#WHERE ARE THEY HIDING THEIR COOL SECRET RESEARCH

[ltcolonelcarter]

CyberLife Tower in the snow

[boobav]

!season 1

Viktor is, you've clearly observed, insecure of himself.

Quite valiantly, due to some looming social norm or personal feeling, he tries to hide it. But in moments like these, such an act becomes impossible. Try as he might, desperately at times, when he's pressed against you in the warm water, your fingers over his skin, your fingers in his hair, his failure is palpable.

"Are you okay?" You murmur into the nape of his neck, his back against your chest. The water threatens with gentle churns to spill over the bathtub.

He turns his head to press a kiss against your wrist.

"More than," he says, voice quiet but firm, "I just feel, sometimes," and he hums, as though forming an adequate description of his emotions were the hardest task on the planet. Viktor, your genius scientist, hesitant not to innovate, to change the world with his research, no. He's hesitant only to make sure he says the right thing to you.

"Like I'm too good for you?" You ask, catching his eye. By the gentle look you know that's what he means. He faces away again, nods in a vaguely ashamed way.

How, you've always wondered, can you truly change someone's perspective? When words don't seem to persuade, when actions bring only fleeting relief, what can you do?

"It's irrational, I know, some... flaw of the mind. You don't need to keep reassuring my senselessness." He leans into your touch, takes your free hand into his, soap suds bubbling between your fingers.

"Sometimes you talk about yourself like you're a machine, you know." You muse. He gives a half-hearted laugh.

"Not a well functioning one."

Are words or actions worth more in this game of convincing? Does he feel it deeper when you press your lips into his hair, or when you mumble compliments and honeysuckle words into his ear? He shivers either way.

It's a long game, you know. It's taken months to even reach this stage, where the self-deprication is a rarity, not the norm. Maybe it'll take his whole life before he can accept every part of himself like you can, before he can truly see himself through your eyes, gleaming and gem-speckled as they are.

You free your hand from his, reach up instead to knead shampoo into his thick hair. He responds with a sigh and sinks somehow further against you, the water falling slowly to a more lukewarm temperature. You're not sure how long the two of you have been in here, talking quietly about very little, exchanging words that'll disappear forever with the water. But you really can't find it in you to care.

There's work to be done, errands to run. Errands that should've been run a week ago. This ceremony, this meditation makes all of it null. For where else would you want to be? Where else exists besides here, this room, this moment, static in the cooling water with the embodiment of perfection.

When you tell it to him, as you so often do, when you tell him that he's perfect, he can't believe you. The first time you ever said it, peering into his eyes as if they held some secret treasure within, he thought you were joking. He'd laughed, more out of obligation than actual humour, but your expression remained still. Sincere. To say he was moved would be a wildly inadequate explanation. What he felt in his chest that night was something otherworldly, something without a name. He's come now to associate it simply with yours.

You run water through his hair, rinse out the shampoo as he lies pliant in your hands. He insists you use your soaps in his hair, some floral-scented collection you've used for who knows how long, because the smell reminds him of you.

There's no point in overthinking it, you suppose. No point in trying to map out and organise moods, emotions. No point in trying to turn a gentle human experience into something clinical, something without humanity.

That swirling, omnipresent yet transient concept of humanity. You simply must cradle it within your own. You press your lips into his wet hair, whisper words made of ginger and lavender into his ear. Because at the end of the day, you're human. You're in love. And sometimes, that's all that matters.

[clanwarrior-tumbly]

Could you do a scenario about Nemona, Penny and Arven with a real who has type null please? Maybe something about it transforming in Silvally?

YES NULL/SILVALLY TIME

I have one in Sword who I call "Bestie", and it's carried me through the Crown Tundra DLC. I want it in Violet so badly aaaa

Also this just reminded me of my fic that I wrote prior to Sun/Moon's release. Ya'll can give it a read if you so desire <3

That being said, this scenario will be like a sequel of sorts

........

Revealing Type: Null--or "Nully" as you've affectionately called it--to your friends was something you were initially nervous about...

But today was finally the day.

Moving away from Alola to attend school here in Paldea was quite the stressful journey, especially for your masked companion who had never know any place besides stark white labs and sandy beaches.

People kept warning you about how dangerous it was, but you never listened...and now your bond with the mysterious normal type has never been stronger.

Ever since you rescued it from an Aether Foundation facility that exploded due to its rampage, it put its trust in you and loved you unconditionally.

Learning the truth behind that supposedly "good" organization and its leader broke your heart. Although nothing devastated you more than realizing Nully had been held captive there as both experiment and prisoner.

You've tried researching its species, checking for notes and hacking into secret files the foundation kept under lock and key--and you discovered that Type: Nulls were basically created as "tamer" versions of Arceus, even having memory discs similar to the plates manufactured. They were meant to kill the Ultra Beasts should they invade Alola.

Instead, they went on a rampage (of course, that's what happens when humans try replicating a god's powers) and were confined to masks and put into cryogenic stasis. The whole project was deemed a failure.

As tragic as it was...you were relieved to have found Nully when you did and get it away from that horrible place.

Even so the mask still made it feel absolutely miserable, but unfortunately you couldn't find any further information on how to remove it without causing your precious Pokémon serious injury. There were no visible clamps to unlock, pulling it off would only cause it great pain, and cutting seemed too risky.

The only benefit was that it made Nully immune to critical hits, but the cons definitely outweighed the pros.

Maybe one of your friends knew more about the Type: Null species, and so you decided to call them all over for a picnic if they had free time.

All you could do was pray that they didn't lose their cool and scare your companion.

That's the last thing either of you needed.

Arven was the first to arrive, with Mabosstiff at his heels as usual, but he stopped dead in his tracks upon seeing the bizarre-looking Pokémon standing by your side. You could tell he was trying not to look too worried, considering the poor thing was hiding behind you now.

Still, it's obvious that he didn't have the slightest clue what he was looking at, so you explained everything to him: where you found Nully, why it looked like a rejected Arceus, and the memory discs you kept in a small folder.

So far, you haven't figured out how to utilize them in-battle. But despite the space they took up in your bag, you refused to throw them away.

"Are you sure there isn't a slot for these somewhere on its mask?" He stared at one of the floppy discs, before glancing back up at Nully, squinting. "It looks like there should be one."

"We've been pals for nearly three years, Arven..I'm pretty sure I would've found the slot by now if there was one." Shaking your head, you took it from him, sighing. "My only option is to get that thing off. The slot's probably on its body somewhere."

"Right...maybe there's a stomach hatch or-"

"¡Mira! You were right, Penny! They do exist!!"

"Nemona, slow down!! They're not going anywhere!!"

Hearing the shouts of two certain ladies from afar, you and Arven looked to see both Nemona and Penny coming over the horizon. The student council president was dragging the poor girl by the arm, with her stumbling to keep up and not lose her glasses.

When they arrived, Penny was dazed and annoyed as she scowled at Nemona, tearing her arm free of her iron grasp. But her attention was quickly set on the peculiar Pokémon who was cowering behind you yet again.

"Wow...I..never thought I'd see one up close before.." Adjusting her glasses, she gazed at Nully with interest.

"You've heard about them before?" You asked.

"Back in Galar, I found some top-secret stuff about Macro Cosmos trying to make their own instances. They literally stole the blueprints from the Aether Foundation."

"...yikes." Nemona remarked, tilting her head as she tried getting a better look at Nully herself. "It seems shy. Maybe a battle will help it-!"

"No battles, at least not right now." You smiled apologetically, patting it on the head as you looked at each other. "I know you're nervous, Nully..but it's okay. They're nothing like the jerks back in Alola who used to pick on us. They're my friends. You can trust them, I promise."

Nodding its head, it relaxed its haunches as it cautiously stepped away from your side, gazing at the trio and seeing their smiles, too.

They weren't looks of pity.

They seemed genuinely thrilled to meet it.

It stood there for some time, taking in everything you've said to it and thinking about how far it's come since you rescued it that fateful day.

Somehow, it knew it was always meant to be your companion--from the very moment you held it as it cried in the Pokémon Center, reassuring it that it's not a monster, but a sweet creature worthy of love and care.

Ever since then, your friendship has grew...and now it feels stronger, willing to put its life on the line for you if need be. Even though most of its powers have been concealed, it didn't feel like some weak and helpless lab experiment.

Oh no.

It was far from that now.

Thanks to your bond, it felt unbelievably strong.

So much so that....the normal-type realized an extraordinary change was imminent.

And you were about to witness it.

"Look! Nully's glowing, [y/n]!" Nemona pointed, her eyes widening as your companion was basked in a familiar light. "Is it evolving???"

"Oh my god...I think so." You gasped, never realizing the possibility of it evolving, but you're now certain that friendship is what triggered it at last.

The most noticeable thing were the cracks that started appearing all over its helmet, pieces of what you assumed was indestructible alien material falling apart. Nully shook its head vigorously, trying to get rid of it as much as possible.

Then it turned its attention to a nearby boulder, letting out a cry before performing a move similar to a Headbutt, ramming into it and letting the rock shatter the helmet completely.

At last, it was free.

When the glow faded, you and your friends gazed in awe as Nully looked back at all of you.

With its mask finally gone, what lied underneath it was a beautiful creature made of both nature and machine, with a beaklike mouth that smiled proudly.

"Nully...?" You murmured, stepping closer.

"Ally." It chirped, walking up to greet you.

Tears began forming in your eyes as your grin widened. "I can't believe it...friendship was all it took to-"

Suddenly, your rotomphone decided to ruin the sweet moment by flying out of your pocket.

It displayed a new entry in your Pokedex, and you grabbed it to read what it had to say, while Arven, Penny, and Nemona checked their own phones.

"I see, you're Silvally now." You gazed back up at Null--Silvally, watching it bow its head respectfully. With a small laugh, you mimicked the gesture, before petting it lovingly as you sighed. "Wow..."

You noticed one of the metal bolts on its face open up like a CD player, indicating that something had to go in there-

"Wait.." Remembering the memory discs, you took one out and held it up. "Do you want me to use this?"

Silvally nodded, although before you could do anything, Arven interjected.

"Hold on, which memory is that?"

"The Dark Memory. It probably just changes its type, but I believe this represents all the pain Silvally had to endure while being trapped in that mask, not knowing what it did wrong or why people shunned it for simply existing." You placed a gentle hand under your companion's jaw. "But now I think it's ready to turn that painful memory into power. So let's see what happens.."

"Silllllv!"

Carefully inserting the disc into the open slot, you watched as it closed up. Then you stepped back, seeing the colors and spikes on its body turn smoky black.

Even its eyes changed, and when they opened they looked even more menacing than ever.

And they stared directly at you.

With a low growl, it crept closer to you, while your friends held back..tense and worried that the pokedex entries were correct: this wasn't something you could so easily control.

There was probably a very good reason for the mask-

Yet any hostility Silvally seemingly expressed disappeared, as it smiled and licked your cheek affectionately, causing you to laugh once more. "Hey, that tickles! C'mere you!"

Hugging its neck, you grinned as you received even more kisses, hearing it purr with happiness. You petted its feathery crest, relieved that it completely trusted you now.

"Wow..it's way cooler than Arceus!" Nemona laughed. "Do you think I can battle it-??"

Silvally just shot her a wary look, and she immediately fell silent, a nervous smile on her face. "Haha, you're right. Not yet. But I swear we're gonna have an epic battle one day!"

"Yeah, one day. But for now, I have something special for this big guy."

"Sill?"

You managed to regain its full attention with a simple yet supereffective move of your very own:

It's called "chin scritches", something that none of your other Pokémon could resist receiving.

The mask obviously made it difficult for Silvally to receive proper affection back then...and you vowed to find a way to break it so you can do just that.

Now it was free of that awful and heavy thing, having a brand new life to look forward to: battles, friendships with other Pokémon, and more.

Even better?

Your three closest friends in all of Paldea were here to witness its evolution--a sign that despite all the odds...your bond was unbreakable.

[hurtspideyparker]

Hi, sorry but could you recommend any of your favourite Peter Parker fics please?

For sure !!! *cracks open ao3 bookmarks*

Thirty Hours by polaroid15 - Peter doesn't take any breaks during a lengthy fight with the Avengers. The mind-melting fever that follows really should have been expected.

Hurt Peter Parker, my favourite tag <3 I love when Spider-Man is a badass and also lacks self-preservation. He's so cool fighting alongside the Avengers and we get some sweet hurt/comfort irondad!

Fitting In (Tiny Spaces) by aloneintherain - Peter's trapped beneath a collapsed building during a mission, hurt and unable to move. Luckily, his comm still works. Unluckily, the Avengers don’t realise how bad of a state Peter is in, and Peter isn’t inclined to tell them.

This fic is an icon in the fandom and for GOOD REASON. I just can not get enough of Peter Parker hiding his injuries. More heavy whump and angst!

All good things come in threes by Bergen - Peter has three secret identities: Spider-Man, the superhero who swings around the city to save people. Parker Benjamin, who gives Tony Stark unsolicited advice on his research. And NightMonkey, the Instagrammer who keeps uploading increasingly popular but embarrassing drawings of Iron Man.

And he can juggle them all just fine, thankyouverymuch.

Okay here is the fluff!!! Peter is a genius, a menace, and a sweetheart. Tony Stark runs into him (again and again) and can't help but have a soft spot for him every time. Funny and cute and an all 'round good time!

Held Together by Spiderwebs by TunaFishChris - Steve is not coping well in the twenty-first century. At all. Three months after the Chitauri invasion, he decides he's had enough.

But just as he's about to end it all, he runs into the new hero in town.

This one focuses a lot on Steve but I really like him and Peter's relationship in it, and I think this is great Peter Parker characterization. TW for discussions of depression and suicide, it gets a bit dark!

5 Times Spider-Man Saved an Avenger's Ass (and 1 Time They Saved Him) by TunaFishChris - this fic showcases how strong and capable Peter is, he's definitely a BAMF. I really like this genre where the Avengers know Spider-Man but not Peter Parker, makes Peter feel more independent and mature like in the comics.

Five Time Faculty Members Had to Call Peter's Emergency Contact + One Time He Shows Up Anyway, Five Times Tony Stark's Fabled Intern Just Showed Up + One Time He Was Invited, and Five Times Strangers Talked About Peter and Tony + One time Someone They Know Did by kingdomfaraway - I am just gonna recommend this entire series. Super fluffy, extreme irondad and spiderson. They're just adorable from an outside perspective and I love when Peter gets to just be Tony's intern and a teenager for a while :)

research and disaster by blueh - “So, uh, Mr. Stark definitely knows Roomba-Kid,” Becket says and discreetly tilts his head in the direction of the pair.

“Oh my god,” Jess says. She almost sounds gleeful. “Oh my god, he’s not just some random kid. He’s Mr. Stark’s kid.”

or: the interns at Stark Industries have some questions about Peter Parker. The answers aren’t quite what they expect.

I just love intern Peter mk? Let him be a kid genius and have fun!!! Fluffy and humorous, again with the irondad.

Captain, Oh My- Not My Captain! by uncouth_peasant - Peter swallowed hard before firing a web to swing into the fray. “Cap’s going after civilians. I’m out of time.”

Bruised and bloody men <3. Just Peter being a badass and getting beat to a pulp. Cool fighting, lots of Peter whump, and of course the Avengers being protective.

Good publicity by Bergen - Between Peter Parker barely speaking, and Spider-Man being the ultimate chatterbox, how was Tony ever supposed to figure out that they were one and the same person?

Tony Stark is secretly a softie for cute kids, especially when they're a genius and have a sense of humour to rival his own. Peter is a foster kid who ends up finding a home with Pepper and Tony, very sweet.

The Third Option by Uncertainty_Principle - When Ben is murdered Peter goes into foster care. It takes just a tiny taste of superpowers for Peter to decide he doesn’t want to put up with his horrible foster father anymore—the streets are infinitely more appealing. All he wants is to be Spider-Man anyway.

So he leaves, simple.

Simple, that is, until Iron Man needs Spider-Man’s help.

Heavy TW for this one, mind the tags. This is a popular fic and for good reason. A very mature and realistic portrayal of the foster care system and homelessness. The Peter angst is really great and I could barely put it down, that boy needs a hug so bad.

Now here's some hydra!Peter fics cuz they're my jam:

Peter is a precious chickpea by Bergen - They attack the HYDRA safe house shortly before sunrise.

The only people defending said safe house are Peter and Leo, and Leo slams his cell door open and starts spitting out orders, but then promptly gets clobbered over the head and keels sideways.

So that just leaves Peter. And he’s not even going to try to fight a whole team of Avengers. He looks up at Iron Man filling the doorway. “I surrender.”

He’s never been captured before and he’s not sure what to do. Escape, probably.

This entire series is PERFECT. I just love how adorable Peter is, and all the relationships Peter forms with the Avengers absolutely melt my heart. Peter's characterization in this is really unique and I wish there was more. The Bucky and Peter friendship is everythingggg. I love hydra!peter and bucky fics.

Indoctrination by phoenixon - The Avengers thought they were on a typical assignment: Infiltrate the Hydra base and find the weapon. What they didn't expect was the small boy raised by Hydra that they found instead. And they definitely didn't expect him to stay at Avengers Tower or how he somehow wormed his way into their lives. As for Peter, he just wants to be good and obey what the Hydra men told him so he doesn't get in trouble.

I just really love hydra Peter changing into a sweet and intelligent boy once he's rescued and safe, and how all the Avengers take up such heart-warming parental roles around him.

out there, living in the sun by Hailfire_73 - The Avengers rescue Peter from a Hydra base ran by his father, Richard Parker, except Peter doesn't really see it as a rescue, and has trouble settling into a new life away from Hydra and his father at the Avengers compound. OR - Peter learns how to be an actual teenager, live life, and put his abusive past behind him, and Tony learns how to be a father.

Hydra Peter but he's most definitely a traumatized and moody teenager. I really enjoyed Peter's character arc and the exploration of his trauma. It felt more realistic the way his journey isn't just a straight or clear path. He's more mature in this one and it was a really compelling read, balancing the angst with some humour and fluff. Loved the ending.

Tinker, Tailor, Spider by Bergen - Tony is roped into a mission to transport a teenager to safety. But when things go south, it soon becomes more and more puzzling who the teenager is and what ‘safety’ means for him.

I really enjoy that the author doesn't water Peter being hydra down. Yes he is a highly skilled assassin and a badass who's trauma pervades his every thought and decision. Made me fall in love with the Tony, Pepper, Morgan and Peter as a family dynamic. Super domestic while still highlighting Peter's troubled past.

[d3adbr3inc3lls]

hey hey!! can i request a post DLC kieran x a male reader with chronic pain? (specifically in the legs) no one knows reader deals with chronic pain since he kept it secret, so maybe kieran finds reader while he’s going through a flare-up and helps him?

if you’re not comfortable with that i understand, hope this isn’t too specific or anything! have a good day and eat something tasty

Kieran x Male Reader with Chronic Pain | HCs & Drabble

I do apologise if I got anything wrong, I did do some research before writing this to get a better understanding of chronic pain and flare-ups. Also please make sure to take care of yourself !!! Drink some water and have a snack if you haven't done so already, (this applies to everyone who is reading aswell),

Just like everyone else, Kieran was oblivious to your pains, you were always great at hiding them from everyone in order to not risk being treated differently.

For as long as you had them, you could never get used to the burning sensation in your legs, and worst of all painkillers apparently weren't reccomended by some doctors, but seeing as you were in a constant state of distress to the point it affected your daily life, your doctor prescribed you some regular pain medication, hoping to ease the pain enough to let you function daily (they couldn't prescribe stronger pain meds in fear of addictions or possibly other side effects)

Never the less, you always tried to ignore it and spend time with everyone, especially Kieran.

Kieran was your boyfriend, he cared for you deeply, and despite the troubles he had faced before during the time he was champion, you were the first one to welcome him back with open arms.

He always loved that about you, despite how horrible he may have been, you welcomed him back into your life- first being friends, then dating- after he had proved to you that he did change, and he was no longer the cruel and feared trainer, driven by obsession to get stronger rumours have it that an exchange student was the cause, but you never believed it.

Falling to the floor you clutch your leg as you let out a pained grunt. Just like always, it comes out of nowhere, this time you were preparing yourself some breakfast, there was nothing that could've possibly triggered it, you haven't done anything new, there weren't any exams or assignments due that may have added extra stress, there was nothing that could've contributed.

Shifting yourself so that you were now sitting down on the cool tiles of the kitchen, you reached for your phone with one hand whilst the other rubbed at the area where it burned the most, hoping to ease some pain.

Grabbing the small device hastily, you navigate the Blueberry Academy website to file a student absence. Quickly typing away with one hand, the other slipped from your leg and reached into your pocket to grab your much needed pain meds, but something told you that if they didn't help already, there's no way they'd help now.

All you could really do was wait around until it stops, but even then, it could take hours for all you knew, and it scared you.

Trying to massage the pain in your legs, you could feel yourself being close to tears as you place your phone down on the floor so both hands could massage the pain.

In reality, you knew that it may not help much, but you liked to believe that it did. It gave you some hope.

Sighing, you pocketed your phone before slowly getting up, trying to ignore the intense burning sensation in your legs you moved yourself to the bed.

When you were close enough, you threw yourself onto your bed to avoid further walking. Tears threatening to spill from your eyes, you brought your legs closer to your chest, accepting that you can't do much at this current moment apart from wait for it to pass.

Trying to distract yourself, you weakly grab your headphones, pulling them over your ears with your free hand rubbing at your legs as tears roll down your face.

Distant ringing of the bell indicated the start of period one. You would've had math with Kieran as it was day 4. Glancing at your phone, guilt from dipping class without notifying Kieran (as you often did when you were sick) gnawed at you, but you knew he'd understand. If Kieran questioned you, you knew you could tell him that you had a fever and looking at screens hurt your eyes, but even that was a poor excuse for not notifying your boyfriend.

Music helped distract you a bit, but it wasn't enough. Hearing a familiar noise you look up to see that your partner pokémon which had left its ball, looking at you with a worried expression before sitting on the edge of your bed, nuzzling your hand in order to get you to pat them.

Rubbing your partner pokémon's head, you could feel yourself calm down from the initial fear.

Not too long after you heard the familiar bells ring again, indicating the start of the 5-10 minutes you get to walk between classes.

If it was a normal day, you'd be in English with Lacey, -and Drayton the few times a month he does tag along, mostly with the intention to ask something from from you or Lacey- you'd probably continuing reading Pokémon farm and awnsering some questions about it.

"Y/n-"

You almost missed the soft creaking your door made as someone stepped inside.

You wouldn't have noticed the person if it weren't for the painfully loud creaking of two floorboards as the newcomer's weight was moved onto them.

Kieran was there, wide-eyed as he stared at you before quickly closing the door and running over to you,

"Are you okay??"

He asked as he quickly dropped himself onto his knees next to you, gently cupping your face to remove any tears,

"What am I on about, of course you aren't okay," he mumbled to himself before making eye contact with you. The worry in his eyes was prominent as he ran his thumb across your cheekbone,

"Should I run a hot shower for you?"

"Kiki,"

"I could run to the cafeteria to grab you a snack?"

"Kieran,"

"Maybe-"

"Kieran."

Your voice finally snapped him out of his panicked thoughts as he looked at you again,

"I'm fine," You insisted as you attempt to sit up, your legs still close to your body,

"You're not." Kieran frowned as he sat next to you, leaning you on him as he gently ran his fingers through your soft hair, playing with some strands as looked at you, fearing for the worst.

"Please, just tell me what's wrong,"

His tone was so defeated, he hated seeing you in pain, and he'd never forgive himself if he ignored you when you were hurting.

Nervously glancing up at him, you sighed before explaining to him what was happening. He only nodded along, a speck of sadness in his eyes was visible, perhaps it was because you hid the pain and didn't want to tell him about it earlier.

"Y-y/n, why didn't you tell me this before,?"

His voice was soft, almost pained. And it broke you.

"I didn't want to be treated differently because of this,"

Your voice was equally as soft, guilt gnawing at you again.

Kieran let out a soft sigh before running his hands through your hair, thinking of something,

"Well- I could run a bath for you- but concidering that it's your legs, it'd be difficult for you to move. Another idea is something cold- got any frozen peas?"

Quickly returning, Kieran placed the frozen bag onto the affected area before gently lifting you enough to grab the blankets under you.

From one end of the temperature spectrum to the other, you nodded, causing Kieran to slowly got up after making sure you were comfortable enough to be left alone on the bed.

After making sure you were okay -as okay as someone with a flare-up could be- he quickly left to grab the frozen peas in your freezer.

His Hydrapple has been out of its pokeball for a while now, resting at the foot of your bed with the Applin Kieran had given to you when he confessed.

The two mons, alongside your partner pokémon would throw you concerned glances as they talked amongst eachother, with your partner pokémon probably telling them how you don't want to be pitied or treated differently for your pain.

Kieran draped the blanket over your shoulders before sitting down next to you and grabbing the remote.

Leaning you against himself like he did before, Kieran turned on the TV, hoping to find another way to distract you from the burning sensations.

You could feel the frozen bag easing the pain as the cold transferred over to your leg.

Running his hands through your hair, Kieran looked at you, a soft smile painted his face as he saw the lack of tears on your face.

A sign that you were starting to feel better.

"Do you want to watch something dear,?"

[itstheghostofmypast]

Girlboss

Corporate Worker Jung Wooyoung x (F)Reader

Summary: Why would his angel hide this from him? Especially when he'd been waiting day and night for this day to come- no, especially when he'd give her the whole world on a silver platter, all she had to do was ask. For Jung Wooyoung, lived to serve- lived to serve her.

Genre: Fluff

Warnings: none

Word Count: 1.2K

Est. Read Time: 10 min

Rating: SFW

Networks: @cromernet @k-labels

Banner: @cafekitsune

A/N: The amount of oneshots I've written to cope with exams is frightening- anyway, @edenesth- GOOD LUCK

"What are you doing here?"

His head snapped up at the question,  eyes widening at the realisation of being caught, a crimson hue spreading across his face, the same face he had tried to hide- with the classic glasses and cap duo.

"I … um…" Pulling down his glasses he blinked at her, "Sorry miss, I don't know you." with that he went back to texting- or rather pretended to do so. Ignoring the sound of her sitting across him, the screech of the chair was muffled by the people around them.

Placing her bag on the table she hummed, leaning forward to get a better look at his all-black choice of attire, "Are you twinning with me or are you wearing black because you wanted to hide?"

A cheeky smile broke past his 'cool' exterior, a chuckle following suit before he pulled off his glasses, neatly placing them on top of his cap, " A bit of both, boss."

"I'm not your boss, Wooyoung."

"Well," he leaned closer, enough for only her to hear his words, "Not yet." His hand reached for hers, lacing their fingers together with ease, no resistance was met, which meant she was in a good mood, which meant she had good news, which meant the rest of the day would perhaps be good too- well, at least in terms of chronology and the cycle of 'luck be with you'- whatever that meant when San told him to slip in the small 'lucky cat' keychain in her purse.

"True." she hummed in response, looking around the almost empty cafe, smart, he chose the place across her office, the office where she had an interview, but she did instruct him not to follow her, so why was he here?

"So, you got good news, they said they'll definitely get back to you?" his words were quick, fast-paced and laced with excitement, honestly, he had never been excited about his own work as much as he was for hers- possibly because he had been present during the late nights and endless hours of research, managing life, struggling to maintain those pesky grades all the while trying to be an active and emotionally available partner.  What he did not expect was for her not to tell him about her interview date, she had invited him for everything, else convocation and whatnot, so why keep this a secret?

"Even better, we discussed my salary as well." she smiled at him, brighter than the stars he'd love to watch with her at night, warmer than the summer sun that he loved. 

This was it, it was exactly this very reason that had him go all spy mode early in the morning and follow after her. He'd been awake before she slipped out of bed, he'd been awake when she came out of the shower, he'd been awake when she was trying to quietly make himself breakfast and he was awake when she came up to his side and planted a soft kiss on his cheek, mumbling an 'I love you'. He had thrown off the blankets, already dressed for the mission - he changed when she was in the kitchen- putting on the cap and glasses he had made sure to follow her discreetly, to not take his car but use public transport, to reach the destination before she could- while she was busy looking for a place to park, he had already found a nice seat across the road at the cafe, making sure to have a view of the entrance of the office- what he did not expect was for her to catch him. For when she did, he was actually formulating a text, calculating if she was free by now, to surprise her and tell her to come into the cafe across the street where she'd arrive and be greeted by the loving sight of him and her favourite English breakfast.

"That's great." giving her hand a little squeeze, before he let go and sighed, "I just…I don't wanna ruin the mood but…" sighing he averted his gaze, was the question really worth it? Should he bring it up? This was about her achieving a huge milestone in her life, about how she was going to start something new, something she'd been striving to achieve- maybe she didn't want him to be there because it would be better that way, maybe she wanted some space, maybe he was holding her back, maybe-

"I was…scared," she whispered, reaching for his hand again, clasping it in both of hers, pulling him closer so he was leaning across the table, much like her, "I was scared of disappointing you, so I didn't wake you up and-"

"Disappoint me? my sweet angel, if anything, you are the reason why I get up for a nine-to-five job every morning, how could you ever disappoint me? Do you think I'd be upset if you got the job at the same company as mine?" Frowning at her, he scanned her features, trying to look for any signs of discomfort or unease, had he been not expressing himself enough? Had he not been telling her how much he was proud of her enough? Had he been a bad boyfriend-

"I was too afraid of rejection, Woo, I didn't want to come out of that office to see the disappointment on your face- I know how bad you want us to work in the same office." She smiled, sensing his inner turmoil, she could tell when he'd be debating on choosing his next words carefully, which was rare because Wooyoung's chattering would often be quicker than his brain could formulate the pros and cons of the chatter.

"I- how could they reject you, you're literally the coolest person I have ever met." he gasped, pulling back with a scoff, "I'd personally go in there and knock some sense into Hongjoong."

Shaking her head at his comment she chuckled, "Only you would think that is a great quality for a job applicant." Smiling, she waved to the waiter who was looking for the only table that had ordered the special breakfast at noon.

"I know you would- but to celebrate I got us-," leaning back she thanked the waiter to place the platters of English breakfast, four to be exact, four platters? He thanked the two before speed-walking away, probably presuming the two were insane.

"Um…did you order an English breakfast too?" she asked, eying the food, only for him to sigh and shake his head at her antics.

"I was going to surprise my angel with a nice warm meal- guess we're so in love we're basically ruining each other's surprises." With that, he pushed a platter towards her and a glass of juice, "Eat up lovely, the corporate world is not for the weak, and my girl ain't no one to be messed with." 

Her heart almost leapt out of her throat and into his palm at the statement, to be all snug and all his, watching him slice and dice her breakfast into smaller pieces for her, now literally standing above the table to do so, he really was a blessing and she was grateful to whatever entity out there for gracing her with him.

"Imma call you snookum's at work." "I'll report for harassment." "Damn, tough crowd."

Taglist: @edenesth @yessa-vie @marsvillee @mlysalt @spooo00oky @the-kpop-simp

[zetalial]

You know it's really cool how the FMA 03 anime like obviously started with following early FMA manga canon and then going in its own direction. And do something completely different with it!

For instance....Okay so early in the anime we learn about the Ishval war and how it started when a soldier accidentally shot an ishval child after tensions arose because the Ishvalans hated alchemy.

Then a rebellion kicks off and the soldiers are sent in, then the State alchemists are sent in to massacre the Ishvalans and end the conflict.

So yeah, 03 takes this from the manga! I think this is told to us through Marcoh in this version but the plot point is the same!

...Or is it?

Later, Hughes is researching and finds out the Solider who shot the kid was called Juliet Douglas... the same name shared by the fuhrer's secretary who it will be revealed is a homunculus. Hughes speculates at the time that she is taking advantage of the paperwork and stealing an identity to infiltrate the military and control things via her role working under the fuhrer as this woman has in truth only worked in the military for a short time. There's a coverup. (And the homunculi, to hide all this he's discovered, decided to kill him.)

But wait... there's more!

We meet Marta, a chimera and she reveals that she was part of an elite group of specially trained soldier. They were the soldiers that didn't officially exist. She explains that there was no child and it wasn't some convenient story of Ishavalans and their dislike of alchemy creating tension and then rebelling when the child was killed. That was all a lie.

The truth was that the military just wanted to massacre the ishvalans, tensions broke out because the secret division were ordered to start killing them until they eventually started retaliating. The story was all a fabrication to make the military sound a little fairer, like it was all this one off mistake that escalated, not a premediated decision. (We see this happening again in the present when the military send in kimblee to start blowing up liorans in order to get them to fight back to justify the military going in to crush them for good). Marta and her team were then betrayed naturally by the military they served and taken to be experimented on in lab 5 where they become chimeras.

Yeah. So the whole thing becomes this fascinating mix of miliary, corruption, truth, lies, war and propaganda. It's a natural part of the anime.

...

Then you go into the Manga itself and the child being killed by a soldier happens too of course but this time it isn't a lie. It's actually what happened. And it's Envy who did it. Envy is actually very proud of this and gloats about it. (Again it wasn't an accident but everything else it basically true xD.)

Heh, it's just wild that we get this story in both but the first anime decides to subvert it only for the later content to mostly play it straight. I love that things like this just exist and as usual I love how bold 03 is with it's choices.

[thewritingmagician2022]

Hi! I have a bit of an uncommon ask; would you be willing to write the brothers+dateables (just the dateables if that's too many characters) with a MC that...just seems to know things before they happen? They never say anything about it or redirect the conversation, but they've snagged Luke on the collar seconds before a demon comes sprinting around the corner or a car speeds the red light, and always seems to know what a person's saying before they even finish saying it.

Idk, I like the idea of an MC who's been through time shenanigans before (bc time shenanigans be like that), I think it could have some really interesting effects, especially around lesson 16

This is a fun ask and it’s interesting to me because I tend to be someone that dreams about things before they happen - usually years in advance and it’s such mundane moments that I don’t even think about it until it happens in real life and I’m like hey! 👀

Despite the coolness of this ask, it’s obviously very delayed and not very fleshed out because I couldn’t find it in my brain/creativity to do it justice. I’m sorry for that and I hope you were able to find it elsewhere!

Lucifer: Lucifer is more than a little suspicious at first. It’s one thing to have a human down here in the Devildom but quite another to have one with the ability of precognition. It puts him and his family and the kingdom at potential risk; if you’re having visions about the future, it’s hard to keep any secrets or keep you in line as you may be a step ahead of him which really throws him off his game. So he’s keeping a careful eye on you at first and instructs you tell him about all of the visions you have, at least until he’s sure that he can trust you. Then he’s going to use that nifty little powers of yours to help stop his brothers before they can cause too many problems for him.

Mammon: Mammon thinks it’s both cool and freaky. He definitely wants you to keep it a secret just between the two of you so you can use it to his, excuse me, your advantage. He would absolutely bring you with him while gambling in the hopes that you’ll be able to see the winning numbers or colors or machines. It would make you even more invaluable to him, especially when you save his hide by warning him pre-emptively about bounty hunters or Lucifer coming after him or even just a RAD project that he may have forgotten. He’s a little in awe of you honestly.

Levi: Levi thinks you’re super cool! It’s like you have a superpower like one of his favorite anime girls. He can’t wait to be your sidekick as you work your way through the Devildom with your secret powers. He gushes over them/you every time you use them, especially when you use them for something nice like making sure Luke doesn’t get plowed over in a hallway or you keep something of his safe from Mammon. Occasionally, he does let you use it for gaming. He won’t let you warn him ahead of time of things in his games because it feels like cheating but if you’re playing co-op, well, he can’t exactly stop you and if you become practically undefeated realm-wide, that’s just a bonus.

Satan: Satan loves a good mystery and research so this is perfect. You have no idea where this elusive power comes from nor do you have any idea how to control it. That means he’s going to do a full deep dive getting your history, learning all about what the preminitons are like for you and what their usual subject matter is, tracking them to see if there’s any triggers or precursors he can identity. It’s like a fun game for him. He absolutely loves it when you get information that involves Lucifer because he and Belphie want to use it to their advantage for pranks, and he also loves how incredibly human you are with your gift - you use it kindly for everyone around you, always saving them from danger or distress or even just to spare their feelings.

Asmo: Asmo is easily freaked out by your power. Don’t get him wrong, he adores you and loves how special and unique you are - of course everyone should be super jealous knowing he gets to have the superpowered human. However, he is lowkey creeped out by it because he is so easy to startle. Pulling him out of the way of a random food fight? He shrieks. Snatch something out of his hands because it’s actually cursed? He’s got tears in his eyes both of gratitude and fear, also maybe a little bit of arousal because wow, you really do take such good care of him, don’t you?

Beel: Beel is the definition of the surprised pikachu face meme every time you use your powers. It’s like he has short term memory loss when it comes to this so whenever you manage to answer a question that’s so far unasked or catch something flying at you or you save one of the brothers from falling down the stairs, Beel looks at you like you’re a superhero. He’s just very impressed with you all the time anyway and he does his best to make sure that no one bothers you about or for your gift. You’re not some little sideshow pony for people to use for their gain and he’s going to make sure no one treats you that way.

Belphie: Your gift breaks his heart a little. Belphie wonders how much you knew, how much you know now. Did you always know that he was going to betray you and did you still choose to befriend him, to heal his family, to love him anyway? Did you know it would work out in the end or did you just hope for it? Or did you have no clue about his betrayal despite being aware of so many other things? He doesn’t know what’s worse actually - if you were ignorant and blinded or if you walked into his home a knowing martyr. It makes him want to project you, especially when all you seem to do is protect others with your gift. You’re always rescuing everyone else, heedless to the danger of the present and the pain of the past. He does his best to support you in any way possible, especially when the visions are something stronger and deeper than just making sure Beel doesn’t eat his last cookie.

Diavolo: Diavolo had no idea when he selected you as the exchange student that you had such a wonderful gift. He sees it as a sign from the universe that he picked the right person; it’s just another reason that you’re perfect for here, for him. Especially because you actively use your powers to do the good and right thing. Where others could and would choose to be selfish or manipulate others or gain power, you do your best to ensure everyone’s safety and happiness. He finds you and your gift incredibly endearing and wonderful. He’s just so thrilled that he has such a talented little human around to prove their goodness and usefulness. He also very much enjoys watching you have fun with your gift, whether it’s causing some trouble with Solomon or Mammon or Simeon, and he doesn’t let anyone scold you for it because he thinks it’s so much fun to watch you make your own way down there.

Barbatos: Barbatos was at first a little unsettled by this power of yours. He’s grown quite used to being the unsettling, omniscient person in the group. It’s not every day you meet someone who can see through time, even with visions as mundane and innocuous as yours usually are. It makes him suspicious in the beginning but, as he grows to trust you, he helps you deal with your powers both in terms of handling the visions/honing your skills and in terms of coping with the things that you may see. Once you’ve built that strong relationship between you, he absolutely loves to create chaos with you. You both like to be as ominous and vague as possible, using your unspoken twin bond thing to communicate and leave the others in a constant feeling of being a step behind the both of you.

Solomon: Solomon is deeply curious; he’s a man who knows everything about the past and you’re the person who knows everything about the future. He’s met humans with powers before, some even with the power of pre-cognition, but yours are the most erratic and it’s a very interesting coincidence that you happened to be brought in as the exchange student at RAD. He’s definitely going to ask to run tests and experiments on you, a bit like Satan but much more hands on his approach. He wants to figure out the origin and the extent of your powers, and he’s certainly okay with stirring up some trouble. It’s not unusual for him to use your powers as an excuse for why he did/didn’t something, even if it’s not true, and he uses his magic to help you harness your gift to turn into something consistently useful.

Simeon: Simeon is almost as curious as Satan and Solomon (must be an S name thing?). He does wonder where your gift comes from - if it’s a Gift from his Father to be used to better the world around you, which he sees happening every time you save one of them from a near death experience or even just give them the answer in class in RAD because you knew the professor would ask them, or if it’s a curse because he’s seen the haunted, lonely, terrified look on your face when you’re confronted with the visions of darker things than the others can even comprehend. He knows you don’t share those visions with everyone; you tend to keep them to yourself and work to make sure they don’t happen. Simeon is the one who sees that look and steps in to stand by your side and support you so that you don’t have to bear the responsibility alone. To make things a little light for you, Simeon encourages you to use your gify for fun. Between your visions and Simeon’s angelic grace, no one doubts whatever you two say and that means you can get away with so many things and keep yourself out of trouble. It might be a little bit naughty of you but you think you both do more than enough for the Devildom to have earned this little mischeif.

[luffyvace]

Hello hope your doing well, I had this idea for a while now but I can please request Red hair pirates x male reader with heterochromia(serach it up if I don't what it is) where the reader is ashamed of their eyes and hides from the his new crewmates.

You also don't have to acppect my request. But anyways have a good day!💛

HIII I AM GOOD!! YOU? of course i accept your request anon!! :) dw i know what heterochromia is 😎😋

just for the record i’ve done research on the main 4 (shanks, ben, yasopp and lucky) in the past to get to know them better. so i’ll talk about them specifically and address the rest as “the crew” if that’s okay :)

THEY NEED MORE SCREEN TIME PLSSS

thank goodness for the one piece live action for a lot more gifs of all of them 😭💥

thank you so much for your request!! :) enjoy anon <3 and thank you for being patient!

so you just joined the red hair pirates recently

and you hide one of your eyes with an eye patch or your hair

shanks does wonder about it but doesn’t wanna bother you if your sensitive about it

bets it’s a scar

lucky and yasopp notice you hide your eye but they all have they’re personal reasons for stuff they do

so they assumed this was one of yours

ben thinks it could be a scar or you could just like to style your hair that way

but from the way it looks—how you try to keep it hidden so well and refuse to move it at all

he pretty much figures something happened

shanks and ben talk it over all the time

they never let you hear

just so your not uncomfortable

shanks will probably be the one to ask if curiosity gets the best of him

(it will)

”hey m/n, why do ya’ hide your eye?”

he asked it casually, drinking all the while

”oh..uhhhh, hide? i’m not hiding it..”

”so what do you call it?”

”it’s nothing shanks, i just…..like to style my hair this way”

”oh really?”

he pokes at you about it for a while

the other members kinda just watch as shanks playfully questions you

they figured he’d get it out of you

especially with his pushy yet teasing nature

and after a while…he did!

now idk how it went down since your so bent on not showing anyone

but!!

you slowly moved your eye patch/hair out the way to reveal your heterochromatic eyes!!

whoa!!

🤩

😗

we’re the reactions

it looked so cool?

so pretty?

wow it’s so unique i’ve never seen it in person?

woah how do you have two different colored eyes?

let me see!!

turn this way!

okay okay! stop pestering m/n!!

ben had to calm the rave about your eyes since he could clearly see you were a bit overwhelmed

everyone was admiring you and your eye

wondering why you didn’t show them sooner

which is what lucky asked

”i don’t know…i just..it’s shameful..my eyes aren’t even the same color!”

WHAT??

literally everyone’s reaction

wym 😐🤨

do you even know what your talking about right now??

ANYWAY

how’d you get it? we’re you born with it?

i don’t know how it works…how does it?

it’s kinda rare right?…wow…

everyone moves on because clearly your tripping

no but fr if you express your seriously upset about your eyes

the crew shares all types of embarrassing yet fun and heart warming secrets n stories to make you feel better

ben tells you there’s nothing to be ashamed about and that none of the crew would ever judge you for anything

”ain’t that right men?”

a loud uproar of “yeah’s” and cheers can be heard in agreement

yasopp definitely makes you laugh with some of his stories

turns out he’s just as goofy as his son

which he rants to you about said son for hours

makes you forget all about your troubles 😂

lucky and shanks lightly tease you for being so embarrassed over ‘somethin’ so silly’

but it’s all in good fun

in the end you all have drinks and get wasted

‘cheers to your eye! m/n!’

:)

KINDA SHORT BUTTTTT YEAH

i’m really happy with the ending i hope you like it too<3

[tragedybunny]

Caught Out

༺Summary༻

Astarion and Serafina get caught out in a storm and come up with a plan to get warm again.

༺Pairing༻ Astarion x Serafina (Female Tav/OC)

༺Warnings༻ Non-explicit sex, a hint of suicidal ideation, otherwise just mostly fluff

༺Word Count༻ 2554

༺A/N༻

This a gift for my dear friend @icybluepenguin as part of our server exchange. Sorry I had to keep secrets for so long on this. 😅 I hope you love it.

Thank to @leomonae for betaing and assuring me it worked, and for the great addition at the end.

Read on AO3

Darkness was coming earlier with each day; while on the one hand that meant more time Astarion was able to travel freely, it also meant that the nights were becoming colder and the weather less pleasant. Serafina had watched the sun sink down past the horizon through a gathering tide of dark clouds that held the promise of a storm.

She and Astarion had left Baldur’s Gate some weeks back; their first lead on a way for Astarion to walk in the sun had proved fruitless, and now they were on their way to Waterdeep to consult with Gale on some research he had done.

Though at the moment, Sera wished they could just take shelter for the night. Astarion would likely want to press on: not only was he eager to find a way back into the light, he was eager to explore the world he’d been kept from for two hundred years. His impatience in that regard was understandable and forgivable, and so she would relent to continuing on, hoping the rain wouldn’t catch them.

As if sensing her thoughts - and she wasn’t sure that was out of the realm of possibility, with his new talents that had emerged once the tadpole was gone and he started being fed properly - Astarion emerged from their tent, immaculately dressed and perfectly coiffed. He flashed her a brilliant smile, fangs on full display; reveling in himself, with nothing to hide from her any longer.

“Good evening, my love.” He came over to wrap his arms around her and face the direction she was keeping watch, as she smothered the last of the cookfire. A sudden wind shook the leaves of the surrounding trees, drawing her gaze back to gathering clouds she had been observing earlier.

“Maybe not so good judging by those clouds.” Leaning her head back, Sera’s lips softly brushed the edge of his jaw, innocent and sensual at once. “Perhaps we should just stay at camp tonight?”

“Don’t tell me the hero of Baldur’s Gate is scared of a little rain!” Astarion’s teasing was followed by a playful nip to the point of her ear.

Swallowing down her growing misgivings about continuing their journey with the threatening skies, she turned in his arms and playfully tugged at one of his curls. “Oh, I'm not, but we'll see how you feel as soon as these get wet.”

“Cheeky.” Cool lips brushed over hers. “Let’s just see who surrenders to a little inconvenience first.”

With the camp packed, the two of them set out for the night along the road north to Waterdeep, emerging from the edge of the trees that marked the boundary of the Misty Forest. Astarion had been hesitant to fully enter the woods initially, knowing that the elves within saw it as their sovereign kingdom and might not feel kindly towards a half-blood and a vampire intruding. Sera had agreed with that assessment; what she hadn’t agreed with was not taking a room at the well-known traveler’s refuge, the Way Inn.

But Astarion had argued it was too crowded; too many would-be heroes. In the end, she couldn’t blame him for being cautious about being discovered; not after they’d accidentally discovered another vampiric ability of his near the start of their journey when he’d walked right up a wall in front of the inn’s patrons they were trying to defend. Luckily they had been playing heroes that night, and so the owners of the inn had been willing to overlook the obvious vampire who’d spent the following day hidden away in one of their rooms.

A distant peal of thunder broke the silence of the night; Sera glanced back towards where the stars were disappearing into a looming blackness. “If this storm catches up to us, we are staying in a real building tonight – one with a proper bath.”

It had been weeks on the road, bathing in rivers and ponds a good portion of the time; with the temperatures falling, a hot bath was most definitely in order. Maybe she should apologize to Astarion for teasing him when he’d previously complained about his creature comforts, Sera thought.

“Of course we can’t have a delicate lady such as yourself exposed to such elements,” Astarion said, then laughed merrily, darting just out of reach of her attempted playful smack to his shoulder.

“Impero te.” A clap of thunder came, right beside Astarion; he froze in his impish dance, looking worriedly up towards the clouds despite having heard her vocalize the spell. A simple Prestidigitation cantrip; now it was Sera’s turn to laugh. “I thought you were unworried about the elements.”

“That was cheating, madam,” Astarion groused.

The banter and chatting continued as they walked, before finally they fell into a companionable silence. While Sera certainly didn’t mind Astarion’s usual more talkative moods, his jokes and gossip about their friends gleaned from letters, the silence was lovely. The silence meant he was comfortable: not feeling driven to be entertaining and witty, every second of his existence, in order to earn his place. Not feeling like he had to earn his place with her.

Slowly, the light of the stars vanished, and then the moon as well, taking the ambient color of the world with them, until she and Astarion were left to rely upon their inherent darkvision as they continued along.

Another boom of genuine thunder sounded, closer than the first; the wind answered it with a fierce gust.

“I believe your storm ha-” Astarion cut himself off at the first drops of rain pattering down, looking up at the sky. “- has found us.”

Sera shivered in her armor, pulling the hood of her cloak over her head and trying not to be cross with her love over his earlier stubbornness, but finding herself longing for the warm bath she could be enjoying right now instead of standing in the frigid rain. “Shall we pick up the pace? Bowshot shouldn’t be far.”

Lightning danced across the sky, briefly returning color to their surroundings. Astarion stared at the falling water with disdain, but seemed determined not to admit defeat by agreeing with her outright. “If that is what my beloved wishes, we’ll make haste to town.”

With a gallant bow, he set off at a brisk jog; a pace designed for her to keep up with. He was faster now too, these days; it wouldn’t sustain over long distances, but in a short trek, he was near-impossible to catch.

Not to be found wanting, Sera hurried to follow, slipping the strap of her staff over her shoulder to keep it out of the way.

The patter of rain soon became a downpour, the water soaking into the padded cloth of her armor and weighing her down. Astarion had slowed, his own leather armor sodden as well. The relentless wind made her blood feel like ice water in her veins. Shaking, she pulled her now useless cloak tighter around herself. 

Astarion further slowed his pace to let Sera catch up, then put an arm around her.

“I'm sorry, my love; I should have listened. You're freezing.” His voice sounded so genuinely pained that Sera couldn't help but let go of any lingering irritation.

“Let's just find some place to stop.” Gods above, how far could Bowshot be?

“Perhaps that will suffice?” Astarion pointed to what looked like a rather worn down building some distance off the road.

It would at least be dry. But… 

“There could be other things taking shelter there,” Sera mused, though the steady flood from the sky was making her care less and less about that with every passing moment.

“What's the worst there could be? Goblins? Kobolds?”

“You know, I think you secretly like eating kobolds,” Sera teased; Astarion scoffed at the remark. “But you're right, it has to be better than this.”

The two of them scurried from the road and down along the overgrown, muddy track that looked to have once served as a cart path.

The structure loomed before them, two stories of worn wood, grime-covered windows, and a door barely clinging to its hinges. It couldn’t be any worse than camping in the Shadow-Cursed Lands, though, Sera thought, hanging back to keep an eye on the road behind them while Astarion, as the more silent of the two of them, entered first to scout the place.

It wasn’t long before he reappeared, a pale face and faintly glowing red eyes looming out of the darkness; it would have been frightening, if Sera didn’t know it so well.

“It’s not a well-kept inn, but there are no kobolds.”

“That will do.” Sera followed up into the house as Astarion led the way, down an entry hall into a parlor with a large hearth and the broken remains of furniture scattered around. Various doors led to the rest of the house, and a stairway vanished up into darkness.

At least the roof above this area seemed to be holding fast against the continued torrent of rain, even as the storm banged and boomed in even fiercer fashion.

“Nothing for it but to sit it out, I suppose,” Sera said, after taking in their surroundings.

“We need to get you dry first,” Astarion said, brushing a strand of hair out of her face and cupping her cheek. “You’re cold as death. And I should know.”

Astarion set to work without waiting for a reply, removing his armor and breaking apart a few of the chairs; in the meanwhile, Sera stripped off her cloak and padded armor before tugging off her boots as well, leaving both her and Astarion similarly garbed in loose shirts and breeches. From inside their Bag of Holding, she pulled out a couple of bedrolls and extra blankets - they might as well make themselves comfortable.

“Ignis,” Astarion spoke; a fire blazed to life in the hearth, adding at least some warmth to their bleak shelter.

When he turned back toward her, Sera had the bedrolls spread out on the floor and had already made herself comfortable; she patted the spot next to herself invitingly. The grin Astarion gave her in return was both mischievous and lascivious.

He wasted no time in settling next to her, pulling her into his arms. “Why, my sweet Serafina, this won’t do at all.  Your clothes are still far too damp; best to remove them.”

“How will I keep warm at all without them?” Sera looked up at him through her lashes, eyes wide in a pantomime of feigned naivety.

“I’m sure I can think of a way to get you warm.” Astarion’s hands gripped her shirt, beginning to tug on it as though to pull it over her head. Feeling a sudden flush, she yielded, growing passion starting to push away lingering trepidation about the storm. 

Brilliant lightning brightened the room, flashing just as thunder rattled the house’s rickety bones, followed by a strange thump from up the stairs.

They both froze.

“I thought you cleared the house?” Sera asked, lowering her voice to a whisper.

“I did!” Astarion shot back, defensively, before recovering his composure. “Perhaps it’s a ghost. Do you need me to protect you from the other creatures of the night?”

His hands went back to attempting to remove her shirt.

“We fought a ghost and won,” Sera muttered as one of his icy hands suddenly palmed her breast, leaving her sighing and leaning into his touch. A metallic sort of whine came from upstairs; it had to just be the house having been shaken by the storm, the wind still battering it, but they seemed safe enough for the moment. Why not indulge in a bit of fun?

“Oh no, a ghost. Maybe we should hide under all these blankets.”

“Excellent idea, love. I can keep you nice and safe under there.” With a quick tug, Astarion pulled her shirt off and pushed her down to the bedroll. “Oh, but these breeches are…”

Astarion trailed off, clearly unable to decide whether to keep going with the ghost pretence or the “too wet” notion. “Well, either way, they just have to go.”

Soon Sera was left naked and shivering, eager for both the blankets and Astarion, even if his body temperature wouldn’t help with warming her up. But there were other ways he could help her with that, as he’d promised. 

“No fair, you’re still dressed. We should be equally vulnerable to the ghosts,” Sera teased, sliding her foot up his leg to run along the obvious bulge at his groin.

“Of course, I’ll make myself a similarly tempting target to lure the ghosts away from you.”

Astarion quickly dispensed with his own clothes until he was left bare, shining like marble in the soft glow of the fire; a truly ethereal beauty. Sometimes, Sera thought that if he accidentally killed her during one of his feedings, she’d be happy to die that way: in his arms, lost in passion, offering him the sustenance to sustain his life.

There was another thud somewhere in the house, quickly blotted out by yet more thunder as the storm’s fury began to build to a crescendo.

“Oh no, protect me, my brave love!”

Sera held her arms out, lost in the building warmth in her core, unable to muster any care for the fact that this particular thud seemed closer. Gathering the blankets, Astarion lowered himself down to her, lips pressed against hers, covering them both. The chill of the rain-soaked walk was instantly forgotten. He was right: he was very good at getting her warm - with teeth and tongue and hands and cock stiff with wanting her.

The blankets surrounding them trapped the heat of their coupling while the fire burned itself down. A sheen of sweat covered them, by the time Astarion collapsed into her arms, face nuzzling into her neck.

Sera hummed, running her fingers up and down the lean muscles of his body, less sharply defined now that he was no longer being starved. “Is it my turn to warm you up, love?”

“You're too good to me,” Astarion breathed, just before his fangs sank into her neck.

The storm slowed as he fed, leaving behind only the sound of a gentle patter of rain and the crackle of dying embers.

Safe, warm, loved - there was nothing more Sera could want. Except for the goal they sought: Astarion returned to the sun. And they were well on their way to that one.

Once Astarion finished feeding and had licked her wounds clean, Sera sat up. Waterdeep was still a long ways to go.

“The rain’s stopped. Our armor is still soaked, but we could get on the road without -”

Sera was cut off by Astarion wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her close, kissing along her shoulder. “A little longer, Sera, love; no need to pay for my impatience twice in a night.”

Sera wavered, then gave in, her eyes closing as she sighed contentedly. As they shut, for a moment she almost thought she’d glimpsed a silvery figure from the corner of her vision.

A trick of the shadows and the ghost talk from earlier, surely, Sera thought, dismissing the imagined apparition as she leaned back against Astarion. Besides. She had a vampire.

Tag list: @writingmysanity @snowfolly @sunfire-ancunin @vixstarria

@just-a-refrigerator @ladyofcrowsandcoffee @tallymonster @azu21

@wilteddreamsofbaldursgate @spacebarbarianweird @cilil @bg3obsessedsideblog

@talented-bitch @claryvoyantfray

[gilbirda]

Friendly neighborhood vigilante. Chapter 25

BatmanxDP crossover. JasonxJazz

[Read on AO3] [Read on FF.net]

Based on this post

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---

“So you are saying that the Infinite Realms’ government is organized like a dungeons and dragons party?”

Danny snorted and patted Tim’s shoulder. “Jazz’s idea, actually.”

From where she was quietly talking with Bruce, Jazz huffed. “I never said it was a dungeons and dragons party. I only suggested the organization that fit our strengths better.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Danny made a dismissive gesture with his hand. “Potato, potahto.”

Jazz rolled her eyes, but went back to her discussion.

The group was walking towards the gardens, where a light lunch was served. Time went by as the Waynes asked anything and everything about the Realms and their rulers, now that there were no more secrets between them. They talked about Sam and Tucker and Valerie and even about Danielle, her origins and how she joined the team included.

The Fenton siblings enjoyed oversharing in a way that felt weird to the vigilantes, so used to hiding and concealing their thoughts all the time. Now that they were more comfortable, Danny and Jazz didn’t hesitate to act more inhuman around them, with the younger sibling floating when he got excited as if it was the more normal reaction.

It reminded Bruce of his colleagues in the Watchtower break room goofing around and using their powers for the stupidest reasons.

When Tim rejoined them, this time alone, he was more annoyed about losing the bet than missing the ghost royalty status reveal. Danny thought that was the funniest thing, and gladly started a new stream of oversharing information about Jazz’s princess status and all the titles she held, ignoring his sister’s attempts at silencing him.

They didn’t even notice lunch time approaching until Alfred reminded everyone in the house that they had to eat — yes, even their inhuman guests. The last part was added with a pointed glare and a short nod before the man walked away.

So now they were making their way to lunch, which was served outside given the nice weather despite being way into fall, chatting about Team Phantom and their roles in detail.

“So Sam is like the Barbarian of the team?” Tim pressed on. “And Tucker is the Artificer.”

Jazz huffed again.

“We are not—”

“Actually, is not that far from the truth,” Danny chuckled, “but not exactly just that. All of us are at least trained in one main duty and act as a backup for someone else. That guarantees that if one of us has to leave, nothing will be left unattended.”

“Like with Jazz being here.”

He nodded. “Jazz helped Tucker with all the record keeping and research in magical theory, as well as diplomacy and ghost law studies. Valerie helped Jazz with her main duties, and so on and so forth.”

“Magical theory?” Jason asked, one eyebrow arched. “Ghost law?”

“Sounds cool but it's actually just reading a bunch of books and trying to guess what they say.” Danny grumbled, rubbing his face. “I swear there is nothing that can make me pass out faster than reading those fuckers.”

“That’s because you don’t do your homework. Dorathea is a very good teacher.” Jazz chimed with a mocking smile.

Duke interrupted when Danny jumped to answer. “You said that the books weren’t Jazz’s main duty, so what is it?”

The young woman tensed for a second before putting on a gentle smile. It didn’t fool anybody, though. “I am—”

“Jazz.”

She turned towards her brother. “What?”

“Jazz, look.”

She frowned at his serious tone, the boyish glee gone completely, but turned to look at what he was pointing at.

It was a giant painting on the other wall of the room they just passed by, which was featuring a small family — a woman, a man and a child. All three were wearing nice clothes, serene smiles for the portrait.

“What’s the matter?” Bruce stepped closer to see what they were seeing, tensing when he realized what it was. “Why are you pointing at my parents’ portrait?”

The siblings looked at each other. “That’s your mother?” Jazz finally asked.

The look Bruce gave her was equal parts worried and calculating. “Indeed.”

Again Danny and Jazz talked to each other with facial gestures and looks.

“It can’t be.” Danny murmured. “Can it?”

“I don’t know.” She answered.

“Hey.” Jason grabbed Jazz’s shoulder. “What’s up?”

She glanced at her brother, frowning. She licked her lips and drew a long breath. “That’s Lady Gotham.”

One second passed by. Two seconds.

“No, that’s my mother.”

Dick giggled at the absurdity of the situation.

“Could she be wearing someone’s face?” Jazz ignored Bruce’s quiet breakdown to talk to her brother. “Or is it like ‘the Spirit passes down ownership’ kind of situation?”

Danny hummed. “I don’t think it is the second case,” he crossed his arms, “she felt like an Ancient and this woman couldn’t have been dead that long.”

“Are you saying that an ancient spirit is wearing my mother’s face?” The older man said, voice small. Even Jason frowned at the weakness in his tone.

Jazz seemed to snap back to reality and noticed that the conversation may not be the best given current company. She sighed. “We don’t know. Maybe. Was your mother special in any way for this city?”

“Are you kidding? Haven’t you heard about the Martha Wayne foundation? Or all the charity stuff in her name?” Tim scoffed. “Do you live under a rock?”

Jazz blushed. “I’m sorry.” She shrugged. “I don’t pay that much attention to current events outside my work and Crime Alley.”

Jason pretended to try to hide his smile in Jazz’s hair as he pulled her for a side hug.

Danny made a face at the pair, shook his head and turned towards Bruce. “We can’t be a hundred percent sure, but it’s not unheard of for an ancient Spirit to change their appearance. It’s usually to fit in as time passes; but taking the face of a real person from their hunt?” He tilted his head, and Jason noticed the similarity with his sister. It was adorable. “That’s a new one for me.”

“We can always ask?” Jazz tried to move past her misstep.

“Do you really think she’d want to talk about that?”

“Maybe. If we ask nicely.” Neither sibling actually believed these words.

Bruce blinked slowly and started walking again, lost in thought. The rest followed as if nothing even happened.

“Is she really that scary?” Duke asked.

“She is…,” Danny started, rubbing the back of his neck, “she is surely something else. This city is cursed, man; so it doesn’t surprise me that the Spirit overseeing this place is just as cursed.”

“What Danny is trying to say,” Jazz jumped in, “is that the Spirit of Gotham has been deeply corrupted and, well, she’s definitely in pain, and sometimes she lashes out.”

“That’s a nice way to put it,” her brother scoffed, shaking his head and not looking at anybody. “I don't know what nice and watered down version of the story Jazzy here told you guys but when we first came here, she was pissed. King or no King, she was ready to kill me.”

Jazz blushed again. “I don’t—”

“Yes, you do.” Danny rolled his eyes.

She looked like she had something to say, but chose to close her mouth and ignore the chuckles.

They finally arrived at the nice backyard patio where a table was already set up for lunch. Alfred walked around the table with his cart, setting down the plates and giving the finishing touches to the display.

Nobody missed his little smile watching them naturally divide in groups and sit down together, his eyes lingering on Jason refusing to let go of his girlfriend’s hand even under said girlfriend’s brother's snarky comments about it.

It had been a while since the Manor was filled with noise like this. It felt… alive. Like how it was supposed to be.

The old man quietly grabbed his cart and went back inside to plate the second course for the meal. He didn’t glance at the moving shadows and the trickster reflections on the corner of his eyes — after so many decades serving at this Manor, this family, he got used to not being exactly alone inside those walls.

***

“I don’t know how you are going to break it to Frighty.”

Jazz froze mid bite, frowning as she swallowed the food. “What do you mean?”

Bruce raised his eyebrows at Danny’s shocked expression. The young man looked around the table, maybe looking for support or an explanation, but he probably forgot they just met that morning.

“Are you serious?”

“What?”

“You really don’t know?”

“Know what?”

“Jazz, Fright Knight has been courting you for around a year.”

Tim froze, glancing up to see Jason’s reaction. Expecting loud shouting to start, he was even more shocked when Jason leaned back on his seat and crossed his arms with a giant smirk on his face and a raised eyebrow.

“I have absolutely no idea what you are talking about.” Jazz leaned in, glaring at her brother on the other side of the table.

“Hold on a second,” Dick pushed his empty plate aside to lean closer to Danny, “Fright Knight? The King’s right hand man? The Aspect of Fear?”

“That’s the one!”

“I don’t—” Jazz blinked, “I don’t know— How? When?”

“Uhhhh, since the first siege, I believe?” Danny's smile went from one ear to the other. “He said, and I quote, ‘I had never felt such things in battle before. Lady Jasmine’s war cries pierced my chest deeper than her lance pierced our enemies’.”

Tim shuddered. It was the way Danny impersonated this Fright Knight’s sickening dreamy voice.

“The first siege? That was more than two years ago!”

“And you haven’t noticed this guy being in love with you?” Jason spoke for the first time, grinning at his girlfriend.

“I don’t know?” Jazz threw her hands up. “I thought he was being nice!”

“For a whole year?”

“He’s been giving you courting gifts, Jazz!” Danny said, incredulous. “And you accepted them!”

“So those were courting gifts?”

“What were those gifts?”

“Swords.” Danny answered Jason. “Shiny blades. Ornamental and functional. Jazz has a collection back in the Realms.” He turned towards his sister. “Which, by the way, people keep sending gifts for you. I think they think that you are the ‘reasonable’ one of us and if they send you more swords you’d be more merciful.”

“I don’t need more swords.”

“You liar. You love swords.”

Jazz blushed, unable to say otherwise. “Still nothing he did told me he was interested.”

“Ancients, Jazz,” Danny pinched the bridge of his nose. “Everyone knew he was head over heels for you. We thought you were preferring to deal with it in private.”

Her blush became worse. She kept her gaze fixed on her hands fidgeting with her napkin. “You know I don’t do all the romance stuff.”

Incredulous, Danny just pointed at Jason. “And how do you explain him?”

“It’s…” she licked her lips, “different. Unexpected. We just— we clicked.”

“Awww.”

Danny made a face and rolled his eyes, ignoring Dick and Cass’ cooing.

“Well. I’m not going to be the one dealing with all that. Frighty is all yours.”

Jazz sighed. “I’ll talk to him when I go back to the Realms.”

“Hm.” Danny hummed, suddenly lost in thought as he sipped his water. “Maybe you don’t have to.”

“What?”

“I said: Maybe you don’t have to.” He spoke louder. “Come back, I mean.”

She did a double take. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Danny took a second longer than what was expected. “You can stay here.” He leaned back on his seat, putting as much distance as he could from his sister. He was also evading her eyes. “Permanently.”

There was only the sounds of the birds chirping in the nearby trees and the wind flowing between the leaves for a few seconds.

“Are you—” Jazz’s voice was careful, low, “Are you firing me?”

Half the table was looking at Danny and the other half had their eyes glued on Jazz’s face. Her rage, while quiet, was familiar to those witnessing the moment — betrayals, infightings and disbelief ran though their minds as they remembered similar situations in their pasts.

“Jazz—”

“After everything you just— What the hell Danny?”

“I’m not— Could you at least look at me?” She did, and everyone could see her watery eyes. “It’s for your own good.”

That was the wrong thing to say.

Jazz’s expression turned murderous as the tears escaped her eyes. She stood up, teeth grinding, breathing deeply a few times before she opened her mouth.

“You don’t mean that.” She crossed her arms.

Danny looked like he wished he was anywhere else but in that room at that moment. “Bad choice of words. I don’t mean that.” He slowly repeated.

“Good.” Her shoulders relaxed a bit, but she was still mad.

“What I wanted to say is…” He sighed and lifted his hands in defeat. “I’m sorry. I’m not good at— You know I always mess these things up— Okay, okay I’ll get to the point.” He quickly added under Jazz’s narrowing eyes. He breathed in, breathed out. “I want you to stay here. In the living world. As long as you want.”

She processed his words, and slowly sat back down. The sounds of nature around them picked up like nothing happened, even if no one had noticed their rather unnatural silence.

“But you said…”

“I know. But things have changed, Jazz. I want you to stay. How could I not be okay with that?”

“But— But my role— And the Archives, and Walker, and—”

“Everything can wait. Or, I don’t know, we’ll deal with it.” He leaned in and took one of her hands in his. “We told you to come here because you really needed a vacation, and I stand by it. The Keep can wait for you. I can wait for you.”

“But—”

“Jasmine Fenton. You have given up everything for me. You were not meant for any of this ghost bullshit or war or fist fighting gods in a Denny’s parking lot. But you gave me a decade of that, and I appreciate it, but that’s enough. You can rest now, you can have nice things. You deserve it.”

Nobody missed when Danny gave Jason, and quick look around the people on the table, when he mentioned the “nice things” she could have.

Jazz opened her mouth only to close it again, more tears coming to her eyes. Her cheeks tinted red, maybe from embarrassment, maybe for remnants of her anger.

She yanked her hand from her brother’s and rushed to her feet, taking a shaky breath.

“Excuse me.”

Jason frowned, watching her go back inside the house and probably looking for a place to calm down.

He felt a kick on one leg.

“Go.” Danny interlaced his hands on the table and nodded in his sister’s general direction. “She needs you.”

Jason’s frown deepened, but he obliged without saying a word.

Bruce cleared his throat, suddenly feeling very self conscious under Danny’s stare. The young man didn’t look affected by what just happened like his sister was, but his eyes betrayed the conflicted emotions he hid behind his mask.

“I’m sorry you guys had to witness that. I should have waited until we got home. My bad.” He chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck, but it felt like forced nonchalance.

“That was sure something.” Dick commented after clearing his throat.

“I apologize but I need to ask,” Bruce leaned in. “Jasmine seemed pretty adamant her time here was limited, that she would sooner or later have to leave everything here. What changed?”

“Did she tell you that?” Danny made an incredulous face and scoffed, shaking his head. “I don’t even need to ask. I don’t know why I keep being surprised by her antics.”

“So it’s not true?”

What else had she been lying about? A tiny voice said in the back of Bruce’s head. He tried to ignore it, but given the drastic differences between Danny’s and Jazz’s behavior, he was wondering what was the actual picture and what was the siblings’ casual omission of truth.

“It was true, but only because she herself sets those limits. Jazz is…,” he sighed, deflating on his seat, looking at the sky, “I love my sister, and a lot, but she takes everything too seriously.”

Or you don’t take things seriously enough, Bruce thought, but chose not to say it.

“I never said she had a time limit, or that she had to turn her back on the living world for the rest of her life. We sent her ass to the Arkham internship because she doesn’t know how to take a break.”

“Arkham is a break?” Tim asked what had been lingering in everyone’s heads. The siblings kept referring to working at the worst psychiatric criminal facility, a vacation and a break.

Danny scoffed again, turning his eyes towards the young man. His smile wasn’t kind. “You guys haven’t put it together? The kind of role Jazz has in the Realm. The kind of person she… The kind of person I asked her to become.”

There was deep guilt in his voice, and in the way he couldn’t hold his gaze. Danny fidgeted with his napkin, letting the birds sing the tension of his silence away. They were waiting on him to elaborate, and he knew that, but was building the courage to speak.

“Do you guys know how powerful I am? No, you don’t,” he answered himself with a shrug, “because there’s no one like me. I could— If I wanted to, I could bring this city, the whole city, into the Infinite Realms. Just like that.

If I wanted to I could end the war with a snap of my fingers. I could Order every ghost-adjacent being to follow my every command and bring peace via total domination. Or,” he stopped his fingers, sighing, “I could just rip their cores with a thought and crush them with another and be done with Vlad and with every stubborn ghost that thinks I don’t deserve to be King.”

He finally glanced up at Bruce, as if he knew all these scenarios passed though the man’s head as he spoke. “Imagine that — Every conflict, every war, I could wish it away in seconds.”

The older man nodded, following his speech. “And yet you are here.”

Danny’s vulnerable smile reminded him so much of Clark’s. “I can’t. I can’t do that. If I— If I just eliminate every little thing in my way, what kind of person would I be? I’ve seen it happen, Bruce. I know what I could be if I lose perspective of who I really want to be.”

Cass lifted her hand like she was in a classroom. “Jazz. She’s your anchor.”

Danny went back to looking at his hands, shoulders sagging. In shame? In defeat? “All of them keep me grounded, even when I feel like I’m drifting away from who I used to be. But Jazz? She knows what needs to be done, what I’m scared to do. She knows she can handle the guilt and the nightmares and the horror.”

He took a long breath to calm himself. “Jazz is what I can’t— what I won’t be, and she took that burden like it was nothing. She has always done that, taking the bad things and dealing with them for me. It’s just… This time, the ‘bad things’ are a little bit more permanent.”

It made sense now. How she avoided talking about it, how Jazz tensed when she was asked what her role was. How she was so comfortable at Arkham.

“She’s your Executioner.”

Danny flinched at Bruce’s words. “She’s that and more. She became a counterpart for me, a shadow, so I could shine in the spotlight. A symbol.” He said the word like it was a curse. Bruce didn’t miss the twitch in his eyebrow. “Do you know why her armor is bright red?” His smile wasn’t kind when he looked up. “The Infinite Realms are green. She stands out and attracts all the attention in battle so the rest of us can be the heroes of the hour.” He chuckled. “She never wanted any of this. She didn’t defeat the previous King, she wasn’t even there. I know my childhood could have been way worse if she wasn’t in my life, and I’m grateful, but I kept asking more and more from her and now—”

“Do you really think I didn’t want this?” Jazz’s voice cut through Danny’s rambles. “I chose to stay, Danny.”

He didn’t react when he saw her walk in, her face puffy and her eyes still wet. Did he know she was listening? Of course he did — from what the vigilantes could gather so far, Danny’s abilities were up there with Superman’s. Maybe even more.

“Don’t.” He frowned. “I can see right through your bullshit, Jazz. There wasn’t that much of a choice and you know it.”

She bit her lips, but didn’t deny it. Instead, she pulled on her joined hands with Jason’s so they approached the table and sat down.

After settling in her seat, she breathed in, breathed out and smiled. “You are making me sound like some kind of demon or something.” Nobody bought the lightness of her tone.

Danny caught her deflection and chose to follow. He scoffed. “And you are not?” He made a gesture with his hands, placing them on the sides of his head with his pointer fingers up, imitating his sister’s headpiece.

She rolled her eyes. “I am not—”

“Jazzy, fear incarnate is in love with you. He let you ride his horse!” He smirked at Jason. “Not an euphemism.”

He caught on what the siblings were trying to do and turned towards his girlfriend. “You never told me about any horse, darling.”

“Nightmare was a strategic move. Frighty knows I can’t fly like the rest of you and it could give me an advantage during battle.”

“Nightmare? Seriously?” Jason asked.

“Big black horse with wings.” She quickly explained with a shrug. “Breathes fire.”

“Are you serious? Fright Knight doesn’t let me even touch his horse and I’m the King!” He threw his hands up in the air. “That being said, he doesn’t challenge me as much as he does with you, and thanks the Ancients for that.”

“Wait. Wait a second. Are you saying—”

Danny’s smile grew like a Cheshire Cat’s. “Ooohhhh. You didn’t know? Did you forget the one basic fact about ghost nature, Jazzy-pants? Ghost’s love language is fighting.” He said the last part imitating her voice, like she was giving a lecture of some kind.

“Oh? Tell me more?” Jason leaned towards Danny, head leaning on one hand, completely enraptured by the information his girlfriend’s brother shared so easily.

“And he wasn’t pulling any punches either. Before I learned he was formally courting her, I wasn’t sure if he wanted to fight her to death or marry her!”

“He could do both if he’s not a coward.” Jason shared the smile with Danny, ignoring Jazz’s hands pushing his shoulder away from her.

“Hey!” Jazz protested, but there was a small smile on her lips. “Don’t encourage him!”

“Wait until I tell you about The Ballad of the Red Demon.” Danny also ignored his sister, and the eyes of the rest of the Waynes, as he summoned a notebook with more green flames. He cleared his throat, opened the notebook and started reading:

“The fire in her eyes burned brighter than any sun, as the sharp edge of her blade pierced your chest to meet your untimely end.

Don’t provoke the Red Demon, for her burning fury will consume you in a blaze hotter than the Realm’s Core.

There she rides the winged Dark Horse as her cries call for the blood of her enemies, bright green eyes already searching for the next target.

Don’t provoke the Red Demon, for her siren’s call will be the last thing you hear before you draw your last breath.”

“What in the Ancients is that?” Realization came to the young woman. She slapped the table and stood up. “Ghost Writer?”

Danny nodded. “He gave me the first draft to approve before getting into editing.” He shook the notebook closer to his sister. “There’s a chapter for each of us, don’t think it’s just about you.”

He rolled his eyes and reopened the notebook, getting ready to continue reading, but Jazz jumped and reached across the table trying to snatch the notebook before he continued. He managed to float away just in time to prevent her from taking it from him, and quickly flew high enough that she couldn’t reach him, but close enough that he was almost within reach.

“Awww, you don’t want our new friends to know about your feats during the last siege? About—” he glanced at the text, quickly murmuring words under his breath, “‘Her fiery hair glows like a damned halo’ and ‘sharp blade like a gentle kiss of death’ something something ‘crushing enemies under her foot’.”

Jazz was trying to jump high enough so she could catch her brother, her face crimson red as the others chuckled at the scene.

Finally, taking pity on her, Jason reached for the book as Danny was distracted reading the next stanza and seized it away from the floating Fenton.

“Thank you.” She breathed in relief, extending her hand so he could give her the notebook.

With a tiny smile, he opened it and tried to read too, but it was written in symbols he felt he recognized but couldn’t read.

“Do you have an official translation yet or do I have to wait?”

---

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[writeanythingagency]

Hello Mod thena how are you today ☆ ～('▽^人) I hope you're having a wonderful day, well is if okay of I req for yandere Shi-long-Lang, and Kristoph for a reader who's inlove with someone, Thank you in advance ＼(￣▽￣)／

hi yyxandere! i’m doing good, thank you. sorry this took way way way too long D: i have a very similar request for shi-long lang so this one is just gonna be kristoph. hope that’s okay!

TW: Obsessive behavior, implied kidnapping, stalking

Yandere!Kristoph Gavin with a Smitten!Reader HCs 🗡️

🗡️ Oh no, you’re in for it now.

🗡️ Kristoph, being naturally possessive and the top yandere of the yanderes, does not take well to discovering your secret affections when he first begins to “study” you. However, he also thinks himself to be the master of playing the long game. And so he waits.

🗡️ Oblivious to the extent of his “research,” you consider Kristoph something of a friend/acquaintance, and so it doesn’t startle you when he catches onto your sour mood over breakdown tea.

🗡️ He prods gently, all while knowing exactly what he wants from you, until you forlornly admit that your love life had taken a massive downturn. Your desired beloved, who you’ve loved for years by this point, was on a date at this very moment. Somehow, Kristoph’s seemingly unaffected expression grounded you to the present.

(Nothing I didn’t already know. I would wager I have spent more time following your every move than that low-grade filth has ever spent with you.)

🗡️ But he is nothing if not calculating, so he knows to bide his time until you are at your most vulnerable, when Kristoph will be your best and only option.

🗡️ The wrench to his plans comes, however, when you burst into his office with a grin. You took a chance and told them how you felt. They said yes.

🗡️ Now. Now he sees blood.

🗡️ You blabber his ears off for about three seconds before he slams his desk and straightens. He strides past where you are practically paralyzed by the sudden move. He turns to you and adjusts his glasses, as if to hide his gaze.

🩸 “You chose someone who has done nothing but shove you to the side? Who only chooses you when it’s convenient?”

🗡️ Kristoph reaches for the door and turns the lock with a purposeful click. Cool and confident as ever, Kristoph tuts as condescendingly as you could imagine.

🩸 “No need to worry, my dear. I know exactly how astute you are. Unfortunately, your silly feelings are keeping you from thinking straight.”

🗡️ The attorney thwarts your attempts to reach for the door in one fell swoop, descending upon you like a predator to prey.

🩸 “Y/N, I will show you true devotion.”

[ittyybittybaker]

“neil is living in andrew’s walls” this is going to live in my brain forever now, much like neil in andrew’s walls,

listen i wrote those tags when i was half asleep and i thought that would be it but i am, in fact, still thinking about it !!!! i picture it like this

nicky and the twins live together in the columbia house (kevin technically doesn't live there but he's at their place like 5 nights a week so he might as well at this point)

the columbia house is OLD, like over 100 years so there's all sorts of weird crawl spaces and an attic that no one ever goes into

neil's on the run, jumps into an open window, and finds their crawl space

maybe he's injured and needs a place to lie low for a while

he heals, but their house is reasonably safe and he can steal food from their kitchen when no one's home and he's made a kind of comfy nest in the attic

his favorite spot tho is the crawl space behind andrew's room because nicky and aaron are too loud (nicky with talking to erik and aaron with katelyn/video games probably). andrew just listens to music and like. reads or something

as he heals, neil gets braver and starts to go out into the house more and more. maybe he cleans up the kitchen every now and then or he folds the towels they leave in the dryer as a thank you for their unknowing hospitality

(really he's just bored from being cooped up for so long, even if their house is the nicest place he's stayed in a long while.)

the cousins start to notice weird things are happening

nicky thinks the house is haunted

aaron thinks they're all just being forgetful about what they leave around the house

kevin thinks they need to check the carbon monoxide detector (he saw a documentary about it once and won't stop talking about it)

but andrew doesn't believe in the supernatural, and he also doesn't think it's a mass hallucination

he spends the most time at home, and he swears he's heard a muffle laugh or too when he makes fun of kevin

and what ghost changes the channel to espn

he swears he sees someone with striking blue eyes in the kitchen one night around 3am when he's getting a glass of water but when he turns on the light there's no one there and the doors are locked from the inside

kevin's not the only one who's seen a documentary, and andrew's just watched one about a man living in someone's walls

he mentions his theory one day at breakfast but everyone just thinks he's making fun of them, so he makes a plan to prove himself right

he researches into the history of the house and find the blueprints in some archival records, and sees the weird spaces in the walls (at the library of course, if there was someone living in his walls he wouldn't risk them seeing his investigating)

neil thought he was being careful, but he was getting comfortable there and he forgot to clean up his attic nest one day. he snuck out to grab some much needed supplies from the store and also to stretch his legs

this just so happens to be the day andrew goes investigating, and finds neil's hideaway

he's there waiting for neil when he returns

somehow neil convinces andrew to let him stay by saying "you've already taken in one stray after all (aka kevin) so why not another?"

andrew has to admit, he's got a point. and he really is very pretty

so andrew lets neil hideout in his room instead of in the crawl space behind the walls

andrew starts spending a lot more time in his room. the others hear strange noises and shuffling from behind the door, even when andrew isn't home

nicky and aaron think he's adopted a pet without telling them

(they're only half wrong)

yadda yadda andriel do their thing, they build trust by sharing secrets and truths and kisses, etc

andrew decides that neil is a permanent addition to his life, and he won't ever have to hide away again

one day nicky and aaron come home and andrew's cuddling on the couch with neil

"andrew, who is this"

"this is neil."

"cool ... where did he come from"

"he was living in the walls."

"... i'm sorry, what?"

"i was right. you both owe me $20"

"...i'm sorry, WHAT?"

"ssshhh, can you keep it down? he just fell asleep."

"Andrew. what the actual FUCK-"

unfortunately, andrew is no longer paying attention. he's much too busy playing with neil's hair as he dozes

and they all lived happily ever after and no body ever lived in the walls ever again

[fandoms--fluff]

Ooookay (please once again bare with me for the request and I'm half asleep so it might not make sense) anyway another Hope x hybrid female reader (secret little). So like reader is normal this tough and independent girl who isn't afraid to speak her mind. As for the plot (?) the reader gets super stressed out over family issues or school (Alaric) and she hides in her room to regress because she's embarrassed or maybe even ashamed to tell Hope since Hope's only ever seen her as tough. (When reader regresses, she's into like coloring and stuffed animals and cuddling) anyway, while the reader is coloring, Hope walks into her dorm (she never knocks) and it catches bothbof them off guard but Hope quickly regains her composer. The reader is rather quiet when she regresses as well like she's always scared to talk.

Anywho, thank you for your time in reading this and thank you for you patience with me 😄 (please let me know if it's too demanding or detailed or anything you don't like🙏🏽)

Hiding No More

Little hybrid female reader x Hope Mikaelson

Warnings: swearing, very brief and not detailed mentions of past trauma, but the rest is fluff!

A/n: Don't worry about anything babe!!! I love detailed requests 💛

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

Hope watches as you storm out of the room, hands acting as if you're trying to strangle someone. Doctor Saltzman she assumes, considering you were obviously trying not to kick his ass.

She wants to go after you, but she thinks it's best to let you cool and calm down a bit.

You want to smash everything in your path on your way to your room. After you slam the door closed, you lean against it, eyes turning amber. You slide down the door, crouching into a half fetal position.

Taking deep breaths, you start calming yourself down. There's still a want to smash Alaric's head into his desk, over and over and over again in the back of your head, but that's always there. What you want to do is just slip into your safe spot.

Its the only thing you've never told your girlfriend. You don't know how she'd react to you having a little space. She already has so much on her plate and you don't want to add to it with your own problem. Thanks a lot mom and dad, you thought, considering they were absolutely horrible parents and how you researched age regression after they abandoned you for good.

Fuck this, you think to yourself and slowly start getting up off the ground. You kick your combat boots off beside your mirror on your way to your opened closet.

You pull out a Disney fairies coloring book and a pack of 24 crayons from one of the shoe boxes you have. Walking over to the soft rug beside your bed, you lay your things down and sit down on it as well, legs crossed.

You turn to a page with Faun and Iridessa and start coloring it in.

After twenty minutes, Hope goes over to your room. She walks opens your door and walks in without knocking, just like she always has since you guys became friends when you first came to the school a couple years back. You guys bonded over both being part werewolf and vampire/soon-to-be vampire, and you told her stories about her dad since he's the one who turned you. After shutting the door behind her, she turns back to look in the room. Her eyes immediately widen, meeting yours, where you're sitting on the ground, yellow crayon in hand.

Your eyes also widen, but there's a sprinkle of fear in them. Your girlfriend just walked in on you coloring a little kid colouring book. You'd think that surprise and fear in one would jump you out of your headspace, but you're wrong. Sitting on the ground, you're still deep in your toddler headspace, it's not as young as you could be but it's not exactly great at the moment.

Hope snaps out of her staring, and makes her way over to you. She notices a half-drunken sippy cup of apple juice sitting beside you.

You start curling into yourself, not wanting Hope to see you like this.

"Hey, you don't need to be afraid y/n/n" Hope says gently, crouching down beside you. You look up at her, vulnerability shining through your eyes. Hope can see why you'd want to hide, you're not one to easily show being vulnerable.

She tries to rack her brain for why your behavior seems so familiar until she realizes it. Your parents sucked and were horrible to you, creating trauma for you, and you needed some way to cope with it, so your mind found comfort in your headspace regressing from a teenager to a kid. Age regression. She read about it in one of the books she has a couple months ago for one of her classes, not thinking anything of it and why it seemed familiar, until now.

She sits, legs crossed. "Your mind is different right now, isn't it? younger?" She asks with a comforting small smile on her face. Hesitating, you slowly nod your head. "Can you tell me how old you are sweetie?" she asks.

"Th-three" you speak quietly, not used to ever speaking in little space since you had no one to speak to. "...Are you mad?" you squeak out next, wanting to get it over with in the sense that she is most likely going to break up with you.

"Of course I'm not mad, baby. I love you so much, I want to take care of you," she tells you and kisses your forehead.

A second later, she feels you crash into her, head nuzzling into her neck. She wraps her arms around your torso and holds you close. "I'm always here for you, baby girl, no need to hide anymore" she whispers, eyes closed.

[hydrangeapartridge]

Title: Mind Body and Soul - Chapter 9 - The Body

Pairing: Mage!Shinsou x reader

Link to AO3 here

Summary: Once upon a time there was you: a nobody, a refugee from a country devastated by Dabi’s undead army, serving as a maid in king Todoroki’s castle. There, fate decided you would cross path with the mysterious and dreaded court mage Hitoshi Shinsou. Little did you know that particular encounter would change your life forever.

Rating: M

Tagged people <3 (tell me if you want to be added): @maple-syrup-with-strawbewwies @moonlitmoonpie @obeythehuman

Link to a wonderful fanart of mage Shinsou made by @bythevay

Chapter 9: The Body (under the cut!) - (link to chapter 1, 2 , 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)

After sleeping on the events that led you to find out Shinsou’s spirit of affinity, your mind and heart had cooled down, and you realized the situation was not as dire and dramatic as you initially thought.

You had been very scared upon discovering what Shinsou could do, and what it implied, and maybe you overreacted a little. What he did to the King was a crime, and an abuse of his powers, but maybe he was sincere and it truly was the first time he did it.

Only to protect you.

But still, your teacher had always been very mysterious, bordering shady, especially with his researches, and there was a possibility that his intentions were not to serve the country. With Shinsou gone, you could now rummage through his belongings as you pleased and try and uncover his other secrets. You would make light of his motives and plans, and if he was a traitor, you would report him as you should, using the evidence you would find.

Some too lenient part of you still hoped he wasn’t ill-intended. That everything he did wasn’t too harmful and had a rational explanation that meant he could be forgiven. Magic was the best thing that happened to you and it was thanks to him that you discovered your talent for it. You could always study it elsewhere but you grew found of your private teacher. You were heartbroken to think the man you admired so much could be bad.

In the following days you tried to stay discreet and unseen, for fear the King would suddenly realize that there was one mage left hiding in the castle instead of fighting the undead as he ordered. Everyday you searched through Shinsou’s belongings, opening every book, reading through the scrolls he deemed too advanced in hopes to find something incriminating.

Unsurprisingly, nothing interesting came out of your search of the office where you both worked in, but when inspecting one of Shinsou’s forgotten travel capes, you found a key that you soon realized was that of his bedroom. You immediately used it to slip into said room, remembering only after fully stepping inside that a mage as powerful as Shinsou could have laid traps inside it.

Luckily for you, there were none. You didn’t really know what you expected to find inside, but the bedroom was actually quite plain. Almost common. There were no deformed experiments in jars, no echos of the voices of tortured spirits. Nothing your wild imagination had expected. Except for how messy it was.

The bed was undone and there were books everywhere: on overloaded shelves, on chairs and night-stands, and even on the floor.

You rolled up your sleeves and searched everywhere. Every nook and cranny: under the bed, behind the bookcases… You weren’t sure what type of evidence you were looking for, but you searched for anything weird looking with all your might.

And sadly, you found nothing odd looking. Well, there were weird plants and stones in jars, but nothing a mage shouldn’t own. Or at least you couldn’t tell if those were forbidden objects. You would need a book to identify them. What you wanted was to find a book that screamed dark magic, or a letter where Shinsou wrote his evil masterplan. But there was nothing of the sort in this mess of a bedroom.

You sat on the bed, exhausted and dejected. There was a strand of dried lavender under Shinsou’s pillow when you lifted it to check underneath it. The sheets had a flowery scent that reminded you of him. It was nice. You repressed the bizarre urge to roll into them, and to nuzzle into said pillow.

You would look again another day, with a fresh eye.

- - -

For a few days your researches were fruitless. And you grew tired. Especially with how inexplicably restless your nights were since your teacher’s departure.

You were used to falling asleep as soon as your head hit the pillow, but these days you couldn’t seem to find sleep. You tossed and turned in your bed, half dreaming half awake, looking for Shinsou’s voice. You kept hearing it; an illusion that your mind plagued you with since his departure. Your heart ached and grew anxious at night, and you inexplicably felt like you forgot something. And mostly, like you were missing something important.

You dreamt about your teacher every single night. He was there everytime you closed your eyes, haunting you. Sometimes he was in danger, and you woke up in cold sweat screaming his name with tears down your face, and other times, he touched you so intimately that you woke up feeling both mortified and unsatisfied.

The only rational explanation you found for these dreams was that it could be some sort of withdrawal syndrome from the spell and influence he had you under before he left. You hoped it would pass with time. You couldn’t go on like this, working on so little sleep. The bags under your eyes rivalled those of your absent master.

Maybe it was because that influence you were sure he had on you was starting to fade, but before the end of the week, your eyes fell on a book you hadn’t noticed before in Shinsou’s room. The front page was covered in runes, and inside, a few parchments were scribbled with Shinsou’s neat hand writing. You couldn’t understand the language in which the book was written, but from Shinsou’s notes, you could decipher that he was working on blood rituals. You had a hunch that he was of course, but this was proof. This book was clearly forbidden, and could be used as solid evidence of illegal researches. Your fingers idly traced a particular set of runes that Shinsou copied from the book, and a weird sense of déjà-vu filled you. You were sure you saw the symbol somewhere, but impossible to remember where.

Content with your finding, you went back to the main room. Upon stepping out of Shinsou’s bedroom, your eyes were drawn to your left. There, you saw the wooden door with the odd runes. The runes that sang when you were doing the cleaning months ago. It felt like you truly saw it for the first time. Like you conveniently forgot about it despite it being in front of you this whole time. How could you have forgotten such an impressive and unusual ouvrage when it had always been just under your nose?

You had your guess of course.

You stepped towards the door. There was no lock on it, no handle. Just runes running all over the wood, carved into it. Many of them were undoubtedly forbidden from use and tied to dark magic. Only after you placed your hand on the wood did it occur to you that it could be a dangerous move.

But no harm came to you, and under your palm, the runes lit up in a silvery glow. You pressed your hand more firmly on them, and the door simply opened.

Your eyes widened and your breath caught in your throat at the sight before you.

Your next shaky breath fogged before your face from the low temperature in the room. Imprisoned in ice, you recognized her from the paintings depicting the royal family. In the middle of the small empty room, there was the Queen in a coffin of ice.

Runes covered the floor, the walls, the ceiling, and even the ice, and this time, you didn’t risk touching them.

Your trembling hand left the wood of the door and you turned back. With the book of blood magic in your arms, you ran out of the tower, racing towards the throne room.

- - -

You rushed down the stairs like you were running from death itself. The corridors were busy with servants, but they all stepped away to let you pass, whispering amongst themselves about mages and their antics. But you paid them no mind.

You passed a grinning Monoma, who tried to grab your attention with a teasing remark about seeing a ghost. You didn’t intend to look back at him. Until seconds later, the busy corridor turned into hell itself.

It started with the deafening booming sound of an explosion. The sturdy stone wall all but shattered under an otherworldly power that sent everyone in the corridor flying across. The blast made you fall flat to the ground, but you were amongst the luckier ones. Looking back, you could see the bodies of numerous servants crushed under the rubbles that once made the wall. You ears were ringing and blood pounded in your temples as your tried to understand what happened. From the gapping hole in the wall, you watched horrified as a decrepit person dressed in rags slowly stepped inside. Their eyes were hollow and empty, their bones covered only by a greyish layer of rotting skin. A second one followed and then a third. You would recognize that gait anywhere.

It was the undead. The castle was under attack from the undead.

Despite the pain in your legs and arms, you bolted up. Outside, a purple glow drew your attention. You saw something similar only a few days prior. It was a magical portal. Shinsou was gone to fight the undead army and now the undead army was sent here by magic. Your stomach dropped at what it meant. Either the mages failed and your teacher was probably dead, either Shinsou betrayed the crown and led the undead here.

You had to get to the King, quickly.

You looked left and right, trying to focus on which way to go. The scene was already chaos. Screams could be heard from everywhere, and the temperature in the corridor was rapidly rising, the reddish light coming from outside a window telling you a large fire had started in the building. Soon the castle would be swarmed by undead and flames. And there were no mages but you to defend it.

“Are you alright?”

Monoma’s voice startled you. You didn’t hear him approaching. You stepped back, wary, and he only smiled, cocky.

“I’m not the one you should be afraid of right now…” He commented dryly.

You noticed he was clutching at his stomach, where red stained his normally pristine white shirt.

“Where’s Shinsou?” He asked, too calm for the dire situation. “We could use his assistance right now”

“I don’t know” You said, unable to do better.

Monoma sighed, then coughed in a sickly way. “Never here when he’s needed” He rasped, his voice sounding odd and wheezy.

One of his assistants arrived at his side and held out a rapier that the tailor seized immediately. He turned back to the mob of undead slowly but surely invading the corridor.

“I’ll handle things here. You must get to the King” He told you, like you didn’t plan on it already.

In a quick move he charged, blocking the path of an undead that tried to attack one of the survivors still trapped under a fallen wood plank.

You watched horrified as a group of undead turned around and started circling the tailor. More and more came through the hole in the wall, and though they were slow and clumsy, they would quickly outnumber the living.

You took a breath in, then a breath out. You couldn’t leave Monoma like this. Your fingers tingled with the will to use magic, so you surrendered to it. You planted your feet in the ground to be stable. You were firm and unmoving; like a rock. You assessed where the larger debris from the wall were scattered and repeated the incantation several times under your breath, trying hard to focus on your spell, and not the growing number of enemies.

“Rodus” You repeated again and again, calling out to the very spirit of the stone.

You concentrated; you could do it. You could move water, or fire, surely you could move even those stubborn stones.

Sweat pearled at your forehead from the effort and the heat growing around you, but slowly, the large stones started to lift up, freeing the survivors trapped underneath, and revealing the inert bodies of the less lucky servants. You stayed focused on your spell and pushed the flying stones in a swift motion to stuff the hole in the wall, pushing a few undead out in the movement. The puzzle didn’t fit perfectly, a few pieces missing, but for now the breach in the wall was blocked.

You exhaled deeply, recovering the feeling in the tips of your fingers as magic left you. You were out of breath and sweaty. That spell was very costly in mana that you didn’t have much of.

Before your eyes, Monoma pierced through the undead with renewed force.

“Thanks little mage! Now go, I’ll handle the rest!” He shouted, and his words made your feet move again.

You turned your back to the clicking sound of his rapier and started running to the throne room.

- - -

The throne room was another kind of hell. You entered through the half burnt wooden doors, navigating between cooling embers and broken wood planks.

Smoke filled the air, making your throat burn and forcing you to cover your nose with your sleeve. The room was strangely silent. You understood why when you stepped further and the smoke lifted. The battle there was already lost.

Under your terrified gaze, a scene of horror unfolded.

The floor was covered with the bodies of the King’s guards. Your stomach twisted as you recognized the mop of blond hair of the Chief of the guards, lying face first in a pool of blood. Beside him, Prince Shouto was kneeling, his sword broken, bloody and out of breath, but still alive. You followed his two toned gaze to the overturned massive throne under which you recognized the unconscious bodies of princess Fuyumi and prince Natsuo, trapped but still breathing. And beside the throne, a vision of nightmare proudly stood. A man that didn’t look like one anymore; a walking corpse with charred skin, burnt flesh and fiery blue eyes. He smiled a wicked and mad grin as he pressed his booted foot harder against the King’s head.

Dabi had won, and was proudly claiming it by stepping onto a barely conscious King. The massive and strong sovereign’s eyes had lost their sharpness and resolve, only showing despair as he cough out blood. Beside him, the Todoroki family’s banner was burning in otherworldly blue flames.

Dabi’s mad laugh broke the silence and your breath caught in your throat and you froze on the spot. Even with magic, how could you face this monster when all these competent warriors couldn’t?

“So, how does it feel Todoroki Enji?” He cackled. “To have your past come back to destroy you the way you destroyed me? You should have known you couldn’t escape your sins”

King Torodoki greeted his teeth and shifted, trying to push Dabi away. You noticed then that he was missing an arm.

Too absorbed in his victory, it seemed the leader of the undead army hadn’t noticed you yet, so you crouched down and hid behind a pile of rubble. Maybe if you could get to the prince, you could at least help him escape.

“Get away from him!” Prince Shouto spat, holding his injured side as he tried to get up.

Dabi’s cold gaze fell onto him and he grinned manically. “So brave little Shouto. Daddy must be so proud”

Prince Shouto frowned, straightening as best he could to face the undead leader. “You will address me with respect!”

Dabi’s smile widened even more, impossibly stretching the scarred tissue of his jaw. “Oh come on, you could be nicer to your own kin” He purred. “To think I was excited to see you again. You have grown so much”

Prince Shouto’s usually cool expression morphed into pure shock. “What are you saying you maniac ?!”

King Todoroki coughed, trying to speak. “No.. don’t..” He rasped in a barely audible plea.

Dabi’s gaze was wild and mad as he stepped harder on the King’s face to shut him up. “Of course he didn’t tell you, that coward! It’s sad to see you wouldn’t even recognize your own brother!”

Prince Shouto swayed on his weak limbs upon that revelation. “No, this can’t be… you’re lying!” He accused, and it only fuelled Dabi’s manic laughter.

“Oh I am telling the truth, contrary to that sad excuse of a man you call your father!” He spat before placing a burnt hand over his heart. “Todoroki Touya once was my name, but I know that man told all of you that I was dead because he couldn’t shoulder the weight of what he did to me!”

An icy shudder ran through you upon hearing this revelation. The man who decimated your homeland once was the son of the neighbouring country’s King?! It sounded impossible.

Under Prince Shouto’s mortified gaze, Dabi continued his monologue, spitting all the venom he had against the King in one go.

“He didn’t tell you how he asked his most trusted mage to save me when I came back from his war on the brink of death, letting him to use his experimental dark magic on me. Instead of allowing my suffering to end, that mage forcefully linked back my vanishing soul to my already rotting body, forcing me back together until I was nor truly alive, nor dead, lost in between, in a never-ending place of suffering”

Upon hearing his words, you focused on Dabi’s being, and on the spirits around him. You closed your eyes reflexively when you saw it: the disruptive vision of a frail soul linked to an ugly and maimed body and mind. Your stomach churned and a wave of nausea hit you at the horror of it. You never expected an assemblage of spirits to feel so wrong and unnatural.

“It hurt so badly I became insane! All I wanted was to die but they wouldn’t let me!” Dabi continued under Prince Shouto’s bewildered gaze, his voice shaky, fuelled with rage and sorrow. “So I killed the mage to make it stop” He paused, gripping his contorted face with his hand. “But it never stopped...” Under his foot, King Todoroki was crying. “I killed the mage and then tried to kill the father who allowed his son to become a test subject; a mere puppet of suffering! That’s when I discovered what I could do” Dabi continued, lighting up his hand in blue flames as to show off his power.

Prince Shouto fell to his knees again a few meters from you, unable to handle the shock of the truth.

Dabi gripped at the root of his dark grime hair, pulling on it as he lost himself in his horrible memories. “I tried to kill him but mom…. Mom…”

He didn’t finish his sentence, and you took advantage of his folly to rush to Prince Shouto’s side. His two toned eyes fell on you as you came close, the spark of hope lighting up in them again. But just before you could reach him, a wall of hellish blue flames rose between the two of you.

You stepped back at the scorching heat of Dabi’s magic, raising an arm before your face to protect it.

“Well well, seems like there is an intruder to our little family gathering” Dabi clicked his tongue before he stepped towards you, kicking the beaten up King’s head for good measure as he passed. His burning blue eyes assessed you for a second, and it felt like he could see through your very soul. “And one with a soul maimed just like mine” He commented, and you realized maybe he could see the spirits that made you whole, though you didn’t get what he meant by ‘maimed’.

You didn’t want to let him approach too closely. His aura of mana alone told you how dangerous he was. He could probably see on your soul how intimidated you were, but you still had to try something.

“My prince, I’ll cover your retreat. Please get to safety” You told Prince Shouto before you started casting another stone spell.

The memory of how the contact with the spirit of the stone felt on your fingers was still fresh so you were quicker to raise a pile of rubble as you called out to the stone. You gave the rubbles power and sent them flying as fast as possible towards the king of the undead in a great effort and surge of mana.

But your opponent’s magical abilities greatly outmatched yours, and he stopped your attack with a mere flick of his wrist, summoning a wall of flames that turned even the sturdiest stone to ashes.

“Cute” Dabi commented. “So there is one mage left in this sad excuse of a castle… sadly you are no match for me sweetheart”

Prince Shouto hadn’t moved, so you urged him to flee. But he didn’t listen to you. He stood up, picking up his broken sword and raising it until it pointed towards his own brother.

“I will not run. I will protect my subjects” He declared, determination burning hot in his eyes.

Dabi’s laugh iced the blood in your veins. “Shouto the knight in shinning armour! I hope Dad is still conscious enough to see me reduce you to ashes”

He was only a few meters away from you two now. Your mind was racing, trying to find something to do, a way to escape this situation. You stubbornly placed yourself between Dabi and the prince.

If only Shinsou was there, your mind treacherously supplied; with how powerful he was, he would be able to do something.

How ironic that mere seconds away from an imminent death, your thoughts drifted to him.

Dabi’s gaze fell on you and he smirked. “If you’ll excuse us little mage, this is a family business so we’ll settle it between brothers” He raised his hand towards you and you closed your eyes, ready to be burnt. But his hand wasn’t hot when it grabbed you by the hair, making you wince. “I should know better than to hurt you. I wouldn’t want to upset that troublesome mage”

With the force of a brute, he sent you to the floor, freeing the way to his little brother.

The troublesome mage he was talking about; it had to be Shinsou. Of course he was with him all along. Your ‘master’ knew the castle was defenceless and he told Dabi he could attack. It was a trap from the beginning. Shinsou wanted to be sent to the West front by the King to rejoin with Dabi; and he simply didn’t want you to follow him because you could have discovered that he was a traitor.

You body fell to the floor and despair filled you. Tears of sorrow and frustration filled your eyes. Was this how it ended? This time you wouldn’t survive the undead.

Again, your thoughts drifted to Shinsou. How he promised to protect you. How he lied.

As Dabi came closer to the prince, you had no force left to fight, no will to survive. You were heartbroken. You gripped your chest where your heart was, where a throbbing pain coursed and travelled through your whole body, making it hard to breathe. It felt like your very soul was hurting. It felt like dying.

You closed your eyes.

The last thing you heard was his voice. Booming, echoing like that first day with the Djinn.

“STEP BACK UNDEAD RULER”

Your heart skipped a beat in your chest and your eyes opened wide. It felt like your pulse was back in your veins, furious and angry, lifting the lethargic fog that fell onto you.

You didn’t dream it; stepping on the rubbles where the throne’s room wall had been blasted open, you saw that familiar mess of purple hair.

Clad all in black and panting, Shinsou was there, and for a split second it felt like everything in the world was right again.

Until Dabi turned around to face him.

“Well, well, it seems the troublesome one has arrived” The undead grinned, unbothered. He raised his hand in mock defeat. “You weren’t so discreet on tracking me and I did my very best to avoid you…” He glanced at you and you shivered. “Guess I shouldn’t have touched what’s yours…” He mumbled before he sighed exaggeratedly. “I suppose I’ll just have to kill you like I killed your wretched master”

Hope grew inside you. If Shinsou and Dabi were planning to fight, it meant your teacher wasn’t on the undead’s side. A huge wave of relief filled you and you gathered your strength to sit up.

“You will retreat with your army” Shinsou commanded, his deep voice ringing in your ears, the air cracking with a surge of magic.

Dabi cackled, clutching his stomach. “Nice try! But I know your tricks, and my mind is sooo damaged even your magic can’t alter it further”

“Mage Shinsou! We must defeat the enemy and save the king” Prince Shouto ordered, and Shinsou nodded.

The prince’s words were the signal that started the fight.

Dabi’s palms lit up in large blue flames and he turned to lunge at the Prince. The prince stepped in front of you, holding onto his broken sword to protect you. You felt the prickly sensation of a spell being cast and before your eyes, the prince’s sword reforged while he held it, shiny and new, and glowing with a supernatural hue. Shinsou lowered his hand and the prince wasted no time and rushed to attack Dabi.

You didn’t know what charm your teacher had bestowed upon the prince’s weapon, but the previously simple steel sword cut through and dissipated a huge wall of scorching blue flames as simply as if the prince had cut through butter.

Staying out of reach, Shinsou kept his focus on the king of the undead, extinguishing his fire spell after spell to protect the prince from harm. His amethyst gaze was sharp and focused, and his hands kept moving around as he muttered his incantations.

The three men were busy and you chose this opportunity to try and get to the King’s side. But after a few steps, a wall of flame blocked your path again. You tried to extinguish the flames with a spell of your own, but Dabi’s magic was too strong.

“Don’t you dare!” Dabi spat as he went back to evading the Prince’s attacks. “The King is mine!”

Dabi’s anger made him more dangerous but also sloppier. With his flames diminished, he had trouble keeping the prince at a distance and avoiding his attacks.

Taking advantage of the smoke fogging the room, you skirted the wall of flames. Crouching down to avoid inhaling too much smoke and to go unnoticed, you finally arrived near the throne, a few meters away from the breached wall where Shinsou still stood, and behind Dabi’s back.

You checked for any signs that prince Natsuo and princess Fuyumi were still alive. You were relieved to find them breathing. With your bare hands and a spell when needed, you managed to get them out of the rubbles. They were unconscious, but bore no severe injuries. They would live. You then moved closer to the King, who was still lying on the floor, breathing ragged, his severed arm bleeding, but his paling hazy blue gaze locked on the fight. You knelt at his side, and did your best to stop the bleeding on his arm with torn clothes. You didn’t trust your healing magic to work properly and didn’t want to harm someone as important as the king. The sovereign didn’t pay you any attention. It was as if he was lost in his own mind.

“I won’t let you hurt dad!” Prince Shouto’s determined voice echoed in the room, his usually cool exterior melting to reveal the fire burning in his heart. “I won’t let you hurt anyone in this country!”

Dabi laughed mockingly. But he soon clicked his tongue in frustration as Shinsou stopped another of his fire magic attacks.

“Damn mage!” He cursed and turned to cast a spell on Shinsou. It would be a big one given how the air charged heavy with mana. But prince Shouto took it as an opportunity to hit him, cutting through his side in a swift move before Dabi could cast anything.

The undead stepped back, hissing and cursing in anger. He was out-powered.

But he didn’t let that deter him and tried to regain the upper-hand psychologically. “Dear Shouto, since you’re my brother you should know everything that this sad excuse of a King hid from you” He started while his fire attacks grew more and more desperate and reckless. “His mage wasn’t the only one he forced me to kill”

Prince Shouto didn’t answer, ignoring the taunt as best as he could.

“Mom died because of me Shouto!” Dabi screamed, sending the strongest heat wave yet at the prince, who barely blocked it thanks to Shinsou’s help.

“Prince, do not listen to him!” Shinsou shouted but didn’t magically order, too focused on stopping the fire attacks.

“I was aiming to kill the one I once called father; the one who was the cause of all my suffering, but she just had to step in front of him! I didn’t mean to hurt her!” Dabi howled, voice cracking like the fire in his palms.

Your breath caught in your throat. So the evil mage who cursed the queen wasn’t Shinsou’s master. It was Dabi. But then why was her body kept in Shinsou’s tower? It made no sense.

You saw the prince’s eyes widen before they narrowed, full of pity. “She’s not dead Touya” He declared.

Dabi recoiled as if burnt, landing a couple meters away from you. You could see his back; his shoulders rising and falling with his ragged breath. He was getting tired.

“What?” You heard him whisper, incredulous.

His slender form started shaking and from where you knelt, you felt the air’s temperature rise up drastically. It was suffocating, and becoming hard to breathe. You vision started to blur, Dabi’s form undulating before your blurry eyes from the heat of the massive flames emanating from his whole body.

The disgusting smell of burnt flesh filled your nostrils. How could his decaying body handle such heat?

Shinsou stepped forward, cursing as he struggled to control the growing flames around the undead king. The prince couldn’t come closer and had to stop his attacks, stepping back to protect himself from the heat.

There was a wheezing sound, like a kettle boiling and ready to explode.

“Stop hindering me” Dabi growled, his gaze accusingly focused on Shinsou.

But the mage’s focus didn’t falter. “Not a chance. Surrender ! " He commanded, standing tall and confident, despite the sweat pearling down his face.

“Burn in hell!” Dabi screamed, fire escaping from his mouth too.

The heat kept growing, but the flames visibly fought to rise further and engulf the whole room. The air was dry and heavy with so much magic that it gave you a headache. A few months earlier, you would have fainted from such a raw display of power.

It was a battle of two monsters; of two daunting magicians, and you prayed Shinsou would be victorious.

As if on cue when your thoughts drifted to him, Shinsou’s gaze flickered to find yours for a split second. He looked away just as quickly, however, his gesture didn’t go unnoticed, and Dabi suddenly turned, his burning demonic blue eyes falling on you. He smiled with a maimed and burnt gory maw as he remembered you. He raised his hand in your direction, and all the fire around him followed, concentrating into a scorching hellish blue flame spear that he armed your way.

You heard Shinsou’s scream before you closed your eyes from the heat of the blow that would kill you.

But that blow never came.

You opened your eyes to see Dabi grinning manically despite his lack of fire power. Only smoke surrounded him still as he bent close to you and grabbed the King’s sword in his blackened hand, still hot with the embers of his previous attack. He pulled away from you just when you moved to get away from him, and your eyes followed his to where Shinsou was falling to his knees, panting from exhaustion after the last magic stopping spell he cast.

It all happened in a few seconds that felt like an eternity. Time was slowed by the adrenaline rushing through your veins, forcing you to watch powerless as Dabi dashed at impossible speed to the mage. Your ears were ringing but you still heard Prince Shouto shout a desperate but useless warning before Dabi pierced right through Shinsou’s chest with the king’s sword.

Shinsou coughed blood that trickled down his lips and chin when Dabi pulled out the sword, making sure to twist it viciously as he drew back with a sadistic laughter.

You wanted to scream with all your lungs, with all your rage, but in that moment you could only gasp as an impossible pain ran through you, cutting your breathing short. You felt like your ribs had been ripped open, and like your heart had been pierced. You clutched at your chest, unable to draw a breath. Black spots filled your vision and you stopped hearing. You felt the metallic taste of blood in your mouth and everything went black.

This was the end. You were dying.

[camelspit]

Note! Definition of a sexywoman:

According to the sexywomanpedia, a sexywoman is "a character who shows the 'lanky suitman villain' tropes, is popular with wlw, and/or is highly divisive." Some factors to consider are morality (or lack thereof), overall mysteriousness, and strength (physical or abilitywise.)

Propaganda:

Livvy Sonden:

"shes a mad scientist. she joined the revolution but she thinks secret identities are stupid. she has fabulous fashion sense. what cant she do" @necromycologist

Mai Song:

"She hides.

She hides so much, she hides behind her clear, unbreakable face of utter nonchalance, of pure ice and purer anger, even when all she can do is care. She cares about her kids, despite what's she done and what she'd do all over again. She cares about her husband, and her friends, and the world (she supposes, she's not put much thought into it).

But the thing is, she cares, most of all, about herself. It's hard and it hurts, but she knows that she'd do whatever it takes to survive: she'd hurt and push and claw her way to the top; she's forced her way there before. It's where she belongs, it's where she'll end up when everything is said and done. She doesn't like it. But it's who she is, what she is.

But then it hits her again . . . she cares. Angrily, regrettably, she cares, not just about herself, as much as she'd like to claim. About everyone, and most of all about her family.

Does caring for all of them, combined, equal the total amount of which she cares for herself? Can she fix what she's done and what she will do because even though she values herself most she also values everyone else? Does that count for something?

Will it ever?" @wow-youre-so-pretty

Councillor Zarina:

"idk man she's pretty cool and could electrocute me at will if she wanted" @corruption-exe

Lady Fayina:

"she mysteriously vanished one day and is presumed dead. her body is never found. her memory is buried in kenrics cache. shes so mysterous guys i love her." @camelspit

Grizel the Goblin: None

Councillor Ramira: None

Master Cadence:

"she’s a linguist. she’s a woman in stem. she’s tired of everyone’s bullshit. she’s fruity as hell. her house is cool as fuck (a howls moving castle style boat-thing made of metal that she built herself because she didn’t want to live in the elven cities???? come on). she’s a MASTER. what more could you want." @let-them-sing-of-others

"she’s an academic. shes smarter than u. she hates on the council and she’s RIGHT. she hates sophie actually you know what she has a hater complex but in a hot way. i love her yr honour." @necromycologist

"she spent YEARS researching on ogres and their culture. idk about you, but i would try keeping her in my good graces because she KNOWS ABOUT DEADLY POISON. WHY ARE PEOPLE NOT TALKING ABOUT THIS. I WOULD SHIT MYSELF IF I CAME ACROSS HER IN REAL LIFE EVEN IF IT WAS IN A GROCERY STORE ON A RANDOM TUESDAY AND SHE WAS BUYING OREOS. FOR ALL WE KNOW, SHE COULD HAVE LOADS OF THAT IN HER HOUSE/ON HER PERSON!!" @corruption-exe

"ok not to be a lesbian or horny on main (<- ace) but HOLY SHIT i want her to step on me. this lady has intensified my sexuality crisis" (anonymous)

Want to submit propaganda? Do so here and it will be added in the next round!