#block b avatars

[vertalligatorus]

Woo Jiho (ZICO), avatars 400*640 px. credits : @vertalligatorus!! / la peau bleue

pour @aftermathstuff alors je ne sais pas trop ce que j'ai fait je crains avoir abusé des textures et du grain et des typographies et c'est toujours super d4rk mais bon... j'espère qu'au moins un (1) sera utilisable... mwah mwah<333

[licorneforyourroleplay]

AVATARS PYO JIHOON - P.O ► 400X640

[persnickety-doodles]

But Korra's protests die on her tongue as Asami pulls her in for another kiss, and by the time they resurface their tea has long since gone cold.

Under Me, Over Me, Any Way You’ll Have Me by @korrasamibottles

I’m back with another inspired doodle! ☺️ Enjoy!

[ohthesimpathy]

• Wu Ji Ho (Zico)

400x640

[estrogenism]

poc-friendly picrews

[plaintext: poc-friendly picrews / end plaintext.]

reblogs are appreciated, this will be updated whenever i find more! if you want to suggest picrews to be added, do so in my asks or dms!

note: i don't tend to read the notes or reblogs here for uhhh Obvious Reasons (6000 notifs) so if you have a suggestion to make, do it via my asks or dms

edit (03/02/2024): added 11 picrews to the list!

edit (03/07/2024): added 1 picrew to the list!

actionpilot's character creator

adriotes' character creator

adrisona maker

aiden's picrew

alli's oc creator

alohasushicore

amiiraux's chaotic gay maker

among us sona creator

anew's girl maker

astrolavas' character creator

avatar

aworus' friend maker

baydews avatar maker

bean beaningtons tupper

bex's first picrew

bighead kid

black centered picrew

black centered picrew (fullbody version)

block game oc creator

bright's picrew hell,

bunnieclaire's character maker

caramael's character creator

cartoony maker

casual gay creator

cherevrie's avatar maker

childishspite's avi maker

cool kid maker

cosmitasia's character maker

cute girl creator

cutetimes (hair options are a bit limited)

djarn's character maker

djarn's character maker 2

doshi's oc avatar maker

elenaa's windswept oc maker

friend factory

friend maker

judelta's character maker

julliapple's character maker

gay time 2: electric boogaloo

girl maker

ghostofadragon's character maker

harvey's picrew 1 (only has straight hairstyles)

harvey's picrew 2 (only has curly hairstyles)

lichtenstyler

lima0nada

little guy maker

lulljevic's icon maker

makowka's character maker

makowka's character maker 2

marice creator

nah's picrew

nellseto's maker

nuclearvessel's character maker

nudekay's character maker

nuggts character maker

overwatch league icons

peculiar icon creator

perisceris' icon maker

piney's icon maker

pixel dating simulator maker

poicon maker

potatolord's persona creator

rainheal's character maker

rychu's picrew

sagravi creator

scuff's icon maker

semirealistic icon creator

smitty's ultimate maker-inator

something about them

sph.jpeg's icon maker

static maker

toon me! (a)

toon me! (b)

uris space maker

witchcrew

who me?

yee haw character creator

yet another character creator

エリーのメーカー

[vivid-ink]

Hey folks! Annalise here. 😄 Welcome to my blog where I compose works of fiction based on whatever fancies my brain fixates on.

🔞 A word of caution - The content of my blog is mature and not suitable for minors under the age of 18. If you are a minor, please do not interact with my content and please feel free to block me if you wish. 🔞

My requests are currently CLOSED, but I'm still happy for you to chat to me! 😄

HUNGER GAMES: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes MASTERLIST

A TURN OF TABLES - Coriolanus Snow x Lucy Gray (oneshot)

AVATAR MASTERLIST

- SHOW ME & TEACH ME - {Neteyam x fem!Omatikaya Reader} 18+ MDNI (Complete)

Summary:

You were an inconsequential member of the Omatikaya clan who had failed your rites of passage once already. You were born to heal, not hunt or fight. So, why had the tsahìk designated Neteyam of all people to take over your training?

What business did the future olo’eyktan have mentoring you? But it was too late now. You should have known better than to fall in love with your mentor. You had known this day would come; the day when your success would mean losing his company. You should have clung on tighter to your heart while you still had it…

- TO KNOW YOU AGAIN - {Neteyam x fem!Omatikaya OC} 18+ MDNI (Complete)

Summary:

“Do you remember our last night here? The night before my family left?” The warm, rumbling timbre of Neteyam’s voice washed over her.

“Yes,” Naia whispered. How could she forget?... She had replayed the memory of his lips over and over numerous times.

One corner of Neteyam’s mouth lifted in a small smile as his eyes tracked over the delicate bridge of her nose and over her steadily flushing cheeks. His gaze stopped to rest on her lips, “You gave me something that night. I think it's time I returned it."

Set 7 years after TWoW: An exploration of what if Neteyam had to leave a girl he was close to behind when his family fled to the reefs to seek refuge.

-THE LOVE SHACK - {Neteyam(23) x fem!Omatikaya Reader(21) x Lo'ak(22)} 18+ MDNI (Complete)

Summary:

You’d heard the whispered speculations and stifled giggles during the daytimes. You’d seen the furtive glances that the other women cast at Neteyam and Lo’ak through coquettish eyes, cheeks stained a blushing mauve as they exchanged coy smiles with the two brothers.

And during the nights? Hell, you’d heard the moans and wanton cries for yourself… You were definitely curious, but did you have it in you to go through with their proposition?...

ONESHOTS & DRABBLES

Your Best Friend's Brother - {Neteyam x fem!Omatikaya Reader} Mission Accomplished - {fem!HumanReader x Neteyam OR Lo'ak} 18+ MDNI - Kinktober 01 - 'Handjob' prompt I See You - [fem!OmatikayaReader x dom!Alpha!Neteyam} 18+ MDNI - Kinktober 31 - 'A/B/O' prompt

***~ VividInk AO3 ~***

Want a novel-length adventure with a strong narrative? This one is 20 chapters (152k words) & too long to put on Tumblr, but I'm most proud of it! It's a real rollercoaster with a completely original plot!

- VIOLET EYES - {Neteyam x fem!Avatar OC} *Complete* 18+ MDNI

Also on Wattpad HERE

Violet Eyes Summary:

Ria’s gaze paused at his handsome face. Good God, he had grown… She remembered his striking face from years ago in a time of battle at sea, it had been softer with youth then. He had barely been taller than her. Now, he towered over her...

Neteyam lifted his gaze to hers; green-gold clashed with striking violet. Yes, he remembered those eyes. Even the years that had passed in-between had not made him forget.

He lowered his face, his lips curling in a snarl, “I should kill you.” The English words were stilted as he spoke, “But I will not. A life for a life.”

AU where Neteyam lives - set many years after The Way of Water, after the defeat of the humans.

[nyctophicbtch]

But We’re Different

[ Lo’ak x avatar/human!reader ]

Summary: Some boys in the clan weren’t too friendly. They’d somehow convinced Lo’ak that you, a human, would never chose an outcast, let alone a na’vi, as your mate. You were left to figure out why he was unusually pulling away from you so much.

read the requests here, here and here

Warnings: not proofread, hurt/comfort, mutual pining, kissing, slightly suggestive

Word Count: 3,070

���Don’t lose your avatar’. The scientists’ words replayed in your head, prompting a small smile from you as you lazily rolled onto your back with your eyes closed in enjoyment. The grass underneath you tickled your tail as it swayed languidly in content.

“Please never say that again.”

What?

For a second, you thought the familiar voices in the distance were all in your head until you realized they weren’t stopping. They grew louder with each passing second, pulling you unwillingly out of your blissful reverie.

“That’s gross!” Your eyes reluctantly opened as you heard footsteps in the distance and their conversation getting louder. It didn’t take long until you were greeted with the sight of Spider and Lo’ak laughing amongst themselves when they finally noticed you sprawled across the grass.

Already? you whined to yourself. The initial thought was to spend the first few rare moments as an avatar alone, and then find your friends afterwards.

“Hey, you’re finally out of your cage,” Spider pointed out, clearly amused, just as Lo’ak landed right beside you after jumping off the higher ground.

“I hate wearing those things,” you grumbled, nodding at Spider’s mask all the while stretching the sleep off your limbs. “I wish I could stay like this.”

“How does your body feel?”

“Feels nice.” You could barely hear your own soft words, rolling onto your side to face Lo’ak. Especially after being grounded from your avatar for so long. You honestly preferred being blue just because you were able to freely enjoy going outside without feeling suffocated by exopacks.

“Really?” The moment of peace was ruined as you abruptly jerked up and hissed when you felt Spider pull on your tail. “Your reflexes are good.”

Ignoring the boys’ laughter, you slapped Spider’s hand away from where he was still holding your tail.

“Bro, stop harassing her. It’s her first day out in weeks.”

“You guys are no fun.” You’d only blink and Spider had already made it up the trees, barely visible in your line of sight. “Keep up!”

You almost whined at the thought of having to get up and run around with them when you were already comfortable lying on the grass. “Can I stay here?”

“Nu uh. Norm said you gotta put those legs to use,” Lo’ak replied, urging you up to your feet.

The boy tugged on your arm, urging you to follow him through the trees and vines that blocked your path. The impatience was radiating off of him as you stumbled back and trailed slower behind him. It wasn’t as if you were unskilled in your feet. You were just a little rusty after weeks of not being in this body, that’s all.

“Slow down.”

When Lo’ak looked back and noticed how terribly shaped you actually were, a frown etched its way onto his face and he eased his movements to match your pace, placing his palm on the small of your back as some sort of support.

“You okay?”

“Yeah-“ before you could continue any further, you felt yourself trip on a large twig and stumbled on your feet, catching the way the corner of his lips curved the tiniest bit upwards. “I’m great.”

You steadied yourself with a firm hand to Lo’ak’s chest since the blue boy was too busy holding back his laugh to stop you from falling.

“Stop laughing,” you groaned, lightly shoving him away when you found yourself unable to hold your own smile.

“Okay, okay.” Lo’ak’s laughter ceased as he pried the hand that kept shoving him away from his chest. “Truce.”

Truce. That wasn’t the case, considering how Lo’ak playfully bested and annoyed you the whole way through the forest. You were far too relieved when you finally arrived by a particular waterfall, knowing full well that Lo’ak would finally stop teasing and pulling at your tail.

“What’d you need anyways?” asked the blue boy trailing behind you.

“I just left my journal.”

“You really can’t just leave it for a day?” Lo’ak received no response from you who most likely had not heard what he’d said, seeming as you had already disappeared behind the waterfall.

“Come on, it’s like you’ve replaced me with that thing ever since I gave it to you,” Lo’ak whined as he came up beside you, peeking over your shoulder to see the leather book in your hands.

“I didn’t replace you, skxawng.”

For a moment, you’d caught him off guard with your swift movements. He staggered back a little when you lightly hit his forehead with a finger, a frown etching its way onto his face.

“You care more about that thing than me,” he protested, purposely ignoring how you’d just flicked him on the forehead. “Are all sky people like this? I can’t see my dad finding paper inside a piece of leather interesting .”

“I don’t think he would. He doesn’t seem like the artsy type.”

“Now that you’ve mentioned it, I don’t actually know what he liked. Dad doesn’t bring up his human life often,” Lo’ak mentioned.

“We could always go to the lab after seeing the village. He’s kept some of the human stuff he brought from earth.”

As if trying to annoy you on purpose, the boy sat on your bed as you were about to leave, knowing full well he wouldn’t budge. He had a taunting smile on his face, grinning up at you as innocently as possible.

“Come on. You did this the last time we came here too.”

“I like your bed.”

It wasn’t the typical human bed you were used to in your original form, but it maintained the same concept. You did as much as you could to salvage the comfort of your room back in the lab out here using Pandoran medium and you’d say it had exceeded your expectations.

If your human form was to lay here, it would say otherwise though. The harsh surface would scratch and prick at your soft skin until it itched for days.

“Come on.” You tugged at his wrist in hopes that he’d get up, earning a dissatisfied groan from the Sully boy.

“Why are we in such a hurry?”

“I haven’t seen the village in weeks.” A final tug at his wrist got him staggering out of your bed, his palm instinctively finding its way to the small of your back.

“Calm down!” You rushed out of the cave’s entrance and left Lo’ak to grumble as he followed your footsteps, trudging through the water.

-

“He likes you too much for his own good.”

“Kiri,” you whined.

“He just won’t admit it because you’re human and he’s a skxawng who’s afraid of rejection.”

Your cheeks flushed, only validating Kiri’s accusations even more. Fortunately, the sounds of distant shouting outside saved you from further embarrassment. You left the tent without much thought.

“What did I say, boy?”

The sight before you wasn’t anything new. You’d seen Jake scolding his sons a couple of times, but you’d never seen them this tense.

“I only asked one thing of you. One! And you still managed to disobey me.” Lo’ak had his head hung low, suddenly finding the ground much more interesting than anything else. You could see his ears perk up a tiny bit when he heard your footsteps approaching.

“I’m sorry, sir.”

“Next time you pull something like that I’m gonna knot your tail. Got it?”

“Yes, sir,” the boy gritted out, blinking a couple of times to keep the tears at bay when he heard snickering from the Na’vi behind him. Jake hadn’t seemed to notice though, or he was too angry to care and left towards the other direction.

You wanted to do nothing more than to punch the boys making fun of him to shut their mouths close, but your eyes softened when you saw Lo’ak looking up and closing his eyes to prevent tears from escaping them and decided to approach him instead.

“Lo’ak,” you softly called out, drawing his attention to you as you reached a hand to place on his arm. When he turned to look at you, your heart ached at the hurt on his face.

“Leave me alone.” He’d intended it to sound harsher than it had come out, but his hesitation seeped through when he attempted to pull his arm away from you, confirming that he didn’t actually want you to leave him alone.

“You weren’t supposed to see that,” he continued when you made no move to leave. The small crowd that had formed started to dissipate and people left, minding their own business. “I didn’t even start it. They all think I’m easy to mess with because I’m an outcast. Because I’m a halfbreed.” He spat out the last word, as if it was a curse he was stuck with.

He didn’t need to explain to you. You didn’t need an explanation. This had happened countless times, where boys provoke and make fun of him. But from the looks of it, he had lost his composure this time.

“I mean, look at my brother. You don’t see people making fun of him everyday.” You caught the way he subtly eyed his fingers and you slowly wandered your hand lower.

The quick and curious movements of his tail captured your attention and you decided to test the waters. You intertwined your fingers with his, noticing how they fit perfectly against each other.

“I’m as much an outcast as you are, Lo.”

“That’s- that’s not what I meant.” Now he just felt bad. He’d unintentionally called you an outcast too and he felt his heart drop when he’d realized.

But your gentle gaze assured him that you hadn’t been hurt or offended by his words, and he let out a small breath of relief, grasping your arm with his other hand almost desperately.

“You’re much more than just a halfbreed,” you stated, placing a hand on his chest. The sully’s gaze dropped to your hand and he was almost certain you could feel his heart’s increasing pace. “You have a strong, kind heart. They do not see that. But I see it.”

And I see you, you wanted to scream out. You desperately wished to say the words that had been caught in your throat far too many times. And maybe Lo’ak wished he had heard it from you as well.

But the unspoken barrier between you two still remained. He couldn’t care less what his people would think of you as his, but he was too sure that you wouldn’t see someone like him. Someone of different species; an outcast. A failure.

So he did what he’d always done. He retracted away from you. From your touch. And you didn’t even try to hide your disappointment, looking like a kicked puppy with the hurt evident in your eyes.

“Why don’t we look at those human stuff your dad stashed in the lab. It might cheer you up,” you suggested, averting the topic in attempts to dismiss the sting from his open rejection.

“Yeah.” It was only mere seconds before the two of you were giggling as you ran through the forest, hand in hand, forgetting the past few minutes that had just happened.

The lab wasn’t far from the village, and you silently thanked Max for bringing Jake’s old stuff to the new location of the lab. It was just on the outskirts of the forest, covered by a few overgrown leaves and vines that you could easily spot.

“They gathered his old stuff from the old lab and kept it in a box,” you said, parting your hand from his to push through the doors.

“Hey, Norm,” you greeted when you caught sight of the familiar scientist.

“Hey, kid, Lo’ak.”

“You know where Max keeps Jake’s old stuff?” Your eyes wandered around the lab, curious to what could’ve changed in a few hours, tail swaying leisurely behind you.

“Yeah, in the storage room. Why?”

“I’m taking Lo’ak to a trip down the memory lane.”

“Alright, but don’t go making a mess in there,” he warned, knowing full well what the two of you were capable of. “And go give your avatar a break. Your human body could use some attention.”

You looked to Lo’ak, finding his eyes already on yours as he grabbed a mask from one of the stands.

“Go ahead. I’ll meet you in your unit,” he assured.

It wasn’t as if he had never seen you in your human form. He’d done this plenty of times and was used to you having to switch from your avatar to avoid draining either bodies.

The boy gave you a small smile before leaving the room, most likely to go find your link unit.

“I’m serious, kid. I better not find the storage room in shambles when I come back.”

-

“No way,” you deadpanned. “Your dad read comics?”

“How do they even make these?” Lo’ak ignored your question, eyeing the characters drawn on the front cover. He held onto the edge of the comic he fished from one of the boxes, lifting it above his head so he could inspect the overlapping pages.

“There’s so much… detail.”

“It’s called printing.” You smiled at how innocently curious he was, rummaging through some more boxes.

“And he has action figures?” That certainly caught Lo’ak’s attention. He dropped the comic and raised his fingers to touch the plastic toy, slowly tilting his head in amusement.

“They look like the toys Tuk plays with, but less- wooden.”

You handed the action figure to let Lo’ak inspect it, digging through the box only to find the entire thing filled with action figures representing mythological characters back on earth.

“Didn’t take your dad for a mythology fan.”

“What do you use this for?” He had pulled out a cylindrical container, something too heavy to carry around with your frail human body.

“That’s for water. We have to buy clean water back on earth.”

“What? You guys don’t even have access to water?”

“Not with most of the planet dying, no.” It wasn’t as if you really knew how it felt living on your dying planet though. You’d spent your entire life on Pandora, only picking up little bits of earth’s culture from the scientists in the lab.

“Yikes. I see why you came here.”

“I was born here, skxawng.” You hit the back of his head, earning a hearty laugh in return.

“Really? You were? I’m sorry. I didn’t know,” he gasped, placing a hand above his heart in exaggeration. He had only broken his composure once you pulled on his ear, hearing a wince leave him when you dragged the boy towards you.

“You’re so aggressive. Are you sure you’re human?”

“Maybe I spend too much time with you.”

A grin made its way to his face before it was quickly swept away and a faint frown formed in its place, his eyes saddening. You felt your own frown forming, mirroring his sudden actions.

This wasn’t the reaction you were expecting. You were just trying to get him to forget the stupid boys. Did you do something wrong? Say anything offensive?

“Lo’ak-“

“Maybe you do spend too much time with me.”

“Where’s this coming from?”

“Just- think of it,” he said angrily. “Everyone in the clan loves you, even more than they do me. You can see the disappointment in their eyes when you come back, hand in hand with me. You would be so much better off if I wasn’t getting you into trouble all the time.”

“That’s not true-“

“You know it is.” If you were in your avatar right now, your ears would slump down the furthest it could go. Where did this come from? He was never this upset when it came to you spending so much time with him.

“Is this about At’wey?”

His lack of response told you everything you needed to know.

“What they say is not true.”

“You don’t get it.” Lo’ak ran a hand through his braids in frustration. “It’s not just about getting you in trouble.”

His tail was flicking from side to side, agitated. The sully clearly looked conflicted whether to repeat what the boys said to him or to keep it to himself.

“Look,” he said after a moment of hesitation, lowering himself to sit on the floor in front of you. “They know you’re a sore spot for me.”

The perplexed look you gave only encouraged him to explain further.

“What makes you think she’d want you? She’s human. You’re na’vi. That wouldn’t even work. There’s plenty of humans in the lab she can choose from,” he mimicked their lines as accurately as his memory would allow him.

“What’s worse is that I’m not just different from you. I get you into trouble all the time and I always mess things up.”

Your frown deepened when his gaze turned to the floor and you mustered the courage to cup the side of his face with your hand.

“I don’t care about those things, Lo’ak. I’ve already chosen you. I see you.”

His eyes finally met yours and you swore his face visibly lit up at your words. You didn’t miss the way his eyes shifted lower, especially with the way he was shamelessly eyeing your lips, his own slightly parted in a trance.

“I want to kiss you so bad right now.”

A small smile made its way to your lips and Lo’ak felt his heart stutter in its cage. You were so close. And he could just lean in.

“I see you.”

Your lips were on his in less than a second, drawing a tiny gasp out of his mouth. You felt so small against him, and your hands were warm wherever they lingered, leaving his skin melting under your touch.

His large hands trailed down from your hips, staying on your ass for a bit too long before bringing them further down towards the back of your thighs. The Sully caught you off guard by pulling you into his lap, and your eyes opened for a brief second, catching a glimpse at the way his tail suggestively swayed from side to side against the cold floor.

“Lo’ak,” you practically whined, causing the na’vi to pull away from your lips and bury his face into the crook of your neck, gently nipping at the soft skin.

“Yes?”

“I think Norm heard us.”

[mighty-ant]

heroes in need

ao3

It was far past the hour that Cody should be asleep by, but his dad usually made an exception for their solo father-son adventures, and tonight was no different. 

If schedules allowed, they might go camping or all the way to the mainland, but when Charlie had a patrol shift the next morning, they usually stuck closer to home. Chase had been a good sport about joining them for a screening at the drive-in, as he was about most things that Cody or Charlie asked of him. 

With such a big family, that doubled in size with the arrival of the bots, getting his dad’s attention all to himself without having to end up in some sort of mortal peril first was harder than it looked, and it made Cody protective of their time together. It hurt when one of his siblings butted in, intentionally or otherwise, or if an emergency dragged his dad away. 

Cody loved spending time with his entire family, really he did, but sometimes it was too easy to fade into the background when everyone was involved. It wasn’t anyone’s fault, just a drawback of being the youngest in a big family, and Cody knew now that it wasn’t because he was especially forgettable or anything. 

It was different with the bots, as most things were, and he didn’t feel small or invisible when he was around them. The opposite, really. 

When Cody and Boulder went to the far side of the island to stargaze, and Boulder told stories about Cybertron, holding Cody close to his chest, close enough to feel the thrum of his spark beneath his plating, it felt as if he had the universe at his fingertips. 

And when Blades insisted on joining the Pioneer Scouts because he wanted to spend more time with Cody (and because he liked how the neckerchiefs looked), it was the first time anyone had gone to such lengths to share in his interests. He and Blades learned and explored together, did badgework together, and always paired up for their nature hikes. He was the person Cody watched cartoons with, and watching him be brave made Cody want to be brave too.  

Heatwave, huge, angry, and the leader of a group of rescue workers turned interstellar refugees, gave Cody the same level of undivided attention he gave their Prime, if not more. Cody knew that his gruff voice gentled around him in a way it didn’t for anyone else, and that the only place safer than Heatwave’s cab was his dad’s own arms. 

He saw Cody’s worth as a rescuer before anyone else did, and from that first day, when Heatwave refused to continue on with the team if Cody wasn’t part of it, Cody knew he didn’t have to worry about getting left behind ever again. 

Chase had almost become an extension of his dad, protective and stern in equal measure. Just being near him was calming, even when Cody wasn’t doing anything more than reading, playing a video game, or just wanting some company. Not only did he not seem to mind these long stretches of silence, but Chase always seemed pleased to see him, the naturally severe set to his faceplates softening with his smile. And when his dad had to leave for the mainland for two weeks, Cody found himself slipping into the garage on more than a few nights to curl up in Chase’s passenger seat, and keep each other company for a few hours, missing Charlie together.

While Cody preferred that no one else interrupt his time with his dad, Chase’s presence felt natural now, and unobtrusive in a way the other bots or his siblings weren’t. 

He was great to watch movies with once he got over his instinctual cringe every time a character broke a law, and had such a precise memory that he could save all of his questions for the end (once he learned that interrupting the movie to ask them was typically considered rude). 

Cody hoped Chase had enjoyed tonight’s movie; the poor guy had practically leapt out of vehicle mode when Doc Brown revealed he’d stolen plutonium. At any rate, his avatar on the dashboard screen was smiling as they turned onto their block, but Cody couldn’t be sure that it wasn’t just because his two charges were still talking and laughing inside his cabin. 

“I can’t believe we haven’t shown the bots the Back to the Future movies yet,” Cody said, shaking his head in wonder.  

“I’m as surprised as you are,” Charlie chuckled. “They’re classics.”

“They’re showing the rest of the trilogy at the drive-in over the next two nights,” Cody exclaimed. “We could all go! What do you think, Chase?”

Chase hummed thoughtfully, and Cody felt his seat belt tighten gently in the bots’ vehicle mode version of a hug. “Boulder would certainly have something to say about the execution of time travel, having experienced it ourselves, and Blades will enjoy the music and general hilarity. Heatwave, I believe, will join us if you ask him to.”

“Oh, but they’ve gotta watch the first movie, or the second one won’t make any sense.” Cody turned pleading eyes on his dad. 

Charlie laughed, shaking his head. “Oh no, it’s already way past shut-eye, kiddo. You can watch the movie in the morning.”

Cody sighed, if only on principle. He was pretty tired, and if he started the movie now, he’d fall asleep five minutes in. “Okay.” 

Chase rolled into the garage, and opened his doors to the familiar sound of Kade and Heatwave arguing. 

The firebot was looming over Kade, shoving a car buffer in his face. Undaunted by the difference in height, weight, and strength, Kade was waving his arms to ward him off, trying to skirt around Heatwave at the same time. 

“I can’t right now! I’ve got a—”

Heatwave growled. “If you say ‘date,’ I swear next time I’ll lock you in my cab with Mr. Pettypaws.” 

“Some partner!” Kade shot back. 

“What’s all this now?” Charlie asked dryly. 

Heatwave straightened up, coming somewhat to attention in Charlie’s presence. Not that it stopped him from shooting his fellow firefighter a dirty look. “I was just reminding Kade here that he agreed to buff out the dents on my back from our rescue at that rockslide this morning. Blades already took care of the deeper damage.”

“Damage?” Cody repeated, his heart skipping a beat. “I didn’t know you got hurt, Heatwave.” 

He looked Heatwave over intently, and his worry eased a bit when he didn’t see any trace of the pink, alien blood they called energon. 

It was extremely rare that any of the bots were injured enough to bleed—they weren’t soldiers, thankfully, and as dangerous as their rescues could be, there wasn’t a whole lot on their island that could hurt a Cybertronian. But an explosion at the rocket fuel reservoir last month had mangled Boulder’s arm, turning a routine inspection into something out of a nightmare. 

The bulldozer handled the whole ordeal with his usual aplomb, staying calmer than any of them, even Blades who triaged him ahead of Velocity’s emergency arrival from the Autobots, D.C. base. Boulder had even eagerly helped with rebuilding his ruined limb, and had been officially cleared for duty as of two weeks ago. 

But Cody couldn’t forget the chaos over the comm lines, Graham, the only one to see the explosion firsthand, desperately calling Boulder’s name from the reservoir control room. They’d airlifted Boulder to the firehouse and when Cody tried to get into the bunker to check on him, his dad held him back from where the three bots were gathered around the medical berth, hiding Boulder from view, but not the grunts of pain he couldn’t quite keep at bay or the trail of glowing energon they’d left in their wake. 

In the present, Heatwave reached down, nudging a finger against Cody’s shoulder with gentle care. “Only a few dings, Cody,” he said in his comforting gravel voice, as warm with reassurance as it had been snappish with acrimony just moments before. “Got my tailboard caught in the rockslide when we were clearing out one of the houses.”

Charlie looked at Kade expectantly, arms crossed over his chest. “Did you agree to help? Because that sounds more than fair, son.”

Kade groaned. “Well, yeah, but I didn’t think I’d actually have to—”

Heatwave shoved the buffer into his arms again, letting go this time and forcing Kade to scramble to catch it before it hit the floor. “Thanks, champ,” Heatwave said with a grin that was all teeth. 

“Oh hoho, you are gonna get it, Clifford, just you wait.”

“Good night, you two,” Charlie said pointedly as he started leading Cody toward the entrance to the firehouse proper. To Chase, he bid a much more pleasant, “I’ll see you in the morning, partner.”

“Good night, Chase!” Cody piped up. 

Chase dipped his head slightly, his faceplates shifting into one of his subtle smiles. “Good night, Chief. Cody.” 

He started for the platform that led down to the bunker, but he hadn’t even made it to the controls before he froze midstep. 

Across the garage, Heatwave halted mid transformation into vehicle mode. He returned to root mood swiftly, startling Kade who’d just gotten the buffer started. 

Judging by the tilt of the bots’ heads, they were receiving an internal comm. Chase’s brow furrowed at whatever he heard, but Cody didn’t think much of it until he saw Heatwave’s worried scowl. 

“Did you just receive a distress signal from Boulder?” Chase asked, concern deepening his usually even tone. 

“Yeah,” Heatwave muttered. “But it cut off.”

“For me as well.” Chase raised a hand to his comm unit. “I will attempt to contact Boulder directly.” He was quiet for a moment, as he presumably did just that, but his expression grew even more troubled. “He is not responding on any frequency.”

“Pull up his location,” Heatwave growled. 

A hologram popped out of Chase’s wrist displaying a map of the island, which Cody would’ve usually marveled at. But all he could feel was the cold prickling of dread in his stomach. His dad put a hand on his shoulder and squeezed, but it didn’t do much to make him feel better. 

Chase’s optics widened. “I cannot detect Boulder’s energon signature.” 

“What does that mean?” Cody asked hesitantly. 

In a flash, Heatwave had a hand up to his comm. “Blades! Report in, do you have eyes on Boulder?”

“I cannot detect Blades’ signature either,” Chase said quietly. 

Cody’s stomach dropped at the note of fear in the policebot’s voice. He looked up to his dad, but he was watching the bots with a knit brow and tension in his jaw. 

“That’s it!” Heatwave snarled as he stormed the tall doors of the garage. “We’re going to Boulder’s last known location. He’s supposed to be at the lab, right?” 

“Sir,” Chase murmured to Charlie, hesitating briefly between the two leaders. 

Charlie nodded. “I’m coming along too, partner.”

“What’s the big deal?” Kade complained, even as he followed Heatwave. “Those nerds probably just got distracted by moss growing on the wrong side of a tree or something,” he said, only to run straight into the back of Heatwave’s lower leg when the firebot jerked to a stop before even reaching the doors. 

Kade stumbled back with a curse, pressing a hand over his face. “Hey, ow! If you chipped my tooth, I’m making us swap bodies again so you can go to the dentist to deal with it.” 

He looked up when there was no snide retort from his partner. “Heatwave?”  

Heatwave wasn’t the only one not moving or reacting in any way. Chase was frozen, too. They shuddered into an uncanny stillness, completely unlike their earlier pause at the distress signal or their typical, imperfect robot mode. It happened in a blink, but in that second Cody swore he saw a bar of glowing red light arc over their bodies from head to toe, flickering at the edges like electricity. 

That second of silence was like a held breath. 

Kade, though, was apparently blind and deaf to it. 

“What’s the deal, Heatw—WOAH!” 

Kade threw himself to the side, narrowly avoiding being crushed by Heatwave’s body as he collapsed backward, a twenty-foot-tall marionette with its strings cut. Cody had never thought about just how tall Heatwave was, or how broad, until he was toppling from his great height, deadly as a collapsing building. 

Utterly limp, the force of his fall was like a miniature earthquake and it knocked Cody off his feet with a startled cry. 

Behind him, he heard his dad call out as Chase slumped forward the same way Heatwave had, falling face first with a tooth rattling, deafening crash that rang in Cody’s ears long after it passed. 

Staring over Chase’s prone form, Cody locked eyes with his dad, who’d been thrown to the ground just like him, expression blown wide with shock. 

Cody sucked in air but couldn’t form words, ice-cold panic crystalizing in his chest. His mind was utterly blank, unable to comprehend what had happened. What little he understood . 

Kade didn’t have that problem. 

“Heatwave, what the hell? You could’ve killed me!” Pushing himself back onto his feet, Cody’s oldest brother whirled around with a snarl to put Heatwave to shame, but his ire sputtered out as he took in the true extent of the scene: both bots collapsed on the ground, and Cody and Charlie’s equally panicked faces. 

“What the hell?” Kade repeated.

Heatwave had fallen with his face turned toward Cody. 

He’d seen the bots’ faces when frozen by virus into an emotionless mask. He’d seen the bots’ faces when their memories were wiped, and they didn’t recognize their own family. He’d even seen the bots’ faces while mind controlled by Mrs. Pynch. 

Heatwave’s face wasn’t just blank. It was slack, hints of confusion and pain frozen in the unmoving furrow of his brow and lines of tension around his mouth. His orange optics were dark, the light within guttered. They weren’t closed, or dimmed like when the bots were in recharge. 

It was like he was…like he was…

Kade had scrambled around to Heatwave’s other side, slapping his palms against one broad red shoulder. “Heatwave, this isn’t funny, man!” he snapped, his voice cracking. 

“Kade,” Charlie said hoarsely, too faint to be a reprimand. “This isn’t an act.” His hands were on Chase’s face and he didn’t look away from his partner for an instant. Cody was too afraid to check if his gold optics had gone dark too. 

“So what the hell’s happened to them! Heatwave? C’mon, man, I need you to wake up now!”

Kade was kneeling by Cody, in front of Heatwave’s dark, empty face. His sightless optics seemed to stare at him over Kade’s shoulder, and Cody couldn’t look away, cold horror narrowing his vision. 

“Cody!” Charlie yelled like he never did unless danger was barreling toward them, and Cody snapped to attention. Based on the desperation in his dad’s voice and the apology in his expression, it probably wasn’t the first time he’d called Cody’s name. 

“Call Graham,” he instructed, his steady voice wavering only slightly. “Maybe he or Boulder knows what’s happening to them.”

“O-okay, Dad.”

Cody reached for his comm link. Maybe he’d turned it off for the movie and forgotten to turn it back on, or maybe the shattering slam of Heatwave and Chase’s collapse really had deafened him. Whatever the reason, the moment he reached for his comm, the line exploded with Graham and Dani’s shaking, terrified voices shouting to be heard over each other. 

“—Dad with you? Are the bots there? We need to call Ratchet, call-call anyone! Boulder, he-he—”

“—Blades, we need to help Blades! I don’t know what’s going—!”

“Just collapsed—he’s unresponsive—”

“Blades fell out of the sky!”

–

Boulder rounded the bend coming down from Doc Greene’s lab, his open window letting in a breeze that ruffled Graham’s hair and cooled his skin. They’d lost track of time experimenting with new upgrades for the bots’ energon-powered tools, but Graham didn’t regret it, and he knew Boulder didn’t either. 

After two weeks of medical leave, and down one arm almost the entire time, Boulder was eager to get back to work, having drawn up plans upon plans while his repairs set in and his new limb was manufactured. They included but were not limited to: visiting Leafy, visiting the Rubios, reinforcing the walls around the rocket fuel reservoir (as Kade would say, doy! ), and looking over the newest specs sent over by Wheeljack, which was best done with plenty of fire extinguishers around, or better yet, one Heatwave. 

Graham’s engineering mind had been fascinated by Boulder’s self-repair network, so similar and yet nothing alike a human’s own immune system, preventing its host from going into shock from a missing limb by shutting off pain receptors and sealing off the flow of energon to damaged areas. 

Not to mention rebuilding a Cybertronian limb from scratch was a truly humbling experience. Thirty years of their presence on Earth, and their biology was still a highly classified secret everywhere but the furthest reaches of the black market, and neither Graham nor Doc Greene took that trust and access for granted. 

Boulder’s arm, much like his original, was a transformer all on its own, capable of turning into a welding torch, nail gun, and drill, not to mention a dozen other tools like saws and screwdrivers of various sizes. It was a wonder to build and even more gratifying to see in operation during their rescues since, but Graham wouldn’t soon forget the reason Boulder needed an entirely new limb in the first place.

The blast at the rocket fuel reservoir had been intense. Graham felt the heat behind the three foot thick concrete walls of the security room, and had been knocked off his feet by the force of the explosion. The sound of Boulder bellowing in pain wouldn’t leave his nightmares for a long time, if ever, nor the sight of his partner stumbling away from the flames once Graham scrambled out of the building with a fire extinguisher in hand, his left arm hanging limp, barely attached to his shoulder, and the rivulets of glowing pink energon pouring down his limp fingertips and pooling on the ground. 

“That wasn’t supposed to happen,” Boulder had grunted, somehow still managing to smile at Graham as he furiously put out the flames encroaching on his partner’s spilled energon.

Boulder was always doing that, trying to make the best of a bad situation and easing Graham out of his spirals of self-doubt. It didn’t work so much when he was in obvious pain and failing to hide it, but a part of Graham was still in awe and humbled that someone like Boulder, giant, powerful and unflinchingly kind, an alien from a society so advanced that humans must resemble cavemen playing with sticks and stones by comparison, would look at him and find someone worthwhile. Someone he called friend. Partner. 

But Boulder did, and almost every day he reminded Graham that he’d chosen their family, and he'd chosen him, in a hundred small ways. Like now. 

“It’s a beautiful night,” Boulder rumbled, his voice rolling warmly through his cab. “Makes me wish I had my paints with me.”

The view was especially nice tonight. A waxing moon painted the ocean in strokes of silver, and below them the town looked like a miniature, every light a little beacon in the darkness. There was little light pollution up on the hill to Griffin Rock Labs, save the street lights every few feet, and the stars above them were plentiful, if faint. 

“I don’t think I’ve seen you paint a night sky before,” Graham wondered aloud. Boulder had been getting more experimental with his art style lately, inspired by Dalí and Van Gogh to try out oil paints. He wondered what The Starry Night by Boulder might look like. “We can grab them from the firehouse and come back if you want?”

On Boulder’s screen, his avatar smiled gratefully, but shook its head. 

“Nah, it’s already pretty late. Maybe another night.” Boulder’s digital face brightened. “We can set out right after sunset!”

Graham smiled back, his pensiveness pushed aside by Boulder’s perpetually upbeat disposition. “Sounds good to me, partner.”

They fell into a comfortable silence again, but Graham could sense that Boulder still had something on his mind, judging by the thoughtful cant to his avatar’s face. He waited, looking back out Boulder’s window so he wouldn’t feel pressured to speak. Graham’s instincts proved right after another minute. 

“I was just thinking; maybe we could take a trip one day?” Boulder wondered aloud, his voice going up hopefully. “To the mainland, I mean.”

“I’d love that,” Graham responded almost at once, and he meant it, too. Their bots had seen so little of Earth compared to the rest of the Autobots, who’d had fifteen years of peacetime to travel and get acclimated. Graham wanted to see their reactions to everything. Boulder’s especially.  

He immediately jumped into plotting out the logistics in his head, though he was struck by a troubling thought almost as quickly.

“But what about G.H.O.S.T?”

They didn’t know much about the organization—nobody did, apparently, outside of internet conspiracy theorists—and Optimus was frustratingly vague whenever they tried to question him about it. 

What they did know: G.H.O.S.T. was partnered with the Autobots’, serving as an intermediary with the U.S. government and helping to capture the remaining Decepticons in the country, which was a point of contention all its own. Even the Rescue Bots were split.

Boulder and Blades wanted peace on all fronts, and that included pardons for the Decepticons stuck on Earth. Chase was of the mind that they should serve some sort of time for their crimes against Cybertron and humanity, while Heatwave couldn’t care less what they did, as long as the Decepticons were locked away. Graham privately thought that the firebot wanted someone to blame for the destruction and eventual loss of their home, since they were beyond powerless to do anything about it, arriving twelve years after the loss of the Allspark. 

Supposedly, G.H.O.S.T. was also meant to provide the Autobots with housing and support. But at the same time, the Rescue Bots had to remain a secret from them no matter what, because Optimus didn’t trust their partner’s intentions enough to let them know about the existence of possibly the last Cybertronian civilians in existence. 

It was heavy stuff, not to mention extremely nerve-wracking, especially when they first learned of the Rescue Bots’ sentience and true origins. It had felt like just a matter of time before black helicopters and SWAT teams descended on the island and dragged their new Cybertronian partners away. 

But Griffin Rock’s shielding remained intact, and the town was so used to advanced technology that they bought the Rescue Bots as being man-made, especially since none of them had ever had cause to meet a real Cybertronian up close before. 

Boulder hummed, the sound nearly lost under the churning of his treads. “We’d be careful! Humans barely even bat an eye when they see a Cybertronian. We could visit Canada! Not a whole lot of G.H.O.S.T. activity up there, at least according to Teletraan I.”

Graham started to nod. “That does sound nice. No rescues for a few days, no siblings, no drama…” And close enough to home in case of an all-hands emergency. 

Plus, Boulder had been stuck on Griffin Rock for three years, and hadn’t even gotten a real look at the rest of Maine, much less another country. And with the warmer weather, Canada wouldn’t even be a bad option for those who weren’t resistant to subzero temperatures. 

Boulder began slowing down, and Graham first thought that some sort of animal must be in their path. But the road was clear, and Boulder’s digital face looked confused.

“Hmm. That’s strange,” he muttered to himself. 

Graham leaned forward, much more alert now. “What is it?”

“I’m detecting an energy signature unlike anything I’ve ever seen before,” Boulder explained, sounding troubled. “It’s…incredibly powerful.”

A thrill of fear swept through Graham at the uncertainty in his partner’s voice, and he wrapped a hand around the edge of Boulder’s center console, though he wasn’t quite sure if he was seeking reassurance or trying to give it. “An energy signature? From where?”

Boulder didn’t sound any less perturbed, and Graham could only imagine that he was straining his many diagnostic sensors to the fullest. “Nowhere on the island. Its origin is somewhere west, on the mainland and…it’s spreading. Like a pulse.”

Boulder braked completely, and in a dizzying turn, Graham found himself an extra ten feet off the ground, the bot having converted to root mode much faster than he normally would have. “Hold on, Graham. This thing is coming straight at us, and I don’t know what effect it’ll have on humans.”

“But-but my family!” Graham insisted, that tease of fear sinking claws of terror into his heart. 

“I’ve already sent out a distress signal,” Boulder tried to soothe despite the tension of what could only be his EM field thickening the air, and making Graham’s hair stand on end. “That should—”

Boulder cut himself off with a terrible gasp, shuddering around Graham like his armor was trying to rattle apart. Red light flashed through his interior, inexplicable as it was instantaneous, and so bright it burned an afterimage into Graham’s retinas. 

“Boulder!” Graham cried, blinking hard. “Boulder, buddy, what’s wrong?”

 “Wr-wrong-gg,” Boulder garbled out in a voice that was almost all static. The screen on his center console has gone dark. 

He fell to his knees, and his windshield opened at the same time his seat belt retracted. The seat itself booted Graham out, and he hit the dirt hard, rocks tearing at the skin of palms when he instinctively stuck out his hands to catch himself, bashing his cheek and biting his tongue when his arms buckled. But his training didn’t let him dwell on those injuries for long as he rolled out from under Boulder’s shadow. 

Boulder, who had gone eerily silent above him. 

Graham craned his head up just in time to watch Boulder’s still form start to tip, before his arms gave out and he collapsed, utterly limp, into the dirt. 

Hands stinging with blood and grit, half his face aching, and Graham barely felt any of it. He stared at Boulder’s motionless body with mounting horror for seconds that stretched into hours, every rational thought quailing as his mind refused to comprehend what was in front of him. He scarcely understood what had just happened, but the end result…? 

“B-Boulder?” Graham stammered into the crushing, painful silence, his voice cracking. This fear, thick and nauseating, was familiar but had never been this intense. It was a byproduct of the helplessness of knowing his best friend was beyond his reach and his efforts were useless. He’d sampled this horror at the rocket fuel reservoir, hearing Boulder’s guttural roar of pain, seeing the ruin of his arm. But his silence was so much worse. 

“Boulder!” Graham pleaded, louder now, as he fought past the shock and scrambled over to his partner’s side. Pressing scraped hands against Boulder’s plating, still warm with life, and moving up to palm Boulder’s rounded jaw hinge, Graham searched for his sunset orange optics only to find them dark and empty, the light within them completely extinguished. 

His hand convulsed against the side of Boulder’s faceplate, and he fought to keep breathing against the vice tightening around his chest. Think, brainiac, he scolded himself, channeling Kade’s voice with only a small (and growing) amount of hysteria. Analyze the problem, craft a solution. You’re a rescuer, not a victim. Think. 

Keeping one hand on Boulder’s face, as well as a breathless ramble even he wasn’t fully cognizant of producing, he searched his toolbelt with badly trembling fingers. 

“Boulder, c-can you hear me, buddy? It wouldn’t be the first time a potentially alien virus froze you in your tracks, but-but hopefully it’ll be the last. It must’ve been that weird energy pulse you detected. Definitely not another solar flare. M-maybe it was some sort of EMP? But that might mean someone’s targeting Cybertronians…”

From his toolbelt he retrieved the human-sized Cybertronian med scanner that Boulder helped him build years ago (the original model, at least—they were currently on version 3.5). It was low-grade compared to the scanners most of the bots were equipped with, but more than enough to detect spark pulse and catalog injuries. Graham last used it on Boulder at the reservoir, submitting the injury report to Velocity with half a dozen priority markers even though his wounds hadn’t been spark-threatening. 

It was after Blades’ tail rotor was struck by lightning, paralyzing him in his vehicle mode, that at Optimus’ urging, with maybe some minor begging involved, CMO Ratchet had visited under utmost secrecy to give the human members of the team a crash course in Cybertronian first aid. 

That in of itself was unheard of. Even after thirty years, Cybertronian biology was still a heavily-guarded secret, betrayed by neither the Autobots or the Decepticons. Both sides knew the potential consequences of letting the human race know their weaknesses. Graham understood that, allies or not, there would always be some people who feared and hated anything they didn’t understand, and humans excelled at that especially. 

Graham and his family learned the basics of Cybertronian biology, with an emphasis on the first aid they’d actually be capable of performing to keep their partner online until help arrived. Things like minor welding to damaged armor and leaking energon lines, how to monitor spark pulse and vitals, and the like. 

Boulder had even gone to the extent of showing Graham his spark after their lesson, as cheerily practical as ever. “It would probably help if you had a good idea of what our sparks are supposed to look like first,” he’d remarked, before opening his chest plates and revealing his tangible soul, bright as a star plucked from the night sky, utterly alien and yet undoubtedly sacred.

Graham didn’t know if any of the other bots had done the same for their partners, though he wouldn’t be surprised if Boulder was the only one. He was a scientist, eager to share knowledge with a fellow scientist, and he was also the most empathetic person Graham had ever met, who wanted to share the innermost part of himself with a friend.

His reminiscing only lasted as long as it took the med scanner to generate a report on Boulder’s condition. The screen illuminated, and the cascade of information it revealed stopped his heart inside his chest.

Graham’s vision blurred as it tracked down the list, from the shaking of his hands or the tears in his eyes, he couldn’t say. Blood rushed in his ears with such force it was akin to the roaring of the ocean, threatening to swallow him whole. 

POWER SYSTEMS OFFLINE

BACKUP POWER SYSTEMS OFFLINE

T-COG OFFLINE

CENTRAL PROCESSOR OFFLINE

OPTICS OFFLINE

AUDITORY SYSTEMS OFFLINE

VOCAL PROCESSOR OFFLINE

EMERGENCY DISTRESS SIGNAL OFFLINE

COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS OFFLINE

NO SPARK PULSE DETECTED

–

“Sooo how was dinner with Taylor?”

Blades’ voice was smug over the comm, and Dani could just imagine the conniving little  face he was making to accompany it. She never would’ve thought that she’d be getting a fourth annoying brother when she was partnered with a gangly transforming alien robot, but that was life in Griffin Rock for you.

“It was nice,” she said thoughtfully after a moment, thinking back to the restaurant already a few blocks behind her with the view of a brilliant sunset on the island’s easternmost rocky shore, and the warm glow of candlelight deepening Taylor’s laugh lines and making his light hair shine gold. 

“‘Nice?’” Blades repeated, utterly aghast. “Just ‘nice?’ Work with me here! Is Taylor your one true love or not?”

Dani rolled her eyes with undisguised fondness. And the boys called her a hopeless romantic?

She paused on the sidewalk to let a group of laughing teens pass; she didn’t recognize any of them, and guessed that they might be visiting from a school on the mainland. With the warmer weather, downtown was busy despite the late hour, both locals and tourists enjoying the same walk down to the waterfront as Dani. 

She refocused on their conversation over the comm link with a great big scoff. 

“Okay, first off, what movies have you been watching lately? Cuz if it’s The Notebook, how dare you watch it without me. And second, Taylor and I are taking things slow, Blades.” Her grin turned sly and she couldn’t help but add, “Not unlike you and a certain yellow scout I could mention.” 

Blades let out a startlingly bitter laugh, nearly stopping Dani in her tracks at the wrongness of it. “There’s slow, and turtle speed in your case, and then there’s stock-still. Guess which one Bumblebee and me fall under.”

Dani frowned, wishing they were both at the beach already so she could give her partner a big hug. “What do you mean, Blades?” she asked, apology gentling her tone. “I thought you and Bee were hitting it off.”

“Yeah,” Blades muttered. “All the way off.”

Bumblebee had stayed with them for a little less than a year, ostensibly to work with the Rescue Bots on human-Cybertronian relations, but that quickly shifted into training the bots, both as a scout and a soldier. The combat training didn’t go over well with half the team (no surprise there, considering Blades’ anxiety and Boulder’s steadfast pacifist nature), but soon even Heatwave chafed under Bumblebee’s nerveracking tutelage, seemingly hellbent on convincing them that a Decepticon attack was imminent at any given moment, despite thirty years of no such thing on Griffin Rock. 

The bots were all a little starstruck by Bumblebee’s presence in the beginning. But even considering his status as Optimus Prime’s most accomplished scout—and y’know, being presumed dead for fifteen years—no amount of fanboying could spare him from a collective intervention after he tried to get a cringing Blades to take a blaster for target practice. 

The real surprise was that Blades started it, standing up for himself in a way none of them had ever seen before, hands clenched in shaking fists at his sides while his rotor blades rattled against his back.

"I-I'm sorry, Bumblebee, but I won't. Actually! Actually, I'm not sorry! I won't-I can't take the blaster because I refuse to hurt another living being that way. Or-or in any way, but especially that way! I'm— we’re —Rescue Bots! We can protect people without guns."

Visibly taken aback, Bumblebee had stared at Blades, and then the rest of the Rescue Bots, in a sort of horrified stupor, as though seeing them for the first time. Then he subspaced the offending blaster, ducked his head a quiet apology to Blades and to the Chief, before ending the lesson by transforming and speeding away down the street. 

Humbled, though still a little high-strung, which seemed to be Bumblebee’s natural state, the scout’s second attempt at integrating with the team went much better after that. 

Blades quietly told Dani late one movie night that Bumblebee had apologized to him, seeking him out not even a day after Blades’ legendary scolding. 

“He knows we’re all Autobots, but he’s been in hiding so long, and at war for so much longer, that I think being a soldier is all he really knows,” Blades murmured, staring down at his hands as Dani paused the latest installment in their Sandra Bullock marathon. “Maybe…maybe we can show him the good things about Earth, like you all showed me? Since he’s safe from G.H.O.S.T. here, at least for a little while.”

And Blades had. With Bumblebee taking a break from teaching, Blades took that as the perfect opportunity to drag him all over the island, whether it was movies at the drive-in, Pioneer Scout outings, or karaoke. And, admittedly, Dani worried like any self respecting best friend ought to. 

Blades had something of an obvious (full on flashing neon lights) crush on Bumblebee from the get-go and while Bumblebee had been friendly, he’d shown no sign of reciprocating. Then the incident with the blaster put the whole team on tenterhooks, with Blades being the first of them to reach out again. Dani was somewhat mollified by Bumblebee having to apologize before Blades took that step, but she wasn’t completely reassured either. 

She’d never been able to get a real bead on Bumblebee. While never rude, he’d done little to ingratiate himself to the human members of the team, treating them all with distant politeness, like temporary coworkers he didn’t much want to bother with. Even Cody, their resident bot whisperer, couldn’t get through to him, and all the time Bumblebee didn’t spend training the Rescue Bots was devoted to his own exercises, moving with a deadly agility and violent grace she’d never seen in their bots.

Chase was the only Rescue Bot with anything resembling actual weapons incorporated in his frame, and even then they were a taser and small laser cutterer, both nonlethal. Bumblebee had guns in both arms, whining energon blasters brimming with alien power the likes of which Dani had last seen on the news fifteen years ago, crowded around the television set with Kade and Graham late at night when their dad was on patrol, and the Transformer War was still waging on the mainland, too close and yet a world away.

Dani hadn’t been afraid of Bumblebee, per say—she knew Optimus would never send them someone dangerous—but rather pointedly aware of his and Blades differences. Blades could be timid, high-strung, and a nuisance, and he was also the bravest person Dani knew, not to mention one of the sweetest. If he was gonna be with someone romantically, they needed to know and appreciate all of that about him. But more than anything, she wanted Blades to be happy . 

Bumblebee already hurt him once. What if he did it again?

  Dani fully was prepared to take matters into her own hands, when she noticed a change come over the scout. 

Bumblebee started seeking out Blades rather than the other way around, to the point that it became rare to see one without the other. They ran drills and training sims together, just the two of them, of the rescue work variety rather than the more soldierly scenarios Bumblebee had started out with. 

And as joined at the hip as they were, it became impossible not to notice the looks Bumblebee was constantly sending Blades. 

Blades wasn’t exactly a master of subterfuge, but compared to Bumblebee, he was suddenly on Quickshadow's level. He could barely tear his optics away from Blades’ face whenever the helicopter-bot wasn’t looking straight at him and they held hands often, even going on long walks, just the two of them, along the very same beach Dani was meeting Blades at now. 

Cody swore he’d caught them kissing behind the firehouse, but Dani chalked it up to wishful thinking and maybe an interrupted hug. Her baby brother was turning into a bigger romantic than she was. 

Dani had walked it on them in the bunker late one night when everyone else was out, sitting on the Autobot-sized could with Blades’ arms around Bumblebee, one hand pressed between his doorwings and another cradling the back of his helm, letting Bumblebee hide his face against Blades’ shoulder. 

Those doorwings twitched violently at the sound of the elevator doors opening, her presence clearly putting Bumblebee immediately on high alert. But Blades didn’t let him go, and after meeting her eyes over his head and seeing her waving apologeticly as she backed into the elevator again, he leaned down to murmur in Bumblebee’s audial. She only heard a snippet before the doors closed. 

“You’re okay. It was just Dani, and she’s already—”

And then Bumblebee left, almost without warning, a few months later. Prime was reassigning him, he said. They’d thrown together a last minute goodbye, he and Blades had hugged, and that was it. They hadn’t received any word since, not that Dani knew of, but she’d assumed that it was a case of no news is good news. 

But maybe she’d been wrong. 

“It’s been almost six months,” she hedged, as the beach finally came into view directly ahead of her, where the storefronts ended. “Have you heard from Bee at all?”

“No, and I don’t want to,” Blades huffed petulantly. 

Dani sighed as she stopped on the last stretch of sidewalk before the beach to take off her wedge heels. Near her were the remains of a few bonfires, all carefully contained to their brick fire pits and burned down to ashes by this point, and a few stragglers were packing up the last of their beach gear. She recognized one of the families from Boulder’s gardening club and waved.

“I’m sure you don’t mean that,” Dani said gently. “Who knows where Optimus sent him. Maybe he has to go radio silent.”

Blades went quiet for so long that Dani nearly tested her comm for signal interference. The surf pounded from a couple hundred feet away, nearly drowning out Blades’ whisper, wavering with false bravado. “Or maybe he never cared about…about Griffin Rock at all.”

Dani’s heart broke for him. “Aw, Blades…”

He came into view then, a white and orange speck growing larger as he followed where the rocky shoreline of the river curved into clear, sandy beach. 

“It’s fine, Dani! I’m fine!” he shrilled so that Dani couldn’t get a word in edgewise, utterly unconvincing. “Let’s go home, huh? Miss Knightley’s Pride and Prejudice is calling my name.”

Before Dani could say another word, there was a flash of red light above her, rippling through the sky and across the ocean like a second set of waves. It struck Blades from tail rotor to strut, washing over him in an instant. 

She watched as almost at once, the helicopter shuddered, blades freezing in place, before Blades transformed to robot mode in midair, and plunged out of the sky. 

Around her, she heard other townspeople gasp. 

Dani screamed. “BLADES!”

She was running before he even hit the ground. She had a second to pray he’d jolt back to vehicle mode and catch himself in time. 

He didn’t.

The slam of Blades’ impact might’ve been muffled by the sand, but instead he hit the water with an almighty splash. He was facedown when Dani reached him, already half buried from the force of his landing, waves lapping at his frame as high up as his rotor assembly, as if to drag him out to sea. 

Dani dropped her shoes somewhere behind her and sprinted, full tilt and clumsy, through the sand to reach him. The wet sand suctioned on her feet, nearly causing her to topple over, but it just made her all the more desperate.

Overbalanced and clumsily, she careened through the water with tremendous splash, soaking her jeans immediately and the cold shock of the water stole her breath. But she barely felt the discomfort, because Blades’ optics were dark and he was laying utterly still, as if in death. 

It was all wrong. Sick and wrong. 

Whenever Blades flew without her, this was his preferred meetup spot, in case he got overwhelmed flying alone and came down hard, the impact would be softened and the chances of hurting anyone was low. 

Now, thanks to the lateness of the hour and the chill of the water, the beach was blessedly empty. She knew that Blades would never forgive himself if he’d hurt someone in his fall, but that was of cold comfort. 

Nothing she did, from screaming his name to slapping his face until her hands ached got any reaction out of him. And when she turned to her comm for aid, she found the rest of her family embroiled in the same grief and chaos. 

All she’d wanted was to protect Blades, and now she might never get another chance. 

–

All of the Rescue Bots. Half of Cody’s family was down, unresponsive…dead? He could barely even think it. He didn’t dare.

But they’d never been so utterly disabled like this, not to this extent, and definitely not all at once. 

This wasn’t like the virus that locked them in vehicle mode, stealing their ability to transform before stealing their voices. They’d still had Bumblebee and Blades to save the day, and Optimus to turn to for guidance. Even if the EMP zone froze them in their tracks, they could still communicate. 

But Graham was saying they had no spark pulse. And even Cody, with his limited knowledge of the bots’ biology, knew what that meant. 

His children’s panicked voices ringing around him, Charlie raised his head and shouted, “Sigma-1, call Optimus!”

The semi-sentient computer Boulder, Graham and Doc Greene had installed in the firehouse responded in its usual placid tone, which made its answer all the more chilling, “Optimus Prime: COMM DISABLED.”

Charlie’s expression contorted with true fear. “Call Elita-One! Call Megatron!” he demanded desperately. 

“Elita-One: COMM DISABLED. Megatron: COMM DISABLED,” Sigma-1 responded, like nails in a coffin. 

“Call any Autobot!”

“Unable to sync with any Autobot frequency,” Sigma-1 said, sounding almost apologetic. “Teletraan-1 is reporting total failure of Autobot communication systems.”

“Is-is it the Decepticons?” Kade wondered aloud, his voice shaking. He looked back over his shoulder at their dad. “Or….or something else? Who would go after the bots like this?”

Something, or some one. Anti-Transformer sentiment wasn’t going anywhere, but the Rescue Bots were supposed to be a secret . Griffin Rock was their home. For someone to learn about them—rescuers, the last of their kind—and still want to hurt them? What could Cody do against that kind of reckless hate?

His phone lit up with a call from Frankie, but Cody couldn’t imagine answering right now. He let it go to voicemail, only for Frankie to immediately call again. When he didn’t answer that, his phone blew up with texts. 

He risked a glance at the screen. If Frankie was sending him memes, he might throw his phone against the wall. 

But no. Instead, she’d sent him a series of links to news articles and online posts. The title of one read: TRANSFORMERS DEACTIVATING ACROSS THE GLOBE.

Cody clicked it, heart going cold and still in his chest. 

The link led him to a video taken from someone’s phone of a silver and blue Autobot talking to a curly-haired man standing on a second story fire escape. Cody didn’t recognize either of them. With the Rescue Bots’ existence technically a secret, they’d had minimal interaction with other Autobots. It was mostly just Optimus and Bee.

In the video, the same red band of light he saw strike Chase and Heatwave flashed over the Autobot. And just like the Rescue Bots, he collapsed to a chorus of screams from the humans around him. 

Cody scrolled mindlessly. Almost every other post was a similar video, or photo documenting a transformer (Autobot and Decepticon) crumpling where they stood.

“Dad, it’s not just our bots,” he found himself saying. Every part of him felt numb as he imparted information just like he would during a normal mission. “It’s happening to all Cybertronians, Autobot and Decepticon.”

Kade slumped against Heatwave’s shoulder. He looked shell shocked. “But who… Why-why would someone do this?”

Charlie was grim as he turned back to Chase’s slack, vacant face. His hand had never left his partner’s cheek. “Then we’re on our own,” he said tightly. “Sigma-1, call Doc. Tell him…tell him it’s an emergency. Omega level.”

Cody had to hope that they could fix this, that Doc Greene and Graham would pull through just as they had so many times before. Hope that this abrupt death wouldn’t be his last memory of the newest members of his family, who had already lost everything except each other and deserved better than this. 

He dropped his phone on the floor. He didn’t want to see any more empty faces, the fallen bodies of those who might’ve been future friends. 

Standing was hard on legs as shaky as his, and he resorted to half crawling to get closer to Heatwave. Kade had his fists pressed over his eyes, muttering a combination of swears and garbled apologies under his breath. Under normal circumstances, Cody would’ve gone to his oldest brother to try and comfort him, but things weren’t normal, and Cody wanted to be comforted too—by the one person who couldn’t offer it this time. 

Heatwave’s palm lay half open, his massive metal fingers unmoving. Cody curled up around the hand that had snatched him out of harm’s way more times than could be counted, wrapped around his shoulders in their closest approximation of a hug, lifted him up to the safety of a cab, and done the same for every member of Cody’s family. 

He wrapped his arms around Heatwave’s thumb, pressing his face against the cooling metal. He didn’t cry. He might have forgotten how. 

Because he was pressed so close to Heatwave, he was the first to notice the change. 

Cody’s skin startled to prickle, stinging almost, with a feeling not unlike static electricity when he pulled clothes out of the dryer. He opened his eyes when his hair stood on end, just in time to watch a ribbon of shimmering green sweep over Heatwave, just like the crimson light had crackled over him a few minutes or an hour ago. 

And then, Heatwave’s thumb twitched. 

Then, impossibly, inexplicably, Heatwave groaned. 

“Ugh, what in Primus’ name… Did a combiner run me over?”

Cody didn’t look up. He couldn’t. He didn’t dare. But he felt the shifting of the Autobot beside him as Heatwave sat up. 

Kade jumped like he’d been electrocuted, letting out a rasping, wet gasp. “N-no way. No freaking way.”

Cody glanced over at his dad when he made his own startled oath.

“Oh my god, Chase .” 

No longer limp and still in death, Chase’s gold eyes were wide with confusion as he pushed himself off the floor. “My apologies, Chief. I…do not know what came over me. Or how I ended up on the ground.” 

Charlie laughed, a hoarse burst of sound. “Don’t apologize, partner. I’m…I’m just glad to hear your voice.” Charlie’s own voice was thick, and in lieu of keeping a hand on Chase’s cheek, he’d wrapped his fingers around the edge of Chase’ forearm. 

Cody couldn’t see his dad’s face from his vantage point, but Chase obviously could and judging by his worried frown, he didn’t like what he saw. “But, are you well, sir? Your eyes are…leaking? I was under the impression that only emotional distress triggered such a reaction in humans.”

Charlie laughed again, a thready sound of relief tinged with hysteria. “It’s called crying, Chase. And we do it when we’re happy too.”

A sense of unreality threatened to overcome Cody, watching Chase move and speak like normal, alive and unhurt as though the last several minutes weren’t some of the most terrifying in Cody’s short life. It almost felt too good to be true, but Chase’s bemusement and the way he remained kneeling by Charlie’s side, under his insistence that they all get medical scans immediately, was enough to buoy Cody from the cold, numb depths of shock that had swallowed him. 

Heatwave’s thumb nudged Cody then, exceedingly gentle. Despite that encouragement, Cody had to muster his courage before he looked up at Heatwave’s face, some small part of him still afraid of what he would find. 

Burning orange optics stared down at him in concern, a color Cody had started to think he’d never see again. 

“What happened?” Heatwave rumbled. “Are you okay, Cody?”

It was too much. The lingering terror collided with the tidal wave of sheer mind bending relief inside of him. Thrust out of the cold numbness of shock like breaking the surface of the water after too long without air, Cody’s tenuous hold on his emotions snapped. He finally burst into tears. 

A familiar, warm palm the size of a car door settled over his shoulders and another beneath him, scooping him up against a wide chestplate. 

“Whoa, hey. You’re alright, Code.” Heatwave’s naturally gruff voice rumbled through the plating under Cody’s ear as a massive thumb carefully ruffled his hair. 

He caught a glimpse of Heatwave’s Rescue Bots sigil through the haze of his tears before clenching his eyes shut and hiding his face against the red plating. 

“Is this more…happy crying?” he heard Chase ask worriedly, slightly muffled through the metal of Heatwave’s hand. 

Even while wiping away tears, trying to breath through hitching sobs, a giggle burst out of Cody without his control. Because yes, he was overwhelmed and terrified, but he was also happy . He had his family back. 

–

Boulder returned to the waking world with a hard reboot, optics fizzing, and an alert on his HUD informing him of a gap in his memory banks.

He tried to run a diagnostic, but he wasn’t of a mind to even process the results. 

Boulder didn’t frighten easily, but the last time he’d awoken missing time, he was emerging from a four million year stasis lock to discover their war ravaged planet was dead and that they were the last of their kind. He couldn’t go through something like that again, losing a home, a family all over again. Losing Graham. He wouldn’t survive it.

But the timestamp on his blank memory banks was little under five minutes and his chronometer was fully functional. Only four minutes, twenty-three seconds, and 0.47 milliseconds were missing. 

He ran another self-diagnostic as he onlined his optics, this time actually paying attention to the readout. 

POWER SYSTEMS ONLINE

BACKUP POWER SYSTEMS ONLINE

T-COG 100% FUNCTIONAL

CENTRAL PROCESSOR 100% FUNCTIONAL

OPTICS 100% FUNCTIONAL

AUDITORY SYSTEMS 100% FUNCTIONAL

VOCAL PROCESSOR 100% FUNCTIONAL

COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS 100% FUNCTIONAL

SPARK PULSE NORMAL

Everything came back clear despite his processor’s inability to explain his crash. He just got error alerts flagged in red whenever he tried to access the missing memory files. It wasn’t that they'd been corrupted; this wasn’t the fault of a virus or any sort of hack. The files simply didn’t exist. As if Boulder had ceased to exist for those four minutes, twenty-three seconds, and 0.47 milliseconds.

Putting that troubling conundrum aside for now, he set about figuring out where he was.

 His GPS placed him exactly where he remembered being last, on the road down from Griffin Rock Labs. He knew he was laying in the dirt before his visual feed even cleared, having detected trace minerals of carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen, nitrogen, phosphorus, and sulfur, all of them well-known signifiers of Earth soil. 

Until he banished the alert, his proximity sensor kept pinging him about a human heat signature less than a meter away. It was a subroutine he and the others installed when they arrived on the island since humans lacked a mech’s EM field, and the risk of one of those fragile lives getting passed over during a rescue or, Primus forbid, getting caught underfoot, was unthinkable.

Boulder didn’t need the faint frequency of a remote comm signal to know who was beside him. He would’ve known by their nearness, the press of two delicate, calloused human hands against the plating of his shoulder guards. 

But his scanners picked up more. An abnormally fast heartbeat. Irregular breathing, quick and shallow. Those steady hands on his plating were trembling. 

Boulder knew what he would find before he even raised his head, but the sight was no less troubling to wake up to. 

Graham (for whom his processors automatically rattled off designation tags, buddy, love, partner).

Graham, always a dear sight for sore optics, had the color leached from his skin, and his dark, human eyes were glassy and unfocused as he hyperventilated fast enough to make his entire body shake. He didn’t even acknowledge Boulder’s gaze on him, or Boulder’s presence at all. 

Graham had endured a few panic attacks since their partnership began, but this was the worst Boulder had seen since the first, on their first real rescue as a team, when he hadn’t known what was wrong or how to make it better.  

Back then, they had been waiting for word from Heatwave and Kade, who had raced off to save Cody from a hidden lava flow they hadn’t noticed until it was too late. With nothing left except the waiting, Graham had folded in on himself, almost collapsing against Boulder, who until then he’d been careful to touch as little as possible, even while “driving” him.

While startled, Boulder had still been in vehicle mode and was careful not to do more than stiffen on his treads for fear of harming his charge. Graham’s hands were buried in his hair and his breathing had gone high and fast, and in Boulder’s own dismay, he’d run as many medical scans over Graham as his processors would let him. Humans were still so new to him then, not that that was any excuse, and he’d cursed himself for clearly missing some kind of injury.

While no less fascinating, humans were no longer the great mystery that they used to be, and Boulder knew his partner like he knew his own spark. 

His memories from before his crash were fragmented, but he recalled a strange red flash and Graham’s soft voice tight with panic. Whatever had happened (and make no mistake, Boulder would figure out the exact details of what happened), it must have caused his crash and left Graham alone with his unresponsive frame for nearly five minutes. 

Boulder would be in a much worse state if the reverse had been the case. 

While he would’ve liked to gather Graham close at once, offering comfort in one of the few ways their difference in size allowed, experience told Boulder that it was best not to alarm Graham any further. Slowly pushing himself up onto his knees, Boulder reached out with just his voice, a lifeline spoken at such a low volume it was practically subsonic. “Hey, buddy.” 

Jerking his head up with such force he nearly fell backward, Graham gasped, a brutal rattling sound as he sucked in too much air too fast. “Oh— god,” he choked out, throat clicking wetly, like something inside of him had torn. Tears welled up behind his glasses and overflowed, making trails through the dirt on his cheeks. One side of his face had an ugly bruise forming, crisscrossed by a handful of small abrasions, the pinpricks of blood already clotting. 

With great care, Boulder wrapped both of his hands around Graham’s shoulders. Graham’s breath hitched again at the press of metal against his back but he didn’t pull away. The opposite, really. 

 “B-Boulder,” he croaked, latching onto one of Boulder’s thumbs with enough force to make his knuckles jut out, white and bloodless. “You—how—y-you’re—”

“Are you alright?” Boulder rumbled, brushing Graham’s injured cheek with his free thumb. “What happened?”

Graham made a strange wheezing sound. It took Boulder a klik to recognize it as a reedy laugh, lacking any signs of actual mirth, much less a smile.

“Am-am I okay?” Graham demanded. He sounded angry, but he still looked wrung out and devastated. “How can you even—Boulder, y-you were–you were offline! And I couldn’t–I wasn’t able–I was useless!”

“Hey,” Boulder chided gently, Graham’s stammering self-flagellation making his fuel pump churn. He’d never seen his partner in such distress before, and he hated that he was the cause, even unintentionally. “Don’t say that. You could never be useless. To be honest, I don’t even understand what happened.”

Graham’s frustration gutted out like a candle flame, breathless alarm surging to take its place. One of his hands snapped out and clung to Boulder’s wrist, the few inches his comparatively diminutive grip could cover.

“What do you mean? Do-do you think it could happen again?”

“No, no.” Aching to reassure him, Boulder ran his thumb up and down the center of Graham’ chest, gently, gently, following the line of his tie and feeling the racing of his heart beneath the fragile barrier of cotton. 

“I’m pretty sure this was a one-time thing. My memory’s a little foggy, but I got hit with some kind of…energy pulse, right?” At Graham’s hesitant nod, he continued more confidently. “It completely blacked out my systems so I wasn’t able to get any readings, but one of Doc’s scanners must’ve picked it up. We’ll study it, figure out where it came from, and what it’s supposed to do. We’ll contact Optimus, too. See if some of the Autobot scientists have any idea what it is.”

“I think this is bigger than Griffin Rock, buddy.” Graham closed his eyes, taking a breath that trembled on the exhale, as if he was bracing himself. “When all four of you were…unresponsive, my dad tried to contact Optimus. It…it looks like this pulse was targeting all Cybertronians. And when…when it hit you, Boulder, you weren’t in stasis. You didn’t just crash. You…you were dead. Your spark…according to the med scanner, your spark had gone out.”

Boulder loosed a hand from around Graham and flattened it to the center of his chest without conscious thought. Beneath layers of heavy armor, his spark whirling feverishly in its chamber, as if reassuring him you’re still here!

“Oh,” he said, rather numbly.

Well, that would explain why his processors didn’t register his existence for those four minutes, twenty-three seconds, and 0.47 milliseconds, wouldn’t it?

“Boulder?” Graham murmured, expression open with affectionate concern as he rubbed Boulder’s wrist guard. Clearly he thought it was Boulder’s turn to be comforted, and he wasn’t exactly wrong. 

Boulder shook his helm in an attempt to clear it. An existential crisis was the last thing he needed right now. “Yeah. Yeah, I’m…I’ll be okay.”

Graham bit his lower lip in a familiar show of uncertainty. 

“The others…do you know if they’re…?”

Boulder had been aware of his teammates' presence in the back of his processors from the moment of onlining. Their inner comm system made communication possible via glyph and emotional impressions in a fraction of the time it took spoken dialogue, and all four of them tended to leave the channel open, maintained at a steady thrum that could be ignored if needed, but made them all feel less alone. Now that he paid attention though, he was conscious of the careful distance their impressions were maintaining from him, as though they were each trying to avoid overwhelming him. 

When he finally consciously reached out, he was bombarded almost at once. 

BOULDER[RESCUE-BOT-Σ1703]

: : Everyone okay? : : 

 / relief / we’re safe / where are you / 

HEATWAVE[RESCUE-BOT-Σ1701]

: : It’s about time. : :

: : What, did you get a bump on your head and let Graham kiss it better? : : 

 / relief / thank primus / i don’t know what i’d do without /  CHANNEL BLOCKED /

CHASE[RESCUE-BOT-Σ1702]

: : No injuries to report. : : 

: : However, this is a troubling development. : : 

: : We cannot allow ourselves to be caught unawares again. Being incapacitated in such a manner puts our partners at great risk. : :

: : We must find a way to contact the Prime at once.  : : 

/ relief / i’m glad you’re safe / how could this happen / 

BLADES[RESCUE-BOT-Σ1704]

: : SAND! I'VE GOT SAND EVERYWHERE!! : : 

/ panic / panic / panic / 

Boulder huffed a laugh. “Everyone’s fine. I guess whatever that was only had a temporary effect on us.”

Graham still looked ill at ease, his expression far away as he pressed a hand against his mouth. Boulder could practically hear his brilliant mind already whirring away beneath his hard hat. “I don’t like this. We need to go back to Doc’s.”

“And we will,” Boulder soothed. He hadn’t forgotten about Graham’s panic attack; his partner was his own worst enemy sometimes, overworking himself half to the point of collapse. “But it’s late, Graham, and you need rest—”

“And you don’t?” Graham demanded, snapping his head up and pinning Boulder in place with laser sharp focus as effectively as a launched stasis net.

Boulder blinked, taken aback by the uncharacteristically sharp tone. Just as quickly, Graham softened in chagrin. He looked himself again, if a tired and hunted version of himself. 

He sighed, wrapping a hand around Boulder’s thumb again. “I’m–I'm sorry, buddy. But I can’t just go to sleep like nothing’s wrong when there might be something out there with the power to hurt you again. I can’t. I won’t.” While Graham spoke gently, with that same, low fondness he seemed to reserve just for Boulder, there was a waver in his voice that spoke of lingering fear. But then he set his jaw, not out of stubbornness but in fierce determination, the same way his father did. 

Boulder’s spark throbbed, once, twice, whirling brightly in its chamber. His plating was only just thick enough to obscure the glow from human sight. As if there was any chance he’d tell his partner ‘no’ after that. 

“I…thank you,” he managed hoarsely. 

Graham grinned up at him crookedly, and Boulder cherished the rare sight of the dimple in his right cheek. “Don’t thank me yet.”

-

Dani knelt in the surf, feeling hollow, carved out, her lungs, stomach, and heart scraped free from the force of her screaming and the retching she hadn’t been able to control, her lovely dinner with Taylor lost in the waves. 

Now she tried to scrape sand out of the crevices of Blades’ face, where it caked beneath his chin and in the hollow of his dark optics, because she knew he would hate it. As much fun as he had on beach days, no matter how many immaculate sand castles he built, he would complain about sand in his joints as much as any human complained about finding sand in their shoes. 

But hers was an exercise in futility. There was only one of her, and her two hands weren’t enough to lift Blades’ body out of the sand, or free him from the tide that lengthened/deepened every passing second, trying to claim him, dragging him further away from her than he already was. 

Some of the townspeople who saw Blades fall had moved to help, but Dani waved them all away. A few of them left, after firing endless questions at her that she had no answer for, while others, Boulder’s garden club friends and a few kids Dani recognized as Teen Pioneers, lingered over by the incline leading down to the beach, clustered together and crying or speaking frantically into their phones. Dani tried to ignore them.

Without another one of the bots to carry Blades, they’d need something like a crane to lift him out of the surf and she was nowhere near ready to consider that horrifying eventuality. 

It was almost utterly dark now, with only a few distant streetlights to see by. Almost up to her waist in frigid seawater, shivers wracked Dani’s body so strongly that her teeth chattered and her fingers were halfway numb. She couldn’t stay out here much longer without risking hypothermia, but what else could she do? Leave Blades here, alone? 

As if both in answer and insult, a wave crashed against Blades’ back, soaking Dani down to the roots of her hair.

She was blinking saltwater out of her eyes when a second wave washed over Blades. Only this one was composed of green light, dazzling her vision as it left a glowing trail in its wake. Dani’s skin prickled with a feeling like static electricity, and she swore that the sea spray around them froze for a long heartbeat, as if suspended in time. The sounds of the ocean were a distant echo, and her heartbeat thundered in her ears instead. 

With a great crash, the world reasserted itself. 

The ocean roared, cold lanced through her like lightning, and Blades’ optics reignited as he awoke with a sputtering gasp, flailing in the surf.

“Ugh, oh, augh!! Sand! I’ve got sand in my mouth!” he spat out a mouthful, pawing at his face, neck, and finials. “And in my nose, and my optics—aw, it’s everywhere!” 

“Blades!” Dani shrieked, her hoarse voice creaking horribly, and threw her arms around Blades’ neck. In typical fashion, Blades wailed and let her momentum knock him over, landing flat on his back in the water with a tremendous splash.

“Dani?” he stammered. “Whyyyy? I’m getting salt and sand in all my transformation seams! This is so embarrassing.” Despite his complaining, his hands gently settled around her to hug her back. 

Dani couldn’t even think of responding right now. Distantly, she was aware of the crowd on the beach cheering for Blades’ miraculous revival but all she could do was hug him tighter. His voice, whiny and singsong, was the best thing she’d ever heard. 

“Dani?” he murmured quietly. With careful movements, he sat up in the surf, taking Dani with him. Cradled gently in his hands against the round smoothness of his chestplate, she realized she was shaking from more than just cold. Silent tears were making hot trails down her face, and her breath hitched upon realizing she was crying, with no memory of when she started. 

She leaned back roughly wiping at her cheeks with the heels of her palms and back of her hands. “It’s–I’m-I’m fine. How do you feel, Blades?” she demanded. 

Blades blinked at her intensity. “Ummm…okay, I guess. My head hurts a little…” he glanced around, seemingly taking in their surroundings for the first time. “Uh… Dani?” his voice cracked, rising sharply with his sudden and growing panic. He’d noticed the Blades-shaped hole in the sand that the waves hadn’t washed away fast enough. “How did I get here? I…I don’t remember—I didn’t crash, did I?”

Dani caught his face between her comparatively small hands, giving him no choice but to look at her. “Blades— Blades, no. Something…something happened, but it wasn’t your fault. You’re okay. You’re here, and you’re okay,” she said firmly, repeating it for her sake. 

A new thought hit her and she thumbed her comm link. “Guys? Blades—he’s back. The rest of the bots, are they…?”

Her father’s voice answered her, warm with exhausted relief. “We’re all here, Dani. Boulder’s with Graham. They’re heading back to Doc’s to try and figure out what just happened.”

Dani breathed for the first time in what felt like hours. 

But above her, Blades had gone strangely silent. 

When she looked up, she found him looking troubled, his gaze locked on the horizon. 

“What is it?” she asked quietly.  

“It’s…Bumblebee,” Blades gasped. He tilted his helm, gesturing at his comm link. “He’s okay. He’s…he’s asking if we’re okay, too.” Blades’ eyes were wide, clearly wondering what exactly had happened to him, to all of them, but Dani couldn’t bear to explain and relive it right now. 

“The same happened to them, right? Does he know what it was?” she pressed. 

“He says…it’s a long story.” 

[wintersoldierslover]

my fic recs masterlist

---

Bucky Barnes:

all bucky barnes

headcanon  -  blurb  -  one-shot  -  series - two-parter

40s  -  The Winter Soldier  -  Avenger  -  TFATWS

dbf!bucky  -  brother’s bff  -  bff’s brother

neighbour  -  housewife reader

lumberjack  -  firefighter  -  bodyguard

priest bucky  -  college

football player  -  hockey player  -  boxer

professor  -  teacher  -  librarian/bookshop

coffee shop  -  soulmate  -  royal

other AUs  -  taboo

moodboard  -  deactivated:(

---

Stranger Things characters:

all eddie munson  -  all steve harrington

eddie and steve (x reader)

billy hargrove  -  jason carver  -  mike wheeler

dmitri enzo antonov  -  jim hopper

robin buckley  -  nancy wheeler

---

Outer Banks Characters:

all Rafe Cameron

all JJ Maybank

Rafe Cameron and JJ Maybank (x reader)

Pope Heyward  -  Topper Thorton

John B.  -  Sarah Cameron

Kiara Carrera

---

Marvel characters:

Wanda Maximoff  -  Kate Bishop

Natasha Romanoff  -  Yelena Belova

Peter Parker  -  Pietro Maximoff

Steve Rogers  -  Stephen Strange

Frank Castle  -  Matt Murdock 

Moon knight  -  Steven Grant

Joaqín Torres - Clint Barton

Loki Laufeyson  -  Druig

Eddie Brock  -  Miles Morales

Miguel O’hara  -  Hobie Brown

---

Harry Potter characters:

Sirius Black  -  Remus Lupin 

James Potter  -  Poly!Marauders

Lily potter  -  Cedric Diggory

George Weasley  -  Fred Weasley

Severus Snape  -  Tom Riddle

Draco Malfoy

---

Avatar (James Cameron) charachters:

neteyam  -  aonung  -  lo’ak

rotxo  -  kiri  -  spider

jake sully  -  neytiri  -  tsu’tey

tonowari  -  ronal  -  colonel quaritch

---

Top Gun chracters:

Fanboy  -  Hangman  -  Rooster  -  Bob

Iceman

---

Wednesday characters:

Xavier Thorpe  -  Ajax Petropolus

Wednesday Addams  -  Divina

---

Bridgerton characters:

Anthony Bridgerton  -  Benedict Bridgerton

Colin Bridgerton

---

Criminal Minds characters:

Spencer Reid  -  Aaron Hotchner

Derek Morgan

---

The Last of Us characters:

Joel Miller  -  Ellie Williams

Abby Anderson

---

The Devil All The Time characters:

Tommy Matson  -  Lee Bodecker

---

Uncharted characters:

Nate Drake  -  Sam Drake

---

Euphoria characters:

Elliot (Euphoria)  -  Fezco

---

On My Block characters:

Mario Martinez  -  Oscar Diaz

---

Modern Family characters:

Luke Dunphy  -  Alex Dunphy

---

Ted Lasso:

Roy Kent  -  Jamie Tartt

---

NHL players:

Matthew Ktachuk  -  Trevor Zegras

Nolan Patrick  -  Tyler Seguin

---

Actors:

Sebastian Stan  -  Joseph Quinn

Jamie Campbell Bower  -  Danny Ramirez

Drew Starkey  -  Rudy Pankow

Ben Hardy  -  Bella Ramsey

Jenna Ortega

---

Miscellaneous characters:

Eli ‘Hawk’ Moskowitz  -  Marcus Baker

Rodrick Heffley  -  Hunter Sylvester

Lloyd Hansen  -  Ari Levinson

Nick Fowler  -  Tangerine

Rhett Abbott  -  Hayden ‘Harvard Hottie’

Colin (Not Okay)  -  Min Ho (Xo, Kitty)

Ash (No Exit)  -  James Maguire (Derry Girls)

Jake Peralta  -  Nick Miller  -  Brian O’conner

Anakin Skywalker  -  Bruno Madrigal

Tadashi Hamada  -  Kakashi Hatake

---

Miscellaneous real people:

Billie Eilish  -  AEW Hook

---

*Updated whenever there’s a new character <3

[sevenpoyo]

school headcanons for because i only got 3 more weeks

margo’s is so long even tho she got like 2 minutes of screen time bc i love her so much and she’s my gf

Margo Kess, 1610Miles, 42Miles, Gwen Stacy, Pavitr Prabhakar

margo kess / spiderbyte

ain’t shorty on zoom in the movie?

my girl dont attend class, she once shut down the entire blocks power so she would have an excuse to not be in class

eats in class all class everyday, only shares with you

takes really good notes and never studies them

like???? ma’am??? share???

all her electives are programming related and she pretends to busy while playing centipede all day

sends you 50 links to stuff you might like while ur in math

she got papers that let her opt out of gym

no matter how much you beg ur gonna be alone in gym and she doesn’t feel bad about it

popular with no friends type

like everyday 50 ppl stop you both and say hi

she only knows like 5 of their names she can’t stand half of them niggas

empty ass backpack like she got one notebook and one binder

all a’s and b’s like bitch how

her memory is absolutely ass but she can remember every story you told her or stuff that happened when y’all hang out

don’t ask her what she did in her class

don’t ask her if her class also has a history test

she don’t know

she don’t care

but she do know that when you were 8 your cousin burned ur thigh while y’all were playing iron vs knife fight

(u were dumb as hell for picking knife everyone knows iron always wins)

i looked it up on her word everybody uses those virtual avatars

she’ll shit on your class choices so damn hard

she just likes making fun of your choices fr

like half of ur conversation go;

damn i’m tired

u was up doing stupid shit last night you don’t get to complain

stfu that’s why ur a bitmoji

that’s why ur granny beat ur ass for something your brother did when you were 9

i hate telling u shit

then stop telling me shit

(i have no clue how accurate this is to her character but i need to write about her i’m in love but damn it’s long)

1610 miles / spider-man 2 lmao

book bag full locker full but never has a pencil

writes notes assignments and homework in paint pen ink don’t ask this nigga for notes

(he gets nigga treatment but not my queen margo bc i got favorites)

he miss mad classes but somehow still solid attendance record???

somehow always present in the record he miss 40 days and get caught on like 6 of them

unless his mom make breakfast and lunch on her day off for him he eating the most random shit from the bodega closest to visions

like what do you mean you got a cosmic brownie and a cold chopped cheese from last night ? it’s literally 7 in the morning no i don’t want none

makes you hype him up every time he slap boxes people and he’s so ass at it

he be ashy with no lotion atleast 5 times every month it’s embarrassing

he calls visions his white people school to his parents and his friends

once he said it to gwen and they sat in literal complete silence for like 10 minutes

prolly took music theory because he thought it would be easy and switched out of that shit so fast

i’d be so mean to him for enjoying physics

like this nigga trying to make something of him self

lil einstein ass nigga

he understands color theory but can’t explain it

12 half full sketchbooks but at school he literally draw on computer paper he don’t let the sketch book leave his bag

i know he’s ass at watercolor, he always spills shit, the colors always end up brown

try’s to be interested in your class choices bc he wants to know stuff he can talk about with you

when you first meet he can’t take meaner jokes bc he thinks that you mean them

but one day he’s gets comfortable, and brutal

no one in your life is safe when he looses a video game

except your mom

rio taught him better than that

42 miles / the prowler

comes to school with no school related supplies in his bag unless you count art stuff

finds a pencil on his way to class

has a change of clothes, rat tail comb, 3 bottles of water, a camera, a flashlight, lotion and cocoa butter.

like bro ur going to Ap Art not a camping trip

once he pulled out a griddle and and pancake mix and y’all started making pancakes in class

forgets his metro pass every day and gets so pissed ab it

runs into people in the hallway bc he’s never paying attention

idk if he goes to visions but if he does he calls it his white people school with his full chest to anybody even if they’re white

he be leaving halfway through the day all the time like bro you miss algebra 2 every damn day

uncle arron always talking him out of school with some bullshit reason

bro’s had his tonsils out 8 times on the school’s records

He will get ur parents to put his uncle on ur pickup list and you will be out of there with him

he will YELL if someone step on his shoes no matter what the situation like the school could be on fire and he fighting in the burning building

also his uniform is so pristine

his pants stiff

that button down is bleached ironed pressed and allat

this mfer is an online shopping addict u just know he be on amazon in class

will offer you the weirdest food combos like no i don’t want to put tajin mangoes on my beef patty i’m sick of you nigga

not school related but he’s super good with kids (both miles fr) but he’s the #1 little cousin defender and apologists

he ride for them always one of ur little cousins could sucker punch u and he be like

‘they just want u to play with them’

he takes a preforming arts class for fun prolly

loves sports but doesn’t play one understands the stats well and would help if you played one

wakes up at the asscrack of dawn on weekends

SICK ASS COSTUME FOR HOLLOWEEN IK THIS NIGGA LOVE HOLLOWEEN

plans costumes for school spirit weeks but always checks to seen if he’s gonna be the only one wearing a costume for it

never eats lunch unless his mom makes it he be hungry all day and be complaining

his socks are never in uniform (yes some uniform schools have sock rules)

gwen stacy / spider woman / ghost spider

idk what to call her

she has every snack you could ever want in her lunch bag

hates her music theory teacher

she literally has the most pristine locker with a calendar and a mirror and all that shit will write down test for you and important dates for the both of you

goes to school plays and shits on the story, like she ain’t pay 5 dollars to be there

some of her teachers hate her

like ma’am ur beefing with a whole 16 year old rn

she hate english teachers but love creative writing teachers

she keeps all her books in her locker never brings them home never brings them to class

always comes through with an extra pad no matter what

she also always has hand sanitizer

in like 4 extracurricular after school things and complains so bad

ur starting to hate that shit to ur sick of hearing it like girl quit then

10/10 cameraman she has every fight and every drama in 10khd and she will share them if you ask

she chews her pens and nails

has her drumsticks out always teachers have banned her from taking them to their classes

can watch tv on her phone but look focused you think she’s paying attention but then you look over and she’s watching good luck charlie

pavitr prabhakar / spider-man india

always late for class never in trouble

always eating and sharing food and never in trouble

how is he blessed like this? it ain’t fair

eats from the school vending machines or begs other ppl to share

will always have and share the homework answers no matter what he’s an angel

his sock always have holes in them like sir please get that shit together

gym try hard ik goes insane in football/soccer

very encouraging for shit u don’t wanna do he believes in you

you him and Gayatri talk so much shit but are somehow all well liked

he tells you what teachers are dating (he can just tell)

he has toothpaste in his bag for some reason?? i can just feel this one

his aunt will let you come over after school she’s so sweet to you.

always got a job at school assemblies

he’s reading poems or shaking hand or leading in the school pledge or something

Pav’s is short because i have no fucking clue if school in India is different form america and Barbados

[lorei-writes]

Like Father, Like Daughter

Chevalier Family AU Fluff

Centred around Chevalier and his daughter, Rosalie (between 3 and 4 years old).

Ah, as the title says. A little sweet something.

“You’re late, daddy,” she declared. “For bedtime.” Chevalier remained silent, unable to rebut her claims. Frozen eyes turned towards the lord, now shivering, chills gradually becoming obvious trembling. “B-busy?” “Indeed.” Chevalier strode past the man.

Words filled the quiet of the palace corridor, distorted as if limping after falling from the trembling lips. Chevalier stifled a sigh. The lord in front of him gestured animatedly, perhaps wishing to compensate for his inability to speak – a prey to fright, yet another offering on the altar of irrational fears. The noble face alternated between red and white, hardly honourable sweat coming over the man’s brow as his shoulders jerked to dislodge the sounds locked in his throat. Chevalier turned his gaze towards the window, blooming rose heads peaking from above their misty shawl, embroidered with the last specks of the scarlet sunlight. An act of mercy was due, although he would still have to think to decide which of them was the one being spared.

“As you may be able – can, of course, can, you can – imagine – see, that is, yes, My – Your! – Highness –” The onslaught of words continued. Chevalier, however, was neither listening nor leaving the place. Perfectly occupied with the shadow reflected in the tall glass pane, he stood, awaiting the inevitable. Brown eyes met his, as if on command.

“Rosalie,” Chevalier called. “Why are you here?”

The chattering ceased, all attention turning towards the girl – no older than three or at most four springs – stepping from behind a corner, arms folded over her chest. Dressed only in a night gown, she tapped her bare foot against the cold stone floor, lips pouting and brows drawn towards each other in a most sincerely exaggerated frown.

“You’re late, daddy,” she declared. “For bedtime.”

Chevalier remained silent, unable to rebut her claims. Frozen eyes turned towards the lord, now shivering, chills gradually becoming obvious trembling.

“B-busy?”

“Indeed.” Chevalier strode past the man. His cloak fluttered briefly, however, he reigned the fabric in as he crouched in front of the girl. Clasps sighed while being undone. Her pout only intensified; her shoulders squared, the little avatar of just wrath itself glaring her fiercest, coldest glare… Until he poked her forehead. Taken by surprise, Rosalie forgot how to frown, lips parting to protest against such blatant disrespect. If only granted more time, surely, she’d give him a piece of her mind.

If.

Indifferent to chill reaching up his back, Chevalier wrapped his daughter in his cloak to then scoop her up in his arms. He caught her foot, although he needn’t have – all the evidence had already been laid out, the icy toes only ridding him of any futile hopes. Like father, like daughter, they scowled at once.

“You will catch a cold.”

“No, no, no,” she began her reply, just as he started to talk.

The palace corridors seemed to have lengthened for that evening alone, each turn and every staircase a witness to the path Rosalie must have walked by herself. His arms tightened around her of their own accord, as if that alone could undo what had already been done, the list of various threats she could have run into expanding itself in his mind. The guards paled at their sight, however, no words were said out loud. There was no need for that.

The door to Rosalie’s room opened. Chevalier stepped inside, careful as he trod forward, all too aware of the treacherous building blocks and partisan dolls just lingering, crawling over the floor for him to trip over. Plush carpet muffled his steps, but the bundle he held in his arms still sensed the increasing proximity of the much dreaded bed. Rosalie hugged her father with more force, insistent not to yield. Not yet.

The frame creaked as Chevalier set Rosalie down, small arms refusing to let go of his neck until he lay beside her. A sigh spilled from his chest as he reached for the duvet, to at least try to tuck his little girl in.

“You need to stop running away like this, Monkey,” he murmured against her hair.

“B-but you were, you were late,” Rosalie argued, voice hitching despite her best efforts to remain calm. She huddled to him clumsily, her legs getting tangled in his cloak… But her struggle was cut short, his arms pulling her close. “And uncle Clavis said… said I should count to one hundred. And then go look…”

Chevalier felt another sigh stir below his ribs, but did not say anything, instead rubbing what he hoped to be soothing circles over her back. “I won’t be late again,” he assured.

“Promise?”

“I promise,” he whispered the moment the word left her lips, as if the few seconds spent awaiting the question were noting more than a mere courtesy.

Few practised kicks sent his boots to the floor, a little fumbling was all it took for his gloves and jacket to follow suit. The one thing Chevalier could not as easily remedy was the length of the bed, but that, that was of little consequence. His legs dangling off its edge, he made himself as comfortable as he could get, arms pulling the bundled up Rosalie on top of his chest. Hair fell over her face as she nuzzled into him, little arms stretching to keep him in place. With still mildly unsure hands, Chevalier smoothed the unruly strands down.

“What story should I tell tonight?” he asked, his voice but a whisper, a feather falling in accordance with the wind’s whims.

“A long one, daddy,” Rosalie murmured, her words a gust, an irrecusable request.

Not that Chevalier minded allowing himself to be swept away. She’d grow up fast. He’d be wise to commit those moments to his memory well.

--

Tag List: @lancelotscloak @violettduchess @pathogenic @fang-and-feather @tele86 @rinaririr @keithsandwich @cheese-ception

Tell me if you'd like to be added to my tag list :)

[licorneforyourroleplay]

AVATARS LEE TAEIL ► 400X640

[muzzleroars]

REALLY got hit with the line "Now this is a fight worthy of God's Will" and I need to talk about its significance, because it was always interesting to me that it's spoken by Gabriel as the Apostate of Hate. It comes in the second half of the fight in Heresy and while that one is incredibly interesting for the character development it shows in Gabriel, I’ve been thinking more and more about the encounter in Gluttony and just how the two are linked together. I discussed Gabriel’s nature as a warrior in detail here, but in short, he is a being made to fight for God, the battlefield being a holy place for him and where he fully connects to himself as an angel and to God as he fulfills his service to Him. It lights the divine spark within him, it is what causes his passion to burn fully bright and he is completely Gabriel, the Strength of God, in those moments. So where must he be when V1 meets him within Gluttony, what can he be feeling when he has fought thousands upon thousands of machines? There is no honor in these battles, there is no real victory, and Gabriel is growing dull, numb, devoid of any meaning. The machines are beneath him, they offer no challenge and they lack the capacity to recognize him as the angelic warrior that he is. His knightly virtue is smothered, stagnant, his very soul bled dry by mindless engagement after mindless engagement. He is totally disconnected from the self, an angel without their divine purpose and instead acting as a punch clock exterminator.

When V1 arrives, it’s the same despite a flashy entrance – He is more mechanical than his opponent, relying on automatic, rote tactics and repetitive maneuvers. He gets away with it for a bit, so thoughtless that he even pauses in his taunts as his pride dimly flickers to life, V1’s own movements clumsy and poorly timed due to facing an angel for the first time. But V1 is fully engaged, V1 is tuned to every movement that Gabriel makes, the data he nearly hand feeds it – every second its AI is learning, devouring each pattern and quickly mapping out Gabriel’s now own mindless motions. Soon, it’s landing hits, soon he isn’t, soon something starts to feel off. Halfway through the battle, something is wrong. It clicks for Gabriel when he begins to bleed and it seems V1 isn’t harmed. It’s still the same machine? How long had they been fighting? Confusion overwhelms him as he attempts strike after strike and V1 dodges with ease, why can’t he hit it? Why is it still here? The only answer he can flail for is anger, to burst into a rage when the battle refuses to bend to his will, to end. He had gotten sloppy, lazy. Battle, the one thing that connected him directly to God, that was his divine purpose and made him Gabriel, has become so automatic he’s blocking it out. The fire is gone. It enrages him, he flies into a fury at V1, this stupid robot that won’t die and becomes the avatar of his dead passion. A corpse with a pulse, an angel reduced to pantomiming the purpose God gave him against endless mechanical dolls, why, why, what’s happened to him? Nothing is real, he realizes he can’t remember any of the fights he’s had against these machines and his hands have been empty of his true, heaven-forged swords for each one of them. And in his rage, in his furious motions, as he’s consumed with how pointless and ridiculous he looks fighting this minuscule machine, his body falls to the floor, bleeding. His wings support his weight no longer, and every muscle refuses to obey him. He’s lost. Everything is empty, he shouts and throws a fit in utter shock, but has he truly burned down to ash?

And when he returns in Heresy, he is choked with his own anger, his grief, at his failure but too at his total loss of connection to himself, to his God. God, now dead in reality and dead in his own soul. There is nothing left, and so he doesn’t even have a choice in becoming an apostate angel, God is dead and he can no longer even feel him. V1 enters as the avatar of that loss, burns in his mind as a last desperate attempt to claw back the shreds of what’s left of Gabriel and he initially believes he must kill it to do so. To know God’s warrior isn’t fully burned away. But then a change happens again halfway through the battle, that primal spark lights and his wings bloom into brilliant gold and indigo, ecstatic. He is wielding his swords once more, they form into his hands and he is bleeding despite pouring what’s left of his strength and passion into this last battle. V1 meets him, it learns every second and it dances in perfect time with him, a true, real battle, after all the years of the Council bleeding that passion dry. “Now this is a battle worthy of God’s will” he shouts as a man risen from the dead – V1 lights him again as the angel he had forgotten he was even with the light now torn from him, his identity is restored even as he falls and V1 moves him as God once moved him – it changes one last time into the avatar of the God he lost. This is war, this is what he was handmade for...and it has been absent for so long. This machine restores him as Gabriel, returns his love and his passion and his divine ecstasy without the need for anything else – he is Gabriel once again even without God, without his light. It’s thrilling, exhilarating, what else could he do but fall in love when he is given his self back, when he is given the chance to be everything he is without being used by another?

[incarnadin3]

How Obey Me Brothers realized they were in love with MC: Part Five, Asmodeous

A/N: Thank you so much y'all for almost 100 followers and 2k notes! I'm literally sobbing😭😭 I kinda broke the order cuz I low-key got lost and had a writer's block, so I just yapped. Btw I lowkey did not know what to write for him, so this ones a bit...bad? Anyways, enjoy!~

Asmodeous: The Narcissistic Fifthborn

Part of being the Avatar of Lust was that, well everyone wanted you. It was quite nice for Asmodeous, since he loved and craved the attention he got. But then you came along. You didn't exactly blow him off, but for starters, his magic didn't work on you, to Lucifer's relief (he did not want another person, especially a human to fawn over Asmo), and you sorta just...didn't care about his looks?

It would leave him confused, and honestly a bit shocked. Was he not your type? No no no, that wasn't possible, Asmo was everybody's type! Was it his perfume, perhaps? But that couldn't be it either. He had his perfume hand made, only from the freshest of flowers in Hell, since the flowers of Heaven burned him (who knew holy flowers had Holy water inside?). So it couldn't be his perfume. But as he stood in front of his mirror, examining every inch of his body, the realization hit him like a ton of bricks.

Could it be perhaps....that you found him, the great Asmodeous, ugly? But...how? Asmodeous was the prettiest demon all around!

But he decided not to worry too much and went to bed.

Over the next few days Asmo did his best to look good for you. But he kept failing. You kept brushing him off. He stopped posting as often, and his fans and brothers took notice pretty quickly.

One day, as he was finally uploading a picture, he noticed something he had never expected.

A pimple.

He wailed so loudly that you came rushing into his room and slamming the door shut behind you. You gasped when you saw the pimple, and Asmo assumed the worst. You now definitely found him ugly.

“Go away MC! I’m ugly!”

You approached him, and Asmo felt to soft hands on his cheeks, cupping them.

“Hey…Hey Asmo, look at me. You’re not ugly.”

“B-but I have a pimple!”

“So? I get pimples constantly, do you think I’m ugly?”

“What?! No!”

“Exactly. Why do you think you, the Avatar of Lust, is ugly?”

Asmo looked into your eyes, a soft and sad smile etched onto his face, as he explained why. You smiled softly and sighed.

”Asmo, you’re the most beautiful and handsome man I’ve ever met. I want to be friends and something more. But I want to be friends with you. Not the person you pretend to be. The real you. Free from makeup, the weight of looking pretty, and lust. The you I know you are, but hide.”

Asmo felt his face heat up as he comprehended your words.l

Being the Avatar of Lust meant that people only focused on his lust and beauty, never his own self. And for someone like you to recognize that he was something more than a demon of lust? It made him realize, that maybe he didn’t need to pretend to be something he didn’t want to be constantly…

[miguelswifey04]

im giggling over the thought of Miguel playing Roblox especially horror games, once he gets scared he’ll curse in Spanish so fast

i feel like Miguel would have a default avatar but once he gets vc he would talk SHIT (and if he was playing with reader and Peter b Parker in a horror game (or any game) he would get angry instead, like yelling at Peter “MOVE” or “UR AVATAR IS IN MY WAY I CANT READ”)

This is such a random thought I had

LMFAOO YES!!

miguel o’hara x gn! reader

miguel sits in front of his computer, fully engrossed in a horror game on Roblox. his default avatar stands in the middle of a dark, eerie forest, and he navigates the virtual world with a mix of excitement and cautiousness. as the tension builds and the jump scares start to happen, he can't help but let out a string of rapid-fire curses in Spanish.

"¡mierda! ¡demonios! ¡joder!" he exclaims, his voice filled with a mix of fear and frustration. the curses spill out so quickly that it's almost as if they become a part of the game's soundtrack, adding an extra layer of intensity to the already chilling atmosphere.

if he's playing with you and peter b. parker, the intensity only amplifies. miguel becomes more animated, his frustration directed at the game and sometimes even at peter.

"¡muévete, spider-dweeb!" he yells, his voice laced with impatience. "¿cómo se supone que vamos a sobrevivir si te quedas ahí parado? ¡y tu avatar está bloqueando mi visión! ¡no puedo leer nada!" he becomes a force to be reckoned with, guiding you both through the game with a mix of skill and determination. miguel’s gruff and bratty nature comes to the forefront as he takes charge, barking orders and throwing criticisms like fiery darts.

through the chaos and fear, you can't help but find his outbursts amusing. it’s both endearing and entertaining to see him get so worked up over a virtual experience. and even in the midst of it all, his dedication to protect and guide you shines through. as the game progresses, and you manage to overcome the challenges together, miguel’s curses turn into cheers and laughter. the tension gradually dissipates, replaced by a sense of accomplishment and camaraderie."¡lo hicimos, cariño!" he exclaims, a wide grin forming on his face. "¡somos imparables!"

translation:

"¡mierda! ¡demonios! ¡joder!" (shit!! damn! fuck!)

“muévete” (move)

“¿cómo se supone que vamos a sobrevivir si te quedas ahí parado? ¡y tu avatar está bloqueando mi visión! ¡no puedo leer nada!" (how are we supposed to survive if you stand there? and your avatar is blocking my vision! i can't read anything!)

“lo hicimos, cariño!" (we did, love!)

"¡somos imparables!" (we’re unstoppable!)

tags 🏷️!! @kairiscorner @meeom @emiemiemiii @sabcandoit @obi-mom-kenobi @astro1bloom

[lesser-mook]

All For One pondering the shonen curse ala plot armor (my hero academia chp 385)  *My Academia Hero Notes*

*has a city busting cannon in his goddamn arm* REPEAT-use btw- not a one time expense, and all these NPC characters (most of whom DO NOT possess endurance or regen quirks btw) survive anyway.

At least a town-city busting feat, and ALL of them survived. Come on, after Jiro did that "you made my friends cry" shit, yeah Final Arc fell flat on her goddamn face. Between that, Ochako's Love Therapy Session, Rei somehow surviving Toya with no combat training, Deku's Ultimate Talk-No Jutsu Flashback--SMASH!! Shit's a joke.

And it's ironic that All For One is at the center of this L, because My Hero started regressing the moment he was removed from the board after Kamino Arc.

That's when the bullshit really started. That Lasertag dodgeball bullshit with the Exam. They immediately supplanted him with Nine (Dollar Tree AFO) then Chisaki, then that stupid as fuck Festival. Then that meaningless as fuck Joint Training Arc, just dry as fuck one after the other. After All For One was gone, the tension, the stakes just dropped.

It's not like he was running shit overseas or anything, or ran the goddamn prison, or he had a clone & the AFO they confiscated was a Perfected-Nomu which would've made more sense. This is a man who is older than 100 years old, a lot of people forget that. Man this shit was dropped hard, so mishandled.

Between Horikoshi's lack of experience, and Shonen Jump breathing down his neck-- Coulda been worse but My Hero really should've been this Generations Justice League Unlimited x Avatar The Last Airbender x Teen Titans 2003

It tried to be all of them in it's own way (Because if you notice, Horikoshi is a fanboy of Western Media), and failed to emulate a single one of them in the ways that mattered.

And the issues began & (from what i'm seeing CHP418++) will end with AFO.

So unfortunate.

pov: *loses quirk

re: *here's your quirk back

pov: *side character explodes with a blast radius that covers several blocks, we just met this woman so her death means less than nothing

re: *she survives anyway, because My Hero Academia

pov: *yer dead

re: *I'm a medic btw

OP: Oh shit?

pov: *rabbit b*tch, irrelevant to the plot, annoying, ironically gets more action shit to do solo than the 1A girls we actually know, so whomp to that (Ochako breaks shonen female lead curse) bullshit.

re: *rabbit-idiot survives, SOMEHOW survives a Nomu that can bend fucking SPACE-- what's her power? She Jump Good, & kicky. That's it. vs a power that commands a fundamental force of reality.

#Consequences (lack thereof, when it matters)

4-21-24