#WoN 'verse

[nocek]

Arts & crafts for the win!

previous one in series and also previous-previous one

[soupyhead]

miguel in the secret post-credits scene

[fuck-i-like-too-much-stuff]

Congratulations to the PitBabe audience because Pavel thinks he's being vague but everything ive seen literally is glaring, eyes ahead full on, at mpreg

[redladydeath]

Alastor would treat a fem!Vox significantly better than her male counterpart and she’d be positively head-over-heals with him because of it

Fem!Alastor would eat normal Vox alive before he could even get a word in

[hawkinsbnbg]

Kas left the Upside Down to find his mate.

omega verse, monsterfucker Steve, bitching, dub-con (non-con if you squint), mind-manipulation, HE

Eddie Munson was reborn in the Upside Down as Kas. He still had his old memories, wills, and affections. He knew he had fantasized about Steve Harrington during his short mortal life.

After sitting back and watching Eddie’s recollection of the younger boy, Kas decided that Steve—strong, brave, and pretty—would make a great mate and even greater mother of his pups.

Did it matter that Steve was an alpha? No.

Kas’ only concern at hand was to make sure that his intended would be well-bred and well-fed no matter what happened in the future.

And if it involved laying low in Steve’s house until the boy smelled ripe and ready, then Kas had all the patience in the world to spare.

Steve had been searching for someone to spend his rut with these past few weeks. He didn't want to given what the town had just been through. But it had become more painful recently when he tried to go through it alone.

And yet, all he had was an undead Eddie Munson—now a bloodthirsty monster—in his basement.

Sure, it kept making feral noises and eyeing him like a piece of meat, but Steve wasn’t intimidated. He had been through too much to be fazed by a simple-minded creature who wore his crush’s face.

Yeah, the irony of speed-running his bisexual awakening and crisis in the middle of a life-and-death marathon hadn't been lost on him.

He didn't care that Eddie was also an alpha. He was going to court the shit out of the guy anyway. If only Eddie was still alive, they could’ve both figured something out. Like bitching Steve so they could mate and have their six little nuggets together.

Instead, Eddie decided to go and sacrifice himself, then had the audacity to come back wrong and break into Steve’s room at three am.

Maybe he should’ve felt grateful that this monster didn't cause him harm, that it had followed him down the basement and stayed there when he asked nicely enough.

(In hindsight, he should’ve called Code Red the moment he found it. But his selfishness had won over his self-preservation.)

Although Steve was still pissed, he couldn't help but visit this warped version of Eddie every day and hoped beyond hope that miracles would happen and give him back the boy he had fallen for.

As days went by with barely any positive developments, Steve eventually caved and decided to contact Hopper to ask for El's help.

But then his rut arrived and Eddie—

“Kas,” the monster growled, nipping his neck and pounding into him without mercy. “Not Eddie.”

—had jumped him as he was trying to see through his agonizing arousal alone in his bed.

It had hurt at first, the way Kas had ripped into him while ignoring his cries and struggles of protest, but after two?—Steve had lost count of how many times he had been knotted and bred—he started begging for the other man’s cock like a bitch in heat.

Which was terrifying and confusing. Because he was an alpha. Why did it feel good to be knotted all of a sudden? Why would his instinct tell him to present for his alpha? Why did he think about Kas as mate?

Something had changed when Kas bit him, he realized dimly.

Of course, Kas had been going at it for god-knows-how-long. If Steve was still an alpha, his hole wouldn't have been able to fit that ridiculously big knot, and he would’ve died by now from the internal bleeding alone.

He looked at the man-made monster above him. Still those big eyes, still those plump lips, and still those dark curls. But now those eyes were blood red, those lips were torn with sharp teeth, and those curls had grown thicker and longer.

A ghost of a man he used to know. A monster that he was forced to welcome into his life.

And somehow, Steve was only saddened by the fact that he was claimed by his alpha in such a brutal way. So different from the romantic dream he had planned for the most significant moment of his life.

A small part of Steve was wondering why he was so calm about all of this, screaming at him to fight back, to try his damn best to escape this nightmare.

But his subconscious terror was quieted and put back to sleep by the bloody scent emitted from Kas, telling him he had nothing to worry about, that he was as safe as could be, that he should let his alpha take care of him.

“Mine,” Kas snarled as he gave a few stuttering thrusts and pumped Steve full again, bullying his knot into Steve’s tight cunt—sore and sloppy by the breeding that seemed to last forever.

Steve keened and quivered as intense pleasure crashed over him, leaving him drooling and cross-eyed. For a while, he just laid there on his ruined sheets, boneless and spread out beneath the voracious beast like a sacrifice.

As Kas began moving again, Steve finally let loose those chirps and trills, pleased that his alpha loved him enough to fill him up with those precious seeds and gifted him with their pups.

Steve felt good, the kind that made his brain melt and stream out of his skull through his nose and ears. He didn't think, couldn't think. Each thrust—deep and powerful—got him shaking like a leaf, punched out every breathless noise from him, and rendered him delirious.

“M’yours,” Steve mewled and wrapped his arms around Kas’ neck, gazing into those intoxicating eyes lovingly. “Alpha.”

Kas grunted, movements turning frenzied while a familiar expression flashed across those handsome but contorted features. And then, he saw Kas smile for the first time, wild and roguish.

“Aren’t you a pretty thing, Sweetheart?”

Five months later…

“Still nothing?”

El opened her eyes, nose bleeding and brow pinching. She looked at Dustin and then shook her head.

Nothing.

Robin was the one to burst into tears first, Erica was next while clinging to Max who struggled to keep her tears at bay. Lucas, Will, and Mike cried silently, while Nancy, Jonathan, Hopper, and Joyce looked downright defeated.

Only Dustin still refused to give in to his sorrow.

They all held onto the sliver of hope that Steve was alive somewhere out there. But even so, five months of searching blindly for Steve had taken its toll on them.

Despite that, none of them were planning to stop any time soon. They didn't go through literal hell to save the world just to lose one of their own.

“I won’t believe he had died until I saw it myself,” Robin sniffled but the steely determination in her eyes beat anyone’s faith here.

“I concurred,” Dustin nodded, eyes bloodshot and shoulders heavy with grief but still stubborn to the core.

Slowly, everyone recovered from their despair and exchanged resolute looks with each other.

One last time, El could read as much from Hopper’s tired gaze. She knew he was right. She had hit her limit on the last two attempts, but she still kept going on, fearing that she would abandon Steve to the den of monsters if she gave up now.

With the blindfold over her eyes and the TV static reverberating in her ears, she took a deep breath and released it slowly. She told herself she could do this as she stepped into the Void once more. It was pitch black until she saw a flicker of light before her entire vision was covered in red.

She didn't panic, but her heart thumped loudly in her chest, threatening to tear her ribcage open to leave and find Steve on its own.

Thankfully, she wasn't left waiting for too long. Her sight was cleared again and there, standing outside Hopper’s cabin was a healthy and heavily pregnant Steve, glowing with joy and happiness.

She only let out a startled noise when she caught sight of his companion. Or precisely speaking, his mate had informed her about himself. She suspected that this man was also the one who had covered her vision in red just moments ago.

“They’re here,” she threw her blindfold away and sprang up to her feet.

“Who?” Nancy was the one asking, sounding both hopeful and weary.

“Steve and his mate,” she wiped the blood under her nose absentmindedly as she sprinted toward the door.

When El threw it open, she heard someone gasp behind her.

“Is that Eddie fucking Munson?”

Said man raised his hand with a friendly smile that showed his too-sharp canines, “Long time no see, everyone.”

As her surroundings erupted with cheerful and confused noises, she gave Eddie a quick inspection for safety caution and blinked in surprise at what she found.

Oddly enough, the creature seemed unbothered by that and just winked at her impishly.

Then, she glanced at Steve who was smiling brightly while bombarded with question after question, smelling of ripe cherry and nectarine. If she concentrated a bit harder, she could pick up the vague scent of blood—sweet and tasted like copper.

El tilted her head.

Should she tell Steve that his mate might not be very human?

[vaggieslefteye]

♫ This place reeks of death, there's a chill in the air. And I barely escaped being killed by a hair. ❝𝐆ʀᴇᴀᴛ 𝐀𝐋𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐑, 𝐀ʟᴛʀᴜɪsᴛ, 𝐃𝐈𝐄𝐃 𝐅ᴏʀ 𝐇ɪs 𝐅ʀɪ��ɴᴅs?❞ Sorry to disappoint, that is NOT where this ends! ♫

[yuesya]

The sudden earthquake is… not entirely unexpected, in retrospect, although it’s certainly overkill. Suguru knows that Satoru has a flair for the dramatic, and Shiki is always eager to join her brother’s chaotic schemes. Without a voice of reason around to run herd on them, those tendencies of theirs are probably even worse in this world.

… In this world where Geto Suguru is dead, killed as a curse user intent on committing mass slaughter. He still has trouble imagining what his alternate self was thinking, honestly. Sorcerers are only a minuscule portion of the entire population; what did he think would actually happen if he’d somehow managed to succeed in basically wiping out humanity?

Utterly inconceivable.

“That was Gojo-sensei, right?” Itadori’s voice sounds from behind one of the makeshift barricades. The Itadori in this world is a little more jaded and solemn than the cheerful first year student that Suguru remembers, which is… saddening. But then, considering the boy’s experiences –Yoshino dying, Satoru and Shiki being sealed, Nanami dying, Kugisaki in a coma, Sukuna using his body to kill and kill and kill in Shibuya… and, more recently, Sukuna switching to Fushiguro as his new host…

It’s a miracle that the boy hasn’t broken beneath the pressures and horrors of everything that’s happened since he became a sorcerer. He’s a strong, resilient boy, although Suguru dearly wishes that he hadn’t been tested in this way.

“Seems about right for Gojo,” Tsukumo responds. The tall woman stands up, brushing off dust from her hands. There’s a large scar down her midsection, courtesy of the fight against ‘Kenjaku,’ but between three Special Grades, they’d been able to win decisively, even though the slippery man had managed to escape at the end. “Can’t imagine it being anyone else.”

Boy had it been weird, fighting ‘himself.’ The memory of the fight is enough to make Suguru cringe. He knows that it’s not actually ‘him,’ but seeing his body being saying those sorts of things and making those expressions…

If Suguru’s Satoru or Shiki had been here to see it, they’d never let him live it down, gods.

“Thank you for unsealing Gojo-sensei,” Okkotsu nods towards the angel-winged girl drifting down from the sky. Kurusu smiles, making an ‘okay’ sign with her fingers. “… Where is he, though? And that earthquake just now, too… is he–”

Suguru’s head snaps up; Tsukumo looks up, too, half a beat behind him.

“He’s here.”

Satoru’s teleportation is a thing to behold. One instant, there’s nothing in the air above them, then in the blink of an eye, he’s standing there. Prison Realm clearly hasn’t been kind to him and Shiki. Satoru is definitely looking a little ragged, and his clothes are significantly tattered. But despite that, he looks down upon them with glowing eyes, calm and confident–

A single blink. His composure wavers, and breaks.

Then, he’s standing right in front of Suguru. The suddenness of the motion causes the dimension-hopper to startle, taking half a step backwards–

“… Suguru?” Satoru –and there’s no doubt that this is all Satoru, even if he’s not Suguru’s Satoru– frowns. His Six Eyes gleam, sharp and analyzing. “No. You are, but you’re still not…”

“Bit of a long story,” Tsukumo cuts in. “In short, this is Geto Suguru from another world parallel to ours, where he decided to go the path of teaching like you did instead of bloody revolution.”

“Can you please not put it that way?” Suguru rubs a hand against his forehead, distinctly pained.

“What? I think that summary explains things pretty well. Right, Gojo?”

Satoru hums, straightening up with a thoughtful sound. “Huh… from another world, you say?”

“Sensei!”

“Sensei!”

The students finally catch up to them, swarming around Gojo-sensei like excited puppies. It warms something inside Suguru’s chest to see them like this –the students of this world are (understandably) wary of him, given his alternate self’s actions, but it’s clear that they care for and trust their Gojo-sensei.

He’s not surprised, when Satoru pulls him aside for a private chat, eventually. If the relationship that he and his sister had had with their Suguru was anything like what he had with them back in his world…

No, Suguru definitely isn’t surprised.

It’s also a good chance for him to ask his own questions, because this confusion has been gnawing at him for a long time. “How did Kenjaku get the drop on you, with Shiki watching your back?”

The familiar-unfamiliar man tilts his head. His lips move, forming a single question that makes Suguru’s blood run cold.

“Who’s Shiki?”

[witchofthesouls]

Hey Soul! Quick question! Very important question;

Can Cybertronians take human dick?

Like we always read fanfics about humans taking cybertronian dick (I’m not complaining, far from it, but damnit I want variety) but never the other way around, why is that? Aliens deserves alien dick too!

I say yes. Like why not?!

As for the lack of human dicking down Cybertronian lovers, I regulate it to the same reason why larger, stronger parties are constantly domming their smaller partners, no matter how loud or quiet the short-stack are.

Size difference combined with their more masculinity-inclined traits.

I mean, look at the pairings and the tags on Ao3. It's usually the femme or the smaller mech taking it up the valve. Whereas Femmes with Spikes is a legit tag, but mechs have both a spike and valve. There's no Mechs with Valves since the Sticky Sexual Interfacing has been nicely wrapped with hermaphrodite robots... that are mechs/males.

I'm pretty guilty of it as well. I can't remember the last time I posted a femme dicking down their partner outside of Tarn with his contract with the miner sex worker. Nor have I done a human (male, female, both, or neither) dicking down their Cybertronian lover, except an answer of how a human father/Cybertronian carrier carriage would work. (Long story short: definitely possible to spark, but the carrier will need a Cybertronian donor to help with the process.)

I need to fix that.

Look, there's a lot of fanon that Cybertronians can mass displace, so they can definitely take dick up a port. I saw a really hot and absolutely delicious picture of Optimus getting reamed by Cade Yeager's dick. It's absolutely possible.

[lil-vibes]

Hi! Sorry for notification spamming you but wanted to tell you that your TROD tags made me lol, I LOVE your art so much and I’m interested in your AU too. Anyway, love your blog!

P.S. maybe I missed it but you said somewhere that your Narinder was pretty messed up for a few years post revival. Could you give some more details on that? Did he try to hurt them? Who had to take care of him, the lamb? What’s been the downstream effects? Basically, how is this cat still messed up lol.

dont be! everytime i get a notification i go yuppiee!!! im glad you enjoy my art :DD

okay okay its prime yap time under the cut oof i love my fucked up cat sm

Lambert, mainly, took care of him! They made sure that every comfort he needed was provided and were worried out of their mind the entire time. Their disciples helped watch over Narinder when he was unconscious, just so he wouldn't bolt the moment he awoke, and Witness Allocer stitched some of his wound and prepared a special painkiller blend for him. (in my au the high priests, aka the mini bosses, and the witnesses were very close to the bishops! Allocer made the same painkillers for Shamura as well.)

Okay so obviously his wrists and ankles were pretty fucked up from being chained for a thousand years and he's got a lot of internal damage as well bc some of the chains went through him (og Stychu hc that I adopted bc it's so good). Also just general wounds from the final fight and the unfathomable pain of shrinking down from his godly form.

Upon being spared, he did attack them in a post battle adrenaline and hate fueled delirium, right on the indoctrination stone and not only broke his arm (bc he put too much weight on it), but probably gave himself a heavy concussions by slamming his head on said stone seconds after the break happened lmao. After waking up in,,, just a Haze of agony he tried to get up and run away bc he was scared that the lamb would just keep him existing in this special Purgatory and shattered his opposite calf so there's that as well. Unlucky tbh

He bleeds like,,, constantly. All of the time, for literal years on end. From his eyes mostly, but also nose and ears and he throws up ichor a lot in the beginning as well bc his body is adjusting rapidly to being smaller and there's just No Space for the ichor to go, other than out. He’s constantly exhausted and spends a lot of time sleeping, and is very frail physically, if snapping two bones by simply putting weight on them didn't make it obvious enough lol

All and all not a great shape to be in, but! His wounds aren't actually what caused him to be bedridden for so long. It was the fact that he no longer saw himself as a god while still being one and suffering injuries befitting of one!

His body/the Red Crown isn't healing him as much as it’s literally regenerating parts of itself while he suffers everything that comes with that, alongside being out of the Veil/Gateway for the first time in forever and emotionally dealing with the deaths of his acolytes and the supposed betrayal of the one he allowed himself to trust after his family. In fact, Narinder barely heals at all for a while bc he was just mentally stopping the process. And also unconscious for a lot of it.

The other big reason is that god hearts are a great power source, but his heart has been in Lambert's chest since Silk Cradle. So he is Struggling ™ but he’d actually rather die than take his heart back he’s a simp like that smh

After he inevitably breaks and he and Lambert finally talk, he gradually starts seeing himself as a person again and his healing process gets easier. He still has chronic pain for his joints but eventually everything else heals alright :3

On a side note, his siblings bleed excessively and are disoriented for the first couple of days but are ultimately fine within the week. They are kind of horrified to learn that their brother is STILL struggling with the side effects of his imprisonment

[iwasbored777]

I don't know about you but these are my official four horsemen of a villain/antagonist who would've won easily and/or long time ago if he focused on the fight more and stopped talking when he shouldn't have

[rose022]

its crazy to think that it really does get better when youre an adult. not perfect, you still have a lot of work to do, but better. and i never believed it when i was young because its so hard when youre in the thick of it. im aware people wont believe me when i say this either.

one day youre 12 and cutting yourself for the first time, then you get to highschool and are so depressed you fail a class for the first time, then youre 15/16 and wanting to die almost every night. then youre 18 and the good days outnumber the bad by a decent bit. you're older and you still waste away in your room for days on end sometimes, but you also go out with friends more, try new things, explore, do things you've always dreamed of. and sometimes its not so bad anymore. sometimes you think back to when it was. sometimes you see people where you were and you know how bad it is but you dont know what to say. you dont know what you would have wanted to hear then because you know you wouldnt believe it but you want to help so bad.

[invalidname19]

BUBU LUBU 🔛🔝‼️

[viaetor]

new dash icon is up! (˶˃ ᵕ ˂˶) and with that, here's a quick announcement: i'm officially distancing aether from genpact as a whole. he will have an appearance that differs from his original source, other priorities personality-wise and he will be extremely canon-divergent in many instances. i will still have a traveller verse for him on genshin, and i will continue my current threads, as well as his current relationships and developments. however, i'll be heavily investing in the lore i came up with for him, so i'll prioritise threads and people interested in exploring those and other fandoms, bc honestly? i need the breeze of fresh air, and i haven't been accompanying genshin ever since arlecchino dropped orz. i will also remake his graphics and carrd soon to reflect these changes. i understand if people want to unfollow this blog because of that, and that's totally cool! i just really wanna officially oc-ify him and have fun.

[whyarewecalledtheshipname]

if i had a nickel for every time a silver haired guy kidnapped a sunshine boy and his emo baby boyfriend had to go looking for him, id have two nickels

yes this is once again about yozora/sora/riku and sephiroth/zack/cloud. give it.

[jr-verse]

I finally beat Punch Out Wii.

And so… I finally beat Punch Out Wii.

I defeated (TD) Mr. Sandman…

I got rekt by Donkey Kong…

And I reached my retirement.

[victorluvsalice]

Valicer Polyship Week 2024, Day Two: “Blorbo Has Two Hands” (Soulmate AU)

It's Day Two of Valicer Polyship Week 2024, "sponsored" by @polyshipweek, and today's prompt is "Blorbo Has Two Hands!" This prompt, as per PolyshipWeek's write-up on the matter, is all about "The rallying cry of polyshippers everywhere: Why have a love triangle when you can have a trio of lovers instead?" and how the polycule makes love, not war. This is naturally an excellent prompt, but I wasn't sure whether I was going to use it or one of the other ones when it came to writing a story for Day Two --

Aaaand then Wednesday, November 6th happened. And after rather a lot of time spent staring at the prompts with no inspiration because I was still feeling kind of numb inside over the fucking election results, I came back to the list right before going to bed, looked at "Blorbo Has Two Hands" again, and thought, "You know what, I can probably do something with that and my Soulmates AU -- specifically, someone doubting the trio are all actually soulmates because multiple soulmates isn't a common thing in that verse." So I drafted out a story about Smiler, working at a bar post-the trio fleeing England to avoid the wrath of Kelman, the wrath of Victor's parents, and possibly the wrath of the police after Alice killed Bumby, getting harassed by a customer who didn't believe them when they said that both they and Alice were Victor's soulmates -- only to get proven wrong when said soulmates showed up to find out why Smiler was suddenly feeling so upset. It was pretty rough, but I figured it worked for the prompt --

And then I went, "Hang on...didn't I just do something like this yesterday?" For indeed, this story was rather similar, at least in general theme, to the "Alice vs Nessa" Valicer In The Dark tale I wrote for Day One. But given my mental state at the time, I couldn't come up with anything better for Day Two. So I left it be and gave myself a choice -- either try to write a different story later, or lean into the theme and do a Victor-POV story of some jerk inserting their nose into the polycule's business and getting theirs for Day Three.

...given the story I'm about to present is the "Smiler gets harassed by a customer about whether or not multiple soulmates is a thing" story, you can probably guess what I chose. XD For now, here is your Day Two story! Sorry it took a bit to get there! XD

--

“So – Mister Van Dort over there is your soulmate?”

“Yup,” Smiler confirmed, smiling over at the table where Victor was currently involved in what looked like a rather intense conversation with Alice, his hands flying all over the place as they spoke. “We met at one of his parents’ parties – ended up in the same corner together, started commiserating over the fact that we both hated stuffy social gatherings, went to formally introduce ourselves by shaking hands, and – well.” Smiler grinned down at their own hands, currently drying a glass. “Suddenly the party was that much better.”

“I see,” their current customer – a fellow named Robert, who apparently ran a woodworking shop in town – murmured, nursing his third whiskey. “And Missus Van Dort is – all right with that?”

Smiler tilted their head. “Er – yes. Why wouldn’t she be?”

Robert raised an eyebrow at Smiler. “Because – she’s his wife?” he said slowly, as if they were an idiot. “And would likely want to be her husband’s soulmate?”

“Oh, there’s no problem there,” Smiler said brightly, putting away the dried glass. “She’s also his soulmate.”

Robert blinked at them. It was a pretty long blink. “What?”

“Alice is also Victor’s soulmate,” Smiler repeated obligingly. “We’ve got a bit of a thing going on.”

“You’re – but – that’s impossible,” Robert insisted, leaning heavily on the bar.

“It’s not,” Smiler said, mentally preparing their usual speech. “It’s rare, yes, but–”

“Balderdash,” Robert cut in, putting a finger in Smiler’s face. “People can only have the one soulmate. Otherwise, what’s the point of them?”

Now it was Smiler’s turn to blink. “What do you mean?”

“I’m talking about how the whole point of a soulmate is that they are the person that the universe has ordained as the most important one in your entire life,” Robert said, warming to his topic. “The relationship beyond which all others pale. The one twinned to the very center of your being! If you were given more than one, then – then it would cheapen that bond. Make it – make it lesser. It wouldn’t be about finding your perfect match – it would be about finding someone you just kind of like more than the rest. A person only has room in their soul for one soulmate. It’s simple fact.”

“It’s not,” Smiler insisted. “There’s been studies done on the bond, and–”

“Oh, studies,” Robert said derisively, grabbing his drink and taking a big swig. “Yes, everyone appreciates a study. As if any scientist really knows how to measure a soul.” He looked Smiler up and down. “And what do you know about studies? You’re a bartender.”

“My father’s an alienist,” Smiler said, wrinkling their nose against the bitter taste in their mouth produced by even obliquely mentioning Kelman. “And I study chemistry in my spare time. I’m not an idiot just because I pour drinks for a living.”

“No – you’re an idiot for letting your soulmate get married to someone else,” Robert retorted, attempting to poke Smiler’s arm – they jerked it out of the way just in time. “Shame on you for that. He’ll never be able to be a proper husband to his wife if you’ve already taken up that space in his soul! Everyone knows that people who have soulmates that are just friends have to remain single. It’s the natural order of things!” He took another drink. “Cruel of you both to lead that poor woman on. She should be off trying to find her actual soulmate, not being – taken advantage of by two horrible monsters like yourselves.”

Smiler opened their mouth. Closed it. Opened it again. Closed it again. Where the hell were their words right when they needed them most? Alice had once said they could talk their way out of a murder scene while holding a bloody knife, and now they couldn’t refute one drunk?! One deeply annoying drunk who’d hit pretty much every nerve in their body, sure, but… “I...you…”

“Smiler?”

Smiler and Robert both looked over to see Victor and Alice approaching, wearing identical expressions of concern. “Is everything all right?” Victor continued, picking at the knot of his tie. “You – you feel quite upset about something.”

“Very deeply annoyed indeed,” Alice added, giving Robert a suspicious glare. He smartly shrank away. “Is this fellow bothering you?”

“Yes, but he might not be for much longer,” Smiler said, smirking. “You were saying about how people can only have one soulmate?”

Robert looked between the three of them, visibly processing the fact that Alice too had felt Smiler’s emotions. “I – but – she – you?” he stammered, clearly having trouble collecting his thoughts.

“All three of us,” Smiler said, leaning on the bar. “Two romantic bonds and one platonic one, and all very real. And even if we weren’t all soulmates – so what? I think Victor would still have enough love in him to handle both his wife and me.” They put on an innocent stare. “Unless you’re saying that nobody can care about anyone but their soulmate? Because that sounds like a pretty lonely and miserable life to me.”

Robert stared at them for a moment more. Then he reached into his pocket, plonked some coins on the bar, and fled out the door. The trio watched him stumble away on wobbly legs. “...so I guess he didn’t believe you when you told him we were all soulmates,” Victor finally said.

“He did not, and decided to give me a big old lecture about it,” Smiler said, scooping up the money and counting it. “Okay, good, this is what he owed...anyway, it was all about how ‘multiple soulmates cheapens the bond’ and ‘if your soulmate is your best friend you need to remain single’ and nonsense like that.” They shook their head as they put the money away. “Who comes up with those things?”

“Arses,” Alice said succinctly.

Victor and Smiler both snorted. “Well put,” Victor said, then laid a hand on Smiler’s wrist. “And for what it’s worth, I don’t feel at all that having both you and Alice as soulmates has cheapened anything. If anything I feel – I feel blessed. I had trouble believing sometimes when I was younger that I was worthy of one soulmate, let alone two.” A bright smile split his face. “And now look at me. Tied forever to the two most wonderful people in the world.”

Smiler beamed, taking his hand and giving it a squeeze. “I feel exactly the same. Two bonds just means twice the love to spread around.”

“Well said,” Alice said, putting her hand over theirs. “Hopefully someday people will understand that better.”

“Mmm. Until then…” Smiler leaned in and gave Victor a quick peck, before shooting Alice a grin. “I’ll just enjoy what we’ve got.”