#LIKE ARE YOU INSANE. WERE YOU STICKING YOUR HEAD INTO THE GROUND THE WHOLE GAME

[calicostorms]

"Vivienne doesn't care about other peple" where were you during any of her cutscenes or approvals??? Hello?????

[otherworldlygate]

Sometimes I think about the beginning of tos and how hard it goes. Like "hey theres a literal human slave ranch outside your childhood home. Attempting to talk to its prisoners is against the law. And when your caught doing so were going to make you fight this feeble old women who has turned into a monster." Like this happend what, an hour into the game?? And I think because of how many times I've replayed this game the beginning always sticks out so much in my head... and these first scenes does SUCH a good job of characterizing everyone.... god I love this game idk if this was coherent lol

You're absolutely right; it's actually kind of insane how hard the first part of this game goes. The human ranches are just a part of life to these people, and later we get a lot more insight into how different areas feels about it. Palmacosta wants to fight back against them. Iselia just looks the other way because they have the only peace treaty with the Desians. Everyone else is jealous of Iselia but for whatever reason they don't move there. (I have ideas about this but the game doesn't really tell you.) The whole thing with Marble happening, Genis and Lloyd being kicked out of the town they've more or less grown up in... This doesn't get explored as much as I think it probably should be (probably because so much happens so fast). This sucks for Lloyd but at least his home is pretty far from town (random aside: I liked Dirk helping them in the OVA, actually, because I think it adds something really great to the scene). However, this is a huge deal to Genis. Iselia was the first place he was able to make a friend and feel that he had a home. His and Raine's house literally burned to the ground with everything they owned that Raine hadn't taken with her in it. As if the two of them haven't been traumatized enough by having to move so many times over in their lives.

And all of this alongside Genis and Lloyd getting more or less tricked into killing Marble--someone Genis had befriended a while back despite the warnings and law telling him not to.

I mean, the characters do move on from this, and eventually we see them welcome in Iselia again, but what a way to start the game off! You just immediately get a very good picture of who the main characters are and on replays you start seeing and noticing things that maybe didn't stick out to you the first time you played.

Also, and this is just my opinion but Colette, Lloyd, and Genis being at the forefront of the story is a big part of what sells the story.

[heckinhacker]

Return of 'more Taliyah content' from one or two breaks ago, or perhaps Ahri/reader/Nidalee (cute and hot) threesome content, or 'something that speaks to you, with Ori' #h4ck :3

A/N: Oh, I remember you! I said back then you can request Taliyah content but just to add some prompt. I'm happy that you sticked around long enough to see my silly post at least! Hi hello welcome back!! I'm not sure if I'll in the end will stick around and write properly but I'm glad you took participation in my silly little event.

Taliyah x Reader - general relationship headcanons

Oh my gosh I LOVE TALIYAH SO MUCH!!!

Give this girl some more appreciation pLEASE

She's the one who falls in love first and falls HARDER for sure

She met you randomly, she can't even put a finger when your paths crossed, but some time later she just knew she had big feelings for you.

You know how in-game she says to Ekko line that goes like: "Did the earth move for you too? Did I just say that out loud?" Because she's so OBVIOUS and so cute plsss

She mutters something similiar at you when she meets you but since you did not know her, or not heard enough of her at the said time, you were just left confused--

Taliyah couldn't look you in the face for a next week

She just wanted to burry herself in the ground and for it to swallow her whole

What is the funniest part? She could arrange that! But instead of suffocating herself underground she wanted to try again...

And she did! She hit you up properly...

Well, as properly as Yasuo, out of all people, could give her advice how to

HAHA n e ways---

She became friends with you easily (or with some difficulties but come on, how can you NOT let in such precious girl like her!!)

And she pins over you, as she feels, for hundreds of years. Oh how she yearns...

It would take you to be blind or really really really really REAAAALLLY oblivous not to catch into her feelings sooner than she confesses.

You might have your own reasons for not approaching her first even though having some sort of idea. Like...not being sure? Not wanting to draw conclusions, or eventually just being afraid of making first move even though it would be the safest dive for it you could ever imagine.

Something was stopping you, and Tali thought she was SLICK--

Nuh-uh, honey, you were anything BUT sneaky about it.

She slipped once, you acted like you did not catch into her intentions for her own good...

Then she does again and she loses faith in herself and in the fact that you might hold ANY kind of bigger feelings towards her.

Oh how wrong she was.

But her wondering made her go insane, slowly but surely, and she got adviced smartly:

" Life is too short to overthink. You should make a move. It's better to regret that you failed instead of regretting you never made a move."

At first I thought it would be Yasuo saying that, her master, but maybe that were Ekko's words? It fits his wisdom and experience.

Going back to main topic-

Advice was smart, and Taliyah was also smart, she decided...'yeah, he was right. Maybe I should go and do that!'

"...but maybe tommorow."

She had inner war going in her head that went: "I think I chickened out" thought VS "It's best I take proper care of myself and then try to confess".

Thankfully she did not wait for longer, just really did her hair neatly, made sure she's nice and clean and ready to go! She had little speech made up in her mind too

(Girl really practiced in front of a mirror for this)

She did cute little speech of how she adores you. I would love to add how it went but it would be really dependant on your characteristics like looks and personality, but she finishes with:

"Throughout everything I kept on thinking of you and loving you! Loving you so much I've got too much restless nights to think my words through. And...phew- I really hope that even if you hypothetically wouldn't return my feelings, that...well...that we could stay friends. Is that possible, maybe...?"

Of course it was! Taliyah is such a sweet girl, gentle soul, why wouldn't anyone at least stay friends with her?

But in this scenario you love her back so!!

You accept, and you can see that little sparkle in her eye, and the transition from shy to very happy!!

She hugs you very tightly and thanks you over and over again. What for? You don't have the heart to ask her, but thankfully she answers for herself

"Thank you for loving me, I wouldn't ever...imagine that, but that's such a happy ending for the situation! Could I maybe...call myself your girlfriend now?"

The answer was yes, she could indeed!

Dating Taliyah left you entertained, and even more importantly, left you feeling loved. Very loved.

Ever since day one she wasn't afraid to grab your hand and hold it, or hug you, or at least kiss your cheek, but she always made sure that you were okay with that.

If you wanted to take things slow, she would stood down for you.

What was great about Taliyah is the fact that even if you wouldn't speak up for yourself about being uncomfortable she would notice. She knows you well enough, after all. You didn't go from strangers to lovers, you were friends before.

So no matter what kind of pace you want, Taliyah makes dating her the best experience you've ever had.

She does a lot of thoughtful surprises, like waiting for you with relaxing hangout including massages, soft talks in a candlelight...you'd always say she's pampering you, but trust me when I say (and also she says so herself) that she enjoys herself while sharing such intimate moment with you too.

She would call it her favourite kind of dates, actually.

She prefers more casual dates than very official ones, but she would take you out if you wanted. Just not as often as you'd think. Maybe out of special events like your future anniversaries, your birthday, any other special event you'd think of as special.

Very enjoys PDA, if you're against it you have to speak up pretty early about it.

She doesn't want to show it not to guilttrip you even on accident, but she gets pouty when she cannot even touch you.

Kisses your hands and nose the most, enjoys eskimo kisses too! She kisses you on the lips only after you've shared your special first kiss together!

She once asked you not to bring her flowers because she can't take care of them no matter how hard she had tried, yet is the one to buy you flowers or flower bouquet. She's totally the type to keep one flower in a vase beside her bed to keep in check how your flowers are doing. Is always too early with a fresh batch because her flower dies faster than your actual bouquet. You could say that she keeps you in stock of flower bouquets, by pure accident.

She travels a lot, and really hopes that you would travel with her. If you wouldn't, on the other hand, she would respect your decision and would do anything to get back to you as soon as she could.

She wants to marry you one day, and has high hopes that you'd agree to marry her in the future. Yet as always, she will respect your choices no matter what they are. She wants to marry, sure, but if that's something you're against, she wants you more than that tradition.

No relationship is perfect and you have conflicts between you. But...Taliyah makes it impossible to call it a fight. Yes, she does lose her temper sometimes, but she never said something that might've hurt you real bad. The most offensive thing she said was once "Well you're stupid to think so!" Because you felt jealous and it went kind of downhill

She even apologises for it because she considers you very smart but she felt like you did not trust her in your relationship and love that she devoted for you and you only.

She talks a lot, and I mean A LOT. She has no idea there is such a thing as comfortable silence, she just fills room up with her bubble talk!

So when you need peace and quiet you have to tell her, she'd understand.

Overall she loves you dearly 🥺

And that's it for now! I'm out of ideas and requests was very general. I wanted to write for Tali since I got this blog and it was a great opportunity, thanks for giving it to me!

[leviathanverse]

Chapter 5: Game Over

You shook as your mind flashed the horrible nightmare of the dragon eating you whole and alive. The sharp teeth covered in blood from the guards it had as a meal from when you ran after freeing the creatures- you couldn't stop thinking about it. Your eyes were wide from fear and shock, waterworks began as the nightmare repeated, hallucinations causing you to feel like you were going insane.

You hugged tour knees, rocking back and forth like a psychopath in a white-yellow straitjacket in a room of an asylum.

" It's okay! It's okay! It's okay!"

You repeated, smiling despite your horrifying nightmare. You wanted comfort from someone. It didn't matter who it was, you just needed someone to reassure you that it was not real, that it was just your mind trying to make you scared in order to protect yourself. You so badly wanted to see a person, so badly wanted to be saved from anyone and ditch this place!

But you knew deep down that it would put them in danger if they tried to rescue you. The dragon would surely make a snack out of any them would have dared to try to rescue you.

Another hallucination of sharp blood covered teeth and you whimpered, trying to press yourself as close to the dirt wall as possible to get away from those horrifyingly sharp teeth. You were weak, the past finally got to your head and made you see things that weren't real. How the dragon was smiling with open jaws as you fell from the air, flailed your arms and legs to try to slowdown your descending form. It made you shiver.

There was something that had wrapped around your ankle and you screamed as it dragged you through the hole you had fallen through, trying to claw the dirt to stop the thing from dragging you, failing miserably. You panicked, fear gripped your chest as you feared the worst. You were a goner, nothing but a meal for the dragon. No, not meal. A snack.

You were lifted in the air by the thing that had wrapped around your ankle, swaying in the air while being dangled from great heights. You moved your head to look up and see what it was that had dragged you. Roots. Actual roots that had surfaced from the ground, dangling you high above the ground in the air.

" This can't be happening..."

You had put two and two together, building it like a puzzle as it dawned on you that your nightmare had just turned into reality.

You heard something large walk underneath you and you dared to look, slowly turning your head to look below you, which only increased your fear.

Red scleras with yellow irises stared at you, hair that stood up and pointed in all directions, horns that protruded from its forehead, large ears with earrings that flicked with every sound that echoed through the forest, large purple wings and a large tail. There were scales that were on its forehead and underneath its eyes, black sleeves with white stripes, golden armor that only covered its chest, a clothe tied with a long white strap of cloth that resembled the kimono of that angry dragon you had freed and black hakama pants.

Your nightmare got a bit too accurate for your liking. Except that it wasn't smiling or exposed its sharp teeth by doing so. You saw traces of dried blood by its chin.

A shiver went down your spine.

You were inches away from its face, hot breathe blew around your dangling form as it exhaled sharply. Before you could react, the roots flicked you into the air. Your body flipped multiple times before it finally stopped, your back now faced the ground below you as you screamed and flailed in the air. You slowly began to fall back down towards the ground before you picked up speed. It was even more terrifying to not see what happened below your quickly descending form.

You managed to flip your body so that you could see what was happening below you. You regretted it as you saw the dragon open its jaws, tongue sticking out as the pink cavern with sharp serrated teeth awaited for your form to plummet right inside. You screamed and cried, eyes widening even more as you fell. Your screams were cut off as you landed inside the jaws, the jaws snapped shut after you as it swallowed you whole and alive. Saliva had drenched your form, sticky and had an incredibly foul stench.

You slipped down the tube of muscle, the flesh greedily pulled you down as you struggled, which only quickened your trip.

A tight ring of muscle let you slip through, causing you to fall inside the large space you knew was its gut. You sobbed, not able to keep yourself together anymore.

' I'm going to fucking die in the worst way possible!'

You hugged your knees, burying your head between them and poured out all your emotions. Your body jerked as you hiccuped, sobbing uncontrollably.

" I was so fucking stupid! I shouldn't have parked my car in the forest. I shouldn't have entered the forest in the first place..."

You felt the stomach around you vibrate as the dragon growled. Probably satisfied after it finally caught you. You were overwhelmed with different emotions. But fear was the emotion that had dominated all the other emotions you felt. You gave up, falling onto your side as helplessness decided to greet fear.

" Please... I just want to go back home..."

You doubted that it heard your weak voice from inside its stomach. You teared up and curled up into a ball inside. What were you thinking? Trying to talk to the very creature that had made you its snack? You doubted that- if it even heard your voice- it would reconsider.

A pang of longing blossomed, making friends with your fear and helplessness.

" ..."

You hugged yourself, preparing for your death so long for when it happened.

" I just wanted to complete my mission... to save the creatures..."

You didn't know why you kept talking to it. Maybe it was to keep your mind off of your fate? Or maybe it was to get rid of the burden known as loneliness? You didn't know which it was or the reason. You just knew that that you were going to die a horrible and painful death.

" ..."

You choked on your own saliva as you sobbed. The dragon hadn't made any sounds or movements when you weakly spoke to it. Had it payed attention when you spoke? Was it thinking of whether or not to let you go? Could it even regurgitate you?

You felt your eyes grow heavy from the humid air and overwhelming emotions that covered your body like a blanket. Not to mention how exhausted you were. It was like the energy was drained from your body itself, leaving only a husk behind. Maybe you wouldn't feel the pain if you slept through the digesting process? That sounded like a good idea. But you couldn't help but speak again.

" You're... the prettiest... dragon I have ever seen... very strong... and... brave..."

Black spots danced in your vision. You managed to utter out another sentence.

" A very... strong... and determined... dragon..."

Darkness finally enveloped your vision like a cloak, sleep came to you and covered your body like a blanket. In your thoughts, you said goodbye as this would be the last time you'd ever be on earth.

Previous <-•-> Next

[boltslutters]

I lowkey forgot what you showed were only the heads. Now i'm curious about the full body, hmmm what does FAQ and FoAQ look like? And what can you tell me about them (idk why but i was instantly drawn to them both)

I'm SO glad you were drawn to these two! :). Unfortunately due to what they are drawing them has always been something I've always avoided, so I don't really have full refs of their modern forms.

Cw: Gore! Body Horror! These two aren't nice in the slightest.

He's a quick doodle of FAQ's modern form (although i would change a few details, namely more gore)

And FoAQ

Here's an older version of FAQ

These two are members of a family of 8 whose family tree looks like a recycling logo (I will explain.)

So I created FAQ when I was in middle school, having recently learned of the magic of the internet and got interested in animation (Specifically, animation memes) around when everyone was obsessed with making them the most gorey, edgy things possible. I became inspired, captivated by the images of horror and terror. As well as a few bad tastes in video game letsplays (I'm looking at you, Watson-Scott test and your pig intestine question), I became hooked on horror, suffering, and ended up concocting a miserable pillar of pain that was partially a reflection of my own puberty-induced hell.

FAQ (First Amalgamate Queen) looks like a white obelisk, made out of an unknown, shiny material. Buried partially in the ground, it looks like a building, were it not for four fleshy, organic eyes on it's cap, but they're nearly invisible when it closes them.

It's full of gore. Mechanical, organic, limbs, its body pulses and throbs within it white shell. It's gore is black in color, due to its blood being an extremely volatile corrosive not even it is immune to, but its body heals and grows with a very powerful heart that produces unreasonable amounts of energy for the tower. The construction, operation, hell, even the space it's supposed to take up doesn't make sense at all, constantly changing, shifting, rotting, scabbing, and pulsing with agonized life.

It's shell is invulnerable. No weapon, no god, no being has pierced its armor. Hell, attacks are mostly futile anyways. It's been known for a habit of simply teleporting away from anything launched at it, and onto the attacker, peeling away it's invulnerble shell and consuming its target into its own body, like an amoeba, and dissolving them until they're lost within the mass. It has a taste for flesh and hunts wildly, indiscriminately, and without thought, consuming anything organic it can get its viscera on.

It can't be stopped, communicated with, bargained with, rationed with, slowed, harmed, imprisoned, restrained, poisoned, predicted, or helped. It ended with a violent death it itself had allowed to happen, corroding someone with it's own blood, it's own gore, letting it fester inside a host until that host was able to withstand FAQ's foaming insides, eat its energy-generating heart, and grow its own shell, becoming its own tower, draining FAQ of its life and letting it finally, truly, die.

When I'd first created it, that host, that second tower was my sona. I don't stick with it anymore, but what I'd been left after I grew and moved on with was undeniably insane for an eldritch monstrosity, and I integrated it into my story. SAQ (Second Amalgamate Queen) is FAQ's descendant, and it too would be killed and replaced by what would be TAQ, then FoAQ.

There's a bit of confusion regarding the power core of these towers and the fact there's more than one (specifically, a half), but TAQ was split up into two parts. FoAQ took one, the one with a whole heart, and a FoAQ and a half took the half heart.

SAQ, TAQ, FoAQ and any other descendant were all different from FAQ in that they seemed to be more conscious of themselves, what they were, they were more aware of the wider world and could actually be communicated with. SAQ actually managed to get a group of Ermista to offer sacrifices in exchange for whatever tech/offworld junk it stole, becoming a god in the process and persisting after death. (Killjoy and Toizon actually have to deal with the mouth end of that in their story).

FoAQ was notably a silent figure, keeping to itself and not caring about the wider scope of the world. Unlike its ancestors, who all perished when their hosts went awol and later decided they wanted the keys to the house, FoAQ took the time to create it's own replacements. In the image of its ancestors, FoAQ would create the False First through Third, all broken up versions of the original towers.

The False First would be the one to succeed FoAQ, as FiAQ. FiAQ was the last of the towers, it hunted down FoAQ and a half, stole its heart, and then proceeded to absolutely fuck shit up with its 1 1/2 cores.

FiAQ would eventually loose its half-heart when it got fused with four other beings of chaos, then later on, due to time-loop tomfuckery, its heart would get ripped out by a proto-version of FAQ called The Prism Star Monument, fused with an unfortunate void-corrupted looser called Cider, and would become FAQ. FAQ would be launched way back in time, long before any other tower existed, and start living in essentially it's own Bootstrap paradox where the heart has no point of origin. (im planning on leaving it like that too FAQ is defined by spite and unfairness and a lack of logic).

As for the name, I've decided that FAQ wouldn't name itself, I'm not even sure it's aware enough to do that, but instead it's a name given to it by researchers observing it and noting that sometimes its body would open up and it would toss out a piece of itself, and that piece would live on and do stuff. The researchers mistook that piece for FAQ's spawn, and would call it Amalgamate Queen. In reality, it's more like if you were filled with slugs that kept you alive, you decided you didn't like one of those slugs one day, and you reached inside yourself and pulled it out. That slug isn't your spawn but someone who had no clue how you worked might think you spawned slugs. (I do need an actual god-name for SAQ though).

I think that's it? There's more to talk about individual obelisks like TAQ, FiAQ, False Second, No.1 & No.2 and the two little rats they infected, but as for FAQ and FoAQ, that's kind of it.

[saltygilmores]

Thoughts While Watching Gilmore Girls, Season 2, Episode 13 ("A Tisket A Tasket") Part 3 of ????

Parts 1 & 2 and all of my previous pickings-apart can be found in my pinned post. Where we last left off, RoryGil appeared to be in deep contemplation about the current shitshow that is her life.

Rory and Jess embark on their Shitshow Picnic, then we cut to Jackson trying to buy Sookie's basket back from Kirk, who complains about the lack of carrot sticks in the basket before proceeding to trauma- dump on Jackson (not about carrots but about how no one loves him). Kirk also looks like he is questioning existence.

Jackson quickly whips out a checkbook which he apparently carries with him at all times (because it's 2002) and pays Kirk $250, and after popping that number into an inflation calculator, Jackson paid Kirk the 2023 equivalent of $423 for a picnic basket with no carrot sticks. Not only does Stars Hollow need group therapy I think they could use a group audit to see exactly where some of these people are getting their money.

As If a checkbook didn't age this show enough, the cut to a payphone immediately afterwards finishes the job quite nicely. You guys are waiting for that whole Rory and Jess on the bridge thing aren't you. Well, let's keep it moving then. It feels like a minute since we've heard some Luke Danes Wisdom. Lorelai (sitting in the gazebo with Luke): We're supposed to be eating a picnic on the ground. Luke: Every time I've seen a picture of people eating on the ground, I've thought, "What the hell are you people doing eating on the ground? Spring for some beach chairs ya cheapskates." Finding the payphone broken (which puts a dent in her complicated scheme to meet Henry), Lane comes running to Lorelai to ask if she has her cellphone. In the third moment of the show aging itself in under a minute, Lane asking Lorelai if she's carrying her cellphone reminds us that the few people who did have cellphones during this time period didn't always carry them 24/7. Somehow even though this is early 2002 Lane (and everyone else seen using a cellphone) manages to get perfect reception at a random spot of her choosng which is honestly pretty impressive for a town that I'm convinced is still a good 10 years away (at LEAST) from getting cable TV and moving away from dial-up internet.

"Morality in an ever-changing world." What do the people of The Hollow know about morality or world-changing? Stars Hollow never fucking changes. Ever. Changes? No one noticed Luke mis-spelled "tomatoes" on his menu board and let that shit slide for a good 6 years. The citizens thought a drawing in sidewalk chalk was the height of immorality. Well, maybe Lorelai could stand to listen to a sermon or two about the immmorality of sleeping with your daughter's underage boyfriend, but I digress. (I really wanted just wanted an excuse to write "Speaking of Satan" and introduce Dean back into the story, but instead it's Henry.

Because this show loves to do poor Lane so, SO SOOO dirty, Henry called Lane's house when she didn't call from the payphone as she promised. Much to Lane's relief, he somehow managed to trick Mrs Kim into thinking he was just a telemarketer and not A Boy (or so he thinks). But afer hearing Lane describe another insane scheme she's cooked up to hide him from her mother, he's tired of playing games.

Wahhhhh my heart breaks for Lane. In my gritty adult Gilmore Girls reboot titled The Hollow all of the women who were dealt an unfair hand on this show will be made whole again. Lane will reunite with Dave or Henry and live happily ever after, Lindsay will have Dean Forrester's head in her freezer, and so on and so forth. Henry says he can't be breaking up with Lane because he's never actually been out with her. He says I want to be able to pick you up, get out of the car, take you out somewhere. And then he has to TWIST THE KNIFE IN MY POOR GIRL'S HEART JUST A LITTLE BIT MORE.

SPOILER ALERT/TRIGGER WARNING: UNABASHED CRUELTY AHEAD

*her I AM NO LONGER TEAM HENRY. THAT PIECE OF SHIT. That was the most heartbreaking thing I've witnessed on this show up to this point!!!! JUSTICE FOR LANE!!!!! LANE AND DAVE ONLY!!!!!! And the cherry on top of the Shit Sundae for poor poor Lane is that of course Mrs. Kim has caught on and is none too happy and they scream at each other.

This coat.... and these pants. *deep breath* Look, Jesstopher, I love you and you know you're the only fictional character I'd go to the ends of the earth for. And I'm sorry your uncle is clueless and wears the same thing every day and couldn't style another person no less a child to save his life and I'm also sorry that it's a miracle you even survived your Mom's parenting and she has a very busy schedule of Full Time Child Neglect so making sure her son wears properly fitting clothes is low on her list of prorities. I'm sorry neither cared enough to make sure you didn't look like Vincent Adultman from BoJack Horseman.

Another perfect "okuh" that no silent screen shot could ever capture.

When it comes to Rory and Jess, sometimes I like to quiet my Snark for a moment and just enjoy. Jess tells Rory that he bid on her basket because seeing Dean get annoyed makes him laugh. Any time Jess tries to annoy Dean to get closer to Rory, an angel gets its wings.

I know you don't, but when you're dating such a putz like Dean, That's kinda written in the contract. Date Dean Forrester, lose your will to live. Read the fine print. I just remembered there's still almost another full season left before Jess and Rory are officially dating.

The lighting in this scene is really beautiful to me, and the way the light hits MIlo's face here makes him look angelic.

I can never un-see Milo and Alexis falling in love in real life through their characters. Once you know it will never escape you. It will burrow into your brain, much like the worms in whatever slop Rory put into that Tupperware. I'm tempted to say Rory missed another opportunity to poison Dean's food (like the time she baked him cookies but didn't add poison to the batter), but since Jess ended up eating it instead and because it would be very obvious that she was the perpetrator since it was her basket, I won't hold it against her this time. Keep trying, Rory Gil.

Well, this screen shot isn't exactly going on the cover of People's Sexiest Men Alive magazine any time soon but he speaks the truest four words in Gilmoredom.

There are still 18 minutes left in this episode. HOW???!!! Part 4 coming whenever.

[bluebird-poetry96]

Who am I?

Am I the person that will forever ride the high highs

The ones that take me higher than the sky?

The ones where i feel

Nothing is wrong and

I am one with the cosmos...

The one who will never shut up,

Always finding something meaningless to say.

You know, things like...

How easy it is to not sleep,

How much energy I have,

How good I feel.

How perfect life is,

How it has always been perfect.

How it will always Be perfect.

How, I can’t remember, there was any other feeling,

Then being on top of the world.

How all I can do is hold on for dear life.

How I can do all of those

Tediously Treasonis Tasks.

Like dishes,

Taking out the trash,

Wiping down the counters,

Walking the dog.

Folding the laundry.

The high that, catapults me, and I fly with force beyond the clouds,

I hurl through the atmosphere and

Into the universe.

I can’t come down, I won't.

I am forever fearless...

And then a fire rages through me.

I hear, someone, chewing.

I hear, the fan, blowing on overdrive,

I hear, shooting, from the video game,

I hear, both my roommates talking to each other, Insanely loudly. I get it, they’re excited.

I hear, the high pitch screeching, from the charger, plugged into my phone,

I can feel, my shirt, sitting on my shoulders, an itchy, heavy, weight.

I can feel, the heat, radiating off my body, my cheeks, are blistering

I can feel, my heart, pounding in my chest,

I can feel, the sweat, dripping, down my brow.

I can feel, the grime, on my teeth, and it is sandpaper, against my tongue.

My blood boils.

I want to scream...

Who am I..?

Am, I, the one, who will forever ride, the low lows.

The ones that, pull me, deep into the abyss, never to return.

The ones that, swallow me whole, where, nothing has ever been, right,

I am one in the darkness.

The one, who, never, knows what to say.

Never, able to speak of,

The Important Things.

You know,

Things like...

How hard life has been.

The pointless...

Tedious...

Tasks of daily life...

Like dishes...

Like...taking out the trash...

Or...doing laundry...

Biggest task of them all....taking a shower..

The lows, that make those, tasks,

Into mountains, with boulders...hurling downwards.

I can’t dodge...

I am afraid...

I speak, so slowly, the words, stick, in my throat...as if they were, freshly chewed bubble gum, in long hair, on a windy day....

Where, the only way to, get it out, is to cut it out.

There, is a, 100 pound weighted blanket, thrown over my head, that crashes, and, throws me on the ground.

Right as, I am conscious, of my mind, only wishing for, one moment of peace...

From the restless, fidgety, anxious, nights sleep.

The lows, where, you don’t really sleep.

The ones, where, your mind only races,

Ten thousand trains of thought, crashing, through, one another...

The ones, where, you don’t dream and

There is, no hope upon the light of daybreak.

I hear, the birds, around 5am.

I hear, my, frustrated mind,

“It's too early. Please, I beg of you. Stop.”

My thoughts scream, and, I know, there is,

No chance, of going back to that unrestful slumber.

I cry.

I beg for sleep.

All I want is to be a good person,

But, how, am I, supposed, to do that?

If, I can’t even be, kind, to, myself...

How am, I, supposed to raise others up, So they know their own worth, how special they are

If, I, can’t do that for, myself.

I cry.

I beg for sleep.

My chest, aches, with a gaping hole, where my heart, used to hang...

I can’t breathe...

It hurts...

I have, known, no other sensation...

I have, felt, no other emotion,

I have, strung, no other chord...

I have, heard, no other perception...

It has

Always,

Been like this.

I, am, never going to get better...

And once again,

I don’t want to live anymore.

This cycle, repeats,

Over and over.

It will be, until the end of time...

My life, reincarnated,

Again and again.

Will, I, ever, understand the weight, the moderation, that is the,

Middle ground?

The beauty, and strength, Of being stable,

In the middle..

Of being, balanced, in Both, good and bad, at the same time...

Will, I, ever, know, the peace, that would be,

To know darkness without sinking into the void.

To know the heavens without becoming a wrathful god.

Unfortunately, I know the answer.

I will never be able

To be sensible and clearheaded.

Not in this life,

And not in the next.

Who am I?

I, am the tsunami, in a,

Raging, unforgiving storm.

I, am a, burning wildfire, consuming, Everything, in my path.

I am a hurricane.

I am a natural disaster.

I am yin and yang,

The ebb and flow of extremes.

Living,

Dying.

Forever rabid.

Forever understanding.

Forever faithful.

Forever wild.

Always.

-Raven Blue Bell

[atlabeth]

nightmares - mike munroe x reader

summary: It was a deal made by two almost-friends in the early hours of the morning after the worst night of their lives, when they realized that all they really had left was each other.

a/n: so this is once again. not my normal content but ive been on an until dawn kick lately and fell in love w the characters all over again. i dont know if anyone still reads or writes for this fandom but. here u go. enjoy

warning(s): lots of cursing, canon typical violence, mentions of graphic violence/death (but nothing too descriptive), mentioned depression, insomnia, and alcoholism, some heavy themes but its hurt/comfort so it ends in fluff

wc: 4.8k

You were running.

You were running, and it was freezing — fuck, it was freezing.

You knew your surroundings; how could you ever forget? Every fucking moment on the goddamn mountain was engraved into your mind for what you assumed would be the rest of your life, an assumption that had since been proven correct.

And now, against your will, you were back. Of course you were back.

A shudder ran through your whole body as that all-too-familiar screech rang out behind you, each second of it like nails on a chalkboard in the worst way. Your lungs burned like all hell but you couldn’t stop — if you stopped, you were as good as dead.

Some part of this fucked up thing was almost funny. Humans were always boasting about how they were the top of the food chain, how they were the height of evolution. There was nothing to keep an ego in check like being hunted by a supernatural creature.

Any thoughts of bullshit philosophy were dashed from your mind as you took a hard right, nearly falling over from the sharp curve of the mountain but just able to catch yourself. Your heart was thundering in your chest, the beats nearly lining up with your sprinting. You felt an intense urge to turn around, try and gauge your chances, but the thought of slowing down for even a second terrified you. It’s not like you needed to anyways — you knew exactly what was after you.

You were nearing the end of your road, both literally and figuratively. You stumbled over a tree root, your hands splayed out in front of yourself at just the right angle to keep your momentum going and, in some feat of luck, stay upright and running.

But your luck had just run out.

Your senses were proven correct as the harrowing cliff edge came into view, and a thousand things screamed in your mind at once as your demise stared you right in the eye. You barely managed to catch yourself, very much aware that the snow falling into the void could’ve just as well been you.

That fucking screech again, even closer than before, and you whipped around as you took an instinctive step back. Your hands patted around everywhere, searching for something to defend yourself, but you had nothing. No gun, knife, even the ground around you was devoid of rocks.

You had nothing. You had nothing to defend yourself from this goddamn nightmare creature, and you were going to die.

Your eyes darted around wildly in an attempt to find something, anything, to save yourself, but there was nothing. You took another step back and felt your foot slip, your breath catching as you barely managed to save yourself with a twist and a lunge away from the edge. The shock of the ground and the cold against your skin was just enough to remind yourself that you were actually alive. Another pile of snow mimicked the fate that seemed imminent as it trickled over the side of the cliff, and you screwed your eyes shut as you tried to shut your mind up.

Think, goddammit, if you wanted to get off of this fucking mountain you had to think—

The screech that pierced through the night sky was far too close for comfort, and as your head snapped back towards the woods you swore that your heart stopped beating.

It had caught up. You were out of time you were going to die but you didn’t have anything and you were going to fucking die—

A flash of white pushed off a tree and lunged towards you, teeth bared as it emitted that horrible screech. You didn’t even have time to scream, completely frozen in place as one clawed hand reached your neck, and you braced for the moment of release.

You shot up in your bed, breathing rapid and unsteady with a barely contained cry on the edge of your lips as your hand instinctively flew to your neck. You heaved an almost strangled sigh of relief to know that your head was still attached to your body (it might’ve seemed obvious, but… your head wasn’t exactly on straight at the moment, all jokes aside) and collapsed against the headboard.

You ran your hands across your face as you tried in vain to calm yourself down, ultimately having to turn on your lamp to ease your troubled mind that there was nothing going thump in the night.

It had been this same routine almost every night — horrible nightmare, wake up crying or screaming or both, and start the day at 3 am because you couldn’t fall back asleep.

It was exhausting. You were exhausted.

You knew you couldn’t go on like this, but what choice did you have? Therapy had been mandated by the police for a certain amount of time after the incident, but… it’s not like it had helped. How could it, when no one truly knew what you had gone through?

Well… that wasn’t completely accurate.

One person knew what you were going through, and you hadn’t said as much as one word to him since that night. You didn’t really… know what to say.

Hey. I know we’re not all that close, but I’m sorry your girlfriend and all your friends were killed by a Wendigo and that I made it instead. Hope you’re not going insane with grief. I’ll send you a card at Christmas!

...yeah. You had no idea what to say to him after months of no contact.

The relationship you had with Mike Munroe was a strange one, to say the least.

None of you were the same after that night on the mountain. The horrors of the mines would be forever entrenched in your head, flashes of the Wendigos appearing every time you closed your eyes. You and Mike were the only ones who made it off, and the guilt you carried everywhere was a burden you knew you couldn’t shoulder. And even after the physical scars had faded, you knew the mental ones never would.

Sometimes you wondered how you had even managed to get involved with the group in the first place — bonds that had been made in your freshman and sophomore years had somehow managed to stay strong enough throughout the rest of high school, strong enough to cement your spot in the friend group and the yearly lodge visits. You liked them all well enough, enough to go up to an isolated mountain with them for a weekend or so, but… yeah. Sometimes you did wonder what the hell you were doing with them.

But now?

Now, you would give almost anything to hear Sam’s laugh or one of her compliments, or tease Ashley and Chris about their very obvious feelings; hell, you found yourself missing Matt’s useless football facts. And even though Emily and Jessica weren’t always the nicest, you still had managed to worm your way into their hearts. Knowing that you would never get Emily’s brutal but helpful advice or get dragged to a football game by Jessica again?

If someone had told you the difference between life-long trauma and a completely normal existence was that blonde girl with the braids in your biology class, you might’ve thought a little harder before accepting that party invite.

The days after you were rescued from the mountain passed in a daze, questions and interrogations from police never sticking for too long. And it didn’t even feel like it mattered, the way none of them seemed to believe you.

They kept you separated from Mike throughout the whole process, and you were only able to catch glances of him when you were being transferred to different rooms throughout the long process. It really was like something out of a horror movie — a group of teens go up to a lodge in the woods, and only two return with a story of unspeakable horrors — and rather than try and work out what had happened, they seemed intent on pinning the deaths on you and Mike.

As if you weren’t dealing with enough after watching your friends get murdered by the monster of another friend, the people that were supposed to be helping you were instead trying to charge you with them. If it wasn’t so fucking infuriating, it would’ve been laughable.

The worst part? You could hardly blame them.

When you took a second to listen to yourself, to what you were spouting to the police, you sounded insane. If you hadn’t witnessed it all first hand, you wouldn’t have believed yourself.

You told them to go down to the mines. That the thing that killed your friends would be down there, and they could see it for themselves.

You didn’t know if that was the right choice. Hell, you might’ve been sending those cops to their deaths. But it was the only way you could think of to get them to believe you.

(You doubted they would go down there anyways. What was the word of two crazy college kids over actual logic? Not much, you imagined.)

You were in that damn interrogation room for what felt like forever until you were finally taken to a hospital to get your wounds treated. But even in the hospital bed, police were by your side asking about what happened every day of your stay. After your discharge, you were forced into custody until they got information that they deemed satisfactory.

By some miracle, you and Mike weren’t charged with anything. The news might’ve gotten hold of your story, but you didn’t know. You didn’t want to know. You didn’t ever look at the news after the tragedy, too afraid that you would see the smiling faces of your friends staring back at you, or pictures of you and Mike with news anchors trying to talk about how involved the two of you were.

If there was one thing worse than going through hell, it was other people trying to make a profit off of your spiral.

Your friends’ families offered their condolences, but not much else. You didn’t hold it against them. Your survivor’s guilt was strong enough to know exactly why they didn’t reach out further.

(You blame yourself for their deaths, after all. Why wouldn’t they?)

It was the same situation with Mike.

Maybe you had purposefully drifted apart from him, trying to build up walls of your own so that he wouldn’t be able to spring it on you first. You assumed he hated you after what had happened, and he had every right to. You might’ve helped each other through the night, but you had no other option. Now, everyone else but you was dead — people he cared about more than you — and you just couldn’t face that.

But as you stared at yourself in your bathroom mirror, you realized that you might have to.

You looked awful.

Weeks of sleepless nights were catching up to you, appearing in the form of

hollow eyes and dark circles, along with a slight discoloration of your skin. The scars from the mountain had mostly healed, but there was a particularly nasty gash on your cheek that was still showing — it wasn’t doing you any favors in the ‘looking completely normal and sane and not severely sleep deprived’ department.

You splashed some water in your face to try and wake up a bit, but the slight drowsiness that followed you everywhere seemed to be a permanent part of you now.

(It was almost funny, in a way. You were so paranoid and alert all the time, unable to fall asleep, and yet it was all you could think about in moments like these. You wondered when irony had become such a staple in your life.)

You had tried talking to therapists, your friends, your family, even searching the internet for advice on what to do after a life changing traumatic event. Nothing had worked.

The simplest solution had come to mind more than once, but you had pushed it aside with the determination to work through this on your own. But now, staring at yourself and seeing how much you had deteriorated…

You had to go talk to the only person who would understand.

~

You had considered turning around more than once on the drive over.

Because, really, what the hell were you doing? Showing up at his doorstep in the middle of o dark thirty because— because what?

Because you had a nightmare?

He had gone through the same thing you had, probably even worse. Losing Jessica right in front of him, having to cut off his fingers to get free, spending countless hours alone, dealing with the nightmare that was the sanatorium, and then…

Well, you had been in the mines with him and Josh when it happened. There was no doubt in your mind that the scene replayed in his head endlessly, just like it did for you.

Showing up… it was going to be a mistake. You knew it was.

For all you knew, Mike had moved on already. He was stronger than you, he always had been. Maybe your presence would send him spiraling once more, or maybe it would just earn you a verbal beating like no other. Mike had always been nice enough, but the trauma you had endured was enough to turn a saint into his own worst enemy.

You didn’t know what would happen. You didn’t know anything, and as you turned down his street you regretted more than ever not keeping in touch with him. Maybe then you wouldn’t be in this situation, scrambling after your last hope for salvation after slowly killing yourself over the past few months.

But there was no chance to turn back now, because before you knew it your knuckles were rapping against his front door.

The pause between your arrival and a response was so long that you considered leaving and pretending like this never happened, but just as you began to step back the door swung open.

You didn’t really know what you were expecting, but… he was there. The only other testament to the horrors of Blackwood Pines, and maybe the only person that could help you through this.

“...hi,” you murmured, swallowing the sudden lump in your throat as you looked the personification of your shame in the eye.

Mike blinked a few times, whether to try and wake up a little or out of surprise from his visitor you didn’t know, but it was a few seconds before he responded in kind. “...hey. It’s been a while since I’ve seen you around.”

You chuckled dryly as you nodded. “Yeah. Sorry for the sudden arrival. I’m, uh… I’m kind of surprised you even opened the door.”

He huffed out a short breath in a facsimile of a laugh. “Not getting much sleep these days.”

“That’s something we’ve got in common.” You crossed your arms across your chest and let out a loose sigh, eyes wandering around in an attempt to think of what to say next. It should’ve been so easy, but… but for some reason, it just wasn’t.

“Guess so.” That awkward silence stretched out once more, neither of you knowing how to fill it. Thankfully, Mike continued to take the plunge, but it wasn’t without a slight barb. “What are you doing here?”

“I—” you stopped just as you had begun, because you really didn’t know. You had come here for help, but could Mike really do that for you? He was the same as you — a fucked up teenager trying to deal with something so far beyond him.

“I don’t know,” you admitted as you made eye contact once more. “I… I really don’t know. I’m out of options, and… I can’t keep going like this. So I came here to talk, or— or to try and get some help. I don’t know.”

That same silence filled the air once more, the night ambiance the only thing in between the two of you. You missed when that silence used to be comfortable, but… you could only blame yourself for it.

“So— so, what?” he asked, the beginnings of a frown starting to crease his brows. “You just— we go through all that together up there, and then when we get back down you don’t say a word for months. And now— now, out of nowhere, in the middle of the night, you just show up and ask for help?”

“God,” you muttered. When he put it that way, it was true. It was ridiculous, to expect his help after the way you had just left him to deal with it all on his own for a reason borne of your own insecurity. “You’re right. This was— this was stupid. I’m sorry.”

You had already turned to go when you felt a calloused hand on your shoulder, causing you to stop in your tracks.

“No.” His voice was surprisingly soft as he sighed, stepping back with a shake of his head to make room in the doorway. “No, I—” Mike paused for a moment, as if he couldn’t find the right words to say. “I��m sorry. You can come in. Obviously, you can come in.”

Your eyes widened slightly as you tried to hide your shock at the gesture, but you weren’t about to turn it down. You nodded, and he stepped aside to make space for you to walk in. When you did, you were met with a mess not unlike the one back at your apartment, save for the beer bottles. Clothes were strewn about haphazardly on every surface, so you took a seat on a clean spot on the floor, leaning back against a chair and pulling your knees up to your chest. You actually preferred it this way — it was grounding, in a literal sense. Mike pushed aside a laundry basket and did the same, but pulled one leg up and let the other lay extended.

“Why?” he asked suddenly, breaking the silence that had been accumulating once more. “Why did you just…” he gestured around with his hands to try and get his point across but ultimately settled with a sigh. “You didn’t say anything. You didn’t try to text, or call, or write, or— or anything. Hell, I would’ve probably jumped to get a messenger pigeon from you. But it was just… radio silence.”

You picked at the dry skin on your thumbs as you tried to come up with an answer. “I… I don’t know,” you repeated. “It was stupid, and it was horrible of me to leave you alone. I mean… I don’t know why I did it. I know what I’ve been going through, and I know you’ve been going through the same. So I don’t know why I didn’t try to reach out and see how you were doing.”

He chuckled mirthlessly as his eyes swept over the empty bottles that had accumulated on the coffee table. “I’m not the best with alone.”

“I know,” you said quietly. “I thought…” you shook your head as you looked at the ceiling. “I thought that you hated me. I know that you cared about them all more, you were closer to all of them, and… and I thought you wouldn’t want anything to do with me. That I would just always be a reminder of what you lost. And… and, I don’t know. Maybe it was my way of trying to move on. Was a stupid fucking idea, though.”

That got a genuine laugh out of him as he ran a hand through his hair. “I guess I get that. I dunno why I didn’t try to talk to you either. Maybe since you didn’t say anything, I didn’t want to either. This whole thing fucked me up.” His gaze moved to you. “Fucked us both up.”

“You can say that again,” you muttered as you tapped your fingers on your knees. “I can’t look anywhere without seeing them. I mean, I see that fucking…” you grimaced. “I see Josh, and I see what that thing did to him, and I just— I’m right back to step one.”

He swallowed hard and nodded. “...yeah. That was seven layers of fucked up.”

“You can’t just keep saying everything was fucked up,” you said dryly. “It was shitty, too.”

Mike snorted, some kind of slightly masochistic humor going on between the two of you. “Nothing really gets the point across like fucked up.”

“Guess you’re right,” you finally conceded with a small smile. “This is… this is nice. I’d almost forgotten what it was like to… I don’t know, to talk to someone like this.”

“It is,” he murmured.

Another pregnant pause hung in the air, but the silence wasn’t as uncomfortable now. Trickles of what it used to be like, of your old life, were beginning to poke through.

“I never hated you,” he said suddenly. Your eyes flicked up to meet his, and it was like his brown eyes were piercing through you as he continued. “I never did. After it happened… yeah, I was mad. I was fucking pissed, but it was never at you. You were my friend too, y’know? Even though we weren’t that close, we were still… we were still something. And I’m glad you made it. I just wish you hadn’t convinced yourself that you had to go through this alone. Maybe things would’ve turned out different, these past few months. For both of us.”

You nodded, choosing to avert eye contact first because you almost couldn’t handle the sincerity. Your heart sank a bit at the sight of all the beer bottles, and you knew that he was right. Maybe things would’ve been different if the two of you had weathered it together from the start. And so you said that.

“I still can’t help but feel like I’m to blame for—” you gestured around at the mess with a sigh, “for this.”

“Look.” His voice was raspy as he ran a hand through his disheveled hair, and as he met your eyes once more you were able to see how truly exhausted he was. With dark circles that matched your own, scars that were still healing, and a certain hollowness behind his eyes… It was like looking in a mirror. And it made you realize how fucked up the two of you had really become.

Mike had always been good at holding himself together, putting up his signature egotistical-douchebag-jock act in the face of anything that threatened to tear him down, and more often than not he came out victorious. But not even class presidents were immune to the horrors that they had faced, and it was taking more of a toll on him than you had realized.

“It’s not your fault. You— you did everything you could; I know I’m still alive because of you. Besides, we were idiot teenagers — we still are — and none of them deserved to die because of it. Not Hannah, not Beth, not any of them.” Mike shook his head and sighed. “Not even Josh. Man was fucked up even before all of this, but he didn’t deserve what happened to him. He needed help, but instead he got his fucking… god. I can’t even say it. But he didn’t deserve it.”

You let out a breath you didn’t even know you were holding, the subconscious process having stopped because of the weight of his words. It was cliche, but you didn’t know how much you needed to hear those four words: it’s not your fault.

“Maybe you should be my therapist,” you joked weakly. But as you let your eyes trail back to Mike you bit your lip. He hadn’t included himself in that statement, and it wasn’t too hard to figure out why.

“Mike… it wasn’t your fault either. You’re not just saying bullshit to try and make yourself feel better, it really wasn’t your fault. What do they say? ‘Getting through your guilt is the first step to recovery’ or some shit? You deserve to be here just as much as I do.”

“But it was,” he insisted. “It’s easy for you to say that. You tried to stop it, I… I just went along with it. Fuck, I started it all. Hannah and Beth went missing because of me, Josh went out of his fuckin’ mind, and if he hadn’t brought us all back up there for his revenge plot then they wouldn’t have died. How is it not my fault? Why do I get to live when all of them died because of me?”

“Mike,” you sighed. “I… I don’t know. I don’t know why we made it back when none of them did, but it’s not your fucking fault, okay? You— yeah, that prank was fucking stupid, but�� but how could you know what was going to happen?” You huffed a laugh that was only slightly unhinged. “People pull pranks all the time. Native American legend cannibal spirit things don’t try to kill people all the time. You can’t keep blaming yourself. It’s not going to help them, and it’s not going to help you.”

That silence stretched out once more as he took in your words. You didn’t know if he believed them or not, but you did. That had to be worth something, right?

“I’ve been doing a lot of thinking,” he muttered, breaking the silence once more. “And I… I don’t know. I don’t know why it took almost fucking dying from those goddamn things, a— and seeing what happened to all of them...”

“I don’t know,” he repeated, leaning back against the foot of the sofa. “All the shit that happened, all of them dying — I don’t know how long it’ll take until we’re okay again. Hell, I don’t even know if we ever will be okay again. What happened up there was fucked up in the worst way, and the fact that no one believes us makes it a hell of a lot worse.”

You chuckled darkly as you cupped one hand in the other. “You can say that again.”

His lips twitched for a moment as if he wanted to smile but ultimately thought better of it. “I know we aren’t that close anymore, but the truth is we’re the only ones on this fuckin’ planet that know what really happened up there. We’re the only ones that will ever really understand what happened to us, and… and I think we’re the only ones that can really help each other through this shit.”

He met your eyes once more, something resolute in them. “So the next time this happens, because it will, if you don’t want to be alone… you can come here. Any time, any day, no questions asked. Just knock on that door, and I will be there. No more isolation, no more trying to get through this on our own. We gotta be there for each other, because we’re all we have.”

You nodded gratefully, a feeling of warmth slowly creeping through your body with his reassurance. “Thank you, Mike. You… you have no idea what this means to me.”

“I think I have some clue,” he murmured.

As you exchanged weary smiles, you saw a faint twinkle in Mike’s eyes. He was always the kind of person to help others, even if it was for the wrong reasons, and that was one thing that stuck with him after the disaster. And in that moment, a long lost feeling washed over you — safety.

You hadn’t felt safe in… well, it seemed like forever. Adrenaline and pure instinct were responsible for getting you through those twelve hours, along with an overwhelming wave of numbness and denial. But once all of that wore off, the nightmares had begun. Your friends, the Wendigos, the mountain itself — anything and everything that your mind could use against you, it did.

It was a living hell. You could hardly ever sleep anymore, horrific images always jolting you awake after an hour or two and keeping you awake for the rest of the day. It was no wonder Mike had ended up with a drinking problem — it was probably the only way he could sleep, the only way he could bring some form of peace to his mind. By some miracle, you had avoided that fate, but… you would be lying if you said you hadn’t come close.

But somehow, for some reason, you could tell that things were going to be different. Now that you and Mike weren’t avoiding each other anymore in the name of painful memories… you felt like things were going to be okay. Or as close to okay as you could get these days.

You weren’t alone, and neither was he.

He had saved your life on the mountain more than once. Now, he was saving you again. Just in a different way.

-

perm tags: @dv0412 @siriuslyslyslytherin @maruchan77

ud tags: @kwyloz

[earnestly-endlessly]

I love your fic recs! Do you have any with Protective!Erik?

Protective! Erik is one of my favourite tropes so I have a TON of fics to share with you. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

Protective! Erik fic recs

Erik Lehnsherr's Guide to Saving the Universe By Meeting Your Soul-Mate and Falling in Love in Less than 72 Hours – madneto, Pangea

Summary: Army Pilot Erik Lehnsherr is just trying to enjoy his day off when a mostly naked person crashes through the roof of his car. Even more alarming, the strange falling naked person—who goes by Charles Xavier when he's not speaking an ancient dead language—brings tidings of the apparent potential end of the world, and begs Erik to help him put a stop to it.

Well. His mother has been nagging at him to go out and meet new people.

In Sound and Silence – endingthemes

Summary: Erik is assigned to care for the special patient in room 301.

How Not To Meet Your Future Boyfriend – ikeracity

Summary: Erik punches Charles in the face the first time they meet. There isn't anywhere their relationship can go from there but up.

Forgotten – FuryRed

Summary: Charles is having a really bad day. Not only has he woken up in the middle of the afternoon with no idea where he is or how he got there, but when he returns home he’s confronted by a stranger with intense eyes, who insists that he knows Charles rather more intimately than Charles remembers…

Thou Shalt Not Eat Stones – valancysnaith

Summary: Two months after Washington, Raven found Erik in a skeevy motel off the Florida interstate.

“They have Charles, Erik,” she said.

The bedframe shrieked. In the bathroom, the showerhead snapped in half and clattered into the tub.

Demoted – JayPendragon

Summary: Erik Lehnsherr is a detective-specialist with the NYPD Mutant Tactical Unit, ready to help out where his skills are needed. Or he would be, if he and his partner hadn’t been demoted. For the next four months, he is patrolling the Lenox Hill precinct with Azazel – if he doesn’t die of boredom first. One night they are called in to investigate a potential case of domestic violence, yet the tenant assures them he is both alone and unharmed. However, there is something about this Charles Xavier that compels Erik to follow up.

Warning: Sensitive material, domestic abuse and dubious consent

Watch Your Back – swoopswoop

Summary: Bodyguard AU where Erik is overly protective and things aren't as simple as they seem.

If We Met Differently – swoopswoop

Summary: Erik wasn't the only mutant 'taken in' by Shaw, Erik learns this the hard way when a new mutant is dropped into his cell. They manage to escape together, but things aren't all roses after that. Erik has a score to settle and needs to make sure Charles is safe.

The Color of Love (Character Swap Remix) – BadLuckBlueEyes

Summary: Nobody sees in color until they meet their soulmates. When your soulmate dies, your vision returns to black and white. What happens when your soulmate only dies for a few minutes?

Omega Online – miss_aphelion

Summary: Newly imprinted Charles is having trouble dealing with his overly protective alpha—so in desperation he seeks advice in an omega chat room. Emma Frost is more than happy to help, Raven isn't helping at all, and Erik can't stand to be out of touch with Charles for more than five minutes at a time.

Cannot be Contained in Words – wallhaditcoming (uvcatastrophe) 

Summary: Crime syndicate head Erik Lehnsherr travels to London on business, where he meets oxford student Charles Xavier. Their liaison spawns into a years long transatlantic affair, kept apart by Erik's work and Charles' studies,which Erik chronicles in photographs. When distance ceases to be an issue after four long years, the overlap between Charles' past and Erik's work create a whole new set of complications.

A Pertinent Reminder – ikeracity, Pangea

Summary: Sometimes it's easy to forget that getting involved in Erik's mob business isn't all fine dining and sex on yachts. There's nothing like taking a couple of bullets to remind Charles of the reality.

Part 3 of the Associates series

A Dangerous Game – ikeracity, pangea

Summary: When a familiar enemy of Erik's returns to the city for some old-fashioned revenge, Charles is sucked deeper into the world of the mob than ever before.

Part 6 of the Associates series

You don’t choose the thug life (except when you do) – Anonymous

Summary: Charles is kidnapped and discovers that Erik, the Alpha he has been dating for the past few months and is head-over-heels for, is not just a wealthy businessman but actually the head of a syndicate.

He is rather unhappy about this discovery and Erik gets an earful for lying to him. Then Charles is kidnapped again and really, he hopes mating Erik won't result in weekly kidnapping because he has a thesis to finish and papers to grade.

Marrying a Mob – Ook

Summary: Charles is a teacher at a very exclusive school. When armed men burst in on the trail of two children, of course he stands up to them and gets hurt. The children are Erik Lehnsherr's children (of course); a "prominent businessman" or, less politely, "mobster".

Erik is grateful to Charles for saving his children's lives at the cost of his kneecap. So very grateful.

Naturally he tries to reward Charles for his actions. Equally naturally, Charles will be having none of that.

Azazel finds the whole thing unspeakably hilarious. Naturally.

Rumor Has It – blueink3

Summary: "Did I hear the doorbell earlier?"

"Yeah, but I'd steer clear if I were you. It seemed a little tense. I don't know what's going on, but there's a kid out there who looks freakily like the prof."

Nearly six months after Cuba, Charles' life is turned upside down for the second time. Though he's slowly learning to adapt to the first, he's not sure he can handle the second. Luckily for him, there are a few people out there more than willing to help.

Forward Momentum – AsYouWish

Summary: Six months after Cuba, Charles and Erik find themselves thrown fifty years into the future, where they meet their older selves, the Avengers, and a world that's very different from their own. Faced with the pieces of their broken relationship, an unparalleled adversary, and dealing with Tony Stark on a daily basis, Charles and Erik do their best to adapt while trying to find a way back home -- and to each other.

Runs in the Family – Anonysquirrel (chibirisuchan)

Summary: Alex knew his own reputation. Hell, he'd started some of his own reputation, because it kept some of the smarter thugs off his back. Everyone knew Alex's reputation. There was no way Hank didn't know his reputation, but he'd brought Alex into a house with some really expensive things and a lot of innocent little kids and his too-friendly, too-harmless dad.

But clearly Hank hadn't told his family anything about Alex, just like he hadn't told Alex anything about his family. At least, not about the brain-breaking parts of his family.

"I didn't know where to start," Hank said, for the dozenth time.

Featuring mpreg!Charles in a Kiss The Cook apron, overprotective!Erik in wet black leather, and baked goods. Lots and lots of baked goods.

Round the Corner Waiting – swoopswoop

Summary: When things go so spectacularly wrong during a relationship, Charles - now a single dad - almost makes a big mistake, only to be stopped by a mysterious man who just might turn his life back around.

Hide Your Fires – swoopswoop

Summary: As the sole heir, Prince Charles, had no problem with the roles and responsibility that would come with ruling a kingdom. Though he was the only one who did not see a problem. After years of being shuttled back and forth between kingdoms, his Regent hoping he would find a match more suitable to being King, he is finally sent to Genosha. Though the path has never been less clear than the one to a foreign kingdom with no ties to his native land.

Shaw’s Captive – swoopswoop

Summary: Magneto killed Shaw, it had to be done for the sake of mutant-kind but what he wasn't expecting to find hidden deep with Shaw's complex was a man held captive, obviously tortured, that somehow made Magneto turn into Erik.

Erik now has a potential human in his citadel as he continues the war with the human's.

Mind’s Eye Blind – Sperare 

Summary: As far as Erik is concerned, if you want to scare a person into talking, you have to present him with something more compelling than what he stands to lose...

And there is nothing in the world more compelling than Charles.

Chipped – Rosawyn 

Summary: Magneto's fledgling Brotherhood find Charles Xavier in a mutations research lab as an apparently willing subject for an experimental suppression device.

Okay, I Feel Better Now – Harleydoll

Summary: The AU in which Erik is sent to a mental health facility after being convicted for Shaw's murder and pleads insanity, and Charles is his paranoid schizophrenic of a roommate. Powers, Hellfire conspiracies, protective!Erik, and of course the inevitable angst.

Five Nights in Nuremberg – FuryRed

Summary: When Charles escapes from the mutant prison he has been held in for the last two years he knows that he’s going to need help to avoid being recaptured.

What he doesn’t expect is that help will come in the form of a mysterious German man who rescues Charles and takes him to his home; a handsome stranger who, frustratingly, doesn’t speak a single word of English…

Five Bullet Points – Sperare

Summary: It was supposed to be Erik locked away in a prison one hundred stories below the ground.

Charles was never supposed to be there with him.

Notes: Unfinished but an excellent read. Highly recommend it.

Stolen – ishipitsobad

Summary: Erik is a miserable, grumpy, cantankerous bastard, and he has every fucking right to be. He drew the short end of the stick when he got the Underworld as his domain, and there isn't very much fun to be had in judging and governing dead souls who would rather be anywhere else but with Erik in the depths of Hell.

So when he meets Charles, brilliant and lovely Charles who is more popularly known amongst the mortals as Persephone, and feels the promise of something wonderful that could make his eternally doomed existence infinitely more bearable... you can bet all your drachmas Erik's not going to let Charles go any fucking time soon.

My Barbaric Darling – baehj2915

Summary: Erik is revivified caveman. Charles is the anthropologist(?) taking care of him. This is as ridiculous as it sounds. Romcom misunderstandings and prehistoric wooing ensues.

Swimming with Sharks – Not_You

Summary: Erik used to be a shark. Now he's not, and has to figure out how to be a good human father to his twins. Charles is willing to help.

Eucalyptus leaf of my soul - kageillusionz, ourgirlfriday

Summary: Zookeeper Raven at Taronga Zoo keeps having ideas on how to capitalize on interest in the zoo mascots, Koala Charles and Drop Bear Erik (the only drop bear in captivity!), who have captured the hearts and minds of the public. First it was to introduce prospective mates (It’ll generate attention, Hank. People are perverts. They’d love to see koala porn.). This idea was not effective the first through fifth attempts, as Erik and Charles seemed to show at best polite interest in the newcomer before resuming whatever marsupial debate they had going. However, the resulting lesbian koala orgies did indeed generate interest. Then Raven unveiled the Hug-A-Koala program, which was successful, as the public showed great interest in hugging Charles, and Charles seemed to enjoy being hugged.

Then Raven unveiled the Hug-A-Drop Bear program, and Hank, not for the first time, wished he had a flask handy.

Notes: Yes, they’re Koalas, yes they’re adorable, and yes, Erik is super protective even as a Drop Bear.

[klbwriting]

Earworm

Fandom: Six of Crows

Pairing: Kaz/Reader

Request: Can you do Kaz with a soulmate au? Like one where they hear each other singing in their head?

Note: This was so fun and unique to write.  It started off cute but went a little south but I hope you still like it!

Everyone knew that once you made eye contact with your soulmate you would suddenly hear the song in your mind.  It would creep in quiet when they weren't around, getting louder the closer they got, until you could hear it clearly when you were seeing them once again.  It would only go away after you had kissed.  No one was sure why the brain worked like this and studies had been done about it, but still, it was an enduring mystery that most people found sweet and romantic.  Kaz Brekker was not one of those people. Kaz spent his entire life avoiding eye contact, which only got easier after the death of his brother, and he had lasted nearly 20 years of his life without getting a stupid song in his head.  He saw the other Crows find their soulmates, Jesper and Wylan, Nina and Matthias (although that ended tragically and now Nina never listened to music of any kind), even Inej had visited from one of her voyages telling him that she couldn't stop hearing a soft melody in her mind.  Just hearing about it was enough to drive him mad.  He had no idea how maddening it was to actually hear the song.  Until that fateful day you had collided with him outside the Crow Club.   He had been leaving, carefully parting the crowd in front of him with his cane, when from the side you smacked into him, being shoved out of another gambling den by a barker who didn't appreciate the way you had been cheating.  You knocked him to the ground and he was about to wail on you with the crow end of his walking stick when your eyes met.  It was brief but he froze as a song he had never heard, sung by someone he had never heard sing, sprang to his mind.  You took that hesitation to run away, getting up and taking off into the crowd.  He looked on after you, both confused and absolutely furious, as the song began to quiet but never fully go away.  

For days he was tormented by this song, always there just under his thoughts.  Sometimes it would get louder when he was out near the clubs and he begin walking the other way, wanting to make it go away.  Even if by some insane chance the two of you met again and even thought about getting close he could never kiss you, never get the song to go away, so why would he bother?  Better to just avoid the whole ordeal and forget about it.  And he tried, he tried so hard.

Weeks went by and he was noticing that the song was getting louder more often.  He could barely leave the Slat without hearing it clearly in his mind, always the same, and he would go back inside, finding another exit, just to avoid you.  You were getting tired of this game so you finally just found a time when he went inside and then watched the rooms, figuring out which one was his.  You had been doing your research ever since you collided with him and you had a gang, you had a place, you had a name.

Kaz Brekker.  Your elusive soulmate.  A man clearly not interested in being with you.  You were just fine with that but you had to get this stupid song out of your mind.  Just confront him, get that kiss, and be done with it.  A simple task really, at least that's what you thought.  Then he avoided you.  Maybe the rumors about your soulmate finding you attractive were wrong, maybe he didn't want to kiss you.  Was there something wrong with you?  You needed to find out.  

Climbing to his room had been easy.  Sneaking past him so you could block his exit was harder.  You barely got two feet into the window before he from his wash basin, throwing a knife at you.  You easily dodged and dove for a chair, throwing it so it crashed into the door just as he was about to bound out of it.  He hopped back in surprise, giving you a chance to shove the bed against the door and block the exit completely.  He glared at you, his cane ready to swing.  You stood out of reach and watched him.  

"I don't want trouble," you said, holding up your hands in surrender.  He sized you up slowly, making sure there were no surprises before lowering the cane just a little.  You noticed his eyes shift over you again, this time in a way that appreciated your form.  You were so confused.  He clearly thought you were attractive, so why didn't he want to kiss you.

"What do you want?" he asked, standing up straight.  You couldn't help but take a moment to admire your soulmate, he was at least nice to look at, and honestly the voice in your head wasn't terrible, you just wished whatever song this was had words and wasn't just a hum.  

"I need to get this humming out of my head, it is maddening," you said.  He smirked, almost seeming pleased that it was bothering you.  Your song was probably  bothering him also.  "Please can we just kiss and be done with this whole business?"  That was when you saw his eyes turn fearful, just for a moment.  You realized then that maybe the reason he was avoiding you wasn't because he didn't want to kiss you, but because he couldn't kiss you.

"Look, I can appreciate this whole thing is terrible, believe me, I don't want to be hearing you in my head all day either, but I don't need a soulmate, it complicates things," he said.  You watched him, noticing how he was wearing gloves, how he seemed to have a small tremor happening under them.  His eyes kept darting to the exits, looking for a way out.  You nodded slowly.  

"If you close your eyes I'll be quick, I'll kiss you and be gone," you said, trying anything to get this over with.  He looked at you fully again, swallowing hard.  He had to get out of this.  But maybe this was the only way out of this.  He took a deep breath, steeling himself.  He couldn't believe he was going to do this but, he closed his eyes.  You were quick as you said, a soft peck being placed to his lips before you were out the window.  He fell against the wall when you left, but strangely didn't feel like he was going to drown, didn't feel sick.  All he felt now was empty.  He almost called out to you but without a name he had nothing.  You were gone.  

[britishassistant]

The Villainous Paranoiac Needs a New Uniform

You hate magic.

You hate magic, you hate magic, you hate magic, you hate magic, you hate magic, you hate magic, you hate magic, you hate magic, you hate magic, you hate magic so so so much.

You especially hate magic when it’s being used by an off-his-rocker prince with a persecution complex the size of Shibuya to disintegrate you because you’re trying to stop him from being consumed by evil magic waste and turning this dumb boy’s school into a desert over a sports tournament.

Your left side throbs around the grit of the sand buried in it as you desperately scramble upwards. All around you the formerly stable bleachers are wavering, tonnes of metal and support slowly crumbling to dust from the ground up with every second that passes.

“Prefect! Are you okay?!” Deuce has begun taking a few steps towards the bleachers—

Turning his back on Kingscholar.

“DEUCE, GET DOWN!!” You scream.

One of Cater-senpai’s clones trips him up, only to scream in agony as the magic blast intended for Deuce disintegrates it instead.

You try not to retch as you heave yourself up onto the commentator’s box roof.

“Pay attention, dumbass!” You faintly hear Ace bark. “You can’t just forget about the crazy overblot! We’re in the middle of a battle here!!”

“But my minion’s stuck up there!” Grim wails back, “We gotta do something!”

Buchie-senpai says something you can’t hear in reply, because you’re too busy hollering, “Howl-san, MOVE!!”

Howl-san only narrowly dodges the incoming attack despite his speed. The sand slams into the already weakened bleachers, causing you to stumble as the roof shakes under you, tilting at an alarming angle.

“Sorry, am I interrupting?” Kingscholar mocks, creepy hollow voice clearly audible despite the distance. “Didn’t I tell you herbivores to be prepared?”

You fight the urge to flip him off with great difficulty.

This is so much worse than Rosehearts-senpai’s Overblot. The ligament in your right ankle still gives twinges that show it’s not fully healed yet, but at least you weren’t the only one roughed up in that battle, as the dorm head lashed out at everyone and everything in his rage.

Kingscholar is aiming for you specifically. Which means that this overblot can think enough to recognize threats beyond those flinging magic attacks at it.

And exploit the fact that the you’re weak and in danger to force the others to choose between saving you and taking him down.

Your teeth sink into your thumb. You don’t wanna die here, you refuse to die here, so what are your options??

Option one; focus on directing the battle and try to stick it out up here until Kingscholar is defeated.

A bad plan right off the bat, if the tremors underneath you are any indication.

If you try to hold out until the end of the fight, the sand will finish eating through the bleachers’ supports just like it’s eating into your thigh and hip right now. You will not survive the fall onto the jagged steel and rebar below.

The others might manage not to get distracted by your messy death, but if they haven’t finished off Kingscholar by then, they’ll be sitting ducks if they can’t agree on a strategy.

Ace and Grim are down there.

There’s no way they’re not dead if you bite the dust.

And all that’s on the very generous assumption that Kingscholar won’t just King’s Roar you right here and now. He’s certainly smirking like he wouldn’t be opposed to the idea, the cocky bastard.

So option two; get the others to help you down ASAP, preferably while Kingscholar is distracted.

Marginally better than option one, but not by much. If they all come to help you, Kingscholar can just pick them off at his leisure, even if Cater-senpai uses his clones to try and confuse who’s who. While all of you are struggling to see in the sandstorm, the accuracy of the overblot’s attacks show that the storm isn’t affecting his eyesight one bit.

Plus, the more of your allies get on the bleachers, the higher the likelihood of the bleachers collapsing faster and crushing them and you with it.

Even if you try to have one or two of them split off from the group to help get you down while the others try to keep him occupied, Kingscholar can target you, the splinter group before they can get to you, or even wipe out the remainder of the attacking formation who won’t have the necessary magic to defend themselves from a head-on assault.

Divide and conquer. As expected of a might makes right fanatic.

Kingscholar-senpai, you decide, is one of the biggest bag of dicks you’ve ever laid eyes on. Even counting the ones you’re related to.

All that’s left is option three.

If you want a job done right, do it yourself.

“Eyes on the Overblot guys, nobody break formation no matter what you think you see or hear!” You wince as you strip your blazer off, feeling fresh blood soak into your side. It’s tattered around the edges where King’s Roar tore into you, but the body of the jacket seems whole enough at least. “I’ll be fine, so just focus on Kingscholar!”

You grit your teeth as you tie the sleeves together. “Buchie-senpai, I need you to use Laugh With Me to keep him still so Rosehearts-senpai can Off With His Head. Howl-san, Cater-senpai, Deuce, Grim, you need to hit him then with everything you’ve got! I’ll signal when by telling Ace what he needs to do! No more holding back, we need to end this, understood?!”

“Loud and clear!” Buchie-senpai calls back, brandishing his magic pen.

“You better not be planning anything too crazy Yuu-chan~” Cater-senpai calls up, his exhaustion evident through his usual bravado.

Kingscholar chuckles. “If this is something you think you can fight back against, just try to fight it! I’ll turn all of your meaningless efforts to sand!”

The sandstorm picks up in response to his words, the small grains burning your eyes and scraping across your skin.

“On my mark!” You yell, bracing yourself.

The roof shrieks in protest under you.

“Ace—“ You hold the ragged edges of your blazer tight in your hands. “Give me some wind!!”

You start running.

You jump.

You vaguely hear yelling below you, beyond the swoop of your stomach and the roar of the bleachers collapsing into rubble behind you. Your makeshift parachute feels like it’s on the verge of tearing itself out of your grip. You think you’re screaming.

Oh god, this was a mistake, this was a horrible, horrible mistake. You don’t wanna die, you don’t wanna die, you don’t wanna die, you don’t wanna die, you don’t wanna die, you don’t wanna die, you don’t wanna die, you don’t wanna die, you don’t wanna die, you don’t wanna die, you don’t wanna die—

The wind picks up in your ears, but it’s not enough, you’re barely slowing down, why did you think this was a good idea, you saw it in a video game for the love of god, you’re going to die, you’re going to break your legs and die—

Small pricks of pain seize onto your hair, your shoulders, your back, and your uninjured leg. Several small and hard somethings start hitting you in the face repeatedly.

Huh. You thought bats were nocturnal. What are they doing here in the middle of the day?

Wait, before that, why are there even bats in a sandstorm in the first place?! And whey are they all latched onto you like you’re a piece of fruit they’re trying to carry off??

“Sebek, if you would~?”

You shriek as something clamps down hard around your injured thighs and waist, the wind half knocked out of you as a shoulder is driven into your stomach.

“Stop screaming, human!!” The loud green-haired Diasomnia member roars at you. “Be grateful Lilia-sama saw fit to sav—”

“Yes, yes, I’m very thankful, just hold on a sec!” You babble, twisting in his grip. The sandstorm’s weakened a lot, and while Kingscholar’s looking a lot worse for wear than he did before you leapt, he’s not down for the count just yet.

But you know exactly the combo to finish him off.

“Grim, Ace, Deuce!!” You yell. “Fire-tornado-cauldron him!!”

“Leave it to me, fnagh!” Grim crows as Ace shouts, “We have GOT to come up with a cooler name than that!!”

The overblot dodges out of the way of the aptly-named fire tornado, still smug if tired and badly scorched. However, as he races forward to counterattack, it becomes clear that he forgot about the third part of the combo you yelled.

“TAKE THIS!!” Deuce screams.

The look on Kingscholar-senpai’s face before the cauldron lands on him is something you’re gonna treasure for weeks.

“King...I’ll...be...” The lion prince staggers, and finally, finally collapses.

There’s a quiet moment as the sand storm slows to a gradual stop.

Kingscholar doesn’t get back up, the giant lion dissipating like a mirage and the grey and black leeching from him.

“It...it’s over.” You pant. “We...we beat him...!”

Rosehearts-senpai doesn’t lower his magic pen. Instead, he wheels around and points it at you with a thunderous “OFF WITH YOUR HEAD!!!”

The heavy metal collar snaps shut around your neck. “ACK!”

“Prefect!”

The Diasomnia guy actually drops you at the sight of Rosehearts-senpai storming over, face redder than a strawberry tart and eyes burning with fury.

Please God, don’t make you have to deal with another Overblot after just beating an extremely painful one.

“YOU— YUU— YOU— WHAT WERE YOU THINKING, JUMPING OFF THE BLEACHERS LIKE THAT?!” He screeches. “THAT'S A FORTY FOOT DROP, AT LEAST!! YOU COULD'VE BROKEN EVERY BONE IN YOUR BODY, OR, OR BEEN KILLED, ARE-ARE YOU INSANE?!”

“No, I just didn’t want to get impaled!” You bristle, gesturing at the rubble. “If I jumped, I at least had a small chance of surviving—”

“Sure, because that’s what you falling with that dumb torn jacket was!” Ace snarls, popping up over his dorm head’s shoulder. “It was everything I could do to even make you slow down some—‘give me some wind’ my ASS!”

“It certainly was interesting though.” The Diasomnia vice dorm head pipes up from behind you. “I was almost worried for a minute there that my bats wouldn’t be able to rescue you and you’d be a smear on the playing field.”

“Th-THAT'S RIGHT!! MAGICLESS HUMAN!! PROPERLY PAY YOUR RESPECTS TO THE GREAT LILIA SAMA FOR DEIGNING TO SAVE YOUR WORTHLESS LIFE!!” The green-haired Diasomnia guy screams in your ear.

“The hell d’ya think yer calling ‘worthless’, hah?!” Deuce growls, storming over to him.

“Yeah, don’t insult my minion, fgnah!!” Grim barrels into your good side, hissing at the Diasomnia guy from under your arm, conveniently turning you into a shield.

“WHY YOU LITTLE—!”

“WHAT IN THE WORLD HAPPENED TO THE BLEACHERS??” The dumb bird headmaster’s shriek rises over the din. “OH HOW COULD SOMETHING SO TERRIBLE HAVE HAPPENED TO ME, THE MOST GRACIOUS OF HEADMASTERS?!”

You flop onto your back. The pain from where King’s Roar tore into your left side is returning full-force, now there’s no threat to divert your attention from it. The collar around your neck only adds to the pain with its weight, and all the yelling is giving you a headache.

You hate magic.

You hate magic so much.

[solarwonux]

6. “Feel free to admire me.”

19.  “Give me a kiss please.”

non!idol taehyung x f!reader

warnings:  angst if you squint, slight mentions of going crazy, a teeny tiny bit suggestive, minimal editing, 

note: helloooo, thank you for reading, I hope you enjoy this one, and if it’s bad I apologize from the bottom of my heart, it’s my first time writing anything but academic papers in like 3 months. And it’s my first time writing for bts, so i’m dusting off the cobwebs. Either way thank you for reading it means the world to me.xx

masterlist || drabble game 

You were acting strange

Taehyung noted as he watched you scramble around the apartment, running a frustrated hand through your hair, mumbling underneath your breath as you tore the apartment apart looking for your glasses.

You had been doing that a lot. Living up in the clouds, distracted. Your mind racing to the point you would forget what you were saying mid-sentence or misplacing things you had just been using in obvious places. He knew something was bothering you, keeping you from grounding yourself back down to Earth, and he so badly wanted to know. But after almost being together for almost a decade he knew that asking you what was happening would only frustrate you and keep you from coming back down to Earth. To him.

So he sat back, a small smiling forming against his face. He cradled his almost empty wine glass between his index and middle fingers, the setting sun reflecting off your glasses on the coffee table. The same place you had left them earlier before walking to the bathroom to wash your face. He could tell you, to stop your endless pacing and ease your mind a little. But he was oddly amused as you made your way around the living room, retracing your steps, endlessly.

The movie the two of you had been watching, paused. The wine bottle you had refused to share with him was reaching its wilts end as he kept refilling it every time you sat down next to him silently looking around for a few minutes and then getting up again to make your way around the living for the umpteenth time.

“I’m going crazy Tae.” You blew out a raspberry, blowing away the few strands of hair that had escaped your ponytail. “How can my glasses just disappear, I was literally just wearing them.” You threw your hands up in the air as you made your way into the kitchen. Lifting up the stacks of manila folders you had brought home from work to peacefully look over throughout the long weekend.

“Have you checked the bathroom?” He said, hiding his smirk behind his glass of wine taking the last sip. You scoffed, throwing your arms up in the air before walking down the hallway to the bathroom.

Taehyung shook his head reaching for the wine bottle on the coffee table. “Your eyesight isn’t even that bad, you don’t need your glasses to watch the movie.” He said emptying the rest of the wine into his glass and sat back on the couch, tilting his head to the side as you stomped your way back into the living room.

You gave him a pointed look before rounding the corner of the couch and sitting down next to him again. “Babe, I’m sorry.” You exclaimed dramatically, hiding your face into the side of his body, making him laugh softly. “I’m going insane and now you’re stuck with me till death do us apart.” You whined, huffing out a loud sigh. His soft boyish laugh ringing in your ears. The slight irritation you had gained during your impossible quest, bubbling in the pit of your stomach.

“Sounds like a dream.” The sarcasm burning brightly in his vocal chord and you could almost feel him rolling his eyes. “Now, give me a kiss please.” He placed his fingers underneath your chin lifting your face up gently as he puckered his lips drastically.

Annoyed you pushed his face away, crossing your arms in front of you and pouting your lips. Mock hurt evident in his features. “You don’t deserve one all you did was watch me as I slowly lost my mind.”

“I can’t admire my beautiful wife now?”

“I mean...feel free to admire me, but not when I’m one step away from being admitted into a psych ward.” You leaned over, taking his wine glass out of his hand, bringing it up to your lips. A drink is what you needed. A small sip to calm down your racing thoughts, before you got up to look for your glasses again.

You threw your head back, waiting for the red liquid to reach your lips, savoring the taste before it even reached your mouth or your taste. And when it did, when it coated your lips enough for a drop to enter your mouth, your eyes grew wide in panic, remembering why you had been refused to drink with Taehyung tonight and why you had been so up in your head lately.

Taehyung watched as the scene unfolds in front of him. Instantly he had felt your rush of panic and his worries got the best of him. Acting on his fight or flight instincts he immediately took the glass from your hand, setting it down on the coffee table next to your forgotten glasses. “What’s wrong? I didn’t want to ask, but now you’re worrying me.” He placed his hands on your shoulders shaking you slightly, bringing you back to him.

Your eyes were glossy and distant as you breathed out a sigh looking into his eyes for a slight second before planting your gaze on the beige throw pillow you had been hugging earlier. It had helped ease your nerves before and now with Taeyhyungs piercing stare, burning holes into the top of your head. It was failing to do what you had wanted it to do. Comfort you.“I don’t know if I’m ready to tell you.” You whispered, playing with the little tassel on one of the four ends. “I mean I want to tell you, but I don’t know why I am so scared.”

“Is it something bad?” He said carefully. He could feel the air getting caught in the back of his throat as he tried to keep himself from thinking of every possible scenario, good or bad, to have you acting the way you were.

You lifted your head, chewing on your bottom lip. “It depends.” You shrugged slightly avoiding his eyes and settling upon the tv screen. The paused movie nowhere to be seen as it was now asking you if you wanted to keep watching.

“Depends on what? You’re scaring me.” The softens of his voice faltering as his grip on your arms got tighter, trying to keep himself from breaking down.

“On your reaction. I thought I would have more time to come to terms with it but I don’t think I can hold it in any longer,” you said in a haste. Your words combining with one another as Taehyung tried to keep up with your fever.

“Just say it...please. I can feel my heart trying to leave my body.”

“Taehyung,” you took a deep breath, digging your nails into the pillow, and turned to face the only man you had ever loved. “I’m pregnant.” You whispered with wide eyes. Maybe you weren’t going crazy but after finding out three weeks ago that you were with child, the thought of telling your husband the news was driving you to the point of no return.

It wasn’t like you and Taehyung didn’t want kids, the two of you had been trying for more than a year with little to no success. But the second you saw the little positive symbol on the pink and white stick, you couldn’t believe it. So you took another and another and another until you had about ten positive pregnancy tests staring back at you, mocking you. All you could do was cry.

Taehyung’s eyes sparkled with tears as he threw the pillow you were holding to the side and hugged you tightly. He buried his face into the crock of your neck leaving behind a trail of loving kissing trying to comfort your shaking form.

His biggest wish had finally come true.

“Why didn’t you tell me earlier you big idiot?” He raised his head. His hands trailed up your spine until they reached your head. His thumbs swiping underneath your eyes taking your falling tears with him. “Why were you scared?”

“I just...it finally happened and I couldn’t believe it. I thought that if I said it outloud I would wake up from a dream or something.” You hiccuped.

Taehyung shook his head in disbelief a slight chuckle falling out of his lips as he leaned over and kissed your cheek. “That head of yours is your biggest enemy. No wonder you were in such a dreamlike daze the last two weeks.”

“Are you happy?” You pouted slightly, holding his arms gently, scared he would let you go.

“I’m more than happy, I’m so excited. I could literally run down the street naked, waking up the whole neighborhood, risking a public offense violation, just to let the whole world know that I am finally going to be a dad”

You laughed, throwing your arms around his neck and bringing him closer to you. “I’m starting to regret ever saying anything, I should’ve just kept it a secret for the next eight months.”

“Hmm, and here I was thinking that I should probably tell you where you left your glasses. Now I think I’m going to keep it a secret for the next eight months.” Teahyung stuck out his tongue at you before settling into the couch and bringing you along with him, making you whine in annoyance.

“I knew you knew where they were.” You grumbled crossing your arms in front of your chest. “I’ll let you decide on the first letter of your childs name if you tell me.” You sang, poking his side gently, making him yelp out in pain.

He turned to you, pouting, rubbing his side in pain, “first letter and their first outfit when we leave the hospital.” He challenged, sticking his hand out for you to shake.

“Kim Taehyung, it looks like you got yourself a solid deal.” You said, encasing your hand in his, giving it a firm shake before pulling you into his side. His arm entrapping you to keep you from moving and placed a loving kiss against your forehead.

“You left them on the coffee table.” He pulled away, presenting your clear framed glasses to you. You let out a sigh of relief, quickly grabbing them, slippin them on and cuddling into his side.

“You could’ve told me earlier, I really thought I was losing my mind for a second  back there.”

“If I didn’t would I have found out about our lovely baby bean?” He grabbed the remote, pressing the ‘continue watching’ button on the t.v. and unpaused the movie.

“I see your point.” You settled further into the side, finally letting yourself enjoy the movie. Earlier you had been ansty, pushing his hands away as they kept  traveling to your lower belly. Though, his intentions were far naughtier then what was playing in your mind. But you were afraid he would finally figure it out.

Five minutes

Five minutes was all it took before Tayhung paused the movie again and sat up in panic. “Oh my god,” He mumbled before turning to face you, eyes wide in horror and shook. “Babe I’m going to be a dad.”

You laughed, squishing his cheeks in between the palm of your hands. “Yeah I know, I thought I made that pretty clear a few minutes ago.” You teased as his eyes raced from your face and down to your midsection.

“I know but I was thinking about how we had sex last night and now I’m scared. Like what if we hurt the baby, what if I hurt the baby.”

“I don’t think that’s possible. You’re fine Tae, just play the movie.” You patted his cheeks lightly before getting up and walking into the kitchen, “do you want popcorn?”

He stood up and quickly made his way to the kitchen, leaning his forearms against the counter, watching as you placed the bag of popcorn into the microwave. “How can you be so calm about this, how do we know the babies okay? We need to call the doctor now and book an appointment.”

“Stop worrying, I’m sure baby is fine, but you can ask the doctor in a week during my first ultrasound.”

“Are you sure?”

“Positive, now do you want popcorn or not?”

“That’s a stupid question, I always want popcorn.”

[kur0obee]

Title: The Package

Pairing: Suna Rintarou x Reader

WC: 1.9k

Notes: really light hearted and kinda silly. No pronouns are used to refer to the reader. Reader is autistic and heavily based on myself.

 Finally, after being pushed back nearly three years, a game you’ve been looking forward to is being released today. To make things even better, you happen to have a four day weekend. You’re fully prepared to spend the whole extended weekend playing. You bought groceries on your way home from work yesterday, even though you always go on Sundays, and you did laundry last night as well, something you normally do on Fridays. Needless to say, you accounted for everything that would normally take place over the weekend. Well, you thought so at least. 

“One, two, three, one, two, three, one, two, three. No,” you quickly recount the cans of cat food to confirm that it is in fact only three days worth. How could you overlook this? You always stop at the pet store on your way home from grocery shopping, but doing it on a different day made that detail slip your mind. 

  Your cats rub against your legs, meowing eagerly for their breakfast, unaware of your inner turmoil. You sigh, quickly dividing up a can for the pair into their separate bowls before setting them down on their eating mat. 

  This is exactly why you like to stick to your routine. You wake up, feed your cats, get dressed, and eat one or two of those pre-made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, specifically the strawberry kind. Then you work from home for 6-10 hours, stopping for a lunch break approximately halfway through. On Friday you do laundry, and on Sunday you go grocery shopping. It’s simple and comfortable. 

  If you want to have the most uninterrupted time to play, you need to go to the pet store now. The package is expected to be delivered between 12-2, and it’s only 10. You can definitely make it there and back with time to spare. 

  You hastily get dressed, opting to skip breakfast for now. You grab your house keys and almost open your front door, but you remember your ritual. You know it’s ridiculous, but there’s something about insanely hot people that just makes you want to avoid their presence completely. It’s like they’re the sun, and you’re Icarus, wanting to avoid melting your wings from getting too close. 

  Your neighbor across the hall is unreasonably attractive, and the last thing you need is to run into him. When he first moved in, you would coincidentally leave at the same time several times a week. In fact, the day he moved in, you happened to open your door to find a group of men, who you assumed were helping him move, standing outside the front door chatting and drinking water. They all turned in your direction, eyes drawn to the movement, and you’ve never closed your door so fast. 

  Ever since the first time he gave you a polite greeting, you always check through your peephole to make sure he isn’t leaving. His presence is hard enough to handle, and the idea that he might start making polite small talk when you bump into each other on your way out prompts you to avoid that possibility at all costs. You confirm that he’s not leaving and quickly open the door, locking it behind you. 

  You always take your first step with your left foot and count to three with each step. Left. One. Right. Two. Left. Three. Right. One. So on and so on the whole way to your destination. Keeping your eyes on the ground in front of you to avoid eye contact and make sure you don’t run into anyone, you make your way to the familiar store. 

  This is the second punishment of today. Out of all the foods they carry, they’re only completely out of the brand your cats eat. You mentally kick yourself for not remembering to do this yesterday and head to the other pet store, which is a bit further. 

  Fortunately the second store has the right brand. You grab a decent amount of cans and go to the register to pay, focusing your gaze on the cashier's hands. You thank them and return home as quickly as possible. 

  When you arrive home, it’s only 11:30, and you exhale a sigh of relief. You made it in time. Now you can relax while anxiously awaiting the delivery. You know the delivery time said 12-2 when you last checked, but you feel compelled to check again. What if you misread the numbers or you’re remembering incorrectly? 

  This is the third punishment of the day. You open the app to find the message ‘package delivered early, left at door’ with a picture attached. Receiving a package earlier than expected is normally a great thing, but when you look at the picture, your stomach flips and heart drops. That is not your welcome mat the package is sitting on. 

  But you do recognize the mat. You’ve seen it hundreds of times at this point, memorized the way the font looks and the fact that the ‘o’ in ‘welcome’ is a volleyball. It’s your super hot, super intimidating neighbors mat. You’re certain you didn’t see the package outside of his door though, but you double check anyway. No package in sight. He must have taken it inside. 

  You don’t believe in karma, but in this moment you wonder what you’ve done in this life or a past life to deserve this kind of suffering. How cruel, to put you through this kind of torment. You have two options, and both of them make you sweat anxiously. You can wait for him to realize it’s not his and hope he drops it in front of your door or you can march across the hall and ask him about it yourself. Who knows how long the former will take, and the latter has your heart hammering in your chest and your body getting uncomfortably hot. 

  What’s worse? Waiting for the game some more-you've already waited three years for it after all- or having a brief conversation with the guy you’ve been avoiding for the better part of a year? You don’t believe in hell either, but you’re pretty sure this situation is the closest you could get to it. 

  Your head feels tense as you debate with yourself. Eventually it devolves into worrying about wasting too much time making a decision and trying to come up with what you would even say if you knock on his door. You decide that even though the mere thought of speaking to him makes you light-headed, it’s the best way to get maximum play time. 

  After a few false starts, you finally exit your apartment and find yourself in front of the dreaded door. You raise your hand to knock and lower it several times before taking a deep breath, shaking your hands like the nerves will go away, and you raise your hand to knock again. The door opens before you can make contact with the wood, and you pull your arm back with a gasp. 

  This is the moment Suna has been waiting for. As soon as he found your package on his doorstep, he just knew he had to use this opportunity to mess with you. Contrary to your belief, he has noticed your cautious behavior around him. He’s a very observant person after all. He’s seen you open and close your door when he’s leaving, noticed the way he almost never sees you anymore ever since he spoke to you that first time. Even though your face didn’t betray any emotion, he could feel the discomfort radiating off of you. You’ve had his attention ever since then. 

  “Hello,” he says coolly.

  You lower your hand quickly, face burning, looking away from the man in front of you and fiddling with your fingers, “Hi, I think you have my package?”

  “Sorry, I couldn’t hear you,” he responds, watching the way you tense up. Your words had come out as a mumble, and even though he knows why you’re here, he’s not planning to make it that easy for you.

  “I think,” you glance up at his face and look away again, trying to raise your voice and ignore the way your face feels like it’s on fire, “you have my package.”

  He smirks slightly. You’re just so strange but in an endearing way. Making you nervous is so easy, but he wonders how he would be able to get an expression reaction out of you. After only a moment of thought, he comes up with an idea.

  “Yes, I did get a package. I’m not sure if it’s yours. Let me go check,” he replies, turning around, but stopping to add, “you can come wait inside since it’s so hot out there. I put it in my back room, so it might take me a minute.”

  “No, that’s okay,” you say a little bit too quickly.

  Suna smirks to himself again as he closes the door. He stands there for a minute, looking at you through the peephole, and it’s even better than he could have imagined. You’ve crouched down on flat feet, hugging your knees close before standing back up again and turning to the side, hands rubbing against your pants. 

  You exhale a deep breath, trying to cool off your face. You can feel a bead of sweat roll down your back as you wipe your sweaty palms on your pants before trying to fan yourself off. Maybe you should have just waited. Is this really worth the light headedness you’re feeling or the fact that you’ve produced so much anxiety sweat that you’ll have to take a shower before you can even play. You’re already here, so you’ll wait for him to return, but you’re not sure how much more interaction with him your poor racing heart can take. You rub the back of your neck, trying to soothe your tense shoulders.

  After watching for a moment, Suna grabs your package off his kitchen counter near the front door. He knew you would say no to coming in, so it was a good opportunity to see exactly how you would react in this situation. You’re just so interesting to him, and he has to admit that he also thinks you’re pretty cute. It makes him want to know more about you. He quickly grabs a piece of sticky note paper, scribbling on it before he attaches it to the underside of the package. When he opens the door, you turn to face him quickly, and in the span of mere seconds, your body relaxes and tenses again when you look at his face. 

  “Thank you,” you say, reaching out to take the package. 

  His hands are large, with long sturdy fingers, and you accidentally brush your fingers against his. Your automatic reaction is to let go of the package, which was also Suna’s reaction, since he assumed that you had it safely in your hands. The package falls to the ground, and you bend down quickly to pick it up. 

  “Sorry,” you also stand up quickly, giving a slight bow, “Thank you.”

  You turn on your heel and try to walk at an even pace back to your door. Does he think you’re walking weird? You become overly conscious of how you’re walking in the short distance, movements feeling mechanical and wrong. You tuck the package under your arm as you unlock your door, glancing back at Suna’s door one last time. He’s already gone inside, and you exhale a long breath, cheeks finally cooling down. You flip the package over to open it and notice a little green sticky note. Your heart starts hammering against your chest as you read the message. It’s your neighbor’s phone number and a time, date, and location. 

  “He’s killing me,” you mutter to yourself, “he’s going to kill me like this.”

[teddy06writes]

The Night Has a Thousand Eyes

wilbur soot x reader

requested: no I just couldn’t get this idea out of my head

trigger warnings: character death, swearing, yelling, wounds, blood

premise: In game au, Wilbur’s plan to blow up l’manburg succeeds, but the one person he wanted to survive couldn’t avoid the blast; plus I wanted to use‘The Night Has a Thousand eyes’ by Francis William Burdillion

(y/n/n)- your nickname

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“Wil this plan is insane!” 

Wilbur cackled, looking over the plans that laid over the bench deep within the cavern of Pogtopia, “This plan is exactly what we need!” 

“Wilbur destroying our home is not how we save it.” You said desperately. 

Your boyfriend sighed, “(y/n), this is our last chance! If we don’t do this now we will never get a chance to see home again!” 

“In case you’ve forgotten,” You jabbed a finger at his chest, “You are the one who got us thrown out of that place to begin with! If you hadn’t held the election we could still be there! Why did we fight for that land just to blow it up?” 

“I fought for that land to make a place for us!” Wilbur yelled, “So that we could carve out our own little place! So that my son could have a place to live! And he betrayed us!

“They all betrayed us! No one in that country deserves to live!” He continued to yell, “The only way to get our L’manburg back is this way! If I can’t have it no one can!” 

You recoiled as if burned, muttering, “I’m leaving. I came here voluntarily, That means they’ll let me back in.” As you hurried away, blinking back tears.

Wilbur watched in shock as you retreated out of the cavern, now his own eyes brimming with tears as Techno strode out of his room, surveying the scene, “That, was, a lot.” 

“Why do we keep fighting? It’s like all we ever do is fight,” Wilbur moved back to slide down the cavern wall, tucking his knees to his chest, “It’s like we’re falling apart.” 

“Everythin falls apart eventually,” Techno sighed, looking over the map, “It’s a part ‘a life.” 

“What are you lot moaning about?” Tommy asked as he leaned over the rail of one of the higher paths.

“Tommy am I a bad guy?” Wilbur asked. 

“Wilb- what do you mean?” 

“Am I a villain?” Wilbur hauled himself up of the ground gesturing to the map, “Does this make me a bad guy? (y/n) certainly seems to think it does!” 

“Wilbur sometimes people do bad things for good reasons.” Techno said. 

Tommy nodded, “They may think your a bad guy, but your not.” 

“But if they think I’m a bad guy, then I must be,” Wilbur practically wailed, “And now there going back!” 

~~ “And why the hell do you think I’d let you back in here?” Shlatt demanded, “Your as much a traitor as your fucking boyfriend.” 

“Wilbur is insane. I can’t stay there any more,” You sighed, crossing your arms, “Besides, my home and my family is here.” 

Quackity cocked his head, “Your on your last life, aren’t you?” 

You nodded, “Lost the others in the war.” 

“So, as long as you swear not to conspire with anyone in pogtopia, we won’t kill you.” 

“I wouldn’t want to talk to any of them if they were the last people on earth,” You said bitterly, “And I doubt they’d want to see me.” 

Shlatt held out a hand to shake, “Welcome back to Manburg then, (y/n).” 

~~

The tnt was in place, the festival was starting, and your anxiety was steadily rising. 

You forced a smile, wandering through the fair grounds, talking to various friends. 

“(y/n), a word?” Techno asked. 

“What do you want?” You spat as you moved away from the crowd. 

He rolled his eyes, holding out a scrap of paper, “Wilbur told me to give you this.” 

“I don’t want it.” 

“Well,” he sighed, “The jest of it is, during the speeches, when Tubbo says, ‘let the festival begin’ you run like mad. Get to the border at least.” 

“He’s going through with it.” You said softly. 

“We couldn’t get him to stop.” 

You sighed, and distantly you heard Shlatt yelling, “Everyone to the podium! It’s time for Tubbo’s speech!” 

Slowly you made your way to the stands, taking a seat next to Niki and watching as Shlatt, Quackity, and Tubbo took to the podium. 

“Everyone! Thank you for coming to this celebration of peace! And democracy!” Shlatt yelled into the mic. 

You all cheered, and Tubbo stepped forward, “Welcome everybody to the manburg festival!” 

He began to drone on about traitors, and lettuce, and you noticed Wilbur and Tommy, crouched on the roof of a near by building. Tommy was focused on the stage, while Wilbur’s eyes were trained on you. 

You shook your head slightly, and he smiled sadly, turning back to the stage. 

You looked around at Manburg, the many flag poles now lining the streets, the hideous new flag, waving in the wind. 

“So yeah!” 

Wilbur was no longer in his spot on the roof. 

“I guess that’s all I’ve got left to say, so...” 

Your heart pounded, Techno slipped back into the shadows, and Tommy began to descend from his own spot. 

“Let the festival begin!” 

You barley had time to jump up and start running before the world exploded into fire.

~~ When you could see again, your ears were ringing, your head was pounding, but some how, you though, you were alive. 

You breathed a sigh of relief and tried to sit up, failing in doing so as an excruciating pain ripped through your stomach. 

Distantly you could hear someone shouting your name. 

You craned your neck, gasping upon seeing the long metal pole sticking through your chest, the red and black flag pooling around you. 

Blood dripped from your temple, as the yelling got louder, and then suddenly Wilbur was kneeling by your side. 

“(y/n)!” 

“Wil.” You smiled, reaching up to cup his cheek, even as the movement made spots swim in your vision. 

“Oh no, oh no,” He looked around frantically, “Techno do you have any healing pots? Please! Techno they need help!” 

Technoblade stood by, knowing nothing could be done. 

“Wilbur, it’s okay, it’s okay.” 

“No! I did this to you! This is my fault! I’m a villain!” 

Tears fell from your eyes, “It’s alright Wil. You’re not a villain. Never were.”

“Don’t leave me (y/n/n)! Please!” He screwed his eyes shut, leaning over you. 

“Look at me,” you commanded softly, and he obeyed, “The Night has a thousand eyes, and the day but one; Yet the light of the bright world dies with the dying sun.”

“The mind has a thousand eyes,” Wilbur muttered, “And the heart but one.” 

You nodded, closing your eyes, drifting off to the sound of your dear Wilbur’s voice. 

“Yet the light of a whole life dies, when love is done.” He sobbed, the last words, choking on tears, seeing his love, gone. 

[falling-pages]

A bird? A bird: Hikaru x Haruhi

in which drunk Hikaru is a mood.

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Hikaru Hitachiin x Haruhi Fujioka

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Enemies to lovers, non-host club au, aged up au.

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TW: Drinking

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The disgust lingered in the back of his throat like iron, like a bad pill you swallow but not fast enough. He fumbled the chaser to his liquor, and now he was stuck with the gross aftertaste. The refuge of his office, where he gulped down air like water, could only last so long. He couldn’t even go out in the common area, break room or restroom without having to see her--and for that, for taking away his freedom and social butterfly antics, he hated her.

Every time he saw her cute little snarl and tight little bun and stiff black skirts enraged him, filling his blood with a heat he didn’t know how to deal with. Despite her short height, she held her nose in the air as she worked, the only way she could look down on everyone like she so desperately craved. Always propping up her law degree, well this and actually that, ruining any jokes he made with a deadpan stare. She messed with his head, distracted him from his work, and for that she must go.

As much as he had tried to get her fired--and he had tried--nothing made the boss budge. He tried pulling rank, as the head of the software department; he tried using his parents’ names; nothing worked.

She’s doing a stellar job, the bossman had said. And, she’s our lawyer. If we did fire her for no reason, she would sue us into the ground.

I do have a reason, Hikaru retorted. She annoys me.

It wouldn’t hold up in court, but it seemed good enough for him.

Hikaru inhaled deeply through his nose, grounding himself by gripping his desk. Surrounded by all his trophies and achievements, he still could only think of her. He had to handle this, or else he’d go insane, but he had no idea where to start.

Kaoru. Kaoru would know what to do.

He rose from his chair, taking one last look behind him at the stained glass city through his clear glass window. Despite it only being mid-afternoon, the city was pulsing and alive with color, birds dive-bombing for food, vendors hawking at passersby, tourists mixing and bumping into natives. Tokyo was loud, and crazy, and alive, where he knew he belonged and longed to be. Even nature was straining at its leash for the workday to end, eager to celebrate the Friday night.

He turned back and shut the lights off in his office, stuffing his hands in his pockets as he walked. His department was rather quiet, having given his employees the afternoon off. If Haruhi knew, she would chide him, but they were so far ahead of schedule that he couldn’t risk them burning out.

Once up the stairs and around the corner, he heard his brother’s voice laughing and chatting and speak of the devil, she’s here.

It shouldn’t have surprised him. Karou and Haruhi were surprisingly great friends; he tended to mellow her out, help her unwind from the stick up her ass. He just had that calming effect on people.

As soon as he saw her, Hikaru spun a 180 and turned right back around the corner, and Haruhi would have let him, but Karou intervened.

“Hika! Come over here!” he waved, a bright smile splitting his face. “Haruhi was just telling me how much she liked you!”

Haruhi seethed, switching to a guarded pose as soon as she saw him. “I certainly was not.”

“Oh, right, my bad, she was telling me how much she liked your latest game patch,” Kaoru apologized, but it was the furthest thing from sincere. “Tell us about how you came up with it. Haruhi would love to pick your brain.”

Hikaru smirked, testing the waters as he approached. “Is that true, Fujioka?”

She frowns, pushing her bridge up her glasses up her nose. God, those glasses. She looked so dumb in them, making her eyes seem so wide, so innocent, so...pretty. All he wanted to do was pluck them off her face and laugh as she jumped for them, reaching and whining.

“I mean, it’s original, for sure,” she said. His cheeks warmed at the praise, even as she squirmed. “And it should market well, and you didn’t infringe on anyone’s copyright this time.”

That wasn’t my fault. He took the compliment with a grain of salt, biting back, “Still in the whole get-up, I see. Not much for casual Fridays?”

As amber eyes raked down her body, Haruhi concealed the shiver that ran down her spine. “No, actually, because I didn’t go to law school to wear jeans every day at work.”

“You didn’t go to law school to become a smartass, either, but here we are.”

“OKAY!” Kaoru exclaimed, jumping up between them. “Friday afternoon, yeah? Any big plans for the weekend?”

Both instigators ignored him. “That’s the uniform, you know. We tend to be pretty laid back around here.”

“Lawyers can’t be laid back. Laziness and a laissez-faire attitude is how we get sued.”

Hikaru stretched, rolling his eyes. “Woah, woah, pardon your French.”

Haruhi shook her head, and a few mismanaged strands of hair fell from her bun to brush against her neck. Her pink lips perched in contempt, and she looked so fragile, squinting behind her thick-framed glasses, that he couldn’t help but notice how tight her shirt was, tucked into a pencil skirt that hugged so tastefully over her--

“Hika!” Kaoru suddenly exclaimed. “Honey wants to know if we’re still down for drinks tonight.”

His saving grace. “Oh, my God, yes,” he moaned, salivating already at the thought of tequila burning down his throat. Washing the week away was just what he needed, especially with the way this conversation was going.

And then Kaoru did the unthinkable: With his award-winning smile, he turned to Haruhi and asked, “Would you like to come?”

Hikaru could have strangled him.

But God heard his prayers, and the resident buzzkill shook her head. “Thank you, but sorry. I don’t drink.”

“No surprise there,” Hikaru murmured.

Kaoru definitely heard that, but if Haruhi did, she didn’t react. He shot his twin a look, a be polite etched into the lines of his brow.

“Sad,” Kaoru said. He bent over to pick up his work bag, stuffing his bento within and waving to Haruhi. “Maybe next time? We can go out for boba or something.”

Haruhi smiled--Hikaru didn’t think he had ever seen that before. It did something to him; suddenly, he felt as if his body was shaking, like his throat was full of needles, like he had taken one too many to the head.

“Yeah, I’d like that,” she said, and the smile disappeared when she looked at him. She gave them both a quick nod. “Have a great weekend.”

“Thanks.”

“See you Monday!”

Hikaru waited until they were out the door before punching his twin in the arm, hard enough to make him yelp.

“Dude, watch it,” Kaoru snapped, brushing over the mussed fabric of his cardigan sleeve. “It’s cashmere.”

“Stop flirting with her.”

Kaoru stopped in his tracks. A cloudy sky obscured the smirk on his face. “Woah, what’s got you so worked up?”

Hikaru kept stomping towards their subway stop, too lost in his own anger to notice who he had left behind. “‘M not worked up,” he retorted. “But you’re dating Kyoya. You shouldn’t be flirting with a girl.”

Kaoru skipped to catch up, joining him as they descended the stairs. “Kyoya said it’s fine if I flirt, as long as I come home to him every night.”

It took everything in Hikaru to keep him from shoving his brother into the sad, drab gray stone walls. He couldn’t put a finger on the irritation nettling just below his skin, or why the first layer of his heart seemed to simmer whenever he caught them talking to each other. All he could figure out was that it burned, and it made him hate her even more.

When he stayed silent, Kaoru knew he was right. He preened as he dug around for his subway card. “Boba isn’t a date.”

“Of course it is.”

“Then maybe you should ask her out on one.”

By then they were at the platform, waiting for their train. As the whistle signaled its approach, Hikaru very seriously considered pushing Kaoru onto the tracks.

“Tch. Over my dead body.”

“Then you can’t be jealous.”

“I’m not--”

Hikaru threw a punch when the train approached, distracting him and allowing Kaoru to live to see another day. As they hurried on, Hikaru couldn’t get his mind out of the gutter--or off her.

Jealous. Pshhh.

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“I dunno, senpai, she just….she makes me feel something. Whenever she talks to me it’s like my hands are on fire, and my head hurts, and I feel like….like she’s stabbing me. There’s something going on in my chest, like a, like a--a bird. There’s a bird or a butterfly or something with wings in my stomach, and I don’t like it.”

Hikaru knocked back a shot and signaled for another one, eyes bleary as he tried to find the bartender. There were three of them, or maybe that was just how blurry his vision was, but he didn’t care; as long as one of them saw him and passed him another round, he’d tip them the moon.

Mitsukuni watched his friend wave to no one, the effect of one too many fireballs in the span of just two hours. He hadn’t seen Hikaru this hammered since college--and now, at 27, it just looked more like a cry for help than an occasion to let loose. And without Kaoru, who had already gone home with Kyoya and the rest of their friend group, on babysitting duty, Mitsukuni was the one left to make sure he got into a cab.

“A bird?” he asked, watching as Hikaru swung his head in confirmation.

“A bird.” A bartender came back with another shot, handing it to the redhead and giving Mitsukuni a questioning look. He waved at him, confirming he was the babysitter, and the waiter turned back around.

“Tell me about that.”

Hikaru gripped his cup, tonguing at the rim like a sippy cup. “It’s fluttering around, Honey. It’s--hiccup--like, moving. Whenever I see her or talk to her my heart just begins to pound.”

Mitsukuni bit back a smile. His vodka cran lay forgotten on the bar, but this experience was just too amusing to violate with alcohol. “And what do you think that means?”

“Means she’s gonna kill me.”

“Kill you?” His eyebrows shot up. “Why is that?”

Hikaru slurped the shot, spilling some down his chin, and Mitsukuni was fairly sure it was just plain water. “Because. She’s mean, senpai. She looks at me like she’s studying, like she’s gonna slice me in half. Like...I dunno. Like I mean something to her.”

Mistukuni twisted his wedding ring, inching closer to the discovery. He’s almost there, almost recognizing what the rest of the friend group has known for months. “And if you mean something to her, why does your heart flutter?”

“Acid reflux.”

“No, Hikaru.” He gently swatted the other man’s hand down before he could ask for another drink. “It sounds like the beginnings of love, to me.”

Hikaru gaped, not a thought behind those eyes, until it hit him like a wrecking ball. His fist fell to the bar, thudding, but he felt no pain. Only existential dread and a rocketing realization.

“Oh.”

“Mmhmm.”

“Oh, fuck.”

-

If you like what I write, please considering buying a coffee :)

[ragingbookdragon]

Through Hoods, Through Lace, Through Hearts--We'll Find Our Healing PT.1

Jason Todd x Reader Story (Arkhamverse)

Word Count: 2.6K Warnings: Explicit Language

Author's Note: I started playing Arkham Knight again and got inspired. Who woulda thought?? Enjoy! -Thorne

Gotham wasn’t exactly safe since Batman—or Bruce Wayne—had died. All things considered, it wasn’t as bad as it used to be now that Red Hood had moved in and started tackling the criminals Batman had left behind—permanently. Killer Moth had been the first and Roman Sionis was the second to go, and while Red Hood hadn’t outright claimed it, the leftover crew that hadn’t been pumped full of lead, had said that they saw the vigilante leaving, so it wasn’t hard to put two and two together. And it didn’t stop there.

Red Hood had started in on Penguin’s gang too. Now that Batman wasn’t around to stop the weapons and drug smuggling, it’d given the infamous gang leader a free ticket into Gotham. There were some reports about the neighboring vigilante Nightwing coming over from Blüdhaven to stop him. Rumor had it that someone said they even saw him and the Red Hood working together at one point, but it didn’t seem all to believable as the latter didn’t seem to be the partnering type.

That being said, with no one to stop him from killing all the criminals he wanted, a lot of the small-time fish got out of the business, not wanting to be met at the end of Red Hood’s handguns—it’s the exact reason she got out of the game. The money was good, and she was a damn good thief, but no amount of payout was worth her life. But somehow, trouble always managed to find her again.

***

Her file might’ve gotten deleted from GCPD’s database, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t going to take the easy way down the street and risk an officer recognizing her. She stuck to the back alleys like usual, ignoring the catcalls and sleazy comments about her outfit, but still keeping her brass knuckles around her hand—could never be too careful in Gotham.

Working an honest job sucked in her opinion, and the only thing more humiliating than working at Super-Babes was the number of tips she was getting at the end of her shift. Maybe if she smiled and flirted a bit more, they’d give her a tenner instead of a fiver. She’d half a mind to shove that five down the asshole’s throat after he ran his hand up the back of her thigh, but she was lucky that Tony had been working the kitchen shift—watching him throw the guy out on his ass was payment enough.

Even if she was managing to scrape by, working a restaurant job was kicking her ass, and something deep inside her itched for one more heist, but with the Red Hood stalking the city, there was no way in hell that she was going to risk it. The man had a reputation for leaving bodies and shell cases, and she wasn’t going to be the former. No, she was working towards a better future, getting back on track, and even if she was waitress, she was doing a lot better than most of the old crew. Most of them had either joined up with Black Mask, in hindsight, a horrible error on their part, or gotten thrown back into lockup. She was lucky—she got out during the recovery of Gotham after the whole Scarecrow and Arkham Knight deal. But that didn’t stop them from sending her the occasional request of her skills. All they received was a big ‘fuck no and fuck you’.

“(Y/N), (Y/N), (Y/N). Finally tracked you down.” Speak of the devil.

“Alex,” she sighed heavily as she turned halfway, catching sight of her old partner—and old flame, but that wasn’t important. “Figured you would at some point.” Her eyes narrowed. “What do you want?”

Alex chuckled and leaned against the wall. “No need to be so touchy. I just wanted to talk.”

(Y/N) shook her head and hiked her purse higher onto her shoulder, fingers tightening around the brass knuckles in her pocket.

“If it’s not about my next shift at Super-Babes, I don’t give a rat’s ass what it is,” she countered, glaring at him.

“That’s where you’ve been working?” he questioned, but his tone gave way to the knowingness in his gaze. “Really?”

“Not like there’s anywhere else for ex-thieves to apply, Alex,” (Y/N) grumbled. “Employers are pretty meticulous when it comes to criminal records.”

“I’m not.”

She glowered at him. “I’m not interested in whatever you want me to do for you.”

“Even if you’ll get paid?” he suggested.

“I can’t believe I’m going to ask,” she sighed, eyes narrowing at the grin that split across his face. “What are you doing?”

Alex pulled out a file and walked up to her. “I knew you couldn’t resist a big payout.”

“Fuck you,” she grunted, swiping the manilla folder from him. “Shine a light for me.”

He pulled out his phone and flicked his flashlight on, watching as she read the papers, occasionally flipping the sheets.

All at once, she paused and gaped at him. “Wayne Manor?” She blinked. “You wanna `excavate Wayne Manor?”

Alex nodded and turned the flashlight off, stowing the phone back into his pocket. “Good plan, isn’t it?”

(Y/N) breathed in shock and lowered the folder. “Are you insane?”

“I’m failing to see your issue with this.”

“You want to excavate the home of a dead man. You really can’t see the issue with it?”

“That he’s dead?” Alex offered. “Technically that’s not graverobbing. He’s been dead for like a year and a half.”

(Y/N) turned and took a step. “That’s not the issue Alex!” She spun back around and hissed, “Bruce Wayne was Batman.”

“Keyword was. Not anymore.”

“I don’t give a shit. If Bruce Wayne was Batman, then there’s a very strong chance that there’s still defenses laid around the grounds.”

“In that pile of rubble? Not likely, but that’s why I need you to help me.”

“No,” (Y/N) declared. “I’m not going anywhere near that place.”

Alex let out a sigh and crossed his arms over his chest. “And why not? You never really liked Batman. Didn’t he put you in jail once or twice?”

“Bruce Wayne was a good man that did his best to help this city whether he was dressed as Batman or not.” She affirmed. “He saved people, gave them jobs, helped them turn their lives around. No,” she shook her head. “I don’t want any part of this job, Alex. Now, later, or forever. I’m trying to do better, and you should too.”

Alex scoffed. “Oh please, getting tips for dressing like slutty Wonder Woman isn’t doing better (Y/N), and you know it.”

She ignored the insult and shrugged. “Maybe not, but I go to sleep at night knowing that I’m not going to get shot by Red Hood or some greedy gangbanger.”

At that, Alex paused and stared at her. “Are you really afraid of that prick?”

(Y/N) scowled. “That pricktook out Black Mask and his entire operation within twenty-four hoursthen immediately turned his attention on the rest of the scumbags in this city.” Taking a step towards him, she added, “He doesn’t break bones and leave you lying in pain like Batman did, Alex. He makes sure you don’t get up again. Ever. I’m not risking my neck for anything that’s stuck in Wayne’s basement.”

The man across from her was silent for a moment, then sighed. “I can’t sway you in any way?”

She yanked her hand out of her jacket pocket and flashed the knuckles around her hand. “I’d stop swaying and start running instead.”

Alex opened his mouth to say something, but all that came out was, “Oh fuck!” then he spun around and hauled off like his ass was on fire.

(Y/N) stood there dumbfounded. Sure, she could be intimidating, but there was no way she was that scary. Instead of questioning it, she shrugged and shoved the folder into her skirt, then turned sharply on her heel to start on her way back to her apartment. Until she walked straight into someone’s chest.

She gasped as she stumbled backwards, knowing she was going to fall on her ass when strong hands grasped her upper arms, keeping her upright. (Y/N) looked up and met the very man she’d been talking about. Suddenly, Alex’s explicative and escape made perfect sense.

“Oh fuck!” she blurted out, and impulsively swung her knuckled fist at the jaw of his helmet. He caught her hand with an ease and spun her around, pressing her front up against the brick wall.

“Fuck me. Oh, fuck me,” she hissed, cursing herself for not telling Alex to stick it where the sun didn’t shine the second he found her. Now here she was about to get murdered by a trigger-happy vigilante with a grudge.

“Really? Right here? But someone could see us?” The humor in his tone drew a startled laugh from her and she pressed her cheek against the wall, so she could see him.

“I swear to God I don’t have anything to do with him. Fuck, I’ll tell you whatever you want about him and his plan if you don’t kill me.” (Y/N) sucked in a breath. “Please don’t kill me. I swear I stopped pulling heists after Halloween last year. I work a decent job. I keep my nose clean. I don’t get involved in that shit anymore. Please, God, don’t—”

“Will you stop talking for like ten seconds?” Red Hood griped, one hand leaving the grasp he had on her arms behind her back to feel around her middle.

“HEY!” she shouted, thrashing wildly. “GET YOUR HANDS OFF ME!”

He pressed her harder to the wall. “I’m not gonna hurt you. Calm down.”

“I’ll calm down when you get your fucking hands out of my skirt your fucking pervert!” (Y/N) spat, leaning on one leg to kick at him with the other.

“All I want is what’s in your skirt,” he sighed and pressed one of his thighs against the one kicking him. “Christ,you’re a handful.”

“And you’re a fucking sicko!” she retorted indignantly. “Is this how you get your rocks off? Assaulting innocent women? You’re so fucking disgu—”

“Got it,” Red Hood declared, and yanked out the file she’d shoved in the side of her skirt. (Y/N) fell silent when he held it beside her head. “See, that wasn’t so hard now, was it?”

She could tell he was smirking behind the red helmet and she scowled at him. “You’re fucked up, buddy.”

Shrugging, he flipped open the file and started reading. “Would’ve been easier if you hadn’t tried to run on me.”

“Well excuse me for thinking I was about to get murdered and having the initial instinct to haul ass.”

Red Hood chuckled at that, and despite how wrong the entire situation was, the low drawl made shivers go down her spine.

“Wanna tell me about your friend?” he coaxed and (Y/N) froze.

“He’s not my friend,” she suddenly protested. “I haven’t been around Alex since last year.”

“Really? You two seem fairly chummy.”

(Y/N) craned her neck to look at him. “We used to fuck when we worked together.”

“Mhm,” he hummed knowingly. “Lover’s spat then?”

Barking a laugh, she countered, “Like you wouldn’t believe.” She stared at him. “I got out when you started putting people down. Didn’t want to be a casualty.”

“That’ll do it,” he snickered. “So, you don’t know what Alex’s been up to since last year?”

“No, and I want it to stay that way, but he thinks that if he waves enough heists in my face, I’ll cave and run back to the money.” (Y/N) groaned and rested her head against the wall. “Look, I don’t know what he’s planning, and I don’t care. I don’t want anything to do with whatever that plan it. Honest to God.”

She gazed at him, feeling something akin to tears gathering in her vision, and pled, “Take the file. Hell, take all the money I’ve got in my purse if you want, just don’t kill me.” A single tear ran down her cheek. “Please, I’m begging you. I don’t wanna die now.”

Red Hood’s weight disappeared from her back and he murmured, “I’m not going to hurt you. I want the opposite in fact.” The honesty in his words made her body feel weak and her knees started to go out beneath her. “And there she goes.” He caught her before she fell.

Gently lowering her to the ground, he helped her sit against the wall. (Y/N) leaned her head back and let out a long sigh.

“Oh, thank God.”

He laughed. “Life flashing before your eyes?”

She gave a half-hearted smile. “You’ve got no idea.”

This time when he laughed, it was dark, and it made her stomach churn. “Actually, I do.”

An uncomfortable silence fell over them, then he knelt in front of her, handing her purse back to her.

“Here.”

(Y/N) took it with a nod and stared at him. “So, what happens now?”

He was quiet for a moment, then he waved the file. “I go stop your friends from digging around Batman’s home.”

“Good luck,” she replied, starting to her feet when he tutted.

“Ah-ah-ah.” He motioned for her to sit back down. “We’re not done yet.”

She grunted at him. “What do you want?”

“Information on your friends.”

(Y/N) felt her brows furrow. “Can’t you find that out yourself?”

Red Hood shrugged. “I could, but I’m always looking to make my job easier.” He observed her for a moment, then reached into his pocket and pulled out a roll of hundred-dollar bills.

Waving it in front of her, he said, “You tell me what you used to do for them and what all they’ve got going on, and you can have this.”

(Y/N)’s jaw went tight as she stared at the roll. That could pay rent and bills for at least two months. She needed the money. Her eyes darted to the mask and she swiped for the roll, but he raised it out of her reach.

“Nope,” he ribbed. “Info first.”

“Ass,” she grumbled, but conceded with a sigh. “Fine. Have it your way.” (Y/N) clambered to her feet and dusted off her tacky skirt, watching as he did the same.

“Follow me to my apartment.” Before he could say a word, she thrust a finger into his chest. “And do it from the rooftops so people don’t see you.” Her face set in a glare. “I don’t need any unwanted guests trying to get in because they saw you following me.”

She started off when Red Hood grabbed her forearm, not harshly, but firm enough to make her stop and stare at him questioningly.

“What’s your name?”

She blinked, not expecting that. “It’s (Y/N). (Y/N) (L/N).”

He nodded. “And what did they call you when you worked as a thief?”

(Y/N) huffed. “Not everyone has an alias, Red Hood.”

Chuckling, he retorted, “Yeah, but someone as pretty as you no doubt had one.”

She felt her stomach flutter at his flirt and her cheeks warmed as she looked away and replied, “They used to call me, ‘The Lady in Lace’.”

“The Lady in Lace?” he repeated, then stood next to her and pulled out a grappling gun. “Have a matching outfit, Lady Lace?”

(Y/N) shoved him in the side. “Wouldn’t you like to know.”

“I think I’d rather see,” Red Hood flirted and pressed the button, shooting off towards the roof of the building.

It was gonna be a long night.