#and Purple's probably got his own adoptive kid or another

[quibbs126]

Okay so I ended up actually finishing off this page today

So do you remember when I talked about wanting to make Legally Distinct Transformers sometime after watching Transformers One like 2 weeks ago? Well I actually did start trying to make their designs afterwards, but then I ended up losing interest. But then listening to the Transformers Prime theme song on loop got my brain a-thinking about these guys again, so I went back and tried to at least make some of the designs in my head

Right now this is what I have in mind for their designs. The basics are that they have solid eye colors (I just shaded them like CRK to give them some more life), skin that's at least the color of metal, which tends to be grey but can be other colors as seen, and also hair. Maybe hair doesn't make the most sense, especially considering they are still supposed to be made of metal, even if it is living and malleable, but listen. When I was originally internally thinking of designs for these guys, golden guy there specifically had long, wavy, luscious golden locks, and I had to keep that. So they have hair now. Also pointy ears because why not

They also have those square cores in the middle that are the same color as their eyes, which is basically supposed to be like their heart/power source

As mentioned, they are still metal alien things like Transformers, and they still have transforming capabilities. I don't know what specifically they transform into though, at least as some sort of alternate mode. They can just transmute their metal at will into other things, like weapons if they so choose. Also most of their world is also made of living metal, so with some reformatting they can turn anything into a weapon or some other object, including severed limbs

So far, I really don't feel like I've gotten distinct enough with these guys, both in design and concept. Also their designs just aren't really that unique or special in any way, just in general. But I don't know, I don't really know what to do with these guys design wise. I think you people know I never really get too weird with my designs, at least not now. It's pretty much just humans and mostly human looking beings. I know I need to get out of that more but I just don't know how

I also want to give them clothes in some way, but I don't know what to do on that front either. They're all naked right now, but that doesn't really mean anything here since they don't really have private parts. At least not yet anyways. I'm not giving them boobs or anything though. But yeah, they maybe wear clothes, mostly because I don't know how else to make them distinct, but I don't know what kind of clothes to give them

Something I'm realizing is with the Transformers, generally what makes them the most distinct is their head/helmet design, as well as what's around their body that's part of their alternate mode. But since I don't really know what I'm doing with these guys, I don't know how to incorporate that

I don't know, I think I should move on to a different topic, I'm just repeating myself on the design front. I don't know what I'm doing and I am not skilled enough to make these guys anything exceptional, even if my brain wants to do stuff with them

I guess we can talk about character stuff? Though granted, we still only have one character named, that being (tentatively) Howler, whom I'll mention later

I've mentioned this before, but basically as a refresher, Purple and Gold here are fighting a civil war, after their people had an uprising against the previous tyrannical leader

Basically the story I have right now is that the two started out very close, at some point joining against the ruling class to elicit change and revolution for their people. Also, they were in fact, gay and in love. But then during one encounter, likely after saving Purple, Gold gets captured by their enemy and basically left to be tortured and die in some horrible punishment place they have or something. I haven't fleshed out the details of this place yet. But it did lead to him getting horribly mutilated with his eye being ripped out and by the end of it, half of his face being basically gone and ripped apart. I have this very distinct vision of him having this red line (same color as his eye) going all the way from the top of his head to at least his neck. Meanwhile, Purple and their other allies tried to get him back but failed, and they rallied more forces and eventually lead an assault on the ruling class in revolution

This is also where Gold came back, having basically done the impossible of surviving that place he got sent to, and also bringing other survivors from there to basically be the cavalry and the two both working together to defeat their tyrannical leader

But they differed when left to decide what to do after, and how do deal with the ruler, Gold's experiences making him more ruthless, leading him to personally execute their former ruler and have some sort of altercation that left Purple with his arm now gone. His yellow one is a replacement he got sometime after this fight

This event sparked the creation of the two sides of this new civil war, with both disagreeing on how they deal with the rest of the ruling class and the structure of the government going forward. But also, for Purple and Gold, who are either the leaders of the movements or people with high standing in both sides, the conflict is very personal, since they both feel personally betrayed by the other

So yeah, basically Transformers, particularly One

I really need to work on making them more distinct from Transformers, I really do. I know I eventually was able to do that with Ralia, but that was over the course of at least two years, and was when I was in junior high, aka I had a lot less responsibilities, and I actually had creative juices back then as opposed to the constant drought of nowadays. Also my attention span is even lower, and I'll probably forget these guys yet again before I do anything meaningful

But anyways, I guess we talk about the last person here, aka Howler?

To be honest I don't entirely know what her name means. I think in my brain she was originally Sparrow or Raven, but then I wanted to change it, and so my brain thought Nightshade, then Night Howler (like from Zootopia), which then just got shortened to Howler. But it's a name, so I'll take it

Note that Purple and Gold are not the characters' actual names, they're just placeholders because I don't have any for them

Basically Howler's whole deal is that she suspiciously looks like Purple and Gold's love child. She's on Gold's side of the war, and is a younger member who's quick and good with knives. Gold also does treat her nicely, though they never refer to each other by a familial connection, but also Gold isn't evil like Megatron is supposed to be, and he's not horrible to the people who serve under him, unless he just doesn't like them. She is also supposed to be young enough that she was born after the war has started, although very early on in its timeframe

In my brain, because it's also for some reason an actual series someone watches, Howler's relation to the two is supposed to be something people commonly theorize/headcanon, but at least at the beginning of the story, isn't outright stated, and I've left it semi-ambiguous in my mind. But I think I'm going with the idea that yes, she is

Also the specific setup is that Purple isn't aware of their relation and Howler maybe hasn't specifically been told of Purple's relation to her, because Gold was the one that had her and this was not that long after their split, so emotions were kind of running high for him and he didn't feel like doing that out of spite

Also don't ask me how they reproduce. I guess it's sexually based on Howler, but I'm not sure I want to think about the whole process of it. They're made of metal, but it's also supposed to be living metal or some sort of metal-like alien substance, so they have some amount of organic-ness to them. But gender doesn't matter with them, or at the very least their concept of gender is different than ours and lets this be a thing

I'm not sure I have much else to talk about, so I guess I'm done here. I just wanted to talk about these guys I suppose. I like them and I want to do more with them, but I struggle with drawing them, or at least making designs of them that aren't just really boring and uninspired

[charlietheepicwriter7]

V The Ghost in the Manor

Dick Grayson V Gotham - Chapter 4

Danny was not lost. He was… momentarily disposed. 

It certainly wasn’t his fault. All the halls looked the same, with walls covered in paintings and a red runner down each hallway. At least he knew he was on the second floor–peeking out a window showed a garden that he did not see from the entrance, so maybe he was in the back of the house? 

Reasonably, he could probably yell for help. He’d only run off ten minutes ago, and there had to be someone around to hear him. Even if it was only the ghost. 

But considering he’d been tracking the ghost with no sign of them yet, he didn’t think that likely. 

He wasn’t sure about it at first. There’d been no trace of a haunting when he arrived, but the sensation of a ghost–a tickle in the back of his throat, like a cough that refused to come–got stronger and stronger as breakfast concluded. It wasn’t attached to the building. Even as weak as Danny was, he’d still be able to sense a proper haunt, so that meant there was a free-roaming spirit loose in the building. And it felt a lot stronger than a Shade. 

Danny cracked open a door to see another library. In his search, he’d moved past the bedroom area and onto the business-related rooms. There had been multiple libraries, and earlier he’d found a room with multiple computer monitors on desks covered in snack residue; Tim’s room, he presumed, and didn’t touch it. But as he looked further into the manor, the stronger the ghost felt. He was getting close. 

He wished they’d just show themselves. He wanted to go back to working on Tim’s case. 

At the end of the hallway he found a grand study. Danny wrinkled his nose. All dark hardwood and beige, the room was centered around the giant desk facing towards the door, a computer chair tucked underneath with a window behind it. At least there was a computer on the desk, with a sleek and modern monitor. 

Passing the grandfather clock, Danny hoisted himself up into the chair when suddenly, a cold puff of air escaped his mouth and a voice behind him said, “Wow, burglars are getting smaller and smaller every year.”

Danny swiveled the chair around. Leaning against the window was the ghost, far more colorful and substantial than any of the Shades or Wraiths he’d gotten used to seeing. Her skin was a light blue with black freckles and her hair was a firey purple that flowed out from under her hood. She was wearing a superhero outfit–jumpsuit, utility belt, boots, cape, and hood–comprised of white, ectoplasm green, and hints of yellow, with a white neck gaiter over her mouth and throat, and a green bat over her heart. Her eyes glowed bright yellow. 

She was a hero. She was a Phantom. She was a ghost hero.

Danny wanted to be sick. 

“You can see me,” she realized. She crouched down in front of him, their gaze never breaking. “You can see me.”

“No shit, Sherlock,” Danny spat, tramping down his own instinctive urge to cry. Stupid, worthless baby body, this was not the time! “Why don’t you take your sterling silver deduction and shove it up your ass.”

She reared back. “Whoa, kid, you kiss your mom with that mouth?”

“Ain’t interested in necrophilia, hoe-bag, sorry you can’t get your rocks off.” He swiveled back around. He didn’t want to look at the dead teenager. It hit too close to home.

Laughing, Danny felt her drape herself across the back of his chair. “Holy shit, kid. Bruce really keeps adopting them crazier and crazier.”

“Who the fuck said I was that bastard’s kid?” Danny wiggled the computer mouse and the monitor immediately woke up to the home screen. “He doesn’t even have a password,” Danny said, shocked. 

The hero peeked over his shoulder. “If you’re not Bruce’s kid, then you’re a thief. And Brucie probably didn’t think he needed to defend against corporate espionage in his own home, little baby thief. He’s not too bright.”

“I’m not a thief,” he grumbled as he clicked on Bing. There were no other search engines on the computer, not even Google. That, more than anything, is what convinced Danny that Bruce Wayne was secretly a monster. “I’m just living here for a few weeks, that’s all.”

He typed “Bruce Wayne Wikipedia” into the search bar and started reading. 

“So you are Brucie’s kid!” The ghost concluded, snapping her fingers. “Or his ward, at least. Come on, squirt, there’s no reason to lie to your pal, Spoiler–”

“Not his kid,” Danny hissed, his voice warbling and resonating with the ectoplasm of the room. Wayne had a wiki page a mile long. The majority of it was compiled under the label Scandels. “Dick’s”

She laughed. “You’re Dick’s kid!? God, out of all B’s kids to inherit his adoption thingy, I didn’t expect Dick of all people.” 

Danny looked up from the computer. He’d only just gotten to Wayne’s Guardianship over Dick. “You say that like he’s got more than two.” Dick and Tim. “Does he have more?”

Spoiler shook her head, chuckling. “You haven’t met Bruce’s daughter yet, have you? And then there’s all the kids he hasn’t adopted. Wayne loves kids.”

 “...In a weird way, or…?”

“Normal way! He loves kids the normal way!” She laughed again. “Geeze, kid, you’re a riot. What’s your deal, anyway? You a medium?”

“Something like that. I work as one, at least.” He said with a shrug. “Why are you hanging around the Waynes? Were you investigating him when you died?”

“Nah, just doing my regular patrols. Nothing else I can really do. Ghost on ghost crime is at an all-time low.” She sighed. “The name’s Spoiler, by the way.”

“You can call me Danny.” He stopped reading for a second before turning the chair around so he could look at her. “Is there anything I can help you with? Unfinished business, arresting your murderer, messages to loved ones?”

“Is that what you normally do as a medium?”

“Sometimes. Sometimes I fake seances to scam stupid people out of their money. Not everyone comes back as a ghost, but a lot of people feel entitled to the dead’s time, and I still need to eat.” 

“And you just automatically assumed I was murdered just because I’m a ghost? I’m mean, you’re right, but I’m pretty sure that’s stereotyping, punk.” She leaned back against the window, crossing her arms. 

“I’m sorry. I’d assumed that because you’re a hero, not because you’re a ghost. You don’t have to tell me anything more about your death; I know how much that hurts.”

Spoiler studied him for a moment. “You’re a good kid. Dick got lucky with that.”

Danny opened his mouth to respond, but his ears pricked. Someone was walking down the hall. Danny quickly closed out of the wiki page and searched for “ice cream near me.”

Dick poked his head in. “There you are! I was worried you’d squireled yourself away in… somewhere you weren’t supposed to go.” Danny cocked his eyebrow, and Dick rubbed the back of his neck. “Bruce has some… adult things lying around that I don’t want you to get an eyeful of.”

How incredibly suspicious. Dick was clearly protecting Wayne out of love for him. In a deadpan voice, Danny said, “you don’t have to worry; I already found Wayne’s sex dungeon.”

An incredulous laugh escaped Dick as Spoiler howled with laughter. Danny did his best to tune her out as Dick walked around to his side of the desk. He rustled Danny’s hair. “You really intend to make me get you ice cream? After all those reporters this morning? You’re cruel, kiddo.”

Danny shrugged. “We can go in disguise. And Tim’s coming with us, so while they’ll be looking for a group of two, we’ll be a group of three.”

He cocked an eyebrow. “He is? I don’t recall inviting Tim.”

“Tim’s lonely.” Smart or not, Tim still willingly spent over an hour voluntarily hanging out with an 8-year-old. Danny couldn’t imagine doing the same when he was Tim’s age. “You really so cheap that you can’t treat your brother to some ice cream?”

“Cold-blooded,” Spoiler scolded, unheard by Dick but unwilling to be left out of the conversation. “Honestly, Dick, I am ashamed.” 

“So ashamed,” Danny agreed. Dick shot him a confused look. “Tim would cry if he heard you say that. Do you want Tim to cry?”

“I think he wants Tim to cry!” Spoiler gasped. 

“Stop!” Dick held up his hand. “Danny. Is there a ghost in the room?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know, weather boy.”

“It’s ‘weather man-’ You know what? It’s not worth arguing. Danny, I thought we had a deal; you need to tell me whenever there’s a ghost in a room, understand?” Danny scoffed. Dick pressed on, “Do you understand?”

“It’s a stupid rule.”

“It’s an important rule,” Dick countered. “I can’t protect you from ghosts, and they can hurt you, Danny. Not every ghost is a good person.”

Danny rubbed a scar on his arm, a souvenir from a particularly nasty poltergeist he’d tried to deal with on his own. Dick had a matching scar on his back from stray glass; he’d found Danny in the middle of the storm and dragged him to safety. Then gave him a two hour lecture about handling things on his own and that Danny was only a child while Dick had years of experience and blah, blah, blah. Danny refused to admit that Dick had a point–he was 18 in mind, if not body, and he’d dealt with infinitely more dangerous ghosts than one barely material poltergeist. Just because he didn’t have most of his powers didn’t mean he was useless! 

“...There’s a ghost,” Danny admitted. “But she’s just passing through; this isn’t even her haunt.” 

“And does she need help?”

Danny looked at Spoiler. His offer from before had never been answered. She shook her head, looking genuinely regretful. “I’m good for now, kid. My murderer is way above your paygrade, and the Bats are already gunning for him.”

“She’s fine, just chilling. Can we go get ice cream now?”

“It’s still–” Dick checked his phone– “9:30 in the morning, kiddo. We’ll go after lunch though. Now!” He clapped his hands together. “I came up here to get you. The detectives finally got to Mrs. Bennett’s apartment and we set up a video call for you to consult with them.” 

“Really!?” Jumping up from the chair, Danny rushed to the door, almost falling flat on his face. “What are we waiting for!? Her son-in-law is going to get away with it if we don’t hurry! Come on, Dick!”

“Wait! Danny, you don’t know where you’re going, come back!”

“Then come on!”

@starlightcat04 @maeashryver @widderwise @darkstarsapocalypse @sisma @luminanightfall @storm-fire98 @amyheart19 @collectingthegoods @redhoneysugarorange @lordfirecat2004 @screechingnoises @meira-3919 @dannyphannypack @satisfactionbroughtmeback @rowanaway-fromthisbs @i-always-say-yea @avelnfear @some-rotten-nest @ark12 @heirxofxtime @akikkobara @blep-23 @skulld3mort-1fan @markus209 @stargirl1331 @onlyhereforthechaos @inth3world @awkwardmaiden @fantasticbluebirdfan @currant-owo @alice-hazelwood @screamingtofillthevoid @crystalqueertea @gaelicholiday @gmkelz11 @mattybook1987-blog @bytheoldwillowtree @apointlessbox @chemical-pepis @ghostface3100 @idontgetpaidenoughforthisshit @bathildaburp @boo-ghosties @bubblemixer @halfalix @lyra689 @dragon-dancer16 @lunadoll36 @mimilikey @hellomygay @frogs-are-pretty-awesom @overtherose @cyrwrites @your-emo-nightmare @lexdamo @roman4517 @a-slytherinish-gryffindor @raginblastocyst @thegatorsgoose @fisticuffsatapplebees @olivethetreebitch @vixen-uchiha @ae-vixrose @joseph557 @kisatamao @gin2212 @thewondersoflebanon @d4ydr34min9 @malice-of-the-sunrise @tiblii @that-awkward-fae-nerd @aph-mable @dolfay @ghostreblogging @wackyattack @writer-extraordinaire @boo-ghosties @coruscateselene @emergentpanda-blog

[mossy123302]

This is going more pissa (romantic, correct?) and might have some...implied nsfw....?

My thoughts is very scrambled, and I have so much to say.

I always think about Origins!Smp Philza meeting Q! Missa...

Missa who probably got lost during his way back in his travels of finding Q! Philza a gift! Missa is determined to find the right one, to show how much Philza means to him and that he deserves something better....

But, uh, Missa wasn't currently sure where he was and now he's upset, not angry, but upset... How is he supposed to find the greatest gift, a treasure when he cannot even find his way back home! How?! He was on the right trail and still got horribly lost...He should have just brought a map and compass with him, but he didn't because he was confident with himself that he would find his way back. He always found his way back one way or another, even if it took much longer...but while he tries to find his way back, he'll just keep looking for a good gift for Philza

....

Missa, who, stops in his track when he sees two large familiar wings. Oh, ohhhh, oh lady death spare him, because apparently he was never lost at all?? Philza is here??? RIGHT HERE AND HE DOESN'T HAVE A GIFT- DIOS MIO

Missa was just ready to cry right there and decided he was just gonna have to make up whatever lie and present he has in his backpack, he lost his backpack

Missa was too distracted, muttering and quietly sobbing to himself that he wasn't aware that Philza already noticed his presence.

Well... O! Philza, to be more exact, who immediately noticed a new presence in his territory..his home.... He was curious to see what this new person was, and what bravery they had to be so willing to enter and well.... He wasn't sure what to make of this strange fella who wore a skeleton mask, and dressed in purple and blue with a few chains that seemed to be connected around his neck to his armor shoulder, with another skeleton over it as decoration...

O! Philza is a little disappointed, but he doesn't think this new stranger would have anything good for him...he looks... pitiful and pathetic like some wet cat.

O! Philza was about to leave until suddenly Missa called out for him and he almost tripped over his own feet, because how does this stranger know his name—

Annndd why is he crying— Oh Lady Death help him-

Missa tried to be brave, help him, he tried but he immediately broke down crying because he honestly didn't know what to say or offer as an apology gift, so all he could do was give a sorry lame apology to Philza for not being around and letting him take care of their two beautiful eggs/children all by himself

It took a minute for O! Philza to process and awkwardly stop Missa that he genuinely has no idea who he is or why he is here and that they don't have no kids and if he's gone insane— (O! Philza has standards, thank you very much- While Missa is very cute in his opinion, he doesn't plan on having anymore children nor does he recall ever adopting. Who the heck is Chayanne and Tallulah)

After some awkward conversation, O! Philza did finally offer Missa to stay at a nearby village until he can figure out how to...get him back to Quesadilla Island, back to his Philza and his kids. Missa is forever grateful to this weird other version of his platonic husband, and decided he'd lighten up the village as a thank you!

....How does one lighten up a village anyways?

..Missa will figure it out.

Missa itches every little instinct in O! Philza, and it's such a curse and blessing. The way Missa screams, and immediately clings to O! Philza without any hesitance, crying for him to save him.

The way Missa found some bravery in him to finally ask if he could preen his wings, because gods, he knows how important wings are to them and he wasn't gonna let O! Philza walk around, with dirty wings, like that any longer. He was so gentle as he tended to every feather and even as an extra bonus, he gave a massage to O! Philza and his wings as well!

Missa, in O! Philza opinion, is a god send...

Missa is super attentive, makes delicious meals that he's never heard of before and most of all, despite being weak, he still tries and is willing to put himself out there if it means his family and friends were safe. O! Philza may have...purposely stopped searching for a way to send Missa back and instead send Missa further and deeper into the forest...deeper where no one can find him.

Further away from civilization. O! Philza wanted to be the one to save him each time, to be the only one he speaks with... But Missa already has a home, his own Philza and kids.

That burned deep in O! Philza brain. Missa wasn't mated, as far as he can tell, there's no bite mark, no scent or anything (Though it could be because Missa has been traveling so the scent must have worn off), and yet he has kids! Literal actual children they take care of and takes after those two...

Now O! Philza loves kids, don't get him wrong, but even he doesn't know where Missa came from and as far as he can tell, someone must have purposely dropped Missa here without telling anyone and now he's just stuck here, so oh well.

But Missa never stops talking about them....He doesn't stop. He talks and talks about them, and O! Philza wonders how red Missa's face will get if he kisses him to shut him up.

Will Missa quiet down if he gave Missa kids?

O! Philza isn't quite sure of what anatomy Missa has, but he knows Missa isn't human at all to some degree, so it's possible...he could....

The idea of Missa being— He's getting distracted. He could just fetch some other fledglings from another nest, but...he knows it won't quiet Missa for long. It's not his biological ones, not the real ones but...

...Hm.

Mm.

O! Philza might not be so against the idea after all of Missa entering his nest. It has been awfully quiet and empty anyways...

[little-nightmare-gt]

ATLA/MCYT G/T idea!

You have your basic Zuko gets burned by dad and sent off on a fake journey to get rid of him. Welp he gets thrown overboard by one of Ozai's people before he could even wake up.

He's drowning and suddenly he's pulled onto an island that's partially in the spirit world. He doesn't know his quest and probably won't even do it now.

========

Tubbo is a jack rabbit hybrid, he's chasing Purpled around with a flint and steel and suddenly glitches out while Purpled, Ranboo and Tommy are all running to him.

He appears in a gloomy but lively place and drawn to a dimming light.

Zuko.

Tubbo will definitely give him TheraPAY in the form of theft, the blue spirit and little trickster is born.

Tubbo and Zuko are scar buddies

Definitely trauma dumped each other.

Tubbo can talk from his mind, but is mostly mute in this AU

Zuko teaches Tubbo how to fire bend (Tubbo is a fire Spirit)

Tubbo goes by spirit laws, he's a fire sprite.

Definitely taught the Prince how to survive on his own.

++++++++

Get your basic Kya dies and all the men go off to war. Someone is stealing from the food stores but occasionally leaves fish or other meats outside the chief's hut.

A kid Younger than the bunch gets lost and suddenly they see their exchange person.

========

Tommy being the big man that he is got into the food with no help and watched as the humans react. He felt guilty when he realized that their was a single kid doing the hunting so he replaced what he eats with bigger and better gain. He only gets caught when a kid got too far away from her home and a blizzard was coming.

Tommy is a red panda hybrid and had just watched Tubbo disappear, he dropped his water as he also disappeared.

Beats up Sokka and makes him drink respect women juice.

Teaches everyone how to hunt

Waterbent snow on Katara as she complains about real benders not needing weapons. (I like Katara, I really do, but she irritated me as a child. Also, I would have been so mean to her in the most well meaning way, and I'm gonna do that through Tommy)

Let Katara know that until she gets a teacher, she isn't a real bender. Forces her to learn a weapon.

Gets along best with the babies and helps out around the homes.

Tommy follows Water Spirit laws, he's a water sprite.

He is selective mute, you know from trauma.

--------

Toph didn't like her life, ran off to live with badger moles and found Purpled. She liked him immediately and saw him as a little brother, did I mention I made them younger when they isekaied into this world? Whoops. She doesn't bring him home with her, but he visits anyway.

========

Purpled being the wolf hybrid that he is, was extremely loyal to the server youngests. So he was distressed when his friends started disappearing one by one.

Then he disappears into an underground cavern to find a mini giant little girl. He adopted her immediately when she nearly flattened him and calmed him from his panic.

Purpled took a long time to trust Toph, but thinks of her as a sister.

Unintentionally taught her how to be gentle when dealing with him.

(did I mention that everyone is a mini Giant to them)

Toph felt guilty about nearly killing him and he forgave her, just not forgot.

Definitely follows her to her fighting matches.

Learned Earth bending from her and joined. Stage name is the Lone Wolf.

You got it, Earth Spirit rules! Is an Earth Sprite

Can talk and shit talks the competition.

********

Aang awoke in the arms of a water tribe girl, her brother and a small spirit. He wasn't aware of another passenger on his bison until the little spirit ran passed him and ponced on an unconscious....cat?

========

Ranboo lost his friends and soon found himself on something going through a storm. He soon wakes up to Tommy jumping on his stomach and seeing a bunch of giants looking at him. He is rightfully scared and tries to explain what he does know and asking about his other to friends.

Was immediately bombarded with questions as Tommy hugged him crying.

Accidentally Airbends Aang away from him when he wanted to pet him.

Refused to believe Fire Nation is evil and teaches politics to the kids who don't really want to hear it but understood some of it.

He can't explain genocide, but nobody knows about the start of the war.

Helps where he can.

Air Spirit logic but is a sprite.

Also does translation for Tommy

For Shroud, Dogchamp and Michael, they are safe and off the DMSP. DSMP closed down after Doomsday and everyone went separate ways, but Purpled joined the Benchtrio. They only let Puffy in for Therapy and sometimes hanging out.

It's a peaceful world so no real dangers and infinite lives and keep inventory.

[shellyseashell]

CLOVIS DE CHATEAUPERS

universe/story: descendants

name meaning: clovis is a french name from the germanic name hludwig. it was the name of a frankish king in the 5th century.

age & birthday: 17 or 18, most likely born october 15

pronouns & gender: male, he/him

sexuality: i literally haven’t thought about it but he feels like either a raging bisexual or token straight

height: 5’9

face claim: tbd

mbti: istj, the logistician

background: he grew up on the streets of paris, an orphan. he often worked as an errand runner for whoever wanted to hire him, rather than keeping alliances, which made him plenty of enemies. he learned to look out for himself, and that he could only trust himself. when he was 15, he made the (un)fortunate mistake of trying to pick pocket phoebus and was caught. instead of arresting him, he invited him over for dinner, and thus begins what i call his feral cat era. aka, clovis comes to trust the chateaupers until they decide to adopt him. i just like the idea of esmeralda and phoebus adopting. definitely think they’d want to help kids in need however they could.

now, he’s a senior at auradon prep, and helps li sheng (li’l shang, as i’ve named him) captain roar.

residence: paris

affiliation: none, really

weapons & fighting style: he’s very good with a sword, but on the streets he’d use knives the most

hobbies: roar, art

misc:

- he was made for a specific au, to show the more unsavory parts of auradon, and especially highlight how auradon can sometimes be very similar to the isle. he is compared to a vk many times, and is one of the first aks they come to trust. also, claudine just deserved another older brother.

- because i love him, he’ll probably show up in other fics

- he wears layers. so many layers. never ending layers. and purple, because zephyr got the yellow of their parent’s color schemes.

- zephyr was one of his first friends. when he was first taken in, zephyr tutored him in a lot of education he’d missed out on due to not being able to attend school.

- i imagine he created his own little fortress in an abandoned building, similar to whatever aladdin had going on

- wants to be a professional roar player

- can snap at people very easily, usually to defend himself

- very stubborn, especially when it comes to people helping him. he feels like he should do everything himself, since he’s never had anyone looking out for him.

- does not want to be perceived

- once he cares for someone, he does so very loudly

- feels like he’s an imposter for being where he is, and that at any moment he’ll lose it all. a lot of the royals and nobility do see him as an outsider, but just as many defend his place.

- is a good dancer but would never admit it

- he’s not very physically strong, so he prefers to run from fights when possible

- he isn’t religious in any way, but he does love visiting notre dame

[whomuses]

Honestly and truly, Gale had no idea how Neyvin managed to handle all the little ones that had ended up in his life. Mira was a sweet kid, and he knew that he was lucky with how smart and well behaved she was - and the friends they had on hand to help when needed - but between that and working full time and also doing his best to take care of Caedes it was… well, he was very much enjoying the idea of sitting, relaxing with another adult and letting the kids entertain themselves for a bit.

He got more than a few side glances, walking around with a baby dragonborn as a human man. It was clear some thought she was an orphan that was adopted - and he couldn't blame them for such a thought. Human dragonborn relationships were so rare, and he was fairly certain that Mira might be the first of her kind, even if they definitely heavily favoured their dragonborn appearance. They seemed to be growing a touch slower than others of their own kind, though, which was probably his effect on her genetics, as well as the eye colour… and as she was getting older, the pure white was relaxing down with warm purple starting to colour the flare on their neck.

"I'm never quite sure what to expect with her." Gale admitted, "She's so… well." he smiled, warmly. He loved Mira more than he had imagined he could love anything in this world, truly, even if it had been entirely unexpected. "Nobody can know what she's to do next. I keep having this… irrational fear, I suppose. That our mixed genetics have made a mistake, and I will wake up and she will be - gone. I - ah." he swallowed hard, throat suddenly thick, "Sorry, forgive me, I - hardly the right kind of conversation for the moment!" he hadn't told anyone that yet, in fact, the words kind of blurting out in a rush. Goodness, he must be more tired than he realised. It was a shame Caedes hadn't been well enough to come; watching the kids running around and laughing in the sun would have surely been a balm but… well. No fit state. Hence why he had gone to Reithwin instead of coming here today.

neyvin had only had three, technically. officially on paper, they had three children that they had adopted. and while the three she had taken in were lovely and wonderful, some days, he wishes for another set of hands. those wishes led to the usual familiar ache of loss (ke'laun had always dreamed of this) that he tried not to dwell on.

yet, often there were more than three that found their way to neyvin. depending on the day, there were upwards of six children running in and out of their house. they all knew neyvin's home was a safe house, if they needed it. so, between the three they had adopted and the others running in and out of his house -- not to mention harper business -- neyvin had their hands quite full. which was why while they had technically arrived on time, it was not for the fact that they almost weren't.

"i'd never blame you for being late. not to something like this." and not to something that involved wrangling a small child. "mel lost her right shoe this morning so we had to find a different pair -- but they don't fit quite right, so they are uh..." neyvin holds up the pair of boots with an amused expression, "i never wore them when i was little either." he shrugged.

neyvin had been lucky, the children had been thrilled at the idea she was going to go to the park with them and they would get to spend time with mira. all of his were old enough that they had been walking, talking (or signing in the case of one of them), and functioning before he had adopted them. it made his life both easier and more difficult. but he knew how exhausting it had to have been on gale & caedes to raise a baby -- especially one as spirited as mira.

"she's getting big. and uh...fast." neyvin said, with a warm smile, watching mira take off with speed for alexi, the youngest of the ones she had officially adopted. she only had her three today (though she suspects come supper time, there will be a few extra pairs of shoes by the door). he glances over at gale, taking him in.

they give a sympathetic smile, "i wouldn't trade 'em for the world, but sometimes i wonder if saving the world wasn't less of a stress." he said, quietly to gale. she squeezes his shoulder, gently.

[blackypanther9]

How the whole Madness started… - Dad!William x Son!Reader

Yes, I made a prequel to "Dad...? - Dad!William x Son!Reader". Still Inspired by the Glitched Attraction. I wanted to give you more background story about the Reader and what he went through.

WARNING!: Blood&Gore, Reader is Dexter, mentions of deaths, Reader has anxieties, Reader is auditory hypersensitive (He panics by loud noises), cursing, sadness AND MORE ! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED !!!

What many may not know was that Dexter was an adopted child. He was adopted as he was only 3 months of age in the Orphanage and even though he knew he wasn’t related to anyone by blood, he saw them as his own Family. Michael was the only one who didn’t really like him and that probably never changed.

It was the 30th of August 1983, a few days before Evan’s Birthday, which was the 5th of October. Dexter was still in school, learning Spanish and handcraft, while Michael was already out of school and was supposed to watch Evan and Lizzy, while their Father, William Afton, talked with Henry about something important, concerning the Funtime Animatronics at Circus Baby’s Entertainment and Rentals.

William didn’t favor any of his kids, he loved them all equally. But he had to admit that he saw a very bright future for Dexter. The boy was helping in the house wherever he could and he took so many extra lessons to learn a lot, that he was barely home. He was an excellent student too, with all these extra lessons, William thought that Dexter would never get homework done, but he mostly already finished them in school or got a few days longer from his teachers.

He got the best grades and the only thing he was not so good in was sport. William wasn’t mad about it that he had a four in sport. Not everyone can be good in everything and not everyone is fit for sport.

Michael was also a very clever boy, but he never shows it. He brought a lot of F’s home and the only good grades he got was in History and sport. Elizabeth was still in Kindergarten and Evan was very good and clever in his classes in school. The only thing that made William angry was that Evan got bullied a lot, mostly from Michael himself.

As William was done chatting with Henry, he came back and only saw Evan and Michael, but not Lizzy.

“Where is Elizabeth, Mike ?”, William asked.

Evan looked traumatized, while Michael shrugged his shoulders.

“She said she needs to pee, so I let her go to the Bathroom.”

Evan didn’t say anything.

“Then we will wait.”, William said.

And so…they waited. They waited 30 minutes and William promised to collect Dexter in 15 minutes. Something was wrong and so William went to the Bathroom for girls and looked around, even called her name…she never replied. He panicked and ran to Michael.

“Elizabeth isn’t there. Help me search her.”, he told his Son and Mike instantly searched with him.

They couldn’t find her and William was 2 hours too late to get Dexter from school. Henry made a missing report in the building and William drove off with Evan and Mike to get Dexter.

Dexter sat on the sidewalk of the school, scared that his Father forgot about him. Until he saw the purple car. He got up, but instantly saw that Lizzy was missing. He put his schoolbag into the trunk of the car and then sat next to his Father in the car.

“Where is Lizzy ?”, he asked.

“She went missing in Circus Baby’s entertainment and Rentals.”, he informed him.

Dexter froze up in shock.

“What ?”, he asked softly.

“You heard me, Son… We will drive to the Police now and report her missing.”

Dexter put on the safety belt and then they drove off. He knew something was wrong with Evan, but he blamed it on his Nightmares and his lack of sleep.

After the report was done, they waited for another 24 hours, because they can only search a person when they went missing for 48 hours… Stupid ass law but who fucking cares ? In two days they could be dead already, but hey…

All they found the next day was Elizabeth’s bow. Nothing else.

William started to be a bit more distant from his kids since then and then the Birthday of Evan came. Dexter begged Michael to tell Father about it so he can actually get Mark’s Family sued, but he refused in fear of what might happen if he would tell his Father. So they did the prank, Mark forced them into.

It was the 5th of October 1983…Evan’s Birthday…

“MARK STOP IT ! FREDBEAR IS NOT SAFE FOR THAT !”, Dexter yelled as he was about to shove Evan’s head into the Animatronic’s mouth.

Mark stuck out his tongue and ignored the warning. Not even 10 seconds later Fredbear bit down and everyone was screaming in horror as Evan’s head started bleeding. Michael screamed his little Brother’s name and shoved Mark and the others out of his way, pulling him out of Fredbear’s mouth.

“EVAN ! TALK TO ME ! EVAN ?! EVAN, PLEASE !”

Mark and the others ran away and Dexter was paralyzed in utter horror. He stared at the bloody mouth of Fredbear and his head was empty, trying to process everything, while William ran over and called an ambulance and held his Son close.

“Father it was an accident, I swear ! I didn’t mean to hurt him ! We were forced to and I had no other choice ! I’m sorry !”, Michael cried out.

William pulled him into a hug, while he cried.

“It’s alright. You didn’t know this could happen.”

But that didn’t mean that William won’t punish Michael for that later, with a lot of housework, grounding and forcing him to be better in school. A very fit punishment if you asked him. And just then they both snapped their heads up and looked wildly around until they saw Dexter. Dexter was standing there, staring at the bloody mouth and screaming bloody murder.

It all caught up to his brain and now he was in a full blown panic attack. No one noticed that Springbonnie moved, until he was right next to Dexter and tried to comfort him with a hug, which Dexter instantly replied with. He held onto Springbonnie tightly and hid his face in his fur, crying and shaking.

While William thought someone was in the suit, Dexter knew better. He after all spent a lot of time with his favorite Character.

Flashback…

Dexter was six years of age and was all alone in the Arcade room, playing a game. He was sad. Michael didn’t want to play with him, his Father had no time for him and he had no friends to play and talk with. All he had was watching Fredbear and Springbonnie and the Arcade Games.

“H-hello there l-little boy…”, a voice greeted shyly.

Dexter stopped playing and turned around, facing his favorite Character, Springbonnie.

“Hey Springbonnie. I didn’t know you can roam around freely.”, the boy said with a saddened voice.

The bunny’s ears perked up and he looked at the child almost worried.

“Why are y-you so s-sad ?”

“Just don’t have anyone to play with… My Brother doesn’t like me all that much, my Father is busy and I have no friends.”

Springbonnie looked at the boy saddened and went into a thinking mode. Then he looked at Dexter again shyly.

“W-well, if you want…I will be your friend.”, the Animatronic offered.

Dexter perked up at that and looked at the golden bunny with slight hope.

“Really ?”

“Y-yeah ! W-we can sneak into the Parts and Service and spend time together ! I can also bring games with me !”

Dexter got a big smile on his face and ran up to the bunny, tackling him into a hug.

“Thank you Springbonnie ! How about tomorrow ? Father will soon go home with us…”

“S-sure ! We will meet there in my breaks.”

Dexter smiled brightly and then heard his Father calling him and his Brother.

“I have to go. See you tomorrow !”

With that he waved the bunny Goodbye and rushed off.

The next day they met in Parts and Service and played a few board games. Most of the time Springbonnie won and Dexter had to learn that it is a part of his programming. He wasn’t mad about it either. He was just happy to have a friend.

“Say…who is in the suit of yours ?”, Dexter asked.

“Huh ?”

“Oh come on, Springbonnie. I know that you can’t act and talk like a human. You are just machines that got programmed to say and do certain things. A human has to be in there to act so much like a human.”

“There is no one in my suit though. Only Mister Afton can enter me and he is in his office.”, Springbonnie answered.

“Prove it to me. Open your mouth.”

Springbonnie clicked the two springlocks on the sides of his head and then opened it and Dexter was in utter shock. There truly was no one inside the suit. The bunny closed the locks again and looked at Dexter.

“I don’t know why I am so different… But now I know why Fredbear is so different from me.”

“Wait…Fred is not like you ?”

“No… He is unresponsive and only does what he is programmed to do.”

“Damn, must be hard to not have a friend then…”

“I have you as a friend now.”

Dexter smiled and then hugged Springbonnie.

“Yes you do.”, Dexter replied.

The Animatronic hugged back.

They met more often and Dexter even got taught by Springbonnie how to fix or even replace his voice box, without getting his hands springlocked. It took a few tries, but he got the hang of it and with that secretly helped his Dad to get home earlier than usually.

Dexter gave up telling his Father that Springbonnie has a very human like AI and is very much ALIVE, because his Father didn’t believe him anyways.

End of Flashback…

After all these accidents happened, there were children reported missing and Charlie Emily was found dead near William’s and Henry’s new Pizzeria, called Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza. She was dead in a back alley.

One day William came home, covered in someone’s blood and Dexter waited for his Father, worried sick that he may have gotten hurt. He almost screamed when he saw his Father’s clothes covered in blood. But something clicked instantly.

“All the times you came home late…you killed the kids that went missing. Didn’t you ?”, he asked.

William froze up and turned to the couch and spotted Dexter.

“Uhmm…no ?”

“You are terrible in lying, Father.”

William started to sweat and break down.

“I can’t control this. I am going insane and this is the only coping mechanism I have !”

Dexter got up and stared his Father in the eyes.

“You forget you still have two other kids to take care of. Stop thinking so much about Lizzy and Ev and think about us, who still walk the earth. If you get jailed for that, we won’t be able to survive on our own, Papa.”

William looked up at his Son.

“You…aren’t scared of me ?”, he asked.

“Would you hurt us ?”, Dexter asked him back.

“No ! Never !”

“Then I don’t see the problem. I am worried about your safety. You need to stop now or you will be found out one day, Father. One slip up and you are done for.”

And so it stayed by only 1 murdered child and 5 missing ones, Dexter found a girlfriend and graduated from school, instantly asking for a job in programming things. Everything went well for many months. But…then in Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza went Night guards missing or even were found dead, stuffed into suits. One night William left, trying to investigate and fix the issue, but… never returned home that night. And to add it all up to their depressing lives, Evan died two days after William’s disappearance from a heart attack.

Dexter got the house and Mike the factory ‘Afton Robotics’. While Mike still went to school, Dexter paid the bills and everything else to keep them alive. He and his Brother lived together even after Mike had a possible Girlfriend after he graduated.

Then Dexter met up with his own Girlfriend and she broke his heart that night and he came running to Mike.

“MICHAEL !”, he yelled sobbing as he was in the house.

He instantly came running down the stairs and rushed over to Dexter.

“What happened ?! Did the date not go well ?”

“She broke up with me ! She was just after my Father and his money, now that he is gone, she doesn’t want to do anything with me !”

“Then she didn’t deserve you.”

“I H-hate women !”, he cried into his Brother’s chest.

He had to buy Dexter a lot of ice cream and had to comfort him for a few days, until Dexter processed everything correctly.

They continued to live together for many years. Then Michael got a job as a Night guard at Freddy’s, which worried Dexter, but he didn’t stop his Brother. If he wanted to do this then he won’t stop him.

Michael told him that he wants to try and redeem himself. He heard Dexter and William talk that night and he wanted to help and find out what happened and where his Father went off to.

They soon found out that the Animatronics were haunted and still were, even though someone told Mike that someone destroyed them one night a while back. The very night where their Father disappeared.

What Michael never told Dexter was that he found a safe room and in there was Springbonnie with a decaying corpse inside it. He didn’t want Dexter to have a panic attack and think that whoever died in that suit WAS necessarily William Afton.

Then Michael went from Location to Location. He went from Freddy’s to Junior’s then to Circus Baby’s. Dexter was there too, trying to get the Funtimes up and running. Why you may ask ? Well Mike was told from Dexter that he lost his current job, because the workers and bosses didn’t like him and then started to note every small thing down they had against him.

But as Dexter was working on Circus Baby he made a scarring discovery. He found Elizabeth, their sister’s dead body, mangles, inside the Animatronic. He instantly went to Michael and he forbade Dexter to ever enter the facility again, claiming that she might possess CB and he doesn’t know if she could be aggressive, so he will burn the place down. Which he did at some point…

A few months passed and Dexter kept asking Michael to use Afton Robotics so he can also make profit. No one else would give him a job and he was desperate, but Michael refused, in fear Dexter will create more killing Animatronics.

He got killed in Circus Baby’s, before he set fire to that place, and decided to abandon Dexter, thinking it was for the best, because he was a rotting corpse and could have scarred Dexter even further for life, then he went to Fazbear’s Frights that was just newly built. He never knew that Dexter was there once too and looked around. He broke in though, because he wasn’t open at the time.

What Mike never considered though, was that Dexter most possibly would lose his shit over him and disappearing like that. Dexter sat most of the times on the floor in his room, swinging back and forth, holding his head in his hands and falling into dark thoughts.

‘What did I do wrong ?!’ ‘Did Mike hate me that much to just leave me here ?!’ ‘What did I do ?!’ ‘Why does he hate me so much ?!’ ‘What have I ever done to him ?!’ ‘Wasn’t I good enough ?!’ ‘Haven’t I given enough ?!’ ‘Is he at least alright ?!’ ‘Did he find Dad ?!’ ‘Why did he leave me ?!’ ‘I’m sorry ! Please come back !’ ‘….I wish I was dead and would never come back…’

Dexter stopped eating regularly and only ate once a week and soon only once a month. He threw himself into a full on, sleepless search for his Father.

One day, Dexter received a letter from Michael. He opened it and read it.

“Hello Dexter,

I’m sorry that I left you all alone, but I had my reasons. Tonight, I won’t be anymore, so Afton Robotics belongs to you. Please don’t make any killing Animatronics, I took so good care of them that they will be wiped out by the time I die and you can have a fresh start over with Fazbear Entertainment… I lived the whole time with Uncle Henry and he helped me in everything I did so far. I sadly found no trace of Father. We both opened a restaurant called Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza Place, to lure the last remaining killing Animatronics in and to destroy them. Please don’t come for me and please do not intervene. We will be fine. This is my last mission that I have to accomplish. I need to ask something else of you though and I’m sorry that I kept this from you… I have a Son. His name is Gregory Bill Afton. He almost looks like Evan. Please find him and take him in for me. His Mother kicked him out one night as I was checking on them and I don’t want him to live any longer on the streets than necessary. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. I’m sorry I couldn’t find Father. I’m sorry that I am doing this to you. And most of all I am sorry that you have to face the world now all on your own, without any of us to be by your side. I hope you can forgive me one day.

I love you and take care,

Micheal Afton.”

Dexter stared at the letter after he read through it and then broke down crying again.

‘What fucking reason could you possibly have had to abandon me ?! You knew I was struggling just as much as you ! You knew that I was mentally and emotionally very unstable alone !’

Dexter sobbed and sniffed for hours until he found his voice again.

“Fuck you Michael Afton… You fucking Bitch…”

Dexter turned on the TV and around midnight came on the news that Michael’s place burned down and there were no survivors. There were two burned bodies and one burned body in an Animatronic suit.

Dexter cried the whole fucking night, knowing Mike was gone. He had no one now.

The next day he started to design new Animatronic designs, a whole new place and called it ‘The Mega Pizzaplex’. He gave everything to Fazbear Entertainment and they instantly started to work on the place and a video game at the same time.

Dexter wanted to stay anonymous and even made an anonymous bank account. He got a lot of money, but he never told anyone, nor did he want to be inside the Pizzaplex. He made the Animatronics, made cleaning bots, staff bots and even security bots. And he didn’t make them so he doesn’t have to deal with annoying, super expensive employees, no, he made them for better security.

Robots are NOT humans and they are NOT going to kill a child if they function properly. Dexter designed all Staff bots and Animatronics with facial recognition scanners and the Animatronics even got something called a safe mode. The safe mode is activated at all time, throughout daytime and nighttime, but it will be deactivating if they see a highly dangerous criminal.

They are not programmed to kill when the safe mode is deactivated, but they are programmed to hunt down the criminal and capture him until the police collects them. Dexter coded his Machines very well too. A hacker would have a hard time to get in undetected.

Everything was safe. But he didn’t know that an Anomaly was inside the very game Fazbear Entertainment created. The VR game ‘Help Wanted’. He knew what the game was supposed to do, that it was supposed to cover up all the bad things that happened in the locations and an Indie Game designer decided to make Horror games out of them so future generations also know about some of the things that happened there years ago, which by the way, also was hired by Fazbear Entertainment.

Dexter didn’t care for it. At least the Pizzaplex would have a chance then. He put a lot of effort and ideas into the Pizzaplex and in the end it was the biggest Freddy’s location that ever existed. He quickly became a billionaire, but he never told anyone.

While he did all of this, he was also searching for Gregory, but he couldn’t find him anywhere. He looked into every dark alley he knew existed, but there was no trace of him. He hoped when the Pizzaplex was finished, Gregory would find shelter in there and all Dexter had to do was pick him up and get him home. If Gregory was really Mike’s Son, then he is most possibly just as smart as his Father and will go into the Pizzaplex to survive.

After all, it was warm in there, dry, safe and it had a lot of food and water.

Dexter was still hell – bent to find his Father and he never stopped looking. He made a friend a while back, called Alex Cruser.

Fazbear Entertainment, after the VR game didn’t really get published, nor worked the way they hoped it would, created another big Location. It was an escape room game with at least always 4 to 5 Animatronics from every Location that existed once.

The first room, was the starter room and nothing happened. You just saw the Original Freddy band perform and Foxy gave you a flashlight. Then the real shit started.

Alex went there to investigate, in request of Dexter to find out what was going on and an employee let something slip about an escape room Freddy’s location. Fazbear Entertainment asked Dexter for Endoskeletons and something he recreated a while ago, just better than before, Illusion discs. He programmed them to look, sound and even smell like the previous real Animatronics.

So in short…All the Endoskeletons were just that, Endos with an illusion disk slapped on them. With that the Endos looked like the previous Animatronics, sounded like them too and smelled just as horrid.

Dexter didn’t know any of this. He was told that they plan to make a museum in the Pizzaplex and needed some things he could make.

Dexter wasn’t allowed to program more though and that made him suspicious. So he asked Alex to investigate a bit and tell him what he saw.

But instead this message came one night…

“DUDEE !!!” “JUST LEFT THE NEW FAZBEAR ATTRACTION !” “My friend, take everything and come here. You have to see this !”

Then the Location was sent. Thankfully, because Dexter had no clue where it was.

“Just sent you the Location. Go. Tonight.”

‘This doesn’t sound like Alex at all… Did…something happen to him ?’

Dexter grabbed his backpack, made it empty, stuffed some stones into it and then left for the Location. As he arrived two of his staff bots were there. One told him of all the things that could happen and they won’t be responsible for any of the things mentioned that could happen. Then he had to pay and give his belongings to the other one.

‘Fuck this shit. I fricking knew it…’

He gave them his backpack and then he was allowed to go. And with that he went through the door and was greeted by the TIP Manager. It briefly explained what it did and what he had to do. Then he pressed okay and continued to the first room, which was just a waiting/Introduction room with the original band performing.

‘Why would they even mention possible brutal deaths and that they won’t be responsible for it ? I think Mike didn’t get rid of everything that likes to kill people…’

He pressed a button and Foxy held out a flashlight for Dexter. As soon as he took it, there was confetti flying around and Foxy laughed, before disappearing. Dexter looked around and groaned as he saw the button above the vent.

“Really now ? Why a vent ? It looks very tight…”

He pressed the button and waited until the vent was open, then he crawled through it and into the first room that could most possibly end him.

‘Evan’s bedroom… I remember that he always talked about his nightmares and drew them very often per my request… Did anyone find his drawings ?’

The TIP Manager arrived and told Dexter that something will appear in the window and he has to close the curtains to make it go away, that Nightmarionne will come out of the hole above the bed and he then has to hide in the Freddy Springlock suit behind him, that he already spotted and that he needs to complete the puzzle that is in the room and to get out of the room before his time was out.

‘Okay then…let’s go.’

Dexter pressed okay and then the shit started. He looked at the window, then at Nightmare Balloon boy and then he ran to the puzzle and turned a few of the pieces into right place.

Soon he heard a sound and looked only to see tentacles, he ran to the suit and put it on, not long later the Marionette came out of the hole and Dexter held his breath in shock. That thing was terrifying for a 7 year old.

‘Fuck, Evan I’m so sorry I never believed you…’

As quick as it was there it left again and Dexter got out of the suit, only to spot Balloon boy twitching. Dexter panicked and hurried to get the suit off and shone his light at him, making him go still again.

‘They don’t tell you everything ! Assholes !’

“How do you stop your Nightmares from getting you, Evan ?”, Dexter asked.

“They hate light. I shine my flashlight at them. Then the small Freddies go away and Plushtrap and the nightmare Balloon boy stop as soon as I flash them. The others work different… I have to listen for their breathing and close the doors and closet if I hear them, otherwise I can shine my light into the halls.”, Evan explained.

Dexter smiled as he remembered that.

‘Thank you, Ev…This just saved my life…’

Dexter rushed back to the puzzle and turned other pieces into right places, then he looked at the window and yelped. Nightmare Fredbear was right there. Dexter quickly closed the curtains and held them close until he heard a sound that sounded close to a ‘Whoosh’, then he opened them again and Fredbear was gone. Then he flashed Nightmare BB and hid quickly in the suit, because Marionne was also on its way.

As it was gone again he ran back to the puzzle and turned the last few pieces quickly.

‘Now I need to find the last piece… Probably in the chest, so I need to look for two keys…’

Dexter flashed Nightmare BB and then opened the drawers, finding the two keys and unlocked the chest. Then he looked at the window and saw Fredbear there again, he quickly closed the curtains until the sound came again, then he flashed Nightmare BB again and hid in the suit because Marionne came back.

As it was gone again, he grabbed the puzzle piece and put it in and turned it into the right position too. Then the thing clicked and the poster fell down, showing a code. Dexter looked down further and was in confusion.

‘A red button ? What does this one do ?’, he questioned himself and pressed it.

Nothing happened sadly.

Dexter looked at the bed side table and rushed to open it and found a safe. Before he could punch in the code, there was a new sound and Dexter looked around wildly, spotting a small Freddy. He quickly flashed it and it disappeared, then he flashed Nightmare BB and hid in the suit again.

As the Marionette was gone he got back out and checked the window, nothing so far, so he ran to the safe, punched in the code quickly and opened the safe, he found a hammer and he took it, looking at the closet.

‘Well then… I guess I will have to open that…’

He looked again and flashed Nightmare BB and then closed the curtains to avoid Fredbear getting him. Then he ran to the boarded up closet and tore out the nails. He opened the closet and then suddenly heard another new sound, with flashing lights. He turned around, coming face to face with Nightmare Bonnie. He ran for the steel door, that slowly opened and he quickly rolled underneath it so it won’t get him.

The steel door fell shut and Dexter saw that he was in a room in between. He decided to take a small break. But then he spotted something.

‘What is this…?’

He crawled to the open vent and took out the piece of paper that was in there.

“Utah News

Fazbear’s open again ! The abandoned place of Freddy’s reopened as a horror escape room !”

‘So I was right… This was once a Location of a Freddy Pizzeria…’

Dexter looked at the wall he slid down on to sit down and saw that the next Location was Freddy Junior’s.

‘The toys… Great…’

After a while he went into the next room and the TIP Manager told him to hide in lockers and that not all are open, while Toy Chica is patrolling around, to watch the Music box of Freddy and to not over wind it and to complete the puzzles before someone gets him.

‘Well shit…’

Dexter took a look around and tried which lockers are open and which not. He spotted vent openings too and a keypad with weird symbols on it. After he took a look at all of this he felt ready, took a deep breath and started his level.

He heard Toy Chica already walk around, so he went to the other side and started to look for the code. He got out his pen and a piece of paper and drew the symbols then he wrote the numbers down that he spotted for the symbols.

‘Six Symbols for six numbers..’

Dexter soon noticed that Toy Chica always changed her route. So he had to hurry around. Then he heard banging over his head and he quickly his in a locker, praying he did the right thing. Not even a second later Mangle came out of the vent.

‘Fuck…I fricking knew it….’

Soon it also disappeared and Dexter got out and searched for the 4th symbol.

After a few seconds he found the fourth and fifth symbol and then ran to the keypad and punched in the code. Then he ran for the lockers and hid in there until the room was opened. Which took ages…

As soon as the coast was clear and the room was open, he left the locker and ran into the room. He saw the next issue. As soon as he turned on the power, he will need gears to get the power for something… Maybe the door. He flipped all the switches and turned on the power.

The Music box started and Dexter was running out of the room and searched for the gears. He found 2 before he had to hide from Mangle again. As soon as it was gone he continued his search for the third one and then he quickly wound up Freddy and continued. He had to find five of them after all.

Soon enough he found the last two and then ran to Freddy, wound him up and then put the gears in their respective places. After he put the last gear in the power for a switch was getting charged. He hid in the locker inside the room and waited.

‘Come on…CoMe On…COME ON !’, he thought impatiently.

After a while the switch had 100% power and Dexter flipped it. Then he searched for a red button and found two of them. He pressed them and then he ran for the exit door. Toy Chica spotted him, but Dexter slid underneath the steel door before she could get him and the door fell shut.

Dexter panted and fell back against the wall, panting heavily and his heart almost leaving his chest.

‘I’m supposed to be over 30 years old, but fuck… I’m glad I am stuck in a 19 year old’s body…’

He laid on the floor, trying to catch his breath.

“Fuck… I wish you were with me right now Mike…”, Dexter said softly.

After a while he sat up and sighed.

“I bet you would already know what is going on… I have no idea what all of this means besides that someone still plans to murder people…”

He banged his head against the wall and looked at the ceiling. After a while he looked around and spotted another open vent. He took out the piece of paper.

“MISSING ! Alfred C. Jons”

And a lot of descriptions how he looked.

“Isn’t he one from the Mental Health Center ? Fuck…Mike I wish you were here and tell me what all this means… I don’t like where all this is going…”

Then he looked at the bottom of the piece of paper.

“Yep he was one from the Mental Health Center…”

He sighed and moved to the third room. Again the TIP Manager came down and Dexter instantly went to reading.

‘Use the cams near your office to see who is coming… So more than just Springtrap is here ? Okay… Fuck me. …Use the lever to turn the systems on and off… Use levers near doors to close them…When they are at 0% they open on their own… Well shit… Don’t look at hallucinations…don’t leave office he will attack you… Complete the puzzles before something gets me…Well fuck me…’

Dexter looked around the room and then saw a small steel door blocking something from his view and the vent underneath.

‘For what do I have to turn the power off ? Only when something is INSIDE the office you usually have to turn everything off… At least that was in Circus Baby’s for a while…’

“Father ?”

“Yes, Dexter ?”

“Why do you always turn the power off when an Animatronic enters the office ?”

“Because they don’t see you then if it’s dark and you hide somewhere. With that you can save power. There is a vent that leads right in here and you can’t block it either. So we need to make the room dark when it happens.”, William explained.

“Oh…”

“I know. We need to seal that thing and then I can give the Animatronics advanced eyes.”

“Ah… Can I help you tonight ?”

“Sure.”

“YAY !”

William chuckled.

‘Wait…vent !’

Dexter looked up and he saw a huge opening.

“Oh…fuck…”

Then he looked around and the only place to hide was under the table.

“Great. Fan – fucking – tastic ! So I have to deal with phantoms, Springtrap AND an unknown Animatronic ?! YAY !”, Dexter yelled with sarcasm.

Then he spotted the keypad and a locked chest.

“AND I NEED TO FIND TWO CODES ?! OH HELL NAW ! MIKEY COME BACK TO LIFE AND HELP ME YOU BASTARD !”

Then Dexter laid down on the floor and started to weep softly.

‘I know nothing about the other Animatronic ! How do you beat it ?! I don’t want to be choked to death ! The first time was bad enough and I somehow am still alive, just not aging bodily. How did Spring even manage that ?!’

Suddenly Dexter’s head snapped up in realization.

“Uncle Henry ?”

“Yes, Dexter ?”

“Why do you not close the doors on all Animatronics ?”

“Because some of them can break them down easily and get inside.”

“Oh..”

‘What if the other Animatronic needs to come in, check the office and then leave and can’t spot me ? Man this will be hide and seek…’

Then he started the whole thing and saw two Animatronics. Springtrap and a Freddy Animatronic.

“Okay…”

He left the Cam on them while he searched for the code for the keypad. He found it under the table and he quickly punched the code into the keypad. With that he was verified to look at the vent map and he got a Fazcoin. He looked at the Arcade and put it in.

Then a game started and Dexter first off ran back to the monitors and saw them still in place. He nodded and then ran back to the Arcade Game and talked with, who he assumed, was Fredbear. Then he talked with a red crocodile and a female Balloon Boy.

He heard something, so he left the game and checked on the monitors, only to see that the Bear was ready to run to the office from the right. Dexter quickly crawled under the table and pressed himself against the right side. He heard fast footsteps and soon saw light. He held his breath until the Bear turned and left.

As soon as Dexter didn’t hear it anymore he got out and checked for Springtrap. He was on the left but he wasn’t ready to go for the office yet. He ran back to the Arcade and talked with a funny colored fox. They all wanted something and Dexter could only get the balloons.

He heard the vent and he checked the cams. Vent five… Dexter ran to the vent map and saw that it led to his office. He turned off all the systems and crawled under the table. Soon Springtrap appeared from the vent inside the office and looked around, then he left. Dexter waited until it was quiet and then he ran and turned the power back on. They were both in the middle again and Dexter quickly got back to work.

-Timeskip-

This was very extreme and it took Dexter a while until he was where he needed to be…apparently.

The system warned of overheating and a fire going to break lose, which Dexter really didn’t wanna stay here for. He met the bunny man. And here it was that scared Dexter.

“Springbonnie ?”

Whoever was inside him…whoever may have died inside him…he knew he was once human, he wanted out and he was not a part of this game. He aggressively said let me out and then there was Springtrap, trying to tear off the head, a dead body inside it and loud screams. It creeped Dexter out and he started to have tears in his eyes. (He has that reaction, because he is sensitive to loud noises and that screaming is hella loud)

“M-Mikey…help me…”

That was why the suit looked familiar with the structures in Frights. This was originally Springbonnie. But…it must have been a replica… William said he scraped Springbonnie after the bite. Maybe a prototype was found in Fredbear’s and the person put it on had died ?

The system said that there is not much time left until the fire. A lot of coding rolled and Dexter hoped to find the combination in that blasted game. He closed the doors in case Springtrap wanted to visit him and waited.

Soon there was the combination and he had to put it into order. He did so quickly and punched in the numbers in the small chest. He got a key and he ran to the keypad and put the key inside. With that the safety doors opened and the vent did too…slowly.

There was an explosion which made Dexter flinch and slightly tear up. There was fire everywhere, but Dexter quickly crawled through the vent as soon as it was open. Springtrap followed him quickly, making him panic and as soon as he was outside, he pressed the button for the vent to seal and it cut Springtrap’s head off, just…it was an Endoskeleton’s head that suddenly laid there.

‘That’s what they use the illusion discs for ? They told me they will use them in the Pizzaplex and make a small museum of all the past Animatronics…’

Now Dexter was really suspicious and he knew SOMETHING bad was going on.

‘I HAVE to continue…’

And with that he moved to Circus Baby’s…

He saw Baby without her limbs and he snarled.

“Because of you fucking bitch my sister is dead. Do I really have to fix your sorry ass ?”

Dexter felt very stressed out, but can you blame him ? He needs to survive all these endoskeletons that Fazbear Entertainment programmed to kill people, without Dexter’s knowledge. He is practically responsible for this partly, even though he had no clue about this.

He took a deep breath and entered the room. The TIP Manager came out and gave him information.

‘Tesla coils…run for 5 seconds and need to recharge for 10… Fuck me, I have to time my enemy… Blue button for light, red for shock…gun…? Are they out of their fucking mind ? Father said multiple times that it will damage the hardware severely and they would need to be fixed constantly…fuck had Mike to do that ? …Use it for no reason too often he will attack before the gun is ready… Ah shiet… Use blue button to activate Bon Bon and control Freddy… Use it too often for no reason Freddy will get pissed… Well Funtime Freddy was always the Animatronic with anger issues…And order parts, if one is broken return it and order a new one… Fuse the parts after connecting them to the Animatronic. Fucking knew it, I have to fix this Biatch…And that’s it. Alright let us start this Freakshow…’

Dexter pressed start and the nightmare began with the monitors telling him to find a CPU…BABY’S CPU.

‘CPU input… Must be in one of the drawers…’

Dexter opened the drawers and found the chip, then he shoved it into the monitor and he could start working.

‘Let me think again… Dad said there is an alarm and I just need to listen… Sometimes it was false though… On which Robot was that again ?’

Dexter was thinking hard, while he ordered the parts already and connected them to Circus Baby.

“Freddy was always silent… I remember that from my one shift with Father… He repaired the systems and I had to look out and he was so silent that I was too afraid to blink. Then I had to activate Bon Bon to get him back to his place… That will be here just the same then…”

He heard Music.

“Fuck.”

He ran to the left and saw Ballora coming for him. He pressed the shock buttons and the Tesla coils activated shocking her. She screeched and then crawled away like a spider.

“Oh fuck me… Dad what monstrosity did you make ?”

Then he rushed to the monitor and started with the head. While he did that he kept thinking.

‘Ballora I can hear… Only leaves…’

“Dad ? Why are there strange noises coming from the speakers ?”

“It’s the alarm system for Funtime Foxy, if they malfunction. With that we can turn them off in time and restart their system.”

Dexter smacked his forehead.

“I am fucking stupid to forget that…”

He was done fusing the head and went to the legs. Suddenly there was a sound and Dexter rushed to Foxy’s stage and looked. It was malfunctioning and Dexter waited until the lights are off, then activated the shock gun and checked on Freddy.

‘He is not there anymore !’

He pressed the button and saw Freddy’s eyes turn green near the door. Dexter took a deep breath and rushed back to fuse the legs.

-Timeskip-

Dexter was almost done. He just needed a little bit of the right arm and then everything would be fused together. He ran back from Foxy’s stage and tripped.

“OW ! FUCK ME !”

Dexter was about to get up, but saw a red button in the dark. He pressed it and then got up and quickly finished the arm.

Through the speakers was he informed that the Animatronics were deactivated for better transport and that Dexter was supposed to go through the right door in the right hallway. So he did as he was told.

He was in another hallway and there were two normal doors and one steel door that would lead him further.

‘Maybe one of these doors are open now because of the button ?’

 Dexter tried the first one, nope. But the second one did open and there was a newspaper. He took it and read it.

‘….What…?’

“CORPSE STOLEN !

Unidentified woman wearing a costume stole an old man’s dead body”

‘What the fuck…?’

He dropped the newspaper and stared at it in horror.

“Why is this shit here and why would someone do that ?”

He shook his head and moved on. As soon as he saw the Elevator he gulped, hating that he has to go in there…

‘I remember the time Father said someone died in that fucking thing, because the metal fan blades on top of the elevator broke loose and they still turned while it fell into the elevator, cutting the guy in half… I can’t imagine how fast they turned and how sharp the edges of the blades were…’

He hesitantly stepped into the elevator and pressed the button to go down.

“Now that I think about it…what even is scoop mode ?”

Suddenly the elevator stopped and red light appeared. Dexter started to worry. Then he heard giggles and he looked up, seeing Minireenas above the fan blades. They stared at him and continued to laugh.

‘What are they doing here ? Shouldn’t they be with Ballora ?’

Soon enough they disappeared, but just out of sight, not from the elevator. They started to destroy it partly.

“HEY ! HEY STOP ! DON’T DO THAT !”, Dexter yelled in a panic.

Then the elevator lost its grip and Dexter started to fall down with it.

“PAPAAA !”, Dexter yelled in utter fear, gripping onto anything that stabilized him.

He still had his legs in the air and soon he realized it was stupid to hold onto something, instead to protect his head. So he wrapped his arms in front of his head and waited in his total panic. This time he was truly terrified and even shared a few tears. Was this the end ?

CRASH !

 The whole elevator crashed down and through an area that probably wasn’t a part of the attraction. Dexter laid in the elevator, passed out, but not dead yet. He was still breathing.

After 20 minutes he woke up and had a massive headache.

“Oww… Where am I now…?”

He slowly got up and looked around.

“Definitely not somewhere where I am supposed to be…”

He then looked at himself and touched over his whole torso.

‘No pain and I am still fully functioning… But I fell from meters above and that pretty fast… Springbonnie…what exactly did you do to me when I was close to dying that day…?’

He pushed that thought into the back of his head.

‘No time to question that. I need to move forward and find a way out of here… Springy is gone anyways, there is no point in questioning someone who is long gone…’

He moved to a door that was in front of him and to his surprise it opened. It was a storage closet. He spotted something on a little stepladder, he picked it up and his eyes bulged out as he read the name of the missing man.

‘Alfred Calvin Jones ! The Mental Health Center employee that was reported missing in that one piece of paper ! He talked with…Vanessa Addison Martins…? Isn’t she the new Security Guard in the Pizzaplex ?’

He read through the whole notes and it unsettled him slightly.

‘This girl actually sounds a bit mental… Not gonna lie…’

He put the file back down and then saw the big opening behind him.

“Another vent… Yay, because the other vents were all so assuring…”, Dexter said with sarcasm dripping off his tongue.

But he continued further.

It took him a lot of turns and some time until he finally got out.

“Bitch FINALLY !”, Dexter yelled when he was in another room and out of the vents.

He looked to his left and saw a room, shielded with bullet proof glass.

“What the…?”

In the small room were all the Funtime Animatronics, Dexter just had to face.

“Heck…?”

Then he spotted the door across the hallway and he made his way there, but froze up and turned around as he heard noises coming from the small room. Dexter yelped as he saw a big Animatronic endoskeleton. It had no casing on itself, it was just wires and eyeballs.

“Holy fuck…”

The robot stood up and stared at Dexter, then he punched the glass, getting it to crack.

“SHIIIIIIIT ! NOPE ! I’M OUT BIATCH !”, Dexter screamed and ran for the door, slamming it shut behind him and it locked itself on its own.

Dexter panted. Then he pulled out his Flashlight, to see more in the dark room only to realize that it was broken.

“Seriously ?! Why ?! Just fucking why ?!”

Dexter threw the flashlight on the floor in frustration and then slid down the door that locked itself. He was at a loss of what to do now. There was no TIP Manager, so he has no clues what that thing was nor how to beat it. He knows that it will be his next opponent. But it was not part of the attraction…

“Okay… Deep breaths and think… All the parts of the Funtimes were there with that thing… So maybe it’s a mishmash of all of them ? That means it has advanced eyes of Foxy, very good hearing from Ballora, a sense of feel where you are at all times from Freddy and probably the jumpscare of Baby… I hope I am right, otherwise I came so far for fucking nothing and I disappointed my Father and my Brother…”

With that he got up and started to blindly feel around the area. Soon enough he touched something and he grabbed it. There was a crank on it and he wound it up, it made a lot of noise and it gave light. Dexter looked around and saw a solar pallet. He held his flashlight on there and a door to his right opened.

‘Here goes nothing…’

With that he left his little room and into a…

‘Oh fuck no… A warehouse of all things right now ?! Shit !’

Dexter took off and ran almost into the middle and then hid there for a bit, hearing metal footsteps. He held his breath and had the flashlight under his dark shirt to hide the light. He looked underneath the shelves and saw its feet move further to the back. Dexter got up and ran for it to the other end of the warehouse.

He spotted a door and a note there with something that wants your ID Keycard.

Someone named John has one in the lower drawers on his desk.

‘Great now I need to find a desk too…’

He heard footsteps again and ran to his left for the hills. But…he spotted the Animatronic still many feet away, even though it just sounded like that thing was very close.

‘What the hell is wrong with me…?’

Dexter spotted a purple key and he picked it up and stuffed it into one of his pockets, then he continued his search for John’s desk.

-Timeskip-

It was hard to avoid the Animatronic while searching for the damn desk, but Dexter made it and found it. Though he sadly had to find a crowbar. He found one near John’s and he broke open the drawer, taking out the keycard. Then he sneaked his way back to the door and opened it.

Behind that door, was the generator and a door with a purple glowing lock. Dexter pulled out the key and unlocked the door, only to find a lab behind it.

‘What the fuck…?’

Dexter closed the door softly and then looked around. He saw a lot of equipment but also a drawing with numbers on them.

‘Steps… Get people to this location…get them…killed ?...get something out of them and into bottles, put bottles into…a machine…’

He continued to look around and spotted a covered dead body in a glass case.

‘Holy shit… Is that maybe Alfred…?’

Then he looked behind himself and spotted the continuation of the…plan ?

‘What…am I looking at…? So in these bottles is data that they will use to CLONE a human being, but in reality it’s an Animatronic and then….what ? Send someone else in there and do the same again…? Who the hell is doing this ?!’

Then he saw a tape and took it. He inserted it into the VHS tape player and the TV showed Dexter horrific things that scarred him.

“Heh..heh…heh…Mikey…you missed one fucker to kill… Even though I am not at all that surprised nor concerned… This furry ain’t in the Pizzaplex, nor near me, so I am not worried for now…”, he mumbled under his breath.

Then he left the room and saw that the monitors with the fuses were active.

‘Alright there are only three. I ran around this fucking warehouse so many times that I know everything right now…’

He looked closely.

‘Okay, I need to find the right fuse in there AND I need to look which cable leads to where to set it in right…’

And that Dexter did. After he finished the last one he heard a door opening and he rushed for it. He saw two ladders and he glared at them.

‘I HATE ladders…’

Then he climbed them up and soon was out of the warehouse and inside the last location that was a part of the attraction.

“Mike’s Pizzeria…”

The TIP Manager appeared in the small entrance to the room, where a rotten rabbit Animatronic sat in a chair.

“Not gonna lie he looks like shit…”

Then he read the instructions.

‘Vent light, use to flash them out, got it. Use monitor to defend from danger…I will need to look at that later what my options even are there…complete puzzles blah blah blah… okay let us start this shit.’

And then it started.

Dexter looked at the screen that showed the defense options and activated REPEL. He jumped as a loud sound appeared from behind him.

“Oh shit…”

He turned it off and used the CALL system, which started inside the room the robot sat in.

“Ah fuck…”

And lastly he used the door that closed off the room the bunny robot sat in.

“Understood. Ima drop that door when he comes, right. Comes to chew on my ass…”

Then he opened the door again and ran inside the room, he spottes a paper on the desk and he read it.

‘Scraptrap on chair…Molten Freddy in vents…Scrapbaby behind… Nice, I know their names now…’

With that Dexter continued his, hopefully, last stage to freedom and he can go home.

[dannydanoninoo]

So side note it's 2 am and my fucking Huntlow brainrot doesn't let me sleep so here's a small fic /prompton Willow's POV about... certain things we saw at the NYCC teaser💛💚

OR... Basically me hyperfixating over this frame and writing something BECAUSE LOOK AT THOSE HEART EYES PEOPLE

(no beta read bc this literally came out of my sleep deprived brain right now so sorry for any mistakes)

"Have you ever seen the rain?"

If someone had told Willow Park six months ago that she was going to become best friends with a human, and that scenario would lead to a series of events where she'd end up fighting the Emperor of the Isles (who got turned into goop by a purple child) and being on stuck on said human's house for weeks... Willow would probably had laughed at that someone's face.

But oh well... life has indeed unexpected paths for all of us I guess...

And yet somehow, that is not the weirdest part of everything her life has come to be

She, once Half-a-Witch Willow who had no friends and was scared of mostly everything had come up to make her own Flyer Derby team (just like her dads but she doesn't want to get too deep into that train of thought), fixed her friendship with Amity, had now a group of friends who loved her and who she loved so much and also had fallen for BEFRIENDED the kid behind the Golden Guard mask, better known as Hunter (or by that cute false name Caleb Jasper Bloodwilliams she did liked so much).

Now how did the boy ended up becoming such an important addition of her duo with Gus? She has no idea.

But it feels like it was something destined to happened, it's... natural. Just seeing him protecting the youngest boy, following his excitable shenanigans over human artifacts, with how much love he talks to Flapjack (and Clover the back of her mind screams) and just seeing him right now, under the human rain soaked in mud but laughing alongside Gus and Vee gives her heart a jittery feeling over how bright and beautiful the boy in front of her is.

So, she doesn't think twice when Camilla gives her the human camera and she snaps as much pictures of this moment as she can.

Titan knows this is a rare view considering the last few weeks (and in the case of Hunter maybe years, if the other night when she caught him cutting his own hair is any indication)

And yet, despite not knowing what's is going on with him and why he was so desperate to look different, Willow can't help but admire the strength her blonde has to step up and continue growing into Hunter himself and out of the whole Golden Guard title.

Also okay, she's not dumb and knows Luz and Gus might know more about what Hunter deal is, but she also know how important is the boy to her, how in the Day of Unity she was ready to do anything to keep him standing despite the draining spell, bit also how she would do anything to keep that image from happening ever again and be there to make sure he had more days like this.

It was just what she'd promised the day she adopted Clover: she will do everything to be strong and wise to protect the people she loves, even if that means "kill" an alarm clock for Vee or being there for the boy she's infatuated BEFRIENED! to cut his own hair at 3 am, holding him in his sleep, or simply silently showing she'll support him with whatever he hasn't told them yet whenever he's ready to do so. 

And who knows? Based on that soft toothy smile he's giving her right now, she could get another shot at cutting his hair, under nicer and much more domestic circumstances... Heh, it sounds like a cute fantasy but at least right now, under the non-boiling rain, and running towards his arms (and Gus' and Vee's) everything seems a little less impossible.

[redstringraven]

thought i'd participate in tmntvday since i've done some art of these two but haven't properly introduced them yet or whatever. OTP questions/prompts for week 1 under the cut!

[ID: a digital drawing of raph and a taller, purple-haired girl (gwyn, an oc). they're sitting on the ground in 'opposite' directions, raph reclined so his back and head are resting in her lap and he's looking up at her, smiling. she's smiling back down at him, and they both appear relaxed and at ease with each other. /END ID]

1) in which TMNT universe does your pairing exist?

the 2003 iteration because that's the only sandbox i play in.

2) introduce us to your OTP.

the idiot turtle is raphael and the lady-himbo is gwyneth. raph is from 3rd earth, and gwyn is from liáfsini, which is a world of my own making/kind of a world-between-worlds or nexus situation.

3) how did they meet?

in the most blunt, nutshell and to-the-point way possible: gwyn and her twin-sister-trapped-in-a-weapon are on the run from this druid (darach) from liáfsini, and she happened to cross onto earth. one of darach's hench-critters mistook casey for gwyn, the boys got wrapped up in a fight, gwyn intervened because she was like hey i probably shouldn't let these guys get wasted, they beat the hench-critter and got a chance to talk after.

they didn't really get along at first on account of raph being protective of his family and suspicious, so he was asking questions, and gwyn being paranoid about their intentions and not liking that she was being asked so many questions. terrible job everyone. ...again, this is an extremely condensed version of events.

4) how is the relationship now?

again, i feel like i have to give a very condensed version because there are a lot of moving parts, here. but essentially they're doing great. gwyn and raph develop a high level of trust and respect for each other, which then leads into a slow-burn/careful cultivation of more romantic-leaning feelings. they don't have much of a 'pining period', it's much more small 'pebbles' being thrown at each other's windows.

eventually one night at the farmhouse they catch themselves staring at the other a bit too long and both them realize kind of at the same time "...--oh fuck", awkwardly go their separate ways for the evening, but in the morning when neither of them act differently around each other they silently agree "...okay, let's try this" and step into a relationship. how long it takes everyone around them to notice the shift is anyone's guess because neither of them are much for PDA.

5) what is each other's love language?

raph's love languages for 'giving' are acts of service and quality time. gwyn's for 'giving' are physical touch and acts of service.

raph's love languages for 'receiving' are words of affirmation and physical touch. gwyn's are words of affirmation and quality time.

quality time and acts of service are the two that tend to be the most prevalent in their relationship, giving or receiving.

their own, personal, 'love language' is taking naps together. neither of them are people who trust easy or like appearing 'vulnerable’, so the act of sleeping in the same space as one another is a big gesture for both of them. and raph’s snoring doesn’t bother gwyn that much; it actually almost tethers her to the present and makes it harder for her to slip into a night terror or experience sleep paralysis.

6) do they get married or have any kids?

no and no. i don't think the concept of marriage is important to either of them, even if they could probably do it in liáfsini. i can see them doing something to symbolize that they're together--like, the concept of rings but something different and tied to liáfsian culture--but actually going through with legal/official marriage or a ceremony? nah.

as for having kids, they can't biologically have kids of their own, and i don't see them actively looking to adopt, either. best chance of them having a kid is "what's with this sassy, lost child?" and accidentally wind up found-family adopting some snarky orphan on a mission or something idk.

7) what is your favorite thing about this pairing? (gush as much as you want!)

*just kind of stands here with my microphone* ... disaster bis on the ace spectrum. goongala. *the crowd goes wild*

[roscgcld]

HEADCANON + GOJO SATORU || the gojo twins

request: HELLO^^ so I’ve been wondering this so long but do you think it would even be possible if Gojo had a twin sister that also has the sixth eye ? Probably not but, I’d kinda want to know what the clans higher ups and curses react to 2 sixth eye user.

note: I am glad I am not the only one thinking about this lol. like what if they were two gojos? absolute chaos the world has ever seen. i love it, this entire prompt lives in my head rent free lol

pronouns: she/her

gojotwins!au masterlist

imagine the other clan’s reactions when they learn that not one, but two of the gojo clan’s newest heirs were born with the highly coveted Six Eyes?

gojo satoru and y/n - the newest members of the gojo clan, twins that are born with the Six Eyes. a first case that has ever happened in the family’s history. it was this monumental moment when the higher ups realise that things are going to be interesting

by the way - you’re the older twin lol. just so you can poke jabs at gojo for the rest of your life by using the line. “i’m the older sibling here!”

“only by like, two minutes!”

that being said though, over-protective twin brother who will scare all your boyfriends/girlfriends the first time they meet because of his height and overly nice personality that scares people even more

you’re just as bad though - if any girl or guy walks out of his room after a night of fun you will probably be a little bitch and make them feel awkward until gojo wakes up

“can’t you be a little nicer to them?” gojo groans after the person he slept with last night quickly left after an awkward cup of morning coffee with you. “I actually liked them a lot.”

but it’s all done with love, and if the other realise their significant other makes them happy, they will back off

the moment you two entered jujutsu tech, then yaga-sensei was about to hand in his retirement slip early with the sheer chaos that his year of students were bringing him 

ieiri was delighted that she wasn’t going to be the only girl at school; geto was amused how you two were basically copy and paste of each other, just in different genders

surprisingly enough, think you’d be the one who’d be the more studious and definitely more interesting in learning how to hone your skills better - gojo probably still has this ‘i am the strongest’ mentality that the elders planted in him because ✨misogyny✨

but he loves to compete with you - and you’re the only one who’d he ever admit defeat to, and will defend your honour whenever the elders talk down on you because you’re a girl. and to them, girls are just meant to be ‘a pretty face with strong genes to bring a strong generation into the world’

he’s probably the one who talked your elders out of arranging a marriage between you and an heir to another important family like the kamo clan - because there is no way in hell is he going to let some random ass man take you away from him

probably joking told you that if all else fails, to marry geto on the spot - and let’s be honest here, who wouldn’t? Geto looks so damn fine both the anime and especially in the Gojo Past Arch. rail me daddy-

*cough cough*

anyway - ever since that comment, geto and you might pretend to flirt with each other to get gojo riled up. playfully brushing your hand along his arm, playing with his hair between your fingers whenever you two talk, geto leaning close to you to whisper something in your ear with a smirk, or him resting his hand around your waist whenever he leads you about

it always gets gojo riled up, and he’d get in between the both of you; whining for you to give him attention instead

you probably sneak into his room, even as you got older, to hide in his arms whenever you have a nightmare - and he’d wordlessly just hold you close and cuddle you to sleep again no matter how old you two are

both of you share the same braincell - same reactions, expressions, and sometimes even finishing each other’s sentences. sometimes you two even say the same thing at the same time, to which you two just high five each other with a laugh 

freaks everyone out a little, since it’s just so random and natural for the both of you to do it 

nanami hates it whenever he has to accompany you two - as his senpais, he can’t complain much. he does learn a lot, yet at the same time, he can’t stand it when the both of you are sent on a mission together 

with you he’s fine; but he barely tolerates gojo 

ijichi loves you, since you compliment him on the smallest of things, or smile at him warmly whenever he does something right; may have a crush on you that he refuses to reveal to anyone

both of you probably have shopping trips every weekend; don’t tell me you two don’t splurge on clothing when you two can charge whatever it is you want to the gojo clan account 

you two probably got a lot of those roadside modelling offers - and sometimes you’d probably even joke about leaving the whole jujutsu world behind to become a model instead

“i mean - it pays. and all i need to do is sit and look pretty.”

a lot of ‘did not!’ and ‘did too!’ arguments all day long 

you two love to taunt the Curses together before you kill them - it makes them only more scared, but the ‘chase more fun’

“say, toru - it looks so weak for a semi-first, no?”

“must be a new born - how pathetic.”

bags of candies all over the place - somehow he got you addicted to candy as well, so whenever you two travel, you always buy different candies and different treats 

when geto betrayed you all in your third year, gojo turned to you as his pillar of familiarity; even more so when he was force to kill his best friend a few years later. the both of you leaned on each other as you start to pick the pieces of yourselves once more

both you and your brother share the same idea of changing the jujutsu world from the inside out, so you two decided to take up teaching together under the command of now principal yaga

poor man is deciding if he now regrets accepting both of your applications 

you took in megumi as your own by the way - so megumi respects you a lot since you’re like the mother he never had. but at the same time, he wouldn’t be surprise if he heard that you do something stupid with your twin brother

feel like gojo and you will spend your free time probably trying to unlock more secrets of the Limitless and how to use your Six Eyes better - and Gojo will teach you how to probably use Hallow Purple and how to use Reverse Cursed Techniques with the held of ieiri as well

you took in maki, inumaki and even panda as your own kids as well - teaching them whenever gojo is forced to go and solve some issue the higher ups throw at him; making the kids super protective of you

even when yuta came, you didn’t care about the special grade curse that was stuck inside of him; treating him like an actual person and training him up and build his confidence once more

when you heard what happened to the special-grade cursed object that megumi was tasked on taking the following year, you laughed your ass off for 10 minutes while megumi tried not to show his annoyance

“y/n-sensei, i almost died. it is not funny.”

but you still took yuji in as your own child, and when you were giving him a tour around campus, you raised an eyebrow when a pair of lips appeared on the side of his cheek

“even though i want to kill that white haired bastard, i might spare your pretty little face.” 

“hello to you too, sukuna.” you greeted with a smile while yuji slapped a hand over the mouth, apologising to you with a wild blush on his face. you just laughed and reassured the poor boy it was alright

when nobara came, you adopted her as well; and she loves you, and loves how in tune with the trends you are. you two even have a girl’s night where you talk about everything that happens and have a few rants about boys

all in all - highkey chaotic, but with more common sense then your younger twin brother gojo and knows how to act professional whenever you need to. you also tend to adopt all the students that walks through your doors, and they view you as a parental figure as well. you and your brother are a menace together, but you two get things done and no one can really complain

gojo is protective, but when it comes to you it’s worse lol. but you’re just as bad when it comes to making sure ‘your baby brother’ is safe. you two tend to be super sassy and throw shade at each other, but when it comes down to the basics, you two love each other a lot and will go the extra mile to make sure that each other are safe

© roscgcld — all rights reserved to me, rose, the author and creator of these works. do not repost/translate/claim my work as yours on any platform

[georgiapeach30513]

His Own Sprinkles

🖤🖤🖤🖤

Summary:  Jax can’t sleep

Pairings:  Ransom X Jax

Rating:  sprinkles on a sundae

Warnings:  Ransom...because he’s the smartest and softest man, 18+ ONLY

Word Count:  1.3K

Desperate Lives AU Masterlist

Posie Rogers Masterlist

Jax wanders into the kitchen.  He couldn’t sleep.  Thankfully, Posie was more than comfortable, and even snoring a bit.  Because he just needed some water, and a moment to think.  Traveling through the huge twisting house was confusing at first, but now he had figured out the best ways to get to the main rooms.  Large living room, dining room, kitchen, a few bathrooms, Ransom and Kitten’s room because that’s where Abel and Oakley always found themselves sleeping, and his and Posie’s room.

Walking into the large kitchen he grabs a glass, and fills it up with water thinking about everything.  It isn’t fair that this family is in lockdown.  These children ripped from school.  Opie’s girlfriend intaking more children than she was used to.  Arleigh teaching older kids than she normally does, living in a treehouse, and halting work.  All because of him.

“It’s not your fault,” Ransom sighs walking to the freezer.  He sits down a tub of specially made ice cream before walking to the pantry.  “A local shop makes that for us.  I get it out for special occasions.”

“Or a midnight snack?” the younger boy asks.

“You look like you need someone to listen to you,” walking over to that special cabinet, Jax can’t help but smile at these magic sprinkles that Ransom and everyone in this house is very fond of, probably more so because how happy they make him.  Ransom grabs a bottle of his own mix, a hodge podge of what appears to be every sprinkle in the cabinet.  And then two more containers, only two colors. 

“You know why my sprinkles are what everyone calls the ugly ones?”

“Because there’s no rhyme or reason to them?” Jax gives a soft chuckle, and Ransom pouts a bit nodding his head.

“Yeah.  They’re a little bit of all the sprinkles in that cabinet.  Because my life means nothing to me without all my people.  There’s my Kitten in there.  A bit of Steve and Marta, that annoying Jake, yep the neon green is his.  Oh, but see that?  That’s from Blade’s, and even Aster, that right there is my first granddaughter Posie’s.  All these people make up Hugh Ransom Drysdale,” the older man slides over the two bottles of sprinkles.

“You were a tough one to crack,” he walks back to the cabinet reaching up to the top to get out Posie’s sprinkles of black and white music notes, white jimmies, and aqua and purple pearls.  “Posie’s.  Those are black pearls, the same one used for Opie’s, and some white skulls.”

“I’m not part of SAMCRO.”

“You were.  It was apart of you.  The ink is permanently etched in your skin.  You’ve got skulls on your rings.  Make your mix.  It doesn’t have to be evenly filled.  No one says you have to have more than one thing or another.  I also got these,” opening up a drawer he pulls out a small container of daisy sprinkles, and even blue, green, and white sprinkles.  “Abel’s.  I think you can guess who the daisies are for.  Here, and there’s your glass jar.”

Walking over to a cabinet he pulls out two bowls, and grabs his special ice cream scoop that can NOT be put in the dishwasher.  People have done it, and they’ve been forced to buy him a new one.  The old man watches Jax stare at the jars, not moving, and he’s just blank.  “Is something wrong?”

“I did this to you guys.  You’re here, locked up because of me, and you’re being kind.”

“Well, Numb Skull, oh, I’ve got to remember that.  You got a nickname.  You’re in now.  Anyways,” Ransom clears his throat, starting scoop out a bit of cookie butter before he pops it into the microwave for melting.  “It’s already Biscoff ice cream, but this is special.  What was I saying, while these circumstances are unfortunate, it proves to me how tight my family is.  How quick our adopted family was to be there for us, for you and Abel.  We started out like those individual jars, that you’re refusing to mix.”

Ransom waits to continue, until Jax starts mixing a bit of the sprinkles.  “We were a bunch of strays that found each other, and we’re so protective of one another.  Some of us had to have our children marry each other, but we wouldn’t have had a Posie, a Jameson, a Birdie Mae, an Analey, and so many more.  We’re making this big family that means more to me than my actual blood relatives.  These people would do anything, and I do mean anything to protect us, and we do the same for them.  I know you feel we’re trapped, but every night when I crawl into bed with my wife, and those two little boys, and sometimes a few more are in the bed with us because we make them feel safe, I thank you sometimes.  Not the fear that’s out there, but letting us remember how much we cherish each other.  Like your brotherhood.”

Jax looks up at Ransom before pouring in a few of the skull sprinkles.  “You can still have that and not do the illegal nonsense.  No one says you can’t start your own legit club.  Make Posie a real old lady.  Sweet Abie and Daisy with their Harley bikes,” with a swirl of whipped cream, he slides his bowl over.  “Sprinkle it.”

Jax huffs out a laugh, and shakes out his own sprinkle blend.  It shouldn’t make a difference, but it does.  He feels a weight being lifted off his shoulders, as he looks at the hodge podge of sprinkles.  “I think it’s a beautiful mix.  Grabbing Posie’s sprinkles, he puts them on the other bowl, sliding it beside Jax.  “There you go, sweetheart.  I do want a bite though.  Clean up after yourselves.”

Walking over to Posie he gives her a kiss to her cheek, before grabbing a bite of her ice cream, and walking back to his room.  With a kiss on Jax’s lips, she sits down in the stool beside him.  The usual sports bra and flannel sleep pants on, and Jax calmly moves his hand over his daughter’s nest, before looking back up at her with a smile.  Reaching to take a bite of his sundae.

“I got my own sprinkles, and he made me a famous sundae.  I think they really are magic sprinkles.”

“I missed you in that cold bed,” Posie gives a loving look to Jax before eating a bite of her own sundae.

“How much did you hear?”

“Enough.  I’m not unhappy, Jaxy.  I’m very happy.  It’s a rush order on our plan,” she giggles, and rubs along the swell of her belly.  “But I’m happy that I’m doing this life with you, and our son, and soon our daughter.  We’re in this together.  And I don’t mind you talking to my Papa, he’s pretty smart in a weird metaphorical way.  But I also don’t want you to carry all this burden on your own.  This happened to you, too.  She manipulated and abused you.  Kept your son from you.  None of that is your fault.  She’s crazy.  But we’ll be fine.  CC and Eva won’t let her get away with anything.  Eva is a ticking time bomb.  Oh.”

Jax looks up at Posie worriedly when she rubs along her stomach.  “Is our daughter misbehaving for her mama?”

“I think she’s dancing because her daddy got his own sprinkles.  They even have daisies in them.”

“Ransom, he’s a big softie, huh?”

“The softest.  You should see him with Mimi when he thinks no one is listening.  Maybe you should talk to him about how he fell in love.  No story is just beauty, Jaxy.  My family knows a thing or two about that.  Aster, my mom, Story, Blade, Lucy I think is about the only one.  What’s beautiful is finding someone worth living with.  And I did.  We’ll work through all this ugly, and I don’t care, as long as I’m with you.  Now eat your messy sprinkles and sundae.  Mama needs a deep massage to go back to sleep.”

Masterlist

[soulmate-game]

“Are you paw-sitive this is alright?” Selina half-purred half-asked. The slender cat thief was dressed casually— for her, anyway— in a floor length amethyst purple gown that swept just barely above the floor, accentuating her curves and coming down in a deep V neck that was just barely within the constraints of being acceptable for public appearances. Her companion, almost half a foot shorter even in her short heels, was a stark contrast. It was as if all the two women had in common was their hair color, a rich deep black that shimmered blue in the right lighting.

Marinette, with her hair done up in two buns and wearing a sensible pink-and-white cheongsam top with apple blossom embroidery paired with an ankle-length denim skirt that had a knee-high slit in the front, nodded even as she eyed her friend’s choice of outfit with a small frown.

“Of course. Bruce is in the media’s eye all the time, and he knows I don’t have a care for the spotlight. But you do,” Marinette stopped talking for a second, snapping her fingers and reaching into her purse. She pulled out a gorgeous inch-thick collar necklace that was made entirely of thick panels of flawless silver and high-quality diamond. At the very center of the collar necklace, where it would hang right in the center of Selina’s collarbone, was a diamond-and-obsidian cat face. “I knew I was forgetting something! Bourgeois owed me a favor for doing the outfit for her last magazine cover pro bono, so I asked for this as payment. It’s exactly what your outfit is missing.”

Just because Marinette didn’t like revealing clothing didn’t mean she couldn’t appreciate someone else wearing one well, after all. And Selina wore her dress perfectly.

Selina quirked an eyebrow, eyeing the necklace with her expert gaze. Gently, she trailed her fingertips over the tops of the diamonds in the thick bands of the collar as a small smile flicked over her lips. She raised her eyes up to Marinette’s, light green eyes sparkling with mischief and knowing.

“You got this as a bribe for me, didn’t you kitten?”

Marinette smiled unashamedly. “I know you’re a proud lesbian, but would you mind playing the role of Bruce’s girlfriend, just for the media? And only while you’re single, of course. If you ever want out, you only have to say the word. Bruce already agreed, but he also doesn’t mind continuing to play the careless bachelor if you aren’t willing.”

Selina scoffed, rolling her eyes and grabbing the necklace. Effortlessly, she swung it around her neck and clasped it in place. “Please, darling. You and I both know it drives you up a wall when Brucie is hounded by gold diggers every time he steps foot out of that mansion of his. I’ll play the camera-girlfriend, but only for a maximum of a year. And you two can only call on me one a week at most, a girl’s gotta have some time to herself.”

Marinette nodded eagerly. “That’s fine! We probably won’t even call on you that much, Bruce is planning to play the ‘we want to keep our relationship pretty low-key’ card for now. Just an appearance once a month or two ought to satisfy those vampiric paparazzi.”

Selina just smiled. She had practically adopted Marinette years previous, during a trip to Paris where she had found out she apparently had a male doppelgänger. Now the two were sisters in all but official (Not-forged) legal documents. And because of that, Bruce had somehow become her brother.

Which Bruce later found out, meant that Selina would relentlessly tease him every time she needed to appear as his “girlfriend.”

Relentlessly.

But Marinette and Bruce had a Plan. She wasn’t quite ready to make a public appearance as his real girlfriend, mostly because of loose ends that still had to be tied back in France. She was making so many trips back and forth between the two countries that they couldn’t see each other in person much to begin with, so they also didn’t want their few in-person meetings tainted by greedy D-rate journalists.

But yes, they had a Plan. One year was the perfect time frame for the last stretch of said plan. Marinette would tie up the last few things she had to do in Paris, start an official branch of her fashion company in Gotham, and they would stage an entire break-up with Selina, a three-month “break” to “recover” and then a suitably dramatic, romantic “meet-cute” between the two of them to start what the media would see as a love-at-first-sight, fairytale relationship.

Nobody needed to know about Marinette and Bruce’s five-year pining session, or their one-year fumble through figuring out how to date one another before actually getting it right, or the most recent three-years of dealing with the fact that they were both highly experienced hero/vigilantes, the leaders of their own hero teams, and highly accomplished business people.

It was a hard relationship utterly riddled with drama, but they had finally reached the stable point where they were ready to commit. Sort of. They just needed Selina to fake-date Bruce in the public eye for a couple months, and then everything would be fine.

—*—*—*—*—*

One year and three months later.

Marinette shifted her purse on her shoulder. This would be her first time in over five years actually setting foot inside the Wayne Manor. She was excited to see Alfred again, and to hash out the last details for her and Bruce’s public “meet-cute.” But Alfred didn’t open the door this time, a short green-eyed boy with an all-too-familiar frown on his face did.

And once again, Marinette knew that Selina was not the mother. Her pseudo-sister was, as she had said so long ago, a very proud lesbian. But Marinette did know of a past fling of Bruce’s who did possess the proper genes to help create a child of this age.

Marinette smiled, pushing her inner rage at the thought of Talia Al Ghul out of her mind. She was still pissed beyond all rational thought when she heard about what Talia had done to Bruce. But this child was not at fault for any of it, only an innocent by-product.

“Hello. My name is Marinette Dupain-Cheng. Would you mind telling Alfred I’m here?”

“Tt. Why should I?” The apparently bratty boy asked, crossing his arms and glaring straight at her. Marinette felt her eye twitch.

“I am a close friend of Bruce— Would I be correct in assuming he’s your biological father?” Immediately upon her question, the boy’s eyes widened ever so slightly in shock before his glare intensified. Marinette chuckled. “He didn’t tell me that he adopted any new children, and he always tells me when he adopts. Which means he didn’t have to adopt you, suggesting you are related to him directly. You can’t be a cousin or nephew, he has no living blood family. And all his pseudo-siblings are alive and fine, so you weren’t left to his care in anybody’s will,” she deduced out loud for him. “Plus, the green eyes and tan skin— I know of exactly one of Bruce’s past… suitors… who happens to fit the timeframe and features necessary.”

The boy raised an eyebrow. “Most assume that I am that harlot Selina Kyle’s spawn,” he snapped, but it lacked the same heat this time around. He was now analyzing her face closely, and Marinette noticed. She was careful to keep her eagerness toned down. She really just wanted to see Bruce and be able to hug and cuddle him for the first time in almost a year, and this child was her only obstacle at the moment. A very stubborn one.

Marinette sighed. “Selina is like a sibling to me, don’t call her a harlot. If Selina was ever pregnant, I would have known. Hell, Selina would have given me her baby to raise because she doesn’t have any interest in being a mother. Now, the polite thing to do when someone introduces themselves is so introduce yourself back. Not interrogate or intimidate them.”

The boy huffed, straightening his emerald turtleneck and rolling his shoulders back. “I am Damian Wayne,” he replied imperiously. “And Father has never mentioned a friend by the name Marinette. Which leads me to believe you are yet another no good hopeful suitor, and Father is still recovering after he and Kyle finally split up for good.”

Marinette froze, and slowly her eyes narrowed. “He never mentioned my name? Ever?”

“Tt. I already said no.”

Finally, the shape of Alfred Pennyworth came into view behind Damian. He had obviously heard the last bit of the conversation, because he just sighed and shared a long suffering look with Marinette. It was that look that made Marinette’s eye twitch a second time.

“Alfred,” she said slowly. “Has he mentioned me at all to any of his kids?”

“He has not,” Alfred replied. “And furthermore, Miss Selina would not stop giving him a hard time whenever he had to call her out for an appearance. It seems all of the children mistook their relationship for actually being of a romantic nature.”

Damian spun to the butler, eyes wide and swimming with a multitude of emotions. “What do you mean, ‘actually’, Alfred?”

“He means,” Marinette began before Alfred had the chance. Her eyes were narrowed, matching storms of dark, furious blue. “That Selina was only pretending to be Bruce’s girlfriend so that the press and gold-diggers would leave him alone. And apparently I need to beat some sense into my stupid, idiotic boyfriend, who I should have known would do something like this,” she looked up at Alfred, jaw clenching. “That man would never be able to pass for a functioning human without either you or me keeping his head screwed on. Where is he?”

“Not at the manor currently, Mademoiselle Marinette.”

“Alfred.”

The butler gave Marinette a rather mischievous little grin. “Master Bruce has forbade me from telling you where he is currently, he wanted you to stay at the manor and sleep the jet lag off until he got back. But I can tell you that he is not currently on Earth or on a mission.”

“Alfred!” Damian hissed, shocked that the man would say something so revealing. Alfred was the perfect secret keeper, why would he tell someone Bruce had never mentioned something so telling?”

“Oh, calm yourself Master Damian,” Alfred soothed. “Marinette has known about Master Bruce’s nighttime activities since before you were born. If anything, I believe he rightfully deserves the wake up call he is about to receive.”

Marinette nodded, eyes still stormy and determined. “Alright, so he’s at the Watchtower. The Zeta tunes are still in the Batcave, right?” When Alfred nodded, Marinette wasted no time. She easily slid around Damian and stormed into the manor, finding her way to the Batcave on pure muscle memory and rage.

“Wait, Alfred! I demand an explanation!” Damian’s loud voice slowly grew quieter as Marinette stormed down into the cave, ignoring how Alfred began to calmly explain the situation to the boy. She just slid right in to the Zeta tube, and commanded the computer to send her to the Watchtower.

“P-001, codename LADYBUG, recognized.”

—*—*—*—*—*

Batman pinched his nose from where he stood at the head of the meeting room in the watchtower. The briefing was supposed to start over an hour ago, but Hal Jordan had been twenty minutes late. No surprise there. But still, SuperMan had insisted that they wait until everyone arrived. And really, normally Batman would too. Except that his long time girlfriend was going to be landing in Gotham any minute now, and he would rather be back at the manor to greet her.

And the asinine argument that had been going on for the past forty minutes was finally going to end, even if Bruce had to hogtie every last one of his insufferable coworkers himself and force them through the rest of the meeting strapped to their chairs.

“Okay, can we PLEASE begin the meeting now, or so help me I will break out my kryptonite restraints,” he threatened darkly. He might have only mentioned Kryptonite, but everyone knew that that threat was actually aimed at all of them. Batman knew every last one of their weaknesses and was not above being petty when they strained his last nerve.

Quickly getting the hint, the entire room rushed to fill their seats and at least fake at paying attention. But of course, nothing goes quite right in the life of Bruce Wayne. Right as he turned on the slideshow he had prepared and began the meeting, the sound of an enraged woman’s voice echoed down the hallway in a deafening roar.

“BRUCE THOMAS WAYNE, YOU ARE IN SOOOO MUCH TROUBLE!”

Batman felt as if someone had just shoved him into a cryogenic freezer, a harsh shiver of dread running down his spine. There was exactly one person who could terrify him with a single word, and it just so happened to be the woman he was hiding a wedding ring from.

For the past eight years, but that’s neither here nor there.

“Oh shit,” Bruce breathed, but found he was unable to move from his spot. Yes, he wanted to see Marinette so badly that it hurt. But he also would like to stay alive.

SuperMan leaned forward, not really concerned since Batman would have reacted much differently had the voice been coming from a real threat. Instead, the man leveled his old friend with a very teasing smirk.

“Why is your heart suddenly racing?”

Bruce could only glare daggers at Clark before the door to the meeting room swung open, a tiny French woman standing there in a long, formal white-and-pink knee-length gown with a cheongsam neckline and one of her leaf-green heels held in each hand threateningly.

“You absolute idiot! When I said I wanted to keep our relationship out of the public eye, I didn’t mean to keep me a secret from EVERYBODY!”

“But darling—“ Bruce cut himself off as he was forced to dodge one deadly-accurate piece of flying footwear. “You don’t understand. The boys cannot keep a secret to save their life.”

“They have secret identities, don’t they?” She slipped her other shoe back on. She had known that her shoe never had a chance of hitting, and with Bruce in full Batman gear, even if it had hit him the high heel would have felt like she had only thrown a pillow. Had it been otherwise, she wouldn’t have even joked about throwing her shoes at him. But as it stood, she knew none of the normal things she had on her would be able to so much as make Bruce say “ow.”

Marinette placed both of her fists on her hips, marching up to Batman and pulling him down the full foot it took for him to be able to look her in the eye. His resulting gulp was clearly audible, and visible, to everyone else in the room. “You absolute, emotionally dense moron,” her voice had dropped from a yell to a mildly fond, but still very annoyed, grumble. “Your kids are mostly adults now, you know. And you never told me about Damian either. Did you honestly think I’d be mad?” Bruce looked away from her, which was honestly all the answer she needed. Marinette sighed, letting him go and softening her voice. “You need to trust your kids more, Bruce. I never wanted you to keep me a secret from your family, or even your close friends. Just the annoying ass paparazzi. And trust me a little bit more, yeah? I know it isn’t exactly your strong suit, but I’ve known you long enough that you should know I’m not gonna run for the hills just because you have a biological kid that wasn’t with me.” Marinette risked giving him a slightly vulnerable, lopsided smile. And Bruce immediately deciphered what it meant. His shoulders slumped.

The cost of using the Ladybug Miraculous for so long was that Marinette had to give up her fertility. She could never have children of her own, and Bruce had felt guilty that he had had a biological child, even though he hadn’t exactly consented to it, without her. But now he could see where he went wrong.

Marinette was just happy to have another piece of him to take care of. She never would have resented him for what had happened with Talia. And, seeing all of those facts written on her face now, he felt more than a little blind.

“... sorry.”

Marinette just huffed out a short, soft laugh before grabbing Bruce by the bicep. She turned to look at the other heroes still in the room, half of them uncomfortable with seeing such an emotional display while the others looked like they were incredibly invested in a good soap opera. She shot them a grin.

“I’m stealing him for the next few days, okay? Don’t worry, I’m sure you can make do with making Diana read the slideshow. I know from experience that it has everything you guys need to know and more. Don’t call us, I’ll field all your contact to Agent A!!” With that, she dragged Bruce by the arm out of the room.

To be fair, he wasn’t exactly resisting. Even if the reunion was far from ideal, just having this little bit of contact was extremely relaxing for the vigilante. When they reached the Zeta Tubes, he stopped Marinette and pulled her in for a kiss.

When they inevitably pulled away for breath, he smiled at her. “As soon as we get back, I’ll call everyone in and explain the situation,” he promised. “And then, we can spend the rest of the night doing whatever you want.”

Marinette smiled back, shoving him into the Zeta Tube. “Then get ready, because I wanna sleep off this damn jet lag and I plan on cuddling you like a koala the whole time. No escape.”

“B-001, Codename BATMAN. Recognized.”

“Can’t wait,” he replied right before he was whisked off. The sound of the love of his life laughing followed him through until he reached the other end of the teleportation.

—*—*—*—*—*

@maribat-writing-and-prompts

[bunnys-beetlejuice-blog]

But What If, Instead

Decided to give a go to posting my horribly named but hopefully very fun Beetlejuice fic to tumblr as well. This is an au where BJ is adopted by the Deetz family at a young age.

He’s twelve when he’s left on his own in the upperworld.

He doesn’t know he’s twelve, because he’s never celebrated a birthday, but that timeline seems to fit, later, when he thinks back on it. So he’s twelve. His mother has promised him a special treat that day, and though he’s skeptical to trust her, he follows her quietly through the door she’s drawn, the bone white stick of chalk a blaring contrast to the dark hallways of the netherworld reception office. She’d knocked, and the drawing was more than a drawing, suddenly, with white light and noise spilling through into his little corner of hell as it opened, and when he steps through, Betelgeuse sees blue skies and green grass for the first time in his unlife. He’d turned back to look at Juno, confused, curious, his big orange snake eyes watching her, waiting for the catch, for her to yank him back and punish him for being naive, and trusting her, but all the demoness had done was billow smoke from her slit throat, and nod encouragingly to him. He takes another step, and another and another, and suddenly he’s running and laughing and jumping and the air up here is different, but good, and he takes breaths he doesn't need because it feels nice, and he turns to her again to try and entice her to play with him- And the door is gone. He stands there, staring at the nothingness where she and it had been, and realization hits him hard, because he’s twelve, and he’s been left on his own.

He doesn't cry, both because he can’t, and because he knows it won’t change anything. It doesn’t take him long to find them. Pre ghosts. Breathers. Humans. The place is lousy with them, and the smell of them irritates his sensitive nose. He’s a dumb kid, sure, but he’s got some survival instincts, so he hides from them as they go about their lives, strolling around this place, completely oblivious to the little demon now crashing their dimension. Breathers look so weird, all flushed with blood and bright eyed and hearts beating, no signs of death or rot or decay on them. It’s a lot to ask a kid to get used to. The ghosts back home, the ones workin in Ma’s office, tell him stories about the world up here, sometimes, usually in exchange for him going away, and leaving them the hell alone. (Their words) If there was one thing he learned from them, it was that humans, living or dead, didn’t like things that were strange or unusual. He wanders the wilds of wherever he is for an hour before he finds a body of water, and stooping to peer into it, takes a look at himself.

His skin is pale, but not pink. The undercolor is purple, maybe, which he would have thought would be close enough, but compared to the living, breathing people walking around this place, he knows is too different. There’s not much he can do about that. His hair is a bushy mess, sticking up all over the place, but at least the color is currently green. It’s the eyes, teeth, and ears that really stand out. Yellow snake-like slits stare back at him, long pointed ears flick in the direction of distant sounds, and when he tries to smile down at his reflection, those too many too sharp teeth are all he can see. He’s not the best at magic, yet, mostly using it to play pranks around the office (and hey, maybe that’s why Ma left him here in the first place?) but he does what he can. He throws a glamour over himself, and it’s far from perfect, but the three big problems are taken care of. He looks more human than he did a minute ago, at least, and that’s something.

He’s less afraid to take the main paths, after that, and with that worry out of the way, he finds himself enjoying the afternoon again. So, ma left him here. So what? She’s done him a favor, probably the first she’s ever done anybody, because now he doesn't have to be around her just as much as she doesn’t have to be around him. It’s a win-win, Betelgeuse thinks stubbornly, trotting along the winding pathways lined with benches and garbage cans and other silly human things. He’s starting to get a bit tired of all the green when he reaches, quite unexpectedly, the end of it. There’s a big arched sign, and he can’t understand the language written over head, even though he’s squinting and tilting his head. Someone at some point had sat him down and tried to teach him letters, and he’d gotten far enough to read through the first page of the Handbook, but then that person had been reassigned, and was gone, and no one had cared to keep teaching him.

He’s holding his hands up at his sides, rubbing his red tipped claws against the palms of his hands, top teeth biting over his bottom lip, head tilted to one side in an extreme, when he hears a snort and then a soft giggle.

There’s a woman standing in front of him. Her hair is a sunny yellow color, but her clothing is dark and dramatic, and there are roosting bats dangling from her ears. She’s laughing at him. They stare at each other for a long moment, her hand raised in front of her mouth, her eyes crinkled pleasantly at the corners, and he finally breaks the silence by pointing at the sign, and speaking. “Wazzat say?” She blinks in surprise at his grating little voice, and then glances back at the sign. “Krap Lartnec,” she tells him. “Which is flipped around and backwards for “Central Park.” He’s been staring at the sign the wrong way. Of course. He feels his cheeks heat up with embarrassment. “Oh. Got it. Park. Right, yeah.” She lets out another laugh, and it’s so different from the sounds his mother makes when she’s guffawing at him, shaming him, that it almost doesn’t register as a laugh at first. There’s no cruelty to it, just amusement, and maybe curiosity. “Are you here alone?” she asks him, and he shrugs easily. “I guess.” She moves closer to him, cautiously, like he’s going to bite her, or bolt, but he doesn’t really feel the need to be worried over one breather. He knows he could rip out her throat if he needs to. The glamour only hides his demonic features, not takes them away. He’s still plenty capable of taking care of himself. “Where are your parents?” She's crouched down next to him now, one knee on the pavement, big brown eyes all sweet and worried, and he shrugs again. “Don’t have a dad. Mom’s downstairs.” She squints at that, and he gestures down with a pointed red claw tip. “Ya know. Downstairs.” The way he emphasizes it is meaningful, and when her eyes show understanding, he assumes she gets it. “Oh, I’m so sorry.” “Don’t be. I’m havin’ a good time.”

That doesn’t seem to be what she expects, but she just nods thoughtfully. “Are you staying someplace?” He can’t, for the undeath of him, figure out why she’s asking, and why she cares. He shrugs again, because things feel better in threes, and says vaguely, “I guess I’m stayin’ here.” That also doesn’t seem to be a good answer. “You can’t stay in the park overnight. There’s creeps around here.” He bites back the urge to explain that he’s the creepiest thing here, because suddenly she’s taking his hand, and she feels cool to the touch. “Good god, kiddo, you’re burning up!” she puts her other hand on his forehead, all the play gone from her voice, clearly concerned. “You might have a fever. Listen…” she worries her bottom lip with her teeth, smudging the dark color there, before she makes a decision. “Why don’t you come home with me? I’ll give you something to eat, make sure you’re alright, and we’ll figure out what to do from there, okay?” He isn’t sick, and he’s pretty sure he can’t get sick. It’s the hellfire in his veins that makes him hot, because he’s not like her, not even close, but the idea of following her seems like a fine one to him, so he just nods. “Kay. You got bugs where you live?” She snorts again, and stands, brushing off her dark, rose patterned tights. “Sure, what New York apartment doesn’t have a few roaches lurking around. You like bugs?” “Yeah, I like em. They’re crunchy an’ they skitter around an’ stuff.” “Yeah,” she agrees, nodding thoughtfully. “Bugs kick ass.” It’s his turn to snort, and then laugh, because she’d sounded so serious that it strikes him as funny. His hand is still in her’s, and she gives it a squeeze. “What’s your name, little buddy?” “Betelguese.” He expects a pause, or a comment, because no newly dead has ever heard his name without wrinkling their nose and looking vaguely sick, but her smile just grows wider. “Far out. I’m Emily.” And hand in hand, they leave the park.

```````````````````````````````````````````````````````

Beetlejuice decides quickly Emily might be the nicest breather who ever breathed. It’s a decision he makes only moments after they’ve left the park. Normally he’d be talking, and talking a lot, and his ma might throw something at him, a curse or a bottle, to try and shut him up. So he’s giving silence a try, here, even though it feels like it hangs like a weight around his neck. But Emily is the one instead filling the silence with sound, and he’s never had such unfiltered attention from an adult before. She’s talking about the park, then his hair, then his name, and everything she says is just… sunshine. She likes his hair. She likes his name. She even likes the loose fitting and filthy black and white striped shirt he’s got on, she says it’s deadlyvoo, whatever the hell that means, but it must be good, because Emily said it.

They’re walking down the street, his little hand still in her’s, when a smell hits his sensitive nose. It’s unlike anything he’s ever smelled before and if he wasn't tethered to her, he would have floated after it. As it is, he does feel his feet lift off the ground briefly, and he has to remind his body to obey gravity, before someone notices. Luckily, Emily only sees part of his reaction, namely the way he’s sniffing the air like a dog and drooling. “Hotdogs!” she grins, and she leads him over towards the smell before he can even ask what that word means.

There’s a little cart set up, and a short, fat woman is fussing over a fire. He quickly finds the source of the smell, those little weird shapes of meat she’s turning over, and he goes to reach for one, only stopped by Emily’s other hand over his. “Not so fast, little bug. To unlock lunch, you need the power of capitalism.” She nods gravely. He nods back, clueless, but after a moment he has the source of the smell in his hands, and he wastes no time in scarfing it down. It’s good. He wants more, instantly, and tugs at her sleeve. Emily has hardly put her wallet away before it’s back out again, and she’s bought two more hotdogs. He eats them just as quickly, but before he can ask for more he realizes she’s led him away from the woman and her meats and her fire. Clever breather.

The walk to her home isn’t so bad, and it gives him time to take in his surroundings. The park had been jarring enough- what little plants grow in the netherworld are perpetually gray and withered, sad little scraggly weeds that struggle and choke each other out for the privilege of what miniscule sunshine permeates through the perpetual overcast. But there’s enough sunlight and water and everything to go around here, and it all grows green and vibrant. The city feels the same way, sort of. Like there’s plenty of space to stretch out and grow, and so they did. In the netherworld, everything is short and cramped, but bigger on the inside, with long, winding hallways meant to confuse and trap the dead. The buildings here are so tall looking up at them makes him dizzy, but he hardly has time to admire them before Emily is guiding him this way and that, and finally, to another door. She presses a button and they’re let inside, and he experiences another first as they ride the elevator up a few floors.

They ride the first few floors up in relative silence, until - “Get ready to jump!” Emily says suddenly, crouching, and he follows her lead, and jumps when she does. There’s a brief moment of weightlessness before gravity catches up with them, and their feet hit the elevator floor again, in time for the doors to open. “Good job, Beetlejuice!” she praises, pushing that long sun colored hair out of her face, and he beams up at her. “Feels like flyin, kinda!” “Right?” she enthuses loudly, and he’s about to ask her how a breather knows what flying feels like, but a door down the hall opens, and the biggest man Betelguese has ever seen steps out. “Thought I heard you rattling the elevator,” he’s chiding Emily, who only gives her snort and smile in return. “Lydia isn’t even with you, do you really play that game when you’re-” his eyes fall on Betelgeuse. “Alone?”

“Charles, I made a new friend!” Emily tells him simply, leading the little demon into their apartment. The interior is dim, but he can see fine. He knows his amber eyes are glowing a little in the gloom, and he closes them, just for a moment, as Emily leads him down the hall and into a sunny, well lit kitchen. The big man, Charles, is tailing behind, looking mystified. “Where on earth did you find him?” a hint of nerves creeps into the breather’s voice. “You didn’t… steal him.. Right?” “Charles!” Emily laughs, like it’s an absurd question. Betelgeuse can’t tell if it is or not. Emily doesn’t seem like a child snatching witch, but he doesn’t know enough about such things to be sure. “I didn’t steal him,” she clarifies, busying herself with getting the boy a cup of ice water, and stopping by for a moment to touch the back of her hand to his forehead again. “I found him wandering around Central Park. He said he doesn’t have any folks, and he was all alone, and he feels feverish. I’m being responsible! I’m a responsible adult!” “A responsible adult who still plays the elevator game, despite being told by maintenance you might throw the whole elevator out of whack?” Charles askes, but he doesn’t look angry, more amused.

“I was teaching Beetlejuice how to play.” The pause he was expecting with Emily finds its home with Charles. Charles glances at the boy. Betelguese stares back with big amber eyes, sipping quietly at his ice water. Charles looks to Emily, who seems to be waiting expectantly. The silence stretches for another beat before Charles asks, baffled, “Is that… his name?”

Emily throws her hands up like he’s asked if the sky is really blue. “Of course it’s his name! Or at least, that’s the name he gave me. I’m respecting it. Respectful and responsible, that’s me.” She turns and winks at Betelgeuse. He returns the strange breather gesture because he likes Emily more than he’s ever liked anyone before.

The water cup is empty, and he simply lets it go, no longer interested in holding it. It bounces and rolls across the floor, and Charles wrinkles his brow at the boy. “Wh-” Before he can say much more, Betelgeuse is sniffing at the air, and he crouches on all fours, nose to the ground, like a dog in a cartoon. He’s caught the scent of some kind of upperworld bug, and despite all the hotted dogs, he’s still hungry. He’s on the prowl around the kitchen, weaving under the little dining table and three chairs, and then back down the hall, into the living room. Charles and Emily poke their heads out of the kitchen to watch him.

“I think you brought a feral child into the house, Em.”

She makes a psshaw sound and rolls her eyes, smacking gently at his lapels. “He’s a kid. Kids are weird. I was doing weird kid stuff when I was his age, too.” “And you never stopped,” comes the dry response. “Charles, I know you worry, but he’s a little kid, lost in New York. I mean, my god, it’s like a movie! I couldn’t just leave him, and I wasn’t just going to give him to some cop, he’s probably an undocumented runaway or something-” and the rest of her rambling is drown out by Charles gasping and grabbing her, and her own muffled gasps of shock, because Betelgeuse has caught the bug. And also, he’s on the ceiling. He may have been trying to blend in, but the second he caught the scent of that delicious crunchy upperworld bug meat, everything else was out of mind. He’d spotted it on the ceiling, and had followed it up there, ignoring gravity to get what he wanted, and right as he pounced on it, nearly catlike, Charles and Emily had gasped. Their breather noises distract him long enough for the bug to skitter away, and he loses his concentration, and drops to the living room floor with a sickening crunch. Emily shrieks, and Charles panics, sprinting for the boy, certain he’ll find a dead child with a broken neck. Instead Betelguise sits up, his glamour disturbed from the fall, and the breathers get an eyeful of what he really looks like. There’s a beat. They’re all staring at each other for a long moment. “I… I might have brought a feral child into the house,” Emily admits sheepishly. You can read the entire thing, right now, over here

[vivian24l]

DamiraeWeek2021

Day One: Family/In-laws

The Second Wayne Reunion

Damian tapped his fingers against the wheel.

“Anxious?” asked Raven.

“You know how last year turned out. I was surprised Father agreed to another reunion this year.”

One year ago, Dick had come up with the idea of having a family reunion. He had invited the whole Wayne family together under one roof once again. The results of the party didn’t end so well. Dick clearly wanted to make the reunions annual, because he once again invited everyone.

Damian took another left. They had to drive across Gotham to reach Wayne Manor. After getting married, he and Raven bought a stretch of land on the other side of Gotham. Together they designed their house and hired people to build it.

Damian let out a sigh. “That bastard, Grayson.”

“Language,” said Raven.

He glanced at the rear view mirror. Their daughter, Rashida, was asleep in the back. Although, she could be pretending. Rashida is an intelligent child, more mature than her actual age. However, she does tend to do dangerous things.

They pulled up at Wayne Manor at long last. Rashida woke up instantly.

“We're here!” she announced. The five year old got out of their car immediately to stretch her legs.

“Rae! Watch this!” shouted Mar’i. She flew up into the sky while Rae watched from the ground. Mar’i shot a green starbolt at a low cloud. The cloud lit up in green light before evaporating into thin air.

“Impressive,” commented Rae. She joined her cousin in the air. The two girls turned the clouds green and purple.

Sitting in deck chairs, Raven and Koriand’r watched the kids flying around.

“Did you teach her that?” questioned Raven.

Kori let out a laugh. “Of course not, Mar’i and Jacob discovered it. Speaking of Jacob, where is he?”

It was Raven’s turn to laugh. “I saw him with Jackson, they were building something out of Legos. How do you not know what your son is doing?”

“I’ve been very busy lately,” Kori defended herself.

“Hey sisters! Mind if I join you?” Stephanie didn’t wait for an answer, she took a seat in a chair across from Kori. “Cass and Babs will be here with the food in a few minutes.”

“Is Valkyrie joining us this year?” asked Kori.

“She sure is! Val better not drop out last minute,” said the blonde. “I can’t believe Dick allowed her to skip last year. I mean, like seriously? This is a family reunion and therefore Val can not be missing out.”

“She was on a mission,” said Raven. “Then again, you can’t blame her, this family can be quite a handful.”

“Makes me wonder how we are able to put up with them,” joked Stephanie.

-

“How’s the cooking going?” asked Raven.

Damian turned around to face his wife. “Fairly well,” he answered.

Raven nodded. She took in the scene. Pots and pans were on the stove. A large bowl of lettuce sat on the counter. Nearby stood a container of tofu, waiting to be opened.

“Where’s Richard? I thought he’d be cooking as well,” said Raven.

Damian let out a “tt”. He stirred the soup inside a large pot. “Grayson left an hour ago, he said something about napkins.”

“You do know that not everyone here is vegetarian, correct?” questioned Raven as she noticed that there wasn’t a single speck of meat in any of the dishes.

“I also know that they will have to pay for making me cook a meal for twenty people.”

“21, actually,” corrected Raven. “Valkyrie’s running late.”

“And there I thought she would skip like last year.”

Raven grabbed a spare apron. “I suppose it’s up to me to save everyone from eating tofu turkey tonight.”

“How heroic.”

-

“Mother? Father?” called Rashida.

“We’re in the kitchen, ibna,” answered Damian.

“What are you making?” Rashida stood on the tip of her toes and watched as Raven mixed together the stuffing for the turkey.

“Dinner. Would you like to help, love?” asked Raven.

“Actually I can not,” said Rashida.

“And why is that?”

“Mar’i and I are in need of some pots. We’re going to make popcorn the old fashioned way! But instead of making a fire, we’ll be heating it with our powers,” explained Rashida..

“Is anyone supervising you?” asked Damian.

“Of course, Uncle Jason’s helping us.” Rashida pulled a large pot out of the cabinet. “This will do perfectly,” she said. “Good luck on your cooking!”

“Should I be concerned that Jason is overseeing their popcorn-making?” asked Damian.

“You should have some faith in him,” said Raven.

-

“I think we’re done here,” said Raven.

Damian nodded. “This should be enough food for the whole family, including leftovers for everyone to take home.”

They have made a total of twelve different dishes, two-thirds of which are plant-based. Raven have also made five different types of pastries for dessert.

They left the kitchen to join the rest of the family in the living room. Selina was reading a book to her grandchildren. Rashida, however, was not with her cousins, she was throwing knives with her uncle. They took turns throwing from different positions, each time getting bullseye on the target board.

“Why couldn’t our daughter have some non-violent interests,” sighed Raven.

Damian smiled. “She’s the granddaughter of the first Batman and Trigon, and great granddaughter of Ra’s Al Ghul. And I should add that her adoptive grandfather also happens to be Superman. So I would say that throwing a few knives is perfectly fine.”

“I just want her to have a childhood full of peace and innocence, unlike ours,” Raven murmured.

“She is habibti, she is.” Damian held his wife close. They seated themselves on the couch and silently watched the scene before them.

The peace in the room could not be contained for long. Dick burst through the door holding a large bag.

“Guess what I got?” he sang.

Rashida didn’t even spare her uncle a glance. “A bag full of games,” she answered.

“Uh, yeah. Great guess, Rae,” stuttered Dick. It still intrigued him how she knew what was inside. Well she is her parents’ daughter.

Dick laid out the contents on the table. There was a wide variety of games from classic card games to Twister.

The doorbell rang as soon as he took out the last game.

“That must be Val!” Kori rose to answer the door.

A minute later, the said woman arrived in the room. She could’ve been a younger version of Cassandra, except her features are more sharp. The youngest of the Wayne siblings, Valkyrie was adopted at the age of thirteen. That was ten years ago.

She came just like her oldest adoptive brother, holding a large bag. All the kids, including Rashida, ran over to see what was inside.

“Alright, settle down first,” Valkyrie said. She pulled out four colorfully wrapped boxes and handed one to each of the kids.

Mar’i opened her box and gasped in surprise. “Thank you so much Aunt Val! They’re beautiful.” The twelve year old has received silver bracelets, similar to her mother’s, but with detailed markings on them.

When Jackson opened his box, his jaw dropped. Inside was a Build-Your-Own 3-Dimensional Holographic Projector. “Thank you Aunt Val!” said the eight year old.

Jacob’s gift was eight limited edition action figurines. “How did you-? How is this-?” The boy was so shocked to see eight expensive figurines, that were probably worth a hundred dollars each, in front of him.

“I have my ways, little one,” answered Valkyrie.

“Thank you so much,” he said, giving Valkyrie a big hug.

“Your welcome, and please I’d like some personal space.”

Rashida slowly opened her box. Inside was a white cloak. The fabric was quite unusual. It was soft, stretchy, thin, and light. Yet the fabric also felt strong, and sturdy. The bright ruby glowed in the golden clasp. Unlike Raven’s cloak, this one had sleeves. The hems and cuffs of the cloak were embroidered with intricate designs. Rashida slipped on the cloak, it fitted perfectly. “Thank you, Aunt Valkyrie,” said the five year old.

“There are no gifts for your siblings? Wow, how kind of you,” spoke up Jason.

Valkyrie smiled. “Of course not, only ones for the kids,” she pulled out two more boxes, “and the parents.”

Selina and Bruce gave her their thanks then  proceeded to open their gift. Silent received a full set of cat themed jewelry, while Bruce received a grey tie.

“I actually needed a new tie,” he said.

[ohdeersthings]

Love Festival

Kirishima Eijiro x F!OC

Summary: Being Fatgums adopted daughter can be challenging, especially when it comes to meeting his new interns while also having to keep watch over Eri.

Quirk: Ram

Quirk fact: Bring able to run, jump and react like a Ram, the user is able to also headbutt and cause great damage with their strength and horns. They also can digest anything like a Ram. Also has a fluffy wool tail, and a wool band around both wrists. Her legs from the waist down are ram legs, so she looks more like a Mythical Fawn.

Warnings: Fluff, cursing, enjoy!!

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

"Oh hey Eraser Head! What's going on?" Fatgum answered his phone while sitting at his desk in his office at Fatgum Agency. "Fatgum, Midoriya and Togata have requested for Eri to be present at our School Festival, seeing as how Eri has bonded with Aki, do you think she'd be willing to join her on that day?" Aizawa questioned, standing outside Eri's hospital room where the young girl was currently having her lunch.

Fatgum pondered for a moment,"Well I don't see why she couldn't. I guess she could use a break too, between her assignments and being with Eri at the hospital, I'm sure she'd love it!" "Alright, I'll be sure to let the class know so they don't freak out. Speaking of, only Amajiki and the others in the Big Three have met Aki right? She was away on another assignment when Work Studies happened," Aizawa knew his students would probably freak out when seeing Eri's caregiver and friend, who was the same age as them but on a whole other level.

"You're correct, so Kirishima hasn't met her. It'll be fine though, I have full confidence that everything will be fine," Fatgum smiled into the phone, nonchalant about anything going on. "Alright, we'll discuss details later then," with that the two hung up.

~~~

"Oh hey Togata!" Midoriya called out to Togata, waving him over from where Togata was hiding behind the bush. Togata narrowed his eyes, realizing he'd been found out before he can surprise them.

The dance team looked on in surprise as Togata stuck his bottom out from the bush, Eri standing beside him looking surprised as well, "Hey guys! I brought a PEACH for ya,"

"Eri!" Midoroya called out as he, Uraraka and Tsuyu ran up to greet them. "That dress looks so cute," Tsuyu commented, "You are precious!" Uraraka gushing in fondness. The girls couldn't help the big smiles on their faces.

"Midoriya, I finally got permission from the Principle," Togata climbed out of the bush and began brushing off his pants as Aizawa spoke, "in order for her to not get stressed, we're allowing her to roam around today before the Festival, also there's someone you all need to meet as well,"

The other dance team members came forward to introduce themselves to the young girl. "Well hello there, you must be Eri, I'm Iida, nice to meet you," "Wassup I'm Mineta, man you're gonna be a looker when you're older huh~" Mineta smirked, but the young girl hid behind Togata, "I want Aki,"

The name had taken them by surprise, "Aki? Whose that?" Midoriya questioned, confusion written on the Work Study kids faces. "Oh right, you haven't met her yet. Aki is Eri's caregiver, well when she's not on Assignments for Fatgum," Togata explained, "Eri can be a little shy around new people, but her and Aki get along very well,"

"Its perfectly alright to be shy," Iida commented, softening his voice to not scare Eri further. "Let's start the tour! Aki should be here soon, so I wanna show her as much of the school as I can so she can see what we do here, you wanna come along too Midoriya?" Togata extended the offer, knowing that since Aki isn't here, Eri might be calm with Midoriya around too. "You bet!" "Hey Dance Team! New idea!" Kirishima's voice broke out, before realizing Eri was there.

"Oh hey Eri! Wait, we've never been officially introduced," Kirishima crouched down to meet Eri's gaze when another voice broke out.

"I'm so sorry I'm late, someone decided to rob a gas station on the way over and I couldn't just leave the situation," it was a soft, silky voice that came from behind Aizawa. The students all turned their attention to see a young dark skinned girl about their age.

Her hair was a dark auburn red that came to below her shoulder blades, soft waves accentuating her purple eyes that seemed to have a swirl of white in them but were framed with thin gold wired glasses. Freckles dawned her nose and cheeks that were flushed with red, giving her an innocent look. What caught their attention the most was the Ram horns that protuded from her head, her legs being Ran legs with red fur like her hair but black hooves. Her outfit consisted of a off the shoulder wool dress she seemed to be wearing that came to stop at her upper thighs, a bell was wrapped around her neck and jingled everytime she moved, of course it also brought attention to her chest that was framed by the wool.

Some of the boys blushed, and Kirishima found himself entranced by her. "Aki!" Eri exclaimed, walking over to the girl who crouched down to her height, "I missed you!" Eri reached her arms out to her, Aki smiling and welcoming the girl into her arms, "I missed you too," giving Eri a nuzzle as the girls closed their eyes and embraced eachother.

"So you're Aki! It's a pleasure to meet you!" Midoroiya smiled, the class seemingly broken from the momentary shock. "The pleasure is all mine! Thank you for what you did for Eri, I would've been on the assignment too if Papa hadn't sent me on a different one," Aki greeted, before realizing she needed to properly introduce herself.

Standing up, Eri still in her arms as she bowed, "I'm sorry! My name is Toyomitsu Aki, it's so nice to meet you all, please call me Aki!" Straightening up, Eri wrapped her arms around Aki as rested her head on Aki's shoulder.

"Wait, Toyomitsu? Why does that sound familiar?" Kirishima wondered aloud, rubbing his head as if it would bring the answer to him. "WAIT I KNOW YOU!" Midoriya yelled out, eyes growing wide as he pointed toward Aki,"YOU'RE RAM-RAM, THE YOUNGEST PERSON TO EVER BECOME A HERO, YOU'RE ALSO FATGUMS DAUGHTER!" Now the students outside all yelled in shock, "WHAT!?"

"Oops, guess the cats out of the bag," Togata laughed, Aizawa just shaking his head in embarrassment from his students. "WAIT, you're really Fatgum's daughter!? Why didn't I know this!" Kirishima cried out, his head a mess knowing the girl he found cute was actually his Mentors daughter.

"Yeah, Papa adopted me when I was a baby, I hope this doesn't affect us becoming friends?" Aki smiled nervously, her small tail twitching in anticipation. "No way! That's so cool, let's take a break everyone, it's tea time!" Mina chimed in, hoping to calm everyone down from the excitement, "There will be more time to explain later, get on with the tour, we don't have time to waste," Aizawa called out, Togata and Aki nodding as Midoriya went to go change his clothes really quick.

"So if you're Fatgums daughter, you must know Amajiki right?" Kirishima questioned, trying to push through his nerves in front of the pretty Ram girl. He was determined to get to know his Mentors daughter. "Definitely! Tama-Kun is so nice, I love going on assignments with him, especially when he shares his food with me like Papa," Aki gushed, her red cheeks getting even darker with excitement, a closed eye smile making Kirishimas cheeks match hers in color. "My name is Kirishima Eijiro, my hero name is Red Riot, I'm actually a new intern at your father's agency for my Work Study," He introduced himself, holding out a hand in greeting.

Aki's jaw dropped and sparkles seemed to erupt from no where, "NO WAY! Papa has told me all about Red Riot, your name is a play off of Crimson Riot right!? I love that, he's such an amazing Hero!" Aki rambled, Kirishima feeling himself fall even harder.

Togata chuckled and took Eri from Aki, who was so engrossed in her conversation she didn't even seem to notice the weight lifted from her arms. Eri looked between the two red heads and noticed that Aki looks so happy, like when she finds a good object to chew on, then again anything was good to chew on for Aki.

"Totally manly right! Hey, are you gonna be here for our School Festival? It'll be totally killer, we're putting on a performance!" "Of course, I'll be chapperoning Eri that day so we won't miss it," The two had seemed to have fallen into their own little world, the other students just watching in amazement.

"I don't think I've seen Kirishima this excited before," Tsuyu commented, Uraraka and Mina nodding in agreement. "Oh jeez, he's got it bad," Ojiro laughed, Mineta seething from the mouth that he didn't get to touch the pretty animal girl. "He's got what?" Shoji asked, looking to Ojiro for answers, although Hagakure answered instead, "Kirishima is totally falling for Aki! What better romance is that!? An employee and the Bosses daughter? It's so forbidden but romantic!" Hagakure couldn't contain her excitement and started to swoon, Mina grabbing her shoulders as she tries to balance her friend.

"Hey Aki! Let's get this show on the road!" Togata called out, waving his arm to grab her attention. "Oh, coming MiMi-Kun! I guess I should go, we'll talk again soon, right?" Aki questioned, taking Kirishimas hands into her own, a bright smile on her face as her eyes seemed to sparkle. Kirishima felt his face warm up, but nodded, a nervous smile on his face from how close she was,"Definitely, we can meet up sometime at the agency maybe,"

"See ya later," she giggled, walking over and taking Eri's hand into her own. Kirishima could only watch with his heart beating out of his chest as the beautiful girl left, when he felt a hand on his back slap him forward, "OH MY GOSH KIRISHIMA, YOU'RE SO LUCKY, YOU SLY THING YOU!" Mina exclaimed, repeatedly hitting him in her excitement. "Way to go dude," Ojiro laughed, the rest of the students all smiling and calling out their support for him. "Come guys this is so not manly," he whined, embarrassed having realized they watched him and Aki. Yet he smiled and couldn't help but think 'Maybe this Festival will be good,'

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

Walking around the school seemed to excite Eri and Aki, both wondering how all the different classes worked and what each class would put on for the School Festival.

Meeting up with Amajiki and Hado excited Aki to the point of her having steam come out of her nose in puffs, "Tama-Kun!Nene-chan!" She called out to them, Nejire flying over in greeting as they began to discuss the beauty pagent in detail and how Nejire was going to win this year.

"Hey! Maybe you should join Aki! I bet you'd be a shoe in for runner up!!" Hado squealed, wanting the girl who was like a little sister to join in on the fun. "Oh I'd live to Nene-chan but I'm not a student here," Aki smiled, though Midoriya thought her smile seemed a little forced, "plus I wouldn't wanna ruin your chances by competing, I'll be sure to cheer you on though!" Aki grinned, giving Hado two thumbs up who returned it. Eri looking between the two and then to her hands, mimicking them but smaller, though everyone swooned.

After visiting the Support Class last, they went to Lunch Rush's in the cafeteria to give Eri somthing to eat to finalize the tour. "Well that's all of U.A!" "What did you think of our School Eri?" Midoriya questioned, Eri though looked unsure, "I..I don't know," both boys looked at eachother nervously, but Aki smiled at her which gave Eri enough courage to continue, "But I can see how hard everyone is working, so I do wanna see how it turns out," Aki gave her a grin, proud of Eri for trying to speak out more and explain her thoughts and feelings.

At the end of the day, they returned Midoriya to Heights Alliance and said goodbye. "We'll be back on the day of the festival," Togata explained, pumping his arm in excitement, "So make sure it's killer,"

As they went to leave, Aki spoke up, "I will catch up with you in a moment MiMi-Kun, I wanna ask Midoriya somthing really quick," Togata nodded and escorted Eri out.

"What is it Aki? Is everything okay?" Aki stared at him for a second, before her eyes sharpened and it made him jump back, "What is your deal with Eri? What are you hoping to gain?" "W-what?" Midoriya was taken back, 'How can such a sweet and cute girl get terrifying to quickly!?'

"You seem very focused on making her happy. Why? I don't want anyone near Eri who was bad intentions," "It's not like that! When we found Eri that first time, I was so upset we couldn't do anything. I beat myself up everytime I think about it, I wanna be a hero that saves people with a smile. But Eri hasn't smiled once, so I wanna help her smile. I wanna help her become a child again, especially after what she went through," Midoriya was firm with his answer, now staring Aki back in the eyes, hoping to show her the true meaning of his intentions.

Aki suddenly smiled, sparkles surrounding her like with Kirishima earlier, "Okie dokie. I hope your goals come true," Midoriya sweat dropped, 'How bipolar can she be?' Aki then bit her lip nervously, arms behind her back as she shuffled, "I do have one more question, more of a favor though,"

This caught him by surprise, "Sure, what is it?" Holding out a folded up paper, she asked, "Can you give this to Kiri-kun for me?" "Huh!? KIRISHIMA!?" "Y-Yes, I know this sounds silly but.. he's very cute," Aki admitted, her face turning red and her tail stub swished back and forth.

"U-uh sure, I can give this to him. Wouldn't you wanna give it to him in person though," "I-I don't know..I don't wanna over step," "Nonsense, come on,"

With that Midoriya led her inside, the rest of the class unwinding in the main sitting area, though they looked in surprise with the girl in tow with Midoriya. "Hello again!" Mina greeted, "Guys this is Toyomitsu Aki, she's Eri's caregiver," Midoriya introduced the girl, her bowing to the class with a smile.

"Hello everyone, so pleased to meet you," her smile made them all flushed, 'SO CUTE'. "So what are you doing here? Is everything okay?" Jirou questioned, "I-I was hoping to speak to u-uh..Kirishima-kun," Aki was embarrassed, now noticing how many people were staring at her intensely.

"Did someone call me? Oh hey Aki! What's up?" Kirishima questioned, having just walked out of the kitchen, but smiled big when he saw the beautiful girl from this morning.

"H-hi! I just wanted to u-uh, give this to you," stumbling over her words, she tried to act relaxed but was dying on the inside and outside. "O-Oh, thanks," Kirishima blushed, taking the folded up note from her out stretched hand, when their fingers touched however they both jumped apart and their faces burned red.

Of course, Mineta took this time to try and sneak up behind the girl. Reaching his hand out to flip the bottom of her dress, mumbling on how it was so short, it'd be a crime to not go through with it. Thankfully, Kirishima took notice and pulled her to him, hardening his hand as he punched him away, "KNOCK IT OFF," He growled, holding Aki close in his left arm.

Aki shivered, noticing how his muscles squeezed her like she'd dissappear if he let her go. Tapping his chest, he realized he was holding her and jumped back, "I'm so sorry! He can just never keep his hands to himself and it'd be so unmanly if me to not step in," Kirishima freaked out, waving his hands and trying to plead his case. He froze though when Aki walked up and gave him a kiss on the cheek, "It's alright, thanks for being my Hero," she winked, suddenly finding some courage in his embarrassment. "I'll see you at the festival like we talked about earlier, right?" Aki asked, let her hands rest on his chest, "U-Uh YYEaH Suree," his voice cracked, his whole mind running in auto pilot. "Awesome, I'll see you then," she turned on her hoof and began walking toward the exit, she looked over to the class in a whole and waved goodnight before exiting Heights Alliance.

A loud thud made everyone turn toward where Kirishima was, noticing he'd fallen over, his eyes swirling and a giant grin in his red face. "Aki's so cute," he chucked, Kaminari and Sero whooping for him while Iida lectured about proper PDA in the presence of others. All Kirishina knew is that the festival couldn't come soon enough.

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

On the day of the festival, Aki and Eri sat in the back if a taxi has Togata sat up front and was going over the schedule for the day. "We'll catch 1-As performance, then race over to 1-B for their play, then it'll be lunch and the pagent, does that sound alright?" He turned to face the horned girls in the back, Eri's outfit was a cute red and white dress while Aki wore her usual wool dress only this time it was red to compliment her hair.

"Sounds great, we can probably catch 1-A setting up before they perform," "oo~you just wanna catch Kirishima before he performs, maybe to wish him luck~" Togata teased, Aki gritting her teeth and raising her hood, kicking him in the back if the head leaving a hoof print, "Hehe, nevermind," Togata smiled, Eri looking up at Aki, "Do you like Kirishima?" "U-uh well, I admire him so to say," Aki tripped over her words as Togata laughed at her misfortune.

Once they'd arrived at the school, Aki mentioned she was going to see Nejire before 1-A to wish her luck before she got ready.

"Nene-chan, are you in here?" Aki knocked, hearing a lot of voices from inside the dressing room. Opening the door, Aki was met with Hado, Yuyu, and a few other students. "Oh sorry, I just wanted to come wish you luck," Aki smiled, holding her hands together in front of her.

"Ram-Ram!?" The other students exclaimed, shocked that a young hero would show up here. "Oh hello! Wonderful to meet you," she bowed, greeting them as they momentarily freaked out before bowing back.

"Hey hey! What're you doing here Aki? Where's Eri? Or Togata?" "They went to go see 1-A real quick, I was about to go see them, just wanted to see you first," Aki sheepishly explained, Testutestu suddenly appeared in front of the girls face making her lean back in surprise.

"Wait a second are you that girl Kirishima is always talking about!? The pretty red haired Ram girl that is Fatgums daughter!" Aki flushed hearing the red haired boys name.

"Well it's nice to know he thinks of me," she said happily, before looking at the clock, "I've gotta go, I hope everything goes good for you girls!" She cheered, waving as she walked out leaving the others stunned, "Why does Kirishima always get the good opportunities," Testutestu cried out, falling to his knees depressed that a beautiful girl like that was already taken by Kirishima.

~~~

"Hey! I'm not too late am I?" Aki called out, running up to the 1-A group. "Oh Ram-Ram! Welcome," Yamomo greeted, fiddling with her keyboard to make sure it was on the right setting. "We've still got about twenty minutes until we go on, Midoriya should've been back by now, he went to go get rope earlier," Kirishima mentioned, cheeks going a light pink at facing Aki again.

"Well I'm sure it'll be amazing, are you doing special affects?" Aki questioned, leaning close into Kirishimas personal space, "Y-Yeah, I hope you'll enjoy them," he smiled, running a hand through his hair. "HEY SHITTY HAIR, LETS GO WE AINT GOT ALL DAY!" Bakugou yelled out then realized Kirishima was talking to a girl.

"Hey Sheep Ass! What're you doing in here?! Don't be trying to pull anything dammit," Bakugou seethed, his teeth gritting together in annoyance of a new person.

"I was just wishing you guys luck," Aki began to ring her hands nervously, "Well we don't need luck! We'll kick ass either way dammit!" Bakugou exclaimed, getting in her face. Aki decided he needed to calm down and quit yelling.

Ramming her head into his stomach, Bakugou lurched forward coughing as he fell to the ground holding his stomach,"Damn Ram Bitch. What the fuck was that for," he gasped, rolling around on the floor in pain. "I didn't appreciate you being in my face," she calmly spoke, turning to Kirishima again who looked at her in awe at her strength.

"I'll leave you to it, you'll do amazing," her lips pressed to his cheek again, although this time they grazed the corner of his mouth slightly. Giggling she turned and left the room.

Silence ticked by for a second before Kirishima belted out, "GUYS THIS HAS TO BE AMAZING, TOP NOTCH MANLY," He hardened up without knowing, the others in the class around him sweat dropping at the sudden mood change.

~~~

As the curtains opened and a deafening explosion happened, Aki smiled as Jirou started her song, the dancers and musicians knocking it out of the ball park all at once.

The beat had Aki dancing in place, Togata laughing at her as Eri watched in surprise of Midoroiya dancing, well at least until he went off stage for some reason. "He left," "He'll be back, let's keep watching," Togata assured her, the music still blaring into their ears.

The song kept continuing to grow in progress when all of a sudden a lot of special effects went off, Uraraka swinging out to the crowd and lifting some audience members off the ground, one of them being Aki who laughed and brought Eri with her who couldn't hold it in any longer, throwing her arms out and laughing, a giant smile on her face. Aki and Togata had tears in their eyes as they smiled, knowing this young girl had finally broken free from her shackles of a pervious life. Aki hugged her tight before spinning in a circle with her, both girls laughing together in glee as Togata cheered them on. The song came to an end as the audience screamed and cheered, Aki and Eri now holding onto Togata as the three of them embraced in a hug. Eri had finally smiled and it made the two older ones warm with happiness.

As the gym filled out, the three met up with Midoriya on his way back in, Togata congratulating him on a job well done. "It was so crazy! First there was a loud sound and it was scary, but then everyone started jumping, even Aki was dancing and then Deku you went away for a little bit. But then there was a spinning guy and it started to get cold and I saw a lot of birds and people went "Wow" and you know what I said? Wow too!" Eri rambled on, her arms being thrown everywhere in excitement as Togata and Aki copied her from her side. "It was so much fun! Especially when Aki flew in the air with me and we danced," Eri stopped when she noticed Midioriya getting tears in his eyes, "I'm so glad you had fun Eri," this caused Eri to smile wide at him, Aki not able to hold it in anymore and swooped her up, spinning in circles as both girls laughed together. The boys looking on with their own smiles.

Heading outside, they met up with some of the boys that were melting the ice. "Ah dang this ice is too big, hey Bakugou can you-" "Kick Force!" A voice cut off Kaminari as a blur of red jumped in the air and came down on the giant block of ice, breaking it into little pieces. "Whoa!" Peoole passing by stopped and stared, Aki standing up and fixing her glasses. "Is this okay?" She asked, tilting her head with a smile.

"Hey its Ram-Ram!" "I didn't know she'd be here!" "She's so cute!" Voices came from behind her, causing her to turn over her shoulder and smile at the students and give a wave causing them all to flush red from the adorableness.

"Hey Aki! How'd you like the show?" Kirishima asked, hands on his hips, but he quickly put them put to catch Aki who jumped at him, landing in his arms as hers went around his neck that was turning red, "It was so amazing! The lighting, the music, the dancing, it was so beautiful! The affects were so awesome too! It was a rush of adrenaline for sure," Aki couldn't help but gush over the performance, Kirishima grinning and twirled her around, cheeks still flushed, "THAT'S GREAT! I'm so glad you guys enjoyed it! I did happen to catch you dancing a few moves too," he winked, catching her off guard but she laughed and nodded, finally getting set back in the ground.

Togata watched for a second before smirking, "You know we still have about two hours or so before the pagent, why don't you show Aki the rest of the festival Kirishima!" Aki and Kirishima turned bright red, but both agreed to it as the rest of the class came out to begin their own sight seeing if the festival too. Kirishima grabbed Aki's hand and began to drag her out of sight, she looked back over her shoulder to see Togata and Eri waving to her, both smiling as she disappeared from sight.

Both red heads walked around, looking at all the different food vendors and games, before coming upon the High Striker game, where you bring the hammer down to ring the bell and win a prize. They went to walk past it before Aki noticed fluffy Ram and Shark plushies. Kirishima looked to her and then the prizes before waking up to the student running it. "Hey dude! What do you have to do to win those two?" Pointing to the plushies Aki was eyeing. "You've gotta ring the high bell, you only get one try though," the student informed, gesturing to the tallest one they had which looked to be about fifty feet high. Kirishima grabbed the hammer, Aki stopping him momentarily, "You don't have to do that Kiri-Kun" she informed, but he shook his head, "It wouldn't be very manly of me to not win a pretty girl the plushies she wants, so just sit back and watch," he grinned at her before turning his attention to the game in front of him. He hardened his body as he swung the hammer up and brought it down full force, the little rod shooting straight up and knocking into the bell, denting it but ringing it nonetheless.

Aki cheered in amazement as Kirishima was handed the two plushies, the student behind the counter complaining to himself about needing a new bell now. Aki was handed both but then looked to Kirishima and handed him back the Ram one. "Seems only fair you get one too, right," she giggled, Kirishima smiling and nodding, taking Aki's free hand into his again as they continued down the path. Both could agree that this was probably the best day ever.

~~~

Standing at the gate to see the three off, Aki and Kirishima stared at each other for a minute before smiling softly to one another. "I'm glad you could join us, maybe you can come back another time?" Kirishima asked, hopeful he'd get to see her again, preferably outside of Work Studies and School. "Mmm, I don't know. I have my assignments and taking care of Eri too," Aki admitted, her purple eyes staring into his Ruby red eyes that were full of hope.

"Actually, I guess it's alright to tell you that you'll be seeing everyone alot more. We're planning on moving Eri into the dorms here, to keep a better eye on her and her progress with her quirk. Of course, her care taker is gonna have to be with her," Aizawas voice cut in, making both teens turn toward him in shock before turning back to each other.

Kirishima whooped and picked up Aki, spinning her around as they both laughed, setting her back in the ground, he blurted out, "Would you like to go out sometime?!" He realized what he said and burned red, but kept his eyes trained on her shocked face but she soon smiled shyly and nodded, "I'd love to, maybe you can show me a nice Cafe around here?" She asked, Kirishima nodding as he took out his phone to get her number so they can plan it for the day she comes back.

Aizawa and Togata watched the two as Midoriya and Eri said goodbye a little ways to the side, "I'm gonna regret this aren't I," Aizawa sighed, feeling the need to go to bed after such a long day, "Awe come on Eraser Head, it's cute," Aizawa merely shook his head, turning to walk off, "Some School Festival this turned out be," Togata only laughed and called out, "I'm pretty sure you mean Love Festival!"

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

Hiiiii. Hope you enjoyed it. Let me know your thoughts! I know some people don't like OCs that much but I thought I'd give it a try.

😛😘❤

[scathecraw]

BBRae Week 2021 - Day 3: Into The Woods

“Summer camp has been so much fun, Rachel. Teether hasn’t cried once since the day after you dropped us off, and Tommy got first place in the obstacle course. You were right, we should have done a camp last year, too.” Melvin chattered excitedly on the office phone while Rachel listened patiently. “They’ve made a bunch of arts and crafts, and the woods here are so cool. They’re really old, and Gar knows so muchabout all the trees and animals and bugs.”

“And who is this Gar, Melvin? A new friendof yours?” Rachel’s emphasis was obvious, and Melvin’s blush was practically audible.

“NO! He’s a counselor. He’s really nice, but he’s really old. Like, 50 or something. You’ll meet him on parent’s day next week.”

Rachel didn’t remember anyone older than the director, a middle aged woman she had spoken to when getting them enrolled and again during drop-off. She suspected Melvin was fibbing to cover her embarrassment, but she brought it on herself by teasing the preteen. “I’m sure I will. Does this mean that you’re going to drag me out into the forest when I come? I thought it was going to be an afternoon of arts and crafts and then some campfire songs, not a forced march.”

“Duh. Arts and crafts are lame. Gar said that next year he’d show us how to whittle, which sounds better than making lanyards.” There was muffled adolescent shouting, and Melvin covered the receiver and yelled back. “I gotta go. We’re going swimming. I’ll call you on Friday. Love you, bye.” She hung up before anything could be said back, and Rachel was left with dead air while Melvin sprinted after her friends, untied shoelaces flailing behind her.

Arriving at the aforementioned “Parent’s Day”, Rachel wasn’t quite sure what to expect. The camp had at first seemed like a good way to get the three adopted children outside instead of rotting their brains, but the sheer noise of a few dozen milling, clamoring kids and groups of socializing parents made her wonder what she had subjected them, and by extension, herself, to. She was late, which probably didn’t help the situation, but she looked around the chaos in an effort to find her own three chaos engines. Instead, she was spotted.

A wild, dirty missile made a high-volume impact with her legs, nearly toppling her and babblingso fast that even Rachel’s practiced ear couldn’t discern what he was saying. She was wobbling and about to fall over when a firm hand caught her upper back and helped her regain her balance. “Teether, dude! I said you could go get her, not try to body slam her.”

Rachel finally planted her feet, acknowledged Teether with a gentle hand on his head, and looked up. And up. They both froze for an instant, but the tanned, blond man recovered first. His slack jaw snapped into a smile, and he said “Hi. You must be Rachel. I’m Gar, one of the counselors here.”

His hand was still on her back and heat radiated from it like afternoon sun. Her face had never fallen into the silly expression his had, but unconscious thought raced before she could regain her composure. ‘Definitely not fifty,’ she thought. “Hello. Yes, I’m Rachel, Teether’s mother.” She peeled Teether from her leg with practiced ease, and he sprang off of her and ran.

Gar realized that his hand still rested behind her, almost possessively, and retreated to a more respectable distance. He chuckled, nervously. “Heh. Um, Melvin and Tommy are with their friends, still, but we should probably get them. Ms. Waller asked me to show you around – she said you had just moved to the area?” It wasn’t a question, but he phrased it like it was. They began walking back towards the milling crowd of parents, children, and quite possibly enough noise to drown out a jet engine.

“Yes, it’s our first summer here. She mentioned that most of the kids made this an annual activity, but I didn’t think we’d be so strange as to warrant a personal detail.”

“Oh it’s nothing like that, it’s just that there’s not really many other summer camps around, and ‘cause we go from K-12, we get pretty much everyone. A lot of the other parents already know everybody. You’re not strange, just… new.” His eyes never left her, even as they began walking.

Back with the crowds, Melvin and a gaggle of similarly aged girls watch the two of them. One of them nodded decisively and turned to Melvin. “Okay. They’re too cute together. Look at how awkward they’re being.”

Anotherhuffed a little. “They’re just staring at each other. They should be holding hands or something, right?”

Melvin’s eyes narrowed critically. “It’s been like 10 minutes and they aren’t kissing yet. Gar’s probably too much of a nerd to do anything. We need to do something to make sure they know how perfect for each other they are.”

“Like what? They aren’t going to start making out in the middle of the crowd.”

An evil smirk crept across Melvin’s face. “Maybe not in the middle of the crowd, but what if they were all alone in the woods? Then they’d have no excuse not to!”

A look of awe crossed her companions’ faces. “That’s evil. I love it.”

But the smirk fell, half-formed plot evaporating. “But how could we get them out there alone? It can’t be anything serious, or else Rachel will ground me forever, and I bet she won’t even go unless we can trick her into it.”

“Could you just tell her you feel sick?”

“No.” Melvin shook her head slowly. “Then she’d either stay with me or just take me home early.”

One, heretofore silent, chimed in. “I think I know what we can do. But Mel, you’re going to have to make a lanyard.” She giggled at the disgusted look, and said “C’mon, we only have like 15 minutes before they start wondering where we are.”

Across the crowd and a million miles away, Garfield and Rachel were, in fact, being tremendously awkward as they watched the kids run and play. Gar fumbled his words and couldn’t decide to stare at her eyes, the curve of her neck, or decidedly anywhere except her. Rachel was the opposite. She answered in short, monosyllabic whispers and swallowed, trying to ease her desperately dry throat.

“So, uh, you said you just moved here! Do you have a job, er, of course you do, unless you don’t! That’s fine, too! Nothing wrong with… that. Yeah.” He trailed off, before gamely trying again. “So what do you do when you’re not, y’know, coming to summer camps?”

Rachel took a deep breath and centered herself. Gar started. “I’m not, like, annoying you, am I? I’m sorry, I tend to blabber -”

“No. I’m just… a little off-kilter. I’m a curator of antiquities at the museum.”

“That is so cool. Gar’s eyes were like dinner plates. “I love the museum! I always wanted to volunteer there, but I never feel like I have time between summers here and planning classes during the year.”

“Oh, you’re a teacher? Grade school or high school?”

“High school and occasionally some classes at the community college. I figured I was already teaching AP and college bio isn’t much different. I’m sure the kids get tired of me after the sixth year, though, heh.” He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, uncomfortably warm even for a summer afternoon.

“I suppose they wouldn’t let you teach so many years if you weren’t good at the job. Not that biology is my area of expertise.” She clarified, hearing his unspoken question. “I studied history and preservation, so a natural history museum is certainly a big change.”

“Wow, I bet. Still, nobody does what they expected to when they were in college. I got a bachelor’s in Environmental Science, but it turns out most of those jobs are just telling corporations what they want to hear.”

Rachel leveled him with a newly assessing gaze. “Believe it or not, so are quite a few jobs in archaeology. It’s what put me off of the field.”

“But hey, teaching led me to Jump and to Lake Titan Camp, so I can’t complain.”

While the two nominal adults conversed, a far more intricate conversation was happening in the craft cabin. Kole, a pink haired co-conspirator of Melvin’s, was creating a half finished lanyard in pink and purple while the rest strategized. “Okay, so I need to throw her off so she’ll agree. The pink and purple color scheme is good – pink for me, purple for her, but I need something to knock her off her game.”

“You could tell her something that surprised her, maybe. But what?”

Realization dawned. “Okay. This is a little mean, maybe, but I was planning on talking to her about it anyway. I know just what to say. Kole, how’s the lanyard coming?”

“I’ve got it to the perfect length. Just long enough that you might ‘Need a little while to finish it, pretty please.’” She held up the dangling lengths of string. “Everything ready? We’re running out of time.”

“Now or never. Let’s go.” Melvin took a deep breath and led them to the doorway.

Garfield and Rachel were deep in conversation. The initial awkwardness had faded, and while there were still sparks flying whenever they made eye contact, it was more a static buzz than the almost painful live wire sensation of their first glances. At some point they had migrated closer to where Teether and Tommy’s two groups had merged into a supercrowd of children all making noise, forcing them to stand closer to one another to be heard. They were in this huddle, all focus on each other except for both of their frequent check-in glances to the children. Rachel had dipped her toe into a hint of vulnerability to test the waters, quietly and without fanfare explaining that she had adopted all three of them from the same orphanage she had found herself aging out of.

Gar reciprocated. “That’s really incredible. I was adopted pretty young by some family friends. I know how complicated that sort of relationship can be, but it’s doing something amazing for all three of them.”

Melvin, seeing their closeness, hesitated, just a bit. She was messing with fate, a little. But she was certain it was for a good cause. And it was now or never, they were already cutting it close to “Shared Activity Time” for her age group. “Umm. Rachel.”

“Yes, Melvin?” Rachel saw that Mel was nervous. Melvin was never nervous.

“I want to finish a project for you, but won’t have time later. So, uh, I need you to find something else to do. During the Activity Time, I mean. I just want to finish making this. Please, M-mom?”

Time stopped for Rachel. She had adopted them six years ago, and there had never been a time when Melvin had consciously called her “Mom”. Forms asking for “Mother’s Name”, sure. Mother’s day celebrations, absolutely. Even a few mostly-asleep, teary pleas, but never, never while Melvin was in control of her faculties.

But while time had stopped for Rachel, it marched onward for everyone else. Melvin held her breath and waited for long, tense seconds, but Rachel didn’t seem to be coming back to her senses, so she hurriedly spat out “Okayloveyouseeyousoon,” and fled back to the safety of her friends.

Gar, too, was frozen. Not to the same degree, nor for the same reasons, but he felt like he had intruded on something intimate that he had no business being a part of. He looked around, helplessly as Rachel gaped. After several seconds of silence, he couldn’t not do something. “Uhh. Rachel? You… okay?” More frozen immobility. He waved a hand in front of her face. “Rae? You there? Do I need to get a doctor?”

She seized his hand. “Did… did she just call me “Mom”? Or did I have a stroke?”

“Yeah, ouch. She did. I’m guessing this was new?”

“I… Yes. She’s never… What… what do I do? Was she angry I didn’t answer? Where did she go?” Rachel began looking around for her.

“Whoa, slow down. She’s with her friends. She wasn’t mad, it seemed like she was nervous, but not scared. And what you do is let her come to you and talk to her like you always do, and just make sure she knows you’re okay with it. As long as you are okay with it, right?”

“Of course. I just thought...” Rachel trailed off.

“Then there’s nothing to worry about! She loves you and just told you how she feels. That’s a good thing. Let’s give her a chance to do whatever she’s doing. The rest of the kids are about to go do an activity, so we have time.”

“I think I need to get away from the crowd for a minute. I can’t believe I’m asking this, but is it alright if we just go for a walk?”

“Of course.” Gar’s grip had at some point shifted to be holding her hand back, and he led her down a dirt path towards a grove of trees. “This path is quiet and not too hard.” Her sudden harsh look had him follow up. “You’re not really wearing the shoes for hiking, Rae.”

“Hmf. And since when did I say you could call me Rae, Garfield?”

He looked stricken. “I am so sorry. I dunno what I was thinking, Ra-chel. Rachel.”

She narrowed an eye. “Rae is… acceptable, as far as diminutives go. Just don’t make a habit of it in public.”

“Cross my heart. Hey, at least being a little mad at me put your mind off of Melvin, right?”

“And now it’s right back. So very helpful,” she deadpanned.

“Easy come, easy go, right?” His smile grew a little. “I don’t wanna pry or anything, but is it really that surprising? She said you were her mom like, a dozen times during camp.”

“I suppose not. It caught me very off-guard, though. Teether and Tommy sort of switch between Rachel and Mom, but Melvin’s never really seemed like she even wanted that sort of, I don’t know, ‘Official’ title for me.”

“Listen, the whole ‘mom’ thing isn’t as scary as you’re making it out to be. You’re already giving her the kind of love a mom is supposed to, and she loves you. She talks about all the time with stars in her eyes. Being adopted doesn’t make her less your daughter. Rita Farr isn’t any less my mom for taking me in when I was eight, and Marie Logan isn’t any more or less important to me just because she’s not around.”

Rachel took a breath and sighed it out. “Thank you. That does make it easier.” They walked in silence for a short time. “Wait, Rita Farr, as in the movie star? As in, the philanthropist and art collector, married to Steve Dayton?”

He blushed a little. “Whoops, probably shouldn’ta dropped that so casually, I guess. Yeah. Steve and Rita adopted me when my parents died. It’s not always easy, but I love ‘em.” He watched her reaction carefully, hoping she wouldn’t suddenly start treating him differently for having such well-known parents.

Rachel schooled her face after having that bombshell dropped on her. “Well, if we ever meet we’ll be able to talk about some historic pieces she has that I wrote papers on.”

A beat passed, then Gar’s loud laugh broke relative silence of the forest. “Aw man, she is gonna love you.”

And just like that, the tension was broken. All the concern, the lack of balance, everything fell away, and the static buzz of easy conversation punctuated by something just a little too close to intimate for an average friendship was back.

They wandered together down the shady paths, miles away and only a few trees distant from the campground. Rachel didn’t notice the distance she had walked on the formerly dreaded forest hike, and Garfield forgot to try quite so hard with his jokes and wise cracks. They walked, hand in hand and only somewhat realizing how close they were to one another, shoulders nearly touching.

The spell was eventually broken, as they always are. They rounded a final bend, seeing in the distance the campground they had left, what, less than an hour ago? And the reality that they had left behind when they entered the sun-shafted canopies woke them up, and they found that really, their hands were quite slick. Had they been clasped together the whole time? And Rachel, especially, was starting to sweat from the heat and the walk. Garfield was suddenly nervous, after all, he never talked this much, not without making a fool of himself.

But even after emerging from that hazy dream, they held on, gently rising out of the fog and into the real world so no sudden movements could disrupt the memory, the closeness that two almost strangers that fit together like complementary puzzle pieces had shared.

It wasn’t even fully dispelled when their hands slipped apart to be wiped on cargo shorts or dark jeans, though the almost hidden flight from behind a few low-branched trees of blonde hair and untied shoelaces and quiet giggle quickly sobered them.

Garfield turned. “Was that -?”

“Melvin. Oh, that little brat, she is too damn smart for her own good. I would put money on her scheming to get us alone.” Rachel fumed and her face tightened into a mask of cold anger. “I can’t believe that she would manipulate me like this! How could she – How could she finally call me -” and the mask broke, shifting from anger to near tears in seconds.

Gar panicked. “Whoa, hold on, no. She’s not that cruel, I know it and so do you. We’re probably missing something. You just said you can’t believe she would do this – she probably didn’t. Rae I promise you, there’s got to be an explanation that makes sense.”

Rachel took a deep breath, followed by another, centering herself. “I am going to get to the bottom of this. Where would she be doing this “project” she made up?”

“The craft cabin. I’ll take you there, but I guarantee you it’s not as bad as it might sound.”

It was like the crowd parted for them without even reacting. No one looked at the worried counselor or at the steely featured parent, but nonetheless they found their path almost unimpeded. Gar held up a hand just outside the door. “Let me get you two some privacy. Please.”

“Fine. Do it.” Terse and unhappy, Rachel’s displeasure was apparent in her voice, and it made Garfield wince.

He opened the door to see five preteen girls, huddled and tittering. At least until they saw him and his serious frown. Then their eyes went wide, and they looked to Melvin in a panic. “Out, girls. Clear the room. Not you, Melvin.” He stopped her when she tried to take shelter in the middle of the pack. He turned to follow them, and glanced back almost pityingly, then shook his head and exited.

The girls all ducked their heads when they saw Rachel just outside the cabin and hurried off, racing to be the first around the corner and away from the ticking time bomb.

Garfield simply nodded, and left her to it. Rachel entered the cabin and saw Melvin almost trembling, and it broke her heart. She had worked up a head of steam on the walk and the wait, but seeing her precious daughter actually afraid stopped any real anger and left only a bitter emptiness.

Rachel wasn’t quite sure what to do with her hands. She settled on a vague, open armed shrug gesture. “Why, Mel? Was it just a prank? Just a way to manipulate me?”

Tears brimmed in Melvin’s eyes. “No, I just wanted to give you guys a chance to talk alone. I’m sorry I lied, I really did try on the lanyard, but I’m just bad at them so I had Kole do it. I’m sorry, I am.”

“What? What lanyard? Melvin, I don’t care if you had a friend help with a lanyard! I just can’t believe that you would call me your mom, just to trick me into talking to someone. I can’t tell you how badly that hurts me. I… I love you too much for that.”

“What!No, nononono, Mom, I promise that wasn’t a trick. I promise. I was gonna talk to you about it, but I just – I thought that if I – I thought that maybe if I just did it you’d just let me and maybe you’d talk to him and then it everything would be perfect. I promise. I love you, Mom. I do. And I was just trying to maybe make you not spend all your time watching me and talk to him. He’s really cool, and I could tell you like him, and he’s completely in love with you, and you’re perfect for each other. I was just trying to help you be happy!” She sobbed, breathless.

Rachel froze, then instinctively wrapped her daughter in her arms and let her cry. “Mel, you don’t need to worry about me. I am happy, I promise. I don’t need you to try to trick me into being happy. Hey, it’s okay. I’m not going to say I’m not mad, but I get it. You don’t have to trick me into talking to, what did you call him, “really old, like 50 years old” guys? If we talk, we talk. That’s how adults work.”

“No, it’s not! I’ve never seen you go on a date, and you just ignore people when they try to talk to you. I know it was dumb, but I had to try something ‘cause otherwise you’d just give him that serious face until he ran away, and he’s perfect for you if you’d just give him a chance!”

“Mel. Mel, okay. I promise. I will give him a chance. But you don’t need to be worried about me. I don’t need a twelve year old playing matchmaker. You should be doing kid things, not bad romcom plots.”

“*SNRK*. They’re not bad. They’re sweet. And you like them, otherwise you wouldn’t have so many of them.” She wiped her nose with the back of her hand and glowered.

Rachel internally cursed Kori. “If you say so. Now let’s sit here for a minute, then we can go wash your face and you can go hand out with your friends. And I will have a talk with Garfield, and you will not stick your nose into my dating life. Understand?”

“Yes, mom.”

It still startled Rachel to hear that coming from Melvin, but it also warmed her heart. She hadn’t even known she wanted it until it happened, but it was like a spoken guarantee that she really was doing things right, and her little family really was working.

They sat together and Melvin showed her the lanyard that she had made via Kole. Rachel put it on the silver chain she wore around her neck and let it rest beside her heart promising mostly to herself that it would be kept safe at home. Then, when Mel had calmed down, they headed to the bathroom where Mel cleaned the tear tracks from her dirt-smudged face and rinsed her red rimmed eyes. Rachel gave her a final kiss on the forehead, and sent her off.

Gar found her standing there, staring off into space against the wall of the concrete shack. He leaned against it and slid down to sit around the corner and next to her. “So.”

“So,” she said back.

“Not saying it just to confuse you?” He glanced at her, gauging her reaction.

“No. But she wasn’t against confusing me.”

His eyebrow cocked. “Not mad?”

“Still mad. Still going to be grounded, probably. But she did it out of love.”

“Y’know, I don’t want to say I told you so, but...”

“But you totally want to say ‘I told you so,’” she finished for him.

“Yep. So what now?”

“Now, I guess I do what I was going to do before we had all this to deal with,” she said, the soul of nonchalance.

“What’s that?” he said, and when she didn’t respond, he stood up and looked around the corner. “Rae?”

“This.” with only his head around the corner, she turned and kissed him, gentle and sweet, and far too short for either of them. “I’d like to go out sometime. I want to take you to a behind the scenes at the museum, and I’ll let you choose the restaurant.”

His head spun and his eyes were out of focus. His thoughts were like molasses and he could barely get out the word “Okay.” before she was gone, a little bounce in her step.

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