#Which I definitely over exaggerated that but I never meant for it to come out that way.

[sombrathedragon]

Day 74 of drawing random Wof dragons from the wiki…

Kindle!

“Kindle is an adult female SandWing who was introduced in Deserter. She formerly worked as a doctor in Burn's army, likely in the same encampment as Six-Claws on the outskirts of the Kingdom of Sand, but later fled to the Scorpion Den alongside Dune and Six-Claws. She is currently in a relationship with Six-Claws and is the mother of Ostrich.” -The WOF wiki.

Reblogs are appreciated!

[starcurtain]

Fact Checking Some Myths About Aventurine and the IPC

Especially in light of Jade's new myriad celestia trailer and the reveal of the other Stonehearts, I've seen a ton of wild claims about Aventurine--particularly how he's an unwilling member of the Stonehearts and needs to be saved from the IPC--that just aren't sitting right with me because they're based significantly more on the fanon take that Aventurine is an "innocent victim" than any actual evidence displayed in the game. So I wanted to take the time to collect some in-game evidence to see if we can sort out what Aventurine's actual relationship to the IPC is. Time to do some fact checking--this is a long one, buckle up!

Claim #1: Aventurine was sentenced to die by the IPC.

Verdict: There's no actual evidence that Aventurine was ever sentenced to anything.

This entire idea that Aventurine was actually successfully sentenced to die by the IPC comes from two pieces of "evidence" in the game. First, the scene with Dr. Ratio where those words are stated:

Leaving aside whether the IPC legally has the right to sentence anyone to anything by themselves (they're a corporation, not an actual governing body), this is the exact line that Dr. Ratio fans have been bending over backward to prove is "just an act" and that Ratio would never actually mean this (because if he actually meant this, it would make him pretty racist). So if we've already busted our asses to prove this line isn't true and was just Ratio and Aventurine acting... why would we be using this line as evidence that Aventurine was actually sentenced to anything?

We can't say "This entire scene was an act because Sunday/the Family was listening in!" and then go "Okay, but this one part is definitely true (despite there not being any other evidence in game to corroborate the statement)." Either this scene is acting, and this line isn't true--or the line is true, and Ratio's kind of a racist. Make up your minds, people. 😂

Actually, I can help make up your mind. We can prove that this line is likely a strong part of Aventurine and Ratio's deliberate act because Ratio's comment (which took place in 2.0) doesn't actually make any sense once Aventurine's story is fully revealed (in 2.1).

Ratio relates Aventurine's slave brand to the IPC, suggesting that the brand is proof that Aventurine is "doomed" and "sentenced to die by the IPC." Ratio even goes so far to say "Or was it from the Amber Lord himself?"

But from 2.1, we know that Aventurine's brand had nothing to do with the IPC, and his former slave owner was definitely not an IPC employee (as he refers to the IPC the same as Aventurine's sister did, "the guys in black").

Aventurine's brand came from being owned by a non-IPC-affiliated slaver--it had nothing to do with the Stonehearts or even Oswaldo Schneider.

So Ratio's entire comment linking the brand to the IPC makes no sense, and therefore his statement that the brand marks Aventurine as a "doomed Sigonian thrall sentenced to die by the IPC" also makes no sense.

Instead, I would argue that this line is a perfect example of the kind of exaggerated acting that Ratio and Aventurine were doing specifically to make the eavesdropping Family see Aventurine as an easy target. With this line, Ratio is emphasizing that Aventurine is a sitting duck without his Cornerstone, that he'll be weak and helpless--and that no one in the IPC will come help him, because they've already sentenced him to die. This is Ratio deliberately baiting Sunday into thinking that Aventurine will be easy, isolated prey without his Cornerstone--which is exactly what Aventurine wanted Sunday to think.

This line, which comes from a scene that we've already established is a deliberate act to mislead someone, cannot be used as evidence of Aventurine's real situation within the IPC.

"But then what about the trial scene with Jade?!" I already hear people saying. "Aventurine was definitely going to be sentenced to death!"

I'm not arguing that death wasn't a possible option for Kakavasha initially; it's clear that committing severe enough crimes can earn you the death penalty in Star Rail's universe. But I think we need to take another good look at this scene and see what really happened here.

First, we need to clarify that this scene with Jade was not an actual trial. The scene begins with a broadcast which clarifies that the suspect in the "Egyhazo-Aventurine Fraud Case" was just caught, and the IPC are conducting investigations into the "motive of the suspect."

So Jade's scene with Aventurine is not an actual trial (I mean... Jade's not even legally a judge!); it's an investigation with the goal of determining why Kakavasha would have tried to scam the Intelligentsia Guild and IPC at Egyhazo.

We can confirm that this scene with Jade is not an actual trial because she is even says "We haven't been able to find you any defense [lawyer], so you perhaps will have to defend yourself."

To which Aventurine responds that he easily could defend himself from the charges--but that it's pointless to do so. Why? Because he never intends to get to a trial in the first place.

He's there to gamble with Diamond (who he asks to see right on the spot, indicating that he's done his research in advance and knows who the head honcho he needs to talk to is). Instead, Jade says that he'll have to gamble with her, to which he agrees, and lays down his terms.

(He even says "I bet you won't send me to the gallows." We know that Kakavasha always wins his bets--he bet she won't send him off to a trial to be executed, and he once again won his bet!)

Jade, known for picking out "unpolished stones with great potential" and promoting them into positions of power to extract their value, agrees immediately, and literally tells Kakavasha to go change his clothes right then and there. She really said "I like your confidence; you're hired on the spot."

So... This was not a trial, Kakavasha never went on trial, and because he never went on trial, we have zero evidence in-game that he was ever sentenced to anything.

The IPC doesn't give a shit about the murder of some no-name slaver (I mean come on, think of how many other murders they've covered up at this point--do you really think they're holding one past murder of a no-name NPC over Aventurine's head years later?).

They might give a shit about the money they lost on Kakavasha's schemes, but Jade's entire schtick is one of equivalence--having Kakavasha join the IPC as a Stoneheart means he will ultimately generate infinitely more wealth for them than his schemes ever cost them in the first place, and that's the central piece of Jade's statement in this scene:

Is Aventurine's whole role in the Stonehearts exploitative, focused on his endless ability to win bets and generate profit? YUP. But that's ALL the Stonehearts' goal at this point--he's not unique in being "exploited" for his value. One look at Topaz confirms that.

So, ultimately, we have no evidence that Kakavasha was ever sentenced for his crimes, let alone that he was sentenced to die specifically by the IPC.

Claim #2: The Stonehearts will execute Aventurine if he tries to leave or fails his mission(s).

Verdict: There's no actual evidence for this either, beyond the obvious that most people in a powerful enough position in an evil corporation probably can't just up and quit their jobs without consequences.

I've seen this idea that the Stonehearts are planning to execute Aventurine--either for his past crimes, for failing a mission, or for trying to leave the IPC--many, many places, and unfortunately, I really think people are reaching this conclusion strictly on "The IPC is evil" vibes alone.

The IPC is evil; they coerce nice people like Topaz to buying into lifelong contracts; they're colonizers and exploitative capitalists, so of course they would threaten to execute poor innocent Aventurine!

Look, I won't defend the IPC. They are evil. But post hoc, ergo proctor hoc--just because one thing is true, doesn't mean the other statement naturally follows.

Just because the IPC is evil and exploitative (and probably does kill people to shut them up) does not automatically mean they're out to execute Aventurine for the slightest mishap.

I've seen many people say "He was going to be executed for his past crimes, so what do you think will happen if he tries to leave the Stonehearts?" But A) We just established he never went to trial for those past crimes in the first place, so we have no idea if he would have actually been sentenced to death anyway, and B) We have no evidence in-game that any of Kakavasha's past crimes would be back on the table if he were to try to quit the IPC. This is literally just fanon, based on the vibes of the IPC being evil alone. Probably informed by Topaz's "lifelong contract" situation giving people the impression that everyone who works for the IPC has to have a lifelong contract.

What evidence do we have that Aventurine is not at-risk of being executed for screwing up a mission? I mean, Aventurine himself says it. When Jade first states that Aventurine might be punished for destroying a Cornerstone, the only two possible punishments he states are:

If execution was on the table, wouldn't that have been the first punishment Aventurine listed?

And Jade's myriad celestia trailer also states that the only punishment on the table is whether Aventurine will be expelled from the Stonehearts:

And the biggest proof that execution isn't on the table?

The fact that Diamond himself agrees that Aventurine should not be punished even for the serious act of willingly breaking a Cornerstone. If Aventurine can do something as serious as breaking part of Qlipoth's will and body, something he was told to treasure more than his own life, and still get away with it... You can bet the IPC really does not give a shit about his old schemes anymore. Aventurine is way too valuable alive for them to be constantly threatening to kill him.

(But then what about Obsidian's statement that she wants a "bloodbath"? Surely that's evidence that he would have died if they voted against him?

First of all, "bloodbath" is a pretty common metaphorical term. I don't know about you, but any time people get into big drama at my work, this term comes up ["They were all talking shit; it was a total bloodbath"]. "Bloodbath" can mean any intense struggle; it's often not literal death.

However, I'm inclined in this case to say that the real reason Hoyo threw in this "bloodbath" line was just to double down on Obsidian's obvious vampire aesthetic. She's a "vampire." Duh, of course she needs to say something about blood. I think this line speaks more to establishing Obsidian's character as a violent, self-centered person than anything to do with Aventurine's actual situation.)

So, there is no actual evidence in the game that Aventurine is still being held accountable for his past crimes, or that the IPC is planning to execute him for messing up on a mission.

In fact, there are several pieces of evidence in the story suggesting the opposite, that multiple people, including the other Stonehearts, think he's kind of crazy for trying to get himself killed every mission he goes on.

When Aventurine was affected by the Harmony's power, the "future" Aventurine asks him this directly.

"Why does every one of your schemes put your own life at risk?" And players are told the answer to that isn't because of the IPC--it's not because the Stonehearts are out here forcing Aventurine to gamble with his life. When the "Future" Aventurine suggests Aventurine might be taking these risks because of the IPC, real Aventurine flat out says "You don't know me at all." He's not taking the risks for the IPC--he's taking them for himself.

Later, "Future" Aventurine even says that if Aventurine just used tactics like Opal's--which he claims Aventurine could easily do--then he would have been able to claim Penacony for the IPC without putting himself at risk at all. But Aventurine chose not to do that; he chose "death."

Because Aventurine is actually, at least slightly, suicidal. I don't personally think Aventurine would ever have turned a fully-loaded gun on himself and pulled the trigger, but he was actively seeking opportunities to die. Before Penacony ended, he was deliberately putting himself into situations where his life was at risk, taking unnecessary gambles with his life on the line--because then he would win either way. If he won the gamble, he would get whatever prize was promised, and if he lost the gamble, then he would have the "freedom" of death, to be reunited with his family. (It's important to note that the only time the word "freedom" is used in Aventurine's story through 2.1 is in direct reference to death--it is never used in reference to getting "free" from the IPC.)

Aventurine's plans were not self-destructive because of the IPC. They were self-destructive because he was self-destructive. And, in fact, multiple other members of the Stonehearts call out this behavior as a bad thing.

Jade describes Aventurine's ploy in Penacony as "overplaying his hand."

Topaz describes Aventurine's work habits as:

Then there's even Sugilite, who clocks Aventurine's suicidal tendency directly by stating that Aventurine's "death" scheme in Penacony wasn't for the IPC at all--it was entirely for himself.

If the Stonehearts were holding execution over Aventurine's head at all times, why would death be an "unnecessary [personal] extravagance"?

The takeaway from all the other Stonehearts' dialogue about Aventurine is that they actually think he goes too far and that his methods are more risky with his own life than they need to be.

Does that sound like a group of people who are planning to kill him on the drop of the hat?

Okay, okay, I can hear you saying "But that still doesn't mean he can leave the Stonehearts without consequences. They would kill him if he tried to leave."

To that I say: A) There's no actual in-game evidence for that statement; it's literally just "IPC is evil so they definitely would do this" vibes, but B) Is that statement really unique to Aventurine? Do you think Topaz could leave the Stonehearts without consequences? Do you think Jade could just fuck off and leave the IPC if she got the desire to?

It's pretty typical, I would think, that anyone who achieves a high-ranking in a stereotypical "evil capitalist mega-corporation" is not free to just abandon their high up position without consequences. The phrase "You know too much" comes to mind.

I'd argue that people are probably right--Aventurine probably could not leave the Stonehearts without something severe happening, at the very least a memory wipe--but that this is probably true of all the Stonehearts. They're too far up the chain. They know too much about the inner-workings of the literal planet-destroying world-domination company. They've had too much access to insider info to easily leave their positions.

Not being able to easily leave the position has nothing to do with Aventurine personally or his past crimes. It's just (at least likely) a basic fact of being too high up in the morally-grey-at-best super organization. (Well, then again, apparently no one even knows if Agate is dead or not, so maybe they actually don't even care lol.)

Claim #3: Aventurine didn't want to join the IPC; he's working with the IPC only because he's forced to.

Verdict: The game suggests in several places that Aventurine joined the IPC of his own free will. Whether he's still loyal to them is not 100% clear.

I think this is the biggest question mark I'm left with when reading other people's posts about Aventurine--this enduring idea that Aventurine never wanted to join the IPC and was only forced to do so because he was captured and death was his only other option.

But that is literally not what the game is telling us at all. The game tells us--in multiple places--that Aventurine orchestrated his own circumstances so that he could gain an audience with Diamond and win a position within the Stonehearts by his own gambles.

First, let's re-examine that scene with Jade. One of the first things Jade says is "What kind of person would come up with a scheme [the Egyhazo fraud] that doesn't benefit them in any way?"

The takeaway from this is that Kakavasha did not actually stand to gain anything from scamming the Intelligentsia Guild into digging for Tayzzyronth's remains in the desert at Egyhazo. All he achieved with this fraud was putting himself at risk of being caught by the IPC.

Does that sound like Aventurine to you? The guy whose mantra is literally:

So obviously, Aventurine stood to gain something from scamming the IPC at Egyhazo. What could he possibly have wanted to achieve by creating a scheme that seemingly didn't directly benefit him? Well, he says it himself:

Aventurine wanted to be brought before the IPC. He got caught on purpose. He once again gambled with his own life, betting that, instead of being put on trial for all his past crimes, he could convince Diamond (though it ended up being Jade) to invest in him. The game literally tells you, in multiple places, that Aventurine was taking another one of his stereotypically crazy, potentially self-destructive gambles to try to achieve something:

Aventurine wanted the IPC to invest in him. He wanted in on their power and wealth. No one in the IPC forced him to target their organization not once but twice with his "desert-digging schemes" when it is clear that Aventurine could easily make money elsewhere. No one forced him to suggest this gamble with Jade to convince the IPC to invest in him. No one forced him to, in the words of the game itself, "seek a Cornerstone."

Aventurine's character stories are the only indications we have (for now) about what his motivations for joining the IPC might have been:

They suggest he joined with the intention of gaining wealth and power to help his people and others who aided him in the past--only to find out that that was no longer possible, invalidating his original reason for joining and likely leaving him without motivation or will to really even stay in the powerful position he had worked to get into. Part of his suicidality is likely linked to this--that he set himself a massive, unbelievable goal in an attempt to gain power and wealth to finally help his people--only to be entirely too late. But in any case, these character stories make it clear that he did personally seek to join the IPC of his own free will.

(And I mean, hello? The whole point of Jade as a character is being the one who sees people's desires and then grants them--ergo, Aventurine's desire was, in fact, to join the IPC himself.)

If we needed any more corroborating evidence for this, just consider everything post-Penacony, when Aventurine has decided that he does actually value his life now and wants to live. Aventurine would have had so many chances to "escape" the IPC if he so chose. First, he could easily have pretended to actually die within the Nihility. He could have entirely fucked off with Argenti's help, created a new identity, and made himself a pile of independent wealth from gambles, all without the IPC ever knowing where he went. But he didn't.

Then, he had a second chance to betray the IPC and fuck off again with Boothill's help. Boothill had already knocked out Aventurine's bodyguards at the door--there was literally no one else around. A little blood on the floor and no one would have doubted that the IPC-hating, wanted vigilante Boothill had done away with Aventurine.

Hell, Aventurine knows the Trailblazer. One word to the Trailblazer, and Aventurine could board the Astral Express and be whisked off to the other side of the universe.

But none of those things happened. Aventurine made no effort to remove himself from the IPC--even though he knew he had broken a Cornerstone and would be facing possible punishment. He didn't even make a single mention of trying to "escape" the IPC at all.

Because he isn't trying to.

(And edit, an addendum, because I kept seeing this on Twitter too: A bunch of people were claiming that because Aventurine wasn't smiling when he got his Cornerstone back, that was evidence that he hates the IPC and doesn't want to be there:

Like... did they forget that every single time Aventurine makes his major gambles, he has such anxiety that he can never convince himself to believe he'll actually win, to the point that the "Future" Aventurine accuses him of clenching his trembling hand beneath the table? Is it really that surprising that someone who never actually believes he's going to win would have a shocked face when he does win here, especially after witnessing the literal power of an aeon restore something he thought was broken forever? Come on now...)

Would the guy who always wins his gambles bet that he would get a promotion if he absolutely didn't want his job?

People really, really seem to struggle with this aspect of Aventurine's character, going out of their way to ignore the game's text and suggest that he definitely absolutely would never, ever have joined the IPC of his own free will. People really hate the idea that Aventurine is a morally-grey character who makes choices that are actively harmful to himself, like willingly joining an organization that is exploiting him.

Knowing that the IPC played a part in the Avgin extinction, people literally cannot fathom that Aventurine would willingly join them.

But I think that denying this part of Aventurine's character is bad. There's no need to reduce Aventurine to an innocent, helpless victim who is being exploited against his will and who would never do a single evil thing himself. That's not who the game is telling us he is.

The game tells us, repeatedly, that Aventurine is a survivor who will do whatever it takes to succeed at whatever he sets his mind to--even up to murdering innocent people to survive himself. Up to willingly joining the IPC to seek wealth and power. He's not a 100% good person who is still being forced through an existence he has no control over.

He's a self-destructive gambler who makes terrible choices with his own life, and willingly joining the IPC to let the Stonehearts exploit his abilities is one of the most obvious indications of that in the game.

Please stop denying Aventurine his complex, three-dimensional character writing to make him your pure, innocent trauma woobie. I'm begging people.

Claim #4: Aventurine wants revenge on Oswaldo Schneider.

Verdict: There's no evidence in the game (yet) that Aventurine is even aware of Oswaldo Schneider's role in the Avgin extinction, let alone actively trying to seek revenge for it.

Personally, this one hurts me the most, because this is where I'd like to see the story going. I want it to be that Aventurine was partially motivated to join the IPC specifically to orchestrate an inside job and get the Avgins' revenge on Oswaldo Schneider.

But even I have to admit that there's currently no evidence for this at all in the story.

For one, we have no confirmation in-game that Aventurine actually knows Schneider's direct role in the Avgin extinction. Aventurine clearly knows that the IPC could have intervened (he was there; he saw they didn't do anything), but we have no actual confirmation in the game's text that Aventurine knows Schneider told his people not to get involved, leading to the massacre. The only reason we players know of this is relic text, which isn't available canonically to characters in the game.

It is very likely that Aventurine is smart enough to figure this out or do the research to learn it, but as of right now, we don't have that confirmation in game.

Similarly, we players are given no access to Aventurine's actual conversations with Boothill. We have no idea what they talked about other than this one statement:

It seems likely, based on this, that Aventurine did say something to Boothill about being willing to go after Oswaldo Schneider, but we won't know for sure until the game reveals more.

What we do know is that even if Aventurine does give Boothill information on Oswaldo, it might not really be because Aventurine wants personal revenge.

Oswaldo's Marketing Development Department is basically the sworn enemy of the Stonehearts' Strategic Investment Department. The two groups are in an internal cold war, vying for "votes" from the seven board members who are actually leading the IPC.

So even if we see Aventurine taking actions against Oswaldo, it might not be because of a personal grudge, but because literally Aventurine's entire department hates Oswaldo Schneider's guts on principle in the first place.

So it's very difficult to say what is going on with Aventurine and Oswaldo Schneider at this point, and in the end, we just need to wait for more information.

Phew, all right! That was definitely long enough. I've gotten it all off my chest. I hope I've managed to give people some more canon material to chew on for another look at Aventurine's character, which is rich and complex and definitely cannot be reduced to simply "pure innocent victim babygirl."

Maybe now I'll be a little less salty when I see misinformation spreading like a wildfire again on Twitter.

Maybe.

Ha ha, who am I kidding.

[amourane]

falling for you

pairing: kwon soonyoung x fem!reader

genre: fluff, college au

w/c: 2.6k

summary: in which soonyoung struggles to ask you out on a date.

warnings: none!

a/n: if you saw the first post u didn't cuz tumblr made a mess of it and now i gotta repost it TT

"Jihoon!" A voice hissed from behind him. "Jihoon, here! Behind you!" He spun around to face...a bush. 

"When did plants learn how to talk?"

"It's me you idiot!" A hand shot out grabbing Jihoon's arm, pulling him into the bush. Soonyoung had twigs, leaves and something that looked like a ladybug but no one could ever be so sure. He was fiddling with the hem of his sweater, his cheeks bright red. “I just saw Y/n!” 

“So?” Soonyoung’s eyes bulged incredulously like Jihoon was supposed to know why his best friend looked like he had been living in the wild for a week. 

“Jihoon, you don’t just reply with ‘so’ and make it some question. You should know this!” Soonyoung shook his friend by his shoulders, squishing his cheeks painfully. “Obviously it’s because I saw her walk by and obviously I went up to talk to her but obviously I fell. I don’t even know how I fell and I was going to stand back up and continue to talk to her but she was already gone. And I have this huge stain.” He pointed to the brownish green patch on his white cotton sweater. “Everything’s just a mess!”

“Okay first of all, calm down Shakespeare.” Jihoon rolled his eyes, picking his best friend up. He tugged the sweater over Soonyoung’s head. “You could’ve just taken this off, you’ve got a shirt underneath anyway. And it’s been a week and you still haven’t asked her out?”

“Well, it’s hard alright.” Soonyoung nibbled his bottom lip. “Also Mingyu’s always around her and I can never seem to get her alone.”

“Now you’re just making excuses.”

Jihoon knew his best friend. He knew Soonyoung. If Soonyoung wanted something he’d probably fight the world for it. He remembered that one time he’d been so desperate to win Mario Kart against Jihoon that he’d dumped his water all over him. Jihoon was positively fuming, not because he’d lost but because Soonyoung had gotten his favourite shirt wet. 

Needless to say, Kwon Soonyoung would eat avocados for the rest of his life if it meant he’d get to ask you out. That was why it was weird that the guy who could probably fight zombies single handedly in an apocalypse couldn’t ask a cute girl out. 

“Hey what’s this?” Jihoon reached for the piece of paper hanging out of Soonyoung’s pocket. The boy flushed red, trying to grab the paper back from Jihoon. When he realised it was no use he slumped back a pout evident on his face. 

“You’re not allowed to judge me-”

“You really are a dork.” Jihoon snorted, examining the A3 piece of paper with ‘ASKING Y/N OUT’ scrawled on the top in big black marker. The page was filled with annotations and little diagrams that were all coloured in neatly. All the possibilities were drafted out, some more silly than others. “You were thinking of taking her to NASA?!” 

Soonyoung’s ears burned. He squirmed. “I mean it’s always a possibility but I think that would kind of ruin me.”

Jihoon watched as his best friend avoided his gaze, fingers anxiously fiddling with the hem of his shirt. He smiled. He’d never seen Soonyoung this nervous to ask a girl out. It was oddly endearing. He continued to scan the paper, a little shocked that Soonyoung had put so much effort into this plan. 

So this was definitely not a little crush. 

//

“Okay listen.” Jihoon grabbed Soonyoung’s shoulders. They were currently outside the classroom you were in. He had devised this plan perfectly so that Soonyoung would actually ask you out without embarrassing himself. “Y/n’s going to come out here in approximately five minutes. You’re going to walk up to her and say ‘are you free this Saturday?’ and then she’ll say yes and then BAM instant date!” He clapped his hands together for exaggerated effect. 

“Jihoon, where are my flowers? And I can't be wearing this!” Soonyoung grabbed his black hoodie. “I can’t ask Y/n out like this. We need a suit and I need roses and some type of confectionery to win her over!”

Jihoon blinked like an owl. C-Confectionary?! Who the hell speaks like that anymore? Clearly Soonyoung had been watching too many romance movies. “You don’t need flowers or some fancy clothes to win Y/n over. You just need you, she likes you, not some dolled up Barbie.”

“It’s actually Ken who’s the main male-”

“Oh look here she comes.” He pushed Soonyoung hard. The poor boy stumbled clumsily, promptly bashing into you. He had to stop doing that. “Go get her!” Was all Soonyoung heard before he felt his soul die. 

You held Soonyoung steady. A small giggle left your lips. He blushed. You were even cuter today. Which was normally impossible but you were obviously special. The sweet smile you gave him nearly had him fainting. 

What was it Jihoon had said again? Oh yes, ask you out. He could do this.

“Did you need something Soonyoung?” 

Your voice was gentle and soft like a marshmallow. He could feel himself melting just at your words. Nope can’t do this. Soonyoung nearly spun around but when he caught sight of Jihoon’s deadly glare he retreated. Jihoon wasn’t someone you wanted to get angry. Guess he was going to have to do this.

“I...um…” He waved his arms around pathetically. It didn’t help that you were looking at him so innocently. “T-This Saturday you free...?” Soonyoung wanted the ground to swallow him whole. His cheeks burn bright red and he coughs. Not only did he completely butcher the English language but his voice cracked. Cracked! 

“I’m free this Saturday.” You grinned, eyes twinkling. Soonyoung felt his heart flutter. “I’ll text you okay?” You tucked a piece of paper into his hand before waving at him as you caught up to Mingyu. He watched as the two of you talked, you bursting into a fit of giggles, blushing.

The whole situation had happened so quickly it had made his head spin. A loud smack on his back brought Soonyoung back to reality. Jihoon stood behind him with a proud grin on his face. 

“Now we’ve just got to get you through this date.”

//

Soonyoung checked his watch for what felt like the upteenth time. It read, 11:13. He had said to meet him at 11 o’clock but maybe he was just early. Maybe you were stuck in traffic or something. He had spent about half an hour picking his outfit, with help from Jihoon of course because he could never decide on anything. 

It did look a little pathetic. Soonyoung sighed. Did you stand him up? You wouldn’t be that mean, would you?

“Soonyoung!” You were panting behind him, looking as if you had just run a marathon. Your chest heaved. “I'm so sorry. I lost track of time and everything kind of just went haywire-”

“I-It’s okay.” Soonyoung squeaked, wringing his hands. His eyes tried not to drift towards your chest. You were wearing a bright yellow sundress that hugged your body, little flowers dotted all over. The thin straps on your shoulders were tied in little bows at the top. He swallowed. 

“You’re not upset?” Your eyes were wide. The familiar scent of your jasmine perfume wafted to Soonyoung's nose and he shook his head. He could never be upset with you, that’d be ridiculous. You smiled. “Well, where are we heading?” 

He gave you a small grin. To say that Soonyoung has connections with people was an understatement. He had connections with everyone. That sounded a bit weird but everyone knew Soonyoung. It wasn’t like the town was small or anything, he was just known by everyone. Even the grumpy old lady that sold newspapers knew him.

Now normally he would have a plan for this, it was all written down. Sadly, Jihoon had ripped it up and threw it in the bin. Apparently having a plan was lame. Totally untrue, it was great to be prepared. 

“It’s a surprise.” 

//

“Oh my god!” You nearly tumbled to the ground at your shock. “How did you even manage to get in here? Isn’t this the Hong’s?” 

In front of you were rows beyond rows of strawberry bushes. The field seemed to stretch on forever. There was only one family in town that owned so many acres of land, the Hongs. You’d met their son, Joshua Hong, a couple of times at campus but everyone knew their strawberry fields were off limits. 

“My mum’s friends with Mrs Hong, used to go over to hers every week with apple pie. Me and Shua were friends for a while but then he got caught up in music and me, dancing. We still talk and I was lucky enough to get us in.” Soonyoung shrugs. “And it’s strawberry picking season.”

“Most boys would bring their date out to a fancy restaurant.” You picked a strawberry, popping into your mouth, savouring the sweet taste. “I have a feeling I’m going to enjoy this.”

Soonyoung tried not to smile too wide. He couldn't contain his excitement. At first he wanted to take you to a lot of places in one day but Jihoon had said it was impossible to take you to the cinema, zoo, aquarium, ice cream shop and laser tag in 24 hours. So he settled on strawberries. Everyone loved strawberries, plus it was free because he knew Joshua. 

You slowly intertwined both of your fingers, holding his hand. Soonyoung felt his cheeks flare an embarrassing red as his eyes trailed down to both of your clasped hands. He felt his heart beat rapidly in his chest. There wasn’t a lot he could do but try not to faint. 

A small smirk crept up on his lips as he handed you a basket. “We’ll make a deal.” 

“A deal?” You looked at him confused, taking the basket. “What do you mean?”

“Let’s say, whoever picks the most strawberries decides where we’re having lunch and they pay as well.”

“Chivalry really is dead.” You rolled your eyes. If Kwon Soonyoung wanted to bet that he would pick more strawberries than you, then he best be prepared for war. You contemplated the thought. If you were to win you’d probably empty his pockets but if he won he would empty your pockets. It’s a 50/50 chance. 

You must have stayed silent for a tad too long because Soonyoung grew worried. 

“W-We don’t have to if you don't want to-” 

“Fine. No rules, just as many as we can pick.” You shook his hand, a playful grin on your face. “Be prepared to lose Kwon.” You dashed away.

“Hey, you’re cheating!” 

“No rules remember!” 

Soonyoung stood still, mouth open like a goldfish. He finally snapped out of it, chasing after you, determined to win. There was no way he was going to let you beat him. 

Or maybe he will. 

//

Soonyoung grasped his basket tightly. It was already nearly full with ruby red strawberries. No doubt they were sweet and juicy. He hadn’t seen you since you left him and it was slightly worrying. Hopefully you were fine. Hopefully.

"Y/n?" He calls over the bushes. No reply. Soonyoung trudged forward, still looking for you. A twig snapped from behind him. "Y/n?" He spun around only to see you reaching a hand inside his basket plucking a strawberry and stuffing it into your mouth. 

"They're really yummy, I should thank Joshua when I see him." You giggled, turning to flee again but this time Soonyoung grabbed your hand. A small squeak escaped your lips. 

"Don't you dare run away." His tone was light and teasing. You shrieked when he popped one of your strawberries into his mouth. "No rules remember." He smirked, playfully flicking your forehead. You threw a strawberry at him which he dodged. You pelt another and another. One hits him and you stifle your laughs. 

Soonyoung pulled you forward and you shut up. He leaned forward, breath fanning your face. You instinctively fluttered your eyes shut. 

"I'll see you later." He whispered, causing you to snap open your eyes, mouth dropping to the ground. You watched dumbfounded as he ran away. What happened to the shy Soonyoung?

//

“I only lost because you ate all of mine.” You pouted, folding your arms defiantly. It wasn’t your fault that he was so devastatingly cute that you just had to offer him some of your strawberries. He stole them from you, even if he insisted that you gave them willingly. 

“You’re in denial Y/n.” Soonyoung skipped happily next to you, swinging his full basket. Your pout deepened. “Now where’s the most expensive place to have lunch?” He pulled his phone out, tapping a few times before a smug grin took over his face.

“You’re going to empty my pockets.” You whined. 

Soonyoung grinned. “Come on we’ve got to catch the train otherwise we’ll be late. I’ll pay for the tickets.” A small smile flitted across your face before it reverted back into a pout. You huffed, letting Soonyoung clasped your hand as the two of you walked away. “If it makes you feel any better, you can have my strawberries.”

“I just wanna know what was with the personality change back then?”

His cheeks flushed bright red. “I can be confident too…”

“Don’t doubt it. I’ve seen you dance.” The look he gives you has you rolling your eyes. “You’re a totally different person when you’re in the studio.”

His cheeks flushed bright red again causing you to burst into a fit of giggles. 

//

“So what you’re saying is that the bill is too expensive and right now you’re hiding in the bathroom and, might I remind you, you left poor Soonyoung to fend for himself.” Mingyu said through the phone.

“It sounds worse when you say it aloud.”

“You can’t just ditch him Y/n, what are you going to do, climb out a window and escape?” He hissed. You stared at the tiny window at the back. If you did it right you could squeeze through. “If you’re thinking about climbing out of a window I will stop feeding you my brownies.”

“Hey hey hey. No need to deprive my need for brownies Gyu, have some respect.” He snorted, muttering under his breath. “I can still hear what you’re saying.” 

“Good.”

Okay maybe running inside the bathroom and hiding in a stall wasn’t going to solve all of our problems. But the bill was hefty and you would probably land yourself in prison if you did manage to pay for it. Also you couldn’t climb out of the window because you really did need those brownies. 

“I want you to go out there and say you can’t pay for it and ask Soonyoung to pay for it.”

“Gyu are you crazy?”

“You’re the one in a bathroom stall, not me.” And with that he hung up leaving you alone. You could do this. It was not that hard, not that hard.  

Soonyoung was still sitting at the table where you left him but this time all the plates had been cleared and he was staring at his phone. He looked up and smiled. “Thought you were gonna do something illegal. Don’t worry, I paid for everything.”

“D-Did you rob a bank before we came here?” Your mouth was hanging open. That was the only option, unless he really did have enough money but everyone your age was practically broke so…

Soonyoung chuckled, shaking his head. “You didn’t actually think I was going to let you pay for all of that? You’re cute.” 

You were left gaping as he took your hand. What just happened? He said your line, your line. You were meant to call him cute. Soonyoung seemed to sense how confused you were because he shot you a dazzling smile.

“Told you I can be confident.”

[lovedrruunk]

'Forget her

In which you get played by your situationship. Jinx thinks you deserve better anyway. (drabble!!!)

You sat on the couch in Jinx’s hideout staring blankly at the sky, your fingers absentmindedly tracing over the ripped leather of the furniture. The bitter pit in your stomach hadn’t left since you heard it. Those carefully chosen words that meant everything and nothing at the same time, but you weren’t even sure why you were surprised. It wasn’t like you hadn’t known deep down that things wouldn’t work out with her.

But it still stung.

The situation had been complicated from the start. No labels, no promises, just two people who occasionally crossed the line into something that felt almost like more. You thought it was heading somewhere, but apparently she didn’t. And today, with a few short sentences, she made that clear.

“I’m not looking for anything serious.”

Classic.

You clenched your jaw, sinking back into the cushions. The room felt heavy and you hated that you’d let yourself get invested. You weren’t even sure why you had told Jinx you’d come over. You didn’t want to be a downer, but the idea of sitting alone with your thoughts had been worse. So now you were just sitting here, feeling like a total idiot for ever thinking she was serious about you.

“Ya know, if you keep sulking like that I might start thinking you forgot I exist,” Jinx’s voice cut through your mental spiral, drawing your eyes towards her. She leaned against the doorframe, arms crossed looking at you with a raised brow. “Not a good look for you by the way.”

You snorted, rubbing a hand over your face. “Yeah, well, it’s been a day.”

Jinx pushed off the door, walking over to flop down next to you on the couch. “A ‘day,’ huh?" One look at your face and she already knew. "Lemme guess. Her?”

You hesitated, not really wanting to dive into the whole mess, but the look she gave you made it clear she wasn’t about to let this go, she never does. Wasn't necessarily a bad thing you figured, you liked that about her. “Yeah… her. She finally dropped the ‘let’s keep things casual’ bomb. As if I didn’t already know that’s where it was going.”

Jinx let out a long whistle, pretending to look thoughtful. “Wow, shocking. Who could’ve ever seen that coming? Definitely not me, noooo,” she said with obvious sarcasm.

You shot her a look. “I know, okay? I knew it wasn’t serious, I just… I don’t know, I guess I hoped maybe it’d turn into something more.” The bitterness in your voice was hard to hide, even if you were trying to downplay how much it bothered you.

Jinx didn’t say anything right away, but you could feel her watching you, her usual smirk faltering a bit. “Look, I’m not saying I hate the girl—”

You raised an eyebrow. “You definitely hate her.”

“—I’m not saying I hate her,” she repeated, this time with a little more emphasis, like she was trying to convince herself as much as you. “But, y’know, she’s kind of… what’s the word?" She tapped her chin pretending to be in thought. "Trash.”

“Jinx.”

“What? I said I don’t hate her!” She threw up her hands, giving you an exaggerated innocent look before settling back against the couch, her tone becoming more serious. “But... seriously. You deserve better. You know that, right?”

You huffed, sinking further into the cushions. “Yeah, well, better isn’t exactly lining up around the block.”

Jinx’s brows furrowed, her lips twisting in that way she did when she was trying to keep something secret. “If it were me…” she started, then hesitated, glancing away like she was debating whether or not to say the rest.

You sat up a little, noticing the shift in her tone.

She cleared her throat, her voice a little quieter. “I’m just saying… If it were me, I wouldn’t make you guess all the time. You wouldn’t have to wonder where we stood, y’know? ‘Cause I’d make it pretty darn obvious.” She said with a light chuckle, her eyes glued to the floor.

You blinked, caught off guard by the shift in Jinx's tone. Her usual bravado had faded, leaving something raw in its place. You sat up a little straighter, turning to face her. “What are you saying?”

Her eyes flicked up to meet yours, and there was no teasing in them now. Just something deep, something real. She hesitated for a moment, like she was debating whether to push it further. And then she did.

“I’m saying…” She leaned in slowly, her voice barely a whisper “...I wouldn’t waste your time.”

You froze as she closed the distance between you, her hand brushing the back of your neck. For a second, neither of you moved. Her thumb grazed the skin just below your ear sending a shiver down your spine.

And then, before you could even process it, her lips were on yours.

The kiss was soft at first, tentative, like she was waiting for you to pull away. When you didn’t, she deepened it, her fingers threading through your hair, pulling you closer. Her lips were warm, and the way she kissed you made it clear, this wasn’t some spur-of-the-moment thing. She had thought about this. Wanted this.

After the initial shock you kissed her back, your hands finding their way to her shoulders, pulling her closer. The frustration and hurt that had been swirling in your chest moments ago melted away, replaced by a new kind of warmth.

Finally pulling away you stared at her breathless, heart still racing trying to process what just happened.

She pulled back slightly, still grinning but this time it was softer, less playful. “What?” she asked, her voice lighter, teasing. “Not what you expected?”

You let out a small laugh, looking away feeling your face get hot. “Not exactly.”

“Well, I like surprising you.” She leaned in again, her lips ghosting over yours, but this time, she didn’t kiss you, just hovered close enough that you could feel her smirk widen. “So, you wanna sit here and keep sulking?...

Or do you wanna graffiti the bitch’s house?”

. . .

;p !!! this was super fast paced and unrealistic but its just practice! plus my first one shot in months! and tbf in what realistic world would jinx be in a relationship anyway lol... hope u liked!

[pickingupmymercedes]

Kiss me - Lewis Hamilton (NSFW)

Part of 1K Jukebox Event

song: Kiss me - Cassie

pairing: Lewis Hamilton x Reader!

genre: smut (it's a cute one though)

wordcount: +4k (got carried away, ops)

As always, I'm open for feedback, come say hi!

EXPLICIT CONTENT UNDER THE CUT, -18 DO NOT INTERACT

______________________________________________________________

“Looking all sweet, but let’s be real, he’s the type to f** Y/n so hard she’s left feeling her cervix as a souvenir of their night.”

His fans had always been in fine form, but after those pics were released from his event? Oh, they were in rare form.

One tweet caught my eye, and I had to bite my lip to keep from cackling out loud. There he was, looking like an angel on earth, his smile all soft and innocent—yet the caption was nothing short of outrageous.

I nearly snorted, and, of course, it got his attention.

“Something funny?” Lewis asked, his gaze shifting over, already curious.

He looked so blissfully unaware of the chaotic energy his fans had just injected into my life. “What’re you reading?”

“Oh, nothing. Just, you know, your fans thirsting” I said, holding my phone up so he could see. His eyebrows lifted slightly as he read, and when he got to the cervix part, that smirk I knew all too well spread across his face.

Great. Here it comes.

“They’re not exactly wrong” he said with that smooth, I’m-definitely-trouble smile. “Didn’t you just say a few days ago that your gyno might get worried one day?”

My eyes practically rolled back. “I cannot believe you’re bringing that up.”

He shrugged, unbothered, stretching his arm across the back of the couch, his fingers grazing my shoulder. “Why? Because it’s true?”

I tried to brush it off, laughing, but I realized his fingers were already on my jaw, gently tilting my face up to his. I gave him a mock-innocent look, like I wasn’t just laughing at his, exceptionally creative fans.

“I’m just saying, they’re funny. Doesn’t mean I actually think it’s accurate.”

“Uh-huh.” He leaned in close, his eyes locked on mine, dark and serious. “You sure about that?”

God, his gaze was enough to make my stomach flip. But I wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of that.

“Well…” I trailed off, clearing my throat as casually as I could manage.

Big mistake. Because in a flash, I saw that competitive spark in his eyes, the one that always meant I was about to lose any game I tried to start with him.

“Oh, is that a challenge?” he asked, voice dropping into that deep, rumbling tone that never failed to get my pulse racing.

“Only if you’re up for it” I shot back, praying he couldn’t tell I was already half a goner from just that look.

He chuckled, low and smooth, and that was all the warning I got before his mouth was on mine, shutting me up mid-sentence. His lips moving with just the right amount of heat that my snarky attitude was gone.

I forgot the stupid tweet, the fans, the whole internet, because now there was only the feeling of his hands on my neck, his chest pressed against mine.

When he finally pulled back, I could barely breathe, and he had the nerve to smirk at me. “Still think they’re exaggerating?” he murmured, his fingers tracing along my jaw.

I wanted to come up with some snappy reply, some sarcastic retort, but I could barely think straight with him this close. All I managed was a slightly shaky, “Maybe a little.”

“Guess I’ll have to remind you thoroughly, then.” He grinned, and before I knew it, he had scooped me up from the couch like I weighed nothing, carrying me down the hall to our bedroom.

One kiss after another, he was laying down a trail of heat I couldn’t even pretend to resist, my hands already tugging at his shirt, which somehow found its way to the floor.

Okay, fine I thought, somewhere in the haze of it all. Maybe the fans do have a point.

I barely had a second to catch my breath before he was on me again. And I mean on me.

I was melting into the bed, feeling the weight of him, the warmth, like every nerve in my body was suddenly awake and waiting. He brushed my hair away from my face, his eyes tracing over me like he was memorizing every detail.

How on earth did I get this lucky?

And, of course, Lewis wasn’t exactly making it easy for any train of thought to be coherent.

He lifted the hem of my shirt slowly, so slowly that I almost wanted to roll my eyes.

Tease. But the moment his lips touched my stomach, any trace of sass in me just evaporated. His kisses were gentle, lazy almost, like he had all the time in the world to just savor me.

“Oh, you’re enjoying yourself,” I managed, the words barely a breath as his mouth moved lower, leaving goosebumps.

He grinned against my skin, and I felt his lips curl into that playful smile that always made my heart flip. “I think you’re enjoying this just as much.”

He was right, of course, but I’d be damned if I admitted it right away. I was still catching up to how he was going to prove the tweet right, but first he was teasing the hell out of me.

He moved up again, his face inches from mine, and my breath hitched when he took his time kissing me like he was reading the most interesting book in the world, page by page.

Each kiss felt like he was imprinting something into my skin, and honestly, it was a little maddening. Here he was, practically worshiping every inch of me with a patience that I could barely handle.

“I thought you liked it rough” I murmured, trying to sound unaffected, which was absolutely pointless given the way my heart was pounding.

“Oh, I do,” he whispered back, his eyes holding mine. “But I love it when I get to take my time with you.”

He was impossibly close now, and his voice went straight to my bones.

I should have had some witty reply ready, some sarcastic little retort that I’d normally throw out just to keep things light. But he wasn’t giving me an inch to think, his fingers tracing a line down my sides, his lips skimming my collarbone, and I was losing more and more the fight to keep myself together.

My head tipped back when his hands made their way to my hips, his grip just firm enough to keep me in place, and his lips found their way to my chest.

You’re taking forever on purpose, aren’t you, Hamilton?

Each kiss, each touch, felt like he was making some kind of unspoken point. He wanted me to know, to feel just how deep this went for him. And God, he knew exactly what he was doing.

By the time his mouth reached my nipple, the last ounce of my composure was long gone. My back arched on instinct, and I was biting back a moan that would have only encouraged him more.

His fingers moved over my curves like he was memorizing the way I fit under his hands, and then he pulled back for a moment, his gaze flicking up to mine, dark and unreadable. “You really think I’m just like switch, don’t you?” he asked, his voice a low rumble that made my breath catch.

All I could manage was a nod that didn’t make sense. My heart was in my throat, and every inch of me was burning under his touch.

He smirked, as if that was all the answer he needed, and then he dipped back down, his mouth reclaiming my skin. “I’ll show you both sides” he murmured, pressing a soft kiss over my heart. “Rough when I want, and sweet when I have the chance. Or both when you let me.”

And I could barely manage to get out a word between breaths. “You’re... infuriating.”

He chuckled against my skin, his breath hot and maddening. “And yet, you’re not telling me to stop.”

His lips found my other nipple, and he took his time, making sure that my head was spinning by the time he came back up, his hand tracing along my waist, each touch making my skin feel like it was on fire.

The world outside this room could have disappeared, and I wouldn’t have noticed. Right now, there was only him— taking his time, making sure I knew I was the only person who’d got to see him like this.

I was far too wrapped up in him, every look and every touch setting me on fire.

And then he slid his hand down my stomach, his palm pressing firmly against my covered pussy, the heat of it sinking through me.

His fingers toyed at the edge of my lace panties, his touch so light it was driving me insane.

“Lew, come on,” I half-groaned, half-laughed, trying to keep some control over the situation—or at least pretending to. His smirk told me he knew exactly how close I was to giving up that control entirely.

“Oh, I’m coming on,” he murmured, his fingers slipping down to cup me through the lace. The heat of his touch was enough to make me arch against him, and I hated that he knew exactly what kind of power he had over me.

That smug grin of his? Absolutely infuriating. And totally deserved.

He gave a soft laugh when my body responded, and I could practically feel his smirk against my neck. “That easy, huh?”

“Shut up and keep going” I said, trying to keep some shred of dignity.

He knew what he was doing, his fingers tracing torturously slow circles, not enough to relieve the ache but more than enough to drive me out of my mind.

“Patience, love,” he whispered, lifting his head to give me that classic, cocky look. “I promised you both.”

If I’d had the ability to roll my eyes, I would have. But instead, I reached up, grabbing his face, desperate for the feel of his lips against mine.

He grinned, then kissed me deeply, one hand still pressed firmly against me, his fingers finally slipping under the edge of the lace, grazing over my skin.

Then his fingers brushed my folds, just barely, and I bit down on his lower lip, unable to stop myself.

He let out a low growl in response, which only made me grin, even as my heart pounded like crazy.

“Impatient, are we?” he teased, pulling back just enough to look at me, his eyes flashing with that mischief that was already wrecking me.

I let out a breathless chuckle. “Cut the tease…”

He shook his head, amused, his fingers slipping under the lace fully now, and I felt myself buck against him.

Each slow, teasing stroke on my clit was enough to make me nearly forget my own name.

I was so losing this game.

“Soaked already,” he murmured, his voice a delicious mix of satisfaction and amusement.

I would have made a comeback, I swear, but his fingers were tracing over me in a way that was completely short-circuiting my brain. Every time I thought I’d gotten a grip, he found a new spot, a new way to make me squirm.

“Oh, is that a smile?” he asked, catching my expression and leaning down to press a kiss to my cheek. “Thought you wanted me to hurry up?”

I rolled my eyes absentmindedly, even though I could barely muster the energy. “Hurry up, slow down, whatever. Just don’t stop.”

He laughed softly, and before I could say another word, he moved down, positioning himself between my legs, his mouth hovering so close I could feel his breath. His fingers traced up and down, building a maddening, delicious tension, and every nerve in me was screaming for him to finally close that distance.

“Lew, please” I managed, breathless and desperate.

He gave me one last teasing grin, holding my gaze as he started, his lips and hands working together to arch me off the bed. And with every nerve in my body alight, I realized there was no witty comeback that could save me now.

I was utterly, completely lost in him.

Dizzy with need, every nerve in my body tuned to him, but Lewis? He was taking his sweet time, equal parts infuriating and intoxicating.

He was enjoying every single second, holding me on this edge that had me biting back moans, trying to keep at least a shred of dignity.

Like that was even possible with him right now.

His hand slid down, curling around the edge of my panties to tug them aside. But of course, he just looked at me, a devilish smirk in place.

“So impatient tonight,” he murmured, brushing his fingers lightly over me, like he hadn’t just spent the last however-many minutes driving me insane. “Isn’t this what you asked for?”

If I had any ounce of wit left in me, it was dissolving fast. “I didn’t think you’d take ‘slow’ this slow” I shot back, my voice breathlessness and sass all mixed into one, making his grin grow wider.

“Maybe I just like seeing you worked up” he said, his thumb pressing firmly against my clit.

The jolt it sent through me was enough to make my legs tense, but he just chuckled, watching the effect he had on me like he was studying art. “I need to live up to the hype, don’t I?”

His teasing was making it so hard to keep any semblance of control.

I reached for him, wrapping my hand around the base of him, only to have him still my wrist, that devilish grin back. “Oh no, love. Tonight, you’re just going to feel me. That’s your only job.”

Somehow, his words alone were making my pulse race. “Alright, Mr. Control Freak.” I managed, half-laughing, half-breathless.

He raised an eyebrow. “Oh, we’re back to the name-calling?”

Before I could respond, he lined his cock, pressing just enough to make me gasp, his hands gripping my thighs as he held me firmly in place.

He was still smiling as he began, his thrusts slow and measured, like he had all the time in the world and zero plans to speed things up.

I was doing everything I could not to lose it completely, but he was making it hard.

Impossible actually.

Every single, agonizingly slow stroke was designed to drive me out of my mind. And he knew it.

He looked down at me, his gaze intense, but there was that barely-there flicker in his eyes. And I saw it. The effort it was taking him to keep his control.

He was fightingit, I could tell, like he was determined to make a point.

“You good?” he asked, voice soft but full of that teasing edge, his thrusts hitting a spot that made my vision blur.

“Yeah” I managed, my voice little more than a breathless mess. “Totally good.”

Not desperate at all. Nope. Not even a little.

But he was still watching me with that knowing grin, his fingers tightening on my thighs as he slowly picked up the pace, his breaths becoming heavier, more labored.

“You’re squirming,” he pointed out, his voice strained with his own restraint. “Think I’ll be able to keep this pace with you moving like that?”

Even in the middle of the haze, I couldn’t help but give him a smirk. “Keep up, then.”

Bold statement—especially given that he was currently holding every ounce of control over me.

And before I could even blink, he lifted my legs, shifting them up onto his shoulders, and suddenly every single thrust hit exactly where it needed to. A slow, perfect shockwave that had me gasping and clinging to the sheets.

“Like that?” His voice was a low growl, his control slipping as his movements gained just a bit more force, each one slow and all-consuming.

I could barely form a coherent thought, let alone answer as his gaze was fixed on mine. Like he was waiting, daring me to say something else, but every word dissolved before it could even reach my lips.

And just when I thought I couldn’t take any more, he finally let go of that tight, controlled pace, his movements still slow but just a little rougher, his hands gripping my waist as he watched every reaction he pulled from me.

“That’s it, love,” he murmured, his voice labored. “Let me see you.”

Every nerve in me was on fire and somewhere in the haze, I was sure I could feel my heart racing out of my chest. He leaned down, his mouth capturing mine, and with every kiss it was like he was branding himself into me.

I couldn’t stop the sounds leaving my lips, my breath coming in sharp gasps, and he finally let out a groan, his control slipping just enough that I could feel him speeding up, his breath hot against my skin.

“Lew—” I breathed, my voice breaking, unable to stop myself from moving in time with him, my body fully surrendered to the way he was moving against me.

His name was the only coherent word left in my vocabulary, and when he finally lowered my legs, letting them rest on either side of him, he pressed his forehead to mine, his breath warm and steady.

“You feel that?” he whispered, his voice full of intensity, his hand coming up to cup my face as he slowed down just in time to let me ride the waves of my release.

And gosh did I rode that orgasm.

I felt every inch of him, the way he was holding himself steady, giving me that same tender, relentless energy.

As my breath started to steady, he brushed his thumb across my cheek, waiting for me to open my eyes.

And when I did, he was watching me with that same teddy bear smile, soft and proud, like he knew exactly what he’d just done, and like he wouldn’t have had it any other way.

I couldn’t help but let out a soft laugh, the warmth of his gaze wrapping around me. “You good?” he asked, and even though his words were casual, there was something in his eyes that told me he wanted to hear it.

“I think we’ve definitely moved past good.” I echoed, giving him a half-smirk, half-laugh.

I could still feel the remnants of my orgasm pulsing through me, my body soft and spent, but there was something about the way Lewis was still hovering over me, breath shallow, eyes still full of heat, that had me pulling him closer.

The intensity of his earlier movements had me completely lost in him, and now that he was slowing down, I felt that familiar pull to take care of him, to return some of the devotion he'd given me.

His forehead rested against mine, his breath warm against my skin as his movements grew slower and more deliberate.

He hadn’t come yet, and I knew it was because he was doing everything in his power to give me space to come down, to keep from being too rough and just savoring this moment.

His body pressed against mine, his hips moving in slow, circular strokes, dragging against me in a way that had me shivering beneath him.

“I’m good Lew, really” I whispered, trying to catch my breath, and he hummed softly in acknowledgment, his lips brushing across mine before he pulled back just enough to look me in the eyes.

“Yeah?” he asked, voice husky with desire but with that hit of concern, as though he was double-checking, even though I could feel how much he was struggling to keep it slow.

“I’m more than good” I said, my voice a little shaky, but my nails running up his back, pulling him even closer to me. “You don’t have to worry about me.”

I could feel him smile, a small, satisfied curve of his lips. His hands cupped my face as he kissed me gently, deepening the kiss as he started to move again, each thrust slow, almost measured, like he was trying to memorize every part of me.

I could feel every inch of him inside me again, the drag of his pelvis against me driving me wilder even being gentler than before.

It was almost like he was whispering his love in every thrust, and I felt every part of me melt under him, my own hands roaming down to find his back, his sides, holding onto him.

Because I could never let go.

I was so fucked up in the love I had for this man. So fucked up in the way he could turn me inside out, leaving me breathless one moment, and then so tender and gentle the next.

He wasn’t rough now. He wasn’t hurried.

“You’re close” I whispered against his lips, my voice low but teasing, loving the way he was fighting not to lose it. His grip on my sides tightened as he groaned softly, his eyes closing as he concentrated on the slow roll of his hips.

“I’m trying to hold on” he murmured back, his voice strained. “Trying not to rush it… but, damn, baby…”

I smiled softly, my hands gently cupping his face as I kissed him again, slow and tender, wanting to give him everything he needed in this moment.

My own body was still buzzing with the aftermath of my orgasm, and I loved how it felt to be so connected to him. He was still taking his time, even though I could hear his breath faltering with every pass of his hips.

“Let go, Lew” I whispered softly, pulling him down to me, pressing my lips against his ear. “I’m right here”

That seemed to do it. I felt the tension in his body snap as he gave in, and the way his movements became almost desperate but still held that deep, slow rhythm.

His moans were louder now, growing more guttural, and I felt him lose himself in me, in the way he was finally letting go, filling me with a warmth that had me gasping for air.

I could hear his breath hitching as he tried to push himself just a little bit further, the way his body trembled with the effort of holding it together. But it didn’t matter anymore.

I pulled him closer, my hands clutching his shoulders as I whispered more sweet nothings, my lips brushing his skin in a way that had him falling.

When he came, it was slow, labored and deep. His whole body shuddering as he let out a low groan, and I was right there with him, kissing him through it, holding him close as he filled me.

His face was next to mine, his breath hot on my skin, and I couldn’t help but smile at the sound of his ragged moans. There was nothing more intimate than hearing him like this, his pleasure all tangled with mine.

As his body finally slowed, he pulled back slightly, his chest rising and falling rapidly, his features filled with that boyish happiness.

He gave me a soft smile, still trying to catch his breath. “You good?” he asked, the same question he always asked, but this time it was a little lighter, a little less intense.

I couldn’t help but laugh softly, my fingers tracing the lines of his jaw. “Are you?”

He grinned, his eyes still a little unfocused. “Yeah… just, give me a minute”

I ran my hand gently along his chest, still reeling from the sensation of him inside me, but not losing the opportunity to tease him lightly. “Gotta give it to you, for an old guy, you really work it well”

Lewis raised an eyebrow, looking down at me, clearly amused. “Oh, is that how we’re doing this now?”

I grinned up at him, my body still buzzing from the aftermath. “I’m just giving credit where credit’s due. You might be getting up there in age, but you’ve still got it.”

He chuckled, finally pulling away, both of us wincing at the feeling of emptiness.

He grabbed some tissues from the nightstand and as he cleaned my thighs up, I couldn’t help but notice the change in how he looked at me, from that goofy, tender smile to a wicked grin.

He hesitated for a moment before stating “Definitely left a souvenir”

I looked down, feeling the sensitive heat between my legs, and shot him a cheeky smile. “You got a little too carried away with your ‘old guy’ moves.”

He raised an eyebrow, giving me a knowing look. “If you’re still that sassy I’m sure I can find other ways to shut you up.”

I laughed, the sound full of affection and humor. “That tweet’s gonna stick with me, isn’t it?”

But despite the banter, I couldn’t help but feel that warmth again in the pit of my stomach, that quiet love I had for him—the way he could be so tender, so gentle, but also rough when I needed it.

As he kept on cleaning me up, I raised an eyebrow, the corners of my lips twitching into a mischievous grin. "Oh, and just so you know," I started, letting my voice drop into a teasing tone, "I liked the tweet. Just to make sure people know I agree."

His eyes widened in mock disbelief. “You did not,” he said, his voice dripping with amusement as he leaned back to look at me more intently, trying to gauge if I was joking.

I couldn’t help but smile even wider, the truth hanging between us like an unspoken dare.

He stared at me for a moment, processing the full impact of what I’d just confessed. And then, with a wicked grin, he leaned down and kissed me hard, his lips claiming mine in a way that told me I’d just earned another round in return.

Well, looks like liking that tweet would be the least of my worries.

When he finally pulled away, both of us breathless, I smirked up at him, savoring the moment.

“You know,” I said with a little chuckle, “You might just get me to start a fan club for you.”

He raised an eyebrow, his grin spreading. "Oh yeah? What’s it gonna be called? 'I love Lewis Hamilton'?"

I shook my head with a dramatic sigh. "Nah, that’s already taken, probably. Maybe something like, ‘I’d let Lewis Hamilton leave me raw any day,’” I shrugged nonchalantly, as if it were the most normal thing to say.

His eyes flickered with amusement and his lips curled into a knowing smirk. Without another word, he pulled me toward him, kissing me deeply again, his arms wrapping around me like a vice.

I guess if he’s gonna keep me like this, I might just have to start the fan club for real.

But then again, who’s the real fan here?

______________________________________________________________

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[fandoms-x-reader]

Wild Child

Word Count: 5,930

Oneshot

Summary: The brothers decide to go to a party without you. Instead of sulking alone, you decide to go out with Solomon to have your own fun. Demon Brothers x Female! ~Wild~ Party Reader Solomon x Reader (Platonic/Best Friend) Mentions alcohol and clubbing/partying.

You let out an annoyed sigh as you sat on one of the bed’s in Diavolo’s Castle. You crossed your arms as your mind flashed back to the seven demon brothers who abandoned you here. Okay, abandoned was a bit of an over exaggeration. But, you were definitely upset with them.

They had gotten invited to the annual Succubus party. It was apparently some great big party that everyone had fun at. There was only one problem - humans weren’t allowed. You rolled your eyes as you thought about the rule. 

The demon brothers all told you that they had to go. It would be improper for the Seven Rulers of the Devildom to not show up…or something like that. As much as they made it seem like they were going out of obligation, though, you could see the excitement in their eyes. They even convinced Levi to go!

You were fine with them going. You would have gone if you were in their position as well. What made you mad though, is they insisted on dropping you off at the Demon’s Lord Castle. They told you that they didn’t feel comfortable with you being left alone - for your safety. So, they asked Barbatos to make up a guest room and brought you over. 

Diavolo was unable to go to the Succubus Party because of how busy he was at the moment which meant that he also wouldn’t have any time to spend with you. You were doomed to spend the night in the guest room, bored out of your mind.

Most people would have just thrown a pity party and gotten comfortable. But, this was not how you were going to be spending your night. Not while everyone else was having fun. So, you called the only person you could think of - Solomon.

You quickly grabbed your D.D.D. and called your best friend. Since no humans were allowed at the party, he had to be free. You waited as the phone rang, praying that he would pick up. You were just hoping you could invite him over to the castle to keep you entertained for a bit.

“I was wondering when I’d get a call from you,” you heard him say as he answered. “You were expecting me to call you?” you asked. “I heard about the brothers “banishing” you to Lord Diavolo’s castle while they’re at the party,” Solomon replied. “You heard about that?” you questioned, surprised. 

“They may have mentioned it to me. You’ll never guess their reason either,” Solomon said, and you held your breath as you waited for him to continue. “They said it’s because they knew you wouldn’t be able to get into any trouble there,” he finished.

You raised an eyebrow at his words as you said, “So, they all get to go out and have fun without me, and they get to decide whether I get to have any fun tonight.” Solomon stayed silent for a moment, a smirk on his face. He knew that every time someone told you to do something, it was a challenge to do the exact opposite.

“We’re going out tonight. I don’t care where,” you told him after a few more moments. Solomon let out a chuckle before telling you, “I came prepared for you to say that. There’s a club having a party tonight as well. It turns out there are some people who don’t want to go to a party full of succubi.”

You turned the idea around in your head, a smile slowly forming on your lips. “The brothers will be mad if they find out you went to this party, though,” Solomon told you - daring you. “Well, they told me they would pick me up in the morning, so we’ll just make sure we come back to the castle when the night’s over,” you responded.

“I’ll come pick you up. See you soon,” Solomon stated before hanging up. Your heart skipped a beat in excitement as you went over to the suitcase you had packed for the night. Luckily for you, you had packed an outfit on the off chance they decided to invite you to the party last minute. You thanked your lucky stars that you were somehow always prepared to look good and you went to the bathroom to change.

After you finished getting ready, you took another look at the outfit and blushed a little bit. This was the first time you were wearing this outfit. Asmo had picked it out for you on one of your shopping trips. You never had the occasion to wear it, but you figured if you were to get invited to a party with a bunch of succubi, you should wear something that matched the theme; and, this outfit definitely did. 

You didn’t realize how much skin was exposed until you were wearing it. Your chest was supported in all the right ways while exposing a decent amount of your cleavage. The outfit hugged you in the best places while showing off your body with an open stomach and stopping mid-thigh to flaunt your legs. 

Once you were satisfied with the way you looked, you grabbed your D.D.D. and made your way to the door of the castle, where you unfortunately ran into Barbatos. He looked surprised to see what you were wearing. You don’t think anyone had seen you were something so provocative. 

“Heading out?” Barbatos asked you. “With Solomon, he’s outside,” you replied, reassuring him of your safety before giving him your best puppy dog eyes. “Please don’t tell the brothers,” you asked him. Barbatos took in a breath before telling you, “I’m not your babysitter, you can go wherever you like; but, if they ask, I won’t lie.”

That was the answer you were looking for. Hopefully, if you planned everything accordingly, you would be back long before the brothers would even have to ask where you were. You flashed Barbatos a smile before leaving through the door and meeting up with Solomon.

When you got to the club, you were surprised to see how busy it actually was…and what was that song they were playing? You knew it. You turned to Solomon and he looked like a kid in a candy shop, practically bursting at the seams.

“I actually have a pact with the demon who owns this club, and when you agreed to go out tonight, I made some calls. Welcome to your very first human party in the Devildom,” Solomon said and your smile widened. Tonight was going to be fun.

You quickly dragged Solomon inside the club and couldn’t help but laugh. There was multiple human-world games set up. Beer Pong, Spin the Bottle, Truth or Dare…Twister. Solomon really thought of everything. 

He handed you a drink and you took a sip, surprised that you could actually feel the burn of the alcohol. You loved your best friend, but he was going to get you in trouble tonight.

Your mind switched to someone you knew who was sitting at the bar and you made your way over to him. He immediately smiled and you asked in disbelief, “Simeon?” He pulled you into a hug before saying, “Y/N! I was waiting for you to show up!”

_______________

The Seven Rulers of the Devildom had been sitting at a nearby table contemplating their decision to come to the party tonight. Usually, they loved the Succubus Party. There was enough fun there to last them until the next year. But, this time, it felt like there was something missing; and, it didn’t take long for them to figure out what that was. 

They felt bad for pawning you off on Lord Diavolo, but you had a tendency to get into trouble when they weren’t around. They all figured they could make it up to you later. But, now they were wishing they had stayed in with you instead.

Lucifer and Satan sat in silence, watching the people around them. Mammon mindlessly twirled a grimm coin in between his fingers. Levi pulled out one of his handheld games, deciding it would be more fun than this party. Beel’s only mission was to eat the entire buffet, and Belphie was a few more quiet seconds away from falling asleep. Even Asmo was lacking the motivation to try and seduce a Succubi. What was wrong with them?

_______________

You weren’t exactly sure when, or really even how, it happened, but you, Solomon, and Simeon were wasted. At first, you couldn’t stop laughing about Simeon’s drunken state - it was so ironic to you to see an angel so drunk. But, the more he loosened up, the more you realized how fun he was to party with.

You and Solomon made sure to play every single game that was set up. After all, you weren’t sure when you’d have another opportunity to play any human drinking games. You weren’t going to miss out on the opportunity.

You started with beer pong, surprising yourself with how good you were. A crowd of demons gathered around you, watching you play against miscellaneous opponents. Their cheers spurred you on and you won almost every time. 

When you were done with that, you decided to move over to Twister. You didn’t know the demons you were playing with; but, in your current state of mind, you didn’t care. The demons, however, were very excited to play with you. Almost every demon in the Devildom had a crush on the beautiful human exchange student. However, most of them weren’t allowed within an inch of you, thanks to your seven bodyguards. Now that they weren’t there, though, all bets were off the table. 

Solomon decided to spin the wheel for the game, giving the instructions for which body part to put on which color. You found yourself twisted in a precarious position between two demons and a small blush rose to your cheeks. You stayed strong in your position, though, and after a few more turns, you were all sent tumbling down to the ground. 

You let out genuine laughs as Solomon helped you stand back up. “Are you okay?” he asked with a small smile. He may have been the one to get you into this trouble, but he was also your best friend and wanted to make sure you were doing okay. That you weren’t feeling sick or uncomfortable. “I’m doing great,” you replied warmly before taking him over to the next game.

_______________

The brothers had noticed that the already unusually quiet party had lost more and more people. What was happening to this year’s party? They decided not to think much about it. It wasn’t their place to question the succubi. They were just waiting for it to be over so they could finally leave. 

That was, until, a particularly drunk lower-level demon approached their table. Normally, they wouldn’t tolerate such behavior, but he was clearly inebriated. “Guess you guys chose the wrong party to show up to, huh?” the demon asked, plopping down next to Mammon. 

Mammon raised an eyebrow as he shared a glance with his brothers. “What are ya’ talking about?” “Your human - she’s all over Devilgram,” the demon replied with a smile. All of their hearts stopped beating as silence filled the air. “What?” Lucifer asked, anger rising in his eyes. Anger rising in all of their eyes.

“Yeah, Solomon and her are throwing an awesome party at the club. I’ll show you,” the demon proudly stated, pulling out his D.D.D. and opening Devilgram. Satan snatched the device away from the demon as soon as the app opened and they all crowded around the fourth eldest to look at the screen.

Pictures of you and Solomon started popping up and everyone’s eyes widened as they saw you. More specifically, when they saw the outfit. The problem wasn’t the outfit - the problem was you looked absolutely stunning in it and you were letting every passing demon look at you in it. That was a huge problem for them. Like the demon said, you were their human.

The anger and jealousy hung like a storm cloud over the brothers as they looked at the pictures. And, if that wasn’t bad enough - then came the videos. And there was a multitude of them. Videos of you dirty dancing and playing Twister. Videos of a demon getting dared to kiss your neck and another one in which you were chosen for ‘Spin the Bottle’. 

What made things all the worse was that none of them had gotten a chance to see this side of you. The opportunity had never presented itself for them to get you alcohol from the human world, and Demonus had no effect on humans. They were missing their chance to see you stumble around or slur your words in the cute way humans do. They were missing their chance for you to be cute and cuddly, the alcohol clouding your decisions. Instead, the honor was going to a bunch of random low-level demons who had the audacity to have their lips on you. Someone was going to pay.

“Looks like everyone’s getting a piece of her tonight,” the demon joked, laughing a bit. Not funny. The ‘joke’ was enough to send them all into their demon form, Satan crushing the demon’s D.D.D. in his hand from the wrath he was feeling.

“Hey,” the demon pouted but they paid him no attention. “We’re leaving,” Lucifer stated - as if he even needed to. All seven brothers walked out of the Succubus Party - much to the succubi's dismay - and made their way to the club.

_______________

You hadn’t planned on being as adventurous as you had been tonight. But, Solomon was an excellent wingman - and an instigator. He held a mischievous look in his eyes everytime he suggested you play a game. He knew if the brothers found out, you would be in trouble, but that was part of the fun.

So, now here you were, sitting in a chair in the middle of the club with a demon who had been dared to do a body shot off of you. The idea made you blush but you complied nonetheless. After all, a dare is a dare right?

You sat there nervously in the middle of the club while others cheered the demon on. He got down on his knees in front of you, holding a shot in his hand. He looked nervous and you felt a bit bad for him. So you flashed him a small smile, and told him, “Don’t worry, it’s just for a dare.” That seemed to make him relax a little bit as he got ready to do the body shot.

The demon brothers had arrived at the club and entered it with a mission - to find you. Nothing else mattered. They noticed that everyone’s attention was focused on the center of the club and they all looked in that direction, stopping dead in their tracks at the scene in front of them. 

The demon who was in front of you poured the shot on your stomach before gripping your hips and seductively licking the shot off your body. When he was done, he moved up your body and crashed his lips to yours in a sloppy kiss. 

When the demon pulled away, everyone cheered loudly, enjoying the completion of the dare. You stood up from the chair, blushing and laughing at the situation as Solomon approached you. Before he could say anything though, your eyes scanned the club and you stopped breathing when you saw all seven brothers standing before you, a look of murder in their eyes.

Your smile immediately fell as you saw them. “Uh oh,” you muttered and Solomon looked in that direction, his own smile leaving his face. You two were in so much trouble. As if on cue, all seven of them started walking towards you, the true aura of their power shining around them. 

“Solomon,” you muttered. “Yeah?” he asked. “I want to be buried in the human world,” you replied as they finally reached you. They were so angry, no words could even come to their mind. In your intoxicated state, you thought it would be best to break the ice by asking, “How was the party?”

They all narrowed their gaze on you as Lucifer grabbed your wrist and told you in a dangerously low voice, “You’re done.” He then started leading you out of the club, his grip tightening on your wrist in case you got any funny ideas of trying to stay. You knew better though. The other six brothers surrounded you, forming a wall of protection from all of the other demons. They would be damned if the other demons tried to sneak a look at you again.

The whole way home was silent. No one dared to speak a word, and you didn’t know if that was more scary than them yelling at you. 

When you got to the House of Lamentation, Lucifer instructed you to sit on the couch in the living room while they all stood in front of you, ready to give you the lecture of your life. “What were ya’ thinking?” Mammon asked, breaking the silence. You knew better than to try and talk in the middle of their lecture.

His question began an onslaught of questions from everyone else as they scolded you on the dangers of going to parties without them. You did your best to sit there and take it, but you had a lot of alcohol in your system and you were struggling to focus. Eventually they realized this and Asmo said, “Maybe we should pick this up tomorrow.” 

None of them were completely satisfied with that, still feeling angry; but, they knew it was for the best. “You’re banned from hanging out with Solomon until further notice,” Lucifer added in as a last remark. You didn’t say anything in response. You just sat still while everyone headed off to bed for the night. Everyone except - him.

Lucifer watched your unmoving form as his brothers headed off to bed. He thought what you did was completely irresponsible. The simple fact is that you are a human in the Devildom and who knows how many of those demons were just waiting for their chance to pounce on you. The opportune moment when someone wasn’t watching you, and with how drunk Solomon was, Lucifer doubted he was capable of keeping his eyes on you the whole time. 

He wanted to keep a stern appearance so that you knew he was serious, but he couldn’t leave you sitting there on the couch in the state you were in. He approached you slowly and offered you his hand. You looked up at him in shock and he softly said, “Let’s get you to bed.”

You gave him a small smile as he led you to your room. You were exhausted and wanted nothing more than to collapse into your bed for the night, but Lucifer had decided you needed to change into different clothes. He accompanied you to your closet and then ushered you inside your bathroom to change.

He waited for you to change and when you came out, the two of you exchanged awkward glances. You knew he wasn’t going to leave you alone. Not yet at least. So, you crawled over to your bed and slipped underneath the covers.

Lucifer didn’t say anything, he just leaned against the wall by your door, making sure you got to sleep safely. You sent him one more glance before closing your eyes and letting sleep overtake you. Lucifer was surprised at how quickly you fell asleep, but with the amount of alcohol you had, maybe he shouldn’t have been.

He looked over your sleeping form and for the first time all night, his cold facade broke. He approached the bed and sat down in front of you, careful not to wake you. He gently brushed some of your hair out of your face before letting out a small sigh. “Why do you always have to end up in trouble?” Lucifer asked softly, letting his gloved thumb stroke your cheek bone. If only you knew his true feelings for you, maybe you wouldn’t have gone to the club in the first place.

As everyone shuffled off to bed, Mammon immediately went to you. He couldn’t leave his human there with no help. He sat down next to you on the couch and you looked up at him through your eyelashes. Dammit, why did you always have to look so cute?

“Come on, I’ll help ya’ get to your room,” Mammon offered. You nodded your head as he helped you stand up, keeping his arm around your waist in case you needed any help walking. He helped you get into your room and told you, “You should change.”

You moved away from him to your closet and immediately peeled off your top much to Mammon’s surprise. His cheeks burned a bright red as he immediately turned around, the image of you shirtless seared into his brain. “I meant in the bathroom,” Mammon muttered.

You finished changing and turned to face Mammon who was looking away from you. A slight blush rose to your cheeks as you realized what you had just done. “Sorry, you can look now,” you told him and he slowly turned around, as if he wasn’t sure if it was safe or not.

He relaxed a little bit once he saw you were fully clothed, and you moved to get in your bed. You stumbled a bit and Mammon’s arms were immediately around you, making sure you didn’t fall. You looked up at him and noticed your lips were inches apart from each other. He wanted so badly to lean in and kiss you, but he couldn’t have your first kiss with him be while you were too drunk to even remember it. 

So, he helped you get into your bed instead, making sure you were properly situated. He was about to leave when suddenly he felt a surprisingly strong force pulling him down.

He let out a small shout as you pulled him into the bed, snuggling into him. “Wha?” he began to ask, but you cut him off. “I missed you tonight,” you told him, your head on his chest while your arm wrapped around his torso.

Mammon was blushing furiously as his heart was pounding in chest. By the time he finally got his thoughts together to respond, he could hear you softly snoring. He finally let his arms relax around you as he closed his eyes. Why did you have to have so much power over him?

Levi stood there looking at you and a frown fell upon his lips. How could he not help you - his true friend? He let out a small sigh as he nervously stood there, not knowing what to do to help you. He cleared his throat after a moment before asking, “Do you - need any help?” 

Your head snapped up to see him standing there, looking very unsure of himself. “I can make sure you get to your room okay,” Levi suggested. “Sure,” you said with a small smile. You moved to stand up and you were a bit wobbly. Levi took a step forward to help you but when he noticed you had steadied yourself, he backed off, not wanting to overstep. 

He followed you to your room and didn’t think about telling you to change clothes. He’s never really had to deal with someone this drunk before. He helped you get in the bed immediately. He thought the best thing for you would be sleep. 

You laid in the bed not moving, and Levi was about to leave, but he took another glance at you and you looked too still. He went into panic mode once again as he moved forward, gently touching the side of your neck to check for a pulse. 

He let out a breath of relief as he felt it, but the coolness of his hands felt nice on your overheating body, so you reached your hand up to his and interlaced your fingers with his. He let out a startled noise, but didn’t pull away. There was something about the way your hand felt entwined with his that made him never want to let go. He stayed frozen for a moment before deciding to sit down on the bed. It wouldn’t be a bad thing if he stayed a little longer, right? Just to make sure you weren’t going to die. 

Satan followed the rest of his brothers to leave the room, but something stopped him. He paused for a moment before turning back around to look at you. You hadn’t moved from your spot on the couch. He was angry, for sure, but he couldn’t leave you to pass out on the couch.

He slowly approached you and you immediately looked up at him as soon as he got in front of you. You were looking up at him with big, helpless eyes and his heart swelled. He knew that even if he was angry at what happened, he couldn’t be truly angry at you. 

Satan gently brushed the back of his hand over your cheek before letting out a small sigh and helping you stand up. He helped support your weight as he managed to get you to your bedroom. He went to your closet and quickly picked whatever clothes looked comfortable, not wanting to rummage through your belongings without your permission. 

He handed you the clothes and then guided you to the bathroom. You gave him a small smile and went inside doing your best to change. You managed to slip into the bottoms, but getting changed into the top was a different story. You managed to get your current top most of the way off when it snagged in your hair.  Great. As if you weren’t already embarrassed enough as it was.

You let out a sigh of frustration and you heard Satan shuffle from outside the door. “Are you okay?” he asked, his voice filled with concern. “I’m, uh, stuck,” you replied, a blush covering your cheeks. Satan was confused and asked, “Is it alright if I come in.”

You nodded your head and then realized he couldn’t see you. “Yes,” you said, and the door slowly opened. Satan blushed when he noticed your shirt was still off but focused on the task at hand. He moved to stand right behind you and carefully untangled the top from your hair. 

His fingers brushed gently against your back, sending a shiver down your spine. His blush deepened when he felt you shiver and he closed his eyes to regain his composure. He had imagined you shirtless many times, but it was never under this pretense. 

“Got it,” he said softly, removing the top from your hair. “Thank you,” you told him, slipping the new shirt on before exiting the bathroom. You moved over to your bed and sat down on it. You looked over at Satan and he was standing there, unsure what to do at this point.

“Would you stay with me tonight?” you asked him, your eyes filled with hope. Satan could never say no to you. “Of course,” he replied, getting into the bed next to you. You didn’t overbear him with cuddles, not wanting to push him out of his comfort zone.

He stayed laying on his back until you were fast asleep, and then he turned to face you. He cupped your cheek before leaning forward and placing a kiss on your forehead. He wished he could understand what about you made him have such strong feelings for you.

Asmo stood still for a minute, taking in your appearance. You were absolutely wasted. He sympathized with you. He had been in the same position many times over the countless years he had been alive. As soon as his brothers were gone, he approached you and titled your chin up to look up at him. “Come on, hun,” he said, carefully helping you up.

“Don’t worry, I’ll take care of you,” he told you, brushing some hair out of your face. “Thanks Asmo,” you replied, making him smile. He helped you get to your room and immediately looked at your closet. He turned to face you and told you, “You look absolutely stunning in that outfit, Y/N. I definitely made the right choice when I got it for you.” A blush coated your cheeks, and you looked down to hide it.

“But,” Asmo continued, tilting your head back up to lock eyes, “You can’t sleep in it.” He then moved over to your closet and searched your clothes finding the perfect outfit. It was comfortable and cute. Leave it to Asmo to make sure you look good even when you’re too drunk to remember it. 

He led you to the bathroom and told you, “I’ll be here when you’re done.” You gave him a small smile and went inside. You changed quickly and then opened the door again where Asmo was waiting eagerly. 

You tried to take a step out, but he stopped you. “You’re not done quite yet,” he told you. He quickly lifted you onto the counter, surprising you with his strength. He then pulled out multiple beauty supplies to take off your makeup and wash your face. After all, being drunk wasn’t an excuse to damage your skin by sleeping in your makeup. 

You let him do whatever he wanted, enjoying the feeling of his hands gently rubbing over your face. When he was satisfied, he helped you back off the counter and led you to your bed. He laid you down on it before moving towards the lights.

“Asmo?” you asked, not wanting him to leave. He smiled at the sound of his name and turned the lights off. “Don’t worry, I’m not going anywhere,” he told you, climbing into the bed. He would never take advantage of you while you were in this state, but there was also no chance he was going to leave you alone. 

He quickly wrapped you in his arms, letting you know he was there for you, and he gently stroked your hair, making sure you were as comfortable as could be. You fell asleep pretty quickly and Asmo listened to the sound of you breathing. He thought about the night and couldn’t help the jealousy that rose back up in him. Next time, he - and he alone - was going to be the one who made sure you had the night of your life.

Concern filled his eyes as he looked at you while his brothers each gave their own lecture. He understood where they were coming from, and he was equally upset about it in his own way. But, couldn’t they see that you weren’t feeling your best right now? Maybe some food would help you feel better.

As soon as the “intervention” was called to an end for the night, Beel went straight to the kitchen to whip up a snack. He held off the urge to eat everything he had made and brought the snack right back to you.

He let out a small breath of relief as he noticed you hadn’t passed out yet and came and sat next to you on the couch. He offered you the plate and you gave him a warm smile as you graciously took it. “Thank you,” you told him. He smiled back at you, happy that he had found some way to help. 

When you were done eating, Beel wasted no time in getting you to bed. You let out a small shout of surprise as he swept you into his arms, lifting you off the couch. You could have protested, but you were so tired. It was nice being carried to your room, especially by Beel.

It felt so warm and safe in his arms, you nearly fell asleep on the short walk to your bedroom. In fact, you thought you had when you felt Beel set you down on your bed. His mind was on a one-way track to making sure you got some rest, and there were no stops for a change of clothes or taking off your makeup.

Beel sat next to you on the bed for a moment, gently patting the top of your head. A frown suddenly formed on his face as he thought about the idea of you getting nightmares tonight. You did have a lot to drink, and he had heard that alcohol could have negative impacts on a human’s sleep.

The thought of you waking up alone and scared was too much for Beel to handle. So, he decided he would stay the night. He had gotten comfortable in the bed when you had suddenly shifted, your head leaning against his shoulder. 

A blush coated his cheeks as he dared to turn his head and look at you. Your sleeping form was so cute! He let out a small sigh as he went back to staring up at the ceiling. He was so into you.

Belphie couldn’t help the small smile that rested on his face as his brothers all left the living room. He looked over your appearance and the smile slowly turned into a smirk as he went to sit down next to you. He can’t just take care of you. No, he has to tease you a bit first.

He frowned a bit when you didn’t lift your head to acknowledge his presence, but decided to push further anyway. “You’re always getting in trouble, you know?” Belphie asked, gently poking your cheek.

You finally turned to look at him, a playful glare in your eyes. “It’s not like I meant for things to get this far out of hand,” you replied. It wasn’t a lie. “When you’re with Solomon, things always get out of hand,” he teased back. You let out an unsatisfied huff and Belphie got the message. He would tease you more tomorrow.

He stood up and pulled you up from the couch, leading you to your room. He’s another one that doesn’t care about appearance as much as the others, so your clothes and makeup are a non-factor.

Instead, he leads you to your bed before turning the lights off and shutting the door. Maybe you wanted cuddles, maybe you didn’t. He never thought about asking you. Instead, he figured he should be compensated for taking the time to help you up to your room. And, he wanted cuddles.

So, as soon as you were laying in bed, he slid in next to you, wrapping his arms around you as he snuggled in as close as he could. “Belphie,” you muttered with a blush, not expecting him to do that. He didn’t respond, pretending he was asleep, even though you knew full well that he couldn’t fall asleep that quickly. 

You let out a small giggle at his childish behavior before deciding to take advantage of the cuddles. You shifted slightly to get a little more comfortable and then found yourself easily falling asleep. 

Soon, your soft snores and even breaths were the only thing Belphie could hear and he opened his eyes to take another look at you. You looked so peaceful when you were sleeping. He had never felt like this about anyone before.

[everything-fine-n-peachy]

two sides, same coin (n.jm)

pairing: na jeamin x reader genre: eldest/only daughter angst, fluff, strangers to whatever this is summary: y/n's one duty in life is to look out for others. romance who? however, jaemin comes along and maybe he can change her mind. alternatively, prom committee love story

Jaemin is the date-to-marry type. His friends call him grandpa for it but he doesn’t care, not even a little. No, Na Jaemin knew that the love he wanted was the kind that meant family heirlooms, photo albums of embarrassing baby pictures, and sharing warm coffee the morning after crying the whole night. He wanted the handholding and cuddles but only if it would include all the booboos in between that life inflicted. 

Don’t ask him why. He just knows. 

The thing is, despite everything Jaemin was such a hopeless romantic. Everyone would tell him to “just pick a girl” and while he’s happy for his couple friends, Jaemin just likes to march to the beat of his own drum. 

You, on the other hand, are the only daughter in an Asian household, your father is the dean, and everyone down to the school janitor knows you. That in itself was a sure fire guarantee that you could never entertain boys romantically, let alone find a boyfriend in high school. So you’re resigned not to. Love was way too complicated anyway. Besides, you had student council and prom wasn’t going to plan itself. 

But did you feel tired sometimes? No doubt. 

While there was a lot of love to go around, there were also a lot of responsibilities and a shit ton of expectations. On some days you just needed a break. Which is why even if you felt shy to admit it, you found Jaemin the most charming member of the prom committee. 

Jaemin didn’t exactly plan on signing up. However, he would much rather spend his time volunteering for something that was purposeful than get stuck being buggered on about why he still didn’t have a girlfriend. You, on the other hand, pretty much inherited the role of prom committee head, as did all senior student representatives every year. 

You didn’t intend to get close to Jaemin. Yes, you knew each other for your entire lives since elementary but you weren’t exactly from the same circles. But it just kind of happened. Prom was fast approaching, you liked to be precise in your work and Jaemin had a penchant nosing around. 

“If you need anything, you shouldn’t be afraid to ask,” he emphasized as he carefully placed a bandage on your finger. It was only a papercut but Jaemin insisted you sit down and take a break from sorting all the documents needed for prom. 

You shrugged, “Deadline is tomorrow morning.” You weren’t exaggerating but you didn’t make the rules and if those papers weren’t on the principal’s desk by 7 am, simply put, there would be no prom. 

Understanding flickered in his eyes as he smoothed the bandaid over your finger gently. He’d found you all alone way past school hours in a frenzy of folders and decided no one deserved to die by papercuts all alone.  

This wasn’t the first time this happened. In the course of the last few weeks, you’d eagerly scheduled meetings and town halls with the graduating class all in an effort to give everyone the prom they deserved. However, this had meant you skipped meals and went home late most of the time.

“This is way too much work for you,” he said as he started rummaging through his school bag. “This is the reason we have a committee.” 

The concern was highly appreciated but then again, who else was going to do the work if not you? “Jeamin, as much as I agree with you the reality is every senior is swamped with final requirements and-” 

“And you aren’t a senior?” he interrupted with an unimpressed expression. 

“I can handle the stress better than most,” you argued. 

“Yeah, clearly,” he snorted, which made you frown in his direction. 

Wordlessly, he offered you a brown paper bag. A smile creeps up on your face. If he was going to keep this up, someone’s heart was definitely going to be in trouble. 

“Let me guess, you accidentally ordered an extra meal, again?” 

Jaemin beamed, ”quite the opposite.” He cleared some space on the desk and gestured for you to sit across. 

You humor him and peer into the bag, chuckling, “this time it’s a whole lunchbox?” 

“I intentionally ordered two because I knew you would never listen to me.” 

You open the lunch box and feel pleasantly surprised that the food is quite warm. Your last meal was lunch and that felt like ages ago. “Thanks for looking out for me, you really didn’t have to,” you say. 

“What kind of friend would I be if I didn’t look out for you?” He pauses, and for a moment you feel like he’s looking straight into your soul. 

Hearing Jaemin call you a friend struck a chord in that if you were being honest, you haven’t really felt like you had any friends since senior year started. You haven’t had company like this in a while. Sure you had your best friends but they were busy trying to survive. You still had the occasional breakdown here and there, but more often than not, you knew how to handle yourself. There wasn’t much of a choice anyway. You didn’t want to blame your friends for needing more support than yourself, so you power through; just doing what needs to be done. 

Comfortable silence fills the room as you both eat thoughtfully. You appreciate the stillness and bask in the company of Jaemin. You think, better make the best of it while it lasts, right? 

A thought stirs in your mind and you’re compelled to satisfy your curiosity. “Jaemin? Why the prom committee?” 

“Why not? He grins. You laugh at his response, mentally slapping yourself because you actually anticipated this sort of crap from Jaemin. 

“Okay let me rephrase that,” you continue, “Is there any reason you chose to join prom committee?” 

He drops his form into the now empty lunchbox, appearing to give his answer some thought, “Well, when I asked the upperclassmen last year they said tickets would be discounted for committee members.” 

You nod thoughtfully, admiring his practical mindset. 

“But if you want the real answer, it’s because I felt like being a part of something we could all look back on,” he answered. 

You can’t help but smile at him, at his genuineness. Something about how open he was despite having spent only a month in each other’s company has your heart feeling a certain way. 

“And you, why student council for four straight years?” he asks with a quizzical expression. 

Your fingers trace the wood grains as you rack your brain for an answer. An acceptable answer would be, that you "cared a lot" or that you "want to make a difference". But instead, you gravitate towards something you don’t exactly want to admit, “I just, don’t want to think.” 

Jaemin bursts out laughing. “You’re saying that when you’re obviously doing all the heavy brainwork here?” 

“But that’s all it is, work,” you quip back. “When it’s work I know what to do. But with everything else?” 

The way your expression shifts is unmistakable for Jaemin. Doubt is not something he’s accustomed to when it comes to you. Yet, something about your vulnerability compels him to push farther. 

“Do you ever feel like people have a certain idea of what you need to be doing, anything outside of that is sort of like a crime?” He asks. 

You nod slowly in agreement, “Like ‘hey, since you’ve proven that you’re great at this, only ever be great at this. Don’t ask for help cause everyone is too busy. But also, you’re such a workaholic’.” Your words spill out faster than you can think. 

He hums in agreement allowing you to continue. “Everyone thinks they know what’s best for you but none of them actually offer any useful help,” you croak out. 

It’s quiet for a while before Jaemin breaks the silence, “Can I be really honest this time?” 

You raise an eyebrow at the interjection, “weren’t you being honest a while ago?”  

He ignores your comment and instead laughs it off. “What I wanted to say was, listening to you made something click,” he said leaning forward so his hands rested on the table. “I joined the prom committee to look for friends,” he said, pausing only to get a glimpse of your confused expression. 

“I know it sounds crazy but you aren’t the only one who feels alone,” he confesses.

“Everyone has this certain expectation that because I like to help out a lot, because I love love, that I’m not capable of feeling sad, but I am.” 

“You love, love?” you ask skeptically. 

“Was that the only thing you heard?” he asks, throwing his hands up. 

You don’t know why but you find it in your heart to giggle. “I didn’t know you were such a sap.” 

“Am not!” He counters. “I just have specific beliefs when it comes to love.” 

“And that is?” 

“That it’s supposed to be special, nothing rushed, never forced,” he explains. “It’s something that feels more warm and steady than jittery, if you know what I mean?” 

If Jaemin didn’t already fascinate you then, well he sure did now. You don’t know how the boy who liked to keep to his own business managed to conjure such deep thoughts. You find yourself nodding along. 

“I can respect that, I guess,” you finally say after some time. Sensing the time, you finally stand up to tidy the place and get back to work. 

“Thanks for being good company,” Jaemin suddenly says as he assists you in throwing the empty takeout bags in the bin. 

“You aren’t so bad yourself,” you reply. 

Jaemin thinks a lot while the two of you work. He thinks about the easy grace that you exude vis a vis being comfortable with vulnerability. And he thinks you’d battle him out for this, but he sure as hell didn’t believe that you were as cut-throat about life as your own friends labeled you. If any, he’d sure as hell vouch that you were a softie at heart. 

“Don’t skip meals,” he called out as the two of you parted ways later that evening. And you definitely wouldn’t be skipping any meals for the weeks to come. Not on Jaemin’s watch, anyway.

[vaguely-concerned]

Silly Garashir ficlet, Teen and Up-ish, mostly banter! CW: copious amounts of blood but like. Purely in a comedy capacity (don’t worry none of it is Garak’s)

“Good god,” Julian breathed, unable to do anything but stare for a moment. 

“Oh, don’t worry, none of this is mine,” Garak said, dripping puddles of crimson onto the floor, calm blue eyes the only thing peeking out from the solid layer of blood covering his face and upper torso. “The gravest injury has been to my wardrobe, I assure you. As you might have gathered, I encountered our suspected evildoer as they sought to make their escape.”

“From the looks of things, I’d hazard it’s more accurate to say that they encountered you,” Julian said. He shook himself out of his momentary petrification and raised the medical tricorder to make sure Garak’s reports of being unharmed hadn’t been greatly exaggerated, as would sometimes be the case with him. 

“However you would prefer to frame it,” Garak said, dipping his chin modestly and blinking globs of blood from his eyelashes. “I’m sorry to say I couldn’t ascertain many details about them, neither in terms of species or other identifying details. They were masked and coming at me with a knife at the time, which in the moment tends to blot out other considerations in one’s mind.”

Despite himself, Julian grinned at the performative airiness of Garak’s tone. He did seem to be basically fine. “I think that’s understandable under the circumstances, Garak. Odo’s probably going to track them down pretty quick, if they’re leaving a trail of blood across the station. Do you, er… want a handkerchief or something?” 

“It’s very kind of you to offer, but I don’t think that’s going to do the job in this case.”  

“No,” Julian had to admit, “no, you’re — probably right. I’ll let you go for a thorough sonic and peace and quiet once I’m done with this. I’m sure Odo will want a word with you later, though.”

Garak parted his lips to say something, and grimaced. “Ugh. Well, if it’s any help in figuring out the identity of our culprit, that’s definitely the taste of Napean blood. As you mentioned there will of course also likely be other clues, like them bleeding profusely as they sprint across the Promenade, but I always strive to be helpful wherever I can.” 

“Garak!” Julian yelped, shooting him an alarmed look and continuing his inspection of the tricorder readings with renewed worry. 

“Hm? Yes? You can run whatever tests you want on it to be sure, of course, but I am quite certain in my conclusion. There is a… distinctive tang to —”

“That’s so medically unsafe, you can’t go around ingesting —” 

“Well, I hardly meant to ingest anything, Doctor, but it did end up all over my person in a way that makes it hard to entirely avoid,” Garak snapped, though he tolerated Julian going in for a second, even more thorough examination without complaint. “Maybe if this person hadn’t so rudely insisted on venting the contents of their arteries straight into my face during our tussle — ”

“Yes, yes, I understand, sorry, I wasn’t suggesting you did it on purpose or anything, but it does mean I really do need to monitor you for any allergic reactions or bloodborne… wait, wait, hang on, how do you even know what Napean blood — ”

Smiling in a way that aimed for beatific and missed it by way of too many bared teeth, in a manner that would probably be quite unsettling if Julian wasn’t so used to (so fond of, whispered a treacherous little voice in the back of his head) Garak’s face, Garak dabbed daintily at the worst of the blood dripping off his nose with his sleeve and said: “Do you really want to know, or is this your outsized curiosity running ahead of your better judgment again?”

“I’m going to be wondering about it all night, but no, I don’t think I want to know, actually. If I come back in a week and still can’t put it out of my mind, feel free to tell me, though. Or use that time to come up with a good story, I don’t mind.”

“Never any but the best for you, my friend,” Garak said fondly. 

[shy-urban-hobbit]

Of all the decisions Lambert had (and would) come to regret, this one definitely hadn't been on his list.

He and Aiden had run into Geralt, sat alongside a brunette man who could only be the bard they'd heard rumours about - if the way he was sitting a little too close to a Witcher than was deemed sensible and appeared to be talking Geralt's ear off was any indication. The white haired Witcher looked both panicked and relieved when he spotted them, calling them over and making hasty introductions in an attempt to draw the humans attention away from him for a few minutes.

Something which successfully resulted in Aiden and Jaskier acting as if they'd known one another for years rather than hours, the Cat more than happy to keep fielding the bard's questions (Lambert had resorted to Geralt's tried and tested method of grunts and growls when they hit double digits with no signs of stopping) and trade casual, friendly touches.

Although they agreed on most things, that was something they had never been able to see eye to eye on. Lambert tolerated touch at the best of times, the moments that weren't linked to punishment or training fleeting at best. Aiden on the other hand, thrived on it, constantly subconsciously latching onto the nearest body in one form or another. Unfortunately for Lambert, whenever Aiden decided to tag along for longer than a day or two, the nearest body was usually him. Even at night, he would migrate - moving his bed roll so they woke up nose to nose when they had started the night on opposite sides of the fire and on the occasions when they had needed to share a bed, many a time had Lambert woken up with Aiden wrapped around him like an octopus.

So naturally, when Jaskier and Aiden had come back from speaking to the innkeeper about rooms for the night - explaining that yes, they had two rooms but one of them was a double bed whilst the other was two singles - Geralt and Lambert had both simultaneously stated that they would take the two singles under the guise of wanting to catch up with one another properly, while Jaskier and Aiden - in Lambert's words - could "Do one anothers hair and fight about who gets to be the little spoon." (He'd meant the first part as a joke, but from the way Jaskier started eyeing up Aiden's curls....). It was the perfect solution.

Except it wasn't, as it turns out. Sleeping lightly anyway - thanks to being in a strange place and surrounded by fickle, unpredictable humans - Lambert's mind appeared to be a few steps behind and refusing to accept that just because it was night and Aiden wasn't in his line of sight didn't mean he was in danger. He was getting tired of being pulled out of his doze every time someone slammed a door to then be jerked into full wakefulness because the body he was expecting to be sharing (invading) his personal space wasn't there. From the looks of it Geralt wasn't faring much better, his eyes meeting Lambert's every time from the bed closest to the door.

It was the early hours of the morning when Geralt pulled himself from under the covers, muttering something under his breath that sounded suspiciously like a resigned "Fuck me." before opening the door and blinking in surprise to see Aiden stood there, a fist raised ready to knock. The two of them exchanged a brief nod before Geralt slipped out of the room and Aiden inside.

Aiden didn't even give the now spare bed a cursory glance, making a bee line for Lambert who scootched closer to the wall without even making a show of grumbling as the Cat climbed in beside him, pressing himself along his back and tucking his knees behind Lambert's.

"What happened, bard too handsy even for you?" Lambert asked, only half joking as he felt something in him uncoil now that he could see the other was alright.

"No, but Geralt wasn't exaggerating when he said he never shuts up. He talks in his sleep. Plus, maybe I just missed my more prickly bed buddy."

"Don't ever call me that again."

"What would you prefer? Cuddle chum, snuggle monster? Not that you ever reciprocate that much, but a little embellishment never hurt-"

"Fucks sake. If I give you a cuddle will you shut the hell up?"

He didn't miss the little pleased noise Aiden made as he moved back just far enough for Lambert to be able to turn onto his back and lift an arm which Aiden immediately took advantage of, pressing his nose into Lambert's collar bone as he threw an arm across Lamberts chest, the Wolf feeling the slight purr as he awkwardly wrapped his arm around Aiden's shoulders in return.

"G'night, Prickles."

Lambert couldn't muster the energy to bite back on that one as he felt his eyes slip closed, not waking again until the innkeeper yelled at them through the door to either pay for another day or get out.

[coco-bee]

COCO'S REVIEW: BLUE'S STORY

Welcome to Coco’s Review! Where I review and breakdown episodes, movies and etc and overthink every tiny detail and/or give my thoughts and opinions :D !! THE STORY I’M ABOUT TO DISCUSS HAS TOPICS ABOUT S/A AND OTHER DISTURBING TOPICS PLEASE PROCEED WITH CAUTION !! Ok so this may not be something you’d expect me to cover but I wanted to discuss this series on my blog for a while now! Today I’m discussing Blue’s Story by Victaton!

Blue’s Story is a series by Victaton over on youtube that mixes gacha life 2 character designs along with animation. I like to think of the gl2 designs as character models and Victation expands on it through animation. The series doesn’t have proper episodes, its installments mainly continue music videos that go in a specific order. The story is about Blue, a man in his early 20s entering the company his older sister works in with a positive attitude only for it to fade away as a lot of women in his new job want to get in his pants and cause irreversible trauma on the poor guy. This series is meant to show how abuse in the workplace can happen and how s/a can be done anywhere and by anyone. It seems to be a response to the misconceptions of how men who are preyed on by women are not valid victims of s/a and how they should’ve enjoyed it or that only women can be victims (which is never true). Though keep in mind I’m not qualified to determine if the way the story conveys s/a and just abuse in general is shown accurately because I have not had these experiences myself but my heart goes out to the victims in the world who could resonate with Blue’s Story and I wish for nothing but happiness and peace for you guys. You all are very strong and deserved much better<3

I can tell Victation really touched people’s hearts and according to some people in the comments who are victims the story is pretty accurate to some experiences and some research has been put in this series which I heavily appreciate. So I’m happy people can feel seen with this!

So with this series I want to start off light and mention the animation- AND MY GOODNESS DOES THIS SERIES HAVE AMAZING ANIMATION!

I really love this art style that Vic has going on here

Like I said the gl2 designs seem to make the base and Vic uses their art skills to expand on it It really gives a dynamic feeling and you can hardly tell it’s gacha

Vic has a lot of dynamic poses and a great understanding of body language with these!

AND THE EXPRESSIONS<33 I LOVE THE WAY VIC DRAWS FACIAL EXPRESSIONS! IM SUCH A SUCKER FOR VERY EXAGGERATED AND STYLIZED FACES

And I’m not even showing the best parts! But I want to keep it as a surprise for those who are interested in watching the series. I just couldn’t stop praising the visuals enough! Vic is the most experimental gachatuber I’ve seen when it comes to the visuals!! I hope to talk with them sometime to get some tips or to post how their creative process works because THE ART IS SO GOOODDDDD! AND THE CHARACTER DESIGNS RADIATE SM PERSONALITY AND ADD TO THE SYMBOLISM AND UNDERTONES OF THE STORY! It’s so fun to see :D and the color associations are a very interesting character design choice! It helps add a very colorful look to what is otherwise a very heavy story and makes it very easy to distinguish the characters and give them certain color motifs. Anyway I want to talk about the characters in Blue’s Story! Mostly by order of their debut! And I’ll only talking abt the characters that have a big impact on Blue (So I won’t be talking abt Magenta or her brother) and the ones that don’t have a definite character (So the red eye people won’t be mentioned) Anyway now that that’s established the character I want to talk about first is well- Blue himself! After All this is his perspective we’re following

Also quick appreciation for the silly little Blues that Vic draws<3 Anyway Blue is the most interesting character I’ve seen in a gacha series. I like how Vic doesn’t use Blue as a representation or a role model for victims to take after but a person who goes through his own stories and has room to be human. You can see his descent in his own trauma and self loathing in his story. Which leads him to make mistakes and have a difficult time navigating his relationships and how to make meaningful connections. Seeing him go from confident and upbeat to quiet and reserved is so heartbreaking. What I find so great about Blue is that not everyone can relate to his situation but his thought process is near universal. I can relate to having to be in survival mode when it comes to relationships after being done dirty by different people. Not to mention people would do the same things Blue did, they just went through different experiences. It’s a really great touch to the writing. What’s also interesting I find about Blue are these different personas of different ways he handles the trauma caused by all these women.

This is sorta a mix of my interpretation of what these versions of Blue are plus what Vic actually calls them From left to right 1.Hypersexual Blue (confirmed) 2.Heart Eyes Blue (confirmed) 3. Reality Blue (not confirmed) 4. Cyan Blue (confirmed) 5. Numb Blue (not confirmed) I’ll expand more on these personas when I do a character study on Blue (which is something I REALLY wanna do sometime)

Next up is Pink Who is the first character we meet when Vic started this series

Pink is a married woman around Blue’s age who he engages in an affair with. And one of the women Blue has a significant relationship with throughout the series since Pink was the first one in the workplace to have her way with Blue. A truly manipulative bitch 💀 I don’t have much to say about her because Vic themself made a video discussing the women in Blue’s life and their thought process on writing them(?). So I’ll just give my thoughts! Pink is a very interesting case of the “Abused to Abuser” situation and not to mention how she’s not one dimensional. She’s an abuser to Blue but also a victim to a different man. (her husband) There are scenes where she is being a nice person (highlighted with her scenes with Lilac) but what’s preventing her from being good is her philosophy of how men cannot be victims. How could they be? To her the most heartless person she knows is a man, while it’s close minded, it’s understandable but not excusable why she perceives men this way. Which I find very interesting! There’s also a cool animation choice with her lipstick color! Her lips are white when she’s doing nice things or is not perceived as a bad person, then grey when it’s more neutral (I think) and finally black when she harms Blue. Hence why her kiss marks start from white to black.

What’s also interesting is that Blue pursues her first! Since he started out so confident and upbeat he wanted to try and shoot his shot with an attractive woman. But backs off when he learns that she’s married, but things didn’t go as planned. But I find it very interesting how that’s how things started. Next we have Purple who is the CEO or just the boss of the company Blue works in

Purple imo is definitely the most uncomfortable character to watch (what am I saying ALL the abusers make things uncomfortable to watch) but Purple just gives me a chill up my spine. Especially with her design, it has been confirmed by Vic that Purple is in her 40s and would prey on much younger people. First she attempted to prey on Red (who is confirmed to be 19), but was unsuccessful then went after Blue, and was successful.

Not to mention she’s very inconsiderate of her workers, example in the second part of “Baby Hotline”.

Up next we have Red! Who is my personal favorite in terms of how she is written and her design! (I do not condone her actions)

I love how Vic went for a more cutesy innocent look for Red!

But not without giving her sharp black nails to show how harmful she is

It really nails the message home on how anyone can be an abuser no matter how they look like. I also want to appreciate her little heart eye effect that Vic does with her that’s constantly looping like HOW DOES VIC DO IT- IT LOOKS SO DIFFICULT TO PULL OFF- I’m guessing it’s green screen With Red she is an obsessive stalker who has feelings for Blue and is constantly pursuing him even if he doesn’t return the feelings. It starts off as an innocent crush but turns into something more harmful. I don’t have much to say that’s not been said by Vic on their video. I just really want to appreciate how well designed she is and I rly like the heart motif she has. You can tell she’s a naive girl who can’t understand how harmful she is. I’ve met someone who was my equivalent to Red and while thankfully I had people who managed to protect me, doesn’t mean the harm did not get to me. While they were not as intense and Red, I was still being harassed verbally and I just didn’t feel safe. ALSO HOW DOES VIC DO HER HEART EYE EFFECT I NEED ANSWERS Now we have Lavender who is Blue’s SISTER

YEAH THATS RIGHT- SHE IS BLUE’S SISTER And I swear everytime I see her I just want to punch her in the goddamn face and wipe that stupid smile off her face- Lavender is an example of non-physical s/a and incest with how she had sexual thoughts about Blue and would show it through more subtle actions. Not to mention she’s also a bystander to Blue being abused by other women and doesn’t do ANYTHING about it. As an older sister myself with my own little brother- Lavender ENRAGES ME! I could never imagine doing what she did to my own brother. He drives me crazy but I’d protect him no matter what. What is fascinating about her design is definitely how her eyes are constantly closed, as if she’s turning a blind eye to the harm Blue is a victim of and/or how she’s hiding so many things. Especially with how she only opens her eyes when she’s preying on Blue.

SHE'S JUST AS TERRIFYING AS PURPLE Lastly we have Lilac! Who debuts in the same video as Lavender

WHO IS THE ONE PERSON THAT DOESN’T TREAT BLUE LIKE SHIT She’s a very fun character! She’s a single mom who works in the same company as Blue. She has a lot more significance in later installments so I won’t spoil but I just love her<3 She’s so sweet I just can’t- it’s such a breath of fresh air compared to the toxic waste Blue’s been getting from the other women. Her relationship with Blue is so interesting to watch and I am just rooting for them to at least stay friends.

(Also she looks so pretty here) AND THAT’S ALL THE CHARACTERS!!

Overall I really enjoy this series but I do have some gripes with it. The pace is definitely a bit much- so much can be happening in a span of a few mins. And there are stories that could rly benefit a longer time limit. This problem comes up most with “Baby Hotline” where I hardly understood what was happening. Like I got the gist but I didn’t get the specifics. It can be difficult to keep up with. So yeah the series could work with a longer timeframe- “Sweet Little Bumblebee'' is a great example! Not everything is too fast and everything makes more sense while “Baby Hotline” tried cramming a lot in one minute. Well the first part of ot, the second part of “Baby Hotline” was at a much better pace in my opinion but still a bit hard to keep up with at first.

Anyway in conclusion! Blue’s Story is a really interesting story that deserves the recognition it gets and is worth your time if you are into really deep stories with heavy subjects!

(Credit to Vitaton for all the art presented) This is Coco typing.. Thank you for reading!

[tinyinvadr]

Guess who’s back from the dead? I finally got the motivation to work on this again, probably ‘cause the new episode’s almost here! I’m so excited, I’m not gonna be normal, I love TADC SO MUCH!!!!!

Hide & Shrink

Chapter 6

I almost wish we never left the restaurant.

Not only did we make it back just in time for the adventure to be finished, we also happened to arrive just as Jax and Ragatha were having a very heated argument. About me.

“I don’t care, Jax! She’s our friend, we can’t do this to her!”

“Friend? We only just met her. And from what I’ve heard, she left you for dead when Kaufmo abstracted.”

“So did you!”

“Yeah, but you expect it from me. Look, all I’m saying is she could be our ticket out of here. Isn’t that what everybody wants? I mean, come on, don’t tell me you actually WANT to stay here now.”

“I don’t… but still, it’s not right. We shouldn’t force Pomni to do anything she doesn’t want to.”

“Rags, everyone here is being forced to do stuff they don’t want to, and as hilarious as it is, I can’t stay here forever if there really is a way out. Look, it doesn’t matter to me if you’re in or not. The bottom line is, I’m getting out of here.”

“She’s scared out of her mind, Jax. At least wait a few more days and try asking again when she’s calmed down.”

The rabbit let out a chuckle as he shook his head.

“All these years we’ve been trapped here, all we’ve done is wait. I don’t think any of us can afford to wait any longer. Just look at Kinger. He’ll be a goner any day now.”

“Don’t say things like that!”

“Why not? You know it’s true.”

The entire time, Caine just floated in place, watching the argument play out. It was like he was waiting for them to finish before approaching them. But with the way tensions were rising between the two of them, letting that happen would definitely not end well.

“Uh, Caine? Maybe you should intervene.”

It was like he suddenly snapped out of whatever trance he was in and looked down at me.

“Huh? Oh, yes.”

We swiftly flew over to them, Caine positioning himself right in the middle of them.

“Hey now, the adventure’s over, you two! Let’s settle down and regroup with the others!”

The two of them finally stopped and turned their attention to us. Ragatha looked relieved to see me, while Jax just continued to smirk.

“Oh, Pomni, you’re back. Finally done hiding behind Caine?”

I glared at him, but he was technically right. That was the most infuriating part. I hated him, but a lot of the time, he was right.

The other three returned, Gangle and Kinger looking distraught as usual, and Zooble in the process of reattaching their arm.

“I swear, if I have to see a Gloink or Wroink or whatever one more time, I’m going to %$!#ing abstract.”

Gangle whimpered. “Oh, Zooble… not you too…”

For the first time, I could detect the slightest look of sympathy on Zooble’s mismatched face. “I was just exaggerating. You know I’m not actually going anywhere.”

Completely missing the tone as usual, Caine flew up into the air, and I clung onto his thumb as tightly as I could so I wouldn’t fall.

“It looks like everyone’s back together again, which means today’s adventure is officially complete! Now, what exciting activity should we do to celebrate?”

Jax sauntered over, brimming with confidence. He had something to say, and he was waiting a long time to say it. And I already knew exactly where he was going.

“If I may, I have a suggestion. We still haven’t really discussed the whole Pomni situation.”

Ragatha looked like she was on the verge of snapping, which was something that was hard for me to even picture. I only just met her, but she seemed to be the most calm and collected out of everyone. I guess it was nice to know she was looking out for me, but I still wasn’t sure why.

“Y-Yeah… we have to help her. She must be so scared…”

I don’t think Gangle meant anything by it, but it was really starting to get on my nerves how everyone was talking about me as if I wasn’t there. It reminded me all too well of how people would treat me back in the real world. How they’d talk over me, never listen to what I had to say. I wasn’t important enough to be taken seriously. Just a joke.

“As usual, Gangle, you’re wrong. No, I’m talking about the elephant in the room that no one wants to address: Pomni’s glitch.”

At that, the whole circus went silent.

“Oh come on, don’t play dumb, guys. You know what I’m talkin’ about. If Caine can’t fix her, it means there must be something wrong with her character model, and if we can figure out what’s causing this, we can use it to get outta here.”

Jax was met with more silence, until Kinger finally spoke up.

“Well… yes, the thought has crossed my mind, but-”

“But what, Kinger? Don’t tell me you’re also too attached to Pomni to waste our only chance of leaving. You should know better than any of us getting attached to people here gets you nowhere.”

“JAX!”

I looked back and forth between Ragatha, who was absolutely fuming, and Kinger, who looked as though he had just seen a ghost.

“I-I have to go.”

The chess piece quickly shuffled away as the rest of us watched with bated breath. Even though I had no idea what was going on, the tension was palpable.

“What… What was that about?” I asked.

Ragatha sighed, visibly frustrated.

“It’s not my story to tell. But Jax… what you just did was way over the line, and I shouldn’t have to tell you that. I know things are hard for all of us right now, but that’s no excuse to abandon basic human decency!”

Jax scoffed, heading off to his room.

“Okay, sure. Keep lying to yourselves. But it’s not gonna help in the long run. You’re only prolonging your fates. Call me whatever you want, but at least I’m trying to leave this %$!#show.”

One by one, everyone else left. Not all at the same time, it was staggered. Ragatha left first, then Gangle maybe about ten minutes later. Surprisingly, Zooble stuck around the longest. They kept looking at me, still helplessly seated in Caine’s palm, and down the hall at Kinger’s door. There were a couple times where it seemed like they were about to say something, but they never did.

The entire time, Caine was uncharacteristically quiet. It was almost like he was stuck waiting for a cue that never came. It was clear something big just happened, but I had no context for any of it.

“Hey… Caine? Why do you keep freezing up like that?”

Once again, he snapped out of it, looking mildly confused.

“Huh? Oh, Pomni, you must be tired! Let’s get you back to your room!”

Before I could protest, he flew down the hall, opened my bedroom door and tucked me into bed, patting me on the head for good measure.

“There ya go, nice n’ cozy! Now, rest up! You’ll need the energy for tomorrow’s adventure!”

“Wait, Cai-!”

He was already gone. It was so obvious he was hiding something. Everyone was. But I wasn’t about to let this circus keep its secrets hidden from me forever. The truth about this place was just out of my reach, and whatever it took, I would find it, even if I had no one truly on my side.

[theboogierat]

blaire is peak and why rusty can't write truly evil women

If you've found this post, I don't need to introduce Leasebound to you.

Instead, we're going to talk about the fandom.

Leasebound's fandom has a sort of Lemony-Snicket-esque schism, with Rusty's intended audience and (hilariously) the exact opposite. I've seen both sides of the Leasebound audience, and I've noticed something interesting.

...nobody hates Blaire.

Okay, that's a HELL of a sentence to make, and very exaggerated. I've seen 'Blaire unenjoyers' and other people treating Blaire like the Eric Cartman of Leasebound, it's an eye-catching statement that makes people read more of the text post.

But I wouldn't call it wrong, I'd give it a 'hyperbolic.'

Even on the side of Rusty's intended audience, Blaire isn't loathed. I've seen many enjoyers of Blaire who either talk about how much they went her to talk gender to them, so to say. On the flipside, the worst interpretation of Blaire is a misogynist who pushes her activism on other people, which is more or less her canon intent.

But if Blaire was as bad as Rusty Hearts portrayed her, I don't think we'd see so much art of Blaire. In fact, I put down a poll, and Blaire pretty much took the #1 spot for the 'character with the most fanart' almost instantly, beating out characters such as Jaden (who took silver), Riley, and Violet. And it pretty much sticks!

I've seen a lot of Blaire fanart from the Leasebound tag on both sides! I've seen a lot of Blaire discussion and discourse on both sides, either about the possibility of a redemption arc, a rewrite, thirsting over her, etc.

So...we can pretty much say Blaire is a bad strawman.

Strawmen are supposed to be one-note characters the main cast is supposed to be more interesting than and can fight with no pushback. Blaire is massively popular across the board in the Leasebound fandom, has discussions about her that are multi-layered, and has wonderful fanart from people that really like her.

Done. That's all.

But we're not done. We need to keep talking.

Rusty Leasebound is very good at some things. Her chapter focusing on Shez had emotional, gut-wrenching art, and there is a definite appealing quality to the way she draws things.

Some things, atleast.

But Rusty is not a great writer. There's tons of other essays and an entire discord server that can point all the flaws in her story out enough to write an epic worthy of the Mahabharata. Leasebound has largely forgotten what it is to be a mouthpiece for her political opinions, its characters are one-note and one-dimensional, she focuses on the wrong things at the wrong time, and many more that will make my fingers cry as I type this. But I want to focus of Rusty's tendencies to tell, not show.

Blaire is not evil. She's not even Maleficent or Ursula or Cruella evil. And she's no Makima either. Blaire is just a woman passionate about her beliefs, and makes the mistake of pushing them on other people. That's not evil, that's a flaw. Women cannot be perfect all the time.

But we're meant to believe she is evil. In this panel of the Actor!AU, we are TOLD by Rusty that Blaire is meant to be evil.

Blaire isn't evil! Come back to me when she puts a living creature in a blender, or something!

While the statement is understandable, you're using it in the wrong way! Because there is no reason for the casual Leasebound reader to ever believe Blaire is evil, the way you portray her!

(Yes, casual Leasebound readers exist. Quinty's one.)

And there's multiple occasions of this 'tell, don't show' narrative Rusty keeps pushing.

For example: Meriam.

Meriam is told to be the protective, strong mother, but I'm not sure that's entirely the case.

Meriam has serious flaws in her parenting that is never acknowledged. Shez was made to basically worry for her siblings at a young age, which sounds horrible for a young girl.

(side note: criticism of the comic has often lead to more interesting, and realistic plotlines for leasebound to include.)

She's obviously traumatised, and it shows in her parenting. When she shuns out Rissa and her boyfriend; that's not good! If Rissa wants her family by her side, she won't get it because she's marrying a man. Meriam always keeps Shez on the pedestal like she's Luisa from Encanto.

Nobody asks how's Shez. Someone help Shez.

And there's so much more!

We get snippets of Riley, a MAIN CHARACTER'S backstory from one-off panels and dialouges, but we heard the majority of it from Rusty in the comment section, Rusty confirming fan speculation, the cast page, non-canon panels, etc. Nothing in the main story!

And that just makes Riley...really boring. The most interesting part of Riley is Blaire right now, and that's REALLY bad, considering we're supposed to dislike Blaire.

Here are some more examples of Rusty telling, not showing:

Muddles:

Riley:

Various statuses of offscreen characters:

Blaire and many others of Rusty's characters have fallen into one of her biggest writing flaws' clutches, but it's interesting as to how fan perception and works have essentially made one of the most three-dimensional characters of the comic, aside from Jaden. And that's one of the main problems with Leasebound.

I want to end this with an open letter. I don't know if she'll read it, but if you do:

Listen to criticism, and find out what's wrong with your comic. Tune in to different parts of the fandom, even when you don't agree with them. At the heart of the war, we all share one thing: reading your comic. Don't take that for granted; many amazing, better written comics would love to have the attention you have. Your art is good. I enjoy reading Leasebound when it's about the characters, not how we're supposed to percieve them. You have something; harness it before it goes away! And at the rate Leasebound is going- it might go away really fast.

Thank you for reading. I don't have anything else to say.

...

Hey, remember when a radfem accidentally reblogged a post by a non-radfem-

[ratbaguett-e]

Heizou x GN! Reader Smut

Playing cards with Heizou. Quite the challenge.

Content: Oral sex (H receives), mild spit kink, lowkey abuse of power, Heizou being a shit (I would die for him), Reader ends up domming Heizou

~Feel free to leave a request 🔎💜

You were starting to think he explained the game slightly wrong on purpose. He had won three rounds already. Each round lasted at least five minutes longer than the last due to the intense thinking you would do before making a move. His hands were almost empty, you still had nearly a complete deck in your hands.

“I know this is rich coming from a detective…” Heizou says, “… but you really shouldn’t have to think so hard.”

That teasing accent that accompanied his words almost had you throwing your cards right at his smug face. He looked at you with his chin resting in one hand, his last two cards lazily held upright in the other.

“I have a strategy going,” you said, glaring at your full hands.

He let out a teasing giggle and took a sip of his drink. Leaning back afterwards with an exaggerated sigh and stretching his arms above his head.

“Take your time…”

He folded his arms behind his head and watched you with a smirk as you begrudgingly laid down a card. He zeroed in on the face of it, hissing through his teeth and slowly reaching towards his hand.

“Sorry to say it, but…” he laid down a similar card to yours, leaving him with his last one in hand.

“… it looks like you guessed wrong.”

You grunted in frustration, laying down your remaining cards, giving up at the thought of his inevitable win made obtainable by his singular remaining card.

“Giving up? I don’t blame you. I am pretty good at this, I know,” he says with a cheeky smile.

“I’m only giving up for this round. Could we please start over?”

You’re nearly begging him, desperate to cool down your competitive spirit and finally win one round against him so you could call it a night.

“I don’t see why not. I’ll even help you out a bit.”

You were scared at what he meant by that, he was definitely going to pull a trick in there somewhere.

After rearranging the deck and grabbing a new set, you commenced your fourth round. Your mind was clear, the fresh start would surely help you focus more.

———————————————————————————

“You have such delicate and pretty hands Y/N…”

While Heizou had made multiple assists to make your chances at winning even, he would tear you back down again with sultry remarks and (quite affective) flirting. You were losing your focus, trying not to get flustered at the comments he made.

Heizou had always been quite bold and a flirt, though you never expected him to target you at any point.

“Will you stop!? You’re interrupting my thinking process.”

He chuckles in reply before responding, “Sure. I’ll be quiet. Promise.”

You glared at him once more before deciding which card you’d lay down. He followed suit and the process continued for about another minute or so before you felt something on your ankle.

Your knee jolted up, lightly banging the table before you looked underneath it. Heizou was slowly dragging his foot up and down your leg, slightly lifting up the cuff of your pants. The action made you shutter and slightly blush. He did keep his promise to stay quiet, but that didn’t mean he had no physical way of tormenting you.

You made no comment, not caring was the best revenge after all, and continued to lay down cards and desperately try to ignore his touch under the table.

Before you knew it, he had one card left, you had four. The smug bastard decided to “stay quiet” for the entire game and not help you at all.

Heizou saw you deflate before speaking.

“If I may…” he said, getting up from his chair, “…let me see what we’re dealing with here.”

“Hey wait!”

You objected, “Isn’t this cheating? You-,”

You were cut off as he took the cards from your hands, going out of his way to brush his fingers against your own as he brought them up to his face.

He laughed before replying, “Yeah, you were screwed from the start. No worries, Let me teach you a trick.”

He handed you your hand and got behind you, leaning over the back of your chair and using his own hands to guide your own. The warmth that shot through your body at the contact didn’t go unnoticed by Heizou. He was going to have fun with this.

“See the face of my card? What you can do with this is…”

You stopped listening to him rather quickly, preoccupied by the warm body behind you and his hands guiding yours in a mock game. Him ,being the sharpest detective in Inazuma, noticed, but continued anyway. In the process he would slide his hands down your arms, speak closer into your ear, and even go as far as stroking his thumb across your knuckles that were loosely holding up the cards.

“… think you got it?”

No. You didn’t. He knew you didn’t.

“Uhm…” you meekly replied.

He got close to your ear and said lowly, “Maybe if you pay attention next time it’ll pay off.”

His hands squeezed your shoulders as he looked down at you. Flustered, not daring to look up at him until he grabbed your chin and tilted it back to meet your eyes from behind.

“What more could you possibly want from me, (Y/N), is something on your mind?”

Yes, he was on your mind in a not so innocent way. The touches and the way he spoke to you made you tingle in rather scandalous places without fail. Having him this close was almost overwhelming.

The stretch of your throat and the way his fingers firmly held your chin back made your mind blank as your eyes rolled back to meet his gaze. A devious smirk on his pink lips.

“You’re handling me… rather forcefully detective…”

The angle at which your head was bent out strain on your throat as you tried to speak. He chuckled in reply at your words, watching your throat move as you harshly swallowed.

“You seem to like it…”

His fingers softly rubbed up and down your elongated neck. Ticklish but soothing, as if he was scratching a cat under its chin.

“… perhaps you’d like me to touch you elsewhere hm?”

He gently released your jaw, his hands now running down the front of your chest, underneath your shirt. The soothing rubs of his dainty hands felt lovely, but the intent behind them sent a heat into your lower body.

Your breath hitched as he put his face by your ear.

“Perhaps I could go even lower… officer…”

The deep purr in his voice caused your ears to go hot. Before you could freeze up you were able to meekly reply-

“Yes… yes please.”

He slowly removed his hands from beneath your shirt, the neckline now slightly stretched, but you didn’t care. All you could focus on was your lap, refusing to lay your eyes upon Heizou as he got in between your legs, looking down at the top of your head as you still refused to meet his eyes again.

The next thing that came into view were his nimble fingers hooking around the buckle of your belt. You let out a noise of surprise as he released it, sliding it through the loops of your pants and tightening it around his fist.

“Hmm…”

He observed the leather piece before looking back at your tense form beneath him.

“I’m getting tired of you not looking at me…”

Next thing you know he’s sliding the belt around your neck and fastening it. A makeshift leash now encasing your entire throat.

He yanked on it, making your head lurch forward towards his stomach and your eyes dart up at his seemingly taller frame.

“… in order to make it up to me, you can participate in some training. I want you to maintain this same eye contact with me while you pleasure me with your mouth. Is that simple enough for you, officer?”

You nodded your head and went to eagerly undo his pants. He adjusted his grip on the long end of the belt as you got to work.

You stared up at him with anxious eyes as you slowly took him into your mouth. One hand keeping the leash taught and the other pushing the hair out of your face and gripping onto it just as harshly.

“Have I ever told you how… mmph… charming you are officer… fuck…”

He grunted as you continued your sloppy ministrations on his hardened cock. His head tipped back towards the ceiling and his back against the edge of the table.

So much for keeping eye contact.

You took his averted gaze as an opportunity to close your eyes and suck harder, slicking up his cock with more spit as you went and making sure he felt you swallow in between.

Heizou let out a whimper, becoming distracted and loosening his grip on the makeshift leash. He finally looked down at you, seeing your eyes closed and not on him as he asked.

“Wha- hey! I s-said to- ahh!”

He let out a gasp as you quickly grabbed both of his wrists and held them against the edge of the table, fully sinking down to your knees in front of him. The added closeness giving you more power to clamp your mouth down onto him and give him even more intense sucks and overall control.

“Hah! No please!”

He whined in a panicked tone, caught off guard by the sudden change in dynamics. You being the one overpowering him this time.

You let off of him, interrupting before he could protest at the loss of stimulation to his aching dick.

“I don’t think it’s your place to make demands anymore detective…”

He was panting. Eyes watery and face flushed due to the harsh stimulation of your mouth being suddenly replaced by the cold and empty air. You made him feel so good he was on the brink of tears. The loss making him want to outright sob until you sucked him back in.

“… look at you. I had no idea you were so sensitive.”

He was at a loss for words as you stared up at him with a cold and dominant stare.

“P-please keep going. I’ll be good I promise.”

Without saying a word, you stood up and towered over his cowering body that was still pressed against the table and his wrists still engulfed in your hands.

“Get up on the table.”

He complied, moving so that his bottom was now rested on the edge of the short table strewn with random playing cards.

“Keep your hands where I can see them detective. This is your final warning.”

Words usually reserved for people being taken into custody had never sounded more erotic to him. Your authoritative tone making his dick twitch in the air, still lacking that delicious warmth he craved.

You sank back down to your knees, the slight elevation of Heizou’s body giving you a better advantage and less tension on your neck.

After checking that his hands were indeed clutching the edge of the table, you got back to work.

The loud moan that the detective let out was downright sinful and only motivated you even more. The sloppiness, the lewd squelching noises, the warmth, the pressure… Heizou is surprised he’s lasted this long.

“G-god please don’t stop. I’m c-cumming officer.”

You felt his thighs tense on your shoulders as you went faster, feeling the pulsing of his dick in your throat. Your hands reached up to grip his small waist and use his weakened body as leverage. His arms wrapping around your head as if pulling you any closer was possible.

He cried out as he hugged your head against him and shot a thick load of cum down your throat. Letting out small whimpers as you sucked him dry and swallowed what you could, the rest falling to the carpet and seeping out of your mouth.

His arms had loosened around your head, allowing both of you to catch your breath and you to look up at him.

Still flushed, still panting, Heizou looked down at you. The sight of your reddened cheeks and cum dripping down your chin was something he wished to see more of.

“It looks like I finally won detective.”

He huffed out a laugh at your words, standing up and shoving you back onto the wooden chair where you previously sat.

He then proceeded to pull out some handcuffs latched to the back of his pocket and dangled them teasingly in front of you.

“Are you kidding me…” you said with a chuckle, “…I could’ve used those.”

Heizou smirked down at you before replying, “Maybe next time officer…”

He crouched down to be eye level with you, lips barely brushing yours.

“… but now it’s my turn.”

~FIN~

[dougiejack]

Curtis/Luke + Beg ❤️

This is *checks notes* seven months late and also probably doesn't make sense but whatever I love it and you.

Will I ever stop getting mileage out of Luke saying he never buys anything for himself? NO! That boy is SPOILED ROTTEN and he DESERVES!

“Please? Please, please, pleeeaaaase?” The pout on Luke’s face is deeply exaggerated and the pathetic tone of his voice gives the impression that he is begging for his life and not for a snack. Curtis just rolls his eyes and shoves the kid a few steps back.

“Stop begging. It’s not cute,” he’s lying, but he has a reputation to uphold. Luke is, of course, having none of it. “How dare you? I’m very cute!” 

“I don’t know where you got that idea.” 

“Stop bullying me and buy me a cookie!” Luke’s pleading face scrunches up into something that’s supposed to be grumpy. Curtis laughs at him.

“Buy it yourself!” He already knows what’s coming next, though.

“I left my wallet at home!” Curtis gets his whole body into the eye roll this time, making sure to properly express his utter lack of disbelief.

“Of fucking course you did. Spoiled rotten.” Curtis will testify in a court of law that Jack is the only one who spoils the kid. He’ll swear up and down that it doesn’t mean anything when he’s at the checkout at the store and picks up a Kit-Kat because he knows it’s Luke’s favorite, and that it definitely doesn’t count as being nice to him because he always hurls it at his head from across the locker room instead of handing it to him.

“You say that like you don’t love spoiling me.” Can’t get a single thing past Luke though. He knows too much.

“That’s beside the point,” Curtis deflects.

“I don’t think that it is,” and Luke refuses to let him. Horrible brat child. 

“So, what is the point, then?”

“That you’re going to buy me a cookie.” The confidence in Luke’s tone is paired with exasperation, he is ready for the bit to be over and to get what he wants now. Curtis can’t let him win just yet.

“And what’s in it for me?” 

A smirk appears on Luke’s lips, like Curtis has just fallen into his trap. “I think we can come up with some way for me to pay you back. Maybe both of us get something sweet out of the deal.” It’s the most blatantly Luke has ever flirted with him. Every other time he’s been able to write it off as a joke, but this one sounds like an honest proposition.

“It sounds alarmingly like you’re asking me to be your sugar daddy,” Curtis responds, halfway between joking and testing the waters, but of course, you can always count on Luke to jump head first into the deep end. 

“Well, maybe I am.” The ball is in Curtis’s court now, and he’s honestly tired of fighting it so it looks like this is what they’re doing now. 

“You’re gonna have to ask nicer than that,” and he knows Luke clocks that as the ‘okay’ it’s meant to be, the mischievous smirk only growing. 

“I think you like me better when I’m a demanding little prick or whatever you call me under your breath when you think I’m not listening.”

“It’s ‘horrible brat child’ actually. You sure you don’t want to quit while you’re ahead, here?” He offers one last out, an opportunity to play the whole thing off as a joke.

“I’m not ahead,” Luke steps further into Curtis’s space, draping his body over Curtis’s back, arms wrapped around him in a distinctly couple-y pose, “You haven’t bought me my cookie yet,” he punctuates the demand with a kiss on the cheek.

“Ugh. Fine. Whatever. Which one do you want?” He drags Luke over to the display without dislodging him, holding onto the back of his hands.

“Sugar, obviously.”

[justanotherdumbteenboy]

A little rant over the why I consider that Todoroki Shouto is autistic

Disclaimer: As always, this is just one of my many theories. Please don’t attack me for this, if you don’t like it, scroll and continue with your life. 

This is the third mha character that I have analysed, and I also think he is the least likely to be autistic (strangely enough because he is also the one more often read as autistic). This is because a lot of his actions can also be read  as trauma responses rather than autistic traits, however, this is your friendly reminder that autistic people can (and are actually statistically more likely) to have PTSD. For Shouto, I think it is both autism and C-PTSD.

This post HAS manga spoilers!

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Insistence on sameness, and difficulty dealing with change

Even though this is not explicitly said anywhere (as far as I know), it’s something that you can definitely notice if you look very closely.

Todoroki remodelled his entire dorm in a day for it to be the same as it was in his home for comfort. He even went to the extent of changing the floors. That shows that he has difficulty dealing with transitions (moving from home, to the dorms).

He is also a very stubborn person, shown in his insistence to only use his ice side for so long. And even though we know this is connected to his trauma towards fire, even after he starts overcoming that, he still heavily relies on his ice, and has a tendency (almost a routine) to always using it first. 

Strong sense of justice

Todoroki has an incredible sense of justice, and not in the ´follow every rule’ way like Iida. Todoroki has never hesitated to break the rules to stand up for what he thinks is right. He literally considered torture in USJ arc, if it meant gaining information that could potentially safe lives. In the Kamino Ward arc, he decided to break the rules and go and save Bakugou because he knew that’s what was right (even if it was illegal). He followed Bakugou and Izuku even though it was dangerous and he technically shouldn’t have, but he still went and fought alongside them. In the ‘World Heroes’ Mission’ movie he didn’t hesitate to help Izuku and tell him how to escape even though he was literally accused of mass murder. I think there are many examples of this in general.

It also shows that he is a very loyal person, which isn’t an autistic trait (I think), just a very cool thing about him.

Recognizes patterns easier than his peers

I have two specific examples for this. 

Calling himself a hand crusher. He definitely recognized a pattern there. He fought with Midoriya -> He injured his hand. He fought with Iida -> Iida injured his hand. Therefore Hand injuries are caused by him (under this logic).

He was quick to figure out why the villains were at the USJ, and that they definitely had a solid plan. (In a similar way, Tsuyu did the same, who I also headcanon as autistic, but that’s off topic).

Speaking differences/struggles

Todoroki has what can be described as a ‘flat tone’. There are only some very specific scenes where he raises his voice, but in general, his voice tone never really changes. Even when delivering jokes, or sarcastic comments, his tone is always the same. 

Struggles with social cues and reading other people tones

I believe this is one of his most recognized traits. He has a lot of difficulty understanding sarcasm and exaggeration when it comes from others, even being told by others that he is ‘too clueless’ (Mount Lady, and Min*ta). He takes things very literally, a good example of this being when Mt Lady told him that girls would die for his smile, and he took it very seriously, to the point where not even under Mr. Smileys quirk he didn't actually smile. 

He also struggles ‘reading the room’ and social cues, having in mind the way that he is convinced that he is friends with Bakugou. (He is. Bakugou is just in denial/hj. They definitely care for each other, and they ARE friends. But Todoroki considered him a friend way before Bakugou even considered it).

Says things directly

Todoroki says things with 0 to no hesitation. He is not afraid at all to call people out. He says things like they are, he doesn't sugar code anything. There are many examples of this, like him fighting with the chief of the police, every possible interaction he has had with Endeavor, him saying that he didn’t even notice Hagakure was with him in the USJ, him telling Midoriya that he is objectively better than him and others. Trauma dumping on Midoriya during the sports festival. This might come out as rude sometimes, but he definitely (mostly) doesn't do it with bad intentions. 

‘Flat’ facial expressions

Same as his voice, his facial expressions don’t really change, and it could be argued that they don't match his emotions. For example when he froze Sero during their fight in the sports festival, and even though he didn’t really looked angry, he apologises and tells him that he was angry. 

Comfort food and being a ‘picky’ eater (term that I don’t personally like, but I’m using to make a point)

Shouto really likes Soba. Especially cold soba. He is seen eating it in the anime, and it is stated in the character profile of the manga’s second volume. He even offers it to Midoriya when he is sad (that was really cute by the way, I do that too. You’re sad? Let me get some chocolate for you!)

It being cold can be because of two things. 

Sensory issues about food temperature.

Him not liking boiling water because of what happened with his mother.

Either way, it is canon that he loves cold soba.

Genetic factor

I am not here to do an Endeavor analysis, but ASD is considered to have a genetic factor and Endeavor has some autistic traits as well, including fixated interests, saying things directly, difficulty with volume control, and others.

This is also your friendly reminder that autistic people are NOT saints and can commit crimes, mistakes, abuse etc. 

Moving on because I don’t enjoy talking about Endeavor /hj

Low empathy and difficulty reading other people emotions

Just like Bakugou, he struggles identifying and expressing his own emotions, and has difficulty relating to other people's feelings. I think a perfect example of that is his interaction with Iida during the Hero Killer arc. He also stuggled with this a lot after Dabi revealed he was his brother, and he definetly had problems grieving him.

He also doesn't really know how to show empathy, I think that’s why he offered soba to Deku. He didn’t know what else he could do to help and show that he cared. And he is usually looking for solutions rather than offering support. 

(not related picture, I just thought his face was really funny here).

Stimming

Admittedly, I couldn’t find many examples of stimming in him. But I noticed that he has a tendency to rub his finger when he is thinking.

Special interest

Becoming a hero, and in a way, All Might. I don’t have much proof of this rather than a vibe, but he doesn’t have any other interests or hobbies apart from this (apart from reading manga), which leads me to believe it’s his special interest. 

Other details that I want to mention (aka, the headcanon zone)

He is often seen wearing sweaters, which I believe can be a consequence of sensory issues, and he has a very high pain tolerance. He is very observant as well.

I don’t have proof of this, but I headcanon that he is like me, and doesn’t notice that there is something wrong with him unless it’s extreme. I rarely notice that I need to go to the bathroom until I’m about to pee myself. I live constantly dehydrated because I forget to drink water and I don't really get thirsty. And I don’t notice I’m in  pain unless it’s pretty extreme. 

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------

That’s it, thank you for reading! I love Todoroki. When I started the series he very quickly became one of my favourite characters. 

Next up in my list, Shigaraki!

[midnightshard06]

My birthday is upon us, which means it's time for my au crossover fic! It was a blast writing all these guy's interactions. Hope you all enjoy my little self indulgent fic.

You can check it out on ao3 here if you prefer.

Summary: Due to the whims of an odd jackal, a group of people who were never meant to meet cross paths. Heroes from the worlds of Chaos Uncontrolled, Bound by Fate, Heart of a Hero, and Lost and Found are all dragged into a brief adventure where they have to work together to get home. They'll stumble a little along the way, but they'll get the hang of it.

Word Count: ~13,000 words

"Well… this could be fun." A black figure cradles a magenta gem in their hands. The creature carefully turned the gem to inspect it. “The Phantom Ruby, what an interesting artifact. But what to do with it…” They tapped the gem as they hummed. Their ears perked up as blue eyes narrowed. “Oh well that could certainly prove interesting, and perhaps the resulting confusion will give me time to figure out just how this works…” They chuckled. “Yes. That’s what I’ll do.” They gripped at what seemed to be a tear in the air. “Time to get to work.” With that they vanished through the tear.

Chaos Uncontrolled (Pre “I’m With You”)

“Why did we have to come to some place this cold? There’s just a bunch of snow and ice everywhere.” Super huffed from within Sonic’s head.

Sonic just rolled his eyes, fond smile on his face. “Hey Holoska’s a pretty… cool place you know?” He barely held back a laugh.

There was dead silence for a moment before Super let out an exaggerated groan. “Don’t.” He said sharply. “Don’t do that.”

“What? Gonna give me the cold shoulder?” Sonic finally let himself laugh as Super groaned even louder. “To actually answer your question though… we’re taking a trip around the world. Holoska just so happened to be part of the world.”

“I guess.” Super mumbled. 

“Plus it’s not like you’re the one dealing with the cold right now.” Sonic gestured to the snow. “You bailed the moment we landed.”

“Look, I can enjoy all this perfectly fine from where I am.” Super hummed. “Plus I’d been in control on the way over. It was only fair that you get control back for a while.” His voice was dripping with sarcasm.

“You’ve just never had to deal with cold before, and you’re being a baby about it.” Sonic ignored Super’s indignant shout. “But it’s fine, because I’m a good friend who’s still gonna show you around.”

“Oh, how nice of you.” Super sounded annoyed now, but it was all in good fun. Sonic could tell there wasn’t any real anger behind it. This sort of back and forth was pretty normal for them after all.

The two slipped into a comfortable back and forth as Sonic pointed out the sights there were to see in Holoska. Super slowly warmed up to the place as they went around, so he’d count that as a win. On top of getting to show Super around it was nice to see some of the locals again. They all greeted him fondly and a few even made jokes about the planet being broken again. Jokes that confused Super, but Sonic assured him he’d explain later. 

As the sun started to set Sonic stretched. “Guess we should head back to meet up with Tails huh?”

“Hmmm guess so.” Super sounded distracted.

“Something up?” Sonic was instantly alert, eyes subtly darting around.

Super was silent for a moment and Sonic thought he might not answer. “Does anything feel… off to you?”

If Sonic focused he could feel… something. He wasn’t sure if it was the same thing Super was feeling but it definitely wasn’t normal. “I think I’m feeling it, yeah.” There didn’t seem to be anything off that he could see, but he knew Super’s senses were usually pretty accurate. “Any idea what it is?” He asked, this time keeping the comment purely mental. It felt safer to continue the conversation that way until they knew what was going on. 

“Not sure.” Super was definitely on edge. “Feels almost like… we’re being watched.”

Sonic cast a subtle glance around the area. “It’s not any of the locals?” He asked, despite not seeing any of them looking back at him.

“No.” Super answered quickly, sounding certain. “It’s definitely not.” Sonic could feel restless energy coming off Super and did his best to keep the other calm.

“Well well.” Sonic snapped his head around at the sound of the unfamiliar male voice. A black jackal, not Infinite though they did seem similar, stared back at him. Sonic had to suck in a deep breath as Super got defensive. “You two will do quite well…” The jackal grinned, showing off sharp teeth.

“This guy’s dangerous.” Super hissed.

“Yeah, figured that.” Sonic answered mentally, eying the all too familiar gem in the jackal’s hand. “So, what are you then?” Sonic turned his full attention to the jackal. “Some… relative of Infinite’s looking for revenge? Didn’t think the guy had anyone who would go as far as somehow finding the Phantom Ruby and then me in the name of revenge.”

“Oh no! You misunderstand my intentions.” The jackal chuckled, it wasn’t a pleasant sound. “I only wish to have a little fun. I have no care for your fallen foe. This-” They held up the Phantom Ruby. “-was simply a serendipitous find. One I intend to make great use of. Enjoy the trip.” Before Sonic could react things flashed red, and then everything went black.

Bound by Fate (Post chap 7)

Sonic took a deep breath as he stretched. Another new day meant another day of tracking down the Gaia Temples. He glanced over at Knuckles who was, predictably, already up. “Morning. Ready to head out?” Sonic grinned 

“Been waiting on you to get up.” Knuckles huffed as he adjusted his hat.

“Glad to know you won’t just leave me behind.” Sonic chuckled as he glanced out at the horizon. It was still pretty early in the morning so it wasn’t like he could have kept Knuckles waiting that long. 

In case you’ve somehow forgotten we’re literally stuck together.” Knuckles came up to his side. “You’re not going anywhere without me, and I’m not going anywhere without you.”

“Makes it sound like a chore to spend time with me when you put it like that.” Sonic sighed dramatically.

“Keep acting like this and it will be.” Knuckles crossed his arms. “It’s already bad enough you insist on manhandling me at night.”

“Look who am I to deny anyone werehog cuddles? Tails says they’re some of the best around.” Sonic smirked. “Plus you don’t exactly try that hard to stop me.”

Knuckles pulled his hat down to hide his face. “I do try. You’re just annoyingly stronger than me like that.”

“Oh? Admitting I’m stronger than you? Guess if I didn’t know the world was ending I’d know now.” Sonic put a hand on his chest. “Perhaps we just weren’t fast enough to stop Dark Gaia.”

After a moment of Sonic trying to hold in his laughter, Knuckles righted his hat. “Whatever, mutt. Let’s just get moving.” He narrowed his eyes. “And remember…”

“No dropping you.” Sonic waved off the comment. “I know. I know.” He sighed. “Accidentally drop a guy one time…” Before he could pick Knuckles up though he froze. Knuckles gave him an odd look, but he held up a hand. Something felt… weird. Sonic glanced around. Nothing was out of the ordinary that he could see, but there was a definite feeling of wrongness. It felt… almost a little familiar honestly but he could quite place why. For now though he was on edge, with his fur and quills raised.

“What’s going on?” Knuckles asked quietly, glancing around. Sonic shook his head. He didn’t know. Whatever this was though he was certain it was nothing to do with Dark Gaia. He knew the feeling of something related to the god. This wasn’t it. 

Unfortunately though he wasn’t able to find the source of it before things went red, then black.

Heart of a Hero (Between chap 11 and 12)

“Hey Metal? You ok?” Tails walked up to where Metal was looking out over the edge of Angel Island.

Metal turned to him and shrugged. ‘Just thinking I guess’ He signed.

“There is a lot to think about huh?” Tails hummed. The two were quiet for a while. Metal wished he could feel the wind that gently blew through the area. At least he could vividly imagine it… “Are you… alright?” Tails looked at him with barely hidden concern.

If Metal could frown he would. Honestly he hated worrying any of his friends, but it just seemed to keep happening despite his best efforts. ‘I’m-’ Metal let his hands hang motionless for a moment as he gathered his thoughts. ‘-I will be ok’ He settled on. No point in trying to lie if Tails already knew he was not doing great. ‘Right now I just want to focus on getting those emeralds and maybe stopping Eggman with them’ He nodded.

“Right.” Tails sounded like he wanted to press, but he ultimately didn’t. “Do you think we’ll be able to find them all?”

‘For sure’ Metal nodded, wishing he could give Tails a reassuring smile. He pat the green scarf around his neck. ‘Already got one remember?’

Tails chuckled. “How can I forget? Knuckles trying to keep it away from you was some of the best entertainment I’ve had in a while.” The two lapsed into comfortable silence again. The emerald stashed in Metal’s scarf sent a jolt of chaos energy his way, perhaps in an attempt at reassurance. He appreciated the effort. “I’m just… worried about you.” Tails eventually broke the silence. “I think I speak for Silver, and even Shadow too when I say that.”

‘I know buddy. I know’ Metal signed slowly. ‘Things will work out. Just you wait and see’

“I… believe you.” Tails sounded unsure. “I’m just worried about what we’ll have to go through to get there.” He added, much more quiet. It wasn’t an unreasonable fear to have, especially with Eggman in control of most of the planet, but Metal hated seeing Tails like this. 

As he went to put a reassuring hand on Tails' shoulder he got a sudden alert. On instinct he grabbed Tails and rushed forward. He narrowly managed to save the two of them from falling into an odd tear in the floor. Tails seemed shaken up but his full attention was on the tear. Metal did a quick scan of it. Small traces of chaos energy… but nothing else he recognized. The emerald moved around in his scarf. Maybe it was uneasy? “What is that?” Tails asked as he pulled out the Miles Electric. 

Metal just shook his head. He had no idea what it was. Whatever it was though, it was giving him a lot of warnings. Clearly even his systems thought this was a major threat. While he didn’t love being super reliant on his systems for things like this, he felt inclined to head the warnings this time. “I’m… not sure what I’m looking at here.” Tails briefly glanced at Metal. “Whatever it is though… it’s not natural.” His tails flickted behind him.

‘Agreed’ Metal nodded. As he was trying to figure out what they should do he got another alert before things flashed red and he was shoved forward. Right towards the tear. He just hoped Tails was ok as things went black.

Lost and Found (Pre “Another Step on the Path”)

“Just stick close to me ok?” Sonic held out a hand as he gave Shadow a reassuring smile. “It’ll be fine, promise.”

Shadow looked unsure, tail flicking nervously behind him. His hand started to reach out but he hesitated. That was fine though, for once Sonic was alright with being patient. That’s just how working with Shadow had to be. Something he’d learned the hard way when first trying. He had several past scratches and bites to prove it. That was fine though, Sonic could take those. Plus Shadow had almost always looked… well dare he say scared after he’d realized he’d hurt Sonic. He hated seeing Shadow look like that, especially after finding out what happened to him.  

Finally Shadow nodded, standing up a bit straighter. He didn’t take Sonic’s offered hand but he moved up to his side. That was good enough. Sonic really enjoyed the moments where Shadow’s true personality started to shine through. Those moments only really came when he was comfortable though, and it was hard to get him there sometimes. Now, with Sonic leading them through some of the less busy parts of Station Square, wasn’t exactly one of those times but it was close. Hopefully eventually Shadow would feel comfortable to be himself all the time. Baby steps for now though.

All things considered Shadow did well. Of course he didn’t say anything and was more or less glued to Sonic’s side the whole time, but he seemed mostly calm. It was a big improvement over the first couple times he’d tried to bring Shadow out. Those had been… a bit chaotic but nothing he couldn’t handle. To be fair Sonic had been trying to move things a bit fast. Honestly he’d seriously underestimated how slowly he needed to introduce Shadow to most things. He probably should have listened to Tails a bit more in the beginning, but hey he’d figured it out eventually.

“Alright.” Sonic nodded. “I think that’s enough excitement for today. Let’s head back huh?” He gestured over his shoulder. Shadow silently sighed in relief and Sonic pretended not to notice. “What about a race back?” It hadn’t taken long for Sonic to realize how competitive Shadow could get. Something made all the more fun when he’d found out the other hedgehog could keep up with him in a race.

Shadow’s eyes narrowed, and the start of a confident grin slipped onto his face. That was challenge accepted then. “End point is Tails’ lab.” Sonic let a confident grin of his own slip onto his face. “Three, two, one-” Both of them tensed. “-go!”

The two were off like a shot. Sonic reveled in the feeling of someone being able to challenge him speed wise. Sure there was Metal Sonic, but while those races were fun they more often than not turned into fights. Plus as competitive as Metal was, it was way different when it was strictly friendly.

Sonic was so caught up in his own thoughts that he didn't notice Shadow dive at him and send both of them crashing into the ground. He was about to say something when he noticed what looked like some sort of tear in the air. If Shadow hadn't stopped them they both would have run right into it. Shadow was up on all fours glaring at the tear with teeth bared. Not a great sign, but Sonic didn't need much information to figure the thing was dangerous. "Guess we're due for a bit more excitement today huh?" Sonic carefully stood up, but stayed where he was.

"Oh so very right!" A black jackal emerged from the tear. 

Sonic immediately knew the guy was bad news, and Shadow was less than pleased based on how he started growling. "Settle down Shadow." Sonic kept his voice calm. "So what's your deal then?" He crossed his arms.

"I'm simply putting together something… interesting." The jackal pulled out something Sonic never thought he'd see again. The Phantom Ruby. "You two just happen to be the final pieces." The ruby glowed in their hands. "Enjoy the trip." Sonic felt Shadow's tail wrap around his leg before he felt himself falling. He could feel himself slipping into unconsciousness as things went red, then black.

Shadow jolted awake. His eyes darted around to find Sonic. Thankfully his tail was still wrapped around the blue hedgehog’s leg. He allowed himself to relax marginally when he saw the steady rise and fall of his chest. Once he was satisfied with Sonic's condition he turned his attention to their surroundings. A sort of sparse wooded area with some rocks strewn about. He froze when he noticed there were others here, some were familiar. Mostly because there were two other Sonics. They looked different, but they were unmistakable.

He shuffled slightly closer to… his Sonic. What was this? This had something to do with that person who had shown up out of nowhere no doubt. Sonic had shown some sort of familiarity so maybe he’d have a better idea of what was going on.

As he tried to subtly rouse Sonic he noticed “Tails” beginning to stir. Although this fox shared many features with the Tails he was familiar with, most notably the two tails, there were plenty of differences that tipped him off it was not the same person. They blinked wearily before they locked eyes with Shadow. “Shadow..?” They asked, clearly confused. Shadow just narrowed his eyes at the imposter. Suddenly the imposter’s eyes were clearer. Their head swiveled around until their eyes landed on the robot next to them. They relaxed marginally, but were clearly still worried.

Thankfully Shadow was spared trying to figure out what was going on alone when Sonic groaned at his side. “Shadow?” Sonic turned to him, his grogginess apparently evaporating at the sight of Shadow. Understandable, he was on edge and Sonic had been getting very good at reading his moods. “What happened?” Sonic was alert, ready to move at a moment’s notice. Good. 

Shadow pinned his ears back and gestured to the only other person that was awake. ‘That is not Tails’ He signed quickly.

Sonic glanced over at the imposter and frowned. Shadow would guess he was cataloging the differences between them and the real Tails. “Sure looks a lot like him… but I think you’re right.” He hummed. “I wonder if this is a book type of situation…” He muttered to himself. Shadow had no idea what that meant. “Well, only one way to find out huh?” Carefully he removed Shadow’s tail from around his leg. “Yo!” He called as he stood up. Shadow reluctantly stood up beside him. He still didn’t like this, but he’d trust Sonic… for now.

Tails jolted at the sudden address and looked over where the call came from. He tried not to outwardly react as he caught sight of the blue hedgehog that had waved at him. It couldn’t be… could it? Had this whole situation just turned out to be a good thing? Whatever this situation even was. He glanced down at Metal. It would be good if the robot was online. If anyone could confirm the hedgehog’s identity it would be him. “Sonic..?” He tentatively asked.

The blue hedgehog didn’t seem too surprised at the name. “That’s the name.” Sonic grinned. “You are?” He tilted his head.

“Oh! Uh Miles… but people just call me Tails.” Tails wrung his hands.

“Tails huh?” Sonic’s expression changed slightly, but Tails couldn’t quite place it. Next to him the hedgehog that looked a lot like Shadow narrowed their eyes more. Something was off.

“Interesting.” Sonic mumbled to himself. “I think I might know what’s going on here.” His expression hardened. “That creep had the Phantom Ruby, so all of this probably isn’t real. The guy thought making copies of me and some of my friends would throw me off. Looks like he at least got a little creative about it though…”

Tails felt panic spike through him. He had no idea what this Phantom Ruby was, but if Sonic didn’t think he was real he wasn’t sure he wanted to find out what the hedgehog would do. If Metal was awake he might feel a bit safer since the robot should be able to match Sonic in terms of power, but as it stood Tails didn’t feel like he stood a chance. Especially if the Shadow look-a-like was anything like the Shadow he knew.

He was pulled from his panic by a hand on his shoulder. A familiar, metallic hand. Metal stared down the duo menacingly. “Metal are you..?” Tails glanced at him.

Metal nodded and shot him a thumbs up with his free hand. “Working with Metal Sonic huh?” Sonic looked between the two of them before giving Tails a disapproving look.

Tails pinned his ears down. “He’s my friend.” He steeled his nerves. “Don’t you dare judge him or me when you don’t know what either of us have been through.” He sounded angry by the end. Wasn’t Sonic supposed to be a hero? Someone who was supposed to help them stop Eggman? 

Sonic’s expression faltered a bit. Maybe Tails could get him to listen after all. That would be better than the fight that was clearly threatening to break out. As he tried to figure out the best way to do that another passed out figure suddenly jolted awake. “I’m up!” The… other blue hedgehog, this one wearing a brown scarf and moon shaped pendant, rose a hand. He blinked as he took in the tense scene. “Huh.”

Behind him someone who looked just like Knuckles got up, holding his head. “What happened..?” He glanced out at the scene as well, brow furrowing. Tails took a deep breath. Just what was going on?

Knuckles frowned in confusion as he took in everything in front of him. Sonic had taken to staring at the others, who looked about ready to fight, in a mix of interest and confusion. “What is this?” Knuckles straightened his back. If a fight was about to break out he wasn’t going to be caught unaware. 

Sonic hummed. “I might have an idea.” He tapped his foot. “I feel like… this is sort of familiar in a way.

“Well? What’s happening then?” Knuckles urged Sonic to explain.

“Just hang back. I’ve got this.” Sonic winked at him as he walked up to be between the others. Knuckles stared in mild disbelief at Sonic’s blatant disregard for his own safety. “Alright why don’t we all just calm down?”

“One of the fake mes is up huh?” The Sonic look-a-like hummed.

Sonic held up a finger as he frowned at the blue hedgehog. “First, rude.” He held up a second finger. “Second, no one here is fake. Probably.”

“Really?” The fox spoke up. “How do you know?”

“Wonderful question buddy.” Sonic cleared his throat. “I’ve… experienced something like this before. I had a nice chill chat with another me. Can’t really remember the conversation but I know it happened.” He crossed his arms. “This could be that, but uh more people.” He shrugged.

“You never told me that.” Knuckles crossed his arms. It was hard to shut Sonic up sometimes, there was no way the hedgehog wouldn’t have shared that with him.

“That's because I didn’t remember it before right now.” Sonic sighed. “I don’t think I was supposed to remember it at all to be honest.”

The other Sonic actually relaxed at that. “You know I guess that’s not too far-fetched. I have met up with my past self a couple times.” He frowned and turned to the fox and robot. “Sorry about threatening you guys. Me and Shadow were attacked before waking up here so I was kinda on edge. That wasn’t cool of me though.” 

“It’s uh… alright.” The fox nodded, relaxing as well. At the fox’s side the robot rose their hands and started to make deliberate motions with them. “Metal says apology accepted… as long as you don’t threaten me again.” The fox rubbed the back of his head.

The other Sonic let out a short chuckle. “I can do that.”

The black hedgehog looked at Metal with interest and started moving their hands as well. The two went back and forth for a bit before Knuckles lost interest in trying to figure out what they were trying to say. “Shouldn’t we be trying to figure out a way back rather than… this?” Knuckles gestured at the group. “Some of us have things we need to get back to.”

“We just had to sort things out first, Knucklehead.” The other Sonic grinned. “We’ll figure this out.”

“We should share any information we have first.” The fox spoke up. “That way we have a better shot at figuring out what happened.”

“Sounds like a plan.” Sonic nodded at the fox in approval.

As the group started to share information Knuckles glanced at the last person who’d yet to wake up. From the looks of it, they were another Sonic. Wonderful. One was already a handful but three? He’d just have to deal with it though. At least until they figured out a way to get back. For now though he should go pay attention to the information the group was sharing. The faster he could get him and Sonic back the better.

Super was not panicking. Thank you. He was just… keeping himself alert in a less than ideal situation. Yeah. “Sonic you better get up right now or I swear to Chaos…” Super growled. There was no response. Which was just great. He could hear things, voices, but couldn’t really make out what they were saying. It was possible that the Holoska locals had found them but… Super found that unlikely. That weird jackal had confronted them before all this and he doubted they would have just left them there.

This all left him with only one thing he really could do. It wouldn’t be good to let Sonic keep being a sitting duck. Not when he could do something about it. He flexed his hands. Even if he was doubtful about his ability to keep himself under control right now. With no resistance he pushed Sonic out of control and took over.

Sounds snapped into sharp focus now that the “body” was awake. Though of course the talking abruptly stopped the moment he moved to get up. Clearly whoever was there had noticed him. He opened his eyes to take in the group, and almost wished he hadn’t. Of all the things he’d been expecting this was not it. Two other Sonics stared back at him; along with Tails, Knuckles, Metal Sonic, and… what looked like Shadow.

Super blinked. The other Sonics blinked back. After several moments of tense silence one of the Sonics, the one with the red scarf, walked forward. “Hey there.” He spoke gently. “You are probably pretty confused, but don’t worry. We’ve worked out we’re all cool. Apparently we’re all from different worlds but we’re working together to figure out how to get us all back.” He smiled.

That seemed… just outlandish enough to not be a lie. Super slowly stood up, willing himself to stay as calm as possible. If this Sonic was telling the truth, attacking them wouldn’t help anything. “We’re trying to figure out how to get back so just come over and join us when you’re ready.” He stayed back as the Sonic rejoined the group and they continued whatever conversation they were having. This was all a lot, but he could handle it. He had to. For now though maybe he should work on waking up Sonic. His Sonic that is. The fact he was still passed out had Super on edge.

As he mentally prodded at Sonic he noticed his vision shift, the edges going red for a moment. His eyes narrowed at what was once a group of somewhat familiar faces. Standing there now was a group of robots and the last person Super wanted to see right now. Eggman. Things slowly clicked into place. Whatever happened must have been Eggman’s fault. That jackal must be working with the doctor.

He growled and Eggman turned to face him. The doctor grinned, and Super could feel chaos energy beginning to spark around his body. The robots all stood at attention, and Metal Sonic moved up to his creator’s side. That was it. No way Super was going to let Eggman make the first move. He sprung forward intending to attack the doctor directly. Maybe if he took out their leader this fight would be over quick.

A couple minutes earlier…

Sonic watched as the other him walked back over to the group. Leaving the now golden furred hedgehog on their own for the time being. “I think they’ll be ok.” The other Sonic said as he rejoined them.

“Good to hear.” Tails smiled. “Will they be coming over soon?”

The other Sonic glanced back. “I’d give them a minute. They seem kind of shaken up.”

“Well for now, back to business!” Sonic clapped his hands together. “First though we need to slow down and figure out what we’re all calling each other. Particularly those of us with the same names.” He pointed to himself with his thumb. “You can call me Fate. I think that’s the name I used the last time this happened.”

“Hmmm I guess you can call me… Blur then.” The newly dubbed Blur shrugged. 

“Kinda boring but it works.” Fate nodded. “We’ll figure out what to call them when they come over.” He gestured to the golden hedgehog, who seemed to be lost in thought. “As for everyone else… I guess just your names are fine since there’s no other repeats!” He gestured to the group. “So just introduce yourselves in case someone doesn’t know a version of you.”

No one spoke up for a bit, that was until Tails stepped forward. “Well uh, like I said before I’m Miles, but just call me Tails.” He smiled before gesturing at the robot that was with him. “And this is Metal Sonic. We usually just call him Metal though.” Metal waved at the group.

When no one else spoke up Fate pushed Knuckles forward. The echidna gave him an annoyed look. “I’m Knuckles.” He said, crossing his arms. Fate nodded in approval.

Blur looked over at the black hedgehog, at least Fate was pretty sure they were a hedgehog, and gestured to the group. He tilted his head in silent question. The black hedgehog sighed before putting a hand on their chest. “Shadow.”

“Now that we’re all acquainted…” Blur looked back at the group after giving Shadow an approving smile. “Do we have any ideas on how we can get back?”

“Based on the limited information we have I’d say our best bet would be to try and find that jackal.” Tails hummed. 

“We need to be careful though since they have the Phantom Ruby.” Blur frowned as he crossed his arms. “That thing can be pretty dangerous as long as that guy knows how to use it.”

“Does it have any weaknesses?” Knuckles asked as he let his arms hang at his sides.

“The thing does need a powersource to function.” Blur perked up. “If we can find that and take it out the thing should be near useless.”

“That’s as good a place as any to start things.” Fate grinned. “Plus if we go poking around for this powersource the guy might show his face to try and stop us.”

Blur snapped his fingers and nodded. “Bingo. If they try to stop us we’ll know we’re getting closer too.”

Metal was suddenly alert, his hands moving in what Fate had recently learned was sign language. Shadow looked concerned as well and glanced back where Metal was looking. Slowly everyone in the group turned to look at what the duo was looking at. Fate suppressed an involuntary shudder as he took in the golden hedgehog. They had energy sparking around their body and a dark look in their odd, spiral eyes. 

His fur was standing up and he fought the urge to give into his fight or flight instincts. This guy might as well have a big, neon sign pointing to them right now that said “DANGER” the way Fate’s instincts were going haywire.

Metal moved up to Blur’s side; the robot looked ready to fight. It occurred then to Fate that he should probably prepare himself too. Blur had been trying in vain to calm down the golden hedgehog with words, so things were probably going to come to a fight. The tension kept building until the golden hedgehog leapt forward. They were fast, but thankfully so was Blur. The other hedgehog barely managed to dodge a quick swipe from the golden hedgehog’s claws.

With that first attack everyone jumped in. Him, Blur, and Metal kept the golden hedgehog’s attention on them by running literal circles around them. Fate would really love to focus on the fact that there wasn’t only one other person who could keep up with him but three; unfortunately he needed to focus on not getting slashed by one of the golden hedgehog’s unpredictable attacks.

“Keep on your toes guys!” Blur leapt out of the way of a sudden dive. “If this guy is super like I think he is then we’re kinda outmatched here. Unless you two have some sort of secret power I don’t know about that can damage someone who’s invulnerable.”

Fate bit his tongue. He nearly blurted out something about the werehog. There really wasn’t a need to bring that up right now. It was good for fighting those Dark Gaia creatures not… this. Plus it wasn’t even nighttime so it didn’t matter anyway. If he could help it, these guys would never have to know about it. “Fraid not.” Fate quickly curled into a ball to avoid another attack before uncurling.

“Worth asking.” Blur shrugged before being pushed out of the way of an attack by Metal. “Thanks dude.” He nodded at Metal. The robot gave him a nod and thumbs up.

The golden hedgehog growled in frustration. “Enough messing around.” His eyes landed on Blur. “I’m going to rip your stupid toys to shreds, and then it’s your turn doctor.”

Blur furrowed his brow for a moment before realization passed over his face. “Shadow!” He suddenly turned to face the black hedgehog who’d been hanging back watching the fight. “That jackal is around here somewhere! I think this guy is under the effects of the ruby!” Without a word Shadow was gone, presumably to look for the jackal.

Unfortunately they’d all failed to notice that during that exchange that the golden hedgehog had been building up energy. “Been practicing this one. Consider yourself lucky you’re the first one I’m properly using it on!” The golden hedgehog snarled.

Metal seemed concerned and Blur’s eyes widened. “Everyone get clear!” Blur rushed back and grabbed Tails with Metal hot on his trail. Fate was only a moment behind them. He snatched up a slightly stunned Knuckles on his way. It wasn’t a moment too soon as there was an explosion of energy behind them. Once Fate stopped his eyes widened as he took in the aftermath. The air was charged with what he could now properly recognize as chaos energy and most of what had been in the radius was gone.

“That was chaos blast.” Blur explained as the golden hedgehog touched down on the slightly charred earth. He was panting slightly and his eyes were squeezed shut. Looks like they might have a couple minutes to breathe. “I’ve never seen anyone but Shadow do that…” He added, quieter.

“No need to explain how dangerous it is.” Fate cringed. That would have been devastating if they’d been caught in that. “So you seem to know what’s going on more than us.” He turned to look at Blur. “Any way to stop him?”

“Well if it works anything like my own transformation outlasting him would work but…” Blur trailed off.

“But?” Knuckles jumped in.

“But he seemed to transform without the emeralds at all. I’m not sure if the rules of my own super form apply to him.” Blur continued, frowning.

“So… chaos energy powers the transformation?” Tails asked, sounding contemplative.

“Yeah.” Blur nodded. 

Tails bit his lip. “If we could somehow drain him of enough chaos energy do you think the transformation would become unstable?

Blur grinned. “Looks like you being the smartest guy in the room is a multiversal constant.”

Tails looked away in embarrassment. “It was a pretty simple deduction. Anyone could have put that together.” Metal gave him what felt like an unimpressed look.

“Don’t put yourself down like that kid. You’re smart. Own it.” Blur pat him on the shoulder. “Plus I feel like you have a plan for doing that.”

“I-” Tails looked back up. “Yeah I do.” He cleared his throat and pointed at Metal. “I think Metal can do it.” Metal tilted his head. “You can run off chaos energy. You’ve been since we found that emerald.” Tails turned to Metal and the robot nodded. “If you’re able to take in chaos energy like that then maybe you can siphon it from him.” He gestured to where the golden hedgehog was still standing. It looked like he had almost recovered from the attack.

“That’s risky if you’re not positive he can do it.” Knuckles grunted.

“We don’t really have time for a safer plan Knux.” Fate gently elbowed him. “I’m all for risky over no plan right now.”

“I wish I had more time to think about it but…” Tails trailed off. Metal got his attention and signed something to him. A small smile made its way onto Tails’ muzzle. “Thanks Metal.” He looked up at the group. “I need everyone but Metal to be the best distraction they can. Really catch his attention. We need him to forget Metal even exists.” He looked at Blur. “I think you’ll have the best chance at keeping his attention on you based on what I noticed watching the fight.”

“He called me doctor.” Blur hummed. “If he’s under the effects of the Phantom Ruby like I think he is, I think he’s seeing me as Eggman. If that’s the case I’m not surprised he’s focused on me more.”

“Use it to your advantage.” Tails nodded. 

“Time’s up everyone.” Fate took a deep breath as he noticed the golden hedgehog’s eyes were open again. “Showtime.”

Fate, Blur, and Knuckles all rushed forward immediately gaining the golden hedgehog’s full attention. “Survived that huh?” Chaos energy crackled around him.

Blur cleared his throat. “That’s right you annoying rodent.” He said in an exaggerated voice. The golden hedgehog’s eye twitched. “Did you really think that would end me?” He rose a brow. “Hardly. You two?” He looked at Fate and Knuckles briefly. “Destroy him!”

Both of them hesitated. Fate realized he should probably listen since Blur was clearly putting on some sort of act. Probably acting more like this Eggman guy to sell the whole thing more. He rushed forward and collided with the golden hedgehog’s chest with a spin dash. He stumbled back but didn’t look hurt in the slightest. He rushed forward with some of the crackling chaos energy gathering in his hand before it was released as some sort of projectile. Fate didn’t have time to react and got hit dead on with it. It stung more than anything he’d felt before as he was flung backwards due to the impact. He hissed in pain as his back collided with the ground.

Well that could have gone better, but he was alive at least. “Still in one piece huh? I can fix that.” The golden hedgehog growled as he walked forward, chaos energy once again starting to collect in his hand.

“Back off!” Knuckles rushed forward and punched him square in the face. “I need that idiot alive!” Fate wasn’t sure if he should be insulted or flattered by that. Either way Knuckles was there to lend him a hand to get up. He took the offered hand without a thought. Before the golden hedgehog could attack again Blur rushed forward with a spin dash of his own, effectively putting all the attention on him. “You ok?” Knuckles asked, watching the fight with mild worry in his eyes.

“Been better, been worse.” Fate groaned as he tried to ignore the sting where the attack had connected. It was fading, but it was slow.

“Chaos energy when wielded properly can be extremely dangerous.” Knuckles glanced at the spot where Fate had been hit.

“I noticed.” Fate stretched. “All the more reason we should get back in there and help him out.” Knuckles grunted in agreement and the two ran in to rejoin the fight. Blur looked a little worse for wear but seemed happy to see the two of them back in the fight.

It was a dangerous game they were playing but at the moment they didn’t have much of a choice. Each time they failed they got a painful reminder why they needed to be on their a game. Thankfully they were saved from the inevitable conclusion of this game by the appearance of Metal. 

The robot rushed apparently unnoticed at the golden hedgehog until he was wrapping his metallic arms around the other. “What the!?” The gold hedgehog shouted in confusion and anger. “Get the hell off me Scrap! Before I make you live up to that nickname!”

Much to Fate’s relief some of the sparking chaos energy around the golden hedgehog started to fade. The golden hedgehog’s eyes widened as he realized what was happening. He tried to pry Metall off of him, but the robot refused to let go. Even when claws left deep scrapes in his arms. Fate had to pin his ears against his head to block out the sound of those claws screeching against metal.

Finally though it all stopped as the golden hedgehog collapsed to his knees, suddenly looking tired. He squinted at the group in front of him, a confused look on his face before gold gave way to blue. In front of them was now a very tired looking Sonic, no longer in super form. Metal let go and inspected the damage to his arms. Tails came rushing out of whatever hiding spot he’d been in to run to Metal’s side.

“You good now?” Blur cautiously walked forward.

Sonic frowned. “I… think? What’s going on? Last thing I remember I was in Holoska when this jackal showed up.” He looked at the three of them again. “And now there’s…”

“Two more versions of you?” Fate smiled. “Yeah it’s been a weird day for all of us.” He walked forward and offered a hand. After a moment Sonic took it.

“Ugh, I feel like I got hit by a truck.” Sonic rubbed his face.

“Actually you got hit by Knuckles.” Fate gestured over his shoulder at the echidna. “Plus a few spin dashes.”

“Sounds about right.” Sonic sighed.

“So, weird super form?” Blur asked.

Sonic tilted his head in confusion. “Weird super form..? Oh!” His eyes widened. “You mean Super!” He felt his chest, looking down for a moment. After several oddly quiet seconds he sighed, a small concerned frown on his face. “Super is… uh another person.”

“You both share the same body?” Tails asked, an interested look in his eyes.

“Yeah, exactly.” Sonic nodded, faltering slightly as his eyes landed on the fox. 

Before any further questions could be asked Shadow reappeared at Blur’s side. “There.” He pointed.

Where Shadow was pointing there was a rock, but more importantly there was a mostly black jackal that sat on the rock. There was an amused look on their face and a magenta gem of some sort in their hands. “How very amusing.” They purred. “You’re all quite clever hm?”

“You’re the one that sent us here right?” Blur stepped forward. “Why?”

The jackal perked up. “As I told you before. I was putting together something interesting.” They gestured to the group. “And interesting it has been so far. I was disappointed at first when you were able to diffuse things.” They pointed to Fate. “But I was given another wonderful opportunity in him being left unattended.” They gestured to Sonic.

“What did you do to Super?” Sonic narrowed his eyes and stepped forward with a couple unsteady steps.

“Simply nudged him over the edge where he was already teetering.” The jackal smiled widely. “Don’t worry about him. The others managed to take care of him before he could do too much damage.” They stood up. “Enough of that now though. That game is over. It’s time for something new.” They glanced up at the sky. “Ah what good timing. Night approaches. Have fun.” A tear in the air opened up behind them and they disappeared through it.

Fate sucked in a breath. Almost night already? He hadn’t even noticed with everything that had been going on. Knuckles looked over at him and the two locked eyes. This might be about to get rough.

Metal sat patiently as he let Tails repair his arms as best he could at the moment. Now that things had temporarily settled down there was time for it to sink in just how crazy this whole situation was. He already had enough to worry about between his own issues and trying to take down Eggman. Something like this was the last thing he needed. Things were made worse by the fact that there were three separate Sonics there. None of which were even the one they were trying to find. It was frustrating that the first time they’d find Sonic it wasn’t even their own. The emerald in his scarf sent him a consoling jolt of energy; he mentally thanked it.

“We need to figure out what they were implying when they pointed out that night was coming.” Blur paced back and forth.

“You think he’s planning on making another move then?” Sonic spoke up. The group had decided to just call the third Sonic by his name after everything that happened with Super, or as he’d explained it the whole other person who shared a body with him. Metal honestly wasn’t sure how to feel about that information, but Sonic had assured them that Super was typically not like that.

“I’d say so.” Blur nodded.

“They might target one of us again.” Tails looked up from his work. “I feel like if they wanted to fight us head on they would have done it during the whole fight with Super.”

“The ruby is strong…” Sonic hummed. “But if they don’t know how to use it too well they might not be confident in fighting us head on. Infinite had time to learn to use the ruby and Eggman to guide him. As far as we know this guy hasn’t had it long and no one’s taught him how to use it.”

“If we can corner them then we might be able to get the advantage.” Blur hummed, pausing in his pacing.

“We need to find the powersource.” Shadow spoke up. It was quiet and sort of tentative but it was there.

Blur nodded in agreement. “Yeah. Disabling the ruby should be our top priority. Gaia forbid they learn how to use it properly before we can do that.”

Metal’s attention drifted to the only ones, besides himself, that hadn’t contributed to the conversation yet. Fate and Knuckles. The hedgehog looked nervous, subtly glancing at the sky as he tapped his foot at high speeds. Meanwhile Knuckles was harder to read, but he seemed tense. Those two knew something, and for whatever reason they weren’t saying anything. Unfortunately Metal couldn’t say anything right now either thanks to his arms being worked on. Hopefully someone else would notice.

“We should go looking for it then rather than sitting around here then.” Sonic hummed. “If we stay here we’re just playing into their plans.”

“As long as everyone’s up for it.” Blur nodded. “How’s everyone feeling?” He cast a glance around the group.

“Oh, good good. Just fine.” Fate chuckled nervously. “Feeling… great.” Knuckles put his head in his hands and groaned as Fate put his hands behind his head, trying and failing to act casual.

“Are you… ok?” Tails looked up at him, concerned frown on his face.

“Yeah! Heh. Like I said just fine.” Fate did not look in him in the eyes.

“Do you really think you can lie like that… to two of yourself?” Sonic gestured between himself and Blur. 

Fate looked anywhere but at them. “Iiiiii have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Look we all wanna help each other here.” Blur took a step forward. “That means just for a little bit we need to tell each other stuff.”

Metal watched as Fate glanced around nervously before looking up at the sky. The moon was just starting to rise. “Ah yes. Totally. I’ll just… tell you… now…” His eyes darted around before he bolted.

Everyone stood there in mildly shocked silence. Well everyone except Knuckles, who was just glaring in the direction Fate had left in. “I’ll go get him.” He sighed and walked off.

“So I guess we’re waiting then?” Sonic glanced back at the group.

“Guess so.” Blur looked concerned. “I wanna help but I don’t know what his deal was. There’s too much of a risk of just making things worse.”

“Huh.” Sonic hummed. “That’s pretty mature of you. I probably would have gone and tried anyway if Knuckles hadn’t.”

“Benefit of age I guess.” Blur shrugged.

“Wait…” Sonic looked him over. “How old are you? I thought you’d be the same age as me and him.”

Blur smiled knowingly. “Older than you.”

“That’s not a number.” Sonic pointed at him, frowning.

“Sure isn’t.” Blur chuckled.

The two stared at each other for a moment before Sonic shrugged. “Fair enough.”

Metal mentally sighed. Well guess all there was to do was wait. With any luck Knuckles would be able to bring Fate back before that jackal made their next move.

Once Fate felt like he was far enough away he braced himself for his transformation. As it happened every night dark energy enveloped him before receding away, leaving him in his werehog form. He sighed. Running off probably wasn’t his best move, there were plenty of people who could actually keep up with him around, but he just didn’t wanna risk it.

He took a couple deep breaths to calm himself down. Realistically he wouldn’t be able to avoid them all night, so he really should just head back and rip off the bandaid. Yet he still hesitated. “Ok Sonic.” Fate took another deep breath. “You just need to go back and explain to them why you ran off. Two of them are literally you, they should understand.”

He started to pace, but stopped when he heard the sound of footsteps. Tensing he prepared to… well he wasn’t sure what but he was prepared to do something. He relaxed though as Knuckles came into view. “So you really thought just running off would solve the problem?” The echidna crossed his arms and gave Fate an unimpressed look.

“I… panicked.” Fate sighed. “Running was the first thing I thought of.”

“Well get it together.” Knuckles huffed. “We need to get back there and explain before something happens.”

“Yeah.” Fate nodded. “Yeah you’re right.” Knuckles grunted in agreement before walking back the way he came. After a moment Fate followed him. It was a quiet walk but honestly he’d expected that. It gave him time to figure out how he was going to explain. Once the others were in sight it really sunk in. This would be the first time he’d chosen to explain it to someone. With Tails and Knuckles he’d been forced to explain due to circumstance. He let his eyes wander in an attempt to distract himself from that thought. He stopped dead in his tracks though as he spotted a familiar sight. “Knuckles!” He whisper yelled.

The echidna stopped as well and turned around, quickly following Fate’s line of sight. “Dark Gaia creatures here? How?” Knuckles growled.

“No idea…” Fate growled as the monsters moved closer. “I couldn’t even feel that they were here. That’s never happened before.” He flexed his claws. “Go back and warn the others. I’ll hold them off.”

Knuckles looked reluctant to leave Fate on his own but eventually gave in. “Don’t you dare die on me while I have my eyes off you!”

“And disappoint you? I wouldn’t dream of it.” Fate chuckled. As Knuckles ran off to the others, Fate turned his full attention to the Dark Gaia creatures. “Well looks like it’s your unlucky day.” He smirked. “I just so happen to be just the guy made to pound you into the ground.” He slid into a fighting stance as they continued to approach. “Let’s dance.”

“We have a problem!” Knuckles ran towards the group, skidding to a stop.

Sonic was immediately alert. Even Super perked up in mild alarm despite still being groggy from before. “What happened?” Sonic was at Knuckles’ side quickly, checking him for any injuries or anything else.

“Not much time to explain, but there are monsters.” Knuckles pointed back in the direction he’d come from. “You all probably won’t be able to hurt them but me and So-” He shook his head. “-Fate can. We’ll take care of them. Just stay clear.”

“A little late for that.” Blur gestured to the familiar monsters that were now in line of sight. Shadow’s quills stood up as he narrowed his eyes at the monsters.

“Oh.” Sonic perked up. “Dark Gaia huh? That’s what you two are dealing with at the moment?” He looked back at Knuckles.

The echidna seemed confused but nodded. “Yeah. That’s… how did you know?”

It was Blur that actually answered. “Been there and done that.” He cracked his knuckles as he eyed the approaching monsters. “Did Fate run off because of the whole werehog thing? If so, no need to worry. Been through that all before too.” Shadow gave him an odd look. One that Blur answered by simply shrugging.

“Same here.” Sonic nodded.

“Were… what?” Super asked.

“I’ll tell you later, after we work all this out.” Sonic answered mentally. “For now just rest.”

“Ugh, fine. Just don’t get yourself killed.” Super sighed.

“I’ll try my best not to.” Sonic chuckled.

Metal signed something as he took in the monsters. “Metal says you all have some weird adventures.” Tails translated. “I can’t help but agree with him on that.”

“Wouldn’t be the first time I’ve heard that.” Blur rolled his shoulders back. “Knuckles you can go tell Fate we won’t judge him. For now we’ll see if we can do anything about these guys.”

Knuckles shook his head. “Alright. Fine. I’ll be back.” He ran back in the direction he’d come from.

“Been a while since I’ve fought these guys.” Sonic pounded a fist into his open palm. “Wonder how different it’ll be fighting them like this.”

“Just be careful everyone.” Tails’ namesakes twitched nervously. “Knuckles did say he wasn’t sure if we could fight them.”

“Only one way to find out.” Sonic dove at the monsters and collided with them using a spin dash. The weaker ones vanished as they were hit. “Well, question answered.”

“And what would have happened if that didn’t work?” Super asked as Sonic dashed back to where the others had started fighting. 

“Eh, I would have figured it out.” Sonic jumped over the swipe of one of the larger ones. “Doesn’t matter now since it worked.”

“I understand why Tails calls you reckless now.” Super scoffed.

“Don’t act like you wouldn’t have done the same thing in this situation.” Sonic pulled Metal out of the way of a monster he didn’t see and got a thankful nod from the robot before he jumped back into the fight.

“The difference there is I’m invulnerable. You’re not.” Super answered. “On your left.” He added, sounding almost bored.

Sonic used a quick homing attack on the flying monster on his left. “Thanks.”

“Someone has to make sure you’re ok since Tails isn’t here.” Super hummed.

“Guess so, but I can take care of myself you know. Kinda literally right now.” Sonic laughed to himself. 

“Just focus, hedgehog.” Super sounded unamused.

“Big guy coming up.” Blur pointed to a larger monster that looked distinct from the others. Knuckles was running in front of it while it gave chase. Shadow and Tails rushed forward; Tails grabbing Knuckles and pulling him out of harm’s way and Shadow colliding with the monster chasing him.

“The hell are you doing!?” Knuckles glared at Tails once the fox put him down.

Tails shrunk in on himself. “I was… saving you?” He sounded unsure.

“From what?” Knuckles’ voice sounded strained.

“From big ugly over there.” Sonic ran over and gestured to the monster Shadow was now engaging.

Knuckles looked over there, brow furrowed. “What..?” His eyes widened. “Oh for the love of… not again.” He looked back at Sonic and Tails. “That’s not one of them! That’s Sonic! My Sonic!”

“Oh.” Was all Sonic could manage. Ok maybe it made a bit more sense as to why Fate ran off. “Oh I need to go stop Shadow from hurting him then. Let the others know while I break that up. It looks like we’re almost wrapped up here anyway.” Without waiting for a response he dashed towards where Shadow and the recently identified Fate were fighting. “Yo Shads! Back off dude he’s not our enemy!” Sonic slid to a stop between the two of them.

Shadow growled at him, like a literal growl which was kinda weird but Sonic didn’t dwell on that. “Move.” Shadow huffed.

“Not gonna happen dude.” Sonic stood his ground. This was more familiar, but this Shadow was clearly different from his own. Maybe he should have sent Blur over here to deal with this. Oh well, too late now. “This is Fate, one of the other people who got stuck here. I know he looks… well really different but Knuckles said it was him and I believe Knuckles.”

Shadow glanced up at Fate, and Fate nervously glanced back. “Fine.” Shadow eventually said. 

Sonic relaxed as the tension dissipated. Yesh what was it with this group and wanting to fight each other? “Maybe something about you just annoys people enough that they want to fight you.” Super proposed innocently.

“You’ve been spending way too much time around Shadow.” Sonic mentally answered as he sighed. Thankfully it looked like things had been finished up. At the very least he couldn’t spot any more of the Dark Gaia creatures around. “Sorry about all that.” He gave Fate an apologetic smile. “We all got kinda caught up in things and just assumed.”

Fate blinked. “It’s uh fine.” He cleared his throat. “You… don’t care though?”

Sonic waved off the concern. “Nah. Had to deal with something similar before so I get how it is.”

“Oh yeah?” Fate smiled, looking relieved. “That’s… good to hear. Not uh that you had to deal with that but…”

“I knew what you meant.” Sonic chuckled. “Now c’mon, we should go head back to the others.” He gestured for Fate and Shadow to follow him. Thankfully after a moment they both did.

Blur waved as they walked over. “Glad to see everyone’s in one piece.”

Metal nodded before signing something. Shadow nodded back at him. “He says that we probably shouldn’t stick around here and wait for the next thing to happen.” Tails translated. “We need to hunt down the power source. I know we’re probably all tired but…”

Fate waved it off. “I’m used to working on little to no sleep. Plus I’m still feeling energized.”

Knuckles hummed. “Usually after you fight those things you get tired. How are you still ok?”

“I’m… not sure.” Fate tilted his head, narrowing his eyes in thought. “It’s… possible those guys weren’t even real. I didn’t feel them before they showed up like I usually do.”

“And everyone was able to fight them.” Knuckles added, frowning in thought.

“Might have been the ruby then.” Blur suggested. “It could have easily been used to do something like that.”

“All the more reason for us to hunt down the powersource.” Tails sounded more confident.

“I’d be willing to bet that guy is using some sort of chaos energy to power the ruby.” Blur put a hand on his chin. “It takes a lot of energy to keep the ruby at full power and that would be the most effective powersource around.”

“If it’s chaos energy…” Fate spoke up. “Knuckles probably can help.” He put a lange hand on the echidna’s head. “He can sense it. Been using that to help us find the Gaia Temples.”

“Shadow can help too.” Blur smiled and pointed a thumb in Shadow’s direction. “He’s real sensitive to it.”

“And if that isn’t enough.” Tails spoke up. “Metal can help too.”

“Well, looks like this shouldn’t be a problem then.” Blur nodded. “Let’s show this guy that he messed with the wrong people.”

It was an oddly calm walk. Maybe it was due to the general tiredness of the group or maybe it was because everyone was slowly getting more comfortable with each other. Blur honestly wasn’t sure, but it was nice. Sure they hadn’t been here long, but a lot had already happened. They all needed the break. Shadow was sticking close to his side, but that was to be expected. This was a lot for him and Blur really had no way to ease him into something like this. He was doing pretty well, at least outwardly. “How are you holding up Shadow?”

The black hedgehog glanced at him before raising his hands. ‘This is all overwhelming’ He admitted.

“Yeah, I figured.” Blur sighed. “Sorry you got dragged into this mess.”

‘This was not your fault’ Shadow reassured him. ‘Having you here has made this tolerable’

“Happy to hear I’ve helped.” Sonic hesitantly put a hand on Shadow’s shoulder. “You gonna be ok to last a little longer?”

‘I do not have much choice, but I will be fine’ Shadow sighed. “Thank you.” He added quietly.

The rest of the walk was just as uneventful. The only mildly exciting thing being the occasional disagreement between Knuckles, Metal, and Shadow on which way was the right way to go. Nothing that escalated beyond slightly annoyed voices though. ‘It’s just up ahead’ Metal pointed while Tails translated for those who didn’t understand sign.

Said fox frowned as he caught sight of what Metal was pointing at. It was a machine of some sort, it’s powersource an emerald. The machine itself looked hastily put together. Honestly it was a miracle it worked at all with the way it looked. “I’m surprised this thing hasn’t blown itself up yet…” Tails commented as he pulled out his Miles Electric. “This thing is so unstable I’m not sure how safely I can disable it.” He hummed as he tapped away at the tablet. “I’ll do my best though. It might take me a while.”

“Can’t we just break it?” Fate asked, eying the machine.

“Unless you want to feel what it’s like to get hit by an attack that’s about ten times more powerful than that chaos blast we saw earlier I wouldn’t.” Blur hummed. “When the emeralds are improperly used like this they can get real dangerous.”

“Noted.” Fate nodded as he more cautiously eyed the machine.

‘Guess we’ll just have to hang back and let Tails do his thing’ Metal turned to the group. Since Tails was busy Blur made sure to translate for him.

“Guess so.” Sonic hummed. “Been meaning to ask you something actually Metal.” He pointed at the robot. Metal gestured for him to go ahead. “How’d you end up with Tails and not working with Eggman?”

Metal flexed his fingers before answering. ‘He could never control me. Eventually he left me deactivated somewhere and Tails found me. Fixed me up. In return I stuck with him and joined the resistance to help take down Eggman’

"Solid reasoning." Sonic nodded. "Nice to know it's possible for Metal Sonic to have a change of heart." He tapped his foot. "Super says he doesn't believe our Metal can change but I'll stay optimistic."

"I won't hold my breath for mine." Blur shrugged. 

"I've never even met a Metal Sonic so…" Fate shrugged.

"And I hope we never do." Knuckles added.

"Oh, and Super asked what was up with Shadow too. Since he looks different from the one we know." Sonic gestured to the black hedgehog.

"Different huh?" Blur glanced at Shadow in concern. He wasn't sure if Shadow would really want to talk about or have his past talked about right now. "Well how about you tell me how you met yours and we'll go from there." Hopefully that was safe enough.

"Mmmm it was when Eggman woke him up intending to work with him to take over the world." Sonic nodded to himself. "Shadow actually played the doctor and tried to destroy the planet but hey." He shrugged. "He ended up helping me stop the Ark from crashing into the planet in the end."

'I found the Shadow I know in a pod in an old abandoned G.U.N. base. He was really confused but I managed to talk him into staying with the resistance. At least for a while' Metal jumped in before looking over at Sonic. 'Yours tried to destroy the planet?'

"Heh heh…  yeah…" Sonic rubbed the back of his head. "And now Super is chewing me out for never telling him that story."

"And I've never met my Shadow either." Fate huffed and crossed his arms. "Why do all the other versions of me have a bunch of cool adventures?"

"You're on one right now." Knuckled glared at Fate. "Stop complaining."

"That's not the same." Fate looked away.

"The… Ark?" Shadow suddenly spoke up and looked at Sonic.

Blur took a deep breath and prepared to possibly diffuse a bad situation. "Yeah." Sonic nodded, oblivious to Blur's concern.

Shadow looked down. "Was he… happy there?" It was an oddly vulnerable question for Shadow. It had taken Blur a long time to get him to even approach talking about his feelings or at least addressing them. Something he rarely wanted to talk about was his past though. Life on the Ark for him hadn't been… great. Blur knew that even with the very surface level information Shadow had shared.

Sonic looked surprised by the question. "Well…" He hummed. "He hasn't told me much but I think in some ways he was. He's done his best to move on from everything that happened though. Forge his own path in life; which I can respect." 

Shadow was silent for a while, maybe thinking over Sonic's words. Blur was just about to step in when Shadow nodded. "Good." Even Blur couldn't read Shadow right now. He just hoped this was a good thing for the black hedgehog.

"I've nearly got it!" Tails spoke up. At some point during his work he'd sat down on the ground. "I just need someone who can safely remove the emerald when I shut everything down. But uh…" He rubbed the back of his head. "The timing needs to be perfect or…"

"It goes boom?" Fate asked.

"Yeah." Tails pinned his ears down.

"Well, step one is figuring out who should remove the emerald." Blur tapped his fingers on his arm. "Based on what I know I'd say Shadow or Metal would be the best to do it."

"I have an alternate suggestion." Sonic rose a hand. "Super. He's pure chaos energy so…"

“How does that even work?” Knuckles looked at Sonic in confusion.

“Eh some weird thing with the emeralds.” Sonic shrugged.

“As long as he’s feeling up to it that probably is our safest bet.” Blur nodded.

Sonic shot him a thumbs up before his fur and quills started to change to a golden color. Super shook himself out once the change was over. “Ugh. I hate feeling this drained.” He frowned.

‘Sorry about that’ Metal quickly apologized.

“Eh it’s whatever. I was out of control so it’s fine.” Super shrugged. “Let’s do this. You ready for me Tails?”

“Just give me a few moments…” Tails went back to tapping away at his tablet. “I’ll let you know when. You can stand over there and get ready though.”

“You got it.” Super walked over, stumbling once but glaring at anyone who tried to open their mouth to ask if he was ok. “Just say when.” He eyed the machine wearily. 

“Not so fast.” An unfortunately familiar voice said. A little ways away the jackal that had caused this whole mess stood. They looked… much less calm and collected than they had before. “Did you all really think I’d let you end things prematurely?” They stood up a bit taller, maybe trying to regain some of their former persona.

“Well kinda.” Fate narrowed his eyes. “You don’t like to fight yourself clearly. Don’t think you can take us in a fair fight?” He taunted.

Blur glanced over at Fate. Was he trying to goad the jackal on intentionally? It was very possible it wasn’t on purpose but they could use that to their advantage. The jackal growled, their form flickering briefly. That was… odd. “I’m more than a match for you all.” They barred their teeth.

“Then why not show us then?” Knuckles joined in the taunting. “Cause the way I see it you’re all talk.”

Metal gestured with a hand for the jackal to come at him. Well guess they were all in on this now. “If you’re really so high and mighty…” Blur stepped forward. “... then take us out yourself. Not with some cheap tricks.”

The jackal gripped the ruby tightly. “Very well. If you all crave your destruction so much, I simply must oblige.” Their eye twitched. 

“So quick question.” Fate glanced at the group as the area around the jackal flashed red. “Do we actually have a plan if they turn out to be more than talk?”

Blur shrugged. “We win like we always do.”

“Reassuring.” Knuckles mumbled as he fell into a fighting stance.

“Keep him off me and Super if you can.” Tails looked up at them in worry. “If we can cut the power mid-fight, that should make things easier for everyone.”

“Go kick that guy’s butt.” Super growled. “Make them wish they never dragged us all here.”

Shadow nodded in silent approval. “Alright guys.” Blur smacked his fist into his open palm. “Let’s do this.” 

How had things gone so off the rails so quickly? They dogged out of the way as the “heroes” began their assault. They would show those fools. How dare they deviate so drastically from their plans! There were so many more interesting things they could do. All that planning, waisted! They looked past the group which had engaged them. The fox and golden hedgehog needed to be stopped. If they managed to destroy the ruby’s power source… 

They lunged past their attackers, putting up barriers of red cubes. If only they’d taken the time to learn to use the gem properly! Their hubris had come back to bite them after all. Next time they’d have to be much more careful… They got some mild satisfaction out of the versions of Sonic slamming into the erected walls.

There. A clear shot at the fox. They lunged only to be intercepted by the golden hedgehog. “Hands off creep.” He growled before tossing them back. The air left their lungs as they collided with the ground. They got up in time to see two spin dashes heading right towards them. One hurt with the pain of super sharp quills, the other hard metal. They were once again sent flying back.

Perhaps they had… underestimated the strength of their foes. This whole experience could have benefitted from much more planning than the cursory glances into their respective universes. They narrowly dodged under the punch of the echidna. Would it be better to cut their losses now and prevent further harm to themself?

Suddenly there was a very angry black hedgehog pinning them down. Sharp claws dug into their arms. Ah so this was truly what pain felt like. What a foreign concept. This was the first time they’d experienced anything like it. They barely managed to kick the hedgehog off of themself and roll away.

If only they could think faster. Decide what to make with the ruby faster. Then they could gain the upper hand. They shouldn’t have been foolish enough to have let these fools goad them into a fight! They snarled and felt their form flicker. Somehow the form they’d made to suit this universe was beginning to unravel as well. Perhaps it was because it had been rushed. They’d need time to perfect it. For now though…

They caught the attack of the more monstrous looking member of their group and pushed him back, causing him to stumble but not fall. Their arms stung. A glance down at them showed the wounds inflicted by the black hedgehog were releasing a black liquid. No doubt the damage they received was hastening this form’s destruction.

One last ditch effort then. They held the ruby in front of them. “I’ll destroy you all.” They snarled. “Enjoy your last pathetic moments!” 

Super did his best to restrain himself from jumping into the fight. The others were fine. This guy was an absolute pushover in a direct fight. “How are we looking?” Super glanced at Tails. 

The fox was slightly shaken up from the attack Super had saved him from, but was otherwise fine. “Just about there.” He looked up at Super. “Ready?”

“Like I said, just give me the word.” Super let his hand hover over the exposed emerald. 

“Ok.” Tails took a deep breath. “Three.” Super tensed. “Two.” Super could feel Sonic sending calming thoughts his way. “One.” Super could hear that stupid jackal yell something but didn’t listen to the words. “Now!”

Super grabbed the emerald the moment the world left Tails’ mouth. Just in case he dove for the fox, intending to get him to safety if the machine did explode. Thankfully no explosion came. 

“No!” The jackal yelled. Super glanced over at them. The others were relaxing from guarded positions. “Fine then.” They spat as they tossed the ruby onto the ground. “You’ve won.” One of those tears opened up behind the jackal. “Enjoy your victory.” With that they were gone.

“I guess that guy was just as much of a sore loser as Infinite was.” Sonic commented.

“Good riddance.” Super huffed.

“Is that it then?” Knuckles looked at the spot where the jackal had disappeared. 

“I think so.” Fate flexed his claws.

Blur walked up to the Phantom Ruby and carefully picked it up. “I’ll take care of this. I’m not sure where he got it from originally so I won’t destroy it but… I’ll make sure no one can get their hands on it.”

Tails stood up and nodded. “Sounds good.” He locked eyes with Metal and ran over to him. Much to Super’s surprise the fox wrapped his arms around the robot. “I’m glad you’re ok Metal.” Metal patted his back comfortingly. 

“Don’t think I’m ever gonna get over seeing that.” Sonic hummed. “Makes me wonder where the Sonic of their world is…”

Shadow grabbed at Blur’s arm. “What’s up Shadow?” Blur looked at the hand around his arm.

“You’re disappearing.” Shadow looked concerned.

Blur blinked and looked at his arm more closely. “Huh… kinda like when mini me left after the war…” He looked up at the group. “Looks like I’m not the only one either.” Everyone looked at themselves in mild panic. “Don’t worry!” Blur got everyone’s attention again. “I think this is just the universe getting us back to where we’re supposed to be. Guess it’s realized something is wrong and is correcting things.”

“This is not how it ended the last time for me.” Fate shivered as he took in his transparent arm.

“Guess this is goodbye then?” Tails had stopped hugging Metal and was looking at the group.

“Guess so kid.” Blur smiled. “But hey, it all worked out in the end huh?”

“I guess.” Super shrugged. “Since we sent that idiot packing.”

“Hopefully they don’t get any ideas about trying this again.” Knuckles crossed his arms, glancing nervously at his disappearing arms.

“Even if this was all… well not the best experience…” Tails smiled sadly. “I’m glad to have met you all. It really gives me hope for our future.” Metal nudged Tails and signed something. “Metal says he’s happy he got to meet you all too and he’s glad to know that it seems like all Sonics are good people.”

“Let them know it was great to meet them all for me Super.” Sonic asked.

Super sighed but nodded. “Sonic says it was great to meet you all.”

“This was… interesting.” Shadow hummed. “I wish you all well.”

“Hate to be the bearer of bad news but…” Fate cleared his throat. “We’re probably not going to remember any of this. Last time this happened to me I didn’t really remember anything. Maybe vague things like feelings but…”

“Well that’s just how things have to be then.” Blur shrugged. “Nothing we can do about it.”

Tails’ ears drooped sadly. “I wish we didn’t have to forget but… it’s alright.” A small smile twitched onto his face. “I still think somewhere deep down I’ll know.”

“You’re all… alright I guess.” Super figured he should say something too. “Particularly you.” He pointed at Metal. “You’re a fighter, don’t give up on whatever you’re fighting for.”

“That was… oddly encouraging Super.” Sonic sounded surprised. “You ok?”

“I guess I’ll sort of miss these idiots too.” Super answered mentally. Metal tilted his head before nodding at Super. 

By now the bottom half of everyone had vanished and the process seemed to be speeding up. “Well sayonara everyone.” Blur gave a two finger salute.

“Goodbye.” Shadow nodded at the group.

“See you all around!” Fate waved. “Or er… probably not.” He chuckled. Knuckles simply waved.

“Good luck everyone!” Tails smiled. Metal quickly signed something with disappearing hands. “Metal says he hopes your lives are great.”

“This was certainly an experience.” Super started. “And I’m sure Sonic will want me to properly say goodbye for the both of us so… bye I guess.” 

Some of them waved until they were gone while others just stood and waited. Eventually though, all of them vanished leaving the area clear once more. The only proof this happened at all as vague memories and feelings of those that were never meant to meet.