#I want everyone else to just explode and die and leave it’s not fair

[cloneboywonder]

I looked at my dads phone today bc I’m nosy and he was texting a guy abt fobbie tickets and he started it with “my daughter is the biggest fallout boy fan in the world !!!!!” Like I’m literally going to cry I’m so glad me and my dad love each other again :-(

[abbythewritor]

"Fairness" One Piece x Saitama reader, Nine.

"Just a Normal girl looking for an everyday life. At least, if you call sailing across the seas with idiots with useless dreams a simple task, then you might wanna see a doctor. Seriously."

Warnings: Blood, gore, mentions of Luekimia, and heaps amount of blood and strength. It might be a little cursing, but not bad, and maybe some flirting in there, but it's mostly clean.

Other things:

-You didn't get bald due to your powers; you got bald to an extreme illness.

-You part of the straw hat crew, but others are interested in you and your power.

-Everyone that is a male is taller than you.

-Monsters from the OPM world will appear in One Piece, and I'll make some new monsters you will fight.

Enjoy the Ninth chapter, everyone!! :)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"CU-A-AH-CUTIE!!!!!"

The ground below you exploded as you landed in front of the admirals and a Giant orc whose head was bleeding.

Your eyes were darkened, your wig nowhere to be found, as your bald head was revealed, to the world, a new world.

Everyone around you was shocked, as your face didn't change a shade, as the dust finally calmed down, as your eyes and face looked up at the three men, your mouth son forming a snarl shape.

It seemed like Luffy made it as well, as he was smiling, his body all wet thanks to Jimbei helping him. I didn't have time to chit-chat; instead, I teleported from my spot, somewhat closer to the three admirals, as my leg returned. "DISTRACTING WIND KICK!" I yelled, kicking the air right in front of them as a blast of wind came from the impact, but Aokiji froze the air somehow, which made my eyes widen, as the three bolted to me.

I was able to teleport away, didn't know Luffy had a plan as when I teleported, a large log was thrown at them.

Stopping, Aokiji froze the log as well, forcing it back to Luffy, who broke it into millions of Pieces, using the gatling attack, but with his foot to send the pieces back to them.

That destracted the three, as I grabbed Luffy's hand. "Come on!" I zoomed quickly behind them, both of us flying to the execution platform Until Kizaru caught up to us, about to kick Luffy. "Too Slow, Mugiwara..." My eyes widened when he kicked Luffy far, my head whipping that way. "Luffy!" I yelled, blocking Kizaru's kick to my easily, as my head looked to him. "You made it this far little one, I'm surprised....especially with that injury of yours..." I smirked to him. "Do you think I'd let a sharp stick take the best of me? Think again!" I pushed his leg of, both of us going back as I slid on the floor, as he just simply landed as well. "Your strong. Guess I won't back down when facing you this time..."

But, as he was saying that, the men were about to execute Ace, which I saw, as my eyes widened. "ACE!!" I yelled, the weapons about to go down on him as Kizaru saw a chance to leave, not bothered to fight me which pissed me off, but I bolted, faster to Ace, not wanting him to die yet.

I was far away, I needed to move faster, but, time had different plans, as the weapons were already almost to the kill points.

'SHIT! NO! THIS IS NOT HOW FAIRNESS WORKS! HE CAN'T DIE! NOT LIKE THIS!' I thought, moving even faster, but, it was too late, as I was just too far away from him.

Or so I thought.

Sand erupted under the platform boards, killing the two guards before the blades could poke Ace, as mine, and everyone else's eyes widened, as Sengoku's teeth gritted with annoyance, looking for the coraprate.

My face turned releifed, a smile plastering my face as Crocodile strood firm in the crowed, his cloak blowing in the wind, sand swirling around him as the marines pointed guns at him, as he didnt' hesitate.

"I thought that it was to our advantage to have you since you hold a grudge against whitebeard. Crocodile." He finished, Luffy's eyes widened in surprise, hopping out of the debree, ignoring the marines surrounding him as well, as Marco landed on a metal beam above, while Jimbei was still in the water. I smirked, as I look straight at garp. "He still wanted to kill the old man. But he and the waters have changed. Do you think he's stupid to let the Marines get what they want?"

Crocodile looked to me, landing beside him as I touched his hook. "Are you alright?" He looked down at me. "I should be asking you that." I smiled. "Ah, right, just a scratch, I'll pull through, thanks for Saving Ace." He nodded, and looked back at Sengoku. "Don't think I switched dramatically, I can kill the old man later, like Y/n-san said....I won't let the mairnes have this win...or a taste of victory.." His words sent shivers down your spine, as you saw a white line go to his neck. Curious, my head tilted, as I simply grabbed the white line, which only scratched me. "Huh? What's this?" Crocodiles eyes widened, as he recognised the white line, as he looked to hear a familiar laugh, Doflamingo walking to the two of us. "Hey, you, gator guy! You turned me down and now, you wanna team up with Whitebeard and this cutie? It makes me Jealous." He smirked, his power leaving my hands, as I glared to him, as crocodile did as well. "I'm not gonna team up with anybody. I'll make an accepting arrangement to Y/n....she earns my respect..." Corcodile spoke, Doflamigno's smirk growing wider. "So that means your still giving me the cold shoulder, even taking the cutie with you, how fair is that?" "Looks like it's fair to me...I ain't taking her no where bird brain....think of it as being fair." I smile up at him when he looked to me, as Doflamingo let out anouth laugh. "I see then, let's see how this fairness deal plays out!" He attacked as well as Crocodile, as both of them clashed together, knocking some marines back.

My eyes widened with surprise, worried, but saw this as a helping opportunity, Luffy did as well, as we bolted away, heading back towards the platform.

We scattered everyone, clearing a pathway like bowling pins, as I was able to catch up to him.

My eyes looked up at Ace, who was looking down, not at us as I knew how he felt, which made me want to push forwards, to not loose.

As we kept fighting, dodging, trying to survive, as got closer and closer, until Luffy got hit with an Ice shard, as my eyes widened. "LUFFY!" He flung back, his back slamming and sliding on the floor,

Admrial Aokiji stood before him, taking the ice weapon out of his arm, towering over Luffy. "I owed a favor to your grandfather.." He lifted the weapon again. "But I have no choice! Because you chose to risk your life!" But, before he could stab Luffy again, I bolted, standing in front of Luffy, which made his eyes widened,until Marco kicked his side, sending Aokiji flying.

My eyes widened, eyes locking to the man, as Luffy did as well. "Y-Y/n." He spoke, as I just look up at Marco with admiration. "Thank you, for saving my tail.." He smirked down at me. "No problem Miss, Yoi, don't get your cute but in danger again ok?" He winked, turning to fight again as my heart raced, my mouth soon letting out a snort as I turned to Luffy. "Are you alright?!" He nodded, but winced when he leaned on his bad arm, as I held it gently. "Hang on." I ripped both of my pant leg fabrics, exposing my rather large thighs, as marines started to blush, as I wasn't bothered with the stairs, as I kneeled down, wrapping Luffy's arm with the fabric. "So no dirt or debree will get into it." His face watched me with awe, the sunlight shining on the battlefield behind me, as his heart raced, a small smile forming his lips. "Thank you, Y/n-san. What would I do without you?" I sighed. "Probably be dead." He chuckled. "Your right, but, that's not who I am. I came here fighting, for a purpose, for a reason, and that's to save Ace, so you can join my crew." My eyes widened. "Why would saving Ace make me join your crew?" He smiled. "So I can prove to you how good of a captain I can be, even if everyone is separated. Yet again, I'm not just saving Ace to get what I want, I'm saving him because he's my brother-" He pause when we heard explosions, as the giant Orc that helped a ship to land, got shot down, as mine and his eyes widened.

"N-No.." I whispered, as the Orc was an innocent soul, which was falling down to his death.

As he was falling, I saw him look to whitebeard, who held a face of remorse and sadness, as he looked back up to Sengoku.

The action made the old man pissed, as he clenched the weapon in his hand, as he began to walk, towards the edge of his own ship.

Everyone was watching, as he jumped over, right on the ground below.

"WHITEBEARD HAS DECENDED TO THE PLAZA!!" A marine yelled, as the man stood back up, Marines pointing their guns as him. "Stay back, my sons!" he ordered, looking ahead as he lifted up his two handed weapon, a white ball of energy coming out of it while he yelled swinging it to the left.

Cracks were made in the air, which caused your eyes to widen, which broke, a large amount of energy escaping as a shit tone of marines scattered everywhere, like an invisible bomb went off.

As i held onto Luffy as the wind picked up, soon it died down, as whitbeards face was lined with black, as he was angry, his own main grew hopping down with him before he held up his fist. "GUYS! RESCUE ACE AND DESTROY THE NAVY!!!" His words made me smirk, as I was done with Luffy's injuring, both of us hopping up, as we joined them, both of us bolting.

'Don't worry Ace.' I thought, as me and Luffy looked up at him, who's eyes were filled with water.

'We're on our way!'

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was tragic. Oars death.

It affected ace, as of the whitebeard crew, as Marco stood in front of him, with a blank face. "Thank you, Oars." He spoke, turning, to seek out the battle, as it was pure an utter chaos, more chaotic than before.

Whitebeard was walking, preparing energy on his weapon again. "Clear the way for me!" He ordered, his crew following orders as they ran, whitebeard about to do his main attack again, until Aokiji went up in the air, putting his hands together. "ICE BALL!" I large amount of ice spread throughout, heading to whitebeard to enclose him, as I turned, looking that way. "OLD MAN!" I yelled, telling Luffy to go ahead, as I bolted, Aokiji landing, as some marines though he was trapped.

But oh boy, where they wrong.

The ice suddenly broke, as I simply punched it, freeing the Yonko, as the Admrials eyes widened. "Ah! The kid is on his side! How could I forgotten!" Getting his powers ready again, as he jumped, about to attack me. "ICE..." I turned, Whitebeard growling with annoyance as his weapon came up, stabbing the Admiral straight through, protecting me.

My eyes widened from his actions, time stopped, as whitebeards large hand was shielding me from some shards, his hand bleeding. "O-Old man!" I yeld, as he glared down at me. "Don't be reckless next time brat.....your lucky it was just my hand and not your heart.." I gulped, as Aokiji's hand grabbed his weapon, Ice forming on it, as my eyes widened. "Pops!" I yelled, him not changing a shade, until Aokiji was hit, spread apart while he turned himself into snow.

A gaint man, his arm lined with Dimon projectect whitebeard, as he landed in front of him and me. "Pops! Move forwards!"

Whitebeard nodded. "Right, I leave him to you. Don't fail me." Whitebeard moved forwards, as I followed after, going ahead of him, as Aokiji was left with the Dimond dude, as the battle and war continued.

Luffy was way ahead, looking up at Ace, as Garp noticed this, his body shaking with sadness and fear for Luffy's life, as Sengoku just simply looked to him not saying anything.

But, as Luffy continued to run, he got slashed down, by a navy Vice admiral, as my eyes widened again. "LUFFY!!!" He slid on the floor, face first, his breaths more tired and heavy. "Vie admiral? The same rank as G-Grandpa?" He asked, slowly getting up, he tried to fight him off, but another Vice admrial came to help, Knocking Luffy down again, which made me run faster. "DON'T GET UP! I'M COMING LUFFY!!" I ran even faster, when Kizaru sent an explosion his way, as I teleported behind kizaru, kicking him easily out of the way, into the nearest building, as I was beside Luffy once more. "Luffy! Fuck, Luffy can you hear me?!" I was worried, until Kizaru came back. "Why don't you both just go away?" I dodged him, but he kicked Luffy away, making him fly to whitebeard, who caught him like a doll.

I sighed with releif, but still felt worried as Luffy was gravely injured, whitebeard glaring to him, as Luffy was upside down. Kizaru smirked at the sight. "OOOH! Whitebeard's command has dulled. You could've done better than that. I can't belive that you let that piece of crap...who is so reckless, take the lead!" His words made me angry, though they were meant to whitebeard who was holding Luffy, as my face lined with Anger. Soon enough, I stepped in front of him, and Luffy, my arms holding out widem my face serious. "I won't let you hurt either of them!" Kizaru's eyes slightly widened. "Oh really?That's a bold move coming from you Little one..." He readied his devil fruit again, as Whitebeards crew stepped in front of him also, ready to protect pops at all cost. "Oh how touching! A family reunion....let's see how all of you can survive this-" "THERE THEY ARE! Y/N-GIRL AND STRAW BOY!" A familiar voice spoke, as I turned and smiled, everyone else did as well, as Ivanka grew in size, herself like a giant as some pirates and marines spit their Saliva out. "I KNEW IT! THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT I THOUGHT WAS HAPPENING!" she told Jimbei, who was standing beside her large head. JImebi jumped down, worried for Luffy as Ivanka looked to me. "IS HE DEAD Y/N GIRL?!" My brows furrowed, looking down. "He's badly injured..." Ivanka called, Luffy struggling in whitebeards hold, as he tossed him to some crew members to get checked out and treated, as I bolted, running that way. Luffy struggled against their hold, getting out as he pleaded to let him go and save Ace, as everyone heard his hurtful cries and please, but as he left and tried to run, he just tumbled to the floor again, as I rushed to his side. "Luffy!" I spoke, worried, as Jimbei went beside me, as I shook him, trying to get him to wake up, but nothing was happening, as he was passed out.

"Shit..! Surgeon you have to do something, please! He needs to save Ace!" The doctor reasurred me he will do his work, as Jimbie looked back, as whitebeard and Aukini clashed, large amounts of Whit/red energy clashing each other, as I never seen so much power in my life. "Y/n-San! Let's leave Luffy with the surgeon! We need to move forwards!" I didn't like his statement, but understood as all Luffy wants to do is rescue Ace. I turned to look at him, my face gently caressing his face. "Don't worry Luffy...we'll rescue Ace...you'll recover...I have faith...." Before i left, I pecked his cheek gently, yet lovingly, before running with Jimbei, advancing to the battle.

Marco seemed to be coming with us, as many allies of the whitebeard pirates joined as well, all of us heading to Ace's direction. Looking to Marco through the smoke, I yelled to him. "Try to see is you can get to Ace by air!" Liking my statement, he already thought of that plan as he advanced high in the air, which the admirals saw.

Sengoku, annoyed, spoke in the snail thing. "WHAT ARE YOU IDIOTS DOING!? SHOOT HIM DOWN ALREADY!!" As some of the marines tried to shoot Marco, but didn't work. "W-WE CAN'T" They replied as Marco got closer, until Garp got up from his seat, bolting to Marco, who easily got knocked back by him.

But, for Marco to do an areal attack was all apart of your plan, as you looked to Jimbei. "Give me a boost!" I spoke, Stopping a little ways from him as he knew what I was doing, and nodded..

Once Jimbei bended down a little, I ran to him, his large hands getting stepped on by my feet as he used his strength to push me up high in the sky, as I used my incredible speed to get even closer, right up to Sengoku's face. "You think that was the only move he thought of!? Think again!"

I puched Sengoku, away from Ace as he stumbled off the platform, his teeth gritting with annoyance, looking up as I landed on the platform, my eyes dark.

Ace was shocked, looking up at me, as I didn't let my guard down, as I simply sat down, as I knew Luffy was going to get up. "Ace.." I spoke, himself still not believing I'm right next to him, as my head turned to face him. "Are you ready to be rescued?" My words were almost a myth, as he just looked down at me, as I simply blankly looked at him, as I scooted closer.

But, as I got coser, Garp, Sengoku, and some of the Admrials surrounded the two of us, as his eyes widened. "Get out of the way!!" I didn't change a shade of emotion, instead, I looked to the four, before my eyes slightly widened. "Die." Energy came out of me, a unique sound going throughout everywhere, as the energy spread through the adrmials, pushing them back, as their eyes widened, recognizing the power.

All of them landed to the floor, some other marines and pirates unable to stand, as tinted yellow electricity and light came out of me, as if the energy is destructive.

'I-It can't be...' Ace thought, looking to me with utter shock, as did garp and the admrials.

Ivankove and Jimbei where shocked as well, Marco and pops smirking, as of Doflamingo, who him and Crocodile paused their fighting, looking my way, as did Mihawk, whoput his sword away. A small smile formed his lips, as he finally understood me, as I was just like Luffy, not wanting to back down. "Looks like you evolved, little rabbit...." He spoke, his heart racing wildly, as Whitebeard's smirk was still on his face. "The brat........"

"Has conquerer's Haki..."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Author: WOOOOHOOO!! Another chapter done! Sorry it took awhile, I have been busy with my everyday life and writing other chapters from other books. I hope you all are still doing safe, and don't forget about the fanart contest by the end of the week!

For this book make sure you do two things.

Draw Y/n by herself.

And draw any character from this book with her, or your favorite scene so far.

The only Major rule I require is no adult content, or your art will be disqualified!

Anyways, I have to prepare for work tomorrow and have a blessed evening!

BYE LOVELIES!!"

[berrypass-de-murdler]

2 - 53 The Bloody, Bloody Hospital

So appetizing

I loaf drawing bebe murdle. Makes things better when life is horrible

I can't believe there are episodes without logico cry

DON'T READ THE EPISODES WITHOUT READING THE BOOKS!!

The blood crust from the floor at the convocation is still in a bag in Irratino’s purse. He knows that the person who would know the most about blood is Dr. Crimson - she can identify who it’s from!

CRIMSON: HELLO… HELLOOOOO! It looks like the INSPECTOR is here to MINGLE… IRRATINO: [shudder] Actually, I need your help again. I have the DNA sequence for the mystery sample written down, but it doesn’t match anyone else’s here.  CRIMSON: MMMM! But where… oh where is LOGICO…

She taps and scrapes at her clipboard with her metal insectoid arm.

IRRATINO: He’s… missing. Don’t you remember? CRIMSON: LOGICO? NO… LOGICO?! IRRATINO: I… told you just a couple days ag- CRIMSON: [complete hysteria] NOOOOO, LOGICO, NO, NOOOOOOOO!!!!

She claws at the ground. Irratino picks her up.

IRRATINO: Hey, hey, shhhhh. He’s okay, but he’s being held in prison - I have to rescue him.  CRIMSON: A human is MURDERED here… and no one will SOLVE IT. IRRATINO: I will solve it!

He finds the local patients. Coach Raspberry and Uncle Midnight are in beds, looking miserable. Baron Maroon is in a giant tube full of liquid, but seems to be fine regardless.

IRRATINO: Is everyone alright? U. MIDNIGHT: Pssht. RASPBERRY: No!!! [cries] IRRATINO: What happened? RASPBERRY: I… I got concussed…

Irratino wants to comfort him, but Crimson gets in the way. 

CRIMSON: Here’s some more BLOOD from the suspects. I took it from them TODAY! IRRATINO: That’s… great.

Maroon does a flip in his tank. What the fuck is he doing in there??

Irratino closes his eyes and dreams for a clue. The ghost of the dead human appears before him, endlessly repeating a phrase in a language that doesn’t exist! He screams himself out of it. This startles Maroon, who does a deafening roar, smashing the glass of his ‘exhibit’! He rolls through the wall and into the parking lot.

CRIMSON: NO, NOOOO!!! STUPID FROG!!!!

The roof of the hospital catches fire, and Irratino climbs up there. There’s no fire extinguisher!

IRRATINO: Well that’s a fire hazard. RASPBERRY: I dunno what’s even goin’ on… I don’t wanna be here anymore!

He tries to leave, but Crimson blocks him.

CRIMSON: YOU can’t go outside… DOCTOR’S ORDERS! RASPBERRY: But… But… [kitten wail]

Irratino imagines what Logico would do right now - he’d go through everyone’s medical files. So he does just that. The killer was the super suspicious Uncle Midnight, who’s been laying in bed the whole time!

CRIMSON: I KNEW I COULD NEVER TRUST ANOTHER HUMAN!! IRRATINO: Benjamin! Why?? U. MIDNIGHT: Nh… I can’t go to my own birthday party. Because… I have a ‘contagious’ disease. And I got so mad… IRRATINO: But now that everyone knows you’re guilty of murder and that you have a contagious disease, will they still want to come to your birthday party? U. MIDNIGHT: …Yes. 

There’s silence, and to everyone’s surprise, Benjamin starts bawling.

U. MIDNIGHT: It was LOGICO, he left me to die in the middle of the ocean!! They just left me to die and I can’t even swim… I wouldn’t even be sick right now if they didn’t do that! It’s not fair… IRRATINO: Hey, hey! It’s okay! 

It’s not really. That was a really fucked up thing for Gico and pals to do.

IRRATINO: It’s July, your birthday’s months away. You’ll be okay! U. MIDNIGHT: I do my birthday party in July because everyone’s too busy with ChRiStMaS when it actually comes around.

The guilt is laying on thick for Irratino. But he can’t go anywhere near Benjamin, because of his unknown disease.

IRRATINO: Uhm… what does he have, exactly? CRIMSON: EXPLODING BILE DYSPHORIA. IRRATINO: What… does that-

Irratino figures out what that means, and will never sleep again. 

The end!

Wherefore art thou Logico?

I'm not feeling tip-top right now so this is a little rushed :'3

The power of Goat Lord compels you!

See you next time murdlers!

[cowboy-robooty]

no guys see robooty itager is the slowest burn fucking imaginable. because i think that 1) italy would have to initiate them dating since germany thinks hes rejected forever after buon san valentino (my boy loves one sided crush) and 2) if they dont slow burn theyll crash and explode. because i think italy takes forever to realize he genuinely really fucking love germany and ONLY loves him and is willing to be loyal 'n treat him well to have him. Since i think italy isnt the type to really love ever since his kindergarten crush so he takes forever to recognize what he feels is genuine love (plus his love is born from a sense of entitlement but thats a whole 'nother enchilada). but yeah and because they take forever and are fully developed in their feelings when they date things are happy happy sunshine swag peace and love ❤️ they do stupid shit as bros the only difference now is they make out sometimes and japan cries himself to sleep everyday ^_^

but in a world where somehow they started dating BEFORE italy completely sorts out his feelings then OHHHH MY GOD. HELLWORLD. LITERAL HELLWORLD. because italy would totally cheat on germany and germanys heart would have youtube poop glass shattering effect explosion and italy would be #unloyal and #mean #scumgong and he would break up with germany for being so clingy and upset about him breaking his heart everyday or germany would break up with italy because everyone in his entire life (2 people: japan and prussia) is telling him that he needs to because italys making him chew glass (they take like 6 years to convince him and have to resort to saying its for italys own good if he breaks up with him). and then when they break up germany would hashtag die and explode because he obviously still loves italy but hes held back by prussia to not come back to him and tries to satiate his autistic brain by thinking "he was mean to me and told me to leave. im sorry ill leave now sorry for bothering you" and he also doesnt feel close to anybody except italy and has to go "brother....... i am.... not feeling good right now........" and cant say much else bc WE SAW IN THE ANIME GERMANY WANTED TO VENT ABT ITALY AND REALIZED HE HAS NOBODY BC HE ONLY IS CLOSE ENOUGH IN THAT WAY TO ITALY. and then cut to italy and hes partying it up because hes pissed off at germany for being on his ass hardcore every single day for the past god knows how long (hate my wife syndrome) until a while later the partying slows down and he has a bunch of moments where he thinks "well usually right now germany would do [thing]" and that builds up until he is hit with the full realization that germany is not going to stay by his side anymore. because hes run away now and hes never ever coming back. and that realization is like the evil version of italy realizing that he loves germany and wants him to ALWAYS be by his side; so much so that hes willing to do what it takes and compromise and be loyal n shit to make that happen. and now italy is freaking out because he doesnt feel this urge ever and now hes already fumbled the dude hes fr in gays with. but this realization is evil because its under a sense of panic and shit so its also motivated by italy feeling a sense of entitlement to having germany by his side and like HES SUPPOSED TO BE HERE.

and from there italy would get back together with germany either easily bc he would just ask and say sorry and germany would go "well to be fair I should have been better as well. yes we should try again i want to too, i will try my best to not fail you this time." or it would be hard because germany would have his mind made up (with prussias support and urging and shit) to be like no italy we arent good for eachother and i cant (shouldnt) forgive you for doing those things to me and italy would be like Oh. and chew glass and freak the fuck out until he decides hes going to use #emotional manipulation and sob to everyone about how germany wont take him back and make everyone hate on germany and call him a terrible guy n shit to make germany feel so guilty and think hes an awful person to italy that he takes italy back. but even then their relationship is now fucked up forever because they live in perfect symbiosis thats their entire thing but now they dont because germany now has doubt of italy because of how he went into their relationship before and didnt give a fuck and italy unlocked his evil paranoia because now when he gets scared that germany will leave him he cant be comforted by thinking that would never happen because IT DID. HE WAS SEPERATED FROM HIM IT IS POSSIBLE TO MAKE GERMANY RUN AWAY. and because of that italy gets a lot more freaky about not wanting anyone to like germany so germany wont like them more than him and being emotionally manipulative and possessive and yandere shit because his paranoia is driving him to it. itager is great because it has so much potential to be evil like italy could emotionally manipulate germany so hard and all that shit but it would never happen because germany is so loyal and obsessed with italy that he never makes italy feel paranoid and like he has to. theyre like imagine if someone who has potential yandere gene in them dated a person who loved them more than anything in the entire universe and bends to their every will and never even glances at another person. that yandere gene is never getting activated bruh and at most manifests when italys like WAHHHH GERMANY YOU WONT LIKE RUSSIA MORE THAN ME RIGHT?? WHY DONT I HAVE THE MOST GERMAN TOURISTS IN THE WORLD WTF IS THERE SOMETHING ABOUT ME I NEED TO CHANGE????? but in the world where they rush things they break up and it disrupts all this homeostasis and makes them a little evil afterwards because italy has excessive paranoia that cant be quenched and germany has autism doubt because "he betrayed me once...... so hell probably betray me again *cries*"

[minecraft-bee-go-buzzzz]

why consume and/or actually make content when you can just make sillly aus in your head mmmm?

(this gets REALLY long-)

anyway life series au idea with the winners not dying!

Not that they dont try. Grain still jumps off Monopoly Mountain believing that it’d end the game. Scott still suddenly falls to the ground clutching his chest. Pearl still gets blown away thanks to the explosion. Martyn still runs out of time.

But they dont die.

Grian falling backwards, landing on his wings, knocking himself out. hours later waking up with broken wings in so much pain and theres... a bit of blood. Not knowing what to do now he’s somehow lived he stays in whats left of the base. And one day, the border falls. Theres nothing left here for him, so he leaves.

Scott wakes up somewhere he does not recongise. He remembers passing out, ya know, outside. after killing people. And he thought he died- Now he’s in some house, a building style he doesn’t recognise. Somewhere that actually looks like they tried when building. And then a man he swore he recongised came upstairs, in some odd clothes, offering food and water and a place to stay.

Pearl met a brutal should be end. I mean yeah she died because Scott did, felt the pain scott did. but she also was right next to the explosion, and it hit her. felt his and her own pain, died from him both because he died and exploded her. So it was fair to say the last thing ever expected was to wake up to see him worrying over her half destroyed body.

Oh Martyn. Killing his ally and hunting Impulse down. The clock still ticks. Just so, so much louder. There’s no one else around, nothing going on. all that he hears is the wind in his ears and the ticking in his head. He doesn’t really leave where he killed them. Just waits. They aren’t getting some dramatic send off. They can wait around as long as they like ‘till he drops once his hard earned time is spent. Though once it’s gone, once he runs out of time... why doesnt he die? And why can he hear familiar voices in the distance?

Now im unsure how i want the winners living but still being in the games to work. I have 2 ideas but I this current one I vibe with more-

Current idea: the watchers created these doubles to play in the winner’s place, to keep around the same amount of players and to keep some fun dynamics. Once you win the double will continue to play in your place for the rest of the games.

The winners continue to live outside the games and once enough of them build a small community. they only remember the game they won, and are all very conflicted on how they feel about each other.

everyone else who didn’t win is doomed to play over and over again trapped in the watcher’s game never remembering the one before.

Also, the winners stay ‘red’. how much the red affects them depends on the person.

(idea i have atm is, funny enough, the order the games happen. Grian is the least affected, then scott, then pearl and Martyn the most)

How all the winners find each other?

So taking the Grian is a watcher idea and fucking sprinting with it-

Grian after spending a few days alone in the desert, the watchers have moved on. they are somewhere else feasting, no longer there to bother grian (he wasn’t doing anything anymore. just moping. so boring-) but also no longer there to hold him back.

so after those days he kinda comes back to his watcher powers, or well some of them. And why keep himself locked up in a border when he can just get rid of it and run away from his problems (dead friends, destroyed home-)

And the first time he comes across another game is an accident. He finds the border and having not set it up himself (he doesn’t know if he could. never had a reason to try) And stays around the area, sets up a tent and waits for the border to fall.

Once it does. he searches. The watchers dont know, they’ve left. nothing to stay for, time for a feast. But grian looks, finds ruins that remind him of home and it hurts. But he finds someone. someone that, yeah. yeah he knows him. Scott. but it’s not Scott. Not the Scott he knew atleast.

That Scott was sooner caught dead than missing his ring.

But, it’s still a survivor. A winner. And if the blood stained ground is to go by, he went down swinging.

but he’s not dead. he’s alive. he’s unconscious, but breathing.

And Grian’s already lost everyone. this is the first person he’s seen in months. call him selfish, but he doesn’t want to be alone again. so he decides to help this new Scott. Also, maybe he could learn what happened. Get a bit of an understanding on what these sick games really are.

He carries Scott to his home he’s built. Took a while, such long distances still sucked without flight, but the wait for him to wake up was even worse. The chance he wouldn’t? horrible. so Grian ignored it-

But Scott did wake up, and paniced he was to see Grian alive and well, even if his choice of outfit was off. The idea of some form of revenge for Scott being the one to win instead of him was the first thing to cross his mind. like, it’s still Grian. and Grian’s still red.

But he just asks questions, and provides food, and gives answers when Scott asks things himself. Neither seem to be a threat to each other, as there is no benefit in killing the only other person who seems to understand any of this mess. Plus, gaining the knowledge there were two Grian’s, and this one was not the one he personally knew, well, he had no reason to trust him but also none to not.

So Scott stays around. Builds his own house near by Grian’s after the first few weeks. And whenever one explores they make sure to keep an eye out for a border, and ready to alert the other should they find one.

And give it some time, find another they shall.

Double life had ended a bit ago at that point. Scott found the border when he over heard familiar voices near by it. He waited around for Grain to show up and by the time he did the game was over, and with ease he took the border down (yet again no other watchers there to stop him, to busy eating to care)

I doesnt take long to find Pearl but both are quite upset at the sight. Clearly not as somewhat peaceful they had been given. half her face blown to bits and an arm that looks like it wont work the way it use too even with serious help.

While Scott checks her over and Grain looks are their cords to figure how far they are from their little set up, she wakes up instantly panicked. Panicked but also in to much pain to acutally fight back.

And, like, Pearl had been torturing her soulmate for weeks by that point. She’d recognise him. And while the man looking at her certaintly LOOKED like Scott, it was NOT her Scott. It was not the soulmate that left her behind.

Her soulmate wouldn’t look so worried over her state considering he caused it.

Pearl doesn’t take the whole winners live on thing as well as the first too did. not that they took it well, but they kinda just accepted it mostly silently and got on with it. Pearl yells, she cries. That it was all for nothing.

That they could’ve seriously just lived and got along.

Did no one have to die?

Doesn’t help she’s in absolute agony. where her body is actually hurt is completely messed up, but the rest in pain from feeling like she blew up.

They stay around the double life set up untill they deem pearl stable enough both mentally and phyiscally to go back to what they’ve made home.

She’s fairly open about what happened in her game. atleast compered to Grian and Scott, which had both hardly talked about their personal teams or teams that involved the other from their games.

She told them about how she went with Martyn to the nether which was why Scott and Cleo left them to go be soulmates together instead, how she had tilly, and then Martyn killed her. How all the other players thought she was mad.

All she wanted was her dog and a friend.

She bonds pretty well with both Scott and Grian, Scott talking about his pearl and how they were allies, and that clearly this fake scott was a coward, and Grian makes a few jokes about pizza and what they went through for that llama.

Once she’s better they head back to their little safe place. Fairly early on Pearl decides to build another tower, a smaller tower, but she still has her tower. She even gets some new dogs! She was scared to at first. But this wasn’t a death game anymore, Scott and Grian gained nothing from killing her animals. it was safe to have them.

Now, after three times, chances are it’s happening again. They dont exactly look forward to it, but when pearl gives the heads up her dogs found another border and sends her cords over the other two are there within a day or two.

This time it takes a while for the game to end. They dont see much, dont get the notices on their communicators, dont really have a clue whats going on until Grian manages to get rid of the border. Execpt this time the Watchers left alot quicker, almost instantly.

Seems they were already bored.

The three spread out hoping to find the Winner quicker this way, each person having one of pearl’s dogs go with them for safety.

And when Scott found Martyn sat there with blood on his hands, staring at them in utter disbelief he wasn’t expecting to be attacked on sight by the man once noticed.

Something about “you ran out of time, how are you back we ran out of time we shouldn’t be here-”

Seems there was yet again a fun gimmick for the new game.

As Scott’s trying to tell Martyn to chill and keep him from killing Pearl’s dog, the other two both appear having met up running towards the yelling. Now, these people are mostly decked out in enchanted diamond gear, and they have dogs! Martyn’s not stupid. He wont win. he puts his sword away and hands in the air for surrender.

Now, if they thought Pearl took the winner’s living thing bad, boy did Martyn just snap.

Because every single other person in his game had died. They didn’t technically run out of time. two fell to their deaths, the others were murdered. So, for all Martyn knew, he just betrayed his closest ally for a win that ment nothing.

Because for all he knew, they could’ve all lived.

Martyn wasnt too willing to just go with these strangers. yeah, they may look like the people he knew. They might technically be the original versions of them- but what have they done to earn his trust! Show up and threaten him- well he did attack scott first bUT! His dead teammate he just killed showed up again when he should’ve been perma dead! it was a fair reaction.

So they had to spend a little time convincing him, no problem. And once the mention of watchers came up and the borders, grian’s ‘ability’ to take them down, suddenly the fourth winner was all for hanging around with them. (also very much hinting to grian he knew a watcher’s eyes when he saw them- even if scott and pearl didn’t seemed to know for sure yet)

Martyn does still come back with them and set up his own little hut next to a pond he decorated (tropical fish, pufferfish, coral and kelp). it’s further away than the others are but their all okay with that. His red tendencies can still get a little out of hand sometimes, best to keep a little distance when that happens.

This au either continues sad as shit with these lot slowly talking about things that happened and coming to terms about how they didn’t know what would happen at the end, maybe they could’ve all happly lived but thats not what happened and maybe they cant forget everything and everyone but its about time to move on.

OR

silly fun times where the winners all fuck around and have fun. ignore the trauma, enjoy life. have the friends you were never aloud to keep before. Build the amazing house you always wanted, having all the dogs you could ever need. Your alive! Live a little! Enjoy it! until the next border’s found

Or maybe a mix of both-

[stevesbestgirl]

A Moment of Your Time - Part 5

Mob!Bucky x Reader (1505 words)

Series Masterlist  - Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4

Once the food was gone, you appraised Barnes over the table as he sipped his wine. You’d barely touched yours, not quite at ease enough to lower your guard. He seemed to notice you watching him, his smile fading as he noticed your nearly full glass.

His voice was surprisingly gentle, “You don’t have to be afraid of me.”

“I’m not.” As you said it, you realized it was true; you weren’t afraid of him. “But that doesn’t mean I’ll leave myself vulnerable either.”

He swirled the wine in his glass, considering your words, “Fair enough.” He set the glass down, “Which would you like to do first then? Tell me about yourself or ask your questions?”

You didn’t even need to consider; you wanted to know more about him before you told him anything about you, “Questions.”

He spread his arms wide, “Have at it, doll.”

“How did you end up in this line of work?”

He chuckled, “Is it cliché of me to say it was the family business?”

You laughed, “Only a little bit.” You fixed your gaze on him, “Do you like it?”

He didn’t hesitate, “I do. I’m good at it.” He smiled faintly, “I’ve had a few dames come around thinking they were going to help me. But you can’t save a guy who doesn’t need saving.”

He interlaced his fingers, “Pretty normal, since my old man passed away a few years back. I make sure my ma is taken care of.”

“Even if the rumors about the clothes weren’t true, I’d be willing to be you’ve had more than a few around.” The corners of his mouth twitched, like he was fighting a smile, but he didn’t say anything. “Never mind, I don’t care. What’s your family like then?”

You smiled at him, “That’s sweet.”

He met your eyes, “I take care of the people I care about.”

Heat rose in your cheeks and you fumbled for another question, “So, you don’t have any siblings then?”

His expression darkened slightly, “I do, actually. But Rebecca doesn’t come around much anymore; she doesn’t approve of the family business. She thought I should have let it die with our Pops.”

“Why didn’t you?”

“An organization like this- it doesn’t just disappear. My men rely on me for a paycheck. And after my old man kicked the bucket, there was a power vacuum. If I didn’t fill it, someone else would have. Believe it or not, there are worse guys than me in this city and they’re all waiting for their shot to rise through the ranks. It would have been chaos.”

You smiled teasingly, “So, it was an act of altruism?”

He laughed, “You could say that. I’m quite the philanthropist.” The sound of his laugh was more intoxicating than the wine would have been- so much for keeping a clear head. You found yourself taking a sip, the full flavor exploding on your tongue; it was delicious.

“What was your father like then?”

He sipped his own wine, eyes finally leaving yours for a moment, “He was a complex man. He was under a lot of pressure to take care of everyone; he grew up poor and he’d just started his own business when the depression hit. With my ma and two kids to take care of, he got into some trouble over some loans he’d taken out. He started out doing work for some shady characters to pay back what he owed, eventually he took over the whole operation.”

He grimaced, “But it was never enough for him to feel secure. He always insisted there was could be another market crash. He felt like he had to be prepared for anything. He ran his crew with an iron fist and he raised me the same way.” He took another sip of his wine and smiled wryly, “What about you?”

You let him change the subject; it was obviously difficult to talk about. And it seemed likely that he was trying to be honest with you, considering you’d only agreed to the one date. You smiled encouragingly, “Nothing exciting, I’m afraid. My dad died in the war, over in Italy. My brother and I take care of my mom, but I’m, without a doubt, the black sheep of the family.”

“Why is that?” he asked curiously.

You sipped your wine again, “There was this guy- they all wanted me to marry him, right out of high school. Even my dad. But I wanted to wait for-” Unconsciously, your gaze slid to your now empty wrist, the words dying on your tongue.

“Your soulmate,” he finished for you.

You nodded, taking another sip to cover the pink in your cheeks. When you met his eyes again, your expression was pensive, “You said you were curious.” You rubbed your wrist, “About this.”

“I did.”

“Then why did you cover yours?”

He examined the black box on his wrist, tracing the edges with his finger, “I did this when I first took over the business.” He seemed to consider what he wanted to say, “I was afraid of disgracing my father’s legacy, of making mistakes or getting distracted. So, I decided to remove the distraction.”

“But I’m still here.”

He smiled, “It’s easy to say you don’t want to meet your soulmate when they’re years away. It’s more difficult when they’re right in front of you. Especially when they’re as lovely as you.”

You blushed and rolled your eyes, “Good god, how long have you been waiting to use that one?”

He laughed, “Since the first moment those big, beautiful eyes looked up at me on the dancefloor.”

You reached for your wine again and realized that it was nearly two-thirds gone- so much for not drinking. Still, you took another sip. You felt more at ease than you had all week and it wasn’t because of the alcohol.

He finished his glass, “So, just out of curiosity: did your stance on soulmates change before or after you knew it was me?”

You pulled your eyes away, ashamed at the note of hurt in his voice, “I’m sorry about that. I was-” you bit your lip, “Surprised.”

To your surprise, he grinned, leaning in, his elbows on the table, “Does that mean you’ve changed your mind?”

Your heart skipped; you hadn’t really gotten that far in your calculations yet. He wasn’t what you expected. He was surprisingly soft and sweet, even if you knew that some of the rumors you’d heard had to be true. There was a dark side somewhere, but did it really matter if it wasn’t directed at you?

At that thought, you felt a little sick. Was that who you were? Were you willing to overlook violence and criminal activity if it got you love? You couldn’t. Even though it was obvious to you at this point that you wanted to, it felt weak and selfish to compromise your morals, even for someone as handsome as the man sitting across from you.

You took a deep breath, “No.” Your heart broke as the grin disappeared.

He nodded sharply, “I understand.”

He didn’t meet your eyes as he stood and gathered the dishes from the table. When he returned from the kitchen, his gaze pierced yours once again, but it was no longer playful or excited; it was flat. You’d hurt him.

“I was going to drive you home, but if you’re more comfortable, I can have Clint drive you,” he offered evenly.

You stood, “I’d love for you to drive me home.”

You shuffled out and the two of you rode down the elevator in tense silence. The car ride was quiet, but far from the easy silence of riding with Clint- you almost regretted your decision to refuse the offer.

You finally spoke up, “I do have one more question for you, if that’s okay.” Your voice was quieter than you meant it to be, almost disappearing under the sound of the engine.

“You still don’t have to be afraid of me,” he said softly.

You twiddled your fingers in your lap, “Those men in the park- they weren’t your men, were they?”

His mouth tightened, “No. They weren’t mine. I can leave Clint as your security detail if you want, but I won’t force it on you this time.”

You smiled wryly, “Thank you, but I’ll be okay.”

“Just-” he took a deep breath, “If you hear the name Rogers, steer clear.”

You nodded, “Okay.” He pulled up in front of your apartment and cut the engine, somehow moving quickly and gracefully to your door faster than you could get out on your own.

He walked you to the door, hands stuffed in his trouser pockets.

You met his gaze, which now just seemed sad, “Thank you for dinner.”

“Thank you for coming.”

You bit your bottom lip, “I’m sorry, Bucky.”

He didn’t say anything. But he nodded, pulling his hand from his pocket and brushing your hair back before returning to the car.

[drarrily-we-row-along]

Day 66: Bond

There was a certain bond that formed between two people when all of your friends were paired off and dating someone. When the two of you were the only single people so you got paired off to share food, and be partners in games, and all other manner of things.

Harry supposed that tonight would be just one more of those nights as he arrived at Ginny and Luna's. And he wasn't complaining (not anymore, at least) it had taken a couple of years but he and Draco had warmed up to each other. They had compatible styles for partner games, Draco always gave Harry any treats with nuts and Harry gave him any treats with mint, and Harry genuinely enjoyed his dry sense of humor.

If he was being honest, he'd started looking forward to all of the time that he got to spend with Draco on Friday nights.

But things felt different the moment he entered the house, even though he couldn't quite put his finger on why. He spotted Ginny first, standing against the counter, pouring a couple glasses of wine, "Hey," he called.

She looked up and bit her lip.

"What?" he asked with no small amount of dread. He knew that look; it was the look she'd given him right before she'd told him she might be gay and in love with Luna, a look that said she was afraid of breaking his heart.

Ginny opened her mouth but no words came out.

"Ginny, what?" he said, taking several steps toward her.

"I don't know how to say thi-"

"Oh, good," he heard Draco say from behind him, "You're here."

His mouth stretched into a grin even before he turned around "He-" he broke off when he saw that Draco was standing with his arm around some bloke who Harry had never met before. "Hey," he finished.

"This is Matt," Draco offered.

And frankly, Harry would rather die (again) than shake his hand but before he could have any say in the matter Matt had stepped forward into his space and was gripping his hand. Hard. "The Harry Potter," he drawled. "My, my."

(Read more below the cut)

Harry glanced over at Draco who looked vaguely uncomfortable.

"Draco has told me so much about you. I could hardly believe that he was telling the truth." He leaned toward Harry conspiratorially, "He's known for embellishing the truth, you know?"

Harry wrenched his hand from Matt's grip, "Actually, I've found Draco to be honest to a fault. Hardly anyone else will tell me when my outfit doesn't match or I've got something stuck in my teeth."

Matt's eyes flashed and Harry's proverbial hackles stood on end he didn't like that look, "I-" Matt started

"Hey," Draco said, taking Matt's hand and drawing his attention, "Let me introduce you to everyone else."

"Nice meeting you, Mark," Harry called.

Draco narrowed his eyes at him, "Matt," he corrected, before mouthing, 'behave' at Harry.

"My mistake," Harry said, maintaining eye contact with the other man until he turned away and followed Draco into the other room.

"Okay," Ginny said, drawing his attention away from them, "First. Men are disgusting; I can't believe I thought I was attracted to them for so long."

"What?" he asked, slumping over to the counter and sliding onto a stool across from where Ginny was still mixing up drinks. He was feeling a little nauseous, fire rushing under his skin.

"That," she said, gesturing to where Harry had been standing talking to Matt and Draco, "The little pissing match to decide who's dominant."

"What?" Harry asked, "that guy is just an asshole."

She rolled her eyes, "Second, you're still an idiot."

"Wow. I'm just going to go home," he said. "Between you and the dude who was trying to break my fingers, I don't think it's going to be a great night."

Ginny leaned across the counter and instinctively Harry leaned toward her, "How long are you going to continue denying you have feelings for Draco?"

His brow furrowed, "I don't. We're just mates," he added.

"I rest my case. You're still an idiot," she said as she leaned back and started mixing drinks again.

Harry slouched on his stool turning that thought over in his mind, "That actually would make sense," he admitted.

"Harry, I love you, you know I do," she said. "But honestly, I can't believe you're just figuring this out. The rest of us have known for ages. We were all shocked when he walked through the door with Matt; he told us he was bringing someone but we thought the two of you were just making a joke."

"Well now what am I supposed to do?" he asked. "Why couldn't anyone have said something sooner?"

"Because we thought it was obvious," she hissed.

"Let's just get through the night," he sighed. "Then we'll deal with the rest. We'll need to come up with a plan."

-----------

He spent the rest of the night calling Matt the wrong name (Miles, Maurice, Mike, Max, Moses, Mitch, Mason) to the point that Ron either caught on and decided to help or got confused enough that he started calling him the wrong name, too. Harry also couldn't help but rub it in Matt's face how much better he knew Draco; telling inside jokes, asking Draco specific questions about his work and his parents, and reminiscing about fond memories.

Draco seemed a bit exasperated by it but Harry couldn't help himself. Once he started, he just couldn't seem to stop.

Eventually as everyone was getting ready to leave and Luna was saying good bye to Matt, Draco cornered him, "Do not move a fucking muscle," he hissed, "I am not done with you."

"Dra-"

"I mean it, Potter. Stay right here," he said, jabbing him in the chest with his finger before he turned and made his way over to his date.

"Hey," Matt said, smiling at him much the way Harry imagined an alligator might smile at his prey.

"Hi," Draco replied softly. "I'll floo you tomorrow, yeah? There are a few things I need to take care of."

Matt frowned, "I thought we were going back to my place."

"No," Draco replied steadily. "I have a five date rule." He stepped back, "I'll floo you," he repeated.

And Matt looked pretty pissed about it, but he seemed to take the hint and disapparated on the spot without so much as a goodbye to anyone.

"You're all the literal worst," Draco fumed. "Except you, Luna," he added. "You're a goddess."

Luna gave a little curtsy.

"Seriously," Draco said, glaring at the room even though none of them looked especially repentant. "And you," he spat, spinning to glare at Harry, "You're the worst of all."

"Does that make me special?" Harry quipped, arms folded across his chest.

Draco groaned, "Bloody fucking Griffyndors. I hope you're all happy," he grabbed Harry's arm. "Come on we are going back to mine to have a chat."

"I thought you had a five date rule," Ginny called.

Draco flipped her the two finger salute before apparating them to his house.

Harry always liked being in Draco's house; it was small and cozy, and it always smelled vaguely like chamomile. Just being here made his soul feel lighter, calmer.

"Alright," Draco growled, "Spill. What the hell was that?"

"What?" Harry asked innocently.

"Potter," he warned.

Harry sighed, "He's an asshole."

"And you know that how? You didn't even give him a chance".

"Draco his handshake was like a vice!"

Draco stared at him, "You've got to be kidding me. Are you that much of a child? He hurt your hand so you thought you should bully him?"

"I didn't bully him!" Harry exclaimed.

"No?" Draco asked. "You didn't use his given name even once." Harry winced, maybe that was overkill. "You spent the entire night trying to make him feel stupid and inferior to you. Which, let's face it, everyone does anyway because you're Harry fucking Potter!" Draco exploded.

"That's not fair," Harry said, betrayal slicing hot through his gut. Draco knew that he hated being famous, hated the preconceived notions attached to his name.

"Yeah well, neither was what you did."

"Draco, I-"

"No," he said, holding out a hand, "That was such bullshit, Harry."

"But he's awful."

"You didn't even give him a cha-"

"I didn't have to!" he exploded. "The first words he said to me were to disrespect you. He's an asshole and I will chase a million of them away from you."

"That's not your job."

Harry threw his hands up in the air, "I'm your best friend! Whose job is it, if it's not mine?"

"You don't just get to decide things for me!" Draco cried.

"Fine," Harry spat. "You want to date that wanker, go ahead. But I have seen his type before. Don't come crying to me when he's beaten you to a bloody pulp for looking at someone the wrong way." He pushed past Draco and made his way to the door, walking out and slamming it behind him.

He started down the sidewalk, debating trying to figure out where Matt lived and have a chat or maybe go over to Ron and Hermione's to get some advice and regroup.

But the further he walked, the more the anger faded from his veins, and the guilt settled in.

There was no choice really, he turned around and headed back to Draco's house once more. When he arrived he knocked on the door even though he normally would have just let himself in.

"Go away!" Draco shouted.

He knocked again, "Draco, please."

"No! Go away. You're the worst."

"I know," he called back. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean that. Please."

After a few seconds, during which fear settled heaving in Harry's gut, the door opened and Harry slipped inside, Draco was curled up on the couch, hugging a pillow to his chest.

Seeing him looking so small and sad made Harry ache. "I'm sorry," he whispered. "I shouldn't have said that."

"Which part?" Draco asked bitterly.

He sighed and came over to sit on the couch beside Draco, "I'm not sorry for chasing him away. But I will always be here for you, no matter what. You can always come to me."

Draco leaned over and put his head on Harry's shoulder, "I know," he whispered.

"Forgive me?"

He nodded and they sat together in silence for a few minutes, both trying to collect their thoughts. Eventually Harry said, "I really wish you wouldn't date him."

Draco sat up, "Harry look at me."

Harry turned on the couch to look at him and raised his eyebrows.

"I won't ever floo call him, we'll never go on another date, and I'll never see him again." Something eased in Harry's chest. "But it's not because of what you said or did. It's because I, too, have had shitty relationships. I have also lived through trauma and I have had to learn from it just like you."

Harry looked down at his hands.

"And if you have concerns about someone, there is a better way to tell me than what you did tonight."

He nodded, suitably chastised, "You're right."

"I appreciate your concern, though," he added and Harry looked up to see that Draco's mouth was quirked up, he really must be forgiven, apparently. "And I genuinely forgot how petty you can be."

He shook his head and reached out for Draco's hand, "Draco, I want you to be so, so happy," he said. Then he added, "I'm an idiot."

Draco raised an eyebrow.

"And everyone knows it, you included, so you can't really hold it against me," he said.

"I'm pretty sure I can."

He huffed, "Just hear me out. I'm an idiot and I didn't realize until tonight that I'm a little bit in love with you. And it's fine if you don't feel the same but you are my best friend and I had high standards for you even before I knew I had feelings for you. It hurt me to see you with someone who treated you so poorly."

"Sorry," Draco said, "I need you to repeat that."

"I said, I'm an idiot," Harry started.

"Not that part."

"It hurt me to see you with someone who treated y-"

"Not that part either," Draco said.

Harry swallowed, "It's fine if you don't fee-"

"Harry," he grumbled. "Say the other part."

He rubbed the back of his neck, "I'm in love with you," he whispered.

Draco blinked at him, a smile blooming at the corner of his mouth, "Say it again."

A grin tipped up the corners of his mouth as well, "I'm in love with you."

Draco launched himself into Harry's arms and covered Harry's lips with his own, "say it again," he mumbled into the kiss.

"I love you," Harry repeated, murmuring the words into Draco's mouth.

Draco pulled back slightly, "I love you, too."

"I hoped that was the case," Harry replied.

After he kissed him again, Draco said, "Alright, fine. Now you get a say in who I date."

Harry grinned, "Is that so?"

He nodded.

"Will you date me, Draco Malfoy?" he asked, brushing his nose along Draco's.

"Yes," he whispered. Then with a smirk he added, "But we'll have to get my best friend's approval and rumor has it that he has very high standards."

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

Day 65: Question | Day 67: Soulmate (Take 1)- Your traditional soulmate trope or Day 67: Soulmate (Take 2)- just using the word 'soulmate' as a prompt, not the trope.

[balillee]

my unpopular dsmp opinions, some of which genuinely should be popular

c!dream has crossed the moral event horizon and is irredeemable. once you cross that threshold, you're no longer a 'morally grey' character.

pre-recorded, heavily produced lore killed the lore. it was cool, sure, but you completely misunderstand the magic that the smp had when people watched it initially. the story is improv and that's how we like it. we can tell the cc's have lost interest in it, you can admit that to us, we'll understand, just stop lying to me.

c!dream's pov isn't necessary to understand his character or his motivations. if you've watched literally any c!primeboys stream he's basically spelled it out for you.

i don't understand how fans can dislike l'manberg or have claimed to be against it since the beginning. i honestly don't get it. what's so bad about wanting your own spot where you make your own rules and skirt accountability that has been used to technically oppress you before - and, before someone who never saw the earlier streams tries to disagree with this, the og l'manberg crew were imprisoned for shit that everyone else on the server was practically encouraged to do. also, what do you have against fun and happiness?

i think some of you forget that 'hybrids' aren't a thing, discounting c!ranboo. there's no piglin hybrids, c!techno is just a pig. there's no avian hybrids, c!phil is just a man with wings. there's no creeper hybrids, c!sam is just a creeper who's indecently exposed from the hips down. canonically there's no hybrids, and therefore no hybrid discrimination. people ran with that concept too much.

the loss and the fanon rewriting of the early lore up until pogtopia has ruined fandom perception of c!dream and the og l'manberg boys. c!tommy is more morally white than you think he is, and c!dream has always been a villain - he massacres and he kills and he destroys and he schemes and he always has broken his own rules. no wonder the boys wanted their own space after how they were treated.

i think ranboo oftentimes forgets his own lore. he brings stuff up that c!ranboo may have done, such as exploding the community house to frame c!tommy, holding onto Cat, and it goes absolutely nowhere. we've gotten all of these developments in his story but they have never been expanded on, and we're nowhere closer to figuring out his relationship to c!dream and what his other side is and honestly i see no hope that we'll be any closer to knowing even by the end of the year.

your characters don't all have to be morally grey for the story itself to be morally grey. this is fiction - some people can be nothing but evil and others can be nothing but good. being purely good or evil doesn't mean that you're one dimensional, either.

c!dream apologists have ruined c!dream for me. he's not a good person. how about you let me enjoy a villain for who he actually is, rather for than your percieved woobified ragdoll you pass off as c!dream.

the story was better when there was a central writer. it was brilliant back when wilbur wrote it to be that the environment drives the characters and the story, and it was really good in early s2 up until techno's execution day when it was more character driven. since then, the amount of autonomy people have over their characters without any central 'director', as it were, has been a detriment to the story overall. there needs to still be one overarching figure or director or writer.

not everyone is a main character. just because they have a pov, doesn't mean they're a main character. some characters have such little impact on the overall plot and describing everyone as a main character oversaturates the story and makes some characters seem more important than they are.

the egg lore had so much potential up until it didn't. all that built up threat that we were expecting and we still don't even know what the egg wants really other than just controlling people. does it hatch?

genuinely, if there's no major plot developments by the end of the year (and let's be honest, it's a very big possibility at this point), a few of the more prominent members of the server should do a podcast style stream talking about where the story would have gone, because at least then we would have gotten somewhat closer to a conclusion.

c!techno is a villain and an asshole and a bad person. he stops caring for people once their interests don't align with his or if they look at him funny. he makes meta-jokes about his own tyrannical and oppressive nature. stop taking that away from him. he's a bad person. cc!techno does a fabulous job portraying that in a comedic manner and the balancing of him being a deeply flawed person with deeply flawed morals and ideas with his comedically-portrayed stubbornness and lack of willingness to hear out opposing viewpoints is incredible. i want to like characters who are arseholes for the sake of being arseholes, and who refuse to take into account the hurt they've caused either out of self-righteousness or because they don't care, so let me. he's the anti-peacemaker, LET ME HIM ENJOY HIM FOR THAT!!!!

i think tommy and wilbur's way of doing lore is my favourite. relies heavily on improv, voice acting, sprite acting and facial expressions. really shows off the acting props and they pull off the emotional moments well for the insanity of the creative medium.

i'm not a fan of fan-music. i find songs about media i'm into difficult to listen to. coincidentally i'm also not a fan of shit like slam poetry or live music/musicals/pantomimes.

the death of l'manberg killed people's motivation to go on the server casually. i've talked about it more in depth before, but destroying what was a central, driving environment for the story killed momentum and motivation. imagine in an episode of she-ra, the princess alliance just nuke the freight zone and all of the members of the horde just have to deal with it. that would be shit.

until season 3 has some momentum, i'm counting the end of the smp as january 20th. that had a conclusion. season 3 has... whores, technoblade and tommyinnit. that's about it.

i wasn't a fan of the development of c!tubbo joining las nevadas. i preferred snowchester and the walled city conflict. give c!tubbo some backbone and some badassery. also tubbo where's the fucking nuke bro if you're shelving that plotline just tell us on like an alt stream what the plan was i beg

add like 2 or 3 new people to the server so that michael mcchill has someone to talk to and so that there's something always happening on the server. it gives the og's more motivation to return if things are happening in and out of canon and it'll help with momentum, and who knows? maybe they can write their own story/stories.

i really think that c!sam is an underrated character. he's multilayered, extremely interesting, and the dichotomy of his loyalty to his job and how far down the rabbithole that's taken him versus the genuine love he has for his friends that drives him to do what he does out of wanting to do right by them is brilliant. i don't talk about c!sam enough.

STOP HAVING FUCKING VILLAIN ARCS!!! I'M FUCKIN SICK OF IT!!!! i want to see more characters who see everyone else being absolute selfish, abhorrent cunts and go 'if nobody else is going to be a good person, i fucking will'. GIVE ME SOME MORAL WHITENESS!!! IT'S INTERESTING AND MORALLY GOOD CHARACTERS ARE FUN!!!

let tommyinnit build cobblestone towers. everyone bullied him too much for how ugly they were and the one he built outside of the prison looked genuinely really nice. it gives the boy something to do.

i'm a fan of the revive book and the canon lives system. don't ask me why, but i think it might just be the morbidity of it. it adds to c!dream's god complex persona, and i think the fragility of death itself is a really fun concept. not enough fan cc's have made connections with that and c!mumza, and it could make for cool fanfic.

ranboo your house is fucking ugly. it's an eyesore

c!niki, and to some extent now c!jack and c!fundy, are boring me and ruining my mood. i think c!jack is the closest to being an actually interesting sympathetic villain, mainly because nobody else seems to realise that c!niki is a villain. not a good one imo, but she's a villain. c!jack just has the problem of starting a new project over and over and over and over again and because of the slow in momentum for the primary cast, there hasn't been a lot of recent development for him.

not really a dream smp opinion, but if philza went full geordie accent, i would love it. i want him to, in canon, say shit like 'me n ye' instead of 'me and you' and use geordie dialect. i want him to be physically unintelligible because it's funny.

i don't really know what's up with c!foolish but i think he's a dumbass. he had a while to think about c!q's proposal and then changed his mind about joining the guy to admitted to letting him die just because. moron

i wish there was more c!eret lore. i wish he was an actual king with an actual kingdom and actual subjects and royal advisors. c!eret is far too fucking cool to be the king of nothing and nobody. fatten up the kingdom and the castle with people who work with c!eret, and don't just make it tyrannical and dictator-y to prove the point of the server's 'anarchists'. make it a healthy working environment, please - if you want moral greyness, have 'anarchists' who claim to care about the welfare of the server oppose a kingdom of happy people under a fair and just ruler because their ideologies clash.

the server needs more characters who oppose anarchy in more peaceful ways, or passively wish for systems to be a part of. i think a chaos vs order conflict ending only in mutual understanding where everyone understands that they should just leave each other alone would slot nicely into the story that's been created so far.

you need to have watched all of the previous arcs to understand the story. i've seen people argue that they don't need to know about earlier lore to understand the prison, but that's the equivalent of only watching the final season of pretty little liars and expecting to understand the context of what's going on.

some characters aren't that morally grey. some characters, take c!tommy for example, are definitely on the whiter side for the morality scale, he's just an asshole. he's abrasive and rude and a dickhead but he also doesn't agree with terrorism, he's patriotic, he strives for a better world, he's apologetic, but he's also a fucking BITCH.

you can add onto this if you want, but not if you're a c!dream apologist. nobody likes your opinions

[morganas-pendragons]

Long Story Short (I Survived) | Din Djarin

Okay, I apparently write for Din now. This is set after It’s A Long Way Down and will feature the same Grey!Jedi reader, I am done with finals and am intending to write a fic between this one and the first one for Chapter 13! 

i forgot that din took his helmet off in the first fic i wrote for him, so we’re going to call this - another separate instance in which reader could have seen helmet less din  - and change one saber to two 

if you’d like to be added to tags for when I write for din, please let me know! until then... 

@earthtokace / @demigod-dragonrider-schoolidol​ / @kyber-queen / @kaikai1324 / @snippy-tano / @fractiouskat​ / @doctorsteeb​

SPOILERS FOR THE BELIEVER 

Din is staring down at the Imperial console when he feels it creep up upon him. It’s a niggling fear, one that sinks deep down into the pit of his stomach and very nearly disappears - which gives him hope that it’ll just dissipate and die - until realization smacks him right back into reality. 

  “You’ll have to take your helmet off.” 

He’d felt this same emotion when IG-11 had coerced him into taking his helmet off when he’d been injured. It had felt the same, affected him the same, paralyzed him the same. 

Panic. It’s panic. 

The last time he’d done this had been out of necessity, out of fear, and that had been the only reason he’d survived. He’d broken The Creed to save his own life and of those who had been with him when the Moff attacked. Now, staring at this console, the life of his son is at stake if he doesn’t take this helmet off. 

Din whispers into the corners of his frightened mind. I’m scared. 

You had accompanied Mayfeld and Din as the third party (since Boba and Fennec had Cara) and had displayed skill in aiding him with the bands of pirates who had attacked their transport of Rhydonium. His mind was still spinning with the sheer speed in which you had spun those lightsabers. He didn’t think a person could move that fast. 

Around the corner and turned away from Din, you allow yourself to feel the whispers of The Force encircling your mind - the newly acquired bond you’d somehow formed with Din since having seen Ahsoka - and whispered in reply I know. A beat of silence passes before you continue. Remember who you’re doing this for. 

In the moment that Din’s fear threatens to overtake him, you send waves of comfort and assurance through your Bond in the Force - which shouldn’t exist to begin with, it’s not that easy to create bonds with a non-force sensitive -  to coax him into doing what needs to be done. Your eyes are turned. Your focus is on Mayfeld and the dozens of Imperial Officers who surround you. 

As he removes his helmet, Din remembers. He remembers your boundless laughter playing with The Child. He remembers the way his son beams at you, the way he falls asleep on specific words of lullabies because that’s always the precise moment your voice goes just soft enough that he feels as if he needs no more comfort. Din remembers the way you’d watched on in silence, quietly mourning a relationship that had yet to reach its peak, and how breathless you’d appeared - and overjoyed, he still hasn’t recovered from the sudden hug you gave him upon return to the Razor Crest - when he’d brought Grogu back inside after Ahsoka claimed he could not be trained. 

Remember who you’re doing this for.

Maker help anyone who dared to cross him when his child, his son - the one attachment he has not verbally acknowledged yet, but everyone else has, including you - is the one in danger. When you are the one in danger.

Maker help them.

You are not anticipating what comes next. 

This was supposed to be easy. Get in, get the coordinates for the cruiser, and get out. Mayfeld had mentioned to you after Din had entered the mess hall that he’d need to take his helmet off in order to access the terminal, and on instinct you had turned away from the mess to survey the crowd around you. 

Your lightsabers - now meshed together into the staff slung across your back - lay comfortably and within reach as dozens of Imperial troops brush past you and congratulate both you and Mayfeld on being the only transport to bring back the Rhydonium. 

  “Trooper? Hey, trooper!” 

Mayfeld’s hand shoots out before you can protest, and your head is whipping back just enough to ensure that Din hasn’t been found out. “No.” Mayfeld murmurs, shaking his head. “Not yet.” 

You’re not focused on him. You’re focused on the dark hair that frames the very visible head of the same man you’d resigned yourself to falling in love with. 

His helmet is off. 

Dread curls itself in your veins as you and the former Imperial turn to the mess hall. You’ve managed to respect Din’s wishes in refraining from both seeing his face - and using his name, you’re only allowed to do that in private - since you met, but circumstances have ruined the reverential act he would’ve saved for marriage. That was when he’d had removed his helmet to allow you to see him. 

The thing is though.. You’ve always seen him. You don’t need to see his face to know Din Djarin’s heart, and his heart lays with you and that baby. The one he’s fighting to get back. 

  “No, son. What’s your TK number?” 

Lucky for you, you’d been alive during The Clone Wars. You can worm yourself and him out of this situation fairly easily. 

  “This is our Commanding Officer TK-593, and First Officer TK-616, sir.” Mayfeld slaps your back as the two of you enter the mess hall and flank either side of Din. You cannot bring yourself to look at him head on. It would not be fair, not in the midst of the pure fear that’s coursing through his mind. 

I’m right here. You whisper into the heart of the fear that plagues him, fingers idly tracing the inside of his hand as you stare the Imperial Officer down. As expected, Din visibly relaxes at the gentle trace of your fingertips against his palm. We’re surviving. 

  “I am Imperial Combat Assault Transport TK-111, sir.” Mayfeld continues, folding his hands over each other as he stands at relaxed parade rest at Din’s side. “I’m afraid you’re going to have to speak up to him a little bit since his vessel lost pressure in Taanab.” 

This gives you the brilliant idea of conversing with Din in Tusken sign, something he’d been adamant to teach you after your excursion on Tatooine. 

  “She’s our interpreter. We call her Whip.’’

While Mayfeld guides the conversation with the officer, you and Din are easing into talking in Tusken about however many ways this can go wrong, but then he changes the topic to something you’re not quite ready to acknowledge. 

You can look at me, you know. He signs, hands frantic as he tries and fails to find your eyes. You value him - and his heart - far too much to be the first person he knows to have seen his face.

No. You shake your head. I can’t. 

And you don’t. You only look at his side profile for the remainder of that trip, refusing to allow yourself the satisfaction of being the one person he cared about that has seen his face. Seen him. 

Like I said. You don’t need to see Din Djarin’s face to see him. 

*** 

Din is almost positive he’s ready to accept how he feels about you. 

The minute Mayfeld shoots that officer in the chest, you spring into action and whip that staff off your back - disengaging the lock that holds the two lightsabers together - and the world explodes in a flurry of blue as you perform the sword and shield method he’s seen you do flawlessly at least five times now. 

You don’t look at him even after you’re back in Slave One. He and Cara have escorted Mayfeld back to the surface of the planet, and it’s just you and Fett in the cockpit. Despite the clone and bounty hunter being so much older then you, there’s something oddly comforting knowing you’re sitting next to has suffered as much as you have. If not more. 

Long story short, we both survived. 

  “You know, I’ve been with you a grand total of a day and I can already see it in your eyes, Whip.” The nickname Mayfeld had come up with in the facility has already made its rounds on the ship, and Boba feels it’s more then appropriate for the first Jedi he’s met since the kids who put him in the Sarlacc to begin with. Being inside of that thing had mellowed him out. He had accepted his life for what it was now. Oddly enough.. Boba Fett is at peace. “You’re lovesick for the Mandalorian.” 

  “Boba-” 

The older man, one who mirrored what you’d always envisioned the clones - may Maker rest their souls - to look like as they aged, removed his helmet to look at you. “Take it from someone who knows. He gets you. You get him.” Boba turned his gaze back towards the ramp of Slave One where Din was talking in low voices with Cara. “Wish I’d had a jeti like you who saw me despite the armor.” 

He stopped speaking after that.  

Taking a deep breath, you descend from the cockpit just as Slave One takes off again, the coordinates for Moff Gideon’s cruiser inputted into the navi-computer. Fennec and Cara move by you to join Boba in the cockpit which leaves you and Din alone in the cargo bay. 

It’s deadly silent. 

Ner jeti. He whispers. You can hear his thoughts as clear as you hear your own. Why will you not look at me? 

Your eyes slam shut as his fingers curl around your hips. You cannot do this to him, no matter how much you want to - no matter how much you desire to finally kiss those lips you’ve dreamt idly about so many times - because here’s the truth of it: You have suffered, parts of you have died, everything you have ever known has died, you have lost everything and didn’t even try to save those on the other end of those attachments you’d formed... but something, something good, put you right here. Right here in this moment with Din Djarin mere moments before plunging into the subject of your night terrors after months of being tormented by nightmares of your fellow Jedi being tortured by the Empire for simply existing. 

And quite frankly, there’s no one else you’d rather take that plunge with. 

That fact terrifies you. 

  “I can’t look at you, Din.” You whisper. “I can’t look at you because then that would be breaking your Creed for me... and I can’t let you do that when the baby hasn’t even seen your face yet-” 

  “Oh, believe me.” A clunk echoes in the cargo-bay as the beskar falls from his hands. Your heart stops and your breath catches in your throat as you tremble beneath his grasps, eyes still closed as he steps into the curve of your body - chest to your back - and lowers his entire head to your shoulder. “I intend for him to.” 

Din lays a kiss at the nape of your neck. Maker... he’s real. Your head starts spinning as his kiss ascends right to the shell of your ear, in which he then whispers, “Open your eyes, Sarad.” and it’s such an intimate act on the behalf of someone who has not known love until you and the baby showed up that you can’t not open your eyes. 

When you turn around, your world is enveloped in a mirage of onyx. Brown eyes. 

  “Din-” Din chuckles at your obvious reluctance because he is absolutely terrified to let you see him, the real him, vulnerable and waiting and desperate for the same acceptance. 

  “I told you my name way earlier then I ever anticipated I would.” He begins, taking your hands in his own to lay them against his cheeks. It has been so long since he allowed himself to accept touch, to accept that people in the galaxy were still gentle, that he trembles when your warmth seeps into his skin. “After what Bo-Katan told me and what Mayfeld kept saying in the transport... I’ve done alot of thinking recently, and I’m coming to the conclusion that maybe the way I was raised was wrong. There’s nothing wrong with taking the helmet off.” He exhales on a shaky breath and turns his face to kiss the inside of your hand. “But then again.. I’ve always wanted to around you.” 

Your voice is small as you ask, “Why?” 

  “Because you’ve always seen me.” Din replies. “Despite the armor and the helmet, you’ve always seen me for who I was. You saw me as a father for the-” He swallows the knot in his throat and leans inward until you are a hairs breath apart, forehead resting against yours as he pulls your body into his own. “As a father for our child. Not just as a bounty hunter, but as a man. A man I could never see myself as. When you came around, I stopped surviving. I started living.” He snorted sharply through his nose. “I almost forgot what that felt like.. I think you pulled me back right before I forgot entirely.” 

He’s so grateful. It’s hard to live feeling like you’re a ghost. 

Din tests the waters of this desire radiating from you both by applying just the barest amount of pressure of his mouth on yours. As to be expected, your entire body quakes at the contact and it takes all his physical control to not allow his spinning head to make his knees give out and send him falling on the floor. 

Oh.. he could get used to this. Used to this feeling.

He’s felt this before.

Joy. 

  “That’s the thing.” Inward, outward, forward and back again, you slowly allow yourself to succumb to Din’s kiss and grip his face in your hands just a little bit tighter. “I’ve always seen you.” You pull away just enough to force your eyes open, and then you are graced with the face of the man you love. You do. You love him, and you’ve accepted it. Kriffing Boba Fett. “And you know what? I thought I’d died before I met you. I never thought I’d make it here, much less be with you.. and I am so lucky.” There it is then, that breathless smile Din has pressed the sight of twice now into his memories, that presses itself into your aspect as the two of you look at each other. 

  “Why are you lucky?” 

You wink and shrug. ‘’Long story short?” You muse. “It’s a good thing I survived.”

Little to Din’s knowledge as he plunges into the mystery of his growing love for you - his flower, the one who made him bloom - that when he kisses you again, your eyes are wide open the entire time. 

There’s never been quite so beautiful a sight as somebody who’s survived. 

bonus: i am thinking about how beautiful pedro pascal was in this episode 

[throughtheinterstices]

massive and small stars

❝ you were a massive star destined to burn for a few hundred thousand years, culminating in an inevitable explosion. kuroo tetsuro was the sun, a small star, bound to give light for several billion years. the difference between the two of you makes you ask him how he manages to keep his light. ❞

pairing. kuroo tetsuro x fem!reader

genre. college au where you and kuroo are apartment neighbors, implied comfort 

word count. 1.7k words

warnings. themes of burnout due to the pandemic

a/n. reblogs are very much appreciated. i’d be happy to hear your thoughts too. 

HAIKYUU MASTERLIST • AO3

You are by no means an astronomer. You are studying to become a physician. You are a hundred and ten percent certain of this fact. But as you lie limp atop your unmade bed, your mind can’t help but ponder on stars, how they are made, and how they die.

The lifetime of stars depends on their size. Massive stars exhaust their energy much faster and are only able to last for a few hundred millennia. Small stars, on the other hand, burn slowly, allowing them to exist for several billion years. 

You have always been told that you were destined to be a star, to burn brighter above everyone else. You are fated for brilliance, they said. All your life, you are convinced by their words.

Entering college, you believe it is your time to shine. Your days in the dust are long gone. All the ashes and gas are finally going to pool together as the enormous celestial body everybody expected you to be. You are finally away from the drama of high school. You’re supposed to be joining organizations, getting good grades, making lots of friends, and living.

You were supposed to be doing all of that. You were finally safely moved into your one-bedroom apartment near a prestigious university in Tokyo, aching for all of it.

Then the pandemic hit. The club fairs turned into online zoom meetings. The good grades turned into just-above-the-passing-rate marks. Those friends turned into monotonous group chats about academic requirements. Living turned into surviving.

You are destined to be a star, they said. Indeed, you feel like a massive star. You expected too much, gathered too many particles from the universe, that you ended up an immense ball of burning gas about to explode in the near future. You are so close to wearing yourself out. You try everything to avoid it.

You turn up the volume of your favorite songs because maybe it will drown the negative voices in your head.

You bathe yourself in sunlight because maybe it will overpower the darkness slowly wrapping itself around you.

You soak yourself under the shower for hours because maybe it will wash away the dread and anxiety.

You laugh humorlessly.

As if.

As much as you were predetermined for greatness, you are designed for destruction as well.

You look at the time. 5:11 PM.

There’s still time before he comes. You can still take a nap. You’ve been a light sleeper for the past few months anyway. You’ll hear him knock.

The knock comes two hours later, 7:00 PM sharp.

“Good evening,” Kuroo Tetsuro says.

You mimic his greeting weakly.

Kuroo Tetsuro is your university apartment neighbor. You became friends a month into the pandemic, when he came to your rescue after you almost burned down your apartment (you left the stove on while you were in the shower). Since then, the two of you had formed an unusual partnership. He was in-charge of half of the groceries and cooking the main course. You were in-charge of the other half of the groceries and preparing dessert. You took turns with the dishes.

You’re grateful for his companionship. Somehow, being able to interact with another person face-to-face lessens the gravity of the whole situation.

Today, the weight is just a tad bit heavier for you. You barely have the energy to contribute to the dinner table conversation. You just nod along and give a few replies here and there.

After catching his fingers lingering on his phone and after noticing his sensitivity toward notification sounds, you sense that the weight is heavier for him too.

“Expecting a call?” you ask, getting a bite of tonkatsu.

“Hoping for one,” Kuroo answers, picking at his own food.

“She cut the call short again?” Whether it was his mother or his sister, you don’t bother asking. It was always between the two of them anyway.

“Didn’t even bother answering,” he says. That explains it.

You offer him a sympathetic look. “I’m sorry.”

He scoffs. “’S not your fault.”

You know that. Still, you wanted to help him.

There was only one thing you can think of at the moment.

“Dessert?” you offer.

His face lights up a bit. “Yes please.”

You give him a small smile and stand up to reach for the newly-bought mochi.

 The days after, you still feel the looming sense of your inevitable combustion. Exams were still difficult. Readings were still extensive. Social interactions were still monotonously online. Club participation was still nonexistent.

 You turn the volume of your music a little higher. You stay under the sun a little longer. You soak under the shower head a few minutes more.

Yet, you still end up on your bed, drained. Nothing’s changed.

Another thing that hasn’t changed is him.

Seven o’clock sharp, he’s there, knocking on your door (tap, tap-tap-tap, tap-tap—a unique pattern he uses every time). He still cooks you dinner. He still talks to you about his day. You never see the light leave his eyes.

Kuroo Tetsuro was a star by his own right. He was the sun, bright and warm. You are always sure of his presence. You sense the remnants of his radiance the night before in the early morning just as you wake up. You hear the warmth in his boisterous laughter through the thin walls of your apartment. You feel his blazing passion for the sport that he loves when the sound of rubber on skin hits your ears (or sometimes it’s the sound of things getting broken).

Kuroo was the sun, a small star. Small stars don’t go as loudly as massive stars do, and they stay around for much longer. But they still cease to burn once they exhaust their fuel.

You wonder, sometimes, how Kuroo manages to keep his light burning.

There are days that the darkness creeps into his being. You’ve seen it. On days when the knock on your door isn’t as loud and lively, when his hands aren’t as nimble in slicing onions, when his laugh doesn’t ring the right way. And you know that the sun, like massive stars, like all stars, will collapse.

But he doesn’t.

He still calls his mother and sister relentlessly, trying to rekindle what was once there. Despite the social barriers that the pandemic has built, you can hear him still laughing loudly with his friends on video calls. Despite the halt in sports activities, he keeps his love for volleyball burning.

It makes you rethink whether he is a star in the first place. Something as brilliant as he is, who manages to burn bright despite everything, is something out of this world.

 You ask him one day.

On this particular day, he shows you a meme, “Are medical students who graduated online called google docs?”

You give a skeptical look at the idiot who was hysterically cackling himself to death.

“Why do you laugh at this as if it’s going to solve all of your problems?” you ask him.

The premise is anything but serious. Yet, you feel like he knows what you’re talking about.

Kuroo tries to regain some composure.

“It won’t,” he says, moving a hand across his all-time bedhead. “But hey, at least even with all my problems, I was able to laugh, right?”

 Huh.

You stare at him, as if seeing the sun for the first time in a long while.

The next day is still loaded with tests and homework. You still feel dumb. You still have no friends and no clubs. You still turn up the music. You still linger under the sunlight a little while longer. Your time in the shower is still a bit lengthier.

This time, you allow these things to make you smile.

Six fifty-nine—you are by the door, waiting.

Tap, tap—

You open the door before he finishes knocking.

“Good evening,” you greet first.

“Good evening,” he says, a bit taken back.

You hum your favorite song as he cooks sanma shio yaki (which you know is his favorite) and talks about his day.

Later, when you are preparing dessert, he asks, “Did anything good happen today?”

You think about it. “Hmm… Nothing in particular. Why?”

“I just… haven’t seen that smile in a while.”

Your fingers stop cutting midway across the strawberry shortcake you bought two hours before.

“Hmm?” You glance at him in your periphery.

“Yeah. It looks pretty.” 

You take a sharp breath in.

You sense him take in his words as well.

You slowly turn your head back. As you expect, Kuroo Tetsurou has his hands scratching the back of his neck, trying to avoid your gaze.

Well, I’m not going to be the uncomfortable one here.

You allow yourself to tease him. “I do look pretty, don’t I?”

He glares at you. “As if!” But you see his ears flush pink.

You return to the strawberry shortcake that you were cutting.

You feel the edges of your lips inching their way closer to your eyes.

It’s been a while since you felt this way—this light. At the back of your mind, there were still essays to write, exams to study for, professors to impress, parents to make proud, and yourself to fix. The problems will never disappear.

And it’s not as if louder music, stronger sunlight, more bath water, and cornier jokes of the guy behind you could solve all of them.

But maybe if they can make you smile despite all the problems, then maybe… maybe you’re going to be okay.

Whether you are a massive star or whether Kuroo Tetsuro was the sun, you don’t know for sure.

You are by no means an astronomer. You are studying to become a physician. Instead of concerning yourself with celestial bodies, you should be concerning yourself with the human body.

From all the things that you were taught in medical school, this is something you know by heart: humans are made of the same elements as the stars are.

They are the same, yet they are different. Stars burn bright. And borrowing Guy Consolmagno’s words, they will end “either in a bang or in a whimper.”

Humans are different. They can burn unyieldingly without ceasing. Kuroo Tetsuro has proven that to you.

At present, that is all the reassurance that you need.

HAIKYUU MASTERLIST • AO3 LINK

[sweeethinny]

Colors

started with a one shot because I wanted to write about someone fighting with Snape during an Order meeting (because God knows I would)

ended with me writing three moments of a world where jily lives, Sirius and Hestia happen, and it takes place in 1995

TW: the first one shot - BLACK - talks about an anxiety attack, so if you don't want to read about it, just skip to the next color: YELLOW

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

Black. {respect, death, isolation, fear, loneliness.}

Sirius felt like he was going to lose his mind, and he probably would.

Memories of a past he tries so hard to forget keep coming back to him at night, preventing him from sleeping, which automatically prevents him from living as a normal human being.

But it's only when Dumbledore forbids him to leave the house for anything - Moody thinks he's too unstable - that Sirius freaks out.

He breaks everything in the attic, absolutely nothing escapes his anger. He rips up stupid family portraits, smashes stupid ceramic cups, burns old newspapers that proudly displayed a picture of the Black family on the cover - a photo he wasn't in. Sirius feels he could blow up that house if it weren't for James, Lily and Harry living there. It's basically what keeps him from ending that stupid legacy that haunts him like a death spell.

He picks up that stupid box of pictures he hid before before everyone arrives - because he's ashamed -, and starts burning them one by one with his wand, hating more than anything to notice there aren't any pictures of him in there. He's been completely erased from the family, and Sirius thinks it's a pain that will never go away.

Watching Regulus's cheerful face burn through photo after photo, enrages him even more. The golden boy, the most perfect of all, while he has his name burned on the wall, and everything that could show that were two brothers before, erased like a single misspelled word in a letter.

He doesn't exist there, only his bedroom remains, which is one of the rooms he avoids the most, although it's the only one left to prove that he once lived there.

He hates that house, he feels like marching to his parents' grave and screaming at them, and screaming at that stupid portrait of his mother until there's no more air in his lungs, because she did that to him. She's turned him into this unstable madman who needs to be chained indoors like a dog while the others work for him.

Before he could do anything else, James intervened.

And at first Sirius hated him to do that, because how could James care so much for someone like him? He wanted to scream and push James from upstairs, wanted him to leave him alone, but suddenly he didn't want any of that anymore. Then Sirius began to shamelessly cry like a child on his best friend's shoulder, sobbing as if someone had hit him.

James didn't say anything, because he was a good friend after all, just stood there, hugging Sirius and hoping that whatever happened to him would pass and he'd calm down.

Sirius felt like crap for not being as good as James.

"I'm here with you," James said, as he would say to Harry or Lily. ''Everything will be fine.''

''No, James, you know it’s not that easy, I... I can't stand being in here anymore, there's a memory wherever I look, I... Dumbledore took everything I had left, I want my freedom back, I want my motorcycle, I want my wife I want my house...'' Later, Sirius would be embarrassed for sounding so weak, but right now, he couldn't care less.

"Hestia will be here in a few days, and… it will all be over as quickly as it started, you'll see, by Christmas you'll be back to your routine."

‘’It's not true, Prongs, you know it's not. We've been in this shit for years now, I feel like I'm going to die any second.”

"You won't, I won't let you," James promises, hugging him even tighter.

Yellow. {light, warmth, relaxation, optimism, joy}

Hestia first entered Grimmauld Place during the night, a storm was falling outside and her body was cold and tense. She just wanted to see him, for Merlin's sake, just make sure he was okay. She made sure not to make so much noise because Lily said in the letter that there was a horrible portrait of Sirius' mother who would scream if you woke her up, and Hestia didn't have the patience for that.

She's had horrible days now that she's had to travel further into the woods—which doesn't help her research at all—and has been prevented from talking to him. Hestia had only spoken to Lily once, and she told her that Sirius was not well, which was nothing new as he had to go back to his parents' house and Hestia knew that it would torment him much more than it already did.

But when she arrived in the kitchen she noticed him there, sitting alone at the table, a half-empty bottle of wine and an empty glass in front of him. Sirius had his back to her, but Hestia didn't need to see him to know he had a serious expression on his face.

"You shouldn't drink this time of night," she said, her voice sounding a lot more worried than she imagined it would.

Sirius jumped up from his chair, wand already in hand, gray eyes bulging as he watched her warily. ‘’Tell me about our first time.’’

Hestia laughed. "Only you to ask me that question," She sighed. ''We were at the Potter's house, Euphemia had made the bed in the guest room for me, so I went to say good night but you started kissing me and when I saw it, I was half naked on your bed, wearing a black lingerie, and you was saying you wouldn't let me out of there ever again… Anything else?''

Sirius didn't answer her, just lowered his wand and walked over to Hestia with a face so worried she almost didn't recognize him, his arms enveloping her in a warm, familiar hug that made her bury her head in his shirt, feeling a little foolish for wanting to cry.

"I've missed you so much," Sirius said, his lips against her hair, damp from the rain and a little oily from days without washing it. “Merlin, I thought I was going crazy.” He denies it. "I went crazy actually."

"Lily told me," Hestia hugged him even tighter, wanting Sirius to understand that she was really there, that he wasn't alone. ''How are you?''

"Absolute shit…" He snorted, pulling away from her enough that Hestia could look at him more cautiously. Sunken eyes and cheeks, big dark circles, long hair, stubble… Her heart aches. “But you're here now, so we're stuck in this shit together. You can't run away from me anymore, Jones.”

''Not at all, Moody forbade me to leave the house after I got back, something about,'' Hestia pauses, remembering the unfriendly conversation they had, and how the auror yelled that ''her out-of-control husband nearly killed them ''. Sirius would probably think it was his fault that she couldn't go out anymore. Which was half true, but then again, Hestia didn't help herself when she lost her temper and yelled at Moody back. "About him and Dumbledore not wanting to take chances with one of us out of the house."

“They think I'm crazy, don't they?” His jaw tensed, his gray eyes seeming to burn. "Well, I'm sorry if I didn't keep quiet when I heard someone talking shit about my godson and calling him a liar."

"You don't help Harry at all if you keep threatening other Aurors."

"I know." He sighed, leaning his forehead against hers, keeping his eyes steady on hers. There was a faint booze smell to him, but nothing to make her think he was completely drunk. "But you know how I am."

"I know," Hestia placed her hands on his face, making a brief caress of his cheek before leaning in to kiss him. "I love you, but I prefer you without that beard."

"I was thinking of making it look like Dumbledore's." Sirius chuckled softly, his eyes still closed and his lips touching hers.

"Do that, and you'll never see the middle of my legs again."

"Ouch, it's not fair," He looked at her, his gray irises gleaming in amusement as he pouted softly.

"Take it or leave it, Black." Hestia pulled away from him, grabbing her suitcase from the floor. “I need to take a shower.” She arched her eyebrows. 'Will you keep me company?'

“Of course, I hear this house is very haunted, so I'll have to stay with you to protect you from the ghosts.” They walked out of the kitchen, taking slow steps so as not to wake the fucking portrait.

''Thank you so much, I'm terrified of haunting.'' Hestia smiled, letting him lead her to his room - which looked strangely untouched - and then to the bathroom, with Sirius talking non-stop about how he would protect and secure her, so that Hestia didn't have her foot pulled during the night.

“We'll have to sleep cuddled together so that doesn't happen.” He took off his shirt, and Merlin, how she missed him. "And no clothes." Sirius waved his wand at the water to fill the tub, then unzipped his pants and took them off along with his underwear.

''I'm sure yes.''

Red. {passion, lust, war, danger, violence}

It is during a meeting of the Order that Hestia loses her temper.

She was sitting next to Sirius and holding hands with him, as they usually are, talking quietly about everything and nothing while Molly doesn't come down and McGonagall doesn't arrive. Everyone is there, she knows it, and every now and then someone looks at the nearly untouched glass of firewhiskey in front of Sirius, but she doesn't care, she keeps talking to him and making him chuckle softly, saying how indecent her new panties are just because she likes to tease him.

And because things are getting more and more tense.

Living in that house didn't just affect Sirius, but she too, and every now and then Hestia finds herself close to breaking everything in sight, blind with rage that Dumbledore has trapped them there like a lab rat, thinking that if Sirius doesn't explode that house, or that damned picture of his mother, she goes.

Anxiety gnaws at her inside and every day she wakes up thinking that this will be the last, tomorrow they will return to their home, safe and sound, enjoying their freedom again, and Hestia won't have to worry about talking portraits and a elf that pisses her off, no matter how kind she tries to be.

But when Snape speaks - something she's been ignoring since he arrived - she just can't take it anymore.

''Like Black could do anything, being trapped in here.'' He says, in that petulant tone he's been throwing at her, Sirius, James and Lily every meeting, and Hestia's chest burns, finally finding a good target to take out all her anger.

She knew Lily said it was best to ignore him, she tried to do it, but Hestia couldn't do it anymore, not when Dumbledore trapped them there now that they were no longer useful making them almost insane. Driving Sirius insane! How can he trap him in the only house he knows would affect him, in an environment where for years he's been frowned upon and unloved, making him wake up the demons that have long been sleeping.

Sirius was getting sick in there and Dumbledore couldn't care less.

Without saying a word she reached for her wand at her hip, standing up and nearly knocking over the chair behind her, making everyone look at her as she sewed Snape's mouth shut and stopped him from talking any more, eyes getting huge in his face.

"Speak one more time of my husband and I'll kill you, and I'm not even kidding," Hestia said, her voice low and her eyes hard on that coward. ''I've killed a lot of Death Eaters in the last few years, and I would have done it to you in a blink if Dumbledore hadn't convinced himself that you're worth some shit. But I don't believe it, Snape, I know you, you're nothing more than a scared coward who runs when sees the boat sinking, so think twice before talking about my husband, because I can kill you without you even seeing where the spell came from.'' She undid the invisible ropes that they kept his mouth shut, and the man let out an exaggeratedly long breath of air, but Hestia didn't mind.

She sat back down, feeling her heart beat much faster than normal, hot blood rushing through her veins and making her feel feverish.

Sirius smiled, putting his arm over her shoulder and staring at Severus near the other end of the table, his eyes blazing with anger but still looking too scared to speak. Coward.

It didn't take long for the meeting to start, obviously Dumbledore being an idiot every time he needed to talk to her, probably wanting to remind her who was in charge here, like he did at Hogwarts. Well, she hadn't been his student for years now, so she couldn't have cared less about it, honestly.

[sixteenthshen]

i need help

I read a post on Zhihu last night - “How to evaluate the finale of Word of Honor?” The top commenter’s writing just killed me.

Heavy spoilers for episode 33/34. There’re no spoilers for the episodes after that, but I can’t guarantee this if there are replies.

The rest hidden behind a cut. 

I don’t need help explaining the finale or the happy ending, bad ending whatever it is, I’ve found my own way to come to terms with it. But I can’t accept what happened in 33/34 and the lack of follow up on the core of the issue, and that’s blocking me from enjoying the “HE”. To be fair, I think I may be a bit hormonal? Because this is really making me feel like crap. 

-----

This is a comment made by a Chinese user on Zhihu: 

I only want to say; the show might as well have ended when A-Xu jumped down the cliff after WKX. Even though it's a bit lame, at least the soulmate feelings were still there.

The grand finale basically destroyed the soulmate bond built up over 20+ episodes. The essence of it is gone; all of the "candy" and "knives" feel like they've been stripped away.

I've written so much about WKX & ZZS and how they were both falling for each other, saving each other. And now it all looks like a big joke.

It turns out ZZS's soulmate is ZZH, not WKX. The mountains and rivers in the world can't compare to meeting my soulmate. Since my soulmate is gone, I might as well die. (Play on the quote from the drama, instead of why should I live, it becomes I should just die)

(The poster starts talking to ZZS directly - referring to him as you) You're really a mistreated (tortured?) concubine, aren't you? Once you decide to give your whole heart, whole person away, you somehow always end up meeting some fake evil bastard (reference to Farewell my Concubine, basically that ZZS always ends up being suckered)

When you first fell into Prince Jin's trap, it's because you were young and not yet wise to the ways of the world, and believed in the grand words of your cousin and got conned into the world of politics. Sinking into the dirtiest, muddiest of marshes.

You plotted tirelessly for 18 months, suffered through 18 months of pain from the 7 nails, and finally exchanged it for 3 years of freedom. But when you met WKX, you fell right back in again.

Heraclitus said, "You cannot step into the same river twice" <<(I think this person mixed up the meaning of this quote, cause it doesn't fit, but basically intends to say people shouldn't make the same mistake twice)

The first time you stepped into the river, you got away with only half your life. The next time you stepped into the river, you nearly lost your life 4x (under YBY's sword, when you jumped off the cliff to your death for love, pulling out your nails, exploding the mountain to cause an avalanche + suicide), in the end you became a living dead person on Changming mountain.

I don't know if I should call you a living dead man, anyway, in my heart, once you pulled out the nails from your body, cutting off any other alternative you had just to help WKX take revenge… while WKX came back from the dead, and worked with everyone present at the scene to give the performance of a lifetime, you were already dead.

What a mockery, a farce.

You gave up everything but in the end, you were nothing more than a spectator.

He wanted you to give him face, to let him go home to explain things. You quietly stepped aside and gave him the stage. He wanted your baiyi sword to demonstrate his family's sword technique, to prove his identity. You gave it to him without a second word. He cut Zhao Jing's arms and legs tendons, crippled his martial arts, finally took revenge. You were happy for him despite everything.

When Mo Huaiyang accused him of being the Ghost Valley Master, he openly admitted to it and said the entire first part was just an act. You stood in front of him, to protect him. Said he is your shidi, and stood with him without any reservations.

But he had secretly already reached an agreement with Ye Baiyi. He knew YBY wouldn't hurt him, but you didn't know and yet you still shielded him. So terribly afraid that YBY would hurt him because of his identity. 

Everyone knew this was part of the scheme he laid out, everyone participated in his scheme. Only you didn't know. Only you foolishly believed that he wouldn't be alright without you, that he needed you to help him take revenge. That he had his difficulties so he couldn't confess the truth to you, as long as he did, then you would be the first to know everything. That he was your soulmate. This word "soulmate", if said enough times, it would even be real. In this life, right up until the end, we can't even fully understand ourselves, how do we talk about others?

----- 

the source is the top voted answer here. I like this poster a lot, she shared some great things throughout the course of the drama, 3 of which were the base of poems-related posts I’ve made here. I was doing fine before, but in the course of translating this answer for a friend, I made myself feel worse.

She later forced herself to look at it from WKX’s perspective and wrote a piece on it as well, but it... was very forced and I’m not too sure she even believed it herself. She ended that part with - “this made her feel very keenly that no matter how similar two souls may be, in the end, they are still two souls. He isn’t you and he will never be you. You can work endlessly and tirelessly to be closer, but your souls can never meet.”

I... I’m too sad to translate the WKX part in order to be fair to WKX in this post (if I feel better about it, i will later? but it didn’t make me feel better at all tbh) 

Can someone who can articulate well and believe that what WKX did was right, please help to make me understand episodes 32-34 from his perspective?

My main issues are:

We never got a proper 1-to-1 discussion between WKX and ZZS over the issue. At first, they were celebrating as a group, I can accept it. There wasn’t a time or place.

But when ZZS went back to his room early and sober, when everyone else was still drinking and having fun, I felt so bad for him.

When WKX came into his room, looking for ZZS when drunk, I know it isn’t supposed to be like this - but I can’t help but feel he didn’t dare to talk to A-Xu 1-to-1. Instead he went when he was drunk to spill his heart. It can be thought of as sweet, because the first person he thinks of when he’s drunk is A-Xu... but I can’t help but find it very selfish, because it leaves A-Xu with no way to talk about things. If you’ve ever talked to a drunk while sober, you would understand what I mean, it’s a one-way conversation, you can’t get anything through.

But that conversation left A-Xu with enough guilt that he can’t come clean to WKX about what he did. How can he tell WKX that he pulled out his nails, and is about to die. To take away WKX’s happiness, when Lao Wen just told him about how happy he was to have him in his life?

Lao Wen had 0 intention to be cruel, but it ended up being more cruel. And this lack of a proper discussion between the two of them, makes me call into question the whole thing about soulmates. I believe Lao Wen loves A-Xu the best he can (with his somewhat emotionally stunted self), but he’s not putting himself in the other person’s shoes to care for them. 

Love =/= care. And by not caring enough in this matter, I feel it’s thrown him into OOC. Where is the WKX who cared so much for ZZS at the start? Where is the tenderness? 

The drama never properly addressed why WKX faked his death and not tell A-Xu. The only reason they gave was that A-Xu was heavily injured (through Wu Xi). WKX just admitted he was wrong (and should drink). That’s all.

Thankssss. 

Please don’t preach to me about the happy ending or talk about the finale. I personally can’t resolve 32-34, I have found a way to accept the ending as long as I can accept these 3 episodes.

I may not be able to immediately accept your POV but I will force myself to try to find something that fits. I want to keep shipping wenzhou :( 

[pirate-kwazii]

Watching Ring Of Fire now so here’s more of my thoughts

Is that a fence in the water

Is everyone groaning about the sea urchin and crab or yawning? I can’t tell

Okay I’ve had the Vegimals song stuck in my head for awhile now

Kwazii’s alarm clock shoots tennis balls at him- same

And Dashi starts the day with yoga

Tweaks fell asleep playing video games mood

Shellington what the fUCK

Tf is that- is that lava?!?

Oh ring of fire like the volcanoes- I feel stupid now

They’re doing their role call out of order

What the fuck Kwazii why did you eat 17 kelp cakes

Is the only thing you eat is seaweed

VIDEO TRAINING VIDEO TRAINING

*terrible accordion playing* *everyone winces*

How many cousins do you have peso?!?!

Kwazii: I’m going out and FAST!!!!

Captain: *eyebrow raise*

Kwazii: I mean I’m checking the engine

MORE GUPS?!?!

“Don’t push the Z button” Kwazii is definitely going to press it I bet all 3 of my dollars

Wait why did Peso and Barnacles need a Gup if they were taking the octopod?!

How much time does Tweak have to keep making all these gups?!

Aw Kwazii loves that Gup so much

WHAT IS BARNACLES WEARING WHAT THE HELL NO

Kwazii’s copying it omg-

Shellington and Dashi are such nerd friends it’s actually adorable

Tremors those are probably important

Ring-shape? Like the ring of fire-

Oh no comms are down

A TSUNAMI?!?!

Mateys you should’ve stayed at the Octopod

Kwazii saved Tweak’s life and now it’s flooding

Why don’t they know about the Ring of Fire if they LIVE in the ocean

Oh no the comms are down they can’t reach them!!!!

Damn at least no one is alone...

Of course the Chinstrap Penguins live on a volcano

Well at least Shellington and Dashi are alright and above water so there’s a lower chance of drowning

“How does he know I’m an octonaut?” Maybe it’s because you’re wearing the octonauts colors and the logo all over it

Wow itd be faster to push the stupid thing

Last time you guys followed the screaming sound there was a tsunami

Well at least you found the whales you wanted to find

“I’ve always wanted to see a whale but not like this!” I’d sure hope so Shellington

Of course the volcano erupts

Tweak Kwazii are ya okay?!

THEY DONT HAVE AIR TANKS ON THEM OH NO

TWEAK!!!

Now is not the time to copy Barnacles- holy shit it worked

She just noticed that?!

Shit you guys are stuck

Kwazii beggars can’t be choosers

Why is that the only way to get across Tweak

No Tweak pay attention

ITS ON FIRE

I really hope you guys can hold your breath

She’s pulling a Ladybug and the things she looks at glow now

Improvised fire extinguisher

WHY IS EVERYTHING ON FIRE ARENT YOU UNDERWATER

Eww they landed in seaweed and a banana peel

Why does everyone end in the garbage disposal- sorry compost

Oh he almost fell in-

*opens door and floods room* Guess we’re swimming after all

Tunip leave him it’s natural selection

Grouber just sits and eats during a panic- same

“Lesson Nine- dealing with disasters” what

Why is the background of those videos so bad

I mean it’s rad but also bad

Tunip: *hands the Vegimals a bunch of shovels* good luck

Mateys how did that dirt pile work-

*quickly unplants all the seaweed*

*vacuums the animals*

LEAVE THE SEAWEED YOU HAVE ENOUGH

“You gotta save us!” Why didn’t you get their attention sooner?

Why do none of them notice the volcanoes that they live on/near

We’ve seen the rafts it won’t work

How the hell did you think of that

Is that even possible

They only leave Inkling in charge when legit no one else is there

Kwazii and Tweak: *mimic pirates, rabbits and Barnacles*

Peso and Barnacles: *mimic penguins*

How was the lava that aLMOST COOKED YOUR EGGS NOT A WARNING SIGN

Wow Inkling is not good at this I see why he’s never in charge

Even Kwazii and the Vegimals have managed the octopod better than that

Why is there is Disco Ball

Why does it always switch to the training videos

“Dashi’s so good at this” yeah it’s almost like it’s her JOB

There was a BUTTON FOR THAT EXACT REASON AND YOU DIDNT THINK TO PRESS IT FIRST?!?!?!

Took you long enough jeez

What is they fall off of the “slide”

“Mothers and babies first” anyone else can perish

Well that egg is dead

Oh never mind he got it

WHY DIDNT YOU TWO GET ON THE SIDE TOO TWEAK WOULD UNDERSTAND

I mean she and Kwazii are trying not to be set on fire so I’m sure she’d get it

“I just hope everyone else is okay” well shellington and Dashi are stuck on a volcano that’s exploding trying to get a beached whale out on a very slow Gup, the Vegimals are trying to evacuate the garden, and Tweak and Kwazii are trying to get out of the burning and flooding repair area so no I don’t think anyone else is okay

“This isn’t working” no really Dashi

Oh the crabs know Kwazii that explains so much

Another Training Video?!

The crew all look so nervous when they appear in a training videos

Oh now Dashi and Shellington are mimicking Tweak

Poor Shellington he’s clumsy

“I have to say I.. really like that plan” yea cuz it’s the one that doesn’t involve you burning in the lava

Shellingtons getting a workout in oof

He’s about to fall into the lava

Now the crabs about to fall into the water

Oh god he’s screwed

Crab jump on the whale- now he’s flying

Shellington get out of the lava!!!

Alright some people are safe

Oh never mind the other volcanoes are erupting too

That water level is dangerously high are they gonna be okay

Kwazii don’t phrase it like that it sounds like you’ll die

KWAZII!!!!!

Oh god oh no his tail

Mimicking Barnacles saved the day

TWEAK!!! KWAZII!!!

Oh they are alright thank god

They’re gonna be traumatized from this- *angst time*

“And how will we get up there” Kwazii making good points again

Kwazii with a grappling hook is a terrifying idea please get one

And now they find out the comms are down

Kwazii trying to be helpful

WHY DOES SHE HAVE AN EMERGENCY CARROT STASH

KWAZII GOT ONE TOO

Another video but this ones useless-

TWEAK YOU TURNED OFF THE POWER

They sounded the octo alert together!!!

Babies

EVERYONES OKAY!!!!

OF COURSE THERES ANOTHER ONE

Kwazii and Tweak: ya we’re good

Also them: *trying to not to drown or burn*

They are all gonna connect to each other like Voltron aren’t they

KWAZII DID PRESS IT IM NOT LOSING MY $3 TODAY!!!

Tweak: I got a plan

*crashes through the hatch*

Kwazii: *excited cat sounds*

Yeah they’re going together naturally

“Mega Gup Z” epic naming skills Tweak

“Seat swap” “wait a minute- WHOA”

“It’s completely covered in sea creatures” there’s no way you get all of them

Oh good some are swimming away

“Sit tight” they can’t really do anything else Captain

Do we know where they go after being S U C C E D into the mega Gup z?

And now rocks are everywhere

Kwazii’s excited cat noises are giving me life

Couldn’t the crabs walk away?

Oh no they’re getting stuck in the volcano-

Oh they’re good thank Neptune

Dashi: yea it’s bout to erupt we gotta go

Peso: I saw something inside there we gotta go look

Does Peso want them to die

Of course the animals sound snobby

“Why ever would we do that” CUZ ITS ERUPTING i swear all the creatures have the IQ of a walnut

“I didn’t even make a button for it” bruh

Yeah just like Voltron

Kwazii: *even more excited cat noises cuz he gets to destroy things*

Why do you all name the moves with the word “mantis” in front of them?

They all share one braincell and Barnacles and Peso have it 90% of the time

Tweak gets the other 10%

Everyone else runs on pure chaotic energy

“Tweak Status Report!” Tweak: WE ARE FUCKED

Let Tweak say “Fuck” 2k21

Kwazii: *e x c i t e d c a t n o i s e s*

*throws sea creatures at whale*

*blows up into five gups in massive explosion in front of erupting volcano*

Is all that sea urchin thinks about is food

“You know what I’d like? Dinner” “you know what pal, that sounds great”

“Have the eruptions stopped” “yea but that’s not what I called about”

Is Inkling trying to be more than that guy who sits in his library all day?

Yea it’s not hatching because of the bandage all around it

Please say the egg doesn’t die

Oh it’s alive good

Octonauts: remember that island that got destroyed by a volcano? Would you like to live on an island that volcano created?

Penguins: not really

Octonauts: too bad

Vegitoa? Wow

ITS THAT STUPID SONG AGAIN LAST TIME IT WAS IT MY HEAD FOR TWO WEEKS

“It still felt like we were working as a team” maybe cuz you were all copying each other the whole time

“You really, really need to update those training videos” yeah fair enough

Of course the Vegimals still remember the dance

I see what the hype was about that was a fantastic movie mateys... though everyone’s probably gonna have some problems after that

[clairescotts]

sugar we’re going down swinging.

"i just don't want to see you get hurt again, c. remember how crushed you were after you know who?" her best friend brought up, matter of factly.   "crushed is a little dramatic, a. and you can say his name. he’s not voldemort. " claire responded with a roll of her eyes. only to receive a scoff from the other woman in return. “please. you were like bella swan in new moon, but worse. girl, it was dark.” alexandra blair. roommate. best friend. wing woman. also: a fellow nepotism baby. she was right. the hole that peyton valdonna left in the heart of claire scott felt astronomical. so many days and nights where the heart ache felt simply unbearable, the pain would be evermore.  that’s why she guarded her heart so tight in the first place. ‘i’m desperately trying to protect my heart here.’ she remembers telling him after he told her he was in love with her. so scared of getting her heart broken and it happened anyway. however, the blonde didn’t blame him so much as she blamed herself.  how she could just let a boy ruin her so easily.  newsflash: there were a million brown hair, hazel eyed boys out there. peyton blake valdonna was just another boy. no he wasn't.

��it was the oldest story in the book: the ice princess’ true love melts her icy heart, only for it to freeze up again when he leaves. claire couldn’t let other people dictate her happiness.  dorota’s only piece of advice was: love is like a head wound. it makes you dizzy and you think you die, but you recover. usually. yeah, claire was... okay. 

"just don't sleep with him, okay?" mocha hues suddenly widened at the statement that fell from her best friend's mouth. "what? why the hell would i do that? " "oh, come on. you'll find something to argue about like always, you'll get in each other's faces, then that repressed sexual tension will just bubble up and explode .  i'm just saying think with your brain and not your...”  “oh my god... okay. i’m going to see mom, bye!” hurrying out of their home, the blonde couldn’t get out of there fast enough. of course she wasn’t going to sleep with him. god, she did have some self respect. and morals, she had those too.

cece scott was a private person. claire had always known her mother had secrets. she just didn’t know how dangerous or hurtful they could be. six months ago, the woman told her only child she was dying. the cancer diagnosis came long before that and it was hidden... just like everything else in the walls of their home.  they fought at the dinner table, cece just wanted her to understand why. i was trying to protect you, i didn’t want you to worry if i was able to recover. maybe the words selfish bitch left her lips,  she couldn’t really recall. okay, fine they totally did. but the girl was just hurt.  actually, the word hurt didn’t even began to describe how she felt. her dad was cold in the ground, her mom would join him soon enough. it wasn’t fucking fair. she felt robbed. robbed of... everything. the last scott left. sad, little rich girl that lost her parents. she didn’t know how her heart could recover from this. if it could ever recover. 

why don’t they prepare for that? when the perfect life you thought you had goes black? when no one comes to save you, you'll learn to save yourself.  the world, it just keeps going on while you're going through hell. 

giving the front desk peyton’s name, she shot him a quick text with the floor and room number.  truthfully, it was rare not to see the blonde at the hospital.  claire might as well be living there at this point. everyone stays to take it day by day, but they were taking it second by second. a soft knock snapped her out of her thoughts as she glanced towards the door that was always left cracked open a little, “yeah, come in.” claire didn’t know what to expect when she saw him again, but the giant room suddenly felt like it was getting smaller by the second. oh god, she wanted to puke.  "oh, family reunion." the blonde remarked. daggers immediately coming from her mom. cece scott may have been on her death bed, but she was never too sick to give her daughter a dirty look. it was their love language.  "alright, i'm leaving. don't bite my head off, cecilia." to say the claire hauled ass out of there was the understatement of the god damn century. that girl could not leave that room fast enough. wow what a trend today. 

[cactusnymph]

Prompt fill #9 for @dimension20alphabet:

Injury

The air smells of smoke, dust and blood.

 Fabian is pretty sure that his left foot is broken, which sucks because he’s going to have a hard time kicking anyone’s ass without both his feet. Dancing will also be difficult.

 He clutches his battle sheet and tries to pull his foot out of the rubble it got stuck between. If he gets his hands on the bastards who made this damn cave explode above them even their ancestors are going to have a headache waking up tomorrow.

 But for that to happen, Fabian needs to get out of here.

 “Fabian?”

 Riz’ voice sounds hoarse and muffled and Fabian assumes that he’s somewhere behind another pile of rubble.

 “I’m over here”, he answers and tries to make his voice sound casual and not like he wants to do something embarrassing, like whimper from the pain. Fabian can barely anything and breathing is hard because there is so much dust in the air.

 “I’ll—let me see if I can get to you. You okay?”, Riz asks. Fabian doesn’t waste his breath to answer, he tries to push some of the rubble away from his ankle and lets out a wheezing breath. His mouth tastes like iron.

 He can hear Riz try to move the rubble out of the way, but his arms are like tiny twigs so Fabian doesn’t see how he’ll get any of that shit to move. And Fabian, being uselessly stuck with his damn foot, can’t help him.

 Fabian thought that splitting up the party was the smartest move, but now he regrets their choices because damn, they sure could use Kristen’s healing or Adaine’s magic or Gorgug’s insane muscles to move some of this shit.

 The quest to defeat the Night Yorb hasn’t exactly gone well so far. Fabian feels like being stuck in a fucking cave with his foot broken and his mouth full of blood is the peak of bad luck that they have reached so far. He can only hope that the others had more success on their ventures.

 But as far as he knows, they’re also stuck somewhere in here.

 Fabian never specifically had a problem with small, closed spaces, but right now he feels like his chest is unusually tight and he could swear that the damn ceiling is getting closer while he’s desperately trying to get his foot unstuck.

 The rubble behind him shifts and a few pained noises bring Fabian back to reality as a small, lithe shape wiggles itself through an impossible tiny crack made in the pile behind him as Riz appears, his head bleeding profusely and his face contorted in a mix of determination and pain.

 “Are you okay?”, Riz asks again the second he scrambles through the hole he made. Fabian notices that his hands are also bleeding—probably from digging through all those stones. Something in Fabian’s chest feels like a nervous bird fluttering against his rib cage and it takes him a confused moment to realize that it’s his heart.

 Riz has been different since they defeated the Nightmare King.

 More self confident somehow. Less awkward. Scarily competent.

 And he stopped wearing his hat.

 Fabian has been feeling weird around him for a while, but the fact that this little Goblin dug himself through sharp rocks to get to him, bleeding and bruised and hurt, and the first thing he does is ask if Fabian is okay—it does things to him.

 Fabian refuses to acknowledge this.

 “My foot is stuck”, he says.

 Riz—and he’s been Riz for a while now, at least in Fabian’s head, and not The Ball anymore—turns his huge, yellow eyes to the stones that are crushing Fabian’s foot between them.

 “Got it”, Riz says and without doing anything about his bleeding head or his bleeding hands he gets to work, his small frame working tirelessly, determined, stubborn even. The rocks are big—way too big for Riz to actually lift them.

 But Riz wouldn’t be Riz if he wouldn’t be a nerd even about stuff like this.

 Using his sword as leverage he manages to roll the bigger ones off of the pile. While he works Fabian can see blood dripping down the sword and Riz’ face.

 He swallows heavily.

 “You’re bleeding”, he croaks.

 “I know. I’ll take care of it in a second”, Riz answers.

 He’s focused.

 Fabian knows that, when Riz gets like this, there is no way to deter him from the task at hand. It sometimes happens for a project at school, or when he has a case he’s close to cracking. He disappears into his head and into his task at hand and it takes hours for him to appear again.

 Fabian doesn’t know when exactly he started to catalogue all of Riz’ facial expressions and behaviors, but he has quite the collection so far.

 Riz works in silence. Sometimes, when he gets like this, he starts mumbling to himself, but not this time.

 He looks almost grim.

 Fabian isn’t sure if it’s actually getting warmer in here or if that’s just him.

 “Do you think the others got stuck as well?”, he says to distract himself from the heat crawling under his skin and the fluttering in his chest.

 “Probably not. By my estimation they should be way further down already”, Riz murmurs and wipes some sweat off his forehead, which simply leaves a smearing of blood where his hand touches his green skin.

 Fabian has no idea since when his damn brain finds it mesmerizing to see blood on his best friend’s skin, but here he is, staring at Riz because he looks weirdly... ragged? Badass?

 Fabian is annoyed at himself.

 When he finally feels the weight lifted off his ankle he pulls his leg out and makes a pained noise in the back of his throat that causes Riz’ concentrated gaze to turn to him. His yellow eyes remind Fabian of cats’ eyes in the dark and he swallows again as Riz comes over to him and touches Fabian’s face to turn his head to the side so he can inspect his wounds.

 Fabian’s heart stumbles in his chest.

 Gods dammit, this is completely ridiculous.

 “You bleeding anywhere else?”, Riz asks and then his eyes find Fabian’s and they’re staring at each other. Fabian knows that Riz is in no headspace to think about kissing, but damn, Fabian does. Fabian’s stupid brain tells him to just grab Riz by the shoulders and pull him down, pull him on top of Fabian to minimize the space between them—

 “Fabian? You got a concussion? Let me check your eyes.”

 Riz gets even closer.

 Fabian thinks he might die.

 He thinks about the way Aelwyn made him feel back then, when he got so excited about kissing her again. Somehow that was nothing compared to how he’s been feeling about Riz for a while now. As Fig said, kissing someone you’re “madly in love with just hits different”.

 “Don’t think so”, he manages and his voice sounds like sandpaper on stone.

 “Okay. I have my healer’s kit. Just let me clean my hands real quick.”

 Fabian watches how Riz procures water and his healer’s kit from his bag and starts washing his hands as good as he can before he tries to wrap bandages around both of his hands. He lets out a frustrated hiss.

 “Let me—“, Fabian says and grabs Riz’ hands.

 To be fair, Fabian never paid much attention when Cathilda or Kristen tried to teach him first aid because it never was of much interest to him—and now he definitely wishes he had listened a little closer. But it can’t be that difficult to wrap a tiny pair of Goblin hands in bandages to make them stop bleeding.

 “You have to do, like, a kind of V-shape. Yeah. Like that. Not too tight, please. Yeah, that works.”

 What Fabian didn’t really think through was that now he’s somewhat holding Riz’ hands. Which doesn’t exactly help his brain or his heart to calm down. At least his internal turmoil distracts him from the pain and the situation they’re currently in.

 He remembers how Riz stole that healer’s kit on their very first day of school. He’s had it ever since and restocked it carefully for each of their adventures, taking great care to learn how to give first aid to his friends when everyone else was out of spells or they were separated.

 “Thanks, Fabian”, Riz says once it’s done and he wiggles his fingers slightly, then turns his eyes back on Fabian’s face.

 “I’ll take care of your head first and then I can check out that foot. Maybe I can—I dunno. Make a splint or something.”

 “You—uh. You got really good at this”, Fabian says and turns his gaze upwards so he doesn’t have to focus on Riz’ yellow eyes right in front of him anymore.

 “Thanks”, Riz mumbles and his bandages fingers touch Fabian’s face gently.

 Fabian kind of wishes one of the rocks had just knocked him out.

 This is pathetic.

 He is Fabian Aramais Seacaster.

 Maybe his confidence died briefly—or for a longer period of time—back on their Spring Break adventure, but he’s been building it back up! He’s a catch! He’s amazing!

 Riz should be the one getting nervous because he’s allowed to touch Fabian’s handsome face.

 “I think once we’re patched up you should take my sword and teleport through all that rubble and I’ll try to crawl back. We need to find the others.”

 “You shouldn’t crawl back through that, The Ball”, Fabian says, thinking about Riz’s bloody hands. Riz shouldn’t get hurt on Fabian’s behalf.

 Gods, Fabian has it bad.

 “It’s fine. I’m smaller than you, so it’s easier for me. And I don’t think you should move too much with that brok—“

 “I’m in—I have feelings. For you.”

 Silence.

 Fabian doesn’t dare to breathe. Two seconds ago it felt right to finally say it, but now he’s regretting all his life choices leading up to this, as Riz’ yellow eyes stare at him, his small fingers still on Fabian’s forehead, holding a piece of gauze against the wound.

 “Wh—what?”

 “Forget it—it’s uh—I probably do have a concussion. Nevermind!”

 He can tell that Riz doesn’t buy it and also that Fabian’s words have ripped him out of his state of hyper-focus, something that Fabian has never managed to do before. Maybe he should feel kind of proud. But instead he feels sick to his stomach.

 “Feelings? Like—uh—like...”

 Fabian sees the confidence slip from Riz’ face like a mask he wore, and underneath is still the socially awkward kid handing people fucking business cards and vomiting inside of backpacks because he heard some clues.

 “Yeah. Like that”, he says.

 It’s hard to see in the dark, but Fabian could swear that Riz’ cheeks are tinted dark green.

 “Really?”

 His voice sounds very small now. Nervous. As if he expects Fabian to start laughing and say “Of course not, The Ball”. Which is probably fair. It’s not like Fabian ever managed to make his appreciation of his best friend very clear.

 “Hm.”

 “Oh.”

 “Oh? What does that mean?”

 “I—uh—I don’t. Um—this is—“

 Riz laughs nervously and turns his head.

 “I didn’t—um. Well”, he laughs again and sits down, hugs his knees and props his chin on top of them. “I kinda didn’t expect to ever hear that. From you. Um—yeah. It’s been... a long time. For me? I guess.”

Fabian’s brain short circuits and his heart does a very complicated dancing routine.

 “You—what?”

 Riz peaks up at him. Shrugs.

 “I’ve kinda been in love with you since. I don’t even know. A long time.”

 “For real?”

 “Yeah. For real.”

 “Okay, fuck this cave. Fuck this whole thing. We have to get out of here so I can fucking kiss your brains out. Give me your sword.”

 Riz hides his face for a second and then he laughs, a shaky, nervous but also happy laugh. He does not hand Fabian his sword.

 “First the wounds. Then the sword. Then—then the other stuff.”

 “Fine. You better hurry up.”

 “I will. Hold still.”

 Fabian is still determined to kick everyone’s ass once they get out of this. But maybe he’ll also send them some fruit baskets to the hospital afterwards.

[pastorpresent]

Set after My Bloody Valentine

-

Dean can't do this again. He can't.

Sam knew where they were taking him as soon as they put him in the car, and he hadn't said a single word as he sat in the passenger seat and stared out the window.

Even Cas tried to make small talk (albeit very awkwardly) but Sam just didn't respond, and Dean could see the sweat beading on his forehead, the slight tremor in his hands as the minutes ticked by, and it wasn't fair.

Sam's hunger couldn't just disappear with famine. That's not how it worked.

Dean can't even blame him for drinking the stuff in the first place.

The kid had done everything in his power to hold out. He had told Dean, got him to chain him up to a sink for crying out loud. And he still fought through the hunger to kill famine, instead of enjoying the buffet lined up right in front of him.

He was proud of Sam. Really, really fucking proud.

And his reward for it all?

Another awful round of withdrawal, locked up in a panic room strapped down to a bed.

-~-~-

"Dean... Dean help me!"

He could feel Cas watching him and he resisted the urge to snap at the angel for it as he lifted the beer bottle to his lips.

"Dean! Dean please- God!" Sam screamed out, sobbing, and Dean's expression must've faltered a little too much because Cas finally spoke.

"It's all in his head. He's fine, the blood withdrawal is just making him think he isn't."

It's supposed to reassure him, he knows that, but it just feels like empty words because Sam doesn't sound ok at all and even if it is just in his head, he's still hurting. And alone.

And he gets that they need to let Sam get it out his system and work through the withdrawal, but does he really need to be alone through it all?

He's standing and handing his empty bottle to Cas before he can even really finish the train of thought, heading straight for the door.

"Dean, what are you doing?"

"I can't do it, Cas. I can't leave him in there suffering again. I may not be able to do much, but I can at least try and provide a distraction for crying out loud." He began undoing the locks on the door, and whether the angel remained silent in agreement or because he knew any objections would fall on deaf ears, Dean wasn't certain.

He stepped inside and shut the door behind him, heard the locks being slid back into place.

Sam was startlingly still on the bed, his body tense. His eyes where screwed shut as he whimpered, and Dean swallowed as he made his way over.

"Sammy?"

His brothers eyes shot open suddenly, but instead of relief, Sam just looked terrified. His face went a shade paler, and a sob exploded from deep in his chest.

"N-no! N-not Dean, no!" He was starting to get more and more worked up, thrashing on the bed as Dean got closer. Like he was trying to get away, escape.

"Hey, calm down. It's just me-"

"N-no! It's... it's in my head. I'm not stupid! Just... anyone but him again, I can't do it again, please." Sam broke down in painful sobs, and he tried to curl in on himself only to remember he couldn't because of the bonds keeping his body in place.

"Sammy-"

"No! No! Get out, no! Anyone else, let anyone else do it, I... i can't hear it from Dean again. I- I'll just... I'll fucking die." He had no clue who Sam was addressing, but the kid was clearly distressed. His chest was heaving, and he tried to pull himself free again. When that didn't work he started lifting his head and slamming it back down hard enough to hurt, his eyes screwing shut.

Dean rushed over, grabbing Sam's hand in his own. He had to use his other hand to grip Sam's jaw, stopping him from slamming his head back and seriously injuring himself.

"Sam... Sam hey. It's me, baby brother. It's just me. I'm here." Dean promised, stroking some sweaty strands of hair away from Sam's face.

"You're not real." Sam croaked miserably, but Dean could feel him still clinging to his hand like a tether to his life.

It broke his fucking heart, because even if Sam believed this was just some sick illusion mind trick? He still clung to it, still tried to wring out whatever comfort it could give him.

"I am. Look," he gently undid the restraints binding Sam's upper body and arms.

He could practically hear Bobby and Cas telling him how stupid and reckless he was being, how Sam was a potential risk to himself and everyone else.

And maybe he was.

But if he was? Dean would find another way to deal with it that wasn't having him completely tied down like some rabid animal. Sam was still his baby brother, and he was frightened and upset.

"See? I'm real. I promise." Dean sat on the edge of the cot and kept Sam's hand in his own.

Sam sniffled, staring up at him.

"You're r-real." He murmured, and Dean shuffled so he could lie down beside him on the cramped little bed. He opened his arms in invitation, not quite wanting to grab Sam himself because he seemed a little on edge still.

Sam moved closer until he was pressed against Dean's chest. His fingers gripped the front of his shirt and he buried his face in his neck, and Dean wrapped him arms around Sam's waist. He rocked them back and forth a little like he used to do when Sam was a baby, a tiny little thing bundled in his arms.

Sam might be far bigger now, but he slotted against Dean just as easily.

"Get some sleep, Sammy. I'll be here when you wake up."

"Really?" Sam asked, his voice a tiny whisper.

"Of course, baby brother."