#The squid and spider get all my attention

[bloos-bloo]

Opinions on Kallamar?

I adore them! >:D he’s one of my favorite bishops to draw- I like giving him extra details that literally make no sense- LIKE HIS HAIR AAAAA I LOVE ITTTT

I think they’re so cool though- like I hated him at first cause I sucked during their boss fight- but now I literally need to restrain myself from doodling just him- I MEAN COME ONNNNNN- HES SO SQUISHHYYYY

[solarhysm]

"what’s your name again?" | JEON JUNGKOOK [FOLLOWERS POLL’s CHOICE]

one shot

> summary: jungkook met you at a costume party for the new year eve. you're bold, drunk and horny.

> pairing: jungkook x reader

> genre: small smut, one shot (shorter than i thought tho)

> warnings: smut, protected sex!!, public quickie in the female restroom (i'm not good with warning)

> word count: 2.8k

*french writer, i apologize in advance for my awful english!

Jungkook never likes masked parties. But when Hoseok suggests going to one where everyone is in costumes, he reluctantly agrees. He has nothing better to do for New Year’s Eve anyway, and it seems better than drinking alone at his parent’s house. He sighs as someone bumps into him—that’s why he avoids crowded places.

Everyone wears costumes as if it’s Halloween. He’s not surprised to see most of the women in tight, short dresses. Jungkook considered dressing as a character from Squid Game but decided against it—there are already too many of them here.

Instead, he throws on his old Spider-Man costume from Halloween three years ago. It’s been gathering dust in his closet, but it saves him time and money. To account for the cold, he adds gray joggers and an old black sweatshirt. Tonight, he’s not Peter Parker but Miles Morales. He doubts anyone will notice the reference, though.

“Damn, I didn’t expect it to be this crowded,” Jimin says, handing beers to his friends.

Jungkook glances around and nods. It’s New Year’s Eve, so of course, people their age are out celebrating.

“It’s been a shitty year,” Taehyung groans, downing his beer in one gulp before heading to the bar for something stronger. His girlfriend dumped him last month, and he’s still obsessively checking her Instagram, where she flaunts her new boyfriend.

Jungkook shakes his head, amused. It was a rough year. His grandfather was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, none of his romantic flings went anywhere, and the company he worked for went bankrupt. Now, he’s living with his parents –again- and working a terrible job under an abusive boss. He sighs and takes a sip of his beer.

“At least we’re still standing,” Hoseok says, ever the optimist.

As the night goes on, the four friends drink steadily in their corner of the nightclub. Taehyung ends up crying on Hoseok’s shoulder, while Jungkook rolls his eyes.

“I don’t understand,” Taehyung whines. “I’m a good boyfriend! I used to bring her flowers all the time and give her all the attention she wants.”

“She’s a bitch. You’re a good guy,” Jungkook says, leaning closer so Taehyung can hear him over the music. “Stop wasting your tears on someone like her.”

“Maybe I’m bad in bed?”

“Stop it,” Jimin groans, grabbing Taehyung’s shoulder. “With your third leg, it’s definitely not about sex. Some women are just terrible people. Go find someone new tonight.”

“What?” Taehyung sniffles, while Jungkook silently gestures for Jimin to stop talking.

“Yeah, Tae,” Hoseok chimes in. “Find a girl, have some fun, and forget about her.”

Jungkook buries his face in his hands. Taehyung is too drunk for this advice. He’s not a one-night-stand type of guy and will probably end up vomiting on whoever he approaches.

“I need a smoke,” Jungkook mutters, getting up and wiping his hands on his joggers. He weaves through the crowd toward the exit, hating how packed the nightclub is.

“I’m sorry!” a voice gasps as their bodies collide. Jungkook instinctively grabs the stranger’s arm to steady them. Both of them are clearly tipsy, but they look more unsteady than he does.

His gaze falls on the person in front of him—his very own Gwen Stacy. The mask hides all of their face, but the costume piques his interest immediately.

“It’s my fault,” You begin. “I didn’t—” You stop mid-sentence when you look up at him. “Oh, Miles Morales!” You giggle, recognizing his costume. And your laugh makes him smile.

“Hi, Gwen,” Jungkook smirks, the alcohol making him bolder.

“Hi,” you reply as you both step outside into the chilly air. It’s a welcome relief from the stifling crowd inside. Jungkook pulls out a cigarette and lighter.

“I like your costume,” he says, noticing you scanning the crowd inside, probably looking for your friends.

You remove your mask and smile. Jungkook doesn’t expect you to be this attractive—especially the kind of attractive he’s drawn to.

“Thanks. I like yours, even if it’s a little inaccurate,” you tease, making him chuckle.

You pull out your own cigarette, accepting his lighter with a nod of thanks.

“It’s too cold to be Spider-Man.”

“Well, not Tom Holland’s Spider-Man,” you quip, freeing your hair from the costume.

Jungkook’s eyes linger on you briefly before smirking. “Marvel fan?” he asks.

“Hm, you?”

“Hm.”

You’re pretty and a Marvel fan? Jungkook looks up at the dark sky, silently thanking the universe for this coincidence. Before he can come up with something to say, you speak again.

“I almost dressed as Wednesday Addams, but it’s way too cold for that,” you explain, and he nods.

“Wednesday was my first choice, too,” Jungkook jokes, making you laugh.

“I’m Y/N,” you say.

“Jungkook,” he replies.

“Did you come alone, Spiderman?” you ask, and Jungkook shakes his head.

“I came with some friends.”

“Yeah, me too. It was either this or sleeping early. I figured it’d be more fun to get drunk,” you say, tossing the bud of your cigarette. Jungkook licks his lips with a smile. He guesses you’re a yapper, which is a good thing because he’s not drunk enough to talk freely without embarrassment. “Do you drink tequila shots, Spiderman?”

“Are you offering?” he teases, and you nod. “Alright.”

Even though he asks, once you’re at the bar ordering a round of six tequila shots, Jungkook is the one handing over his credit card to the bartender. You scold him, insisting you’ll pay for the next round. He’s just happy that you’re thinking about continuing the night with him, though he’s a little apprehensive about drinking more.

“Alright, on three,” you say with a smile, counting down before you both toss back the first shot and bite into a lemon. “Where are your friends?”

“Somewhere in the club,” Jungkook replies, his head nodding to the rhythm of the music.

You grab his hand and guide him to the dancefloor. Jungkook marvels at how easygoing you are. Most girls he meets play hard to get, but you’re different—just here, vibing with everyone around you. His smile widens as he watches you mimicking the dance steps of a guy dressed as a banana.

You burst into laughter when you mess up the choreography, and the banana-guy spins you back toward Jungkook, probably assuming the two of you came together. You stumble into his arms, your rosy cheeks and bright giggles captivating him even though he can barely hear it over the music.

After the fourth shot, Jungkook has to stop, reaching his limit. He isn’t used to drinking this much, especially tequila. But he chuckles, watching as you confidently take down two more. When you turn to him, he shakes his head in disbelief.

“Already?” you tease, giggling, and he rolls his eyes, amused. You finish the remaining shots by yourself, and he’s genuinely impressed. How can someone as small as you handle so much alcohol?

Jungkook blinks a few times, shaking his head. He’s almost certain you’re going to regret this if you keep bouncing around to the music like that.

“Are you drunk?” you ask, leaning closer, and he nods, patting his chest to settle the burn in his throat.

He grabs a bottle of water he ordered, takes a sip, and offers it to you. But you shake your head, and Jungkook can’t help but feel a strange responsibility to make sure you’re okay. You’ve only just met, but he’s already trying to sober you up a bit—anything to avoid you ending the night sick.

“Do you drink often?” Jungkook asks, grimacing as he takes another sip of water. He’s already done with tequila—probably for life.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” you chuckle, your tone playful as you make him smile and shrug.

“Just that you definitely know how to hold your liquor.”

“I just needed to get drunk and forget this year,” you admit, tossing your hair over your shoulder.

“Do you want me to walk you to your friends?” Jungkook offers, his voice laced with concern.

“Are you tired of me, Spider-Man?” you joke, swaying slightly as you both half-dance to the pulsing music.

“W-What? No!” Jungkook stammers, looking adorably flustered, and you laugh at his reaction.

“I’m kidding,” you say, nudging his shoulder with a grin.

“Can… I have your number? Or maybe your social media?” he asks, leaning closer to your ear to make himself heard over the music. You pull back to meet his gaze, your hands resting lightly on his shoulders for balance. Both of you have hooded eyes, softened by the alcohol and dim lights.

Jungkook feels a rush of admiration for your boldness. You don’t care about the people around you or their opinions. His hand hesitates before resting on the small of your back. You tilt your head, your nose brushing his as your lips hover dangerously close.

“Do you want to have fun?” you murmur, your mouth brushing his ear, the music muffling everything else.

“What kind of fun?” he asks, his breath caressing your cheek. He feels himself leaning into the moment, emboldened by your energy. Why not? There’s nothing wrong with a little flirting with a stranger on New Year’s Eve.

You smirk slowly, your hand slipping into his to guide him off the dancefloor. Jungkook frowns slightly in confusion when you lead him into the women’s restroom. Before he can ask why, you cup his face, pulling him into a kiss that sends his heart racing.

He finds it thrilling—kissing someone he just met, in a place he’d never expect. It’s not the kind of fun he was imagining, but he’s definitely not complaining. You guide him blindly into one of the stalls, closing the door behind you as he presses you against it.

“What if someone catches us?” he whispers, his lips trailing along your jaw.

“We can stop if you want,” you reply, threading your fingers into his hair before pulling him into another heated kiss.

“No,” he says honestly, making you smile. “But we’re drunk.”

“Can’t get hard when you’re drunk?” you tease, your lips brushing the column of his neck. Jungkook chuckles darkly, grabbing your hand and guiding it to his joggers. Your eyes light up as you feel his growing arousal beneath the fabric.

Jungkook’s breath hitches as your hand starts to stroke him above his jogger. His mind races—this is new for him. He’s had his share of casual flings, but never with a stranger and never in public. Surprisingly, the thrill of possibly being caught makes the moment even more exhilarating.

He wonders if you’ve done this before—you seem so at ease. But before he can ask, your hand slides under the waistband of his joggers, palming his growing bulge. His eyes close almost instantly, a soft groan escaping him as your touch sends heat coursing through his body. His own hands find your backside, squeezing gently, grounding himself in the moment.

“Do you want to fuck me?” you whisper, nipping lightly at the sensitive skin of his neck.

“What—I—right now?” he stammers, wide-eyed, and you nod. Pressing your back against the door, you reach behind to unzip the bottom of your costume, your movements deliberate and teasing. Jungkook’s gaze remains locked on you, his mind racing.

His eyes widen further as he begins patting the pockets of his joggers in a frantic search for his wallet. He knows there’s a condom in there—he’s certain he hasn’t used it. A chance like this? No way he’s letting it slip by. He’s just a guy, after all, and if a beautiful woman wants him, Jungkook isn’t about to say no.

“What are you doing?” you ask, laughing as his wallet slips from his fumbling hands. He scrambles to catch it, earning another amused giggle from you.

When he finally retrieves the little plastic wrapper, he holds it up proudly. You smirk, pulling him into a heated kiss while he helps you peel off the bottom half of your costume. The black panties underneath match the dark tights perfectly, a sight that makes Jungkook’s breath hitch. His hands twitch at his sides, trying to maintain control.

“I’ve never done this before,” he admits softly, hiking your leg up to wrap around his waist, pressing you against him.

“Yeah, me neither,” you reply with a playful giggle, one hand gripping his shoulder for balance while the other threads through his messy hair. “New year, new experiences, right?”

“You’re really something else,” he chuckles, his tone equal parts admiration and disbelief. His eyes meet yours, silently asking for permission. You nod, and his hand slides between your thighs, fingertips brushing against you through the thin fabric of your panties.

“Fuck,” you whisper, your head falling back against the door as your hips instinctively press into his touch. Your reaction sends a shiver down his spine; he swears he’s never heard anyone curse so beautifully.

Jungkook frees himself from his boxers, giving his cock a few slow strokes while watching your every reaction. His gaze flickers between your face and the way your body trembles under his hand. When he pushes your panties aside, he hesitates momentarily to open the condom.

“Tell me to stop,” he says suddenly, his voice wavering as he tries to cling to the last shred of his rationality.

“Don’t you dare,” you reply with a grin, tugging at his boxers to free him completely. He groans, any semblance of self-control slipping away as he feels your hand stroke him again, this time skin-on-skin.

The muffled music from the club outside only adds to the surrealness of the moment. Every so often, someone walks into the restroom, and Jungkook tenses, half-expecting a knock on the door. But the thrill of being caught only seems to heighten his excitement. When you grab his face to focus him on you, your lips brushing against his, he realizes he’s long past the point of no return.

“Fuck,” he mutters under his breath as he rolls the condom over his length. His other hand pushes his joggers just low enough to give him room to move. “Are you sure?” he asks one last time, his voice trembling with need.

“Yes,” you answer without hesitation, guiding him to your entrance. His fingers dig into your hips as he presses forward slowly, the stretch eliciting soft gasps from both of you. He stills for a moment, his forehead resting against yours as he adjusts to the overwhelming sensation.

“God, you’re so tight,” he whispers, his voice rough with desire.

“Please, move,” you urge him in a whine, your nails digging into his shoulders. He doesn’t need to be told twice. His hips pull back before snapping forward, setting a steady rhythm that has you biting your lip to keep from moaning too loudly.

Jungkook’s movements grow more erratic as he loses himself in the sensation of you. The cramped space of the stall, the muffled music, and the ever-present risk of being caught only add to the intensity. His hands roam your body, gripping your thighs and waist as he thrusts into you with increasing urgency.

“You feel so good,” he groans, his voice a low rumble in your ear.

“Faster,” you gasp, your hands sliding down to grab his ass and urge him deeper. He obliges, his pace quickening until the sound of your bodies colliding fills the small space. “Fuck –“

You bite down on his shoulder to muffle your moans, and he curses under his breath, the combination of your teeth and the tight grip of your walls pushing him closer to the edge.

“I’m close,” he whispers, his breath hot against your neck. His thrusts grow rougher, the door rattling slightly with each movement.

“Me too,” you manage to reply, your voice shaky as the tension in your body builds. His thumb finds your clit, circling it with just enough pressure to send you spiraling over the edge. Your walls tighten around him as you climax, your muffled cries vibrating against his skin.

“Fuck,” Jungkook groans, his hips stuttering as he follows you, spilling into the condom with a final deep thrust. He collapses against you, his chest heaving as he struggles to catch his breath. The countdown outside ends in cheers and shouts of celebration, but neither of you notices, still lost in the aftershocks of your high.

For a moment, the two of you stay like that, tangled together in the aftermath. Then Jungkook pulls back slightly, pressing a kiss to your forehead. The sounds of celebration seep back in as you both begin to steady your breathing.

“That was…” he trails off, unable to find the right words. “Hot.”

You smirk, cupping his face to leave a lingering kiss on his swollen lips.

“Happy New Year,” you whisper, your voice soft but playful.

“Happy New Year,” he replies, his hand snaking behind your neck to pull you into another kiss, this one just as passionate as the last. Jungkook knows he has to go back to his friends soon.

“What’s your name again?” you laugh, your breath mingling with his as he chuckles.

“Jungkook. Yours?”

“Y/N.”

hiiii!! first of all, happy new year to you all. may 2025 be a better year for you. secondly, i know, I KNOW, i'm a little late with the one shot i promised, i'm sorry! i was too busy those last few days. to be honest, the one shot didn't result as i was hoping for. I had a few ideas about it and it doesn't look like... what i expected. but i promise you a jk one shot for the new year so here it is. i'll do better next time, i swear!! but i do hope that you enjoyed reading it <3 I'll see you around, and on that, i'm going back to write the DOU chapter 6 now that i have free time!! luv y’all — Riza

[letupabit]

please more lee!gi-hun i love him pleaseplease ilyt for liking squid game /platonic yaehehehaieuhaheheeeh

This took FAR longer for me to get round to than I’d have liked because I’ve been so busy but man. I had such a fun time writing this.

I took inspo from that one scene where Gi-hun refuses to eat anything ahahahajshfhfjsk

It got kinda long, apologies, but thank you so much for the ask, I absolutely loved answering this ask for you!

The usual silence of the dormitory was broken by the rolling wheels of the food tray. It was time for the daily meal that the players were so ‘graciously’ given as a reward for surviving another death game.

‘I wonder what they’re giving us today…’ mumbled Dae-ho as he and his team slowly stood up to join the line.

‘Probably something cold, as usual’, replied Jung-bae in a low tone. ‘Would it kill them to use a microwave every now and then?’ He nudged his fellow marine as they chuckled together.

Despite the complaints, the players were relieved to be getting fed at all. The anxiety and paranoia of the games meant all their energy was as good as spent by the end of the day, and eating together in their collective ‘teams’ brought a sense of normality, if just for a moment.

Seong Gi-hun did not share this sentiment.

He would have stayed put on his bed, no appetite to be found, if it hadn’t been for Geum-ja ushering him up with an irritated ‘you must eat!’.

He sullenly joined the line, behind In-ho, who turned to give him a quick friendly smile. Gi-hun returned a forced smile with not nearly as much warmth, too much on his mind to think about pleasantries. Eventually it was his turn to walk up to the table and reluctantly accepted as a rectangular silver box was placed into his hands.

He was the last of his team to get his food and return to his bed, so it was glaringly obvious to everyone (except Dae-ho, who was eating as fast as his mouth could allow) when he immediately put his box by the side of his bed and sat on his mattress cross-legged glaring into the distance. He didn’t have time to eat, he needed to think. Maybe Jun-hee would appreciate extras.

His peers exchanged troubled looks without a word except for Geum-ja snapping ‘Dae-ho! Eat slower, you’ll give yourself indigestion!’.

‘Ah, come on Gi-hun, not eating again?’ Enquired Jung-bae with a troubled look on his face. ‘Stop with the tough guy act already and just eat’

Gi-hun either didn’t hear him or blatantly ignored him. He didn’t move a muscle from his position, unblinkingly staring into seemingly nothing.

‘You didn’t eat anything yesterday, either’ chimed in hyun-ju gently. ‘You’ll need your strength for the next game’

‘Yeah man, what use will you be if you’re all foggy and disoriented tomorrow?’ Teased Jung-bae playfully, trying to rev up his old friend with the well-meaning quip.

Absolutely no answer.

The players exchanged one more concerned glance amongst themselves and were just about to drop it, when suddenly In-ho, who had been quiet and observant the entire time, stood up.

‘You know, when me and my brother were younger, he’d always refuse to eat his green peppers. No matter what our mother would do, he would always push them to the side and they’d end up in the garbage. It wasn’t until I had to get creative that he’d actually eat them’

He had walked up from his seat on the lower steps and was approaching Gi-hun’s bed. He’d gotten the attention of the team who were watching, intrigued, as the smaller man approached his still-staring taller peer. Gi-hun still didn’t react, lost completely in his own head.

Without another word, In-ho pushed Gi-hun by the shoulders and onto his back, completely pulling him out of his trance and triggering a surprised yelp.

‘Hey! What are you- AH!’ Gi-hun’s sentence was cut abruptly short as In-ho wasted no time in spidering his fingers across Gi-hun’s left side, grinning like the Cheshire Cat at the reaction from the taller man.

‘Ah Gi-hun! I knew you were ticklish! I could tell just by looking at you’ he positioned himself so that he was sitting on Gi-hun’s waist, using both hands now to squeeze at his hips.

‘No! NohohoHOHOHO AHAHAHAHA’ the taller man looked almost unrecognisable laughing hysterically and grasping at In-ho’s wrists, trying desperately to push them away as he felt himself fall apart from the foreign sensation. He hadn’t been tickled in…well, he couldn’t remember.

The others were watching in awe. Jung-bae felt a sense of warmth watching his childhood friend laugh like they used to together, even if it wasn’t entirely…conventional.

In-ho was made vaguely aware of Gi-hun’s legs kicking behind him as he kneaded his knuckles with his ribs. ‘Good spot?’

‘STAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHA! STAHAHAHAP! AHAHAHAHA’

Gi-hun was trying his best to compose himself, feeling a flush of red across his face at the feeling of In-ho hitting all the right spots to make him lose his mind.

‘What was that? I couldn’t hear you. Speak up?’

nothing but hysterical howling from Gi-hun, desperately trying to formulate a coherent sentence. Or even just a word. He felt his laughter grow more intense as In-ho moved his left hand down to claw at his stomach, his right using a knuckle to move in circular motions on his ribs.

‘AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! ST-STAHAAHAHA! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA’

‘Didn’t quite get that either, sorry Gi-hun’

Gi-hun’s laughter went silent, too ticklish for his own good. No doubt everyone in the dormitory knew of his embarrassingly effective weakness by now.

He didn’t know how much more he could take. In-ho’s weight on his body was stopping him from twisting over onto his stomach, keeping him exposed and vulnerable. In-ho had to stop eventually right? A small part of him worried that his friend was having too much fun and truly wouldn’t stop unless he could form at least a remnant of a coherent word. With every ounce of his focus he managed to shout out:

‘STOP!’ Before dissolving into hysterical laughter once again.

In-ho was genuinely surprised that someone as ticklish as Gi-hun managed such a thing, watching how his nose scrunched as he laughed, and decided to give him a way out.

‘Was that a word??’ He teased, half-feigning exaggerated shock. ‘Hmm…maybe I’ll stop if you agree to stop being a brat and eat something? Have I convinced you to stop being stubborn?’

‘YEHEHEHEHEHES! YEHEHEHEHES PLEAHAHAHAHASE! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAA PLEAHAHAHAAHSE PLEASE!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!’

‘What’s that? Yes you’ll eat?’

‘WHAHAHAHAHATEVER YOHOHOHU WAHAHAHAHANT! PLEAHAHAHAHASE AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA STOHOHOHOP!’

Gi-hun’s hands hadn’t stopped grabbing In-ho’s wrists, his strength sapped and doing absolutely nothing in trying to pry those evil fingers off him. He hadn’t laughed this hard in a long time, and in the back of his mind he had to admit it felt kinda nice to be able to laugh so freely like this. Unfortunately the sensation of In-ho’s skilled hands were too much. How was this man so good at this?

‘Okay, I believe you’

Gi-hun felt a wave of relief at these words, but the tickling didn’t stop outright.

In-ho sat upright, moving his hands from the obvious death spots and reaching behind with one to squeeze at Gi-hun’s knee whilst the other tweaked at his hip bone. The deafening laughter died down slightly but still left Gi-hun frantically squirming and giggling. Tears had formed in his eyes a while ago and were now streaking his cheeks.

‘I-I’ll eat somethihihihing! Juhuhuhst no mohohohore!’

In-ho smiled, looking very very pleased with himself, giving one last squeeze to the giggling man’s thigh and removing his hands altogether.

‘You made the right choice’ he winked down at Gi-hun, who was now panting and gulping down breaths, a large toothy smile still plastered on his face from the onslaught. He felt the warm weight of In-ho shift and the shorter man had stood up, staring down at Gi-hun. ‘Well?’

Gi-hun shakily propped himself up into a sitting position, this time more relaxed than his previous rigid posture. He leant down and grabbed the silver meal box from its spot by his bed.

In-ho raised his eyebrows and gave a cocky smile. ‘Great! Enjoy!’ And then, bending his knees as if to smooth out the wrinkles of his trousers, ‘you have a cute laugh’.

The surprising exchange was in a lowered tone so the others didn’t hear. Gi-hun was left speechless, a red flush against his face once again but for a while other reason.

And with that, In-ho walked himself back to his original spot, resuming his own meal as if nothing had happened.

The team were in disbelief at what had just happened, sitting in stunned silence, until Jung-bae clapped a hand onto In-ho’s shoulder.

‘You’ll have to teach me how to do that’

[anxiouslyfred]

The Best Animal

so according to my note for this idea @lostcephalopods suggested it, probably months ago.

Summary: Virgil and Remus are arguing over which is best, spiders or octopuses. The rest of the sides have to escape them by heading into the real world and confusing Thomas by their presence.

/\/\

Thomas blinked as his Creativity appeared in the living room, looking cautiously around the room before sighing and collapsing across from him. “Hi Roman, pretty sure I'm not asking for ideas or motivation right now. Why're you here?”

“Sheltering. They got into Patton's room earlier and mine was basically taken over immediately because that's what Remus does now. Janus thinks you're the safest place to stay right now.” Roman explained looking at him, before checking the room around them again. “Given it's Janus we're dubious over that accuracy especially since he's actually sheltering in Logan's room now.”

Before Thomas could ask just why his sides needed to shelter, as if Remus wasn't a decent start to the explanation, Patton appeared on his lap, only to jump off and shove him forwards to hide between Thomas and the sofa.

Logan and Janus were soon to follow now, both just brushing off their clothes before looking around the living room in a calmer fashion than Roman had done. “Being in the real world should limit Virgil's summoning abilities even if I'm dubious that it would impact Remus's transformations as you're suggesting.” Logan was commenting before nodding to Thomas.

“I would love to know just what you need to shelter from, or have you all decided we need to do an impulsive video?” Thomas asked, looking at the three he could without twisting.

“Creepy crawly death dealers.” Patton half wailed from behind him, explaining nothing except that spiders were somehow involved.

Janus just nodded, “Indeed, there are a lot of spiders around the mind space currently. Virgil and Remus are debating the best eight-legged animal and while Remus has been transforming in order to make his point Virgil prefers simply summoning them and both were trying to recruit us to support their choice.”

***

Inside Thomas's mind, Virgil turned from the argument for a moment, snickering. “I think the others are hiding in the real world now. He's getting worried about us. Wonder if he's amused by them all too.”

“I'll go check when you admit squids are the best multi limbed creature.” Remus grinned, form shifting as he glided closer to Virgil's head.

“You were arguing for octopuses! Don't change animals for no reason and stop lying. It's always going to be spiders that are the best and you know it!” His attention snapped back to the argument at hand, a mixture of spiders and frogs now falling on Remus. “They keep pets! They're like the only animal other than us to keep pets. And you want me to believe loners lost in the sea are better than that?”

Remus cackled at that, “Is that why you like Patton so much? You can't just decide to be a light side cause Patpat turns into a frog.”

“I didn't – Fuck he really did that, didn't he?” Virgil went to argue only to stutter in realisation.

“Yup, maybe he's insecure and thought doing that would make you stay with him when I showed up!” He cheered his words, excited at the idea.

Virgil smirked, “So you're happy that spiders keep pets? See. They are the best.” He gestured to the spiders and frogs from before, now on the floor and clearly moving to find each other, forming their own families.

“Octopodes are not loners! They literally gather in hundreds to nest and die. They're so fucking community focused they die together!” Remus countered, immediately returning to their original argument.

“Communal death is not community! In humans it's a horror. It's society failing.” Virgil snapped back.

Neither of them noticed Roman quietly popping up, keeping to the edge of the room where there were fewest spiders. “Or maybe you should both admit that the greatest animal that actually exists is the platypus.”

With that he was laughing as Virgil and Remus were promptly on the same side, arguing for both animals.

He carried on laughing when Virgil summoned two foot of water into the room, starting about knee height to part way up their chests with octopi and squids swimming through it.

The laughter stopped and Roman very quickly vanished back to Thomas when Remus turned into a giant spider, now dangling from the ceiling.

“Both brilliant?” Virgil said after watching Remus's cackling for a moment.

Remus grinned over at him, “For reactions like that, definitely. All the creatures in here are brilliant.”

***

Thomas blinked at Roman's abrupt reappearance. “So you weren't successful in getting them to stop arguing?”

“I was, but I don't recommend going back to the mind-space for a while.” Roman insisted after a moment checking Remus hadn't followed him.

Janus smirked over at him. “I told you you'd only get Remus to transform in support of Virgil.”

“No, you said I shouldn't try getting them to support each others animals against one I chose.” Roman protested. “You never mentioned Remus becoming a giant spider!”

“It was implied.”

[inamindfarfaraway]

How was Coral's first encounter with the Spiderverse, or even the concept that multiverses were real?

Coral Carper/Diving Belle’s bio

I haven’t thought about this in depth before, but let’s see. It could go a few ways depending on what tone and feel you want. For example, it would be very funny for an anomaly villain from another world - an Earth - to be pulled into New Atlantis and just. Start drowning. And Coral’s trying to help them, but also confused and panicking because this is her first human. She would be suspicious. What if it’s some type of trick? What’s wrong with this person’s body? Is this another of Norman or Doc Ock or Curt Conners or the Unmakers’ mutations? But first and foremost, she has to save this life. She notices the lack of gills, is like “Oh, I actually have to use my ability to breathe air” and takes them up to the surface, and just as the villain has recovered enough to exhibit their personality and start validating her suspicions, the other Spiders arrive beneath her to help only to also panic and fumble for breathing devices upon suddenly spawning underwater. A lot of mermans are staring at them. All the signs in the city are puns, but it feels rude to laugh. It’s awkward.

The most likely version, in my mind, would be her catching Miguel’s attention as he monitors the multiverse. Maybe he mistakes the Unmakers’ disturbance of reality for her universe being unstable, or notices a Spider imbued with unique, freaky, powerful supernatural energy, and investigates out of concern and suspicion, no doubt bristling with both anxiety and indignation at the gap in his knowledge and understanding. Let’s be honest, if Miguel were in a Lovecraft story he would absolutely go insane trying to fathom and control the horror. He looked at the infinite cosmic glory of the multiverse and thought “What a cool means to a better life!” and then “Ah, yes, I see: ticking all these boxes I just made up based on some non-universal patterns will protect us from apocalyptic doom”. He would not leave the incomprehensible horror alone or accept that it’s incomprehensible.

Or maybe I’m overthinking this and it would just be a routine recruitment. But considering that his world got unmade before his eyes, I think he’d feel a certain personal connection with the stakes of Water/Earth 61115 (yes, like ��GILLS’). I feel like that element would be noteworthy to him before he even dipped his toe into her sea. Like how he already knew that Miles was an anomaly before meeting him. Wait, how much does he just spy on Spiders who aren’t even members to look for problems? It’s almost like he’s deliberately written to be morally compromised.

Anyway! The upshot is that he makes a prepared visit with a scuba (Spidery Compact Underwater Breathing Arachnaratus) and maybe Jess for backup. They see Diving Belle being badass, e.g. defeating a mutated colossal squid with eldritch superpowers or something. Perhaps an intelligent villain with eldritch superpowers who she kills, because that would be a good introduction to her attitude to vigilantism, what she has to deal with and - of particular importance to Miguel’s trauma cult - what she’s willing to do for the greater good. She’s so messed up in the right ways that she and Miguel kind of hit it off. Not much, he doesn’t seem to really do friendship. But they’re on the same page about doing what needs to done and how a hero’s life is one of tragedy and sacrifice.

It’s less the Spider-Society in concept that she needs to adjust to and more the fact that the vast majority of its members are human, with all the culture shock and existential questions that stirs up. But as her bio states, she loves humans in a kind of anthropological way. She’s not singing “Part of Your World”, but she loves learning and her crazy life has taught her to roll with the punches. She knows never to think that it can’t get any weirder. And she loves having friends who Get It after feeling isolated and inmerman (inhuman) for so long. Even if they can’t relate to everything she’s been and is going through, it’s still such a weight off her shoulders to be not be so alone anymore. And she gets to be useful and productive by protecting other dimensions and keeping order! And they build her an awesome chair to move around on land! It’s beyond her wildest dreams! The worst part about her experience with the Spider-Society is that people keep calling her a mermaid and laughing at proper nouns from her world… at least before Miguel’s canon event theory is disproved, but we don’t know how that’ll play out yet…

Thanks for the ask!

[pillsarchive]

Otto Octavius / Reader - '13 squids' Chptr 1

In which you rip a piece of glass out of the Doctor's arm and he starts to feel things, feel things for a person. Ew, gross, that's never happened before. Maybe he's lost more blood than he thought he did? BAD AT SUMMARY'S _ PLEASE READ.

Authors Note: Its like 12 monkeys except the plot lines aren't similar at all and it's 13 instead of 12 squids instead of monkeys. Im going through my drafts and publishing anything good, I dont have time to think of a better title.

-

-

-

When you moved to new york, you assumed the place would be……well new york. Rats on the street, strange people asking you even stranger questions, the normal everyday weirdness that came along with living in a big city. New york was “quirky”, that’s what everyone kept telling you.

This definitely was not fucking quirky.

You let a string of profanities as you ducked behind the bar counter, the garbage can hurdling through the window of the restaurant barely missing your head. You crawled over to the corner of the counter as fast as you could, curling up into a fetal position and trying to steady your breathing. Hopefully the hard wood would shield you from the fight going on outside, but you doubted it. Heroes and villains brawling on the street was something you’d never get used to. You supposed it was just the way things were now, in the 90s people had portable cd players, now they had iphones. 10 Years ago people had cops, now you had people made of sand and skinny kids in spandex injected with spider DNA. You weren't the type to care about superhero politics, people were fallible and it felt weird to idolize or demonize them based on a handful of chaotic events where no one actually physically there could really fully understand what was going on, flying cars and screaming usually made it hard to pay close attention to things. You just wish they weren't allowed to destroy property. This sucked. Another piece of scrap metal flew over your head and you yelped.

“GIVE IT UP OCTO DOCTOR”

Aaaaah. So that’s who it was. You’d seen spiderman when the fight first began, but you werent sure who he was scuffing with. Otto Octavius, the guy with four metal arms attached to his spine or something. Pretty intimidating. You’d seen videos of him, robbing banks, ripping tank sized holes through government buildings, he’d use his arms for support and just hang there like a ragdoll, smiling and looking at the crowd through his sunglasses. You wondered if he ever walked around anymore. You felt the earth shake and rumble, for metal tentacles gripped the ground and a pair of black boots floated along the top of the restaurant window.

“What doc, you running away? They should start calling you doc bawk bawk baaawk in the papers!”

Jesus, this kid had to work shop his quips.

“If you -” He coughed loudly.

“If you know whats best for you you’ll stay out of my way, spider.”

You cringed into yourself at the sound of his voice. That cough sounds nasty, is he sick?

With that the tentacles scampered away, as did the black boots.

As you sat on the floor and shook you realized the commotion outside was over. No more loud noises. Slowly, you got up off the floor and poked your head out.

Nothing. Just an empty, fucked up street outside.

The lithe figure in the gaudy spandex jumped after the doctor and you crumpled to the floor.

A few tears spilled down your face and you laughed. Loud noises, banging, abrupt movements, it all terrified you. You were jumpy, you didn't know where it came from - luckily most people found it endearing. That or they tried to make you dance purposefully, slamming books closed, yadda yadda. You’d gotten a lot of that in grade school.

After a few minutes you got up and brushed yourself off. Time to clean up. Yaaaaaaay.

You were pissed. If you left the restaurant like this your boss would be angry angry, you could call him but you’d rather not deal with another bout of yelling and loud angry noise tonight, you might actually have a breakdown if anyone else spoke to you or touched you for the rest of the week. After you cleaned the debris off the floor you’d figure out an excuse as to why you didnt want to talk to him unless it was over text. Old people and cell phone etiquette.

You got a rag and wiped all the glass and concrete off of the counter top onto the floor, stacking the barstools ontop of the bar to get them off the floor. Now for the fun part - sweeping. You actually quite enjoyed cleaning most of the time, you found it relaxing to put on your big clunky headphones and dance around the restaurant while you got it sparkling. That’s one of the reasons you’d taken the closing shift - less people, more interesting conversation, more alone time. The bigger broom was kept in the big back storage room, you walked towards the rear of the floor and dug the keys out of your pocket - about to open the door.

That’s when you heard it.

“Ah, ah, good god.” Someone was behind the door. They were in pain.

Immediately you rushed for the first aid kit and the bat your boss kept on the wall (Your boss gave every female employee working alone mandatory “self defense” lessons with the thing, they usually ended with the guy going on tangents about his favorite ball team.)

It was probably someone that had turned into collateral during the fight, hiding in the storage room because it was the only door in the back alley that was open.

…..The only door open.

Your stomach fell. It wasn't open, you remembered locking it right after the delivery guys left. That door was made of metal and hardwood, at least an inch thick, and you knew from experience that it was nearly impossible to break down. Once you’d gotten locked in that storage room for 15 minutes - it was in the dead of winter and you thought you were going to die. You clipped the first aid kit around your lanyard and got ready to swing the bat, whatever was back there was strong as shit and you really didnt want to see what it was. Somewhere in the back of your mind you wondered if your heart was supposed to beat this hard, maybe you were having an attack? Swallowing your fear you quietly unlocked the door and swung it open.

“DONT TRY TO HURT ME, I WANT TO HELP YOU SO JUST DON-”

You began to yell out your demands when you realized who it was.

Doctor Octavius.

His blood was all over the floor and he was gripping his shoulder, trying to apply pressure you guessed. His tentacles were cooing and chirping, almost like they were concerned for him. Crying for help.

The baseball bat clattered to the floor.

“Oh Jesus, ok. -”

You kneeled down next to him and the arms hissed at you. The doctor seemed to be fading in and out of consciousness, he just looked at you and blinked, not saying anything. You stood your ground, the arms continued their hissing.

You raised the medical bag in the air.

“I thought you were an intruder, someone trying to rob the storage room. I'm sorry if I scared you, I just want to help. I'm not a professional, but I've been to a few emergency first aid classes. I wont hurt you, I promise, but if you dont let me help he’ll continue to lose blood and he might die. “

You looked the metal arms in their red eyes as you spoke, they seemed to almost understand what you were saying. Maybe they were sentient? Like little robots? One of them cocked their head to the side.

“Please.”

As much as you didnt want to deal with this, you couldn't watch this man die. You didnt know why he robbed banks, stole chemicals and metal, but you assumed he had a good reason for it. He had been a doctor once, well respected, a genius, whatever he was doing had to be right (in his mind at least). No one was completely one thing.

The tentacles seemed to confer amongst themselves, then to your amazement they cleared away from Octavius. One of them nodded towards him and cooed. They were giving you permission.

You paused for a moment and then scrambled closer to the man.

“Otto? Dr. Octavius? Dont fall asleep doctor, you have to stay awake for me okay?” His slumped over form slowly turned to look at you.

“You dont have to talk, just stay awake. Im going to take your coat off to see if I can get a better look at the injury.”

One by one you lifted his limp arms through his jacket and shrugged the leather off of him. Jesus fuck. There was a piece of glass stuck into the top of his arm, it was massive. Nearly half the size of a mug and halfway stuck in. You opened the medical bag and grabbed a sizeable pair of plier grabby things. You did mention you weren't a professional. You sanitized the pliers and looked at him.

“I dont know if you can hear me, but this is going to hurt. Im really sorry.” You turned your gaze to the metal arms moving and wriggling around behind his back.

“Understand that im not doing this because I want to hurt him, when I pull it out I need you to make sure he doesnt kill me, I need you not to kill me, can you do that for me please?” The tentacles chittered and one wiggled up and down, nodding at you in agreement.

You took a deep breath, squeezed the doctors other shoulder lightly, and yanked on the glass with the pliers. It came out smoothly.

Suddenly the doctors eyes turned from half lidded and sleepy to wide and glassy. He moaned in pain and reached for his shoulder, you grabbed his dirty hand before he could touch the wound and guided it to the ground, holding onto it for a moment while you pressed a clean cloth to the cut to stop the bleeding.

“Shhhh, you’ll be okay. It hurts right now, but it will get better. Just pull through for me, I need to stop some of the bleeding, sanitize the wound, and then give you stitches. It wont take long, you’re going to be okay Octavius. Alright?” To your surprise he actually responded. He hissed a quiet “thank you” and squeezed your hand.

You gave a solemn nod.

“I'm sure anyone else in my position would try to do the same.” He flinched when you sanitized the wound, but for the most part he was still. Even while you were giving him sutures he stayed still and looked at the room, or your face. After the offending object had been pulled out of his arm it seemed like the pain was mostly downhill. When you were completely done you realized you had no clue what to do with him. He was a wanted criminal, obviously, that's half the reason you chose the home operation approach, where were you supposed to take the big dude now? To his villain lair where he couldn't reach anyone if he needed help? Did he even have a place to live?

He was mostly conscious at this point, but he still stayed silent.

“So, what now?”

He turned to you, confused.

“What now?”

“Yeah, what now? I assume if you knew how to take care of semi big injuries like that the tentacles, arms, im sorry, they’d know too. They’re smart. I cant leave you here, your tussling with the spider kid kind of totally fucked up the resteraunt and now I have to call my boss - he’d kill you if he found you here -” The doctor chuckled.

“Would he now?” You cracked a small smile.

“He’d give it a good college try. So, that being said there are a few options. I get you a hotel room for a few nights and sneak you in, I take you back to your house - lair - dungeon - whatever and check in on that arm wound once every few days, or……you stay at my place I guess.”

His smirk enduring, he tried to shrug his jacket on.

“NO- “ You put your hand on the leather.

“I dont wanna know what the last time you had that thing cleaned was. If that gets on the wound ,even while it’s dressed, there’s a serious chance you could get a very very gnarly infection.”

He rolled his eyes, but to your relief he put the soiled piece of leather down.

“I was, before my…. Social fall from grace, one of the best scientists in the world. You dont think I know enough to treat an arm wound?”

“Im not saying that, im saying

A: I’ve known a few scientists in my time, when I think of them I dont think ‘personal hygiene, self care, awareness of their needs.’ I know a guy, he’s in college majoring in quantum physics and I once saw him drink cold chocolate ensure for a month straight because he ‘didnt have time for ramen.

B: It would be easier with an extra pair of eyes, you cant see the back part of your own shoulder too well.

C: It would make me feel better. I already have an anxiety thing, if my brain knows there’s a guy somewhere that I stitched up, who may be dead, alive, or dying, ill freak the hell out.”

He sneered.

“I dont need the help of a college student.” “Im not in college. Im a free lance artist. I just go to shows a lot, there’s a really good Oingo Boingo cover band that plays around here, that's how quantum and I met.”

“Even worse. Your practically asking me to babysit you. What makes you think I wont just leave, you cant stop me.” You stared into his deep green eyes and cracked a smile.

“If you wanted to leave you’d already be gone.”

He stayed silent.

“If you dont need my help, that’s fine, ill just see you on your way and go home. I just thought it would be nice if you had someone that could help you when you couldnt help yourself. You’re a grown man, im not forcing you to do anything.”

He looked at you. He was clearly thinking about something, but there were no clues about his answer to your question on his face. He was stoic, his greyish brown hair was fluffy and his skin looked soft despite the wrinkles and marks that peppered it. His glasses were crooked on his nose and…..and he had no……shirt. How you failed to realize this earlier you were not entirely sure - but oh wow. He was a soft man, and his stomach was covered by a metal plate that looked attached to his skin, for the arms you guessed. You wondered if it hurt him, you’d have to inquire more about the arms later. As you looked at his face you realized he was sort of beautiful. Hopefully he did keep in contact, you wanted to ask if you could paint him. A voice derailed your train of thought.

“If I need you, lll find you….”

You watched as he reached out to you and ran his gloved fingers through your long hair, brushing it over your shoulder exposing your name tag.

“Thank you, y/n.”

Telling from the look in his eyes he was being completely genuine. He began to get up when you stopped him.

“Wait”

He looked down at you, smirking, and he pulled a cigar and a lighter out of his pocket.

“What?”

The air smelled familiar. He smoked clove, the same as you. Yours were herbal cigarettes, though. Non addictive. As attractive as you thought smoking once in a while was, other people begged to differ. You’d saw your own leg off before you doomed yourself to a life of unwanted, unwarranted medical advice and shaming from strangers on the street.

You looked at his arms.

“What should I call them? I’ve been referring to them as tentacles in my head, but that’s just because the papers gave you that nickname. I dont want to offend them.”

He stopped. A look of genuine surprise crossed his face, then he put the mask back on and continued to smirk at you. He processed what you said, and then he laughed.

“Smart, smart girl. Good job, it takes most people a while to realize they’re somewhat sentient. Actuators, that’s what they prefer. Though they dont mind arms either, just not tentacles. They really should ask before they print that sort of thing in the news, i’ve never met a - for lack of a better term - supervillain that likes their nickname. Except the green goblin, but…. You know-”

“He’s just kind of weird, man.”

“Yeah, that.”

The actuators chittered, trying to get the doctors attention. He turned to them briefly, the same look that proud fathers get when they talk to their children crossed his face, then he turned back to you.

“They like you.”

You blinked, and he was gone.

He doesn't hover.

[nikkialena]

Godzilla x reader Rodan x reader Ghidorah x reader Kong x reader

An impatient sigh spilled from your maw as you huddled in the grass; claws digging small ravines in the soil, leaving deep indents. Your tail swayed slowly carefully not to catch his attention; you'd spotted this Kaiju near skull island multiple times now.

It had been months since he first appeared and still he hadn't shown any signs of stopping, so you decided to add him to your diet but that proved to be tricker than expected.

He was a flying Kaiju who rarely came close to the ground, preferring to stay a float in the air, and you couldn't really blame him many Kaiju eat other kaiju and he wasn't exactly on the bigger side.

You would've alerted Kong but he had more important things to handle, besides this wasn't something you couldn't handle.

You'd been studying him; watching carefully and learning his patterns, and what you learned was he liked squid, every now and then he'd circle around dive into the water and pluck out a squid Kaiju.

Which is why you'd asked Bridget to swim closer to the surface, right on cue he began circling, and you prepared to pounce your muscles clenching in anticipation.

As soon as he closed his wings diving for the water you pounced, springing from your hiding spot amongst the foliage, catching his neck in your jaw and dragging him under the surface.

You could feel the panic in his body from your jaws snapping down; and his thrashing legs kicking against your stomach.

You wheezed a little letting go of his neck but sinking your claws into his wing,

pulling his flailing form towards you.

You felt his claws dig into your sides scratching at your scales, which you barely paid heed to as you kept him under the water.

You had a small set of gills imbedded in your neck that way; you could breathe on land or in the water, although you mostly resided on land, with a flap of his wings one of his claws managed to catch your eye and you hissed in pain.

Loosening your grip enough for him to fly out the water; but you quickly refocused sinking your teeth into his shoulder and throwing him on land.

He landed unceremoniously on his side as his wings flapped wildly trying to right himself, but you pounced on his chest using your weight to pin him down.

Although he'd almost thrown you off multiple times now, he was kinda strong for such a average Kaiju, deciding you'd had enough you allowed color to pool into your dorsal plates, and he immediately froze.

That's more like you thought with a snort and a nod of your head, "who are you" you hissed, but his eyes remained glued to your dorsal plates, rolling your eyes you raised a paw flexing your talons.

Getting the gist he swallowed loudly "uh i-im R-Rodan" he said, voice wavering slightly and shifting between his native language and common.

You rolled your tongue over your fangs in thought, how fitting, you think.

"What were you doing here" you asked, tilting your head curiously.

"I wuh uh," he stammered, until you set your claws on his chest, "I-I WAS UH...I was just making a report and getting some lunch".

"Funny you should say that" you hissed voice deepening into a growl, all color drained from his face, and he began thrashing around again desperately.

When your teeth sunk into his shoulder he screeched and stopped thrashing; "WAIT WAIT WAIT, YOUR HUNGRY I-I-I CAN BRING YOU FOOD.. SOMETHING BIGGER MEATIER THAN ME".

You sat back a bit allowing the blood to dribble down your maw; "I'm listening" you responded coldly, seeing you pause he sighed in relief.

"Uh there's.... there's plenty of Kaiju...spider Kaiju, horse Kaiju, crab Kaiju, all bigger and tastier than me, so if you let me go I'll bring one back for you".

You mulled it over for a second before turning to glare back down at him, "and how do I know once I let you up you won't just disappear".

"I am a man of my word and I swear I will bring back something twice my size"; he pleaded, "your not all that big ya know sure you back it up".

"Trust me you'll eat good" he said with a hint of pride, "alright" you hummed letting him slightly, a look of relief crossed his face as he sat up "but if you don't return just know I have your scent and I'll hunt you down and eat you alive".

And just like that fear settled right back into his eyes, he took off with a single beat of his wings and you watched, until he was nothing more than a tiny spec.

Satisfied you stood up walking back to your den laying down for a quick nap; ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Gojira had been enjoying a long needed nap when he was suddenly woken; a low growl rumbled within his throat as he pried open an eye.

The sound of shuffling feet drew him into alertness and he let out a long sigh, slowly stretching out his limbs and shaking them out.

His tail lazily swished behind him as he stood up, padding over to where he knew he saw two familiar figures.

"Ah Gojira!" called out the crab Kaiju as Rodan pinned him down, his voice sounded panicked, but anyone would be panicked if they were being attacked.

"RODAN WHAY THE HELL I'M TRYING TO SLEEP", he hissed glaring at the pteranodon Kaiju who looked pretty battered.

Roderan backed away from Gojira looking sheepish "sorry Gojira, it's just I promised this sexy female well... whatever you are that I'd bring her back something else twice my size and tastier...and who doesn't love crab".

Gojira blinked rapidly as he tried to make sense of the words; "what" he finally managed,with an intentional glare Rodan chuckled awkwardly.

"Well; while I was doing the morning report for you today, I stopped to have some lunch when this beautiful female,...uh you stopped me, and she was like I'm going to eat you. And I was like but maybe don't though; so then she said ight but like I'm hungry, so I said".

Growing irritated Gojira grabbed him by the peak; "summarize immediately", Rodan nodded, and Gojira let go "of I don't bring back this crab Kaiju she's going to eat me".

Gojira closed his eyes; that was a lot of information in a short time, "where"

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

Wow; color you impressed you thought as you circled the dead crab Kaiju, you hadn't expected him to be able to pull it off, "I guess you are capable Rodan".

His chest puffed out a bit at your praise "told you I'm a man of my word princess"; you gave him a curt smile, "alright your free to go now" you said with a wave of your claw.

He saluted you and flew off; and you began tearing into the crab, eating every last bit of meat, part of you wondered, if he knew crab was your favorite or if it was just dumb luck.

Either way he didn't really seem to pose a threat to Kong or the island dwellers; and you could probably let him off the hook, he may even turn out to be useful in the future. Halfway through you're meal you felt off; almost like you were being preyed upon, but who would be dumb enough to try and hunt you.

You'd quickly grown to be the biggest Kaiju on the island; replacing Kong a month after the whole Mina incident, he was still bulkier than you.

But whatever your species was didn't seem built to be bulky; rather slender and fast, Kong was still stronger than you, although, you probably could put maneuver him in fight.

Not that you would ever need to fight; a snap drew attention, your ears swiveled back and forth as you raised your head, tensing a little bit.

"Kong"; you called out uncertainty present in your voice, your senses telling you something wasn't right, "WRONG TRY AGAIN" came a booming voice.

But before you could even turn your head you were tackled off your feet; panic shot through you as you struggled against your attacker only for them to pin you.

You kicked and scratched but it was futile they held your face to the ground; "so I heard you tried to eat my messenger.. that's a first didn't think anyone was stupid enough to try that. But you know there's always one in the bunch", "I'm sorry I'm so sorry", you began mumbling toñhia distaste.

"Shut up"; he hissed but you were too panicked, "I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm-", "SHUT THE FUCK UP BITCH", your mouth immediately snapped shut.

He growled at you and you noticed how similar he looked to you; he was a bit bulkier than you and he didn't have any horns; but your dorsal plates, face and skin and were all very similar.

You opened your mouth to speak but he cut you off; "no we are not the same species, I thought so too, but I'm bipedal your quadrupedal I'm bigger your a lot skinner you look like me but your not".

He said with a huff; "but you look similar enough that I think we'll get away with it"; "away with what" you asked timidly, "ever heard of sexual dimorphism?"

You shook your head no and he sighed rubbing his face, "it's when opposite sexes of the same species look different, from now on your a female Titanus Zilla capeche?"

You nodded "good" he continued, "you're going to help me with a few things now let's go", with that he got off you and began walking away but you paused.

Opening your mouth you were going to protest; until his dorsal plates lit up and he scowled over his shoulder, "I wasn't asking" he growled.

With a sigh you followed behind him.

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

[harveybwabbit92]

Invader Zim: Elite Guardians AU Pt. 2

The following is a non-profit fan-based story, Invader ZiM  is owned by Jhonen Vasquez and Nickelodeon please support the official release, I gain no profit nor do I own anything other than OCs and whatever spouts from my imagination!

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

A another month passed Zim started looking less like wrinkled worm and more like an Irken, Red and Purple were running low on money, Repairing the cruiser was getting more difficult, whenever they fixed something, another thing would break or scavengers would sneak in and take whatever wasn't bolted down, that's when the Elites came to the conclusion that maybe they should look for work. So they started bounty hunting for the local constabulary.

What choice did they have? if they were ever gonna get off this rock and find Cradle 2-117. Bounty hunting was the way to go, The Cruiser was a lost beyond repair, but there were a lot of ships for sale in Meeko; the problem was finding who was willing to sell a ship to them, The citizens were still cold towards them, Again. Neither Red and Purple could understand why? They soon got answer in the most unconventional way, they'd come back from a job, Some nut job thought it was good splice a giant spider with a squid and than super sizing it!

Red was shooting the thing with his Plasma gun while Purple striking it with his photon axe, meanwhile Zim was happily skipping around the battlefield, narrowly missing being crushed or shot at, Red noticed the smeet hopping around. "Zim! get out of the way!" Red dodges a tentacle swinging for him. "You're gonna get hurt!" He barked the smeet just stared at him blankly before smiling "Rwed!" he cheered waving at him, Red facepalmed. "Hi!" he waved back before going back to fighting, Zim went back to his little skipping game dodging death at every corner, only stopping when he saw a large beetle crawling around on the sand, the smeet crouched down just as Purple was thrown off the Squider and sent crashing into the wall behind Zim.

The purple eyed elite sat up with a groan; rubbing his head looked at Zim and did a double take when he saw the smeet eating a beetle, Purple jumped to his feet rushed over to the smeet trying to pry his mouth open. "Naw, no, no. Spit it out, spit out! c'mon!" he lightly slapped Zim's back and the smeet spat up bug guts Purple grimaced. "Disgusting!" he huffed giving the smeet some ration wafers and went back to helping Red fight, Zim calmly sat out of the way to eat and watch his 'Brothers' fight the monster, by the end of the battle Red and Purple were covered in ink and teal colored guts, and their wallets were a good chunk heavier, when they woke up this morning...

Later when they got back to the cruiser both Red felt something was off, there was scent in the air he didn't recognize at first he thought it was the Squider guts, but as they got closer to their wreck... it became more apparent that someone or something was in there, Purple noticed it too he and Red exchanged a look; the red clad elite set Zim down and shush him, the smeet copied him and nodded, Purple dispatched his PAK legs and went in from above while Red followed and hid in the doorway of the engine room, his first thought was it was just another scavenger looking for scrap, but by now everyone nearby knew this ship was occupied and stayed clear of it, Red peeked into the engine room and saw a hooded figure fidgeting around with the power core. 

Red's eyes narrowed as he tried to get a better look and saw this person reading off what looked like an engineering manual, he saw Purple getting into position, they could hear this person mumbling to themselves. "Okay... now shut down switch Y and detach port Q?...wait no, um..." the guards looked at each other and nodded, Purple jumped from the ceiling; landing in front of the intruder catching them completely off guard. "What the fu-" they saw the purple eyed Irken reach for a his stunned baton and panicked. "Shite!" they yelped and went to run only to get pistol whipped from behind by Red knocking them out. 

Red and Purple were perplexed when they tied them up removed the intruders hood and made sure they didn't have weapons, they've never seen an alien like them before...  they had this weird long stringy stuff on their head that was soft to the touch, but stood out out most of all was how tall they were... Both Irkens just barely came up to the intruder's chin. "Whoa! They're almost the same height as Tallest Miyuki!" Purple said stunned while Red shook his head. "No... Miyuki is definitely taller..." he insisted but then again they haven't seen Tallest Miyuki in months! So they couldn't exactly make a comparison.

While the two were prattled about Miyuki and the intruder's heights, neither noticed Zim wander in the smeet looked between the bickering Elites before noticing the stranger sitting against the wall. His pink eyes lit up as he curiously approached the unconscious alien, He saw the long fuzzy stuff on their head and immediately grabbed it and started tugging which roused the trespasser awake.

Red and Purple tenses at the unknown voice cut into their conversation they looked and saw Zim swinging off the alien's... mane? "Ow..ow! quit it! They try to jerked their head away from Zim's grasp. "Oww, Seriously kid stop it!" They growled Red snapped out of his stupor and quickly picked up Zim. "Don't talk to him like that!" He spat glaring at the intruder, who glared back their e/c eyes looked odd too, but Red was more focused on whether or not they were a threat or not.

"Who are you? What are you?" he huffed along with Purple butting in. "And why do you want our power core?" the alien winced a the purple one's shrill voice. " if I tell you will you untie me?" they asked hopeful, the Irkens were silent, and the intruder took their silence as a hard "maybe."

"My name is Y/n, I’m a human female, My ship crashed few clicks north from here, the power core was always little spotty, and it finally gave up the ghost. So I went out looking for a replacement, looked around Meeko and other crash sites, before finding a power signal that lead me to... I thought it was it was a derelict ship!"

"Does this ship derelict look to you?!"

"Well... yeah? I mean look around, your ship is in pieces! it'll obviously never fly again, I'm surprised your core was even intact!"

"How did you even get in? we have security measures!"

Y/n looked bemused before something clicked in her head, she cocked her head towards the front of the ship. "Oh! the giant hole in your hull, with the lasers and forcefield? yeah, I think your motion sensors and hard light generator is offline, I walked right through it" Purple looked like he was going to cry seeing as he was the one who rigged that forcefield up. " that and your front door was wi... was.." Your voice suddenly trailed off, Red and Purple watched your demeanor change as something caught your eye, it took a moment for Red to notice you were staring at the Irken symbol on their armor.

"Shite... You slaver scum!" both Irkens jumped back startled by your sudden outburst. "What are you planning to do with that kid?! huh? did you kidnap him too?" You growled Red and Purple looked at each other stunned. "What are you talking about?" Red asked you just glared him in disgust. "Don't play fucking coy with me! I’ve seen your damn ship going around ransacking outposts around the system and kidnapping people!" Red and Purple were at loss here, 2-117 was overtaken by Slavers? well, at least now they knew why almost everyone on Greedo was so hostile towards them!

There was a tense stare down between the trio, You watched as the two "slavers" got into a huddle, you heard the numbers "2-117..." being mumbled then Red one was saying something the Purple one disagreed with. "No, oh no no no! We're not taking in another stray!" the purple hissed vehemently. "She's the our ticket off this rock, we're doing it!" They turned to look at you.

"What?" you hissed as the Red clad alien silently handed the kid over to his Purple counterpart who glared at him, you tensed up as he walked up to you. "Calm down and just listen alright?" Red guy explained they’re not slavers, but Elite guards from Irk sent to investigate and retrieve a missing Nursery ship called Cradle 2-117 that had been skyjacked a few months ago, the only lead they have is Zim, who Red found malnourished and wandering around in a trash dump.... Now you.

You of course were bit skeptical about this whole situation, what with being tied up and all! but, then Purple told you to take a good look at Zim, the kid was same species as them: Irken. "How many other Irkens have you seen wandering the Tarn system?" You realized never, you have never seen an Irken in Tarn before, so maybe they were telling the truth? then Purple got you attention again "Where was the last place you saw that ship?" You paused thing back to were you saw the Irken ship, it wasn’t hard to forget considering how unique it looked. 

"I think it was headed to Planet Nyree? that’s a two week journey from here." Both Irken elites looked each other hopeful, finally a real lead! "However I'd suggest getting a new ship, I don’t think this one will taking off anytime soon." They hear the ship groan as a panel falls out of the ceiling, landing a little too close to you then you'd like, Red looks at Purple whose shoulders slumped, knowing what was coming, You were confused as Red reach around behind you and untied you. "Okay! New plan, we need a ship and you need a power core, let’s make a deal..." and that's how you gained three new crew members aboard the Cardinal.

[quartzwriting]

The War of The Infinity Stones

Pairing: Doctor Strange X Fem!Reader

Description: Thanos is coming and you have an Infinity Stone to protect.

Warnings: Dusty deaths

Word Count: 2.0k

A/N: Originally posted on Quotev / This one is old, written before Endgame. Links to parts 2 and 1.5 coming soon.

Part 2: Endgame story

Part 1.5: Hypothetical Endgame (original plot)

Masterlist | Fic Reading Recs | Ao3 | Quotev | Coffee

It felt like your head was about to explode.

Okay so: aliens from space trying to wipe out half the universe, spaceship shaped like a giant donut, a billionaire playboy genius in a rocket suit and a kid with spider powers who won’t stop making pop culture references.

You were still processing it all. And you thought being in world with sorcerers and multi dimensional realities was exhausting.

“How long have they been going at it for?” The teenage boy who introduced himself to you as Peter whispered to you.

“I’m not keeping track.” You whispered back, the both of your standing away at a safe distance. Stephen and Tony had been in a heated argument for god knows how long. Their clashing egos made everything worse. You and Peter tried to speak up but they both shut you out. The entire universe was at risk and these two just needed to argue right now?

“So...you’re a witch or something?” Peter said, you could tell he was trying to ease some awkwardness between you two. Anything was better than listening to your boyfriend have an argument with his ego doppelganger.

“Sorceress.” A smile grazed your face as you made a quick motion with your hands. Sparks danced between your fingers before a small butterfly materialized. It flew over to Peter and landed on his nose, making him smile.

“That’s awesome!” Peter exclaimed, you found him absolutely adorable. “How did you get your powers?”

“Well they’re not necessarily powers. Years of study and training, anyone could do it actually.”

“Well I was bit by a spider...but I don’t think it’s as cool as what you can do.”

Suddenly there was yelling and raised voices.

“Okay I’ve had enough of this.” You let out an exaggerated sighed, and Peter could tell something was coming.

With a fast motion from your hands, you created a shockwave and sent it in the direction of the two men arguing. The wave rattled the ship slightly and the two of them stopped and froze while looking at you.

“The entire universe is in trouble and you both are acting like children.”

Tony turned to Stephen. “You gonna let your girlfriend boss around an Avenger. Because that’s what I am and I don’t take orders from anyone.”

“She can if she wants to.” Stephen replied simply.

“Thank you Stephen.” You said with your nose in the air. “Now, are you two going to shut up so we can find Thanos and prevent him from destroying half the universe.”

“Seriously we should just get rid of this one.” Tony pointed to The Eye of Agamotto and the time stone.

“I’m sworn to protect this with my life.” Stephen jumped back in, his cloak was now flaring out to make him look bigger. “And I won’t hesitate to risk your life Stark to keep it safe.”

“Whoa slow down there, Cheekbones. Who saved your magical ass back there when that squid was trying to extract if from you?”

“Did you just call me Cheekbones?”

“Hey!” You shouted. “If you two keep arguing then we’re not going to get anywhere.”

The two men stopped and looked at you with raised eyebrows.

Then Tony spoke up, “Who put Hermione Granger in charge?”

“Okay you know what Stark-“

Suddenly the cloak slapped Stephen in the face. Then quickly did the same to Tony before flying off the sorcerer’s shoulders. It flew over and rested on your shoulders. It was almost like it was agreeing with you, that the two needed to shut up.

“Looks like it’s the only one that agrees with me.”

Peter put up his hand. “I agree with you, Miss (L/N).”

You pointed to him in approval. “At least someone has a brain on this ship.”

Stepping forwards and in between the two men, you looked out the large window. The planet that the ship was moving towards was getting dangerously close. Nerves were settling in and you had to suck it up.

You looked over at Stephen and spoke softly. “Stephen, we’ll protect the stone. We’re going to stop Thanos and everything will be alright.”

He scoffed and replied in the same soft tone as you had spoken in. “Why did you come, (Y/N)? You’re going to get hurt.”

“The cloak of yours brought me here, when you were beamed up.” Said cloak now went back to him and fastened itself around his shoulders. “And I’m here for a reason. I’m here to help.”

“This is so dangerous and I don’t want to lose you.”

Raising your hand to cup his cheek, you stroked it softly. “Stephen, I’ll be fine. I know how to protect myself.”

He paused for a second, staring at the determination in your eyes. Then he agreed, “I know how powerful you are. We can do this.”

“Uh guys… maybe save the mushy moments for later… we’re about to crash!”

~~~~~

Okay so more weirdness was going on. You, Stephen, Tony and Peter were attacked once you got on the planet. After a misunderstanding, you had made more allies; Peter Quill, Drax and Mantis (who had called themselves ‘Guardians of The Galaxy’) had joined your party. Pretty soon you had a little team that all hated Thanos.

Currently, you were all huddled together trying to come up with a plan since Thanos was sure to be coming for the time stone soon. After some insults thrown back and forth between Stark and Quill, an idea was starting to come together.

Your attention was diverted from the group to Stephen, who was nearby and doing his own thing. He insisted that he do something while the rest of you talked. It looked like he was meditating, he did it often so you didn’t think too much of it. But something was nagging at the back of your head that something was off.

“Hey (Y/N).”

You snapped out of your thoughts and turned your attention back to the others, who all looked at you. They must have mentioned you and you were not paying any attention.

“I’m sorry, I wasn't listening.” You admitted, embarrassed. “What?”

Quill rolled his eyes, “For someone with a pretty face I assumed you would at least have a bit of brains. Are Earth girls dumbed down more now?”

Your jaw dropped open in a scoff, “Excuse me? You want me to send you to another dimension because I can and I will.”

“Excuse me...but does your friend often do that?” Mantis cut the tension and pointed to Stephen. He was now using the time stone and was shaking violently. You knew something was wrong.

“Strange? You alright?” Tony asked.

“Stephen?” You asked in the same tone, quickly walking up to him. It was like once he heard your voice, he got pulled out of his meditative state. He stopped leavitating and his eyes shot up to yours. He was gasping for breath, chest heaving as he grabbed for your hands for support.

“Hey what was that?” Peter Parker asked, speaking for everyone else.

“I went forward in time to view alternate futures.” He was still panting as he spoke. “To see all the possible outcomes of the coming conflict.”

“How many did you see?” Peter Quill questioned.

“Fourteen million six hundred and five.”

Tony came up behind you, “How many do we win?”

Stephen looked into your eyes, his own full of worry and anxiety. “One.” And your heart dropped.

~~~~~

You watched in horror as Thanos ripped the fake Eye of Agamotto off of Stephen’s neck and threw him onto the ground. You didn’t hesitate to run to his side and fall to your knees over him.

“You alright?” You were practically shaking and you couldn’t keep your self steady.

“Help Tony.” He croaked out.

“No I’m not leaving you.”

“Help him!”

Your head whipped around and Tony was struggling to keep up with Thanos. His Iron Man suit was now falling apart and disappearing.

Standing tall, you conjured a portal underneath Tony and transported him to a safe distance away just before he could get stabbed by his own blade. Thanos looked up at you and you put on your confidence face.

With a few strong movements with your hands, you began to send sparks flying from your fingertips. Soon the sparks were shooting out of your body like lightning. You charged yourself up and released, sending the bolts towards the titan.

Thanos absorbed your attack with his gauntlet and shot back a blast from the power stone, purple shocks flying your way. Thinking quickly you summoned a shield from the mirror dimension and they bounced right off. You turned your shield into large crystal fragments and made them protrude out from under ground. He shattered them with shots from the stones.

He raised his gauntlet and it flashed orange .The soul stone’s power was shot towards you. You didn’t have time to react and found yourself on your knees and screaming in agony. It felt like your very existence was being torn apart. It was like your astral-body was wanting to leave your physical body permanently, and it was being ripped from you. Your soul being pried out of its casing.

“STOP!”

The horrible pain instantly stopped and you collapsed. You gasped in desperate need of air and a headache formed that was splitting your brain open.

“Spare her and I’ll give you the stone.”

You coughed up blood, “No…”

“How cute.” Thanos’ voice sounded like a shattered record to you since you hated him so much. “No tricks, wizard.”

“Leave her and you’ll have it.”

You groggily looked up and saw Stephen summon the stone and hand it over to Thanos. Satisfied and finished with you, he left as Quill tried to attack him once more.

Still so weak, you crawled over to Stephen. “Why did you do that?” Your voice was broken.

“There was no other way.” He tried to support you as best he could, but still being weak himself it was difficult. “And he was destroying you...your screaming...that’s never going to leave me…”

You collapsed onto him, leaning on his side. Tears swelled in your eyes as it all settled in your mind; “This is it...isn’t it?”

He looked back at you, “I’m afraid it might be…”

You broke right there, hating that you could have done something to stop it. But you couldn’t, and that tore you apart.

“You were so powerful. I’m so proud of you.” Stephen whispered to you, his own stuttering voice soothing you a little. You could even feel the cloak wrapping an edge around you to pull you closer to Stephen. “You’ve come so far since I started teaching you. Well done.”

You couldn’t help but chuckle at him, and you both leaned into each other still catching your breaths.

Your entire team was in silence, accepting their defeat and wondering what was going to happen next.

“Something is happening.”

You watched as Mantis, Drax and Quill all turned to dust and float away in the wind. Fear spread to everyone else and Peter muttered that he wasn’t feeling well.

“(Y/N)?”

Your heart sank and you turned to Stephen. Without waiting a single second, he pulled you to him and kissed you. His hands cupping your face were shaking, more than they usually did. You clung to him, grabbing the fabric of his tunic. You have never shared a kiss so desperate, so full of trust and heartbreak, so full of fear. So full of love for each other that you didn’t need to say it. You both just knew.

The feeling of his lips on yours faded, and you opened your eyes to see him blow away as ashes.

All that was left was the cloak and you clutched onto it and sobbed. It smelled like him. It moved under your tears and flew over to rest upon your shoulders. The warm feeling of the cloak wrapped around you, it reminded you of Stephen. Oh, Stephen.

Your heart shattered for your love and for the universe as you knew...

You lost.

[cg29fics]

Pick & Mix Collection

A selection of mini fics featuring Scott…

Cornered

Mentions Scayo.

Scott Tracy, leader of International Rescue and sworn protector of his little brothers, was now the one in danger, and in desperate need of help.

His situation?

He had found himself unexpectedly cornered, his adversary staring right at him, their beady eyes refusing to move from his.

There was no way for him to reach his only exit without his foe spotting him, and possibly pouncing on him before he had reached freedom.

What should he do?

He could call for help, but that was beneath him. He had always handled everything he faced with courage, determination, and had never backed down. However, this opponent was different, this was the scariest one he had ever had to face, and its eyes had still remained on his. Watching everything he did, watching every eye blink, every minute flinch he made.

‘Oh god,' he inwardly whimpered, 'there was no way out of this, he was going to be stuck here forever…'

Just then, the door that his assailant was blocking edged open, and to Scott Tracy's relief Kayo peered through. Her eyes widening in shock and concern at seeing him cowering in a corner, then rolling with disbelief and amusement when they fell on his attacker.

"Geez Scott," Kayo giggled, scooping the spider into her hands and immediately letting it out of the bathroom window, "anyone seeing you would think you had been caught by the Hood!"

"The Hood I can handle… That beast however," Scott shuddered, gazed towards the window, and then looked back at Kayo, "has he definitely gone?"

"Yes."

“Are you sure?" He questioned, while standing himself up and wrapping his bath towel ever tighter around himself.

“I'm absolutely certain," Kayo replied, trying to hide her laughter while placing her arm around his back and leading him out of the bathroom, "now," she added with a sly look at the towel that was covering his naked form, "how about you drop that towel, and get into bed… Your hero really wants a cuddle.

3 more mini fics beneath the cut

Scott's 5 Golden rules on being a big brother.

1. Always, and I mean always keep your eyes open! (Especially if you have a younger brother called Gordon!)

2. You can tease your own little brothers. (Only if they know it's in jest!) However, if anyone teases them, or hurts them in anyway. Then advise that person to run!

3. Always expect the unexpected. (Again, especially if you have a brother named Gordon!)

4. Expect to go grey young! I found my first grey hair the other day. (Yeah … It's because I have a brother named Gordon!)

5. Prepare yourself to be damn proud! I know I am very proud of all four of my brothers in every single way! (Yes … Even Gordon! … Man, I love my little squid!)

Thoughts on being a big brother.

I've always been a big brother. Well, technically I was an only child until I was 2 years old but I don't remember those early years. According to my grandma, I took to brotherhood like Gordon takes to water!

I was a natural and I remember I was always very attentive of John. Well, I had to be! He was always so quiet and his first words weren't until he was 2 … Well, I say first words, when in fact, the first thing he said was a whole sentence! I'll always remember my mom and dad being really annoyed every time someone brought up their concerns about John. They were always very polite and assured them that John was an intelligent little boy who would only speak if he felt it necessary to do so ... Then they would utter a few other choice words behind their backs! Which I would join in on … Well, no one was going to put down my little brother! One time, they heard me, and yeah, well, they were very careful with what they said around me after that!

The second time I became a big brother was a very important milestone for me. I was already 6 years old and John was 4. I remember taking it upon myself to become a mentor to John, and teach him the art of being a responsible and caring older brother. I imparted that much information to him, that in the end John was terrified! He was constantly scared that he would never be as good as me, that he would do something, or say something wrong and hurt his little brother. When Virgil finally arrived (Three weeks late! … Lazy Arse! … Ha, he knows I love him really!) John was fantastic and I was extremely proud at how well he had handled everything. The third and fourth time, I was 8 and then 11. So, those times I could pass on the golden rules of being a big bro without scaring Virgil and Gordon half to death and, yeah, they both did me proud, and still do to this very day!

Since I was 13 my role as a big brother as changed dramatically! The first time it changed was when we lost our mom in an avalanche, dad was devastated and drifted into his own world for a few months. So, I stepped up and became like a second parent to my four younger brothers, they needed me to be strong for them and I was… Until grandma realised what was happening, stepped in, and pulled my dad back from the brink. It was only then that I felt could properly grieve for the loss of my mom.

The second time was just two short years ago, when our dad disappeared. Even though grandma was with us, I could see she was struggling herself, and didn't want to lay too much pressure on her. So, once again I stepped up and as well as a big brother, I also became a second father (Although no one can ever replace our dad!) and head of international rescue. I personally don't feel like I've taken to the roles of parent and leader too well, although my grandma and my brothers keep assuring me that I have.

My final thoughts are that, even though throughout my 27 years my role as an older brother as developed and changed in many ways … And as always, constantly kept me on my toes … There is one thing I would never do… I would never, ever wish to be an only child!

Reunion

…The white gate swung open; a large bag hung effortlessly over his shoulder as he strode confidently through…

He’d missed his family: His dad’s long talks, Alan’s infectious smile. Gordon’s laughter. John’s soothing voice. The sound of Virgil’s piano filling a room. Grandma’s warm hugs - even her cooking. Although, he was well aware that he would most likely get sick pretty quickly if he were to indulge.

…A small rock was lifted, a smile at the key hidden underneath…

Yes, he had enjoyed the freedom of being away and the thrill that came with his deployment. Nevertheless, it had been too long.

…Soundlessly he turned the key, then opened the door…

A beaming smile immediately lit his face – He had dreamt of this moment: The aroma of burnt cookies, mixing with the warmth of his father’s famous roast dinner.

…Swiftly he crept inside, and slipped into the gap underneath the stairs…

Animated chatter from Gordon and Alan in the lounge. His dads booming laugh. Grandmas commanding voice calling them all into the dining room. John’s light footsteps when he made his way downstairs, followed by the louder heavier footed sound of his other brother Virgil.

…He tiptoed out of his hideout…

It was thanksgiving. He had missed the last two years, and as far as they were aware, he would be missing this one too.

…Softly he stepped towards the open doorway…

Their voices exuberantly filled the air. Each recounting an accomplishment, a happy moment from that year, an aspiration for the future, and a special wish that he was safe and would return home soon.

…He strode through the doorway…

“I hope there is enough food for me?”

A succession of “Scott!” reverberated through the ranch, followed with buoyant cheers and sobs of joy as he was held close and looked at and talked too.

…After explanations given, eventually he was allowed to sit down, and with a bright smile deliver his own thanks…

And he was grateful…

Grateful that he had been given an opportunity to save the lives of others, even though at times he was scared for his own. Appreciative for the good he had seen, although there were things he would like to forget. He had grown, from a boy who was curious about everything into a man. Stronger. Wiser. Eyes more open to the world. However, this moment, right now, eclipsed every life changing event he had experienced, and he now knew that whatever the future may hold it would be surrounded with his family.

These and other random shorts can be found in my Pick & Mix Collection on AO3 & FFNet: CreativeGirl29

[maybedefinitely404]

Not Your Typical

Genre: college AU, hurt/comfort (kind of?)

Pairings: romantic Demus, Logicality, and Prinxiety

Content: some language, autistic character, sensory overload, mentions of losing friends in the past, anxiety, unintentional self harm, Roman is kind of a jerk but he regrets it, food mentions, unable to eat certain consistencies, beach/water/swimming, Janus being a disaster gay, ASL, selective mutism.

Word count: 6k

Comments: Like always, I don’t intend for these to be so long. Holy cow.

Janus is written based mostly on my experiences as someone with autism, and how it’s affected my childhood/relationships/daily life. No one’s experience is the same.

Janus was always alone. Alone, not lonely. 

Most of the time, that is. 

His whole childhood was an endless cycle of make a friend, weird them out, be alone. Find another friend, weird them out, be alone. And sometimes it hurt, yeah, but he got used to it. At home, he spent the entire day in his room, assembling structures out of legos before tearing them down and starting over. Sometimes he’d build something really cool, and that would stay up for a long time. He didn’t have any siblings, and his parents didn’t give a whoop as long as the floor was generally clear, so no one ever bothered the space ships or towers or just really long lines that stretched from one wall to the other. He liked those. 

Things changed when he got to middle school. Life started getting real, people became more than just recess friends, and that unsettled him. He made a couple close friends, friends that he really opened up to only for them to leave him when he became too much. He just couldn’t help it though; he couldn’t help the way he bounced when he got so excited he couldn’t breathe, or how he couldn’t use words when he got overwhelmed by the touch and the noise, or how he couldn’t stop talking about his favorite shows or books. He was labeled as childish. It was like a label had been stuck to his chest that read “avoid at all costs”, and people did. 

So he relearned how to be alone. He put a lava lamp next to his bed for when he needed something constant to look at, he got a collection of chewy necklaces and stim toys that never left his room. After a lot of research, he convinced his parents to buy him a weighted blanket for when every touch was too light, too agonizingly light, and he needed something firm to ground him. At school, or really around anyone, he learned to control his more obvious stimming and touch sensitivity by staying in oversized sweaters and jeans. He taught himself basic sign language for when he couldn’t talk, even though he knew his parents wouldn’t understand him. They took forever to learn basic signs, for ‘water’ or ‘quiet’ or ‘no’, and both eventually got frustrated and gave up. As if their frustration was anything compared to his. 

It was going great, not perfect but better than before, until he graduated high school. Suddenly he realized he was about to move halfway across the country, to a new environment with new triggers and new people who didn’t understand that he wasn’t frowning because he was pissed, but because smiling when you didn’t understand the reasoning was exhausting. Why do people smile and greet you when they enter the room? Why couldn’t that be more of an… understood thing? I’m here, you’re here now, we both know that, so why bring so much attention to it? For once his parents were kind enough to help him out, taking him to the campus during the summer to get acquainted with the surroundings and learn the map by heart. He talked to the admission’s counselor, explaining his disability and why that meant he couldn’t be on the side of campus near the highway, because the constant noise and common sirens would make him explode. They were eventually able to move him to one of the other buildings, one with apartments instead of dorms, even though that was generally only for third and fourth years. It took a load off his shoulders; less noise, less people. The one thing he couldn’t do was meet his roommates before the year started. 

The school got them into contact, and since he was the last to be assigned to the six person pod, they added him into their pre-established group chat. The other five already had nicknames, ranging from ‘Dad’ to ‘Rat Bastard’, and he immediately felt like an outsider. Not like that was new to him, though. Except, he didn’t stay like that. When one of the group, ‘Nerdy Mcnerd’ on the chat (he’d long forgotten their actual names), asked him what he liked and he immediately sent a list of special interests and hyperfixations, the top being snakes, it was like a door had been opened. Nerdy Mcnerd was a fan of space as well, and the two stayed up until all hours of night on their own chat discussing space and their place in the universe. Rat Bastard had an affinity for what people would categorize as “creepy animals”; octopi and squid, spiders, star-nosed moles, and most importantly, snakes. Their conversations mostly involved dopey pictures of snakes and unintelligible key smashes and emojis. Emo Disaster shared his love of darker themed TV shows, and they started a couple new ones at the same time, constantly updating each other with theories. When he mentioned his major was psychology, Dad was immediately overjoyed to be sharing the major with someone, and offered to help him study for the harder classes. He didn’t hit it off quite so well with Princey, who was put off by Janus’ so called “moodiness” and didn’t trust him. 

When they finally met, it was supposed to be great. Janus knew the environment, somewhat knew his roommates, and was surprisingly excited for the new year. His joy was suddenly vanquished, however, as meeting these people face to face took a turn for the worse. Dad, Patton, immediately tried to go for the hug when he walked into the apartment for the first time, and was slightly taken aback when Janus reared back so hard he hit his head on the wall. The glee disappeared and he apologized profusely, and that’s when Nerdy Mcnerd, Logan walked in, explaining that Patton was very physical. They were over it rather quickly, but Janus shuddered as soon as the other two turned to each other. They had already claimed one of the three rooms for themselves, so Janus chose the one furthest into the apartment. He dropped his suitcases next to one of the two beds with a deep sigh. The thought of a hug… no. It unsettled him greatly, made his skin crawl. Maybe one day, but not now. 

Emo Disaster and Princey, Virgil and Roman, arrived later in the day, hand in hand, bickering animatedly when they walked into the apartment. They were greeted with a huge hug from Patton and a side hug from Logan, and that’s when Janus recalled that they had all been roommates the year prior and again, felt a small tinge of pain. He was still the odd one out. Virgil gave a two finger salute to where Janus was sitting curled up on one of the bar stools, knees pulled to his chest and for the first time, Janus didn’t feel compelled to give a forced smile in greeting. It was a relief. The small nod was all that was needed. Roman however, was a different story. When they happened to make eye contact for the first time, the taller man still standing in the doorway, Janus flinched. Hard. The man’s eyes burned through him, as if scouring through his brain, eyes so full of passion that Janus had to look away. Eye contact was only an issue for him sometimes, but with Roman, it physically hurt. Which only made the theatre major more suspicious of him. As he passed him on the way to get a glass of water, the taller man blurted out, “You’re a first year, why are you in a third year building?”, earning him a gentle smack from Virgil. He answered with a lame shrug and rushed back to his room, conceding to just go to sleep, regretting leaving his drink on the counter. 

No one besides Janus was surprised when the door burst open at three am and a loud voice screamed, “I’M BACK, FUCKERS!” He was frozen in place, woken with such an adrenaline rush that he couldn’t move. Outside, the other four exited their rooms with varying levels of annoyance and delight, greeting the final member of the group. Remus, as Janus heard them proclaim, was his roommate, the only two dwellers not in a relationship. The gremlin burst into the room, a deranged smile on his face, and Janus wanted to cry. Why did he have to be stuck in a room with the loud one? But Remus saw the mismatched eyes poking out from under the blanket and with no hesitation, sunk to the floor next to the bed, still smiling but a million decimals softer. 

“Hey, Snakey. Sorry to scare ya. I’m Remus, but you can still call me Rat Bastard if you want. Call me whatever, I don’t really get offended. You go back to sleep, I’m gonna get settled in. We can talk in the morning.”

Janus wasn’t planning to fall asleep, not with this new person in his room, but Remus was shockingly silent as he unloaded his things (he packed a bunch of garbage bags, not even a suitcase or box), and he couldn’t help the way his eyes slipped shut. 

First semester came to a close, and he was equally delighted and horrified that everyone was staying on campus for break. It had become harder and harder for him to avoid movie nights, or family dinners (as Patton called them), or days they all went into town together. In the beginning, he put it off to being tired. Then, studying for exams. Now with school halted for nearly a month, he was out of excuses. It was getting to the point where he could feel the frustration from his roommates, and he wanted to admit how much he wanted to spend time with them, until his drawer full of secret stim toys and chewy necklaces called him back. At times, he let himself spend time with them. Baked something with Patton, talked about the stars with Logan, sat with Virgil as they studied, and it was good. He never was able to escape Roman’s cynical glares that made him absolutely shudder, but he got on much better with his twin. 

Remus never minded if Janus only greeted him with a raised eyebrow, and he was okay to have more one sided conversations while Janus drew, or after a few weeks, stared unapologetically. Because god, there was so much about Remus that Janus couldn’t help but watch, even if a normal person would get uncomfortable by his wide and unblinking eyes. Luckily, Remus was no ordinary person. But the younger still kept the drawer to himself, only allowing himself to nom on the plastic or squeeze the orbeez filled squishy snake with intense fascination when he was alone. So every time he was with the others and felt the need to stim or infodump or was about to have a stress induced meltdown, he would excuse himself and leave without so much of a goodbye. He couldn’t, not in front of them. Every time he left, he could hear Roman’s quiet remarks about him that stung more than he wanted to admit. 

He’d had so many people leave, people he allowed himself to get close to, only for them to see the side of himself he tried to hide. In his heart, he knew that part of him wasn’t bad. It was just him. Other people didn’t understand that, though. No matter how much he tried to convince himself that no one would judge him, or laugh at him because they weren’t like that, he was scared. The effort was wearing him thin, and it came to the point where he realized he had to tell them. He had to, or he would burst, and that would be way worse.

It was just three little words: I. Am. Autistic. And he’d explain everything, tell them about his stims and limits and how he needed space sometimes and hugs others, and spill everything about himself, and they’d accept him. They’d have to, right? Only, the night he was planning to blurt out the truth, something stopped him. 

They were eating dinner, one of the only ones he’d attended in a while. Patton kept glancing at him from across the table as he picked half heartedly at his lasagna, distracted from the lively conversation between the twins and Virgil. The whole thing was speckled with bite sized pieces of mushrooms and zucchini, two of the foods that he couldn’t eat to save his life. The texture made him want to recoil into himself and scream and yank at his hair, and he’d learned early in life that that wasn’t a normal response to food. He wanted to explain to Patton that it wasn’t the meal itself he was avoiding, that it wasn’t Patton’s cooking that he didn’t like, it was just the texture of those two things. 

Well, maybe that was a good gateway into his big announcement, if you could even call it that. It felt almost as scary as his coming out to his parents had been. If they didn’t take this well, he might be exiled from the group. If they tried to put up with them, they’d get irritated so quickly and slowly freeze him out. He really didn’t want that. It needed to happen though, he realized. How much worse would it be if one of them walked in on him having a meltdown, holding a pillow over his mouth to block his screams, biting almost animalistically on a necklace? How unsettled would they be if they saw him hitting his blanket pile out of repulsion of the feeling of his textbook pages? Better to warn them ahead of time. It was only luck that had gotten him this far.

Just as he opened his mouth to speak, Logan hit the table with the heel of his hand and let out an almost guttural scream before storming into his and Patton’s room, slamming the door behind him. Janus nearly fell backwards off his chair, matching Virgil’s surprised expression. Roman went silent, wincing slightly.

“What…” It was the first word he’d said the entire meal. Patton whipped his head towards him as if he’d forgotten he was there, a sudden sympathetic look on his face. He gave a weak smile.

“Sorry about that, kiddo. Logan has autism, sometimes he can’t handle the stimulus around him. Or maybe he just had a rougher day than I thought. I’ll check on him after dinner, give him some alone time.”

Logan has autism.

Logan has autism. 

Oh my god.

It was like everything clicked into place. His passionate talk about topics he was interested in that could rival Janus’ (if he would ever let himself infodump like he wanted). His mannerisms, his occasional emotional outbursts, his rigorous unbreakable schedule, it all made sense. For a brief second, Janus was elated. Someone like him, someone who understood! And if they accepted Logan, maybe they would be able to understand him, even if they presented different areas of the spectrum. 

But… how would that look? Janus had hidden away his neurodivergent traits for so long, repressed them until he felt like he would literally explode… what if they thought he was faking it? It’s not like they knew him well, not with the amount of time he avoided being around them. They might think he was lying to get attention, didn’t want to be left out. Wanted to be special.

Patton seemed to be waiting for a response, he noted. He gave a curt nod, hoping it displayed that he was unbothered by Logan’s disability, before giving a stupid excuse about some reading to finish over break and darting back to his room. Remus joined him later, saying nothing about the fact that Janus was huddled under his weighted blanket, no book in sight. He sat down in front of the bed, a common habit of his now, and began to quietly talk about some new dark fantasy story he was designing, his lilting voice soothing Janus to sleep.

Time passed, winter came and went, and the end of second semester was drawing near. Janus was still careful with the way he presented to the others. They had picked up that he didn’t like physical contact, and though they never said a word about it, Patton’s lasagna recipe shifted, kept changing, until it no longer included mushrooms and zucchini. Janus refused to believe it was for his sake, though. He tried to join them for a couple movie nights, but the constant fear of stimming made his anxiety spike, therefore finding the need to stim more compelling, until he had to leave. It was getting harder, however, now that it was that pleasant in-between time where he understood how his new profs worked but it wasn’t exam season yet. His excuses were dwindling. Like always, Roman made his stupid quips that hurt him more than was probably intended, and he’d finally had enough. 

Maybe that’s why he was staring out at the open lake in front of him, hands playing absentmindedly with the hem of his shirt as Patton and Remus squealed, sprinting into the water without a second thought. One of their shirts had landed on Janus’ sandaled foot, and he quickly kicked it off as the light touch began to irritate him. Logan stood to his side, watching his boyfriend with an almost imperceivable smile. 

“You guys could have helped carry stuff if you were just going to stand there!” Roman’s indignant voice carried over the lawn, muffled slightly by the pile of towels he was carrying. Virgil snorted, whether in agreement or at Princey’s expense, Janus didn’t know. Either way, he dumped his handful of lawn chairs unceremoniously onto the lawn at their feet. 

“You two set these up then. I’m hot, I’m going swimming.”

“Damn right, you are,” Roman grinned. Virgil raised an eyebrow.

“Damn right I’m hot, or I’m going swimming?”

“Yes.” He didn’t give any of them a second to retort, scooping up a shrieking Virgil before sprinting them both into the water. 

“They didn’t even take their shirts off,” Logan commented, picking up a chair from the pile and unfolding it. Janus quickly joined in, helping him set the four chairs into a line and placing the towels down in front of them. “Did you want to go swimming?”

Admittedly, Janus hadn’t actually gone swimming, much less to the beach, since he was a kid. He was lucky to have even found a swimsuit amongst his other barely worn clothing; how it had snuck into his suitcase, he didn’t know. The water looked inviting and it was hot, but right now he was exhausted from the long ride over in Remus’ truck, having to refrain from plugging his ear when it got too loud or maintain his breathing carefully when a leg touched his.

“Maybe in a bit. I’m kind of tired.”

Logan turned to look at him, dare he say scrutinizingly? He washed the expression away quickly, asking, “Would you like me to stay with you?”

“No, it’s okay,” Janus mumbled, “You go have fun. I’ll be fine, I like the quiet.” As if to punctuate his point, a child screamed from the playground, making them both flinch.

“Are you positive?”

“Yes. Go enjoy yourself, Logan.”

He nodded curtly, pulling his shirt over his head in one fluent motion and walking towards the waves professionally, as if he were walking towards a lecture. Patton cheered from the water.

Janus didn’t concern himself with the time as it passed, instead letting his mind wander while he focused on a line of ants that were crawling up a tree next to him. It wasn’t until a fast approaching form caught his attention did he tear his eyes away, hearing him give a shout of “Be right back!”.

Remus plopped himself onto the towel next to him, still panting from the run, but grinning from ear to ear. As he ripped open a water bottle and drank greedily, Janus couldn’t help but stare. Water glistened on his skin like jewels in the afternoon sun, plastering his hair down over his jaw and eyes. His eyelashes were barely fluttering against his cheekbones as he guzzled nearly half of the bottle, his adam’s apple bobbing with each swallow. The jut of his shoulder, almost touching his throat, taking his weight as he leaned back on his arm… the whole thing was fascinating. People interested Janus as a whole; the way they functioned, how they seamlessly picked up on little cues from others that Janus was still in the process of figuring out, even down to intricate biology of cells was incredibly captivating. But Remus was so much more than that. His voice when he spoke him to sleep, never mentioning it the next day, the way his dark eyes glimmered with hope when Janus agreed to eat with them, the twitch of his moustache as he covered a laugh at Patton’s corny jokes. 

He was art, plain and simple. 

Janus didn’t know if what he felt was romantic attraction. It sure felt like it, except it had never felt quite like this before. It wasn’t that he was asexual or anything, he was actually decently far from it. It was just how uncomfortable most physical contact made him that gave him the idea he might never have a partner in the way that he wanted. He wanted to hold hands, to cuddle, to kiss… but at the same time, he didn’t. That is, he didn’t know how he’d handle it. Sure, he’d had crushes in the past, cute boys from his classes or celebrities in the shows he hyperfixated on, and still the feeling of uncertainty had stayed. With Remus, something was different though. Never before had a crush ever felt so breath stealing, chest clenching, awe inspiring-

“Like what you see?” 

Janus flinched, realizing Remus had finished drinking and was beaming at him with that stupid gorgeous gleam in his eyes. He looked at his lap immediately, feeling his face heat up. 

“Sorry.” 

“Not a problem,” Remus smirked, having the audacity to wink at him before standing up. “I’m going back in. Coming?” He reached out his hand, hopeful. Janus took a breath, acknowledging that this was his first time initiating contact since he’d arrived, and grabbed Remus’ hand. The surprise on the other’s face was almost enough to make him laugh. He pulled the younger to his feet, keeping a firm hold in Janus’ hand. And… that was okay. 

Until it wasn’t. 

The second his feet touched the sand, it was like alarm bells exploded behind his eyes. He couldn’t describe it, but it felt wrong. It gave in too much, light sprinkles of sand covered the top of his feet and instantly every nerve was on high alert. He ripped his hand from Remus’, stumbling backwards onto the grass again. The elder spun to him with concern.

“Snakey? What happened?”

“I- hmm, no. I can’t. Nope. No no no. Wrong. It… hmmmm. Can’t.” The last word dragged out as his brain seemed to disconnect from his mouth. His mind didn’t work, so focused on how every blade of grass was swiping along his soles too softly, too gentle, too much. His hands had curled into fists and he was fighting against everything inside him to scream bloody murder, because oh god the wind was brushing the hair onto the back of his neck and it tickled and make it stop make it stop!

Janus could vaguely hear someone shout, and the loudness floored him. Get away, get away, it’s too much it’s too much. The feeling of the grass was gone, and he was sitting on his beach towel, but the wind was still brushing his hair too much, so he grabbed at it uselessly, begging it to stop, stop, stop. 

“What’s happening?” Roman.

“Is he okay?” Patton.

“Does he look okay?” Virgil.

“Janus, breathe. You’re safe.” Logan.

 Yeah, he knew that. He knew, objectively, that the wind isn’t out to get him and grass doesn’t hurt and sand isn’t supposed to fry your nerves. That didn’t change the fact that it did for him. Somewhere in the back of his mind, it connected that they were seeing him have a meltdown, finally. But he couldn’t focus on that, not when someone was touching his arm why are they touching my arm LET GO! 

He screamed now, he couldn’t hold it back anymore. His breaths were ragged and gaspy, hands ripping at his hair to try and stop the fluttering strands. Then there was a new sound, an engine, a boat, and with it came the deep bass of some terrible music and there were people shouting and his head was hurting, why was it hurting so bad?! New hands grabbed his wrists and he writhed, pulling back from the grip that was pulling his fists away from where they’d been hitting his skull, over and over, trying to just get his stupid brain to work. Come back to the present, ground yourself, do SOMETHING!

And then something was in his hands. 

His eyes peeled open (when had he shut them?) and he saw the dark blue stress ball, almost crushed between his fingers. The hands were gone from his wrist, and he took a deep breath, relaxing his hand and watching the slime filled toy slowly return to its natural shape. It was just like one from his drawer, the first stim toy he’d ever gotten. Familiarity. He kneaded it under his fingers, enjoying the comforting texture, the color soothing to his sensitive eyes. Bit by bit he felt himself relax, still holding the toy inches from his face between stiff hands, letting his legs unfurl. Without thinking, he raised a shaking hand to his chin and did the sign for ‘water’, and immediately regretted it. It was just such a habit around his parents, the only other people who had seen him break down to this extent, how could he be so-

He flinched as a water bottle was pressed into his raised hand, the lid already taken off. The water was so good, settling his senses and grounding him, like he’d been in hyperfocus before and it was dulled now. He gave the stress ball another squeeze, captivated by the way the slime moved, not even flinching as someone snapped in front of him.

Looking up for the first time, his first instinct was to crawl into a hole and die. Logan was sitting in front of him, slowly putting the cap back on his water bottle before handing it back to Patton, who was standing just behind him. Roman and Virgil had begun packing the chairs and bags agonizingly slowly and quietly. Impressive; they were almost done and he hadn’t noticed until now. He turned to his left and his heart completely shattered. Remus was sitting statue still, a few feet away, with a look of pure fear in his eyes. He sat on the edge of his knees, like he wanted to pounce forward and hug him but was holding himself back. He appreciated that. 

Logan snapped again and Janus turned back.

‘Better?’ He signed slowly. 

‘You know sign?’ Janus responded weakly, confused. 

‘Patton too. I go nonverbal as well. Are you okay?’

The younger nodded, returning his hands to the stim toy on his lap. ‘Yours?’

‘Yes.’

“Is he okay?” Remus whispered suddenly, drawing their attention. He looked so scared, like anything could break Janus and he was scared he would cause it. Oh. Did he think he caused this?

‘Not his fault.’

Logan looked between the two, a look of confusion settling in his face. “What?”

‘Not. His. Fault.’ He signed sharply, a frustrated hum emitting from the back of his throat. ‘Not his fault!’

“Remus, he’s saying it’s not your fault. What does that mean?”

“I- I took his hand, and then this happened…” Remus started, leaning back onto his feet ashamedly, “If that wasn’t the cause, what was?” 

‘Sand.’

Logan’s eyes filled with understanding, and he responded, ‘Sand?’ as if to double check that he got the right sign. Janus nodded again, slightly thankful for the mute state he was in. He wouldn’t be able to explain this as well as Logan would. 

“If I’m understanding right, then my first assumptions were correct. Janus, did you just experience a sensory overload?”

Janus could only nod, meeting his eyes shakily. This is the moment. Now is his segway. If Logan wasn’t already suspicious, he surely was now. And he’d rather not have to explain, or come up with some half assed excuse if he was confronted later on why sinking his foot into sand had made him break. 

 ‘I’m autistic.’ He fingerspelled it, not knowing what the sign was, or if there even was one. There was a beat of silence, the twins and Virgil exchanging puzzled looks, and Janus couldn’t even bear to look at the two people who would have understood. All his fears came rushing back. Would they think he was lying, or seeking attention, or or or-

“Oh, sweetie,” Patton crooned, sitting cross legged beside Logan, “We thought maybe… well, the possibility came up in conversation before. Lo was the one who brought it up.”

“Yes. Though our experiences differ, you seemed to exhibit symptoms that are common to the ASD spectrum. I thought it feasible, but did not wish to offend or frighten you by mentioning it.”

“We thought that if you were autistic, it would be yours to tell us,” Patton smiled softly. 

“Wait,” Remus interrupted, “Janus, you have autism?”

Janus’ nervous glance up must have been enough to clue the rest of the group in, because Roman sighed and ducked his head into Virgil’s shoulder while Logan messily signed something which roughly translated to ‘how dense can someone be’. Jan couldn’t tell if it was a joke or not, but he cracked a smile anyways.

“Shit. Dude, I’m so sorry,” Roman murmured into Virgil’s shirt, “All the times I made fun of you for not joining us or anything, that was way out of line. I truly apologize.”

The youngest gave him the worldwide gesture for ‘it’s okay’; not exactly ASL, but it got his point across. Everything was packed up now, and Janus realized the implications.

‘Home?’ He asked Logan, eyebrows scrunched together.

‘Yes. You need to rest.’ He was right, he was exhausted. Getting to his feet along with Patton and Logan, he reached down to grab his towel, only for it to be promptly swooped up by Roman.

“I… I got it. Don’t worry about it. Okay?”

As soon as Roman turned his back, Janus couldn’t help his heavy sigh. This was another reason he had refrained from telling anyone. He didn’t want to be seen as a burden, or worse, a child. He didn’t need help with menial tasks like grabbing a towel. Virgil and him lifted all the belongings again, with less complaining this time, and began the short trek to the truck.

‘He’s not babying you,’ Logan signed, as if reading his mind, ‘He’s just guilty. If you want my advice, get as much out of it as you can.’

“Logan!” Patton chastised, failing miserably at hiding a smirk.                            

“Guys?” Remus’ uncharacteristically timid voice prompted them to turn back, “Could I talk to Janus for a sec?”

“You understand he is unable to speak at the moment, correct?” Logan raised an eyebrow, probably coming off more harsh than he meant to. 

“I know. Just… please?”

The other two shared a knowing look that Janus didn’t understand, before Logan turned to Janus. “Is that okay?”

The youngest nodded, watching over his shoulder as the lovebirds joined hands, leaving him and Remus alone. When he met his eyes again, he was standing much closer, eyes searching nervously.

“Maybe this will actually be easier since you can’t talk,” he laughed, before his face fell dramatically, “Fuck, that’s not what I meant. I’m such an idiot, I didn’t mean-”

Janus held up a hand quickly, as if to say ‘it’s fine, settle down’, holding back a snicker. He’d understand if someone was upset by the comment, but he’d learn to take Remus’ jokes lightly. He never meant to actually offend, sometimes he just… blurted without intending to. He rolled his finger in a ‘keep going’ motion.

“Shit. Okay,” He’d never seen Remus blush, or stumble over his words before. Not like this, at least, “Now, don’t feel obligated to say you feel the same or anything, okay? This is just, my feelings, and mine alone,” A deep breath, “I like you, Snakey. I like you a lot. More than… more than a friend.”

Oh.

Oh.

Janus was ninety percent sure he died right then and there. But Remus kept going, tripping over his words in a way that was so unlike him, and yet so perfect.

“I have for a while. I never said anything because I thought, maybe you disliked me? After today though, I think… well, maybe I was misinterpreting those signals. Like I misinterpreted today. That you didn’t want to be around me, no matter how hard I tried.”

Okay, Janus took it back. He wanted to be able to talk now, but his voice came out as another low hum, and he slapped his hand over his mouth, embarrassed. Remus pressed on, unfazed. 

“Snakey, I swear to you, that you having autism doesn’t change those feelings at all. It’s not a bad thing, or a flaw, it’s just you. And everything about you is amazing, and perfect, and this is just another thing I get to learn about you. Any fears you had around telling us, telling me, you don’t need to have them.”

He’d never felt this kind of feeling before. In that second, he knew for a fact that this wasn’t a crush that he had on Remus. That wasn’t possible, because a crush had never made him want to break his social barriers like this. A crush had never made him want to make an exception, to stand on his tip toes and kiss him, even if the thought of a new touch usually caused goosebumps to rise on his arms. Because he felt so safe, so blissfully numb, so comfortable with Remus, that he’d be willing to give it a try.

This wasn’t a crush. This was-

“I love you,” Remus whispered, his statement accompanied by a large shaky breath.

He couldn’t say it back, not right now. Later, he would. For sure. Maybe a hundred times. So he did what he’d never thought possible and took that step forward, breaking his bubble that he’d always thought to be unbreakable. 

It’s okay. You’re okay. This is okay. 

For once, he actually believed it.

Janus reached a hand up, slowly, and rested it on Remus’ face. It wasn’t light, he couldn’t do half touches. It was solid, warm, real. Not a tickling touch that made him twitch, or a brush by that stole the very breath from his lungs. The positive response affirmed his will power, and he leaned up onto his tip toes. Remus looked absolutely stunned, but he didn’t pull away, he couldn’t if he tried. His breath caught in his throat as the elder glanced down, an unmistakable look to his lips.

Had Remus always had those green flecks in his eyes?

And he kissed him. Janus surged forward, pressing their lips together harsher than he’s intended, pulling a small gasp out of Remus. There was a whoop from the vague direction of where they’d parked, followed by a loud smack, and Janus couldn’t help the smile that tugged at his lips.

Remus’ hands were clasped at his chest, unmoving, probably afraid that if he touched Janus wrong, this would all be over. He’d have to explain half touches later. For now, he took one of his hands in his free one and guided it around, pushing it into the small of his back until Remus got the message to keep that pressure. He let out a small sigh through his nose, an action that sent a new round of butterflies exploding in the younger’s stomach.

This is okay. 

This is all going to be okay.

[bonsaiiiiiii]

FabFiveFeb 2021 - Virgil week

prompts: a question, “I don’t understand”

here is my offering for FabFiveFeb 2021, and naturally it’s Virgil week! this chapter is quite short, a sort of...opening, if we want to put it that way (the prompts will appear in the next chapter, don’t worry if you don’t see them right now!). big thanks to @gumnut-logic for the challenge and the prompts, and to @louthestarspeaker for a general review! @nourelle-tracy here’s the whumpyy you requested. if you want some sneak peeks on the next chap pm me!

^to make it short, read this under the cut^

Another day, another rescue.

This time it was a suspended hotel in the mountains on the verge of falling and, as if that wasn't enough, there was also an armed civilian threatening the people inside. For the second thing the GDF would take of it, but the first one was an International Rescue mission.

So there were Virgil, Gordon and Scott at the site of the incident, deciding a way to at least block the hotel and evacuate all the people inside, shooter included. Jeff and John were speaking with them through hologram.

"So this massive building above you is the Heavens' Residence, and it's well known for being suspended between two mountains by a particular structure and for being the biggest in the world. Sending you the blue prints now."

Virgil studied the structure for a bit. It was mostly all corrugate and carbon steel, so resistant, and it caught support by leaning on the two mountains with many large 'claws' leaning into the rocks, like spider legs. The damage was in one of these spider legs: something fell from the top of the mountains, maybe a subsidence considered the damage, and it bent the claw. That's why the whole structure was falling, if just one if those are missing or defective it all falls. A good plan but a bad execution. "The damage is pretty visible and clear," he looked up at the bent claw above him, "we have to try and keep stable that claw, so we can evacuate everyone."

"Not until the shooter is escorted out by the GDF. We just received the signals: one less life sign." Jeff interrupted Virgil's plan sternly.

"We don't have time to wait for the GDF! They don't have time!" Virgil protested.

"I agree with dad. He could even hurt us, and we can't keep risking more lives to fall." Scott agreed with Jeff. "But it's still true that if we don't act now they're all gonna die nevertheless." He got silent for a bit, thinking of a plan through the situation.

"What's the deal with him tho?" Gordon asked curiously. "Does he shoot people randomly or has he got a motive behind this?"

"His name is Santiago Lopez, all I know about him is that he's married with a certain Louise. It seems that what triggered Mr. Lopez was seeing his wife with another man." John answered calmly.

"Scott," Virgil captured his big brother's attention. "let's stabilize that claw for the moment, then we'll think about the guests inside."

"Very well. We'll have to use the pods. Gordon?"

"FAB." the squid kid intercepted the subtle message, heading along with Scott inside Thunderbird 2 and preparing 2 pods. After not long they were already on 2 helipods,  flying up to the claw and starting immediately to stabilize it with some stabilizing foam.

Virgil in the meantime kept thinking of a way to get up to the guests. He looked at the elevator crashed on the ground, considering it wasn't the best option. He looked up for a while, to then contact John.

He answered immediately. "What's the problem, Virgil?"

"How long would it take me to climb up to the hotel's entrance or even a window?"

John opened his mouth to protest, noticing where this was going, but he eventually closed back his mouth, doing some mental calculations. "Considering the highness I would say about 20 minutes. You just need to take the exo-suit."

"I'm far beyond you, brother." Virgil laughed while putting said exo-suit on, already into his Thunderbird.

"But Scott and Gordon will be done soon, can't you wait for them?"

"It takes a whole lot of time to climb up there, you said it. And while they're stabilizing I can get inside and try to help whoever has to be helped." he stopped when he heard another gunshot in the distance. "Kinda off topic, but where is the GDF? We  would need a hand of help from them."

"5 minutes ago they said they were on their way. But-" the redhead paused for a second, "Dad won't be happy if he discovers you disobeyed his orders."

"He won't know." Virgil replied impatiently. People come before anything, it was a rule.

"You're playing with fire, I tell you that." John said before disappearing. Virgil huffed, and climbed his way through.

It didn't take long for him to get up to the entrance of the hotel and get inside safely. The vision that presented itself in front of him was almost grotesque: the bodies of the two lovers were laying lifeless on the ground, and if he had to explain it to his brothers later he would say that the 2 bodies were reduced to a colander. He could clearly sense the disgusting smell of vomit, even through his helmet; seems like someone has a sensible stomach. Well, the sight was horrible, so it was justified. The woman, Louise, was caucasian but tanned, while the man was maybe Cuban. They were both unrecognizable in the face.

And speaking of others...where were they? He looked quickly around him, and he saw many people hidden behind counters, tables...they were all shaking and trembling, but nobody didn't seem to be caught in the fire of the jealous man. He didn't see anybody hurt and nobody bloody, but there was a little girl who was whimpering and holding her arm. He quickly paced to her.

"Are you okay miss?"

She, on the other hand, widened her eyes in pure horror. "Are you from the police?"

"No...I'm from International Rescue. I'm here to save you."

"You can't do that!" she shouted, but somewhat her sentence came out whispered lightly.

"Hey, it's okay. We're gonna get you to safety." he repeated, this time a bit more quietly.

"He will kill us if he sees you here! He has already killed his wife and..." The girl continued to whisper terrified, looking around frantically.

He tried to ignore that statement for the time being by kneeling slowly. "Are you hurt?"

"No...but he killed my dad." she let a sob slip away. Virgil blinked, understanding the gravity of the situation in a single instant.

"Is your mom with you?"

"Mom died, dad didn’t know the other mom had a husband..." The girl’s sobs were echoing all over the room.

For a moment Virgil’s heart tightened in a painful vice; the child was too young to lose both parents, and apparently also a stepmother she loved. "How old are you?"

"11..." The child replied sad, and then watched him terrified. Or he didn’t look at him...he could see a shadow forming in front of him. A shadow that was not his own.

"Turn slowly." The new voice was very sharp and shaky, a sign of instability, but Virgil did what the other man told him anyway. As he turned completely to look at him he found a gun pointed at his forehead. Small enough, maybe it makes a lot of noise. Virgil made sure to cover the child behind him as much as possible, trying to hide the nervousness that attacked his mind and trying to muffle the sound of the quiet sobs and sobs that he heard echoing throughout the room.

Suddenly his communicator echoed in the room, possibly John trying to get in touch with him for an update on the situation. Maybe Scott or Gordon to warn him that they had finished with the claw.

"Don’t answer." The shrill voice of his assailant echoed again in the room, the gun pressing more and more in his forehead.

"I won’t answer." Virgil replied, holding his hands in the air so that the other could see them.

Mr Lopez was about to replicate something when the deafening noise of various engines grew nearer and louder, until everyone saw a very familiar military aircraft looming a shadow over everyone’s heads.

As if the situation were not disastrous enough, all the guests began to scream and run in all directions, agitated. The assailant distracted his attention from Virgil, holding the gun to his temple but loosening the grip a bit, and Virgil in turn took the opportunity to get out of the firing trajectory and run away to try to calm everyone down.

The situation became even more dramatic when a shot, even very close, echoed in the air, causing everyone to stop dead in their tracks. Virgil also stopped, looking around quickly to see if everyone was okay, if no one had been hit by the shot just launched. No, no one seemed to be hurt. So why were they all screaming worse than before?

The GDF guards, camouflaged in green, entered quickly, who surrounded in a moment the shooter, who protected the customers by positioning in front of them, who took care of possible wounds, fortunately mild. Colonel Casey appeared in all her mastery as always: chest out, chin high, sharp and deep look, hands always behind her back.

"Santiago Lopez, you’re under arrest for the murder of your wife and her lover. Anything you say will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney." The colonel turned to the shooter as another guard carried his hands behind his back, handcuffing him. Lopez resisted the arrest, hurling insults to left and right and calling in unpleasant ways his now deceased wife, eventually giving in and being escorted out by the guards, all this not before turning a deadly look at the Colonel, who in responde turned to turned to look at Virgil, her look visibly softer. "What are you doing here? Didn’t your father say you should stay and wait near your Thunderbird?" She let out her right hand to Virgil, for him to take it, a sort of salutation valid for all the brothers. Although they were worth a lot more to her than that type of salute.

Virgil turned completely to the Colonel, having been turned to the side until then; he extended his hand in turn, only to realize that something was wrong. His hand had remained along his hips. Not even his arm had moved. Virgil ignored the exclamation of surprise -or perhaps of terror? - of his godmother, looking at his right shoulder and immediately understanding the source of the problem.

There was a small hole, made bigger by the blood, going through his shoulder from side to side, even through his exo-suit, and a giant pool of blood forming quickly on the ground.

"I don’t understand..." Virgil began, and then suddenly felt dizzy, symptom of too much blood loss.

"Stay still, try to move as little as possible. How did you not notice?" He found the colonel’s hands around the gunshot wound, pressing to prevent further blood from escaping. Meanwhile his communicator sounded again.

Casey looked at Virgil’s failure to respond, noting that he was beginning to pass out. She came down with him on the cold floor, his head on her lap and her hands pressing on his wound, helped by a shirt found on the ground. She muttered some curses under her breath and then responded to Virgil’s communicator who kept on echoing, looking with her peripheral vision at the guards who were taking the now handcuffed shooter out of the hotel. The hologram of a concerned Scott appeared as a flash.

"Colonel Casey! Don't tell me Virgil is there?" Scott asked somewhere between the concerned and the nervous.

"Well..." she replied, lowering her eyes to her hands smeared with Virgil’s blood.

"Why did he have to disobey Dad’s orders?!" The eldest exclaimed, to then start talking again after a deep breath. "At least let him be okay."

"I’m sorry to say it, but not exactly."

"What the fuck happened to him?" Gordon’s voice overlayed Scott’s undivided voice, a sign that he was also close by. "Scott, we’re done with the claw." Then a serious Gordon appeared in the hologram. "Can we come in Colonel?"

"You have to! Hurry." Virgil was starting to get pale and cold. While waiting for the eldest and the youngest of the family, Casey’s mind was filled with thousands of questions, many with answers.

It was more than normal for Virgil to put the needs of others before his own, and it was not so much for the work he did as for his own character. That’s who he was. Virgil Tracy was the type to disobey orders, not sit around, be impatient. But he was also the type to sacrifice for others, especially his brothers. He knew he was going to get in danger inside that hotel but he still entered anyway. His motto might have been "I would sacrifice for you." But that wasn’t Virgil’s motto. No.

Scott was the first to enter, as usual; Scott was the first in all. Gordon followed him, but he was a bit slower, perhaps out of fear of the scene he would find himself in front of, perhaps out of fear of not being able to do anything for his older brother. They both gasped in seeing his brother in a pool of blood, of his own blood, while the Colonel stubbornly tried to stop the blood with a now-soaked shirt.

Scott, however, said nothing; he only knelt, inspecting first his wrist for the heartbeat. It was weak. "He lost too much..." he murmured to himself. He lightly touched Virgil’s cheek; his eyes opened slowly, black and abysmal. "Hey, Virgil. You in there, little brother?"

Virgil didn’t answer, but he blinked a couple of times. Lifeless. He wasn’t even looking at him.

Another day, another rescue.

[rotationalsymmetry]

Whale Morphs Part 7/7: Wordplay

“I expected it to be like the shark — hard, tough, unyielding. It was not. It was like hitting a soggy paper bag with a sledgehammer. The Taxxon burst like a dropped watermelon.”

I found this book’s live spider moment.

I want to throw up too.

Getting tired of all of the non-humans being male or presumed male.

“I have only heard it once, and that was in school, and I wasn’t paying attention.” I have a nomination for best line in the entire series.

Not so much “an Earth brown and empty” as an Earth covered with monoculture cornfields and the like. People still gotta eat.

Visser Three’s voice is bad enough for the humans, but for Ax, this is like personally being chased by Hitler or something. (If Hitler killed your big brother, who you're quite certain was a better fighter than you'll ever be.) No wonder he’s freaking out so hard.

The whale came back, the very next day, oh, the whale came back, they thought he was a gonner but the whale came back, he just couldn’t stay away…

I appreciate that Applegate isn’t making us calculate what 80% of two hours is in our heads. Maybe she can do math.

I am going to expect a passionate almost-declaration of love at the climax of each book now. A different pairing each time.

So this is the Whale Trek of the Animorphs books, then. Same number even!

More “doesn’t like” to mean deathly threat, this time from Marco. Cassie must be rubbing off on him.

Nicely…thematic, I guess…that in the book where we learn that the Yeerks are also a threat to non-human species, we also get non-human species fighting back against the Yeerks. Cross-species Earth solidarity.

I don’t know what this “whales aren’t very good at killing” thing is about. Most of them were sperm whales. Those things can take on giant squid.

I guess it’s different when it’s not dinner?

And then Cassie died of hypothermia.

“We’ll do whatever we have to do to win.” I am sensing a theme here.

(Ax “acquiring” Cassie) well that answers more than one question.

I, uh, it’s good he asked first I guess? Can you acquire people non-consensually?? What is that like? although also he didn’t actually wait for an answer and Cassie didn’t understand what he was doing until after he started so …unfortunate implications?

Is he going to be intersex??

Why did they have extra clothes? Eh not complaining.

Ax is attempting human speech for the first time. And I, ironically, have no words with which to express my delight.

Ch-oy-ce? Chuh chuh choy-yess? Strange.

Apparently Andalites have gender, so it probably won’t be that hard for him to work out why it’s OK for Jake and Marco to help him with his clothes but not Cassie or Rachel.

Ound. Ow, ow, ownd.

Yeah, kuh is a weird frikking phoneme.

Two. Oo.

No, Ax, your fascination with wor ooooor or oooords is fine. Talk all you want. Fuck what anybody else thinks. Wooooooords.

Someone needs to explain necks to Ax though.

Actually…it’s probably not a neck thing so much as, it’s much easier to just turn around when you need to when you’re on two legs vs when you’re on four. Maybe Applegate put some thought into this and Andalites aren’t just body part salad.

Is Cassie’s family farm a working farm? Like, do they actually grow stuff and if so who does the work?

That’s one way to take swimming with the dolphins to the next level.

Cassie is conscientious and I appreciate that.

Anyways, this book is the best one so far. It had dolphins, it had goofy sci-fi whale interactions, and most importantly, it had Ax.

Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill, lover of sow ow ow ounds.

Aack sih mill ee ess gar rowth iss thill

[tsarisfanfiction]

WIP #47

(Send me a number 1-60 [or a fandom/character I guess] for the corresponding wip) because I’m bored and brain-fried and have too many wips that’ll otherwise never see the light of day.

For @misssquidtracy who asked for “Number 47 - Thunderbirds (specifically da Gords)”.   Luckily, this happens to be a Gordon PoV wip, so it’s all Gordon!

It’s also a Scott!whump, because it’s me and I’m terrible and I have way too many of these lying around, so watch out for that.  There’s also a lot of this.  Nearly 6k words, so enjoy :D

Gordon hated it when his squid sense started to tingle for no discernible reason.  On a rescue, his squid sense was invaluable, warning him just in time that a building was about to topple, or that an aftershock was on its way.  Lives had been saved by his mysterious power – hardly a power, more an instinct honed by too many years of military precision combined with a predisposition for pranks whilst living in a house with three older brothers.  Alan joked about him being bitten by a squid, like that old superhero story about the guy and the spider.

It was easier to laugh it off than get into a debate with the astronaut about the biting habits – or lack thereof – of aquatic creatures his younger brother knew nothing more than the required basics about.

However, joking aside, Gordon’s sixth sense was particularly active, and while usually it was a life-saving boon, this time it was just a nuisance.  He was at home, safe and comfortable in the clean water of the pool. He’d opted for lazy backstrokes, taking his time to reach from one end of the pool to the other before executing a neat flip to repeat the stroke back the way he’d come.  None of his brothers were on missions, either.  John was as ever up in Thunderbird Five, but from the far end of the pool he could see the holographic form of his brother just visible in the den.  Alan was, last checked, also in the den – the two space mad brothers had decided to watch a documentary on, surprise, surprise, space, during what downtime they had – while Virgil had decided to do some maintenance on Thunderbird Two with Brains.

Scott was away on boring business, a stuffy CEO meeting that he couldn’t palm off onto the board of directors that were supposed to be handling that sort of thing for him, or even attend via hologram.  They had insisted on a personal touch – literally – and as it was, apparently, a big deal, that meant Scott had to ditch the blues, send one last longing look at Thunderbird One, and let Kayo escort him in Tracy One to the meeting place.

The meeting had been due to start about an hour ago, if Gordon was getting his timezone calculations correct.  Why Tracy Industries still had its headquarters in America, far too many hours behind Tracy Island, when there was a perfectly respectable landmass or two closer to home, he couldn’t quite fathom, but when he’d raised the point Scott and John had both fixed him with tired, don’t be an idiot looks, with just a hint of be glad you don’t have to deal with this nonsense to stop him from pestering further.

Kayo herself was who-knew-where, sneaking around in her sneaky Kayo way.  He’d seen Tracy One return several hours ago, Kayo’s taxi service duties over until Scott called for her.  Apparently, head of IR security did not equal anything in terms of Tracy Industries security, a fact that he knew grated on her.  Still, she and Lady Penelope had run multiple background checks on all the men and women that made up Scott’s official security, and were as assured as they could be with Kayo not amongst their number that he was in good hands.

So if his squid sense could stop tingling randomly, that’d be great, thanks.

It didn’t, and annoyance turned to dread when the emergency signal went off, summoning them all to the lounge.  A tingling squid sense, and an emergency?  Gordon had a really bad feeling about that.

He made it to the den in record time, more damp than not with a beautiful trail of drips across the carpet that Grandma was going to murder him for later, and still in nothing but his swimming trunks.  Alan made a face of disgust as he threw himself down onto the sofa next to him to face John.  The documentary that the two astronauts had been watching was paused on what his old school lessons told him was a supernova eruption.  The imagery of an explosion did nothing to help his jittery squid sense.

Virgil was last to join them, grease streaking up one sleeve and smearing onto the sofa he chose to sit on – at least he wasn’t the only one that would be facing the wrath of Grandma later.

“What have you got, John?” his eldest currently-home brother asked, looking far too laid back for Gordon’s liking.  Not that there was anything wrong with it – Virgil still was far from relaxed, alert and ready for the briefing before launching himself down the slide of death – but Gordon found himself tense in comparison.

“A plane’s gone down in America,” John told them.  “I intercepted a mayday call from the pilot; the GDF have already responded but it’s a bad one and they don’t have enough resources to get everyone out.   Gear up; I’ll give you the details on the way.”

One of those, huh? Gordon flew towards the fish tank that housed his launch tube, slapping his palm against the hidden sensor and feeling the familiar downwards rush towards the hangars, splitting off from the route to Four and instead making a beeline for Two.  He met Alan on the platform, his youngest brother jittering excitedly as always, just in time for Virgil to retract it, bringing them up into the cockpit.

Co-pilot was his chair, and the only person annoying enough to turf him out of it on ‘superiority’ grounds was Scott.  Even Kayo knew better than to steal his chair, so Alan settled happily enough into the navigation chair behind Virgil, pulling up the screens ready for John to transmit the data straight though.

“You alright?” Virgil asked him as the hangar door rolled down, revealing rows of palm trees ready to bow in homage to the green beast.

“My squid sense is going haywire,” he admitted, no point in lying.  Not on a mission.  He expected John to scoff – his second eldest brother always slightly more dismissive of it than the rest of them.  After all, there was no scientific explanation.  All joking about fish and gills aside, Gordon was one hundred percent human.  John didn’t scoff, and that made his squid sense reach an uncomfortable level.  In fact, John didn’t say anything at all, his hologram not paying them any attention at all as he fiddled with something invisible up on Five.

“Well, it’s a plane crash,” Alan pointed out, his voice somewhat subdued.  Virgil made a noise of agreement as Two’s engines roared to life behind them, punching them into the air.  She was no rocket, but Thunderbird Two could still produce a decent amount of Gs. Gordon wished that was it, but the tingle had started before John briefed them.

“Guys,” John finally said, once Two was cruising at full speed towards America.  “I’ve got hold of the flight details for the plane.  It wasn’t easy; turns out it was a top-secret flight even the GDF didn’t know about.”

“That sounds ominous,” Virgil observed.

“It gets worse.” John’s face was grim.  Really grim.  Bearer of terrible news grim.  “It was a private flight chartered for a top secret business meeting between the biggest aerospace companies in the world.  Four CEOs were on board, including-” his voice broke in a very un-John-like manner, and Gordon’s stomach dropped.

“Don’t say it,” Alan begged. In front of him, Virgil’s knuckles were white on the yoke, Thunderbird Two’s engines whining as they went just that little bit faster.

“Including Scott,” John finished, visibly pulling himself back together.  “In total there were thirty people on board, including the pilots. The reports from the GDF so far say that the rear of the plane is trashed but the cause isn’t yet clear. Two bodies have been recovered so far – neither of them Scott – but they can’t get into the main body of the plane. Scans suggest that approximately half of them survived the initial crash.  I’m picking up fourteen life signs; two of them in the cockpit area so they’re most likely the pilots.”

“Scott’s communicator?” Virgil asked as sea gave way to land beneath them, the American coast looking unfairly beautiful.

“I’m not getting a response,” John admitted.  “I’ll keep trying.”

“Anything from the telemetry?”  Alan was tapping away at the screen by his chair, clearly manipulating the data John was sending him.  Gordon envied him the distraction.

“It’s offline,” John sighed, rubbing his face tiredly.  “Seems like it was damaged in the crash.  EOS is attempting to reconnect but no luck so far.”

“Do you have any good news for us, Johnny?” Gordon asked hopefully.

“Colonel Casey is one of the GDF officers at the scene,” John offered, notably not rising to the bait. Well, Gordon supposed that was better than random officers, or worse, the ones that weren’t overly fond of International Rescue and didn’t fully co-operate.  “Kayo’s just launched in Thunderbird Shadow for the airport they took off from.  Lady Penelope is also on the way; she and Parker are already making enquiries to find out what happened.”

“They think sabotage?” Virgil asked.

“The CEOs of the four most powerful aerospace industries in the world were on that plane,” John pointed out.  “It’s suspicious, at least.”

“Do you think it’s the Hood?”  Gordon sent Alan a withering look.  Not everything was the Hood’s fault, even if it felt like it.

“I don’t know, Alan,” John said.  “Kayo thinks it isn’t his style.  He’d have been looking to get money from them, not kill them.”

“He killed Dad.”

Gordon flinched.  He wasn’t the only one.

“No-one said Scott’s dead,” Virgil said, voice steady even though Gordon couldn’t remember the last time he’d looked so tense.

“He’ll be okay, right?” Alan asked.  “I mean, it’s Scott.  If anyone can walk away from a plane crash, it’d be Scott, right?”

“Let’s hope,” John replied.

The co-ordinates John had programmed into Thunderbird Two’s navigation system flashed up, warning that they were on final approach.  Slowed to subsonic, they came to a hover alongside a GDF flier and got their first glimpse of the downed plane.  It wasn’t pretty.

The final third of the plane no longer resembled the tail of anything remotely flight-worthy.  Twisted and warped metal was crumpled and torn ragged. Men and women in GDF uniforms were hovering around the area, large lasers deployed to slice their way in. Gordon knew instantly that no-one who had been in that part of the plane could possibly have survived.

At the other end of the plane, the nose was also crumpled but not as far back as the cockpit windows. It looked as though whatever had downed the plane had occurred at the back, with the damage to the nose only made by the impact of the crash.  More GDF were swarming the cockpit windows, cutting their way in with infinite more care than their counterparts were cleaving the rear.

The area of most interest to them was the middle third.  While not the complete write-off of the rear, massive dents and warps in the metal warned of a serious crash.  Any survivors would be in that area, but the condition of said survivors was unknown. All of the emergency exits were untouched; from a distance, Gordon couldn’t tell if they were wedged shut by warped metal, or if there was another reason that none of them had been opened.

“International Rescue!” Colonel Casey flagged them down, guiding them towards a space just large enough for Thunderbird Two to land.  “You boys are a sight for sore eyes,” she greeted.  “The fuselage is too thick for our lasers to get through without endangering the survivors inside.  We’ve got the pilots under control, but we haven’t been able to make contact with any of the passengers.”

“F.A.B.,” Virgil answered her.  “We’ll get them out.  John said fourteen life signs?”

“Affirmative,” she said. “We have visual on both pilots. The other twelve are randomly positioned within the front half of the plane.”

“We’ll get them out,” Virgil assured her, and ended the call.  “Gordon, Alan, get as much cutting gear and first aid supplies as you can carry.”

“You didn’t mention Scott,” Gordon observed, and he sighed.

“No point worrying her. You two know we have to treat him the same as the rest?”

Alan frowned.

“But couldn’t he help us?”

“If he’s fit to help, then that’s one thing,” Virgil told them.  “But I don’t like that none of the doors are open.  Don’t get your hopes up; this is a nasty crash.”

“Come on,” Gordon muttered, grabbing Alan’s arm and tugging him towards the module.  “Faster we get in there, the faster we’ll find him.”

“I know that much!” Alan grumbled, yanking his arm back.  “I can walk by myself, Gordon!”  He stalked off ahead.  Gordon let him, hearing Virgil catch up with him from behind.

“You don’t think Scott’s okay,” he said, quietly.  It wasn’t a question.

“If he was, he’d have got word out somehow by now,” Virgil replied.  “Even if his communicator’s broken, there are GDF swarming the place. He’d only need to catch their attention through a window.”  He made a beeline straight for his exosuit, pulling on the heavy gear with the ease of practice and charging out of the lowering module door.  Gordon collected their last hand-held cutter and shouldered a medical pack before following alongside Alan, who was kitted out the same.

Virgil’s shoulder laser was powerful and made short work of the fuselage that the GDF had been too reluctant to touch.  A wrench with the claw arm and a thick wodge of metal slammed down on the ground in front of him.  The opening wasn’t huge, too small for Virgil with his suit to fit through comfortably, but it was the largest they’d been willing to risk with the unknown structural integrity of the fuselage.  Gordon slipped through first, hand laser in hand for any further obstacles, and let out a shaky breath.

“Woah,” he muttered, pulling his helmet on.  The air was murky, dust kicked up and swarming around from the warped metal. None of the seats were upright; sheered metal struts protruded from where they should have been, in a circle around what was once a table.  That had broken in two, the far end buried under the start of the truly warped area. “Hello?  International Rescue!”

Silence.

Alongside personal effects and broken pieces of aircraft, the floor was strewn with bodies.  Some were obviously dead, impaled by shrapnel made from the very plane that should have been protecting them.  One in particular was grotesque, a metal strut that had once supported a chair stuck straight through his chest from where he’d been thrown on top of it.  Gordon recognised him as part of Scott’s security detail and had to fight to hold back the bile.

Scott.  Where was Scott?

Despite Virgil’s words, he wasted a moment looking around the scene, but there was no sign of his eldest brother.  Unable to justify hunting for him before checking for signs of life in those immediately visible, he crouched down by the nearest person not obviously dead and checked their pulse.  It was weak but there.

“Woah!”  Alan mimicked his own reaction upon entering.  “What a mess.”

“Alan, I’ve got a survivor here!”  Gordon called him over immediately.  “Mind your step.”  His youngest brother picked his way over to him.  “Find a way to get him out.  I’ll look for more.”

“Have you found Scott yet?” he asked, kneeling down and opening his med kit.  Gordon shook his head.

“No sign.  I’ll let you know as soon as I do.”  Alan nodded, and Gordon continued his search.  It was a grim one.  He’d suspected as such when no-one had responded to his call, but even when he found a warm body, they were unconscious.  Virgil joined him, exosuit stripped off and replaced with more medical kits and a small group of GDF personnel courtesy of Colonel Casey. Between them, it was a far more manageable task to carefully remove the survivors from the wreckage.  Those pronounced as dead were left for the moment as John’s countdown of life signs inside the remains of the plane slowly ticked down.

All in all, they’d so far found eighteen of the twenty eight passengers, including the dead pulled from the ruined tail section.  Ten to go, two of which were still alive according to Thunderbird Five’s scans. One of the ten was Scott.  Gordon felt cruel when he found another breathing body and mentally cursed her for not being Scott.  It wasn’t her fault; she was lucky to be alive herself, torso contorted in a way he knew meant a broken back.  He should be relieved to find any survivors at all, not cursing them for not being the one he wanted to be alive.

He flagged her up to one of the closest medics and moved on.  It was almost too dark to see at the back of the plane, up against the crushed wreckage.  His toe snapped on something soft and he tripped.  Landing in a crouch, he turned around to face the obstruction.  A dead body.  He didn’t even need to check the young man’s pulse; the poor guy had been caught in the mangled metal and torn in half.  His face was twisted in pain and terror, blue eyes wide and glassy with death.  It wasn’t Scott, but Gordon knew he’d be seeing those eyes in his nightmares nonetheless.

Turning back around, he moved to stand before realising he was by part of the fallen table.  Various limbs had been protruding from beneath the large slab at intervals during Gordon’s search, but here there was a gap. A seat, wedged beneath it, had left part of the table at an angle.  It was too dark to see into it, so Gordon palmed a glowstick and snapped it, illuminating the area in an eerie green.  Immediately the silhouette of a body greeted his eyes.  Mindful of additional shrapnel, he reached in carefully, fumbling until he found their wrist.

Thump… thump…

Slow, but there.  At the same time, a GDF woman called in another survivor.  One more than expected.

“Virgil!” he called. “I’ve got someone under the table with a pulse.  Going to need some heavy lifting to get them out!”

“F.A.B.” his brother replied.  He raised the glowstick above his head with the hand not measuring the pulse and waved it around. ��“I see you.” A moment later, Virgil and a trio of GDF officers appeared.  “How much of this are we going to need to shift?” he asked.  Gordon shrugged.

“I can’t see.  Got a silhouette but not much more.  Give me your torch.”  He dropped the glowstick and kept his hand open for Virgil’s gear. It landed in his hand and he carefully manoeuvred it down before turning it on.

A once sharp grey suit was covered in dust, but that wasn’t what caught Gordon’s breath in his throat. It was the dark brown hair, and the broken but unmistakable International Rescue communicator on his forearm, less than an inch from Gordon’s fingers on the slow pulse, that made him gasp.

“Gord-?”

“It’s Scott.”  He cut Virgil’s query off.  Behind him, the GDF murmured in surprise.

Virgil didn’t ask anything more.  Gordon stayed where he was, watching the limp form of his eldest brother with a lump in his throat as they moved around him.  His fingers didn’t budge from the pulse, a fear gripping him that if he stopped measuring it, it would stop altogether.  Orders barked and a concert of groans resulted in a large part of the broken table slab being cut up and lifted, letting what pitiful light had reached so far back into the cabin illuminate Scott’s body.

It wasn’t good.  Blood matted his hair, a mark of something striking him in the crash.  One leg was twisted almost completely around, a dislocated hip at best, and more blood stained his arm.

Virgil took charge, nudging Gordon out of the way.  He went willingly only because out of everyone in the world, he only trusted Virgil or Grandma to handle his brother in such a broken state.  He tapped his communicator.

“John, Alan?”

Both answered immediately, eager for news.  Inwardly he was glad not to be the bearer of tragic news, not sure he could have managed it.

“Found him; he’s alive.”

“How is he?” Alan demanded over John’s sigh of relief.  Gordon winced.

“Alive,” he repeated. “Virgil’s got him.  It’s too dark back here to tell past that.”  That was a bare faced lie; even as he spoke he could see Virgil attaching the medical scanner to him, still glowing glow stick highlighting the frown on his face.  Neither brother called him out on it.

“I’ll update the others,” John said instead.  “Keep looking for survivors; you’re on one more than our scans showed.  There might be more.”

“F.A.B.”  He ended the call.  “Virgil?”

“All in hand,” his older brother said shortly.  “Keep looking.”

“Yessir.”

Seven dead bodies later, all thirty crew and passengers were accounted for.  He exited the craft, removing his now filthy helmet, only to almost collide with Colonel Casey.

“You knew Scott was on board the flight,” she said without greeting.  Her face was displeased, and he figured he was the first Tracy she’d managed to collar.

“Of course we did,” he confirmed.  “But that didn’t change how we operated.”

“I can see that,” she said. “Why didn’t you tell me?”  He glanced back at the corpse of the plane, where Virgil was still inside with Scott, carefully transferring him to a hoverstretcher, last Gordon had seen.

“Because it didn’t change anything,” he repeated.  “Excuse me, Colonel, but my job isn’t over yet.”

He didn’t wait to be dismissed, heading towards Thunderbird Two’s open module to prep it for Scott’s transport.  The GDF might be taking the other injured to hospitals, but there was only one craft their brother would be travelling in, and that was their own.  He wasn’t naïve; Scott’s injuries were bad, beyond anything Grandma and Virgil could handle at home.  John and Kayo were already working to locate a hospital both capable of treating him, and with enough security that he would be safe from ill-wishers during his recovery.

None of them were convinced this was a simple accident.  Not with so many high profile individuals on board.  The Hood aside, there were many people that stood to gain from the deaths of the four CEOs.  Lady Penelope was already digging into the employees from the other three companies who stood to benefit from the deaths.  Regretfully, the only CEO still with a pulse was Scott.  All four of them had been towards the back of the cabin, all bar Scott caught up in the twisted metal that was the final third of the plane.

Scott had been lucky, for all that he wasn’t out of the woods yet.  Gordon wasn’t a medical professional, but Virgil’s face told him that much.

“The medical carrier is ready to leave,” Colonel Casey told him.  He assumed she’d followed him to Thunderbird Two, although had at least refrained from entering uninvited.  “As soon as Scott is on board, they’ll be on their way.”

“They can leave now,” Gordon retorted.  “We’ll handle Scott.”

“I know you are concerned, but this crash is a GDF investigation,” she told him.  “All casualties fall under GDF jurisdiction.”

Gordon was shorter than her – the only one of his brothers bar the still-growing Alan with that distinction – but inside the module bay he could still look down at her.

“Scott is International Rescue jurisdiction,” he corrected her.  “And as the CEO of the family business, also Tracy jurisdiction.  He’ll be treated at a location approved by us, not the GDF, and if the GDF have an issue with that, they can take that up with our head of security.”

“And your other employees?” she challenged.  Gordon pushed away the memory of a man impaled by a seat strut.

“None of them survived.” He turned his back on her, readying the finishing touches.

“I’m sorry for your losses,” she said, and he heard her walk away.  He’d barely known them, the six men and women wearing Tracy Industries logos, but Scott had.  John, too, and Kayo had hand-picked the four members of security.

Alan appeared beside him, putting away what remained of the medical supplies he’d taken out earlier and locking the hand-held laser back where it belonged.

“Is he going to be okay?” he asked, and Gordon shrugged, putting an arm around his shoulders.

“I don’t know,” he admitted.

“Do you think this was sabotage?”

“I don’t know.”

“Why would anyone do this?”

Gordon sighed.

“It might have just been an accident,” he reminded him, even if he doubted his own words.  Alan looked equally unconvinced.  “Come on, let’s get her ready to go.”

“F.A.B.,” Alan said quietly, and they headed out towards the loading platform, only to be brought up short at the sight of Virgil approaching them, hoverstretcher alongside. Immediately they got out of the way, letting their older brother brush past and secure the stretcher to the wall.

“Gordon, pilot,” he said. “John and Kayo found us a New Zealand hospital.  It’s a fair distance, but it’s secure.  Scott should hold on long enough to get there as long as you don’t dawdle.”

“F.A.B.”  Gordon wasn’t a fan of the implication that Scott might not, but had no choice but to trust Virgil as he jabbed the button to raise the platform.  Alan stayed behind – understandable, as he hadn’t seen yet seen their eldest brother – but Gordon didn’t say anything.  He could pilot Two solo.

There were many words that could be used to describe the speed they left the crash site and headed for the other side of the world at, but ‘dawdle’ was not one of them.  She was no rocket like One or Three, but Two was still one of the fastest planes in the world, and Gordon was determined to get as much speed out of her as he dared.  Virgil could take her faster, another Mach at least, but he wasn’t Virgil and didn’t trust himself to keep her flight smooth at top speed.  He just hoped it would be fast enough.

About halfway there, somewhere over the large expanse of water that Gordon would much rather be in than over, Virgil contacted him, a hologram flickering into life in his periphery.

“If I send Alan up, will you go faster?” he asked.  Gordon’s heart sank.

“Is he getting worse?” Please no, please not Scott.

“I’ve got him stable,” Virgil reassured him.  “But he’s still critical.  The sooner we get him to the hospital the happier I’ll be.”

“More speed coming up,” he confirmed, reaching for the throttle.  “Uh, yeah, send Alan up, would you?”  He could probably do with a co-pilot if he went any faster.

“Sure thing,” Virgil agreed. “He’s on his way.”

Sure enough, no sooner than his older brother ended the connection, the door opened and Alan stumbled through it, all but collapsing into the co-pilot’s chair.

“He hasn’t woken up,” the astronaut offered as he reached forwards to power up the co-pilot controls. As soon as the second set of lights lit up, Gordon accelerated the craft towards top speed.  “Virgil’s worried about the head injury.”

Gordon grit his teeth, remembering the red matted into the brown under the powerful beam of Virgil’s torch.

“Head injuries are tricky,” he agreed.  “But Virgil knows what he’s going, and John’s found a hospital that specialises in them.”

“I know,” Alan replied quietly.  “That’s what worries me.  They’re not telling us something.”

“The hazards of being the youngest,” Gordon groaned, unsurprised but as annoyed as Alan about it. Scott was their brother too, dammit. “So, what are they not telling us?”

“Have you seen the results of the scan?” Alan asked him.  Gordon shook his head.

“Nah, had to leave to look for other survivors once Virgil was dealing with him, and haven’t seen him since.”  Five seconds of hoverstretcher rushing past didn’t really count.  “What came up?”

“No idea,” Alan sulked. “Virgil’s been keeping it out of my sight all journey.  But I know John knows.”

Gordon growled and slammed the comm button.

“John, Virgil, I want the result of those scans,” he demanded.

“You’re piloting,” Virgil responded immediately.  “No reading while you’re controlling my ‘bird.”

“Then summarise for me,” he retorted.  “Starting with that head injury.”

“Just get us to the hospital,” Virgil ordered.

“Already doing that,” he ground out, hackles rising.  “Stop trying to keep us in the dark!  He’s our brother too!”  Thunderbird Two lurched under his grip before Alan hastily stabilised them.

“What are you doing up there?” Virgil demanded.  “Be careful!”

“Letting my imagination fill in the blanks,” he lied – he was, in fact, keeping his imagination carefully blank.

“Is it that bad?” Alan interrupted before Virgil could find a fresh retort.  “Is he dying?”

Silence filled the cabin, and Gordon’s temper flared.

“You said he was stable!” he yelled.  “Dammit, Virgil, don’t lie to me about that!”

“I said critical but stable,” Virgil corrected.  “He is stable, Gordo, but…”  He trailed off, and Gordon glanced over at Alan to see his own growing panic mirrored back at him in blue eyes.

“He’s comatose,” John said quietly.

“What?” Alan yelped. Gordon stiffened, hands threatening to crush the yoke in his hands before he forcibly relaxed them.

“You didn’t think I might like to know that?” he growled, flashes of hospitals and white coats and bodiless voices stirring in the back of his mind before he trampled them down ruthlessly.  Not now. Silence answered him.  Clearly both his conscious older brothers knew they were in the wrong, and that whatever nonsense they fed him about not wanting to distract him while he was piloting wouldn’t pacify him in the slightest.

Alan’s face had gone white, big blue eyes focused on him, and he knew his younger brother was remembering the last time he’d had a family member in a coma – him.  He forced a smile for his benefit, which had about as much of an effect as any pacifying words John or Virgil might have tried to use.

“Why?” Alan asked, voice shaking.  “Who would do that?”

“Kayo and Lady Penelope are looking into it,” John told them.  “Whatever happened, they’ll find out.  I’ve got EOS doing some digging of her own, too.”

“But… is Scott going to be okay?” Alan pleaded, looking back at Gordon, who was clearly the resident expert on comas.  He remembered the fight for consciousness, pleading voices turning to resigned ones as they talked about their day yet again.  He remembered wanting to respond so badly but being trapped by his own body.

The idea of Scott going through that filled him with dread – if he even did.  Comas were different for different people, he’d found out later, when he’d torn through everything he could get his hands on in a desperate attempt to understand what had happened to him.  He wouldn’t wish that on anyone, except maybe the Hood but then even only in his blackest moods.  Scott had done nothing to deserve that.

“He’s a fighter,” was all he could say.

The hospital staff were ready and waiting for them when they finally arrived, a two hour flight that had felt far longer.  No sooner had he touched down and opened the module than they were swarming, hurrying Scott inside with Virgil hot on their heels, presumably talking doctor-speak and filling in anything they hadn’t already been briefed about.

Gordon and Alan were left in Thunderbird Two’s cockpit, watching out of the windows as their elder brothers vanished into the maw of the hospital.

“Do we follow them?” Alan asked after a moment.  Gordon looked at the doors with no small amount of dread, and shook his head.

“They won’t be allowing visitors just yet,” he said.  “Virgil will have a fight to stay with him, and he’s our medic.  We’ll just get shoved in a waiting room with sympathetic looks and no news.”

At least, that was the stories he’d heard from his brothers, regarding his own accident. International Rescue might have more weight than merely the Tracy name had back then, but a patient was a patient.

“Come home,” John said, popping up from the dashboard and looking them both over.  He looked tired, too, and Gordon wondered how much worse it was for him, stuck up in space and fully reliant on holograms to see Scott. At least the rest of them had been able to see – and touch – him.  It didn’t take much for Gordon to recall the thump-thump of a faint pulse beneath his fingers as he clung to the sign that he hadn’t lost anyone else.

Not yet, a nasty voice whispered in the back of his mind.  He silenced it sharply.

“But-” Alan protested, clinging to the edges of his seat as though it was the hoverstretcher carrying Scott’s limp body.

“Come home and get cleaned up,” John said firmly, reminding Gordon that he’d spent several hours in a wrecked plane with dead bodies.  It was hidden slightly better on Alan’s uniform, but a glance at his own showed red drying into brown on his yellow baldric.  “By the time we get back there, they might have news for us.”

“We?” Gordon locked onto, and John crossed his arms.

“I’m not staying up here waiting for news to trickle in,” he snapped, and Gordon raised his hands in surrender.

“Never said you were, big bro,” he soothed.

“What about the investigation?” Alan asked, even as he started flicking switches and preparing the massive craft for lift off once more.

“I’ve got EOS on that,” John replied.  Following Alan’s lead, Gordon took control of the massive Thunderbird again, her VTOLs roaring as they peeled away from their landing spot back into the sky.  “I’ll let Virgil know where you are once he gets in contact.”

“F.A.B.,” Gordon acknowledged.

He pretended it didn’t hurt to turn their back on the hospital where Scott lay comatose, but even if it fooled his brothers (doubtful), he couldn’t fool himself.

...tbc..?

[starlocked01]

Chances

AO3

Masterpost- Previous- Next

Summary: They all truly met each other by chance.

Day 25 Demus, LAMP/CALM, background Remile-  You have an object that represents your soulmate glows when in you both hold your objects in proximity to each other

No. Nope. This was way too cutesy. Virgil stared at the object that had appeared by his elbow while he was eating breakfast and loudly declared he wanted a new soulmate who wasn't a baby.

His older brother chuckled, "sorry, V. That's not how soulmates work. That's a cute little teddy bear I'm sure they're very nice."

Virgil pouted at the bear, "Jan, they may be nice but I'm not!"

"True! You are a pain in the neck. Maybe they'll teach you some manners-" as Janus was talking two more objects appeared, a small telescope and a miniature rose in a glass, like the one in Beauty and the Beast. Janus looked surprised, "wow! The universe heard you, V. What are you gonna do now?"

Virgil stared at the objects, overwhelmed at the prospect of disappointing three different soulmates. His face paled and he lost his appetite, "I think I'm gonna die." --- Patton was okay with the rose and telescope, but he hated the black widow spider soul object with the entirety of his being. It was icky and looked like it would come alive and bite him in the night. His foster father watched with an amused smile as he pushed it across the breakfast table.

"Girl, it's not gonna bite you," Remy took a sip of his morning coffee.

"Dad?" Patton's foster brother called from their shared room where he'd been finishing homework, "is it normal to get three soulmates?"

Patton looked up as Logan walked into the dining room with an armful of objects, "hey, Lo. You too?"

Logan dumped his items on the table and Patton instantly recognized the spider and rose. A moment later, Logan made the same connection, grabbing Patton's spider to compare it with his own.

"Woah, both of you?  I couldn't handle more than Emile, no ma'am. Who do you think all those toys represent?" Remy chuckled at the two.

Logan looked up at Patton, "these are exactly the same. Every detail, from the positions of the legs to the purple eyes. I think we share a soulmate, Pat."

"I think we share two, the roses look the same too. But what about the ones that are different?" Patton held up the telescope and looked through it at Logan. Logan picked up his teddy bear and began to examine it as well. After a moment the items both started to softly glow. Patton pulled the telescope away from his eye and stared at it. Logan looked up from the glowing bear and saw Patton's telescope.

"Wait, but these things only glow when soulmates hold them in proximity to each other at the same time. There can only be one logical conclusion," Logan's serious countenance melted into soft shock.

"No way! I'm calling Pops at work right now. He's gonna flip!" Remy grinned and pulled out his phone, standing to walk to the other room.

"So, we're soulmates?" Patton smiled at Logan, the telescope still glowing softly in his hand.

"Yeah, babe. They're soulmates. Yes, with each other! No I- can we legally adopt soulmates? Shit, I think the kids heard that-" Remy walked through the kitchen again, talking animatedly on his cell.

"Apparently so," Logan marveled at their glowing toys before setting his bear down. The glow faded quickly from the toys but took up residence in their hearts, soft and warm. --- Roman groaned as the alarm blared at him for the third time that morning. He felt something heavy on his face and slowly blinked open his eyes to find eight purple ones staring back at him. He shrieked and swatted at his face, accidentally throwing himself off the bed as Remus burst into the room.

"It is nearly time for school- what is the matter with you, squirt?"  He demanded before noticing the new toys on the bed, "oh did ya get your soulmate’s stuff?"

Roman struggled to untangle himself from the sheets, "no, I was attacked by them! Look at this thing!" he held up the spider for Remus to look at.

"Hey, it's a creepy thing like my snake!" Remus grinned, taking it to look closer, "neat!"

Roman looked on the bed and saw the telescope and the teddy bear, "oh my gosh! Three soulmates? That's like so many!"

"Yeah! What'd you do to get so many?" Remus ruffled his brother's hair.

"I have no idea, however, I shall begin my quest to find them!" Roman stood with his hands on his hips and chest puffed out, a dashing smile from ear to ear.

"Alright, Romeo, but first it's time for school, Remus grinned and pushed him to the closet of clothing, "let's go." --- "Patton you'll never find him if you don't bring it with you," Logan stated in a matter-of-fact tone, "it's just a toy."

"But I don't like it. It creeps me out," Patton huffed.

"Fine, but I'm not telling you who when I find them."

"Boys, please. You have the rest of your lives to find the other two. Don't spend it all bickering," Remy rubbed his temples, eager to drop them off at school and get some quiet. --- "Jan, you haven't found your soulmate, right?" Virgil asked from the passenger's seat.

"No, and thank you for reminding me," Janus answered, patting the little squid that lived on his car dashboard.

"What happens when you don't find them?" Virgil stared out the side window and Janus sighed.

"You keep living your life. Don't worry, I'm sure you'll find your soulmates when it's time to find them.

"I hope you find yours soon. I know you don't like raising me on your own," the comment cut like a knife through Janus’ heart. Brutally accurate like most things that came out of Virgil’s mouth.

"But we make it work, right?" Janus smiled hopefully over at Virgil.

"Yeah, I guess we do." --- A few years later, Janus finally managed to hit it off with someone at the bar while Virgil worked on homework, home alone. Remus was incredibly forward and flirty and did everything he could to make Janus blush. The attention was enjoyable and before he knew it they were kissing this the parking lot, his back to his car.

"Mm, you wanna take me home?" Remus murmured.

"No, I've got a kid brother and I doubt you're quiet," Janus chuckled.

"Damn, you too? Well, there goes that plan," Remus sighed and tugged at the snake around his wrist.

"That's a cool bracelet. I really like it," Janus smiled.

Remus laughed, "it's actually my soulmate toy. I made it into a bracelet so I could find him eventually."

"Oh, well I guess that makes a lot of sense. My squid stays in my car," Janus grinned, happy that his latest fling wasn't trying to be a cheat for once.

"Can I see??" Remus' eyes lit up even in the dark.

"I guess if you must," Janus unlocked the car and ushered Remus inside. Remus was already playing with the toy by the time he walked around to the driver's side.

"He's adorable! What'd you name him?" Janus couldn't help but laugh.

"I didn't name him. When I was a kid I decided to name him for my soulmate but it's been so long I just... decided not to name him at all."

"Aww, you should name him now!" Remus tossed Janus the squid. He stared at it thoughtfully and his puzzled frown turned into an amazed grin as the squid started glowing. He looked over to Remus who was staring at the circle of light around his wrist.

"Still want to come home with me?" Janus asked.

"Absolutely!" --- Remus had insisted that Roman meet Janus’ brother but wouldn't explain why. Roman tried to get out of what was sure to be an awkward situation but Remus wouldn't take no for an answer and that was when he was most dangerous.

Virgil and Roman were shuffled off to Virgil’s bedroom where they sat in sullen silence while their soulmate brothers made out in the living room.

"This blows," Roman moaned.

"Agreed," Virgil sighed and pulled his teddy bear off his shelf, pretending to make it die horrible deaths.

"Oh, that's cute. Kinda looks like mine," Roman smiled.

"Wait really?" Virgil raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, I've got a teddy, a telescope, and a spider," Roman counted off the objects on his fingers as he listed them off, "I know, three is kinda weird but it doesn't raise your chances of meeting them at all."

Virgil looked at Roman in confusion, "I've got a teddy, a telescope, and a rose. I understand having three, but ours sound really similar."

"Wait," Roman grabbed his backpack and pulled out the spider. Virgil nodded and grabbed the rose and both started to softly glow, "no way! Oh, Remus is gonna be pissed! It took him forever to find Janus."

Remus was delighted that his hunch had been correct. He'd suspected the two were soulmates after recognizing two of Virgil’s toys as identical to Roman’s.

Virgil and Roman swapped their items and Roman was more than happy to come over whenever Remus wanted to spend time with Janus. They started getting to know each other and theorizing about their other two soulmates. --- Roman set his rose up on his desk before the geometry test. He wasn't looking forward to the test but his reminder of Virgil often helped calm him down when he was stressed.

"Is that representative of your soulmate?" Roman turned to face the new kid in class who seemed very interested in the rose.

"No, he actually gave it to me after we matched," Roman smiled in an effort to be welcoming. The other kid's glasses and tie certainly were setting him up to get picked on as soon as the teachers looked away.

"Fascinating… I'm Logan," he held out his hand which Roman shook with a grin.

"Nice to meet you, Logan."

"I think I have the same rose. Do you have a telescope?" Roman froze at the question, halfway turned back around.

"How did you know?"

"Because my first soulmate has a telescope as well," Logan pulled an identical rose out of his backpack. Roman quickly fumbled around to find his telescope as the bell to start class rang. Both objects began to glow as the teacher was giving test instructions. The two boys locked eyes and nodded, putting their matched objects away quickly.

After class Logan waited for Roman in the hall.

"Okay here's the plan, Specs. I'll get Virgil and you get…"

"Patton."

"Patton and we'll meet after school by the cafeteria. Got it?"

"Should be simple."

"See ya then, soulmate!" Roman ran off towards his next class, leaving Logan alone in the hall.

After school Roman practically dragged Virgil to the cafeteria, refusing to explain why. When Logan and Patton rounded the corner, Roman practically lept into Logan’s arms. He quickly pushed him away.

"Patton, I believe these are our other two soulmates," Logan cleared his throat and adjusted his tie as he explained.

"Oh neat!" Patton exclaimed, "I'm beary happy to meet you!"

"Oh christ, you're the teddy bear?" Virgil groaned.

"And I suppose you're the spider?" Logan looked over Virgil’s ensemble and knew the aesthetic fit.

"Um, Lo? I kinda lost the spider…" Patton admitted sheepishly.

"Fair enough, I left the bear at home," Virgil shrugged.

"How could you?" Roman looked upset.

"It's like carrying around a toy. I didn't want to. I'm sorry Patton, it's nothing against you," Virgil smiled apologetically.

"Well, I brought the bear," Roman scoffed, pulling it out of his bag.

"Virgil, do you have your telescope?" Logan asked while Patton pulled out his rose and they all watched as the two glowed.

"Yeah yeah, one second," Virgil smiled and pulled it out, watching as the spider in Logan’s hand glowed as well.

"Where do we go from here?" Roman wondered aloud.

"Anywhere we want to. We can start with friends?" Patton smiled at the others with their faces lit by the toys in their hands.

Tag List: @stoicpanther @ifrickenhatedeverythingaboutthis @idontgiveafuckaboutshit @tsshipmonth2020

[clanonadventures]

what if,,, serial killer y/n is friends with the evil clanons,,, and y/n is very overprotective

DEMON!BASIL:

- Please do protect him - Does not have any real sense of damger - Has almost gotten murdered by peacock for eating the sound proofing - "It feels good on my teeth :(" - Will definitely help you kill people - As long as he gets to have the heart from the person you killed, hes happy! - Almost like a puppy in a way - Give him headpats please- - Not exactly protective over you, mostly because he knows you can handle yourself - Still follows you around though - If you teach him about how humans work, he will platonically love you forever

SIREN!SQUIDDY:

- Well, she’s a siren, so better be a good swimmer - Killer!y/n and siren!squid killing duo - She lures the victims behind rocks or into the water, then you kill them together - Squid has and makes jewellery out of bones and stuff so expect her to give you a lot of those, cause she appreciate s you~ - If you’re overprotective, don’t worry, so is she! perfect friends, huh? - Will sing you to sleep with her angelic voice (siren) - Will adore any attention she gets that isn’t just for her body, since she’s used to luring middle aged creepy men into the water - All in all, if you treat her good, she’ll treat you good

BROADCAST!PEACOCK:

-Broadcast!peacock's whole thing is killing, but done in a different manner -while her friend seems to prefer hunting them down, she prefers to use her broadcast systems to brainwash them into doing what she likes -she tends to be quite hostile to everyone, so you'll probably be an equal amount of protective over each other- -she usually makes melodies for the broadcasts, but occasionally she might compose a few songs just for you -also you probably end up yelling at the other anons for making too much noise -she'll calm you down afterwards so you don't end up killing someone

SPIDER!BUG:

- Spider!Bug prefers to lie in wait for a long time and trick others into their traps and doesn't go on sprees and pursuits unlike their friend. They're happy to teach a few tricks they use, if Y/N desires some. - They don't mind the over-protectiveness of their friend since despite their venom and other such things...they are quite fragile, being a spider. It's a nice feeling to be liked enough someone would protect you too, even if it's a bit overbearing. - Bug isn't quite use to being protected, since most spiders stick it out on their own as soon as they're born, so it takes some time getting use to, which can result in some fights. - Bug is the person you call when you need to hide a body. Not like the authories gonna go into a huge spider's nest, will they? And bug will eat the bodies too so there's not a lot of evidence in bugs den. - I am so sorry if Y/N has arachnophobia and meets Spider!Bug. - Will protect you in return for protecting them. Symbiosis!

YAN!RHINESTONE:

-Not really friends with most the evil anons. -Always worries that an evil anon is gonna try to take his darling. -So that doesn't really change. -The most effort that Yan!Rhine would put in when interacting with You (or any evil anon) is trying to avoid it. -Sooooo yeaa. No friendship there.

BEAST!HIDDEN:

- Beast! Hidden is well, a beast - he doesnt need to be protected so he will protect Y/N - sometimes acts like a wolf - Beast!Hidden doesn't have friends so they don't know how this whole friendship thing works - They would help Y/N with killing - everyone who sees Beast!Hidden runs away so yea - is also very overprotective - If Y/N gets hurt he will go crazy

YAN!DUTCH:

- ‘wait killing was my thing’ - confused if she’s the yandere’s victim or the yandere - would probably help hide the body - does feel flattered hrbhbf - tags along in all kinds of killing sprees - has a weapon collection for things I’m not allowed to say :) - kind of the overprotective type too but her tough act collapses pretty fast - sobs to y/n whenever something happens that ruined her day

CANNIBAL!COKE:

-someone being protective of them is a new concept to them but they dont complain, and actually quite like the feeling -cannibal!coke often helps y/n get away with murders, eating the corpses -also sometimes they just make it easier for them, biting their victim's legs and such to keep them from running -always by y/n's side like a guard dog -naturally they are very protective of y/n as well -doesn't bite y/n despite their hunger

ASSASSIN!MINT:

-assasin!mint is a bit wary of y/n at first, but deep down, she kinda likes them -probably the only one that assasin!mint shares her mint candy with -also overprotective, but she hides it to keep up her "emotionless" thing -if y/n has any enemies that did really bad stuff to them, let's say that assasin!mint has a way to make people "disappear" -if y/n gets close enough to assasin!mint (in a platonic way), assasin!mint might tell them her past, or even drop the "emotionless" act and start showing other emotions

ENDERWALK!MASK:

- they're confused on why you would want to protect something like them - but they find it adorable - congrats they are now your parent - they give you tips on how to hide corpses and new killing forms - if you get caught they just teleport in and take you back to their house and ask what made you get caught, then give you a tip on how to get out of that situation - don't ask how they know so much - while their good counterpart doesn't approve of your "career" choice, she's surprised Enderwalk cares so much for you - Mask may just tell you how much Ender rambles for hours about how great of a friend you are, just for ender to be extremely embarrassed later - both like you loads, even if one doesn't condone what you do