#anyway this rant is brought to you by me once again having to lay in my bed and try to pass the time by thinking about stupid shit while

[gorogues]

Fictober 2024

Prompt number #16 Fanfiction Fandom: Flash Rogues Rating: M Warnings: Death and dark themes

Day Sixteen: “No, I’m not okay”

It had been one of those boring types of office parties, the sort which has you watching the clock or hoping someone will do something stupid to serve as entertainment and future gossip fodder.  But nobody wanted this kind of distraction: an angry former co-worker drunk on alcohol and a long-simmering grudge, pointing a gun at his former colleagues as he ranted about their failings.

Rita trembled as she stood next to Al, and that made the situation so much worse for him than if he’d been there without her.  What had he brought her to?  What could he do to keep her safe?

Albert.  You need me.

Al didn’t answer the voice in his mind, as he preferred not to acknowledge it whenever possible.  But Dr Alchemy was nothing if not persistent.

Albert, let me out.  I can help.

“Please go away.  I don’t have time for this right now,” Al murmured.

Rita gave her husband a funny look.  “Who are you talking to?”  But Al was already lost within his own inner dialogue.

You need me to keep you safe, and to keep Rita safe.  She’s in danger and you’d never be able to bear it if something happened to her…it’d destroy you.

“Don’t you dare talk about her!  She’s in danger every time you get out!”

It’s in the mutual interest of us both to stop this man, you know this.

“I’ll find another way!”

If you don’t let me out, I’ll take over anyway.  He cannot be permitted to end my years of work.

“No!” Al shouted, and most people turned to look, but the world abruptly went dark for him.

…..

When Al regained consciousness, the Philosopher’s Stone was in his hand and everyone but Rita had fled.  She was sobbing in a corner, while the gunman lay on the floor as a half-crumbled effigy of salt.

“What did I…what did he do?” Al whispered, throwing the Stone across the room and burying his face in his hands.

You’re welcome, Albert.

Al staggered to his feet and took Rita’s hand, consoling her as best he could.  He couldn’t allow her to be punished for his crimes…or rather, his double’s crimes…but had to admit to himself that he didn’t want to suffer for Dr Alchemy’s sins either.

We both know that I do the things you’re too afraid to do, that you don’t want to admit to craving.  Plausible deniability, Albert; your evil twin did it, not you.  And once again, you’re welcome.

Al ushered Rita out of the party venue as he heard sirens approaching, hurrying her through the bushes so they could take a circuitous route to their car.  She was too shocked to put up much protest, but he suspected they’d have a long conversation about the incident later that night.

He’d left the Stone behind, desperately hoping the thing would stay away from him for good this time.  Maybe it’d find a more receptive host to bond with, or maybe the superheroes would finally be able to destroy it somehow.  But he wasn’t at all surprised to find it waiting for him when he arrived home. 

[l0ves1ckf0ol]

WHY I AM THE WAY I AM. . . . anthony larusso x gn!reader

note: as awaited, i have finally uploaded more cobra kai content

anthony larusso was the equivalent of an insufferable and egotistical asshole or as everyone would call him, a bully. the l/n's and the larussos were close knit so at one point, anthony and y/n used to be friends. until the families hung out less due to their busy schedules and well- here we are, y/n sitting alone at their table at the cafeteria as anthony laughed along with his friends at another table. though the both of them only had small talk, after hearing about how he was bullying the new kid just because of a girl or something along the lines of that, they had had enough. y/n wasn't really intending to get close with the guy (kenny) , though they were really curious about the whole karate shenanigans they stayed put and out of their business but this dude really needs to stop.

he doesn't even know karate what's he to stand up for?

anthony larusso used to be a bright boy who y/n played online games with during their trips, he used to be a kid being able to find joy on a screen, he used to like hanging out with y/n now he probably doesn't even think about them anymore.

y/n wasn't one to be in anyone's business but once they had heard that kenny was shoved in a locker then stuffed inside with milk. they had never felt angrier than ever. they weren't even close with kenny but anthony has crossed the level of being a douchebag. y/n hates to think of anyone badly, they just wanna make sure that anthony now was the same anthony that they talked about video games with.

the surprise on mrs. larusso's face was hilarious as y/n casually pops in and swears that they wanted to hang out with anthony, they also brought cookies (courtesy to their mom). y/n didn't have the pleasure to see sam on their way upstairs, she probably had training. they had also learned thag anthony has bad manners because mrs. larusso insisted that anthony can't peel his eyes off of a screen to even talk to her.

they knock on his bedroom door, "come in!" y/n hears and they went inside. anthony was on his desk - surprisingly even doing his homework. "if you're gonna rant about eagle fang, sam i don't have time-" he stops himself once he looks up to see who it was. his face falls for a moment and then lights up, realizing it was his childhood friend.

"hey... y/n. why are you here?" anthony frowns, confused. y/n sighs as they close the door behind them. "you know i don't have any friends at school, can i at least make an attempt to make one?" y/n lies, they thought they'd be fine off without anthony (again, a lie.)

"well i'm done with homework, let's catch up." anthony says, closing the math book that was opened on his desk. "wait here, i'll get us some chips and some drinks." y/n notes that he was still polite. good so far.

once he was back, he insisted they'd watch their favorite show when they were kids on his ipad and that was where they both got cozy on his bed, stomachs against the mattress and arms folded for their chin to lay on as they ate lays potato chips while watching Bluey. it had been way too long since they both shared a bed while watching wholesome shows. it felt nice. it felt even nice when anthony still acted like the same chubby kid that y/n loved spending time with.

why was he acting such a douchebag in school anyway?

"what's with the big shot attitude at school, ant?" y/n starts, still staring at the screen of the ipad, watching the show. "you haven't called me that for a while." they scoff,

"you haven't had the time to." they mutter. anthony sighs through his nose, "you know i'm sorry about not hanging out with you, my mom was surprised i went out my room to get us snacks, i went out my comfort zone for you." he jokes sarcastically, y/n rolls their eyes. "ha ha, you are the funniest person on earth."

anthony giggles as bingo and bluey chase each other at their yard. "why do you suddenly care anyway? you show up suddenly at my house and you claim to miss hanging out with me, you're still weird after a long time." he mumble his head tilting to the side one slight movement of relaxation he would fall on their shoulder. "just wanted to check on you." y/n told him. "how come when i come over, i see you- the kid that i used to be the bestest friends with, turn out to be real nice and innocent and when you're at school- you're a bully, a huge douchebag."

anthony stays silent, unmoving and this worries y/n. "ant?" y/n hears a sniffle. anthony looks at them, glossy eyes and tear stained cheeks. "why? what's wrong?" y/n asks as anthony shuts off the ipad and lays on his back.

"i don't know, y/n. i'm- i want people to like me. like how my people like my sister, the nicest larusso kid, lia seems to like kenny so i-"

"so you made fun of him, humiliated him?"

anthony scoffs, "you are just like everyone else." he mutters, sitting up to face them. y/n raises a brow, "enlighten me larusso." they reply. "i don't get why people just berate me for what i do and not even question why i act like this, why i am the way i am." anthony rants, y/n shrugs, "well then, why are you this way?"

"because... because...." anthony trails off as he tries to find a valid answer, eyebrows knitting together. y/n had a hunch in their head about the reason.

"look- i know you can't help but feel like you're left alone to fend for yourself or you need to constantly chase your parents' expectations or even just their attention, but that isn't any excuse to bully someone." y/n told him, bracing for him to get upset and this was a one shot answer to making things awkward between them.

"i know... i shouldn't have done it anyway." anthony mumbles.

"good, now i wanna see you apologize to him- i dont care how just do it sincerely." y/n says to him. "can i just hang out with you right now? it's been so long." he whines, flopping back down on to his pillow. "alright, alright, do it at school.

[v1ci0us]

omg hi bae 🤭 altho i’m not a fan of sam, i will literally read whatever u write no joke—u always make it into the most ethereal story ever, like it’s something straight out of a fairytale. even if i don’t like the character, you’ll find a way to turn it into a mesmerizing experience with some random character who’s perfect because u made them like that. anyways

That was the headline displayed on the TV as the reporter blamed Sam for the recent Ghostface attacks.

she rlly did get dragged thru the movie it’s sad ngl 

Part of you lived only for these moments. You brought both hands around Sam's waist, hugging her closer and pressing her back to your chest; she was always so warm, each curve of her body fitting with yours as if you were part of the same constellation, bound to always be linked; you felt how Sam found your hand with hers, messily intertwining your fingers at the same time your lips met the skin on her shoulder. Just you and her.

god ur always so poetic it makes my head spin and preserve it in my soul forever. it’s as if the stars and planets were made for u to turn it into beautiful literature. like see what i mean??? it’s so cute i’m giggling even tho i never had a thing for sam

Eventually, Sam turned around in your embrace, her eyes were downcast; as if shame tugged at her heartstrings for things she didn't do.

if she’s sad i’m sad with her 

Her hair was silky between your fingers when you pushed it behind her ear. "Lay down with me?"

There was an adorable furrow to Sam's eyebrows and you wanted to trap this moment like a spider in a glass.

i’m just warning u, if i become with sam, i am blaming u sorry bae

It was all that was needed, maybe all she'd been wanting all along, because Sam melted in your hold; her body mostly laying on top of yours as you snuggled in her bed. Her arms came around your waist in a hold so strong that almost constricted your breathing. But you didn't comment on it.

she’s so… so.. wow, once again i am proven right because ur way with words is what makes me fall in love; everything about this and the way you put it together, it’s perfect

It was the calmness amidst the storm and there were three words stuck in Sam's throat. Because there you were, tangled up in all her broken pieces, and all you wanted to do was stay.

there are honestly no words to describe how much i absolutely adore ur writing, it’s just unbelievable how you put words together and make them into an entirely different world where it leaves such an indelible influence. wanna stash ur stories n thoughts in me forever 

okok enough boring ranting 🙄 i loved this and u, as always, did sam’s character justice. the moment saw the title constellations i knew it was gonna be perfect and so charming. anyways have a good day esther 😘😘😘

constellations

Samantha Carpenter x Reader

Summary: You give Sam a bit of calmness amidst the storm.

Requested by anon

A/N: Sam deserves the world and I'd happily give it to her.

Masterlist

Prime suspect Samantha Carpenter.

That was the headline displayed on the TV as the reporter blamed Sam for the recent Ghostface attacks.

Lies. They were all lies, and because of those bullshit rumors. It made your blood boil. You know it was the same feeling for the rest of your friends; the living room was quiet as the reporter's voice echoed through. There was an instant heaviness to the air.

Sam picked up the remote and pressed the 'mute' button, before hurrying off to her bedroom.

No one seemed to know quite what to do. The silence was deafening and you felt the eyes of everyone slowly settling on you.

As much as you two might try to keep it on the low, it was no secret anymore that you and Sam had become rather close these past months. Labels were a bit of a stretch, none of you quite ready for it yet. Still, whenever Sam walked back into the dorm she hoped to find you there; she always chose the chair next to yours on the table; and sometimes you'd catch her staring at you, but then again, she also always caught you staring back.

You felt your cheeks burning, maybe the secret was never a secret after all. "I got it," you mumbled under your breath before following the path Sam set.

The door to her room was left ajar, almost as if wanting you to come after her. You held onto your breath when you slowly pushed it open further.

Sam had her back to you, she was looking out her window at the night sky. The cold wind from outside caught onto the wet tracks down her cheeks.

You closed the door behind you and walked up to her. You knew she knew it was you; because she didn't turn around, she didn't talk, she didn't move a muscle. Not until one of your hands touched her waist, nimble fingers barely grazing the fabric of her shirt were enough to send a shiver up and down her body and get her shoulders tensing slightly.

Part of you lived only for these moments. You brought both hands around Sam's waist, hugging her closer and pressing her back to your chest; she was always so warm, each curve of her body fitting with yours as if you were part of the same constellation, bound to always be linked; you felt how Sam found your hand with hers, messily intertwining your fingers at the same time your lips met the skin on her shoulder. Just you and her.

No words were needed for a few moments. You were content to exist in each other's presence.

Eventually, Sam turned around in your embrace, her eyes were downcast; as if shame tugged at her heartstrings for things she didn't do.

You tried to find her eyes and brought a hand up to rest against her cheek. The pad of your thumb found a teardrop there, and one more soon followed the same path. You brushed them away with all the tenderness you knew she deserved.

"None of it is true," you breathed, "we all know it."

With the ghost of a movement, Sam leaned forward. The plea was barely there but you've been getting good at reading her. You met her halfway for a chaste kiss, your lips soft against her slightly chapped ones.

She pulled away with a gulp, her tongue running over her bottom lip to try and capture the feeling of you. "Still, it sucks being this hated."

You'd never heard her voice quite this broken, this vulnerable. Her dark eyes were shining with the cheap light of her bedroom, a little red-rimmed yet still the most gentle you've ever seen.

How anyone could ever see her as a bad person was beyond you.

Her hair was silky between your fingers when you pushed it behind her ear. "Lay down with me?"

There was an adorable furrow to Sam's eyebrows and you wanted to trap this moment like a spider in a glass.

"We'll figure out the details later." You promised.

It was all that was needed, maybe all she'd been wanting all along, because Sam melted in your hold; her body mostly laying on top of yours as you snuggled in her bed. Her arms came around your waist in a hold so strong that almost constricted your breathing. But you didn't comment on it.

Sam's cheek was resting just above your heart, and the steady beating was sure to lull her to sleep in no time.

Your fingers buried themselves between her hair as you'd occasionally press a kiss to her forehead.

It was the calmness amidst the storm and there were three words stuck in Sam's throat. Because there you were, tangled up in all her broken pieces, and all you wanted to do was stay.

⋆* ☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ

Thank you for reading this little story. Feedback and reblogs are literally what keep me motivated to continue posting here, so I’d appreciate it if you could take some time to reblog and comment if you want. <3

Sam’s taglist: @milkiane @v1ci0us

[tasmanianstripes]

Menstrual pain should be taken more seriously than it currently is, people suffering from it shouldn't be dismissed or accused of overreacting because "it's just a period"

For most of my life, I've suffered from debilitating menstrual cramps. Some days it was bad enough that I couldn't move, couldn't even speak, just cry and scream for hours until the painkillers finally kicked in, and it'd often leave me feeling weak, exhausted and like I was on the verge of passing out. I have to take the strongest non-prescription medication on the market and it still just makes my pain bearable enough that I can function; hell, even my prescription drugs sometimes weren't enough.

Despite this, I was often ridiculed by my peers and accused of faking it so I can get out of school or work, and I've had medical professionals refuse to help me because "it's just a period" and "it'll pass on its own". I've had to beg people to go get me painkillers and they'd usually start an argument or roll their eyes at me and complain the entire time. It was a constant problem and the only person that's ever taken my pain seriously was my mother.

Seriously, it isn't right that I have to deal with 2-3 days of debilitating pain and nobody around me treats it seriously. Not even my doctors.

And I'm not even the most severe case out there, I'm lucky that my cramps only last a max of 3 days and respond to medications. There are people out there who have to deal with worse.

Seriously, just please start taking menstrual pain seriously. Just because it happens every month doesn't mean it's any more bearable or less serious than any other pain. The pain this severe isn't normal, it's a medical condition and it should be treated seriously. It's even more fucked up that this sort of pain is often a symptom of some underlying condition yet even doctors don't treat it seriously.

[cowzzmoozz]

Class 1A x Gen Z Reader

Headcanons + Scenarios

author’s note: hiiii!!! I’m not dead :D I had a lot of personal things going on for quite a bit, but I’m back!!!! Anyways, hope you enjoy!

__ __ __

Lord help Aizawa

Another problem child

Ngl there was probably many times you both confused, irritated, and made him question why he ever decided to become a teacher in the first place

At one point or another you definitely brought your own sleeping bag and the second you see him go to lay down, you're joining him.

Did he stop you? No.

That's where the soft spot appears. Another problem child to look after

     Aizawa closed the book and looked up at his class “Alright class, finish the questions using the articles given.” He let out a sigh and closed his eyes. A nap was sounding like music to his ears right now. He picked up his bright yellow sleeping bag and welcomed the warm stumbler soon to be coming eagerly. Content with himself after laying down and zipping it back up he was ready for some much needed sleep. That was until he heard scurrying around him, accompanied by the whispers of his students. He wasn’t about to open his eyes- but wait. Next to him? Like, directly next to him? With a groan he opened one eye and turned his head that leaned against the wall. And what was he met with? You. Sitting there in your own, bright colored sleeping bag. Your paper and article in front of you. Zipping it up you began to read the text in front of you. Nope. He was not going to deal with this right now. As long as you did your work he couldn’t care less.     “Seriously?!” He was met with Denki’s scream. “No fair! I didn’t bring a sleeping bag!” He pouted. A string of angry mutters left his mouth.      “And it wouldn’t matter if you did, you all do your work where you are. I won’t have anyone else getting up. This problem child is enough for me.” Closing his eyes again he let the class proceed in their mad murmurs. Turning to you one last time. A smile on your face and your earbuds in. Satisfied, he let the class continue their questions of ‘why?’ while he pretended to be asleep. You definitely had problem child privileges

You and the bakusquad are something to fear.

Busting out in dance with Sero randomly? Yes.

Mina and you doing tiktoks while changing classes? Absolutely.

Convincing Jiro to blast music with you at ungodly hours of the night? Hell yes.

Making others question how did Denki and you get into UA in the first place? 100%

Dying your hair with Kirishima? All the time.

Annoying the hell out of Bakugou with references that will never make sense to him? You bet.

The amount of times the teachers had walked into memes blasted around the room because of you guys is uncountable at this point.

    “Mina, Y/n, I don’t care if you have to dance your way to class if that allows you to get there on time, but for the love of All Might no more videos in the halls!” Aizawa’s voice rang down the hall.     ��Yes Aizawa Sensei!” You both spoke in unison, then ran to your next classes laughing.

__ __ __

    “And what is going on here?” What were you to say to Iida now? 3 am in the common room, you and Denki sat on the floor next to each other. What were you doing? You two were currently in a very intense conversion about why eating tide pods was a good idea or not. Were you going to tell him that? Hell no.

You and the Dekusquad? Half the time it was just confusion.

You and Midoriya each ranting about two completely different topics. One about the newest news update regarding All Might, the about how dark and demented the story behind Nemo really is. Which is which? I’ll let you decide.

You and Uraraka drop kicking homophobes in your free time. Highlight of your day honestly.

Convincing Iida to do tiktoks with you? Look at those robot moves go!

Shoto and you out for soba at 4 in the morning

Tsu and you going out for the sickest pair of matching outfits.

    “How can they even understand each other?”     “I don’t think they breathed once during this whole conversation!”     “How long has this been going on?”     The confused faces of your classmates surrounded you two. Deku talking with unwavering speed about the new hero who just saved a bus of children from a villain, while you matched his pace with the ways to successfully get away with arson. Was the class concerned? Yes.

__ __ __

    “And where were you two this time?” Aizawa stood at the doors of the dorm building. His arms crossed and his hair tied back. Who knows how long he waited for Shoto and you to return. You left at 2. What was it now? 3 am. Hah, that’s fun.     “Soba.”     “Nowhere!”     Shoto and you spoke together. Oh well, there goes that.

__ __ __

Glad to be back and I hope you enjoyed this!!! :D

[weirdkpopgirl]

Care | Dream Headcanon #8

Title: Their GF Taking Care of Them

Genre: Fluff, slight angst

Warnings: mention of being insecure, but nothing too serious

Word Count: 1671k

Author’s Note: This is another thing I’ve been working on for a while. I’m sure most of us know about the Dream Show 2 being canceled, and Mark getting covid along with Renjun. The concert meant so much to us and them. It makes me sad to think about how devastated they must be. Anyway, I wrote this headcanon because I think it’s important to remember that our boys deserve so much love.

~ ~ ~

MARK

He was working in the studio when you dropped by to check on him. You guys ended up chilling on the sofa, where you let Mark lay his head on your lap. A poor attempt at getting him to rest was turned into one of Mark’s rant sessions.

Not that you minded listening to him vent. This has become pretty common for you two. It warmed your heart to know that Mark trusted you enough to share his insecurities, and what was bothering him. These times would be healing for him.

“Uh huh,” You’d say now and then, to let him know that you were listening.

Then after an hour passed, Mark would glance up at you who was playing with his hair to help him relax. There would be a swarm of emotions he felt all at once when looking at you. 

“Thank you for listening to my stupid rants,” He mumbled, feeling bad that he had been talking this whole time.

But you’d shake your head and say, “They’re not stupid. Your feelings and thoughts are important. I’m glad that you can come to me about these things.”

“You’re always so reassuring.” Mark would then smile at you. “Thank you, (Y/n)-ah.”

Then you’d smile back and kiss his forehead. “Of course.”

✎__________________________________________________________

RENJUN

It didn’t take a fool to see that Renjun had heart-eyes for you. He admired how kind and soft-spoken you were. He felt like he could come to you for anything, and you’d be there to listen whole-heartedly. There were so many times when he found himself falling for you all over again.

Renjun knew you weren’t great at expressing yourself. But he saw that you did things for him subtly. For example, you’d sometimes bring coffee to him in the mornings. Or when you sent a text, reminding him to bring an umbrella because the weather forecast said it would rain that day. If you guys were in a group and saw he was trying to talk, you’d go out of your way to make sure his voice was heard. He loved how you were always looking after him.

“Renjun, stop staring at me.” You covered your face to hide the blush that had risen to your cheeks. 

The two of you were watching a movie or something, and you had gotten him a blanket when you saw him shiver a little. After that Renjun kept glancing back at you, thinking about how sweet you were.

“Why? Is there something wrong with looking at my pretty girlfriend?”

“Not helping!” You said, feeling more embarrassed.

Renjun laughed and brought your hands down so he could kiss you. You were so adorable in his eyes.

✎__________________________________________________________

JENO

A frown formed on your lips when you saw your boyfriend in an exhausted state. He had come back from a long dance practice and had worked out in the morning. By the time he had come to your apartment, it was pretty late. You had texted him earlier to just go back to his dorm and rest. 

But since he insisted on coming over, you welcomed the tired boy with open arms. Seeing how exhausted he was, you brought him to your bedroom to relax a bit.

“Gosh, your body is so tense,” You said, pulling away from his embrace. Jeno looked at you like a sad puppy who just got scolded.

���It’s not that bad…”

With a sigh, you began to massage his shoulders. Jeno couldn’t help but melt into your touch. He didn’t want to admit how good it felt to have your fingers press against his sore muscles.

“You should really take care of yourself more, Babe,” You said, slightly pleased to be the one saying these things for once. “You always scold me about overworking.”

Jeno chuckled, “I guess that’s something we both suck at, don’t we?”

“It’s okay because we have each other.” You leaned forward to peck his cheek.

In response he turned around to face you, putting a pause to your ministrations. 

“Kiss me more please,” He said so quietly. How could you say no to that?

You smiled at him lovingly and cupped his face with your hand before leaning in to kiss your boyfriend on the lips. One of his arms snaked around your waist to pull you closer to him. 

It was moments like this when you could tell how much Jeno loved and appreciated you. No matter how sleep-deprived you were, being in each other’s arms was what you needed the most. 

✎__________________________________________________________

HAECHAN

He was feeling down one day, and you noticed. Maybe he was nervous about an upcoming concert, or all the members were out which left him alone at the dorm. Regardless, you hated to see your boyfriend not being his sunshine self. Luckily you knew the exact thing to lift his spirits.

Haechan was coming out of his room when he caught a whiff of something delicious down the hall. Very curious as to what was going on, he followed the smell to the kitchen. He gasped at what he saw and slowly came over to you.

“You made kimchi jjigae?!”

You smiled and nodded, “I thought it might make you feel better.”

This would automatically boost Haechan’s mood. He almost wanted to cry because you knew him so well. You’d giggle when he went over to hug you from behind.

He’d be all like, “Jagiya~!”

Then once you were finished cooking, the two of you would sit at the dining table and you’d watch him happily eat the food you made. 

“Have I told you how much I love you?” He’d say in between bites.

Your cheeks would heat up when he said this, and you’d try to brush it off. But it was definitely worth it to see how delighted Haechan was.

✎__________________________________________________________

JAEMIN

Some of his members talked about this once, how Jaemin always reminded others to eat and not get sick. But he had a habit of neglecting himself, which was partly the reason he caught a pretty bad cold. You were so worried when you heard how hoarse his voice was over the phone and quickly went to his dorm to take care of him.

“Thank you for coming over (Y/n)-ah,” Jeno said to you before he and the guys left. “Please scold him for us.”

You nodded to his friend. “Don’t worry, I will.”

So while his members were out on their schedules, you stayed with Jaemin to make sure he was okay and keep him company. It felt a bit weird for him and a little embarrassing because he wasn’t used to all the attention being on him. You were so attentive in checking his temperature. He was surprised when you made his favorite cheonggukjang stew.

“You didn’t have to do all this,” He’d sulk, as he accepted the spoonful of food you gave him.

“Yes I do,” You insisted. “As your girlfriend, it’s my job to nurse my Nana back to health.”

He smiled when you called him by his nickname. In front of others, you acted indifferently towards them. But when he was alone with you, your soft side came out. The way your whole aura changed made Jaemin feel special. You cared a lot more than you let on, and he was reassured that you liked him just as much as he did.

“Thank you for staying with me today,” he'd say later on when you were cuddled up by his side. “I love you, Jagiya.”

You smiled happily and hugged him a little tighter. “I love you too, Jaemin.”

✎__________________________________________________________

CHENLE

You often visited his house when his mom was out of town, to keep him company on his days off. It sort of felt like you were coming over to babysit a kid. But Chenle appreciated it when you took time out of your day to see him.

He would be playing a video game on the TV, leaving you a little bored. So you’d take it upon yourself to do some housework because he may or may not have pushed things off to the side over the past few days. You’d tidy up his room, making sure no clothes were left on the floor and his bed was made.

Then once you were done with cleaning, you figured your boyfriend was hungry. Chenle was a little surprised when you placed a plate full of sliced fruits on the table in front of him. He would feel a little guilty because he hasn’t been paying much attention to you.

“You’re too good to me, (Y/n)-ah,” He would say.

You shrugged, “I mean, you’re always busy with work schedules. You should just relax and play on your days off.”

The two of you would exchange a smile and Chenle would be truly grateful to have someone as kind as you.

✎__________________________________________________________

JISUNG

He had sent a message earlier, asking you to come over. Of course, you didn’t hesitate to do so. When you arrived, you found the boy in his room on his phone. Instantly, his head lifted at the sound of your footsteps. Right when you found him, you’d engulf him in a warm embrace.

Jisung would get a little emotional because he wasn’t feeling his best today. He also missed you a lot. 

“Is everything okay, Dear?” You tried to move away but instead were pulled back into him.

“Just hug me a little longer,” He said, softly. “Please.”

Without any more questions, you did as he asked and hugged him a little tighter. His head was buried in your sweater as you gently patted his back. You were slightly concerned, as he wasn’t usually too touchy. But if what he needed right now was physical affection, then you were happy to do that for him. 

“I’m right here, Jisung-i,” You cooed. “I’m not going anywhere.”

Just as he had hoped, all his worries began to dissolve now that you were here. 

You were what he needed right now.

✎__________________________________________________________

[simpforanyanimeguywithdarkhair]

POUTY HYPOCRITES

♡━━━━━━━━━━━━━━♡

#includes: Ushijima, Osamu, Suna

#genre: pure fluff / crack

#Description: this idea was from @fullmetalpalchemy. Haikyuu boys reacting to pets they said they didn’t want. Suna’s is kinda flipped where he surprises you.

♡━━━━━━━━━━━━━━♡

USHIJIMA WAKATOSHI

You quietly walked into the house , trying not to make a sound in hopes that you don’t alert Toshi that you’re home yet as you wanted to have enough time to find a hiding place for the box in your arms.

Unfortunately your efforts were for nothing as he strolled out of the kitchen and stopped right in front of you. He suspiciously eyed the box in your arms with furrowed brows.

“What’s in the box love?” “uuuhh…nothing?” That was definitely NOT convincing and you mentally facepalmed. This just made Toshi even more suspicious as he slowly started to walk towards you.

“Meow” ushijima raised a brow “what was that?” “Ahah that was just … me! Yeah me , meoww, see?” “Y/N….. what’s in the box sweetheart?” “Nothing! I swear , just don’t come any closer” “Y/N” he said sternly. A beat of silence passed before you broke “i couldn’t just leave him there! You should have seen him Toshi , he was all alone and shivering and looking at me with those eyes , his eyes Toshi! What type of person would I be if I left him ? A psychopath! That’s who” once your rant was over , Ushijima just gave you a small smile and chuckled out “I didn’t even say anything love” “you didn’t have to” you pouted. “I know how you feel about pets and if I asked you if I could take him and you said no I would have still brought him home” you meekly got out.

He just looked at you with soft eyes and realised that this was why he loved you , because you care so deeply about everyone and everything. “At least let me get a look at him before you start jumping to conclusions like that” . You slowly opened the top of the cardboard box in order not to startle the little black ball of fur that lay at the bottom. And as Ushijima took his first look at the little guy he knew he was a goner because the round eyes that peered back up at him looked too much like yours to dislike. “You know what? I think I can make an exception just this once” he whispered as he lifted the kitten into his large arms.

OSAMU MIYA

“No” “why nooot??” You whined out and stomped your foot. “You’re acting like a child Y/N” “And you’re acting like an a big ole meanie” “Just because I said you can’t get a hamster doesn’t make me a meanie babe” “YES it does, give me one good reason Samu” “I’ll give you as many as you want! Be reasonable , who’s going to take care of it? We don’t have the time for a pet” “I promise babe I’ll do everything, I’ll feed it and clean its cage and take care of it and give it all the love it needs” “You know that’s going to last a week before I have to deal with it” “It won’t ! I promise” you gave him puppy eyes hoping it would lower his guard and make him more reasonable but he was holding strong and was not changing his mind.

You shove your phone into his face and he peers at the photo of the hamster you want to get “Just look at her little chubby cheeks Samu, you can’t say she isn’t cute” “Babe…please can we just drop it” you huff and end up admitting that you may or may not have already got her. “Sooo…. I didn’t want to tell you this but I may have already bought her..” you bite your lip and await his response. He looks at you with a very unimpressed face and sighs out “I was never going to win this argument anyway”

However, watching Samu now with the little round hamster laying in his lap peacefully sleeping while he does his work , you have a feeling that he doesn’t mind. The size comparison makes your heart melt and the way Osamu occasionally looks down to check up on her and softly stroke her back with his finger makes you fall in love with him all over again. Because while Osamu may be stubborn, he’ll always let you get your way because the smile that stretches your face when you look at your little baby is 100% worth it.

SUNA RINTAROU

It’s not the fact that he doesn’t want a pet puppy its more of the fact that he can’t. Mans is allergic to them and he hates himself for that everyday because he knows how badly you want one. The longing look you send every dog you see in the park and then slowly pout at him as if he chose to be allergic to them.

However, he can’t lie, he also really wants one. He wants you to have someone with you when he goes on away games so you don’t feel as lonely and miss him as much plus he thinks they’re really cute but he won’t tell you that.

So he ends up going to a doctor to find the best solution for his problem and they gave him a few options: A shot, allergy tablets and nasal sprays, plus many more. He’s relieved that there are so many options that can help him with his symptoms. After picking his poison he makes his way to the nearest shelter to have a look at all the cute dogs that are up for adoption and hopes that one catches his eye. Unfortunately, more than one catches his eye and he finds himself wanting to take them all home …. Going on his own was a mistake.

He finds a day where you’re out the house and won’t be home for a while to surprise you with the puppy he ended up choosing (you can imagine whatever dog you want :) ). He hides the dog in your closest and waits for you to get home and then ushers you into your room. You confusingly look around and before you can ask him why he brought you in here you hear soft whining. With big eyes you look at Suna, “No you didn’t” he softly smiles “yeah I did”.

You make your way to where you heard the sound and open the door. Lying on the ground, looking up at you with glass eyes is the cutest dog you’ve ever seen in your life. With gentle movements you pick them up and cradle them to your chest where they happily nuzzle into you. “They’re so cute but how? You’re allergic baby , how come you aren’t a mess right now?” He shyly scratches the nape of his neck “Well about that … I went to see a doctor and got some medication for it so it isn’t that bad anymore, plus this sight is definitely worth it” he walks over to you and kisses your forehead while petting the puppies head, “now you won’t be so lonely when I have to leave”

♡━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ♡

;)

© property of simpforanyanimeguywithdarkhair

[seokjinsonlyone]

this is how i think it’d go if you went to visit bts at work and gave them a little peck on the lips

namjoon:

you’d probably walk into his studio and he’d be at his desk headphones in playing back some beat or revising some lyrics

you’d come up behind him and wrap your arms around his neck effectively stealing his attention away from the track

and that’s when you’d place a nice little peck on his lips

but that wouldn’t be enough for him so before you could even fully break apart he’d already be chasing your lips

he’d roll his chair around to properly face you placing one hand at the back of your neck bringing you back to him immediately slipping his tongue in your mouth

what once was a cute little greeting turned into a sensual experience as he gently massaged your tongue with his

and when he felt like he had his fill of you for the time being he pulled back, smiling, dimples on full display and said “hey, baby.”

the depth of his voice would send shivers down your spine and you would settle into his lap wrapping your arms around his neck picking up where he left off just bc he was done didn’t mean you were

seokjin:

you’d probably end up at hybe headquarters after seokjin called you when he was done with his day to get dinner together

you’d call him to let him know you’re outside and within a minute he’d be in your car

you’d lean over the center console to give him a peck to which he’d immediately complain

“woooowww i’ve been at work all day and that’s all i get”

you’d swallow down the urge to tell him that he not the only one that work in favor of rolling your eyes and pressing your lips to his again for a little longer

that wouldn’t be enough for him though “just one more,” he’d request.

“one more.”

“one more.”

he knew that asking for a kiss from you was a dangerous game

could feel it in the way he melted against you

could tell by the way he seriously thought about giving you one of his rolex watches you jokingly said you’d steal and sell

or one of his cars you said you’d steal and sell

thought about giving you the world just for one more kiss

yoongi:

with yoongi you’d probably enter his studio (he’s always in the studio) with the code he gave you

which the fact that you were the only one other than himself that had the code did inexplicable things to your heart you couldn’t really delve into without feeling like you were gonna explode

anyway you’d walk in the room and he already knew it was you like you said you were the only other one who could freely enter and he’d be at his monitor doing whatever producers do

“hey just gimme one sec”

and you knew how that one went sometimes it was actually just a few seconds sometimes it was a few hours until you had his attention but you didn’t mind you ain’t have anything else to do just wanted some company

you didn’t wanna disturb him too much but you couldn’t help yourself so you walked to him turned his head to face you and quickly kissed him before recoiling to the couch a few feet away

10-15 minutes later he was summoning you over to him, pulling you into his lap, and using his thumb and index finger to trap your chin bringing your lips back to his for a proper kiss

you sighed contentedly afterwards laying your head on top of his as he wrapped his arms around your waist, showing you what he was working on

hoseok:

hobi was usually a super organized person liked for everything to have a place and everything to be in that place

but you were his little chaos and organization was definitely not his top priority when he was with you taking second place to soaking up every ounce of your presence in whichever way you would allow him

so really it was no surprise when he texted you asking if you’d seen his little notebook where he wrote his lyrics and whatever other ideas or thoughts popped into his head

it took a bit of searching to find but you had it and he was very fortunate you liked him it was the only reason you were willing to drop it off before work

you made sure to let him know he was the reason you looked ugly today the trip to his office severely cutting your usual routine and he made sure to let you know that a) you were beautiful no matter what and b) he would make it up to you

it was only your second time at the new building your first time was when he invited you along for their first look at the hybe insight museum so it was safe to say you had absolutely no idea where you were going despite the detailed instructions one of the staff gave you upon entry if you hadn’t run into taehyun you probably would’ve been running around that building for another hour

you were thoroughly unamused with the situation but hobi looked so cute and sheepish when you entered the practice room wrapping his arms around you immediately alternating between expressing his gratitude and regretfulness that you couldn’t help but press a small kiss to his mouth

an action you instantly regretted bc a) it caused him to start pressing kisses all over your face in return b) it caused an eruption of various forms of shouting from the six other boys you failed to notice upon entry

you pushed at his chest as heat flooded your body from embarrassment preparing to leave you were going to be late for work “be good” you told him personally before shouting “have fun!” at the other members

jimin:

your days off hardly coincided with jimin’s days off mostly bc he never really had days off always had to go in for one thing or another

but his days weren’t always jam packed some days like today he had a meeting in the morning and a meeting in the evening and not much else to do besides that

and he was the absolute worst at entertaining himself always needed to find someone else’s business to get into and as the object of his affection you were always his first choice

he tried not to bother you too much when you were busy though no matter how clingy he was and he was awfully clingy

if you two weren’t able to be joined at the hip in your free time you were definitely on the phone and if he wasn’t the object of your affection as well you would’ve started ignoring him a long time ago as it stands he was the best company

anyway he knew you were off today and had no plans other than finding a new anime to start so naturally when he found himself bored out of his mind he was in your ear purring down the line for you to come to him

it didn’t take too much convincing your attention span wasn’t on your side so you couldn’t really get into anything and even though you literally saw jimin yesterday you missed him :\

it’s why you didn’t hesitate to land a peck on his lips upon meeting him again and latching onto his arm firmly as he led you to one of the small practice rooms they had

“so tell me about your day”

you looked him over suspiciously he had that mischievous glint in his eye so you knew he was up to something

and you were right you weren’t more than two sentences in to your answer before he was pressing his lips to yours in a long lingering kiss

“i’m sorry continue”

“um...” your attention span really wasn’t with you and it was hard to retrace your train of thought with your lips tingling and the hairs on the back of your neck raised

you eventually found your mental footing and continued speaking about your day which had more or less turned into you ranting about haikyuu when again mid sentence he captured your lips between his own one hand tracing up and down your spine while the other held your head into place so he could lick into your mouth just the way he liked

“go on” he panted slightly breathless once you finally broke apart

“jimin...” you whined

he giggled at his own antics loved riling you up found it so cute how you couldn’t even try to keep the dreamy look off your face “you like me so much don’t you?” he asked with a self assured grin etched onto his face

you did

taehyung:

sometimes he felt so sorry to you hated cancelling on you because something came up or another thing ran over time

you were always cool with it tho never made a huge fuss of it which he was forever grateful for bc he really did love his job

but he really loved you too

he had to cancel three separate times just this week alone and he was missing you something bad

and even though he really wanted to take you out and do something nice for you like you deserved at this point he just wanted to see you

missed seeing you in person and having you in his arms

that’s how you found yourself on a bench tucked into a quiet corner of the upper garden at a table chairs side by side his hands toying with yours as you caught him up on your week so far

he was kinda obsessed with you and you loved it because having his undivided attention felt so so good

so you couldn’t help but close the gap, briefly pressing your lips to his

the slight blush that took over his cheeks had an insane amount of serotonin flooding your brain you loved him so much

even more so when he surpassed his bout of shyness and unabashedly brought you closer to him and attempted to make up for a week’s worth of lost kisses

jungkook:

sometimes life got busy for the both of you and even though you meant to meet up it just didn’t happen

but once you finished your work week you made it your mission to see him as soon as possible

you’d texted him when you got off and he told you he was finishing vocal practice then going to workout which left you with enough time to stop home and freshen up before he was done

as expected his trainer told you he was in the shower when you popped up so you decided to wait in the hallway for him to come out

“heeeeey what are you doing here”

you looked up from your phone to see your slightly damp very buff boyfriend grinning down at you

almost instantly you were hugging him arms wrapped around his waist before pulling back slightly pecking him on the lips

which set something off inside jungkook a shock ran down his body just from the feeling of your lips pressed against his

“let’s hang out” you agreed immediately “i just need to grab something from my studio first”

he laced your hands together dragging you alongside him and as soon as you entered the room he had you pinned against the door hands on your hips kissing you with far greater ferocity than you could have anticipated

and it’s like jungkook knew he missed you but he didn’t realize just how much until he had you in his arms your lips on his

kissing you felt like home and his introverted self never wanted to leave the house couldn’t even help the groan that escaped the back of his throat as you took control of the kiss and made a mental note to remember to never deprive himself of this pleasure again

one of his hands slid down your thigh lifting your leg until you got the hint to wrap both of them around his waist allowing him to show off his strength and grope you at the same time

“jk,” you said breathlessly, breaking the kiss

his lips were chasing yours the second you broke contact he didn’t care about breathing when a fire was spreading through his body

you indulged him for a few more seconds before breaking apart again

this time his lips traveled down your neck kissing and sucking until you were making the prettiest sounds for him

you felt like you were going to explode his hands were squeezing your butt and his lips were on your neck and you were going to explode

“jk...” you whined again tugging lightly at the hair on the nape of his neck

he made his way back up your neck pressing a hard kiss on your cheek before gently nudging your nose with his “hmmm?”

and suddenly you were staring directly into his eyes big and pretty and filled with stars shining just for you

you were going to explode “let’s get out of here”

[rodr1cks]

Hi! I don't know if your request are open, but I'd like to know if you could write a rodrick x reader where the reader is Rowley's sister and discovers her talking on the phone with a friend saying she's in love with Rodrick and tells Greg and he tells her that Rodrick has been in love with her for a long time and they try to put them together?

cw: none it’s pure fluff

word count: 1.8k

“I know! And he didn’t even apologize!” Greg ranted into the receiver.

“I’m sorry, Greg,” Rowley frowned, sympathetic nature as present as always. “Anyways, mom says dinner is ready, see you tonight?” Rowley’s tone lifted at the end of his sentence, excitement brewing as he thought about the sleepover he was meant to have with Greg later that evening.

You slid into the kitchen on your socks, just as Rowley was concluding his conversation with Greg.

Rowley sat anxiously through dinner, quickly consuming everything on his plate, including the vegetables. You observed him from across the table, cocking your head as your younger brother inhaled his peas like he hadn’t eaten in days.

He took his last bite before exclaiming, “I’m going to pack my stuff for Greg’s!”

Not without clearing his dishes first, of course.

You rolled your eyes at his charisma and headed into the living room. You slumped over on the couch, limbs splayed every which way as you called your friend, Marissa. You had been needing to gush to somebody about your newest crush, Rodrick Heffley.

You had only interacted with the messy haired boy in passing: family dinners, picking up Greg, dropping off Rowley, etc.

“I don’t know what it is, he’s just so- so- captivating. God, Mar, I swear I could watch him play drums for hours on end!”

Unbeknownst to you, Rowley had entered the room and was about to speak. You were too caught up in drooling over Rodrick to notice. “Hey, y/n-” He cut himself off quickly, curiosity getting the best of him.

“And did you see what he was wearing at Matt’s party? Those jeans? And that eyeliner? God I could just tear them-”

Rowley cleared his throat, unwilling to hear the rest. “Y/n can you take me to Greg’s, please?” He stood awkwardly with his lips pursed.

Your head whipped around faster than the speed of light. “Marissa, I gotta go.”

“Rowley, how much of that did you hear?”

He lied, something he wasn’t really good at, “Not much! I promise!”

“Rowley Jefferson you had better keep your mouth shut, or I swear I’ll-”

You stopped yourself, closing your eyes and drawing in a deep breath. “Just get in the car.” You breathed out in a scarily calm tone. Your red headed sibling nodded frantically out of fear and darted to the garage.

Usually, you would make him walk, but ever since your infatuation with Rodrick began, you were more eager to give him rides over there. The mere prospect of getting the slightest glance sending excitement throughout your entire being.

When you pulled up to the Heffley home, you gave him a final glare. “Say nothing.” He gave you the same shaky nod he gave you only moments ago. With that, he was bounding towards the front door. You made sure he got inside safely and drove off.

“Rowley? Everything okay?” Greg asked his friend, concerned with his behavior. Rowley couldn’t handle keeping secrets. His hands grew clammy and a slight sweat broke out on his forehead. Rowley had an uncomfortably fake smile plastered on his face as he tried to assure Greg that everything was just peachy.

All it took was one knowing look from Greg and Rowley broke.

“Alright, fine! I heard my sister talking to her friend about how hot Rodrick is and how she wants to-”

“Okay, okay! I get the picture!”

Greg took a moment to proceed, his brows furrowed as he brought a contemplative fist up to support his chin.

“Lemme get this straight. Your sister likes my brother?”

Rowley nodded slowly.

“Y/n likes Rodrick?”

Rowley nodded again, confirming Greg’s exclamations.

“But y/n is smart a-and hot!”

“Greg! Don’t say that!” Rowley groaned, rolling his head back in disgust. Greg threw both of his hands up in defense, “I’m just stating facts.”

“Wait, I have an idea.” A pit of dread grew in Rowley’s stomach, Greg’s ideas never turned out well.

“What if we set up y/n with Rodrick? Just hear me out, this could be good for him.”

Rowley mulled the idea over in his head, thinking that maybe dating you could make Rodrick more… agreeable? Maybe you could be a good influence on the intimidating teenager. A happier Rodrick would make sleepovers at Greg’s a lot more pleasant.

“I think that could work,” Rowley said apprehensively. “But how do we do it?”

Greg shrugged, “Simple, we just tell Rodrick there’s a really hot Girl interested in him.”

The boys proceeded to draw up a plan.

Phase one: The approach. Greg and Rowley nervously ascended the wooden steps that led to Rodrick’s room. Rodrick was laying on his back, spinning a drumstick between his nimble fingers.

He shot up immediately when he noticed the boys’ presence. “What are your dweebs doing up here?”

Phase two: Delivery. “Calm down Rodrick, we have some information you might wanna know,” Greg reasoned cooly, easing Rodrick’s anger from a roaring ten to a mild six.

Greg nodded over at Rowley, signaling him to start talking.

“W-well,” Rowley stuttered, “I uhm- heard my sister talking about you and she- she likes you and she was talking about your jeans?”

Rodrick blinked in confusion, processing this intel.

“Your sister likes me? Are you sure she meant me?”

“That’s what I said!” Greg exclaimed and Rodrick shot him a terrifying glare, silently telling Greg to can it.

Rodrick was honestly shocked. He always observed you from afar, deciding himself that a chick as cool as you would never go for him. This news was absolutely world shattering for the boy, he completely admired you.

Phase three: Action. “We have a plan.” Greg said, a conniving grin creeping onto his face. “Rowley calls y/n, tells her that he’s feeling sick and blames it on Mom’s pot roast or something. Then when she rushes over all worried, you greet her at the door. And then you work your Rodrick magic!” Greg smiled, abundant pride for his plan evident in his stature.

“It’s a go.” Rodrick declared, scrambling around his room to put on deodorant, a new t-shirt, and cologne before pointing at Rowley. “Make the call.”

“Hey, y/n,” Rowley groaned into the phone, sounding as sick as he possibly could. “I- I think I ate something bad and I really need you ro come get me.”

You sighed, telling him you’d be there in ten minutes and to have his things ready to go. You departed for the Heffley house for the second time that night.

When Rowley didn’t come out to your car, you trudged up to the red door to go retrieve the sickly boy.

You gave the door three lazy knocks, expecting Rowley’s face to be the one behind it when it swung open. “Hey kid, are you feeling okay?” You asked, not yet making eye contact with the figure leering in the doorframe.

Your eyes widened as you came to realize who it was.

“Funny seeing you here,” Rodrick drawled out, a smirk tugging at his lips. Your cheeks burned with the heat of one thousand suns, you were not expecting this tonight.

“Y-yeah,” you smiled awkwardly, staring at your feet. “Rowley called, he uhm, he’s not feeling well. So if you could just get him for me I can leave. Immediately.” You cursed yourself for your blubbering idiocy as you twiddled your fingers.

“Actually, Rowley is feeling much, much better.” Suspicion grew as you studied Rodrick’s devious expression. “What’s going on?” You asked, genuinely puzzled as nothing was making any sense.

“I don’t know, y/n. Why don’t you come in and tell me?” Rodrick was surprisingly smooth in this situation, despite his nerves being at an all time high.

“Rowley is just up here,” Rodrick said while guiding you up the stairs to his room. In the meantime, Greg and Rowley peered out from the hallway, watching you follow Rodrick upstairs and giggling to themselves.

The overhead lights in Rodrick’s room were turned on, the glow from his string lights illuminating the area instead. “Mood lighting,” as he had called it. Rodrick had already instructed the boys to stay far away once you had arrived.

You were still lost, Rowley nowhere in sight. “So? Where is he?” You asked expectantly.

“Here’s the thing y/n. You know Rowley can’t keep secrets, right? I mean you have to know that, he is your brother”

Shit.

“That little shit stain! I’ll get him, I swear to god!” You turned to bound down the stairs, ready to tear the entire house apart in hunting for him. Rodrick grabbed your wrist before your foot could even reach the first step.

“Y/n, relax, relax!” His grip on your flesh made your breath hitch and stomach churn. “It’s okay, I feel the same way.” Rodrick’s cocky facade dissipated into nothing as he revealed his feelings.

You got a glimpse of a more vulnerable side of Rodrick that you were sure he didn’t typically share. “But girls like you don’t usually like stupid guys like me,” Rodrick was staring at the ground now, grasp on your arm softening.

You were too unsure of your words so you opted to move your free hand to hold his bicep, closing a considerable amount of distance between the two of you in the process.

“Rodrick, I’ve never liked anybody as much as I like you. And I don’t mean that in a weird or creepy way it’s just that-”

Now it was time for Rodrick’s own addition to the plan. Phase four: The kiss.

Your rambling was cut short by a pair of warm lips pressing against your own. He kissed you with just enough force to cause you to stumble back a bit, causing you to brace yourself against his torso.

He carded a gentle hand through your hair and tugged back on your soft locks. You moaned at the vibrations tendrilling at your scalp and kissed him with even more ferocity.

Somehow, you ended up on his bed, straddling him. The blankets strewn across his mattress melded against your knees and the fronts of your calves as you stabilized yourself on his lap.

He placed apprehensive hands on your hip bones, unsure of what was okay and what wasn’t. You placed your hand on top of his larger one, assuring him that you were comfortable. You even allowed a small whimper to leave your throat as he tightened his hold on you.

You only pulled away to catch your breath, looking into his eyes for the first time that night. You smiled warmly at him as you cupped his cheek. Suddenly, Rodrick’s signature smirk returned to his face.

“Now tell me what you were saying about my jeans.”

[threepointseven]

Home(Dinner Part 2)

Im shortening the exchange students name to S/N AKA student name

Sorry i forgot to answer the person who actually requested this @kurooandkarmaswife thank you sm for requesting! I hope you enjoy 😩

Also lets pretend you cant have more than 1 pact with a human cause yeah. If you havent read Dinner yet go read it since you’ll really only understand this if u read the first part

Fandom: Obey me!

Pairing: not really with anyone but has subtle undertones of solomon & Simeon x reader

Length: sort of long

Genre: Angst with comfort

Gn! Reader and exchange student!

Part three!

Dinner last night, was, well...pretty terrible. I ended up waking up at 2 am to the brothers STILL not home. Apparently even Diavolo had taken a liking to the new exchange student.

A day goes by and finally i get to meet the new exchange student.

Whoah

Is all i can think. I walk into the living room unnoticed as everyone is talking to the new exchange student, i wouldnt blame them.

They look incredible.

I felt a hint of jealousy wash over me. Seeing Mammon, Asmo’s and Beel’s joyful laughs as they talk to them. Their voice was ever so gentle, it’s what i imagine spring to sound like.

I tried forgetting about my distasteful thoughts of jealousy and walked over to them.

“Goodmorning!”

I called out to try and grab their attention

“Oh, MC! I didnt see you there;;”

Asmo said to me as he was taking selfies with the new exchange student

“This is the new exchange student”

Beel smiled

“Hi! My name is MC”

I happily introduced myself

“My name is S/N”

They brought their hand out and i shook it in return. Their eyes were ever so sweet, i felt the sadness come over me as i wore a soft smile.

Something tells me this wont end well.

Weeks go by as i barely get to see the brothers anymore. They’re always around S/N. I find myself longing the brothers touch. The random emergency texts i get from mammon, calls from Asmo asking me if i wanted to go to a club, Belphie always dragging me to his room to take a nap, Beel’s adorable goodnight texts, Lucifer’s complaints about work, Satan’s library dates, And levi’s rants about a certain anime he just watched.. i missed it all.

I guess i missed the warmth and the constant attention i got from them. The attention thats now being directed at S/N.

The new feeling of emptiness leads me to the Purgatory hall, a place i’ve been to quite often after S/N had won over the brothers.

I enter the room praying that i dont see S/N hogging Luke, Solomon, and Simeon’s attention....

What?

Did i just think that?

Am i that jealous?

Have i gotten so used to being in the spotlight that suddenly i become like this when not in the center?

Its an unpleasant feeling and i try to snap myself out of it as i see Simeon, Luke, and Solomon all happily seated on the couch drinking tea and eating pastries Luke made.

“MC! Hey!!”

Luke happily greets me as well as Solomon and Simeon. Im pulled to the couch as im seated next to Luke. I take a bite of the pastry and embrace the comfort of the sugary sweets.

The conversation goes on for a long time as hours go by. Soon enough the entire tray of pastries and tea are long gone.

As the clock hits 8 PM i realize ive been at the Purgatory hall for too long now. Excusing myself i go back to the house of Lamentation to be once again greeted by smiling faces and S/N laying out plates filled with food for the brothers.

The brothers quarrels, Satan’s face of annoyance, Asmo’s whining... The smell of warm food on the dinner table being handed out....

As i hide from the view of the brothers and S/N i look back to when it would to be me that made everyone dinner and calmed them down.

My chair.

My chair had been occupied by S/N,

What?

Did they expect me to sit on the floor for dinner or something?

As i slowly walked to my room i heard the deep voice of Lucifer

“Oh MC,,, sorry S/N is sitting on your spot, we thought you were gonna go to the purgatory hall for dinner tonight. We do apologize”

As i feel my throat closing up i smile and say in a bubbly tone

“Oh it’s fine! I was actually gonna go out with my friends for dinner anyways! I was just getting something from my room, i’ll be out in a sec!”

Lucifer gave me a warm smile and continued conversing with S/N

As i went to my room i started to realize the situation here. I’ve been replaced. I mean who wouldn’t replace me when the actual definition of an angel was right in front of them with their welcoming arms open.

As soon as i got to my room salty tears trailed down my cheeks,

Jealousy?

Sadness?

Anger?

Whatever the emotion was i wasn’t having it. Unlocking my DDD to be greeted by the wallpaper of me and the brothers all dressed up for a ball we went to together once. i tried to hold back my few tears as i called Solomon, a dear friend of mine.

“Hey solomon!!”

“Oh, yes MC? Is there anything you need?”

“I know i just left the purgatory hall but could I possibly stay there for the night?”

“Oh, of course! I dont exactly know why but Luke’s already whining about how you stayed for too little.”

“I’ll be right over”

I hung up the phone, my tears stopping after i heard that comforting voice of his.

That night i stayed at the purgatory hall, happily sleeping next to Luke, lulling him to sleep.

The purgatory hall became my escape. Solomon always made me laugh, Simeon always made sure i felt welcome there and Luke was practically my adopted son after how long i could stay with him.

As i went about the kitchen helping Luke make a pastry i showed him from the human world a strange feeling washed over me. The feeling of something being erased from my my soul, something was fading away. That something felt like it was piercing my soul.

I look around my body to see what it is. As i look around i see it.

My pact marks are starting to fade

I panic as i excuse myself and go back to the house of lamentation.

As i silently enter the room i hear the faint sound of the brothers, they’re discussing something.

“Cmon Satan you’ve gotta be quick! What if they find out?!”

“Removing a pact isnt that easy Mammon.”

As i listen more i realize what it is.

They’re trying to break my pact with me.

And for what exactly?

Because they want one with someone else.

That someone being S/N

It hurt. Who wouldn’t be hurt? tears flowed from my eyes in record time as i tiredly walk outside.

Devildom was a place the brothers always told me to beware of, but right now i couldnt care less.

While i walked around the town with puffy eyes and the stinging feeling of my pact marks being removed, i hear a certain group of people call my name, i look back to see Luke, Solomon and Simeon’s smiles quickly turn into frowns as they see my tears

“What’s wrong MC?!”

Luke worriedly asks

Unable to hold it in i tell Them.

“The brothers are trying to break my pact with them, they want one with S/N apparently. Im afraid i’ve been replaced by that saint..”

Solomon and Simeon’s face turn into faces of empathy while Luke’s turned quite sour

As Simeon came closer to me and pulled me close into a hugged he mumbles out a comforting phrase

“Whatever happens MC, you’ll always be welcome at the purgatory hall.”

The sentence made my stomach overflow with butterflies. I happily hug back, quickly accepting the purgatory hall as my new and improved home.

[high-supernatural]

The Beach

Kai Parker x Female Reader

Request: Sex on a beach, kind of rough yet soft.

Word Count: 2496

Warnings: Smuuuuut, lots of smut, dom!kai, mild hands tied

The MF friend group invited Kai and his best friend to stay at one of their family’s beach houses for the weekend as what they called a peace offering. They weren’t very friendly or welcoming of Kai from the moment they all met him, no matter how hard he tried to make things right with them. Kai’s best friend guilted them into feeling bad about rejecting him as he was trying to improve himself, so they decided to invite them both to their beach weekend to test how true it was and make peace from it.

All of the MF friends had their rooms picked out since they were kids. Kai, his best girl friend, and the Salvatore brothers were the only new ones without signature rooms to sleep in, so they all bunked in the old kids’ room that still had two sets of bunk beds.

“Great, agree to a beach weekend, get to bunk with a sociopath and his sidekick, and sleep in beds made for 12-year old’s… ‘oh sure, Damon, come to the beach it’ll be fuuuun,’ can’t see how this could go terribly wrong,” Damon ranted on about how unhappy he was with the arrangements.

Kai announced that he’d be taking the top bunk above his best friend, but that didn’t really matter because they both knew they’d end up in the same bed anyways. They did everything together, and that included both sleeping and causing immense sexual tension they were both too nervous to address with each other.

She tried to sleep in the bottom bunk alone but couldn’t fall asleep. Kai peaked his head from above to see if she was awake and found her with her eyes closed, so he poked her until she opened them.

“What,” she asked with scrunched brows.

“Come sleep with me,” he whined and dangled his hand over the railing with a strand of her hair attached.

She didn’t have to be begged, she immediately got out of her bed and climbed onto his, laying her head on his chest and played with his rings until they both fell asleep.

They both woke the next morning to a loud, dramatic exclamation of “oh, gross” coming from Damon seeing them together.

She rolled onto her back and rubbed her eyes with one hand, “oh don’t be jealous just because you can’t get any, Damon,” she teased resulting in a fake gag in response.

Everyone got ready for the beach before breakfast.

She stood in a large two-sink bathroom after putting on a red bikini top and black shorts and started brushing her hair.

Kai walked in wearing shorts and a t-shirt, “that’s what you’re wearing to the beach?” she asked.

“Have you seen any ocean documentary on National Geographic? I’m not going in that water,” Kai joked and stood behind her, grabbing the brush from her hand to brush her hair for her.

When he was done, he placed the brush on the counter and went to attempt a ponytail again even though he has never succeeded at making a good one.

“You’d be better off putting sunscreen on me than trying to do my hair again,” she said as a joke even though she was serious.

Kai rolled his eyes, but he knew he couldn’t do hair anyways, so he reached onto the counter for the sunscreen and put some in his hands to rub on her back and arms as they fought with each other while she simultaneously tried to put her hair up.

Kai closed the sunscreen bottle, forgetting about her front side and her legs and started to walk out, “you missed a spot,” she spoke before he could turn around.

“You can get the rest, can’t you? You’re capable.”

She rolled her eyes and handed him the sunscreen bottle again. He started rubbing lotion on her stomach from behind, looking at her in the mirror until his movements got slower and he seemed lost in thought.

“What’r you thinking about?” she asked.

“Oh, you know…” the attention came back to Kai’s eyes as he looked up to meet her gaze in the mirror, “just about all the mixed signals you give me,” he trailed one of his hands up her torso to her neck and wrapped his hand around it, leaning in to whisper in her ear while not taking his eyes off hers.

“About how one day we’re besties and the next you want my hands all over you…”

She didn’t pull away. They both knew they wanted this, but neither of them would say anything until now.

Kai moved his other hand to the waist of her shorts as he did a once over with his eyes at her in the mirror before returning his gaze back to hers, “so which one is it today,” he asked in a dark tone.

She was at a loss for words. They’ve been intimate together in ways such as seeing each other naked after one got out of the shower or making out because they were bored, but they’ve never been this straightforwardly intimate.

After her silence, Kai trailed the hand he placed on her waistband to cup one of her breasts and tightened the grip around her throat, “is this what you want?” he asked harshly, “you want my hands all over you?”

Her breath hitched as she tried to breath to say something. Kai moved his hand from her breast and slipped it under her shorts, removing the hand around her throat to replace the one that left her chest.

He massaged her breasts roughly, nibbling on her neck as he rubbed soft circles over her clothed core, resulting in soft moans disguised as breaths.

“Just say the words,” Kai said before he shifted his attention to the other side of her neck, “do you like my hands all over you?”

“Yes,” she whispered softly before Kai removed himself from touching her, “that’s too bad,” he whispered and kissed her on the cheek before leaving and announcing from the other room, “we’re heading down in 10, hurry and get ready.”

She stood dumbfounded and clumsily finished getting ready.

When they got to the beach, they all set up their own tents to lay in. Her and Kai were the only ones not wanting to get in the water, so they laid in the sand while the others walked around elsewhere.

She fell asleep laying on her towel in the sand with her shorts unbuttoned and sunhat over her face. Kai couldn’t help but stare at her almost the whole time thinking about how it felt to touch her that morning.

When he couldn’t refrain from it anymore, he took the hat from off her face and woke her up.

“You forgot to put sunscreen on your legs,” he excused.

“Ok, so?” she barked.

He toyed with the string on the front of her bikini top that was keeping it from falling off, “so… you should get in the tent and let me put sunscreen on your legs…” he said nervously.

“Oh, ‘put sunscreen on me’, huh?” she air quoted him and pretended to be annoyed before crawling into the tent anyways.

Kai got in behind her and zipped it up behind him.

She sat with her legs crisscrossed and opened a bag of candy while she looked at her phone. The only thing he could think about was untying the top that was barely hiding anything and how gorgeous her hair looked in her messy ponytail, he always loved her hair.

He sat on his knees in front of her and rubbed both his hands up either side of the inner parts of her thighs.

She looked up from her phone and put a piece of candy in her mouth, “I didn’t hear you get any sunscreen, kid,” she teased.

Kai moved her phone and the bag behind him and brought his face close to hers, moving his hands farther up her thighs, “we both know I didn’t wake you up because of sunscreen.”

He closed the gap between their lips and pulled the string that held her bikini together in the front, exposing her breasts before he pulled away from her face to watch himself toy with one of her nipples.

“Who wants their hands all over who now, huh?” she teased again.

Kai grabbed her bikini top and both of her wrists and began to tie them together, “not me,” he smirked.

He moved his hand under her knee to uncross her legs so he could sit between them as he laid her down and she reached to place her tied up hands on his waistband, “too bad I can still touch you then,” she continued to tease.

He put one hand back to her throat as the other met underneath her shorts again, “I can make that change,” he spoke harsh again.

“Yeah, how you gonna do that?” she breathed out.

He snuck two fingers underneath the fabric she was wearing to feel her bare core, “by making you feel so many things you forget you even have hands,” he responded ominously before removing his hands to pull all the fabric she was wearing off of her legs and pushed them open.

He held one of her knees firmly to his side so she was fully open to him and began to tease her by rubbing her core so soft that she could barely notice, but she felt every graze.

He inserted two fingers into her and wasted no time curling and pumping them in and out, “I’ve always wondered how good you taste,” he bit at her thigh and started pumping at an incomprehensible speed.

She choked on her own moans because of how sudden the pace was and tried to stifle them by covering her mouth with her hands to which she was met with Kai pulling her arms back down to lay in front of her torso, “I want to see your face dying with discomfort because you know you can’t make a sound…” he watched her face scrunch as she stifled her moans, “I want to watch your chest bounce while your arms push them together…”

He continued pumping at this speed as he leaned to bite at her neck, “but don’t worry, if you can’t be quiet, I’ll just put something in your mouth to make you quiet,” he whispered.

He trailed his mouth down to her core, leaving bites and hickeys on the way before roughly sucking and flicking her soft spot with his tongue. He noticed when she tried to cover her mouth again and quickly grabbed her ties to hold her arms in place.

She pulled at his hair and moved her hips around in attempt to be quiet. He noticed when she was getting close and made sure to hold her wrists tighter as she threw her head back and was barely able to quiet her orgasm.

Kai kept sucking, causing her to close her thighs around him as he kept pushing and holding them back open until she was about to reach her second orgasm. Right before she was on the edge, he pulled away and replaced his mouth with his thumb to watch her face as he wrapped his hand around her throat again.

“I want to watch your face struggle to breath and quiet yourself at the same time,” he teased and watched intently as her face turned red from the lack of circulation. Before she almost passed out, she reached the edge and Kai removed his hand from her throat at the exact moment, causing her to moan loudly as she felt an intense sudden release all over her body and gasped for air.

She didn’t care this time, she needed to let it out.

Kai grabbed a bunch of her hair and pulled her to sit on her knees by it, “you better hope nobody heard that,” he unbuttoned his shorts, “you’ll never hear the end of what a sleaze you are,” he whispered and sat on his knees to kiss her by pulling her face up by her hair and grabbed her hands to touch his stomach.

She trailed her hands down his stomach until they almost reached his member before he forcefully pulled her face from his and pushed her mouth down to put her lips around it.

He sat back on his knees with one arm propping him up and ordered for her to put her ass in the air while she sucked.

Kai didn’t care if anyone heard him, he moaned like they were the only ones on the beach and grabbed a fistful of her hair again to move her head at a speed he liked.

“Oh my god--- how do you feel so good,” he groaned and twitched, “I bet your pussy feels a whole lot better,” he whispered and continued to fuck her face.

He started to twitch more, and his movements got more shaky, “I want to fill you up from both ends like the slut you are,” he spoke roughly before finishing in her mouth and pulling her head up to look at her sweaty, teary face.

He pulled himself up to move behind her where she had her ass up like he told her to do and spread her legs farther apart, pushing her back down to arch it before inserting himself into her.

He pulled her up by the back of her arms so his chest was against her back and snaked a hand around to her throat, using the other to pull her hair back onto his shoulder as he made slow but deep thrusts, hitting her spot each time as she struggled to breath.

“If I would have known you’d feel this good I would have taken advantage of this a long time ago,” he whispered in her ear, “I don’t know how you’re so perfect in every way… your pussy is the best thing I’ve ever felt…”

He moved his hand from her throat to rub circles around her clit as he thrusted faster.

She couldn’t contain her moans, so he shoved the bottoms of her bikini into her mouth and moved her face to lay at the bottom of the tent with her ass up as she unsuccessfully stifled moans of both pain and pleasure until they both finished again.

He finished with deep thrusts until they both collapsed and laid next to each other trying to catch their breath as she set herself free.

Kai sat up just enough to turn her face to his, “I don’t want anyone else to be able to have that except me,” he spoke.

“Well, you’re just full of wants today, aren’t you?” she breathed.

“Promise me,” he whined.

“What am I, your girlfriend or something?”

“Please,” he teased.

She rolled her eyes, “I promise.”

[godofdystopia]

Save The Last Dance

I told y’all it’d be done by today and by today it is done. I’m pretty proud of this honestly, this being my first fanfic and all. I’ve written things and stories before but never a whole ass fanfic.

This was inspired by Darcy’s comment about Marcy being trapped, the leaked image of the three girls dancing, and me going, ‘That looks cool and all, but you know what would really be cool?’

I wrote this over a day to take my mind off my mom being in the hospital so, like, don’t expect Shakespeare or anything.

Anyway, here’s my very first fanfic: A Sashannarcy piece about saving Marcy called ‘Save The Last Dance.’

Words: 11.2k

The throne room of Newtopia castle had been all but destroyed.

The once mighty columns holding up the mosaiced ceiling had been cracked and broken, the floor was littered with impact craters and rubble, and the throne had been reduced to a pile of molten slag slowly dripping down the stairway like a metallic river. The once proud and storied stained-glass windows had been shattered to a one, revealing a nice view of the battle happening outside as both the forces of earth and amphibia fought against Andrias and his robot armies.

None of that mattered to the three figures who stood panting and exhausted in the center of the room, covered in bruises and open wounds and fighting to remain standing. Anne Boonchuy and Sasha Waybright didn’t see anything else, not the broken bits of robot all over the place, not the battle outside, and not even themselves. All they could see was the defeated girl laying in front of them, trying desperately to get out of the binding that held her down.

Marcy.

To know that this was what happened to her, to know some monster was playing around in her skin and speaking with her voice while the real Marcy was locked away in some deep dark part of the mindscape was absolutely heartbreaking.

But that red eyed beast was about to be sent packing if everything went according to plan.

“Alright… Okay,” Sasha panted, using the broken end of her blue heron sword to remain upright, her other hand pressed hard against her newly ruined right eye. She was exhausted, fighting her way up here with Anne through an entire army of robots, and then having a battle against one of her best friends was not something she ever wanted to do again. “We got her, I think?”

“You’ll die for this! You’ll both die for this!” The Core, they refused to acknowledge the bastardized version of their friends name it chose, raged from the floor. It had been tied down with a mixture of its own mecha-tendrils and specialty rope that Anne had brought up. “We’ll kill you for this, we’ll kill everyone for this!”

“We heard you the first time, shut up already.” Anne grumbled, sitting on the ground as she tried, and failed, to ignore the horrible pain coming from her left arm. It was still glowing completely blue even after leaving Calamity mode and she didn't want to think about what that meant. “You got the stuff?”

Sasha grunted an affirmative, and then just kept standing there still as a statue. The Cores' mad rantings and threats of bloody vengeance continued in the background.

“You gonna get it?” Anne asked from her place on the floor.

Sasha stayed still for a few more seconds before replying. “My limbs feel like lead weights. I haven’t felt this tired since I started battle training.”

“-Kill your families! Do you hear me? We’ll make you watch the life drain from their eyes and-”

“I literally can’t move my muscles.” Sasha said finally turning her head with a groan to face Anne. “Can you grab it?”

Anne was too tired to respond, she just shuffled her way closer to Sasha and reached for her back pocket.

“Left side.”

“-burn this whole city to the ground! We’ll salt the very earth around it and-”

“Thanks' Sash.” Anne pulled out a small vial of glowing green liquid and held it. Anne forced herself to sit upright and began turning the vial over in her hands nervously, the blue glow of her right arm contrasting well with the green liquid inside.

“You sure Valerianna and Maddie know what they’re doing?” Sasha asked, trying to be heard over the ranting Villain in front of them.

“-laugh as your world is consumed piece by piece! I’ll raise an army to conquer the rest of the Multiverse and finally sink the Boiling Isles into the sea. You-”

“Oh my god, will you shut the hell up already.” Sasha yelled out at the struggling god computer possessing her friend. When the battle began, its threats and taunts had been terrifying and enraging. It hurt to hear such hurtful and vile things come out of Marcy’s mouth with Marcy’s voice.

Now Sasha was just annoyed by the glorified calculator. You can only hear so many threats against your life, your city, and your world in the span of one hour before it becomes tiring.

Anne tried to shrug, but gave up with a pained wince. “I… don’t know. Neither of them had ever done a spell this powerful before, Valerianna even said she didn’t know if this would work or not, so who even knows?”

Sasha just sighed. “That’s not helpful.”

“I know.”

“We’re still gonna save her right?”

“Yep.”

“Oh, We’re sorry?” Finally, the Core stopped raging like a spoiled child. Now the demonic computer possessing their friend just stared at them, ten demonic red eyes looking straight at them. The Core began laughing, doubling over on the floor as it did so. “You’re going to save our hosts' mind? Is that what we’re hearing correctly?”

“Shut up Skynet.” Anne said from her place on the floor. “... But yeah, we’re gonna.”

The Core just smirked at them, Anne wanted to beat it off of them and would wear it not for the fact it was possessing the body of her best friend and crush. “We’ll admit, we’re curious. How exactly are you going to go about this?”

Anne simply held up the green vial.

The Core just stared at them and the vial, red eyes swiveling about as it looked. Finally, the central three eyes widened and a true smile spread across its face.

“You’re not actually going into Our mindscape, are you?”

Sasha and Anne glared at the thing wearing their friend's body.

“Oh, ohhh. You are.” The core seemed almost pleased as it just laid down on the floor. “You’re both more than welcome to try! It’s not like there’s anything you can actually do.”

Anne wanted to yell at the thing, scream until her throat went raw. But she had a job to do. Ever so carefully, she stood up off the ground and walked over to Sasha. The blonde warrior nodded and, with a wince and a pained expression, somehow stood up straight.

“So uh, how bad is it?” She asked Anne, looking at her in the eyes. Sasha’s right eye was just gone, a massive and fresh slice over it that, had the situation not been so dire, Anne would say almost looked like Grime and Beatrix’s wounded eyes. She’d probably enjoy the comparison, maybe.

“Yep.” Anne said, giving a nod. “Still hot.”

“Haha-ow!” Sasha stopped laughing with a pained grimace, holding her chest and squeezing her eye shut in pain. “Laughing hurt’s still. Let’s do this before we both die.”

“Yes please, we’re dying to see how this turns out.” The core snarked from the floor.

Anne and Sasha moved over to it and Anne lifted its head and shoved the potion into its mouth until every last drop was swallowed.

The Core looked at the two of them, and then for a brief moment all ten of its eyes glowed a brilliant emerald.

**********

Anne opened her eyes.

Or at least, she thought she did. A vast nothingness stretched as far as she could see, so dark and black she thought her eyes remained shut.

Anne stood on, well, nothing as her senses slowly returned to her. Her arm no longer felt like it was boiling from the inside, and all her injuries seemed to have vanished. She was no longer clad in her scavenged Newtopian armor, remaining only in her old school uniform which seemed to have vanished itself of all the wear, tear, and grime of traveling Amphibia.

She stood, surrounded by nothing, as if she had never traveled worlds in the first place.

She looked down.

She still had only one shoe.

“Oh come on!” She yelled out in frustration.

“Anne? Is that you?” Sasha’s voice came out from behind her and she whirled around. Sasha stood in the armor she’d worn when they first reunited in Amphibia. Brown scale mail and a single oversized pauldron with a torn cape. Her swords seemed to be missing as well. Just like Anne, all the injuries and dirt from Amphibia had disappeared leaving her looking even cleaner than she had been that night all those months ago.

‘And prettier.’ Her mind supplied unhelpfully as she turned her head away to hide the blush forming.

“Did we,” She coughed and looked back up at Sasha, the blonde having both her eyes in this weird abyss. “Did we do it right?”

“Pretty sure.” Sasha said, taking a few tentative steps on the nothing around them to walk forward. “The weird Newt lady said it would take us past the minds of the rest of the Core to where Marcy is. And I don't see any weird Andri-ass clones running around.”

“I also don’t see Marcy.” Anne responded as she began turning all over, trying to see anything.

“You losing hope on me Boonchuy?'' Sasha asked with a small smirk.

Anne chuckled. “No… just wanting this all to be over with.”

“Yeah.” Sasha said, the smirk fading off her face. “Me too.”

“Should we, should we walk or something?” Anne gestured to the abyss around them. Vast blackness stretched forever and ever onward in every direction she looked. Not a single hint of anything.

“What else can we do?” Sasha asked as she walked towards Anne, her steps coming more and more confidently as she got used to walking on, well, nothing at all.

Anne walked with her. Both of them determined to save their friend… and dreading what they may find.

Anne’s hand came down to hold Sasha’s. Her fingers interlocking with the blonde’s as they walked forward. Sasha squeezed her hand in response.

Both walked forward in silence.

The silence lasted all of ten minutes before they tried filling the void with some semblance of conversation.

“-Still can’t believe that I did that. I mean, selling Sprig for some pizza dough? Wasn’t cool in retrospect.”

“Sounds funny to me.” Sasha responded with a chuckle. “Plus, pizza is bomb.”

“Would’ve at least been less stupid if we got an actual pizza out of it, but no. The stupid tomato ate all the ingrdients.” Anne complained, her voice echoing in the darkness.

“How’d you even get out of a tomato plant’s stomach?”

“Oh, we ate our way out.” Anne said casually.

Sasha began wheezing at that, her shoulders shaking from how much laughter was trying to come out all at once. “You ate- You ate your way out!?” Sasha squeezed Anne's hand tight as she laughed. It wasn’t even the act itself that was so hilarious to her, but the nonchalant way Anne said it that caused tears to form at her eyes and threaten to spill out.

“I can’t believe that-”

“Door ahead.”

Sasha’s head whipped up at Anne’s statement, all humor gone in an instant as she looked at what Anne was talking about.

It stood out all the more from how black and empty everything else was. It was a pair of double doors, just like St. James had. Dark teal metal, shining chrome handles and plating, and simple plexiglass for windows. The only oddity about the doors, other than it being a pair of doors in the middle of an abyss, where the heavy looking chains wrapped all around it.

They were thick and dark iron chains, seeming to glow with an inner orange light that wrapped around the doors dozens and dozens of times. A massive, complicated lock stood in the dead center of the nest of chains. A massive, glowing red demonic eye stared out from the lock.

Anne and Sasha tensed and readied themselves to start fighting off holograms or phantoms, or for some ethereal alarm to go off and cause this whole plan to fall apart around them, but nothing happened. The eye just stood still, unblinking.

“Does it not see us or something?” Anne asked tensely.

Sasha began walking side to side, her eyes never leaving the lock. The demonic eye followed her every movement, and whenever she stood still it would start looking between her and Anne.

“Why isn’t it… doing anything?” Anne asked as Sasha walked back over to her, the eye following her all the way.

“Maybe it’s as shittily designed as the rest of the Core.” Sasha said, staring down the unblinking red eye. Her mind ran a mile a minute, trying to understand. This was all the defense that Marcy’s prison had: An eye that did nothing but watch them and lock a door?

There was something else going on here and she wasn’t looking forward to it.

Anne starred, and her mind drifted back to the last words the Core spoke before they went into the mindscape.

‘You’re both more than welcome to try! It’s not like there’s anything you can do.’

“Maybe it doesn’t care.”

Sasha looked over at Anne, her brow furrowed. “What do you mean?”

“I mean,” Anne gestured to the locked door and the eye. “Maybe the Core doesn’t care what we do because it thinks nothing we do will matter. It said as much when we went in here.”

“Not like there's anything…” Sasha whispered before growling in anger and stomping over to the Core’s Eye. She snarled as she poked a finger right in the glowing red pupil. “Listen here you Instrumentality knock-off bitch! Me and Anne are going in there, we’re going to rescue Marcy, we’re going to get out of here, and then we’re going to kick your ass and then Andrias’s ass! Do you hear me!” She yelled at the ethereal lock.

Naturally, the eye remained silent. Because it was an eye.

Sasha turned towards Anne. “Do your glowy dragonball thing and let’s get in there.”

Anne walked forward till she was in front of the lock and beside Sasha. Her left hand raised till her palm was in front of the eye while her right hand grabbed Sasha’s.

Anne closed her eyes and her world went blue once more. She entered her Calamity form and opened her eyes, staring right into whatever the Core had instead of a soul.

“Open.” she spoke with a voice not her own

The red eye rolled back till the pupil disappeared, the lock growing smaller and smaller as it did till it disappeared with a rather anticlimactic pop. The chains began to unravel and burn away, disappearing to wherever the lock went to as it did.

The door stood chainless, ready to be opened.

“Whatever happens in there Sash.” Anne said, turning towards the Blonde warrior. Anne squeezed Sash’s hand, finding comfort from her presence. “Whatever we find, I’ve got your back Commander.”

Sasha wanted to try and diffuse the tension with a joke about the Commander part, or Anne’s glowy anime powers, or even how their hands were still entwined and it made her heart do all sorts of jumps.

Instead, she just smiled at the girl who was, alongside Marcy, her best friend. Her rock.

Her everything.

“I’ll always have yours, Anne.”

Together, ready for whatever horrors awaited them, the two girls opened the doors and stepped inside.

**********

Whatever they were expecting, it certainly wasn’t this.

“Anne?”

“Yeah Sash?”

“Why does the evil mind prison Marcy’s trapped in look like our middle school?”

Indeed, as the doors closed behind them, Anne and Sasha looked out at what was quite clearly the second hallway leading towards the gymnasium of St. James Middle School. The familiar green lockers stood flanking each side just like they remembered. Anne could pick out Vince’s from a mile away, various Rock N’ Roll carvings all over it. In Mrs. Jenkins science class, the familiar smells of her lab wafting from the open door were just like they remembered.

It was all the more disturbing from the familiarity. The green lockers felt like the jaws of vicious predators just waiting to open and devour them, the ceiling felt both miles away and also inches away, each tile seemed like a trap waiting to be sprung.

Anne felt like she was being watched from every side, maybe she was. Sasha was fidgeting in her armor, looking increasingly uncomfortable as she looked around the hallway that Marcy, Anne, and her had probably spent a year and a half traversing day in and day out.

“This is, this is creepy right?” Sasha whispered as her hand clung to Anne’s like a lifeline. “I’m not crazy? This is as creepy to you as it is to me?”

“Yeah.” Anne replied, taking a tentative step forward and waiting for… something. Anything at all. This was the very depth of the Core. The center of a collective of every king, great general, and worshiped scholar that Newtopia had ever produced. This was a prison made to hold their best friend, the third part of their trio.

“It shouldn’t look like this.” Sasha was growing more and more disturbed the longer she looked. “It shouldn’t look like this. Why does it look like this?”

Anne said nothing, closing her eyes and just listening.

When she just listened, she could pretend this wasn’t an exact replica of their school and she was back outside in the void. Oddly, that was easier to deal with than this. She didn't hear any voices, no sign of life at all. All she could hear was…

Was…

“You hear music?” Anne opened her eyes and looked back at Sasha. The warrior looked confused and creeped out but still looked at Anne, her expression confused. “Just close your eyes and listen.

Sasha did so. And she could hear it just as Anne could: The steady beat of a Bass, the rumbling of feet, the distant sound of unintelligible lyrics.

“What… what is that?” She asked.

Anne looked at her. “Only one way to find out.”

The two girls made their ways down the hallways, trying to ignore everything but the growing sounds of what was clearly a party. The closer the two girls got to the gymnasium, the more evidence piled up: Streamers and confetti everywhere, posters covered in hearts and flying cupids, various notes and letters hanging out of lockers with bright red hearts sealing them shut.

They turned the corner and stood before the entrance to the gym, the now obvious sounds of music and revelry coming from behind it.. A massive banner hung over the doors, the same doors that let them into this disturbing parody of St. James. Small marble pillars held up ten statues of giggling cupids holding their heart bows aloft stood in front of the lockers, forming a walkway towards the doors. Streamers of red and pink hung from the ceiling like icicles above them. The floor was covered in confetti and love notes that led up to the red painted doors to the gym.

Anne read the banner above the doors.

St. James's Valentines Formal! This year’s theme: A Magical Night In Newtopia.

“... I completely forgot about the Valentine’s formal.” Anne said nervously, rubbing the back of her head.

“Yeah, me too.” Sasha said, just staring in awe of everything. “Can’t believe we missed it. Probably would have been fun.”

“Yeah, probably.” Anne agreed, chuckling a bit. “Weren’t they going to do something like Midsummers Nights?”

“Why are you asking me?” Sasha asked as she looked from statue to statue, frowning slightly. “Marcy was the one who was obsessed with the formal.”

“Well, I mean. “ Anne looked away, embarrassed. “Didn’t you have someone you wanted to ask or whatever”

Sasha coughed, blushing slightly. “I had… two people I would've asked.” She said simply, looking at Anne out of the corner of her eye. “You?”

Anne definitely didn't look in Sasha’s direction now. “Oh, you know. One or two, same as you.”

The two girls fell into an awkward silence. 

“Would you have asked either of them?” Anne asked suddenly.

“Oh.” Sasha was off guard by… everything. The creepy replica of their middle school, the weird statues, all the valentines stuff everywhere, and the increasing awareness that Anne was probably going to take her hand away any minute because Sasha’s was growing increasingly sweaty with nerves.

“Probably not. What about you?” she blurted out, trying to get her heart rate under control.

“Uh, not really.” Anne said awkwardly. “You know, schedules wouldn’t match up, out of town, you know the drill.”

“Yeah, Like, they probably would have said no to me too.” Sasha said with a forced laugh that Anne soon shared. Both of the nervous blushing teens standing in the middle of a phantom hallway of their school laughing like crazy people.

Both of them avoided thinking about the real reason they wouldn’t ask out who they wanted to.

St. James wouldn’t let girls bring other girls as dates.

The laughter died as awkwardly as it began, the two still holding hands as they stood. They slowly turned their heads back towards the hallway and the gym doors, the music coming from behind them still as strong as ever.

“This place is… so weird.” Sasha said finally, just staring at it all again.

“What, the theme being Newtopian Nights didn’t tip you off.” Anne said sarcastically.

“I was growing suspicious by the void, to be honest.” Anne laughed at that, and Sasha’s heart did another leap that she sternly ignored.

The two girls walked forward, looking wary at everything as they did. Neither noticed the cupid statues slowly turning their heads to follow them, their eyes beginning to glow a hellish red.

As one they opened the doors and stepped into a nightmare.

Anne and Sasha put their hands on the double doors. They paused in front, both waiting for the other to go.

“Alright.” Sasha said firmly, looking Anne in the eye. “Let’s find Marcy and get the heck out of this creepshow.”

The music was something neither of them had ever heard before, an incredibly strange tune that sounded like an orchestra playing, but the music itself was something almost melodic and ancient, a tune that went into your head and didn't want to leave. It would sound pleasant if not for the subtle feeling of wrongness about it. They both took it in and looked around the gymnasium as the music washed over them.

The entire gym was bathed in red lighting that shone across the entire hall. Various couples danced and mingled throughout the gym, seeming to move slowly in a massive circle around the center of the floor. The familiar basketball hoops had been folded back, the netting used to hold up more decorations to fit the theme. The bleachers that stood against the west wall were completely packed, to neither girl’s surprise as they both remembered the last formal they’d gone to had been much the same.

Indeed, this dance looked much the same as any other formal they'd gone to. But even the blind couldn’t fail to see the absolute nightmare that was this horrid dance.

Around the other walls of the gym that didn’t have their bleachers out were colossal statues of Salamander kings sitting on thrones of Coral and Metal. Each king was different from the other but they all were clad in resplendent armor and robes, they all held massive weapons in their right hands that were carved in sigils of the core, and all of them had cold and cruel faces that stared across the entire gym like court judges. 

The packed Bleachers were not filled with boys and girls too afraid to dance with one another, but instead were filled with robed newts. Dozens, if not hundreds, sat slumped over with glazed expressions like puppets without strings. Brutal and scarred-looking toad generals walked the sides in place of teacher chaperones, each armed to the teeth with various magi-tech weaponry like Barrel’s Warhammer. In fact, Sasha was reasonably certain that a few of them were wielding the Warhammer themselves.

The dancing couples and students that surrounded them were only half formed, shadowy figures that almost looked like people, but their heads were nothing but writhing masses of shadow with glowing red eyes in the dead center of their faces. Facsimiles of mouths would open and garbled unintelligible chatter would come out, like a conversation happening across a room you could barely hear. They danced and twirled around like real couples would, but the outlines of their bodies would blur slightly every now and again just like their shadowy faces.

But even that paled to the true horror of the room, and what caused the two girls to take fearful steps back.

Where the ceiling of the gym would be was a spherical monstrosity of metal and wires. A truly massive machine looked down at all the gymnasium with ten demonic eyes that roamed over everyone beneath it. Massive mecha-tendrils, much like Marcy’s possessed body had uses in the real world, anchored it to the walls around it while glowing power lines hooked into the backs of each Salamander Kings head, their crowns serving as extra eyes as the diadems in the center of each crown was replaced with another eye just like Andrias’ crown was.

There was no mistaking what this thing was.

The Core, in all its mechanical horror.

The red eyes shone lights down on the dancefloor like spotlights, each light circling the room before finding a dancing couple and staying there. The couple would giggle and dance before slowly fading into a shapeless blob of shadow before splitting off once more into different people, different dancers. The light would then move off to find another victim. Only nine of the Core’s eyes did this horrid dance; the central one, the largest of them all, remained fixed in the dead center of the room while the lights circled it constantly.

The doors slammed shut behind them, and Anne and Sasha jumped. One of the eyes looked over to them, the demonic eye lighting them up to the dancers surrounding them. The shadowy figures circled them, dancing in waltzes and twirls as their red eyes remained transfixed on them.

“Sasha?”

Sasha swallowed and turned to Anne, the girl was shaking as she looked around at everything. Sasha didn’t care, since the only thing keeping her from shaking in pure fear was Anne’s hand in hers, keeping her grounded even in the face of everything.

Anne turned to her, and Sasha saw fear in her eyes, fear she knew was reflected just as much in hers. “Don’t let go of my hand.”

Sasha didn't speak, too afraid. She squeezed Anne’s hand in a death grip and together they walked into the dancing mass.

The Core’s  eye continued to shine down upon them, the baleful red light following them as they made their way closer and closer towards the center of the room. The shadow dancers parted for them like a black curtain, all curtsies and horrid gibberish. The Toad generals around the outside looked at them and, with cruel grins, started to make their way over only to go back to the edge when one of the Core’s red eyes quickly swiveled and locked its red light upon them.

The robed newts, seemingly dead, all rose up as one and looked to the Core. Scholars, sorcerers, and professors all looked to the mechanical monstrosity and joined their voices with the song playing all around them, a hundred voices chanting to the glory of the Core.

“Anne?”

Anne turned towards Sasha, the blonde staying put as she looked at the Thai girl. “If we…” Sasha began, her armor shaking as the hellish dance continued around them. “If we don’t, i mean… I want you to-”

“We’ll make it out of here.” Anne said, hoping she sounded braver than she felt as the red light remained on them. “I promise you, we’ll make it out.”

“Just- That’s not, I want you to know… I…” Sasha started and stopped a few times. She looked into Anne’s eyes and felt courage.

Felt Strength.

“You and Marcy.” She said simply, not taking her eyes off of Anne’s. “I, it would have been you and Marcy.”

“I know.” Anne replied, staring into Sasha’s eyes to avoid looking at anything else in the room. “You too, you know? I wanted to ask you both too.”

Sasha and Anne Gave each other shaky smiles and turned towards the mass of shadow dancers around the center of the room. Slowly, each of the nine circling eyes of the Core focused on the two of them, bathing the two girls in deep crimson light.

Neither Anne nor Sasha asked whether they were ready, for they were both afraid of the answer they’d get. Together, the two girls stepped through the shadow dancers like a veil and into…

Into something else.

The second they got through the dancers, they could tell that they’d entered a massive illusion. The horrific decorations of the gym had all disappeared, the shadow dancers disappeared, even the Core disappeared. And in its place was a perfectly normal valentines formal.

The ceiling was back, and where the central eye of the Core was hung a massive disco ball that showed myriad lights around the room. The Bleachers were no longer filled with lifeless newt scholars chanting in unison but the expected number of boys and girls too timid to dance with one another. The statues of the Salamander kings were gone and in their place were large coral formations that looked similar to newtopian architecture. Posters and paintings of various Amphibia locales covered the walls around them and instead of Toad Generals and Warmasters armed to the teeth patrolling the perimeters, Mr. Michaels the band instructor stood talking with a few parents and other teachers. Even the music had been replaced with generic pop numbers.

The shadow dancers were thankfully gone and in their place were classmates and students that both Anne and Sasha recognized, and a few they didn’t. Sasha didn't know who the older Hispanic girl dancing in the corner was nor why her purple haired date had pointy ears but Sasha stopped caring when she saw the figures dancing together in the dead center of the room.

It was Marcy.

She was clad in a beautiful emerald dress modeled after Lady Olivia’s, with a brilliant scarlet sash wrapped around her shoulders. Her dress seemed to fade from a sparkly wavy bottom half into a slim upper half that looked like it was handcrafted from an ancient artisan. Her hair was done up in a pretty looking bun and a small tiara hung in front of her hair.

She was gorgeous.

And also dancing with, well, another Sasha and Anne.

Anne recognized the dress the other her was wearing as the one she’d briefly worn during her and Polly's disastrous girl time. Except somehow the dress had been altered subtly to look like it was fit for nobility. Her hair was gelled and combed into a wavy updo and she had on beautiful blue earrings shaped like butterflies.

The other Sasha what looked to be a mix between a smart looking three-piece suit and a soldiers dress uniform. Blood red cavalry men's boots with a coal black set of pants. A red sash around her waist and her crimson chestplate and pauldrons from her current set of armor. This Sasha, rather than having the long hair that she’d grown in her time in amphibia, had her hair cut to above the ear.

The three girls danced with one another, laughing and giggling to each other as they did so. Marcy beamed at Fake Sasha and Fake Anne while the two girls looked at Marcy with such overwhelming love in their eyes that the two real girls felt nothing but jealous.

“Dang Sash, other you is hot.” Anne said, staring at the fake blonde as she took Marcy up into a waltz.

Well, almost nothing.

“Forget the fake us, though that dress looks amazing on you just saying, and look at Marcy.” Sasha breathed out, staring at the taiwanese girl with adoration. She truly looked beautiful.

“Yeah.” Anne agreed, staring at Marcy just as lovingly as Fake Anne was. “She’s really something.”

“Yeah, she sure is.” Sasha said, just staring at the three of them happy and in love and enjoying the sight deep in her heart.

Then she remembered that two of those three people were fake illusions made by the Core and she got properly angry.

“Soo…” Sasha began. “What now?”

“Now, we get Marcy and get out.” Anne said and started moving towards Marcy and the Fakes. Sasha hurried behind her.

**********

Marcy Wu was on top of the world!

She couldn’t believe the turn of events that led her to this wonderful moment.

She’d almost thought her life was falling apart, that everything was going to go wrong when Andrias started talking about Newtopia’s ‘Glorious Past’. She almost thought that everyone would start fighting. That Andrias would reveal some kind of villainous twist about being a tyrannical conqueror and try to fight her friends.

‘Hate to break it to you kiddo, you’ve been duped.’

But none of that happened!

He activated the box, lifting Newtopia Castle into the sky, and then just as he’d promised he made his offer to Sasha and Anne about traveling to other worlds. Having a never-ending adventure across the multiverse where Marcy never had to leave Sasha and Anne behind.

Never had to leave the two girls she was madly in love with, the two girls she’d do anything for, had run away from home for, had sent them all to Amphibia for.

They’d been ecstatic at the opportunity, and had willingly joined her on a multiversal adventure. They’d seen so many strange worlds: One of duck people, one built on a giant corpse in a boiling sea, one filled with magical humans called Mewmans.

And through it all, Anne and Sasha learned to love Marcy just as much as she loved them.

They’d gotten together and begun dating, and begun traveling across the worlds. And now here they were back on Earth.

Marcy had been sad they’d missed her middle school prom, where she planned on finally asking the two of them out, rules be darned, and her wonderful girlfriends had decided they'd make a brief stop on Earth to do the valentines formal. The school had even let Marcy organize the whole thing!

… there was something wrong with that.

‘I just… I didn't want to be alone.’

But every time she tried thinking of it her brain got all fuzzy and Anne and/or Sasha would want to kiss her and she’d forget all about it.

She just got done with a lovely waltz with Sasha when she heard her speak out. “We got company Anne.”

Company? Of course they did, it was a dance.

“Seriously?” Anne sounded incredulous, like she couldn’t believe what she was seeing. “They actually showed up?”

Well, now Marcy had to see what was going on. She turned around and felt her jaw drop because before her in the center of the room were Sasha and Anne.

Another Sasha and Anne.

Anne was wearing her normal school uniform and was missing a shoe, just like she had been in Amphibia, while Sasha was wearing brown scale mail with a single oversized pauldron and a ratty looking cloak.

“You guys… what?” Marcy looked back and forth between the two versions of her girlfriends, confusion and shock overwhelming her. Before she could say anything she was tackled by the two new versions, both of them clinging to her.

“We’re so glad you’re okay.” Other Anne said, hugging her like she expected Marcy to up and vanish into thin air if she didn’t.

“I can’t believe… I watched him…” Other Sasha tightened her hug. “It’s so good to see you again Mar-mar.”

“Could you let go of our girlfriend please?” Anne asked as she and Sasha grabbed Marcy and tried to pull her out of their hug. Sasha actually shoved the other Sasha away with a growl, one that was fully returned by the new version.

“How dare you- did you say your girlfriend!?” Other Anne asked incredulously as she let go of the thoroughly confused Marcy. Anne took the chance to pull Marcy towards her and Sasha and away from the other versions.

“Yep.” Anne said with a pop, her lips forming into a weirdly cruel smile. “Unlike some people, we actually appreciate Marcy.”

“I’m sorry, I really am.” Marcy said as she moved into the middle of the two groups, looking between the two of them quickly. “But could someone please tell me what the heck’s going on?”

“Simple.” Other Sasha said looking Marcy straight in the eye. “We’re here to rescue you.”

‘Let me go!’

‘I wish I could, but my Lord wants a host. They wanted the best, the smartest.’

“...Eh?” Marcy asked.

“I don’t know what kind of whacked up threats he’s got you under but we’re bringing you back to the real world and away from these crazies!” Other Anne said happily, grabbing Marcy’s hand and tugging it like she expected her to follow.

“I’m not sure how long the resistance can hold off Andrias, even with Earth’s help he’s crazy strong.” Other Sasha said, looking about the room like she was searching for threats behind every smile. “But the sooner we get you out of here the better.”

“I don’t… What are you guys talking about? Who even are you guys?” Marcy asked, letting go of Other Annes hand and stepping closer to her Anne and Sasha.

The two newcomers looked hurt and confused. Other Anne looked a little teary. “It’s… it’s us Marbles.” Other Anne said. “We came all this way for you.”

“But Anne and Sasha are right there.” She gestured to her Anne and Sasha, the two girls waving happily at the two others while grinning. “I don’t know who either of you two are.”

“Those two fakes? Mar-mar they aren’t real.” Other Sasha said, taking a step towards her only to reach for swords that weren’t there when the fake version took a step as well. “None of this is real!”

“Oh this is just sad.”

Her Sasha’s voice had taken on an almost derisive quality to it, like she was talking down to the other her. Marcy had heard it loads of times over the years and yet, somehow, this version didn’t feel… right.

“Look at you both, you throw her away and now come crawling back when you need her.” Her Sasha made a soft chuckle before looping an arm around Marcy’s waist. “That’s really pathetic of you.”

“Listen here you fake ass bit-”

“Marcy’s happy here, with us.” Her Anne looped an arm around her as well, looking at the other her who looked like she was both incredibly furious and fighting back tears.

The Other Anne didn’t respond, she just looked pleadingly at Marcy. “Please Marcy, you need to believe us! We’ve come to free you from whatever Andrias and the Core have you trapped in. We’re here to save you.”

Ten demonic eyes behind her.

‘No,nonono, no!’

Andrias turned away.

“What are you talking about.” Marcy was confused, her head hurt and it kept hurting just looking at these two. 

‘Well, i guess that’s what you get for pouring your heart out to me over Flipwart.’

“Andrias is my friend, he’s all of our friend. He’d never hurt us.” Marcy told them. Andrias had been a true father figure to her, helping her whenever Marcy had emotional problems. Helping her confess to her friends, helping her every step of the way.

He’d never betray any of them.

“When he offered to take us on a multiversal adventure, we just couldn’t say no.” Her Anne said happily, hugging Marcy from behind. “We went with our Marcy like real friends would.”

“We had so much fun seeing all the new worlds.” Her Sasha smirked at the other them. “We even fell hard for Marcy along the way.”

Her Sasha leaned in and planted a long kiss on her cheek, Marcy giggled and blushed at the sensation but quickly grew worried at the expressions on the other two.

Other Sasha looked mad beyond belief, glaring at Her Sasha with such hatred in her eyes that Marcy was terrified she’d attack her then and there. Her Sasha just smirked at the other her and stuck her tongue out at her.

Other Anne looked at Marcy and… and…

‘Marcy, hurry!’

‘I just need to-’

‘MARCY!’

…Marcy had seen that expression before, but she couldn’t remember where.

“I really think you two should get lost.” Her Anne said nastily from beside her, nuzzling her head against Marcy’s and glaring at the two others from the crook of her neck. “ You're obviously upsetting our girlfriend and we’ve beat up bigger baddies for less.”

Marcy wanted to just sink into the embrace, her girlfriends were so comforting and sweet that Marcy forgot all her problems whenever they were together. Her Sasha reached down to grab Marcy’s han-

“What do you mean, ‘none of this is real?’”

Both of her girlfriends looked at her shocked, something… odd in their eyes, but Marcy ignored it and stared at the two other versions of Anne and Sasha.

Anne smiled and her heart did a jump that she felt guilty for since it wasn't her Anne. “This isn’t, this isn’t real.” Other Anne began, taking a few nervous steps closer towards Marcy. “It’s all an, an illusion i think.”

“I think it’s a straight up nightmare.” Other Sasha said angrily, still glaring at Her Sasha.

“... Or That, yeah.” Other Anne agreed.

“And your evidence for this is what exactly?” Her Anne asked tersely, wrapping her arms around Marcy’s and glaring at Other Anne. “That we’re dating Marcy”

“Wow.” Her Sasha asked as Marcy drew back, hurt and wounded by the question and staring at the other girls with tears in her eyes. “You must really hate her.”

Other Sasha just stood there, shocked beyond words. She looked at Marcy, whose eyes looked close to tears, and then between Her Anne And Sasha. Her expression grew murderous, her eyes glaring hatefully at the two girls comforting her.

“Hate her?” She asked quietly, still staring wide eyed at the two girls- no, the two demons. “Hate Her? Hate Her!?” Her voice grew louder and louder till she was screaming over even the music. “I’VE BEEN IN LOVE WITH HER SINCE THE DAY WE MET!”

The music cut off with a scratch as all the dancers around them just began staring. But Other Sasha didn’t even notice or care, too busy screaming at the two demons hanging off the other love of her life.

“I saved you and Anne that day in the park because you were both cute! I begged my parent’s to let me change schools because I wanted to be with you two! I beat up every bully you had because I wanted to impress you! I skipped cheer practice to carry you home, on foot, whenever you were sick because I was so head over heels for you that I couldn’t say no and call your fucking parents to give you a ride home like a normal person!”

Sasha was now red in the face from rage and embarrassment, yet her entire body was still filled with such righteous indignation that she barreled on past any mortification with the sheer power of anger alone and her voice echoed off the walls.

“I’m so in love with you I turn stupid! I planned out our imaginary wedding together when I was ten! I would’ve taken you to prom and kissed you in the middle of the gym, I don't even care that i would've gotten in trouble. And you- you fake ass, bottle-blonde bitch, have the actual fucking gall to tell me i hate her! I’d tell you to go to hell if we WEREN’T STANDING IN THE MIDDLE OF IT ALREADY!”

Sasha had reached some crescendo and had clearly vaulted over the edge. She stood panting in the middle of the gym floor, the echoes of her screaming still ringing off the walls. Dead silence surrounded her and, clearly, without the drive of anger to guide her onward she started thinking about everything she just said.

Sasha burned with mortification and her face burned scarlet.

“Um.” Sasha whirled around at the sound of Anne’s voice and stared at the blushing Thai girl, who looked between her and Marcy with a face as red as hers. “I love you too Mar-mar. But, uh, I hope you don’t mind if I don’t do… any of that.” She gestured vaguely at Sasha.

Marcy was blushing madly, just staring at Othe-at Sasha embarrassed, yet so deeply pleased and happy she couldn’t contain the small giggles that burst forth.

The gym flickered around them, going from the Newtopian themed school dance to the red glowing nightmare from before. Marcy’s giggles broke off with a gasp as she looked around her.

“What was…” Her head burst with pain and she grabbed her forehead, groaning as it felt like an iron spike was being driven through it.

‘A collection of Amphibia’s greatest minds, preserved for all eternity.’

‘Now look what you’ve made me do.’

‘Why, hello there.’

“It’s the Core.” Anne’s voice broke through the pain, steadying her. “It’s some big… metal monster thing.”

“Or maybe it’s you two.” Her Anne’s voice responded, two arms reached around and hugged her. “Ever since you two showed up, Marcy’s been in nothing but pain!”

“... longer than that.”

Her Anne looked down at her, her expression confused.

“I’ve been… my head’s been hurting for awhile now. Before they showed up.” Marcy looked up at her and stared. “I hear voices, glimpses of things I remember happening but didn’t.”

“Marcy, it’s just these two coming to gatecrash from the outside.” Her Sasha said, but her voice sounded off, too off for Marcy to ignore like… like all the other times she’s been ignoring everything being off. “We just need to get rid of them and-”

‘If either of you two really love me, you’ll tell me what’s really happening.”

Her Anne and Sasha remained silent, staring down at her as the seconds passed by without a sound.

A colossal spike of pure agony laced through Marcy’s mind and she fell back with a scream and reality buckled and shattered around her.

The bleachers filled with chanting newts as massive and bulky toad generals slowly surrounded them. The dancing students bloed away into writhing shadows with glowing red eyes, and above them all, above even the statues of the former kings of Amphibia hung the thing from Marcy’s nightmares.

All her memories flooded back into her mind. Getting stabbed in the back by Andrias, the battle in the throne room, helping Anne and the Plantars escape, getting literally stabbed in the back by Andrias, the long months in the rejuvenation pod, trying to escape with Yunan and Olivia, getting caught…

And getting the Core loaded into her brain. Trapping her in a prison of her own mind.

“None of it was real.” Marcy was crying, just staring up at the Demonic metal sphere as it stared down at her like she was an ant. “Neither of you two were real, our love wasn’t real, none of it?”

Her Sasha and Anne… except they were never Sasha or Anne, and they were never hers.

“Get away from her.” Anne’s voice cut through her grief and Anne, the real Anne, stood next to her with her fists raised. “Get the hell away from her.”

“Told her we were standing in the middle of it.” The real Sasha snarked as she stood on the other side of her. Marcy’s face went red again from more than the light of the Core’s eyes as she remembered just what was said a few minutes ago by the both of them.

“We were as real as you wanted us to be.” The phantom Anne said simply, still smiling at her like they were still pretending. “It’s your mind after all, and since you’re never leaving we’re as real as you are.”

“We told you.” Anne growled at the two phantoms. “We’re taking her home with us.”

“But why?”

That soft, sad question left Marcy’s lips before she could force it back down. Anne and Sasha looked at her and Marcy broke into a fresh set of tears.

“I tricked you! I trapped you in Amphibia, I took you away from your homes, and I lied! I lied and i lied to your very faces! Why do you… why do you even want me back?” Marcy wailed as she looked at her two soulmates, unwilling to face them and see the obvious rage and hurt she knew would be there.

“... I’m not going to lie to you Marcy, learning that hurt. Learning it from Andrias hurt even more.”

Marcy winced and readied herself to be abandoned all over again, to be left behind by everyone.

“But…” Marcy’s head whipped up at that, staring at Anne as she got her words together. “Just because i’m angry doesn’t mean i’ll stop loving you, you know?”

“If Anne can forgive me, she can forgive you too!” Sasha said, her voice filled with determination as she glared down the two phantoms.

“Yeah, thanks for reminding me we need to talk about that Sash.”

Sasha cursed beneath her breath.

“I think this has gone on long enough.”

The voices rang out from every corner of the room, the very walls shaking from the power of them. They all spoke as one, one entity, one voice. The head’s of the Salamander Statues all turned to look at the three girls and spoke with voices like thunder.

“Simulation: Off.”

The horrid gym, the shadows with demonic eyes, and the colossal phantom of the Core all fell away into nothingness. Sasha and Anne tried to reach her but the grasping arms of the shadow dancers pulled them into the abyss with them as they fell away. The thrones of the old Salamander Kings crumbled into ashes that scattered and danced into the blackness until nothing but the empty void remained.

Marcy stood there alone with the two phantoms of her best friends, her soulmates, her everything. The two girls kept shifting from form to form: from their school uniforms, to armor, to the dresses they’d worn at the Valentine’s formal.

Only the glowing eyes of the Core, glowing eyes that replaced their own, remained the same.

“Why would you want to go back out there?” Shadow Anne asked, drifting over on legs that kept falling away into smoke if she looked too hard at them. She wrapped a hazy arm around Marcy and leaned her head on her shoulder. “We love you Mar-mar.”

“We’ll always love you too.” Shadow Sasha said, her form jumping from her Toad Rebellion armor to her dress uniform and back again. She smirked at the taiwanese girl, a thing far too wide and cruel to be on her Sashy’s face. “Them? They’ll grow to hate you.”

“You stole them away, after all.” Shadow Anne giggled, flitting around Marcy in a circle.

“Took them from reality for your own selfishness.”

“Ruined their lives.”

“Broke them.”

“Shut up.” Marcy begged the two phantoms, curling up and covering her ears. “Shut up, shut up, shut up.”

“It’s not like they could even love you after all.” Shadow Sasha said with a sneer. “Not with how much they hate you after everything, and why wouldn’t they? All you’ve done is bother and annoy them.”

Shadow Anne grinned, her haird falling apart till it looked like dark brown flames. “You know what awaits you out there?”

Visions passed before Marcy’s eyes. Anne and Sasha yelling at Marcy back on earth, not wanting her in their lives anymore.

Anne and Sasha finishing middle school without her.

Anne and Sasha falling in love without her.

Anne and Sasha dating without her.

Anne and Sasha marrying each other, without her.

Anne and Sasha, happy and in love for the rest of their days, adopting kids, traveling worlds, growing old together.

All without her.

“Please… please stop.” Marcy begged the two phantoms, tears falling heavy from her eyes. She curled up on the floor, trying to make the sight of her very worst fears leave her.

“They could never love you… but we can.”

Marcy forced herself to look up as the two phantoms wrapped their arms around her, wispy half formed head’s on each shoulder.

“We’ll put up with you as long as you want us to.” Sasha whispered.

“We’ll make you as happy as you want us to.” Anne said.

“We’ll keep you as loved as you wish us to.”

Marcy wanted so desperately to just give up, to just accept the lie for what it was and sink back into the nightmare. Nothing but pain and heartache awaited her out there, she wasn’t good enough for Sasha and Anne, why would they ever want to be with her?

Why would anyone?

“Why indeed?”

Marcy jerked her head up as familiar foot falls cut through the blackness. Both of the phantoms hanging off her arms looked up reverently as Darcy made her way forward. Her own body, as it was in the real world, possessed by the core.

The Antlered Axolotl helmet with its ten demonic red eyes that all looked down at her, crimson cape waving in a non-existent breeze behind it. Midnight black magi-tech armor with a single red eye in the center of the breastplate, right over where Andrias stabbed her with his sword.

Darcy smiled down at her.

“All of this was our mistake.” It spoke, looking down at her like a caring parent. “We wanted to make it real for you, so we made it based on your deepest desires.”

Darcy stroked it’s chin, looking her over like some puzzle it couldn’t finish. “We’ll give you more control over the simulation this time, let you make it as you go along. You’ll be happier that way, we think.”

The two phantoms nuzzled closer to her, giggling as they did so. They whispered sweet nothings into her ears all the while Darcy just looked down on them.

“Shall we try again, Wit?”

Marcy knelt there in the void, her heart and mind in shambles after everything. The two phantoms, the real Sasha and Anne, their confessions, the reveal of the true gym room, and now all of this.

It would really be that easy… wouldn’t it.

Ever so slowly, black shadowy hands began to reach out from the void and begin to pull Marcy down into it, back into the nightmare.

She could just give up… and be happy.

The two phantoms on either side of her wrapped their arms around her and began to fade together, forming an abyssal blanket that swallowed up more and more of the girl.

No more hurt… and no more worries.

Only her head remained as the roiling blackness swallowed her up. “Just give in, Wit.” Darcy spoke up, its voice reaching down to wrap around the girl’s mind.

The void reached her eyes and began to close in, and her eyes close-

‘I just don’t want to lose you, okay?’

‘Yeah, sure. I’ll carry you home!’

‘That’s a cool fact.’ Anne said with a blush. ‘What else you learn?

Sasha leaning her head on Marcy’s shoulders after a long time practicing.

Anne always wanting to partner up with her for everything.

Sasha scaring away any bully that tried to pick on her.

Anne and her holding hands as they walked home from school.

“You think we came all this way, went through all this grief, and we don’t love her?” Sasha’s voice echoed through the blackness. Darcy looked up and snarled. “Marcy, I'm in love with you you big idiot!”

“I don’t care what they said, or what they got you convinced of.” Anne’s voice reached down and entered all the way into Marcy’s heart. “We both love you, and we always will.”

Marcy’s eyes snapped open, and her arms yanked through the blackness to start pulling void stuff off of her. Black arms, as empty as the rest of the abyss around her, reached up to start pulling her down again, far more aggressively this time as they all but clawed her.

“Don’t you dare hurt her!”

Two sets of arms began pulling away the void arms and helping her out of the abyss. Anne and Sasha, the real Anne and Sasha, struggling like crazy to get her out of the nothingness she’d sunk into.

Marcy yanked her foot free and launched herself at the two girls, sobbing in relief as she hugged them like her life depended on it. Tears fell down all three of their faces as the three girls embraced, truly embraced, for the first time in months.

“Do you…” Marcy asked through hiccups, needing the answer and terrified of it all the same. “Did you really mean…?”

Sasha just grinned at her, eyes red with tears. “Every damn word, Marcy.”

“We’ll always love you.” Anne said, staring her in the eyes. “We always have-”

“-And we always will.” Sasha finished.

Marcy finally broke, hugging the two girls again as they just stood there, hearts open to each other and feelings finally spoken.

“Well, that was incredibly tedious.”

Anne turned over with a snarl to begin yelling at Darcy, at the Core, and tell it exactly what the three of them were going to do to it for hurting Marcy, when her voice halted with a yelp.

Sasha and Marcy turned to stare at Darcy as well and saw exactly what made Anne fall silent.

Darcy had fallen completely apart, shadows and hellish eyes sprouting from every crack that spread across its body as it fell into itself and reformed into something truly massive. Bright blue skin, familiar blue skin, began to sprout over its body as it grew taller and taller, taller than any human ever could or would.

The three girls began to fear that it was King Andrias, that he’d somehow made his way into the Core, but the figure grew even taller than his gargantuan size. A truly epic Salamander stood tall and proud where Darcy had been, his face grizzled with age and his yellow amphibious eyes as cold and cruel as can be. Regal robes that reached down to the floor spread out around his body while a truly epic weapon, a pole-axe as big as he was, rose up from the inky void. The Salamander grasped the weapon in his right hand.

The demonic eye of the core rose out from the middle of his coral crown, staring down at them passively while the Salamander sneered at them.

“So you’re the earth whelps my idiot son failed to kill again and again.”

The void began to bubble all around the three girls as More coral crowns started rising up out of the blackness, each resting on the head of a gargantuan Salamander king. Each king sneered or chortled at them, weapons of impossible size held aloft in their hand as each crown revealed a Core eye just like the first one had.

Just like Andrias’s had.

Glowing red power lines began to snake out of the back of their heads, reaching up into the sky where a Horrible red light suddenly pierced through the night. The Mechanical body of the true Core revealed itself as its ten eyes looked down at the girls.

“We tried this the easy way, the way of cowards and weaklings.” A truly brutal looking Salamander, his body clad in full Magi-tech armor that was as scared as his face was, growled down at them. “We made your prison comfortable and peaceful.”

“We let Andrias handle killing Heart and Strength.” The first King that rose up sneered.

“Obviously that was all a mistake.” Another armor-clad Salamander said, this one wearing multiple sashes each covered from top to bottom in medals and trophies.

“Now comes the last offer you’ll ever get, wit.” A Salamander clad in regal vestments covered in jewelry and shining adornments said.

“Submit or die.” The kings all said as one, their eyes never leaving the three.

Anne looked at both Marcy and Sasha, Marcy looking worriedly at both of them while Sasha tried to glare down the massive Salamander kings around them. The crimson light of the Core’s eyes bathed them completely, setting all of them on edge.

“How about neither of those?” Anne didn’t know how the words came out over her nerves, yet pure steel rang through her. She looked at the massive kings, at the Core above them, and at the Night all around them.

Anne grinned.

“We visited Mother Olm, you know? Went all the way to Proteus to do it.”

“They’re still alive?” The Robed King asked, shocked. “I thought they would have all perished over the ages without our glory to guide them.”

“I knew we should have killed them in the first conquest.” The scared Salamander huffed, crossing his bare arms. “The minute they challenged our right to rule the empire, we should have butchered them all.”

Anne ignored the byplay, she really wanted to get this right. “She told me that we’re cut off from the power of the box.”

“The power is ours, after all.” The bejeweled king said with a wave of his hand. “To do with as we please.”

“But she also told us something else.”

Sasha, seeing where this was going, grinned viciously and grabbed both Anne and Marcy’s hands.

“She said, that if at least one of us had our powers still…” Anne looked away from the old kings, away from the night, and straight into the central eye of the Core.

“... We could unlock it for the others.”

The kings realized where Anne was going and moved like lightning, arms and weapons raised to strike them down into nothing and wipe them from existence.

Anne began to glow a brilliant blue. And soon after, the other two girls began to glow as well.

**********

The battle was going extremely poorly.

Without the guidance of the Core, or Darcy as it asked to be called since it possessed Marcy’s body, Andrias’s armies began to lose ground all over. Andrias didn’t know why the Core had stopped responding in the middle of the conquest.

But he had a hunch, and he was going to fix it right away if he was right.

Andrias burst through the doors to his throne room, the salamander king taking in the destruction all around. His throne was a bust, shame that it was an antique, and he’d need to do some serious remodeling after earth was exterminated. Even more than he had to after the first lift off of Newtopian Castle and Anne’s first use of her Calamity form.

But none of that mattered to Andrias the moment he saw his lord and master.

It sat motionless on the floor, tied up with glowing rope and broken mecha-tendrils. Its black armor was scared and dented, and the cape had long since burnt away into ashes. The only sign of life was the slow rise and fall of its chest. A pair of shattered heron swords lay scattered across from a burning pile of brass that was once a Newtopian breastplate.

Andrias breathed a sigh of relief, Darcy was fine. And far more importantly, Anne and Sasha seemed to have been removed from the face of existence.

And he didn’t even have to do anything!

Andrias walked over to Darcy, his master’s demonic eyes fluttering open with mechanical clicks and whirs.

“Ah, my lord. Welcome back.” Andrias bowed. “With Anne and Sasha apparently gone, we can-”

Darcy started screaming. A horrible, mechanical wail of pain and agony that caused whatever glass that remained unbroken to shatter upon impact of the sound. Andrias fell to his knees, blood seeping from his ears at the noise.

Darcy began clawing at its helmet, the scream increasing more and more to an impossible decibel. It sounded like a thousand voices all wailing in unison.

All around the globe, both on earth and on amphibia, robot’s began to buckle to the ground and wail as one. Their heads began to spark and crack apart as they began firing whatever weaponry they had nearest at themselves to make the noise go away. The floating fleet, the collection of airships and flying fortresses that Andrias brought over to help with the conquest, began to implode and crash all around.

Darcy screamed to high heaven, and slowly its ten eyes began to glow a brilliant emerald.

Andrias looked at the emerald glow filling each eye in complete shock, his mind not even comprehending what he was looking at.

Slowly, the glow spread out from its eyes and began to swallow up Darcy’s entire form, the scream dying out until all of its body was wrapped in an ethereal shine of sparkling green energy and it fell completely silent.

Andrias’s jaw fell. It couldn’t be, it couldn’t fucking be!

The axolotl helmet burst apart into pieces of scrap, some of the shards scraping andrias as they went by. Free now, it- no, her burning emerald hair began to wave and float about from the energy alone. Her left side suddenly began to take on a blue glow, while her right began to take on a pink one.

Andrias forced himself to stand up, his shock replaced with anger and fear as he watched everything he’d worked for for the last one thousand years fall completely apart.

A shining blue figure began to move out from Dar-no, Marcy’s side, coming to a halt when only their hands remained connected while a burning pink one moved away from the left. Branches began to grow out of each of their heads, rising up into three distinct forms that Andrias truly believed he would never really see again.

Two branches spread from the glowing pink figure’s head like antlers while bark began to cover her chest and limbs like armor. The blue figure’s branches spread out like the spikes of a crown while leaves began to fall away from her flowing hair like cinders. The green figure was wrapped in vines blooming with flowers while her branches wrapped around her head like a tiara.

The glowing energy fled back into their eyes and there, floating in the ruined throne room and giving off light like a bonfire, were the Bearers of the Calamity. The wielders of Heart, Strength, and Wit. The champions of the prophecy.

Anne, Marcy, and Sasha.

Their eyes glowed just as brightly as their hair, their skin giving off a shine like precious gemstones. They all smiled at one another, their hands all held together.

And then, as one, turned to Andrias.

“Your ass is grass, bitch.” Sasha said simply, still smiling at him. The other two girls giggled and raised their fists.

As Andrias watched three superpowered fists race towards his face, he had time enough for one last thought.

‘I should have just run off and eloped with Barrel and Leif when I had the chance.’

[peterpparkerwrites]

accident - part two

warnings: language pairing: peter parker x reader word count: 7.9k

masterlist ~ requests are closed

~

Gobby decided to take a break for once, which meant you had time in the morning to stop by yours and MJ's favorite cafe.

Ned and MJ had a different English teacher than you and Peter, and sadly for you they got the fun one - instead of having to sit through school for most of the day, their teacher was taking their class to go see some movie adaptation of a book they were reading.

In a way, you were kind of glad if would be just you at Peter for at least the first half of school - you knew you had some explaining to do, even though he said he wouldn't ask any questions.

He looked a little nervous as you walked up the front steps of the school, trying to balance carrying two cups and your books under your arm that wouldn't fit in your bag. You tried to ignore the way he was looking at you when you approached him.

Finding out your perfectly normal-seeming friend had superpowers was probably a bit much. Maybe he was wondering if you'd grow an extra arm next.

"Hey," you greeted him anyway, holding out one of the cups.

"Hi?" He stared at your hand blankly.

"I brought you coffee," you smiled a little, though even Peter could tell it was forced. He gave you yet another funny look.

"You...don't need to bribe me. I already told you I wouldn't tell anyone."

"I know, and this isn't a bribe. More of an apology? I didn't mean to spring something that big on you. And I'm sure teleporting for the first time with no warning wasn't fun, either."

"It wasn't that bad, actually," he shrugged, taking the coffee from you with a small smile. "But thanks."

Now you were the one giving him a funny look this time. Even Spider-Man was basically laying on the floor for ten minutes trying to recover when you first did it with him. There was no way this boy didn't get even slightly dizzy.

"You got some weird powers I should know about, Peter?" You teased, missing the way he stiffened up. "I teleported a guy away from a robbery last week who literally threw up from how bad it was. You didn't even get a headache? I'm almost disappointed."

"Did you want me to throw up on you?" He asked incredulously, and you laughed, shaking your head.

"No, thanks for not doing that, guess I'm just surprised," you took a sip of your coffee, giving him a look again. It was a little strange how easily he was taking all this, and you felt like you needed to say something about it. "This isn't...going to make things weird between us, right? I'm not trying to talk so casually about it and dismiss your feelings if it's a lot. If you want space or something I can-"

"No!" He said quickly, almost startling you, "No, I mean...of course not. You're still Y/N, just with powers. No offense, but I interned for Tony Stark, I've seen weirder things."

You didn't think about that. But, shit - maybe you should have - Spider-Man was constantly around Stark Tower. That didn't matter, though - you trusted Peter not to say anything to him if they ever crossed paths.

"Well, now I feel like I gotta one-up the weirdos you've been seeing. Wanna teleport into class?"

"No, are you crazy!"

"That was very obviously a joke," you snickered at his horrified expression, "But we should at least walk to class so we aren't late for once."

"Uh, right. I knew that."

By lunch, Ned and MJ still hadn't returned. You and Peter assumed they probably got to just go home (lucky little shits), and sat at your bench near the edge of the school grounds. Peter was a great listener, and you finally had someone to talk to about the other side of your life - aside from Spider-Man. But it wasn't like you could talk to Spider-Man about this side of your life, and having someone that knew both was such a relief that you didn't realize maybe you were talking too much and annoying your friend.

He was staring at you with an indecipherable expression on his face as you were in the middle of some rant about an old villain you beat with Spider-Man, and you immediately dropped your grin and looked at the ground.

"I'm sorry, it's just - it's so relieving to have someone that knows, I felt like I've been bottling it up and it's been so stressful," you sighed, "I can chill out, I'm sorry."

"You don't have to apologize," his expression was soft when you looked back up at him, "Sorry, I was just getting lost in the story. I...I can see how hard it must be to keep this a secret. You can always tell me anything, Y/N. I promise it's safe with me."

You couldn't bring yourself to meet his eyes, the way he was looking at you making you feel off. Peter had always been cute, you weren't blind, and you definitely used to have a crush on him that you never spoke of - but still, he never looked at you like that before, or said such sweet things like he had been since he found out you were Bypass.

"Thank you," you forced yourself to say, standing up quickly to change the subject. "Five bucks says Ned and MJ don't come back until fifth period."

"Ten bucks they don't come back at all."

"Deal."

-

A couple days later, Green Goblin made another appearance, much to your annoyance. You used to joke about anything being better than sitting through science class - somehow you didn't think that your science class would be getting threatened by a goblin man that threw green bombs.

Your teachers were trying to evacuate everyone calmly, but it was sort of a mess as several kids seemed to be debating between running away screaming or filming the whole ordeal. The Goblin had blown up some area on the south side of the school, coincidentally the same one where you and Peter were over a week ago when this exact thing happened.

He chose to attack again when the school was finished blocking off and just starting to repair the area, which still didn't make sense to you.

Among the chaos, you were able to slip away to your alley. Spider-Man was likely on the way already, and you were a little annoyed you left your suit at home - still, it would only take you maybe two seconds to jump there and jump back to the alley.

You were right about to teleport straight to your room, when a red and black figure dropped right in front of you. You both stared at each other for a minute, his masked eyes wide as your real ones were.

"Uh, hello," you said awkwardly, so glad he showed up when he did. Otherwise he would've been just in time to see some "random girl" teleport. You felt so weirdly exposed in front of him, not even sure how to act without giving away that you were Bypass. Would he just know the second you spoke more than one word?

"Hi," Spider-Man said in a similar tone, his masked eyes narrowing, "Whatcha doin' back here?"

"Um...hiding? There's kind of a supervillain running around blowing things up, so."

"Right, I noticed. In an alleyway, though?"

You had taken several measures to make sure this was an alleyway that pretty much no one ever went into. The last thing you expected was for Spider-Man to ever come here.

"I mean...yeah? I didn't have many options since the Green Goblin sort of blew up the other side of my school."

"Your school, huh?" His eyes narrowed again before he shrugged, "I guess this is a good hiding spot. I chose it to do some surveillance here since it seemed like a good place. Guess great minds think alike!"

"Okay..."

What in the hell was he talking about? Surveillance? Since when did he do that?

"Well, anyway," he held his wrist out and tapped it, and you watched blankly as a blue hologram showing a map of the streets near you popped up. You really needed him to leave so you could suit up.

"Uh," your eyes darted to the end of the alleyway, "Should-should you really be doing this here? Should I be seeing this?"

He stared at you, "What, are you secretly a super villain?"

"Well, how would you know?" You said, frowning. He was being dumber than usual.

"You'd be a shitty one for exposing yourself like that, so I have a feeling you aren't," he chuckled, and you frowned even more. "Let's see. We're on 62nd right now, Gobby was last seen on 108th, he can't have gotten too far..."

"Uh, Spider-Man?" You hoped your tone wasn't sounding as annoyed as you felt. "Shouldn't you be meeting up with Bypass somewhere? Maybe she's looking for you."

"That's true, I do wonder where my partner is," he put his hands on his hips and stared at the sky, and you resisted the urge to scream at your horrible luck. "She's not usually late to the party. Teleporting makes that easier, I suppose."

Maybe if you left me alone I could go change into my suit, you thought angrily, crossing your arms. "Strange."

"I better go after our green friend, uh thanks for the company...?"

"Y/N," you said awkwardly, a little startled when he grabbed your hand and shook it.

"Y/N," he repeated quietly, holding your hand a second longer than necessary.

Hearing him say your real name made you feel kind of fuzzy inside, and you hoped it didn't show on your face.

"Nice to meet you, Y/N, you better find somewhere safer to hide than some random alleyway!" One of his masked eyes winked as he lifted a hand to the sky and swung away.

You were cursing under your breath the entire time it took you to suit up and teleport to the rooftop you saw Spider-Man swing up toward.

"Hey, took you long enough!" Spider-Man's cheery voice made you want to smack him with something.

"Trust me, I tried to get here faster," you said through gritted teeth, kneeling down next to where your partner was crouched behind the ledge, watching the damage below.

"What's got you in a bad mood?" Spider-Man asked teasingly, and you really wished he knew your identity just so you could get mad at him for being held up.

"Nothing, just some idiot wouldn't leave me alone so I couldn't teleport here." Not like he would know he was the idiot.

He let out a loud laugh, holding his stomach while you gave him a weird look. "Well, you made it just in time, sweetheart. Gobby is having a field day with this high school."

Right on cue, that cackling laugh that made you cringe was heard from not too far away. You both crouched down even more as he passed somewhat close, and you made a face at the unflattering up-close view of your newest enemy.

"What is his deal?" You mumbled, curious now more than ever as to why he was targeting your high school. A sudden, horrifying thought came to mind that maybe he had found out your identity and was looking for you there outside of the suit - but that had to be impossible. You were certain no one but Peter knew who you were.

"I have a risky idea, since he doesn't know we're here yet," Spider-Man hesitated, his mask turning toward you. "I had a tracker, I just can't get close enough to him to stick it on his suit or even his hoverboard. But...like I said it would be really risky..."

"Spit it out," you said impatiently, waving your hand.

"Well, you can teleport."

"No shit, Sherlock."

"Okay, let me finish! You can teleport onto his board with him, stick my handy dandy tracker on while pretending to just try to land a punch or something, and then teleport back."

You frowned at him, "Well, you were definitely right about it being risky."

"At this point, I would do it if I could, but I've tried. And he's hurting more and more people every day, and it's really bothering me that he's targeting this high school so much...I don't know. Do you think it could work?"

You hesitated, watching as the Goblin did another pass over the school, yelling something you couldn't hear from this far away. "I don't think we have a choice anymore. We need to stop him. I can try to teleport to him but it would have to be really precise or I'll just appear in midair and have to teleport again so I don't fall to my death. It would be a lot of teleporting, I'll tire out quickly."

"Oh, you know I'd always catch you if you fell for me, sweetheart," One of his masked eyes winked and you rolled your eyes, even if that line did kind of work on you - you were a sucker for stupid lines like that, even if they were pathetic.

Anyway.

"Okay, well you can't do that if Gobby is high up around no buildings for you to swing by, or if he's distracting you with his fun little bombs. So like I said, the timing has to be perfect. If you can distract him enough to slow him down while he's focusing on throwing bombs or something, that would help a lot."

He pressed his tracker into your gloved hands. "Okay. Give me a few minutes, stay up here, I'll try to make him come closer to make it easier for you."

"Thanks," you held your fist out and he bumped it, nodding at you. "Good luck."

"You too."

If there was anything Spider-Man was good at, it was annoying supervillains. Goblin was shouting angrily as he flew over the building you were on, hiding just out of sight. Spider-Man swung over too, shouting out something about how he should've chosen a different shade of green that morning.

You watched the way Goblin was flying, trying to pinpoint where he would go direction-wise. He was gritting his teeth and getting ready to lob another bomb at your partner, and you knew that your moment. You took a breath and shut your eyes, concentrating.

It was perfect timing.

Your feet landed on the back of his board and you instinctively grabbed Gobby's shoulders so you wouldn't fall, making him yell in surprise and try to throw you off immediately.

"What the hell are you-" He sounded even worse up close, and you tried not to look down. Heights were really not your thing.

"Man, you really do need a better dermatologist!"

"What?"

You pushed down on his right shoulder with one hand, dropping Spider-Man's tracker with the other onto his hoverboard when his head was turned toward the right to look at you. It was hard not to grin as the little spider locked into place. Bingo.

"Get off, girl," Goblin growled and reached a hand back to grab you, but you let go of him and teleported again.

Unfortunately, it seemed to be one too many. As soon as you appeared on the rooftop across the street, your knees felt weak and you struggled to stand upright. That distracted you from the second green bomb he threw at you - and this time you didn't move fast enough.

It hit the ground two feet in front of you and sent you flying against the brick wall behind you. The impact stunned you too much to think to teleport before you could hit the bricks, so you felt the pain shoot up your arm and chest at the awkward angle you hit it at before you crumpled to the ground with a groan.

The asshole let out another cackle before the sound of his hoverboard was further away, and the lighter sound of feet landing a few yards away from you was much more comforting.

"Hey, you-are you okay?" Spider-Man's voice sounded shaky as he helped you to your feet.

"That hurt," you wheezed, ignoring the pain dancing along your abdomen and wrist. "But I think I'm good."

"I shouldn't have had you do that, I'm an idiot," he muttered to himself as he held you up, "Let's get out of here, don't even think about teleporting right now."

"I don't think I could yet even if I tried," you winced as he held you tighter, shooting a web across the street. "Be careful."

"Of course," he said softly, adjusting his arm so it wasn't squeezing against your hurt one.

The second he landed you both somewhere far away from the school and police, you let out a pained wince and nearly dropped to the ground. Spider-Man caught you and gently sat you down to lean against him on the ground.

"Shit, what-what's wrong, what can I do?"

"It's just my arm, I'm a baby when it comes to these things," you tried to say nonchalantly. Your chest was definitely aching and you knew your arm would need to be wrapped, but the last thing you needed to do was stress him out more.

"I can swing you to a hospital-"

"Spidey, I appreciate the offer, but I can literally just teleport home."

"Oh, yeah," he said awkwardly. "Wait, home? No, you should really get checked out-"

"Secret identity to protect, remember?" You chuckled, pretending it didn't hurt when you did. "Besides, you never go to hospitals when you're hurt."

"Fast healing."

"Whatever. You got stabbed one time and went home, I think I can get a little bruised and go home."

"You had a bomb thrown at you."

"Hey, the bomb itself didn't hit me, we both know that."

He was silent as his gloved hand moved up your wrist, and you tried your best not to make a noise when he gently held it. "You're telling me this isn't hurting that bad?"

"Nope," you squeaked out. If you could see his face, you were certain he'd be glaring at you.

He then moved his hand to your stomach, and you ignored the mix of slight pain but also butterflies you felt as he did that. "Not here either?"

"No," you whispered, glancing up to see how close he was to you. His masked eyes were narrowed but you didn't break the stare even as that weird feeling starting building up in your chest again.

"Fine," he said reluctantly, moving his hand back. You almost missed it. "Go home and rest, I'm serious. I better not see you at patrol tonight if you aren't 100% okay."

"I'll take an Advil or something."

"Bypass."

"Okay, fine. I won't come if I'm really hurt. I promise."

He still seemed hesitant to just let you leave, but you didn't give him much of a choice as you teleported away. One perk to that super power - just randomly leaving conversations you didn't want to be in.

A few hours later, and you realized he was probably right. While your chest felt better, your wrist was still aching. You had plenty of bandages but you were having a really hard time wrapping it with one hand, and it made you more frustrated the longer you took.

It wasn't like you had Spider-Man's phone number to ask him to help you. Your parents would flip if you asked them for help. No one else knew your secret...wait.

You pulled your phone out and pulled up Peter's contact, taking longer than necessary to type a text out to him since you could only use one hand without being in a lot of pain.

hey can i come over? it's kinda important

You frowned at your phone after you sent it, not even sure if this was the best course of action. Maybe you should've been honest with Spider-Man before, but he was always so overbearing when you got hurt, and you didn't want him to start thinking you were weak.

Before you could change your mind, Peter replied.

of course! :)

You smiled slightly, grabbing your bandages and focusing on his room before teleporting there.

"God, shit," Peter jumped out of his chair when you appeared, and you tried not to laugh at his expression. "I-I was not expecting you to do that."

"You said I could come over?"

"You couldn't use the door?" He said incredulously, and then his eyes darted down to where you were cradling your wrist. Of course he noticed that immediately.

"I didn't want May to panic," you explained, sitting on the edge of his bed, "I can't wrap this stupid thing by myself, but if I leave it like this, I'm probably going to just hurt myself more."

"I thought..." he trailed off as you gave him a confused look. He shook his head and took the wrap from you gently. "I mean, of course I can help. Did this happen during the Goblin attack today?"

"Maybe."

You watched him silently for a moment as he started wrapping your hand first, like he had done this many times before. The way he'd been acting around you since he found out you were Bypass had been making you feel funny, like how you used to back when you were certain you had feelings for him.

Everything got weird when you met Spider-Man. Those lingering feelings you had for Peter were definitely still there, but they felt muted when you were with Spider-Man. Once he was dating Liz and then MJ you kind of let it go, and realized you liked Spider-Man as more than a friend, which just sent you through another painful crush considering he didn't want to reveal his identity or find out yours.

Seeing Peter caring for you like this since he found out your secret made it way more complicated.

"You didn't want to ask Spider-Man for help with this?" He interrupted your thoughts hesitantly as he continued wrapping your wrist, and you tried to avoid making any pained noise.

"No, he always gets stressed out when I get hurt, cause he heals faster," you paused, "Pretend I didn't say that. He probably wouldn't be happy with me talking about his powers to other people."

"He probably wouldn't mind one little detail slipping by accident," Peter cracked a smile, "And I'm sure he gets stressed out for good reason. I don't like seeing you hurt...either."

"He doesn't like it even more. It would be cute if it wasn't also kind of annoying," you snickered, trying not to wince as Peter laughed with you and shifted against the hand he was wrapping.

"Aw, you think he's cute?" Peter teased lightly, chucking as he wrapped another strand.

He glanced up when you didn't answer, giving you an unreadable look. "I...I was just joking."

"I know you were," you frowned, staring pointedly at the wall. It was obvious he was still looking at you, waiting for you to say something else, but you weren't really sure what to say. The longer the silence, though, the more obvious it was that his comment bothered you.

"Do you..." Peter trailed off, but you got the gist of the question that he didn't want to finish.

"Hey, you told me you weren't going to ask me any questions about this whole hero thing," you said a little jokingly, knowing full well that he didn't mean this when he said that.

"Sorry, I shouldn't have said anything. That's between you two."

It was. But...it was kind of nice to have a somewhat uninvolved third party that might be able to give advice or even just moral support. Peter was your friend, and he was helping you and keeping a secret for you when he didn't have to - what was one more secret?

"He doesn't want us to know each other outside the masks, it...it would never work. I wouldn't mind but I know he would," you hesitated, "Just because I might want more doesn't mean...I don't even know how he really feels about me in general, much less in...that way."

Peter was silent, focusing pretty hard on wrapping your hand. You were pretty sure half of what you said was too vague or confusing to make sense to him, but the gist of it was there. Never had you admitted out loud how you felt about Spider-Man, but it was almost relieving to do so.

Although it was kind of weird to talk about it with a boy you also had confusing feelings for.

Whatever.

"Pretty sure he'd be disappointed by who's underneath the mask, anyway," you tried to joke, but you couldn't help but wonder if there was any truth to that statement.

"I'm-I'm sure that's not true," Peter said quietly, and you finally made yourself meet his eyes when he looked up at you. "I bet he thinks the world of you, actually."

"You really are the nicest person I know," you smiled at him, ignoring when his face turned pink and he focused on finishing your bandages. "And the best person that could've found out my secret. Seriously...thank you, Peter."

"You never have to thank me for this," he said softly, not quite meeting your eyes as he set the remainder of your bandages next to you. "I'm glad I found out you're Bypass. I can't imagine anyone else being her."

You felt those stupid butterflies in your chest as you stared at him, even more confused than before. As if you didn't just spit out your feelings for Spider-Man.

"So, you gonna tell him?" Peter asked suddenly, pulling you out of your thoughts.

"Tell who what?" You asked, sounding distracted.

"Spider-Man...how you feel about him."

You made a face, "I don't think that would be a very good idea."

"What, you don't think he would feel the same?" Peter's tone turned serious, and you shrugged.

"Sometimes I think he does," you bit your lip, "Like...I'll catch him staring. Or when he gets really scared when I'm hurt, it feels like maybe he does. He calls me sweetheart all the time but I can't ever tell if it's a joke, because sometimes he'll say it differently and...I don't know. I don't think I can even entertain the idea, I'm probably just imagining something that isn't there."

"I don't think you're imagining it at all," Peter spoke so confidently that you looked up at him in doubt, "Seriously. He'd be stupid not to feel the same."

"How...are you so sure?" You asked quietly, watching him as his face turned red.

Huh.

The sound of his phone ringing made you jump, and you didn't even realize how close you both were until he was scrambling to get up and answer it.

"Uh, hey-hey May," he said quickly, giving you a look that was somehow between apologetic and frantic. You bit your lip to keep from laughing, opening your phone to check the time, not realizing how late it had gotten.

"Yeah, I'm home. Oh, you're getting Thai? Okay..."

That was your cue to leave. You grabbed your remaining bandages and stood up, almost surprised by the disappointed look on Peter's face as he hung up with May.

"Headed out so soon? May's getting food if you wanted to stay," he sounded a little hopeful, again making that stupid feeling come back.

You needed to get yourself together.

"Nah, my parents are probably expecting me, but thank you," you grinned, "I gotta patrol pretty soon anyway, so."

"If you're still hurt, you probably shouldn't go," he said seriously, and you shrugged.

"I'll be fine. Night patrols have been pretty dead lately."

"If you say so," he didn't seem very convinced, but it wasn't like he could stop you. You stepped forward and hugged him tightly with one arm, and his arms came up around you immediately.

"Thank you again, Peter. Have a good night."

"See you later, sweetheart," he smiled when you pulled back, and you just barely caught his expression turning horrified as you teleported too quickly to even stop yourself.

You arrived in your room and stared blankly at the floor, what he just said finally catching up to you and your thoughts began to run a mile a minute.

Sweetheart. He called you sweetheart.

You stared at the picture of you and Peter hanging on your wall of photos, not even wanting to entertain the stupid thoughts suddenly going through your head. It was a nickname, it was just a stupid nickname and yes only one person had ever called you that before, but that didn't mean it was exclusive to them. Even if it was said so casually, like he'd been calling you that...for a while.

Okay, you let yourself entertain the stupid thought.

Peter was always late, more than you were. Peter was angry when you exposed yourself as Bypass to him. Peter always seemed to know when you had been hurt. Peter didn't get side effects the first time you teleported with him. Peter was certain about how Spider-Man would feel about things, even when it came to how Spider-Man felt about you. The way Peter looked at you lately, the way Spider-Man seemed to hesitate before calling you Bypass, the way Peter turns bright red every time you talked about how much you admired your parter-

You had to be seeing things. You had to be imagining and making assumptions like an idiot, because they couldn't be the same, right? That would make this situation more fucked up than it already was.

"I bet he thinks the world of you, actually."

You stood up abruptly, shaking your head at yourself. They couldn't be the same person. You liked Peter, and you liked Spider-Man, and that would make this too easy. But that would also mean that Spider-Man knew your identity the whole time and decided not to share his own.

He wouldn't have done that. Not unless he thought you would have a problem with them being the same person, which was sort of in character for Peter-

No. You marched to your desk and grabbed your phone, getting all the way to Peter's contact before stopping yourself.

You put your phone down angrily, knowing you were probably just being stupid. Peter was so smart and shy and awkward in kind of a cute way, so he wasn't really that much like Spider-Man, was he? Spider-Man flirted with you (even if jokingly) and dropped the stupidest jokes at the worst possible times, and was really fit and coordinated in a way you never saw Peter. He could hardly hold a basketball without hurting himself somehow.

Unless it was an act to hide his identity.

No, nope, no way. You put that thought away, knowing nothing but trouble would come from it. As you suited up for your nightly patrol with Spider-Man, you tried not to think about it too much, almost hoping you were wrong. It wouldn't make sense, even if it actually, really did.

Spider-Man was pacing when you teleported to the meeting spot. He actually jumped when you appeared, and you frowned - he hadn't been spooked by you, ever.

"Uh...what's up?"

"Nothing! Nothing at all," he said quickly, playing with his fingers and leaning back on the balls of his feet.

"Why are you so...nervous?"

"No I'm not," he laughed, and it came out more of a high pitched squeak. "You-you're the one that's nervous!"

"What?" You almost laughed, but his bizarre behavior was almost starting to concern you. In fact, he was acting so much like Peter when he was nervous that you were a little more certain in your supposedly stupid theory. It still sounded a little ridiculous - and you weren't sure how you'd react if they really were the same person. But either way-

"Do you have feelings for me?"

That caught you a little off guard. You stepped back slightly, eyeing him and wishing you could see his expression if only to see if he was joking or not. But his tone sounded dead serious.

"Um...are we really doing this right now?" You asked weakly, glancing at the glowing red sign on the side of the building you were on, "On top of a Virgin Media store?"

"Bypass," he pinched his mask where the bridge of his nose presumably was, "Yes, we're doing this on top of a Virgin Media. Do you prefer Wicked Willy's across the street?"

"I don't want to answer your first question," you said quickly, ignoring how you both deflected to humor when you were nervous, "I-I don't want to mess with the friendship we have and I'm worried my answer would ruin everything."

Spider-Man stared at you for a second, and you realized you basically did just answer it for him. Where the hell had this even come from? Why did he have to suddenly ask you this now, out of nowhere-

Peter. You felt your chest tighten up a little. He was the only one who knew, and he wasn't the type to tell personal things like that to others for no reason.

Unless he didn't have to tell him. Because there was one simple answer that could explain not only this, but Spider-Man's weird behavior lately and how Peter was way too calm about your powers. And you were already briefly considering it to be a possibility even before this conversation.

Spider-Man took a step toward you, interrupting any thought that went through your head.

Your heart leaped when he pulled his mask up, but he left it tucked around his nose. There wasn't even a second for you to really see what the bottom half of his face looked like, because he was already kissing you.

As much as you toyed with the design, your mask was always better fitting when it only covered half your face. Spider-Man had tried many times to convince you to wear one that fully covered your face, but you didn't care for any of the ones you tried. You were convinced you had a forgettable bottom half of your face, anyway, and it hadn't been an issue before.

Considering how easy it was for Spider-Man to kiss you now, you were more than glad you didn't decide on a full faced mask.

It took you a second to respond, the shock of the conversation and him just kissing you out of nowhere making it hard for your brain to function. One of his hands cradled the side of your face, his thumb fitting just beneath where your mask rested as his lips moved against yours. His other hand slid down your shoulder, moving to hold your waist.

You couldn't help the noise you made when his hand shifted to your back, pulling you closer. No one had ever kissed you like this, and the feeling of it mixed with the realization that he did return your feelings made you want to melt. The fingers of your unhurt hand moved up to his face, and you realized you were feeling him for the first time as your fingertips danced along his jawline.

He finally pulled back as the tips of your fingers started subconsciously sneaking underneath his mask, just feeling the tips of his hair. His gloved hands came up to hold your wrist, not pulling them away, but not letting you move any further.

"Bypass," he said carefully, almost warning you. You weren't going to do anything crazy like rip his mask off, but his voice made you pause, your hand settling on the side of his face. You never heard him without his voice changer in his suit, and his soft, breathless, real voice made you freeze, because...it was familiar.

Your eyes moved down to the part of his face that was exposed before you could stop yourself, the supposedly ridiculous thoughts from before sneaking back into your head.

It was too hard to focus on anything but the bottom half of his face, something you'd never think you'd be able to see. The first thing you noticed was that he looked as familiar as he sounded. Your thoughts from earlier came flooding back even more as you looked back up to where his masked eyes were. You could almost picture that familiar face, and you were pretty sure he had the warm brown eyes you had originally fallen for.

He was still silent as he stared back at you, probably wondering why your heart started beating faster again. Because you were even more positive you knew exactly who it was behind that mask, and suddenly the idea of it being true scared you.

You were too lost in the realization to realize his lips were pressed together tightly, his jaw clenched.

"I can't do this," Spider-Man whispered, and you felt like your heart dropped to the bottom of your feet. The emotional roller coaster he was putting you through was probably going to be the death of you at this point.

"What?" You asked weakly.

He tensed at your reaction, suddenly frantic. "Wait, that's - that's not what I meant! I should've started that differently, God, I'm so bad at this-"

He grabbed your shoulders, and you clung onto the confusion instead of the rejection, knowing that was more bearable. He was acting so weird and you were pretty sure you were going to combust if he didn't start explaining his behavior.

"I meant, I can't do this without first being honest with you. I...I know who you are. Under the mask."

If possible, you tensed even more. That was probably the last thing you expected him to say right then, though it would make sense if he was who you were starting to think he was. You decided you should maybe just let him explain before jumping to conclusions. "...What?"

"I've known for...a while, Y/N." The sound of your real name coming from Spider-Man for only the second time before made you flinch, and his grip on you suddenly loosened. He was giving you the option to leave. "That's not all. I know you, and you know me. In our...civilian lives, I guess. We're friends."

"O-Okay..." You stuttered, your brain starting to feel like you were doing a marathon in your thoughts. He was just confirming what you were already suspecting. You only had one friend that you used your powers in front of, that knew you were also Bypass.

He pulled his mask completely off before you could think to ask.

Brown curls, freckled pink cheeks, a slightly crooked nose and untamed eyebrows hovering over familiar brown eyes. Really, you should've guessed it long before this, and you were already almost positive of who he was in just the last few minutes - but seeing Spider-Man turn into your best friend right before your eyes was still enough to make you a little shocked.

You were right after all.

"You..." your voice dropped off, not even knowing what to say.

"I totally understand if you're angry and you want space to think about this," Peter said quickly, though it sounded like that was the last thing he would want. "I can leave you alone and give you time, I promise. I just...let me talk first, please?"

"Okay," you whispered, watching him shut his eyes for a moment and sigh before speaking quickly in a very Peter-like way.

"I almost exposed myself as Spider-Man the exact same instant you told me you were Bypass. What you said to me, that feeling of not helping when you knew you could help - that was exactly what I felt, and you just beat me to playing the hero. I could never let anything happen to you, as Y/N or as Bypass. That's part of why I never wanted us to reveal our identities in the first place, I have people in jail that know who I am, leaders of government agencies that can hold that over me - I never want that for you. I never want your identity to be used as blackmail, ever.

"But I still hesitated in that classroom, and you didn't. I think - I got angry because I realized too many things at once. I could have been anyone, and you were risking your identity getting out just to save me. Imagine if you were stuck with Flash - that would've been on twitter the second you teleported away. And then I was mad at myself for not acting sooner and letting me be the one to take the fall instead of you. I was mad that I didn't realize it before, that Bypass and Y/N were the same person, and I fell for both sides of that person even before I knew that."

You stared at him wide-eyed, as if that was a surprise after the kiss he just laid on you. Still, it was kind of surprising to know he liked both sides of you first - just like how you felt about him. He brushed his thumb against your cheek, his eyes growing softer as he smiled at you.

"It was too perfect, too simple. Both of the girls I had feelings for ending up being the same girl. I...I never thought I'd be that lucky. But then I knew it wouldn't even matter if you didn't feel the same for me as Peter or as Spider-Man. If I couldn't meet up to your expectations for either of them - me. But..."

His voice trailed off as he brought his other hand up to your mask, his fingers carefully lifting it off your face so he could meet your eyes properly. "You told me you did have feelings for me. As Spider-Man, at least. I knew that I couldn't lie to you anymore, and I had to tell you the truth. About how I feel and who I am."

You were quiet as he took your hand, placing your mask in it and closing your fingers around it. This was honestly the last situation you would have expected for both of you to be unmasked in front of each other for the first time, but you weren't complaining.

"I'll...understand if your feelings for Peter and Spider-Man don't match up," he said when you still didn't speak, though his expression was pained, "If you want to stay just as friends, I can be okay with that."

"Are you insane?" You finally spoke, your tone making him flinch. "You - Peter, Spider-Man, whatever - have put me through the most emotionally distressing five minutes of my life. Actually, the last several days of my life. Of course we aren't going to be friends after this."

"Oh," his hands dropped, "I-I mean, I understand that, too, I just thought-"

You grabbed his face much like he had done to you earlier, and pressed your lips to his. He let out a surprised noise when you kissed him, but he was quicker to recover as his arms carefully came to wrap around your waist and pull you closer to him.

This one was not nearly as long as the last one, because you pulled away to laugh at the expression on his face.

"I am so confused right now," he said breathlessly, and your lips rose in a smile.

"We aren't friends, because you mean a lot more to me than that. Both sides of you do, and they always have. Even if both of those sides put me on emotional rollercoasters all the time."

"Oh," he visibly relaxed, a smile forming on his lips, too.

"You still got a lot of making up to do, Spidey. Especially for that time you bothered me for like ten minutes when you knew I needed to go suit up. Jerk."

He snickered, "That was hilarious. You're cute when you're mad, sweetheart."

"Uh huh," You acted like that nickname coming from Peter's mouth this time didn't make you want to melt.

His laughter softened as he leaned his forehead against yours, still smiling like an idiot as his hands found your waist - but you were definitely smiling just as much. "I am so glad this was your reaction. I was...I was seriously worried."

"Eh, you had no reason to be. I already knew you were Peter."

"What?" He looked almost upset, which made you laugh. "How? I-What?"

"Peter," you cupped your hand around his face, giving him a loving smile, "You're an idiot. You were not careful at all, in fact you were very obviously messing with me multiple times and then turning tomato red when I told you I had feelings for Spider-Man. And to top it off, you literally called me sweetheart as Peter, when that has strictly been a Spider-Man thing. Like, hello?"

"I-I guess you got me there," he mumbled.

"And while I definitely think you should have just told me," you gave him a dirty look, "I understand where you're coming from. If it had been the other way around...I might've done the same."

His hands moved up your back as his face relaxed, the crooked smile he was giving you making you melt. "I figured you'd yell at me for the rest of my life, but I prefer this much more."

You grinned at him.

"I'm not much of a yeller."

~

tag list:

@somefuckshit1 @nocturnalms @sanniesdiary @peter-parkers-passport @chosuah01 @runawaywithmyghost @baby-bi-bi-bi-yeah @jallerentrags @spideysloverera @jemimah-b99 @redsakura101 @folklore-mcu

[realcube]

HQ BOYS REACT TO YOU FAKE CRYING  

characters ♡ yaku, kenma, kayegama & iwaizumi 

content warning ♡ fake crying, mentions of murder, hurt/comfort, fluff & timeskip! iwaizumi (no mature themes, just domesticity)

credit ♡ thank you to 🍦anon for this request

morinosuke yaku

♡ why did you need to need to practise in the bedroom?? in his bedroom, no less

♡ your show was quickly approaching and you recalled the scene where you were to burst out into tears on stage, and you hadn’t yet rehearsed how you were going to do that

♡ honestly, you were under the assumtion that yaku would have no problem with you practising while in his bedroom bc he has ran lines with you in the past and this was hardly any different

♡ so sat, thinking about the most horrible, morbid, grotesque things you possible could, all while keeping your eyes wide open and not blinking so soon enough, the tears started rolling

♡ proud of yourself, you smirked before burying your face into your hands; now to add sobs!

♡ it started out with mere snivels but then as you got more confident, it built up to full on bawls which were loud enough to gain yaku’s attention from the kitchen

♡ he was quick to rush over to his bedroom, his soul audibly leaving his body when he saw your upset weeping figure on the bed

♡ he basically pounced on you and engulfed you with his embrace, ‘dear! what’s wrong? are you alright? who hurt you?!’ the questions were fast falling off his tongue as cradled your head, leaving no room for you to speak without being muffled by his chest or arms

♡ and when he noticed that you were trying to speak, he simply hushed you, ‘shh! it’s okay, dearest.’ and continued to whisper ‘comforting’ stuff like that in your ear 

♡ he thought he was helping but really he was just preventing you from getting you point across

♡ eventually, you managed to escape his steel grip and gasp, ‘yaku! i’m fine! look — no tears!” you gestured to you damp cheek, “i was just practising for my role! i’m not actually sad. though, it’s cute that you care so mu--”

♡ as soon as yaku heard the word ‘practising’ he immediately recalled how you mention you have a sad scene where you need to cry and his natural reflex was to lean backwards, grab a massive teddy bear that sat behind him which he had won at a carnival for you but you insisted that he keep it bc you didn’t want to carry it home

♡ ...and he threw it straight at you, causing you to fall backwards and burst out laughing at how you were currently being straddled by a big teddy bear 

♡ ‘(y/n)! i thought you were hurt! you can’t just fake cry without telling me first- i was so worried! like i thought it was real and--’ this went on for an elongated amount of time, yaku ranting while you added a faint ‘sorry!’ whenever you saw the opportunity 

♡ eventually, he stopped only to take a deep breath, visibly calming doing as his chest heaved, ‘alright. what’s done is done; it’s fine. you worried me though, (y/n). i thought you were being for real, what then?’

♡ you nodded, smiling at his softened expression as your lips twisted into a smirk at his final comment. cocking a brow, you purred, ‘so...you think i’m a good actor? tha--’

♡ pow! another plushie to the face! K.O! 

kenma kuzome 

♡ as a joke, you dabbed water under your eyes a few times so you could send your friend a snap of you ‘crying’ and ofc kenma had to walk in at exactly the wrong time 

♡ you were over at his house, chilling on his couch while he was upstairs talking to kuroo over the phone— he said he’d only be a moment but almost half an hour had passed and he still showed no sign of coming back downstairs, though you couldn’t blame him as kuroo does have a tendency to be overly descriptive when spilling tea

♡ anyway, as soon as you had sent your snap, you placed your phone down and scanned the room in search of some tissues to wipe you eyes with, when kenma barged in 

♡ ‘hey, (y/n). i’m sorry that took so lo--’ when his gaze shifted from his phone onto you, sitting on the couch with tears streaming down your cheeks, he immediately cut himself off

♡ at first, you were frozen, simply staring at each other; as if he had just walked in on you committing a violent act of homicide in his living room 

♡ honestly you were too stunned to move at first but if you could, you’d probably say something along the lines of ‘this isn’t what it looks like’ but before you could even open your mouth, kenma edged towards you until he was able to outstretch his arms and wrap you in his warm embrace 

♡ with your cheek pressed against his warm hoodie, basking in an uncommon blissful silence, you postponed your explanation until you were finished enjoyed how his nimble fingers caressed your back

♡ you hummed, your lips curling a smile at how comfortable you felt in his arms and how nice his hoodie smelt, since it usually reeked of an unholy mixture of body spray and monster energy 

♡ he planted a kiss upon your head, murmuring into your hair, ‘baby, what’s wrong?’ 

♡ you were quick to swipe away your ‘tears’ with the back of your hand, ‘i’m fine, don’t worry.” you chirped, beaming at him to reinforce this point, ‘it’s just water, for a silly video i sent to my friends.’

♡ kenma blinked rapidly, staring down at your seemingly genuine smile

♡ honestly, you expected him to tease you or be irritated that you made him reveal a hidden soft side of himself for no reason, since he’s usually quite private with his emotions 

♡ but instead, the corners of his lips just lifted into a slight smile as pushed your head back against his chest, then resting his head upon yours, ‘oh, that’s cool.’ he breathed, his warm, calming voice causing your eyelids to become heavy — that and the fact you had went on a run not too long ago

♡ kenma felt your eyes flutter shut against his chest so he slowly leaned backwards, holding you against his hoodie as he laid down, allowing himself to doze off with you snuggled up on his heaving torso 

hajime iwaizumi

♡ you were making iwaizumi dinner, cutting onions and cooking curry

♡ so it was not surprising when tears started brimmed at your eyes, eventually slipping from your lashline and trickling down the soft skin of your cheeks, leaving you to blink rapidly to lubricate your burning eyes

♡ iwaizumi had just came out the shower, he had dried off but when he came downstairs and peered into the kitchen, he was wearing just a towel which was draped around his hips, ‘mm, something smells good. whatcha cookin’, baby?’

♡ he didn’t plan on staying downstairs for long, which is why he didn’t throw on a shirt; all he wanted to do was get to the bottom of what that magnificent aroma was that he smelled from upstairs, then once he figured it out, he’d go back upstairs, get changed, then head back down for dinner 

♡ but his plan was cut short when he noticed crystalline tears pouring from your red, puffy eyes 

♡ without thinking or taking into consideration why your eyes are red, his immediate reaction was to dash over to your side and slip his arms around your waist, puling you in so that one of your hands had no choice but to rest on his back while the other continued to stir the pot

♡ noticing that your watery eyes were still fixated on the curry, he took your chin inbtween his fingers and forced you to cook at him, ‘why’s my angel crying? hm?’ he cooed, features painted with genuine worry and concern

♡ you lifted a brow, stifling a chuckle at how silly he was being, ‘what do you mean?’

♡ before you could process anything else, iwaizumi bought you in for a passionate kiss with the his hand pressing against the small of your back, only pulling away so he could rest his head on your shoulder and hum into your ear, ‘you can tell me anything, angel, so what’s on your mind?’

♡ you bottom lip quivered at his intimate action — you might just start crying for real 

♡ biting your bottom lip, you resisted your tears and forced out a laugh, ‘what’s on my mind? well,’ you started, momentarily letting go of the ladle so you could hug back, ‘i have to make dinner for my himbo husband, but the onions and spices are burning my eyes. pray for me, iwa.’

♡ it took him a moment to register what you just said. he’d been in the kitchen many times so by now he was basically immune to the way onions and spices affect the eyes, so he completely forgot that stuff like that happens. he honestly, wholeheartedly thought that you were crying real tears of sadness while making dinner

♡ he impulsively pushed you away, crossing his arms over his chest and his initial kind expression lowering into a scowl, ‘who are you calling a himbo?! i just forgot that some people have weak-ass eyes. bye.’ he spat, clearly trying his best not to laugh as he stormed off to his room, keeping a firm grip on his towel the whole time 

♡ don’t worry, though. he was back ten minutes later — fully clothed — to eat dinner with you :))

♡ but don’t mention it ever again or else he’ll blush and tell you it ever happened 

tobio kageyama 

♡ you were scrolling on your fyp and found a video of a person explaining how to cry on command and you didn’t believe it’d actually work so you tried it

♡ as it turns out, it does work and now you are sitting on your bed with tear stained cheeks and a dry throat, completely zoned out until kageyama came marching into your bedroom

♡ it was in that moment that you recalled that you had invited him over for a movie night and you had left your front door unlocked for him, hence he must’ve invited himself in

 ♡ ‘sorry i’m late, but i brought doritos.’ he spun on heels after closing the door, doritos in hand but not for long because as soon as he noticed your cheek glistening the lamplight, he instantly dropped them to rush over to you 

♡ ‘eh? (y/n)? are you crying?’ he asked with a harsh voice, which wouldn’t help if you really were crying. instinctively, he reached out for your hand and began pressing kisses to the back of it 

♡ he wasn’t really too sure on what exactly he could do or say to comfort you, so he recollected on the time you tried to cheer him up after he lost a big game. you lay beside him on his bed, humming a distant tune that matched the one playing in his ear from his earbuds. one hand threading through his hair while the other cupped his cheek so you could press occasional, soft kisses on his cheek while he set to himself. it was calming, and it definitely worked in making him feel better. usually, it’d take him months to recover after a devastating loss like that, but with you by his side and giving him support, he was back to his normal self in a couple weeks

♡ well, as normal as it gets for kageyama

♡ you gently shook your head, admiring his adorable actions and allowing his to continue as you used your spare hand to wipe away your artificial tears

♡ ‘oh, sweetie, i love you so much.’ you mused, thinking up a way to start your story without sounding foolish  

♡ but perhaps you shouldn’t have began your explanation with a term of endearment as his impulse with to promptly throw his arms around you, holding onto your torso tightly 

♡ you were taken back for moment, wheezing slightly as kageyama squeezed the air out of you but finally able to speak once he relaxed his arms, ‘tobio! nothing’s wrong, don’t worry. i was just testing to see if i could fake cry or not. i’m not actually crying.’

♡ kageyama’s eyes widened and he paled

♡ you weren’t actually in need of comfort? then why did he just get all soft? for nothing?

♡ ‘no.’ was his simple response which he punctuated with another kiss on the back of your hand

♡ you couldn’t help but giggle, taking advantage of this opperuntiy to reach out and ruffle his hair, ‘yes. i’m seriously okay. i’m happy, actually, because i get to spend my evening watching movies with you!’

♡ surprisngly, he didn’t glare at you for messing up his hair — since it was already untidy — and just took a seat beside you, keeping ahold of your hand as if it was a fragile gem, ‘i don’t believe you.’

♡ you laughed, realising that he was clearly making excuses for openly showing affection and being soft so you just let him, hopping to your feet and tugging your hand away from him so you could grab the doritos he dropped, ‘whatever you say, tobio.’

♡ he pouted but it was only brief as he was soon able to take your hand once more, ‘yeah..’ he grunted, averting his eyes so you didn’t see the blush creeping onto his cheeks, ‘whatever, just put on the stupid movie...stupid (y/n)...i love you..’

[stealthandsafety]

begonias - bela x reader

A/N My first drabble! I’m trying to get into writing more smaller things so i can practice my writing and hopefully improve. No beta.  I hope you enjoy!

prompt: I forgot I was a single parent (#39 of this drabble list.)

word count: 878

genre: fluff

                                                  <><><>

“How is this my fault?”

“Well it’s not mine!” Bela stared you down, golden eyes shimmering with poorly concealed anger. “You’re supposed to be the help!”

You scoffed. “I cook. The only reason I come upstairs is to see you!” And at this moment, you were wishing you hadn’t.

Today had been an ordinary enough day. You’d spent most of it in the kitchens, as was your job, and only left late in the evening when Lady Dimitrescu retired, as that was when the kitchens officially closed until the morning. You’d snuck away upstairs in the hopes of spending some time with your partner, only to find her staring at the window in dismay.

The begonias were wilting. Barely.

“And I must be responsible for everything? Do I not have enough going on?” Bela spat.

You bit your tongue. In the rush of having an argument with your girlfriend, you often forgot that she was also technically your employer, which led to some rather creative…punishments. Any other day you may have encouraged her, spoken to her in a way that would get your tongue ripped out by one of her sisters.

You were tired. Cassandra had been banned from hunting outdoors due to an incident with a maiden in the cellar and had taken to flittering in and out of the kitchen looking for sustenance. She knew better than to feed from you less she face the wrath of her sister so you felt confident but it was rather annoying having to work with staff half-focused on the job, half trying not to upset the most sadistic Dimitrescu. You ended up having to pick up the slack, so nobody got murdered.

You were exhausted, and all you wanted was for your girlfriend to be holding you. God, or perhaps Mother Miranda depending on who you asked, apparently had other plans.

You looked over at the begonias once more as your girlfriend ranted. They really did look fine. Two of the leaves had wilted slightly and began to turn brown at the edges but overall, the plant looked healthy. The flower was still in full bloom.

Why had she brought it inside anyway?

“My lady,” You interrupted Bela’s rant softly. Her jaw immediately clicked shut. “I can tell your maid to begin watering the plant, if that is your wish.”

This time it was Bela who wilted. She stared at you with a solemn expression for all of a second before her face changed to forced indifference. “I see.”

You blinked. “My lady?”

“It’s fine.” Bela sniffed, staring off into the distance. “I forgot I was a single parent.” She said snidely before walking to her bathroom, grabbing a glass from her vanity as she walked. “Won’t even water my begonias for me.” She muttered to herself before looking at you pointedly, making it very clear that yes you were supposed to hear that.

You couldn’t help it. You really tried to hold the laughter in but it came out in a loud snort that had you slapping your hand over your mouth. “A single parent,” You giggled, voice muffled. “Really, Bela?”

The corner of Bela’s mouth ticked upwards before she schooled her features again. “Oh, darling, did I not tell you that she’s yours?” She said airily.

You gasped dramatically. “You want me to support a plant? On my salary.”

“Excuse you, mother pays you well!”

“I always use protection!”

“Accidents happen.”

You narrowed your eyes at the blonde. “Did you baby-trap me?”

Bela tilted her head to the side. “I don’t know what that is.”

“It’s when you trick someone into having a child with you so they won’t leave you.” You explained.

“Oh.” Bela nodded decisively, smirking. “Then yes.”

You took a step back as if struck, the game back on. “How could you?” You quickly sped over to the window where this particular plant pot lay. “My poor child! I’ll help you.” You reached for one of the dead leaves, only pausing when the ambient buzzing that always surrounded your love increased. It wasn’t even a second later that you felt firm arms encircle your waist and a cold chin rest itself on the top of your head.

“And what do you think you’re doing?”

“You have to pull off the dead leaves or the whole plant could suffer.” You recited dutifully. “You taught me that.”

Bela moved her head, nuzzling into the side of your neck. You inhaled sharply at the sudden cold feeling, as you almost always did when she first touched you, before your body quickly adjusted to the feeling. “Be quick, I’m bored.” She said monotonously before digging her nose deeper into your neck and breathing in your scent.

You rolled your eyes good naturedly. “Come here, Junior.” You whispered to the begonias before gently pulling off the two dead leaves. “There we go. All better.” You put the leaves in your apron pocket so as to not make a mess before turning around in your girlfriends embrace. You looped your arms loosely around her neck. “Can we cuddle now?” You whined.

You barely had the chance to wait before the buzzing returned and you found yourself being lifted up and thrown into bed, a semi-corporeal figure diving after you in search of warmth.

[fanficbitch]

In Another Life // Two Ghosts

Aaron Hotchner x y/n

March 2013

It’s current day at the BAU. I’m working at my desk like normal, every so often peeking over at Aaron’s office every few minutes. It’s just comforting knowing that he is so close to me while I work. Spencer, Alex and JJ work at their desks around me. I am very engrossed in my work, but look up when I hear footsteps up to me. I look up and jump in my seat when I see the face in front of me. It’s Haley, with her blonde hair, it was brown the last time I saw her. The last time I saw her laying in a pool of blood…

“Haley,” I blurt out.

“Hi Y/N,” she smiles. She adjusts her bag on her shoulder then looks around the BAU. “Is Aaron in his office?”

“Uh, yeah. Do you need to talk to him about Jack?” I ask, but she laughs at me.

“No,” she says with a crude smile. “I’m here for our date.”

I choke on the air I’m breathing. “D-Date?” I finally get out.

“Of course, a wife has got to keep her husband close,” she says.

“But you two are separated,” I say.

Haley tilts her head at me and pinches her eyebrows. “What are you talking about?”

Based on how things are going I’m scared to say this next part. “But Aaron and I are together,” I say slowly.

Haley looks concerned, then quickly laughs. “Oh I get it. You’re his work wife. Very cute,” she says. “I should get going,” she says, but I get up and follow her.

“No, no, not just that,” I say over her shoulder. She’s walking towards Aaron’s office. “Aaron and I are in a committed relationship.”

Haley ignores me and walks into Aaron’s office with me on her heels. When we walk in Aaron looks up and smiles at me, or at least I think he’s smiling at me. “Hi honey,” Aaron says and I flash him a grateful smile.

“Thank goodness,” I say and walk past Haley to him. Although, once I reach Aaron he gives me a weird look. “Honey, are you okay?”

Aaron chuckles. “Y/L/N, you should probably stick to calling me Hotch.”

“W-What are you talking about?” I ask. But he ignores me and walks up to Haley and kisses her. On the lips. “Aaron,” I snap.

He turns around to face me, clearly annoyed. “Y/L/N, my wife and I could use some time alone,” Aaron says.

“But she’s not your wife. I-I’m your girlfriend!”

Both of them look at me with wild eyes. “Y/L/N, are you feeling alright?” Aaron asks.

“Yes, I’m fine,” I shout. “I know what’s real and I know that you’re my boyfriend.”

“Honey,” Haley hisses. “He will never be yours. He’s mine,” she smiles up at him again and they kiss.

I wake with a jolt, shaking the arms off my waist that previously rested there. I scramble in bed for a moment, but finally go still once I sit against the headboard. I haven’t been very quiet, so the person next to me also sits against the headboard.

“Honey,” Aaron croaks. “Are you alright?”

Oh my God, it’s just like my dream.

“I-I need to go,” I say then throw the cover off me and slip my shoes on. 

Aaron chuckles. “Go where? It’s the middle of the night.”

I don’t answer him and just leave the room. I don’t know where to go so I settle on a bench outside the hotel. I wish I brought my jacket. It’s freezing out here and I’m only in a tank top. However, I am sitting by myself for less than five minutes because Aaron comes outside bundled up and holding a blanket for me.

“Thanks,” I grumble as I take the blanket and quickly wrap it around me. He sits down next to me with a long sigh.

“So what’s going on?” he asks.

I open my mouth, but nothing comes out. “I just don’t feel right about this.”

“About what?” he asks.

“This baby,” I say and turn to my boyfriend. His face goes blank as he continues to make eye contact with me. “Aaron?” I snap. He shakes his head and comes back into reality. He reaches out and takes my hands in his.

“Do you not want to have this baby?” Aaron asks and I stay silent. I don’t know what to say. I eye Aaron again carefully. His face is full of concern. I have to tell him what’s been going on.

“Okay,” I hum while placing my palms on my eyes. “I’ve been having some…guilt about the baby.”

Aaron furrows his eyebrows. “What is there to be guilty about?” he asks.

My chest starts to grow tight and tears start to fight their way out of my eyes. After a moment of resisting, I let the tears fall as I gently weep. “Haley,” I murmur.

Aaron wraps me in his arms and holds me against his chest. “What about Haley?” he asks.

“I’ve just been feeling guilty like I am taking over her life. I don’t ever want to replace Haley in Jack’s or your lives, but I don’t know what I am suppose to do. Am I suppose to not marry you and not have babies with you? Am I suppose to not love Jack? I just don’t know anymore Aaron,” I rant. “Then I had this dream where Haley wasn’t acting like herself and saying that she would always have you and you would never be mine. And you were acting like we weren’t together.”

Aaron stays quiet for a few moments, but rubs circles in my back. “You know what I think we should do?” he asks and I look up at him. “We should talk to Haley. Jack and I talk to her occasionally before bed, but it sounds like you need to talk to her too.”

I am a little unsure. What am I suppose to say? But I agree anyway. “Okay,” I say.

“We’ll do it right when we get home,” Aaron says then kisses my forehead.

                                                          **********

I got out of the shower just a few minutes ago and am currently brushing out my hair. The whole team just returned from Minnesota a few hours ago. It was nearly dinner time so we picked up some food for the three of us then ate at home. I got in the shower right after dinner because I am beyond exhausted. I am planning on a long, solid sleep.

I open the bathroom door and see Aaron in his pajamas sitting on the edge of the bed. “Are you ready?” he asks.

“For bed, yes,” I laugh then pull back the covers.

“No,” Aaron says then grabs my hand. “To talk to Haley.”

I freeze. I didn’t realize we were still doing that. Maybe it will be a good thing though. I’ll do anything to stop this guilty feeling in my chest. I give my boyfriend’s hand a squeeze then let him lead me into Jack’s room.

There is a candle and a lighter resting on the floor with Jack sitting in front of them. “Jack, Y/N is gonna join us this time to talk to mommy. Is that okay?” Aaron asks.

Jack nods quickly and scoots over. “Thank you buddy,” I whisper as I sit down cross legged in front of the candle with Aaron next to me. Without warning, Jack sits in my lap and lets me wrap my arms around his tiny torso. 

Aaron carefully lights the candle then turns to me and Jack. “Hi Mommy,” Jack says and my heart nearly breaks. “At school I am doing a lot of reading and I’m playing a lot of soccer.”

“Tell her how good you are,” Aaron whispers to him.

“I’m really good. I score all the time,” Jack says which causes me to chuckle.

“Hi Haley,” Aaron says. “I miss you and love you. Work is going well, but I know you would tell me that I’m working too hard. I’m spending lots of time with Jack and going to all of his games. I wish you could be here to see him play. And something very exciting is happening. Jack, do you want to tell her?”

“Mommy, I’m getting a little brother-,” Jack exclaims.

“Well we don’t know if it’s a girl or boy yet, but yes, there is going to be a baby,” Aaron says then he pauses and turns to me. “And we brought Y/N here to get some advice from you.”

I give Aaron a small smile then turn to the flickering light. I let out a shaky breath and nervously run my fingers down Jack’s hair. “Hi Haley,” I say. I pause for so long that Aaron finally turns to me. “Is there any chance I could talk to her alone?” I ask quietly.

Aaron nods. “Sure, Jack, let’s give Y/N and Mommy a moment together,” Aaron says then takes Jack’s hand and leads him out of the room. I let out a shaky breath before continuing.

“Hi Haley. I know we never really close while you were here, but I sort of feel like we’re bonded now. You know, both having been Aaron’s girlfriend at one point,” I say with a laugh. “Anyway, I’m sort of struggling. As Aaron said, I’m pregnant, but I’m feeling guilty that I’m stealing your life. You know, it should be you with Aaron and Jack and having Aaron’s second baby, not me,” I say as tears stream down my face. “But the hardest part is that I want to be with Aaron and care for Jack, but I feel like I’m living in your shadow.”

I’m quiet for a moment. “So I guess I’m asking your permission to be with them? Ugh,” I say then bury my face in my hands. “I honestly don’t know what I’m asking. I just don’t want to feel guilty anymore. I want to know that you are okay with me taking care of your husband and your son.”

I focus on the candle. I guess I expect there to be some sign to know that she’s listening, but there’s nothing.

“And I am really trying to keep my promise I made to you, to keep Aaron safe. But as you know, he’s got a mind of his own,” I say. “I want to make a new promise now too. I want to promise that I will love Jack and Aaron with all of my heart and never let them forget how much they are loved. I also want to promise that I won’t let them forget you. I always want you to be a part of our lives.”

Suddenly, the candle blows out on its own. It takes me a second to realize what happened. I stare at the smoke curling into the air and know that must be Haley’s way of saying “okay”.