#and that flashes them to the change god who also did not see that coming

[nowoyas]

the crows and cats christmas reunion (kuroo tetsurou/reader)

m.list - read on ao3

A/N: written for @hatsukeii for the hq x reader secret santa exchange! I hope you enjoy ✨ also special thanks to @nectardaddy for the divider!

Summary: Your high school crush on your rival team’s captain actually comes to fruition in college. The problem? You both receive invites to the upcoming Christmas-slash-reunion party, and you’re nowhere near prepared to tell your high school social group about your new boyfriend. The solution, at least, is easy enough: just don’t tell them!

Warnings and Tags: university au, reader is a former karasuno manager, christmas parties, fluff and a lil bit of crack lmao, alcohol use, gender neutral reader

Words: 1700+

It was his laugh that did you in.

You couldn't begin to guess what he'd been laughing at, just that Karasuno had just beaten their sworn rivals and you were in tears, and that you'd paused everything because Nekoma's captain just laughed in a way that had him throwing his head back, chest fully shaking with the force of it.

That had been your reckoning: the flash, the oh, the clichéd emotions gripping you and not letting go.

Not a problem. He was the captain—now former, as of that exact moment—of your rival team, and you had a duty to be loyal to the team you managed for, and you could be, because he was graduating and you wouldn't see him again. Not a problem at all.

Only, see, that crush had been easy to ignore when he wasn't in front of you, when you didn't have to confront the sound of his voice or his stupid hair or the shape of his shoulders or—god forbid—his laugh again. So, naturally, he'd gotten into the habit of dropping in on joint training camps, wearing stupid hoodies that looked unbearably good on him and—you swear it—smiling at you when he caught you staring. And, naturally, you had somehow been the one he asked with some stupid excuse about how he didn't know his way around anymore and could you help out, if you weren't busy?

You hadn't been.

So in your final year of high school, at some training camp you hardly remember except for that one moment, escorted a definitely-for-sure lost alum of Nekoma High School out and paused when you rounded a corner and found that the two of you were completely alone. And maybe, yeah, you kissed him, then, and yeah, he walked away, and somehow, you didn't even feel heartbroken about it. No words, just that.

You'd given your first kiss to Kuroo Tetsurou, and nothing had changed at all.

Then college. Moving on. Living your life, working towards your degree, and surely you must be over him by now, like it would ever have gone anywhere to begin with. Yeah, you think about it—how could you not when he showed up to the games and the camps and smiled at you every time, when you still remember that kiss but can't remember his reply except that nothing had come of it and he still smiled at you after that so clearly he didn't hate you?—but you're over him and over it and goddammit there he is on your campus. Something which you could have anticipated, if you'd thought about the fact that Kuroo Tetsurou with that enchanting laugh who you kissed that one time went to the same university, hadn't he been wearing a university sweatshirt when you'd kissed him?

But you hadn't anticipated it. So of course you noticed him. Of course you stopped in your tracks. Of course you'd stared, and spilled your coffee all over yourself like a dumbass, and frantically tried to blot it out with the meager napkin supply that had come with your coffee and pastry, and then found yourself interrupted by—who else?—Kuroo fucking Tetsurou, smiling at you in that crooked way, eyes alight with recognition.

"My dorm's not far," he'd said, "do you want to maybe borrow a shirt?"

You deflated. You agreed. You borrowed a shirt and left with his phone number—ostensibly to pick your shirt back up later and return his—and a date, which had been amazing and maybe you're still dating by the time December rolls around and maybe, just maybe, you're in his lap when his and your phones both ping with texts in perfect unison.

And maybe you hadn't mentioned to any of your high school friends that you'd begun dating the rival high school's former captain.

"I don't see what the big deal is," he laughs as it dawns on you. "We can just tell them."

"Okay, no, not with the guys I graduated with. The guys in your year were reasonable, Kuroo. The rest were and are half demons and half the type of guys who can survive multiple years of sustained contact with the demons. They're gonna flip."

"You spent years wrangling them, I'm sure you can handle it."

You whine, drop your head against his shoulder. "What if we just… didn't tell them yet? Get through the party, pretend everything's normal, and then we can come back and go wild."

"We'll see how that goes."

#

For your information, that is going great. You'd shown up separately, gravitated naturally to different parts of the room—you're catching up with Shimizu and the other upperclassmen, drink in hand and eyes firmly pointed away from where Kuroo's harassing Tsukishima, amongst others. Sure, Suga's been doing his damnedest to get you to admit details about the secret boyfriend you obviously would have gotten the second you went away to university (you appreciate his faith in you). He thinks he's being slick, but he's really, really not.

"I told you, Suga, I am focusing on my studies."

"Does your studies pay for dates?"

You roll your eyes. "Yeah, sure. You're awful interested in my dating life, Suga-san. Why's that, again?"

"Oh, no reason."

The gambit for tonight absolutely requires that you let on nothing. You're not even entirely sure where Suga's idea that you got a boyfriend came from. You've been doing good. You're barely even looking at Kuroo. You're not even visibly reacting when you hear his laugh from across the room! The Crows and Cats Christmas Reunion (per the invitation—you've been calling it "garbage dump Christmas") is going great.

And then you catch Nishinoya on Tanaka's shoulders, pinning what you think is probably supposed to be mistletoe but is definitely holly to a door frame. It's visibly fake, but they're clearly putting a lot of effort into it.

Not a problem—you avoid it pointedly, watch a few others get caught under it and peer-pressured by tipsy busybodies into sharing a kiss with their fellow victims. The night drags on, and you have fun but maybe one drink too many, and when you slip into the hallway towards the kitchen to hopefully snag some water, a very familiar hand rests on your shoulder to help guide you.

"Hanging in there alright?"

"Kuroo," you whisper, "we're not supposed to be—"

"[name]-san!" Nishinoya shouts at the top of his lungs. "Kuroo-san! You're under the mistletoe; you gotta kiss!"

"—oh my god," you mutter, dragging a hand down your face.

A few of the rowdier guys cheer their agreements. You roll your eyes, turn to explain why you will not be doing that no matter how nice Kuroo looks in that sweater, and get as far as "that isn't even mistletoe—" before long fingers are gently tilting your chin up for a kiss.

Of course you kiss back. Bastard.

His lips are soft and warm and everything and he tastes vaguely like beer. You lean into it, mostly just to shut the guys up as your hand slides up to the nape of his neck. He responds in kind—free hand finds the small of your back, pulls you just that tiny bit closer, and for just a moment, you forget where you are and who's watching.

When you pull away, you're met with narrowed eyes.

"That was not the first time you two have kissed. There's no fucking way," one of the guys shouts.

You roll your eyes, try to play it off. "Maybe you should stretch before reaching like that. You're gonna pull a muscle or something."

"No, but, like, you were totally heart eyes at him all throughout school," Tanaka says. "If that had actually been your first kiss, you'd be like, dying on the floor right now or something. You're doing that whole tough thing."

"Has it occurred to you—"

Ennoshita cuts you off with a sharp look. "That whole tough act they do when they're trying to avoid questions? And aren't you two at the same university now?"

"You bagged him and didn't tell us? [name]-san!" Noya's voice is absolutely aghast.

Kuroo's eyes linger on you. "Bagged me?"

"I maybe had a little crush on you," you mumble, cheeks burning hot. "Did you not know? We straight up kissed at one point?"

He blinks. "What?"

"What?"

"That never happened. I have no idea what you're talking about."

You look at him. You're starting to get pretty good at reading whether or not he's messing with you for fun, but he seems completely, genuinely serious.

"We did. Last year. You came to visit and we ended up kissing but then you never—"

Oh. Oh no.

Oh my god.

The realization sinks in, and as you stare into your red solo cup of mysteriously strong holiday punch, you realize there's no getting out of this.

You tip the cup back and chug the rest. Kuroo is laughing over the music and the flood of alcohol burning your system, and you put all your mental energy into not crushing the cup in your hand.

"Wait, who are you thinking of?"

"Who would [name] even have mistaken him for? It's not exactly easy to mistake Kuroo for anyone else," Kenma says.

Point of order:

You don't remember how you ended up kissing. You don't remember how he reacted or why. Every time you saw each other after that, he acted like nothing ever happened.

"What, babe," Kuroo teases, "did you mix me up with someone else, or did you just dream it entirely?"

"S-shut up," you mumble.

"Oh my god. Did you actually—"

"No, nope, we're not talking about this—"

The grin on his face widens. "I think we are. Did you actually convince yourself that we kissed in your third year? Is that why you got extra skittish in the back half of the year?"

"Kuroo, I am going to kill you—"

The mortification feels like it's seeped into your very bones, but then he drops his head back and laughs and you can't bring yourself to finish the threat. You might not ever live this down, but it's made him laugh, and for a moment, you can forget that your friends are watching this and someone's gonna bring up this story if you ever make it to a wedding.

You always have been weak to that damn laugh.

Tags: @deeplightgarden @idonthaveanameideayet @dusstory

[nidbaesenpai]

Happy one year anniversary ISAT! To celebrate I wanted to share the lil strips I made for my friends when they reached the end of the game! They're all meant to be snippets of life post game and a glimpse into the world I'm making for Loop.

[ribread03]

Our Song I

m.sturniolo

Summery: When you receive a DM from nick asking you about doing a collaboration with them you cant help but say yes!

THIS IS MY WORK AND MY IDEA! PLEASE DONT USE THIS AS “INSPIRATION” OR TAKE IT WITHOUT GETTING MY PERMISSION FIRST! thank you :)

AN: this is part one of the series “our song” if you would like to know more about “y/n” you can use the mood board! Enjoy :)

Y/N POV

You’re sitting at your desk editing the newest YouTube video you plan to put out. Music is playing in the background as you zone out into your computer. Your phone dings, pulling you out your computer to see who might have messaged you.

Your heart skips a beat when you see “nicolassturniolo sent you a message” in your notification stack. You’ve been a fan of the sturniolo triplet since what felt like forever, and now Nick is messaging you on instagram. You’re in such a state of shock as you open the message, hands trembling as you read what it says;

“Hello, Me, Matt and Chris have come across your YouTube channel and we’re wondering if you want to collab with us sometime in the future….”

Flash Back Two Weeks Ago…

You had just finished editing a YouTube video to post, hitting the post button you close your computer and lay down to take a nap. Expecting the usual few hundred comments and likes when you wake up in a few hours.

Boy were you wrong… A few hours go by and you wake up and see that your video has blown up, thousands of views, thousands of comments, and thousands of new subscribers. Your eyes scan your phone “congratulations on 1 MILLION subscribers” was in your email.

“OH! MY! GOD!” You screamed out, alerting your parents who happened to be downstairs, to hear you. Jumping up and out of bed, starting to exit your room, stepping over piles of books and clothes.

“Y/N? Are you okay!?” You can hear your mother frantically call up to you while walking up the stairs.

“I HIT A MILLION SUBSCRIBERS!” You say excitedly while meeting her in the hallway…

Back to the present…

“Oh. my. god…” you say quietly, fingers hovering over your screen, scared that if you hit anything this will all be a figment of your imagination. Clicking on the notification you hold your breath as your phone unlocks and opens instagram… this is no figment of your imagination. This is real life and the triplets really want to collaborate with you.

You let out a few more silent “omgs” before heading downstairs to talk to your mom about all of this. You exit your room and walk down the stairs, “Momma?” You say softly as you round the corner into the kitchen.

“Yeah sweetie?” Your mom says as she’s washing the dishes. You sit on a small stool on the floor before you talk again, petting your cat, nugget, that was by your feet.

“I got a message from Nick Sturniolo, asking if I wanted to collaborate with them,” you can hear the excitement in your voice as you tell your mom. Your mom also knows that you’ve been a fan, and practically obsessed, with these three boys since high school and have always wanted to meet them one day.

“You did? That’s great honey, what did you say?” She asks turning the sink off and turning to face you.

“I didn’t answer yet.. I'm honestly scared because what if they change their minds?” You explain to your mom with a nervous chuckle. Your cat had now made its way up onto your lap, purring loudly.

“I think you should do whatever you want, just know that a flight out to LA might be expensive.” You took your mom’s words to heart and gave her a small nod.

“I want to go out and meet them, a collaboration would help me so much.. maybe if I get a little more information then I’ll be able to see if I can afford it or not,” you explained back to your mom, pulling your phone out to DM Nick back.

“I would love to collab with you guys one day! That has been an absolute dream of mine forever. I would love to share some more information about when and where if possible.” You hit send with slightly shaky fingers before talking to your mom again, “I just messaged him back, I asked him for some more details on when and where we would collab”

“Okay sweetie,” your mom says softly before returning to whatever she was doing in the kitchen, before you came out there to talk to her. You give your cat a few more pets before standing and going back into your room, waiting for Nick to message you back with more details surrounding this possible future collaboration…

Matts POV

“Did you ask her yet?” Matt was sitting next to Nick looking over at his phone. Matt had seen your YouTube video and thought you were the most beautiful, funny, and relatable person on the internet, and he knew right then and there he needed to meet you.

He had asked Nick and Chris what they thought of some of your YouTube videos, hinting at the idea of a collaboration with you. Saying and pointing out things that would hopefully catch his brother's attention and make them also want to meet you, just maybe not for the same reason.

Matt would find himself scrolling through your instagram when he was bored, careful not to like any of your posts, wanting to keep you out of his fans stalking obsessions before he could even properly meet you. Thumbs carefully scrolling on TikTok as he watches every video you’ve made on there, watching how every video is a little different.

“Yes Matt, I did ask her,” Nick says with a slight eye roll, becoming tired of his brother’s constant asking. Nick's phone dings lightly, alerting that someone messaged him, the someone being you. Nick opens instagram and the messages that the two of you have sent back and forth. Matt's eyes scan the screen quickly, not caring that he might be invading some privacy of his brothers.

Matt's eyes land on the words, “I would love to collab with you guys one day! That has been an absolute dream of mine forever…” and he immediately becomes happier, his smile widening and eyes seem to sparkle and little more.

Nick sends you a quick DM back, asking if regular texting would be easier to send information through and that the collab would be sometime within the next two months. “I can’t believe she said yes!” Matt explains to Nick, his excitement evident in his tone.

“I didn’t think she would say no,” Nick says calmly, typing out his phone number to send to you…

AN: i hope you enjoyed this first part! If you would like to be on the tag list for this series comment on this post! Just asking to be added and i will do so :) feed back and thoughts are always welcome!

All boarders are from @issysh3ll

[clare-875]

One touch (Levi x Reader)

_____ Pairing: Levi Ackerman x Female Reader Summary: When you find yourself cornered, Levi saves you Warnings: Angst to fluff, Sexual harassment/assault, Men being pigs, Levi swearing [AOT Masterlist] _____

I'm used to it. That was what kept you unflinchingly moving past them, even when their dirty words were hushed in the air. I'll ignore it. Those were the words you chanted to yourself, so you could get through the day without nausea and rage dictating your actions, even as they tried to gather your attention. There's nothing I can do. That was the notion you fell into as you made excuses for your lack of action, your lack of saying anything about the matter, even or maybe especially to Levi. But despite the constant rhythm of your words reverberating through your head, it didn't change the fact that you couldn't escape. You couldn't escape them.

Every day these past weeks, high-ranking officers from deep within the walls had come to Scout Headquarters; for what you didn't know. Perhaps it had to do with rising suspicions on the integrity of Erwin, and thus they were sent to merely observe or criticize. Perhaps it was the rising stakes now with Eren and his ability to become a Titan prompting more eyes pointed our way. Whatever it was you did not care. But somehow it still had everything to do with you. You were well known both within the Scouts and in the general public: The one that could keep up with humanity's strongest soldier; Levi. But you were also known for other traits, mostly the way you visually stood out amongst a crowd. It never bothered you how "distracting" this could be, but never had you thought it would cause you the trouble it did now.

Each time you passed the higher ranking officers, yet to face any consequence by your fist or your words, they would start to whisper. Scouts knew better than to mess with you, not only as a Captain of the Scout Regiment who commanded respect but by the partner of Levi. They knew what would happen if he heard even a glimmer of disrespect and god forbid the heinous acts of the higher-ranking officers who taunt you now. Their voices had grown louder with the passing days, bolder by the power they yielded. Yes, their power; their status. Had it been any other low-ranking officer he would've hit the dirt before the next sly comment left his mouth, but you could scarcely do anything to them. The Scouts were already on high alert, and you couldn't make matters worse. What you failed to realise was that their boldness would soon seep not only into their disgusting words but into their actions. You got used to the suggestive comments you got as you passed. You kept your head high, unflinching as you walked; as though you had heard nothing at all.

But you weren't used to this.

They had you cornered, about five of them.

Your heart churns more in disgust than fear, you would result to that much less willingly; you wouldn't give them what they so obviously wanted. "I'm sorry, but I have to be on my way Erwin will-" You try to maintain the benefit of the doubt, not that there was doubt in the first place; you knew what they wanted. "Erwin can wait, can't he darling?" A hand of one man reaches out towards you and you grit your teeth, bile rising in the back of your throat at their intentions. You can see it in the depths of their sinister eyes; their lust. You smack his hand away before it goes to caress your face and you see the first break of the facade; a flash of irritation on the first man's face. "I hope I'm not misunderstanding here gentlemen, but it seems you want something I won't offer." Two more men come from behind the first, shit-eating grins on their faces at your words.

"You understand just right sweetheart." One grabs your left hand forcefully backwards as you struggle, surprised by his underlying strength. "But don't worry, we'll take care of you." The other man brings his face close to yours as he restrains your right hand to the wall behind you and suddenly, you are encapsulated by panic. You had failed to realise that despite rotting away deep within Wall Sina, these officers still had military training, and were still strong compared to you, especially when you dealt with five. You refused to give in so quickly though, moving to kick one of the men forcefully and you do so, much to your satisfaction. The man groans out in pain, hearing the crack of a rib under the power of your foot. You then move quickly going to rid of the man who looks up in shock at your sudden movements, grip almost faltering on your right wrist. But you are stopped.

The fist that is about to collide with the next man is held back as the first man holds it within his grasp tightly. "Do you really want to do that now sweetheart? Do you know what we could do to the Scout Regiment? Erwin? Levi?" You freeze at his words, chest constricting at the intent behind them. They could bring the regiment to ruins if they so wished, one misleading report could have the Scouts under investigation. Would you be so willing to be the cause? But you would never let these men get away with any of this. You are so lost in your thoughts the four men who still stand use the opportunity to hold you down and your heart lurches in your chest. "W-wait." Your voice is strained against their hold as you feel the tightness of their fierce grip, knowing it will leave bruises. "W-wait! I said n-"

"What the fuck is going on here?"

Suddenly all comes to a halt. Suddenly the grip on your wrists loosens and the four men step away. Never. Never had you felt such relief at the sound of your lover's voice. Levi meets your glossy gaze and instantly his face morphs into one of pure rage; of the deathly intent to kill. His mind is swift at putting the dots together, realising what he had just witnessed. He moves forward grasping one man harshly who stutters out excuses before he is slammed to the ground in one deadly movement. "I asked a fucking question." He then elbows before punching another man against his head, who is knocked out in a second. "Can you guys not listen? Can you shits not hear?" The three remaining men cower under the anger of Humanity's Strongest Soldier. "Fucking pigs, don't touch my woman."

You have never seen the true depths of his strength and his speed until this moment, you have never seen such fear in men's eyes. He moved as if to murder, blood on his knuckles but more that splattered from those he beat up relentlessly. He didn't care who they were, he wouldn't care if one of them were the king of the walls. All he knew was that they touched you. The one he swore to protect. He was relentless. You saw the rebounding forms of the men who yelled out, trying desperately to escape his outrage. You knew of Levi's background; he wasn't above mercy. The men were soon covered, adorned with black and blue, crimson seeping deep upon their skin. But Levi never faltered, there was a mad look in his eyes; one you would only see beyond the walls. Despite wanting to witness their torture as much as Levi wanted to witness their deaths, you knew what would happen if he was left to these men any further so you reached out to him.

"L-Levi."

He responds to your hesitant voice instantly, hears the slight tremble in it and feels hatred brim within him ten-fold. "Levi, please, we can't- we can't." Levi knows what you are trying to say, but only stops when you pull him to your side and he sees the torment deep within your gaze. Scouts scurry around you as they notice the five bleeding men looking in shock at the high-ranking officers who now seem more dead than alive. Their eyes go to Levi and his stained knuckles but he merely stares back at them harshly. "Clean up the blood, now." The Scouts nod quickly at his deathly glare as they scurry to get the supplies. Levi goes to the only man who remains conscious, groaning as he brings him up to his face by his shirt collar. "You look at her, touch her ever again, you're dead, understand?" The man has enough decency to have a flicker of fear flash within his eyes and nod, as Levi drops him to the ground before coming back towards you. His grip is tight on your hand as he drags you away from the scene to which you are still in a daze.

You only seem to register the events that have conspired when you finally reach the room you and Levi shared. Levi was pacing up and down as he turned to you. "How long?" You look up in surprise at the tormented look on his face. "How long [y/n]?" You flinch at his sharpness before looking to the ground. "Weeks- I don't know, since they arrived. I couldn't- I couldn't do anything." There is a deep silence in the room and suddenly you are afraid. Would he berate you now, would you meet his anger? Worse, would you meet his disgust? Unbeknownst to you Levi looks to you in utter defeat, in utter rage at himself. He had promised to keep you safe from all that threatened you and yet you had felt it so necessary to hide your blatant discomfort and pain. All for the sake of the Scouts.

He reaches out, hand skimming yours before he holds it. He witnesses the light bruising of fingers upon your wrist and he fights the urge to go back to the men and finish the job. You look up eyes wide and tears brimming within them. He meets your gaze briefly before moving forward and you are shocked to be in his warm embrace. You lean your head against his chest, emotions suddenly overcoming you. "You should've told me." You shake your head against him gently but his grip is sure as he makes you face him and he sees the sheen of tears in your eyes. Hatred brims within him again at the sight of your afflicted state. "I would've you know, I would've killed them." You sigh deeply, leaning your head against his chest once more in defeat. "You know you can't." But Levi's gaze is far off as he holds you against him. "One touch; you know I would."

Needless to say, once Erwin was informed discreetly of the underlying situation, the men were stripped of their titles and sent away immediately. You never found out if Levi ever stuck to his uttered words but you also never saw the men ever again.

[mercurialmalcontent]

A few days ago I saw someone say in the comments of a post something like Baldur's Gate 3 doesn't have themes. I disagree; while its themes are mainly reinforced through individual major character stories and it's all warpped in the series premise of "if the god of Murder had a bunch of kids, would that be fucked up or what?", they are there.

The main one that comes to mind is a question -- can you find a way to be better than what your circumstances (often generational trauma) made you, or will you continue down the path they set?

We see this in all of the main companions. In Astarion, Shadowheart, and Lae'zel's questlines they face the choice to break a cycle of abuse and escape the lies of their past, or contiue with them for the promise of power and safety. Gale can choose to shed his hubris and accept himself as a person, or give into it and become a god, and thus the one thing he thinks he's good for -- his magic.

It's weaker for Wyll and unfortunately truncated, mostly cumulating in the choice to live for himself or stay shackled to Mizora, with the final touch of what he'll do with his life only happening if you do a mostly unrelated to him quest. Karlach's story fits but in a pretty convoluted way -- she's terminally ill and her most obvious attempt break free of the circumstances (killing the initial architect of her suffering) does nothing; escaping that road requires choices that either isolate her or turn her into something alien.

Anyway, moving on to the main antagonists. They display what happens if one doesn't choose to become better than their circumstances. Kethric has a hundred years of sunk cost fallacy and can only be persuaded to stop, not change course. Gortash has a desperation for control that can only get him killed. Orin is desperate for love and approval from a man who did monstrous things to her, and she breaks if you tell her the truth.

(The Emperor… doesn't really fit this, but whatever.)

This theme isn't really subtle, but it isn't necessarily well-reinforced by a story that has a ton of other stuff going on. It doesn't help that you can play as Just Some Guy who got wrapped up in the whole thing by pure circumstance (Tav, everyone except for arguably Shadowheart and Lae'zel), and that's what a lot of people go for. It is, however, extremely fucking obvious if you play what would have been the sole main character in a game set up like the previous installments -- The Dark Urge.

I figure Larian made the decision to allow for playing as someone unattached to the Bhaalspawn baggage because that seems to be their Thing in their other games, but it's also because The Dark Urge's content is pretty damn disturbing to a level that puts a lot of people off. It's much more graphic than in the previous games, and it's set -- that The Dark Urge did extremely gruesome shit in their past is an unescapable truth and integral to their story.

However, players who choose not to see that route end up not getting the major theme paraded in front of them and lit up with a big flashing marquee. They get some of it if they play as a companion, much less if they play as a Tav who is inherently a victim of circumstance and only has the baggage the player chooses to bring with them, but it is there in full force as a foundational premise of The Dark Urge's story, as foundational as The Dark Urge themself is to the the whole plot.

[klaus-littlestwolf]

Sorry it took so long. Almost finished, just one more chapter to go.

@a-beaverhausen @ranisingsnew @ronswhoree @susannahmikaelson @skulliecadaver-blog @yeaiamme2 @nataliewalker93 @luz09

Series Masterlist

Waking up alone was disappointing but Y/n didn’t expect anything else, knowing that if Klaus had stayed until morning he would have been shot God knows how many times.

2 Days. That’s all she needed to wait, just 2 more days and then she could get away from this house, the constant guards, a mom that ignores everything that goes wrong around her and her father. Her father who she had loved and adored more than anyone in the world, her father who had been her hero only to become the man who ignores her existence and shoots her pet.

Just 2 Days…

Klaus knew he needed to tell her the truth. Getting her to leave with him and depend on him needed to happen first, he knew once she loved him that she could accept anything about him.

He also knew that she would willingly turn for him, Y/n was exactly the kind of girl who would want to be with him for eternity, already overly sensitive about the idea of being abandoned. After her father had abandoned her without ever leaving the same house, what else could anyone expect?

He had been working in the time away from Y/n on his Hybrids, having to go back to Mystic Falls to find out Doppleganger blood was what he needed to turn the wolves. Sadly he didn’t get back to Y/n until the third day away and he was worried that she would be upset with him. However, the house was finished thanks to compelled construction workers and interior designers working around the clock, his Hybrids guarded the house as he instructed them to and he was finally able to pick her up.

Sadly though he was not quite as sneaky as he thought approaching the house this time and he ended up snapping one of the guards necks before climbing up to the window. Klaus saw her on her bed drifting off to a movie on the TV and he tapped the glass to see her head pop up and her eyes widen in excitement making her jump up and nearly fall from the bed as she fumbled to yank the window open.

‘You’re late!’ She snapped, though her smiling face pointed to her not being overly upset about it before she pulled him in and hugged him.

‘I’m so sorry Princess, there were complications finishing the house and I wanted it to be perfect. I’m sorry if I made you doubt me-‘

‘No! I didn’t, I promise! Thought…maybe my dad had…I-‘

‘Oh baby. I’m so sorry, come here!’ He hugged her to his chest tightly, kissing her head before the tears could fall. ‘Are you ready to go? I had a complication getting in here so we need to hurry.’ Her head popped up with a startled look before she jumped to grab the large duffel bag under her bed, pulling it out and setting it on the bed before moving to her dresser and grabbing sweat pants and a long sleeved shirt. She changed fast as Klaus opened her bag to inspect it.

‘What’s wrong?’

‘I’ll get you a new laptop, your father can use this to track you, can’t bring it with us.’

‘Oh shit!’ She moved to grab a flash drive from her drawer before plugging it into the laptop and saving several things before deleting a bunch of things. ‘He’ll look through everything like he always does and find my journal. Wish I could see the look on his face when he sees how I really feel about him…both of them.’ There was a smile on her face but Klaus wrapped his arms around her from behind, seeing how sad she really was about it.

‘You’ll never have to listen to anything he says again. You’ll be happy with me, I promise.’ He swore, picking up the bag and moving to the window, watching her pull the sim card from her phone before tossing it onto the bed and following him. Klaus took hold of her and lifted her into his arms before jumping out the window, smiling at her small gasp as he did, quickly moving through the trees to get to the car he had left and setting her into the passenger seat.

‘Where are we going?’ She asked, clearly excited and clutching his hand as he began to drive.

‘We’re going to the airport-‘

‘My father will be able to find us there, he’ll find out where we-‘

‘Impossible. I have a jet fueled up and waiting, only the pilot knows where we’re going. He will not be able to find us, I promise.’ Klaus assured, kissing her hand and holding it firmly, watching as she tried to relax though he knew she wouldn’t until they were on the jet, far away.

He left the rental car with someone at the front before leading her through security quickly, compelling a security guard to fast track them through to get to their flight. ‘It’s so weird not being surrounded by guards in a public place, I feel like I’ve been let out of a bubble for the first time since I can remember and it’s like I can breathe deeper…does that sound stupid?’

‘Of course not Love, you’ve been confined your entire life, it’s normal to feel free now that you’re away from it all.’ He enjoyed watching her look around with a smile on her sweet face.

‘What’s that smell? It’s…sweet. It smells so good!’ She exclaimed, looking around in excitement.

‘The cinnamon buns maybe?’ Klaus said, pointing to the shop. ‘Do you want one?’ She nodded quickly and he led her over to grab a few of them for the flight before taking her to the jet that was waiting on them.

‘Woah…this is bigger than my Dads…I didn’t think that existed.’ The hybrid couldn’t help his chuckle at the clear innuendo that went over her head as she looked around, Klaus buckling her in and making her blush at even the small gesture of care he showed her as the jet took off. He couldn’t help but smile as the tension in her body seemed to completely disappear as they ascended, finally free from her father and his control.

The fact that she was now completely under Klaus’ control was a detail he didn’t think needed mentioning…

Somewhere in the Woods in New York

‘Where Is She?!’ He raged, holding his best friend by the front of his jacket.

‘I don’t know Buck-she must have gone out the window-‘

‘I have guards everywhere! How did she get passed them, Huh?! What do you-‘

‘Hun, whatever Y/n has done isn’t Steve’s fault and you’re going to regret killing him. You love him.’ His wife reminded, gently removing his hands from Steve and pulling Bucky close, feeling all of his muscles tensing at the idea of his baby being missing.

‘Someone has taken her, who should I be killing?!’ He demanded only to be met with a stern look from the mother of his child.

‘I don’t know who you think you’re talking to like that but it isn’t me.’ He sighed, pulling her into him and burying his face into her neck. ‘I know you’re worried, I’m worried too but this was inevitable. She did tell you she was going to leave-‘

‘She was being dramatic! She knows I love her, she wouldn’t…someone has taken her, only explanation!’ He insisted, beginning to pace across the floor, waiting for his men to check the security cameras.

Bucky is willing to admit that he isn’t the best father but he loves his daughter more than anything in the world. After all that has happened, all that he’s lost, he couldn’t risk losing her too. And maybe he held on too tight sometimes but he loved his baby more than he had ever loved anything. Every time he looks at her he sees that precious little bundle he was handed by a nurse, he was the first person to ever hold her and he swore to her that he would never let go.

‘Boss…you’re not gonna like this…’ Bucky looked up from where he sat with his wife holding onto him, the only thing keeping him grounded on this planet right now.

‘What is this? Where is this?!’ He demanded as he watched the video on the laptop that Sam handed to him.

‘It’s a camera from one of the back roads to the property. No one but security even knows they exist, we don’t know how anyone got there.’ Sam explained, standing just out of Buckys reach in case he decides to lash out.

‘What is he doing? Is…she’s kissing him…how does she even know him?! She’s always had security, who-‘ Bucky cut himself off as he thought back to Tony’s party the week before. He had seen this man before, he had smiled at him at the party, smirked more like it, and Bucky had wanted to slap that look off of his face…he should have killed him when he had the chance!

‘I’m not surprised.’ Buckys head snapped up to look at his wife who was clearly upset but no where near as physically upset as he was. ‘With how you treat her, smother her? An attractive man came along and promised her the world, of course she ran away with Prince Charming. Especially after what you pulled last week, I told you that dog thing would come back and bite us in the ass.’

‘Seriously?! How are you not upset-‘

‘I’m furious! But I’m also able to see how this came to happen and it is our fault. God knows what he’s promised her, but I’m not shocked she jumped at the first chance to get away from you-‘

‘She knows I love her-‘

‘No James, I don’t think she does.’ Buckys face fell as he heard his wife say this. Every fight they had, every punishment or mean word, he had always comforted himself by remembering that his daughter knows that he loves her and that he would kill or die for her. Now to hear that she might not truly believe that, Bucky swears that he heard his heart crack. ‘When she was young she did but you changed when she got older and I have no idea how she feels about you anymore. She doesn’t talk to me because she knows I will tell you everything. We fucked up, and we have to get her back.’

Klaus Mikaelson Masterlist

[libraryofgage]

Please write for 42. Maybe it could be something dealing with Steve overhearing something he shouldn't have,maybe something the kids say, or Eddie says to someone. Whatever it is it makes him feel like shit. He talks to Eddie, or Robin (or both!) about how much he's changed over the past few years and how he didn't end up being the person everyone thought he'd be, but after what hes overheard he's crying because even though he did all he could he feels lonelier than ever.

Anon, I love you

Prompt 42 for this prompt list!

“Who’s laughing now?”

“…Clearly not you. You’re crying, dear God.” 

I didn't use these quotes exactly, but I came close. It still fits them, though lmao

---

"I should be right back," Steve says, throwing open the van door before hopping out. The moment it closes, Eddie blasts the heavy metal he usually can't because of Steve's sensitive ears. Steve snorts with amusement and heads towards the diner, the smell of fried food and grilling beef overwhelming him the moment he opens the door.

Steve heads up to the counter, flashing a charming smile at Paula, a woman who's been working at the diner longer than Steve has been alive. "We got your usual almost ready, sugar," she tells him, returning the smile as she grabs a receipt from the turning rack and leads him over to the register.

It's a Friday night, which means the diner is bursting with teenagers hanging out in groups or trying to have a romantic date. Steve doesn't usually see anyone he feels like greeting when he picks up food, but a quick sweep this time reveals a table where Jonathan, Argyle, Nancy, Mike, and Will are sitting. Their table is close to the bar, but none of them seem to have noticed Steve because of their conversation, which is just fine with him.

If he gets dragged into a conversation, he might take too long and make Eddie worry. And if Eddie worries, he'll come bursting into the diner, and there are too many people in here that still blame him for...well, everything, for that to be safe.

"Your total is gonna be $12.93," Paula says, watching as Steve distractedly pulls a twenty from his wallet.

"Keep the change. I'll be waiting over there," he says, nodding to a bar stool somewhat close to where his friends are sitting. He then slides into said stool, leaning on the counter and trying to ignore how sticky it is.

He's close enough now to hear the tail-end of Argyle saying, "--eems like such a nice dude, though."

Mike snorts at him. "You didn't know Steve when he was dating Nancy," he points out.

Oh. They're...talking about him. Steve gets the feeling he should walk away, but he also feels stuck in the stool.

"He wasn't that bad," Nancy says. Silence follows her words, and Steve can imagine the looks she's getting. "Okay, yeah, he was an asshole."

"He smashed my camera," Jonathan says, and Steve wonders if he's imagining a trace of bitterness in his voice.

Here's the thing: Steve apologized for smashing the camera (though, he feels it was still justified) and got Jonathan a new one. A fancy, new one. But it doesn't sound like Jonathan is going to include that detail, too.

"He's a lot better now, though," Will says, and Steve wants to get him a new set of dice for trying to stick up for him.

He then wants to cry and maybe break something when he hears Jonathan and Mike snort and bark out a short laugh.

Steve feels himself grow tense as Nancy and Jonathan regale Argyle with how shitty he was in high school. He keeps waiting for one of the kids to refute or bring up how he's changed, but Mike only adds to it all while Will stays quiet, probably unwilling to get himself laughed at again (not that Steve blames him, honestly).

None of them actually point out how Steve's changed. They laugh at how much of a douchebag he was in high school, and Jonathan tells Argyle to "watch out for King Steve coming through" now that nothing is trying to kill them again.

And Steve feels sick to his stomach. Has...has he not actually changed? Is he really the same King Steve he was in high school? Is he still that asshole who didn't give a shit about others because he was just trying to survive himself, no matter who it hurt? Is this how everyone sees him?

"All right, sugar. Here's your cheeseburgers," Paula says, placing a bag in front of him and jerking him out of his thoughts. "One without tomato but with extra ketchup, and the other with grilled onions."

Steve blinks and smiles at Paula again. "Thanks. Same time next week?"

He waits to see Paula's amused smile and playfully dismissive wave before grabbing the bag and practically running out of the restaurant. He doesn't know if it's good or bad that nobody at the table seems to have noticed his presence or departure.

Steve jerks the door to the van open, not waiting for Eddie to turn the music down before hopping in and slamming it shut. He silently pulls on his seatbelt, holds the food in his lap, and stares at the glove compartment.

"Uh, you okay, Stevie?" Eddie asks, his hand lingering on the volume dial.

"I don't wanna talk about it here," Steve says. Because he's going to talk about it with Eddie, the only other person he trusts to be honest with him is Robin. But this is date night for him and Eddie, and even when he's drowning in self-doubt, Steve doesn't want anyone else to interrupt their date night.

Thankfully, Eddie just nods. "Okay, sweetheart," he says, pulling out of the parking lot and onto the road.

Steve doesn't say a word the whole drive, too consumed by forcing himself to focus on Eddie's hand on his thigh. There's a warmth that he feels through the fabric, grounding him and keeping his brain from spiraling too far.

When they finally park (a secluded area close enough to the local make-out spot to still see the romantic stars in the sky without getting caught by anyone else) Eddie turns to Steve and softly asks, "Wanna move to the back, sweetheart?"

Steve grips the bag in his lap tighter, takes a deep breath, and looks at Eddie. He feels a little bad for ignoring the question, but he can't help his worries and fears bubbling out now that they've stopped driving. "I've changed, right? Since high school?"

Eddie blinks, caught off guard by the sudden question. But then he nods. "Yeah, Stevie, you've definitely changed."

"Jonathan and Nancy were in the diner with Argyle, Mike, and Will," Steve says, trying and failing to seem more nonchalant by unbuckling himself and moving to the couch that barely fits in the back of the van. Eddie follows, sitting closer than necessary to eat the burger Steve hands to him. "They were...talking about me. High school me. King Steve. And Jonathan told Argyle to be wary of me. Do they really think I'm the same person?"

"Stevie-"

Steve doesn't let Eddie get far. He's too wrapped up in what happened, too consumed by self-doubt and guilt and the wish that he'd said something to them. His chest feels tight, he feels like the world is going to cave in on him, and the only thing keeping him steady is the way Eddie puts down his burger and pulls Steve into his lap. "And the worst part is that they were laughing. Will tried saying that I was better now, and they fucking laughed. Like it was ridiculous. Like I could never change.

"And I just....I wish I'd said something. I could have ruined their night so fucking easily, Eds. I could have turned around and asked if they always talked shit behind the backs of people who saved them. I could have asked if Jonathan didn't like the replacement camera I got him, or if he still used it to sneak photos of Nancy."

"Is that why you broke his camera? Fuck, I don't blame you."

Steve manages a slight smile for Eddie. "Thanks. I...I don't know. For all I've changed, it would have been so easy to just turn around and be who they thought I still was. And then I would've torn them down to the size of ants. And...and...I wish I had but I don't but I do, so I could've ended it with who's laughing now?"

Steve's chest feels a little looser, and that's a fucking relief, but then he feels Eddie's hand cradling his cheek. "Well, it's definitely not you, sweetheart. Your crying."

Oh. Eddie is right. He is crying. Steve hastily wipes at the tears before just giving up and leaning into Eddie's touch. "Sorry," he mumbles.

"Don't apologize. I almost wish you had done it. And that I'd been there to see it."

"No, you don’t."

Eddie grins, pulling Steve closer so they're chest-to-chest, heart-to-heart. "Yeah, I do. I love when you get bitchy, sweetheart. Especially when it means we can be bitchy together."

Steve blinks, and he can't help laughing. The words were simple, but they still managed to erase all the doubt and some of the hurt. He still probably needs a few days before he can actually look at Jonathan or Nancy or Mike again, but he doesn't feel so immediately devastated.

"Somehow, that was the perfect thing to say," he tells Eddie, closing the distance between them to kiss his lips, getting a hint of ketchup on his tongue.

"Perfect enough to earn me some fun?" Eddie asks, wiggling his eyebrows playfully.

Steve sighs dramatically, pretends to think about it as he actually laments that their burgers will get cold, and then pushes Eddie down on the couch.

[xoxoavenger]

hi! I wanted to make an ask for charles xavier x reader but if you don't want or you can't write it, feel free to ignore. :)

basically, the reader is a friend of charles and also a mutant but never really used their powers, and the first time they used was to save him (in the cuba incident). idk more what to write, i just want to know his reaction to being saved and seeing the reveal of readers powers.

oh, and your writing is absolutely amazing!! 💕💕

thank you so much!! this is sorta short but definitely sweet also I don't have the streaming services that First Class is on so it's not completely accurate but its close

Come Through

pairing: Young!Charles Xavier x Fem!Reader

word count: 775

warnings: cannon typical violence and injuries also completely changing canon like the true fanfic writer I am

masterlist

"I told you to stay away!"

"And I told you that you don't make my decisions for me!"

"Oh, you're right, I'm so sorry for caring about your safety!"

"You treat me like-like I'm some glass ball!" 

"Oh my God." Alex groans, looking up at the sky. "Not this again." 

"Do they normally do this?" Moira asks, eyes flitting between the two. They continued their argument as though it was the most normal thing to do at this moment.

"Yes," Hank starts, crawling out of the wreckage. "Though never after our jet has fallen from the sky."  Suddenly, the two have stopped fighting, which causes everyone to turn to them. Y/N and Charles are staring across the ocean, eyes wide in fear. 

"Oh shit," Charles mutters as he stares at the missiles heading in their direction. Y/N grabs Charles' hand, and he squeezes it back tightly. Was this it? Was this the end? Suddenly, they all stop in their tracks. Everyone stares as Erik put his hand up, venom pulsing in his eyes. 

"Erik," Y/N whispers as she sees them all turn in sync. She knows what he's planning, knows that if he does this there's no coming back from it. Mutants will be murdered on sight; there would be a war.

"You don't have to do this, Erik," Charles' hand slips out of Y/N's as she turns to watch him walk toward Erik. Her heart is racing with anxiety and adrenaline.

"Yes. I. Do." As he says it Moira starts firing, every bullet taking more of Erik's focus to deflect, causing a few missiles to fall into the water. Y/N's heart starts to race as time seems to slow for her, head spinning as she realizes something very, very bad is about to happen. 

It flashes before her eyes, the image of Charles being shot, him falling to the ground unmoving. She's barely out of it before she's tackling Charles to the ground, feeling the bullet skim her side but miss Charles completely as they hit the sand. She can't even begin to comprehend what she just did.

The missiles fall as she screams, Erik's attention completely diverting to her. She lets out a wince of pain as Charles immediately flipped over, holding Y/N in his lap and moving his hand to find her wound. It doesn't take long, her letting out a scream as he brushes over it. 

"What have you done?" He yells at Erik, who stared wide eyed at the blood beginning to stain her blue suit. He feels sick at the sight.

"I'm fine," She muttered, a small smile on her face despite the searing ache running across her left side. 

"This is your fault!" Erik yells as he begins to stalk toward Moira, who had dropped the gun and was covering her mouth. 

"No! I didn't mean to," Moira is reeling, guilt clawing at her even though she hadn't been aiming at Y/N.

"Don't even think about it," Hank stops him, raising his eyebrows in threat. 

"How did you know?" Charles asks, and before Y/N can even think about lying his eyes are widening. "Your powers." He mutters, smile on his face only because Y/N was beginning to get up, meaning she wasn't as hurt as he feared. The two were completely oblivious of the others around them.

"I don't know how to control it." She groans as he helps her up, the pair not quite sure how they're going to get off this island. It seems Erik and his friends - including Raven, Charles notes with a lurch of his heart - have teleported off the island. 

"I can help." He tells her, letting her thread her fingers with his. Her arm was around his neck, his around her waist. "I could have helped." 

"It came through when I needed it to." She looks up at him, and he pauses as his eyes flicked to her lips. He was about to lean in as he watched her close her eyes, head tilted up, but then she was flinching away. Charles felt the hurt of rejection run through his body before she let out a hiss of pain and he looked down.

"Sorry, I'm sorry." Hank was kneeling at her side, putting a piece of fabric over her wound. "To stop the bleeding." He looked up at the two, took in Charles' face, and he opened his mouth in shock. 

"Thank you, Hank." Y/N muttered, feeling her face heat up.

"I'm so sorry." He got up and moved away quickly, and Charles chuckled slightly, only feeling a bit awkward. 

"Where were we?" Y/N said, her forwardness surprising Charles. He stared at her, only hesitating one second before putting his lips on hers. 

[seokmn]

chapter XXII : god bless photobooths

wc: 542 words + screenshots

“oh, look, a photobooth! can we please go? pleaseee”, you tugged on seokmin’s jacket, doing the puppy eyes trick with him. seokmin didnt need to be tricked tho, he was up to anything you wanted, but when he saw you looking at him with puppy eyes he couldn’t even open his mouth to reply to you, he just smiled, took your hand and walked towards the photobooth.

as you pressed start and the camera countdown started you were filled with nervousness, but a good one, “oh god oh god what pose do we do?”, you said as you looked at seokmin, who seemed to be as nervous as you, “i-i dont know!”, he thought for milliseconds, “the peace sign!”

you two did the peace sign, smiling at the camera as the camera flashed, taking the photo. you chuckled and looked at seokmin, “what about the next one?”

seokmin fell silent, just looking at you. the sight of you so close to him with a smile on your face and sparkles in your eyes was becoming overwhelming to him.

“seokmin! the countdown is coming to an end-“, you were cut off by his lips meeting yours, you widened your eyes and the camera took the picture.

the flash seemed to get seokmin back to reality as he leaned back and look at you with a hint of desperation in his face, “oh god.. im so sorry, i dont know what got int-“, it was your time to cut him off, immediately placing your hands on his cheeks and closing the distance between your lips. he was caught off guard and had the same reaction as you, but he quickly closed his eyes, placed his hand on the back of your neck and kissed you back.

you two were so focused on the kiss that you didn’t even noticed the camera flashing the last two times. once he broked the kiss he looked at you with heart in his eyes and brought his hand to your cheek, “ive been wanting to do this for so long..”

“yeah..”, you chuckled, “me too”. you smiled and pecked his lips, he smiled back and tilted his head, “i bet the pictures came out so well”

he collected the two set of your printed pictures and gave one of them for you. the first one being a normal pic, just you two doing a peace sign and smiling, the second one being a kinda funny one, his hand on his back while kissing you and you with your eyes wide open, now the third and the fourth pictures…

“we look so perv!”, you said pointing to the last two photos of you kissing. seokmin chuckled, “i dont think so, plus our kiss looked good, photogenic y’know? you can be an actress already”, he joked, “but i gotta say, my favorite photo is the second one”, he smiled and imitated the way you looked, focusing on open his eyes the widest as possible.

you laughed and hit his arm, “stop it! i wasn’t prepared…”, seokmin laughed and placed his arm around your shoulders, “i know you wasn’t”, he rested his head on top of your for a few seconds, “that’s why it looked good”

prev - next

INVISIBLE STRING

in a world where when you turn 18 you share an invisible string with your soulmate that only you and your respective soulmate can see it, seokmin, also known as dokyeom, is an actor in the musical theatre world that doesnt have a soulmate and keep it as a secret. meanwhile, yn works in a bookstore and doesnt seem bothered at all by the fact of not sharing a string with someone. is it possible to change the destiny and find your soulmate even tho you dont share the invisible string with anyone?

[valengory1234]

Little fanfic inspired by the prompt below

Find the prompt here.

Red isn’t even sure how they got into this situation. All she knows is that she’s looking at three very familiar colors, and questioning all of her actions up to this point. 

Chloe had come bouncing into their room earlier with news that only she found exciting; there was a spell to reveal your one true love and a friend of hers had gotten their hands on it. Red was less enthused. True love, or love in general, wasn’t something that interested her. Being raised by a tyrannical mother who claimed love wasn’t it had made her quite jaded, even if her mother was a much better person now. The thought of messing around with magic to see a part of the future also had her uneasy given their adventures time traveling.  

Chloe had brushed her concerns off citing that she was only going to use it for herself, but the Princess of Hearts did not give up that easily. She made a grab for the bottle the blue-haired girl was holding just as she was about to open it. They struggled against each other, and the bottle ended up in Red’s hands as she ran to the other side of the room with Chloe in hot pursuit. They were both knocked to the floor, and powder spilled out with Red holding the lid in one hand and the bottle in the other.  

The colors blue, white, and gold formed tiny fireworks that stood out against the red backdrop on Red’s side of the room. The girls laid on the floor in quiet shock until the sparks died and disappeared.  

Chloe was the first to get up, running to the other side of the room where the lights had once been flashing. Shaking her head she rushed back to the rebel still on the floor. Not to check on her however, she just reached for the bottle that she was holding. There was nothing left in it.  

Red slowly sat up as she processed the familiar colors she had seen in the fireworks. She had never been in love, and she had no idea what it felt like. Taking a glance at her roommate, she considered how close she felt to her, her feelings confused after this reveal. Is that how she saw the princess? Chloe was her first friend, and the first person she had ever cared for to this extent, but did that make it romantic? She didn’t grow up with romantic love, or any love for that matter. Stopping Uliana’s prank had changed her mother for the better, but Red’s memories of her abuse stayed the same, creating an odd dissonance that she had to live with. Was love what she felt for Chloe? Did she feel romantically for her? Before she could even confront the possibility, Chloe let out a cry. 

“Oh my god! Oh my god! What is this? What is this?” her toned turned to disgust as she heaved and looked at Red. The red-haired girl stared confused, almost frightened from her spot on the ground. The blue-haired princess began to pace. “No, no, no, no. This can’t be. This can’t be happening.” 

“Chloe?” she didn’t have much time to consider her feelings, but already felt deeply frightened at the other girl's rejection. Hurt started to wind its way into her chest.  

“You can’t,” Chloe stopped to focus back on Red. “You can’t possibly! You haven’t even met him. It’s Impossible!”  

“What?” Chloe started to pace again and hyperventilate. Red hurried off of the floor and somehow stopped the princess in her repeated tracks. “Chloe, what is going on?” 

The blue girl came back to her senses it seemed and stared at Red with confusion and hurt that seemed to mirror the feelings in her own heart.

“Red, you cannot fall in love with my brother!” So much for her coming back to her senses. She was right in one way though, Red had never met Chloe’s brother; he was like ten years older than them.  

“Okay?”  

Red was confused as hell.  

[wings-of-ink]

Hear ye, hear ye!

All of you who have been anxiously awaiting Chapter 4 can send a big thank you to the Microsoft mayhem that happened on Friday. Because of it, I have had two entire, unprecedented, days off of work during which all I did was write and edit chapter 4! Stuff like this never happens to me either, so I ate it up. My work computer is still super broken too, so who knows what will happen tomorrow, lol.

So, chapter 4, barring anything disastrous that I do not yet foresee – is coming very soon. Like, any day this week soon. For now, I am looking for bugs and other errors until I feel comfortable getting the update loaded. I will also be updating the warning list and some things on the itch page. I keep feeling like I'm forgetting something I wanted to do, and am having a hell of a time remembering what it was…

Anyway, if it interests you, more details below!

In going through some of the Google Error Reports, I had a couple that I either could not resolve or find.

It was reported that checking player stats in chapter 1 would not work – that it would flash only for a moment. I could not recreate this. If anyone else has seen this, please let me know.

In the end of chapter 2 where there are multiple ways to spend your time there seems to be some issues with how choices become unselectable after certain clicks and it just doesn't seem to function correctly. I have fixed the issues I have found, but could not recreate all of the instances that were reported. This section may get an overhaul in the future since I understand the coding a bit more now.

It was also reported that fonts are not changing. There is definitely a weird issue with this and it will take some time for me to sit down and hammer out. The fonts do change for me, but notably, I don't think they are switching to the correct font types. They don't even appear to be the same fonts from when I first starting this project, lol. This issue is on hold for now.

The last 2 bonus segments for the end of chapter 3 are being pushed aside for the time being. I kept finding myself feeling like I was hammering them into the chapter and it was a little exhausting. If I force it, it will be less enjoyable to read. The segments that are missing are the ones for hanging out with Zahn and Nathanael. Zahn's is easy to wiggle in elsewhere at least, but I'm not sure if Nathan's will make it in or not. We'll see, my motivation was purely for chapter 4, so now that it is ready to go, I'll have another crack at it before I drop or move them completely. They aren't super important to the story, but are just for fun (and if Oswin got his, it's only fair that Zahn gets theirs too). That last section of chapter 3 ended up way too long, so it may get adjusted later anyway.

As with any work in progress, I can't guarantee that your old saves will work. That's probably how we are going to have to roll for a bit until I really get things nice and smooth. Eventually, I will add an option to start from a later chapter and go through and make the (MANY) relevant choices to skip ahead. This may be implemented when Chapter 6 is ready to go since all the ROs will be available.

I also want to figure out how to implement named saves to make it easier for you to sort. I appreciate IFs that feature this, but I do not yet know how to do it, but I'm going to research. I like to play through with several MCs, and I'd like to offer enough info in the saves and/or Stats Menu that you can do this and easily know who you are playing as. Let me know what you would like most in the Player Stats Menu too. Note, that some options do not appear here until you choose them in the story.

Coming up…

Since Chapter 4 is down, I will soon be posting a big poll about future IFs. I've been compiling info for it here and there for a couple weeks on possible options for me to write in conjunction with God-Cursed. So, stay tuned for that in the coming days.

I will FINALLY get to my inbox in earnest as well! I will keep reaction asks paused until further notice since they take me the longest to answer. Feel free to still send in comments or quicker questions. If your question is too spoilery to answer, I will not be able to post about it.

Anyway, hope you are all doing well! I can't wait to see what you think of chapter 4. I hope you enjoy it. I'll get it out just as soon as I feel comfortable enough with it. ^_^

[deyisacherry]

What's real. — Solar and New Moon/Nexus [TSAMS]

Solar could distinguish what was real and possible for a long time. He could understand if it was best to let go, if it was best to do what was necessary to live.

What he didn't understand was what he felt with Moon.

Here, next to him.

They're not working, they're finally hanging out, they have music that Moon picked in the background as they stand by the security desk to talk.

Soft laughter, bad jokes, interests and anecdotes being shared.

... Since when did this become real?

His reality, his normality.

Even in silence and enjoying the melody, he feels calm. He feels good.

He watches Moon move his head from side to side, up and down. He lets out a soft laugh and just looks at him leaning on the desk. Stupid.

In a good way.

He's- he's not very good with tastes. He doesn't know what he likes. He doesn't really have favorite things. All he knows is his job.

Sure, the music sounds nice, he knows that even Moon doesn't have many favorite interests, he likes anything he finds acceptable at first. But he still always felt a little out of place.

That's when he sees Moon approach and take his arm.

"Dance." He says firmly with a smile.

"... Excuse me?" Solar answers stunned.

Dance? Oh no, no no no, he has never danced-

Without looking when, he had already started dancing with Moon, both of them moving to the rhythm of the song. The moon-themed animatronic sang the lyrics as he moved, smiling and calm. Solar just watches the other's face as he continues to dance, he doesn't even know what he's doing, how well he's doing it, but at the moment it doesn't seem to matter.

He starts to laugh softly. They spin. Solar feels so alive and-

A small movement and Moon has fallen into his arms. Solar freezes, staring at his face, Moon looks back at him and still smiles.

... He feels his systems going crazy.

He was about to say something, but...

A blink and the scene had changed.

This is not real.

They are not in daycare. They are in a dark, cold, desolate place. In his arms, the one who was his friend has changed his form, his essence.

And by god he feels his non-existent stomach turn when he... Nexus, looks haggard. Darkened eyes, bright purple lines all over his face and hands, his smile is down and shows... hate, pain, fear?

He feels his own hand resting on the opponent's chest, the other still holding him. Nexus opens his eyes slightly and fixes them on Solar's hand.

He also lowers his gaze.

He feels the systems of his plasma cannon activate. An unpleasant sound that he already knows reaches his audio receptors, when the small port that sealed the cannon in the palm of his hand opens. A beep resonates and he sees the light shine on the other's chest.

His eyes slowly shift to Nexus' face.

Tears form in his own eyes as he notices that even then he is unable to look at him with regret. It is just a cold, cruel, emotionless gaze.

“Just do it. It wouldn’t be a surprise… if I were the one to die in your arms now.” He says softly and venomously.

Solar shakes his head. No. No, he really doesn't want to- not him, he could never-

. . .

The cannon charges.

Flashes of his other Moon and his Monty pass before his eyes.

And when the final sound is about to come-

“NO!” He lets out a heart-rending, desperate scream as he sits up in bed, his hands holding the sheets tightly threatening to tear them.

Eyes wide open, synthetic breathing accelerated, fans at full intensity. If he could sweat he's sure it would be cold.

He's shaking.

... It was a dream.

His eyes travel to his hand, covered by the glove he rarely takes off.

And he falls silent.

He doesn't hear anything. He doesn't hear Sun or Moon coming. Maybe it's better this way. They don't need to know how badly this is affecting him.

It's not real.

It wasn't real.

But he also has no idea if his- friend... was ever real.

[hanahaki-disease]

Driven by a Holy Force

Hell or High Water - Percy Jackson/DC crossover

Summary:

“Percy took a deep breath. This was it. No going back now. He can’t manipulate the mist to change their minds, he can’t make them forget—this was the real deal.”

This is it!! The reveal!!

*********************************************

You: Come to the cave 2:26 am

You: Important meeting 2:26 am

Edge Lord: no 2:29 am

Edge Lord: why 2:29 am

You: it’s important 2:31 am

You: please 2:32 am

Edge Lord: fine 2:35 am

Percy slid his phone back into his pocket, hoping the signal didn’t alert any monsters nearby. He doubts they’d be able to find him though. At the speed they were going, as well as all the unnecessary turns and short cuts Bruce was making, he’d be surprised if any monster in general was able to follow. Hell hounds were fast, and their noses were just as good as a normal dog, but the overwhelming scent of mortal that encompassed Gotham helped hide Percy’s demigod scent well. It was one of the main reasons he didn’t get attacked so much, which he was so thankful for.

He told Bruce that he was going to tell him about his father, but he also was going to tell everyone everything because both his father and his life go hand in hand. Percy can’t tell Bruce about his father without telling him about the war, and he can’t tell him about the war without telling him about the prophecy. And because him and Jason have the same father, then he has to explain why Jason died. Everything had layers, it was all connected in a complicated mess that would be easier to explain all at once with everyone there.

Which means having Jason, Bruce, and Dick in the same room for a minimum of at least thirty minuets while he talks. Gods, he hopes no one starts shit.

“Who were you texting?” Bruce asks. They were on one of the back roads that led to one of the cave entrances, dark forest brush and canopies covering the road. How Bruce can see through it, even with his mega-bright headlights, Percy will never understand.

“Jason,” Percy answered, “If I’m going to talk about my father, Jason should be there too. And, I also asked for everyone else to be there too.”

“Why?” Bruce activated the entrance to open, revealing the tunnel that led to the cave.

He paused for a moment, watching the wall lights of the tunnel flash by before it opened into the cave proper. His domino was still in his hands, the glue that kept it secure was drying a cracking on his face and he wanted to scratch and peel it off. “I wanna tell you guys about some stuff other than my father, and I don’t wanna repeat myself five more times than I have to.”

Bruce nodded his head as he parked, their presence catching the attention of the others waiting for them. Stephanie and Tim had just returned from their own patrols, it seemed. All their gear was still attached to them, and they were still wearing their uniforms as well. Their hair a mess of knots and frizz from the wind, various bruises and scraps littered Tim’s arms and Steph was limping as she hobbled to the dressing rooms to change.

Cassandra and Dick were pouring over a case at the meeting table. There were a couple folders open, the documents inside spread out along one end of the surface while a cardboard box filled with other folders took residence on a nearby chair. Both of them wore comfortable civvies, sweatpants and t-shirts (with a ‘borrowed’ hoodie Cass ‘acquired’ from Percy’s closet,) and their dominoes to hide their identities. Because even though they weren’t scheduled for patrol, they still had to follow the ‘masks while in the cave’ rule. (But Percy and Alfred did not follow it since they didn’t leave the property anyways.)

“Woah, where did you go dressed like that?” Dick had done a double take when they pulled up, catching the other’s attention. They all had various levels of surprise, save for Alfred, at the sight of Percy in an all-black version of Tim’s Robin suit. To them, the idea of Percy being like them was a far-fetched and impossible thought. He had always been adamant about not joining them and preferring to stay in the cave, deciding to being Alfred’s assistant when patching them up.

“Needed some fresh air,” he said, taking one of the seats at the table.

Tim slid into one of the chairs beside him, mask removed and cape-less, and in a hushed voice, he asked “Are you?” Percy nodded. “You sure? Won’t you get in trouble?”

“I have to, Tim,” Percy said. “You know what’s coming and I can’t leave in the dark if something happens.”

“Is Jason…?”

“I asked him to come, and it sounded like he was, but everyone’s here,” Percy sighed, “So, I dunno. I hope he does, I don’t wanna repeat myself more than I have to.”

Tim nodded his head, undoing the bracers on his arms. “Okay, well, if you need me to tap in, I can, alright? Imma go change before you start.”

Percy twirled his pen in his hand as he waited for everyone to get situated. For them to shed the armor they wore and to give Jason a chance to arrive before he began. But Percy knows that his brother would rather stay as far away from Bruce as he could, their estranged relationship already on thin ice for reasons Percy didn’t want to know. He probably should know, but he decided to keep Bruce and his brother’s problems to themselves.

Slowly, the others began to fall in, sitting themselves into their unassigned assigned seats. Bruce at the head of the table with Dick and Cassandra on either side of him. Stephanie sat next to Cass, her leg propped up on the empty chair with an ice pack resting on her ankle. Percy was sitting at the opposite head with Tim next to him on his right, watching as Percy twirled riptide in his hands.

Percy took a deep breath. This was it. No going back now. He can’t manipulate the mist to change their minds, he can’t make them forget—this was the real deal.

The flash of a headlight against the cave wall caught their attention before the roar of the motor hit their ears. It startled the bats above them and Percy swore the ground rumbled as well, but maybe he did that by accident. He’s done that before at camp, in the restrooms and in the big house kitchen.

The group all seemed to tense at Jason’s arrival, his recent switch to anti-heroism instead of drug lord did little to calm the other’s nerves. They were glad that Jason was more amenable to working with them after he and Bruce warred it out for a bit. He lingered at the edges of his part of town and didn’t turn the others away immediately, so that was a step in the right direction. Though his status as a crime lord didn’t really bother Dick, Cass, or Percy. They still waltzed into that side of town like they owned it alongside the second Wayne son.

Jason did not want to be here but will endure for Percy.

Heavy boots marched up to the table and a loud scrape of the chair closest to Percy rang in the cave. It seemed like he, too, had just gotten off of his own patrol. He tossed his helmet on the table, echoing in the silence that had fallen on them when Jason arrived. But Jason didn’t pay any attention to Bruce or Dick, their stares boring hole into his back as Jason made his chair face Percy. “Alright. I’m here, what was so important that I had to abandon my after-patrol tacos?”

Percy sat straighter in his chair. “Okay, okay,” he ran his hand over his face, pushing back his fringe, “Okay, so, you know the stories and legends of the Greek gods, right? The deities the ancient Greeks worshiped to explain natural phenomenon and all that. And…you know how the gods in the stories came down to earth and had kids? Heracles, Achilles, Theseus. Well, the gods are real. They are real and they’re still having kids, they’ve never stopped, not really, and I…”

Percy looked at Jason. At his older brother whose mother was the same as his, whose father sired two powerful children.

“My biological father—Jason and I’s biological father—is Poseidon, god of the sea.” They sat there quiet, uncomfortably so, staring at Percy as if he was spewing nonsense. But Percy could tell that Cass believed him. She could tell by the heaviness on his shoulders as he spoke, the tiredness that rolled off him in small waves. Percy also knows that Jason knows he wasn’t lying, some kind of inherit knowledge and acceptance that he was also the son of a god. “And every summer, with the exception of this past Christmas, I have been going to a camp that is designed for demigods to train and learn how to survive.”

“When I was twelve, I didn’t get kidnapped—” This caught Bruce and Dick’s attention. “I had become a fugitive of the state because I was given a quest to find and retrieve the king of the gods’ missing lightning bolt to prevent a war between him and my father. I left the summer after that because I had to find the Golden fleece to save the magic border that was keeping the camp safe after it had been poisoned.

“Last Christmas, I had to rescue two demigods and find the goddess of the hunt who had gone missing while also putting Atlas back in his prison,” Percy kept going, waiting for their reaction when he finished. “This past summer, the summer that Jason came back, I was on a quest with one of my best friends in the Labyrinth to stop Kronos’s forces and to find the lost god of the wild.”

“Percy, wha—” Dick tried but there was no stopping Percy now that he started.

“And, should I have told you all this years ago? Yes, I probably should have considering how close I’ve gotten to dying in the past three years, but,” that left the room feeling heavier than it should, “Next year—on my sixteenth birthday, there is a prophecy that a child of the eldest gods will be the deciding factor of whether Olympus will survive the war against Kronos. I-…I am the prophecy child, and there is a chance that I might…not survive.”

Percy’s voice was near a whisper towards the end, a little shaky as wobbly as he spoke to keep the tears at bay. He doesn’t know why he was acting like this. Percy had come to terms with the fact that he was the child of the prophecy almost a year ago on Olympus when Thalia swore herself to the hunt. He knew that it was up to him, that he would be the one to lead the camp, assemble their meager forces, and train child soldiers against a titan in a year.

He accepted his fate, so why was he close to tears telling his family?

“The fuck to you mean ‘might not survive?’ What do you mean that our father is Poseidon?” Jason was the first to speak, leaning forwards on to the table. “You can’t be serious.”

“You asked me where I had gotten my white streak from, remember? And I told you it was ‘a long story?’” Percy looked at his brother. “I held up the sky for twenty minutes, I kept the sky from falling onto earth and destroying it, and it was the heaviest thing in the entire world. Stephanie once asked where I gotten this scar on my thumb was, I had gotten stung by a scorpion from the pits for Tartarus, whose venom can kill in sixty seconds. This scar on my stomach is from I fought the minotaur on my way to camp for the first time, I have one on my leg from where I got stung by the Chimera. This one if from a pack of hell hounds, this is from some empusai last summer—”

Percy lifted his shirt, exposing the burn scars that ran across his back and his left arm. It was nasty looking, but healed without any lasting damage. Though sometimes in the summer when the days are scorching hot, it felt like his back was on fire once again. Burning from the incomprehensively hot steam that erupted from the volcano. “This is from when St Helens blew up—when I blew up St Helens. If I was lying, Jason,” he looked at his brother a little coldly, offended that he was making this all up when he was marred by the ‘glory’ he had earned. “Then why do I have the scars to prove it.”

“Percy,” Bruce called his name. “What war?”

He sat down in his chair again, “For the past few years, the titan lord Kronos has been rising. He’s growing an army of monsters, minor gods, and other demigods to overthrow Olympus and set everything back to the stone age.”

“Why haven’t we heard anything about this?” Dick asked him. “Why haven’t you told us about this sooner, we could’ve helped.”

“We can’t help,” Tim answered. “Trust me, I’ve tried, but we can’t. We aren’t like Percy or Jason, we can’t see past the mist, we can’t enter camp, were just mortals.”

“You knew! How long have you known?” Stephanie pointed at Tim, who nodded unapologetically, “I’ve known for a year, since Percy came back last Christmas. But I’ve tried everything to see past the mist but I can’t.”

“Mist? What mist?” Cassandra looked to him.

Percy popped open riptide, the bronze sword expanding and folding over itself till it reached it’s full size. He saw Jason’s eyes widen at the sight. Standing in alarm when the Riptides’ point nearly poked him. What the fuck, he mouthed. “The mist is the magical veil that hides and protects the mortals from the mythological mess that is my life. To you, and Tim can confirm, this looks like a bat. A classic, wooden baseball bat—”

“What fuckin’ bat? That’s a goddamn sword!” Jason exclaimed. “Wait, you can’t see it? What the fuck, why can I see it?”

“Because you’re also a son of Poseidon, you’re a demigod like me,” Percy said.

“So why didn’t I go to that camp if I was like you? Why didn’t I train to fight monsters ‘n shit?”

“You weren’t meant to.”

Whatever Jason was feeling stopped, his whole body stopped, as if Percy had just pushed pause on the remote. “What?”

“The fates made it so you didn’t go, it-…your, y’know, was the price father paid.” Percy said, his head resting on his wrist as he said it. Tears once again welling up in his eyes. “Me getting the prophecy was the price father paid for breaking the oath, twice. We aren’t supposed to exist and this is the consequence.”

When Percy looked at Jason again, all the color drained from his face. His words a revelation that shook Jason’s whole worldview to its core. Eyes blown wide, hands in his hair pulling at the roots, as whatever thoughts he was having took over. “Jay,” Someone called but Percy was more worried at the sight of his brother, crumbling apart after realizing not only was his death was intentional but the gods themselves made it happen.

He stumbled backwards, his balance swaying for a second before Jason made eye contact with Percy. And there was a kind of betrayal that Percy could see in his brother’s eyes, the kind that ran hand-in-hand with jealousy. Percy remembers seeing it on the faces of other kids in camp when they learn that Percy has had more contact with their parent than they did, when the gods chose him over their own children.

Jason stumbled his way towards him back, ignoring the concerned calls from Dick and Cassandra. And in a few seconds Jason was speeding away, his helmet still facing Percy on the table.

He wanted to chase after Jason, to tell him everything their father told him this morning. That Poseidon does care for him, that he wanted to step in and save him. But Percy knows that telling him would only make it worse, that telling him that not only does Percy know who they were and who their father was, but that said father preferred Percy over him. That Percy was the child he was willing to speak with (even though that was far from the truth.)

“How do we stop Kronos?” Bruce finally asked, pulling off the cowl, and Percy could see the restrain that kept him rooted to his seat. Bruce wanted to go after Jason too, but he couldn’t, he had to focus on one thing at a time. Batman can multitask and can do many things all at once. But he wasn’t Batman right now. His words might’ve been the bat’s, but the unmasked, worried and pained look he held was his dad’s. It that of a father worried about sending his son, potentially sons head first into a war. One he didn’t even know existed till it might’ve been too late.

“If I knew how, I would tell you, but you guys can’t be a part of this.” Percy tore his eyes away from Jason’s retreating form. “I have already explained this to Tim, but this is a war you can’t fight. The monsters that are a part of that army, as well as the weapons and places they reside, are hidden from mortal minds.”

“So what, we just sit on the sidelines while you go and become a martyr? I’m not letting you do that, Percy,” Dick said.

“You can’t—help—Dick, none of you can, point blank. That’s final.” Percy spoke with a finality of a general. “I’m not telling you guys this to make you feel helpless or to give me pity or any dumb bullshit like that, I’m telling you so that if something happens next year, you won’t be caught off guard. So that if the news around New York is all fucked up, or if aunt Diana disappears for a bit, you’ll know why.”

“Diana knows?” Stephanie asked.

“She’s a daughter of Zeus, technically my cousin,” Percy says. “But the point is: I didn’t want to hide this from you guys anymore. I wanted to keep you guys out of this for as long as I could because monsters follow me everywhere, I’m not safe anywhere but camp, and I don’t know what I’d do with myself if you guys got hurt because of something from my world.”

“We can defend ourselves, we’re not helpless,” Cassandra protested.

“I know that, but you don’t—you can’t even comprehend all that I’m going up against.” He capped Riptide and in a blink it was back into a pen. “Just, please, trust me. I know what I’m doing and I don’t want you guys in anymore of a risk than you already are, but—” Percy looked at Bruce. “If I need help, be that mortal evac or medics for the wounded or even for collateral clean up, would you come?”

“Of course,” Dick answered for Bruce who seemed to be staring a hole into the table in front of him.

Alfred (where had he been this whole time?) cleared his throat and handed Stephanie a pair of crutches, who grumbled and groaned as she stood up from the chair. “I believe that is all we’ll be able to handle for today as it is getting late, even for you all. Now, all of you, upstairs, time to rest and we’ll further discuss this in the morning.”

One by one they left the cave, Tim hesitant to leave Percy’s side, especially after revealing everything, but Alfred’s pointed stare from the elevators made his feet move of their own accord. By the time the commotion died down again, only Percy and Bruce were left at the table. They faced each other, but neither’s gaze meet the other and neither of them spoke for a bit. He had hands clasped together and help up to his mouth. He did that when he was deep in thought, when he was trying to plan a head to keep them all safe.

Percy knows about the contingencies he was in place for the Justice League and all its members. Knows how to take them down and has access to the lead vault that held their collection of kryptonite for when Superman decided to try and become God. There were even plans on how to take each member of their family down, what steps that needed to be followed and who to get to help. And Percy knows he wasn’t special, he wasn’t excluded from those plans either, but he knows that they were made with the mental image of a regular human Percy. Of the kid who didn’t have powers and only bat-level training.

Now he was a threat, or, an even bigger one than before. Percy had the blood of a god running through his veins and that meant that he was far stronger that most of his family. He could blow up a mountain, summon hurricanes, move the earth. Percy could lift the cave water and manipulate it to his will whenever he wanted. He was a threat level Bruce had never encountered before and now…now he was scared to know how far he’d go to subdue Percy.

He glanced up when Bruce stood from his chair. It was hard to decipher what it was Bruce was thinking, the furrowed eyebrows and hardened stare was that same one he wore all the time. And while Percy was pretty good in understanding the man’s various looks and grunts, he didn’t know how to react when Bruce sat down in the chair Jason had once been in.

“I won’t lie,” Bruce said. “I do not like you leading a war, nor do I like that you kept a threat like this a secret for this long.” Percy deflated under his words. “And I understand that this was not your choice and you have to do whatever you need to do to stop them, but I need to know why it chose you of all the other demigods? Were there no one else this could have been given to?”

Percy shook his head. “At the same time a prophecy was given, the big three swore an oath on the Styx to not have any more kids. Mostly because of how powerful they were, it was why World War 2 happened after all.” He fidgeted with his fingers. “But Zeus and Poseidon didn’t keep to their promise, and because the Styx can’t punish gods, their kids took the penalty.”

Bruce had an arm resting on the table, his hand covering his mouth as he absorbed the information. “Jason was the first, and the oath influenced the events that took his life. Thalia was after him, a daughter of Zeus, and she died right before she entered the camp to save one of my friends and my enemy, but we didn’t know that he’d betray us all at the time.”

“So then by default, you were tasked with the prophecy?” Percy nodded.

“There are two other children of the big three,” He said. “Both children of Hades, but the older of the two died on a quest last Christmas and the other is barely eleven. I don’t want this to fall on him, he’s too little and he’s already been through so much.”

“I can’t lose you, son” Bruce stood and pulled Percy up to stand before him. “I’ve already lost your brother and I am grateful he was able to make it back home, despite all the hiccups that happened to get him here.”

He hadn’t noticed how tall he was in comparison to Bruce now, his dad always seemed to tower over him like used to when he was a kid, but there wasn’t much of a difference between them. A few inches separated them from seeing eye to eye and Percy didn’t want the day to come where they were the same height to come. He still wanted to be able to bury his face into his dad’s chest when he hugged him, he be able to be picked up and carried like a child, to be told that everything was going to be okay.

And while now, Percy could rest his chin on Bruce’s shoulders when they hugged, the arms around him were still warm and strong like they always had been. “Just…be careful,” Bruce held him tight.

“I’ll try, but I can’t promise that.”

“I know,” he said, brushing down the hairs at the back of his head. “Of all people, I know.”

*********************************************

I had to write this, like, twice because the first draft didn’t fit right in the flow of the story anymore.

The only qualm I have with this is Percy’s rant about his injuries, idk it both does and doesn’t feel like something he would do. Like he’d do it to prove that what he’s gone through exists but he hates talking about himself 🤷‍♀️

Hope you liked it!!!

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[missionkitty]

seeing the olympians from the underworld

this might turn into a bit of a rambling essay, so bear with me--i've been doing a lot of thinking about zagreus' interactions with the olympian gods and melinoë's interactions with them. i did a little bit of rambling on the official hades 2 discord, but i want to let myself wander through these ideas a little more freely on here.

i will be talking openly about all available spoilers in the hades 2 early access and for hades 1, so be ye warned.

so essentially. i am. becoming very very invested in how we are seeing so many examples of the olympians' wrath and pettiness as we take melinoë through the underworld and olympus, especially as i've been doing the surface path to get better against prometheus and just hearing all the stuff he's been saying before and after every fight.

(did you know that prometheus says he keeps his wounds open to remind him of his anger and rage against the gods? and also says...that aetos, the eagle, appreciates it?--the implication being that he still lets aetos eat his liver? yum! friendship!)

with zagreus, we saw shades of this pettiness and vindictiveness with the trials of the gods and especially learning about the circumstances of persephone ending up in the underworld. and of course you get hades talking about how cruel and short-sighted the olympians could be, but until a certain point you wouldn't be blamed for taking what he says with a grain of salt because hades can be such a curmudgeon.

however, we don't see much of their dealings with mortals since zagreus is bound to the underworld and unable to be above ground for too long. we get little flashes here and there of what mortal life is like from the shades milling about the house of hades, but ultimately the story is of the dysfunction of the relationship surrounding olympus, hades and his house, persephone, and zagreus.

but now? with the gates of the underworld burst open and erebus overrun and overgrown, so many of the other people, figures, and shades we meet as melinoë have been punished or cursed or affected (derogatory) by the olympian gods in some way or another…just off the top of my head:

arachne, heracles, and prometheus are the big three for now (echo could also be included, but as far as i've seen, it hasn't been explicitly stated what happened to her--however if you're familiar with greek mythology, she is another casualty of that trademark olympian vindictiveness from a certain queen of the gods)

to perhaps underline this common thread of punishment...retaliation, even, it's all started with chronos seeking revenge on the gods who cut him into pieces and spread him across tartarus. (not to say that he...may not have deserved being deposed as such. but let me pull on that thread another day.)

and this "resurrection" of chronos opens the scope of what melinoë is allowed to see of her olympian relatives as compared to what zagreus is able to discover.

like. i really want to see zag and the house of hades safe and with mel, but i also really want to see what a reckoning for the olympians would look like if that's the case.

with hades 2 being in early access and the next update likely not coming for some time, i'm sure specific beats and details will change once the game is fully released, but i like this idea of the olympic gods having to actually, truly face consequences for their very mortal moments of anger and retaliation against whatever perceived slights or threats they've encountered.

mel is in such an interesting place, in terms of her character and the trajectory of her life and where a character arc would go, and the way prometheus keeps calling her "agent of change"…she's, understandably, got a big stake in stopping chronos--but it's also kind of put her in a spot to see the ugliest and most vindictive parts of olympus.

she's close friends with arachne. she's met heracles and seen where he stands as a demigod in the eyes of the olympic gods. she knows the tales of prometheus stealing fire from olympus (and apparently delivering reason personally from athena) to give to mortalkind, even at risk of his own near-eternal mutilation.

i must wonder what she would think of learning the truth of how zeus kidnapped and "gave" persephone to hades as he was sent to become lord of the underworld. of the risk of impending war that accompanied zagreus endlessly working to escape from the underworld and deceiving the olympians to find his mother.

(don't get me started about the connection between dora and prometheus...that's a whole other can of worms. or box. or. jar.)

at the moment, i can see a very fraught emotional journey for mel ahead, especially once we reach the final surface biome and boss. however, as it stands with the path ending after prometheus, she doesn't really have the time or desire to do much more than save and defend the family she knows she has.

which, at the moment, is in the underworld--hades shackled in adamant chains, her mother and brother and the rest of the house of hades frozen in a single moment of time.

and atop olympus--trying to drive back chronos' forces.

the fact that she's been trained for so long to be the titan-killer, the person who's supposed to unseat chronos from the underworld, has painfully and sharply formed her views of anyone who places themselves in opposition to her quest. it wasn't lost on me just how much she disparages prometheus and chronos for being titans, yet being raised and loved by hecate and selene--titans themselves.

hecate even calls her out on it, that their titan-hood does not predetermine their loyalties (as her mentor was the one she was disparaging titans to!! like, girl, the lack of self-awareness!!) but mel's response to it felt...inspiringly disaffected, to me.

melinoë has had her views shaped by her hatred of chronos for so long that it's going to take something pretty significant to tip her mental scales. i...don't think it'll be pretty, if she's turned to face that olympic reckoning. it won't be great for chronos, no matter what. but i also think the olympians owe the mortals penitence. i think they owe the cthonic gods some penitence too.

(sorry, side note. can we talk about how a significant amount of olympus just assumed...after EVERYTHING zagreus and persephone went through, that they just suddenly decided to go no-contact or something? like. especially zagreus? just suddenly not sending messages anymore? mr. talkative family man himself? anyway.)

wishful thinking on my part, i want zagreus to play a role in helping mel recalibrate. or maybe he encourages mel to find the answers for herself, much like he had to. to decide for herself what she wants to do.

ahh, anyway. i think that's all of my thoughts for now. do you have anything to add? anything i might have missed? i haven't been keeping screenshots or records of the lines i've heard until very recently--i do plan on starting a fresh file when v1.0 drops, to experience everything all over again. i'll likely revisit this once we get the whole story and see if i was anywhere close.

for now, i guess i'll just leave you with this line from prometheus:

"...If you could see what I've foreseen, you'd not believe it anyhow."

maybe it's a reference to early access being likely to change before full access.

or maybe...the world will be irrevocably transformed by the "agent of change" and what she will see.

[raz-writes-the-thing]

How about a Crowley x reader story (or it can be headcanons, whichever you prefer ♥️♥️) where the reader is a very emotional person, who cries and gets frustrated quite often, and Crowley is the person who’s there to comfort them. He’s basically their partner, confidante and protector all wrapped up in one.

Untitled Crowley x GN!Reader

Fluff/Comfort

Requests are: OPEN

Crowley knew humans were vulnerable. All those emotions God had inflicted them with. He had them too, of course, but he had never met a human with such volatile emotions as you. And there was the added bonus that Crowley had had six thousand years to understand them.

Or perhaps he had, but he hadn't felt for a human with such explosive emotions such as yourself in all his six thousand years of life on Earth.

So, when you knocked on his apartment door, frustrated as all Hell and ready to collapse into a puddle of tears, well- Crowley hadn't been ready for it per se, but he also wasn't necessarily unused to seeing you overwhelmed at the end of the day and needing some support.

"Oh," he grunts in surprise as you wrap your arms around him as soon as he opens the door. "Oh, dear, right- you alright, love?"

You sigh out a breath of relief as you feel his arms come up to wrap around you. He tuts comfortingly and rubs the top of your spine. You don't have to see his face to know that he's got his bottom lip stuck out in the way he always does when you're upset.

Crowley let you stand there for another few moments before pulling away to press a quick kiss to your forehead.

"Come on, then, darling. Out of the doorway."

He closes the door behind you, ushering you into the extremely minimalistic flat. You supposed you had better change that soon- though with the amount of time you both spent at the Bookshop, it probably didn't matter so much.

"Right- now, tell me then?"

You huff out a laugh at his straightforwardness. Crowley wasn't usually one to beat around the bush. Not with this, anyway. Other things, sure. But when it came to you unwinding or venting? Crowley knew you just needed to get right into the thick of it so you could move on to the next thing on the agenda.

He listened as you told him about your day. About all the frustrating and upsetting things that had happened to you. He nodded along and poured himself a glass of whiskey, setting himself down on his chair and gesturing for you to sit on the table in front of him, tips of your shoes brushing the rug underneath.

One dexterous hand reached out to pull your leg over the arm of his chair. "Mm- yes, well that does sound rather odd," he replied to you, setting his whiskey down so he could tug your shoe off- quickly followed by your sock. The feel of his fingers massaging into your tired feet had you interrupting your own story to let out a satisfied groan.

This, of course, made Crowley grin like nothing else, and after a moment, he pulled your other leg up to do the same. You continued, feeling mildly overwhelmed with the recount of a particularly upsetting thing a barista had said about you behind your back. Tears welled for a moment, and you sniffled quietly.

Crowley stopped his massage at once, shuffling forward in his seat to brush your cheek with his thumb. "Oh, come now, love. You know- well as I do, that isn't true." And if Crowley made a point to put that particular barista's information in the Books of the Damned down below, then that was just his own business, wasn’t it? You did, of course, notice the flash of anger in those snake's eyes. "They were probably just jealous of you."

You sniffed out a laugh and wiped the snot from your nose.

"Yeah, maybe," you replied, rolling your eyes. But you couldn't deny the little smile that pulled at your lips.

"Oh, there you are," he chuckled. "Knew that wouldn't take long. Too enamoured by my demonic charms, aren't you?" 

“You’d like to think so, wouldn’t you?” You replied, smile widening into a grin. Crowley downed the rest of his whiskey.

“Oh, I think I know so.” Crowley leaned forward even closer- close enough to feel his soft breath on your cheek. “In fact, I didn’t even have to Tempt you.” 

And, well, that there was the truth of it, wasn’t it? You had sought Crowley out on your own. Once he’d caught your attention, there was no going back. 

“Don’t play coy, love. We both know it’s true,” Crowley said softly, flitting his eyes down to your lips. It was barely another second before his lips were on yours, kissing you with such fervour that it took your breath away. 

He pulled away, nipping at your lip teasingly. 

“Right, then. Let’s get some food into you, Pet,” he said, giving your foot a comforting squeeze. “Aziraphale made scones. Never did get out of the habit of baking after lockdown.” 

You chuckled and hopped up from the table, following your Demon- and feeling much, much better than you had when you arrived.

[ruhjkie]

Threads of Time

Summary: In a twist of fate, after their respective deaths, Aemond and Lucerys are transported back in time to the pivotal moment in Storm's End—just before Aemond demands Lucerys' eye as payment for an old debt. Unbeknownst to each other, they are thrust into the very moment that changed their lives forever. As tensions rise and old wounds reopen, both must confront the weight of their past actions, grapple with their unresolved feelings, and decide whether to follow the course of history or forge a new path that could alter their destinies and the fate of their family.

Pairing(s): Aemond Targaryen/Lucerys Velaryon

Author's note: inspired by a lovely idea from @technicallyfriendly. Thank you for allowing me to use it <3

Also posted on AO3

here: Part 2

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The storm raged over Storm's End with a ferocity that matched the tempest inside Lucerys Velaryon’s heart. Lightning crackled in the distance, illuminating the towering stone walls of the castle, while the wind howled like a beast hunting its prey. The sea, dark and unforgiving, crashed against the walls below, as if it too sensed the impending violence.

Lucerys stood at the hall, his breath coming in ragged gasps, his body tense and trembling. His hand, still clutching his hood, fell slowly to his side as his eyes locked onto the figure coming out from the shadows. Aemond Targaryen, tall and imposing, emerged from the gloom, his silver hair glinting in the brief flashes of light. His single eye, burned with a mix of anticipation and something far darker.

Lucerys remembered a time when Aemond had been his friend, his uncle — a distant yet familiar presence in the Red Keep, a boy who shared his blood but not his heart. Now, as he stared into Aemond's unyielding gaze, he longed to see something different, something that resonated with the quiet hope stirring in his chest. But all he saw was a man warped by years of resentment, his eye heavy with the weight of an old wound that only he seemed unable to let go.

The air between them crackled with unspoken tension, a force so thick it felt as though even the castle’s ancient walls could scarcely contain it. Lucerys' mind spiraled, disoriented as fragments of another life surged to the surface. Memories of dragonfire scorching the sky, the monstrous maw of a beast closing in, and the sensation of falling into darkness—a fall that should have marked his end. Yet, here he was, standing at the precise moment when everything had unraveled, as if fate had dragged him back—for redemption perhaps, but he did not yet know. The realization was dizzying and he wondered if he was caught in some cruel trick of the Gods.

Aemond’s voice sliced through the heavy silence, sharp and cold as steel. "Wait, my Lord Strong. Did you truly believe you could fly across the realm, scheming to steal my brother’s throne without consequence?" His gaze darkened, the bitterness unmistakable, and as he tossed the dagger to his feet he said. "You owe me a debt, taoba. An eye for an eye.”

The words reverberated in Lucerys' ears, sinking into him like poison. This was the moment—the one that had haunted his nightmares and his final breaths. Now, he understood why he was here: to face the mistake that had changed everything. He had longed to apologize, but after the accident, fear took place—he knew the Greens would never allow him close to Aemond again. So, he wrote letters—many more than he had ever intended—each one an attempt to make amends, to soothe his uncle's rage, and to mend the fragile connection they had once shared. Yet, no replies ever came. The silence was louder than any rejection, and over time, the guilt settled deep within him, buried like a wound left to fester.

Now, standing on the precipice of destiny, something shifted inside Lucerys. The fear that had once paralyzed him, the fear that had driven him to flee, was no longer there. He saw it all. Instead, his fear had become a blade, poised not to strike at Aemond, but at the very fabric of fate that had brought them to this moment. The storm seemed to pause, like it was holding its breath as Lucerys made his choice. His feet moved—not in a frantic attempt to flee, but with the calm certainty of a man who knew there was no other option. If Lucerys Velaryon was to prevent the fate of a war, then so be it.

Something was not right, Aemond knew as everyone too—a shift in the tides of destiny. Lucerys caught the hesitation in Aemond’s eye. This wasn’t how it was supposed to happen—Lucerys was meant to beg, to run, to fall under the weight of Aemond’s long-nurtured wrath. But instead, Lucerys was moving, and he wasn’t moving away. Lucerys Velaryon had run towards the blade.

“No!” Aemond’s voice, filled with a panic he had never known, shattered his paralysis. He lunged forward, reaching out for the boy—no, not like this, not his nephew—who had once been the center of his hatred. But it was too late. 

With a shout that was equal parts defiance and despair, Lucerys raised the dagger to his own face. The world narrowed to the cold, unyielding edge of the blade, and before Aemond could react, Lucerys drove it deep into his own flesh. Pain exploded through Lucerys’ skull—a blinding, searing agony that consumed every thought, every sense. He screamed, the raw, primal sound echoing in the storm’s howling wind. Blood gushed from the wound, warm and thick, running down his face, staining his clothes and the stone beneath him.

Aemond stood frozen, his outstretched hand hovering in the air, as if time itself had stopped. Deja vu. The dagger slipped from Lucerys grasp, clattering to the stone—a sound lost to the storm. His fierce, vengeful sapphire eye now reflected only horror, as he watched Lucerys destroy himself in a desperate act neither of them had foreseen. With one final, agonizing pull, Lucerys wrenched the dagger free, his blood-soaked eye dangling grotesquely from the blade. The sight was a twisted mirror of the vengeance Aemond had sought for so long. Lucerys swayed, his strength rapidly fading as pain and blood loss overtook him. His legs buckled, and he collapsed to his knees, the dagger falling from his fingers, the severed eye rolling across the cold, wet stone.

He looked up at Aemond, his one remaining eye filled with tears and agony, his breath coming in ragged, uneven gasps. His voice, when it came, was broken, pleading. "Will you leave me be, qȳbor? Is the object of your torment finally settled? Am I free?"

The words, spoken through a veil of pain, shattered something deep within Aemond. This wasn’t the victory he had imagined; it wasn’t the sweet taste of revenge he had craved for so long. Again the gods were mocking him. All that remained was emptiness—a hollow void that swallowed reason and purpose. The debt that had consumed him, that had brought him to this windswept castle, had been paid—but not by his hand, and once again, Aemond was left to witness the ruin of his own blindness.

Aemond’s hand trembled as he reached out, cupping Lucerys’ bloodied face with a gentleness that felt foreign, wrong. The storm around them raged on, unnoticed by either, as they remained locked in the terrible intimacy of the moment.

“Yes,” Aemond whispered, his voice thick with a grief he did not yet understand. “Yes, taoba, you may leave.”

But even as he spoke the words, he knew there was no leaving—no escape from what they had done. The eye, the blood, the pain—these were the bonds that now tied them, forged in suffering and regret. They knelt there, two broken souls, as the storm finally began to subside outside, its fury spent. The chaos of the onlookers in the room crept in, but neither Aemond nor Lucerys noticed. The future lay before them, dark and uncertain, the weight of their choices pressing down like the very heavens. They were no longer just Aemond and Lucerys— rivals, enemies, whatever they might be called. They had become something more, something that defied the simple lines of love and hate, revenge and forgiveness.

The storm outside had passed, but it had washed over them both, leaving them tangled in the web of destiny. And now, a new beginning awaited.