#but i’m still here wanting to post XD

[kuiinncedes]

woah i’m a ,,,, senior now huh

[starkittnd93]

…why is this unironically my best artwork posted on here so far-

[Textless version under the cut!]

[artsy-dreamer]

Shoutout to the many Neko Atsume books that never got localized 😔

Some of these are packed with lore you’d never know otherwise… and these aren’t even all the Neko Atsume books in existence!

[thewidowsledger]

Secrets Behind Our Dreams

Chapter 13: Option | 6.3k

© thewidowsledger - DO NOT REPUBLISH AND PLAGIARISE

Summary: You are a club dancer; a stripper. Natasha is a respected notorious mob boss. What would happen if your paths happened to cross one night? The only thing you knew about each other was your dreams, and neither of you knew what the other was.

Pairing: Mob Boss Natasha Romanoff x Stripper Female Reader

Tags | Warnings: 18+, bad writing, making out, smut, top!Natasha, Natasha has a penis, bottom!reader, cunnilingus, fingering (r receiving), arguing, cursing, hostage taking, drugging and kidnapping (I really don't wanna add this because it's a huge spoiler lol)

Author's Note: I added additional details on chapter 12 a few days ago after it was posted, so for those who have already read chapter 12, you might want to read it again because you might have read the unupdated version.

I am not a ballerina nor a professional one, I just wrote what I have researched so pls excuse my stupid mistakes here. This is not proofread and I wrote this chapter in a rush ;')) we are here to burn the slow xD and finally answer who's a lot better? Your vibrator or Natasha?

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⧗

You began to back away, contemplating your next move and your instinctive act of kissing her. Natasha suddenly took hold of you, her sly hands slipping gently on your lower back. She then pulled you back to her, pulling you into a passionate, heated kiss. This time it's not just a lingering kiss on the cheek, not just for a fraction of a second.

The kiss grew more passionate and heated with each passing second. You found yourself moaning against Natasha's mouth, the sounds escaping your lips involuntarily.

There was an undeniable hunger and need in the way Natasha's tongue fought for dominance in your mouth, and you let her have it, giving her control as she ravaged you with her lips—almost as if she couldn't get enough of you. You could only grip her shoulders, thumbs digging into her neck creating a crescent mark in her skin.

Natasha pulled away suddenly, her lips leaving you—leaving you wanting more. You almost chased her mouth, the string of saliva connecting your lips together.

Her gaze upon you was calm and collected, but beneath the surface, you can see the hunger and the dark desire in her eyes. She looked at you as if you were her last meal and she was starving. Her gaze landed on your agape plump mouth again.

“What if you could be all those three at once?”

You looked at her, still trying to catch your breath after the hungry kiss, “What?”

“You heard me.” She husked, her mouth inch closer to yours.

“Wh—” you breathe, “What do you mean?”

She leaned in dangerously closer, her voice dropping to a more sultry tone as she responded, “Well, I suppose it's my job to make sure you don't have to resort to those two options of yours. After all, I wouldn't want you becoming someone else's trophy.”

You felt a shiver course through you as her hand traced down the curve of your back, her touch electric against your skin as she pulled you even closer that you can feel the bulge against her jeans.

“But I’ll offer you a third option,” she continued, her tongue darted out in a swift second, slowly licking her lips as if savoring the remnants you left in her mouth. “You can be all those three at once. A degree holder which you already are, and…”

“Be my personal stripper and my trophy wife.”

The offer were bold and unexpected, yet somehow, they felt right coming from her mouth.

And only a dumb person would decline that offer.

Your breath coming in sharp pants as you look up at her, your eyes captivated by her dilated pupils and parted lips.

“I…I’m a virgin, Nat…” you stuttered in a whisper, your cheeks turning red at your admission.

“That’s not what I asked of you, detka…” her piercing green eyes studying you in a way that made your heart race faster than normal. “But if you're gonna be my wife, I guess I’ll have to know that.”

“I’m gonna ask you again…” her eyes never left yours, you can feel her breath fanning over your lips.

“Can you be my personal stripper and my trophy wife?”

She actually didn't have to ask, again.

You couldn't resist anymore. You surged forward, pulling Natasha into a fierce kiss. Your lips crashed together as your tongues danced in an intimate embrace. You locked your arms around her neck as she scooped your ass up, wrapping your legs around her waist. She carried you over until you could feel the cold pole against your back.

Natasha's lips moved down to your neck, leaving a trail of kisses in their wake. Her breath was hot against your skin as she teased you with soft nips and licks. The sensation sent shivers down your spine, making it hard for you to keep still.

She slowly lowered you back to your feet, her hands now working to unbutton your silk top.

With your top completely off, Natasha let her gaze wander down your body, taking in every curve and inch of skin. Her eyes gleamed with desire as she traced her fingers along the edge of your lace bra.

"You're so fucking beautiful, detka."

And with that, your bra is completely out of your body.

Natasha's hands were now on your breasts, caressing and kneading them as if trying to memorize every inch of your body.

“Is this okay? Detka?” She asked, eyeing you for any sign of discomfort.

“Please, Nat. Make me yours.”

And she did.

Natasha immediately leaned down, her mouth replacing her fingers on your nipple. She sucked and teased it with her tongue, causing you to arch my back with pleasure.

Her mouth was all over you, her tongue tracing a hot, wet path down your body. She moved your legs open and lowered herself between your legs that made you shudder. When she's finally kneeling down in front of you, you let her tug your silk pajamas together with your panties until they're pooling down your feet. She then brought your right leg over her shoulder.

She looked up at you with those piercing dilated green orbs before her tongue flicked against your clit.

“Oh fuck!” Both of your hands gripped her braided hair tightly from the pleasure as she continued to lap you.

Natasha pulled back from you for a moment, her lips glistening with your arousal. “You taste heavenly,” she purred, her voice husky with desire as she locked eyes with you. Her gaze was intense and full of hunger, making you tremble with need.

She brought herself back into you, moaning and sending even more pleasure through your body as she expertly brought you to the edge. This time she plunged one finger inside you with a hunger that matched your own. You can feel the rough texture of her finger through your core but it was immediately coated with your arousal.

Natasha still managed to smirk as she continued to eat you out, it's just one finger and she could feel your tightness clenching around her finger, pulling her deeper inside. That made her crave for you even more.

It has been so long since you had a vibrator inside you, but this one's not a vibrator and you would do anything to come right now.

Her tongue focused on licking and sucking your clit while her forefinger came in and out of your hole, fingering you in rhythmic thrusts that sent waves of pleasure coursing through your body.

“Oh god, fuck, Natasha!” you gasped, your right hand flew to your mouth, muffling your cries of pleasure. She's for sure a lot better than any vibrator you had in your whole life.

Natasha's fingers moved faster and deeper, pressing against that sweet spot inside you. The wet sound of her lapping your core and her finger pushing in and out of your tight hole.

“Oh, Nat I’m gonna!”

And you finally lost all control, crying out in release as your orgasm overtook you. Your body shook and trembled, every muscle tensed as you rode out the waves of pleasure Natasha brought you.

Natasha swiftly pulled your panties and silk pajamas back in place as she stood. You were still high from pleasure and the only thing that keeps you steady is the pole behind you. Your hands are still tangled in her hair and she's now in front of you, she eyed you as she slowly licked her lips and her arousal coated finger. Despite you being high in pleasure, you didn't miss that moment and you could only bite your lip at the sight of her. Your hands moved to her cheeks and desperately pulled her into a kiss, you moaned as you tasted yourself in her mouth.

Natasha gently pulled away and took her leather jacket and let it hang it to your shoulders to cover your bare chest. She now swiftly carried you in a bridal style.

“You did so good for me, detka. So good.” she murmured in your ears, pressing a light kiss against it.

You both left the room, leaving your silk top and lacy bra behind.

⧗

“Maria, we need to tighten up the security,” Natasha said, her voice brooking no argument. “It's not secure if Yelena can just waltz in unannounced like this.”

Maria sighed, crossing her arms, “Did you two talk?”

“If by 'talk' you mean papers scattered on the floor, broken glasses, and a slightly bruised wall,” she responded casually—too casually, “then yes, we talked.”

Maria sighed once again, a sense of weary resignation in her eyes. She had grown up with Natasha, witnessing firsthand the tumultuous relationship between her and her sister. When Natasha had decided to start building her own empire, Maria had been the first one to offer her support—she was even the one who told Natasha to start her own business so she could finally get away from her family.

“There was a change of plans,” Maria confirmed to Natasha, “Is it true that you weren't able to finish the meeting that was held here earlier? Because the associates asked to move to a different location.”

Natasha already knew about this and she nodded in confirmation. It was supposed to be done but your unexpected appearance disrupted the flow of the meeting, but Natasha didn't blame you, though, because she liked the events that followed after that.

If she would have you in that position again—you gripping her hair—pushing and bucking your core down to her mouth as you try to muffle your cries while she eats you out. Hell, she would let you disrupt every meeting she’ll have.

“You good?”

Maria's voice pulled Natasha out of her reverie, and she tried to shake off the thoughts that had been preoccupying her mind just moments ago. A faint blush crept onto her cheeks as she hastily responded, “Yeah, I'm good.”

Maria just hummed but she clearly knows what's going on in the redhead's mind.

“I had Y/N’s clothes that were left in that room put in the laundry.”

Natasha swallowed a lump on her throat as Maria walked towards her, “You might wanna tie your hair back.”

Natasha's hands instinctively went to her braid, her fingers tangling in the thick strands of hair as she pulled it over her shoulder. The hair tie had already been removed, leaving her braid slightly loose in its end.

“You left this too.” She placed a plain black hair tie on her desk, you might have accidentally tugged it while you two…

“Damn, Nat I didn't know that's the purpose of the room you asked me. I thought it was a studio or something.” Maria raised a brow before heading to Natasha's office door.

“Hey! It-it is a studio!” Natasha couldn't help but feel a little defensive as Maria teased her. She tried to maintain her composure, although the faint blush on her cheeks betrayed the things that were going into her mind.

She made it for you, it is a studio, at least that's how she planned it to be.

“Sure…sure, but I wouldn't get shocked if it would turn into a sex den.” Maria teased once again, winking at her best friend before she shut the door.

“Hey! Maria! Comeback here!”

⧗

You slowly blink your eyes open, feeling the soft silk of the sheets against your skin. As you push the comforter aside, realization dawns upon you—you're not wearing anything on your top, and Natasha's jacket is lying haphazardly on the pillow beside you.

Memories of the previous night flood your mind, a cocktail of sensations and emotions. You can still feel the remnants of her touch on your skin and the scent of her perfume lingers on the jacket—on you, sending a shiver down your spine.

With wide eyes, you quickly rush towards the full-length mirror in your room. As you look at your reflection, a wave of surprise and a little bit of shock washes over you. The marks on your skin it's like a roadmap outlining Natasha's path along your body.

You carefully trace your fingers down from your neck, tracing the marks that continue down to the valley of your breasts.

“Be my personal stripper and my trophy wife.”

“Fuck…” you screw your eyes shut at the memories.

Every touch, every caress, every sensation that Natasha had brought out in you came rushing back like a tidal wave. The need for her, the aching desire for her touch, was overwhelming. You closed your eyes tightly, your body instinctively reacting to the recollections of her lips and hands on your skin.

Your eyes scan the table next to your bed, and you spot a white box adorned with red ribbons. Curiosity piqued, you reached out to the box and saw a note tucked into the lid.

“A small trophy, for my wife.”

You bite your lip to the words of Natasha's note. The thought of being marked and claimed in this way awakened a primal part of you that longs to be desired and owned by her.

As you peer inside the box, you find that it contains a single item, a beautiful pair of pink pointe shoes. Your eyes start to glisten with tears as you gently touch the shoe. This one was different, so much more exquisite and perfect compared to the one you had before. Those were cheap, thrift store finds that you had to painstakingly repair and patch up. This new shoe seemed so much... better. It looked elegant and more importantly, it looked comfortable. But you weren't sure if you could wear it; your feet were used to the pain and torture that came with the cheap shoes you usually danced in. You let another tear fall down your cheek before you put the box down and slipped onto some comfortable clothes.

⧗

You had walked to the room Natasha said she made for you, seeking solace and a place to immerse yourself in your dance. An unfamiliar music played softly in the background, a random selection that you didn't recognize but chose to dance to anyway.

As you continued to dance, you looked at the wide wall mirror eyeing your reflection, you observed your movements. The music pulsated through the room, you began to perform a series of ballet moves that you’ve learned on your own. You're a quick learner, you’ve only seen these steps at least once and you can do it neatly in a blink of an eye.

Your body moves with grace and precision. You twirled in elegant pirouettes, extending your leg and pointing your toes during tendus, gracefully arched yourself in arabesques, and leaped through the air with powerful grand jetes. You allow yourself to lose in the movement, each step and twirl flowing effortlessly, your body becoming one with the rhythm and the space around you.

Your dancing was interrupted by the sound of the door opening forcefully. You turned to see Natasha standing at the threshold, her breath labored and her shoulders tensed.

“Natasha?” you ran towards her, your heart in yout throat when you saw the blood seeping through the fabric of her shoulders. The sight stopped you in your tracks and you reached out to touch her, your fingers trembling as they traced over the wetness of the fabric.

“I’ll find Maria.” you said firmly, trying to pull your wrists free from Natasha's grip. But she tugged you back, her eyes pleading with you not to leave her. “No,” she whispered, her was voice broken and vulnerable. “Please don't go. There's a kit behind those speakers," Without a second thought, you ran towards the speakers, moving them aside to reveal a small black case. You opened it up to find bandages, gauze, and painkillers.

Natasha walked slowly towards the pole, her body aching from the injury she had sustained. She sat down heavily, resting her back against the cool metal, and let out a deep sigh of relief, “The shoe fits perfectly?” she asked as she closed her eyes.

“Y-yeah, t-thank you,” you managed to say. And Natasha just hummed but you can feel that she was smiling.

You could feel your mind racing with panic, a million thoughts swirling uncontrollably in your head. Natasha needed you and you are struggling to keep it together. You could hear the blood rushing in your ears as you ran your hands through your sweaty hair, your heart pounding in your chest.

Natasha opened her eyes and looked at you kneeling in front of her. She could see the fear in your eyes and knew that you were trying to keep it under control. She smiled softly, trying to reassure you, “Come here,” she gently took your arm and pulled you on her lap.

“This seems normal to you.” You huffed, trying to hold back the tears that were threatening to fall.

It is indeed normal for Natasha to walk back from her latest business, her body covered in bruises and scratches, her clothes tattered, and a gunshot wound on her thigh—it's a lifestyle.

She tugged at the fabric of her sleeves, pulling them up to reveal a fresh cut on her arm, she was stabbed. She winced slightly as you began to clean it, her eyes focusing on you as she gently circled her thumbs on your waist.

“Does Maria know about this?” you quivered.

“No, later maybe, yeah,” rambled, groaning as she adjusted herself. Making you move slightly on her lap.

“I need to call her,” you insisted, but Natasha shook her head, digging her fingers on your waist, “No, you're gonna stay here.”

As you finished cleaning her wound, the room fell into a moment of silence. Natasha sat quietly, her gaze unfocused as she took deep breaths, trying to steady herself. You couldn't help but feel a wave of anxiety wash over you, wondering if you were doing everything right.

The silence became too much to bear, and just as you were about to break the tension, Natasha spoke up. “You scared?” she asked, her voice softer than usual. In that moment, all the worry and fear you had been holding back came pouring out.

“Of course I am!”

You harshly wiped the tears that started streaming down your face. Natasha watched you cry, a pained expression in her eyes. She felt guilty, like she was putting you through unnecessary emotional turmoil.

She moved a strand away from your face, “I don't like seeing you like this,” Natasha whispered, so softly that you almost didn't hear her. But the words were enough to make you stop you, your hands frozen in mid-air as you looked at her. Your eyes were puffy and glossy.

“Natasha,” you breathe, “I don't like seeing you like this too,” you managed to say between sobs, you softly jabbed her chest with your finger. You cannot bear to see her in pain too, her going home with wounds, bruises, stabs, gunshots and for her it's nothing? Maybe for her it is, but for you it's not. What if she comes home cold? Lifeless?

“You don't deserve this.”

Now, you huffed hearing it from her, “Taking everything back?” your face hardened into a smirk as you wiped the tears out your face and quickly moved away from her lap. Natasha furrowed her brows, confused at your question. She tried to chase you to make you stay in that position, she wanted you close to her—now you just moved away.

“So you asking me to be your personal stripper and your trophy wife was what?” Your voice trembled slightly as you voiced your thoughts, “Out of lust? To get to me? To use me?” you chuckled slightly.

“Detka, that's not what it is,” her voice cracked, she didn't want you to think that she was just using you. She never intended that.

“You wouldn't wish a life with me!”

“What if I want this, Natasha?” You asked the question before you could even think, “What if I want this? What if I want you, Natasha? What if I want to be with you?” The words tumbled out of your mouth, each one a confession that left you feeling exposed and vulnerable. You gulped the lump on your throat, turning your back at her as you sob uncontrollably.

Natasha hesitated for a moment, her heart pounding in her chest as she processed your words. She watched as you turned away from her and her instincts kicked in. Without thinking, she stood despite the pain on her shoulder. Then, she moved closer, her hands gently reaching for your waist.

At first, Natasha was taken aback when you swatted her hands away. You turned to look at her, she saw the clear view of your face—the uncertainty and pain in your eyes, followed by a flash of something else - desire? She didn't think twice as she reached for you again, pulling you closer by your elbows.

“Natasha, no,” your voice barely above a whisper. You tried to move to push her away but Natasha was determined. She pulled you closer still, your face just inches from hers now. Her eyes locked on yours.

“Y/N, don't fight me,” gently, her hands moved down to your cheek and you didn't fight back. Tears started streaming down your face again as you cling to her touch, she looked at you before closing the gap of your lips, pulling you into a searing kiss. She could taste the saltiness of your tears on her lips and it only made her want to hold you tighter, wanting to stay like this with you forever.

You managed to pull away from her and Natasha tried chasing your lips but you immediately stepped back. You stood there for a couple of seconds, waiting for her to say something, you wanted her to say something but no words came out of her mouth.

You wiped your tears away and swallowed a sob before speaking, “I…uhh, I’ll find Maria.” With that, you turned and left the room not daring to look at her because you know what's going to happen if you do.

⧗

You just found clinging to Yelena as she drives her bike away from the manor. You just called Maria to get Natasha and you went into the kitchen when Yelena approached you and proposed an idea, suggesting a ‘little escapade’ as she calls it when she saw you all vulnerable alone after your encounter with her sister. And without hesitation, you found yourself nodding in agreement. The manor had been stifling and you desperately craved a breath of fresh air.

You were easy, too easy.

Yelena stopped the bike at a nearby ice cream place, she turned to you and inquired, “So, where do you wanna go?”

Your response was a nonchalant shrug, not having any specific destination in mind. Sensing your lack of a preference, Yelena grinned. “Let's grab some ice-cream then,” she said, gesturing towards the ice-cream parlor.

Yelena immediately went straight to the counter and placed the order for both of you, not even bothering to ask what you wanted. You sat silently, patiently waiting for her to finish. It was your first time leaving the manor in what felt like forever, and you relished the opportunity to be out and about once again. But as you sat there waiting, your mind began to drift to Natasha once again. Thoughts of her started to plague your mind, you couldn't help but replay the argument in your head, recalling every word and the addicting touch of hers. You tried to make sense of what had happened and how things had spiraled out—how you spiraled out.

You want her, you want to be with her. You long to hear the simple words that she used to soothe your worries and fears, that you just have to stay and be with her and no harm will come after you. Yet, deep down, maybe you yearned for more than just those words, maybe you wanted her to say the same thing—that she wants you and she wants to be with you.

“Ice-cream for your thoughts?” Yelena waved the ice-cream cone on your face, pulling you out of your deep thoughts of her sister.

You immediately took it and walked out of the ice-cream parlor and Yelena walked after you, “How much do I owe you?” You asked.

“Why? Do you have money with you?” She asked back, huffing knowing that you have none.

“No,” you replied quietly, savoring the taste of the strawberry ice cream. “I only have a black dress, a pair of heels, and a knife,” you mumbled. “And lingerie,” you added as an afterthought.

In truth, you barely had anything that was truly your own. All you had were the clothes you had worn the night you worked at Valkyrie's and that's everything you got since ending up in Natasha's penthouse.

After finishing your ice cream, you saw a nearby library. And you made a bold request, despite your attempts to keep your facade of aloofness intact. You tried to maintain a certain distance from Yelena. Yes, you accepted her ‘little escapade’ but that doesn't mean that you had forgotten how she had treated you since the day you two met. Her harsh attitude and scathing insults still echoed in your mind and you couldn't help but feel a pang of resentment and wariness whenever you were near her. But right now, you have no time for that, you want peace and a breather.

“I want to go inside,” you said, your voice betraying a hint of pleading despite your efforts to sound indifferent. “Please.”

“You look cute when you beg.”

Irritation flared in you at Yelena's mocking tone and teasing words. You couldn't help but roll your eyes in response, you licked your thumb after you finished your ice-cream to get the small crumbs left of the cone. With doe eyes, you stared at her that caused her to almost choke at her ice-cream.

“Yeah, thanks, your sister hears it a lot,” you replied with a wink, before crossing the street towards the direction of the library leaving her behind.

“Zlyushchaya suka.” (Feisty bitch) She whispered under breath before running after you.

As you entered the library, the aroma of old books and the hush of whispered conversations enveloped you. You approached the counter and without wasting any time, you signed your name on the guest book, eager to immerse yourself in the library's collection of books. Yelena followed suit, walking over to the counter and casually scratching her name onto the page.

As you maneuvered through the library, you were drawn to a section filled with the works of Emily Dickinson. Your eyes landed on her collection, and a sense of comfort washed over you. You had a deep fondness for the poet's work, and you eagerly reached out to pick up one of her books.

Yelena, meanwhile, was casually browsing nearby. When she saw what book you had chosen, her eyes widened momentarily,

“You read Dickinson too?”

“Wild nights, wild nights, were I with thee wild nights should be, our luxury…” You lazily recited just to prove her that you do read Dickinson's works. You grabbed a book that caught your eye and walked towards the blonde, you placed it on the top of the book she's reading.

“Grumpy Monkey,” Yelena read the title to herself. Her mouth agaped slightly offended at what you did, she immediately immersed herself to look for a perfect book to give you.

Yelena approached you with a cocky smirk, slamming a book onto the table. With a hint of mockery in her tone, she asked, “You live there?” you looked at the book entitled: Bitch Planet, Volume 1: Extraordinary Machine

You flashed a book in her face, as if you're ready for this, “Mr. Author Lewis here wants to give you an advice on how to raise your I.Q.” She read the title in her mind, How to Raise Your I.Q. by Eating Gifted Children.

“Okay, that’s alarming,” Yelena pointed out, which made you giggle. She returned to look for more books and spotted a book with a hilariously controversial title. She couldn't resist the urge to call out to you in a loud whisper, waving the book in her hand. “Hey, hey!”

Eating People is Wrong you read, despite the distance between you, Yelena's infectious laughter managed to reach your ears. Her boisterous chuckle filled the library, causing a few heads to turn in your direction. You immediately shush her causing the blonde to slowly and pretend to look for a book to read.

“Games You Can Play with Your Pussy; and Lots of Other Stuff Cat Owners Should Know.” You read in disgust and you turned to look at Yelena who was sitting in front of you, her eyes watered as she fought back the tears forming in her eyes, her shoulders shaking with suppressed laughter.

“Terrible book title,” you remarked. She pulled another one that made you roll your eyes, did she really just collect books with controversial, alarming and terrible titles?

You sighed as you read the title again. “Still Stripping After 25 Years,” you gasped, which made Yelena slap the table, still trying not to burst into laughter. You didn't even read the blurb of the book before you judged, “They should not put this in a public library!” You whisper-shouted.

“Okay, that's enough,” you chastised her, she was sitting on her seat in an almost slouching manner and you found yourself crossing your arms across your chest as you raised a questioning brow at her but she instantly straightened up and adjusted her vest.

It feels like you're with a kid, honestly.

“I like your vest.”

Yelena’s eyes widened at your compliment, “I just absolutely love vests with lots of pockets. They're so practical, and they just have that perfect blend of style and function, you know?” she giddily rambled. You just hummed as you flipped the book you’re reading.

“It's actually Natasha’s,” the revelation made you look at her, “I took all her clothes when she left.”

“How long has it been since she left? If you don't mind me asking…” you inquired carefully, hoping that you didn't cross any line.

“18 years, papa made her manage the business with him at 16 then she left when she was 19.”

“She started that young?” Yelena just hummed, her energy immediately dropping down.

“You know, your sister loves you,” Yelena immediately eyed you after you said those words, “Even though you always come around her property with no invitations,” you chuckled as you closed the book that you had no plans on finishing reading.

She just shook her head slightly as if she's trying to focus her mind and remove thoughts in her brain.

She hates you, she reminded herself.

“Let's go out, go for a walk.” You gave her a smile and grabbed her hand, the closeness making the blonde guilty.

As you and Yelena stepped outside the library, you noticed a small box on the sidewalk, filled with six adorable puppies, each of them looking at you with curious eyes. A $20 sign hung over the box, indicating that they were for sale. Poor adorable puppies just being sold?

Yelena's phone suddenly vibrated from her pocket, causing her to break away from your grasp. She looked at you apologetically and told you that she will just get it for a second. You nodded and informed her that you will go see the puppies, you pointed the direction so she'll know where you are before you both went your separate ways.

“The delivery should be done in 15 minutes, we’ve waited for so long.”

Yelena's heart dropped as she saw the text on the small screen. Guilt and dread, that's what she feels right now. She made a huge mistake on getting too close to you, this wasn't supposed to happen, she never intended to let her guard down and warm up to you.

She hated the fact that you have no crumb of flaws in you, well yes, of course you have your own flaws but it's not enough for her to hate. She tried testing you as if she was digging the pandora's box, it's nowhere to be found. She can't find any reason to hate you.

And she hate you for that. She hates you, she did. She hated you.

Yelena's heart raced as she desperately searched for you, but you were nowhere in sight. She spotted a two black van meters away from her and panic gripped her as she frantically looked for you. But suddenly, she saw you waving at her, a small puppy cradled in your arms. She immediately ran towards your direction.

“Can we get this puppy for Natasha? You know your sister always wanted a pup—”

You were taken aback when Yelena withdrew a wad of cash from her pocket and swiftly pulled out a $100 bill. Without a moment's hesitation, she grabbed your arm and quickly yanked you away from the scene, she wasn't even able to get her change.

“I need to get you back to the manor.”

The golden retriever puppy was whining in your arms and you cooed it even though you're being dragged by the blonde.

Yelena's panic intensified as her gaze darted anxiously in different directions. She noticed the same van she saw earlier moving slowly, following closely behind the both of you. Her focus shifted to you, and she watched you coo at the puppy in your arms, blissfully unaware of the danger that was trailing behind. Yelena's heart wrenched as she realized that she had never intended for things to take this turn—with you.

Yelena fished out her motorcycle keys from her pocket. She quickly straddled the bike and turned on the ignition.

“Get in.”

Despite her brusque tone, you quickly obeyed her and swung your leg over the bike, settling in behind her. Suddenly, without any warning, she gunned the engine and the motorcycle shot forward, taking off like a rocket down the street. The small puppy in your arms gave a slight yelp, startled by the sudden movement. You instinctively cradled the furry bundle closer to your body.

“Can you drive slow?” you asked worrily as you try to balance yourself in the bike, you weren't holding anything for support just the little puppy in your arms.

As Yelena prepared to turn the corner, her eyes widened in horror as she suddenly saw a van blocking the road and she can't just maneuver around it. Yelena's heart raced, and she had no choice but to hit the brakes, bringing the motorcycle to a skidding halt. The puppy in your arms whimpered softly at the sudden stop. Yelena considered backtracking, but her hopes were dashed as she saw the van that had been pursuing you earlier was now blocking the return path as well.

“Yelena? What's happening?” You asked as you were practically being trapped by the two vans.

Yelena could only grip on the handlebars at your question, her knuckles turning white as she struggled to keep her composure. She didn't give an immediate answer, her gaze flickering between the van that blocked your path and the one behind, trying to figure out a way out. After a minute of contemplating, she gave up.

“Just stay here. I'm sorry.” Yelena told you, you nodded slightly as you adjusted yourself in the seat of her bike.

Why is she apologizing?

Yelena dismounted the motorcycle and slowly approached the van. The driver's door opened and a bald burly, threatening-looking man stepped out, a hardened scowl on his face.

The bald man's voice lowered into a menacing growl as he confronted Yelena. “You tryna run away from us?”

“No.”

The man's expression darkened and he took a step closer to her. “Give us the girl now,” he demanded, leaving no room for negotiation, though this is a negotiation.

In a snap Yelena seized the burly man and she held him like a shield, using him as a means to keep the others at bay. As the other men started to exit the van, their faces hardened and their hands reaching for their weapons, Yelena's eyes darted from one to the other.

“Let the girl go and I'll let this bald-headed demon man go.”

“Yelena what's happening?” You called out to her in a whimper.

“I'm sorry, Y/N. Please come here.”

You immediately obeyed her command, slowly stepping off the bike and moving closer to her. As you did so, you turned around, trying to keep an eye on the men who were approaching from behind.

As you stood behind Yelena, the weight of the situation started to sink in. Your heart pounded in your chest and fear gripped you. You clutched the puppy tightly, its small form shaking slightly in your arms. Panic coursed through your veins and you couldn't help but look around, searching for a way out or any sign of help. “Y-Yelena?” you stuttered.

“Y/N, forgive me. I promise I’ll get you back to Natash—”

She wasn't able to finish her words when she suddenly dropped to the ground, unconscious after being shot with a tranquilizer the men had fired at her. Your heart froze and you could barely comprehend what was happening.

“Yelena!” Your voice was filled with anguish as you called out to her, tears streaming down your face.

The man she has been holding captive earlier stalked towards you and yanked you by your arm. The suddenness of the grab made you release your hold on the puppy. The man's eyes roamed over your body and ripped your top, he quickly inspected your shoulders. Satisfied with what he saw, he glanced up at the other men and shouted, “This is the one!”

“Yelena!” you hollered as the man wrapped his arms around your waist and dragged you. Even in your disoriented state, your survival instincts kicked in. With all the strength you could muster, you tried to fight back against the man who was holding you.

“Fuck you!” You growled, you spat at the face of the man, he was really enraged as he wipe the spit on his face but when he poised to strike you a man intervened grasping his wrist.

“We cannot leave no marks on her,” he calmly said, a sinister smile starting to form on his face.

“Fuck you too!” You shouted, the adrenaline pumping through your veins gives you a momentary burst of courage.

He smirked at how feisty you are but he then shushed you and pressed a cloth over your nose and mouth, “You've brought us in so much trouble already, you're gonna pay for it.”

You never stopped to fight back but your limbs started to flail weakly, your attempts to kick and struggle against them proving futile.

The world blurred around you as tears streamed down your face, your voice hoarse from crying out Yelena's name once more before everything started to fade away and the last thing you saw was the small puppy nudging Yelena's unconscious body.

Secrets Behind Our Dreams: Masterlist

[revelboo]

All of us gremlins when we get part 2 038 of one of your fics XD Stop what you're doing, stretch, eat something and hydrate!!!! >:)

I’m hoping none of them go that lengthy 🤣 if I can figure out the scheduled posts thing, I’ll do that tomorrow. If not, I’ll be on the road for 7 1/2 hours and won’t post until later. I’ve reached the upper limit of the stress I can handle and I’m going to hide from it for a few days instead of dealing with it.

Over It Now Pt 16

IDW Jazz x Reader

• Primus, he’s selfish. Watching you huddle deeper into your warm coat, a blue and white bundle of cloth in your hands and shivering so hard you’re trembling, sends a bitter ache through him. Because you want to spend time with him despite how cold it is now, your breath fogging the air as he reaches for you. Unable to send you away. Hands lifting you to settle on his thigh, you curl your legs under you, distracting him to no end with things he shouldn’t want. Can’t have. Then you’re going up on your knees, unfolding that bundle of cloth and gesturing imperiously for him to bend down. Obeying and venting as you drape the thing around his neck. “It’s a scarf,” you say, sounding absurdly pleased with yourself as he reaches to touch the soft material. “I made it.”

• “Doll, I don’t get cold like you do,” he says and you feel your expression waver. You knew that, but he looks cold sitting out here waiting patiently for you. Wanting to do something for him and not knowing what. Shoulders slumping as you sit back down on his thigh, your face heats. Yeah, it was a dumb idea. And he mass shifts under you, an arm hooking around you when you almost fall sideways. “I never said I didn’t like the gift.” Growling, he presses his face against the side of your neck, lips brushing you as he speaks and tingling through you in awareness. Suddenly you can’t get enough air as he rests his other palm on your thigh near your knee.

• Those expressive eyes of yours give you away, that hurt you’d tried to hide when you thought he didn’t appreciate your gift. Like you don’t have a clue how much the little gesture means to him. How much you mean. But he’s never bothered to tell you, has he? Too scared of losing the one person who doesn’t need him to smile and pretend everything is okay even if it’s not. Feels you shiver and push against his hold, trying to get away. Reluctantly letting you go, expecting you to retreat. Definitely not for you to turn and straddle him. Fingers toying with the scarf as you avoid looking at him. Before he can say anything, you lean up and your mouth crashes against his.

• Just a kiss. A kiss can’t hurt anything. And you’ve wanted to have at least this for some time, but he’s not been your size since that first time when he’d scared you. You feel him go still against you as your mouth slides against his, but he doesn’t kiss you back. Shocked that you did it most likely. Face heating, you draw back and his servos tangle in your hair. His head ducking so his mouth can claim yours. And it’s as wicked as you’d imagined his lying mouth would be. Aware of his other hand on your hip, servos pressing against you. Lips parting for his glossa to slide inside, tangling with your tongue, exploring hungrily.

• Can’t stop now that you’ve given him permission, now that your taste is on his glossa. Greedy for as much as you’ll allow him. Thinks about your smutty book. About just laying you back and taking his time memorizing every inch of you with his servos and mouth. Only the cold keeping him in check, tempering his need with concern over you. “Give me this, just a taste,” he murmurs, servos sliding under the back of your shirt to find warm skin. Mouth sliding along your jaw down to your neck. Kissing, nipping, and licking as you make a soft, breath sound that goes straight through him. “Let me have this.” Not sure if he’s begging you or Primus, as your soft hands touch his helm and pull him back to you. Your mouth warm against his. Losing himself in the heat of you, in the honesty of his need.

Previous

Next

[xxtc-96xx]

Found a Totally Legal format to watch Mufasa: The Lion King so as someone who was formerly deeply involved in the lion king years back it seems right to give my thoughts:

Jesus wept what have they done (there will also be spoilers see more to read my stupid rant lol)

Now I can see a few spots in the story that could have lead to interesting ideas, in a better story for sure. The problem is the story overall was incredibly cluttered, they rushed from one point to the next and didn’t let any moments sit and breathe. Kiara was cute but Timon and Pumbaa practically held the audience hostage every time an interlude in Rafiki’s story happened with the same routine of “why aren’t WE in the story???” Every time undermining any authentic moments with Kiara and Rafiki

The biggest gripe I have is with Taka and Mufasa’s relationship or lack there of. Aside from having a song saying they’re brothers they hardly have a bond at all that we see. Mufasa is forced to stay away from Taka in the short time they’re even in Taka’s home, Mufasa has a closer bond with Taka’s mother Eshe than he does with his “brother”

Even dumber that several brief lines, Obashi, Taka’s father, keeps mentioning blood bonds are all that matter and Taka kind of argued against that as if the lesson here is that there’s more to family than blood…..except we all know what happens with Scar so in the end his father was right, blood bonds are all that matter because it took next to nothing to turn on Mufasa and he murdered him later in life anyways lol

Even on their Land Before Time style journey that takes them to the pride lands I feel nothing towards Mufasa and Taka, I never once believe they had a deep brotherly bond of any sort. Which makes it even more stupid that all it takes for Taka to betray all of them is Sarabi deciding she has feelings for Mufasa and not Taka.

Mufasa even played as a wingman and tried his best to direct Sarabi to Taka but in the end the two of them bonded instead, and Taka flips the traitor switch instantly over that without even confronting him about it and from then on he speaks as his 2019 Incel murder counterpart, even confessed to Mufasa proudly of his betrayal and yet Mufasa and everyone else is stupid enough to just let him stick around anyways, every line he delivered post betrayal was said in the same way one would say “I’m going to murder every one of you and also you smell bad”

Overall a very frustrating and hollow experience, it didn’t feel like it added anything to the overall universe and now Scar apologists have more to work with despite the fact Taka in the film is terrible and hardly has any redeeming qualities XD

If you want a better falling out story as I’ve said before, watch Transformers One. You feel the bond between Orion Pax and D16, you sympathize with D16’s slow decent into a dark place and you mourn the lost brotherhood between Optimus and Megatron but still know that Megatron was still in the wrong by the end. I felt none of that in Mufasa

Also Mufasa’s dad never told him about the great kings of the past because he’s not a king, and the throw away line in the terrible 2019 remake Zazu said specifically for the prequel mentioned he knew a headstrong cub who was always getting into scrapes but Zazu didn’t meet Mufasa until he was a young adult XD

[backtothefuturefan88]

My fifth Ahsoka Tano redesign, this time it’s her Rebels outfit.

It’s been awhile since I’ve done one of these; this was actually drawn last year, I just never posted it XD •_•.

But anyways….

I wanted to do something completely different from her Rebels design this time. While her official outfit is fine, it’s still a little too simple at the same time; that might be because of the animation style, but I’m not going to be excuse that.

Now this is going into some AU territory here….

For starters, I gave her a Jedi Temple Guard’s uniform. I mixed different variations from, I believe, The Clone Wars concept art, to kinda symbolize that she had to scrap together what she could find.

The mask as you can see is broken so that it can fit across her face.

Cloth covers almost all of her head-tails for secrecy.

The skirt portion splits at the sides for easier movement.

The reason why I put her in a Temple Guards uniform is so that she could hide her identity from the Empire. And also because, I highly doubt that being Anakin Skywalker’s padawan didn’t make her recognizable on some degree. (also her face was plastered everywhere across Coruscant at a point).

Another point for her hiding her identity is that if the Empire discovered that Skywalker’s padawan survived, she would be hunted down mercilessly.

I did keep her Togruta cultural pieces, since she is easily identifiable as a Togruta and I don’t think you could figure out who she is based off of that.

The head piece is based off of one of Padme’s concept designs. Although I forget from which movie I’m afraid.

Now for the lightsabers, I had the idea that Ahsoka would try to find other Jedi survivors during this time. But all she finds are discarded lightsabers, if she’s lucky.

The white lightsaber in the middle is, Plo Koon’s.

The two on the left are, Katooni’s and Zatt’s.

The two on the left are Aayla Secura’s and Ki-Adi Mundi’s.

She uses a different saber every time she encounters an a Inquisitor, while also trying to use different saber forms as a way to shield her identity.

Part 6 👇

[milkamel]

Sooo since today is Kross Day (I’ve been making sure to keep an eye on the dates lol) I wanted to make something a little special so here’s a redraw of the first Kross art I ever posted- the difference is quite visible lol

THE OLD ART

A small message under cut :D

I wanted to make some more stuff but I had little time and figured that it’d be symbolic to remake something where my Kross, ahem, obsession started. Literally wasn’t in my plans but I can’t say I regret it. Love this ship with all my heart, it means so much to me. I’m very grateful to everyone and all the support (as I’m writing this I just hit 2k here on Tumblr IT’S INSANE!! Perfect timing >:D). Even though I don’t reply often to stuff just so you know I see it and it makes me incredibly happy to read comments and reply to asks <3 <3 (A while ago posting and sharing silly stuff felt like a chore that left me anxious and uncomfortable but now I just can’t wait to draw some more art of skeletons kissing-) I appreciate and love this fandom you’re all so kind and sweet I wish I could interact more but I’m too anxious and usually just lurk XD But despite that being in this fandom still has been a very positive experience for me personally Anyway thank you, everyone, I love you all <3

Killer belongs to rahafwabas Cross belongs to jakei

[thatlotuscookie]

Hihi!! I got a silly lil request if u wanna write it =3

Soooo since Kenma from Haikyuu is prob very rich in timeskip, would u consider writing something where y/n is like “Hey honey I want Burger King” and Kenma misunderstands and buys the whole BK company and y/n has to make Kenma return it XD(bonus if the internet finds out and memes it or something)

✧･ﾟ: a/n: : Kenma’s lowkey chaos energy combined with his wealth and your grounded perspective made this such a fun dynamic to write. I hope you enjoy<3 thank you for the req

✧ Title: ✧ Burger King of My Heart ✧ ✧ Characters: Kenma Kozume x Reader (Gender Neutral) ✧ Genre: Humor, Fluff, Established Relationship ✧ Rating: G ✧ Summary: When you casually ask Kenma for Burger King, you never imagined he’d take it literally—and buy the entire franchise. ✧ Content/Tags: Kenma Being Kenma, Rich Boy Hijinks, Social Media Memes, Established Relationship, Reader in Disbelief, Humor with a Dash of Fluff ✧ WC: 713 words // 4.1k chars

Life with Kenma Kozume was anything but ordinary. Between his highly successful gaming company and the residual fame from his pro volleyball days, he had wealth, influence, and a surprisingly practical approach to everything—well, usually.

Today, however, was shaping up to be one for the books.

You were lounging on the couch in Kenma’s sleek, minimalist apartment. The floor-to-ceiling windows framed a perfect view of the city skyline, but your attention was squarely on your grumbling stomach.

Kenma was stationed at his gaming setup nearby, wearing noise-canceling headphones and entirely focused on whatever strategy game he was playing. You admired how cute he looked when he was concentrating, but hunger had made you restless.

“Kenmaaaa,” you called, dragging his name out dramatically.

“Hm?” he mumbled, not taking his eyes off the screen.

“I want BK,” you said, your words tumbling out lazily.

Kenma finally glanced over his shoulder, his golden eyes meeting yours. “BK?”

“Yeah, Burger King,” you clarified. “I’m starving. I need greasy fries and a Whopper, stat.”

He nodded once, a small, thoughtful “hm” escaping his lips before he turned back to his game. You figured he’d order delivery or suggest driving out to grab food later.

But Kenma Kozume, former volleyball star turned tech genius, never did things the way anyone else would.

About two hours later, Kenma wandered back into the living room, phone in hand. You’d half-dozed off in your hunger-induced haze, but his calm voice brought you back to reality.

“So, it’s done,” he said.

“Huh?” You blinked, sitting up. “What’s done?”

“I bought it.”

Your brain, still foggy from your nap, struggled to catch up. “Bought what?”

“BK,” he said matter-of-factly.

It took a solid five seconds for his words to register. “Wait. You mean... like the food? Where’s the food?”

Kenma tilted his head slightly, confused by your confusion. “No, the company. Burger King. You said you wanted it.”

The room went silent as you stared at him in disbelief.

“Kenma.”

“Yes?”

“You bought the entire company?”

“Yeah,” he said, as if it were the most logical solution in the world. “It wasn’t that expensive, all things considered.”

You gawked at him, your jaw practically hitting the floor. “I meant I wanted a burger and fries, not to own Burger King!”

Kenma blinked. “Oh. I thought you meant you wanted BK, as in... all of it.”

Your hands flew to your head. “Kenma, do you know how insane that is? You can’t just—wait, does the internet know about this?”

Almost as if on cue, your phone buzzed with a series of notifications. Grabbing it, you saw that #KenmaBuysBK was trending. Social media was already ablaze with memes and commentary.

One post read: “Imagine being rich enough to solve hunger by buying an entire fast-food chain. Kenma Kozume, everybody.”

Another had a photo of Kenma with the caption: “Me: I want fries. Kenma: Here’s your kingdom, Burger Queen.”

You groaned, scrolling through the chaos. “Kenma, this is everywhere!”

He shrugged, his calm demeanor unshaken. “People were going to find out eventually.”

“Kenma, you have to return it.”

“Why?”

“Because I don’t need to own Burger King! I just wanted food!”

Kenma sighed, pulling out his phone. “Fine. I’ll call my financial advisor.”

By the next day, Kenma had quietly backed out of the purchase, but the internet wasn’t ready to let the incident go. Memes flooded every platform, and even major news outlets picked up the story.

When you arrived at Kenma’s office later to bring him lunch, his coworkers couldn’t resist teasing you. One of them grinned and said, “So, Burger Queen, what’s for lunch today?”

You rolled your eyes, but even you had to laugh at the absurdity of it all. Kenma, as unbothered as ever, simply handed you a small bag when you walked into his office.

“What’s this?” you asked, peeking inside.

“Burger King,” he said with the faintest hint of a smirk.

You burst out laughing, shaking your head. “You’re unbelievable, you know that?”

Kenma leaned down, pressing a soft kiss to your temple. “I just wanted to make you happy.”

Despite everything, you couldn’t help but feel incredibly lucky. Because in his own unique, overly extravagant way, Kenma always found a way to show you just how much he cared.

[once-upon-an-imagine]

You're Still The One - Sirius Black

A/N: ahh! well here it is! I really hope you loves like it as much as the preview! so, here we go!

Requests: - Anonymous asked: Sirius x Potter!sister where she raises Harry and they reunite once he’s out of Azkaban but she has to tell him that he’s a father too (up to you if they had a son or daughter) - twilightlover2007 asked: I would love to see post-askaban Sirius with a single mama(witch or muggle). The little one could be hers or she adopted the child when her friends were killed, thinking the little one is 6months to a year and when able to walk the little one just FOLLOWS Sirius everywhere. Even bumping into his legs when he stops walking suddenly. His own little duckling! Please and thank you!

Warnings: this is very much AU because Sirius gets out of Azkaban earlier and Remus was kinda working his case and visiting him there, so if you don't like that then, this is not the story for you xD, also mentions of sex and I think that's it but let me know if I missed anything!

Disclaimer: I don’t own Harry Potter :) gif isn’t mine :D  

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

You're Still The One

You’re still the one I run to The one that I belong to You’re still the one I want for life

“Hey, Remus, do you have any milk? I ran out and didn’t have time to go to the store-”

As soon as you walked into Remus’ home, Sirius instantly froze when he heard your voice. That beautiful voice he hadn’t heard in three years. It wasn’t something unusual for you to walk into the next house as casually as you did. But this wasn’t the way it was supposed to go. Sirius was still getting ready to see you. Which is why, when you came back up, the milk bottle slipped out of your hand and broke down on the floor as soon as you saw someone standing in the living room— a half-naked someone covered in tattoos, who definitely wasn’t Remus.

“Love” Sirius smiled, looking at you. The same smile he always had when he looked at you. He was about to walk your way, but you quickly grabbed what was nearest to you, which happened to be the newspaper on the table. You cursed silently for leaving your wand in your own kitchen. “What are you gonna do? Kill a spider-?”

“Who are you?”

“Bambi, it’s me-” he started, but you backed away.

“No! Do not call me that! It can’t be you! Y-you’re not here!” you said, feeling your eyes welling up.

He couldn’t be here. Sirius was in Azkaban. You knew that. You hadn’t seen him in three years. He couldn’t be just standing here in the middle of Remus’ living room.

“Sweetheart, I can explain-”

“REMUS!”

“What?” you heard Remus’ voice coming downstairs with clothes for Sirius. “Oh shit” he muttered when he spotted you.

“What the fuck is going on?” you asked, still with the newspaper in front of you.

“Calm down, okay?”

“Calm down!?”

“Bambi-”

“Shut up! Don’t call me that!” you said, turning to Sirius with your paper and he placed his hands up in surrender.

“Okay, put the paper down” Remus said, walking closer to you and pointing his wand to clean up the milk on the floor. "Just calm down, and listen to me, okay?"

"I'm listening..."

"Are you calmed?" Remus asked.

"...I'm listening" you repeated.

“Look, first of all, please don’t be mad at Moony, okay? I asked him not to tell you I was getting out until we were sure” Sirius insisted.

“Oh, and just how long were the two of you in on this?”

Sirius and Remus exchanged a look you had seen too many times back at Hogwarts before Remus responded.

“Two months” he said, taking a few steps back when you were going to hit him with the paper again but Sirius got in the middle.

“TWO MONTHS! You have been in touch with Sirius and you knew he was getting out and you hid this from me for two months?! You knew all this time and you didn’t tell me? You kept the love of my life away from me?”

“So, I’m still the love of your life?”

“I don’t know! I’m still mad at you!”

“What? Why are you mad at me for? Be mad at Moony!”

“Oi! You just told her not to be mad at me!”

“I know but I’d rather have her be mad at you than me!”

“Enough!” you yelled, making the two of them look at you. “One of you just… tell me what the bloody hell is going on!”

“I didn’t do it, love” Sirius told you.

“Well, I obviously know that part” you frowned.

“Y-you do?”

“I told you” Remus repeated, rolling his eyes. “Look, I didn’t want to tell you until we were certain and we could actually have enough to get him out” Remus explained.

“Why are you two looking at me like that? The last time you looked at me like that, you told me Remus was a werewolf” you said, nervously.

“It was Peter” Remus told you.

“W-what?” you asked, feeling your heart drop. You slowly sat down on Remus’ kitchen table. The two friends looked at each other and sat down with you. “B-but Peter’s dead-”

“He’s not” Sirius told you. “We decided, James and I…” he said, noticing the pained expression on your face when he mentioned your brother. “I suggested Peter should be the Secret-Keeper and not me. We didn’t tell anyone” he explained. “I- I didn’t think he would-” he choked as a few tears ran down his face. “I am so sorry, love” he said, trying to grab your hand but you quickly pulled it away.

“James would have told me” you said, not really knowing what else to think. You always knew it wasn’t Sirius. It couldn’t have been. You knew Sirius would die before he’d let anything happen to James or Lily. But you couldn’t believe it was Peter either. “H-how come none of us knew?”

“We thought it was best that way” Sirius confessed. “After… what happened” he continued. “I tracked Peter down and when I cornered him, he yelled for the whole street to hear that I’d betrayed Lily and James. Then, before I could curse him, he blew apart the street with the wand behind his back, killed everyone within twenty feet of himself- and sped down into the sewer with the other rats” he explained.

“Scabbers” you muttered. “He’s been hiding as Scabbers this whole time?” you said as more tears ran down your face.

“I didn’t want to tell you because I had to find him first” Remus told you. “I couldn’t get Sirius out if they still thought Peter was dead” he explained.

“So you-” you said, looking at Remus. “Y-you found him? You found Peter?”

“I did” Remus nodded.

“And he’s-?”

“He is” Sirius assured you.

“H-how long have you known it was Peter?” you asked Remus, who nervously looked at Sirius.

“Since the night Sirius was taken away” Remus replied and you only nodded.

“D-do you have any other questions, love?” Sirius asked.

“What time is it?” you questioned, getting up. “I have to go back and make breakfast and-”

“I’ll take care of that” Remus said, getting up too. “I think there’s still a lot you two need to talk about he said, looking between you and Sirius before he pulled you closer to him as Sirius went back to get the clothes Remus had brought for him. “He doesn’t know” he informed you and your eyes widened in surprise.

“Y-you didn’t tell him?”

“I couldn’t” Remus admitted. “Look, I know you begged me a million times to take you to see him-”

“You always said no!”

“Yes, because he made me promise to never take you there and he’s right. You don’t ever want to see that horrible place” he said. “And you wouldn’t want to see him that way” he continued. “He was completely shattered, and the biggest part that was killing him was that he had failed you and Harry. So, I didn’t have the heart to tell him there was someone else. It would have killed him” he explained.

“Okay” you nodded.

You knew it wasn’t Remus’ story to tell. You had to do that. It just made you incredibly anxious but when you looked back at Sirius, you felt the same butterflies you did so many years ago. This was Sirius. Your Sirius.

“It’ll be okay, love” Remus said, kissing the side of your head. “I’ll be next door when you’re ready” he smiled.

“Thanks, Rem” you smiled back at him, giving him a hug.

“Just please don’t have sex on my bed… again” he muttered, making you push him off.

“No promises” you chuckled.

“I mean it, Potter!” you heard him yell as he left.

“What’s he on about?” Sirius asked as you entered the living room.

“He doesn’t want us to have sex on his bed” you told him. “Again.”

“Well, there goes my question to know if you wanted to go have sex on Moony’s bed again” he said, raising his eyebrow suggestively at you and making you chuckle slightly.

“I think we scarred him for life when he walked in on us in school” you reminded him, making him laugh. Merlin, how you had missed his laugh. You slowly walked closer to Sirius and sat on the sofa too.

“Hi, sunshine” he smiled at you.

“Hi” you said shyly, playing with your hands, which Sirius knew meant you were nervous. He slowly reached out and held your hand in his. “I’m sorry” you smiled, shedding a few tears and squeezing his hand tighter.

“Why are you sorry, love?”

“I don’t know” you chuckled. “For threatening you with a newspaper?”

“It’s not the first time” he reminded you before you threw your arms around his shoulders and he quickly wrapped his around your waist, bringing you closer.

“I missed you so much” you said, clinging on to him, feeling that they would rip him away from you again at any second.

“I missed you too, my love” he said, feeling his eyes watering as well.

“I-” you said, sighing. “How-” you stuttered. “I- um-”

“I’m fine, love” he assured you, knowing that’s what you wanted to ask him. “I’m here with you and I’m gonna be fine, and that’s all that matters, okay?”

“I knew you didn’t do it” you said, with your voice breaking a little. Sirius pulled you away and cupped your cheeks with his hands. “You know that, right?”

“Of course, I know that, sweetheart” he assured you. “You and Harry were the only thing keeping me sane in that place” he said. “I knew I had to make my way back to the two of you” he smiled.

“S-Sirius-”

“Oh, and Moony, if he asks, I mean” he smiled. “How is Harry? He’s about four now, right?”

“He is, b-but um, Sirius-”

“Merlin, I am dying to see him! I bet he looks just like…” he stopped, not wanting to mention James’ name again and make you upset. “Um… does he- uh… does he know about me?”

“He does” you nodded, making him smile brightly at you. “But… um… Sirius, there’s… something we need to talk about” you said, nervously.

“Oh, I… well, I understand if you don’t want me to see him… right away, I mean, I don’t want to come back here and expect you to change your whole life for me. That’s regarding us as well, I mean, I guess we should have that conversation-”

“Sirius!” you said, getting up and walking away from him. You took a deep breath and tried to calm yourself down. “I know that… there’s a lot of things that we have to discuss and talk about but… um…” you said, looking away and sitting down on the coffee table in front of him. “There’s something very important that I need to tell you” you said feeling extremely anxious.

“What’s wrong, love?” he asked, worriedly. “Is it about Harry? Do you not want me to see him yet?” he said. “Cause I would understand if-”

“No, um, is not about that” you said. “Well, I mean, it is, but… umm… Sirius” you said, taking a deep breath as he held your hands in his. “There’s… there’s someone else” you said, making him let go of your hands instantly.

“Oh” he said, with his expression stiffening a little as he felt his heart shatter into a million pieces. “I uh-” he cleared his throat. “Well, I uh-” he said, brushing a hand through his hair frustrated. “I didn’t think you’d be waiting for me and- I um-”

“W-what? No! Sirius, that is not what I mean!” you said, grabbing his hands again and he looked at you, still a bit unsure. “Sirius… you are the love of my life” you said, with a few tears rolling down your cheeks again. “That was never going to change. I would have always been waiting for you” you assured him. “What I meant was is… there’s someone else… other than Harry” you added.

“W-what do you mean?”

“Um… a few weeks after they took you away I… I found out I was pregnant” you informed him.

“Y-you-? W-what?” he asked, looking stunned. “Y-you- um- we, we have a child?” he asked, feeling his heart beating incredibly fast and breaking at the same time.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner, I… didn’t really know how. And Remus wouldn’t let me go with him-”

“No!” he snapped a little, bringing you closer to him. “I never wanted you to go there or see me like that” he said, cupping your cheek with his hand. “Sweetheart, I am so sorry you had to go through this all by yourself! I- I wasn’t here for you! I-”

“No, Sirius, you don’t have to be sorry” you assured him.

“I can’t believe we have a kid” he said with a beautiful smile appearing on his face and you gently grabbed his hand from your cheek.

“Her name is Lyra” you said, making Sirius’ heart stop again as he felt tears rolling down his cheeks.

“We have a girl?” he asked, choking a little and you nodded, smiling.

“Would you like to meet her?”

“R-really?”

“I know there’s still a million things we have to talk about but, if you want to, I would love for you to see Harry and meet Lyra” you said getting up and pulling him with you. “Ready?” you started walking towards the door but Sirius didn’t move. “Sirius?”

“D-do you think they’ll like me?” he asked worriedly, warming your heart. You cupped his cheek and smiled at him.

“They’re gonna love you” you assured him. “They already do. Harry has always been dying to know his uncle Padfoot” you informed him. “I told him he was traveling around the world so he’s probably going to ask you a billion questions” you said, smiling. “And he’s always telling Lyra how cool you are” you added. “She smiles a lot when she sees your picture” you explained. “I told you, I knew you didn’t do it” you said. “And I was not going to let Harry or your daughter grow up thinking you were a-” you choked, not able to finish that sentence. You were never able to. You never believed Sirius would kill your brother and his wife. He would have died before let anything happen to them.

“I love you” he said, hugging you closer to him. “I love you so much” he said with tears streaming down his face as he brought you closer, kissing your forehead.

“I love you too” you smiled, wiping away his tears before you pulled him closer and kissed him. It felt like every single time you had kissed Sirius. It didn’t matter what else the two of you had to discuss. Your feelings hadn’t changed. You knew that. Sirius was the love of your life. And now, he was back.

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

As soon as Sirius walked into the house next door to Remus’, he instantly felt at home, just like he did when he ran away to your parents’ house all those years ago. Except it was a lot cozier and it certainly had your touch everywhere.

“Please don’t mind the mess” you smiled nervously at him as you started grabbing some things and finding your wand somewhere so you quickly fixed everything up. “I would have cleaned up but- um… well, I wasn’t really expecting-”

Sirius cut you off by giving you a peck on the lips. “Please don’t ever apologize for that. Not to me, love” he insisted and you smiled back at him.

“Harry, are you up, sweetie?” you asked, hearing noise coming from the kitchen.

“I’m in here, Aunt Bambi” you heard. You were about to walk over there but Sirius pulled you back.

“Aunt Bambi?” he asked with an arched eyebrow.

“He kept pestering me one day asking why Moony had a nickname, his father had a nickname and you had a nickname, and I didn’t, so Remus told him you used to call me Bambi, and… it kind of stuck with him” you explained.

“I’m glad you kept hearing that nickname you claim to hate so much” he smirked.

“It kinda grew on me” you admitted, rolling your eyes a little. “Hi sweetheart” you said, spotting Harry with chocolate all over his face.

“Uncle Moony made chocolate chip pancakes!” he said, excitedly.

“I can see that” you chuckled, walking over to him and cleaning his face. “And where is Uncle Moony?”

“He’s upstairs, changing Lyra” he replied as you finished cleaning him up.

“Um, honey, I would like you to meet someone” you said as Sirius stood at the entrance. You saw Harry’s face light up as he got off the stool and ran over to him.

“UNCLE PADFOOT!”

“Hey, bud” Sirius said, kneeling to pick Harry up. “You’re so big now!”

“It’s so cool that you’re here!” Harry said excitedly. “Uncle Moony has told me so many stories about you!” he said, making Sirius smile back at you. “What are you doing home?”

“Well, bud, I guess I just… missed you all so much” he said, kissing Harry’s head before putting him down.

“Do you want to see my broom? Aunt Bambi says it’s just like the one you and dad had, but she never lets me fly it-!”

“Hey, that’s not true” you complained.

“She won’t teach me Quidditch either-!”

“That’s because I don’t play Quidditch and neither does your Uncle Moony” you reminded him.

“But you said Uncle Padfoot played” he said, excitedly before turning back to Sirius. “Would you teach me?”

“Of course, I would” Sirius said, feeling his eyes water a little.

“Are you okay, Uncle Padfoot?” Harry asked a bit confused.

“Yeah, mate. I’m fine” he said, giving him another big hug. “I just… missed you so much” he said, with his voice breaking a little.

“Why don’t you go get your broom, love? I’m sure your uncle Padfoot would love to see it” you said, kissing his forehead.

“Yes! I will be right back!” he said excitedly, jumping up and down before he ran upstairs.

“You okay?” you asked, Sirius who was still looking Harry’s way.

“He just…” he said with a few tears rolling down his cheeks. “He looks so much like…”

“James, I know” you finished for him, pulling him closer. “He has Lily’s eyes though” you smiled.

“He does” Sirius said, kissing your temple. “I’m so sorry, love” he said, making you look at him a bit confused. “I’m so sorry I wasn’t here for you” he said, cupping your cheek. “I-” he sighed. “How-” he stuttered. “I- um-”

“I’m okay” you smiled sweetly. “I mean, there are good days… and not-so-good days” you admitted. “I just miss him” you said with a few tears falling from your eyes. “And I hate that he and Lily aren’t here to see Harry” you said.

“I know, love” Sirius said, wiping away your tears and hugging you to him.

“Hey” you heard Remus walking down the stairs with someone in his arms. You pulled away from Sirius and walked over to them.

“Good morning, my love” you said, taking the toddler from Remus’ arms.

“Mummy” she smiled brightly at you as you kissed her cheek.

Sirius felt like his heart was going to explode. He had no idea how he could love you even more. Or how he could love someone at first sight. And there you were, holding the most beautiful girl he had ever seen in his entire life. She was the other way than Harry. She looked just like you, but she had his deep grey eyes.

“Sweetheart, I’d like you to meet someone” you told her as you walked back over to Sirius. “Sirius, this is Lyra” you said, as Sirius felt his entire heart melting when Lyra smiled shyly at him. “Can you say, hi, honey?” you asked as she waved her little hand at Sirius.

“H-hi” she said, resting her head on your shoulder.

“Hi, Lyra” Sirius said, as new tears rolled down his cheeks. “You are so beautiful” he smiled.

“Uncle Moony says I look like mum” she said.

“You do” Sirius nodded. “You’re just as beautiful as her” he smiled.

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

“I made this for Uncle Padfoot, do you think he’ll like it?” Harry asked you, showing the new drawing of him with Sirius.

It had been a few weeks since Sirius was back and each day, both kids were getting more attached to him. He was basically Harry’s new favorite person, and you couldn’t blame him. Harry spent the entire day asking him questions about James, playing Quidditch, and Sirius basically doing whatever he wanted, and spoiling him with gifts.

And then, there was Lyra. at first, she was a bit shy but it wasn’t long before she started warming up to him. Every single time Sirius appeared in a room, you saw your daughter’s face lighting up just as much as his did. She followed him everywhere. She cried whenever Sirius had to leave again because he was still staying with Remus since he said he didn’t want to turn your life upside down or the kids’ lives for that matter by him being back.

And it was no secret that Sirius was instantly wrapped around Lyra’s little finger. You could tell he loved Harry as much as you did. He was practically becoming his best friend and he loved spending time with him. But Lyra had brought something out in Sirius that you had never seen before. Which is why, you wanted to ask him to move in with the three of you. Firstly, because he was practically living here already. He came in before the kids woke up and he left when they were tucked in. Mostly so Lyra wouldn’t cry when he left. But also because you had missed him so much, and now he was back. And you wanted him back. With you.

“I’m sure he’ll love it, sweetheart” you said, kissing Harry’s head as he and Lyra had breakfast on the kitchen counter.

“Are you going to marry Uncle Padfoot?” he suddenly asked, making you choke on the coffee you were drinking.

“W-what?”

“I asked Uncle Moony if you and Uncle Padfoot were married but he said no” he said, casually. “I think you two should be married” he shrugged.

“Why do you think that, love?” you asked, as you fed Lyra.

“Because you’re my godmother and he’s my godfather” he said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“W-well, I’ll… think about that” you smiled. “But… how would you guys feel if um- uncle Padfoot comes stay with us?”

“You mean live here?” Harry asked, excitedly.

“Yes” you nodded.

“With us?”

“Yes” you repeated.

“Where would he stay?” he asked, curiously.

“Um, well… he would stay with me” you explained.

“So, you are getting married?”

“I don’t know, Harry, I mean, I would have to ask him first” you chuckled.

“Uncle Moony said he asked you” he replied.

“What? Stop talking to your Uncle Moony!” you complained.

“Uncle Moony” Lyra repeated, smiling.

��Look, I will talk to Sirius today and I will ask him if he’d like to live with us” you explained. “So, I wanted to know what you guys think about it” you smiled.

“Really?”

“Yes, because we are a team. And you two are the most important people in my life” you said, poking each on their noses. “So… what do you think?”

“We love Uncle Padfoot!” Harry insisted. “Right, Lyra?”

“Yes!” she smiled, looking up at him.

“Okay, then. I guess I’m going to have to ask Uncle Padfoot” you smiled, nervously.

“Ask Uncle Padfoot what?” you heard Sirius walking in on the back door. “You monkeys are already up?” he said, messing Harry’s hair with his hand and picking up Lyra from her chair, kissing her cheek.

“Aunt Bambi wants to ask you to marry her so you can come live with us!” Harry said, excitedly.

“Harry!” you widened your eyes, feeling your cheeks burning instantly.

“W-what?” Sirius asked, looking at you.

“We want you to mawy mummy” Lyra repeated.

“Okay, that’s enough” you said, taking her from Sirius and placing her back on her seat. “Um, Sirius, could I see you in the other room for a moment?”

“Sure. Lead the way, Bambi” he smirked.

“Bambi” Lyra giggled.

“So, what’s this I hear about you wanting to marry me and move in with you?”

“Shut up, Black, and stop looking at me like that!”

“Oh, it’s Black now” he smirked. “I see you’re really riled up, Potter” he chuckled.

“Look, I just… wanted to ask you…” you started, avoiding his eyes. You knew he was enjoying this.

“Yes?”

“Well, I was thinking about the possibility of you… moving in with us?”

“That’s not what your kids said” he smiled.

“First of all, they’re your kids too” you glared at him. “And secondly, it’s only because Harry asked if we were going to get married” you explained.

“Really?”

“Yes, he thinks we should because you’re his godfather and I’m his godmother” you told him.

“Kid’s got a point” he said.

“Sirius! I’m not joking!”

“Neither am I” he said, dropping his smile and looking at you.

“What?”

“I don’t see why we shouldn’t get married” he shrugged. “I asked you before. You said yes” he reminded you.

“That was three years ago. A lot has changed since then-”

“Well, my feelings for you, haven’t” he clarified. “Have yours?”

“No, of course not!”

“I’m not saying we have to do it right away” he told you, smiling sweetly. “I’m just saying… if you’d ask… I’d say yes” he said.

“You think I’m going to ask you?”

“Why not? I asked you last time! It’s only fair, love!” he mocked you as you crossed your arms in front of your chest with a raised eyebrow. “You know, I forgot how cute you looked when you were mad” he said, pulling you closer. “I’m not going anywhere, love” he said, cupping your cheek with his hand. “You are the love of my life. You always have been. And you, Harry, and Lyra are the only thing that matters to me” he continued. “And Moony, if he asks” he said, making you chuckle. “Look, I’ve missed three years already and I don’t want to miss another second” he said, making you smile. “So, I will ask you, however you want me to, whenever you want me to, as many times as you’d like me to, my love” he said, wrapping his arms around your waist and you gave him a peck on the lips.

“I love you” you said, smiling.

“I love you too” he said, kissing you again. “You wanna go tell the kids?”

“Yeah, might as well” you said, kissing his cheek and pulling him towards the kitchen where the two of you saw Harry helping Lyra get down from her seat. Sirius felt you stop at the entrance and he grabbed your hand. He noticed the look on your face. In the past weeks, he noticed you getting that look whenever Harry was with Lyra.

“Harry’s a really good big brother” he said, kissing the side of your head.

“Yeah” you smiled. “He doesn’t just look like James” you said, resting your head on his shoulder.

“He’d be really proud of you, you know that, right? So, would Evans” he told you. “They picked right” he smiled.

“Yeah” you said, kissing his cheek. “They did” you told him. 

The End

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

A/N: I hope you loves liked it! and I hope this keeps rolling xD I have a few 9-1-1 imagines coming up, and also Stranger Things, and/or Remus, James hopefully!

tags: @twilightlover2007 , @hisparentsgallerryy

[cloverapple]

do you have anymore advice? your post helped me so much pls I need more

The Restaurant Analogy For Reality Shifting

Aghhh I told myself I wasn’t going to post anything else, yet here I am XD. Hopefully this is helpful.

You already know how to shift. “Oh, but I—” nope. Nope. You already know how to shift. How do I know that? Because shifting is simply the act of becoming aware of your desired reality. And how do you become aware? By focusing, by choosing what you want to become aware of. When your focus and intention are aligned with your DR, you’re already shifting.

“But the symptoms—“

Oh to grab and politely shake you until you realize that “becoming aware of XYZ” is merely focusing on that thing, becoming aware of it. Are you laying there focusing on your DR? Congratulations, you’ve become aware of your DR.

(There’s a very popular post on here (that I can’t find rn bc I’m rushing as I type this) that states your awareness shifts first and then your senses follow. I cannot stress enough how true that is.)

When you lay down to shift, you don’t need to overcomplicate it. Just focus on your DR and allow it to come to you. Let yourself shift. Sure, allowing it might involve slipping into an altered state of consciousness, using methods, counting or affirming—if that feels natural to you in the moment. But ultimately, it comes down to self-trust. Your mind already knows how to shift. Maybe your issue is that you just need to step out of your own way and let it happen. Which in that case:

Deciding to shift is like deciding to go to a restaurant and sitting down.

Choosing your DR is like selecting a meal from the menu.

Letting your subconscious do the work is like trusting the chef in the kitchen to cook your meal.

What happens next? Inevitably, the chef brings out your meal—you become aware of your DR.

Now, what NOT to do:

You don’t march into the kitchen and grab the ingredients from the chef. You don’t argue with them about how they’re making your meal. Your chef, your mind, knows how to cook. You don’t pace back and forth from the kitchen to your table, spiraling in doubt, wallowing in self-pity, or crying to everyone in the restaurant about how you’ll never get your food and how you’re doomed to starve. You don’t leave the restaurant altogether. You sit down, relax, and trust the process.

“But what if my meal takes a year, or two, or even more?”

Well, think about it—what have you been doing during that time? Have you been running into the kitchen? Losing faith in the chef? Accusing him of not knowing how to cook? Your beliefs shape your reality. What you believe—what you truly believe—is what manifests.

This even applies to the “restaurant.” If you believe your meal will take forever, it will. If you believe the chef isn’t cooking, they won’t be. If you believe you’ll never get your meal, then you probably won’t.

But that’s the beauty of going to the restaurant. No matter how much you doubt, the meal comes eventually. Why else would you have sat down at the restaurant?

And there’s another thing: some meals may take longer, and that’s completely fine. Even if you’ve been patiently sitting here waiting for it and it’s been taking forever in your mind, that’s completely fine. Let go of this atattchment you have to time.

So what if the meal took a year to reach your table? 2 years? 3 years? 4 years? 5 years? Has all that time passed since you’re reading this? Awesome! So why are you still focused on it?

All the time you’ve spent shifting, you will get back and more once you start shifting. 2 years? You gain it back. 3 years? Back into your hand it goes. 4 years? There it is again. 5 years? You got it back.

Focus on the now; sit at the restaurant, enjoy the live music, talk to other patrons, flip through the menu and browse because maybe you want to change your meal or try an appetiser.

“Changing the meal (my DR) means it’s going to take even longer!”

Who told you that? I don’t know what kind of cooking you guys are doing IRL, but afaik, if the stove is already on and the pan is warm, searing that stake is going to be just as quick.

“Clover, but you just implied that arguing with the chef messes with your meal!”

Arguing with the chef (your subconscious) is very different from politely poking your head through the kitchen doors and informing him that you want a different meal.

“But how do I focus on my DR?”

I love this question! When you’re sitting at the table, expecting your meal, what are you doing? You’re probably thinking about your food—imagining the flavors, the texture, the sensations of eating it, the satisfaction of finally having it. That’s how you focus on your DR.

When you’re laying there doing your shifting process, think about what it feels like to be in your DR. Use your senses. Imagine the smells, the sounds, the things you’d touch, the things you’d hear. Visualize, ground yourself, and do what feels natural for you. There’s no right or wrong way to focus—just let yourself become immersed in the idea of your DR and trust it’s coming to you.

What you need to do is simple: select your meal, sit down, and know that it’s coming. I’m not even telling you to wait for it—just know that it’s already on its way. The moment you ordered, it became yours. That’s all there is to it.

[alexa-yukiyu]

HIIIIIIIII

Ive been dead uh, I read abandoned treasures. If you EVER, get the chance or time to write a part too I will literally melt beneath your feet-

I LIKE to think reader might be scared of someone- xd for some odd factor. I think a interaction like that might be a saucey base Xd

XOXO - FROM THE DEEPTS OF HELL!!

Sick Treasure ( Thatch x child!reader x Marco)

A/N LEEE NO IT’S ME WHO IS BACK FROM THE DEPTHS , two whole seasons later and your request has arrived! Dokucha is still a savage on this one but the character is going trough trauma soo.

Reader here is replaced by Dokucha which stands for Reader in japanese for the enjoyment of both reader and oc character readers alike!

Dividers by @/firefly-graphics

It turns out that emotional burnout was not the only that led to Dokucha’s body giving out; the effects from the sun poisoning they had subjected themselves to had finally hit its climax, leaving the small child bedridden and with a high fever at the clinic.

“How are they?” Thatch questioned as he entered the clinic, gaining the attention of Marco, who sat at the desk looking through papers, a pair of glasses perched on his nose as he did so, watching as his brother placed a small plate of food next to the sick bay bed.

“Their fever has begun to recede-yoi, the swelling has also gone down though because they are healing, the skin has begun to peel, so we have to give them distractions from the itching so that they don’t delay the healing by tearing the skin open-yoi.” he listed, removing the glasses from his face and tossing them on his desk as he spun on his chair to face the chef.

“Hells’ bells!” Thatch yelled in surprise as Dokucha suddenly shot up from the bed. They looked around, confused, frowning as they saw the two commanders. Their little minds slowly filled in the pieces as they glanced at the IV attached to their arm, their hands inching towards the tube.

“Don’t think about it-yoi,” Marco warned as he also shot from his chair and approached the kid.

“You take those off or get out of this clinic without being cleared off, and I will make sure you have no access to your little watch post-yoi,” he warned, pointing a finger their way in a silent challenge.

“I can sue you for malpractice and kidnapping,” they snapped back, not willing to step down from the argument

“First of all, I’m not sure how someone your age even knows that-yoi,” Marco started—throwing a slight glare at Thatch as the latter let out a snicker at Dokucha’s words.

“Second, I am doing my job as a doctor and ensuring you are back to health; that includes making sure you remain here while I do, lest your sun poisoning gets even worse-yoi. I would be performing malpractice if I let you leave in the state that you are.

Third, “We’re pirates; we’re already wanted, so accusing us of anything will do you no good-yoi,” he informed her, letting a little snicker himself at the horrified look they sent his way at his final words.

“Hey, Don’t worry Kid, your safe here; I just need you to stay a little bit longer so I can be sure you won’t faint on us-yoi” he reassured with a smile as he ruffled their head, retracting it just as quickly when Dokucha swatted at him.

“Now, I’ll be at my desk looking through your labs. I’ll leave you to Thatch-yoi; I need you to eat and drink something,” he called as he walked away and took his previous position. He began browsing through a small array of papers, his glasses now back on his face.

“Howdy Sweets!” Thatch greeted, taking Marco’s previous spot. He opened a small table connected to the bed and placed the plate he had brought to the room on it.

“Seeing as you probably have nausea, our options aren’t big, but we still have to try to get somethin' in you. M’sorry, my first dish to ya is hospital food,” he told her as he offered them the dish.

“…This is hospital food?” They mumbled in awe. The dish itself was pretty, like nothing Dokucha had ever seen, with a serving of noodles on one side accompanied by what Dokucha could only guess was some type of curd that seemed to have been baked to perfection. Those were surrounded by different vegetables, from leafy greens to bright red vegetables whose names escaped the child’s mind; a vibrant yellow liquid surrounded the array of food, and the smell was beyond anything they had smelt.”

“Yeah?” Thatch tentatively answered, confused about the reaction of the child, worried that it perhaps was not to their liking

“B-But this is…

“M’sorry if ya don’t like it sweets, I would still like for you t-

“The yummiest food I’ve seen…”

-eat some so ya ca- hah?” Thatch shared a glance with Marco, who by now had lowered the papers and watching the interaction a similar frown on his face.

It was true that Thatch’s skills were well above those of other pirates, not only in cooking ability in general but also in making food an essential part of treatment; but for a simple broth, a food simply meant to help the sick be nursed to health, to be called the best food they had, well, that certainly raised some alarms in both their heads, though they chose not to act on them.

“Well, Marco thinks you’ll be fit as a fiddle come tomorrow, so I’m sure I can get you somethin’ even betta.”

“No, I won’t need it. Papa and Mama will be back by then, so I don’t need your food.” Dokucha called as they seemingly snapped out of the reverie they had entered at the sight of Thatch’s food; their previous attitude to them returning

“Dokucha. They are not coming back-yoi,” Marco stated

“Yes, they are! You guys are liars! Dirty liars!” they yelled, throwing the plate onto the floor in a fit of anger, the sound of the broken ceramic echoing around the clinic.

“Thatch, could you come a bit later? Maybe bring them some dinner instead-yoi.”

Hearing this, Thatch let out an exasperated sigh, and Dokucha could have sworn they heard him muttered something along the lines of ‘not again’ in his heavy accent before he nodded his head and waved dismissively to the Doctor as he left.

“Dokucha, do you know how long it has been since you last saw your parents-yoi?”

“Why does that matter? It doesn’t matter how long it’s been; they are coming back,” they snarled.

“Alright, Let’s make a deal-yoi

You have around a month until you are out of the woods from this sun poisoning. If during that time you let us do what we need to get you there, I will talk to pops about returning to the island we found you in if your parents return during that time great-yoi. But if they don’t, you have to listen to us; you have to listen to what we have to say about it without giving us the cold shoulder.”

“…you won’t force me to stay?”

“No, even if your parents don’t come, you just need to listen to what we have to say about it. Afterward, you are free to go or stay-yoi”

“My parents will be there.” They stated, determined, glaring at the man

“So you agree-yoi?”

“Yes”

Our men are so equipped to deal with trauma 😷

Taglist:

@Imaginarydreams

@amethystviolin

@h0n3y-l3m0n05

@hannahbarberra162

@epochal-oracle

[kimbapchan]

i know you've already received lots of similar asks, but i figured more couldn't hurt:

your webcomics will never be LESS than a fanfic. NEVER.

like you, i understand that those people (usually) aren't malicious. but it's still mindblowing to me. each person has a different way they like to share their stories, and they're all valid.

for example, most of my original character/world ideas, some are ones i'd prefer to eventually share as a graphic novel, some as webcomics, some others as novels with some illustrations (like the official danmei translations). hell, i even have a few game ideas. my fics, however, i mostly want to be only written, with a few exceptions here or there that i make a few illustrations (one per chapter) for. that doesn't mean i like some more than the others - it just means they're different ways i'd like to share those stories.

so like. while some people wish it'd be a fic, i, a ficwriter, am really glad and in awe of your stories being webcomics!

also, i bet some if not most of these people who think a fic would be "quicker" or "easier" have never read fics from sporadic writers. these days, if i take only a month to update a fic (or more accurately, wips, since i've decided to try my hand at only posting a fic once i've got it all written to see how i like it; but i can't stick to only one story so i have multiple fics still at the start lol), it's a miracle and i'm on a roll. seriously lol

Thankyou so much! i appreciate your words! 😭❤️ I’m happy you think my comics are up to par with written fics in this fandom 🥺🙏🏻

I may not be a fic writer (i tried but its too hard for me xD) but I am an avid fic reader. I LOVE svsss fanfics! And I am very familiar with the trope I am portraying in my comics. I want to create my own spin of ‘bingge finding his own shen yuan’ to be in comic form. And make my own unique twist to the characters in visual form. 😍

[b1asho]

Small rough comic while I finish the next species introduction sheet.

For context, this is the Prectikar Obin and his human friend Zoe ! (Yeah, you better believe I've got characters too. Will prolly post more of them after the species intro sheets so you guys have more of a baseline for what the character is XD.

Obin is very comfortable being trans around humans (who raised him and who he’s lived around his whole life) but his first time presenting explicitly as such in front of other Prectikar was a bit stressful, since their widely held religious beliefs say that being that way is deviation from their creator god’s will (the idea that any of them who follow their old traditions (trads) are all phobic is a harmful stereotype , from a vocal minority of them, but still a concern since the sentiment that queerness is weird or wrong is still more coded into their culture than in current canon humans). He already shows his gender identity with a nose piercing rather than a chin one, and his large size and musculature caused by a combo of gigantism and working out also helps make him appear more masculine to both Prectikar and humans, but going as far as altering the throat sac during the season is a much bigger step —>

As i mentioned in their ref sheet, Prectikar have a breeding season in late winter, where males will lose the feathers on their throat to show off a bright yellow color on their skin (females don’t do this, and instead will grow longer feathers on their back and chest). A common way for trans Prectikar to deal with this (without medically transitioning/using hrt to prevent it from happening that way in the first place) is to cover the bald spot or pluck their throat sac and paint it yellow. without the right pheromones, it’s still easy for others to 'tell’ though, which is why he’s nervous. Zoe is there as the emotional support lesbian.

Also here’s a transcript, because my handwriting sucks ass and I decided to write some things phonetically since Obin has trouble pronouncing T, D, and G and also tend to combine words with those sounds with the next word (wi’the nehx’wer )

O- damn, this stings.

Z- damn, it’s almost like you’re pulling them out.

O- ha. ha. … ok, how does it look?

Z- yeeaahhhhhhh, very bald! Just needs some yellow.

O- …

Z- very manly ! Very.. Kar-ly? It looks good! What?

O- I’m serious. Do you think the guys at work will say anything? I’ve.. never been around other Prectikar during the season…

Like, there’s no way they can’t tell. And U’lng is a trad, I’ve seen him praying, and they’ve already seen my piercing,, and I already feel like they think I’m a freak-

Z- Hey

it’s who you are. You know it is. No matter what. They’re just going to have to deal with it.

O- Right. Yeah. Deal with it. ..

Z- so we’re good? I can get the paint if you want.

O- Yeahhhhh

god why does this have to be so hard.

Z- they’re nice guys, dude. You’ll be fine.

Z- and if not I can hit them with an energy blast.

[1moreff-creator]

DRDT Chapter 2 Episode 14: First Impressions

Episode 14!!! If Ep 11 really was the 70% mark (apparently the dev said that but don’t quote me on it, I saw it in a YT comment), then it only goes up to Ep 16. In the first trial, the culprit was revealed in Ep 10, then Ep 11 was their final defense as the class unraveled all the remaining mysteries, and Ep 12 was mostly post-trial. If the pattern repeats, this might be the episode we get our culprit reveal!!! And it seems likely, with the forty minute mark. So excited!!!

Also fine if it doesn’t happen if course, but we’ll see!

Spoilers for CH2 EP14. CW: Hanging, murder, Eden!Culprit and Ace!Culprit discussion, blood and wires.

Nico! Nico! Explain the blood on the wires and my life is yours!!! I’m still surprised Teruko got “hanging” out of that crime scene to be honest.

Ace is so funny. He’s technically right that people should ask the victim and not just the killer, but he has nothing to offer.

“That’s why she didn’t ask you.” J really is becoming the voice of reason huh?

“It’s hard to remember the evidence.” (Paraphrased). Eden.

[Teruko lists the evidence] And… she omitted the tape. Yeah, the trial would get pretty derailed if Rose noticed the oddity there right away.

Wow, immediately Rebuttal Showdown let’s go! Really cool Hu animation. I wonder if she’ll end up being the Ace attacker or not? She could still just be defending Nico because.

“That’s why I have to interrogate Nico.” I love the voice acting, the chillest Rebuttal Showdown ever so far xD

[Sword Reveal] Fan?… Oh, because the fan being broken implies a hanging, right? That’s where she’s going with this?

“Lost their temper at Ace” is not how I will put attempted murder, Hu, but you do you.

[Cut] Oh, the fan was used as a pulley??? Fucking how???

“The fan being broken would suggest a hanging.” (Paraphrased) Oh I was kinda right with my start of RS guess.

“Isn’t that wire Hu’s custom weapon?” Woo, Whit with the brain cell!

“Nico stole from Rose, so they stole from [Hu]” (Paraphrased) Yeah! Teruko and I think alike!

[Hu triple dots] Was the wire stolen? I’m almost second guessing it with how reluctant she is to say that.

{Hindsight between keys: Man I went back and forth a lot this episode huh}

[Veronika talks about Nico planning for the trial] Even though that kinda contradicts what Nico said earlier (I guess maybe they lied, makes sense in retrospect), yeah she’s right (assuming they aren’t wrong about Nico trying to frame Hu). Is she trying to help her newfound bestie, Hu?

“Did they even want to learn to paint?” Poor Rose T_T Also Nico please say something.

“If something was bothering you, you could have talked about it with someone you trusted!” You know, Eden tried to do that with Teruko, and Teruko shot her down. I wonder if that’ll come into play…

“I don’t trust anyone here.” :O Well that’s a reveal.

Woo new Hu sprite! She is breaking down! But bestie please I don’t think you can fix them!

“Hu, I—“ Nico looks so done lmao.

“You trust me, right?” They just say they didn’t. Man, she is not beating the savior complex allegations with this one, huh?

Bro please let Nico talk.

“Are you a billionaire? Because that’s rich!” Ace you are not as clever as you think you are. xD

“Murder is murder…” Indeed, J the voice of reason.

“Why can’t either Ace or Nico simply tell us what happened?” You know we’re fucked when Arturo’s the voice of reason. Although I imagine Ace will shout at him that he doesn’t remember because he was unconscious.

[Ace shouts at Arturo] Got the reason wrong, but the shouting was there.

“Don’t throw two birds and a stone in a glass house, asshole.” Mixing two idiots there, big guy.

“They put some sort of cloth on my mouth…” Ah, there’s the unconsciousness shouting. By the way, full confirmation turpentine is just chloroform in this universe, nice.

[Charles lays down the law on Hu] Thank you, resident brain cell holder! How did they even get out of the first trial without you?

“I was going to!” Yo new Nico sprite is crazy!!! They’re going in!

“I was going to…” Oh, they’re trying to remain calm. That’s pretty cool of them!

“If you say what you think happened, I’ll help.” (Paraphrased) Yeah I was wondering how the dev was gonna write this without it being a twenty minute Nico monologue, this tracks.

Yo “fake” Closing Argument is crazy.

THE FUCKING LIGHT!!!! HOW THE FUCK DID IT NOT OCCUR TO ANY OF THE FIFTEEN PEOPLE THAT TRIED TO SOLVE THIS!!! I guess cause nothing pointed to it but y’know.

“How would that have worked?” Broom to move the fan? I came up with that in my original theory on this thing, though I think that was for the very first method which was clinically insane.

[Broom reveal] Ah, close but not quite. That’s actually quite smart! I’m surprised no one thought of that either.

[Releasing wire] …Am I stupid or does this not work? What would the wire get caught on?

{Yeah I still don’t think I get it? Like if the wire was moving from above the fan to around the broom, there’s nothing stopping it from going from around the broom to above the fan, so Ace would just fall. Did it get caught on the tape somehow? But how would Nico be able to put it around the broom then? Also how does the fan break? The wire would exert force from above and the side, not below, which is what the image makes it look like. I don’t think I understood this I’m so sorry.}

Oh, Ace woke up before the murder attempt was over! Good job badjoe for calling that!

Also are we far enough in to confirm Nico did this by themselves? I don’t have anything against those that believed otherwise, but I personally like it better this way. I imagine the theories aren’t 100% dead, as always, but y’know.

“And then I… Y’know…” THAT’S WHY THE BLOOD ON THE WIRES DOESN’T MAKE FUCKING SENSE!!! Man, as much as I love the EP 6 CG, it was not clear at all that they were that close, especially when the loose wire seemed closer to the entrance. {Looking back, yeah, I’m just not good at perspective on these rooms. The wires were closer to Ace than it looked}.

… Well there’s the small bit on the end of the loose wire that I’m still not sure how it got there, but close enough!

{Yeah it’s not. Believe it or not, I don’t even think the canon method fully explains the fucking blood.

How the fuck was Nico using this exactly? I imagine the small bit of blood on the end is from the noose (which funnily enough, I kinda called there would be a noose, just got where Ace’s neck would be wrong), so then the middle is the part they used as a garrote. But… then where did the blood on the wire on the fan come from? Where they using both simultaneously?

Am I losing my fucking mind? How is it possible I still don’t understand the evidence even after All That? Has my brain simply rotted? And don’t even get me started on everything that wasn’t brought up! What the hell even is this case?

Then again, it’s midnight when I’m writing these hindsight observations, so I don’t think I’m operating at full brain capacity}

“What an interesting murder plan.” Veronika I love you.

“I tried to kill Ace and pin the murder on Hu. What else should I say?” I love you too Nico.

“And after all’s said and done, you can’t even say something as simple as “sorry”?” … Is Nico about to secret quote us?

“I tried to kill you because I don’t like you. Even now, there’s still no use to try and pretend that I like you. If I say “sorry,” you’re still going to hate me. So what else should I say?” Okay crisis averted. Still, this is a really interesting perspective, and I love it a lot. It calls back to Nico not understanding niceties like “please pass the salt,” which, relatable. If they’re not sorry, and Ace won’t get anything out of it, why lie? Very fun.

“D-Do you even regret what you did?” Poor Rose she’s taking this so badly T_T She still doesn’t have an answer as if Nico ever wanted to paint or not.

“I’m not Levi; of course I feel bad about something like that! I’m not heartless!” Yikes on calling Levi heartless, but interesting line for character analysis I guess.

“That was the worst choice that I’ve made in my life.” Wow, really cool new sprite and a lot of Nico info, this is awesome for us Nico enjoyers! (I call myself a Nico enjoyer like I don’t love every single character in the cast lol).

“My teachers, my classmates, my father…” Holy shit this is depressing.

“I’m not the victim here.” Damn, Nico. Just loving all this.

“So I don’t see the point in acting sorry.” Holy shit the sprites and the writing are on point today! {I’m sorry if my commentary’s not exactly thrilling, sometimes I’m just too invested to do anything but stare in awe.}

Rose: “I don’t know how to feel anymore” Sibling can you please give her a fucking answer damn.

“What does this have to do with the case? Everything.” Are we… doing “the pulley was used because they weren’t strong enough to murder otherwise” or…? I don’t know where else this would go.

“Coincidence? Hardly.” Does… Does Teruko already have Eden clocked (heh) as the murderer? No, right? It’s the strength thing probs.

“…They specifically intended for this murder case to be similar to Nico’s murder.” Wait does she actually think it’s Ace or Eden what?

[Non-stop, Bound Wrists] … I have nothing. Nico didn’t bind Ace’s wrists. What is happening.

[Bullet fired] Okay, slight nitpick that I’m pretty sure bothers me and no one else. I get that it’s hard to come up with phrases to shoot bullets at, but “there’s no evidence of that” or some variation is the thing that gets shot in, like, 90% of these Non-Stops Debates. Again, not really important, just wanted to point out a pet peeve of mine.

“One of the pieces of evidence was taken directly from the crime scene…” Oh now we’re bringing up the tape! Teruko didn’t identify it in the spinny thing so I was wondering if she was going to make the connection on her own, but I guess I should have never doubted the Queen.

“I finally figured out what this tape is…” Okay that makes sense. But has she actually clocked (heh x2) that Eden or Ace must have taken it? She’s acting real chill about it.

“It’s the tape from the gym.” (Paraphrased) Woo! It feels super satisfying to finally read those words in a trial setting. Another exceedingly common badjoe W, as they’re who pointed out the tape’s disappearance to me.

“That time Rose and I went to the gym together…” Oh so she knows knows.

“But didn’t MonoTV clean up the gym?” Yeah that would be convenient for you huh. There’s still a chance Ace is the culprit and she’s trying to defend him, but it’s looking rough.

{Actually in retrospect yeah what the fuck?}

“…I attempted to restore the gym to its original condition.” Which would include the tape being there. It might be over chat.

“… why didn’t you recognize it earlier, Rose?” She didn’t look at the crime scene queen. But it was in the trash. Geez Rose is just gonna feel awful after this trial, I’m really interested to see where her character will go.

“Wooow!” Fucking David jumpscare-

Yo why’s David of all people being a hater you wanted them to lose the trial.

[David blames Arturo for Arei’s death] Considering Felicity, low blow. I hate David so much (/affectionate).

“I can’t even recall what day that happened.” Oh so she’s breaking down breaking down.

[Rose speech] The Rose angst is insane this episode, I’m loving every second. In addition, there might be a line here that could point to Rose!MM. But to keep the habit, I’m not elaborating on that (on this post).

“Rose. You are helpful.” Let me ignore the Terurose agenda for a moment and point out that Teruko’s still being way too chill about this if she’s about to call out Eden. Is she putting on a front? She mentioned hurting when Eden talked to her in the kitchen, so she probably does care, but isn’t letting herself show it? Oof if true.

“That I could be dismissive […] without consequences.” Oh we might be starting the “Teruko learns to trust a bit again” arc sooner than I expected. Cool! Also she’s not about to secret quote us right? {She wasn’t}.

“Thank you, Rose.” Okay I am no longer ignoring the Terurose agenda this ship is about to pop off I feel and I love that.

“…that tells me exactly who the murderer could be.” It might be Edenover.

Select Two People! But she said after Ace ran out, right? Is she gonna point at Ace and Eden, or herself and Eden?

Nope, Ace and Eden. Well, those are the two I landed on!

“It’s you two, right?” [Voice Line] You make it sound like Ace!Accomplice or Eden!Accomplice are even like remotely possible, and I find that funny.

“What’s your reasoning?” Veronika I love you but she’s spent the last ten minutes explaining her reasoning.

By the way, while Teruko’s repeating more or less the same lockdown logic I must have explained in at least three or four different posts (honestly kinda surreal ngl), it’s gonna be really funny if the only reason the class can confidently rule out Teruko as a suspect is because her handwriting sucks too much which is honestly the best argument for her innocence besides protag privilege :v

“I’m the least suspicious because I’ve been helping” is the second best argument lol.

“But to be frank, most of you are incapable of [acting logically]” Tell ‘em Teruko!

I’ll refrain from pointing bv out every suspicious Eden line because I always feel like I’m leaning too much on confirmation bias for it, but let’s be clear, I’m seeing them.

Hu: “Eden isn’t the killer! Don’t accuse her!” Bro.

“I do have evidence!” BDA?

Called it! If we’re bringing it up this early, though… I’m assuming it’s not so simple.

“You all are moving way too fucking fast.” I feel the same way Ace. {For the first time in the trial}.

“Hold on.” Wait is David gonna be the one to bring in the possible workaround(s)? Why the- I thought you wanted to lose? What the fuck is he even doing anymore???

“Oh my my my. That’s an issue.” You saw the body didn’t you.

“Because I’m actually the first person to see the body.” Well, there goes the “See No Evil” idea, which I kinda liked. Unless he’s just lying, which would honestly make more sense; he’d be trying to lead the trial astray again.

Okay but this is adorable.

“… at least one innocent person.” David, it’s- it’s at least two. How are this bad at math.

Nico: “Do you expect everyone to believe such an obvious lie?” This really is the Nico episode, huh? But it does make sense for them to push Ace as the culprit, I guess.

“He’s lying? Really?” Poor Levi’s got no fucking clue what’s going on.

“… he just conveniently avoided [the BDA group]” oh right they searched the whole floor before going to the playground David’s story is practically impossible.

Alright who’s gonna make the “What’s your source?” “I made it the fuck up!” meme with J/Nico and David?

“The only person who I need to believe me is Teruko.”

…

?????????????????????????????

(I feel like I write that exact sequence of characters every episode)

Are you just trying to go for a Teruvid angle to counteract the Terurose earlier? (/silly but really what the fuck-)

[David explains about Teruko’s skepticism] Yeah I guess. But, just so we’re clear: David still thinks the culprit is Ace and is just doing this to make them lose the trial right? Because otherwise what the actual fuck.

“AllI want is for Teruko to distrust others.” Motherfucker what-

[David’s whole Thing] You know, I really thought, I really fucking thought after Ep13, that we would get a break of a few episodes of David Bullshit, but no! What in the ever loving fuck is he even doing anymore???? No theories at this point, it is almost 11 PM where I am I do not have the brainpower to deal with this son of a bitch.

Levi: “Now that I think about it, Eden is in a good position to be Arei’s killer after all.” I feel a scrum debate forming.

“…why would I help it piece [the note] back together…?” I was right to avoid the bias. This line could be perfectly innocent, but the moment I read it, my mind said “she’s saying this too confidently, she had it planned, it’s Edenover.”

“Why… Levi, why?” While I do think Levi!Accomplice just 100% died of it wasn’t dead already, this line does read very funny with the context of that theory.

[Eden Breakdown] Man, {even after how much I’ve been sussing Eden in this and every other episode}, it sure does look like Ace is the culprit huh? Like, this scene is so beautiful and incredible it might just sway me to Ace!Culprit. The CGs are amazing, the music and the voice acting is terribly moving, the dialogue’s fantastic, holy fucking shit. I almost want to cry that was so fantastic. I— I wish I had more words, but that just left me speechless.

-

General Thoughts:

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-!

(/positive)

I don’t think I could have asked for more, this is just fucking perfect. Nico’s whole thing was great, the Rose angst was unexpected but wholly welcome, the tape reveal was revealed, David… Chiem, and the Eden CG stuff. Just absolutely fantastic all around.

…Slightly miffed the blood on the wires is still somehow not 100% consistent with the described method but WHATEVER it WORKS i do NOT wanna look at those fucking things again.

Theory Updates

Yeah it’s Ace.

Okay that’s dramatic lol. Eden!Culprit is not 100% dead, but off the top of my head, I can’t actually think of anything the characters can use to clear Ace rn. The only reason I believed Eden!Culprit over Ace!Culprit is that I didn’t think Teruko and even Eden could have missed Ace grabbing the tape upon waking up, especially with the sprite disappearing when Eden was on the ground, but… uh… apparently Teruko doesn’t trust herself so much.

With that glaring issue fixed, I actually think Ace!Culprit is significantly more solid than Eden!Culprit. No workaround needed for the BDA, no weird “are they even strong enough to do this” questions, and while the fish paradox Exists, Ace might have thought that putting fish there would make people think of Nico. Which, given the killer also somehow expected the class to figure out the similarities to Nico’s method when only a grand total of four people saw it, one of them being Nico themselves; yeah, I’d think he might be stupid enough for that.

EDIT: Also forgot to mention, Ace waking up before the murder attempt was over solves the issue of him figuring it all out. He actually straight up saw the method, he’d know how to replicate it.

And those Teruko-Eden CGs, man… I always had to really suspend my disbelief on some of Eden’s lines, even with venus’ narrative defense, but… come on. I’ve said this before; I have my limits.

All that added to the fact that Teruko seems to really want to start her “begin to trust again” arc, the fact David pushed for Eden!Culprit… it’s looking Ace!Culprit.

To be clear, there’s still things like Eden’s “Teruko, wait—!” that work better under Eden!Culprit, but I feel those are comparable to other potentially small foreshadowing moments such as Ace being weirdly fixated on the carousel. Eden!Culprit is, again, not fully dead, as other than strength, BDA and fish (all of which have workarounds), there’s not much concrete evidence clearing her. But at this point, I… don’t know. I’ve always felt kinda bad reading scenes like the kitchen talk with Teruko with as much suspicion as I did, but these final CGs, hmm…

Maybe my perspective will change with a clearer mind in the morning, but these are “first impressions” for a reason. They’re not meant to be very cohesive.

And if I’m wrong and it is Eden, well then I’ll have been wrong for a week or two instead of a year, so. Who cares at this point.

Speaking of getting things wrong, the Nico thing. I got Nico!SoloAceAttacker (is that the right notation?) right, and the really obvious stuff like using the stool to reach the fan. I’m also gonna give myself half points for guessing the broom was used to move the wire on the fan all the way back in my first post, but other than that, I did not cook. In my defense, a lot of the evidence (Nico’s missing cloak, the missing tape on the pull-up bar unless it’s somehow the roll, the isolated weights and toppled weight rack, and who knows what else) ended up not mattering in the slightest, which threw me off. Also, I call bullshit on this explaining the blood on the wires, that splatter pattern still doesn’t make sense with what was described. I guess my life isn’t Nico’s after all.

On the other hand, I’m a bit more confident on the remaining aspects of the Arei murder theory now that I believe the culprit is strong enough to pull it all off without issue, but we’ll have to see on that. My guess for culprit ended up changing for now, but the reasoning for arriving at them (tape) was solid, so we’ll see how that pans out.

All in all, immaculate episode. Chef’s kiss. Perfection. Holy shit. See you again soon!

[too-much-tma-stuff]

I Don’t Believe You Care

Y’all are my beta readers XD if you see any errors please let me know. I’m going to post this on AO3 later.

Part one here

------

The scolding that Bruce gave Damian was the gentlest either of them had ever received, but it did cow Damian enough that he behaved while meeting Cass and Stephanie. It helped that they were sweet, Stephanie was a bit energetic and overwhelming but Cass was quiet and seemed to understand them better. She helped reign in the over-enthusiastic family friend and Danny was glad to have her as a sister. She didn’t speak much, she communicated in signs that he didn’t understand but he thought that he could learn in time, and he wanted to. When he told her so she smiled and Steph squealed, insisting loudly and brightly that they would be happy to teach him!

He couldn’t help but feel relieved that when Alfred asked Stephanie if she would be staying for dinner she joked that she should actually spend some time at home for once. It seemed like she didn’t live here, though they knew of her identity as Spoiler and her involvement with the bats, all her noise and movement wouldn’t be a consistent presence around the house. Not that Danny didn’t like her! He just thought he’d like her best in relatively small doses before she could overwhelm him.

He would ask Cass to teach him when Steph wasn’t here, it might be just slightly trickier, but he could use the excuse of letting the two friends spend the time they had together. And maybe Tim could help him practice? He must know how to communicate with his sibling after all, and Danny could already tell he and Tim were going to get along.

He was even more glad that Steph had gone when Dick arrived because as the man came barrelling in like a hurricane Danny didn’t want to think of how much chaos and noise they would be together! For all his practice in social graces they really should have prepared him for this chaos, crowds, and friendly contact. But the compound had been short sighted and ill prepared in such regards.

Dick was the worst, Danny was almost jealous of Damian who could snarl and squirm and draw a knife on the man when Dick tried to hug him. Danny put on a smile and forced a laugh and pretended that his instinctual reaction to being held like this didn’t make him want to bite and rend. He knew that Dick meant well, or at least he thought so, the man was honestly famously good natured and cared for his family. Danny wanted to be on his good side, and couldn’t bring himself to actually say he didn’t want to be touched, or at least wasn’t used to it. The sudden, quick, and broad movements Dick favoured with his dramatics made Danny want to flinch though he had better self control then that!

He dodged hugs as gracefully as he could for the rest of the night and managed to sit him and Damian between Bruce and Tim for dinner, with Danny sitting next to Tim of course. The food was good, and everyone in the family was very welcoming, but by the end of it Danny was exhausted.

He was good at this sort of thing, trained to charm, and redirect apparently effortlessly, but the thing was it wasn’t effortless, and these sorts of situations were harder to simulate then battle. Danny had done a good job, he could tell that he had them charmed, and had them warming up to Damian too actually, but he also knew that he was drooping. He should hide his fatigue, but he was still human, he yawned.

“You’ve had a long day young masters,” Alfred said, instantly picking up on the mood, he was an impressive man and they both knew it. “Now that you’ve eaten why don’t you go settle in your rooms and get some rest? I took the liberty of going to buy you some pajamas and basics that should fit the two of you. I’m sure Master Bruce will be happy to take you both out to buy clothes more suited to your taste tomorrow,” he added.

“I think that’s a good idea, don’t you Damian,” Danny asked, glancing over at his brother.

“I’m not tired,” Damian harrumphed, of course he wouldn’t admit defeat. “But I would like to see where we will be staying,” He added. No doubt he’d thoroughly check security and for any potential surveillance before he slept. Danny wasn’t going to bother.

“Very good young Masters,” Alfred said with a nod, pausing to look back at Dick. “Will you be staying the night as well?” He asked the older man, who gave a rueful smile and shook his head.

“I’m needed in Bludhaven, I was able to come for the day on such short notice but I couldn’t get more time off. I’ll schedule a proper vacation as soon as possible so I can come back and visit!” He said giving Danyal and Damian an encouraging smile, and Danny did a good job of looking disappointed that Dick was leaving even though he was glad to have some time to get his feet under him before more of the family would be under the same roof once more. Maybe he hadn’t been as subtle as he thought about dodging Dick’s affection though, because he didn’t try to hug either of the boys goodbye.

He bid their siblings farewell and followed Alfred up to his bedroom, seeing Damian into his first and then going into his own. He was quick to brush his teeth and change into the comfortable, soft pajamas they’d been bought which did fit perfectly. Unfortunately when he flopped down into bed, regardless of how exhausted he was, he couldn’t sleep. He kept replaying the events of the day, how he did, how he could have done better, what he had learned about the family and what it meant.

After maybe an hour once things had gone quiet on the other side of the wall and he thought Damian was asleep Danny sighed and got up. He opened his window and climbed out, he braced his feet on the sill and shoved off, jumping unnaturally high for a human to grab on the edge of the roof and drag himself up onto it. He scrambled up gracefully and silently, finding a comfortable place to lay, looking up at the sky. He stayed there, zoning out for a while before he heard a soft thump on the roof near him.

“How did you get up here?” Bruce asked, dressed as Batman this time, Danny glanced over and gave him a small smile.

“You can’t really see the stars here,” he said, looking back up at the sky. “I won’t miss much about the compound, but I’ll miss the stars.”

“Not settling in particularly well?” Batman asked, sitting down on the ridge of the roof, a respectable distance between them.

“Oh I’ll be alright,” Danny said with a shrug. “They always raised me to be your heir after all, Damian will have more trouble than me. Want some advice?”

“Hm,” Batman said, an affirmative sound.

“Take him to a zoo, buy him art supplies. He’ll deny he cares about such things, but I know him better then anyone and he does. Once he realizes he really can be himself out here, that’ll help start undoing the brainwashing.”

“How are you so insightful about the situation? You can’t have avoided the brain washing.” Batman asked, and Danny shrugged. “What about you?”

“What about me?” Danny asked, glancing over just for a moment.

“How do I bond with you?” Bruce asked, and Danny laughed.

“You don’t have to. I don’t need to be won over or convinced. Our grandfather is a violent fool who only cares for himself, teaching me to recognize manipulation showed me what he really was years ago. If you turned me away entirely I still wouldn’t go back to the league.” He said with a wry smile.

“Hm,” Batman sounded unimpressed. “You’re still my son. I’d like to bond with you?”

Danny sighed, not sure why Batman was being stubborn when his energy was best spent elsewhere. He sat up and looked over at Batman, tilting his head slightly. “I don’t need you,” He said somewhat bluntly. “Damian does, give him your focus. If you truly want you can buy me an instrument, and books on astronomy.”

Batman nodded thoughtfully and Danny lay back down, there was a few moments of quiet between them before B spoke up again. “How did you get up here?” He asked again and Danny sighed.

“I guess you have to know eventually,” He murmured. “Part of the reason we’re both here is because Grandfather couldn’t decide who he wanted to be his heir, it was always supposed to be Damian but something happened and suddenly I was a much more attractive choice.”

“What happened?” B prompted after a moment.

“You know about the Pits? Most people dunked in it come back less, in the mind usually, sometimes less human, feral and monstrous. But rarely, once in the blue moon, someone comes back more.” Danny glanced over at Batman, and when he blinked he let his eyes flash green, glowing with the vile waters the kept Ra’s limping along. He could have explained more about the ways that he was different now, but he didn’t want to let on more then he had to at this point. He wasn’t naive enough to trust Bruce just because they shared blood, so he simply said; “I came back More, and I mean, I’m still a trained assassin, I probably could still have gotten up here even if I hadn’t.”

“But seemingly being chosen by Lazarus made me seem like a better option to grandfather, and your… complicated feelings towards empowered people is well known. So they didn’t know if you’d like me anymore.” His eyes faded back to blue and he looked up at the sky again, he couldn’t read Bruce’s expression under the cowl anyway. “It took a lot of subtle work to convince them to send us both so you could ‘decide which of us you wanted’.”

“Do you expect me to choose one of you?” Bruce asked, unreadable as ever.

“No, not really, you clearly like having many children. Damian still thinks now that you have a biological heir you’ll turn your adopted children away, but that’s grandfather talking and he’s a fool. If you do choose one then choose Damian, I’ll be fine on my own but he needs the help navigating this world. He’s strong, he’s clever, he’s more observant than me, he’ll make a good detective. He’ll be more loyal than me once you win him over too. He’ll be harder to break of the bad habits, I’ve never been as good at killing as him, but once he learns the way you do things I think he’ll be a good Robin.” Danny said, pulling up his knees and wrapping his arms around them, it was a bit chilly on the roof.

Batman hummed and nodded, which was good, if he had continued to push Danny would have had to bring up Jason. He knew that Jason was alive of course, but Bruce didn’t and Danyal would say he was more likely to end up like Jason if he had to but that was a last resort.

“Well I want you to know that both of you are very welcome here. And neither of you have to be Robin, or anything that you don’t want to be. I’ll support you in whatever you want to do, and you being a meta doesn’t change that at all. Both of you have a home here,” Bruce assured.

Danny nodded and gave Bruce a smile before standing up and smiling. “That’s good to hear,” He said, while not believing it at all. Bruce couldn’t and shouldn’t offer such unconditional support after just meeting them. “I should get back inside, it’s getting cold, and I am tired,” He said, wandering over the edge of the roof and stepping off, twisting around to grab the edge and swung off and back through the window before closing the window and brushing himself off so he wouldn’t get to much dirt in his sheets before crawling into bed.

He wasn’t fully asleep before the door to his room opened just enough for Damian to slip inside, he wasn’t surprised, Damian and he weren’t as independent from each other as they acted like they were. “You should have locked your door and blocked it somehow. We cannot trust the mongrels Father has taken in,” he hissed at Danny.

“Damian, shut up and get over here,” Danny mumbled sleepily, not bothering to open his eyes as he lifted the blankets on the other side of the bed. He heard a scoff and waited as Damian did whatever he needed to to feel like the room was secure and then came over to slide into bed next to Danny. Danny held out his arm, they didn’t exactly cuddle even when like this, but Damian liked to hold Danny’s wrist and feel his pulse. He had done it when they were younger but he had stopped for a while, it had only started up again after he had watched Danny die, it was understandable.

Damian wrapped one hand around Danny’s wrist, seeking out his pulse and tucked the other arm under his pillow, no doubt stashing a knife there. “None of them are going to hurt us Dami. They’re used to having multiple siblings, they probably compete, but other then one notable exception we’ve never heard of any of them trying to kill each other have we?”

“You don’t know that, Father’s has never had a biological child before, they must recognize we’re more of a threat then the others,” Damian argued in hushed tones.

“They won’t, we haven’t even proven ourselves yet. We could be incompetent.”

“We’re not!” Damian objected, his voice raising just a little and Danny hushed him softly.

“No, we’re not, but they don’t know that. I would suggest we keep out heads down for at least a month, we learned what we could about them from a distance but we should observe them. We’ve never been out of the compound except on missions, we have a lot to learn and whoever does end up his heir will have to be able to pretend to be normal. I intend to take Tim up on the lessons on popular media, perhaps it isn’t practical, but what about when we inevitably have to interact with people our own age at parties? What about interviews?

“We don’t want to reflect badly on father and if we don’t know Anything about such thing, or have any hobbies, or anything of the sort people will assume he treats us poorly.” Danny murmured and Damian harumphed, even without opening his eyes Danny could tell Damian was gritting his teeth.

“Why should we care what the uncultured masses think?” He hissed furiously and Danny cracked a small smile.

“Because father does. As the Bat his reputation is half of his weapon, and his identity as Bruce Wayne is carefully crafted to both divert suspicion from him being Batman and to make people like him. Father understands well how ones image is a tool, and being a good father is part of his image as Bruce Wayne, we will have to play into it if we want to succeed.” Danyal explained as gently as he could, he didn’t believe all of what he was saying really, or at least the way that he was framing it. He was framing it in the way he thought was best to make Damian start giving the outside world a chance, and hoping that when he did give it a chance he would find he liked it.

It was quiet for a long time which was good, it meant that Damian was properly considering what Danny had to say. He was nearly asleep before Damian spoke again, rousing Danny from his half doze. “Alright, knowing these ‘siblings’ patterns would help, and I can concede the point on the importance of reputation,” He said stiffly.

Danyal had to suppress a smile at his brother’s tone. “Good. And try to remember that unlike Mother and Grandfather batman has a rule against killing. Anything you do you must make sure it is never tracked back to us, especially because he’s not going to suddenly stop caring about them because we share his blood. If he finds out we hurt one of them it would absolutely ruin our chances, or be a huge set back at the very least,” He added, again trying to gently steer his brother in the direction he wanted. He was being manipulative, but it was the way he knew that worked.

“Father should know better then to develop such misplaced attachments,” Damian grumbled but then after a moment of silence he sighed and nodded. “All of our missions have had to be done in secret anyway, with time and planning we’ll manage.”

Well, it had bought them time and that had been Danyal’s goal so he nodded as well. “Good, now sleep Ahki, we’ve both had a long day and I’m tired.”

Damian let out a soft hum and that was all, he kept hold of Danny’s wrist even as he fell asleep, as he always did. Danny liked it too, the physical reminder that Damian was there, that they were safely together. He didn’t think that either of them would have to sneak out before dawn to make sure they weren’t caught and punished for such childish behaviour, he truly felt like they could rest.

Part three