#and by soon I mean in half a year and my dad and closest friend/sibling have birthdays in two months but still

[dorkszn]

COME AND GET THAT + logan howlett

SYNP — being home for the summer from school isn’t so bad. it isn’t so bad until your motorcycle stops working. and your dad tells you to call over the man that inspired you to get the bike in the first place and the closest one who could fix it, his best friend and your longtime crush, logan.

WARNINGS — masc reader, age gap ( no duh ), reader’s dad is kinda a dick, subbot reader, oral, petnames, logan’s a little mean, slight degradation, kitchen sex, hair pulling, eventual smut, porn with plot | 3.4K ( im sorry 😭 )

PART TWO ( coming soon )

Summertime. It’s such a wonderful time. You get out of school and can drive back to your hometown. You see your parents and siblings and get to flop onto the mattress of your old childhood bedroom.

But your favorite part? Getting to see your dad’s best friend, Logan. Who seems only to be getting hotter and hotter with each passing year. Only maybe you’re just getting more worked up and shy with every year that passes because each summer you can barely stand to look him in the eye or be alone in a room with him.

You’ve been home for about a week or two by this point, getting back into the comfort and schedule of your hometown life. Luckily but also somehow unfortunately, you have yet to see Logan since you returned. Hell, he probably doesn’t even know you’re home.

So imagine your surprise when you’re standing outside of your parent’s house with your dad, examining your sleek motorcycle that just wouldn’t start. You know how to do basic motorcycle care that of course, Logan taught you. He was the one who inspired and motivated you to get the damn bike anyways. So why were you surprised when your dad suggested calling him?

“Guess I’ll give Logan a call and see if he’s busy. He should know how to fix it,” your father says in a small sigh as he stands up straight.

“Wait, call Logan?” You repeat even though you know it’s dumb question and that you were just nervous to see him again since winter break.

“Yeah, Logan, you got a problem with that or something, squirt?” Your father responds slightly mockingly as he repeats your obviously odd question. You just grumble slightly under your breath.

“No, dad, just… go ahead and call em’,” you say in a sigh as the two of you stalk back towards the house. After that, it only takes half an hour before the inevitable and you see that familiar pickup pull into your driveway.

You reluctantly trail behind your dad like a clingy pup instead of a grown man to go greet Logan. You don’t miss the way he smirks with his signature cigar between his lips as he very slowly drags his eyes on your body.

“And when was I gonna find out my favorite college kid was home?” Logan asks gruffly, plucking the cigar from his lips with an outlet of smoke. His voice damn near sends shivers down your spine everytime you hear it.

You just opt for shrugging and giving him a casual smile. “Find out when you find out, I guess,” you say and of course, he lets out that little chuckle and snort that you love so much.

Logan puts his calloused, large hand out for you to greet him correctly only for him to grab your hand and pull you into him. You can’t help the small, very unmanly yelp that leaves you when he grabs you so suddenly. The smell of him hitting you so quick it damn near makes your mind spin. Cigars and ash and wood and leather and just him. Gosh, it almost drives you so crazy you barely notice the light headlock he put you in.

When you do finally notice, it definitely does not help the flare of heat in the pit of your stomach. You try to brush it off, tugging at his incredibly strong and veiny biceps with a small grin to pry him off of you. Finally, he releases you and you can’t help but take in a relieved breath.

“Still as much of a little shit as ever, kid,” Logan taunts, placing his cigar back between his lips. Lips that you wanted to feel on yours so bad. “You sure you ain’t getting smaller with each year?”

You roll your eyes for the second time that night. He knew you weren’t getting smaller. It just seemed like he was getting bigger even at his grown age. And damn, is he big. 6 feet 2 inches and 205 pounds of pure muscle. “Yeah, I’m sure, Logan,” you end up mumbling in response as you stuff your hands in your pockets.

Logan just chuckles again. “Yeah, okay,” he responds sarcastically. With another puff of smoke, he looks to your father then your bike. “So, what’s the problem, Bub?” He inquires.

You trail your father as he walks Logan over to your motorcycle. The same model he recommended years ago. You barely listen as your father explains the situation to his best friend, your eyes stuck to the man in the red flannel.

“Looks like you just need an oil change, kid. And your fuel filters clogged,” Logan says in a small grunt as he stands from his kneeling position next to your bike.

“Damn, squirt, you can’t tell when you need an oil change?” Your dad questions, pinching the bridge of his nose. You frown slightly and your brows furrow.

“I just didn’t notice, okay?” You grumble in reply.

Your father sighs before looking back at Logan. “Could ya fix it, Howlett?” Your father questions, folding his arms over his chest.

“Oh yeah, could change the oil if the kid wants. The fuel filter, on the other hand, you’re gonna have to replace the part. I’m assuming you don’t just got one layin’ around here,” Logan explains and he dusts his palms off.

“Perfect. Time for the kid to learn to do something for himself,” your father says with a grin of mock-approval. Oh, how you wish your mother was here instead. Logan just lets out a small chuckle that seems just a little bit forced. “Well, I gotta head off to work. Help Logan out, will ya? Get him whatever he needs or asks for.” Your father sighs to you.

He’s going to leave? The two of you? Alone? Does he actually want you to pass away? “Yeah, dad, I got it,” you say to cover up the way your heart almost immediately started racing. Then it was only minutes later before you were watching your father pull out of your driveway and zip down the street, leaving just you and Logan.

Logan turns to you and damn you could almost feel the way he looked at you. You nervously pull your eyes away from the street and to Logan who offers you his usual smirk when you look at him. “Get me your old man’s box, will ya?” He requests.

“Yeah, sure,” you murmur before turning and walking back towards the house to get your dad’s toolbox. And are you being paranoid or is he definitely watching you walk away?

You eventually come back with your dad’s toolbox in hand. Logan turns to you when he hears your footsteps despite them being damn near silent. He’s always so astute and aware. It scares you and somehow turns you on at the same time.

“Atta boy,” Logan says as he takes the box from you and holds it like it weighs nothing more than a bottle of water. “Thanks, kid.”

Atta boy. Gosh, what would you give to hear him say that again. “Yeah, no problem,” you respond. You can’t help but watch him for a few minutes before turning and walking back towards the house. Your father would definitely force you to stay and watch Logan so you could “actually do something right.” But thankfully and also unfortunately, he isn’t there and Logan could care less.

And for the next 45 minutes, you spend your time inside trying to distract yourself from the man outside. The man you were home alone with. You leave the door ajar just in case he needs anything which of course he doesn’t. He’s just that good, right?

You lean against your kitchen counter, feeding your cat, James, a blonde cat who is somehow more accident prone than you are, blueberries. Your mind is practically running on autopilot out of boredom. But you’re acutely aware of the sound of the front door opening and shutting. As well as the heavy footsteps coming towards the kitchen.

Logan turns the corner, his flannel gone, leaving him in just a tanktop and jeans. A tanktop that practically put all of him on display. The muscles and veins in his arms, the firmness of his chest. Specifically that vein on his right biceps that runs all the way down to his forearm.

There’s a few oil marks staining his skin, on his neck and arms and chest. A little on his cheek. How the hell did he get that dirty? Hell, not like you’d know. You hardly touch the inside of that motorcycle, willingly.

His dog tags hanging perfectly in between his pecs. How you would love to trade places with those things right now. “S’all done, Bub,” Logan tells you as he steps further into the kitchen.

“Right, yeah, thanks,” you say, reluctantly stopping your ogling to grab him a water from the fridge. Logan flicks his hands as he finishes washing them and takes the water from you. He leans against the counter across from you.

“How’s college treatin’ ya?” He inquires, watching as you feed James another piece of fruit.

“It’s okay, nothing special. I mean don’t get me wrong, it’s a nice school but it’s not like it’s Ivy League or anything,” you answer in a small shrug as you pop a blueberry into your own mouth. Logan can’t help but watch your lips and throat as you do so. His eyes shamelessly trained on you.

“Well atleast you got somethin’ going for ya,” Logan murmurs, finally looking away as he folds his arms over his chest. “Got a boyfriend waiting there too?” He asks. You give him a look. He chuckles. “Or a girlfriend.” Logan adds.

You just roll your eyes which contrasts the smile on your face. “Answers no to both,” you answer, watching James pluck the blueberry from your fingers. And Logan feels a little too happy to see that little smile on your face again.

“Really?” Logan replies, raising a brow in response. “Those little college kids to stupid to see what’s in front of em’ or something?”

You look over to him and see his little eyebrow raise, a quiet snort leaving you. “I don’t know. I just don’t talk to people like that. Hard to be seen when you’re acting invisible, y’know?” You say nonchalantly.

“Gotta put yourself out there one day, Bub,” Logan sighs. “Can’t keep comin’ back to this place and just hoping for it.” You watch him as he speaks and you can’t help the way your eyes repeatedly drop down to the soot on his muscles. You gotta get those stains off before you go nuts.

“It’s more of a choice than anything,” you tell him as you turn and grab a clean rag from one of the lower cabinets. Logan’s sharp eyes follow you as you move around the kitchen. “People there just don’t really “impress” me.” You add as you wet the rag with warm water.

“Oh, boys there ain’t good enough for you, huh?” Logan questions teasingly, that grin returning to his face. You step in front of him and hold out the damp rag to him. Logan silently gestures to his skin in response.

You swallow and suddenly, your heart is beating a million beats a minute. Your eyes fall from his to his chest and neck as you slowly reach the rag to his skin. “Nah,” you finally answer lowly as you begin to gently scrub at his skin. “All the way in university and still ain’t mature enough.” You mutter, watching the oil stains fade away under the rag.

Logan’s eyes are low as he looks down at you, his eyes trained on your face and lips as you speak and wipe him down. “Oh right, not mature enough f’ya,” Logan murmurs. “Need an older guy to take care of you… don’t ya?”

Your hand pauses on his chest and your eyes move back up to his. A swirl of desire and need mixing in his dark eyes. His gaze alone almost makes you shutter. “Yeah… think I do,” I say in a slightly hoarse whisper.

Not knowing what else to do, you let out a barely there breath and raise the rag, going to swipe at some of the stains on his cheeks. Your heart almost stops in your chest when he grabs your wrist instead. His other hand comes up to grab your jaw, forcing you to keep your eyes on him.

“And what would your old man think about that, huh?” Logan questions lowly, his breath fanning your lips. You part your lips to answer but your words get caught in Logan’s rough lips. Your whole body tenses up for a moment before immediately melting into him.

You let him hold you, you let him push you back into the other counter behind you. You let him slip his tongue into your mouth, the taste of his earlier cigar still lingering. But it only serves to make you weaker. You groan into his mouth as his large hand suddenly slips from your wrist to your crotch, squeezing you through your sweatpants.

“School got you all pent up, yeah?” Logan asks in a huff of a breath as he just barely pulls away from your lips. Once again, he steals your lips before you can answer. Palming you through your sweatpants while his tongue explores every inch of your mouth.

He’s not wrong. It’s been just you and your hand for months now. And somehow Logan just barely touching you through your sweats is better than any night of you fucking your fist.

You can’t help but whine into his mouth when he pulls away, his hand running over your hips and waist instead. But the feeling of him pressing himself against you in his jeans quickly silences your whines. His half-erect cock grinding against your as he rolls his hips. Logan pulls back in a low groan, a thin shiny string of saliva connecting your kiss-swollen lips.

“Been thinking ‘bout you since winter, Bub. Y’know that? Pretty ass been on my mind for fucking months,” Logan says to you in a heavy breath as he swipes his thumb over your bottom lip. You just look up at him, still in slight shock at it all but your mind falling prey to the pleasure and want.

“What? You wanna do something about that?” You question quietly, your voice not matching your smug and suggestive words.

Logan smirks down at you a bit. “Damn right,” he answers, his hand on your chin shifting to your hair as he grabs a fistful of it and tilts your head to the side. His hips rolling against your again as he sinks his teeth into neck. His name falling from your lips in a whimper.

Your hand subconsciously falls to his belt, weakly trying to still his hips against yours which of course doesn’t work. Logan pulls his teeth from your neck while simultaneously guiding your hand down from his belt to the growing bulge in his jeans.

“Feel that, pretty boy? Feel what you’re doing t’me?” Logan mutters against your bruising skin. And you do feel him. A lot of him. It made you lose your breath further while shooting sparks of further arousal to your gut. “Wanna help me out, Bub? Little favor for changin’ your oil?” He requests as he sucks at your flesh, hungrily and greedily.

You move almost immediately to your knees. Breath shaking as he backs up just a bit to look down at you. A devilish grin covering his face. “Well, aren’t you just an obedient little thing,” he comments as one of his hands finds his belt, the other still in your hair.

Your heart pounding in your ears as you watch his belt unbuckle, as he unbuttons his jeans and zips them down. Your mouth damn-near watering as he tugs down his pants and boxers just enough for his dick to spring free. And oh, your jaw is going to be aching for hours.

“Look at you, all cock-thirsty. Nobody been givin’ you any attention, huh?” Logan says as he pumps himself a few times, gently guiding your head to his already leaking tip. He doesn’t have to ask before you part your lips. Maybe it was a little pathetic how quickly you dropped for him. But you couldn’t care less at the moment.

You let him sit himself on your tongue and he just basks in the view. A bit of his pre dripping onto the pink muscle. That sight alone pushed him further, pushing his hips forward until he was almost buried in your throat to the hilt. “Damn, pretty boy, you done this before or something?” Logan groans before he’s moving.

His hand in your hair keeping your head still as he begins fucking your throat. You try to keep the tears from glossing up in your eyes as he hits the back of your throat but you can’t. He doesn’t mind.

“Fuck, how has nobody claimed this perfect throat yet? Taking me so fucking well,” Logan grunts, staring right down into your glossy eyes. You let out a choked whimper around him in reply, the vibrations of the sound going straight to Logan’s cock, making his eyes fall shut as he sucks in a sharp breath. “Right, can’t answer with your mouth full of dick, can you?”

Another muffled whimper which results in him tugging on your hair. “Guess your old man was wrong, huh?” Logan pants over the sound of his balls lewdly hitting your chin, a mix of his pre and your own drool slicking the skin. “You did learn to do somethin’ useful. Damn good cock-sucker.”

Your hands hold onto his thighs as he repeatedly stuffs your face to the hilt, his fat tip kissing the back of your throat. Your nails dig into his skin through his jeans only for his eyes to roll in response. A hoarse and gruff “oh fuck” slipping through his teeth. “Been doing this for those college boys? That how you brought your little grade back up?” Logan questions roughly as he looks down to you.

Such a pretty sight you are. Eyes watering, lashes glistening, mouth full, and your lips a wet mess of your fluids.

“Mmm,” your denial doesn’t leave as words, just muffled choked sounds. A small smirk grows on Logan’s face.

“No? Ain’t that a shocker. You’d— shit— you’d make some good fucking money. Sucking cock for cash, clearly doesn't take much to get you to anyways,” Logan says, almost taunting you with his words. Taunting how fast you got on your knees for him.

You can only respond by pressing your tongue flaccid against his cock, feeling his veins pulse over the muscle. Only for him to tug on your hair when you swirl your tongue over his tip. “Fine by me,” Logan says, his voice breaking into a breathy moan. “Pretty little throat is all mine.”

You feel your own hard-on twitch in your pants at that. The idea of being all his. Even if it’s just for the summers and winters. Logan doesn’t miss the way you take him in more greedily, the way you keep letting him glide across your tongue, the way your breathing just barely steadies when you finally find a rhythm.

“Yeah? You like that idea, Bub? Being all mine?” Logan says strained, the snap of his hips growing sloppy and stuttering. All you can do is let out a muffled groan around him, staring up at him with your big eyes as the tears finally slip over. They only worsen their streams as Logan pushes your head down, giving you hardly any room to breathe as his cock twitches and he cums down your throat.

He doesn’t let you go until you’re digging your nails into his thighs again and he finally lets go of your hair. You pull away and practically gasp for the breath you lost. Coughing and heaving and sniffling as dribbles of his release rolling down your chin, followed by your tears.

“You okay down there, Bub? Too much?” Logan asks as he chases his own breath.

“No, no, i—i'm okay,” you manage to get out as you wipe at the tears and your slick chin. Logan’s low eyes drop to the tent in your sweatpants between your legs. His eyes then pull back up to yours.

“What time does your old man get off?”

[echobx]

I decided to take the questions from this ask game to introduce myself a little more.

❤️ how tall are you?

5'4 / 163cm

🧡 what is your sexuality?

I'm queer all over, but ig the closest when it comes to a specific label would be pan

💛 what is your favorite feature on yourself?

my hair (unless they betray me) and my eyes (and lips...)

💚 where are you from?

Germany

🩵 do you have any pets?

yes. I have two cats, Prince (11 years old) and Maggi (3 years old). our dogs Luigi (6 years old) and Liv (2 years old) are more family dogs. and my sister has two more cats, Sunny (6 years old) and Lila (5 years old)

💙 do you have any siblings?

yes. I have four half siblings, two on my mom's and two on my dad's side. but I only really talk to my sister that still lives with me and my parents.

💜 describe yourself in five words or less!

loyal, smart, funny, neurodivergent™ (and forgetful bc idk what else I am)

🩷 dream job?

full time writer

🖤 favorite hobbies outside of your blog

I collect vinyl, love to read and swim but mostly I watch shows and get deep into the lore of them and I love to talk about them with like minded people

🎂 when is your birthday?

November 27th

🌙 your zodiac (Sun, Moon, Rising)

Sun & Moon Sagittarius, Leo Rising

💉do you have tattoos and/or piercings

I only have a single set of lobe piercings for earrings, but I dream of having at least two sets, and a helix one for my right ear

🚗 can you drive?

yes. I learnt to drive manual (stick) and I only had to drive automatic once and hated that specific loss of control

✈️ favorite place you’ve traveled

Munich. I haven't been that many places, and I've never flown.

🎤 have you been to a concert

no. but that will hopefully change soon.

🎵 favorite artists

Taylor Swift, Lizzy McAlpine, Conan Gray, Billie Eilish, Cro, Finneas

🎧 last song you listened too

All Too Well (10 Minute Version) (Taylor's Version)

📺 last show you watched

Game of Thrones (rewatch)

📝 last thing you wrote

“Love you too, J,” I whispered while drifting off and hoping that he hadn't actually heard me.

🔐 something no one would guess about you

I've only ever had one person tell me that they love me and it was the most awkward moment of my life bc the guy was someone I considered to possibly become my friend and not to be interested romatically in me. and ig I broke his heart and I didn't feel any bad about it, but all of my "friends" told me I was cruel and I should give him a chance bc "at least he's interested in you" in retrospect I should definitely have cut ties with my friends that second and it just shows how little these ppl thought of me. just bc I'm a bigger girl doesn't mean I have to settle for the first guy who shows interest, and even worse bc he later turned out to be one of the most toxic ppl I was ever friends with

🧟‍♀️ scariest thing that’s happened to you

I got really drunk, like blackout drunk, bc I drank a whole bottle of vodka and had nothing to eat all day (2.3‰ by the end as it turned out) and the ambulance that was to take me to the ER took a detour and idk what happened in those missing 20 minutes... so ig that

🔥 craziest thing that’s ever happened to you

on the one school ski trip (the only time I ever went skiing in my life) on the last day I literally went head over heals when going down the mountain and my ski flew a few feet away from me and my teachers all thought I just killed myself or broke something to the very least, but I just got up and kept going. but maybe this accident is the reason for my chronic back pain that no one ever checked up on. (srsly fuck those old white men doctors)

🍓 favorite food

pancakes

🍅 least favorite food

olives and mushrooms

🍊 favorite season?

spring

🍋 favorite genre to read / watch / write

read: fantasy

watch: fantasy

write: romance

🍐 if you could make one character real, who would it be

def JJ for very selfish reasons 👀

🫐 some place you’d love to visit

San Francisco

🍇 a word your friends would use to describe you

feisty (@notdxbya said so)

🍒 what is your earliest memory

we were at the Playmobil Park and I was milking a plastic cow

🍌 what is one talent you wish you had

I wish I could study and instantly know it all, like I read it not more than twice and know it.

💌 why did you start this blog?

bc I felt the need to share my writing

✏️ when did you start writing fanfic

actually genuinely, in March 2023 bc the third season of OBX fucked me up big time and I needed to fix it (I'm still working on that one)

but my first fanfic, that I never finished, was in 2014 I believe and it was Hunger Games fic that I wrote in german on Instagram

🖇️ what are your favorite asks to answer

meta. like, anything that let's me dive into meta and characterisation especially. specifically JJ (and Kiara and Rafe bc I pay attention to those three the most when I watch OBX)

📚 how do you come up with the fics you write

a lot of times I get inspired by songs or something I read sparks an idea. other times I just get a scene stuck in my head. or (which happens rarely) I dream something vaguely specific and then I try and put the characters in that scenario or something, that one gave me way to write one of my most favorite chapters I've ever written for my Lovebirds fic, which will be posted this year, I hope...

📌 what is the fic you’re know for

idk 😶 literally no clue, I'd have to ask my moots or followers. ig if my stuff got more popular then maybe.

🔍 what character do you enjoy writing for the most

JJ definitely bc I'm just so much easier in that mindset and it doesn't feel like I'm an imposter.

🖊️ what character do you not enjoy writing for

I think I would have the worst time writing John B or Topper bc I just don't vibe with them 😭

💔 is there a fic you wish you didn’t write

yeah, the Ghostface one 💀

❤️‍🔥 what character do you simp for most often

JJ Maybank, he's my girlfriend, duh

🧚‍♀️ favorite characters of all time

JJ Maybank, Percy Jackson (pjo), Leo Valdez (pjo), Katniss Everdeen (thg), Jacaerys Verlaryon/Targaryen (hotd), Yelena Belova (mcu)

🪐 favorite shows / series of all time

New Girl (if you haven't watched it, shame on you! go watch it now!)

🌝 a show you would recommend to anyone

New Girl lol

but also Game of Thrones (but only s1-6 max. maybe even stop after 4 bc it starts to get bad after 4) and

House of the Dragon (we'll see how the following seasons will go)

for something else lighter, maybe Bob's Burgers it's incredibly funny and well written

🌚 a show you’d tell people to stay away from

OBX 💀 like I love it but it's my guilty pleasure, but it's badly written and has plot holes in abundance and waaay too much fan service

🌹 favorite kinks to write for

cockwarming, that's probably it bc other than that I don't really have a preference

🥀 kinks you would never write for

I wouldn't say never, but uf I try it I'll do it on my own account and not bc someone asks for it.

that said, I doubt I'll ever write anything that concerns anal bc I have trauma there and if I would I'd first have to work myself through that part of my life and right now I don't have time for that

🌊 a kink you would like to write but you think you’d be judged

stepcest 💀 I'm not doing it for reasons that only make sense to me and not for the obvious ones

❄️ full fics, imagines or head canons

full fics. bc I hardly ever not dive too deep. I have a hard time writing short stuff, literally 2k words is short for me 😭 so don't expect me to write something short ever, unless my brain won't let a fic happen

☂️ your favorite fanfic from another writer

for JJ it's Safety Net by @mvybanks

for Rafe it's Watch and Learn by @nadvs

[thepandalion]

Happy pride month to all! Drew myself and my flags (and got my own eye color right, for once-), and this will probably become my main pfp now because. looking great there.

the version w/o the writing of happy pride (and also the list of flags and lil things I threw in bc extra details) bellow if anyone seeing this thinks its interesting enough to listen to me ramble-

Eyy

well, for flags, I believe the jacket being an ace mess is obvious, but the shirt beneath it is not only the aro flag, but also a play on the fact my other pfp had a green shirt with the same texture added here (which is really just me finding a picture of tv static and making it a low-opacity overlay-)

wings and wing-ears are obvious, because it’s still me and being me includes jackets, glasses (and, somehow, these are the actual glasses I have, randomly being uneven bc I read fics while laying on my side on a couch included--) and a lot of wings. the crown-halo is actually another thing I burrowed from Dandelion’s design, because I drew it and immediately went “oh, that’s so cool” and then proceeded to add it to my own lil sketches I do bc I’m too lazy to ink, occassionally.

anyways, back to pride stuff, nonbinary flag patch on the arm of the jacket and a pin next to it with my pronouns! (well, actually they/them and lun/lunar, but even I forget the second set sometimes, nevermind the fact a lot of people don’t know how to use that set, so, they/them is the one I use more commonly-)

also, rainbow scarf included based on the fact I actually do own a rainbow scarf (and suspenders and stockings, but those I usually only use on actual pride stuff, while the scarf I go with anywhere-)

also, the choker has a glass heart on it- I really struggled with it, because I do glass well only if it’s 3D and this is just. a panel of glass.

the eyes are something I had to actually go to my mom to ask about, because she’s known me longest and therefore must know what my eye color is (it’s sorta a fun story, but my eyes change color based on like, a billion variables, including lighting, weather and mood, mainly, so I usually default to my favorite shade for them, which is the neon green I get when there’s a good weather to take a walk and I’m feeling energized). her response was to send me a picture of a close-up of a cat’s eyes, which were the same shade mine are currently, and also somewhat like the color in the drawing (except more neon, I didn’t manage to put the neon in without disrupting the color pallet too much and I’d rather have something pretty than accurate, considering the fact I don’t have wings for ears, actually.

last thing to add is that, for once, I managed to remember my hair is actually no longer completely blond! I started coloring the tips purple a few years back, and though it fades pretty fast, it turns this pretty green/aqua color, so, I added the transition from purple to green to blond at the tips of my hair, which I made shorter than it is irl, because having incredibly long hair is impractical but having super short hair felt weird when I did so having it at shoulder length could be interesting (even if I love drawing it either mermaid-length or barely bellow my ears-)

Happy pride to all, anyways!! ^w^

[ohheyitsokay]

to date a single father (1/2)

Pairing: Francisco Morales (Frankie) x (f) reader 

Warnings: mentions of trauma, drugs, and violence. a little angst? mostly fluff

Wordcount: 2.8k (I haven’t even gotten to the scene that inspired this thought process, guys...)

Part 2/2!

Summary: Frankie has a little girl in kindergarten and you’re the prettiest school teacher he’s ever seen. Being a single dad makes navigating relationships hard, that’s all.

Notes: I don’t really want kids but his baby is a part of his character so I thought it would be interesting to explore. I didn’t know how to put this in the warnings but obviously this topic can be a loaded one for some people, please be kind to yourself. 

>>

You first met Frankie outside the elementary school where you worked. You taught older kids, and they got let out a few minutes earlier to get their little siblings and to spread out traffic.

Most parents were in their minivan’s, on their phones, honking, or chatting through open windows. The sun was shining, sinking into your skin, and the kids were trickling out of the school.

He caught your eye, because he was standing nearby, hovering nervously, looking a touch lost. And maybe in small part because his hair was curling out from under his hat in soft tufts and his eyes were warm and bright.

“Can I help you, sir?” You asked cautiously, eyes still dutifully scanning the pick up area, making sure the students were safe.

He looked startled, then sheepish.

“My daughter’s in kindergarten,” he said, taking off his baseball cap to rake his hair to the side before replacing it. “It’s her first day.”

Ah. That explains his mother hen mannerisms.

“She'll be out in just a moment,” you said smiling at him. You explained the staggered release and noted how the crease between his brows smoothed a little bit.

You got to see parents with their kids often, and you were no stranger to the occasional handsome dad, but when his little girl came running towards him, nothing could have prepared you. His face lit up and she jumped straight into his arms yelling happily. As he spun her around for some wild reason your heart threatened to hammer right out of your chest.

He put her down and she chattered about her first day. As they walked away, he waved at you, and you smiled weakly before tearing your eyes away.

The kindergarten teacher appeared at your side. Her arm casually shot out, causing a running kid to almost crash into it, but effectively stopping him from sprinting somewhere more dangerous. She gave him a look before turning to grin at you.

“What?” you asked, trying to play off your odd behavior the best you could. You definitely weren’t staring at the most handsome dad you’d ever seen being adorable with his daughter. And by no means had you been neglecting your supervising duties to do so. She raised an eyebrow and against your will, your face was flushed.

“I’ve never seen you like this!” she said gleefully, laughing at you.

“There’s nothing to see!” you flapped your hand at her, knowing you were lying through your teeth.

“Isn’t there?” she knew you a little better than would be best in this circumstance. “Hon, I’ve worked with you five years and I haven’t seen a single person - real or from your stories – make you so flustered.”

You shook your head and started to walk back towards the school, calling behind you, “I wasn’t!”

“Would it help to know he’s single?” she chirped after you.

And you hated yourself because you stopped dead, heart pounding, before you walked away just about as quickly as you could.

That night, Frankie hated himself a little bit too, because he couldn’t get the pretty school teacher out of his head.

-

Over the first few weeks of the fall semester, this because normal for the two of you. Frankie kept coming early, and so when your let your class out, you would go stand and talk to him, both falling in love a little bit, and you would then get teased mercilessly by the other teachers. He would go home and day dream about seeing you outside of school, holding your hand, meeting your eyes and not having to look away.

He told the boys about you and accepted their bad advice and excited teasing with stride. You also gave up trying to deny it from your closest friends and they had the best time playing matchmaker for you, even if it was horribly embarrassing.

Every couple of days, your friend would keep his daughter inside extra long to help clean up or something, so you’d have more time to talk. On top of that, the older teachers made of habit of floating by and announcing how pretty you looked or how talented you were, and mentioning you were single with broad winks.

“Our sweet girl is just such a good teacher!” one man said. “I’d love it if she would marry my son one day. If she runs a household like her classroom, I could die happy!”

You felt like you could melt into the concrete. Frankie was grinning, his eyes alight with laughter as they met yours. He tried to ignore the feelings bubbling inside of him at the thought.

The next day, an older woman was apparently feeling protective over you, approaching Frankie and him a hard stare down. He fidgeted, shooting you a panicked look before she began asking him questions rapid fire.

When she was satisfied and moved on you finally turned to him saying, “I’m so sorry about this, Mr. Morales,” and he shrugged.

“I don’t mind,” he turned away from you, eyes searching for his daughter, and you almost didn’t hear him add, “It’s worth it.”

Silently you agreed, but before you could say anything, you saw his little one incoming. Instead of her dotting father, she hugged your legs, catching you entirely off guard. Frankie made a choking sound, his heart having leapt into his throat at the sight of you with his kid. The sky was cloudy that day – but he was feeling warm inside.

You talked to her for a bit before she moved on to him and they walked off waving, leaving you standing there in confusion.

Her teacher, on cue, slid up to your side.

“She’s been talking about you in class recently.”

“What? Why?” you were panicking. Never in your life did you picture yourself hoping a tiny little girl liked you, but here you were.

Her smile was soft as she said, “She thinks you’re nice and likes very much that her daddy has a girlfriend that is pretty because she thinks that means she’s going to become a princess.”

This was overwhelming. “I’m not his girlfriend!” you wailed, “I don’t even know what I’m doing!”

She hugged you tight, and whispered that you would figure it out. She promised you were doing just fine, and despite your anxiety, you half believed her.

-

Weeks later, you still weren’t his girlfriend, but you and him were just about the only people who didn’t think so. You let out class as early as you could most days, and he was always there to greet you as soon as you stepped outside. Sometimes he would have an “extra" drink for you from a nearby coffee shop, and he always got your order right. (He did remember his daughter’s teacher's, and well as hot chocolate for the little matchmaker.) Once, it was raining and the two of your shared an umbrella.

Now, your school was getting a new vice principal, and there was a social evening planned for parents and students to come and meet him. You were jittery with nerves, the thought of seeing Frankie in a new setting putting you on edge. You’d even put on a prettier than average outfit as if it were a date, and your coworkers were beyond excited.

Streamers were hung, pitchers were filled with lemonade, and you settled in a seat along the edge, hoping beyond hope that Frankie would find you and everyone else would leave you alone.

You had no such luck. After the new vice principal had been introduced to the staff, he made his rounds, greeting everyone personally before stopping on you. You made polite small talk, but he didn’t seem the slightest bit interested in moving on, settling next to you.

He began leaning close, mentioning how many good things he’d heard about you and you realized he was flirting with you. There was a sinking feeling in your stomach. He wasn’t a bad guy, and maybe a few months ago you wouldn’t have minded so much, but now you just felt weird and uncomfortable. Politeness and politics were part of the job, but you scooted your chair away from his, unable to stop yourself.

When Frankie walked in with the other parents and students, his daughter pointed excitedly at you, tugging his hand. His eyes found you, but jealousy reared inside of him, along with a touch of hurt. There was a new man by your side, and he wasn’t being shy about his interest in you. Frankie didn’t know what do so he pulled his little one in the opposite direction, saying, “Snacks first, yeah?” knowing it would buy him some time.

He watched you out of the corner of his eye, thankful when other teachers seemed to approach the two of you to pull the man’s attention away. There was another roar of jealousy, though, as the man tapped the microphone and introduced himself. Looking at him on the small stage, in a suit and tie, Frankie felt scruffy.

He couldn’t be bothered to listen to him, his mind running. Would you prefer a guy like this? Successful and suave? Baggage free?

He followed his daughter, her attention short, as she ran to play with her friends. He hovered close to keep an eye on them, unable to shake the habit. Some other parents were talking to him, and he tried his best to be polite but he couldn’t keep his eyes away from the man, who was making his way back towards you.

It didn’t take long, however, for Frankie to see how uncomfortable you were, and a small, warm feeling bloomed in his chest in place of the jealousy. He kept the little one in his line of sight as he moved carefully through the crowds and behind the man. He caught your eye, and the warm feeling grew when your eyes widened and you visibly relaxed. Spurred on, he made a little symbol with his fingers over his chest - something Santi often did jokingly. It was an “S" shape, similar to the one Superman wore.

Do you need saving? he mouthed and you grinned, nodding slighting, so as not to betray him to your captor.

He didn’t need to hear more, butting into the conversation politely, but with determination. When the vice principal protested, Frankie confidently wrapped an arm around your shoulders and leveled his eyes at the other man. For all he was a sweetheart in a baseball cap, Francisco Morales could still gaze with the same intensity he had in the military.

The rest of your rescue went smoothly. He guided you back towards where the younger students were playing, and you were still grinning at him.

“Thanks you, Mr. Morales,” your heart was happy, you felt like you were flying. “You really are m- a hero.”

In that moment, Frankie knew he was a goner. To be your hero, and his daughter’s? That was maybe all he ever wanted.

“How can I repay you?” you asked, earnestly, the request and it’s potential making him weak in the knees.

He squeezed you gently.

“How about you call me Frankie?” he said, before taking a shaky breath. “And maybe consider going out to dinner with me tomorrow night?”

You froze, your heart beat filling your whole body. He went to pull his arm away, but your hand caught his on your shoulder, keeping it around you.

“I’d love to, Frankie,” you managed.

Frankie found himself in a similar state of speechlessness, happiness flowing off of him, unable to make his mouth stop smiling. He settled for squeezing you again, both of you glowing and too overwhelmed to notice the high fives and quiet cheers from the staff around you.

-

The next 24 hours, Frankie was a bundle of nerves and excitement. He had spent weeks adoring you, seeing how wonderful you were, sharing as much of himself as he could. Now that he finally had the opportunity to take you on a date, he was terrified of blowing it. Calling Santi was almost a waste of time, the other man was too excited and gave him advice that required flirting skills he knew he didn’t have. He wanted to put his best foot forward, after all. He even left his hat home, cursing himself because the little pink brush he tried to use only made his curls fluffier.

But when he picked you up, time slowed down.

The two of you climbing into his truck, making small talk before you said, “I’m sorry you had to get a sitter for tonight, by the way.”

And he was forced to pause, looking at you. Beautiful, in the passenger seat, somehow thinking of him and his life. His mind was running as fast as his heart, and he didn’t have the slightest clue what to do.

“Frankie? Is everything okay?” his eyes met yours, and they were so earnest you knew to wait.

Gently, you put your hand on the middle console, palm up, offering. His hand fit into yours immediately, clinging to it like a lifeline.

“I… I gotta be honest with you,” he said, in a way that made you sure each word was thought out. “I think you’re really something special. But… I’m really afraid of this. I’m afraid of how much I like you. I had this whole dinner planned … but I can’t. I have all this baggage and I like you too much. I’m not trying to scare you off but … but I guess now is better than later?” his mind vaguely realized he self sabotaged, but it was all true. He was in too deep.

You took a breath, waiting a moment to make sure it was your turn. You felt the cool upholstery, the evening sun, and a tremble in his hand.

“Frankie… I can’t promise you I’ll want to stay, once I know it. But I really like you too,” his eyes met yours and you ran your thumb over his knuckles. “Please, just give it chance? Give me a chance to make that choice? I promise I’m in this just as deep as you are and I’m not perfect either but maybe we can get burgers, and just… just talk? Figure it out together, now?”

He would have squeezed your hand but he realized he was already gripping it too tightly. You knew he agreed though, because his eyes told you, and the two of you drove off.

You ordered bunches of extra fries along with your meals, and he parked a bit outside of town, where the two of you could see the sun beginning to set.

And he told you all of it as the two of you ate. The breeze was warm, running its fingers through the fields as he talked. He hadn’t expected his secrets to pour out of him but once he started, it felt as though a dam had broken.

He told you about his missions, the Delta Force, his friends. The drugs, the rehab, the back slides. The other woman, his baby, the heart break. Even the trauma, the therapy, and being a single dad.

You listened and in turn, told him about your life. Your hardships, your secrets, as forthcoming and he was. You were honest about how scared you were at the prospect of becoming a mother figure for his daughter. About how unprepared you felt for those hurdles. And when you were done, the two of you sat in silence, looking at the rising stars. Eventually, you spoke again.

“Francisco Morales, I still really like you,” you smiled at him, shrugging a bit. “If you’re okay with it, I’d really like to try this thing, with you.”

There was nothing more wonderful than the hope in his eyes at that moment.

“Yes, please,” his voice was a bit raspy. He took a couple of slow breaths. “I have to get home soon but can I be honest with you for just a little bit longer?”

“Of course,” you said, confused.

He hopped out of the truck, jogging over to your side and helping you step down. The door closed behind you but he moved closer instead of backing up.

“I had all these plans to take this slow, do everything right,” his voice was soft, and he was gently pushing into your space, allowing you to stop him at any time. “You deserved it, and I wanted to show you I could do it. But,” his hands found your body, one of them tugging your hips into his and the other settling on the back of your neck, half in your hair. “But I’d really like to skip some steps,” his forehead was on yours, gaze steady, his voice deep and warm.

“Can we skip to the part where I can kiss you? The part where I can tell you how much you mean to me, and hold you?”

You aren’t sure if you managed to say yes before his mouth was pressing against yours, kissing you for all he was worth.

[soulmate-game]

Bio Dad Bruce Wayne Month 2020

Day 1: Meeting for the first time

Not my best work, but decent. I hope you enjoy!

—*—*—*—*—*

Mari was intelligent. That much could not be disputed— and despite her dislike for the sciences in general, she was fully capable of comprehending them when she wanted to. She just usually didn’t care enough to try. But genetics? That was kinda cool. So, when she was ten years old and they began their short unit on it, she was obsessed. And by obsessed, she dove in head first. Like, the fact that her eye color didn’t match either of her parents or grandparents. How could she have blue eyes when none of them did? She delved in deeper and deeper until she uncovered a truth her parents hadn’t wanted her to figure out quite so soon.

She was adopted.

Mari never told her parents about her discovery, the epiphany only managing to sate her curiosity. Who needed blood relation when her parents loved her like real ones anyway? But as the years passed and certain life changes came up, she couldn’t help but feel intrigued by the mystery of where her DNA came from. The heroism thing had to have some root in genetics, right? Okay, so maybe she was just looking for someone to be mad at besides Master Fu. But still, could she be blamed?

So, when Marinette was thirteen years old, she traced her DNA back to her biological parents. And for a while, that was it. She had once again sated her curiosity. She didn’t need anything else. Her mother was dead, and she doubted her biological father knew a thing about her. So Marinette forgot about her discovery, or at least let it sink into the recesses of her brain. And there it stayed, until she was eighteen.

—* — * — * — * — *

It had to be one of the most accidentally dramatic days possible. Top floor of Wayne Enterprises, in one of Bruce’s massive conference rooms with every member of his large family in attendance. Even Kori and Mar’i were there, and Jason’s boyfriend Roy. Everyone was getting fairly restless, considering that Bruce had only informed a few of them (Read: just Dick, who was vibrating in his seat and not soothing anyone’s nerves) about what they were even all called in for. In their civilian identities, no less. It was very odd. Damian, not least of all, was sitting beside Bruce with his jaw clenched but eyes scanning the room in curiosity. He had come a long way from the surly ten year old, and he hadn’t even killed anyone in four years. He had well and truly become a Bat, and with that progress came the lessening of his old temper and brattiness.

Make note: lessening. Not erasure.

It wasn’t long, maybe ten or fifteen minutes of Bruce checking his phone and grinning secretively without answering anyone’s questions, before a businesslike tap-tap-tap sounded on the door to the conference room. Immediately, everything went silent. Kori, Tim, and Jason stopped trying to get Dick to say anything intelligible and went instead to just keeping the man in his seat at all. Bruce let out a rare, soft chuckle before raising his coffee mug to his lips. He called out:

“Come on in, miss MDC. We’re ready for our meeting,” before taking a long sip.

And as soon as the door opened all the way, admitting a short woman of asian descent with navy black hair brushing the bottom of her shoulder blades and piercing (familiar. Too familiar) deep blue eyes, he promptly choked. Trying his damndest not to get coffee everywhere, Bruce devolved into a coughing fit even as his eyes continued to flitter up to the figure just admitted into the room. The woman pretended not to notice his suffering, closing the door behind her and walking forward towards the side of the rectangular-set-up ring of tables that was closest to her and also unoccupied. She plopped a heavy bag down onto the table, reaching in and pulling out a large red and white polka-dotted journal from within, along with a black pen. But despite her businesslike movements and her silence, nobody missed the way that her far too familiar stunningly blue eyes twinkled in suppressed mirth. She didn’t seem surprised at all.

That was the last time Bruce was ever gonna let Tim do someone’s background check on his own. He should have at least looked at the file Tim had made, but of course not. Tim was capable, he trusted the boy with half of their entire family’s company. One background check on one highly reputable designer? Of course he could trust Tim.

Except apparently not. This is what Bruce got for keeping secrets.

“Marinette Dupain-Cheng,” Bruce spoke once he got a handle of himself, pushing back his chair almost hurriedly and standing. Damian followed suit, laser focused on his father along with everyone else who knew just how out of character the older man was being just then. It was hard to fluster Bruce at all those days, let alone make him choke and hurry to stand. “I— Welcome to WE. I’m—“ Bruce was cut off by a soft chuckle.

“Bruce Wayne, my biological father and employer for the next few weeks. I know,” Marinette interrupted, sending a sly smile his way. “I had a feeling somebody didn’t actually tell you my name. I was planning on coming to Gotham later this year after I graduated Lycee and demanding to get to know you, but it looks like you did the hard work for me without even knowing. But,” her smile widened in good humor as she walked up closer to Bruce, holding her hand out for a shake. “I do have to say, now that I’ve seen you in person I feel a bit cheated. With how tall you are, you’d think I would have inherited at least a couple more inches.”

“Excuse me? Who do you think you are, claiming to be a Wayne?” Damian asked, tone sharp and his emerald eyes glaring straight towards her. Bruce just took Marinette’s hand, shaking it gently from surprise, but his foot gently kicked his son in the ankle.

“Damian,” Bruce said simply, the single name laced with warning as it came out of his mouth. He turned his attention back to the girl in front of him. “It is nice to finally meet you in person, Marinette. I admit, I did not know of our relation until a few years ago, and I wasn’t in the right mindset back then to welcome another child. Besides, I had it on good authority that your adoptive parents are more than wonderful to you.”

Marinette shrugged. “I don’t mind. I didn’t look into who my biological father was until I was thirteen, anyway. I don’t think things would have ended well if you had just shown up in Paris one day asking to be involved in my life. Enough of that though,” Marinette turned to the sixteen year old by Bruce’s side now stiffened and wide-mouthed. His entire expression, subdued as it was, still managed to clearly telegraph betrayal. And then those eyes locked on Marinettes, and the emerald simmered into something much more vile and acidic. Marinette was not perturbed, merely giving the younger boy a smile and holding out her hand for a shake.

“You must be my half-brother, Damian. I expected someone carved out of stone, with how the tabloids paint you as unfeeling and cold,” she joked. Damian glared harder. She raised an eyebrow. “You seem pretty heated and angry, like a hissing cat, to me. And by the way, I never claimed to be a Wayne. My last name is Dupain-Cheng, and I don’t plan on changing it anytime soon. Having the same blood relation as you does not mean I plan to throw away the name given to me by the ones who actually raised me. But, it does mean that I will get to know you one way or another. I’m not easy to get rid of, and I’ve always wanted a sibling or two.”

That was when the room couldn’t hold it any more; everyone bar the three in the center of the room burst out laughing. It wasn’t too raucous, confusion dampening the hysteria that usually would have taken over, but there was a good round of chuckles and laughter. When it settled down, Damian’s shoulders had slightly relaxed but he still hadn’t taken Marinette’s hand. Instead, he turned to his father again.

“Explain.” He demanded. Bruce sighed, his gaze connecting with Marinette’s own identical one. He searched her for any hesitation, but only got a flash of a bright smile in return. Bruce straightened his shoulders, clasping his hands behind his back and turning to face Damian and the rest of the room.

“I found out about Marinette shortly after Damian was… introduced to the family,” Bruce admitted, resisting the urge to glance at Marinette after the hedged mention of how he met Damian. “I decided to scour every resource I had to make sure I couldn’t be surprised by another biological child. And, lo and behold, I found out that I was right to do so. Her biological mother passed away in childbirth however, so she was adopted by a couple in Paris. I did not see any need to contact her at the time. A friend of mine did happen to be in Paris back then though, and hung around to make sure Marinette was being treated well before leaving again.”

“You sent a friend of yours to spy on me?” Marinette asked, but she just sounded thoroughly amused. “Geez. Now I know where I get it from. When I was thirteen, I had a bit of a bad habit of spying on my friends when I was worried instead of confronting them head on. It took a while to grow out of, and even now I can easily slip back into the habit if I’m not careful. But, as great as this reunion is, it isn’t what I’m being paid to be here for,” Her grin turned downright wicked as she snapped open her sketchbook and clicked her pen.

“I am MDC, the owner and CEO of the up and rising fashion label Spotted Designs, where every look will turn heads and ensure confidence. Monsieur Wayne,” her grin turned into a sly smirk when she said his name, which visibly made Bruce twitch. “Has hired me today to design all of you a new outfit for his gala in four months time, as well as a casual outfit of your own choosing should you want one. Before I get started, I would like to ask you to please sign your NDAs, which my assistant and best friend will bring in for you in a few minutes, before we conclude this meeting. I go by an alias for a reason, I value my privacy, and I would prefer it if word did not get out about my being MDC just yet. Being CEO of a business I started from scratch when I’m only eighteen right now will garner attention that I am not patient enough to deal with right now.”

The silence was near palpable until Jason huffed in amusement and remarked: “Yup. I can see the resemblance.”

“Resemblance?” Duke asked, leaning forward with an incredulous look on his face. “It’s like seeing a tiny, genderswapped, innocent copy of Damian. Is anyone else terrified right now?”

“Tt,” Damian tutted, letting a heavy breath out through his nose before shoving his hand forward. He didn’t look pleased, but neither did he look venomous or betrayed anymore. “Miss Dupain-Cheng. I am Damian Wayne, and I look forward to working with you.” He greeted as if the past few minutes hadn’t happened at all. Marinette beamed, letting out a short belt of delighted laughter before clasping his hand firmly with hers.

“My competence always wins people over,” she teased.

“Only if they don’t see you trip over empty air first,” a new voice joined in, lightly joining the teasing. It belonged to a tall, blond haired green eyed man that looked about the same age as Marinette herself. He came carrying a large two-foot stack of papers as easily as if he was only carrying one sheet. Closing the door behind him with his foot, he went around the large square of tables distributing NDAs to everyone who hadn’t already signed one. “Mari’s the clumsiest person I’ve ever seen, but I’ve also seen her hand sew a double sided ball gown with a layer of knife-resistant fabric in less than thirty hours and still threaten anyone to come near with a needle to the eye, so I’ve learned to just not take anything about her at face value anymore.”

“Oh shut up,” Marinette snapped back cheerfully, rolling her eyes. “This is my best friend, assistant, and business partner Adrien Agreste.”

“I deal with all the paperwork and spotlight that she doesn’t want to handle,” he agreed, nearly blinding everyone with his beaming smile. “Now. Please sign these NDAs, and you can experience Marinette’s skill firsthand.”

After papers were signed and Adrien left, Bruce tried to start another conversation with Marinette.

“So, when did you find out—“

“I’m going to start with taking all of your measurements, if you don’t mind. You first, Monsieur Wayne.”

Bruce blinked, not used to being interrupted. “Ah. We can do this tomorrow, I wasn’t expecting—“

“That’s not my fault, Monsieur Wayne. I came here knowing exactly who I was going to deal with, and you want me to make a quite frankly horrifying amount of clothing in a very short amount of time. Any designer lesser than me would be completely incapable of meeting your deadline. I plan on sticking to my schedule, which means that we are going to get everyone’s measurements and a baseline of the kind of designs you all want done today before the end of our scheduled appointment.”

“Marinette, I would really like to talk about—“

“Arms out. And take your suit jacket off, I can’t get an accurate measurement with it,” she once again interrupted, businesslike and efficient as she took her measuring tape and lined it up against various parts of his body, jotting down the results. She didn’t entertain any of his attempts at conversation in the meantime, instead using the dead time to grill Damian on what he wanted for his suit design.

And, like a partnership that never should have existed, Damian merely smirked and played along with her game. He answered her questions thoroughly but precisely, never allowing their father a chance to make actual conversation. Next thing the poor eldest Wayne knew, Marinette had already taken everyone’s measurements and almost an hour had passed. No less than ten pages of her notebook were already filled with neat lines of notes and numbers.

“You really take this whole thing seriously, don’t you?” Tim asked, in the middle of describing his ideal suit to Marinette. She hummed, grinning up at him mysteriously. As if she was in on a joke he hadn’t heard.

“Designing is my life, Monsieur Drake. This company is something I’ve been building from the ground up since I was thirteen, I’ve made my own clothes since I was ten. Of course I take it seriously. Now. I believe that is everything I need,” she stood up, asking a few last second questions as she gathered up her things. Seeing his chance, Brucie walked her to the door.

“Really, Marinette, I would like to talk to you more. Would you like to come to the Manor tonight, for dinner maybe?”

Marinette smirked, opening the door before Bruce could and turning her head to say over her shoulder: “Not tonight, but maybe tomorrow. Do me a favor though, and try not to get too injured on patrol. I need you all in good enough shape to stand while I do your initial fittings later this week. Gotham might need it’s vigilantes, but you will all regret it if you break a bone before I can fit my prototypes to you.”

Nobody was able to say a word before she closed the door behind her and continued briskly to the elevator. Bruce stood, dumbfounded. Tim, Jason, and Dick, after a moment, started cackling.

“Oh yeah. That’s Damian’s sister.”

“Tt. At least this proves it.”

Bruce, suddenly very exhausted, turned to his son while rubbing his forehead. “Proves what, Damian?”

His trademark razor sharp smirk overtook his face as Damian replied: “Your blood children really are much more competent and effective than the strays you took in.”

“Hey!”

—*—*—*—*—*

“You didn’t have a full conversation?” Adrien guessed, looking exactly like the cat who caught the canary. Marinette had her head in her hands, her entire face red.

“I didn't know how to have an actual conversation with them, Adrien! You should have seen it, Monsieur Wayne—“

“You can just say your father, you know.”

“—Wanted to talk about feelings. Emotions! Gooey, family stuff and probably sentimental things. In front of so many people, too. I panicked!”

“You panicked and went full Business Empress mode,” Adrien agreed, patting her back in both comfort and condescension. “It’s okay. You at least agreed to dinner tomorrow night.”

“Fuuuuuuuuuck, I diiiiiid. Quick, let’s come up with a way to fake my kidnapping.”

“No.”

“Damn.”

[collecting-stories]

Flowers on the Grave - c. 10 - JJ Maybank

Summary: Everything finally comes to a head. 

A/N: So...massive thanks for following this series all the way through to the end. Seriously, means so much to me cause I was so unsure of this when I started it. 

You Are Ok Masterlist | Outer Banks Masterlist

✞ I was on the verge of breaking down when you came around ✞

The phone rang, shrill in your ear, and you felt like a weight had settled on your chest as you waited for someone to answer.  

Timothy was talking about the same three things that he had overwhelmed you with at the Wreck. Getting his pilot’s license, becoming a missionary, and his strength in the Lord. When he said it you could almost feel your father’s gaze burning into you, your own strength barely a register on the scale. 

He had questioned you further the night before, after he had sent everyone home you had spent nearly the entire night sitting at the kitchen table with the two of them, demanding a repentance for your sins as you tried not to tell them everything that you had done to betray them. If they knew half of it...if only there were nunneries for Baptists. Your eyes had stayed on the clock, watching minutes turn to hours and knowing that JJ was waiting for you. That you wouldn’t make it.  

Now you sat in the living room, watching those same minutes tick away, an escape plan the only thing on your mind as you listened to all the voices around you mingling. All you could imagine was yourself with JJ in Charleston and you desperately wanted to be there, wished you could transport yourself there.  

You excused yourself from the couch beside Timothy, walking into the kitchen under the guise of needing something to drink. In actuality you just needed the moment to breathe. Everyone in the living room seemed fixated on the impending nuptials, regardless of the fact that Timothy had yet to propose to you. It didn’t seem to bother anyone, Timothy’s mom and your’s gushing about what sort of dress you would wear and your flowers. Every second spent with them felt like you were sinking further beneath the waves, unable to get your bearings, you imagined yourself drowning in all of this.  

You glanced over your shoulder to make sure no one was watching you before sneaking out the kitchen door, pulling it closed behind you so that it didn’t make any noise. The back patio had been cleaned off and all the kids were around the front of the house, playing between the church and the front porch.  

“Ace,” the familiar voice came from your left and you almost burst into tears at the sight of JJ stepping onto the patio, careful to stay out of view of the window.  

“JJ...I-”  

“It’s okay,” he said, cutting you off. His eyes looked bloodshot, more so than when he smoked too much and you realized that he looked like he had been crying. “It’s okay...I know your family is inside and all, I just wanted to stop by to, uh, to see you...” he trailed off, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly.  

“What, I don’t-”

“I understand, I swear. I knew that you might not come, that wasn’t like...I get it.” He insisted.

“No, JJ...” you shook your head. Careful not to draw attention to yourself as you slipped passed the window to meet him at the edge of the patio, you placed your hands on either side of his face, heartbreaking at the way he turned his eyes away, “my parents found your vape pen in the house. I...my dad like freaked out on me, I’ve never seen him like that. I couldn’t come to see you, I wanted to, so badly...I still want to.” You swore. “I love you.”

The words processed a little slowly, giving you the opportunity to watch JJ’s face as realisation sunk in. You hadn’t left him waiting at the Phantom because you were choosing what your family wanted, you hadn’t been able to get there. “Seriously?”

“Yes, I swear. I told you I was coming and I was. I just-”

“Hey, it’s alright, I get it.” He promised. He knew how dependent on your family you felt. How dependent they made you feel.  

“Is it too late?” You asked, looking back to the screen door as if someone would walk through. The bruise on your arm was still there, stinging under the sleeve of your dress but somehow it didn’t feel as harsh as before, as much like a shackle as it had last night, “is it too late to leave?”

JJ looked surprised, “you still want to?”  

“Yes. But we have to go now.” You knew there was no way you could go back inside that house.

The renewed sense of optimism that gripped JJ was not without understanding that your window oy opportunity was limited. Leave now and you still had the chance to make it to Charleston before dark, wait and there was a chance someone would step outside and see you.  

“Okay.”

Your absence was becoming increasingly noticeable until finally your mother stood up, promising that she would be back in just a moment, she needed to find you first. “She has a tendency to wander off, probably playing with the children.” She explained as she walked into the kitchen, positive that she had just heard the screen door creak shut.  

Stepping out onto the porch, she looked quickly around the yard, a survey of the area within the trees, looking for you by the clothesline or the church or the old swings that had been set up nearly five children ago. You weren’t there though, the yard was empty. She pushed the door open again, walking back into the kitchen and catching sight of the refrigerator. A note, scrawled on the grocery pad that was kept by the door, had been tacked to the front of the fridge along with a delicate gold cross hanging from a chain.  

Mom + Dad,

Sorry, I told dad I wouldn’t marry Timmy and I meant it. Call you when I can.  

Ace

Your mother screamed so loud it was a wonder that you didn’t hear it, running through the trees with JJ, your hand in his. Once the woods parted to make way for the closest drive-way you saw JJ’s dirt bike. There were plenty of times that you had almost taken him up on the offer of riding on the back of the bike with him but you always backed out at the last second, far too terrified of falling off or getting hurt. Today you hardly thought twice of it, climbing on the rungs and wrapping your arms around his shoulders. You leaned forward, kissing JJ’s cheek before he kicked up the stand and took off, “I love you.”

“Love you.” JJ replied quickly before taking off, grinning at the feeling of your grip on his shoulders tightening.  

The middle of the afternoon was far different from midnight and Heyward’s was open, Pope and Kiara coming out when they heard the sound of the dirt bike, as if they’d been waiting. The moment you each dismounted Kiara was pulling you into a hug, swearing that she ‘knew it’, knew you weren’t standing him up. She passed you over to Pope, who hugged you and whispered in your ear that he was glad you came, knowing without having to tell you that you understood just how much this relationship meant to JJ.  

“Come on,” JJ grabbed your hand, pulling you away from them. “We gotta go.”

“You can take ten seconds to give me a hug JJ,” Kiara said, already pulling him into a hug.  

“Okay, okay,” he laughed, hugging her back and lifting her a little off the ground before letting her go, “we need to leave, I love you guys, I’ll see ya soon.”

“See ya man,” Pope hugged him, “call us.”

JJ was guiding you away from them again, over to where he had docked the Phantom. He had taken your duffel bag the day before and it was still sitting there under the bench along with his backpack. The last time you had been on a boat with JJ had been out on the Pogue, in the Marsh. This was a lot different, the outlet to the ocean just beyond your vision but getting closer as JJ steered the Phantom. Kiara and Pope shouted their goodbyes from the jetty and you waved, suddenly feeling like that weight that settled on your chest was gone.  

“Are you freaking out?” JJ asked, catching your attention.  

You got up from the bench, careful as you walked over to him. “No but I'm sure my mom is.” You replied, laughing a little when JJ wrapped his arm around your waist and guided you in front of him, putting you between him and the wheel. You turned your head, tilting back to kiss him.  

A police car rushed past Kiara and Pope as they stood outside of Heyward’s, heading in the direction of the church and your house. When Shoupe pulled in, the yard was quiet. Your siblings and their families were all inside, your oldest sister trying to do damage control with Timothy’s family while your mom and dad stood outside, your mom clutching the letter and the necklace.  

The cross was something that your mom had given you on your thirteenth birthday, a symbol of your devotion and love for the Lord, now it was tucked in her hand as she tried not to absolutely fall apart. Timothy’s mother was simply upset that you had seemingly skipped out on her son but your mom was dealing with the reality that you were gone and she had no idea where you would even go.  

“When was the last time you saw her?” Shoupe asked, skeptical as he took down your information. You were 18, according to your parents, 18-year-olds didn’t need permission to leave home without telling anyone. So far, he was unconvinced of a crime.  

“Hardly an hour ago.” Your mom replied, thrusting the note into his hand, “she left this...I know that boy she was sneaking around with put her up to it.”

“Do you know this boy’s name?” he asked, looking over the vague note you had left.

“JJ Maybank.” Your father said.

Shoupe frowned, if there was any name that immediately sparked his interest it was JJ’s. It didn’t matter whether JJ was guilty of something or not, nine times out of ten Shoupe was positive that any misconduct on the island could be traced back to JJ and his friends. “Look, usually in cases like this I would tell you that, your kid is 18, if you haven’t heard from her in 24 hours then I’ll file a missing persons. But I know that Maybank kid...I’ll talk to his friends, see if anyone knows anything. You hear from your daughter, you let me know.”  

“Thank you, deputy.” Your father said, his arms around your mom as she continued to cry. You were gone and he wasn’t sure if he was angrier that you had walked out on your family’s expectations of you or that you were embarrassing them in front of a potential future husband. Either way, the thought that something they did contributed to your disappearance never occured to them.  

-

Charleston wasn’t half-way between North Carolina and Florida. There wasn’t anything special about the place and even Pope had asked why JJ didn’t just take the Phantom down to Georgia for a stopover. JJ’s only explanation was that he knew a guy in Charleston and, technically, he did. When Luke had served an 18-month sentence for a petty misdemeanor his cellmate had been an in-the-process-of-reforming drug addict who took himself down to South Carolina to work in a program for recovering addicts. He kept in touch with JJ, making sure that Luke was treating the boy right and JJ always lied through his teeth that everything was great.  

“Nothing to worry about.”

But he’d called a few weeks before with an odd favor. One that Luke’s cellmate readily agreed to, no questions asked, but a strange request all the same. “Meet me at the courthouse in Charleston.”  

Now you stood outside, scuffing the toe of your converse against the pavement, JJ’s cellphone held in a vice grip against your ear. Independence didn’t exist in your family, at least not for you. You belonged to your father until you belonged to a husband and there was no other way around it. JJ was sitting on the hood of his friend’s car, talking about heading down to Flordia, watching you as you stood a few feet away, fiddling with the strings that tied the dress he’d bought you in Chapel Hill. You’d dug it out of a drawer in your mom’s room and wore it now, a small symbol of freedom.  

“Hello?” Your mother’s voice came through the phone, a little grainy.

“Mom?”

Suddenly she was shouting for your father and you could practically hear her switching the phone over to speaker so he could hear you too. His footsteps were heavy in the background and when you were sure he was in earshot you spoke again, not ready to hear whatever bible verse he had earmarked for this very specific occasion.  

“I just wanted you to know I’m okay, JJ and I are heading down south. We’ll be staying with a cousin of his until we can get our own place.” You told them, “but we’re safe. Kiara told me you called the police; you can tell them you made a mistake...I left on my own.”

JJ stood up, walking over to where you stood, nodding to you as if silently asking you to put the phone on speaker. You held it away from your ear and tapped the button on the screen, your father’s reprimanding voice pouring through the phone.

“Stop, stop,” your mother insisted, cutting into the conversation with the only thing you knew she cared about. “What am I supposed to tell Timothy’s parents?”

“Tell ‘em she’s already married.” JJ answered for you, winking at you when you smiled. Charleston wasn’t anything special, expect they let you get married the same day you applied for a license and you knew it was the only thing your parents would listen to. When you had told JJ he’d been more than onboard with the idea. Surprisingly okay, eager even.

“What?” Your father practically shouted through the phone. He had sat up the night, waiting for the call you promised them only for it to come through early in the afternoon the next day with this, news that you had married this kid.

“Ace-” your mom seemed like there was something more she wanted to say, something that she couldn’t say with your father hovering beside her.

“I’ll be in touch, love you.” You said, ending the call and realizing, as JJ pulled you into a hug, that you were crying. “I really hate them sometimes but I don’t...want them to hate me.”

“Trust me,” JJ reassured, “I know all about it.”  

-

Your shoes sat abandoned on the small front lawn, socks stuffed inside as you stood a few feet away, ankles deep in a plastic kiddie pool that was slowly filling with hose water. You still had your uniform on, a short sleeved, short-hemmed, yellow waitress dress that buttoned up the front. Balanced on your hip, your arms around her, was JJ’s cousin’s daughter, his niece for the sake of simplifying things. She wore a white bathing suit with rainbow flowers all over it, a frilly skirt around the waist. Her Elmo submarine bobbed in the water as it got higher.  

“Look, Daisy,” you cooed, drawing her attention to you and then pointing to the object of your interest. An older model Ford truck pulled into the driveway, JJ behind the wheel. “Whose that?”

“JJ!” Daisy clapped her hands with each syllable, thrilled at the sight of him.  

The car door slammed behind him, standing there with his coverall’s tied at his waist, white wife-beater dirty from work. His cousin had gotten him the job at the autobody shop that he’d been promised and JJ was enjoying it more than he thought he would. The smile on his face when he saw you was infectious.  

“Where’s Brett?” He asked, looking around the small yard of the trailer. It was nothing terribly special, a double-wide trailer that JJ’s cousin Brett had bought after his girlfriend got pregnant. Now he lent out the room that Daisy had been sleeping in to you and JJ, asking only that you pay for groceries every other week and babysit whenever need be.  

“Went to meet April for lunch.” You replied, “you’re early.”

“Don’t act so excited.” He teased, getting close enough that you could kiss him, Daisy reaching out for him and calling his name again. “As soon as I change Dais,” he promised, kissing the baby’s head.

“Kiara called, asked if we’ll be up for Pope’s birthday?” You mentioned, setting Daisy down in the kiddie pool and getting out to shut off the hose. “I said yes.”

“Yeah, definitely.” He nodded, pausing at the steps as if he wasn’t quite sure what he had intended to do next, finally turning to look back at you as you kneeled down on the outside of the pool in hopes of keeping your uniform clean. “You okay with going back for a weekend?”

“Now that I’ve fallen into like, total debauchery, definitely.” You joked, “my parents probably won’t even recognize me if I don’t, you know, get stuck down by lightening just walking onto the property.”  

JJ snorted, “slow your roll there Cheech, you still can’t smoke and you definitely can’t handle your liquor.”  

“Go get changed so I can...Brett basically handed me Daisy, threw a shirt on and left. I didn’t even get to change.” You mentioned, pointing to the dress, “I know it’s some weird turn-on for you but I’d like to put a bathing suit on.”

“Hey, I’m happy to oblige,” he called, the screen door clambering behind him as he disappeared into the trailer.  

You had tried to imagine a few times, what you would’ve been doing right now if you had stayed in the Outer Banks, if JJ had never asked you out to begin with. Probably packing for Tennessee, signing off on a life-sentence with someone who thought your greatest contribution to his life would be in how many children you could give him and how well you kept his house. Certainly not living in a trailer in a small town, saving dollars in a jar, with a future ahead of you that was as much yours to decide as JJ’s.  

“Alright, get your ass in there and change.” JJ said, coming out of the trailer. He’d left the white tank on but changed into an old pair of swim shorts, climbing into the kiddie pool as if it was intended solely for him.  

You stood up, brushing grass off your knees and leaning over to kiss JJ one more time, “be right back. Don’t have fun without me.”

“Oh we’re gonna have all the fun!” He called as the door shut behind you.  

As you passed the mirror on the door you stopped to look at your reflection. You looked the same as you had when you left for Florida four months ago but there was something there, something so different that you couldn’t recognize yourself sometimes. A good different though, the kind that settled over you like a warm sun in the summer, the kind that blossomed up in your chest and let you know that all these decisions that led to right now had been the right ones. 

-

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[kalimagik]

As Family the First Time

Charlie Weasley x Reader

Includes storyline of “A Hogwarts Mystery” 

Word Count: ~4K

A/N: Here is the Charlie post that I promised you all! I already wrote it, so it was easy for me to edit and such just to upload. If you enjoy reading, like, reblog, comment, or give me a follow! I have a few requests that I will get to writing, but I’m away for the week, so I will write them when I get back home! (Don’t you worry! I got some good ones too!) I’m also starting to edit my long fic that will be a Harry Potter Series! So be on the look out! Happy reading, loves! <3<3 P.S. I didn’t really have time to edit this, so I apologize 😅

“Are you sure you want to do this, love? It’s always so crazy at home.” Charlie questioned as the couple prepared for their journey from Romania to England.

“Charlie, I’ve told you a million times. I can totally handle your family. I’d been there a few times during our school years. Plus, at school, I spent time like half of your siblings anyways! Bill was there for our first 5 years and one of my good friends. Percy was Percy. And I even befriended the twins! I can totally handle this. Why do you doubt me?” Y/N laughed, tossing a sweater into her suitcase.

“Okay, you got me there, but it’s gotten even crazier. Ronald’s friends are almost always there and the twins have gotten even more chaotic since their first two years at school!”

“Charlie, do you not want me to meet your family as your girlfriend or something?”

“Yes– I mean, no. I just like to have you for a little more to myself in that aspect.”

Y/N rolled her eyes. She’d been in Charlie’s house during school and they’d gone on the craziest adventures while Y/N broke all the cursed vaults. She’d been very close to following in Bill’s steps as a Curse-Breaker, but was pulled towards dragons after practically raising a Welsh Green and visiting the Romanian Dragon Sanctuary with Bill on assignment. They were magnificent creatures.

Now, she didn’t work with them like Charlie did. The boy was constantly covered in cuts, bruises, scars, and burns from working so closely with the dragons. Y/N on the other hand observed and took notes and did research surrounding all of the different ones. However, there was one dragon that both of the dragonologists shared a bond with. The dragon that Ron wrote to Charlie about, Norbert or Norbertta, adored Y/N. Maybe since she was raised by Hagrid, she was a little better with humans, but she loved Y/N.

She’d laid some eggs and Y/N got to watch the entire process close up. It was a dragonologists DREAM!

Anyways, once Y/N and Charlie found themselves at the same dragon sanctuary, they reconnected. They’d always been good friends in school and maybe, there’d been a little spark between them, but they never dated or anything. Just an intense amount of tension in their last 2 years. It drove Bill mad because he wasn’t around enough to push them together.

But, here they were. 4 years out of school and they finally started dating, but for the first year and a half, they hadn’t gotten around to telling either of the families yet, so Christmas was the best time, right? That’s why they were packing, Charlie told his family that Y/N had moved to Romania and that her family wasn’t going to be around. And seeing as how she had holiday time at Christmas as well, Molly immediately invited her to their home at the Burrow.

“It’s about 4:30. The portkey is going to leave soon, so we should get going,” Y/N smiled, zipping up her bag and pressing a kiss to Charlie’s lips to get him moving.

“Now is your last chance to stay here, love. I’d of course stay with you and we could just make a family of our own!” he beamed.

Y/N couldn’t stop the loud laugh that erupted from the back of her throat. “WOAHHH! Slow your roll there. We haven’t even thought about an engagement yet!”

“Okay, maybe not, but who says we’ve ever done things in the right order? I mean, I kissed you before you even knew if you liked me or not.”

“True, but a kiss and a baby are two very, very different things,” Y/N giggled. “Now, common, we’ve got a portkey to catch!”

The couple made it to the location of the portkey where about 7 other witches and wizards were travelling to England. Once they reached England, they would then apparate to the Burrow. Simple.

“Okay, please grab onto the boot, it will be leaving in three…two…one!”

The pulling right behind her navel was never something she could get used to, but once landing in England, she’d gotten the hang of landing on her feet.

“I will never like those things,” she shuttered, picking up her bags. “Not when Rakepick took us on one and not now!”

“Really, I think it feels like riding a dragon! It’s blood brilliant!”

Y/N rolled her eyes, preparing herself for yet another uncomfortable experience as they prepared to apparate.

Regaining her balance once again, Y/N looked down the hill to see the Burrow standing brightly in all of its glory.

“I’m telling ya, this is your absolute last chance. We can always snag a room in London and spend the holidays there.”

“Charlie, why do you not want for me not to spend time with your family?”

“Not you, I’m just slightly selfish. I know the second we walk in, my mother is going to feed us. Bill is going to want to catch up. Ginny just loves having you around more than Fleur, so she’ll be right there. Fred and George will want to show you what they’ve been working on or flirt with you because they don’t realize you’re dating their handsome older brother and couldn’t care less about any age difference. They just see you as the badass girl who mum should’ve despised for all the danger Bill and I got into, but didn’t. Ron isn’t as much of an issue because the boy is in teenage moods according to mum. Although, if Harry and Hermione are there, he should be okay.” Charlie rambled on about his family.

“We’ll be here for at least two weeks, so if they take me from you for an evening or two, it’ll be completely fine. Oh look, it seems that they have seen us. Do you want to tell them we’re dating now or what?”

Charlie took in a deep breath trying to decide, but it didn’t have a chance to respond before Arthur, Bill, Fred, and George were calling out to them.

“I’ll find the right moment, don’t you worry,” he whispered. “Dad! Brothers!” he smiled, opening his arms.

“I’ll hug Y/N first!” one of the twins yelled.

“Fred! I called the first hug!” George quickly interjected.

“I do have the capabilities of hugging two people at once,” Y/N chuckled, opening her arms for both twins, who seemed to have doubled in size since the last time she’d seen them. “When did you two double my height?”

“Oh you know, a lot changes when you move off to Romania. Freddie and I have matured,” George informed her, straightening his coat.

“That’s not what mum’s last letter said. I heard you two blew up a bathroom. I bet McGonagall had a heart attack.”

“Charlie, we used to sneak off school grounds on a regular basis for dangerous adventures. She didn’t have a heart attack because of us.”

“Good point. Also, don’t talk about all that in front of Ron and his friends. Mum would kill me if I gave them any ideas. They put themselves in regular danger too, so I hear.”

“Yes, uh, no ideas would be excellent,” Mr. Weasley echoed. “Now, Y/N, how are you doing?”

“Dad, you took my question!” Bill smiled, coming in for a hug.

“I’m doing well. Hagrid’s dragon’s eggs just hatched and Norbertta has let me get near them. It’s been SO exciting!” Y/N smiled.

“Missing curse breaking at all?” Bill asked.

“I would say that I’m enjoying the quiet life, but like with dragons isn’t exactly quiet,” she laughed.

“So are we going to stay out here talking all night or are we going to head inside? I mean, Y/N/N and I are used to camping, but I was promised a warm bed,” Charlie pointed out.

“Right you are, Charlie! Fred, George, can you take their bags please. Y/N will be going to Ginny’s room. We’ll be a tight fit, but we’ll make it work. We always do.” Arthur instructed.

“Oh, dad, Y/N can sleep in my room. She doesn’t need to sleep on a cot. I’ll bunk with Bill.”

The two lived with each other already, so it would be weird to be in a room by herself for a few weeks. Who knows though, maybe if Charlie told about them being together,

“Is Fleur here, Bill?” Charlie asked on the way down to the house. Y/N walked beside him, so Charlie had to resist the urge to take her hand in his.

“She went back to France for the holidays. Wanted me to come with her, but when I heard you were coming home, I decided to hang back. Haven’t seen my closest brother in a while, not to mention one of my best friends from school,” Bill winked at Y/N.

“I’m excited to be back in England! I just wish my parents and brother would have decided to stick around. We could’ve gone to see them too!”

“We?” Bill asked, eyebrows raised, but a smirk on his face.

Y/N bit her lip. Shit. Little did she know that Charlie had spilled the beans to Bill months ago, making him promise not to say anything to anyone.

“Brace yourselves, Mum has been looking forward to this since you wrote home, Charlie,” Bill said, keeping the door open behind Arthur.

“Y/N! Charlie!”

The pair was hit by the warmth of the Burrow and Molly making her way around the table to them.

“I’m so happy you got here safe! PERCY! RONALD! GINNY! HERMIONE! HARRY! Y/N and Charlie are here! Dinner will be on soon!” Molly called right before wrapping her arms around Charlie and then Y/N.

“We’re so happy to have you hear, dear! I cannot believe your family decided to go on holiday over Christmas. No matter, we’re happy to have you back in our house. I don’t think you’ve been here since 3rd year! It’s been far too long.”

“I think 3rd year is when Bill brought Merula and I back for Christmas, but I saw you guys when Bill graduated from Hogwarts and when Charlie and I did,” Y/N thought back.

“Still, far too long! Ah, Ginny, come say hello!” Molly motioned over.

“Y/N! You’re here!”

Y/N opened her arms wide for the young red head. She was in her 2nd  year already and Y/N couldn’t believe it. She’d always gotten along with Ginny. She saw a lot of herself and her spirit in Ginny.

“Hey squirt! How have you been! How’s school?”

“It’s fine. Been crazy all year as usual, but I’m happy you’re here!”

“Hogwarts is always unusual! Always was for Bill, Charlie, and I. Lots of adventure to be found in that place.”

“Hello, Y/N. Good to see you again.” Percy said formally.

“Hello, Percy. How is your last year at Hogwarts?”

“Busy. There’s been a lot going on!”

Before Y/N could respond, they heard Ron’s voice coming from the top of the stairs.

“Mum, did you say Charlie was home?” Ron asked, footsteps being followed by 2 other pairs.

“Yes, dear!”

“You’ll love Charlie,” Y/N heard Ron tell his friends. “And…Y/N’s here too,” he suddenly stopped at the bottom of the stairs, eyes wide.

Harry bounded down, running right into him. “Ow! Ron, why’d you stop?”

Y/N couldn’t help  but chuckle. Ron never seemed to know what to say around her.

“I’m Charlie.” He held his hand out to Harry and Hermione. “And this is Y/N. He went to school with me. She was in Y/H, not like it really matters though. She was the bloody best curse breaker Hogwarts has ever seen.”

“Hey!” Bill played offended.

Knowing what it felt like to be all anyone can talk about, Y/N did her best to remain normal around the Boy Who Lived, even though she couldn’t believe what he had been through already in his short life.

“Hi! It’s so lovely to meet you. Charlie has told me all about you two from Ron and his mum’s letters.” The two 3rd years shook her hand too.

“Dinner’s on! Everyone to the table please,” Molly said as plates flew from the cabinets to the table.

“Y/N, you can sit next to me here!” Fred hollered from down the table.

“Oi! She can sit here,” George retorted across the table.

“Knock it off.” Y/N could tell that Charlie’s voice was deepening, almost as if he was getting angry. He did say that he hadn’t wanted her to be taken away by his family. “She’s going to sit next to me, alright?”

Y/N did her best to conceal her laughter. It was always amusing when he got like this. Not to mention, Y/N then never had to do any teasing.

“I think I'd like to sit with Ginny. If anyone wanted to know what I would like,” Y/N laughed, walking towards her little friend. “We have a lot to catch up on! But, you can come sit beside me, if you’d like, Charlie.” She giggled.

Dinner went well. Ginny told Y/N all about what she’d been learning, who she hung around, which professors were her favorite, and how she loved Hogwarts. The twins went on about the best pranks that they had pulled since the last time they saw her. Y/N heard from Ron’s friend Hermione a little bit. She was as sweet as could be, but definitely a bright witch. She of course caught up with Bill. They still wrote to each other, but not as often as they had before.

But, when Molly stood up to clear the table, Y/N’s attention broke away.

“Oh, let me help you with that, Mrs. Weasley,” she offered.

“No, no! Sit down. You’ve traveled so much today. Bill and the other boys can help me. Ginny will show you her room, so you can get settled in.”

“Oh, mum, I told Y/N that she could stay in my room. I’ll bunk with Bill. There are already enough people in Ginny’s room. She should get some privacy,” Charlie responded.

“Fine, fine. Ginny, show Y/N where Charlie’s room is. Boys, will one of you get her bags?”

“No worries, Mrs. Weasley! I can get them myself! Thank you though,” Y/N smiled, picking up her two small duffle bags. “Lead the way, Squirt!” Y/N smiled at Ginny. Red spread onto her cheeks as she turned towards the stairs. What had Y/N said?

Y/N followed the red headed girl up the stairs to the 4th floor. A green dragon painted on the door.

“I’m guessing this is Charlie’s?”

“Uh huh!” Ginny beamed, her usual persona returning. “Want me to help you unpack your things?”

“Sure! Lead the way in!”

Ginny sat on the bed while Y/N took things out of her bags. She could sense that she wanted to say something, but didn’t know what to say, so Y/N started instead.

“Do you not like it when I call you ‘Squirt’ anymore, Gin?”

“Oh, no, no, no! I just uhhh….”

Y/N raised an eyebrow.

“Can I tell you a secret?” Ginny asked. “A secret that you won’t tell anyone else?”

“Of course! I promise I won’t say it to anybody,” Y/N smiled, sitting on the bed across from Ginny.

“I sort of, kind of have a crush on Harry. And when you called me squirt, I remembered that he was there and it probably made him look at me!” Ginny blurted out, like she’d been just waiting to tell someone.

“Squirt, you’re shaking! It’s okay to have a crush! Everyone has them.”

“Even you?”

“Yes, even me,” Y/N smiled, hoping she was calming the girl down.

“Who?”

Well, Y/N wasn’t expecting that.

“Can you keep a secret too?” Ginny nodded vigorously. “I have a crush on Charlie…”

Ginny’s eyes grew wide. Ugh, gossiping with a 13 year old was fun.

“Really? Charlie? I think you two could work. I mean, don’t tell him, but he’s had a crush on you for a long time.”

Y/N giggled, feeding into Ginny’s antics. “Oh really? How long?”

“I think he had one on you ever since he heard you fought the Hungarian Horntail. And then, when you went to the Dragon Sanctuary the first time, Charlie said you weren’t scared at all. I think he was mesmerized. You should tell him,” Ginny giggled.

“Wanna know another secret?” Y/N whispered.

“Another one?!”

“Well, it has to do with the same one. Want to hear it?” Ginny nodded. Hanging on to every word. “I did tell him,” Y/N smiled.

“You did? What happened?”

“We’ve been dating for a year and a half,” Y/N whispered, as though someone would be listening in.

“REALLY?!” Ginny squealed. “Why haven’t you told anyone?”

“I don’t know. We are just always in Romania and haven’t really seen anyone. It was fun being in our own little world. No one else in the world to worry about, you know?”

Ginny’s smile was huge! She was so excited she was nearly trembling. “Are you going to tell everyone? Is that why he said you could sleep in his room?” Ginny was blurting out questions left and right.

“We were going to tell everyone during this trip, but I don’t know when. I sorta left that up to Charlie.”

*Knock, knock, knock*

“How’s unpacking going?” Charlie asked, opening the door.

“Half done!” Y/N laughed, looking at her unpacked bags.

“What have you two been doing all this time?”

“Just chatting,” Y/N responded, a twinkle in her eye.

“Yeah, just chatting,” Ginny smirked, still not containing her excitement.

“Alright, Squint, what’s going on with you?”

“Y/N told me a secret and I can’t tell anyone else. She made me promise…”

“Oh, did she now?” Charlie asked, moving his focus to Y/N’s grinning figure.

“You can tell him, Gin. He’s in on the secret!”

Ginny essentially combusted. “YOU AND Y/N ARE DATING!” she yelled.

“Wooooah, Squirt. I said you could tell him, not the whole house!” Y/N laughed.

“Sorry,” Ginny blushed.

“Alright, now get outta here. I wanna talk to my girlfriend,” Charlie cooed. Ginny couldn’t stop giggling as she hopped off the bed and out the door, shutting it behind her.

“Don’t look at me like that!” Y/N laughed, picking one of her duffle bags off the ground.

“You blabbed!”

“Oh? I blabbed? How about the fact that you’ve definitely told Bill. I made the ‘we’ comment and he didn’t even question it! Don’t think I didn’t figure it out!”

“But you told Ginny. What would possess you to tell Ginny? She’s always been the blabbermouth!”

“No way she’s worse than Fred and George,” Y/N spit back.

“Okay, no, they’re worse. But you saw how she was when I walked in, she couldn’t keep it to herself.”

“Yeah, she also mentioned how you were mesmerized by me after we went to the Dragon Sanctuary for the first time,” Y/N winked. She watched as his freckles disappeared with the color of red growing on his cheeks.

“See, what did I tell ya! So, why did you tell her?”

“I can’t tell you. It’s a secret!” Y/N turned her nose up.

“She’s got a crush on Harry, doesn’t she?”

“How do you know?”

“Mum’s thought so since they first met. Ginny can barely say two words around him. It’s hilarious!”

“Don’t be mean! First crushes are hard!” Y/N slapped Charlie on the wrist.

“Tell me about it!” he rolled his eyes.

“What are you talking about?”

“I had a crush on you since 2nd year and you had no idea. So obviously, the other person can be quite oblivious,” Charlie laughed, thinking back on it.

“I was not oblivious! I just wasn’t thinking about that. I was kind of busy avoiding being killed, remember?” Y/N pointed out.

“Oh no way! You went on your first date with Barnaby in our 4th year. And everyone had a crush on you!”

“Okay, but that was in school. Look who ended up with me, huh? Huh?” Y/N tried to direct him away from school time memories.

“True. I did get pretty lucky that you didn’t follow Bill into his job. I’d be so lost now!”

“Lost? More like dead. You’d have gone and tried to tame the meanest dragon in the place. Really, your family should be thanking me!”

“I don’t know. That could be payback for putting Bill and I in so much danger during school…”

“Merlin! I don’t think your mum ever blamed me for that. She still invited me for Christmas every year, no matter how much danger we were in…”

“mhmmmmmm, you may be right.”

“Should we go back downstairs?” Y/N asked.

“Wait, but I came all the way up here and haven’t kissed you yet!” Charlie pouted.

“Fineeee,” Y/N groaned before giggling. He was still pouting when she quickly pecked his lips and pulled away.

“Woah, woah, woah! I was thinking maybe a little more, maybe?” Charlie begged.

“Charlie, we’re in your childhood bedroom with your family downstairs.” She felt bad looking into his sad chocolate eyes. Ugh, why was he so cute?

“Uh, Charlie?”

“One more?”

“Do you think Ginny’s spilled the beans yet?”

Charlie’s eyes grew double the size. “We need to go.”

Y/N tried to stifle her laughter as Charlie pulled her down the stairs, going way faster than she was.

“Charlie! I’m going to fall over!”

“We have to make sure she hasn’t told them yet! I’m not ready!” Charlie shot out.

“Not ready to tell us what, brother?”

The pair came face to face with essentially the entire Weasley family, including Harry and Ron.

“I was just preparing to give everyone dessert,” Mrs. Weasley said, putting down a plate of food.

“Mum! Don’t change the subject. What do you have to tell us, Charlie?” George pushed, following the suite of his twin.

“Yeah Charlie, what do you have to tell them?” Y/N teased, standing right beside him and grabbing onto his hand.

“No!” Ron’s mouth dropped open.

“Merlin’s beard!” Fred spat out.

“Are you two…together?” George asked, big eyed.

“And I already knew it and didn’t say anything!” Ginny added in proudly.

“I hadn’t even said yes or no, squint. Thanks for the help.”

Y/N felt the grin on her face grow as she watched the interaction between a family that she adored so much. “Want to tell them then?” she pushed.

“Fine,” Charlie groaned. “Y/N and I have been dating.”

“Have been?” Bill scoffed.

“Oh, sod off. I told you like 2 weeks after it started! Don’t give me that grief!”

“This isn’t new?” George wondered.

“It’s been about a year and a half!” Ginny stated proudly, smiling at Y/N who nodded in return.

“A YEAR AND A HALF!?” 4 voices, one being Mrs. Weasley said in unison.

“Well, how did this all happen?” Mrs. Weasley now smiling rushed forward, pulling Y/N into a second hug for the night. “You’re with my boy. Oh thank goodness. I was really starting to worry that one day he was going to bring home a dragon!”

“Gee, thanks mum.” Charlie sarcastically replied.

“Well, tell us what happened,” Mr. Weasley encouraged. “You won’t get any peace and quiet until you tell this lot the story.”

“Yeah, not even I got the full story!” Ginny giggled, pulling out a chair for Y/N.

“Wait, wait, wait. Y/N. You mean to tell me that you have kissed our brother? The brother that has been in love with dragons since I was born and that used to dress our owl up as a dragon?” Fred asked, disgusted.

“What? He’s passionate,” she giggled.

“EWWW!” the twins replied at the same time.

“Wait,” Ron piped up, “you’re saying that you two just hang out all the time in Romania, working together and seeing each other…after work?”

“Well….actually….” Y/N dragged on, looking over to Charlie.

“We live together,” he grinned broadly for the first time since his family started grilling them.

“LIVE TOGETHER! Y/N no way. He isn’t even that great!” George blurted.

“I think he’s pretty fantastic actually,” Y/N blushed as Charlie stood behind her chair, placing his hands on her shoulders.

“Oh, Fred, George, be quiet. Let them tell their story! We want to know everything! Common, common! Everyone sit down. Have some dessert. Listen to Y/N and Charlie!” Mrs. Weasley commanded.

The room quieted and all eyes were on the newly outed couple.

“Would you like to do the honors?” Y/N asked Charlie.

“I like it better when you tell it, love,” Charlie grinned, kissing Y/N’s forehead.

Ignoring the groans from the boys, Y/N began to tell the story with Charlie interrupting way too often to add in details. Y/N didn’t say anything because it was just so cute how he did it. But, it turned out to be a really wonderful first evening of an even better two weeks. It was really just a great time to be back in England.

[vintagedolan]

Hi lynds I don’t know if my other ask went in or not but I just wanted to ask if you could write a blurb about the gif you reglobbed saying that, that’s grays when his kid calls him. Maybe the kid calling him and saying they can’t sleep and asking if he could sleep with them. I also wanted to ask if you have any other blurbs in the works and that I absolutely love mixtape and that you’re such an amazing writer with so much talent. I love your blog so much and it gives me so much happiness.

talkin about this beautiful gif from the lovely marika, aka @graysonsbailey go follow her if you don’t already!!

also, I don’t have any other blurbs in the works hehe the only time I really write anything that isn’t mixtape is when the inspo really hits, like now ;)

When Grayson designed his new house, he had one thing in mind - his babies. Sure, they hadn’t been born yet at the time. In fact, you weren’t even pregnant when he drew up the floor plans and walked you through them with that big Grayson smile that only came around when he was talking about something he really loved. 

“And we’ll have our bathroom right here, attached to our room, and then there’s one bedroom over here, across the hall. The nursery.”

“The nursery huh?” You tried to play it off at the time, act like the idea of carrying his baby didn’t make you melt into a puddle. 

“Close to us, so we can hear them when they need us. And then when they get older, we’ll move them to the other rooms, so they don’t hear us,” he teased, brushing some of your hair off your shoulder as he spoke, pointing to the little gathering of bedrooms upstairs and on the other side of the house - 6 of them, you counted. 

By 2024, you’d already moved one baby through the nursery and onward into the closest bedroom - your daughter, Denver. Grayson had gotten his life long dream of a baby girl, and she’d kept him on his toes ever since her arrival almost three years ago; even more so now that Luna, his second daughter, had come into the mix only a few months prior.

Which was why he was getting ready for bed at the ripe and reasonable time of 8:30pm. You’d finally got your milk supply up to where you could pump a few extra bottles for night feeds, meaning he could take on a few of them and let you get some much deserved rest. He loved it, loved feeling needed and useful and like he was doing something that really helped you, that really mattered in those first few months where a baby needs their mom a lot more than their dad. 

As he finished shaving his beard, razor hovering over his mustache, he heard a small voice from across the hall

“Daddy! Daddy c’mere! I wants to show you something!” 

Denver’s bedtime was 8pm. He knew without asking that you’d run her through her bedtime routine already, from the pajamas and teeth brushing to the story and forehead kisses. It was your special time with her, a reminder that she would always be just as important as any sibling that came after her. 

He should be annoyed. Should be ready to reprimand, to tell her that she should have been asleep by now, that she couldn’t keep getting out of bed and wandering downstairs. But he couldn’t bring himself to be, because that was his baby girl, and she wanted him... she needed him, and it didn’t matter what for.

So he turned and left the bathroom with a coy smile that he tried to hide as he passed you, leaned back against the headboard with Luna wrapped up in your arms, cuddled to your chest.

“You spoil her,” you said, not even having to look up from your baby’s face to know he was on his way to give your oldest whatever she wanted.

“Got to while I have the chance to,” he hummed. Would it come back to bite him in the ass when she was a moody teenager? Probably. But right now he couldn’t resist it, especially when he made it through the doorway to see his little girl with her big brown eyes and her brown curls, staring up at him in her dinosaur pj’s.  

He crouched down so he was on her level before he spoke.

“What do you want to show me love?” 

“It in my room,” she said, reaching out to take his hand and starting to pull him along. It would have been much more comfortable for him to just scoop her up and put her on his hip, but he let her lead him just like that, little hand wrapped around his index and middle finger as she tugged his crouched form down the hall and up the stairs to her room.

Denver’s room was one of Grayson’s favorites in the house. Cozy and warm, still kid like but with dashes of her favorite things, from the light blue of the walls to the paw patrol blanket on her bed - the blanket that he realized had been spread out on one side of the tiny twin mattress, along with four stuffed animals and Denver’s baby blanket as well, which had part of Grayson’s own nonnie stitched into it.

“I made you a bed! For sleepover!” 

He could have said a million things - the bed wasn’t big enough to fit half his body comfortably, he knew she was just stalling going to sleep, he was supposed to go get Luna and put her in her crib, prep the bottles for the nighttime feed. 

But there was such innocent excitement in his daughter’s eyes, and he knew that one day, she would be asking for sleepovers with her friends and not him. So he decided he was going to soak it up while he still could.

“A sleepover? With you?” He asked, letting his mouth fall open the way he knew would make her squeal.

“Yeah!” 

“Let’s do it,” he smiled, dropping down to crawl into her bed. She watched him, listened to the creek of the mattress as he climbed on and settled on his back, looking up at her. 

She cocked her head to the side, like her mother always did.

“What’s wrong?”

“You too big,” she frowned at the way his body hung off both the side and the end of the bed.

“C’mere, you can lay on me,” he offered, opening up his arms and trying to remember every detail of how it felt to have her climb onto him and rest her head on his chest. Her hair smelled like her green apple shampoo and he breathed it in as she relaxed against him. 

“You comfy daddy,” she said through a yawn after a few minutes, and he couldn’t tell if it was a statement or a question. He didn’t care - even if he was uncomfortable, you couldn’t have paid him to move. 

“You know Den, this is how you used to sleep, when you were little bitty, like Luna. You would cry and cry and cry, but when I laid you on my chest you’d stop right then and fall right to sleep. Momma always said that we shouldn’t have bought you a crib, cause you just used me instead.” 

He waited for her to say something, or move. But she didn’t, and he smiled when he realized that she was fast asleep already, breathing heavy against him as her hand dropped down against his ribs.

He wasn’t sure how long he laid there, focused in on every detail he could see from the dim light in the room, illuminated by her night light. He kept talking to her, small little affirmations that he hoped were so ingrained in her mind that she would never doubt them - that she was beautiful, strong, so very special. One of his most precious gifts, one of the most important things in his entire life. His purpose. 

When he looked at his watch and saw 10:30, he reluctantly sat up, held her small form to his chest the way he used to as he readjusted and placed her in her bed, cuddling her stuffed animals up to her after he covered her up to keep her company. He pressed a kiss to her forehead before he went downstairs, grabbing a bottle from the kitchen and warming it up, knowing it was only a matter of time before Luna’s cries sounded out. 

Sure enough, one step into the hallway and he heard her wail begin. He tired to be quick, but you were quicker, already in the doorway rubbing the sleep from your eyes.

“I got it baby, you can sleep,” he reassured you, stepping over to pull you into a hug. You sighed against his warm form.

“Is Den okay?” You mumbled.

“Perfectly fine. Wanted to have a sleepover. Go back to bed, I’ll be in there in a minute.”

He knew you weren’t going to argue with that, and he watched with a smile as you trudged back over to your king size bed and curled back up under the still-warm covers. 

It was like Luna sensed he was there, even though he knew she couldn’t see him yet. But as soon as he walked in the room her cries softened a bit, turned to whimpers. He sat the bottle down on the changing table so he could reach in with both hands to lift her out of her crib.

“Hi angel, I know, I know,” he cooed, nestling her in the crook of his arm and heading back for the bottle, smiling when she started to gulp it down immediately, only stopping to suck in breaths through her nose between swallows. 

“You’re mine alright, always so hungry,” he hummed, pacing around the room in his usual route as she drank and drank, eyes getting droopier by the ounce. Eventually, she stopped sucking, little dribbles of milk falling on her tongue as the bottle sat still against her lip. Luckily, Grayson had mastered the ability to burp her without waking her up - gentle pats across her back with her over his shoulder worked like a charm, and as soon as she was done he pressed a kiss to her soft hair and laid her back down, patting her back to be sure she was settled before he headed back to the kitchen with the almost empty bottle.

By the time he made it back to his room the exhaustion was starting to settle in. Still, when you shifted a bit as he climbed in beside you, he reached out and pulled you against him in the dark, nuzzling against you to get his bearing before he searched out your lips with his own.

“Girls okay?” You asked - an instinct.

“Perfect,” he reassured you. “Thank you.”

“Hmm?” He knew what you meant, even just from the sound.

“For giving me them. For giving me a family. I can’t ever repay you for all you’ve given me.” 

“If you always get up for the night feeds, I’ll give you 4 more girls,” you muttered, half delirious rambling making him chuckle against you.

“I think I’ll stick to my three perfect ones for now.”

[fandom-imagines-stories]

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

Gif credit @rainbow-motors

Dean Winchester x Reader 

Words: 1518

Summary: Alone on a hunt for the holidays, 19-year-old Dean calls up his childhood friend. 

Notes: I’ve been obsessed with Young Jensen content and I found this gif (Thanks to the creator!) and I really wanted to write something for a younger Dean. Call me lazy, but I didn’t want to include the hunt itself in this one. I thought writing the moments before and after would be cute, so enjoy! (Bit of a mess, but I hope you like it)

Want more Supernatural? Find it HERE

-

“Hey Sammy, it’s me,” Dean started the voicemail grimly. It was the third one he’d left for his younger brother, “I know you’re not happy with me and that’s why you won’t take my calls, but dammit man, I’ll be back as soon as I can. It’s just another hunt Sam. I’ll be back before you can say Hanukkah.” He thought for a moment before finishing. “Merry Christmas, Sammy.” 

He ended the message and tossed his phone on the motel bed with a huff. He knew Sam was pissed about him going on a hunt alone, especially over Christmas, but he didn’t think the silent treatment was going to last this long. Dad gave him an order and he wasn’t going to let him down. 

Dean sat down in front of a pile of books and sighed. He hated the research parts of hunts. He just wanted to kill the son-of-a-bitch. Unfortunately, he wasn’t totally sure what this particular son-of-a-bitch was. Over the course of seven years, 15 kids have gone missing right around Christmas time. No notes, no bodies, nothing. If his dad had any theories, he certainly hadn’t shared them. So research time it was. 

About three hours and two illegally obtained beers later, he had a couple of theories ready. It didn’t seem like a spirit or vampires, and without heartless bodies, it wasn’t a werewolf. Since the disappearances always happened around the holidays, he figured that the creature might have Pagan roots. Either that, or it could be a Grinch of a witch somewhere. Whatever it was, it was sure putting a dent in his holiday. 

Maybe that’s why he dialed the number. Sure, his dad told him he needed to do this on his own, but if it really was some Pagan entity, he wasn’t really sure he could take it on by himself- not that he would ever tell his father that. As far as his dad was concerned, Dean could handle anything that the dark world threw at him. But right now, looking at the Christmas lights through the frosty motel window, he wanted a friend. 

“Jack Frost, can’t say I was expecting a call from you.” Your amused voice made Dean smile. You had the phone wedged between your shoulder and your ear as you painted your toenails Christmas Tree green. Just because you were a badass hunter didn’t mean you couldn’t be festive. 

“Hey Y/N,” Dean chuckled, pushing away from the book covered table and cracking open another beer, “how’ve things been on your side of the Midwest?” 

“Oh, you know, vengeful spirit here, vampire there, nothing too exciting.” You twisted the top back on the polish and hopped off the bathroom counter, being careful when you walked so you didn’t get any polish on the carpet. “Mom’s been off with the twins, trying to give them a little bit of a normal Christmas up in Oregon.” 

“Why aren’t you with them?” Dean wondered. Your family wasn’t like his family. You and your mom somehow made it work. You weren’t usually separated, at least not for long. 

“I had a hunch that someone else was going to be needing me this year.” Dean let out a long, frustrated groan.

“Sam called you, didn’t he?” 

“Sammy boy was worried that you’d have a lonely Christmas so he asked me to hang around in case you needed some help.” You shrugged.

“Hang around? What do you mean hang around?” 

“Come to room 114 and find out Dean-o.” With a smirk, you hung up and waited at the foot of your bed, flipping through channels on the television. You settled on a channel that was playing The Year Without a Santa Claus. 

When you heard the knock on the door you walked on your heels to open it. Dean gave you an annoyed glare, but you could tell he was happy to see you. He barreled passed you, nearly knocking you off balance. 

“Watch the feet!” You whined, pointing at your newly painted toes. Dean rolled his eyes. 

“You painted your toenails?” He scoffed. “What are you? 13?” 

“Don’t be a Scrooge, they look nice.” You had long been able to handle Dean’s snarkiness. 

Your mother had run into John Winchester back in 1990 on a spirit case. Dean was 11, you were 10 and Sam and the twins were about 7. While your parents took down the ghost, you and Dean had to babysit. While he was obnoxious at first, the two of you got along pretty well. You bonded over being the oldest siblings, constantly having to look out for your kid brothers, worrying whether or not your parents would come home, remembering the parent that you’d lost, for Dean, it was his mother to a demon, for you it was your dad to a werewolf. 

After that, John and your mom would sometimes meet up if only to have you and Dean look after the younger kids. You even ended up going to the same high school for a while. Dean was probably the closest thing you had in your monster-hunting world to a best friend. And you, not that he would ever say it, were the closest thing he’d ever had to a crush. 

“I think I may have a lead on what we’re looking for here.” You informed, tossing him your journal. Astonished, Dean scanned the page. 

“How did you-”

“I’ve been researching gods in my free time.” 

“You are such a nerd.” Dean scoffed, taking a closer look at something you wrote. 

“Yeah well this nerd has saved your ass more than a fair share so shut it, Winchester.” You smirked, snatching back your journal. “Based on the case files of the missing kids, I have an idea of who we might be dealing with. Gryla is from Icelandic folklore and she, uh, eats naughty children.” 

“And here I complained about the coal.” Dean grimaced. 

“If we don’t figure out where she is, these kids become Christmas dinner.” While you dove into more research, Dean looked over your shoulder at the TV. 

“Are those puppets?” 

You scrambled to turn off the TV, but Dean stole the remote. 

“It’s a Christmas classic.” You reasoned, feeling yourself turn red. “I watched it with the twins all the time when we were kids.” 

“I think it’s adorable.” He leaned ever so closer to you without realizing it. Like a magnet pulling you together, you found yourself inching closer and closer until-

“Are we going to hunt this thing or not?” You suddenly exclaimed, backing away quickly. He was just kidding around. Dean was always pretty flirty. It was just part of your friendship. He didn’t feel that way about you- the way you felt about him. 

-

You burst through your motel room door, half carrying Dean in with you. In a panicked rush, you sat him down on the bed and scrambled to find your first aid kit. 

“At least we beat the damn thing, right?” Dean smirked before wincing at the pain. His wound wasn’t life threatening, but it sure hurt like a bitch. 

“This is going to hurt.” You warned, turning on the radio to drown out any pained sounds that Dean made. As you cleaned the wound, his eyes were locked on you. You tried not to notice. It was the pain that was making him look at you like that. You covered the wound with a bandage and put a fair distance between the two of you. You hoped he couldn’t see how much you were shaking. 

“Everything okay?” Dean asked. 

“Yeah, yeah everything’s fine, Dean.” You lied, laughing nervously. “I just got kinda freaked out when I saw her attack you.” 

“You sure that’s all that’s bothering you?”

“I thought you were going to die, Dean, I think that’s a sufficient reason to be a little jittery.” Dean got up from his place on the bed and walked towards you. 

“We’ve known each other for how long, Y/N? I can tell when you’re not telling me the whole story.” 

You ignored him, electing to listen to the Christmas music coming from the radio instead. It was one of your favorites. You mouthed the words to yourself. 

“Through the years, we all will be together. If the fates allow.” 

“Fate hasn’t exactly been our friend.” You scoffed. 

“Huh?”

“The song. It says ‘if the fates allow’. Fate doesn’t seem to like us this year.” 

“I don’t believe in all that.” Dean said, shaking his head. “And if I did, it looks like ‘fate’ has had it out for me for the past fifteen years.” 

“Fair enough.” You crossed your arms over your chest, watching snow start to fall outside the window. Neither of you said anything. You both just watched the white flecks tumble down to the earth. You turned around and found him standing right behind you. It didn’t startle you. It felt like he was meant to be close to you. You breathed in slowly before whispering. “Merry Christmas Dean.” 

“Merry Christmas.” 

You didn’t need any mistletoe for what came next. 

[votederpycausemufins]

Alright, time to work on tying up loose ends ish. i think there’s like... 2 chapters left after this? idk, I’m still writing!

@petrichormeraki @helleborusangel

While most everyone wanted Grifter dead, the fact that he was the only way to free Xannes made them keep him alive. They did manage to get the Listener to let him out, but at the same time, he let his own family out as well before disappearing with them. Fortunately as they left, the world rolled back, undoing all the damage as well as leaving Grian rather grumpy that his hard work was gone.

Shortly after that, everyone had to keep Grian and Techno apart when the avian tried attacking him for being near Grum, who to Grian’s annoyance seemed perfectly fine around the warrior. He reluctantly accepted it, only to get piled on again as he tried to make a second nest. 

Xannes hacked them all out of the castle, at least those he could. Kristen and Joe followed on their own a few moments later, everyone soon at the quartz mansion. Grian was immediately after as many blankets as he could obtain, Tommy laughing, but quickly helped out. 

Kristen stayed for a bit, long enough to officially say hello to Grian once he was lucid enough, but stayed longer after Grum clung to her leg and refused to let go. Eventually she relented and got pulled into Grian’s blanket nest, Grum running off to drag Techno in next.

“So… how have you two been?” Kristen asked, before correcting herself. “Besides this whole mess that got me involved.”

“It’s been pretty pog since I found Grian. We didn’t even know we were related until, what? A week ago?”

“I’m sorry. I honestly had no clue.” Kristen apologized, but Grian shrugged.

“I don’t blame you. I ended up in a world that death didn’t seem to exist in, at least not really. People who died showed up as ghosts. So even if I did remember your job, I wouldn’t have blamed you there. Then there were the Watchers, and then apparently Zed’s been dealing with things in Hermitcraft. I- are you two related?”

“Yes, we’re siblings.” Kristen replied, shocking both Grian and Tommy.

Zedaph, who was nearby, stepped closer. “Why do you look so shocked? I thought you knew, or at the very least I thought Grian knew.”

“Is that why you acted so casual when you asked me to kill myself?!” Grian balked, making Kristen whip around to look at Zed.

“You asked him to what?!”

“It was for a game! I asked a number of hermits to see who could kill themselves the fastest for a prize! Honestly, I don’t see what the problem was since he started Demise a year later.”

“That was sort of my last shot to find anyone. I thought so much death would make Mum show up.”

“Well, as far as I know, she wasn’t even showing up for Phil after you left, so not like there was much hope there.” Tommy shrugged, though he said it in a joking manner. It still made Kristen frown before Tommy elbowed her. “Hey. It’s fine. I mean, we’re meeting you now and not before we found each other again, so that’s pretty pog too.”

As the two of them chatted, Grian managed to find some paper and ink and started putting together a quick family tree before handing it to Techno to fill in the blank of Fundy’s mom. “Alright, so Wil, Techno, Tommy and I are the kids of you and Phil. Wilbur’s got Fundy with someone named Sally?” Grian quickly looked to Techno who nodded. “Sally. Mumbo and I built Grum and Jrum, meanwhile Techno and Tommy don’t have any kids.”

“Yeah I’m still looking for the ladies.” Tommy jokingly boasted, getting some chuckles from those nearby.

“And I don’t see the point in relationships.”

“Aro, got it.”

“I prefer fireworks. I don’t need arrows.”

Grian stifled some chuckles before continuing. “You’re siblings with Zed, who’s currently with Impulse and Tango, which I’m not going to go further into for my own sanity. And then you and Dad are immortal or something, so who knows about your parents.”

Kristen nodded. “Good, but you’re forgetting your uncle.”

Grian showed off the chart. “What? No, I’ve got Zed there with Impulse and Tango. If you’re going with the misconception that Worm Man is related, I’ll have you know that Poultry Man has assured me that’s not the case. Plus Zedaph has an interview with Worm Man and they are definitely in the same place.”

Kristen half nodded. “Oh, I’m sure that’s very much the case. However, I’m talking about Phil’s brother.”

“Mum, I’m glad to meet you and everything, but could you have waited like another week to drop that on us too?” Tommy asked as Grian looked like he was on the edge of a breakdown.

“So, should I not mention he has-”

“Nope! Not now! And we’ll ask dad ourselves.”

“I was just a hermit a week ago. I was technically still an orphan. I had the hermits as a family. Now some of them are really my family. Why? Why? Why is this happening?”

“Okay G, time to go to bed.” Tommy said, pulling one of the blankets out of the nest and throwing it over Grian’s head, hoping the darkness would kick in Grian’s parrot brain and get him to calm down. 

It was just at the right time too, because the door opened with Phil coming into the building. “How’s everyon- Kristen?!”

From there, all of the family currently in that world - other than Zedaph - ended up in Grian’s blanket nest. They chatted a bit before Kristen eventually had to leave, though she made sure to let all of them know how to call her if there was an emergency. Zedaph finally joined to take her place, getting glared at by Grum of all people. “You doing alright there?”

“I’m upset I didn’t know you were my uh… great uncle?”

“Grunkle has a better ring to it.” Zedaph smiled, but Grum just pouted and crossed his arms before being pulled into a hug from Grian. “But yeah, I’m sorry Grian. I can’t believe I never noticed you didn’t know.”

“No, it’s fine. I had a crazy enough story with my family growing up, what’s five more.”

“Five?” Phil asked, raising an eyebrow. 

Grian started counting on his fingers. “Finding out that Tommy was my brother, the whole situation Techno caused, finding our Zedaph is related to me, finding out you’ve got a brother, and then Mum mentioning there was more to that.”

Phil sighed. “Oh, she told you about that? Okay first off, we’re half brothers, so that’s normally why he’s left out of things. Plus, he’s been doing his own thing for a while. I haven’t really heard from him since his letters about Minecrack.”

Grian paused, processing that new information before grabbing one of the blankets and screaming into it, Grum patting his dad on the back.

“Is he okay?” Phil asked, making Zedaph shake his head.

“Some of the hermits used to live there, so one of them might have met your brother. Sorry, half brother.”

“Ah, good to know.”

Grian slowly put the blanket down. “Okay, obviously talking is just making things worse. How about we all shut up for like… ten minutes while we still have some peace? I’m scared if we try much else, something else will come out of the woodwork and make things worse again.”

“Ugh, normally I’d hate not talking,” Tommy piped up with an agreeing groan. “But for once, you’ve got a point.”

“For once?!”

Tommy didn’t say anything else, just mimed zipping his lips up, locking them, and throwing away the key.

.

.

.

Grian woke up, glad it wasn’t from a nightmare. He, Tommy and Grum were the only ones left in the nest from before, but he smiled upon seeing the empty space had been given to Tommy’s friends. Ranboo seemed to have been dragged in based on his awkward position, likely by Tubbo and Michael who seemed much more comfortable.

Looking around, it didn’t seem anyone else was in the room, voices coming from elsewhere in the building. Grian carefully moved Grum closer to Tommy, the bot happily clinging to the teen instead. He then pulled himself out of the nest, doing his best not to wake anyone in the process.

He was glad to see everyone looked calm and nothing immediately seemed concerning. The closest thing was what looked like a living diamond walking around, but the fact that no one else was concerned made it less worrying. “So, who’s the new… person I think.”

Phil looked over to where Grian was standing now. “His name’s Skeppy. When the world got repaired, the people that weren’t already revived showed up. It also fixed my wings.” And he let one of them open up so Grian could see.

“Good to know. Nothing bad’s happened yet?” Grian asked, and Phil shook his head. “That’s good. Once Grum and Tommy are away, I’m going to be taking them home. I mean, unless Tommy wants to stay, because he might want to see people again, but Grum still needs repairs. Plus I need to talk with Mumbo about something I found out.”

“Anything bad?”

Grian shook his head. “Not necessarily, just something we need to be aware of.” Then Grian was quiet for a while before speaking up again. “You know, ever since I found it again, I’ve been taking care of the castle.”

“You mean… back in-?”

“Yeah. The place I grew up in has way too many bad memories attached. Evo’s gone and my building world is lonely. Hermitcraft is the closest thing I have to a home, but being able to take a break and go back there helps.”

Phil smiled. “Well, you’ll have to show me what you’ve done with the place.”

“Yeah.” Grian smiled. “I’ll try to visit with Tommy plenty. I’m sure you want to stay here now that it looks like things are calmed down. I’m sure you’ll want to visit us, or at least someone will, so I’ll look into that.”

“Just don’t go silent for eighteen years.” Phil joked, making Grian whack him in the back of his head with a wing.

From there, the two of them chatted, catching up. Both of them avoided the more unfavorable topics, which was a bit tricky, but they managed. At least they did for a while. “Hey… I’m sorry. I know I screwed up with Tommy.”

“Can we not talk about that?” Grian said, ruffling his feathers. “Enough has happened. I don’t want to talk about serious stuff right now.”

“Well who knows when we’ll get another chance.”

Grian sighed. “Fine, but I’m making it quick. Since you’re not going to be around, I’m just trusting you’ll maybe do better. I can check in any time I want, so just know if you screw up, there’s a good chance I’ll see it. There’s a good chance I’ll break down your door if I heard more stories from Tommy, but for like the next week or so, you’re safe. Is that good enough?”

Phil hesitated for a moment before responding. “Alright, sure.”

As soon as he responded, Grian went back to the other room, glad to see Tommy was awake. When Grian replayed the options to Tommy, the teen thought it over before deciding he would stay behind for a little bit at the very least. He didn’t want to disappear while Ranboo and Tubbo were both asleep. Grian made sure Tommy still had NPG’s old comm so that he could call for Grian to pick him up again.

Grian carefully picked Grum up, the bot clinging to his chest, then he opened a portal to take them home. 

.

.

.

Grian was glad that the repairs ended up being mostly his job to fix. The redstone seemed unharmed, save for right near the trident wound and Grum’s buttons. Technically the buttons themselves were mainly aesthetic anyway, but some redstone was close by so they needed to be careful.

Once everything was fixed, they plugged Grum in to be safe and then Grian started explaining what he had learned. Mumbo was surprised and excused himself briefly to try contacting people for information. For the most part, he was able to get help, but in terms of whatever glitch the bots had, the information was too vague for anyone to get a good guess.

Grian got Xisuma to take a look, but unfortunately the admin couldn’t figure anything out. Neither could Xannes, but that was affected by NPG wanting to go home soon and check in his aerbunny.

With no other options, Grian was ready to use his Watcher magic, but he was quickly interrupted. Suddenly Grifter was there and threw himself into Grian’s arms, leaving the Watcher struggling to hold his double up before just dropping him. “What are you doing here?”

“Hiding?” Grifter answered innocently. “I kinda messed up, though Dad did too.”

“What did you do?” Grian growled as Grifter stood up and dusted himself off.

“Okay, so dad wanted me killing Nightmare. That’s cool, I did that. He just kinda let it slip his mind that he didn’t tell Punch. So now until Dad talks him down, I’m hiding here! Also watching for spies. Who knows where they could be hiding.”

Grian half groaned, half sighed. “How do I know you’re not going to destroy the place?”

“Uh, because that would make it obvious I’m here, duh. Look, just tell me what you want and I’ll do it. I mean, if it’s something other than leaving. I’m sticking here because if I get seen here, he’ll assume it’s just you. Wait, I’m going to need to get out of my new look. That’s no fun, I really like th-”

“Okay shut up for like five seconds. I don’t have the patience for this today. You said there was something of a glitch with my kids. Tell me what it is or fix it or something and you can stay for a bit. If you cause any trouble, you’re out though.”

“Oh yes of course!” Grifter responded, hugging Grian. “Okay, so the problem is kinda pretty simple. They aren't completely connected to this world so other data is being used to check where they’re from. If everything’s just within this world, it’s fine, but it fucks up their respawn if it’s not.”

“That’s… that’s it?”

“Yup! Just tell your admin and I’m sure he can- OH FUCK! Gimmie your bowwwww!” Grian suddenly started doing his best to climb Grian, having little luck with them being the same height. Grian did his best to keep his balance before seeing what exactly was freaking his hels copy. Nearby, a chicken had walked into view, and apparently that was the problem.

Grian gave a deadpan look before killing the chicken, which immediately calmed Grifter down. “You were scared… of a chicken?” He asked, raising an eyebrow.

“I said he could be sending spies!”

“And… those are chickens?”

“Yes! Of course!” Grifter exclaimed like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Grian wanted to sigh in exasperation, but then he realized that this was good news. If for some reason Grifter acted up, well, a certain hero could help save the day.

“Alright, maybe this might not be the safest place for you here, but you can stay.”

“Why? Why isn’t it safe? Are there lots of spies?”

“Oh, we have the worst one yet. His name is Poultry Man. Have you ever heard of him.”

“I have! I thought Xannes was lying! He’s really real?!” Grifter asked, trembling, making Grian have to hold in laughter.

“Well, he hasn’t been around for a while, but who knows? If - you said Punch? - if he’s looking for you, Poultry Man might show up.”

“Oh no! Do you have anything to stop him?”

Grian couldn’t help the sly smile that got onto his face. “Well…”

.

.

.

Grum watched as Mumbo looked through a bunch of books. He had gotten fixed up, but his daddy said there was still something they needed to figure out, so Dad was out doing that. But he had left a while ago and sitting in one place for a long time was getting boring. “Daddy, how much longer do I have to wait here?”

Mumbo jumped slightly before looking up from his book, which just made Grum frown. Obviously he had been forgotten about. “Um, well, I suppose that depends on what your dad does.”

“But I’ve just been sitting here for ages.” Grum crossed his arms.

“I know, but apparently there’s a bug in your system and until we can identify it, we want to keep you safe. You’ve already been through a lot, I’m sure you don’t want anything more happening.”

“But Daddy I-”

“Grum, this isn’t up for discussion.” Mumbo cut the bot off, who flinched back at the harsh tone. “I know. I don’t like it either. But sometimes the harder options are the better ones.”

Grum was quiet again, just thinking. Mumbo started to look at his book again, but then the bot spoke up once more. “Is it about Console? Or my chat in general?”

“What?” Mumbo looked back up, confused.

“Well, Jrum’s not here, so it has to be something that’s just me, correct? That would likely involve when the admin was using me as a console or the fact that I have gained a chat like Techno, Phil and, based on conversation, Dad.”

“Oh, you mean MFDD? At least I’m still pretty sure that’s what we said it was. I’d have to go digging for my old books again. And Grian might have them at this point.”

“What’s MFDD?” Grum asked, tilting his head.

“It’s the abbreviation for the condition we’re pretty sure Grian has. But it’s a condition that last I checked, was still in a sort of odd state, and I’ve been in Hermitcraft since school, so I’m not updated on it.” Mumbo glanced over to Grum, who just looked confused. “Right. Well, the simple version is that’s what the real name of your Dad’s ‘chat’ is. MFDD. But based on what he told me, that’s not what you have.”

“Oh. Wait, I don’t?” Grum asked, sounding worried and slightly panicked.

“Don’t worry, it’s fine. It’s nothing bad. I’m sure we’ll need to get it properly diagnosed, but the fact that you seem to have what’s like… multiple people in your mind and they can sometimes be in control, along with the fact that it happened after… stressful events. That all likely means it’s DID. Which essentially means you have multiple personalities.”

“And is that good or bad?”

Mumbo rubbed his mustache. “Well, I don’t think it’s necessarily good or bad in and of itself. I wish I knew more about this… In short, it’s at the very least not bad. Or at least not bad if you don’t let it be bad.”

“I still don’t understand.” Grum frowned, leaving Mumbo to try and figure out some other way to explain.

“Hmm… It’s. Uh… Well let’s see. Well it… no that wouldn’t make sense. It’s… Oh! So, when you’re building, say you make a house. And the house has a bunch of rooms. It’s all one house, but there are different rooms and um… well each one has its own person.” Grum nodded along, mostly understanding. “And well, you own the house even though others live there. Because you own the house, you’re in charge.”

“But sometimes I’m not. Like Console and Eyes decide to be in charge or I let them.”

“Well, sometimes something… happens. Like maybe you’re busy… cooking? And so if you’re doing that, someone else gets to be in charge. Or maybe you just want to… sit on the couch?”

Grum’s digital mustache twitched in thought before he nodded. “Okay, I think that makes sense.”

Mumbo nodded, turning back to his books before sighing, glad that what he made up on the spot worked. 

“Mumbooooo! I’m back! I figured out what’s wrong! We need to take the boys to Xisuma!” Mumbo jumped from Grian arriving, then was confused to see two of him.

“Why is Grifter here?”

“Long story, it’s fine for now, we need Xisuma. Let’s go go go!”

Mumbo just stared for a moment before sighing and shrugging before going to get Jrum. It didn’t seem like anything bad was happening, so there was a fifty fifty shot it really was fine. Maybe less since there were two Grian’s involved, but it was something Mumbo came to expect with Grian in general.

[surveys-at-your-service]

Survey #461

“this city looks so pretty, do you wanna burn it with me?”

Have you ever wanted a Nikon camera? Or do you have one already? My camera before the one I have now was a Nikon D3200. I use a Canon now. Who was the last person (if anyone) you said Happy Birthday to? A friend. Do you have Photoshop? If so, how often a day do you use it? I have it, but I barely use it nowadays. I use it to edit photos for character profiles or profile pictures, add a watermark for my actual photography, and I used to make Mark-oriented gifs like crazy. They mostly did really well, so... I might wanna get back into that and get That Sweet Validation. Do you watch any shows that you know your parents wouldn’t approve of? No. Have any of your exes gotten married or had kids since your breakup? None, I think. Do either of your parents have a mental illness? My mom has depression. Can you tolerate children for a long period of time? NO. Have you ever lived with someone you felt thoroughly uncomfortable around? No. Are you into dubstep? Yeah, I tend to enjoy it. Zelda or The Sims games? Can I pick neither? lol I don't feel very much at all for The Sims, and Zelda games have always looked... boring to me? Like I've watched most of the Game Grumps' playthroughs of all the games, and they make it hilarious of course, but the games themselves? Nah. Are you terrible at assigning bands their proper genre? YES YES YES YES YES YES. Even in my preferred category, that being metal, FUCK if I know the sub-genre. Have you ever made out in a closet? No, that shit sounds claustrophobic as hell. Have you ever been to a laser tag place? Yeah, on a triple-date once! It was SO fun. How do you wanna celebrate your next birthday? Have a couple friends over, pig out at The Cheesecake Factory. o3o Do you tease your parents about them being old? No, especially not Mom. She's self-conscious about getting older. Are you in love with someone? "In love" is a bit too far, buddy. But I love someone. Have you ever ridden a unicycle? No. Have you ever wanted a pet bunny? I was VERY serious about getting a lop-eared bunny for quite a while, but we just couldn't afford to adopt one (even off Craigslist) and get a cage for it, toys, etc. Are the bottom of your feet clean? I HATE seeing the bottom of my feet. Not because they're dirty, but because it's Callus City. I ain't even fuckin jokin'. Do you like really salty food? Yeah. :x When’s the last time you bled a lot? Well, I just recently finished my cycle after not menstruating for three or four MONTHS, so you can figure that one out. Have you ever watched a needle go into your own skin? Yeah. I like to know exactly when it's coming. Have you ever seen someone get a piercing/tattoo? Yes to both. When you’re done eating finger foods, do you usually lick your fingers? Usually kasdjlf;kalsdjf shut up ok I like food. What’s the most racist thing you have ever said? As a little kid, when my really good friend (a neighborhood kid, even) asked if he thought we'd be a good couple, I told him no because "blacks and whites don't date" or something like that. It was an idea I'd never been exposed to before; the idea was so foreign to little kid me. I had no idea I was being racist. It ended in a small fight and we didn't talk for a few days 'til he came to my house telling Mom that he had to "be a man" and fix this and if that ain't the cUTEST SHIT RIGHT THERE. We were friends again after that. He's still on my Facebook, and he actually semi-recently got married! :') Do you know someone that is mute, deaf or blind? No. Have you ever spent more than two weeks in a wheelchair? No. Does weed smell good? Or no? Ugh, no. Where do you see your closest friend in ten years? Successful and happy she kept pushing. Mama to so many reptiles that are blessed with the best lives possible in human care. Got at least one amazing book out there. If she's reading this, you've fucking got this. <3 Would you like to have twins? Mother of fucking god, no. Even if I WANTED kids, do fucking not give me twins. Who was the last person you got into an argument with? My mom. Want to have kids before you’re 30? Once again, I don't want kids, but IF I did, that'd be preferable before the risk of birth defects and other issues climb with age. Does anybody have a tattoo with your name on it? My older sister has my initial. Do you think somebody’s in love with you? No. Do you think you and your best friend will be friends in ten years? Yes, I genuinely do. Who were the last people to hang out at your house? Miss Tobey, our friend and landlord. Does anyone like you? Welp... I hope he still does. Guess we'll figure that out soon. What person on your Facebook do you talk to the most? VIA Facebook? Probably my friend Lyndsey. She likes to comment on stuff I share. Do you want to fall in love? I do, but I'm also utterly horrified to and risk being hurt again. Are you interested in more than one person at the moment? No. Once I realized I was so deeply into Girt, all other romantic feelings kinda just... poofed. How was your last break up? Civil and done with both of our best interests in mind. What is the hardest thing you’ve ever had to say? Probably the first time I admitted I needed to go to the hospital for suicidal thoughts. I was so, so scared of what it was going to be like. What is the hardest thing you NEEDED to hear? That if Jason wasn't happy with me, he had every right to move on. She was right. Do you treat yourself well? No... but I'm trying to change that. What was the last song you sang out loud to? This "Set Fire to the Rain" cover. Do you take good pictures? I think I do? Have you ever done any internship? No. What’s a topic you’ve drastically changed your opinion on? Holy shit, so much, especially when it comes to morality and political stances. I am now a massive supporter and member of the LGBTQ+ community, I'm pro-trans rights, pro-choice... I've done like a dozen 180s in a lot of topics. Do you know anyone who has a PhD? I mean, some doctors, but no one in my truly personal life. Do you know anyone who works as a lawyer? Yes: my cousin. Have you ever experienced sleep paralysis? LAKSDJFKLA;JWD NEVER AND I PRAY TO THE HOLY LORD THAT I NEVER DO. Does the thought of having wrinkles when you’re older upset you? Not massively? Like literally everyone gets them and is natural and inevitable. Do you know anyone who’s struggling with addiction? I know one alcoholic, and one that's probably borderline. I also have two friends who are extremely addicted to weed. Look me in the eyes and say it's not an addictive substance and I wouldn't believe you one bit. Is there a video or computer game that you can get lost in for hours? Eh, sometimes World of Warcraft. Some days I'm really into it, and others I barely touch it. What’s your favorite Disney Channel movie? I have no clue. I don't even remember movies that were made *for* Disney exclusively. Do you ever have to do yard work? No. We have a friend from the dance studio mow the lawn. Do you have any live versions of songs in your music software? My iPod has a whole live album of Ozzy. Did you or do you listen to Britney Spears songs? Both did and do. Britney is a boss bitch. Does your favorite band have a male or female lead singer? Male. Have you seen the movie Moulin Rouge? No, but I've seen some of that P!nk music video of the song and it brings out the Gay in me. Do you have a key to anything besides your house? No. Could you ever complete a 500-piece puzzle? I've done that before. I miss doing puzzles... Have you ever been to any sort of convention? I went to a reptile expo with Sara!! I REALLY want to go to another when my legs are stronger and can handle standing and walking so much. Is your mom or dad the older parent? Mom. Have you ever tried to walk on a moving vehicle and fallen over? No????? What is your favourite kind of bread? Is there any of that in your house? Pumpernickel. No. Are/were you in the school band, and if so, what instrument did you play? I played the flute all through middle school and I wanna say half of HS. Have you ever ordered an unusual drink at a bar? Never even been to one. Have you ever been pulled aside by security at the airport? I think once for some reason I don't recall? What is your favourite seasonal candy? (only available at certain times) Gingerbread men, probs. Or chocolate bunnies!!! :') How do you feel right now? My stomach is KILLING me. I'm super excited though that Girt is coming over tomorrow. Have you ever had surgery that kept you in the hospital for over a day? No. What would you like your generation to change? How we treat nature. Is there anyone that you truly could not live without? No. I learned that is a very unhealthy mentality to have. Do you like carrots more if they’re raw, or cooked? I just hate carrots. What restaurant did you last go out to dinner at with friends? With friends? I couldn't even guess. Does your refrigerator have an ice maker or do you use ice cube trays? It has an ice maker. Do you have a favorite sibling, if any? No; I love them all. Do you have a favorite brand of clothing? I STAN CLOAK. How’s the love life? Something new might start tomorrow. I think it will. Do you watch the news? No; that shit is depressing. Who do you admire most? Mark. Do you have a favorite album? Black Rain by Ozzy Osbourne takes the cake and always will.

[redxblueihateloveyou]

Actually for me it's pretty weird that the most popular ship in Free! is Makoharu. I mean, they give me like zero romantic vibes, if not Rinharu I would've definitely shipped Sourin. It's the main reason I hated Sousuke when I watched 2nd season for the first time - I saw him as a threat for Rinharu (now I just don't like him that much, but I decided to let Rin has his best friend, lol). Maybe it's just me loving rivals to lovers :)

Well.. for me Free! was never that kind of anime where there are other ships, but honestly after several years of watching anime and lately discovering that people ship Wei Wuxian with Jiang Cheng I kinda lost my faith in people lol And yes, I also truly don’t get those ships, where there are zero romantic vibes, but I got used to seeing this already.

I think I’ve talked about Makoharu only once, I usually don’t do it cause as a ship it’s so illogical to me that I just don’t see the point of wasting time on this lol I feel like it’s gonna be long answer so I’ll split it and after “***” I’ll talk about my bro-rinharu-shipper Sousuke.

I’m not gonna throw a debate if it’s the most popular ship or not, but I just want to say that I don’t think that it's really called shipping Makoto and Haru, since firstly, let’s talk about Makoto as a character (which is the main problem in this whole thing tbh) cause from what I saw the Makoto the MH fandom created has nothing to do with the real Makoto. Like the dude is scared of dogs, ghosts, bees, water and I forgot what else; covers his eyes when he sees anyone even in swim trunks and gets embarrassed easier than a nun (apparently you can’t even unbutton the collar of your freaking jacket!!!!!!!!!!! oh lord!!!!!!); crumbles under everyone in this anime including Hiyori and can’t even talk back. 

And suddenly like half of this fandom thinks that Makoto is a dominant top apparently. We seriously laughed our asses off seeing that, I mean even my mom (who’s a teacher btw). I’m like... I have a sister who’s majored in psychology and I myself in literature (like I seriously promise we ain’t stupid) and we just seriously don’t understand.. In what Tarzan’s ass does he suit this description? Dude can’t even answer properly while being offended. Like maybe they like Makoto’s twin brother? Because real Makoto does not have any dangerous dark side, seriously, this ain’t “8 dogs of the east” lmao.

I appreciate their friendship at times, but I never was a fan of him, because I don’t really like people who treat everyone equally (friends and strangers) and think that some asshole deserves as much love as the closest friend. I just don’t understand this life position and don’t like those “world peace” guys anyway. I mean, that fish died moment in the books was when my brain died honestly. Like I get it, dude is sensitive, but... seriously?

And for me being kind is not really a personality. I mean, hell, sometimes it’s no good to be kind. There is a fine line between being kind and being a mop you know.

And sometimes his behavior is really cringy to me. Like during the funeral and during Haru passing out in the book and during many things that are very serious. I just don’t think he’s the person you can rely on at times. I mean at first I thought he’s a steady shoulder, but somehow in all serious situations he doesn’t do anything useful.

Like I might be in the minority here, but to me when you know very well that you panic in the ocean you don’t go there trying to save somebody, it’s not brave, it’s just plain stupid (like it’s not like the tent was far, it was fucking next to him, all he had to do is wake up a pro) so by the end we had to rescue two instead of one, just because he’s dumb af.

He also panics a lot which I really hate on people. I’m sorry but like panicking ppl are the only worst. It reminds me of one of my life situation when my sister was badly hurt and we needed to keep our heads cool to act quickly and do what was necessary asap. And I’ve seen ppl behave like Makoto in situations like this and man it’s seriously no fun, it’s annoying. Like when you need to help somebody and someone panics beside you it pisses you off. And he does it even in little things like when he yelled Haru in the ear while driving JUST BECAUSE A CAR IN FRONT OF THEM BRAKED I mean omfg I would seriously yell “shut the fuck up, you pussy!”

And it all honestly keeps getting worse and worse like the way he’s written, his behavior just buffles me so much. Makoto in s3 just murdered me tbh. Like he didn’t help with anything, he didn’t bring anything to the plot, you can just erase him, he only sat there anyways. And the way they pulled his “dream” out of his ass was just a second-hand embarrassment tbh. And he’s not even Haru’s emotional support anymore. He’s just... I don’t get it. There were literally scenes where he was third-wheeling or just forced into that looked laughable. 

Which brings me to the second point. From what I saw many of Makoharu fans are mostly Makoto fans, so they just want what’s good for him, and since he has no life goals whatsoever (like after he dropped his “I dream of making children like swimming” thingy like a hot potato and was like “training children.. but look at Rin and Haru” I really lost my last marbles watching him) they apparently don’t care for what Haru’s dream is and that he said openly that he wants a future with Rin.

Like I get that everyone has their tastes, but like what.. two people who are crazy about each other since twelve and blossomed a dream of having a future together and the thought of being with each other got them through and they finally have what they wanted.. this is not a trend anymore? Mutual romantic love is not a trend anymore? Like I even without novelization can see that (and I quote Rin word for word here) that “every time he sees Haru his heart beats so fast he can’t calm down” and quote “Haru sees Rin and he’s shaking, he closes his eyes desperately trying get rid of the image, but the pain in his chest doesn’t go away”.

I am personally very happy that Rinharu are finally together and will be doing what they wanted in their life by each other’s side, cause they’ve been dreaming about it for too long, they’ve been thinking about it for  years. So not wanting them to have that is very weird for me. And the argument that Makoto somehow better than Rin for Haru is so invalid, I always laugh. I guess it depends on what you want for yourself. But honestly like you guys better find someone who make you want to reach for the stars and make you heart skip a bit everytime you see him.

So I as a huge fan of Haru want my boy to fly and now I have all the canon proof for those who were blind that Rin is the only one (been said) who makes him feel that way. So all those anons who kept writing to me how relay with Sosuke, with Rei and what baffled me the most swimming with Ikuya was just as emotional for them can finally shut it (lmao I’m sorry).

***

Now... Sousuke, my bro, the first Rinharu shipper on the village who helped them to get together is a threat? Okay. Well, I actually like s2, there are some dumb episodes but s2 actually to me showed how rinharu relationships are different from anyone else. There are literally two whole episodes and several scenes of how the bROMANCE prevails over BROmance.

Sousuke and Rin have typical brothers relationship. From their secret handshakes “parent trap” style to the fact that they draw them exactly the same with his real brother. I mean I don’t know if anyone noticed, but in 3x11 they drew Sousuke doing the exact same teasing move with Rin, that his older brother did to him in 3x01, and it’s definitely not a coincidence. Which means he treats him like his little bro, and not just that. I have lots of proof.

You know, I had a friend back at university who had an older brother who she was very close with and she kept telling me about how he kept testing her boyfriends if they’re good enough... I mean Sousuke was doing it with Haru since Rin has told him that he has found his one and only. And it never ever looked like he was possessive of Rin and was like “he’s mine”, it was always like “he’s yours so make sure you make him happy you loser”, he even stalked Haru to see if he still swims alright which is really funny (like okay dad), so by the end of the season when Rin lovingly looks at Haru and says it was all worth it, Sousuke looks very content like he was sure that they’re all good now.

And that moment like in Yakusoku where Rin dropped Sousuke as soon as he saw Haru, I honestly don’t think it’s the kind of jealousy people think it is. It’s like if I asked my sister “do u want to see the new avengers movie” and she’d answer “sorry, I already promised to go with my boyfriend” (not that this would ever happen, but let’s imagine that she found herself her nanase) I would be fucking upset too, but I would kinda get it (if it’s a love of her life I mean). Or like literally imagine you lived with your best friend for years and suddenly she wants to move in with he boo. I mean it happens sometimes. But it’s not the jealousy really, he’s just sad because he knows that he needs to let Rin go and he won’t spend as much time with him as he did before. Sousuke knows how much Rin loves Haru, plus after he saw that Haru is as good as Rin told him, he started to like him himself so he was worried about both of them. 

And I love Sousuke, he’s our godmother. I’d rather have him on the international team than Ikuya but he sadly he doesn’t swim breaststroke or back and we only have one butterfly and one freestyle spot xD

I’m sincerely saying as a person with two siblings that I really don’t see it. It’s just there’s a huge difference between brothers and lovers. And you can’t call Harurin bros. It’s just laughable. Even if you haven’t read anything and just watched the anime.

I mean I think it’s easier to see if you try to imagine Haru in Sousuke’s place in any Sourin scene and see how it would’ve went then. Like do you remember when Sousuke asked for cola and Rin went to get one and there was only one can left so they rock-paper-scissored it and Rin won and drank it?

Now imagine if Haru was there in Sousuke’s place. I can tell you 100% that Rin would’ve just given him the can. And then he would’ve looked at him with that face he makes when he’s content just by watching Haru eat, you know.

I mean it just how I see it. And there are a lot of comparable scenes in s2 that bring me lots of evil joy, but I won’t tell lmao.

But as I said before to me there’s a huge difference between bromances and bromances. So I mostly don’t get most of these ships. I don’t understand anything in this world apparently lol but I only see Rinharu since the first time I’ve watched it, and then I’ve read everything and realized that I’m right, so I’m ok with all this xD 

[deathvalleyqueen]

**Finn technically belongs to @cornfedcryptid​ but I have aunt rights to use them for this **

Loss of Innocence - Grace Seed - New Dawn

It took most of the day for Grace and Finn to make their way to the old abandoned Armory. They barely spoke, they had been raised as siblings, they were the closest of friends but neither of them quite knew how to process the emotions they were about to unearth. They had heard one set of stories from their parents about the events that led to the Collapse, but in the month they had spent with Carmina and her mother in Prosperity most of what they had known about their parents, their family and by extension themselves was called into question. Kim Rye, no matter how well meaning her intentions, had perhaps told too much of the truth to the pair. Not fully considering that they probably had no idea of the extent that their family had a chokehold over the county. 

Pulling up outside the bunker, Grace threw the truck into park and as she turned to Finn. “Are you sure you want to go inside?” 

“Am I ten years old, Grace Lynn?” Finn quipped sharply as they pursed their lips and ran their hand nervously through their short dark hair. “I mean, how bad could Dad have really been? Really... our dad... some monster?” 

Grace pondered what Finn had said. Her crisp blue eyes fell upon the dash as she muttered. “Well, it can’t be worse than what Kim said and you are right.” Grace shrugged. The Jacob Seed who raised her was a strict parent, sure. He taught her to shoot as soon as she was big enough to hold a rifle. But he was not some violent monster who wanted to kill anything he deemed weak and unworthy. That wasn’t her ‘dad’. “Dad was a solider, sure he killed people... but it was war right?” 

“Right? Dad always said there are casualties in a war and we accept that,” Finn repeated far more solemn than Grace had recalled seeing them in years. The pair exited in the truck and their respective animals followed suit. Timber at Grace’s heels. Mango taking her time as she padded behind Finn. 

They took their time getting into the Armory, it had seen better days and there were dangers around every corner. “SHIT!” Grace screamed as she walked directly into a spider web with a scream. 

Finn started cackling behind her clutching their pieced together saw launcher. “Well look where you are going dumbass.” 

“Listen, I am still bigger than you...” Grace snapped quickly, wiping her face to get the rest of the web off. “I will fucking whomp you one right quick if you don’t knock it off...” 

“Rawr...” Finn mocked as they waggled their head. 

Grace’s eyes narrowed on her sibling for a moment before she glanced down at Timber and scratched his head. “You are now my favorite family member Timmy... and ya know what... you always should have been.” 

Finn scoffed and thew their head back “How dare you, you wound me sister... WOUND ME!” They clutch their hands to their chest and mock being fatally wounded. At the gesture Mango, the cougar, rolls on to her back and puts her paws into the air. Faking her own death. 

Grace and Timber just share a glance before Grace shakes her head and continues down the hall. “Come on Finn, before the rats find us..” 

“RATS?” Finn squeaked, stopping their show and chasing after Grace who was already a good distance away. “Sister! Don’t leave me, please for the love of Christmas...” Grace rolled her eyes as Finn settled beside her and Timber, reaching down and scratching the dog’s head. 

It took them nearly a half hour to reach what they assumed was once Jacob’s office, or rather one of them. It for the most part was fairly intact. There were still papers in folders on top of a file cabinet and Grace wasted no time to start her search. “Look in the desk, remember Dad always hid the stuff he didn’t want us to find.” 

“All the way in the back, usually behind other stuff. I know, Gracie... I lived with him too.” Finn sighed as settled in the ratty chair and started pulling open the drawers and rifling around. 

Silence fell upon them once more, each going about their search till Finn found a small wooden box. “Hey... look.” They said setting the box on the desk. “Remember didn’t we have a music box kinda like this, I mean...” When they noticed Grace was off in her own head again they wadded up a piece of paper from the desk and tossed it at her. “Eh... you... with the face.” 

Grace spun around and shook her head. “What?” 

“Come look at this, it looks like the music box we had in the bunker. Remember when we were small and innocent and you wore dresses.” Finn snarked, tapping the wooden box. 

Crossing the room Grace leaned on the desk as she reached for the box and flicked it open. A familiar tune began to play and both teens eyes grew wide as they instantly recognized that song. In shock Grace dropped the music box and Finn pushed back from the desk. They both acted as if that was the most cursed object in the world. 

Pointing at each other they each began to talk over each other till they fell on the same phrase. “That’s the song dad sang at bedtime...” They both instantly started humming it almost out of reflex before they each clasped their hands over their mouths. Taking a moment for their minds to catch up, the pair began tearing the office apart, finding more and more of the information they didn’t want to find but searched for desperately. 

An hour into their search they each sat on the floor in utter disbelief. Finn was shaking their head as Grace stared at the wall completely numb, with faded photographs of Jacob’s operations in her hands. “So...my actual... parents... were the fucking public face of this cult and the people that raised me basically had their own fucking brainwashed super solider army...” Grace said flatly. Her voice devoid of all emotion because she was unable to process all of them that she was feeling at once. 

“How? These aren’t mom and dad... they aren’t,” Finn choked out, far more upset than Grace had ever expected to see the normally light-hearted Finn. “Even... Peaches... and look... Judge...” They said shoving a pair of photographs attached to files across the floor. 

Graces shook her head, she had enough. “I can’t do this Finn.. we are fucking born and raised by monsters...” Grace screamed. “I can’t. This... this is not the person I am Finn... I am...” 

Finn scrambled to their feet and went to embrace Grace but she pushed them away. “Hey, you ever think I could use the fucking hug...” 

Turning around Grace sighed and wrapped her arms around her younger sibling. They stood there, holding each other for a moment and in the quiet Grace heard a noise. Instantly they both dropped everything else and turned to their weapons. “Someone followed us...” Grace whispered as she went to the door. She could hear footsteps in the hall. 

Bringing her finger to her lips, she set her rifle down opting for a quieter and personal approach. Tapping her thigh, both Mango and Timber crouched down with her, with Finn following behind as Grace snuck up behind the shadowed figure and drove her knife into their neck. She wasn’t about chance just wounding them, all for the sake of asking questions. Mango spotted a second figure and pounced with a snarl. 

The man she mauled let out a horrified scream as the two hundred pound beast settled herself on his chest. This one, Grace would let live to talk for now. Finn walked up behind Mango and scratched her ears. “Good job, mama…” They cooed as Grace knelt down beside the man. 

Her face covered in blood as she tilted her head to the side to look the man in the eyes, she asked. “Who sent you?” 

The man choked as he gasped for breath. “Ethan...Seed…” 

“Oh yay, more family…” Finn grumbled sarcastically as they patted Mango to move.

The man gasped for breath as Grace put her knife to his throat. “What does he want with us?” 

“To bring you to New Eden… to find… the Father…” 

“OH FUCK THAT SHIT!” Finn exclaimed, throwing their hands up. “Oh hell no! No! I said No! Grace… don’t you dare get a single fucking idea…” Finn knew where their sister’s mind was already going as she drove the blade into the side of the man’s neck with a sicking squelch that made Finn cringe and turn their head away. “Jesus…” 

Grace looked up and smirked. “It’s time to go kill some peggies, Finn…” 

“And what if we fail?” They asked sharply. “What happens then…” 

“Then, we hope that Timber can get home and find dad… or they are dumb enough to leave us with in ten feet of anything sharp…” Finn grumbled and nodded their head as they ran back to clear all the weapons off the bodies before they went outside to face the rest of the hunting party that was searching for them. 

[nobodywritesthings]

Some random bits of trivia about With Great Power

Now with a Part 2.

It seems one or two people are interested in this.  I’ve mentioned a few of these points on my favorite Discord server, but I might as well put them all together here.  Spoilers for the fic below!

Why didn’t All for One squish Aizawa like a bug when he should have been perfectly capable of it, right after taking the poor man’s quirk?  It’s because All for One was planning for the future.  He knew that Izuku (as Supreme Overlord) would need capable underlings, preferably ones with Izuku’s best interests in mind.  Of the people close to Izuku, Aizawa was the closest to meeting All for One’s approval in both respects.  In his stalking observation of Izuku over the past few years, he developed just a bit of a grudging respect for the man and his dedication to attempting to keep Izuku from charging headlong into every dangerous situation Izuku was within a 100 km radius of.  While Aizawa decided to assume that All for One was too busy fending off other heroes to actually bother squishing him, this was an entirely deliberate choice on All for One’s part.

On the subject of Aizawa, the cat cafe he stayed at is the cat cafe from the Vigilantes manga.  It made a truly fantastic retirement home, as well as a safe place to keep track of the criminal underworld on the sly.

We know that Shouto Todoroki had time to talk to Dabi/Touya before the interviews, because they came with a hero reform plan.  This definitely happened because Shouto marched up to the National Diet Building, and calmly told a very nervous Kurogiri that he was there to see Dabi. When Dabi appeared, he half-dragged the supervillain brother home for a proper family dinner.  It was a bit awkward but Fuyumi was happy to have all the siblings together.  Between that and Shouto’s determination to hammer out a plan for hero reform, the ice was broken surprisingly quickly (pun intended).

Why didn’t Izuku notice All for One being Hisashi sooner?  Well, denial is definitely a thing.  There’s also the dissonance between linking a parental figure with the world’s most feared supervillain, absentee or not - that’s a pretty difficult conclusion to come to, normally.  There’s even the fact that Izuku saw All for One in person all of twice - once at Kamino, and then again in the first chapter of this fic - and both times were very emotionally charged, with an impression skewed by the view that he was seeing a Terrible Monster, which makes All for One hard to recognize out of the literal and metaphorical mask.  But the biggest reason?  Long-term sleep deprivation and stress.  It was pretty bad before he was suddenly pushed into being the Supreme Overlord of Japan, and it got much worse after.  If Izuku had more sleep, he’d probably have figured out Hisashi’s identity much sooner, denial or not; Hisashi wasn’t being subtle (see below).

Hisashi looked so selfless when he left even the clothes on his back to Izuku.  Don’t fall for it; he left all legal assets to Izuku.  He has plenty that aren’t legal.�� All this was part of his preparation for a plan that didn’t happen...

Because Hisashi planned to disappear again, permanently.  He expected the jig to be up as soon as Izuku heard Hisashi speak once (a bit egotistic of him).  His original plan was to spend as much time with Inko as he could while offering a bit of behind-the-scenes support of Izuku’s rule, and then when Izuku inevitably came home and recognized him, he’d properly disappear to a nice sheep farm somewhere remote (he had a few prospects already picked out).  He’d hoped that Izuku wouldn’t be interested enough in the returned Hisashi Midoriya to actively track him down, but it was a risk he had to take to turn things over to Izuku properly.  After he heard Izuku ranting to his friends that he was getting ready to stake out his own home (through those convenient bugs left in the National Diet Building), he decided to at least make sure the reveal was on his own terms, somewhere relatively private and secure.  Then Izuku didn’t recognize him and even tried to hire him, and Hisashi quickly rearranged his plans to account for the delayed recognition.  He knew it was inevitable; Hisashi couldn’t clean up all the clues, so he ended half-assing any attempts at hiding his identity in order to at least keep control of the timeline for the reveal.  As long as it happened while Izuku was still in government, he could head for the hills (literally and metaphorically) and Izuku would be too busy to pursue him.  He couldn’t bring himself to actually sit down and tell Izuku personally, but he didn’t expect to keep things a secret permanently.  And then Izuku smashed all his expectations and offered a chance to not lose his family again.  A lot of plans got ditched.   Basically, All for One was never as on top of things in this fic as he makes himself out to be.

Speaking of hiding his identity, why did he keep his real name? Hisashi didn’t see the point for the vast majority of his life, barring times he specifically went incognito for this or that venture.  The government wanted to cover up his existence anyway; why not let them do the hard work?  He didn’t need to make things easier for them, and it’s not like they could really do anything effectively to him; he really was that powerful.  He did keep his businesses anonymous for the most part, but it was a private joke to him that they were still all perfectly legal, up to and including no false names being involved.  It was only when All Might showed up and proved to be an actual threat that Hisashi realized his mistake and took his own steps to conceal his identity - which were surprisingly effective, as the government had done too good of a job already, and All for One just had to clear out a few old compromising records to avoid All Might accessing them and finding his real name, which would have been a massive pain.  He had several close calls, but his panicky attempts at hiding his identity actually paid off.  The government fire is part of that - definitely All for One’s work, but done a bit hastily, and as a result, sloppily.

Remember how All for One didn’t talk to Izuku much after the UN speech?  Remember how he mentioned that Izuku should get a new phone?  He was sulking for that entire trip because he heard Izuku call Yagi “Dad”, thanks to his stalking keeping an ear on Izuku’s conversations.

On a different note, Izuku, throughout this fic, has adapted All for One’s own strategies for his own purposes.  Of special note, though, is Izuku’s speech at the end of Chapter 10, beginning with  “I don’t think you understand, Hisashi.”  It’s deliberately meant to mirror All for One’s speech in Chapter 1, that starts with “I don’t think you understand, Izuku.”  Instead of physical threats, Izuku uses emotional threats against All for One to go for the jugular - which is also something All for One presented as a strategy (see Chapter 7, the UN chapter).  If Izuku’s threat is more effective, it’s because Izuku is proving All for One’s own point about taking the effective parts of others’ strategies and adapting them for his own use.

Why was Yagi so accepting of All for One prospectively walking free?  It’s because he’d already seen it work with Tenko Shimura.  He saw Tenko as lost forever, as an irredeemable villain.  While I don’t mean to say that any of the villains are redeemed, Yagi has had a front-row seat to witness Tenko taking up legitimate work, making decent friends, and generally leaving behind his destructive impulses, something Yagi thought was completely impossible and had given up on long ago as a futile and unrealistic dream.  He’s started to believe in the power of second chances.

The Second Chance foundation was, in part, inspired by @redrobin-detective​‘s fic, “rise up and hear the bells”, and Izuku’s All for One foundation.  I might’ve come up with the idea on my own, but reading that fic ensured the idea came quicker.  I think I can safely say I took the concept in my own direction, but it definitely came from somewhere!

There’s a number of nods in WGP to various fics by AMournfulHowlInTheNight.  The biggest is Rick, who several people noted bore a passing resemblance to Zach from the CWAC series (I couldn’t resist; Australia just seemed right for the role I needed there, and a character like Zach seemed like the right Australian).  The astute reader might also have noted several mentions to offering a “helping hand”, a phrasing which was an entirely deliberate reference to A Helping Hand in the Dark.  Chapter 7 even has the sentence, “I want to offer a helping hand to those lost in the darkness.”

I already gave an answer key for who the All for One sockpuppets are in Chapter 6, but here are the usernames of the other canon characters: pikapika579 : Kaminari. GoGoGadgeteer : Hatsume, of course. Explosion King @lordexplosionmurder : Three guesses, first two don’t count. I hear the sins of humanity @theultimateearbud : Jirou. And finally... that dude with the eyes @eyescream : This guy from Izuku’s middle school (apologies for the poor quality).

If I remember any more tidbits I wanted to share, I might post more later, but hope you enjoy these!

[jess-the-vampire]

Sky And The Forces Of The Multiverse, Chapter 37

Previous / Next

-Angel was in slightly better spirits the following day, in fact he and sky both were, the two of them surprisingly hanging out together and talking. Angel was smiling more then usual, and so was sky for that matter. Though with the mess that happened no one could really blame them either, seems both of them being targeted seemed to have brought them closer then it did before.

With Sky spending time with Angel and Nora being busy with her mom surprisingly it left judas to focus on other matters, more specifically, his own younger brother.

Landon had been giving judas more of the silent angsty treatment ever since he got caught sneaking out of bed to check Queen Butterfly's office, though with their parents being alerted landon was in a world of trouble. The only bright spot of this being landon took the full blame for the situation, considering no one else had anything to do with this.

Even Celeste was ignoring the boy, giving him the silent treatment in her own frustration.

Landon's closest ally here, considering Bernard was on earth and could mostly on text landon throughout this.

Sky had promised to get in contact with Melanie as soon as she could and now that the scare was over it was back to business. And For the demon prince, that meant confronting his younger brother and dealing with this situation once and for all. His gradnfather was dealing with Fae, Sky was talking to Angel and was going to chat with mel, Sunny and Galexia were off going through the library with Katrina who'd been nice enough to lay off on judas as long as he didn't go anywhere beyond the two kingdoms.

Yep, back as usual.

Judas headed inside his room real quick, closing the door behind him, before he was going to talk to his brother he needed one more little thing. There was no point in delaying it, he needed to talk to his brother about what happened and what he did. Especially since landon didn't really mention it himself before, and whatever it was might be important.

Though he felt someone's presence in his room and he quickly turned on the lights, in a fighting post before he noticed the small girl sitting on his bed.

"Celeste?".

"Hello Judas".

The girl was kicking her feet on the side of the bed, "We need to talk about your brother...". She looked frustrated, frustrated at landon, frustrated she had to talk to Judas about this, frustrated she cared about this so much. Judas calmed himself down, with Celeste living here with them, he couldn't be surprised she popped into his room to see him, though he would've preferred a call or text beforehand.

"Yeah...I figured that's why you'd be here...we haven't exactly had the closest relationship here all things considered..."., the girl huffed but she had to agree, though granted she didn't have a close relationship much with anyone at all.

"Well considering luna ditched this place to live in the woods and sky's chummy with the spider guy...guess you needed another princess to talk to...and since sunny and lexi are out...you're stuck with me...but anyway...", She huffed, breathing through her nose, "Honestly normally i wouldn't go to you to deal with this stupid stuff but Landon doesn't listen to me...dealing with him is like-".

"Dealing with another you?", Judas continued with a hint of amusement.

"Don't push it...look we worked together on trying to start out own group because we thought you and sky weren't focusing on the task at hand and we got sick of it, then we ended up being worse then you because the three of us, luna me and landon...we're all buzzkills and we don't get along...I mean mainly it was blondie's fault but still...so then me and landon worked together...yada yada...he just wanted to be seen as a hero above you...".

"Yeah...I guess I had a feeling about that...".

"Look...I can't believe i'm saying this...but I care about landon...and helping him before well...I wanted to do it so I could go home and whatever...but He only cares about it to beat you and prove himself and he doesn't seem to care nearly as much about me and how I feel...your brother's a weirdo but i'm sick of him thinking he needs to do all this nonsense to be considered...someone...".

Judas looked astonished, clearly not used to celeste talking to him or anyone like this for that matter.

"I knew you both were close...I didn't know you both were...well... THIS close...but...I am really glad to see someone really cares about my brother this much...", Judas walked over to the girl, ruffling his hair, "I'm...me and landon don't get along on the best of days...but with everything going on I had to put the stuff aside with him, I knew he was doing stuff but I didn't know to what extreme or...really exactly why...".

"Well that's obvious...your family seems to basically ignore him...".

Ouch.

"Hey, I don't mean any harm by it...so much has just gone on and i'm set to be king...and...".

Celeste sent him a glare.

"Ok, It doesn't excuse my parents...but the situation is more complicated...and he knows that...", he took a seat next to her, "I know landon's not useless and he's talented in his own way...we tease each other but...I don't think of him as useless..". Though as the words left his lips he thought about it more, he really couldn't speak for how landon felt, even if he didn't feel like he did anything wrong intentionally.

"Even if I told him face to face...you know he wouldn't listen to me though...he'd tell me I was too perfect or something and go back to how it was before. I can't really...fix the situation, mom and dad can't just ignore me to focus all on him, celeste I get it...I just...what can I be expected to do about it? Landon doesn't even want to look at me sometimes...".

"Ugh...I'm not really entirely blaming you...I just want landon to stop caring about this stuff...".

"You know you can't-".

"I Know i can't make him...", she responded quickly, "But I don't know what I can do...I...I feel like he's going to hurt himself trying to be better then you..". She sounded actually worried, her fists clenching, "He's so frustrating, He craved attention and love from people but when we show we care he doesn't listen to anyone and it's just...UGH!".

Then she stopped, sighing.

"Yeah...guess he is kinda like me...".

"We can both talk to him...together...I would've taken sky but she's busy with angel today so...I'd be happy to have your company if you'd like to join me. We'll...see what we can do at least...". He seemed confident on the outside even if he wasn't much so on the inside, whatever landon felt, it was deep, and a simple talking to probably wouldn't just fix it.

But at least it might do something.

Judas helped his somewhat sister up and escorted her through the halls,Celeste grumbling under her breath, "You...did pretty well for yourself...yesterday...with the trial and the whole scene...". Celeste seemed to rarely hand out compliments, so Judas was happy to take it, "Hey it's ok...I was just protecting my friends...I was honestly surprised to see you get along with angel last night...talk to him and stuff...".

She went silent.

"I know opening up to other's is not something you tend to do often...but I think it was sweet. Just like how you healed my injury when sunny hurt me on accident that time.". She kicked at the floor, "I've seen people hurt before...I uh...I dunno...I can't help it...". She still seemed embarrassed to talk about it, even about her revealing why she knew so much about healing in the first place.

But Judas seemed to understand, not prodding any further, "Well...I'm glad you care so much...and I think it's great your so talented with healing injuries like that...it's actually hard to do so it's impressive to see you do so well at them with ease. You should be proud.". He almost thought he saw a smile on her face as they continued further down the hallway.

"I can tell you're scared about her...".

Judas felt his chest clench.

"Ever since Angel told you she had the book, you've been slowly been getting more bothered by it...more scared what anyone could do with the notes nora had on you. Y'know it's not going to do any good to ignore it...i mean I think people would get it if you're worried about some creep taking over your body and making you do things you don't want to do...", she spat at the floor, "You maybe wasted time when you could've helped but...no one wants you to go through that...".

"I know...I know...I think before with all the work on my back it was easier to ignore how nervous it all made me...but with sky taking the charge...well...I thought about it more...and what if i'm not as brave as I thought I was?", though as the words left his lips, he shook his head, "Maybe I am being too hard on myself...It's not about what others think...it's about what I think of myself...".

"And what do you think?".

"I think i'm not sure what'll happen if...anything happens...but I know no one will hold it against me...anyone that matters at least.", he took a deep breath, "I don't think I'm ever going to properly get over it...I've been haunted by this kinda stuff since I was a kid...sky knows it...she knows how much It scared me as a kid...and how terrified I was of myself for years...it's just...not easy for me to not be scared...even no matter how hard I try...".

His eyes looked over Celeste, eyeing her expression.

"I'm sure you've been scared a lot too...and felt you had to ignore it...".

Celeste again, said nothing, but it was as good as any yes.

The rest of the walk was quiet as they approached one of their family living rooms, where landon was currently grounded for the time being till it was meal time. Judas looking to his companion as the guards let them pass, at the very least landon might be able to help out or apologize or do something if they could get past his thick skin finally.

But that was a major if.

Regardless, there landon was, lying around with his violin nearby, bored out of his mind on the couch, sitting up at the sight of his sibling and half sibling. He seemed almost excited at first but his face dropped quick, because he knew exactly why they were here. He'd already been scolded by his parents earlier that day, forced to stay here till further notice as punishment.

Though at least it meant he didn't have to see anyone.

Until now.

He turned his head away, grumbling, Celeste grabbing a nearby pillow and throwing it at him, "You could've gotten HURT! Something could've happened to you out there and we'd have no idea! Being exposed to magic too much is dangerous! And lucifer, no matter what i say to you you don't seem to listen to a single word of it, do you? ". Celeste got mad quick, judas unsure what to do though first he took Celeste's arm before she could throw anything else at the demon boy.

"HEY! WHAT'S THE MATTER WITH YOU!?", Landon hissed, "Jeez...you guys make it sound like I was the one robbing everyone, I just went to peek at the findings, you would've done it too if you had been given the chance considering how much you guys sneak around behind our parent's backs...the secret meetings? All the times you evaded katrina? Don't go acting like you're such a upstanding demon prince...".

That seemed to shut the two of them up, Landon standing up and grumbling.

"You guys might have never gotten a chance to see what I saw without me...I helped...even if It was because...I wanted the upper hand...", he mumbled that last part, "Look...can't I have this one? Just this once? I want to be the successful brother...just once...I'm so tired of my brothers being so imfamous for doing this and that and everyone just...GOD!".

Flames seemed to erupt from his fingertips as she stomped the ground.

Then he simmered.

"I'm so sick of...everyone thinking i'm useless...I have to hide out in a stupid coffee shop club thing to even feel some sense of...importance...".

He sniffled, "Just let me have this...ok?".

"Landon...".

"Don't landon me...even if it's not your fault...even if...even if i'm a failure...I just...I WANT this...I'm so sick of feeling second rate...or even third rate...I don't need to prove anything to you...I want to prove it...to me...", he turned away from his siblings, "I'm good at music...but...that's it..i'm not magically remarkable...i'm not good with emotions or feelings...I want to feel like I matter judas...".

"Landon..you do matter, you matter to everyone...me, celeste, our parents, mason...Bernard...", Judas placed a hand on his brother's back, trying to soothe him, "Landon...even if...you don't feel important...or loved...I want you to know we all love and care about you...I...don't know what would happen to me if...something happened to you...you're my brother landon...".

"You can't make me feel differently...".

"Maybe not...but...I still want to tell you regardless...", celeste tapped her fingers together, seeing the brothers come face to face. "Landon...I'm not doing this because I want more attention...or to be better then anyone...I want to do this because...I want to help celeste and sunny and galeixa and...luna...they have people to get back to...people who love them as much as I love you...frankly...I always wished I could be you...".

"What?", Landon almost sounded...surprised.

"Everyone looks at me like a freak most of the time...it'd just be nice...to not have that kinda attention...to not have so much pressure on me...to have the freedom to do whatever I wanted without so much on my shoulders...but...I don't have that choice...so...for now...i'm going to do the best I can...by helping out my friends...and keeping them safe...landon you don't have that pressure...you can be whatever you want...do whatever you want...not to impress anyone...but to make yourself happy.".

"You wanted to be me?".

Judas nodded, placing a hand on his brother's shoulder.

"Landon...I...can't change how you feel...I can't change what happened...but you have the chance me and mason don't have...the chance to make your own life how you want it, no pressure from anyone stopping you...landon you can do so much...and I know you have so much to give...maybe you need time to see it...but you have so much potential..".

"You're just saying that to make me feel better...", Landon shoved his brother's hand off of him, "I'm useless...if not useless i'm forgettable". Though as he turned around someone grabbed his shirt from the back and tugged, and considering how well landon knew the two people behind him he could easily tell which one it was. Celeste made him turn around and face her, her arms crossed and her eyes away from his.

"Dude if you were forgettable, do you think i'd be spending so much of my time trying to help you? You're not useless, you held part of the investigation yourself, that's not useless...you're not useless landon...you should stop being so down on yourself...those idiots insulting you don't deserve your time and attention. You keep doubting yourself...you don't need to catch some weirdo to be cool.".

"You're right...you can't change how I feel...but without this...what do I have?".

The two looked to each other before back at landon.

"Well, you have a lot of time to think about it...you don't need to know right now...but you'll get there someday...", landon seemed to have finally calmed down a little bit, pacing around the room. "I'm sorry...I can't help it...every time I think i'm going too far i think about the...my situation...I think about what I could be and what It is now and I can't help it.".

"I know...".

"I...I'm not trying to sound selfish...I just...I don't want to...deal with this any longer...".

He paused, getting onto his knees on the floor, "I'm...sorry for being a butt I guess...you got separated from your family and I guess I've made the situation about myself..when it's kinda...terrible.". He actually did kinda sound like he actually felt sorry, in fact he looked tired more then anything. Like keeping all this buried inside him ate away at him.

And it probably did.

"It's alright landon...we'll take it a day at a time...is that ok?", judas kept his distance from his brother but seemed to constantly be checking to see if his brother was alright or not.

and with a small nod, that was enough.

"What I saw...what they found...", he started, "W-when the explosion happened...it seems the uh...person under the mask did get hurt...well I mean...I think so...they didn't seem to find them but...their mask...their mask broke...they collected it.". He looked up at his companions and judas processed the information before looking to celeste, "I'm guessing since they don't know who it is still..they got no dna off the thing?".

"Maybe...".

There was a silence between them, only stopped when just let out a large sigh.

"I'll...ask out parents about it later...maybe have sky come with...we'll look into it...but if they lost their mask...then their face must have been exposed...unless...they had another mask...they're magic after all they can change clothes with it.". The blast was bound to do damage but if it broke their mask then what did that mean for their face? Queen Butterfly had been in the presence of those blasts before and they had varying effects.

Sometimes destroying your entire body, sometimes leaving you unharmed if you were good at self healing to any degree, sometimes it just depended. Magic was unpredictable after all, and in ways that only made it worse for the people who had to use it. Though whoever was out there, if the blast was enough to break their mask, it as bound to hurt a little.

"Thank you landon...for letting us know...".

As conflicted as landon's emotions were, he did actually seem rather happy to have helped regardless.

This was going to take some work if they were ever going to sort things out together with landon, what he was dealing with was deep and wouldn't be solved with a simple conversation. Judas watched the sad face of his brother and felt his heart sink some more, making a mental note to himself to spend some more time with his brother in the near future if he could.

"I...hope mom and dad weren't too hard on you...", landon's ears flickered, "They weren't...they knew I meant no real harm...they're just...upset I snuck into her office during an emergency for seemingly my own selfish needs...mom was just kinda disappointed in me but they didn't do anything too bad...just grounded me...I didn't tell them I decided to join in your little gang...because they'd assume you learned nothing...they think I did it myself...".

"Well...I guess that's a relief...but...are you sure you're ok with that?".

"Well, you had nothing to do with me doing this...so...yeah", the scene still felt a little tense and awkward but landon wasn't mad anymore and judas and celeste got out what they wanted to say. Landon went to take a seat back on the couch, keeping to himself, "Look I just need to be alone for a bit...ok? And i'm sure you both have better things to do out there then stay here...".

They exchanged looks, knowing landon wasn't entirely wrong, though neither seemed to want to leave him alone like this.

"We can hold off for a bit...I think sky's going to be busy for quite a while anyway...", and then proceeded to take a seat next to his brother who looked pleasantly surprised, celeste joined him, curling up on the couch. Landon, who had told them to leave, didn't protest, in fact instead of arguing against it, had a smile creeping among his face. Looking over to his violin nearby.

"You guys...want to hear my new song?".

"So this Melaine girl?".

"My earth pen pal...she's into theories and pop culture on earth and aliens and all kinds of stuff...I thought maybe since she's been helping put theories and pieces of evidence together...she'd be perfect to consult and get more from...", Sky pulled out her compact to text her friend, angel sitting on her bed, clearly a little awkward being alone with her in her room.

"How'd you meet?".

"Went to earth to meet my grandparents, plus my moms love earth to death...they like to go to do fun stuff and get off mewni once in awhile. You might like earth, it's weird but kinda neat. Anyway mel saw me and saw us do magic and was ENTHRALLED ever since, especially finding out i'm basically an alien almost since she's obsessed with extraterrestrials."

"Extra...what?".

"Aliens...it's an earth thing...".

"Ah...", he still didn't seem to have any idea what she was talking about but maybe it was better not to ask further. It would take sky all day if she had to explain exactly what aliens where, and why earth was obsessed with things that probably weren't nearly as weird on mewni. On earth lizard people were a conspiracy, on mewni they were people sky saw get groceries every day.

"Hopefully she can help us out, having an earth pal who knows like..earth things and makes connections better then me sometimes is really handy...though uh...be careful. Mel's cool but she's also a little...well she doesn't know mewni too well so she makes a lot of assumptions based on earth stuff, it's not her fault, just don't be surprised if she..well...is incorrect about stuff.".

Angel now looked even more puzzled then he was before.

"Just follow my lead...", she smiled when melaine texted her back, the human eager for another video call.

"Human compacts work on our own?".

"Yeah? Who knew?", she laughed in utter embarrassment, at least she wasn't the only one who hadn't known that.

"SKYY!"

"MEL!".

"I'm so glad you called, I missed ya! Is the fact you're asking for my help mean your parents finally ungrounded ya?", Sky made a face, glancing over to angel, "Yes and no kinda...but...nevermind that...mel I'm going to update you on everything we know, I want you to help us as best we can...put the pieces together...you're kinda made for this honestly.".

Melaine's eyes lit up, a sparkle in her dark eyes that could light up galaxies.

"YESSSS".

She immediately started grabbing papers off the shelves, making a huge mess around the room, Angel took a seat closer to sky to get a peek as to what was going on on Melanie's end. His four eyes blinking in curiosty at the excited human piling stuff everywhere messily. He'd seen her at the sleepover but other then that, this was his first time REALLY meeting her.

Sky could only hope melaine didn't make it painfully awkward considering how much she used to complain about the boy to mel.

Mel was luckily occupied setting up before jumping into frame with a notepad and pen, papers trapped in her wild curly hair.

"So where do we begin!?"

Then her eyes looked to angel's and she almost squeed, "Is that spiderboy?! Sky, i didn't know you were bringing spiderboy!". Sky suddenly felt a bit of secondhand embarrassment as angel looked at her quizzically, "It's just a nickname she has for you...uh...mel?". Her attention went back to her earth friend, who was already sketching angel out for her board.

"Yep?".

"His name is angelus...or like..angel for short? I think he'd prefer that. Please?".

She signaled with her face to mel this was one of the times she really needed her to listen, and Melaine...thankfully, listened.

"Alright, Angel spider, got it...".

Well it was better then nothing, they had work to do.

Sky and Angel started listing off a few new details that had been caught up, the human girl writing them down with the speed of a race car and pining them up on her board, covered with articles, notes, pictures and more. Melaine was used to this, after all she made plenty for the mothman and for the mole people sightings before, this was like tying her shoe for her.

Even angel seemed impressed, he didn't know all that much about humans outside of the ones that visited mewni and jude and sky's own moms, much less about human culture and what humans did with most of their time. Though granted, considering angel was rather sheltered, there was a doubt angel would even know people made theories and stuff like this at all to such an extreme.

"You...found a person who spends her time organizing facts and coming up with solutions?".

"Kinda...sorta...yeah.".

Maybe she outta leave out the other stuff melaine does like go out hunting for lizard people and reading up on horrorscopes, angel seemed confused enough without her explaining the rest of melaine's active lifestyle. Melaine seemed especially excited at the mind parasites, much to angel's discomfort, though at the very least she didn't focus so much on his mom and more on who could access them.

"Any enemies?", she asked Angel, who shrugged.

"Honestly...we haven't made enemies for a long time...our kingdom just kinda...sunk into the shadows, avoiding conflict as to not make anything any worse for ourselves. We fought back when the spiderbites took over but other then that, and well..solaria...", he went silent for a moment, "We never had much of direct conflicts with monsters...especially not recently...".

"And i doubt the spiderbites would poison your mom, they have no reason to, they seem to talk with each other fine...", Sky piped in, "No one has any real reason to attack you or your mom...". Then sky tapped angel on the shoulder, "Is there anyone who'd have anything to gain by hurting your mom? Or i dunno...maybe they were trying to get someone else and ended ep with your mom?".

Angel looked visibly uncomfortable, and sky quickly reached out to him.

"Sorry...maybe i should...uh...".

"No...it's fine, I know there's no easier way to ask me stuff like that without mentioning her...", he tugged at his light pink hair, huffing, "I don't know sky...even If i were to blame the one under the mask...I don't know who is under the mask, rendering it all back to same question...I...personally want to think it was all an accident If i can help it.".

"Well, it could be...if one got out and ended up on your dinner table because someone didn't know it wasn't good to eat...then yeah.".

He seemed a little more reassured from that statement, something about someone coming after him seemed to only increase his worry and anxiety. He already had one masked foe who was pissed with him, what if he had another? Melaine was writing stuff down and sky was wondering what she could possibly write if there were no enemies to really speak of.

Though as she placed more on her board sky could tell they were drawings of the spiderbites, the masked foe, solaria, and everyone angel mentioned basically.

Guess even if they weren't at fault melaine felt they were important enough to at least mention.

"Skyler?".

Sky turned to her companion on the bed, who coughing into his fist, ears folding.

"Yeah?".

"A lot has happened...recently and I...I know it's hard to properly forgive me...and maybe to a degree you also feel bad because of...everything that happened before. But I um...wanted to suggest, we...um...uh...", Angel's social skills were pretty on par with a mushroom at this point, he'd clearly still had a long way away till he could properly talk to others without stumbling a little.

Though Sky was more then used to it at this point, and despite his stumbling she seemed to tense at his wording.

"Are you asking me on a date?", Sky looked at him, shocked, though he was quick to devolve the situation and try to explain himself better.

"What?! No no no no no no no NO No, I mean...", he looked embarrassed,red and ears pressed against his face, "I was hoping we could properly make amends...I want to make amends...I still feel guilty...I want to make it up...if you'll let me?". Sky seemed oddly charmed as awkward and embarrassing as that was, smiling and trying to keep her cool, "Yeah, that sounds...nice...honestly...I want to maybe try and make some kinda amends as well...if possible.".

He smiled back, the embarrassment flushing away from his face, angel smiling these days was a treat honestly.

Thankfully mel was distracted enough not to notice the scene, heck knows what she would say, she had a loud personality and was quick to make assumptions sometimes and that was something sky already needed to work on with her before she got herself in trouble for it.

She finished setting up and turned back to the royals, "Alright then, so there's my set up, i'm going to start working on this right away, text me any info you get on any of this, i'll keep adding and text you any revelations I can come up with...". She immediately started using markers on the board, typing together the pieces she knew connected together before pulling a book out of her messy bookshelf and holding to to show them.

"Maybe considering the proof of the multiverse, maybe you should study up on the stuff? I've been going through these books ever since you told me about it, maybe you can use it to help make some cool magic...". Sky glanced to her gemstone before going back to melaine, "Well...uh...maybe yeah? Thanks mel...uh...maybe you could send me some picks of the most relevant chapters?'.

She sent sky a thumbs up, "Gotcha! Oh, and if you see me any mothmen, send me pics as well! I made a bet with some classmates!". The mention of a mothman seemed to make angel puzzled though he didn't dwell on it too much as sky motioned to him that she'd try to explain it all later. Melaine on the other hand was eagerly waiting for her kinda sorta butterfly monster friend's reaction.

Sky sent her a thumbs up back as the screen turned black, returning the two royals back to themselves in sky's dirty room.

"She'll keep me updated...she tends to be good at that...".

"You...have a lot more friends then I realized...", he mumbled, "Uh...that's not to be rude or anything, I had just never seen you with anyone other then judas...you...seem to have friends all over.". But she was quick to stop him before he went on, "Nah...not really...I mean even if I ignored that mewni thought i was inferior or evil or something...i'm not good at...making friends...i'm not as friendly or easy to get along with as judas...or maybe at least...i wasn't when I was younger...".

"Perhaps we had more in common then we thought...", he added, "We always acted as if we could never understand each other and we were so different...but...maybe we were wrong."

And when she thought about it a little more, he was right.

That almost made her smile a little more considering how funny that was, though the thought of it quickly transferred to thinking about the bad aspects of their lives and she became silent. Angel was almost worried he said something offensive to some degree but sky shook her head and coughed into her hand, before asking the question she wanted to for some time.

"You still talking to eclipsa?".

Her question caught him by surprise, coughing into his hand, "Not since yesterday...after the trial...I um...I think she wants to speak to me after what happened last night regarding my mom but you've been with me ever since and she um...know you're not a fan of her right now, you're probably more angry with her then you are with me about what happened...why is that?".

"Hmm?".

"Sky...I...went behind your back, I was working for the enemy, even if i barely did much that harmed you while doing so...I still went behind your back...eclipsa went behind your back as well...but you seem more fine with me...then her.", she huffed as she laid back on the bed, "It's not the same, you both were doing it to protect me...but you didn't reveal this big team to my mom and get everyone in trouble...something we tried to avoid.".

"I always figured with you coming after me on your mom's orders...you well...were used to working under her...".

"I never liked working under my mom's shining shadow...I didn't want her fingers all over it, i didn't know what she'd do and i didn't know if she'd use this as another way to well...make me feel like...like i'm not good enough. That's one thing we can't relate to, my mom is a hero of mewni, i can't top that...and mewni knows it, i'm not as gifted as her...or as powerful.".

"You're powerful to me, even if you claim you aren't", he said back, and by his tone, he truly believed that.

"You haven't seen powerful unless you've seen mom, i don't compare.", sky was quick to tell him, god was she just good at beating up on herself? She tore herself down everytime someone gave her a compliment it felt.

"Well...you helped her help my mother...didn't you?", angel pointed out, "If she needed the help of another butterfly then clearly she wasn't powerful enough alone to handle the task.".

"Well I...yeah, i did but...well...I mean i was the one who got you to help...well tiny you...Angel your being too nice about it, mom did most of the work, i stumbled my way into that situation and she was the one who knew how to help at all...i'm not nearly as powerful if everyone else does the work and i accidentally stumble in and help somehow...".

"Well...I don't think there's anything to be ashamed of...you still did it, didn't you? Without you my mom...well...", he wasn't wrong, even her mom said herself she needed sky's help to even finish the process. Without her there nothing might've been fixed at all, angel didn't seem to care that she stumbled into it or didn't have the plan ready as long as she helped and cared.

But then again, angel didn't exactly care about sky's level of skill personally either, he thought she was powerful no matter what.

"I guess I still have some issues to work out...concerning my mom, i've been rethinking my feelings on her and maybe I was too judgmental...just assuming everything was easy for her...she...almost failed..without me to help. Though she's still...she's still so much more powerful and experienced...I've never been that way"., her voice was full of sadness and loss, in fact it seemed she no longer felt angry at her mom, but more sad then anything.

Though Angel was quick to attack that, huffing in that pompous way that he used to when they used to tease and mock the other.

"Well I for one don't see any reason you need to be as powerful as her to be great, you're clearly just fine without that power. This entire situation proves you have the ability to do so much, even if you're not the strongest at magic.", she smirked, "Well yeah, I guess the same goes for you, you spent your time training to use your powers? You're not perfect at it yet...but you're smart without it...sometimes...".

"Thank you...I think.".

"We should go...no point in staying here any more...let's find sunny", Sky hoped off the bed, "We'll...talk about what we wanna do together later...but for now the best thing we can do is keep focus on the task at hand and worry about it later." Angel got up and off the bed too, though his legs nearly knock down mannequin sky was using for one of her hat designs, catching it just in time.

"S-sorry...".

Sky quickly readjusting the thing as angel observed the sunhat, cute but still creepy with it's greens and eyes.

"This is for nora...isn't it?".

"It's not finished...but yeah, I promised her one awhile back but I got sidelined...but it's nearly complete.", angel looked at it with curiosity as sky looked between him and the hat, then away from both of them, thoughts rolling in her head as she changed the subject. "Y'know...nora reached out to you...she talked to you to help, how did she...your families didn't like each other for so long...how'd...", it was hard to get the right words out.

Though angel knew what she meant.

"Nora...and me...we...we didn't share the same hatred as our ancestors...we never really talked, nora was well...scared of me and I never put my focus on her...I feel like I put so much blame on you when nora's family took our land...but something about nora I can't really hate. Nora was just as alone as I was...she wasn't hateful or bitter...she was nothing but sorry and sympathetic...".

"and I was antagonistic if not ignoring you entirely...", sky finished.

"I didn't mind nora's help...I think...she's different from her family...but...I think we all seem to be in one way or another...".

"Maybe that's for the best...like you said.".

"Yeah, I hope so.".

Sunny's first instinct when seeing the two enter the room was to run up and hug them both, angel still not used to all the affection of these new friends but complying regardless. Sunny's smile was nice to see after that mess, she tended to always seem pretty cheery and happy and right now it was needed more then anything to helps them feel a little better.

"Good to see you! Let's get started.".

She quickly dragged them away from the door and further inside the library, katrina glancing up and waving as she went back to texting on her compact. The library was closed right now, outside of them being allowed in to look for whatever they needed. Giving them more freedom to look around, mostly for info on mind parasite and how to handle them.

Or masked creeps.

She and Galexia seemed to have gone through several books together, making sure lexi didn't draw on any of them in the process. Sunny probably had every page memorized by this point knowing her, her amount of research was impressive. Showing off her notes she'd been taking, "The Spiderbites and your mom is taking care of the same info but I thought best we got a good grasp on it as well...and yeah, I think our-your mom is up to something here...the symptoms match perfectly to previous victims of the bugs...weak memory, inability to control body, near parallelization...".

"I'm not sure if we should consider that a serious relief or not frankly", sky laughed, sunny shoving her nearest open book at her, "A relief! It makes it easier to fix if we're careful! The reason most people are too late is because it's so good at being a regular illness that they never think to cure it as if it were an parasite infesting their body! But it still needs care and if we're not careful can really hurt her...".

Angel jolted for a sec, suddenly nervous.

"But it's alright, we're working with professionals...once the bug is out she can heal properly...if she's not too damaged.", angel shuddered again, he almost wanted to leave the room but sky kept him still, trying to reassure him. "She'll make it through...what do we do to get it out?", sunny nodded to the page, "There are a few things that work, like evil repression charms...if luna were still here...we could've used her's but for now...we outta ask eclipsa.".

"Eclipsa?".

"She was the one to give luna her's right? I believe you told me that thing is practically a repellent that takes out dangerous and dark magic. That's perfect for weakening the bug inside of her.".

Angel and Sky exchanged looks.

"Is...that the only thing we can do?".

Sunny looked between them before remembering sky's current feelings towards eclipsa, "Well, no, of course not, we can do other charms to draw it out, and other spells, it was just an option...magical charms like that are a safe way of scaring the little buggers...it doesn't fully remove them but it does start to weaken them. But we can try another spell...though maybe we shouldn't conjure it...healing spells are more celeste's thing...and i'm never tried a cruse repenting spells before and...maybe we should wait for mom.".

"Ok...fine.".

"Hm?".

"I'll...ask eclipsa for one...".

She was very reluctant, but if it meant helping angel's mom, well...she'd be stupid to say no. Angel, knowing how mad she was, seemed super appreciative. He became a little less tense, his legs folding back behind them as to not accidentally hit anyone in his anxiety. Sunny looked equally happy, "Thank you! The sooner the better, it'll give it more time to take effect before we can do some of the other steps.".

"What are the other steps exactly? Nothing...crazy I hope?".

"Well, that depends on what the spiderbites and well...what your mom wants to do, the charm is just to slowly weaken it, removing it and convincing it to leave might still be hard, it is a magical being after all. But we have enough professionals we might be just fine, Arana's been fighting this long to keep it from destroying her from the inside after all...we're not giving up without a fight.".

"Is uh...lexi doing alright?", sky pointed to the brunette scribbling nearby, who looked up and waved at the three. Sunny laughing and turning back to the companions with cheer, "Well, I thought since lexi really wanted to help i'd play to her strengths, she's not the best at communication sometimes or with people, but she is great at speaking her mind through drawings and art in general...".

"What do you mean?".

"I mean I assigned lexi the role of our planner, with her dream knowledge and her abilities she can help plan ahead for what we should prepare for. Not to mention she's fantastic at design, she can visually interpret anything. And before you say anything, this isn't because i'm paranoid or obsessed with her...abilities, i think the best thing to do, is have HER be the one to deal with her own powers...if she finds something worth mentioning, she'll tell us.".

"You...think she can handle it?", sky said, worried and a little skeptic on if lexi would for sure know when to tell them anything significant. Looking at her drawings it was never really easy to be sure what they should be worried about or not, and it seemed like most of the time they were purely doodles and nothing that seemed logical enough to happen.

"Sky, ever since she's gotten here i've been the one talking to her the most, I know she can handle it, she's smart and great in her own way.", the girl was confident, she almost seemed like a proud mom as she looked over lexi. Sky knew they hung out a lot but she never really though heavily about it, at least about what they talked about or how they felt about each other. Sky had not talked to lexi much, and neither had anyone else that much either, so it was hard for her personally to say for sure this was something lexi could do.

But she did trust Sunny.

So she had to trust Lexi could do it.

"Alright then.".

"OH!", the small girl quickly ran over and collected her compact, excited, "Celeste texted me early today! She NEVER texts me, she wanted to let us know she was hanging with judas today to talk to his brother...er...landon. But I was just so happy cause celeste doesn't really talk to anyone other then landon so it was just...nice...having her speak to me.".

"How long will um...Judas be gone?", angel asked curiously, though sunny could only shrug, her focus had been elsewhere most of the day and judas could take as much time as he needed frankly.

"You'd have to ask him, i could text him right now if you want me to?".

"That's ok!", Sky interrupted, "He should get all the time he needs to deal with his brother...we'll talk to him when he's ready, anything else you want to share before we head out?". She was not looking forward to seeing eclipsa and was partially stalling for time, but she outta not leave until sunny provided her with any and all information she might need.

"Well...".

She tapped her toes, her third eye on them and her others eyes elsewhere. Whatever it was, she wasn't sure if she should say something or not, though considering the lack of time, better she came out with it now then ask later. "Sky...you're good with costumes and clothing right? I've been meaning to ask if maybe...you could...make me some costumes...?", she sounded as if this were embarrassing to ask, and sky's puzzled face was reason enough to explain sunny's worriedness.

"Why do you need costumes?", sky said, snapping back into reality, "Is this something to do with any of your plays or something? Cause this ain't really the time to be putting on plays or musicals right now when we got all this other stuff going on...". But Sunny shook her head, "No no...it's more like...with everything going on it's a lot harder to listen in on conversations and get details from the people, and I was thinking...with costumes we could sneak out and listen in on gossip or any news outside the castle walls...".

"You mean, you want me to make disguises?".

"Well yeah...you're so good with it...and it might help us out to walk around undetected...it'd be perfect! Everyone knows us, and some people are still well...against us...so maybe we could make disguises and see if we can get more from other sources on the matter of the bug and Her.".

"Well actually that sounds like a good idea...why didn't you bring it up earlier?", Sunny rubbed her arm, "Well, asking you to do that is asking you to do a lot of work and I wasn't sure you would want to spend so much time on something like that when we could put our focus elsewhere, with Katrina going on about being spies...well, with disguises...we could work with her...".

Sky eyed katrina, who had been listening in, "Well problem is...I don't think you're allowed to have us spy on anyone correct?". The frog woman nodded, "Nope, i am not allowed to let you out of the castle sunshine, but, i'll be fair, if you want to dress up around here? I have no reason to stop you, just don't go sneaking out of the walls, we're not taking that risk no matter how tough you guys might be...and i'm in trouble enough as is".

Sunny pouted, she'd probably been hoping to convince the spy to help them but seems the lady was quick to shut that part down, well...that's what it looked like. Sunny almost was about to leave when angel stopped her, his brow furrowing before he took a risk with his next words, "Um...forgive me...I uh...that was a well told lie but I uh...I think we'd appreciate more truth out of you...considering how much I had lied and you wanted me to be honest...".

He actually didn't know if she were lying, but it just kinda came out, and yet-

Sunny suddenly became embarrassed, her facade dropping, "Fine...it was a half lie...I do want some costumes for a play outside of the disguises...I know a place landon showed me and I thought it'd be a good place to perform...but it's not out of selfish reasons...I thought...maybe...we could set a trap there and you could make us costumes to help better disguise us to catch them there...and I've been writing a play for you guys in my spare time".

"Why weren't you honest about that from the beginning?".

"I though you guys would think It was a waste of time If i asked you for costumes for a silly play of mine...it's easier to ask for costumes to go around in public then to ask for costumes for a play I want to perform in...I mean you even said it was a waste of time before i told you.".

"Sunny no, that's a great idea, for a trap I mean".

"Ahem!", Katrina said from against the wall, "No scheming to go anywhere outside the walls. it's cute how much of spies your are but any traps laid about should be addressed with your parents sky".

"Aren't you supposed to be following judas?", katrina shrugged, "I am but after last night it seems king and queen lucitor decided maybe I outta give the boy a little more space...can't blame him, he looked really upset last night, i think the whole situation really hit a nerve with him. He's a tough kid but he's struggling with trusting himself and feeling comfortable and safe with himself...seeing the woman hurt probably made him think about it being one of his family members.".

Angel suddenly felt a ting of guilt, "I told him about Her having the book with notes on his condition in it...I told him i was worried about it and...he had tried to tell me he'd be ok...perhaps I...shouldn't have said anything...I was just worried and thought he should know...". His ears folded and his face turned pinker then usual, his mistakes seemed unending.

"It's not your fault kid, no one can speak for how judas feels then...judas, the kid can ignore how people feel and use this zappers all he wants, but honestly to me...I think what he needs to focus on...is his own mental health. Purple needs more help, and honestly better you tell him he might be in danger then say nothing at all and let something bad happen he can't prepare for...even if It hurts him...".

The prince nodded, "If you're sure.".

"Kid, you can hurt people, but not everything could be easily fixed by you doing nothing either. The stuff that kid is dealing with is more then just you, the best thing you can do now...all of you, is be there for him as his friend and reassure him and protect him. He'd do the same for all of you and the best you can do is the same for him while he's struggling.".

"We will...promise.".

"Good, now you ll better get back to...whatever your doing...and stay safe...call me if you need me. Right now i'm watching these two but If I need to help i will, if the guards don't alert me...". The two nodded and before they left Katrina nodded to Angel, "And sorry if I was too aggressive last night, I know that entire situation was emotional for you...but your safety and hers should be a priority and I couldn't jeopardize it".

"It's fine...", he didn't seem too forgiving by tone, but he couldn't hold a big grudge either considering the outcome of it either. He moved forward, following sky closely as the door closed behind them, leaving sunny, katrina, and galexia in the library. Sunny smiled at them leaving, "They're so cute working together...I knew they could do it!", going back to opening her book on medical magical practices.

"They're strange friends alright...", the older monster nodded, leaning against the wall nearby.

"But...I welcome them completely, honestly the more the merrier".

Sky definitely didn't want to meet eclipsa.

Not now, not anytime soon.

Of course when she blabbed on about how upset she was with her that's the day she HAD to meet her in person.

Of course, just her luck.

She didn't know if angel tagging along made it more awkward or less awkward frankly.

Though angel seemed to be right by her side on this no matter what so that was a little reassuring, at least he wasn't acting like she couldn't be upset on the matter, considering he technically went behind her back as well he didn't really have much of an excuse himself. He adjusted judas's old clothes he'd been wearing, nervous as they entered the garden.

"I could go...if you...don't want to." sky stopped in her tracks, huffing.

"I know you could..and you would...but I should do It, i'm supposed to be taking charge here...I shouldn't...make you do anything that I should be doing. I promised to help right? I'm just gonna have to suck up my anger and deal with it. I won't even have to look at her for very long...", then she paused, "I...I do miss our lessons together though...".

"This does seem almost like going to one somehow...doesn't it?".

Sky's annoyance was apparent, "Yeah...it does...".

But then she turned around to look at him, her face becoming a smile, "Maybe when all this is over...we could pick those back up again? If that's cool with you? Maybe with a different teacher? We...have a lot to work on if we're going to be in charge at some point...like a lot of work. Helping your family and people, trying to fix our terrible security, y'know...trying not to ruin people's lives?".

"I accept your offer...Queen Sky.", he was being playful, bowing, and sky actually seemed to find it a little amusing.

"Alright, now i'm just stalling...let's get it over with...".

She headed up to the tower door, knocking, angel close behind her as she became more anxious by the second. She found herself tapping her foot, waiting before she heard the door unlock, her blue eyes looking towards the door. Though as the door opened it wasn't eclipsa at the door, but Globgor, who looked excited and relieved to see the kids there.

"Back so soon?", he teased, "I jest...yesterday was quite a day wasn't it? You kids alright?". He was mainly looking at angel and the boy could only give him a weak nod as his answer, and that seemed enough for globgor who didn't push it further. "So what are you doing here? Lessons are cancelled and Eclipsa knows you're mad with her and...you need something don't you?".

Sky's face told all, looking away and shuffling, "Maybe...is there something wrong with that?".

The monster ushered the two in, "Of course not, you know we're willing to help. It's good to see you two again.". Globgor followed behind as she headed inside eclipsa's tower, though eclipsa herself wasn't there, globgor himself only sat down in front of them as they took their usual seats as if this were another one of eclipsa's lessons all over again.

"Eclipsa's out, she'll be back soon...she asked for me to hang out here to check in with the queens, we're going to head back to our place soon after...but for now you can talk to me if that makes you more comfortable. What's on your mind?", the royals exchanged looks between them as sky let it out of the bag, "We need eclipsa to make us a charm to ward off bad magic...".

"Oh...that sounds a lot worse then I was expecting, what are you getting into exactly?", the princess was quick to nod to her companion, "It's for his mom, it's all to help her...I'm only here to help him and his mom. So yeah, if eclipsa can make us a charm to use for her, i'd appreciate it, i'm not exactly knowledgeable on that and i know for a fact it's not in the book of spells...".

Globgor suddenly smiled in a way sky did not like, clasping his hands together, "Reminds me of eclipsa, she was so brave doing everything she did to be with me and make me happy. You're facing someone you're mad with to help someone you used to be enemies with, that's so adorable". Great, another one of those people, was this going to be regular thing from now on?

Just random people gaping at how sweet it was they no longer wanted to fight each other?

Was it too late to change her mind?

Even Angel looked embarrassed, coughing and trying to change the subject, "Yeah, ok...anyway...globgor...can eclipsa help us? I'm glad you're happy that we're friends now but i'm here to help my mom...I need to help her in anyway I can...if there's even a chance we can save her life...". Globgor understood, no doubt thinking back to the many monsters he lost back in the war, the friends and family.

"We'll help...promise, we'll have to wait till eclipsa gets back first.".

The monster king looked over to the unused teapot nearby, "I'm not good at it but...you want a drink?". Guess they were going to be here for awhile weren't they? Might as well in the meantime. Globgor attempted to make tea as sky took out her compact, looking for updates from any of her friends. Angel glancing over to take a look as well, "Any updates from judas...?".

"Not yet...but we'll hear from him soon i'm sure...".

Sky had to admit angel's attachment to judas and even nora was touching to her, it seems she and judas were no longer a pair of two anymore ever since this mess started.

"How do you know for certain that he's not in danger or anything? Not that I don't trust Prince Lucitor, but with everything happening...how are you sure he's safe?", the princess could only return his question with a nonchalant shrug, "I just know judas can take care of himself, despite the mess...he's...strong, even at his worst...and he's not alone either...".

"He isn't?".

"Landon is with him, landon's not the most powerful...but if judas was in trouble, landon wouldn't leave him...". she tucked her compact back into her pocket , "I wish we had a greater idea what they wanted...where they might strike next...without knowing their goal it makes it harder to figure out where to catch them...you sure they gave you no real idea of their plan?".

"I swear they didn't, they certainly didn't trust me enough to disclose that info to me...I wonder if to some degree they expected me to betray them and didn't think I was worth trusting with that information...all I know was the plans I was told about and that they were scary powerful with magic...enough to deliver on their promises to me to keep me in line...", he crossed his heart, "I'd spill if i could.".

"Magic is so limited to people in mewni...well...that kinda powerful magic...it has to be a butterfly, But i know it's not my moms, eclipsa, my grandmother doesn't have reason to do this...does anyone in my family have a big enough grudge to be targeting the other kingdoms like this? Though considering what they took...they seemed to want power I guess...", sky didn't know much about her extended family, but then again, how much did her extended family know about low mewman? Or the book?

Maybe it really was some kinda toffee follower...the butterfly secrets didn't exactly remain secret because of him or the people around him, maybe they should be investigating any living supporters of him.

Or maybe she was just losing her mind at this point and just desperate to make sense of all of this.

"Ugh...I wish i hadn't left the-".

Her eyes suddenly lit up, god had she really let that slip her mind already?

"The truth potion...it's here...I last saw it here", she aggressively whispered to her companion, if she could get that back, maybe she could find some use for it in their investigation, especially in terms of getting straight answers out of her family and other suspects.

Her eyes immediately scanned around the room, hoping to spot the blue potion somewhere in plain sight but finding nothing, instead globgor returned, presenting the pair teacups and immediately apologizing. "I'm not as good as eclipsa with this whole thing. so if it tastes bad...sorry about that...but boiling water and adding tea dirt feels like it's hard to mess up...".

They both took the teacups, even angel was looking around the room, his eyes darting around so much globogr seemed to be wondering if there was something wrong with him.

"Prince arachford?".

"Hmm?", suddenly all his eyes looked at globgor, taking a quick sip of his tea, he wasn't keeping a very good poker face right now.

"I wanted to appluade how you were in the trial yesterday, you really stuck it to those commissioners, it's fantastic seeing you tell them off like that. Normally before when a monster did so they took it as a sign of aggression and would've arrested them sooner, I'm impressed", globgor reached over to pat his fellow monster on the shoulder, "Not to mention they're in a world of trouble right now.".

"Well..I wasn't going to let sky get arrested for something that was my fault.", he mumbled, "It was my fault alone...and she could've been arrested alongside me.".

"Well I think you did great, I'm impressed.".

"Impressive because I fought back?".

"No, impressive because you were willing to take the fall to protect people you cared about, that's the sign of a true leader right there. I think your people will be happy to welcome you back once things settle...", oh right, his people were mad at him due to what happened, he'd been so distracted he seemed to entirely forget about that part of the situation.

He couldn't even return home because of what happened, his people were beyond mad he had done something that put them in possible danger, not to mention all of mewni. He did the whole thing in hopes of bringing them back to greatness, allowing them to use magic like they used to, but it seemed they hated it and the idea of it if it came under these circumstances.

He really screwed up.

Globgor seemed to notice he looked down but his voice grew softer, "Hey, you always had a great heart...what happened back then...honestly It's a guilt that's lingered with me as well...you can be mad at solaria...you can be mad at the butterfly family...you have every right to be. But it's great you've gone from wanting nothing but revenge...to wanting to work to fix things and form friendships...It's what we originally wanted as well...".

"Doesn't appear to always work...", he muttered under is breath, the hurt still present in his voice.

"No but...well...do you trust the ones you're working with to work beside you?", globgor eyed to Sky, was distracted looking around the room to pay much attention to the conversation. Angel of course couldn't say no, "I do trust them...even If I was too stubborn to even consider it before.". Globgor rustled his hair, snickering, "Well I happen to think the monsters will be in better hands going forward...so we can finally truly reach proper peace...hopefully.".

Globgor sighed, looking to sky now, who was still looking around rather strangely, and he set his full attention on her.

"So...what'cha looking for sky?".

Sky suddenly froze, clutching her teacup.

Yeah, no duh she'd get caught, her head was moving like a bird's right now, as unnatural as possible for a normal looking individual. She could've just asked globgor but there was no telling if THAT was a good idea or if it was another excuse for the lovers to betray them entirely and not let them have it at all. Though now that globor knew she was looking for something...well..oops.

But the monster wasn't stupid, smiling a toothy grin that almost seemed teasing.

"Oh right, when you came here to fine the young lad you ended up leaving a special potion around didn't you? You never came back to collect it since.", he took a seat once again in front of the pair, folding his arms. "Sorry kids...but you're a smidge late...King Lucitor...well actually...Dave...since he's no longer king. He requested some to question that young demon girl and since Eclipsa had it she let him borrow it, i'm sure he won't use it all though."

Oh right, Judas's grandfather had mentioned he wanted to further speak to Fae didn't he?

Sky suddenly pulled out her compact, and gave angel a knowing glance.

Cue team Judas.

Judas's compact buzzed, the boy waking up from a nap he'd been having and opening the device up, his brother and half sister sleeping next to him. Had he really fallen asleep? Guess it figured after how stressful things had been he'd be more tired then usual, though upon reading the message from the princess and seeing his brother alongside him, the thought of leaving their side did not resonate with him.

He did not want to leave landon, not right now.

There was still much to do with him and right now he seemed rather worried about his safety after that mess. At the very least he and Celeste both outta make sure he wasn't physically harmed due to magic or glass or anything. Because if there was, landon would be hiding it, just like he hid his tail from everyone, even from his parents at times when he was upset with them.

But what to do? If he had to stay with his brother for now, he needed another idea.

Granted, his grandfather would most likely give the potion back, but what if he didn't? In fact what if they couldn't remake the potion due to the strict hold on the garden for ingredients? But the real reason sky wanted judas to do something came to him quite quickly, fae was not a team player of any kind, but she knew about landon and celeste's escapades.

Knew they had been out when they shouldn't be and investigated on their own.

Not to mention the fact the girl was prime witness to the rescue mission to save nora, something that they were still choosing to keep mostly under wraps to keep sky from being further attacked and considering his grandfather was currently in the dark about who the girls were and about the truth about what was happening, having him find out his family wasn't telling him anything...was bad news.

Sky could be in trouble, and so could all of them.

If Fae spilled, they'd be in trouble.

He needed to make sure the two people next to him didn't end up in further trouble, not to mention the rest of them so they weren't further exposed. Not that he didn't trust his grandfather, but this sure wasn't the best way to bring that up to him.

But he couldn't just leave...could he?

But if he couldn't do it...

Judas quickly sent out another text, knowing the best person he could send for the job, without putting them at much of any risk. All he needed was to keep his grandpa from finding out anything he shouldn't, and hopefully, they could keep it together just a little bit longer.

He hoped.

"Mason...you got this.".

And nearby in his own room, mason's wings could be heard flapping in excitement.

[avengerscompound]

Snapshots - Three

Snapshots: A Bucky Barnes Fanfic

Series Masterlist PREVIOUS //

Buy me a ☕ Character Pairing:  Bucky Barnes x  F!Reader

Word Count:  1897

Rating:  M

Square filled: @buckybarnesbingo, C3 Free Space

Warnings:  sex talk, smut on the series.

Synopsis:  Before Bucky Barnes became the Winter Soldier he had a life and plans for the future.  A lot of them involving you.

During an art lesson you, Bucky and Steve find out about the bombing of Pearl Harbor.  Bucky and Steve go to enlist in the army.

Three

Bucky had been making faces at you for half the art class.  It was distracting, to say the least.  The little quirks of his eyebrow as he whispered to the boys around him.  Occasionally he’d bite his bottom lip as he gazed in your direction and then start actually doing his work.  You were about to start up an actual paint war in the classroom so you could cover that smug look on his face.

Only just when you were about to snap, a boy came in.  “Japan just bombed Pearl Harbor!”  He announced loudly.

The room broke out in chaos, everyone talking at once.  Bucky and Steve huddled together whispering and when the teacher dismissed the class, they grabbed their stuff and rushed out.  Normally it was impossible to get Steve or Bucky out of art class.  Steve always had one more thing he wanted to add to whatever he was working on and Bucky would hang around flirting with any girls still around.  Today they couldn’t get out of there fast enough.

You packed your bag and headed out.  You expected to see them somewhere during your trip home but they were nowhere to be seen.

It wasn’t until the next day that you saw him again.  He showed up at your apartment a little after midday, knocking on the door like the place was on fire.

“Is your dad here?”  He asked when you opened the door to him.

“No.  He’s gone out for the day.”  You said.

“Can we talk?”

You nodded and led him down to the living room.  He sat down on the sofa chair, perched on the edge and tapping his hands impatiently on his thighs.  “What’s going on?”  You asked as you took a seat.

“I enlisted in the army yesterday.”  He said.

“You what?  Why?”  You said, shocked.  There was so little time before the end of school, and he was smart.  You’d gotten into Barnard and were starting the following year and he’d always had similar marks to you.

He sighed and collapsed back into the couch.  “I kinda thought I might anyway.  I got into college but… I can’t afford it.  If I served then it’s a job, I might even be able to study.”

“There are other ways.  Scholarships.”  You said.  “I have a scholarship.”

“I was looking into it.  It was a long shot.  I always knew that. That’s why I was boxin’.  I was putting my winnings aside.  But, darlin’,”  He rubbed his eyes with the balls of his hands.  “I can’t just sit here and do nothin’ while the world is falling apart.  Steve and I went to enlist after school.”

“Steve enlisted?”  You asked dumbfounded.

“Yeah.  I mean… he tried.  He was 4F.  He was obviously going to be 4F.”

He sat up again and looked at you as you stared at him, not even sure what to say.  You weren’t even sure exactly why he’d come to tell you.  You were friends, but not exactly the closest of friends.  You most just studied with him and Steve once a week and maybe you’d see them on weekends.

“I go on Monday.”  He said.  “They're sending me to Wisconsin.”

“James!”  You gasped.  “Why… why didn’t you wait until school ended?”

“It pretty much has.”  He said with a shrug.

“Oh, James.”  You sighed, patting your chest.  “I don’t… I don’t know why you’d just put yourself in harm's way like this.”

He sat forward and put his hand on your knee.  “Yes, you do.”  He said.

You nodded and frowned a little.  “I guess so.”

He moved beside you and took your hand, playing with your fingers, quietly while you leaned against him.  Neither of you wanted to say it, but you knew you were both thinking about the fact that there was a strong chance he might never come back if they sent him overseas to fight.  “I want you to do some things for me.”  He said, finally breaking the silence.

“What are they?”  You asked.

“Well, first, I don’t want you to let anyone stop you from doing something amazing with your life.  Get your degree and do something with it.  You were right not to ever say yes to me.  Don’t get fooled by smarter boys because they have degrees or fancy cars.”  He said.

You felt tears prick your eyes and you shook your head.  “Don’t talk like this is going to be the last time you see me.”

He chuckled.  “Don’t worry, darlin’.”  He said, putting your hand against his chest.  “I’ll be back.  It’s just training first anyway.  Besides, I told you I was gonna marry you.  You gotta be my rich scientist wife so I can be your pretty toyboy, right?”

You snorted and he wrapped his arm around you.  “In your dreams.”

“That’s right.”  He said.  “I will be dreaming about it.”

A tear escaped and he cupped your jaw and wiped it away with his thumb.  “What else did you want me to do?”

“Keep an eye on Stevie.  Since his ma died he only agreed to live with me and my folks ‘cause I begged him to.  I don’t think he’ll stick around when I’m gone.  He’s mad about being rejected by the army too.  I know what he’s like and he’s gonna start picking fights with everyone.  I know you’re going to be in Manhattan, but I don’t know.  Just check up on him from time to time.  Make sure he doesn’t do anything too dumb.  He doesn’t have anyone else.”  Bucky said.

You nodded.  “I can try.”

“Thanks, doll.”  He said.  “My folks are having a going-away dinner, thing, tomorrow.  Will you come?”

“Sure, Buck.”  You said.

The following night you had dressed up.  Putting on the nicest dress you owned and spending that little bit longer perfecting your hair and makeup.

The event was a strange and surreal mix of somber and excited.  His dad was extremely proud of his boy and kept going on about how many of this or that person he was gonna end up killing while he ruffled Bucky’s hair and put him in a headlock.  It was a little morbid how he kept going on about it.

His mother, on the other hand, looked like she was attending a funeral.  She kept bursting into tears and needing to be reassured by Bucky that everything was going to be fine.

Despite the fact Bucky had been having dinner at your place every week for a year now, you’d actually never met his parents before.  It was weird doing it under these circumstances.  They both definitely seemed to be under the impression that you were dating or something.  His mother kept telling you, that the two of you would have to look after each other while he was gone and his father had very quickly thrown out that there was a chance you could organize the wedding before he was deployed.   You hadn’t wanted to argue with them.  Not under the circumstances at the very least.  Thankfully Bucky was at least smart enough to look embarrassed when it happened.

His siblings were mostly fine though his youngest sister, Rebecca wouldn’t let go of Bucky’s hand for anything and ended up falling asleep in his lap.  Steve kept to himself most of the night and was a little surly when engaged.

“I just want a chance to do what everyone else gets to.  People are out there risking their lives and I’m stuck here watching.”  Steve scowled as you sat beside him.  “Bucky taught me how to fight.  I know how to fight.”

“I know, Steve.  But it’s better this way.  You don’t actually want to be there.”  You said.

“Don’t tell me what I want!”  Steve shouted.

Everyone turned and looked at him.  He puffed out his chest and stood up storming off to the bedroom he shared with Bucky.  Bucky sighed and went after him.  You sat awkwardly with your drink.  He emerged a little later and smiled at you.  “That kinda put a damper on the whole thing.”  He said.  “It’s late, can I walk you home?”

You nodded and stood up.  “Thank you for having me.”  You said.

“Of course, dear.  It was lovely to finally meet you.”  His mother said getting up and coming over to hug you.

“Don’t smother her, ma.”  Bucky teased.

“You’ll visit while James is away?”  She asked.

“Of course, ma’am.”  You said.

“Good.  That’s good.”  She said.

She followed you both to the door and you waved when you got to the bottom of the steps.  When you were sure she was back inside you elbowed Bucky.  “What have you been telling your family?”

“Just the truth.”  He teased.  “About how you were my future wife.”

You couldn’t help but laugh and you elbowed him again.  “You are incorrigible.”

“Sorry about Steve.”  He said.

You shrugged.  “My fault.  He obviously has strong feelings about going.”

Bucky nodded.  “He doesn’t like bullies.”  He said.  “He’s gonna get in trouble.”

“Can’t be worse than the trouble you’ve gotten yourself into.”  You said.

“No.  You’re probably right about that.”  He said.  “I’ll be okay.”

You reached over and took his hand, linking your fingers with his.  He looked over at you and smiled.  “What’s this?  Pity handhold.”

You shook your head but you wouldn’t look at him.  The truth was, you had started to wonder why you had kept rejecting him.  You weren’t some notch on his belt he was waiting to carve.  You had been important to him.  Why could you only just see that now?

He stopped walking and turned you to face him.  “I will be okay.”

You nodded and his hand went to your chin, tilting your face up to look at him.  “I will.”

“Yeah, you will.”  You said.  More for him than yourself.

“I’ll be back soon enough.  We can explore whatever this is before I ship out if you like.”  He said.

You let out a soft breath.  “This is a momentary lapse of judgment.”

“Oh, I see,”  Bucky said.  “Well, I should take advantage while I can.”

He leaned into you, his lips slightly parted.  You bridged the distance, bringing your lips to his.  He kissed you slowly and tenderly.  There was nothing lewd about it.  He kept his hands on your arms, they didn’t roam or try to take any more from you.  He pulled back slowly and you chased his lips for a moment before opening your eyes, to see his blue ones twinkling down at you.

“We’ll definitely explore that more when I get back.”  He said.

You shook your head.  “I’ll be in my right mind by then.”

He chuckled and put his arm around your waist and continued the short walk to your door.  “Thanks for coming tonight, doll.  I’m glad you were there.”

“Of course, Buck.  Travel safe tomorrow.”   You said.

“It’s not the travel I’m worried about.”  He said and kissed your cheek.  “If you wanted to wait for me, I’d be okay with that.”

You smiled and rubbed his arm.  “Might have to if your ma is going to be planning our wedding.”

He chuckled and you headed inside, a tight feeling in your chest.  You knew he’d be back, but nothing about this felt good to you at all.

// NEXT