#and then never really thought about tucker’s race again

[hidingoutbackstage]

Something about Tucker being held to a higher standard than all of the other Reds and Blues in the later seasons. Sure he likes sex and makes “that’s what she said” esque sex jokes, but like, especially during Shisno trilogy, the show seems to really like putting him down or treating his love for sex like a comedic punching bag. Oh, Tucker’s a single dad who genuinely loves and cares about his one alien kid despite how that kid was forced upon him? Well actually he had sex with a TON of women on Chorus by using the fuck temple and now has a ton of kids that he’s reluctant to pay child support for. And speaking of the temple, despite it being said to make everyone on the planet super horny and sex obsessed, Tucker says he didn’t feel any different, because making him hypersexual is funny (why is it funny, RT?). And remember how Tucker’s arc during Chorus had him emotionally dealing with Felix’s betrayal? Well now he falls for the most obvious manipulative lies from Temple, I guess he’s just dumber now. And you remember that funny scene in season 5 where Doc is giving Sister a physical exam, and Tucker obviously really wants to see her naked, but because Doc keeps telling him to not come in, and likely out of respect, he doesn’t, while Red Team is secretly perving on her (which they never fucking get called out for), plus all the funny moments of him trying to flirt with her, and her either being receptive or so fucking weird that it takes him aback? Well Tucker still REALLY wants her, but he’s now a childish asshole who can’t stand the idea of her not wanting to sleep with him, and is now super self centered despite the arc he went through showing how he values others, and the series basically keeps fucking with him and making him miserable and barely ever giving him a moment of relief. And you know how he was mercilessly tortured for M O N T H S during Restoration? Well he doesn’t get to process that trauma, and despite all the growth he’s supposedly gone through throughout the series, his last moment is an offscreen sex joke because Tucker’s the perv, get it? We can’t let him have a fucking break despite literally everyone else being treated comparatively nicer or given some kind of levity. Why specifically Tucker, Rooster Teeth? What has he done that’s so bad to you that you continually treat his character this way despite the fact that he’s truly the best (and should have been main) character in this whole series?

[gingerlurk]

Lovers' Crest | Chapter 11: The Question

Din Djarin x f!Reader

Masterlist

Summary: You ask Din a question that changes everything.

Word count: 5.9k

Warnings: 18+ MDNI, slow burn, non-canon (the Razor Crest never gets destroyed, it also gets upgraded with a cabin), post season 3, SMUT, here we go, fingering, unprotected PiV (be safe), creampie, multiple orgasms, soft & tender.

--

A few days have passed and you’ve worked yourself into a state. You just couldn’t stop the wondering.

You were bound to be curious, right? He would have said something if it was not an okay thing to do. That was his way.

After pacing a couple of times with wringing hands and a racing heart, you decide that just asking the question is innocent enough. You press an only slightly shaking hand to your side, where the plaster seal holds your wound and the man’s bare hands had stroked you so carefully.

It’s just an innocent question.

So you check the kid is still sleeping, for no other reason than he was really tuckered out from the day, and approach the back of Din’s form as he moves the fresh supplies about the cabin.

He doesn’t seem to notice you, so you clear your throat. His helmet turns.

‘Um.’ You shift your feet.

‘I think we were a bit zealous with the fruit,’ he says. Pushing two overloaded bags into a rack, they barely fit. ‘Not sure we will get through it all.’

‘Oh,’ you give a nervous giggle. Giggle? What the fuck is wrong with you? ‘I’m sure kiddo will have no trouble devouring it all.’

‘Mm.’ He continues shoving the bags into place. You watch his able hands draw a loop of webbing through the rack and tie a deft knot.

Hands… Hands! His hands. You give yourself a mental slap and step up. ‘Din?’

‘Mm?’

‘Can I ask you a question?’ He must hear something in your voice because he turns and faces you square on. His broad frame glimmers in the dim light floating in from outside and you can tell by the tilt of his helmet that you have his full attention. Gods, he can make you feel so fucking exposed.

‘When I came to…’ You stop, huff a breath and go again. ‘After the treasury and the-- and the carbon freeze…’ You rub clammy palms on your thighs, pushing the memory of the burning chill away. ‘When I woke up, you, you were—’ Gods, fuck, just fucking ask him!

He hasn’t moved or gestured for you to go on. You think he might be holding his breath.

‘You were treating my injuries and,’ you stare down at his hands, held stiffly at his sides, ‘I don’t think you had your gauntlets on.’ You say it in a rush and look up a little further to his forearms. ‘Or your vambraces.’

The items in question are reflecting the sun into the hold, the light having shifted lower as you dithered around your point. You lose focus for a moment.

‘That’s true,’ Din whispers into the silence. You almost miss it. ‘The stitcher gauge is very fine. I had to be precise or I could have overdone it and burned you. So, I thought a direct hand best.’

‘Ohh, oh- okay. Th-thanks for that.’ Thanks for that? Unhinged.  

‘And,’ you push on. Your eyes dart lower for a second then back up to Din’s motionless visage. ‘I don’t think you had your cuisse on either. Your-- your thigh armour.’ You make a weak gesture to his lower body then lock your arms across your front, willing your heart to get out of your throat and back into your chest. ‘When I, uh,’ you stare up at the ceiling, ‘when I grabbed hold of you – because of the pain, I mean – I didn’t feel it there.’ You should just die right now.

‘In order to reset your shoulder,’ he says, ‘I had to lean my knee into your hip. I did not want the beskar to cause any more harm.’ Is his voice raspier than usual? Even deeper, somehow?

‘Right. You did a great job.’ You release your arms and swing the shoulder in question back and forth a couple of times. ‘Feels good.’ Are you out of your mind?

‘That’s good.’

Silence.

‘You had a question?’

‘Yes! Yes I did. Uh…’ You swallow the driest mouth you’ve ever had. ‘So my question being, it didn’t seem to concern you when I came to. Like, you weren’t worried having pieces of your armour off in my presence. I thought, you know, with the creed and all…’ Just get this over with and you can go sprint into the forest and throw up. But then he takes a step toward you and gives a long exhale. The sound makes your body flush all over. Without your volition, your thoughts and nerves rush to your core – igniting a pulsing need.

‘That is still not a question, but yes. It did not worry me.’ His voice has reached a gravelly tone that you let wash over you, finding the calm amid the sonic velvet. ‘My armour is a part of my religion and I hold it as sacrosanct.’ He touches a hand to his cuirass. ‘But the Creed speaks of only the helmet being removed and my face being seen. It does not forbid removing my armour in the presence of another, though I would only do so when needs are an absolute must.’

He drops his hand to his side. ‘Or when I am with one that I trust.’

Holy shit. Heart is climbing up your throat and into your mouth. You lick your lips.

‘Okay, so, here’s my question,’ you clench your fist once then reach out and take hold of his hand. You lift it up and with your other hand ghost your fingers over his. You have an urgent thought, look up at him. ‘To be clear, I’d never ask you to take off your helmet.’

‘I know.’

‘Ever,’ a hard shake of your head.

‘I know.’

‘But, can I take off this glove?’ You stare directly into the dark T of his visor. He leans to you.

‘You can.’

Molten, burning desire coils in your belly. A graphic mental image of stripping him bare and climbing him like a tree flashes white hot in your mind. The things you want to do to him, and let him do to you. Thought upon thought tumbles through you. This hand you’re holding touching you all over, finding your aching need, pulling your juices from you in an endless stream. These huge fingers—

‘Start here,’ he says gently, and you realise you’ve been stood stock still staring at his hand in yours. He lifts his other hand to the edge of the vambrace by his wrist and releases a catch. The metal of the two armour pieces, warmed by him, come away with a clunk. He drops them onto the bench beside you. Then waits.

You grip two of his gloved fingers and draw the garment toward you. You blink back the moisture gathering at your eyes so you can take in the sight of millimetre on millimetre of skin being revealed to you. When the glove has dropped to the floor, you push your fingers into his to entwine them. He spreads his own and lets your digits link. Gods, but they feel so soft between your calloused ones. With your other hand, you circle his wrist and start to push up the long sleeve up his forearm, greedy to see more, touch more. But he flinches.

‘Sorry! I’m sorry,’ you make to draw back but he tightens your joined fingers together to hold you still.

‘No,’ he whispers. ‘It is not you. I’m just, I have not felt– for a long time…’

Of course, you think. This is the most touch-starved man in the galaxy. 

Lick your lips again, bite down on the corner of your mouth. Look up to him.

‘Okay,’ you say. ‘Why don’t you lead? Just, you can touch me instead for a little while? If you like?’ 

‘I would like that.’ It’s nothing but a low rumble to your ears.

He unclasps the armour from his other arm and tugs the glove off. It gets tossed to the side, almost carelessly, then both hands reach for you. You decide to stay still, not spook the wild creature in front of you. You make another choice and let your eyes fall closed.

You’re so glad to be wearing only a singlet when each hand moves to your wrists and slowly, gods so slowly and tenderly, start to skim up, up. Fingers caress your outer forearms as each thumb presses a little into the soft, paler flesh heading toward your inner elbows. There, he circles each arm, holding them in a grip that has you spinning again into fantasies of things to come. You hope. 

This is where you become aware of Din’s breathing. You open your eyes and see his chest rising and falling in bursts. Fast, harsh gasps hit the modulator of his helmet.

‘Din,’ you whisper, not moving a muscle. ‘It’s okay. It’s me. Breathe.’

He gives you a nearly imperceptible nod and takes a moment to fill his lungs a few times. When he’s ready, his right hand moves from your elbow, up to your shoulder and splays there across your upper chest. His thumb rests at the base of your throat but you barely notice its experimental nudge there as his fingers curl under the strap of your top and rest underneath it. His whole hand is pressed flush against your skin.

It’s so fucking reverent you want to cry.

Then he pushes the fabric off your shoulder and down your arm, mirroring the action on your other side until your shoulders and decolletage are bare. Another long, agonising pause as he holds you there makes you feel like you’re going to astral project with tension. Your eyes look up to lock on the visage facing you – then all at once it snaps between you.

He grips your arms tight and pulls you into his chest. The hard, plated beskar seers your skin as you lift onto your toes toward him. Gripping onto his elbows over his clothed sleeves to stay steady, you nuzzle into the arched curve of his helmet, pressing your nose to where you imagine his cheek could be.

He moves, walking you backwards into the cabin.

When your calves back into the bed, Din brings his hands to the hem of your top. You raise your arms and drop to the mattress in one motion. The fabric rustles up and off for Din to toss to the side. Chest bare, you lean back to let him look at you.

The black sights of the visor stay steady on your body as he stands over you. But his hands start to move on himself. To his shoulders, his chest – clasps and buckles are released and one item after another is drawn away. 

It’s like watching a God work at himself.

You rise from your elbows to your palms when he tucks his hands under his midriff and starts to rip at fasteners, tugging the top half of his flight suit loose. Huh, you think, you didn’t know it could be a two-piece.

And then all thought stops. The outfit opens down the middle and you stare as, oh gods, oh gods, oh gods, he drags it out and off his shoulders. Letting it thump to the floor.

As you expected, he’s broad and hard. The muscles carry the easy definition of a fighter like himself, powerful but swift. They twitch and flex as your hungry eyes roam everywhere. Soft hair dusts his chest and funnels into an inviting trail down over his stomach and into his pants. What really captures your attention is the taut, pulsing veins highlighting his neck and collarbones, tensing beneath your gaze.

You take in each other for a beat. Then he seems to read your mind and drops to his knees between your legs. You sit up as he leans forward and gently, slowly, with hands moving to arms and with small reassuring nods from Din, the two of you come to be pressed together. Chest to naked chest. You rest each hand on his generous shoulders. His arms circle to your back and he tilts his helmet to rest over your shoulder, the delicate skin of his neck pressing there. So achingly tender.

Wait here. Wait for him to move. 

As soon as the thought crosses your mind, he does. Hands move to your front, sliding across your ribs and barely hesitating before cupping your breasts. He gives an experimental squeeze and teases at your peaked buds. You fall onto your back to give him full access.

His fingers find your lips. You suck them in and let your saliva coat as much as you’re able. Satisfied, he moves them back to your tits, letting the slick slide back and forth over your nipples. He’s brushing, pinching and squeezing with a pattern and pace that is so intuitive to your arousal you’re now sure he’s inside your head.

You’re pushing your chest into his ministrations, feeling every single tug and twitch shoot a jolt of pure pleasure to your pussy. It’s soaking your clothed thighs more and more but doing exactly zero to slake your cravings. You squirm and cry out, pawing aimlessly at chest, arms, helmed face.

‘Fuuhhhh,’ you pant. ‘Fuck, Din!’ 

At that he presses his face to your chest and draws it down your body, hard and cold forehead dragging over the skin between your tits and down your belly. His helm presses firmly on the belt at your pants, as if in protest, and you shudder with every inch of muscle as he continues down. He lays his forehead to rest directly against your clothed throbbing cunt.

You think you’ve gone insane when you swear you hear him inhale there. Can he smell through that thing? Shut up.

With his helmet pressed there, breathing in and out heavily, he whispers, ‘Mesh’la.’

You can’t help yourself. You thrust your hips up, a white-hot pulse reverberates in your cunt and you keen. It feels profane.

But he freezes. 

Your eyes shoot open and you look down, a tinny shred of fear licking at your arousal.

You’ve ruined everything.

He moves away from your centre. No… you whine.

But he leans up, climbing onto the bed beside you, nudging you further up the mattress and settling at your side. He’s gazing at you and you’re not sure where his eyes are focused. It just feels like everywhere. His hands, which moved from your chest in his descent down you, now roam, uncertain.

He speaks.

‘What—’ an exhale. ‘What would you like me to do? Tell me.’

You shiver at the sound of his delicious voice. Working hard to compose yourself enough to speak, you say, ‘Just, just keep going with your hands? Whatever you want to do. Whatever you want. Just please don’t stop.’ 

A hand grips at the buckle of your pants; your legs tremble. ‘This?’

‘Fuck, please.’

It is quick work. You hike your hips and raise a hand to assist the worn material in sliding down your legs. You hadn’t gripped its waistband yourself, but Din has your underwear as well as your pants hooked in his fingers and they both shift down and off.

Now you’re naked and the bare hand of the Mandalorian is dragging a slow, punishing course up your entire leg. Little skitters of pleasure race ahead, gathering and creating a crescendo of sensation to release tides of wet bliss.

You think you may die as his fingertips trace a path to where you need them. Please touch me. You make a silent prayer. Touch, touch, touch.

It feels like he’s within you already. Without pausing, the index and middle fingers push in and up, separating the soaking folds around your entrance. He doesn’t even pause there, sensing your momentum, and pushes them right into the hot, clenching flesh.

The ecstatic moan that pushes up from your chest is nearly drowned out by a ragged groan from Din. You both writhe together as he works his two fingers in, draws back and circles, then pushes back in, settling into a pumping action that curls up, up.

‘How much I have wanted this, mesh’la,’ he sighs. ‘You would have no idea.’

Oh, you have some idea. ‘I—' That’s as far as you get. The pad of his thumb finds your clit.

After all the anticipation, all the yearning, all the tender build up – it’s all you need. The orgasm that rushes toward you is a wave that crests in your belly and breaks into every part of you, rising to the very crown of your head where you’ve thrown it back with mouth open in an O of ecstasy. 

You open your eyes to see Din watching your face, fingers still seated inside you, and he’s murmuring, ‘That’s good, that’s so good. Fuck, so beautiful. So gorgeous. Can I do that again? Gods please, let me do that again…’

You wiggle your hips some and hiss at the intensity flickering across your whole pussy. His hand flexes there but doesn’t resume stimulating yet, waiting for you. You sense a pressure on your thigh and wonder how in the stars you hadn’t noticed his bulging erection before now, pushing as it is into your shivering flesh. You reach a hand, pausing at his sharp inhale.

You rest your palm on your leg, just by where he’s pressed into you.

‘Yes, Din,’ you say, hoping in all the worlds that you’re making eye contact with him. ‘Yes, you can, over and over, as much as you want. For- for as long as you want. And… can I?’ You glance down, then back up.

He presses the top of his helm into your forehead and you’re awash in his ragged breathing and tiny groans. As he begins to move inside you again, adding a third finger and immediately setting a renewed fire that will not take long to blaze, you feel him nod against your face.

It’s only a little fiddly as you reach around the arm working at you to open up more of his flight suit. It would be easier if he pulled his hand away for a moment, but you don’t think that’s up for negotiation, so you just push and tug until – oh, oh gods, oh fuck – his smooth, gorgeously hard cock is pressing into your skin.

You take him in hand and revel at the weight and thickness of him. You greedily explore his entire length, circling fingers over the head, wrapping your palm around him and moving down, running knuckles through the coarse hair there, and back up. You drink in every little strangled moan he gives you, senses flooded, skin sizzling with desire.

He shifts, slipping his other hand under your neck to pull you closer. You move a little to your side so you’re facing him more, and you jerk each other off. You press your lips into the cool metal of his helmet and he lets you.

He’s figured out that a thumb rubbing at your clit is going to end you the fastest, so he focuses there. But the hand cradling your head also finds a spot just behind your ear and strokes there unconsciously. That’s what really undoes you again. You cry out into the unyielding curve of beskar, and hear him muttering again, ‘yes, y-- s- so perfect, so fucking perfect…’

You lose rhythm stroking him, but he seems to be enjoying it anyway, hips jutting up into your hand and legs locking with yours to find purchase. Groaning, you drop your face to his neck and collarbone and mouth hungrily there, resetting your pace again as you feel his body start to tense. His breathing becomes short and ragged and you can feel his head pressing hard into the bed just above you.

‘F-, uh, Fuuuh, please, please,’ he’s begging you, losing his damn mind. ‘I’m going to- going to- do you want me to—’

‘Let go, Din,’ you moan into his skin. ‘Let me make you cum.’

Your side and stomach are suddenly slippery as he spills on you like a shot. You let him rut there into the hot mess you’ve made of him, taking the last as he stills. In the midst of his shuddering release, his hand still locked on your cunt creates enough friction for a third shimmering climax to wash through you and you writhe into his palm.

Never in your life had you felt so sated. 

A distressed ‘ Ehhe! ’ pierces the bliss you’d lost yourselves in. A gentler, ‘buub,’ follows. You each disentangle and sit up, listening.

‘The kid!’ Din says, starting to pull at his pants and move to stand, but you reach for him in slight panic. You can’t handle the thought of seeing him cover up, close in again, just yet. 

‘No, no, it’s okay. I’ll go,’ you say, laying a hand on Din’s shoulder and guiding him back down. ‘Please, please just, stay like this. I haven’t… haven’t had enough of this just yet. Okay?’

He hesitates, but stops trying to tuck himself away. You glance down and see he’s still half hard. Maybe… you think.

‘Besides,’ you say with a wink. ‘I can get dressed faster.’

Thank all the worlds, he relents, relaxes his hands and watches you stand to pick your clothing off the floor. You give him one final look and duck out to check on the child.

Just a few minutes later, you slip back into the cabin and your heart bursts.

Din is fucking naked.

While you’d been out he’d shucked off the rest of his flight suit and boots and now lay in the centre of the bed, one arm raised behind his helmet and the other over his middle, self-consciously stroking at his taut abdomen.

You gape for a moment, willing yourself to speak.

‘He was just thirsty,’ you croak out, raking your eyes up and down his body. His legs. His fucking thighs. ‘Out like a light again.’

Din doesn’t say anything, just reaches a hand for you. You check his cock, still half hard, resting against his belly. Gonna change that first, you think.

You grip the hem of your singlet and, as leisurely as you’re able, draw it up yourself, revealing just an inch of skin at a time. Din’s head rises slightly as he watches. You pause just as you’re about to bare your breasts again, do another check, getting there.

In the time it takes to tip your head back and draw the garment over you to drop it back to the floor, Din has raised up onto his elbows and he’s rock hard and twitching.

Okay, no more time wasting. You move into action, unbuckling and shoving your pants down your legs as you climb onto the foot of the bed, crawling to him. He leans forward and takes your upper arms into his hands to yank you all the way up. Your nose bumps his helmet again as you straddle his hips.

Hands come up to grip either side of your face, fingers caressing that area by your ears you apparently love and thumbs nudging at the edges of your mouth. You part your lips and let him work them in, licking and sucking at every point of contact. They taste of leather and salt and you.

You’re holding your naked cunt directly above his groin and you let it sink down so it rubs against his shaft. Slippery and so, so smooth. He moans. He pushes into you for a moment but then stills, huffing hard short breaths.

‘L- love,’ he pants, looking down between you. ‘I have to help you- ready- first--’

‘I’m ready,’ you whimper, near losing your mind at the endearment. ‘Gods, I am. I’m ready. Are you?’

His thumbs leave your mouth and he nudges your face so you focus on the visor right in front of you. He tilts his hips just so, so that the head of his cock slips perfectly to sit at your entrance. You can feel how slick you are, feel how much your body wants this gorgeous, throbbing cock to take you apart.

‘Yes,’ he rasps. ‘I want you so m- hhn!’

You take him in one long luscious sinking of your hips, not stopping until your seated flush against him. The burn feels good, the pressure at your cervix talking to your body and promising imminent bliss. 

You look down at Din, he is silent but you can see the veins on his neck straining and the hollow of his throat dipping and peaking. He’s still holding your head, and as he shifts his hands you expect them to come to handle your hips. But he traces your neck and shoulders, bringing them instead to your tits, cupping them and thumbing your nipples.

He holds the rest of his body still, waiting for you, letting you choose the pace. You decide to make it long and languid to start. Settling your knees on the bed and hands braced by his shoulders, you draw yourself back up, slow and delicious. Let yourself feel every millimetre until his head is cresting at your entrance again before sliding back down.

That finally elicits a desperate, shaky groan from behind the helmet. An unintelligible string of ‘s’good, ahh- ama--, fuuhh—’ tumbles forth. You do it again, and a third time, feeling yourself covering his cock in your juices, slicker and hotter each time.

On a downward thrust you collapse into his chest, holding his sides and moaning, ‘Gods, god- You- you were made for me, Din.’ You keep him deep inside you, the pressure of his pelvis on your clit connected by a razor of pleasure to the pressure of his tip at your cervix. The sensation of being split wide open causes sparks to careen around your core.

Groaning and panting into your ear as you work yourself on him, Din braces his feet and pushes his hips up, giving you just the angle you need to reach for the peak and tumble over it. You shudder and gush around him, latching lips onto a muscled bicep and moaning into his skin.

At that he does move to grip your hips. He brings his knees higher and holds you tight. You release your mouth long enough to utter a string of begging nonsense, telling him to take you hard. And he does, he fucks up into you with wild fervour, slamming your spent hips down onto his cock. There’s nothing between your bodies but sweat and your release as he loses himself in you. You regain enough strength to set your knees and move to meet each of his thrilling thrusts.

You start to wonder how much longer he’ll last when his hold changes from pulling himself in to pushing you away. You’re confused at first but then he bursts out, ‘Gonna c--, uh, fuh, huh—’

He’s trying to pull out, so you whisper, ‘Cum, Din. Let me feel it, now, pl—! ’

A guttural ‘uhhnhh’ fills the air as he spends himself into you. His hands, the fingers of one locked to the small of your back and the others digging into your ass, could puncture you to burst. Heat and electricity already crackle across your body but the warmth of his seed turns you to cinders. 

Your mingled pants and gasps settle the inferno you’d created together as the walls of the cabin reform, bringing you back into reality.

‘Wow,’ you breathe. ‘That was…’

Din moves a hand to the side of your head and carries it up to be level with his, bumping your foreheads together. He sighs, long and hard, ‘It was.’

‘Yeah,’ you agree.

Even though there’s a pinch tugging at your hips, spread wide over his, you don’t feel a want to move at all. He seems to feel the same, his relaxing cock staying seated inside you. You let yourself imagine you’re one and the same, connected and bound, melted and merged.

Through your glowing haze, you feel a thump thump thump against your chest. Not your heart. His. It’s hammering.

‘You okay?’ you ask, trying to study that T visor like it has the answers to existence.

He presses his head back. You picture his eyes screwed shut and his teeth clenched, trying to will himself to calm. No clue what he looks like but it still feels vivid and real to you.

‘Yes, I am,’ he rasps. Gods, you can finally revel in the gorgeousness of that voice. ‘I am okay, I swear.’

‘Um, good?’ you say when he pauses there but doesn’t relax.

‘Yes, just,’ he murmurs, moving hands back to where they were right before you’d penetrated yourself on him – either side of your head and his thumbs seeking entrance to your mouth. You oblige and kiss and nip and lick at them with hunger.

He stares, ‘Gods, you’re so fucking beautiful.’ He moves a palm across your mouth and you lave into that too, pouring your lust into consuming whatever he can give you.

Though you’re not too lost in the feeling of making out with his hand that you don’t notice the return of pressure on your pelvic walls. No way, you think.

You push yourself up, give a lazy tilt of your hips to circle there. The feeling of him swelling inside you is absolutely intoxicating. You circle again and grin down at him.

He sits up and pulls you close, closer, starts to gently move your bodies together. It’s not long before momentum takes hold. You rock into each other as hands explore and caress everything in reach. His card through your hair, grip the back of your neck, wrap around your waist and run up and down your thighs. Yours draw nails across broad shoulders and chest, cradle his helmet, trace the lines of his abdomen and clutch his arms for purchase.

He’s mumbling something but it’s incoherent and you’re just chanting his name, minds gone.

You reach for your fifth, telling him you’re close, so close… Gods, Din. 

‘It’s yours, mesh’la,’ he grits. ‘Let it be yours-- it's all yours.’

‘Fuh-- huh!’ Sound sticks in your throat. He murmurs quiet affirmations and praise as you’re awash in bliss. Just as the exquisite feeling ebbs, Din rolls you both over to fuck you down into the bed before going rigid. He sighs through it, then stills.

You can’t physically hold your hips open anymore so you nudge and stroke at him until he moves off. He pulls you to his side and wraps you in an embrace. You tuck in, stroke and caress neck and chest and bicep.

After a very generous stretch of lounging into him, you excuse yourself to the fresher to clean up a little. Just a little though, the slippery feeling of his release twice over too delicious to not hold onto a little more. When you return to the bed, he has a similar thing on his mind.

‘Cyar’ika,’ he starts. Pauses. Sighs and goes on. ‘I am not sure how to ask this, but…’

You stop him, curl back into his side and play a hand coyly over the gorgeous planes of his body.

‘Got the implants years ago,’ you say, just above a whisper.

‘Oh, okay,’ he says, skimming his knuckles up and down your side. 

‘Yeah,’ you blurt. ‘Nobody wanted precious heiress knocked up before her time…’

Why’d you say that? You want to push that all away as quickly as you can, so you climb onto him again, finding him ready and willing beneath you.

--

This is where Din wants to live for the rest of his days. Laying on his back, arms looped around you and your head nestled against his chest. Your hand rests over his heart and you are gently pushing a thumb back and forth. It’s heaven.

But something still hangs in the air between you. The two of you had pushed through much of the veils of doubts and fears you’d been stringing up since meeting, trying to protect yourselves from the intensity of this feeling. Even the last few days, after everything, you’d been dancing around each other, waiting for the right time, the right way…

Now that you were pressed skin to skin, all he wants is to let you in.

‘I am… so sorry, mesh’la,’ he says. You tip your head up to him with a curious mm ? ‘For before.’ You lower your gaze again. Okay, still some distance needed for this. But you nestle a little closer, tucking your face into his neck. Keep going…

‘For how I acted, how I treated you. The things I said, I should have known better. Understood… But I was…’ A heavy sigh, just say it. ‘I was afraid. I thought I was losing…’

The words won’t come, so he settles for rubbing your arm instead.

A long, quiet moment stretches out between you. You make small motions against each other, a caress, a squeeze. You talk each other through the things you cannot say.

‘I’m sorry too,’ you finally say. He wishes you didn’t feel the need; it was all his fault. ‘Guess I was afraid too… I was just starting to feel… at home, out here. Having a past I’ve tried to get away from collide with the present I’ve been wanting so badly to… to hold onto. I just--’

He moves a hand to stroke at your hair. 

Your next words are whisper quiet. He’s so glad his helmet sensors are still dialled up or he wouldn’t have caught it, ‘Been so long since I felt any sense of home.’

His response is possibly way too much, way too soon, but it feels so right he just lets himself say it. ‘You’ll have a home here. Always.’

Back to silent communication for a moment, letting touch do the telling.

Then you laugh lightly and the tension eases some. ‘You realise that means you can’t go anywhere, right?’

As if he’s ever going anywhere else, but he asks anyway, ‘What do you mean?’

‘I’d be stranded!’ You finally lift your head to look at him, eyes twinkling. ‘No point being on the best ship in the verse if I can’t go anywhere.’

There’s so much to process in that sentence, he focuses on the simplest. ‘You can’t… you don’t know how to pilot?’

You shrug, ‘Never did have a chance to learn.’

He sits up a little, leans away so he can see you more. ‘You could pull the Crest apart and put it back together in a day, but you can’t fly it?’

‘Do pilot and mechanic mean the same thing to you?’ you ask, smiling wider.

‘Well, no. But I thought… given everything else…’ 

You keep looking at him, eyes flicking across the motionless mask as if you’re reading every thought in his head. Slowly, the look shifts from one of amusement to something deeper – softer and hungrier.

He doesn’t know how to say what he wants to say, so he settles for the next best thing. ‘Want me to show you?’

You grin, flop your head back onto his chest and hold him tight. ‘More than anything.’ 

Yeah, this is where Din wants to live for the rest of his days.

--

Prev | Next

[wil-is-done]

When You’re A Mystery Kid - Chapter 47: Obsidian

Summary: The defenders of Amity Park join the fray.

Word Count: 6.331

-

IMPORTANT NOTE: This is a repost.

Disclaimer: I only own the story and my OCs.

Danny was bored, and boy does he feel like a douche for admitting that. 

Yes, it’s great and all that Amity Park was safe and sound from any supernatural threats, ghostly or otherwise, and had been so for the past week. In fact, he’s glad that folks could go on their daily business without fearing for their lives for once. But, also, it’s been a whole week since anything happened. Nights spent on patrol really dragged on when all he had to entertain himself with was his thoughts and the occasional petty thievery, and that’s if he’s lucky. Even that he could wrap up in about ten seconds, tops.

So, when he heard a police transmission of four cloaked individuals racing through the city on ‘demonic horses’, Danny practically jumped with joy.  

He wasted no time to fly straight towards where they were last spotted. What he found there, floating above the rooftops, were a ruined stretch of road, a few dented cars that had swerved onto the sidewalk, and a smattering of civilians, rattled and mumbling to themselves, but no sign of any cloaked individuals riding demonic horses. 

Frowning, Danny raised a finger to his earpiece and rang his friends.

“Tuck, I’m at Stoker Street and I’m not seeing anything. Gimme an update.”

“Uh, yeah, about that,” Tucker started, his voice doing that high-pitched whine that he does when he’s nervous, “you might not wanna jump into this headfirst, dude.”

“Oh, come on! I’ve been hanging dry for, like, a week!” Danny moaned. “I am horny for some real action.”

“Danny, say that again, and I will turn you into a full ghost,” came Sam’s indignant response. Danny barely held back a giggle. “And… we’re serious. These… four horsemen are real bad news.”

Sam sounded serious. So serious, it might even count as grim. Maybe it’s time to switch gears. “How so?”

“We just got a call from the Mystery Kids. Apparently they know these guys,” she explained. “They’re a group of vampires calling themselves the Crimson Conclave. They’re ancient, powerful, and don’t take kindly to anyone getting in their way.”

“Vampires, huh? That’s new.” The two long years he spent fighting the supernatural tended to blend together in his head, but he’s pretty sure he’d never fought vampires before. The Disasteroid really did open the floodgates for all kinds of weird shit. “How’d the Mystery Kids know about them?”

“I dunno. They hung up before we could ask any follow up questions.” Sam huffed. Danny could practically see the scowl on her face. “They warned us to use extreme caution dealing with them. If we choose to deal with them at all.”

Danny couldn’t help but frown at Sam’s choice of words. If? Not dealing with the vampires was not an option. 

“Then I’ll be extremely cautious. Promise,” he said, laying it down as gently as he could.

“Daniel Fenton, you are not going after those vampires alone!”   

Ah, great. Jazz’s sharp, know-it-all voice was exactly what Danny needed tonight. He blew a mix of a groan and a sigh. 

“Jazz, come on, have a little faith in me. Been at this for two years.” He understood where she’s coming from, but still, come on. Plus, she’s been aware of what he’s doing for at least one of those years. “Whatever these vamps can dish out, I’ve been through worse.” 

“No, Danny, you don’t understand. You weren’t here when Raz made that call. He sounded like he’s freaking out.” There was a pregnant pause, during which Danny almost felt bad for her. “I still have some doubts about the Mystery Kids, but if this really is the ‘bigger threats’ they talked about, then I won’t let you face them on your own just because you’re feeling restless!” Her tone changed from demanding to pleading. “At the very least, wait for Danielle and Valerie.” 

“This isn’t just about me getting stir-crazy, Jazz. Right now, there’s a bunch of vampires tearing through my city. Our city.” Danny casted a glance at the darkening Amity Park skyline, lit up by a million lights. This place sucked in a lot of ways, but it was still his. “Every second that I waste waiting for backup, the bigger the chance of someone out there getting hurt. Or worse.” Danny shook his head, abruptly cracking a smirk. He got a bit too serious for his own liking there. “Dani and Val can catch up. I’ll make sure to leave some vampires for them to handle.”

“Now, Tucker, where are they?” Danny asked, and all she got was more of Tucker’s nervous, high-pitched whine. “Tick tock, Tuck, come on.”

“Dude, I would tell you, but your sister looks like she will kill me if I do.”

Danny rolled his eyes. “She won’t. You’re off-limits.” Tucker’s not. Not at all. 

“You so owe me for this,” he relented after a beat. “They’re uptown, at Blackthorne Estate.” 

“Blackthorne Estate. Got it.”

Danny took off once more, flying northward this time. Before long, the opulent skyline of uptown Amity Park came into view. He never really liked this part of the city. It looked, and felt, too different from the rest of Amity Park, with its rows and rows of lavish manors constructed by middle-aged fat cats riding the wave of late stage capitalism. Among the many, many mansions, Blackthorne Estate wasn’t the largest one by far, but it still stood out by stubbornly sticking to its gothic Victorian design, while the buildings around it had gradually shifted to a sleeker, post-modern style. Gentle lights spilled out of some of the manor’s windows, but a majority of them were eerily dark. The black-tiled roof and the four jutting spires at each corner of the main building were covered by a thin coat of white, probably from the light snowfall earlier in the day. The same could be said for the gardens and most of the courtyard, save for a few footpaths where the snow had been cleared out. But, details like those are not why Danny started paying attention to the courtyard. 

What caught Danny’s eye were four suspicious individuals, standing under the moonlit shadow of the main building of the estate. They had just dismounted from horses that, in his opinion, could definitely be described as ‘demonic’. One of them waved their hand, and four shining, mystical triangles suddenly came to life underneath each of their horses. With a series of unsettling neighs, the horses sunk into the triangles, before the triangles themselves vanished into thin air.

Danny’s going to go out on a limb here and assume those are Crimson Conclave he kept hearing about. 

Danny touched down at the courtyard behind them, keeping a safe distance. So far, it seemed they hadn’t noticed him. Now, a good strategy would be to take them from behind, and deal as much damage as he could before they even realized what’s happening. However, Danny had a different plan in mind, one that was way, way more fun. 

“You guys here for a Halloween party?” he announced, wearing a restrained, yet decidedly smug smile. “Hate to break it to ya, but you just missed it. By a few months.”

The Conclave stopped dead in their tracks. They turned to face Danny, slowly, almost like they’re in disbelief. One, cloaked in black and crawling on all fours for whatever reason, licked her lips and grinned. One, with a flowing emerald half-cape hanging from one shoulder, turned up his nose in apparent disgust. One, covered almost head to toe in a cerulean hooded coat, drew her rapier, her glowing blue eyes gleaming with interest. One, a grandiose crimson mantle hanging from his shoulders, barely showed any reaction at all to Danny’s appearance. As no one offered a reply to his remark, Danny allowed himself to continue. 

“I mean, I get it, I’m not a huge fan of Christmas either, but still wearing your spooky costumes when it’s only a week away? That’s just… sad.”

“You will watch your tongue when you speak with us, boy,” the man with the emerald half-cape spoke, clearly insulted. 

“No, no, Rodrigo, let him keep talking.” The cerulean hooded woman waved the man off with her rapier. “This is… interesting.”

Danny eyed the rapier the woman wielded, watching her handling the weapon with practiced ease, while still keeping up his devil-may-care bravado. “Oof, shoulda listened to blondie there.” He crossed his arms. “Once I start, it’s hard to stop.”

“Exactly. I’d like this to last,” the woman in blue said. “It’s not every day that we are graced with the presence of a half-ghost. To think that this is only our third night out.”

Danny’s smug smile fell. “Y-you know what I am,” he muttered. He’d expected a lot of things, entering this encounter. That was not one of them.

“We do. We know a lot of things.” The woman briefly glanced back at the man in red, for whatever reason. “Though, I’m afraid we don’t know who you are.”

Alright. Enough messing around. “Name’s Danny Phantom,” he answered, his palms glowing green with ecto-energy. “And I’m gonna guess you’re the folks calling themselves the Crimson Conclave.” 

“One and only!” the woman in black barked, spittle flying out her mouth.

“If you know who we are, you should know better than to meddle in our business, boy,” the man in green - Rodrigo - spat. 

“Your business becomes my business when it involved tearing through this city.” Danny pounded a closed fist against his chest. “My city.”

Rodrigo scoffed and rolled his eyes. “I’ve seen your type before.”

“A hero!” the woman in black sneered.  

“A half-ghost hero.” The woman in blue twirled her rapier. Danny could practically see the grin forming beneath her hood. “You’d make a worthy prey.”

The hooded woman advanced, taking eager, yet practiced steps, the rapier in her hand poised to strike. Her companion, the woman in black, crawled forward erratically, tongue lolling out of her mouth and drool dribbling onto the cobblestone. Her dark, wild eyes were unsettling, more so than anything else about her. Danny shifted his footing into a fighting stance. His attention flitted between the two women, wary for a sign of which one would strike first. Both looked equally dangerous, equally ready to mess him up in different ways. Whoever struck first, with his glowing fists raised, Danny was ready for them.

“Nina, Circe, stand down.”

Danny blinked. The man in extravagant red, the one Danny had mostly ignored so far, had suddenly spoken. To Danny’s surprise, the two women - Nina and Circe - did exactly that. Nina backed away, and Circe lowered her rapier. The two looked so eager, and yet, at the man in red’s word, they stopped, just like that. Though, Danny could clearly tell both of them were disappointed at the order.

The man walked forward, stepping past Rodrigo, stepping past Nina and Circe. He carried an authoritative air about him that rubbed Danny the wrong way. That, plus having just seen how easily and quickly Nina and Circe obeyed his words, and Danny’s pretty sure he’s now standing before the leader of the Crimson Conclave. 

“We are here to retrieve something that belongs to me, to Marduk, the Blood Lord. We care not who we have to harm, maim, or kill to achieve that goal. Consider this your final warning.” The man - Marduk - growled. “Stay out of our way, or perish.”

Danny was unfazed. As far as final warnings go, he’d heard better. “Hard pass on the first option. Second one, I already crossed out on my bucket list. ” He shrugged. “Well, half-crossed.”

Marduk was hard to read, but Danny caught a hint of irritation behind those burning, red eyes. 

“Nina.”

Nina perked up, her lips curled into a too-wide grin at the mention of her name. Marduk narrowed his eyes at Danny. 

“Kill.” 

Without another word, Marduk turned away, his crimson mantle flaring out behind him. Circe sheathed her rapier and fell behind him as he passed her. Rodrigo shot Danny a knowing, mocking sneer, laughing quietly to himself as he turned to follow after Marduk. Nina crawled to where Marduk once stood, still wearing that unsettling grin. Danny gritted his teeth, his eyes following the three retreating vampires. He antagonized all four of them at once for a reason, dammit, and it wasn’t to lure only one of them to fight him.

“Aw, we’re not doing a fivesome?” Danny called out to the three vampires. None of them graced it with a response. He huffed. It was worth a shot.

His attention returned to Nina, which was harder to do than he’d like to admit. Whether or not she noticed, Danny couldn’t tell, but he felt more comfortable convincing himself she didn’t. Every one of the Conclave gave him the heebie-jeebies, but Nina’s a breed of her own. From how she moved, how her mouth hung open and her fangs were bared, how her wild eyes - especially her wild eyes - followed him, there was something so deeply unsettling, so alien about her. Yet, at the same time, he couldn’t shake the feeling that he’d sensed something like this, like her, before. He just couldn’t place it. 

“Looks like this is a dance for two, huh?” Danny asked, his cocky persona returning. He couldn’t let her know what he’s really feeling, after all, and other questions can wait. His goal now was to defeat her as fast as he could, and move on to the other three. “Though I’m guessing you’re more into dinner than a show.” 

Nina licked her lips, which Danny took as a yes.

Danny changed his footing and raised his glowing fists. Nina dug her fingers like claws into the ground, leaving cracked grooves on the cobblestone.

“Make this fun,” she hissed. 

Danny grinned. “Lady, fun is my middle na-”

Nina lunged. In a blink of an eye, she crossed the length of the courtyard, her fist connecting with Danny’s gut with a resounding boom. Danny’s grin shattered, his mind suddenly blank with nothing but pain. He damn near blacked out for a second, and as scraps of his conscious thought barely pieced itself together, he found himself flying, spinning out of control through the air, down the streets of the uptown district. A distant part of him reached him somehow, reminding him that this block only goes on for so long, and a building stood at the end of this street. He’d collected himself enough to hastily turn intangible, and just in time. Marble walls and ivory rooms rushed past him in a split second. He emerged out the other side, turned tangible once again, flew over a garden into a different street, and skidded to a halt on the concrete. 

Crumpled on the ground, Danny wheezed and coughed. All the coughing definitely would’ve been accompanied with blood too if he wasn’t in his ghost form. He gingerly placed a hand on where he’d been struck, and immediately regretted it. Pain shot through his body. He had to clamp his teeth down to stop himself from crying out. At least, his scattered mind finally had a chance to piece itself together, and for what happened to fully sink in. To say that he’s not happy was an understatement.

A single punch from Nina just sent Danny flying by half a mile. 

Still wincing because damn that lady could throw a punch, he forced himself to look around. He’s lying in the middle of the street, in that weird transitionary district between uptown and downtown. No cars running, thankfully, only a few parked on the sides. A few pedestrians, maybe a dozen from what he could see, had stopped to gawk, mumbling to themselves. After two years, you’d think the sight of Danny getting his ass kicked wouldn’t be all that interesting anymore. And, of course, some of them even had their phones out already. As much as he’d like more embarrassing videos of him online, those people really need to leave. This place won’t be safe for long. 

“Everyone, clear out! Run! It isn’t safe here!” Danny croaked out. He hated how strained he sounded, but at least it made his order come across as more urgent than it already was. Most of the pedestrians complied, though how they took off was less of a run and more of a power walk. A few stubbornly stayed. 

Danny nearly belted out a second warning, when he’s interrupted by a deafening, inhuman, banshee shriek, the kind that could shatter glass on its own. His heart leapt to his throat, while the slightly perturbed citizens fell into immediate panic, sprinting away from the area. The shriek echoed off of the buildings, but Danny could still tell the source came from the sky. His eyes scanned the dark expanse for anything amiss. It was difficult to spot in the frantic moment, but her gangly, pale limbs were a dead giveaway, even with most of her body covered in black.

It was Nina, hundreds of feet directly above him, and descending fast. 

Danny gritted his teeth and leapt, putting as much distance as possible between him and where he once was. Mere moments later, Nina’s impact sent a shockwave that left snaking cracks across the concrete, kicking up a massive cloud of dust. Danny landed on his feet, and almost immediately doubled over. Pain pulsed through his body from his stomach. Despite that, he forced himself into a fighting stance, fists glowing. He’d worry about bruises once the night had passed.

The dust settled, revealing a massive crater that spanned the width of the road. At the center of it, was a grinning vampire cloaked in obsidian. 

“You don’t do foreplay, do you?” Danny asked, forcing a smirk on his lips. 

As if to answer, Nina leapt from the crater towards Danny, her hand reared back and her fingers curled like claws. Danny’s going to assume that’s a hard no. 

Her move was the similar to before, and this time, he’s ready for it. He might have only seen one attack so far, but it had already taught him one important lesson. Keep her at a distance and steer clear from her fists at all costs. 

A beam of ecto-energy shot out of his fists. Nina took it point blank, the beam sending her crashing against the rim at the other side of the crater. Danny didn’t relent. He took to the air and crossed the crater after her, the torrent of energy from his fists never breaking. The rim Nina’s pinned against crumbled under the force, and any other day Danny would’ve worried about damage to public property. She screamed, whether out of anger or pain, Danny didn’t know, and he didn’t care. The beam scraped her, squashed her, dragged her against yards and yards of concrete, leaving behind a ruined stretch of road. At one point, she somehow found grip and started fighting back, but with a scream of his own, Danny doubled the power of the beam, and Nina quickly lost that fight.

The street ended before Danny was anywhere near satisfied. There was an empty car parked by the roadside, though, which gave him an idea. He diverted the beam to force Nina against the vehicle, and gave the beam his all. After only seconds of concentrated fire, the car erupted into a fiery explosion. Only then, he ended the stream of ecto-energy and floated back. A satisfied smile appeared on his lips as he watched the flames dance, and only mildly concerned that some poor schmuck had just lost their car. He still kept his guard up, though. If she could send him flying by half a mile with a single punch, then one explosion wouldn’t do jack to her. Things had never been that easy

There was movement, a flicker of the flames among the wreckage, just like he thought. When two burning slabs of metal shot out of the flames, Danny was ready. He easily dodged both with more flair than necessary, and was not the slightest bit mad when his hubris was punished instantly. 

He barely caught sight of a third shape leaping out of the flames from the corner of his eye when cold, bony fingers suddenly clamped around his neck like a vice. Unprepared, disoriented, Danny found himself involuntarily sailing through the air for the second time tonight. This time, with the added benefit of having Nina’s horribly gaunt, grinning face only inches away from his. As the arc of her leap passed its apex, Danny realized she intend to chokeslam him against the concrete. A token effort to release himself from her grip amounted to nothing. With the ground coming fast, he countered Nina’s grin with a hardened glare, before turning himself intangible. 

The momentum sent him a few dozen feet underground before he could stop himself. He never liked phasing underground, it’s just too easy to lose track of which way was up or down in the dark, but right now, he had a feeling it’s better than the alternative. From somewhere above him, he heard a series of muffled booms, and he even felt the tremors of the ground passing through him. 

Yeah, going down here was a good choice.

He couldn’t stay here forever, though. Not that it was ever an option. Making a rough guess of where Nina was based on what he could hear, Danny made sure to give that spot a wide berth as he soared to the surface. 

He emerged inside the lobby of an office building - completely empty, thank god - with large windows giving an open view of the street. There, among the rubble of the ruined street, was Nina. She growled and snarled, stalking the street for any sign of Danny. Lucky for him, she had her back to him. It’s an advantage he’s more than willing to take. 

Still intangible and invisible, Danny flew up behind her, held his hands out, turned tangible, and muttered, “Boo.”

Nina whipped around, only to get a face full of ghost ray that sent her crashing against a lamppost. The metal bent, the lamp shorting out, and she fell into a crumpled heap on the concrete. She recovered quickly though, snarling at Danny. Or rather, where she last saw Danny. In the brief moment that Nina was down, Danny had turned intangible again, dove into the ground, and emerged behind a furious, yet oblivious Nina. He shifted his state-of-being back to tangible, raised a hand, a ghost ray charged and ready, and unloaded it against the back of Nina’s head. The blast sent her flying face-first to and through a pane of glass of the building where Danny first emerged. Her body skidded across the ceramic floor until she came to a halt in the middle of the lobby, face down and ass up. 

The sight was honestly kind of hilarious.

It was almost a shame Danny couldn’t spend a little more time to enjoy it. He turned intangible once more, and quickly sunk into the ground. When he emerged behind Nina, she had risen to her feet, and was in the middle of throwing a loud, destructive shitfit. 

“No! Fair!” Nina roared, emphasizing each word with a stomp. To a certain level, Danny agreed. He’d been pulling some really cheap moves, but they’re moves that work. Hell, if Sam was here, she’d probably call it ‘pragmatic’.

Her words sure didn’t stop him from driving her neck to the floor with an ecto-charged dropkick. With enough force to leave a small crater, too. 

Danny didn’t dwell on it, as much he wanted to. He turned intangible and retreated to a safe distance, half submerged into the floor. Nina rose up again, visibly shaking, angrier than ever, but - and this was the part that got Danny worried - without a single scratch on her. Danny gritted his teeth. The beating he gave her should’ve left something.

Danny glanced over his shoulder, in the direction of uptown Amity Park. He hadn’t forgotten about the other three vampires, doing god knows what in the Blackthorne Estate. Those guys still need to be dealt with, fast. But he couldn’t exactly just bounce out and leave Nina here to take a big old dump on his city. Thing was, he couldn’t see himself finishing her off anytime soon, either, seeing how durable she was. 

Or, maybe, he didn’t need to. If taking her out was too tall of an order, maybe he could try knocking her out, not for good, but at least for now. A powerful enough strike at the right spot should do the trick. It’d buy him some time; hopefully long enough for him to go take care of her troupe, long enough until Dani and Valerie could take over handling her. 

His plan decided, he whizzed through the air and ducked behind a pillar. With Nina still throwing a shitfit, he’s got some time to prepare. He made only his right hand visible and tangible, clenched it into a fist, and pumped it full with every bit of ecto-energy he’s got. Only a single visible fist meant there’s less to notice compared to his entire body, which should help since the intent here was to blindside Nina with a strike to the head. If he landed it, awesome. If he whiffed it, he could think of worse body parts to lose. 

Once he’s satisfied with the glow emanating from his fist, Danny sprang into action. He darted out of cover, skirting just outside of Nina’s line of sight. Her shitfit had more-or-less ended and she’s properly on the lookout for him once again. Not a second left to waste. Danny rushed forward, full speed, wind rushing through him, and threw the strongest punch he could muster.

His fist stopped inches from the left side of Nina’s face.

Danny blanched.

Nina’s cold, bony fingers clamped down around his wrist. His intangible wrist. 

She whipped her head, her eyes locking with his, an act that should be impossible. He’s still invisible, intangible, and yet he knew the fact that her eyes found him wasn’t because of luck or a guess. She knew where he was, because she’s seeing him right now. He knew she knew, and fear suddenly gripped his heart. The sensation of something actually touching him while he’s in this state sent his thoughts screeching to a halt. The notion that he should wrench his arm free and fly away very fast in the opposite direction never even crossed his mind. He floated there, frozen, while Nina cracked a toothy grin that showed off her red-stained fangs.

Danny would’ve cried uncle at this point, if his mind hadn’t been turned to mush, but since the universe decided that everything that’s happening wasn’t enough, he sensed a sudden surge of energy bursting forth from Nina’s core. The energy felt so bizarre, so alien, ringing alarm bells in his head and kicked his nerves into overdrive, and yet he couldn’t shake the feeling that he’s familiar with it somehow. He watched dumbly as the energy flowed from Nina’s core to her shoulder, then down to her elbow, then to her wrist, then to the fingers she’d wrapped around his wrist. For a split second, he saw tiny flecks of red arcing from her fingers. 

In that split second, Danny realized where he’d sensed this energy before. In that split second, he was reminded of a skirmish a few weeks ago, against Freakshow and his minions. In that split second, a name flashed across his mind.

Norman.

Not that he had time to do anything with the information. In the next split second, his world became nothing but overwhelming, excruciating pain. 

Dark red streaks of light snaked forth from Nina’s fingers and consumed his hand, his arm, his entire body in a speed impossible for the human eye to follow. He screamed, and screamed, and screamed, until his throat hurt and his voice was gone. A second became an eternity. Terrible, terrible memories suddenly flooded the forefront of his mind. The portal accident. Hunted by his own parents. Vlad. Dark Danny. Was this his train wreck of a life flashing before his eyes? 

The onslaught miraculously, mercifully, ended. His body went limp, maybe even numb, stopped from falling into a heap on the floor only by Nina’s fingers keeping an iron grip on his wrist. The smell of burnt flesh overwhelmed his nostrils, and he would’ve hurled if he hadn’t lost control of his body. His vision reeled and went blurry, then patchy, then dark. He had no idea how long he passed out, but when his eyes fluttered open, he had been raised to eye level with Nina, who greeted him with a sadistic grin that put her sharp fangs on display.

A distant, lucid part of him was surprised to not feel those fangs piercing the skin of his neck. Instead, he felt the now familiar sensation of being flung through the air.

He was not surprised when he suddenly collided with something solid and painful. The force of Nina’s throw actually forced his form through whatever it was that he hit, only to collide into something equally solid and painful on the other side. Again, and again, and again, the same thing happened, in rapid succession. In the end, he crashed against something that he heard shatter into a million pieces, before he flopped onto the floor, like a dying fish. He sure felt like one. He could barely move. His whole body throbbed and ached, so at least he’s not numb anymore. 

Danny’s vision slowly came into focus, so he took this chance to look around. It seemed he had landed inside a flower shop, judging from the bouquets and arrangements on display, lying amongst splinters of wood and glass. He strained to look ahead and saw a building across the street with a hole on its side. Apparently those solid and painful things he’d been hitting were walls. He’d just been thrown through a block’s worth of buildings. Plus a glass window for good measure.

That would help explain the unbearable amount of pain he’s in. 

He looked down on himself, and saw his red and white shirt, jeans, and a distinct lack of ghostly aura surrounding his form. He’d been knocked out of his ghost form. Did that happen before or after he got flung? Probably after. A normal human spine couldn’t have survived ten concrete walls and a pane of solid glass.

Nina emerged from the hole he left, still grinning like the madwoman that she is. Dark red streaks of lightning covered the length of her arms. It snapped at the air and lashed against the concrete, hissing and crackling, like they’re just as hungry as the vampire wielding them. Except, she’s not just a vampire. She’s… like Norman, whatever the hell that meant. And she’s getting closer. And Danny could barely wiggle his toes. He couldn’t go ghost, no matter how hard he tried. He’s helpless. Alone. Afraid.

Danny let his head fall and his eyes close. 

Guess that’s it. He had a good run, all things considered.

The urge to sleep nearly overwhelmed him, until he heard Nina suddenly crying out in pain. His eyes shot open, he looked ahead just in time to see the last traces of a purple beam piercing through Nina’s shoulder from above. 

Nina buckled to her knees, clutching her shoulder. A figure descended from the sky, clad in black and red armor, riding a sleek hoverboard with a matching color scheme. The hoverboard retracted into her suit as she landed with a roll, putting herself between Danny and Nina. She rose to her full height, wrist cannon forming out of her suit, and aimed the weapon at Nina. Danny genuinely would’ve rushed to up to her and hugged her if he could move, but he settled with a smile for now. He’d never been so glad to see her in his life - his knight in shining armor. 

“Not a step closer, Bella,” Valerie warned. 

Nina glared down the barrel of Valerie’s wrist cannon, and growled, “Nina.”

“Sure, whatever.” 

Valerie looked over her shoulder. The scowl behind her red glass face shield shifted into something approaching genuine concern. Danny offered her a half-assed smile. 

“You look terrible,” she said. And she’s not wrong.

“Trust me, it feels a lot worse than it looks.” Danny forced a chuckle, but it just came out as a series of pathetic coughs. 

Their attention quickly returned to Nina, rising to her feet with a grunt. The small hole in her shoulder didn’t seem to bother her. “Meddler,” she snarled, stepping forward, red lightning flaring out from her arms. 

“I said, stay right where you are!” Valerie barked. Her wrist cannon whirred as it charged to full power, glowing purple. 

Danny, coming down from the relief of Valerie’s arrival, finally realized something was amiss. “Wait, if you’re here, where’s-?”

“Shush.” Valerie’s eyes never left Nina. And she’s trying very hard to hold back a smirk. 

Nina was not deterred in the slightest by Valerie’s threat. She looked delighted, actually. The flurry of red lighting around her intensified, scorching the road beneath her. Her eyes were laser-focused on Valerie, and absolutely nothing else. And that, if Danny had to guess, was exactly what Valerie wanted.

Emerging from the ground behind Nina, Dani rammed into the vampire’s back with a burst of ecto-energy. Caught off guard, Nina was blasted through the air, and straight towards Valerie, who didn’t even flinch. Her wrist cannon reformed, new parts materializing into place, to add a long, red, serrated blade below the cannon’s barrel. She thrusted her arm and impaled Nina through the gut. Nina shrieked in pain, only to be silenced by Valerie unloading the charge of her wrist cannon, sending her flying across the street, and slotting perfectly into the hole Danny made on the opposite wall.

God, what Danny wouldn’t give to show off his middle fingers to that vampire right now.

Dani quickly rushed to him and knelt by his side, so at least he still had something to smile about. 

“Dani! It is so great to-” Danny stopped when he realized Dani was scowling. “Oh. You’re mad.”

“I thought the point of this whole team thing is that we never have to fight alone ever again,” she scolded. And she’s not wrong.

“Sorry, sorry. I thought I could handle it.” He cringed inward at his earlier assumption. Boy, was he proven wrong. “Plus, tonight’s my shift.” 

“Just get your ass up, Fenton,” Valerie said, eyes still trained at the hole Nina disappeared into. All business when she’s on the job, as usual. “This ain’t over yet.” 

He didn’t need to be told that. Dani helped him rise up, first to a sitting position, before he slowly, awkwardly got his feet under him. The paralysis had mostly worn off. Bits of his arms and legs would occasionally lock up, but that was more annoying that painful. At least now he could stand up straight on his own. 

Just in time, too. The opposite wall was suddenly obliterated by a blast of red. From the dust, Nina emerged, furious, and practically surrounded by a storm of red lightning. 

“Don’t get hit by those red lightning,” Danny warned. Just remembering it triggered phantom pains along his body. 

“No, duh.” Valerie rolled her eyes.

Danny narrowed his eyes at her. “I mean it.”

“Are you sure you can still fight?” Dani asked, brows furrowed in concern. It’s really sweet. 

“I’m still alive, aren’t I?” Danny put on a confident smile for Dani. Worrying about him in a fight wouldn’t do her any good. She still looked wary, doubtful, but nevertheless shifted her attention from him to Nina. He did the same. 

Standing in the middle of the street, Nina roared, the storm of crimson around her sending out a shockwave that cracked the concrete. It was a challenge - one they had no choice but to accept. Dani clenched her palms into fists, ecto-flames bursting to life from them, and shifted into her battle stance. A trio of cubic cannons detached from Valerie’s suit to float behind her, while the rest of her arsenal hummed as they charged up to full power, and all of them trained upon the vampire. Danny transformed into his ghost form - a feat easier than he thought - and held his glowing fists at the ready. 

Hell yeah. Now this is a team. 

“Team Phantom, let’s kick ass!”

“Still don’t like the name.” 

“Let’s hope we can hold out until the cavalry arrives.”

Danny blinked, turning to look at Dani. 

“The cavalry?”

-

And then Winnie bursts through the door, shrieking, “Cheers, love! Cavalry’s here!”

So! I feel like a lot of chapters I write tend to get away from me, this one included. The scene at the beginning with Danny and his buddies went on longer than I thought, the confrontation with the Conclave also went on longer than I thought, and suddenly I’m 2k words in and I haven’t even gotten to the fight yet. And wow, did that fight stretched on. Can you believe this was supposed to be a short chapter?

Anyway, with this chapter, that means it’s officially been a little over a year since I started writing again. Which is honestly pretty crazy to think about. Back when I wrote The Initiative, it was really just me getting really fucking hyped for Infinity War. And now, standing in a post-Endgame world, this fic has spiraled into 200k+ words of really self indulgent crossover bonanza. It’s fucking nuts. I’m not sure what else to say. It’s just been super surreal.

I dunno, man. I’m just gonna go see Endgame ten more times.

Hope y’all have a good one today!

[sirenascales]

Hiya! I should definitely start this by saying that I love, LOVE your works ahh. <33 I’m so glad you opened the anon bc I’m shy af when it comes to requesting🥺

I don’t know if you write for him but if you do, I’d like to request a fully NSFW dom!Kunikida x fem!Reader fic with the prompts “You want me to give you your notebook back? You’ll have to make me.” coming from the reader and “You better shut that pretty little mouth before I put it to work, doll.” from Kunikida, I thought it could be fun 😈👀 dominant Kunikida who angry-fucks makes me go weak at the knees

You can include any kinks you want, I’m OK with anything, I’m even more OK with choking and degrading kinks so yeah😇

Thank you so much if you ever decide to write it, if you’re uncomfortable feel free to ignore <3

note: so... this turned out... a bit different? lmfao im sorry, i hope this is still okay. I really just couldn't make him super aggressive or like super kinky? I really don't see him being like that... definitely a bit soft dom-y but thats about it 😩 still, i liked how this turned out and i hope you do too!

warnings: nsfw, smut, smallest bit of angst,

-> Taking Kunikida's notebook hostage. 18+

You could tell by the twitch in Kunikida's eye that he was livid. Beyond pissed off. He was already four minutes behind for his commute to work, yet he couldn't leave. Why? You were basically holding his precious notebook hostage, holding it tightly to your chest as you stared at him defiantly.

Kunikida took a deep breath through his nose, closing his eyes briefly in an attempt to calm himself. "Please, give me my notebook."

"No."

His teeth clenched. "Give me my notebook."

"You want me to give you your notebook back? You’ll have to make me," were the words you spoke next, your lips curling up when Kunikida's face goes completely blank, his green eyes just boring into you.

"I'm going to ask you one more time," his tone is even, though still with the bit of edge that had a chill going up your spine. "Please, give me the notebook. I am already late for work."

That struck a very deep nerve inside of you, your chest blooming with anger as you snarled at him. "Work, work, work! It's all about your fucking job! Well, you're not getting your notebook back, so suck it!"

As you turned on your heel and stormed away from Kunikida, he watched you with wide eyes, his mouth slightly opened as he is hit with a suddenly realization. He saw the hurt which flashed in your eyes before you walked away, and that made him surge forward to follow you, right into your bedroom.

He knew exactly what you were doing by acting like a brat and talking back to him. You were purposely trying to instigate a reaction from him, to make him act, and he was more than inclined to do so.

"What are you still doing here?" you asked, a bite to your voice as you glared at him. Kunikida closed the bedroom door and you watched as he slipped his glasses off his face, setting them down carefully on their rightful place on the nightstand. "Don't you have a job to do? I'm sure Dazai is waiting."

Kunikida is silent as you continued to huff and puff, keeping his eye on his notebook still held against your chest. He slipped off his vest, hanging it on its hanger and putting it away. He he started to looses up the red ribbon around his collar and you just furrowed your eyebrows at him, taking a few steps back as he finally approached you.

"You- What are you-" His large hand is then suddenly clamping over your mouth, successfully shutting you up as he leaned down to stare straight into your wide eyes.

"You better shut that pretty little mouth before I put it to work, doll."

Another chill goes down your spine, your grip on the notebook finally loosening up and it begins to fall. Kunikida skillfully catches it, quickly holding it up high as you suddenly leap forward in an attempt to grab it.

"No! Give it back!" you yelled almost desperately, and the look that Kunikida fixes you with makes you freeze in place.

"You are in no position to make orders here, doll," he says to you, setting down his notebook on the dresser before turning back to you. "You wanted my attention, right? Now you got it. Take off your clothes and get on the bed."

You couldn't contain your glee, a huge megawatt smile growing on your face as you did as told. You couldn't ever defy him, not when he was like this. It made your heart race, skin tingling with anticipation.

It felt so good to finally feel Kunikida's warm skin on yours, to feel his strong hands hold you, claim you, as his. He wasn't rough with you, no, but as always, you were pliant under him. Always so reactive to his touch, his fingers expertly pinching your nipples, making you moan deeply against his lips as he kisses you deeply.

You missed him so much.

You clung onto him tightly, taking his kisses in earnest, and soon his cock as he finally, finally pushes himself inside of you, moaning deeply together with you.

"Shit," he curses while you whine, your head tilted back against the pillow as he slowly started thrusting in and out of you. He took your hands from his shoulders, his fingers lacing with yours as he held them down against the bed. As he continued to slap his hips against yours, fucking you hard and deep like you deserve, the sun shining from the window reflected off the rings you each had on your respective ring fingers.

"D-Doppo..." you moaned his name deeply, whimpering which each thrust he made into your heat, the pleasure he never fails to bring you making your mind go hazy. All you could feel was him, after what seemed to be so long.

You've been so lonely, your husband so caught up with work. He would come home late, and too tired to do much with you. You will always love him for how dedicated he is but... you were a priority too. You had to do something to finally have his attention back on you. What better way was there than to take his notebook? It obviously worked.

He was holding you so close to him, making love to you, his wife. It's what you deserved, and he knew that, and he knew that he has been neglecting you, taking your love for granted. It was shameful of him, really, but he planned to make it up to you.

But first...

"Come on," he grunted, sitting upright before he pulled you up, making you straddle his lap. You wrapped your arms around him tightly, his hands finding purchase on your hips as you started to ride him. You matched your thrusts with his, tossing your head back when he presses a thumb to your clit, rubbing it in tight circles. "Come on, need you to cum..."

"I love you," you cried out, looking at him with blown out, teary eyes, your lips swollen and plump. Kunikida couldn't resist kissing you again.

It didn't take much longer for your orgasm to finally wash over your body, your mouth wide open in a silent scream as your body tensed up, toes curling and your mind going blank for a second. Kunikida continued to fuck you through your orgasm, soon coming to his own release. He didn't think twice before cumming deep inside of you, his face pressed against your chest as he cursed and grunted repeatedly.

You fell back on the bed after Kunikida pulled out of you, heaving as you tried to catch your breath. Kunikida fell on his back beside you, equally tuckered out, his face sheening with sweat.

"Wow..." you whispered before covering your mouth, giggling softly.

Kunikida just sighed beside you, turning his head to look at you fondly, and apologetically. "I've been a terrible husband."

Your mouth fell open. You didn't want him to think that! "Wait... no-"

"I've been neglecting you. For that, I am terribly sorry." Kunikida just continued on and you just shook your head quickly, moving your hands to cover his mouth.

"You are not a terrible husband," you told him firmly before pulling your hands. You both frowned. "I just... I missed you a lot. I know you are dedicated to your work and I love you so much for that but... I don't know, it just made me feel like I wasn't... a priority..."

Kunikida's entire body stiffened, his mouth falling open. "H-how does that not make me a terrible husband?"

"Because!" you exclaimed, waving your hands a bit wildly. "You aren't! Every day I wake up so proud to be your wife! I just... had a moment of insecurity..." You chewed on your bottom lip, knowing that you probably weren't making sense. But it was how you truly felt, and you wanted to be honest with him.

He seemed to understand it, Kunikida nodding his head before he sat up, looking around the room. "I need my phone..."

You blinked. "For what?"

"I'm taking time off," Kunikida answered and your jaw dropped. "My wife needs her husband now," he continues, glancing at you with a small smile. "Plus, we need to have a conversation about this, so something like this won't happen again."

You smiled back at him. "So your notebook won't be held hostage?" you teased, giggling when his eyebrow twitched.

"Yes. Exactly."

You giggled again, leaning forward and pressing a sweet kiss on his cheek. "I love you."

"I love you too."

Requests are closed!

[hispipsqueak]

A Workplace Affair

Kei Tsukishima x F!Reader - NSFW

Summary: As the new tour guide at the Sendai Museum and presenter of their space exhibit, you have to work closely with the head of the dinosaur exhibit. Can you and Tsukishima learn to put aside your differences or are you going to have to work things out a different way?

Word Count: 3781

A/N: AHHHH. I put my soul into this piece I swear. As you know, Tsukishima is the absolute love of my life and I actually based this piece on this lovely commission from @/novaasoph on Instagram! I spent so long looking up dinosaur facts and the dress in the picture and story is actually a dress I own. Yes this is EXTREMELY self-indulgent, but I tried to make it as inclusive as possible because WE ALL NEED TO BE RAILED BY TSUKISHIMA IN A CLOSET OKAY?? As always likes and reblogs are hella appreciated 💕

TW: unprotected sex, enemies to lovers, slight public sex, oral sex (m receiving), workplace sex, my simping for Kei is v apparent

Here you were, a fresh-faced college graduate. After years of grueling nights spent studying and pulling all nighters to reach your goals, you had finally landed the job of your dreams working for the Sendai museum. The museum had hired you for their new Space exhibit and you would be one of their lead tour guides. The man who hired you, your new boss technically, had been desperate. The museum was preparing for an onslaught of tours now that the space exhibit was open. As Mr. Hashimoto excitedly explained, “Kids love space and dinosaurs and we finally got them both! Now we just need a good tour guide!” Mr. Hashimoto was an older grandfatherly type man, with large glasses, and a bushy grey mustache. Immediately you felt comfortable and warm from his friendliness.

He led you through a short tour of the museum, finally stopping at the last and largest exhibit, a cheery green sign declaring it the “Dinosaur Zone!”. You were in awe over the large T.Rex skeleton in the center of the room. 

“It’s beautiful!” You excitedly turned to Mr. Hashimoto.

He smiled at you, his eyes crinkling. 

“It really is, isn’t it? One of our prized displays. And of course, here comes the man of the hour.” He gestured toward a tall man walking towards the two of you.

The man was tall, at least 6 feet. His hair was blonde with a slight curl near his ears. He wore black half-rim glasses and his eyes were a bright golden hue. You could tell through his suit he was toned and muscular. His white button up was fitted very well against his broad chest and you felt your body heat up. Whoever this man of the hour was, he was HOT.

And the hot guy was staring at you, clearly annoyed.

“Miss Y/N, this is Mr. Kei Tsukishima, the “Dino Man”, if you will. He used to run the tours on this end, and now works more on the exhibit handling. If you need to know anything about this area, he will be your go-to!” Mr. Hashimoto chuckled. 

You extended your hand happily and after a beat, Tsukishima shook your hand. His hand engulfed yours in size and you felt a shiver run down your spine.

“Since you are new here, Tsukishima will be assisting you on running the tours, at least in this area. You two will be spending a lot of time together, so I suggest getting to know each other well!” He clapped you both on the shoulder and walked away. You saw Tsukishima stiffen and you were slightly disappointed when he began heading back toward his office, leaving you alone.

“Um, Tsukishima!” You called out, your voice echoing in the empty room. The blonde turned back, an eyebrow raised. You waited for him to respond but when he was silent, you spoke again.

“Uh...I look forward to working with you!” You smiled. He stared at you blankly and gave the briefest nod, before turning back around and walking away.

Well...that was...terrible.

Feeling dejected, you headed back to grab your bag and head home. You heard a door close in the distance. What you didn’t see was Kei with his back pressed against it, face red with a blush.

---

“As you can see here, these guys were pretty ferocious. I mean look at how big they were!” You stretched your arms out exaggeratedly, earning a loud laugh from the children you were currently leading on a tour. A few of the kids also started stretching their arms, growling at each other and laughing. You smiled, before hearing Tsukishima clear his throat.

“Well...ferocious if you were a tree. That’s an Aralosaurus. They were herbivores. Meaning they only ate plants.” Tsukishima gave you a pointed look, the ghost of a smirk dancing on his lips. You could feel your face heat up and turned around to face the children.

“Either way, it’s a pretty scary guy, I think!” You said smiling at the kids. You were determined to not lose your cool in front of the group you were leading. 

“Actually, they were pretty docile creatures. They used this bulge to blow air out and scare predators away, but they weren’t a ‘scary guy’ as you so eloquently put it”. Tsukishima interjected.

You could feel your eyes about to roll back into your skull and you forced your smile to remain cheerful. 

“Thank you so much for the information, Mr. Tsukishima. Or as we call him around here, Dino Boy!” You gave a fake laugh, feeling satisfied at the little crease appearing between his eyebrows as he gritted his teeth. You directed the children to the interactive sandbox where they could dig for plastic fossils. As the kids excitedly grabbed their buckets and shovels, you took a much needed mental break. Your exhibit was last, as the kids needed to burn out their excitement before the planetarium show and the dino exhibit usually tuckered them out well enough.

Lost in thought, you didn’t hear Tsukishima walk toward you. He stopped right next to you, his shoulder practically touching yours.

“Dino boy, really? That’s what we are going with today?” he muttered as the two of you watched the kids dig in the sandbox. You smirked and turned to face him.

“At least I don’t spend all day correcting people.” 

“Well if you actually researched anything for your job instead of acting like a child, I wouldn’t have to correct you.” He looked at you with a withering stare. You felt yourself crumble inside. Tsukishima’s gaze could kill a man, but fuck if you weren’t going down without a fight.

The two of you held similar arguments every day. Whether it was an incorrect fact, going down the wrong “order” of displays, heck even the way you wore your badge, Tsukishima was there with a snide comment and you were sick of it.

“So I don’t know every little thing to know about dinosaurs. There are better ways to correct people you know!” You let out a short huff, before turning your head to walk back to the group. You could feel his gaze on you and you held your head high as you led the children to the space exhibit. As you began to talk about the galaxies, out of the corner of your eye you saw Tsukishima walk into the room and find a seat near the back.

Curious, as he usually didn’t interact with you outside of annoying corrections in the dinosaur exhibit. You chose to ignore him and kept talking, getting more excited as you explained the Milky Way galaxy and described the show you would put on for the tour group. You started the exhibit and sat down in your usual seat, which happened to be next to Tsukishima. 

As the lights dimmed and the stars began to display on the arched ceiling, you could feel how close you actually were to Tsukishima. Your arms were nearly touching and you became very aware of how your heartbeat began to race. You attempted to focus on the program, as the built in narrator discussed the difference between the planets. You turned to sneak a look at the man next to you and found him already looking back at you. Your breath caught in your throat. His expression was unreadable but he didn’t look angry. His honey colored eyes were fixated on you and you felt your body tremble.

Before you could process what any of this meant, the narration stopped and you jumped up. 

“As the video discussed, the planets fall into multiple categories! The cool thing about that is that even though we perceive them as something solid and perfectly round similar to basketballs, some of them are gas giants...”

You continued on, feeling only slightly disappointed as you watched Tsukishima sneak back out the door.

-----

“Are you kidding me, Tsukishima?” you shouted. You were standing in the break room, hands on your hips. He was standing in front of you a white mug in his hand, with his eyebrow raised.

“What are you even talking about?” He looked almost bored with the whole interaction as he poured coffee into his cup.

“Somehow all of my mugs are on the tallest shelf. The shelf only YOU can reach.” You glared at him.

He placed his mug down on the countertop and turned to you, lazily.

“Why on earth would I do that?” His eyes narrowed and a smirk crossed his face. 

You crossed your arms. 

“I don’t know, because you are just a giant bully?” Your eyes lowered and before he could react you grabbed his cup of coffee and stalked off. 

-----

“What is the matter with you?!” Tsukishima yelled from his office, his voice echoing in the empty exhibit hall. The next tour wasn’t for a couple of hours.

You gently placed the box of files you were carrying on the cart in front of you. 

“I’m sorry, I don’t follow?” You looked up at him with false innocence in your eyes. 

“Why are all my pens now pink sparkle gel pens???!” He shouted at you, a fluffy topped pink pen in his hand.

Your eyes widened in mock surprise. 

“Now Tsukki, why on Earth would I do that?” You turned to push the cart and ran right into Mr. Hashimoto, who cleared his throat, smiling at the two of you.

“Now I am always one for inter-office tomfoolery, but the two of you are going a little overboard. So unless morale improves around here, I may have to take drastic action.” He kept the smile on his face but there was a warning look in his eyes. You both gulped. 

“Sorry, Mr. Hashimoto. This will never happen again.” Tsukishima was the first to speak. You bowed your head in agreement and Hashimoto, satisfied with your responses, walked away. You turned to walk away back to your cart before Tsukishima grabbed you by the wrist, and dragged you into a tiny storage room.

“Look, I know you despise me but I am not going to lose my job to some little girl in a stupid dress.” He hissed at you.

You looked down at your dress. It was dark blue with galaxies and planets patterned all over, quite fitting for your job actually. 

“Shut up, dino boy. My dress isn’t stupid! And I am not going to lose my job to some mean schoolyard bully.” You raised your hand to flick his forehead, and he grabbed your wrist, pushing you against the wall.

“You need to learn some manners, little girl.” His voice dropped to a dangerously low whisper, and the two of you glared at each other. He was so close to you, his chest nearly touching yours and you felt your blush creep up as his brilliant eyes pierced into you.

You felt the heat pool between your legs and you squeezed your thighs together. The shadow of a smile passed over his face.

“Don’t tell me you’re turned on right now.” He said, letting out a soft mocking laugh. You gritted your teeth.

“Of course not, asshole. You’re the one who dragged me into a closet and are now pressing yourself against me, perv.” You spat back.

The sound of voices interrupted your argument and Tsukishima quickly clapped a hand over your mouth. The two of you being caught in this position regardless of the reason would be a terrible look for both of you. Your eyes widened and you held your breath until the voices outside the door faded away.

He slowly pulled his hand away and the two of you looked at each other. Before either of you could think, his lips were against yours, pressing you into the wall of the storage room.

His hand cupped your face as he deepened the kiss and you fell back, letting him take charge. He tasted like peppermint tea and citrus and you felt dizzy from the overwhelming sensations. You wrapped your arms around him, running your fingers through the curly hair behind his ears, gently tugging to pull him closer towards you. 

He let out a low groan into your mouth, and you nibbled on his lower lip. He had one hand tangled in your hair and the other was making its way down your body, pulling down the strap of your dress. His kisses moved lower, soft lips pressing down your neck. He sucked a mark into your skin, grazing his teeth over the spot before soothing it with his tongue. You closed your eyes, arching your back away from the wall.

“Fuck...you know how long I’ve wanted to do this?” He whispered into your skin, before kissing your collarbone. Your skin intoxicated him and he needed more of you in every way.

You breathed out a sigh, “Could have fooled me.”

He pressed his forehead to yours, gazing into your eyes.

“You’re annoying, childish, ridiculous, absolutely over-the-top stubborn. And fucking gorgeous. You don’t know shit about dinosaurs, and yet you can make dead stars seem like the most interesting thing in the universe. You captivate the room when you walk through the door and I’ve been in love with you since the day we met.”

This time it was you who kissed him, your tongues exploring each other's mouths. His hand slipped under your lab coat and tugged slightly on the zipper of your dress, waiting for confirmation. You moaned into his mouth and he dragged the zipper down slowly, his fingertips brushing your spine. You slid your hand to his chest, unbuttoning his shirt. You could feel the muscles and ran your fingers over his abs, chiseled from years of athleticism.

He shrugged off his jacket and loosened his tie, as you let your dress pool to the floor. His eyes roamed your body, wanting to claim every inch of it as his. You were ethereal and Tsukishima had the urge to worship all of you. 

You looked up at him, eyes shining brightly even in the dimly lit room.  He placed a finger under your chin, tilting your face up to his.

“Stunning.”

You giggled, and pressed a kiss to his neck, leaving a mark from your lipstick. He leaned back against the wall as you kissed down his chest, leaving a trail of cherry red over his porcelain skin. Soon you were on your knees, running your fingers over his soft happy trail before undoing his belt. Slowly, you slid down his slacks, noticing the dark stain of precum on his navy boxers. You pressed a kiss on each side of his abs, in the indentations of his V line. You ran your nails over the head of his erection, teasing him. He let out a soft hiss and you grinned. Perhaps another time, you would have spent all day teasing him, his whimpers like music to your ears.

But today, you were in a time crunch.

Using two fingers, you tugged down the elastic waistband of his boxers, freeing his cock.

It was beautiful, just like the man it belonged to. Long and slender, with the prettiest pink tip, dotted with a slick bead of precome. 

You gave kitten licks to the tip, savoring his taste. Tsukishima threw his head back biting his lip. He needed more of your mouth and you were oh so happy to please.

Taking his length in your mouth, you deepthroated him, pressing your nose to the base, and felt the soft curly blond hairs tickle your skin.

Tsukishima's eyes rolled back as you began to suck him down, your throat clenching around his cock. His hands gripped your hair almost painfully, though it only added to your excitement.

You bobbed on his cock, pulling it nearly all the way out of your warm mouth before forcing it back down your throat. Swirling your tongue around the head with each thrust. You looked up at him, your eyes brimming with tears.

"Fuck you look so beautiful wrapped around my cock like that. I just wanna ruin you, pretty girl."

He started face-fucking you, slowly at first but when he felt no resistance from you, he began to speed up. His fingers grasped your hair, forcing his cock deeper down your throat with each thrust. Your tears fell freely now and you could see red smears of your lipstick decorating his shaft.

You moaned around him, your face wet with spit and tears and you could only imagine how wrecked you looked. Tsukishima let out a string of curses under his breath, jerking his hips upward to meet your mouth.

"Shit, fuck, just like that, baby. Fuck yes just like that…fuck gonna cum, gonna cum…" His eyes were screwed shut and you could see the blush enveloping his face, small drops of sweat running down. You forced yourself to take him as deep as possible, gagging on his cock.

With a loud moan, Tsukishima exploded inside your mouth. You could feel the hot ropes of cum sliding down your throat and you whimpered as you swallowed all of him down. 

You finally released him from your lips, strings of saliva connecting you to his cock. He pulled you up, pressing a kiss to you. 

"Fuck that was incredible." He whispered, wiping the smeared mess off your face. You felt something poking your thigh and realized he was still hard.

He looked at you and chuckled.

"Yeah turns out being an athlete gives you stamina." he said teasingly before pushing you up against the wall. “Don’t tell me you think I’m done with you yet.”

His fingers slid down your body, roughly tugging down your bra. He buried his face in your chest, biting and sucking on your tits, grazing over the hardened buds with his teeth. While he busied his mouth, his hands continued down, circling the wetness on your panties.

“You want this, pretty girl? You this wet for me?”  he whispered, before easing a finger into your soaking hole. You threw your head back. His fingers were long and slender and hit the deepest parts of you. He began to roll his thumb over your clit softly, listening to your quiet moans. He pressed another finger inside you, fucking you on them in preparation for his cock. Your arousal dripped down his wrist and his mouth watered thinking of your taste. Soon, he wanted to bury himself between your thighs, making you cream on his tongue over and over. But that would have to wait.

“Fuck...Tsukishima...I need, I need your cock. Please, please, please.” you panted, almost like a prayer.

“Say my name, pretty girl. Tell me who’s cock you need. Do that for me baby.” He grinned, working a third finger into you.

“Fuck...Kei...please, please Kei. Fuck me. Need your cock, Kei.” You pleaded, your body ablaze with your imminent high.

“Such a good girl.” He smirked, before pulling his fingers out abruptly. You whined as you clenched around nothing, but not for long as he pressed his cock to your entrance.

“Look at me.” He demanded. You looked up at him. Your hair and makeup were ruined, your eyes lidded with desire. Your lips were puffy and parted, whimpers of his name falling from your lips like a mantra as you begged for him. You were so goddamn beautiful.

He gripped your thighs, spreading you open, and slammed himself inside you. You swore you could feel the walls behind you shake. He pistoned his cock in and out of you, each thrust hitting deeper spots. You felt like you were breaking in half and coming together at the same time. 

“Fuck Kei!!! Feels so fucking good.” You cried into his neck. You could taste the sweat on his skin as he gave all of himself to you.

“So tight, pretty girl. So fucking tight. God you’re so fucking perfect.” He panted into your hair, as he dug his fingertips into your plush thighs. 

Your eyes rolled back, stars dancing in your vision. Your cunt clamped down around him, squeezing around his cock tightly. His balls slapped against your ass as he buried himself deeper and deeper into you. You were rapidly approaching your climax, each thrust taking you higher and higher.

Kei bit down on your shoulder, his movements sloppier as he neared his own release. You could feel his body tense, his shoulder muscles flexing under your fingers. 

“Cum with me, please y/n. Please pretty girl, cum with me.” He groaned into your ear, and his voice sent you over the edge.

“Oh god, fuck….Kei!” You screamed, and he quickly swallowed your shouts with a kiss. You could feel his cock twitch inside you, unloading streams of cum as your pussy milked every last drop from him. Your combined juices coated the tops of your thighs and you held each other for dear life, both of you gasping for air.

Your legs threatened to give out underneath you and he held you closer, pressing soft kisses to your hair, whispering inaudible words of praise. Your body melted in his touch and the two of you stood there for what felt like hours, but must have only been minutes.

Your phone chimed from the pocket of your labcoat, drawing the both of you from your post-coital haze.

“Shit, tour in twenty minutes.” The two of you scrambled to get dressed and you checked your face in your phone camera.

“Fuck I can’t give a tour looking like this!” You panicked, wiping furiously at your face. Tsukishima laughed, before producing a box of tissues from a shelf behind you. 

“I’ll grab some water, though I must say it’s a damn shame since you look so beautifully fucked out.” He teased, before adjusting his tie and walking out. He returned quickly with a water bottle  and you attempted to make yourself somewhat presentable, to his sarcastic yet sweet commentary.

As the two of you prepared to leave the room, he glanced down at you. 

“So, dinner tonight?”

You grinned. 

“Sure Dino Boy.”

-------

Bonus:

The two of you left the room as nonchalantly as possible, though still a little disheveled from dressing in a dark closet. A booming voice rang out.

“There you two are! Your tour is just about to start, Y/N!” Mr. Hashimoto motioned for you to head to greet the group. As you walked away (and Kei attempted to not stare at your ass), Mr. Hashimoto turned to Kei.

“You know, Mr. Tsukishima. Red is quite a good look for you.” 

[going-dead]

Phasmophobia

Danny was very sick of tourists coming to explore Amity park. Like very sick of them, especially the ‘ghost hunter’ ones. In the end they just caused more problems than the actual ghosts, getting in the way of the fights causing Danny more stress and injuries than normal. Not to mention they sucked at their so called jobs. He was pretty sure even a single elementary schooler of Amity was a better ghost fighter than all of the tourists combined.

But at the moment it was the dead of winter and probably one of the coldest weeks of the year. So only the stupidest of self proclaimed ghost hunters would venture out to hunt ghosts in weather like this. While it was nice not having to worry about danger prone tourists Danny still was miserable, he could deal with the cold just fine in fact he preferred the cold. The problem was that It was the holiday season, the worst time of the year. At least the ghost attacks were less frequent as they all prepared for the Christmas truce party.

Still he supposed it could be worse. His parents weren’t fighting as much this year, though that was probably due to the fact they were still treating him like he was made of glass half of the time after he told them about the whole half dead thing. Danny figured that was due to the fact they blamed themselves for the portal incident, causing them to coddle him to an almost tortuous degree. It was as if they expected him to disappear if he was so much as bumped in the wrong way. It had gotten a bit better at this point at least, if things continued as it did at the beginning Danny was pretty sure he’d rather have them still be shooting at him. Now they only tensed up when he left the house instead of not so subtly stalking him all day.

At the moment Danny was sitting on the counter in the kitchen with his mom while she was cooking dinner. “Danny dear get off the counter that’s where the food goes not you.” Maddie said shooing him off the counter with a spatula.

Danny floated off in a huff, “This is ghostphobic mom. The counter is a perfect seat.”

Maddie rolled her eyes, “The term would be phasmophobic, and no it’s not it’s; I don’t want your butt all over where I’m making our dinner-phobic.”

“Fine transphobic then.”

“How about asking you to set the table? What would that be?”

Danny mulled it over for a few seconds. “A reasonable request I suppose.” He phased his hands though the cabinets grabbing the plates. Honestly he could have just as easily grabbed them normally but he was still trying to get his parents used to him having powers. “Oh by the way Sam, Tucker, and I are hanging out tomorrow to celebrate winter break starting and school being out for two whole weeks.” “Alright sweetie, but be safe okay?”

“Of course I will be mom.”

“I mean it Danny, please.”

Danny sighed “Don’t worry, I’ll make sure to text you regularly to let you know I’m safe. I’ll be fine and stay out of trouble, I promise” Maddie nodded seemingly plated at least for the time being.

The next day Danny was really regretting making that promise. The day started out so well too. Danny, Sam, and Tucker were walking along the park trail. Danny was walking a few steps in front of the other two, subtly making the path easier with his powers. The only people out insane enough to bear the cold were people who had to go to work and teens who were bored out of their minds.

“All I’m saying Danny is that if you want to choose that class you should choose a race other than human for once. Hellspawn would be the best option in your case.” Tucker argued.

“Says the dude playing the race for furries.” Danny shot back turning his head to look back at his friend.

“Hey! The beastmen race is a perfect fit for my class, they have an exp boost for trickery and magic skills  it’s the best for playing a character who mains in ambushing with traps.

“Boys boys stop arguing. Danny will be fine playing as a human he’s just gonna have to spend more time grinding. Also he’s right, beastmen are so the furry option.” Sam cut in.

“Whatever, I just don’t understand why he always plays the most boring race in every game he plays. I mean why would you want to play as a human when you could be a fantasy race like an elf or something.”

“Well that’s easy for you and Sam to say you both are still hum-,” Danny was cut off mid sentence by his ghost sense and a glowing red circle surrounding the group. He hardly had a chance to go ghost before being fully enveloped by the light.

When Danny was finally oriented enough to open his eyes he vowed to never complain about getting motion sick while his dad was driving again if it meant he would never have to go through that awful experience again. It felt like getting sucked into the Fenton Thermos if it was the size of a straw and being spun in a blender all at the same time. He looked around seeing if his friends were brought along with him. And just his luck, of course they got pulled through whatever the hell that was too.

“Ugh, you guys okay?” He closed his eyes again and focused on stabilizing his core and getting the last of the nausea to leave.

“Bleh I think I’m gonna hurl.” Sam groaned from beside him.

Danny heard Tucker shift beside him. “Yeah I’m good, I guess all that time staying up late playing VR games kinda helped against motion sickness. Landed on my arm though so definitely going to bruise later. Where are we anyway?”

That actually was a good question, Danny lifted himself off the ground literally, using legs to stand was lame anyway. The sight he was met with was both confusing and surprising. Looking down he saw that the three of them were in some sort of red magic circle or something, with candles lit around it. Looking past that was the part that was surprising. He was expecting this to be the work of a ghost but standing in a circle around the three of them were six  humans in different colored robes. He couldn’t recognize any of them though, they must have been from out of town or just total shut ins. He was pretty sure he recognized where they were though, it was the basement of an abandoned building next to the mall, Sam was super into urban exploring the year before and it was one of the first places she dragged the two boys to.

“Haha uhh hey didn’t know there was a costume party going on, I would have dressed up, looks like you got all the colored robe thing going on though. Would my hazmat suit work instead of a robe?” Danny looked at the group around him and cracked an uneasy smile. Maybe it was some sort of accidental ghost summoning or something, it wouldn’t be the first time. Though the fact it brought his friends along pointed to it either being on purpose or something much more powerful, or both.

The man in the black robe turned to a woman in a white one. “Why did the spell bring two kids along with it .”

Danny tried to ignore being called an ‘it’ not like his parents didn’t do it before they knew about his identity. “I’m not the murder clown and I do have a name you know.” But his words seemed to fall onto deaf ears.

“I did the calculations right if that’s what you’re trying to imply, as you can see the subject did appear in the circle as planned. We probably just underestimated how much power the sacrifice would provide with the addition of the solstice.” White robe snapped. Great, this was totally just what Danny needed at the start of his winter break. Not only did they seem like ghost hunters they were the crazy obsessed culty ones.

“Either way the goal was achieved in the end, we have the ghost boy.” Black robe pointed to two men, one in yellow and one in blue robes. “Take care of the two bystanders, but don’t kill them. After all we shouldn’t kill our soon to be followers.” Yeah that wasn’t concerning at all Danny thought.

The one in the yellow grabbed Sam and the one in the blue grabbed Tucker at the black robed man's command. Danny assumed that probably meant the black robed one was the one in charge here. “Hey! Get your hands off me you freaks!” Sam yelled, struggling against the man’s grip.

But Danny’s friends didn’t have a chance against people twice their size. Before either of them could struggle more the two men slammed their heads to the ground in almost unison, knocking them out almost instantly. It happened so fast all Danny would do is watch on in horror. He felt like he watched their now limp bodies for ages, their chests shallowly rising at least giving him the relief of knowing they were still alive. But the sight of small puddles of blood forming around their heads snapped him out of his horror and into a rage.

Danny placed his feet to the ground turning to look at the two in the black and white robes. “Why?” He seethed, “You said they were accidentally brought along when you were trying to get me here. Technically in a way this falls onto me. So tell me, why?”

The man in the black robe seemed taken aback from being confronted so suddenly. The woman in white didn’t seem to have the same problem, maybe they both were in charge? Honestly though Danny didn’t care at this point. “We will take over the little town you haunt. After we do that we will find out where all the ghosts are originating from and then make them into our soldiers so we can take over the country and then the world. To do that we obviously needed you out of the way since you seem to be the only one capable of combating the other ghosts that come into this world. Or you would just defeat our pawns before they could take true action. So we found a way to summon and trap ghosts, then brought you here so we could get you out of our way.”

Honestly Danny was disappointed hearing that more than anything, his rage almost completely disappeared after hearing the plan. “Hold up that is the stupidest plan I have ever heard.” And that was saying something seeing as he dealt with Vlad's plans on a weekly basis. “First off you do realize it would be very hard to get or even force ghosts into your service if you don’t offer them, anything in return. Not to mention how some ghosts have almost godlike powers and you expect to overpower them? Also I am not even close to the only one who can fight ghosts. Everyone in Amity Park has at least some know how when it comes to ghost fighting. They sell basic ghost protection equipment at the supermarket. I just happen to be better suited than everyone else because I y’know can like fly and go intangible when chasing them. Using ghosts to take over the world is so stupid do you even know how to properly catch a ghost? Seriously this is like next level dumb, not to mention how did you even know the summoning would work if it didn't you’d just all be standing in a darkly lit room looking dumber than you already do.”

That seemed to anger the white one a lot. Apparently she didn’t like her intelligence questioned. “Why you little-.” She stomped her foot. “This plan was thought through down to the smallest detail. You want to know how it worked huh? How about asking your friend over there. I wonder what happens when the dead are killed? You will find out soon enough.”

Danny looked over to where we gestured and his refound taunting attitude vanished. Laying over in the corner inside a smaller less complex looking circle was a ghost or the ectoplasmic remains of one at least, the core was completely destroyed. Judging by the fact that the ectoplasm was red it probably had a fire core before it was destroyed. From the lingering ecto signature Danny doubted the ghost was even sapient. It was most likely the remains of something like a blob ghost or the ghost of an animal or even a weaker ectopus. Still all he could do was stare at the remains in horror.

“Of course summoning you was harder so we used that thing for its ghost energy to help power the circle. Instead of chalk we used it’s ectoplasm to ensure the strength and longevity of the seal to hold you in the circle.” The woman smiled as if she achieved something great. Achieve something she did indeed, but it certainly was not what she intended.

The rage Danny felt before came back in full force. Before with his friends he at least knew they would recover, all three of them got injured fighting ghosts more often than they should. But to injure a ghost to the point where not even their core remained was something so taboo that only the most despicable ghosts would do. Even Skulker kept the cores of his prey stable enough not to fade away completely. A ghost's form could be completely destroyed but as long as their core remained they would reform back where they first formed in the Ghost Zone. The only ghosts Danny could think of who would go out of their way to destroy a core were some of the ancients like Pariah Dark or Nocturne.

Danny finally managed to tear his eyes away from the ghost's remains to lock eyes with the woman. She and the black robed man took a step back out of instinct. Looking into his eyes they felt the feeling every animal of prey felt when it knew it was being watched, being hunted. The temperature in the room dropped and frost started to crawl across the walls. Danny took a step towards the two leaders before pausing to reconsider and turning and starting towards the two men standing above his friends.

Then men in yellow and blue robes looked to the man in black for guidance, unsure of what action to take. He looked uncertain as well but shook his head. “There’s no way it can pass through the seal, we tested it.”

Danny's eyes flicked over to the man then back to the two who hurt his friends and gave them a predatory grin, his teeth now looking slightly sharper than usual. He made no sound as he stepped over the circle with ease closer and closer to the two men. They both reached for their weapons, small bats, apparently they were the muscle of the group, and swung at the approaching ghost. Danny simply went intangible causing the two to overswing and hit each other instead, knocking the wind out of them both and causing them to drop their bats. While they were catching their breath Danny grabbed them by their hair and knocked their heads together. Their bodies crumbled to the floor just a few inches from the teens they did the same to just minutes before.

The one who had yet to say or do anything, dressed in red, made her way towards Danny while his back was towards her. Just as she got within arms reach of him she slipped and fell. The temperature had dropped even more at this point causing the ground surrounding Danny to ice over. Danny hardly acknowledged the large thud behind him simply trapping the fallen woman up to her neck in ice as he walked past and headed towards his final two targets.

When first summoned by the group Danny could, within reason, probably be passed off as a weirdish looking human excluding the glow around him. But now as he stalked towards his prey that was no longer the case. His chest no longer moved like it was breathing. His feet made no sound as they made contact with the ground. His eyes, non-blinking, no longer had pupils or even whites to them just a void of endless ectoplasmic green. His ears were pointed almost bat like. The tips of which, along with his lips, were tinted blue. His hair, normally white like snow, now was just the white that came from complete absence of any color. The hair was defying gravity almost as if it was underwater while smoke like wisps trailed off from his hair as he moved. His mouth was twisted into an emotionless smile splitting through his cheeks showing needle like teeth all the way back to where his molars would have been, there was no tongue or throat behind them, just another endless green void. The skin of his neck that was showing past the hazmat suit was marked with lightning like scars. The glow around him seemed to absorb all the light in the room.

The man in the black robe looked between the approaching horror and his partner before running towards the exit. Danny moved so fast it was almost as if he materialized right in front of the man. The man stumbled back falling down in shock but still tried to scramble away from him crossing his chest as he did so. Just as Danny started to raise his arm towards the man he paused and lurched back.

He looked down at his chest where an ornate knife was now lodged. Holding onto the hilt was the woman, she gave the knife a final twist before letting go and herding her partner into the corner farthest away from Danny. Danny showed no pain as he grabbed the knife and pulled it out, the blade was dripping with ectoplasm, and dropped it on the ground. The wound in his chest already healing, filling with more ectoplasm to replace what was lost.

The smile that was marring Danny’s face was replaced with a scowl as he made his way towards the corner where the two were cowering. Placing a hand on their necks he lifted them both up against the wall and started slowly burning their skin with an ectoblast. He let them go, letting them fall to the ground only when their screams of pain turned silent as crushed vocal cords and burnt throat muscles took their toll. Both cult leaders looked up at him in horror faces pale. "What's wrong?" Danny smiled, "It looks like you've seen a ghost."

The woman looked at him in fear as she grasped at the raw skin of her throat, which now was covered in blisters and charred in some of the worst places. “Wha-, what, what are you?” She managed to rasp out before coughing up some blood.

Danny let out a dark chuckle, his voice echoed over itself. “I-,” he snarled, “am a Phantom .”

After Danny sent an anonymous tip to the police about the cult, he brought his friends back to his house. Of course his mom freaked out after he stopped responding to her texts and even more when he phased into the living room with an unconscious Sam and Tucker. He was pretty sure she was about to break out the BOOmerang if she didn’t hear from him for much longer. She was more than willing to take the two of them to the hospital to get them checked out.

Danny made a quick stop into the ghost zone to tell Clockwork to spread the word to other ghosts to be on alert and that there were humans that were trying to summon and capture ghosts. After telling Clockwork what happened, in much more detail than the briefest summary he gave his mom, including how he probably went a bit overboard with dealing with the cultists. He also admitted he didn't regret it even if he did go overboard. They hurt his friends and caused a ghost to completely fade, and in Danny’s opinion they deserve whatever came to them. The whole story caused Clockwork to also start fretting over him making sure to let Danny know that his reaction was a completely normal response to someone threatening something that falls within his obsession especially since it happened in his haunt of all places. Danny swore that his ghostly mentor could be worse than his own parents sometimes especially when it came to reassuring him about his more ghostly tendencies.  

Luckily after being released from the hospital it turned out the worst Sam and Tucker suffered were concussions that would heal in a decently short amount of time. That didn’t mean they weren’t complaining about it though.

“Stop laughing about my suffering Danny! I won’t be able to start playing Fantasy War Online VII until my two week tech restriction is lifted by my doctor. It was bad enough I had to go to a hospital but to be taken away from my lovely devices as well is just too much.” Tucker lamented.  

“Quit complaining and suck it up. I’m on the restriction too Tucker.” Sam pointed out.

Tucker huffed. “Yeah well you’ll probably manage to catch up to all the people who are getting it on release day easily, since you’re scarily good at MMO’s.” He flopped back onto Danny’s bed. “Hey at least this gives us more time to convince Danny to play something other than a human for once in his life. Like I said before the hellspawn is the perfect race for the build you’re going for.”

Danny just rolled his eyes. “And like I said before, I like being a human.” “Whatever dude just don’t complain when I utterly beat you if we end up fighting because you wanted to be the lamest most boring race ever.”

Danny shrugged. “Somehow I’ll cope, I just think it’s nice to be seen as normal and not scary.”

Sam laughed. “Danny you are the least scary person like to ever exist. The only things scary about you are your grades and your wacky parents. I doubt you could be scary if you tried.”

Danny looked out the window watching the stars as they started to appear in the sky. “...Yeah I guess you’re right.”

[five-rivers]

Loved Chapter 5

Sort of wanted to do something more elaborate with this, but it just wasn't happening. Meh.

.

“But you aren’t really real, are you?”

Tucker’s question killed the mood fast than a bullet. Danny and Sam stared at him from their side of the blanket nest.

“You want to rephrase that?” asked Sam, glaring, arms crossed.

“Uh,” said Tucker, sweat starting to form on his upper lip. “I mean, clearly you’re real, just… maybe not entirely physical? You, it’s,” he made a sort of twisting gesture with one of his hands. “People who aren’t from here can’t see you. They can’t even touch you. That sort of implies that you’re not on the same level of reality as them.” He shrugged. “You call the other place the Dream, right? Maybe you’re in, like, a kind of daydream or something.”

Danny twisted a corner of a blanket in his hands. “No,” he said.

“Danny,” started Tucker.

“No,” repeated Danny. “I can’t—” He noticed he was breathing heavily, his eyes unfocused enough that he could see—No. “Tucker, I don’t—I don’t think I even have free will anymore.” No matter how much he Loved Clockwork and craved Love in return, no matter how glad he was that the dark future would never come to pass, that grated at times. “I need—” He gulped air.

(Before, if he was this panicked, his heart would be thundering in his chest. Now, it was far too quiet.)

Sam put a hand on his back, steadying. Tucker reached out, too, but hesitated, unsure.

“I need to be real,” he said. He needed to still exist, still be human, at least in part. He couldn’t lose that, too. No matter what else he might gain.

“You are real,” said Tucker. “I’m sorry, I—” He cursed lightly under his breath, “—I wasn’t thinking. It’s just… Maybe something you should think about. Maybe—Maybe you aren’t coming completely out of… I don’t know. Wherever you go.”

“Maybe,” said Danny, struggling to get his breathing back under control. “Maybe. I just. Not right now.”

“Okay,” said Tucker. “Yeah. What were we talking about before?”

“Who cares?” asked Sam. “Let’s watch a movie.”

“That sounds good,” said Danny.

.

Danny woke up first the next morning, which was somewhat unusual. Sam was definitely a night-owl, but Tucker woke up fairly early. He stepped over them, feet silent on the floor. Almost as if they weren’t really there.

He shook his head. Not now.

He went to the bathroom and took care of things slowly, deliberately, as if to impress upon his body that he was human.

Sam and Tucker still weren’t awake when he came back. Also, when he thought about it, the rest of the house was eerily silent as well.

No… There was music. Was that coming from outside? He closed his eyes to listen better and caught himself drifting off while standing.

That was abnormal. He knelt and shook Sam and Tucker’s shoulders. They didn’t stir.

Someone was here. And they were here without Danny knowing. That was bad. That was really bad.

He went to his parents’ room. They were asleep, too.

There was a nonzero possibility that he was the only one awake. (Assuming he had ever been awake in the first place and not, as Tucker put it, daydreaming.)

He went out, following the music. Music suggested Ember, but this didn’t seem to be her style. She preferred motion, energy, vibrance. This was quieter, subtler.

Then again, none of the others made sense.

(At least, Danny liked to pretend they didn’t.)

The music wasn’t louder outside, but it was clearer. The scent of something sweet floated on the air. Something warm. Like honey.

Was something buzzing?

Danny shook his head again, forcing himself back into awareness. Maybe he should try and figure out what was going on from inside the Dream. It wasn’t possible to fall asleep there. At least, Danny never had.

(Assuming he wasn’t always partially in the Dream, like Tucker said.)

On the other hand, it often helped to observe what was going on in the real world, on the surface of things, before diving. As messy as fights could be in the real world, winning them in the Dream was harder.

He forged on, periodically pinching himself. He wasn’t the only one on the streets, but he was the only one on the streets that wasn’t passed out. It looked like there had been some car crashes.

That’s when he saw her.

She stood in the middle of an intersection, looking away from him. She was built like a centaur, except the lower part of her body more closely resembled a massive deer than a horse. An elk, perhaps. Both her deer-portion and her human-portion had night-black skin, studded with white stars. Antlers curved and branched above her curly hair. A crown of red flowers sat on her head. She wore no other clothes.

Danny did not notice any of this at first. No, what first jumped out at him was the unmistakable chain of Love binding him to her and vice versa.

He’d never met anyone like this, so—

She turned to face Danny. But she didn’t have a face. She had a mask. A well-made mask that had both eye-holes and a mouth with lips that seemed to curve. It was also covered with pulsing, swirling, hypnotic patterns. Black and white chased each other across the mask, not respecting the mask’s physical curves.

Danny could feel his mind start to go fuzzy. Felt the ground go soft under him as he sank into the Dream. A distant part of him wanted to look away, but the rest of him could only blink slowly, captivated.

“Come,” she said in a fascinating combination of an out-loud voice and a True Voice, tugging lightly on the chain that attached Danny to her.

Danny complied, trotting out into the intersection. When he was most of the way there, she turned away again.

“Follow,” she ordered.

Danny did, vaguely noting how rapidly the sidewalks and concrete buildings of Amity Park flowed into smoothly rolling hills covered in grass and flowers. The air grew heavier. Hotter. The perfume of the flowers combined with the buzzing of the bees and the gentle music served to make Danny even drowsier than before.

Still, he could hardly nod off in this situation, walking behind her, Love connecting them.

Sluggishly, belatedly, a name came to mind. “Nocturne,” he said. The name tasted like milk and honey, like chamomile tea, like sleep. She stopped and inclined her head slightly towards him. “You’re different from before.”

“We haven’t met,” she said. Then she turned more fully, the lips on her mask curving into a smile. “Has our parent been showing you Dreams of me? Perhaps I looked more like this.” She changed, her body warping before Danny’s eyes to become an impossibly tall man completely covered in starry black robes. Except, of course, for his mask and curved, ram-like horns. “This is as good a place as any, I suppose.”

Danny nodded, not quite sure what he was agreeing to, and looked around. Amity Park was nowhere in sight. The hills were a little lumpy, as if the grass and moss were growing over oddly shaped rocks.

“Let’s sit,” said Nocturn, lowering himself elegantly to the ground.

Danny followed, movements clumsy and blurred by sleep. He blinked, and found his hands occupied by a large mug. He looked up at Nocturne. Had he given this to Danny, or…?

Nocturne smiled. Danny looked away, not feeling like getting caught in the hypnotic swirls of his mask again. There was something off about those rocks under the grass. Something about their shape…

Then he saw it and inhaled sharply through his teeth.

Bodies. They were bodies. Still breathing, but…

He looked back at Nocturne. He’d known Nocturne was being too nice to him. He was new to being other, but not new to being a younger sibling. Older siblings only acted like this when they had set up everything in their favor. When they wanted something.

Even knowing this, he struggled to keep his eyes open. Could he fall asleep in the Dream?

“What are you doing to them?” he asked. “How do I wake them up.”

Nocturne hummed. “I have an idea. Play a game with me, sibling, and I’ll tell you.”

“What kind of game?”

“You ask me a question, and for every answer I give you, I get something from you.”

“Like, an answer from me,” said Danny, trying to clarify his position, “or something else?”

Nocturne’s smile showed teeth.

“If I play this game,” said Danny, “I have to be able to say when it ends.” He didn’t want to be dancing around conversational pitfalls every time he interacted with Nocturne, after all. They were siblings.

(And though Love was not trust, it was Love. And Love was undeniable.)

“Of course,” agreed Nocturne, easily.

“Alright, then,” said Danny. He adjusted his grip on the mug.

The grass was crawling. He blinked, hard, and shook his head, dislodging two bees that had landed on his ear.

“How do I wake them up?” he asked.

“You can’t,” said Nocturne.

Danny paused, waiting for Nocturne to take what he wanted.

“You have other questions.”

“Aren’t you going to take something from me, for the question?”

“Yes, I am.”

Danny pursed his lips, realizing he had just wasted a question.

“If I can’t wake them, who or what can?”

“I could. Or they could wake themselves.”

Danny mulled over what that could mean. He had no idea where to start with the second part, but the first…

“What would I have to do, to get you to wake them?”

“You—”

The chain around Danny’s neck went taut, pulling him through the fabric of the Dream at breakneck speeds. He was in Clockwork, his sibling behind him.

You must not bully your sibling, my dear. I have enough love for both of you. You do not need to be jealous.

Danny swayed. Now that so much of the tension between him and Nocturne was gone, he was no longer able to use it to support his wakefulness.

Drink your milk, little Love. You’ll be able to find your friends.

Danny nodded sleepily and tipped the mug back. He didn’t remember what happened after that.

.

“Hundreds of Amity Park citizens are still in comas as health officials race to find the cause of the mysterious event. Some say that gas leaks are to…”

Danny tuned out the TV and glared at his cereal. He knew he had fallen asleep in the Dream and had done something, but the memory was beyond him. Maybe whatever it had been was beyond an even partially human mind.

Or whatever kind of mind Danny had.

His fingers twitched. He was going to go down again later today, to see if Clockwork would help him find everyone else. If they could be found at all. He didn’t want to. He was angry. Angry that this had happened, that it was still happening. Amity Park was his, and Nocturne had no right to try and steal and break and—

The terrible part, was that even though he was angry, his general desire to reach out to Nocturne, to lean on their Love… That had not diminished.

He looked forward to seeing them again.

The news continued to talk about the coma victims.

[nocturna-starr]

Intentional Creation

Prompter: @phantomphangphucker

Prompt: Danny created Phantom intentionally and knew full well what he was doing, the first time.

Words: 1508

In Danny’s totally unbiased opinion, his parents were naive. They were creating a portal to another world! Did they not expect said inhabitants from said world to make an appearance in the living realm? Or did they believe that somehow the very creatures they wanted to study wouldn’t be curious themselves?

“Don’t worry Danno! No ghost would dare cross through Jack Fenton’s portal!”

Sure.

“Danny, your parents are the experts, right? Just leave it to them! Everything will be okay!”

Yep… Nothing to worry about…

“Ghosts aren’t even real!”

Was everyone around him actually this stupid?

He should be playing the newest update for DOOM or studying for Mr. Lancer’s test on the Merchant of Venice. He should not be studying his parents research to make sure they didn’t blow up the house or contaminate him and Jazz again like they did the last time Jack and Maddie Fenton tried to invent a green energy source.

Suddenly Danny heard a knock on the door.

“Danny, it’s Jazz. Aren’t you going to get some sleep? We have school tomorrow!”

“Just looking over some papers.” Danny called. He heard his sister huff, but fortunately she didn’t push the issue forward. No doubt she herself would be up all night studying some new psychology book she had found in the library.

And she said that she was nothing like their parents.

He found himself glancing at the numbers. Math may not be his best subject, but to his untrained eye the calculations his mother made had no mistakes. The machine they were going to finish would certainly rip a hole into another dimension.

Then his dad would tell anyone and everyone who would listen that he would protect them from the threat he himself had created. His dad would go up against the wrong supernatural creature and…

Despite how much his father annoyed him, Danny loved the man. He couldn’t imagine a world without Jack Fenton. His mother, a former cop, might be able to handle the situation slightly better, but even she would become overwhelmed by the ghosts eventually. They needed someone who was on the same power level as the ghosts and who would protect humanity rather than harm it.

Didn’t his parents say that someone had gotten ectoradiation due to their naivety the first time they had built s portal? What was his name again… Paul… Chad? It didn’t matter. Maybe it was possible to replicate something like that! But instead of being contaminated, maybe one could fuse with the ectoplasm.  But who could he convince to give up their humanity for the world?

Danny put down the papers. Didn’t Sam say she wanted to make a difference?

xXx

“Whoa! I can’t believe it dude! Your parents actually made a real portal.” Danny’s best friend Tucker Foley gawked at the expensive machinery in the wall.

“Yeah, if only it worked.” Danny eyed the knobs at the side of the portal. Everything was still in position fortunately. His dad for once in his life had decided not to fiddle with something he had not done.

“It’s actually pretty cool, even not working. Imagine the worlds that are barely out of reach.” Sam sighed.

Danny smiled. Sam was still innocent. He hoped that her optimism, despite being a ghost, would remain. It would suck if he had to repeat the experiment all over again. Tucker wouldn’t be as powerful a ghost. Anyone after that would be a malicious ghost that Jack Fenton would have the honour of destroying.

The goth gently touched the portal, as if it were something sacred. It was like she knew her place of death was here. Tucker snapped a couple of pictures. Danny watched them, noting each soft smile or excited look sent his way. Would they feel this way when the portal took everything they knew in a couple of minutes?

“Wanna look inside?” Danny asked. He felt his heart begin to race. This was the moment that would forever change humanity. In the future, kids would be talking about the origin story of Sammy Geist or Tucker Ghouly. Would they see him as a good person, or a mad scientist? Would they understand why he did this and not judge him only on his actions? Or would they allow his name to fade to time because no one would ever know that the accident wasn’t an accident?

“Sure Danny!” Sam grinned. Without a second thought she walked inside.

“I’m good dude. I’d rather not be inside, and the thing click on.” Tucker didn’t look up from his PDA.

Maybe he should have tried to get Sam to dress in a Hazmat suit. The extra protection could have led her into a false sense of security which would allow for mistakes to occur. The Hazmat suit also could have acted as a disguise. Sam Manson, Amity Park’s most famous goth, would never have been caught dead in one of those.

“What are all of these wires for? What about all these buttons? Tuck you’re the tech guru, you should really come inside.” Sam called.

“Actually Sam, I think you should get out.” Tucker warned. Did Tucker suspect something? Danny had never even written his thoughts down in a journal let alone share them with anyone else! How could his best friend even know?

Why did he suddenly feel so guilty?

“Just a sec Tucker!” Sam called. Her hand grazed a large red button. Danny wanted to tell her to push it or to startle her and cause her to “accidentally” press it. Yet the words refused to come from out of him. Why did he feel so terrible for wanting to save the world? What was one life to billions? It wasn’t like she was actually going to die!

Why was his life more important than Sam’s?

“Hey Sam, I want a turn to see!” Danny found himself calling. He watched as she safely exited the portal. He grabbed the suit his father had made especially for him and put it on.

Sam grinned, ripping off the picture of his dad’s face that he insisted on putting on everything. “You aren’t going in with that on, are you?”

“I guess not.” Danny tried to smile.

“Nervous? Just think of all the cool worlds that this portal can connect to.” Sam grinned.

He nodded, hoping to disguise his dread as minor fear. He took a step in the portal and began walking towards the button that Jack and Maddie Fenton in their infinite wisdom had chosen to keep. Time seemed to slow the closer he got to it. He could hear his own heart beat and feel every breath he took. Once he was transformed, would he miss feeling of breathing?  There was no going back. If he chickened out now, Danny knew he would never build the courage to do this again. Then the world would be doomed.

Once he was close enough, Danny “tripped” and pressed the button. His walk of death couldn’t compare to the absolute freeze in time that occurred just after he pressed the button. The youngest Fenton swore he heard the phrase “All is as it should be…” before the light engulfed him into a world of agony.

He was glad that he didn’t force his best friends to experience it. His essence was ripped apart then sewn back together again. His heart raced before falling into a slow and steady rhythm. He was Danny Fenton, then he was nothing. He was human, until he wasn’t. Everything became dark.

He saw flashes of his life slip by and flashes of the future. He heard the screams of the dying and cries of those who were living for the first time. He felt sudden felt a weight that he had never known fall off of his shoulders. The freedom was only felt for a couple of seconds (or was it years?) before a much heavier weight was flung onto him.

He felt himself begin to walk. A light and a voice beckoned him forward. He felt something grabbing his leg, trying to keep him away. He knew he had to fight against it. If he stayed, then there would be no one to fight against his parents’ mistakes.

As he moved forward, the thing clutching his leg felt heavier and heavier. His steps became smaller and smaller. Maybe it was best if he stayed behind? Just as the it seemed that the thing would win, he broke free. He raced to the light, determined to not be trapped again.

“DANNY! DANNY!” Her heard a woman cry.

As he came closer, the light became a doorway. He smiled and stumbled across.

“Danny is that you?” Sam cried.

It worked?! Danny grinned. Everything would be fine now. Tomorrow there would be problems, but now there could be solutions. Ghosts would attack and he would be right there to stop them. The lack of sleep the previous night and the exhaustion of the portal claimed him. Danny fell into his last peaceful rest.

[pitchslapped]

Hi! Do you know of any bechloe fics where Beca rides a motorcycle or any fics where Beca is known as a “ladies man(woman)?

Sorry, this took a while for me to respond. I took a while looking at fics. This was a really interesting set of things you were looking for. Here are some that I could find. Theres a variety of stuff here and some different ships. So I hope you enjoy.

I would love to hear if there are any fics others liked as well.

Beca Riding a Motorcycle

Pitch Perfect Prompts

By @lets-talk-appella

Rated - T

Chapter 4: Black Sabbath

Summary: For Tumblr prompt "Don't do that again! You scared the shit out of me!"

Chapter 5 also a smutty spin-off of this story called Dangerous.

Next Life

By 22_Ti aka @wordsofmyreality

Rated - M

Summary: Amber (future Chloe) felt she made all the wrong choices in life. She gave up finishing her degree. Amber married a man she’s not in love with, a man who is lackadaisical about raising his kids, her stepkids. She’s utterly miserable, and it all stems from the wrong choices she's made along the way. Amber concocts the perfect plan to disappear and start over with a new identity. She finds a romance, and life is perfect… until her love interest discovers she has a past and isn’t who she thought she was. Note: While Bechole is end-game, this story mostly focuses on Chloe’s journey to a better life.

you knock me out (i fall apart)

By Carma19 aka @rebeccamitchell

Rated - M

Summary: Prompt: “Beca’s secretly good at fighting in her tiny lil body and the Bellas finding out about it.”

AKA the pp2!Beca as an underground MMA/cagefighter AU

The motorcycle is not featured heavily but really fits the Beca cagefighter character.

Lost Stars

By BKTheGoldenKnight

Rated - T

Beca, an ex-MotoGP racer, has a tragic past and she had managed to get back on her feet when she met Chloe. However something unexpected happened. Will Beca stay or runaway? AU.

In My Blood

By carma19 aka @rebeccamitchell

Rated - M

Summary: Bechloe // Zombie Apocalypse AU -- In the summer of 2007, an outbreak of a mutated fungus ravaged the United States, transforming its human hosts into aggressive, sound-sensitive creatures known as clickers. Five years into the zombie apocalypse, Chloe Beale, a medic-in-training from the Barden settlement, has a chance run-in with nomadic weapons expert Beca Mitchell and her companions.

Darkness on the Edge of Town

By jm-oc-ja

Rated - T

Beca Mitchell lived every moment of her life to the fullest, she sought out the thrills in life, her favorite thrill was speed. She wouldn't let a thing like college stop that, she also wouldn't have guessed that college would lead her to her biggest most addicting thrill yet, Chloe Beale. How can two women from completely different worlds mesh? AU Beca/Chloe.

Warning this one has a pretty sad ending.

Badass Heart

By Ale0488

Rating - T

Summary: Beca chooses to express her feelings before it's too late.

Asphalt

By Selene Elven

Rated - K

AU. Beca's a motorcyclist. Lilly's motorcycle probably eats souls. Bumper is there, too. And there's someone in a black and gold race suit. In which Beca is one of six racers riding for a small prize pot and she's competitive because HONOR. Or something. One-shot.

Bonus: Chloe riding a motorcycle

Because who doesn't want that idea in their head

The Kissing Booth

By @aliciameade​

Summary: When Beca Mitchell, a late-bloomer who's never-been-kissed, decides to run a kissing booth at her high school's Spring Carnival, she unexpectedly finds herself locking lips with her secret crush - and best friend's sister - Chloe Beale.

Beca the Womanizer Fics

Beca Mitchell Must Die

By chloebeale (tallycravens)

Rated - M

Summary:Aubrey, Cynthia Rose and Stacie are the ex-girlfriends of Beca Mitchell, a well-known serial dater at Barden University. The three set up their former lover to fall for Chloe Beale, a transfer student, so they can watch her get her heart broken. (An AU Pitch Perfect story with the John Tucker Must Die plot.)

The Bet

By BeChloeIsLegit

Rating - M

Summary: Beca Mitchell has managed to sleep with every girl in her High School every year for 3 years. Chloe Beale, now a Senior at Barden University, has been doing the same since her Sophomore year in HS. What happens when Beca comes to Barden and threatens Chloe's position as Barden's #1 womaniser? The Bet is what happens. Who wins? Who loses? And what is the prize?

Everyone loves Beca Mitchell

By Allicat606

Rated - M

Summary: Beca Mitchell knows everyone who meets her falls in love with her. And as a shameless womanizer she loves that. With beautiful women throwing themselves at her will Beca continue her womanizing ways or will one of them capture her heart?

This is a crazy ride of a fic and also a Steca fic.

Sex God

By hollyhwrites

Rated - M

Fat Amy shares a saucy story about her dormroom neighbors with her fellow Bellas & they all agree the person must be a Sex God. UPDATE! No longer a one-shot. DUH! This story has now grown with a life of its own. Our Sex God Beca wants more than

Triple trouble shenanigans.

I am not her

By pleasedontleaveme

Rated - M

Chloe has a sister. She is blonde and popular. Chloe is a redhead and not popular. Everyone wants to be with her sister while no one even knows that Chloe exists. Until they meet Beca. Chloe's sister has a crush on Beca and wants her, but Beca only has eyes for Chloe. On the other hand, Chloe thinks Beca is a player and does not pays attention to her. How will they go through that?

[worryinglyinnocent]

Fic: Safe and Sound

Summary: After discovering the horrific truth of Tucker’s experiments, Mustang faces a race against time to get Nina to safety and away from a life in a government lab. Out of ideas, he calls in the Elric brothers, independent alchemists of the people whom he knows to have an interest in human transmutation, and more specifically, reversing it. 

Determined to do what they can for her, Ed, Al and their mother provide a safe home for Nina, and over time, they work out how to help her back to her normal state.

Rated: T

Safe and Sound

“It’s a mess, sir.”

Roy looked out of the window at the rain teeming down outside the Tucker home. Hawkeye’s blunt summation of the situation hardly did it justice, but he couldn’t think of a more apt term to use. He turned to Tucker, who still seemed unable to see what he had done wrong in the name of scientific advancement, and he felt the anger begin to burn through his veins once more, even hotter than when he had first entered the place and realised with sickening horror what Tucker had done, and what he must have done two years prior as well.

He strode across the room, grabbing the front of Tucker’s shirt and lifting him bodily out of the chair he had been sitting in whilst Fuery had recorded his statement and confession.

“Colonel.” Hawkeye’s voice was sharp, and Roy glanced over at her. She was kneeling in the corner, next to the chimera (Nina, her name was Nina, she gave him a flower crown the last time he was here), who was watching the scene with wide eyes.

“Don’t hurt Daddy,” Nina pleaded in that low, uncanny, unreal voice, slow and pained but every bit in earnest. The anger in Roy’s blood roiled afresh, and his grip on Tucker’s shirt tightened.

“Lieutenant, get her out of here. Take her out the back way and get Havoc to sneak her into HQ.”

“Daddy…”

“Come on, Nina,” Hawkeye coaxed. “We need to go now. We need to get you somewhere safe.”

“Daddy…”

“Colonel Mustang needs to talk to your daddy, Nina. Come with me. Are you hungry?”

Hawkeye guided Nina out of the room. Once the door was closed and he could no longer hear the lieutenant’s soft cajoling, Roy sank his fist into Tucker’s face. It did not make him feel any better. He hadn’t expected it to. 

He let Tucker back down into his chair, leaving the room as Fuery completed the final bits of paperwork.

He needed to work out what to do about Nina. If anyone got word of her, she’d be locked up in a lab and experimented on as an alchemical freak of nature for the rest of her life. He needed to keep her safe, and if there was the slightest chance of getting her and Alexander back to normal, then he had to pursue it.

Roy was not in his area of expertise here. Human experimentation, bio-alchemy, the many varied and illegal and impossible forms of human transmutation - none of that had ever been in his remit and he had never had any desire for it to be. He ran a hand through his hair, desperately trying to think of a solution. Smuggling her into HQ was only a temporary measure and not a perfect one at that; there was still so much that could go disastrously wrong. He needed to get Nina out of sight and out of mind as soon as possible, hiding her away where the military would leave her alone.

A thought struck him and he moved through the house towards the telephone, dialling Falman at headquarters.

“Falman, can you find out if the Elrics are still in town?”

“Yes, sir. On it.”

Roy had first come across Edward and Alphonse Elric four years ago, when news of a couple of young but extremely talented alchemists researching human transmutation and Philosopher’s Stones had come to him through the state alchemist grapevine. With the military always interested in those with an interest in the alchemic taboo, Roy had been despatched to take a look at the lay of the land as regarded the Elrics, and potentially recruit them.

He hadn’t reckoned on their being quite so young, just eleven and ten years old, and he absolutely had not reckoned on their mother. Trisha Elric was a tiny, frail-looking woman with perpetually pale blue-tinged lips and a constant cough from the Frontline Flu that had almost killed her in ‘04, and she was a force of nature who had told Roy in no uncertain terms that her sons’ interest in Philosopher’s Stones was highly personal and that there was no way in hell they were becoming state alchemists despite the research opportunities it would afford them. 

Roy had reported back that the Elric brothers were a dead end, and had left them in peace to follow their own research, whilst still keeping an eye on them every time they came to Eastern City to the large library there.

With their secretive nature, their no-nonsense mother and their persistent interest in human alchemy, Roy held out the tiniest hope of Nina’s best chance being with the Elrics. 

Hell, anything was worth a shot at this stage.

“Sir?”

“I’m listening, Falman.”

“The Elrics are still in town, sir. They’re in a guesthouse by the station.”

“Thank God. Get someone to try and persuade them to come to HQ.”

“Will do, sir. And, erm, Ms Elric?”

“She’s here too?”

“Yes, sir.”

Roy sighed. “Probably best if she comes too.”

“Yes, sir.”

He hung up, winging up a prayer that this hunch would pay off.

X

“So…” Ed stretched out his legs, uncaring for who in Eastern Command might trip over them as they waited for Mustang to make an appearance and tell them why they were there. “What do you think the Bastard Colonel wants us for this time?”

“Edward.” The sigh that his mother gave was a long-suffering one rather than showing any real disapproval, and he could see that she was trying very hard not to smile.

“What? You call him the Bastard too!”

“Not in his place of work, I don’t.”

“Officer Falman was really quite apologetic when he picked us up,” Al mused. “Maybe something’s gone terribly wrong and they need us to fix it. You know. Someone outside the military.”

Mom raised an eyebrow. “If that’s the case, they’d be better off picking anyone other than you two. You’d hold it over them as blackmail material for the rest of their lives. Honestly, I don’t know where you got your devious streak from. It wasn’t your dad, which leaves me with the uncomfortable conclusion that it must be from me.”

“Where do you think Dad is right now?” Al asked. “It would be just our luck if he chooses this weekend to come home and we’re not there. I can imagine him going over to Granny’s: ‘Pinako, I swear I had a wife and two children when I left but I appear to have misplaced them.’”

Mom laughed, but Ed didn’t respond. Although he now knew the full story of why Dad had left, the fact he’d left in the first place still rankled even now, and he knew that he would continue to view his father with mixed emotions until the man himself was back in the flesh and could answer for his own actions. Still, that hadn’t stopped him and Al from setting out on the current quest that had occupied them for the last four years, namely finding a way to get Dad back to normal so that when he did return, he and Mom could live a vaguely ordinary life together.

“I’m really sorry about all this.” Falman appeared in the corridor again. “It’s just that we’ve got a bit of a… situation.”

Ed raised an eyebrow as they got up to follow him, deciding to reserve judgement. Falman led them into Mustang’s office, where the rest of the team was clustered around the colonel’s desk with nervous expressions.

“Ok… Anyone want to tell us what’s going on?”

Mustang came over. “We have a situation that requires some discretion.”

Mom snorted. “You picked the wrong two for that.”

“I think when you see what we’ve got, you’ll agree with me.”

Intrigued, Ed approached the desk and peered under it. 

It looked like a dog, on the face of it, although it appeared to have some kind of mane of long dark hair, and there was something about the eyes and mouth that didn’t look quite right.

“Chimera?”

Mustang nodded.

“I’m guessing the majority is from a dog, but what’s it fused with?”

Mustang didn’t get the chance to respond before the chimera spoke, a soft, desperate whimper.

“I want Daddy.”

Ed’s blood ran cold. “Someone chimerised a human child?”

“Yes.” Mustang’s voice was deadly serious. “This is Nina Tucker. Her father decided to create a chimera capable of human speech. He’s in jail now.” He gave a heavy sigh. “If anyone gets wind of this, she’ll be shut up in a military lab for the rest of her life. We’re giving out that Tucker’s chimera didn’t survive the transmutation to try and buy us some time. This is the reason why I wanted you to see her. I know that you two are probably the leading state-independent researchers of human transmutation right now. If anyone can help her, you can.”

Ed looked at Al, who was staring at Nina with sad horror, and then at his mom, who was having a coughing fit. Falman brought her some water.

“Mom? You ok?”

She nodded, before slowly, deliberately, getting down on her knees and shuffling under the desk.

“Hey Nina,” she said gently. “My name’s Trisha. How old are you, honey?”

“Six.”

“You’re scared, huh?”

Nina nodded. “Want Daddy.”

“Your daddy can’t come, honey. He did something very, very bad, so he has to go away for a while.”

“A very long while,” Ed muttered.

“Don’t be scared, though,” Mom continued. “We’ll look after you, me and Ed and Al.” She reached out, carefully brushing Nina’s hair out of her eyes. “It’ll be all right, I promise.”

She was just being Mom. In her eyes, Nina was just a scared little kid. Mom didn’t see the alchemy or the implications. She just saw someone who needed a family to keep her safe.

Ed crouched down beside her. “Hi Nina. I’m Ed, and this is Al. We’ll get you sorted out, don’t worry.” He had no idea where he would even begin, but he had to do something to help her out. 

Nina looked at Trisha. 

“You… Ed Mommy?”

“Yeah, I’m Ed’s Mommy. Why don’t you come with us now, and we’ll take you home, somewhere nice and safe and quiet.”

Nina nodded slowly, and Mom looked up at Mustang. 

“I’ll look after her,” she said. “She’ll be safe and off the grid in Resembool. I can’t say we can help her, that’s up to the boys to decide what they’re prepared to try and what they’re capable of doing. But I’ll look after her, and in return, you make sure that the monster who did this never sees the light of day again.”

Ed was beginning to see why Mustang was scared of Mom.

X

The frenetic logistics of getting Nina home with them without being discovered by the military at large took a while to sort out, and Trisha couldn’t rest easy until she was safely behind her own front door. Winry and Pinako had been brought in on their secret, it would have been near impossible to keep it from them.

Actually looking after her proved to be just the same as taking care of any other child - she was just a little larger and more unco-ordinated. From the moment that she had seen Nina and decided that no matter what, she was going to take care of her, Trisha had not really given any thought to the difficulties that might be involved in caring for a chimera. At the end of the day, Nina was a little girl and Trisha intended to treat her like one, even if she didn’t exactly look like a little girl. 

She required a little more concentration than the boys had done, because whilst she could speak, full sentences were difficult simply because of the shape of her mouth, so articulating her needs wasn’t as simple as it could have been. But she would eat at the kitchen table with them if one of them spoon-fed her, and she loved to watch the boys practice their alchemy and listen to the bedtime stories they would weave her. 

Occasionally the odd trait that was definitely dog rather than human would forcibly remind Trisha that Nina was two beings in one now - most notably she preferred to sleep curled up behind the couch in the living room rather than in a bed - but generally, Nina was the daughter she’d never had. 

“Dad could fix her,” Al said one evening whilst they were sitting around after dinner. Nina was dozing, her head in Trisha’s lap. They’d taken to braiding her mane to keep it out of her eyes, and she’d decided on blue ribbons today. Trisha stroked the silky ends through her fingers. “I mean, he’s a Philosopher’s Stone, he should be able to do anything, right?”

“He probably could,” Ed agreed. “The difficulty would be finding him and explaining the situation. We haven’t known where he is for ten years, tracking him down now to break off from his quest and come home to un-chimerise a chimera wouldn’t exactly be the easiest solution.”

“Yeah.” Al sighed. “I guess it’s back to the drawing board and Dad’s books. I don’t really recall any of them talking about chimeras, but then, we weren’t really looking for any information about them.”

Trisha coughed, startling Nina out of her doze, and she looked around for a while. 

“Big brother Ed?”

Ed grinned. Trisha was surprised at how quickly Nina had decided on Ed as a surrogate big brother, but he was definitely the person that she seemed to have latched onto as her link into the family. Ed was Big Brother. Al was usually just Al. Trisha was Ed-Mommy. (Occasionally, when she woke up crying from nightmares, she was just Mommy, and Trisha would hold her as close as she possibly could.)

“Hey Nina.”

“Where’s Daddy?”

The grin dropped as quickly as it had appeared on his face. 

“Your daddy had to go away, Nina.”

“No… Ed-Daddy.” Trisha followed her sight-line over to the opposite wall; she was looking at her and Van’s wedding photo on the mantel. 

“Oh. He had to go away too.”

“He did bad?”

Ed snorted, and Trisha laughed. 

“I think that depends on who you ask, honey. No, Ed and Al’s daddy didn’t do anything bad. He’s travelling around the country at the moment. Ed’s daddy is a very powerful alchemist and there are some things he has to do to make sure everyone is safe. It’s sad that we don’t see him, but he’s the only one who can protect us. All of us.”

“Oh.”

They fell into silence again, until Al spoke up from the floor where he was sitting in the middle of a sea of books. 

“Maybe if we knew how Tucker did it in the first place we could reverse engineer it.”

“I guess.” Ed sighed. “I’d be afraid of making it worse, though. Sometimes I’ve thought about asking her if she can remember what happened, but I don’t want her to relive what was probably a very traumatic experience.”

“Exactly,” Trisha said. Nina’s head was resting in her lap and drowsing again. “It doesn’t matter if you can’t help her, boys. No one is expecting you to. You’re already giving her the care and love and safety that she needs, and that’s all that matters. If we do get a little girl and a large dog out of this, then that would be wonderful, but right now, Nina’s wellbeing takes priority.” 

She thought about the picture that Mustang had sent her, along with a packet of documents from the Tucker household that might be useful - birth certificate, medical records and the like. A sweet little girl and a huge, goofy-looking dog. She stroked one of Nina’s front paws sadly. Although she was mostly aware of her changed shape and size, there were the odd little moments where she forgot she didn’t have hands, and it always distressed her. Trisha wanted nothing more than for the chimerisation to be reversed and for Nina - and Alexander - to live normal lives, but if that wasn’t to be, then Trisha would just take care of the chimera for as long as she needed it. 

X

They’d settled into the routine of having Nina with them remarkably quickly, and Al was pleased by just how easily she’d become part of the family. It was very clear that Ed was her favourite, but he didn’t seem to mind that at all. It was strange, Al had never really thought of Ed as being particularly good with kids, but then again, they had never really come across all that many over the course of their research. He completely doted on Nina though, and whenever she and Mom had been making flower crowns, he would always wear the one Nina picked out as his without any complaint. 

Although he was used to Nina being around, it was still a surprise to see her bounding out of the house towards them as he and Ed made their way up the hill having been to see Winry in town.

“Ed! Big Brother Ed! Ed! Daddy’s here!”

Al looked at Ed, Ed looked back at Al, and they both started to sprint up the hill. Nina’s father was still in jail in Eastern City, there was no way he should be in Resembool, it had been given out that Nina was dead, who had spilled that she was here…

Al barrelled into the kitchen with Ed hot on his heels, and both of them stopped dead.

“Oh.”

It wasn’t Tucker. The man standing in the kitchen hugging Mom tightly was their own dad.

There was the click-click-click of Nina’s nails on the floor tiles behind them.

“Ed-Daddy,” she said proudly.

So that was what she meant.

Eventually, Mom let go of Dad and he turned to them. It must have been just as much of a shock for him to see them now, considering how small they had been when he had left. 

“I’ve been gone so long,” he said softly. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t realise how long I would be. I’ve missed so much. I’m sorry.”

“I…” Ed seemed to be having trouble taking it all in, and he shook his head. “It’s so weird. I’ve rehearsed this moment for years and now it’s here and I have no idea what to say.”

Al stumbled as Nina butted his legs and peered around him. 

Dad looked at her, curious. 

“I see our family has grown whilst I’ve been away. Hello there.”

“This is Nina.” Ed moved closer to her protectively. “She’s our little sister.”

“Big Brother Ed!”

Dad looked from Nina to Ed to Mom and back again.

“I’ll explain later,” Mom said. 

“It’s ok. I think I know what’s happened.” Dad came over, crouching in front of Nina and offering her his hand. She tentatively placed her paw in it, and he shook it gently. “It’s nice to meet you, Nina.” He smiled. “You’re like me, aren’t you? Made into something different by alchemy you had no say in.”

Al knew at that moment that he didn’t have to worry about his father not accepting Nina or not being prepared to help her. 

Much later, once Nina was asleep on her cushion behind the couch, and once Dad had explained everything that had happened over the last ten years - and before that - in his own words, and once Ed had stopped yelling at him, and once Nina’s situation had been explained, Al voiced the thought that had been at the forefront of their minds ever since Nina had come to live with them. 

“Dad, can you help her?”

 Dad didn’t reply for a long time, his brow furrowed in thought, but Al’s heart leapt to his mouth as he eventually nodded.

“Yes,” he said. “I think I should be able to, but it’s the kind of thing that I’d only get one shot at. It would have to be perfect first time, because if I get it wrong, it’ll just make it worse.”

Al looked at Ed, and then at Mom, who nodded.

“I think it’s worth the risk,” she said. “She’s the sweetest darling just as she is, but I can’t imagine what kind of internal distress she’s in, and I think she’d be happier if she was back to her old self.”

“In that case, I will do what I can.”

It took a couple of days for Dad to work out exactly what he would need to do, during which time Al was incredibly conscious of the fact that although he had come home now, he had not come home for good and there was still a lot of work that he had to do around the country in order to be prepared for the Promised Day coming and everything that would happen then. He still couldn’t quite get his head around the scope of it all, but it was a reasonably valid excuse for leaving them for so long. If something went wrong and it ended up backfiring on Dad, then what would happen to them all then? It would all be for nothing if they were doomed into a massive transmutation circle in a couple of months anyway.

Eventually, Dad announced that he was ready, and Al ventured into the study. All the furniture had been pushed back against the walls, and the most complex transmutation circle that Al had ever seen was drawn on the floor. Dad was kneeling in the middle of it, tracing out all the lines to make sure that there were no breaks. 

“This should separate her out into two separate entities again,” he said. “The souls should be able to provide the power needed for it.” 

Mom brought Nina into the room, and she shied away from the circle, hiding behind Mom’s legs. 

“Scared,” she said. Al couldn’t really blame her. The last time she’d seen a circle this large and complex drawn out on the floor was probably the time she was chimerised in the first place. 

“It’s ok, honey. I’m right here. This will make you feel a lot better, I promise.” She stepped into the circle. “Come on, Nina. I’ll be right here with you.”

“Mom, are you really sure that’s a good idea?” Ed asked. “Considering everything that could go wrong?”

Mom looked at Dad, who would have to be inside the circle as well in order for it to work. 

“I trust you,” she said simply, and she sat down, holding out her arms for Nina. 

“Scared,” Nina whimpered, but she padded across the floor and curled up in Mom’s lap. 

Dad looked up.

“Step out and close the door,” he said. “This could get disturbing to watch.”

“But…”

“Edward.” Dad’s tone was non-negotiable, and Al dragged Ed out of the study, shutting the door behind them. Ed continued to grumble for a while, but then bent down to watch through the keyhole. 

There was a deafening crack of alchemy, and bright red light flared out below the door.

X

The light was blinding, and Ed couldn’t really see much after Dad plunged his hands into Nina’s chest. The alchemy was roaring in his ears and he couldn’t hear anything useful, so he was forced to step back from the door and just hope that everything would be all right. 

It seemed to take forever. It was the kind of thing where once it was started, it couldn’t be stopped until it was done. It wasn’t a job that could be left half-finished whilst Dad took a break to get his breath back. He imagined what it must be like, having to separate out two souls and two bodies into two completely separate entities and not leave anything mixed up. 

He was glad it was Dad doing it and not him. He glanced across at Al.

“Do you think they’re all ok?”

Al shrugged, but his expression was just as worried as Ed knew his own was. 

“I guess all we can do is wait and see and trust Dad.”

“Hmm.” Ed didn’t trust his father with a lot of things, but when it came to alchemy, he couldn’t think of anyone he could trust more than Dad with something like this. 

The alchemy roared louder, and Ed could see sparks under the door. 

“That’s it. I’m doing something.”

“Ed, don’t be stupid, what on earth can you do?”

“I can do something!”

“Ed!”

Suddenly, everything was dark and silent. For better or worse, it was all over. Ed looked at Al, and after a moment, Al nodded.

Ed flung the door open...

“WOOF!”

...and was immediately bowled over by a very large, very shaggy dog. He could hear Al laughing above him, and he took that as a good sign. Finally managing to dislodge the mutt long enough to sit up, he peered into the room. 

Dad was flat on his back, drenched in sweat (or possibly dog saliva), and breathing like he’d just run the Central City marathon, but Mom was still sitting in the circle, and in her arms, clinging on for dear life, was…

“Nina, honey,” Mom said softly. “You can open your eyes, it’s all over now.”

Nina opened her eyes and looked around the room. 

“Al. Big Brother Ed. Alexander!”

She rushed over on slightly wobbly legs, throwing her arms around each of them in turn with the longest and most exuberant hug being reserved for the dog. Ed supposed he could understand that, he’d been her closest and longest friend, after all. 

Mom got to her feet and held out a hand to pull Dad up, slipping her arms around him and going in for a long kiss.

“Thank you,” she said. “Thank you so much.”

“Thank you, Ed-Daddy!” Nina did not let go of Alexander, who seemed content to be hugged for as long as necessary, but she was beaming at Dad. “You’re right, I feel much better now.”

Dad smiled. “You’re welcome, Nina.”

“Come on, Nina.” Al was trying to shepherd her out of the room, and considering how gooey and love-eyed Mom was looking, Ed was happy to leave his parents to smooch in peace for a while. 

“Let’s get some cookies for you and Alexander. It’s a good job we keep dog biscuits here for Den when Winry brings her over.”

They left the study, Ed closing the door behind them, and the four of them made their way into the kitchen.

Nina had always seemed to be remarkably content considering what had happened to her, but seeing the sheer joy in her face as she was able to hold a cookie and feed herself again was wonderful. 

“What do you think happens now?” Al asked as he poured milk for him and Nina. “The colonel asked us to take care of Nina and help her if we could, and we’ve done that now.”

“I guess everything just stays the same as it was before.” Ed snaffled another cookie. “Nina doesn’t really have anywhere else to go, so we might as well just keep looking after her. What do you say, Nina? Do you want to stay here with us?”

Nina nodded. “Yes. I like it here with you.”

“I don’t think Mom and Dad would have a problem with it. I think Mom feels outnumbered by us sometimes and she’s enjoyed having another girl in the house.”

Nina just giggled, and then gave a theatrical sigh as Alexander found his way into the box of dog biscuits and got his large nose stuck in it, running around the kitchen with it over his face like a muzzle.

“Alexander!” 

Ed laughed. “Well, I think that the latest new arrival might take a bit of getting used to, but I’m sure Mom won’t mind him either.”

(They were all so absorbed in chasing the dog around the kitchen that none of them noticed the flash of red alchemic light under Dad’s study door again.)

X

To say that everything surrounding the Promised Day had been one big frantic mess of alchemy, planning a highly organised and highly secret coup, and learning the most extraordinary things about what had been going on in the world for the last few centuries would be an understatement, but at the end of it all, Roy was simply glad to have made it out of the other side unharmed. There was an awful lot of work still to do, but with the immediate threat gone, they could take their time a little more and not have to worry about the entire country potentially being made into a giant Philosopher’s Stone at a moment’s notice. 

Speaking of Philosopher’s Stones, though… Roy thought of Hohenheim. It was a small world, after all. He had been surprised to find out that their independent benefactor who had been working behind the scenes to stop Father and the homunculi for over a decade was the Elrics’ father, and moreover that he was the reason for their intense interest in human alchemy and Philosopher’s Stone research, but having met him, everything made a lot more sense. 

Everything was also a lot more confusing, but Roy got the impression that someone like Hohenheim just created confusion wherever he went, without necessarily knowing why or indeed intending to. 

All of that explained why he was now on a train to Resembool to go and see the Elric family for himself, because after the dust had settled and Father had been defeated and Hohenheim had vanished off as suddenly as he had appeared, going back to his family for good now, a single thought had pushed itself into Roy’s brain and refused to leave. 

Nina.

She had gone with the Elrics months ago and they had promised to do what they could for her with their knowledge of Philosopher’s Stones. Now that they sort of had one to hand, surely something could be done? Or would it be impossible to undo Tucker’s work?

Roy made his way up the hill towards the Elric home, repeating the journey he’d first made five years ago when they had first come into his sphere of knowledge. He hoped that Trisha wouldn’t chase him down the road with a shoe as she had threatened to do on that first occasion. 

“Hello, Colonel.” He was pleasantly surprised to find her out working in the garden but still rather wary of the fork she was holding. “What brings you here?”

“I… I was actually wondering how Nina was getting on.”

Trisha smiled. “She’s doing well, Colonel. She’s settled in nicely. It’s as if we’ve always had her. Van and I would be happy to adopt her if you’re willing to sort out the paperwork for us.”

There was something different about Trisha, Roy thought. She seemed stronger, more vibrant, and her lips were a normal pink colour rather than the blue tinge he’d grown used to seeing on her. Something or someone had healed her lungs. 

“Colonel? You’re staring, sir.”

“Oh. Yes. Right. Yes. I mean, of course. I’ll get the paperwork as soon as I get back.”

“Excellent. Everyone will be so pleased.” She stood up, brushing down her apron. “Do you want to step in for a while, get your breath back after tackling the hill?”

“Erm, all right.” He stepped through the gate and followed Trisha up the path towards the house. The door opened before they got there. 

“Mr Mustang!” 

A large white shape bowled him over and started licking him voraciously, and he heard a familiar little giggle from the doorway. 

“Hello, Alexander,” he finally managed. 

Nina was standing in the doorway with Ed, who was smirking in the way only Edward Elric could smirk, and Roy knew that he’d lost all dignity in Ed’s eyes - if he’d even had any to start with. 

“You did it,” he said, looking from Nina to Alexander and back again.

“Well, Dad did most of the work,” Ed said. “But she’s safe and happy here.”

Nina nodded. “I have big brothers now! I never had them before. I’m kind of hoping for a little sister too. Maybe now that Ed’s Daddy is back and Ed’s Mommy is well again I’ll get one.”

“Oh no.” Ed threw his hands up. “We are not thinking about that at all.” He sighed. “Thanks, Nina. Now I need brain bleach.”

“Ed, Nina, are you going to let the colonel in through the door?” Trisha’s voice called out from inside the house. 

“I don’t know.” Ed looked down at Nina. “What do you think? Shall we let him in?”

“Yeah. We might need to get him a towel for Alexander’s drool though.”

Roy rolled his eyes as he got to his feet, following Alexander into the house. It was good to see Nina happy and thriving with a new family, who she seemed to have accepted readily as her own. It was good to see Trisha no longer suffering the after effects of her illness, and it was good to see the Elric family all together once more. 

He hung back in the kitchen doorway, watching them all for a moment, very much feeling like the outsider that he was until Trisha pulled him in to join them.

Considering that the state alchemist programme had been little more than a device in which to form potential human sacrifices for Father’s plans, Roy had no idea if it would be continuing into the future, but the thought still remained in his head even as Ed was showing him back to the front door an hour or so later. 

“Edward?”

“Yes, Colonel?”

“You and Al, and your parents... don’t ever stop doing what you’re doing. Using alchemy to help people, and taking care of those who’ve been wronged by it.”

Ed grinned. “Oh, we don’t intend to, Colonel. You’ve got my word on that.”

Roy felt a sense of peace as he made his way back to the station. As long as there were people like the Elrics in the world, he could hope that everything would be all right in the end.

[echoghost1]

Dannymay 2021 Day 06: Core

Shaken To The Core

Summary:

Word Count:

AN/TW: This is a direct sequel to You Walked Right Into This for those of you who were wondering where it was that Danny walked to. Because there is carryover from that where Danny recounts what happened to him and I'd still consider it talk about child abuse.

You can read this sad angsty sequel on AO3 or down below the cut

Tucker was messing around with the settings on his computer when his phone buzzed. He picked up the device and unlocked his phone with practiced precision.

The message was from Danny.

He nearly dropped his phone on his keyboard as he read the simple text.

S.O.S

He immediately messaged back, “Are you hurt?”

There was no reply.

He decided to go with the old adage of, no news is good news.

He slipped his phone into his pocket and raced downstairs to find his parents. He found that his mom was in the kitchen and remembered his Dad wouldn’t be back from work just yet.

“Hey mom?” he asked trying to keep the worry out of his voice. “Would it be cool if Danny came over and spent the night tonight?”

Please say yes. Please say yes. Please say yes.

“I don’t know honey, it is a school night.” she started.

“He uh,” he had to think of an excuse fast.

He pulled his phone out again and pretended to read a new message, “his parents are working on something and it doesn't seem like they’ll be done anytime soon. He was hoping he could actually get some sleep tonight.”

His mom sighed and set the dishtowel on the counter, “why they haven’t soundproofed that lab when they have children…” she muttered to herself and Tucker knew he had her.

Anytime Tucker even vaguely mentioned that Danny wasn’t getting enough sleep or if he hinted at how inconsistent his diet was, his mom was likely to just invite Danny over herself if Tucker hadn’t already asked first.

He didn’t like using his mom like that, but with how so few adults actually seemed to care about Danny’s well being he figured it was fine.

“Thanks, mom.” he kissed her on the cheek and ran out of the kitchen.

“I didn’t agree to anything!” she tried to protest, despite how obvious it was that she did.

“He’s already on the way so I’m just gonna wait by the door.”

She sighed and leaned in the doorway, “If I find out you lied to me,” his mother warned with only the barest hint of a threat.

“I’m not,” he lied.

“You two better not be up all night playing video games.”

“We won’t.” he wasn’t sure what they’d be doing. It all depended on what state Danny was in when he got here.

His mom, thankfully, went back into the kitchen so Tucker could wait impatiently by the door in peace.

He thought he heard a soft knock on the door but he wasn’t sure. Maybe he was just getting antsy and was hearing things.

A louder knock this time and Tucker immediately opened the door. Danny wasn’t covered in green or red and appeared to be standing upright just fine. With no visible injuries, Tucker pulled him inside and closed the door behind him.

Danny was shaking and his eyes were open, but he wasn’t taking anything in. Tucker gently led him to the living room and guided him to the couch.

Danny walked right into it and collapsed into the cushions as he started to cry.

Tucker pulled him close but that only made him cry harder.

For a second he thought maybe Danny was injured and holding him had hurt, but the way Danny clung onto him as if his life depended on it instantly blew that thought away.

Of course, the sound of Danny balling his eyes out summoned his mom from the kitchen.

She didn’t bother to ask if he was okay. She just sent a worried look to the two boys. Tucker just shrugged, because he had no idea what happened either.

All he knew was that FentonWorks wasn’t safe anymore.

They had come up with the SOS text ages ago. Danny was always so paranoid that his parents would find out his secret and that they wouldn’t take it well. It was Sam’s idea to come up with an escape plan, but it was mostly to help calm him down.

If he ever felt that FentonWorks was unsafe, if his parents ever hurt him, if they ever found out, all he had to do was sent the S.O.S. and make his way to Tucker’s. The trio figured he’d have better luck there seeing as Tucker’s parents actually liked Danny, unlike Sam’s parents.

Tucker never thought that they would ever use it.

It seemed like just because he was paranoid, doesn't mean that they weren’t out to get him.

Danny’s sobs were starting to die down and Tucker wasn’t sure he could hold in his questions anymore.

“Danny?” he started cautiously, “do you think you can tell me what happened?”

Danny sniffled and turned his head to the side so he was looking into the living room instead of only at Tucker’s shoulder, “they had this new thing.” he started slowly, his voice soft and cracking on every other word, “they didn’t even warn me. The spray. I couldn’t breathe.” his voice hitched and he gripped Tucker’s shirt so tightly that he untucked it, “they were so angry. They didn’t listen, they wouldn’t listen. Kept calling me a liar.” he sat up and locked eyes with Tucker, “They didn’t even say they were sorry. They hurt me. They called me a liar. Said I wasn’t their son. Then they realized they made a mistake but they never said they were sorry. If they just said sorry I wouldn’t have left. Why didn’t they just say they were sorry?”

He broke down in tears again. Sobbing just as hard as before.

Tucker couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe. What the hell was wrong with the Fenton’s?

His mom moved first. She gently pulled Danny off of Tucker but pulled back when he flinched.

“It’s just me, Danny.”

He wiped his eyes but didn’t say anything as he looked at her.

“You said you got sprayed with something right?”

He froze up for a second as he realized that meant she had heard everything he had just said but then relaxed just enough to nod.

“Have you been able to wash it off?”

He shook his head no.

“Okay, why don’t you take a shower and Tucker can find you something to change into. That sound good?”

“I can stay?”

The fact that he even had to ask was heartbreaking.

She pulled him into a hug and just held him for a moment. She whispered something too soft for Tucker to hear despite not being that far away.

Whatever it was it must have been perfect because he hugged her back before he started to finally relax.

They stayed like that for a few minutes until a timer went off in the kitchen. “Oh, that means it’s time to cook!”

Danny instantly backed up into the couch, “sorry.”

Tucker bit his lip to keep himself from telling Danny not to do that. He hated that Danny would always apologize for everything when he was upset. As if he was just a problem. As if just existing meant he was in everyone’s way. As if he wasn’t allowed to be upset about things.

He didn’t know how to make him not think that.

“It’s alright.” his mom consoled gently, “dinner can wait.”

Danny fidgeted in his seat clearly not used to this much attention from a concerned adult.

It only made Tucker angrier at the Fenton’s.

“Did you want to take that shower now?” she asked clearly giving him an out.

He nodded.

“If you need anything at all, I’ll be in the kitchen. Okay?”

He just mumbled an “okay” and stood up.

“And I mean anything. If you want to talk, or hug it out, or just sit in the room, you go right ahead.”

He hesitated and just stared at her for a moment, “really?”

“Really.”

He took a moment to mull it over but then he finally smiled, “Thanks Mrs. Foley.” he gave her a quick hug before pulling away and running up the stairs

“Anytime!” she smiled and waved him off.

Once he was out of view she locked eyes with Tucker, “Make sure he’s got something soft to wear when he’s done in there.”

He nodded and started towards his room already planning on letting Danny barrow that oversized hoodie he liked so much.

“Try to convince him to get a nap in before dinner. That poor boy always looks exhausted.”

“Okay mom, will do.”

That probably meant she wanted to talk more about this. Not that he blamed her, that was a lot to take in.

He was definitely impressed that she had taken it so well. Or maybe ‘taken it well’, wasn’t the right way to think about it.

She just had remained steady. She stayed strong, acted as a pillar for Danny to cling to when his whole world was falling apart.

He was so glad she was here for this. He didn’t think he would have been strong enough on his own. He knew he wasn’t.

He didn’t know how to thank her, so he just hugged her instead.

“You want to call Sam too?” she asked wisely knowing he was going to be doing just that as soon as he went to his room.

“Can she come over after dinner?”

“Sure thing.”

[jobrookekarev]

Fireworks and Family

Chapter One of One

Words: 2770

Summary: Alex and Jo spend the 4th on Lake Union with their daughters watching the fireworks.

Fandom: Grey’s Anatomy.

Relationship: Alex Karev/Jo Wilson and Atticus Lincoln/Amelia Shepherd. 

Characters: Alex Karev, Jo Wilson, Meredith Grey, Maggie Pierce, Amelia Shepherd, Atticus Lincoln, Zola Grey Shepherd, Derek Bailey Shepherd, Ellis Shepherd, Scout Shepherd Lincoln, Luna Ashton-Wilson.

Rating: General Audiences, Teen And Up Audiences, 

Additional Tags: Fluff, Kids, Babies, Boating, Swimming, Toddlers, Fireworks, and the 4th of July.

Read at AO3

Read at FFN

……………………………………………………………………

Alex Karev would be the first to admit that he wasn't the most patriotic guy. He had seen the worst of American in way more times than he could count, especially the white supremacy, the genocide against the natives, everything else that they left out of the history books. Especially with the healthcare system, and the politics in the last four years. 

However, he had to admit he did enjoy the 4th of July celebrations such as family, fun, and fireworks. Hence the early-morning trip up to Tulalip from Boom City fireworks on the Tulalip Reservation. It not only supported the Tulalip tribe, but they had the best fireworks in Washington State. Alex walked in between the rows of firework stands with his haul of fireworks in one hand and six-month-old Helena in the moby strapped to his chest. 

He hadn't got as much as they usually did in the past years as the heatwave the past weekend had made local conditions perfect for a wildfire, but they had gotten a few sparklers, smoke bombs, others but no aerials. 

As he walked out of the hall of stands, he spotted his wife standing next to the bouncy house with Link and Amelia. She had Luna in her arms and was gently swaying back and forth, no doubt attempting to get their daughter to take her morning nap. However, the second she saw him, she wiggled out of Jo’s arms and ran over to him. Alex smiled as he caught her and put the backpack he got on her shoulders.

“Mama, ack ack,” Luna called out, trying to say backpack before Alex could stop her as she got Jo's attention. 

Jo looked at him, raising one eyebrow as she silently asked if he had done the one thing she had asked him not to do. Buy Luna a brat pack fireworks backpack, which of course, he had. Luna wiggled out of his arms, and Alex set her down as she ran over to Jo, proudly showing off her new backpack. 

“Alex,” Jo said, clearly using the mom voice that she had perfected so much since they got their girls. “You gave our fifteen-month-old a backpack full of fireworks.”

Link and Amelia said nothing as they were suddenly very interested in the bounce house with Scout. Jo reached down to take the backpack off Luna's shoulders, only for her to shriek and pull away as she ran back over to Alex. He crouched down to pick her up again. 

“No, of course not. I took the fireworks out before I gave her the backpack,” Alex said, showing her the empty plastic backpack. 

Jo let out a sigh as she rubbed her forehead before she pulled Helena out of the baby carrier. Luna quickly spotted Scout jumping on the bounce house with Amelia and insisted Alex let her jump too.

“You guys get anything good,” Link asked after Alex put her on the bounce house and set the fireworks on the bench next to them. 

“Yeah, we got a couple of things,” Alex said as he and Link went through the fireworks. 

They let the kids jump for a little while and Alex went over to Jo, who still glared at him as she nursed Helena. He leaned in to kiss her lips and her grumpy look instantly faded away. He wrapped his arms around her waist and looked down at Helena as she nursed on Jo’s breast, but he had eyes only for her mama, although they soon dropped as she fell asleep. She didn't nurse for much longer, and after she finished, Jo handed her to Alex so he could burp her.

Jo had no qualms about publicly breastfeeding and Alex fully supported his wife. Plus, it increased his chance of seeing her boobs, and he couldn't help but watch her as she pulled her bra back in place and pulled her top back down. Once she was finished, Jo caught him staring and rolled his eyes. 

“You too, I swear,” Jo said, referring to her husband and her daughter’s obsession with her boobs.

“What we need them to survive,” Alex said, looking down at Helena, who also stared at Jo’s chest. “Isn't that right, Lena?”

Helen only gurgled and finally burped before Alex moved to cradle her in his arms and rock back and forth. He pulled out a pacifier that he always had on him these days, and with a little rocking, Helena was out like a light. They let Scout and Luna jump in the bounce house for a little bit more before they got their fireworks to the car and headed back down to Seattle. 

……………………………………………………………………

After everyone's afternoon nap, the Karev family met up with Meredith, Jackson, and Amelia, and the rest of their Grey-Sloan family on Jackson's new boat. It was smaller than the yacht he had gotten a couple of years ago, but it was still great for a perfect day on Lake Union. They set up a good location and pulled out the Lily pad and the drinks for some boat and water fun. 

“Hey,” Jo said, catching his attention from where his eyes had drawn down to the top of her black sundress, it matched the one Helena was wearing, but Luna had opted for her long-sleeved pink mermaid swimsuit. While Alex was in his blue swim shorts. 

Jo took Helen from him and put her on her hip while she held onto the strap of Luna’s life jacket, preventing the toddler from walking away. “So I'm going to spend the first half of the day with you and the kids. You can go swim and have fun, and then after dinner, I'm going to get really drunk, and you're going to drive us home.” 

“Okay,” Alex said, a smile spreading across his face at the thought of seeing his drunk wife.

Since she was breastfeeding, Jo often chose not to drink and had never asked him to limit his drinks, but when she did decide to drink, he was happy to watch the girls and be the designated driver. 

“Great,” Jo said as she leaned in to give him a kiss before she went to talk to Ben and Bailey.

“Dada,” Luna said, pushing on his legs as she assumed her strength was enough to push him in the water.

“Yes, ma'am, into the water we go,” Alex said before he picked her up and walked over to the back of the boat. 

The older kids, including Meredith kids, as well as Jackson and Harriet, Hayes' boys, and Joey and Tucker, we're all playing king/queen of the lily pad. Ellis had declared herself queen as she pushed off Austin before he could even defend himself against the pint-sized blonde.

Alex sat Luna down on the deck on the end of the boat before he slid into the water. He turned around to watch her as she eagerly bounced up and down, getting ready to jump before he led out his hands to her. “Okay, Luna, jump to Daddy.”

Luna let out an excited screech as she immediately jumped in. Alex scooped her up and held her close as they swam over to the lily pad. Luna had loved the water ever since she was an infant and they had her in swim lessons since she was a year old. She didn't quite swim on her own, but she loved the water, and Alex held her close to him as he hopped on the lily pad, now that the game was over. 

Ellis and Zola immediately took the two of them over to play with them making sure that she was included in the older kids’ games. Alex and Jackson played with the kids as they started sliding off the lily pad. He loved being an uncle to the older kids and playing with them rather than just watching from the sidelines. Especially when he got to toss Bailey and Ellis into the water as they shrieked with laughter. 

He sat on the pad with Luna and threw her up in the air again before he caught the laughter of his wife. He looked over to see her perched on the side of the boat, dipping her legs in the water with Helena in her lap. Jo didn't know how to swim. No one taught her when she was younger and she was too busy with school to learn when she was older. Alex had offered to teach her how to swim, but they hadn’t found time between their busy work and family schedule. Although, she liked the water and she wanted her daughters to enjoy the water two. 

“Mama,” Luna said as she went to walk over to them despite how Alex held on to her lest she walk off the lily pad.

She gently cupped her hand and picked up a handful of water and brought it up to run it over Helena bare their legs. Helena kicked and squirmed, but she tolerated it as well as she usually did. She was never one to like the water unless it was warm and even then, she only tolerated bath time once in a while.

Seeing her interest, Jo held her close and scooted forward so that she could dip Helena's toes in the lake. The second her toes touched the cold water, Helena let out a shriek and quickly turned around, clawing her fingers into Jo's bikinis and pulling herself up as fast as she could. Jo quickly brought Helen and settled her against her shoulder, grabbing the town nearby and wrapping it around her. Alex grabbed Luna and swam over to them. He put his hand on Helena’s back as he hopped up next to them and settled Luna on his lap. 

“It's okay Lena, Mama's not a big fan of the water either,” Jo said as she patted her back and held her close as Helena's cries soon ended as she chewed on the strings to Jo's sundress. 

“She could be if she came to the pool every now and again with Luna and Daddy,” Alex said, talking to Jo more than he was to Helena. 

“And give up her hour of alone time, hard pass,” Jo said with a giggle as she looked over at Alex.

Luna let out a cry, getting their attention as she pointed to where Zola and Ellis were jumping into the water. Alex let her go and she took a big leap into the water. Jo grabbed his hand as she watched their daughter jump. Their fearless girl and the dark waters of the lake, made Jo's heart race, but Luna just laughed as she came back up, thanks to her sturdy life jacket. Alex scooped her up, and she was right in front of him and settled her in his lap again.

“‘ump, ‘ump,” Luna said excitedly, bouncing on Alex's lap as she held onto her.

Jo quickly schooled her features and plastered on a smile, hiding her fear. “Yes, I did see you, baby. You did a big jump.”

“‘ump,” Luna said again with a nod as Alex twisted his fingers around the little ponytails on the top of her head that barely contained her little white blond strands of hair. 

“Hey, who wants a popsicle?” Meredith asked, holding up a box of red, white, and blue rocket popsicles as all of the kids turned their heads towards her. 

Luna immediately scrambled off their laps and over to her auntie Mer to get the first popsicle as the rest of the kids quickly followed suit. 

“Great, we're almost ready to eat, so as soon as you're out, grab a towel and come up to the deck,” Meredith said as she finished heading out the popsicles. Alex smiled, knowing that she had used them as a tool to get all of the kids out of the water. 

He and Jackson put away the lily pad while Jo and the kids went inside, and they packed up the boat to head up to Edmonds for the firework show up there. 

They all eat barbecued hot dogs up on the deck and Luna absolutely got melted popsicles all down her swimsuit and barbecue sauce all over her face as she enjoyed her meal. Alex never cared about the mess that the toddler made, but Jo complained that between the two of them, they were never clean. Especially compared to Helena as she delicately ate her little squashed hot dog bites. Jo changed Luna into a cute little blue dress and made sure to grab them both the noise canceling earmuffs before they went back outside for when the fireworks started. 

True to her word, after dinner, Jo finished breastfeeding Helena, handed Alex both of the kids, and took a shot from Meredith. Her pregnancy had affected her stamina, and after two shots of tequila and half a beer, she was well on her way to being drunk. Alex watched as his graceful wife got absolutely plastered and started dancing on tabletops with Meredith right next to her. It got to the point where she was teetering on her feet, and Alex forced her to wear a life jacket, just in case. 

“Do I have to wear this?” Jo asked, looking up at him with her adorable little pout of protest as he. 

“Yep,” Alex said as he clipped it onto her and kissed her nose.

“Do I at least get something in return?” Jo asked as she looking up at him, she batted her eyelashes and smiled at him, her hands going to the collar of his polo shirt. 

“If you're mostly sober enough to consent by the time we get the girls home and in bed, then I will reward you for your good behavior.” 

“Yay,” Jo said, leaning in and giving him a sloppy kiss before she turned around and went back partying with Meredith and April. 

They got up to Edmonds just as the sun was setting on the horizon. They usually would just stay in Lake Union and watch the fireworks there, but they had been canceled on account of the pandemic. Regardless Edmonds had a firework display on the water, and they parked the boat in prime position before setting up the lily pad again. 

The kids swam for a little bit longer, and Alex played with both of the girls, Scout, and Amelia in the boat’s living room for a little while before they all met up on the deck for the fireworks display. Maggie stole Helena for some Auntie cuddles, leaving Alex hands-free as Scout and Lunas sat together in front of him in the playpen. Next, Alex found Jo and took off her life jacket, then wrapped his arm around her as he sat down in a chair and pulled her into the lab.

Jo giggled as he pulled her down, but she settled on his lap and as the fireworks started. The dazzling display of red and blue multi-colored fireworks was easy enough to capture everyone's attention. About halfway through, Maggie gave Helena back when she started to fuss, and Jo held her close. Luna was completely mesmerized by the exploding fireworks as she stood on her toes against the wall of the playpen to get a better look at them. Helena watched them for a little bit, but didn't find them quite interesting enough before she buried her face in Jo's shoulder and surprisingly fell asleep. Then again, Helena usually fell asleep anywhere so long as she was in someone's arms. After Amelia picked up Scout, Luna started crying and reaching out to him as she turned around and shook the side of the playpen.

“I got her, Uncle Alex,” Zola said as she got up and picked up Luna out of the playpen before set her in Alex's lap. He quickly adjusted to hold all three of his girls, something he had learned to balance in the past few months. Going from one kid to two in six months had been a whirlwind. It felt like never ending chaos at the Karev house, but Alex loved it. 

Alex looked away from the fireworks and watched Jo and his girls take them in. Jo seemed to have sobered up a little bit as she watched the display, and she cuddled up against him and laid her head on his shoulder. Although they wouldn’t remember it years from now, the experience still mattered. This was like what he loved about the holidays most of all, spending it with his family, Jo, and their girls.

[casuallyimagining]

Just Us

Percy Jackson x Reader Percy Jackson & the Olympians

Anonymous asked: I love your blog! If you are doing requests right now, are you able to do something with Percy and his S/O arguing and making up. Or some angst with a happy ending?

This got a little long. Hope y’all don’t mind :) Enjoy!

Requests are open for headcanons and fics!

The lonely apartment felt weird. It was happening more and more frequently as of late, but that didn’t mean it was any less wrong.

When you and Percy had first moved in together, the apartment on 76th Street had felt so alive. It was perfect, and he was perfect, and nothing could possibly have taken that feeling away. And it had lasted, not forever, of course, but long enough that you were confident that letting yourself fall so hard for the scruffy-haired skater boy from the Upper East Side was the right choice.

Sure, living with the son of Poseidon had its interesting moments, like the pegasi that tended to show up on your fire escape every so often, or the monsters that would sometimes follow you home after date nights. But overall, it was good and it felt right.

Until recently, that is. When the apartment started getting lonelier and lonelier, and you couldn’t shake the feeling that your world was somehow irreparably different. Like how your mouth feels after you get a tooth pulled. Something was missing, even when the apartment wasn’t empty.

Sometimes, it was his mom needing someone to watch Estelle. She was always so happy that Percy wanted to be a part of his little sister’s life. And who were you to deny him that? So off he would dutifully go, often not getting back until after you were asleep, sometimes just staying the night and not getting back until after you had gone to work the next morning.

Other times, it was Jason requesting help making sure both demigod camps had appropriate tributes to every minor god or goddess. You knew the work was tedious, and you knew how much Percy valued his friendship with Jason. So when the son of Jupiter called, you waved dutifully as Percy climbed on Blackjack’s back, not coming back for days, or sometimes even a week or more.

Most times, though, it was Annabeth or Grover just wanting to hang out. And you understood, really, you did. His two best and longest friends didn’t really have time to consistently spend with him anymore. Annabeth had gotten into Harvard’s graduate architecture program, so she only had precious little time to spend with Percy, and she could never leave Cambridge. Grover, of course, was still off spreading Pan’s message, and rarely did he have time to spare for his best friend. So, of course, you dutifully watched him race to gather his things, often enough forgetting to even say goodbye, before he was out the door for who knows how long.

Sadly, you sank into the couch—a plush leather hand-me-down from Sally and Paul when they redecorated their own apartment a couple years back—and turned on the TV. When he was gone for long periods of time, the news was often the only way to see what he was up to, even though he had a cellphone and a way to Iris message you on his literal wrist.

It was almost time for the 11 o’clock news, and, in theory, Percy should be home soon. You hadn’t heard anything from him all day, which wasn’t surprising, despite the fact that he was literally just on the other side of Manhattan babysitting.

But you weren’t so sure that he’d be home that night. Not only because Sally didn’t like when Percy walked home late at night. Of course she didn’t, and you didn’t either. The walk was quick during the day because he could just cut through Central Park, but late at night, the park was closed to pedestrian traffic. That, plus the fact that you and Percy had gotten into a bit of an argument before he went left you uncertain that he would return that night.

Or ever, for that matter, although your brain told you that was ridiculous.

All you had done was ask him to spend a little more time with you. You didn’t want to take him away from his friends and family, but you rarely got to spend time with your boyfriend anymore. Between work, helping out at camp, and him spending what seemed like every spare moment with his friends and family, you missed him. And you told him that.

Maybe you communicated it wrong, or maybe he misheard you, but whatever the reason, he left the apartment in a huff at noon.

Shortly before the news ended, you heard a roll of thunder and rain pattering gently on the window. There was no way Sally would let him leave in a storm. You stood and stretched, feeling your back pop, and made your way into your bedroom.

You had only been in bed for what felt like a few minutes when you heard the clattering on the fire escape. Annoyed, you got up and went to the window. You were getting ready to yell at Blackjack for making so much noise when you saw Percy half-slumped over on his back, clutching at his side. His shirt was torn and ruddy, and he was soaked from the rain that had progressively gotten worse.

Silently, you scrambled out the window, patting the pegasus’ nose as he shuffled to give you better access to his injured rider. You helped Percy dismount, pressing your hand to his wound so that he could use both of his arms. He mumbled a quiet ‘thanks, buddy’ and leaned his head against Blackjack’s snout for a brief moment before pushing away and letting you help him gingerly climb through the window. Your brain barely registered the flap of wings outside as you led Percy to sitting on the bed.

“What happened?” you asked softly, replacing your hand with his own before going to the bedside table to grab the container of ambrosia you had stashed in every room of the apartment.

“Empousai in the park.” His voice was hoarse, and he sounded tired. You doubted his six-year-old sister had tuckered him out that much. “Didn’t see them until it was too late. They chased me halfway through the Ramble before I was able to get some ground on them.”

You frowned, cupping a hand to his cheek briefly. “You’re home now,” you whispered. “That’s what matters.”

He paused for a moment, and you could see an emotion flash across his face too quickly to identify. Then, he nodded.

Silently, you went to the wardrobe and pulled out dry clothes for him to change into. Percy took the pajamas gratefully, and for a moment, his sea green eyes met yours. You were glad in that moment that he wasn’t the son of Zeus—the electricity in the air was palpable.

“How was Estelle?” you asked quietly, breaking his gaze. You sat on the edge of the bed while he changed.

He chuckled, wincing slightly. The ambrosia must not have fully finished healing him yet. “Good. She’s good. She asked about you.” You raised your eyebrows in shock and he continued. “She wants you to come over to play school sometime.”

You laughed. The last time you had played school with the five-year-old, she had been the teacher and you and Percy had pretended to be her bad students. She loved it. “Well, I suppose we’ll have to make that happen, then.”

He nodded and went silent as he pulled the ratty Red Hot Chili Peppers shirt over his head. It used to be a hoodie—you had gotten it for him shortly after you met him—and he wore it so much it was practically threadbare. He had cut the hood off at some point, and the front pocket had ripped off in a monster fight two years ago, so now it was just a thin sweatshirt that had been mended and sewn back together so many times, most of the stitching wasn’t original. But still he refused to throw it out.

After a moment, he sat down beside you, and for a second, you thought he wasn’t going to say anything. Then, he grabbed your hand. “Mom asked about you, too.”

“Oh?”

Percy sighed. His hair was soaked, and it stuck to his face at odd angles. He looked a mess, although if you were honest with yourself, he had certainly looked much worse. “I’m sorry I’m a shit boyfriend,” he mumbled. His grasp on your hand loosened. “I didn’t realize…”

You squeezed his hand.

“Everyone always told me that my fatal flaw was being too loyal to my friends. I never knew what that meant. ‘Til now.” His sea green eyes were sad when he finally let himself meet your eyes. “Turns out you can be too loyal.”

“I love how much you love your friends,” you reassured him. “I just want a bit more balance. I was starting to get the impression you didn’t want to spend time with me anymore.”

His brows knit together in frustration. “Of course I want to spend time with you. I love you.” The way Percy said it, so finitely and sure of himself, caused your heart to do backflips in your chest.

You leaned over and kissed him chastely, your lips barely brushing his. Before you had a chance to pull away, he was pulling you closer and kissing you again, one arm around your waist, the other cupping your cheek tenderly. It was brief, but kissing Percy always tied your stomach into knots like it was the first time.

He leaned his forehead against yours, and in the close proximity, you could feel him smile without even looking at him. “Mom invited us both for dinner tomorrow,” he mumbled, his sea green eyes meeting yours once again. “Maybe after, we can start that thing on HBO. The one with the monsters. Just us.”

You smiled. “Just us.”

[goodfish-bowl]

Dead to the World

So, I’ve seen that prompt floating around a couple times, the one about Danny waking up at his own funeral, and have decided its mine now. 

Can read it here on AO3, or below the cut. 

Also, how the heck should I tag this on AO3, I’m still a bit unfamiliar with what tags I’m supposed to use, especially for this, suggestions?

Extras:

Snippet 1: Alone

                     Danny remembered exactly what happened after he tripped inside of the portal. He remembered that moment of whirring electricity before he had felt it. A hum in the air before everything fell apart. When it came, it came in full. It had torn and ripped him apart with such ferocity and animosity you’d think he’d done something to offend it. Well, Danny supposed he had been the one to turn it on. It raced and burned through him, a wicked arch starting in his hand and then spreading to the rest of him, like a limb falling asleep, but also getting set on fire. It tore apart his ability to feel in seconds, or at least it felt like seconds.

           Danny’s vision blurred out, unfocused, on anything but white, green, red, and black. He could no longer see. His lungs ceased to function, and his throat felt raw and torn apart, had he been screaming? Danny felt like someone had set him on fire, or one of the ecto-weapons had shot him, except it was his entire body, raw and sensitive. But it also felt like he’d been dumped into a frozen river. His senses were shot, and he could barely feel the pain, that awful boring and numbness and cold, but he could no longer feel himself either. Where were his arms and legs? Was he still standing? He couldn’t feel the ground beneath him at all. There was awful strain in his chest, as something tried to continue working before it gave out.

           Then it stopped. He was no longer in pain whatsoever, like he had never been hurt in the first place. His mind cleared up and he could focus on something other than the pain, just for that moment. Hadn’t Tucker and Sam been outside the portal when it turned on? Well, this probably wasn’t the most pleasant thing for them to experience. Wow, Mom and Dad weren’t going to be happy he was messing around in the lab, they’d probably be furious, and Jazz would be a mess, lecturing him after his parents were done fussing over him. He wasn’t looking forward to that at all. He was just hurt, right? He’d come out just fine, and then he’d get the lecture and fussing-over of his life.  

           The lights and pain were gone now, but Danny still couldn’t feel anything. Maybe he was just in shock? He tried to get up, to let out a weak laugh, and imagine the pain he had experienced away, but he couldn’t. He couldn’t feel his limbs. He wasn’t breathing. Danny so desperately tried to take a breath, to at least get the air into the lungs he could no longer feel. Then he felt something. He felt cold and hollow, and the blackness closed around not just around his sight, but his mind as well. He fought against it as hard as he could, because he knew what was coming. He didn’t want to die. Well, he supposed very few people did. Danny fought and struggled against the darkness with everything he had in him, or whatever was left, but it wasn’t enough. The darkness came, and it devoured him whole.

           Daniel Fenton had died, days after his 14th birthday, due to electrocution in his parent’s basement.  

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

         Sam knew she was never going to forget the moment the portal had turned on. She wasn’t going to forget how the darkness and the strange, too-bright, green lighting had reflected off of the white and black hazmat suit Danny had put on before steeping inside. She wasn’t going to forget the expression on Danny’s face as he tripped over some loose wiring on the floor of the portal. He had been surprised, his eyes had widened just a fraction and he had let out a small, a rather unmanly yelp before his hand connected to the wall to steady himself. She wasn’t going to forget how that expression shifted as the portal powered on, humming with electricity like an old appliance before it unleashed all of its fury at once. She wasn’t going to forget how she had called out his name in warning second too late, as the bright green white of the portal had roared to life, blinding her, and only overcome by one noise. Sam wasn’t ever going to forget how Danny shrieked in agony as it reduced him to a smoking corpse, sizzling and twitching in the blackened metal of the portal, within a fraction of a second. The sound was going to echo through her mind and nightmares no matter what she would tell herself. Sam was never going to forget that she was the one who had killed her best friend.

         She and Tucker had sat there for minutes, too shocked to move, just waiting. They were waiting for Danny to take an unsteady breath, then laugh, maybe limp his way out. They were waiting for anything. Any indicator that the glue in their friendship was alright. Any indicator that Danny was alive. But he didn’t move, and the twitching stopped seconds after the portal had shut itself off, and the power had gone out, probably causing an outage on the whole block. With a groan, a back-up generator had kicked on, bathing the lab in subtle, blue-green light, turning all the metal in the lab to ice, just like the blood in her veins.  

       The power going out had been enough to draw attention to the lab from all the Fentons, the remaining ones at least. Sam refused to believe Danny was dead. He couldn’t be. Yeah, he was just knocked out, unconscious. Why wasn’t she going over there to make sure he was ok? Probably because she knew that if she did, she would know for sure that she had killed her best friend.

       Jazz was the first one to enter the lab quickly followed by Mr. and Mrs. Fenton. Jazz quickly took in the situation, demanding to her parents to stop whatever they had done to make the power go out, only to find Sam and Tucker frozen in the middle of the lab and Danny d-… passed out in the portal. Jack Fenton was quick to go by his daughter’s side to where Danny lay. Maddie Fenton, on the other hand, quietly asked what had happened.

      Something inside Sam broke then. What had happened? It had been so fast; she couldn’t really wrap her head around it. She tried to tell Mrs. Fenton, she really did, but she choked up. She couldn’t say a thing. Sam, who had always been so vocal and outspoken was rendered mute, Danny’s scream echoing between her ears.

      Jazz let out a pained cry from the portal, and Danny was gently gathered into his father’s arms. Mr. Fenton looked pale and horrified; Jazz was on the verge of hysterics. Neither expression suited their respective wearer.  

        Some words were exchanged, but Sam didn’t hear them, only focused on Danny’s limp form in Mr. Fenton’s arms, he looked like he was asleep, if only it weren’t for his ashen skin, and electrical burns covering most of his body revealed where the hazmat suit had been torn off, exposing the blackened skin underneath. Sam could smell his burnt skin and the scent of burnt up electronics from the portal. She did her best to avoid hurling or even associating the two together. It had been all her fault.

         At some point, the authorities had been called, and her parents had come to pick her up. She didn’t refuse the hug from her parents as she was loaded into some unbelievably expensive car and toted off back home, a place she always tried to stay away from except as a place to sleep and eat. She didn’t push them away as they embraced her in the living room, whispering sweet nothings to her, as she finally broke and cried out in anguish at what she had done.

       Danny had died and it was all her fault.

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

        Tucker was faring just about as well as Sam was, to be honest, except he never broke down. It probably wasn’t healthy, to keep everything locked up, but all he could see behind the lenses of his glasses was Danny, charred and burnt in his Dad’s arms. He remembered the sound of the portal coming to life as it took Danny’s. He had been fascinated at the time, with all of the technology that the Fentons created, he had wanted to see the impossible machine for himself and had completely disregarded the danger Danny was in as soon as he agreed to Sam’s stupid, stupid dare to go inside the damn thing.

           Tucker had electrocuted and burned himself on electronics countless times while messing with his oh-so-precious technology, so he knew how it felt, but just couldn’t imagine what Danny had gone through in his last moments. Electrocution was not a way he wanted to go. But now his best friend, one of the only ones that he actually knew, a friend that wasn’t behind a computer screen, but a physical, tangible person, one he had known for most of his life, was dead.

           Tucker looked over at the lonesome PDA sitting on his computer littered desk amongst the trash and miscellaneous tech-parts he had been messing with or intending to mess with after school. He let out a lonesome sigh, unwilling to leave his place in bed to retrieve it, in fact, the thought filled him with disdain. He envied the Fentons’ for their skill in technology, now he wasn’t so sure. The very tech he loved and worshipped so dearly had taken his one tangible friend from him. He wasn’t even sure he could call the people he had met through the internet friends, since he knew practically nothing about them outside of whatever he had connected with them over in the first place.

           There was still Sam, he supposed, but he currently wanted nothing to do with her. She probably needed to be alone right now anyway. If she hadn’t dared Danny to go inside, he would still be alive. But yet again, Tucker hadn’t tried to dissuade her or stop Danny from going in in the first place.  Yes, he blamed Sam for Danny’s death, but he wasn’t innocent either. He never would’ve gone near it if he hadn’t been so fascinated with the tech required to pierce through entire realities in the first place. He was to blame for Danny’s death too.

            Tucker looked at the PDA and assortment of computer parts on his table with a scornful looked, the whirring of the portal powering up overcoming any sense of self-doubt he had in what he was about to do. He mustered up the will and half-dragged himself to his desk, glancing over every detail of his beloved collection and part of his contribution to the future as a “techno geek”. He pulled the trashcan out from under his desk and with a sweep of his arm, cleared the entire desk inside. Something broke in the bin, but he refused to even acknowledge it. For the first time in ages, he saw the clean surface of his desk. His heart panged at what he had done, but it didn’t last for long. Tech could always be replaced, people couldn’t. Tucker unlocked his door, set the full trashcan right outside for his mom to find, then closed and relocked the door. He trudged back into bed and stared blankly at the ceiling. After a moment, he took off his beanie and glasses, setting them on his nightstand.

           Tucker had no idea where he was supposed to go from here. Should he cry, break down, trash his room? Instead, he just felt hollow, and he refused to seek comfort in the online discourse and disconnect from everything around him like he always did. He refused to do anything, even think. He just sat there, empty and hollow, blank and empty like a wiped hard drive. Tucker didn’t know how he was supposed to mourn his best friend, he didn’t know if he could. He didn’t know if he would ever find anything, he could use to fix himself. Computers could be fixed and modified to work how someone wanted them to, but not people.

           Electronics were replaceable, but people weren’t, and that fact left Tucker hollow.  

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

                         Daniel James Fenton’s funeral was planned three days after his death. His body had been whisked off to the morgue while his family desperately tried to figure out what had happened. Madeline Fenton had tried to get either of the kids to tell her, but both had been practically catatonic with shock, they had witnessed it, after all. Maddie was near hysterics herself, but she couldn’t yet. She had to make sure her boy got a proper burial first, then she could break down. She had three days.  

           Jack had wanted to have Danny cremated, but Maddie had vehemently refused. It was a tradition in his family line, not hers. She wanted to have a grave she could visit and mourn over. The funeral was a simple one, just friends and family, no matter how hard the news reporters pushed to come.

          That had been another thing Maddie had to deal with, the news. It wasn’t every day a boy as young as Danny died in such a tragic way, and journalists did love tragedies. They had been getting so much unwanted criticism lately. A more opinionate journalist claimed it was their fault Danny had died in the lab because they had failed to put proper safety measures in place to prevent this sort of thing from happening. Another journalist questioned their decision to have a lab in general, claiming that the “science” they did was bogus, and if they really needed a lab, they should’ve rented a warehouse or office, away from the home and their children.

          Maddie refused to admit to herself that they were right and moving the lab had been a frequent argument between her and Jack. It was a decision between safety and leaving the kids home alone. A warehouse would’ve also given them much more space to work with rather than the cramped basement. But that decision had been made for them, Maddie and Jack no longer had any disagreements about what was going to happen concerning the lab.

          It had been a long and solemn conversation between her and Jack, but they decided the lab had to go, completely. Their science had not only taken their son from them but had also taken away most of the time they should’ve used raising their children. Maddie regretted it deeply that she hadn’t spent as much time with Danny as she should’ve, more fixated on her work rather than her children. Jack and Maddie had decided together that they were dismantling the lab and the portal along with it. They were giving up their search for ghosts, then searching for new jobs to supplement the income they earned from their numerous patents.  They were no longer going to be ghost hunters, just the Fentons.

          The funeral was closed casket, held in one of the smaller halls Amity had available to rent. Collapsible chairs were lined up in neat rows, parted in the middle, enough to seat 50, but only half were actually being used. Maddie had invited both Sam and Tuckers families, and then the little family she and Jack had left. Alicia, Maddie’s sister, had booked a flight as soon as the news reached her. Jack’s family was unsurprisingly unreachable as always. But what had been surprising was when an old college friend of theirs, Vlad Masters, had reached out to them and offered to come. Vlad had come up with a fortune since their college days and had snatched away most of the bills for the funeral, even helping her plan.

          When people began to arrive, everyone was dressed in black, apart from one person. Sam Manson was in blue. She wore a long, deep navy dress, the bottom decorated with silver rhinestones, making the bottom half resemble the night sky Danny had loved enough to reach for. Tucker was dressed in black, beanie missing. He wasn’t wearing or carrying a singular piece of technology that day, no matter how much he used to cling to it. Their families seemed to fade into the background, taking seats a row back with Alicia, while the Fentons, Sam, Tucker, and Vlad Masters sat in the first row.

          The casket Maddie had managed to find for Danny was a simple one, but that was enough. It was made of a simple oak, strong enough to withstand the tests of time, meaning it wouldn’t collapse when buried underground. The inside was a soft, silky, black cloth, padded as much as any cot or thin mattress could be. Maddie didn’t have the wits at the moment to be incredibly picky, but she still wanted to get something of quality. Inside, Danny had been changed out of the burned hazmat suit into something else. Maddie had given the morticians in his favorite outfit, his NASA hoodie and a torn up pair of jeans. Jazz had been the one to joke about how Danny would be buried in that hoodie, and now he was. A colorful array of flowers in a variety of cool colors was piled up on top of the casket and around it, courtesy of Vlad, who had ordered the massive arrangement only a day prior, and had it rushed at a massive fee.

          Another five minutes after everyone settled down, it was time to begin. Maddie pulled herself out of her chair and steeled herself. She could do this. It had been three days, and she only had to get through this, then she could grieve herself. Maddie walked up to the mic stand and began the funeral.

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

          After the black was gone, there was green. Danny didn’t know where he was, he wasn’t sure if he was really any place at all. It was green, and that green flowed through him like he wasn’t even there. But he could feel it, it was the only thing he could feel outside of his own thoughts, which were convoluted and confused, too many questions, so he preferred not to think. It poured over him like water, swirled inside of him for a moment, then left on its merry way. He couldn’t speak, and he didn’t have arms or legs, he was just a speck of dust in the wind, a small green blob amongst the rest of the green, given eyes to see and nothing else.

           Danny, (if he was Danny, he couldn’t remember), floated through the green, wandering through it, a small sense of wonder and curiosity being his only motivation.  The green swirled in the distance, forming endless spirals and twists in a continuous pattern Danny would never have been able to replicate on paper. There were occasional masses of black, islands that seemed to disobey all laws of physics as they sat suspended in space. Sometimes there were building on them, and sometimes there were people too. They were odd beings, with strangely colored skin and weird clothes, some looked human while others didn’t. They usually ignored him or couldn’t see him as he wandered about the endless expanse of green before him.

          One place looked like a medieval kingdom, peasants going about their daily business, living(?) lives that seemed absolutely miserable. The low lived in filth, toiling away while barely reaping any reward for their labor, suffering, and existing for no other purpose than to be taken advantage of. There were knights and nobles here too, but they only took from the peasants before returning to the great castle that took up most of this floating island. The castle was lavish, covered in draconic symbols and displays of power. Danny didn’t dare go near the throne, only peaked through to see a cruel king on a cruel throne. He wandered through the castle a bit more, finding small nooks and crannies to explore, not tiring as he went. Up in the tallest tower, there was a woman, or at least she looked like a woman, peering down on the miserable little village just outside the wall of the great and terrible castle. She looked just as miserable as the peasants, if not more. She looked a bit like the cruel king, but she was kind, and also locked away. She was sad. He floated around her for a bit, and she looked at him, not through him. He revealed in the fact that someone(?) could see him, and she gave a small smile at his joy, poking him with a finger.

          “Thank you, little one, but I think you have a better place to be than here,” she said. Danny didn’t know, but he decided she was probably right. He had somewhere he was supposed to be going, so he left the kingdom with its miserable peasants, cruel king, and sad princess behind.

          Another island(?) was covered with forestry, and a river running through it. Some strange animal-like creatures wandered through there, some regarding him passively before leaving. But they were afraid, and it seemed like they had every right to be. Moments after, a large, metal man came bursting through the tree, equipped with all sorts of blasters and rockets, pursuing the animals with a lustful, gleeful fury. Danny decided to hide, slipping easily into small crannies and under bushes, away from the eyes of the hunter. He didn’t dare go near the large skull-like structure at the peak of the island, it gave him a bad feeling. He left that island without discovering much more than that it was a scary, bad place to be, and that it wasn’t where he was supposed to be going.

          The final place he went through was a library, large enough that it became its own labyrinth, full of so many books their titles blurred together in his mind. There were so many books, some looked fresh off the press while others looked like they had been saved seconds from turning to ashes, or barely kept from turning to dust, tomes snatched away seconds before their destruction. (Jazz would’ve loved this place). He didn’t care to try and read one of the many books that were splayed open across the numerous library tables. He couldn’t seem to grasp the words for more than a few seconds before they slipped carelessly from his mind. There was only one person(?) in the entire library, mumbling incoherently as he typed away on a strange keyboard, the words themselves incomprehensible, or in some other language Danny didn’t understand. They didn’t acknowledge him, but they knew he was there, since the writer gave him half a glance, then huffed and returned to his writing. The library seemed to be so lonely, full of knowledge yet no one to read it, only the writer who continued to make books without anyone there to take in the story. Danny left this place too, because he felt like this wasn’t the place he was supposed to be going.  

          There, Danny decided, that’s where he was supposed to be going. Large, black gears floated haphazardly around the green, surrounding what seemed to be a clock tower. A large pendulum, like a grandfather clock, swung lethargically in the center of it, internal gears visible through the glass. A large set of wooden doors were open just wide enough for him to slip through, so he did. The inside matched the outside perfectly, exposed gears working walls and barriers in-between spaces, with a set of stairs ascending to somewhere above. Clocks covered every available wall space, clocks ticking seemingly at random, some fast some slow, others broken and not moving at all. There were screens too, shows places Danny didn’t recognize and scenes he couldn’t make sense of.  

          “It seems you’ve found the place you’re supposed to be, Danny,” the being said.

           They were blue with solid red eyes, a large scar going across the right one. A purple cloak covered his(?) shoulders and he lacked feet, a trailing tail taking their place. His chest was the inside of a grandfather clock, the pendulum swinging away as if it wasn’t part of a person. The being carried a staff of sorts, the top pronging out into a crescent with something that looked like a stopwatch suspended in the middle. Danny didn’t know how he knew his name, (if his name was, in fact, ‘Danny’), but that meant he was in the right place. He wasn’t scared of this being either, he knew he would’ve hurt him. He was supposed to be here after all.

           “Now let's get you home,” he hummed, taking Danny from the air and cupping him in his hands.

          Danny was brought over to a green circle, it swirled more definitely than the green outside. It went someplace. Danny looked up at the being, who smiled down at him reassuringly. He was given a small toss and thrown through the green disk, vanishing within it.

          “All is as it should be.”

          And then the green was replaced with black once more.    

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

          Danny’s bloodless body rested beneath the cool, dark wood, engulfed in dark the dark, silky cloth that made up the interior of the casket, hidden away from the world. He had become a pale, hollow vessel, void of life in any form. And then he wasn’t.

           A small green entity emerged from a portal no bigger than a fist, directly into Danny’s chest cavity, then froze solid, right next to what had once been his heart. It shifted from a small green blob to a crystalline structure, emitting a soft light that would’ve been visibly through the skin, then it seeped out green.

           The green slowly filed out what had once been veins, turning what had been red into green, fixing things as it spread. Burns and scars faded away, melting to the skin until they were barely visible lines, only seen when inspected closely. It flooded muscles that had since ceased up and massaged them back into working condition. A finger twitched. The green went upwards, preserving the mind and all the memories it once and will hold. It fixed and reconnected nerves that had been severed and damaged, restoring feeling to every part of the body. And then, once everything else was as it was supposed to be, the green seized his heart, flooding it with a burst of energy. Danny’s heart burst to life once more, as if it hadn’t stopped beating in three days.  

             Danny’s eyes burst wide open, still alight with green energy as he gasped in musty, still air. He gasped and panted, reclaiming feeling over his own body, confused and disoriented. He glanced around in a panic, who turned out the lights!? After catching his breath, nose wrinkling at the odd smell of his surroundings, Danny reached out an arm, only to hit something solid inches from his nose. He tried a different direction, only to be met with the same result. He was boxed in.

           Danny couldn’t remember how he got here, the last thing he remembered was… He thought for a moment. The last thing he remembered was stepping into the portal, then pain, and then green. The first event was perfectly clear in his mind. Sam had dared him to go check it out, and he had, only to trip, and then the portal had turned on. He… he had gotten hurt really bad… right? And the memory of green must’ve come from the inside of the portal… His mind throbbed in exhaustion and pain, unable to make sense of his situation or the hazy memories between then and now. Why was he lying down in a box?

           Danny pushed upwards, but the top wouldn’t budge. There was barely enough room inside for him to fit, he couldn’t properly attempt to lift it. Was Jazz sitting on top of it or something? Was this a prank for passing out in the portal? Didn’t Sam and Tucker know he could suffocate in here?!

           Danny began to pound on the surface and cry out for help. His voice was course and his throat dry, causing him to cough as soon as he tried to cry out. Why was he so thirsty? Did he sleep with his mouth open or something? Despite the pain, he continued to cry out, pounding weakly on the lid for help. He couldn’t hear anything outside of the box, not even a snicker, and hopelessly wondered if they could hear him.

           Suddenly the lid of the box lifted, or at least half of it was, and Danny was blinded by the light that assaulted his eyes. Strong, unfamiliar hands lifted him into a sitting position while his eyes slowly readjusted, wincing as his stiff legs and body were forced to move, it felt like he had cramps everywhere. The green flickered away from his eyes as the lights from the ceiling slowly filtered in and Danny saw a small crowd of people, most he recognized, one he didn’t, the man who pulled him out of the dark box. Danny’s mind could barely make sense of what he was seeing. The looks he was getting from his friends and family, horrified, confused, shock, awe didn’t make sense in his tired and exhausted state. He didn’t like what his mind concluded, somehow making much less sense than any prank he could’ve imaged.

           Daniel Fenton had woken up at his own funeral.  

[amerrierworld]

Curtain. (viii)

Carol (2015) fan fiction

Pt: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 

Word Count: 2,048

Thursday.

Nothing could foul Therese’s good mood today. Not the expired coffee that she had, not the cold and wet morning weather, not her persistent headache. She gladly welcomed it. 

Go get her tiger, Dannie had texted her, making her grin stupidly at her phone. She’d woken far too early, jittery with caffeine, wondering what could get her through the day the fastest before 3pm rolled around.

She decided to spend the day in her darkroom, which was just her smaller, second bathroom storing various chemicals and photographs, with the windows and door taped to block out all light. First, working on her photos from the night before, she snorted at the ridiculous photos of Dannie, stuffing his face with tooth-rotting candy. It was rare she used her film camera, but it had felt like the perfect opportunity as her good mood and confidence were spiking. 

The drizzly rain had disappeared by the time she headed out the door, arms loaded and feeling prepared for the first time this whole week.

-

Therese breezed in at 2:56pm, waiting patiently as Mr. Tucker’s class lined up for the bell. Feeling bold, she waved at him. His sour glare only barely dampened her mood. 

A couple of eager kids helped her set up the room the way she liked, distributing easels and pulling out the class’ art folders.

As the class slowly got started and more kids sauntered in, Therese greeted each and every one of them, but her eyes were watching for a blonde. Rindy came in, excited and oblivious to Therese’s nerves about her mother, and took her seat at the front just like yesterday. 

It was 3:17 when Therese worried Carol wasn’t going to come at all, and then hurried footsteps came through the door, heels clicking. In came a flustered Carol, still impeccably dressed, pulling her driving gloves off her hands.

“I’m so sorry I’m late,” she sighed, breathless, “traffic was-,”

“It’s alright,” Therese smiled, who couldn’t even imagine feeling angry or disappointed at the sight of her, “here, give me your coat.”

She draped Carol’s coat over her own on the back of her chair at the main desk, fingers trailing over the fabric, and introduced Carol- Mrs. Aird to the class. Many of them recognized her as Rindy’s mom, or the lady who was always at PTA meetings and fundraisers. 

“I didn’t realize you were so famous around the school,” Therese chuckled, her cheeks a bit rosy as they got started. “If I had known, I would have made your introduction a bit more dramatic.”

Carol smiled, running her hand over her deep blue skirt, smoothing the fabric. She wouldn’t want Therese to know her hands had gotten sweaty at the sight of the slim teacher drowning in another painting shirt, beaming when she’d walked in. 

Traffic hadn’t been the issue, not at all. It had been her own racing mind stopping her from getting out the door, wondering if her outfit was okay, wondering if her hair was in place, wondering what Therese would have thought of it.

“You look lovely,” Therese commented, as if reading her thoughts. Carol realized she hadn’t responded to her previous comment, and mentally kicked herself.

“But, you’ll need this,” Therese handed Carol a large, cheap button down like her own. “I wouldn’t want that silk to get paint on it.” 

Carol nearly blushed at Therese’s notice of her blouse’s material. It was such a small detail, she felt flustered and proud that Therese had noticed it. She took the shirt from Therese, slipping it on awkwardly. It felt bulky, but not uncomfortable, and she felt more at ease now that her and Therese were practically matching, and ready to take on any flying paint splatters.

Her safe haven was sitting by Rindy the first day, watching her paint and watching Therese flit about all the other kids. She’d never been this speechless around any women before, not Abby, not any other flirty opportunity she’d had over the years. 

The rest of the afternoon went by quite quickly and quite uneventfully. A few kids kept asking questions, and Therese took every opportunity to help and guide them. Part of her was nervous to have a moment to breathe and then be faced with the hawk-eyed blonde sitting in one of the ridiculously small chairs. 

But once she looked at Carol, really looked at her, she realized how nervous the both of them were. Her face was neutral and stoic, but her toes tapped on the ground, her legs shyly pressed together as she hunched over her daughter, laughing and smiling. 

This was her classroom, Therese realized, subconsciously puffing her chest; and no one, not even the adults, should feel uncomfortable in her classroom. 

So, she approached Carol with a spare easel in her hands, and paper in the other. 

“I see one person who isn’t doing our daily art task, isn’t that right Rindy?” Therese addressed the young girl, but was looking at Carol, who glanced away and willed herself not to blush.

“I wouldn’t know what to do with a paintbrush, Ms. Belivet,” Carol confessed. “Rindy is the artistic one at home.”

“Oh, I don’t believe that. Rindy, why don’t you show your mom how to paint?” Therese asked, setting the easel in front of the older woman, who began protesting but realized quickly it wasn’t going to get her anywhere.

Therese grabbel a brush from Rindy’s tiny water cup and pressed it in Carol’s hand. Their fingers were clasped for a split second before Therese stepped back, breaking the spell.

“I wouldn’t know what to draw!” Carol exclaimed.

“Just do as I do, Mommy,” Rindy said, with a tone of adorable frustration, like it was the easiest thing in the world. Therese giggled behind a hand clasped over her face and left the mother-daughter duo to paint together, feeling triumphant.

-

As the kids began filing out at 5, Mrs. Morgan had stopped by, checking in with Therese, and delighted to see Carol with them. Small talk between the three women left them being the last ones in the room, Rindy fidgeting in her chair, waiting for her mom to be done. 

Carol was about to leave with Rindy’s hands in hers when she eyed the young teacher stuffing her things in her bag, the classroom drearily empty all of a sudden. She didn’t see or hear the familiar jangle of car keys anywhere near Therese. 

“You have a ride?” she inquired, hoping she sounded as nonchalant as possible.

“Oh, yes, I usually get a cab,” Therese said, picking at a dry patch of paint on the back of her hand. 

That clearly didn’t satisfy Carol, because she took a step back in the room and  said, “Let us drive you home. It’s the least I can do.”

“It’s no problem, Mrs. Aird, you don’t have to worry about me,” Therese tried to wave her offer away. Carol wouldn't have it, tutting and walking back towards Therese. 

”Nonsense. Here, I’ll help you carry some things.”

That’s that. Carol picked up one of the heavier bags with ease and held Rindy’s hand in the other. Therese watched her, a bit startled at her forwardness. The art teacher supposed she had no other choice but to follow. Her eyes were drawn to the way Carol’s calf muscles tightened as she marched confidently to the parking lot, and she nearly tripped.

“Seatbelts on,” Carol ordered as they slid into their seats. “You can put in your address on the GPS, Therese. Here.”

She pushed a few buttons and the dashboard screen lit up. Therese carefully put in her address, wondering if Carol knew the area, wondering if she judged how and where Therese lived.

“Oh! I know that neighbourhood.. lovely place. Do you live in that apartment building there then?”

“Y-yes,” Therese stammered. 

“There’s an ice cream shop just down the street there where we go sometimes, isn’t there, sweet pea?” Carol turned to glance at her daughter, who was fidgeting with a spare crayon in her hands. 

Rindy shrieked with excitement, and began demanding they get ice cream for Miss B. 

“I suppose you’re trapped in the car, so you don’t really get a say, hm?” Carol’s eyes twinkled mischievously at Therese, who sucked in a breath. 

“Really, Miss Ross,” Therese blushed but found her courage, “dessert before dinnertime?”

Carol looked at her, and for a second Therese thought she overstepped, before the blonde tipped her head back and laughed. Rindy joined in, not knowing why her mother was laughing, but excited nonetheless.

Carol was still chuckling by the time they pulled out of the parking lot, and Therese felt a sense of pride beaming in her chest.

It was barely warm enough to enjoy ice cream, but they huddled back in the car with their sweets and ate away in the nearest parking lot, a minute down the street from Therese’s home.

Rindy was bombarding Therese with stories and questions, and Therese answered happily. She noticed how Carol had ample opportunity to stop their conversations and go to drop her off, but didn’t. Her belly swirled with butterflies at the thought.

So she kept talking with Rindy, kept talking with Carol, enjoying her cherry ice cream in her sprinkled waffle cone like she was eight years old again. 

“I suppose I should eventually drop you off, shouldn't I?” Carol asked after their ice cream was gone. Rindy was drowsy in the backseat, and the sky was darkening slightly.

“Oh, of course, yes,” Therese nodded, hiding her disappointment. “I’m sorry for keeping you.”

“You’re not keeping me from anything, darling,” Carol said as she pulled out the parking lot again. Theres blushed. “It’s just that this one needs to get home for her afternoon nap.”

“Right, no, you’re right,” Therese shot a glance at Rindy, sleeping quietly. “She seems exhausted.”

There was a pause and Therese looked back to questioningly meet Carol’s gaze. Her grey eyes shimmered with delight.

“I meant myself, Therese.”

“Oh!” Therese went red. Carol threw her head back and laughed. 

“When you get to be my age, one restless night can throw off your whole day,” Carol pointed out as they neared Therese’s apartment building.

She didn’t sleep well last night, Therese noted. She wanted to ask if she was alright, if there was anything she could do, if there was anything at all she needed, but instead,

“I hope a giggling group of toddlers didn’t make it worse.”

“Not at all, it was lovely,” Carol smiled. 

“You’re welcome back any time. In fact, since you know the school so well, if you have any ideas for the class, we can definitely try to make something of it. Lord knows I barely know what happens around Frankenberg’s.”

“That’s just because you’re new, sweetheart,” Therese blushed again at the endearment, cursing her body for reacting so quickly, and looked out the window. Carol, thankfully, kept her eyes on the road. “You’ll get used to it in no time. I see you’ve met Claire already.”

“Mrs. Morgan? She’s a saint. It’s nice to have some allies,” she said, thinking of Mr. Tucker and his brutish behaviour.

Carol hummed in agreement and pulled up as close to the front door as she could. 

There was a buzz in the air between them. Therese didn’t want to get out, Carol didn’t make her get out. The blonde glanced at her daughter in the backseat, busied herself with her gloves. 

“Thank you for the ride,” Therese squeaked as she unbuckled herself, keeping her eyes down. “It’s nice to see a familiar face at the school. I owe you one.”

“You don’t owe me anything, Therese,” Carol said.

“No, no I do,” if there was one thing Therese couldn’t stand, it was feeling like she owed people. “At least for the ice cream.”

“I suppose you’ll have to make up for it next time,” Carol teased. 

Next time. Therese looked over at the driver by her side just as she opened the passenger door. Carol looked bacn her, with an unasked question between them. Something daring, something shy, something hopeful.

“Next time,” Therese beamed.

She hurried quietly out the car as to not wake Rindy and went to the front door. Only when she was stepping inside did she turn back to see Carol waiting in the car, watching her.

She raised a bashful hand to wave goodbye, and Carol sent her the most brilliant smile that blew all the cobwebs out of Therese’s dreary life, before the car revved and headed down the street. 

A/N: ice cream date! because I miss going out for impromptu snacks and food right now... let me know what you think!! <3

[be-ready-when-i-say-go]

Cal and finding out you both are the missing pair to your costumes pls

A huge HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU BLANCA! Enjoy!

Halloween blurb night going until Oct. 31st at 8 PM PDT. 

Enjoy the masterlist for Halloween Blurb Night 2020

Enjoy my full masterlist.

__________________

It was Michael’s idea. That’s how Calum would up in this, reading the invitation email send to him, telling me to follow the specific directions for his costume. It gave no name to the character or to the show. Just a bulleted list underneath the not quite passable graphic that Michael probably made either in Photoshop or some equivalent. 

A white and black pinstriped suit jacket and pants (a black suit will also do as listed on the invitation), a black bowtie, a white dress shirt, and a fake mustache. It almost like pin straight too in the picture that’s obviously been screenshotted and pasted into the body. 

Michael wanted to do a Halloween party and the guys didn’t need much excuse to readily agree to supply with their presence, booze, and non-alcoholic choices for a party. The treats for working on during the year. The only caveat had been that Michael wanted to arrange for a couple’s theme--the trick if you asked Calum. 

He didn’t really have anyone to partner up with and he for sure wasn’t about to scroll through his phone for whoever was just as lonely as him. He could’ve asked you. Truth be told, you would’ve been at the top of his list. But he couldn’t bring himself to ask. Sure you two had hung out and were close--for God sake, you dog sat for Calum when he left for tour. He trusted you and adored you beyond belief. But he couldn’t bring himself to taking that any further. 

You always talked about the latest person in your string of attempts to date in LA after moving into the town about a year ago. Calum knew he could’ve made a move. Shit, he should’ve made a move. But timing never felt right. And who was Calum to push back against the waves and tides of the universe? 

And of course, Calum recounts his woes to Michael. 

You will have a partner, reads at the end of the email. You’ll thank me later. 

And of course, Michael wasn’t just listening to woes. 

When Calum returns walks up to Michael’s house two weeks later, stressed in his pinstriped suit, with a terribly itchy fake mustache, a black bow tie, and upon Michael’s request after Calum told Michael that he had acquired all the pieces to his costumed, Calum slicked back his hair. The gears in Calum’s brain were still trying to decipher what all this put together was, but he wasn’t mad at the attire in the least.

The door barely contains the thumping of music from inside and the second the door opens to Michael’s flushed face and bright smile, Calum is blasted with the rattle of bass. “You look good, dude!” Michael greets, waving Calum inside. 

“Thanks. I can follow instructions.” Initially glances over the room don’t show anyone dressed to match Calum. And he tries not to like that thought make his throat quiver and his hands shake. But it does. No doubt Michael has just randomly assigned partner. There’s no way. Calum is looking for you because finding you will answer the question, quell the anxiety that’s spiking. 

What had Michael planned? 

There’s no sign for a while in the living room, or in the kitchen, or in the backyard. The drink in Calum’s hand sits so long, sloshing at his fingers as he dances and shimmies through crowd to search for this partner that Calum’s sure more of the alcohol’s wound up on the floor than in his bloodstream. He tries to keep his mind pre-occupied, talking to the guys and dancing to the music, though he’s a self proclaimed shit dancer. But his gaze always wonders. 

“I’m so sorry!” you shout. 

Michael’s waving it off. “Don’t sweat it.” You’re nearly an hour late though the party looks like is just gearing into full swing. “Your partner’s here, so you’re fine. We just got started for real.”

“Where’s-where’s this partner?” 

“Last I saw of him, dancing. Outside? But that was ten minutes or so?” Michael shrugs, unsure of how long ago it was. That’s your only lead so you take it. Your heels click against the floor as you march deeper into the house. 

Calum’s shaking the drink from his hands, the last of it finally sloshing as he steps into the sea of other dancing bodies. He probably should’ve been paying more attention but it doesn’t matter now. Finally, stepping from from the crowd he spies you, black dress, a slit up the thigh, lips painted red. He curses his heart for fluttering. But god, you look amazing. 

Your attention is elsewhere, along the walls, flickering side to side as you stalk closer and closer to the door of the backyard. Calum bounds up the steps after being knocked into again by the outliers of the dancing crowd. You’re not leaving looking. One hand stretched out for the knob without seeing the door open. And ready to press your weight into the door, you stumble. “Whoops!” you laugh catching your balance and not missing the arm that wraps around you. 

“Careful.”

“Thanks.” You finally look up and see Calum. Half of the fake mustache is gone and his hair is slicked back. “Looks, uh, like you lost part of yourself there, Cal.” You reach up and peel off the other end of the mustache. 

“Oh,” his brows furrow and his gaze casts down as if he could actually see the missing piece. He chuckles, “Sorry.”

“Don’t have to apologize to me.” You slip out of his gaze just a little. “Who’s your partner?” It’s only as the question leaves your lips do yo start to take in his suit, and the bow tie. 

“They haven’t--”

“Me,” you answer interrupting the thought. 

“What?”

“You’re dressed as Gomez.” You wave over yourself, twirling a little in the black dress. “I’m Morticia.” Your heart races. You’re Calum’s other half. Oh shit. How did Michael know? He sent you an email with specifcs for your costume. But how did Michael know. You hadn’t told him a thing. You weren’t that obvious were you?

“Morticia?” Calum’s still not processing, not the characters at least. And he’s definitely not processing that his guess was right. He knew Michael was up to something. Just not this. Not really making you his partner.

“Addams Family.” You sing a bit of the theme song, in the hopes that it finally clicks for Calum. But he seems floored--gone even. “Hey, uh, is everything alright?”

He nods. “Yeah, yeah. Sorry. It just-just took me a second.”

You nod in return. “You look good though, Gomez.” 

Calum chuckles, kicking at the ground just a little. “You-you look really great by the way.” Calum’s quick to cut in, glancing up and reaching for your elbow. “I mean it. Really you look great.”

“Thank you.”

“Do you want a drink? By chance?” 

“Uh, yeah, sure.” You follow behind Calum back through the house and into the kitchen. The drink isn’t too heavy of a pour and you hang out in the kitchen a while, laughing as Calum recounts some story that you’re almost sure you’ve heard before but you can’t quite be sure so you just listen as he tells it. 

You suggest a dance as you down the the last of your drink. Calum hugs close to his drink, pressing into the counter. “Too shy? Or tuckered out?”

“I’m-I can’t dance. You know that.”

“Oh I’m not asking you to join Dancing With The Stars. Just dance with me please?”

He knows he can’t say no to you. With a nod, he downs the rest of his cup and follows behind you back outside. He doesn’t know how many songs the two of you dance to. It could be three, it could be forty--he doesn’t keep track at all. All he does know is that you laugh at every misstep of his and it sounds like magic in his ears. 

There’s a pause or two for drinks here and there. And maybe it’s just the buzzing of his head that finally cuts through the fog and tells him that who gives a fuck if it’s the right time. And you’re laughing, head thrown back just slightly leaning into his chest as you recount the fiasco of trying to find the right dress for this costume. The kitchen is empty, or maybe it’s full and Calum’s only paying attention to you. 

“Can I kiss you?” Calum asks, his brows are furrowed and his tongue wets his lips quickly. 

Your breath hitches as he hand cups your cheek. “Huh?”

“Can-can I kiss you? And you can totally say no. But-I-please?” The words aren’t coming out right and he’d almost be annoyed with himself but you stretch forward, lips pressing into his and words don’t matter. 

You kissing him, like actually kissing him and you can taste booze. But underneath that, what floats into your sense is the smell of his cologne. What buzzes your skin is the fact that he asked. Sure it was in the middle of your story, but you’ve been craving it since you noticed Calum in the fucking suit. 

And truth be told even though you had gone on dates and some went places you had always wanted to press your luck with Calum. But he always seemed busy or like his focus was on something different and you didn’t think you actually had a shot. But you still wanted to press. 

And now you’re pressed against the edge of counter in the kitchen. Your hands cup his face as a soft moan escapes you that Calum swallows. “There are bedrooms for this. Just not in my house,” Michael laughs, slamming down another 12 pack of coke onto the counter next to them. “Just not in my house.”

The two of you blush, but are slow to pull apart. “I was just waiting for another Coke,” you tease, your red manicured nails popping open a can. You offer a sip to Calum who takes it, smiling too as the stupid antic. 

“Refreshing, don’t you think?” Calum asks.