#even of she thinks it’s a little weird which ya know fair

[kate-apologist]

.

[too-much-tma-stuff]

Things Are Changing (Part 14)

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Jason waited at the bar, tapping his fingers on a pint of beer he was too nervous to actually drink. Danny had gone out with the birds of prey tonight to either look after, or make a mess of, crime alley in his absence. He’d find out which one in the morning, though he trusted Danny to keep most of the Chaos under control since he loved their home almost as much as Jason did. 

He wasn’t nervous about what they were doing, he was nervous about meeting Roy again. Which was probably why he was early for the meeting, early enough to get a beer that was no longer as cold as it had been. He sighed at himself and took a sip. 

“Hey buddy,” Roy greeted, biting back a chuckle at the way Jason jumped. 

“Damn you and your light steps. You'd think after growing so much you'd make a little more noise,” Jason sighed, taking another sip from his beer before getting up and hugging Roy so tightly it made him wheeze. “It's good to see you too.”

“Damn, you got strong,” Roy gasped, patting Jason's back awkwardly. “You were such a scrawny kid too.”

“Ya,” Jason chuckled, putting Roy down again. He stepped back a little while Roy ordered a beer and glanced around for a more secluded table where they could talk a little more openly. Once Roy had his beer Jason jerked his chin towards the table, Roy nodded so Jason led the way over to it and they sat together. “It was from being malnourished as a kid, but a dunk in the pits seems to have repaired a bunch of that shit and I absolutely shot up! 

“It was kinda weird because for the first… year there I was barely conscious so when I finally came back to myself it was already to a body that was so much larger than the one I was used to. The LOA had been drilling me on techniques and shit so unconsciously I knew my new size and strength but anytime I tried to do something and thought even a little to hard about it I’d be so fucking clumsy! And you wouldn’t believe how many doorways I hit my head on before I got used to this height,” Jason chuckled, and Roy laughed along with him.

“Damn that's crazy, but also I totally get it. I was kept unconscious by Cadmus for years, when I finally got out of that fucking tube I’d lost my arm,” he held up his prosthetic, which was so good Jason had barely noticed it before. “And my muscles were so atrophied moving around felt nothing like it used to. I didn’t grow That much but it still… it was so fucking weird.” He sighed and took a bigger gulp of his beer, it clearly wasn’t easy to think about still.

“That’s fucked up,” Jason sighed, patting Roy’s shoulder. “Cadmus are a bunch of bastards. If you ever want help blowing up any of their shit let me know. I’m pretty good with explosives and guns now, and Danny would help too, and let me tell you,” Jason whistled softly and gave an almost feral grin. 

“Both you and Dick always go for the powerful ones huh?” Roy cackled, elbowing him.

“Hey! To be fair to me I didn’t know he was this powerful when we got together! I knew that he had a healing factor but that was all I knew until after we moved in together.” Jason said with a dramatic pout. 

“Still, I bet you picked up on the vibe,” He said and Jason sighed because he couldn’t refute that.

“What about you though? You said Lian’s mom is in prison now but who was she?” Jason asked, he figured it was fair game after the teasing about his own relationship, though he second guessed himself when he saw Roy sigh and slump a little.

“Cheshire,” he murmured, tracing the lip of his glass with a finger. 

“No shit!” Jason breathed, shocked but at the same… she was an interesting character, Jason knew she wasn’t all bad, and she was pretty.

“Ya, and she’s a good mom. She adores Lian, but you know how she and Artemis grew up right? They never really had a chance. I tried for years to keep her with us, but I don’t think she can get out of the life for real when she doesn’t know anything else. I can’t keep waiting for her, me and Lian, we gotta move on and make the best of things you know?”

“Ya, I get that, Do you have anyone else in your life now though? Since I’m assuming you and Cheshire aren’t really a thing anymore?” Jason asked curiously. 

“No I haven’t,” Roy said with a little shrug. “I tried at first you know? Especially since people kept saying Lian would need a mom, but dating with a kid is hard. I’d rather just focus on her then try to chase any skirt. Artemiss lives with us off and on so it’s not like Lian doesn’t have a female role model, me and Artemiss just don’t fit together. We tried to kiss one and it felt so fucking wrong! She’s like my sister.”

“I’m glad you’ve got support, and you’re doing great. If you ever need any help I can give, just let me know okay? Maybe it’s kinda sad to say since we haven’t talked in years, but you’re still my best friend.” Jason admitted, shifting awkwardly in his seat.

“Nah, it’s not that weird, you might still be my best friend too,” Roy said with a wry little smile and a shrug. “Sad… maybe, but honestly I’d say we’re both pretty fucking sad already.”

“Well, you’re not wrong, so cheers to that,” Jason laughed and they clinked their glasses together, giving each other sardonic smiles. 

They were quiet for a moment, just drinking their beers before Roy put down his drink and cleared his throat. “So, I assume Danny is your boyfriend I’ve heard so much about?” 

“Ya, that’s him. He’s been with me a long time, even before we started dating. He’s… He’s absolutely amazing Roy, I’m not sure I deserve him,” Jason sighed.

“Oh come on now, of course you do, you-” Roy started but Jason was shaking his head and biting the inside of his cheek.

“There’s a real power imbalance Roy, and you wouldn’t think so given how physically powerful he is, but that doesn’t really matter. What matters more is he worked for me before we got together, and he’s so fucking broken after everything he’s been through. And I’m not kidding Roy, what he’s been through makes what happened to both of us look like a vacation. He sees me as his saviour, he’s said multiple times that he would do anything for me and he means it. 

“Roy…” Jason bit his lip, he hadn’t admitted this to anyone, hadn’t talked about it with anyone. Suddenly he was nervous as hell someone would overhear. “Do you mind if we go back to one of my safehouses to talk about this actually?”

“Sure, you got one nearby? We almost should have started there honestly,” Roy agreed, already pushing himself away from the table. 

“Ya, probably,” Jason chuckled awkwardly, putting down some money for their drinks and following Roy out. “There’s one in walking distance.” 

Neither of them spoke again until they were inside and settled on the beat up couch. “So, what were you going to say?” Roy prompted and Jason groaned, rubbing his face with his hands. 

“I’ve had some serious anger issues since coming back, the Lazarus pit really did a number on my temper and my self control. Danny never defends himself. He’ll defend other people if he thinks I’m going overboard. But I don’t know if he has any self worth beyond what he thinks he can do for me you know? I love him, and he loves me and I love how devoted he is, but he’s almost too devoted you know?” Jason said, having thought better of actually admitting to beating Danny.

“Oh shit man, ya, that’s… complicated,” Roy said with a sympathetic frown. “I’ve never had to deal with anything like that, I don’t really know what to tell you, except I guess, encouraging him to make his own friends and shit, and try to be worth his loyalty?” 

“Ya, I’ve been trying,” Jason sighed, rubbing his face again and ruffling up his hair. “I can’t push him away, both because I love him and I don’t want to, and because he’s explicitly told me losing me would break him, like actually kill him.”

“That’s fucked up,” Roy agreed uncertainly. 

“Ya… But I mean other than that things are great. And He’s hot as hell,” Jason joked, trying to lighten the mood again after all that. It wasn’t fair to have Roy to have any actual advice, this situation was so far outside the realm of the normal.

“Ya? I believe you, the crazy ones usually are,” Roy joked back, some of the tension leaving his shoulders. “But pics or it didn’t happen.”

Jason laughed and pulled out his phone, swiping through the pictures he had of Danny, and of Danny and himself. Most of the pictures on the camera were of Danny honestly, and not all of them were fully appropriate. Danny liked to feel watched during sex and the camera would do.

“Damn, he is hot,” Roy agreed with a low whistle and punched Jason’s shoulder lightly. “Good for you dude.

“I can’t wait for you to meet him, you’re going to love him I’m sure. And hey, if you do like him, we like sharing,” Jason said with a meaningful little smirk that made Roy blush and choke. Jason laughed softly at him and switched apps to text Danny he was good to come join them now when he was ready too.

----------

Danny was having fun running with the birds of Prey, they were busting up a trafficking ring Seline had found and doing a damn good job of it too he’d say! The girls were responding better to the ladies and Danny’s obviously queer self than they might have to the bats, and none of the traffickers had stood a chance against them!

Once it was done they went their separate ways, Harley and Salena wanted to make sure the girls got to a trusted shelter safely, and Ivy wasn’t really a people person so without her girlfriend there to help she left quickly too. Danny didn’t mind, he was just waiting for Jason to text him it was alright to come back, it shouldn’t be that much longer. He had already gotten a text that the visit was going well, which made him smile and eased his worry. 

He was just gazing up and the smog covered sky, considering going for a fly to see the stars when he heard a thump on the roof behind him. Danny had a bad feeling about who that was, since either of the brothers would have texted him before showing up. He sighed heavily and turned around seeing Batman looming on the other side of the rooftop. Though maybe it was Danny’s imagination that his posture was more uncertain then it had been before?

“What do you want?” Danny drawled, looking back up at the sky.

“I just want to talk,” Batman said, and Danny definitely wasn’t imagining that his voice sounded softer and less rough. “I… misjudged you at first, I couldn’t accept what Jason is capable of now and you were an easy scapegoat. I understand now that… Well, that it’s not your fault.”

“Huh,” Danny sounded, blinking in surprise and looking back at Batman consideringly. That hadn’t been what he expected. “Well, thanks I guess.”

“Constantine thinks he knows what you are.”

Danny barked a laugh and leaned back a little. “So what’s the old magician’s theory?” He asked, cocking his head to the side with a knowing little smirk. 

“He says you're a halfa, the first one in thousands of years,” Batman shared, and Danny froze for a moment. 

“Huh, I hadn’t expected him to get it right,” He sighed sitting down on the edge of the roof and propped his elbows on his knees. 

After a moment of hesitation Batman came closer and sat down next to Danny, still out of arm's reach, which he appreciated. “I’m sorry for what happened to you, truly. And I’m sorry about what my colleagues said, whether the beings of the Infinite Realms are threats or not, it was an incredibly inappropriate response.”  

“If you just came to apologize, then apology accepted, and you can go now,” Danny said, giving Bruce a suspicious look. 

“No, that’s not all,” Bruce said, steepling his fingers and leaning forward on his knees. “Constantine told me that according to legends Halfas were creatures of balance, guardians of sorts. Do you have any way to learn about your… cultural heritage?” 

“Some of the ancients lived when halfas were still around. Frostbite and Clockwork have told me some. I’m still very young, I’ve been dead less than 6 years-” He noticed Batman wince slightly but ignored it- “It’ll take me a long time to grow into whatever it is I’m supposed to be.  Don’t you hold your breath when I do though. Balance and Justice aren't the same things after all. If I do ascend I’ll be fighting against you as often as I’m on your side I expect,” he chuckled.

“Right,” Bruce sighed. The disappointment in his voice made Danny cackle, though he muffled it with a hand since Batman was playing nice. “Well, the Justice League have a few supernatural consultants on call if you need to talk to someone. And if you need any help, really, let me know.” He stood up and held out a card. “Not that you need it with how close you are with both my-... All of my sons, but if you need any help. Call me. Being alone isn’t easy.”

“I absolutely won’t, but thank you,” Danny said, but after a moment of hesitation he slid the card into one of his pants pockets. Batman seemed satisfied with that, nodded to him. “And I’m not alone, I have Jason.” 

Batman froze for a moment, looking at Danny with wide eyes before Danny realized how that had sounded. He shook his head with a laugh. “No, Jason isn’t a halfa. His resurrection was under completely different circumstances! He’s got a bit of the Realms in him, but it doesn’t flow through him like it does me. He’s still, like, 85% human.”

“That… That’s good,” Batman sighed, his shoulders slumping a little.

“Did you have any more questions?” Danny prompted, cocking his head. 

“You offered help with any Realms beings. Do you expect we’ll have any trouble?” Batman asked, cocking his head a little. 

“Maybe,” Danny said with a little shrug. “It depends if the GIW still has an active portal somewhere, and how good their security is on it. Must be better than my parents used to be or we’d already be up to our eyeballs in confused ghosts, but it’s always a possibility.” He noticed the considering look Batman was giving him and gave a crackling laugh; “I haven’t been back to the realms in years. If anything’s going on there I don’t know about it. Though I’m sure Clockwork knows where I am if they really need me.” 

“Right, thank you for the offer,” Batman sighed and stood up. “And just think about my offer alright? If you need help, or protection, call. Not just from the GIW.”

Batman hesitated, opened his mouth to say something else and then sighed and shook his head. Whatever it was he seemed to have thought better of it as he turned away with a swish of his cape and grappled away. Dramatic bastard. 

Danny chuckled and shook his head at the older hero’s behaviour and pulled his phone out again. He had a text from Jason, telling him which safe house he and Roy were hanging out at and that he should come. And maybe… if he wanted to, to bring lube and the three of them could have some fun. 

Danny grinned sharply and licked his lips beneath his muzzle, well he’d just swing by their nest on the way over then! He texted Jason he would be there soon, and asked if they’d need condoms too.

[the-s1lly-corner]

Sorry to bother ya again, but my brain is literally on overdrive with this show and this clown who hws beckme my first kin and lives in my head rent free as she quietly sits there with a cup of hot chocolate and a warm blanket like she deserves, buuut

What if the gang found out the reader could abstract at will, including restricting it to certain parts of their body, ooor what if they found out you were a shapeshifter when you accidentally sneeze and turn into Wario or something

TADC cast x reader who can shapeshift!

i have returned from eating my silly dinner (sweet n sour chicken with rice!) it was very scrumptious i went ahead and did the shapeshifter idea since i feel that would be more fun to write (we can pretend they can still shift to mimic an abstracted body shhh) these ones are a little short i hope thats okay!

CAINE:

its not totally unheard of people getting unique abilities when they enter the digital world, its just not very common (this is a hc!), so when caine found out you could manipulate your appearance he wasn't all that surprised! i think he was more intrigued more than anything, because its not everyday you see something like that! he would be absolutely thrilled if you shifted into him; both from being amused of it and this man probably loves himself as much as someone can

will try to pop you if you mimic bubble, kind of feels bad for a second but your disguise was just so so convincing! say, were you by any chance an actor in your past life in the real world? you totally had him fooled!

POMNI:

pomni would be a little freaked out, especially if you just. suddenly sneezed and OH! now it looks like you're abstracting in front of everyone! first response is to run away before the transformation is complete, but when she notices no one else is freaking out (ragatha even blesses you!) shes more than a little confused

you offer to demonstrate your abilities to her, but she probably politely turns you down; she understands... for the most part... really its mostly just her trying to become used to the digital world as a whole

RAGATHA:

ragatha makes sure that you know that she thinks its cool; and as long as you're not morphing into a giant bug shes encouraging you to hone in on that cool power of yours! compliments whatever form you choose for the day

oh? you changed your hair color! she likes it, the new look is amazing on you! oh? you made yourself a little taller and gave yourself some new characteristics! points out nearly every detail shes noticed, no matter how small. ragatha pays attention, ragatha cares

JAX:

tries to drag you off to the dark side (ie being a menace to the others), whether or not you agree to be his partner in crime and 'use your power for evil' is fully up to you!

makes random requests to see just how far you can take your shapeshifting, usually listing off things at lightning speed to see if you can catch up.. if your shapeshifting takes a toll on you (like lets say it takes energy out of you) he might let up when he realizes how tired and pale you look all of a sudden.. at least for now

KINGER:

speedrunning to kinger for a moment before i forget this idea but imagine shapeshifting into him and hes just totally confused. leads to him making weird movements and you copying him (he thinks caine added a new mirror in the middle of the room for a solid minute before you break the illusion)

unless you have a set 'base form' hes going to keep thinking youre a new person if you drastically alter your appearance.. which, fair, since i think if you made yourself look unrecognizable, people would think youre a new person entirely. has probably introduced himself to you multiple times before realizing it was you

kinger gets a technical third bullet point but its not fluff. i just remembered the scene from steven universe where amethyst shapeshifts into rose in front of greg. but instead its kinger and instead of rose is queener/queenie. i hurt my own feelings. im gonna stew over this now

ZOOBLE:

honestly if you look just a mixmatched as them they would be into it and say you look cool. i had an idea that zooble has spare pieces and sometimes switches out their pieces for a new look, so imagine the two of you make matching looks or something, i think that would be cool

otherwise i dont think zooble would treat you any differently than if you were friends and couldnt shapeshift... though... i will admit, they think its funny when jax annoys you and change yourself in order to get him to back off. serves him right!

GANGLE

imagine she asks you to be a model for her art.. asking you to do different poses as well as different figures so she can better her craft. i absolutely love the idea of gangle being really into art, and this idea is just so cute to me

you have probably shapeshifted into her and pretended to be her when she needed someone to stand up for her... imagine how jarring it would be to see 'gangle' snap back at jax after he does something particularly mean

[sometimesiwritebadly]

Out of the Spotlight (Spencer Reid x Fem!Reader)

Summary: Garcia does a little totally harmless snooping and discovers Spencer’s secret girlfriend is a movie star.

Word Count: 3.2k

Notes: has it been almost two years since i posted on here? maybeee don’t worry about it. this is just pure fluff and some penelope/derek shenanigans

Masterlist

~~~

Penelope Garcia is, occasionally, too curious for her own good. She really doesn’t mean to snoop in her friend’s lives like this, but to be fair, she didn’t know she was snooping in Spencer’s life when she started. She thought she was just learning more about her most recent celebrity obsession; rising star and incredible actress, Y/N Y/L/N. She hadn’t even gone too far with it yet, really! It all started after she’d left the movie theater, where she finally got to see Y/N’s newest movie with Derek. He dropped her off at home, and she decided to follow the actress on instagram and scroll through some of her posts. Which is when she found one from three months ago that looked weirdly familiar. It was just a picture of some bookshelves, but she couldn’t shake the feeling. Then she saw that Y/N had tagged the location, and it was in D.C. The celebrity hadn’t given up the exact name of the bookstore; a slight annoyance for Penelope, but she knew it was probably just so Y/N would be able to visit the place again without a crowd of fans or paparazzi, so she’d let it slide this time. Penelope isn’t one to frequent bookstores, but she remembered Spencer had taken herself and JJ to a small bookshop when they had decided their new year's resolutions would be to read more often. Spencer kept trying to get them to read the classics, but both women were shopping the romance section, much to Spencer’s annoyance. So, she called an amused Derek back to her place so he could take her there.

“So we’re doing this because some actress may have been to the same bookstore three months ago?” He asked, driving with one hand as he talked to Penelope. 

“Well when you say it like that it sounds silly!” She said, still scrolling through the instagram page. “Besides, it’s not just that, a lot of these pictures are in Quantico! What’s a big name actress like her doing here?” Since the discovery of the bookshop picture, she’d found 3 more that were obviously in the city; a well known coffee shop, a mall Penelope has spent way too much money at, and a picture of a sign from the nearest highway. There were some others that she thought might be, but there was no definitive proof to be found.

“She probably just has family here, baby girl.”

“Um, do I look like an amateur to you, hot stuff? The first thing I looked for was her family, who are all happily living far, far, away, thank you very much.” The next picture she scrolled to gave her pause. It was a picture of a TV with a still from Y/N’s breakout show on it, but a coffee table, with someone’s sock-clad feet on it, was just barely visible. The socks were covered with the logo for her show. It was captioned “Will it ever stop being weird to see myself on TV?”

“Does this look familiar to you?” Penelope held the phone in Derek’s line of sight, causing him to swerve the car a little and push her hand out of the way.

“Do you think that could wait until I’m not driving?” Penelope just rolled her eyes, taking a screenshot of the picture for future reference. In just a few short minutes, they were pulling into the parking lot of the bookstore. Penelope rushed in, with Derek strolling behind her. She quickly found the spot that was featured in Y/N’s instagram post. 

“See! Told ya it was here!” She said, showing Derek the picture so he could compare it himself. 

“Yup, definitely it is the same place. I still don’t see why this is a big deal though.”

Penelope opened her mouth to argue with him, but was interrupted by the store’s owner; a little old lady. “Can I help you two find anything today?” 

“Oh, no ma’am. I just saw your store on my favorite actress’s instagram, and wanted to see it for myself.” Penelope explained, feeling a little bad for wasting the woman’s time. Maybe she’d find a book to buy, even though she’s not even finished with the last book she bought here.

“Oh! Miss Y/L/N, right? She and her boyfriend are around here all the time! What a nice little couple; her boyfriend is a little skinny though, I really need to make some cookies for him the next time they come by.” The woman explained, walking over to the wall of the store to point to a framed picture of herself and Y/N, signed and all. 

“She has a boyfriend?” Penelope asked, shocked that she hadn’t at least figured it out. In all her snooping of Y/N’s instagram, she hadn’t seen a hint of a boyfriend. 

“Oh, yes. They’ve been coming around for, goodness, six months now? They always buy each other books, it’s so adorable. He always buys her one of the classics, I think it was Romeo and Juliet last time. She usually gets a romance of some kind.” That made sense; the most recent picture on her instagram was one of two books; Romeo and Juliet, and The Duke and I. Eventually, Penelope and Derek made their way out of the bookstore, and that was the end of Penelope’s investigation of Y/N Y/L/N’s life.

Well, the end of Penelope’s investigation for that week.

It’s not like Penelope could track down Y/N Y/L/N’s secret boyfriend…not without seriously abusing her FBI database and maybe breaking a few privacy laws. She almost forgot about the trip to the bookstore, but during a rare case where she actually got to join the team on the jet, she noticed Spencer was reading something out of character. 

“Uh, Reid?” He looked up from the book he was reading.

“What’s up?” He said, quietly, as everyone else was sleeping after the long case.

“Why are you reading The Duke and I? I thought you were a total book snob?” She asked, sitting across from him.

“Oh, um,” Nothing could hide the slight blush that appeared on his face. “A friend of mine told me to read it.”

“Like a girlfriend?” Penelope teased, watching as his blush became even more noticeable.

“Y-yeah. Uh. Like a girlfriend.” Spencer opened the book back up, hiding behind its cover and promptly ending the conversation. He brought his feet up onto the small table in between them, causing his pants to ride up just enough to show off his socks. One sock was just plain black, but the other one was covered in the logo for a familiar TV show.

“Are you a fan of Y/N Y/L/N too?” Spencer just looked up in confusion.

“What?”

“Your sock, that’s her show right? It’s really good, I watched it in like a day.”

Spencer’s eyes went back to the book. “Uh, yeah. It’s a great show.”

Sure, Penelope thought he was acting a little weird, but that’s just Spencer. He doesn’t talk about his life outside of work too often, but she was glad he at least told her about the girlfriend. Even if he wouldn’t tell her her name, she was sure she could figure something out. So the next day, she updated Derek on her new information about Spencer.

“Wait wait wait, Spencer was wearing socks with the show’s logo? And reading The Duke and I?” The two of them had been walking towards the BAU kitchen to get a cup of coffee to help them get through the paperwork day, but Derek had stopped walking abruptly when Penelope gave him those details.

“That’s what you’re most interested in? Not the fact that Spencer has a girlfriend?” Penelope asked.

“C’mon baby girl, it’s obvious that Spencer’s been dating someone.”

“What! You knew! And you didn’t tell me?”

Derek laughed, resuming their walk towards coffee and letting Penelope hurry along behind him. “Sorry cupcake, I figured you knew too. He’s just been so happy for the past few months, in the way only a lady would make him.”

“Ugh, ok, well some of us aren’t profilers, Derek. What’s so important about the socks and book?” 

“Well,” Derek grabbed the coffee pot, pouring some into Penelope’s mug as he spoke. “Just a few weeks ago you dragged me to a bookstore, where we learned about a certain couple. A couple where the guy likes classics and the girl likes romance, right?”

“Yeah-Oh! No! There’s no way you’re suggesting what I think you’re suggesting.”

“And didn’t Spencer get flustered when you mentioned her?” He asked, now pouring the coffee into his own mug.

“Oh my god! The socks!” Penelope pulled her phone out of the pocket, quickly making her way to the picture she’d saved. She showed it to Derek once again, this time zooming in on the coffee table. “Those are the socks he was wearing! On her instagram!”

“Uh, why are you staring at a picture of Spencer’s living room?” Penelope jumped, not having noticed that JJ was standing over her shoulder, looking at the picture on Penelope’s phone.

“Wait, you’re sure this is his living room? Like, 100%?” Penelope had never actually been to his place before.

“Uh, yeah, he babysits Henry a lot. Why, what’s the big deal about it?”

“Oh my god, Spencer is dating a movie star. Spencer Reid is dating a movie star!” Penelope couldn’t help but jump up and down, almost spilling her coffee.

And then Spencer walked into the room, promptly ending the gossip between coworkers before Spencer could hear. 

Derek had made her promise to wait until Spencer was ready to talk about his relationship, but after an agonizing week, she felt like she was going to burst at the seams. So when she got a notification on their night off that Y/N had posted a new picture, she was aching to get more information about the secret relationship. This was, again, a picture in what she now knows is Spencer’s living room. This time, there was an open box of pizza on the table. It was captioned, “Lovely night in.”

So, naturally, Penelope immediately headed to Spencer’s.

~~~

Y/N doesn’t think it’s possible to be any more happy than she is right now.

8 months ago she’d just ended what was possibly the most disastrous relationship in the history of humankind. She’d made the classic mistake of dating a co-star; an older guy who was well known to be a bit of a playboy. The relationship had been extremely public; everything from their dates to their fights were somehow captured by paparazzi. His fans hated her, her fans hated him, and worst of all, the network was pushing them to be even more public in the hopes of gaining more viewers. At the end of it all, she was insanely grateful her character wouldn’t be returning for the next season as she was already booked for a movie. The only thing worse than breaking up with your co-star is having to continue playing his love interest. 

And just when she was at her absolute lowest, having sworn off of ever dating someone in the spotlight again, she ran into Spencer. 

After wrapping filming for a movie in Atlanta, the only reason she was even in D.C. was because her flight was forced to land early; a sudden storm was arriving and there was no way the plane would safely make it to New York. What started as an hour delay turned to three, then four, and before she knew it Y/N was stuck in town for a weekend. 

She spent basically an entire day hiding away in her hotel room, so Y/N just had to get out and do something. It was still raining cats and dogs, and she’d never been in the city before, so she just googled the closest places that were still open. Luckily, there was a small bookstore just down the street, and there were a few books she’d heard about that she hadn’t had the chance to buy yet. So she put on her coat and practically ran to the store. 

She was drenched and already regretting the decision to leave the hotel room by the time she walked into the building, but there was no point in turning back now. The place was practically empty anyways, Y/N only spotted an older woman reading a novel at the cash register. She slowly began browsing the shelves, not looking for anything in particular.

When she rounded one of the corners, however, she ran right into someone’s chest.

“Shit! I’m so sorry!” She immediately apologized, looking up to find a cute man staring back at her. “I wasn’t paying any attention, I assumed I was the only one in here.”

“That’s alright, I, um, I wasn’t paying attention either.”

The guy standing before her was holding various books, all reminding Y/N of the books she was supposed to read (but never actually read) for her high school English classes. “So, do you exclusively read books written before the 20th century or are you just taking a college class in-” She read the title of the book on top of his pile; a collection of short stories by Edgar Allen Poe. “-depressing gothic short stories?”

He laughed, rolling his eyes a bit. “I just like a bit of a challenge when reading. And it’s a rainy day, which calls for ‘depressing gothic short stories,’ not–” He glanced at the one book she’d picked up, a cartoon covered book called Red, White, and Royal Blue. “What I can only assume is a cheesy romance.”

Despite his insult of her choice in books, Y/N couldn’t help the smile on her face. “Well maybe I like reading books that are actually entertaining, not reading so I can be confused by convoluted metaphors.” 

Just as he opened his mouth to respond, their conversation was disrupted. “Y/N Y/L/N? Aren’t you from that doctor show on television?” Y/N turned to see the woman that had been at the register earlier slowly walking over. 

“That’s me! It’s nice to meet you!” Y/N’s real smile suddenly switched to a smaller, more practiced one. It’s not that she didn’t love meeting fans–she’d just been enjoying a conversation with someone who wasn’t treating her differently. 

“Oh I knew I recognized you! My granddaughter loves her show, she was so upset when you decided to transfer to that fancy british hospital and…” The woman started rambling on a bit about the stuff her character had done and how her granddaughter reacted to it. Y/N glanced over at the guy she’d been talking to, who seemed entertained by the whole interaction. “...Anyways, do you think we could take a picture? My granddaughter will just never believe you were here!”

“Of course, um, do you mind taking it for us…?”

“Spencer. Yeah, I’ll take the picture for you. Do you have a camera, Mrs. Waverly?” Clearly the guy, Spencer, was a bit of a regular here if he knew her by name. 

“Yes, yes, it’s around here somewhere…” The woman scrambled off, muttering to herself about where she’d last seen the camera.

“So…” Spencer spoke first, breaking the somewhat awkward silence while they waited for Mrs. Waverly. “You read cheesy romances and star in cheesy Grey’s Anatomy knockoffs?”

“Hey! It wasn’t a Grey’s-” His pointed look made her stop. “Ok, it was totally a Grey’s Anatomy knockoff, but I’m not on the show anymore so you can’t make fun of me for it!”

Mrs. Waverly finally reappeared, with an old polaroid camera in her hands. The two quickly took a picture, which Y/N happily signed for the woman. By the time both Y/N and Spencer had bought their books, the rain had slowed to a light drizzle. 

“So, um…” Spencer started, but trailed off, not knowing what to say.

“My hotel is just down the street.” Y/N said, pointing in the right direction. Spencer’s eyes widened a bit before Y/N realized what she’d said. “Not that I’m like, inviting you to my hotel room, I’m not, that’d be crazy, I just-” She cut herself off, trying to not ramble anymore. “Do you wanna walk with me? Tell me more about your depressing book?”

Luckily, Spencer wasn’t put off by her rambling. “I’d love to. Poe isn’t always depressing, really…” He started, as the two of you walked slowly towards your hotel.

From there, the short walk turned into a coffee date the next day, which turned into long FaceTimes while one or both of you were in different cities, which lead to where you are now; 8 months deep in a relationship and finally in town with Spencer. He’d still have work of course, but you’d be in town for the next two months as your next job wasn’t starting for a while. 

The two of you were basically in an extended honeymoon phase. Only your closest friends knew that you were dating anyone, so you never had to worry about it leaking to the press. You figured when the two of you got more serious you’d eventually have to go public with the relationship, but for now it was nice having something just for you. 

You were in Spencer’s apartment, scrolling through Netflix looking for something new to watch, when Spencer arrived home from work.

“I think my team knows that we’re dating.” 

“What?”

Spencer made his way to the couch, laying down next to Y/N as he continued, “Well obviously JJ knows, but she said she wouldn’t tell anyone. I’m sure Hotch and Rossi at least have figured out that I’m dating someone, but I don’t think they care enough to figure out who. But today Garcia and Morgan were just acting weird. I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if-”

Spencer was cut off by a knock at the door. “Spencer Reid if you don’t open this door right now I’m making Derek kick it down!” 

“Let me guess…that’s Garcia.” Y/N said, laughing as Spencer rolled his eyes and got up to open the door. 

“Spencer, are you actually dating a movie star? And you didn’t tell me?” Garcia complained, not yet seeing Y/N sitting on the couch as she entered the room, solely focused on Spencer. Derek walked in next, immediately noticing Y/N and smiling at her. Y/N made her way over, trying not to laugh at Garcia’s widening eyes when she noticed her. 

“Sorry, I think it’s my fault that he didn’t tell you. We’re just keeping things quiet right now.” You explained, “I’m Y/N, by the way.” 

Derek was the first to grab your hand. “Derek Morgan. I’m sorry about all this, she was just curious.”

“I’m Penelope! And you’re Y/N and I love your work so much you don’t even know!” Penelope began rambling, taking Y/N’s arm in hers and leading her over to the couch as she talked about her favorite parts of Y/N’s movie. Derek and Spencer slowly followed, talking amongst themselves.

“So…Spencer Reid and Y/N Y/L/N. How’d that happen?” Derek asked. 

Spencer smiled, thinking back to that night 8 months ago. “We met in a bookstore last year.”

Derek laughed, because of course Reid would meet a girl at a bookstore. “You happy?”

Again, he smiled. “I’ve never been happier.”

~~~

taglist

@avada-kedavra-bitch-187 @kenzi-woycehoski @esposadomd @andreasworlsboring101 @peculiarinsomniac 

[marmie-noir]

I just had the dumbest headcannon idea thing ever so buckle up.

You are a De Riva Crow, a cousin for Viago, live at the De Riva estates most of the time (most crows I feel have little hidden apartments or places to stay that aren't at the estate just in case, ya know?)

Anyway, we all know Lucanis at one point had a crush on Viago, right? He gave that man a dagger, but it wasn't received well. I saw the headcanon floating around that cracked me up, that Viago didn't reject Lucanis' dagger because it didn't meet his standards (which is totally fair, he is a diva but we love him), but because he took the dagger as a threat. A threat against him, his house, not uncommon amongst crows. (And yeah, maybe Viago started the nickname 'Demon of Vyrantium, but how did Lucanis even figure that out? (He hasn't.) And a threat over something so silly? Come now Lucanis, be rational.)

So you, as far as you know, think Lucanis has the hots for your cousin. That ended a long time ago, and he's since set his eyes on you. Viago of course notices, and is suspicious, until Teia has him see a bit of reason.

Anyway, imagine. You wake up one day, head from your room towards the kitchen for coffee, and who else is there but the Demon of Vyrantium. Already making coffee, clothing a little ruffled, looking exhausted.

You have no idea he showed up to celebrate a contract with Teia, loving to bother Viago with her, and ended up drinking a bit too much of his best wine, hung over and cranky. But to you, that man spent the evening getting his back broken, learning the dimensions of Viago's expensive hardwood desk in a more intimate setting.

Never mind that Teia comes in and you get all weird because 'Does she know? Is she okay with Viago and Lucanis being a thing? Are they ALL a thing?' And ew, that is your cousin who is basically your brother, no. So you stutter out an excuse and leave, Teia looking amused as you pass Viago in the entryway, the only one to see the whole picture.

You and Lucanis like one another but are both inexperienced in anything beyond brief physical encounters. Viago is still suspicious of Lucanis and thinks the dagger was a threat to this day but that they have moved past it, and Lucanis is completely clueless to it all.

All he knows is you have the prettiest eyes and you have a great dagger collection and the way you make this poison is the hottest thing ever. And when he sees you diving off the rooftops of Treviso, more like a falcon at it's prey than a crow, he could propose.

Idiots in love, that is it.

[storywriter007]

It Is Us - Leo Valdez x Fem!Reader

summary: in which y/n comforts leo after percy insulted him

warnings: slight cursing, tension between characters

genre: (basically) fluff

word count: 1k

-> heroes of olympus masterlist

✧.⭒✧.⭒✧.⭒✧.⭒✧.⭒✧.⭒✧.⭒✧.⭒✧.⭒

the argo ll was an interesting place. one minute, i was next to the son of poseidon who could summon tsunamis at his will, and the next, i was with a handyman who seemed like he was high on sugar and always had cheesy jokes ready.

and was it weird i preferred the second?

leo was undeniably my favorite on the argo ll. the ship felt empty without him, the dinner table felt tense when he wasn’t there, and the control deck seemed stupid when he wasn’t the one pressing the buttons. 

we talked a lot, early mornings on the deck, late nights fixing machinery, or even afternoons of just sitting in the control room. we talked about everything. i got to know leo, and know who he really is, when he’s not covering up his pain with humor all the time. 

what i loved the most about leo was his personality. the ship was full of serious people, annabeth, jason, frank. then it was full of people who didn’t want to make the serious people mad, hazel, percy, and piper. i love all of the people aboard, i just like one a little more.

✧.⭒✧.⭒✧.⭒✧.⭒✧.⭒✧.⭒✧.⭒✧.⭒✧.⭒

we were all sitting in the common area, discussing things about the prophecy, monsters, and life as we know it. it was a few of the quiet moments we got on the ship, to just talk. leo was cracking his jokes at every possible minute, which was impressive, considering how he had a remark for just about anything and everything.

i sat on one of the couches, with hazel and frank to my right. on the other couch sat jason and piper, and on the bench were annabeth and percy. leo sat on the arm of a sitting chair. coach hedge was screaming over baseball. 

the conversation went on to annabeth, and how impressive her strategic thinking was, and how it was unfair that she got underestimated a lot.

“i just have to be more serious because i’m a blonde, and no one likes to take us seriously.” she explained.

i understood where she was coming from, for a smart woman like annabeth, being stereotyped as a dumb blonde consistently probably rubbed her the wrong way after a while.

“you and jason can team up and take over the camps, like the ‘rage of the blondes’ or something like that. at least one of you’d be taken seriously.” leo laughed, practically turning red as the joked left his mouth.

jason, hazel, frank, and i all chuckled before realizing that percy was staring leo down.

“i think they’d take annabeth more seriously, she’s ten times scarier than me.” jason joked, trying to diffuse the tension that had just taken place in the room.

“leo, i know you think your jokes are funny, but sometimes they’re really not.” percy said, anger clearly tainting his voice.

“I feel ya. my bad, annabeth, i was just messing around, i didn’t mean it like that.” leo said, nonchalantly.

annabeth simply nodded and went back to working on her laptop.

“can she get a proper apology?” percy continued.

“percy, man, it was just a joke.” leo defended, having already apologized in his own way.

“it’s sad leo, how you have to use your personality to make up for everything you don’t have.” he spat back. 

i turned to see leo’s eyes fill with hurt. that wasn’t fair of percy, that really wasn’t. leo and i had talked multiple times, and he had brought up how he felt inferior to the other guys. it wasn’t alright for percy to say that. 

“i’m sorry annabeth.” leo said calmly, before getting up, and leaving.

the room sat with silence for a moment. i got how leo’s joke came off the wrong way, but he apologized. what was percy’s need to go and villainize him even further. 

“what’s even more sad, percy, is how you have to exploit someone else’s insecurities just to appear chivalrous. grow up.” i said angrily, before getting up to follow leo.

i didn’t really care what string of curses he wanted to shoot at me afterwards. right now, i needed to make sure leo was alright.

✧.⭒✧.⭒✧.⭒✧.⭒✧.⭒✧.⭒✧.⭒✧.⭒✧.⭒

i entered leo’s room after knocking, and found him in his bed, tears streaming down his face. 

“is it true what he said y/n? does everyone feel like i use my personality to make up for what i don’t have?” he asked.

i sat down next to him.

“he doesn’t mean that, percy was just being an asshole because he thought you hurt annabeth.” i comforted.

“but he’s right, isn’t he? him, jason, and frank, are all huge, scary, powerful, guys. they’re not making up for anything.” he continued.

“he isn’t right, leo. you aren’t any less of a person because your daddy doesn’t control the sky or the sea.” i said, putting my hand on his back.

“i killed my own mom. i am less. i am the seventh wheel. i am the useless one.” he said, draining out thoughts i knew had bothered him for far too long.

“you didn’t kill your mom, it was gaea. and you are not useless and you are not less than anyone else on here. we wouldn’t even be on here if it wasn’t for you! you’re obsessing over the things everyone else has done without realizing they wouldn’t have been able to do any of that without you. you might be a lot of things leo, crazy, funny, kind, but you are not useless, and you are not incompetent.” i explained, emotion flooding my voice.

i saw him wipe away his tears, and a smile appear on his face.

“but i’ll always be the seventh wheel.” he said. “everyone’s got someone, except for me. the only person i like on the ship probably doesn't even like me back. and i can't blame her. it’s leo and his machines or it’s leo and y/n-” he cut himself off abruptly.

he cleared his throat.

“forget that last part.” he said. 

“why? it is us, and i wouldn’t have it any other way.” i smiled.

leo smiled back, and we stared into each other’s eyes for a moment. then he leaned in, and i felt my lips make contact with his. i kissed him back, but he pulled out.

“i’m sorry, i shouldn’t have-” he started.

“yeah, you shouldn’t have pulled away so soon.” i smiled, pulling him by his shirt back in for another kiss.

[magnoliasandarson]

hoax

Tim was doing his absolute damnedest to project calmness, but he was losing his mind. Two feet away, munching on some cheesy fries, was the Red Hood—the prodigal son, the dead golden boy, his childhood hero, his Robin. The insane man who once beat him half to death, now the guy who occasionally dropped by the cave with a frankly worrying number of bullet holes. 

He’d been patrolling for an hour or so when he noticed the lack of gunshots, screams, explosions, etc., and tracked Hood to the gargoyle Dick took him to once when he was feeling sentimental. It was strange finding him without his signature explosive bucket on, with a bag of Batburger in his lap.

Tim didn’t know what to say, but he knew he needed to say something. Jason apologized for his actions weeks ago and explained that the pit had taken no dead Robins and turned it into all Robins must die, but there was still a weight between them. A clear line that said do not cross; luckily enough, Tim lived to cross those lines, “Takin’ a day off from murder and mayhem?”

Jason twisted his head to look over, his scowl somehow threatening, even with a fry hanging out of his mouth. He finished chewing, looking menacing the whole time, “Fucks it to ya, bird boy?”

Tim plopped down on the ledge; if Jason was going to shoot him, he would’ve already. He stared out at Gotham, at the empty streets and windows glowing with warmth and light. For once, the city was quiet, “Just making conversation, Hood.”

“What made you think I wanted to talk?” Jason’s tone was harsh, but it was about a five on the Jason-rage-meter, and Tim didn’t get fidgety till a seven. 

Tim kicked his feet out, idly drumming his fingers on the cement ledge, “Maybe I wanted to talk.” And in a weird way, it was true. This was Jason freakin’ Todd; the boy wonder that made Batman laugh. He oddly wanted to know everything. 

Jason sighed like he was accosted by young, costumed teens all the time, and, to be fair, he was. Stephanie had taken to showing up at his apartment at odd hours with waffles, and she had only been shot at twice, “Fine, traffic light. Whatcha wanna talk about.”

“Y’know, you wore the suit, too. ‘Least mine has pants.” Tim spoke, then immediately hunched away. Robin was a sore spot for Jason- Tim was stupid to bring it up. 

For some reason, Jason didn’t immediately pull a gun; he just cocked his head and laughed quietly. Tim straightened back up and tried to muster up a glare, but that just made Jason��s little laughs louder, “Ooh- baby bird’s got jokes,” he rolled his shoulders and offered a thing of fries from the bag, “want some fries, Tiny?”

Tim groaned; why did everyone make short jokes about him? He snatched the fries sharply in protest, “You were short too-”

“Yeah, then I took a dip in poison snot,” Jason cut him off, “Ya wanna do that too, short stack?”

Tim immediately jammed some fries in his mouth- he was incurably dumb. He’d managed to bring up Robin and the Lazarus Pit with Jason. He should hang up the cape, “You got any advice? As a former short king?” Honestly, he wished Jason would just shoot him now. There was something wrong with his brain on a fundamental level. He’d been hanging out with Bart and Kon way too much.

Jason tilted his head like he was buffering and inhaled deeply through his nose like he was trying to calm himself through sheer force of will, “Whatcha wanna know?”

Tim chewed his mouthful of potato slowly; he hadn’t thought this far ahead. What did he want to know from Jason? He could ask about crime-lording, but Jason would probably snitch to Dick, and then Bruce would lecture him for at least an hour. Oddly enough, there was only one safe topic he could ask about, and it would still likely result in him leaving with lead in his body that was not there before, “You got any, uhm, Robin-ly advice?” Lightning should strike him down.

Jason didn’t kill him, which was a plus; just lit up a cigarette and took a long drag, which was objectively hilarious, but Tim would die if he laughed, so he just ate another fry, “Robin was a different kid,” he blew out smoke rings like the cool guys in movies, and if Tim wasn’t acutely afraid of lung cancer, he’d be tempted to try, “Dickwing use’ta say, “Robin is magic, you have to be brave for the magic to work.” I used to believe that shit.”

“You don’t anymore?”

Another cool ring of cigarette smoke floated out through the sky, “I stopped believin’ when I dug my way outta my grave.”

Noted. Tim cleared his throat; this was not a conversation he was equipped for, “Oh.”

Jason snorted, “Yeah- oh,” he took another deep drag of his cigarette, making Tim’s chest twinge, “The thing is- Robin will make you believe you can be- make you think you can be a better person.”

“Then why aren’t you better?” The words left his mouth without Tim’s consent, and his whole body tensed to jump, his fingers finding his grapple gun at his waist. 

Jason gave a wry smile and stubbed his spent cigarette on the gargoyle to his right, “Because Robin isn’t magic.”

[tk-duveraun]

3/? Luo Binghe is SO NORMAL about Shen Yuan

1, 2, 3 (here), 4

Read up through even numbered parts on Ao3

Thanks to his System quest countdown, Luo Binghe knew to follow Shen Yuan to the Lingxi caves to retrieve Shen Jiu. In IRS, the blood relationship between the two was left ambiguous. Their Shizun had claimed that as twins they could co-rule Qing Jing Peak as Shen Qingchun and Shen Qingqiu, but the swapping POV meant Luo Binghe knew both men were certain their resemblance and shared family name were coincidences.

Their POVs never offered evidence for those claims, finding the idea preposterous and the 'truth' self-evident in yet another lazy diversion from either writing or explaining things. Luo Binghe honestly wasn't sure the author, Snowballing, had even made a concrete decision about it.

The justification their shizun made to the then-sect leader had been that since Xiu Ya had split itself between the two of them, they clearly had a connection worthy of being dual peak lords. Of course, the shippers called them soulmates for that.

It was uncomfortable to keep his expression politely curious as Luo Binghe followed after the elegant line of Shen Yuan. Ning Yingying chattered away at his side and received a head pat — a head pat! — for her enthusiasm. For his part, Ming Fan was desperately trying to get Shen Yuan to answer questions about the budget. Likely, he wanted everything done before Shen Jiu could ax everything he deemed unnecessary.

Luo Binghe tuned out the reunion between the peak lords. Shen Jiu was a little bitch, snarly and overprotective, but otherwise harmless. Despite being in the most chapters after the protagonist, Shen Jiu didn't get so much as an accidental kiss or nipslip for his trouble. Snowball really wanted to play at Schrodinger's incest. Shen Jiu was definitely interested, but didn't get any sugar to ensure those who'd be turned off kept tuning in and paying.

Actually, the last bit was a little up in the air. Luo Binghe's weird cousin was corporate espionage stroke an actual criminal and he hadn't been able to find Snowball's real identity or address. Look, Luo Binghe just wanted to ask him some questions, okay? But his cousin had come to the conclusion that Snowball was either also quite rich or lived in a series of actual gutters.

Luo Binghe followed dutifully as screams attracted Shen Yuan's attention, but didn't stop thinking.

Wealth would explain why even offers of generous payments to modify the story never hit, but Snowball was notorious for neither responding to nor even reading messages. The story was locked by the platform multiple times due to some failure to respond to their admin on his part.

It wasn't as if artists could afford to have actual integrity in the capitalist economy. A monthly payment of less than he spent on boba kept several artists from lewding Shen Yuan with any of his worthless suitors. They could still lewd him, of course, but he had to be alone, with Xiu Ya or with the sword Luo Binghe had designed for himself. It was a beautiful thing called Zheng Yang whose sun imagery went great with the 'spring' of Shen Yuan's courtesy name.

Honestly, it was pretty ridiculous that no one he commissioned realized the sword was his. Instead, there were fights over which love interest Luo Binghe supposedly supported since apparently none of the girls believed him shameless enough to ship Shen Yuan with himself. Which was the height of folly. He said in the comments, explicitly, that Shen Yuan was his and his alone.

"We know Shen Qingchun is held in high esteem by both cultivators and demons," Sha Hualing spouted, interrupting Luo Binghe's thoughts.

Truly, any mention of his beloved would immediately snatch his attention.

She continued, "So this Hualing suggests that he judge the fairness of the matches."

Shen Yuan snapped open his fan and visibly considered the idea. From IRS, Luo Binghe knew that he was quickly counting the demons and evaluating their strength. His final estimation was that he and Shen Jiu would be able to send the demons packing, but that the casualties among the disciples would be too high with only two of them.

"Very well," Shen Yuan said. He stepped away from Shen Jiu and toward the demons. He held his fan at arm's length and everyone, human and demon both, took several steps back. He spun in an elegant circle, his robes swirling around him even as an array appeared underneath his feet.

Shen Yuan smiled, not even looking at his work before he moved to stand on the edge of the arena he'd created. With a snap of his fan, he addressed the crowd. "Matches will be to forfeit or when I signal the defeat is complete. As we are exchanging pointers, there's no need for anyone to lose their life." His eyes flashed in challenge; Sha Hualing made him mediate so he wouldn't compete so she would have to deal with his rules.

Luo Binghe had never been so hard in his entire life. He felt light-headed. All of the cultivation studies he'd crammed in anticipation of this day fled his mind in an instant. He was literally panting.

Luo Binghe allowed himself the duration of Shen Qingqiu's match to drool. When his nominal master won, he clenched all of the muscles in both thighs to redirect blood flow to areas that might actually let him win his match. If Sha Hualing wasn't sent running Luo Binghe was in for a bad time.

Liu Mingyan fought the Saintess personally. Her intent was to show her Shen-shibo that he would be marrying into a strong family that could protect him and his interests, but like her brother, she failed miserably at proving anything. Though, Luo Binghe supposed, she was gracious in defeat, which wasn't worthless. It would be a good trait for when Luo Binghe finally had his wife and dashed all hope of her becoming a sister-in-law to his beloved.

When Shen Jiu announced Luo Baixiao would fight Elder Sky Hammer, everyone not from Qing Jing yelled in surprised protest. However, it was an open secret that Shen Jiu despised their youngest disciple. Why? Ask Snowball, but don't hold your breath. He needed the young demon to have a grudge, fuck you, that's why.

In IRS, the fight was a painful beatdown. Luo Baixiao hadn't been particularly filial, so the crowd didn't understand why he wouldn't concede. But the chapter was a rare Shen Yuan POV, so he knew his beloved was frozen with indecision, hidden behind his benign solemnity, which explained why he didn't call the match early.

After the reveal of Luo Baixiao's demonic heritage there had been speculation that he won his match due to channeling some of his demonic energy. Well, if the original goods did, it wasn't an option for Luo Binghe, whose demonic abilities were currently locked behind a system wall. In his corner, however, Luo Binghe had anime.

Though he took a beating memorizing Elder Sky Hammer's attack patterns, Luo Binghe finally had a long enough window to launch a direct qi attack somewhere between a rasengan and kamehameha. Elder Sky Hammer fell with a crash, the poison on his armor completely unused.

Luo Binghe shot his largest, purest smile at Shen Yuan in victory.

[OOC! 7 S-pointed deducted! Only 14 S-points remain.]

"Are you kidding me? I won! I completed the mission!"

[Tutorial quest "I'll Be Your Saint Sebastian" incomplete. Objective: Cause Sha Hualing to flee from Cang Qiong Mountain.]

"Fuck you!"

Luo Binghe had been too busy arguing with the System and almost missed one of the best moments in the universe. Elder Sky Hammer had flung himself across the arena to kill the opponent that bested him, only for Shen Yuan to dash forward and swat him back into the flagstones like a particularly annoying fly.

"My disciple isn't for you to bully."

Shen Yuan's delicate, elegant, pale hand hefted the demon's hammer as if it weighed nothing. Then, Luo Binghe's dearest heart casually tossed the massive weapon to crash at the feet of the assembled demons.

Again, Luo Binghe was instantly hard, but he couldn't allow it to distract him. This was one of the most pivotal moments in all of IRS. Elder Sky Hammer would attack a second time and inflict Shen Yuan with Without-a-Cure, a poison that would cripple his cultivation and inevitably force several instances of dual cultivation to remove the stagnation in his spiritual veins. Luo Binghe couldn't allow it.

Adrenaline replaced blood in his veins as Luo Binghe scanned his immediate surroundings. With his demon heritage, he wouldn't die to Without-a-Cure and shouldn't even suffer permanent cultivation damage, but surviving meant nothing if he couldn't kill Elder Sky Hammer before Shen Yuan was poisoned.

An An Ding disciple to his right had a sharp spade in his hand and grout all over his robes. Good enough. Luo Binghe lunged and snatched the spade before pivoting. Everything seemed to go in slow motion. Elder Sky Hammer had lifted himself onto his hands and knees and was bracing to pounce. Luo Binghe couldn't afford to wait or hesitate and moved before the giant demon did.

As a result of his preemption, Luo Binghe reached Elder Sky Hammer in the moment he left the ground. With a bare-toothed snarl, Luo Binghe struck the spade up through the demon's neck, the poison spikes on his opponent's gorget scratching his forearm through his sleeve.

Together, Luo Binghe and Elder Sky Hammer crashed onto the flagstones. The poison made quick work slithering through his bloodstream. Luo Binghe's vision turned blurry and rainbow-tinted.

"Disciple Luo!" yelled his precious, unharmed beloved.

He passed out.

[happyk44]

Ya know what I find really weird in PJO but I can't find an alternate explanation for/scene for and so it must stay in my brain as a "I can't find the solution for this and it's making be rage" thought?

The whole "Greek and Roman Deities Fighting Each Other" for the same brain/body. Like, I somewhat get it from the author's standpoint but as someone who knows both of their myths, I'm like??? They literally both have their own gods without "counterparts" like Bellona, which Rick acknowledges within the series and each deity literally has different values within somewhat same domains. Like, Juno? Entirely different epithets from Hera, although they share the same "place" within their pantheons. And, yes, there are some overlaps which come from the fact that Rome came after Greece and has a lot of influence from the Greeks, just like our books and literature has a lot of overlap with ancient cultures and, very specifically, America with European roots. That's just how humans work! Look at literally any fictional book with its own "world" and see all the things it took inspiration from! Even Tolkien! Especially Tolkien! And now look at the things we took from Tolkien.

It's just. I don't know what to do about this and I'm mad about it. Do I like, make the whole scene change when the gods change. Do I replace their entire beings with the other culture's. Do I make them coexist and just pop up everywhere? Answers, brain, answers.

[Coming from an author who's especially enraged bc he's trying to write a Mortal!Big Three AU after the series with a lot of roman influence but a majority of the series is based on Greek Influence--even Camp Jupiter, who has child soldiers??? Dude, they should be adults-. "Oh what about Jason and Reyna?" Make a funny little plot thing where literal adults are tasked by one of their Patron Goddess to take care of a Small Child which they literally did not ask for and raise him/it to be a functioning soldier. Make it so when we're introduced to The Camp via Percy, the soldiers groan because they're literally being run over by children, wtf man. Anyway, if someone writes this into something or finds a fic with an idea similar to this, send it to me <3--and so now he has to do a lot of research based in roman culture with very little Referenced Points.

{The author's starting to but it's gonna take a while and they wanna write this fic now-}]

<3

Fair warning it's like 4:30ish in the morning as I write this and I haven't slept yet so this might be all over the place but, yeah, Risk doesn't do enough to differentiate between the two sides within canon. So I think a lot of people come out of the series assuming that there's little to no difference between Greek and Roman gods and culture, aside from the change of their names. And since there's no perceived difference, they don't really do their own research.

Plus adding in details that aren't accurate to ancient culture/ideology (re: Neptune being hated because Romans weren't seafaring. Like. They were. They had a navy. And they didn't hate Nepetune) and then not elaborating any further on those details (we never see Neptune so we don't get to be exposed to how terrifying or different from Poseidon he is, we have no active child of Neptune to give us a reason why the modern day campers would be fearful other than a story about an earthquake, which I still find ridiculous because really? None of your siblings have ever made a devastating fuckup?)

It definitely could've been more well thought out. I mean I wrote a book featuring different gods, and a key player is Kali. In some text, Kali is an aspect of the goddess Durga. Durga has other aspects as well, such as Parvati. It's sort of similar to how the gods are presented in PJO/HoO. However, I wanted to clarify that Kali is a separate entity, so over the course of the last few centuries and as a result of colonization, she and the other aspects separated out from the principal goddess to be their own. She was the last to sever out. While she is worshipped as an aspect of Durga, she's still a goddess in her own right! But the aspect wording caught my attention and I wanted it to be obvious

With PJO/HoO canon, it could be the opposite. They started as separate entities but public perception caused them to merge. We know through TKC that public perception affects the gods - gods that have been forgotten become senile. Why can't public perception affect them in other ways? In my book, less known mythologies and gods become weaker and weaker, especially as colonization has erased knowledge and artifacts, which is why I had them centralize their power into a collective that equalizes belief among the whole of them (with a little boost for the well-known and worshipped), because hey, if it can happen to them, it can happen to you.

Anyway, a fun way to go about this is maybe making a joke that Hermes and Anubis can't interact because otherwise they start to combine and separating them takes time and energy and other people's help because of Hermanubis. The Greek and Roman gods want to be separate but because public perception tends to conflate them way more than they're already conflated, they're stuck battling it out. Greek gods tend to win more because, again, public perception tends to prioritize Greek mythology (at least I think so anyway) which is one of the reason legacies are so commonplace in Camp Jupiter in a way they aren't at CHB.

By this you can have "designer" legacies - kids with more than one godly ancestor (like Frank) in order to continue on the powers or strengths of multiple gods rather than just the one. With the way New Rome is structured, I can't imagine why demigods wouldn't hook up with one another. With CHB, you can leave so relationships between demigods may fizzle out after the summer or when demigods choose to stop coming back to camp for whatever reason. They also don't have to send their kids to camp, and can train their kids on their own, so less interaction with legacies is had with CHB, and thus godly influence slowly dies out as the legacies don't hook up with one another or other demigods. There's also the ever present risk of monsters, so Greek legacies may survive less.

With CJ, everyone tends to migrate into New Rome when their service is done. Between school, work, and homing options, there's less reason to leave, less likelihood of relationships fizzling out, higher likelihood of multiple godly ancestors among legacies.

One of the things that I've complained about with the Greek vs Roman battling it out thing before and what I wanna reiterate again is that Frank should not have been the one to deal with both aspects of his dad arguing in his head. It should've been Jason!! The one who actually was unsure of his standing as a Roman or Greek demigod.

But there's no differentiation. Even the arguing in Frank's head is just "kill everyone!" and "war is great!" There's no line between Mars as war god and Ares as a war god, despite the reality that there was - Mars being more disciplined and Ares being more bloodlust.

And attempts at describing a difference are either unclear or delivered through secondhand information, like when Thalia claims that Jupiter seemed different to her when he came in that aspect of himself but in text, the actual exposure we get of him feels no different to what we've experienced of Zeus in PJO. Neptune vs Poseidon.

Why does Athena have kids but Minerva doesn't when both are virgin goddesses born from their father's head? Why does Minerva's status as a virgin goddess bear more significance than Athena's to the point she doesn't simply replicate the actions of her other self to have her own kids?

The only line of clarity I can really see is Pluto vs Hades, and even then, the characterization between the two of them is essentially the same, the only weight is in the importance of their godly priorities shown both through their kids (Hazel vs Nico) and described in text (wealth vs dead). But we get little to no other exposure or line of thought from other characters with the same godly parent, just different aspects. How does Frank differ from Clarisse, or Jason from Thalia? How does the chosen aspect of their godly parent affect their personality, their powers, the way they interact with the world or how others see them?

I do like that idea of random adults at camp being given a kid by various gods who are just "take care of this thing for me, thanks" and bouncing off. That's funny. But also lol, Jason being CJ's only child soldier. He's Jupiter's child, and a champion of Juno so he's special and must be treated as such, even if that's by being attacked by wolves nonstop as a toddler and then raised in barracks from ages 3 to 15. And when people go "what about Reyna" or "what about Frank", like, idk how commonplace it is in most places but I know the US has those like junior army clubs or whatever it's called, so why couldn't they just be part of CJ's equivalent to that and then run off to do their own thing with the others because they're teens with ADHD and impulsivity is a thing, especially when you care about your friends.

But, like, also the soldier aspect isn't really key. "What about Reyna?" She was gonna end up at Camp Jupiter either way. "What about Frank?" He needed to be trained because it'd been 16 years and the fact that he hadn't experienced any monsters up to 'til then can be written away as his mom and grandmother defeated them before he could be hurt, and then his mom died and his grandmother realized she won't always be here to defend him so fuck it, let's tell him the truth about his father and send him off to learn how to defend himself.

And again! It's as you said - epithets differ even between similar gods. Their priorities differ - both in ancient culture and with the god themselves. Principal gods differ. Mars was held to higher esteem than Ares - Frank's status as his son should've been exemplified. Mars was second to Jupiter in importance - Jason could've subconsciously adopted Frank as his second in command, which would've been neat because we know Frank struggles with anxiety and confidence and we know he wasn't all that thrilled with being Mars's son at the start, and him getting a bump up in status/importance could've been an interesting arc to navigate, as well as further cement the key moment in HoH when he takes over for Jason as praetor and leads the ghostly army.

[writing-till-i-am-dead]

Bengan oneshot - Confession

Ask and you shall receive! <3

Logan likes stars. Ben knows this. Ben likes music. Logan knows this.

They liked to go out stargazing together, listening to songs like Stardust by Nat King Cole, Fade Into You by Mazzy Star, Strange Time by Matt Maltese, and whatever else Ben felt like putting in the queue. Logan wasn't too picky about what kind of music they listened to. And besides, Ben had good music taste.

"Play that song we were listening to last night! Um, what was it..?" Logan tapped his fingers on the telescope, thinking. "♪And then I go and spoil it all by saying something-♪"

Ben cut him off by tapping on his shoulder and signed "Something Stupid?"

Logan nodded. "Ya! That one!"

Ben nodded and pulled out his phone. In all honesty, he didn't want Logan to sing along to it. Just imagining him saying the words 'I love you', even if not directed at him, was too much for his heart.

Ben liked Logan a lot. But he was bad at expressing this. He's been trying to make it a bit obvious. Lately he's been playing more romantic songs like Can't Help Falling In Love by Elvis Presley, Heart to Heart by Mac DeMarco, and Love Like You from Steven Universe. But Logan didn't seem to be picking up on the hints, which makes everything so much more difficult. Though, he was also kind of grateful. Logan actually knowing Ben liked him scared Ben a lot. Like... a lot, a lot.

Ben got the song playing and Logan looked through his telescope, humming along, murmuring, "♪...I know that there's a chance you won't be leaving with me...♪"

He watched Logan hum and murmur the lyrics, but before the words "I love you" could be said, he tapped on Logan's shoulder.

"Hm? What's up?"

Ben hesitated. What now? He just wanted to stop Logan before he could even mutter out those 3 lyrics. Those 3 words that would buzz through his head and have him repeat multiple fake scenarios that would never happen because how could they ever happen? How could Logan ever say "I love you" to him? Stupid, stupid brain.

Ben though before he signed, "What constellations are out?"

Logan smiled a little disappointedly. "Sadly, I can't tell. It's pretty cloudy tonight. But I can see a planet! Come check it out!"

Ben peaked through and saw a very bright object in the sky. Before he would've assumed it was just a really bright star. But due to spending so much time with Logan, he's gotten better at telling the differences apart.

"Which planet is that?"

"That's Venus! The most toxic of the planets. Which is ironic because it's named after the Roman goddess, Venus, who was pretty shallow, especially as her Greek counterpart!"

Ben thought about the name. He was really no good at Greek nor Roman mythology. He was more of a Norse mythology enjoyer.

Logan could tell by his face he was struggling to remember which goddess Venus was.

"She was the goddess of love!" Logan told him, causing Ben's shoulders to jump.

Love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love....

What kind of weird sign was this? What, are the literal planets now calling him out for his crush!? That's not fair! And it kind of pissed him off a little, but he knew, deep down, that it would be stupid to get aggressive over a planet. Seriously, what kind of person would be like that. If he showed Logan he had anger issues that bad, he'd scare him off for sure. Like, ya, Logan already knows about the anger issues, but he doesn't know their full extent.

Logan nudged Ben a little, smiling at him. "The stars get red and oh, the night's so blue.."

Ben takes a moment to process what's happening, but before he knew it, Logan said the words.

"And then I go and spoil it all by saying something stupid like I love you..."

Ben stands there for a moment, processing this. Logan definitely hadn't directed that at him... No way.

Ya.. Logan looking at him expectantly, eyes big, blushing was all just Ben's imagination... definitely...

Logan clenches his fists and awkwardly turns away and Ben jumps, waving his arms to get his attention again before signing, "Frank Sinatra is pretty great, right?"

Logan gives him this weird look before sighing. "Ya. He is.."

They both look at the sky and Ben hesitates. He's doing something wrong. He did something wrong. He could tell by Logan's face. And Ben had a feeling what it was. But he had trouble being able to say it. How could he? Could he really be deserving to try and confess to anyone without actually saying it? Would that even count as a real confession?

He thinks for a moment before deciding "screw it" and grabbing his phone and frantically typing into Spotify the song he wants.

The song Yesterday by The Beatles began to play. Logan glanced curiously at Ben and Ben looked at him before sitting down on the grass. He gestured for Logan to join him, which he did.

Ben stared at him for a moment before finally getting the courage to do it.

He began to sign the lyrics for the song, frantically, scared to make any eye contact with Logan.

"Yesterday, love was such an easy game to play. Now I need a place to hide away.."

He hesitates on some of the lyrics, but he feels he got the message across... hopefully.

Once the song comes to a slow end, Ben tightly closes his eyes, waiting for Logan to say something. But he didn't. So Ben looked up, greeted to the site of Logan tearing up.

"What are you trying to tell me with this...?"

Ben hesitates, wanting to reach over, to wipe away his tears and tell him he doesn't need to cry.

"I'm in love with you, Logan," he signs. "But I don't feel I could be worthy. You don't know me how I used to be. I was so much more worthy of love back then. Now I'm not."

"You stupid-!" Logan exclaimed. "I don't care who you used to be! What, you got more aggressive? You can't talk? Who cares!? I don't! But don't push me away!"

Ben sits there, stunned, and Logan realizes what he said and shyly hunches his shoulders, blushing from embarrassment. "Sorry for yelling... But you get what I'm trying to say, right..?"

Ben hesitates, fidgeting nervously before slowly nodding.

Logan sighs. "'Yesterday' you may have been someone different.. but that doesn't matter because you are who you are now. I've changed too."

Ben looks down. Logan has changed. He's more confident, he's stronger, too.

"But you changed for the better."

"It's all a matter of perspective. I know a couple of guys who think I've changed for the worse because now they can't pick on me. And I may not have known who you used to be, but... you were bound to grow into who you are now because of it."

Before Ben could sign back a response, Logan took his hand into his.

"You grew into someone I love..."

Ben freezes. His heart freezes. His brain freezes. Time itself freezes.

Logan likes Ben. Ben never knew this.

Ben likes Logan. Logan always knew this.

Divider by @animatedglittergraphics-n-more

[kitthepurplepotato]

Shenanigans Part 10

Part 10/ Bakugou Katsuki and the case of the fortune teller

Warnings: Swear words. That’s it.

Summary: Best Jeanist wants to go to a fortune teller. Bakugou hates the idea.

New to the story? Click here for the first part!

Check out the Master List for more content!

💥~ 💥~ 💥~ 💥~ 💥~ 💥~ 💥~ 💥~ 💥~ 💥~ 💥~ 💥~ 💥~ 💥~ 💥

Mr. Katsuki wakes up in a hospital.

It’s loud and cold and it smells like shit.

Mr. Katsuki wants to go back to sleep.

“Katsuki!” Kirishima’s loud and annoying voice comes through the haze in his brain, giving him a new kind of headache. “Are you okay?!”

“I was okay until you started yapping.” The blonde mumbles, definitely not ready for this shit yet.

First of all, he was absolutely manhandled by the Menace.

Second of all, he kinda liked being manhandled by the Menace.

He’s not sure which statement is worse. He really hopes these are only the side effects of his concussion, even though he wasn’t concussed when he first thought about them. Fuck.

“Thank god.” Shitty Hair sighs and looks at him with the look Katsuki hates the most; the look of pity. “Don’t fret too much, she was unfair. I can’t believe she…” Kirishima couldn’t finish the sentence as Bakugou’s palm crackled under the covers, leaving an unpleasant burning smell behind.

“What the fuck, Shitty hair!” The blonde screams. “She won fair and square. She distracted me and it worked. Yes, I fucking hate to lose but I know defeat when I see one.”

Even Katsuki can’t believe he just said these words. Maybe he does need to sleep a bit longer. A few hours maybe. Or a few weeks. Or he will just hibernate until the menace dies of old age so he never has to face his stupid shitty feelings.

“I’m really not sure if I should be proud of you for saying this or be concerned that you might have been brain washed by Y/N.”

“That’s it!” Comes the excited voice of Dynamight, his eyes sparkling with joy like he’s not in a hospital room after being beaten up by a girl half his size. “She brainwashed me! That’s why I feel all these weird things, like my heart can’t stop beating when I think of her stupid, flushed face looking down at me…”

“Well thank fuck it doesn’t, you would be dead, bruh.” Comments the redhead but his response remains unheard.

“And the way I don’t even feel bad for losing because she earned my respect! Yeah, fuck that, I was just brain washed!”

Kirishima’s best friend looks absolutely insane right now; his hair is tousled from the hospital pillow, his face is pale and there are massive bags under his eyes and a few bruises around his chin. He looks like the conspiracy theorist from that old meme. It’s hilarious and disturbing at the same time.

“… just… sleep a bit more, will ya? I think you are still not completely yourself.” Kirishima mumbles and leaves the room quicker than he does a burning building.

What the fuck did he just listen to?!

~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~

You really considered resigning at this point.

You made all the possible mistakes; you kicked your boss in the balls, you flirted with him in front of the whole office and made it absolutely obvious that you secretly have the hots for him and you also talked back to your other boss who only wanted to reprimand you for being an absolute ass.

You brought in a small box to put your stuff in, just in case you get fired today because fuck, you definitely will be.

Hm. You might as well start packing.

You start to put your knick knacks into your small little box one by one. You are so zoned out you don’t even realize when the door opens up with a loud bang.

“What the fuck are you doing, shithead?!” You can’t help but look up at the voice; you were absolutely sure you’ll never hear it again after what you’ve done.

“Mr. Dynamight, I’m…”

What the fuck are you supposed to say now?!

Hey, no need to fire me I’m on my way out anyway. Oh, also, here’s my number, call me, maybe? No? No worries, love you, bye.

“I don’t fucking care anyway, just stop it and get your jacket, we are going out with the stringy hoe.” The blonde says nonchalantly, like the last 2 days didn’t happen at all. Okay, now you are even more confused.

“Uhm, yes, I’m coming, yeah, no worries, really, I wasn’t about to resign anyway. Absolutely not.” You mumble with a red face and grab your jacket without asking more questions; if this is his way to lure you out of the building and kill you, so be it. It’s still better than being alone with him in the office.

~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~

Best Jeanist is a really weird person. He loves people and he cares about them, but at the same time; thanks to all the shit he has been through; he doesn’t really know what’s appropriate and what’s not. Shortly; he can’t read the room. At all. Like Shouto fucking bacon face Todoroki times 10. Hence why, a day after Mr. Katsuki gets his ass handed to him, his sexual frustration clear and obvious to everyone after the the shit they’ve pulled in the training room, Best Jeanist decides this is the right time to ask Katsuki, Kirishima and Menace out to a….

“…Trip to that famous fortune teller!” Best Jeanist finishes his sentence. There was probably something before that last part, but fuck if Katsuki knows, he was too busy thinking about… well… everything.

“The fuck?” Katsuki and the Menace barks into the awkward silence in unison.

So apparently there is this famous fortune teller in Japan who is able to tell your future with his quirk. Not the whole thing, but bits and pieces. Katsuki doesn’t really understand why is this such a big thing; he really doesn’t care about shit like that and he certainly doesn’t care about his sore knee at the age of 53 or about his 50 cats when he’s 70.

By the look on the Menace’s face, she’s going through the same thought process; they look at each other questioningly for a second before deciding to look away with a slight blush on their faces, like two fucking teenagers. They really need to get their shit together. They fought, Y/N won. End of the story. Nothing has changed, they still hate each other. They just had a moment in the middle of the battle. No biggie.

“Yeah, Mr. Jeanist, we can come with you!” Kirishima - as always - saves the day. Best Jeanist has a mischievous smirk on his face; Bakugou is not sure what makes the other blonde so excited about this, but at least he won’t be forced to talk to the menace today.

~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~

People think Best Jeanist has nothing in his head but strings and clothing designs, but the truth is; he is a sucker for a good romance story.

Hence why he came up with the perfect plan to get his two favorite students together as soon as possible.

“So what’s the plan?” He asks Masato, the famous fortune teller, his hand holding out a thick envelope. The guy reaches out to take the envelope then looks inside; there is enough money to feed his 3 kids for at least a year. He has mouths to feed, so self-respect be damned.

“I’ll tell those two they are meant to be.” Mr. Masato smirks.

~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~

This needs to be a scam.

The whole place just screams “fake”; the dark purple walls, the over-decorated tables, the massive amount of stones and crystals available for purchase at the counter, the crystal ball in front of the guy who looks like he’s cosplaying a magician from an MMO game; it’s so over the top it’s actually disgusting.

“Let’s get over with this, I have paperwork to finish.” The blonde mumbles, absolutely uninterested in this whole shenanigan.

Kirishima looks like a kid in a candy store; he’s all over the place, looking at every single crystal and right now he’s bothering the poor sales person with random questions about them. To be fair, he is absolutely adorable from afar, leaping around the room with an excited spark in his eyes. Kirishima is a precious little fuck.

“Kiri is so sweet, isn’t he? You just want to put him in your back pocket and keep him there to cuddle him when you’re lonely.”

Well, you didn’t want to say this out loud, but oh well. It’s out there now.

Apparently, this wasn’t the right thing to say as Dynamight’s palms sparked up and his eyes went even more red than usual.

“Oh yeah? Go and fuck him then, he’s single.” The blonde pouts angrily, stomping towards the confused fortune teller guy to sit down. Kirishima stares at you with a red face, like this is the first time someone complimented him in his sad life.

“Aww, you are so sweet when you pout, Mr.Katsuki!” You put your hands on your chest to dramatize your words. “I do have two back pockets, you can both take one, if you want!”

“I don’t share.” The blonde responds with a straight face and now it’s your time to blush like a teenager; did he just… flirt back?!

… or he might have the hots for Kirishima and he doesn’t want to share them.

What? It’s an option.

“I’m really confused by the relationship of you three.” The long forgotten Best Jeanist speaks up and sits down next to Katsuki.

“Well, you are at the right place to get answers for your questions!” The fortune teller guy speaks up and if you weren’t sure about this being a scam, now you are. He sounds like those guys in the TV advertisements, which is definitely a good thing when you work in the industry but it’s a little bit too much when you are only a fortune teller in a shitty tent.

“Let’s start with the blonde young man with the threatening aura!” The guy perks up, locking his eyes with Dynamight without an explanation. His eyes go blank and there are tiny pictures scrolling though his eyeballs, too small for a normal person to actually see. You cheekily start up your magnifying quirk to get a closer look at the pictures; there is one with you in it, kneeling in front of the crying Dynamight, cupping his cheek with teary eyes.

Okay, what the fuck?! That’s way to out of character for you two to actually happen.

There is another picture that makes you smile; Katsuki in his cute little glasses taking your hand in the middle of the city while rain pours all over you. He looks like the Katsuki from the other dimension, so he will probably find you in their own world, just how he promised.

Ahh, you miss that fucker so-so much. You really hope your other self will appreciate the boy the way you would appreciate him.

“No snooping, this is not your future! Well… technically.” The guy winks at you as he comes back to reality. “Mr. Bakugou Katsuki. You are a lucky little sod.” The guy smiles at the blonde. “I don’t want to go into too much details in case it changes the future, but… “ He sighs dramatically. “I can see you are a really strong and passionate person, kind of aggressive, hard to be around for a long amount of time.”

“No shit, Sherlock, everyone who owns a TV knows that.” The blonde scoffs, clearly unimpressed.

“That’s true. But would I know how much you seek comprehension and how much you secretly wonder if there will ever be a person romantically loving you for who you are?”

Well, one thing for sure, you are not going to question the guy’s abilities when it’s your turn, he clearly knows how to fight back.

“This is a fucking scam, I don’t think about any of those things! I’m absolutely fine by myself!” The blonde grumbles with his face all red, avoiding eye contact.

“Well, if you enjoy solitude, I have bad news for you; you won’t be alone for long.” The guy smiles and looks right at you as he winks again. You really want to tell him off for his bullshit, but you saw the pictures. If this is actually a scam then it’s a really good one at that, and you can’t help but respect his shenanigans.

For your surprise, Dynamight doesn’t scream at the guy again, instead he asks a question.

“So who’s the fucker who ruins my perfect life?” Katsuki almost whispers to the guy, who can’t help but smile at that.

“The one you’ve been constantly thinking about for the last two days.”

Katsuki grunts in response but doesn’t say anything else. The guy moves to the next person without a word while you wonder about the meaning of his reading; yes, you saw yourself in the pictures but non of them were romantic; you might have missed something, there might be someone else in Dynamight’s life. There is no way he is thinking about you so much, especially not after all the drama in the training room. He’s probably doing his best to forget those few hours so you can’t be the one the guy was talking about… right?

Kirishima is the next, the guy praises him for being the best friend and the best boyfriend the world has ever seen - Kirishima perks up from the sound of having a significant other in his future and he can’t stop smiling for the rest of the day. For Jeanist, his future isn’t as fluffy as the young one’s, the guy insist he needs to go on a vacation, but he gets some good news as well.

“Last one!” The guy moves to face you properly, and fuck, you are sooo not ready for this shit.

~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~

“Last one!”

Oh. Katsuki zoned out for the entirety of Kirishima’s and Best Jeanist’s reading.

He has so much to think about; this whole reading sounded like the biggest scam until the guy laid him bare in front of his friends like a bitch. Katsuki didn’t lie when he said he’s happy being alone, but deep inside he always felt like there is something missing. The new feelings in his heart only made the void deeper; he can lie as much as he wants, but he absolutely loved the way his heart beat out of his chest from the sight of Y/N on the battle field. This doesn’t mean the Menace is the one though; she might have been at the right place at the right time to wake something up in Katsuki, sure, but it doesn’t mean she’s the one the guy was talking about.

“I will love you in every single universe.” Katsuki wakes up from his stupor to the future teller’s voice resonating in the small room. “I’m not sure what this means but it was a part of your reading and I really liked it.” He smiles at Y/N who’s red as a tomato. “You have quite a life story, miss Y/N. Or should I call you the Menace? As much as you insist hating that nickname your heart rate goes up every time you hear it, why is that, I wonder?” The guy does that fake chin touching/deep thinking face, and it’s extremely annoying. The menace doesn’t say a word, she’s clearly mortified. “You almost lost your life on the battle field…”

“That’s the past, not the future, you dimwit.” Katsuki interrupts.

“The past and the future are connected. I can see them both.” He responds, clearly tense from being interrupted in the middle of his reading. He takes a deep breath and continues. “…then you got dragged to another universe. You found something there you cherish, but let me tell you something; if you live in the past, you won’t see the bright future that’s ahead of you. Stop comparing those two and just look around; the path is clear and obvious, paved out for you to step on, yet you still stumble on the dirty, uneven grass.” He sighs again with his back hitting the back of his chair as an indication that the reading is done. “Also, there is a wedding in the future for all of you. Not yours, though. Someone else’s. But you’ll see when you get back to your office.”

A wedding? Another lie. There is no one around Bakugou who’s about to marry, this needs to be another bullshit.

“Thank you for your service, Mister!” Kirishima perks up and makes his way out of the building, skipping around like a lovesick fool. He clearly doesn’t care if it’s fake or not. He’s really easy to please.

~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~

You were just about to leave the building when you felt a shoulder bumping into your own.

“Oii, fuckstick.” Bakugou speaks up, but instead of his usual fury, his voice is calm and subtle. You look up at the blonde; he is looking at you with hesitation in his eyes. “It was a good fight. Thanks… for doing that.” The blonde mumbles, his shoulders bumping into you again affectionately. “Can we stop being weird about it? It’s really annoying. I can’t fucking focus.”

Okay, what the hell is happening?! First the unintentional (or intentional?) flirting, now the shoulder touches and if that’s not enough to lose your shit, Bakugou just said the work “thanks”.

You died and this is your personal heaven. That needs to be it. This can’t be happening right now. If you need to look at his blushing face another second you’re going to propose.

If this is real life, then this needs to be temporary. Don’t get your hopes up. This is just a moment of weakness from the blonde. The sudden rising of your heart rate has nothing to do with your feelings, you probably just had way too much coffee in the morning.

“Yeah, it was really nice….” Oh fuck, those are not the right words! “I mean, it was a good fight. You are great. In fighting, I mean. Thanks. Yeah. Let’s do it again?” Jesus fuck, why did you say that?!

“You want a rematch?” The blonde laughs while he walks towards his car. “Yeah, I don’t mind pinning you to the floor again….” The blonde’s eyes open wide in a surprise when he realizes what he’d just said. His blush gets even deeper. It’s absolutely adorable. “I mean, I will definitely win next time. Yeah. I will clean the floor with your blood while using you as a mop…head. Yeah.” He stutters and opens the door for you to jump in. “Want a ride, Number One?”

“Y-yeah, Number Two.” You grin at the blonde as his face contorts into an angry frown.

“I hate you so much.”

~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~

The ride was absolutely exhilarating. Katsuki drives like a badass and he also has a good taste in music; that didn’t stop you from making fun of his taste though. You were bickering the whole time like two dumb teenagers and thankfully, this cleared the air enough to get rid of all the tension between you two. Everything is back to normal, thank fuck.

As you make your way into your shared office you find 2 envelopes on Bakugou’s desk; one for him and one for you. It’s gold and sparkly and smells like a fancy perfume.

It’s a wedding invitation.

“Fuck, that bloke was right.” Bakugou’s surprised voice fills the room. “But wait, I thought Denki and Jirou broke up again a few weeks ago?” The blonde asks, confused by the whole situation. The wedding invitation clearly states their name, so…

“Well, apparently I give great love advice.” You answer proudly; Denki did message you a few weeks after your meet up to say thank you, so you are not lying.

“Yeah, you are that middle aged person who hooks everyone up but can’t get a bitch herself.” Dynamight fucking giggles, the area around his eyes wrinkle happily with every movement. Who is this person and what happened to Dynadick?!

“Bakugou, we are far from being middle aged!” You snicker, with a slight blush on your face. “And also, low blow!” You try your best to look offended. “You know what, it’s fine, I won’t be lonely, because you’ll be there with me, you forever alone dipshit.”

Was it always this easy to fuck around with him or is this just a special occasion?

Why is it so hot in here?

Oh lord, this is bad.

~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~

“I had a really weird day.” Mr. Masato tells his assistant while he drinks his beer like it’s water. “So this guy gave me a shit load of money to lie to these two people about their future; to make it look like they belong together and shit.” The jug knocks on the table aggressively as he continues his rant. “So the two came in, they literally looked like they hated each other, so I started to feel really bad about this prank… but then I read them and… they were actually connected by fate. They can literally fuck up every single thing and they’ll end up with each other anyway. I’ve never seen a bond so unbreakable. So I got this shit load of money and I didn’t even have to lie. I feel like I won the lottery.”

The assistant stares at him like this is the first time he heard human speech then throws up on the floor. Just like that.

“Good talk.” Mr. Masato sighs and stares into the space with dead eyes.

Mr. Masato feels like this is a great time to finally retire.

-> Next Part

💥~ 💥~ 💥~ 💥~ 💥~ 💥~ 💥~ 💥~ 💥~ 💥~ 💥~

Yes, I know I said I’ll be working on another project, but I’m in love with this story so much!

So, how are you guys feeling about the budding romance? I am absolutely thrilled! I literally want to cry from happiness!

Also, you won’t need to wait long for the next part as it’s already done! Might post it sooner if I see some comments under this part! No pressure. Really. 🙄 💜

As always,reblogs, likes and comments are appreciated, they make my day 💜

Thank you for reading! 💥💜

Taglist: @ibkg @chuugarettes @lilmaimai

@nonomesupposedto @sozainturpal @luleck @notplutos

💥~ 💥~ 💥~ 💥~ 💥~ 💥~ 💥~ 💥~ 💥~ 💥~ 💥~ 💥~

[bullet-clubs-bitch]

Anyway I can request a part 2 to The Secrets Out? Maybe Y/N ends up pregnant at some point and she has to relinquish her championship and during the duration of her pregnancy LuFisto continues to cause problems for the reader and her little family (consisting of Isla, Christian, and their Unborn child) and it starts causing her problems and Christian helps her in every way that he can?

The Secret's out Pt 2

An: This is already long and I didn't want to make it longer so there will be another part with the LuFisto drama and how Christian helps the reader

Summary: Y/n returns to the ring after her broken nose like she never missed a beat. But everything changes when Y/n unexpectedly becomes pregnant. How will this affect not only her relationship with Christian Cage but her career in AEW?

Word count: 3115

Warnings: Swearing, mentions of injury and vomit (I think that’s everything)

Main Masterlist Charistian Cage Masterlist Pt 1 Pt 3 Pt 4

Six weeks had gone by faster than I expected and before I knew it I would make my return just in time for forbidden door. Within those six weeks I was gone many things happened, the drama with LuFisto had pretty much been settled and I was able to bond more with Isla. Christian was home when he could and when he was home the three of us would do ‘family things’. Whether that was going to the zoo, the park or just going out for ice cream. The end of June was soon approaching which meant Isla would soon be on Summer Break. Which also meant ‘Mr. Father of the year’ would bring his spawn to work if he wanted to.

Since I had been spending the majority of 5 weeks with just Isla I wanted to make the last week of our bonding time special before I had to go back to work. She had just finished school so I thought now would be a perfect time for us to go on a little trip just the two of us to celebrate a successful school year. Isla picked on Florida and since I have a home in Ft. Lauderdale I thought it would be a perfect fit. 

Although the trip would only be 3 days since I had to arrive in Chicago on Tuesday to make my return we made the best of it. The first day we arrived we spent at the beach building sand castles, walking on the boardwalk, going shopping in the cute stores by the beach and getting ice cream. By the end of the day we were exhausted, Isla even fell asleep in the car ride home. As much as I wanted to let her sleep she needed to wash off all of the sand. As I carried her from the car to the house I couldn't help the warm feeling I had. I know she is not my biological child but within these past weeks I couldn't help but feel like she was. Earlier today when we were on the beach an old lady came up to me and said how I was a good mother for taking her daughter for a fun beach day. I didn’t even correct her, I just thanked the lady and wished her a good day. From a far glance I guess we could be related. We both had blond hair, Isla had blue eyes while mine were green but you could tell that she was Christian Cage’s daughter. 

The second and third day of the trip also went well. We did lots of shopping, spent time at the pool, went to the park, and the fair just so happened to be in town so of course we had to go. Soon enough I was on a flight to Chicago to make my appearance on Dynamite the week before forbidden door. 

****

Wednesday

Since I had gone straight from Florida to Chicago I had Isla with me. Christian was also at Dynamite so he was excited to show his daughter all around the arena. It felt a bit weird to be back mostly because of the terms I felt on. Leaving with a broken nose and drama only to be welcomed back with smiling faces that were glad to have me back. 

“Good to see ya back friend” said a familiar voice who gave me a hug from behind. When I turned around I noticed that the familiar voice was Willow Nightingale. “Oh Hi Willow!” I told her with a sigh of relief. “You gave me a heart attack” “Sorry” she apologized “Are you still on edge about what happened?” Of course she had to ask that question. The truth was although the ‘gosip’ died down it still had me feeling on edge. The photo of Isla Christian and I walking on the boardwalk of the beach by our house haunting me. I still felt like I was being watched but unsure by who. “I guess you could say that” Willow looked at me with a sympathetic look. “Ya know what It’s fine, I’m fine” that was a lie “ This is the kind of stuff you sign up for” I told her, trying my best to sound un bothered by the situation even though I knew she knew I was lying. 

“Okay, then. You know the plan for tonight?” Willow asked. “Yep, see you soon!” 

I was a bit upset since this storyline would be a bit rushed but the plan for forbidden door was for me to put my ROH women's championship on the line against Willow who currently held the NJPW Strong Women's Championship. Regardless we would put on a great performance, in the meantime I had to get ready for the show. 

***

The time had come, everything was finalized and 10 minutes from now I would make my return. 

“You ready?” Christian asked me “Hopefully, I’m a bit nervous” I told him truthfully “I’m sure you will be fine!” I gave him a smile before mouthing him a thank you for his support during my six weeks off. Just then I felt a tug on my shirt. When I looked I saw Isla holding something behind her back. “Yes” I told her “I made you something” Isla then revealed what she was hiding behind her back, it was a beaded bracelet. “You made this for me! That's so sweet! I am definitely going to wear this tonight!!” As she handed me the bracelet I couldn't help but stop in my tracks as I realized what it said. “Do you like it?” Isla asked me “Yeah…I love it” The bracelet had purple, pink and white heart beads. In the center it had three letter beads that read ‘Mom”. Christian noticed the bracelet and asked Isla what it said. “It says Mom. You are my new Mom right Y/n?” Mom, that was the first time she had ever called me something even close to that before. Unsure what to say I looked at Christian who offered a big smile. “I guess so, you can call me whatever you want okay?” “Okay!” She then gave me a big hug!

*** 

All out 2023

I have been officially back for a few months now and since then I have had 4 successful title defenses. Forbidden Door, Blood and Guts, ROH Death Before Dishonor and All In. All of the matches had gone quite well for the most part. At Death Before Dishonor I took a hard fall on my shoulder and needed to be on some medication. It was nothing a little KT Tape and Phiso couldn't fix. Tonight is All Out in Chicago and I’m currently waiting to see if I am medically cleared. Physically I felt fine but I guess one of the backstage doctors didn’t like the sight of my still bruised shoulder from All In. My opponent at All In was Athena, she was aware of the former injury to my right shoulder so like any good wrestler she used it to her advantage, targeting the shoulder in an attempt to secure the victory. Unfortunately for her it didn’t work and I retained my title. I wasn’t booked for the show tonight, which was fine but I would be accompanying Kris to the ring for her match against Ruby Soho. The outcasts are known for trouble and no way I was going to let them cheat and win. 

“I’m sure everything is going to be fine Y/n” Kris was kind enough to wait with me for the doctor even tho she had a big match tonight “I really hope so Kris, I don’t need another injury”   A few minutes went by and the doctor came out “Ms. Y/l/n” Shit, moment of truth. Kris held my hand as we awaited whatever news lied ahead.

“Your Pregnant” I felt my stomach drop. “What? That has to be some kind of mistake, there is no way I’m pregnant” I yelled at the doctor. “Well Ms. we ran a bunch of tests and your shoulder is fine but according to your blood you are pregnant. It is mandatory we run pregnancy tests through blood with every patient” I looked at Kris who was in shock just like me. “Would you like to know your options?” The doctor asked me. “What am I going to do?” I let out almost in a whisper. How irresponsible is this, the champ getting knocked up during one of the most historical reigns. I didn’t even want to think about what Christians reaction was going to be. “Well Ms. I can tell that this is a shock. I can go through methods of termination if you are interested” The doctor offered handing me a pamphlet. “Y/n, I really think you should talk to Christian before you make any decisions. This is his baby too and he deserves a right to know even if you decide not to keep it” Kris told me. She was right, Christian needed to know and I will tell him at some point. 

The PPV went well, Luchasaurus would retain the TNT championship against Darby Allin and Kris would defeat Ruby Soho to keep her TBS championship. I sat backstage with my friends watching the event trying to have a good time but I couldn't stop thinking about what that doctor told me. I didn’t want to tell Christian never mind my boss but I should have known he would find out about it sooner rather than later. “Y/n, Tony would like to see you in his office” Shit

I walked into the office terrified, how was I going to explain to my boss that his golden goose got knocked up. “Take a seat” I sat nervously 

“So, I spoke with the doctor” I said nothing. Partially because I had no idea what to say and the other part being embarrassed. “Is it true that you are pregnant?” He asked 

“Look Tony, I am really sorry. There must be some kind of mistake, I promise you I am a responsible adult. I feel fine, promise, but they told me that they ran a mandatory pregnancy test with my blood and it came back positive. I really don’t know what to do or say. Only Kris and now you know. I haven’t even told Christian yet.” 

He said nothing, he just wrote something down on a piece of paper. 

“Look, I know this is not an ideal situation for anyone. I’m not going to say anything ok. I’m sure you and I both know that the media is going to have a field day with this one. I think we should continue with the press conference as normal and if anyone asks about your ring status say you are waiting to get cleared. After that you should talk to Christian, see a doctor and we can go from there. We can always say you had to relinquish due to injury” The relationship between Tony and I had always been a bit different than others. I had been in AEW since day one and due to my extremely close relationship with the Elite I even became a producer for AEW along with doing my part to elevate the women's division in any way I can. Tony and I were actually friends so even though I knew him and he knew me he was still my boss and this conversation was uncomfortable on both ends. 

***** *Kris: You have to tell him at some point *Y/n: I know but it’s not the time *Kris: Y/n, If you don’t tell him soon I will just tell him *Y/n: Okay I will geez, not too sure how he will react to being a Father again at 50

The past few days had looked the same, Kris and I texting back and forth. Her trying to encourage me to tell Christian and me being too scared. I had been close on more than one occasion but the words wouldn't come out. I’m pretty sure Christian is starting to catch on too. 

After All Out the two of us went for dinner and when I didn’t have a drink with my meal Christian’s suspension started to grow. “So, what are we drinking tonight? I don’t feel like champagne, we could do a nice red or just grab a bunch of drinks? Vodka soda, that’s your favorite?” How was I about to explain that I would not be drinking, I mean I may or may not have a drinking problem. “Um, I think I’m not going to have a drink tonight” Christian looked at me with a shocked expression “Are you feeling alright? What happened to Y/n?” He said jokingly. I, however, was not laughing. “I’m fine, I just don’t feel like having a drink tonight.” I said a slight edge in my voice that I didn't mean to happen. “Alright then, I’m still getting a bottle of red if you change your mind” 

I knew I had to tell Christian, tomorrow was Dynamite and Tony needed answers. I went to the store and grabbed a few pregnancy tests. I knew I was pregnant but I needed to see it in order to really believe it, it’s one thing for someone to say you are pregnant but another to see a positive test in the flesh. Christian went out to grab a few things so I knew now would be a good time to get it over with. It wasn’t like I had never taken a pregnancy test before, I knew how they worked but I found myself sitting on the bathroom floor reading the instructions carefully to make sure I had done everything correctly. I peed in a cup then let the test soak in the cup for about 30 seconds before leaving it to sit for another 5 minutes to show the result. Those 5 minutes were the longest 5 minutes of my life. I looked at the test and of course it had two lines meaning I was pregnant. Of course I was in denial, so I took three more. I had bought four different kinds, the generic ones with two lines and the fancy digital ones. So far it wasn’t looking so good. Three tests had came back positive. Now I waited for the digital, *3-6 weeks pregnant*. 

This didn’t make sense? If I was at least 3 weeks pregnant that would mean that I wrestled All In pregnant? That match against Athena had been brutal, I got put through a dam table. How could a fetus survive that? I could feel my throat tighten as tears started to fall from my eyes. Just then I threw up. 

Christian’s pov

 I knew something was up the moment Y/n returned from her appointment with the doctor. Kris went with her since I wasn’t able to but I regret not going. Something must have happened because ever since the both of them had been acting weird. In an attempt to lighten whatever happened I offered dinner after the show with Y/n to cheer her up. She was hesitant with how late it would be but gave in. Everyone needs a good drink after a hard day at work so when Y/n declined a drink I was even more suspicious. “You know I have a drinking problem right? I think I should start being more careful on what I put in my body” Yeah something was definitely up. I wouldn't say Y/n had a drinking problem but in the years I’ve known her she has never once declined an offer to get a drink. The next few days had been no different. Isla had been with her Mom so it had just been Y/n and I. Everytime I tried to ask her what happened she would push me away, something that she doesn’t normally do. 

I went out to pick up a few groceries and once I returned I found Y/n sitting on the floor of the master bathroom with tear stained cheeks. I sat next to her and asked “What’s wrong?” nothing “If something happened the other day at work you can tell me you know” I waited, I knew she wanted to say something but was having trouble getting the words out. “You’re going to be mad at me” her words were so quiet it was barely a whisper. “Why would I be mad at you honey?” What would I be mad at? “Don’t yell, I’m sorry. I don’t know how this happened” Y/n had tears in her eyes as she spoke. “I won’t yell, I promise but I need to know what happened so I can help you” I told her carefully 

Just then she got up and handed me four items from the sink before returning to her spot on the floor. She was now fully crying and turned her back to me. It took me a minute to realize what I was holding in my hands. Four pregnancy tests, all different kinds but all were positive. “Are these real?” She turned to face me, mascara now ruined. “Are you mad at me?” I wasn’t mad but I was shocked, but I was also happy. “No sweetheart, I would never be mad at you. Especially over something like this” I gave her a hug to which she returned, burying her head in my chest as she continued to cry. 

I knew what this would mean, Y/n being pregnant would change everything. Although this was a shock I was so happy. We had never talked about having kids, Y/n was still in her prime and I was nearly 50. “What are we going to do?” I wanted Y/n to know that I would support her for whatever she decided. I mean she is making history with her current title reign and at the end of the day this is her body we are talking about. “This is your decision Y/n. I want you to know that I am happy about this but I understand if you don’t want to go through with this.” She looked at me with a sad smile. “Would I be crazy if I said I want to keep it? I still don’t understand how it happened in the first place but the more I think about it, I want to go on this journey with you Christian” I placed a kiss to her temple before saying “Don’t worry, I am going to be here with you for every second of it. We will do this together” 

[tulipsnflowers]

I don't think I asked this yet - Merida for the ramble ask game!

Merida!! Alright, let's try I'm feeling in the mood to be absolutely wrong

Nexomon spoilers, and a bit of Nexomon:Extinction spoilers

Merida, Champion of Water also known as Arqua of the Bottomless Oceans (iirc), Prisoner to Darine

Merida! I feel like if I were to rang the CoO in how much they tolerate humanity, (Deena dominates the top chart, but) Merida would be near the top as well

She's the world's worst volleyball player, and she even had fans! That's a human sport, and to get into tournaments you need a team, of 6 players. And you know I don't see her family loving volleyball all that much, right?

Even then 6 means she'd need to revive Grunda to have 6

So she obviously, at the very least, plays Volleyball with humans, like on the same team (and she needs to play in a game to cheat, so if they accused her of cheating she played in at least one game)

Now as someone who sucks absolutely ass at Volleyball (don't ask me to catch something you throw at me,), I'd think weather one likes it or not. Playing matches with someone (even if with a "higher than thou" mentality, which all of them have towards humanity), ya gotta at least respect them. Does anyone wanna bet a human had to (try to) help her with volleyball at someone point because she was uh... Not the best

I don't think JV thought that far ahead when he made it volleyball but I have, bastard.

She also has a fake persona, of like a cute volleyball girl(.. Merida, Merida please watch yours horns,) which lasts until you kick her bum

Still, her having one-

And then after your volleyball she leaves you alone because James called, and then she tries to drown you!

.. Because you're trying to stop the reveal of Grunda to be fair, but still tries to stop you!

Then we skip the tower entirely (she does say we have no idea what we're going up against)

Then it's nightmare time! It's weird, while everyone does have humans in their dreams (Nadine doesn't count because she's unconscious on the floor currently), Zetta bullies them, Fenrir makes a riot kinda, Grunda is the protector (Also screaming at the Nara thing) but aside from him, Merida is the only one who's civil

Or I'm assuming she is, hard to tell with how little we saw. But we can assume she was probably just having the time of her life playing actual good volleyball

Which is something to say the least, considering she's actually enjoying human activities - unlike the rest who are doing their own thing

And then n2!!!

She's apparently in Palmaya but she's currently in Frozen watching over the tower (James please this is like your area™ where are you.), and aside from a small memory thing with Atlas, she seems to be better

So do the rest of them, honestly, it was so good to see the Omni kids tolerating humanity in various degrees

[mythos321]

part 4 of my Wof x Persona au

Chapter 4:Rising Waves

Clay awoke from his dream, though, he was much more sure it was real than before, realizing now it’s connected to the castle, and are related to his persona. Though he had a million and one questions, Clay knew he needed to most importantly focus on one thing, that damned school.

He prepared to leave the cavern, and saw Kestrel wasn’t around this time, likely still resting at wherever it is she sleeps…that or she died, admittedly, the former was more realistic. Clay then exited the cavern, making sure to flip the sign to Open, and headed off, enjoying the rain as it landed and slipped off of his scales, he wondered if Rainwings liked rain even more, though, from what he remembered, it actually stood for Rainforest, so maybe they didn’t like rain.

As he flew, Clay also decided to listen in on a conversation between two seawings, talking about the recent crash flight, which Clay found boring for the most part, though a part that slightly freaked him out was that these had been so common that they could be small talk, in fact, this crash might’ve not even been the same one he and Kestrel had seen!

He tried to pay less mind on it, and simply soared back down with some other students, one that caught multiple peoples eyes was a pale orange, almost yellow colored skywing, whose scales were similar to the inside of a sweet peach, with a blank but innocent stare to herself, almost like she didn’t have a single thought in her head. Part of what interest Clay about her though was a small pouch around her neck, wrapped by a gold chain around her neck that looked like it was practically glued to her with how tight it was on her long neck.

“Isn’t that her?” whispered a student, bad enough for Clay to eavesdrop but seemed to be good enough for the skywing to not notice.

“The one with the nosering and brown pouch?”

“Yeah, her. Ugh, she’s so thin, it’s not fair!”

“I don’t know, I think thicker is-“ It was at that moment Clay decided to tune them back out and simply continue back on his walk down towards the school, accidentally bumping into the skywing as he did.

“O-oh! apologies I didn’t mean to bother you sir! I’ll slow down so you can get more up ahead if you’d like! I don’t want any trouble, really!”

“Woah woah woah, hey, it’s fine, I just accidentally bumped into you, you don’t have to change your pace up, just keep it how you’re going! Besides, it’d be my fault if anything!” Clay reassured her quickly, slightly weirded out at the skywings skittishness, since he had heard they were mostly prideful and confident.

“guess ya shouldn’t believe l stereotypes, hm…guess I’m not much different…” Clay thought to himself, feeling kind of like a jerk for his mental assumptions

“Oh, you look sad, I’m sorry! really, um, I should be going fast now! You go to the same school, right? I’m a second year myself. Okay BYE!” The skywing then ran off, as Clay wondered if he scared her that badly to where she’d decide to run away.

“Ugh, I’m terrible at this! I wouldn’t be shocked if she heard the rumors about me to…probably thinks I’m some psychopath…just push it down Clay, just push it down, and get to school…”

**

Clay entered his first class of the day, which seemed to be taught by a man named Webs, who was teaching general pyrrhian history. Clay had a feeling he would start by teaching about The Scorching and so decided to stare outside of the classroom and look around at the view.

He saw large growing tree in the distance behind some of the schools trails, nicely made caves that could fit a surprising amount of dragonets inside, a near pitch black Nightwing that seemed to be staring directly at him while perched on the side of a cave, a river that led into the ocean and seemed to be the Seawings main traveling point, a nice cloudy sky, and the now processed fact that a Nightwing was stalking him.

Clay tried to look around for his little Nightwing stalker again, trying to make them out, but they completely blended in, like a bark of wood in a pile of mud. Even so, Clay kept trying to focus, a little more and more, until finally he thought he found someone-

“HEY MUDWING, ARE YOU EVEN LISTENING?!” Webs yelled, as he then tossed the chalk he was using at Clay, who without even looking caught it midair, but had now had his concentration completely disrupted in the process.

“Here’s your chalk Sir, sorry for not paying attention.” Clay told the baffled Webs as he handed him his chalk before walking back to where he was sitting.

“Y-yeah, you better be…” Webs said in a failed attempt to reassert dominance, as multiple dragonets could now be heard snickering at Webs’ humiliation, assuming they weren’t in awe at Clays casualness in catching the chalk.

“Best case scenario, I was seeing things. Worst case scenario, that teachers now the death of me.” Clay thought to himself, before focusing himself on Webs’ history lesson.

**

“Have you heard about that Skywing girl?”

“Didn’t she get hand chosen by Queen Scarlet herself? She must be really special, I wonder what for though?”

“I heard people saw her get harassed by that criminal! poor gal, having to deal with pieces of crap like him.”

“Assault, Blackmail, Drugs, I bet he’s done it all!”

“I hear he’s ready to bite people if you just look at him funny…”

**

Classes were over for the day, and Clay decided to use his time looking for that Nightwing he saw before. He was to vivid for him to be fake, but Clay could tell they didn’t wanna be found so easily.

“Are they a stalker? An assassin? Someone who has a hard time talking with people and stares at them instead? Okay probably not that last one, or at least unrelated to that if they did have that problem? I wonder if I’m like that, I mean, I mainly just talked with my sibs and aunt so maybe my social skills aren’t as good as I expect. Wait, I’m getting off topic here! Focus on finding the Nightwing, and don’t let any Seawing distract you-”

“Yo!” Tsunami rushed over, making Clay jump for a moment in shock

“Jeez! ya trying to ambush me or something?!” Clay said, completely losing his train of thought

“Oh come on dude it wasn’t that big a deal! ugh, look, I wanna talk about that castle from yesterday alright?” Tsunami explained, as her and Clay began to walk away from the school for a moment and stand on the outskirts with some rocks in the forest for them to sit on an talk

“I mean, I tried telling myself it was all some weird shared dream… But I couldn’t do it. I can’t act like nothing happened! It’s all connected to that smug bastard Whirlpool after all! I wanna find out more about that place, no matter what… and well…you’re the only person I can rely on for this. So, you in?” Tsunami asked him, and Clay felt something inside himself warm up hearing how she truly does trust him…it was nice, he didn’t know how to put it into proper words, but he did know his answer to her request

“Let’s do this!” Clay affirmed with passion, holding his tail as Tsunami intertwined it with her own

“Sweet! glad we’re in this together man! I think our best course of action right now is to retrace our steps from before. In the meantime, you’re flying home right? should we go our separate ways in the investigation?”

“No no, if ya want we can walk together instead!” Clay told her, as Tsunami suddenly beamed with a smile

“Sweet! keep an eye out for any strange buildings while we walk!”

“Tsunami seems like a pretty decent gal. I don’t see anything wrong in going along with this, even if we don’t end up finding the place, having someone to talk with just feels nice anyway!” Clay thought to himself, as he and Tsunami began their walk around to investigate

**

“Let’s see, if a castle like that really exists, we should find it in no time… When they’d even find time to build that big thing though?” Tsunami wondered aloud, as she and Clay kept looking around

“We walked that way from here, right?”

“Yeah! That’s when ya got up in my face and began your rant to me on Whirlpool and stuff.”

“Good to know! Ha! I did get in your face didn’t I? I think I saw the color of your eyes at the time. Brown, right?”

“Yeah, yours are translucent green.” Clay told her, which Tsunami was surprised at, since she didn’t think someone would just know a persons eye color shade off the top of their head.

“Ha! neat! Well, lemme know if you notice something!” Tsunami told him, as the two walked through, and saw…the school

“Huh?”

“We’re at school???” Clay questioned, as surprised as Tsunami was at what they weren’t seeing.

“There wasn’t anything out of place along the way, right? I didn’t see a castle either…Did we make a wrong turn?”

“I feel like we’d have noticed it along the way right? It’s weird…”

“Let’s just keep looking around! we’ll find something, for sure!” Tsunami stated confidently, as the two retraced their step, and ended up eight back at the school

“For real?!” The duo said simultaneously

“What the hell’s going on…hey, you had a book on you right? back then at least.” Tsunami asked, and a lightbult went off in Clays head.

“Oh, yeah! Maybe it can get us to that place!”

“Yeah! mind if I look at it?” Tsunami asked, as Clay got it out of his bag and handed Tsunami the little book, as she snatched it and began taking a look at it.

“What’s this eyeball-looking thing anyhow?”

“I think it’s a cute logo honestly, can’t seem to get rid of it though.”

“I think it looks creepy- wait really? man, what a weird book, if not for current situations I’d tell ya to get an exorcist, now let’s see here…BOOYAH! written in right here! nice hindsight Clay!”

“…hehe, yeah.” Clay said, knowing completely well he didn’t write that in, but not wanting to freak her out.

“Ah man, we’re geniuses! Let’s do this!”

“Do you know how to?”

“Not at all, but I think I can do this! maybe I just gotta push down and!…” as Tsunami pushed down, the Book began to react

“Beginning navigation. Whirlpool… Academy… Abuser… Castle… Beginning Navigation.”

“Alright! and then we go a certain direction and-” before Tsunami could finish her sentence, the area suddenly began to shift around them both

“What the hell???” Tsunami said out loud, as Clay and her kept next to each other as the book floated into the air, and reality distorted around them, with the schools grounds rising to massive heights in the shapes of a castle, until Tsunami and Clay suddenly stood on top of a drawbridge

“It’s the castle from yesterday! We made it back after all!” Tsunami said as she and Clay rushed through the bridge and the to the front of the castle, looking in the sky as they saw dozens of puppets like dragons guarding the higher parts of the castle to prevent anyone from just flying in.

“So, seems what happened yesterday was for real after all- WOAH, YOU GOT THOSE CLOTHES ON AGAIN!” Tsunami pointed out, as Clay realized he was in his nearly all black attire from when he used his Persona. “That happened last time too, huh!? What’s with that outfit?!?”

“I have no idea! It’s pretty cool though!…you jelly?”

“HELL YEAH I AM, why can’t I get a cool suit too?! Man even without that this makes no sense at all!” Tsunami yelled out, as the two then saw a pair of familiar green and golden eyes that revealed itself as Turtle, still in his attire from before and slightly strange form.

“Hey, can you quit the commotion you’re making? !”

“What the, you? what are you still doing here?”

“Shadows started acting a little different, as though something had changed for them, so I came back to investigate. What are YOU two doing here? you barely managed to escape last time!”

“as I recall, you didn’t do much better, no?…Ya mind explaining what this place even is? Is it the school?” Clay asked, and Turtle nodded his head

“Correct! It takes the form of a castle in this place, hence why it looks like this and not like the school. Basically, it looks like a castle to its ruler!” Turtle detailed

“Its ruler?” Tsunami questioned

“If I remember right, his names Whirlpool, correct? This is how his distorted heart views the school.” Turtle stated

“Whirlpools distorted desire?…Ugh! can’t you just explain it better! I’m so lost!” Tsunami demanded, as Turtle sighed

“I shouldn’t have expected a moron to get it anyway.” Turtle said, rolling his eyes, as Tsunami then began to march at him

“What did you just say you little weirdo?!” Tsunami said through gritted teeth, until they all suddenly heard pained cries from inside the castle

“What was that!” Clay demanded, wanting to help whoever that was as fast as possible

“It must be the slaves that are held captive here.” Turtle answered, simply opening up even MORE questions of what was happening.

“For real?!” Tsunami asked, as she suddenly heard even more pained cries, “SHIT, it’s for real! Damn it, I saw some people held captive here yesterday… probably some of Whirlpools students…” Tsunami mentioned

“It must be a representation of how he treats his students in real life, bruising and abusing them to massive means without a care of their wellbeing.” Turtle added on, as Clay remembered Anemone from the day before, and how hurt she looked

“Damn it…was that what was happening to her?! I knew Whirlpool was awful but…damn it, she barely even looked two years old!” Clay thought to himself, wishing he could do more for her, that maybe he could do something about her “teacher” especially if Coral was going to just ENCOURAGE it instead of stop what was happening to her own daughter…

“What’s more, because of your guys escape yesterday, he must have lost his temper, and is taking it out on his prisoners in here.”

“THAT SON OF A BITCH!” Tsunami yelled, as she swung her tail against the castles large door, shaking it in as she did it, “YOU HEAR THAT WHIRLPOOL? THATS GONNA BE YOUR FACE WHEN I GET MY HANDS ON YOU.” Tsunami yelled as she continued to bash on the door, Clay was honestly tempted to join her

“Doing that isn’t gonna open it, but…I can see you have your reasons, so I won’t budge you on it.” Turtle said, as Tsunami calmed down

“Hey, Turty.”

“Turtle.”

“Do you know where those voices are coming from?” Tsunami asked, and Clay showed interest in it as well

“You want me to take you there?…Well, I don’t see why not, though, only if he comes with us!” Turtle said, looking at Clay

“Let’s go.” Clay said without any hesitation, wanting to help these people as fast as possible.

“For real?… thanks man! I knew I could count on you…” Tsunami said, as she and Clay shared a smile

“Alright, let’s do this! follow me!” Turtle said as he walked over to a small familiar opening on the side to the castles door.

“This, is our infiltration point!” Turtle explained

“Ain’t that where we busted out from last time?” Questioned Tsunami.

“That’s right. Not barging in through the entrance is one of the basics of phantom thievery!”

“How exactly were we supposed to know that?!” Tsunami questioned, as Clay nodded in agreement

“I’ll teach ya the ropes as we go. Come on now, follow me!” Turtle told them as he jumped to surprising heights, as Clay and Tsunami were left alone to talk to one another.

“So, uh… sorry for draggin’ you into all of this, you really don’t deserve to be wrapped in my shit…But, UGH! I just can’t forgive that bastard for doing whatever the hell he wants! And I hate that my mom just lets it happen because he kisses her ass, they’re both the worst!…Really, though, thank you for comin’ along, I owe you big time man!” Tsunami told him, as Clay smiled back at her

“Hey, I wouldn’t have it any other way! If I gotta fight 50 castles worth of your problems, I’d still help you out, what else are friends for?…so…do you want to hold onto me while I make that jump?” Clay asked, as Tsunami snorted for a moment, before answering

“That would be appreciated, yeah.” Tsunami said as she went onto and held onto Clays back, and he jumped through into the castle, keeping himself steady to keep pressure off Tsunamis wing.

“Man, this place is almost as creepy as last time…” Tsunami stated as she hopped off of Clays back.

“Mm-hm, just make sure to do as I say, all right?”

“Gotcha!” Clay and Tsunami stated simultaneously as they followed behind Turtle into the Castle.

[lucius-morningstar]

Who'd you rather be with?

To put it bluntly, I've had this problem for a while. Maybe fans would like to help or maybe just humor me. Lucius is by far one of my favorite ocs that I have.. So far. My only problem is I do not know who to pair him with. I had three girls in mind, one whose too sweet, one whose fucking crazy and the other is in between but with a very scary protective mommy. So in trying to decide my head came up with this little skit. ------- Angel: Yo Lucius. Lucius: Hey, what's up legs? Angel: First off, odd nickname but I don't hate it. Second, I have a question, think of it like a uh.. Hypothetical. Lucius: Shoot. Angel: Say you had to date one of three ladies okay, here are your choices. Emily the seraphim Charlie told us about, Lute, the crazy angel bitch or Clara Carmine. Lucius: Ooh.. that's a hard one. Husk: How the fuck is it a hard one. It's a pretty obvious choice. Lucius: Oh yea and how do you figure? Angel: Ya seriously don't fuckin see it? Lucius: ..Okay humor me boys, what don't I see? Angel: You got one crazy angel bitch who would not think twice about killing you in your sleep. Lucius: Yes. Husk: A woman who has such a protective mother, she wouldn't think twice of blowing your brains all over the pavement if you so much as touched her hand. Lucius: True.. Angel: And a angelic seraphim who in Charlie's words. Is the nicest one there and as Vaggie described, it was like an angelic version of Charlie but more hyper. You still can't see it? Lucius: ..Oh I see you expected me to choose the hyper little seraphim. Husk: Kind of. Angel: Big time. Lucius: Let me explain to you again, you both expected me to choose a hyper seraphim who embodies the exact same personality as my sister. Angel: Yea. Lucius: So you're basically saying I should screw my sister? Vaggie: The fuck did we just walk in on?! Lucius: No wait that is not what you think. Charlie: ...Do- Do we even want to know? Lucius: *sighs* Look, they asked me to choose between one woman out of three of their choices- Vaggie: And you sick fucks put his sister in the- Lucius: Would you let me finish woman!, They suggested either Lute, Clara Carmine or Emily. Charlie: Ooh.. Okay I get it. So you chose Emily. Lucius: No.. Hell no. I can't handle more then one Charlie and it would be like dating my sister which.. Would be really fucking weird. Angel: Sweet home, al- Lucius: Stop! Husk: So what you'd choose Lute or Carmine then? Lucius: Honestly I think they're the two who make the choice really hard. Vaggie: Are you kidding me. Lute?! Lucius: Believe it or not I am into crazy chicks and I mean come on.. She's fucking hot. Vaggie: .. A hot mess. Lucius: See you get it. Vaggie: I wasn't agreeing, I was- Charlie: I mean I get it, you remember that girl you dated from Cannibal town. Lucius: Ooh.. Do I bitch took eating you out seriously. Wooh I almost lost my dick- Husk & Angel: *Wince* Ooh. Vaggie: Eww.. Charlie: Lucius gross.. Lucius: Point is, crazy doesn't entirely bother me. Vaggie: So you'd date Lute? Lucius: Nah, I don't need more crazy in my life. Unless I was sure she could change. I was not going to make an effort. Husk: So Carmine.. Really? Charlie: That one actually makes the most sense. Lucius: How you figure sis? Charlie: Well, you have the most history with her. You two understand each other on a certain level and while Carmilla isn't your biggest fan. If she saw you as a problem, I think she would have killed you already. Lucius: Fair. Charlie: So yeah Clara would probably make the most sense. Ooh does that mean yo- Lucius: No Charlie. This was just a hypothetical question that Angel asked. I am not going to do that. Charlie: Aww but why.. Lucius: Because not everyone can be as lucky as you in the love department. Hell isn't a place for love sis. But I'll be fine, no need to worry about me.

[thedo0zyslider]

Your Love Is Like A Wave (And It's Drowning Me Out) - 9k Words

A series of Majorwood drabbles, starting in Double Life and going through the next season, and bleeding into New Life as well

Or: 9k words of majorwood just for all of you 💖

A03 Link

Martyn is currently sitting by a cobblestone box, giggling to himself slightly. Said cobblestone box contains Jimmy, a red life, who he and the rest of his weird little quartet of yellows managed to kidnap. He doesn’t know exactly why he’s giggling though.

Well he kinda does, because this whole thing is a little funny. Jimmy still has air, and can see the sky, so for now he’s just loudly complaining and calling for his rancher to come to rescue him, all the while slinging curses at the other four. Pearl’s sitting on the edge of the box, dangling a hand in ever so often. Like the caged canary were some sort of wild animal that could bite at any moment, instead of ya know their friend? (To be fair Jimmy had tried to bite her once, but it probably wasn’t serious. Probably. )

Cleo is closer to him than Pearl is, making her own comments and jabs about the situation. And sandwiched right between them is Scott, and that man is the whole reason why Martyn isn’t sure why he’s giggling.

Making fun of Tim like this is always funny to an extent, but at some point Martyn’s brain laser focused on Scott and decided to never focus on anything else ever. Pearl and Cleo might as well not even be here, and Jimmy is only there to his brain because of his near constant back and forth with Scott. The man is close to him, very close, and taking quite a good amount of joy in teasing his former husband. All Martyn has been able to think about for the past five, maybe ten minutes is the sound of Scott’s voice and how nice his laugh sounds.

He already knew he had sort of a thing for Cleo. That was a given, they were soulmates, and Martyn was very weak for pretty people. But he wasn’t expecting Scott to be lumped in as well. It’s not like there was anything wrong with Scott, or that he wasn’t attractive or something. It’s just that their relationship has never been….positive in these games? And especially not now that Cleo hates him.

He ends up staring apparently, and maybe looking a little too taken with the man beside him at one point. Scott does catch his gaze for a moment, but that doesn’t stop Martyn from zoning out and staring. Cleo does though, her icy undead gaze seeing right through him. He looks aways, ears turning a little red, just as they hear Tango’s voice coming from over the hill.

“Ya know he’s into you, right?” Cleo says one day.

“What?” Scott mutters back, having literally no idea what they're talking about. “ He ” could literally be eleven other people on this server, most of whom claim to be in a happy relationship or something. So for their sakes Scott hopes the mysterious he does not like him, even if being a homewrecker and stealing Bdubs’s dream would be kinda funny.

“Martyn, he’s into you.” The zombie repeats herself, giving him a slightly unimpressed look. “You’ve noticed the staring, right?”

“Yeah,” Scott huffs, looking back over the ravine. “But I thought he was staring at you, because you were right next to me, or he was being…..being well Martyn. ”

“ Oh you’ve got to be kidding me!” Cleo exclaims, looking at him like he’s a ghost. “I caught him staring at you the other day and he blushed! ” They look like they’re ready to grab Scott by the shoulders and shake him for being so oblivious. He also gets the vibe that she’s trying to push them together for some reason, which is weird because the zombie absolutely despises that man right now. Scott would know, she’s told him as much on late night “our soulmates suck” rants.

He hums in response, deciding that looking anywhere else was better than meeting Cleo’s gaze at the moment. She was giving him a look, one of those I can’t believe your this stupid looks.

“Pretty sure I’m not into him, so…” Scott mutters after a moment.

“You were staring dreamily at his base when I brought that up.”

He opens his mouth to reply, but promptly closes it when no words come to him. He’s not into Martyn, wouldn’t be in a million years. Even that sounds like the words of a man in denial, and Scott has to stiffen a sigh; eyes now purposely staying very far away from where the blonde's ugly little baston lies. It is always there though, in the corner of his vision, tempting him to look over again.

Martyn sat on the edge of the island, humming absentmindedly to himself; feet dangling in the water below. He was taking a break for…whatever he’d been doing before, and was now just watching the grass slowly spread across the manmade island, pondering all the while. He wasn’t pondering anything bad, no not at all! He didn’t have anything bad to ponder about in the first place. He loved being a Mean Gill, and was very grateful that Scott had allowed him to stay. There was just a slight, erm, issue .

His little….lets call it an infatuation from the previous season had come back. It was in full force too, to make matters worse.

Martyn could feel himself blushing red at the thought, and tried very hard to stop that. How would he explain sitting there, randomly red as a tomato, to anyone who saw? Because TIES could very easily see him, and Scott was probably somewhere nearby. The awful, pretty, beautiful, absolutely horrible man that was making him like this in the first place.

The blonde kicked at the water, watching it ripple and splash. Why did emotions have to be so weird?

Ever since he’d teamed up with the man, Martyn's thoughts had become filled with nothing but Scott. He’d laid awake, bed agonizingly close to the others, and thought about how pretty his eyes were. How he could drown in them and wouldn’t even complain. He thought about his hair, how soft it looked, how he desperately wanted to play with it and run his fingers through it. He thought how not only did Scott have fish features now, which were a little hot honestly, he also had freckles; which were fucking adorable , actually? Martyn didn’t even know he had a thing for freckles or fish people before, but you learn something new everyday he supposed.

He thought about pressing kisses to each of Scott’s freckles, of holding his face and cuddling him late in the night. He thought about how he always had to keep his gaze away from Scott’s lips, how he had to ignore the impulse to kiss him out of the blue because that was weird and wrong and Scott didn’t even like him back.

Martyn kicked the water again, with more force this time. He watched the ripples and splashes again, ones that were now more forceful, and was aware that his face was probably souring a little.

It was never like this before, never like this with Ren. With ren they’d just…. been something from the start it felt like. Maybe that was because Ren’s affection was loud, something he wasn’t shy about; so Martyn hadn’t been shy either. That feeling had burned pleasantly, it had been all consuming and the light he clung onto in the darkest days.

But now Ren wasn’t here, and Martyn didn’t have that light, that comfort . Martyn didn’t have that all consuming fire anymore. He’d been a little taken by them both he thinks, in Double Life. But back then Ren was bright and familiar and well….his usual self. Scott had been hurt, had been colder, would sneer at him and Pearl after throwing them out. It was hard to admit a guy was pretty when you saw his actions drive someone closer to insanity is all. (Though Martyn had also left her, which he felt bad about in hindsight, but at the time it was never their fault to his head. It was always Scott and Cleo ; they were always the bad guys . And now he knows there were no bad guys in that situation, that yeah maybe all four of ‘em kinda sucked and treated each other like shit.)

WIthout Ren, without the complications that came with soulbonds, this feeling had creeped up on him. It had ensnared him and wouldn’t let go; it’d stuck its tendrils in him and he couldn’t pull them out. And Martyn didn’t want to let go of it either, because Scott made him feel warm and fuzzy and bright and he adored it. He adored him , even if this was the most painful unrequited slow burn he’d ever been tangled up in.

Scott’s voice called his name from somewhere behind them, presumably their shared house, and Martyn jumped. His heart skipped a few beats in his chest, and dear god the blonde could feel himself swooning and he wasn’t even within bloody eyesight of Scott yet. He took a deep breath, tried to calm his probably flushing face and stood up, wincing at how soaked his sandals were. Yeah, maybe this was more than an infatuation , and he’d be an absolute idiot to keep thinking that. Maybe he was a little down bad, if you must. Maybe he had a little crush even.

He called back to the other, slowly walking back. He briefly thought about the teasing flirts Scott gave him, and the ones that sounded a little too shy, when Scott flushed the slightest bit of pretty light pink as he spoke. Those were the ones Martyn didn’t think were his teammates normal “flirt with every man in a five mile radius” bit. He thought, desperately hoped, that they were real.

And if Scott was going to flirt so much Team TIES asked about it once, why not play into the bit a little more? Martyn normally wasn’t one to be shy with his affections like this, and just because Scott made him feel like a lovesick schoolgirl, made him feel like no one else ever would, didn’t mean he had to be.

Martyn reached their storage room with a smile and decided yeah, he'll have some fun with this. Maybe he’d get a yes or no at the end of it too.

They're standing there, talking with Jimmy when it happens. Scott’s forgotten why they were at the mansion in the first place really, just that they were there. The conversation had turned to friendly teasing at one point, as it always does with the blonde avian. The two Mean Gills admittedly aren’t very good at not taking the mick out of him.

Today the teasing is because of how Jimmy looks at them both. His gaze is shifting in between them, focusing on the way Martyn stands a little too close to Scott; close enough to be something more than friendly. Close enough where if he wanted to, Scott could easily slip a hand into Martyn’s warm ones and never let go.

The two islanders exchange a subtle little look at one point, and it’s clear both of them have come to the same conclusion. His teammate turns back to Jimmy, a devilish little smile dancing on his lips, and Scott is a little excited (and maybe nervous) to see what he does with that new information.

"What Tim?" Martyn teased lightly, a smirk forming on his face. "Ya jealous that your ex got a new partner?" And oh . That’s where Martyn’s taking this. Scott’s breath hitches slightly, and he hopes the other two don’t notice as the word partner starts to repeat over and over again in his head. The word is soon on loop, like it’s coming from a broken record player, and Scott has to tell himself it means nothing. They're not partners….like that . They’re base partners , allies , and most disappointedly just friends ; even if half the server does think otherwise.

Scott gets a grip of his reeling thoughts after a moment, replacing them with curiosity. He decides to say nothing, and let Martyn go…wherever he’s going with this still.

"No." Jimmy replies a moment later, his voice stiff and controlled. He's still looking at them, and at how close they are. He isn't fooling anyone with that, because they can both see the jealous glint in his eyes and how his wings have puffed up behind him.

"You sure about that?" Scott gave the blonde a smirk of his own, a little more light than Martyn's was. He didn’t want to actually upset Jimmy with the teasing, just to poke a little fun at him. He'd also be a massive hypocrite if he made the other man feel bad or something about being jealous, because he'd literally been jealous of Tango and Jimmy last season.

However, and a little frustratingly, Martyn seemed to be working against him. The blonde moved, and before Scott knew what was happening there were arms around his waist. He blinked, feeling heat rise to his face as Martyn hugged him from behind. The blonde rested his head on Scott's shoulder, nuzzling into his neck a little. This man was horrible actually, Scott decided, and he didn’t like him at all anymore.

Jimmy caught his surprised look, and the merfolk desperately wished he didn't blush so easily. It was clear that the blonde was surprised as well, because that was a bold move Martyn had just done. The avian glanced between them one more time, clearly gathering that this was unexpected, before speaking again. "Yep, pretty sure. Goodbye now!" He huffed.

With that Jimmy turned away, clearly not wanting to witness anymore of their PDA, and scrambled his way back to the top of Bad Boy Manor. Martyn just giggled lightly next to Scott's ear and moved away.

When they returned to their island, Martyn did it once again. Scott had been standing in their little newly built storage area, searching for a material he swore he put in that chest. It almost wasn't a surprise when his teammate took a chance to hold him again, warm arms wrapping around his waist again.

"Hey" Scott whispered, letting himself lean into the touch this time.

"Hi" Martyn responded, resting his chin on Scott's shoulder once more. He heard the triumphant smile in the blonde's voice, and presumed there was blush spreading down his neck. His face felt like it was on fire, so that wasn't too surprising either.

"Was Timmy actually jealous back there?" Martyn asked against his neck, having started to nuzzle it again. Scott was really hoping that no one decided to come over right now.

"Yeah, he was." He responded, letting out a small humorless laugh.

"Probably shouldn't have pushed him so far huh." Martyn sighed. "Especially not doing….this." He'd stopped nuzzling Scott, and just buried his head in the crook of his neck instead. Scott shivered, able to feel the others warm breath ghosting over his gills and scales.

"It's fine, I'll message him later" Scott said, finally resuming his search for that material. He’d been so wrapped up in Martyn's presence, he hadn’t even realized he'd stopped doing that.

He let silence fall for a few minutes, Martyn watching as he shuffled through a seemingly endless pile of items, and listening to Scott’s mutters about how badly he needed to organize their stuff. He felt the blonde smile against his skin, before swaying them gently. This whole interaction felt so….domestic, and Scott wondered if he was wrong for wanting more.

"This is nice, though.." Scott muttered into the silence, barely audible. His frills swiveled back in embarrassment, and he felt his face start to heat up even further. There was a sudden, barely there heat against his neck, and he was pretty sure he'd made Martyn blush as well, possibly for the first time that day. It was a small win, but he'd take it. Scott had one point so far and Martyn had like five probably. Yeah that was a good guess, and Scott wouldn't be surprised if it was more. That man was very good at flirting, he had to admit.

Martyn nuzzled him again as a response, and warmth fluttered wildly in his stomach. Okay then, never mind. Martyn six , Scott one.

"I need to move, Martyn." Scott mumbled when he was done searching, fondly glancing at the other. He would love to stay like this, but he tragically could not reach the crafting table from here.

Martyn mumbled something unintelligible and maybe a little grumpy, before starting to let go of Scott’s waist. Before he let go fully, when his hands rested nicely on the merfolks hips, he leaned down to press a small kiss to the side of Scott’s neck. He pecked the other right under where his gills lay, sending yet another shiver to course though Scott.

Scott stood there for a moment, eyes wide. Hadn’t been expecting that when he woke up that morning, that was for sure. He placed a hand on his neck, feeling around his gills absentmindedly. He felt Martyn’s sly smirk on him as the blonde turned and left the room, walking back towards the upper part of their house.

Martyn hummed, standing beside Scott idly. The latter was talking with Cleo about something or other, something Martyn wasn't interested in. He wasn’t here for chatter, he was here to protect Scott. No one had tried to come from them yet, but his teammate had the most time by far. And he'll be damned if he lets anyone take that away.

Maybe he ends up staring at Scott and zoning out, just like he did back in Double Life. But by now Scott’s used to it, because Martyn can't help himself from looking at something so beautiful. By now Scott is already prepared to tease him for it on a moment's notice, so it's not a big deal like it used to be.

It had taken a while for Martyn to notice this consciously, but he found Scott's fins adorable. He liked the way they moved, how they shone and shimmered under the sunlight. They folded in when he was embarrassed or flustered, which made Martyn want to flirt and fluster him even more. And the freckles, again. God how he wanted to press kisses into each one of those.

He was blinked out of his thoughts by Cleos mildly amused gaze, and the wonderful sound of his merfolk voice.

"Did you hear me, darling?" Scott asked. Beside them, Cleo failed to muffle a wide grin.

Martyn stood there for a minute, cogs beginning to turn in his head. Scott had called him darling. Darling . He concentrated a little too hard on his rapidly beating heart, on not losing his composure and turning red a tomato, that he entirely missed the awkward silence that stretched out after the question.

"Martyn?" Scott asked again, giving him a slightly concerned, yet amused, look. "Are you okay?"

"Y-yeah I'm fine, perfectly okay!" Martyn smiled back, voice going a little higher than intended.

"Okay!" Scott smiled, turning to resume his conversation with Cleo. The merfolks smile had been a little slow and mischievous, and Martyn wanted to shrink into himself in embarrassment. Scott now knew that he was weak for pet names, and was sure to use that against him very often from now on.

Cleo just leaned in to whisper something in Scott’s ear, something that made him flush. A little perplexed, Martyn watched as he slapped her lightly on the arm; the zombie giggling all the while.

There was water rushing all around him, blood pumping through his veins and pounding in his ears. Water splashed nearby, and Martyn turned to kick at Jimmy again. The avian, who was foolish in the water when he had wings, just coughed up a bit of blood, Martyn’s shoe having caught him in the face slightly.

Jimmy wasn't made for swimming, and the yellow wings just made it harder for him too. They started to drag him down a bit with how thoroughly soaked they were getting, which made Martyn's job just a smidge easier. He knew Jimmy kinda hated swimming, so the fact that he was in the water was a testament to how desperate everyone was for time.

"Scott? Scott!?" He called, desperately splashing in the shallows by their island. He couldn't see Scott anywhere, and panic behind to swirl violently in the blonde's stomach. Where'd he go? Did someone get him? What if he's dead, what if-

"Martyn!" Scott's answering yell came from the other side of the island, a few feet off, and Martyn wished he hadn't called out. Their others now knew where his teammate was as well. Which was fine, he could handle that, he just had to swim faster.

He reached Scott in record time, having to kick and fend Jimmy off at least two more times. The other pursuers were gaining as well, and Martyn had never been more relieved to see Scott’s living face, a sword clutched closely to his chest.

"Scott!" He gasped, swimming over till they were floating face to face. They were farther out than Martyn had initially thought, but he didn't mind at all. Deeper water just made it easier to drown people. Under the water, Scott grabbed his hand and squeezed.

"Martyn! Martyn you have to kill me please!" He exclaimed, casting a fearful look over the blonde's shoulder. They could hear splashing sounds, ones that were getting rapidly closer.

If they had the time for it, Martyn's brain would've slowed down, long enough for him to sit there and gape at Scott, horrified, for at least a few minutes. But they didn't have time, quite ironically, so he just squeezed Scott’s hand back and yelled. "Why?" He asked, voice close to breaking. "I can't do that to you Scott, I-"

The merfolk cut him off by placing a hand over his mouth. "I don't want anyone else but you to have my time!" He said, staring serious into the ocean blur of Martyn’s eyes. Scott’s tone started out harsh, but turned softer with each word.

" Please. " He begged one last time, removing the hand from the blonde's mouth. Martyn said nothing for a moment, letting Scott’s sword be shoved into his own hands. He hadn’t even used it and the weapon felt dirty to hold, as if the mere suggestion was tainting it.

Under the surface two sets of legs moved to keep their owners afloat, and a tail flicked in a wild panic. Behind them the splashing got even louder, till it was roaring in Martyn's ears again. It was then he realized he didn't have a choice, did he? And pulled Scott in closer.

Scott’s breathing hitched, from fear or something else Martyn didn’t know. His hands shook, but he managed to get a surprisingly firm grip of the sword. He was going to burn it later, and make Scott a newer, better one, one that didn't remind him of one of the worst incidents of his life.

His eyes flicked down to Scott’s lips, then thought better of it. Martyn knew he didn’t want to do it this way, so he moved to press his lips to Scott’s forehead instead.

The merfolk let out a strangled cry of pain, the sword being shoved through his ribs. As he pulled the cursed weapon out, Martyn moved closer, eyes pressed shut. He peppered more kisses to Scott’s forehead, to his hair, muttering comforts; that it wouldn’t hurt for long. He buried his nose into Scott’s soft blue locks and murmured that he was sorry, tears falling from his cheeks. He did so until Scott had despawned, and there was nothing but the murder weapon for him to hold anymore. The thirty minutes that washed over him felt disgusting and vile, and he almost couldn't wait to die and lose them.

Martyn stayed there, floating on exhausted limbs, until the splashing was gone, until the roaring in his ears stopped, and until he felt okay enough to go inside and see his teammate once more.

He broke down anyways, poorly retrained tears dampening Scott's now yellow jacket. The merfolk said nothing, just let him cling to his chest and cry.

"Martyn?" Scott asked, voice groggy with sleep. He'd been awoken by shuffling sounds from somewhere else in the house. At first, he'd assumed it was Martyn using the restroom or something else you normally did at one in the morning. But then the sounds had continued, and woken him up again less than ten minutes later. He was pretty sure it was just Martyn, but got up to check anyways, in case they were actually being robbed or trapped. He didn’t wanna wake up in the morning by being exploded after all.

“Martyn?” He asked, stifling a loud yawn. Scott now stood in the doorway, his hand gripping it as he watched the blonde prepare what seemed to be some sort of drink. "Oh sorry." Martyn said, turning to face the other man. A hot mug of coffee was held in his hands, the distinct smell of it quickly crowding Scott’s sleepy senses. "Can't sleep." He mumbled the explanation a little sheepishly, like Scott would be bothered by his teammates having one off night in a death game.

He was going to not think about how the other man made coffee in a server with limited resources, because as far as Scott knew this map did not have a jungle for cocoa beans. Though it might, in the unexplored area. He wouldn’t know though, because it was unexplored and it was also one in the morning. Scott simply waved a goodbye, stifling another yawn as he turned to tiredly shuffle back to his bed, the blonde's gaze on him all the while.

An hour later, when Martyn still hadn’t gotten any quieter, was when Scott decided to make him sleep. Or else.

"Oh shit, sorry-" The blonde said a little blearily when Scott walked into the room for a second time.

"Why can't you sleep?" Scott asked bluntly, hands resting on his hips. There was a certain bit of annoyance in his voice, he was sure of it. Scott was aware he probably looked like some sort of sleep deprived, scary mother of three, but if that was the look needed to get his question answered, then so be it.

"Nightmares…about the, ya know…" Martyn seemed to shrink into himself, and not because of his teammates' tired gaze burning holes into him. He sounded so small, voice getting smaller with every word he spoke.

"No, I don't know." Scott huffed, a little more gently this time. He removed his hands from his hips, and walked till he could sit next to Martyn. The blonde had been leaning against one of their bookshelves, back looking uncomfortably pressed into the wood. Scott sat beside him now, legs crossed and a softening look on his face.

“About yesterday.” Martyn managed to choke out after a minute, hands tightening around an untouched mug of coffee. “Everytime i close my eyes all I see is you in the water….bleeding because of me.” His eyes stayed firmly focused on the dark liquid in his mug, gaze clouded and full of self hatred; if Scott wasn’t mistaken.

He didn’t think about it, just reached over and pulled Martyn into the best side hug he could muster. The blonde stiffied under him, and the merfolk could tell he was stopping himself from returning the embrace. “It’s not your fault, I told you too.” Scott mumbled, burying his face into Martyn’s shirt best he could.

“I know….” His teammate just gave a low murmur of response, slowly setting the mug of coffee on the floor next to them. Martyn moved to give him a proper hug, and Scott clinged to him like a koala clings to a tree; hoping it conveyed what he was thinking. He thought that Martyn blaming himself was stupid , because he’d asked him to do. Scott had wanted Martyn to kill him, he wasn’t bothered by it at all. He also thought he wanted another kiss, maybe in a different place than the forehead, but that wasn’t a good thing to do right now.

The blonde didn’t pull away, just held onto him tighter, moved the merfolk into his lap and buried his face into Scott’s hair. He didn’t even bat an eye when he felt the blonde’s body wrack with quiet sobs, just tried to get even closer and offer more comfort, trying to communicate that it wasn’t Martyn’s fault, because Scott had a feeling this stupid idiot wouldn’t listen to him if he just said it. He had a feeling he needed to show that it was okay as well.

Martyn didn’t cry for long, and they ended up just sitting there, holding each other until Scott had an idea. It was one of those ideas that was either going to go horribly and ruin everything, or shift something else in their dynamic. He was really hoping it was the latter as he untangled himself from Martyn, slowly getting to his feet. The other just looked at him with undisguised curiosity.

"Come on." Scott sighed, taking Martyn’s hand in his. The blonde blinked as he laced their fingers together, and Scott basically pulled him to his feet fully a moment later. The darkness of the night did its best to hide the blush spreading across both men’s cheeks, all the while Scott led Martyn back to their shared sleeping area. The other grip on his hand was tight, squeezing, and he pretended not to notice.

He let go of Martyn’s hand, albeit a little reluctantly, to move the potted plant that separated their beds. He felt a questioning and curious gaze on the back of his neck, the blonde watching as Scott quickly put their beds together. He wasn’t sure his bed would fit both of them, so he decided it was safer to just pull a Bad Boys and push all their beds together. "Don't be weird about this. It helps with my nightmares." Scott said over his shoulder, turning his head to look at his teammate.

Martyn looked a little dumbfounded, his eyes flicking between Scott and the now double bed. If either of them were in a more awake state of mind, the merfolk was sure one of them would’ve made some sort of inappropriate joke. Not that Scott would’ve minded sharing a bed that way, just not right now when he was tired and Martyn was an emotional wreck.

He flashed Martyn a fond yet toothy smile, and patted the sheets before moving to lay down. Scott felt the blonde join him under the covers a minute later, and drifted close to the warmth almost unknowingly.

They laid awake together for a few minutes, before one of them finally gained some confidence. Martyn, probably thinking Scott was asleep, moved closer. He wrapped his arms around the merfolk slowly, eventually holding the other in his arms fully. Scott held back a content little sigh, fully melting against the blonde. He snuggled even closer, back comfortably pressed against his teammates chest.

The two woke up in a similar position in the morning, holding each other and legs tangled together. They didn’t comment on it, Martyn only muttering thanks, and that it did help his nightmares. Scott said he’d push their beds apart later.

He never quite got around to doing that in the end, but Martyn never complained.

Scott blinked in the dim light, Martyn now leaning over him slightly. Oh . He was being pressed against a wall, their underwater hideout suddenly becoming more cramped and small than it already was.

"I thought you were gonna die back there." The blonde mumbled, resting his forehead on Scotts. His eyes were firmly pressed shut, and his body seemed to relax for the first time all day, shoulders sagging. Stress lines seemed to litter his face as well, and the merfolk hated to be the cause of them. Scott’s gaze softened, pressing his own forehead against Martyns in return. I'm here. I'm alive.

"I didn't die, not yet anyways." The last part was added with a humorless chuckle. Martyn didn't find it very funny, as his face scrunched up even further.

Scott apologized by placing a delicate hand on his cheek, gently thumbing it and Martyn readily leaning into the touch. The blonde's own hands went to rest on Scott’s waist almost unconsciously, and he leaned into it with a quiet sigh.

Scott slowly titled his head to the side hesitantly, only once the blonde had opened his eyes again. It was only after Martyn himself leaned forward did Scott feel confident enough to close the gap between them, pressing their lips together softly. Martyn melted into the kiss rather quickly, which surprised Scott. It had honestly been a spur of the moment decision. He hadn’t expected Martyn to reciprocate at all, or do so readily. Martyn's lips were warm against his own, and Scott quickly realized he found it intoxicating.

One of his hands begins to tug at Martyn's hair, trying to pull his ally even closer. Martyn responded by nicking his bottom lip, and eventually slipping his tongue into Scott’s mouth, deepening the kiss. Scott happily let him, muffling a pleased little noise. Warmth fluttered in his gut, the blonde's tongue mapping out the back of his teeth, as the merfolk finally got what he'd been wanting for weeks now.

Martyn whined softly when Scott pulled away after a second, panting. Scott giggled, his frills puffing out in joy. Martyn just recaptured his lips again, Scott letting out a surprised chirp and melted into the contact even more than he had the first time.

When they parted again it was Scott's turn to whine at the loss of contact, but he understood why they'd separated so soon when he felt kisses peppering the rest of his face. The blonde kissed every part he could reach, Scott’s cheeks, his forehead, his freckles and his nose. Scott smiled, cupping Martyn's face in his hands after the other left one particularly risqué kiss on his upper neck.

They both leaned in for a third and final kiss. It was soft and chaste, and tasted sickly sweet, and everything he wanted and more. Afterwards Scott wrapped his arms around the blonde's neck, letting his weight rest on the other. Martyn just rested his head on top of the merfolks lovingly, kisses occasionally being pressed into soft blue hair.

"I love you." He said, voice slightly mumbled as he pressed his face into Martyn's shirt

"I…" The blonde seemed a little lost for words, a little choked by some emotion that Scott couldn't discern at the moment. "Yeah, me too" Martyn mumbled just as quietly, wrapping his arms around his teammate and holding him tight. Scott made a contend purring sound from the back of his throat, and allowed himself to be lost in the moment.

It was all he needed to say.

It was a nice day out, a calm day, and the Mean Gills had decided it was a good time to spend the day together. It was getting later and later into the game, and quiet days like this were becoming more rare and much more valuable. Martyn wanted Scott all to himself for as many minutes as possible that day, really he did, before the manhunts started up again and people were trying to take his partner’s from him. Time with his beloved wasn’t a thing he was willing to waste anymore, not after the first hunt for Scott and the end of it, one that still made him wake up in tears.

They stood at the side of the house together, Scott having surprised him as he went to feed their chickens. Martyn giggled, the other wrapping his arms around the blonde’s neck pulling him in for a slow kiss. He leaned into it as he always did, the pleasant feeling Scott’s lips now achingly familiar to him.

The blonde soon put the chicken feed into his inventory, sensing that the merfolk wanted to take this just a little further. And oh Martyn was so not opposed, he was the opposite of it really. Scott nipped at his bottom lip with unusually sharp teeth, and Martyn allowed the other's tongue to slip inside his mouth with ease. One of his hands went to rest in Scott’s hair, occasionally pulling it.

They parted for air after about a minute, both of them smiling and panting just a little bit. Scott looked at him lovingly, one hand beginning to play with Martyn’s ponytail idly. The ponytail was a new thing, he had figured now was a good time to try and grow his hair out, because what else did they have to do other than not die? The decision had paid off greatly, Scott saying he liked the look very much.

Martyn hummed, leaning down to place a kiss on Scott’s jawline. The merfolk giggled above him, and he took that as a sign to place even more. The kisses slowly started trailing down further, being placed under Scott’s chin, around his gills, everywhere the blonde could reach. They became gradually more open mouthed as well, until eventually a bruise was being sucked into his partner's neck. Scott, who’s knees buckled more with every kiss until he was practically leaning on Martyn, muffled a sound; one that sounded suspiciously like a whine.

"Martyn!" Soctt laughed, tugging the other away from his neck. "People can see us out here!"

"You don't wanna give them a show?" The blonde muttered against Scott’s throat, feeling the latter’s pulse begin to quicken underneath.

“No, I only want to give you one,” Scott’s response was a low and sultry murmur, one that sent shivers straight down his spine. Martyn let his face be held in gentle hands, meeting the merfolk's now half lidded gaze.

"I think I'd like a ticket to that." He mumbled in response, A hand was teasingly slipped under Scott’s jacket, and the other man let out a slight shiver. His tail began flicking around Martyn’s lower legs, the contact burning like a hot iron.

"You already have one." Scott murmured against his lips, giving Martyn another passionate kiss. The blonde made a muffled noise, moving the two of them back towards the edge of the island. His hand stayed under Scott’s shirt the whole time, roaming and exploring to his heart's content.

They had to part once they reached the water, Martyn obviously needing air to be able to hold his breath. But once they reached the cave the two were quickly on each other, Scott allowing Martyn to slam him against the stone wall. Their lips smashed together once again, the action now having a hungry air to it. Scott slipped his tongue into Martyn’s mouth, causing the other to groan. Hands went to tug at blue hair, which made the merfolk make his own sounds in response. Sharp teeth nicked at the pirates lips, and his knees damn near wobbled underneath him.

He groaned, Scott’s tongue exploring his mouth until he couldn’t breathe, lungs burning and screaming for oxygen. When they pulled away Martyn dipped his head back down, resuming his earlier work on Scott’s throat. He smirked at the low moan that came from the merfolk, and pressed another hickey into his scales.

At some point he’d picked up Scott, carrying him the short distance to the bed they kept in the secret room. He pinned the smaller to it, hands gripping his hair nicely and dagging Martyn’s head back to Scott’s neck. The blonde resumed his work, not needing to be asked twice; especially if it elicited those sounds from Scott.

Hands roamed under his shirt, ghosting over his chest before beginning the journey downwards again. All the while Martyn tried to shove Scott’s own jacket off him, moving that and his undershirt so he could have even more access. More whines came from Scott, his partner's lips now pressed to his collarbone and beginning to bite down gently. Martyn let out a groan of his own, fingers beginning to tug at his waistband.

He moved back up to Scott’s lips again, kissing him into the bed like a starving man. Scott’s hands quickly moved to grab the back of his head and keep him there, the merfolk very content to let Martyn’s tongue do whatever it pleased in his mouth. They pulled away for a final time after that, both taking in large gasps of air.

Scott cupped Martyn’s cheeks in his hands, moving the blonde’s head down until they’re foreheads touched. “We should make out more.” He stated quietly, eyes closed as he leaned into the other’s presence.

“You don’t say?” Martyn huffed, amusement leaking into his tone. Scott just hummed in response.

The pirate would’ve loved to stay and cuddle Scott more than anything, but they still had chores to do around the island. So Martyn stifled a sigh, and slowly moved off of the merfolk. Scott made a disappointed huff, and sat up on the bed.

“Gotta feed the chickens, sorry.” He mumbled. Martyn pressed a kiss to Scott’s hair, before going to exit the underwater base. The blonde heard the tell tale signs of Scott’ swimming after him a moment later, and smiled.

They reached the surface together, Martyn noticing that Scott’s shirt was still not fixed once they were on land. He flushed cherry red, wordlessly moving to fix it and hide his glorious work from the world. Scott just giggled at him, tail slapping happily against the ocean’s surface.

“Hi guys!” Skizz’s voice came from the mainland, and Martyn wanted to die right then. He wanted to be striked down by lightning right now because that was proper embarrassing and absolutely motifying .

“What were you two doing in there, huh?” Tango’s voice joined in with his teammates, just as Martyn managed to cover most of the bruises lining Scott’s fair skin. He really hadn’t realized how many he’d left, which made this interaction all the more horrible for him. Scott however, though probably a little embarrassed, was leaning into the teasing. “Wouldn’t you like to know?” He called back with a giggle. Martyn just groaned, resting his head on Scott’s chest, hands still gripping the latter’s shirt. His partner just laughed louder, pressing a fond kiss too the top of his head

Scott woke up one night with a loud yelp, loud enough for most of their neighbors to probably hear. He ripped himself free of Martyn’s grasp, breath coming out in short gasps as he did so. Tears were pricking at the corner of his vision, clouding it and making it harder to see what exactly was in front of him. In the merfolk’s panic he kicked off the covers as well, the feel of them being too overwhelming.

Martyn stirred next to him, obviously quite startled. Scott felt his partner's concerned gaze on him as he sat on his side of their beds, shaking. The blonde moved toward him slowly, and lightly placed a hand on Scott's thigh. When the merfolk didn't flinch away, his grasp became a little firmer.

"You okay?" Martyn mumbled, voice muddled with a strange mix of worry and sleep. Scott tried to open his mouth to speak, but his tongue felt as if someone had locked it in place, and now it wouldn't seem to budge. He held back a frustrated noise, and just shook his head no.

"Wanna talk about it? If you can?" Scott nodded again, and tried to get his mouth to work for the next few minutes. Martyn moved closer as he did so, bumping their shoulders together lightly. His fingers drummed on Scott's knee idly, a motion the merfolk found more comforting than he'd like to admit.

When he finally did make a sound it wasn't coherent, just a strangled sound that was supposed to be a word. Martyn smiled softly at that, and kept quietly waiting.

"….Had a nightmare." Scott muttered. "'Bout the first game."

"Third life?" Martyn clarified softly. Scott nodded.

"I saw the grave again." He continued, trying not to recall the dream too vividly, lest he start crying again. "I, ah, remembered the bunker, his death. Then it wasn't Jimmy it was…..it was you -" Scott cut himself off with a sob, the memory of the dream rattling him greatly. Martyn moved quickly, and before Scott knew it he was dampening the other’s shirt with his own tears.

He remembered how he'd lost his husband the first time, how he had been shattered into fragments with just one message. Scott didn’t even have to search his feelings for long before the grief came rushing back, crashing over him like it used to every day back then. His heart twisted painfully inside him, the moment still crystal clear in his mind.

"That's not again happen again, I promise." Martyn mumbled into his hair, gently running his fingers through it.

"How do you know that?" Scott asked, voice cracked with long ago grief. It could happen again, he could so easily lose his lover once more. It was the thing he worried about everytime Martyn tried to defend him, when Martyn shoved himself in front of a ranid army of yellows and reds to keep him safe. He always worried about having to bury Martyn, like he'd had to bury Jimmy with nothing but dirt and a lone poppy-

"Because this isn't Third Life." The blonde muttered, grip on him tightening. "There's no flower field here, and there's no banner to burn."

That made sense, Scott supposed. It made him feel better, so even if it hadn't made any sense it would still be a reasonable explanation he supposed. At that he sunk into Martyn, his teats gradually beginning to calm down. He still clung to the blonde like a lifeline though, the fear induced by the nightmare never quite leaving.

Martyn just laid them both down gently, Scott still clutched in his arms. He pulled the covers over both of them, and mumbled something about trying to get a few more hours of sleep.

Martyn respawned with a yelp, a little surprised still. He’d be killed by a random TNT minecart drop, and he was a little irritated over it. Stupid Skynet and the stupid minecarts. He was ready to go out there and shoot whoever had done it, that was an hour of his time they’d gotten away with!

“Didn’t expect you to be on top of me today.” A voice came from under him, and Martyn looked down in surprise. Under him was a very flustered looking Scott, the frills on his face pressed back in surprise. It took Martyn’s brain a few seconds to process how he’d ended up in this position, cogs turning at a painstakingly slow pace in his head.

He’d respawned in their hidden bed, naturally. It was night time. Scott was probably trying to sleep the night away. Right. Sure . That made sense, but it didn’t make either of them any less flustered. Currently Martyn was being distracted by how he was basically straddling Scott, and his partner was being pushed slightly into the white bedsheets.

“Well, I don’t think you’re minding it much.” He responded, entirely on impulse. Scott’s eyes seemed to light up with that, and he moved closer. Martyn met the merfolk’s half lidded gaze, nose bumping and breaths mingling together. The air had turned from awkward to heated very fast, and the blonde was soaking it all up like a wet sponge.

"Ya know I always had a thing for pirates…" Scott said, voice dipping lower. He ran a hand along Martyn’s chest area, where the shirt was left slightly unbuttoned, caressing his skin. The blonde shivered at the motion, his own hands running up Scott’s arms slowly.

"And I've always thought merfolk were quite sexy." He huffed in response, leaning downwards. Scott flashed him a toothy grin, going to meet the other in the middle. Their lips connected, and Scott pulled them further down onto the bed.

Martyn muffled a noise, the merfolk’s tongue slipping into his mouth for the millionth time. When Scott had said they should make out more he hadn’t been expecting this, but the pirate was so not going to complain. His fingers twisted in the other's hair, and a hand tugged on the back of Martyn’s head to keep him in place.

He pulled away first, the feeling of fire in his lungs. Scott just looked up at him with a pout, lips puffy and red. Martyn ignored the urge to lean down and ruin them some more, slowly shuffling off the bed.

“People are gonna be suspicious if I take too long respawning.” He muttered a quiet apology, watching as Scott tried to drag him back down. His partner just let out a dramatic sounding sigh. “Fine.”

“We could continue this later tonight?” Martyn offered, and Scott’s eyes lit up immediately. “Oh absolutely~” He murmured, giving the blonde one last peck on the lips. A hand thumbed over the waistband of his pants, and then Scott finally let go of him. Martyn laughed at that, ignoring the warmth fluttering inside him. “Eager aren't we?” He called as he exited the room, not waiting for the merfolk response before diving into the cool sea water.

Time was running out.

Scott stood with Impulse at spawn, discussing. They were the last three left, and they were supposedly going to have a fist fight to the death. The winner would be picked fairly, no foul play or whatever. Martyn stood beside them, oddly silent. Martyn was never silent like that. Scott wanted to reach out a hand to his partner, to hold the blonde’s own one last time. To feel Martyn’s loving embrace one last time, because this wasn’t going to end pretty.

He didn’t want to kill Martyn, and Martyn didn’t want to kill him. Unless the red life got to him, he didn’t think he could. And he didn’t want the bloodlust to get to him. He didn’t want to win again, and just standing here had already brought him far too close to that for comfort. So if it did come down to a fist fight, he would let Impulse kill him, because there was no other way to avoid it.

He didn’t reach out a hand to hold Martyn’s. Maybe because part of him knew what was going to happen, because he knew Martyn as well as a fish knew the ocean it swam in.

Impulse said something, then there was a burning in Scott's back. He screamed, feeling the unmistakable burn of lava on him, feeling the liquid splash painfully onto his tail. Impulse let out a surprised yell, and a bucket clattered to the stone ground under them. Just before the magma could finish him off, a sword sliced through his ribs, just like it had during his first death. His lover was saying something, but the merfolk couldn’t hear it over the ringing in his ears.

Martyn had killed him again, and stabbed him right in the back. Figuratively and literally. If he turned around, Scott would see a flash of pain on the blonde’s face as he did so. Scott didn’t mind though, didn’t mind dying, because third was a fine enough place to get. And probably a higher place than he deserved anyways.

My own Mean Gill. He thought, allowing the world to fade to black. And I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Martyn huffed, kicking his legs idly in the air. He was at least a good thousand feet off the ground now, which didn't make him feel too great. He made a mental note not to look down too much, and pondered on how exactly he was going to reach the ground again.

He'd just wanted to see what that weird little geyser did, not be permanently levitated! Now he was worried about going too high up and dying, and he'd only had these powers for like less than a week! Martyn huffed to himself again, trying to spin himself around in midair.

There was a flash of blue and orange nearby, and Martyn whipped his head around. He was met with nothing, with empty air. Like everything else around him. He gave the surrounding area a suspicious glance over, and again there was nothing. The blonde huffed at that, figuring it was just his eyes playing tricks on him or something. If he was gonna float into space he wanted it to be paranoia free, thank you very much.

The flash of color kept happening though, so much so that Martyn became more and more convinced it had to be another player messing with him. He also wished they would help get him down, not play an unwinnable game of peekaboo.

The person playing it also seemed to be getting bored, because the next time an orange flash appeared, there was a hand coming out of it. Martyn let out a small scream at that, and made himself float farther away. There was laughing beside him afterwards, and he once again spun to try and locate where the sound was coming from.

The flashes of light had apparently been portals of some kind, because one was soon open a few feet above him. Sticking out of it was the head of a man, similarly blue and orange hair falling in front of his face as he looked down at Martyn. The blonde blinked, watching the man laugh at his misery. The dude was quite nice looking, he had to admit, his features were slender and seemed to have a sort of elegance to him, and his eyes crinkled nicely when he smiled. His laugh rang through the air, a pleasing sound to listen to, and his hair was longer than it looked; most of his being kept up in two twin buns atop his head.

“Hi!” The stranger smiled down at him when the laughing fit calmed down, Martyn now having floated closer. His eyes were multicolored, one blue and one orange, and the blonde wasn’t even surprised by the color combo anymore. That seemed to be very on brand for this guy.

“Hi!” Martyn parroted, struggling to keep some irritation from his tone. “You mind getting me down now?”

The strange man blinked a couple of times, and for the first time seemed to realize how high up they now were. “Oh! Sorry!” He almost squeaked out the apology, before disappearing into thin air again. Martyn floated there, puzzled for a moment, before he was suddenly on the ground again. He made a noise of surprise, stumbling a bit as body readjusted to not being hundreds of feet in the air. Martyn’s vision spun a bit, and he felt a warm hand keep him steady while it did.

“You okay?” The stranger’s voice rang in his ears again, and when the blonde could see clearly he found that the other was now face to face with him. He nodded, staring back into those multi-colored eyes, the stranger’s breath brushing over his face ever so slightly. He had quite pretty eyes, this man did. Martyn could very easily see himself getting lost in them, especially if they kept meeting like this.

“Good!” At those words the other man was pulling back, another smile dancing on his lips. Martyn ignored how pretty that look was on him, deciding it was better to focus on what the guy was saying instead. “I’m Scott, bye the way!”

“Martyn.” He gave his own name, and committed the others to memory. Sometimes the blonde had trouble remembering names, but he figured this guy was the expectation. You don’t see a pretty dude who can teleport very often. Scott’s gaze flicked over him once, taking in his appearance. “Why were you even floating in the first place?” He asked, head tilted to the side curiously.

“Some stupid geyser sent me up there!” Martyn huffed, scanning the area for his new least favorite thing. “Over here!” He walked towards the damned thing as soon as he caught sight of it, wanting to warn his new acquaintance of what they looked like. He heard Scott follow after him, brown boots crunching against the light layer of snow on the ground.

“That thing!” He spat, glaring down at the small geyser, treacherous puffs of air still billowing from it. Scott stopped beside them, tail brushing against Martyn’s legs unconsciously. The blonde hadn’t even seen the tail till just now, and it only made him more curious about the guy.

“Ah, so that’s what those do!” Scott hummed, leaning forward slightly to get a better look.

“You’ve seen ‘em before?” Martyn’s now curious gaze flicked to the transporter again, and he tried not to stare at the open side of the man’s shirt.

“Yep, but I was always too scared to test them out.” Scott glanced at him, his features becoming playful “But i guess you did that for me, huh?” Martyn snorted at that, moving away from the wretched thing a little bit. Scott followed him.

“Guess I did!” He smiled, watching as the other opened a little portal in the grass next to him.

“Gotta go!” Scott explained with another pretty smile, this one dazzling and lopsided. “See you later?” He asked, and if Martyn deluded himself he could hear a bit of hope in the teleporter's voice.

“Yeah, see you later!” Martyn called, freezing himself in excitement at the thought. Scott laughed at him, before falling into his portal, tail flicking in joy. If Martyn could smile while encased in ice, he would. He wanted the ice to melt quicker, to melt right now , just so he could see Scott as soon as possible.