#but i'd like to think he is just there to spite his dad

[shih-na]

Fun fact: The guy on the right was suppose to be 19 y.o. Diavolo. I drew him too short on accident lol

Dio goes to a gay bar

Based on this post

[astonmartinii]

spice up your life | lewis hamilton social media au

pairing: lewis hamilton x fem horner!reader

slam it to your left and fall in love with your dad's team's main rival, shake it to your right and cause chaos

MASTERLIST | TIPS

yourusername

liked by christianhorner, lewishamilton and 1,093,448 others

tagged: lewishamilton

yourusername: matcha only soz babe

view all comments

user4: they're so aesthetic i love them

user5: i need these f1 connections so my desk can look like that

lewishamilton: in matcha we trust - and almave, check it out at www.almave.com

yourusername: get that bag queen?

lewishamilton: i am just a cog in the capitalist machine

yourusername: babe you are the capitalist machine mr. millionaire

lewishamilton: all i'm gonna say is let's make sure we're in monaco when the inheritance comes in

christianhorner: i can see this?

lewishamilton: is this the point when i'm meant to say sorry?

yourusername: considering we're on the way to his house yeah probably

lewishamilton: sorry i guess

christianhorner: i'll take it for now

user6: the way dads are usually mean to their daughter's bf but it's just on crack with christian and lewis

user7: all i can think is that it must have been hell in 2021

user8: i mean lewis and y/n have been together for years so like it's probably just a running joke (for now)

maxverstappen1: i will fight you if you dare bring me a matcha latte again - I ASKED FOR A RED BULL

yourusername: girl.

maxverstappen1: don't think i can't unseat you for christian's favourite

yourusername: if it's a scrap you're asking for you're gonna get one

maxverstappen1: bring it on

lewishamilton: are you sure you guys aren't related?

yourusername: as if i'd want to be related to THAT

maxverstappen1: babe you WISH you had looks like this

lewishamilton: okay....

user9: someone free lewis

user10: i know he regularly questions how much he can take

lewishamilton: y/n is worth it :)

yourusername: love you babe x

lewishamilton

liked by maxverstappen1, yourusername and 1,400,331 others

tagged: yourusername, christianhorner & gerihorner

lewishamilton: no more racing means i'm stuck with this lot

view all comments

user11: imagine getting on the tube and it's lewis and christian

user12: clearly the biggest deal here is GINGER SPICE

yourusername: you love us really

lewishamilton: i love YOU really

christianhorner: i know you love me deep down lewis

lewishamilton: i'll say yes but just because it's that time of the year

yourusername: that's the spirit !!

christianhorner: you should keep me on side you never know who is picking behind you in white elephant

lewishamilton: you WOULDN'T

christianhorner: it is my job to be able to read you and i know for a fact that you come to white elephant with the intentions to just claim the gift you bought. and because i know this i have correctly deduced the gift you have brought every year. i will claim it this year just to spite you

lewishamilton: damn. toto isn't even this level.

user13: lewis is so real for claiming his own gift at white elephant

maxverstappen1: YOU RIG WHITE ELEPHANT????

yourusername: lMAO

maxverstappen1: he is disrespecting the horner christmas traditions

lewishamilton: you're not a horner bro

maxverstappen1: @christianhorner MAKE HIM TAKE IT BACK !!! TELL HIM I'M A HONORARY HORNER NOW

christianhorner: max is a honorary horner

maxverstappen1: see !!!!!!!!! @lewishamilton you're not even a horner STONES AND GLASS AND HOUSES OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT

lewishamilton: *not yet

yourusername: AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

user14: idk about you but i actually live for the lil spats between all of them and y/n just watching with popcorn

user15: is he teasing an ENGAGEMENT

user16: i mean they've been together for years we've been waiting

christianhorner

liked by yourusername, lewishamilton and 781,223 others

tagged: lewishamilton, maxverstappen1 & yourusername

christianhorner: happy birthday to one of the greatest of all time in our sport and the love of my daughter's life. i can't say i was overjoyed by her choice in a boyfriend when i first found out, but you guys are perfect for each other! happy birthday and don't have too much fun

view all comments

user17: annual toto and christian truce on lewis' birthday

user18: i know lewis and y/n are just chuckling to themselves when they once again purposefully sit christian and toto together

user19: plus george and max together

lewishamilton: thank you christian, i hope to annoy you on track as much as i do off track this season!

yourusername: i don't think his blood pressure can take that babe

christianhorner: i am not that old

yourusername: if that's what you wanna hear... sure!

christianhorner: i wanted this to be a happy post don't make me call in max

yourusername: ... you wouldn't?

maxverstappen1: i'm already here dumbass

lewishamilton: of course you are

maxverstappen1: i was going to say happy birthday but i'm always down to tussle with y/n

yourusername: i will read your ass for filth

lewishamilton: and i will help :)

maxverstappen1: fine. you win this round birthday boy and other one

user20: i hope they keep up this bit forever

yourusername: *happy birthday to the sexiest guy in the world. there fixed it for you

christianhorner: that would be quite inappropriate for me to say

lewishamilton: i see how it is christian

yourusername: don't worry babe the most important horner thinks you're sexy and that's all that matters

lewishamilton: i love you too, you're definitely the sexiest horner

maxverstappen1: max verstappen erasure

yourusername: FUCK OFF

user21: can christian just adopt max already?

lewishamilton: don't give him any ideas

lewishamilton

liked by georgerussell63, alexalbon and 2,311,044 others

tagged: yourusername

lewishamilton: can you guys stop fucking yelling at me now. jokes, i just got engaged to the love of my life, it doesn't get any better than this (though if your dad and quasi-brother wanna let me win a race i'd be thankful)

view all comments

user25: crying like it's my own two kids getting married oh my

user26: the dress is going to be so fucking beautiful i can't wait !!

yourusername: haven't stopped crying, i love you so much

lewishamilton: i love you more

yourusername: NOT POSSIBLE

lewishamilton: i'd be prepared to swear it in a court of law

yourusername: i'd be prepared to literally carve it into my body

lewishamilton: .... babe

yourusername: too far?

lewishamilton: probably, but i appreciate the notion

user27: do we wanna put bets on whether max is going to be nice or a goblin?

maxverstappen1: congratulations assface i guess you really are gonna be a horner before me

lewishamilton: your happiness is really translating through the screen

maxverstappen1: despite popular opinion, i am very happy for you guys and i am very grateful that you treat me like family xoxo

maxverstappen1: okay that's enough being nice, save me a slice of cake or your ass is grass

yourusername: awwww maxy i knew you loved us really!!

maxverstappen1: maybe enough to make me best man?

yourusername: not best man... but you could be my man of honour

maxverstappen1: WHAT ??? FOR REAL ??? DON'T FUCK WITH ME Y/N I'LL CRY

lewishamilton: as much as you annoy me, we'd love you to be part of our day

georgerussell63: max in the wedding party and i'm not... i won't hesitate to get toto on the phone

lewishamilton: I JUST PROPOSED CAN EVERYONE HOLD THEIR HORSES FOR TWO FUCKING SECONDS

user28: so real of you lewis

christianhorner: congratulations!! i can't wait for the big day and for you to finally be a part of the family - JOINT CHRISTMAS I EXPECT EVERYONE THERE THIS YEAR

user29: okay someone check this man's tea

yourusername: thank you dad xxx love you lots

lewishamilton: thank you christian, i will pass on the christmas message

yourusername

liked by maxverstappen1, lewishamilton and 1,224,551 others

tagged: lewishamilton

yourusername: *fiance

view all comments

user29: the first pic? she on f1 twt or what?

lewishamilton: biggest honour eva

yourusername: nuh uh i'm marrying a knight DOES THAT MAKE ME A PRINCESS

lewishamilton: you're already a princess to me

yourusername: yeah i love you and all that but will the crown recognise me

lewishamilton: probably not ...

yourusername: lol screw them team diana forever

maxverstappen1: insufferable as always

yourusername: i will DESTROY you in a tickle battle when i next see you, consider that a warning

maxverstappen1: i'd like to see you try

yourusername: my new ring makes my slap a hell of a lot stronger btw

maxverstappen1: we get it you're getting married gosh

yourusername: you better get used to it unless you don't want to be man of honour anymore...

maxverstappen1: NO I DO

lewishamilton: this is great i'm gonna hang that over him every time he fucks me over in qualifying

maxverstappen1: UGH

christianhorner: do NOT forget dinner tonight, everyone has come (even the distant ones you didn't know about)

yourusername: we'll be there

lewishamilton: how many are we talking?

lewishamilton: i mean... i can't wait!!

lewishamilton

liked by sebastianvettel, yourusername and 2,410,551 others

tagged: mercedesamgf1

lewishamilton: finally got the 104 - i think the ring was good luck xx

view all comments

user30: WAR IS OVER HOLY FUCK THANK THE LORD

yourusername: falsehoods it was all you baby

lewishamilton: maybe it was the fact you had a merc cap on rather than that nasty ass red bull hat

yourusername: lewis !!

christianhorner: back winning and immediately on the offensive, i see

lewishamilton: i am ... sorry. got a lil excited - y/n does look best in my colours

christianhorner: i am obviously going to disagree

yourusername: can't we all be happy !!

christianhorner: after debrief and out of a 60 mile radius of toto wolff then yes

user31: can they get engaged every week please?

georgerussell63: so like i defended for you... can i be in the wedding party now?

yourusername: no?

maxverstappen1: HA

georgerussell63: lewis???

lewishamilton: i do what y/n says soz

georgerussell63: traitor. can carmen and i at least get front three rows at the ceremony?

yourusername: keep your nose away from any red bulls and maybe

christianhorner: that's my daughter :)

user32: imagine going into a coma in like 2015 and seeing brocedes is dead and buries and lewis and y/n HORNER are engaged even despite AD21

user33: why isn't this the focus of drive to survive?

yourusername: we're too sexy for netflix .... but we would do our own limited series for a price

lewishamilton: and you called me the capitalist machine ... ok

fin.

note: here it is my last WIP !! i haven't written for lewis in so long and i loved the dynamics in this (i think you can tell that i love max, considering he ends up in everything i write lol). so this also means... the requests are open !! i've already had exciting ones but feel free to send in more. also mamma mia p6 is now in the works as well. december is gonna be super busy for me (it's my birthday on the fifth) but hopefully i'll get some christmas themed ones out for all yall that celebrate !!

[fuctacles]

<< 13 | 0 | 15 >>

Going on a lil break from wips as I'll be balancing christmasy, event, and personal shit. (Single dad Steve should still go out on Wed, tho.) Check out my events: @stevieweek @genderthings @stmonstercalendar And I'd like to thank you again for supporting me on ko-fi. I'm less scared of the upcoming months <3

Eddie feels the need to take his thoughts away from the public eye. Even if nobody can actually see them, he'd feel safer marinating in them in solitude. 

The inside of the house is chiller than the outdoors, which reminds Eddie of the financial gap between him and Steve. Whoever was in charge of building this place, must have known his shit. The Munson trailer is impossible to sit in without melting in the summer days. 

From his safe perch on the kitchen island, Eddie looks over the party outside. Everyone is having fun and none of them has any idea about his perverted, subconscious scheme. He's kind of disgusted with himself, but on the other side, he wonders what his brain has been trying to accomplish. He wonders if Steve was freaked out last night when he started undressing in front of him and if swinging his dick out this morning was an act of revenge. 

On one hand, Steve looks innocent and lovely in the afternoon sun, laughing at whatever joke someone has said. On another, he's a bat-biting lunatic with a mean streak known through the whole Hawkins High. He absolutely could flaunt his ass out of spite.

When the glass door opens, Eddie almost jumps out of his skin.

"Sorry." Will smiles apologetically.

"You're fine, Byers. Just drifted off a bit. What's up?" he asks with a tilt of his brow. The kid had an imagination that could match his own, and he'd grown fond of him even in the short period of time he'd known him. 

"I volunteered to grab sodas for everyone." Will points his thumb to their friends sitting outside. "Figured you wouldn't want Dustin bothering you if you need some space." 

Eddie can't help but smile. 

"That's very thoughtful of you, Will the Wise."

Will shrugs. 

"I try." He walks up to the fridge, but he seems to hesitate there. Eddie gives him time to think, sipping on his soda. "Do you need space? Or do you want to talk?" he eventually asks. 

The older boy hums. 

"I think it's too soon to talk about it. I'm not even sure what it is," he admits, heels kicking against the cupboards below him. 

He startles again when Will appears at his side.

"For fuck's sake, get a bell or something!" he hisses, clutching at his chest. But Will ignores his joke, looking thoughtfully somewhere else. 

"You've been spending a lot of time with Steve."

Eddie forces his shoulders to relax. There's no way he was that obvious, right? He himself has just figured it out. 

"Well, we can't spend all our time with you twerps," he defends. He risks looking towards the party and finds Steve looking back, frowning at the two of them talking inside. But he sends Eddie a small smile and turns back to the grill.

"No, of course. We're too young to chat about wills and taxes," Will shoots back with a serious nod. 

Eddie slaps his shoulder.

"Watch it, youngster, or there won't be any Will in my will." 

Byers presses his lips together, but Eddie knows it is a good joke, the kid just doesn't want to admit it. They're all buttheads like that.

"You know I'm gay, right?"

He blinks at the boy. 

"That's not going to take you off my will," he reassures, but Will's expression turns only more pained. "No, seriously, I don't care. As long as you're not diddling kids, or animals, or, or corpses—"

"You know what?" Will pushes away from the counter to gather the sodas he's been sent for. "Forget about it. Figure it out yourself. And please never use that word again."

"Which one? Diddling?"

"Yes. That."

Will is halfway through the living room when Eddie suddenly realizes what just happened. Little Byers was trying to give him The Gay Talk.

Little Byers. 

Who must have barely figured it out himself. 

Eddie shoots up from the counter, almost falling on his face in the process. 

"Byers, wait!" He sprints the small distance to stop him from getting to the door. Will looks unimpressed but he's more focused on balancing the cans in his arms so he stands still and waits. 

"Am I really that obvious?" Eddie asks in a whisper, sparing a worried glance over his shoulder. Thankfully none of their friends' attention was on them.

"You both are," Will informs him with a roll of his eyes. "It almost hurts to watch." 

It stuns Eddie enough that Will pushes through him towards the door. 

"Both? What do you mean both?"

"Figure it out!" Without looking at him, Will opens the glass door and leaves him alone with his thoughts again. And that's a dangerous company on a good day.

Because, both?

Could Steve Harrington, high school heartthrob, and Mister Hair, be into guys? Into Eddie, of all of them?

He looks up to search for him again, but it's not hard, as their eyes meet again. Steve raises his eyebrow and makes a little sideway nod as if asking him if he's coming back. Eddie nods wildly, makes a "T" with his hands, then points one finger up. In a minute. Steve smiles, visibly relieved, and holds up two plates of deliciously looking food.

Eddie's stomach somersaults as he realizes he has saved food for him. He quickly runs away to the kitchen to collect himself and grab something to share as well. 

On his way back, he passes by the stairs and suddenly freezes as the memory of last night hits him. 

Maybe Steve wasn't looking at his crotch because he was grossed out by Eddie's actions. 

Maybe they both should be sprayed with cold water like horny dogs. 

ko-fi (the smallest amount counts as the PLN to USD exchange rates are in my favor)

tags: @noodle-shenaniganery @jaytriesstrangerthings @imaginary-maggie-waggie @samsoble @croatoan-like-its-hot

@dragonmama76 @storyranger @scoops-aboy86 @ollyxar @estrellami-1

@stevesworldxx @ajeff855 @live-laugh-love-dietrich @thelittleclare @wheneverfeasible

@bumblebeecuttlefishes @blasvemous @n33dlew0rk @manliest-of-muppets

@ravenfrog��@dreamercec @tartarusknight

[washeduphazbin]

Could I get a one shot of, y/n is like Adam’s life ex gf she left after getting tired of his shit.. ended up falling in love with Lucifer.. (Mr. Steal yo girl thrice) and during the Adam and Lucifer battle Lucifer taunts that he stole all three of his lovers

YES. YES. I'm in love with Lucifer. Your wish is my command.

Sorry it's so short if we like maybe part 2

Also, poly luci x reader x Lilith (sorry, not sorry)

———

“Little duck?” Lucifer asked softly, nuzzling his face into the crook of your neck. You were holding onto one of his plush ducks rather tightly,

"I can't help but think...that this extermination is my fault." Lucifer let out a gasp and wrapped his arms around your shoulders, "Lulu-"

"I won't have that negative self-talk in my house." Your brow furrowed in distress,

"But-"

"No buts."

"Lucifer! Adam's absolutely moved up the extermination to spite Charlie and us!" You argued, "I...what if I go back to him."

"Excuse me, what?"

"I don't want to!" You moved away from him to the portrait of Lilith, you and Lucifer hanging in the corner of the room. "I really don't want to..." You raised your hand and brushed against Lilith's horns and Lucifer's staff in the portrait. "You know I don't belong here; I'm not a demon, a sinner, or an angel either. I'm just a human who fell because I fell in love with you and your family." You smiled sadly over at him, holding out your hand. Lucifer squeezed it tightly, "What if I can solve all of this by just going back with Adam."

"That's not happening; I'm not letting you go back to that fuckwad;" He scoffed, brushing a hand through your hair, "Do you think you'll be happier with him? Without us? Without Charlie?"

"No." You laughed bitterly, "Of course not, Charlie would kill me."

"She absolutely would. You're like another mother to her; she wouldn't let you go back to that hellscape without a fight. Neither will I; I have a few words I'd love to share with Adam."

"Oh yeah? What would you say?"

"I'm sure you'll get to hear it eventually," he mused, leaning closer to kiss your cheeks. "Just stay safe and stay away from the Hotel until Charlie or I give you the okay, okay?"

"Okay." You whispered softly, bending down to plant a kiss on his lips,

"Did you really have to bend down like that," He huffed, hitting you gently with his cane.

"Oh, absolutely."

---

"Stay home? STAY HOME?" You roared, grabbing Lucifer's shoulders, "Everyone dying, and you want me to stay home!"

"For your safety and everyone's safety. Yes." He squeezed your shoulders tightly, "If it's between you and Charlie, I-"

"You choose Charlie every time."

"I love you-"

"I know. I love you too." You smiled softly, "Kick Adam in the dick for me?"

"It would be my pleasure, my lady. Here," Lucifer handed you his phone, "It'll live stream the battle; I hacked a VoxTech drone." He puffed his chest out proudly, and you beamed, taking his phone from his hands.

"I can't wait to see Adam get dick punched in HD!"

"There's the bloodlust I love so much; if I didn't have to go save Hell, I'd totally fuck you right now."

"Then you better leave now so you can come back and fuck me as soon as possible."

"Yes, ma'am!" He gave the dorkiest salute before teleporting out of the room.

---

"I am going to FUCK you!"

"It's fuck you up...dad."

Your face palmed, curling up on the bed, Lucifer's phone in your hand, watching the live stream.

"What? What did I say? Oh Shit-" Lucifer burst into laughter as he transformed into a snake to avoid being hit by Adam, "So this is what you've been up to since Eden, huh? I gotta you really let yourself go, buddy."

"Are you judging me?" Adam snarled in a disbelieving laugh, "You're the most hated being in all of creation!" Lucifer snickered as he turned into a bird,

"Well, your first wife didn't seem to hate what I had to offer, or the second bow chica. Wow, wow!" He splayed his fingers out in a V shape and stuck his tongue in between his fingers, "Not to mention your third."

"I'm sorry what!" He snarled,

"Oh, you didn't know? (Y/n)'s a doll, the tightest pussy Lilith and I've EVER shared!"

You made a horrified sound at the phone, wanted to absolutely curl up into a ball and die, Charlie didn't look any better.

"Dad!"

"You are so dead!" Adam shouted, "And I'm gonna find that bitch, and I'm going to make her pay!"

"Sure you are," he snorted, "I'd like to see you try."

[daydreamingleclerc]

i love you, baby; lewis hamilton

after eloping, lewis and his new wife, y/n, share their honeymoon on instagram.

includes; suggestive content, swearing, mentions of an age gap, use of the 🐶 emoji

thanks @landopeaches & @sainzcaleruega for helping me find piccy’s <3 i tried desperately hard to recreate lewis-type captions and got second hand embarrassment.. but the point is. i tried.

lewishamilton ✔️

liked by carlossainz55, pierregasly and 5,234,834 others

lewishamilton couldn't wait any longer to make you my wife. here's to forever, mrs. hamilton 🤍

🙎🏻‍♀️: ynhamilton

view all 2,984,628 comments

mercedesamgf1 congratulations Mr and Mrs Hamilton!

ynhamilton i can't believe it's real. loving you always.

hamiltonthegoat did i miss a few chapters??

ynfanforever they were only engaged for like a month i swear?

ynhamilton yeah... sorry... we eloped <3

georgerussell63 congratulations you two!

serenawilliams you two are so beautiful together. thank you for letting me be a part of your very intimate day.

ynhamilton ✔️

liked by georgerussell63, danielricciardo and 1,083,784 others

ynhamilton mine forever.

🙎🏾‍♂️: lewishamilton

francisca.cgomes you two are too cute!!

ynhamilton you & pierre next bb <3

francisca.cgomes i'd get more luck squeezing blood from a stone

pierregasly you're just as bad as each other

ynandlewisforever the most beautiful pair

charles_leclerc bit blurry

ynhamilton ur a bit blurry

lewishamilton ✔️

liked by natalie_pinkham, susie_wolff, valterribottas and 6,342,836 others

lewishamilton admiring the sunset with you is how i want to spend my nights forever. thank you for being you and thank you for pushing me to be greater every day. i love you so much.

view all 1,843,045 comments

hamiltonslvr i swear they've only been together like... what? two weeks? and she's like what? 26? they're acting like they've been in love for years

ynhamilton lewis and i have been together for three years. i'm twenty eight, neither him nor me are children and we did what was right for us. if you don’t like it, keep it to yourself.

ynandlewisforever mic drop !!

susie_wolff so glad you two are having a great time away!

cullen_angela i'm so happy you two have found peace.

lewishamilton ❤️

danielricciardo could've smiled lewis bro

lewishamilton didn't want to upstage you brother

ynhamilton ✔️

liked by lewishamilton, carmenmmundt and 1,893,945 others

ynhamilton i will never in all my lives, ever get tired of loving you lewishamilton. i thank my lucky stars for you every single day.

view all 843,756 comments

pierregasly so much for keeping the honeymoon PG guys...

ynhamilton you have never kept anything PG in your life

pierregasly false! my name is Pierre Gasly... i keep everything PG

lewishamilton 🐶

roscoelovescoco i miss you mums and dads ☹️

ynhamilton lewis…

lewishamilton what? roscoe misses us baby

dannyshamilton yn must be extremely boring if lewis is commenting on this from roscoes account 😂

ynhamilton lewis is literally playing chess rn and you think IM boring… okay queen stay indenial x

carlossainz55 this is why people think you don’t love lewis 😭😭

ynhamilton i love him in spite of his chess playing habits carlos.

lewishamilton ✔️

liked by susie_wolff, serenawilliams and 4,362,956 others

lewishamilton no matter how many trophies i win, you’re always going to be my favourite.

view all 1,024,728 comments

ynhamilton you heard that folks i am a trophy wife 😌❤️

hamiltonsangels no but… considering the age gap… you literally are a trophy wife 😭

ynhamilton yeah.. my husband is old but that’s okay because he’s got stamina <3

mercedesamgf1 someones trying to beat out george for P1 on thé romantic scale…

lewishamilton ive already put a ring on it and had the wedding… i think i beat georgerussell63 by a mile 😉

valterribottas please ynhamilton don’t discuss lewis’ stamina on a public instagram post

ynhamilton at least i don’t know the average size of a beaver penis. if you don’t like hearing about lewis’ sex stamina, just scroll 😉

valterribottas 🤢🤮

ynhamilton ✔️

liked by carmenmmundt, alex_albon, yukitsunoda15 and 3,283,749 others

ynhamilton he didn’t want me to leave for new york for work, so he came with me and the honeymoon continues ❤️

view all 1,327,839 comments

lewishamilton i just needed to spend a bit more time with my wife before i have to go back home alone, is that a crime?

ynhamilton never ❤️

f1wagcentral why is yn in new york?!

ynhamilton i’m working on a show & rehearsals start on wednesday so i’m living between new york & monaco 😌

thehamiltonsupdates ooh!! what show is it?

ynhamilton 222: a ghost story!! tickets on sale now 😉

francisca.cgomes how long are you away :(

ynhamilton i’m here from april to august <3 come see me bb

lewishamilton kika can wait until i’ve left babygirl

ynhamilton yes sir.

pierregasly yn you should be banned from the internet

[nmakii]

Hey! So I saw your arcana event post (I'm not sure how it works) but I'd like to see what you'd think of platonic!Charlie and/or platonic! Lucifer where (Reader) is Charlie's sibling but they feel like they aren't appreciated as much and they feel resentment/Jealousy towards them. Because of that (Reader) doesn't really talk to them anymore and Charlie/Lucifer tries to find out why. Well, it doesn't have to be plantonic if you rather it be something else, I wouldn't mind.

Right, to get straight to the point, I'd like a segment inspired by the Judgement prompt. With either Charlie and Lucifer. Maybe it it starts it angst to fluff, but you're the writer, so whatever you're comfortable with. No pressure! You may feel free to move over with this idea.

YOU’RE LOSING ME - Judgement Upright & Reversed

— rekindling your bond with your father and sister, lucifer and charlie morningstar

— tags: gn!reader, small father husk x reader, alcohol, family jealousy, ill wishes, angst to fluff

— join in! the major arcana - decide your fate

as one of the heirs to the throne of hell, you’d worked your hardest to earn the respect of the sinners. commanding them with decisivness and elegance, often reminding many (especially your father) of your mother, lilith.

with your strong personality, lucifer hid himself in his private sector of the palace, doing who knows what in there until dinner came, in which he’d sit at the opposite side of the table. giving quick and quiet responses to your attempts at conversation.

and it’s because of that— the lack of excitement and conversation in the palace, that you decided to join your sister’s deluded dreams of redemption at her ‘Happy Hotel’.

in all honesty, the hotel was not too shabby at all. minimal pests thanks to the housekeeper, niffty; generally cozy decor provided by the radio demon himself; and decent drinks provided by husk the bartender

the only real thing that kept you from truly enjoying the hotel was charlie herself. it was true, you loved charlie and would do anything to make her happy, even if it meant saying something you didn’t believe was true. but, the difference in the ways everyone treated her and you!

everyone treated her like a leader, albeit the occasional poke at her convincing skills. not to mention the amount of blind faith that vaggie and alastor put in her, pushing themself to their emotional limits and fulfilling bizarre requests just to see her succeed. in turn, they treated you like an old pal and attempting to befriend you, don’t they see you as charlie’s equal?

it was never a thought you’d ever dare to say out loud; but, at times you wished she’d cease to exist, or even never existed at all. if she wasnt here, no one would compare you two anymore.

your resentment grew by the time charlie had invited your father to the hotel. standing on the sidelines as lucifer did his best to prove to charlie he was much more helpful than alastor.

“dad— um, maybe you’d want me to give you a tour around the hotel? i could show you around, i practically know it like the back of my hand!” you grinned, trying to impress him. lucifer glared at alastor before turning to face you softly and responding, “my dear, i think it’d be better if charlie was the one to give me a tour!”

you noticed that lucifer was glaring at alastor, so you had tried your best not to take it to heart. “oh… alright, dad” you bared a forced smile. don’t think though for a second that your father didn’t notice. his spiteful grin fell as he saw the disappointment on your face. though, as much as he wanted to say something about it, he was too much of a coward to say anything about it.

as lucifer, charlie and alastor left to their tour, you sat down at the bar, husk noticing your sullen mood, mixing you an ‘el diablo’, quite ironic. “now what’s got you so down in the dumps, ah? got some daddy issues?” he smiled softly at you, leaning over the bar counter to listen, tuning out whatever nonsense mimzy was spouting. quite different from the usual grumpy cat. “what are you on about? i don’t… have daddy issues” you scowled as husk poured the crimson drink into a tall glass. “really now?” he raised an eyebrow. “well… whatever shit you’ve got going on, you gotta face it head on, instead of shoving it down. trust me, i’ve been in your shoes before” he smiled as he shook the hair on your head. “look… i gotta go do something for a second, just… sit tight, got it?” he said as you nodded before leaving the counter to who knows where.

halfway to the end of the glass, a bang struck out, resonating through the entire hotel. “oh, shit…” mimzy cursed out as she hid behind the counter. those minutes were a blur, ignoring the world surrounding, engulfed by husk’s words. “whatever you’re going through, you have to face it head on.” you frowned, the tequila clouding your thoughts.

you turned your back to see lucifer gripping charlies back in a loving hug. your eyes narrowed in on them, rolling them as you snarl. lucifer heard, slowly letting go of charlie before walking to you, cupping your back, spine hunched on the counter.

“hey, kiddo… what’s gotcha looking so pissed..?” he asked awkwardly, most likely aware of the source for you hate. “what does charlie have that… what makes her so much better than me?” your lip trembled, tears threatening to fall out before overflowing down your cheeks.

your dad and charlie listened to your insecurities, as well as looking in hindsight at the events of today. guilt growing in the pit of his stomach, he turned the stool to face him as he embraced you in a warm hug, stroking you back softly as charlie joined from behind.

“kiddo… im so sorry if i ever made you feel like you werent good enough. i…i just got so happy that i got to see you two again. i guess i also got too caught up in trying to help with the hotel, i overlooked you and im sorry. i never meant to do that, could you find it in your precious heart to forgive your old man?” his eyes softening as he kissed the top of your head.

charlie spoke up too “im sorry too… i got too focused on trying to prove that the hotel works, i didnt even think that you probably want to spend time with dad too…” she pouted. as her grip on you tightened. “it’s okay, let’s just promise to be more open with each other… you two are the only family i’ve got left now that mom’s disappeared…” you smiled, arms wrapping around your father and sister.

[vezpr]

corporal: ch 2 - expectations

SUKUNAxF!READER ☽☾ HEIAN ERA AU ☽☾ ONGOING SERIES ☽☾ AO3

☽☾𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬:CH1: PUNISHMENT ▪︎ CH2: EXPECTATIONS ▪︎ CH3: DENIAL

☽☾ 𝐬𝐲𝐧𝐨𝐩𝐬𝐢𝐬: You are such a menace that your father decides to offer your eternal servitude as a gift to the King of Curses.

Sukuna has not accepted such a tribute in years, more often opting to eat the young girls rather than put them to work, which is perfectly acceptable as far as your asshole dad is concerned.

Will the demon make an exception for you?

☽☾ 𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬/𝐭𝐚𝐠𝐬: 18+MINORS DNI, blood and gore, violence, abuse, true form sukuna, eventual smut (still not yet), references to cannibalism, angst, I suck at tags

☽☾ 𝐭𝐚𝐠 𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭: @sodapop182 ; @moonchhu

☽☾ 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭: CH: 3.5k TOTAL: 7.7k

If you would like to be added to the taglist, please comment something to that effect. But please put an age in your bio so i don't have to block you. lmk if I'm doing this right, I'm an absolute virgin and open to suggestions. Thanks for reading. 🖤

Tearing through the woods outside of the shrine, you don't think about your sister, this time. You don't think of your father or his men, your mother, nothing. No memories, pleasant or unpleasant, swim up through the ink of night as the trees claw at your clothes and skin. Your mind is eclipsed with a fear as hot and red as the fire in your lungs.

You have not known fear like this for a long time, perhaps ever. All the running that you did from your father and his men was done more out of spite than fear. You had certain expectations of them. You were familiar with their cruelty and the limitations placed on it by society, or by your mother, perhaps. You father was not a kind man, by any means, but his eyes softened somewhat when they looked at her. The only power that you had was that of being able to put them through their paces. Here, you did not even have that. The comfort of expectations does not exist for the monster at your back, no more than the limitations of ordinary men. 

So, you run, spurred by terror long after your rapidly depleting stamina should have forced you to stop. It feels like hours have passed when you finally come to a halt, hands on your knees, panting, muscles burning. Hyperaware of every sound, every sensation, even the trickle of sweat down the line of your back is enough to raise your hackles, but there is nothing but the ragged sound of your own breathing in the stillness.

As you try to slow your respirations, you ask yourself what it is you're so afraid of. Pain? You are overly familiar with pain. Your heart gradually slows as you come to the conclusion that Sukuna can only hurt you or kill you, just like any other man. Pain you can endure. And death? Well, if you are dead, then you won't be bothered, will you? You'll just be dead. What would wound you more is humiliation. Your mouth presses into a grim line as you ponder it.

Did the bastard confiscate your things and let you go, trusting that you would meet your own end in the forest without his help? Not the worst plan, you decide, as it occurs to you, for the first time, that you really have no place to go, no plan beyond running. Beyond escape. You've never had to plan beyond that because you've always been outnumbered, overpowered and dragged back.

Does he think you will return on your own? You scoff into the darkness at the thought. I'd sooner hang myself from one of these trees, you think to yourself as you look up at the branches, silver in the Autumn starlight. Still. Quiet. Unnaturally so, as if the earth itself is holding it's breath. Hiding. 

Even before you hear it, you feel it, looming large and lethal at your back. Larger than Sukuna, even. Much larger. It shifts it's enormous weight, rustling the leaf litter. As you peer over your shoulder, your eyes widen and your heart hammers against your ribs like you never stopped running. A reptilian chittering sound blooms out of the dark: a bony whisper, a rattlesnake kind of warning. The moon outlines it's dark shape in indigo, a moving mountain that tears trees right out of the earth as it moves after you. How you didn't see or hear it before is a mystery. 

Your feet slam against the shuddering ground with the slowness of nightmares as a scream claws it's way out of your throat. You don't make it very far before a root hooks your foot and sends you sprawling. A sickening snap followed by bright sparks of pain shoot up from your wrist as you catch your fall with your hand. When you look down to see splinters of bone jutting out of a ragged wound, a hysterical sob escapes your mouth. You clutch your injured limb against your chest as your heels churn at the dirt, propelling you backwards, too slow as the monster stops short in front of you. 

It is too awful to look at, a twisted amalgamation of drooling faces and colorless eyes shining with idiot hunger as it prepares to stuff you into its many jagged mouths. You dig your chin into your shoulder, squeezing your eyes shut and baring your teeth as you feel it's hot, putrid breath against your skin. Thick, black saliva drips into the dirt between your feet and burns it like acid, white tendrils of smoke rising from the bubbling pool.

The chittering sound rises again, like a demonic chorus of cicadas. Distantly, you realize the effect is created by all of those throats babbling at once. You find yourself too breathless to scream as it's clumsy teeth try to find purchase in the flesh of your calf, only succeeding in lightly scratching and slobbering all over it. Perhaps in frustration, its crying slowly rises in pitch, high and keening.

Then, there is another, quieter sound, that cuts the wailing short. It is soft like a whip cutting through the air before it cracks, like the hiss of lightning parting the sky before the thunder of it crashing back together. Crashing like the quivering weight that descends upon your lower body as the monster inexplicably falls to pieces at your feet. You blink owlishly at the dismantled pile of flesh, hardly daring to believe that it is truly dead, even as its quivering breaths grow still.

Your legs throb under the lifeless weight of it. It is impossible to drag yourself out from under it with your one good arm, so you resort to wiggling on your back in the dirt, removing yourself inch by excruciating inch. You haven't yet had the time, nor the prescence of mind to worry about what lurking horror might have so effortlessly ended the dead thing that pins you to the dirt. That mystery is soon solved for you when a familiar voice comes out of the dark behind you.

"Tch. Pathetic."

You cease your struggles and crane your neck back, pressing the back of your head into the dirt to meet Sukuna's garnet gaze. He leans against a tree, as if he can't be bothered to hold himself up, looking only vaguely interested in the scene before him. 

"Me, pathetic?" You spit, redoubling your efforts to writhe out from under the dead thing. "Was I not easy enough to kill? You had to sic your pet on me?" The thought had only now occurred to you, that Sukuna had unleashed this thing on you, but the notion already has your blood boiling with rage.

Sukuna snorts, "Not mine." His eyes leave you in favor of examining the corpse. "Hm. A grade two, this one," he mutters.

Your eyes follow his and you notice a jagged, black fang, about the length of your outstretched hand, lying in the dirt by your hip.  Glancing back to ensure his eyes are still focused on the monster, you stretch out your good arm and wrap your fingers around it. The edges bite into your fingers, but you clutch it like a lifeline, headless of the pain. 

"Well, do you intend to finish the job, or are you just going to stand there, blabbering nonsense?" You sneer, craning your neck to look up at him. 

His eyes snap back to yours and he smirks, lazily peeling himself away from the tree and stepping towards you. "So eager to die, arent you?"

He lifts the bulk of dead flesh away from you with one hand as he hooks another into the pit of your injured arm and drags you to your feet.

Gritting your teeth, you swing your good arm, arcing your makeshift weapon to catch him in the back, but he snatches your wrist away with yet another arm. Now, you are leaning awkwardly against his chest as he supports most of your weight. You legs are not as useful as you might have hoped. They burn painfully and buckle at the knees as the blood rushes back to your cramping muscles. 

He eyes the monster's tooth in your hand with mild interest. "You want to hurt me with that?" He asks with a mean grin. "Go ahead."

With that he lets go of you and takes a step back.  You cry out in frustration as your traitorous legs buckle underneath you and you land on your knees at his feet. He throws his head back and laughs as you snarl up at him and swing your makeshift weapon at his legs, which dodge your clumsy blows effortlessly. 

"For weeks you lived in peace with me and now all these theatrics, for what reason?" He muses as he steps this way and that to avoid your rageful attacks. It doesn't take long for him to grow bored of this game, and you are taken aback when he sinks to his knees in front of you. Even so, he towers over you so that you have to hyperextend your neck to see his face. His lower set of hands snatch you up around the waist while the upper pain pin your arms to your sides. You grunt at the pain in your broken wrist, but he takes no notice.

"I asked you a question," he snarls, holding you at eye level. 

He huffs when you only writhe in his grip and scream in his face until your throat is raw and you are too breathless to continue.

"Fucking feral little rat," he mutters. "Is it because I touched your leg?" He asks, eyes dragging the length of your body. 

You scoff. Of course it wasn't just that it's...

"Are you throwing a tantrum because I didn't ask permission? Hm? And what was the plan? Where will you go?" He cuts off your thoughts by echoing your own thinking from earlier. It has you subconsciously biting into your cheek hard enough to draw blood. Infuriating.

He smirks. "Just a spoiled little princess playing at running away. Well. Time to grow up, little girl, and realize that you will always belong to a man. Before, you belonged to your bitch of a father, and now, you belong to me."

No longer able to hold in your rage you shreik and slam your head forward in an attempt to split his smirking lips. Of course, he leans away and you only succeed in tossing your hair, drawing another cackle from his mouth. 

"You want to hurt me? Try, brat," he bellows to be heard over your shreiking as he presses his forehead against yours hard enough to bruise. The moment he releases your good arm you sink the oversized canine into his temple and drag it down, flaying his cheek. A second swing and his larger, upper eye is reduced to a wobbling jelly running into the bleeding wound. Slick with gore, the tooth drops from your hand and Sukuna slams you down on your back with enough force to steal the air out of your lungs. 

Then he is folded over you, hand on your jaw tilting your gaze to his wounded face. "Look at me," he instructs and your stomach lurches as the flesh bubbles and warps. Then it is takes its old, unmarred shape, as new and smooth as ever. You stare at it, blinking as if that brief interruption of sight might return it to ruin, as it was seconds ago. As if to dispel your disbelief another of his hands grasp your broken wrist, lifting your hand so that your fingertips brush his new skin. At the same instant, your injured joint transforms the same way his wounds had until it is new and free of pain.

Speechless you stare at your hand on his cheek until you realize that he is no longer holding it there. He leans in until his lips are nearly brushing your ear. "I can touch you however I like, whenever I like," he says, slipping a hand from your waist to trace the angle of your hip bone and the curve of your outer thigh through your ruined kimono. "I can break you and mend you, break you and mend you and never, ever let you die." His hand slips from your jaw to your throat where he squeezes briefly before, suddenly, he hauls himself off of you.

"So, brat," he says, standing over you haloed in the pink light of dawn, "if you are ever so lucky as to have me touch you again, try not to overreact."

All you seem to be able to do is slide your eyes stupidly from your healed wrist to his unblemished face until all the breath decides to leave your lungs at once. The sky, blushing with dawn and tattooed with skeletal branches, fades to black.

...

Emika, grinning, face tilted toward the dappled sunlight, laughter bubbling out of her throat. It is a musical sound until it changes, distorts into a horrible chittering, vacous and reptilian. Her mouth opens, impossibly wide, a poisonous womb that delivers a wailing many-faced blackness that swallows the world. Closer, the newborn horror leans in until all you can see is a single wet, red maw screaming its hunger and eager to feed on you. It is made of hunger and fear. Its tongue lolls out and begins to twist and warp. It pales and changes shape, grows four garnet eyes, a tattooed jaw, a laughing mouth. Sukuna's face leaning close to yours. "Look at me," he says, surrounding you, a universe that leaves you no choice. He is still laughing when he tilts away, falling out of orbit as gravity pulls your back into the dirt. He is replaced by a robin's egg sky seen in patches through the green leaves of spring.

Emika's face glides into view, a smiling autumn moon in the Spring sky.

Her bamboo sword taps your neck.

"Dead," she says.

Dead like the warrior she once daydreamed of being, with a katana on her back and a pretty servant girl at her side.

"Dead." She smiles, haloed in sunlight.

Your eyes blink open. Even as the nightmare fades you realize it holds too many parallels to waking life for comfort. Finding yourself suspended above the ground in an unfamiliar position, your body jerks, your legs inadvertently tightening around Sukuna's waist. He is carrying you like a child on his hip, his lower arm hooked under your backside while his upper one supports your back. Your chin rests over his shoulder, your cheek pressed into his neck. Finding this abhorrent, you squirm weakly.

"I can walk now," you mutter, but you are so tired. Your eyelids, leaden. 

"Walking has caused you enough trouble, wouldn't you say?" He chuckles, a sound that is becoming increasingly annoying. 

In any case, the dead weight of your body against his is enough to refute your claim. 

Your eyes flutter closed, head lolling against his neck. He smells of smoke, blood and earth and he is warm against you. The effect is like a sleeping tincture.

"I want to know," you mutter against his skin as you struggle against your rapidly retreating consciousness. "I want to know what is expected of me."

You are too exhausted to think of your statement as an acquiesence, but that is what it is. Sukuna is taking you back to the shrine and you are accepting it. Perhaps that is why he laughs. Your eyes pop open at the hateful sound and you hope that he does not discern the increasing tempo of your heart with the way that your chest is pressed into him. Wouldn't want to give him the satisfaction.

"Expectations," he says. "You can't live without them, hm? How, then, would you rebel?"

You clench your teeth. He is unbearable. You hate him. God, you hate him. But you are just so tired right now.

"I have no expectations of you, rat." He continues after a pause, although he thinks to himself that you are really more of a mouse, at the moment, as you go limp again with sleep.

...

When you wake again, from a long sleep that is blessedly dreamless, there is nothing to greet you but silence and the shrinking light of early evening. You lie for a moment on the futon, staring at the dark grid of ceiling in your chambers.

Under the thinning haze of sleep that still clouds your mind, a flickering flame of rage persists. When you look down at yourself, filthy with mud, blood, and mystery secretions from whatever that thing in the forest was, it grows brighter. Cast off and forgotten like a broken doll. You flex your healed wrist. Why does it make you even angrier?

I have no expectations 

You tear off your kimono and toss it aside, fuming.

Rat.

You tear the linens, ruined by your dirtiness, off of your futon and thrust them away to join your clothing on the floor.

"Maybe I will go around naked, then," you fume, stomping towards the door, but you stop there, losing your nerve. "Bet you wouldn't expect that. Bet you would find that you have some expectations after all."

spoiled little princess

"Maybe I will go around like this is my home and you are an unwanted guest," you hiss into the silence.

time to grow up and realize you will always belong to a man

You retrieve your dirty kimono and shrug into it, gathering the fabric loosely around your chest with one hand while you rip something clean out of the wardrobe with the other. The shoji door slams against the doorframe as you storm out of the room not bothering to close it. 

now you belong to me

Uraume and Baba look up from their work, picking vegetables for dinner in the courtyard as you tear across it without sparing them a glance. You make quite a sight, blood-streaked and furious. 

"He'll be getting his kicks with that one for quite some time, I'll say... yes," Baba croaks as her milky eyes track your movements.

"Baba!" Uraume scolds.

"It's the truth," Baba crows. "It is!"

...

The steaming water of the hot spring soothes the aching muscles of your legs. This makes encroaching on his territory doubly satisfying, even if he, being a morning bather, in your limited experience - doesn't find out. You close your eyes and hold your breath, sinking to the bottom on your knees. Your fingers rake through the matted mess of your hair, breaking loose the dirt and dried blood. You stay under until your lungs burn and then burst to the surface with a sharp inhalation. 

"What the fuck do you think you are doing?"

You startle at the sound of Sukuna's voice booming over the soft gurgling of the water. He is standing at the opposite end of the spring, kimono pooled around his feet, hands frozen at his waist in the middle of loosening his hakama. 

"Whatever I want, since you have no expectations," you retort, having recovered quickly from your surprise.

He snorts. "Alright."

You glare at each other through the rising steam.

You are the first to avert your eyes when Sukuna resumes undressing, unceremoniously dropping his hakama. 

Your back is turned and you make a point of staying submerged to the shoulders as you make your way to the edge of the pool. You movements increase in urgency, heart thumping faster as you hear him splash into the water behind you. Unwilling to let him see your bare skin, you pull your clean kimono into the water and put it on while still submerged. 

When you drag yourself over the lip of the pool in your dripping robes, he is laughing. Your skin erupts in goose flesh that cannot be entirely attributed to your soaked clothes and the chill in the air. Although it pisses you off to no end, you try to at least appear unperturbed. Chin held high, you make it a point not to look at him as you march back toward the shrine, as if he is beneath your notice. You hope he feels it.

"Come here, rat." 

You pause, your back still turned to him.

"I said, come here." He repeats.

Vacillating between the desire to defy him and the desire to seem unafraid, you settle on the latter and make your way back to the water's edge. There is a deliberate slowness in your movements, to show that you are in no hurry to obey him.

Sitting on the lip of the pool, you let your calves dangle over the edge, lazily treading water. 

"What do you want?" you hiss, meeting his crimson gaze.

[hatchetmanofficial]

Why does Alan seem less supernatural than his coworkers?

Of course he’s just as dangerous but a lot of his unhinged behaviour and readiness to break the rules can be explained by the way he grew up abused, was being forced to be aggressive to defend himself, his lack of socialisation, being rebellious against a society that didn’t help him, and even an underlying mental condition (maybe inherited from his dad). With the trauma, isolation and demands of his job then turning it all up to 11. I mean, despite being axe crazy and a bit sociopathic Alan still seems mostly human. If a little animalistic. He’s very strong and fast and completely ignores the norms of society but still looks and acts basically human.

Whereas you’ve got dudes like Carver whose whole appearance has warped, and Stitches who was literally created a month ago from components and kills in a body horror way. One look and you know something is very wrong.

Alan also seems to be the only one with the wish or ability to defy the boss. Is it because he rejected the work name and mentally kept his own identity? Are names power here? Literally or symbolically.

It feels like the Boss employs vulnerable drifters, the lost souls. Does the Boss find it easier to control you if you want to reject/forget your identity, are running from your past or a bad situation, or (like Stitches) never had one?

Obviously it is a predatory Leonine contract, basically a deal with the devil. Nobody ends up like this coming from a good situation or with any better choices available. And the horrific consequences if you leave or disobey are a huge factor. But I’m covering subtleties and the differences between the coworkers.

Or is it because in spite of how cruel life and people have been to Alan he still has a tiny scrap of humanity left? Before he only had the solace of animals. Doe Eyes has reminded him how starved he is for kindness and love, maybe recalling the time before his mom died when he had a family, and Doe Eyes is human.

It makes it hard to obey the solitary rule. To stay misanthropic and emotionally shut down enough to continue indiscriminately killing people for the Boss.

(I’m the shy anon who suggested the idea of untraumatized Ranger Alan a long while back 👋 Wherever he is, whenever he is, I hope he’s happy and well adjusted.)

(I love this question and I love your username!!!)

I like to think that Alan still has a part of him, that wants to weasel his way back into society, especially after meeting his Doe-eyes. But he can never have it. It's selfish of him to want.

Boss is unpredictable and very much so picks those who believe they are someone without a cause. I'd like to think that The Beast's song "Come Wayward Souls" applies to him. However, he can still influence his employers. If he sees someone get out of line, he would simply have to put them back in place. Alan, however, never gave Boss any hassle, not even when he first found him. You could say he has a clean track record when it comes to his job. Until doe-eyes that is.

When I say that Boss kinda has favorites.

He truly does.

[maskosis]

I think I'd go insane if you ever wrote dad Simon. I know it's such a Price coded kink but I can't stop thinking about an older Simon who lives alone and isolated. Haggard and tormented after everything that happened to him, all the deaths around him and being medically discharged after some bad injuries. And you're the daughter who just wants to be good for him, take care of him, take his pain away even if just for a short while…take him into your mouth…

Anyways, my words are far too limited to express how much I enjoyed the brother sister Simon fic. Just know that I've reread it many times and I feel like god has answered my prayers when I read it

He's just so bigbro/uncle flavoured to me, y'know? But I see the vision.

I'd def go darker than csow. Maybe blend the comics a bit more than I usually do. I think it'd be such a devastating story to write about where you're the product of his time with Roba. Or part of the aftermath. Very angsty. Not as much guilt as you'd expect, but still very fubar.

And if that's too complicated, you could easily just be a mistake.

I hc him as being 41-45 in MW2022 so it wouldn't be unreasonable to assume he cracked after his family was killed (21-22-ish; or 18 if you want an older Reader), and then just went on a bender, shaping himself into Ghost.

You show up on his doorstep (ultra bleak path = post MW2023; mean, bully Simon = between MW2019-MW2022) and tell him you spent your whole life looking for the man who knocked your mother up. But he doesn't even remember your mother, not when he had Tommy's last stash budding in his veins before the military sniffed him out and threw a collar around his neck, but she must have been a pretty little thing because there's no way you get your looks from him.

You're either too terrified of this man to stop the plays he makes at you—half in jest, mocking, because he finds it funny when you squirm; but you'd never know that, of course—and just relent. It'll be easier that way, right? And Simon's pretty sick in the head, so he just goes along with it. Blames you, though, for wanting dad's cock so bad that he couldn't help but give in. Spoiled princess. Like mother, like daughter, eh?

Or it's revenge. Against both your parents. Maybe you're there to throw his failures in his face—not that Simon would ever care about that—but somehow, this little game of spite (aka burgeoning brat vs man who tames wolves for fun) takes a turn for the worst when instead of recoiling from your advances, he pats his thigh and tells you to come sit in dad's lap then. Wanna act so grown, then show dad what that pretty mouth can do.

Either way, you're in trouble.

[elizaditton]

Too Small To Be Afraid (Chapter 20)

Cover / Master Post / Previous Chapter / Next Chapter (Coming Soon!)

- - - - -

I snatch my bookbag as I hurry out of my bedroom and down the hall. If I want to avoid having this conversation, I've got to make my rush look convincing!

"Hey, sweetheart," Dad says when he sees me enter the living room. "What's the big hurry? You've got plenty of time before school starts!"

"Y-yeah, I know," I say, trying the handle to the front door of our apartment. It's locked. "I just wanted to get there early to catch up some more with Brittney."

Dad chuckles. "Well, if you leave this early, you're still going to be waiting for the school to open when you get there!"

"Not a problem! I'm fine with that," I say as I turn the lock on the door and open it.

"Kaylin, come now. It's far too early to be leaving for school. You haven't even had— Aah!" he flinches when two golden brown slices of bread arise from the toaster with a sudden pop.

I can't help but smile. Dad's generally pretty fearless, often to the point of being reckless. Seeing him get scared by some toast is so out of character that I can't help but laugh.

Dad clears his throat and pushes up his glasses. "As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted," he says, eyeing the toast, "you haven't even had any breakfast. Come on, I'll make you some toast."

I look between Dad and the door. If I stay, he's sure to want to pick up where we left off last night. Talking about school is the last thing I want to do! Yet the more I stand here, the more the emptiness in my gut begs me to eat something. Heaving a sigh, I set down my bookbag and close the door.

"So," Dad begins in a tone that can only begin to hint at all the questions he must have for me. "How are you feeling about school?"

"It's... okay," I say as I sit myself down at the kitchen table, trying to bury any complex feelings I have about the whole 'being completely blindsided by your own dad and sent to a school full of the very people you live in fear of' thing.

"Just okay?" he asks, looking back at me as he butters the toast. "You seemed pretty eager to head out the door just a second ago."

"Yeah, well... it's complicated." I say, turning my eyes to the table. "There's things I like, and... things I don't."

Dad hums in response, smothering an already buttery slice of toast with what looks to be enough raspberry jam for two separate slices. "Well, what sorts of things do you like about school?"

I move my jaw from side to side, growing more frustrated the harder I try to think of something about Pacific that I actually like that won't result in Dad bombarding me with more and more questions. I like talking with Brittney, and in spite of my fear I actually somewhat like being Derrick's deskmate— although I'd rather not be surrounded by other pertheans at school. Whenever a perthean student speaks up or even coughs in class, it sends shivers down my spine! And I really like being friends with Derrick, but I can't help but wish he was human. If he were human, I wouldn't be so terrified of him. I hate that I'm still scared of him, because I really do value the friendship we've been developing over the past few weeks.

"How about your friends?" Dad asks, setting a plate of toast in front of me. "Didn't you say you'd been hanging out with your deskmate?"

A knot forms in my core. This is exactly what I wanted to avoid.

"Y-yeah," I say, hoping he'll drop the topic if I respond.

Dad pulls up a chair across from me. "Why don't you tell me about your deskmate? Darren, right?"

"D-Derrick," I correct him.

"Right. Why don't you tell me about him? What's he like?" Dad asks, propping his head onto his hands like a teenage girl at a slumber party waiting to hear the latest gossip.

I try to keep a straight face, but a chuckle escapes me. Dad never ceases to surprise me!

"U-um, well, he's... nice," I start. "We both like Aven Gem games like Flower Town, and we both have FlexPads."

Dad nods, encouraging me to continue.

"He likes to study languages, and he's really good at Koronian," I say. "I think he wants to teach English in North Eris one day."

"That's nice. He sounds like a good kid," Dad says. "So what do the two of you usually do together?"

My heart sinks, and blood drains from my face. How am I supposed to answer that? Should I tell him Derrick is helping me with my fear? No, that'll be a huge win for him for sure!

I don't know why, but when I think about Dad hearing positive things about my experience at Pacific, I can't help but imagine him giving himself a huge pat on the back. I can't let him win this one, not when he lied to me about the move and completely blindsided me by enrolling me in this school. Even if I got lucky with Derrick, sending me to Pacific was still a terrible idea, and I'm not about to let Dad take the credit for what Derrick and I have been accomplishing.

"Well, we've studied together. We also just... um... talk," I say.

"Hm. And what sorts of things do you talk about?" Dad asks.

"Uh... j-just about anything! School, video games, movies..."

"And does he know about your fear?"

Why is he cornering me like this? Why is he so desperate to pry into this area of my life?

"Does it matter?" I retort, turning my attention to the toast in front of me and taking a bite. There's too much jam, but it tastes good mixed with the butter, so I don't mind.

Dad leans back in his chair. "Whether or not you tell him about your fear is up to you, but I think it would benefit the two of you to be on the same page."

I remain silent, taking another bite of toast.

"Do you plan on telling him?" Dad asks.

My insides twist as I look down, searching for the right thing to say. I come up empty.

Dad leans forward. "Does he already know?"

"Dad, I... I don't want to talk about this anymore." I manage, setting down my toast and clenching my jaw. Why is he doing this?

Dad sighs. "I get it, I do. Being at this school isn't easy for you. But I want you to know that you can talk to me about it, okay?"

"But you don't get it, Dad!" I hiss, standing up and planting my hands on the table. "You've never had a fear like mine! That's why you thought you could just send me to a school like Pacific and make me get over it!"

"That's not true," Dad says, crossing his arms.

"You want a quick fix for something that's plagued me all my life, but I can't get over my fear if I'm drowning in it," I utter, my voice cracking. "If you really cared, you'd leave me alone instead of throwing me to the wolves!"

Eyes glazing over, I turn and march toward the front door, leaving Dad behind at the kitchen table.

"Kaylin," Dad says, his tone growing more serious. "I don't want a quick fix for you or to throw you to the wolves. It's because I care about you that I want you to grow!"

"Forcing me to be around pertheans isn't going to undo what I saw!" I yell, slamming the door behind me as I exit the apartment.

My vision blurs as I head down the hall, and I blink away the tears that try to form. Dad's ignorance about my fear drives me up the wall! He knows what I saw and what I had to go through because of it, and he still thinks I can just get over it like an old habit!

The elevator door opens when I press the call button, and I sigh as I step inside. What am I going to do?

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

I let out a yawn as I wander down Seren Avenue, my eyelids still drooping from a lack of sleep. Why did I have to get up so early?

I gaze at the skylights above me, hoping the undercity's artificial lighting will be enough to help keep me awake. The screens display flowering trees reaching up towards a cloudy sky. Back in Maedri, the skylights displayed cherry blossoms during the springtime. Although the trees on these skylights do have some flowers, they're mostly filled with green leaves that pale in comparison to the beautiful shades of pink I'm used to seeing at the start of each year. I miss those old skylights. I miss Maedri.

I amble through the undercity, eyes fixed on the nature scene above. That's when something bumps into me from behind.

"Ah—! I'm sorry!" the boy behind me utters. His black hair and wide green eyes are all too familiar, and I immediately recognize the green blazer he's wearing as being from Pacific.

"Oh," he says, his eyes suddenly narrowing as his voice deepens. "It's just you."

"Y-yeah. Sam, right?" I ask.

He nods.

"This is the second time you've bumped into me. Don't you usually wear glasses?" I ask. "You'd be able to see where you're going with them on."

Sam's face reddens as he turns his gaze to the floor. "I... I look cooler without them."

"You should at least wear contacts so you can—" I start, only to be cut off by Sam weaving around me and running off. "Hey!"

I run after him, and am nearly out of breath by the time I catch up with him.

"Can I help you?" he asks flatly.

"Can I ask you something?"

He sighs, not even stopping or turning to face me. "I guess."

"Why are you always speeding off? Did I do something wrong?" I ask.

"That's two questions," he states, annoyed.

"Sorry."

"Look," he says, finally turning his head back to address me. "I'm not great with people, okay? I prefer to be alone."

"Is that why you're at Pacific?" I ask, my curiosity growing.

"Yes. I mean, no. I mean—" he stumbles over his words before letting out another sigh. "I have my own reasons for going."

I suppose Pacific looks good on university applications, being a private school and all.

"Is that why you're at Pacific?" he turns the question back to me.

"I-I... well, sort of. My dad made me go."

"Ugh. My parents made me go, too."

"I thought you had your own reasons for going," I say, raising an eyebrow.

"I—! I do! It's just... since we moved here from Erimathea, they wanted to make sure I was... adjusting."

"Adjusting?" I ask.

"You know, to the whole... different sizes thing," he states.

"I guess it's sort of the same for me," I say. "I've lived most of my life in the undercity, so I've never really been around pertheans. It's... a difficult adjustment."

"It can be hard," Sam says, focusing on the path ahead of us. "And on top of that, I can't really talk to anyone about it without looking like I have something against pertheans."

"Tell me about it," I huff. "And the weirdest part is that other humans get so defensive when you tell them you're afraid of pertheans. They act like we're making us all look bad or something."

Sam stops dead in his tracks, nearly causing me to bump into him. "What did you just say?" he asks, turning around slowly.

Wait, what did I just say?! Did I let myself carelessly spill my biggest secret to some near stranger?!

"Uh—! I—!" I stutter, backing up from the boy in front of me.

"Did you just say you have—"

"I have to go!" I blurt out before darting around Sam and continuing toward the school.

"Wait!"

Something in me gives in, and I come to a slow stop a few yards in front of Sam. What am I doing? He's just going to tell me off!

A moment of silence passes us by. It dares me to turn around and face the boy behind me, but I can't.

"I... I thought I was the only one," he finally says.

I spin around. "W-what?" I ask, confusion setting in as I ponder what he could possibly mean. "The only one who...?"

"The only one who had... a fear," he finishes.

My eyes widen, and I take a few steps toward Sam. "You mean... you have a fear, too?"

He sighs, looking off to the side before returning his gaze to me. "Didn't I just say that?"

"I've never met anyone else with a fear of pertheans," I whisper as questions begin to flood my mind.

"Neither have I," he says, shifting in place.

"Have you ever told anyone?" I ask.

Sam cranes his neck back and stares at the skylights. "My parents know... and that only resulted in some pretty useless therapy."

"Useless, huh?" I say as we continue our walk.

"Yeah, all they really tell you in therapy is to expose yourself to your fears and hope things improve."

"I guess I had the same experience. My dad always says things will improve with exposure and time. I think he stole that line from my old therapist. I was too young to remember most of what she taught me," I say, rubbing one arm.

"So you struggled as a kid?"

"Yeah... when they started mixing humans and pertheans back in stage two, I would often have panic attacks at school," I cringe as my mind fills with unwanted memories. "The others would call me 'Kaylin Flinch,' or 'Flinching Finch.'"

"Kids can be brutal," Sam sighs.

"Yeah. If you don't mind me asking, how long have you had a fear?"

Sam narrows his eyes. "Since around the time I moved here, right before stage four. I tried a few different schools to see if exposure could help. Some were mixed, some were not. But no amount of exposure ever really helped."

I shift my gaze to the floor. What if Dad is wrong? Not that I want him to have something he can gloat about, but what if exposure and time aren't the keys to getting over my fear of pertheans? What if all the time I'm spending with Derrick after school isn't going to help me after all?

Sam stops, so I stop too. I look up, and above us is the sign for Pacific, dimly lit and weathered as usual. It's odd how something can decay like that when it's underground, completely unexposed to the elements of the surface world.

I look at Sam, and immediately, something feels off. The softness in his eyes has all but disappeared, and his posture is oddly stiff. I can't quite explain it, but there seems to be some kind of odd, dark energy emanating from him. I take a step back.

"Sam?" I try.

He opens the door to the school's lobby. "I have to go," he mumbles.

"So soon? We can at least walk out to the pick-up balcony together—"

"No," he interrupts, clutching the strap of his bookbag. "I-I'll... I'll see you later."

With that, he scurries off across the room and up a creepy old stairwell. Those stairs lead to the school's human hallways just like the elevators do, but I've never seen anyone take them. I sigh and enter an opening elevator with some other students. Will I ever understand this guy?

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

Taking a deep breath, I close my locker and adjust the strap of my bookbag. I haven't seen Sam since he managed to scurry off again, and something tells me I'm not going to for a while, no matter how curious I am about what's going on in his head. I thought it'd be nice to have a friend who understands what having a fear is like, but I don't imagine this guy really wants anything to do with me.

The balcony is crowded as usual, and I'm surprised when I see Derrick standing beside it. Usually, I have to search for a while to pick him out of the perthean crowd. Kevin is standing beside him with Brittney on his shoulder. A smile spreads across my face, and I hurry over to the group.

"It's good that you came back in spite of all that," Kevin says to Derrick.

"I'll still never forgive that jerk for what he did to you, though!" Brittney huffs.

I stop. What are they talking about? My heart races as I look around me for some place to hide. I decide to hide at the end of the balcony, where there's a perthean-sized plant of some kind, with long green leaves that are tall enough to keep me hidden. I just hope nobody peers around the plant and sees me!

"I'm sure he didn't withdraw just to hurt me," Derrick whispers. "It was complicated."

Wait, is he talking about his previous deskmate? The one he said had moved away?

"Well, whatever the reason, he had no right to just abandon you," Brittney says. "You two were the talk of the school for weeks after you both left!"

Derrick shuffles. "I know, but—"

"And now that you're back, people are starting to wonder if something's going to happen to Kaylin," Brittney says.

People are talking about Derrick and I? Whatever for?! What could possibly happen to me that would cause me to withdraw?

What did Derrick do to his old deskmate?!

Before I have much of a chance to think, something pulls me up into the air by the back of my blazer! My gut twists and churns, and what little breakfast I managed to get down threatens to reappear. The room spins as I kick and scream, hoping to get away from whoever snatched me up without so much as a warning.

I gaze beside me and realize my mistake when I see that Derrick, Brittney, and Kevin are all looking in my direction with wide eyes, just like everyone else in the room.

"Cherryn! Calm down! It's just me!" bellows a deep feminine voice above me as I'm placed onto a warm, leathery surface. "Look, I'm sorry I freaked you out! I won't do it again!"

My heart pounds a thousand times a minute as I look up into a pair of soft brown eyes. They widen when they meet my gaze.

"O-oh my gosh...! You're not Cherryn! I'm so sorry!" the girl apologizes as the hand beneath me begins to shake.

"Kaylin!" calls a familiar voice.

I turn around, arms glued to my trembling frame, and breathe a sigh of relief to see my deskmate approaching.

Wait, Derrick?! What if he realizes I was eavesdropping? Won't he be mad at me?

I quake like a leaf in a windstorm as I'm transferred from one pair of cupped hands to another, the muffled voices overhead conversing as I continue to worry about so many things at once. What's going to happen to me? Can I really trust Derrick?

"Hey," Derrick whispers, bringing the cupped hands I'm in closer to his face. "Are you alright?"

I stare into his eyes with uncertainty. I was starting to feel so sure around Derrick, but now? What am I supposed to think?

"I-I..." I start, reaching up to my face as warm tears begin to fall. "I don't know."

Derrick's brows turn upward, and his eyes soften. "Don't worry. You will be," he says, gently stroking my shoulder with his thumb. "Come on, let's go to class."

[snexy-the-snail]

You think you can write a short of Apollo nomming on Percy sometime after the biting incident? I’d really like to see that they’re on good terms and Percy deserves as many comfort spaces as he can get

Love the au you’ve built up, I might take some inspiration for my own writing. Thank you so much!🤗

OO please do take inspiration!! I am living on pure spite atm and would live to revive PJO vore!!! and Of course-)) 

It had been weeks after the biting incident, and even more since A schedule of being eaten or sat with had been put in place. As much as it was embarrassing the sleep was too good to be truly upset. It was still gross, and half the time he felt like kicking Hermes teeth when he made a weird joke or teased him, but things weren't horrible.  

Percy grimaces and stretches, trying to soothe the aches that came with practicing with the newcomers. Some of those wooden swords hurt, and the metal ones even more, thank you. He sighs glancing towards the beach wondering if that would take some of the odd aches away, it usually did, sometimes. Water healing got weird when it came to bodies, sicknesses and colds? Nothing. Cuts? Perfect, which seemed mildly unfair. He groans and leans again on a tree closing his eyes to soak up the warmth of the day. Maybe he should just go kill some monster, blow off some steam and get the adrenaline pumping.  

Perfect day for it after all, it was bright, sunny, and-  

He narrows his eyes cautiously glancing around the wood.  

"I know you're there." He calls out, scowling when nothing happens. So, he brought out Riptide. It had to be Apollo; the warmth was undeniable. He could've stabbed a tree in frustration when he didn't get a response.  

"What do you want to hear that I won't bite you again?" He snaps eyeing the trees like Apollo would morph out of one. That apparently was the issue considering the God appeared, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. "Serious? You were afraid I'd bite?" he asks with a scowl. Then again Triton had fully held him away like someone would with a naughty cat. Or a lizard- well Annabeth and a lizard at least.  

"Not afraid! Just- well biting usually means big ole' seaweed beard shows up and last time he was not happy about the whole, trying to get you to take a nap thing."  

Percy scoffs and caps his sword, pocketing it. "Well, you deserved it, I said no." He points out crossing his arms. At least Apollo had the decency to look somewhat ashamed.  

"I thought you were...ya know cranky?" The god says with a shrug, Percy very much scowling at the comment. Maybe he had been, but the fact Apollo was calling him out to that wasn't thrilling. "Or at least, Hermes says you're all squirmy and rude at first, so I thought it was just part of the process." Apollo continues not looking Percy in the eye.  

Of course. Percy let an exhausted sigh out a hand running through his hair. 12-year-old him would've flipped if this is what the future looked like. "I've seen you like, 5 times, and we don't have that whole directly related thing going on." He starts off. Sure, he had seen his dad about the same, but the sea god was *his* dad. Apollo might be his cousin or something, but he didn't *know* him like he did Hermes.  

"I've seen Hermes more than my own dad, talked with him too, so he's familiar I guess...I just... You're not."  

That didn't sound too brutal, did it? Oh. Apollo's gaze was hard, serious. It was weird considering he had only seen the god acting goofy half the time. He looked...godly almost. The silence was awkward, and Percy hated it, about to open his mouth to fill the silence but Apollo beat him to it.  

"I'd never hurt you. You know that right?"  

"What?"  

"I said I'd never hurt you. You're the reason half my kids are alive. They pray to me about you, about what you've done for them." Apollo continues with a bittersweet smile on his face. "And it kills me that you're not taking care of yourself. Hero of Olympus, title bearers of heroes of old, it doesn't matter. You're still just a kid under that."  

Percy swallows thickly not moving an inch as the god approached him, much like a stray horse, a warm hand settling on his shoulder. It was a different warmth than his dad's or Triton's. It was pure soul bringing warmth opposed to the gentle cooling his sea families brought.  

"Just a kid huh?" He laughs bitterly, closing his eyes, soaking in the soothing warmth. It washed over his soreness much like the waves did. The air feeling crisp in his lungs as he drew a breath. "Where was that thinking when I was 12."  

The silence that settled over them wasn't comfortable, though Apollo had a sorrowful expression on his face. "Gods don't change, not truly. But you, Percy Jackson, have certainly demanded we try."  

It was an honesty he swore he couldn't get from his father half the time...then again truth fell within Apollos domain. He wasn't sure why the sudden honesty, well partly. He crosses his arms and steps away from the warm weight on his shoulder. "Someone's gotta try for a better future." He grumbles.  

And it was getting better. From what he heard God spent more time with their kids than just eating them. He knew for sure Poseidon was, Nico literally had a room and Apollo dropped by fairly often to see his kids now. Especially Will.  

Apollo chuckles ruffling his hair with a grin. "You're a good kid, and I know Uncle P is proud of you." The god continues a fond look twinkling in his eyes.  

"Yeah, mmhm." He laughs barely trying to tame the wild mess that Apollo had created. He knew exactly what the God was seeking now but...funnily enough it was better, like a slow drawn-out permission. Comforting, like Hermes would do it. A small chat before getting to business.  

He was...feeling a bit drawn out and exhausted. The training took more out of him than he had been expecting. He sighs heavily leaning against a tree looking back to Apollo. The god stood there silently, his gaze watching him intently. Taking in each movement and any expression he made. Clearly waiting to see his response.  

"It's better." He says suddenly, hiding a smile when the god jolted at his voice, like he wasn't expecting it. "What is?"  

"This." He says gesturing vaguely. "Small talk, no taunting. I don't like cat and mouse games."  

"I wasn't- " 

"You are. You guys stand weird when you're thinking about it." Percy points out raising a brow. It was a stance, a slightly arched one, tense like a predator stalking its prey though, it felt...oddly relaxing.  

Apollo seemed stunned, before a rolling laugh poured from him. His eyes twinkle, his lips quirking upwards. "People should give you more credit. You're a rather observant little whirlpool."  

A scoff draws from him, rolling his eyes as he looked the god over. "It's more common sense. Any god I've seen always does that before they snag someone."  

He wasn't being snagged per say, Apollo was working up to it which he'd gladly take. Gave him more time to calm his nerves. "Anyway, get it over with, I've got another lesson in like two hours." he says with a dramatic sigh.  

There was a pause before Apollo approached him cautiously, getting more confident when no teeth sunk into his arm this time. "I'm not gonna bite this time." Percy complains, half tempted to give a small shove.  

"Well forgive me for being cautious, I can't tell if you're just sassy or genuinely feral." The god shoots back before his hand settles on his shoulder, giving it a warm squeeze. Rather than his vision blurring and warm divine energy sinking into him, Apollos form twisted and grew right in front of him, his hand steadily covering his entire body.  

He hums, going limp once massive fingers curl over his body lifting him up in a loose fist. It was a lot warmer than he was expecting. The ocean felt cool, soothing like aloe over a sunburn, Hermes felt breezy almost, a rush under his skin. Apollo was warm. Like incredibly warm. It was..comfortable actually.  

"Still with me Perc?"  

He hadn't even realized he had closed his eyes until the god spoke, jolting out of his thought. "Mm? Yeah. You're just warm." He mumbles. He stifles a yawn, scowling instead. He grumbles under his breath when it's met with a soft chuckle.  

"I can still bite you." He warns, huffing as he'd brought up to the gods face, a cheeky smile spread across the lips. "So can I Mr. Piranha." Apollo teases, clacking his teeth together.  

If it had been 3 months ago the tease probably would've terrified him, but Percy was more than used to the jabs by now. He rolls his eyes instead, half heartily kicking the gods cheek, sticking his tongue out when Apollo took his foot between his lip. The god was having way too much fun with this.  

"Oh no I'm so terrified. Spare me." The monotone voice only seemed to spur more amusement from the god, a chuckle rumbling from him before his lips parted. The slick feeling of saliva soaking into him as he was eased further inside. Huh. It was more goopy sorta thick... Like honey almost. He must've made a face because a vibration of laughter ran through him. "Yeah, laugh it up, you have gross insides."  

He scoffs trying to remain aloof as he slipped further inside the gods tongue safeguarding him from scraping against the bottom teeth. "You know one of these days you should be less gross and just magic me inside. Dad said you guys do that too." He points out closing his eyes as he let the warmth roll over him. It was comforting, soothing his aches and pains in ways water did.  

The motions were familiar, his feet hitting the back of the gods throat, he tenses briefly, surprised when nothing happened. He cracks his eyes open a bit, waiting for a swallow to ripple over his feet but he sorta just laid there. He craned his neck the best he could, but he couldn't exactly see what expression was on the god's face. Fingers brushed against his head, like he was seconds from being pulled back out.  

"Are you...waiting?" he asks slowly, a tad stunned. He hadn't expected that. All because he tensed a bit? Huh...that was oddly thoughtful. "I'm fine, it just gets weird with the sensation of falling." he admits after a second. A hum rolls over him before the familiar grasp of muscles tugs him downwards. The pressure and squeezing are almost comforting at this point. He sighs heavily closing his eyes again, not that it mattered considering the surrounding innards glowed.  

The rippling of the muscles pulling him down was a motion that he had actually gotten used to. Mindlessly he counted the seconds, keeping his breathing as even as possible as he was squeezed and squished. The tight feeling at his feet giving way with the slight pressure.  

Instead of a drop he was expecting it was more of a slide, the thick goopy insides making him scrunch his face up. "Ugh, why are you so goopy?" He grumbles. He shifted upwards, trying to push against the plush muscle, his hands sinking into it like putty. Different for sure.  

"I'm not goopy! Literally none of my kids have ever complained."  

"It's literally like putty in here!"  

He makes face pulling his hand back, the thick mucus clinging to his hand as he did. "Actually at least putty doesn't stick to you." He grumbles, flopping back against the stomach, wall, grimacing when he sunk into the plush muscle.  

"I'm sorry next time I'll tidy up, put some air fresheners inside, maybe add a rug." Apollo scoffed, Percy smirking when he felt a few very pointed pokes targeting his back.  

"I feel like a rug would make this ten times worse." Percy laughs, closing his eyes with a sigh. He had two hours before his next lesson...that gave him some time for a night. "Might turning out the light? Man, you're like the worst to nap with." he teases, stretching out a bit. It was like being on a weird waterbed. He could get used to water, but this was like an oddly firm Jello. 

A dramatic sigh caused the muscles to ripple all around him, the light fading from a bright light to a softer glow. "My kids never complain." the god grumbles, though the fond tone indicated he wasn't truly upset.  

"Your kids sometimes actually glow in the dark, so doesn't surprise me- now shut it." Percy murmurs, not real heat in his voice as he relaxes further into the organ. It really was like sunbathing, a constant warmth enveloping him no matter how he moved or turned. His lips quirk up, more so when a steady pressure rubs against his back.  

So, Apollo wasn't as bad as he first had thought that was good to know. He could live with this.  

"Wake me up in two hours, I'm serious I have classes to teach." He grumbles, not even fighting the wave of exhaustion.  

"Mmhm, we'll see if you're up for it then."  

Percy scowls, letting an annoyed huff out. Well, there went the rest of his day. 

[fountainpenguin]

Short Version: I don't even know how to begin explaining this, so take these 'fic doodles with no context.

Wish Fixers, my chronically unhelpful beloved...

Long Version (City Lights AU #ridspoilers beyond the above implication. Mentions of death and trauma; it gets pretty dark)

Nalooksthrough, I tag you below because I cited your co-dependent toxic friendship comic and said it was cool- If you don't want to click, that's all the tag was :)

So I started outlining my Dale backstory 'fic (Lemonade and Papercuts) since I am the most predictable person alive and of COURSE I can't resist 7 years of trauma and intimacy anxiety <3. But planning a 'fic like this requires many pieces and many questions.

First and most obvious- How did Vicky lure in Dale? From previous planning, I've already decided that since they're the same age (maybe one year off), they probably knew each other in school or activities.

Ex: Squirrely Scouts & Cream Puffs... Not unreasonable- Throughout the series, many kids participate and the organizations seem to have a big following in Dimmsdale. Vicky's sister Tootie is in the Cream Puffs and Vicky is seen bossing them around in the Season 0 episode "Scout's Honor" ("Oh Yeah! Cartoons"). There's a comic by the same name depicting Remy in Squirrely Scouts (after "Fairy Fairy Quite Contrary" but before he gets his memories back in "Remy Rides Again" and I always thought it was cute). I mean, look at him:

Pictures courtesy of the FOP Wiki

It's not unreasonable that Dale - who's also rich - might've gotten into that (especially since Doug is big on the cowboy theming and of all the rich parents, he's probably the one most okay with his son playing in dirt). Something scout-related could be an option even if Dale and Vicky went to different schools.

A friendship that gets increasingly toxic until it spirals into full-on abuse sounds really interesting (and @nalooksthrough portrayed this idea beautifully imo in THIS comic I can't stop thinking about).

Sounds fun to write, so let's go with that. What's next?

Hey, remember when 7 years ago, I headcanon'd H.P. as Dale's godfather because of this doodle in Da Rules that specifically refers to Pixie godparents and depicts a fluffy-haired kid in a purple shirt?

I recently found out I still had Dale listed as a godchild of H.P. on his full character profile on my fanfic sideblog. I was waffling over whether to retcon that (since I hadn't yet done anything with it), but I started brainstorming whether I COULD do anything with it.

I've always written Wish Fixers in 'fic [e.g. Origin of the Pixies] as a therapy business run by H.P.'s dad (which H.P. bought off him out of spite despite not being licensed for therapy) but, like...

Does Jorgen know H.P. isn't licensed? I can't see why he would... As far as he knows, H.P. owns and runs the place- especially given my lore that Wish Fixers has been in his family for many generations. Sounds qualified to me!

In "School's Out! The Musical" (episode that Da Rules screenshot is from), we learn Pixies are at the back of the line for godparent work, even under creatures like unicorns (Hence the Musical's plot requiring them to remove magical creatures from earth before they could assign themselves to Flappy Bob).

I said in a recent liveblog post that I'd always imagined this was a punishment given to them due to H.P. absolutely failing as godfather to Dale- Thus, the origin of the doodle on the page for that rule. But... I never decided what happened.

See, Dale SEEMS like a guy who would qualify for a fairy. He was probably pretty miserable under Vicky's 7 years of torture and he's still holding onto that trauma in his adulthood.

DID he have a fairy?

I'm just saying, we know from S4's "Wish Fixers" that H.P. is legally(?) allowed to make contracts that swap a fairy godparent with a pixie one if godkids choose to sign of their own free will... Hmm... I'm connecting dots I don't think I like... (I am lying).

I mean?? Dale clearly did not get out of the pit due to magical interference. If I'm committing to the doodle being Dale and reflecting an actual godfather-godson dynamic between him and H.P., then something sure went wrong there. I can't NOT make Dale suffer...

What on earth could've made Dale sign a contract for something a fairy couldn't give him? We know from "Nectar of the Odds" canon that he wished to see his dad, and thanks to previous liveblogs, I DO already have a headcanon of Dale being extremely desperate for his dad's love... Hmm... I can work with that.

I went down a rabbit hole trying to answer the question of how Vicky secured lemons for 7 years for Dale (and other kids) to work with. Here are some lemon tree facts:

- Lemon trees bear fruit after only a few years - They can bear fruit multiple times a year (depending on variety) - A single lemon tree can produce 1,500 lemons in one growing season - Dimmsdale is in California - a state known for lemon orchards.

That feels likely... An orchard of even a few trees can keep you going for a while.

But lemonade doesn't sell for much compared to other things Vicky could've set a kidnapped child up to do (Ex: In "Microphony," she has kids doing a bunch of other tasks like answering phones for her babysitting service, painting houses, and washing cars).

So... WHY lemonade? What is going on that makes this the thing Vicky has Dale do for 7 years?

And who owns the orchard? I need Vicky to obtain lemons without being stopped for 7 years.

Is it a Dimmadome orchard? Maybe, but several episodes imply Vicky's not familiar with the Dimmadomes - and she probably would have turned Dale in for cash reward if given the chance - so those are two things I need to keep in mind.

Does the orchard belong to her family? That's a possibility- Vicky is shown drinking lemonade after "Nectar of the Odds." She definitely could've bought it - It can't be too expensive unless prices were jacked up after she lost her cheap labor - but it's a drink she's seen with in multiple episodes. She definitely likes it.

And we know from "Timmy's 2D House of Horror" that Vicky's parents are terrified of her. It's not likely they'd stop her from taking lemons from the family orchard.

One problem... If Dale goes missing when he's about 9 (Closer to 7 or 8 in my planned timeline), Vicky is also 9 or younger. Are her parents scared of her when she's that small and inexperienced in the ways of the world?

In "The Switch Glitch," she's 5 and seems mild and sweet until 10-year-old Timmy mistreats her- She clearly didn't have memories of Timmy, implying she totally regressed to how she acted when she really was 5. Worth pointing out she goes off the deep end and chains up Cosmo and Wanda, so... she IS mean even at age 5. But also, she's 5. She wears the same purple hair bow in "Switch Glitch" (at 5) that she does when Timmy drains the meanness out of her in "Vicky Loses Her Icky," which is interesting.

So that begs the question... Can I turn my Dale backstory 'fic into a double story of Dale abuse AND Vicky going from a pretty innocent child to Totally Messed Up? Keeping in mind that according to Vicky in A New Wish, Vicky IS the one responsible for abusing him and he "spent 7 years' worth of Saturdays in a factory underneath a lemonade stand."

If that's the way I want to play it... Something happened to send Dale and Vicky down the dual victim-and-abuser path, destinies intertwined. And for some reason, Vicky stuck with the lemonade theme.

Dale just says he spent his Saturdays "in a factory underneath a lemonade stand." It's not out of the question he and Vicky made more lemon products than just lemonade, especially given Vicky's love for money (and those 600 lbs of lemons one tree can produce in a year). We can assume they changed locations a few times or someone would've found the trapdoor on Timmy's lawn. Plus when Dale started his abuse, Vicky hadn't started babysitting Timmy, whom she only met when he was 8.

So, I've set Dale up to be lured in by Vicky because they were friends. I like the idea of things gradually getting worse as Vicky slowly morphs from a friend into a very cruel person. If Vicky was bullying him, what stopped him from just... leaving?

Vicky's transformation was probably subtle if he stayed for so long..... I also pointed out in a recent post that Doug's underground milk empire where he uses hypnotized people for labor bears a striking amount of similarities with Vicky's lemonade stand, even down to the general vibes of "trapdoor entrance" (although it's implied there's another entrance in small building).

And if we want to be technical about things... We don't know if Doug and Dale pressed charges against Vicky. She clearly continues to babysit Timmy and other kids after "Nectar of the Odds" (Season 2).

In Season 4 ("Channel Chasers"), Doug remarks that Timmy's parents should've guessed Vicky was evil because of the Chip Skylark song "Icky Vicky," but he doesn't mention Vicky kidnapping his son. That's.... sus. He even offers to buy a car from her in Season 3's "Engine Blocked" (after Dale's escape).

Why would such a powerful guy let all of that slide? Did they just not have enough proof? Did Vicky wipe the place clean? Did Dale "not want to make a big deal about it" because he was so exhausted and grateful, he just didn't want to think about it or struggle with the legal system? Was he covering for her?? Was he scared to speak up?

... Did Dale not tell his dad the whole truth about where he was?

What if Dale was - in some vague and early concept way - in on the lemonade scheme from the beginning, back when he and Vicky were friends and she wasn't so cruel? Maybe she turned on him and sentenced him to the pit before long?

Why the underground-ness of it? Why the lemonade, which probably doesn't turn much profit... as lemonade. Unless you have unrestrained access to tons of lemons that you can turn into multiple products - Dale DID call it a factory - and no one is stopping you from accessing them...

... but how do you set up a situation where kids have access to a whole lemon orchard - presumably carefully maintained - and the adults don't take it away from them (Because... surely they would've found Dale and multiple other kids if they strayed close).

And Dale didn't leave. He does in "Nectar of the Odds" - apparently of his own volition - but not before. Was he kept there mentally as well as physically?

We KNOW Vicky can't be monitoring him 24/7 because "Nectar of the Odds" is the only episode depicting her paying attention to him, while others show her doing many other things in many other places (though it's worth noting Dale says in that episode that "Vicky's kept him locked up for so long").

Did he stay so long because it was the perceived better fate up until he miraculously crossed paths with his dad (via fairy magic) and took the risk? Would he have gone back in?

Maybe it wasn't supposed to get this out of hand. Dale and Vicky were young when this started... Somewhere between 7 and 9 (given that Dale was kept there for 7 years and Vicky is 16 when he escaped and he tells 9-year-old Dev this happened when he was Dev's age).

Maybe there was an accident. Something not just Vicky, but even Dale felt the need to cover up, especially in regards to the orchard and the fact that it needs to be Vicky's consistent source of lemons (and not something she lost out on before Dale's escape... an illusion of ownership maintained. Kids can't own the orchard, but what if they fooled people into believing it wasn't owned by kids?)

Hmm... some kind of accident that got two mostly innocent kids into huge trouble, thus setting up a horribly intertwined fate where if one of these toxic co-dependent friends backs out and squeals, even the squealer might suffer worse compared to trucking along on the cruel existing path.

tl;dr - if Vicky and Dale accidentally killed the orchard owner but they were kids and terrified to tell an adult lest they go to jail for life so they hid the body in the basement (or like ?? threw it to the coyotes or hyenas that inexplicably lurk on the fringes of Dimmsdale??) and are trying desperately to wipe their hands of this by pretending the lemon orchard is still operational so no one investigates until they can figure out a plan, and then Vicky hardens herself as a trauma response and manipulates Dale into believing it was solely his fault and she'll pin him with murder charges if he gets cold feet and turns her in, and he's miserable and gets a fairy (then loses his fairy via Pixie contract through Wish Fixers, presumably in an attempt to negotiate a way to protect himself from Vicky and somehow not gaining the ire of his father) and then H.P. (lawyer and unlicensed yet de facto therapist pulled two ways) is suddenly Dale's godfather and trying to comprehend what the flip is going on between misery and manslaughter while he's also juggling Gary, Betty, and Flappy Bob at the same time in preparation for the Musical because we know he spent 37 years on that plan...

... Would that be one messed-up yet hyperspecifically canon-compliant 'fic or what?

These thoughts have been haunting me all weekend and I HAD to get my "I'm not that kind of lawyer or therapist" joke out of my system, so there's your context. #Sorry. Is this the direction the actual 'fic will go? ... It's not the direction I really had in mind, but ?? It's off the wall and therefore I must shake it in my teeth. I can't not write Dale backstory this horrific. what. hey.

[alexanderwales]

One of the more pointlessly frustrating things that ever happened to me was getting an email that told me I was switching cell phone carriers. The email just said "Notice: Your Verizon Wireless service is transitioning to AT&T". This was back in 2010, when that was a slightly bigger deal, since LTE wasn't widely available in the United States at the time. Verizon was using one standard, AT&T was using the other, and most phones could not switch between the two because they required fundamentally different hardware.

The email said that they were going to get me a new phone, and that my Verizon plan would become an AT&T plan in some kind of bastardized version of grandfathering, without changing the rate I was paying.

It did not explain to me why this was happening, or how, and I didn't find out until later, in spite of a few emails inquiring what the fuck they thought they were doing.

This was the biggest pain in the ass I have ever experienced. I was one of a group of people this was happening to, but it was a small group of mostly rural customers, and between the time I'd signed up with Verizon and when the switch happened, I had moved away from where virtually all the other customers were. I had no way of knowing this at the time, but it meant that when I went to the AT&T store, they had not had any training whatsoever in what was supposed to happen. They didn't believe me until I showed them the documentation, and even then, I think they were a little skeptical. Managers were called.

Eventually I got it sorted out, but it was even more complicated than it needed to be because my dad had been the one to sign me up for the phone (I was in college at the time) and his name was the one on the account. He lived four hours away from me, and AT&T did not seem to know what to do about this whole thing.

But I did, eventually, learn how and why I was being made to switch carriers.

What had happened is that back in 2008, two years prior, Verizon announced that it was set to acquire Alltel. This would have created a monopoly (Alltel and Verizon were significant competitors), so the FCC required that part of Alltel would be spun off into its own company that would remain independent in order to ensure that there was market competition, particularly in rural areas. AT&T then snapped up some of the remaining pieces of Alltel. In theory this should not have affected me, because I was a Verizon customer, not an Alltel or AT&T customer.

So what happened to me was more complicated.

As background, the FCC divides cell phone markets into Cellular Market Areas (CMAs), which are then either Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) or Rural Service Areas (RSAs). There are about 750 total CMAs in the United States.

Back in 2005, Alltel acquired Midwest Wireless Holdings. There was a consent decree in 2006 that required them to divest markets that would have been anticompetitive, and four of those RSAs were then snatched up by Rural Cellular Corporation. Rural Cellular was then bought by Verizon in 2009.

So there was one single RSA, out of 750 in the United States, which was covered by the Alltel/Midwest consent decree and the Alltel/Verizon consent decree, and for all this merger madness to go ahead, it was agreed that Verizon could acquire everything in that RSA conditional on "prompt redivestiture" to a buyer approved by the DOJ. Most of these customers would go from being Alltel customers to being customers of someone else, not Verizon, but Verizon did also have to give up some of their own original customers.

Here is the punchline: the Department of Justice, in order to promote competition in the free market, forced me to change carriers to someone I did not choose for myself. Like if I was about to go to Burger King and they forced me to go to McDonald's instead so that there would be "fair competition". Absolutely ludicrous, at least from my perspective.

Anyway, this was all back in 2010, so ... thanks, Obama.

[maxdibert]

Hi again!! so I was that anon that asked about Draco, but I loved reading your opinion on him :)

I think I'm slowly warming up to him as a character because he seems more realistic/complex compared to how Harry is treated like this Chosen One with unrealistic traits in the earlier books/movies. And ur right, he did certain questionable things but people forget that he was raised/fed propaganda about the Death Eaters and Voldemort's ideology, shaping his worldview and his Dad being the main giver of this propaganda. Plus, once he realizes what he did he shows guilt and reluctance, like in Half-Blood Prince and Deathly Hallows, hinting at his internal conflict. Unlike Harry, whose heroism is idealized, Draco’s growth is more nuanced and flawed.

And idk why but Snape seems to be a better father figure, he seems to be the most likable teacher in the story— like, everyone else like everyone else like Dumbledore or McGonagall, while "great" in their own ways, feel distant or overly idealized + Dumbledore is way too cryptic. Teachers like Trelawney are sympathetic since all magic is controlled/dumbed down by a stupid Ministry. Snape's complexity, despite his flaws, makes him feel more relatable and grounded + Harry's dad did bully him.

I am developing an idea (for a larger multifandom story arc) where Draco ends up being fully sick of the whole wizard conflict, and Snape too- so they end up running away from the HP world, through a disappearing act right when Harry tries to retaliate after Dumbledore died. Now, this isn't to spite JKR or anything but an idea I came up with if Draco ended up choosing neutrality and rejecting the war's ideologies.

Anyways, I'd like to hear ur thoughts ^^

Helloooo! Good morning btw hahahah

Well, I’ve always seen Draco as a modern version of Regulus (which isn’t surprising since, after all, they’re family). Both are boys raised under a set of ideas they never questioned, but when the moment came to confront what it truly meant to put those ideas into action, they realized it involved doing things they didn’t like. This is something that happens a lot in real life and feels very realistic to me. I don’t think Draco completely let go of his own prejudices or conservative ideas, but there’s a huge difference between having problematic thoughts and actually wanting to exterminate people. A 12-year-old like Draco might spout off absolute barbarities he heard at home (like wishing Hermione would die), but he’s a 12-year-old kid who has no clue about the nonsense he’s saying. He doesn’t understand what death means or what it’s like to see someone dead. Once he experiences that years later, it horrifies him terribly.

Draco is an incredibly realistic character, and that’s why I find him likable.

Now, Harry is a much more complex issue because, in general, he’s an unrealistic character. His way of dealing with trauma—pretending everything is fine—is unrealistic. The fact that he doesn’t suffer from PTSD after living with the Dursleys is unrealistic. The way he conveniently holds grudges against certain characters but forgives Sirius overnight for attacking Ron in PoA while trying to catch Pettigrew—without even a proper apology—is also unrealistic. But in the end, it’s just Rowling deliberately and conveniently ignoring the consequences certain characters’ actions might have on Harry because it doesn’t suit her for readers to question whether those characters are morally dubious. She also doesn’t want to delve into Harry’s internal conflicts regarding them. It’s the same with Lupin being a total piece of crap to Tonks. It’s completely glossed over because Rowling wants to keep portraying him as a saintly, good guy. So, abandoning his pregnant wife gets resolved in two pages, and then we all move on as if nothing happened, lol.

I’m not sure I fully buy into Snape as a father figure, but I’m also not sure I completely reject it. I think Severus was very childish due to his traumas and the emotional immaturity they caused. This is evident in how he interacts with his students. The jabs he throws at them often reflect an adolescent mindset—he’s stuck in that stage because he couldn’t overcome a series of events. And then there’s the added layer of being “trapped” in the place where all those things happened to him. His reactions when triggered are those of a teenager who hasn’t yet learned to control himself.

His moments of camaraderie with the Slytherins clearly echo what his adolescence must have been like—encouraging the strong in his house. Except now, he’s the strong one, the one with power and authority. This creates a stark contrast and a strong dissonance with his other role, which is protecting the students—something he takes very seriously. Honestly, Dumbledore is a cynical, negligent jerk who doesn’t give a damn about his students unless they serve his future plans. McGonagall seems to have stayed out of all the plots Dumbledore and Severus had going, so we can’t really blame her. But Severus was tasked with protecting the children, and he genuinely protected them. In that sense, he might be the most responsible adult at Hogwarts, maybe even the only professor truly concerned about ensuring none of them ended up dead. However, this contrasts heavily with the way he treats them, which is hard for readers to understand if they don’t look beyond his image as a mean teacher.

What I do believe is that he cared about Draco. Just as his treatment of Harry reflected his unresolved issues with James and his guilt over what happened with Lily, I also think Severus projected onto Draco the gratitude he felt toward Lucius for probably being the first to accept him into Slytherin, opening many doors for him. In fact, I think Severus must have been quite close to the Malfoys on a personal level. Narcissa trusted him enough to ask him to make the Unbreakable Vow and to place her son’s life in his hands, knowing she would do anything for Draco. That suggests a close relationship behind the scenes.

Anyway, I don’t think Draco ever left the wizarding world. I could see him keeping a low profile, wanting to stay out of the spotlight, and focusing on managing his inheritance or pursuing activities that didn’t require him to go out much. But I don’t see him leaving the magical world entirely. He received a very specific type of education, and while his ideas about exterminating Muggle-borns likely vanished after the war, he was still an aristocrat with no reason to reject his lifestyle. I do see him adopting a much more moderate and cautious outlook, though.

Severus, on the other hand, would’ve left. Severus would’ve locked himself away in some remote place where no one would think to look, dedicating himself to his studies and potions, and telling everyone to go to hell. Severus was utterly fed up, but he didn’t have any options.

[helloalycia]

the Clarks [one] // alicia clark

summary: when you move next door in a new town, you don't expect to befriend the neighbours – the Clarks – so imagine your surprise when they become family, too.

warning/s: mentions of alcoholism, verbal and physical abuse, absent parenting and drugs.

author's note: someone requested this in my asks not long ago and i’ve been working on it as quickly as i can as it was so fun to write! may have gone overboard though and it’s like 5 parts long but you can never have too much alicia so! hope you like it :)

something to note: Y/M/N = your mother's name

two / three / four / five / masterlist / wattpad

9 years old...

I didn't want to move schools. I had my friends and I liked where I was and the teachers were all nice to me, but that didn't matter to my parents. I knew they weren't moving out of spite, they just had to for their jobs, but I didn't like it.

My new school was hard to adjust to, the teachers nice but strangers. My classmates already knew each other, having grown up together no doubt, and I was the new girl who didn't belong. I wasn't a sociable kid, a little anxious and a little nervous to make new friends, so it was hard for me to settle in. But being quiet meant I was quite observant, too.

It was the first week in my new town, at my new school, when I was getting dropped off home by my mum to our new house. The neighbours, a family I'd noticed since moving here because one of their kids – Nick, I think his name was – was in my class, and they always left around the same time as us in the mornings. And just like that, they were pulling into their driveway at the same time as us now.

When my mum and I got out the car, they were doing the same and I caught Nick's eyes as he jumped out the car. His mum noticed us and offered a smile, waving at us.

"Welcome to the neighbourhood!" she said to my mum, already stepping a little closer to the small fence between our front drives.

Nick smiled a little when he saw me, waving his hand. I began to smile too, my first real welcome since arriving here, and just as I lifted my hand to wave it, my mum grabbed it and dragged me up the driveway and into the house, not giving them a response. I didn't understand why she was being so strange, but when she mumbled 'weirdos' under her breath, I figured she was having a bad day. Still, I smiled to myself at how nice they seemed. They weren't all that weird to me.

In fact, they were quite the opposite.

One day, barely a week later, I was playing in the garden, riding my bike around in circles, when I heard some noises coming from the neighbour's garden. Curiosity getting the better of me, I climbed on one of the bins next to the tall fence separating our gardens and tried to find the source of the music and chatter from next door. Peeking my eyes over the top, I realised they were having a barbecue.

A man was flipping burgers on the grill, a drink in his hand, and he was chatting to who I recognised as Nick's mum. His parents. Nick was there too, playing with his little sister, but nobody had noticed me. At least I thought they hadn't, until I looked back to Nick's mum and met her gaze, freezing in place. She didn't seem angry, instead smiling and waving at me, but it freaked me out that I'd been caught spying so I quickly jumped off the bin and back to my bike.

Trying to distract myself, I rode my bike out front and entertained myself by going in circles around the car. My mum was inside having a drink as my dad was out, so I was a little bored and the music next door was still enticing me. I managed to ignore it long enough until I heard someone walking nearby and looked up. Nick's mum was walking out front too, a bin bag in hand as she threw something out. Again, my nosey self couldn't help but watch her.

She caught sight of me as she was about to return to the garden, pausing to smile at me. "Hey, sweetie."

I pressed my lips together, frozen on my bike yet again.

She glanced around, confused, before asking me, "Are you hungry?"

I nodded, unable to stop myself.

"Well, we're grilling some burgers and we might have made too many," she said with a shrug. "We need someone to help us finish it all. D'you wanna come over and have one? You'll be doing us a massive favour!"

I knew what she was doing and yet it still made me smile a little. But then I stopped myself before I could agree, instead saying, "My mum won't like that."

The blonde smiled softly. "Your mum can come, too, hon. The more, the merrier."

I sighed quietly, shaking my head. Glancing at the house, I said, "She's in one of her moods. She won't."

Nick's mum frowned slightly, before asking, "Alright then. One burger to go?"

My smile returned as I looked back to her. Before I could answer however, I heard my name being called and looked over to the front door to see my mum was stood there, glaring at Nick's mum.

"Sorry," I mumbled, before cycling back to the house and leaving my bike by the door before returning inside. The last thing I wanted was to annoy my mum even more – whenever she drank, she got into one of her moods and that always meant she'd yell at me for no reason before passing out on the couch.

I entertained myself in the living room, playing with some toys and also trying not to look outside whenever I heard laughter from the neighbours. Eventually, my dad came home with some groceries, greeting me with a smile and kiss. The happiness was short lived however, as he and my mum erupted into an argument about how she stank of booze. I didn't want to hear it, but I always had to.

He soon went upstairs to have a nap, and my mum seemed to do the same in the living room, though not by choice. I was alone again, bored and hungry and curious once more. With nobody to stop me, I crept outside into the garden and jumped up on the bin to have a look at the neighbours.

Their barbecue was over now, the music having stopped a short while ago. The smell of grilled burgers still lingered though, and it made my stomach rumble instantly. Frowning to myself, I jumped down from the bin and sat in the grass, pulling out some pencils and drawing to cure my boredom. Not long later however, I heard a noise from the fence.

There were voices, kids voices, a boy and a girl. And then when I looked up, I was startled as I saw Nick looking over the fence and down at me.

"Sorry," he said quickly. "I didn't mean to scare you. It's Y/N, right? You're in my class."

I glanced inside, not seeing my mum anywhere, before nodding at Nick, cautious.

"I'm Nick," he introduced with a smile.

I cleared my throat. "Hi."

"I'm Alicia!" a small voice shouted from the other side, below Nick.

I smiled as Nick rolled his eyes.

"That's my little sister, Alicia," he added.

"Hi, Alicia!" I called to her.

"Hi!" she shouted back, and I tried not to laugh.

"Mum said you wanted a burger," Nick said to me.

"I can't come over," I told him regretfully, but he was already holding out a foil-wrapped, burger-shaped object.

"Here," he said.

I began to smile, climbing onto the bin to meet his height, and accepted the burger. I also glanced down next to him to see his sister, Alicia, looking up at me curiously, a friendly smile on her face. She was very pretty, the prettiest girl I'd ever seen, with her hair in pigtails and her green eyes so bright I could see stars in them.

"Thank you," I said, looking back to Nick with immense gratitude, before unwrapping the burger and taking a bite.

"Why can't you come over?" he asked curiously, leaning on the fence.

I nodded behind me. "Mum's in a bad mood."

"Oh," was all he said. "That's annoying."

I nodded in agreement, before saying with a mouthful, "Thanks for the burger."

He began to laugh. "There's ketchup on your face, stupid."

Embarrassed, I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand. "Sorry."

Unfazed, his smile remained. "I'll see you at school tomorrow?" I nodded and he jumped down from the boxes he was precariously balanced on. "Bye!"

Alicia waved bye too, and I returned the gesture to them both with a smile on my face before jumping off the bin and finishing my burger. It was really good.

I didn't expect to befriend any of the Clarks, but that was the start of it all. From there, Nick and I would hang out together at school. It started where we'd wave at each other from our driveways in the mornings and afternoons before and after school, and then we'd play together at school. His mum and sister seemed nice, and just like mine, his dad wasn't around that much, instead always working. We were a lot more similar than I thought.

"Dad," I said as I walked into the living room where he was watching TV. "Please can I go play with Nick and Alicia next door?"

My dad lowered the volume and smiled at me, patting his lap. I jumped on top of him as he hugged me tightly.

"Only if I get a kiss right here," he said playfully, patting his cheek.

I grinned as I kissed his cheek before hugging him.

"Go and have fun, Y/N," he said, squeezing me tightly before patting my pack as I jumped off his lap.

As I was going to fill my bag with some toys from the corner of the room, my mum called from kitchen with disapproval.

"Seriously? You're gonna let her go over there? You don't even know them properly!"

My dad sighed. "They're nice people, Y/M/N. Maybe you'd know that if you ever spoke to them."

"I know enough," she said with bitterness. "And I don't feel comfortable with our kid going over there."

I paused, glancing between them as my mum approached my dad in the living room, hands on her hips.

He stood up, giving her a knowing look. "She's going. She needs to be around other kids." Then his expression softened as he looked to me. "Go on, honey. Go over there."

I nodded, glancing at my mum who seemed to disagree, before grabbing my backpack and leaving through the front door. As I left, I heard them both start to argue and tried to ignore it, feeling a little bad that it was my fault.

When I reached the Clarks door, I knocked on, buzzing with both nerves and excitement because it was the first time I was coming over for a play date. Apart from occasionally see them before and after school, or playing with Nick on the playground, I'd never visited their house before. I was surprised I was allowed, but my dad was always nicer with these things than my mum was.

The door opened to reveal Madison, Nick's mum. She said I could call her that when I saw her after school to pick up Nick once, but it felt strange calling her by her name when she was just 'Nick's mum' in my head. That, or Mrs Clark.

"Y/N, hey!" she greeted with a warm smile, before standing to the side to let me in. "How are you, sweetie?"

"I'm good," I said with a shy smile as she closed the door behind us. "I'm excited to see Nick and Alicia. Thank you for letting me come over."

Nick had asked me yesterday after school if I could come, with permission from his mum, so she already knew.

"Of course, and they're excited to see you too!" she said, motioning for me to follow her through the hallway. "How are your parents?"

I shrugged. "They're okay. They're just arguing a lot lately."

She glanced at me, curious. "About what, sweetie?"

I gripped my backpack straps a little tighter as I told her the truth, relieved to let it out, though my child brain didn't understand why I should keep quiet about stuff like this. "Mum keeps getting in her moods. Falling asleep. Having those drinks she's not supposed to. And dad doesn't like it, so they argue a lot."

Madison paused before we could enter the kitchen, sighing. "They don't argue with you though, right?"

"Dad doesn't," I answered. "Mum does, sometimes. It's not fair because I don't think I've done anything wrong. But then she falls asleep and stops."

She frowned slightly. "You know, Y/N, if they're ever arguing or you just don't feel like they're being very nice to you, you're always welcome to come here, okay?"

I looked away, embarrassed. "I don't think my mum likes me being friends with Nick very much."

Or you, I wanted to add, but it wouldn't have been very polite.

"It doesn't matter," Madison said, setting a hand on my shoulder comfortingly. "I'm here for you, just like Nick. You're always welcome here."

Admittedly, it felt quite nice to have that support from someone, the support I wanted from my mother. I smiled up at her, grateful.

"Thank you, Mrs Clark."

She smiled before opening the back door to the garden. "C'mon. The others are waiting for you."

When we headed outside, I saw Nick and Alicia swinging on their swing set, clearly trying to outdo one another. But as soon as they saw me, they halted and almost fell over trying to run towards me.

"Y/N!" Nick shouted with a grin, before stopping in front of me, breathless. "Did you bring your race car?"

I nodded, already shoving my bag from my shoulders and pulling out my remote-controlled race car that I'd mentioned to Nick I had at school. As soon as he saw it, his grin widened. Alicia tried to take a look too, so I showed her properly.

"Can I play, too?" she asked hopefully, and I couldn't help but smile as I nodded quickly.

"Of course!"

She returned my smile before the three of us went to have a play with it on the tiles next to the back door.

13 years old...

"Dad, I don't get it. What do you mean, you're going?"

He was throwing his belongings into a suitcases haphazardly. It was completely random – one minute I was in my room and the next I heard doors slamming downstairs before I found him storming into his room and packing.

"Your mum and I can't work together anymore," he said regretfully, pausing from his packing to look me in the eye, as if I understood. And I did, to an extent, but it didn't make sense.

Mum's drinking had gotten worse over the years, to the point where they'd constantly argue about it and never actually have anything nice to say to each other. I was his shoulder to cry on, minus the crying. He'd rant to me and tell me how he felt burdened and I'd have to listen to it all, wanting to help him and relating but unsure what else to offer. I hated it and I wished he treated me more as a kid than a therapist, but it was better to have him like that than not at all. Now though, he'd finally had enough and it was scaring me.

"Stay," I told him as calmly as I could muster. "You have to work it out."

He shook his head. "I've tried for many years, honey. It's too late. I can't take it anymore."

I swallowed hard, eyes tearing up as I realised he was serious. He continued to pack, throwing in whatever he could get his hands on, not even bothering to fold anything up.

"Take me with you," I said, deadly serious, and for a moment I thought he'd actually consider it, but he shook his head.

"I can't," was all he said, before throwing his suitcase close and zipping it up.

I rounded the bed to stand beside him, trying to stop him from doing it. "Dad, don't do this. Please, take me with you. You can't just leave me with her!"

He didn't even bother to meet my eyes as he said, "I'm sorry."

Grabbing his suitcase, he pushed past me and began to go downstairs. My heart felt like it was being squeezed, the life draining from it as I realised just what was about to happen. I ran after him, following him down the steps and to the driveway where he was throwing his suitcase into the backseat.

"Dad!" I shouted after him, ignoring the several curse words my mum was throwing at him as she watched from the front door. "Please!"

He continued to ignore me as he got into the driver's seat, slamming the door. I banged on the window as he started the car, embarrassed at the reflection of my snotty, crying self looking back at me, but I didn't care. He was leaving! He was giving up!

"Dad, please!" I begged, banging on the window some more. "Don't do this! Stay!"

He gripped the steering wheel tightly, considering my words.

"Please," I pleaded, voice breaking. "Dad, it's me. Your daughter. Please, don't leave me. I need you."

He closed his eyes tightly before reversing his car suddenly, forcing me to step back. I felt sick and betrayed and broken when I watched him avoid my eyes and simply drive away. He was gone, just like that. My dad. Gone.

I knew he had problems to face with my mother, his wife, but I always thought that he stayed for me. And now he was gone, leaving me behind. Why would he just leave? Why didn't he take me with him? He knew how much grief she gave me, how much she hated me. Why would he do this? Was I not enough?

"...fucking deadbeat!" my mum was shouting at his retreating car from the doorway, clearly drunk.

I looked over at her, the reality of my life settling in. It was just me and her left. No more dad sticking up for me or jumping in to stop an argument from happening. I was stuck with her.

"He's not worth your tears, hon," she muttered with bitterness, before heading back inside.

I blinked, my face hot with tears and anger and hurt, and then more tears rolled down my cheeks and I covered my face, trying to stop myself from breathing so rapidly.

"Y/N!" a voice called, and I looked up to see Nick running from his front door, stepping over the little fence separating our driveways.

Of course he'd seen or heard what had just happened. With all the shouting, I wouldn't have been surprised if the whole neighbourhood had. It was utterly embarrassing, but Nick was the only other person I had to confide in. We'd grown super close over the years, ours play dates becoming regular and him becoming my best friend. His family were like my own, even though I'd never admit it. Madison loved having me over, treating me like one of her own. It wasn't weird between us, not completely, so I accepted Nick's help as he led me back to his house to comfort me.

I couldn't stop crying though, not when he brought me to the couch in his living room and not when I'd created a giant wet patch on his shirt. The tears wouldn't stop coming and I couldn't stop hiccuping and I truly felt like my heart had shattered into a million pieces.

Why didn't he look me in the eyes? Why did he just leave?

"Y/N, I... I'm so sorry," Nick said, rubbing my back. "I don't know what to do."

He was worried, I knew it, and I wanted to assure him that he didn't need to do a thing, but I couldn't get the words out. I'd never behaved like this in front of him – it was too much.

"Oh my God, Y/N," Alicia's familiar voice was heard from the living room doorway, and now I felt like a spectacle, both embarrassed and ashamed. 

"Go get mum!" Nick told her quickly.

"No!" I said suddenly, breathing shakily and voice hoarse. "I'm fine, I–"

But the words were stuck and my dad driving away was permanently fixed in my mind and hot tears rolled down my cheeks once more. Alicia must have gone to fetch Madison because soon enough, she was present and replacing Nick's seat beside me.  

"Y/N, what happened?" she asked instantly, holding my back gently.

I looked up, meeting her eyes with my blurry ones. "He left. He's not coming back. He–he doesn't want to be my dad anymore, Mrs Clark. He–he's gone."

Madison pulled me close, holding me as I sobbed quietly into her shoulder. She stroked my hair until I finally stopped crying, reduced to sniffles and hiccups. When I found the courage to pull away, I saw Nick and Alicia hiding by the doorway, spying on us both. Hot with embarrassment, I wiped my tears from my face frantically.

"Nick, Alicia?" Madison called for them. "Come here, please."

Embarrassed they'd been caught, they shoved one another before reluctantly stepping inside again and stopping beside her.

"Sorry," Nick said, eyes flickering over to mine. "We were just worried."

"Forget that," Madison said, before nodding to the armchair. "Sit down."

They obeyed, sharing a seat and waiting patiently for her to speak, as was I. To my surprise, she looked to me with conviction, pushing my hair from my eyes.

"You're family, Y/N. We're all here for you, okay? You're not alone. No matter what happens, you need to know that." She paused, before glancing over to her children. "Isn't that right, kids? Tell her."

They both nodded in agreement.

"You're part of our family," Alicia said, green eyes meeting mine with concern.

"Always," Nick agreed.

And even though my heart was in a million little pieces in my chest, I didn't doubt it couldn't be put back together with these three Clarks sat before me. Madison pulled me in for a hug, then the other two joined in, and for a moment, I was safe.

14 years old...

"Can you remind me that I need to buy a new planner on the weekend? My other one is full."

I pretended to cough in my hand as I teased Alicia, "Nerd."

She rolled her eyes, a smile ghosting her lips, then kicked me gently in the leg. I laughed at her reaction, straightening up against the wall and readjusting the pillow behind me.

We were both hanging out in my room, sat in my bed as we listened to music and just chatted. It was nice to have the house to myself sometimes and I always tried to invite her or Nick around when I could, feeling like I needed to return the favour since we always usually hung out at theirs. Of course, there wasn't much of a choice, but the few times my mum was working, it was nice to host.

Ever since my dad had left, mum's moods and drinking had gotten worse. She was even more neglectful and bitter, the worst I'd ever seen her, so it was much easier when she was out working. Then I no longer had to deal with her. Plus, I could just hang around with Nick and Alicia. Like now.

"I'm kidding, I'll remind you," I promised her. "I was taking the piss, but you're a nerd in a good way, Alicia. You're very smart. I'm almost jealous."

She shrugged, though the compliment clearly had her flustered. "I just like learning."

I smiled at how humble she was being. She was literally the smartest person I knew. "You could beat any person in my grade at any exam," I told her knowingly. "They're all idiots compared to you."

Her cheeks dusted pink as she avoided my eyes. "You shouldn't say that. That includes Nick, y'know."

"Yeah, that only proves my point further," I joked. "Nick isn't the brightest bulb in the box."

She snorted to contain her laughter, then met my gaze. "You're not stupid, Y/N."

I tried not to laugh. "Tell that to my grades. I'm currently getting by on C's."

Her expression softened as she tilted her head. "I can help you, if you want."

"Oh, sure," I said sarcastically. "How would that look? Y/N Y/L/N getting tutored by someone in the grade below." I paused, then added, "Actually, that would be the nicest thing people would say about me. Maybe I should."

She frowned, clearly not amused by my joke. "Don't talk like that."

I swallowed hard, smile fading. "What? I'm not blind, nor deaf, Alicia. I know what people say about me at school. Got a drunk mum who doesn't care and a runaway dad, too good to stay with his shitty family or take his shitty daughter with him. I've heard it all before."

"Y/N..."

I closed my eyes, regretting having let that slipped out so suddenly and so randomly. "Sorry," I said to her, shaking my head regretfully. "I just– I've heard it all before. That's all."

She sighed, before suggesting, "You should still study at ours when you can. You basically live there anyway. And if you're there, I don't mind helping you out. Get some of those C's to B's. Nobody at school has to know."

I smiled a little, finally finding the courage to meet her eyes, and she was already watching me with an encouraging one.

"Thank you, Leashy," I said gratefully. "Maybe I will. If I can find the chance."

It would have been easy to accept her help, but I already constantly overstayed my welcome and definitely didn't need to be a burden to Alicia. I appreciated her offer, but I wasn't dumb enough to accept it.

"Hey, d'you wanna get some ice cream?" she asked suddenly. "I've got some pocket money leftover and the store down the street does a tub for a few dollars."

I smiled at her wanting to share with me. "I'd love that."

She grinned before standing up and holding out her hand, pulling me up with her. I grabbed it, letting her, and tried to ignore the butterflies I felt when I did. It was something I was feeling a lot recently, over the past few months, whenever I was around Alicia. I wasn't sure what it was, but I liked it and I found myself admiring Alicia more and more because of it. I'd always known she was pretty, but now that I was beginning to understand the concept of liking someone... Well, I was certain that I liked her.

And I let myself enjoy it before I could realise it was a bad thing.

15 years old...

I was exhausted to say the least, my shift at work draining any energy I had left. All I'd dreamt of in the last hour was going to bed, not even awake enough to have dinner. But of course, as soon as I got home that evening, I was met with the sight of my mum in the kitchen, fumbling through her purse.

"Good, you're back," she acknowledged my presence, looking up at me. "Do me a favour, hon, and go pick me up some beer."

I wasn't in the mood to deal with her right now, especially not when I could see she was a little tipsy already and it wasn't even six o' clock.

"Mum, I don't think you should have anymore," I said as gently as I could, not wanting to startle her, but she was already scowling at me.

"If I wanted your opinion, I would've asked for it," she said bitterly. "Now go and buy me some damn beer. You don't even know the day I've had."

I sighed inwardly. "I've had a long day, too. I just wanted to go to bed."

"For fuck's sake, Y/N!" she shouted suddenly, making me jump. "You're so fucking useless."

I flinched as she shoved past me harshly and left the house, no doubt for a bar. She wasn't violent, not usually, but sometimes she'd get really pissed off and slap me out of anger. She always apologised and I didn't think she meant it, but I was always on edge when she was in this sort of mood. To my relief though, she was gone and therefore not a problem for now. Even if my heart was beating a little too quickly.

Looking around, I began to frown when I saw the state of the kitchen and living room. She'd messed everything up, leaving takeaway boxes out and plates unwashed, and there was no way she was going to clean up after herself. I couldn't just leave it like that, so I groaned quietly before starting to clean everything up.

I just about finished throwing the rubbish out when the doorbell rang and I paused, wondering if she was back and had forgotten something. When I answered the door, it was Nick and I felt a sense of relief upon seeing him.

"Hey, I saw you heading in," he said with a smile, before letting himself inside.

"Hey," I greeted with a tired smile, before closing the door and following him into the living room-kitchen area. "The place is a bit of a mess, sorry."

"Don't apologise," he assured me, but I still felt the need to because it was always a tip in here.

I picked up the cloth and anti-bacterial spray I was using and continued to wipe the surfaces.

"She at the bar again?" he asked softly, and I could only nod in response.

As he always did when he came over, he began to help me by starting on the washing up, and as always, I tried to stop him.

"Nick, you don't need to–"

"Don't bother," he told me with his usual charming smile. "I'm helping."

I sighed, but smiled gratefully.

"So, how was work?" he asked, making conversation.

"Long," I said truthfully, finishing wiping the surfaces. "I smell of food and I just wanna sleep."

He chuckled. "I bet. What if I say I have something that might help?"

I quirked a brow as I glanced at him, wondering what he was talking about.

"Check my back pocket," he said, shaking his butt.

So, curious, I did and pulled out a rolled up joint to my surprise. Groaning with disapproval, I put it back and stepped back.

"What did I say about doing this shit, Nick?" I complained.

"Oh, c'mon, it won't kill you!"

"That's not the point!" I said, fed up and leaning back against the counter.

He'd been experimenting with drugs a lot recently, was messing about at school and just hanging out with some people I definitely didn't approve of. But I couldn't do much about it because he never listened to me, and I had my own problems to worry about so there wasn't enough time for me to bother him when he just ignored me. Still, I worried and scolded him whenever I could.

"Okay, look, I'm sorry," he said when he saw how frustrated I was getting. "I didn't mean to upset you more."

I rubbed my face tiredly, shaking my head. "It's fine, it's just– I'm worried about you, Nick."

He gave me a warm smile, tilting his head down at me. "I'm good."

I gave him a knowing look as I said, "It starts with the light stuff like this, then it gets worse. Addictive."

"Y/N, I promise I'm fine."

"Alicia isn't blind, y'know," I continued, ignoring him. "She knows."

"Not for certain," he assured me.

I pressed my lips together, avoiding his eyes and suddenly going quiet.

"Right?" he questioned. "She doesn't know?"

The longer he eyed me as he washed up, the more I knew I was going to break.

"Y/N?"

I winced as I admitted, "I'm sorry. She asked me one time recently and I couldn't lie–"

"Dude!"

"I can't lie to her!" I told him apologetically. "Look, she promised she wouldn't tell Madison, but most importantly, Nick, she's worried about you. Just like I am."

He sighed deeply, not speaking for a moment, only the sound of the tap to be heard. Once he finished washing the final plate, he sat it on the rack before turning to face me, also leaning against the counter.

"Please, be careful," I said to him quietly, meeting his reluctant eyes. "We worry because we care, Nick."

He nodded slowly, and I wanted to believe him. For now, it would have to do.

Heading into the living room, we both took a seat on the couch and relaxed into it. Personally, I was appreciating being off my feet after such a long day, and I could have fallen asleep there and then, but I also didn't want to be alone and kick Nick out.

"How's your family doing?" I asked, looking over at him.

He was leaning back into the cushions, eyes closed contently as he answered. "Mum's her usual uptight self."

"Nick," I scolded, slapping his knee.

Opening one eye and looking at me, he said, "I fail to see what you see in her."

"Hmm, well she doesn't get pissed after work every evening, so I suppose I have pretty low standards," I said sarcastically.

His expression softened. "Well then."

"Also, she's been good to me," I added, before giving him a disapproving look.

He shook his head before leaning back again. "Alicia is doing good. Been drooling over some new kid at school. Matt or whatever."

I hummed to show I was listening, but a little frown tugged at my lips. It's not that I never expected her to like someone, but it still made me feel a little jealous, especially ever since I realised I liked her last year.

"Dad is okay," he continued, though he was forcing nonchalance. "Been quieter than usual lately. It's a little annoying, especially when I just– I need him, but mum thinks he'll snap out of it."

"Maybe he's stressed out," I offered, but he only shrugged and I knew it wouldn't make a difference.

Nick had always had a strained relationship with his father, especially as of late. And I didn't have much advice for him considering my own dad didn't deem me a good enough daughter to stay behind for. All I could think to do to comfort him was pull him in for a side hug, squeezing him tight.

"Have you eaten?" he asked after a moment of quiet. "There's some dinner leftover at ours."

"I'm pretty tired if I'm being honest," I told him, "but thank you."

"Hmm. Okay." I knew he was debating whether or not to force me to have something, but thankfully he left it and began to stand up. "I'll leave you to rest, Y/N. You do look a bit tired."

I shoved him as I stood up, too. "Arsehole."

Laughing, he pulled me in for a hug once more. "Night, Y/N. I'll see you tomorrow."

[meanbossart]

DU drow asks time

Lore questions/sweet messages/stuff that made me laugh that's about DU drow specifically that I decided to compile in a single post!

First of all, "outraged to be used as a medium for old man gay divorce" is a hysterical sentence LOL

As for his thoughts on the Ansur debacle? Negative ones. He hates the emperor, he doesn't care about his third-time-twist real identity, he doesn't particularly care about Wyll either (well - he kind of finds him entertaining, he's kind of really frustrated by him, it's complicated) but he saved his dad on a whim to spite Mizora anyway. BUT HEY, all that trouble would have been worthwhile if he's about to get an ancient dragon fighting alongside him - this old duke sounds a little too confident in this fairy tale, but stranger things have happened, right?

Then the situation unfolds as it does, and if he wasn't eager enough to use that orphic hammer before, he certainly is now. There is very little that the Emperor does past Act 3 that DU drow doesn't find a way to twist into something that confirms his resolve against him. If he could have taken Ansur's side in that fight, he would have - not that he shed any tears over killing him either.

Sick sword though, that helped soothe his nerves a bit and I'm sure spared everyone a little bit of a tantrum at camp later.

HAHAHAHA I can't confirm nor deny because I see so few large body-type elves as it is (which is fair, elves aren't usually... That massive). I did set age to 50% because it does look a little weird when it's all smooth. Maybe that's the trick?

Though I guess if you find it unsettling, then... No wonder it suits him! however this just looks like an impressively handsome fella to me, to be honest. I insist on fucking him up further whenever I draw him for that reason.

Thank you so much for following along and for giving the fic a try!!! And no worries, english isn't my native tongue either so I've been there 😎👍

I do actually have a couple of very short comics planned that take place pre-tadpole, but my backlog of WIPs is... Massive. Not to mention the commission work I do (currently not taking any more). I have one that's about his first interaction with Orin and another about a business dinner with Gortash gone-wrong, but I have no clue when I'll be able to work on them. Hopefully soon though!

You know, I've always hoped that after I died I'd be remembered as the guy who inspired others to make their nipples card-swipe-able.

Joke's aside, thank you LOL I love that my guys' nips have taken up non-insignificant room in your mind, it's always comforting to know that you aren't the only one.

Piercings and the such aren't really his style though. While he finds his scar-work weirdly comforting, he isn't so interested in aesthetic results as much as he just enjoys having pain inflicted upon him in a controlled environment, by people that he loves - He doesn't recall this post-tadpole, but the scars were a result of a kind of... Recurring ritual between himself and Orin that served to replace normal intimacy, pretty much.

Since you touched on it though, I do like to believe that Astarion finds his cut-up body fun, both on the eyes and on the hands LOL.

I'm starting to think you guys are all in on this. It's like the fifth time someone catches me in the act - god damn it, is it that obvious that I wanna slide down Peter Steele's cold corpse like he's a a ride at the Magical Ice kingdom... Which is to say, yes, both the guy and his music are not-so-lowkey a big inspiration behind a lot of DU drow's characterization!

That's all for now folks, thank you so much for the asks!!! This isn't all of them but I try not to spam people's feeds when I can help it/space them out. I see all of your messages and I guarantee you that if I have an interesting answer for them, you will see a reply eventually!