#as i said i'm only now catching up on what happened at red rocks and honestly i'm just so confused as to

[fuchsea]

.

[themore12]

The First-years sleepover!

Now that the Onboro dorm had been renovated and cleaned and everything, Ace decided to take advantage of that and have a sleepover there with the other 1st years!

Word count: 1092 words

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"Yo, Prefect!"

You sighed as you heard the ever-so-familiar voice behind you.

You turned to the nearest person beside you who so happened to be Dorm leader Vil Schoenheit, and tried to hide from the troublemakers behind you.

With a hint of exhaustion, you asked for a small favor from the worldwide model. "Hide me Vil...please I just want a moment of peace."

With a raised brow and an amused smile on his lips, he glanced at the one-brain cell trio, who were arguing as they made their way towards you. "I'm afraid they are already making their way here Prefect."

You can only sigh as you catch sight of the familiar red and blue-haired duo in the corner of your eye.

(more under the cut)

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You already knew Ace would suggest troublesome with how he smiled at you.

"Prefect, we should sleep over at your dorm." (Ace) (events after book 7)

"Don't we do that every now and then already?" (Deuce)

With an annoyed smile, he continued, "Now that it's been renovated and all!" (Ace)

Before you could even begin to say anything, Grim said what you had in mind.

"Why would me and my henchman want you two in our dorm, each time you guys stay there our dorm gets wrecked!" (Grim)

"It only happened a few times!" (Ace)

"It shouldn't have happened in the first place?!" (Yuu)

In the end, you could only watch helplessly as they barged into the Onboro dorm with snacks at hand, a Happy Epel, and a Jack.

You sighed, "You didn't drag Epel and Jack here without their dorm leaders not knowing, right?" With that, the red and blue-haired troublemakers stopped in their tracks.

"..."

You can only sigh yet again, as words can't seem to convey the migraines that are starting to form in your head.

------------------------

"I'm sorry Yuu..."

"It isn't your fault Deuce, I know Ace is the mastermind behind all of this."

"Hey! I'm right here!"

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Without noticing it, the sun has begun to slowly disappear from the horizon and the moon from earlier seemingly becomes brighter as time passes by.

"Ace, Deuce, Grim, stop trying to kill each other."

"Epel and Jack can you help me set the table up?"

After a look at your annoyed expression, the three troublemakers raised their arms in defeat and (with a bit of guilt -Deuce) silently walked towards the dining table and sat quietly as they waited for the food.

Knowing that they might cause more trouble if they tried to help.

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"Jack, could you please pass the salt?"

"THAT'S MINE!"

"I SAW IT FIRST!"

"Here Yuu."

"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-"

"Thanks."

-----------------------

After deciding who washes the dishes with Rock paper scissors, after an intense match between Epel and Ace, the loser (Ace) begrudgingly lurched to the kitchen.

Feeling bad, you decided to stay in the kitchen while he watched the dishes.

You might feel bad, but you're not that kind to take do his task for him.

The others, seeing you stay in the kitchen to provide moral support to their dishwasher, decided to join your little pity party.

"Since when have you guys been this nice..." (Ace)

"If Yuu wasn't here we wouldn't have stayed here." (Deuce)

*Nods along* (Grim, Epel, and Jack)

----------------------

Grim the ever-competitive raccoon suggested playing something in the Wonder Link, sponsored by Idia.

"I bet I could score higher than you guys in Star Rouge!"

"Oh you're on, you talking raccoon!" (Ace)

"I'm not a raccoon!" (Grim)

Grim lost 2 times in a row.

"Fngha, Henchman! Win for me!"

You won those 2 losses back.

"Stop acting as if you won." (Jack)

"We count as one student, so I can say I won!" (Grim)

"That's not how that works..." (Epel)

"I can't hear losers!" (Grim)

"...YA WANNA GO, YOU EGG-SUCKIN' RACCOON?!" (Epel)

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"From what I heard you have 10 steps to do before you sleep in Pomifiore?"

"Yeah..." With a seemingly heavy heart, he sighed after he answered. "Don't get me started in our morning routine..."

----------------------

As you were gossiping with the others, until sudden loud knocks and a familiarly loud voice yelled out. "Human!" Catching the other's attention with his ever-so-loud voice.

"Isn't that Sebek?"

"HUMAN!"

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure it's Sebek."

With a sigh, you decided to drag your tired body to the front door. "yow, what do you need Sebek?"

----------------------

Long story short, he was tricked by Lilia to be part of the pajama party.

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"Ace you cheating!-" (Epel)

"BAHAHHAHAHHAHA" (Ace)

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"What is Wonder Link?" (Sebek)

"I honestly don't know too, man." (Yuu)

"I think it's something you can play games in?" (Jack)

---

(Literally in front of them)

"It's like our parents watching us, trying to understand what we're doing." (Ace)

(Glances behind them) "Yeah lol." (Epel)

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"Epel, calm down!" (Deuce)

"GRAHHHHH!" (Epel)

----------------------

After everyone joined Epel with his skincare routine(bonding), everybody seemed to have lost all their adrenaline from gaming earlier.

With the moon high up in the sky, almost all the first years seemed to have tired themselves out, since some of them had even passed out in the living room with their bodies littering the floor. Seemingly not caring how they are literally on the floor.

"Jack, can you help me carry them to their beds?" You asked as you pointed to the two passed-out idiots on the floor as you hoisted Grim up, making him grumble a little but after readjusting himself in your arms he continued to sleep like a log.

Jack nodded as he tried to keep his eyes open, seemingly a bit sleepy after all the trouble his friends made him go through.

"If you're tired, just let them lay on the couches." You said as you chuckled at him shaking his head and following you to their rooms.

"Thank you, Jack."

You covered Grim's ears as you shouted for the other two who were barely awake at this point. "Epel! Sebek!"

You hear a very weak "Yeah?" from Epel as he lies on the couch with no energy left in his body,

"Come on, you guys have rooms."

"Coming..."

------------------------------

After what felt like an eternity (for them) all of them have finally gone to their respective rooms in the Onboro dorm.

"Thank you, Prefect..." You hear Epel mumble before he crashes onto his bed.

"Goodnight Prefect..." You hear Ace mumble as he subtly tries to drag you down onto his bed with him.

"Thanks, Prefect" You hear Deuce weakly mumble as he buries his head onto the pillow.

"Thank you and goodnight, Prefect." Jack said before he nodded and closed his door.

"I appreciate you for letting me in...Prefect." Sebek said although you could barely make out what he said at the end before he closed the door on you.

================================================

"I can't believe I hang out with these losers."

"But at least they're your losers!"

You glanced at the mirror in your room as you set Grim down who grumbled and reached out for you.

"You're right, they're the best losers I never asked for."

"Goodnight Mickey."

================================================

The dorm leaders honest reaction to the sleepover:

Authors note: Its been weeks when will i ever post this?

AUTHORS NOTE 2: not proofread at all.

AUTHORS NOTE 3: ITS A BIT RUSHED BECAUSE ITS BEEN IN MY DRAFTS FOR SO LONG NOW LMAO, ITS MY COMEBACK I THINK.

Authors note 4: reblogs and comments are appreciated ehe

[sunraies]

Hi! I was wondering if you could write a one shot where rafe and y/n are a couple and y/n gets hurt or something and rafe becomes super protective over her?

Sure thing! I tried, I hope this is ok x

Freak Accident

Rafe Cameron x Kook!Reader

Warnings - Fluff, angst. Hospital, mentions of injuries. No use of Y/N

When Rafe gets the call that you are in the hospital, his heart drops to his stomach

-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Rafe's heart dropped to his stomach when he received the call from Sarah that you were in the hospital.

At first, he thought it was a joke, some sick prank to get him annoyed. But when the reality of her voice sunk in, he had never driven a golf cart faster in his life, and he was pretty sure he broke the speed limit the whole way in Topper's Jeep.

He had been golfing at the club with Topper while you spent the day with Sarah. You wanted to learn to surf, and as much as he hated the idea, he knew he couldn't stop you. Once your mind was set on something, there was no stopping you.

Sarah had promised you would be safe. Kie and the other pogues would be there, all experienced surfers.

Once, he made sure you were ok. He was certain he was going to kill them all.

"Rafe!" Topper called out as he fumbled to catch the keys after Rafe dumped the jeep outside the hospital, leaving the engine running as he hurried inside. It was a miracle he was thinking straight enough to put the car in park.

He quickly found the front desk and asked where you were after cutting in front of a elderly woman. He ran for the elevators, mashing the botton, and when they took too long, he cursed before running up the stairs.

Sarah stood in the hall outside your room, wrapped in John B's arms when he finally made it.

"What the fuck, happened?" He breathed out, cheeks red.

"She's fine, dude," JJ spoke up after they all looked at each other. He sat with Kie, relaxing in the hard plastic chair and arm over her shoulders.

"I wasn't fucking talking to you" Rafe spat, pointing at him while still staring at Sarah.

"There was a huge wave, and she hit the rocks," Sarah said quietly. "But she's ok"

"How the fuck is she ok? She's in the hospital and it's your fault!" He snapped, running a hand through his hair.

"Whoa, it's no one's fault," John B stepped in front of Sarah. "It was a freak accident, man,"

Rafe nodded a little too frantically before scoffing and lunging for John B. "I'll show you a freak accident, man."

"Hey, Rafe. Not here." Topper held him back, having stepped out the elevator and found the scene before him.

They struggled for a moment before Topper snapped him out of it. "Go see your girl," He said softly, holding his shoulders as Rafe nodded slowly.

"He can't. The nurse is in with her, " Kie said quietly. "They said family only."

Rafe shook his head and closed his eyes. "Nah, fuck that"  He broke away from Topper's hold before barging into your hospital room.

You jumped a little as the door flew open while the nurse was taking your blood pressure. You were sure it suddenly spiked as your very flustered boyfriend stood in the doorway.

His ocean eyes scanning over you, focusing on the bruise on your cheek, to the cast on your left arm and down to the cut on your right leg.

"Hi, gorgeous." You smiled gently at him, hoping he would calm down at the sound of your voice.

The nurse looked between the pair of you as Rafe breathed out a small 'Hi'. His eyes were still checking your injuries.

"Your boyfriend?" She asked. "You know it's really only meant to be family allowed"

"Husband," Rafe blurted out. "I'm her, husband. No way am I leaving now. "

Your eyes went wide as the nurse shook her head before smiling knowingly, "Oh, I'm sorry, sir. It wasn't on the charts."

She obviously knew Rafe was lying but humoured it. She was very sweet. "Take a seat, I'm just finishing obs, and our girl here should be good to go."

Rafe didn't need to be told twice as he took a seat beside the bed, desperately wanting to hold you, but let the nurse finish.

"I'm a little worried about the concussion, but other than that. You should be fine for discharge." She smiled. "I'm sure with this guy around, I don't have to worry about someone to look after you once you go home"

"Damn right, she's not leaving my sight." He was deathly serious even though the nurse laughed at the charm to his tone.

"Alrighty then. I'll go get the papers." She left, leaving you and Rafe in silence while you could hear Sarah and the others asking about you.

"Come here, baby." You held out your uninjured hand to him, which he took quickly but carefully. He seemed nervous to touch you, like you would break.

"You scared the shit out of me," He sighed, placing a gentle kiss on your knuckles.

"I know. I'm sorry." You sighed, hating the idea of him being so worried as you knew you'd be the same if the roles were reversed.

He sat down beside you, and you pulled him into your arms, ignoring the pain into your side as he held his weight off you. You ran your hand through his hair. "I'm ok, I'm just a little bruised"

He scoffed and pulled away, "and broken. You broke your arm, baby"

You hummed. "Oh yeah, would you look at that?" You were sarcastic as you looked down at your cast arm. "I wondered why it was heavy"

He rolled his eyes and smiled, aleast you were well enough to still be yourself. He chose that moment to gently cup your cheek. He was careful of the bruise as he kissed you.

You melted into him, thankful Sarah had called him. He was the best pain relief.

"I meant it, I'm not letting you out of my sight," He whispered against your lips.

"Husband, huh?" You whispered back, teasing as your foreheads rested together.

He blushed and smiled. "I would love to be"

"I like the sound of that. Wife sounds like a good word, too. "

"I would love you to be,"  He breathed, making you pull back in shock.

"Rafe Cameron, if that was a proposal, you can -"

He cut you off with the kiss. "Baby, the day I propose it will be a day you never forget. That was not a proposal." He chuckled.

Honestly, if he was asking there and then, you would have said yes. But knowing Rafe, it would be something involving fireworks and champagne.

[totallynotokguys]

Lego Monkie Kid Rewatch: Season 3

Episode 10, Samadhi Fire Part 1/2

Just a warning, I do talk about season 5 for a moment, but I'll try to keep it labeled and separate so you can easily skip over it without getting spoiled if you want.

Now that I know a bit of the Journey to the West, I have only just realised how impossible it would be for the pilgrims to be here helping baby Red Son.

No way could this rage baby Red Son have thought up clever scheams to catch and eat Tang Sanzang the way JTTW Red Son did. Not to mention at the end JTTW Red Son ended up going to Guanyin's villain reform program.

On the other hand, I don't believe the sealing of Samadhi Fire would have happened before the journey. Wukong is clearly wearing his post-pilgrimage get up and the pilgrims all act like they know each other.

All of this to say, just how many differences are there between the show's journey and the novel's.

Then again, the fact that Iron Fan and Bull King are still in love and married should have been the first tip off for me.

Season 5 Spoiler Talk

I am curious, are all of these differences a result to Nine-Headed Demon's interference? What the heck did the guy have to do to insure Red Son would be born late enough to be baby during Tang Sanzang's life time? Is the Nine-Headed Demon responsible for the Samahdi fire being so out of control in a young Red Son? In JTTW, Red Son still wields it and has great control over it.

"For the Samahdi fire to be split in three, you must harmonise you're energies!"

These three? Harmonise? A hard headed demon king, a sentient rock monkey, and a duty bound celestial ex-mortal? Sanzang was basically asking for failure here.

Wukong: 'Psssh, this is easy.'

Also Wukong:

Ao Lie just took a blow for Sanzang!

The notorious, lets everything go to chaos in a box around him while continues to be horse actually stepped up and took action. Now I know for sure this is post-pilgrimage! Character development!

Reprimands in sarcasm and bonks heads when annoyed.

Brother coded, brother coded, brother coded, brother coded

"Alright, you win."

In the last episode when Tang said this it was more from Macaque's perspective and thus Tang sounded desperate and hopeless. He really seemed like he'd given up.

Now, thanks to these three shots… everything feels different. Same lines, same delivery. But now I believe Tang isn't giving up. He's got a plan!

I have not talked enough about the sound design in this show! I love the sounds they use for magic. I'm pretty sure that each magic user plus each different power their unique chime/gong! Examples:

Tang's has a very clear and simple ring.

Ne Zha's sounds like fairy twinkle lights, all light, airy, and chimey.

Wukong main magic is like a bamboo thunking against a stone, or a a small stone creating ripples in a pond. Wish I knew what made this sound. I have been conditioned to be hyped every time I hear it.

Interestingly, MK's magic sounds the same. I believe this is what further fed into the belief that Wukong had gifted MK his magic instead of it coming from the kid. The shows own little misdirection!

But really, I think the reason for the similarity in their magic, both ability and sound, stems from them both being made by Nuwa as celestial stone monkeys.

The whole reason I thought to bring it up was this transition. We go from a third person perspective to looking through Wukong's eyes. and the first thing to clue us in that this is happening is the sound of Wukong's gold vision activating before suddenly the image blinks gold and we find ourselves zooming out of Wukong's eyes as he watches the scene from far away.

The way they did this was such a cool transition as well as an awesome example of how the golden vision works! Superman, you wish you're eye powers were this cool!

"Let's hope my aim is as good as it used to be."

AKA: "If I skewer you, it's totally because I missed and not because I'm still angry at you and taking petty revenge."

Red, blue, green. Long ago, the three Samadhi Fires were separated and the great destruction was extinguished.

Only when the three colors are found again can they unite and create- PINK FIRE!

Wai- what? That's not how color theory works. How did I never notice before? The full might of the Samadhi Fire is pink.

Love the shattered chains, and the washing away of the blue aura to symbolize LBD's hold over him being broken.

"Someone get some water!"

I'm surprised he didn't throw snow at her. Its right there.

Anyone else think it's really cool that Wukong can just pull Macaque out of his shadows?

Like, no one else has been able to do that!

Ah, so Tang didn't have a plan. He just did it because it felt right. shakes my head Oh Tang, and for a moment I thought you were competent.

Seriously though, I am now forever scarred by the word destiny. I hate it.

"I hate to interrupt, but can someone explain what is going on!"

No please interrupt. We need you MK! You're the only one who could possible salvage this situation. Everybody else just keeps making it worse!

Macaque- ignoring the child in fiery pain to celebrate his freedom.

Wukong- lashing out at the closest person marginally at fault (that isn't him).

Ne Zha- voice of doom declaring the girl and world as a lost cause.

Tang- DESTINY

Like, great job everyone. Way to solve your problems.

[my-writings-and-musings]

Mer!Rodimus x Reader

In light of Mermay and a recent ask I wrote a little something with Rodimus meeting the reader, I hope you enjoy!

If you like my writing style, you can always commission me, and please reblog to help spread my work! Thank you!

The last thought you'd had before the wave had smashed your boat was whether or not drowning would be painful, but a chunk of debris cracking into your head had plunged your mind into darkness before you could find out. You'd have expected to wake up dead, or rather not at all, but when consciousness did finally return you found yourself feeling less than grateful for the good fortune.

Crashing waves and the song of seabirds would have made for a gentle awakening on any other occasion, but they were hard to appreciate when your body ached from head to toe, the agonizing epicenter throbbing in your ribs as you tried to take your first waking breath. Tasting a nauseating abundance of seawater, you gagged and coughed despite the pain, opening your eyes only to snap them shut against what felt like blinding light. 

Tenderly cradling your ribs, which were definitely bruised and probably cracked, if not broken, you curled up on what you realized was stone before a cold, salty spray on your face compelled you to slowly open your eyes once more. Though the light didn't help your aching head, you powered through it and adjusted to the brightness, finding yourself in the mouth of a cave and facing a brilliant pink and orange sunrise over the sea. The storm was gone, much like your boat, and for the life of you, you couldn't figure out how you weren't at the bottom of the ocean. 

Your answer came when you turned your head to find a massive red being curled about you on the rocks.

"Hey, you're alive!" he said delightfully, startling you so badly your broken body managed half a jump before the pain once more rooted you to the spot. As you hissed and cradled your aching side, there came a flurry of apologies, and while you couldn't have run even if you'd wanted they still sounded sincere enough to quell the immediate urge to flee. "Sorry! Scrap, sorry! I should have figured that would scare you!"

Painfully catching your breath, you raised your heavy head for your first clear look at the massive being, able to discern what exactly he was now that the two of you were facing each other. A metallic carapace combined with a long, powerful tail made his identity clear even to your lagging brain. You met his bright blue optics as you croaked out the only words you could think of. "You're a merformer..."

To your continued surprise, the mech actually huffed in offense at your words, tapping his tailfin against the rock as he rested his helm in the palm of his servo. The sarcasm in his voice made you feel more than a touch of guilt. "I prefer Rodimus."

"Rodimus. I'm Y/N." you replied automatically, your manners taking over and almost compelling a "nice to meet you" past your lips before the absurdity of the situation stopped you. Everything was still so hard to make sense of you could have sworn your tired eyes saw him brighten once he learned your name. Lying back on your side, you winced at a fresh bout of pain from your head, hissing and gingerly feeling out the bruises and tiny cuts criss crossing your skin. Though you had vague memories of your boat and a storm, it was far too blurry to make sense of, and certainly didn't explain why you were here in a cave with a merformer and not at the bottom of the ocean. You remembered enough of the pounding rain and raging waves to know you shouldn't be alive, and so you turned to Rodimus in hope of answers. "What happened? I was on my boat, and I couldn't get it back to shore. I remember an... explosion?"

"Big wave, but basically the same effect." he explained, stretching out his long tail and resting on his belly in a much more casual posture. The words reminded you of the final rush of water that had slammed into your body, and the abrupt blackness that had overtaken you immediately afterwards. Your eyes went wide as you finally put it all together. After the wave had smashed your boat and you'd been tossed about with the debris, Rodimus must have saved you from the raging sea, bringing you to this cave so that you could rest and recover. The pride in his expression made it clear he was quite pleased with the accomplishment. "I figured that little thing wouldn't be up for the challenge." 

"You saved me." you said weakly, trying to process how near you'd been to dying. It had been close enough that you'd more or less accepted it, believing there was nothing that could have saved you as your ship was battered by the sudden and inescapable storm... Yet here you were, injured but alive, all thanks to this mech. With the less than ideal treatment merformers got from humans, you were especially grateful for his selfless act, and allowed the emotions to read openly on your face as you looked back up to him. "Thank you. Really. I thought I was going to die out there-"

An attempt to crawl his way to take his hand sent a fresh spasm of pain through your body, cutting you off with a sharp hiss as you reflexively curled in on yourself. Rodimus pushed himself forward on his tail the second you expressed distress, his own expression gaining a dash of panic and his hands hovering helplessly over you before he spoke up quickly.

"You might still die here, I don't really know how to patch humans up, sorry." he apologized as you looked back up to him. Perhaps you'd just suffered a concussion and it was taking hold, but in the soft pink light Rodimus was undeniably handsome, his bright colors framing the pleasant angles of his face in a way you couldn't deny was appealing. It didn't hurt that his concern was fully appreciated, especially with the amount of pain making you quite certain you were indeed in need of medical attention. Looking beyond the cave, he went quiet for a moment, optics distant in deep thought before he made up his mind on something and let out a small sigh. His heavier tone implied whatever he'd decided on to be quite important. "There's a beach nearby that's usually full of people, I can take you there if you promise to be cool."

"Be cool?" you repeated in confusion.

"Don't scream for them to shoot me." he replied simply, pushing off the ground to maneuver right over you and out the cave's entrance. Dropping himself down the short distance to the ocean below, he splashed into the waves before bringing his upper half right back up, resting his arms against the mouth of the cave to speak at eye level. The new angle made the conversation feel far more equal, and you found yourself briefly lost in the brilliant blue depths of his optics before he spoke again. "I'll drop you off on an old boat dock, and you can handle the rest from there, yeah?"

Though it took you a moment to process, your nod of agreement seemed to make him happy, and you found yourself smiling in return despite your current condition.

"You look pretty light. I'll carry you there if you don't mind getting wet again." he offered, balancing on his tail so he could offer his arms. The gesture surprised you considerably, the whole situation moving so fast you'd have struggled to keep up even without a head injury. Not only were you not dead, but you owed your life to a merformer, a species your own had been on tense terms with at best for much longer than you'd been alive. You'd never even met one before Rodimus, yet here he was offering to literally carry you to safety after saving your life... Even if you'd never believed the rumors about all members of his species despising humans, his actions still surprised you. Admittedly though, having no other options did make the decision to trust him even easier.

It took some work to get you in his arms, but Rodimus was as careful as he was patient, fully supporting your weight as he allowed you to lay across his arms as slowly as you needed not to jostle your injuries. The mild pain was well worth getting even closer, your tired body finding a small measure of comfort from being held against his chassis thanks to a mysterious hum from within that soothed your aches and compelled you to relax. When you were secured bridal style in his grasp, Rodimus pushed away from the cave and into more open waters, dipping just low enough for your soiled clothes to once again turn soaked. You hardly minded for a multitude of reasons.

 "Why are you still helping me?" you asked suddenly, looking up at him and squinting against the bright light reflecting off the waves. It seemed like he'd just been passing by when your boat had been smashed, and you could believe he'd simply jumped in to save you on a whim, it didn't make much sense for him to risk all this now that he could swim off and leave you to figure things out. Most humans probably wouldn't have helped him in an emergency, and even now he was risking the reactive bigotry of your species just to get you help more expediently.

"I'm pretty invested at this point. I don't want all my hard work to go to waste." he replied in a mostly playful tone after a second of silence. The logic was somewhat sound, and as the waves lapped at your body you almost felt like you understood before he threw a fresh bit of confusion your way with a wink. "Plus, once you don't look like something the sea spat up, you might actually be kinda cute."

The answer briefly stunned you into silence, but as he quickly rounded the shore and you started to spot signs of human habitation, you found yourself panicking at the idea you might soon be saying goodbye. Rodimus had saved your life, and all of your confusing feelings aside, you felt that deserved a proper thanks you couldn't currently give. Desperation to have that chance leaked into your words as they tumbled out. "Can I see you again?"

Rodimus went wide-opticed, his frame wobbling in the water as one would if they'd just stumbled over their own feet on land. "Well, I don't normally hang around in one place for long, but..." he faded out as he briefly tread water, tail undulating to keep him and you upright. Something passed between the two of you as he met your gaze again, and you almost found yourself grateful for the boat crash as you looked into the depths of his optics and got him to smile, his arms holding you a tad bit more closely as he answered. "If you can make it back to this cave in the next few weeks, we'll see what happens."

"I'll make it happen." you promised, determined to find him the second you were well enough to do so. It didn't matter if you had to rent a rowboat and paddle your way there, you were going to see him again. Judging by how he perked up at your vow and the obvious protective nature of his grip, you were certain he was willing to do just as much, if not more, to ensure the two of you got the chance to meet again.

[psychologicalwarclaire]

18 for the injury prompts. Gimme brains and brawn plz :]

Hello Pixel!

Number 18: "Stop. No. Wake up. Wake up! I said wake up!"

Y'all remember in the season one finale when Draxum threatened to torture the boys for information on the last piece of the Dark Armor? Yeaaahhhhh me too >:)

---

The frigid metal of the cage seeped through Raph's Hamato Clan uniform. He was grateful for the long sleeves, at least.

His head still spun with dizzying visions that only got more and more nonsensical. His dad saying the same thing forwards and backwards. His dad tearing apart the Lair yelling, "I DON'T KNOW WHAT IT IS!" His dad hyperventilating in April's arms, sobbing, "I don't know how to save them."

Raph didn't understand what any of it meant. Why was he the one getting visions?

"Are you guys getting anything?" he ventured at last.

"Nope."

"Nuh uh."

"Negative."

"We've gotta find a way out of here! Hamato style!" Raph got to his feet and the cage swayed. "Come on, what would our ancestors do?"

"We've only been following their ways for like a day and a half, Raph!" Mikey groaned. "We're not exactly experts."

Leo smirked. "Maybe you're not," he teased.

Raph shot him a look. Now was not the time.

"What, I'm just trying to lighten the mood! We're locked in a cage, held for random by the Foot, and none of us gave Dad grandchildren. I doubt a little joking will make things worse."

Nodding, Mikey managed a smile. "Yeah, things could be worse, so let's--"

"You're right, orange one."

The turtles all leapt to their feet at the sound of Baron Draxum's voice.

Donnie let out a strangled sound as Draxum rose up to the cage's level on a tide of magenta vines. Distantly, Raph noted that Don had been quiet in the way he only was when he was really stressed.

"I will give you one chance to tell me where the final piece of the Dark Armor is."

The turtles glanced at each other.

"We don't know," Raph said. It was the simplest and most truthful answer he could give.

"Yeah," Leo added. His mind was clearly whirring behind his red mask. "If we did, why would we be here trying to stop you instead of out protecting it?"

"Indeed," Donnie nodded. "As much as I hate admitting when information eludes me, I will admit that none of us know where the final piece is. Or even what it is."

Donnie's testimony should have been the most concrete proof Draxum needed. The softshell simply couldn't lie.

Softshell...

Raph suddenly became very aware that Donnie's battleshell was at home and Draxum was looking more murderous by the minute.

"You are all LIARS! I KNOW the final piece is under the care of Lou Jitsu of the Hamato Clan!"

"No?" Mikey piped up. "I think we would've known--"

"BUT YOU DO KNOW!" Draxum roared.

Vines slammed into the cage. Everyone fell to their knees as the floor rocked and spun. There was a screech as the door was wrenched open.

Before Raph could react, vines had wrapped around his waist. His eyes met Donnie's widened ones, and then Raph was yanked away.

Weightless. Falling. Air being squeezed out of his lungs.

His fall was slowed slightly by the vine, but Raph could still tell the ground was approaching too fast. He squeezed his eyes shut, bracing for impact.

WHAM

It took only a split second for the agony of slamming into the ground to set in.

His ears rang. He couldn't see anything. An aggressive ache thrummed through his whole body. He couldn't tell what part of him had landed first; the pain came from everywhere.

Raph couldn't breathe.

Lungs flattened, chest crushed, air stolen, whatever had happened left him unable to inhale.

A blurry world around him spun, flickering like a candle.

Everything came back into sharp, slicing focus.

And Raph finally sucked in a breath. And another. And another.

Before he could fully catch said breath, a hoof came down on his chest. Raph focused on Draxum towering above him.

"You're just as durable as I intended you to be. Excellent."

He could head his brothers distantly calling out to him. Raph opened his mouth to say that he was fine, but everything hurt too much to form words.

Draxum stepped off of him. The vine dragged him along the ground. His skin felt raw from the fall, and being scraped along stone made Raph's legs sting. If the pain hadn't been so big, Raph might have been scared.

Draxum didn't drag him far. The room Raph was pulled into had a huge metal door, but Draxum didn't close it.

Noticing Raph's unfocused eyes lingering on it, the sheepman grinned. "I want your brothers to hear your screams. It will be... motivation."

Only then did Raph look around the chamber. Chains sprawled across the floor like tangled tree roots. Metal tables stained in different shades of red and brown rested in corners. One wall was nothing but sharp, spikey tools splattered with the same shades.

Damp musk hung in the air. Like a blow to the gut, it made Raph think of the sewers of his home. It wasn't fair for this place of pain to smell like that. Underneath the haunting aromas of home, however, was something deeper and more primal.

Raph recognized it from the corpse flower.

Rot.

And blood.

The fear had blossomed into terror. The terror was much, much bigger than the pain now.

Raph was shoved against one of the bigger tables. The chill of it bit through his uniform worse than the unforgiving cage had.

Cold metal clamps wound their way around Raph's wrists, ankles, and neck.

Draxum pressed some buttons and a soft buzzing filled the room like a den of dozing wasps.

"H-hey," Raph managed. "Let's, uh, let's talk about this."

"I gave you the chance to talk of your own volition. This was your choice. Let's try this again." Draxum's face lit up in an insane grin. He reached for a lever.

"What are you going to do to me," Raph whispered.

"This."

Draxum yanked the switch down, and for a sick second, Raph was reminded of Donnie playing mad scientist.

The buzzing roared to life. Excruciating pain shot through Raph, thousands of tiny electric needles, as red lightning arched through him.

He couldn't even scream.

Worse than hitting the ground. Worse than than anything he had ever felt.

Worst of all, something deep inside of him was twisting, writing, fighting, tearing apart.

And then it was gone, leaving nothing but aches in its wake.

"Awful, isn't it?"

Raph let out a pitiful noise like a tiny wounded animal.

"I made you, you ungrateful brute. I know exactly how much pressure I must apply to break you. Tell me where the Dark Armor is."

"I don't know," Raph whimpered. "None of us know."

Draxum's fingers wrapped around the lever again. "If that's what you choose."

Crimson lightning, like bloody sparks shot through him again. Raph couldn't move. Pinned in place by pain, all he could do was feel his muscles spasm. Surely, they were shriveling, tearing from his bones.

He could feel the places where the metal touched him burning burning burning burning--

Whatever it was inside of him that was wailing in agony was dying. He could feel it. Trembling apart and leaving a void behind.

"Please," Raph rasped.

When it was over again, there were tears flowing down Raph's face and smoke curling off of his uniform.

He could barely breathe with unyielding metal circling his throat.

"You know how to get it to stop."

"Please..."

"This really is quite the marvelous contraption. You see, it runs off of mystic power. Your very own mystical energy is being drained and repurposed as electricity. I'm sure your the purple one could explain the laws of energy to you."

He already had. Energy cannot be created or destroyed. Only transformed.

Raph missed his brother.

"All this can be over if you just tell me what you know, turtle."

"Raph doesn't know! It's lost. Please... please make it stop." A sob bubbled out of Raph. Everything hurt.

He twitched as a random zap of energy cut through him.

"Liar."

Draxum wrenched the lever.

Now that Raph knew what was happening, it was even worse. He could feel his ninpo cracking. Cold loneliness flooded his chest as his connection to his family wanted.

Agony.

Sharp, angry TV static filled his limbs. Parts of his suit were burning away.

Through it all, the the horrific, overwhelming pain only worsened.

Raph was screaming.

It burned his throat even more, but he couldn't help it.

And yet it kept going.

On and on and on.

Make it stop.

Make it stop.

MAKE IT STOP.

Millions of miles away, he heard the switch flip. But the lightning continued to envelop him. The pain continued to ricochet through his shell.

Raph convulsed, straining and slamming against the restraints despite the awful stinging where he'd been burned.

Finally, he sagged back against the table. Horrible, gasping, ugly sobs were torn from his raw throat. Hot tears flowed down his face, pooling in his ears.

Raph was drained in every sense of the word. Cold darkness had swallowed his lungs. He was more alone than he had ever been in his life.

And absolutely

EVERYTHING

every bone, blood vessel, and cell of his body

hurt.

At the other end of a long tunnel, Draxum's voice echoed back to him. "...aybe your brothers will."

No!

But Raph couldn't say it. He could barely even think it.

The inky void welling behind his plastron spilled into his vision. Raph's eyes were so heavy... so heavy...

He twitched, feeling the dregs of ninpo within him try to rekindle itself.

And for the second time, Raph fell.

Down

Down

Down

Down

Down

---

The agonized wails of Donnie's older brother were magnified a thousand times as they echoed off the walls.

Gutteral, desperate screams that made Donnie sick to his stomach were made even worse by the knowledge that they were Raph's.

Raph. Infallible, immovable, incredible.

Raph. Sobbing, screaming, shrieking.

Never in all of Donnie's life had he heard his older brother sound like this.

Mikey had long since retreated into his shell, his Hamato uniform pulling and folding in weird ways. Leo sat with his knees pulled up to his chest and his eyes wide. Unseeing. Donnie sat next to Mikey with his hands pressed over his ears.

It did nothing to stop the third round of screams.

Playtime was over.

Their time parading around the city, skating and laughing and pretending to be heros was over.

Innocence rocked, worldview shattered, there was nothing they could do to fix such a broken situation.

Raph went quiet.

Not silent, thankfully; Donnie could still hear gasping sobs.

Leo was clutching his chest. "I feel it," he whispered. "He's doing something to- to Raph's powers."

Mikey let out a strangled cry from inside his shell.

"Mikey must feel it too," Leo said softly. Donnie had never heard him speak so flatly. It was unnerving. "You're lucky you can't feel it, Don."

"No I'm not," Donnie whispered. Even as he said it, he thought Leo might be wrong. The tightness in his chest wasn't like normal anxiety. It ran deeper.

Draxum bellowed something and they all flinched.

The echoes of his booming voice faded away...

Silence.

Unnerving, imperfect silence.

CLANG!

Without warning, vines wrapped around the bars of the cage. Leo and Donnie yelled, startled.

The door wrenched open and one of them wrapped around Mikey's quivering shell, pulling him away.

"MIKEY!" Leo leaped after him, grabbing fistfuls of fabric as he dangled over the drop. Donnie reached out after them--

Something huge and heavy slammed into Donnie, forcing him back into the cage. The door clanged shut. Pinned beneath a mass of singed fabric, Donnie could only hear the pleas of Leo and the muffled cries of Mikey fade away.

As Donnie wiggled out from under the motionless mountain, he realized--

"Raph!"

Donnie scrambled to his knees, looking over his older brother as best he could.

It wasn't great.

Raph's neck and wrists looked raw and shiny, and the fabric around them had definitely been burned away. One eye was swollen and Donnie had a nasty feeling there would be bruises already blooming under his mask. Under the scraps of remaining suit was probably a mess too. Raph had fallen a LONG way.

And then Donnie realized Raph wasn't moving.

Donnie shook his shoulder. "Raph? Raph, wake up. Wake up! No no no no no, don't do this to me, Raphael! Raph! RAPH!"

He was breathing at least... Shallowly. Raggedly. Practically wheezing.

"Oh I wish Nardo were here. He'd know what to do. The dumb dumb jumped out after Michael." Donnie dragged his hands over his face. To be fair, he'd rather Mikey not be totally alone. So maybe it was good Leo was with him. Or maybe watching each other get hurt would be even worse...

Donnie tried to take a deep breath.

"This is a mess," he whispered. "It wasn't supposed to go like this. Oh my brownie we're going to die here. He's going to kill us over withholding information we literally don't know--!"

A large hand weakly closed around Donnie's wrist.

"Raph? Raph ohmigosh you're awake! Are you okay? What happened? How do you feel? What hurts?"

But Raph didn't answer. His breathing deepened and his grip tightened. Maybe that was all he had the energy for. Raph, who must have been in so much pain and so incredibly exhausted... was using what little energy he had to comfort Donnie. A lump formed in Donnie s throat.

He didn't have any words to offer. Not for comfort, not for empty promises, not for vows or revenge. Nothing.

He took his free hand, the one not being squeezed by Raph, and softly rubbed his older brother's head.

"I've got you, Raphie. Just... just rest, okay?"

A soft whine of gratitude rose from Raph's chest, melting into deeper breathing.

Donnie refused to look too closely at what had been done to his brother. He wasn't sure he could handle it. Helpless, he just kept rubbing Raph's head.

There was nothing else he could do.

The cruel mockery of a peaceful moment was shattered an instant later as a new, equally painful sound split the air.

Mikey was screaming.

[johnslittlespoon]

sorry i dont know how to be happy...and slight cw for implied sexual harassment feel free not to post this <3

but. bucky having a close call incident with one of the guards in the camp- the first person he runs into after *isn't* gale but the get the vibes of what happened and know they need to get *him* to gale asap. and gale is so angry and hurt but tries so hard to push it down to comfort him </3 his poor sweet boy has been strugglig enough and really didn't need one more thing. sobbing in gale's big arms telling him he's sorry, gale rocking him shushing him telling him he has not one thing to be sorry for he didn't do anything wrong.

giving me angst asks is so dangerous rn while i'm still in post–finale grief lmfaoooo count your days (buckle in, i think this is gonna get lengthy and i should probably just write a oneshot bc i have many thoughts but we'll see) (and yeah, cw for assault)

vv

i haven't seen anyone talk about this happening to john (might've just missed it tbf) and in a way i get it, because y'know gale is 'visually' more likely to be a target of things like that and we don't see what he goes through at the camp before john gets there, but i'm also surprised that i haven't seen more posts talking about it the other way around because i mean john literally comes into camp with a reputation, we see it right off the bat when the interrogator basically calls him on being a man whore lol.

i can see guards (hypocritically, bc they'll turn around and hurl slurs in the next breath) making offhand comments and passes at him, "nothing that i can't handle" when one of the others catches it happening one day, and the way john is so nonchalant about it makes them wonder how often it happens.

but one day a guard doesn't like the way he mouths off at them when they say something gross to john, and it results in john being shoved to the ground with the guard atop his back in a quiet corner of the camp, and he doesn't even hear half of what's being said because his ears start ringing and all he can remember is the feeling of the cold cobble street beneath his face and the shouts of the riot around him.

vaguely registers the guard moving to feel him up, his skin crawling, bile rising in his throat, but it only takes a few seconds before someone else is approaching and the guard jumps up so as to not cause suspicion. john drags himself back to his feet in a daze, stumbling away in the general direction of his block with his head buzzing, flinches hard when he feels a hand on his arm but realizes it's just brady looking at him with concern, brady who'd caught the guard on top of him.

gale looks up from his bunk when the door opens and he sees brady ushering john in, watches brady sag with relief when he sees gale's there, and gale only has to glance at john to know something's happened, rolls out of his bunk immediately and looks at brady in alarm. he sees red when brady tells him how he'd found john, but john is staring into a corner of the room and he knows anger isn't what he needs right now, so he swallows it down, moves to stand in front of john instead as brady leaves the room, reaching up to cup his face in his hands.

john's eyes move to look at him, but he's not really looking at him, until gale murmurs a "hey, you're okay", brushing his thumbs over john's cheekbones, and then he watches john crumble and his heart sinks. and maybe any other day, john wouldn't break like that, but gale knows he's already had a hell of a week and whatever went down must have been the final nail in the coffin because as soon as he's led john to the closest bunk, john's collapsing into his arms and he can feel hot tears against his neck and gale feels sick and has to keep swallowing to fight his own tears back.

he can feel how tense john is in his arms, like he's still trying to hold back from really showing his emotions even now, and gale pets his hair, assures him it's okay, "you don't have to hide from me, bucky." and his heart shatters when he starts getting whispered apologies through hiccuped sobs where john's face rests on his chest, gale shaking his head immediately, promising him that he has nothing to be sorry for, squeezing him tighter as he rocks him gently.

gale thinks about all the different ways he'd like to go out and murder that guard, almost scaring himself with the aggression he feels, but he shoves it down so john doesn't pick up on the red–hot anger, focussing that energy on holding john tight and whispering words of comfort until the sobs become quiet shudders, feeling him finally, slowly start to relax in his arms.

(gale probably hears john huff out a shaky little laugh when he tells him "that guard better sleep with one eye open until we get out of here" because the thought of gale actually being violent is laughable to him; he doesn't realize how much gale would really do for him, how much it hurt gale to see him stumble into the room like that.)

i definitely want to properly tackle this concept in a oneshot someday so forgive me for being vague in some areas, i don't wanna fully brainrot it out and then not feel the need to write something longer about it, you feel? <3 but hopefully this is sorta what you were envisioning. they both deserved better :(

[lovelytsunoda]

a thousand miles // mick schumacher

summary: searching for life after f1, the race of champions may just have the answer mick needs, in the form of a shy former w series driver who is just as lost as he is

pairing: mick schumacher x female driver!reader

warnings: mentions of guenther steiner/haas, karaoke, matchmaker val returns! corinna the icon is also trying to get her son to go on a date, one small joke about crashing a rally car.

author's note: @magnummagnussen told me this was a terrible idea. i beg to differ : )

the swedish sunlight bounced off the snowdrifts outside of the ski lodge, illuminating the inside of the dining hall where the drivers milled about and socialized, bright smiles on their faces.

mick saw her first.

he was locked in conversation with seb, his eyes catching her just out of the corner of his line of sight, hair braided messily over one shoulder, wearing skinny jeans and a hoodie for a band he's never heard of, a pom pom hat with the race of champions logo on it as she nervously clutched a breakfast tray and tried to figure out where to sit.

normally, she would have sat with jamie chadwick, but the brit had decided to go for an early run, and had left the other former w series driver alone.

it was valtteri who noticed the young german driver's wandering eyes first. with a smile and a sip of his espresso, he waved the young woman over, enjoying the look of panic on mick's face.

"valtteri!" mick hissed. "why would you do that!?"

"because you've been miserable since abu dhabi and you need to let loose a little bit."

mick couldn't exactly protest. since learning that he had been dropped from the haas formula one team just hours before the qualifying session for the last race of the season was due to start, there had been a hole in his heart, something that he couldn't patch up.

but he knew that a short lived roc fling was the last thing that would help him out.

"hi." she said sofltly her voice like music to mick's ears. "can i sit with you guys? jamie kind of left me high and dry this morning."

sebastian smiled, ever the gentleman as he motioned towards the free seat next to him.

the free seat that also happened to be next to a certain young schumacher.

"i'm y/n y/l/n, i used to drive in the w series for quantfury. i'm felipe's teammate for all star team this weekend." she introduced herself as she picked at the paper wrapper on her double chocolate muffin, an untouched mug of hot chocolate and whipped cream on the other end of the tray.

"mick schumacher, fellow racing reject." mick joked nervously, reaching out to shake the young woman's hand. "formerly of the haas formula one team and the ferrari driver's academy. now proudly driving reserve for mercedes."

"i'm technically a part of the alpine young driver's programme, but it's not like they've done any work at getting me closer to driving an f1 car. not that i blame them, all of otmar and laurent's efforts were on the piastri thing this season."

"technicalities only matter in this sport when the fia get what they want." seb hummed. "i'm-"

"sebastian vettel, racing legend!" y/n gushed. "i'm like, a huge fan. i grew up watching you on the telly, i had a poster of you at red bull hanging up in my room. this is so fucking surreal, dude. heck, i walked past mika hakkinen earlier and thought i was going to cry."

the rest of the table laughed. "mick was like that when he was here last year." seb said fondly. "i think everybody is like that when they come here for the first time."

"mika fucking hakkinen, man."

seb and val shared a look before looking back over at mick.

they knew.

the boy was smitten already.

--------

the press conference took place at exactly noon, and as was typical of the roc, most of the scheduled drivers were late.

it's not that y/n was late on purpose. but she was horrifically lost inside the chalet and had been turned around four or five different time trying to find her way to the conference room, overheating in her race suit in the warm chalet.

the directions were loaded on her phone, but she still felt like it was a lost cause as she rolled up the sleeves of deep blue nomex material, leaning her head against the wall to take a few deep breaths.

everything was fine. everything was okay. she was safe.

she heard voices coming from her left, and her heart skipped a beat.

the press conference. she had found it.

she rushed inside, trying to duck out of view of the cameras as she scurried to the table at the front of the room. catching her eye from the distance, mick waved at her, a small smile on her face that was enough to put a matching smile on her own as she took a seat in between the german and her teammate, felipe drugovich.

"where have you been?" felipe asked quietly.

she shook her head, unwilling to admit that she had gotten lost. "don't worry about it."

"so nice of you to join us, miss y/l/n." one of the reporters said, the young driver snapping to attention and reaching for the desktop microphone, fumbling with it and trying not to knock it over. "with the w series seemingly ended permanently, what's next for you after this weekend?"

"i'm still trying to make my 2023 plans." she said softly, the microphone barely catching her soft voice. she had always hated media commitments. "obviously an f3 place is out of the question right now, and it's pretty obvious that i'm too old for all that now, so i've been looking into these one-off racing opportunities and tests so that i can find out what i want to do in 2024."

she felt her throat get tighter, the sweat forming on the back of her neck as she nervously reached one black polished fingernail to brush an errant strand of hair from her bun to the space behind her ear.

"hey." mick said softly, nudging her in the side. "you're doing great."

she took a deep breath before flashing mick a smile as she continued talking.

"i've got a few races lined up with the nascar xfinity series down in the united states, and i'm really looking forward to it. racing in america has a completely different vibe to it, you know?"

--------

the next time mick saw y/n, he was with his mother, testing out the rally car during the free practice session.

she was impossible to miss, her screams of delight carrying over the wind and followed up by laughter as the car caught air going over a hill.

it was enough to make the boy freeze behind the wheel, corinna giving him a knowing look.

"what's her name, mickie?" corinna said with a smile, pulling out her phone, no doubt to see who her son was so infatuated with.

"y/n y/l/n." mick said softly. "but i dont know her that well, mom."

"oh, she's pretty!" corinna beamed, pulling up the driver's instagram profile. "look, she's a perfect fit for you, she's quiet and she's shy and she doesn't go to parties!"

"mom, i swear to god i will crash this car and make you walk back to the chalet yourself!"

mick rolled his eyes, turning his head back to the windshield as he took a sharp corner around the track. it's not that he hadn't thought about y/n since the presser. he thought she was sweet, and he would deny it if asked, but he looked forward to seeing her and knew that when life went back to normal after roc, that he would miss her.

"you don't have anything to lose, mick. what's the harm in even just going for a coffee with her or something? i'm not telling you to marry the girl, but at least give romance a chance."

the german would think about his mother's words all day: through his time in the sauna, to the ice bath and then again at dinner. the thoughts would eventually keep him awake at night, unable to fall asleep while wrapped in the hotels luxury down bedding.

he found himself wandering the chalet at odd hours of the night, lost in his own thoughts as he meandered towards the coffee machine in the lobby. if he was going to stay awake, he might as well stay warm as well.

the chalet doors slid open, and mick's breath caught in his throat as he watched her stride into the lobby, wearing a different beanie hat but the same one ok rock hoodie she had been wearing when he eyed her for the first time, a puffy tan jacket pulled over the entire ensemble and a plastic bag for a swedish supermarket hanging from her arm.

"mick!" she shouted, face bright as she crossed the lobby. "couldn't sleep?"

the boy shrugged, trying to play it cool even though his palms were sweaty and his heart was racing and was she always this pretty? was that mole on her upper lip always there?

"come on, let me introduce you to my favorite pre-race ritual." she beamed, pulling a bag of edible pilsbury cookie dough from the bag, along with two metal spoons clearly stolen from the breakfast buffet.

mick couldn't help but laugh. "how has your performance coach not killed you yet?"

"what she doesn't know won't kill her. who is she to rob me of life's greatest pleasures?"

pinching himself to make sure that he wasn't dreaming, mick followed the driver back to her hotel room. her energy was magnetic, and mick couldn't help but be drawn in.

they settled on the plush bed, shrouded in blankets as she overturned the shopping bag, allowing it's contents to fall to the blanket.

"so, this is what i watch when it's been a long day, or if i don't have the mental energy to focus on anything else." she said with a cheeky smile as she popped open her laptop. "when i was in the w series, it was juju noda who got me hooked on the really cheesy j-dramas. i already watched the darker asian dramas, like the psychological thrillers and everything, but it was juju who got me hooked on the romance ones when we watched coffee and vanilla."

she clicked onto disney plus, waiting for it to lead as she opened the canister of cookie dough in her hand. after the screen loaded, she navigated her cursor over to an orange thumbnail.

"this is yakuza lover: romance and bullets. and yes, it's as mind-numbing as it sounds."

they watched a few episodes, exchanging bites of cookie dough and popping open bottles of flavored sparkling water as the characters on the screen kept digging themselves into holes they couldn't get out of.

"do they not take one look at the dialogue and go 'what the fuck is going on here'?" mick asked quizzically, staring at the fictional yakuza boss on the screen. "like, seriously? and she finds that even remotely attractive?"

"it reads like a bad wattpad novel, and that's enough for me when i don't want to think about anything." y/n laughed, shoveling another spoonful of cookie dough into her mouth. "either that or i watch a concert film or something. i live for live music. hate parties, but i'll go to a good concert any day. that's why i liked racing, you know? not for the fame or the money, but for the travel, the means to an end."

her eyes went wide, and mick was captivated, hanging on to her every word.

"have you heard of one ok rock? probably not, since you didn't mention it when you saw my sweater earlier, but they have this one really good concert film from when they played yokohama stadium, it's called mighty long fall. i saw them live in 2018 on the 'ambitions' tour, so that's a good film as well if you can find it, but mighty long fall is one of my favourite live concerts like ever."

mick was struggling to follow everything, as she seemed to have talked without even breathing, her fingers flying across they keyboard as she searched for 'mighty long fall' on youtube.

he was well and truly smitten with her as she loaded the concert, seemingly skipping to a particularly important part.

"this has to be one of my favoruite songs they've ever done, and it's not even theirs."

mick would have recognized the piano arrangement anywhere. anybody born before two thousand and five would have. the japanese band on the screen was playing an acoustic rendition of 'a thousand miles' by vanessa carlton.

"making my way downtown, walking fast, faces past and i'm homebound."

she was singing off key, but that seemed to be the point as she threw her head back and forth, her hair flying everywhere as she beamed, singing into the metal spoon as if it was a karaoke microphone.

"come on, schumacher. i know you know the words!" she laughed, mick laughing along with her as his face turned pink. "sing it with me!"

and when she looked at him like that, what else was he supposed to do?

---------

and just as quickly as it began, the race of champions weekend was officially over.

gathered in the warm den of the chalet, the drivers milled about and chatted among themselves, jazz music playing in the background as a warm fire crackled in the hearth.

y/n and felipe had placed second in the nations cup as the all-star team, and she seemed to glow from the happiness of the somewhat victory as she stood off to the side with both her teammate and jamie chadwick.

mick couldn't help himself, staring at her with a lovestruck gaze from the other side of the room, where he stood with sebastian and valtteri. mick and y/n had grown infinitely closer over the course of the weekend, but mick hadn't had the courage to ask for her phone number, or to properly take her out on a date.

and soon, he'd lose those chances for good.

"the way i see it, you don't have anything to lose." seb suggested, clapping the younger man on the shoulder. "the worst that could happen is that you made a new friend, who doesn't want to be more than that."

"why not just accept things as they are?" mick whined. "the weekend is almost over anyways!"

"it's never too late for a romantic gesture." valtteri suggested, nodding his head towards where a karaoke machine had been set up by team norway earlier in the night.

and that's when mick knew what he needed to do. with seb and val's help, he managed to get everything rigged, set up and ready to go.

when the music started playing, she knew that it was meant for her, all conversation stopping at that piano arrangement as she stopped to look at the german, hands nervously gripping the microphone as he began to sing.

"making my way downtown, walking fast, faces past and i'm homebound."

jamie broke out into a grin, turning to look the the other female driver. "there's no other person this could possibly be meant for. how did he know you're emotionally attached to this song?"

despite herself, y/n found that she was also starting to sing quietly under her breath.

"staring blankly ahead, just making my way, making a way through the crowd."

felipe nudged her in the side. "go on. you're not going to get another chance."

trying to stop the uncontrollable blush on her face, she kept her eyes cast down as she made her way to where mick was standing. sebastian gave the duo a knowing look as mick wordlessly passed y/n the microphone, shy smiles on both of their faces.

"if i could fall into the sky, do you think time would pass me by? 'cause you know i'd walk a thousand miles if i could just see you tonight."

neither of them realized how close to each other they had gotten, barely a foot of space between their bodies, faces blushing bright pink as the lyrics faded out to the instrumental.

"mick-" she said softly.

"you don't have to say anything. not right now, not right here. just kiss me."

and that's exactly what she did, the room erupting into cheers as mick's soft lips met hers. she dropped the microphone, feedback echoing around the room as mick held her, both parties smiling into the kiss before mika hakkinen came running over the grab the fallen mic.

"will you go on a date with me?" mick asked, lips swollen and shyness in his tone. "like, a real one this time?"

"yes, mick." she giggled. "of course i will."

Tags: @scuderiamh @libraryofloveletters @magnummagnussen @sidcrosbyspuck

[onepiece-asl-lover]

Reader my au x ASL TRIO

Part 7 "Official sibling life"

Tw: nothing really just the brothers being chaotic.

The next day all four of you guys ran out the house to go explore or whatever is going to happen today.

"See ya" you all shouted towards Dadan as you left.

"Get back here! This house ain't going to clean itself!" Dadan shouted back.

Sabo stopped halfway, Luffy bumping into him and falling back.

"Oh yeah I forgot, Hey Dadan we pissed off some Bluejam pirates and probably wants us dead, so play it cool!"

"He's kidding right?" Dogra asked.

"I'm not! We beat up some of his guys yesterday that's why I moved here!" Sabo stated.

Mogra, Dogra and Dadan jaws drop as they heard the news.

"What!" They shouted.

"Later" Sabo said ignoring their comment as he started running.

You jumped onto Ace back as he grabbed your legs and as you wrapped your arms around his neck as you guys started running.

"Dadan's is cool, she let's us do whatever we want!" Sabo exclaimed, still running.

"Nah, she still is a worthless old hag" Ace replied.

"A-and she real ugly to! L-like-like a butt! Haha- haha" Luffy exclaimed as he panted trying to catch up with you guys.

"..." awkward silence

"Hey it's no fair that Y/N gets to get a piggyback ride! I want to be carried to!" Luffy exlaimed.

Ace looked back at Luffy glaring at him.

"You guys are no fun" Luffy pouts.

You turned your head to look at Luffy and gave him a small smile.

"Luffy, how about when we get somewhere to sit down for a while, I can carry you around, alright?"

"Hey-" Ace gets cut off by Luffy.

"Yay! Thanks Y/N, your're the best!" Luffy happily shouted as Ace grunted.

"Okay, what should we do now?" Sabo asked while you all still kept running.

"Let's eat!" Luffy exlaimed.

"Alright, let's eat." Sabo confirmed.

......

Ace and Sabo caught a big fish from a clearing of water as you and Luffy stood aside as you guys could not swim.

You started the fire to cook the fish as Luffy bothered you and poking your cheek to come and play with him.

You finished cooking the fish as you, Ace and Sabo sat down and started eating the fish. You near Ace as Sabo sat on the opposite side, Luffy far away from you guys drooling like a dog.

After a while later when you guys were eating sabo speaks up.

"Hey Luffy,you ate a devil fruit, correct?"

"Hm ya"

"So that's why you can't swim, here" Sabo said as he grabs the tail of the fish throwing out towards Luffy to catch.

Luffy laughed and smiled as he grabs the the piece of meat.

"Thanks Sabo" Luffy smiled.

"You're to nice Sabo" Ace said as his voice muffled a bit due to chewing.

Sabo smirks as he points at Ace then to you.

"I'm not the only one who's nice"

Ace face flushes a bright red as he starts shouting at Sabo, Sabo laughing at Ace tactics.

You looked at Ace as you wiped your hands on your pants when you finished.

"I think Ace is very nice sometimes" you spoke as you stood up.

Ace flushed even more this time as he stays frozen in shock.

Sabo laughed at Ace as you walked over to Ace to make sure he is alright.

"Ace are you alright Ace" you said as you looked over his flustered face.

He snaps out of his shock as he starts shouting and speaking gibberish towards who ever as he stomps away and sits in front of a rock, mourning quietly, mumbling to himself.

Sabo laughed as he also stood up and walked to Luffy as you sat near Ace pating his back softly trying to comfort him.

"So Luffy what fruit did you eat?" Sabo asks.

"The Gum Gum fruit, I'm rubber man! And I have cool powers and moves that only I know and I have unbeatable attacks!"

"Then get a move that can get us some fish you freeloader" Ace replies as becomes cocky but proceeds to hold your hand.

"Hey! That's unfair Ace! And I'm not a freeloader! I also have an new move and only Sabo and Y/N get go see so don't peak!"

"Ya whatever" Ace says as he lies down and turns away.

Luffy blows in air and becomes bigger and bigger as you watch in awe. You wouldn't say it was cool but it still was interesting and when you glanced at Sabo it looked like he had the same idea.

"See it so cool and it can bounce off anything like cannonballs-

Luffy gets cut off by Ace kicking him into the air.

"Then you bounce off my leg!" Ace shouts. "Sabo catch!"

Sabo nods as he kicks Luffy into the air as Luffy covers his mouth trying not to throw up.

"You say it can block cannon balls, well can it blocks this!" Ace shouts as he kicks Luffy towards the ground as Luffy hit several rocks and for some reason you can hear his screams coming closer from behind as you turn around you see him coming straight at you as his big balloon rubber body hits yours as you both hit the water.

You and Luffy both scream as you hit the water you holding onto Luffy as you both sink, Ace and Sabo shouting.

Before you and Luffy sunk a huge crocodile swallowed you guys up. Sabo and Ace eye popping out as the crocodile spits out Luffy hat and goes back underwater.

Sabo and Ace shout as the Crocodile shouts back. Ace and Sabo throwing their pipes to hold the crocodile mouth open as they attack it.

A little while later

You four carry the now dead crocodile back to Dadans house as Luffy complains about being eaten.

"Hey, it's alright we did something interesting today and new"

"No it's not alright! I almost got eaten you know"

"Stop crying, anyways we have crocodile meat now for dinner"

"Oh yeah you're right"

"That was quick" both you and Sabo say.

"Sabo, Ace what happened to our treasure?" You ask.

"Oh me and Ace hid it somewhere else but we should go check the old one to see if somone is checking there before going to the hags place"

"Alright" Ace nods.

..........

You four hide behind a bush cammofloged with leaves in your guys hair. (Ace put a flower in your hair specifically for you from him, Sabo and Luffy giggling in the background).

You guys peeked over the bush to see some Bluejam pirates snooping at your old tresure place arguing.

"Man its a good thing we moved our treasure our they will have found it" Sabo says.

"Ya while were at it want to check Grey Terminal too?" Ace asked.

"Ya, Luffy, Ace, Y/N you guys head back to the hags place"

"No-" Luffy shouts, Ace shutting him by holding him down.

You and Sabo look at each other and sigh.

"He dosen't listen to anyone" Sabo sighs.

At Grey Terminal

All four of you look behind a a big piece of junk wood you being at the bottom holding everyone else Luffy being next, than Ace then Sabo. Ace threatening Luffy if he even dares to lay a scratch on you.

"Good grief this place is swarming with thugs and Bluejam buddies and they mean business" Sabo speaks up.

"What did you expect, they're probably pissed and want us dead" Ace says.

You heard somone behind you as you heard a voice speak up.

"Hey guys those kids you've been looking for are right here."

You four all tumble down onto the ground out of surprise, Luffy landing on your back.

"Luffy!" Ace said angry that Luffy had hurt you.

"Not the time" Sabo said as he grabbed Ace and all of you started running from the thugs, and Bluejam buddies.

...After a while you four got away and sat near a tree taking a breather. Ace wacked Luffy on the head causing a bump to form, and Luffy complaining.

"I'm fine really, there's no reason to fight" you said coming in between Ace and Luffy.

"Y/N is right we shouldn't be fighting about this instead we should be talking about how Blujam has the entire Grey Terminal hunting us down, and we better lay low. There is too many of them. Let's just hope they get bored and move onto something else."

You, Ace and Luffy nod as Ace sat down and you letting Luffy have his promised piggyback ride as you walked around still near Ace and Sabo.

"Why should we hide if they come we'll just beat them up" Ace said.

"It won't work there are over hundred of them we won't be able to beat them" You say.

"Ya, Sabo and Y/N are right Ace" Luffy said smiling.

"Nobody asked you" Ace says glaring at him.

You sighed as you put Luffy down.

"We should head back to Dadans house with the Crocodile it's getting late." You say as you start to pick up the crocodile.

"Ya"

"Ok"

"Alright"

You all bring the crocodile back to Dadans house as you guys plop it down onto the living room floor to go to your guys room waiting for dinner.

A/N:IM AM SO SORRY THIS WAS LATE! MY WEEK WAS HECTIC. I'll make a part 8 on Thursday.

[sillybayo]

What Do You Think? Can We Do It?

(Originally posted on AO3 on 2/23/23. You can also find this on fanfiction.net)

A pre-calamity botw/totk zelink fic with slight canon complaint and hurt/comfort. Zelda has just returned from The Spring of Power only for her father to become stressed and disappointed again. She goes off into the forest, and Link tries to come up with a solution to calm her nerves.

~~~

Leaves crunched harshly beneath the princesses boots as she stomped into the forest. Birds flew out of the apple trees out of the fear of her groans. In contrast, a soft breeze accompanied her on the trail, along with the short knight that walked a few feet behind her. She was used to him at this point, he won't leave no matter how much she begged. It's his job after all. But she later found his presence comforting, as she felt much less lonely than before, despite him being as quiet as a rock. Maybe his silence is just what she needed after a long day. Maybe she needed him more than she knew. But even still, a hot overwhelming feeling built up inside her no matter how many times she shouted.

"Why won't he just understand already?!" Zelda shrieked. "What part of 'There's nothing more I can do' does he not get?! If I could awaken my powers right now—I would!" She kicked the hard ground, bruising her foot. She winced, but went right back to ranting. "It's not like I'm trying to put everyone in suspense as Ganon comes closer, he knows that! He knows that I've been praying and training within every second I can, so why is he just so? So!?"

She fumbled with her words, and continued yelling and kicking to release her frustration deep within. Link only watched, standing there a bit awkwardly.

"You agree, right?!" She suddenly turned to him. "That he's being foolish? More ignorant than anyone on Earth? Like, seriously, what does he not understand?! I'm not just some war machine that you can turn on and off! Praying at this point is useless!"

He was intimidated by such a question. Not because Zelda scared him—far from it—more like what would happen if he were to voice his opinion. He agrees, her father is far too harsh on her. Link has seen her put all of her effort into awakening her powers..and yet, nothing. He wanted to stand up for her, and help find more ways to put an end to Calamity Ganon, but this is the king of Hyrule we're talking about. Link is nothing more than a teeny knight hired to look after Zelda. One word of contradiction, and only Hylia knows what'd happen next.

So he ended up staying silent as always, standing firmly in place. But he decided to at least try to give her a sympathetic look. He couldn't just leave her hanging, not like this.

"Right!" She knew he wasn't going to speak anyhow. At least it was something. "We have the Guardians, the Champions, and a stellar army and weaponry! If we all work together, we could take Ganon down! So why am I the only one constantly pressured?!" The last sentence was said with a cry, which caught Link off guard. Zelda's vexation had a whole new meaning now, and he cursed himself for not realizing it sooner.

The knight allowed himself to relax, with his shoulders drooping and his eyes widening. He watched as the princess walked up to a tree and slumped down, pressing her knees against her chest. A heavy feeling in his heart rose, and he couldn't help but to sit beside her.

Her voice cracked and broke, and Zelda spoke more quietly than Link has ever heard from her before. "I'm so tired, Link. So..so tired..I don't know what to do or where to go next. I've prayed to spirits, shrines, statues, The Spring of Courage, The Spring of Power and…nothing, neither worked. Have my ancestors suffered this much? I-is there something wrong with me? What else do I need to do?! Everyone could die at any moment and I can't do anything!"

An eruption of hot tears flooded her face, and she flushed with a deep red. Impulsively, Link cupped her face in his hands, catching and wiping away the droplets. Though caught off guard by such a sudden gesture, Zelda couldn't help but to keep sobbing. Her face was held close, and Link could see much more details than before. Her eyes had dark and deep circles underneath, and her hair was much more messy and unkempt than usual. She must have been staying up much later than she should be; most likely to study and pray, Link concluded. The knight rubbed her warm face with his thumbs, gently tracing circles on her cheeks, and she managed to subdue her cries into the form of quiet whines and sniffles. He had a feeling this technique would calm her down, he always did this whenever his little sister—Aryll—was wailing over something like her kite flying away in the wind, or stubbing her toe against a table. He always did this to the one he cared about, and now he gets to do it again but with a whole new meaning.

The next step was to try and think of a way to help the situation. He didn't know much about magic or spirits or gods or whatever, and it seemed like they were out of options, but he needed to think of something. He couldn't bare to see Zelda in so much despair anymore. So he skimmed through his mind and thought, and thought, and thought, and thought…..

The springs!

They've gone to two out of three of the springs, The Spring of Courage, and The Spring of Power. There's one left, The Spring of Wisdom.

Link released Zelda's face and pulled out his Sheikah Slate, showing her the location of where he suggests to go next. She leaned in and took a look, examining the area.

"I can't go there yet..you have to be at least seventeen years old to enter."

Link raised his eyebrow, and she immediately knew what he was asking. "My birthday is in about two weeks, but we can't afford to waste so much time! Wh-what if.."

Her hands turned into fists, and they trembled, indicating the worst thoughts imaginable. The knight took them into his, rough and covered with scars. The princess unraveled her balled up hands, allowing herself to relax, just for a moment. Her hands were surprisingly a bit bigger than his, Link figured maybe it's because she physically matured faster compared to him, if that even correlates to the former topic. But he held her hands anyways, tracing the veins that covered her knuckles. He thought about kissing them as gently as he could, if it would mean relieving her stress further, and showing that he adored her more than she knew. But it remained just that, a thought. They have more pressing matters, after all.

Finally, Zelda took a deep breath, and stared down at her hands enclosed in her knights one last time, and then looked into his honest eyes. "Then, it's settled. I'll tell my father our plan, and then we'll prepare to leave." A twinge of concern revealed on her face once more. "Do..do you think I can do it in time?"

All he did was smile kindly, giving her the most genuine look he ever has. Suddenly, she wasn't so scared anymore.

[the-sinful-voice-witch]

The Time has come, I shall speak now about my one true pairing, the couple I love the most in Sonic's universe: Knuckles×Rouge

Knouge is a relationship trope that simply works sooooo fucking well!!😖😖 It's fresh juice of the finest quality👌👌, I have seen this kind of relationship a lot: Scrooge x Goldie, Carmelita x Sly, Puss x kitty and of course Batman x Catwoman... 😏😏 (by the way all this couples already kissed, what the fuck are you waiting for SEGA? 😒😒) Is basically the kind of relationship that has losts of banter and tension and honestly they give a lot of material for good juicy stories.

This was the first relationship that could be considered canon in the games regarding having mutual feelings for each other (because at that time Sonic didn't have the relationship with Amy that he has now). When Rouge was introduced in Sonic Adventure 2, she was created to be Knuckles' rival in skills but not only that, she was intended to be also his love interest in a more specific way but in the end they decided to keep things more subtle and not as completely obvious as Amy's display of feelings for Sonic, also she was going to be named Nails the bat, so Nails 💅 and Knuckles 👊 rhymes with Tails but they named her ROUGE which means RED in French a ROMANCE language, red like Knuckles I'm just saying.

SA2 in fact has the very first "romantic" scene between two sonic characters, because absolutely no one will convince me ever that the moment when he saves her and they look into each other's eyes holding hands wasn't a romantic scene, like seriously 😤😏👇

and look what I found, this is an official sonic book from SEGA:

Do we need more proof than this? Ok 👌 let's continue then:

So the best words to describe them are: "Polar opposites attraction" "Pure vs flirtatious" "Honor vs dirty play" "Guardian vs Thief" "Endless banter" "Arguing married couple" And of course: "SEXUAL TENSION" 😂😂 even in the damn soundtrack!! Have you listened to Knuckles theme? "Kick the rock (Wild Canyon)" SEGA approved that song! 😂 Here let me show the best part of the lyrics:

"I gotta chase a bat, uh" "Yeah Rouge she is sexy and smooth, a double cross spy thief that's out for my jewels, uh! I'm feeling her in mysterious ways" Boy... Knuckles suddenly got hit by puberty or something 😂😂 he was unknowingly horny for her already...

"Who could'a did this? That snitch named Rouge! When I catch her I'm gonna get her with these tools" There you are, come here little thief! Think you going to fly and get away quick? Uh, uh! Give up the Emerald or die! I don't love you!! " And now he becomes a tsundere denying feelings nobody asked him if he has 😂 and we all know he wouldn't let her die.

Also the most important thing that makes them absolutely canon is that Sonic ships them, Sonic's shipping mind is indisputable, he did it a few times already: in Sonic Rivals he asks them if they are on a date, in one of Sonic's phone games they start arguing because Knuckles was salty that Rouge was so nice wishing Sonic happy birthday and that she wasn't that nice to him in HIS birthday (jealous much?) and Sonic says to tails that that is true love and then Rouge goes full tsundere denying it 😂😂😂, precious 👌👌.

Let's also mention what happened in sonic X specifically with the original Japanese dub, Rouge just wouldn't stop flirting (+backstabbing let's be honest😛) and knuckles wouldn't stop reacting to it 😂

In this scene ☝ in Japanese she purposely asked him if he was "active" At night too 🤣🤣🤣 she just meant she is active at night because she is a bat... But the way she said that 😆, she was known for making lots of dirty jokes in the Japanese version... Ok but leaving that aside I want to mention only one specific moment because in general the dynamic was the same: she flirts and jokes, he falls for it ect... But this scene was my favorite because this was literally a date.

Don't fight me. THIS WAS A DATE.👇👇

So many things to say about this scene, first the romantic full moon night background, in Japan when someone says the "moon is beautiful tonight" Means "I like/love you", unfortunately none of them said anything like that but with all this is just plain obvious this was a romantic setting, Rouge was trying to get Knuckles to be emotional because she knows he misses Sonic and wanted him to think she is so caring and compassionate and give her jewels 😂 but he ends up being stubborn breaking the mood and accuses her to be the one who misses him making her angry and start a fight but after a while they see Sonic in the sky and Rouge says they look dumb and wonders why were they fighting for in the first place, Knuckles laughs at her messy face and THEN she playfully jumps on him and he says she is tickling him??????? Of course this part is conveniently out of camera and we can only hear whatever the hell they are doing 😂😏 but now think about it... What were they doing? She was on top of him on the floor under the moonlight tickling him.... AND NOTHING ELSE HAPPENED?? Yeah come on! I don't believe that 😏, we know Rouge doesn't waste time:

Boy that's an ugly ugly comic and speaking of comics, remembering the old Archie comics too... After that dark era where Rouge was a unfairly represented as a villainous cruel bitch 😤🤬 there was a reboot before the IDW reboot and finally my waifu got at least some justice! I just love this particular comic where she shows how she actually respects Knuckles and cares about him, she is someone who never gets attached too much to big responsibilities if that cuts her freedom, she values her freedom (something in common with Sonic) and she wanted Knuckles to have that kind of freedom too:

Look at her being a peacemaker between her boyfriend and brother 😆. Well anyway I hope Ian Flynn gets more freedom eventually because it's clear he is holding back in the current Sonic comics😭😭😭 (even made a joke with the love triangle 😂😂)

Let's give it time... They managed to put some furry lesbians in the comic so anything is possible... I'll just wait forever 🥲🥲🥲🥲

And well we also got some good stuff in Sonic Prime!! 😍😍😍 we finally saw him carrying her bridal style in a angst situation 🤩🤩🤩 for a brief moment and from long distance camera shot but is still something 🥲🥲 just zoom it.

Well, that's it. Enough evidence IT'S CANON. Caso Cerrado😂😂😂

[inneedofsupervision]

Roll Call

Summary: Hajime is making his daily roll call when he notices that one of the Inmates of Cell Thirteen is missing. It is always troublesome dealing with them, and the prison director doesn't know what will happen if he gets his hand on Number 15 when he finds the teen. But he can promise one thing. Inmate 15 will regret running away again. (Re-upload) (also edited)

Lee! Jyugo / Ler! Hajime

"Cell Thirteen, roll call!"

Hajime walked over to unceremoniously knock with the back of his hand against the heavy iron door before promptly kicking it open. Black boots stopped in front of a heap of bodies lying motionlessly on the ground. His eyebrow twitched in annoyance, and he kicked against the nearest person, earning a tired groan. The pile of libs twitched and began moving.

"Number 69!"

"Yes, yes. I'm awake. No need to scream like that."

The tall young man with the number 69 tattooed on his forearm rubbed the sleep out of his eyes before getting up from where he had been lying. The man walked past the door, mindlessly raking his fingers through his colorful mess of hair that could rival a bird's nest.

"Fix your bed hair," commanded Hajime, fist clenching when Inmate 69 rolled his eyes at his words. Deciding to not waste more time on the American, Hajime continued the most disliked part of his morning routine.

"Number 11!"

"Huh?"

A blanket gets shoved to the side, revealing the face of Inmate 11.

"Oh, hi Hajime," said Uno, not bothering to get up. He threw the prison director one of his trademark smirks as he began brushing his hair. Hajime's eyebrow ticked in annoyance as Inmate 11 began braiding his hair in insouciance as if owning all time in the world.

Hajime just rolled his eyes and continued.

"Number 25!"

"Mhhh?"

The teen branded with said number was still lying on his futon, not moving an inch.

"Stop sleeping!" Hajime was growing angry.

He stomped into the cell, ignoring the protest of Inmate 11 as he kicked a bunch of the blond's hair products to the side to slap the green-haired teen on the back of his head, which made Number 25 finally open his eyes.

Inmate 25 blinked slowly before his eyes focused on the bald man.

"Ah, it's Hajime-chan," chirped the teen with his usual cheerful voice, suddenly full of energy, which made the man roll his eyes. It's always the same with these idiots.

"Only one is missing," thought Hajime, taking a deep breath as he couldn't catch a glimpse of Inmate 15.

"Number 15!" he called out.

The three other cellmates continued their morning routine, not minding the man who checked under every futon and even under the sink, his expression turning sinister with every second he couldn't find the teen.

"Number 15!"

He scanned the cell with his eyes, frustration growing.

"Ah, you're searching for Jyugo?"

Rock turned around, catching Hajime going through their heap of dirty clothes piled in a corner, now furiously checking everywhere for the youngest inmate.

"I woke up in the middle of the night, and he wasn't there. He might have sneaked out in need of a little midnight snack? Did you check the canteen already?"

"You're the only one here who would break out for food in the middle of the night, Rock." Uno laughed and playfully slapped the taller man on the back. The blond wriggled his eyebrows, a playful smirk growing on his face.

"I bet he sneaked out to see a girl~."

Uno clung to Rock and made some silly kiss movements in his direction, which made the purple-red-haired man snicker as he playfully pushed Uno's face away.

"I don't think that Jyugo would break out to meet someone. Maybe he wanted to get some new manga?" Nico grinned brilliantly as he shared his idea. The other two wore thoughtful expressions as if actually considering that nonsense as possible. Hajime clenched his fists, a vein popping out on his forehead, feeling the rage boiling in him as he listened to the pointless chatter between inmates 69, 11, and 25.

"How can you all be this dense?" he asked, shaking his head. He tramped over to the door before turning around.

"Seitaro will take you to the canteen while I search for your stupid friend. If one of you decides to try something funny, then you can prepare yourself for a punishment. Am I clear?"

"Yes!"

Uno, Rock, and Nico answered quickly, swallowing aloud as Hajime threw his infamous death glare at them.

"I hope Jyugo will be okay," said Rock, flinching as the door slammed shut with a bang. Nico and Uno could only nod in silent agreement. Hajime could be very scary when he grew angry.

In the meantime, the man had reached the control room.

"Supervisor! Inmate 15 has escaped again!" cried Seitaro, who had been waiting for him and was close to bursting out in tears as he ran up to his chef. Hajime rubbed his hand over his face, done with all the commotion. Couldn't he have one single morning where everything follows the routine? He sat down at the desk where a wall of monitors was set up, eyes scanning over them. The digits of the alarm clock above them go up, reminding them that they earned another minute with one of their inmates missing. Hajime banged a fist onto the table, a cup with stale coffee cluttering at the power he hit the desk.

"Seitaro!"

"Y-Yes, Supervisor?" asked the younger man, straightening up at the sharp call of his chef.

"You go bring the inmates from Cell Thirteen to the canteen. I will find Number 15 by myself."

"Yes, Supervisor!" cries Seitaro loudly and salutes. He nearly stumbles while hurrying out of the room to fulfill the orders. Hajime sighed again. Days like these made him question if it was worth the trouble. He considered calling the prison directors of the other buildings to inform them of their runaway. He quickly decided against it. Scenarios of what he would have to listen to if one of the other directors would catch his Inmate, Number 15 of all people, run wild in his head. He would be reminded of it at every meeting. The director's face pulled into a grimace. Dealing with these idiots of Cell Thirteen brought nothing but headaches and masses of paperwork. Hajime deactivated the sirens. The sound didn't help his growing headache. The man sighed before checking the cameras. It didn't matter how much security feed he skimmed through. Number 15 was nowhere to be seen. If Hajime wasn't so pissed, he might have been impressed by the sixteen-year-old for breaking out of his cell with such ease. He puts his hat down and runs a gloved hand over his head in thought, trying to think of where the teen could have disappeared.

His head tilted as a weird noise reached his ears. Turning in his chair, Hajime raises an eyebrow.

"What are you doing there, Kuu?"

The feline in question, which had been scratching at the door leading into the break room, stops to meow before trying again to get into the room.

Hajimes frowned when he stood up and walked over to the door, wondering why his cat would want to go there. Kuu had never shown interest in the break room before. Opening the door, Hajime is greeted by darkness, which Kuu doesn't seem to mind as the cat strides between his legs into the room, heading for the direction where the bed for the staff stands. Hajime was about to turn on the lights when something made him stop mid-movement. It was the sound of soft snoring. His eyes narrowed.

Turning on the lights and stepping into the room, the prison director of Building Thirteen had to take a deep breath, refraining from throwing something as the fury was about to boil over. On the bed right in front of him laid Inmate 15, whom he had so furiously searched for just seconds ago, sleeping peacefully. The vein on Hajimes forehead grew before he stomped over to the sleeping teen and promptly ripped away the blanket Inmate 15 was clinging to.

"Hmm, it's cold," muttered Jyugo when he suddenly got pulled out of his sleep by the feeling of cold air hitting his skin. His hands searched for the blanket but stopped when they couldn't find it. Mismatched eyes opened only to look right into Hajime's angry black ones.

"Oh, hi Hajime," muttered the still sleep-drunken teen, not sensing the dark vibes that evaporated from the jailer. He lazily rubbed the sleep out of his eyes, blinking as a gigantic yawn passed his lips.

"Don't "Hi" me, you idiot!" shouted Hajime, promptly kicking the drowsy teen from the bed.

"That hurt!"

"I hope it does."

Jyugo pouted as he sat up and rubbed his side where the kick had hit him. Hajime glanced over his shoulder at the clock display, eyes narrowing. He couldn't believe how much time he had wasted on this idiot already.

"Stand up. We have to bring you to the canteen, although I doubt you earned a breakfast," retorted Hajime, waiting impatiently for the teen to move.

"Don't wanna," said the black-red-haired boy, who was now sitting cross-legged on the ground, pouting. "I'm not hungry."

"I don't care if you don't want to or not. You gonna move your ass. Now!"

"I don't care if you care or not," remarked Jyugo, squinting at the man.

Hajime clenched his fist. Jyugo looked up when he noticed a movement, and his stomach tightened when he saw Hajimes expression as the man stalked over to him with his fists tightly clenched. The teen instinctively moved backward, only to jump when he felt the cold stone wall of the room pressing against the thin fabric of his clothes. He should have refrained from provoking Hajime, aware of the man's remarkably short temper, but now it was too late. Jyugo might be the best at breaking out of jails, but out of this situation, he couldn't escape. He should have kept quiet for once. Jyugo swallowed as Hajime came closer. When the director stood before him, his boots only inches from touching his leg, the boy couldn't help but squeeze his eyes shut in fear of a strong punch awaiting him. And so his surprised yell was even louder when he suddenly got thrown over a board shoulder.

"If you don't want to go, I will make you."

Jyugo, who was still too shocked from being suddenly carried like a sack of potatoes, needed a few moments before he started squirming in the director's hold.

"Let me down!" protested the teen as he struggled and kicked in the hold. Hajime grimaced at the screaming and cursing next to his ear but continued walking down the corridor, not giving a damn about the kicking and protesting inmate hanging over his shoulder.

"Hajime," whined Jyugo after noticing that shouting didn't help and tried to pray the arm and hand off. He despised the thought of Hajime carrying him to, and even worse, into the canteen. He knew that the man would even go as far as to only let him down when they arrived at their table. Jyugo could already hear the teasing he would receive for it, causing a dark blush to creep up his neck to the tip of his ears. He had to get Hajime to let him down, and that fast!

"This isn't funny, Hajime! I mean it. Let me down!" cried the teen, and his struggling increased again as his frustration grew with every step the guard made.

"You bought this on yourself," reminded the man coldly, which led to Jyugo angrily hitting with his fists on his back while chanting, "Let me down, let me down," and kicking his legs.

"God, can't you just stay still for a moment?" asked the taller man and tightened his grip around the teen's waist just in case but stopped in his tracks when he felt the small body on his shoulder jump at the touch.

Jyugo managed to hold the squeal in when a finger dug into his sides, and he quickly muffled the sound by pressing a hand over his mouth.

"Number 15?" asked Hajime when the struggling, hitting, and shouting stopped abruptly, and the body on his shoulder stiffened. A frown appeared on his face at the lack of an answer. Hajime loosened his hold around the teen's waist, lowering him carefully to the ground.

"Are you injured?"

"N-no," answered Jyugo while avoiding eye contact, causing the man's frown to deepen. The prison director of Building Thirteen took pride in controlling his strength. The more it confused him how the teen had reacted when he fastened his hold on him. The kick from earlier couldn't have caused such an injury, and Number 15 also wasn't one to hold back complaining if something bothered him. The teen hadn't said anything about being hurt, causing Hajime to grow frustrated with not knowing what in the world caused that violent flinch.

"And what's with that jump just now?" asked Hajime, clearly not believing the boy, a bit suspicious about No.15 unusual behavior.

"It was nothing. Didn't you want to bring me to the canteen? Then let's go," tried the teen to change the subject, and was about to go when a hand gripped his wrist and held him back.

"If you aren't hurt, why flinch like that? If you are injured, we're going to the prison doctor," said the man and was about to drag the teen in said direction when Jyugo began to protest.

"I don't need to go to the doctor. I'm fine!"

Hajime sighed at the stubborn teen before he stopped and turned around. Number 15 had the nerve to glare at him.

"If you don't want to go to the doctor, fine, but I will not let you out of my eye without checking if you are unharmed. I am obligated to prevent you and your cellmates from getting harmed. If there is a suspicion of injury, I must act on it."

"Why aren't you believing me? I said I'm fine!"

Jyugo had almost been touched by Hajime's words, not used to the man talking this openly about trying to keep them from getting hurt, if it weren't for the fact that the man was still about to look at his waist, undoubtedly needing to touch him and thus exposing his until now, well-kept secret.

He tried making a dash for it. He must have given away his idea somehow, as a pair of arms blocked his way before he could do one step. Jyugo's eyes widened, and he tried to stop from running straight into Hajimes arms but failed spectacularly. In his attempt to slow down, he stumbled over his feet, falling face forward, and crashed into a muscled chest.

"You are not making this easier on yourself, Number 15."

With these words, Hajime pinned Jyugos wrist with one hand against the wall behind him and promptly started to strobe the teen's body in search of injuries or bruises.

"Hey, get your hands off! You cannot just touch me. That has to be against more than one law."

Hajime stopped at that, glancing down at the teen, almost impressed. The corner of his mouth pulled up.

"You are right about that," he calmly stated.

"Then get your hands off me, you perv," growled Jyugo, waiting to be freed, only to stare shockedly at the man as the other just kept going.

"What are you doing? You just said you're not allowed to do that!"

"In case of allegedly keeping weapons, Guards have the permission to search inmates at all times."

"Weapons? I don't have any weapons on me," protested the teen, not believing what he just heard. "That's a bad excuse!"

Hajime ignored his protest and continued looking for hidden injuries, not caring for being called out on him, bending the rules as he pleased. Meanwhile, Jyugo had to bite his teeth together so he wouldn't make any telltale sounds. His jaw clenched, and his body was tense as a bowstring as the finger fluttered over the soft textile of his uniform. It came close to impossible as his upper ribs, sides, and the front of his stomach got thoroughly prodded and touched. If Hajime found out that he had flinched because it had tickled, then Jyugo was sure he would die of embarrassment. No one knew he was ticklish, and Jyugo would like to keep it that way. It was already hard enough to avoid getting involved in the tickle fights that seemed to break out permanently between the other three members of their cell. Jyugo knew that he would be screwed when his cellmates found out just how ticklish he was.

So, one could imagine why the teen wasn't eager for Hajime to find out about his little secret first. It seemed he didn't have to die jet as Hajime looked to have finished his examination. Jyugo relaxed and noticed that he had been holding his breath the whole time the older man had looked for bruises or broken bones.

"Ah, wait, I haven't looked at your lower ribs yet," said the taller man. Before Jyugo's brain registered just what came out of Hajime's mouth, fingers were softly digging into his sides and lowest rib. The teen couldn't suppress his body from violently flinching away. The tiniest giggle escaped him, and Jyugo prayed to God above that Hajime didn't hear it, but luck wasn't on his side today.

"What was that?" asked Hajime, surprised. He looked at a now furiously blushing Number 15.

"N-nothing. You're done with examining me now, aren't you? No weapons, no injuries, or whatever you searched. You can let me go now." During his nervous speech, Jyugo had pulled at his wrists to underline his point.

"Did you just giggle?" asked Hajime, who didn't let himself be fooled by the younger man and poked experimentally at Jyugo's side.

"Come on, Hajime, let me go. There is no point in STOP IT!"

Jyugo shrieked and tried to bend his body to the side as the older man playfully poked his sides a few times, trying everything to avoid the hands. Hajime's lips curled into a sly smirk as the realization hit him.

"You're ticklish."

Hearing these two words was enough to drain all color of Jyugo's face. It got worse when he registered that it hadn't even been a question. Hajime knew. Their director knew he was ticklish. It would only be a matter of minutes until everyone would know.

"Oh my god."

The whimper came over his lips before he could stop it. The paleness got chased away as a bright red blush crawled onto the teen's face.

"That's what you have been trying so hard to hide, huh?"

The tone in the director's voice sent shivers down Jyugos spine, and he knew by the gleam that was glinting in the man's eyes that he was screwed.

"Me being ticklish? No, that would be way too childi-hmpf!" Jyugo had tried to play the question off with a sassy remark but barely managed to hold in a high-pitched squeal. Hajime pulled his hand away from where his pointer had reached out to poke the teen in the middle of his stomach.

"What's wrong, Number 15? Are you certain that you're not hurting anywhere? Maybe I should look at your ribs again to make sure?" asked the prison director with mock concern before he pretended to check Jyugo's ribcage. He poked and prodded between the sensitive bones, making it difficult for the black-red-haired teen to hold still. The higher the fingers wandered, the more Jyugo twitched and squirmed under the touch, tightly pressing his lips together, trying to prevent the giggles from revealing his poorly kept secret. He was so embarrassed by this whole situation. The teen couldn't give Hajime the satisfaction of breaking him. When Hajime reached his highest rib, the teen couldn't help the snicker that made it past his lips.

"Hmm, did I find a bruise here? Let's better check that, right?"

Hajime would never admit it, but this little discovery of Number 15 weakness is entertaining him immensely. With a grin, he wiggled his fingers at Jyugos outstretched armpit. At this point, the professional jailbreaker couldn't hold it in anymore. Bubbly laughter sputtered out of him like water without the fingers even touching him.

"Not ticklish. Of course, that's exactly what not ticklish looks like."

Hajime smirked, switching places and tickling the young teen's unprotected tummy. Jyugo's knees bucked under him, his legs barely holding his widely squirming body upwards when he threw his head back, loud childish giggles and shrieks escaping him.

"Nyahahah, Hajihihimehe don't," cackled the young man as fingers dug into the soft sides of his stomach, sending ticklish sparks through his body and making him jump as they hit a sensitive spot. He had a lot of those. Jyugo pulled at his wrist, trying to lower his arms and protect himself from the tickling. Once again, he had to accept that their director would always be the stronger of the two whenever it came to bodily strength. The man was just too strong, and Jyugo couldn't do anything but laugh and contort helplessly when Hajime mercilessly attacked his upper body with tickles.

"Don't what? I thought you weren't ticklish," mocked Hajime, smirking as he pinched the spot right under the teen's armpit and over his highest rib, which made Jyugos legs give in. He was now only being held up by the Hajime's grip on his wrists.

"Nahaha Hajimehe I-I canahahn't," whined Jyugo through his laughter and chortled as fingers started wriggling in his outstretched armpit before they wandered down and gave his hipbone an experimental squeeze. The teen nearly kicked Hajime against his shin at that.

"I hope you learned your lesson for breaking out of your cell and sleeping in the night duty room again," said Hajime calmly while reaching for the teen's leg, giving his knee some good squeezes, which made the boy scream in laughter.

"YEHEHEHES. I-I PROHOHMIHIHSEHE! NAHA, STOHOHOP PLEHEHE."

Jyugo couldn't even finish the sentence anymore. Tears of laughter started gathering in the corner of his eyes while his body twitched and bucked under Hajime's touch.

"You're sure?" asked Hajime, teasing the teen to ensure he learned his lesson.

"Yehehess!" was all the cackling boy could bring out between shaky giggles before the other finally let go of him. Jyugo tiredly slid down the wall, panting hard as he wiped a tear from his cheek.

"You nearly killed me," complained the panting teen as he glared tiredly at the guard.

"That wouldn't have happened if you would sleep in your bed. At the next roll call, I don't want to see you anywhere except your cell. Did I make myself clear?"

The guard turned his head sideways as the corner of his lips turned up in amusement. He had never seen Number 15 like this. The teen was thoroughly spent, head resting against the wall with his eyes closed, almost as if he was ready to go back to sleep. Jyugo gave him a tired note, too drained to verbally answer.

"That's how one gets to shut you up, huh? I need to remember that. Get up now. I won't listen to your complaining about getting hungry later when you missed breakfast."

At that, Jyugo lifted his head, a challenging gleam in his eyes.

"I could break out and get myself something to eat any time of the day."

He regretted the words as soon as he said them, as the next moment, he found himself back on Hajime's shoulder.

"Hajime, let me down! It was a joke! Seriously, let me down. Hajime, please, they will make fun of me!"

"You should have thought about that before being mouhty."

"Hajime!"

Hajime shook his head at the protest. God, how he hates roll calls.

[toxicanonymity]

Heyyyyy! You can totally ignore this 🙏🏻 but as someone who’s now read most of what you wrote for Joel and enjoyed (!) it, I was wondering if you ever had to justify to yourself the topics you are writing about. I know it’s a fantasy that doesn’t reflect supporting those narratives irl. But do the topics affect you in any way while writing or do you not let it have any hold of you? I’m sorry this is so serious but you are the first fic writer dealing with this stuff that I actively read (after roughly 15 years of reading/writing fanfic) so I’m asking in good spirits and mean no harm or negativity. All the best and I wish you many more successful stories 🙏🏻🌻 ty for the great reads!!

Okay, I’m nervous to answer this one.  I hope the answer doesn't upset you because that's not at all my intent.  I'm only gonna answer a Q like this once, so fuck it we ball . Only read this if you're comfortable with all of my work.

A few weeks ago, I was talking to my personal trainer about this, and it just so happens that his husband is a sex therapist. Kink friendly, and I know they swing, so that put me at ease and I got in touch with him. Also drug friendly which is good because I had to get high before my first appointment bc I was nervous lol.   Random, but when I got there, I found out he also shares a waiting room with a massage parlor, so that's kinda cool too.  

First Appointment: Idk how many waivers I had to sign but I didn't read a word of them.  Let’s call him Dr. Rock  for short - When Dr. Rock came out to get me, I shouldn't have been surprised given his husband is a PT, but this guy was super imposing, like muscles making his arms stick out from his body.  At the first appointment, he wanted to know some of my specific characters and stories, which I didn't expect.  I was a little shy about that at first, but he kinda coaxed it out of me and listened really attentively.  He even took a few notes which made me nervous at first, but he didn't ask any judgmental questions.  I felt good when I left, but the next week I was still a little nervous to come back just in case he was waiting until the second session to spring any "concern" on me. 

Second Appointment: When I showed up for the second session, he didn't come get me from the waiting room. I was the last appointment of the day and he was running behind, catching up on paperwork, and the receptionist said I could go on back. I walked into his office and it reeked of weed. And he had already taken off his shirt and was wearing a tight undershirt. Okay, Dr. Rock is cool.  He invited me to sit at his desk that time instead of the sofa, and I worried it was a bad sign, but it turned out that’s just where the ashtray was.  Dr. Rock  lit up an actual joint, took a puff, then tried to hand it to me.  I declined, I guess I was just flustered.  Kinda smoothed my skirt then sat back down.  He put the joint down in the ashtray, I thought that’s that. 

Then he lunged across his desk, took my head in both his hands, and brought his mouth about an inch away from mine.  I opened my mouth, totally frozen, and he exhaled into it.  Yeah, Dr. Rock shotgunned me.  Then I looked down, and what was he wearing with that tight-ass shirt?  PJ pants.  Coincidence?  Wasn’t sure, until he said “yeah, there’s my bad girl.  You couldn’t sign those waivers fast enough, could ya?” He slid across his desk, Saved by the Bell style,  I stood up to not get knocked over.  He walked over and double-locked his office door.   I must've been beet red.  Like almost too mortified to be turned on, until he got right up against me and he was hard. I walked backwards to the couch and he pinned me on it.  

I was like, “Uh, is J (husband) cool with -” 

“Don’t you worry ‘bout him..” He started gnawing at my neck.  Shoved his hand between my legs.  And yes, yes I was.  He was like “Ohh yeah, you know you want it.  Let’s see how depraved you can be.”  He took off my panties, pulled down his waistband, railed me.  At first, I was kinda distracted thinking about if he was gonna ask me questions at the end and stuff, but he was actually really good and well equipped and I forgot all about it after a minute. He was like “Yeah, you want this cock, that’s why you came here in the first place. Hell, J prolly told ya how to get it.” I was speechless.  When he was close, he said “Lemme see those filthy fingers you’re always typin’ with.”  Then he came into both my hands.   

-

Third Appointment:  Next time I came in, I was expecting to have a traditional appointment and have to talk about my feelings in the previous experience and stuff.  I was really nervous.  Once again, he didn’t come get me from the waiting room, and I was told to go back to his office.  But that time, he wasn’t at his desk or even in his office.  I sat on the couch - felt less like I was invading his Dr. space that way.  I was sitting there in his office, picking lint off my skirt, and out of the corner of my eye I saw someone his size lumber through the door.  

I did a double take - blue mechanic suit, popped collar. Triple take - Michael Myers mask, WHAT? My heart was beating out of my chest. I stood up as a reflex. He stood there wiggling his fingers at his sides almost imperceptibly. Then he pulled a knife out! He wrapped his hand around my throat, walked me into the wall, and just stood there.  He put the knife up to my throat and I kind of whimpered, and maybe he realized he went too far, because he threw the knife to the floor.  Then he just stood there holding me against the wall.  I was like, “Should I.. what do you want me to do?”  And he just tilted his head at me.  I looked down and sure enough there was a huge bulge in his jumpsuit.  So I went for it, I unzipped him.  He breathed heavily in the mask, then aggressively lifted up my dress and ripped open my stockings.  Then he railed me up against the wall. Didn't say a word the whole time.  Finished, left me there, didn't come back. 

-

Fourth Appointment:  This was gonna be a little awkward because I had an appointment at the gym with J. right after my appointment with Dr. Rock.  I didn’t know how much Dr. Rock shared with J.  Dr. Rock was running behind again and I started getting nervous about making it to the gym in time to work out with J.  I texted J. to tell him I was running late, and he didn’t respond.  After waiting for like 30 minutes, I decided to leave because I didn’t want to miss my training session. 

I got to my car, started to unlock it, then heard, "Don't you fuckin' dare."  I turned around, and Dr. Rock was pointing a rifle at me?? My heart almost stopped. I think this was an actual rifle. I live in Texas so I wouldn't be surprised.   It was slung over his back with a strap and all.  I looked down and he was wearing boots and TACTICAL fucking JEGGINGS.  He put me over his shoulder  at first and started back toward the building and I was so nervous about the rifle swaying right next to my head. 

I said, "please, I can walk." 

"Alright, sweet pea but you better move those pretty legs." 

He put me down and manhandled me inside, NOT into his office, but into the massage parlor and threw me down on a DIRTY old massage table.  Here's the kicker - there were clients in this room.  A bunch of depraved men waiting for their happy ending.  He unbuckled his belt while making me pull down my pants and choose where I wanted him. Then he pounded me from behind and pulled me up against his chest.  He lifted my shirt and bra up so all the clients could see and degraded them while he fucked me. Like, "yeah this is what y'all came for innit? Buncha sickos.  Well she's not workin'.  Not this one. You won't fuckin see her again. Better jack it now while ya have the chance." He made the whole room of clients jerk off.    Then, when Dr. Rock  was about to come, he pulled out, pumped himself,  walked over to the nearest table, and came all over the client, who started sobbing.  Then Dr. Rock came back to my table and said "you did good, sweet pea" and left.  

When I got back to my car, I had a text from J. that said, “Get a good enough workout?”

-

Sorry for answering your sincere ask this way, but thanks for the perfect opportunity to apply this concept. Hopefully an entertaining way of declining to get serious?

[bellysoupset]

someone going christmas shopping on black friday, but getting sick while going shopping but they cant leave bc the deals are too good 🥴 so they suffer through their illness to get deals on christmas presents

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Lucas asked, without looking up from his laptop, squinting at the screen. Bella rolled her eyes, zipping up her top and crawling on the bed, so she could plant a kiss on lips, startling him.

"I'm a grown woman," she whispered, wiping the red lipstick mark from his lips, "I can handle going to the mall by myself."

"You had brain surgery-"

"Twenty days ago," Bella scoffed, pulling back, "stop babying me and finish your thesis."

"Uhm," Luke huffed, rubbing a hand over his face, "bring me a milkshake from McDonald's?"

"Sure," she turned around, jumping from the bed and grabbing a coat and a scarf in their wardrobe, "finish your thesis and I'll bring you a happy meal."

Lucas rolled his eyes, but opened an amused smile, "promise me you'll call if anything anything happens," he said, measuring her up, "really, babe, I think you should just wait and then we can go-"

"That thesis will not write itself," Bella walked to the door, grabbing her purse hanging on the doorknob of the bedroom, "stop worrying about me and worry about finishing your degree, Atwood."

"Call me if anything happens!" Lucas called after her, as Bella walked out of their room. Their house was so tiny she could still hear him clearly from the living room as he said, in a normal tone, "and I want a strawberry milkshake! And text me about the happy meal toy, don't pick for me!"

"I'm gonna use your car!" Bella yelled back instead, digging through his backpack for the key and she could almost picture him shrugging, "what do you want for Christmas again?"

"You're ruining the surprise!"

She bit down a smile, stepping out of the house while yelling back, "You're getting coal!"

At twenty of November, their tiny town was freezing. They had already had their first snow, although right now it wasn't snowing, just windy and the roads slippery. Lucas had put on the snow chains on both their wheels, the worrywart that he was.

Bella rubbed her hands together, climbing inside Luke's truck and fiddling with his mirror and seat. It was weird to be out of the house by herself after so long. She understood completely Lucas worry, after everything that had happened.

Her memory of the first ten days since leaving the hospital was splotchy at best. There were sequence of events she remembered vividly, then there were entire days missing, that Luke sometimes referenced and got a blank stare in response.

She had spent so much time sleeping, her skin had never been as refreshened. Bella felt like she had enough energy now to stay out partying for three days in a row, so the mall should be easy enough to handle.

Besides, it was Black Friday. Well, Black Monday, but whatever, most mall stores took "Black Friday" as meaning the whole week, sometimes the last two weeks of November even. Bella wanted to catch the good deals, she had so many Christmas gifts to pursue, her list was long and worryingly expensive since Jonah and Wendy were in it.

Why couldn't everyone be a Vince?

Snorting at the thought, Bella put the car on reverse to get out of their driveway and started the shopping trip.

There was only one mall in town, so of course it was packed full of people. Ideally Bella would've driven to the next metropole, where she could get better malls, with better stores and she was pretty sure she was not going to find anything for Jonah in this mall, but for today it'd do.

Her list of people was terribly long, so Bell opted for starting with the easy ones. Vince was getting a new biker jacket, since he had ripped his favorite one to pieces during his accident and hadn't replaced it yet. Bella didn't trust Wendy on getting him something that was as rock n' roll as he'd like, so she knew it was a gift she could ace easily.

Leo was getting a coffee machine, which Bell knew was something he'd give her grief for overspending, but she fully planned on telling him it was a gift from her and her mother.

Something she hadn't accounted for was carrying the packages herself. Bella mentally cursed herself on not taking Luke's offer to go shopping together and switched the two big boxes around in her arms, before deciding the only course of action was to go back to the parking lot and getting them in the trunk of the car and then go back to shopping.

It was a detour she hadn't planned and it killed her momentum instantly, causing Bell to pout as she felt the exhaustion she had become very familiar with hit her like a wall of bricks.

She sat back down on the driver's seat, the door still wide open, trying to catch her breath. This was so annoying. She had been up for what? Ten hours? Only four of those really doing anything and yet Bella felt every bit like she could just curl up in the backseat and sleep until morning.

"Fuck," she rubbed her arms, clenching and unclenching her hands, trying to force her energy back up. Luke had texted her already, a well meaning "everything ok?" but that only made her more pissed off.

Bella jumped from the car, slamming the door shut. She was not leaving until she had finished her list.

She was onto the harder people and Bella grind her teeth as she felt a headache bloom behind her right eye as she looked around some fancy store in search of Wendy's gift.

Some poor attendant tried to help her, but Bella had only stared at the girl, unable to string together that not only she didn't need help, she really couldn't deal with someone else right now.

Wendy's gift ended up being a bust, so she dejectedly left the store, heading to a Bath&Body store to get something for Vince's mom and her own mother.

Bella was waiting at the huge cashier line when she felt a tickling at her nose, the pressure behind her eyes increasing exponentially. She groaned, cradling her head and planting the basket at her feet, waiting for the feeling to pass.

It didn't pass, not even after someone touched her gently in the back and told her she was next in line, not even once Bella was out of the store and sitting by the fountain, cradling her head in her hands and staring at her combat boots.

She was struggling to make up which way was up or down with how fuzzy everything felt and the pressure in her sinus told Bella she had only a handful of minutes before her nose started gushing blood.

Luke was the first one on speed dial, so she clumsily pressed around her phone, holding it to her ear and feeling a sharp sting not only to her eyes, but to her pride. She knew he wouldn't say I-told-you-so, not when she was feeling so bad, but he'd certainly act it. Being twice as concerned, when all she wanted was her life back.

"Bell?" Lucas answered, already sounding worried, "what's up?"

"Lu..." She cursed herself for sounding so whiny, taking slow breaths to try and collect her thoughts, "can you come get me?"

There was a gasp, then moving around, "yeah baby, where are you?"

"The mall... Third floor, near the fo- fuck - near the fountain" She sniffled, touching her nose just as a she felt liquid starting to drip. Her fingers came back red.

"What's wrong?" Luke asked anxiously and she could clearly hear him opening the door, the wind howling behind him, "Bella?"

"My head hurts, my nose is bleeding, I don't- I don't know what to do..." She felt incredibly useless.

"Alright, stay where you are, okay? I'll be there in five," Luke promised and she heard more shuffling around, before he mumbled a quick, "see you soon, love you." And hung up.

She let her head hang, squeezing her nose with clumsy fingers. Bella was vaguely aware she should move to a bathroom and get the mess contained, before she looked like a glutton vampire, but she couldn't bring herself to get up. All the energy she had mustered up to finish shopping was quickly vanishing and colorful dots were dancing before her vision, an annoying hum in her ears.

"Hey, hey, hey-" Lucas' hand cupped her face and Bella blinked, unsure if she had blacked out or just spaced out. Both options were equally mortifying, "Bell? Can you hear me?"

For all his panic, Bella had to give him credit for not immediately dragging her to a hospital like she knew he wanted to. She nodded, forcing her eyes to stay open, "...msorry, I just... My head..."

"It's okay, it's alright," his fingers, the ones near her nose and mouth, were sticking to her skin. It was not okay. Her eyes teared up and Bella let out a little whimper, grabbing his wrist.

"Luke... I'm br-broken..."

"Don't say that," he glared at her, shaking her slightly, "you're just stubborn, you're still healing."

"No, I'm broken f-forever..." now big, fat tears started to stream down her face and Bella lowered her forehead to his shoulder, muffling a sob against his coat. Lucas let out an unhappy noise.

"You're not broken, baby," he cooed, kissing the side of her head, right where she knew the doctors had opened a fucking hole in her head, "you just need to give yourself some time, Bell..."

She shook her head, still deep in denial, and let out a sob, only for the sob to bring up her stomach's content with it. Bella pulled back, slamming a hand to her lips and Lucas was well versed now after almost a month of the recovery period and the many times this had happened.

He widened his eyes, chanting, "wait just a sec, just a sec, baby-" as he emptied out the Bath&Body Works checkered bag and pushed in front of her mouth just in time.

Bella let out a groan, once again leaning forward so her forehead to was touching his shoulder, bringing up a watery mouthful of vomit, before continuing to gag a couple more chunks. She felt her nose sting and let out a groan, forcing up a burp that squished down the sudden nausea.

"...Fuck," she groaned, closing her eyes and almost dropping the bag as her arms gave up on holding it. Lucas grabbed the straps just in time, squashing it shut in one of his hands, the other one cupping her chin and forcing her eyes to meet his.

"Better?"

"I'm so tired of this," she groaned in response and he opened a small smile, not quite amused, but relieved, running his thumb over her bottom lip and wiping away the droll clinging to it. Bell wrinkled her nose, "gross."

"You're not gross," he rolled his eyes, planting a kiss over her brow, "wait here, I'm gonna get you something to clean up with."

Before she could say anything, Lucas had gotten up and disappeared further into the mall, taking the puke bag with him. Bella sighed, leaning forward, elbows on her knees and cradling her head in her hands, taking deep breaths to collect her emotions.

He skipped back, falling to his knees before her in a manner that made Bell cringe, "you're gonna bust your knee doing that," she scoffed, as Luke wet the million paper napkins he had gotten from the food court in the fountain and wiped the dried blood away from her nose, lip, chin and hands.

"If football didn't burst my knee, it's not running in a mall that will do it, Bell," he rolled his eyes, wiping away the black tear tracks on her cheek, "there we go. Better?"

"Better," she made a face as he wiped at her neck, cleaning the dried blood, "I must look scary."

"You always look scary, baby," Lucas teased her, planting a kiss on the tip of her nose, "what happened?"

"My swiss cheese of a brain was stupid," Bella said bitterly, causing him to snort and wait until she elaborated, "I started to get super tired, then a headache, then the blood... That's about it."

"Like an absence seizure?" he asked and Bella rolled her eyes. In the spam of twenty days, her husband had learned everything and anything about seizures and other brain related maladies that could be a side effect of the surgery.

"No, not like that," she let out a sigh and then glared down, "now I need a new bag for my gifts."

Luke let out a surprised chuckle, glancing down, "who's that for?" he picked up the candles and lotions he had unceremoniously thrown to the ground when grabbing the bag for her vomit in.

"For you, of course," Bella grinned, causing him to scoff, picking the items up.

"I'd love anything you pick, but please don't pick this," he said, squinting at the labels, "Wendy?"

"Wendy would kill me if I gave her Bath&Body stuff," Bella leaned her head against his bicep, clearing her throat from the acidic taste, "it's for Ma and my mom."

"Ma... Vin's mom?"

"Yeah," she slumped against him, "can we go home?"

"Of course," Lucas held all the items in his hands, while Bella hugged his arm, using him as support to pull herself up.

"I forgot your milkshake..."

He let out a snort, kissing her temple, "that's fine, we can get one in the stand downstairs."

[errorryx]

blood moon – part two

read on ao3 | read part one | gemcyt / life series, 2.5k words

An AU-within-an-AU of the wonderful gemcyt AU by @chrisrin, and the fic series by @sixteenth-days!

This part introduces two more characters, Mumbo and Lizzie, but since they're Homeworld gems, they don't use those names yet, and Lizzie doesn't use she/her pronouns yet. All that will change in the next chapter, but in the meantime, Mumbo is Peridot and Lizzie is Rose Quartz.

—

“I can’t believe this,” Grian said, looking at Pearl with a new eye. Now that he knew it was his old friend, he could see the resemblance, though it was mostly in Pearl’s expressions—her new form bore no resemblance to her previous one. “What are you doing here?”

“Looking for you, obviously.” Alex gave him a gentle bump with her shoulder. It hurt a lot less than usual now that she was only twice his size.

“I have so many questions.” Grian tried to organize his thoughts, but it was a hopeless task. “Why do you look like a pearl? Should I be calling you Pearl now, or Alexandrite? And why are you red?”

“I don't care what you call me, Gri. I’m just glad I finally found you,” Pearl said. “The pearl thing started out as a disguise, but I have no idea why I'm red. I was actually hoping you’d know.”

“I've never seen a gem change color before.” Grian landed on Alex’s shoulder and took a closer look, poking her arm in curiosity. “Maybe Scott or Cleo would know something, but I haven’t got a clue. Is this the first time it’s happened?”

“As far as I know. We landed last night, but I didn't leave the ship until morning because—”

“Hang on,” Grian interrupted. “Who’s ‘we’?”

“Me and Peridot,” Alex said. “Oh, and this rose quartz we picked up on the way, but he ran off the second we touched down. Haven't seen him since. He was such a ditz, he probably tripped on a rock somewhere and shattered himself.”

She laughed, but Grian didn’t join her. His days of considering quartz soldiers expendable were over now that he knew some of them personally. If anything happened to BigB, he’d be inconsolable.

“How did you convince Peridot to come with you?” he asked. “I figured he’d never leave Homeworld again after hearing that I disappeared.”

“He’s currently refusing to leave the ship,” Alex admitted. “But he came because he had to, Grian. We both did. We couldn’t just not look for you, knowing you could still be out there.”

A horrible thought occurred to Grian. “This isn’t a Homeworld mission, is it? You’re not reporting back to them or anything?”

“Course not. We left the main ship three solar systems away and took an escape pod here. They can’t track us.”

Grian breathed a sigh of relief. If there was one thing Alexandrite was good at, it was hiding things from the diamonds. He should have more faith in her. “I thought I’d never see you or Peri again,” he said. “I still can’t believe you’re just here.”

“I’m here,” she said. “Come on, bring it in.” She spread her arms open, and Grian moved forward to let her hug him. He could actually sort of hug back this time, since she was smaller than usual. “I missed you so much, Gri. I wish I could have come sooner.”

“I missed you too,” Grian admitted. “Living with Scar is kind of a nightmare. Makes you seem level-headed and rational in comparison.”

“Me? Level-headed?” Alex laughed. “I get it, though. Peri’s been driving me up a wall with how much he talks about you, but I can’t blame him. We were so worried you’d been shattered, but I kept telling myself, Gri’s a survivor. He’d never just die on an alien planet like that. And I was right!” she crowed. “He’ll be thrilled to see you.”

“You think if we’re both there, we can convince him to leave the ship?”

“Who cares about that? We can catch up on the way back, right?” Alex said, her red eyes shining. “Come on, Gri, let’s get out of here!”

“Wait, what?”

Grian stopped dead, replaying the conversation they’d just had in his head. Alex had been glad to see him, she’d been shirking her responsibilities to come find him, but she’d never said anything about staying—in fact, the first thing she’d said to him had been the exact opposite.

“We’re going home, silly.” Pearl tilted her head in confusion. “Don’t you want to get out of here?”

Maybe if she’d come earlier, Grian would have jumped at the chance to get off this planet and return to Homeworld. But now, he’d gotten used to the freedom of doing whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted to do it. He couldn’t imagine returning to his old life just to have the Diamond Authority constantly breathing down his neck.

“I can’t just up and leave,” he told her.

“Why not? We’ve already come up with the perfect cover story.”

“That’s not the problem,” Grian said. “I’ve got a whole life here now. I’m making new friends, fusing, working on this base—” He gestured behind him. “I just put in a chimney. You don’t even know what that is! I don’t even know what that is, but I’m not going to find out if I return to Homeworld.”

Pearl just stared at him. She clearly wasn’t getting the message. “So…you’re not going to come back with us?”

“No,” Grian said firmly. “I’m not going back to Homeworld.”

“Oh.” Pearl stepped back, her eyes going blank. “Okay then.”

“It’s just—” He sighed. “I thought you liked it here. I thought this place would be right up your alley.”

She shrugged. “It’s alright.”

“I was hoping you’d want to stay.” Grian couldn’t blame Pearl for having reservations. He’d had plenty of his own, and it had taken him a while to shake them. “I know it sounds insane.”

“It does,” Pearl agreed. “I’ll have to think about it.” Her voice was flat and unconvincing. She was upset, Grian realized, and trying not to show it. She took a few steps back, glancing off in the direction she’d come from.

“You don’t have to decide yet,” Grian said. “I know it’s a lot.”

“I get it,” Pearl said. “I’ll just—I’ve got to work on some things. I should go.”

“You’re not going to tell anyone from Homeworld that we’re here, are you?”

“I wouldn’t,” she said, sounding offended. “We’re still friends, Gri. I’d never get you in trouble.”

“Or anyone else,” he insisted.

“Or anyone else.” She started walking away, but stopped after a few steps. “You’re not going to blow my cover, are you?”

“You mean tell them you’re not really a pearl?”

“I am a pearl,” she said, but faltered. “I mean—yeah.”

“We’re still friends,” Grian echoed her. He still didn’t know why Alex was in disguise, but he’d get it out of her eventually. “I won’t tell anyone.”

Pearl nodded. “I’ll see you tomorrow,” she told him, and left.

—

Pearl’s return to the ship was concerning, to say the least.

When she left, Pearl had assured Peridot that she’d be back with Gri at her side. Not only was Gri nowhere to be seen, but Pearl had somehow managed to turn herself an entirely different color.

It may have been a trick of the light, but Peridot wasn’t willing to leave the ship to get a closer look. He hit the button on the wall to deploy the landing bay so she could come in.

“Don’t just stand there,” Pearl said, gesturing for him to join her. “Get out here.”

“I thought you said I wouldn’t have to leave the ship.”

“Change of plans.” Pearl crossed her arms, fixing him with an exasperated glare. “It’s perfectly safe, Peri. I’ve been out here for hours now without a scratch on me.”

“But—”

“Do you want Gri back or not?”

“I don’t want to change color,” Peridot said. “Can’t you just come in here?”

“Nope. You’ll be fine.” She walked up the ramp and grabbed him by the elbow, pulling him down with her. “See? Look, you’re still the same.”

Peridot winced as his foot touched the ground, but nothing happened. Pearl had told him the truth. His usual shade of green had gone a little dull from the dim light, but it was nothing like Pearl’s dramatic shift in hue. “Goodness,” he said, staring down at the earth beneath him. The soil was obscured by a thick layer of organic matter. “What is this stuff?”

“Don’t scan it. You can’t access the database here,” Pearl reminded him.

“I know, I know.” His arms stayed in place, his fingers tapping nervously against his elbows. “So what happened?”

Pearl let out a loud noise of frustration, making Peridot jump. “It went horribly,” she said. “I don’t know what Gri’s problem was. I showed him my gem and everything, and I even told him you came with me, but it was like he didn’t even care.”

“Even though he knows I’m here?” Pearl nodded, and Peridot pulled his arms a little closer around himself. “Oh,” he said softly. “I see.”

“I asked him to come back here with me,” Pearl said. “I told him you were waiting for him, but he refused. He wants to stay here, Peri. He doesn’t care about us anymore.”

Peridot didn’t think Pearl would lie to him, but he couldn’t bring himself to believe that Gri would have rejected them so harshly. “There must be some kind of misunderstanding,” he said. “Maybe he was just upset over something else. We can’t give up after getting all the way here.”

“I’m not giving up on him,” Pearl said. “That’s why I called you out here. We’re going to march right back over there and get this sorted. He can’t say no to us both.”

Peridot stared out into the darkness. Other than the light from the ship, their surroundings were rather dim. If he were to follow Pearl to wherever Gri was, he might risk unwanted contact with all manner of unseen creatures. “Can’t we wait until morning?” he asked her.

“I told you, there’s nothing to be afraid of. Besides the other gems, I haven’t seen a single motile organism since we arrived.”

Right as she finished speaking, something began rustling around in the greenery close by. Peridot immediately ran up the landing bay to hide inside the ship, but Pearl didn’t move. Instead, she drew her gem weapons, a pair of curved blades as long as her forearms, and held them aloft, ready to strike.

“Reveal yourself!” she shouted. “Who’s there?”

“What are you doing? Don’t draw its attention over here!”

“Guys, relax! It’s just me.” A few more branches snapped, and the bushes parted to make way for Rose Quartz, dirty and disheveled but no less chipper than the last time they’d seen him. “Did you find your little friend yet?”

Peridot had never met Rose before this journey. The only reason Rose was here was because he’d overheard Pearl and Peridot discussing their plans. Instead of ratting them out, he’d asked to join them, and they hadn’t had much of a choice but to agree.

“Where have you been all day?” Pearl asked Rose, letting her weapons vanish.

“I was looking around for other gems,” Rose said. “I followed the sun like you told me, but then it disappeared, so I turned around and came back.”

Pearl pinched the bridge of her nose. “Rose, I told you that the previous mission landings were in that direction,” she said, pointing east.

“You said they were towards the sun,” Rose said. “And the sun moved, so I followed it.”

“Are you like this on purpose, or are you really just that stupid?”

“Hey!” Rose crossed his arms. “Don’t call me stupid!”

“I’m glad you’re safe, Rose,” Peridot said, trying to steer the conversation away from an argument. He couldn’t make sense of why Pearl was acting so hostile. Until now, she’d had no problem being kind to Rose, keeping all her frustrations with Rose’s cluelessness between the two of them.

“Oh, I’m fine,” Rose said with confidence. “I’m a lot stronger than I look. Hey, Pearl, why are you red now?”

“That’s not important,” Pearl said. “What matters is that I saw all the missing gems today, Rose. None of them were shattered.”

“Wait, all of them? Really?”

“I cross-referenced every gem I saw with the reports of gems that were lost on Life. Everyone was accounted for.”

“What about Pearl? Where’s Pearl?”

Peridot pointed at Pearl immediately, only to find that Pearl was also currently pointing at herself. Rose laughed, waving them off.

“I know about that pearl, don’t worry,” he said. “I’m talking about Pink Pearl.”

“Wait, that’s who you’re here for?” Pearl asked. “Not one of the quartzes?”

“You know,” Peridot reflected, “maybe it would have been a good idea to ask that question before we let a random gem join our illegal top-secret mission.”

Pearl ignored him. “What do you want with Pink Diamond’s pearl?” she asked Rose.

“Erm.” Rose looked stumped. “That’s…classified?”

“We’re not playing by Homeworld rules anymore,” Pearl said, drawing her gem weapons once more. “You agreed to be a part of this mission, so you’d better tell me the truth.”

“Hey, woah, no need for violence!” Rose threw up his hands in surrender. “I kept seeing Pink Diamond really sad without his pearl, so when I overheard you guys talking about Earth, I figured I’d come too! That way I could bring the pearl back and make my diamond happy.”

“You didn’t tell anyone, right?” Pearl asked, stepping closer. “You’re not in contact with anybody from Homeworld?”

“No, no, of course not! Nobody knows I’m here.” Pearl took another step forward, undeterred, and Rose began backing away. “I’m telling the truth, I swear!”

“Pearl, what are you doing?” Peridot asked, his voice betraying his panic.

“Come on, Peri. You don’t find it suspicious that Rose is here for a diamond’s pearl?”

“I suppose, but…” If he was being honest, Peridot thought Rose’s story made sense. He’d never seen Pearl like this before. “I don’t think this is going to help. Please just put the knives away, Pearl, you’re—” You’re scaring me.

“Fine.” Pearl rolled her eyes and let her weapons dematerialize. “But if I find out you were lying, Rose…” She gave Rose a death glare, and Peridot shivered.

“Well, I’m not.” Rose briefly met Peridot’s eyes, but all Peridot could offer him was a helpless shrug. “I just want to find my—my diamond’s pearl. That’s all.”

There was a long, uncomfortable pause before Pearl broke the silence. “I’m taking Peri to see the other gems in the morning,” she said. “You might as well come with us if you want to see Pink Pearl.”

“I never agreed to that,” Peridot said, before he could think better of it.

“Well, there’s always Plan C,” Pearl said. “Where I go out and poof Gri and take him home with us by force.”

Peridot grimaced, imagining Gri’s reaction when he reformed on the ship back to Homeworld. “I don’t think we should try that one.”

“Then it’s decided.” Pearl gave him a dangerous grin, and Peridot shuddered. He was not looking forward to this.

—

<Previous part | Next part>

if you read this all the way through and enjoyed, please consider reblogging!

[mikiemcsmitty]

Fictober Day 6

prompt: "I'm not giving up"

Fandom: Supernatural

Character: Dean Winchester, Ben Braeden

Rating: General

Summary:

Dean's POV: Dean tries his best to bond with Ben as he steps into the stepfather role (between seasons 5 and 6), but Ben isn't immediately receptive to his attempts now that he's older. Despite this Dean had his ways of making sure Ben warms up to him.

Being a stepfather didn’t come easy to Dean. It was an uphill battle, remembering how to be as caring and protective as he was for Sam when they were growing up, but now for a kid much younger than him, and who had only ever known a life with a single mom. Ben wasn’t as traditionally masculine as Dean had expected, but that didn’t matter to him as much as Ben seemed to think it did. Dean knew firsthand that strength had little to do with fitting into some mold and he had nothing but respect for the way Lisa raised Ben by herself. 

Dean was determined to make sure he could step up where he could. He definitely still saw bits of himself in Ben even though he had grown out of that leather jacket/80s rock/girl-crazy phase he was in when he was 8 years old the first time they met.

-----

Dean sat across from Ben at the kitchen table, tapping his fingers absently while looking at the math worksheet in front of them. Ben had been staring at the same problem for a while now. He had to ask Dean for help since his mom had left the two of them together while she went to the grocery store. 

“Look,” Dean said, “when I was your age, school wasn’t really my strong suit, so believe me, I get it.” He paused, unsure of how to be helpful with only the bare minimum math skills to pass the GED test.

Ben looked up at him, confused. “So… you’re saying you don’t know how to help me?”

Dean chuckled. “No, I’m saying we’ll figure it out together. You and me, one problem at a time. How about that?” 

Ben lets out a sigh knowing that this worksheet is probably gonna take them all night.

-----

Dean held a baseball in his hand, testing its weight before tossing it toward Ben. He was able to catch it, though not as smoothly as Dean would’ve liked.

“Good catch Bud!” Dean called. “Now, let’s see if you can throw it like a pro.”

Ben threw it back, but it was wide, and Dean had to jog to catch it.

“Not bad, but you gotta aim with your wrist, not your elbow,” Dean said as he returned to his spot. He tossed the ball underhanded, giving Ben another shot.

“Can’t we just call it a day?” Ben said 

“Alright fine,” Dean caves. “Let's head back in. But I am still planning on teaching you how to fix a car engine tomorrow. 

Ben turns around and rolls his eyes as he walks back into the house.

-----

“Hold the flashlight steady,” Dean told Ben as he worked on the Impala's engine. 

Ben sighed and adjusted the light awkwardly. 

“Now hold it down and to the right…” Dean instructed, narrowing his eyes at the engine. “No, that's the left.” 

Ben’s frustration built with each correction. He shifted the light again, but it was clear he wasn’t into it. Dean, sensing the growing tension, tried to stay patient, but it was getting tricky. 

“Alright, you know what... just hand me the flashlight,” Dean said with a sigh, still trying to keep things calm. “Why don't you go into my toolbox and see if you can find me a torque wrench?” 

“I don’t know what that is!” Ben snapped, his voice sharp with frustration. 

“That's okay–” 

“No, it’s not! I don’t know how this stuff works!” Ben threw the flashlight down, his face red as he stormed out of the garage before Dean could say anything else.

Dean wiped his hands on the oily towel, frowning at himself before heading inside to find Lisa. 

In the kitchen, Lisa was stirring something on the stove. “Did Ben come this way?” Dean asked. 

“Yeah, he went to his room,” she answered. “Why, what happened? Do I need to go talk to him?” 

Dean shook his head. “No, I got it… I think I need to apologize to him.”

Dean knocked softly on Ben’s door. “Hey, can I come in?” he asked gently. 

There was silence for a moment before Ben’s voice answered, quiet and uncertain. “Yeah, I guess.” 

Dean opened the door, stepping into the room. Ben was sitting on the bed with his arms crossed. Dean sat down on the edge of the bed, keeping his tone soft. 

“Look, I know I can be hard on you sometimes, but I need you to understand something,” Dean started, trying to find the right words. “I grew up with a dad who didn’t exactly give me much room to screw up. It was all about survival and learning things the hard way. And I guess I’ve brought some of that with me, even though I don’t mean to. I’m still figuring out this whole… dad thing.”

Ben looked down at his hands. “I’m not like you, Dean. You can fix cars or throw a baseball… I don’t know how to do any of that stuff.”

Dean sighed. “I know. And that’s okay. Your mom did an amazing job letting you grow into your own person, and I’m not here to change that one bit. I’m here to help you become you. The best version of you. Doesn’t matter if that means knowing how to work on cars or not.”

Ben glanced up, his voice soft. “But you… you’re so good at this stuff.”

“Yeah, but I didn’t get there overnight. You should’ve seen me when I started, it was a disaster,” Dean said with a smile. “You’ve got time, Ben. And hey, you don’t have to be into all the same stuff I am. That’s not what makes you strong, okay?”

Ben nodded, still quiet, but Dean could sense he had said the right things this time.

“Hey, buddy, I’m not giving up on you yet,” Dean said calmly as he ruffled Ben’s hair.

Ben smiled a little.

“Why don’t we head back to the garage and finish that engine? I promise I’ll be more patient this time.”

Ben hesitated, then nodded. “Okay… but I still don’t know what a torque wrench is.”

Dean laughed. “That’s alright. I’ll show you.”