#but i have bigger chances of someone stumbling with this here than there

[toomanystoriessolittletime]

Rules

Summary: Joel wants you pregnant. And you want to have Joel's baby. And not even a big council meeting would stop the two of you from getting what you wanted.

Pairing: Raider!Joel Miller x fem. reader

Wordcount: 1.9k

Rating: E

Warnings: Raider!Joel who has his own little community, smut (public sex, unprotected sex), massive breeding kink, dirty talk, established relationship (kind of), unspecified age gap (around 15 years prob), massive exhibition kink, someone dies because he looks at reader for too long, so guns and death, mentions of drugs, Joel picks reader up and carries her away but this is fiction so Joel has super powers to carry anyone he likes anywhere because I say so

A/N: three fics, four days. I am going to hibernate into my horny jail now. Boop!

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It was getting dark and he still wasn’t back.

He told you he had the council meeting today, but you were running out of time. Every minute getting you farer away from the window you needed him to hopefully grant him his biggest wish. 

Making him a Dad. 

According to your calculations your fertile window for the month was closing and you needed him. 

Joel and you found each other almost a year after the outbreak. You, alone since you fled your college on outbreak day, stumbling towards the abandoned Ikea store in search of just something to drink or eat, Joel stepping in front of you before you could even reach the door, his hand wrapping around your neck, making you look at him as he questioned what you were doing. 

Even years later you felt like he was sent to you from a higher power to safe you. 

To feed you. 

To own you. 

To fuck you. 

You became his wife, not even a month after joining his little group, that now was bigger than ever before, people living in all the abandoned department stores around, living under his protection. 

You were his only wife, even though he allowed all his men to have as many wives as they pleased. 

He was pretty possessive about you, and you over him. Sure, you couldn’t actually do anything against him taking another wife if he wanted to, but he assured you from the beginning that he was a one wife kind of husband. 

And he demanded the same in return, not that you had a problem with that.

Joel was known to be a fair but ruthless leader. He had no time for bullshit and he didn’t give second chances. 

The power he wielded had become one of your biggest turn ons, fascinated how with a flick of his fingers, his men would dispose of every problem, every person he did not trust. 

There weren’t many rules around here. 

Listen to everything Joel says.

And don’t look at you the wrong way.

Something that you had to admit was hard when he was fucking you out in the open hallway. 

Most of his men knew not to look at you too long, no matter if it was in passing or when Joel was fucking you in front of them. 

You would look too, but you weren’t the one who would lose their cock or life for it. 

Glancing at the clock you knew your fertile window was closing. He had fucked you twice today already, but you didn’t want to waste more time. 

Standing up from the bed you took your clothes including your underwear off, grabbing a wrap dress he had found for you years before, wrapping it around your body. Pulling on some high heels he loved to see you in, looking at yourself in the mirror you gave yourself a small smirk, before you opened the door, waiting for your assigned guard of the day to step away from the door, before you started to walk towards where you knew Joel held his meetings. 

„This is becoming a real fucking problem. A problem I pay you for to get rid off. What the fuck is taking so long?“ Joel hissed, his jaw twitching as he sat at the edge of the table, legs wide spread, a glass of whiskey in his right hand. 

He had been stuck in this room with twenty of his men and nothing was going according to plan. 

It was moment like this he really missed Tess. She’d have this shit done weeks ago.

„More clickers than we planned for. We hope we’ll be done by the end of tomorrow,“ Sam, one of the men who had been with his group the longest assured, and Joel sipped on his drink. 

„I want the whole building cleared by the end of the week. Then I want you to extend the outer wall around it. We need more fucking space so we can extend the drug lab. Frank is expecting a new drop by the end of the month in exchange for more ammunition,“ he reminded them. 

„I’ll take care of it personally,“ Tommy said, who was sitting to his right, looking at him and Joel gave him a quick nod. 

„There are to many fucking assholes trying to get into this settlement. Too many to handle. Might be time to stop for a while,“ one of his other advisors spoke up but Joel wasn’t listening to anything after that, cause he heard the familiar clicking of your heels before the door opened and you walked in. 

A vision in purple silk, giving him a big smile as you walked into the room, the men around him staggering to their feet to show you their respect. 

„Please, don’t let me interrupt you. In fact, ignore my presence at all,“ you hummed, giving Tommy a quick peck to his cheek before you turned away from the table and straddled Joel’s lap, his hands coming to rest on your thighs. 

The conversation behind him opened up again, Tommy taking over while Joel stared at you. 

You made quick work of releasing the bow that held your dress together, letting the fabric part, his hungry eyes all over your naked body. One of his hands cupped one of your tits and you smiled at him. 

„Whatcha up to baby girl?“ He asked, already hardening in his pants. 

„Need you to cum in my wet little pussy again. Need you to fuck it deep inside of me so I can give you your baby,“ you leaned in, nibbling at his earlobe. He groaned as he tilted his head, his eyes closing for a moment as you kissed up his neck, his hands now both under your dress palming your ass roughly. 

When his eyes opened he found one of his newer men, Tom, looking at you, his eyes widening for a moment when he saw Joel had caught him, looking away quickly. 

„First strike,“ Joel’s voice boomed and you moaned before you kissed him, your hands in his hair, Joel’s eyes on Tom who had had the nerve to look at his wife. At you. 

Everyone knew the rules.

They look at you for too long, they die. He had lost a lot of men that way, but he didn’t fucking care. 

Your fingers were working on his zipper when the conversation in the room picked up again, one of the other men talking about the greenhouse and what shit they needed in the future. 

Boring. 

Joel grunted when your fingers wrapped around his cock, helping you pull his pants down a little so you could pull him out of his pants and he leaned down, sucking at you tits. 

„You gonna fight our kid for my milk huh,“ you teased and he bit into your nipple, making you moan. 

„Gotta get you pregnant first, baby girl,“ he sucked a bruised just above your right tit while you pumped his cock in your fist. 

„You gonna make me shoot all my men if you tease me like that one day,“ he grunted, bringing one hand between your legs, three fingers slipping inside of you with ease, a smirk coming to his lips. 

„My dirty little whore,“ he whispered against your ear and you gasped, your back arching against him, your dress falling down your shoulders, exposing your naked back to the room. 

Not that you cared. 

You loved when he fucked you in front of other people.

„Put your little pussy on this cock, baby girl,“ the fingers that had just been inside of you pushing into your mouth as you lifted your ass so you could line his cock up, sinking down on him slowly. 

„Fuck baby,“ you moaned and he leaned back in his seat, both of his hands now on your ass as he looked up at you. 

„Make yourself cum on this cock and I’ll fuck your ass later,“ he said and you whimpered as you began to ride him. Moving your hips on top of him, your hands on the armrests of his chair for leverage. He slapped your ass, hard, and you cried out. 

He watched you satisfied as you fucked yourself on his cock, before his eyes found someone behind you. 

„Don’t bother Elijah, his wife is super fucking pregnant. Find me tomorrow morning, and I’ll go,“ Joel said, still clearly listening to the conversation happening in front of him. You clenched around him and he looked at you again. 

„You get so fucking wet for me like this. Maybe I should always let you fuck me in my meetings. Would make them a whole of a lot more enjoyable,“ he hummed at you and you smiled. 

„You’d loose all your men within a week,“ you grinned, turning your head to look at Tommy. 

„Except Tommy,“ you hummed and the man looked at you, giving you a wink. 

„Tommy is family. He can look all he wants,“ Joel said and you winked back at Tommy before you focused back on Joel and began to bounce on top of him. The sound of skin slapping against skin and you moans filling the room. Joel played with your tits, pinching your nipple as you clenched around him. He pulled you against his chest, fucking up into you, his mouth against your ear. 

„Cum for me and I’ll fuck you on the table. And I’ll let everyone look when I put a fucking baby into your belly,“ he whispered and you moaned loudly as your orgasm washed over you, only realising that he had picked you up and sat you down on the table, when he had pushed your back down against the cold surface and began to drill his cock into you. 

„Watch how I fuck my slutty little wife full of my fucking cum,“ he grunted out with every thrust and you stretched your arms over your head, your tits moving with every hard thrust of Joel’s cock into you. 

„Joel,“ you moaned, crying out when he slapped your clit. 

„Gonna fuck you so full, you’ll be dripping all the way back to our rooms,“ he groaned, his eyes on you. 

„Shit baby,“ you whined and he groaned. 

„Watch,“ he grunted and you looked down, his cock pumping into you, your cum all over his cock, fucking you so hard the table was moving over the floor. 

„Shit,“ he moaned, his thrusts getting sloppier until he twitched and filled you with his cum, pumping it deeply into you. 

Still out of breath you gave him a dozy smile that he mirrored, before his eyes darkened, his gun in his hand the next moment, raising it up to shoot someone behind you. 

„Inform Tom’s family that he won’t be back,“ he said to no one in particular before he reached for you, helping you sit up. Apparently Tom had in fact not stopped looking at you before Joel gave his permission to look. 

He pulled the fabric of your dress back over your shoulders, his softening cock still inside of you, before he picked you up. 

„Meeting is dismissed,“ he called over his shoulder, before he carried you back towards your rooms. 

Where he fucked you once more to make sure it would finally take. 

[unoislazy]

Promises

Vi x Reader (Part One)

(Childhood friends to lovers)

You and Vi had been friends for as long as you could remember, which is why it took you by surprise she would make such a irrational decision without telling you.

A/N:Just a little something something. A prologue, if you will.

For as long as you can remember you’ve been part of the undercity. Such a fate never really bothered you. Your family life was broken and your chance of survival was quite low, but you miraculously had made some friends who looked out for you, and you did the same for them.

And among that group of friends was a girl whom you grew to care about to a deeper extent than you could ever even begin to fathom.

When she wasn’t out stealing or picking fights with people, she was with you, hanging out and having fun. Forgetting what horrors life in the caverns below the glistening city of progress held.

That girl, of course, was Vi.

You walked through the darkened streets of the city, your feet carelessly walking through puddles of water that was contaminated with liquids you’d rather not waste your thoughts on finding out. You kept your head down, avoiding eye contact with anyone looking to pick a fight, and keeping yourself as compact as possible incase you needed to book it. Such is the way of the fissures.

Your tensed state lasted only until you reached your usual hang out spot, The Last Drop. It was owned by Vander, a man with a big heart and even bigger gauntlets. He looked out for any kid that crossed his path, despite how weak it made him seem to some of the others around him, who grew restless with his complaisance in the grand structure of things.

That, however, did not concern you. All you cared for was seeing your best friend.

Just before you could fling the door open and make your usual obnoxious entrance, the door opened with a swift tug and almost caused you to stumble forward.

You looked up slightly and made eye contact with none other than Vi.

But something was wrong.

Something was very wrong.

Her eyes fluttered open a little wider than they normally rested, her pupils focusing on your quickly as she moved back a bit in the door way. Clearly she wasn’t expecting you.

“Vi, What’s up?” You asked, a smile on your face to mask your concerns but anyone with a brain could see past it without much effort. Your eyebrows creased as you realized she was no longer looking at you. The pink haired girl let out a quick sigh before grabbing your hand and moving past you.

“Come on.” She said in a quieter tone than normal. You of course followed suit with little to no arguments, your main concern was just figuring out what was wrong. It wasn’t long before she stopped, taking you both into an alley way only a few feet from the bar as she let go of your hand. You couldn’t help but notice the absence of warmth as she did, but you shook the thought from you head nonetheless as you looked back toward her.

“Vi?” You called out quietly, moving your face a bit more towards your line of sight, almost as if you were forcing her to look at you. This only resulted in another sigh before she took a pause. She wanted to say something.

She was dying to say something.

“Vi, whatever it is, would you just spill it. You’re killing me here.” You remarked sarcastically, trying to lighten the very clearly damper mood as you continued to stare at her.

She then, finally, turned back towards you. She moved her bandages hands gently on to both of your shoulders as she stared at you.

“You remember that job that went to shit topside right?” She asked, now looking you dead in the eyes. Her blue eyes seemed to care the weight of a lot of stress, a lot of which you knew she was keeping on herself as to not burden anyone else with it. How you wished she would listen to you when you said she could tel you anything.

You finally nodded in response to her question.

“Of course I remember, who doesn’t?” You replied in an obvious manner.

“Well, the enforcers want someone to take the blame for that crime.” She continued, her hands still gently grasping both your shoulders as if to keep you from running away. You were firmly planted regardless of whether she let go or not, what could possibly turn you away from her?

“Okay…? But it’s not like you had anything to do with it so why does that matter?”

It was then you watched as Vi’s lips pressed into a thin line. The crease in her brow faded as she looked at you with a softened gaze. Only then did it click for you.

“Wait so you… you’re going to let them take you?”

“It’s the only way to fix what’s happening.” She replied quickly as if she was prepared for your protests. However, it only further progressed your confusion.

“Fix what? What’s happening?” You asked.

Then it dawned on you, she was keeping things from you once again for the sake of “protecting” you. You absolutely despised when she kept you out of the loop with things she knew you’d want a hand in if you had known about.

“I can’t explain just-“ She tried to respond, but you cut her off.

“What do you mean you can’t explain? Just tell me.” You practically pleaded.

“Look it’s just… it’s a long story but I-“ She once again tried to excuse, only for you to cut her off.

“No, Vi. Why won’t you ever tell me anything until you’ve already made a decision! Did one else get a say in this? How are you so sure this fix anything?” You exclaimed. You could feel her grip on your shoulders ever so slightly tighten as our words became more laced with desperate anger.

“It will. It has to.” She responded simply, to which you retorted,

“And what if it doesn’t? Hm? What if it doesn’t fix anything, Vi. You know an enforcers word doesn’t count for shit how can you-“

“I have to try.” She once again responded simply.

“Vi please would you just-“ By now your anger has dwindled and you were just simply desperate to try and talk her out of this.

“I have to do this!” She shouted. You noticed she was no longer looking at you, but now at the floor.

“Why?” You exclaimed.

“Because it’s the only way to protect the people I care about from my own mistakes! I did this. This is my fault, I thought we were ready, I thought we could handle it but… but I was wrong. And now I’ve put them all in danger and I- I have to make up for this.”

You went quiet. Classic Vi. Taking the blame all to herself when there’s more than enough to go around. One could almost call her selfish.

“And what about me? Were you planning on telling me about this before you decided to throw yourself to the wolves?” You responded quietly.

“I figured it would be best if you didn’t know what happened.” She said, he words just barely above a whisper as her view slowly worked its way back up to your eyes.

“What so I could instead just, I don’t know, think you died?”

“I don’t know I just-“

“Maybe it’s better if I found out you gave yourself over and I had no idea.”

“Just-“

“Or Maybe, I would’ve been really dense about it and would’ve just thought you were really good at avoiding me. Maybe that’s the better outcome.”

“Stop!” She shouted, her hand had swiftly moved from your shoulders and planted firmly on either side of your face. She gently held you in place, keeping you looking at her.

“Just… stop. Okay, maybe I didn’t think it through very well but I just wanted to protect you… okay? In the only way I knew how.”

“You don’t have to protect everyone, Vi.”

She didn’t respond.

Classic Vi.

You sighed, knowing that she was dead set on her decision and nothing was going to change that. Not even you.

“Look. If you’re… really set on doing this you have to promise me one thing, okay?”

She looked back, a hopeful glint in her eyes.

“When you come back, and you will come back, you’ll start opening up more. Okay?”

This earned a slight chuckle from the pink haired girl as she looked towards you.

“And… promise you’ll come back.” You added on. The playful look in your eye faded as you realized there was no promising such a thing. You both knew fairly well that this was likely going to be the last time you’d ever see each other again. Both such is the way of a child, you held out on a naive string of hope.

Vi nodded carefully, as if deep in thought. Her eyes jumped from feature to feature on your face, committing it to memory as she the suddenly engulfed you in a hug.

“I promise.”

That was the last time you saw her. You don’t even know how many years it’s been since the incident. Once word spread that Vander and the others had died, you and everyone else assumed that meant Vi died along side them. You held out hope that maybe one day, she’d miraculously reappear, but as the years dragged on your focus strayed from your old friend and more onto your own survival.

The Undercity is an eat or be eaten kind of place.

What good would you fair Vi if you got eaten?

[holylulusworld]

Big Grumpy Bear - Family Day snippet

Summary: He’s grumpy. You are sweet. A match made in heaven.

Pairing: Alpha!Walter Marshall x OmegaReader

Warnings: a/b/o, a/b/o dynamics, grumpy alpha, tooth-rooting fluff, daddy Walter, hinted breeding kink, pregnant omega

A/N: A short drabble.

Big grumpy bear masterlist

Catch up here: Big grumpy bear – Mother’s Day snippet

“Daaaaadaaa!” Your baby boy slowly stumbles toward his father on wobbling legs. You hold your breath, almost choking on tears, because these are your son's first steps. “Dada…”

“Baby boy!” Walter gasps, watching his son slowly and unsteadily stumble toward him. The little boy holds out his chubby hands, eyes wide and wet because he has missed his father. “Look at you!” Your husband crouches down to hold out his arms for his son.

The little boy walks a little faster. It’s more stumbling than walking, but he’s too eager to scent his father, his alpha.

“There you are, my big boy,” Walter coos as he wraps his arms around his son and picks him up. He kisses the top of Walter Jr.’s head, sighing happily. “He grew again, Y/N.”

“Yes, he did.” You giggle and point at your baby girl on your lap. She looks in her father’s direction, close to tears. She pouts and holds out her hands for Walter. “Someone else missed you too, Alpha.”

“Baby girl!” Walter sits on the couch next to his daughter on your lap. He coos her name and runs his large hand over her head. “Did you miss Daddy too?”

She chokes out a sob. “I guess this means yes, Walter.” You softly say this while Walter helps his son sit on his right thigh while you help him place his daughter on his left thigh. He wraps his large arms around their small bodies to steady them. "We have all missed you, Walter.”

“I’ve missed you too, Omega,” he purrs your name and leans closer to your side to steal a kiss. “How do you feel today? Do you need me to rub your back?” His eyes drop to your middle. Walter smirks as you purse your lips. “It’s not my fault you didn’t want to wait for me to put a condom on.”

“If I recall right, Alpha,” you say, and poke his upper arm with your index finger. You took the chance to sneak into the shower with me, and I couldn’t get clean. You got me dirty all over again.”

Walter grins again. He hums and recalls the night you are talking about. “What’s one more bundle of joy? Right?” Walter nuzzles his nose into your neck. “I love having you round and full of my babies. You smell like me if you are having my pups.”

“You won’t put another into me after the third one popped out!” You point your index finger at your baby boy and then at your baby girl. “We are going to be outnumbered soon enough. No more babies.”

This time, Walter pouts. He furrows his brows and thinks about arguing with you, a pregnant and sleep-deprived omega. “I could lend you a hand, Omega. Let me handle the little rascals, and you can get some sleep.”

“No,” you huff. “There is so much to do. I need to get more blankets for the nest and change their diapers. Oh, and they need to eat before they go to sleep. Both need a bath too, and I think one of them peed on me.”

“Love, leave all of this to me,” he says, kissing your cheek. “I’ll handle it.”

“You want to breastfeed them too?” You challenge with a big grin on your face. “Walter, they don’t do hairy and muscular chests.”

“Now let me take care of our bundles of joy. I can handle everything but the feeding. I understand they want yours. I prefer them too.” His eyes drop to your chest, and he licks his lips. “They are perfect and bigger since you’re lactating.”

“Walter, no!” You warn and scoot away. “No more babies.”

Walter hums when you shake your head.

“Aw, sweet omega. I’ll always have you full of me...”

Tags in reblog.

[frannyzooey]

devour (the entire universe)

Ezra x f!reader

Rating: E (additional warnings: harvesting violence, mentions of gore and blood, mentions of cannibalism, love as consumption and all the visuals that come with it, so much fucking and filth and ass play and cum eating it isn’t funny)

My submission for the @pedrostories Secret Santa event, my giftee is @wannab-urs ❤ Merry Christmas, my lovely!

I was so excited when I was given your name (!!) - I absolutely love seeing you on my dash. I tried to take as many things from your list as possible, but the prompt "love as consumption" really inspired this piece. Having never written anything like this before, I really, really hope you like it. A million thank yous to @hier--soir who beta'ed this for me and also gave me the best inspiration and guidance - I couldn't have done it without them. Thank you also to @bageldaddy who put up with my terrible spelling and who always reminds me, in the best way, that less is more ❤

--

CYCLE ONE

The first time you saw him, he stumbled into the field you were working in.  Your head snapping up at the sound of someone coming through the grass, you observed each other for a moment, each of your throwers raised. 

“Now this is something I have never seen in all my time in The Green,” he said. “A little girl.”

Immediately bristling, indignation flashed across your face underneath the glass dome of your helmet. You resented being called that - a little girl. The open prejudice against women harvesters was well known and there was something about his tone that felt mocking in a way you loathed, so you didn’t even dignify his statement with an answer. 

Instead, you held your ground. 

The two of you locked in a silent standoff, he took you in with a tilt of his helmet, assessing the threat you posed. You did the same, taking in his battered yellow suit, his lithe but broad frame. 

Eventually, he lifted his hands in acquiescence and turned, disappearing back into the thick vegetation. 

“A little girl,” you muttered angrily to yourself. Gouging your shovel into the rough soil, you sneered at the remembrance of his tone – as if he was taken aback by your presence. As if you didn’t belong here. 

Three weeks later, you understood the marvel in his initial statement. 

A woman an anomaly on the Green, others saw you as an easy target. Strong-armed out of your gems for the third time in weeks, other harvesters used brute force against your own smaller frame. Repeatedly forcing you into submission, you started to hate both them and yourself; the cruel environment and even crueler inhabitants bending you until you almost broke. 

It was at this point that he stumbled upon you again: only this time, he offered himself to your aid. 

Impressed by your tenacity, he suggested a partnership: your nimble fingers paired with his protection. 

Sitting in the dirt with your suit torn and your case gone, you knew it was foolish to reject his offer of protection, but you did it anyway. 

Both of you knew it was pride talking.

He crouched down in front of you, bringing you face to face. “I don’t see you have much of a choice. Or perhaps you’re a bigger fool than I thought.”

You narrowed your eyes in stubbornness. “What’s in it for you?”

He shrugged. “A companion.”

You stiffened, and he shook his head. “Not that sort of companion.” His eyes raked over your form, as if he could see anything under your bulky suit, coming back to your face with a raise of his eyebrows. “Unless you’re interested?”

Your face hardened. “Not a chance. Protection only. Even split.”

He thought for a moment, his face suddenly transforming into something amenable.

“Of course.”

CYCLE TWO

At first, you hated him. 

Couldn’t stand the way he was always talking in that drawl of his, always spewing those endless sentences filled with nonsensical words and even less content. You had come to the Green to work alone in silence, after all. A concept he seemed to despise, given the way he wouldn’t fucking shut up. 

Attempting to ignore his ceaseless talking in the days that followed, you thought all the time about breaking the partnership - especially when you saw just how deceiving he could be with those words of his. It was a resource, you reasoned, to have that type of deception on your side, but what was stopping him from deceiving you? Constantly questioning his true allegiance, you kept your guard up – until the fourth time someone tried to take what was yours. 

He killed them. 

No hesitation, no negotiating. Calculated yet with a glimpse of something feral underneath that flashed in his dark eyes with every plunge of his harvesting knife into the man’s chest, you held your breath as you watched him take out the threat. Your form was frozen, the heavy grunts of his struggle echoing through your helmet. 

Chest heaving and fist gripping a blade covered in thick, dark blood when he rose, his breathing sounded heavy and labored through the radio. His deep voice crackled through, pulling you from your fog. 

“It’s okay, Birdie. Keep digging.”

CYCLE THREE 

Sharing a tent for logistical reasons, you had to get used to his…proximity. 

The careless way he discarded his clothes around the small space, the constant crinkle of Bits Bars. The way he changed his clothes in front of you whether or not you averted your gaze. His scent that clung to everything in that tent: the thin pillow and blanket he gave you, the towels you dried yourself with, the clothing he lent you to sleep in. 

Unused to having anyone in his presence, he was careless with his body and trying to give him some privacy (that he didn’t seem to want, nor need) you strained your eyes attempting not to look at his tanned skin every time he bared it. His body littered with evidence of survival, you wanted to touch every line of puckered skin with your fingertips just to see how it felt. 

Attraction due to proximity, is what you told yourself. 

Imagining the texture and heat of his skin, obsessing about the way his tongue peeked out to dart at his top lip when he was deep in concentration, staring at the size of his hands as he worked to daydream about how filling his fingers would feel inside you. The images haunted your every waking moment, and you tried to ignore them all, including the sleep thick mumbles that left his plush lips while he was dreaming at night. 

The intimate sound drove you mad with arousal, even though you assumed they were nightmares that plagued him…until the sounds changed into something more desperate. Until he said your name, his hips shifting on his cot with intent. 

Your pulse pounding in the dark, you slipped your hand beneath your waistband and delved your fingers deep into the silken wetness that greeted you. 

Swirling, swirling, swirling, you joined him in his dreams. 

CYCLE FOUR

Everything about your dynamic changed when he lost his arm. 

Used to him being confidence brimming over, he turned into something else. Sullen, quiet. The silence you once craved too foreign to be comfortable, you tried to coax him out. 

“You seem like you’ve been doing this a long time. Tell me about it.” 

“How long have you been on your own? How many planets have you harvested on?”

“How did you get that blonde streak in your hair, is it a birthmark or something?”

Slowly inching yourself into the hole he’d lowered himself into, you settled in next to him, curling yourself into his still side. 

Diving deep inside him to find the self-confidence you knew was buried deep, you cradled it carefully, nurturing it back to life. You modified his throwers for one armed use, stitched up the sleeve of his jumpsuit so it would stop flapping in the wind, helped him practice fighting techniques to learn a new way of throwing his lean strength around. When he had a setback in his healing, you bartered for more juice all on your own. 

Carefully soaking his stump, he had avoided your gaze the whole time – or tried to, but you wouldn’t let him. 

“Hey,” you murmured, his chin cupped in your hand. His dark eyes lifted to yours, and you held his gaze. “We’re still partners, right?”

He huffed in disgust, looking away. “A one armed man is of little benefit to you.”

“I decide what’s beneficial to me,” you challenged, the fierceness in your tone forcing the edge of his lips to tug up. 

He said nothing as his eyes searched your face and you considered how this must be for him – a reversal of roles, an independent creature like him used to coming out on top. Scrambling and clawing and fighting for it, sure – only this time he lost, and with it, everything he knew.

Except you. 

“I need you,” you said, reaching for his whiskered cheek to guide his face back to yours. “Partners. You and me, okay?”

“If you’d still have me, Birdie,” he offered, nodding in confirmation. “You and me.”

CYCLE FIVE

The first time you kissed, you were both drunk – and you did a lot more than kissing. 

For a man still getting used to one arm, he fucked you senseless. 

A bottle of…something found on the body of another harvester who saw Ezra’s missing arm and tried to take advantage, the two of you drank it in its entirety next to the still body left in the fight’s wake. Stumbling back to your tent with warmth spreading through your limbs to pool between your thighs, he saw your aching, restless want and matched it with his own. 

Insatiable, filthy, depraved: you thought his inhibitions were gone along with the contents of the bottle, but it turns out he never had any. 

Helmets tossed and clothes torn from each other’s bodies, his fingers left bruising marks in their wake paired with the ones pounded into the inside of your thighs from his rough thrusts that shifted the cot along the floor. He swallowed your guttural moans before matching them with his own, his teeth biting into the soft, pliant flesh that he found under the rough exterior of your suit. 

Riddled with the marks of his desire, he watched you ride him until you cried out his name and then made you sit on his face, licking his own spend out from inside you. 

Never stopping until you begged him for reprieve, he only let you sleep an hour before waking you up to do it all over again. 

He fucked you anywhere you were willing to be fucked after that: in broad daylight against the hull of an abandoned pod, bent over his cot with his dirty t-shirt stuffed into your mouth, right in the loose soil of a dig once. 

Introducing you to so much more than you had experience with, he drew every debased fantasy out of you, and then made it come true with his fingers, mouth and cock. Wondering where he’d even learned the things he knew, he regaled you with more tales of his travels, only this time he told you about the interactions of a different kind. 

A brothel, specializing in bondage. 

A woman who had trained her gag reflex, and then bringing in a friend, had shown Ezra how to train his as well. 

A bounty hunter once, who refused to take off his helmet. 

“It was thrilling, not being able to see his face,” he mused, a delighted smile stretching his cheeks. “He came more than anyone I have ever been with. Filled my mouth full of his milky desire.” 

He stopped there with a fond expression, lost in reminiscing. 

“Sounds like you don’t need me anymore,” you teased. “You should go find your tall drink of bounty hunter, and –”

A smirk graced his face, and he rolled you onto your back to settle above you. “I love my gems golden colored, but I love them green as well.” He winked. “Come now, my envious Birdie. I’ll always need you.”

CYCLE TEN

You learned to move as one - both inside the tent and out. 

Alone for months, you shifted with each others every movement, as if your bodies were connected just like the frequency of your helmets. Every tell of his showed plain through his suit, every mood shift of yours was met with a lift of his eyebrow. 

Every beat of time spent in the presence of one another all merged and blended into one timeline: before, and after Ezra. 

Before, there was insignificance, and after, there was only him. 

Love seemed too simple a word, too small for what you felt. You shared a heartbeat, a body, a mind — something more than just love. It was crushing and all consuming, something that took root deep inside you and branched out to connect with his own limbs. You needed a better word than love to describe your devotion. 

Something that dripped in reverence and coated your tongue just like he did. 

“Have you ever cared for someone so much you wanted to consume them? Swallow a piece of them whole, to keep within you forever?”

Love as consumption, he called it. 

You were used to his musings by now, the knowledge that he’d gathered over a lifetime of travels pouring out of his generous, plush mouth. Your bodies squeezed together on his cot, your skin was bare and sweat damp with exertion, your limbs intertwined with his. “There is something romantic about it, don’t you think? Wanting their body within yours.”

“Your body is already within mine nearly every night,” you teased, and he pinched the tip of your nose, grinning. 

“Too true, little bird. Too true.” His face shifted from playful to something subdued. “But you know what I mean.”

“Is that what you want me to do?” Your thumb traced a line across his eyebrow, your fingers seeking out the patch of white in his hairline just above.  “Want me to slice a piece of you off and eat it?”

He ignored the grimace on your face. “Which part of me would you choose?”

The question was phrased in such a way that you could tease him again, but you knew he wanted a real answer, not a playful one. 

“Well…” you thought, lacing your fingers with his to bring them to your mouth. “I have always loved these. But to leave you with any less fingers would just be cruel.”

He huffed a laugh, his eyes fixed on the way your mouth molded around his knuckles as you gave them a kiss. Letting go, your touch drifted to dance along the blunt edge of his stump.

“Maybe a piece from here?”

He frowned. “You’d take even more from me, in a place I am already lacking?”

Your voice dropped an octave, your own expression turning solemn. “It was horrible, what we had to do. I hate thinking about it: the weight of your arm as it dropped away, the pain you were in.” You found his dark eyes, holding his gaze as you stroked the puckered flesh. “I want to carve a piece out right here, just to rewrite the memory of it. A gift from you to me, rather than something I took.”

“You took nothing that I did not beg you to take.”

The double meaning in his words – like all of them – wasn’t lost on either of you. 

“Only you would make amputation sound so romantic.”

He smiled, and you dug your fingers into the firm round of his shoulder, pulling his body to lie on top of yours. Cradled safely between your plush thighs, his hips immediately rocked forward with intent. 

His head dipped to nuzzle his nose against your own. “It’s easy to be a romantic with a muse such as you.”

Catching him with a kiss, your lips locked as he slid his tongue inside the wet cavern of your mouth and you breathed him in, winding your arms around his neck to keep him in place. Your fingers slid up through the crown of his mussed, shortly cropped hair and he relaxed on top of you, deepening the kiss. 

“I would give you my arm if I could.” 

You whispered your confession as his mouth covered your pulse with a harsh suck, and whined when he answered with a sharp bite: his incisors pinching your delicate flesh. His hot breath ghosted humid over your skin as he searched for another spot, biting down on the other side of your slim neck. 

Arching underneath him, you continued. “I would cut it off and give it to you.” 

He found the tender underside of your breast, catching it between his teeth and groaned, soothing the bite with a broad sweep of his tongue before continuing down the plane of your body. 

“I would give you anything, Ez. Anything.”

Mindless with lust from the sharp edges of his love, you writhed underneath him, hitching your knees higher along his torso. His strong muscles flexed and shifted under the squeeze of your legs, and he forced them open to spread your legs wider. Questing, his mouth sought out the tender skin along the curve of your hip with another bite. 

“Fuck,” you breathed, pushing your fingers through his hair to guide him lower. 

Situating his broad shoulders between your thighs, his mouth devoured.

Wide open to catch everything you gifted him, his tongue slid smoothly through your folds to collect every slip of arousal that dripped out, his throat bobbing with a swallow before going harder. His hunger shifted you up the cot, the lower half of his face buried inside your aching cunt and when his tongue found your clit with a smooth, forceful grind, you shamelessly begged for more. 

“Harder. Eat it harder.”

He growled, his fingers digging into your flesh to tug you tight against his face and a hoarse cry crawled out of your throat – one that broke into an astonished cry when he pulled back just to bite into the plush, smooth skin of your inner thigh. This one drew blood – you could feel the hot slip of it against your skin, his kisses smeared with it. Ignoring the blossoming throb of pain, you asked him to do it again. 

He did, right at the same time he slid two fingers inside you with a filling stretch and joining your hand with his, he rested his cheek on your inner thigh and watched as your fingers breached your slick warmth together. A finger of your own and one of his, then two of your own and two of his - your hands worked together, as they always have. His face right next to the liquid warmth coating the digits, his tongue joined to lap at your clit. 

Obscene sounds filled the small tent: the audible slick sound of your cunt accepting his fingers over and over again, your higher pitched moans blending with his lower ones. Keeping his fingers tucked snugly inside, his mouth lowered down between your cheeks to slide against your asshole and he ate you there with abandon as well, your thighs dropping open wider to give him more room. 

When his mouth found your clit again with a suck, the impulse to be eaten alive by him spread thick and warm through your hips, weighing heavily in your core. Propelled higher and higher with every pump of his fingers, the image of his blood soaked mouth as his teeth tore into your pulse made you pitch forward into your release, your body bowing against the thin cot. 

Breathless and still riding a pulsing wave, you begged him. “Come up here and fuck me.”

He obeyed immediately, letting his weight push the air from your lungs just before his mouth stole the rest. His kisses soaked in desperation, his cock notched thick and stiff at your entrance, and you accepted him within you without any resistance. Fucking you with harsh snaps of his hips, your fingers dug into the meat of his ass and surrounded in his warmth with the light blacked out by his broad frame, your lips found a home on his bicep that flexed taut next to your cheek.

Your body cradled within his, the humid air around you pulsing with life. The rhythmic woosh of his strong heartbeat, the safety you’d feel within the damp darkness, finally joined as one. 

His strokes snapped harder, his own want matching yours. His mouth ached to bite your soft lips, to nibble on the skin until it broke under the force of his love. 

His harvesting knife slipped between his ribs to crack them open, gifting you everything held inside. Feeding you bits and pieces of his heart, watching the muscle that’s only ever beat for you disappear between your lips. 

“Where do you want it, Birdie?” he begged above you, his mouth molding around the hinge of your jaw, tasting the sweet skin there. “I’m gonna come. Shit – shit. Where do you want it?”

“Inside me.”

A shudder slipped through his body as he came with a loud, sated groan, his hips forcing themselves into the cradle of your thighs to bury it as deep as possible – but he wasn’t done. He was never done, when it came to you. Before he could catch his breath, he slid his softening cock from your warmth and replaced it with his fingers, crooking them to gather the milky spend. 

Bringing them up to your mouth, he fed it to you. 

Glistening tendrils of release coated his fingers and your lips, smeared across your tongue when he forced them into your mouth and then sliding them out, he kissed you deeply, savoring your joined taste. He gathered more, this time shifting his touch to the tight ring of your ass and he pushed some in there as well, your hips arched up to accept it. 

Sweat, spend, blood: he consumed them all and likewise fed them to you. Hours slipped by, his appetite for you insatiable: forcing you onto your hands and knees to eat you roughly from behind, filling your ass with his cock before pulling out to spill hot across your lower back, smearing it over your skin like a balm, his fingers tacky with it when he wrapped them around your slender throat and made you take him again. Riding him, your fingers sought out the wet heat of his mouth and he kissed and nibbled on them, before drawing them in with a suck. 

The vast universe outside the tent was a threatening thing: harsh and unforgiving, ruthless and deadly. Inside the tent, tendrils of filthy intimacy surrounded your bodies as you orbited each other, creating your own universe between the sweat damp press of your bodies. 

“You and me,” he breathed under you, his teeth catching on the pads of your fingers and you dropped down, resting your mouth just under the whiskered curve of his jaw. His pulse a rapid beat under the skin, you relished the strength held just under the surface. 

“You and me,” you replied, your mouth opening wide.

[cosmicdahlias]

A Tale of Two Outlaws

an arthur and john x reader fic

MINORS DNI

You’ve drunk yourself into a stupor, Arthur takes you back to camp and John preposes a devilish idea.

warnings: dubcon, mild age gap with arthur (reader is in their 20’s), drunk sex, threesome, scratching, impreg, baby trapping, hangover

it’s pretty obvious by the end who i favor more hshxbdhdjdhd

Arthur kept a hand around your shoulder as you stumbled out of the saloon. He struggled to keep you on your feet.

“Jesus girl, how many drinks did you have?” Arthur asked, catching you as you almost tumbled to the ground.

“Bleventeeeeeen.” You smiled.

Arthur took his face in his hands. “Good god almighty, I told you to take it easy. You know you’re a lightweight.”

“I jus’ wan’ed to have a little fun, Mr. Morgan.” You slurred, giving him your best doe eyes.

“Yeah, and you’re gonna be sick as a dog come mornin’.”

“How come you ain’t drunk?” You asked.

“Cause I’m bigger than you and I wasn’t drinkin’ like someone was comin’ to saw my leg off.”

Arthur hoisted you onto his horse’s saddle.

“Wha’ ‘bout my horse?” You asked, still slurring your words.

“You’re too damn drunk to ride, we’ll come back for her in the mornin’ after you’ve had a chance to sober up.”

Arthur made his way back to camp with you against his back, your arms wrapped around his waist. You may or may not have fallen off his horse a few times.

“You’re gonna be bruised and cut up to hell tomorrow, you know that?” He said as he helped you up.

“Heh heh, battle scars.”

When you finally arrived Arthur went to pull you off his horse and you slumped over, once again falling off, you had passed out. He held you and gently tapped your cheek, trying to revive you.

“Hey, hey, y/n, come on girl.”

You opened your eyes, struggling to keep them that way. “BUH! I’M AWAKE!”

John overheard the commotion and walked over.

“Jesus, they look like hell. What’d you do to them, Arthur?” John asked.

“Ask them.” Arthur retorted.

You lifted your head up. “Eheheheheh, I got WASTED, John!”

“Yeah, no shit. You really can’t handle your booze.” John responded.

Arthur shrugged. “They were really on a mission to be the dumbest they could be.”

“Don’ y’all go judgin’ me.” You said with a hiccup, flopping out of Arthur’s arms onto the ground.

Arthur sighed, pulling you to your feet. “Alright come on, you think you can stand?”

“I’m a standin’ professional.” You said, immediately falling on your face.

Arthur threw up his hands and shook his head. “What the hell am I gonna do with you?” He said, scooping you into his arms again.

“Funny you should mention Arthur, cause I’ve been thinkin’. Remember what we was talkin’ about the other day? I mean come on, look at them. They ain’t gonna be able to say no, bet they’d like it actually.” John said, stroking your cheek with his thumb.

“Shit, Marston, you got some good ideas every now and then.”

Arthur dipped his head down and kissed you roughly, you grabbed at his neckerchief, pulling him closer.

John scoffed. “I fuckin’ knew it, you want this so bad. Should’a known, seein’ the way you walk ‘round camp, findin’ any reason to bend over in front of us.”

Arthur smirked devilishly. “Yeah, you have any idea what you do to the men here? What we say about you? You don’t wanna know the kinda shit that comes out of Micah’s mouth. We all want you, girl, every single one of us.”

“Are we just gonna stand here talkin’ or are we gonna actually do this?” John asked.

“Damn, you can be so impatient.”

Arthur carried you to your tent, he closed the curtains and set you down on the cot. You drunkenly fumbled with your clothes, attempting to take them off.

“Poor thing, too drunk to even strip. Let me help you princess.” Arthur said, kissing your neck.

Arthur unbuttoned your blouse and took off your skirt, he unhooked your bra and slid your knickers down your legs. You laid back, completely exposed to the both of them. John was the first to speak.

“Jesus fuckin’ christ, so that’s what you’ve been hidin’ under them clothes.” He said, unbuttoning his trousers, pulling his cock out and moving to spread your legs.

Arthur put out a hand. “Easy there, John, don’t get ahead of yourself. They need to be taken care of first.”

“Suit yourself, Arthur, I’ll be puttin’ that mouth to good use.”

Arthur pulled you to the edge of the cot and sank to his knees, slowly inserting his fingers inside you. John turned your head to face him and wasted no time shoving his cock in your mouth, gripping your hair.

“Tastes good, don’t it?” John said as he bucked into your mouth.

“Mhmf.” You nodded, mouth full of cock.

Arthur put his mouth to your clit, sucking and licking furiously. You moaned and reached your hand down to grab a fistful of his locks.

”Atta girl.” Arthur purred.

He curled his fingers at your g-spot and you moaned around John’s cock.

“Fuck, Arthur, I don’t know what you just did, but keep doin’ it. When you make them moan like that it feels stupid good on my dick.”

John increased his speed, fucking your mouth relentlessly. Arthur sucked hard on your clit, you bucked your hips into his mouth.

You felt your orgasm build, arching your back off the cot. Arthur could sense it, picking up his pace with his tongue and fucking you harder with his fingers. You salivated on John’s cock as you came all over Arthur’s face.

“Good girl.” He said softly, kissing your clit.

Arthur got to his feet and picked you up, his hands holding the underside of your thighs and you wrapped your arms around his neck while John came up behind you. Arthur slipped himself in first, John attempted to follow, but struggled to get it in.

You shifted nervously. “I- I don’ know if both’a y’all’ll fit.”

“Shhh, you can do it girl, just relax.” Arthur cooed.

John grunted as he made a second attempt, successfully entering you. You whimpered from the arousing and painful sensation of being stretched out by both of them. They began to move in you, trying to fuck you at a synchronized rhythm.

“Good girl, I knew you had it in you.” Arthur praised.

You were moaning nonstop, they both felt so goddam good.

“You hear the noises they’re makin’?” John asked.

“God, those sounds are so fuckin’ adorable. You really enjoyin’ yourself, ain’t you, babygirl?” Arthur said.

“Fuck, I should get drunk more often.” You said, burying your face in Arthur’s neck.

“If you’re always gonna be this fun, I’m all for it, girl.” John chuckled.

“You know, we was startin’ to think you was just a tease and that you didn’t really want none, that maybe you was a virgin.” Arthur said, grunting.

You laughed. “Oh you should’a seen me when I was younger, passed around more than a bottle of liquor. Worked out nicely cause now I know what men like y’all want and I know my way around a cock. Hell you think Dutch just let me join on a whim? Nah, I had him barkin’ like a dog.”

“Goddam, you’re a freak.” John said.

Arthur kissed your neck. “You startin’ to make me jealous of Dutch.”

Both of them started thrusting into you faster, trying to match each other’s speed. Arthur dug his nails into your thighs as John reached around to feel up your breasts.

“Fuck, you’re gonna make me cum and I ain’t cummin’ in you, I already learned my lesson with that.” John panted.

He pumped faster, his breathing becoming strained, pulling out and cumming all over your back, biting into your neck. His cum dripped onto the floor.

John stretched, buttoning his pants. “Well thanks for all the fun, girl, but I don’t see any point in stayin’ after cummin’.” He said while making his way out.

“Good, I was kinda hopin’ he’d give us some time alone.”

Arthur carried you to the cot and set you down on your stomach. He took a rag and wiped John’s cum off of you.

“There, sorry about that, John doesn’t always think of the ladies first.”

He turned you over, kissed you passionately and entered you again. He resumed his pace, his hands pinning your wrists. He pumped his cock into you roughly. You kissed him and he moaned into your mouth.

He started pulling himself fully out and slamming back into you just to hear you squeal, you raked your nails down his back and he let out a loud groan.

“Good girl, mark me. Make me yours.”

You moved yourself against him.

“Nnngh, fuck. That’s it, work those hips back on me.”

His breathing hitched, hips stuttering.

“I’m so close, you gonna let me cum in you?”

“I need it, Arthur.”

“That’s right, tell me how much you need me to cum in you, get you pregnant even.”

You tightened around him at his words, something about him wanting to impregnate you up was incredibly hot.

“Y-you want to knock me up?”

”Shit, I’ve wanted you for so long, if I have to fuck a baby into you to make it happen, so be it. Now c’mon, say it, tell me you want me to put a baby in you.”

“Nnh, I want your baby. I need your baby, Arthur.”

That absolutely did him in. He fucked you at a breakneck pace, the cot squeaking underneath you.

“Fuckin’ GOD!” He growled through gritted teeth.

He panted, getting a last few thrusts in before cumming deep inside you. He collapsed on top of you and laid there, cock still inside you without speaking.

Arthur kissed you as he finally pulled out. “You done good, girl. You want me to get you dressed and I can take off?”

“Mmmn, can you stay?” You mumbled through your exhaustion.

“Good choice, I was hopin’ you’d- wait, hold on.”

Arthur rummaged around in his satchel and pulled out a pencil and his journal. He grabbed a chair and sat down in front of you.

“Lay on your side and pose for me.”

You blushed, you’d always hoped he would include you in his journal. You turned to face Arthur and tried to emulate the poses of the girls you saw in those erotic pictures that the men passed around camp. He started to sketch you.

“That’s it, good girl. Put a hand on your tit. Yeah, just like that. Now try not to move.”

“You gonna use this to cum to later?”

“When I’m gone for days and you’re not around? Yes. I got needs, girl, and I’m not about to fuck some whore. I like you too much to lose you over something like that.”

“So, what you’re sayin’ is…”

“Yes, I plan on courtin’ you. I caught feelings for you and if my cum is worth anything I’m stayin’ with you for good, I ain’t no deadbeat.”

He sketched you in silence, the only sound being of his pencil against the paper. You yawned.

“Aww, tired ain’t you? Don’t worry I’m almost done, then I’ll let you cuddle up with me.”

After roughly 30 minutes he finally finished. He turned the journal to you.

“What d’ya think? Not as good as the real thing, but I think I captured you pretty well.”

You blushed. You looked absolutely gorgeous. Was this how he saw you?

“It’s perfect, Arthur.”

“Good, I’m glad to hear that. Now scooch over so I can hold you.”

You made space for him on the cot. He laid down and took you in his arms, your head on his chest. He sighed deeply, stroking your hair.

He had figured for a while that you found him attractive, but he assumed it never went deeper than that. He always felt something for you ever since he met you. So for you to want him to stay, want his baby, was everything.

You nuzzled into his chest as sleep embraced you, he kissed your forehead. Arthur watched you for a while, listening to the soft sounds of your breathing. He thought you looked so cute and peaceful asleep.

He could almost forget that you were a dangerous outlaw, sometimes more dangerous than him. He liked that, your fiery spirit was what drew him to you.

He fought sleep as long as he could, not wanting this moment to end, but eventually his eyelids grew heavy and sleep overtook him.

-

You awoke in Arthur’s arms the next morning to a splitting headache and intense nausea. You bolted to a wastebasket and promptly vomited. Arthur held your hair away from your face, rubbing your back.

“Have we learned why we don’t drink half our weight in liquor?” He asked.

“Fuck you, Arthur.” You said between retches.

“Already did last night and I’ll do it again.”

“If I wasn’t so focused on keeping things down I’d strangle you right now.”

He smirked. “Is that a promise?”

Weeks later the nausea would return, this time ceaseless, on the daily. Arthur had lived up to his word about getting you pregnant. You were gonna be his forever.

[phantomtwitch]

Masterpost

PhantomTwitch | 30-something | she/her

Hi! Welcome to my blog! It's only taken me over a decade to finally do this. I love cartoons and writing and all kinds of other things, and I have the kind of lame sense of humor that makes three year olds laugh hysterically and anyone older than ten roll their eyes most of the time.

This place is a disorganized disaster (kind of like my brain), with this post probably the closest thing to any sense of order I've tried to impose on it. Below are links to my various writings, as Tumblr's search bar sucks and most of you are probably members of the phandom that stumbled across one of my works somewhere and came looking for more.

(Though whether that's the case or not, you're welcome either way!)

I write a lot and genuinely love it. The only part of writing I actually hate is coming up with titles and summaries. Sometimes I get a decent flash of inspiration for a title, other times? Ehhhhh.

I'm happy to answer any asks and will, like many, happily ramble on endlessly about my fics.

I rarely post WIPs, so unless noted, all of the works below are completed as of this time and on AO3.

Danny Phantom Fanfics

Echoes

There was something wrong with Danny Fenton.

Nearly eighteen months after a lab accident left him hospitalized, his friends and family assumed he was still recovering from the side effects of his near-death experience. But after witnessing Danny do something ghostly, they begin to suspect something much more sinister is afoot and set out to save their friend from the clutches of the evil ghost possessing him.

As The Ice Begins to Crack

Little by little, as the public’s perception of him changed, Danny’s ghost form continued to reflect it. He looked more human every day, more confident, and more like the superheroes from the comics they used to read on the floor of Danny’s room as kids. As the months passed there was a moment when Tucker began to forget, to wonder if what he saw when Danny first stepped out of the portal that day was nothing more than a nightmare.

Inspired by this post on tumblr from paenling

Doubt Comes In

For InvisoBang 2023.

When Danny Fenton returns on the first day of spring after being kidnapped by the Fright Knight, something is off. His teeth are too sharp, his skin is too pale, and when he’s angry, the lights flicker as a harsh chill and the scent of ozone permeates the air as if heralding an approaching storm. There are moments when he is impossibly still, more statue than flesh, more ghost than human, and little by little everyone wonders if the child sitting in their midst is truly still Danny at all.

Scars He Hides

For Ecto-implosion 2023.

The portal accident left Danny with scars that glow whether he's Fenton or Phantom. He's done his best to hide them, but it's only a matter of time before someone finds out his secret.

Beyond the Grave

For Ecto-implosion 2023.

At the start of his freshman year, Danny Fenton disappeared. But much as Dash didn’t care and preferred to focus on football, it’s hard to avoid thinking about it after seeing Fenton dig himself out from an unmarked grave in the woods.

What We Have Been is What We Are

Based on this tumblr prompt from MadameTamma here

Maddie has a near death experience when an invention blows up on her in the lab. Her spirit is suddenly thrust from her body, and Clockwork appears to guide her down the Path, presenting her with a chance to learn from her past as her life flashes before her eyes. Little by little there are signs that she's missed something, that there's something off with Danny, and she finds herself risking her very existence to learn the truth.

So You Have Wished It

Something is wrong. Something has changed.

The signs start off so small, so easy to dismiss, but little by little it begins to spiral until Sam can't ignore it anymore and she's forced to face reality once again.

(This is a one-shot from part of a bigger AU I am working on currently)

My Body Is a Cage

For Angst Fest 2023

His friends aren't sure how much longer they can keep this a secret. Every time a ghost appears, Danny dies again. And every time Danny dies, they bring him back.

It doesn't help that no matter how much they try to explain to Danny what's happening, the truth never sticks.

Unnamed Electric Core OneShot

Currently on Tumblr only, now a bigger WIP, but this can still be read on its own. Another No One Knows AU with the ghosts being creepier than in canon.

Unnamed WIP

Currently on Tumblr only, this was inspired by yet another MadameTamma prompt where Danny does not remember being human. Body Horror fic and currently a WIP.

[llamagoddessofficial]

I hope I'm not unwelcome here, I was wondering. How do you think the boys would react to a siren MC that was another variety of deep sea siren~? I've been writing a fic with the reader as a deep sea eel siren and it's on my mind since I adore your siren au thoughts!

Ohoooooo

I fuckin love the concept of a gorgeous, dangerous eel Mc. Sleek and dark and powerful. I feel like a deep sea Mc would be bigger than her pelagic counterpart... much closer to the skeletons in size. Not to mention, she’d have some other unique traits, like heightened senses and bioluminescence. 

Sans: She is, for once, something he isn’t used to seeing on his usual menu. Orca are surface dwellers. She’s a curiosity; he adores curiosities. Especially pretty ones. He’s cautious, because she’s clearly a predator, he works slowly... stalking her from a distance, then approaching fast and ducking away at the last second, baiting her into lashing out so he can see how her attacks work. It doesn’t take him long to figure out what her deal is. He’s enamoured with this beautiful, fierce novelty from the deep.

Sans frightens her. He didn’t, at first; he looked like a puny version of the much bigger, much toothier whales who occasionally make the long journey to her depths. But then he started moving- and she realised his danger wasn’t his body, it was his adaptability. He could kill her if he wanted to.

And yet... there’s something about his intelligence. Something about his powerful form as he swims. Something about his unreadable calm, soft smile around her, razor sharp eyelights taking in every detail... she can’t help it, she’s drawn to him. 

Red: ... C’mon. We know this dance by now. She’s big, she’s beautiful, she’s strong- not only that, but she’s mysterious and elegant, a dangerous predator from the depths all decorated in glittering lights. It’s like he’s at a cocktail party and a 6ft buff woman just walked in, wearing a black velvet dress and diamonds- he’s shootin his shot, and nothing will stop him. He likes his ladies capable of killing him. He makes a couple stupid eel-related pickup lines (“girl, are you a coral-dwelling eel? cus you’re my a-moray.” “I’m a conger, not a m- wait,”) and her baffled flustered reactions just cement his growing interest.

Red is... a lot. Not necessarily in a bad way. He keeps shocking her by making her laugh (“gulper? jeez, i hardly know her.”) and she likes the company and conversation. Deep sea sirens don’t tend to do the whole ‘group’ thing, but that doesn’t mean it can’t get lonely, down there in the endless night. 

She also likes the patterns on his body- you don’t see many pretty markings when you live in near pitch-black. He likes when she can’t help but touch them.

Skull: Finally. Finally. Another creature from the deep, another siren like him, who understands his mannerisms and his way of life. A siren who’ll see him as kin, who won’t view him as some kind of strange, unknowable alien. Being around her makes him soft and giddy, he lights up his bioluminescence any chance he gets, he enjoys having that point of bonding with her (he’s smug the others don’t understand their secret language of lights). He gets the overwhelming sensation they were meant to be together... the abyss is so huge, so endless, and yet somehow they found one another? It can’t be chance. The stars aligned. He knows her smell now- he’ll follow her wherever she goes.

A deep sea Mc would definitely feel more comfortable around Skull than she does around the other two sirens. They’re so similar, and she’s much more used to monsters like him; big, dark, strong, slow. She’s still careful around him considering he’s the more frightening apex predator where they’re from- being familiar with something doesn’t make it any less dangerous. But when his tentacles flash and she flashes back, it feels like stumbling across someone who speaks your mother tongue in a land full of strangers.

[cabinofimagines]

Cryptozoology Ver. 1.2. [FULL]

Happy Birthday Danny!!!! This is the FULL version of both Cryptozoology and the newly written additional content. If you've read those before- there is like 200 words extra in here, if you haven't go ham! This is a LONG fic (for our doing on this blog- I'm assuming nobody will read this because you never do read the bigger fics)

Pairing: Leo Valdez x gn!reader, this is a solangelo fic at it's heart Request: That's between me and Danny's chat, as many things. Word count: 7.5k Warnings: None!

-Asnyox

Will Solace cared for his friends, making sure that they ate enough, slept enough, and were happy. However, to Will’s chagrin, there was only one thing that at the moment would get Leo Valdez to eat, sleep and be happy. It was the exam period and Leo simply was not listening, unless Will would get him a significant other- something that Leo thought would only happen after pigs learned to fly, but Will had other plans... 

“Leo, I promise I will get you a lover soon enough!” Will waved his hands, “You just have to trust the genius that I am!” “Sure thing,” Leo scoffed, “And how will you do that?” “I have a plan.” Will assured his friend, “I simply need an appropriate candidate.” 

And perhaps he already had one. He didn’t even need to try too hard to stage the first meeting and start Leo’s infatuation. Will passed you on your way out, went straight to Leo’s, and forced him to take a break. While Leo was out he watched the first meeting through the window of Leo’s dorm.

The first time Leo Valdez met you was at two in the morning.

It was mid exam season, and you had decided that maybe you should take a walk to clear your mind a little. Nothing crazy- maybe just around the dorms, take a deep breath outside and go back to your room. The lights outside of the dorms were broken, so you just found the closest tree and stood against it, facing the door towards the dorms.

Suddenly a Latino boy walked out, looking like he had not slept for the entirety of exam season. As he stretched, he spotted you from the corner of his eye. However, you were not feeling like interacting with the Leo Valdez, who was known to be able to keep a conversation going and you sort of were ready to go back to bed. So, as he squinted into your direction, trying to identify you, you quickly took three steps back and hid behind the tree. You had never actually held a conversation with Leo, but that did not mean you didn’t think he was cute, and you did not want to meet him like this. Hence, you did the only logical thing that your sleep deprived mind could think of. As Leo slowly circled around the tree you were standing behind, you circled the other way and dashed for the door when it was in sight.

Leo was certain only moments ago there was someone underneath this tree – he could have sworn¸ but as he circled the tree, his earphones still blasting music, there was no one. Leo was disappointed, whoever this person was they looked good- and he thought that maybe it was that one person that always managed to slip away from his conversations. There were only about 5 people on the floor he had never talked to, and he wanted this to be his chance, what better moment to meet his possible love-of-his-life than two in the morning? Leo sighed sadly as he removed his earphones, just in time to hear doors close. He quickly stumbled backwards, tripping on his own feet as he tried to catch a glimpse of whoever was there. Looking up from the leaves on the ground, he stared at the treetops, wondering what he just met.

 And Will felt very content with what just happened. The target acted just as Will had suspected, hiding away from Leo, and Will could not wait until Leo’s sleep-deprived brain would start acting its magic. Sure, Will might’ve been unaware of their name, but he had seen them around in the cafe where he worked and he just knew they would be a good fit for Leo.

“Dude!” Leo stormed into his room, “I think I just met Mothman!” 

All according to plan.“I swear to you! There was something else outside!” Leo exclaimed as Jason slowly petted his arm.

“Leo, you were outside in the middle of the night, you might have just been sleep deprived.” He tried to console his friend.

“I am not, and I will find this cryptid- even if it’s the last thing I do!” determination flooded Leo’s face, as worry filled Jason’s.

“Please don’t,” Jason pleaded, but Leo had already stood up and embarked on his mission. Jason sighed and looked at Piper, who was distracted with her phone.

“Why did you not try to stop him?” Jason asked and Piper looked up.

“Stop what?” She blinked once, “Uh, where did Leo go?” Jason sighed.

“Piper please just ask the girl out so you can finally be present in the moment,” Piper glared at Jason, “Leo is on a mission to find the ‘campus cryptid’ he saw last night at two in the morning.” Jason explained and Piper laughed.

“They could be anyone, well, good luck to Leo. This will be great.” Her laugh got just a bit louder as Jason tiredly sighed into his hands.  Leo spotted you with headphones on, sitting underneath a tree in the shade. He had to do a double take, because he was unsure whether you were in fact his campus cryptid. The world fell away as Leo heard his own heartbeat in his ears. He wanted to approach you, yet he felt scared that he would bother you. Leo was not even sure whether you were his cryptid or not- however as he watched you grabbed an apple, eating it in only 5 bites, core and all. If you were not the person who was standing outside yesterday, you were definitely a different type of cryptid. A cute cryptid at that. Leo had not realized how long he had been standing there, but he realized he should do something soon. As he took a deep breath, being lost in his feelings, he stepped forward … and you were standing up. How could he approach you now? You were worth a shot though- except you were walking in the direct opposite direction from Leo. Dammit. Leo’s day progressed rather well- his test did not go horrible, however he was running late for a seminar he had to attend. These people standing in the hallway were not helping him. 

“Ah- coming through- I am in a hurry- let me-“ he stopped his apologies as he spotted you at the centre. You were holding a lizard, carefully in cupped hands and the students crowding you were each taking turns looking at the lizard, not touching it for every time someone tried you scolded them. 

“Don’t reach for my buddy! You will dry his skin!”  This was the first time Leo had heard your voice- and his breath stuttered. He wished you would say his name- but you two had not yet properly met so that would only be a dream. 

“What did you name the little guy?”  Leo overheard one of the students say, as he was slowly begrudgingly making his way away from the crowd- the seminar was mandatory, and he could not afford to be late-

“Little Lizard Leo,” you laughed, “He was just walking around here so I picked him up, he needs to go back outside.”  Could you read Leo’s mind? He had turned abruptly at hearing his name, being sure now that you were at least a cryptid. Leo glanced at his phone for the time, hoping he might have a minute to spare, but alas, he cursed as he ran the rest of the way towards the seminar. 

During a small 15-minute break in the seminar, Piper smiled devilishly at him. 

“Jason told me about your crush,” Leo’s head shot up. “I have a crush? No, no way-“ He felt his face get warmer, a crush on who? The cryptid? His heart skipped a beat as he thought about the concept of having a crush on you- your hair and eyes and laugh and - 

“I mean, he said it was the ‘college cryptid’ or something, but given,” Piper gestured at Leo, “Your reaction I am guessing you do in fact have a crush on someone.”  Leo shook his head. “I barely know the cryptid,” he shot back and Piper’s smile widened, “Besides I am not sure whether they would be the cryptid,” “Well, ask them, it’s not creepy at all to just go, ‘Hey, were you outside last night? At two? Me too! Wow, we have so much in common!’ And then bam- you are dating.”  

“Thank you for the suggestion, but I will not.” Leo told Piper off, Piper’s smile never dampening, “You are by the way only allowed to tell me to ask someone out when you finally ask her out. You have been pining for a good two months now!”  “I don’t even know whether she likes girls!” Piper exclaimed and Leo rolled his eyes. “She does, believe me.”  He comforted Piper, as she looked doubtful. “Fine. I will confess if you can prove that your college cryptid actually exists.” Piper challenged him, “Because maybe we can help identify your cryptid if you have a picture of it.”  The day after your chance encounter with Leo Valdez (where you heroically ran away from him, after hiding behind a tree, and then a second time in the hallway), you ranted to your friend about it, much to his dismay.

“I mean how embarrassing! I named a lizard after him!” You pouted, “What is the chance? I wasn’t even aware he was near until I saw him bolt away!” “I’m sure he’ll not mind that,” Nico said, “If he’s as idiotic as you paint him to be, he might even find it endearing. What’s his name anyways?” “I’m not telling.” 

“And why won’t you tell me the name of your crush?” Nico was exasperated. “Because you’ll try something!” You squint your eyes at him, “I know you will.” “So we’re calling him fireboy? Because he is hot?” Nico teased, and you laughed, but Nico was not deterred, “Okay, tell me the name of your lizard then.” “No.” 

From the look in your eyes when you talked about Fireboy, Nico knew that he needed to figure out who Fireboy was and how to get you together, if he were to enjoy a calm lunch ever again.

What Nico wasn’t expecting was having to fend off another guy. 

He had stared at the blonde barista in the past (for no reason at all) and didn’t like the interest the guy was showing in you. Of course, he could believe that you didn’t have any interest in the barista, but the way that, since entering the café, the barista kept staring at you intensely, rubbed him the wrong way. Clearly this guy had an interest in you that went past you as a customer. Yet, it was busy and Nico was keeping your seats occupied while you stood in line. He glared as the barista handed you more than just your coffee.  

“So you’re saying you won this ticket?” “Yes.” “From the barista just now?” “Yes.” 

“And you’re sure he wasn’t just hitting on you?” 

“With the way he was eyeing you, I don’t think so?” “What is that supposed to mean?” Nico, unwillingly, felt his face warm. You simply shrugged as you smiled at your friend teasingly, and Nico sighed, “Guess I’ll get a ticket and we can go to the movie together.” 

So, a few hours later, you were sitting together in the movie theater. You were pretty sure you might have switched up the seats, but did it matter? You both had the tickets for these seats anyways. Nico had gotten the popcorn, and the ads had just started, all was good. 

Except, all was not good for Will. While Leo had just told him that the ‘cryptid’ had named a lizard after him, it took Will a moment to realize that his ‘cinema date’ had failed. Someone was sitting in the cryptid’s seat, and Will didn’t like that. He had invited Leo, and the plan had been to get Leo and mothman to sit together. If this black-haired guy had not been sitting in the wrong seat, it would have been a date! Basically! The worst part was that now he had to make sure Leo wouldn’t see Mothman, otherwise the whole ‘cryptid’ mystic would stop and Will’s efforts would be all for nothing. 

Fine, Will Solace resigned himself as he quickly pushed past Leo so he would get to sit next to the black-haired boy, fine, Will Solace would have a ‘date’ with this kid. Fine.   

Nico, on the other hand, felt triumphant as he noticed the big ass glare on the blonde’s face. Clearly this had been some kind of setup for a date, and he managed to fuck it up. (Y/n) was not even aware that the barista had entered the cinema and sat next to Nico, all for the better. Nico made eye contact with his seat neighbor, and stuck out his tongue, to which he saw the blonde tense up. Take that, barista boy. 

Will Solace felt his heartbeat speed up, as he realized a second flaw in his strategy- he might have started crushing on the enemy. 

Will was not giving up, and a few weeks later the perfect opportunity presented itself. He found a very good sale on fresh fruits and filled his arms with them to use them as a matchmaking ploy. The plan was simple- give you the cold fruits, tell you to hand them out to Leo, and bam! You would get talking, get a hamster, get a house- but first… 

“Hey, do you like mandarins?” “You’re that barista, aren’t you?” you looked at him suspiciously. Will nodded. “Look, as a promotional bit I need to hand these out,” Will lied, “but if you just take them off my hands, then I will be free to have a lunch break!” Will pushed the fruit in your hands and started backing away. Flabbergasted, you made sure not to spill any as you looked at the blonde. “Why would I need this much fruit?” You looked like you really wanted to hand the fruit back to him, so Will had to act quickly. “Just hand them out if you don’t!” Will turned around and took a small sprint. He quickly rounded a corner and not-so-subtly spied on you. With only a bit of luck, you would instigate a conversation with Leo, who was sitting alone, within the next five minutes. And that would mean-

Oh no. Will glared at the black-haired boy who approached you, the same kid that had prevented you from sitting with Leo. His ‘definitely not a crush’. Why was he putting the fruit in a bag? Goddammit! You walked away with your friend, and Will knew he couldn’t keep taking this (cute) boy's interference. Something had to be done. Will wasn’t sure what yet- but murder was still on the list. 

Meanwhile, Nico smiled to himself. He saw the blonde glare, and he felt great having meddled with his plans again. Sure, Nico had to admit that the blonde looked cute when giving away the fruits to you, but there was no way you would fall for someone who was simply giving out fruits, instead Nico subtly walked you into the canteen, spotted your Fireboy (he stopped caring about the name now that he had a face), and nudged you to hand out the fruits there. You might not have put together that Nico knew what your crush looked like (although he did not know his name), but that would all help Nico’s plans. You would never figure out that he was playing Cupid (all in order to get you to shut up about Fireboy during your Mythomagic games, certainly not to rile up the blonde barista who is trying to hit on you). 

Which went pretty well. Leo was getting antsy. It had been almost two weeks since he had spotted you- the last time he saw you, you were just handing out cold tangerines from your bag. You had walked up to the table he was keeping occupied for his friends, said “You’re with three, right?”, put three tangerines down, said and walked away as he nodded. Leo had been working on his essay, and he got out of the essay brain fog a moment too late, for you were gone again. 

“Whatcha looking at?” Piper had asked five minutes after you had gone and Leo just responded with a hum as he returned to work on his essay. The deadline was later that day- last deadline of the semester luckily - and he could not be bothered to be made fun of because of his crush. 

Nico was a little proud of his plan- and the next step of it. Earlier, he overheard Fireboy’s friends mention a party happening, and Nico had to find a way to get you to the party, although he would be the last one to go, he had a foolproof plan. Of course, you still weren’t invited but he guessed that it would matter little to you if you found out the real catch at the party. 

“There are cats.” Nico deadpanned, and he immediately saw you crack. Sure, you weren’t planning on going out today, but how often does an opportunity like this present itself? “But they’ll be inside!” “With that amount of sound? I don’t think so, but your loss.” Nico picked up his Switch again, continuing his Hades run. “Why do you even want me to go?” You sounded a little suspicious, as you squeezed Nico’s Blahaj. 

“So you’ll stop trying to steal my plushies. Just go, nobody cares you’re not supposed to be there!” And that stinky Fireboy would be there, which is why you should go. Of course, Nico didn’t really want to miss out on hanging out with you, but he had to keep his priorities. 

 “How many cats are there?” You considered your options. “Four.” “Fuck.” and there you went. 

Meanwhile, as the exam season was finally over Leo found himself at a party. This one was at a different dorm from his own, but he was excited to see new people. Maybe the cryptid would show up. He hoped so, he would finally find the courage to talk to you or something. 

As Leo walked around the party- lights flashing, the music a little too loud for a conversation, and a beverage in hand - he was disappointed to not spot you in the crowd. Piper had already left to be with her own crush and Jason was having fun in another corner of the room. Leo sighed, the music and sadness getting to him as he went outside for some air. 

The full moon was out, and Leo took a sip of his drink. Suddenly, he heard sounds coming from the tree line. The bushes rustled and Leo carefully stepped closer. He was about to ask whether there was someone there when a blur shot out of the bushes and into a low-hanging tree. Another bigger blur quickly followed, and when Leo finally gained sight within the moonlight, he saw you petting a cat in a tree. 

“What?” Leo said out loud, staring at the sight before him. You were still crouching on the tree stem, the cat slowly sitting down on your knees. Your back was leaning against the bark behind you, as the cat finally accepted your affections. Leo wished to be that cat. Wait- that’s a weird thing to think. 

You had frozen in mid pet, but started again when the cat headbutted you, demanding your affection. You were staring at Leo Valdez, in the flesh. He sounded surprised to see you, almost happy. The darkness of the night was enough to make sure you were unable to make out his actual face. You decided to do the best thing you could think of- ignore the situation and keep petting the cat. However, as you saw Leo slowly get out his phone from his pocket, your head shot up. You did not want a picture of this, because it was not the most normal position to be in and you did not need your crush making fun of you. This movement resulted in the cat quickly jumping out of the tree, and you quickly tried to follow, only to see it running inside the dorms. 

“Fuck,” was all you said. Leo had forgotten his initial plan because of your sudden movements. You were about to just turn around and be sad about losing the cat, but you were interrupted by Leo. 

“Why don’t you follow it inside?” He asked and you squinted at him. “I wasn’t invited to the party.” You shrugged, looking at Leo as he cocked his head. 

“I was, we can get your cat out together if you want.” He suggested and you considered it for a second before nodding. You grabbed his hand and tugged him towards the dormhouse. Leo struggled for a second to get his footing, as he kept staring at your hands. He smiled dumbly, liking this feeling of your hand in his. He felt happiness in his chest as he realized he had talked to you- was having a conversation with you to some extent. 

As the two of you entered the building, Leo wanted to get you to his friends- proof you exist. However, you seemingly had other plans.

“I go left, you right. Be back in 20 with or without a cat. Good luck, detective.” You let go of his hand, on your mission of finding the cat. Leo smiled as he started looking too, stumbling upon Jason in the progress. 

“They are at the party!” He yelled into his friend's ear. Jason looked at him confused. “Who?” He yelled back. “The cryptid!” Leo responded. “Cool! Where are they? What’s their name?” Jason looked at Leo, as Leo’s face changed into one of realization. 

“Fuck! I don’t know! I will be back! Tell me if you see a cat!” Leo started moving through the crowd, trying his best to spot you. You hadn’t disappeared on him, right? He passed an empty room when movement caught his eye. As he looked inside, he saw you with four cats all cuddling you. Leo slowly made his way into the room. 

“I see you’ve found some cats!” He yelled over the music, and you looked at him surprised, before a smile filled your face as you nodded excitedly. Leo sat down next to you, keeping a little distance between the two of you. Your shoulders brushed as he leaned back, letting one of the cats climb on his lap. He started petting the cat, as he looked at you, being fully captivated by the cats. 

Leo wanted to talk to you, but you seemed so content with your activity and he dared not interrupt this time you had. He just wished to be able to scooch a little closer, to know your name, to be able to open his mouth a tell you how good he thinks you looked like this. His courage once again failed him. He figured that in a bit, if you stood up, he could strike a conversation. 

An alarm sound rang from your watch, and you looked at it in shock. “I have to go, thank you for the cats, detective,” Is all you said as you put the two cats that were on your lap on Leo’s. “Wait- Let me!” But you made a run for it, “Shit!” Leo exclaimed. Why did you have to leave? He looked at the cat in his lap, who purred against his chest. Leo pouted as he pets the cat. 

“Your campus cryptid was a cat?” Jason walked into the room. Leo shook his head. “They just left.” Was all he said. Jason sat down next to him. “Did you get their name?” He asked and Leo once again shook his head. Jason looked at his friend worried. “You alright, buddy?” Leo leaned against Jason’s arm. “I just- I couldn’t get myself to talk! They seemed so happy with the cats and-“ Leo yelled a little, “Jason, I am in deep shit and I don’t know how it happened.” 

Jason smiled as he petted Leo on the head. “It happens sometimes, Leo. You better catch your cryptid before you regret it.” Leo nodded, still petting the cats on his lap. Unbeknownst to Leo, Jason had spotted you on your way out and he knew exactly who you were. Jason figured he could ask after the weekend though, for now he had a friend to comfort.

Besides, Jason didn’t know but you had a show to catch, so you wouldn’t have stuck around anyways. When you finally arrived back at Nico’s dorm you knocked on his door, just in time for the both of you to catch the newest episode of the show you were watching together. Yet, you seemed a little fidgety to Nico and it only took a little prodding from Nico to figure it out. 

His plan had worked perfectly. Take that blonde barista! He would never stand a chance against the power of cats and your weirdness. 

Yet, Nico’s plan seemed to work a little too well, for one of Fireboy’s friends had spotted you and put the puzzle pieces together.  Lucky for Nico, the friend who spotted you was not Will Solace, unlucky for Nico, Jason Grace was a noisy bitch when something had to do with his friends. 

This morning during your lecture you had been approached by Jason Grace. You had worked together with him on projects once or twice, but you never took the energy to become good friends with him. He was just a guy you sat next to sometimes, however today he seemed to be in a chatty spirit. 

“So, you know Leo?” He side eyed you and you nodded, opening your laptop to take notes, “He has been obsessing over this ‘campus cryptid’ as he calls it.” Jason tried to gauge your reaction, however it was nine in the morning, so there was little emotion on your face except from ‘tired’, “And I think that you might be this cryptic crush he has.” That woke you up. “Me?” You gave Jason your full attention, “Cryptid?” “That is what you focus on?” Jason laughed, “You should talk to Leo, I fear he cannot approach you even if it was life or death, (Y/n).” You shook your head.

“I do not think I should approach someone who calls me a cryptid, Jason. Besides, I also do not think Leo can physically have a crush on me.” Jason looked at you, begging you with his eyes. “Look, he probably just wants to find the cats we petted or something-” You sighed, “Okay, I won’t run away from him next time I see him.” Jason nodded approvingly. “You were running away?” He smiled and you looked at him tired of the conversation. “Shut up, Grace.” Lucky for Nico, Jason Grace was not Will Solace, unluckily for Nico, Will was also a noisy bitch, who worked at a café. Will slid Jason’s favorite drink towards him. 

 “Hey, Jason, can you do me a favor?” Will intensely stared at Jason, his hand still on the lid.

“I don’t know, can I?” Jason looked from the drink to Will, who nodded as he moved the drink a little closer. “Yes you can.” Will said as Jason picked up the drink and examined it closer. On the side of the drink, Will had scribbled ‘for the best dude I know’ with a very badly drawn sun on it. Jason didn’t like the prospect of the favor being bought out of him, but he wasn’t complaining. He could always feign forgetfulness and not do it. 

“I need you to figure out who the cryptid is. Name, address, age-” Will paused, “It sounds like stalking, but you have a class with them, so maybe you can talk to them?” 

“Oh, I know the cryptid. We did a project together once.” Jason squinted at Will, “Are you trying to get (Y/n) and Leo together?” “Pfft, what? It’s not that obvious, is it?” Will laughed curtly, before going back to being serious, “Their name is (Y/n)?” “You didn’t know their name?” Jason sighed, “Of course not- either way, Leo’s obsessed with the cryptid simply being a cryptid.” 

“Good, all according to plan!” Will smiled, “I need you to approach (Y/n)’s friend and ask whether the cryptid is interested in Leo at all.” Will shrugged, “Not sure if the magic is working from that side.” 

“You mean Nico?” Jason asked

“The cute black-haired boy?” Will asked. “No.” Jason said, “I will not ask your crush whether he likes you.” 

“He’s not my crush,” Will shook his head, “He just keeps intervening with my plans for Leo and (Y/n)!”

“I suggest you just talk to him yourself, Will.” but as Jason suggested the normal thing to do, Will shook his head again. 

“Pretty please?” Will looked at Jason as he lifted his hand, clearly indicating that he would push the drink off the table if Jason did not agree. Jason shook his head as he gave in. Will did make his favorite after all, and perhaps he could befriend Nico on the way. He would probably be a little less weird than his current friends- and even though Jason could tell Will how you reacted to his probing this morning, he figured he should take the chance the approach Nico. 

“How do you know Nico’s name anyways?” Will asked after a moment. 

“He and Frank play Mythomagic together sometimes,” Jason looked at Will, “You sure you don’t want me to find out whether he likes you?” 

“No” Will blushed, “Not until Leo and (Y/n) are together! Then I can focus on myself. Who’s Frank anyways?” 

“Dating Nico’s half-sister,” Jason explained as Will seemed relieved, “Not that you would care, as you don’t have a crush” Jason laughed, while Will glared at him. 

It took a bit for Jason to find Nico, but he eventually got word from Frank that Nico would be at their usual place for Mythomagic. When Jason got there, Frank hadn’t yet arrived, but Nico was going through his deck. Jason felt relieved that (Y/n) didn’t seem to be anywhere near. 

Jason sat down opposite of Nico and cleared his throat. Nico looked up from his deck.

“You’re Jason Grace, right?” Nico asked, “You finally got a deck?”

“Not yet, maybe you can help me though.” Jason looked at Nico, whose poker face was all too good. He could not make out what Nico was thinking, so he simply continued, “I have a friend who’s interested in you and was just wondering if-” “Not the Fireboy, right?” Nico interrupted him. “What?” Jason took a moment, “Who?

“Small, curly hair, petted cats with my friend yesterday,” Nico sounded a bit disappointed in his next sentence, “you know, ‘Fireboy’, as my friend will not give me his name.” 

“Oh! No, not the cryptozoologist. Any reason why you’re asking?” “For said friend, mostly. Would be disappointing if Fireboy fell for my charms while my friend swooned for him. Anyways, cryptozoologist?” Nico asked and Jason grinned.

“He thinks your friend is Mothman.” Jason elaborated, and Nico nodded. “He’s not wrong.” 

“Sure, anyway, you’re single then? Not interested in the cryptozoologist yourself?” “Pft, I’m not that pathetic.” Nico laughed, “Why are you interested?” “Asking for a friend.” “Toucheé” Nico shrugged, still taking the boy before him in. He had never really spoken with Jason before, but he seemed friendly enough, and if there was something he needed, it was more friends (especially if you were to ever start dating the cryptozoologist, who would entertain him then?). Besides, perhaps he could actually get Jason involved with Frank and his Mythomagic games. They needed more players, desperately. 

“Either way, the cryptozoologist is going to the library later today–” 

“Why tell me?” “No reason.” 

“Well, so are (Y/n) and I, we’re studying together today.” Nico answered shortly, “Look, Jason, great conversation we’re having, but I only engaged in it because I thought you were going to get into Mythomagic.” 

“Oh!” Jason hesitated, looking at the cards, “I mean I would love to, I just really do not know where to start.” 

“I have an extra deck,” Nico started going through his bag, “I can explain the basics in a duel now, and then you can try it against Frank when he shows up. I think Frank also has a more beginner-friendly deck with him- so you won’t be annihilated too quickly.” 

“Uh-” Jason was not prepared for Nico to start talking so fast, or so much.

“Of course, you’ll eventually have to find a deck structure you like,” Nico kept going, “or invest in something more competitive, but just for getting the hang of the game this should be enough.” Nico laid out some cards and grabbed a few figurines, “let’s start with the kind of cards that you can encounter, before going to the phases of your turn.” 

“Firstly! On a different topic, would you know if (Y/n) (L/n) is interested in Leo?” “No” Nico glared at Jason, he didn’t know this Leo kid but you only had one crush and that was your little cryptozoologist. Jason, in the short span of their conversation, blown away by the sudden development of Nico’s talkativeness,  had forgotten that Nico mentioned he didn’t know Leo’s name (or maybe, he simply figured that Nico was joking. Nico could joke, right?). “Okay,” Jason seemed disappointed, “Alright, let’s get into this game” Nico started enjoying the conversation a lot more after that. 

After a few hours and some intense Mythomagic games (Jason won once with Frank’s beginner deck! Nico seemed proud), Jason encountered Will on his break, drinking tea.

Jason leaned down, next to Will’s ear. 

“So the good news is, Nico is single.” Jason told Will, who spit out his drink and then quickly turned his head. “Why did you ask him that? I gave you a simple-” “I can see the way you eye him.” Jason cut Will off, “Also, be quiet, or do you want people to approach you on your break?” Will grumbled a little before continuing. “It’s because he keeps messing up my plans!” Will watched his tone, “I eye him in disdain, not longing.” “Yes, I see the romantic tension is to die for.” Jason feigned drama as he moved on, “The bad news is, I’m not sure whether (Y/n) is interested.”

“That’s a lie.” Will looked Jason in the eye, “Ask (Y/n). For me?” “I’m not a messenger.” “I will get you more staples.” “I will be a messenger.” Jason agreed, “You better get the staples, because I asked them this morning-” Will looked at him in surprise.

“I only asked you to check at lunch?” Will raised an eyebrow, “You knew already and kept me waiting?” 

“I didn’t know whether Nico liked you, buddy.” Jason shrugged, “(Y/n) seemed like they’re interested, but Nico gave a definitive ‘no’ when asked. Maybe he doesn’t agree with the pairing, maybe (Y/n) simply got flustered at the thought of someone liking them. Who knows?” 

“You’re supposed to find out!” Will exclaimed, “I’m not sure whether this information is worth the staples.”

“Well, perhaps if you would talk to Nico you would ‘find out’ that you have a lot in common!” Jason bit back. 

“I don’t think I can, Jason.” Will quickly took another sip from his tea, definitely not out of nervousness.

“He’s going to the library today with (Y/n)- and Leo is too. Who knows what he will be planning?” Jason offered, “He might try to put Leo in a bad light, I don’t know.” Will glared at Jason. 

“And what am I supposed to do? Be a distraction?” 

“Yes.”

Sadly, Will needed to make sure that Nico didn’t intervene with your study date. He needed to talk to Nico, and he needed to get back to work as his break was over. He only had two hours left- hopefully he would be at the library in time. 

“We should study in the library today.” Nico said, as if he didn’t overhear Fireboy complaining about wanting to do that. 

But right as he was about to walk into the library, the blonde barista was in his way. 

“Nico di Angelo, we need to talk.” “How do you know my name?” 

“I’ve been trying to get Leo to date someone for weeks now!” 

“I don’t know this Leo guy, but I was matching (Y/n),  and if it wasn’t for your meddling it would have worked!” 

“Well if it wasn’t for you, (Y/n) would already be dating someone. Leo, for example.” “I don’t care about your plan, just leave them alone!” Nico scoffed, “You need to understand that (Y/n) only has the hots for that weird cryptozoology guy anyways.” Will glare dropped, and after a moment, he started laughing. 

“What’s so funny?” Nico was filled with confusion, but Will just kept laughing. Nico realized he kind of liked this laughter from his opposition, especially as Will's face got a little red in the process. Could he make Will blush like that too? Before more thoughts could develop, Nico half-heartedly hit Will on his head, “Answer me.” Will looked at Nico, realizing that Nico’s pout was pretty cute. 

“Leo is the cryptozoologist.” 

“Oh, oh.” 

From here on out they needed a plan, together. 

Luckily things were already moving in the right way, because during the time  Will and Nico talked, Leo and you had interacted. Not a conversation, of course not, but an interaction nonetheless. 

Because while they held their conversation, you were sitting in the library, not looking forward to having to confront Leo. Alas, you promised Jason and perhaps you would actually become friends with Leo in the end. You had liked hanging out with him last weekend, petting the cats. You just hoped that Leo did not actually think you were weird enough to be a cryptid. You had already figured out your plan- you found a book on cryptozoology in the library and put in some paper with your name and number on it. That would be funny, right?

Anyways, the book was to your side as you worked your way through various papers you had to read for next class. You were so consumed in your work that you had not noticed Leo grabbing his phone, not so subtly pointing it your way, and taking a picture of you. However, Leo had kept the flash on, and you did notice that. Your head shot up and you looked straight at him, staring into his eyes. Unblinking you watched as he stumbled on his words, quickly putting away his phone.

“Sorry!” Leo exclaimed, putting his hands up and he quickly turned. You blinked twice quickly and realized you messed up. Maybe this was slightly cryptic.

Leo on the other hand was panicking. He messed up massively, how could he ever approach you now? You just caught him taking a sneak picture of you like some fucking creep.  He cursed himself for messing up this badly. He should just, run away, change his name and never set foot on campus again. Yeah, that seems like a good one. On his way out he fully missed his friend Will being right down the hall. Will didn’t miss Leo bolting though, and he nudged Nico to join you in the library. 

“You don’t want (Y/n) to become too suspicious of your absence,” Will shrugged when Nico questioned him, “Besides Leo just bolted out the door, so I do not think you can ruin this study date anymore than Leo just did himself.” “We’re on the same team now, Will,” Nico deadpanned and Will smiled. “Doesn’t mean you can’t ruin Leo’s chances, buddy.” Nico flipped Will off, as he turned around to join you in studying. 

“You’re late.” You stated as Nico sat down in front of you. “So?” Nico shrugged, “Mythomagic took a little longer than planned as we got Jason to join.” 

“Grace?” You asked, and Nico huffed. “Clearly, I meant Todd.” He stated “I fucking wish,” You sighed, “Either way, Fireboy just took a picture of me.” 

“Seems like me being late is the least of your issues.” Nico opened one of his textbooks, “Maybe you should just talk to Fireboy, or I don’t know, leave a note written in code and see if he figures it out.” 

“I won’t, what do you care anyways?” you sighed again, as you looked at Nico. “I care about getting a good grade on the next exam, which I will not get with your fireboy-complaining,” Nico glared at you. 

“If you played less Mythomagic and Hades you wouldn’t be complaining about my complaining,” You stated and Nico rolled his eyes. “We’ll see- maybe you’ll run into Leo again soon.” Nico focused on his books, and you figured he didn’t want to continue the conversation. You also figured that Nico finally found out who Fireboy was- but you didn’t know how. Maybe it was an accident, or maybe it was the blonde barista you’d spotted talking to Nico through the windows just now. They would look cute together.

Yet, before you could get on your plan to get Nico and Will together, you had to face the music, which sounded a lot like Leo Valdez. Therefore you decided to put together a little something, and wait for Leo at the place where you first ‘met’.

Which means that the next time Leo saw you was the next day, right outside of the dorms. You were just standing there looking at your phone. The sun had set, and Leo had stayed behind in the library to work on his essays. Leo had wanted to apologize for taking the picture, and maybe he had also thought you would have been there because he knew he had seen you there yesterday. He was disappointed that you weren’t there, but he sat down and kept working on his essays until it was well past dinner time.

However, now you were standing underneath the same tree where he first spotted you, and before Leo’s brain could put anything in, his legs had carried him towards you.

“Look, I want to apol-,” Leo started but you quickly cut him of with an abrupt hand movement. “Wait!” You took three steps back, “Here!” you finished your sentence, and you ran towards your dorm. You quickly grabbed the cryptozoology book from your bag and ran back. Luckily, Leo was still standing there, looking bewildered. “Uh-,” You alerted Leo of your presence, as you held out the cryptozoology book to him, “Jason said you uuh- were into cryptids and-” You felt your impromptu courage deflate as you started to stumble over your words, “so I found, uh, this book- it’s from the library but you should- look inside!” you finished your sentence, looking uncomfortably at Leo. He hesitantly grabbed the book and was about to put it away when you grabbed the book and made him open it.

Leo looked down at the loose page of white A4 paper, which contained a shitty drawing of what could resemble moth man. Underneath was written ‘CAMPUS CRYPTID a.k.a. (Y/n) (L/n)’ and a phone number.

“This is-” Leo felt a smile on his face, “You?” he laughed. You smiled awkwardly in return. “Jason told me that you called me the campus cryptid and you know,” you vaguely gestured towards the book, “I thought this would be smooth enough for a cryptid.” “It’s awesome, I love it,” Leo had almost said ‘you’ but that would be too soon, “Would you maybe get some cryptic coffee with me?” He asked, nervously looking you in the eyes. “Only if there are cats,” you smiled at him. Leo laughed “You sure like your fellow cryptids,” “Pft, whatever, cryptozoologist.”A few weeks later, Nico invited you for a double date. You found the date alright- but Nico was nowhere near, nor was his apparent date.

You wondered why Nico had stood you up. He was normally really punctual, but somehow he was not in front of the café, and after a bit he messaged you, asking you to just go in and sit somewhere. It was as if you were out of luck- every table was taken, and there were not a lot of free chairs. You figured you could get a coffee to go if nothing else, so you made your order with the blonde barista, who was smiling brightly. He pointed you to the only empty chair in the cafe, where your boyfriend sat. You were a little hurt that Nico hadn’t introduced you to Will yet, but if anything you appreciated that they were still trying to get you and Leo together. You both swore Jason to secrecy and he just shrugged as he kept working on his Mythomagic deck. 

“Will recommended I visit the cafe today, and get an employee discount on the drink.” “Nico stood me up on a ‘double date’.” You smiled, as you tried to spot the blonde in the cafe, “Did Will just leave?” “He didn’t actually have a shift today,” Leo laughed, “I checked with his coworkers, it’s wild what they do to get us together.” 

“When do you think they’ll figure out we’re already dating?” You asked, as you purposefully kept your awkward distance from Leo. “At the marriage ceremony, most likely.” Leo laughed. “Ours or theirs?” You asked, as you joined his laughter. 

“Whichever is first…” 

From across the street, Nico and Will shared a fist-bump as they noticed the awkward banter between the two of you. “Well, job well done,” Will sighed, “I guess it’s time for our date!” “Our what,” Nico blabbered, as Will simply smiled and grabbed his hand.

[mana-jjk]

BEATS VIOLENTLY ON THE SITE

i think toge was so happy to have the first-years join them 🥺 after yuuta left, i think he feels a little empty not being able to take care of him. so when the first years join they might not fill that void but they definitely act as a bandaid I PROMISE YOU

megumi likes to say that the only upperclassman he can openly respect is yuuta, but i think he has a soft spot for toge. he’s silly, and sometimes megumi has to do that emo kid thing where he forces himself not to smile because that would be losing the war. but more than anything, i think toge is one of the few that actively shields the first-years and tries to protect them. he tore his throat to shreds trying to protect megumi from hanami, but he also immediately stepped in when todo was giving him shit. and the fact that megumi is fluent in his safe words and understands him so well tells me that he’s known him for a long time so i just think !! little kid megumi practicing sign language by himself and then acting like he’s known it forever and it’s just by chance really ! but toge knows <\3

we haven’t gotten much yuuji and toge interactions but i INSIST they are cooking buddies who delight trying new recipes together. everyone else? incapable in the kitchen. yuuji and toge? certified chefs that have repeatedly talked shared recipes and methods together. i also think yuuji reminds toge of yuuta if yuuta was somewhat mentally stable, could sleep for more than 30 minutes, and wasn’t the shyest boy you’ve ever seen. knowing what it feels like to be a danger to your loved ones is so awful but it’s something they can share. plus toge cares so much about not letting yuuji know about his arm it makes me so ☹️ he’s so caretaker coded it physically hurts. but yuuji also sees him as so reliable, just like yuuta in his first year. i can imagine sometimes he sounds just like him when he’s gushing and praising toge during training that it almost feels like he’s there. toge is also a good source of physical contact. the other first-years ‘tolerate’ him (they love him but can’t show it) and maki would sooner kick him. panda is tolerant but it’s like hugging a stand-up mascot. so toge who ruffles their hair, bumps their shoulders together, and gives them gentle high-fives is like a balm over an open wound.

nobara… do not get me started here i swear to god they are so bestie coded and i died reading the light novel. i think they get so excited about fashion together because everyone else is boring and they make maki and yuuta come to dress them up, clap over their fits, and carry their bags. nobara always says that toge can do better than eyebags, but inwardly she’s just happy to see him happy and secretly looks up to yuuta too. she cares so much about toge’s opinion and he hypes her up and looks after her self-esteem. she felt so guilty getting toge hurt but he didn’t even hesitate !! she also started off not understanding a thing he said but ended up understanding him so well that everyone was surprised 🥺 and it always tears me apart that he stopped her from killing that guy so she wouldn’t have to live with it. especially with little hints from canon that suggest he’s either hurt or killed someone before. maki is 100% her favorite person ever because they’re girlfriends and they kiss, but toge is a close second because they’re besties. they gossip together and are on speed dial and watch crappy reality shows. toge is one of the first people she was vulnerable with and i think he reminds her a lot of saori and it GUTS ME.

then yuuta comes back and after spending so much time thinking about him as a first-year and then taking care of the other first-years, toge expects everything to go back to how it was. except it doesn’t, because yuuta is not only bigger now but he’s stronger too. he comes back, a head and a half taller and it’s a struggle to convince him that no toge doesn’t need to be taken care of that’s his job ?? toge stumbles and suddenly yuuta’s hand is on his arm, toge cooks dinner and yuuta already put his plate on the table and washed the dishes, toge takes a hit for him and not even a breath later he’s being carried like he weighs nothing. and it’s hard to deny him and it’s hard to push away because no one has ever treated him that gently before. like he wasn’t dangerous, like he was something precious. he still has the first-years to take care of, and yuuta was still the same pathetic boy in a lot of aspects. but when he was awake with phantom pains and nightmares, yuuta was there to soothe the worst of it and remind him that there was still a future for him, that he was worthy of being cared for, worthy of living, worthy of being happy.

y’all i have so many thoughts it HURTS someone ask me something before i explode

[tessiex17]

MY CHILDREN I HAVE PROVIDED YOU WITH ANOTHER RAYMAN FIC

You will be happy to hear that this is a 2 parter (second part is in development) since this is infact already 2,147 words WHICH IS KINDA LONG FOR ONE CHAPTER

This does have a fem reader BTW!!!

Short description: set when rayman is attending collage in America before he became famous and he gets invited to a party where he meets y/n

(Also if there are any mistakes/errors in my spelling PLZ let me know as written helps me improve with my dyslexia so any feedback will be amazing 😋)

Tw: alot of swearing, smoking and alcohol, abusive behaviour

"What am I doing?"

Rayman muttered to himself regretfully as he walked down the cold grid iron streets to the address the party was supposedly located. Rayman has always been a social creature, he loved the idea of meeting new people and going on adventures with them but that mindset had been slowly chipped away during his time in America. Specifically American school. He struggled to make social connections in his classes and was quickly deemed an outcast by his peers which was heart breaking for Rayman because he know it was only because he was alien, the people that liked to make fun of him made that fact pretty clear. It was something he couldn't change and even though he didn't choose to look the way he does or be where he's from he still got hate for it and he never really understood why.

Which is why he was shocked when he was invited to a house party by one of his class mates. He just knew he couldnt miss this opportunity to finally mend his social status and make a friend! Which leads him here. Walking towards the door of a house he's never been at before. He let's out a Sigh before raising his fist and firmly knocking the door. He knew he was at the right place, the sound of music and enthusiastic people could be heard quite clearly through the door (it made him almost feel bad for the neighbours).

Before rayman had the chance to knock once more the door swung open revealing the very drunk but very happy class mate that invited Rayman in the first place

"BROOO! You made it! I thought you where gonna be a no show"

The class mate ushered rayman in shutting the door behind him.

"Hehe what can I say, im a man of my word"

Rayman chuckled slightly nervous but intertained by how friendly his class mate was being. He finally takes a look around the house to see that this party was a lot bigger than he thought. There was at least 10 people in each room. Some where in groups chatting away to eachother, some where playing drinking games and others where dancing. A small smile started to grow on raymans face. Everyone seemed to be having fun so it shouldn't be so hard for him to join in right?

"If you wanting a drink feel free to grab whatever you want in the kitchen!"

The drunk class mate spoke a lil more slurred but still sounding enthusiastic. Rayman just gave him a smile and a small thanks before watching him stumble back to a group of people he must have been previously chatting with. 'Now what?' Rayman asked himself as he looked around anxiety curling in his gut like a snake. Does he just go up and chat to someone? He decides before doing anything he should take his coat off which he then hung up on the pegs by the door. He walks further into the house seeing people having fun. ' they make it look so easy' he thought to himself sullenly but a small creature in the corner of his vision distracts him from his thoughts.

"A cat!"

Rayman says aloud to himself before following the cute Calico cat into the kitchen. He doest pay much mind to the people as they seem to be talking amongst themselves. He crouches down In front of the cat petting it gently

"Arnt you just a sweetheart~"

He cous while scratching behind the cats ear. He spots a purple collar and a little silver name tag around the cats neck reaching for it to find out what the cats called. He flips the little silver tag and reads it

"Well hello kaya, aret you a cutie~"

Kaya looks at him Acknowledging he is speaking to her. She let's out a high pitch soft meow that makes rayman chuckle. He always loved animals.

"Of course your making friends with the animals considering you practically are one"

A voice filled with poison and Sadistic Humor spoke from behind him. He looked away from the cat and up to the owner of the voice. It was a guy in a very generic outfit and a blue hat.

"Excuse me?"

He spoke confuse hoping maybe the guy was meaning it as some sort of distasteful joke? Oh lord how he hoped.

"Who the fuck invited this thing to the party!"

Blue hat guy shouted loudly while pointing at rayman looking around the room as he did so. A few people began to giggle and rayman could feel all hope for having a fun night disappear.

"I'm not a 'thing' dipshit!"

Rayman retorted embarrassment making his face feel hot.

"Well what are you then huh?"

He leaned in close to raymans face. There was a short moment of silence before he continued

"Because all I can see is some sort of alien freak!"

The smell of alcohol was reaking from his breath. Rayman didn't like how close he was. How angry he was getting the more he talked. He opened his mouth to speak.

"I-"

"What the fuck is your problem!"

An angry feminine voice spoke causing both rayman and the drunk guy to turn and face her. She stormed towards the both of them before pushing the drunk guy away from rayman.

"You asshole!, what gives you the right to speak to anyone like that!"

Oh lord was this girl mad. Rayman looked up at her in disbelief as she shouted at the guy who was previously insulting him. Was she defending him? She stood tall in front of rayman making sure she was blocking him out of the drunk guys line of site.

"Hes a fucking freak just look at him!"

The drunk guy slurred his words trying to justify his point but the scowl on the girls face just grew deeper.

"Your fucking disgusting"

She spoke lowly to him

"Thinking you have the right to speak to somone like that, do you think your better than him because he's not from here or something?"

She asked with genuine confusion In her voice

"Is that why? Do you feel more entitled than him because he looks different from you?, because if that's the case then that sound pretty fucking racist if you ask me"

She quirks her brow as if asking a question. He stays silent but his anger is clear on his face

"Men like you disgust me"

She spoke her words laced with anger before she turned around and faced rayman. She jerked her head to the side indicating towards the door

"Let's go"

She said kindly to Rayman who looked up at her like she was some sort of godess that saved him. He nodded quickly before grabbing his jacket and following her outside.

"Well that was a shit show"

He muttered to himself while following after her. She made her way to the sidewalk before taking a seat on the edge of it. She looked over to rayman and patted the place next to her offering him to sit down which he does. The air is chillie enough to see your breath as a moment of silence fell apon them. She pulled a packet of cigarettes out her pocket before offering one to him which he decides to take.

"Thank you..."

Rayman spoke timidly.

"Not just for the cigarette obviously but for everything that went on in there"

That got a little giggle out of her. She brought the cigarette up to her lips taking a long inhale of it.

"It's okay, that guys was being a prick"

She faced rayman with a slightly sullen expression.

" I'm y/n, I don't think I got your name?"

"It's rayman... thank you y/n"

She chuckled again a small smile growing on her face.

"You've already thanked me"

She spoke sweetly

"besides I couldn't just stand and watch. That guy was being cruel for literally no reason"

"People stand and watch all the time"

Rayman spoke sadly but honestly his eyes avoiding hers

"Your the first person who hasn't..."

He looked back up at her to see her intently watching him. There was something behind her eyes he couldn't quite place. Anger?, sadness?, he wasn't sure but he just knew that the feelings weren't directed at him.

"Don't say that man, your gonna make me cry"

She joked half heartdly the sound of her voice wavering was clear.

"Oh nonono!, im so sorry!"

Rayman spoke in a panic

"I wasn't trying to upset you-"

"No no, don't worry!"

She placed a finger over his lips in order to get him to stop talking. He's silent. Pleading eyes staring up to gentle one's as she moves her hand away from his mouth.

"It just makes me upset that nobody was willing to help you before. Don't feel like you need to sensor yourself for my benefit"

She spoke softly to him. Rayman was starting to feel like he didn't have to be so much on edge now that it was just them two alone which was new for him. Usually he had to be more alert if hes gonna be by himself with somone. Even thought he didn't know y/n that much he still felt safer alone with her than back in the house. She took a deep drag from her cigarette and so did he.

They sat there together for a while. Talking and laughing between cigarettes and alcohol. Y/n decided to share a good few bottles of her own alcohol with rayman. It wasn't the nicest of drink but it was good enough and strong too. It didn't take long for the both of them to be intoxicated. They where sitting closer together now the alcohol making them loose the concept of personal space as they chatted.

"Hey this place blows, why don't we go back to my place?"

Y/n suggested as she took another swig out her bottle

"We have been sitting outside getting drunk ourselves, would be warmer at yours too"

Rayman spoke semi to himself as he pondered on the idea

"Kmonnnn~"

Y/n whined as she grabbed one of raymans shoulders and shook him playful chanting "My house! My house!" Over and over while laughing

"Okay okay!"

Rayman laughed placing his hand ontop of the one y/n placed on his shoulder in hopes it would get her to stop shacking him

"It is better than staying outside the party we kinda just walked out on"

He chuckled as he stood up reaching a hand out for y/n to help her up. She takes it as rayman pulls her up onto her feet. Y/n thanks him before giving herself a big stretch followed by a pleased groan

"Ahh~ Alright!, let's go!"

She glanced over the floor making sure she didn't leave anything behind before looking at rayman a smile spreading across her face.

"We're actually not that far from my house probably like a 10-15 minute walk roughly"

She tilts her head a little to see if raymans okay with that. He gives her a smile and a goofy thumbs up.

"All good, lead the way!"

He smiled enthusiastically. Y/n just laughs before turning around and walking down the street. She checks over her shoulder to see if rayman is following and motions with her hand for him to catch up. Rayman jogs up next to her before sticking to a walking pace. He doesn't know if it's the alcohol or not but he's having more fun tonight than he has in a while but whatever it is he doesn't want this good feeling to go away. Then suddenly y/n gasps

"Oh my god! I just released somthing"

Y/n spoke in a shocked voice

"What is it?"

Rayman look up to her worried as they walked.

"I can order McDonald's!"

Rayman playful hits her shoulder while chuckling

"You bitch, I though you where gonna say something serious"

"I am serious!"

They both laughed as they walked

"Somthing to eat does sound good though"

Rayman agreed and nodded with this idea they began cooking up

"I just want food"

Y/n whined as she walked down the street and before they knew it they where at her house.

"Home~ glorious home~"

Y/n sung aloud to herself while approaching the door making rayman chuckled in amusement. She reached into her pocket and pulled out her key sticking it into the door and opening it. She stood to the side of the door before doing a little bow while gesturing rayman to enter

"Ladies first?"

She teased as rayman walked by rolling his eyes but the smirk on his face was hard to hide. She chuckled at his lack of a reaction before closing the door behind them

End of chapter 1

So what did u guys thinkkkkk 😋😋

I gave the reader and rayman a silly lil dynamic bc I love bammy interactions I think it's so funny so I made them bams

If you have any feedback LMK and i wanna hear ur opinions of if it should stay platonic between rayman and the reader or should I make it more romantic 🤭

THANK U FOR READING IF U MADE IT THIS FAR XOXO

[okminer07]

A Match Beyond Measure Pt 5

“Can I get you another burger?” she asked. 

Cecilia shook her head, “T-that’s alright. I think I’ll just get some d-dessert if that’s ok?”   

Their waitress nodded, “Sure, what’ll you have?” 

“Oh uh… I’m sorry, I didn’t get a good look at the menu” more like she hadn’t been given one at all that she could read. 

“Oh, I’d recommend their cookies and cream pie, it's amazing” chimed in Garret.   

That sounded a lot more filling than what she had planned on, but how rude would it be for her to not take his suggestion, “Uh sure, I’ll have that.”  

“Great, all get that out for you in just a little bit.” flashing both of them a charming smile, she turned on her heel and pranced back on over to the back. Now it was just the two of them…. Alone…. With each other….again.  

After several long minutes of silence, Garret finally cleared his throat “Hey uh…. I’m real sorry about that whole ketchup ordeal, and for ruining your meal.” 

“Oh, it’s alright” she smiled up at him, fidgeting with the end of her skirt which still smelled and had a rather large stain, “You’re fine.” 

Garret nodded halfheartedly, looking from her to his plate of food, “Would you be ok if I go ahead and start? I’m cool with holding off if you want to wait until your food comes out.” 

Cecilia waved him off, “Oh no, go ahead.”  

He grinned down at her before turning all his attention to his plate. She flinched ever so slightly when his hand came forward and wrapped itself around the massive burger and lifted it off the plate with ease, only bringing up his second to stop the toppings from slipping out. She watched as he dipped it into the puddle of ketchup and smiled to herself, seems like she wasn’t the only weirdo who liked to dip their burgers.  

Then, he raised it up and opened his mouth, and all the color drained from Cecilia’s face. For a moment, she got a clear view of the cavernous maw, lined with pearly white teeth bigger than her own head. Before she got the chance to look away, she watched as those massive teeth came crashing down, sinking into the pounds of bread, meat, and vegetables before ripping off a chunk twice her size.   

Cecilia quickly looked away before she had to watch it disappear past his lips, though that was of little use because a second later, she began to hear him begin to chew. A shiver ran down her spine, being able to hear nothing else other than the amplified sound of all that food being pulverized into mush. It was so loud, it felt as if she was right next to his- 

No! No, don’t go there. Everything is fine, you’re fine. She had no choice but to continue to listen, her stomach churning more and more violently. Her hands gripped the edge of her table so hard her knuckles began to turn white. As she squeezed her eyes shut, her imagination got the best of her and started bombarding her with images: the burger being replaced with her, his teeth morphing into fangs, the sounds of chewing being accompanied by the sound of bones being- 

Stop! Stop it! But it wouldn’t stop, even when the chewing ceased, the images kept coming, and with it the feeling that something was wrong. Like she was a rabbit, being cornered by a wolf. Like she was in danger. Like she had to get out of here! 

She abruptly stood up, clasping her hands over her ears. Garret glanced over at her, making her tense, “Everything alright?” his voice seemed louder than ever. 

Without a second thought, she ran. Ran towards the stairs leading up to the platforms.  

“Hey wait!” but she kept on running, turning right and booking it along the perimeter of the restaurant. She set her sights on the back and a minute later, she was stumbling down the stairs that ended right in front of the human bathrooms.  

She burst through the door to the womens, quickly slamming her back against the door and holding it shut as if to stop someone from breaking it down. Her chest was heaving, breathes coming out in short and shallow bursts, her heart pounding from both running and her nerves.  

Screwing her eyes shut, she gasped for ear, forcing herself to take it in and let it out slowly. She began sliding down to the floor, landing in a disheveled heap, her hands coming up to cradle her head. 

Why had she agreed to this? Why had she gone in knowing this might happen?! Why did this have to happen?! Why did she have to act like this?! Why?! Why?! Why?! 

Cecilia let out a disgruntled gasp when she felt the door behind her budge and bump into her. 

“Ah, what the hell? Hello?” called an annoyed voice. Cecilia quickly crawled away from the door before it swung open, revealing a human woman, dressed in a waitress’s uniform. She started when her eyes fell upon the mess of a girl on the floor, “Oh, shit. Uh, is everything alright ms?”  

Cecilia couldn’t manage anything other than a shake of the head. 

“Is there uh…. Anything I can do to help?” 

Suddenly, an idea popped into her head. She quickly got to her feet and began to dig in her pocket, pulling out her wallet. 

“How much is your guy’s cheeseburger and cookies and cream pie?” 

The waitress looked startled and confused, “Uh….. together I think about forty bucks?” 

She pulled out six ten-dollar bills and held it out to the woman, “There is a table with a….. Larger gentlemen that ordered those, could you please give this to his waitress? You two can split the change.” 

The waitress stared at her for a moment before tentatively taking the money from her, “Sure” she replied slowly, “Is everything alright? Did something-” 

“Is there another exit?” 

“Uh yeah, just take a right when leaving the bathrooms and it should be right there, but seriously, do I need to call someone?” 

Cecilia quickly shook her head, “No no, it’s fine. Thank you. Thank you so much.” She began making her way over to the door, thanking the waitress over and over until she slipped out. 

Spotting the exit the woman had mentioned, she turned and began to scurry towards it. The door opened up into an alleyway. Cecilia hurried her way back over to the front of the building and after a few minutes of awkwardly jogging, she was unchaining and mounting her bike.  

With one final look at the restaurant, she sighed and pedaled off. 

[ultraflavour]

If Daggerheart becomes the game that powers Critical Role instead of D&D 5e, you’re going to see a shift almost overnight. How many tables are out there of people who play D&D strictly because it’s the Critical Role game? I guarantee you the number is not zero.

Keep in mind what Critical Role did for 5th Edition: It not only served to promote 5e, it also taught 5e, and the importance of that second part can’t be overstated. To a newcomer, D&D is bigger and scarier to get into than, say, any arbitrary video game. There’s rulebooks to read, dice to buy, you have to find a table of people who aren’t absolute psychos to play with…

Critical Role took one of those impediments out of the equation, by teaching their viewers the 5e ruleset through play. After hours and hours and hours of listening to charismatic voice actors playing, you can start to get a comfort and a familiarity with the rules that you wouldn’t necessarily get otherwise. Critical Role teaches the rules and tropes of D&D to its audience.

Now suppose instead of teaching the audience how to Roll with Advantage, you’re teaching them how Success with Fear/Failure with Hope works. Instead of hearing about Paladins and Barbarians, now you’re talking about Seraphs and Guardians.

It might have made sense for them at one point to weld themselves to the D&D brand, but I think we’ve seen some pretty good evidence that it might not be the best play in the long run. If Critical Role is really getting into the publishing business by way of Darrington Press, then it is absolutely in their best interest to start using their own ruleset.

And it seems like Daggerheart is being built with Actual Play in mind. The fact that it’s being built for Theatre of the Mind style play with a “Yes-and” success/failure mechanic tells me that they want this to be a more narrative-forward “Swashbuckling” game than a “Kick in the door and kill goblins” game. Players are going to have interesting choices either way.

Daggerheart has the chance to fulfill the promise of Dungeon World: To be “recognizably D&D,” but to prioritize the narrative aspects of the game without throwing out the satisfying character customization and progression that D&D is known for. That last bit is where Dungeon World stumbled, in my opinion, but there’s definitely a big opportunity to improve on that style of game.

Critical Role shouldn’t be afraid of D&D because ultimately, their responsibility is to their fans and themselves. They have no obligation to continue to teach and promote 5th Edition. They have millions of subscribers on Youtube, Twitch, the various socials. If they start talking up their own thing, it creates a conversation that has been sorely needed for a long time: “What if D&D isn’t the best game for our table?”

Furthermore, they have a ready-made audience for their game. Critical Role fans are tabletop fans by definition. They’re here to watch a tabletop RPG featuring strong world-building, well-realized characters, and escalating tension and drama. It’s high time that they had a ruleset that prioritized those things, rather than fostering arguments about how the grappling rules work.

I say this not as a Critical Role fan, but as someone who just wishes that the conversation around D&D and tabletop in general was a bit more nuanced. Players should be able to ask for what they want, and not get shouted down because what they want isn’t D&D. Not only does it lead to better game design, it leads to more people at the table actually getting what they want, rather than settling for the “Safe” thing again.

[silverislander]

day 27: gauntlet

vi peeks around the corner of the door. vander's been outside talking to benzo for probably ten minutes already and the bartender, whatever his name was, is occupied talking some asshole down- this is her chance.

quickly, silently, she's running on her toes towards the bar. there's still a few patrons around, but luckily nobody looks at her as she ducks behind the bar.

the gauntlets are too high up to grab from here, but vi's planned it all out. she grabs the little stepladder that vander keeps in the corner and waits for just a second.

any minute now.

finally, she hears someone yelp- she'd put a couple of powder's bang-snaps in the couch cushions earlier- and there's her chance. vi scrambles up the ladder, swings one of vander's gauntlets over the beam it's tied across, and somehow manages to catch them when they fall into her arms.

someone definitely heard the clank when they dropped, though.

they're heavy, and she almost falls off the ladder in her effort to both hold them up and duck behind the bar again. someone's footsteps are coming towards her- too light to be vander's, but someone who might rat on her?- and so she does the only thing left to do: vi runs.

she streaks out of the room, carrying her contraband with her and almost definitely attracting attention. her heart is beating like a jackhammer the whole way, because she knows she's getting in trouble for this- not enough trouble to be kicked out, she doesn't worry about that anymore, but enough to get grounded for, for sure.

it's not really fair. vi doesn't deserve that. she's twelve, that's more than old enough to let her try them on, and she's been fighting for years. she just wants to try.

once she gets out behind the bar, her breath finally starts to come easier. she slides her hand into one of the gauntlets, still shaking a little, and tightens the leather straps as far as they'll go, still a little loose around her arm.

the other one's harder to get on, but she uses her teeth to tighten it, and there. vi lifts her hands out in front of her, trying to get used to the weight, and knocks them together. the sound is immensely satisfying.

she puts her fists up, settling into her stance, goes for a jab-

"vi?"

and she stumbles, falling forward with the weight of them. when she turns around, vander's watching with his arms crossed.

"i thought i told you no."

"i can do it," she grits out, and puts the gauntlets up again, now facing him. she's still unsteady as she tries to shadowbox and show him that she can manage it, though, and this time when she tries out a hook, her feet twist under her and she hits the ground hard.

she can hear vander sigh, and it feels like defeat.

he lets her get to her feet herself, knows her pride is already wounded badly enough. when she's up, though, he gestures for her to come over to him. reluctantly, she does, and vi lets him undo the leather around her wrists.

"i believe that you can use them," vander says, turning the hand he's freed over in his own as if checking for marks. "but i don't want you to have to. not now. not ever."

"but why not?" vi asks, exasperated. "i want to fight- like you did. if you'd let me, i could protect them. i could be like you."

vander doesn't respond at first. vi looks up from where he's paused undoing the straps, and his face is grave and hard to read.

"if you want to put these on," he says slowly, "i need you to understand what they mean. how many times have you seen me take these down?"

it's not hard to think back to the answer. once.

on the bridge.

never again after that.

"exactly," he mutters, and unbuckles the strap.

with the last buckle open, the second gauntlet falls to the dirt. vi flexes her hands, finds her arms more tired than she had thought they'd be.

"if you ever put them on again," vander starts, and she's expecting a lecture. instead, he continues, "vi, promise me you'll have a damn good reason."

the way he says it, she gets the feeling this is something much bigger than she can understand.

"i promise," vi tells him.

it feels like the right thing to say.

[kazoosandfannypacks]

Summary: When Gandra needs help creating a virtual laboratory, she enlists the help of fellow misunderstood scientist Fenton Crackshell Cabrera, who agrees to help with only one stipulation: that their partnership remain strictly professional this time. How hard can that be? (Set somewhere between The Dangerous Chemistry of Gandra Dee! and Beaks in the Shell! missing moment; canon compliant.) Word Count: 4234 a/n: I decided to post this as a oneshot here on tumblr, but it's posted as multiple chapters on ao3, so if you'd like to read it that way, that's an option as well! Taglist: I don't currently have a taglist for DuckTales or Fendra fics! if you'd like to be added to one, let me know!

Strictly Professional

 "It's now or never," Gandra muttered to herself, opening up her phone for the millionth time and typing in the contact name SUIT.

 Before she had a chance to talk herself out of it again, she hit the call button, almost hoping he wouldn't pick up.

 "Hello?" the voice on the other line came back, confused but not entirely appalled, which was a good sign.

 "It's me, Gandra."

 "Uh, yeah," he said, "I've got this great new invention that they call 'Caller ID.' Let's you know pretty quickly when a crook is on the line."

 "Really?" Gandra asked, trying to hide her surprise and offense with a calculated sarcasm, "and here I assumed that you'd deleted my number by now."

 "I never got around to it," he replied, "I've been pretty busy these past few weeks."

 "Too busy to help with a project?" Gandra asked, and after a moment of silence, she let her feigned confidence fall. "Listen, Suit, you've got every reason to say no to me, but I'm working on something bigger than me, and I need someone like you to help me out. No one else understands what I'm doing."

 After another moment of silence, a strained reply came back.

 "You're right that I have every reason to say no," he grumbled.

 "This was a mistake," Gandra thought, but before she could stumble through an apology and hang up, he continued:

 "But, in the name of scientific curiosity, what is it?"

 "A major coding project that's going to revolutionize indie tech," she said, "one that I can't work on alone."

 "That's not very specific."

 "It's not something I can tell you," she said, "it's something I have to show you. Does the Gizmoduck helmet have VR capacity?"

 "Oh, you'd love to know that," he huffed.

 Right. He also had every reason to be protective of the Gizmosuit around her.

 "Well, if you have a VR headset," she backtracked, "and you want to be part of the next scientific revolution, just follow the link I'm about to text you."

 "That sounds awful fishy."

 "It's legitimate," she said, "you can run a triple spyware check on it— you won't find anything."

 "I'll be the judge of that."

 "And once you've judged it correctly and your natural 'scientific curiosity' gets the better of you," she said, "I'll be waiting."

 With that, she hung up, sent him the link, and then put on her own virtual reality headset.

***

 It always took a few seconds to adjust from the dark corridors of FOWL to the well-lit virtual laboratory she'd programmed. She blinked a couple times as her surroundings flickered into view— in the distance, a crashtest chamber and a large worktable, as well as an enormous whiteboard scribbled with calculations and a lab table covered in beakers and test tubes that had multiple tubes and coils connecting them. In front of her was a disorganized desk, and she got up and took a seat on the edge of it.

 The lab was the only thing that made joining FOWL worth it, her one sanctuary from all the small-minded voices calling her a freak. This had been her safe space the past few months, a place all her own, and she had taken a big risk in inviting someone else to invade it.

 She'd started out this project starry-eyed and ambitious, but the longer she worked, the longer she knew it would take her, and the more she realized she'd bitten off more than she could chew. If FOWL found out what she was doing before she got it finished, everything would be lost. As much as she hated admitting it, she needed help.

 It wasn't long before her virtual solitude was interrupted by a rift in the system, followed by the entry of a familiar face sitting across from her at her desk chair.

 "Blathering blather…." he began, but his trademark phrase trailed off when he saw her.

 "Didn't think you'd actually show up," Gandra said, not entirely untruthfully.

 "Where are we?" he asked, looking around with astonishment.

 "This?" Gandra asked, gesturing around the room with her hand. "My lab."

 "Remarkable," he said, touching the handles of his chair with astonishment at their solidity, "a virtual laboratory."

 "And check this," Gandra said. She waved a hand and a beaker appeared in each of her hands, "chromic acid and acetic acid."

 She watched the fear on his face as she poured the two chemicals together. Predictably, they exploded in her hand, sending virtual shards of glass around the room. She then held her hand up, unscathed, showing there'd been no cause for concern.

 "Perfectly safe," she said.

 "No real elements, no real danger!" he smiled.

 "Exactly," Gandra said, "once we get this server up and running, the scientific community will be able to perform any experiments we want, without all the big shots calling us crackpots."

 "We?" he asked, the wonder on his face replaced with apprehension.

 "I can't do this alone," Gandra said, her calm airs wavering. "I need your help, Fenton. For the name of science?"

 She held a hand out for him to shake, and for a second, the look in his eyes said he was considering it— but he then closed his eyes and shook his head.

 "Don't you work for FOWL now?" he asked.

 "I work for myself," Gandra clarified, "and as soon as I've finished pirating FOWL tech for this, I'm leaving them for good."

 "But that doesn't change now, Gandra," he said. "You're running an entire server right under FOWL's nose and putting everything shared here at risk."

 Gandra took a deep breath. This conversation was still going a lot better than she'd realistically expected, but nowhere near as great as she'd hoped it would. Without his help, she'd never get the cloud up and running before FOWL found out.

 "As a proud McDuck Enterprises employee," he said, "well, technically, two McDuck Enterprises employees, if you count Gizmoduck, either way, as a McDuck Enterprises employee, I can't support this project."

 "I figured," Gandra said. She started to put her hand back down, but he quickly took it and shook it firmly.

 "But from one scientist to another," he said, "you've got yourself a partner."

 She smiled. "Partner?"

 "Professional work partner," he said, quickly letting go of her hand. His tone shifted from lighthearted to serious, "strictly professional."

 Gandra nodded. After what she'd done, that was only fair for him to request as well.

 "You've got a deal," she smiled, "partner."

 Fenton's touch on the lab was revolutionary. With a fresh set of eyes, he pointed out things that she had grown a little too accustomed to to notice.

 "Why do scientists always have to work in these cramped lab spaces, anyway?" he had asked, early on.

 "It's a controlled environment," she'd replied.

 "This whole world is a controlled environment," Fenton said, "can't you just imagine being able to work on even the most delicate of experiments outside, with no spacial limits or threat to public safety? Why work inside a box for ideas that think outside of it?"

 It wasn't a bad suggestion at all, and they'd spent the next two weeks creating plants, trees, and multiple different environmental backdrops.

 "We need quick-access lab tables," Fenton said, sometime later after the third daily digital trek to the labspace from their current outdoor work area, "all the essentials from privately built laboratories right at your fingertips."

 It was a great idea, and Gandra set to work on it immediately.

 "This place needs some kind of time function," he said, a few weeks later.

 "What do you mean?" Gandra asked.

 "Optional day and night cycles, or built in alarms after extended sessions," he said, "it's easy enough to get lost in your work in the real world, and it's proven easier now that we're up in the clouds. The amount of times I've gotten out of the cloud late and M'ma had dinner waiting a little too long…."

 Gandra couldn't remember much more of what Fenton said in the rest of that sentence, only that it continued for at least a minute or two before Gandra could get a word in edgewise, and that, while it wasn't the first time she'd been party to one of his rambles, and it wouldn't be the last either. Though she could see how others might be annoyed by his constant rambling, she was almost endeared by it. Too long she'd worked in silence, and she didn't mind him filling it.

 What surprised Gandra the most about their whole operation, though, was how well she and Fenton worked together. She'd expected some awkward tension, arguments over the best way to do something, a struggle for power over who gets the final say.

 Instead, they made a great team. Fenton's big ideas paired perfectly with her recklessness, especially with no real threat of danger to hold them back. His tendency to stay on task helped her stay focused, and once she realized how easily time crept away from him, she started reminding him to take more frequent breaks. Somehow they both made up for the areas the other lacked in knowledge. Despite her fears about this joint project, she almost wished she'd enlisted his help sooner.

 "Blatherskites, Gandra!" Fenton said one morning as he signed onto the server, "Are you still at it?"

 Gandra didn't look up from her microscope. 

 "Good morning to you too, Suit," she grumbled.

 "Did you manage to figure out the bug in the system?" Fenton asked.

 "I think so," she said, pulling a glitching object spawn out from underneath the scope, "turns out, the bug was an actual bug." She pulled up the task manager with a pinch of her thumb and her index finger. "If I restart the program, that should fix the whole thing."

 She watched as the bug in her hand curled into a ball, then popped back to life and crawled away across the table, not a single pixel popping out of place.

 "That's incredible," Fenton said.

 Gandra looked up at him for half a second, half a second too long.

 "It's no big deal," Gandra smiled, and the mere fact that she was smiling at Suit told her more than she was willing to listen to.

 "Sure," he said, though he shook his head as he did, and it took conscious effort not to watch as he walked away to begin the day's work.

 Moments like these kept happening, despite her best efforts. A little too much appreciation here, a touch too much eye contact there, a growing acknowledgement of admiration for each other— all of this was adding up into something she couldn't let happen, not again.

 Later that day came the first of the worst of them all. Fenton had this awful habit, one that only grew over his time spent in the cloud, where whenever he was lost in his own little bubble, as though he were the only one who could hear himself, he would start singing.

 This would've been an annoying habit if he was moderately alright at it. It would've been irritating if he was horrible. But, unfortunately for Gandra, he was the worst thing of all: really, really really good at it. The first time she'd heard him, she'd almost thought he was just testing out the cloud's mp3 capability, and it took her a second to realize that no, that was Fenton's singing voice, and even more startling was that she enjoyed hearing it.

 Today was no exception, as he absentmindedly started singing some showtune that carried from his workstation across the way to her. For reasons she wouldn't bring herself to admit out loud, she stopped her work and just listened, and watched the look on his face as he sat at his desk, fully engrossed in his work and lost in the melody he was singing.

 What washed over her next was a wonderful feeling, and the horrible realization that came with it.

 She was falling for him.

 "Hey, Suit," Gandra said, leaning over the edge of his desk.

 "Hey, Gandra," he said.

 "I think I finally got the day/night cycles worked out," she said.

 "That's great," Fenton smiled.

 "I might need a second pair of eyes to monitor them with me," she said, "just to make sure I didn't miss anything. Know anyone who can help?"

 "I'm your man," he said.

 "I wish," Gandra thought.

 "Besides," Fenton said, minimizing his desk, "I needed a break from the physics coding."

 "I think the optimal spot is right over here," Gandra said, generating a blanket on the ground in front of them, and reclining on it, "that way we can best get a visual on the sunset, and then get a check on the constellations and make sure those aren't funky either."

 "Sounds great," Fenton said, and he took a seat on the blanket as well, just about as far from her as he could be while still sitting on it.

 "Note to self," Gandra thought, "next time, program a smaller blanket."

 No, this wasn't her best idea, not by a long shot, but in the past week and a half, her falling for Fenton had only exponentially increased in acceleration. She'd agreed to maintain a strictly professional relationship with him, and she wouldn't risk the project to ask him out on a date or anything like that— no, not at all. Surely, though, there was nothing more professional than getting a second opinion on your contribution to a shared project, right? And if it happened that they were watching a beautifully programmed sunset together and spending a few hours stargazing afterwards, that wasn't really her fault, was it?

***

 "Suit," Gandra said, hurriedly, trying to play it cool as Fenton logged into the server, "I finally finished that project of mine."

 "Does that mean I finally get to find out what it is?" Fenton asked.

 "Yeah," Gandra smiled, "remember last week when I fixed the bug where you get thrown out of moving vehicles?"

 "The fix we tested with that long drive together down the backroads of the cloud?" Fenton asked.

 "Yeah," Gandra sheepishly replied, then regained her confidence, "I thought today we'd really put that to the test. Behold!"

 With a wave of her hands, a wrought iron fence with a wide-open gate sprawled before them.

 "What's that?" Gandra asked.

 "Carnival," she said, and she walked through the gate, with him following close behind, "I figure it has everything we need to really put those vehicle mechanics through their paces: drop tower, ferris wheel, carousel, rollercoaster, scrambler, tunnel o' love, bumper cars…"

 "Is that really necessary?" Fenton stopped in his tracks.

 "Bumper cars?" Gandra asked, "oh sure. The crash testing alone is…."

 "The 'tunnel o' love, Gandra?'"

 "Don't be ridiculous, Suit," Gandra said, "of course it is. We haven't done any real testing so far on boats, running water, lighting, or realistic sound quality in tunnels, and that way we can kill four birds with one stone."

 "Alright then," Fenton smiled, "let's start there."

***

 "I just had another thought," Gandra said one afternoon, as if it wasn't something she'd been thinking since at least their carnival experiment last week, "we've put a lot of testing into users interacting with the physical world."

 "Indeed," Fenton said.

 "But we haven't put much test into users interacting with each other."

 "How do you figure?" Fenton asked.

 "Well, I know that when I touch something," Gandra said, reaching across her desk to tap a fist on Fenton's desk, "I can feel it. I don't pass through it."

 "That's right," Fenton said, "there's a mass effect applied to each individual object, otherwise we'd spend all our time here in the cloud falling through the terrain."

 "Right," Gandra said, "but can we interact with other users in the same way? Can we pull them out of the way of a stupid mistake, or high-five them when they get something right?"

 "We can find out," Fenton said. He held a hand up in the air, and Gandra high-fived him, letting her hand linger a moment longer than she'd intended.

 "Perfectly fine to me," Fenton said, and he turned back to his work.

 "But does the system have any issue with sustained contact?" Gandra asked, "and on another note, is there an auditory lag between server accesses?"

 "I hadn't considered that," Fenton shrugged, "I suppose we could brainstorm some tests."

 "Oh, I have an idea for one," Gandra said, tucking her hair behind her ear, coyly, as though the idea had come on suddenly and not been premeditated before the conversation even began.

 "What is it?"

 "This is gonna sound silly," Gandra said, "but what about dancing?"

 "Dancing?" Fenton looked up at her, a bit nervous.

 "Yeah, it was a silly idea."

 "No," he quickly interjected, "no, I think it'll work. The musical accompaniment provides auditory testing, and attempts to keep in time with the music and each other should take care of the rest."

 "Perfect," Gandra snapped her fingers and cleared away their desks, replacing them instead with a standard jukebox, one that, coincidentally, only played ballroom dance music in three fourths time.

 Fenton generated a coin into his hand and dropped it into the slot of the jukebox, then pushed a couple buttons.

 "The Blue Danube" Gandra said, recognizing the song as it began playing.

 "You hear it too?" Fenton asked, "good."

 "So that part of the test is working properly," Gandra nodded, "now…."

 "Miss Dee," he asked, holding out a hand to her as the music swelled in the background, "shall we dance?"

 Prince Charming in all his glory couldn't've looked better in that moment than Fenton, still with a virtual labcoat over his standard garb, the digitized ballroom music from the jukebox playing in the background.

 "For the sake of science," Gandra said, "I suppose I ought to say yes."

 She took his hand and tried not to show her delight as his other hand rested on her side, or at the smile on his face as she placed her own hand on his shoulder.

 "Have you ever danced the waltz before, Gandra?" he asked.

 "Once or twice," Gandra said, hoping she wouldn't have to reveal that all of those times were in the last week, in preparation for this very moment, "have you?"

 Fenton sighed, and began moving with the pace of the music, Gandra following suit.

 "M'ma enrolled me in dance lessons when I was younger," he said, "I suppose I should thank her for it. A lot of the principles I learned there really come into play for Gizmoduck."

 "Really?" Gandra asked.

 "Oh, sure," Fenton said, and as the music twirled, so did they, "don't tell your buddies at FOWL, but if they sent a ballroom dance virtuoso against Gizmoduck, they'd win every time."

 "My lips are sealed, Suit," she said.

 At exactly the right moment, he spun her out, then back towards himself with magnificent flair, and she found herself closer to him than she'd been before. She also noticed that the daylight they'd been in when they started had shifted to another perfect sunset. Had she been a bit more focused, she would've pondered the sudden change in the skies, a change hours ahead of schedule. She might've even begun to wonder who, between the two of them, had the thoughts and ideas that began this change, settling in a new ambiance, replacing what had been with a gentler, almost romantic mood as they danced across their virtual outdoor laboratory. Had she been paying attention, she probably still couldn't've been sure which of them set the early sunset in motion, anyways, so maybe it was for the better that she chose not to think of it and instead focused that attention on her partner.

 "And where'd you learn to dance?" he asked.

 "I've been taking lessons," she said, "I've gotta keep my skills up and make it at least look like I'm trying next time Gizmoduck gets the jump on me. Word around the street is that he's getting pretty good at what he does."

 Febton smiled like an absolute dork, which was fortunately the way Gandra liked him.

 "I'll have to tell 'Gizmoduck' later that you said that," he teased, "he has such little self esteem these days."

 "I don't see why," Gandra said, with a smile, "I happen to think he's a pretty great guy."

 "I am? I mean, he is?" Fenton asked, and though he stumbled over his words, his feet didn't falter.

 "Yeah," Gandra smiled.

 "I'll take that as a compliment," he said, "you know, you're not so bad yourself, for a FOWL agent."

 "Is that all I am to you?" Gandra asked, and though her words maintained the lighthearted tone set by their light footwork, she meant it, having been wondering for weeks why he stuck around so long on this project in the little minimal amounts of free time he had between jobs.

 "No, not quite," he said.

 Against her better judgment she asked, "then what am I?" and for a terrifying second it seemed he might answer.

 But instead, as they followed through the steps of the music, he led her into a dip and held her there, as though frozen in time.

 She looked up at him as a star or two began to twinkle into existence in the lavender skies behind him. His arms, wrapped around her, supporting her back, were strong but gentle, and so were his eyes, overpowering, intense, and yet resting on her with the most gentle softness she'd ever known— and all that intensity and passion seemed to be directed at her.

 If she could've stayed there forever, her hands around his neck, their beaks inches apart, his eyes washing her in their rich beauty and hers doing the same to him, she would've done it in a heartbeat. As it was, he already held her there a measure longer than the flow of the song necessitated, and then another and another, as though building to some beautiful unspoken climax.

 But that climax never came. The song behind them ended, not naturally, but suddenly, so suddenly she expected to hear a record scratch.

 In that same moment, Fenton sighed, and averted his gaze from her as he stood her back to her feet and let her go.

 They both stood in front of each other for a moment, Fenton still not looking her in the eyes.

"You need to continue the project without me," he said, quickly and quietly.

 "What?" Gandra asked, hoping she'd misheard him, "I can't do this without you, Suit."

 "You can," he said, coldly, "you're one of the most brilliant minds I know."

 "I need you here, Fenton," she restated, and she knew she wasn't just referring to the project they'd started.

 "I can't," he said, "not now. Not anymore."

 "Why not?" Gandra asked, hoping she could soften the blow and slow the shattering of her suddenly very heavy heart.

 "We made an agreement when we started, Gandra," he shook his head and tucked his hands into the pockets of his labcoat, "but I feel I can no longer continue a professional working relationship with you."

 "Why not?" Gandra asked, "if it's something I…"

 "It's not you," Fenton said.

 "Then why can't you stay?"

 He closed his eyes and answered quietly, with a shrug of his shoulders. "Because I'm still in love with you."

 Her heart stopped and started all over again.

 "What?" Gandra asked.

 "Do I have to spell it out for you?" He asked, with frustration in his tone that didn't seem to be directed at her. "I never stopped loving you. I fell for you when I first met you, and that never changed. After you betrayed me, and then came back to help me, then left again without a word, you'd think I'd start to like you at least a little bit less! Somehow," he shook his head and took a deep breath, "somehow I like you even more. Why do you think I agreed to work with you again? Why do you think I'm even still here, Gandra?"

 "But you said when we started," she said, "'strictly professional.'"

 "I needed to remind myself of that," he said. "The first time I trusted you, it almost hurt a lot of people, people I care about. I can't have that happening again. I thought maybe this time I wouldn't get attached," and he stopped just a moment, and he looked her in the eyes for half a second, before shaking his head and turning away, "but even the great Fenton Crackshell Cabrera can't do the impossible. I have to go."

 "No," Gandra said, "no, you don't. This time's different."

 "Really?" Fenton asked, "what makes this time any different from last time?"

 Some feelings had always been natural for Gandra: disappointment, insecurity, regret. But this feeling? It was a totally unfamiliar territory.

 But unfamiliar territory was what science was all about. She took a step closer to him, and took his hand in hers, and he looked down at it in surprise, and then back up at her.

 "Because this time I like you too, Fenton."

 He smiled that same dorky smile again.

 "Really?" he asked, but then let his guard back up, "and how do I know I can trust you?"

 He'd turned his face away from her again, but she placed her hand on his cheek and tilted his head back towards her.

 "Look into my eyes," she said, "I trusted you with the virtual lab, and now look at what it's become— look at what we made together."

 "We do make a pretty good team," he said, with a halfhearted chuckle.

 "Suit," she said, "I trust you, and I like you. Can you trust me too?"

 He smiled, and wrapped his hand around hers as it rested on his cheek.

 "I trust you," he said.

 She smiled, and though she'd be reluctant to admit it, she may have giggled a little as he kissed her forehead.

 "So," she asked, "partners?"

 "Strictly professional workplace partners?" Fenton asked, with a raised eyebrow, "or strictly 'only professional when we're in the workplace, otherwise, perchance, daresay, romantic and wholesome and loving partners?'"

 Gandra laughed. "That second one sounds about right."

 "Then you've got yourself a deal," he said, "partner."

 And this deal they sealed not with a handshake, but with a hug and a kiss, the beginning of the most lovely partnership any two scientists had ever begun.

[sparkles-and-trash]

When Keigo was 16 he kept getting in trouble with his handler at the Commission and gets sent to «voulenteer» at an animal shelter.

It started when he pierced his own ears, then he dyed his hair bright red to match his wings, and when he finally got busted reading files he had no business reading his handler put their foot down.

However, Keigo was rarely allowed outside of the Commission on his own, and secretley he looked forwards to a few hours without handlers and in company of some cute animals.

He hadn’t had the chance to meet many, but he goes in with a positive attitude as always!

What he didn’t expect was just how freaking attached he would get to the little creatures.

Not just the cute puppies and kittens, but the wildlife ones who were there for treatment as well.

He cried for the first time in years when he and the vet running the shelter released a now healthy possum that he’d gotten especially attached to.

After a while Keigo was allowed to run the night shift himself, as there was nothing to do besides keeping watch, and Keigo were just two years away from being a full fledged pro hero anyways.

He’s a little nervous the first night, but he truly has no reason to, because it all goes well.

Until there is a president knock on the door, that is.

Keigo knows there could be people coming in with animals all times of the night, so he sharpens a feather and carefully opens the door to peek out.

It’s hard to see the person outside properly because of the rain and the dark, but it’s clear that whoever it is isn’t bigger than Keigo, and is holding something gently in his arms, so Keigo opens the door.

The person stumbles inside on shaky legs, and Keigo is shocked to see it’s a boy, probably around his own age, gently cradling what looks a lot like a baby racoon.

The boy himself is wearing a oversized, ragged, and most of all wet hoodie, and his skin is shockingly pale, his turquoise eyes standing out in stark contrast to his pale skin and white hair.

He was kinda really pretty.

Also really skinny, pale and shaky, but most of all, pretty.

After a little back and fourth between them, mostly consisting of Keigo trying to understand the pretty boy’s raspy, quiet voice, but after a while Keigo has the raccoon in a warm and safe cage and have called the owner of the shelter.

Just as he’s about to turn around and thank the stranger, he realizes with a sinking feeling that the boy has already left.

Luckily, it doesn’t take that long until Keigo gets a second chance.

Two nights later, a familiar knock on the door makes Keigo’s wings fluff up and he excitedly runs for the door.

Once again the pretty boy is standing there, this time he’s carrying a small cardboard box filled with way too young kittens.

«Someone just left them,» the boy says in that quiet voice of his, and Keigo’s heart squeezes.

«I got it,» Keigo say with as much reassurance he could muster, and as he took the box from the boy he noticed just how thin and freezing his hands were.

Keigo had a feeling the boy wasn’t keen on accepting any charity, and the last thing he wanted to do was scare him off again, but luckily he thinks quick.

«Could you help me with them? Just for a few hours!»

The boy looks startled, but after a few beats he finally nods.

So together, the boys carefully warm up the tiny kittens, feed them some bottled milk, and make sure there’s no visible injuries on them.

When the sun starts rising, the boy gets antsy, and Keigo tells him it’s okay if he needs to leave.

«I could use your help again tonight you know?» Keigo adds shyly as they’re about to part in the doorway.

The boy looked up trough his fringe, meeting Keigo’s eyes straight on.

«Really?»

Keigo smiled.

«Yeah! They’re a lot of work, and it gets really lonley here at night anyways.»

The boy nodded slowly.

«I’ll try my best,» he said hoarsly, and Keigo nodded.

«One last thing?» Keigo added nervously.

«Yeah?» the boy asked, already halfway out the door.

«What’s your name?»

The boy looked paniced for a second, before he whispered the answer.

«It’s Touya.»

Keigo beamed.

«Cool! I’m Keigo!»

Touya actually smiled a little at that.

«Yeah, you told me that already Birdie.»

Keigo blushed and ran a hand trough his hair.

«Heh. Right.»

Touya smiled shyly before he dissapeared into the first signs of dusk.

Keigo was already looking forward to the next night shift.

For the next few weeks the boys kept this little routine up.

Keigo would sneaking buy some takeout and insist he got too much and didn’t want to throw out the leftovers, and Touya would pretend to believe him.

They would talk about very light and unpersonal topics, but they still get to know each other slowly, and get more comfortable around each other as they work with the kittens together.

When Keigo’s voulenteer period is close to ending, he’s real sad about it.

He tried to beg his handler for more time there, but the upper heads of the Commission flat out refuse.

Keigo hated himself for waiting until the last night to tell Touya. He was such a chickenshit.

He hates himself even more when he finds a letter on the doorstep when he arrives.

The tattered envelope only has one word on it.

«Birdie ~»

Keigo takes a deep breath, and opens the letter.

«Hey Birdie.

I’m so sorry for leaving this way.

I know you know my situation better than you want to admit, and you probably know that it’s a risky one.

I won’t tell you much, for your own sake, but I needed to say thank you.

For treating me like a person, and for pretending like you didn’t know I was starving, or that I needed a safe place to spend the nights.

I’ll never forget your kindness Birdie.

- T»

Keigo’s heart breaks for a million reasons that night, for the boy without a home, for the friend lost, and for the death of the warm feelings he’d been experiencing for the first time.

For the next two years Keigo kept that letter with him, the memories of the pale boy with the pretty eyes who was his first real friend one of the reasons he got trough the last gruelig years of Commission training and hero prepping.

A bit ironic, all things considering, but Keigo had no way of knowing that, yet.

Yet.

[confused-alienated]

Alien

Summary: There was someone in Tyler's living room (or Alien Josh).

Tw: None

Notes: Posting this here cuz I feel like I haven't posted in a while. I'm writing Trash Josh and something secret atm. Sat my Hospitality practical exam today and it went pretty well so enjoy Alien Josh!!!

Word count: 1,083

Link to the og fic here.

---

There was someone in Tyler's living room.

It was half past two in the morning and Tyler was hungry. He'd padded his way to his kitchen.

Tyler had opened and closed his cupboards a few times. Why were they so empty? Tyler swore he had more food than this.

He decided on a cup of water. He'd just buy something tomorrow.

As he was leaving his kitchen he heard it.

Thump.

Tyler ignored it.

Thump.

"What the-?" Tyler was cut off by a BANG! from his living room.

Grabbing a kitchen knife, Tyler stumbled in to investigate.

There was someone in Tyler's living room.

Tyler quickly flicked the lights on and held up the knife.

The figure looked like a man. If Tyler wasn't so afraid he might have said that he was pretty. Though wide, Tyler could see that its pupils took up most of his eyes. Its eyes were surrounded by large red circles that looked a bit like makeup. Tyler could tell that if wasn't. Poking through its curly, brown hair were two bug-like antenna.

Tyler's eyes moved down and- Oh! Whatever this thing was, it didn't have any clothes on. Tyler flushed. He noticed a long, almost dog-like tail. It was firmly tucked between the thing's legs. He took note of the constellations that littered its arm, all purple, green and pink. The thing was holding a pack of mini cheddars. Tyler's mini cheddars. What the hell?

Tyler came back to himself, realising that he was still holding a knife in the non-human's face. He lowered it slightly.

"What are you?" Tyler asked quietly.

It backed up and bared it's teeth. They were perfect, white and straight.

"I-I'm not gonna hurt you. D-do you speak English?" Tyler took a step forward. The thing nodded slightly. "Alright. Do you, um, do you have a name?"

The thing squeezed it's eyes shut and whispered what sounded like, "Joshua."

Tyler hummed, "Joshua. Can I call you Josh?"

Josh hesitantly nodded.

"Okay," Tyler shakily placed the knife down and put his hands up. He took another step towards Josh and put his hand out. Tyler didn't really know why he did it. It was how people approach animals. It just felt right.

Josh slowly brought a hand up to Tyler's outstretched one. Josh laced his fingers with Tyler's and brought Tyler's hand up to his face. Josh's face was slightly fuzzy. Josh wiped the back of Tyler's hand against his cheek.

"See, I'm not gonna hurt you," Tyler repeated softly.

Josh hummed, his antennae were poking Tyler's wrist and his tail was wagging in long 'swoosh's. Most of Josh's distress seemed to have melted away so Tyler pulled his hand out of Josh's.

Josh whined quietly. Tyler shushed him.

"Come with me, I'll get you clothes and more mini cheddars. If you're good," Tyler put an arms on Josh's back.

Tyler ushered Josh to his bedroom. He began searching through his drawers. Josh was slightly shorter than him but he looked bigger than Tyler was. Tyler threw boxers, joggers and a baggy t-shirt at him.

"Put these on. I'll go and get you more food."

Josh nodded and Tyler turned and left to give him some privacy.

Once Tyler was in his kitchen it hit him that Josh wasn't human. There was an alien in his bedroom that was wearing his clothes. 'He can still hurt you, you don't know what he even is,' Tyler's brain supplied. Tyler knew that Josh most likely wouldn't hurt him. Josh had already had his chance to do that.

Tyler sighed, grabbed his last two packs on mini cheddars then made his way back to his bedroom.

Josh was lying on Tyler's bedroom carpet. He'd managed to put the clothes on properly. Although the joggers were a little bit too long and Josh's chest snugly filled out the t-shirt. Tyler smiled, glad that he didn't have to dress Josh himself.

Tyler kneeled down next to Josh and handed him a pack of mini cheddars. Josh happily chirped and sat up. His tail wagged at a faster pace and his face lit up. Litterally. His antennae glowed, illuminating his pretty face.

"I know, they're good, aren't they," Tyler opened his own pack and popped one in his mouth.

Tyler watched as Josh tore open the pack and practically inhaled them. Tyler had never seen anyone eat a pack of crisps that eagerly and quick. It was almost impressive.

Tyler continued to eat his at a leasurely pace, occasionally handing Josh one.

Josh's smile mesmerised Tyler. He smiled wider than Tyler had ever seen, exposing all of his perfect teeth. The edge tongue was slotted through his teeth and his eyes crinkled. Josh's tail wagged even faster than Tyler thought possible, it blew gusts of cold air at Tyler. Tyler thought that Josh was absolutely adorable.

"You'd be great on a hot day, Josh," Tyler handed Josh his last mini cheddar.

Josh happily took the crisp but turned his head in confusion.

"It doesn't matter," Tyler whispered.

Tyler slowly stretched his arm out and placed a hand in Josh's hair, between his antennae. Josh hummed and leaned into Tyler's touch.

"Not much of a talker, are you?" Tyler scratched Josh's head.

Josh's face fell "No," Josh breathed, "I-is that... Bad?" he asked, worried.

"Not at all, Joshie," Tyler smiled, "Can I called you that, 'Joshie'?"

Josh nodded and closed his eyes.

"Well Joshie, since it is twenty-past three in the morning, I think that we should get some sleep. Wait, do you need to sleep?" Tyler asked. Josh answered him with a deep yawn.

Tyler smiled and twisted his fingers in Josh's hair, "Alright, let's get into bed."

Tyler pulled Josh up to his feet and sat him down on his bed. As he lay Josh down and tucked him in, Tyler wondered where Josh was from. He slid into the bed next to Josh.

He assumed Josh was from outer space, he didn't really know though. Josh wasn't like anything he'd ever seen before. Tyler was dragged out of his thoughts by Josh suddenly lying on top of him.

"Okay," Tyler breathed as he felt Josh's cold nose poke his neck.

Tyler felt Josh's breathing (could it really be called breathing, it wasn't quite right. Slow and stuttering. Uneven) slow down even more. Josh was asleep.

'I'm really doing this,' Tyler thought hysterically.

The weight on top of Tyler pulled him into the best sleep he'd ever had.