#and just sigh. maybe i dont need to be so terrified all the time. maybe happiness is stored

[sucktacular]

SORRY TO SAY BUT YOURE GONNA HAVE FRIENDS FOREVER AND THEY WILL ALWAYS LOVE YOU DEARLY WHETHER YOU KNOW FOR SURE OR NOT. YOU CANT ESCAPE BEING LOVED AND I HOPE ITS SO GENTLE AND KEEPS THE DAYS GOING.

[jyoongim]

Themes: posessiveness, slight yandere behavior, mentions of cannibalism, softcore smut,

After 7 years the Radio Demon is back!

But things arent how he left them…

Vox has taken it upon himself to be in charge of all things media

Radio has turned to Video

And Alastor’s little darling aint in her place…oh that just wont do

Your relationship with the Radio Demon was like a match made in Hell.

Alastor was a wild card by himself alone, but you? You never failed to keep him on his hooves?

You had been in the media world looong before Alastor popped up in Hell, having the title (ironic) Media Demon but somehow he managed to bring back the old themes that were once appreciated.

Not those podcasts or vlogs the youth were so prone to do

But things from the good old days.

Things that were considered ancient in the sense of modern tech.

Radio; Talk shows and actual live broadcasts.

Alastor and you quickly rose in popularity in the media realm [(you had a sneaky suspicion it was because he was terrifying and people honesty clung to an overlord’s word)]

You and Alastor had separate broadcasts, but you worked perfectly in sync with one another. Until one day…the Radio Demon disappeared, leaving you to run your show alone.

You did what you could, but the people seemed to miss the charismatic broadcaster as much as you and soon you were approached by Video.

“C’mon y/n, This will be a great improvement to your brand.” Vox smirked as you sipped the tea you were offered. You frowned. You were aware that media came in all formats but you enjoyed the ‘old’ way. “I dont know Vox, i prefer to be out of the camera’s eye” you said. Vox had been begging for years for you to join his team and claiming it would ‘boost’ your reputation. You didnt need a boost. You were THE Media Demon. If anything, you knew it would boost HIS popularity.

“Radio is so old-fashion, video is the future! You should be up to date with these things” he said. You grimaced “i am well aware of the trends, but not everyone likes this new savvy way, it is good to have a little variety”

Vox was getting annoyed.

Having you on the Vees would not only boost his claim to fame, but it would boost his power.

“The people would love to see the Media Demon in the public eye. You use to sing right? How about music production? You would kill sales with that voice of yours”

He was trying to butter you up.

Everyone knew you were a renown singer. A popstar once. You only showcased it a few times broadcasting when it was late at night and were in a mood.

Alastor loved to hear you sing.

“If you made videos people, your image can skyrocket” he continued.

You set your cup down, standing, having heard enough.

“I appreciate the offer Vox, but I will decline. I quite like stereo” and with that you left.

You made your way to the Hazbin Hotel.

To Alastor’s radio tower.

You sighed as you sat and stared at the station.

Maybe i should take Vox’s offer you thought as you collected your topics and put your headphones on.

You turned on the radio and did a count set

“How ya doin tonight folks? Its your favorite radio host and tonight you are in for a treat!” you gave the daily Hell gossip and opened the line for discussions. Letting out a laugh from a few of the responses you finally sighed “I have been offered the damning chance to retire from radio” you started. “I am sure you are all aware that I am fabulous of course, but i mean reverting to video can you imagine? And the audacity of Vox to even suggest just a thing. I think i do quite alright for a media connoisseur” you giggled.

As you chatted away you were unaware of the dark presence manifesting in the tower.

“Dial in im opening the lines to hear your opinions”

You listened in

“I think it could be good to switch it up!”

“Youre the Media Demon you could crush anything!”

“Y/n youre incredible!”

“Video kills the Radio star!”

You were about to chime in when a deep static like voice sounded

“I think you mean Radio killed the Video star”

Your eyes widened and spun around to see Alastor

“A-Alastor?”

His devilish smile sharpened as he pressed a button to cut the lines and removed your headphones “its been a while darling”

You couldnt help yourself as you launched at him for a hug.

You quickly recovered and let him go, stuttering “oh oh im sorry but w-what are you doing here? I-i thought you were gone”

Alastor grinned, bringing your hand up to his lips to press a kiss to it

“Ooooh mon cher i could never stay away from you”

You blushed.

Alastor pulled you into an embrace, his grip a little tight

“So what it is i hear of you forsaking radio?”

[gingerlee-holds]

if it's ok with you I would love a part 3 of the letting of steam fics. i love the first two so far

oh of course!!!! thank you so much for the request heehee! i think there's gonna be one more chapter after this one before the story ends heehee, so if its requested ill begin working on that- i wanted alastor to be sweet with husker cuz husk's very clearly terrified of him so he's gentle with husk- anyways enjoy!! and thanku again for requesting <33333333

(also dont get mad but im not showing Angel's accent phonetically, that's just not my style so use your imagination)

Last Man Standing

Read the first one here! Read the previous one here!

Words: 1953 Pairing: Ler!Alastor, Lees!Niffty, Angel, and Husker Warnings: Alcohol and a panic attack, Angel being Angel, and also its unedited

Husker slightly trembled as he looked around. The radio demon could appear from any shadow, and Husk was never ready. The gambler hated that Alastor got to him so much, but he couldn’t help being afraid. That demon had his soul, and his grip on it was ceaseless. 

Mercifully, Husker wasn’t alone as he slunk through the hotel halls. He tightly held Angel Dust’s hand, who seemed completely unfazed by the situation. Behind them, trying to keep up, Niffty clapped her hands excitedly. Husker was at least glad she was enjoying herself. 

“Stay close, Niffty,” Husk looked behind him, motioning for the maid to hold his other hand. “You know how extra our boss can be.” He felt a little better holding their hands, but he knew that once Alastor tasted figurative blood in the water, it wouldn’t matter.

The shadow of the radio demon followed them down the dark hallway. Alastor may have been part-deer, but all that was going through his mind now was the instincts of a hunter. And if he wanted to be efficient about this - which he always did - he’d pick them off, one by one, starting with the weakest. 

Angel looked over. “Huskie, your hand is trembling. You afraid of the dark?” He said it with a light tone, but as soon as he saw the hotel bartender look back at him with eyes filled with terror, he softened. “Don’t worry, sugar. I’ll protect ya,” he said, affectionately rubbing Husker’s knuckle with his thumb. 

“And I’ll protect you, too!” Niffty giggled as she said it, squeezing Husker’s other hand.

Despite the fear, Husk grinned a little. “Thanks, you two,” he mumbled. He wrapped his tail around his waist like a hug, trying to level his breathing.

“Besides,” Angel continued, gesturing as he spoke, “I’m pretty sure Alastor’s just having fun with this. Nobody’s getting hurt. Just a little scared.”

“Cuz he’s a bad boy!” Niffty offered.

Angel snickered under his breath. “Yeah, sure. Besides, you’ve seen how agitated he looked this morning. He’s barely shown his face since the battle. Maybe he needs this.”

Niffty giggled again. “And when he finds us, he will tear our souls apart!”

Husker’s breath caught in his throat as he was reminded of Alastor’s threat. “What?!” 

“No, hun,” Angel chuckled and rubbed Husker’s shoulder. “She’s just fucking with you, Huskie. Our souls are fine.” He sighed a bit when he felt Husk tense up, silently wishing he could get some alone time with him to talk. Luckily, he wouldn’t have to wait for long. Angel spoke up again as they continued walking. “Niffty, no more jokes, got it?” 

Silence.

“Niffty?” Angel looked over, and Husker stopped in his tracks. Slowly, he held up his other hand for Angel to see: it was empty. “Niffty!” Both sinners looked around the hallway but found no trace of the neurotic little maid.

Husker’s breathing rate increased. “Oh, shit,” he whimpered. 

In an empty room, Alastor dropped Niffty on the bed, who was clapping enthusiastically. “You got me!”

The radio demon grinned and ruffled her hair. “That I did, little darling. I have two more targets, so I can’t tarry long, but I’ll leave you with this.” With a motion, Alastor summoned two tendrils, using one to hold up one of Niffty’s hands and the other to wiggle against her stomach. He fondly knew that it didn’t take much to unravel the little sinner, and as he predicted, she instantly began cackling like a lunatic. She was easy prey. “Now, don’t go anywhere!” Alastor giggled.

“YEhEHEheheHS SihIhIHihIR!” Niffty said through her laughter, giving him a salute. 

Husker was panicking. She was gone, and he was next. He heard Angel beside him, but his voice sounded distant.

“Maybe she just found a bug on the ground, hun! You know she loves cleaning pests.” Angel’s reasoning wasn’t heard as Husker began stumbling forward.

The radio demon momentarily opened the door just as Niffty uttered a loud shriek that echoed down the hall.

Angel stood straight upright, but before he could say anything, Husker took off like a shot, running as if his life depended on it. “No, Huskie, wait!” Angel ran after him, trying to keep up with the gambler. By the time Husker looked back again, the porn star was out of sight. Alastor got him, too. The bartender whimpered and took off running again.

“Alright, asshole!” Angel Dust yelped as he was unceremoniously pinned to a wall by Alastor’s magic. “First of all, how you’re holding me is all wrong. See, these hands over here are barely being held down at all. And you shouldn’t keep the arms completely stretched and extended like this; it’s always better to allow some give; that way, the muscles don’t get sore. Have you ever done this before?”

Alastor’s eye twitched in annoyance, but he took what Angel said into account and moved him a little. “An expert?”

“Yeah, I’m pretty much a pro regarding restraints. But secondly, and also most importantly, you’re scaring Husker. He’s having a panic attack, thanks to you.”

“I’ll attend to him shortly, don’t worry. As for you, my effeminate fellow, it’s time for your punishment after being found!”

“Do… do you hear yourself right now?” Angel raised an eyebrow. “That is some seriously kinky shit. I’ve heard that exact line a dozen times. It’s one of the classic amateur porn-writing lines. Like, you know what I’m gonna say to that, right?”

“Hm! Then don’t say anything,” the radio demon smiled wide. “Just laugh.”

“With the way you’re holding me down, I might just do thahAhahahahhat! WhaaHAt?!” Angel looked down and saw sets of claws extending from the wall, wriggling into his underarms.

“Four arms means four armpits! Now, excuse me,” Alastor turned and walked to the door. Angel Dust’s laugh was just as loud as his personality, and he wasn’t used to the gentle, teasy touch he was receiving. With a chuckle, Alastor left him to his tickling. 

Husker ran until he saw the bar, and with all the grace of a terrified cat, he leaped over the bar, knocking a bottle over, and curled up on the floor in a ball. He trembled and gripped his neck, practically feeling his chain tightening as the radio demon held his soul in a vice-like sadistic grip. 

Suddenly, Husker was jarred out of his thoughts by a single light turning on overhead. He held his breath and looked up to see enough light to fully illuminate the small bar. Then, there was a soft knocking on the countertop.

“I’d like a drink, please.” 

Husker peeked over the counter to see Alastor sitting on one of the barstools, legs crossed and hands neatly folded on his lap. His eyes were closed, and he smiled without teeth. He looked… completely unthreatening. “W-what?” the bartender asked, his voice still shaking. 

“A drink, friend.” Alastor’s voice was soft, almost soothing. Was he trying to comfort him?

“I- why?”

Alastor opened one eye. “Because I’m parched. Being a hunter is hard work, you know.”

“No, as a matter of fact, I don’t know.” Husker glared at his boss. “What did you do to the others?” 

“They’re all having fun, don’t worry.” Alastor tapped the counter again. “Now, gin and tonic, please.”

“That’s… not your usual order.” Husker looked at the radio demon suspiciously. Husker’s favorite drink was a gin and tonic, so why was Alastor ordering it? Regardless, Husker began making the drink and served it to his guest in a large glass. 

“Thank you.” Alastor politely nodded before pouring half of the drink into another glass and passing it back to the bartender. “Here, have some.”

Husker looked down at the glass and then back up at Alastor. He didn’t seem to be manipulating him. It looked like Alastor was genuinely just trying to calm him down. Hesitantly, the gambler picked up the glass.

“You’ve won.” Alastor held up the glass. “A toast! You were the last one I found.”

Husk held up his glass and took a big sip. The alcohol warmed the back of his throat, and he felt all his muscles loosen up a bit. Sighing, Husk leaned against the countertop and looked up at Alastor. He was warmly smiling as he drank from his glass.

“You should have seen the look on Angel’s face, Husker. It was absolutely to die for!” The radio demon laughed as he set the glass down, and thanks to the gin, Husker found himself chuckling along with him. 

“I bet he made a sex joke, didn’t he?” 

Alastor nodded, and the two laughed together. 

After a few minutes, both were filled with warmth and laughing at nothing in particular. The radio demon wiped a tear from his eye and sighed happily. “Now, you get a reward for lasting the longest.”

Husker tilted his head, smiling lopsidedly in confusion, before he felt Alastor’s tendrils from behind him, gently massaging his shoulders. The shock of the touch quickly melted, and the gambler slowly laid his head on the counter. Smiling wide, he yawned like a cat, and his ears twitched. 

Alastor smiled and used one hand to rub his ear, and to his surprise, he heard a low purring sound coming from his bartender. He knew Husker was starved for touch, but he had no idea it was to this extent. He couldn’t help letting a small “Awww…” out, smiling fondly at the grumble Husk made in reply. The feline sinner swatted at the radio demon, and Alastor gently grabbed the offending hand, tracing the heart on Husker’s paw with a single claw. 

“H-heeheehehee… C-cuhuhuhut ihihit ouhuhut…” Husker began giggling but didn’t pull away from the touch. As Alastor continued administering his reward tickles, Husker never once moved, only letting out sleepy giggles.

“You are far too precious to be so scared, Husker.”

“Sh-shuhuhuhut ihihihihit…”

“No, I don’t think so.” Alastor wiggled the claw a bit faster, and Husk’s giggling mixed with his purring made for an extraordinarily adorable sound. Without stopping the massaging, ear rubs, or palm tickles, Alastor gently led Husker out from the bar to the oversized couch in the lobby and sat him down. With a start, the radio demon realized he was still tickling the others, and he quickly stopped all his magic, releasing Lucifer, Vaggie, Charlie, Niffty, and Angel from their tickly punishment. 

The other hotel residents slowly stumbled into the lobby, wiping tears from their eyes and rubbing their still-tingling spots. All had blushes on their faces, and none wanted to talk to the others after being so thoroughly wrecked. Lucifer was practically gasping for air as he shuffled in, and without a word, he sat down on the far end of the couch and instantly fell asleep. Next to him sat Charlie, and next to her sat Vaggie, and the two girlfriends snuggled close to each other. Niffty hopped onto the armrest and conked out faster than you could say ‘stab,’ and Angel crept in beside Husker to wrap his four arms around the sleeping bartender.

Alastor sat in his recliner, took a deep breath, and smiled as the other residents slept. Finally, the Hazbin Hotel was quiet, and he could get some rest. He was shockingly tired, and as he lay his head back against the seat, he grinned at the fun he had had today. He hoped he could do it again soon because, as far as he could tell, nobody else disliked it either. Although maybe he’d have to go easy on the theatrics with Husker. 

The other residents were plotting revenge against the radio demon as he slept. But that would come after everyone was awake. For now, the hotel slept.

[stevie-petey]

Hi m! I had a short blurb idea for you. Could we see Jonathan's pov after his fight with Nancy, and what drove him to go to bugs house? Also his POV throughout their car ride together? Thank you! ❤️

finally had time to get to this one and YES i can <333

enjoy !

"well then i guess we just dont understand each other anymore."

the pain in nancys voice hasnt left jonathans mind since he dropped her off at home hours ago.

he lays in his bed, sheets cold as the night creeps upon him. do they really not understand each other anymore? jonathan knows he understands nancys frustration, how painful it is to be overlooked, but how can he explain to her that hes unable to understand the feeling of security?

hes never had that before in his life. ever since he was a boy, his life has been defined by instability and insecurity.

it was meeting you that brought some sense of security into jonathans life. youre the only thing jonathan considers a constant in his life; he trusts that youll always be a part of him.

he isnt like nancy. he doesnt have a mom who attends to his needs. a house in a cul de sac with freshly painted shutters. jonathan doesnt have the privilege of being a kid, not when hes been helping to pay for his familys rent ever since he was fourteen and legally able to work. he isnt able to lose a job that can pay for his college like nancy can.

security is a foreign concept to jonathan that he cant understand, yet he understands that the burn within him is his love for nancy. and he understands that he cant lose her.

sighing, jonathan gets out of bed and towards the phone in the kitchen. he has to hear your voice, soothe his nerves, maybe even cry. right now, jonathan needs his best friend.

youll know what to do. you always do.

when he calls you and you sound just as exhausted as he feels, he knows that tonight will be one of your driving nights. a few years ago, when your only worries were exams and parental issues, you and jonathan would drive around hawkins late at night and pretend you were the only two people to exist.

as you got older, the need to drive became few and far between, but tonight jonathans chest is heavy and your voice sounds frail.

hes at your house in ten minutes, and within fifteen he has you in his passenger seat with an old mix tape playing as julys cool night seeps through the car. and, within thrity minutes, youve unwoven all of the intricate strings of fear and uncertainty within jonathan.

he loves you for how easily you put him at ease.

you simultaneously support jonathans side while also vehemently defend nancys. you console him, yet you also gently pry his head out of his ass.

"it frustrates me how you always manage to say the right thing." i love how you love me.

"youve known me for years now, its your fault for not getting used to it." ive grown up learning how to love you.

its easy. its as easy as breathing when it comes to you, and jonathan inhales as much of you as he can. for as long as he can, for as much as hes able to.

and then you break jonathans heart with six words.

"im terrified he'll be another 'almost'."

its as easy as breathing, and jonathan wishes that he could exhale for you. he hasnt forgotten the lines that were once almost his to cross. how he had you, all of you, and now youre steves and hes nancys.

in the end it was all for the best, but jonathan hates the scars he left behind. he hadnt meant to, they will always mar your body, and he will never forgive himself for it.

"im sorry, bug." he shouldve apologized earlier. he knows this.

he wishes that there was more he could do, more he could say. but hes never been good with words and hes scared he'll overstep somehow. say the wrong thing, hurt you even more. so instead jonathan holds your hands, kisses away your tears, and silently prays that steve doesnt make the same mistake that he did.

youre steves now, anyone can see that. you love him so deeply and freely that jonathan cant help but admire how beautiful it is. he can see it in steve, too. how much he loves you.

that boy adores you.

jonathan understands the feeling. he always will.

[tonberry-yoda]

I would like to request something, More like a comedy/fun/silly request :3

So... Have you ever thought about how would Alastor, Husk, Angel Dust and Lucifer would react to their female s/o calling for them in a visibly mad tone for their complete name from the kitchen?? Maybe them knowing that they didn't thawed the chicken they try and run away from her but she teleports in front of them and tuggs them from the ear (motherly behaviors entered the chat) while saying something like

"Oh, honey, you're not gonna escape from me, and NOW you're gonna clean the house for ONE WEEK"

(in headcanon format please 😌) (also I rode on one of your posts that you got many HH and HB requests so if you wanna ignore this, go ahead I don't really mind, It's your decision ^^)

notes: OMG ANON THIS IS SO FUNNY! sorry this took so long btw, ive had so many requests to get through lol and this is a pretty difficult idea to actually turn into a writing piece, but that's what makes it more fun lol. and dont worry about the too many requests about HH! I just thought it was interesting that i had a lot of fans of the show lol. thanks for the request anon and I really hope you enjoy!! WARNINGS: I left out Lucifer because I don't know too much about him and kept the reader gn because Angel Dust is gay, so I didn't want to make it a female s/o. thanks for the request <333

ALASTOR

this man isnt easily intimidated by anyone

i mean he is the radio demon frrrr

but you?

oh this man is TERRIFIED OF YOU

not when you're lovey dovey, just when you're mad

which to be fair isnt often

but you went to leave the house and pressed a huge kiss onto Alastor's cheek before leaving. You told him that you wanted him to do the dishes while you were away and he gave you a thumbs up telling you that it would get done

but then you get home

and find out that not a single plate was clean

Alastor was relaxing upstairs and you were on the verge of losing

not helpful that you had an awful day on top of it

you called him by his full and complete name from when he was alive and while he was upstairs, he felt chills down his spine

he quickly ran downstairs and realized the mistake he had made a little too late

"do you expect me to do these, Al? you've been sitting on your ass ALL DAY, I am not doing any of this!" You pointed to the huge pile of dished and Alastor felt defeated

he apologized a thousand times and ended up getting them done both clean and fast in record time

and he bought you flowers to apologize

HUSK

you were at work when you remembered you needed the chicken pulled out of the freezer to thaw

you quickly texted husk and asked him to do it and all he sent was a thumbs up emoji

you prayed that he did what he needed to do

you got home in a very chipper mood from your day at work to find no chicken on the counter

you tilted your head and checked all over the kitchen

in the pantry, on the counter, in the cabinets, in the fridge

and finally

in the freezer

you almost lost your shit right then and there

you called Husk down to the kitchen and he walked in, picking at his fingernail before noticing you there

"hey babe, welcome home."

you crossed your arms and he noticed how pissed you look

shit

the chicken

mans went to run off, but you quickly teleported in front of him and grabbed him by the ear

"oh no you dont, mister. where do you think you're going?"

"to my room?" he tried, shrugging

"not on my watch. it looks like you're not only getting me dinner out tonight, but you'll be doing the dishes for three weeks now."

husk sighed, but agreed to your terms. he hated it when you were upset

ANGEL DUST

omg mans is a brat

let me tell you

you wake up in the morning smiling

like so happy that you had the best sleep cuddled against this softie

and then you remember that you have a super important meeting that day

and then you ask angel in the NICEST voice "do you mind getting the dishes out of the way today, love? I have a meeting today."

he shoots you the DIRTIEST look and has the AUDACITY to say "no. im not up for that. Im tired"

and turns away from you

you poke him so hard in the back

"ANGEL!"

"what?!" but he turns to you and recognizes that expression

mans effed up

he apologizes immediately and then tells you that he'll do them

he doesnt end up doing them btw

~~~~~

hazbin hotel masterlist | pinned post @tonberry-yoda

[pumpkinsy0]

SHEPARD FAM CAREER HEADCANNONS?????

i just woke up so excuse me me if i read this wrong and gave u somethin u aint ask for</33

tim - butcher

•said it multiple times, rhis is just him, he wanted extra cash and wanted it to have a steady reliable flow of it

•he also wanted a job where still nobody could mess w him if the did come in, yknow????

•w his record, its a miracle, maybe the boss just dont rlly care that hes in the gang and just wants the job done or this is a job tim get when hes older, maybe its a mix of both, either way his boss thought he would be an important asset in he was hired

•hes oddly graceful w it, he finds in theraputic, its odd to witness but that nigga has a way w the cleaver and knife, its pretty terrifying, maybe tim shouldnt have a job no more

•yes btw he somehow uses what he’s learned in how he fights, im not saying hes out there KILLIN ppl w his knives btw, however when it comes to rumbles w weapons, hes truly on another level

•he brings home meat for angela and curly, its mostly bacon, but he brings other stuff too, curly loves eating meat (pause on that😭) so he dont mind but ik angela gets sick of it sometimes and just wants rice or somethin

curly - he’s had like several different jobs😭

•like i could genuinely see curly as that guy whos job jumping, he’s been a janitor, a airport baggage handler, camp counselor, rn tho hes a line cook/dishwasher

•out of all three of em, i dont know HOW THIS GUY GOT A JOB, but yknow what, he got it, hes that guy that always has a new job when u see him, was he fired or did he quit??? nobody knows, u just see him pop up behind a counter some place

•he’s that coworker whos always in the back fucking around, god forbid hes the one supposed to be training u, man he’s teaching u some tricks and then leaving u to the wolves mid way

•he NEEDS a smoke break, he hates staying in one place for too long, especially in that hot ass kitchen, hes getting overstimulated and accidentally snapping at ppl someone save him

•hes not a good employee, i promise u if u got a weird ass order, he will look at u strange, and if he can sense u got social anxiety he’d probably fuck ur order up a lil bit bc what r u gonna do??? come back and tell him he got it wrong🤨🤨🤨

•chances r the place he works at is some money laundering scheme hes clueless about, he just say they were hirin and thought “eh why not”

angela - retail or fast food worker but if she tried, she could be a model

•the only one w a clean slate, her getting a job is no hassle

•shes literally nicole from bistro huddy, need i say more, she never wants to work but honestly who does???

•shes that girl listening to this poor single mother of 4 in the break room venting about how badly she needs this money to support her kids, meanwhile angela just wants to buy some damn clothes and make up😭

•man she’s never came to work in a good mood, when she wakes up she sighs putting on that uniform, but i’ll tell u what, she WILL make that uniform look good, shes a good designer w what shes got

•the customer is never right when ur in her presence, shes very intentional w what she does

•if u wanna go the model route, its bc someone took a pic of her at work and it blew up n she got recognized by modeling agencies or somethin, shes def just got “that look”, curly prolly got it too tbh, someone take a pic of him and test the waters, they can be like a two for one deal typa twin models🗣️

[kookblurx]

1920 - jjk [ chpt 5. ]

→ SUMMARY: a photo of a beautiful smiling boy; an old tree in your grandparents garden ... and a feeling of sadness. all those things are connected to each other ...

→ GENRE: time travel au; changing fate au; rencarnation au; university au; death; sickness; historical setting; trigger topics; smut; dirty talk; switching between present and the past.

→ chapt. 4 / chapt. 6

→ RATING: 18+ [ I HIGHLY RECOMMEND MINORS DNI with this chapter! ]

→ NOTE: HUGE DISCLAIMER, this story plays in a fantasy setting. the world YN lives in doesnt exist, neither jungkooks. so please dont mention anything just because its not historically correct. this is piece of art. so yes, jungkook wears armor like a knight and no there are no guns in his time period. thanks.

JUNGKOOK MASTERLIST ♡.°₊ˎ PLAYLIST FOR THIS CHAPTER

The Past:

everything was quiet as you closed your eyes, apperantly thats something you need to do, before the reaching the said destination in the past. slowly more and more sounds were travelling to your ear ... but something was strange. i didnt sounded like people running around in a mansion, or villagers on busy streets ... it was loud, there were screams. iron clang into each other, as soon as a hurtful scream reached your ears, you finally opened your eyes. right in front of you was pure horror, a scene you only had seen on the tv screen. you were hidden behind a large rock as you peeked over the edge. there it was, a hundred, no thousand of man running into each other with their swords. many of them were laying on the ground, you couldnt tell if they were dead of unconscious. some of them surely werent breathing anymore.

with terrified eyes you turned around to the fairy "what is this?! i thought you would bring me to the place were that picture was taken!"

"i-i dont know what happened really! maybe this ... place called for you"

"called for me?! im a damn woman on a freaking battlefield, i will get killed within seconds ... or worse" a shudder ran through your body as you remembered all the stories about war in one of your lectures.

"I-Im sorry, i will try to figure out how to bring you back ... just, just stay here" with those words the fairy vanished into thin air. leaving you between dead bodies and fighting man.

the whole situation was terrifying. shaking in fear you leaned against the sone with your back, hoping that no one would find you here. another scream was heard, you could hear how the blood gushed out of his mouth.

"hurry .." your voice was only a whisper as you waited for the fairy to return.

at the same time a familiar voice catched your attention "I got him! without them their front will be weak. we should hurry before they call for back up!"

slowly your head appeared from behind the stone. a few metres away from you was a man, he pulled his sword out of the other man's chest. the sound it made was disgustin. with a smile the man turned to the side so you were able to see his face. in front of you stood jimin, he cleaned his sword on his leg.

"good work jmin"

hooves could be heard on the ground as a horse drew near. heavy boots made the mud on the ground splatter into different directions. the man who just jumped down from his horse was no other than jungkook. same as jimin he wore a heavy armor with an iron plate around his chest. jungkook looked fine, his body was covered in blood but it wasnt his. on his cheek was a deep cut, however he seemed overall fine to you. a relieved sigh escaped your lips as you kept watching them. this must be the "war" jimin spoke about before you were thrown out of Jungkook's bedroom.

"damn fairy ..." you mumbled to yourself. if you were able to stay longer, maybe he would had stayed back.

the two man in front of you kept laughing as they moved the corpses near the stone you were hiding. automatically you held your breath, hoping they wouldnt see you. you were supposed to be somewhere else, it was too risky to reveal yourself now. maybe something like this could change the future into a negative direction.

suddenly the horse got nervous. his hooves scraped on the ground, dugging deep holes into the muddy ground.

"whats wrong buddy?" jimin walked over to the horse. no one was around and he couldnt see anyone.

"maybe hes just hungry, its been a while since we ate something" as usual jungkook was more than optimistic. he also didnt sensed any kind of danger in that moment.

you saw how jimin just shrugged before he got back to moving the dead bodies to the side. you didnt knew why they did that but the nervous horse made you nervous too. something was wrong. an animal would never react this way if there isnt any danger. while the boys were busy you kept looking around. at least someone should keep watch.

"but ... how will i be able to help.." you mumbeled to yourself.

at the same moment the horse let out a loud "scream". with a heavy thud it fell to the ground. an arrow had hitted it right into its left leg. the wound wasnt fatal but enough to made the horse panic. it was squirming on the ground as jimin was quick enough to pull the arrow out of its leg.

"jungkook! we need to go!"

jimin tried to push the horse up again, he was successful but the animal had other plans. as more arrows were raining down it made a break for it. leaving the man behind. jungkook turned his head which made you dissapear behind the stone again.

"well too late i guess" he drew his sword as 5 man approached them. they werent too friendly.

the next thing you heard were sounds of swords getting smashed into each other, mixed with screams. deep inside you prayed that those screams didnt belonged to jimin or jungkook.

"fuck!"

slowly you peaked again. the ground was painted in red, there was so much blood that it moved towards your stone. as you lifted your head a gruesome scene played right in front of you. jimin was bleeding heavily as he held his stomach. one sword in his shaky hand, he was standing in front of something, or rather in front of someone. your fingers dug deep into the mud as you finally moved your head to the body jimin was protecting. at the same time your heart sunk deep into your stomach. on the ground was jungkook, a puddle of blood had formed underneath him. his breathing was faint but still there.

"go and fuck yourself" jimin couldnt do more than only standing his ground.

the man in front of him chuckled. this is it. they will both die here. so many thoughts were running through your head as a second man tackled jimin to the ground. he held his arms as the other guy slowly moved forward to jungkooks body.

"finally, finally we will kill the war hero. his legacy will end here and us ... the Min Clan will rule over this country"

"no! i wont let you assholes kill him!" jimin was still struggling underneath the second soldier.

you could tell by the draining colour of his face that he already lost a lot of blood. the struggling just made it worse. the man in front of jungkook lifted his sword, ready to pierce it right through his heart. jungkook coughed on the ground, eyes still closed.

" .... no ... i cant .. NO!"

new strength went right into your legs as you leaped forward from behind the stone. your shoes sank into the mud as you ran into the direction of jungkook. you nearly stumbled a few times and to your suprise you managed to crash into the soldiers body, making him stumble to the side.

"YN?!" jimin's eyes widen "are yoz stupid?! what are you doing here?! run! hide!"

the moment the man regained balance you immediately kneeled down into the mud, both of your arms wrapped arounds jungkooks body as you pressed him close to you.

"i cant! you wont hurt him!"

both of them man were laughing now as the one came back to you, sword lifted "i wont mind killing you both honey".

you pressed your face against Jungkook's cheek. it didnt mattered if you died here, as long he can survive its fine. but there was still one chance and you decided to take it.

"please ... stop this! bring me ... bring us home! please bring us home and save him!" you shouted at the top of your lung. a warm and cozy light started to surround the both of you.

it was so calming and warm that you closed your eyes. against your chest you could feel jungkook's heartbeat, steady and strong as you succumbed to the darkness.

The Present:

"YN?! YN wake up!" someone shook your body, hard.

a grunt left your lips as you slowy moved your body to the side. something heavy was laying on your arm so you forced your eyes open. right in front of you was jimin, looking terrified.

"jimin...?"

"What .. what the fuck is this YN?! what the fuck.. WHO IS THIS!"

slowly you moved your head to your left side. it was hard to notice something as your eyes needed to adjust to the brightness in the room. jimin kept shaking you as another grunt was heard. this time it wasnt from you. the moment you heard that your body was up and wide awake. finally you manage to see who was right beside you and for a moment you thought you were dreaming.

"tell me this is a fucking sick joke" jimin was still talking with you but you really didnt heard him.

right beside you was jungkook, still bleeding. another jolt went through your body as you pulled your arm out from underneath him. the next thing you did was pushing jimin away from you.

"shut up and help me!"

"W-what?!"

"he is bleeding. stop acting like an idiot. next to the library is a bathroom get the first aid kit from there" you sat right beside jungkook, trying to get the iron plate off of him.

"fine. but you owe me a fucking explanation" mumbling to himself jimin made his way to the bathroom next door.

in the meantime you were able to remove all the armor from his body. kook's white shirt was drenched in blood as you unbuttoned it with shaking hands. you were scared that his wound might be untreatable. taking him to a hospital wasnt an option, you didnt had a drivers license and jimin doesnt seem like he came by car.

your hands were completely covered in blood as you opened the shirt. there was a deep wound in his abdomen but it didnt looked fatal. it was just bleeding a lot. examining the wound further jimin finally came back with the first aid kit.

"so?"

as you tend to his wounds, wrapping bandages around his body, jimin still had a big question mark on his face.

"would you believe me if i tell you that i can travel back in time and .. this is Jeon jungkook?"

"with every other scenario i would say you are freaking crazy but this-" jimin pointed at the bleeding jungkook "this isnt damn normal. so yes, for now i believe you"

a sigh escaped your mouth as you explained the whole situation to jimin. he really believed you, at least for now. after kook was all bandaged up, jimin helped you to get him into your bedroom. the hardest part would be to hide him from your grandparents. before jimin went home he helped you to hide the armor in the back of the basement. no one went there for years so it was well hidden there. the blood on the library floor was something you insisted to clean by yourself. it was your fault in the first place that he got here.

exhausted you finally got into your room around 4am in the morning. to your relief kooks breathing was stable and the wound stopped bleeding. you leaned against the bed with your back thinking about everything that just happened. you saved him but what now?

"we are in big trouble.." from the corner of the room the fairy finally made herself noticable. you had sensed her a while ago.

"i know ..."

"i dont even know how you managed that ... bringing him with you. because this wasnt my doing" with a serious expression the fairy looked over to the bed.

"well ... it is what it is now ... I just dont know what will happen now"

suddenly the fairy looked a little bit cheerful "dont worry, i will go back and check what this ... incident will cause in the past. for now, make sure he will feel better soon. i wont be able to send him back like this"

with those words the fairy vanished again. hopefully nothing bad will happen and hopefully jimin is fine. at least jimin still exist in your time so that must mean he was saved back on the battlefield. maybe the light caused auch a disturbance that he was able to free himself?

your mind was going crazy as you leaned your head back. your whole body was aching from worry. it didnt took you long before you succumbed to the darkness. the last thing you notices was, how something shifted on your bed and how someone placed a hand on the top of your head. it felt soothing, making it easier for you to fall asleep.

Taglist:

@junecat18 @hellbornsworld @stupendouscookiehumanmug

[eddiemunsons-missingnipple]

Pairings: Dom! Eddie munson x sub fem!reader

Warning: angst hurt/comfort slight smut unprotected sex, dom/sub relationship spankings use of safe word, face slapping. Aftercare (kind of)

18+ minors dni , not proofread.

Part 2

"What did we talk about sweetheart? " Eddie says standing in between your legs while you're perched on your kitchen counter.

"Im your dom not your boyfriend."" He said moving from his spot and going to grab the bowel of pasta to feed you. "Im sorry Eddie its just they kept asking me about our relationship and i didn't know what else to say."

Eddie spins the pasta around the fork and lifts it to his mouth to blow on it. Bringing the fork to your mouth you take a bite of the dinner he cooked for you. "Are you embarrassed by our relationship or something ? "He asks while taking a bite himself.

Shaking your head "No but i just dont want to go into this long explanation about what it is that we do...or how we met." you tried explaining hoping he doesn't get offended.

"What's so hard to explain?" He asks you and places the bowl down on the counter beside you. "I mean it's not a very hard concept to understand if you ask me. I set rules for you. You follow said rules and if you don't I punish you then I take care of you." Shrugging his shoulders.

Eddie leans forward moving a piece of hair from your face. He makes his voice low and husky while eyeing your lips. "Or if you're a good girl I reward you."

Swallowing hard all you can say while your voice is barely above a whisper "I'm sorry I just didn't want them to think anything bad about you." Eddie pouts his lower lip out jokingly at you.

"Eat up sweetheart we have a long night a head of us."

Opening wide you allow him to hand feed you your dinner. This was something he loved doing with you. He loved to cook for you and then feed it to you by hand. Something about it felt so intimate. Something that couples do with eachother on romantic dinner dates.

"Am I in trouble?" Looking up at him from your spot on the counter.

"Am I in trouble what?" He says crossing his arms over his chest and repeating your question back at you. "Am I in trouble sir?" Still trying to give him an innocent look hoping it'll spare you a few swats if you are in fact in trouble.

"Hmmm as much as I do love spanking your cute little bum you did nothing wrong...this time." He said with a smirk.

Sighing in relief you finish your dinner with Eddie while telling him about your girls day with Robin and Nancy. He seemed interested but you could tell there was something on his mind. You suspect it has something to do with him telling you you're gonna have a long night a head of you. After dinner he tells you to go strip down for him and wait for him.

You originally met Eddie at a Fetish Club where you joined to release some of these urges you had been feeling. He was the first Dom you've ever had and the only person you've ever paid to spank you.

The first time you went was a little overwhelming. There were men in masks. The women in tight latex outfits holding long whips.

Terrified but also exited is how you would describe yourself. The stress of everyday life and the single life was just too much to handle sometimes. You needed someone to help you forget about it just for a little while. That's where Eddie came in to help you.

When you first met him he was wearing just black Levi jeans with a chained belt that hung low on his hips. He had a few tattoos and his long hair was in a low bun on his neck. He caught you looking at his defined V line and his happy trail he spoke up first.

"What brings an innocent looking thing like you here to night."

"I just...I-I dont know really. I thought maybe someone can help me release some stress...help me forget everything for just a little bit." You say to him nervously

He smiles at you sweetly and grabs what looks to be a small paddle from a table full of various toys. You give yourself a chance to take in your surroundings and you start to notice everything.

The walls are blood red with a large X hung up on it. The bed over in the corner has a huge canopy with chains hanging down over the black satin sheets. There is a leather bench in the middle of the floor and there is whips hanging by the bed.

He turns to you and tells you to strip and bend over the bench.

"Before i help you sweetheart I need to go over some things with you first"

He motions you over to the bench to have a seat before you strip naked for him.

"I need you to know your limits okay? He says in a serious tone

"Green means youre good and to keep going, yellow means to slow down a bit and red means to stop completely. You got it?" He says looking into your eyes

Nodding your head yes "words sweetheart, i need you to repeat me." "Green im good, yellow i need you to slow down and red means i want you to stop" He smiles brightly at you and you notice his dimples for the first time.

"Good girl and i want you to know that even though im your dom you have the control. Im gonna make you think you dont but the minute you use your safe word im stopping"he tells you reassuringly.

"Now strip i dont want to ask you twice" He said in a more harsh tone and he stands up. You begin to take your clothes off piece by piece until you're only left in your bra and lace panties.

He cocks an eyebrow to you "i said strip that means those come off too."

After that first meeting, you became a regular of Eddie's. Seeing him almost every Friday and Saturday evening. You began getting to know each other outside of the club as well. He'd take you on lunch or breakfast dates.

You would go over to his loft apartment in the city. He would come over to yours and have movie nights. After a while, you became very close friends. Which is why he said he couldn't have you pay him to be your Dom any longer. Confused at first, you thought maybe he just didn't want you to be a client of his you anymore.

That's when he said he would love to be your personal Dom, and your payments wouldn't be necessary anymore. Since he was leaving the club, he still wanted to partake in what he was good at with someone he trusted as well. That would also give him free reign to fuck you after punishing you or during his play sessions.

Of course you said yes Eddie was an amazing Dom, and the thought of having sex with him has always been on your mind since you met him that first night. He was great at what he did and loved doing it. The thought of doing this with someone else, and having to rebuild all of this trust you both built up with each other just sounded exhausting.

Once you stripped yourself of your clothing and waited for eddie to come into your bedroom. He finally arrives 10 minutes later wearing only his jeans and no shirt with his hair in a low bun like he always has. He goes to grab something, and you think it's the paddle at first that's when you interrupt his movements.

"Eddie I thought you said i wasn't in trouble tonight? "

He turns around slowly, and you can see he didn't have the paddle in his hand but the vibrator that was laying next to it. He squints his eyes at you and clenches his jaw. He puts the vibrator back down next to the other toys. Stalking over to you slowly until he towers over your frame.

"What. Did. You. Just. Call me?" He asks through gritted teeth.

Looking up at him nervously, you begin to speak, but then you feel his large hand connecting with the soft skin of your cheek. Creating a loud slap noise that echoed in your dimly lite bedroom. Your face turns away, and you grab your cheek out or instinct.

He's looming over you while you're holding your hand to your face. Tears begin to spill out, and you're trying very hard to keep your breathing under control. He's never hit you like that before.

Sure a few light taps to the cheek to keep you focused while his cock was pounding in and out of you. He would paddle you or open hand spank your ass but nothing like this before. Sure you discussed it but he never actually went through with it.

Eddie's persona falters for a moment when he sees you trying to keep it together.

Putting a finger under your chin to look up at him "Color princess?"

"I'm still green sir." Is all you managed to say through your shakey breath.

The more you tried to hold it together, the more the tears were spilling down your cheeks. Your bottom lip wobbled while Eddie walked away to grab the paddle he was originally going to ignore that night. Walking back to you, he clicks his tongue and mockingly says to you,

" You're already crying like this, and I haven't even punished you yet. Tonight is gonna be very long for you, indeed." Putting his hand on your forearm, he gently moved your hand away from your now irritated cheek. Dragging his thumb across the imprint of his fingers.

He bends down to whisper in your ear. " I bet you wish I was your boyfriend instead, huh?" You look at him shocked. He's making fun of you now and taunting you. What you said earlier did upset him in some kind of way, and now he's gonna make you pay.

"Get on the bed face down and your pretty little ass up. Hurry and don't make me ask you twice, " He told you.

Getting on the bed and doing as you're told you grab a pillow to squeeze helping you calm your jangled nerves. He laughs at you once again and rubs your ass almost too gently for what he's about to do. "If I hear one whimper or cry coming from those pretty lips of yours it'll only make your night worse. "

"Yes sir, sorry sir I'll stop crying now" you said in between sniffles.

He groans at you and pulls the paddle backwards, and releases it against your ass with a powerf blow, causing your legs to almost give out. He whacks you multiple times, and you're trying so hard not to make a sound. The feeling of the paddle hitting you so hard and with so much force behind it. You begin to go numb from the pain he was inflicting on you.

Twenty hits are all you got from him, but it felt like so much more than that. He dips a finger inside you and notices you're not as wet as you usually are for him during this type of play. Instead of Eddie being worried, he instead makes fun of you some more.

"How can you ever get a boyfriend if the only thing that turns you on won't even get you wet?" Eddie said condescendingly.

You both had hard limits during your play session. The both of you agreed on was to not use what you said in confidence to be used against you as a punishment. He knew how sensitive the topic of dating was to you. He knew how badly you wanted to find someone who you felt would fill a void that was missing. He knew how you haven't had much experience with relationships and always thinking that someone being interested in you was a joke.

Now, here he was taunting you and making fun of your biggest insecurities for his own enjoyment. Did you want to date Eddie? Yes, you did. No one else has ever understood you the way he has before. Thinking about how he's making fun of you calling him your boyfriend takes you back to high school all over again. When jerks would ask you out as a joke, then point and laugh if you said yes.

"Hey, I'm talking to you. I said, turn over, and lay flat on your back before I make you."

Moving slowly and trying to lay back without irritating your bruised ass was not easy. You hiss when you turn over spreading your legs open for him.

"It's no wonder your still single." Tapping your head with his index finger "You're always in your own head not paying attention to what's going on around you."

Your bottom lips begins to shake and quiver all over again. You can't bring yourself to even look at him when's dragging his cock up and down your slit. You keep your head turned to the side facing the head board. Eddie brings his hand to your face trying to move it so you can look at him. But all you do is jerk it back and keep your eyes set on where they were before.

Wishing he would just hurry up and fuck you so he can leave you alone for the night. His words stung even if others might not think so. That topic was very touchy for you, and since you told him in confidence, trusting he would never use it against you, it hurt worse. Eddie slowly pushed himself inside you and began slowly pulling in and out. He's fucking you so painfully slow hoping he would get a reaction from you. Pulling out and slapping his cock on your clit to try and get a reaction from that too. Nothing.

You give him nothing in return. Your eyes full of sorrow and a pain in your chest. You keep thinking back to what he said and break down in a full-blown sob. He slows for a moment, thinking maybe the paddling he gave you was too much. He never even thought maybe it was about what he said to you earlier that caused your breakdown.

"Hey, it's okay. Look at me, sweetheart." Shaking your head no. you try to control your crying feeling weaker in front of him.

He tries to grab your face again, and you just jerk it away. "Color baby?" That's when he finally has your attention. He pulls his hard cock out waiting for your response.

You choke out "red sir"

"Fuck" Eddie says under his breath and goes to cradle you. Pushing him back you tell him to get away from you. He looks hurt but understands maybe it was all too much for you, and you can't process your emotions.

You push yourself up by the top of the bed and cover yourself with a pillow. Burying your face, you begin to sob uncontrollably.

Eddie moves to sit next to you and rubs your back, telling you to let it out. "Was it the slap to your face that was too much?"I know that was a new thing we discussed in passing."

He keeps rubbing your back and leans you over so your head is now resting on his chest. "Sweetheart, you have to tell me what it was that was too much."

"It's not what you did, sir. It's what you said to me."

Eyes going wide then softening. "You don't have to call me sir the session is over."

"We agreed we wouldn't use what is said in confidence as a punishment, and you did it anyways." You say in between sobs, catching your breath. He nods slowly and looks regretful. Eddie didn't know why he said those things.

Part of it was in the heat of the moment, and the other part he was, in fact, hurt you wouldn't tell your friends the truth about him. Thinking you were embarrassed or ashamed by the relationship you two developed. He let his feelings get in the way and wanted to hurt you the way you hurt him.

"I'm so sorry, sweetheart. I didn't mean any of it. Any man would be lucky to have you as their girl."

He told you, squeezing you tighter against him. Kissing the top of your head and resting his cheek on you. Eddie and you stayed like that for a long time until you both fell asleep. He knows you guys have a lot to talk about in the morning, but as of right now, he's gonna let you sleep it off. He hopes you'll be his forever. He hopes you'll forgive him in the morning. He promises he's gonna make it up to you the best way he knows how.

[takeurexam]

dynasty || VI

genre:

non idol au, time travel, romance, rivals to allies to friends to lovers, crown prince to emperor taehyun, reader gets appointed as an concubine

pairing(s):

taehyun x reader

(warning, this does not reflect the REAL idols personality, and no smut will be written to respect the idol, and i am not comfortable as well, and the taehyun in this ff is not the actual taehyun)

story:

in which you, an excellent law student about to graduate collage suddenly gets dragged into the past, meeting the famous-fawned over emperor of the kang's dynansty. but you getting dragged into this mess was beyond a mystery, and it seems like you have something deep to discover. meddling with the past is a risky decision after all.

dynasty masterlist

6. Independent

Today was the day you were set to leave the royal camp. You've finished everything you needed to do so far so you dont have anything to keep you from leaving anymore. Well, this morning, you were a little earlier than the others. It was quiet as a fresh wave of air hits you as you sigh in satisfaction. You drop your bags to the ground to admire the fresh air hitting you and the spectacular view.

It was nice to breathe some fresh air in the morning. It means that the tomorrow you desired yesterday has come- and you have to go through it to survive and see another tomorrow.

"Are you this enthusiastic to leave the imperial crown prince?" The prince himself chuckles beside you as you step away as you jolt from the unannounced prescence. "Wow. I guess reminding someone you're there dosent exist for you." He chuckles at your bickering as you both stare into the sun.

"As the sun rises, a new day awaits. I will become the inventor of new stuff and become rich and famous in this time. My supposed destiny! I will change the rules of the court!" You bawl as Taehyun looks at you a little concerned. "Okay, straight to the point." You clear your throat.

"When are you going to become the Emperor?" You glance over at the emperor-to-be as he looks at the ground with a blank face. "Once my father dies. It feels a little.."

"Terrifying?" You continue his sentence. "Well, if anything, you're leading a lot of people. Different minds after all." He laughs at your answer, "It truly is." You were right, he was terrified- because once he becomes emperor of the dynasty, It feels like giving out every once of freedom you have left to the palace and dedicating your whole life to be either controled or to be looked up on.

Your glance switches over to him as he stood there looking at the sun. If you were not to know his situation- you would assume he was fine and just admiring the view. In reality, he has a thousand thoughts running over his mind. A battle between the positive thoughts and the negative thoughts consume his mind. The emotion on his face dosent truly show what is going on inside his mind.

"Well, Taehyun." He snaps out of his thoughts as he hears you mention him, "Be independent. The palace isn't a safe place from what i've heard, but what you can do is trust in yourself more than anyone. Anything can happen inside those gates- and the only person you can trust and rely on is yourself." You were never one to be a comforting person, yet you felt the need to give him the consolation he might need.

"Im giving you advice because this empire or dynasty you're leading is in shambles and in the hands of corruption, and maybe, just maybe you can be different and fix it." You felt yourself grin at your words as Taehyun just stands there understanding every word.

The Crown Prince smiles as he finds a profound sense of contentment in your words.

"Oh! Its Beomgyu!" You see a horse nearby the entrance with a familliar figure riding it, "Well, Your Imperial Highness." You try not to snicker, which obviously fails as you speak, "Be independent. Maybe we'll cross paths when you're emperor now. And if I become rich, I might visit you." He laughs, "How comforting then."

"See you!" You run over to the General as Taehyun watches you slip away from him. He feels a sense of familiarity grow inside him making him chuckle and shake his head.

Of course, you dont forget to wave goodbye to Taehyun once you arrive beside Beomgyu. Confused, he copies your actions without fully understanding what it was for.

He just wishes, he finds you once he is the Emperor of the dynasty.

"Uhm." You chuckle nervously as you stare up at the horse and the man sitting on it, "Big issue." You feel a wave of embarassment wash over you, "I have never tried to ride on a horse." The General looks a little suprised that someone like you- adventurous, not to know how to ride a horse.

Beomgyu goes down from his horse as he sighs, "First, step on this." He points towards a thing on the saddle, you follow his instructions and step on it, "Now, lift yourself up and sit down on it." What?

"How?" You look at him with a groan as you embarass yourself infront of a General who is basically a pro in riding a horse. "Okay, just lift yourself up, and sit on the horse but facing me." You understand a little as you manage to sit down on the horse.

After, you manage to sit on the horse properly as you clap for yourself as General Beomgyu looks at you a little concerned. He rides the horse too as you both get ready to set off to Soobin's camp.

"Hyah!" Beomgyu and you set off with the horse into the forest. The beautiful morning sunrise is clear on the sky as the fresh cold air flows along with the two of you on your journey.

"General." You wanted to strike a conversation because you were a little bored, "Can we make a pinky promise?"

"What is that?" You couldn't see his face but you can only assume he looked puzzled as you laugh, "A contract or deal or something."

Beomgyu replies, "What pinky promise would you like to make with me?" He adjusted to your weird wording, "There we go! Okay so, we put our pinkies together, and we make a contract and never break it."

The General slows down the horse as you put out your pinky finger, "Put yours out too." He does exactly what you instruct and puts his finger out too.

"Promise me to never leave the Crown Prince's side." He was suprised at your sudden declaration, "What?" He suddenly turned to you, as he comepletely stopped the horse from moving. You were looking at him with a complete genuine care in your eyes, "He's pathetic enough for this world- but I cant be successful when the palace is corrupt, right? So be with him and make sure he becomes independent once he is emperor."

The way you look makes Beomgyu think about it. He would do the 'promise' you mentioned to him yet he only thought about your reaction- why were you asking him to stand by the crown prince?

"Yes. I cant get out of this dynasty and I need to get rich! Taehyun is my key to wealth and I need him to be the secured emperor so I can be rich and flex about me knowing the emperor personally." You hide the grin about to eat your face as Beomgyu seemed a little suprise.

He looks at you and his hand before entagling your pinky fingers together, "I promise." He murmurs as you finally let out that smirk you've been resisting, "Wealth, here I come!"

The General starts to move the horse once again as you daydream about your future if you dont get back in your original time, your wealth increasing and inventing some non existing rules in the dynasty and be famous and become a lawyer and- okay. You should stop.

Finally, you both arrive at the same camp where you first found yourself in this dynasty in. Hobak stands there with Soobin, and once Hobak notices you, he jumps around excitedly as Soobin just smiles.

"Hobak!" You engulf him into a suffocating hug as he hugs you back, "I missed you brother." You sob out as he dramatically cries as the two men with you two just looks at you baffled.

General Beomgyu then clears his throat, "I'll take my leave then." He glances over at Soobin as he returns the General's look before nodding at each other. He looks at you sobbing with Hobak as he walks over to his horse and galloping away.

"Spill every single cup of tea you've collected!" Hobak shakes your shoulder as you both squeal, with Soobin sighing.

"You know, im delighted to see you safe and sound. We didn't hear from you when you went out to gather herbs and the next thing we know is a letter is sent to us indicating you were with the Crown Prince." Soobin chuckles as you nod.

The three of you sit down on the fresh grass as the late night sky flows along with the bright half moon, with the light of the campfire providing light around your small bonfire as you three sat down in peace.

"I even heard, that someone was seeing the Crown Prince! And it was you! Everyone went berserk on Daedo yesterday." Hobak says in a melodramatic tone. "Her Grace went insane once she heard Prince Taehyun was seeing another woman!"

"Is it the concubine that walked in on his tent?" You ask, remembering the woman who threw a fit from the rumours. "Uh huh, Concubine Yang."

"But aren't concubines for the emperor?" Soobin tilts his head, quite confused. Hobak rolls his eyes at the two of you with arrogance as you and Soobin await for an answer.

"Well, from the rumours I hear, Concubine Yang and His Imperial Highness were close friends since they were young. Concubine Yang's father was a part of the infamous Cheol family, and the Kang's and Cheol's are sworn enemies." Hobak explains as if he was in broadway.

Hobak then continues, "Concubine Yang was appointed to be a concubine for more power from the Cheol family, but she had fallen for the Crown Prince." He dramatically sings out.

"Does the Crown Prince like her back?" You question.

"Sadly, I dont know about that. All I know him and the concubine are against the Cheol family." Hobak whispers.

It was a next level melodrama. Its something you would find in television, and it was quite entertaning yet confusing.

"Well, lets cut out the gossip. Tomorrow we'll be leaving Daedo and set over to the nearby town near the empire." Soobin stands up.

"We're leaving? Wow, I just return and-" Soobin cuts you off by pulling your ear as you whine, "Hey! Choi Soobin!" He laughs, "Im tired of your nagging. Get some rest." You caress your aching ear as you three walk over to your own tents to get some rest.

The sound of the horses galloping circulated along with your thoughts as you hum to a song while the three of you- Soobin, Hobak and you venture into the new town you were settling in for a while. Soobin mentioned it was a tradition between him and Hobak to venture around for a while then return to Daedo for their job. You didn't fully understand their job but you can register a part of it.

Hobak bickering with Soobin this early in the morning was not your vibe today. You felt a little lost as you relapse on some moments from the present.

"Hey, someones being a little killjoy. You're just excited! Theres a lot of good food and amazing places to explore there." Hobak sneers at you as you snicker at him, "You and Soobin have been bickering for almost hours! So let me have my peace." You roll your eyes.

"She definetely needs some rice soup." Soobin giggles as Hobak nods eagerly, "Our first stop- rice soup! Its amazing. Call me a peasent for eating that, I dont care! Its just too good." He then goes on to ramble about how good rice soup was and how life changing it is.

"Hobak is such a bummer."

You three arrive at the towns gate as you set down your horses and roam around, "Rice soup?" Soobin asks as Hobak nods, with Soobin waiting for your response.

"Im in! Lets see what the hype is about." The three of you walk over to the place where they sold the famous rice soup Hobak was craving all day just talking about it.

Once you three get your bowls, Hobak dosent hesitate to dig in as Soobin just sighs at him as he dosent stop himself from taking a sip himself. You loom at the bowl before digging in.

You feel yourself get hit by the beautiful flavors- the refereshing delicious beef broth and the soft rice dipped into the broth was a match made in heaven- with the small beef pieces melting into your mouth with some vegetables to refreshen your taste buds was everything you asked for.

You swear, you almost faint on how good it was. "I told you, its a dish made by the hands from heaven." Hobak exaggerates as Soobin nods, processing the mixed flavours combining into their mouths.

"I almost died." You dramatically put your hands over to your forehead, almost crying out of joy. Soobin just laughs it out with Hobak being the same as you.

As you three were enjoying the broth, you overhear some people behind you gossip.

"Hey, have you heard! The Emperor is so stupid! We might even all perish before he even does. The empire is almost experiancing famine and he's just hanging out with multiple women!" One old man rants out, sounding like a drunk man.

"I heard that he got ill. The Crown Prince better be up to our expectatons. If hes another replica of his father, I might even rather die than to live another day in this country!" One younger man cries out. Their other companions agree as they all blurt out their opinions about the country and the emperor.

The three of you stare at the multiple men, before you return your gaze at the two, "Is the emperor.. that bad?" You whisper.

"I think so." Soobin finishes sipping on his soup, "We are almost experiancing a famine after all. Those people arent necessarily wrong." You nod at Soobin's answer as you stare down into your bowl.

"Is the emperor this bad? Just how am I going to meddle into the past with this kind of situation? I mean- I would love to be the hero, but it seems that this country is already broken." You blurt out in your thoughts as you remember about your life plan, "And I cant get rich with someone like him the emperor!"

"I just hope, Kang Taehyun fixes his father's mess."

<previous chapter

>next chapter

taglist:

@stormy1408

please comment if you want to be in the taglist <3

[bitterkarmaa]

OHOHOHO IS THAT ANGST I SMELL? ok ok ok but if you dont mind me hopping onto the abandonment thing - IMAGINE Eclipse gets worse to the point either the others start to seemingly abandon him (more like avoiding because i can see the arguments Eclipse's growingego would bring)

OR HE ABANDONS THEM because of what you said in him not feeling the need for their approvel anymore - so should the star leave him there is that moment of horror when he realises no ones gonna help him because in his arrogance he pushes them away and the star left him for dead and its his fault once again he brought this upon himself.

Oh how bitter that karma must feel, now its happened not once but twice

So he's lying there, dying, desperate, terrified because he is once again alone and he did this to himself and its worse because he actually had another chance, one that only he has ruined and now has no chance of getting back again.

Unless...

Someone comes back for him - Moon, Lunar or Rays even! Maybe Rays is the first? He comes back and sits with Eclipse (maybe the others follow suit?) and maybe the star also returns too when Eclipse shows genuine sorrow for his actions or maybe Rays himself convinced the star to give Eclipse another chance?

I chose Rays specifically since i figured it would be interesting given how he was the first to notice the star in Eclipse, when even mr clips himself had no idea (nor did Moon the guy who made the thing) so maybe he'd have some sort of influence over it? Especially since the star allowed Eclipse to use its power to rescue himself and Rays.

But it could be anyone else too! Moon who willingly brings the star he made back to his once (and possibly nearly again) mortal enemy, or maybe Lunar is the one to convince Moon to bring it to Eclipse, reflecting the first fic when he told Moon he didn't want to leave Eclipse to die? So many options!

ANYWAYS THATS MY LIL RANT LMAO SORRY FOR THE WORD WALL BUT IT GAVE ME SO MANY BRAIN WORMS HDKFJGH

…

The eyes that stared back at him weren’t familiar anymore. At one point, he would’ve called this feeling surreal and dismissed it. Would’ve claimed to have been paranoid.

White has taken over his single iris, drowning the normal orange that resides there. He has felt off all day. Weaker. For all the power he held, it’s almost ironic.

He carefully reaches out to the glass, a clawed hand coming to rest on the smooth, cool surface of the mirror.

He stares at himself as the white gleam vanishes from his eye, replaced by his piercing ember stare once again. Like fire rests in his gaze, contained only by his hand and will.

He twinges. It’s still too soon.

Unsteadily, he makes his way back to the corner. The generator hums mockingly as he settles by it’s side, leaning his head back, a heavy sigh leaving his mouth.

The cable hangs pathetically from his chest, constant pain radiating through his body with each simulated breath he takes. Things are shutting down.

But the others can’t know. They don’t.

Just as a reminder, the star has stayed with him. It sits off to the side of the room, its glow no longer comforting. Waiting for admittance that won’t come. One hand raises up in front of him, single eye examining brutally sharp claws that shift in and out of focus.

This is all his fault. He should’ve listened. Sun was right when he said that he was reverting to his old ways.

And that’s what’s going to get him killed, isn’t it?

A silhouette come into view, standing at the other end of the room, overshadowed by the darkness that is not illuminated by the single light that dangles from the ceiling.

He wants to apologize, but it wouldn’t do him any good at this point. He’s dug himself too deep this time around.

The cold sinks into him, just like before, and this time he can’t help the tears that come to his eyes, spill down his face, drip over his sad, shaky smile as he feels the air sharpen like icicles into his body.

The star twinkles hauntingly, hearing it whisper to him, shame him, tell him the truth that he spent so long denying.

The figure moves forwards slowly, stiffly. Two gleaming red eyes gaze down at him in clear pity, and he doesn’t have the energy to be offended by it.

In that moment, it didn’t matter who was standing before him. He raises his hands, grasping loosely at a torn, faded sleeve. Faint whispers of blue and grey hide amongst the wear.

“Listen-“ Eclipse rasps, breathlessly. He grits his teeth against the pain. “You need to- you need to tell them that-“ It’s like he’s choking on his own words, a sob wracking through his body as tears spill more freely down his face.

“Tell them that I’m sorry.”

Much to his surprise, the animatronic that overshadowed him kneels down to his level, reaching out with long, thin claws to wipe away Eclipse’s tears.

“Tell them yourself.”

The last thing he remembers is being scooped up off the ground, the cable torn from his chest in a show of sparks and screams.

[uses-for-fics]

Can't Get Enough

Darren x Reader

a/n: i think this drags on but whateverrrrrr i finished it and im proud i finally finished soemthing. 6 hours. 6 long miserable hours she had to endure in a cramped plane all because her boss wanted to be a bitch and make her miss out on her weekend. Y/n should’ve been out on her two day-relaxing wilderness retreat but instead she was stuck here, carrying all of her boss's luggage as she hauled ass right behind the terrifying woman. Luckily, she managed to put her phone into her purse before all the luggage was assigned to her. If she was going to be forced to be here, the least they should let her do was listen to her audiobook by the hotel pool.

She had safely made it into the giant glass box of a hotel without tripping and stared in awe. The hotel was lavish! She looked forward and there stood a giant waterfall in the middle of the lobby. The splashing water made it feel refreshing inside and brightened the already very luxurious place. Maybe she could find time to come back to the lobby and pretend she was far from work. She zoned out imagining all the fun she could be having right about now, failing to notice the dastardly woman calling her name until she saw old wrinkly fingers snap in her face.

“HELLO!!! Are you going to get my room keys or not?” Her boss’s shrill voice ringing in her ears. “Sorry, Ms. Featherington.” The older woman snapped her fingers and held out her hand. The assistant looked over to the receptionist and put down some of the luggage. “DONT DO THAT! These carpets are utterly dirty with everyone’s steps, my bags should NEVER touch the floor.” The shrill voice spoke up again.

The younger woman took in a long breathe. “I’m sorry, I won’t let it happen again.” She hobbled over to the desk with the bags all hanging on her, grabbing the key from the stranger. The receptionist gave her a small pity smile and pointed them in the direction of the elevators. “Your room will be that way.” Y/n noticed how the keys were different. One was a shiny goldish color, while the other was a plain grey color.

“Where will I sleep?” She asked. Ms. Featherington smiled. “The expenses could only cover for ONE penthouse suite, you’ll be sleeping in the ‘quainter’ rooms underneath. Now take my bags to my room and organize my things. I’m going for a trip to the spa and I’m expecting a spectacular reservation at the best restaurant around here at 7pm WITH a car pick up and I better not see a single thing out of place in my room when I get back.” With that the older lady put on her sunglasses and walked away. The poor assistant could just sigh and carry the heavy bags to the elevators.

She successfully managed to put all the bags into elevator and push the button to the 16th floor without falling over. Now she just needed to make it to the room...easy right? She had stacked all the luggage she could carry in a straight pile in her arms and weaved her way through the long hall. 'A few more steps and I'm there.' She thought to herself. She let out a sigh and started to feel the bags wiggle in her arms. 'Fuck.' It's all she could think of as she tried to catch the bags before they hit ground. From across the hall, Darren, Alexx and Joel had all finished cleaning the penthouse and were grabbing their cleaning items. Darren stretched his arms up until he heard a satisfying 'CRACK'. "I think we did a great job with this room. We deserve a little prize." He reached into his shirt's pocket and pulled out a pipe. "Dude! Seriously?" Joel reached out for the pipe. Darren extended his arm above Joel, making it hard for the scrawny man to reach it. "Come on man! Thats not good for you." Joel huffed. "Dude, if Darren wants to get shit faced, I think we should let him." Alexx said as he patted Darren's back. Darren nodded and took a hit from the pipe. Joel shook his head in disbelief. "You only think Darren should continue cause you're his supplier!" Alexx hushed Joel. "Not so loud man! Someone is going to hear you!" Darren blows out a ring of smoke and smiles. "Oh please, we're the only people here." Joel looks behind Darren and points. "Us and that person." The two other guys look behind themselves and see a giant stack of luggage wobbling. "Woahhhh technology has come so far! Luggage's can deliver themselves now." Alexx beamed. Joel rolled his eyes, "Thats obviously a person. Come on let's go help." Alexx shook his head. "No way man, we get paid to clean, NOT to carry bags, I'm not doing extra work." Darren shrugged and walked to the person struggling. "Here." He grabbed a couple of bags, just enough so it wouldn't be so heavy anymore for the person. He was able to see the person behind the luggage tower and smiled. He didn't expect to see a frantic looking woman. She looked up and saw him, her quivering lip turning into a smile. "Umm, let me help you." He chuckled as she loosened her grip on the bags. "Thank you." she said sheepishly. She looked tired, nervous, almost like she didn't want to be there and yet, Darren thought she looked beautiful. The woman took in her savior's features. Scruffy stubble, unkept fluffy hair, and glazed over hazel eyes. He looked like an angel to her. They hadn't noticed Joel grabbing some bags from the woman. She looked over at the second man and smiled up at him. She thanked him and reached into her pocket for the key card. Much to Alexx's dismay, all three men helped her bring the bags in. Alexx and Joel put the bags down near the entrance of the room and headed out of the room.

The woman called out before Darren could leave. "Wait!" She said just a bit too loud. She felt her face go red as Darren turned back to look at her. 'God was he cute.' She cleared her throat, "Let me at least tip you guys." She instinctively reached to her side, aiming to grab her purse but found air. She usually carried her purse on her person all the time in case Ms. Featherington needed something.

She looked up at Darren and gave a nervous chuckle. “Whoops, looks like I can’t find my purse, just give me one second.” She started scrambling around the luggage, in hopes it was just piled around there. Darren tried to reach out to her. "Oh no you don’t have to worry about that. It really wasn’t a problem." He grabbed ahold of her shoulder. She stopped her frantic searching and looked up at him. He noticed how tense she looked. Shit! She felt tensed! Almost like if she was on edge all the time.

She reached for his hand that laid on her shoulder. "I insist, you guys didn’t have to help, and I really do appreciate your help." He felt his face warm up from the lady’s touch…or maybe the drugs were staring to hit, he couldnt tell. The woman went back to looking for her bag and had become to look frantic every second she couldn’t find it.

"FUCK!" She threw her hands into her hair. Darren’s eyes widen at the sudden burst, walking closer to her. "Is everything ok?" She looked at him and started geting teary. "I must’ve left my bag on the elevator or in the lobby…I can’t remember…FUCK these stupid bags!" She huffed and covered her eyes. ‘Great. Just fucking great. She managed to lose her purse AND embarrass herself in front of the cute brunette.’

The other two men had come back into the room. "Darren we gotta go, as much as we like slacking off, Cassie is on her way checking the rooms weve done...which isnt a lot." Alexx whispered to Darren. Darren looked over to the crying woman. he couldnt leave her there, something about her just called to him. He turned back to Alex and Joel. “You guys go on without me. I’m going to hang back.” Alexx looked back at the woman who’s taken a seat on the couch. “Ohhh, getting her while she’s at her low. Nice move dude, I don’t know why I didn’t think of it.” He smirked up at Darren.

Darren smacked Alexx on his arm. “Obviously I'm going to help her look for her bag, dumbass." Joel rolled his eyes, a habit he's gotten used to since he met Alexx. "Come on, Cassie will be here any moment." Joel grabbed Alexx's collar and pulled him out of the room. "You owe us!" Alexx yelled as Joel dragged him out.

Darren huffed out. This is why he never got girls. He walked up to Y/n and crouched down in front of her. He put his hand on her knee. "Hey, it's going to be ok. I'1l help you look for your bag."

She moved her hands from her face and sniffled. "Really?" Darren's heart leaped. 'Even with teary stained cheeks, she looked absolutely vibrant. ' He patted her knee. "Of course! I have access to any room and any floor. We'll find that bag in no time!" He stood up and stretched his arm out to her. She took a hold of his hand and smiled. 'His hand was soft for a cleaning maid.'

"First things first, where do you remember last having your bag?" Darren intertwined his hand with hers. Her face reddened. "I remember definitely having it in the lobby, I put my phone in it an——“. It had dawned on her that Ms. Featherington could have blowing up her phone this second with messages and complaints. “FUCK! My phone is in there! My boss is going to be pissed!” Darren gently squeezed her hand as he felt her start to get anxious again.

“Hey hey hey, it’s going to be fine. I’m sure she’ll understand, it’s a small hiccup.” He calmed her down. She sighed. “You don’t understand. She’ll literally rip my head off for not answering right away. I can literally get kidnapped and she wouldn’t care, she would still hassle me to get her a hot Venti, caramel latte, with triple shots, no foam and extra caramel all made with skim milk.” She squeezed his hand.

The most he had to worry about was his sexist boss but even then he was mostly sexist with the women. Disgusting but he got away with getting high so he stayed. “Ok ok, here’s the game plan, let’s check the elevators first and we’ll go from there.” She took a deep breath and shook her head. “Ok, I trust you.”

This had started an 1 hour and a half long wild goose chase from avoiding Cassie, checking all the elevators, the downstairs lobby and even the parking lot but to no avail, they couldn’t find the purse. “It’s no use, I’ve lost all my contacts, my boss is going to be pissed I haven’t answered her and worst of all I won’t know if Colin and Penelope ever end up together!” She huffed as she leaned back in the elevator that was taking them back upstairs.

Darren chuckled. “Well it’s so obvious Penelope and Colin are gonna end up together, why wouldn’t they?” The girl glared at him. “Or maybe they don’t! I don’t know it’s not like I read the book or anything.” He gulped. The girl just hung her head low. The doors to the elevator beeped and opened to reveal a red head in a white button and a navy blue skirt. “Darren! I’ve been looking for you! You haven’t been getting high in the rooms again, have you?” She yelped.

Y/n lifted her head to give Darren a quizzical look. Darren gave a nervous smile. “Actually Cassie-“ he grabbed y/n’s hand to help her up from her slumped position. “I was helping the wonderful lady look for her lost purse. She can’t remember where she left it.” Cassie blinked. “Oh my, have you tried checking lost and found?” Darren just stood there.

“We have a lost and found?” He questioned. Y/n’s head turned slowly to glare daggers at Darren. Cassie huffed. “Come with me ma’am, I’ll take you there.” Y/n stepped out of the elevator and followed the poised woman. Darren followed suit. Y/n grabbed Darren’s shirt and pulled him down, enough to whisper to him. “How come you didn’t tell me there was a lost and found?” She looked absolutely charming while she was mad. Darren gave a small smile. “To be fair, I’m high like half the time I’m here.” He removed her hand from his shirt and held on to it. “Besides, even if I did know we had one, maybe I was just trying to get to know you more.”

Darren stood tall again, not letting go of her hand as they continued to walk. Y/n had to take a second to compose herself, feeling her cheeks turn to a dark shade of red again. This guy was going to be her downfall.

Silence stretched between them like a taut wire during the elevator ride back to the penthouse. Her bag, retrieved thanks to Darren, sat forgotten on the floor. Her gaze flicked between it and her phone. Should she confront the messages waiting there? Lost in thought, she barely registered the elevator doors sliding open, and only Darren's gentle hand on her arm brought her back to the present. She stood frozen, the weight of the unaddressed phone a burden in her hand. Darren's voice, softer than she expected, cut through the suffocating silence. "You should check it." (Y/n) lifted her head, eyes clouded with apprehension. Darren offered a hesitant shrug. "Here," he said, extending a hand. "Let me." Before she could voice a protest, his fingers brushed hers, sending a jolt through her. He took the phone, a silent decision made. He began scrolling through the messages, his jaw tightening with each new tirade. A frown etched itself onto his face as he read the vile attacks. He switched to the voicemail, the notification displaying a staggering number – fifty missed calls. He pressed play, but the speakerphone's harsh amplification only served to distort the voice on the other end. It was a torrent of obscenities, impossible to decipher. He couldn't focus on the words, his concern fixated on the woman beside him. (Y/n) flinched with every venomous insult, her shoulders hunching inwards as if trying to shrink away. The stark contrast between her earlier vibrancy and this fragile shell hit Darren with a force that left him speechless. All he could think about was the way this strong, bright young woman would crumble with each hateful message, the light in her eyes dimming with every attack. Darren took a deep breath, his eyes flickering from the phone screen to (Y/n)'s tense posture. With a determined swipe, he deleted the entire voicemail history. "Let's just forget about all this." He said, his voice firm yet gentle. He slipped her phone into his pocket before she could protest. (Y/n) stammered, a flicker of worry crossing her face. "I can't just ignore them. I need to respond." Darren shook his head, his gaze holding hers. "No, what you need right now is a break. Relax, unwind. This place is huge, explore it. Let's take advantage of that." (Y/n)'s eyes darted between the room key and Darren, a war raging within her. Responsibility versus escape. Finally, with a frustrated sigh, she blurted, "Screw it." She thrust the key at him, a small smile tugging at the corner of her lips. Darren's face broke into a relieved grin. "That's the spirit!" He took the key, a mischievous glint in his eyes. "So," he leaned closer, his voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper, "ever heard of salvia?" (Y/n) cocked her head, intrigued despite herself. "Salvia? What's that?" He chuckled, a low rumble that sent shivers down her spine. "Oh, this is going to be interesting," he murmured, his hand reaching for hers.

[magpies4nights]

GUYS DONT PRESS P ON THE TITLE SCREEN WORST MISTAKE OF MY LIFE (Dev log #15)

AT LAST, SUMMER IS HERE!!!!! I am so excited I can finally rest I- oh right. Summer classes. Sigh. Well, they don’t take up the whole day thank god and I don’t need to be there, but It’s still not exciting. Oh well. Maybe I’ll play the sims 4 again and check on how my poor little torture victims are doing/j Jk jk, I don’t torture my sims. Unless you consider naming them things probably EA wouldn't approve of, then yeah I guess I am a horrible person.

But yeah, on the week I released the demo (which by the way, thanks for the 58 views!!!! thas crazy) I was putting up with finals. Some of my classes had to be pushed to the next week, and that was INFURIATING. It was kinda agony because I just wanted everything to be done and over with and I was practically exhausted. Like sleeping at 7 pm exhausted. Yeah......Well, should I even talk about how my life is going? I flunked the review for my major. Thank god, honestly. I mean, I didn't do it on purpose, and I am sad in a way that I flunked it, but I didn't want to continue on the route I was going on. I feel kinda stupid for even trying but I guess it's ok to make mistakes in your early 20's rather than your 30's... for some reason.

Ok, dev time. I decided to take a break from making sprites for a bit. So I worked on a part of the game that I would have left a secret, but I think it’s quite funky hehehe

I like old computers. I would have replicated the windows XP thing because I have so many memories of it, but I'm scared Windows might snipe me or something. I once was lying on the couch my parents turned into a bed (I think I was sick at the time), and it was late at night, and the computer was shutting down (it played this sound: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gb2jGy76v0Y) and for some reason the noise absolutely scared the absolute living shit out of me (I think I was like 4-5 years old and I was terrified of bassy sounds). I do not remember ever having any positive relationships with computers before I turned 6 lol. I’m pretty sure I used to think I could live without them. Oh you poor bastard. If you saw me now not only would you not understand a single word I’m saying, you would be incredibly disappointed with how dependent I am on computers. I think once I'm done with that I'll try to fix whatever is going on outside scene, because that's the only scene that causes the game to crash. I'm pretty sure it's because there's too many objects, because when I turned off the animations and the visibility it still took forever to load (like, nearly 2 seconds. The scene takes 4 seconds to load, and normally a scene would take me less than a second to load). soooo, uh yeah, I'm trying to find an occlusion culling equivalent to solve this because that's a 3d game thing, and this is a 2d game lol. I'm thinking of turning off visibility for when they're outside the viewing frustrum (player's line of sight, or more like rectangle) because it cuts down half the time for when the scene loads. If nothing works I guess it's just deleting and re-adding the child back into the scene every time the camera is on them... sigh. If it ticks me off too much I'll probably return to doing sprites because there's still a lot to do lol.

Well.... I so far got no other ideas for references in this game, so I guess I'll put in the inspiration of the outro (which is the Portal outro)

(not my video)

I know, I know. Cheesy. BUT instead of it being in the antagonist's view, it's the protagonist's view instead. I tried singing for the song, but every time I do I make Jojo Siwa sound like a professional vocalist (I don't even know why she still sings. Didn't she bust one of her vocal chords already? Or is that a rumor? Either way that's already gotta be a sign that you probably shouldn't continue on the route you're on.) I literally had 5 attempts on my computer and they all sound horrible. I'm not going to put them on the internet for my sake and your sake too. So yeah, no vocals. But the lyrics will still be there. They won't have the typing effect though.

I once had a strange dream that I was looking through the itch.io comments and someone kept spamming about how they headcannoned Xandra to be a trans man and were like honestly I don't know how my brain combined those several factors together but I find that funny.

yes its the caseoh meme. no i will not apologize

[motelpearl]

I'm watching star trek voyager so I'm gonna put my thoughts below & keep adding onto it (yes I'm going from tng -> voy & skipping ds9 for now at least even though I feel like I'm missing out on context bc trekkies seem to hold ds9 as like the gold standard of star trek but I watched a couple episodes & I just couldnt dig it)

the relationship of kes & neelix is so bewildering to me like what does she see in him like hes not even a bad person but he's just a lot dumber than her & has that "where's my hug" type guy energy also he's like so old not even in a sugar daddy way just in a boomer way like doesn't kes's species only live 9 years

I hope tom paris goes through some character development because as of right now he's soooooo annoying like referring to chakotay as an "indian" all the time......ugh one would hope we wouldn't still be doing that in the 25th century also I knew from seeing online discourse that chakotay's writing is stereotypical in a well intentioned but still badly-aged way & it's not ruining the show for me but whenever he closes his eyes & the panflute music kicks in I just sigh deeply

the vidiians are fucking terrifying bruh its giving a cure for wellness

I HATE HISTORICAL REVISIONISM IM SORRY BUT IT WILL NEVER FEEL COMFORTABLE TO ME EVEN IF THEYRE DEAD. NOT THE MARK TWAIN RPF IN TNG NOT THE AMELIA EARHART RPF HERE IT JUST AINT RIGHT

OKAY MAYBE I WAS WRONG WHEN I SAID NEELIX ISNT W BAD GUY BC WHAT DO YOU MEAN KES IS A PREPUBESCENT 2 YEAR OLD

not the voyager defeating an alien by becoming submissive & breedable (of course the voyager has a blue plasma trail & pronouns....)

JANEWAY WANTS CHAKOTAYS DICK SO BAD PULL YOURSELF TOGETHER GIRL WHERES YOUR DECORUM

tuvoks hairline is so fascinating to me

not belanna being lowkey in love with chakotay too & then them showing his bare ass in the next episode....rick berman was on this man like a fat kid on a smartie

FUCK THE KAZON UGLYASS BEASTS

seska needs to be in jail bruh

I SWEAR TO GOD IVE WATCHED ENOUGH STAR TREK THAT I CAN TELL JUST BY THE CAMERA ANGLES WHEN AN EPISODE IS DIRECTED BY JONATHAN FRAKES LIKE HE'S ALWAYS DOING WEIRD DUTCH ANGLE TRACKING SHOTS & STUFF LIKE THAT

so I heard that threshold is like the worst episode in the entirely of star trek & after watching it I honestly dont think it's that bad like sure it's an implausible premise but it's not as bad as like code of honor or sub rosa

NOT BEEF BEING A Q....TWO OF MY WEIRD NERDY INTERESTS ARE OVERLAPPING ALSO THE CAST LIST OF THIS EPISODE SCARES & EXCITES ME. FUCK Q SEXIST ASS MOTHERFUCKER FIRST HE CREEPS ON THAT TEENAGE Q THEN HE KILLS ALYSSA OGAWAS BABY NOW HE SAYS WOMEN CANT BE CAPTAINS & SEXUALLY HARRASSES JANEWAY. DIE.

I always wonder how they get the alien makeup on babies like in this episode with the baby with horns on its head & that one episode of tng where they showed baby borg. also the concept of teleporting a baby out of the womb for an easier delivery is hilarious

tuvok & neelix toxic yaoi?

bruh if this episode is setting up the possibility of suder just letting out his violent impulses one last time & going scorched earth on the kazon & the doctor helping him by means of holographic skulduggery & then tom paris showing up with a cavalry of fucking talaxians to lay the smack down I'm gonna laugh so hard

TOM PARIS FINALLY STARTING TO REDEEM HIMSELF

THE PORTRAYAL OF 1990S EARTH IS SO FUCKING FUNNY TUVOK WEARING A DURAG TO COVER HIS EARS PLEASEEEEE

time travel episodes stress me out so much though like PLEASEEE put the tricorder away. not belanna & chakotay getting kidnapped by hillbillies omg the shots where the guy kicks chakotay & then belanna kicks the guy were edited so weirdly

starling reminds me so much of elon musk

is the alien possessing kes bisexual?

too bad q got to die of old age instead of janeway giving him the electric chair

janeway gettin her lara croft on we love that

why cant vulcans just jack off during pon farr like I thought hand stuff was their whole thing

this isnt voyager specific but shuttlecrafts should really have seatbelts like the amount of times people randomly get injured because turbulence throws them out of their seats....WE SOLVED THIS ISSUE 500 YEARS AGO

not tuvok building the Doohickey

why are they leaving harry unattended on a borg cube WHY DOES STARFLEET NOT MANDATE THE BUDDY SYSTEM HES JUSTA LITTLE GUY & NOW HE'S GOING TO GET ASSIMILATED

WHAT THE JESUS IS THAT

awww bless kes I knew she would leave & I was worried she would die but I'm glad she left on a lighter note

"welcome to the worst day of my life" hi my name is belanna dark'ness dementia raven torres (yes I know losing the warp core is serious but that line was giving "we live in a society")

DID HARRY & SEVEN HAVE SEX. BRUH

eugh I wrote in my other star trek thread that borg assimilation is one thing that just gives me such deep discomfort like even though the borg gradually become sort of overdone the concept of assimilation becomes increasingly terrifying regardless like seven's backstory just creeps me out so much like the concept of her parents just being these sort of rebellious scientists who thought they were gonna make some great discovery out in the delta quadrant (sidenote I hope it gets explained more how exactly they got out there like did they go through a wormhole too?) & just stumbling upon these unimaginable horrors that they had no chance of fight & having to watch as their naivete & hubris destroyed their childs life & everyone they previously knew had no idea where they went or what happened to them EUGH ITS SO CHILLING

wait how did they get the warp core back was I not paying attention

tuvok getting his gilf certificate in the mail we love to see it

species 8472 are terrifying even though the CGI is so low-poly

okay this is a pretty pointless criticism but it annoys me how all the female characters wear heeled boots & on that note the grey turtleneck under the uniforms looks so ugly like post-s3 TNG had the best looking uniforms & this isnt coming from a biased place just bc tng is my favourite (also the movie era uniforms that were red & had random white straps were SO UGLYYYY & DUMB LIKE HOW CAN YOU TELL ANYONES RANK OR DEPARTMENT IF THEYRE ALL RED)

I hate the way the borg queens spine swings around like a cat's tail

opening the episode with harry kim getting his tiddies sucked....ON PRIMETIME TV? IN THE 90S?

I just know that anti-alien-sex law got put into place because of riker

since like late season 3 I'm finally starting to understand why trekkies say janeway has sexual tension with literally everyone

a vulcan shedding a single tear when hearing an artificial lifeform perform a piece of classical music? NOW WHERE HAVE I SEEN THAT BEFORE......*taps chin pensively*

tuvok & neelix detoxified yaoi?

BARCLAY & TROI YASSS

NEVERMIND NOT BARCLAY BACK ON HIS HOLODECK BULLSHIT

not the space Irish again (also from what I've seen irish people are apparently really offended by the irish reunification of 2024 meme <\\\3)

if janeway were alive in 2024 she'd be on tumblr making posts like "I need to get sent to the seaside for my health"

I didnt expect the episode "virtuoso" to suddenly take such a resonant turn but in the age of generative ai it's strangely prophetic

the double whammy of seeing jeffrey combs & the rock as the guest stars in this episode

I got injured the other day & have been pretty much bedbound because of it & whenever a scene takes place in sickbay I think "spare dermal regenerator 🤲"

they bring back kes just to give her makeup that makes her look like Christopher Walken <\\\3

ugh I love troi shes such a queen

why does the borg queen look like this -> 🥺

honestly I'm kinda sad that I'm on the final season

poor tuvok man first he almost gets assimilated, then he gets mind controlled, now hes just trying to fuck but he's thwarted by political tensions

I kind of want to rewatch st: picard since I know seven's backstory now & have the context of the borg's decline like I saw trekkies saying janeway "handled them" but now I know the exact circumstances

omg I know chakotay & seven somehow end up together (at least for a while) when the show ends bc I've had so much of voyager spoiled (tbh that seems to the usual reason i watch shows, I get a bunch of it spoiled & then I'm like "but how do those dots connect") anyway that literally makes no sense bc I can't think of a time theyve ever interacted since seven became a character but like chakotay & janeway were RIGHT THERE THEYVE HAD TENSION SINCE SEASON 1 IM NOT EVEN A SHIPPER CAUSE IDC THAT MUCH BUT IT WAS RIGHT THERE (& I read the wikipedia page for each episode after I watch them cause idk I like learning behind the scenes stuff & in the "reception" section of each page theres always something like "fans were disappointed that janeway & chakotay did not bang like screen doors in this episode") LIKE THE FANS WANTED IT IT WAS A LOGICAL COURSE OF ACTION IT WAS SET UP SINCE SEASON 1 & THE WRITERS CHICKENED OUT. WHY THOUGH?

noooo belanna dont do eugenics ur so sexy aha

POOR TUVOK BRUH SEASON 7 IS JUST A YEAR OF TUVOK SUFFERING

THE DOCTOR MAKING PHANTOM OF THE OPERA REFERENCES....DID HE JUST BECOME MY FAVOURITE CHARACTER (even though he pronounces "fantome" entirely wrong)

"she's suffering from dysphoria syndrome" janeway trans?

I know this show was made in the late 90s/early 2000s but nothing hammers that point home like seeing the same exact fishing rod toy I had as a kid in this episode that aired a month after I was conceived

just when I thought the Q couldnt get more annoying....one of them is a teenage boy

NOT SOME WRITERS BARELY DISGUISED FOOT FETISH SEEPING IN.....I COULD NEVER BE AN ACTRESS

one thing that has never stopped annoying me is the fact that we literally see naomi wildman be born onscreen & then she goes from newborn -> 9 year old over the course of like 2 seasons

okay I finished it & I'll need more time to collect my thoughts but the basic idea is: I liked the show but I feel like there was lots of possibilities that went unexplored but one thing I especially liked is that unlike TNG (which is still my favourite trek) the female characters got storylines that didnt just revolve around interpersonal stuff (ie. family/romance) but actually got to use their specific skills

but now I'm rewatching the first couple episodes of because I honestly had no idea what was going on (I didn't even realize the doctor was a hologram until like halfway through season 1 & I didn't realize tuvok was spying on the maquis until like season 3) & one thing I have noticed is that NEELIX WAS SO FUCKING UNHINGED IN THE FIRST EPISODE LIKE HE COMES OFF LIKE HEATH LEDGER AS THE JOKER IN THAT SCENE WHERE HE VIDEOCALLS VOYAGER & STRUTTING AROUND THE TRANSPORT ROOM IN HIS PIMP COAT & ALL THE WATER STUFF LIKE WHO IS THIS MAN also belanna's makeup was so bad I'm sorry <\\\3

[dinoace2]

"Angel...? Did you close your eyes in time?"

The silent seconds that followed were the most terrifying moments in Crowley's existence.

"Shit. Okay..." he took a deep breath. "Im gonna open my eyes now. If...if you're still there...dont look at me."

He lowered his hand from his face, keeping his gaze low. He searched the space in front of him, stopping when he saw stone feet. His face paled, at least more so than usual.

"....Fuck."

He stood on trembling legs, approaching the sculpture with bated breath.

"Oh, angel..."

With one hand he reached up to touch the cold surface of Aziraphale's face, and with the other he laced his fingers between those of the statue's open hand. His vision blurred with tears, and he leaned his forehead against Aziraphale's.

"I....oh gods, I didn't mean to...I...I'm so sorry, Aziraphale...can you hear me? Gods, please..."

A sob caught in his chest. "Look at you, you're gorgeous...absolutely incredible, angel...I-I always wanted to see you, but...fuck, not- ...Not like this...never like this..."

He stepped away from Aziraphale, his mind reeling. His fingers clawed into his hair, pulling on it as he fell to his knees. "Damn these serpents! Damn these eyes! Damn this fucking curse!" His life, his peace, his sanity...were those not enough? It had to take his only friend as well? What more could it want? What more could it do to him? What more could it take, that it hasn't already stolen?

Crowley looked up, tears falling down his cheeks. "Please, gods, if any of you are listening...please...he's all I have...all I've ever had...please, don't take him too. Please..." his entire body trembled as he pleaded to the heavens.

"Can any of you hear me?" He whispered, desperate and broken.

...nothing.

He gritted his teeth. "...Athena. You did this to me. I suppose if any of the gods could do anything about the curse, it'd be the one who made it." He sighed. "I mean it, anything you want. Whatever I can offer, it's yours. Please...I just...I can't lose him."

Crowley could have sworn that the silence was mocking him.

He scowled and got to his feet. "Fine! Who needs you, anyway?! None of you cared to interfere when I 'earned' this curse, why would any of you show up now?! Tell me, was I forgotten, or simply ignored?!" He waited a moment, then scoffed. "Figures you still wouldn't answer."

He let out a long sigh, turning back to the marble visage of his dearest angel. Crowley reached out, but stopped just shy of touching it. "...Aziraphale...would you ever forgive me?"

His lip quivered, and he threw his arms around the statue, sobbing into its chest. The snakes in his hair coiled around wherever they could reach as well, trying their hardest to embrace him.

"Oh, angel...I just...I wish I had told you before...I wish you knew how much I loved you." Crowley's voice was soft, reverent. Nearly a prayer, only intended for Aziraphale.

No one really knows what happened that day. Perhaps the gods felt sorry for the lonely gorgon. Maybe an Olympian was bored. Maybe, just maybe, the forgotten serpent was finally heard.

Regardless of the reason,

After sobbing alone in his empty garden for what felt like hours, Crowley felt soft fingers gently combing through his hair. His shoulders tensed, his eyes shut tight on instinct, and a tender hand lifted his chin. "Oh, my dear Crowley...I love you too."

He remained frozen even as warm lips brushed against his forehead. "Can you open your eyes for me, dearest?"

Crowley could only shake his head. "...if...if this is really happening...I...no, I won't. I can't lose you again...I'd sooner go blind than watch you turn to stone a second time. I...I can't."

He felt hands on either side of his face. "Trust me, Crowley...open your eyes."

Trust me.

Medusa Crowley

Im sorry

[skylertheminish]

Hey look more inane writing! Mistakes a plenty due to inexperienced at my end. Finally got something down for Ryder and how he first met Tublades and his brother. Tried a thing to make typing easier and it kinda worked? Idk. Its nearly 3am for me as of posting this lol. I have reused some old art in this thing.

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Lately there have been strange sightings of bubbles made of light manifesting across various locations. Announcing their arrival with a rush of wind and claps of thunder. Engulfing man and monster alike who were unfortunate to be trapped within its walls. Less they be a hunter, it is assumed those trapped inside the bubble of light meet a grim end. Whether it be by monsters equally caught up in the terror, or by something far more terrifying. And as if by magic, these bubbles of light fade away. Leaving no trace of its presence or prey behind.

Until more is known about these bubbles. The hunters guild have made key areas forbidden unless you are of a high enough rank, G rank. AS OF Following suit, many elders of rider villages have done the same. But not even rank is enough to grant permission should a rider ever need to venture to a bubble blited area. A period of uneasy peace has since been the norm. New riders have started training with their new Monsties with me helping them learn how to be a rider.

Although perhaps I'm not the best choice for beginners to go up against in combat.

"How many times do I have to tell you to go easy on them Ryder?" The head master barked. Frustrated with my results.

"I can't help it if Mist is too strong for the students. He's my most gentle monstie"

" I'd hardly call being blasted by a jet stream of water gentle!"

"Better than being torn to shreds by Seregios" I managed to mumble under breath without catching the attention of head master. But truth is Mist, my Mizutsune is my most gentle Monstie!... outside of season anyway.

"Dont you have anything else? Like an aptonoth for the new riders to face against?"

"No sir" I let out a sigh. " I've never had an Aptonoth as a monstie. Just Mist and Seregios"

"Hmmm... just your mother's monsties huh?"

"Aye"

The head master locked his gaze on me briefly before turning away with the intention to think things over. "I'll have to think of something else you can teach the students it seems. You are dismissed Ryder"

"Aye sir, thank you sir" I didn't waste a moment longer to leave the school. My monsties need feeding and I need to restock the pantry. And to do that I need zenni! I made my way to the village quest board. Other riders gathered around there looking for anything to do. With the new restrictions in place boredom was rife. Glancing over what few posted quests there was I overheard gossip about the bubbles. After finding a quest with suitable pay, I called for Mist and set forth to deal with some Velocoprey that had been displaced.

"See anything Mist?" Mist looked back at me and tilted his head. Seemingly confused about my question before looking around. "Thought as much. Welp, lets get moving" climbing the saddle on Mist's back, we moved down the Highlands into the field lands below. Plenty of creatures called these fields home. Aptonoth, large quadropods sporting a head crest, in particular love to graze here. And with plenty of grasses, fruits, berries and nuts around it wasn't hard to see why these herbivorous monsters made themselves home here. As did Velocoprey who love to hunt them.

"There's a herd! Well if all else fails, we can at least get some meat" Mist gave a grunt in response. "And fish. I haven't forgotten. There's river near by so we can head over and get your fish. Maybe then the velocoprey will show up afterwards". We made our way over to the river in question. Its waters clear as glass made spotting ant fish an easy task, being able to fish for them without spooking them wasn't. Not that Mist had any difficulties. Being a Mizutsune he was perfectly equipped for fishing.

As time passed and light faded I came to the conclusion the velocoprey weren't going to show this time. I decided to get ready to head back when the wind started to blow. It had been calm all day. But the winds started to dance and swirl around us. Then a clap of thunder echoed and that's when I realised what was happening.

A bubble of light was forming and we were right in the heart of it!

With gentle winds now angry gales and bolts of lighting. The walls made of light were now established. Unable to escape, myself and Mist took to hiding behind some large rocks. I watched as shapes of creatures alien to this world appeared. Their cries mixed with the sounds of the storm and the panicked Aptonoth. One creature in stood out among all others. A tall monster of sorts sporting a fin much like Zamtrios. This was by far the most aggressive of all. Letting its fury loose on the larger by comparison herbivores. I decided to make some distance between it ourselves. Being careful to make as little noise as possible in this raging dance of wind and thunder. But of I'd be the lucky rider to attract its attention thanks to some loose pebbles. "Shit" I hissed. Catching sight of the shark-like creature searching for whatever made the noise. Its yellow eyes glowing with a fury unknown. Then it saw us and gave a mighty roar.

Mist seeing its call as a challenge responded in kind. I drew my sword and shield and braced myself for a difficult fight. But as if to play a cruel joke, the light bubble began to dissappear. Taking what it summoned with it. Leaving no signs of its presence.

Except for myself and Mist.

"... we survived? We survived! We survived it Mist!" Joy washed over me along with relief. Followed by realisation. I survived the ordeal and now had to tell the elder what I saw. "... I've gotten myself in quite a mess haven't I Mist....Mist? Where ya at Mist?". Calling out for him, I'd find him in some tall grass. Looking at me then to something hidden in the tall grass. "What ya found?"

Eggs.

A pair of strange patterned eggs were found in the tall grass by my Mizutsune. Lifting them up I got an idea of how heavy they were. Calls could be heard occasionally from them "these must have been summoned during the storm...." stareing at the two eggs as if asking for answers to my unspoken questions. I decided to take them home with me, Faced the wrath of some of the village elders, informed the chief of what I saw then made my way to the stables to check on the two strange eggs.

I soon learned the eggs had begun hatching! Hidden under the shell were a pair of firey eyes looking back at me. I Carefully lifted fragments of their shell away from their faces and introduced myself to the newly born monsties.

"Hi there! I'm Ryder".

[edgarwayne]

During a winter outing Nathan and Edgar have an important talk.

@ghostsbrokenbyfairytales

nathan laughed at the description. "if i wanted to do a full romance scene i would've swept you off your feet and went straight home to do what i said instead but you've still got a big ouchie so it's best to keep your feet on the ground right now." when edgar squeezed his hand it made him realize something, pausing his laughter to look at their hands. "i'm sorry. i should've asked i uh, i hope this is okay?"

"Mr. Big Strong Firefighter thinks he can carry me all the way back to the flat? I'd almost say prove it, but we both know that's a terrible idea." At the question Edgar looked down at their hands and nodded. "Yeah. Although….it's not very friendship-y of us," he pointed out with a smile. Not that he wanted to let go.

“oh i don’t think i can i know i can and just for that when you’re back to one hundred percent again i will prove it.” nathan grinned confidently knowing he absolutely could if he wanted to. he shrugged slightly but also didn’t let go when edgar said that, instead walking closer to the other. “i mean.. we don’t have to be official to like do.. date.. things. people go on dates and do coupley stuff before becoming official all the time so.. why can’t we?” maybe that was his way of saying he didn’t mind calling all of this a date, it sure felt like one even if they were still waiting on nathan. “sorry, maybe i said too much.”

Edgar scoffed. "Oh, you're so on. As soon as I get the all clear from the clinic, you're carrying me home." He bit his lip as he mulled over what Nathan said. "No, don't apologize. I….I want to do that. I'm…" he let out a sigh. Well, they did promise on talking later. Now was as good of a time as any. He also moved closer so that they were essentially brushing shoulders as they moved. "I just worry about blurring the lines too much. That if there isn't an obvious end goal you…might not want to get better." Swallowing the lump in his throat, Edgar's gaze dropped down to their feet as they continued walking.

he originally wanted to wait to have this conversation but it started slipping out faster than he could stop himself so he nodded along to what edgar was saying. “i understand,” nathan finally said, “i do want to get better though. i don’t… like relying on alcohol to solve my problems.” mostly because he knows it’s created more problems than solving to begin with. “i just, i don’t know, it was easier to quit last time and there wasn’t the looming threat of death before and now i’m like i guess afraid to admit that i’ve started thinking what’s the point..” he admitted with a sigh also looking down at their feet as they walked.

Edgar stayed quiet for a few moments, letting what Nathan said really sink in. The very reason they met was because they were both drinking at the bar, for what surmounted to more or less the same reason. "I ask myself that a lot. I'm scared, bloody terrified even, of what the future will hold. If there even is a future. But," he paused to reorganize his thoughts. "There are so many amazing people I have met in this town. People who have helped me feel more alive than I have in years, ironically enough. So if our time is cut shorter than it would have been anywhere else, well…I want to say that I at least enjoyed it all to its fullest."

nathan smiled softly at edgar. “i’m glad you have those people. i don’t have a lot of people that make me feel that way but…” he paused and squeezed his hand softly, “i guess there’s a few people i can say make me feel that way at least.” he ended up sighing though, taking a sip from his drink again then added. “i dont even know where to start when it comes to quitting at this point.”

"You might not have a lot, but there are still people in your life that care about you. Not just me." Edgar returned the hand squeeze. He took a sip of his own drink, needing the caffeine to help keep his thoughts in order. He offered a sheepish smile as Nathan admitted he didn't know where to start. "So….please don't be mad. I might have been….doing a little bit of research at the library. Most of the books I've found strongly recommend seeking professional help first and foremost. Medical and psychological. But for things we can do now, well, it seems like setting limits for yourself is a good starting place. I also ran into a lot of references to 'triggers' and trying to avoid them."

nathan smiled again and nodded slightly, edgar was right he didn’t need a lot of people in his life to care about him. the few people that already did was enough. his eyebrow raised when he said not to be mad and wondered what he was about say then chuckled as he shook his head. “okay so..” he bit the inside of his cheek now, “what if i don’t know what my triggers are?” well there was one he could think of, seeing edgar in that state the day of the earthquake was definitely a trigger. “or what if one i cant exactly.. help. cause it doesn’t rely on me necessarily..?”

He let out a long exhale, professor brain going into overdrive as he thought over the problem. "Well, have you ever noticed when something particular happens that makes you want to drink? Or that being around particular people or places have that effect on you?" Edgar looked over to Nathan at that last question, brows furrowed. "It sounds like you already have something in mind. If you don't feel comfortable telling me I understand. It's just…harder to help you come up with a plan if I don't know all the details." Still, he shook his head. "But that's okay. You could always try journaling? I find that helps a lot to give myself perspective. Maybe that could help you too?"

he shook his head. “not that i’ve noticed no.” realizing they were still walking he pulled edgar off to a nearby bench to sit down, especially since they were close enough to the video store at this point it didn’t matter. “i mean obviously being at the bar makes me wanna drink but that’s the only thing i can think of place wise.” he may have had a suspicion of people but didn’t want to admit that so moved on. “well.. honestly seeing you that day in that state was… a lot.” nathan admitted in a mumble. he didn’t want edgar to think it was his fault because the stress on top of that day was an added affect. “i feel selfish just saying that because it’s not like you could’ve avoided it, you saved people and yet here i am saying that shit triggered my drinking more god that sounds so fucking rude.” he put his drink down on the bench and put his face into his hands letting out a long shakey sigh. “yeah i guess i can give that a shot or something.”

As they sat down, Edgar kept his gaze on Nathan, expression neutral, open. He wanted the other man to know that no matter what he said he wasn't going to be judged. "Hey," he said gently. Setting down his own cup, Edgar reached to tug away the other's hands, then nudged Nathan's face up and towards him so they could see one another's eyes. "You're not selfish or rude, so don't ever think that. You might be one of the most selfless people I know. You're a firefighter for christ's sake. You help people Nathan. What you're describing, that's trauma. I can only begin to imagine how terrifying it is to see someone you love hurt like I was. I don't regret it, I protected my students like I was supposed to, but I do regret how much it hurt the people that matter to me. If the roles were reversed I can't even tell you how I'd have handled it. Not well, that much I can assure you. So stop beating yourself up over this, please."

He leaned their foreheads together, just taking a few moments to breathe. "Do my injuries still make you want to drink?" Moving back slightly, Edgar guided one of Nathan's hands to the hem of his sweater, indicating for him to put his hand inside. "It's not what you think," he added with a small smile. "I want you to feel my heart beat, and the sweater's kind of in the way. But the point is, I'm alive. I'm okay and I'm breathing." Funny how he had this exact same talk with Kirby only a few weeks prior. "My injuries were bad, and I won't ever fully heal from them, but I'm alive."

when he felt edgar’s hands pulling at his hands nathan hesitated for a moment but gave in quickly, letting him nudge his face to look at him and took another shakey breath. “i know you don’t regret it.” he said with a small chuckle but cracked a smile. “it just scared the shit out of me i guess, knowing that i just confessed to you that i’m in love with you then almost had you ripped away from me that quickly. it felt like the universe was telling me i was some sort of bad luck charm…” first it was mia taking away their son because of his drinking and then the moment he said he’d start working on himself and quit again edgar had gotten hurt.

he shook his head against his forehead, “no they don’t. i guess now i’ve been drinking because it feels.. normal?” though it doesn’t make him act normal. he took a breath, this one less shakey as he slowly felt himself calming down again at his words. “i know you are, i remind myself of that constantly. when i think about it i just tell myself that it could’ve been worse.”

"Well," he said with a small smile. "I guess the Universe, or Fate, or God, or whomever has a pretty bad sense of humor. It's a bit homophobic if you ask me." Edgar hoped the joke would help to lighten some of the mood.

He tilted his head at Nathan's wording. "Normal? How do you mean?" Edgar leaned in once more, this time capturing the other's lips. Pulling back, he gave smile. "Think of that instead of Halloween. I'd argue kisses are preferable."

nathan chuckled. “yeah i guess they do huh?” he was about to answer when edgar kissed him, kissing him back eagerly and sighed contently when he pulled back. “i’m sure as hell gonna try and think about that instead because you’re right, i do prefer that.” he ran a hand through his hair now knowing he had to answer the question. “as for normal i guess i mean like.. i’ve been drinking for so long at this point that it feels like i can’t end my day without a beer or something.” nathan admitted sheepishly. “i know it’s not healthy or normal at all i’ve been through this once before this time just feels harder for some reason.”

He nodded, biting his lip in thought. "Is it just the one beer every night? Or does one turn into a lot more?" Edgar frowned at Nathan's word use again. "Stop using such negative language Nate. If you keep saying it's not healthy, not normal, of course you're going to struggle. Okay, yes, it's not the…healthiest lifestyle choice. Welcome to your 40s where you start to feel every drink a bit harder and your body feels ready to pop out of place at any time. But focusing on all the negative is only going to make it so much harder to motivate yourself."

“usually the one turns into more unless i’m at home and out of drinks.” nathan blinked in surprise at edgar, he wasn’t expecting him to say all of that and yet it felt oddly comforting. “okay..” he said quietly with a slight laugh, “okay i promise i’ll get better at not being so negative about it.” though he knew that was going to be hard and take some getting used to. “maybe tough love will help, a good smack anytime i refer to it negatively.” nathan joked hoping itd land well.

"Okay," he said slowly. "We have a place to start. Let's work on limiting your nightly drinks. I can't imagine cutting cold turkey will do any good. So let's say," he paused to think. "No more than 3 beers. And I mean beer. If you have something heavier as a night cap, limit that to….2." It wasn't perfect, but surely it was at least manageable.

Edgar smiled, appreciating the attempted joke. "I don't know. I feel like you would like it too much if I hit you. Might cause mixed signals."

nathan nodded. “i think i can do that yeah, seems like a fair trade to start leaning myself off the dependency.” he was going to try and do less than that but it was a good compromise for now until he could rely on it less.

“hey i-“ he had to pause and scratched his chin as he though on it. “actually i’m not sure, you could be right. i do kinda wanna find out now though.”

It was a relief that Nathan was willing to try the suggestion. Edgar knew it wasn't going to be an easy road to sobriety, but he would be there to support the other every step of the way. At the admission he did let out a laugh, however. "Maybe later," he teased. "Let's go back to what I said earlier first. Seeing a professional. Will you at least consider going to the clinic? Or I've heard there are a few therapists in town. You know there's no shame in asking for help."

nathan laughed as well at the tease and nodded, running a hand through his hair then picked up his drink again. “what would the clinic even do for me?” ignoring the mention of therapists. he knew there was no shame but he’d rather avoid that option and use it more as a last resort than anything. “i’d rather go there first but i just don’t know what they’d even do considering supplies and shit or whatever.”

He took a sip of his own drink, hating that Nathan probably had a point. "I know there's medication that can help curb the craving, but you might be right that they might not have it. But also…" Edgar took a deep breath, bracing himself for what might be the hardest part of this talk. "I read that alcohol withdrawal can be pretty severe. It…it might be good to have the clinic keep an eye on you during the process. Especially since this has been going on for years."

“right…” he remembered the withdrawals he went through the first time he quit but that one was more severe on account of quitting alcohol and drugs. “well, how about we wait and see? maybe if i slowly get myself off of it this time the withdrawals won’t be so bad and the clinic might not be needed at all.” nathan just hoped he was able to actually do that.

Edgar nodded in agreement. "But if it gets too bad you'll see them, right? Please?"

nathan chewed on the inside of his cheek realizing it was a nervous habit of his before nodding. “okay. yeah if i can’t do it on my own i’ll see them.”

Letting out a sigh of relief, Edgar gave a small smile. "I'm glad. And maybe try to avoid the bar? At least as best as you can?"

he nodded again. “yeah i guess i can try and avoid there yeah.” that one might be tougher for nathan but he’d try.

"Okay, last one, and then we can keep going. What can I do to help? And please, don't just say 'heal up' or 'be yourself.' I really want to support you Nathan, be there for you." Edgar's eyes searched the other's face, expression pleading.

god dammit anytime edgar used that expression nathan always had a hard time arguing about anything. sighing he shrugged, “i’m gonna be honest i’m not sure.” he finally admitted. “last time i went through this i didn’t really have the support so i don’t actually know what you can do to help.”

Great. That wasn't much to go on. "Well, is there anything I can do different? Do more of? Less of?"

“not really?” nathan bit his lip now and looked at edgar. “i know spending time with you makes things easier, the urge to drink isn’t as prominent.”

Edgar also bit his lip, thinking back to their conversation earlier. "You…mentioned wanting to do more dating things. Would…would that help? Instead of waiting entirely until you're ready?"

nathan paused to think on it for a moment, almost as if he was having an internal debate with himself. when he was ready he took his free hand to grab edgar’s free one. “i know the idea of doing those things makes me happy and when i’m happy the thought of drinking isn’t really there.” he finally said looking at the other with a smile

He looked into Nathan's eyes, searching, before giving a slow nod. "Okay. Okay, yeah." After a moment Edgar returned the smile. "I'm glad we were able to finally talk. Really talk, you know?"

it felt like forever until edgar said something back and smiled, making nathan let out a small sigh of relief. “me too, i’m.. i’m sorry it took so long.” he said sheepishly.

Edgar shook his head at the apology. "It's okay, really. The fact we're having this conversation at all means the world to me. And I'm proud of you, for even taking this step."

he smiled at the words and leaned over to kiss edgar softly, pulling away to rest his forehead on the others. “thank you for not just giving up on me either..” nathan said quietly.

Edgar returned the kiss, smiling against the other's lips. "I'd never dream of it," he whispered. "Are you ready to keep moving? You're probably freezing."

he chuckled and nodded after pulling away fully now. “the hot coco helped but yes im ready to keep moving. this bench is freezing my ass i did not wear the right pants.” nathan laughed as he stood up, holding his hand out to edgar to help him stand if he needed it, or just to take it and hold, either worked for him.