#I'm not sure about the bandages. what I thought about is that he keeps blowing his cigarettes on his arm like a moron

[soaked-ghost]

chat do we fw the ink redesign or should I renounce my artist career and go leave in the slumps

[afewproblems]

Season Two Halloween AU Part Seven

Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four, Part Five, Part Six

Synopsis: What if Eddie had been at Tina's Halloween Party in Season Two? Featuring Steve!Whump, Stancy Breakup, and Eddie just trying to keep up with all these new revelations about who King-Steve actually is...

As always, thank you thank you to the lovely Jess @strangersteddierthings for being my cheerleader!

[CW: Discussions of injuries, vomiting]

***

Eddie grips the steering wheel tightly in his hands, while his eyes flick from the rearview mirror and back to the road over and over again, watching for movement, for some sign of wakefulness in Steve.

Dustin had managed to find bandages and peroxide earlier in the Byers washroom to help clean up Steve's face before they left, while Eddie delicately picked the shards of ceramic out of Steve's hair.

The impact had broken the skin and would definitely require stitches, but there were no pieces left in the wound.

The biggest worry for Eddie, with Steve now cleaned and bandaged, was that Steve had already been smacked around the day before by Hargrove. He can't even imagine what two blows to the head in two days has actually done, and there wouldn't be any way of knowing until Steve wakes.

And that is where the argument had started.

***

"We can't just leave, we have to do something we have to give them time!" Mike insists while Eddie gathers the soiled towels covered in blood and peroxide.

Eddie scoffs and whirls around on Mike.

"Are you joking? Your babysitter just got obliterated by an ashtray, we're going to the hospital".

Dustin reaches out for Eddies shoulder, shaking it with urgency, "Steve would have--"

"No, he told you guys that we were not getting involved, we're on the bench".

"You can't keep all of us here," Max tries this time, she crosses her arms in front of her and scowls at Eddie, "if we all go, we'll all be safe".

Eddie barks out a nearly hysterical laugh at the suggestion, these fucking kids.

He looks down at Steve and tries to imagine what he would do in this scenario. Hopper, Joyce, Nancy, and Jonathan are gone; Steve is the only other expert left in this situation, the only other voice of reason in the house.

With his eyes closed and the blood now gone, Steve looks as though he could be sleeping.

"Shit. Shit," Eddie brings his hands up into his hair and tries to slow down the panic coursing through him. It's too much, too many people to worry about even without the literal destruction of their town hanging over their heads.

He looks at Steve again.

"Okay, but if we do this, you listen to me, no arguments, none of that shit you give Steve," Eddie begins counting off his fingers as he speaks, "and most importantly, we go to the hospital, you get forty-five minutes".

***

"Mike, are you still keeping time for how long he's been out?" Eddie asks as he looks at the kids through the rearview.

Though he hadn't thought about it when he bought the van off of Reefer Rick --a deal he's still not sure who got the better end of, based on the lightness of Eddie's wallet for weeks afterwards, Eddie is pretty grateful now for the number of seats and the long bench in the back.

Steve's Beemer wouldn't have been able to fit all of them and as much as Max tried to justify stealing her brothers car, neither would the Camero.

Mike mutters something under his breath and Dustin elbows him in the ribs, hard by the sound Mike makes and the glare he shoots Dustin in response.

"I got it," Max says tiredly, she holds up her watch before letting her hand drop into her lap.

She perks up slightly and leans forward to grip the back of the drivers seat, "you know, if you want to sit back here, I can--"

"Nope, nope," Eddie punctuates the words by slapping the steering wheel, "your job is to watch him, and navigate".

"I'm navigating," Lucas insists from the passenger seat beside Eddie. He has the map from earlier spread out over his legs and a finger tracing the red marker lines they had made earlier that night, "you're going to keep going straight and then it's a left on Mount Sinai by the way".

Eddie nods and opens his mouth to ask about how long until the turn when a groan floats up from the back.

Eddie nearly slams on the brakes in surprise, instead jerking the wheel, sending the van into a harsh swerve over the empty road. The kids all yell over one another but Dustin's voice carries the loudest.

"You're jostling him, Jesus Eddie!"

Eddie winces as he manages to straighten the vehicle's course once more, "shit, shit sorry, just, is he awake?"

"Not really," Dustin says, the sound of rustling fabric and another groan punctuating the silent car.

Eddie's resolve finally snaps.

He turns to Lucas, "you said it's just straight and then one more turn right?" Eddie asks as he lets the car drift to the side of the road before throwing it into park.

"Yeah, why?" Lucas says slowly, his face scrunched into a confused frown, Max perks up once again from the middle row in Eddie's periphery.

Eddie turns to face Max's wide grin and rolls his eyes, "yeah, yeah, get up here," he grumbles, popping open the driver's side door.

"Seatbelt or no deal, keep it under sixty, and slow down on the turn".

Max nods rapidly and bites her lip, nearly vibrating with excitement as she scrambles over the middle console to take Eddie's place, "you got it!"

"Why does she get to drive?" Mike growls under his breath but it still carries through the open drivers side door. Steve makes another noise and Eddie has to tamp down a scream of frustration at the sound.

He makes his way to the back passenger door, sliding it open to meet Mike's glare, "my van, my rules Wheeler, move up, Dustin you're keeping the time now".

Dustin nods and leans towards the front, lifting his watch as he asks Max quietly about how long Steve has been out.

Eddie settles in the far back next to Steve, ignoring the guilt that settles heavily in his stomach. If only he had locked the door, if he had been able to hold his own with Billy, this never would have happened. Eddie swallows the lump that begins to form in his throat and pours his focus into Steve, that's who needs him now.

Eddie's never seen someone with a head injury before, hell, he's never seen anyone get their ass beaten like Steve just did and Wayne's lessons in first aid never went past burns or cuts, maybe splinting a break.

Eddie was out of his depth with this.

Steve's unfocused gaze lands on him as he tilts his head slightly. He makes a small noise of recognition and lifts his left hand up to brush softly against Eddie's face.

"Nance?" Steve slurs out, blinking a few times, and fuck, if that doesn't sting.

Eddie can't quite hide his wince and breathes out sharply through his nose, "Nope, sorry, you're stuck with me".

Steve blinks again, this time his eyes narrow slightly as he reaches out again, but Eddie manages to catch his hand this time and gently lowers it back down. He allows himself one indulgence though, and entwines his fingers through Steve's own.

Just this once.

"Ed?" Steve says this time and Eddie can't help the grin that slowly pulls at his lips, thank God.

"Yeah man," Eddie whispers, he clears his throat in an attempt to move the lump that appears once more. Steve's pupils are different sizes but that doesn't seem to stop him from realizing they are no longer in the Byers home.

"Why--we're moving?"

"I was out numbered," Eddie says darkly, sending a glare to Dustin who flips him the bird over his shoulder. He's looking at Lucas's map from the seat behind him.

Steve groans again and Eddie watches as all the colour drains from his cheeks and lips. By the time Eddie realizes what is happening, Steve is already leaning his head over the floor and vomiting all over Eddie's shoes.

"Oh shit Steve, okay, okay, let it out," Eddie helps him sit up slightly and manages to move his feet for the next round, nose wrinkling at the smell of bile. He lets go of Steve's hand and instead settles for letting one hand brace his shoulder while the other sweeps into his hair, pulling the slightly longer sections away from his face.

Eddie tries to focus on keeping Steve steady rather than how soft his hair is.

Mike sucks his teeth in disgust as Dustin swears from the middle seat and covers his mouth, "did he just puke?"

Eddie wants to throttle them both.

Steve pulls him from his violent thoughts though as he coughs and gags again, breathing out a heavy whine as he catches his breath.

He mumbles something so quiet that Eddie almost wonders for a moment if he spoke at all, but then Steve taps his hand weakly against Eddie's hand on his shoulder.

"Pull over," he whispers in a much clearer voice this time and Eddie looks up towards the front of the car, Max is in the middle of turning, the last one if Lucas was to be believed.

"Steve, we can't," Eddie tries, hating the way that Steve deflates, it's almost like when Eddie found him after Tina's party.

"I sorry sweetheart, I promise, hospital after this," Eddie says quietly.

He freezes at the realization of what he just said.

Shit.

It's as though his heart has stopped in his chest and his ribs are crushing inwards, as though he's about to collapse like some dying star.

Eddie looks around the interior of the van, hoping no one else heard him only to catch Dustin staring him down with an intense but curious look in his eyes, his brow furrowed as though Eddie is a puzzle and the last piece has gone missing.

Dustin says nothing though, and turns back to the front where Mike, Lucas, and Max are talking animatedly.

Steve's head flops backwards onto Eddie's chest, pulling his focus from the kids. Steve is looking up at him and from his close Eddie can count the number of eyelashes, the number of freckles dusting his nose, the flecks of green in his blown eyes.

Even with his bruised face and the faint traces of bile on his breath, Steve is beautiful.

Eddie thinks of how Steve protected them all again and again, how he offered advice to Dustin -even if it wasn't the best, how he had insisted that Eddie wasn't the reason Steve had been scared that night, not wanting him to feel like yet another person was afraid of Eddie.

He thinks of all the ways that Steve has shown himself over the last few days and feels the last few strands holding up the image of King-Steve Harrington, finally fall away.

He's never let himself to stare like this, unashamedly at another man, it had always been too dangerous --especially in Hawkins.

Perhaps he can allow himself this other indulgence then, just for now.

Unbidden, the words Steve said earlier echo faintly for Eddie as they sit in the back of his beat up old van while the kids start arguing over the one painters mask they found in the shed earlier.

'People will come in and out of your life all the time, and the ones that are meant to be there will stay, and if they go, then it wasn't meant to be.

I think I need more people in my life like that'.

He swallows heavily as Steve's eyes close and he sinks even further into Eddie, his soft hair tickles against Eddie's neck as he burrows closer.

Eddie lifts his gaze to the roof of the van. He doesn't believe in God, no, hearing his uncle's stories of 'Nam, his mother dying, and Al kicking him to the curb were enough to dissuade Eddie of any real notion of a higher power existing.

But it doesn't stop him from sending a thought out into the universe.

If we make it out of this, Eddie thinks, I promise to listen this time.

Part Eight Now Up

Tag List:

@eriquin @luvinthefreaks @cinnamon-mushroomabomination @goodolefashionedloverboi @ellietheasexylibrarian @bambibiest @sadboislovebeans @howincrediblysapphicofyou @coleys-a-nerd @whycantiuseunderscore @airconditioning123 @xxfiction-is-my-realityxx @corrodedbisexual @starman-jpg @ilovecupcakesandtea @yoriposts @clumsiluni @pelinelin @phantomcat94 @lololol-1234 @anaibis @airconditioning123 @steveshairspray @hellfireone @sunswathe @tentativeghost @robin-not-batman @estrellami-1 @manda-panda-monium @tinyplanet95 @perseus-notjackson @queenie-ofthe-void @rainbowsaw @sp0o0kylights @littlebluejane @hi-im-eff @phantypurple @just-ladyme @thoroughlycollected @justrandomfandomstm @swimmingbirdrunningrock @finntheehumaneater @dynamic-powerm@nightmareglitter @genderless-spoon @zaddipax @thebiblesays @amerikanskaya-krassavitsa @pyrohonk @emly03 @geekymagicalpotato @sidebarre @eddielives1986 @lemon-astra @cipounette @discreetapple @starlitlakes @saphhicwitchbitch @marvel-ous-m @honorarybrit81 @lingeringmirth

and for some peeps that I think may be interested! @steddierthings @steddie-there @steves-strapcollection @henderdads @stevesbipanic @spooky-brakers @flowercrowngods (welcome back Dio!)

[phantoms-lair]

Recovery Girl better sleep with one eye open

Continues from here

It took him a bit longer than he wanted to get back to the kids, but he didn't think it would help their peace of mind for him to show back up covered in blood. But he had made absolutely sure Overhaul was not getting up again. The remains were being brought to a crematorium he'd bribed for disposal purposes. Not even enough left for a Pit to revive. He was glad to see several of his men still there, on the outside and more in the interior.

They were guarding the kids. Good.

Eri had fresh bandages, and they were placed locally, rather that covering half her arms and legs. it seemed her injuries were more on her wrists and elbows. Her legs were bare, showing old scarring and not fresh wounds. Maybe an incentive not to run? Hood regretted not killing Overhaul more slowly.

The boy had his gloves off and his hands were mangled. "Did Overhaul do that to you?" Hood growled.

Deku shook his head. "No sir." he answered in English. Jason mentally kicked himself for forgetting to talk to the kid in his own language. "My quirk used to break me. It still does if I push it too far. Eri's power in the only reason I was able to use so much and not be injured." He smiled brightly at the small girl next to her."

"Your own power did that you?" Dr. Thompkins asked softly.

"Yeah," Deku ducked his head. "I'm sorry and I'll try to be a lot better about it. I have gotten better, it's just Overhaul was so overwhelming, if I didn't go all out I would have died and Eri would have died, and I'm not being reckless, really I promise I'm doing my best." Try as he did to hold them back, tears sprang unbidden from his eyes.

Eri reached over and hugged him, looking warily between Hood and Leslie. Right, she probably didn't speak English and had no clue what was happening.

"Hey, Kiddo, breathe." Hood used his gentlest victim voice. "You did good. You saved Eri. You were no more reckless than anyone else who puts on a costume, got it?"

"I'm sorry, I really am trying." He wrapped his arms around Eri, rubbing her back comfortingly.

"Who said you weren't trying." Hood said, keeping his tone light, but the moment the words left his mouth they suddenly felt heavier. Because that was it, wasn't it. Kid had had a major victory tonight, even if Hood had dealt the finishing blow, but rather than celebrate like the Titan would have his first instinct was to plead that he's done his best and was putting effort into what he was doing. Someone had told this kid he wasn't good enough. Frequently.

"Well it's true, isn't it? I need to be better. Aizawza-sensei said my not being able to control my quirk is an excuse and I need to be better. And Recovery Girl, our school nurse (she's got a quirk that can fast heal anyone's injuries just by kissing them, it's so cool), got so fed up with me she said she wouldn't heal me anymore if I hurt myself with my quirk."

"She said WHAT!"

Hood had thought he'd seen all the different flavors or tired, overly annoyed, and frustrated Dr. Thompkins had. He'd not seen this one before. He could see her pupils constrict, her breathing quicken, and suddenly wanted nothing more than to get out of her way.

"She said her healing me was enabling me in being reckless, so she wouldn't be a part of it anymore." Deku said softly, as if he was ashamed and not the so-called nurse.

"Did she offer you any resources to help you?" Leslie pressed.

"Resources?" Deku looked confused.

Leslie exhaled deeply. "Hood, Eri has been very sheltered and her immune system is not used to Gotham. I know you center around Crime Alley, but if you have any safe houses in upper middle class areas or better yet out of Gotham, that would be preferably till she recovers more fully." Leslie than switched to Spanish. "And when you find a way back to where ever they're from, let me know."

"What makes you think I'm letting either of them go back?" Hood responded in kind, once he confirmed Deku didn't seem to understand what she had said.

"They're not. I am." Dr. Thompkins was resolute. "I have a 'school nurse' I need to have some words with."

[flammingnachos]

“𝘛𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘢 （）𝘴𝘢𝘯𝘫𝘪 𝘹 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘳 （𝘔）

𝖲𝗒𝗇𝗈𝗉𝗌𝗂𝗌；After rescuing the Reader from the ocean, Sanji attempts to make her feel comfortable and happy.

．

Darkness.

"Where am I? What happened?" you think, trying to remember something, anything.

Your head is pounding. Water. Wheres the water?

"Think she has any Berries?"

The voice brings you closer to consciousness. "Voices? Am I dreaming?"

"You idiot. Where would she put it?"

"We could...check-"

"Patty, If you aren't the perfect gentleman then I'll personally ensure that the jambalaya has extra sausage tonight."

"Jeez Sanji. You could try."

Such a rough voice.

"Just shut your damn mouth and get her a hot towel."

"Bite my ass."

"Oh I'll bite your ass! Crappy fuck."

You begin to notice the scent. Wow! Like nothing you've ever experienced.

Suddenly your heart drops. This is real. You aren't dead. This is much worse.

Can you escape? Can you even move?

Your eyes flutter open, slowly adjusting to the brightness.

The man is sitting nearby, and appears to be looking your direction. You snap your eyes shut, hoping he didn't see. But the room... It wasn't what you feared. It had shelves and boxes, not how a brig is supposed to look.

Your reverie is interrupted by a door slamming open.

"One hot towel for our wonderful piece of shit chef and his new little girlfriend!" the intruder said in a faux-sweet voice.

"Yeah, thanks. Now buzz off," the guard said.

"Of course, Mon-sewer," he said in that same obnoxious tone before slamming the door shut.

New little girlfriend. The words burned in your head. This was it. Your worst fear has been confirmed.

You have to get ready to act NOW. You move your right arm slightly, then your left. Huh, no chains. They'll regret that mistake.

You hear the footsteps of the guard growing closer, and steel yourself for what you are about to do. When the footsteps stop, you spring into action, opening your eyes and punching at him with all of the power you can muster.

"Woah, Hold on!" he says, barely flinching at your blow.

Terror fills your heart. It didn't phase him at all. You can't hold back tears as you continue to inflict punch after punch on the man.

"I'm not going to hurt you! It's OK!" he insisted, doing little to quell your tears. How could it be ok? How could it ever be OK again? He backs away from your furious assault, and much to your surprise - plops down on the ground. You curl up into a ball, tears flowing freely.

"You alright?" he asks, offering the hot towel to you.

You say nothing. Why should he get the satisfaction?

"It's just a hot towel. Don't worry, Nobody here bites, though it may seem like it."

Why? Why did this happen?

"Are you feeling OK? You were just floating out there, unconscious. We patched up whatever we thought we could."

You look at your right arm, now sporting some bandages. Well, he's not lying.

"This is the Baratie, It's a floating restaurant." The man said in a reassuring tone.

Restaurant? Explains the smell. Thinking about food makes your stomach squeeze. It has to have been days...

"You hungry? I can make you some food, pretty much whatever you like!" He said.

You can't show weakness. "No," you mutter, just loud enough for him to hear.

Despite your resolve, your stomach betrays you, growling loudly. You cringe.

"Sounds like you could use some. Really, what can I get you?"

"I said NO!" you yell, looking up at him angrily.

"Hey-ahhhh...." he said trailing off stupidly. He stares at you with wide eyes, looking absolutely smitten.

You look away.

"Uh, I'm Sanji," he says, bringing back his reassuring tone, trying to maintain composure.

Your fears get the better of you. "What are you going to do with me?" you blurt out.

"Nothing! I'm just trying to make sure you're OK!" Sanji says.

Did he mean that? Your stomach growls again, interrupting your thought.

"Are you comfortable? We keep this cot back here in the secondary storage room for naps.

I can get you something else..." he said.

"I'm fine" you say, beginning to tentatively calm down a bit. "So I can leave?"

"Of course, that door there leads right outside."

Sanji hopped up and opened the door, revealing the bright blue sky and open ocean behind it.

Relief floods your heart. Maybe these aren't the like bad men you've heard so much about.

"I'd be ever so grateful for the opportunity to cook for you before you leave," Sanji said earnestly.

Could you trust him? Would he really leave you unguarded with the door to freedom unlocked?

It may not even matter if you don't eat something soon.

"OK," you say, turning your gaze on him. He is tall, with long legs. Well dressed. His blond hair, while well kept, hung over one eye. His eyebrow swirled upwards like I fancy mustache. Despite the situation, it makes you want to giggle. He seemed to have something in his mouth that was burning. You wonder why.

"Great! Don't worry, beautiful lady, I'll be back in a just a moment!" Sanji said graciously, before bowing and gracefully exiting the room.

"How sweet," you think to yourself. Attractive and charming as he might be, you had other things on your mind.

You jump up from the cot, almost losing your balance from wooziness, and shuffle over to the door. It opened easily, and you stepped outside. The sea air hits you with its warm embrace. There was no trick, you were on a small dock, presumably for restaurant deliveries. You dip your hand into the water. It was completely true, nothing was there to stop you from getting away. Your mind now at ease, you scuffle back inside. The smell hit you again - reminding you of your excruciating hunger. You plop back onto the cot.

You aren't kept waiting long. Sanji strolls in carrying two huge bowls on one arm, a bottle in the other hand, and a basket on his head. He no longer has the weird thing in his mouth. He carefully sets them all down, before pulling out sizable box to use as a table. He sets one of the bowls on the table in front of you. The steam smells so titillating that you began to salivate uncontrollably.

“For you, mademoiselle” he says, flaring his nostrils. “Dinner rolls, and my famous sauteed shrimp and crab on a bowl of fried rice. I figured seafood was a safe bet-”

Before he can finish the thought, you take the fork and begin devouring the breathtaking meal before you. You've never tasted food so good!

Sanji smiles a big smile and sets down the wine bottle with a couple glasses. “And our finest libations. Well, the finest the geezer head chef said we can spare.”

“Mind if I join you?” he asks sheepishly, but somehow spiritedly.

“Mm-Hmm!” you say, overjoyed at the scrumptious meal you are eating. He has to be a decent guy, to treat you like this.

Sanji sits down, grabs his bowl, and begins eating too. He can't seem to resist staring at you every few seconds. You find yourself not minding. Not one bit.

“Oh!” he starts loudly. “My deepest apologies! Let me pour you some wine” he interjects, quickly opening the bottle and pouring out two glasses. The pale gold liquid glistens in the glass.

You feel yourself quickly filling, and begin to slow down, sipping the wine occasionally.

“Not bad, I take it?” Sanji asked, jokingly but with an air of confidence. He took pride in his art. And for good reason!

“This is indescribable!” you say. “I had no idea there was food this good in all the world!”

“Thank you!” He said, blushing bright red, seeming to undulate in his happiness.

You began to blush a little yourself. There was just something about him. He was so charming. Suave and attractive, but also cute and sweet.

“So, uh,” he began, looking away. “What brings you all the way out to the East Blue?”

East Blue. You're far from home. “I remember I was out swimming and a Sea-king showed up. Looked like a giant dolphin. It got me before I could react. I can usually out swim them, but I didn't notice until it was too late,” you explain, as understanding begins to fill his eyes. “The last thing I remember was being chewed by the monster. I thought I was dead for sure. I can't believe I made it out in one piece.”

“You're said it was a dolphin?” Sanji said incredulously. “Our Maitre D' swore he saw a colossal dolphin breaching about a day ago. Nobody believed him because he's an idiot. Maybe it shot you out of its blowhole?”

“I guess so. Anything is possible at this point, I suppose,” you say, scarcely believing your own story.

“That's so incredible! But I'm so glad you're safe,” he says, turning on his charm again.

It works. You can't help it. No one has ever been so sweet to you, no one has ever looked at you like this...

“Thanks,” you say, blushing deeply. You fight off the thoughts that are occurring. The desires. You want to thank him...

“And thank you, for the food!” you blurt out. It is quite clear that you are flustered.

“You are quite welcome, my sweet!” Sanji says, giving a charming smile and flaring his nostrils.

“My sweet,” he called you. The desires grow stronger. You want to kiss him. To have him in your arms, or to be in his.

He stands up, and picks up the empty bowls. Your heart sinks. He has to go back. He's probably wasted enough time back here.

“Leaving?” you ask, dejection sneaking into your tone.

Picking up on this, Sanji smiles sweetly and says “Don't worry, I'll be right back.”

You smile back at him, your eyes twinkling. “OK!” you say, a little too eagerly. You feel embarrassed. Sure he was smooth, and a total sweetheart, but is this all really necessary?

He smiled a wider, goofier smile, and walked out of the room with a bounce in his step.

The minutes feel like hours as you wait for his return. Why is he so important all of a sudden? Why do you want so badly to wrap your body around him and cover him in kisses? What would your friends say? More importantly, could you flirt back? Should you flirt back? Where would it lead? You flop around on the cot and bury your face in the pillow, your face glowing red.

The door bursts open, you look up expectantly. A tall, buff, bald man is standing there. NOT Sanji. “Pardon me, Madame Freeloader, his royal highn-ass asked me to tell you he got held up in the kitchen. He'll be back shortly,” he said, with the same rough faux-sweet voice as before.

“Uh, thanks,” you stammer, as the man leaves, slamming the door behind him. How disappointing.

A few minutes (or perhaps lifetimes) later, The door opens to reveal Sanji, smile on his face and yet another bowl in his hand. “One cinnamon cheesecake sundae, for the ravishing beauty on the cot.”

That does it. Nothing can stop your newfound passion for this sweet talker.

“Oh my!” you exclaim, at a loss for further words. That dessert looks lovely, but you have something else in mind. As he approaches, you work up the courage to scoot over and pat the cot, gesturing for him to sit beside you.

Sanji, looking overjoyed and a little woozy, happily obliges. You take the sundae and begin to eat, trying to not visibly react to his presence. You decide this is a good time to try to flirt, and turn towards him as you begin to lick the ice cream off of your lips. You let out a little moan for good measure, but can't help but blush at your own brazenness.

Despite feeling a little silly, it seems to have been quite effective, so you decide to put a hand on his leg.

“That was so very good,” you say, “Thank you for taking such good care of me.”

“O-o-of course!” he managed to stutter out. How cute. You can barely contain yourself.

You decide to take the plunge, and lean in to give him a kiss on the cheek. Your desire burns even hotter as you watch his face redden, and you decide to go further, kissing him on the neck. Sanji meets your eyes, and you know that it's now or never. You reach up and ever so gently grab his head, and lean up to give him a full kiss right on the lips. You can't stop here. You need it. You keep kissing. He lets out a small moan, and kisses back, reaching up and mirroring your motion, gently grabbing your head.

“It's not too late to back out now,” you tell yourself, but there is no need. You don't want to back out. You allow yourself to fall backwards onto the cot, pulling him with you. No resistance is put up. You kiss him deeply as you writhe around together on the cot, entwined together, allowing the fire that is welling up inside you to dictate your actions.

Sanji seems hesitant to escalate things, so you decide to take his arms and place them on your breasts, underneath your beaten up shirt. This seems to delight him as he begins to playfully squeeze them. You can feel his heart beat. Very fast. Glad to know that he's enjoying himself. As if any further proof was necessary, it begins to become painfully clear that his cock had become quite hard for you. Feeling his bulging causes your brain to go into overdrive. It feels like bolts of lightning inside your breasts and nether regions.

The thought of his phallus, this growing bulge in his pants drives you to go further, further then you've ever gone before. You break the kiss and pull back, admiring his highly aroused expression. “I know how I can thank you,” you say. Yes, this will reward him for his thoughtfulness, but is that the reason why, or your own lust? You slide down onto the floor, your hands playfully caressing his crotch. Undoing his pants is difficult, so he breathlessly helps out, and you soon have them pulled down. His throbbing cock pops right out, and you admire it shyly, your eyes twinkling. You knew about them, but have never seen one in person before. It's bigger then you imagined, must have felt so trapped in those tight pants. The smell was a little musky, but smelled of aftershave. Very pleasant.

You lightly touch it with your hand, and Sanji shivers. Having such a beautiful man quiver at your touch gives you just the confidence you need to give it a taste, sticking your tongue out and slowly licking its underside, from base to tip. The taste was sweet and masculine at the same time. You lick your lips before repeating the lick several times, while carefully watching his reaction. You made sure he had a good view as you licked at it, driving him absolutely wild. You began licking the underside of the tip, right where he released the strongest signals. Sanji let out a soft moan. Satisfied, you begin swirling your tongue on the area, making him squirm around in pleasure.

Your own cravings for his cock become uncontrollable, and you slowly take him into your mouth. It fills up quickly, and you begin to bob up and down on it, swirling your tongue around on his sensitive spot. It feels like heaven as his sizable girth throbs inside of your mouth. Sanji attempts to stifle his moans, but they still come out as soft whimpers. You smile, happy to know that you're doing a good job. You desire so badly to please him, to please him more than he has ever been pleased before. You need his seed.

Before he can grow accustomed to your mouth, you decide to push it further. You take him in even deeper, slowly entering the tip of your throat.

“Oh!” he blurts, half moaning. It isn't easy, but it is a worthy cause. You press on, and it isn't long before he begins to succumb to your efforts, breathing faster and throbbing harder.

“I-I'm going t-to-” Sanji says, half crazed looking. You lock your eyes onto his and make the cutest face you can. You don't really know what to expect, despite knowing the biology of the situation. You know you are about to receive his seed, right into your mouth. You maintain eye contact and swirl your tongue around the sensitive spot as he loses control, bursting into your mouth. Burst after burst of his hot cum come forth into your eager mouth as you happily lick his pleased cock, thoroughly proud of your efforts. Swallowing is easy, you crave his pleasure and only want more.

When you are sure he is finished cumming, you pull his cock out and let him watch you lick your lips once more.

“Did that feel good?” you ask smugly, smiling at him.

“Thank...You...” he answered, looking absolutely dazed.

“You are very welcome,” you say with a giggle, satisfied with the results of your ministrations.

Watching his erection slowly wane only causes your own loins to ache with desire, wishing they could have him inside.

“I've never done anything like that before. I hope it was a memorable experience for you,” you say, your shyness beginning to return a bit.

“Incredibly so. This is a first for me, too!” he dazedly utters, struggling to come back to the world of the living.

You giggle softly. You were his first blowjob too. It feels nice knowing that neither of you had experience in such an act, he had no expectations for you to live up to.

You lie down beside him, giving him another kiss before running your fingers through his blond hair, stroking him lightly. Laying down next to him is so peaceful that you could fall asleep, especially after all the food, were it not for your own unquenched desires.

“Do you mind if I ask you a question?” Sanji asks suddenly, breaking the minutes of silence.

“Of course not,” you respond, curious what he may ask of you.

“Well, uh..” he begins, looking away with a sort of embarrassed look on his face.

“This is personal, I know, so it's OK if you don't want to answer..” he says, looking back at you sheepishly. Your reassuring smile lets him know it is OK.

“I've always wondered...How you guys, ya know...” He trailed off, red in the face.

Redness covers your face as well, and you quietly ponder how to answer.

“Sorry, that was stupid!” he quickly apologizes, looking flustered.

“No no, It's fine!” you quickly respond. You don't mind his curiosity, and your desire burns hot, begging for you to show him.

“I don't know how different it is from human women,” you say, face still glowing red.

“Really?” he asks incredulously, “but...how?”

“I..Haven't had any experience with it myself, besides just touching the...outside,” you explain, blushing deeper still. “When we get aroused with someone we love, the entrance sort of...opens a bit, allowing it to be spread.”

“Wow...” he says in a breathless voice after a few moments have passed. “Thank you for telling me.”

“Would you... like to see?” you ask, looking away from him as a surge of fire fills your loins.

“I'd love to!” he quickly says, sporting an excited tone.

Now it was his turn to move to the floor, which he did in one smooth motion.

All kinds of dirty thoughts fill your mind as you reach down to the base of your tail, running your fingers across it towards your most intimate area. It spreads apart easily, scales pulling back to reveal beautiful pink flesh.

Your desires driving you wild, you motion for his hand and guide it towards your vagina. It is already soaking wet for him.

Sanji lets out an excited sound as his fingers come into contact with you. He looks as though he may pass out from excitement. You giggle lightly, pleased.

He begins to lightly run his fingers over you, and you let out a small moan and thrust your hips at him, clearly displaying your intentions. The world stands still as he obliges, carefully thrusting a finger inside. Immediately, he pulls it back out, causing your desire to spike like pouring oil on a fire.

“Woah! It does feel just like a human's!” he says incredulously, staring at you with a dumb smile.

“Do you feel many humans' vaginas?” you ask, just a hint of jealousy in your voice.

“Not at all! Only once ever, really-” Sanji quickly begins to explain, but you smile at him and guide his hand back towards your wet entrance, effectively cutting him short. He is with you now and that is what matters.

He begins to move his finger around inside you, dancing it across your hallowed walls, causing your back to arch in pleasure. You've never been penetrated with anything before, you couldn't imagine a more skillful debut.

You feel yourself reacting strongly as his motion continues, the pleasure mounting and building up to extreme levels. Sanji, picking up on your signals, slowly enters a second finger into you, and the pleasure skyrockets.

It isn't long before you feel your whole body tighten up as the pleasure reaches the maximum you can stand.

“Cum for me!” he commands with a smirk, and your whole body surrenders into a violent, shaking orgasm, coating his hand in your juices as your vagina throbs and squeezes his fingers.

“Oooh!” you moan loudly, bucking and shaking, feeling the joy of your sweet release.

When your throbbing stops, he slowly slides his finger out of you, careful to stimulate just the right spots on their way out, just enough to make you want more.

“How was that?” Sanji said with a very satisfied smirk on his face.

Your response is unintelligible, the world is not real anymore.

You feel yourself slipping into sweet peaceful sleep. Never have you felt so good in your entire life.

---------

You feel a soft touch on your tail, near your hips. You open your eyes to see Sanji, sweetly stroking you while burning that thing in his mouth.

“Sleep good?” he asked with a huge grin.

“Yes,” you tell him as the memory of a few minutes ago came flooding back.

“I had to go finish my shift, but don't worry. I made sure nobody even looked back here. The old geezer said that you were a special guest, and that nobody else was to get any ideas about bothering you under any circumstances. There are some greedy assholes here, but nobody would dream of disobeying a direct order,” Sanji explained, as you sat up.

The light from the window had vanished, indicating that night has come.

“So,” he continued, “You're welcome to stay the night, if you'd like.”

“Thank you,” you say sweetly, “You've done so much for me.” You consider his offer. You may be the fastest swimmer out there, but you have been caught by a Sea-king once before, and traveling at night is never preferable anyway.

“It was my pleasure, my sweet,” Sanji says graciously, flaring his nostrils slightly. “And as luck would have it,” he continues, “Our course has us set to travel to the Southernmost point of our rotation tomorrow.”

“Then I'd be happy to take you up on that,” you say, giving him a big smile, twinkling your eyes.

“Splendid!” he exclaims as he gets up, “I'd love to make you some breakfast in the morning, and of course, whatever provisions you will need for your trip!”

“Sounds wonderful!” you say, pure happiness filling you.

“Then I will look forward to seeing your beautiful face in the morning, Goodnight my sweet!” Sanji seems to sing as he bounces towards the door.

“Goodnight!” you respond with a giggle. What a kind, caring man.

You feel your desire growing again as you think back on the day. If you have any say in the matter, you'll have to find some special way to say goodbye before you leave.

You can't help but smile as you drift off to sleep, with the dim lantern flame glowing softly on the wall. You wonder if you will ever meet anyone like him again, or if he is the kindest person you will ever find. The thought of leaving, perhaps never to see him again was a sad thought, but you miss your home. Your family and friends are probably worried sick about you, little do they know that you found a great treasure of the ocean: the sweetheart of a man who spends his days sailing on the sea, cooking food for the hungry.

[normal-internet-user]

Same thing (I don't know if the last one said 'x reader' or '& reader', but the difference is platonic versus romantic, as an fyi)

Rottmnt & female!reader where Y/N has the sort of big-sis presence April has, but she basically adopts everyone she meets, and her thing is to give them nicknames that relate to something they do or reminds her of them (and she gets mad if anyone else uses them). Torts kinda short-circuit the first time she refers to them by the given nicknames, and she doesn't even realize (but when she does, she kinda blows it off)

~Can be Raph x reader also because he would absolutely melt at a s/o as protective over his brothers as he is~

This is definitely not because I often see Raph angst and think "Nooo bubby it's ok!"

Or Donnie is Tinker. Cuz he likes tinkering

Mickey is also bubby but also lil'Mike

Leo is Baby Blue

Don't bully me this is my head it controls me I don't control it

~🌺👸

This is INCREDIBLE Anon! Don't worry, I'm working on your other asks, but this one CALLED to me! (I did make it romantic with Raph, because he is my favorite boy 😌.)

RISE BOYS WITH A BIG-SIS READER.

Leo:

Leo adores you.

He loves spending time with you,

And it's kinda a competition between him and Donnie to see who can keep your attention.

Raph is winning by default though.

Leo loves that even though you're like a big sister,

You nowhere near as over bearing as Raph.

But he knows you still worry,

So he trys to tone it down a bit.

He gets so genuinly happy when you laugh at his jokes.

Like he will literally, hug you everytime you laugh.

Without fail it makes his day.

As for his nickname,

He's totally not a supporter.

At least that's what he tells everyone.

"Hey, Baby Blue, help me with these boxes, will ya?"

*Dramatic sigh*

Leo goes to you for advice on things he doesn't want the others to know.

Like if he's nervous about how they'll react to something,

He'll go to you.

Because you don't judge.

You just listen, and once he's done talking,

You'll tell him what you think, and how to go about the situation.

Leo loves you, and the second you stepped into their lives, he dubbed you, "Big Sis (Name)."

Donnie:

Donnie likes having you around.

At first he was kinda apprehensive,

But the minute you took on the role of older sister, his vision kinda changed.

He enjoys spending as much time with you as possible.

Mostly because of how good you are at listening.

Never, not once, have you ever interrupted his rambling, or explainations.

You just sit there, and wait untill he's done to ask questions.

And he loves that.

That's another reason why you're the first to see a newly finished project.

Because every single time, you wait for him to stop talking,

Then you tell him how cool it is, and how proud you are, and ask questions about it.

Ngl,

The first time this happened, he teared up.

But don't worry, they were happy tears.

As for his nickname,

He is not a fan,

He will scoff everytime.

"There you are Tinkerbell! I thought I lost ya."

"Scoff!"

You didn't think I meant an actual scoff did you?

Lol.

You have to try and keep Donnie from doing stupid stuff to test his inventions.

And if you aren't there to prevent the stupidity,

You're always there to bandage him up, and scold him.

But he doesn't mind, he knows it's just because you care.

Mikey:

Mikey absolutly loves you.

Whenever you come to visit,

He'll stop whatever he's doing to give you a hug.

Doesn't matter what it is he's doing,

You will get that hug.

His favorite thing is drawing you pictures.

You have so many, you can barely see your wallpaper anymore.

But who cares?

You probably have the best decorated room in all of New York thanks to those drawings.

Mikey LOVES his nickname.

It makes him feel special.

"Where's my Little Dumpling!"

"That's me! I'm her Little Dumpling!"

Mikey does his best to impress you,

He just wants to make you proud.

So he likes to show off when your around,

And it scares the crap out of you.

Just make sure you don't turn your back for to long,

Because he will accidentally hurt himself.

You have pretty much taken on the role of mother around Mikey.

Raph:

The second, Raph met you he was whipped.

Poor boy short circuted for like a full 5 minutes.

He loves how much you care for his brothers like their your own family.

He thinks it's amazing that someone else can love them like he does.

If they ever stress him out,

He'll talk to you about it because he knows you can relate.

The two of you are pretty much parents to three extremely chaotic children.

Raph loves that you give everyone nicknames,

He thinks it's cute.

He loves his nickname,

And he gives you one of your own.

"Big Red! come help me look for my backpack, I lost it!"

"Sure thing Cutie Pie!"

Raph invites you over as often as possible.

Movie nights,

Just some regular old quality time,

Anything he can do to have you over.

He just loves spending time with you.

You two are always trying keep the younger ones from accidentaly killing themselves.

And it is not an easy feat.

But hey,

You two are trying your best.

.........................................

There you go Anon! I hope I wrote this to your liking. It's kinda rushed, but I personally love it.

[the-whispers-of-death]

okay, so

boxer!stone having a match against a guy that's known for cheating in matches.

they fight for a while until the guy pulls an ilegal move on stone, bodyguards jump on field to stop the fight but of course that reader is so fucking pissed.

so he storms onto the ring and basically knocks the guy out with his bare fists, then, when he's pulled back by the bodyguards, the first thing he does is rush to stone and make sure his man his best boxer is alright

"I'm fine," Stone says, his voice cold as always as you check to make sure that illegal move his opponent used on him. His large hand settled on your arm, calming you down. "He only bruised me, the pain will pass."

You were seething, but Stone was so calm. You didn't know how he was so calm, you knew he too hated cheaters as much as you did. He was the best boxer you had and that caused many of his opponent to do whatever they could to get him on his back, but this opponent.... He had sent a blow to Stone's kidneys, an illegal move since it was below the belt.

Yet, Stone seemed fine. Which made you breathe a sigh a relief.

"That fucker," you growled, turning back to face the boxer who was being dragged out by the bodyguards. You wanted to punch the guy again.

And Stone knew it.

He shook his head, grabbing your wrist to stop you from stepping towards the opponent. "Don't. Your knuckles are already split open and bleeding from punching him earlier. Let's go back to the locker room so I can go tend to those bleeding knuckles," he said, his cold voice almost soft like he was trying to hide that he cared about you.

You snorted at the thought of him, a six-foot-eight scarred man, patching you up, but then you remembered he was a Corpsman before being a boxer. He knew what he was doing, so you nodded and let him take you out of the ring and to the locker room

You should've been the one to tend to him, but you knew he wouldn't accept that. Stone was not one to let someone take care of him and while you hoped to change his mind about that, you knew it wasn't going to happen today.

So you sat on one of the benches in the locker room while Stone grabbed the first aid kit. It was silent as he worked, cleaning up the blood and disinfecting the open wounds.

"You won't have to get stitches, thankfully," he murmured, his eyebrows furrowed like the thought of you needing to get stitches done pained him.

But surely that was your imagination.

After disinfecting your wounds, he wrapped your knuckles in gauze and bandages. You two didn't exchange any words after that because the fans were calling out to see Stone, scared that he was actually injured since they saw him go into the locker room with you. You led him back outside into the arena, the arena erupting into cheers.

He won that match by default since his opponent was disqualified, but still no one could deny he was going to be the clear winner of the match regardless.

Stone stood there and you were certain he was relishing in the sounds of his fans cheering, which made you push down your jealousy. He deserved the attention, you told yourself, even when you want to whisk away to somewhere private and keep him all to yourself.

And yet, as he made his way to receive the trophy signifying he won the match, all he could think about was that he wished it was a match well-earned, so he could see you smile at him proudly like you've done before.

Stone glanced at you quickly before looking away, reminding himself that you probably didn't want him. He was scarred and damaged, so he might as well focus on the fans since you were so out of his league.

Reblogs are welcomed & appreciated! Asks are open, feel free to pop in and talk or request something! (SFW requests only, please and thank you)

[sholiofic]

I know some people are sensitive about this subject - but I suddenly thought of how Biggles would react if he saw self-harm marks/bandages around Erich's wrists (or anywhere I suppose) and he'd instantly fly into his little protective lecture!

I love this idea. TW self-harm in the following ficlet!

"It is truly a disappointment to find you here, von Stalhein," Biggles said, as he was strong-armed through a storeroom door by his rigid and unsmiling captor. "This clumsy gang of cack-handed louts can't have been in much of a position - erk! - to accept your advice. If not for you, we should have rounded them up easily, but their plans really haven't a single iota of originality, it's a wonder they managed to pull off a bank robbery at all --"

Still talking, he felt the gun slide away from his spine the instant he was through the doorframe, and twisted round abruptly, because Biggles had given no parole and could see no reason to allow von Stalhein to slam and lock the door, especially as the building might be on fire shortly. Biggles seized the wrist of von Stalhein's gun hand, prepared to twist the gun out of it and throw his captor to the ground.

He was unprepared for the sharp gasp of pain, as well as the stickiness and bulk he felt in his brief grasp. The gun slipped from von Stalhein's fingers; he felt back, staring at Biggles with a briefly stricken look. Then he lunged for the gun, but Biggles did too. Von Stalhein was uncharacteristically clumsy, and Biggles straightened up with the Luger in hand.

"The tables have turned, I see," Biggles said. But there was no sense of triumph, not with von Stalhein looking at him as the stricken look turned dull, his arm lowered at his side, the sleeve spotted with blood, and Biggles's next words came naturally to his lips. "Are you hurt? You seem to be off your game."

Von Stalhein drew away with a sharp intake of breath. "You have me at your mercy, I hardly need to suffer an interrogation as well," he said with what seemed a self-conscious approximation of his usual stiff pride. 

"You are hurt," Biggles said, because von Stalhein was holding his arm awkwardly, almost pressed against his front, and <i>I hurt you.</i> 

Biggles, without really thinking about it, and still keeping the gun trained on him because he was not a fool, took von Stalhein gently by the upper arm and steered him to sit on some burlap sacks in the cell.

As he sat down awkwardly, von Stalhein said to no one in particular, "This is not how this is supposed to go."

"May I see?" 

Von Stalhein's arm lay in his lap. Biggles carefully touched his sleeve. There was no resistance from von Stalhein, but he could feel the bulky bandage beneath it, swathed round and round the arm, with blood seeping through to leave sticky spots on the cuff. The clumsiness of the bandage made it clear that it was self-applied, a right-handed man bandaging himself awkwardly with the left.

There were not very many ways a man could get wounds like that. Defensive knife wounds, or torture, it must be one of the two, and Biggles found his nerves growing taut, wondering who in the sorry gang of reprobates could have laid a blow like that -- who would have dared? 

"Who did this?" he asked, and von Stalhein jerked a little, as if coming back from a dazed state, in a way that Biggles knew all too well from dealing with shell-shocked men in both wars. Torture it was then, and his jaw set and clenched. "Tell me, I'll make sure things don't go well for him. There is no excuse for such matters, especially in peacetime."

Von Stalhein drew his arm back sharply, a galvanized jerk bringing him back from wherever he had gone in his head. "No excuse? I'm sure it's so in your world." He spat the words, his face pale. "It was a mistake, too much liquor, too many -- careless thoughts, but I expect you have no tolerance for that either. The perfect Bigglesworth."

The fingers of his bandaged hand had gone to pluck at the other sleeve, almost automatic, just a slight brush of fingertips.

"I don't understand," Biggles said. 

His anger began to fade, because it had no target -- as it seemed von Stalhein's defensive anger didn't either. Biggles sat down beside von Stalhein on the sacks, laid the gun beside him, and reached out carefully to brush his hand against the opposite sleeve, where von Stalhein's injured hand had been reflexively plucking. Instantly von Stalhein went still. 

"What is this?" 

As if Biggles's touch and soft question was a command, the long, slim hand turned, laying upright in von Stalhein's lap, and Biggles saw the white, healed scars on the underside of his wrist.

"Oh," he said, a soft intake of breath.

Von Stalhein wrenched his hand away. His face was pale and set. When Biggles tried to take his cold fingers, von Stalhein fought him wordlessly, his face white and his eyes bright with tears that would not fall. His chest heaved as if he had been running, or was preparing to run.

Biggles let him go, and without saying anything, wrenched up his own sleeve -- and there were the scars, very old, very pale, from the first war, healed to faint white ribbons now.

Von Stalhein stared, his escape attempt falling apart and his heaving, half-sobbing gasps growing weaker, fading to more normal breathing.

"I know what that is," Biggles said. He kept his voice even. He put his sleeve down, and when he took the cold fingers in his own, the hand stayed put, even curled a little. "I had Algy, then. I -- I think the others are done mopping up the gang upstairs." The faint sound of a crash and a muffled explosion punctuated his words. "If you want to come up, there's tea -- half-cold. There are sandwiches -- if Ginger's left us any." A faint smile that von Stalhein didn't return. "We'll certainly have a few questions about your gang, but you don't need to answer them. You can just have a cup of tea and leave, if you like. It will be a little while before the others are back at the Auster, if you want to ... to just sit somewhere for a while."

He got up and offered a hand. After a long moment, not quite looking at him, von Stalhein clasped it with his left, uninjured one, and got up.

Biggles left the gun on the pile of sacks. Neither of them, he thought, needed it just now.

[tomatoswup]

Hello !! Can i have some fluff for tristamp!vash please 👉👈 (i'm sorry if i made some grammatical mistakes, english is not my first language :'))

Reader is ww's little sister, and she admires her brother so much that she would copy his cool characteristics, but deep down her personality is more shy, introverted, pure and innocent (as a result of hanging around with vash). One day ww asked his sister to go and confess to vash already (bcs ww can't take it anymore to see both vash and his sister just so sickeningly oblivious about eachother's feelings). So the reader went to confess to vash trying to be cool like her brother and all but failed miserably and return to her original personality (which leaves her stuttering, fidgeting, etc.)

I just realized it's so long- (I'm sorry 😔) feel free to pass this req :D and please keep yourself safe and healthy despite your busy schedule ^^

Confess!

A/N: Thank you for the request anon🫶🫶 This came out alot more longer than i thought,, also sorry for the late response I was multitasking with some work I was doing for school :/ i hope i did the request right -wheeze- Sorry for making you wait D: Enjoy🌱

warnings/tags: vash x reader, little sister!reader and big brother! Wolfwood,,, fluff, 2 am writing bc i need to fix my sleep schedule asap💪💪,, trigun coded chaotic confession from reader,,

Wolfwood liked to consider himself to be an observer, in more ways than one. Being a "priest" on the side, observation was one of the key things he did to keep both you and him alive in these treacherous deserts of No Man's Land but sometimes.

Oh just sometimes, it felt like a curse. And maybe it felt like that because he had watched on as his baby sister slowly fell in love with a moralistic idiot...Eh like a quarter of an idiot really.

"Ow ow ow..." Vash winced in pain as you tightened the bandages on his arm. After a nasty bounty hunter encounter, the group of you guys had decided to take a moments break from the road and crash at this small town that hadn't been too far from where you guys had been. And since having been given a med-kit by a kind family you had run into a while back, you took it upon yourself to patch everyone up with a stern eye, one that Wolfwood often shot at people.

In reality, it was the worst stern eye that Wolfwood couldn't help but want to stifle his laugh.

"Oh shut it, always getting hurt." You scoffed at the sorry-smiling blonde, cleaning the small gash on his right cheek "You act like you can’t die Vash, we're not all immortal..." He let out another small squeak of pain as you accidentally pressed down a little too hard on the wound "You need to take care of yourself a little more."

"Sorry about that.. I’ll try to be careful next time.." Vash sweat-dropped, trying to stop shying away from the cloth of alcohol you held up to him.

From above, Wolfwood dug into the pockets of his jacket, rummaging for another loose lollipop as he watched from the top compartment of the car in silence to not disturb the pair of you.

What? He was there first! Talking about ruining his evening nap..He put the newly found lollipop into his mouth and continued to watch on.

"Hey..." Vash muttered as you swiped your finger across his cheek, making sure the bandage held up.

"Hm?"

With a jolt, you quickly looked up when you felt the warmth of another hand cover your own. "Are you okay?" Vash asked softly as he gave you a concerned glint. Shit, you hadn't noticed you were slightly trembling.

Maybe that encounter ruffled your feathers a bit too much...Were you okay?

"I-" You choked out, feeling that odd churning sensation in your chest that you've only really come to realize you would get only around him. And it made you mentally blow a fuse.

W-What do you say!?!

It took a moments thought before you regained your composure at the sudden touch "I'm..I’m fine Vash.” You reassured him, playfully using your freehand to fix the glasses that had been falling off his nose “Don’t worry about me.”

'Are you kidding me?' Wolfwood thought in exasperation. 2 months, these small little talks and touches have been going on for 2 months now. Two months of him enclosed in a car as the both of you passively flirted with each other.

Yes, passive. Little bits here and there and suddenly you wear his jacket sometimes?

He can't handle the both of you anymore, it felt like he was drinking a overly sugary soda.

At least put a name to it!

Spotting Roberto making his way back to the car from not too far away, an idea struck up in Wolfwood's mind. Something to end the suffering, and something to perhaps help his little sister out.

"HEY ROBERTO!" Wolfwood lazily called out, jump scaring both Vash and you into standing like mercenaries ready for war. Looking up, you couldn't help but frown to see your brother mischievously waving down at the two of you.

"TAKE NEEDLE NOGGIN WITH YOU TO FIND SOME OF THE CAR PARTS! Let his ass do something..." He muttered the last part under his breath as Vash sighed, ultimately being pulled from the back of his jacket by Roberto who continued to walk down the road.

Was that a "Can we leave" from Roberto or was it just you?

"I'LL BE BACK!" You heard the spiky blonde shout out to you, and well, you couldn't help but laugh out and wave.

"Now that he's gone..." Wolfwood pressed down on the lollipop with his teeth until a small crack emitted, starting to chew on the poor candy "Seriously? Why don't you just tell him you like him already?"

Stuffing the med-kit back into your bag, you brushed him off "Nic I don't like him.."

Your brother let out a large, rugged laugh "Are you kidding me? For just being friends you two spend an awful long time alone together."

You felt the heat rise up to your face and god did you hope that it was because of the sun.

"Sorry but I'm gettin' tired of seeing the two of you pin for each-"

Wolfwood was interrupted by your muttering, making him hop off the roof of the car for a closer listen "Wanna say that one more time?"

"I can't..." You muttered as you slapped your hands on your cheeks, shooting your older brother a worried, red look "What if he says no?"

No?

You were worried if the love-struck idiot said no?

Have you really not seen how he would stare at you?

Wolfwood couldn't help but tilt his head in disbelief, the stick of his lollipop hanging off the edge of his mouth "Did you really- You try acting like me but you can't confess a little crush? What happened to that?"

You couldn't help but let out a tired exhale, he did have a point after all. As much as you did try to act like him, all brave and careless, you weren't him. Most honestly, the opposite and Vash had come to prove it too many times that you could count.

And maybe you were a bit too mean while you were putting bandages on him..

You covered your mouth, shyly looking away from your brothers' gaze.

Those times he had comforted you whenever you couldn't sleep, or when you were hurt-

"Oh spare me the shyness!" Wolfwood put a hand on his waist, putting his weight to one leg "Shit, if you don't tell him then I'd might as well-"

"NO!" You gasped out in horror at the idea. "No?"

Picking your bag off the floor, you massaged the bridge of your nose "I'll....Shit I'll do it."

Eh, Wolfwood bet two lollipops and a cup of sand that you were really gonna do it. But anything to end this suffering he's witnessed for god knows how long.

"Well, I'm just sayin' you should do it already. Its been way past due anyways..." He flickered his eyes back to you as he roughly ruffled the top of your head, making you whine in annoyance "Ouch Nic stop-"

"Just tell me when you do it. I'll kick his ass if he tries anything weird-"

"SERIOUSLY!?"

"I'M BEING SERIOUS!"

///

And that's how you found yourself outside the small town's saloon. Having asked Meryl where Roberto had dragged Vash, she pointed you to the right direction yet it was one you were a bit hesitant to follow.

Did you ever expect yourself to go into a saloon alone?

Hell no, you didn't even really find yourself talking to people in places like that. The last few times you've actually visited a saloon were only really just you sitting in a corner with Meryl or trying your best to sit away from people, watching as you ate your little plate of food but...

Would it really look weird if you strolled right in?

"It's alright..." You egged yourself on quietly "You can do it..Maybe if I just stroll in like Nic it'll be easy..."

I don't think you've seen how Wolfwood himself has entered bars...yikes..

With only a seconds hesitation, you pushed your legs forward and through the wooden double doors of the saloon, striding right into the loud bustling energy filled room.

Okay maybe you should’ve waited a bit more-

Yelling, laughing and god knows what those words were thrown in the air as the severe smell of sweat reached your nose, making you instinctively scrunch your face in disgust. Ew.

"Excuse me miss!" A waitress yelped out, making you take a quick step back nearly avoiding a bad collision with the poor girl serving drinks. Busy day it seemed, but you were here for other things.

Let's see, where could the two of them be- The sudden shout of your name made you do a double take around the room until the flash of red met your eyes and before you realized it, you saw Vash's waving hand of blue shine under the lights.

Well that was easier than you thought!

A wide smile on his face, his eyes practically sparkled as you pushed past several bar-goers and to his table. "Aren't I glad to see you!" Taking the seat next to him, you looked around the room once again "Wasn't Roberto suppose to..." You trailed off, turning and seeing the bummed out look on Vash's face.

"Well, we were gonna get the parts, but he saw the sign outside-"

Ohhh, the "if you bring two people they'll give you 50% off" poster...Made a lot more sense to be honest.

"And well, I guess you know what happened from there..." He sighed, resting his head on his hand, closing his eyes dramatically before batting them up at you "Now why are you here? I know you're not a big fan of these kinds of places."

So it did look weird!

Oh god...Your face began to feel a bit more hotter than usual as you unconsciously started playing around with a loose thread on your pants "Oh um...W-Well I came to tell you..." You nervously laughed out as Vash obliviously smiled at you, waiting for your response.

What if he said no?

With that singular thought, that singular worry that ran through your head once again, you choked. Nope, you couldn't do this.

You felt your heart beat against the walls of your chest alongside the loud environment and it felt...overwhelming. You should’ve done this another time.

The wooden chair scratched across the floor behind you as you shot up from your seat, making Vash jump a little "Actually Vash, I actually wanted to show you something I learned!” You fake laughed, taking a few steps back "But I just think it's bad timing maybe if I could just go outside to think about it-" Fumbling over your words, you hadn't completely taken in your surroundings when suddenly, you felt your back bump into one of the servers.

And with a scream, the server flew backwards and straight into the nearby table, flipping everything onto the...Very burly men sitting around it.

oops…

"HEY!" One of them hollered at you as you threw your hands up in surrender, the bar shushing down as the rest of the men began to spit out threats like venom.

"Woah woah woah! Hey guys, can't we all calm down and just chat? Haha? Maybe my friend here could show you a few tricks she just learned!" Vash intervened, putting a hand on your shoulder as he pulled you back behind him, putting his own body infront of you. Sweat starting to run on his forehead, he gave you one last nervous smile, teeth baring out “Right?”

Definitely not.

As if everything froze, the saloon had gone as silent as a library after Vash's remark.

Ohhh you fucked up...

Big time.

It was until the sudden shout of "Bar Fight!" had run through the room that you snapped out of your daze, realizing someone move faster than you had.

Vash took the opportunity to quickly turn and tackle you down to the ground just in time to dodge various glass bottles that had been heading your way.

"Gotcha!" Vash breathed out, pushing a wooden table down so that the both of you could take cover from the mess that was amping up at every second. The screams, yells and things breaking had made you put your hand over your mouth and listen in horror at the mess you had just created because of your last minute attempt to run away.

"Vash I'm so sorry oh my god.." You cried out from beside him as he gave you a nervous laugh "It's really no problem- GYAH!" He screamed, throwing himself forwards whilst pulling you along to avoid the body of a heavy-weight bounty hunter that had almost been thrown into you guys.

"LIKE I WAS SAYING, THERES NOT REALLY ANY PROBLEM! WE BOTH KNOW THIS IS THE KIND OF TROUBLE I ALWAYS FALL IN!" He yelped as you hurridly crawled to the next table for cover, Vash following behind.

"WHAT DID YOU REALLY WANNA SAY? AT THE TABLE?!" He loudly asked as you snapped your red face to him.

Crap.

Can't escape it now can you?

“I LIKE YOU!” You blurted out over the noise, catching him off guard "But! But uh! Not like the regular kinda like ya know!? More like a like-like? More like you make my stomach flutter and-" You continued to jumble your thoughts out as they zipped through your mind at the speed of light.

Fight or flight? HELL FLIGHT!

Pulling yourself up from the floor and onto your feet, you looked back down at Vash without thinking “IT'S OKAY IF YOU DON'T-"

"WATCH OUT!"

//

By the end of the day, everything worked out! Uh...Kinda.

"Ow ow ow..." You groaned, trying to lean away from Vash as he wiped the dirt off from the bump on your forehead.

"Hey don't lean away from me~"

This felt familiar didn’t it?

Well, besides getting hit with a metal serving pan square in the head, the both of you were able to get out of that hell hole without any other big injuries besides from your dignity.

And you made a big note to yourself currently sitting on the saloon steps, to never go into a saloon again.

Of course you had to make such a mess whilst just trying to confess your love to someone, it just had to be your luck! Maybe that was what Wolfwood was rubbing off on you!

You tried your best to avoid Vash's peering eyes as the tips of his fingers caressed your forehead, causing goosebumps to run up your shoulders "I never gave you an answer did I?" He pondered. And before you knew it, you felt a quick sting of pressure on your forehead and right on the bump, both hands of his gentle with holding the sides of your cheeks.

"V-Vash!?" You gaped out as he backed away, the blush on his face mimicking your own as he rubbed the back of his neck with his hand "You really had a man's heart pumping with what you said back there! It might have not been as pretty with, uh ya know..” He wiped the bump on your forehead with his thumb “But I’ll always say yes, even if you confessed to me in the deserts or in space..”

You stifled your laugh “Oh really?”

“Definitely.”

The sun had begun to set orange and yellow, illuminating the back of Vash’s body and thinking about it, you hadn't regret all those feelings, or this chaotic moment with him.

It felt like a mental photo that you had taken as those bright blue eyes shined adoringly at you as you couldn't help but break out into giggles.

“You beat me to it though…” He chuckled as he got up and offered his hand down to you. "How does breakfast sound? Maybe I could..confess my love to you in donuts?”

“Well don’t mind if I do~”

Breakfast sounded perfect.

[abarbaricyalp]

Hi! Not sure how it works, but for the Whumptober event: #15 for SamBucky?

Oh it is so embarrassing to be answering this so late. I have literally been working on it (off and on) since October. It never strayed from the top of my WIP pile. I just...gestures vaguely Thank you so much for sending in a prompt and I'm so sorry to have taken so long. I do love a good "Leave me alone, I'm fine" whump. I went with "Makeshift bandages" but I'm sure you can find "suppressed suffering" and "I'm fine" if you squint.

Putting Bandages Where Stitches Should Be

CW: Injury, violence, blood, etc

Read on AO3

Steve was right again. Sam hated it when Steve was right. It was making an indisputably bad day even worse.

"Don't go out today," Steve had said, all puppy-dogged eyes that morning. "I've got a bad feeling."

Him and his bad feelings. He called it a soldier's intuition and Sam called it a soldier's paranoia. But, dammit, he was usually right. That couldn’t be a byproduct of the serum, could it?

But it was a beautiful fall day and they needed groceries something fierce, so Sam had rolled his eyes and called him paranoid and headed out.

It had been fine for several hours, Sam wanted it noted. Just a normal day of errands. Hell, no one had even recognized him. He even tried a new coffee drink.

With a hysterical kind of laugh, Sam realized he hadn’t even made it to the grocery store yet. Probably a good thing since the car was now languishing in a parking lot somewhere and it was only going to get warmer as the day went on. What time was it, he wondered. Had Steve realized something was wrong yet? That paranoid intuition would be real handy right about then.

Sam leaned back against the dingy wall and tried not to think about how badly he was sweating against it. It was going to start mildewing. He still couldn’t figure out where these guys came from. The parking lot had been almost completely empty. There’d been no one else near him. One second, he was loading up a bag of new blankets into the back of the car, and the next someone was hitting him upside the head and dragging him away.

He knew they had to be trained at least a little. They were quiet and fierce. Nothing that Sam couldn’t normally hand, but there had been no fighting through the early wound to his head. Actually, it was still pulsing, each heartbeat a new throb of bruise-ache against his skull. The longer he sat here, the further the ache traveled, reaching for his temples, his ears, his eyes.

He closed his eyes, as if that would stave off anything at all, and listened to the ambient noise of whatever not-so-safe house he was being held in. He’d seen neither hide nor hair of his attackers since they’d thrown him into the small room. He assumed it was an apartment and this was some bedroom or office. It was clean, the carpet was almost soft. There were worse places, he thought. And with it being carpet, maybe they weren’t looking to make him bleed. That’d be nice.

He knew other people were around. He could hear them pacing around the other side of the door. His head hurt too much to concentrate on what they were saying. They were speaking German, which he didn’t speak, but it gave him a good feel that this was probably Hydra. It made the apartment even more confusing. What would Hydra want with Sam that involved just keeping him thrown in an empty office?

There was a cacophony outside then, snarling and the sounds of blows landing on bodies, bodies falling to the floor.

“Ich habe es dir gesagt!” he heard someone shout. “Er ist der Winter Soldier!”

Someone was shitting Sam. Instantly, all of the minor irritation of the day flooded over the actual concern of having been kidnapped by neo-Nazi assholes. If he’d said ‘this day can’t get worse’ this is the exact outcome that would have made it worse. He’d take bleeding over this.

There was more fighting and then the door was wrenched open and a very bloodied and bruised Winter Soldier was kicked into the room, landing hard on his face and wrist beside Sam.

“You’ve got to be shitting me,” Sam said, just to get it out there.

Barnes turned over onto his back, keeping his hurt wrist against his chest. He looked up at Sam, scowled through the blood on his face, managed to glare while both eyes were almost swelled shut. “I ain’t thrilled to see you neither, birdbrain,” he coughed. He turned back onto his side to spit out a glob of blood that landed on the knee of Sam’s jeans.

“Asshole,” Sam snapped and tried to clean it off, even though it was already a lost battle. “I take it you fought back,” Sam guessed.

“I take it you did not,” Bucky shot back and it felt more like an insult than an actual insult would have.

Sam scowled at him. It had been months since they’d seen each other. Sam couldn’t even say what city or even country it was that he’d caught up to Barnes in. It hadn’t been a long meeting. More or less just enough time for them to grapple and exchange a few threats before Barnes shook Sam’s tail again. At first, Sam took it as a personal failing that he kept losing Barnes. He was too ashamed to admit to Steve that he’d caught up with the reanimated best friend but let him slip away. Then, as time went on and Sam caught him more often, he placed all of the blame fully on Barnes. There were times, he knew, when Barnes let him catch up. These happened only often enough to keep Sam in the cat-and-mouse game. There were times, he also knew, when Barnes fully didn’t expect Sam to have found him. Two months ago was one of those times. Barnes had seemed healthy and adjusted. He had his own place and there was fresh bread on the table. Small miracles.

That did not explain why Barnes was in New York or anywhere near it in order to get the shit beat out of him by Hydra goons and dragged into whatever this was.

Barnes shoved himself up by the elbows and spit more blood out. So much for keeping the carpet clean. “So what the fuck did you do to land us here?”

“This is not an ‘us’ situation,” Sam objected with a snort. “What did you do to land you  here?”

“Fuck all,” Barnes answered. He leaned against the wall next to Sam, tilted his head back to avoid gushing more blood from his nose. Sam had seen him hurt before, but he’d never been around for the fall out like this. He was like some stray dog, sleeping off the worst of it and trying to lick clean all of the rest. “You told me it was an emergency.”

Sam looked away from a smear of blood on Bucky’s neck to frown at him directly. “I did not reach out to you. And what kind of emergency could possibly make you come all the way back to America?”

Bucky’s head lolled over to him. A muscle worked in his jaw and down his neck as those obnoxious eyes scanned over Sam’s face. “You said Steve was hurt. Bad.”

“I didn’t. He’s not. That’s all it would’ve taken to get you back here?” he asked, just a little offended that he’d been traipsing around the world and digging huge chunks into his sleep deficit when there was a magic code to bring Bucky back on his own. And all it would take was Steve landing himself in a hospital again.

Bucky half waved him off, turned his head away again. “Someone must’ve really wanted me here.”

“I cannot fathom why.”

They sat in stony silence for too long. Sam much preferred being alone, he decided. At least then silence was just silence and not this crackling energy between them. Barnes broke the silence by coughing wetly again and spitting out more blood and tissue.

“Christ alive,” Sam sighed. “What’s going on with you?” He reached out without any fanfare to hold Bucky’s face and examine the injuries there. There’d been no time for any of them to heal, not that Sam would’ve been able to tell through the blood. “Hold still,” he ordered and reached for the hidden knife in Bucky’s bootheel that he knew was there.

“How?” Bucky asked. Sam was surprised to only find curiosity in his voice and not anger.

“I’ve seen you take it out before. Just had to hope it wasn’t something Hydra taught you and knew to look for.”

“Nah, that one’s all Brooklyn,” he said with a tired sigh. “Well, kind of. I adapted it.”

Sam rolled his eyes. The old-timey Brooklyn posturing was the same whether it was Steve or Barnes, evidently. He cut the sleeve off of his shirt and used it to begin cleaning away some of the blood on Bucky’s face. It was slow going without water, but Barnes was remarkably quiet during the entire thing. He let Sam work without fussing. His eyes remained focused and sharp, bright even in the dim room. He was more enjoyable when his eyes looked like this, instead of the dead shark stare he got in the middle of a fight.

Not that Sam was going to admit Barnes was ever enjoyable to be around.

“What do you think this is about?” Sam asked to distract Bucky from the fact that he was about to set his nose back.

“Clearly they wanted the both of us–Fuck you, Wilson!” Bucky shouted and shoved Sam hard enough that Sam actually rocked back and lost his balance, sprawled across the floor. Sam subtly rolled out his shoulder–it was definitely going to bruise–before he sat up again and glared.

“I didn’t think you wanted the rugged crooked nose look,” he defended without any real belief in the words. He was actually kind of worried about what the serum would do to a persistently crooked nose.

Bucky rubbed from the bridge of his nose into the soft, squishy bruises around his eyes. Already, impossibly, the color was draining from the outer edges of the bruises. Sam hated him for it.

“Clearly they wanted both of us,” Sam agreed and rolled his shoulder again. “But…they don’t seem keen on cutting off fingers.”

“Not yet,” Bucky grunted.

“They gotta know we won’t talk. You won’t talk. Don’t you think it’s kind of playing with fire to bring you here? I mean, you’re not even drugged.”

As if his words were a reminder, Bucky eyed the door. Sam knew he could take it out of the wall if he wanted too. He also knew that whoever these assholes were, they had enough manpower to bring Bucky in bloodied and rough. He figured Bucky was doing similar calculations in his mind.

“Why us?” Sam prompted again.

“Steve,” Bucky grunted. He leaned back against the wall and drew his knees up to his chest. “They wouldn’t bother to hunt me down, wouldn’t take that risk, for anything else. They probably think if they have both of us, they have twice as much leverage.”

“Maybe they couldn’t decide which one he was more likely to come for,” Sam suggested, only a little sarcastically.

“That man would rend the Earth apart for you,” Bucky said as simply as he would talk about the weather.

Sam tried not to blow over again. Bucky believed that. He wasn’t just saying it to be a shit. “Have you been watching us?” he asked, instead of asking for a thesis on why Bucky thought that so assuredly.

Bucky cut him a look. It was dampened by the bruises. “I had to keep making sure neither of you had gotten yourselves killed yet.”

“Yeah, you’re a real shining example of how to do it right. Show back up on American soil for two minutes and instantly get captured,” Sam snarked back. He needed to put some distance between his current situation and the fact that Barnes thought Steve would ‘rend the Earth apart’ for him. “Come here and let me look at that wrist.”

“Is this how you were with the pararescue?”

“Good at my job? Yes.”

“So damn pushy,” Barnes corrected. But he shifted how he was sitting so they were almost knee to knee and then held out his arm. “It’ll heal on its own,” he said. “I’ve had worse.”

“Or I can just wrap it and you don’t have to worry about rebreaking it later. Do you know how many carpal bones there are? You keep fucking them up, or the tendons attached to them, and you’re gonna be in a world of hurt for longer than you need to be.”

“There are eight,” Barnes said, just to be difficult. “Should I name them all for you too?”

Sam took half a second to glare at him before returning his attention to Bucky’s wrist. Barnes was long fingered, which was something Sam knew logically. He’d seen him handle weaponry. Seen him fight. Still, it was different when those fingers were laid out across his forearm, a little swollen, a little curled in, but still so damn pretty. Sam had never met someone with pretty hands before. He’d expected Bucky’s hands to be gnarled and scarred from a lifetime of fighting and training and abuse, but they just weren’t. The serum helped, he assumed. He wondered what they had looked like on the man from all of Steve’s stories. Had they looked like this, even working on the docks all day and boxing his way through the nights?

Everyone Sam knew who’d ever worked around boats had hands that were rope-burned and muscled and suntanned. He’d half expected Bucky’s to be similar. Instead, his hands were…not soft, exactly. But clean and smooth.

He pushed his thumbs into Bucky’s wrist, dragging them down his metacarpals. Barnes hissed in a breath and his eyes darted away from Sam’s ministrations. Sam returned his thumbs to Bucky’s wrist and then pushed down into his ulna and radius. He didn’t react as strongly to that, so Sam focused on the carpals that were up high in his wrist. (Down low? He could never remember how to orient the body)

“Where does it hurt?” he asked, probing for the misaligned bone but coming up empty.

“Everywhere,” Barnes ground out. “It fucking hurts everywhere.” But he didn’t yank his hand away, so Sam kept at it. Finally, finally, something snapped as Sam pushed his thumbs down into Bucky’s wrist for an umpteenth time. Bucky swore colorfully and snatched his hand back at that, rubbing his own fingers over his wrist while new curses came out.

“Let me wrap it a little,” Sam offered, holding his hand out again.

Bucky looked at him like he bit. Sam had read all the notes about the Winter Soldier. How medical treatment was administered. When the Soldier cooperated and when he didn’t. The Soldier could handle inordinate amounts of pain. Bucky Barnes, it seemed, did not feel like keeping the habit alive.

“It’ll be fine without a sling,” he insisted. “It already feels better.” And then, from between his teeth, he added, “Thank you.”

He was still bloodied, hair matted all to hell. He looked like some kind of wild man. Actually, he kind of looked how Sam expected to find him at the beginning of the Great Barnes Search and Rescue Mission. He came forward again, beginning to wipe at Bucky’s face one more time.

“You’re disgusting to look at,” he defended when Bucky tacked a lazy glare on him.

“Just admit you wanna touch my face, Wilson,” Bucky shot back.

Sam accidentally reopened a wound, so he tore off a piece from his demolished sleeve and stuck it to the gash like toilet paper on a shaving knick. 

“You’re so dumb,” Bucky sighed as his eyes closed. Then he pitched right into Sam, almost completely boneless.

“Barnes?” Sam barked as he fought to get his hands under Bucky’s body enough to lift him again. “Do not fucking pass out,” he ordered, possibly irrelevantly. “Barnes,” he snapped again, and gently smacked the better, less bruised side of his face. “You didn’t say you were concussed. You didn’t say you had more injuries.” He yanked up Bucky’s shirt, prodding his belly and ribs for any signs of internal bleeding, but came up short. Just a bunch of outside bruises, maybe a crack in his ribs. He wrenched open Bucky’s mouth to check for signs he’d been coughing blood, but didn’t find any of that either. He was just about to shove his fingers down Bucky’s throat to look for a blood clot when his eyes fluttered open again.

He took a few seconds to recognize his surroundings–distressingly still and relaxed about waking up in a room he didn’t know–and then he reached up for Sam’s wrist and pulled his hand away. “Why were your fingers in my mouth?”

Sam rolled his eyes while he waited for his heart to stop thundering in his chest. Just his luck. Find the prodigal best friend and watch him die before Sam could drop him at Steve’s feet. “You basically begged for me to,” he scoffed. “Sam, please, you’ve just got such good fingers. I need them in my mouth.”

Bucky rolled his eyes, then grimaced. So it probably was some kind of concussion. At least Sam didn’t have to worry about blood clots. “What’s happened? How long was I out?”

“Nothing. A few seconds,” Sam answered. “Don’t do that again.”

Bucky saluted from halfway up his chest. “Whatever, man. I’m just tired.”

“I don’t care what you are. Keep your eyes open.”

The door opened then and a tall man, dressed like a movie villain with tall dark boots and a long dark coat, walked into the room. He had Sam’s phone in his hand and it was trilling with a waiting phone call.

“You don’t keep a passcode on your phone?” Bucky asked drily.

“Of course I fucking do,” Sam snapped back.

“Gentlemen, please,” the man said with a stifled German accent.

Steve picked up just before it would’ve gone to voicemail. “Sam, hey, I was about to send out a rescue party.”

Bucky looked at Sam pointedly, which Sam ignored. It was just a joke. He hadn’t been gone that long. Probably.

“Mr. Rogers,” the man in the coat greeted. Sam could practically feel Steve go still on the other side of the call. “I seem to have acquired not only your friend’s cell phone, but him as a whole person. And he came along with another friend.”

He snapped a photo of Sam and Bucky. Bucky barely flinched at the flash, but a few seconds later, he was still blinking and shaking his head, like the light was still in his eyes. The bad guy du jour tapped around on Sam’s phone and Sam heard it buzz in on Steve’s end.

Steve was quiet, contemplative for a few seconds. Then he said, “You have Sam and Bucky?”

“Yeeesss,” the man agreed with a lilting exaggeration. “I didn’t know they came as a pair.”

“They don’t, usually. But now that you do have both, good luck.”

And then the little shit hung up the phone. Even the asshole German guy stared at the screen in disbelief. Another man appeared in the hallway. He cast a nervous glance towards Bucky, whose eyes were shut again, before redirecting his attention to his boss.

“What’d he say?” the man asked. He was fully American. Jersey, maybe.

“Bad connection,” the other man ground out before stalking down the hallway. The second man hurried to keep up. The door remained open.

Sam nudged Bucky’s ribs. “Stop it,” Bucky grumbled without opening his eyes.

“If you pass out again, I’m not waking you up this time,” Sam lied. “What did Steve mean?”

“I think he meant we can handle ourselves. I just need to…” He grimaced. “I just need to rest my eyes for a little while. Then I’ll be good to go.”

“The door is open now,” Sam pointed out under his breath. “Come on, you don’t have some kind of super hearing where you can fight with your eyes closed?”

Bucky raised one eyebrow in consideration. It stressed a gash across his brow. “I can fight in the dark,” he agreed.

“I’ll keep anyone from hitting you in the face again,” Sam promised. “But we have to go now.”

Bucky squeezed his eyes open and leveled a calculating glare on Sam before he nodded. “Alright,” he agreed, which felt like a miracle in and of itself. He pushed himself to his feet and then leaned back against the wall as he pressed the heels of his hands over his browbones.

Sam stood as well and put a hand to Bucky’s elbow. In all their brief encounters, they didn’t get much time to touch each other, unless they were brawling over nothing but ego. Bucky was actually…kind of soft beneath Sam’s fingers. And warm. He was certainly not the sharp edged, battle ready soldier Sam kept finding. He felt real and alive. And he was still trying to blink his eyes open.

Sam curled his fingers tighter around Bucky’s elbow and pulled him out into the hallway. He scanned the unit for any sunlight that he could use to orient himself. Without speaking, Bucky pulled him to the stairs. They made it most of the way down before the wall of the stairs gave way to an open railing and they were spotted by more assholes in black.

“Y’all coordinate these outfits beforehand or y’all keep changes of clothes here?” Sam asked before he threw Bucky into the crowd of assholes.

He tried to keep his promise about keeping punches away from Bucky’s face. They landed damn near everywhere else. Sam had underestimated how many people there were–numbers growing from three to five to nine until he lost count. Bucky was holding his own, putting men down two-to-one to Sam, climbing to three-to-one. Sam tried to catch glimpses of the rest of the house. There was a wall of windows, covered in curtains and pasted over with film or paper. The rest of the room looked like a dining room or something. Behind them was nothing but more room and dark walls.

“Find the front door,” Bucky snapped when Sam’s eyes went to the window again. He smashed someone’s head down on the banister with enough force to crack either bone or wood. “I’m not jumping through glass.”

Sam rolled his eyes and then ducked away from a Goddamn hammer. He wrestled it away from the man wielding it, then threw it at the window to shatter it open. “There you go. No need to jump,” he said breathlessly. He turned just in time to catch someone around the waist and throw them into the wall before they could get the drop on Bucky, who was, if Sam had to guess, wrenching someone’s arm out of socket. 

Bucky got a gun from somewhere and made fast work of everyone else in the room, but not before the guy who Sam had thrown into the wall smashed Sam’s head into it in retaliation. On the opposite side from the open wound Sam was already contending with, of course. Why shouldn’t the bruises match?

“You’re bleeding,” Bucky said, cutting through the ringing, violent silence that had fallen over the house. He wiped away the blood that was pouring over his own eye, completely oblivious to the irony. “Jesus, you’re bleeding a lot. What happened?”

Sam stared at him a little dumbfounded. “Are you serious right now?”

Bucky tsked away his bitching, yanking Sam over to examine his forehead like a collector looking at diamonds. “Gross,” he decided and then ripped the collar of his shirt off like it was nothing, along with a chunk of the bottom of it. “Don’t move,” he ordered as he folded the fabric over on itself a few times and then pressed it tightly over the wound on Sam’s head. He used the collar of his shirt to tie the fabric down.

His fingers were absurdly gentle as he worked. The warmth that had radiated off of his body was gone now, fingers cool against the bruise-hot burn of Sam’s skin. Sam didn’t realize his eyes had fallen shut until Bucky gently touched his other cheek and tilted his face down just a little. “Don’t die,” he said.

Sam didn’t have the energy to glare at him. “Pot, kettle,” he managed to say. He pulled Bucky’s hand away from his face and looked around the room. “You know this wasn’t everyone.”

“Yeah, well, I’ve got the rest handled,” he promised and held up a grenade.

“What the fuck?” Sam asked, staring at it like he’d never seen one before. “Why did someone just have that on them?”

Bucky shrugged. “It’s not even a good one,” he said disappointedly. “There probably isn’t anyone else here, but at least no one will be able to come back,” he offered. He crossed to the window and removed the remaining glass with his metal arm, still looking at it like it was personally offending him.

They helped each other through the window with the unspoken agreement not to mention it again after this. Both of them had enough blood dripping in their eyes and rattled brains to warrant it just this once.

“You handled yourself pretty well without your wings,” Bucky offered as they walked away from the house. “How big do you suppose that window is?”

“I was trained before I had the wings,” Sam pointed out sharply. He glanced over his shoulder to reassess the broken window. “Four by six, you think?”

“Sure, the whole thing, but what about the cleared part?”

“Two by three? Four?”

Bucky regarded the grenade in his hand and the distance between them and the house. “I can do that,” he decided.

They walked a few meters more before he turned fully, pulled the pin of the grenade, and then threw it with an accuracy that would have more Cy Young winners seething with jealousy. Not to mention the distance and force of it too.

A few seconds later, the house exploded. Bucky was right. It wasn’t a very good grenade.

Sam looked around the wooded area they were in, a marginal field around them before the trees started up again, which was probably best because of the fire now. “So, where the fuck are we?” he asked.

“And how the fuck do we get home?” Bucky finished with a ridiculous perturbed set to his lips.

“Ah, shit, that asshole still had my phone,” Sam groaned when the patting of his pants came up empty. He knew Steve’s number by heart, but he didn’t imagine Bucky had his phone on him either.

“We could go see where he went,” Bucky suggested. “That explosion was not cool enough to take out any of the cars.”

“Neither one of us is in any condition to go track someone down.”

“Could be fun.”

Bucky was already looking at him when Sam glanced over to see if he was being serious. “You wanna try to live out the last third of an action movie?”

“Second third at best,” Bucky scoffed with a wave. “Lots more adventures ahead of us. The Winter Soldier and the Falcon has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it?”

“It would absolutely be The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. Captain Good-Looking and  The Grouchy Soldier. Angel and Asshole.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Bucky interrupted, reaching for Sam’s hand. For just a second, Sam’s heart may have stuttered in his chest. But all Bucky was doing was unwinding the bandage Sam had put around his wrist earlier so that he could patch up the sluggishly bleeding gashes on Sam’s knuckles now. “Come on, Pilot Hyperbole. We’re losing daylight.”

“The Falcon and the Hound Dog,” Sam added, following Bucky as they skirted the smoldering building to find a car.

They drove away into an easing sunset.

If you enjoyed this, please consider leaving a kudos and a note on AO3

[666herescared]

Imaginary Shadow Dad)Ch.3: Shadow of a Child

—☆—

Hey, y'all! Here's chapter three! I've been doing a lot of work on this AU(Especially yesterday) but I can finally upload the third chapter! In today's chapter: Macaque starts mentoring Mk on stance and other general martial arts things.

—☆—

  "Shadow Dad! Shadow Dad!" the Little Sky called. 

  The shadow creature snorted and turned away from the stove. "Yes, Xiao-Xiao?" he asked in turn. He had been teaching the kid after that first day for about a year now. The cub even knew how to do shadow puppets already and no longer had to meditate to steal the light.

  "Look! Look!" the excitable child exclaimed and held out his lantern. He scrunched up his face in the most adorable way and started focusing. The lantern slowly lifted out of his hands and raised up fairly high before the Little Sky got tired and dropped it into his own hands with a loud puff.

  The child was quickly lifted by the shadow, far above his head, and praised for his talent. "Oh my Gods, little guy! I haven't even taught you levitation yet! You're amazing! You're a natural!" he yelled the child's praises so loud he was certain the celestial realm could hear. He held his son close in his arms as he got back to the congee, softly patting the boy's thigh until he started hearing a soft puffing sound. "What'cha doin', little one?"

  "M' hair.." the now much more tired child muttered before blowing his hair up again.

  The darkness brushed his hair out of his face softly before giving his forehead a soft kiss. "It’s alright Xiaotian.." he murmured against his son's head and returned his focus to their food.

  The rice sizzling in the dish was the only sound heard at that moment, aside from the breathing of the family in the room, and the beating of their hearts. Yeah, Shadow Dad finally admitted it. Xiaotian was calling him dad so often he mentioned, "Keep calling me dad and I might start thinking you're my son." in a joking manner, but the kid was like, "I'm not?" so… yep. They're family now.

  Shadow Dad started hearing snoring fairly quickly, and glanced down at the boy in his arms. Sure enough, Xiao-Xiao was asleep. He slept so easily in the monkey’s hold. It was endearing. The shadow summoned a clone to keep stirring the congee and walked off to the main room, so he could rest with his son for the remaining forty-five minutes. 

  The darkness ran a hand through the well groomed hair on his kid’s head. Even if you couldn't see his mouth, you could tell he was smiling. Then it slipped into a look of thought. He was planning on teaching the kid some basic forms for his birthday, but it would be hard to learn martial arts with his hair in his face.

  Then he remembered something. Gods, did he even still have that? He decided to go check his physical body's pocket, but first; he replaced his shadow form with a clone, to keep his son from waking up.

  He floated through the dark clouds and swam towards his form. He reached into his body’s pocket and quickly found what he was looking for. A red and purple bandana with his and… an old friend’s names embroidered into their respective fabric. He smiled as he saw the beautiful headband. The kid was gonna love it. He knew it. He quickly swapped with the clone his son was laying on and returned to stroking through his hair with a goofy, proud smile.

  His talented boy. His amazing child. He knew that no matter what he gave him, he would never regret it. Now, though. He had to wait for his eighth birthday. 

——000000——

  The call came right on time. Shadow Dad had just finished planning the first few lessons for his son when it arrived. He followed the stream to find Xiaotian wasn’t at his house. Odd, but he trusted the lantern’s location. 

  He saw the adorable little boy bouncing in place with a bandage on his cheek. "Shadow Dad! I'm ready for my birthday!" he exclaimed. 

  The darkness chuckled and picked his son up into his arms. "I'm glad you're excited, Xiao-Xiao! I've got something special for you." He stated and slipped through the shadows to his dojo. The room had been cleaned more thoroughly and there was a pile of blankets and pillows in the center. "First off, I'm teaching you to nest." The shadow explained and placed his son on the floor. 

  The kid was confused. "But I'm not a monkey." He said and scratched his head. 

  The older laughed. "You have hands, right?" Xiaotian nodded. "and you like my nests, right?" The Little Sky agreed. "Then why not teach you to make your own?" 

  Xiao-Xiao's mouth twitched into a grin. "Then what are we waiting for? Let's do it!" He ran to the pile and face planted into it.

  Shadow Dad snorted and pulled his son's head out. "Alright, you little chimp. Let's start." he said, before pulling out a plum blanket. "First, we lay the second biggest on the floor." He said, offering a corner to his kid. 

  They placed it flat on the ground. "Okay! Next!" The smaller exclaimed.

  "We place pillows in a circle on top." Shadow Dad said and picked one up. His son nodded and picked another one up, before getting hit in the face. 

  He looked at his dad with betrayal in his eyes. "You'll pay!" He yelled and hit his dad with his pillow. The shadow ran off to the other side and threw his pillow before the smaller threw his. Laughter quickly filled the place as father and son had a pillow fight. 

  It only stopped when Xiao-Xiao tripped his dad with a blanket and pinned him with a hug. "Oh no! Tiny arms! My only weakness." he joked as he wrapped his arms around his son. 

  The Little Sky cackled in mock villainy as he tightened his arms. "You will never escape!" He dropped his voice.

  Shadow Dad laughed as he rolled into sitting up. "Alright, goober. Back to the nest." He said, placing his son down and picking up a pillow to begin the ring. 

  They finished the ring and moved to the next step. They tucked in the excess then threw the biggest blanket on top to tuck in. "Now what?" The kid said, staring at the nest. 

  Blankets, pillows, and plushies suddenly landed there as the boy was lifted. "Monkey bomb!" Shadow Dad yelled as he jumped and curled around his son. They disrupted the nest when they landed, but neither noticed as they laughed. "That’s the last step." The shadow said proudly once they'd calmed down. 

  The child grinned ear to ear and rubbed his face into his dad's chest. He got comfy against the elder's fur as his father started grooming him. "I love you, dad.." he murmured.

  The darkness had to distort a few chirps, but the kid had gotten used to the shadow garbles by then. "Thirty minutes. Then I start on the cake." The monkey notified. His cub nodded softly as he fell into the comfortable touch. After forty-five minutes, they separated and went to the kitchen. 

  Xiao-Xiao wanted to help, and Shadow Dad decided to let him, so he walked him through the process of making batter. He didn’t let the younger touch the oven, but he did give him the beaters to lick clean. 

  Once the cake was in the oven, they sat down on the couch in the other room, with the child vibrating in his seat. He was so excited to see what his dad had planned. "That excited, huh?" The cub nodded. "Well, if you're sure… I could give you your gift now." His father offered. 

  He got a massive grin on his face. "Really?! Gimme!" Xiaotian said and reached out before remembering. "Please?" he rushed out with an exaggerated innocent grin. 

  His dad laughed at the excitement and walked in front of his son. “Okay, okay. Close your eyes.” He requested. The child nodded and screwed his eyes shut tight. “No peeking~”  Shadow Dad said, getting down on his knees and pulling out the fabric. He cleaned it prior, of course. He softly wrapped the headband around his son’s head and tied it, red side out. “Okay, you can open them!” 

  The cub immediately snapped his eyes open and touched the fabric. He shook his head softly and yet no hair landed in front of his face. He grinned widely and quickly sprinted past his father, who took a second after the oddly strong wind and fast speed. He glanced in the child’s direction and saw him standing in front of the mirror. He looked so giddy as he bounced in place. “Look, Shadow Dad! Look!” He called and spun in circles. In accordance with the spell, no hair fell in front of his face.

  Why did he have that? He had a similar problem when he knew that old friend, so they cast that spell on the headband to fix it. “I know, bud! It’s great, right?” The older chuckled. His son’s excitement was contagious. He loved his cub more than anyone would ever know. "Wanna go 'monkey around', kiddo?"

  Xiaotian knew what that meant, so he nodded rapidly. "Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!" He yelled, and jumped onto his dad's side, looping his arms around the other’s neck as his dad wrapped one arm around him. The cub was hanging just like baby monkeys did- Though that was something the shadow had gotten used to. 

  The kid did a lot of monkey-ish things; he hung from everything he could get his hands on, he climbed to get to anything in the higher cabinets, and he even preferred sitting on shelves or counters instead of seats! Shadow Dad was startled by these things at first, but he slowly got used to it. He carried the boy to the training area of his dojo and placed him by the pull up bars. The kid almost always used those as monkey bars, hence the "monkey around", statement.

  The brown eyed boy started jumping to catch the bars but he wasn’t bending his knees nearly enough to reach. The monkey usually lifted his son in these moments, but because he was gonna start training him, he decided to teach him to do it on his own. "Alright, squirt. Bend your knees a little more, then push off harder and grab the bars." He was a little shocked the kid didn't know that, but he'd never pushed it.

  Xiao-Xiao tilted his head in confusion, but nodded and followed the instructions; A grin spread on his face as he pulled himself higher up and looked back at his dad. "Dad! Dad, look! I did it myself!" He yelled in excitement. The six eared creature was never quite as happy about the shadows muffling his hearing as he was then.

  A smile still showed in his eyes, despite the mild discomfort in his ears as he replied, "I see! I'm proud, kid! Oop-" then his son swung up on top of the bar.

  "Mwahahaha! I am the greatest parkour-ist!" The child joked and started hopping between bars. His dad stared with a smile though tension was still clear as he held his hands out beneath the bars(Just in case!)

  A dinging from the other room sounded and he looked towards the exit for a second, which was just long enough for his cub to tip and- OH SHIT, HE'S GONNA- oh.. He caught himself with his legs. Thank fucking god. The boy giggled at his dad's face and did grabby hands at him. "Gods, kid. Almost gave me a heart attack.." The older muttered and pulled him down softly. "Let’s go grab the cake."

  Xiao-Xiao giggled as his dad flipped him right-side up. "Okay, dad!" he said with laughter still in his voice. The shadow put the boy on his back and carried him to the kitchen. You might be wondering about an abandoned dojo having a kitchen, but in actuality, it was a break room before it was abandoned. The "main room" was a waiting room before it was abandoned- Pretty much every room used to be something else. 

  He kept the power and water on by slinking to the companies and scaring them into turning it back on. No one would believe them about a living shadow forcing them to keep the appliances on. He felt a little bad when people got fired, but he had to keep his son comfortable. He took the cake out and placed it on the cooling rack, before garbling more sounds and tickling his son with the vibrations. "I love you, Xiao-Xiao." the monkey mumbled to his son, before he heard some odd sounds from him. 

  The brown haired boy seemed to be trying to mimic the shadow’s garbles, but he  wound up gargling weirdly. His dad cooed at it somewhat mockingly, but it was playful. "I know.." The child mumbled, seemingly recognizing the mockery but not the playfulness. "I did it wrong."

  Shadow Dad freaked out a little and grabbed the boy off his back to calm him. "No- don't worry! It doesn't come naturally to you. We can work on that! I-if you want, I mean.." The shadow was still getting used to comforting someone, so excuse his struggling. 

  His son's eyes lit up again as he talked. "Okay." He said with a nervous smile. 

  It wasn't bright enough to comfort the parental monkey, but he was glad his son was at least a little better. "Wanna frost the cake now?" He said, attempting a diversion. His cub nodded and jumped onto the stepping stool in front of them, washing his hands again, before picking up the red piping bag. His dad smiled at him as he picked up the purple one and started frosting the cake. Once they were done, the cake had sporadic lines of each color on it and Xiaotian was a little messy. Shadow Dad would be too, but he just went intangible and slipped to the other side of the room. Why? It wasn’t a frosting accident or anything. No, they just decided to shoot frosting at each other for about three minutes. 

  The cub waited for his dad to cut the cake and then yelled, “I WANT THE ONE WITH MOST FROSTING!” at the top of his lungs. The shadow covered his ears at the loud noise and placed the most frosted one on a plate.

  Just as Xiao-Xiao went to reach for it though, the monkey batted his hand away. “Not before you shower, Little Sky.” The youngling pouted and gave the older his best puppy dog eyes. “No. Showers are two doors down on your right. You should probably use the toilet while you’re there.” 

  Xiaotian gave a dumbfounded expression. “Why’s there more than one?” He asked with his pout still firmly in place.

  “You haven’t noticed yet?” The shadow started. “This place used to be a dojo. A good one at that. I always watched the younglings train here from the shadows. But, then, someone decided to sue the owners because her son got hurt while training. Really manipulative b-ecause she convinced the other parents that they should also be upset. Managed to get the place shut down.” He was happy that he caught himself there. His son did not need to know the word bitch.

  He looked back at his son and saw the most aghast face. “What!? She must’ve been such a meanie!” The kid yelled with full seriousness and puffed out his cheeks, before seemingly realizing something and asking, “Wait, does that mean you can train me?! Please, Shadow Dad! I wanna be cool and strong like the Monkey King!”

  The monkey was a little upset by the implied praise of Wukong, but he let it slide. He knew the child looked up to that bastard, no matter how much he wanted to convince him otherwise. That would only hurt his cub. He had to hold off until he was older. “Hmm.. Maybe. But only if you shower before having your cake.” He claimed, only trying to convince his son to care about his hygiene. “I can wash one of the old uniforms in the back for ya.” 

  The offer of fresh clothes seemed to stop the boy’s actually considering it face and light his eyes back to their full shine. He nodded rapidly and dashed off down the hall, startling the older with his speed, but causing a laugh moments later. The shadow monkey walked to the old laundry room and grabbed a uniform, before carrying it to the wash tub to clean. Yes, they had washing machines, but it was only one uniform. A black and red outfit with golden thread for the stitching. 

  He started to scrub away at the uniform. If he was being honest, he didn’t care what level the belt was for, he just chose one he thought would look nice on his youngling. He heard the water shut off in the shower room and then muffled his hearing when he heard the toilet seat open. He held the clothes with a few shadows once they were clean and portaled the hairdryer to him so he could dry them off.

  They were all nice and dry by the time his son yelled into the portal. “Shadow Dad! I need clothes!” 

  You need a whole new wardrobe, kid. The monkey thought, bitterly, before replying, “Yup! I’ll be up in a minute!” He yelled, putting the hair dryer back and handing the uniform through the portal. His son grabbed it from him, allowing him to pull his hand back through, shut the portal, and unmuffled his hearing. That little boy brought so much light into the shadow’s life and he honestly wanted to thank him for it; He wanted to thank him for every time he played with him during recess, every time he ate what he’d made with a grin, and every time those eyes lit up with excitement after training with his lantern.

  He made it to the door of the shower room and stood there waiting for his Little Sky to get out. He cherished every one of those memories, no matter how insignificant they may seem. “Shadow Dad!” Xiaotian called as he dashed out of the room with a grin. He looked so happy, and so much better. The boy had been wearing those torn up rags for so long, and even with the grooming his hair looked unkempt.

  Now though, as he stood there with shining eyes and massive smile in a freshly cleaned uniform and headband that flowed in windless air, he looked… safe. A large amount of pleased garbles sounded from the older as he watched his son bounce with excitement. “Looking great, Xiao-Xiao!” The creature praised, happy with his son’s outfit change. 

  Those eyes had so much life in them as he dashed past, calling for his dad to, “Come on! I wanna start training!” with so much light it was a shock to the shadow he wasn’t forced into the darkness by it. 

  The older chuckled as he followed behind, having so much joy his smile forced him to squint. Then he heard a thud up ahead and ran over, worry replacing his joy. “Xiao-Xiao?! Are you okay?!” He made his way to his son’s side quickly, seeing him sit up and hold his head. 

  “Ow. Yeah! Just tripped over my own feet again!” The youngling reassured, causing his father to exhale in relief. This actually did happen a lot, but only when the boy wasn’t climbing, which was hilarious to the shadow. The boy often seemed more like a monkey than a human. 

  He trips over his own feet more often than I used to trip over my tail! The older chuckled at the memory. He helped his son to his feet and led him to the training room, pulling his lantern out once they were there, then grabbing the younger’s through a portal. “Alrighty, Little Sky. We’ll start with a few basic stances.” The monkey stated as he tossed the cub his lantern. The younger nodded with a determined expression, allowing his dad to begin the lesson. 

  The shadow instructed his son on every stance, though the kid started getting antsy. When were they gonna start the real training? Xiaotian wanted to learn the other things! Like, the fighting stuff! He wanted to be cool and strong, like the Monkey King! "Shadow Dad; when are we gonna do the fighting stuff?" He whined, getting really bored. "I wanna do the cool stuff!"

  His dad laughed and said, "I was waiting for you to ask that. I'm not fighting an eight year old properly, so instead, I'll train you with blocking." before walking over to a storage rack on the wall and grabbing the arm guard off of it.

  His son followed him and looked at the staffs with awe. "Can you teach me with one of those?" He said with a grin as he pointed.

  "Sorry, kiddo. Hand to hand first. But after, sure." The shadow hadded his son the padded armbands and walked over to the training area. He stood with his back to his son until the arm guards were on, watching over his shoulder to know the moment his cub was done. 

  Xiaotian couldn’t get a word in before a punch was thrown and he had to lift his arms to block. "AH!" He screamed before his father sent another punch for him to block. The older was being soft and relatively slow with his hits so his youngling could get used to it. Slowly the kid started calming down, blocking each hit perfectly as his face shifted to a grin. The two practiced for about twenty minutes before stopping to take a break and drink some water. 

  The monkey decided it was a good time to explain his "five rules of battle" to his son, so as they finished their water bottles, he started the verbal lesson. "Now, kid.. I have five rules you're gonna have to know. They aren't rules everyone knows, but they might save your life someday, okay?" Xiaotian seemed nervous about that statement, but he still nodded, hoping it wouldn't be that scary. "Rule one: If your opponent is monologuing, don't let them talk. Take that moment and strike." Shadow Dad began, using his lantern to make examples. His cub cuddled up next to him and watched intently, not wanting to miss any of it.

  "Rule two: Strike fast, and often. The faster you move, the less chance they have to get a read on you." The older stated, petting his son's hair to keep him calm. 

  "Rule three: Never explain yourself. Pretty much inverted rule one. Anyone smart would take that moment to strike you down." The kid held on tighter, seeing the visual of someone hitting the other person, and knocking the other to the ground. His dad held him as well and shushed him. "Shhh… don't worry. If you're lucky, you won't run into anyone who would ever dream of hurting you. But if you want to learn to fight, you need to know how to last. No matter what, I'll make sure you're safe. As long as I'm here, you'll be okay."

  "Rule four: Strike hard. If your first strike is your last strike, they can't get a strike on you, which means you can walk away with barely a scratch." The monkey said with a smile as he held his son close in his lap.

  "Like how Monkey King always wins without getting hit?" The youngling smiled nervously. 

  "Well, he didn’t always finish without getting hit," Shadow Dad mumbled. He would’ve been more upset if it weren't for the fact his son was clearly trying to cope. "but if you like that comparison, I guess I can't stop ya."

  "Rule five: Get in, get out in as little time as possible. I know that being stubborn can be tempting, but if you see things shift so they aren't going your way, you need to get away as quickly as possible." The final rule had the cub looking determined as he nodded. 

  "I wanna help people… but I'll keep that in mind." The youngling leaned against the other.

  "Good. You're really a good kid, Little Sky. Wanna go actually eat the cake now?" Shadow Dad asked, he and his son shared the, 'I forgot' look, and then got up to go get food. The shadow made sure to take the arm guards off his cub first though. Those would’ve gotten uncomfortable fast. 

  After the cake, the monkey groomed his son until he fell asleep and brought him back to his home. He tucked him in and kissed him on the forehead with a muttered, "Goodnight" . He hated the thought, but he had a feeling his son was gonna need those skills. He took a shaky inhale and slipped away. No matter what was gonna try to hurt Xiao-Xiao, the shadow would never let them do it. 

  And if they managed to get past him, he would make sure they knew exactly what it means to die.

—☆—

BTW, I drew Xiao-Xiao in his training uniform.

Here's the sketch:

And here's full color:

Hope you all enjoyed! Please tell me if you liked it, if you didn't; It would really help me out and as always,

Have fun, and happy scrolling!

Prev- Chapter 2 and Next- Chapter 4

[marythegizka]

Rules: Share 15 or fewer lines of dialogue from an OC, ideally lines that capture the character/personality/vibe of the OC. Bonus points for just using the dialogue without other details about the scene, but you're free to include those as well!

Thank you for the tag @mxanigel !!! 😊

1. “So, you’re not saying no. That’s a good start.”

2. “It doesn't matter anymore. Garevel is taking over. Vigil's Keep is better off without me.”

3. “I know. And I hate it. I hate that I couldn't do more. That after hours of healing, Anselme may still die before morning. That after everything we did, the darkspawn are still killing. I feel…” she looked down at her hands. “Powerless. I don’t like being powerless.”

4. “I meant it. It’s working. A bit.”

5. “I'm used to being watched. Never had much of a choice.”

6. “I thought you more than anyone would understand the cost of alienating the nobility.” It was a low blow, but it would help drive the point home. “The Wardens are too diminished to afford losing influence over something as petty as refusing to attend a ball. I’ll go.”

7. “And how would he pin it on her? What motive would he invent? ‘Angry that I conscripted Lord what’s-his-face, sixth in line to the throne and convicted murderer’? Please. I took a thorn out of her side.”

8. “You know, he was the first choice I made because I genuinely wanted to. The first oath no one forced me to take. Not the Wardens. Not the Templars. Not a friend in need. Me. You don’t know how freeing that feels.”

9. “Love? Love?! How can you still call me that? You’re giving up on me! They’ll lock me up in the Gallows, I’ll never see home again!”

10. "I know. And Clarel has refused to dispatch a team. I don't know what's up with her but I don't intend to stay idle while half the order goes mad."

11. “Please tell me you didn’t actually walk through one of those Fade-rifts.”

“I didn’t actually walk through one of those Fade-rifts.”

“Is that true?”

“No. Of course not. How else would I be here?"

12. “Half a mile north. If that is not high enough, nothing will be.” She paused, locking eyes with him. Surely this was madness. But madness had worked in the past. With luck, it would work again. “We’re going to the Black City.”

13. “You’ve got more in your hair, you know. Heck, you’ve got more everywhere."

14. "At this point, I wish I were. But no. Whoever was hiding there with you, they can come out." She steps in front of the crevice and gestures at the bloodied bandage around her arm. The blood smells wrong. Terribly, terribly wrong. "Provided they don't bite as hard as darkspawn." 

15. "Look, I promise I'm not judging. Maker knows I'd never go back to the Circle, myself. My point is, I've seen her fight, and you could sooner deny that you're breathing than deny she is a mage."

"Ha!"

The sound escapes his mouth before he can stop it.

Tagging (only if you want to, of course!): @illusivesoul,@dairine-bonnet, @moravel, @deedeemactir, @ambiguousrubbish

[empressofthesunwriter]

Yin and Yang: Book 1.15

Balance is a key aspect in the world, so why shouldn’t the Avatar have an opposite?

In a world where Raava and Vaatu merge with humans, the Avatar and the Daimon try to keep the peace between the four nations.

Aang and Hua are the current incarnations, but wake up 100 years in the future.

How will these two learn all four elements in one year and defeat the Fire Lord?

Book 1.15: Bato of the Water Tribe

Water. 

Earth. 

Fire. 

Air. 

Long ago, the four nations lived together in harmony. 

Then, everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked. 

Only the Avatar and Daimon, masters of all four elements, could stop them, but when the world needed them most, they vanished. 

A hundred years passed, and my brother and I discovered the new Avatar and Daimon, an airbender named Aang and an earthbender named Hua. 

And although his airbending and her earthbending skills are great they have a lot to learn before they’re ready to save anyone. 

But I believe Aang and Hua can save the world.

***

“Ah isn’t it nice? Just us four, Momo, Appa and Jaiyi, no stupid Mask-Dude around!”

“Sokka, you are so annoying! Blue is our friend! I’m a bit worried for him.”

“Katara, Blue said in his note that he had some things to do here, I’m sure he will be back.”

“I hope so, Aang.”

“I wonder what Blue has to do here. I mean, besides the water tribe ship from the fleet of your dad we found, here is nothing interesting.”

“Well, Hua, maybe Mask-Dude has to report to his evil boss about us! Telling him how gumble we are and will lead us straight in these hands!”

Annoyed Hua, Katara and Aang looked at Sokka, who was sitting, like them, around the campfire, acting like he knew why their friend had left.

This morning as they had found clues of a battle between the watertribe warriors of the South and firebenders, Blue had been with them. 

Then they had decided to camp tonight beside the ship.

That’s when Blue “said” he had some stuff do to around here, however he would soon rejoin them.

Only Sokka was happy that Blue was gone. 

All the others, especially Momo and Jaiyi, who Blue had always given some extra food, were sad. 

Blue hadn’t been long with them, yet, his quiet helpful presence was missed. 

Since he could now communicate with him, they also missed his opinions and snarky responses.

Suddenly a strange noise can be heard, its source originating from somewhere in the fog around them.

All jump up, benders in their bending positions and Sokka has his boomerang ready.

“Who's there?”, demands Sokka to know.

A man, hailing from the Water Tribe with white bandages wrapped around the upper left portion of his torso, stepped out of the shadows. 

He is surprised to see them.

“Sokka?”

The addressed one raised an eyebrow quizzically before he recognised the warrior.

“Bato!”

“Who?”, chorus Hua and Aang a bit confused.

However, no one seems to hear them as Katara also calls out the name of this Bato and she and Sokka run up in his arms. 

The three watertribe members hug each other tight.

“Sokka! Katara! It is so good to see you two. You've grown so much.”, tells them Bato moved.

How does he remember Hakoda children being so tiny and cute, and now? Now they were nearly adults.

Aang and Hua get a bit closer to the three, staying a respectful distance away.

Both bow in greeting.

“Hi, I'm Aang and this is Hua.”

“Nice meeting you.”

No one seems to listen to them, because Katara and Sokka ask where their father was and Bato tells them he and the other warriors are in Eastern Earth Kingdom now.

The Avatar and Daimon are a bit dumfound been ignored. Not even Katara or Sokka presented them to Bato.

Normally you introduce your friends to your…family? Was he their uncle?

Why wouldn’t anyone explain to them anything?

A gust of wind blows, causing them all to shiver.

Bato states that this is no place for a reunion and leads the siblings away.

Thankful Bato looks back at Aang and Hua and gestures for them to follow.

Oh, well good.

For a second both thought they had to stay here.

Aang takes Hua's hand and so they follow Bato and their friends to an abbey.

Appa with Momo and Jaiyi follow of course too.

“After I was wounded, your father carried me to this abbey. The sisters have cared for me ever since.”, explained Bato, before he spoke to a nun, who was the highest one. “Superior, these are Hakoda's children. They've been travelling with the Avatar and Daimon. I found them by my boat.”

“Young Avatar and Young Daimon, it gives me great joy to be in your presence. Welcome to our abbey.”, bows Mother Superior to them.

The two bow back and say together: “Thank you, it's truly an honour to be here.”

“If there's anything-”, begins Aang, but gets interrupted by Sokka: “What smells so good, Bato?”

“The sisters craft ointments and perfumes.”

“Perfume? Maybe we can dump some on Appa because he stinks so much. Am I right?”

Everyone is silent, and a single person coughs.

“You have your father's wit.”, deadpans Bato at Sokka.

The group moves to the hut in which Bato is staying, with a tent on the opposite side of the door being the bed chamber, a fire with cushions in the middle, and various pelts placed and hung everywhere.

“Bato, it looks like home!”, exclaims Katara happy.

“Everything's here, even the pelts!”, points Sokka out.

Aang who is holding Momo looks at the pelts in mild disgust. 

“Yeah, nothing's cosier than dead animal skins.”

“Aang!”, hisses Hua, flicking the back of his head. “This is part of watertribe culture, don’t disrespect it.”

“It was not my intention.”

“Really? Then keep your mouth shut about these things.”

Offended Aang looks at her, though Hua just stares him down.

Their little squabble gets interrupted as Katar and Sokka find a pot of stewed sea prunes cooking over the fire.

Bato tells them all to help themselves.

Aang sniffs it but looks away in disgust and sets it to the side, while Hua at least takes a taste.

Meh, she has eaten worse things.

And food, was food when you grew up in poverty.

So she keeps on eating, which earns her a flabbergasted look from Aang.

How can she stomach this?!

“Bato, is it true that you and dad lassoed an arctic hippo?”, asked Katara, happily eating her own stewed sea prunes.

“It was your father's idea, he just dragged me along. Well, the hippo did the dragging!”

Aang wants to join the conversation, but sadly Sokka cuts him off.

“So, who was it that came up with the Great Blubber Fiasco?”

“You knew about that?”, chuckles Bato.

“Everyone does!”, tells Katara.

“What's that story?”, asks Aang curious.

Sokka waves Aang off.

“It's a long one Aang, some other time.”

This makes the Avatar pout, while the Daimon softly hits with her elbow in his side to cheer him up.

Katara and Sokka were just so happy to see an adult from their tribe, it was normal how they didn’t give them any attention.

Aang gives her a little smile, then stands up to loo around the room more.

Hua shrugs her shoulder and gets herself and Jaiyi another bowl.

You get used to this salty, slimy taste.

“You and Dad had so many hilarious adventures.”, said Katara right now to Bato.

“Not all of which were hilarious at the time, but everything's funny in hindsight.”, then Bato sees how Aang was wearing a pelt hat. “Hey, Aang! Please put that down, it's ceremonial and very fragile.”

Aang does as he is told and then sits in the back of the room.

He wasn’t having much fun right now. How Hua could just listen and eat these nasty stewed sea prunes was beyond him.

Well, the answer was simple.

Hua would do anything to see someone again who remembers her family and share stories with them.

Katara and Sokka deserved this space with Bato because she was so sad she would never get it.

So she ate the food and was silent observing one hilarious story after another.

A bit later Hua was playing with Jaiyi, as she heard how Bato told Katara and Sokka, how he was waiting for a message from their father and that they could see him again.

Something cold and terrible took place in her heart as she saw the excitement of Katara and Sokka.

A part of her wanted to speak up, to beg them not to leave her and Aang, yet a bigger part understood.

She understood it so well.

She would give anything to see her family alive and well again.

So she fought off her tears, but she didn’t need to cry.

Katara and Sokka told Bato clearly that they would love to see their father, but Hua and Aang were more important right now.

This was the moment when Hua let out a happy cry, all the attention turning to her.

“Oh Hua.”, cooed Katara and embraced her. “We won’t leave you, you are family too, remember.”

She just hiccuped and hugged Katara back tighter.

Even Sokka patted her head.

“Now, now, Hua, it’s okay. We won’t leave you.”

“I love you guys.”, she just told them.

Her family might be long dead, but she had a new family.

It was little.

It was a bit crazy.

But it was good.

No one noted how Aang was missing and what a decision he currently took.

***

The next day the kids and Bato walked back down to his ship.

“This ship is sentimental to me. It was built by my father.”, explains the man.

“Is this the boat he took you ice dodging in?”, asks Sokka.

“Yep! It's got the scar to prove it. Ha. How 'bout you Sokka? You must have some good stories from your first time ice dodging.”

Suddenly Sokka looks really sad.

“He never got to go.”, explained Katara. “Dad left before he was old enough.”

“Oh, I forgot you were too young.”

“What's ice dodging?”, wonder Aang and Hua.

“It's a rite of passage for young Water Tribe members. When you turn fourteen, your dad takes you-”, Bato stops. He smiles and puts his hand on Sokka's shoulder with a new thought. “You know what, you're about to find out!”

Soon they find themselves on Bato ship, sailing along the shore. 

“Ice dodging is a ceremonial test of wisdom, bravery, foresight and trust.”, begins Bato. “In our village, ice dodging was done by weaving a boat through a field of icebergs.”

“How are we supposed to ice dodge without ice?”, wonders Sokka.

“You'll be dodging those.”

The watertribe man points to a group of tall, sharp, jagged rocks near the shore. 

Katara, Hua and Sokka get nervous.

If they weren’t careful, they would end up on the rocks, with severely broken bones.

“Sokka, you steer and call the shots, lead wisely. Katara, you secure the main sail. The winds can be brutal, so be brave. Hua, you are on the bow, look out for danger. Without your judgment, we risk getting more than hurt. Aang, you control the jib. Without your steady hand, we all go down. Your position is about trust.”

Somehow this offends Aang since he babbles: “I know that. Why wouldn't I know that? I'm the Avatar; I know about trust!”

He crosses his arms and looks away, but gives Bato a second glance.

“For this is to be done right, I cannot help.”, tells them Bato and sits down cross-legged. “You pass or fail on your own.”

“Alright let’s do this! Hua, what’s your opinion?”, asked Sokka.

“These rocks seem manageable, we need a steady hand, captain.”, she calls over.

“I agree. Aang, ease up on the jib. Katara, steady. Aang, less sail. Katara, give him room.”

The ship moves to the side and sails between some rocks.

“Captain Sokka, more rocks on the left!”

“Aang, helm to lee. Helm to lee!”

“What does that even mean?”

The waves knock Bato around. Sokka and Hua struggle while Katara and Aang close their eyes. However, the boat passes between more rocks.

“Great job!”, praise Sokka.

Katara and Aang smile, as Hua calls out frantically: “Captain, a large group of rocks, is before us. We better turn around!”

“There's no way through!”, agrees Katara.

“We can make it.”, insists Sokka.

Bato stands up and grabs the side of the boat. “Sokka, you've already proven yourself. Maybe we should-”

The water tribe boy doesn’t listen and gives new commands: “Aang, I'm gonna need air in that sail. Katara and Hua, I want you guys to bend as much water as you can between us and those rocks. Now!”

Katara and Hua bend the water below the boat while Aang fires airbending blasts at the sail. 

Sokka groans nervously as the boat clears the rocks. 

When they reach clear water, Sokka sighs and relaxes. 

The rest of the group smiles at him.

Back on land, the kids stand in line before Bato, who holds a small cup of purple paint.

“The spirits of water bear witness to these marks. For Sokka, the Mark of the Wise.” Bato uses his thumb to put an arc and a small dot on Sokka's forehead. “The same mark your father earned. For Katara, the Mark of the Brave. Your courage inspires us. For Hua the Mark of Foresight.”

He paints a circle with a little dot on her forehead. “You are now an honorary member of the Water Tribe.”

Hua has to fight the tears as she bows down in thanks.

“I’m honoured to be part of the Watertribe.”

“And for Aang, the Mark of the Trusted. You are also now an honorary member of the Water Tribe.”

It’s like a slap in the face for him. 

Aang can’t accept this honour. 

Not after what he did.

“I can't.”, he mutters.

“Of course, you can!”, disagrees Katara.

However, Aang steps a few feet away and wipes away his mark.

“No, you can't trust me.”

“Aang, what are you talking about?”

He takes the crumpled map out of his sleeve.

“A messenger gave this to me for Bato.”

Katara takes it from him.

“You have to understand. I was afraid you would-”

“This is the map to our father! You had it the whole time? How could you?”, shouts Sokka. “I’m so sorry Hua, but I won’t go to the North Pole with a liar. I'm going to find Dad.”

“Now, Sokka. I think you should-”, tries Bato, but gets interrupted by Sokka: “Katara, are you with me?”

The waterbender looks at the two youngest, Aang full of guilt and Hua who shakes her head, mumbling, please over and over.

“I'm with you Sokka.”

Sokka, Katara, and Bato walk away and that’s when Hua turns to Aang full of anger.

“What did you do?!”, she screeched. “Why did you do it?! Katara and Sokka never wanted to leave us!”

“But they said yesterday-”

“If you had stayed to listen, then you would have heard how they promised to stay with us since we are also their family, but now…”

Hua lets out a loud wail and sinks down on the sand. Aang looks full of guilt and anguish at her.

“I already lost my family, I lost Monk Gyatsu and now Katara and Sokka!”, she whimpered, fat tears rolling down her eyes. “Why do all the people that I love leave me? Why?!”

Aang sinks down too and embraces her tight, first Hua fights him off, she is still angry, but then she cries into his robes.

They only have each other now.

“I’m so sorry Hua.”, Aang cries too. “I was stupid and hurt and desperate, I really thought Sokka and Katara would leave us because they ignored us for Bato.”

“Aang, they saw a friend of their father! Of course, they wanted to catch up. I would have done the same if I met someone who remember my family! Stupid idiot.”

“Yes, I deserve this.”

They stay for a while like this.

Hua hurls insults and cries at Aang's robes and he agrees with her and promises to do better.

***

Later the groups get ready to depart.

How strange to think of them as groups and not anymore as Team Avatar-Daimon.

Hua was sitting on Appa's saddle with Jaiyi in her arms, trying to console her crying ninetails.

Jaiyi understood that Sokka and Katara would leave them and hated it.

Aang was with Momo on Appa's head, watching how Katara got ready with Bato and Sokka.

Then the watertribe girl stepped on them.

“Good luck.”, she wishes them.

“Okay. You too.”, answer her Aang.

Hua and Jaiyi stare at Katara with big eyes, tears glistering in them and the older girl has to fight of her own, as she joins Sokka and Bato at the abbey gate.

Mother Superior, in front of Appa, stares at Aang.

“Guess we should be moving on.”

“That would be best.”, then she turns to Hua and bows. “It was still an honour meeting you young Daimon.”

“Thanks. Let’s go Aang.”

“Let’s.”

Appa walks out of the abbey and Aang notices three figures walk away in the distance.

“I'm really an idiot, Hua.”

“Yeah, I told you this only 100000 times today.”

“What should we do next?”

“Wait for Blue? He should be back soon.”

“Hopeful he won’t leave us either.”

With this, they walk into the forest.

A few minutes later they hear someone approaching.

It’s Blue!

Happy they call out his name.

Their friend is wearing clean black robes with a hood, his mask still in place, his trusty swords and a bag slung over his shoulder.

“Where you shopping?”, asks Hua as she helps him up the saddle.

After he sits down he writes his answer and Hua reads it aloud so Aang hears it too: “Something similar. Where are Sokka and Katara?”

So they tell him what happened.

“That’s rough, buddy. I’m sorry. I won’t leave you, I promise.”

“Thanks, Blue.”, chorus Hua and Aang together.

Zuko can’t believe his luck.

Katara and Sokka left them!

He could now under false claims steere now Aang and Hua to his ship!

Ha!

And his uncle had thought him crazy when he had been back on the ship to get his things.

How his plan could never work.

But look at it now!

Sadly the universe was against Zuko because they heard the shouts of Sokka and Katara.

They all turn around and see the water tribe siblings running up to them.

“Katara, Sokka!”, yells Hua and Jaiyi yips happily. “What are you doing here?!”

“Well, what do you think? We're getting you guys to the North Pole.”, smiles Katara.

“Yeah, we've lost too much time as it is.”, agrees Sokka.

Stupified Aang and Hua look at them, while Zuko inside cries out in anger.

He was so close!

“Don't you want to see your father?”, wonder Aang and Hua.

“Of course we do, Aang and Hua. But, you're our family, too. And right now, you need us more.”, reminds them Sokka.

“And we need you, guys.”, adds Katara.

No one can watch this fast as Hua jumps down from the saddle and hugs ugly crying Katara and Sokka.

“Never leave us again! I can’t lose another family.”

Katara hugs her back just as tight, giving her cheek kisses and Sokka pats her head.

“There, there Hua.”

That’s when he notes Blue on the saddle.

“Oh awesome, Mask-Dude is back?!”, he groans.

In his head, Zuko isn’t thrilled either seeing them again, but he waves in the hope that it seems welcome and friendly.

After Hua calms down enough, all go back on the saddle and they fly in the direction of the North Pole.

Previous

Next

[rafent]

With excitement not matching the defeat she had witnessed, Alear stepped inside the medical tent. Although she had already seen his fall on the 'battlefield' mismatched eyes had their sights set on a Fell Dragon, a visit to cheer on him despite no longer taking place in the competition.

"Rafal!" Divinity chirped as she cut their distance short. From a distance she could only see when a blow landed or seemed to, but the bandages on him said enough of the possible ache they caused.

Still, she wasn't here to remind him of bruises gained.

"Seeing you fight was exciting, i couldn't help but cheer for you." She admitted. Although he was a Black Eagle she cheered for him all the same, her house winning would of course be great but she preferred supporting her friends first. Clapping as if to tell she was proud of him, Alear kept on her rambles. "You did great! Next time i'm sure you will win and i will keep on cheering for you."

There was something she wanted to ask him, although it was simple the question was an important one.

"But i'm curious. Did you enjoy yourself?"

The Fell Heir's first showing on this field had been disastrous; an utter debacle in the eyes of anyone to honor it with attention, but particularly to Rafal himself. He brooded and paced, repelling the healers with or without intention, like approaching the dragon were no less than prodding a panther impounded in a cage. Dark eyes fended off every individual save for the impervious Divine One, proven time and time again to care little for the appearances Rafal put on display. Or, in this case, truly meant.

A sharp heel turned on her, his expression remaining sour but lightening - a fact only barely perceptible. "Spare me the pleasantries, Divine One, there is no need to coat your words. This day has not seen me even remotely at my best." After all, for her brother's absence Nel would now face her opponents alone. She would advance to the higher tiers of this competition without him.

There was nothing so noteworthy about his comparative tenure out in the medical tents, in these chaste civilian hubs barren of conflict and glory. By such a turn of events he had honored neither his twin nor himself, marking the outcome unsatisfactory on two fronts. Even so, Rafal knew he could burn brighter; Rafal could show himself stronger; he was capable of more.

One hand solidified into a fist before his swollen face, a bruised and battered countenance somewhat paled of its usual intimidating mien; the menacing baritone, however, was all but perfectly preserved. "Next time, I will excise any trace of this year's failure. Anyone who stands as my foe shall be crushed without mercy."

Lost in his triumphal thoughts of conviction and blood lust and yearning, her sudden inquiry inserted a pause between them. Did he enjoy it? What a simple question matched with an even simpler answer. Others may attempt to paint over their process of thought with delusions, finding value in valueless things through puerile veneers that dressed up reality; those spelling false enjoyment in defeat on the basis of teamwork and bonds forged.

Rafal in reflection over his various injuries spoke his opinion in an instant. "Are you out of your mind? No," he deadpanned immediately. In one stead, the return of his brutal honesty; in another, he was not Griss.

[blubushie]

any bush stories you’d be interested in sharing?? Definitely not taking notes and using those said notes to help me better write sniper cough cough,, also genuinely interested!! Grew up in north-west wilderness and whatnot, would love to hear about what it’s like down in Australia!

I am genuinely honoured you're using me as inspiration! Here's some stories from Australia:

I've seen UFOs and other unexplainable lights multiple times.

Once when I was out in the bush I had a yahoo (basically Australian sasquatch) walk up to my camp. Scared me shitless, I screamed like a little girl, and then I threw the yam I was eating at him. He picked it up and walked off back into the bush. That happened almost three years ago and I'm not sure if my meat had gone bad and I was hallucinating but I told my Aboriginal mate about it and he just said I'm lucky the fucker didn't eat me because "They don't care for white fellas much."

Heard singing voices in an abandoned gold mine I was exploring like a dumb cunt. I ran out screaming when I heard a loud bang deeper in the mine.

Saw a bloke watching me from a window at Gwalia, which is an abandoned town with no residents (they all moved to nearby Leonora when the gold mine in Gwalia ran dry). I entered the home and no one was in there. Scared me shitless.

Once while camping near Uluru I had a young Aboriginal bloke (couldn't have been older than 16) walk up to me wearing nothing but a fucking loincloth in 4c weather. Keep in mind Uluru is fucking flat, there's no way this kid could have snuck up on me from 5 clicks away without me seeing him in the middle of the fucking night. He said he was from Anapala in South Aus (it hasn't been called Anapala since the 1970s when it was renamed Pukatja) and he had a Pitjantjatjara accent. He also had ritual scars on his arms which suggested he was a little older than he said he was. He said he hadn't eaten in a few days so I shared my rabbit with him. I let him sleep in my swag and when I woke up in the morning he was gone. No tracks, nothing. Disappeared into thin air. Absolutely convinced I met a fucking ghost.

Thought I was going to be eaten by a dropbear once. It was a flying fox. Still feel like an idiot for that one.

Found the tracks of a large cat (puma-sized, as wide as my palm) alongside a streambed in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney. They were fresh tracks since it rained a day earlier. I felt like I was being watched and got the fuck out of there.

I was chased 10km through Boulia by the Min Min Lights. I'm driving down the highway and there's these fucking lights behind me, I floor it because I think it's the cops, they keep following, Matilda's engine starts smoking so I pull over because I'm not going to blow my van's engine. Finally I pull over and the lights are just hovering about three metres off the ground, these fiery orbs. Scared me half to death and I got back in Matilda and kept driving. Eventually the lights just fizzled out and disappeared. I've only been back to Boulia once and I was on guard the entire time.

Once was surrounded by a pack of dingos (4-5 individuals) for an entire night. I had my rifle across my lap and my knife ready. Didn't get a wink of sleep. It's terrifying when you're the prey for once.

Had to bandage my arm with the rag I use for wiping down my rifle because a blackheaded python slithered into my engine in WA and snapped onto my arm when I tried lugging it out in the morning. I've since gotten a new rag for the rifle.

Woke up one morning to Misty going off like a frog in a sock. Turns out I had a bandy-bandy in me fucking swag. That was fun trying to get it out (bandy-bandys are elapids related to cobras, but their small fangs and low venom output means they're one of Australia's least deadly venomous snakes).

Stepped on an eastern brown while hunting in QLD. Leather boots saved me life. The fact I don't take Misty with me when I hunt saved hers.

Back in January I fell out of a tree while hunting, landing on my back, and pissed blood for a week. Figured I'd either be fine or lose a kidney. Honestly I've fallen out of trees more times than I can count. Eucalyptus doesn't hold weight very well.

Two years or so ago I was bitten by a metre-long saltwater crocodile while helping biologists do a survey in Kakadu. I've still got the scars on my left arm from where the cunt grabbed me. Little shit.

Got me foot stomped by a cow while helping a mate muster cattle.

Watched Polly up in Daly Waters kick a cunt once during a pub brawl that made it outside.

Had my hat chewed on by Blackface at that same pub. The hat escaped unscathed.

Once got into a tug-a-war over a pig I shot with a fucking perentie. Took me twenty minutes to trek up to where the pig was and when I got there the fucking perentie had its head buried up to its shoulders in the bloody carcass. The perentie didn't bite me but Lord knows it tried.

Burned my chest when a spent casing ejected and landed in my fucking shirt. I'm left-handed and shoot left-handed. My rifle is impossible to find with a left-handed bolt, so the casings eject across my body instead of away from me, and it landed in my shirt. I now wear undershirts when I work because that shit hurt. Thankfully it didn't leave a scar.

Nicked my wrist on the broadhead of an arrow once by accident.

Before I got my boots I had a piece of razor wire wedge itself into my shoe and slit my ankle open. It got infected, of course. Cleaned it with whisky and spent the next five minutes swearing a blue streak. It healed but I've got a scar.

Stung by a jellyfish on my hand when I was a kid. Did it again on my foot a few years ago. Luckily no scars, just felt like a massive bee sting.

Every time I hit a bump while driving I have some dust come down from the roof from a few years ago when I accidentally left a window cracked during a dust storm.

Was in WA when it snowed in 2021 during the night. Went to bed freezing and woke up to a white blanket.

Was tackled by a kangaroo while hunting once.

Got my name because I was a dumb cunt and went bushwalking and didn't bring enough water. I was dying of dehydration and living off nothing but bugs and my own piss for two days. Finally found a pond of the clearest water you'd ever see. Drank probably 3 litres, refilled my canteens. Had complete ego death and I walked out of the bush as a new person with a new name.

Once in the middle of the night up in Kakadu I was just sitting at my campfire as blokes do, it was foggy as shit, and out of the fog walks the most beautiful horse I've ever seen. This bastard was snow white with the prettiest brown eyes. He walks up to my fire, snorts, sniffs around at my tuckerbag, looks at me, and then just walks off back into the fog. Brumbies are fucking skittish so it was a magical moment.

Had a kookaburra steal a piece of jerky right out of my hand.

Dingos. So many dingos. Once shot a dingo in NSW—terrible shot on my part, I still feel terrible for it. The wind was higher than I would've liked and the bullet ended up too far back so it wasn't an immediate kill. His mates came over to check out the row and I watched through my scope as they started ripping him apart. I put another bullet in him because nothing deserves that. The second shot didn't miss.

Been in more pubfights than I can count. I don't start them.

Stepped on a kangaroo eyeball once by accident. Scrub your boots when you're done hunting because nothing will get the smell of summer-baked kangaroo brains out of your house.

Once killed two roos with one bullet.

CALIFORNIA: When I was eight years old my dad and I were hunting in NorCal and it'd rained the night before. We came across a streambed (keep in mind this was -2c weather) with footprints in it. These footprints were massive, about 40cm from heel to toe and wide as sin. They were accompanied by much smaller footprints about half that length. There's no way in hell someone with 40cm feet would be out there in -6c weather WITH A CHILD walking BAREFOOT through freezing water 8km from the nearest road between the time it rained (which would've washed away any prints) and sunrise. Dad and I found them at sunrise. Both of us are convinced we found fucking bigfoot footprints.

CALIFORNIA: Was stalked by a mountain lion for 1.5km.

[dearestspirit]

haikus

-> kazuha x gn!reader

-> fluff

-> wc: 1767

-> note: kazuha my beloved <3 set around when kazuha first boards the alcor and becomes part of the crux

it was a rowdy night on the alcor, a new crewmate being welcomed to the crux. despite the crew's overall ruckus, the man has yet to say a single word to anyone on board. so far, he gestured only using his hands. beidou had taken him in as a refugee, citing the situation in inazuma as the cause. news of the sakoku decree had spread faintly outside of the region, as did the vision hunt decree. it wasn't a surprise the newcomer hadn't said a word, for one could only guess what he had been through. whispers circulated quickly throughout the ship upon his arrival, rumoring where he possibly could have come from. questions were asked that likely wouldn't be answered any time soon. even with his silence, he was incredibly helpful around the ship. he cleaned, took care of storage, taking on whatever duty he could. still, not a peep from him. no matter what you questioned him about, there was nothing. he just continued to work until it was time to eat and sleep, retiring to his quarters. until juza simply… asks.

"inazuma boy. what are we supposed to call you if we don't know your name?"

"my name is kaedehara kazuha. as i'm in your debt for taking me in on your ship, you may call me kazuha." his voice is gentle, breathtaking even.

from there, he slowly blossoms into a real shipmate of yours. he tells tales of his travels, opening up about how he had been a wandering samurai, not liking to stay in one place for too long. he tells of his sword, the great mark of pride he always wears. how he sees poetry in all nature– the sixth sense he had been gifted. the signs of storms and earthquakes all nestled into his mind at even just a whisper of the wind. it was beautiful, the way he weaves his stories and haikus effortlessly (despite him claiming to not have much talent at it). to him, even a simple leaf could be used to create. he shows this, whistling into a stray leaf, the tune of music soft and delightful.

he's mesmerizing. it makes you wonder, if he can hear all the secrets of the earth, surely he must hear the way your heart beats at his anecdotes? with kazuha comes a great sense of longing, one that you hadn't known until he came. he gestures with his hands as he tells about true freedom. how without the burden of wealth he could traverse across the whole of inazuma, settling on warm rocks in the sunlight. even more, he spins a story about the playful tricks of bake-danuki he had come across, light shining in his eyes as he recalls them.

more nights pass, and you find yourself awake, staring at the ceiling of your quarters. the ship rocks gently, the sound of waves lapping at wood bringing a sense of peace. regardless, you find yourself restless, stepping out of bed. perhaps the stars could keep you company for the night, you thought. you make your way up to the deck, looking up to see xu liushi up in the crow's nest. shaking your head, you make not to tell beidou of his refusal to sleep– though, she'd likely wonder why you were awake to notice in the first place– and head over to the side of the ship, leaning over the railing. the breeze blows through the air, the scent of seawater tickling your nose. in the sky, the stars shine exceptionally bright, a pleasure to see.

"you're awake quite late, aren't you?" a voice comes from behind you, startling you. "may i inquire why?"

"oh, it's you, kazuha," you feel the panic start to slip away. "i was just having a bit of trouble sleeping. no cause for concern, surely."

"i see," his bandaged hand comes to rest on his chin, seemingly lost in thought. "i must confess that the same has happened to me. shall we keep each other company?"

"i'd really like that." you smile, remembering back when kazuha had trouble opening up to the rest of the crew. he had come a far way from that.

"you know, i don't know too much about you… (name), was it?" he asks.

you nod at the name he calls you. "anything you’d like to know? i'll answer."

"where are you from? you're not from inazuma, yet you don't treat liyue like home whenever we are docked there." he's quite observant, you notice.

"i'm actually from (region)," you look over at him. "however, if i'm being honest, i never quite liked it there too much. i figured the kind of life i wanted was something more like this! on a ship, where i can really see the world and what it has to offer. i got what i needed from (region) and left as soon as i could."

"so you prefer the sense of freedom rather than the sense of home?" kazuha ponders. "is that a correct assumption to make?"

"i suppose so," you shrug. "i never noticed how much i desired independence until you showed up, telling us all your fanciful stories of your travels."

"then it must be fate that i arrived on this ship, no?" he jests, a smile on his face as he bumps his side into yours playfully.

"you joke, kazuha, but i think you're right in a way. you've helped me make some realizations about my life that i hadn't before. one day, when i retire from my work here, i want to see more of the world." you stare up at the stars, feeling a sense of yearning for those days. "you haven't talked much of inazuma. why's that?"

he sighs, hand coming up to hold the rail. "inazuma… makes me feel lonely to think about. i have lost many things to that place, and i wish to maintain my sense of self. i've thought about returning, but for now… this is enough for me." one of his hands goes up to his chest, clutching at the cloth of his haori.

you nod along solemnly. "i'm sorry to hear that," you tentatively place a hand on his shoulder, giving a gentle squeeze. "though, it's interesting to hear your perspective. i feel similarly. while we may have our pasts to work through, we have the present to bask in as well, don't we? the future is ours to mold into what we desire, not what our countries desire. whatever you may have lost, you have just as much to gain. maybe it won't be long before we find what fate's leading us towards."

"how poetic," he shakes his head, the sober look on his face fading into a pleasant calm. "have you ever written haikus?"

"not any good ones, i'm sure." you laugh, hand falling off his shoulder and back to your side.

"hm," he hums, trying to figure out how to word his next sentence. "would you be interested in going back to my quarters to write some?"

"oh, i shouldn't take up more of your time than i already have," you mumble, eyes wide and face warm. "we should both sleep, shouldn't we?"

"well, that is true that we should sleep…" he looks at me with a mischievous glance. "it doesn't mean we must."

"alright, i'll join you." it doesn't take much to convince you, interested in spending more time with him.

"even mountain's path, bleak and rocky to the eyes, has the heaven's clouds." he speaks out as you count syllables on your fingers. when you confirm, he dips his feather quill in ink and pens it down on paper. "your turn."

"um…" you mutter. "the kiss of maple, breeze on the lips of your love, sticks sweet in your heart?" your shoulders rise, feeling a hint of embarrassment.

he smiles, admiring you as he rests an elbow on the desk, chin in palm. "romantic," he says, once more dipping his quill in ink and writing your haiku down next to his. "i enjoyed it. you did well."

you go back and forth, creating pages upon pages of haikus. you barely notice the time passing, caught up in each other's company. eventually, you lay your head on the desk during a moment of silence, trying to come up with more words to use in your haikus. without realizing, you fall asleep, head in your arms.

the next morning, you awake to beidou hollering. kazuha, red faced next to her, stands unusually slouched and shy.

beidou's laughs roar throughout the ship, pointing at you. "oh man, (name) is in kazuha's quarters," it's as if a riot breaks out, loud footsteps hammering in your ears as the rest of the crew barrels in, still barely awake. "in his bed, even!"

she throws an arm around kazuha's shoulders, pulling him into her side and giving him a noogie on the top of his head. he flounders, trying to push himself out of her grasp. when he successfully does so, he manages to escort everyone else out of the room, walking back to you. groggily, you sit up, rubbing at your eyes as the sleepiness leaves you.

"i apologize deeply for that," he mutters, taking your hands in his. "i didn't mean for them to disturb you. you fell asleep earlier at my desk, and it would've been rude for me to disrupt your rest. so i brought you to my bed and then i happened to fall asleep at my desk… then beidou came barging in, as you're aware."

you laugh, not too worried about things. "that's just how the crew are, kazu," you see him flush a little at the nickname. "we're all a big family here, and that includes teasing each other. besides… it's not like i mind." you bring one of his hands up to your lips, pressing a kiss to the back of it.

he's shocked, glance lingering on the spot where you kissed his hand. "ah," he mumbles. "we… we must get to our duties," he gets up quickly, going to his desk and aimlessly shuffling around some papers, trying to make himself look busy. "i shall see you later tonight. i enjoyed your company last night, and…"

he hesitates for a moment, steps stuttering as he makes his way back over to you. he cradles your face in his palms, eyes briefly meeting yours as if to ask, 'is this okay?' when you nod, he gently plants a kiss onto your forehead.

"there," he smiles, chuckling a bit. "the kiss of maple, just like your haiku."

[theboxscreams]

Make up my wasted time (TF2 Sniper x Scout)

Wow, I haven't posted on here since 2020. Back then, I was cringe, and did a lot of weird shit on my old account that I am not proud of. But I'm here again, and a very new fan to TF2.

This fanfiction is originally posted to AO3 on my account.

Scout thought coming here, he could forget his father. But it didn't because he was here too. But.. At least he had Sniper to keep him company when things got tough with Spy.

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Scout hated it here. 

Well, not most of the time. But right now he did. 

He hated his father, hated him, hated him, hated him. 

He was barely there when he needed him the most. He was barely ever there for anything. Sure, maybe it’s because of his job. Which Scout understands now. But any father would have the gut to at least visit his family, give him a little support. A little something. 

He grew up with too many siblings. Too many fights and battles and rivalries, too many times left on the dirty sidewalk with dirt and grime from the street getting on his new cuts, gashes and scratches. Too much was spent wasting time, never fully living the childhood he wanted.

But when he ended up here, far from Boston Massachusetts he wondered if maybe he’d be able to make himself worthy. He wondered if cutting his ties with the family he had yet never known would make him a new person. He could forget about his dad here, and do cool stuff, blow everyone away and make his mark.

But he heard a familiar voice, he felt his hope to be a new person crash all away, when he learned his father was on his team. 

He didn’t know before he got here, and he sure as hell didn’t tell anyone about it. But when he met everyone either him or his dad said a word to anyone, or made it obvious that they knew each other at all. But when they were alone, he caught a brutal earful.

“What the hell are you doing in a place like this?!”

“Why didn’t you go to college? I told you mother I’d pay for it all!”

“I can’t believe you right now, you know how dangerous this job is?!”

Just like that, Spy was trying to be a father, when Scout didn’t see him as such since the day he turned thirteen and realized the cold, hard truth.

Spy never cared about him, so Scout didn’t care for him either.

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Scouts hands were shaky as he wrapped the white bandage on his scarred hands from constant fighting and battle as a kid and from current situations. Spy argued with him again, Scout didn’t understand why he had to keep bothering him.

Spy wanted to be a father again, but Scout didn’t want him to. He didn’t need him to, he didn’t see him as such anymore. And he was never going to call him dad, ever. 

“Jeremy, you need a second to listen to me.” Spy said, his eyes narrowed as he looked at the son he had failed for years. But Scout had a thick skull like a goat and it was hard to get through to him. 

“Don’t call me that, don’t- don’t call me that stupid name, pally! I’m not- I’m not Jeremy here. I’m Scout.” Scout spat, his name burning on his tongue like sulfuric acid. “Why do I gotta listen to you?! You’re my father anymore! You never were!”

Scout's words hit like a bullet in Spys chest, piercing his heart and ripping out the back and taking his feelings of happiness with it. “Jere- Scout.” he said, “I am your father and I always will be! You can’t take away blood unless you kill a man.” He took a step towards Scout. “I know I was a bad father, and I’m trying to make up for it!”

“Blah blah blah! Didja finally realize you were a whack job of a damn father the day you saw me walk into that damn room to meet everyone?! Or was the guilt always there?!” Scout yelled, pushing Spy away from him and moving away from him. 

“I just want to fix things.” 

“You had years to fix everything! YEARS!!!” Scout yelled, “But you never showed up, Spy. You never were there for me or anyone else! Ohhh but you called mom, didn’t ya? Your precious girl?!” He had tears in his eyes threatening to fall, but he held them back with all his might. “You never wanted to talk to any of us! You didn’t even show up to my damn graduation!” 

Spy stood silently, eyes locked on Scout. And Scout could tell that his face was distressed despite the mask that was covering most of it. 

“I know, I know I was never there but I’m just asking for a second chance with you, Scout. You know this job is dangerous and demanding, I’ve had this job way longer than you!” Spy argued, hoping that maybe this would break through that dense skull Scout had under his skin. 

But Scouts had a protective layer of trauma that didn’t want to let anyone in, especially Spy. Never Spy. 

“You wasted all your time.” Scout said, “Hey listen, if I had a son, and I had this job?” He put his hands up, “I- I would still be there for him, y’know? I’d- I’d make a phone call home every damn second I had! And I’d- I’d be there! I’d see him, I’d do anything to see him!” 

He went to the door, sniffling and rubbing the tears out of his eyes before they had a chance to waterfall down. He paused for a moment, a brutal silence filling the room and the atmosphere ever so slightly darkened. And Scout turned around, looking at the man one last time. 

“You’re just too much of a deadbeat loser to realize you failed as a parent.” 

And with that, he left the room, slamming the door behind him. 

Scout felt tears threaten to fall, and he clenched his teeth and rubbed his blurring eyes again. But he couldn’t focus anymore, it was hard to in conditions like this, knowing that Spy was anywhere in the building messed him up.

“Easy there, mate. If you wanna cry you should just do it.”

The sharp New Zealand accent voiced behind him, Sniper. 

Scout looked over, frowning before looking away. “Awh go away, Snipes. I don’t need ya to see me like this.” He said, wrapping the bandage around his hand quicker. 

Sniper instead, walked into the room and shut the door behind him. “I’ve seen you bloody and with a knife sticking out your chest, I think seeing you in tears is the last thing that you should be worrying about, kid.” He walked into the room, hearing Scout scoff. “I heard you and Spy.”

Scout choked a little, looking over at Sniper with wide eyes. No one knew Spy was his dad, they hadn’t told anyone. But people were bound to see the familiarity, and wonder why they hated each other so much. “Don’t tell anyone he’s my dad.” He said.

“Wasn’t gonna.” Sniper shrugged, sitting down next to Scout. “That was a rough one to listen to, though. But welp, I’m not surprised Spy is a terrible father, he seems like the type.” 

Scout couldn’t help but chuckle a little, moving onto his second hand. “Glad you noticed.” He said. He then sighed, “He was never there for me or any of my siblings as a kid, and I had a big family in a bad part of Boston.” 

Scout knew he could tell Sniper anything. Sniper was.. Good to him. Nice, and kind, and he gave good advice and good hugs. And he cuddled him too, a couple times. Many times. And snuck kisses when no ones looking. But the two of them weren’t dating, but they knew it’d happen. Just didn’t know when in the timeline of living it would happen.

But Sniper was a safe place, a home. His go to pal, someone he wouldn’t be too upset about spending the rest of time together. And he’s sure Sniper thought the same about him, too. 

“I guess he's just been here for all this time, if I knew I’d be on his team I’d wish to be BLU, but..” Scout sighed, “God.” 

“You wanna be able to kill him? I get that.” Sniper said, wrapping an arm around Scout. 

Scout nodded and finished with the bandage, and looked at his hands. “Got into a lot of fights as a kid, I learned to run away..” He sighed, “I never learned how to avoid a fight, something Spy should’ve been there to teach. But now he wants to be a dad again.” 

Sniper hummed, “You should try keeping communicating to Spy strictly to just.. When you gotta, mate.” He said, “That way maybe you’d feel more comfortable, I’m sure Spy’ll give up soon enough.”

“I guess but.. What if he never does?” Scout said, “And I have to deal with him for the rest of my damn life till the day he or I die.” 

“Well, you’re in your twenties, so you’ll probably be around longer than him. But listen, I’m confident after a while he’ll realize you don’t want anything to do with him, and he’ll just.. Leave you alone from then on.” Sniper said, “You just gotta be patient with it.”

Scout sighed, leaning against Sniper and closing his eyes. “I hope he does.” He said, sounding sort of aggravated. He crossed his arms, cuddling up next to Sniper and closing his eyes. “Thanks for not leaving, and actually deciding to sit here and talk to me..”

Sniper shrugged, “It’s what I’m here for, mate. If you ever need anything, I’ll be right here.” He said. He held himself back from saying something cheesy, knowing Scout was gonna switch up and start making fun of him for it. Which he did find charming, and kind of cute. But he didn’t want to ruin this sweet moment with his almost boyfriend. 

And Scout didn’t want to either. 

Because a minute spent with Sniper made up for the years spent without his father.

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Let me know if you'd like more. Sorry for any inaccuracies, I'm very new to the TF2 fandom.