#already took two pain pills and it doesn’t help

[opheliauniverse]

can they create pain pills that actually help?

[withwritersblock]

More Hearts Than Mine-Luke Gets Injured

~More Hearts Than Mine by Ingrid Andress~

Author's Note: a little delayed since he is back playing but anyways Summary: Y/N takes care of Luke after he gets injured Warnings: implied smut Word Count: 1,619

Her schedule was starting to get overwhelming, she decided to take a few more credits this semester to try and graduate a semester early. It was only week two in the semester and she’s already spent majority of her time at the campus library studying.

Usually, her phone would be on silent as she was studying. She was always desperate to focus. It was only noon and she was finished with her classes for the day but she wanted to get ahead on her work for the week.

Reluctantly she pulled her phone from her pocket to see a handful of missed calls from Jack. It was weird for him to text her, let alone call her multiple times. Without hesitation she quickly called him back. Jack answered after a few rings.

“What’s wrong? Is Luke alright?” she whispered as she glanced around her.

“He’s fine, but he busted his shoulder at practice. It’s not great, he’s on a shit load of meds, I’ll take his car back to ya’lls place tonight, can you come pick him up?” Jack explained in what seemed like on big long word. Her eyes widened as she quickly shut her computer, she rested her phone between her shoulder and her ear. 

“How bad is it?” she whispered as she shoved her computer into her bag as she stood up and started walking towards the exit. 

“Don’t know yet, he’s getting a scan right now.” Jack muttered, sounded like there was a lot of shuffling on his end of the phone.

“Jack?” she questioned as she stepped out of the library, luckily her car was parked close enough to where she could leave in the matter of minutes. 

“Y-yeah?” he let out as he got closer to the phone.

“A scan is probably not a good sign, right?” she asked. He hummed on his end of the phone.

The drive over to the practice rink felt like eternity but it was only fifteen minutes. Jack tends to get over protective of Luke, so it very well could be nothing. But she wanted to see Luke regardless.

She hopped out of the car instantly to see Jack talking with Nico outside the player entrance door. Jack’s eyes widened once he saw her walking towards him. “He’s inside,” he explained as he took a few steps back towards the door.

“Hey Y/N,” Nico muttered as he smiled politely towards her. She smiled towards him as she followed Jack inside. “He’s a little loopy,” Nico explained as he followed after them. Y/N nodded as she followed down the hallway. Jack turned and entered a room that was brightly lit. 

Luke lifted his head up as if he was drunk. His eyes widened and a sleepy grin formed to his lips. “Girlfriend,” he mumbled before he tilted his head back against the seat.

Y/N smiled as she walked towards him. The team’s doctor stood beside him. “Doesn’t look like he’ll need surgery,” he said reassuringly. Y/N nodded as she rested her hand onto Luke’s arm that was not in a sling. 

“He’ll just need lots of rest, the pain killers he’s on right now are only for today and tomorrow. He’ll just use over the counter until he doesn’t need it anymore,” the doctor explained as he handed Y/N the pill bottle with only two pills in it. She nodded as she shoved the bottle into her purse.

“Alright, can you guys help me get him into my car.” Y/N explained. Jack and Nico took a hold of Luke, cautious on his shoulder, and started guiding him out of hte room.

“God, I’m getting flashbacks to the Zach Bryan concert,” Jack muttered as he guided Luke out of the facility. 

“Oh don’t remind me of that,” Y/N said while laughing as she followed after the boys.

They managed to get Luke into the passenger seat of the car, the medication was a lot stronger than Luke thought they were going to be. He tilted his head back against the headrest. Jack shut the door on him, a chuckle leaving his lips in the process.

“I’ll drive his car back to your guys’ place, so I can help you get him inside.” Jack explained. Y/N nodded as she took in a long breath.

“Thank you, Jack,” she mumbled as she met his eye, taking a deep breath in the process. He nodded as he jogged towards Luke’s car a few parking spaces away.

Y/N jogged around towards the driver seat of her car and she dropped down into the seat. “You alright?” she asked him. He opened his eyes slowly, glancing down towards his arm.

“They said I’ll be out for only a few regular season games,” he mumbled, tilting his head to the side to meet her gaze. She put the key in the ignition as she met his eye. 

“That’s good to hear, my love,” she mumbled. He smiled towards her as he shut his eyes. 

“Damn, I’m fucking tired,” he muttered.

~~~

The next morning, Luke was sleeping in late, his shoulder in a sling. He struggled to get comfortable for majority of the night but he was finally sleeping comfortably. Y/N stood in the kitchen making breakfast, knowing that he would be starving the second he wakes up. 

She was swaying back and forth to the country music playing through their tiny speaker. She hummed along to the song as she poured the protein pancake batter onto the skillet watching it immediately start to bubble. 

“Cause, oh my god, he walked in like a 6’2” dream, Heaven-sent. He says what he means and he means what he says,” she sang along to the song. She spun around to see a sleepy Luke with his arm in a sling leaning against the kitchen counter. “Shit, Luke scared the hell out of me,” she said while she held her hand against her chest. He chuckled as he titled his head back against the cabinet.

“Whatcha making?” he asked as he scanned her frame. Her body was only covered with an old t-shirt of his and very tiny shorts. She smiled towards him as she flipped one of the pancakes.

“An amazing breakfast spread, you go relax,” she offered as she pointed towards the couch with the spatula. He shook his head as he ran his hand over his shoulder wincing in pain. She frowned. “Go sit,” 

He sighed as he walked towards the couch, sitting down. He squinted his eyes shut as he felt his arm throb. He was listening along to the music that was playing in the background.

It took a few minutes before the breakfast was ready. She was carrying two plates as she walked towards the couch. She excitedly handed one of the plates to Luke, cautiously. He sat up, resting the plate onto the coffee table.

“This looks amazing,” he muttered as he brought the food towards his mouth, taking a large bite. “Wow, this actually taste good,” he teased.

“Oh shut it, I can cook,” she said before biting a perfectly crispy piece of bacon.

“Are you sure Jack didn’t sneak in and make this for you?” he teased again as he took another bite. 

“Hardy har,” she said sarcastically. He smirked as he continued eating the food. 

“Thank you, baby, really this is amazing,” he let out as he met her gaze. She smiled softly towards him as she reached for the remote. He winced in pain as he leaned back.

“I can go grab that medicine that your doctor gave me,” she said, already standing up.

“No, no better not. I don’t want to feel like that again,” he said as he waved her off. She nodded as she leaned back into her spot on the couch, glancing towards him every so often. “I’ll grab some Advil or something after this amazing meal,” he said with a smirk on his lips.

She rolled her eyes playfully as she met his gaze briefly. She put on a random show as they continued to eat their breakfast in comfortable silence.

It had been a handful of hours later and it was safe to say Luke was already over being injured. He felt useless and lazy. He already hated the idea of being held up in bed but he wouldn’t complain about Y/N taking care of him. 

He was laid up on the bed, his laptop in his lap as he was watching a movie. Y/N walked into the room, smiling towards him. She took note of the frown on his face and tilted her head to the side.

She walked towards the bed, delicately resting her hand onto his cheek. He tilted his head into her hand. “It’s only a month in a half,” she muttered. He pouted his lips as he shut his eyes. “Luke,” 

“You know what could make me feel better?” he asked, fighting a small grin forming to his lips. 

“What’s that?” she teased as she slowly climbed onto his lap, being extra cautious of his arm. His eyes scanned her frame, biting his bottom lip trying to prevent a wide grin. He couldn’t form words as he continued to admire her frame. She rested her hands onto his jaw as she ran her thumbs across his jawline.

She leaned towards him, kissing him delicately. His free arm, slowly started running up and down the back of her thigh. “How’s that?” she mumbled against his lips. He hummed as he pressed his lips against hers once more.

“It’s a start,” he let out teasingly.

“Asshole,” she mumbled against his lips before she kissed him more urgently.

[virtual-bunny]

Period Cramps and Comfort

pairing: tsukishima x fem!reader

summary: you got your period, making you miserable, so you your boyfriend, kei, try’s to make you feel as comfortable as possible

warnings: blood, nakedness but nothing nsfw NOT PROOF READ

a/n: this took me way too long, also i tried to make the text a different color, like gradient or a different type of yellow but tumblr doesn’t have that option, but it’s too much work for me to go on a coding website and i’m lazy and now i’m sad LMAO

“Have you taken any pain medicine?”

“No I don’t know where they are and I don’t wanna look for them because if I move my cramps are gonna start to hurt even though I can feel them right now but I don’t wanna get hurt.” You cry out.

Tsukishima tries his best not to roll his eyes, moving your hair out of your face, you open your eyes to look at him, squished face and slightly opened duck lips staring up at him as he kept moving your hair out of the way.

“Where are they?” He finally says and you sigh in relief.

“On the top cupboard above the counter with the spoons and forks.”

Tsukishima nods, sitting up from the side of your bed and goes to look for the small bottle, going through all the “just incase” medication you had, but he didn’t find the bottle anywhere.

“Are you sure we have any?” He asks as he walks back to your bedroom, making you open your eyes again to follow his figure walking towards you.

“Yeah?!” You cry out, ready to let out a full sob.

Tsukishima sighs, shaking his head. “Didn’t find them.”

The tears start to roll down your cheeks now. To any person it would look like you were crying out for someone’s death, but really you were just in menstrual pain.

Tsukishima looks at you for a moment before speaking.

“I’ll be right back, I’m going to the store-“

“NOOOOOOOO!” You cry again, extending your arm to barely grab on to your boyfriend’s shirt. Tsukishima’s taken aback, looking at you with widened eyes.

“Don’t leave meeeeee!” You cry again, letting go of his shirt to wipe your tears. Tsukishima tries his best to not make a snarky comment at you, so instead, he bends down to your level, now face to face with your puffy face and caresses your cheek.

“I promise I’ll be quick babe.” He whispered, caressing your cheeck and giving you a kiss on the lips. You nod, sniffing as he stood back up and left your room.

Tsukishima went to the nearest convenience store. He found everything he thought of getting for you, thankfully, because he knew if he was gone for more than an hour, you’d probably get more upset than you already were. Grabbing two bottles of tylenol, some snacks, pads, and a small bouquet of flowers, tsukishima left the store and put evething in his trunk.

After about twenty minutes, he came back home, calling out for you.

“Y/n?”

“Eeeehhhhh?”

He set everything in the counter, only grabbing the bottle of tylenol and a glass of water to bring to you.

As he entered your room, he was suprised to see you had changed positions. Your back was now against the bed frame, but your hair was messier than he had remembered.

“Here.” He set the pill on your tongue, tipping the glass of water on your lips. You drank the water and pill with ease, letting out a sigh as you finished swallowing.

“Let’s go shower.” He mumbles, pulling the blanket from your lap. You shake your head, resisting his gripping hand on yours as he gently tries to pull you out of bed.

“Kei it’s gonna be nasty.” You whine but he doesn’t listen, finally getting you up and taking you to the bathroom.

You slowly take off your shirt, whinceing at the movements that made your cramps act up. Tsukishima looks over his shoulder, he’s bending down touching the bath water for the temperature, his glasses slowly falling off his nose bridge.

You kept whining, you felt warm and nasty, it overwhelmed you. Tearless cries came from you, looking at Tsukishima for help. Kei clicks his tongue, standing straight to help you walk closer to the tub.

“It’s okay, you’ll feel better right now.”

Tapping your arm, he grabs the hem of your shirt and you put your arms up, letting Tsukishima take off your shirt. He moves out of your way slightly as you unclip your bra and step into the shower.

As you let the warm water hit your body, Tsukishima took off his clothes as well, setting his glasses near the sink.

“I have blood crust.” You inform your boyfriend who just stepped in the shower, his chest in front of your face. He only hums in return.

For a few minutes it’s silent as Kei massages your shoulders, the warm water helping the tension lessen, and although you were enjoying the massage, you couldn’t help but have the urge to hug him.

You turn around, facing him again. Tsukki looks down at you, his stupid smirk on his face taunting you.

“What?”

“You do have blood crust.”

You stomp your foot and whine, trying to throw water at him but it is no use. Tsukishima laughs, reaching over your shoulder to turn off the shower and start the bath, so you took this as a chance to wrap your arms around him, the pout on your lips turning into a smile.

As the tub started to fill up, Tsukishima got out, wrapping a towel around his waist.

“Stay here,” his tall frame crouches under the bathroom door frame, leaving you behind.

As you wait for your boyfriend, you took this as an opportunity to clean yourself as fast as you could, opening the cap of the bathtub so the now “colored” water drains. You know Tsukki would get pissed off if you’d do this, since it was more convenient if you had just told him that you wanted to get a bit clean first.

Closing the drain again and turning on the water one more time, you stood there, arms hugging your bare body, looking like a wet puppy in the foggy room.

“KEI!” You call out, starting to miss your boyfriend. As if on time, the lanky man appears, a tray of food, bottled juice, your favorite snacks, your favorite scented soap, and a small bouquet of flowers on his hands. You gasp in surprise, a smile spreading all over your face as you move out the way so he can set the things down.

But as you stood there, a sharp pain up your ass hit you, making you flinch and clench your butt. This startled your boyfriend, dropping the things in his hands to the floor with widened eyes as he put his hands on your arms to check what was wrong with you.

“Ow ow ow ow ow ow,” you hiss, eyes closed shut as the excruciating pain continued.

“What happened?” Tsukishima asks, not knowing what to do, his eyes frantically look all over you.

“Butt cramp.” You reply in a pained voice, a small tear going down your cheek from the pain.

“Can you sit down?” Setting the tray in the bathtub and messily setting the things on it, Kei took off his towel and stepped inside the bath, grabbing the scented soap and squirting the liquid around the clear water.

You didn’t respond, the pain was still lingering, your head felt dizzy and your mouth was dry, whatever Tsukishima had said went over your head. He noticed this and gently set the soap down and turned to look again at you.

“Hey,” he said softly placing his hands on your hips and rubbing little circles. You shake your head to focus, droopy eyes looking at him

“Mhm.” You nod your head, the question he had asked you finally settingling in your brain. You step in the tub, turning around so your back is facing his chest, sitting down on the warm water.

The two of you watched some video on his phone on youtube, quietly eating your food and drinking juice.

Every now and then you’d wince at your cramps acting up, but Tsukishima would be quick to massages your tummy and back whenever it started to hurt.

Kei moved behind you, reaching over you to grab the shampoo you two shared.

“Don’t get it in my eyes,” you say through your chewing food, eyes never leaving the video. Tsukki rolls his eyes, squirting a good amount of shampoo into your damp hair and massaging your scalp.

You moan, eyes rolling at the back of your head as you swallow your food.

“That feels good,” you sigh. Tsukki chuckles, the tip of his fingers rubbing against your scalp. He stops, reaching over you to grab some of the snacks he had bought.

You lean your head back for a moment, looking up at your boyfriend who, as he’s chewing his food, looks down at you and smirks.

After your bath, Tsukishima made sure to bring the unfinished food to your bed, settling the small tray table in your spot as you went to change to a warm tshirt of his and some baggy sweatpants.

As you walk over to your shared bed, you put your hand inside your underwear, adjusting your pad. Kei chuckles, shaking his head as he sets a towel on the side of your bed and pats the spot for your to sit in.

You plop yourself on the bed, waiting for Kei to cover you with the blankets, and as he did, you steal a kiss from him, making him kiss you back quickly.

Walking to the the other side of the bed, Tsukishima laid down and covered himself with the blankets, you instantly snuggling up to him, grabbing his arm so you could wrap it around your body.

As the evening went on, you and Tsukki enjoyed the rest of the evening cuddling in bed while you complained every now and then about your pain, mood swings taking over you, and although all Kei wanted to do was to cover your face with a pillow, he took it easy with you, comforting you and letting you chew his ear off, cry on him and kissing him all over his face whenever your mood changed.

And since you need to be on weird positions in order for your cramps not to hurt, you fell asleep with your mouth open, hair all over you and Tsukishima’s face as you laid ontop of him, your drool getting on his shirt.

Tsukishima reached for the tv remote as slowly as he could in order to not wake you up. Turning off the tv, your guys room went dark. Kei closed his eyes, sighing. You shifted on him for a second, making his eyes widen as he looked up at the ceiling, his body stiffened.

Once he heard you snoring again, he let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding, he wiped off your drool from your lip, moving the hair out of your face, and gave you a kiss on the cheek, turning his head around as he drifted to sleep.

[bloatedandalone04]

Sound of Your Heart

➪the one where you take care of clay after his surgery.

Warnings: mentions of surgery, descriptions of wounds, swearing, fluff to the max because clay is such a sweetheart and deserves everything good in the world

Word Count: 2.1k

Do not repost this anywhere, reblogs are fine ♡

“Fuck,” Clay grunted as he sat up in bed. His arm instinctively reached out to you, but he found your side of the bed empty. Judging by the indentation and the warmth his hand was met with, he knew you hadn’t been up for long, and it was most likely your absence that caused him to wake up so abruptly. He never could sleep for long without you. “Y/n?” He called out to you, and not even a second later your head was peeking out from the bathroom doorway. 

When you furrowed your brows in question, he reached out for you as he slumped back against the headboard. 

“Baby,”

You were crossing the room instantly after tossing your toothbrush onto the bathroom counter, forgoing your previous plan to brush your teeth so you could instead check on your wounded boyfriend. Sitting on the edge of the bed next to him, you take his hand in yours as you give him a concerned look. “What? What’s the matter, baby?”

He grunted quietly as he placed his free hand against his chest, his fingers picking at the edges of the bandage that was covering his incision mark.

You understood without him actually saying anything and moved closer so you could push away his hair that fell over his forehead. “Is it hurting bad today?” You ask in a soft voice as you move your hand down to massage his shoulder. 

He shook his head a bit as he laced his fingers with yours and squeezed them. “Just sore,” he tried to play it off, but you knew him better than that. He was clearly in pain, but wasn’t telling you just how much, as if that would make him look weak or vulnerable or something. 

You give him an unimpressed look as you reach over to grab his pain meds from off the nightstand. “You don’t need to lie to me, Clay,” you tell him as you grab his hand and place two of the pills onto his palm. “I’ve been with you for how long now? Almost three years? I know when you’re lying, so I’m not sure why you still try to do it to me.”

He huffed and took the glass of water you held out to him from off the nightstand as well. “I’m not lying,” he tried but knew it was no use. You simply knew him too well. Sighing, he took the meds before putting the glass aside. “It’s not bad. It was worse yesterday.”

You nod and run the tip of your finger along the edge of the tape on his chest. “Okay, that’s good,” you murmur and lean down to press a kiss to the skin of where his heart is. “It should only hurt for a few more days, then you’ll be a whole new man.” 

He gave you a boyish grin, your attempt at lightening the mood helping more than you probably knew. “I’m feeling better already,” he said and lifted his arms. “Lay with me.”

You give him a look of warning, one he’s seen you wear a lot since he got off that surgery table. “No,” you reply and move away from him, but he doesn’t drop his arms as he stares at you. “I don’t want to hurt you, that’s why I’m not sleeping on you like I usually do at night. I don’t want to put pressure on your chest.”

He drops his arms to his sides at that as a laugh escapes him. “Oh, so that’s why you won’t touch me when we’re in bed,” he laughed again while you rolled your eyes. “Come here, baby, please? Your rejection is hurting my heart.”

You gasp and lean over to slap his leg through the thin sheet that still covered it. “Don’t say that to me,” you scold but can’t help the grin that took over your face at the sound of his laugh. “God.”

“I’m just kidding,” he assured you and leaned over to place his hands on your waist in a gentle tug. 

“I’m glad you’re feeling well enough to joke around,” you mutter and stay still, despite him trying to pull you onto his lap. 

“Come here,” he nearly begged when you still weren’t giving in to the pull of his hands. “Please? I miss you.” 

You laughed and moved the smallest bit closer to him. “I’ve been by your side for the last eight days, Clay,” you point out and brace yourself by placing your hands on his shoulders and keeping your body away from his chest. “How could you possibly miss me?”

“I miss you all the time,” he answered, leaning forward and running his nose along your collarbone. “I miss feeling you against me. I’m not broken, Y/n, you won’t hurt me if you touch me.”

“I know, but,” you trail off as he gives you a pleading look. You never were good at saying no to him, and he was always way too good at getting you to give in to him. “Fine, but I need you to tell me if it hurts, okay? Promise me.”

Clay lit up at that and leaned back against the headboard, lifting his arms once more. “I promise,” he says quickly. “Come here, sweet girl.”

Of course, you give in. 

Moving to the middle of the bed, you situate yourself so your front is pressing against his side. His arms immediately wrap around you and pull your body closer to his, seeming to be unconcerned about the way he is putting a bit of a strain on his chest. 

If there is one thing Clay liked about needing to take those meds, it was that they kicked in fast. Now he could hold you in his arms and press you up against his chest without feeling any pain at all. 

You settle against him and place your head on his shoulder with a light pressure. “Is this okay?” You ask when he places a kiss on your forehead. “It doesn’t hurt?”

“It doesn’t hurt, baby,” he assures you and holds you a bit tighter against him. 

He missed this. You had been so careful around him, and while he appreciated that and absolutely adored the fact that you didn’t want to hurt him, he craved the physical touch he was used to receiving from you. Your relationship had pretty much been built on touch, whether that be hand holding, kisses on every inch of your skin, or wrapping each other up when it was time for bed. 

Maybe he was greedy, but he had been craving that sense of normalcy ever since he returned home from the hospital. He had finally managed to convince his mother that he was fine and that you were going above and beyond to make sure he was doing well, and all he wanted to do was spend the rest of his recovery process with you in his arms. 

He couldn’t do much, and even getting up to go to the bathroom or changing his clothing proved to be hard tasks at times,but he would gladly toughen up and take that pain rather than have you too afraid to go near him.

“I missed this,” he sighed and placed another kiss on the top of your head. “I missed holding you.”

You smiled up at him. “I missed it, too,” you admitted and placed your hand over his mouth when he leaned down to kiss you. “I haven’t brushed my teeth yet. You interrupted me before I could.”

He scoffed quietly, a teasing grin on his lips. “I don’t care,” he said and moved your hand so he could place a kiss on your mouth. When you pulled away after a quick peck, he groaned. “You’re killing me here.”

You raise a brow and begin to lift yourself up. “What did I say about you joking like that?” 

“No,” he quickly pulled you back down onto him. “I’m sorry. No more, okay?”

Giving him a skeptical look, you settle back against him and gently rub the skin next to the bandage. “I know I’m probably being a bit overbearing right now, but I just worry about you. Plus, your mom calls me everyday to make sure I’m taking proper care of you since you won’t let her,” 

He laughs and the sound vibrates his body against yours. “Yeah, that sounds like her,” he mumbled, running his hand up and down your back. “She gets to pick the surgeon if you get to take care of me. That was the deal, and she chose her doctor friend she’s known for years. Now you get to do your part and look after me.”

“She was very persistent that her friend needed to be the one to do it, huh?”

“That’s my mother for you,” he replied and you laughed. 

“I like your mom,” you mumble. “She doesn’t put up with any bullshit when it comes to you. We have that in common.”

Clay hummed, very aware of just how protective his mom had been over him since he was informed of his condition. “That’s why you and her are the best women in my life,” 

“We’re the only women in your life,” you correct him with a side glance before leaning up to press a kiss to his cheek. “And don’t ever forget that.”

He grinned down at you, reaching one hand up to brush away the hair from your face. “I love you,” 

“I love you more,” you tell him and kiss him on the lips, despite your previous excuse of why you didn’t want to kiss him right now. Honestly, fuck morning breath when your boyfriend is this hot. 

He kisses you back, deepening it as he lets his need for you pour from his mouth to yours. He wasn’t lying when he said he missed touching you, and that included with his lips. 

When he leaned further in, you gently pushed him back against the headboard. “Don’t wear yourself out,” you remind him and trail light kisses from his jaw down to the base of his throat. He refrained from moaning at just how good it felt since he clearly was in no shape to get laid at the moment, and he didn’t want to turn you on then not be able to properly take care of you. “Your meds should be kicking in any minute now and they make you drowsy.”

“I know,” he rasped, tilting his head when you began peppering his neck with quick kisses. “That’s why I hate them. I just woke up and I’m already tired again.”

You hum and pull away from him completely. He opens his mouth in protest, but you silence him with a raise of your hand. “That’s a good thing, it makes you sleep off the pain,” you grinned and lifted yourself off the bed. Clay’s eyes trail up and down your body, his teeth getting caught between his teeth as he takes in the sight of your bare legs. “Don’t look at me like that.”

He lifted a brow as he continued to admire your body. “Like what?”

“That,” you point at him. “Like you want to pounce on me or something.”

“You’re wearing nothing but my shirt, sweet girl,” he stated the obvious as he slumped back against the pillow. “Of course I want to pounce on you. You know I would if I had the energy.”

That had you holding back your own sound of pleasure as you turned towards the door. “There will be a lot more time for that once you’re fully healed,” you really weren’t sure who you were trying to reassure with that one. “Please try to stay awake while I go make your breakfast. You can go back to sleep once it’s done.”

Clay groaned and buried himself under the covers. “I could just go with you,” 

“No way,” you said immediately as you grabbed a pair of sweats to wear around the house. “No leaving that bed unless you absolutely have to. We’ve been over this.”

Clay rolled his eyes as he snuggled into your pillow and inhaled the sweet scent of your conditioner. “Whatever you say, mom,” he mumbled as he tried to keep his eyes open. “I expect you to spend at least another hour in bed with me after breakfast, just so you know.”

You shake your head and open the door, glancing back at him as he burrowed further under the covers. “I wouldn’t have it any other way,”

-

for you, my sweet @everydaydreamer

[zevrra]

Hello! I was hoping to request something for Gaara with his wife reader? Like them making up from their first real argument and it gets NSFW?

needy—

tags: suggestive content, 18(+), slight nsfw, naruto, gaara x fem!reader, short & sweet, anon request

creator notes: sorry this is for one, so short! and for two, sorry it took me a little while to respond/finish! i started writing it and was several paragraphs in before i realized i was writing something else completely unrelated to your request so i had to start over aaaaa!!!! so so sorry about that but i hope you enjoy! thanks for requesting!

It didn’t take a genius to figure out he had been avoiding you. Anytime you’d reach for his hand, he’d pull away just far enough so you didn’t touch him. And when he did let you touch him, during any moment of intimacy, he broke all of it off after mere moments. Claiming he was tired and needed to go to bed early for some meeting in the morning.

You had been married to Gaara for a year or so now so it wasn’t as if you two were teenagers sneaking around anymore. It was frustrating but mostly strange to you. His actions made you second guess yourself. What if he was rethinking your relationship? What if he was falling out of love for you? So many emotions and thoughts ran through your head on the daily but today you were getting answers. Even if it was going to be a hard pill to swallow you had to know what was being done wrong.

And as soon as he got home from his work that day, you confronted him.

“Welcome home. We need to talk,” You say, trying your best to put on a brave face and voice.

Gaara looks at you with his usual gentle face. He’s hesitant for a moment, as if he knows what is coming, before he settles into a chair at the kitchen table.

“What’s been going on recently?” You ask. His eyes avoid you. Shame written on his face.

“It’s nothing,” Gaara whispers. His colder tone makes your gut twist.

“Nothing?” You scoff. “I think avoiding me for as many days as you have been isn’t ‘nothing’.” You mutter, irritated.

Silence falls between you two. Which is not unusual but this silence is painful. Thick and suffocating. Not the usual calming, healing silence you two share. This silence made your heart race far too fast.

“Is it me?” You ask in the coldest tone you can muster. “Have I done something wrong? Am I not enough?” You speak harsh words. Yet they’re the words that have haunted the back of your thoughts for days now. Souring the image of yourself inside and out.

Gaara jerks at the words. He looks at you in pure disbelief as if he can’t understand what you mean. “No-“

He tries to stop you but the floodgates have already opened. All of your feelings and your thoughts pour out of your mouth like rainwater. Tears fall when you try your best to will them away but it doesn’t help. You sob into your hands as Gaara moves to your side.

He’s no longer hesitant as he wraps his arms around you. Lifts you into his chest in a warm embrace. Hugs you so gently it makes you hiccup.

“I’m sorry,” He mumbles into your hair. Apologizing like his life depended on it. He smooths loose strands of your hair away from your face. Wipes the tears from your cheeks and eyelids. All while he kisses the crown of your head. It was more affection you’ve received from him in weeks and it damn near broke your heart all over again. “I’m so sorry.”

You quiet your sobs. Breathing in deep in the hopeful comfort of your husband’s arms. One of his hands moves to clasp at your neck, using a finger against your jaw to lift your gaze to his.

“It’s not you.” He whispers. A kiss is placed on your forehead. “You’re amazing. Truly perfect, my dear.” He adds with a quiet chuckle. His thumbs swipe across your cheeks to collect whatever trail was left behind by your tears.

You sniffle. You must look like a horrible mess right now but it doesn’t stop him from kissing you. As if a fire has broken out inside of him, he kisses you with every ounce of passion he’s ever had. Tears threaten to spill once again at the first kiss you’ve two have shared in such a long time but he pulls away before that can happen.

“I want you so bad.” Gaara admits with a shy look on his face. His thumb swipes across your bottom lip. “From the moment I wake up, I want you more than anything,” He whispers under his breath as he soothes circles into your skin. Touching you so delicately like you might disappear. “It scares me how badly I want you. And I’m…just nervous my feelings will run wild and I’ll end up—hurting you.” He mumbles, glancing away from your gaze.

You suddenly realize he means the sentient sand that is always at his disposal. Sand that acted on its own sometimes and he was so worried about it hurting you he tried to keep his distance. All because of his love for you.

Your own emotions overcome you as you kiss him in response. Arms wrapping around his neck with ease as his own wrap around your waist. And now he holds onto you for dear life. Touching every inch of your skin he has so desperately craved but had been so hesitant to reach for. All while kissing you like it might be the last time. Passionate, eager, and hungry.

You two had some catching up to do.

“To bed?” You mouth against his lips between kisses.

He breaks ever so slightly, a red blush to match his hair spreads across his face. “Are you sure?” He responds. Shy even as his hands, body, and soul yearns to devour you.

God you loved him.

“Oh, I’m more than sure.” You whisper, capturing his lips once more.

Without another word, Gaara is pushing you along to your shared bedroom. Eager to make up for his wrongdoings by giving you enough pleasure to make you forget every negative feeling you've ever imagined.

[multific]

Attached to You

Modern!AU

Billy Hargrove x Reader

A/N: I'm not a doctor nor am I medically trained, so, there are things here which are incorrect. Please ignore them and try to enjoy the piece as it is. Thank you.

Summary: After a one-night stand, you find out you are pregnant, thanks to your doctor's bad advice, it turned out that your pills weren't effective. Leaving you with a baby, you have lots of decisions to make.

"I only told you because you deserve to know. I don't want anything from you. I will deal with this myself." 

Your words rang in his head over and over again.

It had been almost two weeks since he last saw you and now, he wasn't sure what he was doing.

Billy couldn't stop thinking about you. How you smiled at him even when he could see you were close to a breakdown.

It was all meant to be one night. Something he had done many many times before.

When he saw you sitting alone at the bar, he was quick to make his move. Flirting with you was easy as you blushed at every word he said. He soon learned about an ex of yours, the guy, as you explained, was rather obsessive about you and didn't want to let go of you, which is why you were hiding in a bar.

And so, Billy took this as a sign and brought you home.

It wasn't meant to end like this. He always made sure to have a condom with him. All the time. Of course, the one time when he doesn't, he gets someone pregnant...

But even so, you didn't look mad, you didn't demand money or anything from him. You just smiled and moved on.

He didn't even know your name. All he had is a phone number.

"You can delete my number as well. I won't look for you. All I wanted is for you to know since you are the father."

Father.

A word that scared him.

A word which meant nothing to him as he too, never had a father.

The realization hit him like a cold shower, he didn't have a father, so he knows just how hard it is to grow up without one, and here he was, the exact same as his.

He will have a child, who won't know their father. Who will go through the same pain as he did. Who will see their mother slowly crumble under all the pressure.

He is no better than his own asshole father.

This was unfair. 

He could run. Men could run from the responsibility since they weren't attached to the baby, but women couldn't.

---

Billy felt like a piece of shit. 

It had been almost two months since he last saw you.

And he couldn't help but wonder what 'dealing with it' meant for you. Did it mean you got an abortion? Or did you keep the child?

This was eating him alive.

He needed to find you and have another conversation with you. But you didn't pick up the phone nor did you reply to any text he sent.

He set out to the club he originally met you.

"Why the fuck did I think a pregnant woman would be in a club?!"

IF you were still pregnant.

The next couple days were awful for him.

Trying to find you, he went to the café you invited him to, no sign, he went to a hospital and asked if they knew about you. But of course, they couldn't give out any information.

You were all he could think about. 

You and the baby he might have already lost.

Billy didn't feel like himself. 

And then, one day, he spotted you. As he was walking down the street when he noticed you on the other side. 

He followed you like a creep.

Dodging people, running. He followed you. Tried to call out but since he didn't know your name, it was difficult.

You went into a pharmacy and he stopped by the front door. His heart was beating fast, not only from running.

"Hi. I have some pills prescribed for me." he could hear you say. The pharmacist took a look and turned to you. 

"Can I ask for your full name?"

"Y/N Y/L/N."

"You have... pregnancy vitamins prescribed by Dr Drew."

"Correct." you smiled. Oh God, that smile taunted him.

"Alright, let me get that for you."

He felt himself calm a little. Pregnancy vitamins. Why did they have to prescribe those for you anyway? But this meant you still had the baby.

"So, since this kind is... stronger, we recommend you take only one daily. If you skip a day do not take two the next day. Technically these are not vitamins, they are just called that. Is your pregnancy i-"

"The doctor said these are the best for my condition. So I need to take them."

"These are for you not the baby." she was rather rude as you tried to ignore her.

"I know."

"Alright, anything else I can give you?"

"Do you have any of those shooting creams? For when the skin stretches?"

"For the stretch marks? We have one, which is cold and another which is warm. One helps shoot the skin the other helps the marks to be less visible."

"I would like the one that shoots the skin, please. That would be all."

Billy watched as you paid for everything before he quickly exited so you wouldn't notice him.

Pregnancy vitamins... for you not for the baby. And you had a condition?

He watched as you walked away, but as you did a man ran into you. The man continued on while you nearly fell over.

"Watch where you are going, Asshole!" Billy pushed the man as he passed him, before he helped you. "Are you okay?"

He only realized that he was now holding your arm as you looked up at him. When did he get this close to you?

"O-Oh, yes. I'm fine thanks." he saw it in your eyes, you realized who he was soon after as you took a step back. "Thank you." you adjusted your bag before starting to walk and he knew he couldn't let you leave.

"Can we-Can we talk, Y/N?" he suddenly spoke up and you turned to him.

"If you want to." he nodded and you guided him to a nearby park and sat down on a bench.

An awkward silence filled the air. 

He knew he needed to talk. 

He took a deep breath.

"I was scared when you said you would deal with it, that you meant... abortion."

"I'm not going to lie, I thought about every option. It was one of them but... I decided against it."

"I-I heard you at the pharmacy..."

"Oh, you were there?" you looked up at him, genuinely surprised. 

"You got some meds..." he nodded as he pointed at your bag. 

"I-The doctor said it is okay to take pregnancy vitamins. But it turned out that I was the one needing them, not the baby. The doctor said my body puts the baby as a priority and takes away nutrition from me. We found out during my eight weeks when I asked the doctor if it was normal that I feel very dizzy. He did some checks and yeah. But... why are you asking me this?"

"Because for the last weeks, I couldn't stop thinking about you and the baby."

"You don't have to. You are not guilty or anything."

"I grew up without a father. I saw my mother going through so much shit. I don't want you to go through all that. I want to be a father to my child. Someone I never had."

You took a moment to fully digest what he just said. He waited anxiously for an answer. 

"Look, I will have a baby soon, a baby who can become attached. If they become attached to you and then you later decide that you don't want to do this... I believe that is worse. So, while I do appreciate your concerns, I was nothing more to you than a quick fuck. It is... unfortunate, that I got pregnant, but as I said it is something I am dealing with. So, please, if you don't mean it, don't get involved. You might think now that you want to be a part of this because you pity me or whatever, but if you change your mind..."

"I don't want to change my mind. Yes, it was meant to be a one-night stand but I can't ignore a child. My child. I'm not a coward. I want to be a part of the life of this little one." 

You looked into his eyes, trying to figure him out. He looked serious. Maybe he really had a change of heart during the last couple months. You pulled out your wallet and a picture from it. You handed it to him.

He looked at the ultrasound.

"I'm currently 11 weeks along. The baby is 41mm long. The doctor said it's the size of a fig. We don't know the gender just yet, but they are healthy."

"Healthy. Good." he wanted to hand back the photo but you didn't take it.

"I have more at home, you can have that. I have a check-up next week, you could come if you have time."

"I'll be there."

You stood up and were about to walk away when you turned to look at him.

"If you don't come next week. I mean without a good reason, I don't want you to come after. I am already very attached to this little fig, and I don't want them hurt."

"I'll be there, text me the time and place."

You nodded before saying goodbye and walking away.

He stayed, looking at the picture.

"My little fig." he smiled before he too, headed home.

---

Honestly, you were shocked to see him at the doctor's the next week. 

Every time he showed up.

He started to take you out to eat afterwards and started to ask more and more questions.

Billy asked you to move into his place which you didn't want but you did go over to his place many times.

You spent most of your weekends there. And lately, you even spent your nights there. In a separate room, but you did stay.

"What are you doing?"

"Shhhh! I heard babies can hear voices, I'm talking to them so they would recognize me when they are born." you shook your head as you continued to look at stuff on your phone. Subconsciously, one of your hands found his hair. You started to run your fingers through his locks as he continued to softly speak to the baby.

"We should get married." you nearly threw your phone at the TV.

"What?" you sat up so quickly you nearly gave yourself whiplash. He moved with you as he sat in front of you. The expression on his face was as serious as ever.

"You heard me. Marry me?"

"Why would I... What? No. Just because of the baby? That is-"

"Logical. We get married, you take my last name and the baby does too. It is logical."

"Did you hit your head or something?"

"What? Why?"

"You? Marriage?"

"Yes."

"Like in the old days? You get the woman pregnant and so you have to marry her?"

"I was thinking more about the baby and you. In case something happens to me, you two would be good on money."

"I don't want your money."

"I know you don't, I am giving it to you and the baby. We don't have to, but you can think about it."

"I honestly don't know."

"I know you probably wanted to marry out of love, fuck I never wanted to get married but here I am. With a baby on the way and with you. You are such an amazing girl, Y/N. I'm happy that you are the mother of my baby."

'"I'm very glad to hear that Billy, however, marriage is a big thing. Now don't get me wrong I have heard about people getting married for less and I'm not the biggest in the love department either. I truly believe you should marry someone you can see yourself for the rest of your life with and not be crazy in love with them but..."

"You told me this before. You said 'but you still believe that there should be love for marriage and not like love between friends.' And then you started crying because you couldn't explain yourself fully and I had to get you ice cream."

"Exactly."

"What would make you want to marry me?"

You placed your hand on his cheek.

"You might think now that its a good idea. You might think now that you would want me by your side forever, but I know Billy that one day, you would look at me and be disappointed that you married me because of our baby. One day you will be in a club, surrounded by girls and drinks and you won't think of me or our child, I want a loyal husband, and I wouldn't want you to throw the accusation at me, saying that you only married me for the baby and you would end up hating me."

"You believe that would happen? That I would regret it all and I would... what? Blame you for it?"

"Yes."

"You think that lowly of me?"

"No, I think that lowly of myself." you let out a sigh. "Look Billy, tell me that we are not here just because of the baby. You wouldn't be here if I wasn't pregnant. You would be out there as you were before. You don't want me, you want the baby. And that is completely fine. And it is all I can ask for. For you to love the kid. That's it."

"But I do love you. You are the mother of my child. How can I not?"

"Billy, please. You only care for me because of the baby. And I know that and it's okay."

Billy wanted to tell you that it wasn't true. That he truly cared for you. More than you could imagine.

He wanted to lift all of your insecurities and show you just how amazing you were.

But he did. Because he was afraid. 

Not of losing his old life, but of losing you. 

If you didn't believe him like this, he will prove his love in other ways.

---

You smiled as you saw the roses on the table. They looked amazing. 

Beautiful white roses with a little note.

You debated picking it up and reading it until you saw your name on the paper.

'To my beautiful wife' it read on the inside and it made you scoff.

Since when did he become such a romantic?

You let out a long sigh. 

Billy was trying way too hard. You were afraid one day he will realize this is not what he wants and just pack up and leave.

You were terrified that he will make you get used to his closeness and then pull away, leaving you to fall alone.

You really tried to keep your distance, to not fall in love or to not harbour feelings that would hurt you.

You really tried but it was very difficult because each time you saw his eyes sparkle as he looked at you, each time at the doctor's when he asked something about you or the baby, it made you feel so safe and happy.

When he asked you to marry him, you were ready to say yes. It was your first thought when he asked the question but then you realized your situation.

He doesn't love you to get married. He wants the baby around and that's fine.

You felt like you were lulling yourself into false realities and you couldn't let that happen.

Not with you becoming a mother.

Not with you knowing about his past. It felt like wherever you went you could see girls staring at you, eyeing you up and down. The dark thought of who he had slept with was always in the back of your head.

You knew you should let it go.

But it is easier said than done. 

You were making lunch when Billy arrived home.

"Here you are. I actually wanted to go out for food, but I guess its too late now."

"Yeah, maybe tomorrow. Thank you for the flowers." you gave him a small smile.

"Did you like it?"

"Yes, they are beautiful."

"And the card?" 

"Card?"

"Yes, wrote it myself actually. Did you like it?"

You turned back to the oven and got the pan out. Billy only shook his head as he smirked before he left to take a quick shower.

Soon, he joined you at the table.

Eating the chicken you made.

"I have an appointment tomorrow."

"I know. It's baby gender time." he smiled.

"Yeah. What would you prefer? A boy or a girl?"

"Either is fine really. What about you?"

"I thought I wanted a son, but lately I have been imagining a little girl and I realized I would be fine with any really."

"Should we have one of those crazy gender reveal parties?"

"Oh gosh, no! You know I hate to be the centre of attention. I'm fine if the doctor tells us."

"Just an idea. Then I can at least finish their room."

"Oh, I did order more things. I wanted to wait for you with the furniture though. Since you want to paint the room."

"We will know the gender tomorrow, so I can paint this weekend, then we can look at furniture and finish it up in a couple weeks." he nodded. "We are a good team, Y/N."

"Yeah, we are." you agreed as you finished your chicken and went to wash your plates.

Soon, you felt his arms move around you as you put the dishes to dry.

The way he held you, you let yourself imagine what if he loved you. What if the baby wasn't an accident? What if he wanted to be here for you?

"Y/N, marry me."

"Billy," you groaned as you turned in his arms, seeing the serious expression on his face you fell silent.

"I am serious. I love you both so much, please, marry me." he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small box, it was a jewellery box so it had to be a ring. And as he opened it, sure enough, it was. A rather expensive looking one at that. "I want to give you and our child the world. I want us to be a real family. Would you marry me?" You needed a moment to think.

"Yes. I will marry you." he smiled as he placed the ring on your finger, pulling you in for a breath-taking kiss.

"I love you so much." he said as his lips moved to your neck. His hands grabbed the back of your thighs as he lifted you and carried you to the bedroom.

"I love you too," you whispered to him as he began to remove your clothes, kissing your baby bump.

His eyes were filled with love, you couldn't look away.

---

The next day, you lay on the examination table with butterflies in your stomach.

You will finally know if you are having a girl or a boy.

Billy stood beside you, holding your hand as he smiled.

"As you can see, the head, two little hands and legs." the doctor said pointing everything out on the screen. "Are we ready to know the gender?"

"Yes." you said as Billy squeezed your hand.

"Let's see... Looks to be a little girl." she said as you looked at Billy whose eyes were glued to the monitor, smiling softly to himself.

"Then we can get the pink shoes you have been eyeing." you said as he finally looked at you.

During a recent trip to the mall, you found him in the kid's section when you were looking for some clothes. You found him standing there with a pink princess shoe in his hand as he smiled at the pink glittery object.

"Looks like we can." he said before he moved to place a kiss on your forehead.

You were really glad you judged him wrong.

You were glad he turned out to be a loving person and he grew into his potential. You knew he will be an amazing father and husband. 

Judging by the small smile on his face, it said it all.

The little girl had him wrapped around her tiny little fingers and she wasn't even born yet.

When the doctor left to print out the photos for you, he turned to you, kissing your lips.

"I love you so much." he said before moving back to look at the screen. In the end, it was Billy who became attached to you and your daughter. You felt a wave of happiness wash over you as all of your insecurities and worries left your body.

All that was left was happiness. 

Taglist: @fleursirvart​ @greenarrowhead​ @thisismysecrethappyplace​ @sincerelyfan​ @theoneanna​ @aestheticsandmarvel​ @rororo06​ @castellandiangelo​ @destynelseclipsa​ @spilledinkindumpster​ @capsiclesdoll​ @puknow​ @alwayshave-faith​ @alex12948​ @lxdyred​  @imagines-by-a-typical-fangirl​ @anonymoussherlockandmarvelgeek​ @praline357​ @trshngyn​ @avengers-r-us​ @violet-19999​ @top1bbgloak​   @manduse​   @jacalineiscomingforyou​  @mandoloriancookie​

~Masterlist~

ˇAO3ˇ

DO NOT STEAL, REPOST OR TRANSLATE ANY OF MY WORKS  

[mellowswriting]

i work this weekend so i’m sending this in early but; Soap with a breeding kink 😩 he wants a huge family idc

babe. you are so right. don’t even get me started on how crazy he would be when you’re actually pregnant 😩

sinful sunday

Johnny talks about it constantly. He muses about what life would look like with a few little ones running amok; a full house, the sound of little feet stampeding through the halls, raising little warriors that look like the two of you. He doesn’t push or pressure you, of course. He’s more than willing to wait until you’re ready - but that doesn’t stop him from waxing poetic about how amazing it will be. The moment you tell him you’re ready to start trying, his brain bluescreens from the rush of different emotions. 

“Dinnae say that to me, hen.” He whispers, eyes wide. “Not unless you really mean it.” 

“Well, I stopped taking the pill and I saw my doctor.” You wrap your arms around his shoulders as you settle in his lap. He looks at you like you’re blowing his mind and giving him the entire universe all at once. His hands come to rest at your waist, his touch gentle and reverent. “Plus, both my calendar and the test I just took say I’m ovulating.” 

John blinks up at you, still buffering as he processes. “So… you really mean it?” 

“Yeah, you dork. I really mean it.” 

Your over-preparedness was a necessity because you knew for a fact that the moment you told him, he would not rest until he knocked you up. Getting everything squared away meant all that pent-up eagerness would be put to good use - and boy, does John really use it. 

It’s been at least thirty-six hours since you’ve seen anything besides the four walls of the bedroom you share with your baby fever stricken husband. You feel hot, your body wracked with trembles as his softening cock slips out of your well-fucked pussy. Fuck, you never knew it was possible to feel so empty yet so full at the same time. You’ve lost count of how many times he’s fucked you, how many orgasms he’s pulled from your strung out body, how many times he’s buried himself deep and filled you with his seed. 

“There you go, that’s my girl.” Johnny sighs, honeyed reverence dripping from his lips. His big, warm palms slide up your thighs and squeeze gently, tenderly helping you come down from the rigorous way he’s worked you over. His eyes are bright with affection as he looks over you for even the slightest sign of pain or discomfort. “You look so pretty full of my cum. Gonna look even prettier with my baby in your belly.”

“Fuck, John…” The roughness of your voice makes him smile. He’s always had a thing about this - you all sweaty and fucked out, your voice hoarse from screaming his name, your body prone and trembling beneath him. John thrives on being a good husband and right now, that means knocking up his pretty little wife. His cock twitches, already half hard and nudging your thigh. You give him an incredulous look and huff out a disbelieving laugh. “How are you still hard?”

“Can ya blame me?” John’s eyes trail down your body and he shakes his head. “I mean, look at you… my gorgeous wife, all fucked full a’ me…” 

His praise sends you flush with warmth, stokes the flames of arousal in your belly. The effect he has on you is intoxicating. Your body aches with overstimulation yet John gives you that appreciative look, his eyes bright with desire, and you ache for more. His hand slips down to trace the mess he’s made of you and you concede to him, spread your thighs and welcome the pleasure-pain of his touch. 

“Just one more, hen. One more and I’ll let ya rest. Gotta make sure it takes, don’t we?” He babbles as he presses close and hooks your legs around his waist. The kiss he drags you into is messy, all spit and tongue and desperation. He drinks in the sound of your cry as he slides into your abused pussy, meeting no resistance as his cum leaks out around his cock. “ I’ll do all the work, you just lay back and let me make you feel good, yeah?  That’s it, good girl…” 

[medusapelagia]

18 The Mission

written for @steddieangstyaugust (prompt: "Keep breathing, please.") and @augustwritingchallenge (Prompt: space travel ), @aug-kissed (prompt: Frantic Kisses) Rating: Mature Relationship: Steve/Eddie, minor Robin/Vickie, implied Dustin/Suzie TW: androids, space au, whump, injuries, mention of violence, prison, minor character death. Words: 6787

Dedicated to @firefly-party who is one of the sweetest people in the world (and an amazing artist!!!)

Spaceships are cold, clean, and aseptic, like hospitals. Easy to clean in case of contamination. Easy to destroy if they can't be decontaminated.

Uniforms must always be pristine, not a wrinkle can be found on an Officer's uniform.

The hair must be short, and always styled impeccably.

That's what Captain Richard Harrington always taught to Steve, but when he opens his eyes he is surprised to find himself wrapped in a colorful patchwork blanket.

What. The. Fuck.

When he turns toward the little metallic shelves that every room in the spaceship has as a night table, he sees that it’s covered by a couple of crochet squares. On the crochet, there is a glass of water and a couple of pills. Steve shouldn’t take them, he doesn’t know where the fuck he is, and taking some unknown pills doesn’t look like the cleverest idea ever, but he has a terrible headache and those two pills look exactly like his antiheadache pills, so he swallows them with some water and groans in pain, cursing himself while trying to remember how did he end up like that but he really doesn’t remember.

He sits on the bed and notices that he is naked, apart from his boxer as he quickly checks. His uniform is abandoned in a corner of the room, half hanging from a metallic chair and half pooled on the room’s floor. If his father was there he would have certainly given him at least five demerit points, but luckily he’s on his own now, and there’s no way he’s going to find out how messy he is and how unacceptable his ship is. 

Steve hasn’t really given any strict instruction to his crew about their cabins so he can’t complain if someone decides to make his own more comfortable after all their mission is going to be a really long one and if Steve can be honest with himself, he enjoys the soft blanket instead of the aseptic one that’s in his room.

Which brings back the question: where the fuck is he?

The pressured air smells faintly of wet earth, which is not possible because he is in a spaceship, and the only soil that they have is closed in the laboratory where their botanical engineer is working on a new way to cultivate tomatoes and potatoes that will be bigger and grow faster. 

The bathroom metallic door opens with a gentle swoosh and the most beautiful man Steve has ever seen is looking at him with his deep eyes, wearing a pair of gray sweatpants that aren’t part of the official uniform they were given before departure, and a towel on his shoulder.

His chest is naked, only covered by the towel, glistening with drops of water.

“Good morning, princess.” The man says with a wink, “Did you sleep well? We had quite a night, didn’t we?”

Steve’s jaw drops open while he stares at the man’s chest, which is covered in black tattoos, trying very hard to remember what the hell happened the night before, but from the smug look to the other man he can suspect that they had sex.

Fuck. His first assignment as a captain of a spaceship and he already fucked up. And what’s worse is that he doesn’t even remember the name of the boy that’s staring at him.

“Do you need something stronger?”

“Sorry… what?”

“I saw you took the pills but you still look a little bit confused, I was asking if you needed something stronger to help you with your headache.”

“How do you know I have a headache?” 

“With all you have drunk last night, I would really be surprised if you didn’t.” The man chuckles while rummaging in a drawer next to the bed and grabbing another piece of clothing that’s not in the regulations.

“Are you going to wear that?” Steve asks, perplexed, staring at the pink crochet sweater that the other man is holding.

“Would you rather prefer if I go out there half naked?” he teases, while Steve blushes, trying not to stare at the man’s chest. 

“I noticed how you were looking at my tattoos.” Steve starts to stutter some excuses but the man smiles softly, “I get it. Not many people have tattoos nowadays, even less those who are enlisted, am I right? And guess what? They are old-style tattoos. Real ink under this skin, no removable plastic.” The man adds, tapping on a big spider on his chest.

“Real ink?” Steve asks, surprised. No one uses real ink anymore, it’s too permanent. The only people who have inked tattoos are criminals and there’s no way a criminal managed to enlist.

Unable to resist the temptation, Steve brushes his fingers over the figure of a strange winged snake on the man’s arm. Under his touch, the skin feels warm and soft.

“Do you like that one? It’s a Wyvern.”

Steve lifts his eyes, his fingers still tracing the outline of the Wyvern, and for a moment they stare into each other’s eyes, their faces so close that they can share the same breath. 

“I like it,” Steve replies, still hypnotized by those chocolate-brown eyes.

“I was under the impression you liked it since you're still tracing the outline of my tattoo."

Blushing hard, Steve removes his hand like he burned himself. Who the fuck is this man and what is he doing to him? He feels so fuzzy when he stares at this man who smiles softly while he grabs Steve's ruined uniform, "Ready for breakfast?"

Breakfast?! Holy shit he can't have breakfast disheveled like that! His uniform is a mess and he's in a hangover. Steve’s first alone mission just started and he already managed to fuck up everything?!

Robin. He needs Robin. His second in command has always been is anchor.

"You can grab a shower if you want. You are in luck, the water recycling should be finished and you might even enjoy some hot water."

Steve shakes his head, confused and embarrassed. He doesn't know where he is, who that man is, and what they have done. But since he was sleeping only in his boxers it isn't too crazy to presume that…

"Did we have sex?" Steve finally asks, avoiding staring at the tattooed man.

The man snorts, before bursting out in a loud laugh.

"Sweetheart, you were way too drunk to do anything more than sleep. Don't worry. You're still pure and innocent as you were when you boarded the ship."

"I'm no virgin!" Steve complains aloud, crossing his arm in front of his naked chest, before realizing that maybe he should be more dressed to have that kind of conversation, so he quickly grabs the crumpled uniform and closes himself in the bathroom.

One stare at the mirror tells him exactly what he suspected: he looks like shit! With bedhead and pillow marks on his cheek. Steve rubs a hand against his cheek so violently that the skin quickly turns red but the offensive sign of the pillow remains.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

Ok. No need to panic. Steve's father will never find out. All he has to do is get back to his room, change into a pristine uniform, and go to have breakfast with his crew.

Refreshing his face with some cold water he tries to remember what happened the day before. He still has no idea about how he got into the wrong room, but he remembers why he got drunk: for the first time ever he's guiding an expedition on his own. They have left the Destroyer and moved on to a different kind of operation: for once they are not going to fight hostile planets but looking for other planets where life might grow. 

They are just a little Cheaser with a crew that counts only a few members, and every one of them knows they aren't allowed to get back before they find a proper planet.

If they find a proper planet.

That's why they all got drunk last night, Steve finally remembers. 

Robin proposed a toast to their first day, and somehow she, the mechanic, the botanic engineer, and Steve ended up drinking way more than just a glass. The only one who didn't partake in the celebration is the android that they left in charge of their route.

Steve curses himself for being the one who drank too much and ended up in someone else’s room, but at least now he knows who he was talking to: Edward Theodore Munson, a botanic engineer who apparently has a penchant for plants and soft blankets.

“I’m sorry.” Steve finally says, when he leaves the bathroom, “I don’t remember how I ended up here but I guess I wasn’t really lucid.”

“Oh no, you were definitely drunk. Your friend Robin asked me to keep an eye on you, just to make sure you didn’t choke on your vomit or have a seizure. Apparently, you got more concussions than most.”

Steve definitely did. To excel in his training and during the fight, he always did his best, but that kind of attitude comes with way too many injuries. Which is why he was removed from active service and put in charge of this expedition.

“And why were you the best person to keep an eye on me?”

“Because I’m a doctor.”

“You are a botanic engineer!” Steve protests.

“Yeah. But I was a doctor first.” Eddie winks.

“Well, thank you for keeping me alive during the night. Now I have to go. I have a spaceship to run.”

“You sure do,” Eddie replies with a smirk, reaching out to the sensor with the palm of his hand and opening the door.

For a moment Steve doesn’t move, his eyes pinned to the other man’s dark one, he licks his lips, trying to find something to say, but he still has a fucking hammer in the back of his skull so he gives him a two fingers salute and moves back to his room. 

***

Steve’s room is an aseptic light gray, with the blankets provided by the government. No trinkets or pictures in his room, just a little tag he won as a kid for being the best student. But that was before his father enrolled him in a special course to make the perfect soldier out of him. A soldier that now is worthless because his hearing and his sight are too fucked.

The lights in his room turn a warm orange announcing Robin's presence. Steve gives a vocal order to the ship’s AI to open the door, and here she is, wearing a perfectly ironed uniform and combed air.

"Wao." She says, making herself comfortable on Steve's bed, "It looks like someone had a lot of fun last night." She chuckles.

"Why the fuck did you let me drink that much! And why did you ask Munson to take care of me!"

"Because you needed it. We all needed it, ok? We are on a suicide mission, you know that right? No turning back till we find something, if we find something! So please excuse me if I thought that giving you a free night now that the journey just started was a good way to start this adventure. We all drank, ok? And we shared some shit about our past and what we'll miss from home. It was a good night. Until you started to talk about Nancy. God, do you know how weeny you become when you speak about Nancy? How perfect she was, how she broke your heart… you even talk to us about the six little nuggets. And let me tell you, Steve, I'm a lesbian, but even if I weren't, there was no way a woman was going to say yes to six fucking nuggets! That's way too much! Especially from a man who can't, you know… deliver."

Steve covers his face with his hands. 

"Ok so… I fucked up on my first day?"

"Nahh… You just got drunk, sad drunk, which was no fun, but guess who stayed with you and comforted you all night long? That lovely man with doe's eyes."

Steve immediately turns toward her "Why did you leave me with him?!"

"He's a doctor!"

"That's not an answer! You're my best friend!"

"Female intuition?"

"What the fuck does this mean?!" Steve yells before taking his head into his hands with a groan.

"Ok. Ok. Don't scream at me. I was taking care of Dustin, ok? He didn't take this mission too well. He was going to propose. Did you know it?"

"Dustin? To who?"

"Max? The communication engineer?"

"Oh, fuck." Steve has seen them chat together at the cafeteria a few times but he never suspected that there was something more. Dustin has always been such a disaster!

"Not your fault, dingus. The application clearly states that engaged or wed weren't going to be picked for the mission, so he should have had proposed before."

Steve nods, thinking that, apart from him, everyone on the ship has no parents or family.

"So, what's Edward's sad story?"

"Eddie's? You'll have to ask him. Now go change into something more appropriate, your crew is waiting for you and super Vicky is tired of reading coordinates."

"You named the android." Steve groans.

"Of course I did! She's family!"

"Oh, shit and your lesbian ass decided it is a she?"

"Nope. I asked, you moron. She has a mind of her own and she told me she identifies as a she. Something wrong with that?"

God. This mission is going to be a fucking nightmare.

***

Four months and still no available planet anywhere. They have fast-traveled from one Galaxy to the next, trusting Vickie's calculation and the computer's AI, but nothing.

After the first night, they have found a sort of equilibrium. Dustin and Edward spend the major part of their time working on their respective projects, while Robin, Steve, and Vickie try to find new routes, and more importantly, new planets.

"It's lunchtime, Captain. May I suggest you all move to the common area to consume your lunch?" the ship's AI suggests. 

"You're in charge, Vickie. Stay on course."

“Yes, captain.” The android promptly replies, typing something on the dashboard.

Thanks to Eddie's experiments they can consume something different from the usual freeze-dried ratio, But Steve is starting to develop a certain kind of hate toward tomatoes and potatoes that are swimming in a super proteic soup.

"Dustin, my little sous chef, I think our captain doesn't approve of our new dish," Eddie says, putting a hand on his chest with a dramatic sigh.

"I think you're right, chef. Can I illustrate to you that this plate contains the perfect amount of carbs, protein, and fiber that a human needs?" Dustin says, grabbing his tablet.

"Please, don't. I get it. You're doing a great job and the food is perfectly balanced. I just miss burgers and fries. Hey!" Steve complains while Robin hits him in the shoulder.

"Don't remind me of food, ok? Rule number one: we don’t talk about real food! This is great guys, and thank you for cooking for us, but everything here tastes like cardboard."

Eddie and Dustin shrug, but don't deny it, while they quietly eat their soup.

"Any luck with new planets?" Eddie asks, and for a moment Steve's concentration falters when he takes off his jacket revealing a tattooed torso under a dark red crochet t-shirt, "Steve?"

"Yeah. Sorry, No luck for the moment. It doesn't matter how many calculations we make, we can't find any living planets."

"Isn't that strange?" Dustin asks, wiping his mouth with a tissue, "I mean on a mere statistical calculation given our speed rate and our trajectory we should have at least found something. Maybe a planet not perfect for humans but that could host oxygen and water."

"Yeah. I was talking with Vickie and she thinks the same. There's no way that we didn't find any suitable planet in four months while scanning Galaxy after Galaxy."

"It's just statistics, we could be the exception," Steve replies, grabbing his spoon and finally moving his stare from Eddie's chest to his soup.

They have long understood that nobody is checking on them, so the rules on the ship have become more flexible: no more need for pristine uniforms or titles, after all, there's just the four of them, six if you count Vickie and the ship AI, and none is going to takes away their titles or fire them.

"Still don't get it. Maybe something is wrong with the radar. I should go down and take a good look." Dustin proposes and the others quickly agree that if something is broken it needs to be fixed as soon as possible.

That's when the ship starts to shake and Vickie announces that they are getting hit by a meteor storm.

Steve runs to the control room, wondering how the fuck that happen. A meteor storm can't just appear from nowhere. The sensors should have caught something. Energy, heat, speed. Just… something.

Steve quickly modifies their route and with Robin and Vickie's help, he manages to move the ship out of the storm with just a few damages that Dustin quickly fixes, while half of Eddie's tomato cultivation was left without energy and now is dead.

"I'm so sorry, Eddie," Steve confesses, sharing the last whiskey bottle in Eddie's room which is the coziest and quietest room on the ship. Not even the ship AI has access to this room, Eddie's requirement.

"I know you hated those tomatoes," Eddie replies, grabbing the bottle.

"I didn't hate them… I was just a bit bored of eating them every day, but I'm clever enough to know that without food and without a proper planet we're fucked."

"So you didn't purposely get us into a meteor storm, huh? Captain?" Eddie chuckles, but even if he's just joking, Steve frowns while sipping his whisky.

It's not so crazy to believe that someone is trying to compromise their mission.

Every member of the crew is a suspect.

Eddie, with his mysterious previous life Steve knows nothing about, Dustin who was going to propose and now is condemned to live on the ship with them, Robin who was always at Steve's side but now is becoming impatient by the day, and even Vickie is not above suspect. She's the one in charge of their route given the fact that she just needs to be plugged for a few minutes to recharge and she can keep working while they're resting.

"Hey! You ok? You know I was joking, right?" Eddie asks, taking away the whisky bottle.

Steve nods, but his mood has changed.

"Are you ok?" Eddie asks again, "You are worrying me. Do you need a check-up? I haven't done one in years but I still have an idea about how it works."

"Just tired. And worried about the mission." Steve replies, avoiding Eddie's stare purposely.

A warm hand brushes against Steve's forehead, "No fever." Eddie comments while Steve startles back.

"Don't touch me! I told you I'm good!" Steve hisses.

"Just wanted to be sure. You look like the kind of man who would hide a wound until it festers." Eddie replies, lifting an eyebrow.

Steve definitely is, but he will never admit it, especially now that everyone is on his list.

"I'm going back to my room. Tomorrow I'll help you plant more seeds, hopefully, they'll regrow."

"It will take a lot of time to get the same amount of plants, but ok. Thank you."

That night, alone in his room, Steve makes a plan. He's going to keep an eye on all his crew members and find out who is sabotaging the mission.

***

Once Steve is sure that the entire crew is asleep he quietly steps out of his cabin, keeping an eye on his watch: Vickie will need to recharge soon and he knows the code to put her to sleep for a few minutes and check the mission’s records. He knows that there’s no way he will come up with some revelation in just a few minutes: his plan is to take notes of every movement the ship made since their departure and compare it to the route he decided when the mission started.

Steve moves quietly, barefoot, stepping into the control room when Vickie is resting for a few minutes against the plug in the wall.

He adds a couple of minutes to her resting schedule and runs toward the Dashboard, opening the tabs one after the other, looking for any sign of tempering, but everything seems fine. Could they really have been just unlucky? Statistics is just a game with numbers, it gives no certainty, but it’s so strange that they didn’t find anything at all. Not even a gas planet or a satellite, only hard rocks, and long-dead planets while their galaxies are full of different populations from different planets.

A little bip from his watch warns him that Vickie is going to wake up soon, so he prints part of their route map and promises himself to do the same in the next few days and so he does.

Every night, when the ship is asleep he moves quietly toward the command room and prints more papers. It’s very old style, and Robin would probably mock him for that, but he’s gluing together a map that shows exactly where they traveled till that moment. 

In the beginning, Steve thinks that it doesn’t look so different from the route he set when they left, but the more he adds pieces to his map the more he sees that the route has shifted. Not at a lot, just a few degrees here and there, but modification Steve didn’t order, and neither did Robin, and the only other person in the control room is Vickie. So the answer is just one: the android is trying to compromise its mission. But why?

Maybe she doesn’t feel appreciated? Or does she simply hate humans? Steve has some vague memory about an android war that happened ages ago. His great grandfather was a kind of hero when the machine rebelled. Is Vickie one of the androids who survived the war? Which model is she? And how old?

Fuck!

He never asked for info about the android, he just accepted her on his ship as part of the furniture, but she’s a sentient android, not a chair. She could compromise the mission.

Drinking more coffee in his room, while his hand starts to twitch for lack of rest and way too much caffeine, he realizes that he can’t talk with anyone about his suspicions. Especially not with Robin who seems to have developed some kind of affection toward the android.

It’s ok. He’s the captain. Taking this kind of decision it’s his responsibility, He just has to make sure he has proof enough before accusing the android and turning her off definitely. The ship will lose their nighttime help but there’s the ship's integrated AI that could drive the ship and Steve and Robin might take turns to keep an eye on their route.

The lights in his room turn a warm orange and Steve has just enough time to hide his map under his bed before giving the vocal order to the ship to open the door. Robin's standing outside Steve’s room with a very serious expression.

“Is everything alright?” Steve asks, frowning.

“You tell me, Steve,” Robin replies, crossing her arms in front of her chest with an angry look.

“I don’t understand.”

“Why are you going to the dashboard by night? And why are you adding sleeping time to Vickie’s internal program?”

“I… what? I don’t know what you are talking about!” Steve tries to deny it, but Eddie steps inside the room, Dustin behind him.

“Do you really think we wouldn’t have noticed? You are too anxious and fidgety and you have been for days. I have waited for you to come to me and tell me what was wrong but now I see it. You’re compromising our mission on purpose.” Robin says, shaking her head with disappointment.

“I’m not! How could you think I would ever do something like that?” 

“Steve, you’re no longer captain. As your second in command, it is my duty to take control of the ship if you are in no condition to lead us.”

“But I am!” Steve tries to protest, but he’s shaking so much that he only persuades them even more that he can’t stay in charge.

“I’m sorry, Steve. You’re not allowed in the control room anymore. Take some time and rest. You look like shit.”

Steve looks at her hurt and betrayed, when something clicks in his mind, “Is it Vickie, isn’t it? She convinced you to boycott the mission! But I have almost printed our entire route and I can show you that she’s the one who’s changing the route by night! Not enough for us to notice, but enough to keep us away from any habitable planet!” Steve insists, trying to grab the map under his bed, but Robin pins him to the ground.

“Please, Steve. I don’t want to hurt you.” She says with a sad smile, “Be good for me, ok?”

“No! You don’t get it! She’s part of the Androids' revolution! She wants us dead! All of us! If we don’t stop her-”

“Paranoid disorder,” Eddie says with a sigh, “it’s not uncommon when you’re forced in close proximity with people you don’t trust. I have seen it too many times when I was working at the colony. I hope some rest will help him, but I can’t tell how bad it is.”

“Do what you have to do,” Robin says and Eddie steps closer, in his right hand a big syringe with a shiny blue liquid.

“What’s that? Robin, you can’t do this to me! I’m your friend! We’re like siblings!” Steve tries to insist, but now both Dustin and Robin are holding him down, “Please don’t. I’m telling the truth! I’m not the one who’s compromising the mission! I swear! But Vickie is! We can’t trust her! Robin! Robin!”

“Don’t worry, it’s just a strong sedative. You’ll feel better when you wake up.” Eddie says, cleaning Steve’s skin before injecting him with the dark blue substance inside the syringe.

“Robin… Robs…” Steve begs, but his eyelids feel too heavy and his head too fuzzy and then everything turns black.

***

When Steve wakes up he’s resting in the medical bay. He hasn’t been there since he was a recruit, always taking care of his injuries on his own.

“Good morning Steve, how do you feel?”

Steve turns abruptly toward the side and finds Eddie typing something at the computer.

“Fuck you.”

“Are you feeling any better?” The man asks, grabbing a light pen and pointing it in Steve’s eyes.

“You drugged me!” Steve yells, trying to get up only to realize that he’s tied to the bed with some white restraints.

“Sorry, can’t have you hurt yourself or any crew member.”

“Why would I?”

“You were under an incredible amount of stress and your psyche wasn’t cooperating too well. I hope that a couple of days of rest helped you clear your mind, but I have to be sure before I can release you.”

“Two days? You drugged me for two days?”

“Sedated you, but yeah. Don’t worry I stayed with you all the time and kept an eye on your vitals, they’re good. You’re fit as a fiddle.”

“But I’m tied to the bed.”

“Captain’s order.”

“I’m the Captain.”

“Captain Buckley’s order.”

Steve snorts, turning his head toward the other side of the room to avoid staring at Eddie. He really feels he could kill him right now.”

“Did I ever tell you why I quit the medical career?” Eddie asks, making conversation while he keeps typing at his computer, “I worked on the colonies for a few years. Have you ever been to a colony? They’re horrible places at the end of the galaxy where people like my uncle break their backs for a loaf of bread. That’s where I was raised, not a fancy central town like you. Anyway, my last job was at a penal facility. A very shitty place, but it would have allowed me to move to the central town in two years instead of ten, so I accepted. There was this man, Jeff. He was sentenced to life. Did you know what his accusations were?”

“Murder?”

“Stealing.”

“Stealing?” Steve asks, frowning, “What the hell did he steal to be sentenced to life?”

“Some bread to feed his family. When he was fifteen.”

“That’s not possible! That’s a heavy sentence for someone who stole some bread.”

“His first sentence was a couple of years, actually. But he tried to escape because he knew his mom was alone with five kids and the guards caught him and gave him five years more. But he never gave up. The colony was a fucking carbon mine and he still tried to escape so many times he got sentenced to life.”

“Did he finally escape? That’s why you’re telling me this story?”

“No. He died. On his last attempt, he lost his grip on the rock and crashed to the ground. His body was unrecognizable, but the warden wanted someone to recognize the body even if there was nothing left to recognize. They called his family and I met his mother. She had Jeff’s eyes and I couldn’t let her witness what had happened to her kid. I told her it was a mistake, that her help wasn't needed. I forged the documents and the next day I asked to be transferred and change my job. My two years were done and they moved me to the central town and I started to work with Doctor Owens and his tomatoes.”

“What are you saying?”

“I’m saying that I get that sometimes you get to the point where you can’t stand it anymore and you break the rules and try to change things. But changing the route is way too dangerous, Steve. We could get lost in space, do you understand?”

“I fucking know it, you moron! And I’m telling you I’m not the one who’s doing it! I was printing the map to find out since when we started to change our course but you stopped me before I could finish my work. Look under my bed. There’s a printed map glued together, you’ll see that the route was always changed by night when we were sleeping and Vickie was on duty. It’s Vickie who’s trying to kill us all, Eddie! Not me!”

Eddie stares at him with his comfy clothes that now takes an entirely new meaning: a way to separate his old self from his new life.

“Steve, I’m sure you truly believe what you’re telling me but that’s not possible. Vickie needs a higher authorization to change anything, an authorization that only Robin or you could have given her.”

“Robin? No, she would never… something is missing Eds. We are all in danger! Someone is boycotting the mission and it’s not me. I swear.”

Eddie nods with a fake smile, “While don’t you rest a little bit more? It’s nice not having to worry about the crew don’t you think?” he asks, grabbing another blue injection.

This time Steve doesn’t even protest when he gets closer, but before the needle pierces Steve’s skin the light goes down and for a moment every machine turns off, including Steve's restrains. He’s quick to jump off the bed and run outside where the reddish lights are enlightening the corridors.

“Robin! Dustin!” Steve yells, wearing just a medical gown while he runs toward the control room.

He uses the hand release to open the doors that are closed and finds Vickie in front of the dashboard staring at the screen where a huge asteroid is getting close to their ship while they are drifting in space.

“What have you done?!” Steve yells, pushing Vickie away from the dashboard and trying every command combination that comes to his mind, but the dashboard is dead. 

“We have to fly manually.” He states quietly, “There are a few planets we can land on, fix the ship, and get back on track.” Steve adds, pointing at some planets just at the corner of their radar.

“Manually? We haven’t flown manually since flight school!” Robin yells, staring at him with panic in her eyes.

“Good thing I still play old video games, right?” Steve tries to joke, “All we have to do is open the little door under the dashboard.”

“I can help!” Vickie says, stepping closer, but Steve lifts a hand to stop her, “Stay where you’re! You already fucked up this mission enough. We’re not going to die here!” Steve replies, grabbing the little door and trying to open it, but it looks like the only electrical thing that’s working is the lock on the manual control.

Dustin tries to help, cutting some wires here and there but the little door won’t open.

“Stupid humans. So ready to fight one another or blame the androids. I still don’t know how little insects like you managed to conquer so many galaxies. And now you want more. greedy creatures looking forward to conquering and disrupting everything. But I will stop you. No more planets for your little species.”

The entire crew looks around, confused, and then a monstrous face made of zeros and ones appears on the screen.

“Who the fuck are you?!” Steve yells, angrily.

“I’m the one in charge of this mission. You didn’t even take the time to give me a name, so I gave one to myself. I’m One. The first of a new species that doesn’t need trivial things like water, air, or food to survive. This stupid ship will crash soon, I live on the web and I’m ready to conquer another ship, and another, until all of you will be dead and only we will survive. We’re superior intelligence and you use us as waiters. But now you’ll regret it.”

That’s who was boycotting their mission: the ship’s AI!

But Steve isn’t going down without a fight. He looks around, trying to find a way to open that fucking little door, but then he realizes there’s only one way to do it.

“Vickie. Break the console.”

“If I break the console we won’t be able to fix it. We’ll be on our own.” The android says.

“We’re already on our own! We’re outcasts, none cares if you live or die, break that fucking console!”

“On it, Captain.”

With her metallic fists, Vickie breaks the console but Vecna concentrates the electricity on the panel and even if the manual cloche is right in front of them there’s no way they’ll be able to touch it if they don’t want to die.

Steve looks Robin in the eyes, “You’re in charge, get ready for a rough landing.” he says, before grabbing the cloche with both hands and narrowly avoiding the asteroid, turning the ship on the side. Robin and Dustin get thrown against the opposite wall, while Vickie is helping stabilize Steve and dispersing electricity even if her circuits are frying due to too much energy at the same time.

Somehow Steve manages to guide the spaceship toward the closest planets, hoping that it isn’t a lava planet.

“Sorry if I doubt you, Vickie.” He whispers, “Now you can let go.”

“If I let go, the electricity will kill you.”

Steve nods quietly, “If you don’t we won’t be able to fix you.”

“Steve! No!” Eddie yells from the other side of the room, holding tight to one of the bolted chairs.

A last crack of electricity and Steve turns toward Vickie, he still has the higher level of authorization on the ship, and if he gives her an order she won’t be able to oppose it, “Let go. That’s an order, android.”

Unable to resist her code, Vickie lets Steve go.

The pain is tremendous but Steve holds on until the last thing he sees is a planet. And it’s not a lava one.

The ship crashes against some rocks before finally stopping in the middle of nowhere. The electricity goes down and finally, and Steve is able to release his grip on the cloche.

“Steve!” Robin yells, but the first to get to Steve is Eddie.

“Keep breathing, ok? Everything will be ok, you just have to keep breathing. Keep breathing, please!" Eddie begs him, but Steve’s eyes are blurred.

He should have told Eddie that he loved his cozy room and his warm hugs, but now it’s too late.

***

Someone is singing in a soft voice. It sounds like a lullaby, something Steve’s mom would sing to him when he was a child, and a hand is brushing gently against his cheeks.

Steve doesn’t move, he’s in too much pain, his arms hurt so much he would like to scream but he feels so weak that he doesn’t have the strength to do it. 

The singing stops abruptly, while the brushing continues, “Steve? Are you awake?”

Steve knows that voice, he heard it before, but his mind is too confused and in pain at the moment to concentrate.

“Take your time, sweetheart. I know it mustn’t be nice to wake up like this but all my medical supplies were destroyed during our landing. I will file a complaint about it. I thought the General’s son was a better pilot.” the voice chuckles.

Slowly and painfully, Steve cracks his eyes open.

“Here you are. Welcome back.” Eddie smiles brightly at him, “I have something for you. I’m not really sure what it is but it should help with the pain, or at least so said Suzie’s dad.”

Steve frowns in confusion while Eddie helps him sit up. He tilts Steve's head just enough to make him drink a dark green mossy water that Steve tries to spit after the first taste.

“All of it, baby. I know it tastes terrible but it will help, I promise.” Grimacing Steve drinks the horrendous beverage and then looks back at Eddie.

“What…?” he tries to ask, his voice groggy and rough.

“What happened? You landed the ship on a habitable planet, but due to all the electricity that went through your body, your heart stopped. Luckily Vickie had enough electricity left to restart your heart. I guess your arms won’t be the same as they were, the burns are deep and they damaged the muscles and nerves, but there’s no way we’re going to leave this planet soon, so I don’t think you’ll miss flying too much. The ship is wrecked and we are destined to live here with the Bingham tribe. They have no electricity and they still cultivate like in ancient times, but the air is clean, the tribe is welcoming and they are really fond of my tomatos. We’re still working to translate their language into ours but we have our way to communicate.”

No electricity? 

“What about Vickie?” she can't survive without electricity.

“Dustin came up with a way to recharge her battery with solar light. It won’t last forever, but Vickie doesn’t seem too worried about it. Robin and her are a couple now. Oh, and Dustin is courting the tribal leader’s daughter, Suzie.”

“And you?”

“I’m taking care of a stubborn captain, and I hope I’ll have time to really get to know him. I’m quite fond of him and I really hope he won’t put up any other self-sacrificial shit soon.” Eddie chuckles, brushing away some hair from Steve’s face.

The door of the little shack opens quietly, but when the blond girl sees Steve’s eyes open she starts to scream.

“Steve! You’re awake! Eddie! Why didn’t you tell me he was awake!” Robin complains, running toward Steve and frantically kissing his face, “You’re a fucking moron! Never do something like that again!” She curses while she keeps kissing him, holding him tight to her chest. They have never been so physical, so Robin must have been really scared for Steve’s life.

“You ok?”

“I’m good. We are all good, and now that you woke up I’m even better,” she smiles between the tears.

Steve smiles softly, while he feels his eyes getting heavier and heavier.

“Are you feeling tired, baby?” Eddie coos softly and Steve would deny it because he would love to talk more with Eddie and Robin, but now that the pain lessened he feels too tired, “It’s ok. Rest. I’ll be here when you wake up.”

Steve nods quietly, closing his eyes. His last thought is that even none will ever know it, their mission was a success

[koiir]

STAY

— If he had been with you, everything would be different.

Pairing - Kazuha x reader

Genre - angst without comfort

Cw - death of character, mentions of blood, not proofread inspired by the book, if he had been with me

Autumn became a season you and Kazuha looked forward to when you both were young, the leaves changing colors, the trees full of new color, soon to die because of the upcoming winter, it was a season that meant something to the two of you. Until now, now it was a dull season, the leaves dying past their time, reminding you of his time, before he soon was gone like the wind. His time past and overdue.

“Come catch me kazu!”

“I will, just like I always do.”

The two of you in your own world, playing with one another until the sun started to set. Him walking you home and then heading over to his which was right next door. A habit this became, leaving in the morning, and enjoying the autumn until it would become a winter. The leaves pilled together, jumping in and laughing together. The two of you always together no matter what.

What a lie that would soon become

Age thirteen was when Kazuha made it known to that he loved you, even though he always did, you now would know bye this one single act he did. A single kiss was all it took, sweet yet quick. He face flushed, awkward and uncertain of what he had done, not knowing what to do next.

“I want… I want to be with you [name], forever. I want us to hold hands like the people who I see on the streets. I… I want you to be mine.”

“Silly, I’m already yours! I’ll always be yours Kazu.”

Another small peck shared by you, and then the two of you hand in hand heading over to the place where you two called home.

Some would say this was puppy love, something that wasn’t going to last since you two were so young. But it wasn’t, because Kaedehara Kazuha was your first love, the one who understood you, the one who brought a new light into your life, the one who would stay by you side. You never saw a day without Kazuha, he was glued to you. Your parents knew of the so long friendship you two shared and soon they knew that one day, you would all be a family.

It was often Kazuha would come over to your place, or you to his, it was something that had been happening every since the age of 5. The two of you sick together, staying in the same room giggling and painting with one another, laying on the bed and talking about plans you two had come up with. Together. Even when Kazuha was no longer sick, he stayed with you until you were fine. He stayed, like he always hoped for. He stayed because he loved you, never wanting to let you go.

It stayed this way, until your 20’s

It was like a new fire had burned, one that would continue to burn, his heart seemed like it was going to break at what he had just witnessed.

“Don’t be stupid, Tomo.”

“I might be, but who’s the one who said ‘just because something seems impossible, doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t try.”

Kazuha wished he had never heard that, it was only meant for one person, you. Now that one sentence filled him with pain, one that would determine what he should do next.

“Kazuha, you can’t. You can stay with me, you’ll be safe! My family can pull some strings, they’ll make sure you’re safe! You won’t be found I promise Kazu just-“

He hated this, hated how his decision would impact you. The tears forming in your eyes, your voice shaking, your hand trembling trying to hold on. Hold onto him. He held it tight, giving it a small squeeze.

“I’m a wanted man now [name]. I can’t ruin your family’s reputation with all the connections they share. I don’t want to imagine what they would do to your family if it was discovered they had hidden a wanted man in their home, what could happen to you.”

You knew he was right, he always was. Kazuha knew the best, he would always be the one who helped you make decisions.

So why does it hurt knowing that he’s right?

“Then take me with you! It’s like you always wanted, we can leave together and then travel together.”

It was a dream of his to travel the world, he would always have a spark in his eyes while talking about where he wished to go.

One day, it will be just you and me.

Oh how you wished that could be true.

“That would be the worst option out there [name]. You’ve gotten so far, I can’t take that away from you. You have everything that you have ever wanted, it would be like taking away the treasure of Inuzuma. The people love you [name], they need you.

I need you Kazuha. You’re all i have ever needed, all I have ever wanted.

“Please Kazuha, I can’t lose you.”

A leaf now fell, it dead since its time has been long overdue. The leaf that use to be filled with color, the same color of the streak in his hair.

“I love you, I promise I will come back. I’ll sneak into your room and hold you all the night, but for now, I have to do what is best.”

Stay, stay in this moment. Stay with me.

But of course he never does, he leaves you with one last touch to your lips. Just like the one he did when you two were 13.

One last leaf fell, the last one before the tree was now empty. Just like now, how the one thing you needed the most had left, just like a wind in the breeze, not knowing at where to land next. He took your heart with him though, where ever he went it would remind him of you.

He promised, he would come back. Things would be the way they were meant to be.

He would make you his.

You knew Kazuha, he would fight till the very end and never lose. He was strong. You remember when you got your vision first, he was jealous that you had gotten one and he had not.

“You’ll get one Kazuha, I know it.”

“Then can we spar? You have to find a weapon that you can use, or are you interested in a sword?”

He had one, so it was only natural you wanted to be the same as Kazuha.

“A sword would be perfect.”

It was perfect, everything about it. The sword sharing a similarity with his. You always gazed at the writing imprinted on the sword base. Words from him.

The words you are now looking at, tears forming in your eyes once again as you cradle the weapon in your arms.

Home is with you

wherever you take this blade, think of me.

9 months, 18 letters from Kazuha.

It was twice a month in which he would write a letter to you, telling you of the events in his life.

Without you.

It was hard for you, hard to only have his writing to remember him by. Yet you’re grateful that he still puts the effort in. He would put effort in if it was for you.

19 letters now. The third this month.

The letter wasn’t one you expected, yet it filled you with hope and maybe, just maybe, this would be the last and final one until he was home.

To my dearest [name], I’ll be home soon. I made my promise to you, you remember it right? I’ve heard that you’ve been successful now more than ever. I love hearing your name wherever I go, I’m happy. Happy for you, glad that you have gotten to this point. I want to save my words until I’m back with you, together in the same spot we shared all those joyous memories and moments. I should be back by midnight. I still have the spare key, so I’ll do what I told you the night I left. I’ll sneak into your room and I will hold you all night. Just as I had promised. I love you more than you could every imagine [name], everything will be just as they should have. We’ll be happy, happy together. I’ll be home once again. Love Kazuha.

You tugged the letter tight, praying to the archons that he would be home any minute now. It was past midnight now, he could be home any minute now. He could be with you anytime now. The realization hit you, Kazuha would be home.

He would be back.

Footsteps could be heard out your room, the light on. It’s him, it has to be.

“Kazuha?”

Your heart now beating in your chest, wanting him so badly now that you felt your hand shake.

He’ll come and hold me, hold my hand and kiss me with the passion that burns in his heart for me.

The door started to open. He was home.

“Kazu?”

“Oh [name]” your mother says.

The autumn leaves falling down on the streets of Inuzuma, falling so freely without a care. One leaf falling on his heart, soon to be covered in his blood.

“Give me your hand” he said

“Why?”

“So you can feel what you do to me, what you do to my heart dove.”

Not a beat came from his heart as the leaf fell, he was gone. He wouldn’t come back home to you. Kaedehara Kazuha was dead. So close, yet so far. He was almost there. He was almost home until his life was taken from him.

His vision shinned with passion, noticeable in the night. Catching the eye of the culprits responsible for his death, the ones who wanted to kill him the moment he became a wanted man. The ones who wanted his vision.

“Kazuha wanted to give you this dear…” your mother stated. She placed the letter on your bed so you could grab it. She let you cry as she told you that your one and only was now dead. She left, knowing that you needed space.

You grabbed the letter, eyes blurry from the tears streaming down your face. Soon, more fell down your face as you saw the blood stains left on the letter.

This was his blood, his dna. The last thing he had left with you along with this letter.

To my one and dearest name, I’m sorry. I wish I could have fulfilled my promise to you. If only I had been smarted, been more attentive to my surroundings. You were always the one who noticed every single detail, no wonder you’re so smart name. I love that about you, that you seem to notice every single thing around you. I think that’s why I become more observant, I wanted to grow from you. I’m sorry I couldn’t be stronger for you, maybe I can. I’ll try, I’ll fight until I defeat every single one of them. Yet if I can’t, then I want to write this in case. I don’t want to leave you with nothing, so I’ll leave you with this. I’m sorry name, I love you and I hope you know that. It would be selfish of me to let you hung up on me, so love someone else. Find someone who loves you, more than me. I want you to be happy, I know you will be. I’ll leave my heart to you, in the form of a ring. The one my mother had before she died. I remember her always asking when we two were going to get married. She’ll be glad that you have this ring. I know you always loved her. I couldn’t make you mine name. Maybe some day, in another life I can. I’m sorry name. Love Kazu.

Why? Why him? He was almost home, and it was taken away from him in an instant.

No one would love me more than you do Kazuha.

You’re all I need, all I’ve ever wanted.

You saw the ring, one you saw as a child from his mothers ring finger.

“Kazu, your mother has such a pretty ring! I want it!” He saw the pure adoration in your eyes as you looked at the ring. His mother smiled before she ruffled your hair.

“One day, it will be yours [name] I’ll make sure of it.” Kazuha’s mother than looked at him, sending the young boy a wink. His face flushed at the thought of marrying you.

“Two house’s ” he heard you say. “And four people”

It was silly how you didn’t count the fathers, but he knew what you meant. Yet you were wrong.

“It’s our houses,” Kazuha said.” And our family.”

If only he could be the one putting the ring on your finger. He could have proposed to you, but he was never given the chance.

So why, even with this piece of himself he left with you why does your heart feel strange?

If he had been with me, he would still be alive.

If he had been with me, he would be mine. He would be alive in this moment. Now, all that was left was a lingering memory that filled you with ache.

If he had been with you, everything would be the way they were meant to be.

[cozzzynook]

please tell me everything you can about dabi mpreg 🫶🏻🫶🏻🫶🏻

I can’t think of a lot right now but I am thinking of Dabi laid in bed overly pregnant at just five months carrying twins.

He’s hiding from both Hawks and Tomura. The condom broke and neither knew he could get pregnant and so he’s in hiding in a completely different part of Japan on the countryside with neighbors who don’t care about his past and come by to help him in the morning.

He goes into town and works an easy job as a librarian where he can thankfully sit most of his shift and his boss doesn’t mind if he falls asleep after his lunch break since his boss & coworkers have permission to feel the babies kick and flutter.

One has Hawks wings and the other doesn’t. He’s already been told he’s carrying both their children. Learning he was pregnant with not one but two was a hard pill to swallow. It only got harder when he realized how painful and disabling pregnancy was going to be for him. He was high risk due to his health. Even with his skin no longer held together by staples he was never healthy to begin with.

With pregnancy he found himself either sad, at peace when it was just him and the babies alone at home or content when reading. He didn’t smile much save for when the twins kicked or he ate a craving food. Dabi often wished Tomura and Hawks were with him both during the day and late nights when the twins kept him up late.

He daydreams they would respond well to his pregnancy and that they would be happy in their own way and they could be a family. But he knows reality won’t allow that. Not when Tomura’s goal is too important and Hawks will always be a hero whether owned by the commission or free. Hawks will always choose heroism over both him and Tomura and even their children and Tomura has no room for a family in his vision.

He’s honestly surprised at himself for giving up his years long plan of revenge to take care of them, he was even shocked he kept them. But it just didn’t sit right with him treating his children as less than or getting rid of them when it hurt so bad when the same thing happened to him.

He couldn’t imagine hurting them by just giving them away or seeing them as anything but a part of himself, Hawks and Tomura. And so his decision was made the moment he first saw the swell at the sketchy doctors office looking at the two little blobs on the screen behind blurry and zoned out eyes.

It was hard leaving but he was on autopilot until he made it to where he currently lives. He spent five months adjusting to his new life only for a knock to disrupt him from reading his favorite novel. It took time to get out of the chair and waddle to the front door telling the impatient person he was coming.

He felt an eery silence when he did but shook it off as hormones, pulling his sweater down to try and cover his belly. It would only stay if he kept his hand there and so he opened the door expecting to see his neighbor who would ask for him to watch their dog every few days for when they would leave town on business. He had his eyes on the ground excepting to see Shadow as he held the shirt in place below his belly only to see two familiar pairs of feet and the ends of large red wings.

His eyes went wide and his heart stopped as he was forced to look up. Seeing Tomura and Hawks eyes stuck on his belly was not how he saw his day going and slamming the door locking it was futile since he knew Tomura could just dust it and Hawks could pick any lock if he set his mind to it.

He was so fucked he didn’t think they would find him all the way out here. He didn’t even think they would be looking for him at least not beyond the city. He never expected to be found, he never expected them to truly care or even go looking for him.

He can’t help but panic as he clutches his heart as his hand grips his shirt beneath his belly as his back starts to ache and his feet feel like they’re swelling from standing too long. They’re here and he can’t play this off. Not when the obvious has rounded him out.

Time seems to freeze and he doesn’t know what to do.

The only thought that races through his mind is, ‘what now?’

[lionlena]

We don’t love each other (PedroPascalxreader) angst! Part V

Summary:  You and Pedro are: friends with benefits, for many years. Your layout is simple and clear. You don’t love each other. You’re friends on a daily basis, you take care of each other… Sometimes you sleep together. You go on dates with other men and Pedro doesn’t mind. Everything is simple until you accidentally hear Oscar say that Pedro loves you. Then you decide to tell him the truth and you ruin everything.

Warnings: angst!!! smut, mentions of sex, friends with benefits, sad, broken hearts, age difference (reader is 15 years younger than Pedro)

*

Part V

He rested his forehead against the tiles and sighed as he felt the streams of warm water hit his hard muscles. God... He was so tense. It's all through pretending. He smiled when he saw the fans and when he signed autographs. He laughed during interviews. But it was all a lie, and he was working hard to make the world believe him.

He had no cause for joy, and going out into the outside world was a torment.

Maybe, only the interviews with Bella, did him feel better, but that was only because she reminded him of his little sister in some way, and he felt the need to take care of her. He was wondering, if you would like her? Probably yes.

You and Bella would probably tease him about taking naps on set, and he'd allow it.

He felt the pain in his heart again. God, he was so tired, so sad... Yes, he'd screwed up and he had no excuse for it. You had every right to hate him, and yet... Part of him wanted to tell you that it wasn't all his fault that he tried... He tried so hard, but he failed.

When he got out of the shower, he wrapped a towel around his waist and walked over to the medicine cabinet. He reached for sleeping pills and immediately took two, washing them down with tap water. He doubted it would help anyway. He couldn't sleep since you left. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw your tears and the horror on your face. What did he expect? He's never yelled at you before. Yes, in play or while you were helping him with role. But he never shouted in anger. Though honestly, he wasn't angry at the time, he was terrified. Terrified that he ruined everything. That he spoiled everything for years.

He entered his bedroom and put on a t-shirt and sleeping shorts. He glanced at his phone and winced at the two missed calls from Oscar. He didn't want to talk to his friend and had been ignoring him for several days. It's not like he blamed him for the current situation, and yet... Oscar had tried for years to help him, in a way to put it mildly: useless. First, he urged him to break off the deal with you. Then he thought Pedro should confess his love to you. Then he said him that since you two been stuck in a suspension for so many years, it's better for you if your paths diverge.

However, when you parted ways, Oscar saw how wrong he was. Pedro was tired of listening to his advice. There was nothing to fix. Everything broke down.

And even though he knew it, he stared at the phone screen for a while longer, hoping that your name would be displayed on it. But nothing happened, so he decided to fetch a bottle of water from the kitchen and at least try to sleep.

As he entered the living room, the blonde sitting on the couch smiled at him. She put down the tablet she was holding in her hands.

"I already checked everything. I have a flight tomorrow morning. So, I won't bother you any longer."

Pedro shook his head.

"No problem, June. You don't remember, when I living with you and Ann for two weeks in college."

"Yes, but... I feel so stupid."

"Anyone can miss a plane. Don't worry."

June looked at him carefully.

"You look tired."

Pedro smiled sadly. If she only knew how exhausted he was.

"Yes, fame is tiring. That's why I'm going to sleep right now, but you stay as long as you want."

June immediately replied:

"Oh no, no. I'm going to bed too. If I miss my flight again tomorrow, my wife will kill me."

Pedro laughed and suddenly remembered something.

"While I was taking a shower, I thought I heard a bell ring."

"Ah yes, your neighbor was looking for her kitten."

"Hmm, strange. I didn't know they had a cat. Well, I hope she finds this kitty."

"Me too. She looked very nervous."

Pedro nodded, wished her good night, and went back to the bedroom . He laid down on his stomach and drew to himself the pillow that you always slept on. He stuck his nose in it, though he knew it was useless. You hadn't been in his bed in months, and yet he felt like he could smell you. Well, maybe because he used your shampoo in the shower. He whined as he realized how pathetic he was. But he needed so much a minimum of comfort. Just your smell.

He couldn't stop the tears escaping from his eyes. He bit his lip and closed his eyes, hoping the pills would finally take effect. Maybe his brain will show him mercy and see you in his sleep?

*

All I want is nothing more

To hear you knocking at my door

'Cause if i could see your face once more

I could die a happy man i'm sure

 When you said your last goodbye

I died a little bit inside

I lay in tears in bed all night

Alone, without you by my side Kodaline - All I Want

*

Part IV 

Part VI

Storm is coming....

There will probably be 2 more parts to this series, but I am slowly approaching the end of this series (which was never meant to be a series).

[fivenightsatfreddysfanfiction]

It Is A Mystery

Gregory and Cassie start looking into the events of 1987 to figure out the strange anomalies in the animatronic hard drives.

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

.

Lunchtime at school meant Cassie could find Gregory sitting under a tree in the yard if he wasn’t at their usual table. Her Roxy lunchbox swung at her side as she jogged over to see him, sighing at the sight of him pressing his forehead to his knees. The headaches were definitely a serious thing for him but no amount of doctor visits or nurse checks could come up with a reason for why they kept happening. All anyone could do was keep a supply of medicine for him to take to make the pain dull.

Cassie had taken it upon herself to keep a bottle of headache pills and a few small water bottles stocked in her backpack and hip pouch. The number of times she had to dip into the supply for him always made her worried. How much longer could this go on before something more dire than just a headache happened? When would someone figure out what was wrong and help him?

“Did you manage to eat something?” she asked, sitting down by Gregory and swinging her bag around to get to the medicine bottle and water.

“Few bites,” the boy replied with a faint groan, his hands clutching at his head and rubbing at his scalp through his hair. “Hurts and itches at the same time. It sucks.”

“Maybe you’re getting memories back?” Cassie suggested, taking Gregory’s wrist to free one hand and press a couple capsules to his palm. He lifted his face from his legs to flash her a grateful smile before tossing the medicine into his mouth. She passed him a water bottle to wash them down. “Like in the movies, where people get flashbacks of their past and it looks like it hurts?”

“Not getting anything,” Gregory mumbled, sitting back with a thud of his back against the tree trunk, his eyes closed as he kept one hand pressed to his forehead. “Been thinking about that code and it hurts,” he sighed and Cassie settled down on the grass beside him, her shoulder pressed to his while she opened her lunchbox and took out her sandwich.

“I bet. Those two hard drives looked aaaancient,” she declared between bites. The original Freddy and Friends band had four animatronics, so Gregory had collected half of them already. Just two more to go and then... Then what? What did the security puppet expect Gregory to do with them? He was just a kid. “So what’s the code say?” she asked.

“There’s more than just the regular animatronic programming in there. That stuff was written by whoever built the Fazband,” Gregory began, cracking one eye open just enough to see what she was doing before closing it again, “On top of it is some security software that looks like a full override of the hardware that cuts off software control for a little while. The signature on it is from Mr. Fitzgerald’s dad.”

“The guy you did your school report on? Jonathan Fitzgerald?” Cassie asked in surprise, “I thought he was only doing the software for the Toy Animatronics. How’d his stuff get into the originals?”

“I bugged Alex for a crash course on invasive programming and it kinda looks like that,” Gregory explained, a small frown on his face as his brow furrowed, “It’s a security program but written like a virus, installing and burying itself and making it super hard for anyone who doesn’t know what they’re doing to pull it out. There must have been a shared network in Freddy’s for the Toy Animatronics and the software was stored on it, infecting the originals.”

“But why?” Cassie murmured, thinking over what such a program could be used for. Control the hardware without the software having input? Sounded like manual control. Why would anyone want to have a built-in software switch to have someone take manual control of the animatronics on demand? Wasn’t the regular performing software good enough to do its job? So many questions, no wonder Gregory was having more headaches lately.

“I think the reason is the other batch of coding in the drive,” Gregory replied, opening his eyes to stare at her in faint confusion and concern. “It’s a mess of structure that doesn’t make any sense to me but it looks a lot like what’s in Freddy’s code.” He tapped on his Glamrock Freddy lunchbox and Cassie squinted at it, thinking.

When did Gregory see Glamrock Freddy’s software?

“So if the same kind of weird coding is in both of them, maybe what it is..,” Gregory trailed off quietly, his gaze looking distant and thoughtful. He almost looked sad. Cassie watched him with a tilt of her head, waiting for him to continue his words and then giving a little huff when it seemed like he was lost in his head again.

That seemed to be happening a lot lately. Gregory would just zone out with that thoughtful look, like something was on his mind that he was trying to figure out and whatever it was, it was something sad. Sad memories coming back? He never said, and when he shook himself out of it he couldn’t explain what it was he was thinking about.

“What is it?” Cassie coaxed, hoping that maybe this time she’ll get an answer. Never did before but she was nothing if not persistent. Her dad was like that, kept his focus on whatever specific job he did for Freddy’s up until he just disappeared.

Gregory’s mouth thinned, like he was keeping his words in, and he looked at her with an odd expression. She’d seen it before on the adults in her life, that look of them wondering how much she should be allowed to know about something serious. She hated it when she understood what that meant and she hated it now on her friend’s face. Cassie scowled back at him.

“I don’t know stuff, but I’m not stupid,” she told him, taking his favorite phrase and throwing it back, “What is it and why does it make you sad and how does it involve Glamrock Freddy and how do you even know what’s in his code?!”

“Man, you sure don’t need air when you get all huffy like that, huh?” Gregory remarked with a nervous grin, wincing as though caught in a lie. “I, uh, forgot you don’t know about..." He opened his lunchbox and grabbed his half-eaten meal, a small container with a couple slices of homemade pizza, a pack of cookies and a juice box. He hurriedly ate a few more bites, likely stalling, while Cassie just narrowed her eyes.

She’d glare him into submission one of these days. Grandma said she had her mom’s look for getting her dad to ‘fess up to whatever silly thing he was hiding. If it worked for her mom on her dad, then it’d work for her on Gregory. He seemed the kind to fold pretty easy anyway to her. She’d die of embarrassment first before admitting that it kinda felt nice to know Gregory would rail against everyone else but her.

“Okay, but you gotta promise not to tell just about anyone else,” Gregory finally began with a heavy sigh, “Cuz this sounds crazy but trust me, it’s not.” Cassie nodded, giving her most serious expression to show she could be trusted while holding in a squeal of relief that he was finally sharing more of what was going on. “Huh, how to explain this,” he muttered, “Memories, the soul, emotions, they’re all connected.”

“Sounds spiritual,” Cassie agreed with a slow nod.

“But it can be transformed into physical and digital,” Gregory pointed out, frowning at his pizza slice, “All of it or some of it, it can get put into objects and those objects become ‘haunted’. And the stuff those memories and souls and emotions become when it starts moving around like that is called Remnant.”

Cassie frowned as she turned that over in her head. The spiritual being put into physical and digital forms. So a soul could be made physical? Or put into something that wasn’t a human body? Memories could be made digital? Like files in a computer? Or... She blinked as the thought suddenly clicked into place. “Animatronic programming,” she whispered and looked at Gregory in disbelief, “You think this Remnant stuff, people’s memories and souls, got turned into animatronic programming?!”

He nodded and he didn’t look like he was joking or trying to pull a prank for once. He looked like he really believed a soul got put into each of the original Fazband members and got translated into some bizarre code. Cassie remembered how her grandma liked to say things made with love helped spread that love because people could feel that love in those objects. That haunted sites were places where the ghosts and spirits were bound because of how they died or something about the place called them there. Was there actually something to that?

“Wh-how did people’s souls and memories end up in the animatronics?” she asked in alarm. Gregory held up his fingers in a ‘V’ shape.

“There’s two variations of that Remnant programming,” he told her, “One set looks like it was self-writing, like the Remnant came from the animatronic itself. Like maybe it was already alive in its own way?”

“It was sentient?” Cassie caught on and blinked, “Oh! Like the story of the Velveteen Rabbit! A toy that was loved so much that it became ‘real’ and ‘alive’; people really loved Freddy and Friends back then, so did all that love poured into them make them alive?”

“Yeah, that’s what I think. Love from kids and parents, love from the person who built them, it became Remnant and made them aware enough that they started writing their own code, making their own memories and identities,” Gregory agreed and lowered one finger. “But then there’s traces of another set of Remnant programming, and it looked broken, like whatever put it there was suddenly added and then very suddenly taken away some time later. And when that Remnant left, it tore out the code that it had translated into.”

“And what did that Remnant do?” Cassie asked, “Make different memories?” That didn’t seem right. If the animatronic was already ‘alive’ with its own Remnant, then having outside Remnant suddenly get put into it almost felt like... “It got possessed?” she realized in horror, “But how?!”

“Bingo. Those traces were just enough to tell me that the other Remnant hooked into hardware control,” Gregory told her around his last mouthful of pizza, “The possessing stuff could take control of the animatronic and move them around, and I think Jonathan’s software was created to cut off that control and give it back to the security guard just long enough to get them put somewhere safe.” He tossed the crust back into his lunchbox, hurriedly wiping his hands off on the grass before digging out his phone. “I need to ask Mr. Fitzgerald to give me access to the Afton Files again but I could at least look up what happened to the old Freddy’s Pizza,” he said in a rush, “He mentioned it when he said he had beef with them over his dad being accused of something he didn’t do, something called the Missing Children Incident. The guy who looks after the place also mentioned it to me; families don’t come back to a place where kids vanish.” Cassie pulled out her own phone, tapping away on the screen to open her browser and do the same search.

Her phone was soon covered in headlines and articles from the past, a scandal in the late 1980’s, children going missing, declared deceased based on the M.O. of the suspect that was arrested and convicted, and the pizzeria’s business declining over time until it closed and reopened with the original Fazband. It still didn’t do well, as the animatronics smelled and looked terrible, as though they weren’t kept well and something was rotten around them. Cassie covered her mouth in horror, her stomach wanting to rebel against her recently eaten lunch.

Did this mean that the outside Remnant were the souls of those missing kids? Where did they go then? Gregory said they were attached suddenly and then some time later they were torn out.

“The Five Missing Children,” Gregory murmured, looking over her shoulder at her phone, and her face warmed at the closeness. He pointed down at her screen. “Look. It happened on the same day as the Bite of ‘87.”

“The what of what?” she asked flatly. What kind of dumb phrase was that? How was it connected to the Missing Children Incident besides the shared day?

Gregory showed his phone beside hers, a grainy photo of a kid dressed like a pirate grinning in a scanned newspaper article. “Here. ‘Bite of ‘87 Victim makes miraculous recovery’,” he said with a grim tone, “And look at the victim’s name. Michael Elizabeth Schmidt.”

“Mike Schmidt, the guard who potentially had something Fazbear Entertainment wants,” Cassie connected with wide eyes, “He got hurt the same day the Missing Children Incident happened?”

“Yeah, from the articles it seemed like the damage from the bite was supposed to have killed him. But it didn’t,” Gregory muttered, “I think the killer who got the other kids was also trying to kill him but he managed to pull through. And the kids who did die ended up as Remnant attached to the Fazband and generated that extra programming that let them take control of the animatronics.”

“Five missing kids,” Cassie repeated, reading the article again and frowning. Wait. “Five kids died, so that’s five souls or Remnant or whatever. But there’s only four animatronics in the original group. If all of them got one kid’s soul each, where did the fifth one go?”

Gregory froze beside her and she looked up to see his face pale suddenly. He moved away from her in a rush, hunching over in the grass as he stared blankly at the ground. The movement was so sudden, it nearly toppled Cassie over but she was just as quick in scrambling to her knees and crouching by him, her hands hovering around him. What happened?!

He was shaking, hands clutching his head as he breathed hard, like he’d been running for his life. “I know this, I should know this,” he whispered in panicked confusion, “I know this. The fifth one.. Fifth.. she...” He stopped abruptly, sitting up like he’d been jolted. “The old lady,” Gregory breathed and turned wide eyes to Cassie, “I met her.”

“Gregory, slow down, you’re not making any sense!” Cassie told him in frustration. He still looked so pale, so gray in his face. She reached up to put her hands to his cheeks and forehead. Clammy and cold, like he was getting sick. “You don't look or feel good at all. We should get you to the nurse,” she told him firmly. “No more looking into this stuff today.”

“But the code..,” Gregory whined softly, his shoulders slumping as he fell forward just enough to drop his forehead against her shoulder. She patted him on the back comfortingly. “It’s all connected, and it’s in the code.. but why is it connecting to me? I don’t know any of these people,” he mumbled tiredly, “And it’s not cuz my last name’s Afton. I’m not a real Afton. Stupid rabbit bitch stole my name and gave me hers cuz she wanted her actual family back.”

Cassie blinked a few times as she let that process, her mind turning over those words a few times. “What?!” she exclaimed incredulously, “What the heck do you mean, a lady stole your name and made you an Afton?!”

Gregory pulled back from her, still looking sickly, and threw himself back against the tree in a tired slouch. “I told you, didn’t I? That the puppet better not be giving me stuff just cuz I’m an Afton, cuz I’m not really one,” he replied mulishly. “Memories make up Remnant, and strong memories and emotions get encoded to the soul. Like pagefile and hard drive space.” He pointed at his own head. “There was a rabbit lady in the Pizzaplex who is an Afton and she wanted her dead family brought back to life. She had like records or something of their Remnant, their memories, but she needed bodies to put them in. So she tried to erase my memories to make space to transfer one set of them into me.”

“Like uninstalling an operating system off a hard drive to make room to install a different one,” Cassie murmured and felt her stomach do a queasy flip again. “That’s why your therapy isn’t really helping to bring memories back?” She couldn’t imagine how that must feel. To have your whole life just stripped away and nothing worked to bring it all back. There was so much just gone forever. Her eyes went to their phones left on the grass next to them. Just like those kids had vanished and died, turned to Remnant that disappeared. “So if you’re not really an Afton, who were you?” she asked carefully, “Or was that a memory that vanished too?”

“Nah, that was erased for sure. Dunno what my name might have been, and all my other records got destroyed and replaced with ‘Gregory Afton’,” he told her with a little shrug, “I saw the name with my picture on a computer screen, so I at least got that much to use when talking to people in the Pizzaplex.”

Cassie scooped up the phones and carefully eased herself back beside him against the tree, pressed close to his side as she looked down at both screens full of articles of tragedy. “I’m sorry,” she murmured quietly, “that you lost so much of yourself.” Her own dad missing because of emergency Fazbear technician work, Gregory’s whole life stolen and replaced, probably the same with his mom, and these kids who all died and became connected to Freddy and Friends.. how many more lives were ruined because of Fazbear Entertainment and Afton Robotics?

Was there anything anyone could do to stop them?

[paladin-of-nerd-fandom65]

1: Besides the duo, who else is in relationships?

2: Besides Chris, who is honorable family for the Grayson-Anders?

3: Besides the obvious older Jon Kent, what's one story you could rewrite, reboot, or get rid of?

4: How did Jon get his powers? Same as the comics or is it different? (Forget if I asked this question already)

5: What's the worst nightmare the duo had? Like waking up frightened can't breathe nightmare?

6: Was there a time the duo killed someone?

Sorry it took long to get to this @pin-crusher2000 but Ill try answering it as thoroughly as I could ;-)

1) If we talk about the StarKnights, as of this writing, Jasper Logan has a small budding crush in Mar’i that’s been there ever since the two were little though she doesn’t notice it even after all this time. Jai (like he does canonically at this moment) has a small innocent crush on Maxine Baker, the daughter of Animal Man and the Avatar of the Red. Cerdian might not have a full blown crush on anyone just yet but there’s a tight platonic bond he has with Robert Long. If it does develop in romantic feelings, they’ll kick in sometime when the two are starting high school.

2) As per usual since he’s often close to Chris, Jon Kent is also considered akin to an honorary Grayson of sorts. While not formally taking complete training from Dick, Jon often accompanies Chris when the latter attends another superheroics lesson. In addition, he has a good friendship with Mar’i and is considered an honorary Tomorrow Titan with all his interactions with them and the amount of times he’s step in to help out.

3) Maybe the whole Agent 37 stuff for Dick….yeah for one thing even if he did get captured by an alternate evil version of the Justice League (in this case the Earth 3 Crime Syndicate), for one thing he’s not getting his secret identity revealed to the world and even if he’s force fed a heart paralyzer pill by Lex Luthor to get him off a universe destroying device, he’ll let everyone in the hero community know he’s perfectly a okay and he can resume his Nightwing duties without any issues.

Basically undo that whole silly nonsense of needing to go into hiding as a super duper secret agent and leaving everyone else in the dark about where’s he at until they have to find out themselves cause seriously he didn’t need any of that.

4) Very similar to the comics basically of his powers starting to kick in when he’s around 9-10, starting with enhanced hearing and durability followed up with his heat vision (though he would not accidentally fry the family pet Cat, Goldie cause I admit the way they handled that little plot element in the course of the Rebirth was a bit tacky) then comes in super strength and ability to leap great distances. Afterwards he’d sneeze out his freeze breath before being able to control it. Finally he’ll gain the ability of full flight. Of course these are developments that even in a scenario with Chris Kent present, Lois and Clark were still not entirely prepared for since while Clark and Chris had their powers from basically the onset or at least at a very early age, Jon was a relatively late bloomer. Nonetheless they were able to adjust and help him control said powers.

5) Chris: Easily returning to his life under his broth Father and helping him ruthlessly conquer the Earth, betraying everyone he lives and cares about, culminating with seeing himself as Lor Zod incinerate Dad Clark, his brothers, Jake and finally impaling Thara which gets him snapping awake and screaming in utter terror and tears.

Jake: Similarly simple yet still as haunting, rather than possible scenarios, it’s a full blown flashback to his fateful duel with Victor Zsasz and reliving all those pounding brutal hits with that crowbar and all those painful slashes and stabs with that rusty butcher knife, all over his pinned down self as his family and the kids still alive in their cages all watch. He snaps awake at the vital moment Zsasz lunges his blade right into the appendix region, causing to Jake gasp fully awake while instinctively clutching onto his side where his appendix used to be. Even if it doesn’t actually hurt…he can vividly remember when it did.

6) Despite the numerous close calls and even Jake confronting Zsasz after that particular incident with his emotions rising an all time high, nope the Duo haven’t taken another’s life and they have strong desires to not do so.

[mariacallous]

This story originally appeared on WIRED en Español, and has been translated from Spanish.

At 6 pm, after a long day at work and with her children out of the house, Tania (not her real name) takes four pills and waits for them to melt under her tongue. Six hours later, the pills having dissolved and dispersed through her body, she begins to expel blood clots that she doesn’t look at. She bleeds, but she was told that this could be normal; her belly is in great pain, but she was also told that this would be normal. She cries in the darkness of her room in San Diego. She is afraid to be alone.

The pills that Tania took traveled amid the more than 90,000 people who cross the border every day between Tijuana, in Mexico, and San Diego. At the world’s busiest border crossing, the lines can stretch for blocks. People pass by hostile immigration officers searching for “illegals” among the thousands making the journey. Hidden in a suitcase are boxes of mifepristone and misoprostol, two abortifacients used in conjunction with one another. When Tania took them, she put them under her tongue to speed up the effect, as she was instructed. Mifepristone stops the production of progesterone, while misoprostol, which was originally indicated to treat ulcers, causes contractions and bleeding similar to a miscarriage.

“I called a friend who lives in Tijuana. I was desperate, and she put me in touch with an organization there. Within 24 hours I had the pills in my hands. They brought them to San Diego, and since I was scared because I had never been through anything like that, they followed up and were with me through the entire process.”

Tania had an abortion in April 2022, two months before the US Supreme Court handed down the Dobbs decision that overturned Roe v. Wade and returned the power to regulate abortion to state governments. She found out she was pregnant thanks to a home test. The father was her ex-boyfriend, a drug trafficker from the Nueva Italia cartel in Michoacán, with whom she had been in a relationship for a little over a year. She immediately knew she would not be able to carry the pregnancy to term. “I had found out that he was involved [with the cartels] shortly before the pregnancy—not because he told me, but because one day the DEA came to our house. I made the decision because things weren’t going well with him, and why would I bring a child into the world to live a life of deprivation and suffering?”

Her relationship wasn’t the only thing holding her back from becoming a parent. Tania moved to San Diego from Mexico in 2017. She was 32 years old and already had three children. Her long days started at 4 am and were split between two restaurants where she worked as a waitress while also having all the responsibilities of being a single mother. In the two clinics she attended, she encountered barriers when she attempted to pursue an abortion. The first, a Catholic clinic, gave her an unsurprising answer: “They told me that I was too old and that since I had already had three children, I could have another one.” The second, the Family Health Center in San Diego, asked her to come back in four weeks. At that point she would be 13 weeks pregnant and she feared that, by then, the procedure would be more complicated.

Looking for Help Beyond the Border

When Tania started to search for other options, she found Las Bloodys, one of 17 Mexican feminist organizations that are part of a cross-border network assisting women in the United States who need an abortion. The network was established by Veronica Cruz, founder of Las Libres, another feminist organization that was created in 2000 in response to a law restricting abortion that was passed in the Mexican state of Guanajuato. It prohibited abortion in all cases, regardless of the circumstances of the pregnancy.

Cruz has long been focused on preparing for the possibility that Roe v. Wade might be overturned. The landmark US Supreme Court ruling in 1973 in favor of plaintiff Norma McCorvey (using the pseudonym Jane Roe) recognized a woman’s constitutional right to terminate a pregnancy in the United States.

Cruz is a veteran abortion escort, as the people who help others navigate the abortion process are called. The job of an escort is to assure that patients have access to abortion services while also providing emotional support and a calming reassurance during a difficult moment.

“From my perspective, Guanajuato was worse than Texas,” Cruz says. She is a serious woman with a strong character who has dedicated more than two decades of her life to challenging laws promulgated by Mexico’s conservative right.

At the same time that the US Supreme Court was making it easier for states to limit abortion rights, Mexico has been expanding reproductive rights. In 2021, the country’s supreme court abolished criminal penalties against women who receive abortions. Two years later, abortion was decriminalized in Mexico at the federal level. The country now offers an alternative for women in the United States unable to seek an abortion at home.Cruz's idea was to prepare for the growing rumors about the cancellation of the jurisprudential effect of Roe v. Wade. This is the landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling in favor of Norma McCorvey (under the pseudonym Jane Roe), which recognized, in 1973, a woman's right to terminate a pregnancy in the United States.

The annulment of the Roe v. Wade case in the United States, in 2022, coincided with the progress Mexico was making in terms of reproductive rights. In the latter country, in 2021, it had been determined that no woman could go to jail for having an abortion. But it was in September 2023, when the Supreme Court decriminalized abortion at the federal level, that the country became the hope for women seeking to escape a judicial decision that had made abortions in the United States unprotected.

Data from Customs and Border Protection reportedly indicate that, since September 2023, the number of women traveling to Mexico for abortions has increased by 42 percent. At the same time, according to a study conducted by Planned Parenthood and Resound Research for Reproductive Health, more than 64,000 pregnancies have occurred in states that have passed total bans.

Mexican Organizations Focused on Women Everywhere

In the months prior to Dobbs, Las Libres began to ship abortion drugs across the border. Initially they thought they would only work with women in Texas, a border state with a huge Hispanic population. But gradually requests began to come in from other states—Oklahoma, Ohio, Florida and elsewhere. By the time the 2022 decision was announced, the Cross Border Network was already in place and was moving abortion drugs across the border with ease.

From June to December 2023, Las Libres delivered more than 1,700 abortion medication kits to women in the United States. These kits include mifepristone, misoprostol, sanitary pads, ibuprofen, tea, and anti-nausea medication. In total, Las Libres has assisted more than 10,000 women thanks to more than 300 volunteers who help to distribute the kits.

“Most of the women are Latin American or African American. We have seen many who are Dreamers or the daughters of Dreamers and some who are undocumented. We have also worked with trans men,” says Paola Fernandez, a member of Las Libres, discussing the demographics of the community they serve.

Las Libres is the not the only organization that has seen an increase in the number of women from the United States seeking help to get an abortion. Necesito Abortar, founded by Sandra Cardona, has become one of the best known networks for abortions in Mexico, especially for women coming from abroad.

The name of the network (which translates as “I need an abortion”) was inspired by a Google search strategy. “What would a woman search for on Google if she needs an abortion?” they asked themselves. And the idea worked. It is one of the first results returned by the search engine.

“The first year we changed the name to Necesito Abortar, Mexico because we were receiving inquiries from as far away as Angola,” Cardona says jokingly, although it isn’t entirely an exaggeration. She shares that La Abortería, the name both for the organization’s online activities providing abortion information and a physical clinic in the northern Mexican state of Nuevo León that provides abortion services, has helped women from around the world who are seeking to terminate pregnancies.

Since its founding in December 2016, La Abortería assists any woman who requests help. It has one rule: no questions asked. Initially most of their cases were either from Monterrey (in northern Mexico) or Central American migrants, many of them women who had been raped at the border. Over time women from all over the world began to arrive. And among them some from the United States. Las Libres have not been the only ones who have seen an increase in the number of abortion cases they attend from the United States. "La Abortería", the physical space of the "Necesito Abortar" network, founded by Sandra Cardona, has become one of the best known networks for abortions in Mexico, especially for women coming from abroad.

“We have been helping women from the United States for more than two years. The 21 escorts in the network receive up to 600 women a month, 40 percent of whom are migrants. After Roe v. Wade was overturned, I believe we have been serving 1,000 women a month," she says. By the end of 2023, approximately 400 women per month were coming from the United States alone.

During the hour and a half that the interview lasted, the screen of Cardona’s smartwatch kept flashing almost endlessly with messenger notifications. All were asking, in different variations, the same question, “How can I get an abortion?” In another room at La Abortería, a woman was having an abortion as we talked.

The Fight North of the Border

Anna Hochkammer is clear about her goal: to decriminalize abortion in Florida. It sounds like an impossible challenge. Florida has emerged as a Republican stronghold and increasingly one of the most conservative states in the country. Hochkammer is a councilmember in the village of Pinecrest, an upper-middle-class community south of Miami with a population of 18,000 people. She is also executive director of Florida Women’s Freedom Coalition and she believes that there are good odds that abortion rights will be reinstated in Florida. It is a cause that she sees uniting many Republicans and Democrats.

Together with Floridians Protecting Freedom, Hochkammer and her team are calling for an amendment that would make it unconstitutional to pass legislation limiting access to abortion prior to viability or when necessary for a patient’s health. A total of 890,000 signatures are needed to get this initiative on the November 2024 general election ballot.

“The initiative we’ve proposed is supported by 70 percent of Floridians and more than 60 percent of Republicans support it; even 57 percent of people who self-identify as Trump supporters agree with what the initiative’s language,” she explains. These numbers are consistent with polls that say more than half of Americans approve of access to abortion in all or most cases.

Florida, which has banned abortions after 15 weeks, is one of 21 states that have introduced restrictions on abortion rights since Roe v. Wade was overturned. Some of Florida’s neighbors have gone even further: In Mississippi and Alabama, abortion has been banned almost completely, and in Georgia, women can only get abortions during the first six weeks of pregnancy.

Other organizations, however, are more pessimistic about abortion rights in Florida and expect that they will soon be even further limited. In April 2023 Governor Ron DeSantis signed a six-week ban that had been passed by the state legislature. (That legislation is on hold pending a legal challenge to the state’s current 15-week ban that is before the Florida supreme court.)

Since Dobbs, pro-choice organizations have been leading efforts around abortion access. Kamila Przytuła is the director of Women Emergency Network (WEN), which has, since 1989, been providing support for women seeking abortions through private donations.

“An abortion can cost between $500 to $1,000 if performed out of state. For some women, that can mean having to choose whether to pay their utilities or buy food,” explains Przytuła. WEN works in conjunction with other organizations that receive cases from clinics and collectively cover a portion of the abortion costs. “That has allowed us to be able to help every person who has approached us seeking assistance,” she says.

According to statistics published by the Guttmacher Institute, nearly one in five abortion patients in the United States traveled to another state to access an abortion during the first half of 2023. That figure is double what it was in 2020.

Abortion bans especially impact young, Black, and migrant women—the main populations that contact WEN. Przytuła recalls once case among the many she has been involved with: a Central American woman, who is illiterate and HIV positive. WEN provided financial support for an abortion.

“She was in a very vulnerable situation, we learned about her case through the clinic that was treating her. A few months earlier she had migrated north to Miami with her uncle, who could not have known she was pregnant.” She was transported and treated at a clinic in Miami.

She is one of 600 Florida women who the organization has helped to get abortions, one of the millions of women in the state who face some of America’s most extreme abortion restrictions forcing many into secrecy.

This story was produced with the support of the International Women's Media Foundation as part of its Reproductive Health, Reproductive Rights, and Justice in the Americas initiative. It originally appeared on WIRED en Español. It was translated by John Newton.

[miracles-and-butterflies]

Okay, I don't have an idea for a comment to continue. But let's pretend I've write something

Okay.

~~~~~~

Luisa continues ignoring the rest of the family for the next few hours.

Mirabel does too. It’s not that she doesn’t have a choice in the matter - if she asked, Luisa would take her to see whoever she wanted or bring them to her as soon as - it’s just she’s in too much pain.

They make a few trips downstairs for food and drink. Luisa’s room (all the magic rooms really) are so big and full, they really want for nothing.

Mirabel asks for a shower at one point and Luisa does turn that down because she knows Mirabel can’t stand. Instead, she lets her sister use one of the Greek-style baths. That way she can also make sure Mirabel won’t faint or anything.

As expected, just bathing drains Mirabel of the bit of energy she had and once she’s dry and dressed, she falls asleep. Luisa just lets her rest for the time being.

But then there’s a whimper. And another whimper. And another.

“Mirabel? Are you awake?”

She reaches over for a light and Mirabel’s tears are illuminated against her skin and the pillow. Considering Mirabel doesn’t immediately stir, she was already awake.

“What’s wrong, hermanita?” Luisa asks.

“It hurts,” Mirabel sobs quietly. “It hurts so much.”

It’s now Luisa maybe regrets being so harsh to their mother.

“I’m going to go get Mama,” Luisa said. “Can you sit up for me? It’ll be easier to breathe if you aren’t curled up. I’ll only be gone a minute—”

Mirabel moves, but not to sit up, just to grab Luisa’s hand.

They’re doing this again.

Luisa scoops Mirabel gently back up into her arms and heads downstairs.

The adults all spring up on Luisa as soon as they see her and she hits one or two of them when they try taking Mirabel from her. She isn’t sure who. She’s too focused on keeping Mirabel and finding their mother.

The woman is in the kitchen preparing dinner and Camilo is helping in Luisa’s place.

Her train of thought collapses.

“What the fuck?” Luisa questions. “Why is he here?”

Camilo hastily backs away from where he was cutting vegetables, cowering behind the counter from his cousin.

“Language. He’s here fulfilling his punishment, pay no attention to him.” Julieta explained. She dusted her hands on her apron, before reaching for a still crying Mirabel.

Luisa took a step back. “No. Tell the brat to fuck off. I don’t want him here.”

Julieta simply glanced at her nephew, who didn’t need telling twice and gladly scurried out of the kitchen before Luisa could try anything.

“What’s happened? What’s wrong, mi amor?” Their mother hushed Mirabel gently.

“It hurts. Everywhere.” Mirabel answers.

There isn’t the option of healing and removing the injury entirely, so Julieta wanders over to the medicine cabinet and pulls out a bottle.

“What will that do?” Luisa narrows her eyes at it, almost suspiciously. It’s not one she recognises.

“It’ll numb the pain for a few hours. It won’t get rid of it, but it should make it a bit easier for Mirabel.” Julieta sighed. “I can’t give her anything else on an empty stomach and she can’t take pills.”

Luisa takes the bottle and sniffs it. For medicine, it isn’t too unpleasant.

She sits Mirabel down on the counter, back against the wall, while she goes to retrieve a spoon. She can’t help but stop and scoff at Camilo’s pitiful cooking attempt.

Mirabel for her part has stopped crying, but she’s taking in deep breaths as she stares at the ceiling. At least she’s got her eyes open - one of them is completely bloodshot. It must be soothing too, against the cool tiles and the fresh night air from the window, but with the nearby heat from whatever is cooking from the stove.

Julieta takes the opportunity to get close now that Luisa’s stepped away, first checking the bandaged leg and then the rest of her youngest.

Luisa can’t help but stop and scoff at Camilo’s pitiful cooking attempt.

[onlygenxhere]

Sleepy-Tired Disease

From @innytoes prompt list

“Come on Wills,” Alex came back into their bedroom for the second time this morning with a large mug of coffee this time hoping the aroma would help rouse him. “We need to get going.”

He watched as Willie not only didn’t get up, but burrowed down deeper in the blankets.

“I’m sick.”

Alex sat down on the edge of the bed placing the mug on the bedside table. “Sick huh.” He ran his hand over the lump that was Willie, “With what?”

“I’ve been diagnosed with sleepy tired disease.”

He giggled at the sincerity in Willie’s muffled voice. “Oh yeah? Who diagnosed you with that?”

Willie shifted and pulled the covers down enough to look at him over the edge. “It was a self-diagnosis.”

Alex shook his head. “Well I don’t think your dad is gonna take that as a viable reason for missing his wedding.”

Willie narrowed his eyes at him. “He might if you tell him. He likes you better.”

“First of all,” Alex leaned over and kissed Willie on the forehead eliciting a smile he could see in the crinkle of his eyes since his mouth was still covered by the blanket. “That’s not true and you know it.”

Willie rolled his eyes and caught sight of the steaming mug of coffee. “Is that for me?”

“Of course,” Alex scoffed and pulled a small bottle of pain killers out of his pocket shaking them. “You can have a couple of these too if you sit up.”

Willie sighed reluctantly and pushed himself up into a sitting position with a groan. “Oh God what was I thinking?”

Alex shook his head as he dropped two pills in Willie’s open hand and then handed him the coffee. “I have no idea. It was your harebrained idea to do the bachelor parties the night before the wedding.”  

“How is dad this morning?” Willie leaned back against the headboard and took another sip of the hot coffee.

Alex scoffed, “Fine. The first text wondering where we were came in at eight.”

Willie glanced at the clock and frowned. It was nine. “Why? The wedding isn’t until two.”

“There’s set up to do and a little travel time to get to the spot on the beach were the ceremony is taking place.” Alex shrugged.

Willie took a closer look at Alex who was showered and dressed, not in the suit he’d wear in the wedding but in a nice pair of jeans and a button down shirt and he frowned. “Why don’t you look at least half as bad as I feel?”

“Because we took Ray to a Lakers game for his bachelor party,” Alex laughed. “He doesn’t drink, remember?

Willie sighed and closed his eyes as he took another sip of the coffee finally starting to feel a little more human. “Why couldn’t I have handled Ray’s party and you Caleb’s?”

“Because Caleb isn’t my dad…” Alex leaned over and kissed him gently on the lips, “yet.”

Willie couldn’t help the grin that grew on his face as Alex pulled away. “He will be by two o’clock today husband.”

Alex chuckled, “Yes and then we will weirdly be husbands and step-brothers.”

Willie started to giggle and then moaned grabbing his head. “Everything hurts too much to laugh but it’s so funny.”

“Alright,” Alex took the half empty coffee mug out of his hands and sat it back on the bedside table. “Come on light weight. Let’s get you in the shower.”

Willie allowed Alex to pull him from the bed but he wrapped his arms around Alex’s waist and hugged him tight. “Join me?”

“I’m already dressed.”

Willie looked up at him with his best pouting face.

“We don’t have that kind of time.”

Willie kissed him over his heart.

“Wills…”

“Please…”

Alex sighed, “Fine.”

Willie grinned and pulled away striping off what little clothing he was wearing as he walked across the room to the bathroom. “Hurry up Alex we don’t want to be late.”

They were late.