#cry (positive) and also explode (positive) simultaneously

[professor-glasses]

really I have a lot of love for a few specific characters but nobody so far and doubtfully in the future will ever surpass my decadelong and running obsession with ice pokemon ranger shadows of almia

[chaikachi]

Hey radical spicy hot take but Trapdoor is 100% a ruby song. And. Trapdoor is 100% a oscar song. They are a mirror to each other. They are put on the same pedestal. They bear the same weight. They occupy the same space, simultaneously, impossibly. Do you see my vision?

anono... how does it feel to have such a big brain. all songs are rg songs if you try hard enough. 😤

Yes, Trapdoor is first and foremost a Ruby song, but her and Oscar are 100% mirrors living such similar character arcs. I could talk about all those parallels in a post all their own (one day), but for now a really good example is actually comparing Trapdoor to Sky is Falling (thank you @greenteaandtattoos for pointing it out first).

I'm gonna ramble a bit

Trapdoor is a song about the weight Ruby has been carrying. How she has tried so hard and how it's seemingly done more harm than good. It talks about how she doesn't feel seen or heard or needed, let alone wanted. How she's losing herself. How she feels like a trapdoor, part of the floorboards being walked on and unnoticeable. How one more step is all it might take for her to break and fall further into the depths below. And simultaneously like a trap that will lead all her friends to ruin.

And Sky is Falling (in my opinion) is a song about the weight Oscar has been carrying. How he's struggling with moving forward in light of everything he's been through and everything they've lost. The song itself is cited as referencing the original Henny Penny (aka Chicken Little) fairytale since it's a story that uses the song's title as a cry wolf for fearing the end of the world. But that feels a bit like a red herring to me. Or at least not like the whole picture.

The original myth of Atlas and the weight of the world isn't actually about the god holding the world on his shoulders. It's about him holding up the sky. So whether you read it as Oscar struggling with what to do given Atlas is falling... or struggling with how to move after Ruby falls, (Ruby, who was holding Atlas on her shoulders. So when she fell, so to did the city in the sky) is up to interpretation.

Some examples of how the songs mirror each other a bit tho:

Trapdoor

Though I try to keep the hope alive

Sky is Falling

Lost all my hopes and dreams

Trapdoor

Watch it all Unfold As I Cascade below Frozen In the darkest moment I can't bear the weight I hold

Sky is Falling

Starin' at the casket, hopin' to move past it Knowin' things will never be the same, and that's it Cold soaked as I'm standin' in rain Feelin' nothin' but pain until I see you again

Both of them struggling to hold onto hope. Both of them struggling with the cold of grief. The water imagery in "cascading" and "rain". The feeling of drowning. How to keep moving in the face of it all.

Also just on the topic of them being mirrors, it's interesting how many of these songs can so easily link back together. Trust Love's "open up your eyes" to Sky is Falling's "cover up your eyes". Then Sky is Falling's direct parallel, Touch the Sky. In my opinion, this song talks about both of them. The first verse is very Oscar "Little Prince" Pine, but especially this part:

I'm soarin' like I never have before Flying self-assured and free And I somehow feel I finally feel like me I looked in the mirror and I gotta say It's been a long, long time since I felt this way Right now, I'm just a bit surprised 'Cause I feel just fine and I might just touch the sky

And then directly towards Ruby's ascension in the second verse:

Open doors and so much hope in front of me Full of confidence, every challenge crushed My heart's electric, racing endlessly Feeling like the stars have all aligned Illuminate the darkness that was blinding me Now I'm positive that it's my time to shineI will explode, you'll see me rise You may not even recognize I just can't wait for this reveal

But also... very strong argument can be made that both verses apply to both of them. Finally feeling like themselves, the people they've wanted to be, the ones they're meant to be. These kids and their identity issues... But especially cause, um, Ruby isn't the only one that explodes.

So to summarize, Oscar looked in the mirror - not the mirror that showed Oz's reflection, but the mirror he sees in Ruby - and he became more like himself. Influenced by the hope she inspires.

And Ruby, like Alice, fell through the looking glass. But in the Ever After the only Oscar that was there to stare back at her wasn't a reflection of hope, it was was one of fear.

So she had no choice but to fall further and looked inward. Until she found the hope that was always inside her. The hope Oscar always knew was there because he sees her.

And the fact that Ruby's hope, her motivation, has always been "the people she hasn't lost yet". And how Oscar is the only living companion Neo 'kills' to hurt her. I'm getting so off track here but...

The Parallels. It's CINEMA.

They make me UNWELL.

Edit: I ended up just talking a bit about how they're mirrors through song and not so much Trapdoor from an Oscar lens. It is so strongly a Ruby song to me that it's hard to apply to him, even if it does fit him in some ways as well. All alone in crowded rooms and all that.

[cowgurrrl]

I forgot to mention it in the last ask, but also Sarah and Ellie meeting and holding Sammy for the first time as well🤍

Iris

Pairing: rockstar!joel miller x actress!reader

Summary: “Sibling relationships outlast marriages, survive the death of parents, resurface after quarrels that would sink any friendship. They flourish in a thousand incarnations of closeness and distance, warmth, loyalty and distrust.” Erica E. Goode

Warnings: hospital settings, Ellie being unsure, Sarah being the Eldest Daughter, sibling banter, breastfeeding

Joel and Sammy are asleep, but you and the girls are awake. You can't explain why. After over a full day of labor, you think you'd be asleep, but you can't stop staring at Sam. You think you also just really missed your girls. Joel is curled up in the chair next to your hospital bed while Ellie and Sarah are sitting on either side of you, looking at Sam. Sam has Sarah's finger in a vice grip, but you don't think she'd take it back even if the world was ending.

"I can't believe how small he is," Ellie says quietly, and you nod.

"He didn't feel very small when he was coming out." You say, making them both giggle.

"You did a really great job. We're proud of you." Sarah says, and you smile. Sam chuffs in his sleep, and the three of you simultaneously melt in the same exact way down to the sound that leaves you. It's fun to think that although Sarah and Ellie didn't come from you, they still exhibit your traits. After almost three years in their lives, you're able to pick out mannerisms and habits they unknowingly adopted from you way before they started calling you Mom. The realization seems to hit you all at once, and you have to take a deep breath so you don't cry (again).

"Do either of you wanna hold him?" You ask, looking between them. Ellie looks scared shitless, but Sarah, ever the big sister, sits straight up and looks at you with big, puppy dog eyes.

"Can I?" She asks, and you nod.

"Unless Ellie wants to hold him first."

"It's all you," Ellie says without skipping a beat, and you laugh. Carefully, you transition Sammy into Sarah's arms without waking him. You don't have to remind her to support his head or adjust her posture. She does it all on her own. The second he's settled in her arms, she kisses his head and takes a shaky breath like she's about to start crying.

"Hi, Sammy Boy," she whispers. "Hi there. My name is Sarah. I'm your big sister. It's very nice to meet you," Ellie chuckles a little at her big sister's conversation with an infant, but she doesn't do anything to stop her. "Being totally honest, I've never had a brother before, so I don't know how this works, but I think we'll be able to figure each other out. Is that okay?" Sammy shifts in her arms like he's burrowing down for comfort, and she smiles softly. She looks like Joel when she smiles like that. "Yeah, I think that's okay. I love you, sweet boy." You wipe at your eyes and pull Sarah close to kiss her temple. She leans into your touch like a baby herself, and you ignore the pain in your hips so she can get comfortable. Sarah holds him for another ten minutes, taking him in before she looks at Ellie.

"D'you wanna hold him?" She asks, and Ellie opens her mouth, her lips twitching as she tries to find the words. You jump in before her brain can explode.

"You don't have to if you're not ready, but if you want to, I'll be right here the whole time. You're not gonna break him. I promise," you say, and she chews on her bottom lip as she thinks. Finally, she nods and readjusts in her seat as Sarah hands Sam back to you, and you put Sam in Ellie's arms. Her posture is rigid and composed like a soldier as she holds him, and you smile. "You can relax. He's not going anywhere." You say, putting your hands over hers and adjusting her position. She relaxes a little and smiles as she looks down at him.

"I don't have to talk to him or anything, right?" She asks, and you laugh.

"No, you can just hold him if you want." You say. So, she does. She holds him and copies the way he sticks his tongue out or furrows his brows in his sleep. It's her form of love, you think to yourself. Then, slowly and as careful as ever, she reaches out and traces over his features with a gentle finger. You immediately remember the way she did the same with your sonogram pictures and silently watch as she traces the curve of his nose, his eyebrows, his cheek, everything. He doesn't stir or fuss at her actions; he just sleeps peacefully and lets her do whatever. When she's done, she rests a hand over his chest, and you wonder if she can feel his heartbeat through the swaddle he's in.

"He's pretty cool," she says as she meets your eyes. "I like him."

"You just like him?" Sarah asks, and Ellie rolls her eyes.

"Fine, Sarah," she says, over-enunciating her sister's name. "I love him. Is that what you wanted to hear?"

"Yeah, actually. Thanks so much." Sarah says as Sam begins fussing in Ellie's arms, and Ellie sends her a death glare.

"Look what you did. You woke him up."

"I didn't do shit!"

"Well, it wasn't me!"

"Neither of you did anything. He's probably just hungry." You laugh as you take Sam back and begin unbuttoning your hospital gown. Sarah and Ellie scurry away to give you some privacy, but they stay nearby, even snapping some pictures on your phone of you in all your exhausted glory, feeding your son like it's second nature.

They end up being some of your favorites from the day Sam was born. It could be the way the sun is just peeking behind skyscrapers or the way you're looking down at Sam, but you think it's the beauty of being a mom that shines through. Because not only are you a mom to the little boy latched to your breast, but you're a mom to the girls behind the camera despite not sharing any DNA with them. "Love makes a family," Sarah told you once. "Not blood." And if that's true, you've been a family since long before you married their dad and had their brother. If that's true, you think you must've been their mom in a past life too. If that's true, you must be the luckiest woman in the world to create a family from stardust and blood and from the most valuable thing in the universe— love.

[violetswritingg]

Canary Cry

Robin/Nightwing (Dick Grayson) x OFC!

Description: Her violence was silent. Until it wasn't.

"I'm fine."

"Fine is just another word for drowning."

Rating T-M (mentions of blood, child abuse, mental health, cannon situations of violence and the like. Loss of parents, hard of hearing/deaf character, poorly written fight scenes lol)

Want to read the other chapters?

Click here

20

Bayou Bartholomew

October 1, 18:52 CDT

Kate, slightly sweaty and breathing heavy, sat curled into a corner of the magical yellow box she was trapped in. Eyes hotly staring daggers into Wotan and Poison Ivy as they tended to the massive plant in the middle of the room. From her position floating in the air she could see out the windows around the top of their base. Highly irresponsible if you ask her, glass was so fragile, any kind of high decibel attack and they would all just shatter.

"Glare all you want, you aren't getting out of there." Wotan's bored tone was barely registered by Kate's hearing-aide free ears. Someone having taken them off of her while she was passed out.

Kate stayed silent, teeth grinding as she wished she had laser vision like Superman. Maybe that would break through the bullshit surrounding her right now. She had already tried everything else to get herself out of here. Besides screaming, which she knew would not be a smart idea.

"Why am I here?" Kate demanded, "What do you people want with me?" She was still in her debris covered and torn school uniform and didn't know if the supervillains in front of her knew her secret ID or not. So, she had to be careful. "I'm just some kid from Star City, why am I so important?"

"Ask Black Siren, she's the one that wanted you. I swear she has a thing for strays." Poison Ivy waved her hand to dismiss the girl, eyes never leaving her 'baby' in the middle of the room. Looking like some kind of Frankenstein science project. Kate let her eyes drag over to Joker, who had been muttering to himself as he stood in front of some kind of circular screen-disc-things Kate couldn't Identify. Strange gloves on his hands as he moved his arms in large, grandiose jerks.

"Poor heroes. Nothin' they do is quite enough." Joker laughs, his voice mocking, making Kate's blood boil when she caught a glimpse of the bay bridge in Star with plants all over it with people in cars and school busses in jeopardy. Seeing some of the plants explode Kate smiled knowing Dinah was okay. It was a relief to say the least, and it gave her strength, she would make it out of this and Dinah would be waiting with open arms, and Ollie. "Ain't it grand?!" Joker cackled.

"And impressive how you simultaneously juggle multiple scenarios." Poison Ivy commented from her spot at the base of her baby.

"I've had practice..." Joker responded, voice deepening and making it harder for Kate to hear, "Juggling my multiple personalities." His laugh, hyena like tenor pitches cutting through clear as crystal though. Kate keeping the chills at bay as she curled in closer to herself, as much as she hated it she knew she had to wait this out. She was in civies and her extra suit had been in her backpack, which was probably under a school building's worth of rubble. No doubt either the team or the Justice League was on their way, she had to trust they would get here in time.

The sound of heels loudly clicking against tile caught everyone's attention, Black Siren strutting in with who Kate guessed was Emily behind her. The mask on her face covering her Identity but Kate recognized the brunette hair and similar colored eyes a mile away, plus who else would it be?

"Bring her down, it's time we had a little chat. Also Ivy, you may want to go deal with the pests outside. I'll be out there in a minute. Delilah, go with her." Black Siren ordered, the brunette girl huffing but following orders and stomping after Poison Ivy who grinned over her shoulder at the blonde woman.

"Better hurry, or else we'll have all the fun. Wotan, protect my baby."

And with that Emily – Delilah – and ivy were gone and Kate was lowered to the ground. Looking up at the woman in front of her. Eyes narrowed and blazing.

"Let's walk and talk why don't we?" Siren motioned to Wotan, the sorcerer just letting out a sigh and dissolving the magic box. A bright yellow muzzle formed around Kate's jaw and mouth, confirming her worst fear, and cuffs appeared around her wrists. A short chain dangling from them. Which Siren grabbed and pulled immediately.

Kate glared holes into the back of the woman's head from a step behind her, stumbling whenever she yanked a little too hard. Kate's shorter legs making it hard to keep up with Siren's long strides.

"You're so docile, besides your little tantrum earlier, I'm disappointed. I would of thought you had more fight in you." The disappointment she spoke of clear in her tone, as if talking to a baby. It pissed Kate off. "You were lucky enough to inherit the sonic scream, I would of thought you'd use it more." Siren's tone turned sour, her jealousy clear but alarm bells were ringing in Kate's ears. How did she know it was hereditary? "It's a shame all that power is going to waste." Siren sighed, coming to a door in the hallway they had just entered. Opening the door, yanking Kate forward and shoving her inside.

There was something itching in the back of Kate's brain as she slammed into a wall, her shoulder taking the brunt of the impact. The muzzle muffling her grunt, Kate keeping her glare leveled at Black Siren once she was steady on her feet.

"What? Don't recognize my voice? Is your memory that bad? Or are you just not very smart?" Black Siren pouted, her lithe arms crossing over her stomach.

And then it clicked, and it obviously showed in her eyes as Black Siren's lips curled up into a menacing smile.

"There it is, I knew you weren't hopeless. You are my daughter after all." Black Siren stepped into the room, reaching forward and brushing the back of her hand like air across Kate's cheek, "My Delilah." Kate jerked away, only to have Siren's shark nails digging into her skin a moment later as the woman's fingers latched around the muzzle and forced Kate to look at her in the eyes. Eyes that were incredibly similar to Kate's. Her hair the same shade of light blonde, with the same nose and shape of their lips. "I've come to bring you home, so be a good girl and stay put. We have a lot to talk about, but I need to go dispose of the Justice Leagues brats first."

Black Siren booped Kate's nose as she grinned like a maniac, turning on the ball of her heeled boots and strutting out of the room. Kate in too much shock to make a rush for the door. Eyes drilling holes into the floor where Siren once stood as the truth set in. Her eyes burning as tears tried to fight to the surface, her knees shaky, threatening to collapse under her weight.

For her entire life all she had ever wanted was for her parents to magically appear and tell her they loved her and that they had made a mistake giving her up. Show up and take her into their arms and take her home to a house where she didn't have to share a room and a bathroom with twenty other girls and hide her things and food for fear they would get stolen. All she had wanted was this, to have her parents back, to have her mom back and be happy....

But now, now all she felt was sick.

~~*~~

Kate didn't know how long she had been in that room, pacing, trying to break free from her magical restraints. Her head jerking to look at the door when she heard rushed footsteps clanging on tile.

Robin rushed down the hallway, watching security footage with M'Gann right behind him, skidding to a stop he pointed at the door in front of them. M'Ganns eyes flash a bright green and the door crumples in. A flash of blonde and raised fists bolted out of the door, being caught by Robin.

"It's us Kate. It's us. You're okay." Robin held onto her tight, giving himself that moment of relief before pushing he back, taking in the magical muzzle and cuffs and puffing out a breath, "Well this complicates things. I was hoping with Wotan out of the building those would disappear but I guess not." The Boy Wonder's teeth gnashed in frustration, "But we make do. Come on, we gotta go."

Kate's wrist was grabbed by Robin and M'Gann and her shared a glance, M'Gann smiling largely out of relief. But that was all they got before they were running. Robin throwing disk after disk at the plant, handing more to M'Gann who used her telepathy to disperse them over the large plant. M'Gann then telekinetically lifting both Robin and Kate up to the top of the building, Kate stumbling slightly once being put down. The blonde not trusting the glass to hold her weight the same way Robin was.

"Timber" Robin muttered, pressing a button on his wrist computer and Kate grinned under the muzzle, knowing exactly what was about to happen. The explosion behind them must have been epic, Kate was sure.

Poison Ivy screaming from the ground and sending plants in their direction, which M'Gann took care of, only to be hit by a blast from Ultra-huminite.

"I told you to stay put!" The artificially created sonic scream came barreling at Robin and Kate, Robin pulling her with him as he ducked to the side. Ultra-Huminite sending more blasts their way, Joker right behind him, as Kate and Robin ran.

Grabbing M'Gann before having to scatter away from another blast from Ultra-humanite, Kate had never felt more like a burden. Bound and in civies, no way to defend herself in this situation, purely relying on Robin and the others to make sure she wasn't murdered by a bunch of super-villains. Her good school shoes now ruined by Bayou mud, which was seeping into her socks more and more with each step in the brown, ankle high water.

Left only to watch as her friends fought and failed against the villains. Robin and her getting split up by a wall of vines, Black Siren steaming with Emily-Delilah behind her.

"Bad girl." Siren grit out, releasing a sonic scream that blew Kate into a tree, the girl crumpling into the mud, getting hit with another scream while her world turned. All Kate could hear was ringing, all she could feel was the pain in her head as her brain tried to process the frequency of pitch she was being assaulted with. Her whole body ached, threatening to explode under the force of the artificial, yet powerful ability. Only to then be struck by what looked like lightning, her whole body felt like it was on fire, radiating out from her chest and spreading through her torso and limbs. Her screams muffled by the muzzle and threatening to turn sonic.

But as soon as it started it was over, Kate huffing as she pushed herself up on shaky arms. Seeing a blurry Aqualad in the distance, holding something over his head, her vision was swimming too much for her to actually see what it was.

"No! Aqualad, don't!" Wally's panic cut through her like a knife as she tried to crawl closer to her friends. Her ankle being stomped on by Emily-Delilah, the girl's face above her twisted into a sick grin. Left to watch as Wally is punched by Black Adam into a tree, her yell covered by her restraints. Having to look away at the ray of blinding light that followed. Emily-Delilah knocked back from it, cursing as she held her hands over her eyes.

"I can't see!"

Kate's vision cleared just in time to see Doctor Fate, in all his glory, right where Kaldur was standing. The realization was like ice water down her back. Watching with wide eyes, glittering with water on her lashes, as Doctor fate put Wotan in golden chains and her binds were lifted.

"No." She whispered brokenly, knowing that Kaldur was never coming out of that helmet. Her heart was sinking with the knowledge. But Wotan was one of many and that fact was made clear when Emily-Delilah came rushing at Kate. The blonde flipping onto her back and using Emily's momentum against her, kicking her hip and grabbing her outstretched arms. Throwing the girl behind her and into a tree headfirst. When she didn't get up again Kate struggled to her feet, staring down Black Siren with murder in her eyes.

"Little girl wants to play now huh? Now that the training wheels are off?" Black Siren chuckled, centering herself and softening her knees, "Come at me."

And Kate did. Rushing the older woman and swinging at her. Siren dodging her hits and sweeping her leg out at Kate's feet. The girl jumped, spinning mid-air and landing a heel driven kick to the woman's temple. Landing in a three-point stance with a smirk before taking in a deep breath, "I've been waiting to do this all night."

Her scream was loud, a higher frequency than she had achieved before. Her hatred and anger fueling her to push harder, until she saw the tech collar around Black Siren's neck crack and shatter. The woman's hands over her ears as she cried helplessly. Completely at Kate's mercy, as blood dribbled through her fingers from her ruptured eardrums.

Kate would have kept going if not for the batarang that embedded itself in the tree behind Black Siren. Sufficiently cutting off Kate in surprise, the girl whipping around to see Dinah and Oliver on a platform created by Green Lantern. The girl finally feeling like she could take a deep breath in hours.

"It's over." Batman declared as him and the rest of the justice league landed. Kate barely keeping herself from rushing at Dinah and Oliver. Not even able to take satisfaction in the raised hands of the supervillains that had made her life difficult today.

"There will be another day." Count Vertigo graveled out from beside Poison Ivy.

"Another day? Another?!" The Joker started, screaming like a toddler in a store that wanted a toy and their parent said no, "There won't be another day! Not for any of us!" He broke into laughter and raised his hands, the gloves lighting up. Kate's eyes blew wide and she screamed.

"No!" The sonics shattered the gloves, but the command had already been sent. Plant vines rose from the bog, large red sacks growing quickly on each vine in clusters and exploding. Releasing a green gas into the air.

"Joker venom spores! Don't breathe!" Batman ordered. Kate holding her breathe as ordered. Watching as batman punched Joker, only to be faced with a wall of the poisonous gas. Kate thought it was over, they were done for, until Doctor Fate was suddenly in the air with a golden Ankh as tall as he was in front of him. Sucking up the gas, saving them from death by laughter.

"Fate has Intervened!"

~~*~~

"What were you thinking! How could you let him put on the helmet?!" Wally raged, spitting at the team members who decided this course of action was a good idea. Kate stood back, still in shock, eyes stinging as she looked at Kaldur, "Nabu will never release him now. Kaldur will be trapped inside Dr. Fate forever."

This was a fact she knew the second she saw Kaldur put on the helmet, her friend was gone forever. Clenching her jaw, she refused to cry in front of everyone. A sudden warmth threading through her fingers and clutching her hand tightly anchored her. Not needing to glance to her left to know it was Robin. Kate holding on just as tight as she let out a breath, heavy with heartbreak.

And then Doctor Fate was taking off the helmet and in a flash of light Kaldur was back in front of them again. Kate breaking away from Robin and launching herself at the Atlantean, throwing her arms around his waist as she called out his name.

"Nabu let you go?" Wally asked with gleaming eyes.

"He almost did not," Kaldur smiled gently down at Kate, placing a hand on top of her head before looking back at Wally, "But your friend Kent was most helpful. He says hello."

Kate pulled away from Kaldur, face slightly flushed as she realized what she did, but couldn't find it in herself to care all that much as she smiled so wide her cheeks hurt up at the member of her family she thought she had lost. Kaldur placing a hand on her shoulder and giving it a squeeze.

"We're done here." Batman broke up the moment, Kaldur's hand falling off Kate's shoulder as they all turned to face the dark knight, "The Super-Villain secret society has been neutralized. As for your performance..."

Kate glanced to Wally beside her, her grin falling from her face in apprehension.

"It was satisfactory."

Kate's eyes went wide, like most of the team's did. The small girl holding out her arm to Wally, the speedster pinched it, making the girl hiss under her breath. The team all sharing looks and smiles of relief.

It was then that a flash of green caught Kate's eye and she turned on a dime, sprinting into Archer's already outstretched arms. Not caring about the mud all over her as he all but crushed her, his hand on the back of her head, petting her hair.

"Kate?" Oliver reluctantly put the girl down, masked eyes scanning her face with a tight look before a large smile took over his face as he watched Kate and Dinah collide. The woman crouching down to Kate's height and almost breaking a couple ribs. But Kate didn't complain. Not when she was back with Dinah, and everything was okay.

"Let's go home, okay? Yeah?" Dinah chuckled wetly, pulling back only far enough to hold Kate's face in her hands, eyes searching every inch of exposed skin for injuries. Letting out a heavy puff of air when she couldn't see any, leaning her forehead against Kate's for a second before pulling back and placing a swift kiss to the skin above her eyebrows, and another one on the crown of Kate's head as the woman stood to her full height.

All Kate could feel was light, happily crushed between Dinah and Oliver as they left the scene, waving to her team with the shouted promise of meeting them at the cave the next day.

Kate didn't want to leave Dinah's side once they got home, and it was the same for the woman, but Kate needed to get cleaned up and so after the fastest shower of her life. Kate laid in her bed, head in Dinah's lap as the woman gently brushed her damp hair away from her temple. Oliver sitting on the edge of the bed, one leg curled up under him as he let Kate play with his hand.

"Are you sure you're alright? No injuries, no blood?" Dinah stressed, taking her hand from Kate's hair and running it down the outside of the girl's arm before going back to its original spot.

"I'm sure." Kate answered quietly, still shaken from the day and both of the adults could tell.

"I'm sorry about your friend." Dinah broached gently, Oliver shooting her a scathing look, Dinah sending him on back.

"She was never my friend." Kate answered hollowly and Dinah swallowed harshly, concern splayed over her face like an open book.

"We don't have to talk about this right now, okay?" Oliver whispered, leaning down slightly to catch Kate's eye. "You've had a long day; you must be tired. We'll let you get some rest okay?" Oliver couldn't even start to get up before Kate's fingers turned to steel around his.

"Can you stay? Please? Both of you?" Kate's voice, in all the time that Dinah and Oliver had known her, had never sounded so fragile. So quietly desperate.

"Of course. We're not going anywhere, we promise." Dinah hugged Kate's body to hers, the family of three settling in for the night. Kate sandwiched between Dinah and Oliver. Snug as a bug and blissfully unaware of the adults struggle to fit in the small bed. They wouldn't be moving to save the world though.

"G'dnight, I'love you." Kate mumbled as she sank into the darkness of sleep. Warm, happy, and knowing she was safe.

Her light snores filled the room as Dinah and Oliver shared overjoyed smiles with happy tears glimmering in their eyes. Their family back together again, and that's all they'd ever need.

~~*~~  

[lakesbian]

also brian keeps compulsively standing up as straight as possible & puffing his chest out and putting on either stock-photo smiles or really hard glares when he's nervous or insecure depending on whether he thinks the situation calls for politeness or aggression. and sometimes he just sort of stares into space looking haunted. really jumpy at times too which he tries and fails to hide. and the exercise as self harm thing but he does those things in worm too so i digress

anyway. immediately and predictably slamming the door open to talk about alec. the irony of his power summarized in one line is "able to force people to help him, but still unable to force them to care about him." super manipulative and fake about trying to make himself sympathetic 2 ppl, particularly ppl w/ positions of power (either in actual authority or just, like, popular people), and he gets huffy and upset and forceful if people aren't invested in taking his side w/ something. if he loses an argument he's invested in and no one he wants to agree w/ him backs him up he totally clenches his fists rlly hard and storms off. and then acts passive aggressive and annoying for the rest of the day when he comes back. the only time he cries is when he's fake-crying because he didn't get what he want--if the fake crying doesn't work, then he gets actually upset, which he demonstrates primarily by being a bitch and dissociating. actually fake crying might not be the right word. he forces it, and he tells himself it's fake crying, but he certainly only does it when he's genuinely distressed by the idea of being ignored. (so, y'know, the same shit he did when he was like 8.)

speaking of dissociation. his power is pure distilled dissociation so he's gonna do that a lot. not, like, brian-level staring into space, but you can kinda tell he's just not really there any time he doesn't like where a convo is going. or just at utter random sometimes. nods and says everything right and it's sort of convincing but if you know him well it's obvious that his brain is just fifteen miles away soaring across an open plain rn.

there's also an aspect of, like. he Literally only lets himself experience or display emotion from a distance by using his power, so in worm you get situations like in his interlude where he's carrying around all this repressed rage & pain for months or years without noticing and then it just fucking explodes on whoever he thinks counts as a justifiable target to use his power on. and he doesn't even realize he's exploding either he thinks he's totally chill the entire time he's doing it. so in a no-powers situation he would never try to actually physically assault someone--he knows he's small, he knows he's no good in a straight fight--but i could see him having a similar meltdown where all of the right buttons are pushed and he does something really coldly fucked up on a social level. getting ahold of sophia's phone and leaking private shit everywhere or whatever. or, like, he just impulsively whales on someone with whatever object he's holding for all of 1.4 seconds and then goes back to normal.

also much like how any usage of his power is a casual invasion of autonomy he just has absolutely no idea what "normal physical boundaries" are and has not since he was 5. you can tell he's trying to act Soo normal but he's simultaneously strangely aloof and uninvested in connection and unusually touchy, both in the sense that he has no idea what amount of physical contact is expected for a given level of familiarity & in the sense that he blatantly wants a hug but doesn't know he wants a hug.

I've been thinking again about that mundane AU where the undersiders are all on community service together and while it doesn't have much meat on the bone due to essentially just being worm but boring, I do think there's something to what the undersiders' trauma manifests as when they aren't being literalised through their powers

[salemwritesxx]

the scent of love-making

↳ bottom tanjiro x top reader

summary: Tanjiro fully gives himself to you.

w.count: 2k

content warning: fluffy smut, first time

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“Tanjiro…”, the sweet sound of your raspy voice calling his name was still ringing in his ears, the intense smell of love, adoration but also pure lust clouded his mind.

“Y-Y/n… Mh!”, squeezing his scarlet eyes shut, tears were slowly dripping over his cheeks and his head tilted to the side as your teeth were nipping on his skin, making him shiver. “Y/n…”, another breathless whisper escaped his lips. And yet, as he reached out his hand to hold onto your warm, naked body, Tanjiro shied away in the last second, for the first time being insecure about how his calloused, scarred hands could disgust you.

“Ahh-“, throwing his head back with a quiet, lust-filled moan the moment you moved on top of him, feeling like his whole body was on fire. “Hah! Y-Y/n-“, Kamado choked out a startled gasp of your name the moment you reached out to touch his hand while simultaneously moving your hips to slip in deeper.

“N-No… Y/n…”, he whined.

“Shhhh, Darling, it’s okay. Look at me.”, the soothing purr against his cheek as you kissed away the little tears made Tanjiro’s heart almost jump out of his throat; shyly, he opened his eyes once more, however seeing you above him sent another wave of pleasure through his body.

He had never been insecure and yet…and yet… “Ngh!”, he couldn’t think straight anymore when you thrusted, burying your cock inside of him eventually until he was filled completely, the plant oil dripping from his ass to his thighs making everything slippery.

“Hold on to me, Tanjiro.”, he was flying high, your whispered words, hearing the own small stuttering you tried to hide made butterflies go wild in his stomach. ´

“B-But… my hands-”

“Are beautiful, just like you.”, your words were enough to make him blush, cheeks warm and red and his eyes half closed as a near set of tears welled up.

“No...”

“Yes.”, and then, a smile appeared before you leaned down to press your full lips against his scarred hand from all the training, Tanjiro’s voice cracking in an attempt to stop you, but it was too late. His hands were gross to touch and yet, you kissed them so gently.

“Y/n!”, a blissful moan escaped his dry throat once you started moving, watching you with tears in his scarlet eyes when you softly placed his hands onto your shoulders after you had kissed the other one as well.

“Hold on, Jiro.”, he had never once witnessed you out of breath and yet, the small, almost none noticeable breathlessness as you whispered those words made him so incredibly happy, Kamado’s heart jumping in his chest.

Another sweet moan was heard once you pulled back fully, only the tip teasing his hole, before you rammed back inside, Tanjiro having to bite your shoulder in order to muffle his sounds. He was overwhelmed, couldn’t think straight, even though this was his first time, he already was flying on clouds and drifting away.

Grabbing your shoulders and burying his nails into your skin, Tanjiro didn’t know making love could feel so amazing, the way your cock was stirring up his insides, the slippery wetness from the oils making such lewd sounds. The sweetest thing, however, was the scent that got mixed together thanks to you and him, he had smelled so many things before in his life, good and bad, but this one? This was special and he loved it with all his heart. The scent of making love with you.

“Y/n…”, choking out your name, a sudden cry escaped his throat; so sudden that he was blushing furiously and stuttering something incoherent, especially when you also stopped for a moment.

“Hmh...”, you suddenly chuckled, “I found a good spot, hm?”, however you weren’t giving him the chance to answer when you pushed him more into the futon, Tanjiro merely sobbing your name when you started thrusting harder, shoving your cock inside with precision against that sweet spot you had found.

“Y/n! Y/n! Y- AHnh”, muffling his erotic moans once more, he had buried his face at your shoulder, while your strong arms held him protectively.

“Tanjiro…”, the way you groaned his name was almost too much to bear, his answer a mere sob as he held on tighter, legs tightly wrapped around your hips as he gave himself to you fully while crying your name, the insecurities from before almost washed away by the waves of lust ripping through his small yet immensely strong body.

His own cock was leaking so much, his tummy was sticky from all the precum, dick bouncing every time you rammed your own back inside. The way you were making him feel, his hypersensitive walls being overstimulated by your thrusts almost made him lose his consciousness.

“Y/n… Y/n…”, sobbing your name, Tanjiro shyly opened his eyes when he felt your hand against his cheek, wiping away the tears that had dripped down. Looking at you was almost too overwhelming, your own (e/c) eyes were watching him so intensely and yet, there was nothing but love and adoration in them.

“Mh…”, he sighed softly as your lips met his. For a moment, you calmed down, your hips only thrusting now and again, while your tongues entwined and you kissed him deeply. Lips moving against each other passionately.

Tanjiro’s head was spinning, the mixed scent of your love-making overwhelming him in a very pleasant way, the way your tongue danced with his was so hot, even though you had shared many kisses before, many of them being ardent and torrid ones, this was different, his whole body was burning with lust.

And then, without warning him, you were back to pulling out almost completely, just to ram your cock back inside, drowning his sweet cries with your kisses.

Clawing at your back, Tanjiro barely managed to stutter and choke out an, “I- I… can’t…Y/n…I- I feel like… I’m gon- explode…”, yet, when you pulled away, there was just this very handsome smirk that catapulted his heart into heaven.

“Don’t worry, Sweetheart. Hold on to me and don’t hold back, okay?”, you chuckled and gently pressed soft kisses against his swollen, red lips, Kamado completely drifting away as he nodded and breathed a mere “Okay…”

Throwing his head back with a lustful sound, he did exactly as you told him, holding on while not holding back, feeling every thrust of your hips even more intensely as before, your big, heavy body hovering above him was emitting so much warmth – you were as hot as him. Burning from within with lust and pleasure and he was so happy about it.

You felt good. He could make you feel good.

“Y/n! Y/n! I- I-“, he didn’t managed to talk further than a little bit of stammering.

“I know, my love, let it out.”, you growled, holding him even tighter, showing him that you were in the same tight spot as him, almost going crazy from feeling too much.

You were messing up his insides, his hole swallowing your cock effortlessly thanks to you preparing him so well and thoroughly, he could enjoy what you wanted to give to him. Tanjiro was scared he was going to become addicted to this.

Even though he didn’t want this magical moment to stop, it was soon unbearable to hold back any longer, the tip of his cock was bright red already and then, the only thing it took was your big hand slipping between your bodies.

“Y/N!”, gasping your name loudly, it was over the moment you touched him. You were only able to stroke him once before he was writhing and arching his back, his dick twitching as he was cumming, hole tightening around you and seeing little starts due to the overwhelming emotions rushing through him.

Sobbing your name in bliss, his head fell to the side, the last thing he saw was your in lust twisted face as you had pulled out and emptied your cock on his tummy, making everything even more sticky and wet.

“Tanjiro…Tanjiro!”, and then, he blacked out.

-

“Ah-hah?!”, opening his eyes, Kamado needed a moment to realize where he was and what had happened. “Y/n?”, he mumbled your name as he slowly rose, only now seeing the mess that was left on his body, but you were nowhere to be found.

He could have probably sniffed out your position quite easily, but his nose was confused because of all the intense scents hanging in the air from your love-making, and the other reason was the heavy heart in his chest. Slowly, thoughts crept into his mind that made him insecure and question if you had ever loved him-

The sliding door suddenly opened and in instant, tears welled up in his eyes when he saw you coming in, your “Oh… you are already awake.” making him just sniffle and nod.

“Where were you?”, Tanjiro asked while wiping away the tears in the corner of his eyes, though when you stepped into the room further and closed the door again, the question was already answered as you carried a wooden washtub.

“Sorry, were you scared I left you alone, hm?”, you kneeled down beside.

“I…”, he averted his scarlet eyes, before shyly looking back and mumbling, “Maybe…”

A small smile flitted across your lips, thus you leaned in to softly kiss him and then lean your forehead against his to whisper, “Don’t worry, my love. I will never leave you alone.”, making his heart jump again as he nuzzled his head against yours.

“Now, lay down. Let me wash you.”, this time you snickered as you gently pushed him back, Tanjiro just blushing again and only mumbling an “I-I’m okay though, Y/n.” shyly.

“I know, but, as your lover, this is my duty, no?”

And to that, he didn’t know how to response because he was too occupied hiding his happy grin while you took the warm cloth and started carefully cleaning him.

-

“Y/n…?”, slowly opening his eyes again, the scent of tobacco immediately filled his nose, hence he looked up.

“Hey, you are awake again?”, you reached out your hand to gently touch his forehead and then comb through his hair, Tanjiro simply smiling as he watched you sitting beside him on the futon and smoking a kiseru, both of you naked, because there was nothing to hide anymore.

“Sorry for falling asleep a second time.”, he chuckled while nuzzling his head against your gentle hand, wondering how such a gentle hand could kill demons so effortlessly and yet…he was the same.

“It’s okay, Darling. Though I was surprised to see you asleep after I was done cleaning you, I thought you*d passed out again. I was a little scared I overdid it.”

“N-No.”, he was blushing and cuddling closer, “I…I was just tired. I am not used to making love yet.”, he shyly mumbled, though before you could answer, he looked up with determination in his eyes, “But I will get used to it and then… next time, I…I want to wash you too.”

When a smile appeared on your lips, Tanjiro was also smiling, your whispered “I like that.” made his heart skip a beat. He watched as you put the kiseru away after dumping the ash into the ash container, only to sigh delightfully as you leaned down to capture his lips.

Slipping under the futon as well, you pulled him close against your broad chest, letting your lips move in synch, not rushed and enjoying the little moment of quietness fully.

“Tanjiro…”, goosebumps appeared on his arms as he listened to your raspy voice whispering his name like that. “I love you, Darling.”, you reached out to intertwine your fingers, Kamado still wincing lightly as he tried to shy away from your touch, though you grabbed him. Never roughly or forcefully, but you held on to him, making him ease into the touch as his calloused fingers intertwined with yours.

“I love you too, Y/n.”, he mumbled before looking up and smiling at you brightly, which only led to you leaning down and connecting your lips to a sweet kiss once more while you held him in a warm embrace, showing him you were never going to let go of him ever again.

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@salemwritesxx || do not repost, edit, modify or translate my works

writer’s note: first two writings have a title about scent… kinda weird but i take it lmfao 

[colorseeingchick]

Period Pains (Iwa, Suna, Bokuto)

Periods still stuck. Nothing has changed since part one. But these boys continue to comfort me when I feel like my heart, head, and stomach are going to explode :D. I hope they comfort you too!

A/N: It’s been rough homies. It really do be your own body that tries to attack you -_-. 

Warnings: EMETOPHOBIA (in Suna’s there’s a semi detailed description of vomiting); swearing; foot massage in Bokuto’s (Ik that makes some people uncomfy); gym bros. 

Iwaizumi Hajime

It was common knowledge that you and Iwaizumi were two halves of one insane power couple. 

No questions asked, you both were generally independent when it came to taking care of your own matters, and you were both were pretty independent. 

But there were exceptions- moments where you would both lean on each other, using the other as an anchor and a crutch to get back up and stay on your feet. 

Your period was one of those times when times you needed your beloved boyfriend to play that role. 

Today was one of those days. 

You and Iwaizumi head over to the gym at around 6 am to get your early morning workout in before you go through with the rest of your day.

You had told Iwaizumi the night before, and he asked if you still wanted to “go gym” the next morning. 

You said yes, hoping that a solid workout would help with some of the cramps. 

And once you had got there, you had your hopes up. 

The first half of your workout was going really well, and you hadn’t thought of your cramps at all. 

But then it hit you while you were walking over to get your water bottle. 

You didn’t know why, but the cramps hit you hard. Instantly you went to the bathroom to try and compose yourself, but that wasn’t really helping either. 

You didn’t wanna bother Iwaizumi mid workout, so you tried to carry on. 

Unfortunately, that didn’t work out too well. 

As you tried to keep going, the cramps in your stomach got worse and worse, until you were pressing your stomach with your hands, curled over yourself on your yoga mat. 

Taking deep breaths, you tried to relieve the only worsening cramps. 

It wasn’t until a warm, firm hand caressed your back did you look up from your curled up form. 

“1 to 10.” Iwaizumi asks you with a soft voice. 

“4.” You say as you curl into yourself once more. 

It was the pain ranking system that you’d both been using since early on in your relationship. You knew exactly what he meant, and you were honestly thankful that he understood you were in pain by just looking at you. 

“Lying to me doesn’t do any good, ya know.” His words are harsh, yet the concern in his voice kills any intimidation that was supposed to come across. 

“7.” 

“Sounds right.” Iwa’s one arm wraps around you, digging into your side, his thumb massaging circles into the spot right above your left hip, while the other hand rubbed softer circles onto your lower belly. 

You felt your muscles untense as his hands worked away at your cramping stomach with deep pressure only he had the strength to apply. 

“What’s wrong with her?'' 

Both of you look up to see some guy (he seemed like a newbie, neither of you had seen him before) talking to your boyfriend. 

“What.” Iwa’s voice is dry, in shock at the fact that this dude was in your business. 

“Did she injure herself working out or something?” He asks, as if you were incapable of speaking for yourself. “Not being careful in the gym can be really dangerous, especially if you’re not trained.” He speaks in your direction this time. 

Iwaizumi Hajime (27) ATHLETIC TRAINER, now looked like he was ready to commit murder. 

Some of the regulars had now turned to watch, most giving the guy dirty looks.

A couple of you and Iwa’s closer gym bros step towards you both, making some preparations for Iwaizumi to swing. 

But before anyone can really say anything, your voice cuts through. 

“That’s real rich coming from you. The only thing that’s gonna cause an injury is your horrendous deadlift form.” 

Your boyfriend goes from a state of shock into a fit of snickers, the guys on the side also amused. The guy in front of you goes completely red. 

“You don’t know what you’re talking about you bi-” 

“I actually think she’s right. I was a bit worried, too.” One of Iwa’s (very buff) friends stepped forward, smiling at you two before putting a hand a on the newbie’s shoulder. “Let’s go check it out.”

As you sigh out, your boyfriend stares at you with pride and amusement both bright in his eyes. “All that pain and you’re still able to come up with snarky comments.” 

As his hand returns to soothing circular motions, you dig your face into his chest. 

The soft touches from Iwa were enough to ease your pains, and allowed you to embrace your moment of vulnerability with your sweet boyfriend. 

“Let’s dip and get food, okay? And you can just rest at home. You deserve a break.”

“Weren’t you saying something about how the grind doesn’t stop-”

“It stops when your health is on the line. Let’s go.”

Suna Rintarou

When it comes to you being on your period, Suna is by far the most hands off while simultaneously being the most attentive. 

Suna wasn’t necessarily the biggest on PDA. But when it was just you two? He had no problem being all up against you.

The only situation Suna does not know how to navigate is when he can’t read someone’s moods or behaviors. Luckily for him, you were overly clear with his emotions and needs when you were on your period, even if those moods and needs were all over the place. 

Early on, when you got together, he was a bit surprised to see how bad your period could get.

He’d walked in to your room one day to see you in a fetal position, rolling around on the floor.

He’d seen you go a full day of eating only junk food, upset and trying to satiate all your cravings. 

He’d also seen you go without sleep because of how bad your cramps were.

Essentially, he’d learned you’d go through really bad health habits, and he’d assigned himself the roll of trying to make sure you maintained some regularity while on your period. 

He was ready for anything, so ready that he made it look effortless. 

When Suna came back from practice one day, he couldn't find you anywhere in your shared home. Which isn’t a problem, but he doesn’t recall you saying you were going anywhere....

It’s not till he lazily stalks over to the hallway and hears a horrible retching sound that he realizes you are still home. 

Swinging the door open, he finds you perched over the toilet, vomiting in what looks to be a super painful manner. 

“Rin...ta...r-oh fuck” you can barely get his name out before you start throwing up again. 

Your boyfriend takes a step into the bathroom, but you toss an intense ‘no’ his way with your hand. 

“It smells disgusting… and… I don’t want to be smothered right now…” you sigh as you breathe between your bouts of vomiting. 

He takes a deep breath, recomposing himself. He knows your period can get pretty bad, but he hasn’t seen it get this bad in a while. He obliges, but he doesn’t move from the doorway. 

As you start your next fit, Suna’s face remains blank, but his heart twists. 

He slowly approaches you, kneeling beside you. 

“I said to not.. To smother me....” your protest is weakened by your body inhibiting your ability to speak. 

Suna keeps a bit of space between you two, but he gently grabs your hair, pulling strand by strand, until its completely out of your face 

(alternatively, if you have short hair), Suna keeps a bit of space between you two, but he lets his hand gently rest on your back, rubbing in soothing circles . 

Your hand goes up to push him away, but he grabs your fist with his larger hand, weaving his fingers with yours, rubbing his thumb into the back of your hand. 

“I won’t smother, don’t worry. But I’m gonna be here.” He’s soft in his tone, unfazed despite the relative unpleasantness of the situation. 

As you finally stop, you fall back, your hands covering your eyes. 

As you lean back, your body giving out, your head finds its way onto the plush chest of your green eyed boyfriend. He doesn’t touch you, but just acts as a makeshift couch for you to lean on. 

“Rintarou.” “

Yeah?” 

“I need your touch.” 

Your words are blunt but effortlessly received as your boyfriend instinctively wraps his arms around you, languidly stroking your thigh with one hand and holding your stomach with the other. He adjusts you so that you’re pressed up against him. 

“Better, babe?” he asks as he backs up into the wall, loosening up as you relax against him. 

“Mmm.” You croon, sinking down against him. “I should  brush my teeth, I’m sorry you came back to this.”

“It’s fine. Get cleaned up. Wanna watch movies? I got Chinese takeout.” 

“I don’t want Chinese,” you comment.

 “What do you want?” 

“Pizza.” 

“...”

 “...”

 He sighs. “I’ll be back in 20.”

 “I love you.” you smile at him as you tell him what he already knows. 

He presses his nose into your hair, letting your conditioner’s scent fill his nose. “Mmm… and I love you.” 

“How much?” You ask.

“How much do I what?” 

“How much do you love me?” 

“Enough to get you pizza at 10 pm in the pouring rain.” 

“It’s raining??”

“Yeah.”

“...Nevermind I don’t want pizza anymore.”

“Well I want pizza now so I’m going.” He pulls himself up and out of the bathroom despite the way you tried to cling to his leg to keep him from leaving. 

“Rin!”

Bokuto Koutarou

Bokuto is honestly the ideal boyfriend, especially when you are on your period. 

Early in your relationship, when you got on your period, you didn’t tell Bo. But he ended up learning the hard way. 

He’d come back from practice a bit later than usual and didn’t text you. Usually he didn’t, especially if he knew he’d only be a little late. But when he walked through the doors, instead of finding his usually happy, bubbly girlfriend who usually showered him with love, he was greeted with you crying. 

“W-why didn’t-t you text me, Kou? Do you-u not care about me?” 

He had nooo idea what was going on, and he was very panicked and sad. 

He felt like the rug was pulled out from under him when you proceeded to snuggle into his chest 2 minutes later, cries completely stopped. His little owl eyes were wide open and very confused. 

2 days later, he asked about the situation again, scared to bring it up.

But you were really embarrassed as you explained how you were on your period and could get extreme mood swings. You apologized and promised that you’d never do something wild like that again.

But Bo wasn’t content with your answer. 

He went and asked Akaashi if he knew anything about what periods were like (he was shy to ask you). 

Akaashi found the lovely statistic of “period pain being of equal pain levels of a heart attack” and Bokuto lost his shit. “

I’ve never had a heart attack, but they kill people! And they go for the hospital for those! And she apologized for being a little emotional… that doesn’t seem right, right Kaashi?���

Akaashi agrees, of course. And sends Bokuto off with the advice of “she’s always there for you. All you have to do is be there for her.” 

When the next time you had your period rolled around, and you found yourself a little emotional, you did your best to control it. But Bokuto was having none of it. 

“Baby, you don’t have to hide it! You can be emotional!! I don’t mind. You always help me when I’m emotional! I can do the same for you. I’ll take the best care of you, I promise!” 

You would honestly call it a turning point in your relationship, cause this was when you learned to start really depending on Bo. And you realized just how dependable he could really be. 

When Bokuto comes back from practice today, he finds you splayed out on the couch, koala-hugging a pillow, whimpering a “welcome home” between grunts of pain. 

Bokuto stays quiet as he walks up to the couch, dipping down to place a kiss on your cheek before stripping his sweaty t-shirt off as he walks off to take a shower. 

Once he comes out, fresh and clean, he throws on a comfortable t-shirt and shorts before coming back to find you on the couch. 

He grabs your legs, pulls them up, sits down, and then places them in his lap. “Baby, do you want a massage? I can press your legs.” 

“You don’t have to, Kou, it’s okay.” 

“I want to!” He cheers back as he starts to knead at your calves, moving down to your feet and slowly pressing over your socks. 

You sigh and huff, slowly relaxing as the soothing feeling of the pressure applied to your feet counteracts the pain you felt in your lower abdomen. 

While Bokuto concentrates intensely on massaging your calves again, he perks up at the sound of a sniffle.

 Swinging his head, he sees you slowly dissolving into sobs. 

Panicked, he slides your legs onto the couch and comes by your face. 

“Baby, did I press too hard? Did I hurt you? Please tell me.”

“No, no, Kou, you’re fine. I’m just- I’m so lucky and blessed to have such a loving amazing boyfriend~” you get the words out as tears stream down your face, turning to look him in his big, gorgeous, gold eyes. “I don’t deserve you, my love.”

Now, for reasons unknown, Bokuto finds himself crying as well. 

“Why are you crying!” You cry and laugh out at the same time. 

“Because I have such a sweet girlfriend who always showers me in love! Don’t say I don’t deserve you. You’re perfect for me.” 

Cheesy as the exchange was, it was really soft for you. Because you knew Bokuto, and you knew he meant every word exactly as is from the bottom of his heart. 

Crying while your laughs got lighter, you pull him in and kiss him all over his face. 

He laughs too, and holds your face as he pulls away, swiping the tears from under your eyes. “Your turn!!” 

After smothering you with kisses, he picks you up and carries you to your shared bedroom, so he can love on you more, with enough space for both of you to lay next each other and peacefully drift off to sleep. 

A/N: Gym guys who don’t mind their business seriously bother me. I hope you all enjoyed! Requests and commentary are greatly appreciated :D 

[yandere-mha]

Time to be horny. What’s everyone 20+ on your favourite list’s favourite sex act?

This request actually won first place for the Christmas gift vote so congrats!! Also it’s always time to be horny and no this is definitely not a debatable or problematic thing to say.

TW: SMUT, NSFW, NON-CON, RAPE, DUBIOUS CONSENT, BDSM, BLOOD MENTION, ORAL, PERIOD SEX, ABUSE, BODY IMAGE ISSUES, MENTAL ILLNESS.

READ AT YOUR OWN DISCRETION:

My favorite Yandere BNHA AU character’s favorite sex acts:

Dabi: So... As always with this man, he has a duality in regards to this as well. As we all know, he craves your touch and he wants to feel cared for. If you were to ride his cock/top him while you body worship him, he would probably explode in more ways than one. Even if you were only to do it once, he would treasure that memory and crave that feeling again for the rest of his life. However, he doesn’t ever ask for you to touch him - he either silently expects you to volunteer or uses his body as a punishment for you because he believes that no one would ever want to touch him like that. Whenever there would be moments of powerlessness and anger for him, he would accommodate for that in the form of violent, dominant, and often non-consensual sex. When this happens, he’ll become very talkative about how no one else can touch you like this and make you feel this good, but his actual objective is to make you feel smaller than him rather than to make either of you feel good. To be honest, he’s not very creative when it comes to sex, but when he feel like this he likes to hit you from the back in doggy style. That way, he feels more in control as he grips your hips and uses your body to fuck himself dry while also not feeling the vulnerability of having you look at his naked body. He will rip all of your clothes off while keeping himself as covered as possible. This is this another power move for him.

Hawks: Another one with a similar duality. He’s very touch starved due to isolation and he wants to feel your body against his. His absolute favorite sex position would be you sitting on his lap with either you facing him in a tight embrace while he slowly slides himself up and down your tight pussy, wrapping his wings around your exposed form or if you were to hit him from behind as he lays flat on the bed and you put your full weight on top of him. However, like Dabi, he will not voice this desire to you because of how self sacrificing he is and the fact that he would rather you feel protected by him than the other way around. Though he usually wants to be a bottom, he’s usually a very soft dom. He’s very careful not to hurt or overstimulate you and he prioritizes your pleasure over his own. Because of this, his most commonly used sex method is giving you very slow oral as you splay your body on the bed or couch and sling your legs over his shoulders.

Shigaraki: His favorite act is you body worshiping him as he power bottoms you, either slamming your hips down on his cock and fucking himself or controlling the tempo from the back. He simultaneously wants to be taken care of while also feeling the need to be in control. Because of this, though being a bottom would be the most pleasurable for him, he would not admit this to you and if he’s especially angry, empowered, or embarrassed, he’ll insist on being the dominant one. In times like these, he loves to fuck your face, pulling your hair back minus one finger in a non verbal threat to behave and worship him as he slams his hips down your throat and makes you gag.

Twice: Another one who wants to feel as close to you as possible. Any sex position or location won’t matter to him as long as you’re in a tight embrace that makes him feel your heart beat in your chest. If you even so much as loosen your hold or your arms get tired, his feelings will be hurt and he’ll begin to cry, begging you to just hold him.

Fatgum: As I’ve expressed before, yandere!fatgum has a bit of a weird relationship with gender roles even with a male s/o. I don’t specifically want to say that he’s sexist, he loves powerful and intelligent women, but he desperately wants to have the most average family you can imagine since he sees himself as the perfect father figure and you as the perfect mother figure. He wants to win the bread for you and your kids as you play the role of the main caregiver. Because of this, we wishes he could be a top, but he’s very much aware of his size and has a fear of crushing you, so he will never risk topping you. However, he finds other ways to feel more dominant like controlling the tempo of your thrusts. His absolute favorite thing is when he comes home from a tiring day at work and you gently pull out his enormous cock, doing your best to please him with your mouth as he sits back with a beer and lets you take care of the rest. Bonus points if whenever you come up for breath, you feed him food you’ve prepared for him. You have such a great way of taking care of him.

Stain: He is very dominant during sex and will never let you do any such thing as top him. In fact, he is the one who chooses when, where, and how you have sex. However, his immediate goal is to pleasure you rather than himself. His mindset is that he knows your body better than anyone else, including yourself, and if you say that you don’t want something you’re wrong because he knows that you do. His favorite thing to do is to use his quirk on you, making your body go limp so that he can use it however he sees fit. He doesn’t like to hurt you more than he sees necessary in cutting you for your blood, but he will mercilessly suckle and nipple at the wound in the hopes of any more blood seeping out of it. He has a blood kink, so he loves to do this while he lays you out on your side, resting your top leg between his thigh and hip as he sits upright on his knees and pounds into you from the side, filling you in the most foreign of ways while he gently grips your injured hand in his maw with an adoring look on his face. He also loves to give oral if and while you’re on your period.

Aizawa: While he mostly likes to be dominant, he is very shy about it and prioritizes your pleasure over his own, so if you want to do something else, he’d be flattered that you’d want to do anything with him at all. He’s also very affectionate during sex and will need to physically feel your shared adoration instead of just petty sexual longing. If you’re not either making intense and unbroken eye contact, softly caressing each other’s skin, or kissing in some way he wants nothing to do with it. His favorite position is when he straddles your hips as you lay down on the bed and he slides himself back and forth much too slowly while looking down at you with tears in his eyes. He also loves sleepy morning sex where you both cling to each other on your sides or spoon as he thrusts into you slowly while sucking on your neck. You always have to be facing each other or spooning.

Overhaul: Much like Stain, he is the soul person to decide when, where, and how you have sex. However, unlike Stain, he will not entertain the idea of caring to pleasure you as this is solely for the purpose of him letting his need for dominance and aggression out on you. He’s a germaphobe, so he won’t like anything messy like coming anywhere on your body besides your holes (pussy, ass, and mouth). You are never in control even in terms of oral and the only time you’re allowed to pleasure him with your mouth is if he’s fucking your face. If you get any drool on him or fail to swallow all of his cum, making a mess of yourself, he will drag you by your hair to the sink to wash your mouth out, saying how disappointed he is in you and how disgusting you are. Because of this, his favorite sex act is pounding into you against the shower wall as the water washes away any sweat, tears, or cum between the two of you. His idea of after care is scrubbing you with soap until you feel your skin tear. Just to be clear, he isn’t sadistic, he just doesn’t care about your comfort.

Miruko: She can’t get off on gentle sex and will always need to be violent towards you in one way or another. She has a very high sex drive, so she loves to overstimulate you and make you cum until you pass out. She loves choking you and picking you up over her shoulders just to show you how strong she is. However, she’s a sucker for a challenge and her favorite thing is for you to try to dominate her... Don’t actually succeed though or she’ll get Mad. She’s extremely creative with sex since she needs it often and she gets easily bored, but one thing that always remains the same is her dirty talk and teasing. She also very much enjoys is tying your hands up, edging you, and leaving the room before finishing you off. She thinks it’s hilarious.

[katsusbaby]

daddy’s dolly

torú oikawa x reader [+iwaizumi hajime +kyotani kentaro]

tw: 18+, smut, daddy kink, overstimulation, foursome, voyerism, ddlg

“My little angel is so well behaved, she’d do just about anything for her daddy, right angel?”

The hungry pairs of eyes watch you from across the living room, following your every move. How could they not when Oikawa had been boasting about how his little angel was so well trained for the past few months.

“C’mon baby, be a good girl and tell them.” Oikawa encourages from his place on the armchair, golden eyes also fixed on you.

You nod subtly, an embarrassed “yes daddy,��� leaving your lips.

You don't want to move from your place, Mr. Iwaizumi and Mr. Kentarō sit back observing you, watching for any discomfort.

“Your daddy said that we could have a little fun together today. What do you think of that? Just me, you, your daddy, and Kyotani?”

You look over at your daddy, to which he nods encouraging you further.

“Okay.”

Truth be told it wouldn’t have taken too much convincing for you to accept, Oikawa had already told you this would be happening.

You shuffle over to Iwaizumi and he pulls you onto his lap. You can feel him through his dress slacks, he’s rock hard already.

Kyotani looks indifferent almost, leaning back comfortably on the sofa eyes tracking your every movement through hooded eyes.

Iwaizumi pulls you further into him his hot breath fanning over your neck, strong arms holding you still. You can feel his slender fingers feeling up and down your body, squeezing your tits hungrily.

You can feel both Oikawa and Kyotani’s eyes on you, watching you gasp and wiggle in Iwa’s arms with amused expressions. Taking pleasure in your quiet moans and suppressed whines.

You’re too entranced in the way Iwaizumi feels underneath you to realize Kyotani’s already began stroking himself to you.

He pulls you off Iwaizumi’s lap and onto his swiftly. Spreading you out on his lap, your pleated skirt bunching up at your hips, your slick cunt exposed.

“You weren’t wearing any panties, naughty bunny.” Iwaizumi groans from next to you, palming his erection. Kyotani runs his fingers through your folds, occasionally brushing over your clit, rubbing it sweetly.

He gathers the slick on his fingers and runs it down to your asshole, carefully nudging his finger inside your tight hole.

They all watch as you gasp out, grabbing his wrist unexpectedly. “It feels funny,” you squeak out, the hot feeling of your impending orgasm approaching. Kyotani pays you no mind, continuing to finger your ass.

Iwaizumi can see your fluttering cunt from where he’s sitting, the glistening folds drawing him in and suddenly his fingers are on your cunt. His fingers caressing your folds taking the wetness and rubbing it against your twitching clit.

You don't even realize when your whole body tenses and you moan out, your first orgasm of the night igniting in your tummy. Your spasming legs try to clamp together but Kyotani holds you open, pulsing cunny on display for everyone to see.

It doesn’t take long for Iwaizumi to pull you back onto him, your exposed cunt pressed against his stiff cock. Your arms wrap around his neck and you pull yourself up, urging him wordlessly to take you already.

You can feel shuffling behind you, it’s Mr. Kyotani. He’s positioned himself behind you with the head of his cock pressing into your asshole, his hot breath fanning down your back.

In front of you, Iwaizumi has lined himself up with your drooling cunt, his slender fingers pinching at your already sore nipples.

They push in simultaneously, their fat cocks nearly splitting you apart. The stretch burns and you cry out gripping onto Iwaizumis's shoulders.

“Hey, watch it,” Oikawa says from across the living room, from where he’s making sure you have a good time and don’t get hurt.

It only takes a minute for you to adjust to their size before you start to bounce up and down on their cocks. The stimulation in both your pussy and ass has you seeing stars almost instantly and you arrive at yet another orgasm, too much for you to handle.

Your bouncing and their relentless pounding continue, hot moans and groans filling the quiet living room. Mr. Kyotani peppers your back with purple and red blossoms, his hot breath sending shivers all through your body.

You don’t even realize that fat tears are rolling down your face until you feel your daddy’s gentle touch, wiping the tears away with care.

“You ok, princess?” He asks, watching from behind the sofa as you bounce on his two friends cocks.

“Yes!” You choke out, your eyes rolling back in their sockets, head falling back on Mr. Kyotani’s shoulder. Your orgasms have now blurred together, you don’t your whether this is your fourth or fifth but you don’t seem to care. Not when you feel so good, your whole body ablaze.

Iwaizumi and Oikawa’s eyes fall down your body to where you’re connected to the two men, your cute little cunt is red and abused, your little clit pulsing with every wave of your orgasm.

Your pussy and asshole clench around them tightly, almost painfully, but they continue to push through. Their cocks dragging over your most sensitive spots, and it’s all nearly too much.

You feel like you might explode.

Oikawa watches intently as you get pounded, spasming muscles and shaking legs proof of your pleasure. He can only watch as you scream and moan from behind the sofa, his chin resting in his propped up hand.

Finally, he’s had enough watching and he reaches over placing his thumb on your swollen clit, drawing small circles on the swollen nub. Your reaction is instant, your whole body convulsing in ecstasy.

Your body goes limp in Iwaizumi’s lap, way too overworked to continue for yourself.

Mr. Kyotani pulls himself out of your ass and continues to pump himself with his hand, his hot cum landing on your back.

Iwaizumi however doesn’t stop, he continues to thrust into your tired cunt. Your entire body trembling by the time he’s done with you, your body sore and limp on the couch next to him.

Posted: 01/15/21

[huenjin]

hold me down.

pairing – kim seungmin x reader | secretary!au

word count – 1634 words

ratings – 18+

genre – smut, includes grinding, creampie, slight overstimulation and dumbification (because i love it?), daddy kink, impregnation kink, size kink, bulge kink, office sex

"What are you doing, Y/N?" Seungmin's fingers tighten on the fake gold plated pen in his grip. "We're still in office."

"Yeah and," You push Seungmin back. The pen drops from his hand, falling onto the glass table and making a loud sound. His head falls against the soft rexine covered sofa in your office room. Your secretary, also your doting husband, groans as you climb on top of him, your leg swinging by the side as you sit on him, wrapping your arms around his neck. Your pencil skirt rides up and Seungmin's eyes trail your legs. "I run the company and it's already late so–" You drag your index finger over his shirt covered broad chest.

"Baby," Seungmin stresses. He tilts his face to look up at the surveillance cameras in the room. "Cameras and I have to finish going through these paper by today so that my boss," he raises an eyebrow at you, "–doesn't think I'm slacking just because I'm married to her."

"Well, your boss thinks you'd be doing your work even better if you just really listened to what she needed right now."

With a flick of your fingers hooking under his shirt, you tug open his shirt, a single button popping off the material as a result and Seungmin smiles. You press your lips against his chest, and mumble, "So please, Daddy. Do me, else I'll cut your pay."

"What a bad employer," he clicks his tongue. How was Seungmin expected to work in such a situation when his beautiful wife is on top of him, asking of him to have you in your very office. Something about it seemed so scandalous to him that it excites him way more than it should normally have.

"Don't care." You grind on his growing cock, your arms tightening over his neck. Seungmin holds your hips down onto him, helping you rub against him. You moan, voice airy as you inform him, "I got off once in the washroom at the sight of you rolling your sleeves and carrying those boxes into my office."

"You did what now, beautiful?" Seungmin stills your body, holding you fixed on his bulged length that stands through his pants. His eyes darkens and he feels you whimper in his hold. Seungmin has always found this reversal of roles enticing. The fact that you are this powerful CEO of one of the largest cosmetic companies in the country and that you are this dominating woman on the streets, conquering the market one by one and yet here you are – small in his hold and all his to have.

It is how he seems to cover your entire being. You pride yourself in being an average height for a woman but with Seungmin by your side, you seemingly become small by his side. Seungmin has to look down to talk to you, to keep a conversation.

"I couldn't help, daddy," you gasp, trying to move against him in hopes but your husband's large hands hold on to you, strongly. Seungmin's hand trails up your inner leg, fingers hasty to push your panties to the side. His fingers graze your wet lips, dragging residues or your last orgasm and your present arousal all over.

You're so small that it's fucking hot to Seungmin.

He can't help but fantasise about you. All these years, a ring to seal the deal and still he can't stop lusting after his wife. Of how short you are compared to him. Of how Seungmin can easily tower over you, as you look up at him with those innocent doe eyes of yours in the bed definitely turns him on. Of how a person of your size can command an entire room at the very same time. Of how he can hold onto your whole breast with those large hands of his as you moan and mewl on top of him as you are bouncing on his cock, begging for more. All while he uses you for a cocksleeve as he hoists you up and down just by using his bare hands to lift you.

Seungmin wants to do the same right now – to fuck your tiny being and to breed you.

"Baby, you're slopping wet." Your hand grips on the open ends of his shirt, trying to chase after his fingers. Seungmin kisses the side of your lips. "Should I just fuck you raw and stupid? Teach my baby girl to let her daddy work in peace?"

"Please do, daddy. Please. Fuck me stupid. Fuck me dumb."

Your fingers hastily move down to unbuckle his pants. You stand up slightly for Seungmin to pull himself up for you to pull his pants down, along with his boxers; his cock springs out, hot and angry, vein throbbing on the underside. You hold it in your hand, pumping it slowly. Positioning it, you lift your hips to angle it as Seungmin pushes your panties to the side and slowly, you drop your body to allow his cock to push into you.

"Fuck, daddy, you're so big," you groan, barely being able to let words out with the feeling of being stretched out by his cock. Seungmin doesn't let you adjust today. His large hands hold your acetabulum as he pulls you up only to bring you down, his hips thrusting into you. He plunges into you and you gush all over his cock, coating almost all of his length with your arousal. Seungmin is barely in but he is already hitting your spot, hot tip brushing against it vicariously that your hand moves up to hold your breast, softly hitting it over your clothing.

Seungmin thrusts into you again and his hand moves glides against your skin to press against your belly. He laughs, huskily and airy as he watches you squeeze his length. "Feel that, baby? Do you like feeling so fucking full and stretched out around my cock stuffed into you? What a pretty slut to call mine."

Seungmin's hands moved upwards to grab your clothes breasts, kneading it in his grip as he lets go of your hips. You bounce on his cock and Seungmin stares in fascination at how your breasts do the same, even in captive, both by your bra and his hands.

Your arms wrap around his neck once again as your walls squeeze around his cock, bouncing at a rapid pace to meet your end. Moans and loud unperiodic screams leave your lips as his cock stretches you out. You whimper in his hold, already sensitive from your last self-inflicted orgasm.

Seungmin holds your hips again as soon as he knows you're close. Kissing your neck and biting into the skin to make you his, not that the platinum ring on your fingers were a sign enough of branding, Seungmin whispers by your ear, "Going to fuck and cum in you. Going to breed you and have you stuffed with my cum like the little slut you are. Daddy is going to have you so full of my cum that you're bound to get pregnant. I'll do that, baby. You're going to keep it all inside of you."

"What it it slips out?" You gasp out, getting turned on by the thought of having Seungmin's kids.

"Going to fuck it into you over and over again," Seungmin grunts.

He thrusts into you rapidly, hips hitting into you over and over again, squeezing him as you edge closer and closer. "I'm going to cum, oh my god. Daddy, I'm going to cum." His fingers brushes against your clit and you know at that minute that you have come undone.

"No," he says, firmly, as he fucks into you ruthlessly. "Hold it. You're cumming with me."

"I can't, let meㅡ" You cry but Seungmin squeezes your harder harder, warning you. "Daddy! Fuck, please!" Seungmin's cock is repeatedly hitting your spot, your vision blurry in pleasure and you feel like you are going to explode.

"I'm close too." Seunhmin finally says and he thirst upwards faster, sounds resonating in the office room of yours and you don't care if people were to walk in and watch their boss fuck her husband in her office. Fuck, you think that would be hot, in fact.

"Fuck!" He exclaims. "Going to fucking cum inside you. Going to stuff you with my cum till your tiny little belly bulges with all that cum." Seungmin kisses you. It's messy, teeth clashing and desperate for some intimate contact as you soon tug at his lower lip with your teeth before letting go of it.

You scream your husband's name out loud – pretty sure for voices to have reached the corridor. Your orgasm coats his dick that still thrusts into you, staining his pants and your dress.

"Oh, god," you breathe in for air heavily. "Fuck," you whimper, body shaking almost violently, the muscles of your stomach contracting. Seungmin does not stop as he continues to ravage your pussy.

"Stop." You gasp, holding onto his shoulder, nails digging into it. Seungmin doesn't listen and continues to fuck you through your orgasm. "Stop, please! Ah! Daddy! Daddy! Daddy! Fuck, fuck!" One thrust at an angle and Seungmin releases into you, a small orgasm ripping out from your body simultaneously at the minor overstimulation that takes over your body completely.

You weakly pull yourself up from his cock, pussy clenching at nothing once he is completely out, releasing the mixture of both yours and his orgasm. It slides down your thigh and Seungmin's eyes stares at it before he holds your hips.

In one fluid motion, he pins you down on the sofa, your head against a cushion. Kissing you, he mumbles, "Told you to keep it in. Have to fuck it all back in now."

[eirist]

Little Bits and Pieces of Heaven

OTANJOUBI OMEDETOU!

One-shot #: 28

Disclaimer: One Piece (and its characters) belongs to Eiichiro Oda-sensei.

Reminder: I have no beta-reader. Any grammatical and spelling errors are solely mine.

Warning: OOC possible. One shot.

Rating: T

Note: This was supposedly for Nami’s birthday last year but I didn’t get to finish it on time. Not that I did as well this year. But I don’t want to drag this for another more year or so. And since it’s still July, I figured I can still make it work. Better late than never right?

This is for @redpakwan​. AU setting. College zeitgeist. Yet super late. Forgive me. I hope you still enjoy this.

The omedetou in the last part actually has two meanings. In case you are familiar with the Japanese language, you’ll get the implication. *winks*

Summary: All of their friends are present at the party tonight! Even those who she barely knows and acquainted with her only through common friends. Yet Zoro who was supposedly close to her, wasn’t here!

“Ssshhhh! Quiet now!”

Usopp shushed the fidgeting and whining Luffy beside him.

“Quit squirming like an ant is biting your butt!”

“But Usopp…” the black-haired lad bemoaned. “It’s taking too long. I’m starving!” His stomach made a rumbling sound and a horrified expression crossed Usopp’s face.

“Shut up. Just wait for a few more minutes!”

“I can’t! I can smell all the meat that Sanji cooked!” A drool dropped down the side of Luffy’s mouth. “I can’t resist anymore!”

“Oi! Can somebody put a fucking gag on that moron’s mouth?” Sanji hissed somewhere from behind them. He had pushed the swinging door leading to the kitchen (where he was hiding) open to glare at them. “He’s gonna ruin our surprise!”

“Sanji! I can’t wait anymore!” Luffy shouted from his hiding spot.

“Aho! Don’t you dare move from that spot or I’ll tie you to a chair and make you watch us eat all the meat you specifically requested that I cook!”

“Demo…”

“Uruse!”

“Shhh! Quiet down guys!” Franky called out from beneath the bar counter. “She’ll be here any minute now!”

“Usopp,” Sanji drawled, throwing a handkerchief at the curly-haired lad. “Gag him if needed.” He nudged his chin at the boy beside Usopp, who was pouting at being denied food.

“But he bites,” Usopp complained even as he caught the hanky.

“We all have to make sacrifices...”

“Damn you!”

“She’s already here.” Robin announced from her position at the bar’s window. The raven-haired woman was acting as their lookout. “She’s about to cross the street,” she added before sauntering away from her location to join Sanji in his hiding place.

“Robin-chwan,” the cook greeted suavely as he opened the door wider to let the older woman inside. Then he turned and barked at the others. “All of you quiet down now! Anyone who makes any shitty noise will not be allowed to touch any of the food!”

“But, San—mmph!” Luffy opened his mouth and Usopp promptly shoved the small cloth inside.

“Everybody shut up and get ready!”

The bar door opened with a soft tinkling sound.

“SURPRISE!!!” They all shouted simultaneously as they popped out of their respective hiding places… well except for Luffy, who had to spit out the handkerchief in his mouth.

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY NAMI!!!”

The sound of confetti poppers exploding alongside the hoots of party horns and lots of clapping and cheering immediately followed the greeting.

It was Nami’s birthday. And they had planned a surprise party for her at their group’s favorite bar. It had been a real challenge to pull it off since everyone was busy preparing for the university’s ‘hell week’—those torturous days before the summer break officially starts.

Plus, it was kind of hard to keep it hush-hush since some people in their circle are terrible secret keepers (namely Luffy).

But somehow they did. And Nami—as sharp as she is—didn’t have any inkling on what was going on, given the way her eyes widened and her mouth dropped open.

“Ah ma cherie!” Sanji crooned as he twirled across the room, kneeling down on one knee in front of the newcomer. He presented a heart-shaped cake with flourish—with all the candles lit up. “Otanjoubi omedetou!”

Nami looked genuinely astounded as her brown eyes wandered at the grinning faces of her friends.

She blinked a few times and her lower lip quivered slightly. “You guys…” she whispered, bringing a hand to cover her mouth.

For a moment, she looked like she was going to cry.

Then her face broke into a largest smile.

“Minna! Arigatou!!!” She squealed, clapping her hands together delightedly.

The loud hoot of the party horn filled the room as Franky blew on it again before bellowing, “Supeeer Happy Birthday Nami!!!”

That signaled another round of applause and shouted greetings as the well-wishers approached Nami to greet her up close.

Sanji—who remained kneeling on one knee before her with her birthday cake—nearly got shoved to the side by Luffy and Usopp as they both sprang towards the orange-haired girl to give her a hug.

“Oi temee you idiots!” Sanji shouted. He was barely able to save the cake from the two morons.

But the two were oblivious to his swearing as they launched into a rather off-key happy birthday song, which the others soon followed.

Nami winced slightly as Usopp and Luffy belted out the song just right at her ears. They were saved from her punches by Robin approaching and placing a party hat around her head.

“Happy birthday Nami!” The older woman greeted and Nami grinned at her, holding the party hat with one hand and trying to shove Luffy and Usopp’s faces away from her.

“Thank you Robin!”

The birthday song ended rather exaggeratedly high and Nami tried very hard not to wallop both of her idiotic friends who had made it a contest to see who can sustain the last note longer.

“Enough! Both of you!” Sanji roared as he stood up and kicked Luffy and Usopp out of the way. He presented the cake to Nami again and said charmingly, “Nami-swan if you please.” He motioned to the cake he was holding. “The birthday girl has to make a wish first before blowing the candles.”

“Arigatou Sanji-kun,” Nami smiled at him and leaned forward, tucking a strand of orange hair behind her ear. She closed her eyes, silently stating her wishes before blowing the candles out.

“I hope you wished for your prince charming to—ooof!”

Luffy excitedly elbowed him out of the way to greet her again, almost toppling the cake off the blond’s hand again.

“Nami! Happy birthday!”

“Damn it Luffy!” Sanji desperately and comically tried to save the cake before it falls flat on the ground… and luckily succeeded.

Luffy ignored him and the ever-enthusiastic lad yelled. “It’s finally time to eat!!! Sanji serve the meat!”

“Aho!” Sanji bellowed and hit him in the head. “You nearly made me dropped Nami-san’s precious cake!”  

“Ooops sorry!”

Robin giggled as Nami smiled wryly. Even during her birthday these morons just can’t stop themselves.

“Alright you guys!” Usopp suddenly hollered from her side. “Start calling the others! Nami’s happy 23rd party’s about to start!”

Nami whacked him on the head… hard.

“I’m just twenty you idiot!”

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

It hadn’t taken long for the bar to be filled with guests. Almost all of their friends and colleagues from the university attended the celebration. Not to mention, those friends also brought their own pals to enjoy a night of overflowing free food and drinks.

Not that Nami minded. She knew most of them anyway. If not, her friends definitely knew them.

Plus, you can bet she’s gonna charge their freeloading asses anyway.

Her eyes roamed around the room, noting the individuals who were present. She was enjoying her beer at the bar counter and taking a break from all that socializing and thanking her birthday guests.

Usopp had taken the responsibility of acting as the DJ for the night. An upbeat music was now playing and Luffy’s attractive older brother Ace had taken over the dance floor with his buddies.

Brook has just arrived from his band practice and Luffy ran off to greet him. Sanji was busy flitting around the female guests, crooning and spewing praises at them while Robin and Franky were sitting near her and was chatting with the bar owner, Shakky.

She gave a small wave at Kid and Killer when she spotted them. Both raised their beer bottles at her—a sort of silent birthday greeting. She mouthed thanks just as Luffy’s attention went to them and he launched himself at the two men much to their chagrin. She wasn’t really that close to the two seniors students but they’re both in the same fraternity as Luffy and Zoro.

Speaking of Zoro… is he still not here?

A frown suddenly appeared on her face and it deepened when she noticed the beer coolers stocked near the kitchen doors.

“Hey,” she turned to Robin, Franky and Shakky who stopped talking. “Why do we still have so much booze?” Nami pointed towards the large, still filled with beer coolers. “Considering we have a lot of guests tonight and most of them are drinkers… I’m surprised we haven’t broken the fifth one yet.”

“Huh?” Franky lifted his sunglasses and gazed at her curiously, before shifting his eyes to where she was pointing. Nami really doesn’t get it why he still wears them indoors. She just dismissed it as one of his idiosyncrasies… they all have one after all.

“Is there a problem Nami-chan?” Shakky inquired with a smile.  

“Nothing. It’s just that… it’s nearing midnight and we still have that many,” Nami observed. “Hmm… never mind,” she waved her hand dismissively. “It’s probably just a slow night.”

“Maybe those guys are still warming up.” Robin observed Ace’s group and the Luffy’s fraternity acquaintances, who were all shouting and hopping on the dance floor. Good thing Luffy and Ace’s other brother, Sabo, is out of town. Or there’ll be chaos in that floor now.

Shakky leaned down the counter and propped her chin on her hand looking at Nami with a glint of amusement in her dark eyes. “It’s probably because Zoro-chan’s not here to start a drinking competition.”

Nami’s eyebrows disappeared behind her bangs. So that confirms it.

“Oh? He’s still not here?” she asked, trying to be casual about it—even if she already noticed that her green-haired friend was nowhere in her party. “Really? Of all days to be M.I.A?”

“He’s probably late just like Chopper,” Robin said with a soft smile, refraining from teasing the younger woman since it was her birthday. She had seen the disappointment flashed across Nami’s brown eyes earlier. It was for a fleeting moment but it is there.

“He better have a damn good reason why he’s not here,” Nami grumbled, folding her arms across her chest. The nerve of that guy, missing one of the most important days of her life.

“Just relax girly…” Franky winked at her as he handed her another bottle of beer to replace her empty one. “He’ll be here. This party’s compulsory and has booze after all.” He guffawed, opening another beer bottle for himself and taking a drink.

“Compulsory?” Nami repeated, cocking one eyebrow.

“Yep,” Franky nodded. “We made it mandatory for all invitees to attend so we’d have more heads. As we promised Shakky when she let us use her bar for your party’s venue.”

Shakky winked at her. “Once the supply beer runs out, you have no choice but to buy here.”

Nami snickered. “I’m surprised you even let them bring beers from outside.”

“Not really,” Robin chuckled. “Those are from Shakky’s as well.”

Said bar owner winked at Nami again.

“Damn,” Nami just shook her head disbelievingly. Shakky’s negotiation and money skills are way beyond awesome!

Franky grinned. “So let’s just wait for him. Besides, what’s a party without any drinking competition started by Zoro?”

Nami nodded her agreement even as she huffed. “He has to get his ass here first before anything else. Or I’m gonna start charging by the minute.”

Franky winced at that while Shakky and Robin giggled. Nami was notoriously known for her habit of charging outrageous amount of belis whenever she thinks the situation calls for it. Almost everyone in their circle owes her a certain amount that just keeps increasing as time goes by.

“Hey!”

Usopp suddenly appeared near them. “Got any more beers?”

Nami eyed him warily. “Weren’t you supposed to be on the other side playing songs and entertaining us?!”

Usopp made a face at her. “A guy could use a break you know. You’re not exactly paying me for my services.”

“I thought you said you’d do it free for Nami since it’s her birthday,” Robin reminded him as Franky went to the coolers to get him a drink.

“I did?”

Nami narrowed her eyes at him. “You still owe me my gift you idiot.”

A sheepish laugh escaped Usopp. “Well consider my dj-ing skills your present then.”

“Cheapskate.”

“Oi!”

“Here ya go long-nose,” Franky handed him his request.

“Thanks Franky!”

“Aren’t you going back there?” Shakky inquired as she lit up a cigarette.

“Nah. I’ll take a break.” Usopp answered. “I just auto-played a playlist. It’s not like those guys really care about what’s blasting on the speakers.”

He shifted his eyes towards the dance floor where the crowd was getting louder and rowdier. “Besides… I swear I’m not gonna be surprised if a fight breaks out in a few seconds.”

“Why?” Robin queried with an amused smile. “Too much testosterone?” As unruly as the guests may get… they wouldn’t dare or lest they acquire Shakky’s wrath and forever be banned in the place.

“More like too much Luffy.”

Everyone nodded in understanding.

“Thank Kami Zoro’s not here.” Usopp gushed. “One less of a headache.”

“You do know if he’s here someone can actually rein Straw Hat in?” Franky said matter-of-factly.

Usopp waved his hand dismissively. “I know that of course. Anyway… Zoro’s like really, really late isn’t he? Has anyone tried to call him?”

Both Robin and Franky shook their heads.

A horror-stricken expression crossed Usopp’s face. “Oh shit wait! Did someone inform him about today?!”

Nami eyes were sharp as they zeroed in at her curly-haired friend. “You didn’t tell him about today?”

Usopp looked guilty. “I think I forgot,”

Robin raised her hand. “I did tell him. And I’m pretty sure Luffy did as well.”

“Whew! Thank heavens for you Robin!” Usopp sigh in relief as Nami punched him on the shoulder.

“Ouch!”

Robin just smiled. “Luffy wouldn’t let Zoro miss Nami’s birthday of course.”

“Yeah. That’s why he isn’t here now. That moron.” Nami complained, glaring at Usopp who flinched under her gaze.

“Hey I said sorry,” Usopp rubbed the back of his neck. “He’s just been kinda busy lately it’s hard to catch him. Honestly, I haven’t seen him for like a week now.”

“That’s what cellphones are for you idiot,” Nami groused. “So you can send him a message to remind him of important stuff!”

“Like your birthday party?”

“Yes!”

“But Robin said she already told him,” Usopp whined. “So he should be getting his ass here by now. He’s a grown man after all.”

“Unless of course he got himself lost…” Franky reminded them. “Anyway well know if he’s here. Sanji’s been blissfully happy all night. Let’s just wait for his—”

There was a noise coming from the entrance as another group entered the bar. The sound of Chopper’s voice excitedly calling for their names got their attention.

From the looks of it, the medical students had just been released from Dr. Kureha’s clutches and they all headed straight to Shakky’s bar for the party.

“Oh wait there’s Kaya!” Usopp perked up when he spotted his girlfriend just right behind Chopper. “I’ll talk to you guys later.” And just like that he ran off.

Nami sighed inwardly. Of all days not to show up and it looks like Zoro will chose this one which means a lot to her. She had been looking forward to this day too. It’s always fun to see her friends try to make it fun and special for her in their own clumsy ways.

Especially Zoro.

Ever since they’d known each other, he never missed her birthday. It doesn’t matter if he had no gift for her… he always make it to a point to be one of the first to greet her.

And sometimes the last as well.

But today… she still hadn’t heard from him. No call… not even a message!

It wasn’t easy to miss. Not when you’ve been waiting for that particular person to greet you.

Nami squared her shoulders. Now is not the time for the birthday girl to be down in the dumps.

There’s still time before midnight after all.

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

The party was already in full swing. The sixth beer cooler was already opened. There was a lot of drunken shouting, singing and dancing happening inside the bar. Nami was pretty sure that they’ll be seeing Luffy’s brother Ace dancing on one of the tables along with Franky any minute now.

Yet no tall, scowling, green-haired man made an appearance.

She glumly stared at the sprinkle-rimmed birthday martini in front of her. Shakky made it for her birthday. But neither the cute-looking, celebratory beverage nor its taste can make the sinking feeling in her stomach disappear.

It was past midnight. And Zoro is no show.

No calls, no messages… no anything!

Idiot probably forgot her birthday!

All of their friends are present at the party tonight! Even those who she barely knows and acquainted with her only through common friends.

Yet Zoro who was supposedly close to her, wasn’t here!

Nami clenched her fist and gritted her teeth. He’s gonna owe her for this big time!

She didn’t realize that Shakky was just right in front of her, chin resting on the palm of her hand, watching her.

“Don’t worry about it Nami-chan,” Shakky suddenly spoke up. Her eyes were still glinting with the same amusement as before. “I’m sure he’ll show up.”

Nami instantly turned red at that. “It’s not…. that’s not…” she stammered. But then she gave up. No use trying to hide it. The look on Shakky’s face clearly tells her that she knows what’s in her mind (or who, to be exact).

A determined look crossed Nami’s features. “If he doesn’t… I swear I’ll charge him so much, he’ll sell his soul to the devil just to pay me!”

That made Shakky laugh out loud. Luffy’s friends are always so interesting. That is why she is fond of them.

“He wouldn’t miss this for the world. Late he may be,” Shakky stated in a mysterious tone and smile like she knows something that Nami doesn’t.

Nami just gaped at her.

Then Luffy was suddenly hollering at the other end of the room.

“Zorooooo!” He was bellowing loud enough to drown the already deafening noise in the bar. There were shouts of protests and swearing as the young man pushed his way across the crowd to greet his friend. “Zoro’s here!!!” Zorooo! Oi did you got lost again?”

“Shut up Luffy and get off me!” A voice growled.

Nami perked up at the familiar gruff tone.

“Better late than never you dumbass,” Sanji was saying from somewhere. “Thought you got lost and ended up dead and decaying on the other side of the town. Tch! Too bad.”

“You wanna go cook?”

“Unfortunately I’m busy and don’t have time for you. Go scat.”

“Temee…”

“Zorooo!” Luffy whined, pulling the taller man away from Sanji and towards the bar counter where Nami was. “Why are you’re sooo late? Come on! You have to greet Nami or she’ll be mad at you and charge you so much money it’ll break you!”

A vein popped on Nami’s forehead as Shakky chuckled.

“Nami! Nami!” Luffy all but dragged Zoro towards her as Nami schooled her face into a neutral expression. “Look who’s finally here!”

“I can see that Luffy,” she huffed and narrowed her eyes at Zoro. “You’re late.”

Zoro scratched the back of his head as Luffy released him and started pestering Shakky for a drink like the one she has. “Sorry… got tied up.”

She raised an eyebrow at him. He was still in his after training ensemble—track pants, zip up hoodie, sports bag. It looks like he just came from Mihawk’s dojo or his gym workout or both.

“I just needed to take care of something,” Zoro was saying. “Anyway, happy birthday.”

“It’s already past midnight idiot! Technically my birthday’s done.”

Zoro glanced around him. The party is still at its height. “Apparently the celebration is not.”

She pursed her lips at his observation. “You better have a good reason why you just got here.”

“Shit. I’m gonna owe you big time for this aren’t I?”

“You bet your ass you already do.” The grin on her face was so evil that Zoro couldn’t help but think she really is the devil incarnate.

“Hey Zoro!” Luffy suddenly appeared between them. “Jaggy’s looking for you. Come on! Come on!” He was referring to Kid whom he fondly calls by that nickname. He hooked an arm around Zoro’s and pulled him towards where their other friends are and away from Nami—much to the latter’s disappointment.

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

“So why are you late?”

Zoro flinched slightly as Nami surreptitiously appeared beside him. He was standing outside Shakky’s bar, enjoying a few minutes of silence while drinking his beer. He had sneaked out of the party to get away from an already sugar-high and tipsy Luffy and the boisterous, smashed guests as well.

“Thought I already told you I had something to take care of.”

“Important enough to miss my party?”

He paused halfway to bringing the bottle to his lips. From the corner of his eyes he saw a displeased expression appeared on Nami’s face.

Zoro sighed inwardly. He should’ve known she was not going to let him off the hook that easy.

“Hey if it’s that important, then I have no complaints.” Nami raised both of her hands in mock-surrender.

He didn’t answer and instead took a swig from his drink.

“Just thought you were out busy with a date.”

Silence.

“WHAT?!”

Zoro had sharply swiveled towards her that Nami took a step back, hands still raised up in surrender. He was practically snarling at her.

She was teasing him of course. It was always fun to rile him up. Besides, he deserves it after making her wait for such a long time… intentionally or not.

Plus… she kept hearing snippets all night from their friends about why he’s been so busy recently (to the point that nobody has actually seen him) and why he was constantly absent at their recent group gatherings.

He’s dating someone. Stupid Usopp has whispered to Kaya and Chopper just as she was passing them on her way out to answer a phone call from their friend Vivi.

It made her insides twist and turn when she heard it.

To think he’d pick his date over her—his long-time friend?

What a jerk. She will wring his neck. Definitely.

She was so distracted with what she heard that she wasn’t able to enjoy Vivi’s enthusiastic greeting. And when she saw him stepped outside the bar to quietly enjoy the beer in his hand, she decided not to let the opportunity slip.

Zoro’s face was scrunched into a frown as he glared at her. “Where did you even get that idea?”

Nami bit her lower lip. “Usopp.” She unapologetically throwing her friend  to the sharks… or shark.

Zoro’s face darkened. “What did he say?”

“He said you were dating someone. So I assumed that’s the reason why we weren’t seeing much of you lately and also the reason why you are late for my birthday. And not  just because you were running around in circles again.”

The green-haired man studied her for a moment. His lone grey eye fixed intently on her. “Is that stupid long-nose making fun of me again?”

Nami blinked dumbly at his question. She’s not really sure what he meant by that.

This time Zoro’s frown had turn into a full blown scowl. “What the hell is that idiot up to now? I’m not dating anyone!”

And Nami’s face brightened at that. Good thing they were outside and the entryway of the bar was dimly lit or he will see it.

So Zoro was not really dating anyone? She fought the urge to smile. She’s gonna choke Usopp’s neck so hard later.

“Nami,” Zoro growled out. “Is that idiot making fun of me again? Because I swear I’m gonna hang him by his feet and we’re not talking about a tree this time!”

“Uhm… I don’t think so Zoro,” Nami’s lips trembled and she threw back her head and laughed. She recalled how Usopp spread a gossip about the older lad’s dating his ‘bokken’ before and Zoro literally strung his feet together and let him dangle from one of the trees lining up the front of their complex.

Zoro let out an irritated ‘tch’.

“So you’re really not out with someone?” Nami probed when she finished laughing. Of course she had to be sure. She still doesn’t know the reason why they’ve been seeing less of him lately or why he was late for her birthday party.

“No,” Zoro muttered. “I don’t have time for that.”

“Oh good,” Nami folded her arms across her chest, eyeing him sternly. “Because it that’s the reason why you showed up late for my birthday, I will raise your current debt amount so high you will be serving me eternally.”

He just smirked at her threat.

“And I’ll never forgive you.”

That made him glower at her. An unforgiving Nami is hard to appease after all.

She gave him a cheeky grin before swiping the bottle from his hand and taking a drink from it.

He glared at her, unimpressed with her antic as she childishly stuck her tongue out at him.

“Be glad it’s your birthday witch.” He muttered as he grabbed the bottle from her.

“Like I said Zoro, it isn’t anymore,” she reminded him. “That’s how late you are. You missed the whole day of it.” She was still peeved at him for that. Just a bit though.

She watched him as he exasperatedly rubbed the back of his neck.

And she smiled.

She was still glad he was personally here for her birthday. She can live with that.

There was a sound of pitter-patter coming from above them. And it didn’t take long for them to realize that it started raining.

They remained silent, watching the rain splatter on the street and on the pavement. Inside the bar, they could hear someone hooting. Probably Franky as he was on his eighteenth bottle when Nami stepped outside. And that was minutes ago. He’s most likely on his twentieth or twenty-first.

"Oi."​​ Zoro nudged her shoulder with his own, prompting her to look at him. He was suddenly standing a lot closer to her than before.

"What now Zoro?"

He pulled his hand away from the pocket of his jacket and almost shoved it in her face. "Happy birthday," he mumbled, diverting his gaze straightaway to avoid looking at her.

Nami was taken aback at the object in his hand. It was a small light orange box with a silver ribbon tied around it prettily.

She stared at it, then at him. Even in the dim light she noted the blush that appeared on his cheeks. Truth be told… a blushing Roronoa Zoro was gift enough for her birthday.

But of course she wouldn't say no to the present he was handing her.

She made a grab for it before he decides that she's taking too long in accepting it and retract his hand.

"Aawww... you didn't have to," Nami cooed and laughed when the blush on his cheek deepened and spread all over his face.

Cute.

"Shut up witch and just open it!"

"I’m really surprised you’re able to get me a present to be honest," she giggled. "And a fancy one too I might add."

Zoro grunted something that she didn't quite catch. She was far too busy untying the ribbon to pay any mind to whatever it was he's grumbling about.

When she opened the box, she didn't fight the gasp that escaped her lips.

Inside was a necklace. With a dainty thundercloud pendant.

She took it out… and a warm feeling suddenly washed over her making her cheeks tingle.

It was beautiful. It was perfect.

Nami lifted her eyes so she could look at him. Zoro was still engrossed on the empty street across them, watching the rain splash down on the ground with the droplets exploding everywhere.

It was really thoughtful of him. "Thank you Zoro."

He gave her a flinty side-glance. There was a smirk on his lips as he turned his attention back on the road. "It's nothing witch."

She glanced at the necklace again. She recalled they have a private joke back in high school that started one afternoon while watching an animated series on the old television set in Luffy's house. Nami loved one of the characters who had a knack for predicting the weather and whose weapon can conjure thunderclouds that produce lightning which the character uses to electrocute her enemies. "It'll be really handy to wield that. I can use it to electrocute your asses whenever anyone of you pisses me off. Especially you," she recalled poking his cheek harshly. "You're so goddamn hard to wake up whenever you are asleep." That had been so long ago. She honestly forgot all about it.

But Zoro remembered. She blinked rapidly as she felt herself tearing up.

Such a sweet gesture. And on her special day too!

Maybe she’s not gonna raise his debt and damn him into eternal servitude to her after all.

She lightly punched Zoro on the shoulder, earning a surprised glare from him.  

"What the hell are you hitting me for?” Zoro hissed at her, rubbing the abused part. “I already gave you a present!" "That doesn't mean you get a ticket away from my knuckles!" Nami countered. “That was for being late today of all days!”

"Oi! Gratitude you wicked witch!" He complained. "Do you know how many nights I've stayed behind to clean up Mihawk's dojo just to get you that?!"

Nami's eyes widened. And so did Zoro’s when he realized his slip.

She finally understood now… the real reason why he was not hanging out with them lately.

Why no one had seen him these past few days.

“Sooo…” she intoned as she glanced him mischievously, loving the expression on his face when as he realized that he just idiotically revealed what he was supposed to keep a secret from her. “You actually went to such lengths just to get me this?”

She almost burst out laughing when Zoro’s face turned so red and he stuttered his objection.

"N-no...I... ju-just..."

"Hmmm..." Nami hummed teasingly. "That's what you said."

"Fine!" He bit out. "Thought that gift would be good enough to cover three more future birthdays."

Nami chortled and tried to ignore the way her heart was doing cartwheels inside her chest from too much happiness.

"Do the honors Zoro," she requested as she handed him the necklace, turning around and pulling her hair over her shoulder so he can clasp it around her neck.

He didn’t protest and did what she asked. His fingers felt warm as they brushed her nape, as warm as the heat that was spreading on her cheeks and sending shivers running up and down her spine.

“There.”

She immediately whirled to face him. "So? How does it look?"

Zoro rolled his eye at her as she tried to dish out a compliment from him. "It looks... fine."

"Fine?!" Nami snorted in disbelief. "I swear Zoro, you can do better than that!" She looked down to check the necklace, touching the pendant while a pouting.

When she tilted her head up to look at him to chastise his lack of aptitude when it comes to flattering women… Zoro was smiling at her in a way that made her heart skip a beat. 

“It really suits you.”

The way he was looking at her right now made her want to kiss him.

Just like she always wanted to do.

Suddenly the bar door burst open and Luffy and Usopp ran out, excitedly (and drunkenly) shouting that the rain finally let up. Zoro immediately stepped away from her to prevent them from barreling into him.

And just like that… the one, rare moment between the two of them disappeared in an instant.

They both turned to watch the two hopped and danced in the middle of the street like a pair of lunatics. Chopper hurried past Zoro and Nami to join them.

“Oi get back here you dumbasses!” Sanji was shouting from inside.

Nami sighed. It was finally time to rein in the inebriated ones.

“I got it,” Zoro said nodding at her. The corners of his lips quirked up to give her a small smile, then he stepped out on the street to restrain the three before they can create anymore disturbance that might get them all in trouble.  

“Oi Nami!” Franky called out to her from the bar. “You and Zoro both get your asses here! There’s a lot more to drink!”

Nami nodded as she glanced again at the green-haired man who was now effortlessly hauling up Luffy, Usopp and Chopper by their collars back to the bar as they whined and griped.

"Nami-chan?"

She looked back to see Shakky standing on the doorway. "Problem?"

"Nah." Nami grinned. “Zoro’s just trying to contain the troublemakers.”

Shakky chuckled. “Zoro-chan’s really handy.” The woman paused momentarily, as if she was studying her. Then she said, "What a pretty necklace."

Nami’s hand automatically went to touch her necklace again.

“Omedetou.” Shakky gave her an insinuating smile. “Now come on. You and Zoro-chan’s still got a drinking competition to start.”

[walltowallfandoms]

Halloween: The Romance of Michael Myers

It's a classic story of boy meets girl...and killing.

Warnings: Attempted kidnapping, dubcon, knifeplay, stalking, graphic smut, graphic violence.

(Also readable on AO3)

Chapter One

It officially began with a flower.

Iris opened her door to the cool spring air, ostensibly to collect the morning paper, but really to jolt herself awake. She had classes later.

Her academic commitments were promptly forgotten, however, when she bent down to pick up the paper...and noticed something on top of it.

Rubbing her still bleary eyes, she picked it up for closer inspection. It was a flower.

An iris.

Someone had left a very appropriate gift for her.

The question was...who?

Iris held her floral counterpart closer to her face, examining it closely, as though there'd be any clue of whoever left it.

There was.

Gently splotted on the beautiful purple petals...were little flecks of blood.

Something itched at the back of her mind, as she returned to her original task of retrieving the newspaper. She gave it a cursory once-over, then her eyes darted back up to the headline on the front page.

"Haddonfield 'Boogeyman' strikes again. Four people killed in a brutal home invasion, serial killer Michael Myers suspected."

The thing itching in the back of her mind suddenly shot to the front.

A shelved memory came flooding back in vivid detail, from all those months ago.

___

She'd picked out a lovely sexy witch costume, like Samantha from Bewitched, but sluttier. Did her face up a bit. Worn practical but flattering shoes.

And then she'd left the house. After dark. On Halloween. In Haddonfield.

Against police recommendations, against her own nervousness... against whatever better judgement she should (but didn't) have had.

She'd roamed around town for a while, keeping an eye out for any Boogeyman who may cross her path.

That was what she'd come out there for, after all.

She had been a fair bit away from her house, and closer to the graveyard when she'd heard the screaming.

People in fear. In pain. In trouble.

She'd quickened her pace, heart thudding in her chest as she made her way in the direction of the screams.

A few houses up, there had been a frightened young woman in a bee costume, bolting from the front door to the lawn.

She hadn't made it very far, though. A hand had reached out, grabbed her by her wings, and dragged her back inside.

Iris had jogged up to the house, as quietly and inconspicuously as possible, and had peeked inside.

She'd let out a tiny gasp at what she'd seen.

A man—over six feet tall, she'd noted—had been brutally stabbing the bee girl with a large kitchen knife in the front hall.

Iris had watched silently in morbid fascination as the man finished his job, stabbing the girl for the last time, her screams quieted into quickly fading into burbling.

The man had stood there for a moment, bloody knife in hand, and had appeared to be admiring his work.

Then he'd turned around.

Iris had let out another, slightly louder gasp. Her hand had flown up to her lips in an "oh my!" gesture.

The man who had stood before her, the killer...had been none other than Michael Myers himself. Bloody knife and coveralls, expressionless white mask, knife dripping blood.

It'd been him, alright, and Iris couldn't fight the flip-flops her stomach had been doing.

Michael had stood before her, regarding her for a moment, then had used her awestruck stillness as a solid opportunity to strike.

He'd grabbed her by the throat, pinned her to the wall, and had begun choking her.

Iris had been in total shock when the Shape of Haddonfield had lunged at her and wrapped strong hands around her throat.

She'd been unable to believe that the real Michael Myers was squeezing her neck. Was touching her.

She'd noted, as the oxygen was leaving her body, that his hands were rough, but not uncomfortably so.

What had been uncomfortable, however, was that he was slowly killing her. She hadn't wanted their encounter to end so soon, especially as his hands on her skin had awakened something in her.

Something that had to be sated.

Close to passing out, Iris had managed to groan out two words to her would-be killer.

"Harder, daddy."

The Shape had paused his strangling of her, and simply stared at her for a long moment. Though the mask had concealed his face well, she had been able to notice a glint of confusion in his eyes. And, as she'd looked down, a tent in the lower region of his coveralls.

Meow~

Michael had suddenly released his prey, and she slunk to the floor, held her throat and gasped for breath.

As Michael had continued staring down at her, head cocked to the side (as if contemplating what to do with her), Iris had taken that time to let her eyes roam over him.

He was tall. Quite tall. With strong, powerful, veiny hands. Even in the coveralls, he had cut a strong-looking figure, unable to completely hide his musculature. The bulge at his groin had seemed fairly big. His breaths had been steady and loud.

Iris had been jolted out of her lustful sizing up of the Shape, when he'd grabbed her by the hair and pulled her up to her feet.

He'd held a sash in his hands—from one of his victims' pirate costume, she'd noticed— and turned her around and tied her hands behind her back.

Then he'd clamped a large, rough hand over her mouth, marched her outside to one of the cars in the driveway, and opened the trunk, shoving her in.

He'd slammed the top down, got in the driver's seat, started the car with no-doubt pilfered and bloody keys, and backed out of the driveway.

Iris had been an odd combination of calm and giddy during the drive. Where was taking her? What would he do to her once there? He hadn't seemed like he wanted to kill her anymore, so he probably had another use for her.

Her suspicions had been confirmed when the car came to a stop, the trunk popped open, and Michael had lifted her bodily out of the trunk and onto the ground, then clamped a hand over her mouth once again.

She'd noticed they were in the town's park, and that he was leading her to the edge of it, where it gave way to the woods.

He'd stopped, forced her down on the ground, face up, and knelt over her, still-bloody knife in hand.

He'd slowly traced the point of it across her neck, down her collarbone...and to the waistband of her underwear when he'd pushed her dress up to her hips.

He'd slid the knife past the waistband, and cut the offending garment away in one fluid motion. Then he'd lowered the knife, and seemed to take in the sight of her lower half bared to him.

This had been very exciting for Iris. He'd spared her life, taken her to a private location, cut away her panties, and then stared at her like a lion stares at its prey.

The flood of nerves, excitement and arousal had had her near delirious, and she could feel her pussy get wetter and wetter in anticipation.

Finally, Michael had apparently had enough looking, and had begun touching. His thumbs had stroked her thighs as the rest of his hands had pried her legs apart. He had adjusted his position to kneel between her legs, and then tugged at the zipper of his coveralls.

Iris had watched closely as Michael had revealed a (somewhat tight) black t-shirt beneath his coveralls...and his big, throbbing cock.

Iris had bit her lip when saw that thing. It was big. Long and thick, simultaneously exciting and intimidating. The Boogeyman was packing.

Said Boogeyman had stroked his cock a bit before lining himself up with her entrance. Iris had moaned when she felt his tip push past her folds, and had gasped when he'd pushed all the way inside her.

She'd barely had time to adjust when he'd pulled most of the way out, then pushed back in again. Iris's eyelids had fluttered when he'd settled into a consistent pace, filling her needy pussy.

She'd panted and moaned as Michael thrust repeatedly into her, the fabric of his coveralls rubbed against her bared skin, barely believing that it was actually happening.

Michael Myers was fucking her.

And fucking her good.

She'd felt so full...it was so good. So fucking good. Overwhelmingly good.

"Mmmichael…" she'd let out his name in a soft moan, toes curling in overwhelming delight.

This had seemed to have a pleasurable affect on him, as he had immediately begun to thrust harder and faster, breaths no longer steady.

Iris hadn't been able to stop herself from letting out estatic moans, groans, gasps and whines when Michael sat up and pulled her ankles up to his shoulder, fucking her at a new angle. His cock had begun to rub against her g-spot, and it hadn't taken much longer before she was cumming.

The building pressure inside her had exploded into absolute ecstasy, and she had let out a cry that had been promptly muffled by Michaels large hand over her mouth, which had only added to the experience.

Iris's orgasm had summoned Michael's, and he'd let out a few grunts as his cock twitched inside her, filling her with his cum.

He'd continued to hold her there for a minute, before he pulled out, dropped her legs, and zipped up his coveralls.

Iris had been panting and gasping, her head swam, she tingled all over.

Her already jackhammering heart had beat even faster when she saw him pick up his knife again. He'd grabbed her by the throat once more, pulled her up in a sitting position, then reached behind her…

And he'd proceeded to free her wrists from their bonds, the knife easily sliced the sash.

Michael had stared down at her for a brief moment, then had promptly turned and made his way out of the park.

Iris had sat up, a little dizzy, and attempted to process what had just happened.

Michael Myers, the Boogeyman himself, had just fucked her senseless.

___

Iris smiled to herself as she relived that lovely memory, lost in thought for a bit until she glanced back down at the flower in her hand.

The flower. An iris. Clearly, he knew her name, meaning that he must have been stalking her for God knows how long, without her realizing.

He knew her name.

He remembered her after all. She figured he'd had his fun with her and that would be that. But apparently not.

Her smile growing larger, Iris sniffed the flower again and went back inside.

"Guess he couldn't forget good pussy."

[junicai]

boil over.

| summary | Aria gives Jaemin some tough love (and then hugs)

| word count | 2.1k

| warnings | 1 (one) curse word

| era | circa. 2017, Jaemin’s hiatus

29. “NO! You can’t get up, you’re my prisoner for today.”

40. “Get out.”

a/n: anon i am so sorry. u said it would be funny i - it took a turn and i couldnt save it im so sorry

“Nana?” 

Aria knocked gently on Jaemin’s closed bedroom door with one hand, rapping her knuckles against the dark wood while her other hand balanced a plate in her palm precariously. 

There was no response heard through the door, and Aria frowned. She raised her fist again, knocking once again. “Jaemin? You asleep?” 

A low groan sounded this time, and Aria could hear the rustling of his bed sheets. 

“Can I come in?” 

“No.” Jaemin’s voice was rough with unuse, petulant to the point where Aria could hear the pout she knew he was donning in his tone.

“Too bad,” Aria shrugged, hand pressing the door handle open regardless, “Please don’t be naked.”

A spluttered sound came from inside the room when Aria pushed open the door, eyes trained on the ground. Stepping inside, the door closed behind her with a soft click and she heard the tell-tale rustle of Jaemin’s bedsheets that he was trying to adjust himself into a sitting position.

“Nana,” Aria scolded, turning briefly to place the plate down on the desk on the opposite side of the room before crossing the floor in three quick strides to make it to Jaemin’s bedside. Her hands reached out to help him lift himself but stopped in mid-air when a glare was sent her way.

“Get out.”

Aria could tell the words were meant to be cold, but they just came out petulant when accompanied by the slight whine Jaemin let out immediately following another attempt to push himself upright. 

“Oh shush,” Aria muttered, hands slipping underneath the sheet to place one on the small of his back and using the other to press his shoulders up. Slowly, Jaemin shuffled into a more sitting-like position, back pillowed up by several pillows that had been gathered onto his bed from around the dorm.

The Dreamies had banded together and collected what pillows they could spare - Jisung offering both pillows from his bed until Jeno reminded him that he actually needed one of those if he didn’t want to have neck pain every single morning for the foreseeable future. 

Stepping back from Jaemin, Aria placed her hands on her hips, eyebrow cocked at the boy who laid sheepishly in his bed, covers tucked underneath his chin.

“How’re you feeling?” Aria asked.

“I’m alright,” Jaemin said, dismissing her with a shrug. 

“So. Do you want to explain why you’ve spent the last two weeks moping in your bedroom and I had to find out about it after coming back from practice today? Or shall I find Injunnie and let him explain?” Aria said, head tilted to the left. 

Jaemin’s eyes fell away from Aria’s face, suddenly finding interest in the pattern-less sheets that covered his bed. His fingers played with the off-white material while his teeth nibbled on his bottom lip. 

Aria let out a sigh, moving to sit on the edge of his bed. It sank slightly underneath her weight, and Aria shuffled backwards so she was sitting comfortably. 

“Nana, it’s ok. It sucks. I know.”

“Do you?” 

Aria looked up surprised, eyebrows furrowing as she looked at Jaemin’s face. There were deep purple rings beneath his eyes but his skin was clearer; the lack of make-up was doing him good. Slightly thinner - the look all of them get when they’d been too busy to find time to eat a meal. By the plate on the floor beside his bed, still with a good deal of food on it - Aria wasn’t sure if it was the lack of time or the lack of desire.

 He looked tired, but also ticked, like something she’d said had rubbed him the wrong way.

“I don’t think you do.” Jaemin’s voice wasn’t angry, but his words held weight to them regardless.

Aria sat back slightly, taken aback by the sudden change of tone. “What-”

“I don’t think you understand this at all,” Jaemin interrupted her, pushing himself further upright with another small wince. “I don’t think a single person understands what its like to be told, a year after debuting that I’m going to have to take a six month or more hiatus. I don’t think you understand that I’m sitting her, watching you all go to practice and learn new dance routines and promote; and I’m being left behind. I don’t think you get the fact that it feels like I’ve been gut punched, and then told to walk it off!”

“Nana no that’s not what’s happening-”

“It is! It is what’s happening and you’re lying to me when you say it’s not. Its like trainee days but worse because I can’t even go to the practice room. Hell, I can’t even go home because the company doesn’t want me seen outside. So I’m stuck here, alone, no one else in the dorms for the most part of the day, can’t go see my family like you normally can on a hiatus, can’t do anything except sit here and be useless! Do you know what that’s like? I can’t see my parents, I can’t practice, I can’t do what I trained to do for years and you’re telling me that you understand? Bullshit.” Jaemin was yelling now, all the words that had been building up exploding on the wrong person.

Aria felt her teeth break the skin of her lip. 

“So,forgive me, for staying in my room all day. I just didn’t fancy having to drag you all away from practice to make sure I didn’t fall over myself on the way to the bathroom.” With a resounding bite in his words, Jaemin settled himself against the pillow again. 

It seemed like the conversation was over, Jaemin with his gaze fixed downwards on his extended legs. Aria kept her eyes upwards, blinking rapidly. But the fact that they were both still sitting in silence made the atmosphere fill up with tension like a bubbling pot that was half an inch away from an overflow. 

Jaemin had his hands folded in his lap, fingers toying with the unravelling string on the hem of his t-shirt as he refused to look back up. 

The pot boiled.

“I’m sorry.”

That, was not what he was expecting. 

“I’m sorry, that was insensitive of me. You’re right, I don’t know what it feels like.”

Suddenly, Jaemin was simultaneously infinitely grateful and incredibly disappointed that it was Aria whom he was having this conversation with. 

Had it been Donghyuck, he could only imagine the screaming match it would have turned into. Donghyuck was always quick to lose his cool when someone was being uncooperative, and Jaemin was looking to get a rise out of someone. It wasn’t even that Jaemin was unwilling to talk to them anymore, it was the fact that he insinuated the fact that they didn’t care about him? Donghyuck would have brought the walls down; and Jaemin doesn’t know if that’s something he craved at this moment or not.  

Renjun would have simply turned around and left the second Jaemin got huffy - the older boy had minimal patience for things like this, and liked to remove himself from the situation before he said something he would regret. 

Aria, on the other hand, would sit there and let Jaemin yell at her for however long he needed to with her head bowed and hands in her lap. She wouldn’t yell back, wouldn’t rise to meet his anger but would sit there calmly until it fizzled out like a candle wick burned down to the end, wax spilling over slowly until it hardened and became stagnant once more. 

Jaemin didn’t think he really wanted to yell; not anymore. 

Aria still wasn’t looking at him, choosing instead to focus her gaze on the top of his headboard. Her eyes were darting back and forth slightly, like she wanted to look down at him but kept thinking better of it. 

“I don’t know what it feels like, but what I do know is that it’s not going to get better if you hole yourself up in a room for six months,” Aria explained, hands curling into fists.

“The only thing you’re doing is making it worse, Nana. So so much worse for yourself - we don’t care about having to help you do things, we don’t care about being a few minutes late to practice because you needed something from the kitchen and just couldn’t face getting up again; we don’t care. And I need you to look at me right now and tell me you understand that.”

Jaemin looked at her. 

“We don’t care,” Aria spoke softer now. “What we care about is the fact that you’re in pain right now, and we care about what we can do to help you fix that.”

Jaemin let his face scrunch up, a retort forming on the tip of his tongue. 

“There’s no shame in asking for help, Jaemin.”

Jaemin sunk, boneless, into the pillows supporting him - a crack being multiplied by ten and suddenly shattering. The pot boiled, spilling over the sides and splashing down. Tears spilled over Jaemin’s cheeks, shoulders shaking as a fist was shoved into his mouth to stop himself from making a sound. 

“Oh, Nana,” Aria’s voice was saddened, a deep blue colour as she moved to lie beside Jaemin on the bed while being careful not to jostle the boy. “Please don’t cry, it’s okay.”

Jaemin only cried harder, teeth making indents in his skin until his hand was puled gently but insistently from his mouth and was being held in Aria’s hands. With no muffler there, a sob ripped itself from his chest and he choked at the force of it. 

Aria only moved closer, pushing herself up the bed slightly to allow Jaemin to hide his face in her chest as he cried. 

Jaemin shook through his cries, Aria running a hand through his hair the entire time. It was knotted, like he hadn’t brushed through it in a few days and she made a note to bring in one of their hairbrushes later on when he was asleep. 

Slowly, his sobs petered out into small sniffles, Aria’s shirt soaked through but she paid no mind to the wet material sticking to her skin. Her back ached slightly from the odd position she had forced herself into to ensure that Jaemin wouldn’t be twisted uncomfortably.

Jaemin’s breaths evened out again over the next ten minutes or so, eventually to the point that Aria was sure that the boy had fallen asleep until he shifted slightly to look up at her from his position lying on her chest. 

His red eyes were stark against his pale skin, and Aria never thought she’d be jealous of how prettily someone cried and yet here she was. 

Jaemin rubbed at his nose slightly with the corner of his sheet, sniffling and then sneezing when the loose ends tickled his nose. He let out a watery laugh, throat clogged slightly and he cleared it when Aria began to smile despite herself.

He choked out another weak laugh before pressing himself back into Aria’s side. 

The air stilled around them, the pot taken off the heat and now cooling in the aftermath. 

Aria kept her hand carding through his hair, letting her other hand move to rub gently at Jaemin’s ear in a soothing gesture now that she didn’t need to keep herself elevated slightly. 

Her arms ached, but she paid no mind to it, instead choosing to delicately open their little pocket of serenity. 

“You’re so important to us, Nana. You can’t forget that.”

Jaemin declined to respond, instead choosing to hide his face further into the material of Aria’s clothes. 

“Even if this hiatus takes seven, or eight months. Or a year. There’s always a place for you in Dream. Always.”

This time Jaemin sniffled, still refusing to speak but let his hand come up from underneath the sheets to intertwine with Aria’s. She squeezed it lightly, holding it tight in her grasp. 

They stayed that way for another while, Jaemin slowly falling into sleep while Aria pet his hair. 

“Nana,” Aria whispered, moving closer so that he would hear her.

Jaemin made a small hum in acknowledgement. 

“I have to go prep dinner for the others, they should be back soon.” Aria apologized.

There was nothing for a second, and then Jaemin was craning up to look back at Aria; eyes wide and sparkling. 

“Stay?”

Aria stayed.

[thdorkmagnet]

Light of the Sun and Stars Chapter 45: Quest for Love (And a Sandwich)

Summary: His whole life Marco Diaz has been raised by monsters, living under the cruel rule of their leader, Toffee. But one day Marco escapes into Mewni where he meets a magical princess and Mewman like himself, who begins teaching him all about her world. Together they will learn about life, love, and the lights within each of them, as they change their world forever.

Chapter Synopsis: The time has finally come for Tom to confess his feelings to Janna! But when he struggles to form words around her, he asks Marco for help and the solution they come up with is… less than expected. Let’s just say it involves a sandwich.

Check out my other stuff on Fanfiction!

Index

Disclaimer: Star vs and all its characters belong to Daron Nefcy and Disney. All rights go to them. 

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“Finally, after all this time, I can reveal my greatest dish,” Kelly whispered dramatically. She had given the entire worthless kitchen staff the day off so she could work in peace and not have to worry about greedy chefs trying to steal her secret recipe out from underneath her. She had only been working at the castle for a few weeks and had already learned how many of them had the same strive and ambition she did, just too inexperienced and lazy to pull it off. She had already started to whip them into shape though, they had stopped crying every time she yelled at them at least. So that was decent progress.  

“Are you sure?” Marco asked, staring down at the boiling pot in awe, the lid covering the contents inside, the hooded teen beginning to doubt if he was ready to face what lay within. “What if it’s too soon?” 

Kelly shook her head, her brow furrowed in concentration. “No. This is it, Marco. But I need you to be ready in case something goes wrong. Can I count on you to be my sous chef?” She turned to him with a grim look, waiting to hear his response. 

The boy nodded vigorously, putting on his best game face. “Yeah. I’m ready, Kelly.” 

“Good,” the green-haired girl responded, slipping on an oven mitt and placing it firmly on the handle of the lid. “Then, here we go!”

Both her and Marco simultaneously slipped on large metal masks to help shield their sensitive faces. Kelly also placed a smaller one over her snoozing boyfriend Tad, who was asleep in her hair as usual. She made sure the mask was down over his face so she wouldn’t have to worry about him catching fire. The two teens then shared a masked look with each other an unspoken trust passing between them before Kelly ripping the lid off the boiling pan. 

A layer of hot steam rose off of the boiling mess inside: red, hot mist that formed a skull in the air before fading. Marco flinched and positioned himself behind Kelly, his protective instincts making his body move against his will. The Woolett girl showed no fear however, even making the fool-hardy choice to lean over the boiling mess of liquid so she could examine it closer. Her expert eyes slowly skimmed over her own concoction to make sure it was finished. 

“Is it… done?” Marco asked, his voice shaking fearfully. Kelly had already briefed him multiple times how her super secret recipe could possibly explode if not made properly and he would really prefer not to burn alive if he could help it, he had plans later that day. 

“Looks like it,” Kelly replied thoughtfully. She whipped out a spoon from her apron, holding it just an inch over the bubbling soup. “But there’s only one way to know for sure.”

“Hold on a second,” Marco said, stopping her just before she could scoop up a bite. He reached down under the table and hefted a heavy fire extinguisher onto the counter, making sure it was ready in case something went horribly wrong. “Okay, go.”

Marco frowned seriously as he watched the spoon of questionable contents rise to his friend’s lips, Kelly lifting up the fire shield so she could sip her creation. The hooded teen studied the Woolett anxiously as she smacked her lips a few times, clearly considering the taste carefully. He relaxed a bit when she didn’t burst into flames but still felt the need to ask, “Well?”

Kelly nodded before saying, “Not bad.”  

“Yes!” Marco exclaimed cheerfully, ready to celebrate with all the intensity and vibrancy his friend deserved in this moment of triumph. “You did it, Kelly! I knew you could! Your super secret recipe is a success!” 

“Whoa, whoa, Marco,” Kelly said, trying to call her friend down a bit. “I know this is a big moment and all but now is not the time to start freaking out. I mean I’m the only one who’s even tried it yet, I have no idea if it’s that good.”

“I know, I know,” Marco said quickly, his tone apologetic for just an instance before returning to his peppy brightness. “I’m just so happy for you, Kelly! I mean it’s taken you months to make this stuff! You should be proud of yourself for sticking with it for so long!”

Kelly nodded, all humbleness leaving her at the praise, feeling her ego only grow with every word. “Well, it wasn’t exactly easy to make the hottest, most delicious stew of all time. But I did it.” She absentmindedly started to stir the red hot stew, talking out loud as she worked. “I mean just finding the right ingredients for the stew was a challenge in itself. Most people said volcano peppers couldn’t even be heated without them exploding but then I’m not most people, am I?” 

“And no one but you would’ve figured out the trick to cooking them," Marco admired, hoping to boost his friend’s confidence even more with the praise. The trick had been simple in the end, just keep it at a constant simmer for three months straight. Only Kelly could have cracked that code.

“Well after working with Roy for long enough, I learned a few tricks to avoid exploding food.” The Woolett shuddered at the multiple memories of her previous place of employment. But she perked up as she continued to brag to her friend in a mischievous tone, “And now this stuff is gonna make pain pepper tacos taste like ice cream in comparison.” 

Marco cringed as he remembered the feeling of his tongue melting, asking hesitantly, “Isn’t that kind of unsafe?”

Kelly shrugged. “Relax, Marco. I’m not Roy. I would never make something that could endanger someone’s life.”

The Woolett was cut off as a burst of flame shot up from the pan, the two teens screaming and jumping back to avoid being burned alive. The fire continued to crackle for a few seconds before it slowly died down till it was just hot steam rising off the now-ruined stew. Marco and Kelly blinked in disbelief, the hooded teen about to voice his shock when they heard a familiar person call out. “Marco! Marco, are you there?!” 

“Tom?” Marco looked around in surprise for any sign of his friend. “Where are you?” he asked when he failed to spot him right away.

“Look in the pan,” came his answer and both teens hesitantly approached the boiling stew. Only now the surface of the liquid had a familiar face on it. “TOM! What are you doing in Kelly’s secret stew?!”

“Ruining everything,” Kelly mumbled in annoyance, shooting the demon boy a hated glare.

“It’s an old demon trick,” Tom explained quickly, only for his tone to turn panicked and dire, “But nevermind that, I need your help!”

“Why didn’t you just call him?” Kelly snapped. 

“No time! It’s an emergency!” Tom shouted, his voice shaking with worry. 

Marco gasped. “Don’t worry, Tom-” The hooded teen struck a dramatic pose before proclaiming, “I’m on my way!”

“Uh, what about my stew?” Kelly crossed her arms, sending chilling glares to both boys. 

Marco locked eyes with the Tom image before saying, “Uhh, I’ll help you remake it later.”

Kelly groaned, pinching the bridge of her nose with her fingers. “Fine, whatever, just go.” 

“Thanks Kelly, I owe you one,” Marco said running from the room. The Woolett looked sadly over at her ruined creation, Tom’s face now gone but her once-delicious stew now a burnt and inedible mess, grieving for all the hard work that had been wasted thanks to one friend’s mistake. She let out a heavy sigh, leaning against the counter so she could stare sadly into the bubbling pot. 

Marco poked his head back into the kitchen, giving the girl a sheepish expression, before asking, “Uhh Kelly, one more favor?”

Kelly raised her head and slowly looked in his direction, her eyes full of anger and death. “What?!” she snapped to him in annoyance. 

Marco gave his friend the most apologetic look he had, his fingers tapping nervously on the doorframe as he asked softly, “Um, can I please borrow your dimensional scissors?” 

The Woolett glared at him for a few more seconds, the boy giving her a puppy dog look back. The intense staring contest continued for a few seconds before Kelly gave in, throwing her head back and letting out an annoyed groan. “Fine, you win! You're lucky I can’t stay mad at you!” She stomped over to the teen and practically shoved her scissors into his hands. “Here, take it.” 

“Thanks Kelly,” Marco shouted gleefully, giving her a quick hug before running from the kitchen, yelling over his shoulder, “I promise I’ll make it up to you later!” 

Kelly just sighed and went back to work, disposing of her ruined batch of secret stew and cleaning up her messy kitchen, grumbling the whole time about how inconsiderate Tom was and how she couldn't believe she considered him a friend and how no one appreciated a royal chef, somehow her boyfriend Tad sleeping blissfully on. 

...

“Tom! Tom, I’m here! I’m here!” Marco shouted, leaping out of the portal into his friend’s room, only to fall face-first in a large tub of water, soaking him completely from head to toe. The flaming teen immediately ran over to pull his friend out, the boy sputtering and coughing as he was helped back to his feet, completely frazzled by what just transpired. “Sorry, Marco,” Tom apologized quickly, giving the soaked teen a sheepish grin. “I accidentally left that thing out from this morning's waterboarding session. That’s my bad.” 

Tom hit Marco’s back a few times as he struggled to regain his proper airflow. “It’s fine,” Marco choked out, trying to shake off as much water as possible. Tom lit a small fire in his hand to help dry his friend off faster. But Marco just cringed upon realizing his shoes were soaked all the way through, leaving him with wet socks, every squishy movement feeling like torture on his poor, sensitive feet. As he bent down to take off his shoes,  he asked his friend, “So what was the emergency? What’s going on?” 

Tom had almost completely forgotten why he had summoned Marco there in the first place but the moment the memory came back to him he tensed up, anxiety and discomfort flashing across his face while the small flame in his hand flickered slightly. “Oh yeah, right. Uhhh, so about that,” the flaming teen began awkwardly. His cheeks began to flush slightly as he admitted, “Well, it’s kinda about Janna.”

Marco cocked his head to the side as he looked up at his friend, already having a pretty good idea of what was going on, but waited for Tom to continue his thought anyway. The prince cleared his throat nervously before stuttering out an explanation. “S-See I kinda, sorta have a… crush on her.” 

Marco blinked, giving his friend a blank stare. He slipped off both socks, so he could stand face to face with his friend again. “Yeah, and?” he questioned with a shrug.

Tom was taken aback by his friend’s measured response, expecting a much bigger reaction after such a huge confession. His eyes narrowed in suspicion before he could stop them. “Uhhh, and me telling you my secret is kinda a big deal, so I would appreciate a little more enthusiasm!” The demon boy was doing his best not to lose his cool with Marco but he could feel his anger beginning to flare up. 

“Wait, was that supposed to be a secret?” Marco asked innocently, giving his friend an incredulous look.

Tom’s mouth hung open for a few seconds before he snapped it shut in anger, growling through his teeth, his cheek flames simmering in the heat of the moment. “Yes, it was,” he snapped, leaning in closer to Marco with violent ferocity. “Why? Who else knows about it?”

Marco gave his friend an awkward grin and shrugged, trying to make light of the situation before softly admitting, “Everyone.” 

Tom’s eyes widened before turning a deep, sinister red and Marco tucked into a ball for protection, the hot-headed teen shooting off a flaming ball of fire absentmindedly to his side to avoid accidentally hurting his friend. At that exact moment, the small servant Pete flew in through the doorway, calling politely, “I got you those flammable objects you asked for, Master Tom,” only to be lit on fire thanks to the prince’s irrational burst of anger. 

Both teens looked to the doorway where an unconscious Pete lay groaning in agony, thankfully immune to the flames themselves. “Sorry,” Marco said, speaking on behalf of his friend, knowing Tom was too busy trying to calm his fuming mind and body, taking slow, deep breaths. He placed his palms together, holding them right in front of his mouth as he let out a long sigh. He lowered his hands before declaring, “Okay, this is fine.” He sounded much calmer and Marco was able to relax a bit. That was until his friend let out a demented laugh, his eye twitching in an unnerving manner.

“Tom, are you… okay there, buddy?” Marco asked carefully, rubbing a hand up and down his arm to try and hide the chills he was feeling thanks to his friend’s psychotic breakdown. 

Tom still continued to laugh, placing a hand to his forehead as he declared, “No, no this is just perfect! This is exactly what I needed! Apparently the whole world knows about my secret crush on Janna and I’m just finding out about it now! It’s all going just peachy!” His voice grew deep and sinister on the last word before returning to normal. 

“Well I mean, it was kinda obvious,” Marco pointed out, rubbing a hand up and down his soaked hoodie sleeve. “You danced at the Blood Moon Ball together and your always blushing around her, and constantly wanting to be around her but being awkward when you do-”

“Stop! I get the picture!” Tom groaned, completely mortified as he buried his face in his hands.  “Does Janna know?” came the muffled question and Marco bit his lip. 

“Probably,” Marco replied honestly. He wasn’t completely sure but Janna usually knew much more than she let on. Marco wouldn’t doubt his creepy friend was fully aware of the demon’s feelings and was just using that knowledge to mess with him.

Tom let out another disheartened and embarrassed groan, his flaming hair starting to smoke from how badly he was flushing. 

“Buuut if it makes you feel better I’m pretty sure she likes you, too,” Marco helpfully added.

That or she's messing with me," Tom added bitterly. Seeing Marco's sympathetic look he quickly brushed the negative thought off, sighing and lowering his hands as he gave Marco an even look. “Well whatever, doesn’t matter.” 

Marco doubted the easily emotional teen really had let it go so quickly but chose not to press him on it, instead asking, “Soooo why did you ask me here exactly?”

Tom sat down on his bed, his face unreadable. “Because I’ve decided to stop hiding my feelings and face them head on,” he stated calmly. “Even if apparently everyone knows already,” he added with a grumble before continuing in a steady tone again. “So I’ve decided to finally confess my feelings to Janna and ask her to be my girlfriend. But I’m gonna need help to do it. Your help.”

 There was a short pause, the flaming teen watching as Marco’s eyes welled up with tears. His expression remained the same naive, optimistic look it always was, only now there were large tears rolling down his cheeks. “Uhhh, dude, you okay?” Tom asked suspiciously. He should have expected this from his friend but Marco had caught him by surprise with this seemingly random reaction. Sometimes Tom wondered what was going on in that boy’s head, Marco never to confuse Tom with his positivity, it was too opposite to his own personality.

Marco nodded, wiping the tears from his eyes, which had somehow grown even wider, full of joyful enthusiasm. “I have waited so long to hear you say that!” Marco excitedly squeaked before pulling Tom into a tight hug. “Finally, two of my best friends are getting together! It’s everything I’ve dreamed of!” 

“Whoa, whoa, don’t make it weird!” Tom shouted, pushing the boy away. “It’s not gonna be all sappy like I’m sure it was with you and Star. In fact, that’s the exact opposite of what I need.” He let out a low groan before turning and starting to open a flaming portal.  “Look if your gonna be all emotional about it then I’ll just ask someone else to-”

“No wait!” Marco shouted, waving his arms for Tom to stop. The demon boy turned to him with an expectant look. Marco sucked in a breath before standing at attention, puffing out his chest as he declared, “I promise you I won’t get emotional! Just let me help, please.” 

Tom nodded, closing the small beginning of the portal as he addressed his friend coolly, “Okay, I think I can work with that.” 

“Yes!” Marco exclaimed, only to stop as he saw Tom’s eyes beginning to narrow. The hooded teen cleared his throat before saying in the most prestigious tone he could come up with, “I mean, I’d be more than happy to help you with your problem, Tom.” He paused, thinking something over, before asking in his normal voice again, “Sooo what were you needing my help with exactly?”

Tom seemed a little discomforted by the question, crossing his arms insecurely in front of his chest and not meeting Marco’s eye. “Look, I just need you to help me come up with the perfect way to confess to Janna.” 

“Why not just tell her how you feel?” Marco asked simply.

The flaming teen rolled his eyes. “You really think I haven’t tried?! Every time I get close to her, I suddenly lose the ability to talk! All I seem to be able to do around her is make a complete fool of myself! I’m supposed to be the cool Prince of the Underworld, not a dork like you!” Tom shook his head to keep his cheeks from blushing, forcing his cheekmarks to lower their intensity. “No offense,” he added and Marco just shrugged, not really knowing what the word meant anyways.

“Soooo, basically you need a way to ask her out without actually talking to her,” Marco said thoughtfully, already going over ideas in his head.

Tom rested his chin on his hand, trying to do the same. “Something like that,” he muttered in annoyance. Why couldn’t dating girls be easy?

“You could… write her a letter?” Marco suggested.

Tom rolled his eyes. “I’m not from the 17th century, Marco. Get with the times. I’m a very modern guy.”

“Okay, a text then,” Marco tried. 

“And say what exactly? That I’m too lame to ask her out in person?” Tom argued, his tone much sharper than he meant it to be.

Marco huffed, putting his hands on his hips. “Well you don’t have to be so harsh. You asked me here for advice, remember?”

Tom nodded, giving his friend a sheepish look. “Right, sorry. Force of habit.” 

Marco gave him a small smile to let him know he accepted the apology before continuing to go over ideas in his head. He started to pace the room, trying his best to avoid anything on fire or with something sharp and spiky on the end (which was mostly everything). He voiced his thoughts out loud, hoping that would help him come up with something faster. “Well if you can’t tell her how you feel then maybe you could… show her how you feel.”

“And how exactly would I do that?” Tom asked, his tone raising some against his will. He thought he had already done that since everyone on Mewni seemed to know about his feelings for the creepy girl. What more was he supposed to do, make a statue in her honor? Crawl to her on hands and knees? Summon an army of the undead for her to use at her bidding? Actually, that last one had promise. 

Marco shrugged. “Get her something you know she would want. Something that will prove to her just how much she means to you!”

“So you’re saying I buy her love with a gift?” Tom asked with a small scoff.

“I mean-”

“Cause I’m not completely opposed to the idea,” the hot-headed teen finished. Looks like he was going with the undead army, after all. Now he would just have to find a way to convince his parents…

“No, no, not like that!” Marco quickly interjected. “I’m just thinking if you get her something that shows just how much you care about her, it'll tell her how you feel without words and then maybe that'll help break the ice or whatever. Get you guys actually talking."

Tom turned that around in his brain for a second. “It would have to be pretty special if it’s gonna do the talking for me,” he pointed out. “Like we’re talking one-of-a-kind, incredibly rare, and probably very expensive levels here.” 

“That’s true,” Marco said, sitting down next to Tom. 

“Dude, at least put down a towel first,” the demon boy instructed, referring to Marco’s still soaking clothes.

“I’m sure it’ll dry fast,” Marco replied with a sheepish grin. Returning to the subject at hand, the boy added, “So, uh, any ideas on what exactly to get Janna?”

“Other than an undead army I got no clue,” Tom said, looking more and more frustrated by the second. His cheek flames had nearly reached his eyes at this point. “I just don’t know what I could possibly get her that’s as rare and special as she is!”

Marco gasped, an idea springing into his head. “That’s it, Tom! I know what to get her!”

“You do?” Tom asked, surprised.

The hooded teen nodded, a bright and happy grin on his face. “We need to get her the Perfect Sandwich!” 

Tom’s face instantly deflated. “A sandwich is gonna win her over?” he deadpanned.

Marco was practically shaking in excitement, squealing to himself. “Not just any sandwich! This sandwich only appears once every 999 years! They say it’s the tastiest, most delicious, most irresistible sandwiches to ever exist! According to Kelly, some wars were fought over that thing!” 

“Sounds perfect!” Tom exclaimed, feeling hope flare up in his chest. “Where do I buy it?”

Marco let out a long laugh at the question, only to realize from his friend's annoyed face that it hadn’t been a joke. “You can’t buy it, Tom,” Marco explained. “You have to find it.” The hooded teen paused before adding with dramatic effect, “On a quest!” 

“Quest?” Tom whined. Of course there was a catch. There was always a catch. “That sounds like a lot of work for some stupid snack.” 

“Oh but it’s totally worth it, trust me,” Marco reassured him. “I mean, at least, that’s what Star and Kelly said.” 

“But I can’t go on a quest!” Tom shouted, throwing his arms wide, causing several objects in his room to light on fire (thankfully none of them Marco). “I mean, I don’t even know the first thing about quests! Especially some sandwich quest!”

“Lucky for you, I know all about it!” Marco exclaimed, puffing out his chest proudly.

“And how many quests have you been on?” Tom asked skeptically.

Marco shrunk a bit in his seat, twiddling his fingers nervously, before admitting, “Well, actually this is my first…” Seeing the doubtful look on his friend’s face, Marco quickly added, “Buuuuttt Star and I were planning on going on it together and she knows everything about them!” 

That did make sense. Tom had heard from Star several times as kids how her dad loved to take her on camping trips which were apparently incredibly intense. The young princess had had a plethora of horror stories to share with him, whether he wanted to hear them or not. “Alright well that’s a bit better but I don’t see how it helps me?” the flaming teen snapped, trying to hold back his frustration but it was getting harder by the second. 

“Easy, you can just come with us!” Marco eagerly proclaimed. Tom hopped up off his bed, turning to his friend with a disbelieving look. “Wait, is that even an option?!” The prince questioned loudly. 

“Well, yeah,” Marco responded, with a simple shrug. “I mean why wouldn’t it be?” Tom felt his cheeks flush awkwardly, embarrassed for not seeing the option sooner.

“I guess I just thought you and Star would want to quest alone,” he admitted sharply, his frustration at himself turning into outward anger. Not again, he thought bitterly. 

But Marco didn’t seem to mind, just shaking his head and giving his friend a reassuring grin. “I’m sure Star wouldn’t care if you tagged along,” he told his friend and it almost hurt how nice Marco was being to him. “The more the merrier, right?”

Tom rubbed anxiously at the back of his neck, annoyed with himself for behaving so uncool around someone, even if that someone was a total dork like Marco. He would have to do better when confessing to Janna. “Guess so.” 

Now Marco stood, grabbing Tom’s face with his hands which caught the demon boy completely unawares, staring back at his friend incredulously. “Besides, Tom, this isn’t about a sandwich anymore,” the hooded teen began dramatically, his sun cheekmarks spinning animated circles. “This is about love! And there is nothing more important than love!” 

Tom gave his friend a cool look, all nervousness gone at once as he deadpanned, “Please stop being weird.” He slapped Marco’s hands away, putting a bit of distance between him and his enthusiastic companion. 

Marco ignored this, though and just declared boldly to Tom’s messy and overheated room, “I, Marco Diaz, swear on my life that I will help you earn Janna’s love!” 

“Cool,” was all Tom said in reply, trying his best to stay calm despite the racing of his heartbeat and the nervous energy building in his chest. He wasn’t sure what he was anxious about now, the quest or the idea of finally confessing to Janna.

…

“I just don’t get why you insisted on wearing that dumb cape here,” Tom commented as he and Marco stepped through a portal into the ‘Sandwich Dimension’ as Marco had called it. 

“It’s my adventure cape,” Marco insisted, swishing the bright blue cape around dramatically. He had shed his usual attire of a red hoodie and jeans and decided to wear something more fitting of the quest they were about to embark on. He wore a plain grey undershirt with a short sleeved, navy blue jean jacket. He had on black fingerless gloves and matching black jeans with several rips and tears in them to make him look “cooler”, or at least that’s what Tom had said when he started cutting them without Marco’s permission. And to top it all off was his new cape that had a large ‘M’ written on the back of it. “Star’s dad gave it to me,” he explained, looking quite proud of himself.

“Why does it smell like meat?” Tom asked skeptically, pinching his nose for emphasis. 

Marco shrugged. “Maybe meat is the smell of adventure.” 

 Tom rolled his eyes but said nothing more on the subject. He was too nervous to focus on picking apart Marco’s outfit. He couldn’t believe he was actually here, on some dangerous sandwich dimension, about to risk his life for a worthless scrap of food just for the slim hope Janna might return his feelings. This was stupid, probably one of the stupidest things he’d ever done (and he had a long list to draw from) and yet here he was. He would much rather be home playing video games but for Janna he would make an exception. She was worth getting outside his comfort zone for. 

“So where to first?” Tom asked briskly, hands in his pockets as he observed his surroundings. The dimension was not what he was expecting. The place looked like a fairly normal dimension: tall, lumpy trees, billowing fog, grey landscape, nothing to write home about. In fact, Tom didn’t really see what all the hype was about. When Marco had described how dangerous this dimension could be, Tom had been expecting more flesh-melting rain or spike pits or at least some decent lava. But no, the only word the hot-headed prince had to say about this dimension so far was boring. Maybe this quest wouldn’t be so bad, after all. Or at the very least short.

“Star said to meet her at the rock shaped like a club sandwich,” Marco replied cheerfully. The two scanned over the nearby landscape and saw nothing resembling the rock they were looking for. 

“And where is that exactly?” Tom asked sarcastically.

Marco shrugged. “I’m sure it’s close by.” The Mewman boy looked up at a tall tree before turning back to his friend. “Here give me a boost up and I’ll see if I can spot it.”

Tom moved to help, putting his hands together so Marco could use them as a handhold, the boy grabbing onto the closest branch and quickly climbing up the tree. Tom, meanwhile, leaned against the trunk, watching as small sticks and leaves fell from Marco’s rushed footfalls. 

“Y’know, I was really expecting Star to need more convincing to let me tag along,” Tom admitted, trying to fill the silence with light conversation. 

“Why? I thought you and Star were good friends now?” Marco’s voice echoed down. 

A sad look flashed across Tom’s features. “Yeah, I guess,” the hot-headed teen said with a pained tone. He quickly buried these emotions behind an iron mask as he continued more confidently, “Guess I just figured she’d want to make your little quest just the two of you. So she could have you all to herself.” 

Tom inwardly smirked at the comment, before he heard a branch snap above. He looked up just in time to see Marco fall and land hard on the ground, a pile of broken sticks and leaves laying underneath him slightly breaking his fall. Marco groaned in pain as he slowly sat up, looking at his friend with a dazed expression. “Wow, you are really bad at climbing trees,” Tom observed, offering his friend a hand up.

Marco gave him a sheepish smile and accepted the help. “Uh, yeah I just got distracted by… something,” the boy muttered nervously, his flushed cheeks giving him away in a second. It was pretty obvious what had caused him to slip-up, especially when Tom caught a hint of a smile on Marco’s lips. 

“Surrreee,” Tom said teasingly. “So did you see the rock or are we back to square one?” 

Marco nodded. “The first one! It’s just over this hill.” The boy then led his friend in a light jog up the hill. Once they were at the top it was easy for Tom to spot the rock, in fact, it was impossible to miss. It was a massive eyesore in the middle of the woods, easily the size of a small house and then some. And just like Marco said it was in the perfect shape of a club sandwich, Tom was even able to see the rocky shaped layers of meat and cheese complete with a tiny olive on top. The hot-headed teen would be impressed if he cared anything about sandwiches but at the moment he had more important things on his mind, like love. 

Marco, however, seemed quite in awe over the dumb rock, gaping up at it open-mouthed as if it was the greatest thing he had ever seen in his life. So since his dorky friend was distracted, Tom took it upon himself to search for Star, the blonde nowhere in sight and he frowned angrily. Geez, Star, being late is my thing, not yours, Tom thought, inwardly fuming with rage.

“Woooow, this thing is so cool,” Marco whispered, completely enraptured over the rock.

Tom rolled his eyes. “It would be cooler if Star decided to actually show up on time.” 

“Hey, look who’s talking!” a voice said from above and the two looked up to see Star standing proudly on top of the sandwich rock, looking cool and confident in her new outfit. Star had done up her hair in pigtails but with layers of velvet ribbon weaved expertly through them and her headband had been changed to match the color, the spikes on it standing even sharper than normal. She had on a dark purple dress with a fluffy color and leather sleeves with a skull on one arm. Her leggings were now pink with splashes of purple layer them and she had on brown hunting boots. A small sword rested at her side instead of her cute cloud purse and her wand had been transformed into a bow and arrow which she kept on her back. Marco’s eyes nearly popped out of his head when he saw Star’s new ‘questing’ look, he knew his girlfriend could make anything look good but this was a whole new level of gorgeous. 

Marco’s mouth was slack-jawed, his burning red cheeks soon spreading to his whole face, while his cheekmarks glowed pure white for his love and surprise towards his amazing girlfriend. Star just grinned back at them with an assertive stance, the sun just happening to shine directly behind her, making her whole body glow with otherworldly beauty. “‘Bout time you two showed up,” Star called down to them teasingly, sounding as confident as she looked. The blonde then leaped off the massive rock, doing a small flip in the air and landing gracefully on her feet in front of them. Marco thought his heart might explode with how amazing his girlfriend was. If the new outfit was what was making her this sure of herself then she needed to dress like this more often! “I was starting to consider leaving without you,” she added, looking directly at Tom while she spoke. 

“Oh, ha, ha,” Tom shot back with a fake laugh. “We’re not that late, I think you need to get your watch checked.”

Star smirked at him, before saying with a noticeable glee in her eyes, “Or maybe I should get you one so you won’t be late all the time.” 

Tom and Star frowned at each other for a few seconds before bursting into laughter. 

“Star!” Marco exclaimed, finally recovering enough to speak. He latched on tightly to Star’s arm, hugging it tightly while starring up cutely into her eyes, “You look so cool! I didn’t know you owned any outfits like this! You look like a real huntress!” 

The blonde royal flushed bright red, her free hand brushing nervously through a few loose bangs. “Oh, this old thing,” Star guffawed humbly. “Nah, this is just something I found at the back of my closet. It’s nothing special.”

“But it is!” Marco insisted, moving so he was now face to face with his girlfriend, clutching her arm even tighter. “Can’t you see how amazing you look?!” 

Star finally gave in to the compliments she was receiving, beaming brightly in joy and pride. “You look pretty good yourself, Diaz,” she said in an openly flirting tone. She lifted a corner of the cape, admiring the soft fabric before saying, “I mean just check out this cape! It makes you look so bold and daring! Who knew my dad was so fashionable when it came to capes?!” 

“And it makes me smell like bacon!” Marco added proudly. “Go on, smell me.”

Star giggled, before leaning over and giving him a quick sniff. She nodded her head approvingly. “Yep, bacon does smell good on you.” Then without warning, her lips met her boyfriend’s in a long, deep kiss. Marco was startled at first but quickly melted into it, loving Star’s kisses more than anything in any dimension. The blonde grabbed onto the front of Marco’s cape, dragging him in closer to her, while the boy instinctively dipped her back holding her gently by the hips, his long cape billowing around the pair like a blanket, a gentle breeze causing it to flutter gracefully. 

The moment the couple’s lips locked, Tom shielded his face from the view, trying not to let his awkwardness show as he stared off in the opposite direction. He didn’t mind them kissing, he really didn’t, but it always made him feel out of place. Like he was intruding on a private moment that he wasn’t worthy enough to be a part of. He wondered if the rest of their friends felt that way when Star and Marco got the urge to make-out in front of them but he doubted it. Maybe once I have my own girlfriend to do that with, it’ll be better, he reasoned, trying not to let the thought of Janna distract him too much.

Tom risked a peek but wasn’t surprised to see the two hadn’t even stopped for air. Either his friends had really impressive lungs or they had learned to live without oxygen, whichever it was, Tom was envious of them. He clapped his hands together loudly, the noise making the two jump and finally part enough to breathe. Their cheekmarks had started glowing white again (something Tom had noticed happening a lot when they kissed) and they looked at him with dazed, confused expressions as if they had just remembered he was there. “Sooooo, you wanna actually start this quest within our lifetime or would you prefer to keep making out instead?” Tom asked sarcastically, crossing his arms in front of his chest and raising an eyebrow at his friends. 

“Oh yeah, good idea,” Star said, reluctantly pulling away from Marco but making sure to grip on tightly to his gloved hand. 

Marco nodded his agreement, though he still seemed slightly lightheaded from the kiss. “Sure, Tom. Whatever you say, Tom,” he said with a distant sigh. 

“Great,” the hot-headed boy said dryly. “The sooner we start this quest, the sooner I can make Janna my girlfriend.” He couldn’t help but grin at the chill that ran up his spine from this statement. It was the first time he had really said ‘Janna’ and ‘girlfriend’ in the same sentence and really meant it. It no longer felt like a fantasy or heartfelt wish. After today, Janna really would be his girlfriend! No more nervous flirting or failed attempts to woo or impress her. This horrible phase of pining would end and he could start falling in love with the girl of his dreams. More than he already had from afar. 

“Aww, I think it’s really sweet you want to confess to her this way, Tom,” Star said in a supportive, friendly tone.

“Yeah, well there aren’t many options left,” Tom replied regretfully, scratching at his cheek.

“I mean you could always tell her how you feel,” Star suggested and the boy quickly changed the subject. 

“Uh, yeah, you're sure it’s okay if I take the sandwich after all this work you're gonna go through for it?” 

“Oh yeah, it’s fine,” the blonde royal reassured him. “I’m just happy to be involved in your matchmaking.” 

“Besides, the real prize for us is getting to go on a quest together,” Marco pitched in.

Tom rolled his eyes at the sappy response, responding in a smooth tone, “Well then, we better get this quest started right away. Don’t wanna waste a second of daylight, right?”

Star and Marco both nodded, before heading off in the direction Tom assumed was wherever the Perfect Sandwich was being kept. He didn’t question their directions, just following obediently behind them. Although he did stop in his tracks for a moment when Star mentioned cryptically, “Good point. Especially since night is when the crumb rats come out to feed.” Tom opened his mouth to ask but decided he would live a much happier life by not asking and simply picked up his pace, hoping to never learn what exactly a crumb rat was. 

…

Tom quickly decided he hated this dimension with a passion. Not only was this place bland and forgettable and a complete waste of his valuable time but it also just had to be way bigger than it had any right to be. The prince didn’t know how long he and his friends had been walking for but it felt like an eternity and he hated every second of it. There was just nothing to do! At this point he would have preferred stuff trying to kill him since so far the greatest danger they had encountered was a bush with poisonous berries and not even the deadly kind! If he wasn’t doing this for Janna, Tom would have gone home a long time ago. But then he was doing this for her so he felt compelled to at least see this boring quest through till its end. 

Marco, on the other hand, acted as if this was the greatest dimension he had ever seen. He was gasping and pointing out every leaf, stick, or bush that caught his eye, somehow finding their blandness appealing. They had to stop a couple of times so Marco could take a picture with his phone, each time Tom grinding his teeth together to keep from growling in frustration. He knew it wasn’t Marco’s fault he had never been to any cool dimension before but still all the temperamental teen wanted to do was find the stupid sandwich, go home, and play video games.

Tom was so distracted sulking, he almost didn’t spot the sharp dagger flying towards his face! The boy let out a scream and ducked under the blade just in time to avoid being impaled. Star and Marco both turned to their friend in concern only to see someone jump out from behind a bush, brandishing a large knife. “Tom, look out!” Marco yelled in warning while Star drew her bow-wand, pulling back the string to fire off a magic arrow. 

The cloaked figure rolled under the shot, before slamming into Tom’s chest feet first, using their momentum to knock the boy down. Star fired off a series of arrows at the stranger, trying to somehow take them down, but they dodged around each one fluidly, every step getting closer and closer to the young couple.

“That’s it!” Star shouted angrily, spinning the bow around in her hand a few times before it turned back into her regular wand. “Try to dodge this! Spider with a Top Hat Blast!!” A spark of light later a small spider stood in front of the blonde royal, its top hat opened to reveal a machine gun inside. “War cry!!” the small spell shouted, before shooting off a barray of tiny top hats at lightning speed towards the attacker. The cloaked figure was somehow able to dodge around the tiny hat-shaped bullets, zig-zagging around each projectile, slowly gaining speed on their victims. 

Star could hardly believe her eyes as her most powerful spell was thwarted with ease, too stunned to think of a spell to try and fight back with. The blonde watched as the mysterious figure reached the tiny spell, swatting it with the back of their sword before sending it flying over the treetops, Spider’s tiny yell fading off into the distance. 

“Spider, no!” Star yelled after her small friend, turning just in time to see the figure coming at her, sword raised high overhead. The royal quickly transformed her wand into a sword, ready to block the blow from the deadly weapon. But the figure didn’t seem interested in attacking, instead stabbing the sword into the ground and using it to vault them over Star’s head. They then hit the ground running, heading straight for Marco. Star screamed out in warning but Marco had already spotted the enemy coming. 

The boy let out a scream and moved to jump out of the way only for the cloaked figure to sweep his legs out from under him, causing Marco to land hard on his stomach, knocking the breath out of his body for a moment. Marco glanced up weakly, seeing through his pain-filled vision that the shrouded figure now stood menacingly over him and he curled up into a ball, trying his best to cover any vital organs. He waited in terror for the strike that was surely coming, waiting for pain to overtake his body, for his life to come to a brutal, violent end-

Whack! “Ow!” Marco exclaimed as something lightly tapped him on the head, rubbing at the small bump that was forming. “You’re dead,” the cloaked stranger said slyly, resting the flat end of the blade on their shoulder. Marco’s eyes widened though as he recognized the voice of their attacker, spluttering out in complete disbelief, “Higgs?”

The hood was thrown back to reveal fiery red hair, a freckled face, and a sly smile. “‘Bout time you figured it out, idiot,” she said, offering him a hand up. 

“What the heck are you doing attacking us?!” Star fumed, her cheeks puffing up in anger, making her whole face go red, her hearts turning into small explosions. 

“Yeah, seriously, what’s the deal?” Tom asked hotly, aggressively patting himself free of dirt, his own cheeks now burning volcanos. “I thought you were supposed to be on our side.”

“I’m off the clock,” Higgs explained simply. 

“So that gives you the right to try and kill us!” Star exclaimed.

Higgs scoffed. “Don’t be so dramatic, Your Highness. I’m a professional, you guys were never in any real danger. I just wanted to ruff you all up a bit.”

“You threw a knife at my face!” Tom shouted, pointing to said face, which by now was ablaze with rage. 

“Oh relax, it was plastic,” Higgs assured them, resheathing her sword. “If I really wanted you dead, you already would be,” she added in a disconcerting tone.

 Star just rolled her eyes. “What are you doing out here, anyways, other than trying to scare us to death!?”

“Same thing as you, I assume. Trying to get my hands on the Perfect Sandwich,” Higgs explained.

“Oh perfect,” Tom muttered under his breath. “Just what we need, more distractions.”

“That’s great!” Marco excitedly pitched in, moving towards Higgs for a hug. “Then that means you can come with us to-”

“Whoooa!” Higgs exclaimed, holding the boy back with one hand to his forehead. “Slow down there, nerd! Who said I was teaming up with you guys?”

“Well I just figured you would want to,” Marco explained, giving her an innocent, puppy dog look. Higgs blushed and turned away from the boy to keep the power that look held from fully taking hold. 

Higgs gave Marco a gentle push away, causing him to stumble back a few steps. “Sorry, my dude, but I already got a team.”

“And are they as murdery as you?” Star asked bitterly.

“Eh, depends on my mood,” a voice said from the bushes and Tom’s face instantly went pale. He closed his eyes afraid to turn and face the smug teen who undoubtedly had emerged from the bushes to taunt him. No, no, not her! Not now! 

“Hey hotshot,” a soft voice whispered in his ear, their warm breath tickling his ear. 

Tom screamed and jumped a good foot off the ground, before turning to Janna with a scowl. “Janna!” he growled, grinding his teeth at his crush in frustration, for a moment his anger winning out over his heart. “What the heck are you doing here?!”

“Looking for the sandwich, duh, thought that was obvious,” Janna said, doing a little hair flip that drove Tom’s heart mad (which was probably why she did it). 

“Wait, you're here with her!?” Star exclaimed, pointing to Higgs in disbelief.

“Actually we both are,” Jackie said, stepping out into the open as well. 

“Jacks, you too!” Star whined. She couldn’t believe all her friends were turning on her. 

Jackie just shrugged. “Sorry but she made a convincing argument.”

“But I thought you hated Janna,” Marco pointed out, looking over to the redhead for an explanation. 

“I do,” Higgs said plainly, though there was a bit of spite in her tone. “But in order to craft the perfect team for this job, I needed them both. So, I decided to put our differences aside and work together this once.”

“Aw, thanks Higgs,” Janna said in an overly sweet tone, giving her a clearly mocking grin as she batted her eyes at the girl, leaning heavily against the embarrassed Tom.

“Just. This. Once.” Higgs reminded her, jabbing a finger in her direction with every word. 

“Welllll, this is actually perfect!” Marco proclaimed, clapping his hands together once. “You two don’t have to work together at all!” He shot a wink to Tom, before adding, “We can just have Janna join our team and-”

“No way!” Higgs quickly interjected. “You can’t just start stealing teammates from me! I don’t care if you are the crown princess and the prince of the Underworld! This is my team and I decide who goes and stays!”

“Aw, thanks Higgs,” Janna said sarcastically. 

“Shut up, I still don’t like you!” Higgs shot back.

Tom shot his friends a pleading look, inclining his head ever so slightly towards the smirking Janna and the couple nodded in understanding, Star even giving him a wink to let him know she’d take care of it. “Well then, why don’t you add Tom to your team?” she asked as subtly as she could.

“And why would I do that?” Higgs asked sharply, raising a skeptical eyebrow. Janna also eyed Tom suspiciously and he did his best to look in the other direction and ignore her. 

“Because he could be really useful to your team,” Marco explained, shooting her a winning grin.

“He can light himself on fire,” Jackie remarked to Higgs, catching on to the plan. “Could be useful for fighting off any enemies we encounter.” 

“We don’t need him for that. That’s what I’m here for,” Higgs said matter-of-factly, shooting the idea down instantly. “I already got the perfect team, I don’t need anyone else. I’m the leader and fighter, Jackie is here because she’s the only person I know who has rock climbing training, and Janna has a weird, obsessive knowledge of this dimension.” 

“I could teach you about it sometime,” Janna said to Tom flirtingly and his eyes lit up with happiness. “That is if you survive.” The spark went out as fear rose up in the boy, all three eyes growing wide with worry. 

“Oh come on, Higgs,” Star insisted. “Can’t you do this one thing for us?! Not as your rulers but as your friends?” 

“Right now, I have no friends, only allies and enemies,” Higgs said with a violent and foreboding gleam in her eye. Marco, Star, and Tom all took a step away from the girl knight, clearly off-put by her offhanded threat. 

“Don’t you think that’s a little extreme, Higgs?” Jackie asked in a scolding tone.

“Hey, who’s in charge of this team?” the redhead snapped back. 

“Nobody,” Jackie and Janna said as one. “You just started bossing us both around,” Jackie added with a monotone voice. 

“Because I’m the leader!” Higgs barked. “Now let’s get going before these losers try and convert us with their lame love and friendship.” She marched off in a huff of pure negativity and stubbornness, spurred on by her single-minded drive to win. 

“Welp, guess that’s our cue to leave,” Jackie said, before giving her friends a wide, sheepish grin as she snapped on her helmet. “Sorry for all the trouble, dudes. Good luck!” She then took off after Higgs on her skateboard, leaving a small trail of dust behind her. 

Janna and Tom’s eyes met for a moment and the boy felt a deep longing clawing away at his heart. The beanie-wearing teen stared at him expectantly, her eyes glittering with some kind of hope beyond just her typical playful mischievousness. Tom opened his mouth to speak, to perhaps talk her out of her decision, but the words didn’t come. His anxiety got the better of him again and so he just swallowed and said, “Uhhh, good luck, Janna.” He offered her a hand to shake. “May the best team win, I guess.” He chuckled awkwardly, wishing the ground would just suck him up and free him from this situation. 

“Oh we will,” Janna said slyly, crossing her arms in front of her chest. “Try not to die out there, hotshot.”

Tom felt a flicker of anger and shot back aggressively, “Oh you don’t need to worry about me, I can handle a little nature.” 

“Oh really,” the creepy girl replied, hiding a cryptic smile. 

“Yeah, in fact, I think you should be more worried about yourself,” Tom replied, feeling a competitive streak start to overpower his instincts. “Cause I’m gonna beat you so hard, you’re gonna wish you never even heard about that sandwich.” 

“Is that so?” Janna’s eyebrow raised and Tom started to feel his heart beat fast. Was she actually finding this impressive? Was she flirting with him? Maybe this was his chance to-

“You’re standing in quicksand,” she said simply, before turning and following after her group. 

Tom looked down to see everything up to his ankles was gone, buried underground as the soft dirt betrayed him and turned into sinking sand. “Oh come on!” Tom yelled to the heavens, demanding to know why they chose now of all times to listen to his nervous thoughts. 

“Hang on, Tom!” Star said, her and Marco at the boy’s side in an instant, both grabbing an arm and pulling as hard as they could. The hot-headed teen’s body however seemed determined to stay where it was, the dirt latching onto him and becoming an impossibly sticky and persistent substance. “We’ll have you out in just a second!” Marco reassured his friend but Tom was having his doubts about that.

“Take your time,” Tom grumbled, looking to Janna's retreating figure sadly, watching as she disappeared from view, his heart sinking faster than the quicksand. He let out a regretful sigh, feeling low… or maybe that was just his body sinking deeper into the deadly sand. Either way, it was still painful.

Marco noticed his friend’s depressed demeanor and said in a positive tone, “Hey, so I know things aren’t going exactly as we planned but, uh, we can still make this work!” 

“Like maybe telling her how you feel,” Star suggested through gritted teeth, digging her heels into the ground as she pulled on Tom with all her might. 

“No way!” Tom exclaimed fearfully, before quickly hiding it behind a confident mask. “We just need to get to that sandwich first. Easy as pie.”

“But don’t you think competing with Janna ruins the whole point of the plan,” Marco skeptically wondered, even stopping his efforts to free Tom for a second to ponder this course of action.

“Marco, pull!” Star yelled in a strained tone, her arms feeling like lead and her back starting to ache. 

“Oh right!” Marco grunted as the two gave one last pull on Tom’s limbs, their combined force enough to finally rip the teen free of the quicksand. The three were thrown into a heap on the floor and all sat up deliriously, rubbing at their several aching limbs. 

“Marco’s right though, Tom. Are you sure there isn’t a simpler solution to this?” Star asked, sitting up on hands and knees. She and her boyfriend watched Tom closely as they waited for an answer. Tom paused to think for a second before hopping to his feet decisively, brushing himself down.

“Relax, girls love a little competition,” the flaming teen declared confidently. A little too confidently. “You’ll see, after I beat her to that sandwich she’ll be begging to be my girlfriend.”  

Star and Marco shared looks of doubt, the young couple wondering what they had just gotten themselves into. However, Marco did add reluctantly, “Uhhh, but you know they are way ahead of us, right?”

…

“How many pits of quicksand are there in this stickin’ dimension!?” Tom shouted as his friends were once again having to pull him out of the sticky substance… for the sixth time in a row. He looked down at the brown sludge with distaste, adding, “And what even is this stuff, anyways?!”

“It’s peanut butter quicksand,” Marco explained, giving another sharp tug on Tom’s arm. “This whole area is filled with them.”

 “Which you would have known about if you hadn’t rushed ahead of us before we could tell you,” Star pointed out bitterly, her frustration beginning to show.

“Yeah well, I’m the reason we’re so far ahead of those three, thanks to my clever shortcut,” Tom replied defensively, turning his head to the side in a pout. He didn’t appreciate being lectured by his teammates. After all, they were only there to help him, the least they could do was not constantly point out his mistakes.

“Oh yeah you falling down that hill really helped save us time,” Star sarcastically replied, rolling her eyes. She gave Tom’s arm a very rough tug and the boy cried out in pain, before glaring the blonde royal down.

Marco, seeing an argument about to ensue, cut in, saying in a cheery tone, “Buuutt on the bright side, at least we are ahead of the others.” 

“That’s what you think!” Higgs' voice rang out and the group all stopped their pulling to look over and see the red headed knight approaching, her two teammates following closely behind her. 

“Seriously?!” Tom yelled, his cheek flames simmering as the tips of his hair began smoking. The peanut butter quicksand started to melt under Tom’s intense heat, not quite enough to free him though. 

“There’s quicksand all over the place,” Marco yelled in warning as he saw the three girls weren’t slowing their approach. “Be careful!”

“Ha, that’s exactly what I brought my expert for!” Higgs called before slowing her pace some. “Janna, I choose you!” she yelled, holding out a hand dramatically as the beanie-wearing teen pulled ahead of her, reaching into her jacket pockets and pulling out two jars of grape jelly. 

“Jelly?” both Star and Marco questioned as one, cocking their heads to the side. Neither had returned to freeing Tom from the sandy deathtrap he was still waist deep in. 

Janna used her thumbs to pop the lids of the jelly off before whipping the jars through the air dramatically in front of her, causing delicious jam to go flying. The technique proved super effective, as the whole ground in front of her was coated in grape-y goodness, blending in perfectly with the peanut butter so she was able to walk across the quicksand with no issue. She continued to fling the jars back and forth in her grip, spraying jam all over her path, creating safe passage across the untrustworthy ground. Higgs and Jackie also had no issue getting across, the redhead shooting a triumphant grin to her stunned competition. 

“B-B-But how?!” Tom exclaimed in complete disbelief. Star and Marco seemed equally as flabbergasted by what they were witnessing, too shocked to speak. 

Janna stopped to shrug. “Hey, what’s the one thing that goes with peanut butter? Jelly.”

Tom was too stupefied to respond to that, just spluttering out nonsense and half-sentences. 

“Which reminds me,” Janna continued calmly, reaching into her jacket pocket again and pulling out a new jar, this one bright red. “You guys are gonna need this.” She tossed the jar towards them and Marco caught it with ease. “Thank you!” Marco said, waving to his friend.

“Don’t say I never did anything for you, hotshot!” Janna yelled over her shoulder just before her and her team were out of earshot. 

Tom’s face was bright red the moment she was gone and he wished the quicksand would just hurry up and do the job. He wasn’t sure he could ever live today down and it wasn’t even over yet. Could today get any worse?

“Hey, strawberry,” Marco commented, turning the jar where the two could read it. 

“Aren’t you allergic to strawberries, Tom?” Star asked, slowly raising an eyebrow.

Tom let out a long, deep sigh. “Yes.”

…

“Keep going! Run!”

“There’s too many of them! We’ll never make it!”

“Yes we will don’t give up hope!” 

“Ow! OW! OWWWWW!! It got me, I’m hit!”

“Marco noooo!” Star yelled, turning to her boyfriend, fearfully. One of the giant grilled cheese sandwich monsters had the boy tightly in its clutches, the boy struggling to escape its claws. Star pulled back the string of her bow-wand, a glowing magical arrow appearing, before she released the string, sending the beam of magic hurling towards the beast. The arrow lodged into the sandwich creature’s stomach before exploding into a burst of light and magic, destroying the creature and dropping Marco safely to the ground. 

Star ran over to help her boyfriend up, looking him over for injuries. “Marco, are you okay! Does anything hurt!” she yelled in fear. 

Marco shook his head. “No. Thankfully my cape broke the fall,” he explained, holding a corner of the cape up for Star to see, the end now singed. 

“Would you two focus before we end up these things’ next meal?!” a voice yelled from above and the two looked around to see more of the sandwich creatures emerging from the lava that surrounded the group on all sides. The creatures oozed burning hot cheese, their bready torsos black and charred, and each one had a sharp layer of dripping fangs. They had long thick arms made of pretzels, their gnarled fingers sharped to a fine and deadly point, making them creatures to fear. Tom was using his flames to float above the battleground while also trying to shoot the sandwich creatures off the few volcanic rocks they had to get them across the lava moat but it was proving ineffective against the beasts, fire only made them stronger. 

Star pulled Marco behind her for safety before pulling back the string of her bow once more, ready to unleash a volley of magic arrows on the beasts. “Why are they attacking us anyway?”

“Is this part of the quest?” Marco asked nervously.

“Well duh, they're obviously the Guardians of the Sandwich!” someone shouted from up ahead. 

Tom turned to glare at the beanie-wearing girl and her team. “You knew about these things?! Why didn’t you give us a head’s up!”

Janna shrugged, watching as Higgs made quick work of her own cheese-filled opponents. “I figured you’d like a surprise.”

“Not one that could kill us!” Tom screamed down to his secret crush. 

“Uhhh, did you seriously forget you’re immune to lava?” Janna commented, gesturing to the boiling liquid for emphasis. 

Tom was lost for words for a second before finally replying, “No. I just… I’m worried about the rest of you. I mean, Marco burns easy.”

“It’s true!” Marco yelled from further back.

“Aww, that’s cute,” Janna said, twisting a small stand of hair around her finger. “But you don’t need to worry about me. I can handle myself.” Just as those words left Janna’s mouth, Higgs kicked one of the unfortunate monsters back, causing it to roll back into the lava it came from. It’s sharp pretzel nails dug into the rocky ground, trying to keep itself from falling in completely and a small crack followed, billowing out towards where Janna was standing. Soon the rock split open and the creepy teen could only let out a gasp before she fell towards the deadly lava beneath her. 

But luckily, Tom was faster, heating up his flames to their very limit so he could move fast enough to snatch Janna up just in time, saving her from her deadly plight. He held the girl bridal style, flying her high above the danger, trying to ignore the blushing in his cheeks or heavy pounding in his heart as he gave her a smooth grin. “You were saying,” he said sarcastically, his gloating nature and heroic victory giving him escape from his awkwardness for just a moment. 

And then to Tom’s immense surprise, Janna actually blushed and turned her head away from view as if she was embarrassed? At first Tom thought it was a trick since he had always believed Janna was incapable of such an emotion, then he wondered if his body temperature was too high and her cheeks were turning red from the uncomfortable heat but that didn’t seem to be it either. But the next words she spoke shocked him to his very core. “Well I’m never gonna live that one down,” she uttered, her tone surprisingly soft and fragile. 

She finally met his eye and there was honest gratitude in her clear gaze. “Thanks for the save,” she said, the closest Tom thought Janna could come to sounding sweet. It was clearly a challenge for her to get the words out, to give up her pride by admitting defeat. He knew normally she would put up a much bigger fight. Was she doing this… for his sake? Tom realized that had to be it. Janna was always in control of herself, so if she was dropping her guard for him and accepting humility then she was doing it consciously. Which only left Tom more stunned. Janna always managed to surprise him but this had to be the strangest thing she had ever done. 

And it was probably the most romantic thing anyone had ever done for him.

Suddenly, the nervous butterflies returned to fill his stomach and seal up his tongue as he stuttered out a much too late response, “U-Uh, y-yeah, sure. I do fly good. I mean I’m pretty good at flying. I mean, uh, nevermind.” Tom’s cheeks were no longer burning just because of his powers. The humiliation was back again, too. Just perfect. 

Tom set Janna safely down on the other side of the lava path, the others still courageously fighting their way across. The boy stood there awkwardly for a few seconds trying to think of something witty to say but with Janna this close no words came to mind. Luckily, Janna seemed to have recovered from her shock as she smirked at him and asked in a playful tone, “So, you’re just letting me and my team be in the lead, huh? Thought you and your team were interested in winning?”

Tom frowned at her. “Well I mean technically I’m here too, so right now our teams are tied.” 

“And what if I try and go on ahead?” Janna asked, a mischievous smile on her face. She was clearly enjoying this game. “Are you gonna stop me?”

Tom snorted. “Please, I’d love to see you try and get past me.”

Janna gave him a flirting look as she leaned in closer to the boy, making him very nervous, which he did his best to hide. “Well I hate to break it to you, chief,” the beanie-wearing girl said softly in a breathy tone that made all other thoughts in Tom’s brain come to a screeching halt. “But you might want to check up on your team.”

Tom was so distracted by his racing heartbeat that it took him a few seconds to process this, blinking at the girl with a lost look. Janna just inclined her head in the direction of the lava and rock path, the boy glancing across with a spaced-out expression. That was until he saw that Star and Marco were surrounded by at least eight of the beasts and clearly in need of help and his brain returned to him. “Oh no!” he screamed, before flying off to help his friends just as Higgs and Jackie reached Janna, the two girls beating off all the sandwich monsters with ease. 

“So what’d we miss?” Jackie asked, raising an eyebrow at her roommate. 

Janna shrugged. “Nothing much.”

Higgs let out a frustrated groan. “Good, because we don’t have time for it!” she snapped, before turning to the towering, rock structure before them. “Now let’s get climbing before the others catch up.”

“Sure thing, O Bossy One,” Janna said, doing a fake salute. 

Higgs ignored this insult as she turned to the skater girl. “Jackie, do your thing.”

“There’s too many of them! I can’t fight them all!” Star screamed, taking a step back when one of the grilled beasts strutted forward. She aimed her bow back and forth at the three that were approaching, trying to ward them off from coming any closer but the beasts seemed to know their prey was cornered. She was back to back with Marco, who was staring up at his own two sandwich monsters fearfully. 

Marco glanced sadly over his shoulder, wanting to get one last look at his girlfriend before the end. So this was how his quest would end, eaten alive by a boiling grilled cheese sandwich monster along with the girl of his dreams. It definitely wasn’t how he was expecting to go out. He only wished Star wasn’t there, so at least one of them would make it out alive. “Star, if this is the end, there’s something I need to tell you,” Marco said in a grim tone. He felt tears in his eyes as he finally admitted, “You were the best smooch buddy I’ve ever had!”

“Oh, Marco!” Star gasped out, tears flooding her own vision and she lowered the bow to her side so she could gently grip Marco’s hand in her own, one last time, unafraid of what came next. “You too! You were the best smooch buddy a girl could ever have!” 

All five beasts roared as they went in for the final kill, Star and Marco closing their eyes tight. Only for a ring of fire to burst up from the ground around the two, completely blocking off the beasts who all paused their assault in confusion. This gave Tom enough time to swoop down and scoop up his two friends from their perilous situation, gripping each of them around the waist. “Geez, you two are so dramatic,” Tom commented, rolling his eyes.

“Tom!” Star and Marco screamed as one. “You saved us!” Marco added excitedly. 

“Well, duh, I wasn’t going to let my two best friends die before we complete our quest, right?” Tom replied smoothly.

Star rolled her eyes. “Oh right, cause that’s all we’re good for,” she countered.

“You know what I mean,” Tom replied. “And good news is, I can fly us right up to the top of the mountain so we’ll be way ahead of the others.” 

“Sooooo, why didn’t you just do that in the first place?” Marco asked curiously.

Tom blushed before admitting, “Uhhh, I didn’t think of it.” 

Star and Marco just giggled before flashing each other loving grins, just happy to be alive and safe and, most importantly, together. The three soared freely through the sky, Tom directing them high above the treetops, aiming for the large mountain in the perfect shape of a club sandwich. The group soon spotted Jackie, Janna, and Higgs climbing up the mountain's stone face, the skater girl expertly scaling the structure with ease, while her companions were much further down, the three all linked together with bungee cords around their waists as a safety measure. 

As Tom flew past them, Jackie stopped to wave, yelling, “Good luck, you guys!” 

“Jackie! Stop cheering for the competition!” Higgs barked, fuming now that her team was lagging behind the enemy. “We need to focus on winning!”

This caused Jackie to stop her ascent, looking down at her friend with a scolding look, "Higgs I know you want to win but don't you think your taking this whole thing too far?" 

"Uh, no!" Higgs exclaimed, trying to avoid any movement as she clung tightly to the rock wall. "I'm just doing what's necessary to win."

"By yelling and treating your friends like dirt," Jackie pointed out.

This caused Higgs to hesitate, her stoney facade slipping slightly. "You just… wouldn't get it," she finally muttered, not meeting Jackie's eye but still avoiding any eye contact with the ground. Jackie really couldn't have picked a worse time to bring all this up, when Higgs was at her most vulnerable. She had been too brave and proud to admit her crippling fear of heights and had no plans to mention it either. Which was why she now was very much regretting her decision to come up here, since it was unlikely she could keep her fear hidden for long.

Jackie let out a long sigh before saying, "Maybe not. But I think if you want to keep your friends, you might think about changing your perspective a little." 

"Okay I'll think about it! Now can we just go!" Higgs exclaimed, trying to block out all the fearful things around her. Here she was dangling hundreds of feet off the ground, the distance a tangible force that seemed to be pushing down on her. She could feel the fierce wind on her back, sending shivers down her spine. She tried to hide the shudder but Jackie had picked up on it already. The skater instantly knew the source of Higgs' discomfort and took pity on her, continuing their climb without another word on the subject. Janna, however, was not so kind. 

She turned to the redhead with a knowing smirk asking, "What's wrong, Higgs? Dont care for climbing?" It was clear from Janna's tone she had discovered the night's dirty secret.

“Oh shut up,” Higgs mumbled, her cheeks now as red as her face. Janna snickered and Higgs probably would have punched her, if she didnt fear movement of any kind right then. Still, she made a mental note to get back at the creepy teen later.

Once Tom, Star, and Marco were back on solid ground again, ending up at the mouth of a large cave carved into the center of the mountain, they all let out cheers of joy. “We did it!” Marco yelled, throwing his arms wide, making his cape flap heroically in the wind. “We beat the quest!”

“Yeah, that wasn’t so bad!” Tom admitted, smiling in relief. It had been long, exhausting (not to mention humiliating) work but the prince was just happy to finally have it over with.

“I knew you could do it, Tom!” Star exclaimed, wrapping her arms around her friend's neck. “Now you can finally tell Janna how you really feel!” 

Tom blushed before replying softly, “Uh, yeah…” he paused, before adding nervously, “But I mean, hopefully once I give her that sandwich I’m sure she’ll be the one begging to be my girlfriend.” 

“Uh, wait, back up,” Star said, placing a hand on his shoulder and giving him a concerned frown. “I thought the whole plan was to break the ice with her by giving her the sandwich as a gift. And then you tell her the truth.”

Tom shrugged, clearly trying to pass it off as nothing. “Well, you know how it is,” he said smoothly, waving a nonchalant hand in the air. “Plans change. This is gonna be much more effective, trust me.” The boy then turned and strutted through the cave opening, leaving Star and Marco lost in concerned thoughts. 

Within the damp cave, Tom had expected to find the Perfect Sandwich sitting on some pedestal or something, waiting to be claimed and devoured by its owner. Maybe there would be some bold spotlight shining down on it from the heavens or a red carpet leading up to the otherworldly treat, something to make this whole stupid quest worthwhile. But the only reward Tom received upon entering the cave was a large wave of bad breath from the enormous monster asleep in the middle of the cave. The beast was easily the size of a house and shaded a dark purple color that looked almost grey in the dim lighting. On its back were hundreds of tubes jutting out of it’s back that would pour out hot air with every breath the beast took. The creature seemed lost in a deep sleep as it snored loudly, breathing hot and disgusting breath all over the poor prince. 

Tom nearly gagged but managed to hold it in as he pinched the bridge of his nose and examined the beast closely. What did this thing have to do with the perfect sandwich? “Whoooaa,” he heard Marco utter behind him and turned to give the two a cynical glare. He gestured up at the beast, his eyes demanding an explanation for this creature instead of his well-earned prize. “What the heck is this thing and where is my stinkin’ sandwich?” he whispered angrily. 

Marco scratched at his chin in thought. “Wellll I do think Kelly mentioned the sandwich having a guardian. I just assumed those sandwich guys were it.” 

“Then where’s the sandwich?!” Tom hissed, trying to hold back his temper as best he could.

“Maybe it’s in one of those tube thingies?” Star suggested, pointing up at the creature’s back. 

Tom let out a long sigh before declaring bitterly, “Fine, then I’ll get it myself.” He flew up onto the beast’s back and started looking into each hole for any signs of his great reward. 

Star, however, feared waking the beast and so quickly called up to her friend in a whispered yell, “Tom, wait, don’t you think you should take it slow?” 

“There’s no time,” Tom replied, digging his hand into one of the holes so he could search the bottom. “I need that sandwich now.” 

Seeing her friend was beyond reason, carefully and slowly climbed up the beast’s side, Marco watching her nervously with held breath. She grabbed Tom’s wrist gently, hoping to stop him from making a terrible mistake. “Tom, hang on, there has to be a better way.” 

“Well then you're welcome to come up with it,” Tom snapped at his friend, pulling out of her grip. “Meanwhile I’m finishing this quest.”

Star held in a groan before trying again. “Why are you being so stubborn about this? You can’t keep changing the plan on us and expect us to be okay with it-”

“Look, are you on my team or not?!” the prince hissed, glaring back at his friend with red, glowing eyes. “I thought you were trying to support me, not hold me back!” 

“I am!” Star shot back defensively, her tone raising along with her friends. “You’re just being too stubborn to listen to me!” 

“Because I can handle this by myself! I don’t need you!” Tom countered, leaning in close to Star’s face.. 

Star matched his intimidating stare, shoving her face right into his, so they were literally nose to nose. “What is the matter with you?! Why are you getting so worked up over this!” 

Marco cringed as he watched his friends breaking out into a fight, his brain searching for some way to get them to make up, not wanting a repeat of last time. But before he could come up with anything realistic, a grumbling caught his attention. He looked over at the beast and saw that it was shifting restlessly in its sleep, its eyes squeezing shut in some attempt to stay asleep. “Um, guys?” Marco whispered nervously up to his friends, taking a large step back. 

“Because it’s important to me!” Tom shouted. “Something I guess you just don’t understand!” 

“Seriously?! I let you come on this quest entirely because I did understand! The only thing I don’t get is why you are insisting on rushing everything and making it worse!” Star threw her hands in the air for extra emphasis. 

“Guys…” Marco muttered, watching fearfully as the beast started shifting around in its sleep, looking close to waking.

“I don’t have to take this,” Tom declared, turning and sticking his hand straight down into one of the tubs without looking. “I have a girlfriend to win.”

Star scoffed, crossing her arms. “Oh yeah, like that plans gonna work!” the blonde said sarcastically. “Have you even met, Janna? If she was gonna confess to you, she would have done it already!”

“Guys seriously, I think you should stop-”

“That’s just because she hasn’t seen what a cool guy I am,” Tom shot back, looking a little hurt by this. 

Star leaned over the tube Tom was digging around in, shooting him a disdainful look. “Noooo, she already has feelings for you, she’s only waiting because you won’t confess to her face!” 

“Guys!” Marco yelled just as the beast’s eyes shot open. A loud yawn filled the cave as the beast stretched out it’s stubby limbs, Star and Tom holding on tight to the tube, steam blowing their hair wildly around as the beast slowly woke. The beast rubbed one of its eyes lazily, before glancing down at its feet where it spotted Marco. The creature leaned down so it was level with the trembling boy, who gave a nervous wave and smile. Then the beast released an ear-splitting roar and every single one of the tubes poured out a thick layer of hot steam. Star and Tom were both shot into the air thanks to said steam, screaming in fright before they landed directly inside the very same tube, which expanded to fit their size as it swallowed them whole. “Star! Tom!” Marco screamed, terrified for his two besties. 

But Marco had other things to worry about as the beast jumped towards him and he had to roll out of the way to avoid getting crushed by huge feet. The beast then turned to him with a snarl, a deadly look in its eyes. Marco slowly backed away trying to think of some kind of plan. The beast tried to swipe at him and he took a step back, just barely avoiding the paw, before turning and running as far away from the creature as his feet would take him. The creature continued to chase Marco around the cave, the boy zig-zagging in some attempt to dodge the beast. Despite its massive size, the beast wasn’t very fast so thankfully Marco was mostly able to avoid it but he couldn’t run forever and he knew it. 

Finally the cape-wielding boy jumped behind a rock for cover, hoping it was enough to buy him time. Luckily, the beast seemed to have lost track of Marco, looking around the dark cave and sniffing the air. Marco panted heavily as he slowly stood up, peeking over the top of the rock to try and watch the creature’s movements. The beast had its back to Marco, sniffing suspiciously around a rock that was oddly in the shape of a human. Marco breathed a sigh of relief, wiping some sweat off his forehead, thankful he was safe from the beast for a moment, only for his phone to ring, his favorite song ‘Space Unicorn’ playing at top volume. This drew the creature’s attention as it charged at the rock at top speed, Marco jumping out of the way, just in time to avoid being crushed as it rammed into the rock, shattering it. 

Marco ran for his life, quickly answering his phone and yelling into the speaker, “Yes, this is Marco!”

“Marco, it’s us,” the voice of Star said and Marco nearly cried with relief. 

“Star! You’re alive!” 

“Yeah but we’re both stuck in this tube-thing,” Star explained in a strained tone. 

“Okay, don’t worry, I’ll come rescue you!” Marco declared bravely.

“No! You’ll only get stuck too! Go get Higgs and the others, hopefully Janna will know a way for us to get out.”

“Okay, I’m on it!” Marco said, still as confident as before.

“What? No way!” Tom protested from the other end of the line. “I’m not asking them for help! I don’t want Janna to see me like this!”

“Well it’s either that or we stay stuck in here forever!” Star snapped.

“....I can live with that.”

“Tom, we’re getting Janna,” Star said, her voice leaving no room for argument. “Think you can handle that Marco?” she said into the phone.

“Yep, don’t worry! We’ll have you out of there before you know it!” 

“Great, I believe in you,” Star said, before hanging up the phone. 

“Why did you do that?!” Tom demanded, the second his friend was off the phone.

“Uhh, maybe because I don’t want to be stuck like this forever!” Star exclaimed, gesturing to their current position. The two were wedged tightly together in the small tube, several limbs entangling thanks to the close contact. There wasn’t even enough room for them to stand so that left them in an uncomfortable crouch, staring each other down.

“It’s not so bad,” Tom argued weakly.

“No offense but I’m not fond of the idea of dying in here with you,” Star said plainly. 

Tom let out a long groan. “Yeah, yeah, I know…” he muttered before staring sadly down at his feet. “I just didn’t want Janna to know I screwed up.” 

“What is the deal with you lately?” Star asked, giving her friend a concerned look. “I mean I get you want Janna to like you but don’t you think you’re going a little overboard?”

“I just wanted everything to be perfect,” Tom exclaimed, his voice echoing around the small tube, his words jumping back at him and mocking him. “I needed everything to be perfect.” 

“Yeah well, you tried that and look how that turned out,” Star pointed out in a deadpan manner. Seeing the depression in her friend’s eyes she added in a softer tone, “Tom, what’s really going on? Why are you acting so weird?”

“It’s nothing. Just forget about it,” Tom stubbornly replied.

Star rolled her eyes. “Oh come on, we’ve been friends for how long? You really think I can’t tell when something’s bothering you?” 

Tom stared blankly ahead for a few seconds before slamming his head back into the tube. “I just wanted Janna to like me, that’s all,” he admitted bitterly.

“Well then why didn’t you just tell her how you feel?” Star asked in confusion. “Instead of going through all this and having to play up the whole cool guy act, which by the way, wasn’t really working.” 

“Because I can’t,” Tom simply replied.

That response didn’t surprise Star. Tom always was a stubborn one. “Sure you can! I’m sure if you just tell her the truth then she’ll-”

“You don’t understand, I can’t be myself, I can’t mess up with another girl!” Tom shouted, tears surfacing in the corner of his eyes. 

“Wait, another girl?” 

Tom’s eyes widened in fear and he quickly looked away from his friend. “I-I didn’t mean that…”

“What are you talking about, Tom?” Star asked, giving him a quizzical look, trying to read his nervous facial features. “Did you… like someone before Janna?”

Tom took in a long, deep breath, shifting uncomfortably as he seemed to be debating with himself to admit whatever secret was hiding deep within himself. For a moment he seemed intent to stare at anything but Star’s face but finally he met her glance and her soft expression, parted the words from his lips. “Yeah, I did. I used to have… a crush on you.”

Star was stunned. Her eyes went wide and she just stared at her old friend in complete shock, suddenly the awkward closeness they were stuck in felt even more awkward. Her whole face heated up with a blush as her brain scanned over all their times together as kids, searching for answers. “M-M-Me?! You had a crush on me?”

“Uh yeah, wasn’t that obvious?” Tom asked, his own blush beginning to form. “I mean the way I’d always hang around you and do stuff with you all the time and get jealous when you’d spend time with anyone else.”

“I-I mean, I just always thought you were a little clingy,” Star stuttered, her brain still reeling with this knowledge. 

“Why do you think I hated Marco so much when I first met him? Or why I fought so hard to win you back?” 

“Welll, I-I-” The two’s faces were now both painted red, not able to make eye contact. The silence just continued to stretch until they both begged for it to end but neither knew what to say to end it. “Ummm, sooo…” Star started, struggling to word things right. “Do you… still have a crush on me?”

Tom shook his head. “No, not anymore. I guess for a while I ‘thought’ I did but when Janna came into the picture I didn’t know what to think.”

“So when did you stop, stop?” Star asked gently, trying to ease him into the question.

“I guess during the Blood Moon Ball when I found out you were dating Marco. I guess that was when I let myself realize my true feelings for Janna.” 

“I didn’t know,” Star admitted, putting a hand on his shoulder. “I’m sorry I never realized…”

“It’s okay, I never told you because deep down I knew you didn’t feel the same way,” Tom replied, giving her a friendly grin. “And even if I did it’s not like I did anything to really earn you.”

“Tom, come on, don’t do that to yourself! You’re a great friend and you’ve come so far since-” Star stopped, realizing now the moment Tom was so afraid of repeating, why he was so awkward around Janna and trying so hard not to mess things up.

Tom finished for her, saying in a sad, depressed tone, “Since I ruined our friendship. I let my anger and jealousy take over and it nearly ruined everything. It certainly killed any chance we had to get together.” The boy slammed his head back into the wall again, satisfied at the light pain it caused. “And I can’t do that again! Not with Janna! I really, really like her! I can’t mess it up! But now I’ve ruined everything again! There’s no way she’d ever want to date me after all this!”

“Tom, calm down!” Star interrupted, raising her voice enough it was able to cut through her friend’s panicked meltdown. 

Slowly, the boy’s breathing went back to normal, staring straight into Star’s blue eyes, begging for help, for answers. “But what if I mess it up again? Like I did with me and you?” Tom asked, his eyes searching for genuine advice, flooded with terror and self-doubt. It was clear he no longer trusted himself to make the right decision, instead looking to Star for answers, trusting in his friend and past crush for help. 

And despite the confession, despite the slight awkwardness built between them, and the tight space they were both uncomfortably crammed into, Star couldn’t betray that trust. Tom was important to her, he was a good friend and she wouldn’t let some silly past crush prevent herself from seeing that. “Look, Tom, what happened before with me and you, that’s in the past. You’re not the same guy you were back then. You’ve grown so much since that day and I think it’s time you showed Janna that.”

“How do I do that?” Tom asked.

“By doing what I’ve said to be doing all along, being yourself,” Star explained, grabbing his face and holding it in place so she could make sure the message was getting through. “You hear me. No elaborate plans, no cool guy act, no showing off, just be honest with her.” She released him before saying with a casual smile, “It’ll do wonders, trust me.”

“Hmmmm,” Tom hummed to himself, his head tossing the idea over a few times. Star didn’t speak as she waited for her friend to come to his own conclusions, watching as his head tilted back and forth indecisively. “Just be honest,” he mused out loud. “Bold. Definitely risky. But… I like it.” 

Star rolled her eyes. “Great. So hopefully that’ll be the end of Mr. Charge-Right-Into-Danger-And-Get-Us-Eaten,” she said in a playful tone.

“It was one time!” Tom shouted defensively. 

“Like 20 minutes ago,” Star shot back, matching Tom’s aggressive tone.

Tom scoffed. “That’s like an eternity in Neverzone time,” he said dismissively. 

“Not in the Neverzone,” Star pointed out. 

 Once again their glares turned into mutual laughter, the uncomfortable tension finally lifting as their friendship finally overpowered the awkward confession. They continued to share the giggle fit, letting it stretch on for as long as the other would allow before it finally began to die down on its own. “So, are we.... good?” Tom asked, once they had both regained composure. 

“Yeah, we’re good,” Star replied, giving him a friendly smile. 

Tom let out a breath of relief, before admitting, “Thank goodness, I was worried I’d have to move to a new dimension after admitting that.”

Star giggled a little. “Naaaahhhh, maybe just one of the swamps. Those things are perfect for hiding away in. Or y’know maybe a cave… so long as there isn’t a deadly yarn monster inside.”

 Tom’s smile was immediately traded for an annoyed frown, the boy growling under his breath as his cheek flames simmered. “Ugh, you screw up one time and people don’t let you live it down!” he proclaimed dramatically, crossing his arms in front of his chest. 

“Y’know, I’m starting to sense a pattern of you getting me almost killed by a giant beast,” Star thoughtfully added. 

Tom rolled his eyes. “Yeah, well, same for you,” he snarkily replied. But then on a more serious note he added with slight irritation, “Speaking of, you think those guys can take any longer to free us?”

At that moment, hot air started blowing all through the tub, pushing powerfully against Star and Tom, the two screaming in surprise and discomfort, helpless against the hot wind. It wasn’t long before the pressure managed to shove them out of the tight space, propelling them high into the air. Star pulled out her wand and quickly summoned Cloudy for them to land on, who floated them both gently to the ground. Once Cloudy disappeared in a puff of smoke, the two fell to the hard floor in a disheveled heap, their clothes wrinkled and their hair nothing but messy, tangled knots as they panted heavily, clinging onto the ground for dear life. 

“Star!” Marco called joyfully, tackling his girlfriend in a tight hug. “You're okay!” his voice was choked with worry and Star gave him a reassuring squeeze. 

“Yeah, I’m good,” she replied, although her voice trembled some. 

“What the heck just happened?!” Tom exclaimed, much more outward with how shaken and confused he was.

“I’ll tell you what happened,” the smug voice of Higgs spoke up, standing over the three in a superior manner. “We just saved your life, duh.” 

“Uh, actually Janna saved them,” Jackie pointed out from behind her.

“Details, details,” Higgs said, waving the comment off. Jackie gave her a disappointed frown that Higgs caught out of the corner of her eye, the redhead adding sincerely, "But yeah, I guess for once that trickster actually did something right." Jackie cleared her throat, prompting the redhead to continue, "And I guess… I'm happy you guys are okay."

But the arrogance returned as Higgs pridefully declared, "Good thing I was here to help save the day!" 

Jackie smiled and rolled her eyes, stepping over to offer her friends a hand up, thinking to herself, Baby steps.

“You good, dudes?” she asked, as she pulled Tom back to his feet, Marco doing the same for Star. 

“Yeah, I think so,” Star replied honestly, while trying to flatten her hair back into a decent shape. “Just really hoping I don’t have to do that again.” 

“I’m sorry, how did we get out exactly?” Tom asked again, still not quite understanding how he was free and alive. 

“See for yourself,” Jackie said, before gesturing over to the giant beast. The creature was laying on its stomach, panting happily as Janna scratched its belly, a calm smile on her face. 

“Janna… tamed it,” Star said in shock.

“Of course she did,” Tom muttered dryly. 

“Oh hey, guys,” Janna said, noticing the attention was now on her. “Glad you could join us.” 

Tom moved closer to the girl, close enough he hoped the others wouldn’t be able to eavesdrop,  giving her a warm, if not anxious smile. “Uh, hey. Thanks for saving us and all that.” 

“Well we can just call it even, hotshot,” Janna casually replied, finally stopping the pets the creature she was perched on top of so desperately wanted. The beast let out a little whine as she jumped off its belly, landing just a foot away from Tom, who flushed instantly. The sandwich-carrying beast continued to whine but when Janna ignored it in favor of Tom, it sulked off to the corner to pout. 

Higgs and the others all went over to raid the beast for the tasty treat it was carrying, the redhead moving with enthused speed. Jackie pet the beast to keep it calm while the others searched the tubes on its back. 

“Right,” Tom responded, feeling his nerves threatening to give out at any second. Out of desperation to not humiliate himself he quickly called on his laid-back and cool demeanor, declaring smugly, “Well, as a thank you, how about I let you go out with me sometime?” 

Janna’s eyes widened for an instant before returning to normal, the only indication of shock she allowed her face to show and she quickly put on a holier-than-thou grin. “Well, I’d have to check my schedule and get back to you,” she quipped. She turned as if to leave and Tom panicked, shouting out to her, “Wait!”

She froze, before slowly turning back to him with that cute, annoying grin that always made his heart go crazy. But he ignored it this time, what he had to say was too important to mess up and for just a second he glanced over at Star for support. The blonde royal and Marco were helping Higgs search for the fabled sandwich, rooting around in tube after tube, but she seemed to notice Tom's eyes on her because she turned her head just enough to meet his eye, flashing him an encouraging grin and a thumbs up. The lightness of Star’s smile gave Tom courage as he remembered the conversation they had had just moments before. 

He let out a long, slow breath, letting the butterflies in his stomach settle and the pumping of his heart slow to a more manageable beat. Then, most importantly, he dropped all facades, all acts and personas he had used his whole life to try and fit in. He didn’t think about how he could embarrass himself or that Janna might reject the real him, thus crushing all the confidence he had spent years building up in one blow. No, he was just going to tell the girl he liked how he really felt, because she deserved the truth and for once, he was going to be honest with himself above all else. “I… I have something important to tell you,” he admitted, his cheeks already starting to heat up both from the wild and uncontrollable burning of his cheekmarks as well as the blush that was settling over them. 

Janna opened her mouth to comment but Tom cut her off. “Don’t talk!” he shouted, more intense than he meant to and so corrected himself by speaking in a gentler tone. “Please, just let me say this first.” Janna gave him a contemplative look for a moment, before shrugging and shifting positions on her feet so she was standing more comfortably. She put a hand on her hip, while gesturing to him with her other hand, letting him know to continue. 

Tom nodded a few times before he started again, clenching his hands tightly together to keep from panicking. “I like you.” The words spilled out of his mouth faster than he could stop them. He squeezed his eyes shut, feeling the blush continuing to spread. “I think you’re really cool and weird but like in a good way. And I don’t have many people who can tolerate being around me for too long but you don’t ever seem to mind and that’s really special to me.” He was clenching his fists so hard his palms were starting to bleed. “When we danced at the Blood Moon Ball, that was probably the happiest moment of my life because it felt like I was finally with someone who got me, probably more than I got myself.” He chewed on his lip for a second. This was the hardest part to admit, the part of himself he hated the most. But Janna was worth it. She had shown her hidden sides to him before, so it was only right he did the same. “ I probably don’t have to tell you I have trouble making friends. I mess up… a lot. And I tend to ruin things for myself thanks to my temper.” 

Tom sucked in a deep breath, trying to keep the tears from falling. “So that’s why for the longest time I didn’t know how to confess to you. So I tried to put on an act and impress you, so hopefully you wouldn’t reject me. Heck, I even came to this stupid dimension to get you a sandwich because I thought that was the only way you’d like me! But, I’m done playing games. So, here you go.” He spread his arms wide. “The real Tom. Take it or leave it.” 

Janna’s face was unreadable, a mask of indifference and silent contemplation. Tom could feel his heart pounding out of control, fearful he had just made the biggest mistake of his life. He didn’t know how Janna would respond to his confession. He could never predict Janna, that was why he liked her but for once he wished she was easier to read. Because just standing there with his arms outstretched like he was waiting for a hug while the girl of his dreams just looked him up and down with judging eyes, almost like she was silently calculating his worth, well it was easily the most awkward situation he had been in all day. And that was saying something, considering how many parts of him were still covered in peanut butter. Finally, he added in a low murmur that only made his face heat up even more, “You can talk now, by the way.” 

Tom didn’t dare make eye contact with her just yet, choosing instead to focus on the far wall, his cheeks so hot from his blush it was amazing his whole body wasn’t aflame from embarrassment. He heard no response from Janna at first and he worried that once again her attention had been stolen by something else, like it had back at that Monster village. Just as he was about to risk glancing over at her, he felt something flick him in the forehead and he let out a small cry of pain and surprise. 

Janna just laughed, her voice surprisingly sweet and gentle now and Tom was entranced by this laugh, fascinated to hear anything like it come from the mischievous Janna’s mouth. Said teen had probably the widest and happiest grin on her face Tom had ever seen and it caught him completely off-guard. He had been expecting her to be very Janna about the whole confession, teasing him and messing with him, but not this. Janna really was unpredictable. “About time,” she said in a smug tone, something Tom was more familiar with. “I was starting to think you'd never confess."

"Wait, you did know!" Tom exclaimed loudly, his embarrassment forgotten. So Marco had been right all along, everyone had known about his crush.

Janna rolled her eyes playfully. "Uhhh yeah, we danced together, we kissed and you've been tripping over yourself ever since."

Tom huffed in annoyance. "Yeah, yeah, I get it! I'm not subtle."

"Did you really think I wasn't smart enough to put two and two together?" Janna continued, very lightly grabbing the front of his shirt.

"Honestly, it's hard to tell with you sometimes," he admitted, folding a hand gently around hers, his fingers brushing against her knuckles. "For all I knew you were just messing with me."

Janna shrugged. "I guess that's fair. I'd be lying if I said it wasn't slightly intentional."

Tom scoffed. "Typical Janna. Why do you enjoy tormenting me?"

"It's fun," Janna simply replied.

"So is that all it was?" Tom asked, feeling vulnerable asking such a heavy question. The one that had been on his mind for months, keeping him awake at night, coming to him at the worst times just to mock him. "Just a trick to mess with me?" He couldn't help the sadness that creeped out of his voice, fearing the heartbreak that was possibly coming.

“Do you seriously not know?” she asked in a deadpan. Tom nearly shook with fear but managed to keep an even face as he waited for her to answer. Janna took the hint and shook her head disapprovingly, making Tom’s fear spike even more. “Well let’s put it this way then,” the creepy teen continued before slamming her lips against Tom’s, causing the boy to stumble back in surprise. 

Before his racing thoughts could even begin to grasp the situation, Janna’s lips were moving against his, leading him in a passionate kiss that was unlike anything Tom had ever experienced in his life. The whole world melted away, a spark ignited in Tom’s heart and spread all the way to his lips, electricity dancing around him and Janna. A flood of endless desires began to pour out of him as the kiss deepened, a great need finally fulfilled making him feel lighter, like he was floating on air. 

Flames began to burn around the two, swaying up and down in a gentle rhythm, lighting up their faces in a soft glow. Finally, a need for breath pulled Janna away from Tom’s wanting lips, the two panting as they stared into each other's eyes. The creepy girl couldn’t help but smile in victory as Tom’s cheeks turned into flaming hearts, no doubt lit by the fire in his soul. “So, did that answer your question?” she asked, giving him a teasing wink for good measure.

A bright, goofy smile lit up Tom’s face and he didn’t bother to hide it, he wore the expression with pride as he said out-of-breath, “Hmmm, maybe we should do it one more time to be sure.”

Janna was still holding onto the front of Tom’s shirt and drew him in closer, saying in a flirty, breathless whisper, “Alright then, just tell me when it clicks. I know you tend to be a slow learner.” 

Tom let out a chuckle before prying her fingers from his shirt, smoothing down the wrinkles. “Alright, alright, let’s not get too carried away. After all, we do still have an audience,” he pointed out and Janna glanced back at Star and Marco who were watching their friends intensely, hands clutched in a loving manner. 

“To be continued then,” Janna replied simply, slipping her hands into her pockets. 

Tom cleared his throat, which was now impossibly tight. “So, uh, I’m guessing that means… you’d be open to go on a date with me?” he asked, wanting to make things official, just in case Janna tried to twist things around on him. Knowing her, she would continue to milk the situation for all its worth if Tom didn’t clarify. 

Janna gave him a mischievous glance, realizing what he was doing, but surprisingly gave him a simple, honest answer. “Sure. I’d love to.” 

“Cool,” Tom said, his cheeks still blushing bright red. 

They both rejoined the group, Star and Marco immediately giving them bone-crushing hugs and squealing in delight the whole time. Jackie even called out her support to her roommate, unable to do more with the sandwich creature keeping her pinned under its weight. 

The flaming teen smiled, feeling happier and more confident than he had in a long time. He had finally gained Janna’s affection. Not by playing the part he thought she would accept or by impressing her with some extraordinary act but just by being himself, who she accepted despite all his faults. It was all he had ever asked for and he couldn’t be more content than that. Especially when he felt something tap his hand and he looked down to see Janna’s hand opened in offering. Tom happily accepted, standing there hand-in-hand with Janna, feeling like the luckiest guy in any dimension ever.

"YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!" Higgs screeched, drawing everyone’s attention onto her. “It’s gone! The sandwich isn’t here!”

“Are you sure you just didn't miss it?” Marco asked, only for Higgs to give him a death glare. 

"Okay, guess not," the boy nervously added, rubbing the back of his neck to relieve the goosebumps that had surfaced there. 

"But it can't just be gone," Jackie pointed out. 

"Oh it's not," Higgs said, holding up a small slip of paper for all to see. "Someone got to it first."

Everyone gave Higgs sheepish looks (except Janna), knowing they were each partly responsible for that. "But why would they leave a note?" Star asked in confusion.

"To rub it in our faces probably," Tom grumbled, sticking his free hand into his pocket.

Higgs slid down the side of the beast, her eyes never leaving the note before she collapsed in a sad pile on the floor. She held up the letter to them. "See for yourself." 

Star grabbed the note and read it aloud to the others. "Dear, Star and Marco, I heard about your plans to get the Perfect Sandwich and it inspired me to try myself. Besides, it's not like I had anything better to do." Marco rubbed unashamedly at the back of his neck, already guessing who the letter was from. "I waited for you guys but you were taking forever so I went back to Mewni to try and reconstruct the sandwich myself. Figured this way were even, trading one secret recipe for another. Sincerely yours, Kelly."

Marco leaned over Star's shoulder so he could read it himself. "Wow, Kelly has really pretty handwriting."

"I can't believe that stupid Baker beat us here!" Higgs shouted to the ceiling, clearly humiliated. 

"Wellll to be fair, she is a Woolett," Jackie pointed out and that seemed to brighten Higgs' spirits a little. 

"Besides she kinda deserved it after me and Tom ruined her secret recipe," Marco added with a guilty frown.

Tom blinked. "Oh right, forgot about that."

"So what we wasted a whole day?!" Higgs exclaimed bitterly, throwing her arms towards the sky. 

"Well not completely, I mean Tom and Janna got together at least," Marco said optimistically, gesturing to the new couple.

Higgs gagged. "Ew! Why would I care about that?!" She stood once more, hands on her hips as she asked, "What did I get out of this whole thing?! What's my reward?!" She slammed her hand into her chest for emphasis.

"Friendship?" Marco offered with a shrug.

Higgs stared at him blankly, before letting out a long sigh, massaging her forehead with her fingertips. "Better than nothing," she muttered. 

The others cut open a portal and headed back to Mewni, giving Tom and Janna a moment alone in the dark cave. 

Tom gave Janna a sad look as he told her in an apologetic  tone, "Sorry I couldn't get the sandwich for you." 

"Eh, it's fine," Janna replied uncaringly, though she did turn to Tom with a flirting smile. "I got the real prize."

 Tom flushed with a small half-smile, though that almost sounded too cheesy for Janna. "Besides, I found out Higgs has a fear of heights so it was worth it."

Tom chuckled, putting his arm around his girlfriend. "Now that sounds more like my Janna," he said, before kissing her head. "Now whaddya say we head back?' 

"Sounds good to me," Janna replied, already heading for the portal. "We do need to get out of here before the crumb rats eat us down to our bones, especially you. They consider demons a delicacy."

Tom laughed, figuring it was another joke to mess with him but when Janna didn't return the laughter he got nervous. His chuckling became awkward and forced as he asked, "Your joking, right?"

Janna just smiled cryptically and continued toward the portal. Tom was starting to breathe heavily, his gaze shifting around the shadowy cave. He heard a small scurry behind him and that was enough to get his feet in motion, running after his girlfriend.

"Janna! Janna. you're messing with me, right?! Please tell me that was a joke!!" His voice became high-pitched just as he entered the portal letting out one last cry for his mischievous girlfriend.

"JANNNNAAA!!!"

[ghostburs-blue]

Comfort Crowd

Summary: the girl who lives next door!au but with a fun lil gay twist (fem!reader, is bi)

Warnings: angst, heartbreak, etc

Word count: on the shorter side, 1.2k

a/n: happy birthday to the loml, hj <33 i’m so glad we messaged each other all those years, okay weeks, ago. the that’s homophobic chat loves you to literal death and eggsy does too <3 youre everything to me have an amazing day bb i love you! everyone go wish her happy birthday @eusuntgroot !! this is also pt 1 of my album series, where i write a fic based off of every song in an album. we’re just starting off with kid krow by conan gray :) i haven’t seen anyone do this idea b4 so pls lmk if there’s anyone who has done it!

You stared down at your phone screen in the dark of your room, finger hovering over Spencer’s contact. Before you could second guess yourself, you hit “call”.

“Y/n?” Spencer’s voice poured out of the speaker, and you choked back a sob. “It’s almost 3 am, what’s wrong?”

“Spence,” you whispered, and immediately you felt the shift on the other side of the line. “It’s over, we’re over,” you cried, unable to hold back the tears.

“Open your window,” he murmured. Without hesitation, you slid the pane of glass open. Within a second, he clambered in, rather ungracefully you might add, falling on the carpeted floor with a soft thump, and you couldn’t have been more grateful your parents were out of town. Spencer sat up and gazed at you, heart breaking slightly at the sight of you curled up on your bed.

Your head poked up from the sea of blankets around you, and Spencer’s face broke into a small grin. You made grabby hand motions towards him, and he groaned slightly, though you knew he was just messing with you.

The sound of your whine caused Spencer’s stomach to erupt into butterflies, and he gulped hard in an attempt to keep them down. Not the time, he thought to himself, making his way to your bed. You made a small space next to you so Spencer could crawl in right next to you.

He stretched out on the mattress and you both fell into the position you had been in so many times that it felt like second nature. You shifted to place your head on his stomach, feeling the calm wash over you with every rise and fall of his diaphragm. You looked up at him with adoring eyes, only to find him already gazing down back at you.

The both of you kept eye contact, and you moved back up to cuddle into his side. His arm came down to wrap around your waist, holding you tighter against him. Turning, you pressed your nose into his chest.

Spencer stiffened as he felt your tears soak into his thin cotton shirt. He lowered his head to press a kiss against your forehead, causing you to cry harder. His gentle shushing quieted you down, the sweet nothings he whispered into your ear soothing your pain.

“Are you ready to tell me what happened?” He whispered, lips ghosting against your skin as they moved. You sniffled slightly, then nodded.

“I-,” your voice broke slightly. “Caroline broke up with me,” you murmured, and if possible, you felt your heart break even further. “She- She told me she met someone else,” and just like that, all your resolve dissolved. “I can’t do it anymore, Spencer,” you cried, and you felt the shirt underneath your cheek become soggy with your tears. “I’m sorry,” you laughed slightly, attempting to dry your eyes. “Gods, this is embarrassing,” you apologized.

“Don’t apologize!” Reid exclaimed, though he felt like someone was ripping his heart out of his body while simultaneously choking him. “Caroline doesn’t deserve you and everything you are. There’s someone out there much better for you, I promise bug,” he whispered into your hair, inhaling the scent of your sweet shampoo. He shifted at the feeling of your head moving under him.

“I love you, did you know that?” You asked, feeling nothing but adoration at the sight of the curly haired boy lying next to you.

“I love you too, my sweet,” he responded, though as he tucked your head under his chin, he knew you would never love him like he loved you.

“I would give up my soul to stay here and talk with you forever,” you muttered out of the blue. Spencer’s breath hitched.

“Yeah?” He asked for confirmation.

“Yeah,” you respond, contentment spreading through your body. He pulled you closer to him, if that was even possible. Reid prayed to every god he didn’t believe in that you would never leave his life, even if that meant keeping you as only a friend.

A thought entered his head, and he sat up suddenly with a grin.

“Get up,” Spencer instructed you.

You frowned at him. “What?”

“You heard me,” he said, smiling happily. “Get up!”

With a groan, you pulled yourself up from your sheets, swinging your legs over the edge of the bed and stepping off. Spencer grabbed your hand, pulling you out your door and down the stairs.

You grumbled as he led you into your kitchen, then let out a little yelp as he placed his hands on your hips and lifted you onto the kitchen island. You kicked your feet as you watched him move around the kitchen, biting your cheek to hide a smile.

Spencer grabbed a few pasta boxes from the cabinet, then to the fridge for cheese and milk. Within 20 minutes, he had whipped up your favorite dish— his world famous mac and cheese.

You giggled, grabbing the bowl from his outstretched hands and placing a kiss on Spencer’s cheek. His face flushed, though you didn’t seem to notice.

You dug in excitedly, seemingly forgetting about why you had called him over in the first place. You grabbed a forkful and fed it to Spencer, gently grabbing his jaw to place the pasta in his mouth. Oh boy, he felt like he was about to explode.

After dinner, you cleaned up the bowls and pots. Spencer, once again, grabbed your hand and led you to another part of your house. This time, it was the living room.

He gently pushed you down onto the sofa, sitting down next to you and grabbing the TV remote. He turned on your favorite show, grabbing the throw blanket from the back of the couch and spreading it over you. You lay down, placing your head in his lap and turning to watch the television screen.

Reid looked down at you, gently pushing his fingers through your soft hair. With the light of the sitcom playing shining on your face in the dark room, eyes gleaming with amusement, he knew this was a moment he was going to remember forever.

When his hands stilled, you let out a little sound and pushed back into them. With a laugh, he continued his motions, massaging your scalp delicately with the tips of his slightly calloused fingers. You sighed happily, settling into the comfort and warmth of Spencer’s body.

You both knew the moment was bound to end. But until then, you were perfectly content to lay with Spencer for as long as you could.

“Hey Spence?” You rolled over and poked his stomach to get his attention, though he was already looking down at you. 

“What’s up?” He asked.

“Thank you, for everything,” you murmured, a smile on your face. Reid opened his mouth to say something, but you shushed him with a giggle. “You didn’t have to do any of this. You didn’t have to come over at this late to comfort me or anything!” You exclaimed. You sat up, motions exaggerated and slightly wild. Spencer stifled a laugh.

He grabbed your hands and held them in his. “Hey, listen. It’s okay. It’s what best friends do, isn’t it?” He jokes with a heavy heart. You readily agreed. 

“It is,” you smiled, laying back down in his lap.

And with that, Spencer sighed, resuming the repetitive motion of threading his digits through your hair. Deep down, he knew you would never see him as what you wanted him to. But if that meant keeping you as his best friend, he was all for it.

[theres-an-impulstor-among-us]

The GOAT Vs The Sleep King (part 1/2)

Summary: “Feel free to bring your arch nemesis over.” When xB said that about his PVP arena, he was expecting friendly competitions. Not for Doc to challenge Bdubs to a battle to the death over his destroyed statue.

…

  When xB spread the word about his PVP arena, he had been expecting friendly competitions and Hermits coming here to blow off some steam or de-stress. His first customers had certainly enjoyed themselves, and xB himself had had a blast. After all, everyone is friends here. Nobody has any real feelings of bitterness or resentment towards anyone else, right?

  Wrong.

  xB stares at his friend in surprise, not quite sure he heard him correctly. “Wait, you… you actually want to kill Bdubs?”

  “Not forever,” says Doc, as if this is obvious from the context. “I want to make him pay for destroying my precious statue but I don’t want to just kill him, cuz that would be boring and unimaginative. Also, kinda unfair. I want to give him a chance to defend himself.”

  “Uh… alright… I guess that’s okay.”

  “Good. Now call him over.”

  “M-Me?”

  “Yup,” says Doc dangerously. “Otherwise I’ll make you watch.”

  xB blinks. “Watch you play around with Bdubs like a cat toying with a mouse and then kill him?”

  Doc nods. “Do you want that?”

  After a moment, xB sighs. “No. I’ll call him.” 

  “Good man.” 

…

  Bdubs flies down to the PVP arena and lands neatly a little way off from xB, who seems a little uneasy as he approaches. “Hey, xB! How’s it going?”

  “Uh…” xB can’t quite meet Bdubs’s gaze. “I’m… I’m sorry…”

  “W-What’s wrong?”

  Before xB could reply, Doc emerges from behind one of the wooden posts. “Hello, Bdubs.”

  Bdubs’s eyes widen and he takes an automatic step back, but Doc doesn’t seem to be in any rush to attack him, so he hesitates, ready to activate his elytra and rockets at a second’s notice. 

  “You called me into an ambush?” he snaps at xB. 

  xB winces. “I’m sorry, I didn’t have much of a choice.” 

  “Hey, you should be more worried about me right now,” Doc growls. “Bdoubleo, I challenge you to a duel to the death. If I win, I’ll consider us even for destroying my statue. If you win, I’ll drop the issue.” 

  Bdubs narrows his eyes suspiciously. “Really?”

  “Yes. The only way this will end is with one of us dying. Frankly, I don’t care who.”

  Bdubs’s heart skips a beat, his skin crawling at hearing Doc say such a thing. “A-A duel, then? A fair duel?”

  Doc nods. “Yes. No potions, no armour, no shields. Just a diamond sword each.”

  “Oh…” Bdubs grimaces. He’d been hoping that he could use a shield at least. “And if I say no?”

  “Then you continue living your life constantly weighed under by the knowledge that I’m still incredibly pissed off at you and I could come by at any time to destroy you.”

  A pause.

  “R-Right,” Bdubs squeaks. “Then I-I accept your challenge.”

  “Good.” A malicious smile spreads over Doc’s face. “I’ve been looking forward to this for a long time.”

…

  Five minutes later, the two take their starting positions on opposite sides of xB’s arena. xB himself is making himself busy in the underground area, tidying up the changing rooms. He normally loves watching people duel in his arena but not today. He refuses to watch a battle that will not end well for anyone involved.

  Three other hermits, however, have gathered to watch on the sidelines: Etho and Beef, both conflicted over who they should be rooting for in this fight, and Keralis, who has brought a pair of leaf blocks to use as cheerleading pom-poms. He’s very much on Bdubs’s side. 

  “Go Bubbles!” he cheers, waving the leaf blocks in the air. “Go Bubbles!”

  Bdubs can hardly even manage a smile back.

  After a minute or so, the bell rings to indicate the start of the match.

  Immediately, Doc charges forwards with frightening speed and swings his sword. Bdubs screeches and dives to the side to avoid it, not trusting himself to parry successfully with his own sword. 

  The two clash swords a few times in quick succession, but Doc’s ferocity soon forces Bdubs to try a different tactic. He kicks Doc away with all his strength and then flees, almost tripping over in his haste. Ignoring Doc’s angry yell, Bdubs climbs up one of the wooden posts, sword in hand. He doesn’t have a bow but he knows he can’t hold his own against Doc face-to-face for long.

  Doc glares up at him. “Get down here!”

  “Come get me!” Bdubs taunts.

  He immediately regrets this when he sees Doc pull his arm back. He’s not actually gonna throw the sword, is he…?!

  Bdubs screeches and ducks as Doc’s sword sails over his head. However, the sudden movement causes him to lose his balance. He lets out a yelp as he topples off the top of the post. He lands heavily on his left ankle, which instantly snaps under his weight. Crying out in pain, he isn’t able to stop himself from collapsing onto his back, his sword slipping from his grasp. 

  Spotting Doc coming towards him, Bdubs scrambles backwards until he hits one of the wooden posts, staring up at Doc with wide, terrified eyes. Doc looms menacingly over him. Bdubs has nowhere else to go and they both know it. 

  “Doc’s gone mad…!” Beef gasps on the edge of the arena. “He could permakill Bdubs!”

  Etho decides he has to do something. It’s not right for Doc to slaughter his defenceless friend like this. So he vaults over the fence and hurtles towards his friends, followed after a moment by Beef. 

  Doc lifts his sword. 

  Bdubs weakly throws up his arms to protect his face. 

  “Stop!” Etho yells. “STOP!”

  But Doc is already swinging. There’s no stopping him. 

  Without hesitating, Etho dashes in front of Bdubs, spreading his arms out to protect him. 

  Doc’s sword cuts through Etho, killing him instantly. Etho’s items explode all over the ground as Beef grabs Bdubs and pulls him away from Doc, who drops his sword in shock and staggers back a few steps, staring in horror at Etho’s spilled items. 

  A few metres away, Beef supports Bdubs, who is holding his injured foot gingerly off the ground. “Y-You killed him!” Bdubs cries. “He’s gone; he won’t respawn! HOW COULD YOU?!”

  “No, I d-didn’t-!” Doc gazes down at his trembling hands. “I-I never wanted to kill anyone permanently! He should respawn like normal, right?” He turns desperately to Beef. “R-Right…?”

  Beef can’t bring himself to meet his friend’s gaze. “I… I don’t know.”

  At that moment, everyone’s communicators go off simultaneously with a message. 

<Etho> Respawned at my base, on my way back now

  “I-Is it Etho?” Bdubs stammers. 

  Beef puts his communicator away and nods, wrapping his arms around his injured friend. “It’s Etho. He’s okay.” 

  Bdubs lets out a long, relieved sigh and relaxes in his friend’s embrace. “Oh, thank god… B-Beef, I… I think I might pass out in a second.”

  His knees immediately give out and he sags against Beef, who adjusts his position and lifts the smaller Hermit into his arms. Shooting Doc a wary look, he turns to walk away.

  “W-Wait, Beef…” Doc hesitates. “Wh-What can I do? I want to help.”

  “Then pick up Etho’s items and put them somewhere safe,” Beef says, his tone more than a little cold. “And stay away from Bdubs.”

  With that, he walks away, leaving Doc standing despondently in the middle of the arena, wondering how this could have gone so wrong.