#Trying to speedrun two chapters

[anxietyotterrto]

DELTARUNE TOMORROW!!

[carmenlikeme]

COWBOY LIKE ME: PROLOGUE

pairing: Jack Abbot x rescuer!reader

summary: After an unexpected storm hits Pittsburgh, the entire city stops. Floodings and destruction everywhere. Jack ends up trapped for two days at PTMC. When he's finally allowed to be outside, he ends up at the frontlines of the disaster, back to his MASH unit days. Abbot works right next to the rescuers, helping them stabilize patients before they reach the hospital. He meets an interesting person amongst the rescuers, and the magnetic pull is too hard to ignore. Will he give in?

OR

Where Jack Abbot meets an eccentric doctor in the middle of a catastrophe, and finds light in one of the darkest places imaginable.

genre: romance, slowburn (on paper, speedrun irl), hurt/comfort, breakup, happy ending (?), sprinkled comedy, idk what else, highly medically inaccurate, heavy dialogue for the first chapters.

wc: 2.3K

warnings: age gap, (reader is in her late 20's, jack late 40's) major natural disaster, medical trauma, PTSD, mentions of war and violent situations, graphic depiction of injuries, mentions of COVID and death. Will edit as I write more.

a/n: hiii!! this is the prologue of my story, it's mostly a set up of characters and storyline, I hope you enjoy it! I'll be posting chapter one in the next few days hehe

you can find the masterlist HERE!

"How are we doing?"

Gloria asked as she walked into the never welcoming Emergency Room. Robby stood in the middle of the nurse station, his eyes glued to the board as his mind raced to gather his thoughts and course of action. 

He barely registered Gloria’s voice until she stood next to him. He was sure she’d asked something more; her piercing gaze made it obvious. She blinked repeatedly, a silent question, and only then did he snap out of his world and sigh, as if he could handle her right now. As if he could handle anything else right now. 

"So far, so good, but we have a lot of people coming in just seeking shelter. Power is out almost everywhere in Pittsburgh, and according to Abbot, there are already entire neighborhoods that got wiped off the map."

Gloria didn't respond; the only answer between them was lightning and thunder outside the ED. The rain was heavy and unrelenting, but the real problem was the number of traumas they weren’t getting; just a few, something they could handle in a couple of hours. 

That meant people couldn't reach them, and God knows how many would come once the rain stopped.

It also meant that his adrenaline junkies; or as others called them, students, were fidgety, which was never good.

Shit, it even made him fidgety. He didn’t know that looking at all of those empty rooms would make him feel like that.

"Yeah, I heard it's bad. I'm trying to get you as many supplies and food as soon as possible, but all roads are blocked. How's everyone?"

He stopped blinking.

"Skittish, suicidal, damn; I'm sure they're about to jump out of the building at any moment. I would too."

She stayed quiet once again.

"Yeah, I can't reach my family either."

Robby finally looked away from the board, he sighed once more. Gloria didn’t seem to move, she was oddly calm for a situation like that. It wasn’t foreign to her, in all their years working together, she never flinched. Not even at the peak of the COVID crisis, even then, she was counting patient satisfaction scores.

“I’m sorry. I’ll ask Kiara if she can reach them.”

“Thanks. I’ll be in my office if you need something. I heard it’s all hands on deck.”

Just like that, she left before anyone could ask her anything.

Abbot joined the conversation just as Gloria left. He looked a little bit tired, but he was as sharp as ever. On the other side, Robby felt like something horrible was about to happen and he didn't have any form to stop it. Abbot was the complete opposite, a good man in the storm, —no pun intended—, the clear and calm mind in the middle of chaos. Robby would lie if he said he wasn't a little jealous of him sometimes.

Jack didn't ask about Gloria, despite his shameless eavesdropping from behind. Instead, he looked at the board along with Robby. It wasn’t time to activate full emergency protocols, but he knew it was close. Still, that wasn't the intention of his impromptu visit to the nurse station.

"Did you hear? They declared state of emergency, and they're getting rescue teams down here to help us."

It had been a bad couple of days. The rain came out of nowhere, and it only got worse, slow, relentless, and destructive. Before anyone realized, people couldn't leave their houses and some of them were already compromised by the heavy rain. It was still somewhat salvageable but less than 12 hours ago it got worse, with high speed winds that threatened to make everything worse, the city was on pause. Still in the middle of chaos.

Worse part? Immediate response was already at max capacity, and they had barely touched the surface of the catastrophe. 

"Well, I now thank my old concrete apartment complex, at least I know it won't fall apart."

Jack scoffed, his hands going to his face in early defeat. If it weren't for the hospital being in a relatively safe zone, and their emergency protocols in place, he was sure they would be underwater too. But at the moment, it felt like they floating on a bubble under the ocean.

And it could burst at any second.

"Is it true?"

Princess walked towards the two men, her phone in hand, showing them a video. Robby had to put on his glasses to see, but even then, they still weren't sure what they were looking at.

"They say a rescue team from Mexico is coming due to the disaster."

Princess flipped the phone slightly towards her to speed up the video, where now a dozen people with orange jumpsuits could be seen getting ready to board a plane.

Abbot was immediately interested. He’d heard about those rescue groups and knew a bit about them, was never able to see their work up close to thank them for their labor. The wicked part inside of his brain sparked at the idea of seeing that in action.

"They're called topos." Princess’s Filipino accent slipped on the last word.

“Topo? As in mole? Like the animal? That’s Tagalog.” 

“And Spanish.”

Perlah joined the conversation and pulled out her own phone to show them more pictures of the team. She knew a little about them too, but it was also mostly a mystery to her.

"Oh, yeah, I know them. They're like rescue nomads.” Abbot said, finding a granola bar in his pocket and opening it as he spoke. Robby took a piece without asking. Princess and Perlah followed suit, which forced him to find another one for himself.

“What does rescue nomad even mean?” McKay asked, sneaking next to Abbot.

Robby bit the inside of his mouth and took a look at the oddly clean board. No one wanted to say anything, they feared the minute they would mention it, patients would fall from the sky into their ED. Something about everyone gathering there started to bother him. Those were the moments when he needed Shen to crack a joke and hope for the best, maybe even throwing the Q word, and just end their misery altogether. 

“They’re specialized lightweight first responders, any type of disaster you can think of, these guys can be there by yesterday and help you solve it. Last I heard, they were helping people in Spain due to their flooding. They even have K9s they train themselves, but they’re not your standard government issue rescue, they’re all volunteers.”

“Specialized in floodings?” McKay asked as she peeked beside Robby, trying to catch a better glimpse of the people they were talking about.

“Specialized in everything. Flooding, earthquakes, hurricanes, explosions, fires, you name it.”

“Damn, so they’re pretty badass.”

“Oh, so they’re those people who get under the rubble to pull people out?” Perlah scrolled, looking for more videos and pictures. By that moment, Dana was coming back to the nurse station, which immediately made Robby walk away in silence as he knew what was coming.

“Yeah, that’s why they’re called moles.”

“Wait, how do you guys have wi-fi and I can’t even get—?”

“Looking for anything here, folks?” Dana asked, which made Perlah and Princess scatter immediately. McKay tried to be more subtle, turning back slowly as if she’d just been there to grab a chart. Abbot disappeared before anyone even noticed.

“You’re scary.” Robby whispered, taking one of the coffees Dana offered him. She laughed, taking a sip of her own as she settled beside him. “Is your family okay?”

The hospital was safe, it seemed as the only place like that, for now. The worst of the heavy rain started right in the middle of the shift change, so they were working in a forced on-call rotation. Right now, most of the night shift was sleeping, at least the ones who could. 

“Yeah, they left for Florida to visit the grandparents before all of this. At least I know they’re okay. What about you, is Jake okay?”

Jake. A whole unexplored topic for Dana to poke until he caved. Robby looked to the side before laughing to himself.

“He’s good. He’s talking to me now, which is way more than I expected. He and his mom are in a safe zone.”

“Well, yeah. I’m sure he’s feeling guilty about how he talked to you. It’s been almost a year.”

Dana didn’t push further. She didn’t have to. Instead, she stood next to Robby. He knew she was trying to comfort him, but at the same time, Dana would never escape the chance to try and pull him out of the gutter, no matter how much he grumbled about it.

“Stop looking at the board, it’s bad juju,” Samira whispered as she passed by. She had that same energetic bounce as the PittFest mass casualty hit.

“You believe in that stuff?” Robby asked, glancing one more time before walking away.

“You don’t?”.

Sixteen hours and at least two gallons of coffee later, Abbot and Robby started to despise the once beloved cafeteria sandwiches they were eating. Food supplies were still running low, so they were working with what they had and stretching it out as much as possible. But in all honesty, as their once-endless stack of coffee dwindled, things started to get very worrisome.

Doctors could live without food. They’d die within the hour without coffee.

It was noon when the rain stopped, or at least eased enough not to drown anytime you tried to come out. There was still an eerie silence as people mopped the entrance of the ED, but it seemed as if catastrophe was just creeping behind them. The TVs came back on, power was restored all over the hospital but they were told it could disappear again at any second. Gloria still made sure to come back and demand not to use any type of non-essential device, so everyone made sure to charge their phones somewhere she wouldn’t check.

Patients trickled in quietly. The cafeteria, waiting room, and other parts of the first floor turned into a shelter for those who couldn’t get to their home in time, or for the unfortunate unhoused who arrived at the shelters too late. By 2 o’clock, the ED was partially full.

“Hey, Robby,” Dana called from her spot. He walked over, giving Mel a few instructions for an incoming patient. Dana tapped her pen against the desk with a quiet sense of urgency, something she only did when facing a difficult choice. She allowed him to continue speaking even as he stood next to her. 

“Command is asking for backup: emergency, surgery, and a nurse. Oh, and anyone else you can spare. Seems like the rescue guys are working overtime. ETA for transport is ten minutes.”

“Oh, yeah…” Robby looked around, scanning the ED before grabbing one of the phones to call surgery. “Can you call Abbot? He might be sleeping, but I need someone up front when I’m gone.”

“I’ll go wake him up myself. Do you want Jesse or Mateo in the field?”

“Either is good, ask them if— hello?” 

Robby turned around right as Dana headed towards the call rooms, waving goodbye. 

“Yes, Dr. Stevens, command just called. They need at least one from surgery on the field, plus anyone you can spare.” 

He paused, the always unfortunate Whitaker walked by, just close enough for Robby to motion him over. “Garcia? Yes, she’ll be great. We leave in ten. Whitaker! Get a jacket, we’re leaving.”

“A jacket?” Whitaker whispered to himself and walked towards the locker rooms with more urgency than expected.

In the meantime, Robby took a final walk around the ED before heading out, but just as Jack walked next to Dana, go-bag in hand, he knew that wouldn’t be necessary. Jack would tackle him before missing the chance of running point at the triage zone. 

“Get any good sleep?” 

Robby didn’t stop walking, falling in step with Abbot as they reached the ambulance bay. 

“I never miss the feeling of sleeping on the floor, but I’ll manage.”

“You can always steal one of those plastic chairs from the cafeteria.”

“And risk hurting my back again? No, thank you.”

They were the last ones to join the group.

Garcia snapped out of her phone but didn't say anything. Abbot dropped the bag on the ground. Rain needled the pavement, the faint wail of sirens layering over the already high tensions in the air.

“Got everything you need?”

Everyone nodded. Abbot stood in the middle of his newfound team and Robby. Silence filled the cracks. His mind raced to find some reassuring words, but he came out empty. He sucked at it. Finally, the transport unit showed up.

“Any words of encouragement, chief?” Abbot inquired once everyone was settled inside. 

Robby’s gaze hit him, exasperated. 

“Okay then. Let’s go.”

Finally, something broke the silence.

“Uhm, where are we going?”

Garcia, barely spared Whitaker a look, pressed lips into a line. Her fingers squeezed the backpack.

“Triage on site. They need someone to stabilize patients before they reach the hospital.”

Robby held onto the door, Abbot still urged him to say something. But maybe nothing was better.

“The van will take you as close to the disaster zone as possible,” he mumbled. “But there’s about a five-minute walk to reach the rescue teams.”

He paused.

“Good luck.”

Robby stopped himself from closing the door.

“Wait, I forgot.”

He smiled widely, unapologetic. 

“We’re out of coffee, try to bring some back, or else.”

“Coffee?” Garcia snarked back, deadpan. “Even the Waffle House back in Washington is closed. Best I can give you is mud with stevia.” 

“Damn” Mateo muttered. “Not even a limited menu? We’re in deep shit.” 

“I know a Chinese place that’s still open, but they don’t do takeout today. Marco is out.”

Robby sighed in true defeat.

“Then just get the coffee. Organic.”

“Gravel is up to your taste?” Garcia suggested before Robby closed the van’s door for good.

Any sparkle of joy died almost instantly.

The silence was immediately replaced by the rattle of the van. No one said anything, or rather, no one knew what to say. They feared they were getting into something bigger than themselves.

And oh, how true that was. 

© CARMENLIKEME 2025. All rights reserved. Do not repost, modify or claim as yours.

[revelboo]

Everytime I think about the pure unhingedness of the current situation megs is in is so unserious, like imagine making a rebellion against this dictator and going through all the hardships of this unseemigly long war only to end up pregnant? And it’s not even yours!?!!? Kinda - being forcibly pseudo surrgate turned reversed hostage husband married to this squishy small alien that you assumed was more pet but nooo turns out your soldiers have been fucking these things and now you carrying your second in command, who has been up to this point, trying to kill you, and now. NOW. YOU. ARE. ONCE AGAIN: Pregnant with his and the alien’s kid. Like you fucked yeah, but you are now forced into a polycule with alien and two of your best soldiers because of you trying to be nice, for once, and look what it did! The slight good thing is that it can maybe save your species but like miner megatron or gladitor megatron would’ve never expected to be anywhere near this absolute shitshow of drama that everything is alright megs is right in. Still accidental mpreg/baby mama/you are not the “father” megatron was never in my bingo card for ANY year. Speedrunning the entire series since i found it yesterday has been a something. Idk. Love it tho. Your writing is amazing, but im reeling because WHAT. Great work.

Yeah, poor guy is not having fun.

A little shy of 2000 followers, it’s at 1996 this morning, but I wanted to go ahead and post this extended chapter to cheer myself up after getting into it with the car dealership I got Soundwave from this morning because the window they just replaced is already leaking again. 18+ Mass displaced mech 🌶️

Everything Is Alright Pt 132

IDW Starscream x Reader, Megatron x Reader, Soundwave x Reader

Megatron doesn’t want this moment to end. Wants to just feel you drifting through him, to enjoy this intimacy. This feeling of belonging that he’s not had in so long. Or, if he’s honest with himself, ever. Even in the mines there had been companionship, brotherhood, but nothing like the feel of being so tangled in someone else that he can’t tell where you begin and he ends. Because right now he can pretend. Pretend you’re someone who loves him, that he loves you. That the fragile spark he’s cradling within himself is really his. It’s all a lie, though and he swore to never be deceived again. Not even by himself.

But he needs this so much. Knows you’re his now, as trapped as he is. Bound to each other by accident for life. Needs to believe that you might eventually love him. That this will get better, less broken over time. Hurt less.

Trembling as his servos wrap around your wrist and gently separate you from his spark, you make a soft sound of protest at the loss. For a moment, teetering on the edge of crying though you're not quite sure why as his arm curls around you and he rights his plating. And he brushes his mouth against your forehead before letting his helm fall back against the berth, the uncharacteristically gentle touch making the urge to cry worse.

“For what it’s worth, I’m sorry you got roped into this mess," you whisper. Even if he'd been delighting in tormenting Starscream, going out of his way to antagonize him, he'd still not really deserved to be saddled with you for life. You and Star.

"Are you?" He asks, optics fixed on the ceiling and not bothering to look at you. Most likely furious with you for what you'd unconsciously done to him. He's yet to take it out on you, though. Hasn't yelled or threatened. Just seems oddly resigned to this and it makes you feel even worse. Had felt that longing for more echoing through the bond and it hurts. Aches through you.

Before you can come to your senses and second guess yourself, you lean forward and brush your mouth against his in a quick kiss. "You didn't have to save me. You could have let me die and be done with Star, too."

He's just staring at you. Like he isn't sure what to make of you before he drapes an arm across his optics. "I could have been permanently rid of Starscream?” He mutters as if it had never occurred to him until now and you smile despite yourself.

Blowing out a breath, you look up when someone knocks on his door and he slowly lowers his arm, head turning. And then huffs out a bitter sounding laugh as the door opens and Soundwave hesitates just inside the doorway. His visor brightening when he spots you and guilt seizes you by the throat. Not sure what to say to him after what Star had done to your bond with him, but unable to not feel like it was your fault. That you could have stopped Star. Could have fought for your bond. And now you can’t even meet his optics.

“For Primus’s sake,” Megatron growls, rolling slightly so you slide off of him onto the berth as he pushes off and mass shifts. Looming over you, a big hand splayed near your head. “Fix this.” He demands, venting to stir your hair. “Watching you two pining for each other is torture.”

Breathless, you watch him straighten and reach to lay a hand on Soundwave’s shoulder. Before going out the door and leaving you both alone in his habsuite. “Little one,” Soundwave whispers, keeping his distance and you feel it. This new distance and hurt between you. Feel it and hate it.

Sitting up, your jaw works as you press your fists against the tops of your thighs. “I’m so sorry,” you manage, voice breaking and then you’re crying. Knowing it’s all your fault. That you could have done something. And he’s just staring at you, before he rocks into motion. Barely aware of him mass shifting and joining you on the berth. Of his arms curling around you when he goes down on his knees and pulls you into his warmth.

Wrapping his arms around you as you cry and just keep apologizing, your voice ragged and small, he realizes you blame yourself. Even though you couldn’t have stopped Starscream, you’re hurting, too. Brushing his mouth shakily against your forehead, he can’t help but think that maybe if he hadn’t tried to push you and Megatron together to protect you, that Star wouldn’t have tried to sever his bond. Wouldn’t have felt threatened and lashed out. “It wasn’t your fault, little one.” Trying to reassure you as you hide your face against his neck and he feels the dampness of your tears on him. Crooning to you like he would a cassette as he gently grips your chin and makes you look at him.

“I let him,” you whisper, sounding so lost it hurts.

“Couldn’t have stopped him,” he counters, leaning his helm against your forehead. “Bonds can be repaired. If you still want that?” Still want him. Because how he feels hasn’t changed. Even if he has to share you, he wants to bond you. To claim you as his. The swim through your warmth and light again, know you better than he knows himself.

And those teary eyes look up at him as you loop your arms around his neck. Letting him settle himself with you in his lap. Retracting his mask, he brushes his mouth against yours. “I love you,” you whisper against his lips, those words spilling warm through him. Words he’s been desperate to hear.

Servos threading through your hair, mouth sliding hungrily on yours and you open up for him. Letting him taste you as his glossa slides against your tongue. Shifting the plating protecting his spark as he lifts his head. “I love you, too, my little one. My mate.” His little spouse. And you bridge the distance, reaching for his spark and arching against him with a breathless sound.

Expects you to flee and to have to chase you, but you rush to him. Pouring into him, your emotions still a mess of grief, love, and guilt as he cradles your warmth. Soothing away the pain, understanding what you need from him. For him to be your calm, your shelter from the other two when they’re at each other’s throats. And you’re so tired and hurt. Overwhelmed by all of it as he wraps himself around you.

Coaxing you gently to accept him. To claim him as yours. Because even though this isn’t what he would have imagined, this craziness is the family he’s found and he wants it. Even if it comes with Starscream and Megatron as brothers even as they hate each other. He’ll take it for you. For a future. For a chance at a family. Sparklings. Wants it so bad it hurts. To spark you and raise a family with you.

Feel him coaxing you, can feel that not quite a question right there and you accept. Reaching for him as he curls himself tighter around you. Aware of your real body, his mouth brushing against yours even as you’re here tangled in his light. Feeling that bond spangle through you, tying you to him and feeling right. Feeling like home. And his hunger and need spill into you. His desire to spark you lighting through you even though you’d been worried about it when Megatron had brought it up.

But you want this with him, you realize. Whimpering when he carefully separates you from his spark, mouth sliding against yours as if in apology as he rights his plating to hide away that warm light. Those big hands sliding against you as you reach up to cup his face. Pressing kisses against his mouth, his cheek, anywhere you can reach as he hooks an arm around you and carefully lays you back. And you’re all need, arching up into him as your hands stroke over plating. “Please,” you whisper, wanting him. Wanting everything. “Soundwave.”

His mouth covers yours again, the kiss becoming more demanding. Urgent as he frees his spike and you feel it brush against your inner thigh, branding you with his heat. And he growls when he shifts against you, finds you, and presses deep to make you gasp.

That familiar spike stretching you as he shifts against you, hips pumping. His mouth moving against yours, glossa sliding against the seam of your lips and stealing inside as he thrusts inside you, your fingers dip into seams, clinging to him.

Thrusting deep into your wet heat, you whimper into his mouth and you’re where you belong once more. The bond finally whole like it should have been all along. Your emotions spilling into him, familiar and right. His little mate in his arms. Your need and love urging him to claim you. Growling as you hook a leg around him, hips rocking to meet his thrusts as needy as he is. And he wants all of it, all of you, mouth brushing yours as he breaks the kiss and your head lifts, breath warm against his lips as you try to claim his mouth again.

“Let me spark you,” he growls, your lips brush his. Those eyes he loves opening and he needs this. Wants it so much his spark aches. Just the thought of you carrying his sparkling nearly enough to make him release right then. “Let me have this.”

“Spark me,” you whisper and he groans, hips pumping as he shifts over you, trying to find that angle you like. That spot that makes you shatter for him. “Soundwave.” Voice a ragged whimper, he mouths your soft skin, rolling his hips and you cry out. Coming apart under him, little fingers digging into seams as you tighten on him.

Hips bucking urgently, he urges one of your thighs up higher. Driving deep as you fist his spike and listening to those little, needy sounds that are just for him. Because right now, it’s just you and him. There’s no other mates, so drama. Groaning as his thrusts falter, he shifts his plating. Snares you with his spark as he’s filling you. Hips still rocking as he coaxes you. Asking. Pleading as he tangles in you, your scent, your body, your light all his. And he feels you accept him, reaching out in return as he shudders against you, filling you again as his mouth opens on a groan against your jaw. His little mate. Finally his.

Previous

Next

[tvlandofficiall]

big fan of your idea for weird route queenkaard (sorry for bringing it up again), especially with queen being a major antagonist for the weird route like. i vibe with the idea that they bring out the worst in each other, like it's a relationship that challenges nothing about their worldviews and that's exactly why they're so drawn to it. queen's arc in chapter 2 just kinda gets. skipped in the weird route and i think rouxls would be the least person likely to incite the thought in her that she might genuinely be wrong at times, all he'd do is shower her in empty compliments to get her to stay with him. and like if she's keeping rouxls around out of a desperate attempt to Keep Things Normal he won't have to think critically about himself either, he'll just think of queen as a replaceable authority figure he submits to because he can get things out of her, not because he actually cares about her. like their characters could just very well stay stale in each other's company and it could. culminate horribly i'm sure. queen becomes even more convinced that she always knows what's best for everyone and can use extreme measures to get her way because she's right (i think the weird route in general could affect this) rouxls becomes even more convinced that sucking up to people he can betray any second if he needs to and being controlled by someone else is good actually and he doesn't need to change anything because queen literally tolerates him. ANYWAY SORRY FOR THE LONG ASK i was just thinking. if you have any thoughts about how they would interact on the weird route, how they would function as an antagonist and a supporting antagonist, what their relationship with the main characters would be like and just. how their dynamic would be in general i'd be really interested to hear that i enjoy these two and your takes a lot

NO NEED TO APOLOGIZE! i do tend to avoid long asks detailing theories when i feel i don’t have anything meaningful to add, but here. well, you’ll see from my response that i feel i do this time around. this is also a more in-depth analysis of my weird route thoughts, so even if you’re not into queenkaard, i’d invite you to take a look! fair warning, though, this gets LONG and is incredibly messy/may see some post-posting editing as i am concocting it in the middle of the night. THAT SAID; let's get into it!

with regard to the canon, i’ve discussed often how the main thrust of the weird route wrt noelle is forcing the game into a “noelle route”. this doesn’t necessarily mean every aspect of noelle is put into greater focus – we omit the introspection about dess and about noelle and kris’ relationship as children from the route almost entirely. in fact, much of the route is framed in such a way that the player seems almost expected to have taken the normal route prior to this – a lot of lines of dialogue builds off of information we get in the normal route, and the route itself is framed and presented like something someone would come across while replaying or backtracking.

rather, the “noelle route” reading is one that is more attuned to the term in the context of, say, a dating sim, or a life sim with multiple romanceable characters. context for several scenes is changed to turn them from choices into Romantic Choices – ie; choosing between kris and susie at the ferris wheel poster or choosing whether to imply kris and noelle are friends or something “else”. they’re the kind you’d see in a game like that.

as such, we’re forcing noelle in particular into the spotlight, and it seems we’re trying to isolate her from characters that she’s close with as a result. this brings up the other aspect of the weird route; the almost speedrun-like aspect of it. other characters (darkners in particular) become “enemies” to noelle, key cutscenes are removed, character development is truncated. berdly dies. queen’s role as major antagonist grinds to a screeching and abrupt halt. spamton, although he does manage to become the new route boss, has his sympathetic qualities put out of focus and dies as a result. susie manages to get a moment offscreen with noelle, in typical susie fashion, but she’s still our party member at the end of the day. and overall, a good amount of ch2 just… doesn’t happen, and so the bulk of the route becomes just kris and noelle in isolation. the only element that remains largely the same after we kick things off is the light world walkaround at the end – which makes sense if we’re rushing to get there and detaching ourselves even further from caring about the dark world and the events that occur there. the festival happens in the light world, after all, and i wouldn’t be surprised if taking noelle there becomes a critical juncture on the route. noelle will ride with us, after all.

but on that note; much to-do has been made over whether or not we embolden noelle on the weird route as we do on the normal route. however i feel the more prescient idea is that on the weird route, we take a look at noelle’s status as the damsel and decide to reinforce it. this is what i talk about often when i bring up don quixote in context of the weird route – i’m gonna do it a lot here, but to refresh; don quixote is a very old story wherein, to quote, a common man named don quixote believes himself to be the chivalric hero of the time, and tries to play at this for the "sake" of a woman named dulcinea. and this sort of don quixote idea comes up a lot (although i don’t think toby fox is intentionally invoking it), especially with noelle.

according to many of the other characters, noelle is a damsel, a “dulcinea”. she’s who berdly swears to protect, who catti tells you to keep safe, who mayor holiday keeps under strict rules and who even rudy talks a little down to. and oftentimes, kris is positioned as a protector figure specifically; either as a rival or as someone entrusted with the role by other characters. and this positions them perfectly to be the vector for our aforementioned reinforcement of the idea onto both them and noelle. we reinforce the idea of this world working in terms of don quixotes and dulcineas, of protectors and damsels, of obstacles to our protection of noelle and of noelle herself as our responsibility to protect and mold into the person we want her to be. (we even see this echoed in the new dialogue of the new route boss – i’m sure i don’t need to discuss how spamton talks about noelle there.) we take up the role of her “don quixote”.

queen’s dynamic with noelle is very interesting and complicated in relation to this. queen has this vision of herself as being in control, of noelle as a hapless damsel, but queen is also a darkner. the only control she can really get over noelle and the other lightners comes in the form of AGREE2ALL puzzles and “peon release forms” (i will not spamqueen in the middle of my queenkaard analysis but also, consider, spamqueen;), in being an obstacle for the lightners to overcome. and in the normal route, that’s just what happens. queen comes to understand more clearly the nature of her fate, complies to that, and is overcome. it’s a disquieting ending – but obviously, that’s the point. the unsettling nature of the prophecy and the darkners’ fates as objects are major conflicts there, and the start of the story is about setting them up as Problems That Exist. the more this goes on, the more we’ll start to see it questioned and revealed as such. it won’t last forever there.

that aside – on the weird route, queen never stops being a potential obstacle. she doesn’t get killed like berdly and spamton do; she’s just kind of unceremoniously shoved off to the side. ralsei talks her down at the end by telling her about the roaring, but that’s even more of a band-aid solution than the normal route nets. queen’s only remark on the matter is to lament that the only idea she had to help noelle went belly-up. so we’ve got two big interlocking ideas here already; queen is another obstacle to us, one who cares a lot about noelle, but one who we’ve written off for now. and we’ve zeroed in on this don quixote & dulcinea dynamic, turning the dial on it up to eleven.

so turning the camera into my own storytelling and to queen for a moment; storytelling-wise, what would she be up to now? overall, queen at the end of the weird route is not doing so hot. she’s quieter, seems a little out of it, and can’t quite muster her usual enthusiasm. this tracks with the tone of the route overall – a lot of the humor is tempered or outright omitted. i can’t imagine she can think of much else other than her concern for noelle and the loss of her… well, everything but swatch, really. and since she and rouxls never get to meet on-screen at all, the first time he’d ever really get to see her or talk to her would be in castle town, when she’s in that state, one-on-one. queen’ll actually get a chance to get a read on him this time. he won’t flee.

now of all the don quixotes in deltarune, rouxls kaard is one of the don quixote-est. combine a grandiose self-image and an object’s fate that’s shaped that self-image, and you get a social-climbing renfaire LARPer who’s chomping at the bit to swear himself as someone’s sword, even those he isn’t duty-bound to serve. and a beautiful villainess in distress? one perhaps in need of someone to swear himself to her? that’s kaardnip. that’s his “dulcinea”. (not to mention, it’s a chance to one-up swatch as her new butler supremeth.)

and of course, a villainess who starts her story seeking out a willing peon isn’t just going to turn one down. she’s lonely, too, incredibly lonely, and with king behind bars and the shopkeepers shopkeeping, i think she’s more than happy to spend a lot of time with this man who’ll throw himself at her feet while she throws herself into a new plan to help noelle.

so you have these two just marinating together in castle town, right? (stretches the time in castle town between ch2&3 out like taffy.) there’s a proximity there that would give way to a more – genuine isn’t quite the right word, but it isn’t the wrong one, either – relationship. they’re always together. they know one another in ways only people who spend all their time together know one another. i think you’re right that in the game itself she mostly tolerates him right now, but given queen’s taste includes the insufferably prissy (swatch), the slimy (spamton), and the egotistical (king), i could easily see rouxls slotting right in. the compliments he gives are empty, but they’re so reassuring to hear, to cling to. they bolster her; of course this is only a bump in the road, of course she’s still in control. in short; the two know one another quite closely, but there’s still that level of artifice there; like two people infatuated with the idea of being infatuated with one another, but who also know one another’s pet peeves and the side of their mouth they tend to chew in most often and the places they most like to be kissed.

it’s very strange, and probably very strange for others to see happen. i think they’re very attached at the hip in a manner that comes off a bit like they’re actors. i want rouxls to offer her hand kisses and reverence and just go all in on this performance, while she clings to it like a lifeline because there’s so little left otherwise. (it reminds her of swatch and so sometimes she goes and spends time with them, and they’re both so blunt with her on their feelings about rouxls and so ardently fond of her by comparison that she almost thinks about ditching rouxls for them, but – well, swatch isn’t out “in the field” like rouxls is, swatch is caught up in their new café work so often, and even back in her kingdom she had more than just swatch. so she doesn’t.)

as for out in the field – because rouxls will likely be in proximity to the party as they continue into the next dark worlds (even as he is turned to stone there and thusly irrelevant to them during the weird route,) he’ll likely notice what queen’s been talking about in noelle as it becomes more and more of a focus. he’ll likely tell her about it. and that brings us around to this unfinished arc between queen and noelle, where noelle is clearly miserable and queen will become a villain if it means she can make noelle smile again. it brings us around to queen as an obstacle to our goals that’s been put off but not overcome. and it keeps queen as a future obstacle – someone strong, who could be on the “winning side” at the end of the day. someone who rouxls’ll want to continue to stay allied with even as new rulers come and go as a result – and someone who’ll allow him a pathway to powerful late-game opponent status. after all, he’s likely to become a late-game opponent, too, in actual game canon. (he’s also just likely to based on – well, the sort of thematic juggernaut status i’ve laid out across this whole affair.) i’m a massive sucker for rouxls portrayals where he opposes the party in a more major way, because they’re often so campy and fun. that sort of absurd character concept is what makes me as fond of spamton as i am, and it’s what makes toby’s writing so good.

he’ll protect her. he’ll be a hero. he’ll keep her safe so she can save the day (and he can take all the credit). but he won’t, of course. i don’t think the weird route will have a happy ending for anyone. and i think he’d likely get himself killed doing this, leaving the floor open for queen to finally take center stage and pull out all the stops as a true “villain” to be reckoned with.

[cuubism]

Order of Operations (8309 words) by cuubism Chapters: 2/3 Fandom: The Sandman (TV 2022) Rating: Explicit Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Dream of the Endless | Morpheus/Hob Gadling, Dream of the Endless/Hob Gadling Characters: Dream of the Endless | Morpheus, Hob Gadling Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Human, Graduate School, Established Relationship, Engagement, Marriage Proposal, Fluff, elopement, Explicit Sexual Content, Cooking, Idiots in Love, engagement to wedding speedrun, Incredibly Sappy, how to occupy your adhd boyfriend Series: Part 12 of Complex Maths Summary: Dream was just trying to tease. He really didn't intend to propose NOW.

--

part two ✌️

--

Eventually, Hob says, “You know, we’ve still got twelve hours until the registrar’s office opens.” Dream groans. “What on earth will we do with the time?”

“Enjoy the quiet,” Dream says, pushing his face further into Hob’s throat, and Hob laughs.

“Don’t even want to celebrate? You don’t have any champagne, do you?”

“Death has vodka in the kitchen,” Dream says. “She says she buys it for cooking, but the rate at which she makes penne alla vodka does not match the rate at which the vodka is depleted.”

“Look at you, deductive mathematician,” Hob says, grinning. “Well, vodka shots it is. Unless you wanted to use it for its intended purpose and cook something?”

“We have the ingredients,” Dream realizes.

“Good! I’m hungry. Come on.” Hob takes Dream’s hand and drags him out of bed. Dream is helpless to do anything but follow him; truthfully he doesn’t care what they do with their time, he just wants to be around Hob.

Cleaned up and half-dressed in mismatched clothes, they wind up in the kitchen. Dream’s efforts at quieting Hob’s mind have evidently been completing unsuccessful in the end, because Hob immediately starts pulling ingredients out of everywhere and laying them out on the counter in an unorganized mess. How Hob even manages to function while cooking, Dream doesn’t know, but somehow the result is always tasty, which Dream can never manage himself.

“You’re in charge of sauce ‘cuz I know you won’t want to get the pasta dough on your hands,” Hob says, setting a pan on the stove and passing him tomato paste, onion, garlic, and several other ingredients Dream doesn’t immediately clock as he gathers them in his arms. It’s possible Death had all these ingredients on hand because she intended to cook this exact meal later in the week… Dream will have to make it up to her.

[ Rest on AO3 bc I don't have it in me to embed the images again ]

[byoldervine]

What Common Writing Phrases Actually Mean

For years I assumed a lot of the common writing phrases that get thrown around were just generic things that were never actually going to help people write because it doesn't actually tell you what to do. But recently I've been able to work out the meanings for a few of them and I'd like to share them with my fellow writers, especially for my fellow NDs with literal thinking

"Write what you know" - it doesn't mean that you should only write what you're already familiar with, it means to do your research, gain knowledge and go from there; if you haven't done the research, don't write about it *until you have*, not just shrug your shoulders and find something else without ever trying to write it. Additionally, things will have more of an emotional impact if you write about things you yourself have experienced, or when you tie in your own experiences to something; you’ve probably (and hopefully) never had acid thrown in your face, but you’ve probably gotten shampoo in your eye and can amp that experience up

"Writing is a discipline"/"Write even when you're not motivated" - my reaction to this was always that, since I was only doing this for fun and didn't have any deadline to meet, why should I force myself to write even when I don't want to? But what they're trying to say with this is to make sure you have some level of consistent progress, even if it's only one sentence every week; having a minimum level of progress you can count on is an absolute lifesaver when writing, as well as being motivating in its own right

"Edit as you go" - this one really doesn't mean to change up your entire chapter every single time you get a new sentence down, it means to take breaks from writing new chapters to reflect back on what you've previously written and make sure to fix up any inconsistencies while the next few chapters are still fresh in your mind. Outside of SPAG mistakes or quick one-sentence-or-less tweaks I generally wouldn't advise properly editing the same chapter you just wrote simply because you could easily burn yourself out speedrunning to the final draft before you even get to chapter two

[st-kitten]

brat party pt.5

pt.6

note: this chapter portrays y/n as indian, so i'll understand if you're uneasy with it. but it's for the sake of the story. and i've put my heart and soul into writing some of it. my culture is very dear to me. but i hope you enjoy nonetheless!

i have used a clip of sofya simha, one of my favourite odissi dancers. it is not the most fitting dance to the song i've chosen, but i hope it gets the sentiment across. apologies to actual, passionate dancers :")

ngl i be speedrunning through this story before college starts

warnings: sasuke having anxiety because y/n, y/n being an absolute menace (in a nice way), y/n ego boost (because we are her, she is us)

the next morning, the uchiha family gathered at the uchiha shrine, the cold winter air crisp and biting. you felt out of place at first, standing among the sea of black and blue, but mikoto had been insistent, handing you one of her own black yukatas. it bore the iconic uchiha crest, bold and proud on the back and subtly stitched into the lapel. "you’ll blend right in," she’d said with a warm smile, though you couldn’t help but feel a bit self-conscious.

firstly, because hello? this was a family gathering? and you were not family? secondly, you'd expected fugaku to reject your inclusion but surprisingly, he had said nothing in the matter.

so there you stood. trying not to freeze in the cold air, people staring at you.

your foreign features lent an exotic charm to your appearance—soft, rich milky skin that seemed to glow against the dark fabric, and dark brown hair swept into a traditional japanese hairdo, though a few errant strands rebelliously slipped free, framing your face. eyes laden with thick eyelashes, full, sharp eyebrows

your lips, stained with dark red lipstick, stood out like a bold statement, perfectly complementing the faint blush on your cheeks—courtesy of the cold air and perhaps, just perhaps, the weight of sasuke's intense gaze. your almond-shaped eyes, lined with expertly applied eyeliner, gleamed with a quiet confidence, every stroke accentuating their expressive depth.

but for sasuke? the sight of you in that yukata hit him like a ton of bricks.

he tried to play it cool, arms crossed over his chest, standing stoically as the family performed the rituals. but his dark eyes betrayed him, flickering toward you every few seconds, his gaze practically glued to the uchiha crest on your back. it was maddening. the sight of you, draped in his family’s colors, wearing the crest that represented centuries of his clan’s pride—it stirred something primal in him.

he clenched his jaw, trying to shake off the heat rising in his chest, but it was no use. the way the yukata framed your figure, the way the faint winter breeze toyed with the strands of your hair—it was all too much. his hands itched to reach out, to touch you, to pull you closer.

your every gesture so graceful and deliberate. you weren’t just wearing the uchiha crest; you belonged in it. and that thought? it turned him on far more than he cared to admit.

he glanced away, determined to focus on literally anything else. the swirling incense smoke? riveting. the shrine’s ancient wooden beams? fascinating. the murmurs of surrounding family discussing where to buy quality ink? absolutely enthralling. but his traitorous eyes kept snapping back to you.

he clenched his jaw. stop looking, idiot, he thought. but two seconds later, there he was again, catching sight of you tucking a loose strand of hair behind your ear. he groaned internally.

what was it about that stupid yukata? maybe it was the way the uchiha crest sat perfectly on your back, or the fact that his mom’s eyeliner handiwork had you looking like you stepped out of a historical drama. even worse? you were the one who did her eyeliner, like it was no big deal, and now the two of you were giggling together like old friends.

he glanced at the incense smoke again. nope, even that wasn’t helping—because it was curling in a way that looked suspiciously like the outline of your hair. for a moment, he seriously considered pretending to sneeze, just to snap himself out of it.

as everyone stood together, a unified yet segregated display of tradition—men on one side, women on the other—you couldn’t help but feel the weight of the moment. the atmosphere was thick with reverence, the air tinged with the smoky aroma of incense.

at the altar, the clan patriarch, uchiha madara himself, commanded attention. his presence was haunting, almost otherworldly, as though history itself had taken human form.

even among the imposing figures of the uchiha men, madara stood apart—dangerous, regal, and completely untouchable. his voice, low and resonant, carried through the shrine as he performed the intricate rituals with an ease that only centuries of lineage could bestow.

it felt like being transported back in time. where the 21st century world went about their day, you were in this corner, bearing witness to centuries of tradition.

you adjusted the borrowed yukata ever so slightly, the crest on your back suddenly feeling heavier under the scrutiny of a man whose legacy built the very ground you were standing on.

after the prayers, fugaku led his family to formally greet madara. the atmosphere shifted, a near-tangible weight settling in the air as everyone approached the clan’s patriarch. but as madara's gaze landed on you—a non-uchiha standing amongst his kin—his glare sharpened to something almost predatory, merciless and unforgiving.

fugaku, ever the diplomat, stepped forward hastily. “lord madara, her presence here is purely circumstantial,” he assured, his tone measured, though there was a faint tension beneath it. “it is not meant to interfere with the sanctity of our gathering.”

madara’s eyes didn’t waver, black and bottomless, dissecting every fibre of your being.

then, madara’s hand moved with a deliberate, almost theatrical precision, the air around him seeming to still as he reached behind him. in one fluid motion, he whipped out his legendary sensu fan, the sound of its unfolding echoing like a blade being unsheathed.

sasuke’s heart leapt into his throat, his muscles coiling as he braced himself to act if need be.

but you just stood there, in all your 5'6" glory, looking up at the monstrous man as if he’d just asked you to pass the salt.

madara’s fan hovered mid-air, his black eyes narrowing ever so slightly. was it irritation? amusement? no one could tell—least of all sasuke, whose brain was short-circuiting watching you face down the man who could probably level a forest with that fan if he felt like it.

you, however, looked like you were about to ask him if he needed a second coat of polish on the thing.

madara eventually looked away.

sasuke risked a glance at you, his dark eyes narrowing slightly in disbelief. did you just… out-stare uchiha madara?

madara's dark, deep voice resonated like a distant thunderclap.

"uchiha is a crown my people wear. the name is a power we possess, and a reputation we hold. to not be an uchiha," he looked at you with a piercing gaze, "is a misfortune. to be one is a privilege unmatched. let this taste of uchiha rituals quench your thirst to experience the extraordinary. you are not an uchiha by blood."

his tone was icy, designed to cut, but instead of shrinking back, you held his gaze, calm and unflinching.

"something tells me," you replied with quiet wisdom, your voice steady, "you believe more that an uchiha is forged... and not born."

sasuke watched the exchange in stunned silence, his eyes narrowing slightly as you delivered your line with a level of confidence he could only describe as suicidal.

“this is it,” he thought dryly, staring at madara’s ever-intimidating fan. “this is how we all die. because this... yapping idiot decided to get philosophical with madara uchiha.”

madara’s expression remained carved from stone, his fan still gripped in his hand. then, after an icy moment of silence, madara uchiha smirked.

what. the. everloving. fuck.

what was with you and getting the stoically expert uchiha men to smile? first fugaku, now literally madara? it was like you had some bizarre ability to bypass generations of ingrained stoicism and hit their "hey, i kinda like you" button.

as madara turned and strode away, the heavy tension he left in his wake began to dissolve, like the air was finally safe to breathe again. before anyone could say a word, sasuke grabbed your wrist and all but dragged you a few steps away, his grip firm but not rough.

he turned to you, his eyes a mix of disbelief and exasperation. “what the hell is wrong with you?” he hissed, his voice low enough to not attract attention but sharp enough to convey his point. “you don’t just—challenge madara uchiha like that. are you trying to get yourself killed?”

you gasped. "i was reasoning with his... speech?"

“reasoning?” he repeated, his voice dripping with incredulity. “you’re lucky he didn’t use that fan to send you flying into next week.”

“but he didn’t, did he?” you shot back, crossing your arms.

sasuke ran a hand down his face, clearly torn between frustration and grudging admiration. “he smirked. madara smirked. do you know what that means?”

you tilted your head. “that he... has critical thinking skills?”

“no,” he snapped, pinching the bridge of his nose. “it means you’ve officially scared me more than he does. congratulations.”

--------

when you all arrived at uchiha manor for a short tea break, the air carried a quiet serenity, broken only by the soft bubbling of the koi pond nearby. sasuke and you sat by the edge, the light dappling off the water in golden ripples, the koi swimming lazily beneath. the breeze, gentle but mischievous, decided to toy with the fabric of your borrowed yukata.

sasuke's eyes followed the gentle movement of your yukata, drawn to the exposed skin beneath. the way the fabric slid across your shoulder, revealing the soft curve of your neck, sent a shiver down his spine.

without hesitation, sasuke closed the distance between you, to kiss your exposed shoulder. he left wet kisses over the expanse of your shoulder, slowly moving to where your neck began, sinking his teeth into the tender flesh.

you let out a soft moan, your neck and cheeks red. that sight of you in that uchiha yukata, his mark on your skin, your exposed shoulder, was like a japanese burlesque painting come alive.

with a sudden surge of possessiveness, sasuke claimed your mouth in a searing kiss, pouring all his pent-up desire and longing into the embrace. his hands slid over your yukata, skimming over the smooth skin of your back, before gripping your waist and pressing you firmly against him.

you opened your mouth to deepen the kiss and he took the chance to slide his tongue inside. he kissed you as one would eat a creamy cake, messily, hungrily, savouring every taste.

"mmm... someone's... hhnn... coming," you moaned, breaking the kiss, and fixing your yukata.

"tea's ready," said itachi, his hands behind his back, eyes fixed on sasuke.

"yes, let's go," he replied curtly to itachi, already turning towards the manor. you simply followed.

the tea break was serene, the kind of stillness only the uchiha manor could provide.

mikoto poured tea gracefully, her movements elegant as ever, while fugaku sat at the head of the table, his posture as straight and commanding as his reputation demanded.

"itachi, sasuke," fugaku began, his deep voice slicing through the quiet. "we need to leave in an hour to finalise the documentation for the ancestral properties. i expect both of you to be prepared."

itachi gave a small nod, his ever-calm demeanour unshaken. "of course, father. everything’s in order on my end."

sasuke, seated beside you, responded with a simple "hn," though his mind was far from the property disputes. he had tried—oh, he had tried—to keep his focus elsewhere, but every time he glanced in your direction, he found himself utterly undone. more so now, because of the gorgeous hickey he knew was hidden under the lapel of your yukata.

great. just great. leave her alone with my mother while i try to figure out how to stop thinking about her, he thought to himself.

"you seem eager to leave, sasuke," itachi remarked dryly, his lips quirking ever so slightly.

"i’m just being efficient," sasuke muttered, refusing to meet anyone’s gaze.

fugaku, oblivious to the subtext, simply nodded. "good. efficiency is important."

"well, don’t worry, sasuke. y/n and i will be just fine without you. i’ll make sure she’s well taken care of," said mikoto.

that’s what i’m afraid of, sasuke thought grimly as he stood, excusing himself to prepare for the trip. leaving the room felt like a small mercy—a temporary reprieve from the battle raging in his head.

--------

the afternoon sun had begun its descent, casting grey clouds over the sprawling uchiha manor grounds as itachi and sasuke made their way back from their errand. the air was crisp, and the sound of the waves crashing against the shore below was a steady, soothing rhythm. they walked along the walkway overlooking the beach, their footsteps quiet against the stone path, but itachi’s sharp eyes caught something—a figure in the distance, near the ruins by the water.

sasuke noticed too, his pace slowing as he squinted against the fading sunlight. the figure was draped in blue, an outfit neither of them recognised, certainly not something traditional to the uchiha. but they both knew who it was as soon as they saw her.

“y/n?” sasuke muttered under his breath, his voice almost betraying his confusion.

itachi, ever the observer, raised an eyebrow. “that’s new.”

the two exchanged a glance before silently agreeing to approach, the curiosity piquing despite themselves. they descended the stony steps that led to the beach, the rocks underfoot slippery and jagged, but they moved with ease, accustomed to the terrain. as they neared the ruins, they could see you more clearly now.

as they neared, they could hear music coming from the small speaker you'd placed on. rock nearby, your phone next to it.

you stood there in the ruins, draped in a blue sari with a delicate black border, the fabric catching the light of the fading sun, your waist exposed to the rays. the pleats of the skirt fell in soft, measured folds. your hair was tied in a bun, but a few stands managed to run errant anyway.

sasuke’s brows furrowed as he realised it wasn’t just the clothing that was unfamiliar; it was the way you were moving, the way you were... dancing?

he blinked, momentarily stunned. she can dance? it was the last thing he’d expected.

your hands, delicate and expressive, traced the air with slow, graceful gestures, the intricate mudras—the hand gestures that told stories and spoke without words—coming to life with every flick of your wrist, every gentle curl of your fingers. your arms arched as if they were an extension of the wind, flowing in time with the soft beat of the music, the faint notes of the indian classical song filling the space between your movements.

it wasn't just the dance that sasuke stared at, mesmerised. it was the way your face mirrored the deep, soulful emotion woven into the melody.

worry creased your brow for a fleeting moment, like a gentle tremor in the otherwise fluid composition of your face. then, as if following the curve of the music itself, desperation softened into sadness, and the melancholia in your eyes deepened. it was as if every note, every word that flowed from the song, spoke directly to you, and you gave voice to those emotions in the subtle arch of your brow and the tender curve of your lips. but oh your eyes.

sasuke didn’t understand the lyrics, nor the language, but he could feel them in the air around him. the ache in your gaze was palpable—he could see it, in the way your eyes shifted from the horizon to the ruins around you, as if searching for something, or perhaps, someone. the pain of unrequited love, the deep, heart-wrenching longing for the beloved, was written across your face in every slow, deliberate movement.

he had seen many things in his life—fights, losses, even battles of the soul—but he had never witnessed something so raw, so tender, and so painfully beautiful. the yearning you portrayed with every glance, every glide of your hand, struck him harder than anything he had ever known. the intense, aching love you danced with was so foreign to him, yet it was something he couldn’t turn away from.

"she's good," itachi remarked, his voice calm, almost indifferent, though there was an unusual depth to his words.

sasuke shifted uncomfortably beside him.

"didn't know she could dance," sasuke muttered, his voice slightly rough, almost as if he was trying to convince his all-knowing brother that he was completely detached from you.

"you don't seem to be talking about the dance," itachi observed, his voice as neutral as ever, but there was a slight glint in his eyes, like he was enjoying this just a little more than he should.

sasuke's expression hardened, but his eyes remained locked on you. "i’m not," he admitted, his tone a mixture of frustration and something else. "i don’t get it. it’s like... she’s so into it. like she’s... somewhere else."

"she’s letting it out," itachi said simply, his voice low. "sometimes, people need to express what they can’t say. maybe that's what this is."

sasuke looked at his brother, his brow furrowed. “i don’t know. it’s just... it’s not just the dance. it’s the way she’s feeling it. you know? i don’t even understand the song, but i feel it too. and i don’t... want to feel it."

itachi’s gaze didn’t waver from you. “people don’t always have control over what they feel,” he said, as if it were the simplest truth in the world.

"maybe she doesn't want you to understand. maybe she’s just showing you something you’re not ready for."

sasuke tensed at his brother's words, the weight of them settling into his chest like a stone. his eyes stayed fixed on you, still dancing, each movement speaking to him in a way he couldn’t quite grasp. "i just want her to stop," he muttered, but even as the words left his mouth, he knew he didn't mean them. "i can’t... handle this."

the melancholic pull of the b minor scale was like a whisper of vulnerability, unearthing memories and feelings he had locked away long ago. the steady rhythm, four beats per bar with its emphasis on the first, was eerily similar to the beat of his heart—strong, deliberate, but faltering ever so slightly as he watched you move.

the violins in the background carried a wistfulness that resonated with the ache he couldn't quite define, while the tabla's steady yet intricate rhythm mimicked the turmoil of his thoughts—measured, calculated on the surface, yet chaotic within.

the lyrics may have been foreign to him, but the longing they carried—mirrored in the dance and the melody—was painfully familiar.

the uchiha ruins were usually neglected, occasionally cleaned under the pretext of preservation. but today, as itachi and sasuke stood at the edge of the crumbling path, his sharp gaze fixed on you, the ruins felt alive. there you were, moving gracefully across the uneven ground, your sari flowing like liquid poetry, a striking contrast to the muted decay around you.

divine justice, itachi thought, his lips curving slightly.

“she belongs there,” itachi murmured softly, the words carrying a quiet reverence.

sasuke, standing beside him, barely registered the statement. his dark eyes were locked on you, his brow furrowed as if caught between admiration and agony.

“what?” he asked, his voice distracted.

“nothing,” itachi replied.

itachi wasn’t sure if it was divine justice, redemption, or simply the effect of one person’s presence. but he knew this: for the first time in years, the ruins didn’t look abandoned— they looked like home...

[this is close to what itachi and sasuke saw, same song described in the story. if ur curious, it's "o re piya" by rahat fateh ali khan, literally says "oh, my love" (꒦ີ﹏꒦ີ｡)‪‪❤︎‬]

you slowed to a halt, your chest rising and falling with the rhythm of your laboured breaths. brushing a stray strand of hair from your face, you turned toward your phone resting on a rock, likely to queue up another song. but as your eyes lifted, they landed on two dark silhouettes standing on the rocks, both eerily still, their gazes pinned to you.

your soul nearly leapt out of your body, as you jolted in place, startled. just dive in, and they’ll forget this ever happened.

itachi, ever the gentleman, took a step forward, his expression calm but laced with just the faintest hint of amusement. “i apologise if we startled you,” he said, his voice smooth and measured. “that wasn’t our intention.”

you nodded nervously, smiling, "had me descend to sea permanently there."

his lips quirked upward ever so slightly. “i’m relieved you chose not to.”

itachi approached you slowly, patient footsteps on the ruined rocks.

“you didn’t mention being a dancer.”

"i'm no dancer... i just... dance," you said softly, brushing it off, dusting the sand out of the pleats in your sari.

his tall frame towered over you as his sharp, yet calm eyes traced the intricate details of your attire.

“the attire,” he began, his voice smooth and contemplative, “it’s different from what i’m accustomed to seeing. beautiful… and purposeful, i assume?”

you blinked, momentarily taken aback by the sudden scrutiny from the elder uchiha. “oh, uh, yeah. it’s an odissi-inspired look,” you explained, gesturing vaguely to your sari. “it’s a classical indian dance form, so the attire is designed to be both functional and symbolic.”

itachi’s head tilted slightly, his dark eyes sharpening with interest. “ojishi,” he repeated slowly (failing obviously), tasting the unfamiliar word on his tongue. “the dance… it was unlike anything i’ve seen. is every movement intentional? every expression rehearsed?”

you nodded, a small smile tugging at your lips. “pretty much. it’s about telling a story—emotions, myths, devotion. everything has a meaning, even the way you position your fingers.”

you raised your hand, demonstrating a mudra. “this, for example, symbolises a deer.”

itachi’s gaze lingered on your hands as you shifted your fingers fluidly, forming a delicate mrigamudra. the thumb touching the middle and ring fingers lightly while the other fingers extended gracefully, resembling the head of a deer.

itachi’s expression shifted to mild intrigue. “like this?” he murmured, his sharp eyes narrowing slightly as he raised his hand, attempting to replicate the gesture.

you gently touched his fingers to align them well. the movement was quick, almost automatic, but it caught sasuke’s attention like a lightning strike. his eyes darted to the two of you, his lips thinning into a frowning line as he watched you correct itachi’s hand posture.

“and now, move it like this,” you added, demonstrating the graceful sway of your wrist, as though the deer was frolicking.

itachi imitated the motion, his hand still a little stiff, but there was an unmistakable effort in his attempt. “hm,” he hummed, his dark eyes flicking between his hand and yours. “it’s deceptively simple, but far more intricate than it appears."

meanwhile, sasuke stood stiffly off to the side, his arms crossed so tightly it was a wonder he hadn’t cut off circulation. his expression was a perfect storm of irritation and barely-contained turmoil. his brother, of all people, was standing there bonding with you over graceful hand movements, and sasuke didn’t know whether to be impressed, annoyed, or just retreat into the ocean himself.

“it’s not that difficult,” sasuke muttered suddenly, his voice low and begrudging, though no one had asked for his input.

you turned toward him, raising an eyebrow. “oh? care to try, then?”

he immediately regretted opening his mouth but couldn’t back down now. “no,” he said, his tone curt.

the three of you walked back towards the manor.

they weren’t quite sure when they started noticing it—your feet. small, delicate, and lightly dusted with grains of sand, yet every step you took seemed impossibly precise. your deep arch flexed slightly with each movement, your toes spreading just enough to balance on the uneven, rocky surface of the beach. it was as if even walking was an art form for you, something they’d taken for granted until now.

“do you always walk barefoot on beaches?” itachi asked finally, his tone curious but calm.

"why not..."

itachi’s gaze lingered on your feet for a moment before he spoke, his voice as steady as the tide. “what makes it so natural for you?”

you glanced up at him, a small, serene smile playing on your lips. “there’s something sacred about letting your feet meet the earth,” you said, your tone soft but resolute. “it’s a way of acknowledging where we come from, staying connected to something bigger than ourselves. my dance teachers always said it’s how we show respect to the ground we stand on.”

sasuke, trailing a step behind, stole a glance at you as though against his will. he wasn’t sure what unnerved him more: the ease with which you spoke of something so intangible, or how it felt like a truth he hadn’t realised he was searching for.

why couldn't you just be an ordinary person he occasionally hooked up with? why did you have to be so... fucking poetic? sasuke thought. he didn't know whether he was disturbed, anxious, or third worse thing.

the way you brought change with you as the tides brought seashells.

it drove him mad.

it wasn't supposed to be this way.

this was casual. no strings.

those very terms seemed like a joke to him now.

just what had you become?

[fanatic564]

Hood-lucinations (BatFamilyWeek 2025 Day 1 )

ao3 link

Fandom: Batman All Media Types

Rating: T

Warnings: No archive warnings apply

Relationship: Jason Todd & Tim Drake

Characters: Jason Todd, Tim Drake, Mrs. Mac (DC), Janet Drake, Jack Drake

Tags: batfamilyweek2025, batfamilyweek day 1, scars, enemies to caretaker, accidental brother acquisition, Jason speedrunning adopting Tim, crack treated seriously, bad parent Bruce Wayne, Ah yes a week about the batfam and the love it holds, Me: Ok but what if I make Bruce shitty, for the laughs, jack and janet drake's a+ parenting, child neglect, child abuse, Mrs Mac is a saint, jason and mrs mac is the duo i didnt know i needed until now, beware jason's sailor mouth, boy copes with profanity, hallucinations, no beta reader we die like Jason Todd, Do not post to other sites, POV Third Person

Summary: Jason knows a lot about one Timothy Jackson Drake. Talia made sure of that, for when he enacted his plans in Gotham. He's the Wayne's neighbor: a spoiled rich kid who's likely never known the struggles Jason has. (Bruce really picked the first black haired blue eyed child he saw once Jason was buried six feet deep, huh?) But. Everything he knows, or thinks he knows, about the boy clashes with what he sees in front of him now.

After doing recon into Tim, and not liking what he finds, Jason ends up to following Tim home from patrol. When Tim assumes Jason is a hallucination, Jason decides to use it to force Tim into self-care.

AN: I'm working on Learning Weakness and Abandon Weakness, I promise! I have the next chapters basically written, they just need a lot of revision. But now y'all know part of why I haven't uploaded. I was originally gonna post for Dick Grayson Week last week, but none of the prompts really caught my attention. So here I am for BatFamily week. I probably won't do every day, but I have 2 finished, and 2 others planned/started. So we'll see. Anyway, I hope y'all enjoy!

Day 1: Scars | Enemy to Caretaker | Reverse Robins AU

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jason knows a lot about one Timothy Jackson Drake. Talia made sure of that, for when he enacted his plans in Gotham. He's the Wayne's neighbor: a spoiled rich kid who's likely never known the struggles Jason has. (Bruce really picked the first black haired blue eyed child he saw once Jason was buried six feet deep, huh?) But. Everything he knows, or thinks he knows, about the boy clashes with what he sees in front of him now.

He's watching from a rooftop, staring down into the alley where Batman and Robin are currently fighting some of his goons. The Red Hood goons are prepared for the fight. Of course they are, Jason trained them after all. They know how to hold their own against Bats. They're a planted distraction anyway, while another group moves the location of their base. So while they don't go down easily, they also aren't necessarily trying to win either. Just stall for time.

Jason decides to use the opportunity to do some recon on the boy. And what he sees doesn't make sense to him. The boy is small. Smaller than even Jason was coming off the streets. Skinny in a way he shouldn't be, given he comes from money. And the scars. The scars.

Most are older than Timothy's time as Robin. Long healed and faded, Jason has to zoom in as far as his helmet lets him in order to see some. But they're there. They're everywhere.

There are more recent ones, too. One's that could be dismissed as Robin business, if it wasn't for the way they obviously weren't treated by Alfred. If Alfred knew about those wounds, he would have forced the boy to let him treat them. So either he was hurt elsewhere, or Alfred never found out about the wounds.

Watching the two figures in the alley, Jason realizes that it could be either option. Batman is barely sparing Robin a glance, too busy beating up the thugs in front of him. Robin has to work twice as hard to make sure both him and Batman remain unharmed. Jason remembers when he was Robin, when the old man and him would watch each other's back, moving like a dance, protecting each other as easily as breathing. But this is nothing like that. Robin is watching Batman's back, taking hits for him that the older man could have easily avoided if he tried. And Batman? The Dark Knight is acting as if Robin isn't even there. Not caring if the boy gets caught in the collateral of his attacks.

Not caring if the boy gets injured right in front of him.

This isn't right. This isn't the Batman and Robin he remembers. The duo he remembers being, remembers seeing in Dick before him. Just what is going on?

Jason's com speaks up. "Base secured, boss. Distraction successful."

"Understood. Team A, keep setting up location. Team B, retreat." Jason throws a smoke bomb down as soon as he finishes speaking. The smoke shrouds the alley between his men and the vigilantes. His men, of course, are prepared for the intervention and use the fog to escape efficiently into the night. Jason uses it to get closer to the two vigilantes to continue observing.

The smoke clears, allowing Jason visuals once more. Batman and Robin stand there looking around for signs of an oncoming attack, or retreating foes, or something. Too bad Jason's men are well trained in stealth. When the two see nothing, Batman turns around and starts stomping away.

"Wait up, B" The boy even sounds small, now that Jason can hear him in the quiet of the post-fight atmosphere.

"They escaped. I need to find them." Batman grunts, and he sounds pissed. More annoyed than Jason thinks is reasonable for something like this.

"Okay," Robin nods. "Let's split up and-"

"Robin, go home. You're hurt and I don't need a liability."

"Hurt? B, They barely scratched me!"

"Go Robin." The finality in his voice cuts off any response. Robin stares at his back as the Dark Knight storms off. Jason can't see the boy's expression behind the domino, but he can only imagine from the frown on his lips that he's not happy.

Alone in the alley, Timothy starts to grumble to himself. Jason has to strain to hear him even from his closer vantage point. "Gee, Robin, thanks for blocking that attack for me. I'm sorry you got hurt in the process. Next time I'll be sure to watch your back too. I promise." Timothy kicks a soda can that was thrown around in the scuffle. "Fuck. If I wanted to get hurt while trying to placate an emotionally unstable adult, I would've just stayed at home. Why am I still doing this?"

And that… is a statement Jason doesn't know how to unpack. He doesn't even have time to try before Timothy takes a deep breath and continues.

"It's for Gotham. Gotham needs Batman. Batman needs Robin. If I wasn't there tonight , B would've gotten hurt. He'd have killed himself by now if I didn't force my way into Robin."

Timothy continues grumbling as he walks out of Jason's hearing range. Jason doesn't bother trying to follow. His mind is full of swirling thoughts, puzzle pieces trying to click together uselessly when he doesn't know the picture he's trying to make. What the fuck is Bruce thinking? Jason would've thought the old man learned his lesson after Jason's death. But no, apparently he's somehow gotten worse at taking care of his child soldiers.

Jason needs more information, damnit. Shifting around his plans regarding Robin in his head, he makes his way to where his men are waiting for him to meet up and give their next orders.

~ ~ ~

If Jason thought he wanted to punch Bruce in the face before, then nothing could've prepared him for how much more he wants to with every detail he learns about the new dynamic duo. Tim is smart, Jason is loath to admit. Smart and clever and kind and empathetic and everything someone would expect Robin to be. Jason sees it with every criminal he secures, with how he checks up on each one after they're bound up. Checking as if there's a reason for them to be ones injured and not their victims. And the victims. Each one he reassures with a smile on his face even as Batman turns his back, already swinging away towards the next culprit.

Don't get Jason started on Batman. He sees how Bruce acts around the kid. Like he's the scum on his shoe. Like he's not worth the title of Robin. Like he's not worth being beside Bruce's side.

And that's just Tim's life as Robin.

Something Tim said won't leave Jason's mind, and with every interaction he witnesses it rears its ugly head more and more. If I wanted to get hurt while trying to placate an emotionally unstable adult, I would've just stayed at home.

Just what the fuck is this kid's home like, for him to say something like that?

Tonight, Jason intends to find out. He's too deep into this mystery now to not look into it.

Jason spends the night trailing behind the dynamic duo. Even with the mask, Jason can see the dark bags underneath the boy's eyes, and he can only wonder how he was able to avoid Alfred's wrath in order to go on patrol. Despite his obvious exhaustion, Robin doesn't allow it to affect his work. There are no rogues out of Arkham right now, so it's only petty thieves and the like out tonight. Robin takes down his share with efficiency and ease. He makes it to the end of the patrol, battered and bruised with only a few small cuts along his arms, and gets into the batmobile to go back to the manor.

Jason doesn't follow them right away. He waits for the batmobile to drive out of sight before revving his motorcycle and speeding down a different path to Bristol. B doesn't need to think they're being followed, and its not like Jason has plans of going into the actual cave anytime soon.

Jason drives to the edge of Wayne property, the edge that borders the Drakes'. Zooming his helmet into the front of Wayne Manor, he sees he's made it just in time. The door is opening, and he watches as Timothy Drake steps outside, no longer in the Robin uniform, looking every way the spoiled rich kid Jason believed he was. He waves a goodbye to Alfred as the butler shuts the door behind him.

Jason analyzes the boy as he crosses the distance between the two properties. He looks for any sign of first aid, despite knowing in his gut he won't see any. The boy was out of the Manor too quickly to have been a victim of Alfie's motherhenning. Even still, Jason watches the boy walk with confidence in his stride, as if he doesn't have untreated injuries coating his body.

That is, until he crosses the invisible boundary between the properties.

One moment, Tim is standing tall, proud, unburdened by the horrors of Gotham an. Then, it's as if the entire world is dumped onto his shoulders. His back slouches, his pace slows, and he heaves a world weary sigh as he continues his trek. He shrinks into himself, somehow even smaller than he was before, and Jason didn't think that was even possible.

There's a limp in his step, and it makes Jason pause. He fails to recall him injuring his foot on patrol tonight. A previous injury? How the hell did he manage to make it all the way through patrol if so? And again, how did it escape Alfie's all-seeing gaze.

The first half of Tim's journey took him ten minutes top, to get from the steps of Wayne Manor to the property boundaries. The second half takes twenty as Tim limps his way across the lawn. He takes the steps one at a time, before finally making his way into his own Manor.

Jason waits until the front door is long closed before moving closer. He leaves his bike hidden in some shrubbery and begins his own trek across the lawn. It barely takes him five minutes with his long strides. All the lights in the manor are off, which isn't too surprising given the time of night. But Jason can't help feeling something's wrong. He creeps up the front porch, and tries the doorknob, shocked when it opens with ease. Do the Drakes not lock their front door? Thinking back, he doesn't recall Tim pulling out a key to get in himself. Are they just asking to be robbed? Jason knows quite a few people who would pay good money for this information.

Slipping inside, Jason silently shuts the door behind him. The foyer is dark, but Jason can see a dim light coming from down one wing. He creeps in that direction, keeping an eye out for anything suspicious. Peeking around a corner, Jason sees a figure in what looks like a kitchen. It's Tim, searching through some empty looking cabinets.

"Coffee, coffee. Fuck. Did I finish the coffee?" Jason stares at the boy, who's haphazardly standing on a stool to look in the upper cabinets. Why the fuck is he looking for coffee at this hour?

"Are you sure you should be drinking coffee at this time of night?" Jason can't stop himself from commenting. So much for silently observing, he chides himself. At least his voice modulator makes him sound more intimidating and less confused than he actually is.

Tim doesn't jump. He just closes the cabinet with a sigh and turns to face him. He's still standing on the stool, looking down at Jason with a blank stare. "Well, that's a new record."

Jason blinks. "…what?"

"It's only been 35 hours since I last slept. Usually the hallucinations don't start until at least 40." Tim jumps off the stool, and Jason doesn't know if he should step closer to make sure the boy doesn't fall in his injured and exhausted state, or step away in shock at his statement. He stays right where he is as a compromise. Tim takes a curious step even closer."I gotta say. Red Hood's a new one though. I wonder why? I know we faced those goons of his a couple weeks ago, but B's been keeping me away from cases involving him. Or maybe that's exactly why? Maybe it's my brain telling me to look further into him?"

"Or you could not do that?"

"That's exactly what a real Red Hood would want. Which means I should do the opposite."

What the fuck is wrong with this kid? Jason is beyond confused at this point. Why has he been up so long? Why is he familiar with how long it takes for him to start hallucinating from sleep deprivation? Why is this a normal enough occurrence that hallucination is his mind's first thought.

"I wonder if my subconscious put a face under the helmet? Hey HalluciHood. Hoolucination? Whatever. Take off your helmet. Let's see who I think is underneath."

Fucking. What? No seriously, what the fuck? You should not ask a known crime lord to reveal their identity. Even if they're an assumed hallucination!

Jason's first instinct should be to refuse. Of fucking course it should be. His first instinct should be for the anger to well up inside of him at the mere suggestion, for him to lash out in rage at the kid for the nerve. But instead, there's nothing. No anger, no rage. No instant rejection. This conversation has gone in so many wild directions and Jason is blindsided on what to do.

Although Jason's gotta admit, he's a little curious on how the kid will react.

…Fuck it. Tim thinks he's hallucinating anyway. Jason reaches up to disable the safety features on his helmet. Then, before he can second guess himself anymore, he takes it off.

Tim barely reacts. He just nods his head. "That makes sense. Who else to put under the helmet but my most common hallucination? Easier than conjuring up a new one."

Jason… doesn't think he can take any more plot twists from this kid. "Oh? Who am I, then?" He just has to check. There's no fucking way this kid knows who he is from just a glance. Actually, important question, why the fuck did he imply he regularly hallucinates Jason?

"Existential crisis. Love it, Jason. Although that's usually not till the 50 hour mark."

"Jesus Fuck, kid." Jason's done. He's just done. Just who the fuck is taking care of this kid? Why the hell aren't they doing their job? Actually, on that note. If it's been over 30 hours since he slept, then… "When's the last time you ate?"

Tim shrugs. Fucking shrugs. "You would know better than me, subconscious." He plops onto a stool at the island in the middle of the room. "Maybe I should grab a granola bar before I get to work."

That's it. Jason is going to find every adult who's supposed to take care of this child and knock some fucking sense into them. Jason stomps over to the fridge. Opening it, he stares in shock at the emptiness in front of him. A carton of eggs, some spoiled milk, and what looks like a pre-prepared plate of food. Jason grabs that and shoves it into the microwave. For now, it's better than nothing.

While that heats up, Jason looks back over to Tim. The boy is laying with his head on the counter, his eyes half shut as he struggles to stay awake. The microwave dings and the boy doesn't even move.

He does move, however, when Jason all but slams the plate in front of him with a growl. "Bon appétit."

Tim stares at the plate for a moment before starting to mutter to himself. "Okay. Selective memory. Somehow I got up, heated up Mrs. Mac's leftovers, and brought it back here, only to block the memory to make it seem like Halluci-Jason made me the food. Cool. Great." Tim lets out a dark chuckle. "God, I must be fucking lonely if I have to resort to this to feel like someone cares for me."

Every time Jason feels as if the kid can't throw anything worse at Jason, he proves him wrong. "Just eat the food then go to fucking bed."

Tim actually listens, which feels like a fucking miracle. When he goes to wash his plate, Jason shoo's him off. "I'll clean the fucking plate. Go. The Fuck. To Bed."

Tim nods silently, and Jason can see the exhaustion catching up to him. A full belly of food will do that to a person. If the boy doesn't sleep for at least twelve hours, Jason will eat his helmet.

After checking to make sure the boy actually reaches his bed, Jason flops down onto the island stool himself. He groans. What the fuck is wrong with this kid? No, a better question is: what the fuck is wrong with every single adult in this kid's life? Including Bruce and Alfred. Hell, even Dick should have noticed something off with the boy!

So what does Jason know? Tim has a habit of going long periods of time without eating or sleeping. There's someone named Mrs. Mac that Jason needs to look into, who prepares food for Tim. Even if he doesn't actually end up eating it. Where are the boy's parents? Why aren't they keeping an eye on their boy's habits?

Jason groans again. The biggest question is just what has he gotten himself into?

~ ~ ~

Tim sleeps for over twelve hours. In fact he sleeps for fifteen. Jason keeps an eye on him the whole time, not knowing what else to do while he mulls over the information he's learned.

Jason doesn't realize Tim's awake until he suddenly shoots out of bed.

"Fuck!" His yell wakes Jason from his doze. Jason jumps to his feet, immediately on the defensive. When he sees nothing that can be deemed a threat, he relaxes slightly.

"Tim, what the fuck?" He snaps at the boy, who's currently untangling himself from his blankets.

"Shit, I wasn't supposed to go to sleep until I finished the case I promised! B's expecting it ASAP. Fuck, he's gonna be mad."

"Kid, if you tried working on anything last night, it would have been nothing but nonsense. Surely Bruce will understand. Hell, he shouldn't have even let you patrol last night with how tired you were."

"Yeah right." Tim scoffs. "Like Bruce has ever cared about my well-being. Come on HalluciJason, you should know that by now. So long as I'm useful he couldn't give less of a shit."

Jason has to stop himself from storming next door and giving Bruce a piece of his mind. Just what the fuck is he thinking? He takes a deep breath to calm himself before speaking.

"Ok. Ok. Here's what's gonna happen. I'm gonna go downstairs, and try to scrounge together some breakfast for us. While I do that, you're gonna follow and answer some questions for me. Call it… self-reflection. Analyzing your own situation and seeing where you can improve or some shit. You understand?"

Tim hums. "Self-reflection, huh. Not sure what I'll gain from it, but what's the harm? Ask away, Jay!"

~ ~ ~

Jason doesn't know what he expects to hear about the kid's life, but he's pretty sure it's not this.

Tim's parents aren't home. Are barely ever fucking home, if the boy's rambling mutters are to be believed. And boy does he ramble. It's as if the thought of having someone to listen to him opens the floodgates of Tim's thoughts, even if that someone is a supposed hallucination.

The boy has been basically on his own since he was seven. Longer really, but that was when his parents decided to downsize the hired help taking care of him.

"Seven is a perfectly reasonable age to stop needing a nanny, Timothy." Tim quotes his parents. Jason wants to punch something when he says that.

Mrs. Mac is the one housekeeper the Drakes keep around. A saint of a woman, in Jason's opinion, but she can only do so much during the three days a week she's there. Tim goes on and on about the meals she prepares for him, the cleaning she does, the idle chatter she initiates when Tim's home. The woman deserves an award for single handedly keeping Tim alive.

By the end of his questions, Jason is already plotting a way to unofficially move into Drake Manor. Tim needs an adult in his life God damnit, someone to take care of him cause he sure as fuck can't do it himself. Never mind that Jason isn't technically an adult, but eh, details. The manor is big, with plenty of spare rooms, so he knows there's enough space for him to have his own space.

After making sure Tim eats his breakfast, Jason gets to work. Hopefully Tim won't get himself killed in the time it takes Jason to pick out a room and make a list of things that need to get done. Most important is grocery shopping. Because Jason cannot stand the state of the Drake's kitchen pantry.

The rest of the day blurs by. While checking on Tim every few hours, Jason catalogs the state of the manor. He makes a list of anything he needs to get in order to care for two growing teenage boys (as much as Jason doesn't want to consider himself one). At one point he races to his apartment to pick up his own things. It takes a few trips, with Jason only having a side-car on his motorcycle to carry things in. Each time he returns, he checks on Tim, only to see him right where he left him. Sitting at a table on his laptop, working on the case he mentioned this morning.

Eventually, Jason finishes moving everything he needs for now into the room he picked out. It's a decent sized room in the guest wing, far from the family wing with little chance of discovery. Not that there's many people who are home to discover it. He unpacks the necessities, taking the time to change out of his Red Hood outfit while he does. Tim already knows who he is after all. Soon, he decides he's done for the day. It's almost dinner-time, and Jason is certain Tim didn't eat lunch.

When Jason returns to Tim once more, he's still in the same spot, looking as if he hasn't even fucking blinked since Jason last checked.

"That's it." Jason walks up to Tim and closes the lid of his laptop. Tim goes to complain, but before he can Jason slings him over his shoulder like the sack of potatoes he is. Geezus, this kid needs to gain some weight.

"Put me down." Tim cries. He punches and kicks, but Jason barely feels it.

"No can do, Timbit. It's dinner time, and you've been doing nothing but staring at that screen all day. How are your eyes not killing you?"

"I'm almost done! I just need to finish this case and then I'll eat."

"Nope. You're done for the day. If I let you continue, you'd go all night." Jason has a realization. "Besides, isn't it a school night?"

"I'll just skip and hack the attendance list like usual." Yeah not on Jason's fucking watch.

"You should feel fucking privileged to be able to go to school at all, kid. You are not skipping on my watch."

Tim has stopped kicking at this point, but he doesn't let up on his complaints. "God, I miss Robin HalluciJason. At least he let me do my work while telling me all my faults. And didn't force me to go to school"

Jason has learned at this point to just ignore the vague comments implying the state of Tim's health and mental health until a later point. If only to preserve his own mental health. "Yeah yeah, I'm the worst. What do you want for dinner?"

Dinner is a silent affair. Jason makes stir-fry out of the ingredients he bought while bringing his things to the manor. Tim takes it in stride, assuming Mrs. Mac prepared extra meals that he heated up and promptly forgot. Jason doesn't bother to correct him.

He corrals the kid to bed shortly after, knowing he needs it.

~ ~ ~

Jason sits in the manor kitchen dressed in his Red Hood outfit. The only light surrounding him is the dim natural light from the few windows in the room. Tim left for school a couple hours ago, leaving Jason alone. But not for long.

He hears the front door open. The humming of an older woman fills the silent manor. Footsteps make their way in Jason's direction. The kitchen lights turn on. The humming is replaced with shocked silence.

"Hello Mrs. Mac."

She doesn't scream like Jason expects her to. Instead, her eyes narrow, and her hands sneak into the purse at her hip.

"Why is the Red Hood all the way in Bristol?"

"So you've heard of me?"

"I like to keep up with current events. And honey? You're definitely a current event." Jason laughs. He winces a little as his helmet distorts it into something a little more intimidating. It doesn't seem to bother Mrs. Mac though as she continues. "So I ask again, why are you here?"

"I've taken an… invested interest in the Drake family. Specifically one Timothy Jackson Drake."

Instantly, Mrs. Mac's eyes go cold and her grip tightens on whatever she has in her purse. "What could you possibly want with the boy? He's done nothing wrong."

"You're right. He's not the one who's done something wrong. It's every other fucking adult in his life, aside from you." She tilts her head in question, her eyes still narrowed. "Relax, Ma'am. I'm not here to hurt you or him. Come. Sit. Let's talk."

"And how do I know I can trust you?"

"You're the one who keeps up with current events. So you should know my rule about hurting kids." Jason makes a split second decision. "But I suppose I can trade some trust for trust."

Jason is glad he put on his domino under the helmet as he pulls it off. Mrs. Mac gasps, although Jason doesn't see recognition in her eyes. Her stance relaxes as her hand loosens in her purse.

"You're just a boy." She whispers as she moves towards the seat Jason gestured to before. "What are you doing as a Crime Lord?"

"There's a reason I protect the kids, Ma'am. I used to be one of them."

"Used to be? Honey, you still are one." Jason has to hold down the blush as she stares at him with such kind eyes. The exact opposite of how they looked at him at the beginning of their conversation.

"We're not here to talk about me." Jason redirects. "We're here about Tim."

"Yes. Little Timothy. Such a good boy. Although, I'm still not sure why you're interested in him."

"It's… personal." She stares at him as though expecting him to elaborate. "I can't say much more without spilling secrets that aren't just mine to share. But recent events have made me aware of Tim's home life and I just can't let the kid stay like this."

Mrs. Mac nods her head. "I know what you mean. I try to help, but I can only push so much before I fear his parents will fire me. So I leave more food than I'm paid to provide, I give him company when I can, and I try to make the house seem as lived in as possible."

"From now on I am going to help." Jason states firmly. "I've taken over a room in the guest wing, and I've bought some groceries to make him food. Fucking kid thinks I'm a hallucination but honestly that might be for the best. He might interact more freely with me and let himself relax more that way. And fuck does he need to relax."

"I mean I would think that too, if the Red Hood started motherhening me." She chuckles.

"Never mind the dead kid next door." Silence. Oh. Right. She doesn't know that part. "Uh, any chance you could forget that part?"

She takes a moment to stare at him. He's not sure what she finds, but she nods her head.

"I'll let it slide for now. We are, after all, talking about Timothy here." Jason gives her an appreciative smile. Jason has a feeling they're gonna work nicely together.

~ ~ ~

It goes like this. Mrs. Mac comes to the manor late Monday mornings, early Wednesday afternoons, and late Friday afternoons. When she comes, she brings groceries, snacks, two days worth of pre-made dinners for two. (When Jason offered to pay her back, she shoved a cookie in his hands and promptly told him to fuck off, albeit in kinder words).

Jason learns a little more about Tim's home life from Mrs. Mac. The Drakes are away for months on end, Jason knows that, but for the little time they are home they act as if Tim isn't even there. Mrs. Mac barely sees the boy when the Drake's are home. He's always hiding in his room or in some part of the house his parents are not. Who knows if or when he's eating during those times.

Jason's still not sure what to do about Bruce. He knows for damn sure he can't convince Tim to stop being Robin (he tried, it didn't go well), so all he can do is help the boy tend to his injuries while plotting how he's going to confront the Waynes.

Time passes. Tim loses some of the bags under his eyes, and even gains a little weight. His injuries are properly cared for and his scars fade little by little.

And then, news of the Drakes' return.

~ ~ ~

The night before their scheduled arrival, Jason stands in the kitchen cooking dinner with Tim laying his head on the island counter. His eyes are closed. Jason's pretty sure his logic at this point is if he doesn't see anything, he won't freak out over 'missing' memories. Jason just leaves him be.

When the food is done, Jason sets a plate out for each of them. "Eat up, Timbo."

Tim lifts his head and stares at the food. "I wonder. With my parents home, will you disappear? I mean, I technically won't be alone anymore, so there'd be no reason for you to be here. And I've been sleeping more lately too."

"Who knows, Timmy? I might just surprise you."

Tim scoffs. "Yeah, you're right. Just cause they're home, doesn't mean I'll be any less lonely."

Jason closes his eyes so Tim doesn't see the boiling anger that fills them at the statement. "I'll take care of you, baby bird. I promise."

"Baby bird?"

"Cause you're Robin, and you're so small."

Tim squawks in response. "I'm not small!"

"Sure you're not." He ruffles Tim's hair. Tim bats his hand away before finally picking up his fork to eat, directing the conversation elsewhere.

~ ~ ~

It takes all of three hours for Jason to start planning the Drakes' murder. Well, actually it takes all of ten minutes. The three hours is how long it takes Jack and Janet Drake to acknowledge their son's existence.

"Timothy, your hair has gotten too long. Schedule an appointment to cut it."

"Timothy, why is that shirt not in the trash?"

"Timothy, look your mother in the eyes when she's talking to you."

Timothy Timothy Timothy

Jason watches it all from the shadows, eyes like a hawk as he analyzes everything the Drakes do and say. Because, there's still one thing Tim said, back on that first day, that won't leave Jason's mind. That hasn't left his mind since the boy said it. That's been plaguing him for weeks since Jason first started staying at the manor.

If I wanted to get hurt while trying to placate an emotionally unstable adult, I would've just stayed at home.

"What was that, boy?"

"I-I didn't mean to. I'm sorry. Please, forgive me."

"You ungrateful brat!" A hand is lifted. Jason doesn't think. He just moves.

Faster than even a speedster, Jason flies out of the shadows behind Jack and Janet and grabs Jack's raised hand.

"What the-"

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Jason snarls, the helmet doing nothing to hide the pure venom in his words. Janet steps away from him in fear. Jack tries to do the same, but the harsh grasp on his wrist stops him.

"Wh-who are you? What are you doing in our house?" Jack tries to steady his voice, to make his words demanding, but all Jason hears is the terror lacing every syllable. Jason smiles harshly, not that anyone can see it.

"Haven't you heard of me? I'm the Red Hood." Jason twists Jack's arm, hearing the man cry out in pain. "And I have opinions about people who hurt kids."

"You have no right to be here." Janet seems to have gained some of her own footing. easier for her when her arm isn't seconds away from snapping. "Leave before I call the police."

"I'm pretty sure at this point I have more right to be here than you do. I've been here for months now. I've provided food, I've bought the goddamn toilet paper, I've been taking care of your fucking kid. Isn't that right, Timmy?"

Jason spares a glance towards Tim for the first time since he entered the scene. His eyes are wide, not in fear like his parents, but in shock.

"Yo-you're real?"

Jason chuckles. "Really kid, the hallucination excuse died that first day after I forced you to sleep. How you convinced yourself for this long is beyond me."

"Then that means…" Quiet, so quiet Jason has to read his lips to know what he says, he finishes. "Jason."

Jason doesn't respond before his attention snaps back to Jack trying to escape his grasp. "We'll talk later, baby bird. For now, just say the word and I'll deal with your little problem here."

"No!" Tim shakes out of his shock in order to grab the hand on Jack's wrist. "Ja-Hood. Don't kill them. Please!"

"Why not? They're shitty people who have no right being the parents of such an amazing kid like you. The world would be better without them in it."

"Please, Hood." Jason looks into Tim's pleading eyes and sighs. Goddamn Robin puppy-dog eyes.

"Fine." But because he can, he snaps Jack's arm, causing the man to scream out in pain. "Just remember that your son is the reason you're alive to feel this. Both of you," he takes a moment to stare Janet in the eyes as well, "be fucking grateful. If I hear that you've so much as raised your voice at Tim, I won't be as merciful."

Jason lets go of Jack's broken arm and starts to walk towards the front door. He pauses to look behind him at Tim. "Come on, kid. I think we deserve some fucking ice cream."

Everything isn't perfect. The two have a lot to talk about now that Tim knows Jason is really alive (and a Crime Lord). They need to talk about Bruce, and Alfred, and Dick, and Mrs. Mac, and Robin, and… just so many things. But, as Tim races to catch up to Jason, barely glancing at his parents before grabbing Jason's outstretched hand, Jason thinks that everything's gonna be better from here on out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

END NOTE:

I hope y'all enjoyed! I'm not sure how I feel about this, it feels a lot more rushed than I hoped. But it's good enough to post. I'll see y'all tomorrow for day 2.

Feel free to point out any mistakes.

[twilightofthesandwiches]

Had a dream the new Deltarune Chapter came out. It had an outer-space themed Dark World and was full of Classic Space Shooter parodies, but the most notable thing about is that, like,

The dialogue was all in Japanese - and it was, like, awkward badly-translated Japanese at that (the Japanese translation probably had awkward badly-translated English instead) and it kept auto-skipping far too quickly for anyone to read it. The characters also kept walking automatically from location to location without any chance for the Player to look at anything on their own. Like, the Player was able to do Battles and Puzzles like normal, but every time there was a cutscene or even just the characters walking from place-to-place, the game auto-controlled like an LPer trying to rush through everything.

And, if you were able to gleam the story from the hastily-skipped-over-oddly-translated-pieces-of-dialogue you'd see this was actually Extremely Thematically Resonate. Cause the story was that our Three Heroes are also trying to rush through the Dark World as soon as possible and they're not taking it seriously enough.

Then once you reach the Light World Epilogue the game goes back to normal. The Player is back in control of Kris' movement, the language switches back into English and the dialogue stops auto-skipping.

And THEN in the middle of the Epilogue it turns out that because the Heroes did such a rushjob of taking care of that Dark World, the Dark Fountain was not properly sealed, and it reopens and now they have to do everything all over again. They learn a very important lesson about not rushing through an important task and resolve to seal the Fountain properly this time.

And now there's like a whole new adventure in that Dark World that actually plays like a normal Deltarune Chapter with it's own real Light World Epilogue afterwards and everything.

But also, like, since the 'speedrun' and 'real' portions of the Chapter were two separate adventures, folks online quickly realized there were lore and story details hiding exclusively in the version that's weirdly-translated and too fast to read. So Deltarune fans were spending all of their time recording and screenshotting and transcribing everything said in the first part of the adventure in search of useful info.

Also that whole Dark World was also about helping the school janitor come to terms with his bisexuality or something?

[seeminglyunconcious]

Eros in Chains [I/III]

Due to the advancement of technology, video games can be fully played with full immersive features allowing one to experience a 1:1 digital world as if it was real life itself! Being the freaks that they are, Lukey convinced Pangi to try an old game out- Chained Together.

Explicit [[tw: breath play]]

Inspired by Pankey's playthrough of Chained Together! Also, if someone can tech me in the DMs how to link multiple posts together like chapters, that would be dope!

Read online or down below!

“I’m going to fucking kill you!” A roar echoed throughout the valley at the bottom of Heaven's Ladder, in the red horizon the black shadows of imps flew haphazardly into the sky. Before the stone gate leading into the valley, two figures were rolling around on the ground trying to strangle the other. Given the location— Hell— it wasn’t an uncommon sight to see, but the two happened to be connected by giant shackles at the hip, something less uncommon in modern depictions of the underworld.

Curses and the clanging of metal echoed thrice more times before it died down enough to be drowned out by Hell’s ambient noise: the screeches of devils and expulsion of sulphuric gas from its depths.

Two figures stood at the entrance to Heaven’s Ladder… for the upteenth time.

Pangi deeply exhaled, determined eyes pointedly ignoring the dirty blonde who shared the shackles next to him. “Next time Lukey, can you lock the fuck in? It’s just some barrels. We’ve gotten further than that before.”

“It’s just some barrels~” Lukey mocked, arms crossed, equally pissed. “You try jumping without sprinting first and see if you feel so confident.”

“I do!”

“Well, you’re too slow. Sorry, I’m attempting to speedrun the bits we’ve already done who knows how many times.”

“That’s the thing! I don’t care if you do- I thought we agreed on having a signal when we needed to jump together?!”

“We have eyes, shouldn’t need to be said when you can see the other person jump.”

“You’re impossible!” Pangi threw his hands into the air with exasperation and walked under the gate silently muttering to himself.

“What? Gonna threaten to not use a condom again? Not, like they have your fav- AH!” With a yank of the chain and a yelp, Lukey fell to the ground and was dragged across the stone slabs towards the elevator that signalled the start of a new attempt.

The older man looked up at his partner with squinted eyes, “Rude.”

Pangi didn’t even give him the satisfaction of looking down. “You look and sound better when you keep your mouth shut.”

Lukey rolled his eyes and turned away, fiddling with his end of the chain as the lift slowly went up to the first set of obstacles upwards. Pangi had long become bored with the process: it was just clear cut jumping, some walking, and climbing before the real test began around the wooded tower area. Being completely honest, they were a pretty good team, awesome even, he couldn't understand why Lukey kept screwing up some of the jumps and obstacles where they had already analyzed a proper response for.

It was fine the first handful of times as they settled into their groove. Small mistakes here and there, some banter, playful threats… but somewhere along the way the line between play and genuine feeling had become quite blurred. He couldn’t tell if the other was purposely sabotaging them or if they were just here to humour him.

Pangi silently followed Lukey’s lead who was going off on some tangent about a proper technique to run through the Bone Maze.

“See here, come stand here Pangi. I’m going to show you something,” before the sentence was even finished he felt the pull of the chain dragging him over to the spot Lukey was standing at. “If we just rush along the bones here and jump from skull to skull, theoretically we can shave a lot of time in the future. Of course, only if we fall straight to the bottom again.”

He wanted to bash his silly little grin into the bones at the mention of falling.

Breathing in slowly and exhaling, Pangi controlled his impulses. “Alright, we’ll do it your way.”

Why doesn’t Hell have alcohol?

The two made it about halfway across before Lukey- of course- messed up and went the wrong way, completely negating any time they shaved off by executing his plan.

“See… this wasn’t supposed to happen.” He then burst into a fit of laughter, providing half-assed apologies in between gasps of air.

Pangi groaned, “This is why we should’ve just gone the tried and true method of walking the line…”

“Fine, fine. If I wasn't chained to you though, I’d totally prove you wrong. My way would’ve worked.” Lukey held his hands up in faux surrender, gesturing towards Pangi to lead the way.

“I wish I had alcohol or music.”

“Wouldn’t be Hell would it?”

“It became that way the moment I met you, I just didn’t realize you were the devil in disguise.”

“Excuse me mister, do you even recall the first question you asked me? If anything, you orchestrated this whole endeavor from the moment we first met. Just couldn’t handle not getting a piece of this all for yourself~” Lukey made a show off gesture towards his own body to which Pangi pulled the chain again, making the older man scream as he fell off the ledge. He had to admit, he did enjoy this part of their climb.

—

They were finally back at the wooden tower… barracks? If Pangi were to describe it, it would lean more towards some amalgamation of a watchtower that was caught in the process of the creation of Heaven’s Ladder. There were simply too many off-the-cuff bedrooms, weaponry, and rope around to be one or the other.

“So are we just gonna stand around lolly-gaggin’ or are we actually gonna start climbing?” The too-perky and sunshiny British voice invaded Pangi’s ears. If thoughts could kill, Lukey would’ve died a million times over today alone.

Pangi gave his partner in chains a side-eyed stare, tempting the many ideas that had filled his head as they climbed up to this spot a number of times enough to lose interest in keeping track.

A hint of a grin made its way onto his face before quickly fading, “Actually, why don’t we look around a little more in the rooms. Maybe there’s a shortcut upwards we missed?”

The sudden shift in tone wasn’t lost to Lukey, who had visibly backed off a step. “Ohh kay… and why the sudden change of heart?”

“I don’t know, just felt like taking your advice alright? If we keep falling down, we might as well find ways to speed our way up when we do.” Pangi’s tone was dangerously sweet, like a honey trap. Lukey being the way he was, rubbed a hand on his chin in thought before tentatively accepting the offer.

It was too easy, this fucking guy.

“Before we do-” Sometimes tempting fate was the destiny of a hamster no matter which universe they’re in. “Admit I was right. Say, ‘Lukey, I was wrong, and you were right. Like always!’”

He was too cocky and for what? Pangi didn’t like that.

WHAM!

“Pangi—!”

Lukey was slammed against the wall of the nearby room, knocking the wind out of him. Pangi stood slightly above- one hand sitting comfortably on Lukey’s neck and the other pinning slender wrists above his head.

“Duuude.” Pangi dragged out the vowel and licked his lips, “Sometimes, you have to just shut up and take the win, y’know?” He squeezed Lukey’s neck slightly, eliciting a dry gasp from him. Their eyes made contact, there was no hatred, only determination and curiosity.

“And I get it, it’s not often we get to have a little solo experience together like this. You probably have so many pent up emotions under there huh? Craving my attention without asking. Ragebaiting me in hopes I do something— anything, right?”

Pangi leaned forward, his mouth next to Lukey’s ears. “So, I hope you’re happy, Lukey.” He pressed a light kiss on his ear and slightly nipped at the lobe.

“Isn’t this what you wanted?” He waited a little longer, watching Lukey attempt to break free and grow increasingly red before letting go.

The younger man leaned back, putting his hands on his hips, admiring the flushed mess the usually oratory boy had become under a little teasing with a smirk. His neck and wrists were a brilliant shade of red, a temporary reminder of how well fitting Pangi’s hands were to Lukey’s body.

“What. The. Fuck.” Lukey said in deep gasping breaths. “You know I have asthma!”

“And we’re both straight…” A retort followed with rolled eyes.

“Fuck you! Least I don’t go around being jealous when I talk to other people, I keep it in the game.” The blonde glared at him, dusting himself off; conveniently, the already loose tunic fell off one shoulder exposing a clean bit of unmarred skin to the elements.

“Plus! I actually admit when I’m wrong instead of playing nonchalant and blaming other people for my mistakes. Not to mention, I give you genuine advice when I see us repeating a mistake.” Lukey had slowly walked over to the side, one of the beds they had joked about being heaven behind him, before further goading Pangi on who had walked close to him.

There was a dangerous light in Pangi’s eyes, one that reflected off Lukey’s own dilated pupils. “Oohhhh, so we’re twisting facts now?”

When had they gotten that close? 

“Didn’t see anybody complaining when they were pinned against a wall just now.”

What were they talking about again? Pangi’s eyes flicked down, watching Lukey wet his chapped lips, biting on his own.

Lips and teeth crashed, “Fuck!” “Idiot!”

They both backed off, holding a hand up to their mouths while staring at the other.

“Thought you would’ve known how to handle a kiss being the 6ft, handsome, humble man you claim to be. Guess we all lie to compensate.”

Pangi rushed him, knocking Lukey against the edge of the wood that carried the mottled mattress. Lukey couldn’t even register the pain behind his legs before another shot of adrenaline shot to his head. Pangi had kissed and sucked a hickey on his exposed shoulder!

“Mmhmm, you talk too much.”

The younger strung kisses along Lukey’s shoulder to his jawline— a hand pulling the hair just beneath the nape of his neck back— to his open mouth, “Shut up and be pretty.” It was said in an authoritative whisper followed by a rough and messy kiss: lips moving desperately against the other, a minute clash of teeth, their bodies pulling themselves together and pushing them apart in some odd satisfying rhythm. Pangi bit Lukey’s lower lip, slowly pulling it into his own, and bit a little harder till that metallic taste made itself known.

Their shared moan harmonized.

And then everything stopped with Pangi pulling away with a satisfied grin, wiping his mouth with his wrist. His tongue darting out, as if to taste any residue of Lukey left.

Before him Lukey with frazzled hair, swollen lips, and a rather dumb look on his face, was struggling to keep himself situated on the lofted bed. Pangi looked down further, admiring his work on his shoulders and the rising situation some fiber trousers couldn’t hide. He was kind of glad the game didn’t give them much to work with, certainly left a lot to imagination in moments like this.

“There’s nothing to compensate for. Just didn’t feel like giving you the real thing. You don’t deserve it.” And with that Pangi left the small room, the loose chain ever growing tense as he walked further away to Lukey’s dismay.

“Wait! Y-you can’t just—” He fell, scrambling to get up, before finding Pangi already halfway up the ladder to the next section.

“Okay, Lukey lock in!” He laughed without looking back.

Pangi could practically feel the resentment below him. Suitable they were in Hell, at least he had an excuse to be an ass. He kept climbing, with a thought of the many obstacles ahead and the many times they’d probably visit this exact spot.

It wasn’t wrong to reward good behavior right?

[review-anon]

Thoughts on Kokichi Ouma?

Oh boy. Kokichi.

He's a complicated mess as if you recall my tier list he's quite low down.

Yet characters of a similar archetype to him are way higher so what gives? Does he rub me the wrong way?

I'll explain Kokichi's...unusual tier placement soon but for now let's talk the easy stuff which is his character in the game.

When Kokichi was first revealed and everyone was fawning over him I wanted this guy to be a bastard. An complete and utter bastard that does something truly henious that nobody expect the kinnies will forgive him for.

So did I get what I want? Design wise he definitely looks insane as no normal person would wear a straightjacket. This has let to the fun theories he was an escaped mental asylum patient. And when the V3 fake spoilers were running around, fun times, they said he was part of a despair cult. Its certainly a unique look.

He's an absolute blast personality wise as he says the most outragious stuff and often riles the other characters. Saying Kiibo has a dick? Speedrunning Maki trying to kill him? And him messing with Shuichi?

The lying is something that you do need to read the lines between. Its not pathological lying as Kokichi would lie even when in situations its better for him to tell the truth, so its more like compulsive lying.

All of these are so much fun to watch and Derek Stephen Prince was a fanasatic VA as I could really hear the Digimon Emperor from his voice when doing Kokichi, and he delivers the lines and his vocal changes as Kokichi has one of the most dynamic vocal ranges. I was amazed he didn't have a second VA because some characters like Junko needed multiple VAs due to how wild the character was.

His actions are interesting to unpack because while he is a shit-stirrier like most rival characters, unlike say Byakuya and Nagito who are out for themselves, Kokichi has everyone's interests in mind but due to the nature of the Killing Game, he decided to play the villain someone for everyone to band against.

Problem is; this worked a little too well as everyone hated him and then after Chapter 4 which despite his bombastic display, he was definitely affected by, he decided to create a unsolvable murder case. Which got solved because gameplay.

Many more qualified people have done more in-depth analysis on why Kokichi is such a interesting character. In fact if it wasn't for the real reason he's so low, he would be around B/A tier.

So why is he so low? Well its not nothing to do with what Kokichi does in the games...but more of what he did to me. Putting this under the cut because its a very bonkers reason and I understand if you think this is a stupid reason and that is the reason why he isn't bottom tier.

For starters its got nothing to do with his lying. I've like liar characters like Nikei and David in the past so again the archetype isn't the reason. Its also got nothing to do with the fact he kills Miu and Gonta. I never liked Miu and yes Gonta dying is sad but its a Killing Game.

Its also got nothing to do with the fact he killed Kaito as yes the two bash heads a lot but its more to do with the secondary theme of emotions vs. logic rather then Kaito hates lying little shits.

And yes I did see thoses terrible YouTube videos which claims Kokichi is poorly written. That Youtuber is a terrible elitist analyst who clearly hates Kokichi as a character and is using smokescreens and the delusion they are more educated to persuade you otherwise. Its up there with the more terrible Game Theories.

Finally the Love Hotel scene is more on the tame side and its the sole reason why everyone and their mother makes Kokichi Joker whenever one does a Persona/Danganronpa crossover.

So if its got nothing to do with that then what gives? Why do I not like Kokichi? Is it to do with something personal?

Yes. Yes it is because during the entire year of 2017, I had to deal with a non-stop stream of lucid nightmares where Kokichi Ouma was a psychopathic yandere towards me. The entire thing was like a living A Nightmare on Elm Street and I still wonder to this day how tf it even happened in the first place. The dreams are like what I described them as; Kokichi was in love with me and wasn't gonna take no for a answer.

I'm normally lucid in my dreams so at first I just tried waking up early, but to my horror I would later learn that Kokichi himself was fully aware he was in my mind and every time I end a session prematurely while he couldn't obviously stop me, he could punish me next time I go to sleep since you know humans need sleep, and would use every dream mechanic you could think of to trap me.

These dreams completely fucked up my sleep schedule as I would often get 4-5 hour sleeps because of them, and while normally when I wake up in the night I would go back to sleep, to do that would mean more Kokichi and more horrors so I would often stay up at like 4am.

I studied as much dream theory as I could and tried all the tactics I could find to make these stop, but nothing worked and Kokichi would often mock me when I did so.

Clearly I don't suffer them now so how did I get rid of him in the end? Well I won't disclose how I did it but let's just say look at how Bill Cipher in Gravity Falls was killed and that should give you a good idea how I managed to get rid of that Kokichi in the end. Expect of course I didn't lose my memories.

Don't ask me how this happened, because I don't know either. As while I do have wild dreams I had nothing on that magnitude before or since then. The dreams had two lasting effects on me. Firstly, its made me scared of Doki Doki Literature Club as while Monika is a million times tamer then my psychotic Kokichi was, its still too close to home for me.

And the second is that its given me a bit of a sour opinion on Kokichi. Not because the character sucks but because its very hard to look at a character when something wearing their face and behaving almost exactly like them, was your personal Freddy Krueger for a little over a year.

TL;DR Kokichi is a good character and under normal circumstances I would have loved him but my brain decided that it was illegal and gave me lucid nightmares about him for over a year and that's made me hard to like him.

[carmenlikeme]

CHAPTER TWO: OH, WHAT A SIN!

COWBOY LIKE ME: A JACK ABBOT SERIES.

pairing: Jack Abbot x rescuer!reader

summary: After an unexpected storm hits Pittsburgh, the entire city stops. Floodings and destruction everywhere. Jack ends up trapped for two days at PTMC. When he's finally allowed to be outside, he ends up at the frontlines of the disaster, back to his MASH unit days. Abbot works right next to the rescuers, helping them stabilize patients before they reach the hospital. He meets an interesting person amongst the rescuers, and the magnetic pull is too hard to ignore. Will he give in?

OR

Where Jack Abbot meets an eccentric doctor in the middle of a catastrophe, and finds light in one of the darkest places imaginable.

genre: fem! reader (no physical descriptions) romance, slowburn (on paper, speedrun irl), hurt/comfort, breakup, happy ending (?), sprinkled comedy, idk what else, highly medically inaccurate, heavy dialogue for the first chapters.

wc: 2.6k words

warnings: age gap (reader is in her late 20s, jack late 40s), major natural disaster, medical trauma, PTSD, mentions of war and violent situations, graphic depiction of injuries, mentions of COVID and death. Will edit as I write more.

a/n: this is a short transition chapter compared to the next one, I just couldn't get past this scene without feeling stuck, I hope the next one is longer but I also hope u like what I got for u!! and yes, another nod to a song in the title!

you can find the masterlist HERE!

It took him almost twenty minutes to start talking about her to Robby, as soon as he got back from the disaster zone late at night.

They managed to take a couple of minutes for themselves on the roof, standing awkwardly as the huge puddles of water didn’t give them enough room to sit down anywhere. They wouldn’t have, even if they could. The air felt cold on their cheeks, the occasional mist soothing them. Grounding them.

“I met someone,” he whispered, his hands squeezed together. “One of the rescuers.”

Robby understood what he meant immediately. He tilted his head the same way he does when he can’t read the expression on one of his residents. Abbot didn’t look up from the ground; he couldn’t.

“She’s so reckless. I could barely do a physical on her,” he continued.

There was so much he wanted to say about her, but he couldn’t.

“It’s like…” he started, but fell short. “Like I couldn’t get away from her. We barely talked, and I can’t stop thinking about her.”

Finally, he looked up. Robby’s expression was tender, with a hint of amusement, but his lips seemed to hide something; he was holding back a laugh.

“Remember all those years you said love at first sight doesn’t exist?” he asked carefully. Anything more, and he’d burst out laughing. “I think that came to bite you in the ass.”

“Hey, when you met Collins, it was like the revival of Jane Austen. You can’t blame me for saying you were a little too crazy for her,” Jack said, playfully defensive.

Robby laughed and pushed him away.

“This isn’t the same.”

“You’re right, brother. It’s worse.”

“Thought you wouldn’t show up,” Abbot spoke up as he walked into the room.

He already had his gloves on as he approached the gurney, carefully. One hand held a hospital tablet; the other was hidden in his pocket. His steps were measured, as if he were stepping into a wild animal’s cage.

Maybe he was. He didn’t know at this point.

“What can I say? I keep my promises,” she smiled brightly at Jack, the same smile that had made him lose sleep less than twelve hours ago. “It’s not like I was threatened or something.”

“Threaten you? Who did that?” He put on his stethoscope, trying — and failing — to hide his mischievous grin.

She put the book to the side as he pressed the cold stethoscope to her chest. She was oddly still. He glanced at her as he focused. She already had her suit on, only zipped halfway. For some reason, he couldn’t stop looking at her boots. He found it awfully endearing how she always managed to sneak some pink into her daily life.

This time: the pink laces on her work boots.

“Oh, you know. A hot doctor, you probably know him. He said if I didn’t show up at seven in the morning, he’d hunt me down for sport or something.”

She stopped talking and took deep breaths. Jack moved the stethoscope slowly, like he didn’t want the moment to end.

When he didn’t move, she took another deep breath without question. Her eyes wandered as she tried to find something to focus on in the meantime, but all she got were several curious eyes on her from outside the room. She smiled and waved a hand at them.

Jack looked in her direction, not stopping the exam, which made all of them scurry away immediately, just from his gaze.

“Are you tormenting interns, Dr. Abbot?” she tried to laugh, but was interrupted by a slightly painful cough. “I didn’t think you were one of those attendings.”

“Those attendings? What does that mean?” he asked, a smirk showing up on his face, one that remained even when Mateo entered the room.

“Mateo will take your vitals. I’ll be back in a second.”

“Oh, you’re leaving me so early?” she complained.

Jack rolled his eyes as he stepped out of the room, nodding as he went.

He made sure to take his time as he walked toward the nurse station. Dana was in the middle, typing at the computer with determination. Behind her, Perlah and Princess shared a snack, their eyes now laser-focused on him. Robby stood behind them.

He almost turned back.

“Hey Dana, can I get a peak flow for South 15?” he asked.

Dana looked up over her glasses for a second and huffed.

“Sure. Want an EKG too? Maybe a stress test while we’re at it?”

Robby took off his glasses as he realized what the conversation was about and walked away. First, he took a quick peek at the room before looking back at Dana and Jack, who were still discussing hypothetical tests they could give the rescuer, afraid he’d get caught.

He opened the door as Mateo took her vitals.

“Abbot said he wants a CBC as well, please.” Mateo nodded. “How are we doing?”

“Did Dr. Abbot ditch me already?” she tilted her head slightly, looking behind him.

“I’m okay. I’d be better if I could leave.”

“Yeah, but we have to cover our bases before we let you out.”

Robby didn't put on his gloves — he already sensed Jack coming back to the room from a mile away.

And he was right. Just a few seconds later, Jack walked back in. He barely looked at Robby, who stepped back to allow him to continue the exam.

Jack didn’t speak; his hands traveled to the rescuer's neck to check it. Then, just like last time, his right hand held her chin.

“Open up,” he ordered.

She smirked and rolled her eyes.

“Now.”

“Is he always this bossy?” she asked, but obeyed immediately. 

Robby didn’t answer. Instead, he looked at Mateo with raised eyebrows. Mateo held back a laugh.

Abbot didn’t bother to notice them; he was solely focused on her. Even if he had, he wouldn’t have cared.

“He’s not usually this bossy. I think he’s just worried,” Robby finally said.

He watched as Mateo drew her blood, like a scaredy-cat ready to jump away at any second.

She barely noticed; her whole attention was on Jack, who was now checking her pupils and had moved down to her abdomen without question.

It was clear she couldn’t care less about anyone else in the room.

“Would you be willing to wait a little bit until we get your test results back?” He leaned in closer.

Subsequently, Robby and Mateo took a step back.

“Maybe let me put you on some oxygen while we’re at it?”

“You’re handsome, but don’t test your luck. I’m here to be cleared medically, and then I’m out. But I’ll visit you later, how does that sound?”

She pinched his scrubs, daring him to get closer.

“My crew is waiting outside, too.”

“Do you ever stop?” Jack squinted, his hands coming to her shoulders to lay her back on the gurney.

“Do you?” she asked back.

By that point, Mateo and Robby had managed to leave the room without anyone noticing. The conversation felt too intense for their liking. Robby was sure he wasn’t as shameless as Jack, even with Heather.

“Mateo, get back in there, we need intel!” Princess hissed, already pushing him back toward the room.

“No fucking way. They’re about to make out, no thanks.”

He wriggled free from Princess and made his way toward anywhere but there.

“You go if you want to.”

“Is it that bad?” Dana asked.

She took one look at Princess before handing her the peak flow meter. Someone had to do it. Might as well get some chisme out of it.

Princess happily walked toward Bay 6. Dana, on the other hand, looked at Robby, waiting for an answer.

“He told me about her all night, how he forgot to ask for her name before doing a physical. How amazing and young she was…”

Dana looked back at the room, the one Princess was now hurriedly leaving after only a few seconds inside.

“The last time he sounded so excited about something was when I got him that medical book from England.”

“So you’re telling me that after years of us setting him up with hundreds of women, a youngster rescuer is the one to get his attention?”

They looked at each other, amused. And then, they laughed.

You could call it ironic — or ridiculous — because it felt like both.

Robby and Dana forgot how many blind dates they’d set up, how many casual meetups they’d planned… and nothing ever happened.

Dana still had a few unread messages from friends asking if her cute coworker had asked about them.

He never did.

“Thanks, Dr. Abbot. I’ll see you around!”

The rescuer waved back at the exam room and walked away before anyone could answer. Her steps were quick but not hurried.

She stopped next to Robby, a bright smile on her face as she set her backpack down on the nurse station and pulled out two huge jars of instant coffee, placing them in front of him.

“I think this is yours,” she said. Robby blinked a couple of times, shifting his gaze between her and the jars.

“Jack said you asked for coffee. My crew and I got a donation, but we don’t drink much on the clock. Consider it a trade.”

“Trade for what?” Dana asked, snatching the jars before the rescuer could take them away.

“You got any nicotine gum packs?” she whispered, leaning in. Her eyes drifted toward Abbot, who stood still, watching her.

“You got it, kiddo. Two nicotine gum packs for two jars, deal?” Dana turned around before she could see the girl nod, but still took the packs and handed them over.

The rescuer hid them immediately in her suit, just as Jack walked toward them. She smiled and grabbed her backpack. Abbot looked at her suspiciously, then at Dana.

 “Oh, I haven’t introduced myself,” she said, offering her hand to Robby after saying her name. Then she did the same with Dana and Jack, a sly smile on her face. “Since you missed it last time, Dr. Abbot.”

“Michael Robinavitch. You can call me Robby,” he smiled.

“Dana Evans. Just call me Dana, kid.”

“You told me your name already, yesterday,” Jack said under his breath.

“Yeah, after you forgot to ask for it for about six hours,” she huffed.

 The girl leaned into the nurse station toward Dana, who leaned in, curious.

“Are you the charge nurse?” she whispered. Dana nodded once more. “Okay, I need to tell you something… alone.”

“She means get lost,” Dana snapped. Both doctors stepped away immediately.

“You didn’t hear it from me. And I mean it. But we got word that this hospital could become a staging zone now that they’re clearing paths and reaching neighborhoods. Right now… if I had to guess, we’re looking at around 400 living, and I’m lowballing it.”

Dana didn’t flinch; she nodded, looking intently at the girl. “You’d be the second point of triage after field stabilization. You’re appointed for immediate care and choose who gets rerouted after we clear everything else.”

“You got it, cap.” Dana nodded. “Anything else?”

“Yes, could you give me Dr. Abbot’s number?” she whispered. Dana hit her on the shoulder, softly but hard enough to make her laugh.

“Is that a no?”

“Legally, no. But if you come back later for your results, I might give him a five-minute break with you,” Dana suggested.

The girl smirked and took a step back. Robby and Jack took it as a sign to join the conversation again.

“Well, thank you so much. I have to get going,” she said, her walkie-talkie coming to life as if she had predicted it. “I’ll be back tonight!”

“I’ll be checking your lungs later today!” Jack yelled after her.

She turned around and waved with both hands as she disappeared.

“Something you need to tell us, Abbot?” Dana asked, walking around the nurse’s station to stand next to him.

“Like what?” he looked away. Dana and Robby shared a look.

“Like… giving special attention to a certain rescuer?” Robby leaned into Jack, who rolled his eyes and took a step back. “I’m just saying.”

“I can’t help people now?” Jack turned around, squinting as a laugh left his lips.

He walked away, still looking over his shoulder as he found something to get busy with.

“You think I can get him to admit he has a crush?” Robby quipped.

“No time for that. That girl just told me we won the grand prize of being the staging zone for Pittsburgh,” Dana whispered, loud enough for Robby to hear. “So, how much time do we have?”

“If we’re lucky, six hours. But if they’re already weighing options, I’d say about three.” Robby grabbed one of the phones and bit the inside of his cheek as he waited for an answer. “Hey, Gloria. We have a situation.”

Four hours and seventeen minutes later, the hospital was chaos.

Abbot made sure to wake every single member of his staff after discussing the course of action. This time, he was able to explain more about what would happen. The hospital was not a staging zone, which meant they were now in charge of triage and patient flow; who stays, who moves, who gets treatment, and who needs urgent medevac because of their limitations. It was a highly risky and stressful role.

He was sure his staff would rise to the occasion. But somehow, the stranger still lingered in his mind.

Still, he managed to set a sleep schedule good enough for everyone. So, when Shen woke up at 2 PM after sleeping a little too long, he almost forced Jack to take a nap.

This time, he did sleep. Exhaustion took over as his face hit the pillow of the surprisingly empty call room. He didn’t set an alarm, knowing that Shen could hold the hospital on his back and then some. But as his police scanner slowly picked up a signal again, he left it on, using it as white noise to keep him asleep.

Four hours later, he woke up like a new man. Any sense of doom inside him was gone. He finally ate the burrito he had taken from the Topos the day before, feeling like he could conquer the world again. He chewed slowly, trying to catch anything on the scanner, but nothing came up. Although the police were absolutely overwhelmed with problems, Jack knew they were most likely having conversations in person.

Begrudgingly, he made his way toward the emergency department again. He missed that brief moment upon waking when nothing worried him but the warmth of the bed and the comfort of a pillow. He blinked slowly; the fluorescent lights hurt his eyes every time he walked in. Robby was nowhere to be seen, nor was Dana.

Shen stood in the middle of the room, talking with Mary, their new night shift charge nurse. He looked up and threw a peace sign at Jack before turning around to check on a patient.

The ED was calm. As calm as it could be in a moment like that. He sneaked up to Mary, looking around as if he were smuggling drugs before opening a drawer and grabbing a fistful of Ferrero Rocher chocolates. Mary raised an eyebrow.

“Stealing now, Dr. Abbot?” she whispered. In exchange, he gave her one of the chocolates and stuffed the rest into his cargo pants.

“Shh. You cover for me, and I’ll ask Gloria if you can wear your pink scrubs,” he promised. She nodded eagerly.

“It’s a deal, then.”

“Oh, by the way,” she said, loosely pointing toward the ambulance bay. “That girl you mentioned last night is outside. She’s clear medically and explicitly asked not to see you.”

“Got it,” he whispered, grabbing his stethoscope. “I’ll be right back.”

“Of course you will.”

© CARMENLIKEME 2025. All rights reserved. Do not repost, modify or claim as yours.

[sharoo]

How to Get the Shadow Mantle

This entire questline is tied to the S rank rooms, meaning the first step to all of this is keep a savefile spare if you feel you will mess up. The guide below is a compilation of my own findings and existing guides.

If you are like me and didn't know abt this quest before starting a playthrough, you can open your chapter 2 playthrough, likely saved last at castle town, and speedrun to chapter 3. It takes like 20 minutes if you're skipping dialogue.

Round one

If you're good at dodging and at the food serving minigame, you should manage easily. Try to get around 1500 points with Susie's pulling ability (farm the two cactus fields, each gives 45 points every time t's cleared and Susie automatically goes to pull them) to get good ranking and boost your total score.

If you are like me and suck at the food serving minigame, make sure to grind out ~ 3000 points and get ready to engage in Pippins capitalism. After round one, should you be below S rank, go south of the green room and find the pippins offering you an S room pass for 1500 points. Buy it, and head there.

I am also told you can get there by messing everything up so royally you get a Z rank but I cannot confirm that at the present.

Game 1

Talk to Ramb, go inside the room, interact with the console. It'll tell you you've got no controller. head out of the room to grab the spare controller and start playing.

Your objective is to find the sword in the room in the south eastern part of the map, then kill everything that moves until you reach lvl 3 which lets you cut down the cactuses. After that, head to the snowy area, kill everything until you're max level, allowing you to cut down trees. Start cutting down palm trees and switching screens until you find the Ice Key chest.

Proceed to round two afterwards.

Round two

In the dungeon with the bombs Susie blows up you can get 2 secret objectives met to earn you a lot of points.

Go south from that room to a cordoned off room with weird spiky creatures emerging from the ground. Take photos of them, especially the red one. It's one extra photograph you can get.

In the same ruins, in the room left of the entrance, there's moss on the wall. perpetuate the cycle.

Other than that you just have to do a good job with collecting money (when you play as Susie, pull as many flowers as you can, they give 20 points each and you can farm them by switching screens), beating the enemies and doing well with the rhythm minigame. be sure to keep a save file jic you need a do-over because i am uncertain if the S rank room Pippins will be there again. Otherwise ready the 1500 points.

Game 2

Like previously, look for a sword, then kill everything that moves until you get a high enough level to cut down weeds in the pond area. Head up the waterfall into the dungeon. Kill everything, ignore the enemies that take no damage (that's in a moment).

You'll eventually stumble upon a white robed figure. They'll accompany you when you exit and can be made to fire a frost attack across the room, insta-freezing enemies and letting you solve pressure plate puzzles. When you reach the labyrinth, keep eye on the mage - they'll only follow you if you head the right way.

Eventually you'll get the Bunker Key.

The game should end and you should now proceed with round 3 of the game.

Game 3

After going through the third round plus backstage, and arriving at the empty green room, you have free access to the S rank room. Head inside, talk to Ramb, and plug in.

You'll be in Tenna's town accompanied by Susie and Ralsei. Idr if you already have a sword or not.

You'll need to kill your teammates to be able to clear the ropes blocking passage.

Follow Tenna, kill him after he stops talking.

Enter the final dungeon and kill everything in sight until you exit into the field with the bunker. Kris will struggle against you but you can open the door. Inside waits the boss.

A zelda-like bossfight with 4 stages total will initiate. If you die, don't worry, you'll be reset to the same room at the entrance to the fight.

Stage 1

The boss will either start with four directional bombs or a 6 way bullet. Do not be close to them if they do 6 way bullet because you will get hit. the boss will float in a sidways 8 pattern and you can get used to dodging this one after a few times.

four directional bombs are easier and you'll get more opportunity to hit the boss during it.

Stage 2

The boss summons strange cat like entities that move towards you like pacman ghosts, but this stage is a blessing in disguise - the cats drop HP restoring candy, so feel free to farm this stage if you're low. know that your sword can pick up consumables if you swing it.

This is also when the boss begins bouncing around as a fireball. Something crucial for this fight - you can and should be hitting it when it's flying by as a fireball. Keep to the lowest row of the map and you should dodge easily enough.

Stage 3

Stage three is stage one on steroids. More plentiful bombs (4 instead of 3, and quicker) and the 6 way bullet now fires its own bomb. the Cats can also appear here to be used for replenishing health but this is where the fights speeds up. Eventually you'll wittle this one down to trigger the last stage.

Stage 4

First, head to the outer rim of the arena because the boss will summon a counter clockwise spiral of fire you have to dodge around, alongside one or two bombs. From then on, a continuous fire attack begins, faster and with 2 additional fireballs. Remember: hit the enemy when they pass you by and dodge carefully.

This took me ~ 12 tries but it's such a quick bossfight i wouldn't have put it past maybe 30 minutes tops to beat, maybe more if you're nimbler. Then all that's left to do is get your reward and ponder the Implication of everything you've just witness.

Have fun :D

[autisticshadowthehedgehog]

A Cluster of Burning Stars - Chapter Seventeen

in which Sonic passes out

{ao3} {tumblr}

tw: Instance of onscreen child abuse in the second flashback. While the actual abuse is brief, the effects are focused on.

---

Amy kept circling the plane, eyes wide. Tails smiled, a little bit proud of himself, as she asked, “And you built this?” 

“From scrap.” he said, flicking his tails slightly. “I’ve been calling it the Brontide.” 

“What’s a Brontide?” 

“It’s from the Greek brontḗ. In layman’s terms, it designates the sound of a storm from far away.”

“Badass.” Amy stepped back, hands on her hips. “I had a model plane back home. One of my first toys. This is way cooler.” 

“Better be, we’ve had fifty years of technological advancement since then.” 

“Will you show me how to fly it?” 

“Maybe after we deal with all this,” Sonic said, and both of the younger children snapped back to attention. 

“Right. End of the world. Let’s deal with that first.” Amy nodded. 

They’d gathered by the edge of the Brontide, while Knuckles helped Vanilla load in a small bag of supplies that she’d insisted on giving to them. As he slid back down to the ground, he said to her, “Robotnik’s countdown is for twenty-four hours. We’ll have your daughter back by then.” 

“What’s the countdown even for?” Amy asked. 

Tails shrugged. “My guess? He doesn’t know about the ‘kill everyone’ plan, he thinks they’re just threatening the planet so all the power gets handed over to him. Meaning we better speedrun getting those emeralds back before he can get in contact with anyone who’s actually got the authority to do that.” 

“Maybe then there isn’t even a ‘kill everyone’ plan.” Amy guessed, glancing to Sonic for support. “Maybe Maria just made Shadow promise to take care of her family, so he’s aligning with a Robotnik, or…”

Her voice trailed off as Sonic shook his head. “No, he was… pretty direct in the ‘everyone needs to die’ mentality.” He then glanced at the nervous Vanilla and Chocola, and quickly said, “N-not that I think he’d be a danger to Cream! He was always good with us, and… yeah, he’s a little pissy right now, but, um–”

“Robotnik doesn’t harm hostages.” Knuckles said, and Sonic shot him a grateful look. “One of his few moral standards.” 

“Yeah, I was a hostage once!” Tails said from the plane.

Vanilla gasped. “Are you okay?” 

“Oh, of course.” he shrugged. “I simply made it everyone else’s problem. Sonic, are you ready?”

The hedgehog hesitated, which Amy caught onto. “Sonic, you don’t have to do this. I can try it on my own.” 

“Nuh-uh. You need to know where you’re going to teleport effectively, and you haven’t been there before. I’ll take the brunt of it and sleep on the way to Angel Island.” he bit his lip, and then turned to Tails. “It’s way closer to your lab than the lab is to here, right?”

Hesitantly, Tails nodded. “Maybe an hour or two if my tracking is right.” 

“And then getting to the shuttle?” 

“We’ll find out once I get to my computers.” 

“Right. But we can’t waste half a day flying from here to the workshop.” Sonic said. “Not when we’ve already got a ticking clock.” 

Knuckles glanced between them. “Are you… are you sure you can take all of us and the plane?” 

“If we work together.” Sonic said, reaching out to grasp Amy’s hand. “But we may be tired afterwards. As I said, I’ll take the most of it, so I might pass out, but I should be fine in a little bit. I recover fast.” he smirked at that. 

Knuckles looked to Amy, and she shrugged. “Last time he overused his chaos energy, he was only out a few hours. And this time he has me to carry some of the load.” 

“If you’re sure…” he said, before turning to Vanilla. He strode over the distance between them, and handed her a small radio, which Chocola curiously poked at. “We give this to all our allies. Someone will be in contact with you shortly to give you updates. If anything happens, go on there and call for backup, someone will be here as soon as they can.”

Vanilla mumbled something, and Amy turned to her, worried. She ran over, grabbing onto her hands. “Vanilla,” she said, her voice incredibly serious, “I promise I will bring Cream back to you. I won’t let anything happen to her. She’s going to be oka–”

The rabbit stroked her hand, and then placed a kiss on Amy’s forehead. The hedgehog froze, her brain stalling a moment, as Vanilla said, “I trust you. I can’t say I’m not terrified, Amy, but you all… you seem very prepared, and very capable, and if I know Cream, she’s probably already decorated the ARK with flower crowns and glitter.” she took a deep breath. “But I’m worried about all of you. You’re so young, and with so much on your shoulders.” 

Amy recovered from the sign of affection, and just smiled up at her. “We can handle it.” 

She took a deep breath. “I know I can’t be much help right now, but… when you get back, you come right back here, okay? All of you.” she looked over to the boys, with something sharp in her eyes that told them not to argue. “Understand?” They all muttered agreement, and slowly, Vanilla let go of Amy’s hand. “Be safe.” 

“We will.” Amy nodded, with a reassuring smile she didn’t quite feel. She finally turned and passed Sonic the glowing, golden Emerald, the two of them each with one hand on it. Sonic put his free hand against the plane, gripping tight to the wing, as Amy reached out for Knuckles. Tails hesitantly grabbed onto Sonic’s arm, as the blue hedgehog shut his eyes, concentrating only on his memory of the forest outside of Tails’s workshop, of the sky above him and grass beneath. 

He and Amy whispered, “Chaos Control,” and they all blinked out of existence. 

Vanilla stared at the spot where they disappeared, before reaching for Chocola. She cried quietly, but Chocola understood what she needed, so they pressed against her and hummed a soft, comforting tune. They weren’t sure why they had defaulted to the Flight Chao’s lullaby first, but it seemed to help.

---

Sonic slipped into the greenhouse, groaning loud enough for everyone inside to notice his presence. “Amy’s being weird again!” 

Shadow, who was almost thirteen years old and thus thought he was extremely grown-up at the moment, stood on his tip-toes on a wooden chair, carefully watering the boxed plants in front of him. He glanced at Dr Huang, who had paused harvesting the tomatoes to look at the newcomer, before the man smiled a little, shrugged, and went back to his work. Shadow then turned to Dr Garrett, who simply laughed and called out, “Define ‘weird.’” 

Sonic slid under the long, metal legs that held up each of the plants’ containers, curling up underneath Shadow and hugging his knees. “Maria started reading her some of those mushy fairytales.” 

“Define ‘mushy.’”

“Like, romance and stuff!” he threw up his arms, almost hitting the bottom of the plants. Shadow hissed at him. “And now she keeps calling me her ‘prince’ and trying to get me to dance with her or whatever. It’s annoying, and she won’t leave me alone! I don’t get it!” 

Dr Garrett and Dr Huang shared a look, before they both laughed. “You’ll understand when you’re older,” Dr Huang said, before returning to the tomatoes.

“That doesn’t even make sense.” Sonic huffed. “Amy’s younger than us!” 

“Well.” Dr Garrett shrugged, “Maybe you should humor her for a bit. You might have fun.” 

“It’s not fun, it’s gross!” Sonic huffed, crossing his arms. “Why does everyone say the same stuff? I don’t want to ‘humor her,’ I want her to leave me alone.” 

“So, what?” Shadow slid back down the chair, placing the watering can on the ground. “You’re just hiding from her in here?” 

“Maybe.” 

Shadow snorted. “She’ll check here, idiot. Or she’ll just come by cause she loves this place. You wanna hide from her, go somewhere she hates.” 

“She doesn’t hate anything! That’s the problem!” 

“You’re gonna have to see her again at some point.” Dr Huang said, leaning his tomato plants. “You share a room.” 

“Honestly, I’m hoping she’ll be asleep when I get back, and then she’ll forget all about it in the morning.” Sonic said, shoving his face into his knees. 

“She hasn’t for the last few weeks.” Shadow reminded him. 

Sonic flopped onto his back. “Can you guys just make another Ultimate Lifeform for her to obsess over so I can just go about my life?”

Shadow rolled his eyes, before turning to the doctors. “I’ll deal with him. If Maria comes by, tell her we’re in our room.” 

“Amy will find us there.” Sonic groaned, just as Shadow grabbed his hand and yanked him back out from under the plants. 

“Tough.” 

Once they were in the hall, and the door shut behind them, Sonic let out another groan, sticking his head into the back of Shadow’s shoulder. “Do we have to?” 

“Get moving, blue boy.” 

“You don’t get it.” Sonic mumbled, as Shadow led him down the cold metal walls. “She’s not doing it to you.” 

“Thank God for that.” 

“Shads.” 

Shadow sighed. “What do you want me to do, stick her in a chaos cage? She’s younger than us, and she’s going to act like it. Give her a week, she’ll have a new obsession and leave you alone.” 

“It’s not just that. It’s that I tell her to stop and she doesn’t.” 

Shadow turned a bend, gripping a bit tighter to Sonic’s hand. “Again, she’s young. She’s still figuring out how things work.” 

Sonic huffed, before glancing to the side. “Not like any of the doctors listen to me either.” 

“What are you talking about? They all love you.” 

“I mean when I’m doing tests. When I tell them that something won’t work, or that I’m tired or–”

Shadow skidded to a halt as the sound of a distant alarm hit their ears. Sonic slid behind him, almost running into his back, eyes widening as Shadow tensed up, eyes darting around the hall as the lights changed from a sterile white to a deep red. 

“Something got out,” Shadow said, as if Sonic couldn’t figure that out. “It must be close, if the alarms are sounding in this direction. You get back to the room–”

“Nuh-uh! I’ll come with you!” Sonic straightened up, trying to make his face serious. “I can fight just as well as you!”

“That’s factually incorrect.” 

“You’re factually incorrect. Let me help! Please?” 

Shadow would never, ever admit it out loud. Especially not to Sonic himself. But when Sonic made his eyes that big, tilting his head just slightly… for some, unknown, infuriating reason, Shadow would give him practically anything he wanted. 

“Stay behind me.” he finally said.

“Yes!” he cheered, as Shadow started running. 

Sonic had to hold himself back to keep up with Shadow’s pace, and Shadow knew and hated that fact, but he was better at tracking these things than his friend was, so he had to take the lead here. He activated his air shoes, beginning to skate across the way as his friend ran beside him, still holding tight to his hand.

---

When the sting of teleportation faded, Amy immediately felt winded, her legs suddenly weighing about a ton. Still, when she felt the other grip on the emerald slip, she threw out her arms, catching the collapsing blue hedgehog, just as a loud sound pierced her ears.

“What the–”

Just as she brought the unconscious Sonic to her chest, she felt Knuckles jump behind them and push them down. Barely keeping her footing, she ended up in a kneeling position, with Knuckles standing over her as something flew over their heads, bouncing off the side of the plane and landing sharply in the grass right before them. Amy stared, blinking in the darkness, before recognizing the shape as that of a shuriken. 

“Calm down, it’s just us!” Tails called, though he too seemed a bit winded, stepping back to put a hand on the plane to recover himself. 

Amy looked past the shuriken, over to the wooden structure before them, a bit smaller than Vanilla’s house. Standing in front of it was a purple lizard mobian, still with his arm out from having thrown the weapon; a large, shocked green alligator or crocodile; and a small bee, which buzzed around the doorway excitedly. 

“Ooh! Tails is back! Tails is back!” 

“Yeah, Charmy, we figured that out.” the alligator/crocodile said, rubbing the back of his head. “How in the heck did you do that?” 

“I told you I’d be here soon.” 

“Yeah, you didn’t tell us you’d invented teleportation!”

“I didn’t! At least not yet. We used a chaos emerald. Amy, there’s a hammock in the building, you can put Sonic there for a few minutes while I get our stuff.” 

Amy shakily got back to her feet, before lifting Sonic up. He was taller than her, but she was quite a bit stronger than him already, so she eventually slung him over her shoulders in a fireman’s carry. Instead of moving, though, she looked to the new mobians, tense. “Who’re these people?” 

“Oh! Amy, this is Team Chaotix.” Tails introduced, waving his hand. “They’re associates of ours, I called them over to do some edits to the fake chaos emerald so it’d be ready when we got here. Vector, Espio, Charmy: this is Amy and Sonic. They’re with us.” 

The crocodile, Vector raised a brow, crossing his arms. “Isn’t that,” he gestured to the unconscious hedgehog on Amy’s shoulders, “The guy on TV blowing people up?” 

“Dear Gaia, that’s gonna be a problem for a while, isn’t it?” Tails muttered, rubbing his temples. 

“There’s a third hedgehog, that’s the guy on TV.” Knuckles shrugged. “His name’s Shadow. We might bring him back later. Or not. Depends on how good Amy is at talking him down.” 

“Gee, thanks for the reminder.” Amy muttered. 

Still, she kept herself tall and firm, before walking past the group of boys and into the building. She glanced around at first in wonder at the wide display of computers and machinery, before spotting the hammock and moving to gently place Sonic into it. He curled up, breathing slow but steady, and she knelt down, checking his pulse. He seemed okay, just exhausted. She sighed, thinking about how he’d suggested teleporting up to the ARK. That definitely would’ve killed him. 

“You’re so stubborn,” she whispered, before turning around and standing back up. She crossed her arms, trying to look as tough as she could as everyone else filtered in. She didn’t know these new people, and they probably thought she was just a silly little girl, but…

The bee flew over to her, stopping just a few inches from her face, and said, “Are you the one with the Chaos Emerald?” 

She tensed. “Maybe.” 

“Cool! Can I see it?” 

“Charmy! Leave her alone.” Vector called, as Tails went up to the computer keyboard and started rapidly typing.

“But I wanna seeee it.” 

“You’ve seen chaos emeralds before.”

“I wanna see how different it looks to the fake one!” 

Espio sighed, before turning to the girl. “Sorry about him. He’s hyperactive.” 

She briefly glanced back to the hedgehog sleeping behind her. “I know the feeling.” 

“Tails said he was in Floral Forest. Are you from there?” 

“I’m from Space,” she said, honestly. 

Espio blinked at her, very slowly. Then, he said, “Cool.” 

“Okay.” Tails stepped back, glancing around several monitors that now displayed large maps, a few bright dots beeping across landmarks. “Nearest Robotnik Shuttle is hidden in a pyramid display. With the trajectory of Angel Island, we can get there real quick once we have the Master Emerald. I’m going to contact the team nearest to that location and have them clear the area for us. The faster we can get to the ARK, the better. I’m sure you all saw the countdown.” 

“Yeah.” Vector said. “And then a giant laser shot out of nowhere and blew up the friggin’ moon.” 

“Whoosh!” Charmy did a mid-air somersault. 

“Okay, B-Team Mark A are closest to the shuttle.” Tails said, turning to Knuckles. “Can you call them to meet us there?” 

Knuckles, arms crossed, leaned against the wall. “Do I have to?” 

“I know you’re still pissed about Angel Island. But do you want the planet to split apart like the moon did?” 

He considered. “Maybe it could survive?” 

“Knuckles.” 

“I’ll do it,” Espio volunteered. “I can give them the coordinates, too.” 

“Good.” Tails flew off the platform, before going to the room dividers. He pushed them aside, revealing a large, metal table with a clawed arm above it. Perched atop was a small, dull rock, cut into a diamond’s shape. Tails landed beside it, flicked something on the side of the table, and it lit up. Amy gasped; in the light, it was barely distinguishable from the emerald she had hidden in her quills. “There we go! This’ll be great. Okay, Vec, did you bring the sidecar?” 

“It’s supposed to attach to a motorcycle. I don’t think it’ll attach to your plane.” 

“Oh, ye of little faith.” Tails sighed. “I know how to get it to stay. I already have one, but I need two to keep the plane aerodynamic.” 

“...and so you don’t have to squeeze three people into one seat?” 

“Yeah, yeah. It won’t take long to get it locked in, so long as nobody blows up near the hinges.” 

“That a possibility?” 

“Maybe.”

As Tails shrugged, Vector stalked his way over to Amy’s area, and she tensed, ready to defend Sonic should the need arise. The crocodile shot her some kind of look, before reaching up and plucking a spinning Charmy out of the air. Charmy groaned, as Vector slung him under his arm like a suitcase. “You should be asleep,” he said. 

“The moon blew up! I’m allowed to be up past nap-time.” 

Tails pushed the fake emerald into his tail fluff, before flying up to a taller cabinet. “I need to reload. Vector, while Espio calls the B-Team, I need you to do your best to pass along my recap to the rest of the team. Anything they can do from the ground to mitigate what might happen up there will be well-appreciated.” 

“I’m gonna be honest, Tails,” he said, “I don’t understand half of what you messaged me, so I’m just gonna hope you know what you’re doing.” 

“Welcome to my world,” Amy said, before she could stop herself. 

She was surprised when the crocodile shot her an amiable smile, before he tilted his head towards Sonic. “He gonna be okay?” 

“Huh? Oh, yeah. He’ll wake up soon.” she said, tensing back up. To ease herself, she repeated Sonic’s earlier joke. “He recovers fast.” 

“He does everything fast.” Knuckles snorted. 

Vector smiled. “Sounds like my kinda guy. Maybe he and Charmy can run in circles sometime until they pass out.” 

She giggled. Sonic would probably enjoy that. Charmy, meanwhile, turned slightly to try and get a look at the hedgehog. “Is he asleep?” he asked. “Or is he dead?” 

“Don’t be rude, Charmy.” Vector sighed. 

“He’s fine,” Amy said quickly, before checking his pulse again, just to be sure. “He’s just dreaming.” 

“I hope they’re good dreams,” Charmy kicked his legs. “Or fun ones, at least.” 

An image flashed in her mind, of blood-soaked halls and flaring alarms. She shivered and knelt beside her friend, grabbing his hand. “I hope so, too.” 

---

When Sonic and Shadow finally ran into a few of the guards, Shadow quickly grabbed one by the arm, saying, “What’s the situation?” 

Sonic’s eyes widened in surprise as the soldier actually stopped to tell him. Quickly, but he did tell him. “Some of the Artificial Chaos got out. We’re heading off a group that’s on their way to the hospital wing, should be able to cut them off quick, but there may be some in the research lab.” 

Shadow nodded, as the guard went in the other direction. He glanced to Sonic, saying, “See if you can find a radio once we get into the research lab. We can figure out if there’s any still running around after we clear the area.” 

“Artificial Chaos?” he asked, as they started to run again. 

“You’ve seen them before.” 

“I didn’t know they moved, honestly.” 

“Some of them got out once or twice before. Should be easy to take care of, so long as the entire lab isn’t under lockdown.” Shadow snorted. “That’d signify a real problem– get down!”

Sonic ducked, just as one of the artificial creatures flew over his head, moving directly for Shadow. He reacted on instinct, rolling backwards to avoid the collision, before leaping up onto the metal head, which reached its thick wires down into a large, pooling sphere of water, which began to stretch and contort, trying to form arms. Shadow delivered a series of kicks and punches to the head, before managing to rip its top off. He spun back to the ground as it exploded, before whipping around, looking for any others. He glanced back at Sonic, who was breathing heavily from the ground. 

“You okay?” 

Sonic groaned. “I forgot these things were made outta water.” 

Shadow rolled his eyes. “You can’t drown in a puddle.” 

“Try me.” As he got to his feet, hugging himself, he glanced down at the shards of metal. “Did you kill it?” 

“It wasn’t alive in the first place. Artificial intelligence, you know this.” 

“We’re artificial.” 

“We’re different.” Shadow’s ear twitched, and he turned to the right. “There’s more in the room next door. Come on.” 

He raced on, without checking to see if Sonic was following, throwing open the door and immediately leaping onto a metal head that floated closest to the wall. When it threw him off, he crashed into a small table of supplies, sending them clattering to the ground. He rolled and recovered quickly, shaking his head quickly and then reaching out to the table. He ripped off one of the legs before jumping for the Artificial Chaos again, swinging the metal leg and slamming it directly into the side of the thing’s head. Another explosion, and the water legs flopped to the ground, lifeless. Shadow surveyed the room, already spotting three coming for him, so he weighed the metal pole in his hands, before doing another jump and swing. 

The trick with the Artificial Chaoses was to hit them before their arms could get close enough to him. The arms could pierce through quite a few things, and while it would only stun him for a while, enough hits could be a serious problem. This would work better with a ranged weapon, but guns were stored very carefully on the ARK, and Shadow didn’t have an emerald to produce chaos spears with, so moving fast would have to do. 

Speaking of “moving fast,” as Shadow knocked another Chaos-Creature into debris, he glanced back to the door. Sonic had entered, and was swiftly dodging a series of water-arms, trying to maneuver to the table to scattered tools. Leaving him to it, Shadow ricocheted himself off the wall, landing on a head and scanning the room to do a quick inventory. Discounting the one he was atop, there seemed to be six more in the room. They could handle that. He stabbed the pole down into the head like a sword, falling with the droplets to the floor, where he started running for another. 

Slam, crash, boom. Slam, crash, boom. The previous times Shadow had taken care of escaped Artificial Chaoses, he’d been there with humans. The first time, the scientists had been taken by surprise, and he’d had to knock the creatures all out himself. The second time, he’d arrived with the guards, and had to dodge their bullets and laser shots at the same time as the arms. While that took care of plenty of the experiments, it was annoying to have to fight around. He guessed he preferred being alone, then, as he jumped from one exploding head to another. He saw a distant clatter as Sonic took out the Chaos that had been attacking him, and swiftly turned his focus back to the one that was trying to stab at him. 

Slam, crash, boom. Slam, crash, boom. 

Shadow landed on the ground, tossing the metal rod aside as the last of the creatures fell around him. A bit of water landed on his fur, and he shook himself to try and clear it off. He took a long breath, before surveying the room again. No immediate threats. A few wires poking out, a few sharp shards of metal that would need to be cleaned up, but nothing that could cause lasting damage. 

“Good job, Sonic. We…” 

He trailed off, as he saw Sonic kneeling beside an open cabinet. The blue hedgehog was whispering something, his voice low and comforting, as he reached out a careful hand. Shadow felt his heart skip a beat, as he carefully, very carefully, made his way over to his friend. He looked over his shoulder, and immediately tensed. 

A final Artificial Chaos was inside the cabinet, its arms still high, ready to attack. But despite the fact the thing was cornered, Sonic wasn’t attacking. Instead, he was still mumbling, a small smile on his face. 

“It’s okay, little guy. You can come out. You’re gonna be okay.” 

To Shadow’s shock, the arms slowly, slowly moved down, morphing back into the regular, triangular shape that the Chaoses usually took while remaining in place. Sonic stepped back, reaching back to push Shadow along with him, and the creature slowly crept out of the cabinet, stopping a few feet away and looking up and around the room.

“Sonic,” Shadow whispered, grabbing his arm. “It’ll see the destruction. It’s going to attack.” 

“They’re just scared.” Sonic said. 

“It’s AI, Sonic. It doesn’t feel anything.” 

Sonic shot him a glare, before shrugging off his hand and moving a bit closer to the creature. It turned to face him, and Shadow held his breath as Sonic knelt down again, reaching out a hand. “See? The loud noises are all done. Everything’s going to be alright.” 

It didn’t seem to be moving at all, its robotic eyes just watching Sonic. Finally, it glanced down at his outstretched hand, and slowly began to form an arm out of its side. 

“That’s it! Good job. See, you’re gonna be–”

Bang!

Sonic threw himself back, nearly falling on his back, as the creature exploded, a bullet going straight through its metal head and clattering to the ground behind it. The water splashed against Sonic’s face and chest as bits of metal rained down with it, a green shard that used to be part of the eye sliding across the ground and stopping just beside Shadow’s foot. Shadow whipped his head around, seeing a soldier lower his gun, just as several others flooded into the room. 

“Good job, Shadow,” someone said, patting his head. “That should be all of them.” 

Sonic was frozen in place as the men started to rush around the room, looking for anything that may have escaped notice. Shadow saw a few already starting to pick up the pieces of the creatures that had been destroyed, muttering something about funding and security and…

“Why…” Sonic choked out, turning his wide, frightened eyes on the nearest guard. “Why did you do that?” 

The guard stopped, confused, as Sonic stumbled up to his feet, hugging himself tightly. He glanced to his superior, who said, “What are you talking about, blue?” 

“Why did you do that?” Sonic spun around to face him, and Shadow realized that tears were beginning to form in his eyes. “They weren’t going to fight anymore!” 

“Of course it was. These experiments had a programming bug that made them aggressive.” 

“This one wasn’t aggressive! They’d stopped fighting! They’d calmed down!” 

“It was rearing up to attack even as we entered.” 

“I’d calmed them down! They could’ve come back–”

The superior knelt down, lowering his gun but reaching for something in his belt. “Come on, kid. That thing was defective. We can’t use defective experiments. They need to be broken down and reutilized.” 

“They weren’t defective, they were scared!” Sonic stomped his foot, before raising his hands to his shaking head. 

“They don’t feel anything. They’re not real.” 

“They were scared!” Sonic repeated, stumbling back and stepping into the puddle of the very creature he was talking about. He leapt back out, as if stung, nearly colliding with Shadow as he did. “They were scared and they were going to be okay! They would’ve been okay–”

For a minute, Shadow wasn’t sure what had happened next. When Sonic screamed, and a light flashed in front of his eyes, his first thought was that something else had escaped, something was attacking him, and he tensed up, sliding his foot back into a prepared position and throwing up his fists, getting ready to jump at whatever had hurt his friend. 

Sonic collapsed to the ground, and Shadow couldn’t see any attackers. Just the guards, and the superior that had moved up behind the blue hedgehog. The man held something thin in his hands, some kind of red pole with an arch of metal sticking out of the end. It took Shadow a minute to process the sparks falling from it, and the fact it was being pulled away from Sonic as he fell to the ground. 

The superior slipped the cattle prod back into his belt, just as Shadow started to move. He raced for his trembling friend, immediately pulling him up into a sitting position and hugging him against his chest. Sonic screamed as Shadow’s hand fell against a strange, unusual texture on his back, and he spun him around, his eyes locking onto a dark splotch that had formed against his quills. 

That’s a burn. That’s a burn. He got burned. He…

“Shadow,” the superior said, as if nothing had happened, “Take him somewhere to calm down.” 

“Wh- why…” Shadow sputtered out, his eyes glued to the burn on his friend’s back. 

“You saw him. He was becoming a threat.” the man said simply, before turning back around and waving Shadow off. “Get him out of here.” 

Shadow stared at him for a long, long, time, before turning back to stare at the burn on Sonic’s back. Carefully, he put his hands on Sonic’s shoulders, and turned him back around, to see tears now streaming down his face, his chest rising and falling in a strange, quick pattern, as Sonic’s eyes darted around the room, trying to make sense of what had just happened. 

Without another word, Shadow lifted Sonic into his arms, and carried him out of the room.

Fifty-two years later, when Sonic passed out, he wasn’t sure why his memory flickered back to this moment above all the others. Why he could suddenly feel the burn against his back, as if it had never healed, feel the droplets of water that had once been the creature mixing with his own tears against his face, why he felt like he could still see spots in his vision from the flash of the explosions. Why he could feel Shadow’s arms tight around him, one of his hands brushing against the soft fluff of his chest. At the time, he hadn’t processed what Shadow was whispering to him, once they got far enough away, once they were on their way to the hospital wing. Where a doctor wouldn’t ask a single question, instead just patching up the burn and then sending them on their way, with Sonic crashing onto his bunk and crying himself to sleep as Shadow told Amy to leave him alone for the night, that he’d gotten a little bit injured fighting the escaped experiments and he would be better in the morning. 

For some reason, as his mind brought that memory back to the front, he finally understood what Shadow was saying, almost like it had taken this long just for him to process the sound.“I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”

---

{ao3} {tumblr}

[no-goodbyes-no-regrets]

2024 fic round up!

Thanks for the tags @carlos-in-glasses, @nisbanisba @nancys-braids

I wrote 20 fics this year, which (for me) isn't all that much - despite starting and partially writing at least twice that. I've had the year from hell in more ways than one (especially the last 6 months) but fandom has and always will be a nice escapism!

Thanks to everyone that's commented on my fics in some way, I promise I'm going to try be less awkward and actually reply to your comments instead of just keeping the notification emails in my inbox like a dragon hoarding gold.

I mostly wrote bucktommy/911 this year (what can I say, that fingers under the chin kiss really did it for me) and if TPTB @ abc have any sense they'll bring Lou/Tommy back in the second half of the season!

Though the tarlos secret santa did sort of reawaken my love for Tarlos, so let's see if I can actually finish some of the fics I started for them in the new year.

I'll put the actual fic links under the cut so it doesn't clog up everyone's dash

Bucktommy: (all rated G unless stated otherwise)

Date night Bathena spot Buck and Tommy out on a date together

Buck's Bisexual Speedrun Buck going from 0 to 1000 in 0.03 seconds with coming out, accepting his sexuality, and his relationship with Tommy. Taking it slow? We don't know her.

Cake Time Buck and Jee baking to cheer Tommy up after a rough shift. Written back when we thought Oliver talking about Buck and Jee baking together would be a good thing.

It's not over Break up? What break up? Episode 8x06 fix it

Uncle Buck Post break up Buck and Jee baking, with Tommy accidentally crashing their time together. Bucktommy getting back together.

118 group chat Evan♥ has added you to 118 Fam. Tommy gets added to the group chat.

Wake up Another break up? What break up?? 8x06 fix it.

Being a good friend is hard Eddie is going Through It, but unfortunately he's going through it on Buck and Tommy's sofa when they want some alone time.

Family dinner the first 118 family dinner at Bobby and Athena's new house - featuring a sleepy Tommy.

Nobody knows Nobody knows we're back together - But Chim is about to find out when he needs a babysitter.

Transfer a What if? for 8x04. What if everything hadn't been fixed in 42 minutes and the 118 had been closed and Buck ended up at the 217 with Tommy? (I promised to write a part two for this... and it's partially written in my drafts. I'll finish it eventually!)

But first, coffee A coffee shop AU that's technically a 911/lone star crossover that started in this little tarlos centric ficlet but you need to read that to understand the bucktommy centric one.

He's good for you Maddie and Tommy spend some time together while Buck is in surgery.

Moving in A little quiet moment before Buck and Tommy move in together.

The boy at the rock show A different first meeting AU where Buck meets a cute bass player in a bar - loosely based on Blink 182 - The Rock Show "Fell in love with the girl boy at the rock show"

Tarlos (rated G unless stated otherwise)

For Lire with love and lots of whump This was an epic collaboration project that was a lot of fun to work on! Lots of hurt/comfort goodness with Carlos being a Bad Patient - until he isn't. My part was chapter 6 but definitely give the whole thing a read!

Love online A different first meeting AU with a side of meddling sisters. Luisa gets her hands on Carlos' phone and decides to take matters into her own hands to fix her brother's love life.

View from the taco truck TK and Carlos' relationship through the eyes of their favourite food truck vendor.

Austin Pride Tarlos go to pride with their dads, Owen is ~completely normal~ about it obviously.

Strickland Holiday Special A different first meeting AU where TK is Paul's roommate - who just happens to be Carlos' best friend.

As usual I'm late to the party, and I think most of my Lone Star fam has done this by now... so I'm shifting it to my bucktommy fam.

@weewookinard @cjlouwho @loulou-land @jamieroyjamieroy @leashybebes

@mrhappyjavaman @blitzynatural @sad-girl-hours23 @mmso-notlikethat

+ open tag for anyone who wants to do it

[joltai-showa]

almost 3 months later, but let's continue yapping and rereading naruto

I already kinda forgot where we were lmao, but something something first training something something team 7

chapter 6 yoohoo

yep, getting thrown around and booby trapped 5 minutes after his birth probably affected Naruto's brain

i love this mini-diagram that has people in the most ninja clothes imaginable, but within the Naruto universe literally no one dresses like that LMAO

it is truly perplexing how the fuck did Naruto manage to live all the way to 12-13 years (Kakashi placed a bell and Naruto stepped on the trap running to get it). Like, Akatsuki could have dropped a line of free ramen coupons and that kid would have followed them all the way to Amegakure without a second thought

why are you so surprised? bro went to war at the age when you three were still bitching about your Academy bullshit, it's surprising this guy ever lets his guard down

oh thank god for this panel, now I know that "shinobi are paranoid as fuck and overthink everything" isn't just my perception that I project in my writing

jesus fucking christ what the hell is this Kakashi

you are one, though.......

Kakashi that's your first fucking training and you are already showing her her crush with his arm torn off and a leg twisted back, dial the genjutsu back down will you?

god dammit Konoha's education system sucks, they really need to do some tests for jonins who will be working with kids, you're just speedrunning PTSD and honorable discharge like this

omg he's so fucking cringe

nothing too interesting in this one, but that's obvious, battle be battle

chapter 7!

okay, so that's a curious one

Sasuke has Uchiha clan symbol behind his back, Naruto - Uzumaki's, and Sakure has something I don't remember seeing? Judging from the other two, these are supposed to be clan symbols, so does that mean that was originally intended to be the one that Sakura belongs to? At the end of the day, nothing is known of her family, so maybe it's some sort of scrapped concept? But come to think of it, Uzumaki clan stuff would be introduced WAY later, so maybe they were just cool symbols Kishimoto decided to draw and included the Uchiha one as well?

the leaflet with a kunai in it has "shinobi" written on it btw

I love when stuff is so obviously unplanned lmao

why are you telling him this, Kakashi? trying to rub his dead family in his face? you worked with Uchiha clan extensively back in the day, your dead but not really dead teammate was literally an Uchiha, what are you looking forward to?

I feel like Sasuke is about to punch some balls, and they are not the ones that make clinking noises

stop feeding the emo kid's ego, Kakashi, that'll bite you in the ass one day

KAKASHI WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT THAT'S A FUCKING FIREBALL JUTSU😭😭😭😭WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU MEAN SKILL BEYOND CAPACITY OF ANY NOVICE???? CHAKRA SHOULDN'T HAVE DEVELOPED FOR IT????? BITCH THE UCHIHA TRAINED THIS JUTSU AT LIKE THREE YEARS OLD, WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?????? SASUKE'S 13 ALREADY, WHY WOULD HIS CHAKRA SYSTEM NOT BE DEVELOPED ENOUGH FOR THIS BASIC JUTSU????? OBITO'S CHUNIN EXAM WAS WHEN HE WAS 11, AND HE ALREADY WAS USING FIREBALLS BY THAT POINT????????

holy fucking shit my sides

what in Konoha's genin study plan calls for using a jutsu with "decapitation" in its name during the FIRST goddamn training

Hashirama is the energy source for the entirety of Konohagakure, he is spinning THAT hard from these teaching methods

hell yeah Kishi is starting his favorite thing in the manga - Sasuke glazing

I mean, he'd better fucking be showing better perfomance than Naruto (kiddo that the village practically left in the ditch for some fucking reason) and Sakura (a civilian girl), wOw ThE sON of ThE hEaD of ONe of tHE fOUNdiNg cLanS kNoWS hOW to USe NiNjuTSu, who could have forseen this

he's sooooooo edgy, I'm about to cry

onto chapter 8, and, I believe, volume 2 of the manga

I just love the fact that Naruto is LITERALLY Kishimoto. it's especially hilarious when I remember that the main villain in Naruto's movie 9 is Naruto's evil twin, and Kishimoto also has a twin brother.

"wrong him in the past" is doing A LOT of heaving lifting here, literally murked their entire family and tortured him a bit with the images of their parents' murder

[GOOD ENDING]

Hiruzen continues to suck ass LMAOOOOOOO

why the fuck do you have so much free time to get lunch with Iruka? imagine the city mayor just getting a call from some random middle school teacher and deciding yeah, I don't have any other pressing matters, let's chat about something

i swear to god "Danzo did all the work in the village" theory is just becoming more true and true by the day

also screaming from ".......who? ......Kakashi?" LIKE WHAT IS THAT

I don't even wanna delve into the mess that is the decision to make a team of a random civilian girl, currently your only adult user of Sharingan who has been traumatized by the war to hell and back and failed all of his previous students, the only Uchiha kid still living in the village from whom you are hiding QUITE A FEW IMPORTANT THINGS about his clan and LITERALLY YOUR HUMAN NUKE from whom you somehow are hiding EVEN MORE IMPORTANT INFORMATION

I mean fair point but back in your days if you could throw a kunai and not burst into tears when one would get thrown back you were already qualified to be sent to a literal World War

no they wouldn't LMAOOOO

OH YOU WOULD KNOW A THING OR TWO ABOUT THAT RIGHT😁😁😁😁

absolutely fantastic education system guys

oh hi Obito

but why the fuck is this stone on some random training field number 423? is the graveyard really that full?

Naruto you have zero awareness, the stone looks like a tombstone and he immediatelly starts screaming HELL YEAH I WANNA BE THERE

no, seriously WHY IS THAT ON SOME RANDOM FUCKING TRAINING FIELD? NARUTO WAS SITTING HIS ASSCHEEKS ON IT LIKE A CHAPTER BEFORE???? HIRUZEN AND MINATO WERE THAT CHEAP TO GET THIS STONE IN THE CEMETRY OR SOMETHING???? DID KAKASHI DECIDE TO HAVE THIS TRAINING TOGETHER WITH OBITO?????? "HEY KIDDOS LOOK IF YOU CONTINUE BEING STUPID YOU'LL END UP LIKE MY BUDDY OVER HERE"????????????

and you gave him your two most important genins? are you shitting me here, Hiruzen?

oh yeah we are doing a lesson with Obito's spirit present.

but why are we teaching children things that a random dead 13 year old said?