#but it clicked in my head i should just store the image sizes on the database

[bf-rally]

i finally came up with a solution for the image sizes

[animalsalvationassociation]

A Love Letter . . .

A lovely friend reminded me of my worth tonight. It was small, but it was prominent.

So I drew this for you. Yes you, staring down at your phone when you should have been asleep hours ago, or you who’s been questioning everything in your mind with no real answer to follow. Or perhaps you’re none of those things but a simple enjoyer.

Whoever you are. You are Loved. You are Strong. You are Kind. And you are Intelligent.

It doesn’t matter what sizes you wear or how tall you are. It doesn’t matter if you’re loud, or if you’re quiet. What you enjoy, or what you hate.

What matters . . . Is that you’re human just like me.

We can’t fix everything in this life, but we can surely do everything we’re able to in order to meet whatever the world has in store for us.

Things are scary . . . And they’re unknown. The world is scary—people are scary . . . But hiding away only means that they’ve won.

I was never aware of my body until I matured. I didn’t notice the growing of my tummy or thighs. I didn’t see the marks and scars on my face, or the lack facial expressions, making people think I’m upset. The squintiness of my eyes or the smallness of my mouth. I was insecure, but in different ways.

The only reason I knew my smile was crooked was because the school photographer could never get me to smile wide enough.

In sixth grade my teacher stopped me one day and said, “Madison, I want you to know that I love your smile.” I’ve never hated it since.

I only noticed the beauty of my eyes when I was told that they were “windows to the soul” that you could learn anything about anyone, just by looking into their eyes. A reflection of battles untold, of sunsets yet to be seen and hills yet to be climbed.

I walk funny, I say silly things, and make silly noises when I’m stressed or need to get energy out. There are hundreds of voices in my head overlapping and looping, a side effect of my mental abilities, which can only be calmed by music. My hands feel dirty even though I’ve washed them ten times, and it only stops when I just let my hands sit under the running water for two seconds.

Math never made sense to me but I could tell you a 110 facts about animals I’ve never seen in real life. I can explain every Ninja Turtle universe/generation without blinking an eye. I collect things that make me happy. Movies are my love language, my guilty pleasure is watching kids movies that are clearly bad but no one ever had the guts to actually watch and see if it was. I love to laugh but find myself crying more every year.

I’m a story teller, an artist, a creator of beautiful things. I have thousands of worlds inside my head, a woman lives there too. A woman who reflects what I see when I forget about my mirror image. The world, the people, they inspire me. Yet I’m terrified of making it wrong, offending someone, or breaking a rule within the confines of a set system, even if that means destroying what I worked so hard in making.

I could rant and rant for hours. My special super power when someone finally asks questions about . . . me. About who I am.

I’m too loud, too quiet, too slow but I walk too fast, too short, but I’m average height, too spacey yet I remember the little details. Saying never mind doesn’t help, and actually hurts my feelings because I couldn’t hear you, I lost part of my hearing when I was ten and it can’t be fixed. I make weird gasping sounds but I’m only popping my ears to relieve the constant pressure.

My knees click, I have the muscle strength of an 85 year old because I’ve been in the work force for over six years. I’m blind as a bat and get overwhelmed when I can’t see, so much so that I’ve mapped out an entire root to get to certain locations when I don’t have my glasses.

I’m well thought out but I take too long so people don’t think I even looked at their message. I speak as if I have a point to the end of my story. They changed the sizing again so now I can’t wear what I thought would fit. You can tell me any secret in the world and I’ll forget two seconds later. I complain too much but never say anything.

I’m stubborn but that’s only because you cut me off. You don’t let me finish. My heart has become weak because it’s been abused from using too much kindess, too much naivety. People and things, have hurt me in ways you can’t imagine—but the moment I say why, you shun me? You tell me I’m wrong because you have a different opinion? That all my efforts of staying away from this were nothing?

My inner thoughts are filled with demons. I care too much about everyone that instead of seeing the beauty that’s obviously there, that I acknowledge the moment I see it, I judge them. The things I could say if only my mouth would open, if only my jaw would unclench. Sins of my childhood still linger, causing me to look at people inappropriately because . . . that’s what the internet said I should see.

I am human.

And that . . . is beautiful.

You are beautiful.

All life matters. So stop trying so hard to pretend it doesn’t.

I love you.

Isn’t that enough?

Even if we’ve never met, even if I knew everything you’ve EVER done. I still love you. I still care.

Like is different than love. I don’t have to like you to love you.

You are irreplaceable.

You are . . . beautiful.

And that itself is beautiful . . . Isn’t it?

Sincerely and with all the love I have to offer . . .

Thank you.

Madison

[clowndotgay]

I'm figuring out blender using your models! It's been a super fun experience. This is the first render that I've made using a full body + head!

Some problems I'm facing so far are:

I don't know how to color his hands.

I can't get his neck piece to stay with the rest of his head!

Replacing the texture of the suit is HARD.

If you could help me out with those things (and also help me out with any other problems you see with this render) that would be greatly appreciated! Feel free to not do that, though.

oh, this rocks! really long post below!

as for question 1: enter the "shading" tab at the top of blender,

and click on the hands. at the bottom of your screen will be this whole jumble of nodes. click on the "Attribute" one to highlight it, and then delete it.

After you've deleted it, you need to click on the gray next to the letter "A". Click on "Hex" in the menu that pops up, and put in the hex code of the colour of the hands you want. For Flint, that'll be (around) F14E18.

Yay! your hands have colours now!!!

as for question 2:

so, when you append a cog head model to the body model file, it'll kind of just be sitting there. what you need to do to attach this head to the body is to first enter Pose Mode while you have the head's armature (bunch'a bones) selected. then, select their bottommost bone (typically named "root"). for Flint, it's this one right here.

once you've selected the root, click on the blue bone with the thingie around it in the Properties menu in the bottom right.

Click Add Bone Constraint, then click "Child Of" (rectangled in red below)

this constraint is going to make this bone follow the bone of another armature. for this, we want the armature it follows to be the body, so click on the empty field labelled "target" and type "suitA" into the box (or suitB, suitC, etc. dependent on the body). then, click on the empty field labelled "bone" and type in "head" (NOT joint_head!! just head!!). this will make the whole head snap to the neck!

your constraint will look like this:

and flint will look like this:

and... the little thingie around his neck didn't snap up! this is an issue that happens with flint's head, and to my recollection, only flint's head. not to worry, we can fix this by putting the exact same constraint but in the "Constraints" tab of the armature this time.

okay, that fixes him.

as for question 3:

go into the "UV Editing" tab of blender, navigate to the suit texture on the left, click "Image" and then click "Unpack".

it'll prompt you again after you click unpack, just click "Remove Pack". after you do that, click "Image" again, but this time click "Replace". this will open up a file choosing menu. navigate to wherever you stored the blender ports, and there should be a folder of suit textures. open that and double click on firestarters suit texture.

and... there we go! firestarter! in the.. metal!

as for anything else:

the only thing i notice about this render is that some things could be hidden, like the bowtie, other size of tie, and the health insignia. in the top right of blender, there's a listing of everything in the scene. everything has a little eye icon and a camera icon to the right of it. if you click the eye icon you won't be able to see it anymore in the viewport, and if you click the camera you won't see it in the render.

knowing this, you can just make some stuff (like the white health insignia and the bowtie) go away by doing this!

also. if you want to have the health insignia become a certain colour like it does in game, all you need to do is the same thing you did to the hands. go to shader tab, click on the health insignia (and the glow), remove Attribute, add colour, bam!

one last thing that may help if you are unaware: you can make a render transparent by just clicking this in the "Render" tab of "Properties". navigating menus is for nerds, though, so you can just type "transparent" into the search bar and it'll show you where you can see that. turn "Filter Size" down to 0.00 px if you want no antialiasing, also.

closing notes (because i like having excessively long posts)

sorry for making this an excessively long post! i hope that it helps you in some fashion! i worry about putting too many images in 1 post sometimes but i hope that they help! also i am glad you are having fun with blender :o) playing with ttcc models like they are dolls is how i learned literally anything that i know about blender! so it makes me happy seeing other people learn blender for ttcc stuff.

send another ask my way if you have any other questions or i didn't make something clear! i find model stuff to be fun to talk about, and i spent enough time fumbling through trial and error that i'd much rather tell help someone do something rather than have them do the same trial and error

[ss-2dplatformer]

Day 14 (Part One) Development continues.

I think I need to ignore the brick tiles for now, and just focus on getting it all properly done.

I need to focus on making my levels, getting them to a complete state, and then figure out the correct sprite textures afterwards. I think this is most likely what is halting my progress as I am trying to be a perfectionist with some tiles that will most likely just be background pieces and not used that often, if at all.

But I am taking a break from this because... *drum roll* I AM MAKING A HUD! (Woooo)

First I open the contents drawer and head over to the folder of all of the things I have made. (Aptly titled 'ThingsIMade') Then make a new folder for the hud, and then right click, scroll down to the bottom where it says 'User Interface'. At the bottom of the pop out, select Widget Blueprint, and there we go.

I then select the only option that appears onscreen and open the newly created blueprint.

Once open, I search 'Canvas Panel' and drag it out, and inside of the panel, I place a text box and customise it to my liking. I am left with this.

From there, I open the player character blueprint, and find the Event BeginPlay in the Input Mapping. I break the node link and drag it to the left to give me more space. Then I drag off of the white triangle and make a new node of 'Create Widget'. In the class of the newly created node, I search for the HUD blueprint I made (I simply titled it 'HUD') and then select it. After this, you drag off of the blue Return Value to make a new node, in which you search for 'Add to Viewport.' Once this is made, I connect the Add to Viewport node to the original node I broke Event BeginPlay off of. Then I am left with this.

And now when I click play, I can see the newly created HUD in the top left where I created it.

Of course, the original print text of my HP and score are still there, but they will be changed to proper UI elements soon enough.

Additionally, in order to make my UI work on a variety of screen sizes, I would need to anchor it so that it never moves. I enter the details of the text box I placed, and at the top, you see Anchors. I opened the drop down menu and selected the first option in the top left. This means my UI should now stay in place whether you play on a tiny phone or a massive monitor.

Now I am testing if images work.

And they definetly seem to.

Of course this image isn't staying forever, but it was just a test to see if it worked, and it does.

And the HP works too.

Again, these images aren't staying forever and are purely for testing purposes. I just thought I'd have a little fun with it first.

Anyways, now for actual images to add. I have to create the icon for my HP, and probably score too, though that can just be a number since it wouldn't be worth making an individual sprite for every single attainable score point in the game.

I am stuck between two ideas. I either do the standard heart icon for the health. Or I fully commit to the bricks, and make the health icon a brick too.

Still deciding between the two.

Anyways, back to making the HUD work first. I selected my Score text box and clicked the bind next to the text box. It then presents me with a popup to create a bind, and I do just that. Then it brings me to this screen.

I break the node link, then off the Get Text, i make a 'Get Actor Of Class' node. Under Actor Class, I select the blueprint of my character 'BP Third Person Character'.

Off of the Return Value, I search for Get Score. Then from the Get Score, off of the green part, I find 'To Integer (String)', in which I then connect that to the pre-existing Return Node, which leaves me with this.

However, because my score is stored in my game instance as opposed to my character, I need to change this slightly. Instead of Get Actor Of Class, I need Cast To- and then whatever your game instance is called. Here, mine is called AwesomeGame (because the game is very awesome, of course.) Then, from the object part of the node, you want Get Game Instance.

Not very many changes, and this is what I am left with.

However, this completely replaces the Score: that I had on the original HUD, so I will ammend this slightly. I break the node connector between the convert integer to string and the To Text node. Off of the converting integer to string, I put an append string. Make sure it is the string variant and not the list version. Anyways, it will automatically go to A which is fine but here I want it to go to B so I switch it over. Then in the box next to A, I type in 'Score: ' and then connect everything back up. It looks like this once I am done.

And it works ingame as expected.

(I need to get rid of the among us images. Doing it now.)

Oh and now that there are proper UI elements, you can get rid of the print strings which were previously used to put elements onto the screen prior to the UI.

Now to do the same for my HP. However, unlike my score, the HP is stored in the player character, so I do as originally shown with the Get Actor Of Class and such.

And I can happily confirm that it now works as intended.

I decided to overlay the heart sprite over the HP, and I think it looks alright, though of course later on I'll need to implement animations of some sort.

Additionally, I decided to scrap the brick (for now) as I feel I may be going too heavy with them.

Anyways, this is where I'm leaving this post off.

It needs tweaking but I can do that this afternoon.

[advocatingpeanut]

Modest Swimsuits

Some websites to look up if you want to buy a modest swimsuit this second half of summer. Aka if the humidity lets down enough to finally go swimming.

Shein $

[Image ID: A plus size model wearing a dark blue/teal top with a 3/4 zipper that covers her tummy, shoulders, and flares out at the bottom to cover her rear, and in the same color, a pair of fitted shorts that go to her knees.]

Click HERE to get the swimsuit shown above.

Super cheap in price! Especially compared to what you'd pay at a store.

If you've got wide hips like me you'll need to go into the plus size or curvy section. Otherwise, items will only go up to size 12. Everything from bikini to burkini.

Modlilly $-$$

[Image ID: A blonde and tan model wearing a tankini with a watercolor/wavy design in dark brown, light brown/beige, gold, and blue/green. She is also wearing a pair of dark brown short shorts.]

Click HERE to get the swimsuit shown above.

This one was definitely in my top three when was choosing which one to get. Very pretty!

Lots of really cool designs and colors, something I didn't necessarily find in the plus size section on Shein. Lots of tankinis.

Modanisa $$

[Image ID: A tall and slender model wearing dark blue undershirt, loose pants, and swim hijab and over it a white and dark blue swim dress with a leaf pattern that has a high neck, covers her shoulders, and goes down to just below her knees.

Click HERE to get the swimsuit shown above.

This is one of their more expensive swimsuits. Keep in mind there are many as low as $30.

A TON of swimsuits offering half or full coverage. Mostly full. There are a lot of reviews online too.

Sea Secret $$-$$$

[Image ID: A screenshot of Sea Secret's web page, specifically showing their Galaxy swimsuit dress, which is splotches of black, pink, green, and blue. It comes with black or navy blue leggings and a fabric swim cap/head covering in the same colors as the dress.]

Click HERE to get the swimsuit shown above.

You can shop by body shape! I repeat, you can shop by body shape! I love it. As a pear girlie (wide hips, narrow bust) this is great. 2 and 3 piece swim dress sets with capris and cap which cover collarbone, elbows, and knees according to the Judaic laws of modesty (Tznuit). With shipping, think around $100+

Lanuuk $$-$$$

[Image ID: A more fair-skinned model wears a light powder blue bikini with high-waisted bottoms and a top that has thick straps and provides full coverage of the breasts.]

Click HERE to get the swimsuit shown above.

Lol she is more fair skinned than the other models, but there are folks way more pale than her. I should know. I practically glow when I go out into the sun!

Cute designs, nice colors. Expensive, but they seems to be of good quality from the reviews. There a a lot of copycat designs on Shein for way cheaper.

Bazar Al Haya $$$

[Image ID: A woman with a darker skin tone wears a a swim hijab with an attached shawl that covers her shoulders and breasts. She also wears a mask that covers her mouth and nose. She has on a pair of loose swim pants in navy blue, same as the hijab/shawl. And a swimdress in a geometric design with white, pink, and mavy blue.]

Click HERE to get the swimsuit shown above.

They have a small selection of swimsuits that offer total coverage (including concealment of your curves, according to Islamic principles of modesty.) Mostly plain some have prints.

Does anyone else have any recommendations?

[etes-secrecy-post]

Hi, before I explain my post, I want to say something important.

• What you see my blog has become a major overhaul. And despite the changes, I decided that my 2nd account will be now my artwork blog with a secret twist.

⚠️NEW RULE! (W/ BIGGER TEXT!)⚠️

⚠️ SO PLEASE DO NOT SHARE MY 2nd ACCOUNT TO EVERYONE! THIS SECRECY BLOG OF MINE IS FOR CLOSES FRIENDS ONLY!⚠️

• AND FOR MY CLOSES FRIENDS, DON’T REBLOG IT. INSTEAD, JUST COPY MY LINK AND PASTE IT ON YOUR TUMBLR POST! JUST BE SURE THE IMAGE WILL BE REMOVED AND THE ONLY LEFT WAS THE TEXT.

⚠️ SHARING LINKS, LIKE POSTS, REBLOG POSTS, STEALING MY SNAPSHOT PHOTOS/RECORDED VIDEOS/ARTWORKS (a.k.a. ART THIEVES) OR PLAGIARIZING FROM UNKNOWN TUMBLR STRANGERS WILL IMMEDIATELY BE BLOCKED, RIGHT AWAY!⚠️

😡 WHATEVER YOU DO, DO NOT EVER LIKED & REBLOG MY SECRET POST! THIS IS FOR MY SECRET FRIENDS ONLY, NOT YOU! 😡

Okay? Capiche? Make sense? Good, now back to the post…↓

#OnThisDay: Feb 21st, 2014 (Date submitted on dA; artwork done on Feb 8th, 2014)

Title: RGM-79SH GM Sniper Scraps Shielder

You'll meet my version of Scraps 🐢👓 joins the "Cuteness Defender Academy", very soon. But for now, let's meet his second "Cuteness Mecha Armor" - the armored "GM Sniper Shielder", a custom based on the Gunpla's RGM-79K9 GM Sniper K9; replacing hound-related stuff to a turtle theme. 🔫🐢🤖😁

GM Sniper Scraps Shielder Based on: RGM-79K9 GM Sniper K9 [CLICK ME!]

Armament(s):

Beam Sniper Rifle • A custom large beam sniper rifle with a caliber size of 200mm, a monopod mounted under the barrel can be deployed for enhanced stability during firing. Both of its foregrip and main grip are movable to improve the large weapon's handling characteristic. After folding the stock, the rifle can be mounted onto the Turtle Shielder and be used by the support unit.

Sniper Rifle • A slightly modified version of GM Sniper II's sniper rifle, it now functions as a beam weapon instead of a solid-projectile weapon. It serves as the GM Sniper Shielder's main weapon when the Turtle Shielder is deployed with the beam sniper rifle.

Beam Gun • A pair of 20mm caliber pistol-type beam guns are stored in the hip-mounted holsters, they have low firepower, but can be rapid-fired. A battery/magazine is loaded in the grip, allowing for reloading during battle.

Beam Saber • A close combat weapon that emits a blade-shaped beam, a pair are stored on the rear skirt armor. The beam sabers are rarely used rely on sniping as its basic tactic, but they are effective as a fail-safe.

Heat Knife • Stored on the right shoulder, the knife's blade can be super-heated to enhance its cutting capability. Besides being a weapon, it also functions as a tool and can be used for various activities like climbing walls and setting up of traps.

Bullpup Machine Gun • A optional machine gun that fires 90mm rounds, this is the same firearm as used by the GM Sniper II.

Shield • The same anti-beam coated shield as used by the GM Sniper II, it is used for battle tactics where the GM Sniper Shielder requires a cover to hide behind. However, there are situations where the armor is deployed without this shield.

Special Equipment(s) / Feature(s):

DP-TRTL Turtle Shielder Pack • The backpack of the GM Sniper Shielder, it can detach and transform into a four-legged support unit that can mount the beam sniper rifle as its head. It is also known as "Hound", and can move around by hovering. Should the armor GM Sniper Shielder be destroyed, the Turtle Shielder can continue fighting independently.

APC • The Turtle Shielder Pack can detach from its rear a hovering APC that carries eight mech drones, known as the shellshock troopers, for covert operations, such as planting bombs on the enemy.

EXAM System • GM Sniper Shielder's trump card. In the original story (of Mobile Suit Gundam Side Story: The Blue Destiny), it is used to fight against Newtypes by giving normal pilot reaction times comparable to a Newtype's, but in "Cuteness Defender", it simply improves the "Cuteness Mecha Armor's" performance. When the system is in use, the head camera will turn red.

Scraps (My version) - CHOWDER Cartoon Network Armor based on (Gundam Build Fighters) - Gundam series © Bandai Namco Filmworks, Inc. (SUNRISE), Sotsu

[awkwardgtace]

Testing Boundaries

More for the new brothers. Sadly can't write much happy for them yet. I'll try though.

Testing Boundaries

It had been a few weeks since Ian found out Mik was a human, or well Mikl said he was a sizeshifter. Ian felt a bit weird about everything honestly. He had never expected to see anyone else his size again, let alone a human he thought he could trust. Mik was spending a lot of time his size to help him too. It felt like he was cared about, it felt nice. Now he just wished he trusted Mik as a human a little bit more. He didn’t think he’d do anything bad, but a part of him didn’t want to fall for any tricks like he did with the bad human.

All of that weighing on his mind, Ian started testing boundaries. He was going as far as he could in every way. He was ignoring Mik when he’d call for him. He was borrowing food and supplies instead of asking or taking what was left out. He also knocked things down he knew wouldn’t matter. Overall just being a lousy borrower and maybe a lousy brother, although he pushed that thought away. He just needed to see what would happen if Mik actually got mad. It probably wasn’t his best idea, but really he hadn’t had anyone around long enough to think of better methods. He was more encouraged when Mik stopped getting to his size.

Nothing was making Mik angry though. Ian had tried pretty much everything, so he knew he had to step it up. Mik spent a lot of his human size time sitting at the desk in his room. Ian knew this would be where he could finally find out how Mik would act when angry. He climbed up and started looking for something to steal or mess with, anything that didn’t seem super important. He saw some papers that didn’t look like when Mik left notes. Ian couldn’t actually read what the paper said, he hadn’t been taught how. If Mik didn’t act differently after this, maybe he could ask him to help him learn how. He grabbed one of the smaller pens Mik kept on the desk and started to draw on the papers. He was focused on his task when he heard the bedroom door hit the wall. He looked at it with wide eyes, holding his breath as he met Mik’s eyes.

Mikhail hadn’t had an easy week. Ian was leaving messes all over the place, which Mikhail had to clean up. Ian had refused to come out when he was human size too. It didn’t help that he'd put off a usual assignment that involved a dinner here. He didn’t want to bring humans home when Ian wasn’t even aware it could happen. He settled for an early exam, which he’d have to spend all day grading. At least once that was over he could try to find Ian and talk to him, maybe have him stop acting out and avoiding him. At least he hoped he’d feel relaxed enough to shrink down.

He sighed as he opened the door, wincing when the door slammed on the wall. He didn’t even realize he’d put that much power into opening it. He sighed eyes drifting towards his desk, freezing when he noticed the small form there. He was going to speak, until he noticed the pen being held tightly and the ruined exam on the desk. Mikhail was finally angry at Ian. He wasn’t sure why Ian was doing this, but he couldn’t tell if it was the answer sheet or a student’s exam. The kid had been through a lot, and Mikhail tried to understand, but this was a step too far. Mikhail tried to calm down, taking deep breaths, but felt himself shoot up a few inches. At this point, staying in the house would make things worse. He stalked over to his desk, trying not to react to Ian’s trembling.

“Off the papers,” he growled. Mikhail didn’t have any patience right now. He’d take the papers, stick them in his car then go calm down. He’d probably deal with grading them in his office at the university. Ian scrambled back, clearly terrified of his currently human sized brother. Mikhail hated seeing him scared, but he wasn’t calm enough to talk with him right now. Mikhail barely softened when he saw that it was only the answer sheet. He grabbed the papers once Ian was off of them and quickly left the room. He grabbed his bag and shoved the papers in with little care. He grabbed his keys and left, wincing a bit when the door slammed as he walked out. He needed to cool down, after he graded the exams he’d talk with Ian about everything.

Ian was terrified. Mik had never looked at him like that before. He might have gotten bigger too, which made it even worse. Mik took the papers, was he even going to come back? The first time the bad human got mad like that, he came back with a more secure cage. Maybe Mik left to get a cage...no, no, Mik wouldn’t do that. Mik just left like when he went to that school place. He’d be back like normal, Ian would apologize and things would be fine again. Ian was tempted to just stay here and wait, but he didn’t feel safe enough for that. He made his way back to his home in the walls, curling up on the bed they’d made there. Mik would be back and they’d talk.

Ian slowly opened his eyes. He couldn’t remember falling asleep. He slowly made his way out to the human bedroom, but it looked like earlier. That meant Mik hadn’t come back. Ian felt tears pricking at his eyes, he must have made Mik really angry. He went too far and Mik wasn’t going to come back. He climbed on to Mik’s human bed, curling up on one of the pillows there. Mik had said this could be a bed out here for now. In case Ian got scared, he had a place that was his out here. It was nice to have somewhere he fit in Mik’s human room. He started to cry, curling up tighter and hugging himself. Mik had to be coming back, Ian would probably be all right if he came with a cage too. At least he still had someone there.

Mikhail had fallen asleep in his office while grading. He’d calmed a lot after getting here and decided he’d finish the papers then go home to talk with Ian. He wanted to give Ian his full attention to solve this. He had meant to be back sometime around midnight, but when one of the janitors knocked on his door in the morning, his blood ran cold. He rushed out with a quick thank you and to enjoy the weekend on his way. He had to get home and check on Ian, he’d left so angry, he felt like an idiot. He shouldn’t have let it get to him, Ian is just trying to figure out things. Ian couldn’t have known he was stressed, or that the paper was important.

He was rushing home when a thought popped into his head. Going home and talking wouldn’t solve the issues. Ian had gotten worse when he couldn’t shrink down, but when he was stressed it took a lot to stay human sized at all. He drove past a store when he got an idea. Maybe he could show Ian that even when Mikhail was human sized, he still mattered. He pulled him quickly, hoping they had what he wanted.

Ian had fallen asleep on the pillow. It was wet where his head was, he must have cried a long time. The sun was up and Mik still hadn’t come home. He wanted Mik to come back. He shouldn’t have written on the stupid paper. He curled up tightly again just staring into space. He couldn’t bring himself to go anywhere this time. He could stay here and pretend Mik had left the pillow out for him last night. He figured this time he’d go to sleep by choice, closing his eyes and hoping he’d wake up and the last day was a dream. Then the front door opened.

He froze, he wanted Mik back, but he might also still be mad. He should hide until he knows, but then Mik might leave again. He couldn’t decide what to do, fresh tears pricking his eyes. He didn’t know what was better, he didn’t want to be left behind even if it meant Mik became a bad human. He had barely decided when he heard the door crash into the wall again.

“Damn it,” Mikhail whispered. He wasn’t being careful, he was too focused on the image of Ian curled on the desk scared in his mind. His eyes focused there first, almost relieved he didn’t see the boy curled up. He looked around the room, hoping for a sign and almost missed the small boy on the pillow on his bed. He rushed over falling to his knees, relieved he was even still here.

“Ian, buddy, are you awake?” Mik’s soft voice surrounded him. Ian was too scared to move. He came in angry like when he left, he didn’t want to be punished. He felt a warm hand cup around him, and he yelped. “It’s ok Ian. I’m so sorry I left like that. I didn’t mean to be gone all night, I fell asleep working in my office. I was angry and wanted to get the work done so we could talk this weekend.”

Ian slowly looked up at Mik. He didn’t look like he was lying, but the bad human hadn’t at first either. This was Mik though, maybe he could believe it. He sat up and inched away from the hand that had settled near him. Mik frowned, but didn’t move to touch him again. Ian hugged himself, waiting for the punishment about the papers. He was happy Mik was here, but he knew better. Mik couldn’t just be back and not angry anymore. There had to be something coming, right?

“Buddy, give me a second all right? I stopped at a store on the way home. I got something for you.” Mikhail went back out to his car, making sure not to shut the doors. He didn’t want Ian to think he’d left again. He grabbed the box, a silent prayer to anyone that this would help. There had been a lot of options, but this had the best layout for their situation. First he’d talk about how Ian has been acting then show him the gift. He moved carefully going back inside, shutting doors quietly. Ian was on the pillow shaking. Mikhail almost dropped the box, clearly this had been worse than he thought. He sat down on the ground in front of the bed, placing the box to the side.

“Ian, buddy, why are you shaking?” he whispered. Ian just seemed to get smaller. Mikhail felt guilt eating at his heart, what happened while he was gone? He saw Ian try to look at what he’d carried in and things clicked. His eyes went wide. “Oh, oh no, Ian. Ian, please look at me. God I’m an idiot please buddy.”

Ian was scared, he didn’t want to see what Mik brought. He knew Mik was better than the bad human, but he could be like them if he wanted. Ian slowly turned to face him, hugging himself tighter. Ian looked into Mik’s eyes. He looked...sad, guilty maybe. Ian stopped shaking, confusion overtaking his fear. He watched as Mikhail’s face shifted to something he couldn’t quite understand. Ian wasn’t sure if it was a good thing, but didn’t look away. He watched as Mik reached down next to him picking up the box.

“W-what’s that?” he asked. He meant to stay quiet, but he couldn’t keep his curiosity under control. He didn’t want to hear Mik tell him he bought a cage. He saw Mik smile wider making a shiver go down his spine. This was what he wanted though, wasn’t it? For all the pretending to stop. He had almost believed it wasn’t pretend though.

“Well, I was trying to think of something to help with how things were going with us recently. So I picked this up on the way home. What do you think?” There was a long pause and Ian wasn’t sure why. “Buddy, I can’t really get your opinion with your eyes closed.”

Ian didn’t realize he’d shut his eyes again. He swallowed thickly, then slowly opened them. He could barely process what he saw in front of him. The box showed a house, with open doors, but the roof was taken off. It seemed like it had only one floor and a couple rooms to it. It looked just like a small house. Ian sat there staring, he couldn’t believe this was what he was being shown. Shouldn’t it be a cage? He had been causing so much trouble. Isn’t that what Mik meant?

“I wanted to get something for now, we can pick out a nicer one online later. After how things went this week, I thought you might feel better with a spot out of the walls that’s your own. I’d meant to spend some more time picking out the first one, but after yesterday I thought it would help. So I stopped and grabbed this” Mik moved the box up a little, looking away. Ian couldn’t believe this was real, it was a present for him.

“W-why?” Ian asked. “A-aren’t you mad at me? F-for how I was acting”

Mik put the box down again, then placed his arms on the bed with his head on top. Ian stepped back a bit, falling on the uneven surface. He saw Mik’s green eyes filled with something he couldn’t understand. Is this where he finally found out the truth? That the house is for when he’s good or something.

“Ian,” Mik’s voice was serious, “even if I’m mad nothing bad is going to happen. I’m not going to hurt you, maybe take the TV away or something, but nothing you need. I definitely won’t take your freedom away. You thought I’d brought home a cage didn’t you?”

Ian shrunk in on himself while nodding. Mikhail couldn’t blame him. The human left angry then came back with something for him. He felt stupid, he hadn’t considered how that might sound. This wasn’t going to be an easy adjustment for either of them, but maybe this could reassure him at least. Mikhail slowly pulled his hand out from under his head and reached toward Ian. He moved slowly, giving Ian ample time to tell him no or show discomfort. He wouldn’t push anything right now. As his hand got closer he saw Ian flinch. He stopped and just left his hand where it was.

“Ian, I told you, you can set the rules for how we do things. I’m not able to get your size right now or I would, I know that makes this easier.” Mikhail hated when his emotions ran high. He wanted to make Ian feel better right now, and human height isn’t helping. Ian didn’t seem to react. Mikhail tried to think of what he should do. He could just leave him in the room on his own. Although they still had to talk about the messes and the papers it could wait. “All right bud, I’ll lea-”

“W-wait,” Ian called out. “C-can we set up the house?” Ian watched Mik’s face soften, a warm smile forming.

“Of course, where were you thinking?” Mik asked. Ian looked away, unsure how Mik would feel.

“C-could we put it on the table there?” he pointed to the nightstand Mikhail had put the pillow on the night Ian had told him about his past. His eyes went wide, but he looked at Ian warmly.

“Sure, just let me know if you ever want it moved,” he said. Ian felt a sense of relief come over him. It wasn’t only all right he wanted to stay near Mik, he could change his mind. He moved closer to the edge of the pillow so he could watch Mik open the box. He pulled out the house that looked like it would take up the whole table, and a roof that was separate. Mik placed the house on the table then carefully put the roof on top. He inspected it for a second before pulling the roof off again and turning back to Ian.

“All right, so here's the more fun part,” Mik said. “It comes with a bunch of furniture to put inside, if you want to head over I’ll put down each bit as you tell me. Just need you hanging out in the house so you can tell me where it all goes.”

Ian jumped up, more excited than he expected. Only to lose his footing on the pillow again. He fell forward this time, and completely off the bed. He closed his eyes expecting the hard floor, but landed on something warm. He opened his eyes and saw Mik staring down in concern. Mik didn’t say anything though and carefully held his hand up to the table so Ian could climb off. The two spent the rest of the day setting up Ian’s house.

They did talk eventually, but Ian stayed in his house and Mikhail sat looking in from the floor. Mikhail couldn't help the smile he had that Ian was talking while he was human, they’d figure this out.

[yoditorian]

close to what

frankie morales/reader

as part of @din-damn-djarin‘s birthday song challenge, i picked dancing under red skies by dermot kennedy. it’s a favourite song of mine, i think it’s beautiful, and i felt like it fit this idea i’ve had swirling around for a little bit. this fic is extremely personal to me but it’s also not pretty. i don’t want to romanticise addiction or use it as a plot device, so PLEASE READ THE WARNINGS.

the support group and hospital drop-off box is drawn directly from my own experience. my inbox and ask box are always open if you need to talk, but i am by no means a professional. if you are struggling with themes of this fic a quick internet search should help you find resources local to you 💛

main masterlist

word count: 3.2k // warnings: addiction, PTSD, nightmares (inc. death mentions), recovery and relapse, therapy mentions, hospital mention, references to past substance abuse, implied reader is in addiction recovery, swears probably, ‘they’ as a pronoun in reference to the reader

Your ringtone is obnoxiously loud in the darkness of your bedroom but at least that means you don’t have to worry about where it is, reaching out blindly towards your nightstand where it blares by your head.

“You’re from the group thing, right? He’s mentioned you a few times.”

You don’t recognise the voice on the other end, maybe you should have checked who it was before answering. You pull the phone away from your ear for a second and glance at the time first, 4:03am. No call at four in the morning can involve good news. But it’s the name on the screen that has you wide awake in a split second: Frankie. 

“Is he okay?” You ask, putting whoever it is on speaker while you fumble for the lamp on your bedside table. An old sweater hangs over your bedpost, the logo of a sports team you’ve never heard of cracked and faded beyond recognition, and you tug it over your head in a panic.

“I don’t know, he’s locked himself in the bathroom. I just- he won’t come out. He won’t listen to me, he always listens to me.”

There’s a stifled something and a quiet knock. But no sound from Frankie, just the shaking sigh of the man you’re speaking to. He tells you his name quietly, Santiago, and you remember Frankie mentioning his oldest friend. An image pops up in your mind as you wrestle your jeans on, a fuzzy picture on Frankie’s phone screen, passed to you over the sticky table in a diner, of two men standing knee-deep in a river. Soaked to the bone but grinning ear to ear. Pope’s got him, if no one else has. That’s what he told you.

You stay on the phone with Santiago on the drive over, convincing yourself it's out of concern for him instead of the anxiety churning in your stomach. Frankie still makes no sound in the bathroom, the door stays locked, and you try not to think too hard before you have all the facts.

The Santiago that meets you at Frankie’s front door is a far cry from the man in the photograph. He looks exhausted, on the verge of tears. You’re pretty sure you’re not faring much better. 

“Last door,” He breathes, “Down the hall.”

You follow his instructions, finding the only closed door in the hallway and tapping lightly on the painted wood. Listening for a moment, you can just barely hear a shuddering breath. That’s better than nothing, at least it means he’s alive.

“Frankie?” You try, praying that he’ll relent when he realises it’s you. Santiago stands at the other end of the hall, wringing his hands together, phone trapped between his ear and his shoulder as he whispers frantically into it. He barely catches himself from crashing to his knees when the bathroom door clicks softly. 

“Can I come in?” You have to ask him. All this has to be on his terms, he has to set the boundaries. Anything less than that is dangerous, you won’t risk him hurting himself. 

He says nothing, but the door pulls back just a fraction of an inch and that’s all the confirmation you need. You push the door open enough to slip inside and shut it softly behind you again. 

Frankie’s sitting on the floor, his back against the bathtub and legs stretched out in front of him. A quick look over proves he’s not hurt, and you’d breathe a sigh of relief if it weren’t for the little ziplock bag between his knees. 

He’s very pointedly not looking at it, or you, instead choosing to glare at a spot on the ceiling. You maneuver yourself to sit opposite him, against the wall with your knees tucked up against your chest. 

“Did you take any?” It almost feels wrong to break the silence that’s settled over the two of you.

You wait with bated breath until he gives the slightest shake of his head. He hasn’t touched it. Okay, that’s the worst case scenario eliminated. It’s enough to have your heart rate calm a little, it doesn’t make things better by a long shot, but at least it’s something.

“Do you want to tell me what happened?” You ask, picking at a loose thread of your sweatshirt. 

His chin falls to his chest and he pulls his knees up towards him and you’re sure this is it. This is where you lose him. But Frankie takes a deep breath. And then another. And then, he musters the courage to look you in the eyes. He doesn’t see pity, not like he thought he would. You don’t look disappointed or upset or angry, the way he was so sure you would be. You’re just waiting, letting him take the reins, he stores the knowledge away. In case he ever needs to dig you out.

“I don’t know what happened,” God, his throat is scratchy, “I just- I had a bad night. And I called Pope, and then-”

He breaks off with a heart-wrenching crack in his voice and you can’t help but reach out to him. Just a hand, stretched across the space between you. He holds onto you like his life depends on it.

“And I remembered I kept a bag on top of the medicine cabinet. And now you’re here.”

It’s to the point, simple, methodical. Like he’s back in the army and giving a flight report to his CO. You wonder if that’s what he needs right now, maybe spelling things out is better for him than asking what it is you can do. It’s easier, sometimes, when someone just tells you what’s going to happen. 

“Do you want to take it?” You have to know, for his safety if nothing else. You need him to tell you if there’s going to be a problem, if there’s a risk and he needs more than you. He knows you’re not going to walk out the door and give up on him if he says yes. 

It has to be his choice. 

Frankie shakes his head again, a grimace on his face like he feels sick at the thought, and you squeeze his fingers between yours. You need him to understand that he hasn’t failed, that he won’t fail. Tripping up and falling behind are part of the process, and you know he knows that. He’s been going to the support group longer than you have. Recovery is messy and far from simple. He’ll get back to where he was, one bad night isn’t going to ruin him.

Your lower back aches from the hardwood floor but you show no sign of discomfort, waiting until Frankie is completely back in his own head before you make any move to suggest where to go from here.

“There’s a drop-off box at the hospital, you fancy a drive?” You keep his hand in yours, terrified that he’ll slip back if you let go. 

God, he hates this. He hates that he can’t even look at you for more than a few seconds without his resolve threatening to crack. He hates that you’re not angry at him for any of it, not even a little bit. He deserves anger, he deserves your disappointment.

You were never supposed to see him like this, that much he’s sure of. Or, he convinced himself of at least. He’s been going to group and therapy and he’s kept up his tests and he’s stayed far away from anything that might even tempt him a little. And that was before you even showed up. Standing awkwardly in the doorway with a nervous smile and eyes the size of dinner plates. But he’d been by your side in a flash, asking you to give him a hand setting up chairs, and that was it. 

Frankie knows the ins and outs of recovery, you don’t need to tell him that he hasn’t failed. But he can’t help feeling like maybe he never really started in the first place, leaving that one bag out of sight. Life had been busy enough to preoccupy him, between everything else he kind of just forgot about it. He let it gather dust and it should have stayed that way. 

And then, it felt like he was falling out of the sky. And he couldn’t do a thing to stop it.

Nightmares aren’t an unusual thing for him, or for any former soldier, but the memories they stem from seem to warp into something else entirely when he’s too tired to pay attention. Sometimes he’s alone in the helicopter, sometimes he’s with family, sometimes strangers. It was his team tonight. A vivid memory of a time he almost couldn’t save them. 

The crash never happened, he knows that. He’d righted the bird and got his team to safety the way he knew he could. But that knowledge doesn’t stop his mind from wandering, from drowning him in fear when he imagines what might have happened had he not done his job. If they’d crashed in the middle of nowhere. Would any of them have died on impact? Would they have been left stranded, wounded and starving? He’s woken up in a cold sweat too many times, each ending more horrific than the last.

Tonight had been the last straw. And Frankie had found himself in his bathroom, patting along the top of the medicine cabinet, before he could even realise what he was doing.

He’d called Santiago, still blinking back images of his best friend’s bloody and lifeless face, just to hear his voice initially. But he hadn’t managed to explain anything past the sob lodged in his throat, and he’d heard the jingle of car keys before he could tell Pope he didn’t need to drive all the way across town at two o’clock in the morning. 

At least nobody had called Will, because that would have meant that Benny would have shown up too. Maybe even Tom would have dragged his ass out of bed. Frankie didn’t need to disappoint all his friends in one night. 

Santiago is bound by friendship, best and oldest, he’d never say anything if Frankie didn’t want him to. And you, you’re bound by- well, you’re not really bound by anything. You could get up off of his bathroom floor right now and never look back. Get to your feet, and walk right out of his life. But you won’t. 

He knows you won’t because you’re still holding tight to his hand, even though the angle and distance has you leaned forward awkwardly. You’re still looking at him like you believe in him, even though he almost threw everything he’s worked so hard for down the drain. You’re here, despite everything. Despite only knowing him for a couple of months, despite getting a call from a stranger at four in the morning, despite everything he’s done to be undeserving of anything good or kind in his life.

You’re here, still, looking at him like he can do anything. That’s something. That’s enough for him.

“I don’t even want to look at it.” Frankie croaks, and keeps his eyes steady on yours even as his voice wavers. To anybody else, he might sound unsure. But you hear that steely determination underneath it all, the same one that’s convinced you to keep moving any time you’ve faltered. 

“That’s okay, I can take it.” You waste no time in snapping the little bag up in your free hand, and stuffing it in your back pocket. A phone rings in the hall, hurriedly answered, and you suddenly remember the other man waiting outside.

Frankie’s still looking at you, dark eyes unsteady and unsure, and you squeeze his fingers to ground him. He comes back to you, slowly, and takes a few shaky breaths. 

“Do you want him to come with, or?” You leave the question open. His choice, entirely, the way everything tonight has been. He lost control for a moment and fought, tooth and nail, to get it back. You can’t take any decision about this away from him.

He shakes his head, loosens his grip on your hand, and asks you to give him a minute. It hurts, leaving him alone on his bathroom floor. But he’ll come out, you’re certain of that much.

“Is-” Santiago cuts himself off when you emerge and pull the door just shy of closed behind you, like he’s afraid to even ask the question. Let alone know the answer.

“He’ll be okay. We’re taking his last stash to the drop-off box.”

Santiago’s whole body sags in relief, and you can’t help but lean against the wall for support yourself. The little ziplock bag in your back pocket is a weight you don’t think you’ll ever stop carrying, even after it’s disposed of, but you’re more than happy to bear it when Frankie steps out of the bathroom and Santiago tugs him into a hug that almost breaks his ribs.

It’s easy to forget, when you get that low, that you have people. But they’ll always show up when you call. 

You leave them to their moment and shuffle back through to the main room, your car keys and phone left on the kitchen counter where you’d abandoned them. You’re not sure why you bother checking your messages, maybe it’s to keep your hands busy, maybe it’s so you don’t feel like you’re intruding on Frankie and his oldest friend. They speak in hushed tones as your thumbnail scratches back and forth across a crack in your screen protector. 

“I’m sorry.” Frankie’s voice is rough, muffled into the other man’s shoulder. 

“Don’t be,” Pope squeezes him just a little tighter before pulling back far enough to look him in the eye, “Be sorry you didn’t tell me they were so pretty.” 

It should feel odd, the way that he speaks as though the last few hours haven’t even happened. How a simple, harmless joke is all it takes for Frankie’s heart to settle. Pope doesn’t hate him, couldn’t hate him, 

“Didn’t I?” A shy, shaky smile settles on his features as Santiago stifles a yawn, “Crash here tonight, you’re not driving anywhere on no sleep.” 

Ever the caretaker, even in the wake of his worst moments. It’s a hard habit to break after all they’ve been through. Something tells Frankie, even as Pope relents and walks through to the living room to find a blanket and settle on the couch, he’ll still be awake once they get back. 

You’re quiet when he follows you out of his apartment, quiet as your footsteps echo in the stairwell, quiet when you cross the street to your car and unlock the doors. Part of him still worries that you’re disappointed, that you’re angry or upset or that he’s fucked up so bad that you’ve already decided to drop him home without a word and he’ll never hear from you again.

But another look at you out of the corner of his eye as you plug your seatbelt in disproves any other theory he might have. You’re quiet because you know that he doesn’t need you to talk, that he just needs you right here beside him so he can be brave enough to take the next step.

The radio is playing some acoustic, folky sounding song that neither of you have heard before, and it’s comforting to just sit and absorb the peace of the night as you drive. You’re conscious of Frankie’s eyes on you, although you’re sure he’s trying to be subtle about his staring. His seemingly unwavering attention does little to quiet the voice you’ve been hearing in the back of your mind for the last few weeks.

He still can’t quite believe it. That you’d wake up, in the middle of the night, and haul ass across town for him. For him. Something about it somehow makes ribcage feel like it's about to burst and cave in at the same time. But now is definitely not the time to be thinking about the tiny baby crush he may or may not be developing on you. 

You don’t miss the way he tenses when you pull into the hospital parking lot, muscles locked so tight that a stiff breeze could shatter him into pieces. He turns to you when you say his name softly, and his eyes are wide with a terror so familiar that your heart breaks in your chest.

“I can’t do it.” He chokes the admission out like it’s poison, and in just four words you can hear every ounce of hatred he has for himself in this moment. He thinks he’s weak, because he can’t even throw a little plastic bag into a hatch, because he can’t even bring himself to move. 

“That’s okay. Did you want me to?” You offer, it’s plain as day on his face that he doesn’t know how to ask you.

You’re grateful for the unusual warmth of the night when you step out of the car, comfortable enough not to need a jacket at this time of day. The sky is just starting to turn that odd shade of blue-grey, the barest hints of dawn on the horizon. Another day, just like tomorrow will be. Sometimes, the next day is all you can hope for. 

The metal handle is cold when you wrap your hand around it and haul the creaky hatch open, you fish the bag out of your pocket and don’t even pay it a second glance as you set it on the little shelf and let the door snap shut. Gone. But you can still feel it eating away at you, you can still see how it weighs on Frankie’s shoulders when you shuffle across the concrete and climb back into the car.

He says he’s not hungry when you ask, and you don’t push it. He’ll eat when he’s ready. He’ll live when he’s ready. You don’t mind, you’ve got a better idea anyway.

“Where are we going?” He asks when he realises you’re heading completely the opposite way from his apartment building. You shoot him a smile, turning your eyes back to the road before you can read too far into the look in his eyes. 

The beach is dead, just like you thought it would be, and you’re grateful as you shut off the engine. 

“We are gonna throw rocks in the sea.” You say and part of him wonders if you’ve always known exactly what he needs. 

If someone had told Frankie, twenty four hours ago, that he’d be skipping pebbles on the sea with you at sunrise, he would have laughed. But here he is, flecks of the rising sun on the sea reflecting on your face, and you’re smiling at him like that as a breeze ruffles his hair. Maybe this is all he needs to find the courage to stare right down the barrel of his faults. He doesn’t know how you do it, maybe you can do it together.

You reach over and take his hand when you spot the lone tear tracking its way down his cheek. 

“You’ll be alright. I promise.” You smile just as the sun finally breaks fully over the horizon, sky streaked with orange and pink. 

“Yeah, I know.” Frankie can’t help but smile back.

TAGLIST (add yourself here):

@brothersdrxke @keeper0fthestars @thevoiceinyourheadx @firstofficerwiggles @1800-fight-me @ew-erin @chatterbean

[echoes-of-the-clockwork]

Book Two: Sapphire (Ignis x Reader) Chapter VII

At the Alstor Coernix Station, (Y/n) was inside the convenience store perusing the many items they had for sale. Ignis has entrusted her with enough gil to buy them some curatives. Their supply was low and needed to be restocked. Glancing out the window of the convenience store, she saw Ignis putting gas in the Regalia while Noctis was chatting on the phone. Prompto and Gladio were eavesdropping on the phone call.

Looking back to the items in stock, she searched the shelves for Ignis' favorite canned coffee-ebony. What caught her attention was a small sign taped to one of the shelves.

*****

Due to road closures, we are SOLD OUT of Ebony Coffee for the foreseeable future.

*****

"Uh-oh..." she mumbled.

"What's "uh-oh"?" Noctis asked as he overheard her when entering the store with Gladio and Prompto in tow. She stepped aside and allowed him to read the sign for himself. His eyes widen and nearly popped out of his head as he read the small piece of paper. "Oh, crap. They're out."

Gladio shook his head in disapproval. "Can't let him see this."

"He'd be crushed." The prince glanced outside to see Ignis finished filling the gas tank and was heading their way. "Shit, he's coming this way."

"What do we do?" Prompto asked panically.

"Nothing," (Y/n) replied. "Iggy will be fine without his ebony for a few days."

"Weren't you the one who said, "uh-oh"?" Noctis asked.

"I was, but it's not the end of the world."

"For you it might not be, but for us..."

"Mama Iggy gets cranky when he hasn't had his ebony," Prompto added. "And he gets really irritated in battle if we don't listen to him."

She crossed her arms. "I'm pretty sure he gets irritated not because of the lack of ebony but the lack of listening you three do in battle."

"Damn, no need to call us out like that," Gladio chuckled.

"Still, Specs isn't gonna like being out of ebony." Noctis looked at the (h/c)-haired girl. "You tell him the bad news, (Y/n). The rest of us will try to get a running start to avoid him. And if you survive, we'll come back for you."

She sighed. "Iggy's not gonna lose his mind and go on a rampage because they're out of ebony! And why do I have to tell him?!"

"He is waaay nicer to you than the rest of us," Prompto responded. "If it comes from you, it'll cushion the blow! You make him...gentle."

"What are you talking about?"

"Listen, Iggy's got a soft spot for ya," Gladio told the petite girl, placing a hand on her shoulder. "We all can see the way he looks at you, but it looks like you're the only one who can't see it. Sorry to say this, but you're a little dense, sweetheart."

(Y/n)'s eyes narrowed in an icy glare. Her jaw tensed as her slitted eyes focused on the shield. She clenched her fists tightly by her side as her gaze bore into his amber eyes. She watched in anger and satisfaction as Gladio released her shoulder and stepped away from her out of fear. He swallowed in fright when feeling a chill creep through his body. He held up his hands in defeat. "Now hold on a sec, (Y/n)..."

Prompto and Noctis rubbed at their exposed arms, fighting off the chill in the air. They stepped away from (Y/n), their teeth chattering slightly. The two best friends exchanged glances before looking back at the angered guardian. They were too frightened to say anything and kept their mouths shut. Without saying a word, she walked out of the convenience store.

Ignis, who had just entered the store, saw her furious expression and looked towards his friends. "It seems one of you has infuriated (Y/n)."

Noctis and Prompto jabbed their fingers in Gladio's direction and said, "He did it," in unison.

"Shit..." The brute mumbled, eyes focused on the girl who was now outside. "Thought she was gonna tear me into tiny pieces."

"Dude, you called her dense. Don't you think it was a little rude and insensitive?" Prompto asked. "I mean, I would be pissed off too."

"What could possibly insinuate her to be "dense," Gladio?" Ignis pried.

"Oh, please," the brute scoffed. "Don't tell me you're unaware of how differently you treat her from the rest of us? Or the way you look at her? That'd make you dense too, Iggy. Probably even more than her. Do you realize how often I've caught you staring at her when she isn't looking in the last two days?"

Ignis didn't know how to respond. He was aware of his own infatuation with (Y/n), but he never realized how often his gaze would drift in her direction. He must've been doing it more than he noticed in the past two days.

"What? You've got nothing to say?" Gladio retorted after seeing Ignis fell silent.

"Is there a response you're wishing to hear?" Ignis replied.

"Just tryna see if our straight-laced tactician really does have a heart and actually can fall for a woman."

The bespectacled man pinched the bridge of his nose. He decided not to entertain Gladio any longer and left the convenience store. Outside, he found (Y/n) near the Crow's Nest, her attention focused on a wanted poster of a behemoth that was causing trouble in the Nebulawood. The reward was large and tempting for any hunter that was eager to test their strength and earn a pretty gil.

Ignis joined her and analyzed the poster. "Tis a feat fit for royalty."

"Aren't you the one who said to keep the trouble to a minimum?" She asked. "I'm pretty sure a behemoth is a large serving of trouble."

"The large sum of gil is not tempting enough?" He asked.

"I'd rather not be skewered by a behemoth even for a large amount of gil."

"A shame, truly."

She snorted with laughter. "Since when are you the reckless one?"

"I am the most cautious of us all," he remarked. "Regardless, we are in dire need of funds and such a tremendous feat would fill our purses."

"You really think the five of us could take down a behemoth?"

"I believe with our combined skills the beast would still be a formidable foe but one we could eliminate."

(Y/n) looked back at the wanted poster. "You certainly have confidence in our skills, Iggy. Maybe too much..."

"Or perhaps you lack the confidence in our combined strength as a group," Ignis stated, peeking at her from his peripheral vision.

She placed a hand over her chest. "Ouch... That one hurt." She then smiled. "I actually believe we could handle anything that comes our way if we stick together, but even a behemoth could cause issues. And it's not like I'm some large, mighty spirit that could match the size of such an immense beast."

""And though she be but little, she is fierce,"" the advisor quoted. "Such a quote describes your spiritual form well."

"Tiny but mighty, huh...?" She looked back at the image of the behemoth. "Still, we might be biting off more than we can chew with such a large target."

"As per words provided by Noct: only one way to find out."

She laughed. "Yes. His carefree nature truly does suit him well. Let's just hope his carelessness doesn't get him or anyone else killed..."

"Which is why we are accompanying him-to prevent such calamity."

Just then, the two heard a familiar 'click'. When they turned around, they saw Prompto with his camera aimed at them. He lowered the device and smiled innocently with slightly red cheeks. "Just takin' some sweet pics. Don't mind me!"

"Are we ready to depart?" Ignis asked.

"Yep! We're going to the chocobo outpost first, right?" He remarked with eyes glistening in excitement.

"It's up to Noct."

"What's at the chocobo outpost for us to do?" (Y/n) wondered.

"Chocobos!" Prompto squealed. "What else?"

"Don't we have royal arms to find?"

"Well, yeah, but this'll be a quick detour! Once we've ridden the chocobos, we can go back to searching for the tombs. And, of course, see Iris in Lestallum."

The girl sighed in relief. "I'm glad to hear she's safe."

"Me too. Guess we forgot to mention the phone call to you." Prompto lowered his camera. "Now then, let's go!"

Ignis and (Y/n) exchanged glances before returning to the Regalia. The three other boys were already in the backseat, waiting for them. The girl climbed into the passenger's seat and peered over middle console at the blonde in the backseat. "Maybe I should sit in the middle seat, Prompto."

"And let you be squished by these two?" He pointed to Gladio and Noctis. "No way!"

The shield wrapped an arm around Prompto's neck and used his other hand to drive his knuckles into the top of the boy's head. "You sure 'bout that, pipsqueak?"

Prompto struggled against the brute. "H-Hey, you're messing up my hair!"

Ignis started the car and pulled out of the Alstor Coernix Station. At Noctis' command, he drove in the opposite direction of Lestallum and headed to Wiz Chocobo Post. Prompto was able to break free from Gladio and giddily bounced up and down in the backseat. His excitement only escalated as the distance between them and the chocobo outpost shrunk.

The moment Ignis pulled the Regalia into Wiz Chocobo Post, Prompto climbed over Noctis. His excitement caused him to move faster, but he tripped on his own feet as he climbed out of the car. He quickly recovered and ran over to the empty pens.

Noctis readjusted his jacket from where he was trampled by Prompto before exiting the vehicle. Gladio closed the door behind him as did Ignis and (Y/n). She leaned against the car and looked around the outpost. "For a place with chocobos, it's eerily quiet."

"Think this side trip was for nothing?" Gladio asked.

"Best we find the owner of the establishment before drawing any conclusions," Ignis said.

(Y/n) wandered around the chocobo outpost while the boys spoke with the owner, Wiz. She browsed through what the store was offering before departing with a smile. She continued walking around until she was stopped by a large chocobo chick. It pecked at the heels of her shoes before rubbing its feathery body against her legs. Her brows furrowed in confusion as to why it was acting somewhat like a cat. Squatting down, she hugged her knees and poked the top of the chick's head. It 'kwehed' in response, fluffing out its feathers.

Smiling, she petted the top of its head. She had only seen pictures of chocobos and was flabbergasted at the size of the chicks. "You are one big chick, but adorable. And your feathers are soft." The chocobo chick bumped its plump body against her legs and caused her to lose her balance. She fell on her hindquarters and blinked in surprise when the chocobo chick hopped onto her lap. It flapped its tiny wings with another 'kweh' before nuzzling its head against her stomach. "Guess I have to add friendly and cuddly to the list."

While petting the chocobo chick that was curled up in her lap, she spotted movement from the corner of her eye. Turning her head, she saw three more chicks heading straight for her. Their chubby bodies bounced as they trotted towards her. Even a few loose feathers were knocked free and sent spiraling in the faint breeze that blew through the outpost.

The three chicks reached (Y/n) and tried to join their sibling. However, there was only enough room for one chocobo in her lap. The other three opted to snuggle their bodies against her sides and back before taking a nap. The girl sighed through her nose when seeing the predicament she was in. "What do I do now...?"

"Oh. Em. Gee!" A voice squealed. The spirit looked up and saw Prompto with his camera aimed at her. Noctis, Gladio, and Ignis were standing behind the blonde as he took pictures of her. "The chocobos love you, (Y/n)!"

"Where did these guys come from?" Noctis asked the spirit.

"They came out of nowhere and ambushed me," she said, continuing to pet the chocobo chick in her lap. "As you can see, I didn't stand a chance."

Not even a minute later, a woman with a yellow apron ran over. "I'm so sorry about this, miss! The babies escaped their pen. I hope they didn't cause you any trouble."

(Y/n) offered the stablehand a kind smile. "They were no trouble. They're quite friendly."

"They really are," she giggled. "This hasn't been the first time they've escaped. I've tried to come up with ways to stop them, but they're amazing escape artists."

The guardian managed to lift the chubby chick out of her lap so she could stand up. The three other chocobos that were snuggled up against her plopped against the ground when she was back on her feet. The stablehand rounded up the four chicks and escorted them back to their pen. (Y/n) brushed the dirt off her dress and tights before asking, "Did you learn why most of the pens are empty?"

Ignis stepped forward. "Remember our early discussion of the behemoth?"

She froze, eyes widening. "Don't tell me...?"

"It's a beast known to the locals as Deadeye. If we desire to use the chocobos, the behemoth must be dealt with."

Her sapphire eyes drifted over to Noctis. "Let me guess, you took the hunt."

"Yeah. Is...that a problem?" The prince questioned.

"Not at all. Just try not to get you or anyone else killed."

Noctis' opened and closed his mouth like a fish out of water. "Wha-? I..."

"You are audacious in battle, Noct," Ignis stated. "Which, mind you, has resulted in the injury of others."

"I am not that reckless," Noctis tried to defend himself.

"Sorry, buddy, but I've gotta side with Iggy and (Y/n) on this one," Prompto said. "You kinda are reckless in battle."

"So are you, blondie," Gladio remarked. "The only ones here who aren't reckless are myself, Iggy, and (Y/n). You two would be skewered meat if it weren't for the three of us watchin' your backs. Maybe you kids should leave the beast slaying to the grown-ups and stay here to play with the birds."

"We aren't kids!" Prompto screeched.

Noctis nodded. "Yeah!"

"Then prove it," Gladio shoves past the two younger boys. "Let's go take down a behemoth."

Noctis and Prompto dashed off with Gladio following close behind. (Y/n) clasped her hands together in front of her as she watched the three take off. "Gladio sure does love to egg those two on."

"Speaking of eggs, I do believe a scavenge for ingredients is in order once we've dealt with the behemoth," Ignis said.

The girl glanced at him in disbelief before laughing. "You would think about ingredients at a time like this. I'll see what I can do once we get back. We better catch up with the others. They won't be able to take down Deadeye without us."

"Yes, let's. Our assistance is always invaluable."

Ignis and (Y/n) left the chocobo outpost and caught up with Noctis, Prompto, and Gladio. They hadn't made it far down the dirt trail located just on the outskirts of the chocobo ranch when they regrouped with the other boys. They skirted around the Nebulawood in search of the entrance, but froze when the sound of snapping trees came from within the stone walls. The ground shook slightly with each tree that fell. It was like a domino effect where one tree would fall and then it would immediately be followed by another.

(Y/n) was pulling up the rear of the group when she suddenly heard the voice that had been haunting her ever since they left Insomnia. Stopping, she looked up at the sky and listened closely to the disembodied voice.

Vessel... Costlemark...

Her eyes narrowed in bewilderment. "Costlemark...?"

Ancient... Worship...

"I don't understand," she whispered. Her attention was drawn away from the voice when the sound of a threatening growl emitted from the Nebulawood. When it faded, she looked back up at the sky in hopes the voice would speak to her again, but it was silent. She promptly caught up with the boys just as they managed to locate the entrance to the Nebulawood.

Before they took another step forward, (Y/n) questioned the boys. "So this is Deadeye's prowling grounds?"

"That's what Wiz said," Noctis replied. "Why? You worried?"

"Not at all. Just do be careful. We don't need a dead prince on our hands."

"Hey, this'll be a walk in the park for us."

She sighed. "You say that now..."

"Wait 'til we actually face the beast before drawing any conclusions," Gladio finished the girl's thought. "Just try not to be an idiot and get your ass handed to you. We can't always be there to save you from all the trouble you put yourself in."

"Okay, I get it," Noctis groaned. "I'm reckless. Damn, you guys never learn how to drop anything..."

"We're simply here to watch your back, Noct," Ignis stated.

"Not to babysit you," Gladio added.

The prince threw his head back with another dramatic groan. He wanted to drop the subject and did so by ignoring his companions and entering the Nebulawood whether they were with him or not. Once a little ways into the rocky, windy structure of Deadeye's prowling grounds, he slowed his pace as he followed the path forward. They were surrounded by downed trees, possibly the ones they heard snapping earlier. From the damage done to the trees, it appeared something large had struck them down.

(Y/n) approached one of the fallen trees, her nose scrunching up when receiving a whiff of something that smelt awful. Gladio noticed her slightly disgusted expression. "What's up, munchkin?"

Ignoring the nickname, she responded with, "I've never encountered a behemoth before, but beasts and daemons all have distinctive odors. From the scent, I'm going to assume Deadeye caused all this damage."

"Behemoths have been known to stroke their bodies against trees and other structures to mark their territory, leaving their natural musk as a warning to other creatures," Ignis informed the group.

"Oh, nice to know," Prompto mumbled.

"Behemoths are territorial beasts. If we're not careful, none of us are coming out of this unscathed. We need to be extra careful in this area, especially since Deadeye has marked his territory," (Y/n) said.

Noctis rubbed the back of his neck. "Guess this isn't gonna be a walk in the park..."

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[imaginarysonder]

Plush

Pairing: Jackson Wang x OC (reader)

Genre: Fluff, the TINIEST bit of angst

Word Count: 3.8K (yikes)

Description: Jackson buys you something cute to remember him by when he’s travelling, but it upsets his life more than he thinks it will.

A/N: Super squishy marshmallow fluff for Got7′s Jackson. Been all up in the feels since the beginning of the year about EVERYTHING. So here’s my way of coping. 

Jackson was not prepared for the upset in his life when he brought your seemingly simple present home. He chuckled to himself as he tried to hide the bag behind his body as he entered your shared apartment. “Babe?” he called.

 You rounded the corner to the entryway and smiled at him. He shrugged off his jacket and toed of his shoes. “Hi, love,” you said approaching him choosing to ignore the shopping bag he was poorly hiding behind him. You wrapped your arms around his waist and pressed the side of your head to his chest. He didn’t hug back as he struggled to keep the bag contained. You smiled slyly at him as you reached up to kiss him lightly. “Should I even ask?” you whispered against his lips.

 Jackson chuckled before pressing his lips to yours again. “You’ll find out soon enough,” he replied pulling himself out of your embrace to brush past you into the kitchen. He set the bag down on the kitchen counter as he opened the fridge. You rolled your eyes at his back as you returned to your position on the couch. You focused your attention on the emails you had been returning and adding to your calendar of meetings and appointments. You were vaguely aware of Jackson shutting the fridge and making his way over to the couch next to you with the large shopping bag. The two of you sat in silence next to each other for a short time, Jackson practically vibrating next to you in anticipation.

“So,” Jackson began and coughed awkwardly.

You minimized your emails and closed your laptop to give him your full attention. “Hm?” you hummed at him.

“You know how I’m leaving tomorrow for a few weeks?” he asked even though he knew you were well aware.

 “Mm,” you hummed again in agreement. “Team Wang engagements in Hong Kong and Shanghai,” you confirmed. “I know, babe. It’s been on my calendar since you booked the plane ticket.”

He nodded. “Well, I know you don’t like it when I buy you things,” he paused at your raised eyebrow, “but I thought you could use this to keep you company while I was away.” He scooted the shopping back towards you and you finally got a good look at it. It was LARGE and bulged slightly as its contents didn’t fit well within it’s shape. You furrowed your brows at him and a small frown pulled at the corners of your mouth. One of the ground rules you had laid when you and Jackson started dating had been no unnecessary gifts. Receiving gifts was always hard for you. “It’s practical, I promise,” Jackson assured you as he pushed the back closer to you.

 You sighed but placed a hand on the bag. Jackson started vibrating again in excitement. You held your breath as you looked in the bag. A large, squishy-mochi-like penguin plushie smiled back at you from the depths of the bag. You pulled it out and squished it experimentally between your hands. It was fat and soft and the size of a standard nine-year-old.

“I thought it could keep you company while I’m gone,” Jackson explained hurriedly as he watched you look at the penguin with a blank expression. “I hugged every plush they had, this one seemed the best size and softness.”

 You couldn’t help but laugh at the mental image of Jackson hugging every stuffed animal in the store he ended up going to. You hugged the penguin to you. It fit perfectly under your chin and its softness in your arms immediately felt calming. You snuggled into it and sighed. “You like it?” Jackson asked hesitantly.

You closed your eyes and nodded as you pressed the penguin closer to you. “He won’t replace you, but he’ll do,” you whispered.

 -

 It was the crack of dawn the next morning. You were yawning and watching as Jackson made tea in a travel mug and pulled on his shoes with his suitcase parked by the front door. You pressed him against the wall as he kissed you breathless. Silent I’ll miss you’s were passed between the two of you as you had to pull yourself away from him. He pressed you to his chest as you listened to his heart beat wildly in his chest. You smiled glad you still had some sort of effect on him. Jackson looked down at you smiling wistfully as he traced your pulsating jugular. Too soon he was gone.

 The weeks that Jackson was gone felt long, but you were glad you had work to distract you and the large stuffed penguin to fill the empty space in your bed. Very quickly, the penguin became your go to comfort item instead of Jackson’s shirts or his small spray of cologne he left for you. You kept finding yourself reaching for the soft plush when you longed for Jackson. The softness under your fingers and squish between your arms comforted you more. You often sent Jackson pictures with it tucked under your arm or held it in your lap as you FaceTimed him.

 “So, I take it you like your present?” Jackson teased you via FaceTime. He was laying on his stomach on some hotel room bed his hair messy and his eyes tired but not without a hint of mischievous twinkle in them.

 You hugged the penguin closer to your chest and smiled wider. “You could say that,” you replied cheekily. “He’s been keeping me company.”

 “Good, I’m glad,” Jackson said tiredly running a hand over his face. “I should have bought myself one too,” he chuckled.

 “I’ll get you one for your birthday,” you assured him. 

He was shaking his head before you even finished your sentence. “I want you instead,” he said quickly. “I don’t need a penguin when I have you.”

You felt yourself blush immediately and looked down in embarrassment.

 “How do you still get embarrassed when I say stuff like that?” Jackson laughed at you.

 You shrugged blushing harder, your ears feeling hot. “I don’t know,” you murmured. “It’s always different when you say it.”

 Jackson laughed. His eyes crinkling at the edges just how you loved. “Yeah,” he admitted. “Everything is different when it’s us, huh?”

 “Just you,” you chided him.

 “No,” he shot back. “You have the same effect on me, dummy.”

 “You’re better at hiding it then,” you laughed.

 “I don’t want to hide it from you,” he murmured. “I’m just better at playing it off,” he chuckled lowly. There was a long pause and both of you just basked in each other’s company. “I can’t wait to see you tomorrow,” he sighed.

 “Mm,” you hummed in agreement. “I miss you,” you sighed.

 He smiled weakly at you but you could see the excitement shining through his fatigue. You said your goodbyes and he blew you a kiss before the both of you reluctantly hung up to sleep.

 -

 You woke the next day with your faithful penguin under your arm. You squeezed him excitedly as you remembered that Jackson was coming home today. You got up quickly and went about your day in the house cleaning as you went. You settled on the couch as you finished watching the laundry tumble round and round in the washer. Jackson wasn’t due in until this evening and then with the drive from the airport you estimated he wouldn’t be at the apartment until 8 or 9PM. You sighed glancing at the clock, it was only noon. You clicked on the TV and opened your laptop. You might as well work while you had some quiet time. You opened your emails and immediately regretted it. You sighed and cracked your knuckled getting ready to see what dumpster fire you’d have to put out now.

 You glanced outside. Somehow the afternoon had bled into early evening and into night. You looked at the clock on your laptop, it was already 7PM. You sighed and stretched before getting up and grabbing your stuffed penguin from your bedroom. You gazed longingly at the front door willing it to open soon. You jumped as your phone buzzed on the couch next to you. It was a call from Jackson. You picked up quickly. “Hello?”

 “Hi, baby,” you heard his voice call over the phone. He sounded tired.

 “Hi,” you breathed. “Are you on the ground?” you asked hopefully.

 “Yeah, just landed,” Jackson confirmed. “They’re just starting to unload the plane.”

 You nodded even though you knew Jackson couldn’t see you. “So, you’ll be home soon,” you murmured glancing at the clock again. “I should get dinner going.” Even though you kept your voice calm, you could feel the excitement bubbling up in your chest.

 “Do you want me to pick something up on the way?” Jackson asked. “I can stop by that restaurant you like…”

 He trailed off and you could hear shuffling on the other end of the line as you assumed Jackson was standing and gathering his belongings before getting off the plane. “No, Jacks,” you murmured cutting off his thought process. “Just come home to me.”

 You heard Jackson chuckled lowly. “I’m on my way, baby,” he said firmly. “I’ll see you in a little bit, okay?”

 “Mm,” you hummed. “Can’t wait.” He hung up first and you couldn’t help but hug your penguin as your body tried to contain all the feelings you had for that man. It felt like your heart might literally burst with how much you felt for Jackson. As you pressed down your beating heart, you estimated Jackson would be home in about thirty minutes. You quickly called in take-out at yours and his favorite local restaurant and went to go get changed to pick it up.

 There was a small skip in your step as you walked back from the restaurant with the bag of take-out cradled in your arms. You pressed the key pad to be let into you apartment building and rounded the corner to the elevators. Time seemed to slow as you saw a man standing in front of the elevators with his back to you a large suitcase at his side. You knew that silhouette anywhere and you almost dropped the take-out. “Jacks?” you called out.

 Time seemed to go even slower as he turned to look at you. He plucked out his airpods and a smile began to stretch its way across his face. “Well, hi, baby,” he replied as you came closer. “Is that what I think it is?” he asked eyeing the bag in your arms.

 You nodded and grinned up at him.

 “God, you’re the best,” he sighed pulling you closer by your elbow. He leaned down to press a firm kiss to your forehead. You felt him inhale deeply against your skin and you held back your laugh. “You smell so good,” he murmured lips moving against your skin softly, “like home.”

 You let your laugh out then. “You dork,” you teased him, but you also leaned in and pressed your face to his shoulder so you could catch a small whiff of him. He smelled like home to you.

 The elevator finally dinged and the two of you entered, Jackson rolling his suitcase behind him. On the way up, he took the take-out out of your arms and placed it gingerly on top of his suitcase so he could pull you into his firm embrace. One thing you learned quickly in yours and Jackson’s relationship was his strong love language of physical touch. You had never known you craved so much physical touch from another person until Jackson. Many of your previous relationships had been what you thought were a normal amount of physical interaction; holding hands, soft kisses, hugs, cuddling, etc, but everyone of them paled in comparison to Jackson and his need to be touching you in some way. You could always decipher his mood based on the type of contact he made with you. It made you feel like you understood him better as well as feel loved and appreciated.

 You felt Jackson sigh against you melting into you a little. “I missed you and this so much,” he admitted. “I needed your touch so badly while I was away. You always make me feel better even if I’m already happy.”

 You blushed wildly at his words and you tried to push down the flames of embarrassment.

 “Stop blushing, babe,” Jackson said and you could hear the smile in his voice. It didn’t escape you that he didn’t even have to see your face to know that you were red with embarrassment.

 Before you could reply, the elevator doors opened and you pulled away from him picking up the take-out bag and trying to hide your blush from him sheepishly. You could feel Jackson’s eyes burning into your back as you made your way to your apartment’s front door and punch in the passcode to the door. It beeped open and you held the door open for Jackson to wheel his suitcase in. After he passed you, you followed in and set down the bag to take out to off your shoes. 

Once the door clicked shut behind you and you had straightened up, you were pushed back against the door and smothered. Your tip toes barely touched the floor as Jackson’s body crowded you against the door his lips pressed firmly against yours. One of his arms was locked around your waist and the other snaked up your back to hold the back of your head so there was no escaping him. You rested your hands on his shoulders and smiled into his urgent kisses. “I missed you too,” you gasped between the flurry of lips.

 Jackson pulled back a fraction and nuzzled his face deep into your neck groaning. “I’m never going anywhere ever again,” he whispered. The feel of his lips ghosting over the sensitive skin on your neck made you shiver.

 “Oh?” you asked in mock surprise. Jacksons hand on your waist snuck a few fingers under your shirt to feel your bare skin. “So, no more Team Wang stuff?” you asked jokingly. “No more overseas Got7 tours? No more traveling? No more seeing your family?” You knew the last one was the nail in the coffin.

 Jackson huffed and pressed a chaste kiss to the underside of your jaw. “You made your point,” he grumbled into your neck.

 You laughed and pushed him off of you swiping up the take-out and waving it at him enticingly as you made your way to the kitchen. The two of you caught up over dinner and he told you about all the Team Wang planning he had been doing and the new members of his team and the possibilities in the future. You felt your heart swell in your chest as you watched him talk about one of his passions so openly. You hoped every dream he ever had came true and you hoped you would be there to see it happen.

 “Anyways,” Jackson cut himself off, “what have you been doing, babe?” He effectively shut himself up by shoveling a large bite of food into his mouth.

 You smiled weakly as you felt your life was nothing special compared to his despite all of Jackson’s reassurance. “Not much,” you replied breaking your gaze off of him. “You know, the usual emails and I went into the company a few times for meetings and to supervise directly. It’s hard when they keep replacing team members without telling me.”

 Jackson nodded knowingly even though you knew he hand-selected every team member in his company. “You should just work for me,” Jackson said grinning at you.

 “We’ve talked about this, Jacks,” you said meeting his gaze.

 His smile faltered and he nodded. “I know,” he conceded easily. “You need your autonomy.”

 “I have no doubt you’d treat me better than my own company,” you reassured him, “but working for you poses a lot of problems in and of itself. It’s not because I don’t love the idea.”

 “Someday it’ll make sense for both of us,” he said smiling at you.

 You cleaned up the kitchen while Jackson went to unpack and shower. When he emerged from the bathroom with damp hair, you were snuggled on the couch with a random TV show playing and the stuffed penguin tucked in your arms. Jackson smiled at the fact that now you reached for it unconsciously. He plopped down on the couch next to you and pulled you closer. Jackson tried to reach his arms around he both of you, but they weren’t long enough to lock around you like he usually did. You laughed as he shifted a little and wiggled his arms and hands around until he wedged them between your body and the squish of the penguin. “This is new,” he muttered to himself but you couldn’t help but laugh harder at him.

Over the next few days, Jackson noticed that the penguin got in his way and disrupted his daily life more than expected. The both of you were working from home for the time being and the normal amount of affection he received from you was reduced by almost 80%, or at least he thought so in his own mind. When he woke up in the mornings, he wouldn’t find you tucked against his side like usual. Instead, you were spooning the penguin facing away from him as you continued to sleep peacefully. When you were working on the couch, he would reach out for your hand where it usually rested close to him if he needed you. Instead, both you arms would be wrapped securely around the penguin as you hugged it tightly while you worked. Instead of couple snuggles on the couch, it was suddenly a throuple with a very fat, squishy addition. You also opted to wrap yourself around the penguin instead of throwing your legs over his legs or resting your head on his chest. Jackson tried to convinced himself it was nothing to be concerned about, that it was just you loving the gift he got you and acting out of habit due to him being gone for so long. He tried to not let it bother him, but he couldn’t help but feel a little sadder and a little more distanced from you like you were ignoring him. His pride refused to let him think he was jealous of a stuffed penguin and he refused to talk to you about it for fear of seeming petty. So, he let the penguin get in his way for a lot longer than he would hae liked.

 One day, Jackson came back from the mart while you stayed home to finish the laundry. He came into the living room to find the penguin wearing one of his shirts baggily. His eye bugged out of his head and the penguin’s smiling face seemed to mock him evilly. That was the last straw. The penguin was already stealing his girl and now his wardrobe? It was unacceptable. Jackson banged the bag of groceries down on the kitchen island and went to find you. You met him in the hallway startled by the loud noise. Jackson grabbed your hand and dragged you to the living room pointing accusingly at the penguin in his shirt. “What is that?” he asked in frustration.

 Your eyes followed his finger to the couch and the penguin. You giggled. “I missed you when you went to the mart, so I put that on him like a mini-Jackson. Isn’t he cute?” you explained cheerfully. You met his eyes and your cheer faded quickly as you saw the upset in his eyes. “Wait, Jacks, what’s wrong?” you asked suddenly serious. “I was just messing around. Did I upset you?”

 Jackson sighed and took your hand. He tried his best to push down his annoyance and when that happened, the empty emotional space allowed him to feel the rising embarrassment. The tips of his ears began to burn as he thought about what he was about to confess. “I just feel like ever since I got back from Shanghai, you like that penguin more than me,” he muttered. His eyes were glued to the floor.

 You had to bite back you laughter even though you knew this was a serious situation. Your hand snaked up to the back of his neck and pulled him closer. “Oh, Jacks,” you murmured. Jackson was resistant at first to you tugging him closer, but the minute your lips molded to his neck, all defiant thoughts in him vanished. He felt his knees go weak and he let you maneuver him so he leaned against the wall. His hands limply rested on your shoulders as you continued to pepper kisses up and down his neck, up onto his jawline and behind his ears. He shivered in your grasp and that only prompted you to nip at his jugular. After what felt like hours of soft kisses, light nips, and grazes of teeth and tongue, you pulled away to look up at him. His eyes were glassy and a burning blush raged across his cheeks and the tips of his ears. His parted lips were pink from gnawing on them and his breath came out a little ragged. His large hands settled on your hips and your arms wound around his neck. You leaned into his embrace so you could speak in his ear. “So, you’re telling me,” you murmured, “that you’re jealous of the stuffed penguin you bought me?”

 Jackson shivered again and groaned as his forehead fell onto your shoulder. “When you say it like that, it sounds pathetic,” he whined boyishly.

 You laughed and lifted his face to look at you so you could kiss him. “Yeah, just a little bit,” you whispered to him. “But, I’m sorry if I made you feel neglected. I know how much you recharge with just a simple hug or kiss. You were gone so long that it just became a quick habit. Forgive me?” You pressed your nose into his neck and sighed. Your heart squeezed a little at the thought of you unknowingly causing him unnecessary hurt.

Jackson sighed as he looked into your eyes before pulling you flush against him. “I know and I forgive you, baby. I’m glad you love him, but you can’t love him more than me.” He couldn’t deny that feeling you in his arms and having your undivided attention was all he wanted and all he would ever want when it came to you. His arms pressed you harder against him as he willed your body to melt into his. 

You laughed into Jackson’s neck. “That’s impossible,” you assured him. “I love you best of all.”

[olivia-anderson-fanfic]

A Miraculous TikTok Account

Part 11

First

Previous

Next

Rena was running out of time.

(To make TikToks. She wasn’t dying for anything except content.)

She’d figured that she would do Q&A type things, it was close enough to the content she’d used to make but far enough away that no one would suspect anything about her identity. It was perfect!

But the other heroes were… let’s say ‘less than eager’ to divulge much information to her. Especially not when they were being filmed.

Ladybug had pulled her aside one day to explain why.

“Rena…” She reached out and gently rested a hand on her shoulder.

Rena knew what that meant, she’d gotten it enough back when she was just a civilian. For just a second, she was thrown back to the first time one of her family members had died, to the way she had promised that she wouldn’t come back until she had her sister safely in her arms...

But she knew that it couldn’t be like that. Ladybug didn’t know who she was just like Rena didn’t know her identity. It was nothing that serious.

“We can’t give much information to the public. Hawkmoth could be watching.”

A fair point. It hurt, though.

She crossed her arms over her chest. “So we don’t show him our weaknesses, it’s not that hard.”

“We have to assume any information could be used against us.”

Rena frowned. “By that logic we can’t upload any content…?”

“We can’t upload any content of substance, no. Messing around in a store is fine. Videos of animals are fine. Anything beyond that is… potentially problematic.”

The idea of style over substance was foreign to the hero. Her whole brand used to be substance over style, done with a phone camera but close enough to fights for people to actually get a glimpse of the heroes in action. What was she supposed to do?

“What’s your niche, then?” Said Rena, hoping to get an idea.

“I was going to do some videos on mental and physical wellness.”

Yeah, no. That was a very ‘Ladybug’ thing to do, Rena probably couldn’t encroach on that in any way. But… what else was there?

Ladybug opened her mouth like she was about to say something, and then she shook her head and disappeared to her room.

Rena watched her leave in silence, and then fell back on the couch. She rested her hands over her eyes, something that was very uncomfortable due to the weird fabric of the mask on her face, and tried to think.

Ladybug had been fair. They already had enough of a gap between the information Hawkmoth had versus the amount they did, they shouldn’t make that worse… but then what was the point of them doing social media accounts?

And, she mused, why hadn’t Ladybug just told Master Fu her concerns?

Something wasn’t adding up, but she didn’t exactly know what.

The reporter in her was itching to find out. She didn’t want to invade Ladybug’s privacy, especially not when the other already seemed wary enough around her, but it was hard to just let go…

So, what could she do?

~

She grumbled as she went to Carapace’s room, not even bothering to knock as she walked in. It wouldn’t matter if she did, her miraculous made it so that most people’s eyes and ears slid right over her unless she actively worked to get them to notice her.

He was in his hero costume, though that wasn’t surprising considering he’d gotten back from patrols only a few minutes ago.

Carapace jumped a little in surprise when she came to a stop by his desk and looked up from where he was booting up his computer.

“Salut?” He said slowly.

“Salut! I need help.”

He raised his eyebrows a little and then shrugged. With a tiny wave of his hand, a second chair made of a bunch of different plates appeared behind her.

She took a seat and crossed her legs. “Everyone talks to you, right?”

“I guess…?”

“So do you know what everyone’s doing for their TikTok accounts?”

“I’m going to get footage of us acting friendly, Chat is filming animals he sees on patrols, Ladybug is ‘promoting mental and physical wellness’, and Chloe…” He sucked in a breath. “I don’t know what Chloe’s doing, but she started laughing maniacally when I asked so I’m not eager to find out.”

Rena pouted a little bit. Great, so everyone’s taken all the good and easy ideas. What else was there?

“I don’t know what to do with my account. Ladybug says I can’t do interviews and stuff because Hawkmoth could use stuff against us.”

Carapace briefly looked confused, and then understanding crossed his face. “Well, I can tell you that no one here would disagree with that.”

“I know, I know, it makes sense,” she sulked, resting her head on her hand. “But then what do I do?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know. Being the ‘smart one’ is kind of your thing.”

She frowned at that, but brushed past it. “I don’t really care about my image, it’s not that important to me --.”

“It should be.”

Her gaze shot up to see his expression was uncharacteristically serious.

He seemed to realize this, too, because he cleared his throat and brought a smile to his face again.

“I know you’re new, so let me give you some advice: keep your life as a hero and a civilian as far apart as you possibly can. Since we’re everyone’s therapists and all, it’s kind of depressing when you start thinking about everything the civvies tell you when you’re off the job.”

Carapace reached out slowly, giving her time to draw back, and rested a hand on top of her head.

“So, lean into your image. Lean into it so hard you become a parody of yourself. It’s better for everyone that way. Trust me.”

She reached up and pulled his hand off, frowning deeply. “If you think that then why did you agree to live with us? Why are you taking videos of us all being friends?”

“Well, I live with everyone because it was a good solution for some concerns I had about college… not that we really had a choice. Master Fu wasn’t going to give it up.” He leaned back in his chair and stretched. “And I’m taking videos of everyone because it’ll help when we need to do our whole therapy thing. People talk more when they feel close to you.”

Rena stared at him in shock. That was… surprisingly cold and calculated for the supposed ‘nice’ hero. Then again, by his own admission, he didn’t even see himself as that nice of a person.

Were all the other heroes like that? Lying about their personalities for the sake of the public or their mental health? And, if they were, were they keeping up the act while there too or did they consider living in the house their new ‘civilian’ life?

She pushed herself to her feet abruptly, startling Carapace a second time. She crossed her arms.

“I’ve got an idea for what to do. Thanks.”

“Huh? But I didn’t --?”

She was already gone.

~

Despite the temptation to disobey that she was pretty sure wasn’t entirely her fault, Rena had gone to Ladybug a few days later with a proposal:

“I still want to be an informant to the people.” She saw Ladybug begin to protest, so she rushed to finish the rest of her sentence: “Obviously, I won’t be giving them anything of substance, but it could help to make them feel closer to us as heroes.”

Ladybug couldn’t turn down the reasoning. It was what Carapace had listed as his own.

And, to her delight, Ladybug seemed to agree because she clicked her tongue and nodded.

“Fine. What’re you planning to do?”

“Simple stuff. A house tour -- making sure to blur and hide anything that could give Hawkmoth our location -- and then after that keep them updated on the news.”

There was a silence as she considered this. Then her head tipped to the side. “What do you mean by ‘news’?”

“Nothing major. Have you ever seen a drama channel on YouTube? Stuff like that.”

“... fine, but you should run your videos by everyone involved before uploading.”

Rena nodded her understanding.

~

She started with the house tour. If she was going to do this, she needed to gain their trust. A few normal videos, and then she’d start trying to slip the public information about the heroes’ true personalities.

Rena didn’t want to expose them to Hawkmoth, and especially didn’t want to expose their families, so she really was going to try to respect most of their privacy. For this reason, she did tell them all when she was going to do the house tour so they could hide anything that could be used to figure out their identities.

She started with the shared rooms like the kitchen and living room, but she brushed past all of that quickly since she knew that wasn’t what they’d be interested in.

Her room was first. It was the same size as every other bedroom in the house, but it felt tiny and cramped. There was a dresser, a desk, a bed, three different bookshelves, an end table… well, let’s just say that she’d brought more stuff than necessary. The room wasn’t exactly neat, it seemed that it would buckle under the weight of Rena’s knickknacks if she wasn’t careful, but it wasn’t necessarily dirty either; everything had its place.

She decided to put the more boring rooms in the middle for the good old watchtime. Ladybug’s room was fine but her personality was a bit dull when it came to this kind of thing, and Carapace’s personality was fine but his room was boring, so...

She was off to Ladybug’s room. She climbed up to the attic and finally figured out exactly what Ladybug had been working on since they’d moved in. Apparently she was trying to make an indoor jungle gym using the support beams on the ceiling. It actually looked like a pretty good workout, though maybe a little unsafe. Beyond that, the room was rather full. Random pieces of furniture (mostly chairs) were strewn about, loaded with a precarious amount of fabrics.

She found Ladybug hunched over a sketchbook on her bed, swaddled in blankets despite the fact that the attic was actually pretty warm.

She looked up at her and blinked. “Oh. Now? Okay.” She escaped her blanket prison with minimal struggling and then gave a short tour of her room.

Rena pointed to a divider on the other side of the room. “What’s behind there?”

Ladybug looked over and a blush spread across her face. “I don’t have a closet, so that’s where I put the secret identity stuff for now. Don’t go back there.”

For some reason, Rena thought she was being lied to. However, she couldn’t just go back there when Ladybug had just said that it would reveal her identity, so she just nodded and said: “Gotcha. Thanks for the tour.”

She moved on to Carapace’s room next. She pushed the door to his room open and sent a smile and a wave. All his textbooks were safely stashed out of sight and he’d cleaned up the normal mess of old snacks for the video, which somehow made his room feel even emptier than usual.

“Here we have a wild Carapace in his natural habitat. Though, why this is what he chose as his natural habitat is beyond me.”

He laughed good-naturedly. “I don’t need much.”

“I can see that.”

He smiled. “Ridiculous! Utterly Ridiculous!” He said, doing his best impression of Chloe.

Rena cleared her throat, and then did a perfect impression of her voice.

Carapace’s eyes widened. “Chloe?”

She tried not to laugh, and instead nodded and continued her impression: “Yes. I’m secretly Chloe. Rena asked me to take her place for this because she was tired.”

He didn’t seem sure whether or not to take this as a joke, and she gleefully left the room.

She moved on to Chloe’s room. It was… somehow both bright and dark in there and this threw Rena off more than she’d like to admit. While most people would take Rena for the hoarder (and they’d probably be right to), Chloe also seemed to have some hoarding problems; the walls were taken up with different luxury items from jewelry to handbags; the floor was littered with different plants at seemingly random intervals.

Chloe looked up from where she was tending to some plants with the help of a few bees (wait, was there an actual BEEHIVE in there?).

“I like your… bees…?”

Chloe snickered. “Thanks. They don’t like you, though, so I’d suggest you leave.”

Rena was a little offended that the bees didn’t like her, but she didn’t need to be told twice.

She headed to Chat’s room next.

When she opened the door she had thought that he wasn’t there. The lights were off outside of a TV which, upon closer inspection, she realized someone was playing a video game. Huh. She turned on the light.

Once she was actually able to see, she was taken aback by how dirty it was. Clothes littered the ground; the bed looked like it hadn’t been made since they moved in; there was a grand piano but it was currently being used as a trash can for old snack bags.

“Did you forget that I was doing a house tour today?”

“Nope,” said Chat from somewhere in the filth.

“Oh… okay…”

The video cut.

~~~

Taglist

@nathleigh @mialuvscats @sassakitty @th1s-1s-my-aesthet1c @blueslushgueen @woe-is-me0

[suituuup]

pieces - chapter eight

Five years ago, Chloe dropped off the face of the Earth. Beca didn’t expect to see her again dancing in a strip club, out of all places.

rated: E (drug use and emotional abuse in early chapters)

ao3 link

*

Chapter seven was published yesterday, in case you missed it! I was too lazy to make a tumblr post.

*

The term rollercoaster didn’t seem strong enough to describe the last six weeks of Chloe’s life. 

Seeing Beca again. Leaving Marco. Getting clean. Finding out she was pregnant. 

She felt like she needed to stop and take a minute to remind herself to breathe, but the weight pressing on her chest prevented her from sucking enough oxygen into her lungs.

“You’re…” Beca blinked twice in slow succession. “...pregnant. With a baby.” She grimaced in the next beat, releasing a breath. “Sorry, I-- I wasn’t expecting that.” 

Chloe couldn't blame her for being shocked. She swallowed thickly and cleared the lump from her throat. “I made an appointment for an abortion. Tomorrow.”

Tears sprang up into her eyes before she could stop them, and she lifted a hand to her mouth to muffle the sob itching to come out. 

“I’m sorry,” she croaked out, shaking her head. 

“Chlo…” Beca murmured, setting a hand over Chloe’s back and the other one on Chloe’s. “You don’t need to apologize. What you’re going through is incredibly hard, and… if an abortion is what you feel is the best option, then that’s what you should do.” 

Chloe had always wanted to have kids one day, but this was the worst possible timing. She didn’t have a place to raise that baby, or a job, not to mention that she was a recovering addict. 

She nodded along to Beca’s words, as though attempting to convince herself further. 

“Do you want me to come with you?” Beca asked. “To the appointment?” 

Chloe hesitated. “I don’t want you to miss work because of me.” 

“You’re more important than work,” Beca argued softly as her thumb stroked Chloe’s knuckles back and forth. “And I don’t think you should be doing this on your own, you know? But I don’t want to overstep either, so it’s completely up to you.” 

Chloe sniffled, reaching up to wipe her tears away. “I… I think I’d like it if you could be there.” 

“Done,” Beca instantly said, nodding firmly. She cleared her throat following a few beats of silence. “So um, is there anything you should do for your recovery? Now that you’re out of rehab, I mean.” 

“The therapist there recommended one in the city, I need to call and book an appointment. I’m going to my first NA meeting in two days. Otherwise, I’ve been told having a routine could really help? Like go for a morning walk, do some yoga, cook, clean… that sort of stuff. But all I want to do right now is crash for a few hours.” 

Beca nodded. “Sounds like a plan. Let me know if I can do anything to make things easier on you, okay?” 

Chloe managed a small smile despite how heavy her heart felt. “I’m already so grateful for what you’re doing for me, Bec.” 

“It’s what friends do. Help each other out.” 

Chloe ended up sleeping for four hours straight. She had never felt so exhausted in her life, and she guessed it was a mix of the physical and emotional toll of pregnancy and rehab finally hitting her. She didn’t eat much for dinner and mostly pushed her food around in her plate, knowing most of it would come back up as it had for the last few days. 

She and Beca got to the clinic ten minutes before Chloe’s appointment that next morning, and after filling out the paperwork, they were led into an exam room, where Chloe was asked to change into a paper gown. She sat down on the edge of the bed once she was changed, her eyes sweeping over the many baby pictures lining the wall. 

Her attention shifted to the door when it opened, a middle-aged woman stepping inside. 

“Hello, Chloe,” she greeted with a soft, reassuring smile. “I’m Dr. Harris.” 

“Hi,” Chloe returned quietly. “This is my friend Beca.” 

“Nice to meet you both,” Dr. Harris said as she approached. “I was told you’re here to terminate your pregnancy?”

“I-- yes.” 

“Okay. As one of the nurses probably told you over the phone, I need to check how far along you are first so we can figure out if a procedure is required,” she explained, setting her chart down and snapping on a pair of gloves. “When was your last period?” 

“I-- I’m not sure.”

She used to take the pill. But when you’re fortunate if you remember to eat one meal a day, it’s also easy to forget to renew your birth control prescription. That was just another detail among the many in her life that seemingly had ceased to have consequences or meaning the further she slipped down that rabbit hole. 

“Okay, that’s alright. Can you lie down please, and put your feet in the stirrups? I need to do a vaginal ultrasound so we can see better.” 

Chloe nodded, scooting back and lifting her feet. She reached for Beca’s hand as nerves sprouted in her belly, immensely grateful for her presence. 

“This might not be the most comfortable feeling, but I’ll try to be as gentle as possible,” Dr. Harris said as she placed a condom over the wand before slowly inserting it. She tapped a few keys on the ultrasound machine, gently moving the wand around until a clear image popped up on the screen. It was another minute before she spoke again. “Okay… given the size of the embryo, you’re about seven weeks along, Chloe.” 

Chloe puffed out a breath as a kaleidoscope of emotions swept through her. This was her baby, up there on the screen, and the sight of it suddenly made her question everything and ask something that she would regret shortly after. “Can I-- can I listen to the heartbeat?”

The doctor glanced at her. “Are you sure?” 

“Yeah,” Chloe confirmed. “I’m sure.” 

Nodding, Dr. Harris pushed another key, and the most beautiful sound filled the room a second later. A steady, strong woosh woosh. Tears sprang to Chloe’s eyes, and she felt a squeeze to her hand as she attempted not to let them fall. Her own heart constricted in her chest, so hard it was nearly painful. 

“Turn if off, please,” she croaked out, shaking her head as her lids slammed shut, those tears sliding down her cheeks and curling around her chin. 

The doctor shut off the machine and withdrew the wand a few seconds later. “You can put your legs down, Chloe.” 

Chloe nodded and straightened, taking the tissue Beca offered her and blowing her nose with it. 

Dr. Harris watched on, her eyes soft. “You still have some time before making a decision.”

“Did it look healthy?” She found herself asking, then figured she should explain. “I just got out of rehab. I did cocaine and drank a fair amount of alcohol on a daily basis up until four weeks ago. And I was given um...” Chloe scratched her forehead as she raked her brain for the medication name. “Gabapentin for the first two weeks of rehab to help with withdrawal.” 

Dr. Harris’ features remained professional as she nodded slowly. “The heartbeat is strong, and I didn’t catch anything abnormal. The risk of miscarriage is more present than for other pregnancies as the drugs crossed through the placenta when you were still using, and that up to twelve weeks. Problems could occur during and after the pregnancy. But the baby could also be perfectly healthy, since you stopped in the early stages of pregnancy. It’s hard to tell.” 

Chloe’s mind swam with all these possible scenarios, and she didn’t know whether to listen to her brain or her gut feeling. “How-- how much time do I have to decide?” 

Dr. Harris slipped her hands into the pockets of her lab coat. “Abortion is legal up to 25 weeks in New York state. Up to ten weeks, you can take a pill, past that a surgical procedure is needed.” 

Chloe sniffled, swiping the back of her hand under her runny nose. “Okay. Thank you.” 

Dr. Harris cast them both a tight-lipped smile. “Of course. I’ll leave informational pamphlets at the desk for you to read, as well as my phone number should you have any questions.” 

“Thanks,” Beca said as the doctor walked out, then focused back on Chloe, reaching out to brush her hair back behind her ear. “I’ll give you a few minutes to get dressed? I can go get those pamphlets in the meantime.” 

Chloe nodded, her insides caving in as soon as the door clicked shut behind Beca. She gripped the edges of the exam cot hard, her nails digging into the leather and her breathing turning chopped as a mix of panic and sadness unleashed within her. 

It all seemed unfair, but she knew her own recklessness was the root of the situation she found herself in. 

She eventually managed to calm herself down enough to get dressed, meeting Beca by the desk ten minutes later. The walk home was silent, and Chloe was grateful Beca didn’t push her to talk. She didn’t even know how to process her own thoughts, let alone speaking them aloud. 

A few days passed. Chloe slept a lot, and tried to keep herself busy the rest of the time. One hour each morning consisted of hugging the toilet while she puked her guts out, and the rest of her day was spent craving that warm embrace of the rush cocaine once brought her. 

The temptation was there. She knew there was a store on the corner of Beca’s street that sold booze, and she knew there was enough change in the bowl by the front door to afford at least a couple beers. 

Yet, she couldn’t bring herself to. Not after seeing that tiny blob on that screen and listening to its heartbeat, because the biggest part of her wanted this. She knew it deep down, but she couldn’t silence those same voices that had been making her life hell for the past four years, telling her that she was bound to fail at this like she did with everything else. 

Chloe woke up that Saturday morning to a churning stomach. Scrambling out of bed, she stumbled to the bathroom across the hall and made it just in time to empty the contents of her stomach into the ceramic bowl.

She slumped back against the wall afterwards, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand as she reached out to flush the toilet with the other. Chloe glanced up when Beca appeared around the corner, a sympathetic smile curving her lips as she stepped closer and handed Chloe a steaming mug. 

“Ginger tea. I read it helps with morning sickness.”

Chloe accepted it with a quiet thank you. She cradled the mug between her palms, her head tilting back against the tile behind her as she exhaled. “You can sit, if you want.”

Beca nodded and lowered herself next to her in the tight space, their thighs and shoulders touching. “Do you… want to talk?”

Chloe sucked in a sharp breath. “I feel… lost,” she croaked out, her head rolling to the side to look at Beca. “Before the appointment, I was so sure terminating the pregnancy was the wise option, but then I saw it on that screen and heard its heartbeat and…”

“You realized the wise decision is maybe not what you want?” Beca supplied when Chloe trailed off. 

“I’ve always wanted to be a mom,” Chloe whispered before she broke eye-contact, focusing on the mug she held in her hands as she blinked away the tears filling her eyes. “But it’s crazy to even consider it, right? I don’t have a job, I don’t have my own place, and I’m still battling with my own mind because I crave something. All day, every day since my last hit.”

“But you didn’t cave,” Beca pointed out softly. “I know it’s only been four days since you got out of rehab, but you didn’t cave, and that’s already an accomplishment of its own.” 

“I just… I don’t want to harm this baby more than I’ve possibly already done,” Chloe admitted quietly. 

Beca nodded, and reached out to take one of Chloe’s hands, tugging it into her lap gently. “If keeping this baby is what you want to do, those things you’re worried about have solutions. You may not have a place of your own, but I’m not kicking you out. Even with a baby. This is home for you as long as you want or need it. A job shouldn’t be too difficult to find. Maybe it won’t be the greatest one on earth to start with, but it will be something to get your head back in the game,” she paused, tilting her head to the side and seeking Chloe’s gaze. “And what you just said? About not caving because of the baby? I can’t think of a better proof of your ability to be a great mom. You’re already putting that baby before your own needs, and I can’t even fathom how great and out of control those can become, and I think that’s admirable. And for what it’s worth, I think you should trust what your gut tells you. I listened to my brain instead of my heart once, and ended up making one of the biggest mistakes of my life.” 

Chloe let Beca’s words resonate within her, basking in the temporary peace they brought her. There was no doubt about where her gut feeling lay on this.

“I feel like I’m turning your life upside down,” she whispered after a while, sniffling. “You’ve done so much for me already, I don’t want to keep abusing from your generosity, or jeopardize your relationship with Sarah.” 

“You’re not abusing anything, Chlo. I promise,” Beca murmured with a squeeze to her hand. A stretch of silence settled between them, until Beca spoke again. “You still have time to think about it. Just know that whatever you decide to do, I’ll support it.” 

Over the next week, Chloe found herself picturing what it would be like, caring and nurturing for that baby and raising them. For the first time in five years, cocaine wasn’t the first thing she thought about when she woke up, or the last thing on her mind before going to sleep. 

For the first time in five years, it felt like she had purpose, in trying her best to be the mom her child deserved. That meant staying clean, leaving those demons behind where they belonged, and getting her life back together one day at a time, for that innocent being that came to light in the darkest time of her life. 

She woke up earlier than usual that morning, and headed to the bathroom to pee, pausing as she caught sight of her reflection in the mirror. A soft gasp escaped as she lifted her shirt and ran her palm over the barely perceptible swell in her lower belly. It wasn’t there yesterday, and Chloe felt tears pool in her eyes. 

Happy ones. 

“Hey there, little one,” she croaked out, her heart swelling against her ribcage as she rubbed slow circles over her skin. “We’ll be okay, won’t we?” 

She puffed out a long breath, a watery smile breaking through. 

One day at a time. 

[rainworldslugcats]

Hi ! Just wanted to ask , how do you put your own slugcat skin in game? I know it's works with fancy slugcat mod,,, but i don't know how to use it ;-; , can you teach me

i can try! although i only learned most of this very recently, so i’m not the most knowledgeable. i also use BepInEx as the modloader.

im going to start with the assumption that you already have fancy slugcats installed and working, after this you’re going to need the custom assets and custom tails mod. both can be found on RainDB.

keep in mind, each of these mods contains a read me with more information, so reference those if you don’t understand something in my explanation. everything is under a read more as this post is very long.

ive also attempted to be as detailed with this tutorial as possible.

and lastly, please read through the entire tutorial before starting work as it’s very likely you’ll end up having to redo things otherwise, mostly because of the way custom tails functions.

part 1: custom tails

we’ll start with adding a custom tail, the custom tails mod requires ConfigMachine, fancy Slugcats and Custom Assets. (publicity stunt is only required if you still use Partiality, not if you use BepInEx) download and apply these mods first. (the .dll files)

once you’ve downloaded custom tails you’ll find an “examples” folder in the .zip file, this contains the files you’ll edit to make your own custom tail. 

each of the example tails is shown on the thumbnail for the custom tails mod, so you can get an idea of how they look in action.

sidenote: the devil tail png is completely white, and thus it can be hard or impossible to see on a default photo viewer, open it on something like paint tool sai and add a colored background. once you’ve selected which base you want to use, extract (or just copy and paste) that tail png along with its txt file somewhere you can work on it, desktop works just fine. now you can make whatever modifications you want to the tail, i’ll use my firecracker tail as an example.

note: if you leave parts of the sprite purely white, it will get colored in with whatever color you choose in the fancy slugcats menu, its essentially transparency.

once you’re happy with how it looks, it’s time to apply it. firstly, change the tails name into something recognizable, like FRtail.png

now take your txt file and name it the same thing you named your tail, and make sure to be exact or things might break.

then open said txt file and change the default tail name into your tails name.

once all that is done, you have to navigate into the atlases folder in your rain world install. to get there open up steam, find RW and right click it in the menu to bring up this text box

choose “properties” at the very bottom to open up this menu

select “local files” on the side, and when you see this screen press “browse” and it will open up the root folder of RW.

(i have quite a bit more stuff in my install folder due to mods, so don’t worry about not having all of it) from here you want to open the “Assets” folder near the top, from there you open Futile > Resources > Atlases.

now all you need to do is put both your tail png and txt files into Atlases like so:

note: capital letters matter, if you used capital letters in your name you have to use those same capital letters in every name, for example if you use frtail.txt and FRtail.png it wont work. it all has to be the same in every case.

once that’s done, go back to your RW root folder (the one where RainWorld.exe is located) and open the “ModConfigs” folder, from there go to Fancy slugcats > custom heads. it will be empty if you haven’t made any modifications yet.

once youre here, make a new txt file and name it the same name you’ve used for your tail.png and txt files. then open it and type the same name inside it, don’t forget to save.

now you should be ready to open up RW, remember to enable the required mods: fancy slugcats, custom assets, custom tails, config machine and publicity stunt (partiality only)

note: if your game opens up to a black screen and wont start, it usually means something is wrong with the txt files, either you forgot to add a name inside one of them, you forgot to save when you added the name, or you’ve misspelled the name. double check all the names for your png and txt files.

now then, let’s get to adding your tail to your slugcat

once the game is open, navigate to settings and open mod config, from there you should see custom tails in the menu. once here type your custom tails name into the “sprite” box, remember to be exact with the name.

if the name shows up red, you’ve made a mistake somewhere in the process, if it shows up as white, its been successfully added!

if you touch the sliders it will add a gradient to your tail and undo/cover up any sprite changes, so keep them as black. you can also change your tails size in the fancy slugcats menu as usual.

now you have a snazzy tail to show off to the world! “.......but wait” i might hear you say “my tail isn’t the same color as the image i made!”

that’s because whatever color you apply to your slugcat in the fancy slugcats menu gets applied on top of the image you made. meaning if your slugcat is a rather more dark color, it will make your tail darker as well. meaning not only will bright aspects of it not be bright anymore, the base of your tail will be darker than your base slugcat color, thus it wont match. this is a problem i ran into as my slugcat is purple with bright accents.

the transparency i mentioned earlier helps with this “if you leave parts of the sprite purely white, it will get colored in with whatever color you choose in the fancy slugcats menu, its essentially transparency.“

you can use this transparency to make the base of your tail match the rest of your slugcats body, now all the white will be filled in with whatever color you’ve chosen in the menu, however it still wont fix all other parts of it having the base color applied to them.

now if your base slugcat color is white, you don’t have to worry about any of this at all! the tail will stay how you made it!

if your slugcat will be lightly colored but not completely white, or your dark slugcat will have dark markings, this is all stuff you can reasonably account for while making the markings themselves (once you’ve made the txt and png files and put them in the right places, you can edit the png in the atlases folder directly) but if you want to do something more close to my slugcat, we’re going to have to do it by changing the color of slugcat using sprites.

part 2: sprite edits

so, to get around this problem and to get the freedom to edit the sprites however we like we’re going to be editing each sprite separately. this way you can virtually add anything you like to your slugcat, antlers, spikes, fur. although this might require you to change the position of the sprites to get them to line up properly in-game.

i’ll only touch on recoloring sprites as i haven’t edited the shape of any of them yet, i’ll update this tutorial with extra info once i’ve tried it out myself.

some of slugcats sprites have multiple versions that will get bundled in order to make the animations you see in game (head, arms, legs)

others are static sprites and only have one version (tail, body, hips)

firstly, you’ll need to find the sprites you’re going to edit, all of these sprites are included in the custom assets zip file you downloaded from RainDB.

you’ll find slugcats sprites in Unpacked Atlases > RainWorld, extract this folder to make looking for the correct sprites easier.

note: all of the sprites are white by default, this makes them incredibly difficult to see in a folder without opening them in some external program, thus i’ve changed my windows settings to make the folder background dark (this can be found in Personalization)

this folder includes the sprites of most of the creatures in RW, so picking out slugcats sprites can be a tad... difficult. thus i'll name every single sprite you’ll need to hopefully make it easier. BodyA, HipsA, PlayerArm0 to 12, FaceA0 to 8, FaceB0 to 8, FaceDead, FaceStunned, HeadA0 to 17

aaand all the leg sprites are in a png because they have so many names

most of them can be found bunched up together in the RW folder, a tail texture isn’t included as that will still be handled through custom tails as detailed above.

now i suggest you make some way to store all of slugcats sprites neatly, as it will save you a lot of hassle in the long run. i separated all body part sprites into folders.

now you’re free to make any edits you like to the sprites. however, i’ll go about this tutorial with the expectation the only edits are color edits, not shape edits, as again i don’t have experience with those.

once your sprites are all colored and neatly organized its time to compile them, each body part gets compiled into their own bunch (arms in one, legs in another) for this you’ll need a program called texture packer, i can’t provide a direct link because my post might get thrown into the void by tumblr, there is however a direct link in the custom assets read me.

once you’ve downloaded texture packer, heres an easy to follow short video tutorial made by AndrewFM on how to use it.

once your sprites are bundled you’ll go through the same process as with adding your custom tail. i’ll use arm sprites as an example.

you’ll get a png file with all of your edited sprites in them, as well as a .json file that contains placement information, turn that json file into a txt by renaming it (yourarmname).txt

now open the txt file and rename every single part to whatever name you decided to give your arm sprites, but keep the numbers at the end of the sprite names, they are important.

note: do not rename the individual sprite png’s before they are packed

now that your txt and png files are ready, drop them into the same Atlases folder in your RW install as you did with your custom tail, and similarly add another new txt file into ModConfig > FancySlugcats > CustomHeads and rename it to the same name you named your sprite, and add that exact same name inside the txt file itself.

if the game yet again refuses to start, remember to double check the names in the txt files.

now we’re ready to apply the sprites in-game, open up RW and head to setting > mod config,

depending on which sprites you’ve edited, you’ll need to enter the sprite name into the specific field it belongs to, for me i’ll add the name to the arms section. you’ll get more details about what goes where when you hover over the text field.

for some of them, you’ll need to include A at the end of your sprite name, but only in the mod config menu

this shows where they are needed.

now you need to repeat this process for each bundle of slugcats body parts and apply them. note: body and hips despite both being part of slugcats main body gets applied separately, and even though they only have one sprite each you still need to pack them with texture packer and go through the same process as for the others.

this all might seem tiresome, and in certain ways it definitely is, but once you’ve gotten the hang of the packing, adding to folders and applying the process gets a lot faster.

once all of your sprites are applied, legs, hips, body, head, arms, tail. you want to make sure in fancy slugcats settings to make your slugcats color pure white so it wont affect your custom sprite coloration in any way. however you can apply color to slugcats face through the menu as usual.

there is a known issue where slugcats fists when climbing poles don’t get colored, this issue currently can’t be fixed easily.

the end result? quite a fancy slugcat indeed!

if i made any mistakes, or there’s extra info i should add, then message me and i’ll edit the post accordingly!

if there’s anything you can’t figure out no matter what you try, join the RW discord and ask people in the modding support channel, thats where i got most of my information from!

hopefully this is helpful to some of you! i spent quite a while making this tutorial so reblogs would be very much appreciated!

[lovelivingmydreams]

Green eyed Jealousy(2)

So technically part two of chapter 3 because I did a dumb and only posted part of Green eyed jealousy yesterday.

ALSO IMPORTANT I asked for possible fandom names for the nemesis character. I know of 'Andy' for he anxiety from the shorts but this is a different character so he deserves his own name. I thought it might be fun to include you all in that decision. Enjoy!

Part one here if you need a reminder

Chapter 1: Something there.

Chapter 2: The Prince's enemy

"A gift to commemorate one month of friendship!" He declared proudly. Virgil accepted the key speechless. He struggled to voice what this meant to him. It was tangible proof that Roman considered them friends. That the doubts that plagued him were wrong. It wasn't just some wishful thinking. He genuinely cared enough to call him that. To get him any sort of gift at all.

"I -thanks..." he muttered a little flustered. "I'm sorry, I didn't get you anything... I didn't know we were supposed to exchange gifts and..." Before Virgil could spiral, Roman put up a placating hand.

He'd expected Anxiety to do something like this. And he'd prepared his answer.

"We weren't. I simply decided to give you this, the occasion was a last minute addition. Now, if you would be so kind as to open the door?" Roman suggested, vibrating with excitement as he turned Virgil to the room. Problem was, other than his closet door, there were none.

"What door?"

Roman chuckled to himself. "Come on Scooby Boo. Use your imagination," he teased.

Virgil sighed. He felt very silly imagining a door in front of him and even considering to try and open it. But, he'd come to trust Roman. So he gave it a try. And to his surprise he felt the key slide into a lock he turned it and heard a click. There was now a door sized rectangle in front of him made of light. As if it was peering through the cracks of a door. Suddenly his sight was taken by a warm pair of calloused hands.

"Don't freak out. I just want it to be a surprise," Roman explained. A smile evident in his voice.

A smile that grew wider as he heard Anxiety let out a resigned sigh. He was going to play along!

Virgil pulled the key from the lock and the door swung over. Even with his eyes closed and covered he could tell that it was bright on the other side. He could feel a gentle breeze hit his face as Roman guided him over the threshold.

They were walking through low growing vegetation, or it felt like that.

He could hear something... "Is that 'twinkle twinkle little star'?" He wondered surprised.

Roman just chuckled and moved them farther into the world behind the door. Leaving Virgil to notice that it smelled like a candy store.

"Okay, ready?" Roman asked, though he didn't give Anxiety the chance to make a witty remark. He took away his hands and immediately stepped to the side so that he could see Anxiety react without ruining the view.

It was everything he hoped it would be.

Once his eyes adjusted to the light, Virgil was dumbstruck as he took in the purple sky, and the cotton candy clouds. He looked down at the field he was standing in and let out an astonished laugh. He turned to Roman who grinned at his now deep purple eyeshadow.

“A field of paper flowers… you’ve listened to evanescence,” he concluded.

Roman shrugged. They have a way of evolving beautiful images,” he allows.

“You, and only you can use that key to open a door anywhere in the mindscape. To leave you simply use your door to get to your room.” Roman turned and gestured to the direction they’d come from. Now Virgil could see there were 2 doors in the field. One black with silvrvwebs painted on it and one red with golden flowers. The black door was open and showed Virgil's room.

“If you want to visit me or wish to speak with me for any reason, even just for a chat. Simply knock. I will come as fast as I can. I have my. Own key and I will knock on your door should I find myself I. Need of your sulking pretense.” They both chuckled.

“Thank you Roman. You didn't have to do this,” Virgil told him as he tried to think of a good gift in return.

Roman waved him of. “I wanted too. It's a gift for me too. Now we can visit each other and do whatever we want without risking someone seeing us sneaking around.” Roman turned his head to Virgil and gave him a long look to convey how much he meant his next words. “I enjoy your company, Anxiety. And I want the both of us to be able to enjoy quality time without looking over our shoulders.”

Virgil had to look away for a moment to collect his thoughts, and as he did so, he realized what he could give Roman. It wasn't perfect, but hopefully Roman would appreciate the sentiment.

“Virgil,” he said, trying very hard to sound casual but he was sure Roman could tell he was dying inside. He looked back at Roman who was… surprised, awed and moved.

Virgil managed a smirk. “You can call me Virge.”

 You sit in your room working on a little comic inspired by characters made by your favorite online personality.

Thomas Sanders.

You’re not going to post it though. Who cares about a comic about how a prince met his arch nemesis. Your phone  buzzes and you pick it up. Messenger, junk mail. You decide to see what else went on while your phone was charging at home.

You scroll through and realize there is a not from Thomas' vine account. Well speak of the angel and he shall appear in your notices about 8 hours earlier.

You click the note and find the prince, seemingly injured, laying on the floor. Unarmed and helpless staring down the end of his opponents blade.

“This is the end! Hero!” the villain exclaims. But before he strikes the camera seems to move real fast, blurring the world. But then, nemesis is glaring back at the camera which is looking up at him from the ground . Prince POV?

“I’ll deal with you later,” he promises before turning to the villain. The camera changes spot again and is filming the villains in profile.

“That is my arch nemesis. Not yours, so back off!” he growls. Then he looks back. The scene shifts to an empty room. He got away.

Nemesis turns back to the other villain readying a spell.

The villain screamed in fear, the nemesis in rage.

You leave a like and scroll through the comments. As you read you start smiling. You bounce in your seat as you read there are others who love this duo. Maybe you’ll post the comic after all.

Chapter 4: family and identity

@selenechris

[haravath0t]

A Christmas Heist Pt. V - Confrontations

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Reader

Warnings: inaccurate depictions of technology, depictions of violence, flirty Bucket, an actually big word count 

Hi guys! This is it! The final addition of “A Christmas Heist”! I am so so glad to have been able to write this out! Of course, this part will be a bit longer than the previous parts, as this is the final part after all. I must thank @world-of-aus​ immensely for going above and beyond for these action scenes! Without her, this part wouldn’t be what it is! Thank you once again to @hailhydra920​ for putting this wonderful request in for the holidays! It was a nice request to kind of dip my feet into the water, as this is my first mini-series! There will be an epilogue to be an official end to this mini series! That shall be posted Monday night! As always, feedback and commentary are deeply appreciated! What did you like? What did you not like? What do you guys wanna see? I’d love to know! Thank you and enjoy reading!

A Christmas Heist Masterlist 

Main Masterlist

“So you wanted to take a look at the MacBooks that we offer right, Miss?” Steve asks with feigned enthusiasm, keeping up the facade until you two were for sure alone on the table, far away enough from anyone to hear. Steve takes a look around one more time before he whispers, “Okay, so… this should be the section I think. I tried looking for it on the other two tables to your left, but they weren’t there. The serial numbers were getting a bit close, but not quite.” Bucky lightly clears his throat and looks around, adjusting his cap. “Well, it’s the last table with the MacBooks, we can take a look here for sure.” You take another cautious look around, resisting the urge to take the different colored wig that you have on off. “Well, why don’t you two pretend that you’re looking at MacBooks? I have a feeling that it could be here.” You whisper softly. Steve looks at you and nods. “Well, be careful Y/N. I double checked these employee drawers too. No luck anywhere. Shelves may have to be it.” You nod in understanding and waste no time into searching for this darned hard drive.

“Well these MacBooks are said to be our highest selling so if you’d like to take a close look at each one,” Steve offers, voice raised slightly as another employee walks by the three of you.

“That’ll be perfect, thank you,” Bucky gruffs, “should we need any further help I’ll send my husband to find you,” you add. Steve nods and keeps up his raised voice, “No worries, ma’am. Take all the time you need. And umm… and yeah, just take your time,” Steve says softly, turning red as he stutters the last part. You shook your head in embarrassment as you turned away from the blond super soldier who was scratching his head. You look cautiously through the display, pretending to look through the specifics of the MacBook on display before looking at the settings to examine the serial numbers. The search kept going, you were on the brink of bursting due to your frustration, until. “Got it,” you whisper, trying your hardest not to show a huge smile as you notice the serial number perfectly aligns with the serial number that you had written down on your little piece of paper. “You got it?” Bucky says with a hint of excitement as he goes to you, Steve following suit. “Yeah! It should be the one!” You say excitedly. “The hard drive from what I remember should be in these shelves behind us,” you whisper, motioning at the products behind you.

“I’ll cover for you,” Steve offers, with Bucky nodding in approval. “Yeah so will I. I think you know this techy thing more than I do.” You playfully roll your eyes, starting the search from the box of airpods that were stacked along the shelf. “It’s just a different type of package that we’re after, Buck. Nothing much really.” Bucky only scoffs as he keeps pretending to look at MacBooks with Steve, looking around cautiously. However, his eyes widened. “No… oh hell no…” He grunts under his breath. “What is it, Buck?” Steve whispers, looking around even more cautiously. But then his answer was arriving at full speed. 

It was Rumlow, striding his way into the store, eyes looking around the store, but for what? You three would not even know. “Shit.. shit shit shit…” Bucky mutters in frustration. “Y/N, sweetheart, if you have found that damn packaging, you might as well tell us now.” He whispers in a harsh tone into the comm. “Seriously, Buck? Don’t rush me, I’m about more than halfway into the stock!” The two men hear you say into their earpiece. “I think we have every right to rush you right now, doll. We’ve got company. Your 6 o’ clock.” You hear Steve say in a pressing tone, causing you to turn around right behind you to see Rumlow approaching what must be a fellow Hydra agent. Your eyes widen, rushing your process on that shelf. “Oh come on… come on..” you tell yourself, heart beating fast as you try your hardest to find that packaging. But then you soon see it, a white box of the same size, but no, it did not show the image of a pair of AirPods, it was just blank. No little text, nothing. 

“Y/N… Y/N, come on let’s go.” 

“Y/N! Stop. Put it all back.” 

You couldn’t. You couldn’t stop now, you’re so close.

You were about to reach for it, but quickly jumped when you felt a tap on your shoulder. 

Shit.

You sighed in relief when you see Bucky, quickly tensing up when you see his stern face. “Did you not hear me and Steve? We gotta put this back.” he orders, stealing some of the boxes to place quickly back on the shelf. 

“But Buck I almost got i-”

“Yes you did. But this isn’t the time and place to obtain that right now. They can’t know that we know!” He hisses, holding your hand after putting away the last of the box, leading you to Steve. “We’re lucky if they do not plan on moving this out of this section, do you u-” Bucky continues, but you hush him. “Steve, come on, escort us out.” “Don’t you dare interrupt me, sweetheart this shit’s dangerou-” 

“Shh! Rumlow is near…” you whisper quietly, rubbing your nose. Steve wastes no time when he fakes to reorganize the MacBooks in their rightful place. “Right, I’m so sorry we could not fit your needs, ma’am. I do hope you do reconsider.” Steve says and you both nod. “It’s alright. Give us time to mull it over today, Andy. I think I can get my husband to change his mind. Thank you.” You get more weary when you see Brock looking at the three of you with a suspicious eye. You were glad when you saw that the other two noticed. “Thank you for coming to the Apple Store. I hope you enjoy your day,” Steve says as he walks you both out, making it clear to the employees. “Alright, I found that there’s an alternate route to get out. If you want to go to the parking lot, try to go through Bloomingdales, walk around the building, cross the other plaza, and then the lot is on the right.” Steve whispers hurriedly and you two nod, trying your best to go out as smoothly yet swiftly as possible. 

“Steve, I need you to keep watch of that package. We gotta see where they move it. Please.” You whisper into your comms shakily, clinging onto Bucky’s gloved hand as you quickly walk into Bloomingdales. “I think you need to keep watch of something worse. Or someone.” You hear him say, causing you and Bucky to look at each other in realization. “Fuck,” You groan as the two of you quicken your pace. “Yeah… I know… Rumlow heard from a fellow agent you two were going near the package. If you haven’t gone through Bloomingdales. Now is the time.” You hear Steve say imperatively. The pace has quickened, the strides were longer, and your grip on your boyfriend’s hand is long gone as you two made your way down the escalator to the first floor quickly and out the door. 

Once you two were out, the walking quickly turned into running. Bucky hears the door hurriedly open as well as fast footsteps. “Shit, sweetheart. Come on let’s go through that outdoor mall. It might be a shortcut,” He grunts, you two quickening the pace as a whole group of pedestrians start walking across the street, you two blending in quickly in the middle of the group. You turn around to see Brock a bit far behind you. But this was not the end.

You had to keep up the strides once again, trying to avoid bringing the security into the mix, so you stayed with the crowd of people. Luckily it came to the point where everyone was squished against each other’s bodys, you weaved through the crowds alongside Bucky, getting yourselves closer and closer to the parking lot. “Drop your jacket.” Bucky orders, you look at him in shock. “What?! Why?! What for?” “Misdirection, sweetheart,” He says grabbing your hand once you take it off, leading you towards an empty alley, making you have a run for it. “You’re so crazy! I love this jacket!” You hiss, your heels clicking against the concrete as you ran alongside bucky. “Oh shush, I’ll buy you another one. Drop it… now.” He says, resulting in you throwing down the jacket as you sharply turned to your right when you got to the sidewalk of the busy road beside you. Sure enough, you hear Brock’s hurried footsteps echoing far behind you. 

You two quicken your pace, hopping into Bucky’s motorcycle, you in front of him, his arms wrapped around your torso. The engine roared before you two quickly zoomed out of the farthest exit possible, quickly weaving your way onto the busy road and hiding the two of you behind cars. “You know, I should be driving that so you don’t gotta worry.” You hear Bucky remark. You smile. “Sometimes, your girl needs a turn. Payback for making me let go of that jacket.” You couldn’t help but snicker at how lost Rumlow looked around running in frustration with the jacket of yours clenched in his hand on the sidewalk. He may have been smart and burly, but boy, was he clueless out in the open. You knew Bucky saw it two as the lights turned green, starting on your journey home. 

“He must be so lost.” You remarked, giggling as you concentrate on the road. You smiled when you felt Bucky’s chuckle rumble onto your body, playfully groaning when Bucky playfully kisses and nips at your neck. “I bet… you ran fast on those heels of yours two… proud of you…” You playfully huff, shaking your head. “Well I’m supposed to be mad at you. You know that jacket is Christian Dior?” Bucky only chuckles into your neck. “Like I said, I’ll get you another one.” A smile cracked on your face, shaking your head. “How are we like this after what just happened?” “It’s our job, sweetheart. Sure it’s a bit panicky when we are on the field, but hey… there’s nothin’ you and I can’t do.” He says into your ear. “Yeah… you’re right…” you chuckle, turning a right to go inside the parking lot of the apartment complex. “Let’s just hope he has doubts that it’s you. He must know it’s me for sure.” You snort. “Nah… Wore a cheaper perfume today in case of run-ins like these.” 

“Jesus, you’re a genius, sweetheart.”

“Can you two remember that I am still on the comm with you guys? At least turn it off.”

You called the manager to say that you were going to be late today. Bucky promised that he’d stay alongside the pouty Santa Claus to make sure no one apprehends you or Steve. You sigh shakily as you watch Steve unlock the door. “Deep breaths, doll. I know you hate the idea of being in public doing this, but we are here a good hour before opening time. So you can do this with no problem. You’re disguised. So let’s hope. We ran through this plan three times last night. Trust your instincts.” Steve reassures you as he opens the door for you. You nod, thanking him as you quickly went to get the small box. Fury knows. They’re waiting for you guys to finish this.

“So it was in there, huh?” Steve asks, as he sees you hurriedly make your way to a laptop that he just turned on. He’s already getting flustered at how the default home screen turned into another black screen filled with numbers and letters. You only nod, concentrating on the task at hand. “What are you doing?” Steve asks softly, as he looks around, trying to find a way to pass the time. “Altering the firmware to install a backdoor.” You simply respond as you type furiously at the keyboard. 

Steve only nods, shaking his head and scratching the back of his head. “Shouldn’t have asked… no idea what that mean-”

“Done. Okay next.” 

His eyebrows raise. “A-Already?!” 

“I hope you have your shield in handy just in case.” You mutter as you keep on going. “I do… Yeah, Buck has it in the case Brock goes after ‘im.” He responds, visibly confused at your work. “What are you gonna do, Y/N?” He keeps questioning, preferring to know what you are doing than sitting in silence. “We’re gonna load surveillance and let headquarters control their softwares at boot up. They can have cont-” 

All thoughts were halted when the glass doors burst open, showing a couple of men and women storming through. “Shit,” you mutter, “I got it,” Steve grunts as he moves forward, “you keep working I’ll keep them off you as long as possible.

Steve wasted no time as he rushed forward taking on the first man that ran at him.

Your eyes fly back and forth between the men rushing at Steve and the screen.

“You good?!” you call as he’s kicked to the floor only to jump right back up. He licks the blood from his lips glaring at the men in front of him body guarded as he keeps them from getting to you.

“Keep going Y/N,” his eyes meet yours, “I could do this all day.”

You want to make a remark but the middle goon runs at him, and Steve’s legs sweep up and out sending the man arms up and spread out right into the other two. Your eyes dash back to the computer screen, “Give me two minutes!”

“Don’t worry about me,” he grunts, “get it done!” Your fingers continue to clack against the keyboard, muttered curses falling from your breath as you will the damned machine to hurry, Steve could only go so long against three men with the other two standing guard by the door.

The machine beeps, “I got it Steve!”

“Gr-” he takes a fist to the face, the force enough to send him back towards you. A gasp leaves your lips as you fall away from the device.

Your hands are reaching for your friend, but one of the men gets brave as he rushes you, his hands fisting into the back of your shirt. He sends you flying back, your body skidding away from Steve and into the two by the door way. You have but a second to react, the two standing guard by the door now moving at you. Deft fingers reach for your hidden holster, your fingers hooking around the taser disk as you quick flick it to the goon that had sent you flying back.

They may be quick but you’re quicker.

He goes down in a shock before he can reach the computer, “Steven the hard drive - AH!” you get out, “You’re not going anywhere, rat,” the girl by the door hisses as she pulls you back. “Looks like we have more than one rat,” the other calls out as he kicks the hat from Steve’s head, the kick sending him back into the displays. The goon turns his head to the others, “Take her out,” he mutters, “Let’s worry about this traitor here.” You’re scrambling on your feet trying to find some leverage against the pain radiating from your scalp as you are thrown from the store.

You’re not up quick enough as they lock the door, the grey walled barricade coming down, a sinister smirk kissing the lip of the hydra goons.

“Steve!”

“Steve’s not the one you should be worrying about, Mrs. Claus, or should I say Agent L/N.”

Chills creep up your spine, and you’re turning slowly on your heel, eyes hard as you glare at the man before you.

“Rumlow,” you grunt, he wipes at blood splitting his lip. “Gotta say agent you all almost had us, but that sly trick of yours,” he steps forward, “You know... the one where you took my keys, that agent that’s where you really fucked up, did you really think I wouldn’t notice,” he tsks, “figured you all might be smarter but then again, think I prefer it like this, you’ll be easier to take down.”

Rumlow advances on you then, his body slamming into yours as he takes you down around the waist. You scrabble to get leverage, the base of your palm meeting his nose.

“Bitch,” he grunts as he falls off to the side, your body moving to stand. Your eyes fall to the store where the commotion is even louder.

“I wouldn’t worry about your friend there,” Rumlow spits a grin appearing on his face, “he’s not going to last very long.”

You’re the one charging now as you creep closer, your body dropping slightly as you let your leg sweep out and send Rumlow right back onto his back.

“You won’t last long out here either.”

“We’ll see about that,” he growls his fingers pressing to his ear as he mumbles something foreign to your ears. Your head snaps to the side where the grey gate is slowly lifting, the goon that had thrown you from earlier waiting for the gate to fully lift.

Shit.

You watch as Rumlow pushes to stand on his feet, his stance unfaltering as he waits; it’s not long before the door to the store is being pushed open, the goon falling out, grunts and crashes coming from within the store.

“You see agent, you all thought you were slick, but really we knew all this time, just like Fury sent in his rats, we’ve sent in ours.”

Your eyes widen at the news, “Oh don’t look so shocked, it was never going to end well for the lot of you, though I wish it would have, you’re not such a bad kisser,” he smirks, “we could have been something you and I, but I guess maybe in a different world,” he hums. It’s a split second before they’re both charging at you, one leg swings out as your foot meets the agent’s chest knocking him back only slightly as your hands grip at Rumlow.

You climb the burly man, your fingers reaching for the garrote hidden in your boot.

You hook the wire around Rumlow’s neck, tightening it around your fingers as you pull roughly. Rumlow chokes as he tries to knock you off, you don’t see that the goon has gotten his bearing and is now charging at you,  but it’s not like he would have made it a step closer.

“Y/N!” you hear Bucky scream, “Duck!”

Your eyes flash up, seeing Bucky running at you shield in hand, the jingle of the bell from his hat and shoes being heard. He stops mid stride to throw the vibranium shield towards you. Your fingers tighten on the metal string in your grip, your body tilting back as you and Rumlow fall to the side, the shield whizzing past you.

It takes the goon in its path down, knocking three more in its way out.

“About damn time Buck,” you hear Steve shout out, the ping of the metal meeting face reaching your ears.

You couldn’t help the hopeful smile that appears on your face as you see the blond super soldier run to the door and catch it successfully, using it to knock out the other agents coming at him. You try to get up, making the wire retract on its own, the main objective to get back into the store. You yelp when you feel a strong hand grab onto your ankle, making you thud face first against the tiles of the mall. By instinct, you kick your heel against the face, hearing Rumlow groan as you get up. You hear a crack and you look behind in shock, seeing the burly elf pinning Rumlow in the ground, landing a hard punch at him, the blood from his face matching the redness of the Santa costume. “Go! Go get that thing and let’s get out!” You hear Bucky exclaim to you, you only nod and push through the glass doors, hopping over the unconscious bodies to get to the laptop, taking the hard drive out of the port for good measure. Sighing in relief, you tuck it in a secure place and quickly run to Steve as he gets his shield. 

“Come on, let’s go,” Steve says as you nod, paging headquarters to quickly get the agents that had participated into custody. You two run out and see Bucky throw one final punch before Brock is unconscious, bloody face and nose evident. “BUCKY STOP! COME ON!” You exclaim as you and Steve make a run for it. It is only a few seconds until Bucky catches up with you, quickly running to the car. You three quickly left, more than ready to go straight to the med bay.

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[sweetestlamb]

How Do I Look?

Summary: Mun Yeong and Gang-Tae spend their first weekend apart. Things go really well.

Author's Note: I intended for this to be less gutter filth but I'm a pervert so you got this instead. Sorry. A little. I'm the worst. I know. I promise to try to stop being a hornball and write something sweet and wholesome. 

P.s. I just did some edits, so any errors should now be fixed. Thank you to everyone sharing my story, y’all are the realest.  I’ll be posting this on AO3 as well to get that fandom recognized soon. 

The sunlight shines intensely through the windows and Mun Yeong wonders how much it would cost to stop that, just turn off the sunlight that perpetually ruins her sleep every morning. Those ridiculous birds are always chirping outside her window clearly in cahoots with the sun. With menacing eyes she glares at them all.

The cursed Castle is quiet. Still. It is her first weekend alone. She sighs in frustration, annoyed that he planned on keeping his word and going back to the live- in cook and two-faced bitch's house. Threatening to kill him if they left hadn’t convinced him and that was the only thing she could think of to say to him. What other reason could she ask him to stay?

Stay for me.

No. That would scare him away too. Or maybe his answer would scare her. All the same, now she was alone in this huge Castle and she didn't know if she could stand it. The castle felt so much more alive with them here. When they cleaned that day it was as if breathe had been pumped into the lungs of the castle. It no longer felt like she was living in a cemetery.

She didn't want to share him and especially not with that bitch.

Eyes scanning the room, she thought of something to do to pass the time. I want to go and kidnap him. But. He had seemed excited at the thought of seeing Jae-Soo , his dimwitted friend who ran a chicken farm or something. It must have been nice to have a friend. Someone who wanted to be around you, not for money or prestige just because they liked you. She tried to remember if she ever had anyone like that. Anyone besides him.

Lost in her thoughts her eyes landed on her shoes. Black heels, patent leather, five inch heel, crimson red bottom. She had seen them in a store and knew she had to have them. The fact that they were in someone else's hands was a minor inconvenience that a well placed glare solved. The last ones too. Destiny. What do you think you're doing? The minor inconvenience had gasped as she placed the heels on her own feet and found they were a perfect fit. Some things were meant to be.

Shopping, could be fun.

Her over-sized sunglasses dwarfed her face intentionally, she did not need fans approaching her. She knew that her face would do a great job at deterring them as well, resting bitch face was her natural face. She had already been to many different stores. Bags hung from her hand as she approached the next store. Heels clicking rhythmically, she entered and a slow "wow" left her lips as she looked up at the outfit adorning the body of a mannequin.

I want it.

"How can I help you today ma'am?" A young woman approached her with eager steps, plastic smile stretched across her face. She didn't answer verbally, instead pointed at the mannequin. The woman nodded and retrieved an exact replica for her.

"We also have changing rooms." She stated pointing to the rooms in the back but she shook her head no. "I will take it." A smiled dipped across her face that would make the Cheshire cat proud. Now she knew exactly now to have some fun.

Gang-Tae laughed as Jae-Soo swung his arms around recalling the customer who tried to bring their cat in for a free caricature drawing from Sang-Tae.

"Pizza is not for feline companions. Most cats are lactose intolerant and you should not give them any dairy. They will vomit or even have diarrhea and it is very painful for their butthole. You must not give your cat any dairy products." His brother quickly added from his corner, where he laid on his stomach rapidly reading another one of Mun-Yeong's stories.

He snickered and imagined how disgusted she would look if she were here. Rose petal lips twisted in distaste. It had been hours since he had left her and he wondered what she was doing? Sharpening knives? Scaring small animals?

But he didn't have to wonder for long because his phone vibrated in his pocket and her name lit up on the screen. She would probably try to convince him to come home again, ignoring his decision to leave on the weekends. Not understanding that he needed time away, being around her all the time was difficult enough. Seeing her every morning and every night was hard. It would be easy if he could convince his eyes to stop looking at her. But alas, they were disobedient. So the weekends were his only escape from her spell.

He carelessly opened her message and then pressed it shut. Feeling a flush run from the tips of his toes to top of his head. His breath hitched and his blood simmered. Was it possible to hyperventilate and pass out and die from lack of oxygen? He was about to figure out.

Maybe I'm dreaming right now. This is just another one of those dreams. I fell asleep and I'm dreaming.

He almost convinced himself until another message came. And with trembling hands he excused himself to the bathroom and shakily sat on the toilet. Taking a deep calming breathe, fortifying himself only to crumble like a sandcastle when he opened the message.

How do I look?

Her feet were encased in red heels, dainty like the rest of her. But it was the rest that felt him grasping for breathe. A red corset hugged her body making her already small waist look impossibly slim delicate even, but he knew better, her panties were connected to thigh high matching stockings.He had never seen anything this tempting.  He briefly wondered how they would feel on his skin. How would she feel on his skin?

When the phone began to vibrated in his hands, he almost dropped it. He stared down at the phone, fear and lust both raging in his body. Until he finally accepted the call, I must be crazy.

"What are you doing?!" He exclaimed genuinely wondering why she wanted to kill him today.

"Did you like the picture? I got this today. If you were home you could have helped me put it on." She proceeded, ignoring his question and proceeding to kill him further. "But don't worry, if you hurry home you can still help me take it off."

"Stop. Stop talking." He begged. 

She didn't.

"It feels amazing on my skin." She moaned into his ear with that voice of hers, and he felt shivers run though his body just like when she had blown in his ears. "You can't see but it's crotch-less too, so easy access. We don't even need to take it off to have fun!"

He didn't understand how she could say these things as if she were a salesperson simply listing the benefits of the product. Was it possible to die from over-stimulation? Was today his last day? He forced himself not to look at the picture to find the slit she was referring too.

"Please stop." He pleaded again, pleading to both her and his traitor of a body that was now awake and fully aboard with everything she was selling. He glared down at the tent in his jeans, wondering if that would kill him actually, lack of blood available to flow to his brain.

"I miss you, come home."

Those words went straight to his heart without his permission. She really was an unstoppable force. It probably didn't help that he wasn't trying hard to stop her. Or at all.

"I can't." He really, really wanted to. The pin was precariously on the edge. 

She huffed on the other side of the phone and he expected her to explode, volatile, a ticking time bomb ready to detonate but instead she quietly responded, "How do I look?"

"Amazing. You look amazing." He said honestly, stupidly. It took everything in him to not open the message again and see the tantalizing photo again, imagining her wrapped around him as he slammed her into the nearest wall, listening to her moans as he played with her sweet wetness through the new deadly panties. His breathes were a fast staccato, and she moaned at the sound, "It would look even better on the floor."

He didn't get a chance to reply because there was a loud knock on the door.

"Gang-Tae are you okay? We're going to get food, do you want to come?"

He cleared his throat before answering, "No, no you go ahead. I need a minute."

Jae-Soo was silent for a second before he responded, "Okay make sure to use an air freshener we'll see you soon."

He signed in relief glad that he didn't ask any questions. Better they thought he was having stomach problems. 

"Only a minute? That fast huh?" She teased. 

"Stop saying nonsense!" He angrily retorted, blush blooming all over his face and chest. Embarrassed that it really would be that fast, seeing her like that had awakened something primal in him.  His erection wasn't going to go down on its own and he didn't have much time until Jae-Su and his brother were back. Shame washed over him.

"I...um have to go"

"No you don't. I just heard you, you told them to go ahead because you need a..... Oooooooh" He squeezed his eyes shut at her sound of recognition, he felt powerless. His hand was already creeping down to his heavy erection. It felt like it was throbbing now and the sounds she made naturally weren't helping.

"I can stay. I can help, do you want me to send more pictures? I can take one in nothing, if you'd like." She offered and he could hear her moving, and he shouted before she could actually kill him, "NO!!" He didn't want the first time he saw her....like that to be an image. He wanted to be able to touch. If she sent that picture he might run to the castle and....no. He didn't need anymore photos.

"I have to go. Goodbye." He repeated, hand reaching its target and the pleasure was instant, his knees buckled as he almost fell to the ground.

"You sound incredible, send me a photo too. I want to see."

He looked down at this dick, head disappearing and reappearing in his grip. Fluid dripping down the sides, easing his way.

"Okay. You sound like you're having fun. I'll leave you to it. Come home tomorrow." And just like that she was gone. He groaned wanting to shout her name and maybe cry a little. Why did she have to play with him like this, he couldn't handle this. The phone fell from his grip, clattering to the side.

He pulled and twisted, feeling the end approaching as he tugged himself to completion, images of Mun-Yeong spread across his bed with him thrusting into her filling his head. She would be wild under him, giving as good as she got, nails clawing at his back.

With, a final thrust he felt his cum flew out, surging though his body violently, ultimately bringing him to his knees. "Ko Mun-Yeong!!" He rasped out as his vision blurred and after a long minute he opened his eyes, looking down at the mess he had made.

Cum stains dripped down his phone.

"Wow"

He looked down at the phone in shock.

She never hung up.