#It’s kinda overwhelming to watch all this stuff not gonna lie

[zappedbyzabka]

[twstreverie]

sun and moon — 🌙 ☀️

sun/moon like s/o (kalim, jamil, rook, malleus) 🫶🏼

this idea kinda just happened, also because “o sol e a lua” is stuck in my head… I might do others with this <3

requests are open!

kalim al-asim

he adores you, to simply put it. he doesn’t mind one bit that you have more of an introverted nature — he balances that out. even if you don’t have the energy to go to one of his dorms feasts and parties he wouldn’t care. kalim is content with just you and him if that’s what you really wanted. he’ll take you on a carpet ride any night!

it’s a little funny to watch, but he’s sometimes you’re voice — since you’re quieter or don’t speak up and talk loud as much. you’ll hear him at least once or twice a day being like “oh they said—!”

the victories and celebrations that go off in his mind during the earlier parts of your relationship like when you started to laugh loudly around him or even when he hears you excitedly sharing something you like to him. he loves it all!

jamil viper

he hates to admit it but you sometimes make him feel so flustered and overwhelmed (in the best way) when it comes to your loud boasting of how much you love him or that instant “hey!!!” he hears the moment you see him. he has to pull down his hood a little sometimes jamil cant fight the warmth spreading on his cheeks. he’ll sigh and try telling you there’s no need for the energy (right in the middle of the school hallways ahaha) but does he actually want you to stop?

jamil tends to just let you ramble a lot, he’s a silent listener, giving once in a while a thought or two. not that he’s ignoring you he just doesn’t have the energy to talk sometimes — he’s content just doing work or even cooking and just listening to you go on.

has caught multiple times both overhearing and being told by others of your praise and talking highly of him — jamil was caught totally off guard when he had heard the first time. however by this point he isn’t surprised at all. I would be lying though if I said there wasn’t a smug grin after hearing.

rook hunt

rook is obsessed with you. sorry but he will be telling you an earful of his swooning and how much he is simply enamored by you. though you have no magic he claims that you’ve bewitched him.

I can just imagine you could just be sitting there reading and eating something during lunch silently. you could be doing basically nothing and look over and see rook with his head on his hand looking at you with heart eyes.

though he does most of the talking at times, he doesn’t mind. but I have to say at first it might’ve been a bit overwhelming with his nature for someone like you. at the same time, he can be very quiet when he wants to be, so you get both haha. he’ll even do stuff like write you letters and poetry (they’ve gotten pretty long), flowers, and from what I believe he is artistic you better believe he paints and draws you. you’re his muse.

malleus draconia

he utterly loves your affection, though he was initially surprised by your boldness but he could only lightly chuckle at you and your behavior. he indulges it anyway, he wants you to do this stuff. sebek definitely had a hard time having to deal with seeing you happily hug and kiss him whenever — even touching his horns! (he could’ve passed OUT)

not gonna lie malleus wants your attention and stuff anyway so like this is perfect for him — that both before your relationship and now that you’re so eager to be with him and such. because trust me, you’re his first and only, he just wants to spend his time with you. he is simply content basking in it, obviously.

he kinda just lets you drag him wherever and do what you want, he’ll follow you. but he would love something more quiet at times to, like during your nightly strolls when he sees you trying to follow and see some pretty creature or even small fairies you see time to time.

[kaycode1999]

Hellooo! I'd like to request a matchup for LMK if that is alright! If your requests are closed, please just ignore or delete this! I understand you are probably busy so please take as long as you need for this!

Name and Pronouns: Nyx (They/She, but I don't mind being called by other pronouns)

Sexuality: Panromantic Demisexual with a preference for nerdy or himbo like men

Personality: Motherly, kinda shy, patient, nerdy, and quiet most of the time. I'm also an introvert with a slight stutter sometimes when overwhelmed, and can be easily tricked into trusting people or overworking myself to death

Looks: Short brunette hair with dark blue eyes and an abnormally large amount of freckles on my body and face. I'm also pretty short and chubby / plus sized.

Aesthetic: Either dark academia / dark librarian or gothic designs in pastel colors.

Hobbies: Writing, sorting things into categories, gaming, listening to music, and making slideshow games for my friends.

Extras: I'm a horror and romance writer as while as a mortician, I'm Autistic and have ADHD, I'm an insomniac, and I'm probably chronic ill to an extent.

Characters I'd like not to be chosen: Sandy, Tang or MK (I love all of them, but Sandy and Tang remind me of people I actually know and MK is like my son lol)

If you have any questions, please just message me and I'll answer as soon as I can! Hope you have a lovely day!

I'm going to match you with

Monkey King

*Not gonna lie your preference is so real😂 me too*

He's definitely a himbo, but make no mistake he's very astute and intelligent

He definitely seems like a dad-type friend so I think that matches well

As much as he puts on a front I think he is actually introverted himself. If he sees you're getting overwhelmed in a social situation he’ll try to at least hold your hand to comfort you

I'm not going to say he does everything the right way, but what he does he always does to protect the people he cares about so if nothing else you can trust that

I feel like he's a very good judge of character either naturally or just from having lived for a long time so he will always be on guard to make sure no one tricks you or takes advantage of you

He also will make sure to get you to take breaks sometimes so you don't overwork yourself

I think he'd absolutely love your eyes and your freckles

He loves to read whatever you write

He’ll help you with sorting things if you want him to, he actually finds it relaxing

He really enjoys playing video games with you

I think he'd really enjoy listening to music with you and hearing different types of music

He's not really bothered by the horror stuff or if you talk about stuff with your job. It doesn't really phase him at all

He likely has ADHD or Autism or some combination of both as well so I think you both uniquely understand each other

The good thing is he's in immortal being so he doesn't need that much sleep, so if you need someone to be there with you when you can't sleep to either just hang out, watch TV or whatever it's no problem

Though he might actually have some mystical celestial thing that can help with that

[unhappycylinder]

Hellfire's Newest Member (Eddie Munson x Fem!Reader) Pt. 3

Masterlist

"And before we begin our pep rally," the principal began, standing in the middle of the gymnasium floor, "I'd like to introduce our newest student - a senior who will be graduating with the class of '86. Y/n y/l/n, will you please stand up?" He scanned the crowd as you felt your gut drop, your face burning with embarrassment. Robin turned around from her spot in the band and gave you an encouraging thumbs up. Reluctantly, you stood up for a couple seconds and gave a brief wave to the principal on the floor, the entire student body turning to look at you.

Hushed whispers fell over the crowd as you took your seat and the principal continued to talk about the upcoming basketball game. You tried not to listen to them, putting your head in your hands, but you heard scattered chatter, obviously about you

"she's kinda hot, not gonna lie," a boy sitting a few rows down from you said

"why would you start a new school two months before graduation? I bet she's got some freaky secret," you heard someone else say

The whispers seemed to be the only thing you could hear, and it was overwhelming, like a tornado of other people's opinions was engulfing you. You were about to get up to leave when you felt two presences on either side of you.

"Hey y/n" a familiar voice said.

You looked up to see the boys from last night sitting  next to you, both wearing matching shirts that said 'Hellfire' on them, the same shirt Eddie was wearing this morning.

"You looked a little distressed," Dustin continued

"Yeah, I mean if the principal made me stand up in front of the school like that, I think I would have thrown up," Mike chuckled.

You chuckled along with him, "I feel like I might, that was absolute torture"

You hated to admit it, but their presence was comforting, and you were happy to know that you didn't scare them too badly last night. They sat silently, watching the principal speak, until you broke the silence with a question that had been on your mind.

"So what's this Hellfire thing, are you guys like satanists or something?" You asked, gesturing to Dustin's shirt.

"Oh this?" He laughed as he pulled his jacket away, revealing the design on the shirt, "no its just a club Mike and I are in."

You didn't want to keep staring and make shit awkward, so you looked away and nodded, wondering what the hell this 'Hellfire' could be. 

----

The assembly finally ended and Mike and Dustin said their goodbyes before walking out of the gym. Robin came up and grabbed your arm again before dragging you down the hall, droning on and on about how embarrassing that must have been and how nervous she was the entire time. 

You couldn't help yourself but wonder why you hadn't seen Eddie at the pep rally; was he skipping? No, he drove you this morning. Was he avoiding you? Why would he, its not like you did anything weird. Or the worst option: was he off with another girl? 

Stop thinking like that y/n, you thought to yourself. You've met this guy once, there's no way you can already have feelings for him. You barely know the guy. Plus there's no way he has feelings for you. He's probably just a nice guy who didn't want you walking down the highway alone.

Anyone would have stopped to help you...right?

Robin finally stopped talking as she opened the door to your classroom - History - which caught you out of your trance.

"y/n...hello? Have I been talking your ear off or are you off in dreamland?" Robin asked, waving a hand over your face.

"No no Robin, you're totally fine, I was just thinking about stuff. First day and all, its just a bit overwhelming I guess," you replied trying to hide your cheeks blushing.

As you walked in, your eyes scanned the room for Eddie...nothing, you felt both relieved and disappointed. Robin walked you over to the teacher's desk where you introduced yourself to your new teacher and he handed you a packet of makeup work, explaining that you could take your time with it and take a seat in the back next to Robin.

Class went by quickly, history was one of your favorite subjects so you found it easy to listen and pass notes to Robin at the same time.

"the guy in front of you looks like a muppet" Robin wrote on a piece of notebook paper, making you chuckle

"spitting image of Ernie"  you wrote back, Robin stifled a snort

"see anyone that catches your eye yet?"  she handed the note to you with a wiggle of her eyebrows

"maybe, maybe not. I've met someone but I think its to early to say"  you wrote back, she gasped.

"Everything okay back there, Buckley?" The teacher asked, turning around from the chalkboard.

"All good, sir, I'm just so blown away by the uh...the...."she struggled

"The physical expanse of the first world war," you started, looking at Robin and gesturing for her to finish.

"Oh yes! Like y/n said, I'm just so surprised at just how much of Europe was engulfed by conflict during this period," she said, wide eyed.

"Astute observation Miss y/l/n, Miss Buckley," your teacher smiled before returning to his lecture.

Robin started frantically scribbling on her paper, handing it to you a second later

"my hero...and don't think I forgot about your last answer ;)"

You shook your head at her and smiled. Maybe Robin would be a great friend, she seemed a lot like you, but also like the bold, crazy, support you needed to get through a new school.

The bell rang a few minutes later and Robin pulled you out of the classroom with enthusiasm, walking you to your locker, which was next to hers, before crowding you between your locker doors.

"Okay y/l/n spill!"

"What?"

"Spill! Spill the beans right now!! Who do you like?" She practically screamed, gaining a few looks from the people around you.

"No-nobody, its nothing" you started putting books in your locker.

"Y/n, I'm not showing you to your next class until you tell me who it is. Who's the lucky person that gets the attention of the beautiful new y/n y/l/n?"

"Robin, seriously, its noth-" you began, but were stopped by a familiar frame slamming through the front doors of the school. Your eyes transfixed on him, his long hair, his jackets, his ripped jeans, his handkerchief ;). You were visibly drooling, and he knew it, because his eyes caught yours within seconds and his face transformed into a devilish smile.

Robin's eyes followed yours to the man you were fawning over,

"Oh my god," she began, "its Eddie! You have a crush on Eddie Munson!" She yelled like she just won a game of bingo.

Her volume made your eyes widen as you turned your attention to her, hoping to god Eddie hadn't heard her.

He had.

"Robin, shut the hell up!" You gritted through your teeth, making her laugh and slam her back against the lockers.

"y/n, never in my wildest dreams would I have pictured a sweet little history nerd like you to be head over heels for Eddie 'the freak' Munson."

Eddie stopped just in front of you two, smirking like he was about to rip you apart, licking his lips as he stared at you.

"Speak of the devil," Robin said, "I'll leave you two to catch up. She has math right now, Munson, I'm leaving her in your care, please don't be an idiot," and with that, Robin disappeared down the hallway, winking at you and humming as she spun around the people she passed.

Your eyes returned to Eddie, who had stepped even closer to you and placed his arm above you on the locker. Your eyes met, his staring into your soul.

"Hi y/n" he whispered lowly.

"Hi Eddie," you looked up at him, somehow more embarrassed than you were at the pep rally.

"It just so happens that I also have math right now" he said, grabbing your books from your arms, grazing his rings against your inner arm as he stepped away from you. You just stood there, wide-eyed, watching his every move, "are we gonna go or are you gonna stand there gawking...we don't want you late on your first day, sweetheart," he smiled.

"Uh yeah, right, of course. I wouldn't want to give a bad impression," you started

"A bad impression?" He asked as you started walking down the hallway with him, "now how could you ever do that?"

You smiled as he led you into the room, setting your books down on a desk next to his in the back corner, you followed.

"You can sit next to me darling, wouldn't want anyone else getting the pleasure of suffering through math with you," he said.

Eddie pulled your desk slightly closer to his before you could sit down, you watched as his ringed hand gripped the metal bar of your desk.

don't even think about it, y/n. Math is not the place for naughty thoughts

"And I wouldn't want to suffer through my first Hawkins math class with anyone else, Munson" you smiled.

You watched your teacher as he wrote on the board, catching Eddie glimpsing at you every few minutes during class, smirking at you whenever you did. After twenty minutes or so you felt his knee bouncing against yours, making you look over to him where he turned to face you 

"I have zero clue what's going on" he whispered, you giggled, "I think I'm gonna need a tutor if I'm gonna make it through the rest of this year" he continued.

"Is this your way of asking me to tutor you, Munson?" you whispered back

"Maybe...that is...only if you're smart enough to be a tutor for me,"

You glanced at his paper, and you wished you could make it up, but he quite literally had 8+9=16 written down. You pointed to his equation with your pencil

"I think I've got you beat babe," he glanced down at where you pointed to his paper and blushed. He shamefully erased it while looking at you with a glare, his tongue slightly sticking out from between his lips.

"When's your free period y/l/n?"

"Uhhh," you glance down at the schedule you had tucked into the cover of your math textbook, "last period."

"Great, meet me at my van," and with that, the bell rang and Eddie stood up.

"I'll see you in a bit sweetheart, don't forget about me," he said as he started walking backwards out of the room.

"How could I ever, Eddie," you replied. Maybe Robin was right, you were starting to fall for Eddie, and maybe it wasn't such a bad thing.

Eddie disappeared out of the room, doing a silly little run-walk (you know the one) to the cafeteria. 

Now it was time for the next test of the day...lunch.

----

Part 4

Taglist: @definitelynotecho

[lostfracturess]

OH MY GOD!!!! oh my god omgggg the new chapter is AMAZING 🤩 just read it and ran here so i am sorry it might turn out like incoherent mess i am kinda overwhelmed 😭 first of all, WHY IS HE SUCH A DUMMY??? i mean in ALL ways, we all know that he's a fuckboy (he totally was, but still tries to maintain this aura) but he's such a pathetic dork when it comes to y/n and he doesn't even try to hide it (he has my total respect for that), idk in my mind he's just one of these guys who will say you the most cheesy stuff and be so adorable and handsome at this time with his stupid blue eyes and a smirk 😮‍💨 not for everyone obviously, this stuff is reserved for a y/n😭 on a more serious note, WHY IS HE SUCH A DUMMY x2??? and this time i mean about pushing away a y/n, I can understand why he's doing that and it really hurts me, because he just try to push her away for her good before the things become way more serious (as if they weren't serious enough, yes satoru???) but they're so deep rooted in each other that it's impossible to do and senseless. but hooray, he did share his vulnerability and didn't hide it completely (the bathroom scene after the first hearing i mean), congratulations satoru we are heading towards the right way! though the thing that you did in that circus completely vanished your progress 😭 the moment when he left the mark on his arm and exchanged glances with suguru i knew something was off and he would do something stupid and i was like DON'T YOU FUCKING DARE YOU'RE A DUMMY 😭😭😭 but actually i knew he would take all the responsibility for their romance as you heavily implied it in his words throughout the chapters, so that was expected yet really fucking hurt me 😭 what i wasn't expecting for certain is the fucking sukuna in this fucking ethics committee, a stupid prick, why he had to ruin their lives like that 😭 hate his disgusting brainless persona with all my guts. also the thing between him and satoru that satoru didn't quite want to share...my guess is sukuna might know about the death of that patient that still haunts satoru (from your hcs) and tries to blackmail him somehow ??? sorry i don't remember whether it's known publicly or not, but this fucker certainly has something on satoru and I didn't like it 😫

i am afraid it came a little bit lengthy and Tumblr doesn't want to send it so i will send it in the parts 😭😭😭

first of all big big BIG thank you for your precious long message!! feel so blessed to have such engaged readers!!

so yeah, he is one big dummy not gonna lie. he's so stupid it hurts. like he’s SO bad with feelings and all that, that it's just painful to watch him suffer and struggle with it all the time but also so funny and at the same time you just want to slap him a few times in the face. 

but they're so deep rooted in each other that it's impossible to do and senseless.

yes yes yes, they are really one of a whole and separating them is futile, still satoru so dumb for not seeing that and pushing his girl away. but that’s really the only way he knows how to protect her atm. and he should seriously learn to control his impulsiveness, you're right!!

congratulations satoru we are heading towards the right way! though the thing that you did in that circus completely vanished your progress

it's always like one step forward and then two steps back with him ☠️☠️

sukuna is also like a real pain in the ass in the story and just likes to hurt people for fun… or maybe there’s more? we’ll see hehe. but i love reading your guesses!! 

also sorry for all the caused pain!!! i'll make it up??? i guess??? see you in part two! ♡

[sharksa-shivers]

Hey so announcement time:

Ok, ima be real for a sec here: I have peeps that'll talk to me and want to show me stuff/stuff they've made and like it's very sweet and nice and i really appreciate it...I really do... But...I'm not gonna lie, it's...Starting to really really overwhelm me... Like i cannot read every fanfiction or every post or watch every video sent to me and like...I just...I'm really really sorry... It feels like too, some of these people sharing their stuff just...Aren't interested in my stuff like at all so like...It feels like i'm kinda just being dragged around in that regard and i do not...Really like that... I'm fine with people sending me stuff but expecting me to look at every single thing you send me ever is...Kind of unreasonable...I just...I'm sorry, idrk what else to say or do here... I am probably gonna make people upset and i'm sorry for that but like...I need some boundaries here yknow...

[icyfox17]

🛤️ 👻 🔥 ✋ 🌸 🏞️ 🛣️!!!!!!

Lonesome Dreams 🛤️ — What is your most frequent recurring dream, and what do you think it means?

oohh uhh hmmm i dont really have recurring dreams, like idk if i've ever had the same dream twice? I mean recently i had two dreams in a row about me meeting up with online friends so there's that?? i think it means i really want to meet up with my online friends LMFAOFDSKJK

The Ghost on the Shore 👻 — If you were a ghost, what place would you haunt?

OOOOHH this is such a cool question. i'd love to be a ghost that haunts a forest or not to like steal from the song but a beach. i just love the imagery the song provides, but i also love like. the place i feel most grounded in and stuff are forests. like i love digging my hands into the dirt and stuff, so i could totally see myself just haunting a random forest up north where not a lot of people go to.

She Lit a Fire 🔥 — Describe a stranger that you only met once but have never forgotten.

i feel like there are so many but now im blanking?? i love interactions with random strangers, it makes me feel hope in the world. i mean there was this really nice time where i was like . super into the music i was listening to lmao, i felt on top of the world, and i noticed this other person on the train staring at me LMAOSDFKJDKSJ it was kinda off putting but like . they just were smiling at me and stuff and i could tell that my enthusiasm was infectious and idk i just felt like that was a really nice moment we both shared

Dead Man’s Hand ✋ — What would be your reaction to finding a dead body by a desert road?

uh . panic LMAO i think my gut would drop and my heart would start to feel faster and i'd look around quickly to see if anyone else were nearby and i'd probably immediately text my friends being like "I JUST FOUND A DEAD BODY??!?!?!????" and then call 911 LMAOSDFKJDSKAF help i have my priorities straight

my hands would probably shake like i am not good with gore at alllll, i'd also probably find it kinda cool and probably analyse it (as much as i could without feeling sick) to see if there were any initial outside wounds and try to see if i could figure out the cause of death

La Belle Fleur Sauvage 🌸 — What flowers do you want in your grave?

honestly i love all flowers :D but my go to fav are lillies so... those?

Wait by the River 🏞️ — Where do you go to collect your emotions?

(pssttt what does collect emotions mean? HELP does it mean like . to remain calm, to get in touch with them, to control them?)

im gonna go with like . what do i do to calm myself down when i get overwhelmed and uhh, going on walks really helps. especially if it's raining or cold outside. if it's hot outside than that doesn't work and i'll lie down on the tile floor and help that cools me down. but yeah i'll go on a walk. there's a park close to my house that is really nice so i'll go there and just sit next to a tree and listen to the birds. it's really grounding. another grounding thing i tend to do is put my hand on trees. idk why but i've always felt... more stabilized when i do that. it makes me feel connected to nature which makes me feel more at peace and stuff. same with me digging my hands into the dirt as i mentioned previously. i dont know i just really like being one with nature lmaoadsfjkaskdjf (that being said i do not like getting muddy .)

When the Night Is Over 🛣️ — What is your favourite thing to do in the rain?

OOOH in the rain? as in outside? probably just stand in it. and let it seep over my body. i love getting absolutely soaked (when i want to LMAO if i have to be somewhere or whatever or i get caught in the rain then it is not fun. but when i go on a walk and i know i can be home relatively quickly, then i love getting soaked).

on rainy days in general? i love curling up on the couch, under a blanket, and drinking tea. now whether im writing, watching a show, or reading, doesn't really matter tbh. i just love comfy couch vibes with tea. it makes me really happ :))

[respitelocklyre]

I made the cheer squad!!! I have a lil more to say but that's the important bit- updates under the cut like always ✨

Cheer tryouts were waaay different than i expected!! I kind of thought it'd be a big ordeal but it was just me and one other freshman who tried out, so we were obvs accepted lol Not that we wouldn't have made it in anyways since we both looked fucking great!! Especially considering I haven't even done any of those moves since last fall. The squad is pretty small and i don't think they do competitive stuff but that's fine, we never did in high school either. I'm more interested in getting to know the rest of the silkball team we'll be cheering on, if the try-outs were any indication of what's to come 🤭 There's this cute owl-guy I might have my eye on- i think he works at the tavern too!!

Oh yeah, i also got the work-study at the tavern! I figure i'll just quit if i don't like it lol but anyways come say hi if ur on campus- i promise you'll recognize me on sight. I'm pretty easy to spot hehe

Oh oh oh and congrats to Mire for getting on the team too!! and for scoring some points with their crush (they can thank me later~). I wonder if they're gonna be able to play well while being cheered on lmaaooo

Classes have been fine, but tbh i haven't rlly been able to pay attention to them since i've been busy partying, meeting new people, and adjusting to life on campus! It's kinda overwhelming, my contacts have like doubled since i got here. And everything is like...way different, yknow? Obvs I didn't think it'd be the SAME as high school, but the vibes are soooo different is all. idk what to make of it all yet but i know that im LOVING being away from home and enjoying my freedom so far <3 Cathy told me the first month or so would probably be rlly hard but idk what she was talking abt bc no one grounds me for waking them up when i get home at 2 am and not even the raven queen can stop me from eating icecream for dinner now.

+++++

In reality, this party was kind of lame, even as Respite typed otherwise to his friends— they'd opted to ditch him for a studying session, so he sure as hell wasn't going to let on that the party was anything but lit. They had a feeling most of them probably wouldn't care, but Willow might feel a touch regretful, so the lie was worth it.

After sending the message to the group chat and briefly checking tinder for any new DMs or matches— maybe he could escape this place and turn the night around— to no avail, they pocketed their phone. How annoying. They rolled their eyes and leaned against the wall, taking a slow sip at the drink they’d been nursing for the past hour. Respite wasn’t really a fan of drinking on the best of nights and all they had to offer here was shitty beer. After a moment of pouting and observing the dimly lit room, they turned and parted the dusty, moth-eaten curtain to look out the window again.

If anyone had noticed the way Respite kept flitting out to the porch or the front window, no one said anything. They did try to keep it discreet, at least, and simply worked it into the way they naturally made the rounds every now and then to talk to different people or get another drink. He liked to move around a lot at parties anyways to make sure that he saw everyone's faces and said hi to them all.

On the opposite side of the spectrum was Mettie, who, shortly after arriving and greeting a few people, had taken an edible or something and parked himself outside on the porch. From there, he seemed to be spending most of his time at the party smoking with other people who needed some fresh air and enrapturing (ensnaring?) them with his long-winded conversation. Respite wasn't sure if this had been his goal when agreeing to come to the party, but it had been the result.

It dawned on Respite slowly that they hadn't really seen Mettie at a party like this before. Well, okay— they'd seen Mettie at one or two big house parties in passing, but they'd never actually spent much time watching him. He’d been the dealer for about 75% of their high school (it was a devastating loss to the community when he’d done his year abroad), so it was hard not to run into him from time to time at parties. But in high school, he was mostly regarded as weird and off-putting. People got what they wanted from him and were generally polite, but it wasn't like he was always invited to stick around. And when he was, it did usually end up like this— he'd put himself in a less populated corner somewhere and make puzzling conversation with those willing to listen.

In their hometown, it had felt like everyone else tolerated it because Mettie was a valuable resource. They knew his penchant for rambling, though, and tried not to engage— Respite himself included.

They couldn't place the feeling as they watched Mettie from the window now, with a handful of people gathered around him, held captive by the way he spoke. These people weren't just being polite, either. They were listening— sometimes even smiling and laughing with him. Sure, they were probably stoned too, but that hardly mattered. It's not like this was the first time it had happened since he’d learned Mettie was also attending Strixhaven. At their cafe shift, during orientation, and at the career fair...things were clearly different here.

A couple of years ago, Respite never would've invited Mettie to a house party with him. It would've been social suicide— he knows; he'd thought about it once early on and didn't even get far enough to invite Mettie before the ridicule started up— and though it had taken a lot to fight against their instinct, they needed to test their theory: Did people here actually like Mettie's company? This party seemed to confirm it for the positive.

In Respite's mind, the jury was still out on whether or not Mettie was cool, but at the very least it seemed like no one was going to corner him in the bathroom and interrogate him about why they saw him talking to the freak who looked like he was one bad day away from shooting up the school (untrue, of course, and tasteless in a way only teenagers could be, but Respite had forced out a laugh at the time).

There was a feeling of relief in that. In knowing that neither of them would be under constant scrutiny from peers and adults alike. Being unknown was freeing in some ways.

But there was a dread in it, too. In losing the structure Respite had spent years delicately building the pieces of their identity around.

A memory from when they were kids came to mind unbidden, of the time Respite had accidentally knocked over one of Mettie's earliest sculptures. It had been unsteady and the base made of air-dry clay toppled easily when Respite bumped the dresser in a fit of energetic excitement, sending it crashing to the ground. The roughly attached bits and bobs came loose and scattered across Mettie's bedroom floor, transitioning from art to disjointed pieces without purpose or clarity in an instant.

For what it was worth, Mettie had taken it in stride even as Respite desperately crawled under his bed with a flashlight to gather everything, apologizing and promising to help him glue it back together. After staying quiet for some time, he'd declared it an act of fate that only added to the piece and gave it new meaning. Respite didn't understand, but they'd been so terrified of being yelled at that they nodded in agreement even as their cheeks were pink from crying. They still attempted to fit some of the pieces back together until Mettie insisted they just put it in an empty shoe box so that he could make something new of it. To this day, Respite had no idea if Mettie had ever fixed it, restructured it, or simply left it as a memorial in his closet.

They wrinkled their nose up at the unwarranted assault of a flashback. Clearly they'd been hanging around Mettie too much already if their thoughts were starting to get this metaphorical. He downed the last of his warm beer, hoping the bile on his tongue would force him to refocus on the party.

[pidayforpi]

[Written on Monday/15th. Feeling slightly better now, but the facts still hold true.]

(So...for the past few days, I have been browsing Netflix for...children's cartoon animation movies to (re-)watch.

Today, I came across something called..."Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank"?

(which, by the way, I thought was a comic/cartoon-adapted movie, but apparently it's an original one)

[This thing. Don't know what image to attach, so here is the thumbnail of the trailer.]

Like a mature adult, I decided to watch it.

And, like a definitely non-weeb (and because it's available, otherwise it would be very hard to find), I decided to watch it in Japanese.

The first voice I 100% recognised was Jimbo's: Tesshō Genda （玄田哲章） [Younger Toguro, Sengoku Basara's Takeda, City Hunter's Umibozu] (Samuel L Jackson in the original voice, by the way). Which...okay, I know Genda-san does dubs. He's the voice of Foghorn Leghorn, after all. His voice is very iconic, too. You can't miss it when he does a "battle cry" thingie (maybe it's because I first knew him as Toguro).

But the second one I kinda recognised was Ika Chu's (yes that's the character's name apparently), and I was like:

"Wait, is that Tomokazu Sugita （杉田智和）???" [Gintoki Sakata, Kyon, Escanor, Joseph Joestar and much more]

And I immediately thought: "No way, Sugita doesn't do dubs..."

"But I also cannot not recognise that voice, his voice is very iconic too (and I have known him for a considerable number of roles, starting from Gintoki)."

After the movie, I checked the (Japanese) Wikipedia page, and literally did Joseph's "Naisu!" pose:

It really is Tomokazu Sugita.

And, to add on Sugita's role as Joseph Joestar: Apparently Hank's voice is Yū Hayashi （林勇）, who voices Smokey Brown.

Not gonna lie, I somehow found that very funny.

"NIGERUNDAYO, SMOKEY!!!!!"

There are also apparently other (JoJo) casts, like Tomokazu Seki （関智一） [Enrico Pucci] and Junichi Suwabe （諏訪部順一） [Leone Abbacchio/Younger D'Arby], who voice Chuck and Ichirou respectively. But I couldn't recognise them while I was watching (probably because they are using some silly voices, instead of the ones you hear shouting "Whitesnake!!!" or "Moody Blues!!!")

And of course, Tesshō Genda voices Impostor Captain Tennille/Dark Blue Moon from Stardust Crusaders...if you remember who that is.

(the "Onii-chan!" guy if that helps)

Also also, I may write another entry about this later on...but I would like to meet whoever decided to hire Akio fucking Ōtsuka （大塚明夫） [Wamuu, All For One, Uvogin, Saint Seiya's Hades] to voice Jimmy Crystal.)

[Shits and giggles end here. Much more personal stuff below.]

Maybe because I am still a student, I divide periods of my life into school years (instead of...you know, "real years").

Truth be told: This school year has been very bad for me.

Not because something bad happened (not something sudden and catastrophic), but because...nothing happened. I did nothing...outside school.

(Well, I had an internship interview during my very bad time in January, which was my first "job interview", and which was also my first unsuccessful "job interview").

And school is so super damn busy and stressful, that it is hard to do anything outside school.

I mentioned in my last...personal post, that I have been feeling mood swings. Some days are better (which are the days you see me liking and sharing posts, such as mid-February to early-March), and some days are absolutely bad (which are the days you don't see me at all).

Such as now. The reason why I am watching random stupid shit on Netflix is because, otherwise, I would be lying on my bed doing nothing. So I might as well be lying on my bed doing something. I can't sleep, because I have been sleeping too much already. I did try reading too, but I guess my mind is a bit too exhausted/overwhelmed to do that.

(I know I also should be spending at least some time socialising (a massive sorry to all my Discord server-mate seeing this), which is a "how to feel better" self-help tip I see in every single article. But whenever I am feeling bad, I just tend to...disappear. I know I should stop doing that, and I have been saying I will stop doing that. Sorry.)

Honestly, I shouldn't even be watching something on a Monday (it's my day off, but it's still a weekday, and I still have homework to do). I did go to school (to get out of home, at least), but I really had no energy to work today.

Okay, I actually have no energy nor interest to do...anything at all. I know it's waterfowl breeding season soon, and I haven't been to a park in...months. Which is definitely a sign that something is wrong with me.

This "on-and-off but constantly feeling bad on average" pattern reminds me of another past school year. A year I still dread and regret whenever I think about it.

Moreover, now that the Undertale cringe is one-year-old, I have successfully failed to create anything for a year.

Which is not ideal, and I have been saying this since last summer vacation. Because things have not been okay since then. My WIPs are becoming four years old.

I also didn't do any "active" stuff at all since school started, like gaming. My Brok the InvestiGator progress is still around 50%, so I have been dodging spoilers like mad. I tried to mod and play Skyrim a bit, but no big progress whatsoever (Vilja is still waiting for me to complete her quest). I know DD2 just dropped last month, but I haven't even bought it yet.

The only things I have done were "passive" things like watching shows/movies and reading fics. And sometimes even those stopped, when I am feeling really bad.

The reason why I am writing this is because "writing your feelings down" is another "how to feel better" self-help tip I see in every single article. I used to keep a diary where I did exactly this every day, but the habit sort of...faded away (during the aforementioned bad past school year, probably because I was too sad to write down how sad I was every day).

I don't have a cool/motivational ending to this, so I will just end it abruptly here.

(15-4-2024)

[kinetic-elaboration]

October 6: SC Preview Friday

I left work early today so I could attend more of Supreme Court Preview, but also still stop out for my usual Friday coffee drink. At 2:30 it was so packed. Well, more packed than at 4:30 anyway. I got some extremely good pistachio gelato and wrote up some notes about stuff I want to write (not much useful but that's okay) and watched the set up for AOFTA. It does look really good. I am less worried about forcing myself to actually get up and go. Also I think B is going to go with me, or meet me there, and like... I did invite him because I thought he might have fun. I like spending time with him, and the plan to meet works as an accountability measure. He also can't come till later so I can spend a while there just by myself. But a part of me is like... I don't really need/want company to look at the art. But, again, he can't come till the afternoon, it's still my plan to come at 10.... it'll be fine. Best of both worlds.

Anyway, then I got home and logged into the preview. There was some of the moot court still going on but I don't usually care about that as much, not even gonna lie. I caught only the tiniest bit because I was having zoom issues. (They were having zoom issues too... the screen kept flashing with the photograph of our AV guy, as if he had taken over the mic, even though the sound was the same... oh, it was funny but also really annoying but also funny but also awful.) I did hear the verdict and the dissent sort of annoyed me in that terminally-law-brained way (people don't like domestic abusers so maybe they need guns to protect themselves like ok??? or stop abusing your loved ones??????? ?????).

So then there was the panel that I was actually interested in. I always, like... I follow along but I was also browsing tumblr at the time, mostly because I couldn't watch the screen with that face constantly flashing on it lol, and I'm really just tuning in for fun. So I do miss a lot. A lot goes over my head because I don't follow the Supreme Court professionally and it really is, like, a basic knowledge of the specifics of the issues is assumed. So while I'm watching I always feel a bit overwhelmed and like I'm not really understanding anything as I try to keep up--but don't try that hard--but then after I pretty much only remember the parts I did understand. So I enjoyed it. Melissa Murray was so good, just not speaking around anything, naming names, calling out specifics. Even getting into it a little with Erin Murphy, like a decent amount for a very aggressively collegial event. She kept taking the position that the stories about the Supreme Court's ethics were overblown, which is certainly an interesting take and one I could almost accept if there were also a defense of the behavior in there and hmm when we name names and talk details that's awfully hard to do, isn't it?

There was also some interesting talk about the different factions, if it was really 6-3 or 3-3-3 (again with Melissa Murray just saying it straight out: it's a radical Court and as a result the standard for rightward movement is itself skewed), the relationship between Justices Thomas and Jackson, and also discussion about the Court's image and so on. The interesting thing about SC Preview is that everyone kinda by definition is establishment. There are some reporters and professors but a lot of the panelists are or were advocates in front of the Court, or are judges, and so they have, I guess, if not a blind spot a... a long-time immersion in this world, this type of thinking--it's the professional side, not the results oriented, we-all-have-to-live-in-the-world-the-Court-makes side, if that makes sense. Like yes your argument is logically sound but stop trying to convince me that deranged behavior is normal. Stop making these 'well technically....' arguments. The Preview is as non-partisan as something so intensely partisan can be but I am of course talking about Republicans specifically here because *I* am not non-partisan. That's why I appreciated Melissa Murray saying things outright like 'this is a radical Court' because it is and we do need to say it!

Tomorrow the panels start at 9am and go to 4:30 and they are broadcasting one of the breakout panels, so it's basically non-stop except for lunch. That's a lot of Supreme Court! But I think it will be fun. I'll be tired by the end but maybe able to accomplish a few things? That would sure be nice.

[nopethatsnotembarrassing]

Noeasy was my first comeback as a fan and it was wild. I still like the outfits from that era most. The mix of traditional and modern just slaps (just like thunderous lol) Orange is a hard color to pull off tbh

Have you listened to their older stuff? Any favorites from previous albums?

Kpop is insane with their performances, dancing and singing (often) live? I couldn’t do either separately, let alone both at the same time xD

When BTS became popular, I was taking a break from kpop for like two-three years and I never really got into their music. I only know some songs from covers 🙈

As fellow nerd who also likes artsy stuff, I feel Matt on a spiritual level. When he gets out the statistics, I cheer. (Okay but I also watch Hank green talking about the poll they do every year or so. That’s also not for everyone)

I watched a two hour video of mark and Matt power washing, so yeah I can relate to watching not for the games (that video gave me an existential crisis because we are close in age and it feels like I haven’t accomplished anything in my life compared to these two 😅)

I recently watched all the quietest let’s plays. Why did he do them with the most infuriating games? XD

I don’t actually feel anything but I still love to listen to asmr and I would love it if Mark collaborated with someone like Made In France asmr. It’s not gonna happen but a woman can dream

I was thinking about coming of anon but it would be my main 🙈

The blog I’m using most these days is fullmoonandstar :3

My gosh, so you got into them right around when they did Kingdom yeah? That had to be so much fun!! Maxident was my first comeback I was there for, cause I had gotten into them like right after Oddinary came out so I didn't experience the comeback (which I think would've been another one that would've killed me)

And yeah I've heard that about orange but unless everyone I know is just lieing to me to save my feelings I've been told my bright orange looks pretty good on me! (And I've even had people forget that my hair isn't just naturally that unnaturally orange!)

And oh yeah I've listened to their whole discography and I don't think there's a song I Don't like! It was a bit overwhelming seeing that a group that's only been around for 4 years (at the point of me finding them) has such a big catalog but when I say I just dived in I really did! I just kinda went to Spotify and hit play on everything!

Oh I definitely feel the "they're my age and I've done nothing!" I'm around the skz boys age and it gives me existential dread every once in a while!

I'm not familiar with ASMR channels since the closest thing I can handle to ASMR is like Watching people build little dioramas, but you never know Mark has done quite a few unexpected things during his 10 years on YouTube!

And no worries about being on Anon or not I totally get it! I will tag these posts with the user you use then so you can hopefully see then easier!

[dmwrites]

Chapter 3- Meeting

ch 1  ch 2

——

“Yeah, that’s a big fucking moon, alright.”

By coincidence, it seemed, Michael arrived at the spawn of Hermitcraft at night, greeted by Joe and a heavily armored dude who looked like a pink axolotl. Oh, and the moon, which took up about half of the sky.

“My goodness, such naughty words!” The axolotl said, putting one hand to his chest and the other on the handle of his sword.

“Oh, sorry my dude. Just, you know, moon big and all. I’m Michael.” Michael extended a hand.

“Well, it is nice to meet you. I am Xisuma, I do the admin stuff around here.” Xisuma shook his hand. “I don’t usually let random people on the server, but I trust Joe’s judgement… I think.”

Joe, who had been staring aimlessly up at the moon, started at his name and walked forward to stand next to Michael. “Michael was an invaluable friend when I went missing for many months, and plus he runs a radio station, which is super cool!”

“Hold on, when did you go missing?” Xisuma sputtered. Joe opened his mouth to answer but was interrupted by a communicator going off. Xisuma took it out of a pocket and looked down at the screen. “Aw geez. Well, I’d love to stay and chat, but, as Mike here pointed out, moon big. Plus evil X needs me.” Xisuma took off in an anxious flurry of rockets.

Michael watched him fly away and then looked at Joe with his mouth open. “Y’all can fly here?”

“We have the option to, yes.” Joe smiled. “Welcome to Hermitcraft, Michael. Seems like I owe you twice now. Once for letting me lodge in your home, and now this.”

“Don’t worry about it, Joe.” Michael clapped him on the back. “Not gonna lie, I was a bit suspicious about this whole thing, considering we’ve only met once, but that fuckin’ moon, man. What the fuck?”

“That’s what I say every evening, minus the expletives.” Joe replied. “And things just keep getting weirder.” He lead Michael to a nether portal and they went through it and down the hall inside. Michael looked around as they walked, mouth open in surprise. “Since I called you, there’s been an update to the new normal. So the moon is big, and getting bigger still. There’s also intermittent earthquakes. And now, we’re pretty sure gravity sometimes just kinda… stops working?” Michael was quickly developing a headache.

They arrived at another portal labeled “Joe and Cleo” and stepped through. Michael found himself looking out towards a huge, sprawling castle.

“Dude! Is this your fucking house?” Michael staggered backwards. It looked exceptionally beautiful with the giant moon beginning to set behind it. It was all bright sandstone that seemed to absorb the moonlight, with glittering windows all over.

“What, you don’t live in a castle?” A dark figure came around the portal.

“Ahh! A zombie!” Michael hid behind Joe.

“Well, you are partially correct! This is ZombieCleo, my best friend and castle-mate.” Joe said, and the figure stepped into the light of a torch, revealing herself to be a redhead woman in what seemed to be colorful eighties workout attire.

Cleo stuck out her hand and and Michael took it. “Nice to meet you. I’m rotting.” True to her statement, her hand felt slimy and looked rather grey.

“Uh, great.” Michael pulled his hand back quickly and wiped the slime onto his shirt. Cleo cackled.

“Don’t mind her. She likes to bully people. It means she likes you.” Joe said, gazing out towards the castle. “So, Michael, I’m thinking we can start by looking at the moon measurements I have, and then maybe a few-hour briefing- I have like a stack of notes on the moon and all that. Then maybe we can-”

“Joe, for goodness sake, poor Michael is completely overwhelmed. Not that I care, I try not to, but he literally looks like he’s about to pass out.”

Michael, true to Cleo’s observations, had gone to lean against a nearby tree, a hand pressed to his face.

“Yeah, Joe, sorry, but I just traveled a lot, just saw some of the most breathtaking buildings I’ve ever seen, and uh, moon, big.” Michael gestured vaguely around at the open air. “We don’t have shit like this where I come from. It’s mostly like… craters from explosions and empty houses. Normal moons. It’s a lot to take in at once.”

“Oh, if you think this is breathtaking, lemmie show you the rest of the server!” Joe said, clapping his hands. “But maybe later.” He added after a pointed look from Cleo. “Yeah, okay, fair, we’ll pick this back up tomorrow. The moon isn’t gonna, like, crash into the server before then. Probably.”

All three of them laughed uncomfortably, and then Joe lead the way across the river to a cozy little tavern, where there was a room available. The sun was just beginning to shine through the cracks in the shades when Michael entered his room and put his backpack down on the bed.

“Well, we have some walls to move. See you tomorrow, alright?” Joe bounced on his feet awkwardly.

Michael looked at him, and Cleo standing behind him in the doorway. The small man with the weird glasses and the beefy zombie fitness instructor woman. Michael laughed in spite of it all. Everything was just too weird.

“Yeah, tomorrow.”

Joe and Cleo bade him good night (“or should I say good morning? Like, the sun is rising.”) and closed the door behind them. Michael could hear their conversation as they walked back down the stairs.

“Do you really think some conspiracy theorist is the key to figuring all of this out? It’s a bit of a crazy idea, Joe.”

“The whole world’s gone crazy, it seems. And I don’t think we have much time left before it devours us all whole.”

“Well, that’s comforting.”

[fruggo]

I’m not gonna lie this would be the first time I requested something so if I do something wrong I’m really sorry,

Can I request Quentin, Leon, Steve, and Frank meeting a female reader who, before the entity took her, had already faced off her own killer?

And this made her kinda tough? Like she knows what she’s doing

oh my gosh thank you so much!! this is my first ever request to fulfill so we’re in this together :DD seriously i really appreciate you!

i decided to do a headcanon kind of format for this, i hope that’s okay! also these are my absolute favorite boys aaahhh this is so fun for a first request

the boys x tough f!reader (part 1) (part 2)

warnings: swearing, reader kicks frank in the shins

word count: ~700-1k each (sorry if it’s too long…i kind of got really excited and uhhh maybe i got carried away,, yeah. sorry)

(also i'll be honest quentin's is not my best. that was the one that got eaten by the tumblr abyss and i had to write all over again, and it just didn't come out the same way that i wanted it to at first :( i did the other boys hoping i'd get some inspiration to fix it afterwards, but i got kind of stuck. so it's not my favorite, but i hope you like it okay! i want to write better stuff for quentin in the future, he is my favorite sleepy boy <3)

𝐐𝐔𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐈𝐍 𝐒𝐌𝐈𝐓𝐇

when you arrived in the realm, everyone thought you would be the same as the others—frightened, confused, and overwhelmed. but you took this nightmarish challenge in stride, adapting to your surroundings quickly and learning far faster than anybody else had.

your past experiences had made you independent and sometimes distrustful, so once you had the gist of things, you didn’t need (or want) anybody to tell you what to do. and nobody was inclined to, either—your instincts naturally told you what to do and when.

the first time you met quentin was a little awkward, i wont lie. you were wary of speaking to the other survivors; you weren’t going to let yourself get hurt again.

it was the beginning of a trial. the nurse’s fatigued shrills could be heard all the way from the edge of the wrecker’s yard, but you immediately started work on a generator, unafraid. a few minutes passed, when soft footsteps indicated someone’s approach. it was quentin—he started to work on the wires without hesitation.

you were a little surprised, only because the other survivors usually left you to your own devices. you got the impression that maybe they were intimidated by you, which you didn’t particularly mind. but you wouldn’t particularly mind some company now and then, either.

it was comfortably silent for a while, before quentin spoke up.

“what’s your name?” he asked, gaze still focused on the wires.

hesitating a little, you told him. then you said, “and you’re quentin, right?” you already knew most everybody’s name just from observation.

“that i am,” he replied.

then it was quiet for a while.

very quiet.

well, what were you supposed to say now?

the silence was deafening and very, very uncomfortable to you. normally you were okay with a quiet atmosphere, but it was the kind of silence that buzzed in your ears, chewed at your stomach, filled the area as if it were something solid. man, what were you supposed to say—

it was then that you realized poor quentin had fallen asleep, his face smooshed onto the generator. his cheek was now covered in grease and grime.

it made you smile—only a little. you finished repairing the generator on your own, causing quentin to wake with a start and bang his head on the pole protruding from the machine. he swore like a sailor until he realized where he was, smiling sheepishly.

“sorry, i wanted you to have your nap. you looked really tired,” you said. you also couldn’t stop admiring the dark grease on his face—it was really quite funny. and no, you weren’t going to say anything about it. it could stay there a little longer.

you spent the rest of the trial running the nurse around the whole wrecker’s yard, only suffering one injury until the end. quentin had no idea how you had been here for such little time and already knew how to outplay the nurse, one of the most difficult killers to survive against. he still didn’t know how to do it well himself, so he was thankful for you.

however, once the exit gates were opened, you found yourself in a bad spot. the nurse had caught you in an empty clearing with nowhere to hide or predict her moves, and she downed you instantly. quentin cringed hearing your agonized scream as you were hooked.

there was no way you were dying on his watch. once he was sure the nurse was gone, he gently lifted you from the hook, pulling out his medical kit to begin patching up your shoulder.

despite the pain, you had enough energy to smile at him and say, “thanks, nap boy.”

quentin feigned offense with a wry grin, pulling out some gauze. “is that all i’m going to be to you? nap boy?”

you hummed, pretending to be deep in thought. “maybe you won’t be if you get me out of here.”

“that won’t be a problem," he smiled, quirking an eyebrow.

“show me the gates and then we’ll talk, nap boy.”

from then on, quentin became your go-to source for supplies and general comfort. you weren't scared of this place, but it was nice to know you had somebody who would really be there for you.

he would often fall asleep on your shoulder at the campfire--he really was a nap boy, and you would never let him live that down.

𝐋𝐄𝐎𝐍 𝐊𝐄𝐍𝐍𝐄𝐃𝐘

leon could not tear his eyes away from you the first time you arrived in the realm. your presence was strong; he could tell you weren’t one to back away from a fight.

most of the survivors had been (rightly) confused and disoriented when they popped into the realm, but you tried to accept it quickly. you didn’t like it, in fact all you wanted was just to go home, but you came to terms with it and jumped into trials headfirst like an insane person.

that was the courageous part about you—maybe you were scared, but you did scary shit anyways. in fact, you did scary shit to spite the fear, to prove to yourself that you were strong enough to overcome it.

and leon couldn’t lie, that was cool as hell.

you had tunnel vision and didn’t pay much notice to the other survivors; you were too focused on learning about this place and getting out of trials. having gone through some real shit, being here hardly came as a surprise to you. if you were going to be here forever, what was the point in mourning? might as well just accept it and try your hardest to survive. maybe someday this sick game would end, but for now, you were prepared to fight for your life and that’s all you could really focus on.

your first trial was not the best. even though you were resourceful, you didn’t know what the objective was yet, so you weren’t sure where to start other than analyzing your surroundings. luckily for you, leon kennedy was one of your teammates.

after being downed immediately by bubba’s chainsaw and tossed onto a hook, you were amazingly resilient to the pain. leon was the one to lift you from the hook, and he took out his medkit to help patch your wound, but you flinched away from him before he could touch you.

he was puzzled. “what’s wrong?” he asked. he didn’t want to make you uncomfortable, but he wanted to help you.

you hesitated and looked him over before mumbling, “i’m fine.” and you tried to stand on your own, beginning to limp away. you didn’t want or need anyone’s help.

leon sighed, following after you. “let me help, that must hurt a lot.”

“i told you, cop, i’m fine. i don’t want your help, okay?”

leon opened his mouth to insist, but decided against it. if you didn’t want his help, then he shouldn’t butt in. that wouldn’t keep him from watching over you, though.

but then leon called after you (perhaps a little smugly), “do you even know what you’re supposed to do?”

begrudgingly, you stopped walking. no, you didn’t know what to do. “i’ll figure it out,” you said over your shoulder. and you would; you had been through enough to survive any situation thrown at you.

but maybe one pointer couldn’t hurt.

“do a generator,” he told you, giving you a cheeky grin when you turned around to look at him. he was lucky he was cute.

the first part of the trial had been rough, but after that first hook you were doing a lot better. you managed to find your own medkit from a chest, and you learned how to fix a few generators. you found it came pretty naturally, and were satisfied that you hadn’t needed anyone’s help (except leon’s. but you didn’t have to admit that yet). when the killer came near, you skillfully avoided him and stayed hidden as much as you could.

you were also pretending that you didn't notice leon hovering near you. he was not very good at being subtle; he was obviously trying to make sure you didn't get hurt. it was cute. you didn't want to ruin his fun, so you didn't say anything about it.

it wasn’t long before the gates were powered and in the process of being opened. you saw a red glowing light in the distance, and assumed that must be your destination. you put all of your remaining energy into sprinting to the exit, adrenaline pumping through your body.

but then there was a heartbeat. a heartbeat so loud it filled your head, splitting your concentration. it wasn’t your own heartbeat--it was the killer’s.

the sound of the cannibal’s chainsaw roared in your ears and pain tore through your body; you collapsed to the ground with a cry of agony. shit, that really hurt, and you weren't sure you could ever get used to it. eternity sure seemed a lot longer than you had first anticipated. would you really be here forever? doing this over and over?

biting your lip until it bled, you tried to crawl towards the gate, dragging the lower half of your body with much difficulty. it was no use, though--you hardly got anywhere, and you could already feel the killer picking you up. just like that, you were going to die? you had been so close..

but as you were being placed on bubba’s shoulder, you saw a flash of a police uniform and a blinding light, and before you knew it, you had been dropped to the ground, the exit gate looking awfully lovely and much more desirable than a meat hook. you gathered all of your strength and began limping forward, when suddenly you felt an arm firmly wrap around your waist and your own was placed around someone else’s shoulder.

leon. when you looked up at him, all he did was give you a calm smile, which you felt inclined to return. with him supporting you, the two of you made it safely to the exit and began the long traipse back to the campfire, where you would find yourself spending a lot of time together.

from then on, you always remained quite unfazed by the events of the entity’s realm—the only thing that ever made you feel weak was being around leon. he was just so cute :]

𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐕𝐄 𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐓𝐎𝐍

you had never met someone so persistent in your life. from the moment the entity stole you here, steve harrington was after you, and there was next to nothing you could do about it. he sure was living up to his self-proclaimed role of babysitter.

you told him you were fine, that you didn’t need him following you around, but the asshole did it anyways.

“how cool do you think you are?” you asked him at some point, to which he simply shrugged with that stupid grin on his lips.

“i can take care of myself.” “i really don’t need you to baby me, steve.” “steve, if you don’t leave me alone i’m going to break your kneecaps.” these were all things that had come from your mouth multiple times recently. you were seriously thinking about that last one now.

you knew you could make it on your own, and you only wished he would give you a chance to prove that to him so he would leave you alone. but it was like he had attached himself to your hip, and for some reason the entity seemed to really enjoy putting you in trials with him. great.

he was a dumbass and a sweetheart, and you weren’t sure which one of those took higher priority. you knew he only meant well, but god, you wanted to be independent for once. why did he think he had to protect you so much? you arrived here after running for your fucking life, fighting off your long-time pursuer, and living in awful, ever-changing conditions. you had seen your closest friends die, right before your eyes. you didn’t need to be sheltered or coddled, but you couldn’t seem to make steve understand that, no matter how much you fought with him.

steve would literally throw himself in front of the killer for you. he clicked his flashlight in the killer’s face if they were after you, and he would swear and cuss until they chased him out of pure annoyance. it got him killed countless times, and you didn’t know whether to call him stupid or selfless. probably both.

eventually you decided to just copy him and see how it worked out. you weren’t scared, you had no reason to be. you wanted to show him you could be just as flashy as him.

as you arrived into a trial, steve right across from you (of course), you smiled to yourself. you had brought your best flashlight, and you were prepared to use it. the two of you began to work on a generator together, making light conversation as usual.

“if the killer comes here, hide. i’ll take him away.” “fuck you, steve harrington.” “sure, if you really want to.” “why don’t you ever leave me alone?” “it’s a mystery, isn’t it?” “i could punch you right now.” “but you won’t. i’m too good to look at.”

you know, the usual friendly stuff.

you purposefully connected the wrong wires, making the generator spark and sputter. “oops. oh no, the killer must be on their way,” you dead-panned. steve gave you an unamused look.

and indeed, only a few moments later, you heard the sound of the hillbilly and his chainsaw roaring in your direction. the two of you split up, and the killer’s weapon collided with the generator, making an awful screeching sound.

and that was when the chaos started.

steve began hollering and flicking his flashlight into the sky as usual, and after a moment’s hesitation, you did the same. steve looked at you in astonishment, pausing, but then he started again, even louder. you tried to outdo him.

“HEY BILLY! FUCK YOU!” you screamed, ignoring steve’s attempts to get you to stop. “COME AFTER ME, SHITHEAD!”

steve started actually yelling, just yelling, while you continued to swear meaninglessly. the poor hillbilly looked confused and overwhelmed, and eventually he couldn’t take the noise anymore--he just left, opting to find the other survivors while the two of you sorted out whatever it is you obviously had against each other.

it was dead silent now that the killer was gone, and you and steve were both out of breath. but as soon as you made eye contact, laughter bubbled up from your chest, causing you to collapse against the tree and slide to the ground. your voice was hoarse from all the screaming.

and then he was laughing too, stumbling over to plop down next to you, and your giggling started up a whole new round.

after the laughter died down, you stared at your hands, ignoring steve’s gaze on the side of your face until you couldn’t anymore.

“what?” you asked, finally looking at him. he was smiling all stupid again. “what?” you insisted, fighting off a grin of your own. you hated when he looked at you like that, because it made you want to smile back at him.

“nothing,” he said coyly, laughing again. you punched his shoulder playfully.

“c’mon harrington, when have you ever held your tongue before? spit it out.”

he nodded, that was true. so he said it. “i just like you, that’s all.”

oh. oh.

realization dawned upon your face. “is that why you always--”

“yes,” he interrupted you. “i thought it was obvious. man, you’re clueless sometimes.”

oh.

huh.

you guessed…maybe…steve harrington wasn’t that annoying. maybe.

𝐅𝐑𝐀𝐍𝐊 𝐌𝐎𝐑𝐑𝐈𝐒𝐎𝐍

to say you were feisty was an understatement. frank hated your guts at first because you were so good at evading him, which he would never admit. but the thing that made him really mad was that if he ever downed you, you would kick at him and try to trip him over, like actually bruise his shins. it hurt like hell.

this lead to his decision to constantly tunnel you, and he would laugh at you while you were on the hook, too. so you hated his guts just as much as he did yours. it was a mutual guts-hating situation.

your teammates always felt bad for you, but they also thought you were a badass and knew you could handle yourself. you hadn’t told anybody where you’d come from or what had happened to you, but they knew it was something interesting. there was a reason that nothing that happened here really got to you.

sometimes things escalated even further than shin-kicking. there was one time where frank had managed to grab the back of your shirt as you tried to vault a window, and as he pulled you closer to himself, you elbowed him in the neck and squirmed out of his grasp. while he stood stunned and lost for breath, you kicked the back of his locked knee so that he fell to the ground and bonked his forehead on the wall—the classic dead leg.

this was very funny to you.

not to him.

while you ran away, laughing to yourself, frank’s anger built and built. he was tired of letting you make a fool of him, and it was time to be serious about things.

he ignored you for the rest of the trial, forming a plan in his mind. there was something he needed to do after this, so he made sure to kill everybody else to please the entity—he couldn’t get caught up, it would derail his anger train. he also didn’t feel like getting kicked in the balls or some shit, so he let you out without a problem.

frank did some brooding at the ormond lodge before he was ready to go through with his plan. and his shins really, really hurt, so susie helped him ice them before he left.

the masked killer made his way to the survivor camp rather hastily. when he arrived, he saw you pacing around, deep in thought.

so he threw a rock at you.

it was just a pebble, really. maybe it could be considered a rather large pebble, but frank insisted in his mind that it was a pebble.

“ow, what the fuck!” you cursed, rubbing your sore shoulder and looking around to find the culprit. and then your eyes laid on him.

he looked so sultry standing there at the edge of the woods, arms crossed and mask smiling, you could almost laugh at him. he acted so serious, when really, he was just an angry and misbehaving twink.

you put on your best serious face, genuinely trying not to be amused by this, and strode over to the killer.

“what do you want?” you asked confidently, mirroring his body language and crossing your arms.

frank bristled at your approach, as if trying to make himself look bigger. he wished you were scared of him like everyone else, it would really make him feel better.

“i want a truce,” he said.

you almost burst into laughter at that. a truce? what the fuck for?

he said was willing to stop tunneling and camping you if you stopped beating the shit out of him with your sticky little hands. he didn’t say it like that, but you knew that was what he meant. you, a survivor, could beat up frank, a killer, and it upset him and his little ego :(

just to humor him, you agreed. and frank nodded.

“but,” you continued, raising your eyebrows, “you have to give me something else.”

he started to say “no, no way—“ but you interrupted him: “you’re asking me to stop fighting for myself and just give in when you catch me. i think i deserve something other than just not being tunnelled.”

frank glared at you under his mask, thankful that you couldn’t see. “okay. whatever. what do you want?”

“i want to see your face.” you thought this was a good choice, something you could lord over him forever. it was surely only a win for you. his face was something private, and you would be the only survivor to know.

of course you wanted to see his face, frank thought. everyone did; they wanted to find out if he was good-looking. which, according to him, he was. if you ever asked the other members of the legion, susie was the only one to actually respond. she felt obligated to compliment him as she was basically his sister. so she would say frank is handsome in a ruggedy, jess mariano kind of way. you wondered how she knew what gilmore girls was, since that came after her time, but susie would never give away her secret.

so with a sigh, frank agreed to let you see his face. he didn’t really care, all he wanted was to stop having bruises on his shins. it was kind of miserable, and the entity never did anything to help him.

when he said that you couldn’t do it here, and you asked why the fuck not, he said it was because some other survivor might see. you decided he had a fair point, so reluctantly you let him drag you all the way to ormond.

when he took off his mask, your first thought, whether you wanted it to be or not, was “wow! he really does look like jess mariano! but with tattoos! hot!”

you were lost for words. you didn’t really know what you were expecting, but you sure weren’t expecting him to be that attractive.

he could tell your thoughts from the look on your face.

this had been per your request, and you were planning on this being something you could hold over his head, but the situation had turned into something that he could hold over your head.

oh dear. frank morrison now held pretty boy privilege over you.

and soon you would find out that he was going to keep tunnelling you anyways.

listen i've been watching a lot of gilmore girls and i just get jess vibes from frank, except our boy is more of a twinky idk shdjfhsf i love this guy sm

[strawberrymilkgeorge]

Part Fifteen. “eyes eyes eyes.”

word count: 5.9k (not including pictures) warnings: swearing

behind the screen (irl dream x f!reader) series masterlist ultimate masterlist 

A/N: !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! you know? anyway uh....... hope you like this... a lot is kinda going on in this part... but more details will come in the next chapter don’t worry i’m not scamming you 

_____

"I can't believe you," Dream scoffed from the other side of the phone, which was displaying only his eyes and up as Y/n's phone laid face up towards her ceiling. She didn't mind; he had pretty eyes and his blond hair poked out wildly beneath his hoodie and it was enough to make her only half focus on their conversation about her newest Minecraft build.

Y/n smiled as she glanced back at her phone to see him squinting at his screen in confusion even though there was no face on the other side, then looked back at her monitor. Neither of them were streaming but were bored so they decided to wander around on the SMP, continuing their all-day FaceTime call instead of transferring to Discord. They were on their fifth hour of FaceTiming at this point. Y/n had suggested multiple times switching to voice call instead since she wasn't showing her face, hoping he would say no so she could see him still, and each time he denied it because he claimed it felt more real when he could see her ceiling. Whatever that meant.

"I don't know what to tell you, bud. I'm just playing the game."

"But..." he pouted, she could tell by his voice... and by the eyes that were still glued to the call. "How are you so good?"

"Magic."

"I knew it."

She giggled and looked back to Minecraft, where she was looking at the massive hideout Sam had helped her build, complete with secret doors and tunnels and a whole lot of redstone. "Sam did most of it."

"Bullshit. Look at that," he said as he looked away from the phone and his green avatar punched the side of the build. "That has 'Bug' written all over it. You did that."

"Okay, I did do that part, but the cool parts like the secret doors and stuff are all Sam."

"Stop downplaying your skills. It looks good, Bug." His voice was clear and genuine and sent chills down her spine. For someone who want physically affectionate, she really wanted to give him a big hug. And... well... other things.

"Thanks, Dream," she whispered.

"You're welcome," he whispered back childishly.

"What in the..." Y/n said as she turned and saw a familiar Minecraft character with a white and red shirt in the distance. She pressed the zoom hotkey and stared at him as he filled her screen. "What is he doing?"

"Oh, speaking of Tommy," Dream started, clearing his throat as his avatar ran back and forth between the door of her hideout and a tree about ten blocks from it. "Um, I had an idea about, uh, the lake thing? The New Years' trip?"

"What's up?" she asked, turning to face him as she listened.

"Well, it's only about three weeks away and I was thinking—"

Dream was cut off as Tommy ran over to hit him with an axe a couple of times before running away.

"What the hell?" Dream grumbled as they watched Tommy sprint and jump in the direction he came from. The young boy paused when he realized neither of them were following, just looking in his direction.

<TommyInnit> did I scare you guys <TommyInnit> I did, didn't I <TommyInnit> I am very good at scaring people

Y/n laughed and typed her reply

<BugsyGames> not one single bone in my body was scared, tommyinnit <BugsyGames> try harder next time ig :/ <TommyInnit> JOIN VC RIGHT NOW <TommyInnit> VC <TommyInnit> VC <TommyInnit> VC <TommyInnit> VC <TommyInnit> VC

"Oh my gosh, he's so annoying," Dream mumbled with a small laugh but made no effort to do as the younger told.

<BugsyGames> idk if i really wanna HEAR you curse me out bc you already have over text multiple times <TommyInnit> VC <TommyInnit> VC

"Are you gonna join?" she asked, opening Discord on her other monitor.

"Hell no," Dream scoffed before his voice turned worrisome. "Are you?"

"Yeah, he's entertaining," she said. "And he won't leave us alone until one of us pays attention to him."

"Oh, you wanna be left alone with me, Bug?" he teased and she couldn't help but smile widely in embarrassment.

"Whatever you want to think I said, Dream." Y/n laughed, making Dream pout.

"Buuugg... just say you love me already," he whined jokingly.

Since she couldn't ignore the overwhelming butterflies in her stomach, she ignored him and opened Discord and looked at the voice channel Tommy was in. "Oh, Tubbo and Ranboo are there too, so it's worth getting cursed out," she told Dream before sliding on her headphones and joining. She moved one side off of her ear so she could still hear Dream over FaceTime if he spoke to her, seeing as he wasn't going to join the Discord call.

"Hi—"

"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU JUST SAY TO ME?" Tommy started yelling quickly. "I'M NOT AFRAID TO FIGHT A GIRL, I HAVE FOUGHT MANY WOMEN AND HAVE WON EVERY TIME."

"Uh... geesh Tommy, no hello?" Y/n asked. "Why do you get in so many fights with women?"

"They question my manliness."

"Hm. Maybe work on making it less questionable?"

"EXCUSE ME?!"

"What is... happening?" Ranboo asked.

"I don't really know. Tommy came over and punched Dream and then made me join vc so he could yell at me, I guess."

"Oh, that's where he went!" Tubbo said. "I had no idea, he just disappeared."

"I HAD TO GO HIT DREAM BECAUSE HE'S TALKING TO A FEMALE AND I WANTED HIM TO LOOK BAD IN FRONT OF HER."

"What is he saying to you?" Dream asked from the phone on the desk. "He's yelling at you?"

"No, it's just Tommy being Tommy."

"W-What?" Tommy asked.

"I was talking to Dream," she explained.

"I can get on and tell him to stop if you need me to," Dream offered before his keyboard started clicking. "Should I? Do you want me to?"

"No, Dream, it's okay. I'll just fight him."

"YOU'RE WITH HIM??" Tommy accused.

"No! We're on FaceTime."

"YOU'RE FACETIMING HIM?"

"Yup," she stated before quickly changing the subject since Tommy and Ranboo were both streaming. "What are my sons up to?"

"We're just trident-ing around talking about whether or not my or Tommy's accent is worse," Tubbo said. "He says 'grass' weird."

"Tommy's," Y/n voted, wanting to piss off the youngest more. "You have the voice of an angel, Tub."

"Are we just going to ignore the fact that Bugsy and Dream are FaceTiming right now?" Tommy asked in a calmer, more mumbled but still frantic voice. "Cause, I mean, I just think it's a bit strange is all but if we're just going to breeze past it, I mean... you know? The two faceless Minecrafters are staring into each other's eyes while we all talk on Discord like nothing is happening."

"We aren't 'staring into each other's eyes'," Y/n corrected.

She paused when Dream giggled and said, "I bet you're staring into mine, Bug." She glanced down to see his full face beaming up at her with a playful smile. He had propped his phone up on his monitor so she could see where his elbows met his desk all the way to the top of his fluffy hair. Her cheeks and neck burned hot as she looked at the boy cuddled up in his hoodie once again. He folded his arms on his desk and placed his chin on his forearms, looking impossibly cuter as he stared at the camera. "There's no way for me to know you aren't."

"Shut up, Dream," she mumbled before speaking to the others again. "We're not even showing our faces," she lied. "Dream sorta is but not really."

"No need to lie to everyone," Dream said, still smiling, sitting up from his position. "This is my entire face. What, you don't want people to know you get to see me whenever you want? You have VIP access, baby, the people should know."

An abrupt laugh escaped her lips at the nickname. "Can you guys hear Dream?" Y/n asked the boys in the voice channel nervously.

"No, why? Is he telling you dirty things?" Tommy laughed evilly.

"Nope. Just wondering." Her face was on fire. She hit Dream's character in-game and watched him focus back on his computer with a goofy smile. He returned the favor by hitting her character back once even though she was continually dealing damage until he had half a and begged her to stop.

"He's probably flirting with her like he does when we're on call but, like, worse because no one else can hear him," Tubbo proposed before all three of the young boys gagged and yelled over each other.

"GROSS!!" Tommy shouted.

"Ew!! Mom, is there a dude flirting with you? That's disgusting," Ranboo gagged.

"I cannot stand you guys," Y/n laughed, making her voice as confident as possible so they couldn't detect her lies. "That's not what's happening."

"Do my words mean nothing, Bug?"

"Dude," she mumbled to Dream again. "I wish you could see how hard I'm glaring at you right now." He laughed in response.

A knock on Y/n's door snapped her out of her conversation and she quickly muted on Discord. "Come in!"

Naomi poked her head in and quickly put her hand up. "Oh, sorry!" she whisper-shouted. "I didn't know you were streaming."

Y/n shook her head and smiled. "I'm not. What's up?"

"TUBBO! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?" Tommy screamed, making Y/n deafen also.

Naomi stood taller and dropped her hand to her side. "I'm just bored and want to do something."

"I do too, actually," Y/n admitted.

"You're bored?" Dream scoffed. "Bug, I'm offended!"

Y/n smiled widely and turned back to her phone to see the blond boy frowning. "I've talked to you all day. Can I not go hang out with my roommate?"

"No! Tell her to fuck off."

"Dream! She's literally right here, she can hear you!" Y/n covered her phone screen with her hand to hide Dream's face as Naomi walked closer, laughing.

"Naomi?" Dream asked.

"Yeah?"

"Fuck off."

Naomi laughed as Y/n gasped. "DREAM!" Y/n grabbed her phone and held it up to show one eye in the corner of the screen so he could see her glaring, but he wasn't looking.

"I'm just kidddinnnggg... obviouslyyy..." he dragged out. "Unless you do steal Bug away from me, in which case I'm not kidding."

Naomi was silent with her hand over her mouth, not wanting to freak out and make Y/n back out before Dream could see her eye. It was a small thing, but a huge deal.

The silence caused Dream to look down and his jaw dropped. "B-Bug!!"

"You see this?? I'm glaring at you. How dare you talk to Naomi that way," Y/n reprimanded teasingly, trying to hide the shakiness in her voice.

"WHAT? Is this how you felt when I showed my face just to prove a point?"

"Probably."

"You're doing the exact thing I did! You're just proving a point!"

"Yeah, but I'm not showing my whole face like you did, idiot. Just enough so you can see the glare."

"Oh my gosh. Okay, yeah, I see you glaring, stop glaring!" he giggled and Y/n's camera went back to only showing her ceiling as she smiled. "I'm sorry, Naomi!"

"You can't just joke like that to someone you hardly know," Y/n scolded as Naomi continued laughing. She knew Naomi had that kind of sense of humor, but Dream didn't.

"Who said I'm joking?" he asked.

"Oh, shut up. I can't stand you."

"I'm kidding! I'm sorry, Naomi. I was just kidding."

"I know," she reassured. "It's all good, don't worry. I know you love your Bug too much to hurt her friends."

Y/n saw Dream quickly pull his phone away from his face after he smiled shyly, and she liked to imagine that he was blushing at Naomi's accusation.

"Yeah, I guess she's nice to have around," he mumbled.

<Ranboo> bugsy? you still there?

"Wait, both of you quiet for a second," she told Dream and Naomi before unmuting and undeafening on Discord. "Yeah, sorry, what's up? I was defended and muted."

"You were so cryptically silent, it was a little scary."

"Sorry, my roommate is talking to me. I'm gonna head off, actually."

"Aw, but we hardly got to play with you!" Tubbo pouted.

"We'll play soon! I promise! But not you, Tommy. I don't like you."

"I DON'T LIKE YOU FIRST, YOU EVIL WOMAN."

"Bye, Tommy."

"Bye, Bugsy," he grumbled.

"Goodbye, mother," Ranboo said as Tubbo laughed out a, "Goodbye mom," making Y/n's heart shed a proud tear.

"Goodbye, my sons. Be good. Be safe."

"Bye!!"

She left the Discord and then left Minecraft. "Okay, sorry, continue," she promoted Naomi.

"I think it's so cute how you talk to Tubbo and Ranboo," Dream cut in. "It's adorable."

"It is," Naomi agreed. "Tommy, too. I know you pretend to hate him but we can tell you want him to be your son too."

"Never," she murmured, making both of them laugh. She slid off her headphones and grabbed her phone, careful to keep it pointed away from her face as she walked to her closet.

"Anyway, I just wanna do something. It's really nice out today, do you want to go to the park or ride bikes or something?"

"Yeah, sure." She ripped a hoodie off the hanger with one hand, making the hanger ricochet and clank against the closet ceiling.  

"Yeah, sounds fun," Dream agreed from between them.

Y/n laughed. "Sorry, bud, not you."

A deep frown etched onto Dream's face and Y/n laughed. "What are you going to do there that I can't join? You can just prop me up on a tree and sit next to the phone."

"If we ride bikes, I can't hold you. And if we go to the park we usually skate. Besides, we want to talk about how much we hate you anyway so we don't want you there."

"Bug!" he pouted. Dream paused before saying, "Can you give the phone to Naomi real quick?"

Y/n hesitated but handed the phone to her friend. She used her free hands to slip on the hoodie before tuning back into the conversation.

"You don't have to show me your face but I want you to look into my eyes and promise me something, Naomi," he said.

Naomi held the phone up to her face anyway and Y/n could see both of them looking at each other. "What's up?"

"Promise me you won't let Y/n fall and scrape her knee or something," he requested and Naomi laughed.

"I promise not to let your Bug get hurt." That was the second time Naomi referred to her as 'his Bug' and she was not opposed to the sound of it.

"Thank you very much."

"Great," Naomi said before her voice turned teasing. "Now that that's settled, Y/n, you're right he is cute!"

Naomi was a pot-stirrer. Always was, always would be. She knew what to say to make tension rise in the room whether it was between people who hated each other or people who secretly liked each other. Or whatever Dream and Y/n were.

While Y/n's face grew warm, Dream laughed.

"Hey, you're pretty cute too, Naomi. Should I tell George or does he already know?" Dream fired back, trying to embarrass her as much as she embarrassed Y/n.

Naomi's evil smile fell before a confident one took its place with a raise of her eyebrow. "Oh, he knows."

Y/n laughed abruptly and grabbed the phone back from her friend. "Okay, I'm hanging up now." Before I lose self-control and show you my whole face right here, right now, she thought to herself.

"Boooo," Dream whined. "Will you call me back later? Please?"

"Maybe," she teased. "Depends on if I'm clumsy enough to fall and break everything like you think I will."

"I don't think that. I just want you to be safe."

He needed to stop being so sweet. "Don't worry, I'll be fine. I'm a pro."

"I believe it. Still, though."

"I'll be safe. I promise."

"Also, Bug, um..." he paused shyly. "You have really pretty eyes. Just... thought I'd tell you."

Heat rose to her face again and the look on Naomi's face said she could tell.

"Thanks, Dream."

Naomi nodded her head towards her Y/n's door. "I'll be in my room," she whispered and Y/n nodded.

"Sorry," Y/n said to Dream with a short laugh. "I don't know why I did that."

"It's okay," he reassured. "I appreciate it. I know it was just a small part of your face but it still means a lot to me that you showed me because I know you haven't shown anyone."

"I want to," she blurted out. "I really, really do."

"Want to what?"

"Show people my face." She squeezed her eyes shut and walked to her bed, setting the phone face up towards the ceiling. "Specifically you."

He paused. "Then... why don't you? I'm not pressuring you, I just don't understand. If you want to, then what's stopping you?"

"It's not that simple, Dream," she responded softly. "I'm scared."

Dream was silent for a few moments. "That's kinda what I wanted to talk about earlier before Tommy came in."

"Really?" she perked up. What was he going to say? That she seemed too scared so he didn't what her to go on the trip?

"Yeah, uh, I know you're nervous about meeting everyone and Sapnap and I were talking and– well, okay, so I assume you, Karl, and Naomi are going to go to Georgia together?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, so, yeah, what if– only if you want, obviously, but, you guys could come down to Florida and hang out with us for a few days and then, like, the five of us could go up to Georgia together? That way you meet two people first instead of everyone at once. So, like, since you haven't shown anyone, it'll be like dipping your toe in the water and if you meet Sapnap and I and absolutely hate it you can go back home before meeting everyone else." He finally concluded his proposition and Y/n's heart was so warmed. He was so sweet it was killing her.

"I'll still pay for all the travel stuff for you guys to fly down here," he added with a shy mumble at her silence, "and it's only a four and a half hour drive from here so Sapnap and I were just going to drive up and we could just rent a bigger car to fit comfortably. But obviously you can say no. Just a thought we had."

"Dream," Y/n started softly, her voice coming out way more fondly than she intended but she did nothing to fix it.

"Yeah?"

"You're the sweetest damn person I've ever met in my entire life."

"I just want you to be comfortable," he said softly.

"I think..." she paused. "I think that would be fun. I'd like that. I'll see what Naomi and Karl think."

His voice perked up slightly. "Really? Awesome. You guys can come down whenever. We're going to leave on the 26th to get there that night but whenever you guys want to come, you can. You could even spend Christmas with us if you want to come a few days earlier. Might be hard to find tickets this late since it's the holidays but I can see what I can find."

"That would be cool! The three of us were just going to hang out together so we don't really have plans for Christmas. I'll ask them but I think they'll like that too."

"Cool," he breathed. "If you want to say no later, you can."

"I don't want to say no, Dream."

He paused and his next word had his smile laced clearly through them. "Okay."

"Thank you–thank you for thinking of me," Y/n fumbled out. "It means a lot to me."

"Eh, it might be a little selfish of me, too. I just want to spend as much time with you as I can."

She beamed and bit her lip to not laugh with pure joy. "I'm probably selfish too because I'm going to make Karl and Naomi agree even if they don't want to go."

"I have no problem if you need to use physical force," he joked.

Y/n laughed and shook her head. "I should go save Naomi from her boredom."

"Okaaayyy..." he sighed. "If you must. Thanks for talking with me today."

"I had fun! I'm surprised you didn't bore me to death," she teased and he scoffed.

"Well apparently I did since you're ditching me!"

"Nooo, you could never bore me."

"Hmm... sure."

"Dream," Y/n dragged out and he laughed. "You're so clingy."

"Ugh, I know," he joked. "It's almost like I like you or something."

Y/n froze before mentally scolding herself. He was obviously joking, but it still made her heart skip some beats.

"Almost," she mumbled. "Alright, I'm going to go. I'll call you later if you're free and want to hang out on call more or something."

"Yeah, I'd like that," he said. "Have fun with Naomi! And don't get hurt."

She laughed. "I won't get hurt. Bye, Dream."

"Bye bye, Bug."

Y/n finally hung up and threw her phone on her bed with a small external scream. Naomi came back into the room a few moments later with a smirk on her face and leaned against the doorframe. "Done with the call?"

"Naomi..." she said dreamily. "He's... too freaking cute."

Naomi laughed. "Come on, lover girl, you can tell me all about it while we go outside. Bikes or skating?"

"I haven't gone biking in a while, let's do that."

"Perfect, I found a new trail recently I've wanted to try out," Naomi said as she grabbed her keys off the front table. "Let's go."

"OH, and then," Y/n recounted her story with Dream in detail (per Naomi's request) and she swerved on her bike a little in excitement."Then he said, 'it's almost like I like you or something'! What does that mean??"

Naomi laughed brightly and looked over her shoulder at Y/n. "Maybe it means that he likes you."

Y/n scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Yeah, right. Don't get my hopes up."

"I mean it, Y/n. I know you think it's not possible, but just think about it. Do you really think you didn't like him until you saw him?"

Y/n looked up into the treetops that provided shade on their trail. She dreaded that question. She had thought about it so many times, tossing and turning countless nights asking herself the same question over and over. When did she start liking Dream? She had always had interest in him but when did her starstruck admiration and wanting to be his friend turn into wanting to hold his hand and kiss him good morning? When did that change happen? Could it have happened before she knew what he looked like? It would go against so much that she believed, so much she had been told, but... maybe it was true?

"I don't know," Y/n admitted softly. "I really don't know."

Naomi's heart broke for her friend, knowing her internal battle was killing her slowly. "Hey," Naomi said in a lighter tone than she felt. "It'll all work out. I promise."

"What if it doesn't? What if he really doesn't like me and won't ever like me?"

Naomi shrugged. "Then... then he missed out and someone better will eventually come along."

Y/n nodded, wanting to talk about something a little happier. "So... I showed him my eye."

"You did," Naomi said cautiously. "I wasn't going to bring it up, but, damn dude. How do you feel?"

"Good. Great. I know it's small and insignificant but it doesn't feel that way."

"I don't think it's insignificant. It definitely shows you trust him a lot."

"He said I have pretty eyes," Y/n whispered excitedly, making Naomi laugh.

"You do! You really do."

"Speaking of thinking things are pretty, George knows?? What does that mean? Have you guys video called or what? I've been so stuck in my pity party that I have no idea what's going on with that!"

Naomi turned pink but her confident smile never faded. She slowed down and Y/n followed suit, both taking drinks from their water. "Can we sit for a minute?" Naomi asked as she nodded towards a large tree trunk. Y/n nodded and they sat down together, bikes haphazardly thrown to the side of the trail.

"So?"

"So," Naomi started. "George."

"George," Y/n prompted. "What's going on?"

"I like him a lot. And... he told me he likes me."

Y/n raised her eyebrows and beamed at her friend. "Really? Naomi, that's great! That's so awesome, I'm so happy for you!"

Naomi let out a small squeal before blushing. "I know. We're both a little worried because of long-distance but we decided to not think about it until after the trip. Then we'll work out how often we want to see each other and stuff."

"Wait, so, are you guys, like, dating?"

Naomi hummed. "No? But I have joked about how I'm going to kiss him as soon as I see him and it always makes him turn bright red and he just laughs and is like, 'you're an idiot', so that's a good sign."

Y/n laughed. "Yeah, sounds like George."

"Sorry I haven't told you sooner. I just feel like since you're so confused about everything with Dream that it would be like I'm bragging or something? And I didn't want to make you sad that I'm talking to this boy so much and—"

"Naomi," Y/n smiled and grabbed her arm. "It's okay. I'm not upset by it. I'm so so happy for you, really."

Naomi let out a breath of relief. "Thanks, Y/n. You're a really good friend."

"You make it easy to be a good friend to you," she said with a smile and a scrunched nose. "You're the best. I love you."

"I love you too," Naomi giggled and threw her arms around Y/n, forcing a hug even if she didn't want it. Y/n accepted it anyway, hugging her friend back tightly.

"Alright, break's over. Let's finish this thing. How much more do we have to go?"

Naomi checked the map on her phone. "About a mile. Think you can manage not falling off for another mile?"

"What?"

"I promised Dream I wouldn't let you get hurt."

Y/n rolled her eyes fondly. "He's so stupid."

"Maybe, but you like it."

"Who on Earth knows why? Oh! That reminds me," Y/n said as she got back on her bike and rode slowly next to Naomi. "I forgot to mention a huge detail."

"Ugh, you never stop talking about him," Naomi teased. "Just kidding, what happened? I want to know everything."

"This involves you and Karl. How do you feel about taking a detour to Florida before the trip?"

______

When Y/n got home, she showered while Naomi made them dinner. "Today was fun," she said as she sat down at the kitchen table. "We need to hang out more, just the two of us. Thank you so much," she added as Naomi handed her a plate off food.

Naomi nodded. "Agreed. But when do we ever have time when you aren't streaming and I'm not doing school or working?"

"Hmm, true. For a job with a flexible schedule, I don't feel very flexible. Maybe I should promise to join less streams."

"But then I can't join streams," Naomi joked with a laugh.

"Just ask George. I'm not your closest streamer friend anymore apparently," she fake pouted and Naomi blushed.

"He wants me to join one of his streams except neither of us want anyone to know so he thinks it'll be suspicious if it's just him and I."

'Wait, no one else knows you two have been talking?"

"Well, Dream does based on his joke earlier but you're the only person that either of us have told that we're, like, actually talking."

"Oh, I feel so special!"

Naomi laughed. "Good. You are."

Y/n smiled and looked down as her phone vibrated on the table.

"Boyfriend calling?" Naomi teased with one eyebrow quirked.

Y/n stuck her tongue out. "Wouldn't you like that?"

"I would like that. Date him."

"Oh, shut up," Y/n said with a laugh. "But actually, Dream invited me to get back on and hang out."

"So I was right?"

"No."

"Well, go ahead, I won't stop you."

"Thanks, Naomi. I had fun today, thanks for forcing me out of my room and for dinner."

"Anytime dude," she giggled. "Put that sponge down, I'll clean up."

"But you made dinner. Let me help."

"No! Go, your boyfriend is waiting for you. I got it."

Y/n ignored her and started cleaning dishes and putting them in the dishwasher.

"You're the worst. Love you."

"Love you!" Y/n called back as she walked to her room. She got on her desktop and opened Discord while she waited for Minecraft to load.

"Who just joined?" Tubbo asked in a tired voice. "Oh, Bugsy, hello again!"

"Hi!" she greeted back. "How's everyone doing?"

"Good, good, good. How was your, uh, thing? Bikes... or something?" Ranboo asked.

"Yeah, I went on a bike ride with my roommate. It was fun! The weather was super good today so it was good."

"Is it the roommate who's coming on the trip with us?" Tubbo asked.

"Yup," she replied. Ranboo fake whined and Y/n's heart hurt a little. "Ranboo I wish you could come."

"Me too. It would be fun but also very scary," he chuckled and Y/n nodded. "But I'm busy anyway."

"I'm terrified," she admitted. "So I fully understand."

"It's going to be good, Bug," Dream reassured softly, sending butterflies to her stomach. "I promise."

"Why are you terrified?" Tubbo asked.

"Um... just... you know... showing my face to everyone," she said with a small laugh. "Kinda weird." Though, admittedly, she was much less nervous than a few hours ago before she showed Dream her eye.

"Well, Dream has seen you, hasn't he?" Ranboo asked.

"No, what makes you think that?"

"He hasn't?" Tubbo spoke up. "I'm shocked! I could have sworn he had."

"What, why? Dream asked.

"You guys are just super close so I guess we assumed," Tubbo explained.

"No, we are close, Bug is just a tease," Dream joked and Y/n scoffed.

"Oh, whatever. You've seen more than anyone else."

"What?" Ranboo asked with a slight panic in his voice. "What, uh, what does that mean? Oh gosh."

"She showed me her eye today!" Dream announced like it was a huge deal. Which, it kinda was. "But she's a tease because that's all she showed."

"Why do you want to see her so bad, huh Dream?" Ranboo teased. "Hmm???"

"So I can call her pretty without her yelling at me that I can't know," Dream stated bluntly.

Y/n buried her face in her hands, the Minecraft welcome screen long forgotten, and laughed. "I cannot stand you, Dream."

"Awe!!" Tubbo cooed. "Bugsy, give the poor man a break, why don't you show him?"

When she normally would have taken that sort of comment to heart and would have beaten herself up about not showing him, she lifted her head to look at her screen. 'Give the poor man a break'.

"No, Tubbo, she doesn't owe me anything," Dream said with a nervous laugh. "Don't pressure her!!"

"I'm not! I'm not pressuring her to do anything!" Tubbo defended. "I was just joking! But it would be so easy to just send a picture of your face."

"But she doesn't want to and I respect that. Ranboo, are you still on the SMP? Where are you?"

Y/n tuned out the conversation, which had quickly changed topics, scrolling right to the picture she found the other day of her sitting on her bed. She didn't think twice. It just felt right.

Sent

"So, the next manhunt is going to have five hunters or what? Like what's changing?" Ranboo asked. "I think it's super cool that you're continuing the series."

"Yeah," Dream started to explain. "I'm trying to see who would be the best to have as the fifth person to make it—"

Y/n's heart pounded in her ears as she listened to the new silence, waiting for some verbal indication from Dream that everything was okay. That he saw the picture and that everything was still okay.

But he was dead silent.

"Dream?" Ranboo laughed. "Uhhhhh...."

"Uh.." Tubbo laughed too. "Did he break? Dream?"

Y/n bit down on her hoodie sleeve in anticipation and excitement, surprised that there were butterflies in her chest instead of raging thunderstorms of fear.

A loud sound banged through her headphones and her eyes darted to the Discord to see it came from Dream's mic. "Dream?" she asked softly. Did this man just knock something off of his desk?

His regard for them being on call with others completely evaporated. "Holy shit, Bug," he breathed out. "I-Is that you?"

"Sure is," she hummed.

"What the hell?!" he shouted, joy and surprise laced in his voice.

"Wait, what happened?" Tubbo asked before sounding excited. "Did you actually send him a picture of yourself?"

"Mhm," she hummed. "Maybe."

"AHHA! YOU BROKE HIM!" Tubbo laughed.

"Error: Dream.exe broke," Ranboo teased. "Man's files broke at the sight of Bugsy Games. Headlines tomorrow: Bugsy Games murders DreamWasTaken with a selfie."

"Oh, shut up," she breathed.

"Text me back right now," Dream demanded.

Y/n giggled as the other two teased Dream but she picked up her phone and found his one-word response.

Seconds later, Dream's voice was back in her ears. "Uh... I'm gonna get off. I have a lot to process."

Tubbo and Ranboo laughed loudly. "A lot to process?? HAHAHA! Just say you're in love with her and move on."

"WhaaAATT?" Dream yelled. "I-I'm not in love with her, what the hell is wrong with you, Tubbo?"

Y/n laughed, agreeing with him even though it kinda hurt. He didn't have to sound too shocked at the accusation.

"Have fun processing," Ranboo said. "Are you staying Bugsy?"

"Nah, I'm gonna get off too. I'm pretty tired."

"Are you going to be in Big Q's stream tomorrow though?"

She hummed. "I don't know. I didn't know he was streaming tomorrow."

"Oh, I thought he invited you?"

"Guess not. He just lost points."

Dream laughed. "Good."

"Well... we should stream together soon," Ranboo said. "I think that would be really cool."

"I do too! We definitely should. If you have any ideas or anything let me know, okay?"

"Yeah, I will!" he promised. "Talk to you later."

"Bye guys," she said before disconnecting. She noticed Dream linger in the call for a little bit even though he said he was leaving and she decided to get ready for bed, turning off her computer and walking to her closet. She was stopped by some texts though. Priorities.

PREVIOUS | NEXT

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[storiesforallfandoms]

safe space ~ corpse husband

word count: 1296

request?: yes!

“Ok I just had this random imagine idea for corspe husband pop into my head. Its kinda long but I think it would be cute. The reader gets panic/anxiety attacks too but the reader had never been able to calm down or have a safe space when they have them. One time they were on the verge of having one and corspe just held them and they calmed down and they were surprised. It happens like that a few times and the reader realizes he's their safe space. One time they were about to have one and corspe was in his room editing (not streaming or recording) and the reader goes to him and plops on his lap and he's confused and the reader mumbles something like safe space and he's just shocked and happy. Idk I think its cause I just had one that I thoguht of this. I know its long. I just want some long cute corspe fluff. 🖤”

description: in which she finds out that her safe space is in his arms

pairing: corpse x female!reader

warnings: swearing, anxiety attacks

masterlist

The first time we realized that Corpse was my safe space was during an Among Us stream. I was in Corpse’s room playing so that we didn’t accidentally cheat off of one another. The round had ended with me throwing and voting for Leslie instead of Felix, causing the imposters to win, which resulted in everyone immediately yelling when they could all unmute their mics again.

I knew they weren’t actually mad, but I felt myself becoming overwhelmed with all the yelling. My breathing was becoming quicker and more shallow, and everything I could possibly say caught in my throat. Tears were forming in my eyes and my hands were shaking so bad I could barley even try to type anything in the chat. No one noticed my silence over all the shouting, except for Corpse, who knew me all too well.

The door to his YouTube room opened and the next thing I knew, his arms were around me, holding me tightly.

“They’re not actually mad,” he whispered, soothingly, in my ear. “It’s okay baby, you’re okay.”

Although it was still a long process of coming down from my attack, I felt myself relax in his arms quicker than I normally did. I cuddled my head into his chest and listened to his steady heartbeat until I felt myself feeling better. Corpse ended his stream and both of us left the game to spend the rest of the night just cuddling in bed together.

After that, Corpse became my safe place. Whenever he was around for an anxiety attack, he’d take me in his arms and would hold me as long as I needed him to. When he was busy, I’d put on one of his hoodies that smelled like him, which did the trick well enough but not as much as actually feeling his arms around me.

One day, I was hunched over my laptop, trying to make sense of the assignment I had been given for one of my classes. The wording of the assignment made absolutely no sense, and what was expected was extremely confusing. I didn’t know anyone in my class well enough to reach out and ask for help, so I felt stuck. And, of course, the stupid thing was due in a week’s time and I didn’t even know where to start for it.

My mind began to fill with anxious thoughts. I was convinced that this one assignment was going to lead to my ultimate failure of the entire class, and I was sure that that’s what I deserved.

You should’ve started earlier, a voice in my mind was saying. If you fail you deserve it. You have no one to blame but yourself, you lazy piece of shit.

Corpse was in his YouTube room, luckily just editing a video and not actually recording or streaming. As I felt my anxiety attack coming on, I debated on walking in without warning. I needed him more than anything right now, but I didn’t want to interrupt him when he was technically working. However, my vision was already becoming blurred from a combination of tears and how bad I was shaking, so I knew this would be a bad one that I couldn’t ride out on my own.

Corpse looked up at me as I walked into the room without knocking. He looked confused, but pushed his chair out anyways to give me room to curl up on his lap.

“What are you doing?” he asked, a mixture of confused and amused.

“Safe space,” I mumbled against his chest. My shaking was already becoming less intense.

He kissed the top of my head and wrapped his arms around me, holding me tightly to him. We sat like that for some time. I listened to Corpse’s steady heartbeat, a soothing sound that could’ve lulled me to sleep if I wasn’t still coming down from my near attack.

After a while, I felt Corpse move his chair back to his desk. He leaned forward ever so slightly as to not disrupt me on his lap and continued to edit his video. I watched as he did so, giggling at the parts that made me laugh, which was approval enough for Corpse to keep them in the video.

We were sat like that for nearly an hour. I had long calmed down, but I was so comfortable in Corpse’s arms that I didn’t want to move. When he finished editing, I turned to face him, straddling his lap and wrapping my arms around his neck.

“Are you okay?” he asked, resting his hands on my hips.

“I am now,” I confirmed. “I’m sorry for bothering you while you were editing.”

“You don’t have to apologize, baby. You have nothing to apologize for. You know you can always come to me when you need me.”

I ran my hands through his hair and gave him a light kiss on the nose, causing him to chuckle.

“You’re too good to me,” I said, my voice low in a whisper.

“Saying I’m too good to you implies that you don’t deserve someone who is going to be there for you at all times,” he said. “Which you do. You deserve that and so much more.”

“You’re gonna make me cry!” I said, blinking away the tears of happiness that were forming in my eyes. “Stop being so cute!”

“I can’t, it’s a disease. I can’t get rid of it.”

I giggled and kissed him again.

“Want to talk about what had you so worked up?” he asked.

I sighed and leaned back more to look at him. “It’s that stupid assignment for my class. I’ve left it for too long and now it’s due next week and I have no idea what to do for it. I’m afraid I’m gonna fail, the assignment and the class...and I feel like I deserve to fail for leaving it so late.”

“A week is plenty of time to work on it once you have it figured out,” Corpse said. “Can you email your professor to get it explained?”

“I can try, but she’s awful for responding. Last time I emailed her she didn’t respond until the day it was due, and by then I had already bullshit my way through the assignment and submitted it. I don’t even know I can do that for this one.”

“It’s worth a try. You can email her, then I’ll see if there’s any way I can help you figure it out while you wait. I warn you though, I am not the brightest person out there.”

“Well that’s a lie. You’re much smarter than I am.”

“See, that’s where you’re wrong. That’s the simp in you clouding your judgement of me.”

I chuckled at this as Corpse pulled me to him to kiss my neck. I let out a squeal as he rose from his chair, my legs still wrapped around his waist and his arms still holding me tightly.

He carried me back to his room and basically threw me down on his bed. He took my school stuff off the bed and proceeded to flop down on top of me, effectively pinned me down to the bed.

“Get up! I gotta email my prof!” I laughed, trying - and failing - to push him off of me.

“You can email later. I want to cuddle.”

I playfully rolled my eyes, but in truth I was grateful for this moment. No stress, no anxiety, just the love of my life in my arms and his head on my chest. I played with his curly brown hair as he ran his fingers gently over my sides.

This was my safe space, my happy place. And I truly couldn’t ask for a better one.

[marauderundercover]

Taking Chance Ch. 15: Problem Solving (Last name: Wayne)

AO3

Prev

Walking into class after lunch break, Marinette keeps her head down. No need to bring attention to the fact that she’s late...again. Sliding into her seat, she breathes a sigh of relief that Mme. Bustier is also late. Probably making copies. Either way, it had saved her from getting in trouble for being late again. Opening her bag to take out her stuff, she winces as Lila’s voice pierces the room.

“And then, he said he missed me so much that he cried!” She exclaims, clutching her hands together and sighing. Marinette rolls her eyes, certain that whoever it is either doesn’t actually know Lila, or doesn’t know Lila. Either way….lie.

“I still can’t believe you’re official with THE Tim Drake!” Alya exclaims. Marinette immediately chokes on air, her entire face turning bright red as she coughs and attempts to catch her breath. It doesn’t help that everyone is suddenly staring at her and waiting to see if she’s okay. The story pops back into her mind. Yeah, sure Lila. Tim Drake is dating you- an annoying little kid. Sure.

“Are you okay?” Rose asks once Marinette finally catches her breath. She smiles awkwardly, not ready for a confrontation with Lila over this, but also wary to let anyone spread this specific rumor.

“Yeah, it’s just-” Marinette pauses and sighs. This wouldn’t be the high road, but she had to watch out for her brother. “I’m just not sure Lila is telling the truth.” Chaos erupts around her. She chances a glance at Adrien, surprised to see his supportive smile. Well, almost. They had gotten closer. And sure, he’s said he liked her in Gotham, but she kinda thought he just blurted it out after seeing she was Ladybug. She wasn’t quite sure if he actually liked her.

“I-I just don’t understand why you hate me!” Lila sobs.

“I don't-” Marinette tries to say. Keyword- tries.

“Girl, you should apologize. Lila's been talking about Tim since before we even went to Gotham! They’re super serious now. They have been for almost two years.” Alya says.

“No they’re not! Do you seriously think an almost twenty year old CEO would date some fifteen year old kid from halfway across the world? I doubt Tim’s ever even been to Italy or France since becoming Co-CEO.” Marinette rambles, knowing with absolute certainty that she was right.

“Marinette! You’re kind of being mean. Lila says-” Rose tries to say.

“Just because Lila said something doesn’t mean it’s true!” Marinette cries, her frustration threatening to overwhelm her.

“Girl, you seriously need to apologize.” Alya says softly. Marinette’s jaw drops.

“For what?” She scoffs, throwing her arms up in exasperation. “For seeing the truth and calling it out? For not bending to Lila’s every whim?”

“For being a bad friend.” Alya says simply. Marinette freezes. A bad friend? Really? Her? A bad friend? How? All she’d ever done was try to be good. To be nice. To be perfect.

“Whatever.” She finally says, standing and grabbing her stuff. She storms out of the room, ignoring the yells of protest from her classmates. She thinks she hears Adrien, but she ignores him too and continues on her rampage past everyone, including Mme. Bustier. She doesn’t stop until she’s in the basement of the school. The only thing down here were a few vending machines. She tries to calm herself down, knowing her anger is unnecessary. But it’s hard.

She wants to let herself be mad, she should be able to be mad about this! She was always trying to be  a good friend and do things for other people and help the class even when she didn’t have time. Even if it meant missing out on sleep or doing something she wants to do, she put them first. Always. But somehow, Lila came out on top. She always comes out on top. They always believed Lila. Always.

“You should leave Marinette, before you attract an akuma.” Tikki says calmly. Marinette blinks, trying to figure out- Oh. Kaalki. Duh. Quickly calling on her transformation, Marinette portals into her room at the manor before a butterfly can come infect her. The second she lands, she calls off her transformation and continues her pacing.

“I’ve always been there for them. Always helped them. Always cared. How is calling Lila out being a bad friend? She’s not even my friend!” Marinette rambles with a huff.

“Maybe you should talk to your family- get their opinions.” Tikki suggests. Marinette starts to turn her down, then realizes she has to say something. Lila’s telling lies about Tim. Lies that could get him in some serious trouble.

“I have to tell Tim! If Alya publishes anything about Lila and Tim he could get in a LOT of trouble.” Marinette rambles, throwing her door open. She blinks in surprise at Tim, standing there frowning with a huge cup of what she assumes is coffee.

“When’d you get here?” He asks, and she can tell he’s much too tired to take this seriously right now.

“I’ll fill you in later, Timmy. Get some sleep.” She says, giving him a quick hug before darting around him and down the stairs. She had to tell someone who could deal with it. Not that she wanted Lila to get in trouble or anything like that, but...she didn’t want them to be able to lie about her family anymore. She’d accept all of those other stupid lies if she just stopped lying about the Waynes.

Running past the ballroom, a sudden movement makes her backtrack and actually glance into the ballroom. Her eyes widen when she notices the movement she caught was Dick….hanging from the chandelier. Of course. Well, he’s not going to be much help, she thinks, shaking her head and turning to try and find someone else. Maybe Mr.- maybe her dad was around. Now if she was a superhero/co-CEO combo where would she spend her free time. She hums, before deciding to check his study. If he wasn’t in there, she’d just go through and check the Batcave. He had to be in one of those places. She knocks on his study door, completely expecting silence, so she’s confused when she hears him call:

“Come in.” She raises an eyebrow. Okay, so he is in the study. Pushing the door open, she smiles at him, rubbing the back of her neck nervously at the brief look of complete and total shock on his face.

“Uh, hi Dad.” She says, rocking back onto her heels nervously. He controls his face quickly, gesturing for her to shut the door.

“Marinette. When did you arrive?” He asks, carefully examining her. She turns red when she realizes- he’s looking for injuries. Since going back to Paris, she hadn’t really communicated with her family unless she was injured or unable to fight. Promising herself to change that, she sits in the chair in front of his desk.

“Five minutes ago, maybe? I’m not sure. I just-” She pauses and frowns, realizing that her emotions almost got the better of her today. She almost let her frustration win. Over something silly. Shaking the thoughts away, she says “I was upset. Lila was lying again and usually I can just ignore her but this time… She was telling everyone that she’s dating Tim, and that they’re really serious and have been for almost two years.” Her dad’s eyebrows twitch slightly.

“Isn’t Lila your age?” He asks.

“Well, she’s already fifteen. But still, it would put Tim in a really bad light if Alya posted it somewhere and knowing Alya, she’s going to post it. Because they all believe Lila. And I tried to explain to them that Tim is quite a bit older than us and he’s an actual CEO and we’re just kids to him and he hasn’t even been in Italy or France and-” She pauses, letting herself take a breath. “I just think it’s wrong for her to lie about my family.”

---

Bruce tries hard to hide his shock. His daughter, who he’d known for less than two months, came all the way to Gotham because someone lied about Tim. It wasn’t the first time someone lied about the Wayne family, and it certainly wouldn’t be the last time. But the fact that his daughter was so upset that she had to come here...he was not going to let this slide. Wayne manor was a safe place, so he would make sure Marinette was able to breathe and relax a little before going home. And he was going to plan a way to stop the lies, to help Marinette.

“How can I help?” He asks, wanting to help but also wanting to make sure he does not overstep. He had heard her explaining to Damian why she let the girl get away with so many lies- it was an attempt to stop a mass akumatization. Bruce also wanted to avoid something like that, which is why he would follow his daughter’s lead.

“I don’t know! I know if I reveal everything it’s- it’s gonna be bad. I don’t know if we’d be able to handle something like that right now. Two of our temporary holders, people I trust a lot, are out of town. I don’t really trust anyone else and I’m certain we’d need their powers for the fallout from Lila’s kingdom falling.” She explains, bouncing her leg up and down as she glances around the room, possibly to come up with a plan. Bruce knew that he used a similar method when he was younger.

“What about the rumors related to the family? Do you think it would be safe to end those?” He asks, a plan beginning to form. But he’d have to get her permission. It would change many things.

“Well….yes. Yes, I think it would be safe. And even if it wasn’t, I know the fallout wouldn’t be anywhere as bad as if some of the other lies came to light.” She says. Bruce nods.

“Very well. Marinette, I believe I have something that might work, but I’m unsure if you’ll agree.” He says.

“We tell them I’m a Wayne.” Marinette says simply. Bruce blinks in surprise. It had definitely been what he was thinking, but thinking it and hearing his daughter say it out loud as if it was the most simple thing ever, those were two completely different things. He’s silent, trying to gather his words again when Marinette chuckles nervously. “I mean, we could say that I know you guys. Cause that’s not a lie.” She says. He sighs, realizing that his silence may have hurt her.

“Marinette, honey, you’re a Wayne. I want you to be one, and if you do as well, then of course we can tell them. I can even arrange for nondisclosure statements to be signed by the students in your class and the faculty. In case you’re not quite ready for the entire world to know.” He says quietly, hoping his voice is soft enough to reassure her. Her tense shoulders fall as she relaxes, her smile easing back into a natural one. Good. He didn’t mess up this time.

“Can we really do that? I do want to be a Wayne, it’s just. I’m not sure I’m ready for the world to look at me.” She says quietly. At this, he quirks a smile.

“If Adrien Agreste’s father is able to get an entire school to sign NDA’s about the boy’s lunch habits, I’m certain that having them sign an NDA when it’s for your safety will be no issue. Besides, if anyone breaks the NDA with malicious or ill intent, we can sue them.” He says simply.

“Oh, well, suing them seems a bit much.” She mumbles. He’s about to argue, when she shrugs. “But it also makes sense. Let’s do this.” He’s instantly proud of the determined look in her eyes. From saving her city to fighting lying bullies, his daughter was so much stronger than she thought.

---

Walking into class the following Monday was nerve wracking. It was almost the end of the school year, so she could’ve asked her Dad to wait until the next year to fix it. But she didn’t want to chance Lila lying about Tim all summer. Or anyone else in her family. Lila could use anyone else- even MDC- to get ahead, Marinette didn’t care. But she was done with Lila using her family. Originally, she had wanted to just do it quietly. Tell the teacher and have her pass out the forms. That’s probably how she would have done it too if her brothers hadn’t found out.

Now, her entire family was coming. She was cautious, but they promised to keep their emotions in check while they were in town. And they could always portal out if things got too tense. But, her brothers were drama queens. So it just made sense that they wanted to give her class the papers in person. She suspected Tim also wanted the chance to glare at Lila in person, and she wasn’t about to deny him that.

“Okay class! We have a few guests coming in today. They’ll be here in a couple minutes and I want you all to give them your full attention and respect.” Mme. Bustier announces, clapping her hands to get their attention. Marinette lets out a shaky breath. Here goes nothing. She tunes out the chatter of her classmates, keeping her eyes on the door. Waiting. Watching. Finally, she sees their shadows outside and her leg starts bouncing. Maybe she shouldn’t have let all of them get involved….

“Oh my god! That’s Bruce Wayne!” Alya yells as her family walks in. Marinette winces slightly at the instant fangirling from many of her classmates. She risks a glance at Lila and tries not to laugh at how pale the Italian girl had gotten. In fact, she looked a little green.

“Hello everyone! My name is Bruce Wayne, though I think you all should remember me from your trip to Gotham.” He says with a wide (fake) smile. Marinette wrinkles her nose. She doesn’t like this fake side of her Dad. She’d much rather watch him be overly serious than use that weird fake smile.

“We’ve brought some forms for everyone in this class to sign, as well as the faculty. The rest of the school won’t be required to sign these forms because it is assumed that what we are about to tell you will not go outside of this room.” Tim starts to explain, no coffee in his hand for once. “I know that it will not go outside of this room because these are NDAs, and we can and will take legal action against anyone who tells someone outside of this room about this information.” Everyone is silent, and while Marinette herself feels tense, she notices that most of her class just looks excited. Except Adrien, who was glancing back at her and looking worried. They’d already talked about this, but he was still worried. He seemed to think that this was one of her worst ideas, but honestly, Marinette didn’t care. She wanted to be able to (kind of) openly accept the other half of her family.

“Oh my god, is Tim about to propose?” Alya loudly whispers to Lila. Marinette can’t help it. She snorts. Out loud. Her face instantly heats as the entire room turns to look at her.

“Oh, uh, sorry?” She says, though it’s definitely more of a question than a statement. She wasn’t sorry.

“I am not about to propose. I’m actually not currently seriously seeing anyone, but there is a boy back home who I’ve had a few dates with.” Tim says. Marinette watches as Alya tries to say something, only to be stopped by Nino gently patting her hand and shaking his head. Good. Maybe they’d get through this without anyone getting akumatized. She glances at Lila again, rolling her eyes at the obviously fake upset look on her face. Is she seriously acting like Tim is cheating on her? In front of Tim? How dumb is she?

“I actually came to have everyone sign an NDA since my youngest daughter is in your class.” Her dad says, metaphorically dropping the bomb. He didn’t just drop it though, he chucked it at the class. The effect is immediate, the entire class erupting in whispers. Mme. Bustier tries, without luck, to gain control of the class. Marinette watches as Damian, who looked ready to murder any and all of her classmates, whistles an insanely high pitch. Wincing slightly, she makes eye contact with him and quirks an eyebrow. He shrugs, but it had been successful. The class was silent once again.

“When is she starting here?” Alya asks, obviously going into reporter mode. Marinette makes eye contact with her Dad, watching as he barely quirks an eyebrow, a silent question. One last chance to back out. She nods for him to continue. She wanted this.

“She actually already goes here. She just decided it was time to embrace the Wayne name.” He says, nodding at her. Marinette lets out a grounding breath and stands, quickly moving over to stand by her brothers. She tries to hide her hands behind her back, knowing they’re shaking like crazy. She positions herself between Dick and Jason, instantly able to relax as the feeling of safety washes over her. The class is completely silent, and Marinette isn’t sure if they don’t understand or if they’re in shock. She’s not sure which would be better.

“What?” Alya asks, barely audible.

“Marinette is my daughter, I am her biological father. She’s a Wayne. And you all have been provided with an NDA about her identity, so that she can remain safe and anonymous to the rest of Paris. Your parents have already agreed and signed both their forms and forms giving you all permission to sign a form. They all understand the importance of this secret, and I urge every single one of you to take this seriously.” Her dad says, giving the class another wide (fake) smile. She lays her head on Dick’s arm, relieved that her class instantly starts signing the forms. No outbursts right now, no possible akumas forming. Nothing. It was a relief, it was freeing. She was certain that it was going to come back and bite her- sooner rather than later if the look on Lila’s face was anything to go by- but for right now, everything was calm. And her family was supposed to stay in Paris for another day, so she’d finally be able to let three of her parents meet in person. It was nice. It was safe.

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