#dottie writes

[dottie-writes-haikyuu]

I’ve Got my Eye on You

This isn’t related to my apocalypse au! This was just for funsies!!

Sakusa was wearing a deep frown, eyes cast down as Atsumu gazed at him from his seat on the couch. 

"Omi?"

The ravenette's hands were trembling when he looked up. 

"We should clean up some," the other said stiffly. Atsumu turned around fully, concern starting to permeate his mind.

"We just did, right before ya showered, which ya just finished."

"I'm gonna take another shower," stated his boyfriend. His monotone was cracking. He turned, the blonde getting up and going over to him.

"What's wrong?" he questioned softly after getting between his lover and the door to the bathroom.

Sakusa felt more compelled to repeatedly clean an area or himself when he felt shitty; it gave him control over something and something to focus on. Atsumu had noticed that early in their relationship. The ravenette gave no reply.

"C'mon, sweetheart, yer stressed. What's goin' on? Talk ta me."

"Nothing, Atsu, I just don't feel well," came the response. He tried to get around the setter to no avail. "Just let me shower one more time, alright?"

"This a no-touch night?"

The hand reaching for the doorknob hesitated. Sakusa glanced back towards Atsumu, his face all screwed up.

"We can put the pillows between us an' just watch Shrek," the slightly shorter man softly offered. "Would ya like that?"

A nod. Kiyoomi's skin still crawled with the nonexistent dirt and bacteria he was convinced were on his skin.

"I'm gonna shower this last time, okay?"

"Don't scrub yerself pink. Am I towelin' yer hair? Baggin' yer clothes? Didja leave Maggie on the bed?"

He shook his head for the last question, not assuring that he wouldn't scrub the invisible impurities from his skin until he was pink. 

"I think you can towel it, yeah. Yes, please bag my clothes. I don't wanna have something on my skin that's touched everything else...that's disgusting."

"It is,” Atsumu agreed with a nod as if they didn’t do that nearly all the time. “M'gonna go wash my hands 'n get everythin' ready for ya, okay?"

Another nod and Sakusa went for a shower while Atsumu went to prepare the bedroom. He turned on the hot water, because the higher the temperature, the more germs died. And he scrubbed meticulously until his boyfriend came banging at the door to see if he was drowning. How you drown in a shower is a mystery to him still.

"Omi, ya doin' okay? It's been thirty minutes! Didja drown? Or slip? Are ya dyin'? Oh wait, are ya cryin’ in there? Sorry, I didn’t mean ta interrupt!”

"I'm coming out! Jesus, Atsu!" he shouted over the running water as the blonde yelled something about how he didn't need to come out because it was obvious that he was gay. 

He rolled his eyes and stepped out of the shower, grabbing a towel out of the cabinet and drying himself. He snatched another towel and wrenched open the door, throwing the cloth into his boyfriend's face and proceeding to his side of the bed where the clean, sealed plastic bag was, holding fresh, clean clothes inside. 

He dressed and noted that this specific pair of sweats was exponentially more comfortable than the others. Then he turned to the humongous stuffed tortoise that was also on the bed. He picked her up, squeezing her and breathing in the familiar scent. He could never name it, but it was the best scent he'd ever encountered. Better than his boyfriend, even, especially after a game when Atsumu's sweaty, stanky ass would hug him until he felt he may combust, be it win or loss. 

He made a pleased sound in the back of his throat, half purr, half laugh, and half sigh. Don't ask him how 3 halves fit in one sound. He'd spent too much time around Atsumu. He was lucky he hadn't picked up that fucking accent yet. He found himself on the bed, curled up with Maggie, face still buried in the stuffed animal as he vibrated like a fucking purring cat. This was how Atsumu found him. 

The blonde simply took the other side of the bed and covered one of his hands with the towel that had been thrown his way earlier, reaching over the pillow border and using this to gently dry Kiyoomi's raven curls and massage the spiker's head. 

He always felt cared about, when Atsumu did little things for him. Like remembering his order at any restaurant they ate at, catering to him but not babying him when he had a bad joints day, buying him hair products for his curly hair, carrying a mask in his pocket at all times, things like that. Atsumu was one who loved both loudly and softly. In public, there was no question as to whether they were dating. Atsumu was very much a pda person and talked about Kiyoomi…quite a lot. He felt nice, though, knowing that Atsumu could love him loudly.

He’d never had that before.

"Omi," murmured Atsumu, getting a mere twitch in acknowledgment, before Sakusa inclined his head slightly and let out a satiated sigh. 

"Feels good, mm? Hang on," his boyfriend said softly before the hand migrated lower, under his curls and directly to his scalp. He groaned, not a sexual sound, just one of deep satisfaction. "Ya still wanna watch Shrek?"

He shook his head. No, he just wanted to sleep, thank you. He reached a hand through their pillow border, pinkie extended. He felt another pinkie wrap around his own and heard the blonde shift. 

"Alright. G'night, Omi. I love ya."

"Mhm," he murmured, though it was more sigh. He was so very comfortable right now. 

"Love ya," he mumbled, the words slurring, as he still had his mouth pressed into an oversized tortoise. Then he realized the accented "you" that became "ya". He'd get hell for that later.

"Can I kiss ya? Mm? Can I give my dumplin' a kiss before bed?"

He rolled the idea over in his head before peeking over the pillow border. A gentle kiss was pressed lightly to his head by the feather-soft lips he'd had a good bit of contact with over the years. 

"Ya feelin' better?" Atsumu questioned quietly, not wanting to break this. He hummed, the blonde taking it as the yes that it was. "Cmere."

He cleared some of the pillows away to make room for the blonde to come through because Sakusa sure as hell wasn't moving. He got a snort, but his lover made his way over to him and smoothed his hair from his forehead, kissing the surface again. The ravenette felt those long lashes flutter across his head as the setter's eyes shut. 

They were like that for a while, Atsumu wrapping a loose arm around him and Kiyoomi entangling their legs.

"If yer not wearin' socks, m'gonna kill ya," he murmured sleepily, the accent he thought in (due to the fucking country bumpkin that had stolen his heart) seeping through his voice. It didn't help that he was on the brink of slumber, so he didn't feel like pronouncing the correct words fully. "Ion wan' yer nasty ass feet all over me."

"Don't worry, Omi, I'm wearin' socks. Go to sleep, sugarplum, yer tired."

He nodded, grabbing Atsumu's free hand. 

"I lob you," he said, yawning. The fake blonde chuckled softly, humming as he ran a hand through the dark curls that crowned his head.

"Love you too, honey. Go to sleep."

[dottie-writes-tmnt]

Two Sides of Two Coins

This is part 6 of my fic A New Kind of Familiar. Tags and other chapters can be found here!

Ruby felt at home among all the chaos and people like himself. Red saw his awe and chuckled, patting his leg.

Cw for attempted suicide

Watching that portal close, Leo stood, wide eyed, for a few moments, staring at where his brother had just been. Mikey whimpered beside him, staring at the same spot.

“Raphy…?”

“Donnie, what did you do?” he questioned lowly. Fishface looked perplexed but he couldn’t find it in himself to even care about the villain right now.

“I-I— it was an accident! I told him to move! We all did! Mikey pressed the button, but he had ample enough time to get out of the way!” the genius defended, voice high and squeaky in a way that it hadn’t been in years. Mikey was shaking, and seemingly braced for something. The eldest shook his head.

“Get us home. You have to figure out this mess.”

This was his fault and he knew it, but he couldn’t let any of that show in front of his brothers, he had to force his breathing to stay even, keep his fists unclenched, voice unconcerned, shaking limbs stiff. This was his fault. He didn’t have the right to get upset about it.

 

—

 

Donnie breathed a stream of curses, pulling into the Shell Raiser’s parking spot, and he felt Leo’s icy stare fall on his back.

“I’ll get started on a portal device right now. Don’t expect me to be at dinner,” he murmured, turning off the vehicle and getting out.

He knew this was his fault, he didn’t need Leo to start saying it. He’d get their brother back no matter what it cost him. He just needed time…

He could work away the sudden ugly thing eating away at his chest, leaving a swirling black void in its wake. If Mikey came into his lab crying every so often, who could really blame him for snapping?

It wasn’t like he wanted to. His head pounded and his eyes burned with unshed tears and every time he did it, and it hurt somewhere in that black hole he called a heart. But he couldn’t help it.

 

He had to get their brother back.







—





Mikey wiped his tears as he watched Leo storm over to Donnie’s lab, deciding to chase after the eldest.

“Leo, just leave him alone, if you mess with him it’ll throw him off his game,” he tried. Leo rolled his eyes.

“He must already be off of his game. It’s been a fucking week.”

“Just—“

“Mikey, screw off— “

They both fell silent when they opened the lab doors to see the genius slumped over.

“See? He’s sleeping instead of working on getting Raph back!”

“I— Leo, we need sleep to function,” he said, slightly confused.

It was no matter, though, because his big brother was already making his way over to Donnie and shaking him. Mikey just left before they could start arguing.

 

And then, a few weeks later when Mikey walked into Donnie’s lab to try to get him to eat something like he did every few days, and the sound of shattering glass reverberated through the lair?

When Mikey stared, wide eyed, at the amount of red on the floor and saw his big brother unconscious in the middle of it all, and started sobbing? When he screamed for Leo, for his older brother, running over to Donnie and shaking all over, and the only thing Leo had to say as he fixed the genius up was how selfish their brother was being?

Well, Mikey simply had to tune the blue-banded turtle out and wipe his tears. Leo was like this before, too, but he thought the eldest was better now. He supposed Raph being gone changed things.

“I miss you, Raphie,” he whispered, sitting on the edge of the bed that Donnie was still unconscious in, the heart monitor beeping. Leo had left a while ago. “Please come back.”

 

——

 

Ruby had never been to a pride parade before, and honestly? What the fuck was he supposed to expect?

“Guys, get ready, we leave in 30!” Raph called, and Leo shoved Ruby into his new room.

“Hurry up and get dressed! We all have to convince Barry to go with us,” the slider hissed, before leaving.

Ruby shrugged after a moment, putting on a jacket he’d modified a few days ago; it had all his pins and a few patches on it, so it seemed perfect. By the time he made his way to the pit, Raph was hoisting him up onto his shoulders.

“Barry said yes, so we’re going to the Hidden City. Cmon, buddy.”

 

And holy shit, there was a city full of mutants (Raph said they preferred the term ‘yokai’, which was weird because yokai were evil) underneath New York. A rabbit joined them at some point and Leo stuck to the newcomer’s side like glue. There were so many sounds and sights and colors and…

Ruby felt at home among all the chaos and people like himself. Red saw his awe and chuckled, patting his leg.

“It’s a lot, isn’t it, buddy?”

“In a good way, yeah,” he breathed, simply marveling for a while.

Raph gave a fond laugh, letting Ruby down when he asked and allowing the turtle to run around after a while.

And that’s when he met him. A lizard yokai with silver scales, dustings of gold scattered all over their figure, and yellow eyes that seemed to pierce his very soul.

The definition of gender envy, in short. And Ruby hated getting gender envy because it emulated a crush very closely.

“Hi there, I like your jacket,” the stranger said with a smile, and Ruby found his cheeks heating up the longer he stared at that perfect smile.

He knew this was gender envy, though, because his mind was focused on comparisons. Even so, he stammered out a few incomprehensible words before he got himself together.

“Thanks. Uh, what— name—“ Great, he was embarrassing himself. “What’s your name?”

The other had an amused smile, tilting his head.

“Mateo. What about you?”

“I’m Ruby. I like your scales, the pattern is nice.”

“Thank you. You have a very pretty name.”

“Thanks.”

He smiled, a genuine one this time, and watched the other’s face soften. Maybe some good would come out of this whole situation after all.

 

—

 

“Ruby made a friend,” Mikey murmured beside him, pointing to where the terrapin was talking with a lizard. Donnie hummed.

“That’s nice,” he said, completely genuine.

“Speaking of friends, have you found yours? I know they said they’d meet us here, but you haven’t gone off yet.”

“Ah, they’re sick. I will be visiting them after to curse all people in a relationship because it is not me. Bitter solidarity until death.”

Mikey snorted.

“Just be home before curfew, Dee.”

“Okay, Raph.”

The box turtle jumped at him, wrapping around his midsection and sticking his tongue out. Donnie wrapped an arm around his younger brother to support him, rolling his eyes.

Leo had run off with Usagi a while ago. Raph was nowhere near, likely speaking with his yokai friend he’d picked up a while ago, a caiman with dark scales and blue patterned spots. April and Cassandra had run off somewhere to be menaces, Raph only yelling at them to keep destruction of property to a minimum.

The two were best friends and their own natural disaster if left unchecked. Casey Jr. had gone with them to supervise while Draxum took Splinter shopping in hopes of finding the rat a cloaking brooch. His father missed seeing his face in the mirror some days.

Mikey jumped off, smiling at the softshell.

“So, what do you think, Nattie?”

The purple-coded turtle smiled.

“It’s the best thing ever.”

Previous chapter | Next chapter

[sapphires-and-sirens]

Withdrawals (pt. 1)

This is chapter three of my Haikyuu siren au. Info and other chapters can be found here!

No summary <3

Keiji was fuming. Suguru had just left because he was upset that Keiji was right. And he’d been gone for the past fucking week. Tooru wasn’t talking to him, and neither was Osamu, or Atsumu, or Sakusa, or anyone except for Koutarou because they wanted him to say he’d been in the wrong.

He hadn’t! He’d just been worried and trying to talk some sense into the Keyholder!

“You were a bit harsh, Keiji,” Koutarou pointed out, his tone ever-gentle.

“That seems to be all he listens to.”

“You blamed him for how Yuuji was treating him. That wasn’t right.”

“Well, I didn’t mean that part, but he still shouldn’t have run away. He knows I’m right and he knows I’m just trying to do what’s best for him.”

“He’ll come back.”

“He can stay there, for all I care.”

“You don’t mean that.”

“Well, everyone’s upset with me over stuff I didn’t mean, so.”

“Because you won’t just admit that you shouldn’t have said any of it,” the Bottom Feeder said gently. It still pissed him off. “I know you’re worried and upset but still…”

“I hate him! He’s doing all this stupid stuff and he knows it’s stupid and he does it anyway!! It’s not fair that he can do that! And make everyone fucking worried, and then just run away from the problem back to the problem!!”

“I know. He has to make his own decisions though.”

“He shouldn’t be allowed to!”

“How else will he learn?”

He hissed, running his hands through his hair.

Fuck, being a friend was so complicated.

—

Kyoutani chittered a laugh at something Yuuji had said. Kunimi and Kindaichi were busy spouting backhanded compliments and questions at Suguru.

He’d been living with Yuuji for around two weeks. He missed his friends, but Yuuji looked at him so lovingly.

Yuuji wanted him when the others didn’t.

“You know, I’m surprised he hasn’t run away again,” Kunimi commented, earning a nod from Kindaichi.

He was getting pissed off, though, at Yuuji’s friends.

“Nono, I was the one in the wrong last time. He was right to leave,” Yuuji cut in, surprisingly.

“That isn’t what you said when—“

A growl of warning exited the blonde’s mouth immediately.

“Whatever,” Kunimi muttered, rolling his eyes.

“So, are you staying around for good?”

“Well, I should probably go home at some point…”

Yuuji’s eyes darkened at that.

“But I’ll still come around a whole lot.”

Some light returned to the mermaid’s eyes, but not enough. Oh well, Suguru would probably be able to cheer him up, later.

Maybe he finally had gotten through to the mermaid.

Maybe he finally had changed.

—

It had been two whole weeks and Suguru was still missing. But that wasn’t the Keyholder’s fault. It was Iwaizumi’s fault for taking the argument entirely too far. If he hadn’t gotten involved, Suguru wouldn’t have run away. And of course, if that damn guppy hadn’t had him trained, he wouldn’t have run straight to Terushima.

He honestly hoped that the blonde got taken by a Seeker ship. And Iwaizumi could blame himself for the rest of his fucking life.

Keiji would’ve gotten through to him, if it wasn’t for those two.

And the others still weren’t talking to him. It was beyond petty and beyond stupid.

Whatever. They’d talk to him once they realized he was right.

—

“Yuuji, I’ll come see you a lot, I just wanna go home. I miss everyone,” he said, fighting the urge to be frustrated. His wrist was throbbing where the blonde had grabbed him and wrenched him closer when they started arguing, but that was his own fault.

“If you don’t wanna be around me, just say it.”

“I do, but I have friends, and I wanna see them again. It’s been a month!”

“Whatever. Go, then.”

“What, I can’t have friends anymore, Yuuji?”

“I didn’t say that. Go, get out.”

Dammit.

“I’m sorry,” he said, and he hated how it sounded like he was begging.

“I’m not even fucking mad, just go,” Yuuji hissed, refusing to look at him. “Come back whenever.”

“I love you,” he mumbled, starting to the door.

“Mhm.”

And now Yuuji didn’t want him either.

—

It had been a month, and Keiji finally realized that what he said was absolutely fucked.

What was wrong with him? Why had he said that? They were all right to be avoiding him. He’d avoid himself, if he were them. He apologized to everyone, and they all looked more relieved than angry.

They should be angry. Why weren’t they?

Then Suguru came home, and started crying the moment he laid eyes on Keiji. He couldn’t help reflexively opening his arms, the overwhelming instinct to comfort overriding his guilt, and the Keyholder swam straight into his embrace and squeezed him tight. He squeezed back, shushing every apology that the other said.

Eventually, Daishou could speak again.

“Sorry for uhm, leaving.”

“It’s okay, I uh…I get why. I’m sorry for saying all that.”

“Me too,” Iwa chimed in. “Sorry. I went entirely too far.”

“No, it’s okay. I missed you guys.”

“Awww, we missed you too,” Oikawa said, playfully hitting the other Keyholder, who flinched slightly.

That was weird.

Oh well. He was back now. Everything was fine.

Previous chapter

[dotties-haikyuu-agere]

Home

((Ft Cg Iwa, Kunimi, and Kindaichi, little Oikawa and Kageyama, & puppy regressor Kyoutani ))

Tooru couldn’t sit still as Hajime buckled his seatbelt for him. He was bouncing in place, Clarke in his hands as the brute started the car.

“You excited to see Tobio and Kyoutani?”

He nodded vigorously. They were coming home!!! Volleyball season was done and so the two were flying back (Tooru’s ended before theirs and Hajime had recently taken leave for mental health reasons), and the little and the pet regressor stayed regressed for a long time once the season ended to let out all the stress acquired during it.

Tooru was beyond excited to see his brothers, he’d missed them so much and there were so many games he wanted to play with the other regressors.

By the time that they pulled up to the airport, the brunette was literally buzzing with excitement, his carer chuckling as he parked.

“What are our airport rules, buddy?”

“Hold hands, don’t yell, and sit and be patient,” he listed out, causing the shorter to lean over and kiss his forehead.

“Good job. Cmon.”

The airport was always loud. Tobio and Kyoutani always met them in the same spot. Tooru always got a small strawberry milkshake to wait, and this time he was playing Like a Dino on his phone while he sat next to Hajime.

“When’s bubba and Kyoken coming?” he asked for probably the tenth time.

“In ten minutes, bud.”

He sighed heavily. This would be a long wait.

—

Tobio didn’t stay big for very long, once he got off his last plane. It wasn’t even on purpose. Kyoutani held his hand and rolled his own luggage with the other hand, Kageyama faring similarly. He had Julie’s leash in his hand, too, the service dog trotting dutifully beside him.

The blonde led him to where Hajime and Tooru were waiting, and he immediately felt himself start slipping. Hajime asked Tooru to help with the luggage, automatically in walk-and-talk mode. Kyoutani wasn’t in puppy space, but he went non verbal at the sight of their caregiver, like he normally did at the end of every season.

The other simply smiled or hummed at any words that flew out of Tooru’s mouth, Hajime having them all link arms and starting for the exit.

It was mainly a race against the fuzziness overtaking Tobio’s head, to avoid a meltdown in the airport. Yes, Julie would help some, but it was still inconvenient.

They got all the bags into the trunk of the vehicle just before Tobio fully slipped, by which point Julie was settled too and Kyoutani was buckling his seatbelt for him. Hajime handed him a blue pacifier and his squid plushie, Price, which he hugged to his chest. Kyoutani was handed a teether and his well-loved stingray plushie, Kara.

Kyoutani settled, Tooru’s chatter filling up the car ride. Tobio didn’t try to catch it all, as that was a pointless task. He simply floated around in his own brain, eventually falling asleep.

—

Hajime wasn’t stupid enough to not call for backup for the first day having everyone home. Mattsun and Makki normally helped out, but today Kunimi and Sugawara were waiting when he pulled into the driveway. Kunimi unbuckled Tooru, waking the little up gently, and then doing the same for Kyoutani and Tobio. He brought all of them inside, as well as Julie, while Suga helped Hajime unload all of the luggage in the back. Tooru was around 4 or 5 while Tobio was probably 3 at the biggest.

The brute rolled the last of the bags inside, then went to find the little gear for Tobio and Kyoutani’s collar. The mentioned blonde was already barking, having jumped on Tooru who was giggling and patting the other’s head.

“I missed you too, Kyoken,” the brunette assured. Tobio was sitting on the couch, watching, as his pacifier bobbed in his mouth. He was petting Julie and kicking his feet idly. Kyoutani glanced up at the ravenette, whose iPad was being searched for by Kunimi.

Tooru looked up, too, waving at Tobio eagerly.

“Hihi baby!!!”

Tobio stared for a few moments, processing slower than normal with his smaller headspace, before he giggled, letting out some babbles and waving back. He found the collar and a pull-up for Tobio, as well as a rattle and a pacifier clip.

He handed Tobio’s gear to Suga, then turned to Kyoutani, who was currently in a game of tug of war with Tooru.

“Kyoken,” Hajime called, the blonde still growling and pulling the teether that Tooru held. The brute sighed, smiling slightly. He clicked his tongue twice.

“Kyoken, collar,” he tried again, watching the pet regressor perk up and let the teether fall from his mouth. Kyoutani turned to him, and Hajime snapped two times, kneeling and then patting the floor in front of him. “Cmon, collar.”

This was the one thing the puppy ever would cooperate for, normally not the best listener. But the blonde crawled over, sitting back on his heels to let himself be collared. It wasn’t an actual collar, it was a (dully) spiked black choker. After Hajime put it on, he pet the other’s head.

“Good puppy.”

“Kyoken,” Tooru called, the blonde turning at the sound of Tobio babbling.

“Pubby!!”

Tobio was reaching for Kentarou, and it seemed that Kunimi or Suga had let Julie outside. At his little brother calling him so politely, the blonde went over, barking a bit quieter than he did at Tooru or Hajime. The ravenette pet him, before picking up one of the stuffies reserved specifically for fetch, then tossed it.

“Pubby go get!!”

Immediately, the pet regressor was after it. Tooru gasped.

“I wanna throw it next!!!”

Kyoutani narrowly avoided colliding with the wall before he scrambled back to where the two littles were waiting. Tobio pet the blonde again, before Tooru threw the plushie again. Kyoutani chased it, then saw the sliding glass door to the backyard open and darted out. Normally, it would be fine, but Hajime had spotted some sticker weeds out there a few days ago and running around on all fours was probably not the best decision.

“Kyoken, inside!” Hajime called, going out immediately. The other simply growled, then jolted, withdrawing one of his hands to clutch to his chest immediately. The brunette sighed heavily, having anticipated this. The pet regressor whined and started to tear up.

Tooru, as if he’d sensed the injury, came running.

“Oh! Oh, is Kyoken hurt? Papa, he’s hurt! Papa, can I go get the lion ice pack he likes a lot ‘n his paci?”

“Yeah, that should be good, love. You go take care of that, Kunimi can help.”

The little ran back inside and Hajime rooted through his cargo pockets for his finger puppets. He found the lion ones pretty quickly, and popped them into his pointer and thumb as he walked over to the pet regressor who was curled up now with his hand clutched to his chest. Hajime sighed yet again, then clicked his tongue twice.

“Up, puppy,” he said, and Kyoutani reached out and allowed the brunette to hold him on his hip. “Lemme see.”

The now sniffling regressor presented his hand. There was in fact a sticker in it.

“Aww, it’s okay, Haji’s gonna fix it. Let’s get ya inside, hm?” he asked, then presented the two fingers with the lion puppets on them, moving them as if they were talking to each other as he headed inside.

Kyoutani barked, seemingly distracted for now as Hajime went into the bathroom to grab the tweezers and some antiseptic and then presented the blonde with bandaid choices. He had a wide selection of themed bandaids. Kyoutani chose the bone themed ones, so Hajime picked out a black bandaid with bones on it and then went to the nursery and sat on the floor.

He set the pet regressor down and Tooru came scrambling into the room with Kunimi, who held Tobio on his hip.

“He didn’t want me to put him down, so,” Kunimi sighed. Tooru thrust the ice pack his way, then the pacifier— a green one with a black and white shield —and then went to sit by Kyoutani. Hajime held up the pacifier to the blonde, who took it.

“Kyoken, it’s okay! Papa’s gonna take out the ouchie,” the brunette assured. He seemed to be slipping into his older sibling headspace as he held Kyoutani’s good hand. “squeeze if you get scared or if it hurts. Like this.”

Tooru squeezed the pet regressor’s hand. Tobio simply looked on, pacifier still in his mouth as he fiddled with the drawstrings of Kunimi’s hoodie.

“Alright, I’m gonna take it out,” Hajime announced. Kyoutani squeezed Tooru’s hand lightly.

“But be gentle!” Tooru reminded him nervously. “Kyoken, close your eyes. If you see, it hurts worse.”

Kentarou squeezed his eyes shut and Tooru rubbed his shoulder with his free hand. Hajime took the tweezers and pulled the sticker out. It was over relatively quickly, and Hajime swiped over the injury with a little bit of antiseptic.

“All done! Kyoken, done now!” Tooru chimed.

The blonde hesitantly opened his eyes, looking at his hand and watching Hajime put the bandaid on.

“See? All better,” the brute said, and the puppy regressor relaxed a bit. Tobio hummed, Kunimi bouncing him lightly as he played with the man’s hair.

Hajime sighed. The first day having everyone back home was always the roughest. They’d been here for, what, 30 minutes? Kunimi grimaced when Tobio pulled his hair.

“Ow,” he said, a bit over exaggerated to cue the little in that he shouldn’t do that. It worked, as Kageyama almost instantly stopped.

“Can I play with Tobio?” Tooru questioned, pointing at the little who was probably around 1 at the moment. The ravenette, at hearing his name, looked over. Tooru waved, smiling when the other waved back.

“Yeah, go ahead. He’s gettin’ antsy anyways. Should I call Julie up?” the last question was more directed towards Hajime as he set Tobio down and Tooru grabbed a rubber ball.

“I think he’s good,” the brute replied, watching Tobio hit the ball experimentally before rolling it back over. “We don’t really have her up here unless we have to, because we aren’t exactly puppy proofed up here, but he seems fine for now.”

Kyoutani ran downstairs, and then a few thuds were heard. Hajime grimaced before hearing a good number of excited barks.

His roommates were…a handful. For sure. But he wouldn’t have it any other way.

[catscidr]

Hallo... can I get some fluff for akademiya dottore where he, fem!reader, and a couple others are on an expedition and eventually dottore finds himself falling for reader cuz they share like all the same interests... 😊 eventually he confesses to reader and reader accepts happily. smiles :)

i. note — if akademiya dottore has ten lovers, i am one of them. if akademiya dottore has one lover, that's me. if akademiya dottore has zero lovers, i am dead. (๑•̀ㅂ•́)ง✧ also i meant to finish this like a week ago but shit happened n then i was bleeding in yamcha pose™ in my bed........ My Apologies ii. includes — akademiya era dottore (zandik), fem!reader and a very special friend :) iii. warnings — nothing but friendly banter and tooth rotting fluff amen. also not proofread we die like [redacted] iv. wc — 3,2k -> also on ao3 if u prefer to read fics there

You wish you had slammed your door shut the second you saw who was on the other side earlier today. Instead of having a relaxing, free day, you were out on a hike with people whom you were acquainted with at best and with one of the biggest enigmas in the Akademiya, Zandik. If it wasn’t for your curiosity and deep yearning for an answer as to why he sought you out specifically to go out on an expedition, you wouldn’t have accepted— but alas. Here you were, sweating your body mass away in the humid, sticky weather of Sumeru. 

The group only got to the other side of the bridge leading out of the city, right after passing through an old tree trunk serving as a makeshift overpass, when you had to take a break. It wasn’t your fault you weren’t used to walking for long periods of time; being a Rtawahist student meant you didn’t need to go outside of the city as much as other darshans. You weren’t the only one that held that sentiment though, so you all (thankfully) took a brief moment of respite before heading on. 

You’d be lying to yourself if you didn’t enjoy the scenery at least a little bit. Even though your arm was starting to get sore from shielding your eyes from the bright sun, the flora almost made it worth it. The air felt crisp on your skin and in your lungs, the distant sound of a flowing waterfall was washing away the tension in your shoulders, and you started to think that maybe you should spend more time outside. Watching the water near the mystic domain in the area of Chatrakam Cave, you start to ponder if it would be worth it to go for a dip to cool off while everyone else discusses where to go next... 

“Hey.” 

An impatient voice rips a yelp out of you, pulling you right out of your daydreams. Minty hair obscures the sun, giving your arm a much-appreciated break from shielding your eyes. “We have places to be, you know. Are you ready to go or do I have to leave you out here for eremites to rob you?” 

Blinking away the initial shock, you scoff at your schoolmate’s bluntness and drag yourself up to your feet. “And you wonder why you don’t have any friends,” you huff under your breath, patting away any dirt that had stuck to your uniform. Zandik rolls his eyes and frowns, sharp canines looking more akin to a puppy’s maw than a shark’s. “I don’t wonder why I don’t have any friends, mind you. I already know why I don’t have any,” he retorts, turning away from you to walk away. You grumble ‘sure you do’ quietly under your breath before catching up to him, glancing at the others in your group. “Guys, wait for us!” 

You watch them begin to walk along the left side of the intersection and go to follow them before the aforementioned boy grabs your wrist, stopping you in your tracks. “Where do you think you’re going? You’re supposed to follow me. Or did you forget who invited you in the first place?” Yeesh, talk about a short fuse. Being (mostly) used to his sharp remarks, you manage to push down the urge to bite the bait he had laid out for you. “I mean, it’s not like you told me where we would be going or why I’m here. Besides, aren’t we supposed to stay grouped up? Professors have always warned us about Rishboland Tigers roaming outside the-” Zandik cut you off by tugging you towards him, away from the group of students. 

“The stuff I need is over this way,” he said quietly. Irritation seeped through his pores, though for what reason you didn’t know. Wriggling your wrist out of his (lax) grip, you pick up your pace just enough to catch up to his long legs. The cliff to your left provided some nice shade, but the more he led the way the more he picked up the pace. You didn’t even have time to ask about your schoolmates— though it seemed like they were fine with you two splitting up from the group, anyways. 

“Stop going so fast! Hey- what's up with you all of the sudden?!” 

You place a hand on his shoulder in a poor attempt to stop his run for answers. Zandik shushes you with a harsh glare and his index to his mouth, earning himself a baffled expression from you. “What is your problem today?” you hiss, voice quieter than before. Too busy glaring holes into the back of his head, you fail to see the focused and starry eyes your friend had as he looked ahead. He stops walking abruptly, making you bump into him with an elegant ow fuck! Your face had met his nape, minty hair tickling your forehead as you step back to rub the ache away from your nose. 

“I don’t feel like playing charades, Zandik. Seriously, what’s up with y-” he hushes you with a hand motion, frustration boiling in your gut. Ready to give him a piece of your mind, you step to the side to stand next to him; what you didn’t expect to see a few feet in front of him were sentient mushrooms— fungi, hopping and playing around a cluster of ores. 

“...they look like matsutake,” you whisper, glancing at Zandik to catch a glimpse of his face. He crouches down and you follow suit, silently observing the fungi alongside him. There were three in total; they all seemed to be standing still, occasionally... wriggling in place, a dim green light emanating from their thick stems. “Are they feeding on the iron?” you murmur, dumbfounded. Since when did mushrooms eat rocks? 

“They’re absorbing nutrients from the ground. It just so happens that there are an abundance of it around ore clusters,” Zandik explained, the lack of condescension in his tone puzzling you. “How do you know that? You’re not an Amurta student.” Though you couldn’t deny that seeing the fungi in their natural habitat was captivating, even if they were still just living mushrooms. 

The boy exhales sharply, “I don’t care for the fungi themselves. It’s because—” leaves rustle, making him pause his sentence to look around, checking if anyone was listening. When the coast is clear he continues, “they’re... related to ley lines.” You peel your gaze away from the sentient vegetables to look at your friend with a look that clearly displayed your confusion. As the cogs turned in your brain though, you start to piece things together and come up to your own hypothesis about his claim. 

“That makes... sense. They’re part of the forest, so it would make sense if they were extensions of ley lines since they’re kind of like roots...” you mutter your train of thoughts out loud, grabbing a stray stick to draw on the ground. Your sketch was... lackluster, but it got the point across. “Trees are rooted to the ground, and mushrooms grow on trees or around them—” you point at the messy “drawing” of a fungi you just made, “but if they gain some elemental energy from nearby ley lines, then they’ll become sentient!” 

As you exclaim your new discovery, your eyes meet Zandik’s carmine ones— and your face flushes once you realize he had been staring at you this whole time. A choked noise of surprise rips itself out of your throat, the noise startling the fungi nearby, making them scurry away further along the dirt path. He smacks your head, “I told you to be quiet!” 

You don’t have time to protest because a horde of fungi run up to you— so many of them that you couldn’t even take the time to count. A string of curses fly out of Zandik’s mouth, and as he scrambles to get up, he grabs your wrist, pulling you up to your feet to run. “They look harmless, but they can seriously injure you if they’re in a group— book it!” he shouts, jumping up on a moss-covered rock, climbing up on the hill going around the path blocked off by the fungi. He helps you up quickly and you both make a dash for it, in the hopes that they’ll stop coming after you. 

You’re grateful that the sun had started to set before you and Zandik got ambushed, at the very least. The sky had turned a beautiful shade of indigo, orange and pink dotting the horizon and the clouds above. Without the sun sapping away at your energy you were able to get away scot-free and enjoy a breathtaking sunset; you hadn’t even noticed that Zandik was leading you somewhere, too engrossed in the familiar sight of the sky you had gazed into so many times. 

“Look over there,” he places a hand on your shoulder to grab your attention and you look as he points to a small group of fungi. Their shape looked more like drills than mushrooms, and they definitely lacked the “natural” camouflage that their other skin had, since they were white and periwinkle, and not dirt brown. A quiet woah leaves you as you look at them, brain working overtime once again. Zandik walks with you, slowly, away from the fungi before you can get attacked again. 

You begin to ramble about your theories to Zandik when you’re both far enough from the living vegetables, making grand, expressive gestures with your hands to emphasize your thoughts. The sound of your shoes crunching the grass beneath your feet, crickets chirping and the gentle evening breeze rustling the verdure around sound distant compared to the sound of your voice enthusiastically talking about the creatures you encountered. He absentmindedly scolds himself, wishing he had dragged you out of your dorm room earlier. 

“Nara Zandik!” a voice says from behind him. 

“Fucking Archons-” his head whips around to gawk at the culprit; a small, cyan colored mushroom creature. Completely oblivious to the newcomer, you halt your steps to look at Zandik’s mortified expression. “Why’d you stop?” 

The boy’s attention is torn between you and Ararycan, head spinning. Based on your reaction (or lack thereof), you couldn’t see it; which brought up the question. Should he tell you the truth— that there’s currently a “friendly” sentient mushroom right beside you, or should he lie through his teeth and say- 

“N-Nothing. Just keep going, I’ll catch up. I have, uh... a stomachache.” 

Zandik has never been a good liar, but deciding to spare him the embarrassment, you nod. “Alright. Shout if you need me!” You walk off, looking over the hill to admire the large trees below, more akin to giant lotus plant leaves than actual trees. Your form retreats far enough that Zandik’s sure you won’t hear him if he whispers. 

He looks down at the aranara, panicked red eyes meeting oblivious, beady black orbs and a smile that never faltered. “Why did you show up now?” Ararycan dismissed the harsh tone in which the boy spoke (or didn’t understand it); it didn’t care either way. The creature brimmed with optimism. “Nara Zandik should say what’s on his mind!” it says, little arms waving up and down. “The forest is happy, iron chunks are asleep, and the sky is bright! Why is Nara Zandik scared?” 

His brows furrow, lips curling into a pout as he murmurs, “I’m not scared.” The aranara blinks at him, still smiling- waiting. “I’m not,” he repeats, “it’s just... argh, what do I do? Why is my head so...” “Fuzzy?” Ararycan finishes, tilting its bulbous head to the side, the leaves on its head flopping over. Zandik grumbles, hands coming up to cover his face 

“Is the strange Nara nice?” it asks curiously, turning to look at your figure sitting on the hill a few meters away. You lean over carefully, observing the signs of life below; lanterns made from sticks and leaves, dirt paths separating in a multitude of directions and a small, round house with large leaves serving as a roof. Why you had never seen anything like this was a mystery to you, but you figured you’d just pester Zandik about it later since he was the one to bring you here. 

Zandik looks back down at his friend, his expression having softened from just a few moments ago. “Yeah. That’s why I’m being... stupid. What do I say?” 

Ararycan uses its tiny legs to turn back to look at the flustered boy, black eyes focused on scanning his face. “Talk to her about the sky!” it finally says enthusiastically, walking away before the boy can get a word in. “Hey-!” Little noises echo in the same rhythm as its footsteps, but right as Zandik turns around to ask something, the creature jumps up and disappears into the ground. A frustrated groan leaves Zandik’s gritted teeth, having resigned himself to the “advice” the aranara gave him. 

You hear light footsteps behind you, drowning out the noise of your thoughts as you look back to see Zandik grimacing at you. Or not— his eyes weren’t focused on you, but you happened to be in his line of sight, which made it look like he was judging you heavily. Giggling at him, you pat the grass next to you and shuffle away to give him some space. 

“Feeling better?” He remembers the excuse he gave you and cringes internally as he sits down, body stiff and awkward. “Yeah. Sure. Listen, uh...” Zandik trails off, losing his words. He sheepishly fiddles with the scarf draped over his shoulders, ears reddening the longer he stalls. You nudge his side with your elbow, “Did your stomachache affect your cognitive functions or something?” 

The comment slides off of him as if it were water and he was made up of extra virgin olive oil. What did Ararycan say? Talk about the sky... 

“Hey, can’t you see the stars clearly from here?” he manages to say, glancing up to look at the streaks of white in the welkin. You follow suit, mouth agape when you realize that you can, and the sky is so clear that you can see smudges of different colors in the sky. The navy backdrop was covered in soft shades of purple and blue, stars glistening so softly it was as if someone had gently and strategically placed them there. 

“Woah...” you whisper, your eyes sparkling just as brightly as the constellations. You point out the ones you recognize, eager to talk about your field of expertise. "This one right there is called Leptailurus Cervarius, it looks like a cat!” He leans over to look at where you pointed at and there it was, a small cluster of six stars. He couldn’t say that he saw the cat you spoke of, but he didn’t want to bum you out either. 

“It looks like it’s jumping,” he mutters. You turn to face him with a smile on your face, one that rivaled the brightness of the stars above your heads. He thought his heart would jump out of his chest and into your lap— but even then, he didn’t particularly mind if it did. “It is!” You nod quickly, pointing out more constellations with names he wasn’t even sure he would remember the next day. But he wanted to know more, to listen to you talk about the galaxy so much that he could be a Rtawahist student, too. 

You soon begin to grow drowsy, having spent most of your energy talking Zandik’s ear off (not to mention the sprint from earlier). As you wobble, struggling to hold yourself up, Zandik gently takes ahold of your head and places it on his shoulder. The fabric of his uniform felt comfortable, earning him a small smile from you. His mind drifts away for a moment— his heart clenched in his chest as he thought back to all the time he spent with you. 

From your roaring arguments about trivial matters to info dumping on each other, Zandik couldn’t help but wish you’d make more memories with him. Maybe it was selfish, but he didn’t like picturing someone else leaning their shoulder for you to doze off on. If he could be your pillow forever, he would take up the job in a heartbeat. 

...What? 

You jolt awake, surprised by Zandik’s sudden movement. He straightened his back, clearing his throat awkwardly. Thankfully there were any creatures around, or else you two would have gotten mauled already. 

“We should get back.” The suggestion draws a groan out of you as you stretch your arms over your head, flopping back onto the grass. It was slightly cold and soft enough to relax your limbs once again, sleep pawing at you desperately, “It’s nice here though.” 

Zandik pushes away whatever indecent thought had begun to brew in his head from seeing you laid on your back next to him. He carefully grabs the hem of your skirt and brings it down to cover your legs as he speaks, “You’ll catch a cold. Come on, we have to go.” 

You blow a raspberry at him, turning away. “Maybe you will but I won’t. I’m strong, I can easily fight off a measly cold,” and you flex an arm to prove your point. It doesn’t convince him in the slightest, and he pulls you up to your feet with him. You decide not to point out the way he struggled ever so slightly— he definitely wasn’t hiding any beefy muscles under his uniform. 

“Okay fine we’re going,” you huff while dusting off your skirt, “but you owe me!” 

“Owe you what? I’m not the bad guy here.” 

“Uh... a drink. You’re paying for my caffeine next time we go out,” you say, and Zandik rolls his eyes. Very typical of an Akademiya student. 

“Fine. It’s a date.” 

You nod quickly, eager to get a tasty drink and to save a handful of mora the next time you go out. Of course it’s not like drinks were that expensive in Sumeru, but it feels nice to be treated every once in a while- 

“A date?!” 

Some birds fly away in fear from the sheer shock your voice carried out. You gape at Zandik, cheeks flushed brightly and eyes wide like saucers. “Yeah. A date,” he repeats nonchalantly, a stark contrast from the way he was acting just shy of an hour ago. Gone was the nervous wreck that was Zandik. 

“If you don’t want a free drink, you can always refuse,” he teases, nudging you with his elbow in the same way you did with him when you were sitting on the hill overseeing the lotus leaf trees. You scoff, then shake your head, and scoff again in pure disbelief. You were stunned; dumbfounded, even. But the idea of a date didn’t sound as unappealing as you made it out to be. 

You glance away from him and mumble your answer. “What was that? I didn’t hear y-” 

“Fine, it’s a date!” 

He looks at you with a boyish grin, making your heart skip a beat. Was he always this handsome? The moonlight made his hair look ethereal, glowing almost pure white where the light shone directly on it. And his eyes— they looked irresistible. Crimson red orbs appearing to have more of a pink hue to them, though you weren’t sure if that was just your imagination. 

Zandik grabs ahold of your hand and matches his steps with yours as you make your way down the hill, back to where you found the familiar dirt path you had walked on when the sun still shone brightly in the sky. As you get closer to flat ground you notice a small horde of mushroom-shaped... mushrooms, and get hit by a wave of déjà-vu. Although asleep, the fungi were blocking the path back. 

“...How are we supposed to get back?” 

[darlingofdots]

Chapters: 1/3

Emily said, "It’s no more than I ought to do—I’d be a poor officer if I could not look after my captain properly, and you'll permit me to say that I am a damned good officer.”

“She has you coming and going, I am afraid,” Tharkay said. He sat down heavily and reached for the abandoned cup then, finding it cold, set it down again. “Unless you would like to question her education and experience.”

Emily Roland finds herself once again looking after her former captain.

Finally, after almost a year, I can share this terribly self-indulgent, Emily-centric future fic with you. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I have enjoyed writing.

[apricote]

[pleasetakethis]

New ship unlocked: Agatha/Peggy No, I will not elaborate.

[forlorn-crows]

for the kiss prompts, #37 with mountain/rain? <3

#37 . . . without a motive

Rain drapes himself over the back of the sofa, rubbing his pointy nose into the spot behind Mountain’s ear. “What’re you watching?” he mumbles against his skin. 

The earth ghoul hums. Leans into his mouth and lets him nibble his ear playfully. “Trash television. Sunshine left on some,” he flourishes his hand in a nonsense gesture, “restaurant, baking, competition . . . drama thing.” 

Rain’s fingers crawl down his shoulders like spindly spiders, inching down until his palms are flush to his chest. He rubs slowly, nuzzling further into his neck. Inhaling musk and balsam and freshness that he audibly can’t get enough of. Mountain can’t help but chuckle at him.

“Have you come to distract me, tadpole?” 

“Well, now that you mention it,” he lilts. “I was going to raid the cabinets for some crispy snacks but—” Rain sniffs him again. Gives him a lick up the side of his face that has Mountain laughing and cringing away with an eurgh sound. “You smell much more appetizing. May I have a taste?”

He turns to the water ghoul. Looks him up and down before offering him a charming smile. He flutters his lashes at him, playfully coquettish. “Well, sir, only because you asked so nicely.” 

Quick as a fox, he grabs Rain with a growl, hoisting the squealing ghoul over the couch to lie on top of him. Rain huffs a giggled oof as he lands, arms already snaking around Mountain’s neck as he presses close. Their lips part for each other automatically, mouths meeting in a languid kiss. Rain trills happily. Cool breath fanning over Mountain’s face as he sighs through his nose and tangles his fingers into his disheveled bun at the nape of his neck. 

The earth ghoul rumbles and hooks a leg over the small of Rain’s back. When he opens his mouth to gasp softly, Mountain licks into it. Deepens the kiss and presses him ever closer with hands staggered over one another between Rain’s shoulder blades. Squeezing his lithe frame with strong arms. 

“How do I taste, darling?” Mountain mumbles against his lips.

Rain groans, taking his turn to lick into the earth ghoul’s mouth. Mountain’s cock kicks in interest between them, and Rain groans at that too. “So good,” he breathes. He wriggles against his lap like a kitten would knead a blanket, slow and measured. Feeling Mountain grow chubbier with each little twitch.

“Tease,” he chides Rain, albeit a little strained. “Very distracting little siren, aren’t you?” 

Rain just hums in false thought. “I don’t see you complaining,” he purrs after a moment, nipping at his bottom lip.

Mountain chirps an implied touché. He smacks Rain’s ass with the end of his tail.

“Oohh,” Rain lilts coyly through a laugh of his own. He tilts his head back, looking down his nose at the earth ghoul. Cocks his head. “Is that how you want to play, my love?” 

“Don’t know what you meanah—” he gasps as Rain grips his hair and pulls slightly, wiping the smirk right off his face. Predictably, his cock kicks in his pants once again. Rain grins, all teeth, and dives back in, kissing him overzealously with open mouth and wandering hands. Kissing him like he hasn’t seen him in weeks and grinding against him like his life depends on it. 

“Mmpffuck,” Mountain whimpers against his lips. “Shit, Rainy.”

The water ghoul slips down to his jaw, his ear, his neck. Panting against skin now damp with kisses. 

Rain slips his hands down, down, down. “You know what I want?” he whispers right into Mountain’s ear. Hands hovering just above his hips. 

“Tell me,” he begs. Wringing the hem of Rain’s shirt in his hands, wanting to pull it off his body so badly already. 

Rain drags his hand across his hip straight to palm at his clothed cock, giving him a few good squeezes before pulling his face out of the crook of his neck. Putting his face almost nose to nose with Mountain’s and looking at him with lidded eyes. 

And all at once he perks up, wiping any evidence of hot and heavy action right off his face. As if it never happened. He boops Mountain’s nose with bitten lip, barely holding back a giggle. 

“Chips,” he whispers and pushes himself off the couch.

He flounces away, tail swishing behind him as he leaves a very dumbfounded—and very hard—earth ghoul to stare after him and groan.

[insomniac-dormouse]

@nerves-nebula

[kvetchinglyneurotic]

My hot take is that it should have been Rebecca, not Ted, who talked to Jamie about his father in 3x11. Here are my reasons:

1. So much of Rebecca's arc is about recovering from an abusive relationship while her abuser is still, somewhat unavoidably, part of her life. Her experience with Rupert and Jamie's experience with his father aren't identical, but she knows better than anyone else at Richmond how it feels to have someone like that turn up at her place of work, and how stressful their planned encounters are, even when they're just in the same large stadium and don't need to directly interact.

2. As the owner of the club, Rebecca almost certainly knows what happened at Wembley, and she's not only well-placed to make practical arrangements like getting James banned from the match (since none of them knew he wouldn't be there) but also, as of 3x10, has come to terms with with her relationship with Rupert — both the good parts and the many, many bad parts — in a way that enables her to interact with him when necessary without massive emotional distress, while also keeping very firm boundaries in place. Basically, she, unlike Ted, could offer advice based on relevant personal experience.

3. Jamie could finally find out that Ted didn't have him sent back to Man City — while it would be nice for Ted to say it, Rebecca is better placed to give the full story, and she and Jamie have a lot in common when it comes to expressing their hurt in a way that leaves a lot of collateral damage.

4. Explains why they're hugging in the finale.

[dottie-writes-haikyuu]

Whatever I’ve Done….

This is part 12 of my fic Not Everyone Survives (But I will do the Best I Can). Tags and other chapters can be found here!

I did it for love / I did it for fun / Couldn’t get enough…

Koutarou couldn’t exactly conceal the dread pooling within him when he saw Tsukishima and the rugrats enter the lab. The blonde avoided his eyes and watched all the curious, confused, and concerned glances he got from the rugrats. Some of them, he recognized.

“This is Subject 8. We will be using it to find a cure to the virus and put an end to the apocalypse.”

That felt weird. ‘Subject 8’. And they made him feel like an object, or a specimen of some kind. He was a person. He was a human.

There was an uneasy silence for a second.

“Wait, isn’t that Bokuto, from Torch, though?”

“We will be referring to it as Subject 8 during its stay here.”

“Why?”

“Don’t question it. Orders from Captain.”

“He’s a consenting test subject, don’t worry,” Tobio assured from the doorway. The ravenette walked in and sat at one of the empty tables.

Consenting.

That was funny.

The first week was probably the worst. He was having needles shoved into him, things taken out of him, chemicals put into him. Most of it hurt. Some of them looked pitying, others curious.

“Isn’t this acid?” one of the guys asked, and Tsukishima looked away.

“Continue with the procedure.”

What.

What what what.

“But—“

“Anyone who shows sympathy for the subject will be punished,” Shouyou stated from the doorway. They were about four days in now. He already hated the sound of the ginger’s voice. “Continue with the procedure.”

He was gonna throw up.

He steeled himself, unable to meet the boy’s teary, apologetic eyes as he grit his teeth, clenching his fists and willing himself not to react too badly. Just don’t react too badly.

And then it started.

It spread through his veins at an excruciatingly slow rate and made his vision blur. The world was spinning and he couldn’t focus on anything else except for the sensation of being set ablaze and the fire crawling up his body was taking its time, spreading only with every pulse of his heart. He couldn’t even make a sound. He couldn’t move.

The voices around him were muffled and the heart monitor in his collar started beeping quicker than normal and then everything was yelling and his skin felt like it was quite literally boiling. He couldn’t see, only endure the sensation of his skin bubbling and liquifying as everything shrieked around him and his ears rang and he couldn’t feel anything except for that and—

Nothing.

He woke up later to the muffled voices of Shouyou, Tobio, Sugawara, and Tsukishima.

“That almost killed him,” Suga protested. “If he can’t handle this, how will he possibly handle the cure extraction?”

“Subject 8 will handle any experimentation. Now that the substance is in its bloodstream, it’ll be fine. It makes its DNA more…malleable, per se. We just had to sedate it before it could have a heart attack.”

“Can we stop with the ‘it’ bullcrap?! You’re pissing me off,” Suga hissed. Shouyou slammed a fist on the table.

“You wanna think of it as a person?? Then sympathy and empathy come along and you lose sight of what’s truly important: the cure. Stop being selfish and remember that this isn’t fucking about you. This is for all of us.”

There was a bout of silence.

“Wake it up,” Shouyou demanded suddenly.

“Well, the only way to do that would be—“

“Shock it, I don’t care,” the ginger scoffed. “I need to run diagnostics.”

Dread filled his veins quickly and he snapped his eyes open and scrambled back against the wall quickly, his breaths coming fast.

“Oh, it’s unnecessary. Hello, Bokuto.”

He didn’t respond at first, looking up at the ginger with wide eyes. A look of fake pity.

“Disoriented, huh? Well, you did almost go into cardiac arrest. Don’t worry. It’ll be a lot simpler now.”

He couldn’t manage more than a nod.

He hoped Keiji would save him soon. 

—

Subject 8 was uncooperative lately. Maybe he should up the severity of the punishments. He sat in on experiments again, around three weeks in.

The same rugrat who’d always seemed to feel a bit more guilt than the others was arguing with Tsukishima today.

“It’s not right! And you know that! That’s why you can’t even look at him!”

Oh. He couldn’t have that. He couldn’t have his rugrats questioning the very very carefully curated idea he’d presented. This was for all of them. He couldn’t afford to have it ruined. Not when this was their saving grace.

“Subject 8 is vital to our ending the apocalypse. Continue with the procedure.”

“This is genetic manipulation! Not even, this is essentially a species change we’re talking about—“

“This isn’t my fucking choice,” Tsukishima snapped. “This is by orders of the Captain, and this…this is for all of us. I’m not a monster, I—“

Tsukishima couldn’t waver. He had to stop this now.

“Of course not,” he chimed from the door, walking in with a smile. His voice was soothing, though it had an edge. “What, is someone doubting my judgment?”

He kept his tone playful. Tsukishima cleared his throat.

“The rugrat.”

“Oh, is that so?”

“He’s been showing sympathy for Subject 8 for the past 3 weeks.”

“Well,” he said with a small chuckle. “We can’t have that, can we?”

He straightened up.

“Tobio, go get everyone else. I think we’ll have a meeting on the roof. All the rugrats, all the members. Everyone.”

His boyfriend stood, nodding, and then left. He couldn’t help his smile. The rugrat was looking up at him, his hands shaking a little.

“What’s your name?”

“I, uhm…”

“Your name. What is it?”

“Apollo.”

“Alrighty, Apollo, come with me.”

The boy opened his mouth to say something, probably to protest and try to save himself, but Shouyou wasn’t in the mood to hear it.

“Quietly, please.”

And his mouth snapped shut. And so they all met on the roof. Shouyou stood on the edge with the boy. Subject 8 was there too, in the front. Good. It should see this.

“Sorry to pull all of you from your daily tasks, but I figured this is something everyone should see. After all, we’re supposed to lead by example, right?”

The rugrat was trying very hard not to cry. He could feel it.

He wouldn’t have to do this if everyone just listened. He’d liked Bokuto. He’d really really admired him. He still did. But he needed to do this to save everyone, including Bokuto.

Suga and the others looked away as Shouyou continued speaking.

“We all know that anyone who sympathizes with Subject 8 is to face punishment, correct? We can’t exactly have liabilities for Project Savior. This, after all, is for all of us! It’s to end the apocalypse! You want to live, don’t you? Don’t want to keep losing people to the apocalypse, right? This is our key!”

He turned to the boy, Apollo, who was looking at the ground and trembling.

“This is Apollo. He is a Subject 8 sympathizer and a risk to our work on Project Savior as well as to our very safety. After all, he could tell the others that we have Subject 8, and if that happens…well, we’ll probably all be killed.”

That sent a stir through the crowd.

“And so, this is what happens, to those who put our very lives at risk.”

He moved so he was standing behind the boy, who was facing the edge of the roof, and then grabbed him by the shoulder. His free hand took the gun out of its holster, and aimed.

Take out his legs so he can’t walk.

BANG! BANG!

The boy screamed immediately, and Shouyou had to keep him standing with the grip on his shoulder.

He was, what, thirteen?

Don’t think about that.

He’s a risk.

He deserves this.

And then take out his shoulders so he can’t crawl.

BANG! BANG!

He drowned out the sounds around him so he didn’t have to think about it. He then aimed for the fourth vertebrae.

Pull the trigger and then dispose of the body. That was all he had to do.

BANG!

He dropped it off the roof, then turned back to those gathered.

“Just remember. This cure isn’t just for Messenger. It’s for all of us.”

Previous chapter

[dottie-writes-tmnt]

Fucked With a Chainsaw Bent Backwards— Episode 1

This is part 1 of my fic A New Kind of Familiar! Tags and other chapters can be found here!

Raphael was positive someone was fucking with him. He’s been dumped into another dimension and has no way back. Honestly, color him fucked bent backwards with a fifty foot chainsaw.

Raph had never necessarily had issues with anger. Or, at least, during the beginning. Sure, he got frustrated, but never…never to the degree that it happened now. Actually, he used to cry when he got upset. Frustrated or otherwise. His brothers often taunted him because of that. But then, Splinter started getting on him, once he turned 7.

Raphael, you are to stop this childish behavior now.

But— I can’t— Papa, I keep losing ! Leo’s j’s— he laughs at me!

He’d spoken through his shaky gasps for air, his tears running unchecked. Leo looked unbothered, almost.

*****!

He’d gone silent immediately. Splinter hadn’t used that name in probably a year. His hands were still shaking, and he sniffed pitifully, the betrayed expression trained on Leo, who looked remorseful enough. But it had no longer mattered. He wiped his nose roughly, balling his fists. And then, it was a blur. The only thing that had brought him back was the shocked but rushed, and slightly concerned “Raphael, you have won! Enough!” from Splinter. He hadn’t felt any less bad. The pit in his chest— he wasn’t sure when that got there —wasn’t any smaller. It only seemed to grow from there.

Once Master Splinter died, the barbs from his brothers got even worse. And tonight, after all the jeering from his brothers about his anger problem, Fishface was working his goddamn nerves. His ears were static and he was seeing red. Each hit he landed felt good, and he hit harder each time. Every hit he received only further fueled his anger, which led him to continue this cycle as the static grew louder.

He heard the muffled “Raph, get out of the way!” in Donnie’s voice, then a terrified oops from Mikey, then all of his brothers were screaming at him to move. But he couldn’t stop. He could take a hit, it wouldn’t hurt him. Even if it did, he wouldn’t be upset. He deserved some sort of repercussions for how he was treating them lately.

Then he realized, a moment too late, that the portal device had been finished. He turned, wide-eyed, to see the ray hit him, as the anger-fueled haze disappeared in a blink. He opened his mouth to scream, but nothing came out as he was swallowed by the beam.

New York, his home, was a beautiful city. A city that never slept. But god damn did he hope that he was asleep right now. He had dreamt the whole thing, he was sure. He was dreaming. Because, Raphael was certain he was in New York. But… this wasn’t the New York he knew. It was…brighter. The red-wearing turtle slipped into an alleyway, only to bump into something. He fixed his glare, turning and looking up at…

“Uh, Leon, is that another turtle?”

“It looks like it. Hey, uh, bandanna, red,” Leon muttered. “Kinda Raph’s thing. You think he’ll be all ‘ohmigosh , Donnie, have you been cloning me again?’ or what? By the way, did you do this?” Raph was gestured to. He was dreaming. He had to be dreaming. He laughed slightly, no humor behind the sound.

“I gotta be dreaming,” he said, shaking his head. “First I get dropped in some weird version of New York, now I see other turtles, and one of ‘em just happens to be a nerd named Donnie. And there’s a Raph. I’m dreaming. I must’ve hit my head fighting Fishface,” he chuckled, not noticing the stares at first.

“What’s your name, weird stranger turtle?”

“Raphael Hamato.”

“The multiverse is real.”

“Look, this is either a dream or some type of sick joke. And if it is, you can go on back to whichever of my brothers put you up to this and say it’s not funny. They can take their little joke and shove it up their ass, I’m not gonna fucking cry over it like they want me to.”

“Woah, dude, calm down. This isn’t a joke, we have no clue how you got here, but I’m pretty sure you’re not dreaming. You’re in New York, I’m Leo, and Donnie here isn’t the cause of this whole mishap, for once.”

“But mine fucking is. Wait, crap! You’re still a nerd, use your science-y bullshit, and—“ he cut himself off. He hadn’t said goodbye to Slash or Leatherhead before he left. Worse, he hadn’t paid his respects to Tang Shen, which he found much more pressing of an issue. They’d set up a more elaborate shrine for her, and Raph had found himself quite attached after these past few months. He couldn’t believe he’d forgotten. He felt like shit.

“—ph? Hello, other Raph? You with us?”

He startled, snapping out of his thoughts. He balled his fists to stop their shaking. “Yeah. I miss somethin’?”

“I do not currently have the technology to send you back. However, until I do, you are welcome to stay with us.”

He waited for this Leo to say something. To look at him like he was dirt, or question what Splinter would think, or even just say he didn’t want this risk. But all that came was a slight smile.

“We were just about to finish patrolling. You could tag along.”

He was almost surprised.

“I don’t have much of a choice anyway,” he replied, shrugging. “Lead the way,” he muttered, biting back a snarky fearless leader, if only because this wasn’t where he was from.

Patrolling was filled with occasional questions from either turtle and short answers from himself, but they didn’t run into anything. They stopped just above a manhole.

“Alright. I texted the guys, so we can just go in. Stay close, other Raph,” other Leo said, receiving a huff from the red-wearing turtle. The sewers were even different. He’d really just been thrown into something, hadn’t he?

“Alright, guys, we’re back!” announced the slider when they reached…the lair? It looked so weird compared to the one he was used to. He froze in the doorway as he took it all in. There was so much stuff. It was so much lighter.

“What the hell happened here?”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s so…weird. It’s nothing like the lair I grew up in.”

“Well, this dimension is likely not like yours.”

“Yeah.”

A dark green turtle with bright yellow spots all over himself ran in, and spotting the orange bandanna, Raph recoiled immediately. He never could be around Mikey. He always fucked things up when it came to his little brother. This world’s Mikey threw himself onto Other Leo, hugging him.

“Leo! You missed it, Jupiter Jim came out with another movie!”

“Wait, really!?”

“Fuck is Jupiter Jim?” he muttered under his breath, receiving no answer as the other Donatello walked over and rubbed Mikey's head, smiling slightly.

“Did you guys record it at least?”

“Yeah, of course! We can all watch it during dinner, I was thinking. I didn’t wanna watch it until you guys came home. Speaking of, I wanna see the Raph you guys found.”

He grimaced. When Other Mikey was facing him, he felt panic make his throat seize up.

“Hello, other Raph! I’m Mikey, if you didn’t realize that— woah! He’s shorter than me! Cool!”

He felt a glare form automatically at the mention of his height, fighting the urge to sink into his shell to instead work up some venomous comment. Before he could articulate it, the taller turtle continued talking.

“Anyway, I’m sure Donnie’ll have you home soon. In the meantime, make yourself at home. Any allergies I should know about before I start cooking?”

He waited briefly for complaints about Mikey’s cooking, but there were none. Maybe he was a good cook? That was weird. “No.”

“Alright. Dad’s out with April, so his phone is on emergency only. As for Raph, I think he’s working on his latest project. Yaknow, trying to…well, you know. Anyway, other Raph, we’re glad to have you.”

He was getting anxious, with the sudden nervous air after this Mikey deftly avoided a topic that Raph didn’t know about. He simply hummed in acknowledgment, offering an uptick of his mouth close enough to a smile. The two who’d brought him here started toward a doorway, and Raph kind of stood there for a second. He didn’t want to follow them around, he wasn’t a lost puppy (although he was lost), but he wasn’t sure where to go otherwise. This wasn’t his lair. So, he ended up trailing after other Mikey, finding the kitchen. The turtle was cooking, leaving Raph to lean against one of the counters, crossing his arms over his plastron. He watched the other work, staying silent while the orange-clad turtle hummed to himself.

“Hey, other Raph, have you had any Asian food, like ever? I’d assume so, since I think your Splinter is also Asian, but I could be wrong.”

“He was, but, uh…guess you could say we’re worse off than you guys seem to be.”

The other turtle hummed, nodding. “I see. Well, dinner’ll be fun.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“If you’ve never had it before, you’ll probably be all like ‘woahhh this is the best shit ever holy crap’ or something, and then Raph’ll be happy you’re happy, Leo’ll probably laugh a bit, Dee won’t say anything but he’ll smile, and Junior… I dunno, he’ll probably get a fond look but not say anything either. Point being, tonight will be good for everyone.”

He simply hummed, not really understanding, but pretending to.

“What are your brothers like?”

Assholes, was his first thought. He took it back immediately though. He was the asshole. They were just normal, and he was evil.

“Well. They’re my brothers. Uh, Donnie likes his science-y stuff. I guess. And he’s really creative with his insults. Then again, they all are. He’s really smart, extensive vocabulary and stuff. Leo’s…really…he’s a leader. A better one than I could ever be, but… he’s good at everything,” he said, speaking with more bitterness than he’d intended. “And Mikey is the most creative with his insults.”

He didn’t mention how he only realized it once they started being aimed at himself.

“But he’s also, like…um…he’s the nicest one out of all of us. He forgives a lot of stuff, and uh…Yeah. Smarter than I normally give him credit for.”

“I see. They sound nice.”

“Yeah.”

No, they didn’t. Mikey was lying, obviously, but he wouldn’t say anything. Dinner was finished soon enough and Raph helped to bring plates to the living room, and once he was seated with his own, he inspected it. Mikey had gone off to get his Raph. He decided to set it down, hearing a voice soon after.

“Boys, April is sleeping over! Get her room ready for her.”

He raised his eyes, looking to the doorway as he straightened up automatically. The rat that entered was much shorter than the one he was used to, but his eyes blew wide and a shiver ran through him regardless. The rat looked at him in mild confusion as he fought the tears prickling in the back of his eyes, his question more of a shaky gasp than anything.

“Sensei?”

That only further confused the mutant, and he looked as though he was about to start talking, before Raph felt one pathetic tear trail down his face. He couldn’t tell if he was happy to see his father alive or terrified. He stood up, wobbly on his feet before he even realized he was getting up, and after his feet sent him a staggering step backwards, he had his answer. Even with this, he still felt the dull ache in his chest fade slightly with the knowledge that the rat lived.

“I uh…think I’m gonna go get some air,” he said haltingly, bowing promptly. “‘Scuse me.”

After this, he rushed from the room, trying to remember the way back to the surface. Before he could make any moves, he bumped face first into something. Glaring upwards through his now-running tears, he was unprepared for the sight in front of him.

The turtle was so big, and muscley, too. Everything that Raph had strived to be ever since he realized he didn’t meet the normal standards of being a man. And…it was Raph. His glare fell apart instantly, and he was stuck staring dumbly up at the larger Raphael. The mentioned turtle was obviously concerned, though he didn’t say anything yet. As he realized he was still crying, shame washed over him and he lowered his eyes, head sinking into his shell ever so slightly.

“You must be the Raph they brought home.”

He nodded, not trusting his voice. Big Raph simply offered him a small smile.

“You angry, or just upset?”

The question surprised him a little, and it showed. After a moment or so, he answered.

“I, uh..” he coughed, hoping to fix his voice up. “Not angry.”

The larger hummed, nodding. “Can I hug ya, or would you rather not?”

He shook his head, feeling it sink further into his shell.

“I won’t tell anyone, buddy, don’t worry. You don’t have to tell me what’s wrong. You wanna eat with the others or would that be bad?”

A more frantic no, this time, which was noted by the turtle before him.

“I’ll go grab your plate, and then we can go to my room, if you’d like. I won’t ask any questions, I won’t say a word to anyone else, I promise.”

He considered it for a few moments. Was this a good idea? Would he regret it? If Leo found out, he’d just call him a baby. Donnie would never let him live it down, and Mikey…he’d just give him that look.

But maybe this Raph knew all that. Maybe they weren’t different. Maybe this Raph was okay. He nodded, finally, and the snapping turtle walked off. He just stood there, sniffing pathetically while he tried to stop his leg bouncing, arms wrapped around himself. He probably looked like such a baby right now.

Big Raph came back and placed a large hand on his shell, guiding him forward. They reached the taller’s room and he was a little surprised at what he saw. A lot of… red and pink, and stuffed animals. Speaking of, after he was sat down on the rug in front of the bed, he was handed a Kuromi plush, which he took without much argument.

Raph rested his cheek on top of it, petting the fabric rhythmically to calm himself. After a while, he swiped at his face, clearing his throat before he spoke this time.

“Won’t your brothers think you’re weird for all this? Or, yaknow, a sissy or whatever?”

The larger was digging on a shelf for something, giving him a small glance, before turning back around. The snapper’s tail curled around nothing and then uncurled.

“I used to think so. I was terrified. But no, they don’t think anything of it.”

“But…hold on, are you… ya know,” he questioned, feeling his face heat slightly in embarrassment.

“ Which ya know? Raph is a lot of things.”

“Well…the, uh…the…you know, the absence of testosterone where there should be.”

“Ohhh. No, but Leo is.”

This dimension was crazy. Everything was all backwards, and it was really fucking confusing. Leo was trans? That was like saying turtles had wings— not counting Turflytle.

So then, this Raph was exactly what he’d wanted to be for the longest time. But then, if he was an actual guy, wouldn’t his brothers say something about everything?

“Then…don’t your brothers say stuff about all this?”

“Fortunately not.”

“What about Splinter?”

“Either doesn’t know or doesn’t care.”

He didn’t know what to say. He was dumbfounded.

“You should eat your dinner before it gets cold,” the larger reminded him, not taking the first bite of his own food, oddly enough. Raph took a forkful and perked up immediately.

“Holy shell, this is so much better than worms and algae, or even pizza, what the fuck!”

A tiny chuckle, laced with enough fondness that Raph didn’t think it was at him, had him glancing up. The other red-wearing mutant simply waved him back to his food, eating his own.

“I’ll let Mikey know.”

“You do that. But don’t say it in a…weird way. Ya know what I mean?”

“I do, bud. I won’t, promise.”

He simply nodded, finishing up surprisingly quickly and sighing contentedly afterward.

“Why don’t you tell me a little about your brothers? I won’t tell a soul, I promise. It’ll never leave this room.”

“No.”

“Okay. Do you also like Hello Kitty?”

“Yeah.”

“Then, we can watch that. I’ll be right back. I gotta ask the guys where you’re sleeping.”

“‘Kay.”

Big Raph walked out, leaving him to look around more. And think, because what was it with this universe and being totally backwards? He liked the way Big Raph’s room looked. The Princess Peach poster on one of the walls caught his attention. He and Big Raph weren’t so different after all. He didn’t move from his spot, something telling him not to. When he heard Big Raph coming back, he straightened immediately, for some reason. He relaxed when the larger actually walked in.

“You can sleep here or in the living room until we get a car ready for you.”

He nodded, acknowledging the speech, before speaking, himself, “You mind if I just…look?”

With the vast physical differences, he was a little curious.

“Go ahead. ‘Course, look and touch are two different things.”

“I know. I am Raph.”

A chuckle. “This is true.”

The guy was built like a tank. Pure muscle and so huge. Like Leatherhead, kind of. There was a missing piece of shell, like a hole puncher had been taken to him. They had the same crack in the front though. One of his eyes looked different. Battle scars, he supposed, and didn’t mentally question any further.

He also had a snaggletooth, but honestly, it was so badass in his humble opinion. And all the spikes! It reminded him of… he frowned momentarily. His beak looked like it could crush basically anything. That was really cool on its own, honestly. Everything about this Raph was cool. And he said so, receiving a hearty laugh from the larger.

“I haven’t heard that in a while. I’d say you’re pretty cool, yourself.”

He smiled, getting one back from the snapper. They spent the next hour or so talking about Hello Kitty characters as the show played. Raph found out that Big Raph was also the other you know, and felt a bit better. Maybe things weren’t so bad after all.

Next chapter

[sapphires-and-sirens]

Haikyuu: Sapphire Beaches

Suguru hummed softly, Kuroo mesmerized regardless. The siren’s voice always had him. He smiled softly, watching the other sink further into the water in the bathtub.

“I love you,” he whispered, getting a smile in return.”

. . .

There was nothing stirring beneath the waves, any shipwrecks were coincidences. Of course, where a certain ravenette lived– an island named Ionia –shipwrecks were a little more common than anywhere else, and they were always gruesome. Of course, it was all fine. Right? Right.

Lore

Here

Character list

Here

Tags, Warnings, and Rating

Relationships

Terushima Yuuji/Daishou Suguru, Oikawa Tooru/Iwaizumi Hajime, Kuroo Tetsurou/Daishou Suguru, Tendou Satori/Ushijima Wakatoshi, Bokuto Koutarou/Akaashi Keiji, Hinata Shouyou/Kageyama Tobio

Warnings

Mentions of Sexual Assault, Sexual Assault Through Coercion, Emotional Abuse, Character Death, Depictions of Violence, Manipulation, Blood, Racism, Flashbacks

Index

Chapter 1:here

Chapter 2:here

Chapter 3:here

Chapter 4:soon

[dotties-haikyuu-agere]

I’ll Look After You

TWs:

Flashbacks! Courtesy of me, written how I experience them, probably coupled with some disassociation (I don't like to do research on things I experience just because they make me feel like something is terribly wrong with me, which there is but I don't like to be aware of it, so if my terms are off please Imk and I'll correct them!)

Berating and yelling although it isn't in dialogue form

Implication of use of the f-slur

with that, homophobia

verbal abuse (also not in dialogue)

Domestic abuse (also also not in dialogue, kinda just in the beginning)

Harmful stimming

These will be indicated by a ★ at the beginning of those scenes and ミ★ at the end! If this is not effective please do Imk and I'll probably switch it out to something more distinctive if the issue is them not being distinctive enough.

Hajime and Tooru had been out, having gone to a local cafe, and were currently talking.

“I still say Gwen isn’t that problematic,” he argued. The shorter growled.

“She literally betrayed Miles because she was that big of a Miguel meat rider! And not only that, but let’s not talk about how she was so ready to let her dad die,” Hajime argued, taking a sip of his fancy chocolate milk (that’s basically what it was). Tooru scoffed.

“As if you wouldn’t do the same!”

“Yeah, well—“

☆ .

Anything else he said went unheard as glass broke and yelling started. He shifted his gaze to that side of the cafe, where this couple appeared to be arguing. There was a shattered cup on the floor, and the man looked distressed as what appeared to be his girlfriend yelled at him. Then he got a closer look at the woman.

His stomach dropped. His hand blindly searched for that of his husband’s as his wide eyes watched his mother yell at her husband. She looked good for her age. Tooru had moved far, far away from her so he wouldn’t see her ever again, yet here she was.

“Tooru?”

He couldn’t answer, paralyzed, as memories from his childhood came rushing back. The shorter’s hand found his and squeezed.

“What’s wrong, baby? Is… oh, that’s—“

ミ★

The slip had never been so sudden, so jarring, so scary, so whiplash-inducing, since he was in high school. It only caused him to panic more, his breath hitching. He was eternally tensed, sniffing every few seconds now in a purely anxious gesture. His free hand twitched, also, and Hajime was talking to him. His voice was muffled but his tone was assuring.

Gentle hands turned his head so he couldn’t look at her anymore. His brain was all fuzzy and Hajime appeared to be trying to discern if he was little or if he was in bunnyspace. He could hardly tell, his head still spinning from how fast and how hard he’d slipped.

The other put Tooru’s headphones over his ears for him, which helped a bit. His clothes were so uncomfy, his skin felt all itchy. His thumb drifted to rest on his own bottom lip, as he wasn’t really supposed to suck his thumb, and he was quickly provided with his stuffed shark that was always kept on hand. He stroked Clarke absentmindedly, the soft material of the shark calming his nerves.

His carer escorted him out, helping him into the car and buckling him in, then providing him with a pacifier. Hajime got into the driver’s side, holding his hand as he pulled out of the parking spot. Tooru was still shaky and sniffly, and she wasn’t fully out of his head, but he was starting to get spacey like he normally did after slipping into littlespace.

It didn’t last long. He started crying a bit into the car ride, and Hajime squeezed his hand and murmured assurances but not to much avail. They got home and he was immediately unbuckled and found himself in Hajime’s arms promptly, being squeezed not too loosely but not too tight either.

“Shh, buddy, I know. She’s not here, she can’t do anything to you anymore…”

☆.

He simply clung onto his caregiver like a lifeline, sobbing as she told him in his head how silly and useless his infatuation with volleyball was, and how he was useless since he wasn’t even the best at it and why do anything if you’re not going to be better than everyone else. He tugged on his hair, trying to make it stop.

“Tooru, baby, look at me.”

When had they gotten into the house? When had they gotten into the nursery? She berated him for grades, for how he dressed, was he stupid? He wasn’t a girl, and he wasn’t a f—

ミ★

A snapping sound drew his eyes to the other, who was holding a Hello Kitty doll.

“Hey, kiddo, can you do me a favor? It’s not a big ask, promise, I just wanna see if you can name all the colors on Hello Kitty for me,” Hajime said gently. Tooru hiccuped, then sniffled, swiping at his tears.

“Look, you can hold her if you want,” the brute offered, the little taking the doll into his hands.

“Mm…blue…pink…white, an’ uhm…yellow…’n…’n black…” he glanced up at the shorter, then realizing they were sitting on the floor. He was still nuzzled closely into his caregiver’s chest, that strong arm still wrapped around him.

“You got 'em all, good job!”

He felt a pleasant tingle in the back of his brain at knowing he’d done a good job. The gentle smile on Hajime’s face quieted her voice a bit.

“Can you do me another quick favor, honey? Can you count the bees on your wall over there? It’s perfectly fine if you don’t count em right, just try for me, okay?

He turned his gaze to the wall that Hajime was talking about, counting them on his fingers. When he ran out of fingers, his brow furrowed.

“It’s okay, buddy, that’s ten. You can reuse your fingers, just start at eleven.”

Oh, right. He could do that. And do that he did. He counted to twenty, feeling a bit more there afterwards.

“How many?”

“Twenty.”

“Yeah, you’re so smart!” The brute kissed the top of his head, giving him a squeeze as he grinned. “You feelin’ better?”

He nodded. “Can I have appy juice?”

“But of course!”

The bad feeling still wasn’t gone, but it was a little better. Hajime picked him up and took him to the kitchen, bouncing him on his hip and singing to him in a purposely bad tone.

Tooru giggled, covering Hajime’s mouth. The man licked Tooru’s hand, causing him to shriek and pull away, still laughing. His carer smiled at him, sticking his tongue out and blowing a raspberry. He gasped, highly offended. Then the larger got the apple juice and his sharky sippy cup.

“Can you hold the cup for me, bud?”

He nodded, holding the cup while the other poured the juice. Tooru kicked his feet absentmindedly. He was handed the cup and took a sip of his apple juice, humming happily.

“How old are we, baby?”

He thought on it for a while. Then held up four fingers.

“Got it, so do we wanna play or do we wanna watch tv? Or color, maybe? I can get your puzzles if you want that, or we can build a fort, whatever you want,” Hajime offered, and Tooru weighed his options.

“We watch Blue’s Clues? An’ make a pillow fort?”

“That’s a good idea, buddy! You wanna help Papa build the fort, then?”

A nod. So the two set off to grab pillows and blankets, and while Hajime was setting up the skeleton of the fort, Tooru guarding the pillows from evil, the little got an idea. He giggled, causing the other brunette to look over.

“Whatcha thinkin’ about over there, kiddo?”

“Not’ing!” he chirped, and the other went back to setting up. Tooru grabbed a pillow, then chucked it at his caregiver, who gasped in scandal and fell forward. Then he turned back around, growling playfully.

“Oh, you’re gonna get it now!” with this, he grabbed the pillow. Tooru shrieked, then jumping off of the couch and running away, giggling as Hajime gave chase. After a while of this, the shorter caught him, tickling his sides. The little screamed and squealed, struggling unsuccessfully.

“Do you surrender?”

“No— stop, I sorry,” he squeaked out, gasping for breath between his laughter. “Otay, otay I surwender!!”

“That’s what I thought,” Hajime said, chuckling as he picked up the fallen regressor.

After they finally finished building, they snuggled up in the fort, Tooru mimicking Blue because the way she talked was kinda silly, and it made him giggle.

He was drawn out of his focus on the show when he heard soft snoring next to him. Hajime had fallen asleep! Tooru tried to remember what the other normally did when he fell asleep. He grabbed one of the spare blankets, covering his caregiver up, and then kissed his forehead. Silly Papa. That was okay, though. Tooru was around to take care of him.

(Even if it was really the other way around.)

Banner was made by tinyowlet here on tumblr!!

[bloomingbutterflies]

hi bloom here ^_!!^ im drawing people's ocs over this face thing I found on pinterest if you want me to draw yours give me a ref pic of them n which spot you want em in !!!

gacha ocs are allowed too as long as they don't have 20000 accessories because they get crunchy so small on the image

in case anyone doesn't read:

I DO NOT OWN THE BASE IMAGE.

I found it on pinterest !! and thought it would b silly 2 draw people's ocs over, this is mainly talking to mutuals but if other people see this i would love to draw your occc

(edit) ps: you can ask for more than one character + the same character in more than one spot