#I wouldn’t recommend trying to get close enough to break it up though

[stump-salsa]

Irkens playfight when they like each other and if you break it up you’re going to hell

[redvdress]

Ahem katsuki taking care of you when your sick? 🫣

I’m so sick lately I need something to devour rn to survive (you don’t have to tho dw bb)

DUMBASS FLU PATROL

A/N: i’m SO SO SO SORRY this and all the other requests are taking so long but i’ve been running out of ideas and school took a lot of time from me. This prompt was just so fun to write ‘cause I can perfect picture bakugo taking care of reader..in his own way..I’ve been sick to after hanging out for halloween night, we all need a bakugo to take care of us🦇

It starts with Bakugo noticing something off about you during class.

He wouldn’t say anything right away, but he’s sharp enough to pick up on small changes. You’re quieter than usual, your eyes look a little glazed, and you keep rubbing your temples.

At first, he thinks you’re just tired from all the late-night study sessions you two have been pulling together, but when you keep sniffling and coughing under your breath, he starts to get annoyed.

Not at you—no, he’s irritated because you’re clearly sick and trying to tough it out, which to him is just stupid.

As class goes on, he watches you like a hawk out of the corner of his eye.

You’re shivering slightly, even though the room isn’t cold. Finally, during a brief break, he leans over, his usual scowl firmly in place as he mutters,

“Oi, what the hell’s wrong with you? You look like you’re about to pass out.”

You give him a tired smile, trying to brush it off. ���I’m fine, Bakugo. Just a little under the weather.”

“Bullshit,” he snaps, barely lowering his voice. A couple of classmates look over, but Bakugo doesn’t care.

“You’re sick, dumbass. Why didn’t you stay in bed?”

You shrug, trying to play it off like it’s no big deal. “Didn’t want to fall behind.”

Bakugo grits his teeth, muttering curses under his breath.

The fact that you’d drag yourself to class, even when you’re clearly unwell, pisses him off more than he’d like to admit.

Part of him is frustrated that you’re so stubborn, but another part—the part he doesn’t like to acknowledge—feels a strange pang of concern.

After class, he’s practically glued to your side, his eyes narrowed and jaw clenched as he escorts you out of the room. You insist you’re fine, that you just need some rest, but Bakugo’s having none of it.

“Shut up,” he growls when you try to brush him off. “You’re goin’ back to your room, and you’re not leavin’ until you’re better. Got it?”

You try to argue, but Bakugo’s glare is unyielding. His hand finds the small of your back, firm but surprisingly gentle as he steers you down the hall. He’s not usually one for soft gestures, but something about seeing you weak and vulnerable sets off an instinct he can’t ignore.

Once he gets you to your dorm room, he practically shoves you inside, crossing his arms as he stands in the doorway, blocking any chance of escape.

“Get in bed,” he orders, his voice rough but laced with an unmistakable note of concern.

You sigh, knowing better than to argue with him at this point.

You climb into bed, pulling the covers over yourself as he watches, his eyes sharp and critical, like he’s assessing just how sick you are.

After a moment, he grumbles, “You got medicine in here?”

You nod weakly, gesturing toward your desk where you have a small stash of over-the-counter meds.

Bakugo grabs them, inspecting each bottle with a furrowed brow, clearly reading the labels with more intensity than necessary.

He pours out the recommended dosage and hands it to you along with a glass of water, his expression a mixture of irritation and reluctant care.

“Take it” he says, watching closely as you down the pills. You can’t help but chuckle softly at his intensity, which only makes him scowl harder.

“Quit laughing, idiot. You’re the one who’s sick,” he mutters, almost to himself.

Bakugo doesn’t leave after that.

Instead, he grabs a chair from your desk, dragging it over to sit beside your bed, his arms crossed as he watches you. You raise an eyebrow, surprised by his persistence.

“You don’t have to stay, you know,” you murmur, your voice a little hoarse.

He scoffs, rolling his eyes. “Like I’m gonna leave you here to get worse just ‘cause you’re stubborn as hell. Someone’s gotta make sure you don’t do somethin’ stupid.”

There’s a warmth in his tone, buried under layers of gruffness, but it’s there.

The corners of his mouth twitch, almost like he’s considering a smile, but he quickly forces his expression back into a scowl.

You settle under the blankets, feeling a strange sense of comfort in his presence.

For the next few hours, Bakugo stays put, occasionally checking your temperature with the back of his hand (grumbling something about “damn germs” every time he does it) and making sure you’re drinking enough water. At one point, he disappears for a few minutes and comes back with a bowl of soup he somehow got from the cafeteria.

It’s barely warm by the time he returns, but the gesture makes your chest feel warm.

“Eat” he commands, holding the bowl out to you.

You take it, giving him a grateful smile. “Thanks, Bakugo.”

He looks away, rubbing the back of his neck. “Yeah, whatever. Just don’t get used to it.”

As the day goes on, you start to drift in and out of sleep, your fever making you drowsy. Each time you wake, Bakugo is still there, watching over you with a mixture of irritation and quiet worry. At one point, you feel his hand gently brush your forehead, checking for any sign of improvement.

The touch is warm—maybe a bit too warm, given his quirk—and you find it oddly soothing.

Just as you’re dozing off again, you hear him mutter under his breath, “Stupid… makin’ me worry like this…”

It’s barely audible, but it makes your heart flutter.

You feel yourself drifting back into sleep, a faint smile on your lips as you listen to him grumble, his voice softening in a way you rarely hear.

When you wake up again, it’s late, the room bathed in the dim glow of your bedside lamp. Bakugo’s still there, now slouched in the chair, looking half-asleep himself. He’s fighting to stay awake, his arms crossed, head nodding forward slightly.

You feel a pang of guilt, realizing he’s been with you all day. “You should go rest..” you whisper, not wanting him to feel obligated to stay.

He snaps awake, scowling. “I’m fine. You’re the one who looks like crap.”

You can’t help but smile, too tired to argue with him. Instead, you simply reach out, your fingers brushing his arm. He stiffens for a moment, surprised by the contact, but he doesn’t pull away.

“Thank you… really,” you murmur, your voice soft.

He looks at you, and for a second, his expression softens, his usual harshness fading just slightly. He lets out a small sigh, leaning forward to gently press his hand against your forehead again, feeling your temperature one last time.

“Tch. You’re still warm,” he mutters, but there’s a tenderness in his tone that he can’t quite hide. Not with you.

You close your eyes, feeling yourself drift back into sleep, his presence comforting and grounding.

Just before you drift off completely, you feel his hand linger on your forehead, his thumb brushing softly against your skin. It’s such a small, unexpected gesture, but it speaks volumes—his way of showing he cares without saying a word.

As you fall asleep, you can just barely hear him mumbling under his breath, his tone low and almost affectionate.

“You better get better soon, idiot. Can’t have you fallin’ apart on me.”

[cheesus-doodles]

https://vm.tiktok.com/ZML4rTRXC/

I can imagine Koko crying because she took a unique photo that no one has of the reader, with the following dialogue:

Inu: are you ok?

[see photo]

Inui: Wait, where did you get that photo?

Recommended Readings: High Heels

Masterlist

‎

the Tiktok is long gone lmao, but no matter, I will answer based on the ask below! short one this time folks, i’ve been feeling unusually pooped these few days, hopefully i’ll be back up to speed next week

I would say having unique, one-of-a-kind photos wouldn’t be such a head-turner in itself given each of the boys, both Toman and Black Dragon, would have their little stash of photos that they’ve taken individually with you as well as those that they got from stalking you in their down time.

But there would be that one photo that Koko can’t seem to put down, staring at it for minutes on end to the point that Inupi takes notice and he nearly gets caught by Taiju during a Black Dragon meeting. This black-haired boy would be quick to tuck the picture away into a inner coat pocket though, and even scurry away should he fail to try and hide the photo in time, though eventually Inupi does catch a glimpse of what he was trying so hard to hide. Turns out, it was one that had even Inupi doing a double take, snatching the priceless piece of paper out from Koko's hands to have a second and third look. And it was enough to drop the jaw of the usually stoic delinquent and earn a light blush that dusted his cheeks.

A picture of you laughing at someone off camera while half submerged in what looked like an onsen. And very obviously not having anything covering your chest, which was mere centimetres away from being exposed above the water surface. Koko would make quick work of relieving a malfunctioning Inupi of his picture, his own face beet red, and the black-haired boy would run off before the other had a chance to ask him so many questions. Like where on earth did he get that photo, who took it (he had someone he needed to break the arms and legs off from) , and why was he oogling you in public when he knew it was so close to being a very indecent picture - what would you think of them if you caught Koko in such a compromising position? What would you think if you knew someone had peeped on you?

They'll be dumped so quickly it wouldn't even be funny. Best to keep this on the down low, and Inupi warns Koko to keep the picture safe, and for the love of all things holy stop looking at it in public. Of course Koko doesn't listen, and of course he tried to charge Inupi an exorbitant amount of money since the other looked at it. Inupi didn't pay up.

Anyway, no doubt that rumors quickly spread about the photo among the deliquent gangs: that Koko had this one picture of you he couldn't stop looking at, and no one quite knew the contents but they "heard from a friend of a friend" that it was quite lewd. Eventually reaching the ears of the Toman boys, it instantly peaked both their intrigue, protectiveness and fury all at once in an instance. A lewd picture of you owned by someone else? Who took it? How did they take it? Were you being peeped on? How lewd was it? Mikey and Kazutora got a good trashing by the others. Though all six boys at least agreed on three points: that this had to be kept a secret from you at all costs at risk of you finding out and freaking out, they needed to confront declare war on the Black Dragons and take that picture, and they needed to keep it safe for themselves destroy it immediately to protect you dignity.

Okay your friends still had time to come to a decision on the last one after they have wrestled it away from those scum buckets - even if it was very inappropriate and your Toman friends would never dare think of you in such a manner, it was still a one-of-a-kind picture of you none of them owned, and they would very much like to add it to their collection. Something so intimate would be best owned by people who would never take advantage of you after all.

[vincess-princess]

in darkness shall you be reborn

Chapter 15

Word count: 2789 Warnings: some blood A/N: rejoice, for i am almost done with college (for this semester) and have much more time and energy, hence this chapter. consider it a christmas present <3

By the time the potato fortress was demolished, the bandage on Vince’s shoulder had grown soggy and heavy, and underneath dumb pain accompanied every Vince’s movement, occasionally sharpening into spikes. When Mick turned away to fiddle with the pot on the stove, Vince unbuttoned his shirt and peeled off the three-day-old bandage.

The wound didn’t look promising, with the skin between the stitches red and inflamed, and the thread dark and wet with blood. If it had been healing, the process surely was disrupted. This really begged for a doctor, but he had just refused to do that to Mick’s face, so going to a surgeon would mean admitting defeat, and Vince had enough of it today. Besides, while death of infection wasn’t among the ways to kill himself that he considered, but for lack of alternatives…

A hand grasped his forearm, startling him. The bandage fell onto the ground with an audible plop. Not paying that any mind, Mick silently dragged him to the door and then along the corridor to the sick bay. Vince didn’t resist. It made sense with Nikki. Not with Mick.

Izzy the surgeon wasn’t alone. A familiar redhead was sitting on the bunk in the sick bay and sipping beer from a mug. There was a talk in hushed voices going on, but it was, naturally, stopped as Mick barged in without a knock and unceremoniously shoved Vince inside.

“Take care of this idiot before I do,” he only said and, not sparing Vince another look, slammed the door shut.

“Wow.” Axl raised an eyebrow. “Never seen the old man so pissed. What did you do, hump his guitar?”

“I wish,” Vince jerked his shoulder, annoyed, but then the pain in it flared up, making him wince. Izzy the surgeon frowned, and Vince belatedly remembered he wasn’t supposed to disclose his and Axl’s connection to anyone on the ship. Well, that one reply didn’t mean anything, right?

“You got him so angry and didn’t even use the chance to hump his guitar?” Axl continued, making Izzy snort. That was the first time Vince heard him make a sound since he dryly informed him about that same shoulder wound during his first visit to sick bay.

“You seem unhealthily fixated on it, should I tell Mick to lock it up at night?” Vince replied half-mindedly, eyeing the surgeon nervously. Stopping in the middle of a conversation now would seem stranger than continuing it. Izzy, however, observed the battle of wits with no sign of surprise. No sign of anything, really. It was hard to see his eyes at all underneath the long, greasy hair and in the dim light of the sick bay.

“Oh, so he doesn’t lock her up?” Axl grinned. “Pray tell, where does he keep her?”

“Whatever you’re thinking of, I wouldn’t recommend it. You try to cross the galley’s threshold at night, you’re getting an early breakfast. Of lead.”

“Really? Does he also shoot at you when you go out for a piss?”

Vince nodded. He might have exaggerated Mick’s reaction a bit, to keep any night eaters’ hopes low. Just a bit, though, because anyone breaking down the closed door at night was guaranteed a couple extra holes.

“Oh you poor thing, can’t even go take a leak?” Axl didn’t sound too pitiful, more amused, and that felt good.

“Oh, I can. You don’t want to know where, though.”

“Ew-w-w!” Even Izzy couldn’t hold back a cry of disgust. Vince took it as his little personal victory. He had already learned that the reaction to this type of humor was deceptive. If the pirates didn’t love the joke, they wouldn’t say anything at all, and that silence could kill faster than staying in the same room with a dozen pirates who had beans for dinner. “Yeah, I’ll think twice before eating anything from the galley now.”

“Think as much as you want, you’ll eat it anyway. May I?” Without waiting for an answer, Vince reached out for Axl’s unfinished mug of beer and finished it off in two gulps. Watching Axl’s jaw loosen in indignation was quite entertaining. And reassuring, because whatever Nikki had said, those two treated him rather decently so far, even when he obviously overstepped the boundaries.

“You recovered rather quickly,” another voice said from behind Vince’s back. Izzy. “Surprising.”

“Really?” Vince abruptly turned on his heels towards Izzy. His face gave no indication of whether the last comment was meant positively or negatively, but Vince had a feeling that if it was the latter, the surgeon wouldn’t initiate the talk at all. “Why?”

“Well,” one corner of Izzy’s mouth curved ever so slightly, “last time you were here, you were trembling like a leaf and couldn’t string two words together. I didn’t expect you’d last the night.”

Not a muscle had moved in the surgeon’s face, but he tilted his head to the left slightly… it might have been the dim light of the sick bay and the shadows of Izzy’s hair falling on his face, but the nothingness of his face had an ironic undertone now.

“Why wouldn’t I?”

“Well, you were rather… distraught. You lost everything you had, including your vir… dignity. You don’t look the hardy type to me, and that would be the easiest way out.”

“Well, it wasn’t,” Vince said in a strangled voice. “If I die, I die of this infection that Mick dragged me here for. Stop talking nonsense and deal with it instead.”

“Hey, drop that tone,” Axl demanded, his voice suddenly stern. “Order your servants around with it- oh right, you don’t have any. Nobody owes you anything anymore.”

“Ax, relax,” Izzy said lazily, rising from his chair. “Old habits slip through in everyone sometimes. You, for example, still can’t take a shit when there’s someone else on the poop deck, and captain still expects us to know what minuet is. Shirt off.” That last one was addressed to Vince, who hastily pulled his shirt over his head. Izzy grabbed a candle and leaned forward, examining the wound, the candle so close Vince could feel the heat with his skin. He sure hoped Izzy’s hand wouldn’t slip.

“Let’s see… Haven’t I fixed it before? Yeah, those are my stitches… holy shit. It takes an effort to fuck up my work this badly. What you been doing with them?”

“Not me,” Vince said gloomily.

“Ah.” No emotion on the pale face once again. It contrasted especially starkly with Axl’s grimace on the background. “Well, tell the captain that if he keeps that up, he might lose his favorite whipping boy in a couple of months at best. This one looks fixable, but if they add up it’s gonna get real bad.”

“If I tell him that, it will take much less than a couple months.” Vince much preferred when they discussed his night pissing accommodations.

“C’mon, it’s not in his interest. It’s not like you can find pretty captives on every ship you raid. It was three years between you and Axl. Pretty boys don’t usually go seafaring – for obvious reasons.”

“But Axl said-“ Vince turned to the redhead, then caught himself. Izzy seemed aware, but to what extent?

“Yeah, he got luckier than you. Doesn’t mean that wasn’t one of the reasons,” Izzy interrupted him. Ah, so he was fully aware. Interesting that Axl didn’t consider it worthwhile to tell him about their little club. “Ax, get off the bunk. I’m gonna have to stitch him anew. Here, lie down.”

He pressed on Vince’s shoulder, pushing him to lie onto his back, then opened a cabinet and extracted a bottle of water out of it and a surgeon’s kit.

“Hold this.” He handed Vince the water. As Vince discovered three seconds later, it was actually vodka. A shitty painkiller, but better than nothing.

“Hey!” Izzy caught Vince red-handed sipping out of the bottle. “You parasite! That’s for medical purposes. Give that to me.”

“I’m self-medicating!” Vince protested, reluctantly handing back the bottle. The only upside of vodka was that it didn’t take much of it to get piss drunk, though, so he wasn’t too upset about the loss.

“For external use!”

“Why? If you want to clean the wound with it, why not just use water? And I could find a better use for this heavenly beverage.”

“Are you telling me how to do my job? Maybe you’ll patch yourself up too then and save everyone the trouble?” Izzy gave Vince a blank stare that impressed him more than any frown Axl could master. “No? Then don’t act all smart here. Stretch out the arm.”

He got down onto his knees next to the bunk and leaned close to the wound, carefully stretching the skin a little to get a better look at it. Then he cut the thread with small scissors and abruptly pulled it out.

“Ouch!”

“Don’t be such a pussy,” Izzy rolled his eyes. “At least, not more than you already are.”

Vince wouldn’t have swallowed the insult so meekly if the surgeon wasn’t just about the only person capable of fixing his wound. Without the thread the torn edges of the wound widened, exposing black, clotted blood inside. Vince winced.

“Could be worse,” Izzy waved him off. “It just started to inflame. I don’t see any pus there so far.” Then he pulled out a patch of fabric and the aforementioned vodka bottle and, before Vince managed to realise what was happening, poured vodka all over it.

A second passed, and then Vince threw his head back with a howl as the liquid burned exposed flesh and the skin around it. Izzy promptly pressed the fabric to the wound, pushing Vince back onto the bunk, and held him down as he cursed and hissed. Then he began cleaning out the dried blood with the cloth, and Vince discovered he knew even more curse words than he thought. Thankfully, he did the job quickly enough for Vince to only cycle through his collection of curses three times.

“This should be a torture technique!” he protested once he was again capable of coherent speech. “Wouldn’t water do the job just as well?”

“No.” Izzy threw the bloody cloth on the floor. “Over my years of practice I discovered that the wounds cleaned with vodka or other highly alcoholic beverages have much lower chance of inflaming. And you need that chance. I can’t really chop off a shoulder in case there’s a gangrene.”

Vince, realizing this was a real possibility, went quiet. Izzy, meanwhile, grabbed a needle, threaded it and then dipped it into the flame of the candle. For a second Vince believed the thread would catch fire, but Izzy knew what he was doing. After a couple minutes of this he removed it, tried to touch it with his fingers, cursed under his breath and blew onto the blunt tip. When it presumably cooled enough, he grabbed the needle and lowered himself onto a stool next to the bed.

“Now hold still. You fidget too much, I’ll have to ask Axl to pin you down.”

“You don’t want that,” Axl, who until now had been observing the scene with an interest one would express to a circus performance, confirmed from the back.

“Aren’t you going to wait until the needle cools down?” Vince asked warily.

“No. It will hurt anyway.” With that, Izzy began to stitch.

The stab wound was small and only took him a few minutes to stitch up, but to Vince they were hours. He gripped the edge of the bed so tightly his fingers went numb, and bit his lips so hard he drew blood. But, for the first time on the Shout, the pain was inflicted without a purpose to hurt, and so he kept silent, save for an occasional pained gasp.

“All done.” Izzy rose from his stool and wiped his bloody fingers and the needle with a towel. “And you didn’t have to be all tough and manly about it. Crying actually helps relieve the pain.”

“Yeah, so you get more excuses to call me a pussy?” Vince huffed, sitting up on the bunk and putting his feet onto the floor. His bloodied knees poked out of his pants, drawing a disproportionate amount of attention.

“Whoa, man,” Axl whistled in amazement, “you seen his knees? To fucking shreds! The blowjob must have been insane.”

Izzy raised his eyebrows. “Huh. The captain sure doesn’t fuck around. You might want to get these cleaned and bandaged, though.”

“I might, if you two stop talking bollocks,” Vince said through gritted teeth.

“That’s only in your interest,” Izzy shrugged, wetting a cloth with vodka and handing it to him. “These can get infected too.”

“I- ouch!- know.” Vince dabbed the cloth onto one knee, then another. He didn’t even have to take off his pants for that, which was convenient.

“Any other injuries I should know about?”

“None that I recall,” Vince said curtly.

“Man, if that’s just his knees, imagine what the captain is doing to his ass,” Axl said from behind Izzy’s back. “Maybe he’s just too shy to ask you about it.”

“If you don’t shut up, I will do something much worse to your ass,” Vince promised.

“Oh-oh, so scary.” Axl threw his hands up in pretended surrender, but had to cut the act short to dodge from the candle holder Vince hurled at him. He promptly picked it up to throw it back, but Izzy was quicker.

“Stop that right now!” He snatched the candle holder from Axl’s hand. “I won’t tolerate a mess in my workplace!” For the first time Vince heard an actual emotion in his voice – anger. “Rose, get the hell out!”

“Hey! He started that!” Axl protested.

“I don’t care. He needs my services, and you’re here just to gawk. Get out or I’ll make you.” The surgeon was thinner and lighter than Axl, but Vince didn’t doubt for a second that he could easily do that. Axl seemed to be of the same opinion, because he got up and disappeared behind the door, muttering indignantly under his breath.

“You done?” Izzy turned back to Vince like nothing happened and crouched next to the bunk to look at his knees. “Well, you certainly didn’t try your hardest. Gimme.”

He quickly and relentlessly wiped up the rest of the clotted blood off Vince’s knees and bandaged them.

“Try not to kneel much in the next few days. Even if the captain wants you to. Tell him I said so.”

“I will make sure to pass your recommendations on to him,” Vince promised grimly. “After which he, in turn, will make sure to break every single one of them. Thanks for the help. Drop by the galley when you can. I don’t have much influence over Mick, but I can coax an extra mug of beer out of him for you.”

“You sure know your strengths.” Izzy smiled with corners of his mouth. “I’ll consider it. Now off you go.”

Well, out of all of “get the fuck out of here” variations this one was rather polite. Vince, not wishing to test Izzy’s patience any longer, left the sick bay and almost bumped into Axl, who was waiting patiently by the door.

“You could have told me that Izzy knows about us before I had to find it out by trial and error!” Vince poked him in the chest accusingly.

“Well, it didn’t end in error after all, right?” Axl waved his hand carelessly. “Besides, I wanted to see how you’d hold up in the presence of another person. I gotta say, I thought you had better manners.”

“Learning from you all,” Vince grumbled. “Anyone else aware you haven’t told me about?”

“Nope. Izzy’s the only one on this ship I can trust.” Axl sighed.

“Three years, and you’ve only made one friend? You’re not a social type, aren’t you?”

“I’ll look at you in three years and see how you’re faring,” Axl scowled. “If you’re still alive, that is. The captain sure is hot-headed, but within reason. You must be a terrible pain in the ass to end up so beaten.”

“I’m not-“ Vince began, but realized anything he said would be taken as proof of that. A pain in the ass, a bother, an annoyance. None of the pirates would ever see past this description, would never believe it wasn’t his fault. They believed their precious captain would never do that on his own volition, and together with general disregard of the “blue bloods” it was enough for them to shift the blame completely onto Vince’s shoulders.

He gave Axl a deadly glare and stormed down the corridor to the galley.

[thedreamworldlibrary]

Dreamers of Myths & Legends Chap. 6- Double Battle Rivalry

Hi guys! Took a break from working on this fanfic as the last chapter was SUPER long! Though this one longer. Then again, I have realized that most if not all my fanfics are starting to get longer by the day, and while it’s nice to have long fanfics it’s also exhausting. Plus I have other fanfics I want to get too, so my brain will jump between my other fanfics, however I want to finish one before I go to another fanfic.

I’ve tried multi-tasking, and that’s exhausting enough! I wouldn’t recommend it unless you're a pro at it. If you are then I need your guidance!

Alright enough rambling! Enjoy the fanfic!

Big thanks to @gigilefache for being my beta reader!

It was morning, and Oddity was the first one to wake up. He stretched and turned to Wiatt, who was still asleep. “Eevee! Vee!” Oddity beamed, trying to wake his trainer.

Wiatt slowly opened his eyes, but without his glasses, all he saw was a brown blur. However, he smiled knowing that brown blur, and went over to grab his glasses and put them on. “Morning Oddity.” He said.

“Eevee!” Oddity beamed nuzzling Wiatt’s cheek. The young boy chuckled and nuzzled his Pokémon back. The two got out of bed, not knowing that Wiatt stepped on Skiddo’s hoof.

Skiddo jumped and bleated in fear, waking the rest of the group up. Wiatt stepped back not knowing he stepped on the Mount Pokemon.

“S-Sorry Skiddo!” Wiatt exclaimed, apologizing to the grass-type Pokemon.

“Wiatt Nicholson!” Sara yelled, looking over her bunk. She glared at him as she went down the steps and faced the young boy pointing a finger in his face. “I can’t believe you would hurt my poor little Skiddo.” She pointed at Skiddo, who seemed calm now.

“It was an accident, Sara!” Wiatt yelled back. “I didn’t realize she was there!”

Sara wasn’t listening and approached her Skiddo, “Well you need to learn to be careful sometimes.” She said kneeling and petting her Pokémon. “You okay?”

Skiddo bleated in reply reassuring her trainer that it was indeed an accident and it wasn’t Wiatt’s fault. She sighed and hugged her Pokemon tight, still glaring at Wiatt.

The young boy glared back, making Oddity worried for his trainer.

“Yep,” Oliver spoke up. “The morning doesn’t start until those two start bickering.”

“Agreed darling,” Lewis replied.

Sprigatito let out a mew agreeing with her trainer.

Later, the group went to get ready for the day, but Wiatt was feeling impatient that Sara was hogging the bathroom. 

Wiatt knocked on the door and yelled, “Sara, could you hurry up, I need to brush my teeth!” He yelled.

Lewis and Oliver came out of the other bathroom and to their surprise saw Sara was still getting ready. “She’s still in the bathroom, darling?” Lewis asked.

“Yep,” Wiatt replied. “Is the other bathroom available?”

“Sorry, but once we were done Carly needed to use it,” Oliver answered. 

Wiatt sighed and knocked on the bathroom again, “Sara, please hurry up!” He exclaimed. Impatient, Wiatt decided to twist the doorknob and to his surprise, it was unlocked. 

However, Oddity sensed this was a bad idea.

“Sara, I’m just going to brush my teeth. I won't bother you.” He said as slowly went into the bathroom, but once the door was closed the other two boys heard a slap that made them flinch.

Wiatt slowly came out of the bathroom and locked the door before closing it. He turned to his friends, showing a red mark on his cheek, “I’ll wait a little longer.” He said.

“O-Okay.” Lewis and Oliver said at the same time, as their eyes turned into black dots.

“Vee.” Oddity sighed, knowing this was going to happen.

After getting all dressed, Lewis and Oliver decided to help Eric and Carly out with breakfast. As Lewis and Oliver set up the plates they heard feet running as well as yelling coming from, you guessed it, Sara and Wiatt.

“They’re still arguing?” Carly asked as she was setting up breakfast for the group’s Pokemon.

“Yep!” Lewis and Oliver replied.

Carly and Eric looked at each other and sighed at the same time. “It’s been a few weeks and they're still arguing. I thought they would get along by now.” Eric said.

“Same here,” Lewis said.

“Move!” Wiatt yelled.

“You move!” Sara yelled.

The two were shoving each other as they wanted to get to breakfast first. Due to all the shoving, they both fell to the ground and growled at each other.

“Morning.” Eric sighed.

“Morning!” Wiatt and Sara replied with a beaming smile, before going back to glaring and growling at one another.

Oddity and Skiddo walked around their trainers with concern. They looked at each other and sighed, as Skiddo used Vine Whip to help pick her trainer and her friend, but the two were still glaring at each other.

“Alright you two, knock it off!” Eric scolded, putting his hand on their shoulders. Wiatt and Sara crossed their arms and turned away from each other. Eric sighed, “Now you two have been having quarrels since you got here. I know you two could be great friends and partners.”

Wiatt and Sara glanced at each other before turning away.

Eric sighed again, “All alright. We’re going to handle this my way.” He said. “After breakfast, we’ll go to the nearby battlefield and you two could battle it out.”

This caught the researchers' attention as they faced each other and smirked. “I wouldn’t mind letting out my anger on you in a Pokémon battle,” Sara exclaimed.

“Same here,” Wiatt replied, getting up in her face.

“No, I mean you and Wiatt team up in a double battle against me and Lewis.” Eric corrected them.

Wiatt and Sara’s expressions disappeared as they frowned, realizing they had to work together. “O-Oh.” They said at the same time.

“Hey, it should be fun,” Oliver reassured his friends.

“Yeah, you two need it,” Lewis added, he then looked down at his Sprigatito, eating her breakfast. “Plus it would be great to show Eric Sprigatito's skills.”

Sprigatito meowed in joy before nuzzling on Lewis’s leg. The boy let out a chuckle and petted his Pokémon.

Oliver smiled and turned towards his two friends, “Come on you two, at least give it a try.” He said.

Sara and Wiatt looked at each other, thinking about the offer. “Guess it wouldn’t hurt,” Sara said. “I mean I am a good battler and Skiddo and I can handle it,” she then turned to her Pokémon, “Right Skiddo?”

Skiddo bleats in joy before continuing to eat.

“Ha!” Wiatt laughed, making Sara turn to glare. “I’ve only had Oddity for a year and I’ve seen how he battles right bud?”

“Eevee!” Oddity replied, wagging his tail.

“The point is, you're both good battlers.” Lewis reminded them, causing the two to turn towards their friend. “What Eric is trying to say is you both have to use combinations and work together in a double battle.” He explained. “That’s how you'll understand each other better.”

As Lewis explained, Wiatt and Sara looked at each other but still glared knowing that it wouldn't work. They wouldn’t say it out loud, but they’ll do it if only it will make their friends happy.

“Fine.” Wiatt and Sara said at the same time.

“We’ll give it a try,” Wiatt added.

The rest of the group smiled as the two agreed on it. “Great!” Eric beamed. “But I’m sure you two want some breakfast before battling.”

Sara and Wiatt’s stomachs rumble at the same time as they chuckled. “Guess I am getting hungry,” Sara said.

“Same!” Wiatt laughed.

The two sat down and ate breakfast with their friends. Once breakfast was over, everyone made it to the battlefield. Sara and Wiatt took the right side of the field while Lewis and Eric took the left side. Oliver watched as Carly decided to judge the battle.

While they were setting up, our evil trio, Team Rocket, was watching from outside the battlefield. “Now what are the twerps doing, battling this early in the morning?” Jessie asked.

“I don’t know, Jess,” Meowth replied. “But let’s watch.”

“Maybe whoever gets defeated first, we’ll jump into the scene and grab them!” James exclaimed.

Before the battle could start, Sara grabbed her Rotom Phone and started to scan Sprigatito and Ridley into her Pokedex.

“What are you doing?” Wiatt asked.

“Scanning our opponents' moves. I learned from my caretaker that before every battle it’s best to know what moves your opponent has so you're prepared.” Sara explained. 

She then saw that Lewis’s Sprigatito indeed had the moves: Leafage, Scratch, and Bite. While Ridley had the moves: Swift, Focus Punch, Double Team, and Tickle.

“Okay, I know what we’re dealing with,” Sara said as she put her Rotom phone away.

“Do you have to do that?” Wiatt asked. “Wouldn’t it be better to be surprised to know what moves your opponent has, rather than spoiling yourself?”

“And get sidetracked with an attack that can cause us to lose,” Sara replied. “Wiatt this is how we’re going to win, so stop being a killjoy.”

Wiatt glared, “You should know what being a killjoy is anyway..” He grumbled.

Sara’s eyes widened hearing her partner grumble something. Her eyes turned red as she started to burn up over what Wiatt said. “What did you say?” She asked.

“Alright!” Carly started. Sara went back to normal as she and Wiatt faced the young girl. “Rules are as follows, this double battle will not be timed and will end when both Pokemon are down for the count. Agreed?”

“Agreed!” The battlers exclaimed at the same time. The same went with their Pokemon. 

“Ready…begin!” Carly yelled.

“Sprigatito, use Leafage!” Lewis commanded.

“Ridley, use Swift!” Eric commanded.

Sprigatito let out a bunch of leaves from her neck while Ridley used his tail and let out a wave of stars.

“Dodge it!” Wiatt and Sara yelled at the same time.

Skiddo and Oddity jumped out of the way, missing the attacks.

“Skiddo, use Razor Leaf!” Sara commanded.

Skiddo launched her Razor Leaf attack at the opposing Pokemon.

“Ridley, use Swift to counter it!” Eric commanded.

Ridley jumped and used Swift again as the attack hit Skiddo’s oncoming Razor Leaf attack. The two attacks made an explosion of stars, making the two Pokemon realize their power is equal to each other.

“Oddity, Shadow Ball!” Wiatt commanded.

Oddity let out a purple orb from his mouth as he launched it at Sprigatito. However, Ridley went in front of Sprigatito and took the hit, however, no damage was done due to Shadow Ball being a ghost-type move.

Lewis sighed seeing his Sprigatito was safe, “thanks, Eric.”

“No problem,” Eric replied.

Seeing that Shadow Ball wouldn’t work with Ridley on the battlefield, Wiatt decided to go for a different attack. “Alright, Oddity use Quick Attack!” He commanded.

“Skiddo, you use Take Down!” Sara commanded.

The two Pokemon started to run towards the Pokemon on the opposing side. Oddity started to pick up speed with Quick Attack and hit Ridley. Ridley held his ground as he skied on the ground.

Skiddo on the other hand, used Take Down on Sprigatito who upon getting hit, did a twirl in the air and landed on her feet before smiling proudly.

Sara and Wiatt blinked in surprise before giving a glare to their friend. “Show off!” They said at the same time.

Lewis and Sprigatito looked at each other with a chuckle before facing the opposing team.

“Sprigatito, use Scratch on Oddity!” Lewis commanded.

“Ridley, use Focus Punch on Skiddo!” Eric commanded.

Sprigatito’s right paw glowed white Ridley’s tail glowed light blue as the two Pokemon were ready to launch their attacks on the other two Pokemon.

“Skiddo use Vine Whip and grab them!” Sara commanded.

Skiddo let out a bleat as vines appeared on her neck as she grabbed Sprigatito and Ridley. The two Pokemon struggled to break free from Skiddo’s vines, but the grass-type Pokemon held them tight.

“Great, now toss them and use Razor Leaf!” Sara commanded once more.

Skiddo threw the two Pokemon before switching to Razor Leaf and finally dealing damage on the opposing team. However, instead of crashing on the ground, Ridley used his tail to catch himself as Sprigatito landed gracefully on her toes.

“Oddity, use Double Kick!” Wiatt commanded.

“Skiddo use Take Down!” Sara commanded.

Oddity and Skiddo ran towards their opponent and the Eevee jumped ready to use Double Kick, however, he miscalculated the timing and ended up using Double Kick on Skiddo.

“Hey! What was that for?!” Sara asked angrily at Wiatt.

“S-Sorry I might’ve miscalculated that.” Wiatt apologized.

Sara growled, grabbing Wiatt by the collar of his shirt, “Do that again next time and I’ll Double Kick you!” She threatened.

“Ridley, Swift!” Eric commanded.

Sara and Wiatt turned and saw Ridley go up and use the Swift attack, which hit Oddity and Skiddo sending them back to their side of the battlefield. The two Pokemon quickly got up ready to battle again.

Wiatt was about to command Oddity to use an attack, but Sara cut him off. “Let me handle this!” She yelled. Skiddo use Take Down, once more!”

“Ridley! Double Team!” Eric commanded.

Skiddo went to use Take Down on Ridley, but the Aipom duplicated, causing Skiddo to skid to a halt. Soon multiples of Ridley appeared around the Mount Pokemon. Skiddo looked around to see which Ridley was the right one.

“Oddity, use your Jolteon attack to find the right Ridley!” Wiatt commanded.

Oddity’s furry collar sparkled with electricity as he launched a bolt of electricity at one of the Ridley copies, which then faded away. The Eevee used his electric move once again on another copy, but like before it faded away.

“Skiddo, use Razor Leaf on Ridley!” Sara commanded.

Skiddo then released Razor Leaf toward the copies of Ridley, however, one of the Razor Leaves hit Oddity causing him to collapse.

“Oddity!” Wiatt yelled. He growled and glared at his battle partner, “Why did you do that Sara?!”

“Me?” Sara asked. “I told you I can handle this, you just had to step in and ruin it.”

“We need to be working as a team! You're just calling all the shots!”

Carly and Oliver sighed, “This doesn’t look like what Dad planned.” She said.

“Yeah, the more they fight the more Eric and Lewis have the upper hand,” Oliver replied.

At that point, Skiddo cleared out all the copies, but couldn’t find the real Ridley. “Ready?” Eric asked Lewis. The latter nodded in reply. “Ridley, use Swift!”

“Sprigatito, use Leafage!” Lewis commanded.

Skiddo looked up to see Ridley appear from the trees and launched a Swift attack with his tail, as stars came out of them. At the same time, Sprigatito used Leafage on the duo.

Skiddo covered her eyes ready to take the hit, however, Oddity went in front of her and his body started to glow white, as the fur on his body went up. He then launched a Swift attack on his own, which then destroyed the on-coming Leafage and Swift.

This shocked everyone as Oddity stopped glowing and looked back at Skiddo. “Eevee?” He asked if the Pokemon was alright.

Skiddo belted in reply that she was alright, which made Oddity beam.

“Did Oddity just learn Swift?” Wiatt asked.

“Maybe,” Sara replied.

However, Eric was uncertain about the new move Oddity learned. “I don’t think Oddity used Swift.” He said.

“Well, what do you think it was?” Lewis asked.

Eric thought for a bit and realized what move Oddity learned. “I think I know what move that was.” The professor then smiled knowing how to end this battle. “Alright Ridley, use Focus Punch!”

Ridley’s tail glowed blue as he was ready to attack Skiddo and Oddity.

“Skiddo, use Bulldoze!” Sara commanded.

Skiddo then stomped her hooves as a shockwave of rocks came out from them, however Ridley used the rocks as platforms before hitting Skiddo.

“Oddity, let’s use Swift attack!” Wiatt commanded.

Oddity jumped up and tried to use Swift, but nothing happened leaving the poor Eevee confused.

“What?!” Wiatt exclaimed.

“Sprigatito use Bite!” Lewis commanded.

Sprigatito jumped and bit at Oddity’s tail, which made Oddity gasp in fear. He tried to shake the Grass Cat off his tail, and when he did Sprigatito was ready to use another attack.

“Now let’s use Leafage, darling!”

Sprigatito then launched leaves over at Oddity knocking him to Skiddo, knocking them both. The two Pokemon struggled to get up, as they were tired from battling before collapsing on the ground. The swirls in their eyes signified their defeat in battle making Wiatt and Sara shocked they lost the battle.

“Well, that settles it,” Carly spoke up and pointed over at the winning team. “Lewis and my dad won this battle.”

“Alright!” Lewis beamed. Sprigatito ran over to him jumped into his arms and licked his cheek making the young boy laugh. “You did amazing darling.”

“Meow. Meow.” Sprigatito beamed.

Eric kneeled down and petted Ridley on the head, “You did great as always buddy.” He said.

“Ai! Aipom!” Ridley beamed as he used his tail to give a peace sign.

“This is your fault, you know!” Sara yelled, causing everyone to turn to the duo.

“How is it my fault?” Wiatt asked, getting up in Sara’s face. “I was just battling like we were told!”

“Yeah, we could’ve won if you didn’t deal damage on Skiddo earlier!” Sara yelled back, getting up in Wiatt’s face.

While the two argued everyone sighed, seeing the two were still butting heads. Even their Pokemon were annoyed seeing the two argue.

“Yep, they're still at it.” Oliver said, walking over to Lewis and Eric.

“If this was to help us get along, why didn’t you come up with any combination, huh?!” Wiatt asked.

“Because I can handle a battle myself!” Sara replied.

Oddity and Skiddo sighed and the latter used her vines to tap the Eevee on the shoulder and used her vines to leave their trainers to fight and go somewhere away from the two. Oddity was unsure but seeing how mad his trainer was he decided to go with his friend. The two quietly snuck out of the battlefield and out of the facility where they went outside to train in the woods.

Team Rocket saw the Pokemon leave and smirked. “Come on, let's leave the twerps to their bickering and follow their Pokemon!” James suggested.

“Right!” Meowth and Jessie replied as the evil trio went to follow the Pokemon.

Back with Eric and his research team, Sara and Wiatt were still bickering. At that point, Sprigatito saw Oddity and Skiddo were gone.

“Meow! Meow!” Sprigatito mewled using her paws to tap Lewis on the arm.

Lewis looked down at his Pokémon, “what’s wrong darling?” He asked.

“Meow! Meow!” Sprigatito used her paw to point where Oddity and Sprigatito were standing and saw they were gone.

Wiatt and Sara stopped arguing and looked down to see their Pokémon were gone. “S-Skiddo?” Sara asked as she looked around to where her Pokemon went. “Skiddo! Where did you go?”

“Oddity!” Wiatt called out. “Where are you buddy?!”

The group looked around hoping the two Pokémon didn’t go too far. Oliver saw the door to the battlefield open seeing the two Pokemon had walked off.

“I think they left,” Oliver said.

“Left?!” Wiatt and Sara yelled. In a split second, the two trainers ran out of the battlefield to search for their Pokémon. They ran past Oliver so fast he spun around before getting a dizzy look on his face. Before he could pass out he was caught by Carly and Lewis.

“W-Wait up y-you…” Oliver groaned. “I feel sick.”

Meanwhile, Oddity and Skiddo were walking to a quiet clearing to train and work on their combinations. The Evolution Pokemon found a place and called out to his friend.

Skiddo belatedly asks Oddity about the place. The latter nodded and the two went through the bushes and found a perfect area to train for a bit and get away from their trainers.

Back with Eric, Carly, and the Dream Quartet, they searched for Skiddo and Oddity around the forest near the facility. Ridley looked from the trees and bushes, while Sprigatito tried her best to catch the scent of her friends. 

“Anything Ridley!” Eric yelled. Ridley appeared from the trees and shook his head.

“Did Ridley find them?” Carly asked.

Eric shook his head in reply and the father-daughter duo kept looking for their friends' Pokémon.

Sara and Wiatt on the other hand called out to their Pokémon.

“Oddity!” Wiatt yelled.

“Skiddo!” Sara yelled.

“Come on Oddity! Where are you!?” Wiatt yelled again.

“Skiddo! Come on out!” Sara yelled again.

Lewis and Oliver finally caught up with their friends. “Any luck?” Oliver asked.

“No,” Wiatt replied. “What about you guys?”

Oliver and Lewis shook their heads. Even Sprigatito shook her head but she too was worried about her friends.

Wiatt and Sara frowned before turning to each other and getting into another argument again. “This is all your fault!” They both shouted at the same time. “My fault! It’s your fault!”

Tired of the arguing Oliver took a deep breath and shouted, “Would you two knock it off!”

Oliver’s shout made everyone frozen in shock. Never had Oliver raised his voice at anyone before. The taller boy covered his mouth in shock, embarrassed at what he had just done. “Sorry, but I just had to.”

“Don’t need to apologize, darling,” Lewis said, putting his hand on his best friend’s shoulder. “Someone needed to speak up about these two sooner or later.” He glanced at his two best friends, as his Sprigatito gave them the same look.

Wiatt and Sara looked at their friends, surprised before looking at each other. Guilt rushed through their faces realizing they were bickering non-stop. The two turned away with Sara rubbing her arm in regret.

“Face it you two, if you want to find your Pokemon you two need to work together.” Lewis reminded them.

“Meow!” Sprigatito added, agreeing with her trainer.

Wiatt and Sara looked at one another and while they didn’t want to, they had to. “Alright.” Wiatt sighed.

“Where do we suppose we look?” Sara asked. “We’ve looked everywhere!”

As Sara complained, Sprigatito’s ear twitched as she heard something not too far away. She jumped out of Lewis’s arms and listened to hear a battle going on not far from here. “Meow! Meow!” Sprigatito mewled.

“You heard something Sprigatito?” Lewis asked.

The Grass Cat Pokemon nodded and went to lead the group to where the noise was located.

“Follow her!” Lewis exclaimed as the four went to follow Sprigatito to a clearing. There, the Grass Cat Pokemon mewled finding the two Pokemon. “You found them?”

Spirgatito nodded and looked through the bushes and her eyes widened. As her trainer and his friends looked through the bushes as well, the Grass Cat Pokemon shushed them so they could be quiet and watch.

There, Oddity and Skiddo were sparing and practicing combinations the two could use in a future battle. Skiddo was trying to use Bulldoze as Oddity tried to climb the rocks and use Shadow Ball, however, the Eevee kept on losing his footing, but before he could fall Skiddo caught him using Vine Whip and put him down gently.

“Eevee,” Oddity replied.

Skiddo belted and they decided to try again. There Oddity was able to perfect the combination and decided to use his Jolteon attack.

“Did you see that?” Sara asked.

“Yeah,” Wiatt replied. “They're doing combinations and getting good at it.”

“They would’ve done it perfectly if you two weren’t arguing so much,” Oliver added.

Wiatt and Sara felt guilty, seeing their arguing prevented them from letting their Pokemon show off their combinations. The group kept watching the two Pokemon practice their combinations; Skiddo went to use Razor Leaf, but not long after Oddity started to glow green and ended up using Razor Leaf not long after.

The Dream Quartet were surprised at what they just witnessed. “Now Oddity can learn Razor Leaf?!” Wiatt exclaimed.

“Darling, I don’t think Oddity learned Razor Leaf or Swift,” Lewis replied. Wiatt turned towards his friend. “I believe Oddity learned Copycat.”

Wiatt’s eyes widened and turned towards his Pokemon, who used Copycat one more time, this time on Skiddo’s Take Down attack, which he used to tackle Skiddo, who stopped him using her vines. She then let go as the two took a breath and decided to end training for the day.

Skiddo let out a bleat asking if Oddity was ready to head back to their trainers. She felt worried for Sara, knowing she was probably looking for her.

Oddity nodded, agreeing to go to Wiatt. He turned and froze seeing their trainers and their friends had been watching them for some time. Wiatt and Sara came out of the bushes and walked over to their Pokemon, who felt so nervous that they ran off.

“Don’t feel nervous you two,” Sara said. “We’re calm now.”

“Sorry if our arguing lost us the battle,” Wiatt spoke up.

Oddity and Skiddo looked up at their trainers in surprise, seeing they weren’t yelling anymore.

“We saw a bit of your training, and what you did is amazing!” Sara exclaimed.

“Yeah! I want to try that next time we get pulled into a double battle!” Wiatt added.

Oddity and Skiddo blushed in embarrassment glad their trainers were proud of them.

“Say,” Wiatt spoke up, “would you two like to try again and battle Eric and Lewis again?”

“We promise we won’t argue,” Sara added, putting her hands together.

Oddity and Skiddo looked at each other and smiled, nodding in reply. Wiatt and Sara smiled seeing their Pokémon agreed to it. However, the good times were cut short when a net appeared out of the sky and landed on top of Oddity and Skiddo.

The group gasped in horror but then saw the net carry the two Pokemon up in the air.

“Oh great! Now what’s going on!?” Wiatt asked.

A familiar laughter appeared before a voice spoke up, “Prepare for trouble we got you by surprise.”

“And make it double we got the prize!” A male voice spoke up.”

It was Team Rocket in their Meowth balloon saying their usual motto.

“To protect the world from devastation!” Jessie continued.

“To unite all peoples within our nation!” James continued.

“To denounce the evils of truth and love!”

“To extend our reach to the stars above!”

“Jessie!” She introduced giving a wink

“James!” He introduced doing the same thing as his partner.

“Team Rocket blasts off and the speed of light!”

“Surrender now or prepare for a fight!”

“Meowth! That’s right!” Meowth beamed jumping in front of his teammates.

“Wobbuffet!” Wobbuffet beamed.

“Team Rocket!” The Dream Quartet yelled.

“Give us back our Pokemon!” Sara added.

“What? I can’t hear you, twerp!” Jessie mocked. “I believe these Pokémon belong to us!”

Oddity and Skiddo complained as they begged for their friends to help them. Sara and Wiatt growled seeing Team Rocket getting higher and higher away from them.

“Skiddo, use Razor Leaf!” Sara commanded.

“Oddity, use Copycat on the Razor Leaf!” Wiatt commanded.

The two Pokémon used Razor Leaf to break out of the net, but the move reflected back instead of tearing the net to break free.

“What?” Wiatt asked, confused as to why the rope didn’t break.

Meowth laughed, “Sorry twerps we made sure this net was Pokémon proof inside and out!” He gloated.

“No Razor Leaf or any attack can break through this net!” James beamed as well.

“Wobbuffet!” Wobbuffet replied.

Lewis growled seeing his two friends' Pokemon being taken away from him. His Pokemon, Sprigatito growled as well, ready to fight to save her friends. She noticed the rope that held the net and mewled to her trainer.

“Meow! Meow!” Sprigatito yelled.

Lewis turned towards his Pokémon as she mewled again looking at the rope holding the net. He smirked and nodded and was ready to command his Pokemon to save his friends.

“Sprigatito, use Leafage to cut the rope!” 

Sprigatito launched leaves from her neck as the attack tore the rope holding the net. Slowly the rope broke and snapped as the net fell down on the ground with Oddity and Skiddo inside. However, Skiddo used her Vine Whip to grab Oddity as they landed safely on the ground.

Team Rocket was shocked to see the net had broken even though they gloated about how indestructible it was.

“Vee!” Oddity sighed.

Skiddo sighed as well as their trainers went over to them. “You two okay?” Wiatt asked.

“Eevee! Vee!” Oddity replied.

Skiddo bleated in reply that she was okay too.

“Meowth!” Jessie growled. “You said this net was Pokémon attack-proofed!”

Meowth chuckled, “Well it was, however, it was too small to grab the Pokémon from our balloon so I used some spare rope to make it longer.” He explained.

“Next time buy the bigger and longer nets!” James yelled.

“If our budget allows it.” Meowth groaned.

Jessie growled, not wanting to give up. She took out her Pokeball and threw it shouting, “Go Seviper!” She yelled.

“Alright, Inkay, let’s go!” James yelled, throwing his Pokeball as well.

The two Pokeballs opened and out came Jessie’s Seviper and James’s Inkay. The two Pokemon glared at the Dream Quartet who glared back. 

Sprigatito was ready to battle their enemies Pokémon, but Oddity and Skiddo stepped up wanting to battle Team Rocket to make up for the battle they lost earlier.

“Eevee! Vee!” Oddity exclaimed.

“You want us to try again right now?” Sara asked.

Oddity and Skiddo nodded in reply.

Sara and Wiatt looked at each other and nodded. They faced Team Rocket’s Pokemon and were ready to battle.

“Seviper, use Poison Sting!” Jessie commanded.

“Inkay, use Psybeam!” James commanded.

Seviper opened his mouth and launched purple darts at Skiddo and Oddity, while Inkay went upside down and launched a blue beam with pink circles at the two Pokemon.

“Dodge it!” Sara and Wiatt yelled.

The two Pokemon jumped and missed the two attacks.

“Skiddo, Razor Leaf!” Sara commanded.

“Oddity, use Shadow Ball!” Wiatt commanded.

The two Pokemon turned to one another and nodded. Skiddo let out her Razor Leaf attack, while Oddity let out his Shadow Ball. Oddity’s attack went first and then Skiddo's, causing the two attacks to swirl one another and attack Seviper and Inkay at the same time. However, the opposing Pokemon stood their ground.

“Seviper, use Poison Tail on the Eevee!” Jessie commanded.

“Seviper!” The Fang Snake Pokemon hissed as their tail glowed purple and was ready to attack Oddity.

“Wiatt, I want you to use Copycat on Seviper’s Poison Tail,” Sara told him.

Wiatt looked confused and turned towards his friend, “what?” He asked.

“Trust me on this, okay,” Sara added.

Wiatt wasn’t exactly sure what Sara was planning, but if they wanted to stop Team Rocket together they had to agree and not fight with one another.

“Alright.” Wiatt said, “Oddity, use Copycat on Poison Tail!” 

Oddity glowed purple as his tail turned purple and he started to run towards Seviper. The two Poison Tail attacks collided with one another pushing the two Pokemon back.

“Inkay, use Tackle!” James commanded.

“Skiddo, stop that Tackle with Vine Whip!” Sara commanded.

Inkay made its way towards Skiddo, before being stopped by the latter’s Vine Whip.

“Great! Now toss them!” Sara commanded once again. She glanced at Wiatt and nodded, having him command Oddity to use an attack.

Wiatt nodded, “Oddity, use Shadow Ball!” He exclaimed.

Skiddo threw Inkay up in the air as Oddity got up on Skiddo’s back and launched a Shadow Ball at the Revolving Pokemon. Inkay was pushed back and slammed into Seviper, which pushed the two into a tree.

“I can’t believe it!” Oliver exclaimed.

“They're finally working together!” Lewis added. He felt happy and wanted to join in to help his friends, but he felt Sprigatito’s paws touch his shoes, stopping him.

Sprigatito mewled, telling him that Sara and Wiatt should handle this battle together. Lewis nodded and listened to his Pokemon as he and Oliver continued to watch.

Jessie growled seeing Sara and Wiatt work together, she had hoped the two would be fighting again, giving her and James an easy win, but that wasn’t the case. “What happened to the bickering twerps?!” She yelled.

“Maybe they let out all their anger?” Meowth asked.

Jessie growled, “Well I’m not losing to some twerps!” She yelled. “Seviper, Bite attack!”

“Inkay, use Tackle!” James commanded.

The two Pokemon started to come towards the opposing Pokemon, who were ready to attack.

“Wiatt, do you want to try Skiddo and Oddity’s combination?” Sara asked.

Wiatt thought about it for a second and nodded, “Sure, but we need to time it right.”

Sara nodded and commanded her Pokemon to use her attack, “Skiddo use Bulldoze!”

Skiddo smirked knowing what her trainer was trying to do. She then stopped her hooves and used her Bulldoze attack.

“Alright Oddity! Go! Use your Jolteon attack!” Wiatt commanded.

“Eevee!” Oddity beamed.

Oddity used the Bulldoze to launch himself toward Team Rocket’s Pokemon and went ahead to use his Jolteon attack, shocking Seviper, and Inkay. The attack pushed the two Pokemon back into Team Rocket’s balloon, which shocked them as well before their balloon exploded.

The explosion was seen in the distance, surprising Eric, his daughter, and Ridley.

“What was that?” Carly asked.

“I don’t know, but we should see if Lewis and the others are alright,” Eric said.

Meanwhile, Team Rocket were in the sky defeated by Wiatt and his friends yet again. “How can those two be arguing one minute and then working together in perfect harmony!” Jessie complained.

“Well Jess, they are the heroes and we’re the bad guys,” James replied, in a deadpan tone.

Jessie growled and yelled at her teammate, “Who’s side are you on James!?” She yelled.

“Yours.” He replied in the same tone.

Meowth sighed, “Well looks like I got another bickering duo to deal with.” He said.

“Wobbuffet!” Wobbuffet exclaimed.

“Team Rocket is blasting off again!” Team Rocket yelled as they were launched to the sky.

“Alright!” Wiatt and Sara cheered, giving each other a high five. Their two Pokemon went over to them and hugged them tightly as they celebrated their win.

As they celebrated, Eric and Carly arrived confused about what the two were celebrating. “What did we miss?” Carly asked.

“Wiatt and Sara finally worked together,” Oliver said.

“And defeated Team Rocket,” Lewis added.

“Oddity,” Wiatt started. “You and Skiddo were amazing!”

“Eevee!” Oddity exclaimed.

Wiatt hugged Oddity as the Evolution Pokemon nuzzled him. The two looked over at Sara, kneeling down and petting her Skiddo, praising her as well.

“Skiddo, you were amazing as always!” Sara beamed.

Skiddo bleated in reply before giving her trainer a lick on the cheek. Sara chuckled and hugged her Pokemon tight.

Wiatt smiled and walked over to the young girl, “Hey, Sara.” He started. Sara looked up at her friend. “I’m sorry for arguing with you today, you're a really good trainer.”

Sara gave a small smile and got up to face her friend, “Thanks, and I’m sorry too for being such a jerk to you.” She replied. “You're not that bad of a battler Wiatt, your Eevee is something.”

Wiatt looked down at his buddy, who smiled proudly.

“However,” Sara started, which made Wiatt and Oddity, as well as their friends, change expressions. “That Jolteon attack, have you ever given it a name?”

Wiatt and Oddity looked at each other before looking back at their friend. “No. I never thought of it.”

“Well, instead of Jolteon attack, how about…” Sara trailed off until she thought of an idea thanks to seeing a nearby Beedrill hive in the distance. “Buzzy Buzz.”

“Buzzy Buzz!?” Wiatt exclaimed. “That’s the most stupid name you can come up with!” He glared.

Sara glared back, “Well it’s better than Jolteon attack!” She shouted back. The two continued to bicker over the name choice, which made their friends sigh in disbelief.

“Here they go again.” Lewis sighed. Sprigaitito mewled in reply.

“At this point, they’ll argue over anything,`” Carly added.

Before the argument could escalate further, Sara and Wiatt felt Skiddo’s vines around their wrist. They looked down at the Mount Pokemon who was glaring at them, tired of their nonstop bickering. Even Oddity glared at them, agreeing with his friend.

Sara and Wiatt looked at their Pokemon and then at each other before sighing in defeat. Skiddo then released her vines off the two trainers as Wiatt kneeled down at Oddity. “Oddity, what do you think about changing the name of your move from Jolteon Attack to Buzzy Buzz?” He asked, even though saying Buzzy Buzz felt weird to say.

Oddity thought of it for a bit, and smiled, “Vee.” He replied.

“You like it?”

“Eevee!”

Wiatt sighed and turned to Sara. “I guess you win this time.” He said.

Sara smiled, seeing she won this argument. “Funny thing, I thought of it on the top of my head.” She replied.

Wiatt chuckled as well, which relieved their friends that the argument was cut short.

“Well, now that’s settled, how about we eat lunch back at the lab and try again for another double battle,” Eric explained.

“Yeah!” The group agreed.

“And I’ll get there first!” Sara beamed as she and Skiddo ran up ahead of everyone.

“Not if I get there first!” Wiatt yelled as he ran to catch up with his friend. The two started to race each other to see who would get to the lab first.

Lewis and Oliver looked at each other, before shrugging and decided to race their friends too.

[eternalglitch]

How many words do you consider too long for a chapter to be? Because I’m currently writing a tmnt fic and for storytelling purposes I really want it to be 3 chapters, but I’m only about 2/5 done with what I want covered in the first chapter and I’m already at 25k words. Do you think it’d be better for readers if I divided up the chapter or should I stay true to how I want my outline to go?

As a writer, my advice is do what you feel is the best way to tell your story. It’s fanfiction and we are beholden to no rules. A lot of the time I stop a chapter before or after I planned to because it just feels right.

As a reader, however. You better have the best summary and opening to that fic or I’m either not even opening it or closing it out unless I’m desperate for that specific content. (Or I already know you as an author and enjoy your work.) I’m a lot more willing to try (4/? 25k) than (1/3 25k).

Obviously, I can only speak to my preferences, but in general I won’t read fanfic that has chapters outside of the 3-15k range in length. Why? I want to

a) Have enough new content to read with updates to feel immersed and get back into the story.

b) Be able to go do something else and not worry about the tab refreshing as well as easily be able to locate general scenes if I want to reread.

Larger chapters make that second point much more difficult to a reader. In particular, I like reading one chapter all in one go and am not interested in a chapter the length of an actual novel (which starts at 40k, by the way!) where I’ll need to take breaks at awkward times in the story.

So while it IS your choice, you’re definitely going to scare some people off if you have three 70k chapters. Of course, even I would break some of these “rules” depending on the circumstances, but if you want to adapt to allow as many people as possible to take a chance on your work, I would recommend around 10k words per chapter to start (and even that length is very long to some people!!) and maybe bump it up after you establish an audience you know will stick around. I wouldn’t ever exceed 15k per chapter as the standard personally, though.

[megglesthegeek]

You're So Damn Different

I had this all written out when I was starting my Lokius fic, One More Chance to be Near You, but it no longer worked. But I liked it too much not to share, so here's a little Mobius angst and a partially Jotun Loki.

Also On Ao3

___________

Perhaps leaving the TVA was a bit hasty. 

Life on the timeline was exciting at first. At least it was when Mobius finally found it in himself to walk away from the street where Don and his boys lived. 

It had looked like a good life. Best house on the block, with two kids who seemed to really like their dad. No spouse, but he knew that from the file he found on his desk. But Mobius couldn’t find it in him to envy it on any more than a superficial level. So he opened a time door and found himself a new place and time to settle down and start a life of his own.

At first, life in New York was kind of amazing. 

The TVA had organized what they called a retirement package for anyone who wanted to go live life on the timeline. Depending on where and when they wanted to go, they were given the appropriate identification and a decent amount of currency so they could live comfortably while adjusting to their new way of life. For Mobius, he believed he may have been given preferential treatment because he was able to afford rent for a nice little studio apartment in the south of Midtown, and probably wouldn’t ever need to get a job. 

So Mobius spent a good six months walking the city, immersing himself in the culture, trying all the different foods he could find. On rainy days he would catch up on movies and TV that were recommended mostly by strangers. Every once in a while he would encounter someone chatty who would ask if he had seen this, that, or some other thing then insist he should when he would inevitably respond no. Then, he began asking people what they would tell Captain America to watch if they encountered him as an ice breaker and a good way to get some info.

But after a wide range of dining options and more TV and movies than Mobius could ever want to watch in his life, he decided to look for more simple pleasures. A cup of coffee in a new cafe until he found one he liked enough to haunt for a while. Visiting the library as so many people would say the book was better, and being told while he was there that the classics were better. But when the joy of reading started to become a slog, boredom began to set in. 

He tried getting a job but found that it was actually really hard to do that when the people you worked for existed outside of space and time. He might have had enough work experience for several lifetimes but it was hard to put that on a resume. 

It left him wondering why he had wanted to leave the TVA to begin with, pointedly ignoring the green-hued thought that lingered in his mind. He’d liked the TVA before, but he never got a proper chance to experience it after, and he couldn’t put all of his decisions on someone else leaving first. 

Maybe, Mobius thought as he stared out the window of his cafe of the day, I had just needed a break.

Bee - or Verity, he supposed - had probably already known that. It was probably why she left the door to return wide open. A stubborn part of Mobius wanted to stay in the city that never sleeps just to prove her wrong, though he knew it was a losing battle.

Finishing his drink with a sigh, he rose from the chair, offered a smile to the pair who hovered close enough to swoop in and grab it, then headed out the door. 

There was a stillness in the air that no one around him seemed to sense. They passed by, seemingly unaware that something was off. Maybe it wasn’t, maybe Mobius was just being incredibly paranoid. 

He walked a bit down the street, eyes half on the sky as he searched for something beyond the buildings. While doing so, he mentally recalled the year he was in, and reminded himself that no cataclysmic events happened in New York in 2014. Then, as he saw a distant dot in the sky grow ever larger, he remembered that that fact applied only to the Sacred Timeline where he was decidedly not.

As he watched the dot begin to take the shape of a spaceship, Mobius reasoned he could call up a time door at any moment, walk through it, and maybe see if there was something for him to return to later. As people around him started to realize something was happening, he vaguely wished he had at least carried a pruning stick with him, maybe something small he could hide in his pocket.

As it became very clear that the ship was going to hit the park behind him, but certainly not far enough away where Mobius could avoid getting hurt or worse his survival instinct finally started to kick in. There was no way he could outrun the damage from the impact, so hoping for the best he launched himself behind a post box and quietly apologized to the one person he knew would know he hadn’t tried very hard.

Mobius braced himself as he heard the ship hit with an eruption of concrete and earth mixed with the shattering of glass and screams of the unprepared. But nothing happened. He didn’t even feel the air around him disturbed as projectiles zipped past. Hell, he hadn’t even felt the way the ship would have cut the air around him as it made its way to Earth.

Peeking up over the top of the post box, Mobius caught a sight that had him standing fully upright even as he was nearly bowled over by it.

Loki, black hair and green cape billowing, gold horns glistening, arms wide as green magic formed a wall preventing damage from spreading beyond it.

As dirt and debris continued to hammer the wall, Loki looked over his shoulder and Mobius’s breath was knocked out of him. It wasn’t his Loki, he had already known it wasn’t. But this Loki looked nearly exactly like him, and would have made for an exact copy had it not been for the ridges in his pale skin that normally only showed in his Jotun form, and the burgundy of his eyes as the red mixed with their normal green.

“Are you alright?” he asked Mobius as he effortlessly kept things safe.

“Yeah,” Mobius nodded dumbly.

“Good,” Loki replied with a smirk. “Stark would never let me hear the end of it if I didn’t get here on time. He’d never stop complaining about the cost to the Stark Foundation.”

“Right,” Mobius said, still trying to reconcile this Loki with every other Loki he had ever met, including his own. Because Loki, to the best of Mobius’s knowledge - which he had a lot of considering he was a Loki expert - was never friendly. Charismatic, yes. Friendly, not so much. Especially not to a random Midgardian who was dumb enough to try and hide behind a mailbox.

“I mean, honestly. What would the Avengers even do without me? I’m the reason this city still stands as it does!”

“Uh-huh.”

“I suppose it might have been a little over the top when I stood on his tower and announced ‘Your savior is here.’ But before I came back, they were losing! Terribly!”

“Sure were,” Mobius agreed flatly having not a single clue what Loki was talking about. But then he remembered when his Loki - or the Loki he might have been - had said the same thing. Grinning, he said, “It was quite an entrance.”

“Yes! See, you understand,” Loki enthused, shifting his hand and making the wall shift and contort. “It wasn’t dramatic at all.”

“Hey, Loks!” Tony Stark’s voice echoed overhead just before the suit zipped by. “You gonna be useful now, or what?”

Loki sighed before dismissing the wall. He turned back to Mobius and winked before rushing off into the fray, the Avengers coming in from all sides to fight off whatever or whoever was in that ship.

Mobius didn’t know. Mobius didn’t care. As Loki vanished from sight, Mobius withdrew his tempad, opened a time door, and walked straight into the TVA. From there he opened a second time door and stepped into his apartment. 

There wasn’t a lot he’d accumulated that he’d be sad about losing. Frankly, most stuff he’d gotten strictly because he felt he had to on the off chance he made friends on the timeline. So he grabbed a large, square decorative basket, dumped the random remotes inside on the couch, and began going through his apartment. 

He started in his closet, getting the couple of ties he’d bought and quite liked, as well as the tiny little gold-horned cuff links that were probably just an over-expensive novelty but felt too dear to him. As he left the room to head to the bathroom to get the shampoo and soap he loved the scent of, something zipped past his window. He didn’t look, the neighbors upstairs screaming was enough of an indicator that things were getting heated out there.

Mobius grabbed his beloved toiletries before heading back to the main room, beelining for the cupboard where he kept the orange and green mugs that stayed on his desk at the TVA from the moment he had a real partner to the day he left. They were both going to go back, regardless of his much less attached he was to one over the other. They were a pair, they shouldn’t be separated.

For good measure, he grabbed the bag of coffee he really liked and the unopened back of Oreos and tossed them in the basket as well.

Everything collected, Mobius opened a time door back to the TVA, then looked out his window one last time.

Loki was there, standing on some kind of hoverboard that was clearly designed by Stark. He looked confused, frowning as though he were trying to figure out the likelihood that Mobius might have a twin. But then Mobius gave him a little wave, making the god smile before something distracted him. Which was fine because Mobius had already started to turn away and head back to the TVA.

Setting down the basket on his desk, Mobius put his hands on his hips, surveyed the vacant space, and said, “What the shit was that?”

———

While he was technically retired, Mobius’s privileges were still intact. So while he was still in a blue Oxford shirt and tan khaki pants, no one questioned why he was heading down to the library. He flashed a grin, and asked the polite “hi, how are ya” as he went, but remained entirely focused on his task.

When he got to the information desk, he tapped the bell as was protocol, and waited for the receptionist to acknowledge him.

“Hi,” He said with a grin in hopes of lightening her disposition. He, as expected, got nothing for his efforts. “I’m wondering if you have anything on branch, uh,” he pulled his tempad out, flipped it open, and checked what branch he came from was. “Branch 17352.”

Barely suppressing an eye roll, she turned to see if she could fulfill Mobius’s request. He waited as patiently as he could, keeping his fidgeting to the tapping of his foot so that when she inevitably returned he could smile at her dour expression. 

“I’m assuming these are what you’re looking for,” She said, knowing and annoyed all at once. She handed Mobius a stack of files that was too small to be the entire branch, but not insignificant in size either. 

Glancing down, he couldn’t help by notice the top file was marked Variant L-17352, Loki Odinson.

The name alone had Mobius frowning further. It should always be Laufeyson. He glanced up at the clerk, but she just smirked before turning away and returning to ignoring him.

Mobius carried the files over to his desk, plopping down and cracking open the topmost file right away.

Immediately, he could see where the branch would have started, where they’d have pruned in the past.

Loki was always a mischievous scamp, and this timeline wasn’t any different. He’d turned himself into a snake and caused chaos among Thor and his friends. That, Mobius knew, followed the Sacred timeline. It was the cementing moment for Sif to always hate Loki, a loathing that would only ever increase as they got older. The Nexus event happened a couple days after that, when Odin was meeting with his commanders, Heimdall among them. 

The kids - because despite being gods, that’s what they were - had snuck away from their trainers and minders and rode to the Observatory. The lure had been to visit Earth and cause some trouble, all while knowing the guard cover for Heimdall would let them go and bring them back without question. 

Sif had whispered into Thor’s ear, and he had grinned as wickedly as Thor ever could. Thor asked the guard with all the eagerness and pomp a teenage prince had to be the one to turn the sword and set the location. All he had to do was watch and make sure nothing went wrong, as were his orders from the king and Heimdall.

On the Sacred timeline, Thor is interrupted by the Gatekeeper as he returns to his post.

On this branch, Heimdall is delayed just long enough for Thor to turn the sword, opening the way to Jotunheim. With Thor’s hands on the sword, and positioned behind Loki, Sif waved the rest out of range of the Bifrost leaving Loki and the poor guard to be sent to Jotunheim. Thor closed the Bifrost, and while Heimdall returned just moments later things were already set in motion.

By the time the guards and Odin arrived at the Bifrost, Heimdall seeing the incident and alerting those around him what would need to be done, it was all too late. Loki and the guard arrived surrounded by Frost Giants, and like on the Sacred Timeline, they used their touch to burn the Asgardian armor away and fatally harm them. And like on the Sacred timeline, Loki watched in horror as his leather was burned away and his true form was revealed underneath.

Being young, he didn’t keep his fears to himself. He told Odin right away, demanded the explanation he would have otherwise tried to find himself. And Odin, still closer to banishing Hela than he was banishing Thor, told his adopted but beloved son the truth. And not being on the cusp of Odin sleep, he was able to explain that Loki was not a treasure or a pawn, but a genuinely wanted child that Odin really believed could possibly bring peace between the realms. A coveted second son and one Frigga had adored potentially more than the one she birthed.

Loki’s life from then on was very, very different. 

He was still the god of Mischief, and many of the things he had done on the Sacred timeline still happened. But he was less guarded. It was still a defense mechanism, especially as he chose to wear a mix of his true form and his Asgardian one. If he was too aloof then he might have been judged more harshly. Instead, he was able to make the Asgardian people believe the Jotuns weren’t so bad. That maybe they weren’t so monstrous. 

The feeling wasn’t widespread and it certainly wasn’t mutual.

On the day of Thor’s coronation, the events that should have happened still happened. Only it wasn’t Loki who brought them over. Two of them had found the pathway because what was meant to be would always be it would seem. Thor still insisted they all go and make them pay, and forced Loki to choose which realm he really called home. Loki still alerted the guards before following his brother, making him believe he was not the enemy.

Thor was still banished, but so was Loki. Not because he was like Thor, but because he wanted to prove a point. Odin thought, of course, that if Loki was stripped of his powers - same as Thor - that the attitude and mannerisms he had would find him worthy enough to lift Mjolnir, and ascend the throne as a better King than Thor was shaping up to be. 

Only, despite everything, Loki never tried to find the Hammer. When he landed, he did so just off the highway as Tony Stark was passing by. Iron Man, cautious but curious, went to investigate.

“Fucking hell,” Mobius cursed quietly as he read page after page of how Loki charmed Stark and helped him with the palladium problem. How wondering New York found him on the doorstep of the Ancient one, and how she managed to help him release the spell Odin put on him to dim his powers and shift his form to full human-looking Asgardian. Mobius read that Loki returned to Stark Tower looking like he had most of his life, and instead of being turned away was more thoroughly embraced by the billionaire genius. 

“Interesting read?” Verity asked as she came up behind him. By the way, her eyes widened when he looked up, Mobius would guess she caught the picture of the Loki Mobius met on his branch in a less-than-friendly embrace with Tony Stark. “What?”

“He’s an Avenger,” Mobius said with a bit too much feigned enthusiasm. “Yeah, see, apparently on this branch he is a hero. And he and Tony lead together. With Bruce Banner still being the Hulk,” Mobius switched out the file, showing Verity the Branch 17352 Avengers. “But Bucky Barnes is the one who was pulled from the ice as Captain America with Steve Rogers being the one who fell off the train and became the Winter Solider. Yeah, and Yelena is the one who is found by Hawkeye and takes the mantle of Black Widow. It’s such a messed up timeline.”

“Well, what happened to his brother?” Verity asked.

“He takes a lot longer to find himself worthy. Without the sacrifice he makes on the Sacred timeline, he’s still mortal when another agent of Thanos happens to make it to New York. He gets back to Asgard after.”

“I suppose the whole thing with Stark made you want to come back?”

“I didn’t know about it until I came back,” Mobius replied setting the file down on the pile heavily. “If I didn’t know any better, I would have thought he was flirting with me.”

Verity made a sound between a surprised laugh and a cough before she cleared her throat. Mobius glanced back at her to see her nod once, a too-serious expression on her face. 

“Right. Because Lokis don’t flirt with you. So, I’m guessing by the moving boxes you’re stayin?” She asked, gesturing to the square basket on his desk. 

Mobius looked at her and sighed. 

“I’m pretty sure the apartment I had was about to be destroyed, so yeah. Staying. For now, I guess.”

“Good. We’ve been having some decent luck with He Who Remains variants.  A good chunk of them are like Timely, pretty harmless over all, born at a time when the technology doesn’t fit their potential. We could still use an analyst to sort out the others, you were always very good at determining who was truly terrible.”

“I suppose,” He replied, eyes falling back to the folders of the branch he’d just come from. One where Loki wasn’t a loser. Where things were so very, very different but also felt very, very wrong. What would his Loki, one who likely hadn’t properly processed what he really was, think of a Loki who ultimately lived his best life? What’s more, how many more Lokis were popping up all over the timelines living better lives than his? 

“You can have side projects, too,” Verity said like she was trying to bribe him.

“I was getting pretty bored,” he replied sincerely but with just enough humor to keep her on her toes.

Verity clapped him on the shoulder, giving it a squeeze.

“Glad you’re back,” She said before heading off to wherever she was probably supposed to be. 

Mobius sighed as he looked at the basket, seeing the two coffee mugs side by side on the top. 

“I wish I wasn’t the only one.”

[writingwhimsey]

All's Fair In Love & War- Nobunaga Ch. 21

Chapter 21

It was only a couple of days later, I was in the garden after a council, doing some exercises with my shoulder. The wound had closed up and now it was all about trying to get full range of motion back. I had a practice sword in hand, swinging it around. Yes, I was right-handed, but typically my sword required both arms, not to mention I liked to be able to use my left should my right arm become injured in some way.

I needed to get my arm back up to full strength. We were planning to start the next campaign in Nobunaga’s unification. We would be heading out in two weeks and I needed to be at my best so I could fight at his side.

“Need a sparring partner?”

I turned as I saw Masamune coming out of the castle. “Sure.” I answered. “If you can keep up that is.”

“Oh, a confident lass.” Masamune said with a grin. “Don’t worry I’ll have you and your arm trained back up in no time.”

“Of course, I’m confident. I take names and kick ass.” I replied, grinning.

Masamune grinned as he grabbed an extra practice sword and came to stand across from me. “You know, I’ve seen you in action and I have to say I have been hoping to squeeze in a match with you.” He was then charging at me.

I blocked the blow and with effort pushed him back. We continued our sparring match, both of us attacking, blocking, and redirecting, but neither of us able to land a blow on the other. My shoulder was aching and burning while I stood panting and sweating. Masamune was definitely a tougher opponent than most I had faced. It was a rather nice challenge. Granted I was probably pushing myself farther than I should have, but I needed to be at my best.

“Looks like we’ve drawn a crowd.” Masamune said with a chuckle as he stood across from me panting and sweating as well.

I glanced over and saw my vassals as well as Nobunaga and the others all watching us. Though that quick glance was all I could spare as I knew if I did more, Masamune would charge at me once more, trying to take advantage of the distraction. We were soon coming to blows once again, our practice swords locked. I could feel my left arm beginning to tremble with the effort, but I wouldn’t yield.

Just then Hideyoshi was running out in the middle of us along with Jiro and my doctor. “I think that’s enough you two.” Hideyoshi said, wrenching our practice swords apart.

“Yes, I think you’ve worked yourself enough, my lord.” Jiro said.

“It is important to not overdo it, my lord.” My doctor added.

“You’re…all a…bunch…of mother hens…” I said between panting breaths.

“I wasn’t actually…gonna hurt the lass…” Masamune agreed.

I was glad that my practice sword was in my right hand. My left arm was shaking from the exertion. “It’s not going to…improve if I just don’t use…it.” I said. “I have to…move it to… build the muscles back…up.”

“You still don’t need to overdo it, my lord.” Jiro told me.

“The wound has only just now closed up.” My doctor reminded me.

“You’re nuts if you think overdoing it is going to make you better.” Ieyasu said.

“I’m fine.” I countered, not wanting to listen. “It’s my body. I know what I’m capable of.”

“Look, you guys know nothing can keep our lord down.” Sato said, as she came over to join the crowd. “But clearly this match has come to an end, so you both may as well go and get freshened up. Weren’t you planning to make dinner for everyone, Lord Masamune?”

“Yeah, still have to make sure I’m making some hearty meals for your lord.” Masamune said with a grin.

I let out a sigh. “A break won’t hurt, I suppose.”

“I’ll have the maids draw you a nice warm bath.” Sato said.

“You know, a trip to the hot springs wouldn’t hurt.” The castle doctor said. “I recommend it as part of your treatment. Especially if you go to the crimson springs.”

“Crimson Springs?” Nobunaga asked as he had come over, standing next to me.

“Oh, yes we have some hot springs that have naturally red waters.” I explained. 

“Yes and they have even greater healing and restorative properties than the usual hot springs.” Sato said. “Which I believe our good doctor has a point.”

I had to admit, a dip in the hot springs sounded quite nice. “A trip to visit a new hotspring would be nice.” Nobunaga said. “And a good way to rest before we start our next move.”

And a good place for us to make our next move in this relationship. I thought, though I turned to Nobunaga with a cheeky grin. “And who says I was going to invite you?”

“I thought you might need a pillow and blanket.” Nobunaga replied, grinning at me as he wrapped his arms around me, clearly not caring about how sweaty I was…or that the others were around us.

“Hmm, I suppose you can come then.” I replied, smiling at him. If he didn’t care, then I don’t care either.

Masamune let out a whistle. “I never stood a chance.”  He said with a chuckle.

“I’ll make the arrangements, my lord.” Jiro said.

Two days later…

I finished packing up the things I would need for my trip to the Crimson Springs with Nobunaga. We would only be staying about three days, but I still wanted to make sure I had enough. Sato had insisted on helping me pack…and she insisted I pack my thinnest and most revealing night robe.

After I had finished packing, I was walking out the front entrance of the castle. Nobunaga was already waiting for me by the gate…with only his horse. Mine was nowhere to be found. “Are you ready to go, Ava?” He asked, a smirk on his face.

“Yes…but where is my horse?” I asked.

“I thought it would be more efficient if we rode together.” Nobunaga answered. “Do you have a problem with that arrangement?”

Have a problem with being on a horse with Nobunaga? Sitting against him and our bodies constantly knocking together as we rode? Nope, I saw no problems with that. “Not a one.” I answered, smiling.

Nobunaga grinned as he hopped on the back of the horse before offering me his hand. “Then let us be on our way.”

I placed my hand in his and allowed him to help me up into the saddle in front of him. His arms came around me as he picked up the reins. He was then placing a kiss on the nape of my neck, causing a shiver to run down my spine. “Your plan is to make it difficult to even last to the inn, isn’t it?” I asked him, a teasing tone in my voice.

Nobunaga chuckled in my ear. “Of course.” He answered. “I did promise you all night once you were healed up enough for that…and that starts now.” He was then nipping at my ear.

“O-oh?” I replied, turning to give him a coy smile despite my reddening cheeks. “Are you planning for all three nights?” I asked, unable to help myself.

“Perhaps.” Nobunaga replied, grinning devilishly at me.

“Then…we should get going.”

Nobunaga chuckled, kissing my neck once again before snapping the reins and we were off.

What we weren’t aware of, was the others standing at the castle entrance as they had come to see us off. “Well, they looked rather cozy.” Mitsuhide said, that cheshire grin on his face.

“They’ve been quite cozy for a while.” Sato said, sharing his grin.

“Never thought I’d see the day Nobunaga was like that.” Masamune said, wearing his own grin.

“I never thought I’d see the day Lord Ava willingly got on a horse with a man like that.” Jiro said. “Not even when she’s been seriously injured has she done that.”

“Pretty sure that’s just preview of the ride she’s gonna be on later.” Sato said with a laugh.

Masamune and Mitsuhide were both laughing along with Sato at her comment. Jiro and Hideyoshi both glared at the three of them. “Why…why must you always go there?” Jiro asked.

“What is wrong with you three?” Hideyoshi scolded. “Those are our lords…”

“Oh, we’re all just happy for them.” Sato said, grinning. “They both look happy and excited to get to enjoy some alone time together and relax before we dive into more craziness.”

“Yes, we must all take happiness where we can.” Mitsuhide agreed.

“Especially those two.” Masamune spoke up.

Jiro and Hideyoshi both just sighed. The others were right…but still it felt disrespectful to talk about their lords like that!

[maccreadysbaby]

Do it. Rate the MW2 men. I dare you.

Oh gosh. I’m about to get hated on. I feel it.

THESE ARE REBOOT CHARACTERS.

How I Rank the MW2 Men

7. Rodolfo Parra

i just don’t know enough about him to actually get into it. i like what parts of him we see, but i wish he had more screen time. i did get scared when i thought he was gonna die in the burning house, though, which shows that i at least care a little lol. he’s cute, but we have very little canon information displayed in-campaign and i can’t form a good enough opinion of him based off of what i know.

5/10 - just don’t know enough!

6. Alejandro Vargas

again, very little canon info shared, but he’s more personable than rudy! he’s loyal to an absolute fault and isn’t afraid to get his hands dirty, which i love. also very cute and charming. i was on the edge of my seat the entire length of prison break and was very relieved once he was found. i did get just a tad bit annoyed when he got angry over valeria, though, dude needed to take a chill pill

6/10 - i think i like him because ghost and soap like him

5. John Price

hold on before you attack me. i really, really, really like price! just not as much as others. he is totally the dad figure and the team wouldn’t be complete without him. also, when he puts his game face on, ain’t no one gonna stop him from getting what he wants. (ex. violence and timing, that one call with shepherd) his relationship with gaz is aww-worthy and i really appreciate his drive and willingness both to lead tf141 and be a vital part of it. i think too many people write him as a semi-absent, substitute teacher-like authority figure than the actual extremely useful, skillful, and vital part of the 141 that he is.

8/10 - underrated!

4. Simon “Ghost” Riley

firstly, stop hitting me with your shoe. secondly, let me explain. simon ghost riley is one of the most distinct and fine tuned characters i’ve ever encountered and it seriously boggles my mind and makes me terrified to write him. he is cold and closed off for good reason, due to trauma, and i love those characters. i can’t stand the i-can-fix-him fics a lot of people write about him because he doesn’t need someone to fix him. i think it’s possible he could lean heavily on a s/o like that, because he is a wreck, but it always seems a little ooc for him. he has so many walls built up it’s like trying to walk through a maze. i love him in-game, and his voice makes me blush, but he just isn’t my type of go-to comfort character.

9/10 - it’s ghost, what more do you need?

3. Johnny “Soap” MacTavish

he was the first one i fell for when i played. he’s a freaking charmer. and, even if he is the comic relief, he is also a hard working, extremely skilled soldier. i was terrified for the entire alone mission, and watching him get shot by graves? sheer panic. he oozes the modern military man trope while also being the second most emotionally vulnerable character, in my opinion, and i love the way he balances out ghost perfectly.

10/10 - i recommend getting you a soap

2. König

now, before you beat me up, i know he’s like ghost… but he’s distinctly different! he’s been used his entire life like some kind of tool, the battering ram, and is totally emotionally stunted in a different way than ghost. ghost has an off switch, könig doesn’t. he just suppresses it until he gets on the field. he moves like lightning, fights like a machine and gets his missions done. but he’s also self-conscious and severely anxious about interactions, which adds to why i love him. i totally get that, even if not to the extent of his. he’s just a big, big, scary man that wants friends but is too scared and scary to make them.

10/10 - so much depth

1. Kyle “Gaz” Garrick

i fell for him later in the campaign, but definitely harder than i did for soap. he’s so young, he’s so, for lack of a better word, readable compared to the others. he just wants to do what’s right. fight for a good cause. definitely passionate and driven, but you turn those two traits around, and you get a man whose morale is fragile and can get emotional. it doesn’t take more than a few blows and his morale will be at its lowest, only a few failed missions and he thinks he’s a failure, asking what is he doing with his life. but, with that, comes the fact that he thrives with and around other people and can be consoled easily. probably the most suited for a romantic partner. he’s just a baby, and i love him.

1000/10 - i reccomend gaz more than I recommend air

please don’t hate me :,)

[glassautomaton]

Hi there Glass! Me again, yes, the pest in your askbox..

Today, I come bearing questions (and concepts) about this specific line in your sandbox!

I am very interested in the Thorn and was wondering if you could explain how your Thorn works? That and how it would effect Iris?

Also!

I've been thinking about this for some days now, and yesterday I mocked up some Thorn infected Iris drawings for fun! You were the one who gave me the idea, so I'll share the drawings with you! :]

Small explanation for these: I'm just going to explain how everything works in my design. Feel free to add on or critique me or whatever you wish.

In the early stages of Iris being assimilated with the Thorn, her veins start running black, it's not super obvious at first, it just gathers around scars, and her hands, but it isn't a lot.

As time goes on, it grows, veins become darker, then some discoloration on her scars as they begin to rapidly change to black as well.

Then, the thorns push up from her skin. They accumulate with stress, but there are specific ones that can't just be picked out of her skin. (Like the ones lining her spine, the ones on her shoulders, the ones slowly coming out of her forehead, and I am guessing there is maybe a center one, the specific piece of the thorn that assimulated with Iris in the first place, but I don't think that would push up from her skin for atleast a while.)

(Also, yes, I know horns are a little out there, but one, it's fun. Two, I think it ties in nicely with all the religious imagery that seems to follow Iris as a character. Three, it looks badass.)

Anyway! Yeah, feel free to spill your thoughts on that, as for how all of this is happening? I'm not very good with anomalous biology, so I'm not sure I have a specific explanation. Feel free to add on to the design or try and make an anomalous system for it. At the end of the day, this is for fun!

Thanks for reading one of my various rambles! Enjoy the rest of your day, my friend! :]

I’ll start off with saying that while, as I’ve said, I don’t really have an issue with anyone poking around my sandbox, I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it. The outline you’re taking that from was made mostly to help me get my thoughts in order, and I don’t update it with everything I consider changing. A lot of what’s on there is just stuff I’ll possibly include or things I’ve thought about but not decided on. All of which is to say everything there is subject to change and I wouldn’t take it as the end-all-be-all Devil’s Advocate Bible. If you want to snoop around to take a look at the brainstorming process or cut content (Voices Carry was originally going to be very different and probably much worse), then go ahead.

As for your actual questions, I’ll put them under a cut because they’re spoilers and also possibly subject to change as I said above.

Now, for the Bloom, I’m afraid this answer might disappoint, but I don’t want to say anything definitive in my series. Some of the remaining authors for Resurrection are still planning on bringing the mainline canon back, and I don’t want to step on their toes when it comes to what seems like the main mystery of the series.

I can tell you how I was thinking of making it function in broad strokes, though. It’s basically a conflux like we see in Voices Carry with perfect efficiency, and processes reality through itself, making sure anything it processes is close enough to how it should be that reality itself doesn’t collapse in on itself. Like a very coarse brush moving through the threads of reality, it makes sure they’re at least somewhat straight. Not perfectly, it doesn’t have to and that would be much more difficult, but good enough to where it doesn’t knot up and become a horrific mess.

It got corrupted in Incident Zero, like a compute you don’t shut off for too long. Too many small things adding up until a straw breaks the camel’s back, and the comb itself becomes knotted up, except the comb was also inextricably linked to the hair as well. After it was destroyed, its splinters retained its capability but lacked and force or programming telling them what to do, leaving them mostly inert.

I know this might stray from other stuff with the Bloom, but as I said, I might tweak this in the future as I brainstorm. I also didn’t touch on who/what created it and how, as I don’t want to tread on any toes.

As for the second half of your ask, this is probably where the “I only wrote this for myself and maybe people I would be able to immediately clear things up to” comes in, as the term “assimilation” isn’t really clear at all. I’ll say that I do like the design though, always a fan of that type of gradual corruption. However, when it comes to Iris, my thinking is that if she comes off as scary it should be for what she does rather than how she looks.

So, as for what assimilation actually means I’m this context, I was planning on having an example of that earlier on in the storyline, very shortly after Lily is introduced. Infovores process, assimilate, and spit out all kinds of information, and this extends to more than just memories of images. I was going to have Iris and Lily kill something called a Hymn Weaver, which is a follower of something close to a god who uses song and dance, or at least things that look and sound similar to it, to maintain reality from the spaces in between universes. The need arms to do this, and lots of them, so they sort of graft various arms onto themselves, but the arms aren’t physical. They Weavers assimilate the information that makes them up, like a psychic footprint, and call them up when they need to. So, assimilation is more along the lines of an Inforvore processing all the information that makes something up and being able to use it in other ways. Lily’s extremely proficient at information processing and assimilation, but can’t actually force changes on reality like Iris can.

Fun fact, the Hymn Weavers’ god, the High Weaver, is a mass of so many limbs from all manner of things that whatever it used to be beneath all of them has been long forgotten. It’s part of the “Triumvirate” mentioned in 6907. I actually have a lot more lore of what was mentioned in there, but a) that’s not the point of this ask, though I’d be more than happy to talk about it and b) I don’t think my SCPs have nearly as much of a following as my tales.

Hopefully that gets everything. And this is all sort of a peek pegging the curtain here, and things aren’t final or explained as well as they would be otherwise in an actual article. If you’ve got any questions, as always, let me know.

[cathygeha]

REVIEW

The Night of the Dead Boys by Colin Conway

A 509 Crime Story #12

Another wonderful addition to a superb series ~ Couldn’t put it down ~ Highly recommend!

What I liked:

* The plot, pacing, setting, and writing – drew me in and wouldn’t let me go

* Knowing Tremaine was cold and ruthless but still being able to root for him to make it through the night alive

* Seeing how the various members of the police force and those supporting them worked together to try to solve one situation after another throughout a stormy turned deadly night

* That though there were many characters to sort out, they all had specific personalities and after a while it was easy to keep them straight

* Getting to see how Cutler was doing and having him in this book for a while – wish he would get a break at some point in a future book

* The potential romances that could crop up for one or more character in the story

* The police procedural aspects

* Wondering whether or not the loss of so many lives was worth it in the long run

* Thinking about what might happen next in this series – There is more than one character I would like to see again in a future book

What I didn’t like:

* Who and what I was meant not to like

* Thinking about gangs, gang violence, and how difficult it would be to be in a gang but also to be someone trying to close eliminate gangs and make the streets safe

Did I enjoy this book? Yes

Would I read more in this series? Yes

Thank you to the author for the ARC – This is my honest review.

5 Stars

BLURB

A HIGH-OCTANE THRILLER THAT WILL KEEP YOU GUESSING!

Tonight, may be the last of Tremaine Brown's life. He's about to find this out the hard way.

Tremaine Brown is the leader of the Dead Boys, a gang with roots in the Los Angeles area. He cultivated power and respect as he rose through the ranks. He also kept the peace among the local gangs and protected the criminal empire that the Dead Boys built in Eastern Washington.

Now, his world erupts when unknown assailants ambush him. A series of chaotic events follow that will change Tremaine's life forever—if he can survive. Bodies fall as he searches for an ally, knowing he won't make it through the night without some help.

Unfortunately for Tremaine, the police quickly join the hunt. They've long waited for a reason to put him behind bars, and they're not going to stop tonight until he's caught.

Tremaine's odds of success are slim, but the Dead Boys' leader won't go down without a fight. Can he avoid his pursuers long enough to uncover the truth and see the sunrise?

The Night of the Dead Boys is the twelfth book in the 509 Crime Stories, a series of novels set in Eastern Washington with revolving lead characters. If you like heart-racing police procedurals with compelling personalities, snap up this book today.

Scroll up and join the action by grabbing THE NIGHT OF THE DEAD BOYS today!

Praise for the 509 Crime Stories:

★★★★★ "This has been such a great series, and I very much recommend it." ★★★★★ "Great characters and story. I just bought his next one." ★★★★★ "The cops are real and compelling…" ★★★★★ "…a great read, with great characters, and always an interesting storyline!" ★★★★★ "A great series that leaves one looking forward to more books to come." ★★★★★ "Stumbled across the series and I've read six in a row now." ★★★★★ "I'm happy reading Colin Conway's work, easy reads without wasting words. Always a winner."

ADDITIONAL SERIES BY COLIN CONWAY The John Cutler Mysteries – hard-hitting private detective stories The Flip-Flop Detective – light-hearted amateur sleuth mysteries The Cozy Up series – not your grandma's cozies The Charlie-316 series – political/criminal thrillers The 509 Crime Stories – fast-paced police procedurals

[robbingprince]

Chapter 4 is up!

“I’ve spoken to the healer,” Boots said, and Laurent straightened on the bed, “and she strongly recommends light exercise. You were, of course, right.”

Pallas had come to install the blindfold earlier that morning. Laurent, who spent the rest of the night plotting seven separate, ridiculous plans of escape, met him with perfect civility and did not even shout when the silk ribbon was fished from where he had hidden it.

(“It’s an order,” Pallas said, apologetic and antsy with discomfort. “For—him.” When Laurent asked, “For Boots?” He burst with a snicker of laughter so helpless, they both ended up panting).

“Well,” Laurent said now, chewing on a smile, “isn’t that a surprise.”

Boots groaned. “You are far too well-used to being correct.”

“It’s a hazard of being so observant. Would that I could control it better.”

Laughing, “Would you like my assistance with getting off the bed?”

“No thank you. I would like to try it myself. I suppose your men told you about last night?”

Somehow he could tell Boots’s expression altered, although he did not know from what or what to. “Last night?” it could be amused, or it could be—not.

“Yes. When Pallas and Aktis and I revelled in the joys of the flesh. Truly, they didn’t say? Bizarre. I distinctly remember them shouting, ‘we must inform the Kyros of Aegina of this; he would so enjoy the tale’. Word did not reach you?”

Now he was laughing again. “I suppose the Kyros of Aegina would enjoy it. He’s an old balding codger usually deep in his cups, by the way. I doubt you would find him very alluring.”

“You don’t know my tastes,” Laurent said, dizzily. “Hush now, I need to concentrate. My legs might try to devour me.”

“We wouldn’t want that, certainly,” said Boots, and stood very close, and waited for Laurent to move. Laurent, ever the obedient man, moved.

Well, he did manage to shove himself, if not with great poise, then to some success. His legs at least responded to his command. They still didn’t feel quite right; almost as though they were drunk, but they met the floor when he bid them to, and did not quake when he lifted, slowly, to finally stand.

“Boots,” he said politely, “will you take my elbow.”

He did so before Laurent crumbled to the floor.

“Hmm,” when he regained his breath, “this is not ideal. I will have you know I was rather proficient at walking, before.”

“Yes,” Boots said, unflinchingly sad about it, “I am sure you were.”

“Oh, do not even start. It won’t stay like this forever. Should I be allowed to speak to the healer myself, as requested, I would no-doubt have better accuracy for predictions, but even so—”

“You talk more,” Boots said, “when you are nervous.”

Laurent said, “I am never nervous,” and then took a step, and hissed.

“Sore?”

“Shut your stupid mouth right this instance.”

Boots obliged.

Another step produced quite a similar sensation of his flesh being eaten, not cleanly, off the bone. Well. He’s certainly been more upset about pain before, even if it wasn’t objectively worse, although most likely he did experience worse. Broken bones and the like. The spearing of his shoulder. See? No need to panic. Laurent, stubborn, desisted said panic.

He took another unforgivably wobbly step.

“Slowly,” said the brute holding him. Laurent made a small sound of frustration, and Boots added, “Right, right, my stupid mouth is shut,” and helped him take another questionable step forward.

He had seen the room, at least. He knew where he was leading: to the nearest window, his most likely chance of exit without being stopped. It took eleven halting, careful steps to make the journey, which translated to about three strides. Swift enough should he be in full control of his body. The only question was how to then drop down and avoid breaking any limbs.

They reached the window at last. It was open. The air on his face was the freshest he’d had in what felt longer than forever; what, without the dramatics, was probably almost a week. Boots noticed some sort of reaction, however muted, because he just stayed still, said nothing, and allowed Laurent this.

He took in the breeze and fought sudden, awful tears.

A moment passed. The sizzling in his legs became hard to bear. They rebelled against his weight: fine, Laurent told them, rebel all you like. He had to fight his body into submission before, on multiple occasions, some of them dreadful. He will again, to victory.

“All right,” Laurent said, voice even, “we can go back.” There was no benefit to overdoing it. Reacclimatising his muscles to strain would be a slow process; he would steal however much of Boots’s time that he possibly could.

Read the rest of chapter 4 on AO3!

Well-polished

Currently 9k, Chapters 1 and 2 on AO3!

Laurent was just deciding whether or not he should bother staying alive when the door opened.

“Oh,” said the man who entered, “You’re awake.”

Laurent said, “Yes, quite,” and turned as far as he could with the chains, which was not very far. There was nowhere to conceal the rock he had sharpened, and so he closed his fist around it. “Should I not be?”

“Pardon?” a step towards him, and another. He could not see a face, couldn’t raise his head high enough for it, but the torchlight still fell on polished boots. A large man, probably very tall.

“Did you need me asleep. I could pretend, if it helps. I can be very convincing.”

“Can you,” somewhat amused.

Laurent made himself frown. “Yes, I have the snoring down to the dot. Shall I give you an example?”

“Please do.”

Closing his eyes to a slit, Laurent said, “Snore.”

The man gave a bark of laughter so hard it startled them both. “Oh,” he said, afterwards, “oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t expect you to—yes, that was convincing indeed.”

“Are you speaking in jest? I can’t see your expression. The collar, you know, it rather impedes the motion of my neck.”

A breath travelled between the stone walls. It was a small cell, sound should not echo within it—and yet. “I cannot unchain you,” the man said. “I don’t have the key.”

“Right. Was there another reason you came, then? Now that you’ve been convinced of my snoring.”

“I… well. I wanted to see if you were all right.”

“All right,” Laurent said flatly.

“Yes. I’m aware the question is rather silly. But you were obviously beaten badly before you were brought here, and I wanted to check if you were treated.”

“Treated?” Laurent swallowed a whole host of unhelpful remarks. “No bones were broken, if that’s what you mean.”

“No. I mean, I knew. I wanted to see if you were treated for pain.”

That stalled him for a moment, as he was possibly shocked, or more likely disoriented, unable to find the point of deceit. It was difficult to divine true motivation out of boots, no matter how well-polished. If he wanted to get anywhere at all, Laurent would need a face.

“I am not,” he said, “in much pain.”

“You are aware you’re still bleeding.”

“Yes, thank you. I never said the stickiness was pleasant. If you had a spare cloth I would be most grateful.”

“I—” the boots came closer. “Will you tell me your name?”

Laurent rolled his eyes to the floor. “Do you normally take prisoners without verifying their identity.”

“No. No, I don’t. You are not my prisoner.”

“Ah. Of course, as you are not the one with the key. You’re not simply employed by my captor, either.” The quality of leather suggested high-born at least. “In that case, you are either a co-conspirator, or.”

“Or?”

Laurent allowed himself to straighten up marginally. It hurt like a bastard in his shoulder, possibly re-opening the knife wound, and did not allow him to see above well-defined, stocky shins; it was, still, something he could do. “Or you are here to decide if you’ll help me.”

“Help you,” Boots said. “I cannot help you.”

“Because you don’t have the key,” Laurent said. “Yet.”

A long silence stretched between them, somehow also echoing in the small chamber. Perhaps the cell had grown when Laurent was unconscious; perhaps it had blown and blown until it was humongous, a cavern or a palace, empty and gleaming. Waiting to be filled with sounds, most likely screaming. The imaginings were strangely soothing; Laurent had to recall his wits before he lost track of this very important, possibly course-altering conversation.

“I must leave,” said the horribly non-cooperative owner of the boots. “I will be back. I’ll bring water. And some food.”

“Very gracious,” Laurent said, genuine and inordinately annoyed. “I will be right here.”

A choked sound, some shuffling, then the creaking of the door. Before it had the chance to close, Laurent said, “It is Laurent, by the way.”

The man almost ran back to him. “Pardon? What was that?”

“My name. You asked. If you’re still interested, it is Laurent.”

“Yes. Yes. Laurent.” In the part of conversation where a proper gentleman would give his own name, the man said, “Thank you,” and left, shutting the door carefully behind him. He seemed to possess that key, in any case, which meant he could probably obtain the other.

He was not a small man, which might be problematic when it came to one-on-one fisticuffs. Feet that large, and shins that thick, and the voice that came deep and sure: the man was either a giant, or a very near thing, and he was probably well-versed in fighting on top of it, because that was just Laurent’s luck. He would need more than simple strength to outdo him.

It would be much easier to plan with a face.

Read the rest of chapter 1 on AO3!

[ssa-atlas-alvez]

Whumptober Day 22 (BAU x transmale reader)

No. 22 PICK YOUR POISON

Toxic | Withdrawal | Allergic Reaction

ALT: Ambushed

(there will be a part two fo this!)

Warnings: transphobia (from a load of people, it's the main theme), deadnaming (D/N), the t-slur/trans slur/(tr**ny) used once, outing, misgendering, probably hate crime tbh, please let me know if I've missed anything

PLEASE DON’T READ IF YOU FIND THESE THEMES/WARNING UPSETTING

Word count: 2696

No one missed the looks you received when you walked into the precinct. It was your hometown, a typical small town with its typical small-town views and beliefs. You, however, had become accustomed to these looks. Particularly those who worked at the station. When you came out and started your transition (despite the strong words and opinions of your parents), it was as though the town had frozen you out. No one would speak to you unless they had to, no one would approach you, sure, you even got beaten up a few times. You were dreading this case to say the least. 

“Why do they keep glaring at you?” Spencer mumbled as he walked close to you.

“I was a smart mouthed kid,” You whispered back, finding the best excuse you could, “And this is a stereotypical small town - they have nothing else better to do than gossip,”

What made everything ten times worse was that the team didn’t even know. You didn’t write it on your application, fearing that if you did, you wouldn’t get the job - or the team would treat you differently. You had planned to tell them you were transgender, of course, but the right time had never surfaced and you were in too deep now. You’d just have to be stealth until you retired from the FBI. And if that’s the way it went, then hey, that would be okay. 

You knew Spencer didn’t believe you, but he didn’t comment on it either, which you’d take as a win. You had a feeling you were going to need all the wins you could get with this case. 

“Officer Hart is currently working this case, so you’ll be working closely with him, if that’s alright?”

You look at the officer, the name feeling familiar and your heart jumps. Standing in front of you with a wide smirk is your high school bully, Seth Hart. You mentally groan. Just your luck. And judging by his widening smirk, he recognises you. 

“That’s perfect,” Hotch said politely before turning to you, “(Y/N), do you know Officer Hart?”

You nod, about to answer, when Seth cuts in, “Oh, yes, (Y/N) and I go way back,” He emphasises your name and it makes you feel sick. You should probably just pretend to be sick and spend the rest of the case at the hotel. 

When the team had found out that you grew up here, they had immediately asked to meet your family, curious as to who raised the Fabulous (Y/N) (Garcia’s words). The whole team had joined for the case, Garcia included. When they had asked, after a moment you agreed. Instantly regretting it, but able to go back on your decision. Although you were trying your best to come up with an excuse, but you could worry about that later. Your current problem was staring straight at you. 

Hotch, sensing the tension, nods, “Good,” He says, “I’m sure that will be helpful for the case,”

It had been hours since you all were introduced, after checking the scenes, going over the files again, flicking through suspects, you were all worn out. 

“Alright, everyone, lunch break,” Hotch declares, looking up from the file, as he turns to you, “(Y/N), any recommendations?”

You pause, thinking for a moment before nodding. “There’s a diner not too far from here,” You said. 

“Vamoose to the cars,” Rossi cheers. 

You give directions from the back, anxiety building up in your chest as you do. ‘They probably won’t even recognise you’ You tell yourself. It does little to calm you down and soon enough, you’re there. 

“Ugh, she’s back,” You turn your head in the voice’s direction, holding back a smirk when you see the woman. 

“Janice,” You said curtly, “Still a joy to be around I see,”

You’re behind the rest of the group and they’re too caught up in chatter to have noticed or heard the conversation, which you were grateful for. You were going to make it out of the case without the team finding out you were trans if it was the last thing you did. 

When you’ve all chosen your seats and have gotten settled (you sat in a booth by the window), you realise you need the toilet. You announce it with a huff before standing and making your way over. It was still in view of the team, but quite a trek away. 

“Sorry, you can’t go in there,” Your stomach drops and you pause at the door. Turning, you see Mr Miles, your eleventh grade science teacher. “It’s mens,” He says, pointing at the stick figure on the toilet with ‘MEN’ written under it. 

“What do you want me to say?” You ask, “Well done for reading?” Mr Miles glares, stepping closer to you. 

“You’re not a man.”

“Listen, I get it, you’re insecure about your masculinity, but that’s no excuse to take that out on other people. You’re getting on in years, it’s completely normal to be insecure about your little soldier at your age,” You were exhausted and had no energy to waste on people like him. “Now, I suggest we both go our separate ways. If you don’t want me in your bathroom, wait until I’ve left.”

You walk into the bathroom with a smirk. 

When you exit the bathroom, a waitress is standing there, “I’m going to have to ask you to leave,” She says, folding her arms. You raise your eyebrows.

“Excuse me?” 

“You’re making customers uncomfortable,”

“Whatever,” You say with a laugh. You walk past her with a scoff, going up to the table the team were sitting at and you take your seat. You knew this wasn’t going to go well. 

You see the waitress talking to the manager. The team gives you a questioning look and you try your best to look innocent and shrug it off. And then the manager walks up to the table. 

“I’m going to have to ask you to leave,” He says. 

“What, why?” Hotch asks from next to you.

“No you, just-” His eyes flick to you, “You.”

“Why does he have to leave?” Morgan asks, eyebrows furrowed.

“Making customers uncomfortable,” He’s not using pronouns and it makes you bite back a smile. These people were the pettiest people you have ever met. 

“Right,” You say sarcastically, “Yet he was the one trying to get a sneak peak of my dick,” Had you had bottom surgery? No. Did they need to know that? No. 

The team’s jaws drop. “Leave willingly or we will forcibly remove you.”

“He’s an FBI agent-” Hotch argues.

“An FBI agent making multiple customers uncomfortable.”

“How?” Prentiss questions. 

“Alright, I’m leaving,” You say, beginning to stand up. Garcia grabs your arm, preventing you. 

“No, you’re not.” She says.

“It’s fine,” You lie, turning to the team. “I’ll meet you back at the station,” The team tries to protest but you shake your head, “No, it’s fine, I’ll grab something on the way back. By the way, the burger’s really good,” 

With that, you stand up and begin to make your way out of the diner. You’re shaking and you can’t remember ever being this angry. You’re getting a headache from the built up rage. 

You see Mr Miles smirking and waving at you as you leave. You respond with a sarcastic smile and the middle finger - watching as his face fills with rage. Old prick. 

You’re out of the diner, about to make your way back to the station when the team catches up. You close your eyes. “What was that about?” Spencer asks curiously.

You give a tightlipped smile, “Nothing,” You say, “Just-”

“You were a smart mouthed kid?” Spencer adds, referencing the lie from before. You nod. 

“You got kicked out of the diner for being smart mouthed as a kid?” Morgan asks. You nod.

“I don’t want to talk about it, can we just grab some food and get back to work?”

After a moment of studying you, Hotch nods, “Alright. But we will be talking about this later,” You repress a groan as you quickly nod.

Spencer’s sat next to you on the drive back and he’s keeping a close eye on you. So was Morgan (through the rearview mirror) and Garcia (from the passenger’s seat). Emily, Rossi, Hotch, and JJ were all in the other SUV. 

“You sure you’re okay?” Morgan asks as he takes a left. 

“Yeah, I’m fine,” You respond, “You need to take a right,”

It was near the end of the case, you could feel it. It was that awkward plateau before all the answers flooded in and you solved it. You were in the break room, grabbing a coffee for you (and Spencer, who looked like he hadn’t slept in a week). You hummed to yourself as you made it, you were the only one in the room so you felt comfortable enough to do so. 

The door opened and closed quietly behind you and you stopped humming but continued to make the coffees, currently waiting on the machine. 

“Do your team even know?” You roll your eyes, turning to face Seth.

“Do my team even know what, Seth?” You ask. 

“I’ll take that as a no,” Stepping closer to you as he spoke, Seth sneered, “How are they gonna feel when they realise that you aren’t the person they thought you are? That you aren’t the person that they tolerate?”

You gulped, “Seth, shut up,”

“How can you expect your team to trust you, if they don’t even know you, huh?” You shoved him back when he went to touch your shoulder.

“Don’t fucking touch me,” You growled, you pointed a finger at him. “My team can trust me, they do trust. I have proven myself over and over again. So what they don’t know every damn thing about me? They don’t need to know everything about me to trust that I can do my job!”

"What's going on?" Your stomach dropped. Hotch. You turned around, seeing the team behind you. 

Seth snickered, “Nowhere to run now, (Y/N),” Breath hit the back of your throat. You felt like you couldn’t breathe.

Say something.

Say something, damnit! They’re all staring at you, waiting for you to reply. What do you say? You need to say something. 

“If you trust them so much, tell them. Go on, tell them pinochio. Tell them that you aren’t a real boy after all.” Seth laughs.

You open your mouth, ready to come up with a shitty excuse, yet another lie.  “I-”

You flush deeply at the laughter behind you, “God, this is just pathetic. How about I spell it out for you?” He suggested, “Since you can’t seem to do so yourself.” He turned to the team, whose faces were all painted with confusion. “She’s a girl. Woman. Female. A tranny.” Seth placed a hand over his chest as he gasped loudly. 

You feel your hands start to tremble, you shake your head - trying your best to blink back tears, “Stop,”

“Not that big tough FBI agent now, are you (D/N)?” The first tear falls causing Seth to taunt you with his smirk, “Oh this is just pathetic,” 

You’re not sure whether you want to hit him or run and hide away from the world for the rest of your life. You’re tempted to hit him and then hide away. Luckily for you, your legs are way ahead of your brain and you run, the team too surprised to chase you. Well, until Morgan snaps out of it and tries to run after you. You weave in and out of the buildings expertly, this wasn’t the first time you had to hide from someone. Although, you doubted that Morgan would hurt you. You didn’t have that doubt about Seth and his friends when you were growing up. You hide behind a dumpster and Morgan runs straight past you, you go undetected in the opposite direction. 

You’ve been out of the station for hours, it’s dark now. You can still see where you’re going, granted that’s mostly because of the dull street lights, but you can see well enough. You had left your phone at the station, knowing that the first thing Hotch would do is get Garcia to track it. You didn’t want to be found. You didn’t want to see the look of disappointment and judgement on your team’s face. You couldn’t deal with that. You had dealt with that your whole life and now all you wanted was a family and that’s what you had found here. All you wanted to do was find somewhere you fit in, where you could be who you really were and this team was the closest you had gotten to that and now it had been ripped away. 

You found the spot you used to hide in when you were young with ease. First floor of an abandoned building no one ever went in. Some teenagers a few years older than you started a rumour that it was haunted and since then, no one enters it. 

-

Glaring at Seth, Hotch walks forward. Seth coward at the glare. “Where would (Y/N) go?”

Seth gave a half-assed shrug, “Why do you care anyway?”

“He’s our family,” Rossi answered. “Where would he go?”

“Some stupid abandoned building,” Seth muttered after a second. 

“Perfect, sounds like you know where it is,” Prentiss said sharply. 

-

You sat in the corner, scowling at the wall opposite you. Seth had just ruined everything. Everything was gone. You shouldn’t have even come on this case. You should have pretended you were ill, or something! You groaned, letting your head fall back on the wall behind you. “This is just shit,” You mumbled. You kind of wished you had brought your phone with you so you could at least play Candy Crush or something. 

Your head snapped up, hearing a floorboard creak and you shot to your feet. Part of you expecting it to be Sean and his friends before you shove that thought aside. Hotch walks in first, followed swiftly by the rest of your team and your heart plummets, expecting the worst. 

“I told Hart that if he misgenders or deadnames you again, Derek will shoot him,” Garcia says, stepping forward to embrace you in a tight hug, which you gladly reciprocate. 

“You’re okay with it?” You mumble into her shoulder.

“We all are,” She replied, rubbing a hand up your back. “I promise. Look, we’re all okay with it, right guys?” 

“Of course!”

“We support you no matter what,”

“We’re family,”

“Why wouldn’t we be?” You grinned. 

“Come on, let’s get back to the station, I’m starving,” Garcia said.

Hotch nodded, “I’d like to try out that diner, I hear the burgers there are great.”

“I’m not allowed in, remember?”

Rossi patted your back with a grin, “Don’t you worry about that, kiddo,”

When the case was wrapped up, you sighed, turning to the team. “You still wanna meet the family?”

“We don’t have to-” JJ began, you shook your head.

“No, it’s fine, we’ve pretty much all met each other’s parents at this point,” You said with a laugh. “It’s my sister’s birthday and I don’t want to miss another one,” You and your sister, Clara, had always been close. She was the only one who supported you throughout your transition and you had managed to keep in contact, (despite your parents’ wishes). She was the only family member you kept in contact with. 

“I didn’t know you had a sister,” Spencer commented.

“There’s a lot of things you don’t know about me,” You said mysteriously, you all gave a short laugh. “Besides, it’s only round the corner anyway,”

With that, you began the car journey - Derek had let you drive. Turns out, getting outed did have it’s benefits. Within five minutes you’re out the car and walking down a road. 

“This is it,” You said, pausing in front of the door. You hadn’t been here since you left for university. It would be fine, your team was here.

With a deep breath, you knocked on the door. 

[merakiui]

For the Tsaritsa’s Handmaiden, I have some things to add.

Your particularly close with Pulcinella and it doesn’t go un noticed by the Tsaritsa & and the Harbingers.

Then somewhere after a meeting with the Tsaritsa( all 12 were present, Signora aint ashes yet, & Scaramouche didn’t dip) a harbinger (Either Pantalone, Il Dottore, Or Childe) they ask why Pulcinella was always seen with the Handmaiden and probably talks to him even though she was instructed to not be spoken till given permission from the Tsaritsa.

Then out of the blue he says that the Handmaiden is actually his Grand-daughter (Or adopted daughter).

And there, “Huh😀”

Turns out that Reader only got the chance to work at the Palace is bcuz she had relations, so there was someone that managed to snag her a spot and a recommendation. (And also Pulcinella wanted to keep a close eye at his only family member that he cares for dearly)

THEN BOOM, every harbinger mainly just talks to Pulcinella bcuz he has very close relationship with darling, since darling and Pulcinella only have each other for living family they try to get your favour by getting close with ur Grandpa or Dad figure.

(Obviously childe has a bigger chance for this one considering how he respects his elders and has him as a grandpa figure for his siblings, same with Scara cuz I hc him being extra nice to Pulcinella cuz he is kinda described as a grandpa and its canon scara has a soft spot for the elderly and kids)

-🌿

Papanella!!! He’s the sweetest father figure. I like to imagine the handmaiden is his adopted daughter or someone he took under his wing when she didn’t have anywhere else to go and no one to turn to. Like how he met Childe, he also happened upon you one day and has since taken care of you.

Now equipped with this information, the Harbingers are very ready to lay down friendly foundations in order to learn more about you via Pulcinella. Whether or not Pulcinella is willing to entertain them with stories of you is up for debate. It’s amusingly endearing that the Harbingers are so lively when it comes to you. He probably shares more with Childe for obvious reasons and I wouldn’t be surprised if Pulcinella secretly roots for you and Childe to get together or become close enough for friendship.

Ooh, I love the idea of Scara sitting down for tea with Pulcinella and the two of them sharing a conversation about the handmaiden. Scara seems so soft and comfortable in Pulcinella’s presence. He’s probably another one of the Harbingers who Pulcinella roots for. Scaramouche could use a dear companion to bring some warmth into his cold existence.

Pantalone has considered slyly bribing Pulcinella for information regarding you and your past. Dottore needs this information for his newest pet project. Colombina might pester Pulcinella occasionally, but if Arlecchino knows anything she’ll flit over to her. Capitano is silent as ever, but everyone senses he has some brimming curiosity. Signora has admired you from afar for a while now; it’s not often someone catches her eye and now she’d like to know more. Sandrone would never stoop to such childish levels. She’ll learn about you using her own methods, as she’s very capable of researching without the need for Pulcinella’s stories.

Pierro will sometimes find himself discussing you with Pulcinella. Both men admire your strength. It’s not easy to endure the stares of so many powerful individuals during the meetings. Pulcinella has definitely offered to grant you a vacation or—at the very least—bring it up to Pierro or Her Majesty. You’re deserving of a break. If you invite him to come along, he’s happy. You’ve always been a good-natured child, even in these lands of endless snow and ice. Just don’t let the others find out. They won’t be too pleased knowing Pulcinella gets to spend an entire vacation with you for father-daughter bonding. That could’ve been them bonding with you!

[sirthisisa-wendys]

Hi i just read your work and it is amazing!!!! Buuut, if its possible can you make a part 2 of Scraps? Like, the first one was so good... it kinda needs a sequel😂😂 if thats possible

Had to think about what I would write for a little bit, but I think I've got it.

Scraps (Part 2): Rindou Haitani, Ran Haitani, Kakucho Hitto, Sanzu Haruchiyo, Manjiro Sano, Hajime Kokonoi, and Takeomi Akashi x Fem!Reader

wc: 1.9k

tw: NSFW

masterlist

song recommendation:

A pussy clenching, breath hitching, thighs squeezing mess.

That's what you're reduced to as you're in class, the soundless, dual vibrator/clit sucking device hidden neatly in your underwear.

Ever since you'd been introduced to the Alpha boys, they'd made you their personal plaything. And you didn't really mind; it was something to do when things got boring around the sorority house. But sometimes... they'd take their experiments out of your scope of knowledge.

This was one of them.

You were given the toy and told that if you could hold off on cumming for twelve hours, you'd be rewarded with whatever you wanted. But you couldn't take it out, you couldn't tell anyone - oh, and you didn't know who had the remote to it. The device is only controlled by a discreet, white remote, and any one of the seven men could have it, changing the speed or the pattern of vibrations of the device. Right now, it's on a pulsing cycle, making you squirm slightly in your seat as the professor lectures about art history.

You're sitting in the very back of the lecture hall where no one would sit if they wanted to pass the class. But you're content with today being an off-day. You need to survive this challenge, first.

You can't help but think of the various dicks that would be yours for the choosing once you finish today's challenge. But it's only ten o'clock.

Ten more hours.

Around twelve, you're trying your best to keep yourself calm, sitting on the edge of your seat while you attempt a test. The speed changes from pulsing to a dull vibration, giving you a brief break from the jolts of pleasure that go straight to your clit.

"Ms. Y/n, can you come up to my desk, please? Bring your test." You look up at your professor, who is cooking her finger at you. For a moment, you wonder if she's caught on to your little predicament, but when you approach her desk, she takes your test and crumples it up before throwing it in the trash, much to your surprise. "I forgot to tell you that you have an A in the class, so you don't need to take this test." You sigh in relief, just as the vibration changes to a more intense sensation. You tense up, clenching your legs before thanking your professor and leaving the classroom quickly.

You can't take much more of this.

Around three pm, you're laying in the sorority house, face down in a pillow as you moan, the feeling of an orgasm building on top of the other six or seven ruined orgasms from earlier. But you stuff this one down with the others, tears decorating your pillowcase as you sob in frustration.

Five more hours.

_____________________________________________________________

At six o'clock, you're at your breaking point.

Dinner is at seven, but you can't even focus on anything except the buzzing between your legs. You're hazy, staring at yourself in the mirror and blinking slowly. There had been no relief, no naps, no rest from the torment, but the pink device inside of you persisted, making you want to cum over and over again. All you can do is think about algebra or something disappointing to prevent yourself from cumming all over the device and losing the challenge.

Suddenly, your phone begins to chime, and you raise it to your face, seeing "Alpha House" on the screen.

"Hello?" you breathe into the receiver, and you hear a chuckle on the other end.

"Are you okay, princess?" It's Mikey. The vibrator begins to pulse again, and you bite your lip.

"Y-yeah, I'm fine. What's going on?"

"Come by the house at seven-thirty. The boys are excited to see you." Mikey hangs up the phone and you stifle a loud moan, trying to keep yourself together before you meet the boys.

One hour left.

At seven-thirty, you're standing at the door of the house, and the vibrator is going crazy. You almost didn't make it across the campus without your legs going weak, but you prop yourself up against the door with a hand, quivering at you wait for the boys to answer the door.

"Little sister..." Ran answers the door, his violet eyes observing your quaking figure. "You made it." You try to step through the door, but Ran catches you in his arms, stooping to pick you up. He holds you against his chest, cooing into your ear about how you're such a good girl, and how they're going to take good care of you before the night is over. You're deposited in the den, where the other guys are, and Ran parts your legs with tender fingers, revealing the device nestled inside of your panties.

"All day, huh?" Sanzu wonders, sitting across from you on the couch and stroking your thigh. "You're such a good girl for us. Kakucho, Rindou, and Kokonoi didn't think you would make it."

"We placed bets," Rindou explains, forking his cash over to his brother with a small sigh. "But you proved me wrong." Mikey appears, his black eyes roaming over all of those present in the room before sliding and focusing on your half-dazed self on the couch, legs spread and shaking.

"Ready to guess who had the remote today?" You nod, breath quivering as you look around the room at the men. Your first bet would be on Sanzu, but you figure guessing him would be too obvious. Your second guess would be Rindou, but he also seemed like the most obvious. So you're left with Kakucho, Kokonoi, Mikey, Takeomi, and Ran. "You get three guesses."

Three guesses. Five men.

"M-Mikey?" Various members of the frat shake their heads. Of course, Mikey wouldn't, he just comes up with the ideas. Takeomi seems almost too bored with you, so he's off the list, too. Two guesses and four men. A twenty-five percent chance of getting it right.

"Kakucho?" He shakes his head, leaning on the back of a chair and blinking slowly.

"One more guess."

Kokonoi or Ran. Fifty-percent chance of getting it right. Kokonoi had a class with you today, but you didn't see him move his hands around as you watched from the back of the class at all. But the sensation also didn't change during the class. You have to take a chance, though.

"Ran." The violet-eyed man smiles, then produces the white remote from his pants.

"Smart girl."

"But how--"

"On Wednesdays, my work-study has me all over campus. Every time I saw you or walked by the sorority house, I'd change the vibration." Sanzu chuckles then looks at his watch.

"It's time, ain't it?" Mikey pulls your underwear off, leaving the lacy thing on the floor before looking at the device, then back at you.

"You earned yourself some extra credit," he begins. "Are you ready for us, pretty girl?"

"Yes," you keen, jerking your hips up. "Yes, I am."

"Good." Mikey slides the vibrator out of you and puts it up to your lips so you can taste yourself. You suck the device slowly, fingers coming down to caress your swollen clit as you suck your juices off of it.

After this, he stands you up and bends you over the back of the couch, feeling a large, warm pair of hands on your hips. "I'm not going last this time," Takeomi mutters, pants down around his ankles. "Been waiting for this all day." You're more than prepared to take his length, your pussy squelching and sucking his cock into you. "Fuck, yeah..." The slapping sounds of your backside against Takeomi's hips begin, and you moan, feeling the relief of a cock filling you up.

The other six just watch, some with their dicks out, others palming themselves over their pants. Mikey, as usual, is standing at the back of the room, watching the scene before him with crossed arms. This is his foreplay.

He enjoys watching and listening to you squeal more than anything. He enjoys having control over six men who will bend you over and use you as a willing cum dump if necessary, like a breeder who requires his bulls to try their luck with you, the lone heifer.

And it's pleasurable enough for you to keep coming back for more.

"Why don't we record this one?" Sanzu wonders and Takeomi laughs.

"You're gonna have to ask little sister, here. She might not--"

"That-that's fine," you pant.

"Just a little POV thing," Ran adds, pulling out his phone. "Make it real nice, Takeomi." You look back and watch the man inside of you point the phone at the space between your hips, watching his cock go in and out of you with a smile on his face.

"Look at that pussy... she's creaming all over my cock..."

And each frat brother waits his turn to cum in you, with Ran's being the most you've ever felt inside of you at one time, and Sanzu's being the roughest. Kokonoi is taking his turn when you feel cum sliding down your leg, and when he's done, cum drains out of you in a small flood. Your fingers, which have been running over your clit and bringing you close to climaxing, are covered in it, and you want so desperately to stick them inside of yourself and then suck them dry.

Kakucho takes his time bringing you pleasure, tweaking your nipples, and running his tongue down your back and up again. You suppose someone else is filming you two, because both of his hands are on your body as he pumps you full of cum, ghosting his fingers over the slight bulge from his long cock.

Rindou is last, and you watch Mikey pull out his own cock, stroking it while Rin slams his hips into you, making you moan louder than you thought possible. He grips your neck from behind, choking you lightly as you let drool run past your lips and onto the couch. You hear Ran complimenting his brother on his fucking, and your raise on your tiptoes, praying his dick would stop slamming into your cervix.

"Take it," Rin whispers in your ear. "You can take it, sweet girl." You choke out a cry, then grip the couch for all it's worth as Rindou lets himself go. When he pulls out, Mikey stands, his eyes focused on your face as he walks around the couch, taking the phone from Ran and pointing it at your filled and abused pussy.

"Push it all out for me, sweetheart." You obey, feeling the cum leak out of you rapidly before Mikey stands, swiping his cockhead over your pussy lips. "You haven't cum yet?" You shake your head, breathing heavily. "Go ahead and cum on my dick." Mikey enters you and fiddles with your swollen clit, bringing you back to the edge and not relenting. You get no warning prior to the orgasm crashing over you; the feeling of release almost taking you out.

"Oh my fucking god," you cry out, and Mikey pistons his hips a little faster as you clench around him.

"That's a good pussy," he grunts, left hand gripping your hip while he cums inside of you, growling low in his throat. When he's done, he backs away, watching you push out his cum, too. "Now I want you to get on the floor and lick it up," he orders you. "Lick all of our cum up."

You get on your knees and lick the puddle off the polished wooden floor, each man watching you with slack jaws. When you're done, you show Mikey your tongue. He approaches you, grabs your throat, and spits in it, closing your mouth as you swallow that, too.

"Such a good little slut, aren't you?"

[sluttywonwoo]

sunkissed || l.sk x reader

Summary: more like sunburned. on vacation with seokmin you lay out on the beach for a little too long, making for a very interesting night.

Warnings: swearing, smut

Word Count: 1.8k

A/N: originally posted on my tom holland fic account ( @wazzupmrstark )

Masterlist

The sun was absolutely blinding and even though you were wearing sunglasses you couldn’t see anything. You knew your boyfriend was still stretched out in a lounge chair under the umbrella behind you, though, because you could hear him humming along to the music streaming from his phone, and that was all that mattered. 

Last time you’d been able to see him he had been hiding a copy of his new Excalibur script behind a book and feigning reading. The two of you had agreed to a no work on vacation rule, and he’d been the first to break it, but you could tell he was just so excited about his new project that you let it slide.

It was your first vacation with Seokmin, and so far it had been wonderful. You’d checked in yesterday and done a little bit of the touristy thing, but today you were content to lie on the beach for hours with no intention of moving. 

The sound of the crashing waves had lulled you to sleep a couple of times already, and you knew Seokmin would make fun of you for it later, but with the salty breeze and warm sand beneath you, you couldn’t help it. 

The water was spotted with some swimmers and surfers, but the beach itself wasn’t very crowded. You and Seokmin had planned your trip so that you’d just miss the summer break rush so everything could be a little more peaceful. 

You were pulled out of your half sleep when Seokmin’s humming stopped. You opened your eyes and tried to blink away the spots dancing at the edges of your vision when a weight dropped on top of you. You smirked as familiar lips planted a kiss to your cheek and tried to squirm away, but he had you pinned.

“Almost ready to go back up to the room, baby?” he murmured in your ear.

You nodded, and managed to twist your body underneath Seokmin to look up at him. Your eyes finally adjusted and you grinned lazily at the sight before you. His fair hair framed by the golden sunset behind him, brown eyes more dazzling than anything you’d ever seen, faint freckles starting to show on his cheeks from the sun. You consider yourself lucky that you didn’t need to leave home to see such a beautiful view.

You hadn’t been keeping track of the time, but now that you saw the sun setting over the water you realized how long you and Seokmin had been sitting out there.

“Are you hungry? Let’s get something to eat, babe.” 

“I could eat.”

“So could I,” he whispered breathily, sending a shiver down your spine despite the heat. 

You’d been teasing each other with the clichés all day: being a little more thorough than necessary with rubbing sunscreen on each other, you untying the back of your bikini to sunbathe, Seokmin running into the water for point two seconds just so you could see him soaking wet and admire the way the water glistened on his body. You were on vacation, and the hotel room was beautiful. It had tub on the balcony and a breathtaking view of the blue-roofed villas cascading down the cliffs as well as the water.

However, the bed had yet to be broken in, both of you had been exhausted after exploring Akrotiri and Pyrgos, but it was something you planned to remedy tonight. 

You followed Seokmin up to the room where you both got ready for dinner at a restaurant a friend had recommended to you. You wore a short, white, linen dress and Seokmin wore a similar white button-up that he left the top buttons undone on, so that he could show off his tan.

Dinner was much like the afternoon. The details were blurry, but there was a lot of alcohol and a lot of back and forth. By sheer luck the host had seated you at a tiny booth in the back of the restaurant where you could still see the cliffs, but also sit smushed next to each other. Seokmin kept one hand on your knee throughout the meal, and if asked later, he would deny moving it any further, but you recounted the events very differently. At one point, your lips were moving in a whisper against his ear and the base of his neck and you swore Seokmin’s grip on your leg got so tight you thought you might lose circulation. 

“You want dessert, baby?” he asked when the waiter approached your table with the shiny silver menus.

“I’m good,” you managed to say, slowly, but steadily. “You?”

“What I want isn’t on the menu,” he replied in the same tone, looking directly into your eyes, ignoring how the waiter in front of your table pursed his lips.

He’d probably heard that line a thousand times, especially working in a vacation spot like this. His eyes screamed ‘just fucking say you want to eat her out and go’ but for what it was worth, the line worked on you.

“So I’ll bring the check then?” he asked when neither of you addressed him. 

“Oh, yes please. Thanks.”

After fumbling with the key and stumbling into the room, you were beyond ready to be fucked senseless when Seokmin slapped your ass cheekily, making you cry out in pain.

“Ow, Seok,” you bit out, putting your hand where his had just been. 

His face contorted with concern. “I’m so sorry, y/n! I didn’t mean-”

“It’s okay,” you said, smoothing your dress out over your body.

“Are you okay?”

“Fine.”

He leaned back against the dresser, arms crossed, watching you with pain in his eyes. You knew how bad he felt about hurting you, but it wasn’t that big of a deal. Usually, there was pain mixed with pleasure, but this time was different. You could still feel the sting on your skin. Hesitantly, you lifted the edge of your dress and saw the unmistakable tint of a sunburn all down the back of your legs, complete with a still fading mark of a handprint on your ass.

Seokmin gasped. “Y/n.”

“What the fuck?”

“Baby, I’m so sorry, I had no idea,” he apologized again.

“Neither did I,” you groaned, squinting your eyes down at your body.

“You put on sunscreen didn’t you?” he asked and you had to bite your tongue before you snapped at him. 

“Of course I did!”

“Did you reapply?”

“Yeah, once I think.”

He didn’t say anything, but you knew he was judging you. “Here, I think we have some aloe,” Seokmin said and disappeared into the bathroom. He emerged moments later with the signature bottle of green gel in hand. 

“Take your dress off, baby,” he instructed and carefully helped you lift your dress over your head, careful not to let the fabric touch your body.

With a sigh, you threw yourself on the bed on your stomach, only smiling when you heard Seokmin’s little chuckle from behind you. You felt the weight shift on the bed as he climbed up next to you, and sat cross legged beside you. He pushed some of the hair out of your face with a soft grin and popped the cap on the bottle of aloe. 

You could tell he was trying his best not to come off as deflated, but you understood. You were disappointed too. You had been looking forward to getting good dick all day, and now every time you moved pain rippled through your body.

“This might be a bit cold,” Seokmin said as a disclaimer before rubbing the first bit of aloe onto your skin.

You sighed with relief as the gel instantly cooled your skin on impact. Seokmin was careful to rub it in gently, applying just enough so you wouldn’t be sticky later. He started with your calves and worked his way up, and you began to feel progressively better. 

Once he reached your thighs you fought the urge to clench them together. You knew it wasn’t the time, but your body didn’t, and your boyfriend’s fingers on your inner thighs was basically code for it. All of the feelings from the beginning of the night came rushing back and his fingers were just so close to where you wanted them. You had to actively fight the urge to moan. 

“Fuck, y/n,” he cleared his throat awkwardly as he continued to massage aloe onto your ass. “Are you, uh, wet?”

You only nodded in response, still not trusting yourself to open your mouth. 

“Do you want me to...” he trailed off, but you got the idea.

“God yes,” you sighed out and let the tension evaporate from your body as you felt Seokmin’s fingers work their way back down to your thighs, right where they had been. He was just about to give you what you wanted when you stopped him. “Wait,” you said, grabbing his wrist and he froze, afraid he had done something wrong. “Use your other hand,” you held up his right hand, covered with green goo for him to see. “I have a feeling aloe in my vagina won’t end well.”

He laughed and leaned down to kiss you. “Of course, whatever you want, baby.”

He started his ministrations again, continuing to rub aloe on your body with his right hand while he began to work two fingers inside of you. You moaned out, louder than expected at the combined relief from the gel and the pleasure from his fingers inside you. 

“Feel good?”

“So good, Seok, baby,” you breathed.

“Let me hear you,” he encouraged, inserting another finger. You gasped in response and felt your eyes roll to the back of your head. “Fuck, y/n, you’re so good for me,” Seokmin praised eliciting another moan from you.

You felt yourself getting closer and closer, teetering on the edge, but it wasn’t quite enough. “Seokmin,” you pleaded and looked back at him, catching him licking his lips, eyes filled with lust in the dim lighting, making you swear. “Fuck, Seok, please.”

“Hm?” he asked, ripping his attention from between your legs and meeting your eyes.

“Fuck, I need more,” you gasped. “I need you.”

“Don’t worry, angel,” he said in a raspy voice with a glint in his eye and a smirk pulling at his lips, “I’m nowhere near done with you yet.”

i didn’t go too in depth about what he sunburn looks like on the reader because…well, it’s different for everyone. like it’s a fucking tossup whether I’ll get sunburned or not because i’m hapa lol anyway lmk what you think I always appreciate feedback!!

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