've always wondered how Arlecchino could ever balance on those shoes of hers, with the way her heels narrow down into practically nothing by the time its length reaches the ground.

It's an impressive feat, being able to balance on such technically impractical footwear.. especially when the wearer has a small vibrator stuffed in her cunt, controlled by none other than you and the equally small device resting in your pocket, ready for you to use when you felt like it.

And you did exactly that—as the Harbinger went to talk to some person about whatever it is (you never really cared about the current semantics), you dug into your pocket idly, innocently, even, but the both of you know full well that it was anything but.

Despite Arlecchino keeping a straight face, you know the effect was immediate; you could tell from the slight stumble and the quite-literal split-second glitch that you miss when you blink. Unfortunately for her, though, the third-party hadn't blinked so she's left to scramble for an excuse as you watch on nearby, utterly delighted.

Eventually you see her excuse herself early, making it appear as if whatever they were discussing didn't seem to work. And who would ever question Arlecchino, of all people?

You.

"Well, now," you begin with a raised eyebrow as you watched your approaching lover approach you with a surprising amount of grace, wondering how she's kept herself steady with those heels of hers, "I thought you were going to take longer. What happened?"

You see her eyes stare at you, the red crosses within them practically burning so bright it's as if you were so close that you could touch the sun and burn... Though instead of looking away like a normal person with a sense of self-preservation, you dared to flash her an innocent smile as if you were utterly clueless, but both of you knew VERY well that that was, simply put, pure and utter bullshit.

She licks her lips before answering, "I have.. rescheduled for the discussion to continue when his pr-- ..proposal has been polished to the standard I require. We can return to-- ..!"

Her breath hitches, and she moves on to sit down swiftly and cross her legs in a futile effort to keep the toy still within her, though that turns out to be a mistake as you increase the intensity even further. Her mouth practically drops open before she looks down and covers her mouth as she grabs onto your wrist, nails digging and causing you to wince, though it doesn't keep the smug look on your face from increasing.

You narrow your eyes, as if utterly unimpressed by her antics, as you speak only for your lover to hear, "Flaking on your responsibilities just for you to get some relief sooner rather than later? Okay, then." And she hears, sees you laugh, and you both know that she knows she's crossed you, "Let's go home."

The only thing your pet Harbinger could really do was nod.

She need need NEEDS to be treated roughly for her to feel things bc tbh she probably has a high FEELING threshold in general. And like she's insane but that's another thing

Pull on her collar, her leash. Actually no pull on her HAIR there's a reason why she has it in a low tail 🤨🤨 pull it use it to direct her where you want her and she'll do whatever it is you require for her to do

Please do absolutely spank her, put her in her place, urge her on. Pain is a great stimulant, and is a great teacher 🫶

Needs she NEEDS you to hold her up as you pound at her without stopping, vibrator still in her cunt and being pushed deeper into her over and over by your cock and she doesn't tell you to stop either bc she's telling you to give her more, please!!

This deadly woman is asking you, pleading you, begging you for you to absolutely ruin her!!! But nonono you can't let her have what she wants when she's been uncharacteristically not doing her job like she's meant to so you pull out of her and immediately turn off the toy inside her and she looks at you with such shock that it's so strange to see on this ever-so-composed-and-strict member of the Fatui. But at the end you don't really care as you start up the whole process again after waiting for long enough, even switching your positions and paces and everything

Once you deem it enough and that she's basically at her limit, you decide to grant her.. mercy. Fuck her until she cums and she cums HARD, her nails reducing the sheets into damaged tatters of fabric and leaving bloody claw marks and bites on your skin as she writhes and twitches and glitches violently (you'll take care of it later, you reckon, but right now do you really care?) before she settles down.......

But you don't stop. Nononono you don't stop not at all!! This IS what she wanted, right??? Being fucked so hard until she's all dumb and forgets everything she has to keep track of in that brain of hers, make her forget that she's supposed to be this scaryyy Harbinger who could kill you in the blink of an eye, reduce her into nothing but your obedient little puppy desperate for a powerless mortal, of all things. That has to be humiliating, it SHOULD be humiliating when she has all that power, but she doesn't care. Not now, not ever.

Not when it's you :33

[howlingmod]

LIQUID SUNSHINE

summary - valk x reader , reader's also an idol .. smiles .. more valk pining than anything sorry

wc - i dunno ...

misc - very based on spltoon i wont even lie you are the ian bgm to his squid sistrs (< incomprehensible)

-Valk liked to keep a good eye on the music scene, seeing what everyone else was doing or if there were any new groups on the rise in crossroads- it's just exciting to him! He likes seeing how people innovate on trends and the styles that different artists bring to the table, and, from a business perspective, it's just good to know how the music scene's doing for flipside's sake ...

-He usually just kept an ear out on social media to see who everyone's talking about, and that's how he learned about you.

-You were a part of a band from one of the other regions, and apparently you guys were pretty popular there! He hadn't heard of you before, but it seems like you were just a well-kept secret, a hidden gem.

-It didn't take long for him to make plans to visit, see just how much of an idol you really were. He just wanted to make sure he got the full perspective, is all! (And, admittedly, he was just a little intrigued by some of the photos he seen ... he has eyes! Get off his case!)

-Needless to say, he was not disappointed. He made sure to visit when your band was supposed to be performing and he was decently surprised by the crowd that had formed. It was a smaller concert than he was used to (it's not easy being known by the grand majority of the inpherno ...), but everyone there seemed totally enthralled and happy to be there. You guys definitely had a big reputation for yourselves here, he was honestly a little sad it'd taken this long for him to find out about you guys ...

-Once the show was over, he made sure to try and talk to you all. He had to be careful about it, keeping his head down and sticking to the edges of the room, but he managed to get close without being recognized. After he quietly thanked the Heights for it being a night show (he wouldn't have been able to see the stage before getting someone shouting his name if it was daytime), he made his way over to you.

-You all seemed to be about even in popularity, none of you seeming particularly shafted or overhyped by your fans, but you'd been the one he heard about the most. (Though, that probably wasn't true. He probably heard about all of you the same amount and just paid the most attention when you were being focused on. Woops.) So, he figured it was only fair he tried talking to you.

The diguise he hastily threw together felt just a little silly now. Sure, it'd worked pretty well so far, but he was really starting to doubt that it would work up close like this. I mean, it's not exactly easy to hide horns like his and his fake voice-persona-mix was really starting to fall apart.

"Where'd you say you're from?" Your voice snapped him out of his thoughts. "Crossroads, I just wanted to see one of your guys' shows in person, they seemed pretty fun from everything I saw online," he answered honestly, smiling in a gesture you returned with your own. "Aw! I really hope you liked it then, I hope we were worth the travel..." "Oh, for sure! You guys are super talented! You've got such a unique style, I can definitely see how you pull such a big crowd." Ok, maybe he was laying it on thick, but he was being genuine! He was impressed! Whatever! You laughed at that, shifting in place and glancing off to the side, face feeling warm. "Thank you, I'm just glad people like our work, we put a lot of effort into it." He hummed in response, a mix between acknowledgement and shared opinion. Clearly, even if you two had very different scenes, you were still pretty alike, at least in how you viewed your work. A silence fell after that, just barely ebbing into uncomfortable before he shot up. "Oh, I totally forgot!" He started fumbling for something in his bag before hastily pushing over a vinyl he'd got before heading over here and a market he'd thrown in his bag only a little shamefully, "Would you mind?" You smiled at him, gingerly taking it from his hands, "Not at all, who should I make this out to?" He blanched, biting the inside of his lip hard. He hadn't thought of a name, at all. He stammered, glancing around the room quickly for some answer. Pen was so boring, Poster was obviously a lie, and he's not even entertaining Chair. You snickered, just barely failing to bite it back, "I'll just keep it general." His eyes shot back to you, silently letting out the breath he'd been holding, "Yeah, that works. Thanks." You waved your hand dismissively, "It's nothing, don't sweat it." You handed the vinyl back over to him, meeting his gaze again. There was a glimmer of something he couldn't quite name, perhaps because he was a little distracted by just how pretty you looked in this lighting. Sure, you'd been killer on stage, but it was different seeing you up close like this. Maybe he should've invested in closer seats ... Before he could think to bite his tongue, he was talking again, "You ever think about collabs?"

-He had a different kind of pep in his step when he got back to crossroads. He seemed to be in a constant state of distraction, always thinking about something or other enough to risk walking into walls a few times now. Sometimes he'd say it was music, some bar that he was stuck on. Othertimes, he'd just shake his head and say 'nothing,' before going back to staring off into space. Dom could see right through it, and while he couldn't read his mind, he figured it probably had to do with that person he kept seeing on his phone.

-Valk wasn't sure of where to go from here. He'd seen one of your concerts, he'd talked to you, even figured out you guys were open to working with other artists! Curiosity satiated, right? So then why were you still taking up so much space in his mind, often entirely seperated from your band and music?

-Should he have asked for your number? No, that would've been creepy. He knows more than well how fans can be about that sort of thing. Should he have just told you who he was, then? Ugh, that sounded so full of himself. Flipside might be famous, but that doesn't give him a free friendship card for everyone ever. He was pulling his hair out trying to figure out what he was missing here, what misstep he'd taken, by the time another concert came up.

-This one was different, rather than being a concert he and Dom performed at exclusively, this one had people from all around inpherno perform. It was a big deal, one that he was usually giddy about for weeks before. Seems like he really had been awfully distracted with how it slipped his mind ...

-He didn't have much time to mourn, however, when he noticed your band's name was on the list.

Before the show, there was a red carpet sort of ordeal. Musicians would show up dressed to the nines, flaunting their identity and background through their dresswear for everyone to see. It gave the public some nice photos to look at and some introductions to lesser-known artists with some of the impromptu interviews that cropped up with all the paparazzi. Plus, it now gave Valk an opportunity to talk to you again. It was hard to pull off his usually casual and relaxed demeanor whenever he'd pass photographers by, not wanting to deal with some big ordeal if he looked as nervous as he felt. Maybe you'd already walked? Where would you be then? Heights, what if you'd all pulled out last minute? Maybe you wouldn't even wanna talk to him anyway, did you think he was overhyped? Ugh, that was a whole new thing to worry about. What if he came off as pushy?- Just as he started to spiral, he'd caught a glimpse of familiar horns. Quickly turning to look, he'd seen you standing off in one of the staff-only areas, seemingly fixing up your outfit with all the fluffing and smoothing you were doing. He started over, minding his pace enough to not run over and freak you out. Whatever planned conversation starter he had on his tongue fell flat when you'd looked back at him. Your stage-wear had been perfectly translated to the event, dressed up enough to draw the eye but still retaining your usual sense of style enough to not come off as tryhardy. In shorter terms, you were a showstopper, a heartthrob- if his own heart's aching, fast beat was anything to go off of. "You look nice," he managed lamely. You took the weak compliment in stride, smiling as your hands finally left your top alone, "Thanks! You don't look half bad yourself." He smiled back at you, noticably relaxing, "Are you nervous at all?" "I mean, a little, but I think everyone gets a little bit of stage fright," you hummed, "it's always a little nerve-wracking, you just get better at managing it." "Huh, yeah, I can see that.." "What about you, are you nervous at all?" You shot him a look then, smile just a tinge more wry this time around. He straighted back up, subconsciously shifting in place as he laughed. "Ah, well, a little. It's different performing in front of a more diverse crowd, usually you just have to worry about people who already like your genre, but here you've gotta think about the variety of tastes in the audience," he hummed, steadily growing more comfortable as he talked. He might not be the best at talking to people he wants to impress (when did he start wanting to impress you?), but he considered himself pretty strong in his business sense. The greater mechanisms of being a musician came to him easier than making connections beyong shared interest. You gave a little noise of acknowledgement in response, falling quiet as you thought over his words. He could just barely hear the distant white noise of crowds chattering a room over the buzzing lights in here, fixing his gaze on some scuff on the ground for fear of staring. You suddenly shot up as the silence began to drag on a moment too long, turning your head back to him, "I almost forgot. You asked me about collabs at my concert," you started shuffling around your [ purse / pockets ], "I don't know if you were offering or anything, but if you were ..." you trailed off, holding out a small slip of paper to him. He didn't respond for a few seconds, staring blankly at the paper in surprise. Eventually, he rembered how to move his arms and speak, reaching out to take the slip from you, carefully unfolding it to reveal digits. "You uh... recognized me then, I'm guessing." "You have a pretty memorable face." He sucked in a breath through his teeth, pointedly ignoring the warmth crawling up the back of his neck, "Ah."

[moti-otp]

You asked for recap, I'll try to give you the shortest version I could come up with

First egg day

Not much, but gives signs of potential. 100% platonic, met literally yesterday

Tho can be the great example for how much their relationship has changed. Gay jokes, "come to the bed, partner", first pet names (still just jokes), but immediately clicked with each other and assured eachother in loyalty

Missa's first return (June~July)

Giving signs from Missa's side. Finding out that there's somebody that is after Phil and feeling jealous, tho understanding why ("ye, he's a kind of a man, you know?" - to Chayanne), admitting Phil as the only person who protecting and helping him from a heart. Probably this's the start of Missa's crush

The Four Months™

Phil used to be really patient person, he always been ready to wait for people as long as needed. But at one moment, he started missing Missa, he started yearning for Missa

Rambling about how everyone is okay with being a single parent and how Missa is never there, actually giving up on him and taking off the armour he made for Missa months ago, getting jealous over Guapoduo (only romantic, married and really affectionate couple on the server at the moment), whimpering over the random skull he found in the dungeon and even collecting every single skull he found in one of the dungeons for no reason

Missa's return

Everything is back to normal! But something definitely changed...

Phil and Missa were really affectionate from the start, Phil always was protective over Missa and tried to help him and Missa always was a bit shy around Phil and flustered by his help

But this time it's all stronger

For the whole journey to find new members (the frozen ones) they haven't left each other's side, even walked off from everyone else just to be alone together.

And this time Phil was even more protective of Missa. Usually the very paranoid man, who was scared of a single little light in the darkness started noticing only those mobs that were attacking Missa, who couldn't not to look at him or leave alone for even a moment, just to check if he was safe. And for a long time everyone saw Phil actually relaxed after so many months of paranoia and fear. Something started changing

And Missa, he was even more shy around Phil, tried not to say a wrong word or anything that could disappoint him, was apologising for everything he ever could do wrong. And something new started happening with him. Flirting. But not just jokes, more of an admiring thoughts that accidentally were slipping out of Missa's mouth without him wanting it. And first time when Missa started rambling™ so Phil couldn't understand him and first time when he actually confessed by saying "te amo"

And then matching backpacks, Missa being very normal with wanting to put Phil's head on his backpack and other members noticing something between them

Missa trying to run away from Chayanne, but confessing something important

Skipping the whole looney tunes episode with the deep trauma under it and getting to the most interesting part

Tallulah and Chayanne telling Missa that Phil was talking about him a lot and Roier, seeing Missa's reaction asking him if he likes Philza (in "te gusta" way) and Missa saying that he's very handsome, but he wouldn't tell him about that because he wants to respect him (plus being afraid of losing him and that they have now)

And then writing a sign with confession that he LOVES Philza (and Tallulah noticing it, but pretends that she hadn't seen anything)

The Mexican independence day

(Oh god, oh boy, i have a lot to say)

The Missa's return was Missa's simping day, well, now it's Phil's turn

Phil was trying not to leave Missa for the whole day, keep him around, but not to interrupt when he was talking with him friends or wanted to go somewhere with them, even if he wanted to spend time with Missa. Only with Missa.

Sneaking photos, [Missa yelling "te amo" in front of everyone to him], trying to drag out of the crowd by lassoing (same that did Roier with Cellbit and Fit with Pac), focusing in the dance only on him, gazing at him in the Order, proposing to leave if he felt overwhelmed, trying to keep next to him in the dungeon, [Missa calling Phil handsome], wanting to stay only with Missa when everyone was going to the Hot Girls' beach, [Missa wanting to go on a date with Phil], gazing at Missa when going to the said beach with a goofy smile, [Missa confessing that Phil makes him nervous], Phil noticing Missa's confession but not saying anything just giggling, [Missa wanting to hug Phil as his last thing he wants to do before he dies (he was okay)]

And then the "see you soon" without seeing eachother after that

Missa's capybara journey

Missa returning without knowing if his son and (not fully back then) daughter were okay, if Phil was okay and feeling guilty about everything he missed. Meeting with Luismi and going to the Capybara village with them

And then- calling himself a parasite, that he doesn't deserve his family, calling Phil "the person of a justice, the best islander on the whole island", capybaras getting Missa to return home and write a sign for Phil

[Few days after Phil finding that sign and trying to find if Missa left anything else for him and getting sad when he realises that he didn't]

The Aquarium(I'm getting really sleepy, help)

Bad meeting Missa at one of the days and starting to gaslight him that he has no home, that nobody cares about him

So he requests to live under Phil's basement in the aquarium that built without Phil's agreement

Missa, again, isolating himself and thinking that he's not enough for his family and that he doesn't deserve to be anywhere near Phil

The Purgatory

The good start with separating middle and awesome end

Everything starting with Phil, after noticing that Missa is on, immediately started to perch everywhere and trying to find Missa. Looking around everytime he heard the noise of waystone

And then, after finally finding him on the ground with everyone else. He first wanted to just glide down, but decided to do water drop (to show off in front of Missa). Then Missa started acting surprisingly clingy and bold- asking Phil to hug him, staring at his chest when he was shaking it for fun (actually was checking if he was alive, but from Phil's side it looked like he was looking at boobs)

And then they got separated

It wasn't much for Missa because he more was thinking about how he will help his team, but Phil was DEVASTATED. The little "noooooo" in despair when finding that Missa is in another team, sadly waving when Missa was standing with his back turned to him, and giving last little glances to Missa (maybe considering if he can go to Missa's team for him) before living

And then Missa, on his own, with only violence around him, realises that he needs Philza. He doesn't just loves how he looks and acts with him, he NEEDS him. He needs his comfort, his power, his protection. And he decides to leave Purgatory just so he wouldn't have a chance to hurt Phil even if his team will win

Meanwhile, somewhere on a dusty floor of a museum crying and sobbing Phil, crawling into a drawing of Soulfire with Missa on it, sadly cooing and totally not needing him as much as he needs him

The Prison

KISS. Missa realises that not only he needs Phil and his family, but that they also need him. KISS ON A LIPS. Phil, again, feeling fully relaxed after long time just with Missa, even sometimes forgetting that they should escape. PHIL ASKED MISSA TO KISS HIM ON A LIPS. And Tallulah finally officially becoming Missa's daughter. THE PISSA KISS HOLY FUCK EVEN CROWS DON'T THINK IT'S PLATONIC ANYMORE

The new start

Missa returning home once again. But everything is new, it's time to start with the white list. But this time he's sure in his feelings and wants to be with his family, wants to protect them and love Phil even if he won't get that back

Meanwhile Phil getting even more possesive over Missa with wanting to kill the villager just because he was sleeping on Missa's bed. He's very normal over his husband, yap

Missa made it canon that he's immortal just like Phil. Giving him even more pet names like "The immortal", "the man of my dreams"(heard that he called him a term that used by boyfriends about their girlfriends) and saying "I hope we'll see eachother soon, handsome" before logging out

Other notes (finally done for now

(FINALLY IT'S OVER AAA, IT TOOK ME AN HOUR, MAYBE MORE)

- Missa also called Phil "daddy" when saw an art of him on a Purgatory loading screen

- Phil, looking at the art of Fooligetta and Leo said: "the family, all together, yaaaay" in the most jealous tone ever

- Phil, looking at art of Guapoduo (again) with fucked up Cellbit said: "Cellbit is a little but fucked up, but Roier will help him, right? Roier will save him". And with what tone he was saying that he was hoping that somebody would come to him and save him too

- when Phil found Missa's "house" in aquarium he was saying "he doesn't- he thinks- he thinks I don't- he thinks he doesn't deserve me"

- in Prison Missa said that apapacho(hug) is that he does to Phil when he doesn't look

- there's like 7 times Phil was gazing at Missa from the side while he was talking with his friends or just was by himself, Phil really likes to look at him

- Fit actually thinks those two are romantic couple because he said "it's none if my business that other couples do" when found Missa's aquarium house (refering to him and Pac even before they got together)

- Cellbit told Missa that Phil is in love with him, but just scared if his feelings and can't accept them yet, but "he sees something really strong here" (quote)

- Chayanne had a backpack called "Phissa"

- Dapper called them lovebirds and promised to protect Missa from anyone if they want to get between him and Phil

- qPhil probably thinks that "platonic" just means "no sex" (he was answering to Cellbit's question about what platonic husbands mean ages ago and Phil couldn't answer normally, but Foolish yelled "no sex" and Phil said "ye, kinda like that")

It's finally finished yippee, hope it'll give you some recap and image on how insane we are here about these two

Words can´t express how I´m feeling rn, the happiness in my body is boiling and i'll explode in million pieces, thanks for this amazing food I'll always be grateful for this awesome work. It took you time to write everything here, Thank you. You're a legend. A great warrior o7

My respects for you comrade

[dyns33]

Flufftober 2024 - 28 Murderdock

When she was still a child, Y/N's parents gently scared her with stories of the Bogeyman, who would come and eat her if she was not good.

They talked about it when she behaved like a spoiled child, throwing a tantrum, but also on important evenings that excited her too much, like the start of school holidays, New Year's, or Halloween. It didn't really work.

Y/N didn't believe in these stories, which she found fascinating and funny, laughing while hiding under the sheets, which annoyed her parents a little, even if they found her adorable.

As she grew up, her carefree attitude never completely disappeared. Of course, she wasn't stupid, she was cautious when needed and didn't trust just anyone, but there were many things that didn't scare her, while others trembled.

Like Matthew Murdock for example.

When she was hired by his firm as an assistant, there was a rather strange atmosphere in the offices. On the one hand, some employees looked like soulless robots, who only thought about their cases or money. And on the other, there were those who seemed scared to death.

"And you ? What does he have against you ?" an accountant had asked her timidly during her lunch break.

"Against me ? I don't understand."

"Oh. You're… You're like them then. You seemed so nice."

"What ?"

"Listen, I'm sorry. Don't tell Murdock anything, I don't want any trouble, please. I have children."

Y/N still hadn't really understood what had happened that day, except for the fact that a lot of people were really afraid of Matthew Murdock.

Yet she had seen him and he wasn't that impressive. Of average height, blind, calm, the lawyer didn't seem capable of doing much harm. Physically anyway. Due to his work, he was probably very intelligent, he had contacts and must have information, but that didn't mean he was an evil genius who was going to use it to make others suffer.

The few times she saw him, he seemed normal, polite. Y/N always greeted him by asking him if he was having a good day or if he wanted a coffee. Even if he seemed a bit surprised, he smiled at her and thanked her. Sometimes, he asked her in return how she was.

"It's refreshing." he sighed once, as she handed him the tea he had asked her.

"Tea ? Yes, I like it a lot, it feels good."

"Haha. Sweet. No, I meant you. It's rare that someone is so relaxed with me. I can easily imagine why, but I appreciate it anyway."

Again, she didn't really understand what he meant. But she liked their short chats. He often told her that she was doing a good job, and he was the only relaxed person in the entire building.

Then, after listening to the rumors, reading some reports, attending complicated trials, Y/N began to think that maybe there was something wrong with Matthew Murdock. If everyone was afraid, there had to be a good reason.

He seemed disappointed the first time she passed by him without speaking to him. However, she had done her best to be discreet, so that he wouldn't know she was there.

"Hello dear Y/N." he said with a smile, making her jump, as he entered the elevator.

"Oh. Hello Mr. Murdock."

"It's been a few days since I've had the pleasure of speaking to you, I've missed you."

"I'm sorry." she stammered, leaning against the wall, as far away from him as possible. "I've had a lot of work, I…"

"No, don't do that. You started so well. There's no reason for you to be nervous, even now that you've figured out some essential things. You're doing well, I don't have any incriminating information against me, we can be friends."

"I… Friends, Mr. Murdock ?"

"Call me Matt." he purred, moving closer until she found herself stuck. "I've never really had any friends. Foggy only counts for half, we have common professional interests. And he doesn't really have the choice at this point. Let's go to dinner tonight."

Y/N wondered what she had done to deserve to fall prey to what looked a lot like a bogeyman. A bogeyman as scary as he was visibly lonely, and maybe if she were a good friend, he wouldn't eat her.

[priksie]

Koba X reader

Warnings : none yet.

PRT 1

Words count : 1840

a change in your plan

This is my first fanfiction, I never used any platform to write before. Do not hesitate if you have any advice or words and stuff for me to use as this is also not my first language.

Do not hesitate to correct me if my grammar is bad either 🫶🏻

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After months and months or research for a job you finally managed to get one, but a very particular one. You never thought you would be there in such a horrible place, but you needed the money too much to actually let it pass...soon enough you would be outside without a roof over your head if you hadn't got this one job.

Soon enough you will wonder if having that roof was even worth it , do you really want to sleep in a bed with what you have done or seen during the day? Thinking all night about how much of a horrible person you are for helping those people and helping them with their action?

Will those animals ever forgive you for adding more pain to their life ? Will they take revenge and make you regret? You wouldn't even blame them, you deserved that hate. You didn't deserve their pity and you told yourself that all day long , all night before falling asleep in your sheets full of shame.

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

It's been 7 months since you started working in the laboratory, it's hell on earth. You could hear animals in pain all day even when nobody was touching them. Their body had been enduring so much that some of them couldn't even just breath without suffering.

The simple fact that you have to walk past them all the time all days was making you nauseous even more...but you couldn't just leave now , you have been there so long.

You started trying to ''help'' them with their pain , giving them more food behind your colleagues back or faking giving them some medicine you weren't sure we're....without pain. Always trying to speak gently, not being aggressive or rough to show them that you weren't a treat for them as much as the other.

You tried to leave , finding other work places but it wasn't a success. you never got any response back for another one.

During those long months of screaming and torture one always got your attention more than the other , he wasn't like them.

More attentive, more intelligent.

He was different, something was different with him. you couldn't explain why exactly something felt off.

Following order , that primate was acting submissive when your colleagues where there. You could feel he was only pretending , he was sneaky to try to get less hurt by the human around him.

The poor creature probably never saw the light of the sun outside , never got close to animals of his kind. You felt bad for him, especially since he was getting a lot of attention in general , like he was their favorite muse to use.

As time passed you learned you couldn't get too close to him , he was vicious. But you wanted to, you wanted him to trust you in general.

Koba.

Koba was his name and for some reason you always thought that it fits him well. He seemed to always be looking for any human approvals when any were around. He was even saying his name if you asked him how he was called which always made your blood freeze. He isn't stupid. He is far from being just a stupid animal like they think he is.

He knows you were weaker than the other , that you cared more than your colleagues. That you will always look at him with pity and that you were naive. You didn't do much to him, he didn't have any real reason to want you dead. Sure , you were still working with them helping them when you HAD to but you never did anything you weren't obliged to do. You always had some nice gesture towards them, trying to make their life less terrible even if it wasn't much.

He could feel it , he could smell the fear in you when you accidently get too close to his enclosure. Even then...the snack that always filled your pocket always gets to him too, never leaving him without any. You just didn't take as much time as you did with the other.

Koba didn't waste any time to look at you with that horrible stare of sadness when you were the one having to come clean around or if you had to be the one coming to feed them , sometimes you wondered if he was practicing that stare to try to make you feel even more bad for him.

Of Course if you could you would free him, run away and make sure he was safe somewhere else.

BUT YOU COULDN'T. NOT LIKE THAT , NOT YET.

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

Today was no exceptions , you had to go clean and feed koba with a few of the others.

You wouldn't admit it , you feared koba a lot but you also....cared for him more than the other , you always had better biscuit on you just for him in particular.

When you got to his small enclosure that honestly looking like a tornado had been stuck inside , he didn't even look at you at first and only looked at the blanket he had torn apart. The room was a mess and you will definitely need to go grab a new one for him later. Who wouldn't go crazy in such a small space when you needed so much more , koba didn't have anything else to do either way to occupy his time.

Placing your hair behind your ears , you called his name and that's when he looked at you.

Slowly, he walked towards the door where you saw his hand reach for you, like he learned to do when someone was coming towards him , understanding that most of the time he will actually get something especially if it's you that was coming.

With no wait you gave it to him, same for the biscuits and only after that he went against a wall again to eat. He wasn't on his guard as much as the other when you were the one coming , he knew you weren't the real danger here.

Sometimes you wondered if you could walk in and clean , like you could with a few others and a colleague already told you that you could but you didn't trust koba enough for that so you never did.

Until then you always asked someone else to do it for you, but for once....maybe you should do it alone , maybe you could start building some trust with him.

He could hear you breathing , you weren't confident and you didn't seem comfortable either. He wanted you to trust him, he wanted you to be close and not because he needed a Friend to be with him , or at least he didn't trust you Enough to actually think you would ever be a friend for him.

He wanted a way out , koba only saw you as a way to get out of there. He knew you were most likely to take pity on him, he could easily make you vulnerable if he wanted to. Even if you were scared , he noticed that you started to care more and be more attentive to him than before and that you seemed to actually look to get '' closer '' even if you weren't confident enough just yet. The primate had a perfect idea for that , and he waited until you started to walk away in the idea of getting a new blanket for him. Koba took every piece of the destroyed blanket from the ground and made a pile with it , so everything wasn't laying around and you will just have to take it and throw it out.

He was looking at you coming back , with the fresh and new blanket. he picked up the pile of torn laundry from the floor and seemed to be waiting for you to take it.

She came closer to the door and looked at him through the glasses , he cleaned . He cleaned his own mess and was waiting for you almost like he was waiting to see if you would be....proud ? He doesn't know himself why he cared so much to still have any human approval of his actions, he always ended up wounded by their hand.

Should you go inside ? Wondering if you could really trust the ape to not try anything.

No, it probably isn't a great idea to get yourself with him in such a small space.

You sighed , you got your badge to open the door with a shaking hand. You weren't sure if it was smart of you , but he didn't seem to look to cause any harm , he was just trying to give the mess to her so he didn't have it with him anymore.

Her heart beat got faster as she pushed the door open and went slowly inside , her hands reached for the pile of ruined laundry.

The door closed again, she was inside and stuck with him. Once she had the fabric in hand , she handed him the new one and koba took it from her hand. This interaction felt weird for her, he didn't seem aggressive, neither did he look like he would try to escape or anything. Maybe he was just testing you and you were doing the same without realizing it.

It's only when your hand tried to reach his head , that he suddenly stepped back. His teeth are on full display for you to see and he was standing on his two feet but not too long before he retreated , you tried to push your luck too far. He didn't trust you , not that far. All the time human hands were on him wasn't for a good reason. Why would he believe it would be different with you? Even if he wanted to trust someone the fear of the abuse was still there and will probably never go away. Even if you never showed him that you would hurt him , he wouldn't be taking any risk.

please let me go. I do not feel safe so close to you.

You retreated too, you didn't want to die here today , you never thought you were able to escape a cage so fast in your life.

Was koba ever lonely? Did he ever want anyone close to him ? He couldn't possibly be happy to be all alone.

You looked at him through the glass door between the two of you , and he did the same but he looked at you differently. He couldn't talk , he didn't have any other way to show you he absolutely DIDN'T want you to touch him. He didn't do that to hurt your feelings , why would he have thought of that he doesn't think so far. he just wanted you to let him have his small comfort zone and not to approach it when he had the choice on it since he usually doesn't really have a choice.

'' I understand '' you let out , carefully as you showed your hand like you would to any human to show you weren't a danger or that you weren't armed.

Her heart was still beating fast , she wasn't someone who thought he was a weaker creature and she knew well he could have killed her easily if he wanted too and if he didn't learn than hurting human will results in him being even more in pain.

He wasn't to blame , humans in this place were.

You would never admit it , but you care for him much more than he thought and you would do so much for him if you could and not only free him from there....but you will never let anyone know those thoughts of yours. Even if he escaped , could he ever trust humans again? He probably never knew anything else , she doesn't know if he ever had any human being nice to him before.

No one knows that but today was probably the last day he would be in a cage either way. Everyone's life will be changing , and nothing will ever be the same.

[ancha-aus]

RealAgeAu - A Step Forwards

I am back! And After some thinking I have decided how I wanted this drabble to go :3

We are back with a Dream centered one <3 Boy is going through a lot.

First Drabble Prev Drabble Next Drabble

No beta or edits <3

@spotaus welcome back :3

*------------------------*

Dream wants to cry again as he looks around the very empty and abandoned living room.

So many things just.. left behind.

Cabinets full of movies and games and all kinds of different game consoles, some very exclusive versions from other universes.

Dream rubs another tear away as he looks around. The pictures on the walls also hurt. They are all of the gang and a few of them has Nightmare in the background. Looking confused with his skull slightly tilted. Killer is often the one who clearly took the picture selfie style.

Dream pauses at another picture. It is Nightmare but he is reading. Clearly distracted. He is sitting on a large chair, tentacles just laying all over the surface of the chair. Nightmare fully distracted as he reads a book while sitting cross legged on it.

Dream remembers that Ngihtmare would always sit cross legged. Spine in a curve as the read.

He had once asked how that could be comfortable. Nightmare had just said it felt nice...

One day he stopped sitting with his spine curved and instead would lean heavily against their mother.

Dream slowly removes the picture from the wall and hugs it close. How could he not have seen that his brother was still there? Just within reach? But Dream had once again not seen it...

A hand on his shoulder shakes him out of it and Blue looks worried at him "Dream?"

Dream leans against Blue "How can I just... not notice? Be so blind and stupid and..."

Blue frowns at him "Dream..."

Dream stares at him "Why didn't I just listen?" No wonder Nightmare left as soon as he could... With them no longer being gods of balance... Nightmare is actually free to do whatever he wants... Why did Dream think Nightmare would still want to be near him after everything?

Blue frowns at him "Becuase you believed it was the right thing to do."

Dream glares down "That is the problem isn't it? That is always what happens. I thought heloing the villagers was the right thing to do but ti wasn't. I thought spreading positivity was the right thing to do but it wasn't. I thought that Nightmare needed help and changing him was the right thing to do. And guess what?! IT wasn't!"

Blue just keeps looking at him "You were a child."

Drema shoots him a glare but Blue continues "You were a child. A child who had a mother who was, I am gonna be honest here, not a good person."

Drema feels bad as he shakes his skull but Blue holds up a hand "Dream. I read that book. I can see the clear favouritism a mile away. But that? That isn't your fault. The way the villagers acted? Wasn't your fault. You were a child. A child who trusted his mother. Who trusted those who were nice to him because why wouldn't you? Why would you think someone would hurt your brother? That idea probably hadn't even come to mind as even a possibility."

Dream glares at the ground and hugs the picture closer "And what about me making the disbalance worse? Me acting as if i knew better when i didn't know anything? When i didn't even realise what my actual title was?"

Blue tilts his skull "Well... who taught you those things?"

Dream opens his mouth "That woman who broke me out of stone and lied- ... oh..."

Blue just smiles sadly "You were surrounded by people who used you for their own needs and wishes Dream... People who hated your brother for no real reason... I am not surprised those some people would tell you lies and poison your ideas on how stuff works."

Dream shakes as he leans against his friend, his best friend. Maybe his one true friend in the multiverse. Mostly as he doubts Nightmare ever wants to be friends again.

Blue rubs his shoulder "She raised you right?"

Dream gives a slow nod "broke out of stone the same way i was when i went in... She got me out and... well... raised me... made sure i trained and would keep repeating how nightmare had caused all the pain adn that they had always known it would happen..." That Dream shoudl ahve stopped Nightmare sooner. that Dream's lack of worry and saying that Nightmare wasn't that bad caused the pain. That it made Nightmare able to destroy their home.

... okay Dream is starting to think Blue may have a point on this.

Blue looks at him "What now?"

Dream stares at him "What?"

Blue gives him a look "You need to make a choice Dream. Because from the looks of this?" he waves around "The gang has moved ages ago. THe fact we haven't heard about any raids or any sus things? They are probably doing something else. Nightmare must have figured out he was successfull in rebalancing the balance and decided to leave it behind."

It only stings a little to hear that. But Blue is right. It had been Nightmare who rebalanced everything. They had seen his office. Files upon files and reports upon reports and so many schedules... all to keep track of the tiny shifts in balance.

Drema had just been running around the Omega universe and doing chores to help people...

Blue continues looking at him "What do you want to do now? Do you want to continue looking for Nightmare?"

Dream does want to continue looking for Nightmare but... He looks around again. Sees the home that had been made... A home for his brother... a home he hadn't been welcome in.

Dream looks at Blue and thinks "I want... I want to see him again... But I don't think he wants to see me..." he looks at the many pictures. and then to the crown they had found tugged away in a drawer "I don't... I don't think he even knows I love him... And that is on me... Even if other stuff isn't completely my fault that is my fault." his failing as a brother. As older twin.

Blue puts an arm tighter around him.

Dream looks at the picture in his hands. the one he is already planning on stealing and keeping for himself "I made a mess of so many things... And when he tried to explain I let lies others told me get to me instead of being brave and trying to understand... I made everything so much harder." he looks at Blue "I want to fix that first..."

Blue frowns "You mean...."

Dream nods "I am going to tell the council. Explain that I had been wrong."

Blue stares at him before smiling brightly "I will be there with you! I am so proud of you Dream!"

Dream smiles as he looks around the cold room. They will do one more search around this place. Look for anythings that Dream can keep save in case Nightmare wants them back... and maybe, like this picture and the crown, a few things that Dream wants to keep.

--

Dream set up the council to enable more universes to talk and interact. To help each other and to spread messages in case of emergancies.

Turns out that hadn't been the best idea.

Well!

At elast this way this should spread quickly!

Dream waits nervously before shooting Blue a look. Blue sees him look and smiles as he gives him the thumbs up.

Dream takes one more look around the table and is happy to note that Error and Ink are both here as well. This is good! Their truce will help set everything to be calm!

Dream rises to his feet and the group quiets. It is okay. He practised this. He smiles brightly "Hello everyone. Thank you for coming this quickly. I know it was shot notice."

Some mutters and someone asked if Nightmare did something again. Error huffs but remains quiet. Ink shoots him a curious look but Error jsut flips him off. Clearly a familiar interaction between them.

Dream takes a deap breath before speaking up "It is connected to my brother yes. Mostly. The balance has been restored."

Silence and Error actually sits upright.

Some mutters and someone congradulates him for his hard work.

Dream shakes his skull "You misunderstand. There is a balance between everything. including emotions. I may hav ebeen spreading positive emotions but All I was doing was unbalancing things. I was making the problem worse. For this I am sorry and we are very lucky my brother did know what he was doing and fixed my mess."

Silence before someone asks how him bringing happiness could be a bad thing.

Dream shoots them an annoyed look "Go you want to laugh and cheer the next time your human kills your brother?"

A long silence.

Dream huffs "That is the start what a multiverse without negativity would cause. I did not realise before I was making it worse and I apologise."

Some uneasiness around them as someone asks the question that most are not asking. If that means that what the gang had been doing had actually been helping the multiverse at large.

Dream nods "It was. And now we are talking about it. I was never a god of positivity. I was a god of balance who very much misunderstood his job." then lastly "Not that it matters anymore. With the balance restored I am no longer a god of balance. I will eventually get, pick or find a new calling but it won't be emotions again." fuck he hopes it isn't emotions again.

Some people keep trying to ask if they really need negativity and can't just get like a negative corner or the bare minimum.

Error grows annoyed and speaks up "This si why this shit is useless. It is like destruction and creation. Like life and death. YOu want your world to get overpopulated until you can't make enough food and everyone will starve? That is a world wihtout natural death. You want the multiverse to get so full with half finished and glitching universes? That is what happens when ou want destroy stuff and do clean up. You want to laugh manically when someone you love dies? That is what happens when you don't have negativity. It isn't that hard to understand." Error sees that everyone heard and lays back down.

Dream shoots him a smile but Error jsut continues to glare at him. Right. Error nad Nightmare had been friends. Dream turns back to the group "Error is right. THis is bigger than one of two universes. This is bigger than all of our worlds combined. But foremost it is important that everyone knows that my brother was never the villain."

Some people try to go against it but Dream just keeps repeating the same message. His brother is the reason things are stable and everyone can still feel normally. He is the reason the balance is fixed. He wasn't the villain.

And he will repeat it as many times as needed until the message sticks.

*------------------------*

First Drabble Prev Drabble Next Drabble

[silverskye13]

how did you get the confidence to write fanfiction? i always worry that i won't portray the characters properly so any ideas or wants to write fanfics that i have go away or i talk myself out of it :(

Well! First and foremost: Most people don't start writing,,,, anything with confidence. Let alone fanfic, where you know other people are going to be looking at it, with their own ideas of how the characters are supposed to act and feel influencing what they're coming to the story with. My first fanfic I was very insecure, which I feel like was evident, reading through the author's notes now. Apologies whenever something that required a lot of suspension of disbelief happened, a poll so readers could decide the ending so I wouldn't disappoint anybody, only to end in me writing and posting three different endings. Long justifications for why I chose certain things in the author's notes. The fic nowadays reads to me like a very rough apology.

"Hi I'm sorry I tried. Be kind I'm very scared."

But the thing about writing that fic was, it was the writerly equivalent of jumping into the deep end of the pool for the first time. After I bobbed back to the surface and realized a shark hadn't like, taken my legs off while I was down there, jumping in again got easier. And kept getting easier. And now I just write and post things.

There's kind of two schools of thought that I've seen people subscribe to, when it comes to taking the first leap. The one that's really popular around here on Tumblr is: Do it scared. It is simple and straightforward. You are scared. You will be scared. You probably never won't be scared. So do it scared. Write your thing, close your eyes and hit send [either to post it or to share it with one or two friends, or even just hitting the "save" button and not deleting it]. Get scared, do it, close your eyes, finish. When you open your eyes again and nothing terrible has happened, you can breathe a sigh of relief and do it scared again. It's a little nerve-wracking at first, but the idea is giving your mind the association of jumping and not falling. I did it and I didn't fail, therefore it is safe to do it again.

The other school of thought [the one I specifically subscribe to] is: Do it once. What you think or feel about it doesn't matter. What matters is you did it once. Maybe it will be hell, or it'll suck terribly. Maybe you're really excited! And it turns out great! Maybe its a wild ride of ups and downs, and by the end you need a few months to catch your breath and decide if it was worth it. Regardless: you did it once. Now you know, if you want to, you can do it again. Now you can decide if its worth doing again. For me, the euphoria of finishing a project always far outweighs the trouble getting there, so the step forward of "Do it once" is powerful for me. And that can be broken down too. "Write one chapter." "Draw one drawing." "Clean one room in the house." There is no pressure to continue if its really that terrible, but you at least get to decide if one was worth it [and a solid 9 times out of 10, one was worth it enough to do it more.]

Now, all that said, if what you're worried about is writing the characters right and nothing else -- don't worry too much. Most people care less about how true to life the characters are, and care a lot more about consistency in the story. An example from RnS: In canon, Helsknight is a cartoonish villain with one motivation, and that motivation is taking over hermitcraft Doofenschmirtz style. To date, no one has come into my inbox demanding I change him, because he's so OOC he's basically an OC at this point. What people have come into my inbox about though, is "Hey, you established X in this chapter, but he said Y in this chapter. Was there a reason for that?" which is them saying, "Why didn't you keep your character consistent?" If you tell your audience what the expectations are for the story and you stick with them, they will stop caring about OOC moments and characterizations, and will trust you're going somewhere with your writing. Suspension of disbelief, your powerful friend! They put the world on their shoulders and carry and everybody watches and claps.

If you're also worried about consistency, then start out with one shots! There's a lot less room for error, no large, sweeping character arcs to keep track of. And stringing a bunch of one-shots together can give you practice with character consistency and progression without committing to something massive and overarching. If you're truly worried about making the characters exactly like Canon [or the Canon in your head], I recommend making little lists of character traits, or important things you want to keep in mind. At that point you're scared of your own consistency, and you just need a framework to keep yourself consistent enough for yourself, if that makes sense?

Hopefully! This helps! Sorry I'm a little scattered today :'D

[mika-no-sekai-blog]

Word count: 2800+

Warnings: mentions of blood, nausea

I lightly edited it, but as I have headache I probably didn't notice quite a lot of mistakes. I know I could try another time, but I'm afraid this will take few days

Part XIV | Part XVI

Even days after your conversation with Feyre, your mind was often returning back to Tamlin with more worries than sadness. You somehow assumed that he didn't miss you as much as you missed him and that he most likely forgot about you and moved on, focusing on his court and its restoration. Otherwise he would stop Rhys back then or he would come to visit you or at least tried to contact you. But what if he couldn't? What if Feyre was right and Tamlin was hurt by your departure?

You wanted to ask somebody about Tamlin and his wellbeing, needed it, but who would answer you? Who could have such information?

Rhys, as High Lord, most likely knew what was happening in Spring Court. However he wouldn't tell you. You dismissed the thought as soon as it occurred to you because, well, now you knew your brother well. Although he left Tamlin alive, angry wasn't a strong enough word to describe his feelings toward him. And except of his family, Rhysand hardly forgave and definitely never forgot.

Another person who could know something, was Azriel. As a spymaster he for sure kept an eye on other courts. He was kind and nice to you, but no matter what feelings he had, his loyalty to your brother was on the first place. If you asked him, he could tell about it to Rhys and then it would be even more difficult to learn anything from anyone.

Feyre mentioned the redhead, Lucien, who claimed to be Tamlin's friend. You hadn't seen him around, but apparently he came for visit from time to time. He seemed to be the only possible choice. Only problem was how to contact him.

Tamlin wasn't the only one occupying your mind. In moments when you weren't thinking about him, your mind filled with old memories and feelings that Rhys revived. You had only one sitting with him so far and even though it was days ago, you were still confused and needed time to process it.

The memories made your life easier in certain ways. You didn't feel so out of place, so homesick anymore. This place changed, but people even though a bit older where still the same. Your current feelings kept mixing together with the old ones and you couldn't say how you felt about individual members of your family and that was main reason of the chaos in your heart.

Thankfully there was Azriel always ready to patiently listen to your rambling which helped you clarify your thoughts and slowly work through it. He never failed you and advised you wisely, guided you when you got lost.

And so it happened that you started meeting him more often, sometimes spending even all day long with him. You were afraid to leave Rhys' property because of the possibility to be again engulfed in the smell of magic. In order to get rid of the stress fresh air and mainly the contact with nature were very important for you. Therefore you were mostly outside, walking together in the garden, rarely staying inside of the house.

The garden around the house was large, kind of smaller park, full of flowers and surprisingly even herbs. It reminded you of your life in the forest and walks with Tamlin. You always picked up some herbs and Azriel made you a tea out of them. In the evening you sat together on the terrace, sipping your teas and silently watched the setting sun. However peaceful these moments were, they weren't perfect and you always missed something. It was unsettling.

Your life was changing little by little, but you weren't content with it. You knew you loved your brother and his two best friends, Mor became kind of friend, although still far from the relationship you had before memory loss, but better than last few weeks. Amren was complicated. You hardly met her at all, so it didn't matter much. You liked even Feyre. However her sisters were different case.

You didn't mind Nesta. She wasn't kind, but she wasn't bad or mean to you. She just.. was. The oldest of the sisters had enough of own problems to solve. And Elain? Before you hardly saw her, now you were meeting her wherever you went. She was like your shadow, staring and frowning at you every time you looked in her direction.

There were also small incidents. Salt in your drinks, dirt on clothes Rhys gave you, that just came back from washing, small amounts of grass, dirt or mud raining on you while you took a walk in the garden alone. At first you tried to ignore it. However the situation was escalating and it was hard to ignore now. You didn't want to point a finger to the culprit, but you knew who's doing it was.

After some time when you didn't react, culprit took it even further. Now it wasn't only following you around and angry looks. Every time you spoke with Azriel Elain appeared and totally ignoring the fact you were in the middle of conversation she started telling him about flowers or something that just happened to her.

Azriel was shocked at first, but as it repeated daily, you knew him enough to notice he was starting to be fed up by her behaviour. Still he tried to be gentleman and gently dismissed her, pointing out the fact that he was busy with something else which she paid no attention to and kept talking, flashing smiles at him.

At those awkward moments, well, you rather backed up. Giving up on your favourite time with Azriel was the best and easiest thing to do to prevent being in the center of the drama. Whatever was between the two of them, it had nothing to do with you. Or that was what you believed. You just assured Azriel that it's okay, that you could talk later and left.

One afternoon, after being again interrupted by Elain, you were wandering through the house aimlessly when you heard an angry voice coming from behind the Rhys' closed office doors. Normally you would ignore it and leave quickly to give him privacy, but when you heard Tamlin's name, you couldn't help it and came closer listening.

"I'm telling you, Rhysand, it's much worse than before. If we don't do something and very quickly, it'll be too late," the voice snarled. That voice. You had already heard it somewhere. But where?

"She is the only one who can help him. Let her at least visit him and talk with him.."

"No," you heard Rhys flatly refuse. "In this state Tamlin is too dangerous. He could hurt her."

"I'm sure he won't."

"Look at yourself. You are his closest friend, yet he would turn you into shreds if you didn't winnow away fast enough. I won't risk her life." Closest friend? Was it possible that the fox-like redhead was in Rhys' office now?

"He seems to have feelings for her and pretty deep ones. Otherwise he wouldn't be so broken after you snatched her away," Lucien snapped.

"Don't dare you!"

There was silence for a moment.

"Your sister is the only person who can help him get out of it. We both know it," Lucien said lowly, his voice still angry, but he tried to speak more calmly. With his every word your heart clenched so painfully that if you looked down at your chest, you were sure you would see a deep gaping wound there.

"You may not agree, but this isn't something you can decide. We ought to ask your sister what she wants. What she thinks. You've already decided for her that she has to come here with you, however, I heard that she doesn't like it. That she isn't happy here and wants to return to Spring Court. If that's the true you can't hold her here against her will."

"You would be surprised how much has changed since your last visit." Now Rhysand was definitely mad, his deep voice icy, dangerous. You hoped Lucien was smart enough not to annoy your brother even more. It could cost him too much.

"If you want to save Spring Court, she is the best shot we have. Think about it carefully. There's little time left."

You didn't need to stay to know what Rhysand answered him. It was too clear. With wildly beating heart you left unnoticed. You knew their conversation was over. Rhysand didn't want to even think about your return to Spring.

You didn't hear what exactly happened to Tamlin, but it wasn't necessary at the moment. You were already too worried after talking with Feyre. However now wasn't the time for that. You had to act. This was the chance you hoped for. Lucien was here and you had to take an advantage of it. He would leave soon, but you needed to talk with him before that, somewhere nobody could see you or hear you.

You hid into a dark alcove in a hall that Lucien had to pass on his way out and waited. Long time nothing happened, house was too silent and you started to worry that he left through the garden. You shut eyes, tears gathering in them, your head fell back against the wall. You missed him, your only chance to learn something about Tamlin.

A sound of angry footsteps filled the hall. Somebody was coming your way. You held your breath, peeking from your hideaway. As the person passed by the window his hair caught the light, shining brightly as a fire. You breathed a sigh of relieve. It was Lucien.

When he was only few inches from your alcove you whispered. "We need to talk."

Lucien's eyes widened, following your voice to the darkness you hid in. It took only a second. He halted and bending down he pretended to adjust his shoelaces. "Where?" he whispered. Really clever of him. You smiled.

"Meet me in the garden. Under the oak tree."

Without another word he stood up and left. You waited long enough and then stepped out from your hideaway. Walking slowly as if nothing happened, you headed to the opposite direction. You passed the terrace and stepped into the garden. Pretending to be on one of your strolls, you walked until the house disappeared behind the dense grove.

A massive oak tree grew in the farthest part of the grounds, hidden from prying eyes. It was ideal place for secret meeting. You looked around. You were all alone. You hoped Lucien would be already waiting here, but maybe he couldn't find this place even though this was the only oak tree in the garden. You sat down dejectedly between two strong roots and pulled knees to your chest, praying to the forgotten gods for a pinch of luck.

"I hoped to see you around," male's voice came from behind your back. You turned around, eyes wide. You didn't hear him come. Lucien stood there leaning against the tree trunk, hands crossed on his chest, playful smirk on his face. "And meanwhile you came to me."

He reminded you of a curious fox, his russet and gold eyes scanned you from head to toes. His smirk disappeared and jaw clenched, eyes narrowed. "I shouldn't have mentioned you in front of him," he muttered more to himself than to you.

You were curious what it was about, but you didn't ask. You were sure you already know the answer. You decided to get straight to the point.

"I heard what you and Rhys were talking about." With a thoughtful expression he scanned you one more time.

"You are really interesting being," he muttered. "I didn't know we had company. But I didn't sense you in that hallway either."

You shrugged. "What happened to Tamlin?"

His lips pressed into a thin line, he seemed to be considering whether to answer you.

"I don't care what Rhys says or wants. In this case. Tell me everything."

He ran hand through his long red hair and sighing sat down astride on one of higher roots. He leaned back against trunk and looked into the garden.

"It's bad with him," he sighed, worried.

"Is he hurt?"

"No, I guess not yet. But.. Do you remember the state he was in when you two met?"

You nodded. "He was quite wounded."

"I didn't mean his physical state," he snorted.

"I wasn't talking about his physical state. He was depressed. So much that he didn't want to eat and drink. He had also nightmares."

"Ah." Lucien stayed silent for a few heartbeats. His voice was grave. "It's even worse now. He won't change from his beast form, snarling like wild animal, lashing his claws all around. When I went to talk with him, he tried to kill me. I don't know whether you've been in his manor, but it's in catastrophic state. Like some beast's lair. He quite destroyed it.."

Your heart grew heavier with each word. Pain in your chest and behind your eyes was almost unbearable. "Why do you think I can help him? You are his friend. You could do that, too."

Lucien's brows raised and his lips slowly parted in a grin. "Tell me. Do you know the reason why he gave you that pendant you're hiding? What it symbolises?" Your brows furrowed, but before you could open your mouth he continued. "It's not that I don't want to help him. Otherwise I wouldn't be here, right? Unfortunately I can't help him. Nobody can. Except of you." His gold mechanical eye turned too you.

It didn't make sense. Why couldn't anyone else help him? You gritted teeth.

Your fingers touched the pendant through the fabric of your clothes. How could he know about this? You took it out only in your room when you were alone. The only person who saw it was Feyre. You looked up at him.

"You didn't answer me."

He rolled his eyes, slightly annoyed by your incomprehension. "You really didn't notice? I saw you two together for a short while and noticed. For Tamlin you aren't just an ordinary friend. Whether he acknowledge it or no, he seems to have quite deep feelings for you. The pendant is proof of that. Roses have a very special meaning for him."

You turned away from him, so Lucien couldn't see your face. You were shocked by his assertion and.. hurt. That was not true. He couldn't be further from the truth. Tamlin.. he didn't need you. Last time you were together he was already fully healed, ready to leave the cottage and you behind and return to his duties. The pendant was just a gift of gratitude. There wasn't anything else behind that.

You bit down on you lip so hard you drew the blood. This just added to your overall confusion and there wasn't enough time to start spiralling now. It was only a matter of minutes before someone would start looking for you. So you pushed those thoughts away, decided to think about it later.

"What can I do to help him?"

Lucien straightened, intrigued by the change of subject. He exhaled deeply. "The best would be if you went to him. I think he needs to see you, have you close enough to touch to have some effect on him."

"I don't think Rhys would allow it."

"I've already heard his opinion," Lucien grimaced. "His is as stubborn as-"

"Be careful what you say," you snarled. "He's my brother."

Lucien gaped at you. With open mouth. "Are you kidding me? Last time I was here you couldn't stand him. Nobody here. Feyre said you-"

"Stop messing around and rather tell something I could actually do for Tamlin," you interrupted him for the second time.

He seemed to want to say something to that. His eyes narrowed at you, but changing mind the fox-like male closed his mouth and instead looked around the garden, thinking. "As I said before, your visit would be the most helpful. Maybe.. maybe you could try to write him. I'm sure he'll chew it up before finding out who sent it, but who knows. Even stranger things happened."

"I'd have to go to the house. Somebody could notice." Sudden smell of magic took your breath away and a wave of nausea rose in your throat.

Lucien handed you two sheets of paper and pen. "Is it enough?"

You just nodded with clenched teeth and taking the writing tools you stood up, walking away from him. He didn't need to know what you were writing. When you were done, you put the letter into an envelope, sealed it and handed it back to redhead.

"It better work," the sighed. "I'll let you know if he reads it or replies." With that he winnowed away.

You stayed seated under the oak tree, thinking about Tamlin and things Lucien told you, until Azriel came looking for you.

Taglist:

@impossibelle @sevikas-whore @b0xerdancer @ladylizzieofdarbyshire @tele86 @mybestfriendmademe @nocasdatsgay @yunloyal @nebarious @isabiss @st0rmyt @lilah-asteria @ubigaia

[factual-fantasy]

27 asks! Thank you for all the kind words! :}}}💙💙💙

@network-warrior-01

Funnily enough I have been thinking a lot recently about making my own web comic, right here on Tumblr! I have a lot of concepts, although I don't know if I'd make a separate comic just for the Factual Fam. I feel like they kind'a already have a web comic..? In a way.?

And I feel like if I made a story driven comic about us, separate from the ones I'm already making.. It would feel.. idk, off? My lil guys are meant to be with me, going with the flow of whatever's going on with my blog/my life. This is their story. Their lives with me are their story. If that makes sense?? I'm not sure if I have any other ideas in mind for them.. what would their world even look like if I wasn't in it or if it was different from what they have now..??

But on the other note, could you imagine? Me? Making a 100% original comic? With my own original characters, story, and world? Its a daunting thought. The sheer amount of stuff I would have to plan and the amount of angst I could inflict on ya'll would be insane <XDD

And yeahh,, the fanart thing would be a problem... <:/

The four of them sit together at the base of my stuffed animal pile. Nice and cozy! :}}

@cudlycorncornsworthcoberson

Actually the quilts are rather deceiving, they're just for show! <XD Bibi was conscious and could talk when he was still a picture. And he became a drawing without the use of a quilt. Jangles had a quilt but was still a picture. He was later "brought to life" with my pen!

The thing about all that life stuff, quilts, pens.. its honestly just for show. Those things don't bring them to life, I do. The flashy ways I do it are just for fun <XD

And about Cici! She was talking! And I think kind'a the idea as to why Jangles could hear them both was not only for the spooks. But becuase Cici and Gerald's concepts were so strongly developed at that point they were basically fully fleshed out characters. Their bodies just didn't exist yet. Hence the "I cant see" I hadn't stitched her button eyes on yet!

So basically their personalities and designs had been thought out. They just weren't there yet. But their presence was still so strong.. And Jangles being a picture kind'a bridged the gap between the concept world and the drawn one. If that makes sense??

He could still hear them after he was drawn though, I guess its an ability that he kept even after being art-ified..? <XD My lore's a little whack- its best not to look too far into it!

Also thank you! I'm glad you liked it all! :DD

Like I've said before, the best way to show you care is with comments. That's what would make me the happiest. :)

And sure I will! Some comics and random cameos here and there.. I already have some comics in mind.. 👀👀

I haven't seen the Puss in boots movie, but something tells me you're right XD

Hmm.. I don't actually know.. That's a good question :0

I guess they would react the same if us humans found a group of people like that. And what would humans do? Probably report it to someone?? <XD

@minophlia

XDD Thank you! I'm so glad you like me and what I make!! :DDD

Giant scary abstracted monsters that attack anything in the vicinity?? Nope nope nope!! Jevil would FREAK OUT and Immediately warp them out of there with a mirror. Cant risk anyone getting hurt!

That's not a half bad idea! :0 I'll see if I can remember to get around to it <XD

Also thank you so much!! :DD

All I know of punch out is from smash bros. And I got beef with Little Mac. Anytime anyone plays as him they always kick my butt XDD

I imagine Jevil wouldn't tolerate it much. If Jax was being a butt towards Jevil that's one thing. But as soon as he starts to direct that to anyone else in the group- especially Seam.. Then there's gonna be a problem. :x

Seam would be annoyed. But its likely the same as Jevil. He doesn't really care about his antics, but as soon as its directed at Jevil or someone else.. well then there's a problem-

@abaroo

Thank you so much!! :DD And of course I held his widdle hand! He needed the emotional support! He was making the biggest decision he's ever made in his life- <XD

And you're welcome! <XD I'm so glad you liked it! :}}

No no no no that is the wrong habitat for me!

I need to be put in a cardboard box with all the flaps open except for 1. There needs to be a grassy/muddy floor and a bowl of water.

Then put this box out in your backyard in the pouring rain. Don't give me anything to warm myself, and only feed me refrigerated watermelon. Now THAT'S what I call a comfy habitat!

@multiverse-city

Thank you so much! :DD I appreciate the compliments!! :}}

Although I'm sorry to say that I don't want me and my critters to show up as background characters.. <:( Sorry!

He probably has a couple of times yeah. Maybe right after big events or shows he got pushed over the edge and crashed.. :(

He might..? But I think Freddy would want to give Bonnie space.. Becuase when Bonnie is overwhelmed, that's what he wants. Is silence and space. And when Freddy is around Bonnie he would try to be really quiet and not move around too much..

So many siblings...

My only thought is that my version of the Daycare Attendant would better fit the role of Kaufmo. :0 The idea that he suddenly disappears, only to reemerge as a monster..

That, and I would shoe horn a bunch of unnecessary angst in there XDD

:DD Thank you so much!! :}}}

WAAAAA THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!! Its so nice to hear that even though you knew nothing about the characters, you still loved my comic!! :DD And thinking my critters have depth?? And feel human?? WAAA THANK YOUUU!!! I try to give them all separate personality's and really put some emotion into them, I'm so glad you've noticed! It seems to be working! :DD

And again a thousand thank you's for the compliments to my sona! :DD The bloodied hands and dripping face getting worse and worse as the comic progresses to show my exhaustion,, even the comically placed hands! I put a lot of heart into all of it and I'm so happy that you've noticed!!

Thank you for all the kind words! Sending platonic love right back at ya!! :DDD 💙💙💙

@anartistwhowrites

THANK YOU!! :DDD

<XD Noooo don't cry! Thank you though, I'm glad you liked it! :))

@beryl-shade

One word; Horrified.

Aww, I'm sorry it made you cry! <:(( But I'm glad you liked it none the less! <:}}}

@badlyblurry

Darn <XD I had it match my Tumblr's theme.

@crimson-thinker

My main thing is it just feels like they "stole" what I made and drew it without asking me. And then turned around and gave it to me as a gift. Which obviously isn't what fanart actually is. But that's just how it feels.

But hey, your ask has many more reasons for me to not like fanart <XDD

The idea I had was they can use Power-Ups purely becuase they're human. Like, something about just being human gives you access to the power the Power-Ups have. .

Do you have a different idea though? I'd love to hear it! :)

[lynaferns]

I feel like people who insist and celebrate too much that "their fanfics and AUs" are now "canonically accurate" because they played Sun as passive aggressive from the beginning, are starting to drive a wedge in the community with their comments, especially when These are important figures in the fandom.

I've already seen someone "famous" mention that "I used to consider Sun basic and boring for just being the eager good guy" and wow, that disappointed me a little. If anything, Moon falls into the same "basic" category by being just "the bad guy," canonically speaking. But they are not pleasant things to read, are they?

I personally think that if Sun hadn't seemed so anxious, vulnerable and partially open/friendly in the beginning, he wouldn't be so many people's comfort character today. Because I highly doubt that his attitude in HW2 would have made so many people feel comfortable, not to mention that it would have surely stung them in one or another possible trauma.

I've been trying so hard not to insult anyone because I believe that good communication comes from respect and good manners but some people are pissing me off. (Not you anon)

Listen, those people can go fuck themselves with their stupid comments and their entitled opinions.

I'm also a follower of canon acurated and I see no reason in mocking people who don't follow canon. It makes me so mad reading comments laughing at people whose interpretation has been contradicted by canon.

If they are taking pleasure from seeing how some in the community are reacting to HW2 with sadness (which is a VERY understandable reaction and should NOT be made fun of) they are not worth your attention, they aren't worth ANYONES attention. If it makes you feel better block them and move on because you will be happier this way.

And those who say "I tHOuGhT sUn WaS bAsIc AnD bOrInG" clearly they didn't see through the characters. You could say exactly the same about any of the other characters. You could say exactly the same about ANY CHARACTER EVER MADE.

People are so fast at taking one single trait of a character and make it their whole personality like it's the only and true thing about them and if you thing otherwise you're wrong. "Oh but we have this other behavior of him shown before, this may just be another aspect of their personality-" "nope, I don't see that, that doesn't exist, this is the truth about your comfort character, suck it" fucking bullshit.

Kellen makes a great job at interpreting Sun's character, if you stop to hear all the voice lines you can see a lot of aspects of him, just paying attention to his voice. Everyone jumped so fast to the "Sun is a sassy mean bitch" train forgetting that: he was originally in theater, he takes care of kids, he tries to be nice to kids, he probably gets criticized daily by parents and employees so there's no reason for him to be constantly nice to everyone, he is tired, like seriously, if you listen to his voice lines half of them sounds tired and trying to smile trough it but at the verge of exploding.

We don't even know how Sun and Moon are when they are alone.

I personally don't think the interactions in HW2 are canon events in the lore, it wouldn't make sense.

I'm so sorry that y'all are going through this. Don't let people's shitty comments get to you, ok? Go read your comfort fic or reblog that old piece of fanart that made you giggle and kick your feet the first time you saw it.

(EDIT: read the reblogs)

[doodlejoltik]

the unwinnable game

[~2.7k words. Read it here or on Ao3]

Zugzwang (from German 'compulsion to move'; pronounced [ˈtsuːktsvaŋ]) is a situation found in chess and other turn-based games wherein one player is put at a disadvantage because of their obligation to make a move.

Centuries after their battle atop Mt Coronet, Rei confronts Volo in a nondescript forest, somewhere on Pasio. But the answers he's seeking aren't so easily given.

aka. a continuation of that one dialogue cliffhanger in the Mysterious Stones chapter because I'm extremely normal about these two

///

“There's something you'd like to say, isn't there… Rei?”

Volo turns around and Rei musters up the bravest expression he can.

Now that he's here, he doesn't know what to say first; all his planned questions bounce around his head, clamouring for dominance. Why are you here? How? Since when? You have a Togepi and a Togekiss? Why a tournament? What do you know about the mysterious stones?

Were we ever really friends?

That is, it takes an embarrassingly long time for Rei to respond. In the end, what he says isn’t a question at all. “That Togepi in the ruins was yours.”

Volo only shrugs. He's got a languid smile on his face. “It might've been. She likes running around.”

Internally, Rei is relieved. So he hasn't been seeing things. But he doesn't let it show on his face, and crosses his arms. “Why’d you hide from everyone for months, and only show yourself now?”

“Now, I wouldn't call it hiding,” Volo replies, waving his finger. “This is a big island, and I've made a good few acquaintances here on Pasio already! Perhaps our paths simply didn't cross.”

With the number of times Rei has visited the ruins for mysterious stone research, the odds of that are vanishingly unlikely. “But why didn't you even try? It's not like I've been keeping a low profile.” Of course, the reason is probably something like I tried to end the world and it would be awkward. And that's what Rei needs Volo to say.

The Arc Phone sits heavily in his belt satchel, recording every word.

“Oh, I was just preoccupied. The ruins here are simply fascinating! Even though they're replicas, teasing apart all the ancient cultures used in their construction is such a fruitful area of study. You know me.”

Yeah, I know you. “Find anything interesting about Arceus?” Rei snarks.

“Not particularly!” Volo shakes his head, looking disappointed. Then he perks up, and continues, “Now, Dialga and Giratina however…”

“Oh?” Rei seethes quietly. Of course he had been watching. Why hadn't Giratina said anything?

“It’s curious, isn’t it, how they have seen fit to partner themselves with new wielders?” Volo smiles. “And Palkia too, I’ve heard.”

“It is interesting,” Rei forces out, adjusting his scarf. He recalls Volo's last parting line about Arceus, all those months ago. “Nice to know that they've bonded willingly with people in this time,” he says pointedly.

Ignoring Rei's tone, Volo continues, “That man, Cyrus, who controls Palkia. What a character, wouldn't you say?”

Rei has a lot of thoughts about the Sinnohans’ decision to allow Cyrus - a man who has literally tried to remake the world and not disavowed said goal - to keep the embodiment of Space with him. He'd thought Adaman and Irida had to be joking, at first. What would the Captain think if she saw what her descendant had turned the Galaxy Team into…

“I suppose you see yourself in him.” Rei says flatly.

It's only the two of them here, in the middle of a forest, in the dead of night, so Volo should have no reason to be evasive. And yet -

“Hardly,” Volo laughs off. “Intellectual curiosity, nothing more.”

This is going nowhere. Does Volo seriously think he can fool him again? Probably not - every remark is undoubtedly purposeful, but with just enough plausible deniability to appear innocent. So maybe he just wants to mess with him. Great.

A different strategy, maybe. He’ll surely make a mistake at some point if Rei keeps pushing. “This… tournament that you proposed,” Rei says. “I suppose you're participating?”

“Naturally!” Volo says cheerfully. “Battles on Pasio are done in teams, are they not? Perhaps you'd like to-”

“No.” Rei glares at him. Oh, now, that was going too far. Going to shut that line of conversation immediately.

“So hostile,” Volo sighs. “A united Hisuian contingent would've been a sight to see. Well, the clan leaders should be more receptive, at least.”

“Not if I can help it,” Rei says, crossing his arms. He’s well aware of how childish it sounds, but the thought of his friends falling for Volo’s innocent merchant act, again, is too horrible to consider. Mentally, he rapidly revises his priorities - he has to meet with Adaman and Irida as soon as possible and explain everything. Tomorrow, ideally. Does he have the energy for that? It’s something like one in the morning, right now. He's dead on his feet. But he’ll make it happen. He has to, before Volo does.

But what if he’s already too late? When had Rei last spoken to them? The dance competition, that wasn’t that long ago, right? At least a week, maybe more, his mind supplies. He'd just been so busy… and surely they would have told him if they'd met Volo.

This little anxious spiral must be evident on Rei’s face somehow, because Volo chuckles, stepping closer. “The world doesn't revolve around you, Rei. Not here.”

“You don’t get to act all high and mighty,” Rei snaps. “Not when you’re pulling everyone along on your own strings. I suppose you think you make the world go ‘round.”

But Volo has a point, no matter how much he hates to admit it. Rei’s been assuming he was someone significant to this whole saga. The appearance of the mysterious stones coincided with his and Akari’s arrival to Pasio, after all, so was he really wrong for thinking that?

And Arceus spoke to him first. That had to mean something.

“On the contrary, I simply meant that we’re all on equal ground,” Volo says. For the first time, goes unspoken.

“I’ll still beat you,” Rei vows. He’d done it before, he could do it again. No matter if he was still favoured by Arceus or not. “Because my bonds with my Pokemon, and my friends, are real. And you don’t know what that feels like.” Though intended to be a sharp jab at Volo, instead, a deep bitterness colours those final words.

Volo’s expression twists into something briefly unreadable before it settles into a polite half-smile. “You’re quick to assume the worst of me.”

“Quick?” Rei barks out a harsh laugh. “No, it was exactly the opposite.” He’d been strung along so thoroughly, accepting every strange behaviour as simply one of Volo’s little oddities. Only up at the Celestica Ruins did those allowances start to crumble – and by then, it was too late.

Volo’s look at Rei is one of intrigue. The way Rei's seen him examining ancient ruins, like he's something Volo wants to observe, or study.

And Rei has had it. Enough dancing around the subject, trying to draw it out of Volo; clearly it’s never going to happen. “Is this all just a game to you? You tried to destroy the world! You want me to think you care about anyone?”

Volo raises an eyebrow. “That's a bold claim. Surely if that had happened, it would've ended up in the history books, somewhere.”

Well – okay. The only person who knew what happened was the Professor, sort of. And Cogita. Arceus knows how she found out. But Professor Laventon didn't know half of it, even, Rei had just incoherently vented everything emotional and hurting at him, swore him to secrecy, and then hoped that he'd never have to unpack that again.

Clearly Arceus had other designs.

“We were friends.” Rei’s voice cracks a bit, there; he hates how true it is. “I thought we were friends. But you were going to kill me for standing in your way!”

Volo frowns. “Now, why would I do that?” He takes a few paces towards Rei and smiles, purposefully, grin stretching tight across his face. “I wouldn't want to lose my favourite customer, after all!”

Stumbling backwards to regain the distance, Rei exclaims, “I’ve bought maybe one thing from you. Stop calling me that!”

“Recipient of free samples, semantics,” Volo shrugs, entirely unaffected, and Rei wars with the competing urges to punch him or bolt into the treeline.

“Play dumb all you want,” Rei hisses, “but you’ve already shown your hand. I could tell them everything. You won’t be able to fool anyone ever again.” Least of all me.

Volo tilts his head with a smirk. “Well then, why are you here?” he asks, calling Rei’s bluff.

And though he can’t know that the Arc Phone is listening in Rei’s satchel, Rei realises that his motivations must be laughably transparent. Maybe Volo thinks Akari, or Cynthia, is watching the whole thing from the treeline. The specifics of it don’t matter, really. Rei’s been outplayed from the very beginning.

Volo makes a little movement with his hand. There's a sudden rustle of movement behind Rei, and he whips around, hand on Decidueye's Pokeball -

But it's just Volo's Togepi, who warbles in alarm and quickly toddles past him.

“What would people rather believe in?” Volo says lightly. “The accusations of a boy who jumps at shadows?” He bends down to pick up Togepi. “Or in the innocence of their friend?”

In Volo's arms, Togepi lets out an adorable squeak.

Over the Pokeball on his belt, Rei’s hand is trembling with misfired adrenaline. He carefully drops his hand to his side and raises his head up high. “Cynthia trusts me. I’ve been here for months, and we’ve worked together on the mysterious stones since they were first found.”

“And so?” Volo shrugs. “A working relationship is hardly worth much. I thought you would've known better, with what Kamado did…”

Rei flinches.

The worst part about it all was that no matter what ulterior motives Volo might have had, back then, when he’d been thrown out into the wild with barely a few days’ worth of supplies – Volo had been there for him when nobody else was.

Volo had seen Rei fall apart and put himself back together with forced cheer. And so, he knew exactly where the cracks were, where to strike with his words to disassemble Rei all over again.

Of course Rei knows Cynthia is responsible, and smart, and has been nothing but friendly to him – but he doesn't really know her, does he? And Volo is her ancestor. Which is pretty obvious, honestly. She’d probably like him immediately.

Just like everyone else did. Including Rei.

“Besides, you're not the only one who's been making friends in high places,” Volo adds smoothly. “I’ve heard that Bettie’s word is quite well regarded.”

So now that Rei had wised up to Volo's true nature, he'd gone and found himself new people to use. “You’ve always been like this, then,” Rei huffs. None of it had been real; their entire ‘friendship’ had been predicated on Rei's usefulness. “They deserve to know the truth about you.”

“Truth? Or your own opinion?” Volo scoffs. “You think so highly of yourself, Rei, but you're not the beloved Hero of Hisui here. No…” he smiles. “You're entirely ordinary. Do remember, it was everyone in that stadium who heard Arceus' voice.”

Admittedly, that stings. He'd thought - maybe - that Arceus was finally telling him why He'd brought Rei here. What he was supposed to do in this strange new land. But he'd failed, unable to clearly hear Arceus’ voice.

Rei spares a thought for the Arc Phone, once a vessel for divine inspiration, now reduced to recording mortals’ petty feuds. His messages to Arceus have been left on read for months. He's probably allowed to be a bit petty, at this point.

Volo continues, “Imagine! Any one of us could become Arceus’ champion.” Togepi makes a little noise. “Yes, even you,” he says indulgently, lifting her up to face him, and she goes cross-eyed following his waving finger.

It's horribly cute, the sort of thing Rei would've been charmed by before. And it's clear Volo is no longer taking Rei seriously at all.

What starts out as a wavering thought suddenly asserts itself with startling clarity. “I don't need anything from you,” Rei realises. He'd told himself he was here for evidence, something concrete he could hold against Volo, and that was true. But beyond that, he'd been after something entirely more personal.

He can walk away.

“I don't need anything from you,” he repeats, with force this time.

Volo turns his attention away from Togepi, and this of all things is what finally seems to make him genuinely confused. “Leaving so soon, Rei?”

Rei doesn't elaborate. He turns on his heel to stalk through the forest back to civilisation. Now, because if he says anything more he doesn't know if he'll ever bring himself to stop. Because he's asking for something he'll never get.

Volo's saying something. He doesn't care to catch all the words, though some of it filters through - “challenge”, “tournament”, and “rivals” among them. The general shape of the message is clear. They'll meet again; Rei's powerless to stop that. But as best he can, he'll shake off whatever lingering grip Volo still has on him.

He doesn't stop walking as the trodden earth turns to paved cobbles under his feet, and he makes it all the way up his building's winding stairs to the little studio apartment that he's been given. Home, for now. Collapsing onto the lone armchair, he takes the Arc Phone out of his satchel and turns off the recording. Thank Arceus for divinely bestowed infinite storage, he supposes.

Rei knows that if he were to listen to it, there'd be nothing of use. Only hidden barbs and Rei’s own ugly, wounded anger. It feels fitting to delete it, to banish the whole encounter to memory, and perhaps eventually, less than that.

He doesn't, and instead tucks it away in a folder several layers deep.

Maybe Professor Laventon wrote about the whole disaster in his private diaries. Rei knows he has them, bless the man. He'd once stumbled into the Professor's office late at night, after an exhausting, terrifying escape from an Alpha, ready to tell Laventon off for sending him there – and startled the Professor fiercely, who quickly shut the manuscript he was writing with a blush. So even if Rei had sworn him to secrecy, he might have confided in the written word.

That's something he can set Cynthia on digging up, then. Even just the suggestion that Laventon, the First Pokemon Professor, had such personal writings, would probably send her into an unstoppable research frenzy. That much about her, at least, he knows. If it still existed in this era, Cynthia would almost certainly find it.

And maybe he doesn't need evidence. Not for the people who matter, anyway.

Akari’s only a few doors away, their apartments close neighbours just like back in Jubilife Village. If he wanted, he could wander over there once the sun rose, have her fantastic tamago rice, and tell her everything.

Is he ready to take that step into thin air? To trust that he'll be believed, in something that's infinitely more convoluted and improbable than the simple plea – “I don't know why the sky is red, it's not my fault, I only ever did what you told me to” –

Well. Volo might've been the last one to break his trust, but he was in no way the first.

Can he make good on those words that he’d levelled so confidently against Volo? That his bonds with his friends are real?

Akari had never doubted. And Adaman and Irida had gone against Kamado's will, risking the standing of their people, just to help him. He would be doing them a disservice if he didn't at least try.

And in this dangerous game, it might be the only winning move.

Even as he makes this decision, he feels the pull of sleep. It's offensively late, or early, in the morning now, depending on perspective, and all of this is Tomorrow Rei’s problem.

There's no energy left to even stumble to bed. Rei falls asleep right there in the lumpy armchair, hand loosely gripped around the Arc Phone, Adaman and Irida’s Poryphone numbers on the screen, ready and waiting.

And, though Rei will certainly wake up sore with a crick in his neck come the morning…

For the first time in a long while, his dreams are not restless.

[frenziedslashers]

C'mere, Honey-Bear

Pairing: Negan x GN!Reader

Warnings: No pronouns are used, but Negan uses a LOT of pet names. Established relationship, canon typical violence, swearing, sex - nothing real graphic, it's more just mentioned than anything. Negan loves you. OOC Negan, probably, idk. I was emotional and needed to write this.

REQUESTING INFO || TWD MASTERLIST

Negan had no idea what he was getting himself into when he ordered his men to line Rick and the others up. The night was still young, and Lucille was hungry. That was all he cared about for the time being.

"Well, well, well," He tutted after hearing some voices from the group try and protest the situation they were in. He loved seeing people on their knees for him. It gave him a sense of superiority. Like he was a King, and they were his peasants. Begging for mercy as his eyes jumped from face to face. Though he primarily focused on the men. Mapping out who he thought would be a problem. Like the big beefy red head that would totally kick him in the balls if he had the chance. Or the Asian kid, who he just knew would be a problem in the future.

He wanted to bash their brains in. It was who he was now, he couldn't help it. In this world is was truly kill or be killed, and he wasn't about to let some new comers step in and kill him. Not when he was the top dog of D.C. Fucking Washington D.C., what more could he ask for?

The whimpers were enough to have his hair stand on end. Crying as he he stepped upped to home plate. Ready to swing and hit that winning home run. All until he heard a little voice. A voice he completely thought he had imagined.

"Negan?"

It was so soft and feathery light. Like the person saying it was a mouse in his ear. He recognized it from somewhere, but he couldn't place where. It had been so long since he had heard that little scared voice.

"That's my name, don't wear it dry, honey," He sing-songed into the night air, eyes scanning every each and one of the faces before him. Until they landed on the one who dare speak his name. You. A face he hadn't seen in a long time. A face he thought only visited him in dreams.

Now, Negan was far from a touchy-feely guy when it came to nights like these. Nights where all he wanted to do was prove a point. These nights, he was all about busting balls and cracking skulls. But he was frozen.

His eyes were locked on you, Lucille lazily hanging in his hand. The tip of her head brushed the ground by his feet while his heart thumped in his chest. All he could hear was the beat of his own heart. It was like a drum pounding that wouldn't stop.

"You.." That was all he could say. Everyone was looking between the both of you. The tears that stained your cheeks, blood that equally stained your lips, and other portions of your face. You put up a hell of a fight with his men, but he still recognized that gorgeous face of yours.

"Sir," Negan held his hand up, quieting his men. It seemed to get him to gather his thoughts a bit more. His whole demeanor changed, and everyone in the area noticed. He went from Mr. "I got an itch to scratch and it's your head against my bat." To something none of his men had ever seen. Something softer. It scared some of them, even. What would his next move be? Would he pretend to like you and then hit that winning home run? Or would he drop the bat and forfeit the entire game? All because of one meek and tired voice, that called out his name into the night air.

He took quick steps over to you. Dropping to his knees in front of you. The King fell for what used to be his Majesty. His other half. He used to be your Knight, and you his Ruler, but things changed. The apocalypse happened. "I thought you died," he muttered, voice soft, only for you.

A cry fell from your lips, and by golly did he want to punch the nearest person to the left of him. Even if they weren't who made you cry, and it was all him. He hated seeing you do such a thing. "Negan," Hearing his name fall from your lips again made his heartache. He never thought he'd hear it again. His eyes fell shut briefly before the man reached out to touch the side of your face. "Baby, I'm so sorry," he frowned once you flinched away from him. You had never been scared of him in your years of being together, but here you were. Shivering like a mouse confronting an old Tom Cat.

"Negan, let them go, please, don't hurt us, this isn't you," He frowned deeper. You were right, this wasn't him. This was a charade he picked up in order to survive. "I'd never hurt you," he muttered, finally able to reach out and brush his knuckles over your cheek. "But who did? Was it one of my men?" He asked, and you nodded, a glare settling on his face. "Point to me baby, which one?" Once motioned, his eyes were locked on the man. "What have I said about hurting people before I see them?" Negan snapped at his man. The guy flinched at his harsh tone. "I'm sorry sir! They were fighting with me!" "And you're a big guy! You can't handle yourself without bloodying up an innocent person? My innocent person?" He snapped, noticing you flinch in front of him.

God, he didn't know what to do. He was still mad at Rick and the others for the damage they caused, but he knew you. He loved you. He never stopped loving you. Even when he thought you died he still kept that stupid ring and necklace that you got him. Along with a photo of you that he carried anywhere he went.

"Honey bear," he cooed, "Do they take care of you?" You sighed at the pet name, closing your eyes while pursing your lips. Nodding softly, "Yeah, they do." He hummed at your voice, reaching out to grab your hand which you squeezed back. Falling forward in order to wrap your arms around his neck.

Negan dropped Lucille in order to catch you. Holding you close while his men stared in shock. This wasn't like Negan at all. Any other person he found he'd be ridiculing them. Making fun of their future death or hitting on them and offering them a nice fuck if they were up to it. He was never this gentle. Never.

The sigh that he let out was loud. Everyone stared awkwardly and anxiously. Waiting for his next move. His eyes parted, still keeping you in his grasp. Negan looked at Rick with pursed lips, and a slight scowl on his face, but it was quick to fade. "You kept them safe?" He asked, and Rick nodded, "We all did. We're a family," Negan rolled his eyes. He didn't have time for a life story. Not when he just got you back. "Spare me your sob story, Prick," He spat, and felt you nudge him with your hand. A soft apology left his lips - another thing his men had never seen. "Well, I want to thank you," He spoke, genuine words that fell from his lips. Rubbing up and down your back in a comforting manner.

No one could believe what they were hearing. Rick was certain that someone was going to die that night, but maybe since you happened to come along for Maggie's sake, maybe you saved everyone. "Look, I'm still pissed about my men. Hell, you wiped out a lot of innocent people. But, I might just have to let that slide knowing that you kept my honey bear safe." You couldn't help but giggle lightly hearing the nickname again. Negan smiled while his eyes darted down to where your head was still buried in his shoulder.

God, he missed you.

"I thank you, really. I'd like to repay you by.. Not killing your people," Rick nodded, everyone seemed to ease up at that information. You as well. "Thank you," Negan held his hand up to stop the Officer. "Don't thank me yet, you still have time to prove me wrong. I still think you're a murderous psychopath. Anyone could be friendly enough to help a major hottie like my baby here," he grinned, "Negan, stop." You protested, and he snickered. He loved getting under your skin.

"So, I'd like to make a deal with you. We join forces, so long as you don't kill any more of my men. What's yours, is mine," he spoke, a stern look in his eyes. "But, with that being said, I'll help you with whatever you need, too. Protection? We got the men. Medical? We could arrange something. Women? Well, maybe not that," He spoke with a shit-eating grin. Finally pulling you both up to your feet, Lucille abandoned on the ground. His hands found better things to grab.

Rick nodded, swallowing thickly. "Thank you, we all appreciate it," Negan shrugged, he had better things to focus on. Holding the sides of your face with a grin as you smiled back up at him. "No need, Rick the Prick," You rolled your eyes at his words. "I found a better way to spend my night anyways," he hummed, his smile quickly growing mischievous. You felt your body heat up at the remark. Eyes darting to the side out of embarrassment. "Now, come on, darlin'. How about I show you my joint, I'm sure you'll love it! It's safe, and I can make you that pasta you used to slurp up faster than my dick!" You let out a groan, rolling your eyes for the millionth time, but your smile ceased to fade. "You still blurt the stupidest things, Neeg'..." You sighed, and he snickered. An arm came to rest around your waist as he walked you over to his truck. "Well," He shot a glare over to the man that busted your lip and gave you the scraped cheek. "I haven't really changed that much." he purred, leaning over to kiss the side of your head.

Once you were in the safety of his truck, Negan ordered his men to let the others go. Telling them to inform Rick that they'd be back a week max in order to keep their promise of working together. Along with you being able to visit your friends and maybe grab some of your things to move into Sanctuary with him. Hell, maybe he could move to Alexandria with you if he liked the place enough. Make it an even safer outpost for him and his men - along with your 'family'. Hey, maybe you two could start a family of your own. Adopt a kid - maybe a dog or cat if there were still any in this shithole world. It was sure something he'd love to talk about with you in the future. Once the both of you got cozied up wherever you both decided to stay, after all.

"Did you miss me?" His voice was lower, staring at his lap before looking back over at you. "Of course I did, Papa bear," He smiled at the nickname, "I never stopped thinking about you, or hoping that I'd find you. Hell, I told the rest that I came in order to make sure Maggie was safe, but honestly," You grabbed his hand with a sigh. "I was hoping and praying the Negan we were dealing with was you." His smile only grew at your words. "You're a big enough asshat to pull all this off." He rolled his eyes this time, letting out a sigh. "Hun, you give me too much credit."

He wished he had a little more faith that you were still alive and out there. You were in Atlanta, Georgia visiting your family when this all went down, though. You couldn't blame a guy for giving up after not seeing his lover in nearly twelve years. It took a toll on him, and he would beat himself up over it 'til the day he died.

"Did you miss me?" You shot the question back at him, and he was quick to grab both of your hands. Scooting closer to you since you were both in the back seat. "My gorgeous, gorgeous, flower, I never stopped thinking about you, Every mornin' I wake up I hope to wake up next to you. Your sleeping face all peaceful and shit. I hope each and every goddamn time when I get out of the shower you'll be standing there, looking yourself over in the mirror before showing me a new shirt ya got. I've missed you so goddamn much, you don't even know," He muttered, a hand reaching up to hold the side of your face. "Look," he stated, pulling the hand back to reach down his shirt, and pulling out the necklace with the ring attached to it. "I still have that stupid ring you got me on our three-year anniversary." He smiled, and you did the same, looking it over in awe. You couldn't believe that he still had it. "I thought you hated that ring?" You asked cheekily, and he shrugged. "Do you believe everything I say?" You giggled, shaking your head 'no'.

The moment that you both arrived at the safety of the compound, Negan was dragging you inside. A hand on your hip in order to show everyone that you were off limits. You were his lover, no one else's. "Let's get ya cleaned up, then we can go lay down. I'll show ya around tomorrow, how 'bout that, sweetie pie?" You nodded, leaning against his side with a sigh. "Thank you, handsome," he grinned, "Well, don't mention it. I still got a reputation to keep. Gotta keep these men working for me!"

His hands were soft as they helped you clean your face off once in his bathroom. Brows furrowed as he focused on cleaning your cuts and not hurting you more than the disinfectant did. Muttering soft 'sorry's anytime you flinched. You knew he didn't mean it, though. "Baby, I'm so sorry this happened to you, I never meant for you guys to go and get hurt yet, I-" "Yet?" He frowned, "Well, you guys killed a lot of my men. Ya can't blame me for wantin' some of ya dead in return?" You frowned, rubbing your fingers together a bit nervously. "Hun, I won't be hurting none of your people anytime soon. You have my word, I promise you that." He sighed, leaning forward to press a kiss to your forehead.

You pondered his words, but ultimately believed him. If he did break that promise you wouldn't know what to do, but you prayed that he wouldn't. You knew Negan hated seeing you upset, and you only hoped that he truly hadn't changed that much.

You reached up to hold the sides of his face, staring at him for a moment before leaning in. Finally giving in and kissing him. He wanted nothing more than to kiss you the moment he knew you were real and not just his mind playing tricks on him, but honestly. He was terrified that you hated him.

His hands dropped everything in them. One hand resting on the back of your head, the other gripping at your thigh as you rest seated on the bathroom counter. His hips slotted between your thighs. "God, I missed you so fucking much," He muttered against your lips. Both of your eyes shut while you each clung to one another. Sharing kiss after kiss until Negan had enough of standing.

The leader was quick to lift you off the counter. Carrying you by your thighs into the connected bedroom that he called his own. Lying you down on the bed while climbing on top of you. His kisses growing more feverish and hungry. He was like a starved man given a full meal for the first time in ages. Soft breaths bleeding with your own while his hands touched and groped at your body.

The moment that you were tugging at his shirt with a desperate need to remove it. It was gone. His jacket and shirt both shrugged and tugged off, thrown messily on the floor by the bed.

His body was more aged than the last time you did this with him. Scars and cuts littered his chest and stomach, your fingertips brushing over each one that your eyes saw. He only smirked a toothy grin, "Miss it?" You snorted, "You're still just as cocky," He hummed at your response, leaning down to kiss the side of your throat. "Oh, you know it, baby. I'll die cocky too."

He was quick at removing your own shirt next. Allowing both his hands and mouth to explore your skin. Groping your body while he got to work at kissing and sucking. Biting over your stomach in order to leave marks on you. He missed marking you up for the masses to see. Let everyone know that you were his. His. His. His.

The activities progressed. You and Negan showered each other with the affection that you both missed. Tossing and turning in bed while he fucked you like a madman and then vice versa. Both of your hips were sore by the time he got done with you. Each of your bodies covered in scratches, bites, and hickeys. He couldn't have asked for a better night. "Shit, honey bear," he panted, you laying on his chest while he stared up at the ceiling. "I forgot how much you wear me out," a breathy laugh left his throat, and you only sniggered. "Go ahead and get used to it, babe, I don't plan on this being a one-night thing." He snickered, excitement coursing his veins. "Good, because I wouldn't let you go without a fight, babe."

He couldn't believe that you were back in his life. That he was actually holding you in his arms. After you both gave each other the best night you both have had in years. He couldn't let go of you, not when he just got you back. His arms were tight around your body, keeping you close in order to make sure that when he woke up this wouldn't be a dream. That he wouldn't wake up to empty arms and a cold bed. He was almost too scared to go to sleep, but having you back in his arms was like taking a sedative. His eyes slowly falling shut while he pulled you a little closer. A soft 'goodnight, love' falling from his lips.

When you woke up, you were met by a soft smile and tired eyes. Negans hand resting gently on the side of your face. Brushing your cheek with his thumb. "Mornin' gorgeous," you felt your heart race just from hearing the sound of his groggy voice. Smiling back while reaching out to wrap your arms around his neck. Pulling him in for a lazy kiss. "Mornin', asshole," a soft chuckle left his throat, "That's how ya feel huh? gonna call me an asshole now when I'm fairly certain the whole compound heard you screaming my name last night?" Your skin felt hot at his words, but you weren't about to let him win. "Oh yeah? You weren't any quieter Mr. "Oh fuck, oh shit, right there, shit, faster baby!" He furrowed his brows with a pout. "I did not say that," "Oh, but you did," you cooed, kissing the corner of his lips. Pressing on his chest in order to get him to move on his back. Stradling his hips like you had the night prior.

He was quick to pull you in for another kiss before he said anything, though. Pulling your hips down to meet his own. Both of you released a moan into each other's mouths. "Man, I love you, you know that? Don't think I've ever met anyone who's as feisty and cocky as you, well, besides myself." He grinned, and you sighed, kissing his cheek before laying down on his chest. "I love you too, you asshole." You responded, which earned a soft chuckle from your lover beneath you. His hands rub softly at your back and sides. He swore at that moment, that he was truly the happiest man on the face of the earth. If not that, then he was definitely the luckiest.