#as someone who was attacked by a small dog as a child

[bastet55]

[krilati]

Tim, who is not Robin, but still feral

Okay, let's say Tim's parents decide that even if their child doesn't need a nanny, they want someone to check on their son's well-being. So Tim is required to go to the doctor once a week. And after he tried to bribe his first one to just tell his parents everything was fine. Janette decided it would be someone else each time.

Tim gets a car once a week that picks him up to see a doctor he doesn't know.

That way he doesn't have time to search for dirt, and he can't bribe anyone, since everyone drinks his mother more than him.

So after Nightwing turned Tim down (Dick later claimed the boy was black-haired and blue-eyed, but since he was often hallucinating Jason at the time, even he wasn't sure). The guy realized he couldn't go to Batman and insist on being Robin. The first fracture (which is 100% likely to happen in the early days of jumping on roofs and kicking angry adults) and the doctor would hand him over to his parents.

So Tim came up with a Plan.

Batman was angry, for a month now someone, every patrol, has been standing up for criminals. If he's lucky, he manages to land 5 hits (dude, your 1 hit can put a person in the hospital, Tim just has short legs, he still needs to run to the edge of the necessary roof) when someone distracts him.

Last time, they poured a bucket of paint on his head, it became almost impossible to see through the mask. Another time, they shot paintballs at his head until he left.

There was another memorable incident when something small landed on his head, and the next moment he was attacked by bats.

But today he finally cornered the attacker, it was a child whose face was hidden behind a mask that completely covered his face, and his hair was hidden behind a hood. He slowly approached the boy, he needed to find out who he worked for. Who decided that they had the right to interfere with him punishing criminals.

Only when Batman grabbed the attacker by the shoulder he felt dizzy and then everything around him went dark. Tim quietly patted himself on the head for the backup plan of the backup plan.

After waking up, Batman did not feel calmer, on the contrary, this meeting ignited even more rage in him.

How dare this child run around Gotham so carefree when his son was killed, how dare he protect criminals when one of them killed his son, how dare he..

That day, a file on a new criminal with high priority appeared on the Batcomputer, Alfred only reproachfully pursed his lips.

By the time Red Hood escaped from Talia (Yes, he escaped here, I don't know for sure, but I think Talia was pitting Jason against Tim to ensure her son had direct access to Bruce's legacy). Batman and Tim's confrontations became legendary.

Tim even had his own name and merchandise! Several names, actually, he was called Gotham's Whisperer, the Soul of Shadow, or Little Shadow. And in various Gotham stores you could find little figurines of him with various weapons that he demonstrated during this time.

Nightwing adored the little guy, although he had never met him in person. In fact, no one except Bruce had ever encountered the kid. And although Oracle never officially supported the boy, she never warned Batman if she saw a small dark silhouette through the cameras. Although Dick really wanted to know where the kid got the sniper rifle with tranquilizers, or how he hacked the Batmobile to put a sleeping Bruce in it and send him to the Cave, or how he got so many incriminating photos of Batman that he scattered all over the city when Batman didn't take one of his threats seriously.

Simply put, Nightwing was a fan, and had wanted the kid's autograph ever since the kid evacuated an entire alley, including Bruce, by playing the sound of a pack of rabid dogs approaching.

Batman, though he had passed the peak of his rage, still made Gotham afraid if he was spotted trolling alone.

Red Hood was furious, not only did his father not have the courage to avenge him, but he also dared to splash out his aggression on anyone who was not breathing smoothly on HIS Alley of Crime.

[ataliagold]

you're the only one who knows, you slow it down

For @astrangersummer week 13 prompts 'cat' and 'farmers market'. Title from Look After You by The Fray. And yes, I watched A Quiet Place Day One and was obsessed with Frodo...

Pairing: Steve Harrington/Eddie Munson

Rating: T

W/C: 1791

Tags: Modern AU, No Upside Down, First Meeting, Steve has PTSD, Steve has a service cat, Steve wears glasses, Eddie Munson is a sweetheart, panic attacks, Eddie takes care of Steve, referenced child abuse, autistic Steve (not overly relevant here but still)

Summary: Eddie's at a farmers market when he's approached by a very determined black and white cat. On a whim, he follows him to a young man having a panic attack in the woods.

___

Eddie’s browsing the little jewelry stand at the far end of the Farmer’s Market, glancing over hand-made leather bracelets and cheap silver rings while the old lady behind the table watches him hopefully. Over a blare of emergency sirens from the street in the distance he can hear Wayne behind him bartering with someone who’s wanting to buy one of his plants, the plants Eddie had been roped into carting there from the van in boxes that were too fucking heavy and he’d been drenched in sweat almost immediately under the summer sun.

He looks up briefly, regrets it immediately because the vendor’s eyes light up and fuck now he’s gotta buy something…

He’s interrupted by something soft brushing against his ankle.

Hanging up a black leather band, he looks down. Blinks a few times, confused.

There’s a black and white cat butting its little head against his leg. The cat stares back up at him with yellow eyes, wide and imploring.

“Uh….hi?” Eddie says, moving his leg away a bit because he doesn’t really do cats, has never interacted with them much before to be fair, other than the feral ones that hung around the trash in the trailer park and those weren’t exactly…friendly.

This guy is far cuter and cleaner than those cats ever were, though.

He’s got a maroon collar with a tag attached, and a red harness with a loose lead trailing behind him.

The cat steps closer to Eddie. Insistent now, shoving his face into his ankle again, then lets out an imploring meow.

“Where’s your owner?” Eddie asks to no one in particular, swiveling his head and surveying his surroundings. He sees fruit stands with enormous oranges, a honey stall, someone selling flowers off to his right, a small crowd browsing the wares but no one that looks like they’ve lost a black and white cat.

The cat meows again.

Eddie stoops down, gingerly reaches for its collar, reads the tiny writing on the tag in hope of some owners’ details.

Frodo - service cat

And Eddie had heard of service dogs, sure, but a cat?

A great name though, he admits.

He squints at the phone number etched below the name. Pulls out his phone, dials it. All the while Frodo meows at him, slams his head more forcefully into Eddie’s shin.

The call rings out to a voicemail, a guy called Steve in the message.

Eddie hangs up. Sighs, carefully pats the cat with a single finger on his head.

“You’re kinda cute, huh?” Eddie murmurs. “Someone’s missing you, for sure.”

He stands up again. Frodo moves several steps away, stops, stares back at him.

A lightbulb goes off in Eddie’s head.

He takes a step towards the cat. Frodo squeaks out a noise that seems happy to Eddie, and he steps even closer.

Frodo turns tail and trots off away from the market, and Eddie follows, Frodo glancing back every now and then to check Eddie’s still with him.

And so, the cat leads him towards a little copse of trees on the far side of the park. It’s pretty deserted out here, with most people busy browsing the market instead of taking their morning walks.

But as they get closer to the clearing in the middle of the trees, Eddie hears it.

Light gasps, panicked breathing, someone trying to suck in oxygen that just won’t come.

He quickens his step towards it. Frodo speeds up too, breaking away from Eddie now and bounding into the trees.

There’s a young man sitting in the dirt.

His knees are pulled to his chest, arms wrapped tightly around them, and he’s rocking back and forth a little. His cheeks are wet, eyes clenched shut behind crooked glasses.

Eddie drops to his knees beside the man, hand hovering above his shoulder, not sure whether or not to touch because he knew a thing or two about panic attacks, knew this was what he was seeing, didn’t want to frighten the man and make it worse…

Frodo presses himself up against the man’s side, trills quietly. The man shifts, blindly reaches for the cat, unfolds himself a bit and hauls the animal into his lap, burying his face in warm fur.

“…hi,” Eddie says quietly, barely audible, clears his throat and tries again. “Hi. I’m…I’m Eddie.”

The man goes still. Freezes, noticing Eddie for the first time. He peeks out from behind Frodo’s head, blinking up at Eddie, eyes red and sore-looking but also honey-brown and soft. He’s got moles dotted across his cheeks, hair long and mussed and falling across his face.

He’s fucking gorgeous, Eddie’s brain supplies.

He forces that thought away – it’s not exactly helpful right now.

“Are you Steve?” Eddie guesses.

A small, singular nod.

“I found your cat,” Eddie supplies. “Or…he found me, I guess. Led me here. He’s pretty clever.”

“He’s the b-best,” Steve croaks, his voice raspy and rough and broken. “He’s a service cat. But you can…you can go, s’fine.”

Eddie frowns, shakes his head. “I’m thinking he came and got me for a reason, huh?”

Steve looks away, shrugs.

Eddie waits, gives him time to answer, but Steve doesn’t speak again. He hugs his cat to his chest, still lightly trembling all over.

“How about…I sit here for a few minutes, and you take some deep breaths, huh? I’m thinking you’ve had a panic attack, and those suck – trust me, I know – but you need to get your breath back, ok?” Eddie reaches for Steve, hand ghosting over his shoulder now.

Steve flinches lightly, but doesn’t pull away.

Frodo purrs away calmly in Steve’s lap, letting his owner squeeze him close.

And Eddie sits, and waits.

He remembers his own panic attacks as a kid, after he’d wake up from a nightmare about his dad – where he swore the stench of alcohol was in his room, when his dad was surely just outside his bedroom door, all tension wound tight and clenched fists and ready to unleash a barrage of abuse at him. His uncle Wayne would step quietly into his room, would gather him up and hold him tight, would talk to him quietly about everything and nothing all at once until Eddie drifted peacefully back to sleep.

As the minutes tick by, Eddie starts to talk.

“I don’t know much about cats, but yours is pretty clever,” he murmurs, rubbing circles across Steve’s broad back, over the soft yellow sweater he was wearing. “He came right up to me, no idea why he picked me out of a crowd of nice old ladies at the market, but he wasn’t taking no for an answer, he insisted on getting me to you. I guess that’s his job, right? Just like how some service dogs are trained to go and get someone if their owner is in trouble? I used to have this neighbour, this girl called Max, she had some disabilities after a car accident, and she had a dog who was trained to do that sort of stuff. But you’ve got Frodo.”

Steve’s breathing is evening out, his shoulders untensing slightly as Eddie speaks.

“Badass name, by the way,” Eddie continues, chuckling a little. “I’m guessing you’re a Lord of the Rings fan, then. So am I. In fact, it’s probably my favourite -”

“Not a fan,” Steve mumbles.

Eddie pauses mid-sentence. “…oh,” he finishes lamely.

Steve shifts a little, the tiniest smile twitching at his lips.

Eddie’s heart thumps in his chest at the sight of it.

“This kid I used to babysit, his name’s Dustin, he picked the name,” Steve clarifies, his voice a little clearer now, a little less forced. “It just kinda stuck.”

“It suits him,” Eddie assures him, reaching a hand out to the cat. He quickly snatches it back, remembers Max telling him over and over that you weren’t supposed to pat a service animal when they’re working. “Sorry,” he says quickly, “I didn’t mean to…well. He’s working.”

Steve smiles, wider now.

Eddie blinks slowly at him, feeling stupid and warm and weak for this man.

“You can pat him,” Steve says quietly, just above a whisper. He unfolds his legs, loosens his grip on Frodo just a little, giving Eddie room to reach across to the cat.

Eddie grins as his fingers find soft fur. He traces over Frodo’s head and the cat purrs louder, pressing back into his hand.

Steve watches, tears drying on his cheeks. He lifts his glasses, rubs at his eyes, then straightens them again.

“It was the sirens,” he says, a little choked up still.

Eddie nods slowly, continues to pat Frodo.

“Over on Main Street, I think, I was walking past and they were really loud, and then more and more started and then there was that fire engine too and all the flashing lights and…”

Eddie heard it earlier, too. Some crash near the park, the ladies at the market had gossiped amongst themselves.

“…and I tried to move away, but they were everywhere so I went into the trees and that was a little better but I could still hear them, and I know it’s fucking stupid but some stuff happened to me a few years back and now every time I hear them…” Steve trails off, snaps his mouth shut. Runs his hand rhythmically down Frodo’s back, almost meditatively now. “Sorry. S’dumb. But…I’m ok now, I think.”

Eddie splays his free hand across Steve’s back. Thinks about how much he’d like to pull Steve to his side, bundle him close, wrap himself around him…but they’ve only just fucking met.

He needs to calm down.

“It isn’t dumb,” Eddie insists gently, “I used to get them too. Panic attacks. I get it, ok? I’m just glad you’re ok now.”

Steve smiles at him, wobbly and weak but there.

“Thanks,” he says softly, “for following Frodo. And for…staying.”

Eddie returns his smile. Reaches for the man’s hand, clasps it, helps him to shaky feet.

Steve doesn’t let go of his hand.

They linger there, under the shade of the red maple trees, neither saying anything for a long moment.

Frodo sits at their feet. Blinks up at them, meows eventually.

Steve picks up Frodo’s lead, one hand still in Eddie’s, fiddles with the red canvas cord.

Eddie’s heart beats faster.

“Do you…wanna come and look around the stalls?” he asks quietly, rubbing the back of his neck with the hand not held securely in Steve’s, thinks he’d be happy if he could never use that hand again, so long as Steve kept a hold of it.

Steve smiles again, bright as the sun, and nods.

Slowly, he follows Eddie out of the clearing and back into the light of the day.

___

[rea-grimm]

Three demons are more than enough - Zoro, Ace, Crocodile

It might come as a surprise to some, but you've known a demon since you were a child. Or like this, he seemed like an ordinary boy at first, but after you ate the devil's fruit, you saw the world through different eyes. You gained the ability to tell demons from ordinary people. However, your paths diverged and you haven't seen him since. 

But that wasn't the first time you'd come into close contact with demons. There weren't many demons, but somehow you got the impression that you ran into them quite often. 

You even helped this demon escape execution. At that moment, you saved his life, and he pledged to protect and accompany you until he paid his debt. 

However, after a few adventures, a demon named Zoro decided to make a pact with you. First, he liked you, and second, without admitting it, he'd be lost without you. Literally. 

Zoro was a demon with six arms, short horns, and lower and upper fangs that extended past his lips.

He took your hand and brought your wrist to his mouth where he first kissed you on the spot. He then bit you there, but instead of his teeth, his demonic mark was left on your skin. 

Together with the six-armed demon, you had travelled the world, and now you were passing through the kingdom of Alabastra. You made a small stop at a nearby small oasis to gather supplies for your journey through the desert.

You went into a tavern to get something good for lunch when you noticed a commotion at the counter. You couldn't see much over the deafness of the people, but you thought you saw someone familiar at the counter.

It wasn't until later that you realized it was a demon you knew from your childhood that you thought you wouldn't see. When Ace saw you, a smile immediately spread across his face. 

Ace was in Alabastra looking for his brother because he wanted to tell him something, but when he saw you, his decision changed. He decided to stay with you instead.

You were a little hesitant about it since you were already travelling with a demon, but it seemed that Zoro didn't mind Ace. As you expressed your doubts to him, he looked at you with such puppy dog eyes that you couldn't say no. He looked like a kicked puppy. You tried to look away, but it was no use. He's already gotten under your skin.

You finally had no choice but to agree and make a pact with him. Ace beamed with joy before he nuzzled his face against your shoulder, before biting it. Under his teeth, his mark appeared on your shoulder. 

Ace was a fire demon, his limbs black as burnt, with a thick fire crackling and shining through beneath. His eyes were red to the point of glowing. 

With two demons, it was easy to walk through the desert as no one dared to attack you, plus you were able to hunt some animals to eat. 

Still, you made it to a new city that was full of water and riches. However, it happened at night when you were asleep and so were the demons. Though they were both resting by your side, you still woke up on the floor of the golden palace. 

You sat up and noticed a man, actually a demon, sitting at the large table in front of you, smoking a cigar and grinning smugly. Just as his name implied, he was a sand and crocodile demon. He had the teeth of a crocodile, and a long tail that turned into sand at the end, crumbling and renewing itself again. The crocodile teeth also grew from a scar on his face. 

Crocodile noticed you and was intrigued by you. Someone who attracted demons to himself and who had more than one pact. He's never seen that before. Plus, he liked the way you tried to resist him, even though he had you in his power. 

It wasn't even a day before Ace and Zoro burst into the palace with a plan to save you. However, that's what Crocodile had been waiting for all along. Plus, the sand demon wanted to keep you for himself. He wasn't going to share with other demons.

Crocodile used his sand against which your demons were powerless. Zoro's sword attacks were completely useless and Ace was trapped in the sand moments later. At first, he managed to melt the sand into glass, but that became just as much of a problem as a giant glass bubble formed around him that he couldn't get out of. In addition, the limited oxygen dampened his fire abilities. 

The sand demon smiled devilishly, intending to send the two demons back to hell where they would no longer disturb him. But before he could send sand as sharp as Zoro's katanas at them, you lunged in front of them. They were more than just ordinary demons to you. 

But this is what the sand demon assumed all along. He planned it all, so he agreed to spare the others on one condition. You make a pact with him and become his alone. You refused to do that, but you also refused to move from the others. 

Your refusal, however, made him even more angry and indignant, and it looked like he was going to have you crushed. You only stopped him when you said you agreed, but you had your conditions. This caught him off guard, but he finally smiled with satisfaction, as if he had won and agreed. 

Ace and Zoro tried to convince you not to do it, that it would somehow be saved, that it was an obvious trap. But you knew full well what your options were and you didn't want to lose them. 

You went over to him and let him make a pact with you. Crocodile stroked your neck with a golden hook before he leaned in. He liked how small you were compared to him. He licked his lips hungrily before biting the crook of your neck and shoulder where his mark appeared on your skin. Exactly on the other side from Ace's.

After that, you were on your way again. However, with the sand demon at your side, you travelled in much more luxury. He even got you a much bigger, better ship. Even with a new demon at your side, your lives have returned to their relatively old ways. 

Zoro regularly fell asleep with you in his arms, in a triple hug, or let you use him as a pillow, with you lying on top of him and him holding you. He would never admit to anyone that he liked to cuddle with you like that. And if anyone accused him of it, he'd deny everything. Plus, he only hugs you like that when it's just the two of you and he's sure no one will see you. 

You've been practising fighting and self-defence with Ace. He was proud of how well you were doing, and of course, he praised you, which was his way of trying to motivate you to keep going. You kissed him on the cheek for his praise. You had to pull away as his whole face turned red before it lit up like a campfire. It was a cute reaction and you chuckled weakly at the reaction.

Crocodile, meanwhile, was watching you from the bridge. Sure, he'd rather have you in his lap, but he'd made a pact with you and had to abide by your terms. However, he too had his moments with you.

He gave you advice on steering the ship and other things. He liked it when you listened to him and most of all when you thanked him for his advice and praised him. It was like something was warming his heart. A feeling he thought he'd buried long ago.

However, all was not as rosy as it first appeared. It was obvious that Ace and Zoro didn't like Crocodile, and he didn't like sharing either. This led to regular fights that you had to intervene in to keep them from killing each other. The worst part was that you then had to nurse them back to health, and they were thrilled to have you all to themselves for the moment.

During one particularly heated fight, Ace and Zoro managed to figure out what Crocodile's weakness was and used it perfectly to bring him to his knees. If you hadn't intervened, you'd have thought he'd been executed. You stopped the fight and stood up for the sand demon. 

After that, you completely reprimanded them all and gave them a lecture on how they should learn to get along. They were on the same ship, travelling together, and even if they didn't like each other, they should learn to work together. 

Ace apologized almost immediately. He didn't want you to be mad at him. It took Zoro a while since he had his pride, but eventually, he apologized too. But you couldn't expect the same from Crocodile. He just resigned, but didn't apologize, even though you rose even higher in his eyes. 

Instead, he thanked you for standing up for him. You took that as a great success and kissed him on the cheek. 

There was a bit of a lull after that incident. You landed on a small island to resupply. All was going quietly until the demons started arguing over something again and it culminated into a giant fight. 

You were fed up with their behaviour. You used their marks on your body to set them straight. In response, you told them to leave you alone and angrily walked away. You headed for the hot springs off to the side. You wanted some peace all to yourself. 

Neither of the demons followed you as they had to obey your orders. Even though they didn't like it. They wanted to be by your side at all times. 

You relaxed as you sank into the hot water and closed your eyes. You missed this. The silence was strange but comfortable. You were up to your nose in the water when someone pulled a bag over your head and pulled you out of the water. Then you felt someone hit you in the back of the head and you lost consciousness. 

You woke up in a dungeon with shackles on your hands blocking your fruit's abilities. You couldn't use the markings to connect with your demons, and you couldn't even feel their presence. Most of the time, even when you were away from them, you felt some connection to them. But now, nothing. 

You sat there waiting for what to do next when two figures came to the door of your cell. You recognized them immediately. It was your father, the crown glistening on his head and the same cold expression on his face as you remembered. His counsellor walked on his beech tree as always. 

"You've come back to me at last. You gave me quite a hard time before I finally found you," the king smirked. Even though he was your biological father, he was a stranger you wanted nothing to do with. 

"You're beautiful and the right age to get married. You should have been married a long time ago. I plan to marry you to the highest bidder. Now you won't escape me or your fate," he grinned. 

You didn't say anything to him and just looked at them defiantly. You didn't want to give him the pleasure of your scorn and rejection.

The demons sensed something was wrong the moment they lost contact with you. Just as you felt them, they were connected to you. It was a two-way channel. 

They followed you to the hot springs where they smelled your scent for the last time. They got there when you were long gone, but there were still soldiers there, covering their tracks. Even though they were defeated in a flash, no one told them where they'd taken you. 

However, they did find the medallion you always wore around your neck, but which you also always kept hidden under your clothes. They noticed that the medallion bore the same emblem that the soldiers wore on their armour. 

They immediately began to work together to find out what might have happened to you, where you might have been taken, and how to save you. At that moment, they didn't even think to argue or fight. Your rescue was more important than that. 

You were eventually dragged from the cell to your old room, but it meant the same thing to you. It was just a better-decorated cell. There, you were to prepare for guests and potential suitors for your hand. 

You were dressed in expensive, ornate clothes and fitted with gloves that acted as shackles and which equally blocked your ability. You felt like you were at a slave auction and it made you sick. 

Like a precious jewel, you stood before the king and pierced everyone around you with your gaze. You weren't going to let yourself be sold so easily. You were going to fight as hard as you could. You just had to find an opportunity and take it. 

And you saw Crocodile in the throne room. It was strange to see him as a human when you were used to him as a demon. At his side were Ace and Zoro, posing as his bodyguards. Your gazes met for a moment and they gave you fleeting smiles. However, they couldn't rush over to you, lest they reveal themselves and ruin your rescue. 

After this, any auction began, with the princes strutting and showing off their wealth. However, Crocodile, being a powerful man, bid more. It didn't matter how much the others bid, Crocodile always had the upper hand. And your father seemed to like him too.

"I offer that much and more. Your daughter's beauty is like a rare desert flower that is worth it. May I have a closer look at her?" He asked confidently. The king had no problem with that and motioned for you to come closer to him. 

You kept your face impassive and cool, so as not to give them away. Crocodile bowed slightly in front of you and looked you over with a predator's gaze. Then he took your hand and kissed you on your fingers. 

"We're here for you. Hang in there a little longer," he hissed at you as he was close, using the sand to unlock the cuffs on your hands. 

"What are you telling her?!" The king wondered, not liking being left out of the action. 

"That I have never seen anyone more beautiful in my life," he replied, and you could hear the sincerity and tenderness in his voice. 

His sincere compliment made your cheeks flush slightly. The king was decided. After that, he had you escorted back to your room so he could have the peace to negotiate the rest with the demon. 

As soon as the door to your room closed, you refused to wait to see if the king would be free to give you to the demon. You wanted to be with them as soon as possible. You changed into your more comfortable clothes and opened the window. 

Now that your hands were free, you could easily escape. Just like you used to. You looked out the window and noticed that guards were patrolling below your window.

You cursed and looked towards the harbour. There you noticed your ship and the figures that were there. You immediately recognized your demons in them. You saw them wave at you, but that's all they dared. You waved at them, too, before crawling back in. You decided to wait. For now.

While the king was negotiating your marriage with Crocodile, the noose was being tightened over the demon. The king was very greedy and knew who had a price on his head and how big. And Crocodile was a gold mine for him, just like you. 

He knew his weakness as well, and in his weakened state he had him captured and planned to collect the bounty from his head. He felt like he had finally gotten lucky.

The other demons found out about it and secretly informed you in your room. They wanted to go fight. First, the king captures you and then this. They wanted to fight to get you away. But you stopped them. You didn't want to leave the sand demon behind.

The others didn't agree, because they still didn't like him. However, they were willing to listen to your plan and finally agreed. After all, they wanted you to be happy and that meant freeing Crocodile. Besides, you explained it very well. What if it was one of them? You wouldn't want to leave them there either.

Since you lived in the castle before, you knew where everything was. You, Zoro and Ace were sneaking into the prison. Sure, you'd fight, but you also wanted to keep the surprise effect. 

Zoro simply took care of the guards and kept watch at the door while Ace went inside with you. You made it to a special cell that didn't have bars but instead had water running through its entrance. Water was the Crocodile's weakness. Water dripped in the cell and from the ceiling and the demon couldn't hide from it. 

Crocodile smiled with satisfaction when he saw you. You helped him out and hugged him. You were glad that he was okay and that he had tried to save you, even if it didn't work out as planned.

However, you had to pull away after a while since you had to get away as soon as possible before anyone found out what happened. You and your demons fled the palace by taking the direct route to the ship and out to sea. 

You anchored near the kingdom, however, as the demons were out for revenge. Now that you were in the safety of your ship, they could unleash hell on Earth. 

It was quite a surprise to them that you didn't stop them this time, or say anything to them. That made them even more determined to get their revenge, and they left you alone on the ship. 

Less than a few hours later, alarm bells rang throughout the kingdom and the island, and all you could see was the thick smoke that burned the kingdom, along with the sandstorm that buried the island alive. 

When the demons returned, you tended to their wounds. But then you locked yourself in your quarters because you wanted to be alone for a while. You wondered if you'd done the right thing, and questioned your life choices and decisions. But you didn't come up with much. 

You were disturbed from your thoughts by approaching footsteps followed by a muffled thud. You got out of bed and went to see what they were. 

To your surprise, Ace had fallen asleep and was now lying on the floor. That was the thump you heard. You knew about his narcolepsy and it didn't surprise you. 

Instead, you dragged him to your room and pulled him into bed. There you sat down next to him. 

Moments later, Zoro walked by, peeked into your quarters, and decided to join you. He sat down on the other side next to you and hugged you. That's how you finally fell asleep in the demon sandwich. 

You had no idea how long you had slept, but when you woke up, you found that you were lying on a sand demon. Ace had one arm around you, and Zoro was holding you on the other side. 

It was such a peaceful and comfortable feeling that you smiled contentedly. You didn't want to wake them, so you fell back to sleep contentedly.  

One Piece Masterlist

[hiroyildiz]

Head cannon: Jason trains dogs in his territory to sniff out and fend off drug dealers, to come running when they hear someone scream and attack child molesters, rapists and other kinds of abusers.

He started out small, only one dog at first (Dog). He adopted it and gave it basic training with questionable success. But one day some asshole decided to bother him by getting too close to a kid while he was walking Dog. He decided to beat up the guy. When the man landed a hit on him though, Dog slammed onto the man and bit his leg. The man ran away as Jason hold back Dog from following him. After that he went to calm the child down, and said that Dog was nice and let the kid pet him.

He already was feeding the dogs around his safe houses, he is a bleeding heart for strays of the crime alley after all, when the idea started to appear.

It was easier to teach the dogs whom to bit and whom to comfort than to teach them how to sit fown and roll over. It was more difficult to teach them how to sniff out drugs, and he actually asked Dick to help him out(since he is a cop and cops have dogs).

(Dick didn't know jack shit about how to train dogs, but he reached out to some of his cop buddies and figured it out to help Jason.)

It was a great success. Strays were everywhere in the alley, everywhere in Gotham, and they helped so much.

Jason also reached out to Tim, so he would use WE's funds to feed and train strays all over Gotham. They set up several shelters, in which they trained and looked after dogs, and started dog training courses for Gothamites.

(Babs and Selina helped them find homeless people from alley, who could stay in shelters and look after the stray dogs. Cass and Steph gave lessons on how to understand dogs' body language and how to approach them without scaring them. Leslie gave lessons on first aid, as far as it went alike on humans and animals.)

The real change came with Damian though, Damian who loved animals and who knew how to look after and train them. He attended several classes as the educator, and gave all kinds of lessons on how to look after animals, not just dogs but all kinds of animals you could find in gotham.

Years later, they had vigilante dogs and cats; messenger pigeons, crows and owls; giant rats that would devour any kinds of dispose on alleys(which causes problems on murder cases from time to time), etc...

And it all had started because Jason Todd was so fucking kind and good and pure in his soul.

[simplyafountainpen]

Upside-Down Tea Parties

{𝓟𝓪𝓻𝓲𝓷𝓰𝓼}: Queen's Grandson!Reader x the Phantomhive Estate

{𝓓𝓮𝓼𝓬𝓻𝓲𝓹𝓽𝓲𝓸𝓷}: Queen Victoria needed a place to send (Y/n) for safe keeping, and much to their chagrin, The Phantomhive Estate is chosen. Can they survive the child's shenanigan's?

{𝓣𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓽𝓼}: Found family, chaotic behavior, fluff, small amount of angst, self harm mentioned once(1), Child!Reader, Wonderland themed!Reader, Reader is impiled to be around Ciel's age

{𝓡𝓮𝓺𝓾𝓮𝓼𝓽}: ❝I absolutely adore all of your writings!! They're just so immaculately written! Could you make a story where the reader is grandson of the Queen, and she sends him to the Phantomhive estate? And, so, Ciel (in addition to Sebastian, Mey-Rin, Finnie, and Baldroy with a part in there) has to look after him. Fluff, and a bit of chaos. X)❞ - Anon

"Dear Lord Phantomhive,

It has come to my attention that my Grandson, Prince (Y/n), is not safe within castle walls. Recently he has been subject to a plethora of attacks on his life, such as poisoning and false guards attempting assassination in the night. I believe it would be in my best interests to send him with a closely trusted confidant, which would be you. You're both rather close in age, you see, and he has long needed someone to confide in. I do hope you understand these circumstances, and I hope that I may ensure his safety with you. Oh what am I saying, naturally he'll be safe with you, my Guard Dog.

When you receive this letter, I expect you to hurry your way to the Royal Palace Immediately. I cannot send him, we have no lesser carriages on hand. So I send for you, Lord Phantomhive.

I am sure you will not let me down.

With much Sincerity and Haste,

Elizabeth R"

·:¨༺ ♱✮¨:·ᨐฅ ᨐᵐᵉᵒʷ·:¨✮♱ ༻¨:·˚─── ⋆⋅⛥⋅⋆ ──

{𝓒𝓲𝓮𝓵 𝓟.𝓞.𝓥}

Ciel was more than pissed. He was a Noble! A detective if anything, and the Queen's GUARD DOG. He was not, in no way shape or form, a babysitter.

And yet, here he sat, in his now cramped-feeling carriage with Her Majesty’s grandson. Just great. Amazing, even.

He glared at the boy in question who leaned casually against the plush seats of the carriage. His stupid dazed and slight smile with painted lips. His clothes, much more expensive then the ones Ciel had on of course, with their many ruffles and lace trimmings and his idiotic, shiny, well kept hair. It was safe to say Ciel hated him.

What's more, he was suspicious of this "(Y/n)" character, especially the personal bag he held beside him. He simply insisted that the bag stayed by him, even nearly biting Sebastian’s wrist when he insisted he place it with the rest of his luggage.

‘How absurd.’ Thought Ciel. He could just barely see the similarities between this child and the Queen. The eye shape and overall disposition, but beyond those two things, nothing.

(Y/n) seemed nothing like his grandmother.

“Are you going to keep staring at me like that, my dear Alice?” Ciel flinched at his words, snapping out of his internal monologue of everything wrong with this (Y/n).

“… What did you just call me?” (Y/n) giggled slowly, lazily, showing off his long, white fangs and sharpened teeth. The back of his throat, when it opened so wide, had bits of gold leaf stuck to the back, perhaps from food or medication?

“Alice, my dear I of course called you Alice! The mousy structure and your curiosity towards my being speak it so, my darling Alice. Even through your one eye I sense an air of mystery surrounding thee, and as such you do not belong, my charming, darling Alice you.” He spoke in a sing-song manner, before leaning close, eyes covered in shadow and lips in a teasing smirk.

“No, you do not belong in this wonderland of ours, do you mine own Alice?” Ciel shivered at his tone, light and airy voice becoming dark and gravelly in a moment. Before he could refute, the carriage stopped and the sound of someone walking filled both boys ears and the door opened, revealing Sebastian.

“Your Majesty, Young Master.” He held a hand out, and (Y/n) gleefully took it, his bag in hand, hopping down the step of the steps while muttering ‘hop, hop’ under his breath, turning around and giving Ciel a large smile. Ciel groaned, ignoring Sebastian’s hand and climbing down himself, trekking up the stairs to his manor, you behind him and Sebastian quickly making his way beside him after retrieving your other, many bags.

Ciel, despite having a demon by his side, refused to believe in any kind of merciful God. But despite this, he found himself nearly praying that everything in the house was in order, having left Finnie, Mey-rin and Baldroy by themselves, against his will. Obviously.

Sebastian opened the door, letting both Ciel and the boy behind him in, said door shutting immediately behind them.

To Ciel’s shock and utter surprise, the floors were polished and everything dusted in the main hall, nothing out of place. No noticeable fires, no screaming, nothing broken on the ground… odd.

“Come, Your Majesty. First Sebastian will show you to your room, then we will meet back in study. Dinner will then be served not long after, around six. Does this please you?" Even if Ciel didn't much like this (Y/n), he had to show repect. He'd rather not the odd boy running home and complaining about Ciel to his grandmother. What a world of trouble that would create.

"Oh more than, dear Alice!" Sebastian looked between him and (Y/n) with a curious glance, "I suppose then I shall see you in but a moment! Come now, mine White Rabbit!" (Y/n) smiled at Sebastian who looked confused at the newfound nickname. Then, without knowing where he was headed, that child began to walk off, humming a song Ciel had never heard before, marching up the stairs and out of sight, Sebastian following close behind with bags in hand.

This was going to be a stressful while.

·:¨༺ ♱✮¨:·ᨐฅ ᨐᵐᵉᵒʷ·:¨✮♱ ༻¨:·˚─── ⋆⋅⛥⋅⋆ ──

{𝓡𝓮𝓰𝓾𝓵𝓪𝓻 𝓟.𝓞.𝓥}

You marched with a purpose now behind the White Rabbit, humming all the while. Your personal bag hung heavily on your shoulder but you didn't mind, swinging it merrily all the while. You didn't care to acknowledge the strange looks the White Rabbit gave you, only to continue humming. Eventually your humming turned to singing under your breath, which quickly turned to belting the lyrics and dancing, grabbing the White Rabbit by the arms, forcing him to drop you things, and you dropping your held bag, spinning the both of you around in the hall you both currently inhabited.

"Speak roughly to your little boy, and beat him when he sneezes;

He only does it to annoy,

Because he knows it teases! Wow, wow, wow!"

You spun the White Rabbit faster, your natural grin growing much wider than normal, heels clicking quickly across the floor. You could feel his gaze across your skin, confused and intrigued you supposed. Though again, you did not care, and only continued to sing.

"I speak severely to my boy,

I beat him when he sneezes;

For he can thoroughly enjoy

The pepper when he pleases! Wow wow wow!"

Once that last wow left your lips you let out loud, boisterous laughter, tripping over one of your many bags and falling on the floor, your head landing harshly on the wood. The White Rabbit rushed over but you didn't much care, only continuing to laugh. You hands shot to your face to wipe away the tears that had yet to spill down your cheeks.

"Your Majesty, are you alright?" You registered his voice but the hilarity of the situation was to much to bear, so you did not respond. Instead you though about how hilarious it was that someone such as yourself, would fall and bump your head. It was silly, almost mocking, as you knew you were not right in the noggin. The bump might've jostled things even further out of place you mused.

Finally you peeked at Mr. Rabbit through your fingers, lazed smile still perched on your lips. You simply reached a hand up, prompting him to pull you up. You quickly wretched you hand away and picked up your bag again, waiting on him to pick up the rest, ignoring his questions. Your heels tapped the floor as you fiddled with the hair on you head, pulling a few strands out from your scalp and staring at them. After a moment, he had finally grabbed all your items with a sigh, continuing to lead you both to what would be your current room.

No more did you hum or sing, taking more interest with the lace on your shirt and the buttons on your pants. Your eyes were dazed, as though you no longer there as you listened to the breathing in the hall. You knew your own breath, slow and calm no matter the situation, but the White Rabbit, your hard-working White Rabbit, no he did not breath. His chest was still, far too still of something that still acquired that thing dubbed "humanity". You began to snicker again, breaking the silence that had fallen over you two, the White Rabbit only glancing at you now.

You both made it to your room, you running over to your bed and flopping down across it, bag falling off your arm and finding it's place on the bed beside you. You rolled across the covers, laughing once more. The White Rabbit only stared as you stopped and sucked in a deep breath, sitting up suddenly and facing him, pointing a finger.

"Oh White Rabbit, how your nose twitches so, dost thou not need to return to your Alice? I am assured that I may be able to place all of mine own belongings in their preferred spots," a giggle erupted from your throat before you continued, "Clothes to the ceiling and shoes in the drawers, undergarments under the bed, makeup in the bath. They whisper to me so. Should you not go you will witness them dancing to made-up songs that only whisper in my head to the beat of the crickets outside and the ants that march through the walls. Again, I believe it in your best interests to return to that darling Alice, or I will take a letter opener to my eye and paint this bed spread red!" Your threat was well laced in cheer and joy, as though you had just said the most wonderous thing in the world.

The White Rabbit's eyes widened if only a fraction of an inch, though that same, laxed expression he had held the whole time remained. He silently nodded, something you giggled at again, then stiffly walked out the door, which he shut behind him. Once the White Rabbit left, your smile dropped as you immediately began to dig through the bag you had carried in yourself until you came across a small spherical container.

Opening the container you found your pills, rolled to perfection and doused in gold leaf. You sighed, seeing you had enough to last more than a few months. Your grandmo- The White Queen usually ordered them in mass so you wouldn't run out for a long while in case of emergency. You took a quick breath and put them back, right next to the caterpillar themed hookah with many different flavored tobaccos - called shisha you mused to yourself - and small water capsules you carried with you everywhere incase you truly felt you needed to relax.

"Hello mister Dormouse." You whispered as a rather large brown mouse creeped out of your bag, nose twitching and huffing at the new air around him, collar of lace with a blue ribbon with a sugar cube charm shaking slightly. You giggled, picking up the still small compared to you mouse and placed him into your pocket. "Tea time is later and naturally I need my Dormouse." He squeaked in agreement.

You closed that bag and hopped up to another, opening it to find the bottom covering in soft grasses, a brown hare staring back at you.

"And you, my March Hare, must also be with me for our future tea time." You grinned, and the March Hare chittered. His collar, which was lace with a yellow ribbon, golden pocket watch attached to the large bow tied in the front. You opened you coat to reveal a few pockets inside, one big enough for the rabbit, which is exactly where you placed him.

"Both of you, still and silent as the night now, understood?" Both seemingly nodded and you smiled, happy to feel both their warmth's against you.

You silently closed the March Hare's bag, wondering over to the bag that held your clothes. Now to find a way to reach the ceiling...

·:¨༺ ♱✮¨:·ᨐฅ ᨐᵐᵉᵒʷ·:¨✮♱ ༻¨:·˚─── ⋆⋅⛥⋅⋆ ──

It was silent as you and the White Rabbit walked down the halls once more, no humming or singing from you. You knew your pupils were enlarged and you were swaying, however, your body ready for your needed drugs, to which one was slipped into the pocket opposite of the Dormouse. However, you eventually got tired of walking so you rushed up to the White Rabbit, pulling on his tail coat.

"Yes, Your Majesty?" He asked, turning to face you. You looked down, embarrassed, before lifting your arms and making a grabbing motion. "Would you like me too... pick you up?" He then questioned.

"...Piggy back ride please..." You muttered, still looking down. The White Rabbit stared for a moment, making your embarrassment grow, until he chuckled. Your head raced up, about to speak, before he pulled you up, grabbing under your thighs to make sure you were secure.

"Is this comfortable, Your Majesty?" You nodded, pushing your head into his shirt as the White Rabbit then took you to meet Alice in his study. Silence filled the hall again, minus the footsteps of the White Rabbit. You could get used to this. Usually the cards at your own home didn't like picking you up much, complaining that you were old enough to walk by yourself or that as the Prince you should be better and blah blah blah...

... You liked the White Rabbit. He was nice.

And you noted he said nothing when you nuzzled further into his neck.

The door to the study creaked open, Alice sitting behind his desk working on paperwork. You never much liked paperwork, preferring to read stories over it, making your usual butler mad. Alice looked up and promptly took note of you being on the White Rabbit's back.

You whined when he began to put you down but allowed him to anyway, rubbing at your eyes for but a moment before racing over to the front of Alice's desk.

"What are you working on, my dear Alice?" He grunted, making eye contact with you for only a moment before looking back down at the work, pen gliding gracefully across the papers.

"Simply looking over some reports, Your Majesty." He replied, now glaring at some of the work. "Reports for what?" You question, Alice sucked through his teeth, now looking annoyed, but he calmed himself before responding.

"My company." "And what would that be?" You could tell he was quickly losing his patience with you but continued to keep his cool, admirable in your eyes. You had overheard from staff that you could be quite annoying.

"The Fumtom Corporation. More specifically, these reports are from the toy branch and-" "YOU SELL TOYS!?!" Your absolute surprise and joy caught the two men off guard, especially when you slammed you hands down on Alice's desk and began to jump with palms still firmly placed on the mahogany surface of the desk, each leap going higher and higher into the air, until you were practically doing a handstand on Alice's desk. You steadied yourself on your hands, still looking on in wonder at Alice. The White Rabbit had appeared behind you - to catch you if you fell, you supposed - but you held steady, instead walking on your hands to Alice.

Once you were both practically face you face, your amazed face broke out into the widest grin seen yet, and you ensured all of your amazingly sharp teeth were on display.

"Oh tell me, dear Alice, yes please tell me: What amazingly wondrous toys does this Corporation of yours create? What wonders do you give the children on the streets to brighten up their days and mayhaps even brighten up their weeks? What joyous little bundles do you leave within their arms to warm up their tiny spirits and light up their eyes, to send them into the embrace of hope and lighten up their lives? Oh please my Alice, leave me not in suspense! Tell me now, oh tell me please!" As you spoke, you leaned and walked closer until both your noses were practically touching, eyes meeting his extremely confused and perhaps even frightened one with your own filled with nothing but joy and euphoria.

"We... make make stuffed animals, most notably a white rabbit named Bitter Rabbit," you giggled and the White Rabbit snuffed out a sigh, "toy trains, planes, various board games, card games, dolls and doll houses, and much more." Your smile somehow grew as your legs began to lean forward, Alice stifling a sound of fear and Mr. Rabbit rushing to the side of the desk to catch you, till your feet landed on the top of Alice's chair and you flipped up, now standing on edge of the back of chair.

You turned to face the same way Alice did and leaned plus crouched down till your head was next to Alice's.

"How joyous this is, my darling Alice. As I am here, may I ask for some toys? I quite enjoy them, as you may be able to see if one takes the venture to mine room within the White Castle and find my rather impressive collection. One made of many years simple loneliness. I would like you to be the first to see it, and it is quite extensive, I might add. More than anything though, I would adore adding your toys to my collection-" before you could continue on your sudden rant, the doors to the study opened up, revealing a smaller girl with red hair and some of the thickest-yet-most-flimsy looking glasses you have ever seen in your live.

"Five of spades..." You muttered, all of your attention off Alice now, though you did notice how tension seemed to leave his shoulders as you stood back up on the back of his chair.

"U-uhm... dinner is ready, Master Ciel. A-AND YOUR MAJESTY!!-" With a squeak, the card quickly exited the room, igniting yet another smile across your face.

"A hunt has begun! Let us make haste men, grab your guns and hounds and let us be off! Away with us, away!!" As you shouted, you leapt off the back of the chair, landing on an empty part of Alice's desk, then jumped off the desk and ran off into the hall, hollering and whooping all the while. You cared not to look back and see if Alice and the White Rabbit were following behind, rushing after the card who only seemed to squeak louder and run faster.

You dared not overrun her, for if you did the odds of you missing the dinning room were high, seeing as that was where she most likely would be running to, it was fresh on the mind after all. But run too slow and you would surely lose her in these winding halls. So you paced yourself, making sure you didn't employ the same tactics you may have used at home, such as leaping over other servants or furniture, or running and jumping across the walls.

You threw your hands in the air, whooping once more as you hurried, the card turned another corner and into a room, and upon entering this room, you came across a table with a beautiful spread, not caring if a few items were lightly burnt. You awed at the table, completely forgetting about the Five of Spades that ran into a door off of the room.

You were stagnate as Alice and the White Rabbit entered the room. Slowly you turned to them, sharp teeth fully on display. With another sharp turn, you skipped down to the head of the table, and took the seat that would usually be Alice's, or so you assumed anyway.

"Let us play a game. I will pretend to be Alice during this meal so graciously prepared in what I can only assume to be my name, and Alice pretend to be me!! My White Rabbit, come to me! Or should I call thee, Sebastian?" Your voice voice was condescending and patronizing, your grin turning more into a smirk as you crossed you legs. The duo looked at each other and you could tell Alice was getting tired of your games, but once more, due to your staggering lineage, he was forced to obey.

"Fine, Your Majesty-" Ah ah ah! I am no longer "Your Majesty"! I am Ciel Phantomhive, earl of the Phantomhive name, The Queen's Guard dog and master of the Funtom Corporation. YOU, are now "His Majesty”, dear (Y/n)." Your sudden slipping into the role genuinely impressed them, judging by their slightly widened eyes. You hand raised and you snapped, grin washing off your face as an expression far to similar to Alice's crossed over your eyes.

"Sebastian, did I not call for you?" You voice lowered, becoming more serious and bold. You pointed to you side and stiffly did the White Rabbit come. You coughed into your fist to get his attention, looking up at him with one of your eyes closed.

"Thank you, if you would begin serving us..?" The White Rabbit nodded and started piling plates, while you turned back to Alice. "And how has this day been so far, Your Majesty? I am assured that everything was too your liking?" You clasped your hands and leaned onto the table, not flinching at the plate set before you.

"It.. was fine... Alice?" He was confused, which was fair, but at the very least Alice was playing along, which was much better then what your were expecting of him. Though, you had to continue to play your part, and as such, you smirked.

"Wonderful to hear. Now, after dinner I've planned-" You were cut off by a scream, similar to that of the squeak the Five of Spades made as she ran. Glancing back at the door she entered, you made a noise of amazement as said Five of Spades ran out of the room, the bottom of her dress on fire. Following her was the Seven of Spades and the Two of Spades, the Seven holding a flamethrower and the Two holding a bucket of water.

The game was long forgotten in your mind as you jumped up and laughed at the scene, chair clattering behind you as you raised your hands to clap. Alice also stood, though an expression akin to rage crossed his face, but before he could call the White Rabbit, the Five of Spades tripped, and the Seven flew over her onto the table with the flamethrower igniting. The tablecloth caught fire and burst into flame. The Two of Spades dropped his bucket and grabbed the Seven with one hand, pulling him off. His other hand was occupied by his straw hat, fanning the flames and making them higher.

Instead of running or screaming or any other reaction you knew would've been natural, you screamed in glee at the chaos, closing your coat so the flames wouldn't lick your or the March Hare's skin and fur. You laughed gayly and loudly, your amusement overshadowing every other scream and shout through the room. That excitement was quickly snuffed, however, when the White Rabbit grabbed the bucket the Two of Spades had forgotten and threw it at the fire, calming the flames if only by a little. Though, he took that chance and lifted the large tablecloth with now charred food, rushing it behind that door they kept running behind. You rushed behind him, your own safety at the back of your mind, bursting through the half-closed door to watch him shove the cloth and food into a full sink, plates and utensils be dammed.

"MEY-RIN! BALDROY!! FINNIE!! WHAT WAS THAT?!?" It seemed that Alice had finally snapped. You glanced at the White Rabbit who stared back at you with a blank expression, until you giggled and skipped out the room.

Entering the room, the three cards were on their knees as Alice all but shouted at them, spewing insults and otherwise, emphasizing the fact that something of that caliber should not have happened in front of you. You chuckled, and Alice's head whipped back to you in shock. You continued to skip over, moving past Alice to the cards.

"Now now, don't listen to this mean old Alice, I personally think it was a whirlwind of fun!" Alice sputtered behind you but you shushed her quickly and continued. "He may wish for punishment but I say bring us more merriment! Which of you cooked that would-have-been wonderful feast?" The Seven of Spades meekly raised a hand, cigarette nearly falling from his trembling lips.

"Well, my fair fellow, how would you say you do in the world of sugary confectionaries?" He looked confused for a moment, until the Two of Spades nudged him, causing him to cough and respond quickly.

"I'd say fair, s-sir? YOUR MAJESTY- I mean-" You nodded and pushed a hand to your chin, smiling.

"Then, my fair Seven of Spades, how fast do you think you could get us a couple batches of cookies and tarts? Perhaps even some small cakes or cakes of the cup variety?" The blond nodded with a now thoughtful expression.

"We have some cookies and cakes in the back including of the... uhm... cup? Variety?? But in terms of tarts... that'd take at least an hour... unless I sped things up with my flamethrower!" As if timed, a piece of the card's hair set back alight, the cards beside him slapped their heads as Alice geared up to start screaming again, then you interrupted with even more joyous laughter.

"Good, good! Then be off, fair fellow! My fair Seven of Spades be off, I will come with you in this endeavor and we will create the best tarts this accursed world has ever seen! Let us make haste, my glorious card! Come, come!" You pulled on his sleeve and dragged him away leaving behind an incredulous looking Alice and two very confused cards.

·:¨༺ ♱✮¨:·ᨐฅ ᨐᵐᵉᵒʷ·:¨✮♱ ༻¨:·˚─── ⋆⋅⛥⋅⋆ ──

The others looked at you as if you were God. Not one thing on the trays were burnt, and neither were you nor the Seven of Spades. No one was able to ask any questions as you helped set the table back up, setting down treats, treats, and more treats. You then helped move tea pots and cups all across the table, though there were multiple sets placed down, each was of different color and some you could tell Alice began to realize he didn't own.

"Uhm... Y-Your Majesty? Not to be rude or speak out of turn or anything like that but uhm... why do you have so many tea sets?" You turned to look at the Five of Spades, who was sweating behind her glasses. You ginned, and chuckled, before pressing a hand to your chest.

"Why my dear, darling Five of Spades, it's to play my absolute favorite game of course! I'll explain the rules when all the cups have been filled!" You danced around the table, filling each cup with tea from different teapots, even if the cup didn't match the pot. You placed different sweets all around as well scattering them in a random pattern that made no sense to those next to you.

Finally you stopped, staring at your hard work. You were more than excited to finally start the game. Picking up a teacup, you swapped it for another, then another, then another and another and another. You switched tea cups around at a rapid pace, not one ending up in its previous position. You began to laugh once more, the laughter bubbling up through your throat and echoing through the hall as you ran around the table with tea cups balancing on you shoulders and head, placing them down. You began to hum again, the White Rabbit straitening up behind you with tension in his shoulders, Alice and the cards looking at him curiously. And just as in the hall with the White Rabbit, you began to sing.

"I sent a message to the fish: I told them "This is what I wish."

The little fishes of the sea They sent an answer back to me.

The little fishes' answer was "We cannot do it, sir, because—"

I sent to them again to say "It will be better to obey."

The fishes answered, with a grin, "Why, what a temper you are in!"

I told them once, I told them twice: They would not listen to advice.

I took a kettle large and new, Fit for the deed I had to do.

My heart went hop, my heart went thump; I filled the kettle at the pump.

Then some one came to me, and said, "The little fishes are in bed."

I said to him, I said it plain, "Then you must wake them up again."

I said it very loud and clear; I went and shouted in his ear.

But he was very stiff and proud; He said, "You needn't shout so loud!"

And he was very proud and stiff; He said, "I'd go and wake them, if—"

I took a corkscrew from the shelf: I went to wake them up myself.

And when I found the door was locked, I pulled and pushed, and kicked and knocked.

And when I found the door was shut, I tried to turn the handle, but—"

You abruptly stopped singing when you reached the head of the table once more, your eyes creased from the wide smile on your face. Your mirth even transferred to the cards. You yanked the chair from its spot, standing on it and pulling a teacup and spoon up with you, uncaring of anything that spilled over the rim.

"Here this, my loyal subjects, as I announce the game of the evening! We will be playing such a game that includes all of you! So, take a seat at this fine table, I implore you!" Your voice was strong and steady, everyone taking a seat as soon as you commanded it. Your grin grew wider, then you cleared your throat and continued. "We will partake in a game where each of you will have thirty seconds to drink from a tea cup and guess what kind of tea you have drank, each one you get correct, you receive a point! To whomever has the most points at the conclusion of this most esteemed game, will win! Any questions?" A hand was raised, that hand belonging to the blond Two of Spades.

"Err... how will we know who got a guess right?" You nodded at the question, it was fair, you supposed.

"Well, my dear Two of Spades, I know what tea is in each of these darling cups as I was the one to pour them! And what a horrid game master I would be if I should not remember?" You giggled gleefully while the group stared at the thirty-plus cups on the table and you with confusion. You sat back down and grabbed a strawberry tart, shoving a mouthful in and humming at the taste.

"Are we ready to begin?" You spoke through the mouthful, Alice cringing. You cleared your throat once more before gasping. "Oh I nearly forgot!" You cried as you reached into an outer pocket and an inner pocket on your coat, pulling the March Hare and Dormouse from their hiding spots.

Your playmates looked flabbergasted at the sudden appearance of your companions, both of which were already making their rounds, sampling some treats and teas. Before a single complaint could be made, you waved them off with that continuous smile of yours. You took another tart and scarfed it down in milliseconds, coughing a bit, then looking back up. With a happy grunt you lifted three fingers and silently started counting down. Once all three fingers were down, the game begun.

You watched with bated breath as everyone started aggressively sipping their teas and trying to throw out answers as quickly as possible, compared to your leisurely pace and slow stirring when it wasn't sweet enough. Moreover, you watched as they jumped when the March Hare started doing his job and swapped tea cups around and refilled them with tea. You noted every answer and every new batch of tea with keen eyes, humming to yourself as time passed. You didn't say a word either, when the March Hare pushed a tea cup to Alice and instead of tea, the boy found a sleeping Dormouse. Though, he didn't find him by looking into the cup, oh no. He found the poor thing when he went to take a sip, not paying attention because he was glaring at the White Rabbit. The Two of Spades was doing horribly, only guessing one right and you were one-hundred-percent sure it was by pure luck and chance, which made you snort tea out your nose and hacking up chocked laughs. The Five and Seven of Spades were doing alright over all, but that White Hare was getting all of them right. He tried to miss one on purpose but you heard him mutter the teas correct name under his breath. Why he'd want to lose was beyond you but it would be a good laugh.

But Alice... poor sweet Alice... no he was doing fine. You were winning for obvious reason, Alice and the White Hare tied hand-in-hand. And finally, the unofficial time you had placed came to an end.

Without warning, you threw your teacup into the air mid sip, watching as it came crashing down onto the floor. Everyone jumped - minus you, the March Hare, and the Dormouse - and quickly turned to you, who only stood.

"The game has finished my friends, and the ranking - that of which will be read from worst to best - is as follows: Two of Spades in sixth, Seven of Spades in fifth, Five of Spades in fourth, Alice in third, The White Rabbit in second, and, naturally, Your Royal Highness in first!" You - once more - didn't care to see their faces as you named the results, simply standing still with your wide grin on your face, till you felt a small nudge on your hand. The Dormouse lightly patted you hand and motioned to your pocket. You tilted your head, not paying attention to the others whom had began to speak.

"Do you wish to be in my pocket again?" You suddenly spoke out, heads turning back to you. The Dormouse shook his head, pawing at your pocket with more concern now, the March Hare joining him in pawing at your pocket. Curious now, you shoved a hand into the pocket, pulling a small pill, still covered in gold leaf, out.

Your eyes widened and you gasped, you had completely forgotten about your medication! Quickly searching the table, you grabbed a piece of chocolate cake and a random cup of tea - you didn't care any longer which teas were in which cups - and took a bite and long gulp, shoving the pill in with the mixture in your mouth.

You could feel their gazes burning into you as you swallowed the impromptu concoction. You looked back at your companions who now seemed even happier, the March Hare even beginning to preform binkies in the air. You giggled and clapped at the sight of the tricks, only coming back to reality when someone coughed. It had been Alice.

“Your Majesty, if I may be as so bold as to ask, what was that pill you just took for?” You could tell by his tone that he knew exactly what it was, but wanted you to confirm it. You hummed, sticking a hand out onto the table and allowing the Dormouse to clamber onto your shoulders, then picking up the March Hare and running fingers through his fur. After a moment of consideration, you sighed, all traces of merriment and happiness dropping from your face in an instant, everyone flinching at the sudden change.

“Well, my dear, questioning Alice, ‘tis a pill I am made to take with every meal I eat. A pill, my grandmother says, that will lessen these “wild thoughts” of mine that run rampant through the cage that is my mind. A pill that will turn my splendor and pleasure into harsh work ethic that I can use so I may one day hold title to the crown, a pill that takes that marvelous Wonderland that has so carved its way into my very being and crushes it till it’s nothing but the faintest voice at the back of my head, whispering sweet nothings or wildness and adventure. A pill that will make the cards of the White Castle stop laughing at me behind my back, a pill that will make the doctors quit telling her that I am no good, better off in the looney-bin.”

You paused to take a breath, letting go of the March Hare as you noted you were squeezing him rather than carding fingers through his hair. You barely noticed your breathing got heavy, acutely aware of the Dormouse on your shoulders, you shuddered. A tense smile over took your face, much more strained compared to every other smile of the night, your teeth, sharp and shark-like, were on full display.

“Do you know, my poor traumatized Alice,” you hear him scoff but quickly shushed him with a loud ‘shhh’, finger flying across your chapped lips in a shushing motion - when did your lips get chapped?, “Have you ever been to an asylum? Where they poke and prod at you like some kind of animal? Like something to study, to better understand? With their to-small-scalpels and to-large-stethoscopes. With drugs with names to long and complicated you could never hope to pronounce and those awful awful jackets of a tarp-like material, though much to stretchy-yet-scratchy to be tarp, with their terrible shiny buckles and fresh smelling leather straps? Or perhaps even those god forsaken bits that jam in your mouth, uncaring if your lips begin to bleed, to make sure you can’t scream or cry for help and plead for forgiveness. Forgiveness when they throw you to the floor or lock you in a room by yourself because you were moving to much or didn’t take your medication. Have you, my darling-yet-daring, calm-yet-wild, collected-yet-crazy, close yet oh so far Alice? Could you ever understand?!?”

You didn’t know when your voice raised an octave or when tears threatened your eyes but you quickly wiped them away, uncaring of the makeup now slathering your sleeve. Your teeth clenched as tears finally welled up in your eyes and began to flood your cheeks, breath growing harsher and harsher. The world seemed so far away, the table you were supposed to be standing at was so big, the chair behind you so small. Your sleeves fell over your hands as you hiccupped, rubbing aggressively at you eyes, irritating your skin until it became a bright red. Someone, you could not see who, gripped your arm to try and wretch it back, but you only screamed and scratched at the arm that grabbed at you, scooting away and curling in on yourself.

You hadn't meant to spill that much. You knew you were like that of a tea pot with a leak, constantly spilling parts of yourself to the world without meaning too. But to blow up like that was not on your agenda for the day, oh no it wasn't. And now you were paying the price for it, whining and whimpering into your knees as you sat on the floor. You rocked back and forth, sobbing silently as memories of your short time in "that place" flew to the backs of your eyelids, but before anymore could fill any space in your head, the softness of a duvet landed over your body. The Dormouse squeaked and you immediately reached back on your shoulders and took him into your palms. You pressed your face into his small body, letting arms wrap around you and lift you up bridal style, snuggling into the sudden warmth of the duvet combined with body heat. Next to the Dormouse, the March Hare appeared in you lap. You head lay on the persons chest as the light of the dining room faded into the distance, as did your consciousness.

Vaguely, you could hear voices of Alice and the White Rabbit mixing with spinning rooms and the small bugs swimming in your eyes. The softness of your bed met you back carefully and your just laid there, half there and not, medication flowing through your veins and “calming” your nerves.

"Master, what shall we do?" "I don't think there is much we can do. Neither of us have experience in calming down Royalty, after all." "Neither of us have tried." "Do you have any ideas, Sebastian?" "..." "As I thought. This is a delicate situation. I believe it best if we leave-"

Before he could say it, your arm shot out and grabbed Alice's sleeve, evidently startling the two.

"My bag, the one I carried in. Would you please grab it for me." You whispered, and the White Rabbit hummed, walking over to the chair you haphazardly threw it on. You sat up as he came back, Alice watching curiously. You snatched the bag from his grip and threw it on the bed, both the Dormouse and March Hare looking on in what you could assume to be animalistic worry. You gipped a small capsule of water and some mint flavored shisha in one hand, the actual hookah in the other.

Taking them out, you didn't look up at the two, beginning to set up for a very quick session. Though, before you could pour the water into it's chamber, someone lightly grabbed at your sleeve. Your lips were still pulled taught, no smile in sight as you looked up at Alice through sweat slicked hair, who was showing the most emotion you had seen on him all day. Concern. You would've chuckled at that, if not for your mood taking the dip it did.

"There's no need for that." He said faintly. You looked back down at the hookah and sighed, dropping the contraption and water and shisha back onto the bed, not bothering to clean it up. After which you looked back up at the duo, fake concern on the White Rabbit's face and real concern on Alice's.

"You are far to young to be engaging in smoking of any kind." You snorted and turned you head, snuggling deeper into the duvet still miraculously wrapped around your form. Alice's expression deepened. He seemed to hesitate, but eventually sat at the on the side of the bed beside you, albeit on the very edge but still, he sat next to you.

"Is there something you wish to talk about?" You shook your head no, taking the March Hare into your arms once more. Alice stared, before standing and walking to the door. He looked to the White Rabbit and gestured him to follow, both leaving the room soon there after. When they left you almost started crying again, softly sniffling to yourself. You tried to pick up the hookah again now that hey had abandoned you, but the Dormouse stopped you with a paw, shaking his head. And so, you wallowed, comparing Alice to all the other cards of the White Castle and how they'd barely give you a passing glance anymore, whispering their lies about your person and spreading those harsh rumors about your mental stability. You just wanted the damn floor to open up and swallow you whole.

Just as you were about to fall asleep the door opened again, revealing Alice, the White Rabbit, and the three cards. A tea cart was pushed in by the Seven of Spades with cakes and teas across it's silver surface, and the White Rabbit held his hands behind his back. Alice walked up to you and held a hand out, helping you to sit at the edge of your bed, the duvet still covering you. Each person in the room took a cup and one was handed to you, the White Rabbit clearing his throat. He then began to sing.

"A very merry unbirthday to me."

He stared at you and you sung back in a whisper, voice scrathcy.

"To who?"

and he responded in kind, both of you singing.

"To me!"

"Oh you!"

"A very merry unbirthday to you!"

"Who, me?"

"Yes, you!"

"Oh, me!"

"Let's all congratulate us

With another cup of tea

A very merry unbirthday to me!"

And you a clinked your cups together once the White Rabbit finished his verse. You giggled softly as you sipped the lukewarm tea and watched the facial expressions of the others as they took in the flavors of the tea they sipped, some liking theirs and some obviously not.

Finally, the White Rabbit and Alice walked up to you, hands shifting behind the taller's back, before something was handed to you. That something being a little white rabbit with a large green bow, a card and teacup charm attached, dressed in a wonderlandiful rendition of your current outfit. You stared at the small toy, and began to cry. You could clearly hear the cries of shock and worry as the fat drops of water left your eyes, but it was quickly silenced by the laughter bubbling in your throat. It grew in size, your shoulders shaking as you held the rabbit close to your chest, before you jumped up and grabbed the White Rabbit and Alice in your arms, all three of you falling to the floor. Your arms wrapped securely around their midsections.

"Thank you," you started, "Thank you so very much, my friends."

You continued to laugh, the laughter catching on with everyone else in the room, including your Alice, whose chuckles did not go unnoticed by you.

More laughter filled your room until everyone was laughing and halls of the Phantomhive manor, that of which is usually silent and cool, filled with a warm feeling of hope towards your uncertain future.

You could see this place becoming home.

{𝓝𝓸𝓽𝓮𝓼}: This is a little longer than usual. I may have went a little insane with the “chaos” part of the ask. I hope it is to your liking.

-🖋️

All publishings on this account belong to @fountain-pen-anon. I do not authorize my fics being altered, translated, stolen or published/reposted to other sites, thank you.

© fountain-pen-anon - all rights reserved

[deathmetalunicorn1]

Hi hope your doing well, can you do Toddler!reader who’s very extroverted. They say hello to everyone in public and pick up a conversation. Adam looks away for one second and all of a sudden reader wanders off and is mid conversation with another family

That and the family finding out the hard way by how fast toddlers can run into danger by accident.

-“Hi! I’m Y/N! I’m three!” The older couple couldn’t help but coo softly at you as you ran up to them at the park, greeting you kindly.

-Ares shouted out your name, “Y/N! Not again!” You turned, beaming as Ares picked you up, who looked frazzled as Leonidas and Apollo ran over as well.

-The older woman could tell you were a bright little child, but you were making your family quite frazzled, running off and talking to other by the looks of it.

-Your family didn’t know where you got your extroversion from, yes some of the members were extroverts, but not like you- you would say hi to everyone you met, including animals!

-Nothing was wrong with being extroverted, the issue was that you would disappear in the blink of an eye to go and greet a new friend! If you weren’t sitting in someone’s lap or in someone’s arms or holding onto a hand, and if they look away for one second, you would be halfway down the road to say hi to a cat you saw.

-Some were concerned with this little quirk of yours, it wasn’t a bad thing to meet new people, but they were worried about you wandering off and they couldn’t find you, or if someone would snatch you away.

-You had only been at the park for twenty minutes and you had wandered off three times!!

-After bringing you back to the picnic blanket, Ares handed you to Adam who sighed deeply, hugging you close before handing you some apple slices.

-Loki had been looking over at something and he pointed, “Should we get something like that for Y/N?” They all followed his gaze, seeing another child in one of those child harnesses with a leash attached to the back.

-They all looked back at each other, pondering if that would be a good idea or not before Apollo spoke, “Where’s Y/N?!” They looked at Adam, who had been holding you, but there was a blinking outline where you had been sitting!

-For the fourth time that day- PANIC!!!!

-Instantly they were all up, rushing around as they couldn’t find you, worry quickly settling in that you had been snatched

-With each passing moment it became more and more serious until Leonidas heard you about five minutes from when you first vanished, “Hi! I’m Y/N! I’m three!” He turned, and he paled, seeing you being attacked with kisses by several dogs as the dog walker looked a bit panicked, seeing a child there, by yourself.

-You were laughing, enjoying the affections as Leonidas picked you up by the back of your shirt, pulling you up into his arms away from the doggies.

-You turned, beaming at Leonidas, “Look at all the puppies!” He couldn’t help but grin, giving the dog walker a small nod before you waved goodbye to the doggies and the dog walker.

-Ten minutes later, the cashier smiled at Apollo, “Will that be all for you today?” he nodded, thanking her, taking the child harness out of the packaging, in your favorite color, F/C as he headed outside where you were sitting with the others, eating another apple, while they were all looking drained.

-They weren’t going to take any more chances with you, at least until you learned not to wander off. That didn’t stop you from being social, as you said hello to every person and animal you saw on the way home!

[swannieluv]

.𖥔 ݁ ˖꩜ Hide and Seek – (PLATONIC) Wanderer x Child!Reader

✦⸼࣪⸳𝐆𝐍!𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫 <3

✦⸼࣪⸳ 𝐖𝐜: 1,4k

✦⸼࣪⸳ 𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆!!: none.

✦⸼࣪⸳ A/N: HI MOOTIE!! Hope you'll like this aaa <33

✦⸼࣪⸳@gayestsillybilly

"Peace, finally, peace."

Sumeru, a region known for its hot climate and vast forests. For those not used to high temperatures and humidity, it could be a stressful nation to be in. But for the inhabitants who had lived their entire lives in the region, or for a puppet who was not susceptible to climate change, Sumeru was tantamount to a tropical paradise.

It's undeniable that in the midst of daily tribulations, people need a break from the problems that surround them. Wanderer was no exception, looking for the perfect spot in the treetops to put his thoughts in order without the presence of idiotic people making noise and–

Smack.

A toy ball hit him right on the face. In disbelief, he put one of his hands on the hit spot and looked at the source of the attack.

"Hey!" He turned around with an annoyed face. It took a lot of courage for someone to actually hit him.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to."

On a tree branch next to him was a child, a very familiar one who made him take a deep breath before saying anything. They had been following him for days. They were [Name], one of the children from a small orphanage in Sumeru.

When he asked Lesser Lord Kusanali for advice on what to do with his little stalker, he was bombarded with information about babysitting. Not that he was going to use any of her advice for anything anyway.

"Do you want to play with me? We can make flower crowns or play soccer together." They cracked a big smile, trying to convince him somehow.

"I don't..."

A small tightness came to Wanderer's chest, which was strange for someone who didn't have internal organs like humans. The child bore an eerie resemblance to one of the ghosts from his past.

"But I really want to play with you, I really want to be your friend!"

They put their hands together, making an abandoned dog face to try to soften his non-existent heart. However, as they did so, they lost their balance and slipped off the branch they were on.

"Waaaah-"

Their eyes closed tightly, preparing for the direct impact with the hard ground. If they were lucky, they might only end up breaking a few fingers or their feet, but if they were unlucky they would break their whole body this fall. However, contrary to expectations, the reality was somewhat different.

"Hm?"

A pair of arms caught them in mid-air, he had saved them. Using his anemo vision to fly, Wanderer left them in a safe place on dry land.

"Woah! That was amazing! Again, again!" They jumped in joy, their eyes shining with energy like stars in the night sky.

"How can someone as small as you have so much energy to spend?" Wanderer took the child in his arms again, trying to calm them down.

"I don't know, hehe."

They swung their legs and put their arms behind his neck for support. It was fun following this grumpy stranger, he always got annoyed but eventually gave in to their sunny personality.

"I'll take you back to where you live." His footsteps echoed in the empty woods. He had run far away so that [Name] wouldn't follow him, but apparently their willpower was so great that the little human caught up with him.

"But I walked so far just to play." They pouted, their eyes filling with small tears that were sure to give him more trouble.

"Wait, wait, don't cry!" He quickly tried to calm them down, lightly wiping the tears from their eyes with his fingers.

Wanderer was in a dilemma. Either he surrendered and spent his precious time playing childish games to appease them, or he could simply leave them in the orphanage where they lived and go back to living his routine. But Lesser Lord Kusanali's little voice rang in his mind whenever he questioned himself like that, saying something like:

"It wouldn't be nice to disappoint a child's pure heart. If they likes you, at least try to cheer them up!"

At times like this, following the advice of the Dendron Archon was the wisest thing to do, since he could end up doing something that would make this already complicated situation worse. Perhaps playing with [Name] would make them stop chasing him through Sumeru for the week.

"Hm... come on. What kind of game would you like to play?" He kicked the ball from under his feet into one of the surrounding trees, the accidental force he put into it breaking its branch.

"Oh. I don't want to play soccer with you, no." They watched the branch next to the toy, not wanting to become a victim of accidental kicks. "I'd rather play hide and seek."

"Hide and seek? What's that?" He was a little confused, he had never played or seen this game before.

"You don't know it? Then I'll teach you!”

They pushed him to a place where he could lean his head and not peek. A little smile adorned their face, happy that they had finally gotten him to play.

"You need to stay here and count to 10 so I can hide. Then you come and find me, it's easy!”

Wanderer closed his eyes, burying his head in one of his arms to start counting. A strong breeze made the light fabric of his hat sway, perhaps a sign of storm.

"One... two... three... four... five..."

[Name] started running, observing the area to find the best possible place to hide. The trees were too tall to climb in ten seconds, and the bushes too thorny and noisy to enter.

'He counts too fast!’

Their faces lit up when they finally found a perfect spot. The chance of Wanderer finding them there was very low, he would certainly have a hard time.

"Six... seven... eight... nine... ten... that's it."

Wanderer began to search. Opening up small bushes and using his vision to climb into the treetops, but [Name] was out of his field of vision.

'There's no way I can't find a child, this is ridiculous.’ He kept searching every nook and cranny, looking for some sign of where [Name] was.

"Hehe..." a chuckle echoed through the room, causing Wanderer to turn around, searching frantically with his head.

"Where...?" He looked up and was startled to see a child falling towards him.

"ATTACK!"

[Name] literally threw themselves at him. If it hadn't been for Wanderer's quick reflexes, who managed to catch them in his arms, they would both have fallen painfully to the ground.

"Haha!" They laughed at his face, being placed on the ground carefully.

"Isn't that against the rules?" He crossed his arms, his face slightly frowning after what had happened.

"There are no rules in hide-and-seek apart from not spying."

"I guess I'll have to accept that then..." Wanderer sighed, but without realizing it, a smile formed on his face. What was a smile turned into a big one and then into a hearty laugh. "Don't ever scare me like that again, please."

"You... YOU SMILED!" They shouted enthusiastically. "I finally made you laugh!"

"I... forget it."

The first drops of rain began to fall to the ground, wetting [Name]'s hair slightly. It was only a matter of time before thunder and lightning began to rumble through the sky.

"..."

Wanderer pulled [Name] under his hat, providing a cover for the smaller child. It was like a small space protected from the outside world, where the two of them could watch everything as long as the precipitation didn't increase.

"Do you dislike thunder?" they looked up to meet his gaze.

"Yes..."

"I don't like it either..." [Name] grabbed one of his hands, pulling him forward. It was an invitation to go with them. "So you're not alone, Mr. Wanderer."

Perhaps there was comfort for someone like him somewhere in the world.

✦⸼࣪⸳♡ BONUS:

"I was told your birthday was a few days ago, so I brought you a small cake."

"A... cake?"

The sweet in front of him was small, perfect for two people to eat. When Wanderer put a slice in his mouth, he couldn't help but feel the sugary taste of the food.

"Here, for you." He held out the piece of cake to [Name], who looked at him with a sad face.

"Don't you like it?"

"H-Hm? Of course I did, that's why I'm being generous enough to give you my slice. Take it soon."

And so, Wanderer successfully escaped yet another dessert.

[blvdymary]

I want to support you. ^-^ Let me send a request. How about Jonathan Crane testing his toxin on patient and he actually feels bad because she has a massive panic attack when it wears off.

|| Thank you so much girlie this means so much to me. Also, I'd like to apologise since I was gone for a long time but I was having some struggles. ANYWAYS, hope you enjoy this and ilysm !!||

Piece Of My Past

pairing: Jonathan Crane x Reader

Summary: Holding trauma to yourself might not be the best idea but what were you supposed to do? They wouldn't believe you. Now here you were, in an asylum for the things that never happened by you but to you.

Genre: Angst, fluff/comfort.

Warnings: Mentions of SA.

Word count: 1k

Note: I am alive. I think.

⋅───⊱༺ ♰ ༻⊰───⋅

Ever since childhood, your parents and people around you knew something was wrong with you. At first, you were a talkative kid, but once you turned 7 you stopped talking. They tried every trick in the book to get you to open up, talk, and be happy like the other kids. Of course, you had your small circle of friends- not really, but oh well. So it wasn't a surprise to people around you when you end up in a mental asylum, Arkham, to be specific.

Walking towards a room in your straight jacket, both arms grasped tightly by security guards. They were acting as if you killed somebody! This much security for someone like you was useless, I mean, why not the guy who tried to eat their friend's arm? I swear to god, people in this city need a reality check.

The guards guided you into a small, white room with a metal table and two chairs seated across each other. What kind of psychotic shit was this? Your eyes are glued on the “restraints” as they called them, more like torture devices because what the hell is that and why is it looking like an 1890s doctor's equipment?

They sat you on the chair, putting the cuffs on your wrists and ankles to keep you in place. Why were they treating you like an object to be tossed around? So not fair. You watched as the guards left the room, leaving you to stare at the empty chair in front of you. Door, table, chair. Nothing to keep someone like you entertained.

Soon after —probably been 15 minutes, to say the least— you heard the door creaking open, revealing the oh-so Doctor Crane. Don’t get me wrong, he is a good doctor, as far as you heard, but you always thought there was something slightly off about him. Like the way, he stared deep into people’s eyes, the way he was cold as a barrel, and oh! Don’t forget that every patient he visits becomes delusional and psychotic the moment he leaves them alone with their thoughts. What is with this guy? What is he hiding?

He walked in, setting the brownish suitcase onto the table, and folded his hands on his lap. He looked like how your mom used to scold you as a child for not being expressive enough with your thoughts and feelings. His eyes stared into yours, taking you as a whole. God, why did it feel like you were in trouble or something? After a while of both of you staring at each other like two dogs, he finally spoke up with his condescending voice.

“So, I have heard you were having speech problems, and I'm here to help you, as you may know.” He put his hands on the table, still keeping his fingers interlocked to show authority. You look at him, then at his hands, and then at the suitcase. “what is that…?” you spoke silently, a bit too shy for your liking. When he realised his suitcase picked your interest, he had an idea. A not so great idea. He felt a little smirk appearing on his face before he quickly got rid of it and gazed at you. “I could show you if you want.”

“yes.” no hesitation, pure curiosity. Why would he need a suitcase to talk about your speech problem? You glued your eyes to the suitcase as he slowly opened it, not yet showing it to you. He cleared his throat, making you look up at him as he took off his glasses. Handsome, to say the least. Just as you were about to compliment his eyes, you felt some kind of gas getting sprayed onto your face, making you inhale it. You looked up at him, only to see…him.

-

Playing at the park like other kids, not yet aware of the consequences of being so pure. You didn't even notice a man approaching behind you. Feeling his gaze, you looked up, his eyes crazed but hidden behind a pair of sunglasses as he held a piece of candy towards you. “hey little girl…why don't you come with me for a while hm?” so gullible, not yet aware of how disgusting men could be. You took his hand.

-

Feeling tears streaming down your face like a waterfall, begging and screaming and crying for the pain to stop as all you could think of at that moment was your childhood. Jonathan rarely felt like this, guilty. as he heard your pleas to “get him off you” and “to let him go of you”. He stood up, looking down at your disheveled form before deciding this was enough. He grabbed another vital from the suitcase, one that he specifically made so he could use as some form of anesthesia. He opened the small bottle, spraying some onto your face as he watched you go from some kind of wild hog to a sleeping baby in minutes. He decided it would be for the best to let you rest before talking or even any word out of you.

Of course, the dreamland wasn't any peaceful as you continued to have the same past trauma repeat over and over and over again till you felt something pulling you away, the ending. Finally. You slowly felt your eyes open, pulling you away from the nightmare you just relived. You felt arms around you, was it…?

Needless to say, you weren't expecting Crane, one of the most heartless men in Gotham, to be holding you close to his chest when you woke up. You looked up at him but he stopped you, pulling you closer to his chest as he spoke in a more soft and gentle voice. “Everything is going to be alright, it wasn't your fault.” And at that moment you knew there was good in bad people, and people were willing to listen to you. For once.

⋅───⊱༺ ♰ ༻⊰───⋅

taglist: @hiraethberry @1-fuzzy-squirrels @justcallme1anangel @tejasvkris @rosierosem @meowsicles39

[musicfeedsmysoul12]

So in your mind Bakugou, a child, should have died? Really?

Bakugou is a fictional character.

The parasocial relationship and puritan crap I keep seeing is just weird.

But if you actually want what I think should have happened with Bakugou? I said it before: his arc should have ended with him being mid-rank and completely content with being a secondary hero. No agency, no top twenty position.

Bakugou is set up as being what society thinks a hero should be. Strong, fit, Flashy Quirk.

Yet as we know he's not a good perso. He makes fun of the guy who doesn't have a Quirk which is treated as a disability. He uses rude nicknames which kinda are Quirkist to. Commenting on the physical appearance of mutant characters who are said to suffer from discrimination due to said appearance. The fact he not only purposely triggers a side effect of a Quirk but seems to mug Kaminari for money to give to Kirishima despite the fact he is a rich kid. (I can’t remember if its said the money is his or not but its one of those panels I never know about.) The aggressiveness, the rudeness- it adds up.

What should have happened if we want to make Bakugou go through character development to be a better person is that he 1) faces more consequences for his attitude then he does in canon (IE: he is called out for the insults and name calling. A few angry comments from Shouji, Tsu or any of the mutant characters should have occurred. He gets called out and when he doesn't change people avoid him. He is ignored by them unless they are working with him or he needs help. Its made clear they do not want to be around him.) 2) faces actual punishment for his actions towards Izuku or others (IE: Kaminari makes a complaint about being forced into whey mode, Bakugou gets a warning or something. He receives punishment for nearly killing Izuku during the battle trials and ignoring a teacher. He is disqualified for trying to attack Todoroki after his match at the sports festival, not that mess of a situation) 3) Is not in any way an ‘important’ character.

The third one is tricky so I'll explain. It goes beyond the ‘Izuku shouldn't be have to be friends with Bakugou like he kind of is’ issues I have.

By this I mean Bakugou should be redundant as a character and the narrative shows it. He should find himself sinking while everyone else climbs higher. His Quirk SHOULD have actually drawbacks we see. Not just the mention of wrist issues. We should see him hurt himself and need to take a second. He should have frankly lost the sports festival to Uraraka and not gone on. And part of that SHOULD have been his Quirk not working how he wanted it to. Because the world relies on Quirks and Bakugou is hyper reliant on his.

Make it clear that's why. Then I want Bakugou to not be at the top of the class. Why? Because he is the normal fish who moved from his tiny pond to a big old ocean. Yes, he’s smart but take it from someone whose brother was smart in a small town: that don’t mean shit when your teachers suck.

Bakugou can be top ten. I just want him to have to face the fact he isn't the top of the class. The big dog on campus because everyone else is just as driven as he is, and some of them are smarter or faster or more skilled then he is.

This should end with Bakugou making his realization after the final exams where he hits Izuku and is flunked for it. It should have been noted and due to the fact in a real situation like that you'd end up probably arrested or investigated, he fails.

This should have been the turning point. When we actually see Bakugou break down. When the class has stepped away from him. When the only one sticking around is Kirishima because the guy honestly thinks Bakugou can be a better person.

Key phrase: CAN BE. Not that he is. I want it to be clear Kirishima sees good in Bakugou and wants to bring it out. Not that Bakugou is secretly a tsundere.

This is the turning point became it leads to the LOV attacking the camp looking for Bakugou because they see him like them. I want them to have noticied his antics in the festival where he is aggressive and loud. I'd like for Aoyama to have been feeding info about recruits. I want Bakugou to hear they want HIM as he's villainous and this should shake him.

He isn't kidnapped. Someone else is. Tokoyami actually to bring focus to mutation and Quirk discrimination.

I want Bakugou to truly have to look at HIMSELF as a person. And realize he isn't what he wants to be. A hero.

This leads into him eventually becoming a much better person as he works through his shit. Its going to be messy. And I want him to struggle through it. While doing so he slowly fades into the background. We turn attention to Uraraka, Todoroki, Tsu, Aoyama and Iida as the secondary characters to our protagonist Izuku.

We get to know them, we get to know Aoyama as he integrates himself into their circle. We have way more of a punch for the traitor.

In the end I want an apology from Bakugou to Izuku that is meaningful and honest and then… he goes off, becomes a hero ranked like 150 and is happy. He's buddies with Kirishima and a few others, he goes to the reunion with a hi. Maybe the offer of a team up or not.

And I think that would have been the perfect ending to his arc. From the bully to the atoner.

[teaboot]

you mentioned you worked security and now i’m in emotional pain because i feel deprived of feel-good security anecdotes (this was a not so subtle request for some if you have the time and/or energy, please and thank you). hope you’re having a wonderful day today!!

It's mostly confidential but if I'm vague and change details for privacy I can give a few examples of times I really enjoyed my job!

Got a vague call that someone someone "having a freakout". Arrived to find someone having a panic attack. Cleared a place for us to sit down and stayed with them. Once they calmed down they told me they'd just found out a family member had passed away. Exchanged some old stories and got to see them smile a bit before their friend arrived to drive them home.

Someone I'd removed from a place before recognized me on the street. Thought they were gonna kick my ass. We wound up talking instead- turns out they were homeless and had some addiction issues they were working through. I split my lunch with them and hung out till we went different ways.

Concerned passersby reported someone sitting under a service dog, ha people freaking out bit. Got to verify they were okay and make sure they weren't disturbed till they were ready to move on. It was nice to make sure someone could do what they needed and continue about their business without it being a big deal.

Found someone unconscious and unresponsive. Got them paramedics, paramedics took them to the hospital.

A very small child very politely informed me that they were lost, and asked if I could please help them find their mother thank you very much. Absolutely delightful kiddo, got them sorted out.

Saw a kid being absolutely reamed out by their parent for doing nothing particularly odd or rude or out of the ordinary. Asked if everything was good, and parent exhausted informed me that "Oh, sorry, they're Autistic". Looked to the kid and went, "Eyy, Twinzies!" And flashed the jazz hands. Parent looked horrified, couldn't believe I was "allowed to work there". Kid lit up like it was christmas. Spent the next few minutes making faces with the kid back and forth behind their parent's back. Hope they're doing okay.

Person I talked to fairly often, who was homeless and regularly camping around behind the property, approached me after two months away with clear skin and clean hands and informed me that they were four months clean. I don't see them around anymore. Last I heard they were moving into a new apartment.

Someone who was breaking it off with an abuser told me they'd seen them in the parking lot and asked for an escort to their car. We arranged it so I could walk with them when they left whenever they went home. Super nice person, too.

At one outdoor property with regular patrols, I'd regularly come across dead birds who'd hit the windows and fallen. Boss said to toss them in the dumpster but instead I'd take em out to the woods. Doesn't feel right to put a thing that breathed in the trash. Wasn't part of the job, but... I dunno. Brought some peace.

Dude was ripping me a new one one day, going on about my "tough guy" attitude, accusing me of harassing him, saying I'd never be a man so I should check myself. Told him "I'm sorry for your bad experience with me today. Here is my employee identification. If you'd like to place a complaint, please feel free to contact my district manager", and handed him my boss's business card. Reported the incident to my boss afterwards. He never received any calls. Felt fucking stellar

[ezekiel13]

MacCready headcanons:

(Tw for talks of disordered eating, PTSD, death and other Fallout-esque things)

- Man can cook!!! Back in Little Lamplight, all the kids knew how to cook, even if Eclair (and someone different before and after) was ‘the Chef’. After leaving Little Lamplight, he improved his skills quite a bit, and he would cook for him and Lucy. To add on- it’s something he taught Duncan before he fell ill, and when Duncan recovers, the pair cook together quite a bit.

- On the food point. He really, really likes old prewar packets of food. Part of it is that he thinks they taste good (I’m a big canned food fan myself) and the other part is that he doesn’t feel safe without something to eat on him, and that prepacked food is the safest, and often the cheapest

- When he was in the Commonwealth, he only really ate stuff others got for him or that he found/killed himself, but he never went out of his way to get himself food/drink. The only thing he’d really get himself was some alcohol if he’d had a particularly bad day/good payday. He would always feel bad afterwards anyway

- Basically all of his caps go to the Capital Wasteland and Duncan, he sends them via Daisy, in order to hire any doctors he can, and give something to the people who are looking after Duncan

- He’s got pretty good first aid knowledge, along with all the Lamplight kids, because they all learnt it, just to a lesser extent than Lucy and Red.M

- He’s pretty short, due to growing up malnourished and lacking Vitamin D because of the caves. He did not know he was short until he left Little Lamplight. To add to this, Lucy is significantly taller than him.

- Duncan is also quite small as a child, after becoming sick. However, once he recovers, he will have a growth spurt in his teens, and be much taller than MacCready. This frustrates him greatly

- MacCready really likes dogs. He wants to get a dog for Duncan. They do end up getting a dog- she’s named Rosie, and is best friends with Dogmeat. Rosie is one of the scrappy sort of wild dogs, and she is basically glued to Duncan’s side.

- He’s afraid of Feral Ghouls. They freak him out so much. He’s had panic attacks about them. He likes being high, so that they can’t reach him. This is linked to Lucy. It’s also distressing as he feels the most comfortable underground, due to his childhood.

- He always wears his hat to cover his Gunners tattoo (I know he doesn’t have one in game but he does to me.)

- On the topic of hats- one of his voice lines mentions that he wants a Minuteman hat. This w more of an expression of his desire to be better, like the Minutemen. But he does also think the hats are cool. They remind him of comic books

- MacCready is a fan of Preston but he’s also scared of him. A bit. He thinks it’s genuinely impressive, if naive, what Preston wants, and that Preston is the kind of guy he wants Duncan to become. He also likes Preston’s hat. When he first met Preston, he refused to talk to the guy. They both thought the other hated the other (MacCready because of himself being an ex-gunner, and Preston because “why won’t this guy talk to me? What did I do?” Eventually, they actually talk and it turns out that Preston is impressed that MacCready left the gunners, and that, while he disapproves of Mercenaries, he genuinely believes that MacCready doing the right thing for his son is good. When Duncan gets back, MacCready ends up working for the Minutemen, finally becoming the soldier he said he would be to Lucy.

Sorry this post got a bit Preston focussed. Oops

[cultofdixon]

It Takes Two

Daryl Dixon • She/Her Pronouns • Part 2 to “It Takes a Village” • Rick Grimes’ Sister!Reader • You have always been a curious kid. Now so is your kid…and with a certain resident in Alexandria. Who everyone didn’t expect to have a soft side for the young Grimes • ANGST/SFW/NSFW • TW: Anxiety Attacks / Nightmares / Injuries / Mentions of Canon Violence / Mentions of Pregnancy / Depression / Past Abuse • Re-Writing Canon

Requested by: Anon

PREV

Winter has started, and Alexandria was fuller than ever. They may not know exactly when the holidays were but it was enough to have their families in the Kingdom and Hilltop come to Alexandria. Meaning a lot of kids. But it was perfect…especially the snow.

A small groan escapes the waking child as he lifts his head from his pillow to look out the window and notice the falling snow. That alone ignited the energy he needed to get out of bed and wake up his mom.

His mom who would much rather stay in bed during a cold morning, but her excited four year old alerted not only the Mal living in the house…but the five year old that belonged to the Hilltop residents taking up her guest room.

“Mama!” Shepherd practically yells but Dog jumped on the bed when he got the door open.

“Shep…it’s early”

“It’s snowing!” He smiles running to her side of the bed gripping her blankets and tugging at them until the tired Y/N sat up. Her playful scowl appearing when Dog started to lick her face to help her wake up. “Dog wants to go too!”

“Let me guess…you woke up Hershel too?”

“He’s getting his mommy and daddy right now!” His face lights up with even more excitement as he knows the second he gets his snow gear on he was going to get his cousins next door.

“Get dressed baby and I’ll meet you downstairs” Y/N smiles watching her happy boy run out and Dog following him. “Don’t forget the gloves and beanie!” She adds hearing an ok yelled back before rolling over to the other side of the bed to address the archer that rolled off once he heard Dog’s collar jingling. “I’m gonna get dressed…and head out with Shep. That’ll give you your window”

Daryl groans upon sitting up from the floor feeling Y/N’s lips meet his temple when she leaned over. “He’s startin’ to get up before me”

“He’s going to find out before we even tell him…”

“I promise yea. We’ll get our day” The archer leaned into her kissing her before letting Y/N get dressed and ready.

The two have always had a bond with one another. But it wasn’t until Shep turned 3 that they took the risk. Daryl always loved her and would’ve waited til the end of his life for her. For her to be ready on her terms, but all she needed was for her small family of two to be secure. Safe. And Y/N knew she was safe with the archer and so was her son. Daryl loves her son as if he was his own even if Shepherd doesn’t know their relationship.

For now they kept it between them, and the priority was always going to be Shepherd.

Glenn was the fastest in getting ready next to the kids as he chases Hershel Jr and Shepherd through the snow for a bit while the rest of the Grimes got dressed for the snow day. Maggie stayed on the porch waiting for Y/N while she got Dog in a sweater before letting him join in the chaos.

“Where’s Daryl?” Maggie asks once Y/N stepped out while getting her gloves on.

“I just told him what we were doing so he should be joining us soon. But he’ll be getting Carol and her family, then Aaron and his daughter”

“Can you believe it?” Maggie smiles looking out to the small crowd for now. “We survived and thrived after all that happened”

“It’s surreal for sure” Y/N smiles watching her son gather a snow ball and pelt Dog making the Mal get excited to play ball.

As Shep made his way more down the street running away from the snowballs that were coming from the Rhees then his cousins, he stopped to hear someone curse because of how cold it was. He made his way to the little vent that looked into the room finding their resident prisoner shivering his ass off.

“Mama!”

Y/N immediately turns to her son seeing his frustrated expression which started to worry her.

“What’s wrong baby?” She walks away from the crowd of adults on Rick’s porch to kneel before her son as he struggled to get his words out.

“Th—uh. Uhm. I’m cold”

“Uncle Rick has the fireplace going, the adults were gonna go inside while Carl watches you little ones out here…you wanna come warm up a bit?”

“No! It’s…uhm. Mama…” Shep’s frustration came out in a whine making Y/N sigh a bit before standing up and extending her hand to the small child.

“Lead the way to what you need”

Shep immediately took her hand and pulled her back to their house. Then upstairs to the hall closet that Y/N kept spare blankets in.

“You can’t bring a blanket out in the snow, baby”

“No! It’s for…” Then the little one held a guilty expression which only confused his mother more.

“Shepherd.”

Daryl steps out of the Grimes’ residence when he didn’t find Y/N in there. Then he spotted her carrying blankets while following her son toward the cell. He quickly picked up his crossbow off the porch and ran over to the two.

“Hey, what’s wrong what are y’all doing?” Daryl stops Y/N while Shepherd proceeded.

“Shep heard Negan complaining that he was cold”

“So what?”

“Daryl. I’m not doing anything outside of the council’s guidelines regarding Negan. I’m simply doing what my son wants” Y/N states, and that want being kind toward their prisoner and giving him extra blankets during the winter. “He’s not going to hurt Shep…or me”

“I’m comin’ then”

“If it makes you less helicopter-y” She jokes making her way downstairs and helping Shepherd with the door.

Their presence sort of startled Negan given the door leading outside was never the quietest and the looming archer on the steps made him feel uneasy. But his attention locked onto the Grimes sister handing the blankets to this small child he’s never met before, and for good reason. Negan wanted to stand up and approach the bars but the way Daryl was glaring at him. He stayed put, until the small child approached the bars holding up the blankets.

“You don’t have to”

Shepherd frowns looking up at his mom while hugging the blankets tightly. “But mama I want to…” he said in a hush whisper as Y/N gently pets his head.

“You tell him, baby. Not me”

The little one went back to the bars of the cell looking up at Negan who approached the bars when he looked at his mother.

“But I want to” Now how can anybody ever be mad at that adorable face of his? Negan extended his hands taking the blankets through the bars watching the little one light up.

“Thanks kid…appreciate it”

The young grimes smiles happily before heading back out and instantly running into Daryl. The archer knew what was bound to happen with the child and that was Shep wanting to be picked up by him.

“Can’t say no to him” Y/N smiles receiving a look from the archer indicating that he’d never say no to him wanting to be picked up. Even if the man groaned picking up Shepherd. “Go on ahead. I’ll be a minute”

“Y/N—-“

“Just go. Please”

Daryl can’t say no to the puppy dog eyes, especially when Shepherd gets it from his mother. He nods before carrying Shep out of there leaving Y/N with Negan for a moment.

“You’ve got a nice kid…”

“I really do huh?” Y/N smiles approaching the bars to Negan’s cell as he suddenly started to feel anxious when her smile remained hit her eyes said it all. “So let me make it clear to you, Negan. If you hurt my boy. With your words or even physically, I’ll be doing everyone a favor and ending your life” She hissed glaring at the man watching him nod before leaving the cell.

All the kids were inside warming up and all the little ones were watching Henry show them how to play cards. Go Fish to be exact. While the adults had a drink and catch up.

“Your turn Shepherd” Henry’s voice snapped the kid out of his thoughts as Shep looks at his cards before setting all his cards down to show that he’s been hogging pairs but more specifically to leave the small table to go to his mom.

“He’s a card shark” Judith states not knowing exactly what that means.

“That’s…used in a different game? But I guess that works here” Henry laughs collecting the cards and shuffling the deck.

“Mama…” Shep whispers to get Y/N’s attention while Rick was telling Maggie about how he and Michonne were thinking of taking a trip. Y/N sets her glass down turning to her son and his upset expression. “I wanna go home…”

“Are you okay?” She whispers back not wanting to cause alarm or interrupt the on going conversation.

“No…” He whines in his whisper hugging Y/N’s leg. He relaxed a little when his mother rubbed circles on his back. “Can we go?”

“Yes, go get your shoes and coat on” Y/N got up from her seat once Shep ran over to where all the shoes were. “I’m turning in guys”

“Really?” Rick frowns, it wasn’t that late. Even for the kids.

“Yeah, Shep’s gettin’ tired and the alcohol isn’t sitting right with me.” Y/N left after saying such to get her coat on and pick up her son who instantly latched onto her.

“We’ll be quiet when we turn in” Maggie makes one last comment watching Y/N smile before stepping out with Dog also joining the two.

While the three made their way home, Shep tugged at Y/N’s coat when her attention was already on him.

“Forget somethi—-“

“Why is he down there, mama?” Shep frowns watching her face soften but also worry for she doesn’t know how to approach that conversation without going too far.

“He did something bad, Shepherd…that’s why he’s down there”

“But I do bad things too…like leave my shoes out for Dog to chew and you get mad…”

“It’s…uh” Y/N frowns setting Shepherd down on their porch to sit as she sat beside him. “You’re too young to understand the kind of bad things he did before you were born…”

“…can you try?”

How do you go telling a four year old about the abuse his mother endured done by that terrible man? Or the abuse Daryl, someone he looks up to, has gone through…the horrors of the Saviors threatening to kill members of their family…

You just. Don’t.

“He hurt people, Shep. In a way I can’t tell you…”

Shepherd frowns bringing himself closer to his mom leaning against her.

“Did he hurt you, mama…?”

Y/N didn’t say another word as she was fighting back tears when thinking about it. All she did was bring her son into his embrace holding onto him like her light depended on it. And part of him knew. Even if he didn’t understand.

Once it was late enough, Daryl came upstairs to check on Y/N thinking Shepherd would be in his room but entering the room he noticed the little one curled up in his mother’s embrace. He still brought himself to sit on the edge of the bed resting his hand on her shoulder watching her turn slowly to him revealing tears in her eyes.

“What happened?” He whispers watching her turn back to her son as Shepherd unconsciously scooted closer in her embrace.

“…I’m triggered D. It’s hard to sleep” She whispers back feeling Shep shift once more, enough to pull away from her and star fish on the rest of her bed. Giving her enough space to turn onto her back looking up at Daryl as he carefully wipes away her tears. “I know they don’t stay little and overwhelmingly kind forever…but I don’t want him taking that away from my baby”

“He won’t. I promise yea” Daryl frowns giving her enough space to sit up and hug him. He held her for as long as she needed.

~

“Remember, listen to Uncle Rick and stay out of trouble” Y/N tells Shep who didn’t want his mom to go on the hunting trip with Daryl and Carol. “I’ll be back before you know it”

“Why can’t I go with you?”

“You will buddy, when you’re a bit older” Daryl ruffle his hair a bit before Shep latched onto his leg. “Aw come on, bud”

“Please don’t go…”

It was spring, which meant more hunting trips. Shepherd didn’t mind when it was one of the two leaving, but they both were going on this one and he didn’t like it one bit.

“We’ll be back before you know it, Shep. I promise” Y/N knelt down for her son to hug her tightly once more.

Before watching the three go from Rick’s porch.

The agenda for the first day was boring. Or to Shepherd a bit boring. He loves helping when given the chance to but he doesn’t like working on the farm unless it was with his mom. Because they would play “I Spy” while collecting the crops and help him with his counting when putting in new seeds. Rick knew about this and was trying to do it with Shep, but that’s another thing. He only likes doing it with his mom. Otherwise he just helps tug the basket along while Rick cleans up the dead plants and getting the soil ready for new seeds.

“You okay Shep?”

“Can I go get water?”

Rick sighs nodding with a smile. “Be back quick. And get me a glass too”

Shepherd smiles setting the basket down by his uncle before leaving the farm and heading back toward the houses. Except after he got his uncle a canteen instead of a glass, because Michonne stopped him in the middle of her conversation with Siddiq and Gabriel to switch the glass with a canteen since the kid can be clumsy, Shepherd was given a second one for himself but instead of using it for himself.

Negan froze to the sound of said canteen falling onto the concrete floor. It’s sturdy so it didn’t crack or anything. He looks up through the vents to see Shepherd looking back at him before running back to his uncle.

Once the chores Rick had were done and the help of tidying up done by both him and Shepherd, the two made their way back to Rick’s place for dinner and then turning in. Shepherd was set up in the spare in their place which had a grown ups bed and not his low toddler one.

Shep couldn’t sleep, and can’t ever when his mom wasn’t home in any way. She could be standing somewhere else in Alexandria and he’d be able to sleep. He pushed his blankets off of him and maneuvered his body on the edge of the bed so his feet were first to hit the floor but it was still a bit too high that he fell anyway. The little one didn’t want to alert anyone given he went to bed around the same time as his cousins, but the adults could still be awake.

The little one has been spending a lot of time with Daryl.

Because Shepherd managed to get out of the house through the doggy door in the kitchen while the adults (Rick and Michonne) were in the living room. Thank god he was small enough or that would be a very uncomfortable conversation telling Y/N her son got stuck in the doggy door.

The resident prisoner heard footsteps draw closer, followed by a whine that Negan can only connect to Dog. So it must’ve been Daryl but when Shepherd came into view by the vent sitting beside it and Dog laying next to him, Negan only grew more confused.

“Shouldn’t you be in bed?”

“How do you know when bedtime is?” Shepherd looks at him confused leaving the man stumped.

“Forget it. Your mom will kill me if she finds you here. Hell even your uncle or whatever Daryl is to yea”

“He uh…uhm. Just Daryl?” The confusion in his tone made Negan a bit curious about the two’s relationship since he thinks Shep probably doesn’t know that his mom and Daryl are seeing each other. He wasn’t about to put them in any way.

“Are you close with Daryl? Like how you are with your uncle Rick?”

“I don’t know”

“What do you mean?” Negan brought himself to sit on the floor against the wall where the vent was as Shepherd sat on the small grass patch by the vent with Dog surrounding him.

“I used to call him Uncle Daryl…but something happened” Shep tugged at the grass while he spoke. “He was there for me when I’m sad. Helped me with my shoelaces. Get my sippy cups from the high shelves. Patch my boo boos. Let me sit with him while he works on his bike. Other things that Uncle Rick doesn’t do with me”

“You see him as a dad?” Negan’s question was met with silence. “What would your old man think?”

“I don’t have a dad”

If he starts crying, better start digging your grave Negan thought as he was prepared for tears but was met with a sigh instead.

“Mama says I never had one. But I always saw Daryl as one” Shepherd frowns as he stops tugging at the grass seeing the damage he has done. “Is that bad?”

“What? Seeing Daryl as your dad?”

“Yeah…”

“Well. He helps with your boo boos. I think that’s pretty much dad material…when I taught PE which was just watching a bunch of kids in a yard to get rid of the energy in’em, some kids would stumble. Cry. Get banged up by either concrete or a plastic bat. I wouldn’t know what to do and pull a teacher move with the whole “go to the nurse” when most nurses in schools back in my day didn’t do a very good job”

“That’s bad”

“Real bad. But I just pawned the problem off to somebody else. Daryl? He takes care of yea. Would do about anythin’ for yea. I don’t see a problem in calling him dad.” Negan shrugs. “But that’s a conversation for your mom. And then Daryl”

Shepherd was about to ask another question when he heard his name being called. Negan heard it as well and rose to his feet going toward the vent to look at Shep.

“You better go back before he gets worried”

“ok, goodnight”

“Night kid” Negan states hearing the tussle of his footsteps and the dog getting up with him before it faded away.

The next morning came and Negan woke to the sound of the outside door opening. Maybe it was confessional day but to his surprise he saw Shepherd coming down the steps with Michonne. Michonne came down for other business while Shepherd carried drawing supplies to distract him from their conversation. But some part of him knew that Negan enjoyed the company.

“Well good mornin’ to y’all”

“Good morning” Shepherd instantly replies back before sitting on the ground and dropping all of his supplies while Michonne took the chair bringing it to the bars of his cell.

“The council is holding a meeting about you soon”

“Oh wonderful” Negan frowns sitting back on his bed leaning against the wall. “What about?”

“Well. One, Y/N thought you should have warmer items in here for the future winters.” Michonne pointed with her eyes to Shepherd as it was really his idea being told through his mom. “Second, we were thinking you could actually do stuff around Alexandria. It won’t mean you’re instantly free. More so—-“

“Community service and I come back here once I’m done for the day? You’re really trustin’ me with that?”

“Why not?” Shepherd chimes in seeing confused looks as Michonne gave Negan a warning one mainly for his words.

“Nobody trusts me, Shep. Which in this case makes sense…but imagine being untrustworthy and being given chores around the other residents” Negan states while approaching the cell bars and sitting on his side across from Shepherd.

“Mama doesn’t trust me around Daryl’s crossbow. Is it like that?”

“Sort of. But your mama must’ve said I’m a bad dude”

“Yeah?”

“That’s why I’m questioning if Michonne here trusts me enough to do chores around the place without causing trouble”

“Can’t he just be watched when he’s not locked up, auntie?” Shep looks up at his aunt with a small smile as Michonne took note of that because it’s not a bad idea.

“You’re not manipulating him to say these things right?” Michonne questions Negan as she watches Shepherd bring himself close with a piece of paper and a few crayons handing one to Negan to play tic tac toe with him. Negan kept a distance but did play with the kid through the bars.

“From the time Y/N lived at the Sanctuary, yeah she was defensive to me but to everybody else who weren’t part of my troop. More like the other residents…she was overwhelmingly kind. Stood up for those who needed it, even if there were consequences…but just. She was too damn kind to everybody in that shitshow—-“

“Language” Both Shepherd and Michonne state hearing Negan apologize before letting Shep win the game.

“This boy has her kind side. It’s all him”

~

The council decided to let Negan work around Alexandria with a handful of chores each day and at least one day where he’s remaining in his cell. The one watching him changes every day, like it used to be. Unlike when he would be checked in on every other hour when he remained in his cell.

His help was much needed during the summer. And not just for chores.

Judith was playing with Gracie in the gardens while their dads were working on the nearby walls to do the yearly maintenance on the structures. While Shepherd’s mom helped in the actual gardens with Negan, meaning Y/N was on Negan duty and Shep was also around helping. But once he told his mom he was going to ask his cousin if he could play with them, her line of sight was no longer on him for a short time.

“You’re cutting too close to the main stem”

“My bad, hey where’s that rugrat? He said he’d help separate the tomatoes with the good and bad ones”

“He wanted to play with his cousin. I’ll separate them when I wash them once we’re done” Y/N states picking up the full basket and setting it on the table Daryl placed for them.

“Judith his cousin right?” Negan asks hearing a ‘yes’ from the boy’s mom as he turns around to where he knew the girls were playing when they first started harvesting. “Then where is he?”

“What?” Her tone changed instantly as she turns around to look at the two girls. “Where could he have gone…” she tried to remain calm hopefully when she got closer to the two girls that Shepherd would appear in her line of sight but he hasn’t.

“Aunt Y/N?” Judith questions her presence and a sense of regret rose in her. “Uhm. Where’s Shepherd?”

“I should be asking you that Judith.” The sternness made those working around them come to a slow stop. “Shepherd wanted to play with you, but he’s not here. So what did you say to my son?”

“Y/N. Woah, tone it back”

“I’m sorry Rick but I’m not.” Y/N bites. “It’s only been ten minutes and my son hasn’t turned up to my voice. He could’ve gotten out and be lost out there. Or got stuck somewhere here. While you’re handling dangerous stuff.”

“He’ll turn up, sis. He couldn’t have gotten far”

“He wouldn’t have wandered off if your daughter wasn’t mean and told my son he couldn’t play with her!”

“Don’t blame this on Jude. You’re too busy keeping an eye and being nice with the prisoner that it’s your own damn fault for losing sight of your son” Rick snaps back and the regret didn’t set in until Y/N retracted herself away with that same anxious sad look on her face when she was taken by the Saviors. “Shit…”

“Dad…” Judith frowns looking up at her dad. “I told him he couldn’t play with us. I-I didn’t think he would run away”

“He didn’t run away, hun. He’ll turn up” Rick frowns about to ask Aaron to watch the girls when he watched him take his gloves off.

“I’m gonna grab Daryl and help Y/N find Shepherd, Gracie…” Aaron kneels to his daughter. “Stay with these Grimes. Okay?” He smiles when she nods before getting up and heading off.

“Aaron I—-“

“I think you need to sit with what you said to your sister. You’ve done plenty” Aaron gave him a pity smile before going to help his sister.

While the commotion was happening, Negan knew he had to go back to his cell if his watcher wasn’t going to watch him. But to his surprise, he found the currently sobbing child in his open cell knowing it would be the last place his mom would look for him.

“Hey kiddo…” Negan frowns moving to sit on the cot of his bed as Shepherd hid under a blanket right beside it. His little grass stained shoes peeking out gave him away. “Want to tell me what happened up there?”

“No…”

“Mm. You’re gonna have to tell your ma regardless. Just thought you’d want a friend” He states watching the blanket move to show his crying face as he looks over to him.

“Jude told me I couldn’t play with her cause I’m a baby” Shep frowns sniffling. “I’m not a baby, I’m four”

“Practically an adult” Negan states leaning against the wall. “She wasn’t thinkin’”

“She never thinks…Uncle Rick doesn’t either”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Of course there was more to it…

“He talks about mama behind her back…when she’s on her trips that aren’t safe for me” Shepherd frowns curling up as much as he could. “How she was stupid…to have me grow up without a dad…that she shouldn’t do anything without me cause she signed up for that…” the tears kept coming as his lip wobbles. “Am I a mistake…? Did mama make a mistake in having me? Not letting me have a dad?”

“Woah” Negan brought himself up and off the cot bringing himself to sit beside the kid. “I’m gonna be honest with you. If your mama didn’t want you, you wouldn’t be here. And your uncle was only thinking of himself when he said that. Cuz if you were my nephew, I would be stoked to hang out with yea. And this whole dad crap? Is bullshit”

“Language…”

“Whatever. Because you have a village. A huge family. You don’t need a dad. But you have one and we had this discussion before. Besides. Your mom? Loves you so much, hell enough for two parents, even beyond that. When she’d be walking the streets on a late return home, you’re the only thing she’s talking about to whoever she went on the trip with. And hell! You’re one of the greatest things to happen to her that it would have to take knocking her out to have her shut up about how much she loves yea.”

The little one continued to cry but he was smiling and felt a bit better to his words.

“Plus. The whole dad thing? Those guys hover a lot when they’re worried about their kid.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah and I KNOW. FOR A FACT” Negan yells emphasizing who’s eavesdropping. “THAT HES NOT LETTING HIMSELF BE KNOWN RIGHT NOW.”

The sigh didn’t go unnoticed when Daryl made his way down the steps with a worried look on his face. But he also wasn’t accompanied by Y/N, so he heard everything Shepherd said including the part about Rick.

“See? A dad. Don’t matter if he’s blood or not. And between you and me” Negan started to whisper to Shepherd as he leaned in. “You scored on the dad front, already scored with the mom. So double points” his words got a giggle out of the child that rose to his feet ditching the blanket and making his way to Daryl who knelt to be his level. But Shepherd stopped a second turning to Negan.

“Thanks Negan…”

“Anytime kid. Now go find your mom, before she flips Alexandria over just to find yea”

“He’s right on that. She will” Daryl smiles warmly and the warmth grew in his chest when Shepherd wrapped his arms around him making the archer instinctively pick him up. “…thanks” he tells Negan receiving a thumbs up from the guy before heading out with his son.

As the two made their way toward the running worried filled mother that came their way. Y/N started sobbing on sight instantly taking Shepherd into her embrace giving Daryl a thankful look.

“I’m sorry mama”

“No baby it’s okay…you just scared me a little” Y/N cries holding him close as Shep pushes back a bit so that he could wipe away her tears. “You care too much about me, baby”

“I wanna, mama” Shepherd gave a small smile when she kissed his cheek. “Can we go home?”

“Yes, yes we can…we can go home and hang out. Just you and me”

“And dad” Shepherd pointed to Daryl as that was the first time he referred to the archer as such that he tried to compose himself even if Y/N didn’t he bother trying to compose herself.

“Yeah” Y/N smiles through the tears extending her free hand, holding Shep up with her other arm, feeling Daryl instantly take it into his.

And dad.

[phoebepheebsphibs]

Snow Day

Title: Snow Day Prompt: There's a snowstorm, and someone's been gone since before it started. They were supposed to come home hours ago, so a member of the group heads out to find what happened to them. Fandom: ROTTMNT Word Count: 3681 Author: PhoebePheebsPhibs Rating: Gen Characters: Casey Jones Jr, Raphael, Leonardo, Baxter Stockboy cameo Warning: Casey gets real freaked out and has a minor anxiety/panic attack Summary: Casey goes out just before a snowstorm happens and gets caught right in the middle of it... Notes: No Beta, We Die Like Gram-Gram! Reused old art for illustration lol, you can see it on AO3

@cheetochild989 @tmnt-write-fight

Posted on AO3 <-

"I won't be gone long," Casey promised. "It's only a few things."

"Still, it's your first time buying groceries alone," Leo mumbled, the tap tap tap of his crutch echoing against the floor. He didn't always need it, but some days were harder than others. "I could go with --"

"No," Casey interrupted him, holding a hand up and stopping Leo in his tracks. "If I'm ever going to figure out how to live in this time period, then I need to learn to do these things on my own."

"Sheesh, alright!" Leo joked. "And don't say 'time period', this isn't the Victorian era! It's only what, 20-plus years into the past? Time period. Woof! You make it sound like we're ancient wizards or something..."

Casey laughed at the idea. The only one he could truly call a 'wizard' was Mikey, but he hadn't really gotten to that stage just yet. Mage, yes. Wizard? Maaaaybe in a few months, if he kept up the training with Draxum.

Casey and Leo went over the list one more time, adding one or two last-minute items that Leo suddenly thought of as they made their way to the exit. Casey stuffed the list into his pants before shoving a large and slightly oversized jacket over himself, struggling slightly with the arms.

"Don't forget your hat and earmuffs," Raph reminded him as he walked past. "It's really cold out today."

"Gotchya," Casey nodded, handling the earmuffs like they're some new and exotic species. "We didn't really have cold weather in the future..."

"Really?" Leo asked, his head tilting to the side. "What were winters like?"

"I dunno, like 60 degrees at the lowest?" he shrugged. "What with all the planetary devastation and laser blasts and global warming... weather became sorta nonexistent."

Raphael shuddered at the thought of such a thing. No weather meant no rain, no snow, maybe even no real wind or cloudy days. 

"Well, try to be home soon okay? I think there's a call for heavy snow later."

"Sure thing," Casey replied, half-paying attention to Raph as he walked out the door. After all, this is the past, and everyone has it so cushy! There's nothing dangerous here except for idiot muggers and a few mutants. What could possibly go wrong?

"And don't forget the mittens!" Raph called after him. Casey walked back into the lair, retrieved his gloves, and then walked back out.

⋆⁺₊⋆ ❄ ⁺₊⋆ ❄ ₊⁺ ⋆

Casey Jones Jr was starting to really like New York City, circa 2020. It was a different kind of hectic, but Casey had lived his entire life in chaos.

Instead of dodging missiles, he was dodging taxi cabs.

Instead of wild krang dogs, there were people walking a dozen angry chihuahuas and poodles and dobermans to earn money.

Instead of corpses laid to waste on the ground, there were a few homeless people sleeping in cardboard boxes.

Differences with small similarities.

The biggest difference was the turtles. Sensei Leonardo was no longer a tall and hulking king of the apocalypse with a robot arm who took no slack from anyone or anything -- he was now an ego-stripped teenager with a knee that had been so twisted up that it counted as a physical condition and they could qualify for disabled parking with the tank. Master Michelangelo was no longer someone who looked older than time and could create lavish magic spells with a flip of his hand, but an untrained child with an unbridled adoration for drawing and reality cooking shows. Uncle Tello was not the cybernetic scientist in overalls with a hundred extra technological advancements, but a nerdy teenager with 'secret' plans for anarchy against the US government. Raphael... well... Casey couldn't remember Raph firsthand. There were some photographs and video recordings of him, a few stories passed down, but the big red giant had been killed in action a few years after Casey Jr was born.

But this time period -- er, the past was still nice. It was crazy how many people he recognized. Baron Draxum, Commander O'Neil, Master Splinter, Todd 'The Sasquatch' Capybara, Big Mama... Casey would just be walking down the street and he'd see a couple with a child, and he'd realize the kid was one of the medics that helped him when he'd broken his leg. He would be buying pizza and the cashier was one of Uncle Tello's tech apprentices. In the Hidden City, an octopus Yokai would offer to sell him some mystic potion and Casey would recall they were one of the cooks in the mess hall who always gave him extra portions to help him grow, even when rations were low.

Casey reached the end of memory lane when he found the grocery store he'd been looking for. He casually walked inside just as a few unnoticed flakes of white began to fall from the sky above him.

"Hello, and welcome to the Stock & Shop!" an older woman greeted. "Holler if you need anything!"

Casey nodded with a smile as he started to gather everything on the list.

Chicken soup: got it.

New batteries for the remote: donezo.

Flaming-hot chips: three bags procured. 

Four different brands of soda: orange blast for Mikey, sugar-free cola for Raph, flavourless juice for Donnie, and diet blueberry bubble waters for Leo. Check.

Popcorn for movie nights: not yet.

The popcorn in question was placed on a hard-to-reach shelf high above him. Of course, this one particular brand that Mikey so desperately needed was at the very top. As Casey was reached up for the requested snack, a voice chimed in behind him.

"Better hurry, there's supposed to be a wicked snowstorm tonight!"

Casey jumped back, startled by the sudden sound. He looked down and saw a short, scrawny kid with a comparatively huge head looking up at him.

"Oh, hey. You look familiar...?"

"This is my parent's store, I work here all the time. Or maybe you've seen my videos? My channel? STOCKBOii?? Cybersleuth??"

"Stockboy? As in Baxter Stockboy?" Casey wondered, his eyes widening as the corners of his mouth turned up.

"Yeah! You've heard of me?" the child asked excitedly.

"Kind of," Casey replied, not exactly sure how to explain that Baxter had worked as one of Donatello's apprentices to create warships and mechas during the golden age of the Resistance, despite Sensei's reluctance. "I heard about the whole 'Mutant Menace' fiasco."

Baxter groaned loudly.

"Uggggh, that whole thing. My parents still won't let me leave the house unsupervised. It's ridiculous! One mass panic and riot instigation, and they turn on me! At least the judge agreed to let me work off community service in the store..."

Casey smirked just a little.

"Hmm. Anyway, you said something about a snowstorm?"

"Oh, right. The weather report says it might get up to two inches."

"What might get up to two inches?"

"Um... the snow? Look, it's started snowing already!"

Baxter Stockboy pointed out towards the front entrance. A small sprinkling of white could just barely be visible beyond the glass.

"Oh," Casey shrugged. "Doesn't look too bad."

"You say that now, but it's supposed to get below 30º Farenheit!"

"Oh. That is kinda cold," Casey agreed. "...But I'm sure it'll be okay."

⋆⁺₊⋆ ❄ ⁺₊⋆ ❄ ₊⁺ ⋆

Ten minutes had passed.

Raphael received a notification from the weather app, informing that the previously predicted 'heavy snowfall' was now a full-blown snowstorm.

That probably wasn't good. But it wasn't terrible, either. Just some snow.

"Boys, it looks like tomorrow is another snow day!" he announced to the rest of the Hamatos.

From various rooms in the lair, Raph heard them shout in excitement.

"Yes!"

"Alright!"

"Snow day, hooRAY, baby!"

Raph smiled. He couldn't wait to introduce Casey to his first snowfall...

⋆⁺₊⋆ ❄ ⁺₊⋆ ❄ ₊⁺ ⋆

Casey had finally gotten all the items on the list and was preparing to check-out, when an announcement went over the loudspeakers.

"Attention shoppers -- we encourage all patrons to finish up their errands, as we will be closing soon due to the weather. Thank you."

Huh. They sure were getting all riled up over this 'snow' stuff. Casey had witnessed a few storms before in the months prior, but it was never too bad. Thunderstorms were freaking terrifying, but only because they were loud and Casey's first thought was always that an air attack was happening. But he loved watching lightning. It reminded him of a few magic spells Master Michelangelo had performed on occasion...

Casey finished up the last of his errand and purchased the items. He needed a little help when trying to decide on paper or plastic, and for a moment he forgot the pin number for the card Splinter had given him, but other than that all had gone well.

He stepped out of the store, the glass doors sliding past him gracefully.

And he was greeted by a harsh blast of cold. It almost knocked him over, the icy wind biting his face so much he dropped the bags of groceries in order to cover his face with his regrettably un-mittened hands.

Okay. He was starting to see what people meant now. He hurriedly pulled his mittens on and scrambled to cover as much of his head as he could with his hat and earmuffs.

It had been cold these past few months, sure, but not like THIS! This was arctic.

And what's more, the sky was raining ash. That only ever happened when Uncle Tello sent missiles to blow the Krang vessels to kingdom come. So why was no one terrified, or hiding? Besides, there were no more Krang ships to incinerate. So then, what was...?

Casey happened to glance to the side and saw a kid sticking their tongue out. Their parents did the same. They caught a few of the flakes on the tips of their tongues, laughing as they shivered. Casey watched in wonder. He held a hand out. A single fleck of white flittered down to his palm, delicately touching down onto him, and melting upon impact with the glove. Casey was gently bewildered. He looked up at the sky. The heavens above were masked over with clouds of grey, hiding the universe from him, guarding him from the wonders he couldn't understand or comprehend. And yet, the universe deemed this wonder fit for him to comprehend?

Casey's mouth hung open as he gazed at the sky, confused. Snowflakes fell against his cheeks, his eyelashes, his lips, his chin. He stuck out his tongue and closed his eyes. It took a few minutes, but finally he felt one land and melt in his mouth.

...Underwhelming, if he was honest.

It was just water. He kind of expected a flavour.

The wind suddenly whipped against him. It had calmed for the brief moments that Casey stood there, but now was circling back in full fury. Casey gasped at the fierce chill, bundling himself up more and more before gathering the supplies and shuffling back to the lair. The wind swirling around him, the snow raining down with a vengefulness.

⋆⁺₊⋆ ❄ ⁺₊⋆ ❄ ₊⁺ ⋆

Twenty minutes had passed.

Raph had started to feel like he was forgetting something. He wasn't sure what, though...

Donnie had re-fortified the lair and central heating system, so now it would stay extra cozy despite the freezing temperatures outside. You could hear the wind start to roar if you went to the exterior tunnels and big exit door.

Raph remembered how in the early years when they were all teeny tiny turtle tots, Splinter had them all stay in the same room to conserve heat. He'd set up tons of heat lamps and space-warmers, bundle each one in extra-fuzzy blankets... Looking back, he could clearly see the panic that Splinter would be hiding at the idea that maybe they could all freeze to death if they weren't careful, or maybe that the power would go out when they weren't expecting it and he'd only have a few minutes to come up with a plan before hypothermia could creep in like a ghost. It was probably extra terrifying considering that they had minor cases of brumation when it got way too cold. They got better at combating it, wearing warm clothes to help stay warm. And it helped that they also had some minor mammalian DNA too, meaning that they had to be utterly and agonisingly cold for brumation to actually take effect. 

Still. Raphael had mad respect for Splinter now. He'd kept his cool and kept his calm, never once displaying the fear that probably filled his mind day in and day out. Raph wished he knew how to do that...

⋆⁺₊⋆ ❄ ⁺₊⋆ ❄ ₊⁺ ⋆

Was Casey even going the right way?? He couldn't tell anymore.

The downpour of snow particles was starting to get so heavy that Casey couldn't even see ten feet in front of him, even with his mask on. Constantly blinded, he relied mostly on the lights from cars or neon signs to help guide him down the sidewalk. He couldn't remember the last time something like this had happened...

Maybe... during the dust storm incident. Sensei and Casey were in a losing battle against the Krang one day and in a sheer panic, Leonardo portaled them away and into some random place far, far away. Leonardo had initially assumed it was some inhospitable desert in the middle east or something, based on how much sand and wind there was. But after a quick look at the tracking device Donatello had installed, they realized that it was actually just New Mexico. Or, what was left of it. Sensei Leonardo had sent them right smack-dab in the middle of a dust storm, where the drought-riddled land had become so dry that the wind created massive walls of dirt and dust that engulfed everything. It could suffocate you, dehydrate you, blind you, etc. The might've died if Leonardo hadn't thought quickly and found a shelter for them to hide out in. He'd dropped one of his swords during the storm, so the two were forced to wait it out. Sensei Leonardo never did find that other sword. He'd had to create a new one with his ninpo.

Anyway, this snowstorm felt like the exact opposite of the dust storm.

Rather than hot and dry, this was cold and wet. But the stabbing sensations of small things constantly flying into you was the same. The wind that threatened to carry you away was the same. The loneliness was the same.

Casey was convinced that he'd gotten turned around somehow... He wasn't sure where he was.

Forget being able to see ten feet away, he could barely see his own hands in the storm!

This was not good. Casey reached up, feeling around his mask for a specific button that would activate a distress beacon. He'd modified it so that Donnie's tech could receive the call, and hopefully it would go through. But if the storm was as severe as it felt, then it was possible that the lines would be down and the lair's internet access and phone lines wouldn't get the message.

Casey found the button. He'd have to hope that they'd get the signal.

He pressed it, and then pressed on, hoping that he could find his way home on his own...

⋆⁺₊⋆ ❄ ⁺₊⋆ ❄ ₊⁺ ⋆

Thirty minutes.

The lair was starting to get terribly frigid. Raph waltzed into the kitchen, shuddering from the chill as he did, hoping that maybe Mikey would start making something hot to eat and that in turn would warm up the kitchen. He only found Leo in there, swirling a mug of hot cocoa that he'd heated up. 

"Brr-rr-rr, it's cold! I thought Donnie fixed the heat?"

"He did, but it's still pretty frigid," Leo sighed. "I'm starting to get worried..."

"You think the power might go out?" Raph asked.

"No, I'm wondering where Casey is."

Casey?

OH SHOOT, CASEY.

"Raph completely forgot that Casey was out!" Raph screamed, hands flying through the air. "I thought he came back fifteen minutes ago! You mean he's still out there?!"

"Relax, it's just snowing. Not that big of a deal," Leo said as he took a long sip of cocoa from his mug.

"Leo, you do realize that Casey's never seen snow before?!" Raph reminded him. "And this ain't no ordinary gentle snowfall, this is practically a blizzard!" 

Raph huffed angrily before rushing to the lair entrance. He grabbed a coat, some galoshes, a scarf, gloves, snowpants -- the whole shebang. Leo followed casually, sipping his cocoa gently as he walked after him.

"Where'ya goin'?" he asked with a smile.

"I'm goin' after Casey, of course!" Raph yelled.

"Do you know where he is?"

"I got him right here on the little tracker thingy."

Raph held out his phone to display to Leo the small signal coming in from Casey Jr's mask.

"Mhm," Leo hummed. "Okay. Well, when you get back, maybe bring home a pizza too."

"Leo, can you be serious about this?!"

"Okay, fine. When you find him, call me and I'll portal the two of you home. Okay?" Leo suggested. "No sense trudging through the cold back and forth."

"Great, thanks," Raph grumbled before running out the door, pulling his collar up to prepare for the wind and wet.

Raphael ducked out. Down the corridors, up a ladder to the top of the street. He pushed the manhole cover aside with ease. He was instantly met with a barrage of wind and ice, the snow and slush that had been atop the cover sliding down and splashing onto his face.

Raph sputtered softly, wiping his face off before heading into the fray...

⋆⁺₊⋆ ❄ ⁺₊⋆ ❄ ₊⁺ ⋆

Casey was huddled against something. A wall, a stone, a tree, a car -- he could hardly tell. It was so cold, his skin felt like it was peeling off. His eyes stung from the wind, his feet ached from the chill, his arms hurt from the cold and from carrying all the groceries with him this whole time. The straps on the plastic bags were digging into his arms, cutting off his circulation. It was so windy and loud, he couldn't hear the traffic of the city anymore. His jacket was coated in white.

He'd hoped that he could shield himself with whatever he was leaning against, but the wind came from all sides.

It was terrifying. Being alone. He hadn't felt alone like this in so long...

He remembered sitting alone, like this, long ago...

The wind whipping around, the sky dark, the battlefield torn and scarred, white flakes of ash raining down from above. It was cold that day, too. Casey couldn't be older than four years old at the time.

The ground was covered in grey and white from all the ash and cinder. Casey was covered in the powdery residue himself, his face white as a sheet, his messy and greasy hair holding in the flakes and embers from the explosion that had decimated the world around him.

But the worst was the silence that followed. Nothingness. Loneliness. Agony.

Casey started crying. Four years old, having watched the world end, having seen his mother die, and so many of her comrades, and only to be left alone and scared? Of course he was crying.

In the distance, a figure began to move. Casey gasped, trying to cover his mouth and keep silent as the looming creature lumbered towards him. The monster was huge, it must be a krang mecha or --

"Casey?"

He recognized that voice. It wasn't Sensei, but it was just as comforting.

"Casey, where you? Casey!"

The child meant to answer. But his voice was lost in his own throat.

"Casey! I see you! I'm coming, kid, I'm coming!"

Casey reached out for the Red Giant to take him home... The silhouette of his figure in the smoke and smog that surrounded them...

But as the figure stepped through the fog, it wasn't a red giant.

"Casey! There you are!! I was so worried, what happened?!"

Casey Jones Jr was taken back to the present moment, and stared at Raph in shock.

"R-Raph..?"

"Geez, Case, you look frozen solid! Are you okay?"

Casey nodded softly, getting back up on his feet as Raph gave him a hand.

"I'm fine," he whispered. "It... it, uh, started snowing."

"Yeah, I see that," Raph chuckled. "Sorry, we had no idea it would get so bad."

"It... it's okay," Casey responds quietly. "How did you find me?"

"Well the snow's dying down a bit, so it ain't as hard to see," Raph mentioned as he pointed up. Casey did notice that during his anxiety attack, the wind has calmed a bit more and the downpour of frozen particles was much gentler. "Besides, the tracker helped. Although, I am curious how you managed to get all the way into Central Park?"

"Wha-huh?" Casey gaped, turning around and examining the area.

He had been huddled against a tree trunk, and a few feet off in the distance was a playground. Ahead of him was the cityscape, behind him the rest of the wooded little area.

"Wow. I didn't realize that I came this far..."

Raph chuckled as he grabbed the groceries from the ground.

"So, you ready to get home? All I gotta do is call Leo and we can be back in the lair with some hot chocolate!"

Casey glimpsed at the park behind them. It was... actually quite lovely.

It was a magical world, sparkling and quiet. Undisturbed. Serene.

Raph noticed Casey's stare and looked back at the scene, smiling knowingly.

"It sure it pretty, ain't it?"

"...It's peace," Casey awed. "It's absolute peace. This... I've never seen anything like it before."

Raph took in a deep breath, inhaling the peace with gratitude for a world that could give you something so gorgeous after something so terrible.

"Yeah. It's really beautiful. Tell ya what, the guys can wait for a bit. Want me to show you around the Winter Wonderland for a bit?"

Casey nodded with a dumbfounded smile on his face.

The two walked out into the park together, enjoying the peace that they both had fought tooth and nail for.

⋆⁺₊⋆ ❄ ⁺₊⋆ ❄ ₊⁺ ⋆The End⋆⁺₊⋆ ❄ ⁺₊⋆ ❄ ₊⁺ ⋆

[prettypei]

“SOMETHING HAPPENS AND IM HEAD OVER HEELS.”

plot: things they do that make you fall for them even more; fluff!

reader: gn! Reader

pairings: zhongli, childe, kaeya, itto, kaveh

warnings: none

(a/n): inspired by the lyrics of Head Over Heels by Tears for Fears!!!!!

✰You and ZHONGLI were at a small cafe in Liyue, both listening to a storyteller telling tales about “the two brothers who buried their pet dog” and “the girl who didn’t cry”. The audience mostly consisted of small children, but you and your boyfriend didn’t mind. He’s sipping on a cup of oolong tea as he listens intently to the story, smiling in a peaceful manner, and you’re amazed at how calm he can be when he’s drinking his tea. He raises an eyebrow at you, noticing you staring at him. “Is something wrong, love?” “No, nothing at all.”

✰CHILDE’s smiling at his mother while he scrubs the plates for her. “No, really ma, it’s fine I’ll do the dishes for you.” You had just finished a meal with childe’s family in Snezhnaya, and Childe was offering to clean the plates. His mother smiles and pats his head. “What did I ever do to deserve a son like you?” She jokes, chuckling while going up the stairs and into her bedroom. Soon, there’s only the two of you in the kitchen. “I can feel you staring.” Childe says, his back facing you. “What? Is your hot boyfriend too much to handle?” “Nah. I think it’s cute you’re a mama's boy.” You grin. His ears turn red at your words.

✰You were out admiring the view of Mondstadt from starsnatch cliff when you feel someone cover your eyes. You shriek and tumble in the grass, while your mysterious attacker laughed as you brought them down too. “KAEYA????” You exclaimed. “Who else?” KAEYA chuckles, uncovering your eyes. “B-but I thought you were on a mission?!” “Ah, fuck that. You’re more important to me.” “You snuck out to see me?! Jean is gonna be so mad.” “Worth it though. I’ve been too busy lately, haven’t even see your face today, cutie.” “Well… thanks, cheesy.” You sit up from the grass and smile at him. “That’s so Kaeya of you, babe.” “I know, I know.”

✰it was another day in Inazuma with ITTO battling younger kids for beetles, but this time, surprisingly, he won. "HAH! Take THAT you little-oh god you're crying." Itto immediately rushes over to comfort the kid who'd he'd won against, assuring that he would bring him lots and lots of candy and lots and lots of toys while you watched in the distance with amusement on your face. "Hey-hey look, don't cry! I-it's just a beetle fight, not worth crying over." The kid keeps on crying. "U-ugh fine! I'll give you my beetle...." The child's eyes lighten up by the mention of this. "R-really?!" "I guess..." You see an elderly lady watch on in the distance, smiling. Itto then jogs to you who's sitting under a tree. "Ready to go baby? I've already lost another beetle to the kids due to pity..." He groans. You chuckle and get up, wrapping your arm around his waist. "That was nice of you to do that though." "What do you mean?! I'm ALWAYS nice!"

✰You were walking in Sumeru, searching for your boyfriend, KAVEH, only to find him arguing with a client. You wanted to surprise him with some books about architecture that you got for his birthday, but he seemed a little...busy at the moment. "I'm TELLING you that the door is designed to be like this! It creates a perfect symmetry with the roof!" "But, well, don't you think it's a little too...flashy?" "FLASHY???!" Kaveh exclaims with an incredulous look on his face. "Y-Y-You hire ME and-" "W-wait, isn't that your lover, (name)?" The client then points at you who was about to go. And Kaveh...boy, Kaveh eyes light up, and his demeanor does a one-eighty. "(name)!" He shouts, rushing over to you and engulfing you in a hug. "Hup! Oh-uh-Kaveh!" "Did you want to see me? That's so sweet of you!" "Actually, I wanted to surprise you with these gifts I got for you-" "Y-you did?" He's over the moon now, scanning through the books you got him. "T-these were the ones I told you about! I-You-I-" Kaveh is blabbering now, smiling and grinning at you. "I like your smile." You say. "what?" "Your special smile! The one you save for me." He then goes on to smile that smile again. "Hello? Guys? Still building my house?" The client says in the distance.

[theking-mustdie]

Cramped

pairing: background Scott McCall x Isaac Lahey

warnings: claustrophobia, panic attacks, mentions of feeling nauseous, PTSD, child abuse, mentioned scratching at own skin

a/n: i am on a mission to bring back claustrophobic isaac. this is my first work ever im open to constructive criticism!! ooc? maybe? i have no idea.

word count: 2,040

Isaac has coasted through his time in the pack without his claustrophobia, or its symptoms, being discussed at all. To be fair, there was hardly a lull in monsters-of-the-week to ever walk up to someone like Scott or Stiles and randomly throw out: ‘Hey! Did you know that my father locking me in a freezer in our basement did irreversible and unspeakable damage to my mental and physical health?’ So he wouldn’t say he minded the lack of communication. He preferred no one pry into his weaknesses or his business that they had no interest in knowing about.

However, there were some times where his panic was simply unavoidable.

From experience, Isaac consciously made sure to avoid his claustrophobia getting the best of him, usually stood next to exits or windows in any room he’s in. He’s not too fond of the unknown.

So when Scott suggested taking a day-trip somewhere after the insane, durach-filled month they had, Isaac reveled in the idea of a break and eagerly agreed.

“Where do you want to go?” Scott asked Isaac one afternoon, spread out on the couch.

“I haven’t exactly ventured outside of Beacon Hills so I wouldn’t even begin to know where to go,” Isaac replied from the other couch, half-asleep. With no threat looming overhead, Isaac hadn’t been as distracted, meaning that his nightmares had come back full force. He tried to keep himself awake to avoid the flashbacks he’d rather forget, but it was only delaying the inevitable. He’d rather not have indulged anyone else with his issues because it’s his burden to bear, and he’s almost positive that Scott couldn’t care less about his personal problems when he had a whole town to protect.

“We could always borrow Roscoe and drive down to the beach. I could use some time outside,” Scott replied after a beat, thinking.

“How far away is the beach?” Isaac asked, unfamiliar with any nearby beaches.

“Um probably about an hour and a half?” Scott guessed.

“That’s fine with me, but don’t expect me to go splashing around in the water like a dog.” Isaac crossed his arms and glanced over to Scott.

Scott laughed, rolled his eyes, and said “we’ll leave tomorrow morning” definitively.

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

That night Isaac was able to catch thirty minutes of sleep until he was plagued with images of bleeding nails, metal chains, and impeding darkness before he startled awake. He decided it was a lost cause and tiptoed downstairs to grab himself a glass of water as he tried not to disturb Scott or Melissa. He returned to the McCall guest bedroom and settled on chipping away at his mountain of late work for school.

The night prior Isaac and Scott agreed on leaving at nine o’clock in the morning, so as the clock struck eight Isaac packed up his school work, hopped in the shower, and threw on some athletic shorts that could pass as swim trunks. As he left his room to head to the kitchen and find breakfast, Scott stepped out into the hallway and gave Isaac a small smile in greeting.

If Isaac’s gaze lingered on Scott’s bare chest, no one was there to witness it.

They both ate breakfast while talking about their plans for the day. Scott wanted float in the ocean and relax while Isaac wanted nothing more than to lay on the sand and read whatever crappy books the McCall’s had tucked away in their guest bedroom bookshelf. He needed a good distraction.

As they gathered the needed towels, sunscreen, and other beach items, Isaac began packing Stiles’ jeep that he had left outside Scott’s house the night before. But not without an intimidating threat of death if anything were to happen to it.

After a heated argument about who should get the aux, Scott was playing his music and they were off.

Isaac loved scenic car rides. He loved looking at the trees, houses, people, and anything that caught his eye. He leaned his head against the window and silently tried to fight sleep but eventually dozed off with the roaring of the engine and the rocking of the car acting as a lullaby.

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

Isaac slowly regained consciousness, unaware of his surroundings nor how long he had been out for. The first thing he had registered when he woke up was the car right in front of them. He tried to put the confusing, weird feeling that washed over him aside and turned to ask Scott how long he had been asleep.

"About half an hour. We were driving pretty smoothly until we hit the morning rush." he answered. He spared a glance at Isaac and saw the confused look adorning his face. "What's wrong, dude?"

Isaac whipped his head up to look at Scott and offered him a tight smile. "Nothing, just a little tired. I'm fine."

Isaac knew Scott could tell he was lying, but dropped in favor of looking at the road.

As he got a hold of his bearings, Isaac realized that they were sitting in the middle of bumper-to-bumper traffic. He tried to discreetly glance behind the Jeep, to the left, to the right, and ahead without alerting Scott, but a feeling of panic rose in his chest. There was maybe five feet of space between Stiles' car and others at all times.

Isaac began to understand what was wrong with him.

His heart started beating faster and his breathing started to quicken. He attempted to focus on anything else, the radio, the honking in the distance, even Scott, but nothing was working. His anxiety began to rise, and with it, the desperation to get the hell out of the car and off the highway.

Scott let out a frustrated groan, unaware of what was happening in the seat next to him. "We're stuck in here. The people ahead of us won't move," he said, his hand came down on the top of the steering wheel to emphasize his point. Scott turned to look at Isaac and saw that he was slumped over in his seat. Isaac yanked at his seatbelt with one hand, fully shifted, and clawed at the door of the Jeep with the other.

He was officially freaking out.

His exhaustion, bottled up emotions, and PTSD were all fighting a losing battle in his head. Usually simple things like traffic wouldn't set him into a panic attack, but it seemed all forces were working against him. His seatbelt felt like it was suffocating him, the walls of the Jeep were smaller than he remembered, and his werewolf senses were dialed up to ten.

Isaac stopped clawing at the door and frantically looked around the car to find anything that could help put him at ease, but came up short. The cars that surrounded the Jeep started getting closer and closer and Isaac started to use his free hand to claw at his chest, willing his heart and lungs to slow down.

However, before he could do any real damage, he felt his wrist being yanked away from his skin. More terror coursed through him at the confining grip until he realized that it was Scott holding him. His eyes found Scott's and Isaac let out a small, barely audible whimper.

Scott, however, heard it and jumped to do something to help Isaac. They wouldn't get anywhere if they stayed on the highway where Scott had to split his attention between Isaac and the road, so Scott shifted his hand to hold Isaac's as he moved to pull off the closest exit. In about five minutes, they were parked in the nearest diner and the driver's side door was thrown open.

Isaac's state had not improved in those five minutes. He was in dizzying state between reality and that damn freezer. His surroundings were disorienting and he couldn't make out what was real and what his panic-ridden brain was feeding to him. The only thing he could feel was the cold hand that once held Scott's.

He distantly heard the sound of the passenger door being thrown open and his seatbelt unbuckled. Suddenly, someone's hands were on his face as they said his name over and over again.

Isaac's brain cleared enough to register that Scott kneeled in front of him, hands on his cheeks, and repeated his name in hopes of garnering his attention.

Isaac locked eyes with Scott. Before Scott could acknowledge what was happening, Isaac threw himself out of the car and ran to the middle of the deserted parking lot. He squeezed his eyes shut, willing the bile creeping up his throat to return from where it came. The next time he opened his eyes he took a deep, albeit stuttered, breath and looked around. The only person he could see was Scott and the closest object to him was at least fifty feet away.

He collapsed on the concrete and spread his arms and legs out as far as they went. Scott slowly made his way to Isaac, sitting on the ground next to him, but allowing him space.

The pair sat in silence for a while, the seconds ticking by as Isaac closed his eyes and focused on taking deep breaths.

Isaac was the first one to break the silence and turned his head towards Scott.

"I used to be in that freezer until I no longer knew what day it was." Isaac closed his eyes and took another steadying breath. "It didn't matter what I did, because to him, I always deserved it. I thought that by becoming a werewolf all these stupid feelings in me would have stopped. It only made it worse." Isaac talked slowly as he came to terms with his situation alongside Scott. "I don't remember how it started, but I remember every single time. I remember the bandages I wore on my fingernails because I pried them all off at some point or another. I remember the hours convincing myself that I deserved every second I spent in that fucking freezer. I remember the sound of my Dad coming down the basement steps, praying that he was going to let me out before he turned around and went right back up the stairs. I remember him letting me out of that box and hugging me tight, convincing me that he loved me and only wanted the best for me. Sometimes it worked. Most of the time it worked. I didn't know how to run away. I didn't know how to leave because he was all I had. I stayed because I was scared he was all I'd ever have. I didn't want to take the chance that he was right. That I'd be nothing without him."

After Isaac's confession they sat in silence. Isaac eventually sat up to match Scott's position.

"I- I don't know what to say." Scott confessed.

"It's alright," Isaac reassured, "I thought you deserved an explanation in exchange for dealing with me," he breathed out.

"God, Isaac, you don't owe me anything. Why didn't you tell me about this earlier, I could have helped you!"

"It didn't matter earlier. What were you going to do, add my shit on top of the shit you already had to deal with?"

"Of course it matters that you're dealing with this! And alone?" Scott emphasized before taking a deep breath, "I'm not really good at giving words of wisdom, or any advice really, but I'm here, always. I know it sounds hollow, but I'm around whenever you need to talk or rant or, who knows, punch. You don't have to keep going through this alone. That's what a pack is for." Scott reached his hand over to the boy's and clasped it around Isaac's.

Isaac lifted his eyes to meet Scott's and squeezed the his hand in lieu of thanking him, not knowing if he had the capacity to talk yet.

"You hungry?" Scott asked after a while. He released Isaac's hand and got up off the cement, reaching his hand out to help the other boy up.

"Is this place even running?" Isaac asked disgusted, looking at the not-so-nice exterior of the run-down diner.

"Only one way to find out!" Scott shouted, already on his way inside.