#food he brought himself when they go to the dungeon. and it would always have rice

[lokh]

the idea of some white guy assuming my favorite food is rice is such harmless but ridiculous nonsense. and is water my favorite drink for having it all the time too

[formosusiniquis]

y'know like barbie

ao3

It's Erica who gives him the idea, incidentally. Though she carries herself with a maturity that far surpasses the boys most days and though she's been through multiple life altering events, she does continue to only be eleven. Which is, it turns out, prime babysitting age.

The Sinclairs are going out of town overnight, it's their anniversary -- 18 blissful years, since our marriage can vote we thought we deserved a night away -- and they don't want Erica to spend the night home alone.

Enter Steve, who the Sinclairs trust with their children and who is inexplicably the only person Erica would accept staying the night with her. Steve honestly didn't believe it even as Mrs. Sinclair was saying it. But he smiles and nods, looks over the emergency numbers on the fridge when they're pointed to, nods at the money on the counter for food that he probably won't take, and waves as they walk out the door promising that he and Erica will be fine for the night and not to worry.

It's only when their car is out of the driveway and the door is shut that Steve realizes he isn't really a babysitter. He is a keep children alive while in a dangerous situation and when the situation is over drive them around because you feel bad that their childhoods have been marred by trauma-er which doesn't have quite the same ring as babysitter, and it's a lot harder to say with that rude tone the boys have been favoring. He also realizes that he's never actually dealt with children, or not girl children. The boys had all been older than Erica, when he had started keeping them alive. Max was definitely basically a teenager when he started really dealing with her; and she was usually okay to do what the boys wanted to do, like go to the arcade. Hopper didn't really trust him with El and that was fine, he wasn't sure he trusted himself with El either.

It put him in an awkward spot now though. Staring at Erica in her kitchen, a little afraid to ask the question on the front of his mind which was "What now?"

So he asks the second question on his mind, "What do you want to do that isn't eat ice cream all night?"

Say what you will about Steve Harrington, and a lot has been said, but he always keeps his promises and he always brings a pint of ice-cream for Erica to have when he comes over to the Sinclair house. Tonight he brought three, all different weird flavors he thought she'd like to try.

"Why can't I eat ice cream all night?" She says it with a challenge in her eyes, but he'd bet dollars to donuts that she's just doing it to make him sweat. "Because I've seen you eat ice cream, we've only got enough for two hours at most." His hand migrates as if of its own mind to his hip. "You need more than two people for Dungeons and Dragons, right?"

Her brows raise, for the first time since he's met her Erica Sinclair is stunned silent. Maybe she's just surprised he got the name right.

It lasts about as long as it takes him to notice it. "You'd play Dungeons and Dragons with me?" There's something fragile in the way she asks, and there is the eleven year old girl she's meant to be. 

"Sure, you'd have to show me how, but if that's what you want to do I'm game."

Eyes narrowed in a distinctly intimidating way he kind of thinks she stole from Nancy, he does his best to make his sincerity clear on his face. "We need more than two people, but I've got something else we can do if you think your fragile manhood can take it."

He's got a retort at the tip of his tongue about just what his manhood can take and remembers just in time that yeah probably shouldn't make a joke like that in front of an actual child. "My pride isn't that delicate, I think I can handle anything you dish out."

"Famous last words."

He follows her to her bedroom, waiting outside the doorway to let her space stay private until he's told to come in. A clear plastic tub slides out from under her bed, out of sight but easily accessible and when the lid pops off he gets why. Rows of Barbies stacked neatly on top of each other, a mass grave for childhood. Steve has a stuffed bear, fur rubbed off of one ear, tucked up on the shelf of his closet that also got put away sooner than he would have chosen to, when it was too babyish.

“Alright, so who is the, like, elven warrior.”

“That’s not how you play Barbies.”

It’s snapped so fast that he thinks it embarasses her. He tactfully avoids eye contact, pulling out a doll with blonde hair snipped into a professional, if uneven, bob and a green skirt set. She's missing a shoe. “Then how do I play Barbies?”

“That one just won the Nobel Peace Prize, she solved world hunger, but she has plans to kill the Barbie who won the prize in Physics because she stole Barbie One’s research and gave it to NASA claiming it was her own.”

“Right, of course.” This was the kind of shit that happened on Dallas, only Barbie had a lot more awards. “And they’re all called Barbie?”

“Except for Ken, but Ken doesn’t do anything.”

“Well if Barbie just won the Peace Prize wouldn’t she use Ken to kill Barbie so she doesn’t get caught.”

Erica manages a look that is both condescending and considerate. “Barbie can do anything, including get away with murder; but she wouldn’t want to dirty her hands with that sort of thing.”

“And if Ken goes to jail it’s no loss.”

“Right.”

-

So maybe it's more accurate to say that Dustin actually starts it.

Dustin with the shittiest attitude this side of the Ohio, something Robin blames him for.

“Like father, like son.”

“Dustin doesn’t even know his dad.”

“I mean you and Eddie, dingus.”

“I am not that kid's dad. A brotherly figure at best, strong male role model more likely.”

“He’s a bitch because you are, Steve. Maybe if your and Eddie’s love language wasn’t being as bitchy as possible it wouldn’t have rubbed off on your kid.”

“Please don’t put Dustin and rubbing off in the same paragraph let alone the same thought wave.”

Dustin comes sprinting into Family Video on a Tuesday afternoon. “Steve! I need your car.”

“Did you learn how to drive when I wasn’t paying attention?”

“Obviously, I meant I need you too.” His hands are on his hips, eyes rolled. Shit maybe he did get it from Steve. “There’s this theoretical physicist coming to Notre Dame to give a talk on the Multiverse Theory.”

Steve was allowing himself a second to consider whether this was worth it, for once, instead of just blindly agreeing to drive Dustin wherever. The drive sucked ass, but it would put him close enough to Chicago that he could try to find a music store that would carry albums from the international metal bands Eddie couldn’t stop talking about.

It was a second too long for Dustin. “Steve, a theoretical physicist-”

See Steve had this suspicion that the kids did actually think he was an idiot. He was pretty sure that none of them, hell maybe none of Hellfire, save for Lucas realized that every athlete in the school had to keep up at least a 2.5 GPA. Which might not have been anything to write home about but Steve kept a 3.2 for most of high school, until the multiple concussions started to catch up with him. He wasn’t stupid, was the point and even if they didn’t think he was an idiot in a mean way he was a little sick of the shit.

“I know, like Barbie.”

That shuts Dustin up real quick.

“N- no, not like Barbie! Barbie is some girl's toy.”

“Excuse me?” Robin, who told Steve that she would not help him parent his children on work days or any other day ending in y had remembered that Martes doesn’t have one and her shift was almost over. “What does that mean, exactly, a girl’s toy?”

“And,” Steve adds, because he can and because Eddie made him drive him to fucking Bloomington because he was fixated on time travel and needed access to some science journal that only existed at Indiana U apparently, “Barbie is on a research team looking for the Higgs particle so she can start figuring out time travel.”

The bell chiming as Dustin leaves has never sounded sweeter.

He’ll definitely end up taking the twerp to stupid Notre Dame.

-

The thing is that Steve thinks he’s never really stopped being a bitch.

He doesn’t want to stop. He likes being bitchy. It’s fun, when you’re doing it with people you like it’s pretty funny, and honestly he’s kinda like Spiderman. With great power comes great responsibility, he’s only bitchy responsibly now.

And it’s actually perfectly responsible as an older brother type babysitter figure to correct the behavior of the younger siblings by being bitchy. If they don’t learn at home they’ll go out in the world thinking that kind of behavior is acceptable, see Steve Harrington in his early high school days who talked to people like his father did.

So when Mike interrupts El with, “I’m not going to ask Steve, he probably doesn’t even know what a Pulitzer is either.”

He says, “Oh, yeah like Barbie won. Or Nancy will someday, probably. It’s a journalism award, Wheeler.”

And when Lucas corrects, “I don’t actually think you can win an award for comics. It’s still really great though, Will!”

“Barbie won the Kirby Award in 1985 for best artist, I’m sure Will is soon to follow.”

Or when Nancy tells Holly, “Are you sure you wouldn’t want to be something important instead?”

“You could be an actress and do something cool like go to space if you want, Hols, like Barbie.” And maybe he says it with a little more bitch than he should that time, but he’s seen the ballerinas in Nancy’s room, she didn’t always want to be an investigative journalist.

It gets to be second nature. When someone starts being shitty about something or to lighten the mood.

Erica doubts whether she should run for student council. It's her first step to being actual president, like Barbie.

Dustin makes a crack about Steve's possible future prospects when he butts in on a conversation between Steve and Robin. "I could do all three, I could be a counselor and a hair stylist and an engineer. Maybe I'll add EMT too, Barbie wouldn't stop at three, why should I?"

Or when Mike sneers at him, "What are you a cop?" All because Steve told him not to buy weed now that Eddie had stopped dealing.

"Ew, no, because you look like a fresh-faced little narc trying to be cool and you're gonna get ripped off."

"What so not like Barbie?"

"The Barbie world has achieved equality at a level that it doesn't need the cops." Eddie sometimes has to get high after a run in with Powell or Calahan who he still doesn't really trust after the spring. Steve has been treated to many a lecture on why the police were a waste of resources.

He lets Mike sit with that for a minute before he adds, "Like Barbie, I am very cool and know what it looks like when I'm being taken for a ride. If you're gonna get pot from someone other than Eddie, ask Hop where he used to get all of his shit."

It doesn't feel stupid, until El comes running into the cabin one afternoon that Steve has decided to join the rebuilding effort. It’s actually just him and Hop, who has started trying to quietly parent him, something he’s not entirely convinced isn’t revenge for telling Wheeler that Hop has smoked pot before. Steve is pretty sure El was crying when she came in, something he bumps up to a certainty when he sees how awkward Hop looks right now.

“You mind taking that kid? It’s been a long time since high school.” he rubs the back of his neck, Steve does appreciate that he has the decency to feel weird about asking. “If it’s anything outside of big brother shit I can take over.”

He does let himself get suckered by that big brother line.

El is facedown on her bed in a clear ‘leave me alone I’m crying’ pose but he figures he’s already here it’s not like he can turn around and tell Hop that he was too afraid to approach a crying teenage girl. Like that wasn’t the whole reason he’d been sent in the first place. “Hey Ellie, can I come in?”

She sits up, tear tracks plain on her face but no more are falling, and nods in that endearing, aggressively certain way she’s got. “Is everything okay?” He pauses and asks, “Was it Mike?” because he knows that’ll be the first thing Hopper asks when Steve comes back out.

“You are worse than Dad.”

“That stings, Ellie Bell.”

She takes a deep breath, steeling an already impressive will, “Lucas says it is okay to just want to be happy right now, but all they talk about is what they are going to do. Dustin is talking about going to admission early, Will talks about talking to Dad and Joyce about art school, Lucas worries about his sports and scholarships, and Mike talks about classes that count twice. I do not know what I want to be. I do not know why I have to be anything.”

“You guys have been through a lot. I don’t think anyone would blame you for taking time to just be a kid.”

“What if I never want to be something? What if I do not ever want to go to college?”

He’s made his way over to the bed with her, sits tentatively on the edge like he’s seen Joyce do before. “Then you don’t. You’ll probably have to get a job at some point, but that doesn’t have to be what you are. Lucas isn’t a landscaper just because he mows lawns in the summer.”

“You don’t think Dad would be upset?” she asks.

“I don’t think there’s anything you could do that would really make Hop mad. And you might change your mind. I've been out of school for almost two years and I’m only thinking about college now. Or you could go to college and change your mind about what you want to be. You could be a hundred things, you could be anything! Like Barbie.”

He feels like an idiot almost immediately. A jerk quickly after that. He’s made El’s genuine crisis part of his stupid running joke. But something settles in the room. The underlying tension, the thing that had the hair on the back of his neck raised. He realizes, now, that her powers had probably also been on edge.

"Like Barbie." She says it with a graven seriousness, like Steve's dumb little joke is a mantra now.

"Yeah, and you're a sophomore you don't have to have your whole life figured out right now. And don't take life advice from Henderson anyway, he thought it was a good idea to raise an Upside Down slug as a pet."

He mostly just used it to be a bitch though. Because it was fun. No, it was what he was good at. So good at it he didn't even have to try.

Because Steve had a plan to be bitchy. Specifically to Mike Wheeler who kept flirting with Steve’s boyfriend while taking advantage of his hospitality. Sure it was at their stupid Dungeons and Dragons game, and yeah Steve was the one who said they could host the game at his house now that Eddie had graduated. Yes, he knew Eddie didn't mean anything by it when he responded and usually didn't flirt back with the kids. But it was still the kind of behavior that had to be gently corrected, for Mike's sake because if he didn't stop things were going to get drastic.

His initial plan is already in action. He encouraged El to come along to watch the Party play. It was, admittedly, a half hearted plan. Wheeler got so awkward anytime El was around he mostly just hoped that would keep him from trying anything.

It isn't. Eddie starts to describe a new character, "Blonde and statuesque, she has a long bow in hand and delicate elven features."

And even though El is sitting a few feet from him Mike perks up the way he always does when there's a new NPC to flirt with. He is going to have to have a talk with Eddie about letting the kid try out a bard.

He does at least have one other tool in his belt. "Oh, like Barbie."

Steve knew what he'd get as he said it. A groan from Dustin, who falls for this as being sincere about as often as he falls for the dumb-dumbs and dipshits line -- which is everytime for the record. Will and Lucas keep their laughs small, enough that they're covered by Erica's snort. The original Hellfire crew mostly looks confused, it's becoming less and less their default as they warm up to the Steve he is rather than the Steve they thought they remembered; but he likes to keep them on their toes.

Eddie is charmed. He can tell. Sees him duck his head behind his screen and his binders, trying to preserve the stern and scary dungeon master image. That apparently isn't possible if you're smiling like an idiot at your stupid boyfriend, so he's been told.

And Mike has maybe been on the wrong end of the joke a few more times than everyone else. He turns an interesting shade of red, two parts anger and one part embarrassed is Steve's guess. The foot stomp is unexpected, but he expects its been passed down the Wheeler line as a shared signal of outrage. "Not like Barbie, this isn't some stupid kids game. She's probably a hot, wisened archer ready to reward us for helping her village, not some stupid doll that you're obsessed with."

Eddie's blank face with the twitchy eyes has fallen into place when he sits back up from behind his screen. His things aren't going according to plan, panicked face. "I think that's a good place to end things this week. Wheeler, Henderson, Jeff, and Lady Applejack you've all cleared enough experience to level right? Do that before next week."

Steve knows enough to keep his mouth shut while everyone packs up to leave. Sends a small smile to Erica on her way out to the family minivan, he knows she struggles a little being the youngest at the table even if she won't say it. He has to imagine that the outburst had stung a bit.

"You gotta be nicer to little Wheeler." Eddie chides once everyone is gone, halfhearted at best when he's telling Steve off into the soft skin of his neck. When he feels the admonishment more than hears it.

"I'm not mean to Mike." He says on instinct, he does try not to be. "And he started it."

"Definitely think you started the Barbie thing, Sweetheart."

And well, yeah. "I Barbie all the kids equally."

Eddie hmms Steve can feel the vibration of it through his back and on his neck. Eddie is about to start something he better plan on finishing. "He asked Hop where he should get weed."

Oh. "I didn't think he'd actually do it!" And then, "Is that why he keeps flirting with you, revenge?"

"No, he's got a bunch of misplaced jealousy because Will and the girls think you're hot." He toys with the edge of Steve's shirt as he says it. Perpetually cold fingers brushing the clothes warmed skin beneath making him shiver.

"The girls don't think I'm hot."

He hums again, nips at the blush red skin at Steve's neck. "El used to, Max definitely has a taste for jock.

"That's not my fault, you let Mike play a bard." He wishes he didn't sound so desperate.

"Wanted to leave the Paladin spot open for you, baby."

"I'm starting to feel convinced, we could go upstairs and you could show me your character sheet."

The things he'll say to get laid.

"Don't think I can do that Stevie, smooth as a Ken doll down there. Could show you the actual character sheet though." 

His back is cold as Eddie pulls away, smirking unrepentant as he lets Steve have the tiniest taste of his own medicine.

"Barbie has a very active sex life, actually." He's never been one not to double down. "Let me show you the fun we can have without getting your dick out."

-

He does leave it alone for a little while, even though he really, really doesn't want to. But despite what his friends, his fifth grade report card, and his mom might think; Steve is capable of keeping a hold of his worst impulses when he wants to.

So he lets opportunity pass him by.

He makes no comment about Barbie when Eddie talks about how John Carpenter is a film auteur. Not even when Dustin tries to define auteur for him. Incorrectly, but Robin comes to Steve's defense.

Barbie goes unmentioned, barely when an argument breaks out about Nobel prize winners, of all things. He thinks the kids argue more now than they ever have like it's the only way they have to get their bloodlust out now that the Upside Down was closed. He was quickly boxed out of the conversation, even if Erica kept sending him little glances over everyone's heads. (She'd let him have Peace Prize Barbie a couple weeks ago and maybe he was a little obsessed.)

Holly wants to be a vet now, a singing vet who is also on TV, but mostly a vet. She tells him all about it while he waits for Mike to find his shoes? Definitely not his quarters for the arcade, the day any of them bring those is the day Steve brings the nail bat back out. He’s one impulse purchase away from getting one of those little coin dispenser belts that the employees have -- Gareth just quit, maybe he still had his? Mike's frown is a little less general annoyance at Steve and a little more confusion when he's finally ready to leave and Barbie has gone unmentioned.

He almost breaks again when Eddie starts talking about sports. Or he starts talking about NASCAR which is close enough for Eddie, he has a surprising taste for racing for someone who never wanted to put his van on the starting line at parties. A woman led a Busch Series race for the first time, what a year '86. He's got no opinion on Barbie's ability to drive at all.

He could let a joke go. He could be nice. It wasn't so out of character that it needed this kind of attention.

-

Mike has forgiven him by the time the next session rolls around. Delayed two weeks after Eddie screamed so loud on stage that he couldn't speak for two days, and then again for Jeff's emergency appendectomy. Eddie has stopped leaving pointed gaps in conversation for Steve to fill with mention of Barbie, he has had his thinking face on instead which is good for Steve about as often as it isn't.

He leaves it alone. A little bit of non-life threatening surprise is good for the soul, or something. Listen, he’s made it this far by only asking questions when shit is about to get really, really bad and Eddie’s thinking face has only resulted in something bad once or twice -- and they probably should have spent more than a couple minutes negotiating that particular kink anyway.

When the kids start showing up and nothing has come from the thinking face, he assumes it was just for them anyway. He settles in to see whatever shit Eddie is going to do.

"From the ditch you pull a human man, a paladin. His plate is dirtied by his time on the ground but clearly gleams in its typical state. He's handsome, a square jaw and fluffy brown hair-"

"Ugh is this Steve? You already made us do a quest for him," Mike complains, maybe he hasn’t completely forgiven Steve for that last interruption.

Steve has, by his own count been the inspiration for at least three NPCs for this campaign: a white light faction rogue, Sol, that the party had to rescue from the dungeons of the nightmare King after he was caught sneaking into the bedrooms of the prince -- like it was Steve's fault that Wayne had super hearing; a young fighter from the gladiatorial combat ring who helped the party rescue a group of kidnapped children that were going to be used as bait in the next round of fights; and the most obvious Prince Stefan who sent the party on a quest to kill his betrothed a Duke called Thomas the Boarish and rescue his knight Rowen and beloved Bard Edwin -- it's not like he could unkiss Tommy, and he could be a dick but boarish was dramatic. 

He was not this paladin, assuming Eddie was telling the truth about saving the Paladin he'd made for Steve.

"Cut the out of character chatter, Michael, before it starts counting in game. The Paladin before you is handsome in a bland, approachable, non-threatening way," Mike opens his mouth again, how is that not like Steve surely perched at the edge of his tongue and stopped in its tracks by elbows from Erica and Joey. "He introduces himself to his rescuer, Will the Wise, 'Thank you, kind sir, I would have been down there for ages before my lady noticed my absence. I am Sir Kenneth.'"

"What deity does he serve?" Will asks, something suspicious drawing across his face.

"Is there a holy symbol on his armor?" Gareth follows up. Gareth has been backing a lot of Will's plays lately, Steve thinks something might be going on there but he hasn't wanted to deal with Eddie teasing him for being a meddling matchmaker, again.

"There is no identifiable holy symbol on his clothes or armor." Eddie says, there's a mischief in his eyes, the way he tilts his head with quiet challenge and smiles.

"What God do you serve?" Erica asks, blunt and to the point. She gets cranky when her rogue doesn't have anything to stab.

"'The Lady in Pink,' he answers."

Any time Eddie reveals lore shit there's always a bunch of people talking over top of each other. It always turns into the kind of mass blob of shouting that Steve has a hard time parsing out, especially these days. Eddie somehow manages to distinguish not only people but the things they're saying and keeps his cool enough to keep the story going.

"Roll your insight, Gareth. Jeff, with a 15 history check, you have heard some whisperings from your homeland about a newly ascended goddess but not a name. Dustin, you're not getting shit with a 5 don't even try that but my back story says shit with me. Will, pretty sure that's a cleric spell but I'll let you have it he's a Neutral Good alignment. An 18, shit, yeah Garebear he does seem to be telling the truth that is the deity he follows; but that isn't the whole truth, you know a lot of the newer pantheon have a colloquial name and a true name."

"I'm sorry," Lucas says, "we aren't familiar with your lady. What can you tell us about her? Why would she leave you there? And that's a 14 on persuasion before you even ask."

"Why would I have asked that, Sinclair the elder? He has stars in his eyes when he speaks, 'before she ascended she was already limitless. A powerful warrior, an expert marksman, a mage beyond compare. Her power grew and grew until the only place left to explore was godhood.'"

"And what's her real name, if we wanted to spread the word?" Joey asks.

"'Oh she's everything. She's the lady in pink, she's the goddess with the golden mane, but before she ascended she favored one name I assume she has kept it.'"

"What is it?" Mike asks, perched at the edge of his seat.

"Oh no," Dustin whispers, a dawning horror on his face.

"'Barbara, though she preferred it shortened. Nicknames you call them," Steve sees the joke, knows where this is going a split second before reality breaks through the haze of fantasy for the players around the table. Eddie's smirking now, smile too pleased and too attractive. "'Y'know like Barbie?'"

[save-the-villainous-cat]

Hi!

I was wondering if you could write more stories of the war captive prince. (Maybe the captive one gets hurt while saving the prince from death?)

By the way, I really love your writing.

Hope you have a nice day! (*ˊᵕˋ*)ﾉ

So this doesn't really fit into the narrative but if I had to, I'd place it between part 1 and 2.

pt. 1, pt. 2, pt. 3, pt.4

Being a prisoner wasn’t as bad as he had feared.

He had a room to himself. It wasn’t much but it wasn’t a cell where he would rot within days. Soldiers guarded his door outside day and night and maids seemed to be making his bed when he was working in the castle. Whatever the protagonist had expected, it wasn’t this, it wasn’t an almost decent life.

But then again, he supposed the prince wanted to keep an eye on him. After all, everyone was watching him. All the time.

Most of the time, he worked in the castle amongst the other servants and it was easy to forget that those people weren’t his acquaintances. The protagonist knew these people weren’t responsible for his pain and suffering but still, every time he talked to one of them or shared his food, deep down his heart broke a little.

He felt as if he was betraying his friend by showing others kindness.

One day, when the prince had felt particularly merciful (or cruel), he had brought him down to the dungeons. And there he had seen them. His friend, frail and hopeless. He didn’t know if they had even recognised him. They hadn’t talked, had barely looked at him.

Since then, he had tried to sneak away and get back down there again, but it was to no avail. Whenever he was sure he had distracted the guards, one of them showed up in front of him and barked at him to get back to work.

With that memory burnt into his brain, the protagonist avoided the prince at all cost. Because he was sure he would find a way to strangle him to death the next time they’d meet.

So, when he’d been instructed to go to the prince’s chambers today, he was full of energy. His heart was beating in his throat. Rage blinded him and he feared he would make a drastic decision he could regret later.

However, as soon as he set a foot into the prince’s room, he could tell something was off.

“You actually came, I’m impressed.” The prince sat on his bed, holding his stomach. At first, the protagonist didn’t want to understand. He saw the prince in a weak state and wondered how long it would take him to end this.

In his lifetime, the protagonist had killed a lot of people. Undoubtedly, there was dark and thick blood on his hands.

Maybe he would finally add the prince’s too.

“You’re bleeding,” the protagonist realised. His eyes dropped to the wound the prince tried to hide and the strange amount of linen drenched in blood.

His muscles tensed.

The protagonist wondered what it would feel like to push his fingers into his wound and curl them. What sounds the prince would make if the protagonist found something in this luxurious room to press deeper into the cut. What he would look like if the protagonist strangled him and watched him bleed out.

The protagonist got overwhelmed with ideas, with rage and with determination. He wondered when he had gotten this violent, but maybe war had changed him.

Or he had always been this way.

“Yes. That’s why I asked for you.” His breathing was quick and he hunched, holding his stomach as the blood dropped down his fingers. “You have military experience, don’t you? That includes sanitary practice.”

“You’re delusional if you think I might help you.”

“I’ve heard that in your country you’re sewing wounds. It’s probably my last hope. My medics are panicking,” he said. His voice was raspy and the protagonist was sure he felt lightheaded. Losing a lot of blood was dangerous, even the prince should’ve been aware of that.

“Again, why would I help you?” he asked.

The prince made a noise between a groan and a sigh, mixed with pain and annoyance.

“Your friend, obviously. You can see them again tomorrow if you save me. If you don’t, they’ll be killed.” The protagonist cocked his head but what he was seeing seemed to be real. Tears were streaming down the prince’s face. Not a lot and barely noticeable but they sparkled in the dim light.

This was an easy choice, then.

“Good. Lay down.” The protagonist approached him quickly and pushed his enemy into the bed.

The prince’s face twisted and he looked as grey as ash. Even if the protagonist had to save him, that didn’t mean he couldn’t cause as much pain as he wanted.

“Put more pressure on the wound,” he said. He observed what the prince was doing, then shook his head. “No, like this.”

He pushed the clean linen the medics had given to the prince deep into the wound. They turned red immediately and the prince gasped.

“Oh gods-” He held onto the protagonist’s wrist, grabbed him harsh enough to leave bruises. He arched his back and whimpered like a dog and the protagonist stared at him, stared at the person who could be so cruel being exposed to cruelty.

Quickly, the protagonist realised, that they’d been this close in the throne room last. It was an eerie feeling.

But the pain the prince endured wasn’t satisfactory to the protagonist. He got distracted, looked a little too long at the tear stains.

“Needles? Threads?” The prince pointed at the drawer next to the bed and the protagonist found what he was searching for soon enough.

“What happened?” he asked as he took the bowl filled with water from the drawer. He put the thread through the needle’s head and drenched the needle in water.

“Assassination attempt,” the prince groaned. “I fought back but…clearly didn’t make a big difference.”

Quickly, the protagonist took the needle out of the water again.

“Shouldn’t the whole castle panic, then?”

“I managed to avoid that. Only a few people know that I’m injured,” he said. The protagonist looked at the wound. The bleeding wasn’t as serious anymore, so he pulled the linen out of the wound, much to the prince’s dismay.

His fingertips brushed against the protagonist’s.

“I’ve never killed anyone before,” the prince admitted. “Not with my own hands.”

“It’s much harder than it looks,” the protagonist said and the prince nodded. Before the prince answered, the protagonist pushed the needle through his skin.

The prince’s hand found his wrist again and he squeezed as the protagonist continued carefully.

Although the protagonist could sew, he was rather clumsy when it came to his own fingers. Every now and then, he stabbed into his fingertips until his own blood dropped onto the prince’s stomach, red and red mixing together.

“There was so much blood,” the prince said. The protagonist could feel his eyes on him. “I didn’t even notice I was wounded.”

The protagonist pulled a little too harsh on the thread and the prince flinched.

“Apologies,” he mumbled and for whatever reason, his hand landed on the prince’s forearm, trying to calm him. “I’m almost done.”

Again, the prince nodded and let him continue his work. When he was done, he looked at the result and found himself quite satisfied with it.

Maybe the protagonist was a fool for helping him. Maybe it was his own nature. Maybe war hadn’t hardened him, maybe it had exhausted him, had made him soft.

“Rest for the next few days. You also need a lot of food and water.” He stood up and turned around before he could put more thoughts into the situation, however, the prince grabbed his forearm before he could go.

“No word of this to anyone, please,” he said but the protagonist didn’t answer. What kind of power did he have here anyway? Trying to convince the people to overthrow their own prince? A revolution? Who would even listen to him? “…and thank you.”

“Don’t mention it,” the protagonist said and he meant every word of it.

[yandere--stuck]

Could you write a few Yandere headcanons for Ragnvaldr? I'm interested in your interpretation of him

🍖 Born with the Soul of The Tormented, Ragnvaldr always knew his life would be forever marred with struggle. Even from his youngest years, nearly dead by his own father's hands during a famine. The thing he had to do to survive… Best not to think too hard about it. As he grew, though, he became optimistic. Comfortable. Happy with the family he had made and the community he had grown into. For once, things were looking wholly up for the Outlander. But, of course, he should have known better. He should have expected tragedy to strike at some point. His family. His people. His home. All gone. All gone, by the command of a fair-haired captain who slaughtered and stole from his people. Consumed by bloodlust and revenge, Ragnvaldr promised to himself and those he lost that he'd get revenge. That he would kill that man with his own hands…

🏹 The Outlander certainly hadn't planned on making friends during his journey into the dungeons, but after coming across you in the courtyards, he found himself drawn to you. Years of experience and tragedy behind him left him with a certain amount of distrust toward others, but something about you lowered those walls, made him want to be by your side. And he had to agree with you - there was strength in numbers. It certainly made the trek deeper into the dark a lot less lonely and just a bit more comforting. It also helped that you were easy to talk to. When you had moments of reprieve, you'd talk about your life on the outside, what brought you both here, what your interests were… Ragnvaldr wasn't exactly ready to spill his soul and bloody past to you (not to mention the exact reason he was there), but… He was able to be himself around you. He talked about things he'd never had the chance to utter in so long. Hell, it'd been ages since he last really conversed with someone, and… Talking to you was both a comfort and a relief.

🍖 The deeper you delved and the closer you grew to one another, the harder and more desperate Ragnvaldr began to fight. This was no longer about just the Knight captain, this was also about protecting his newfound comrade. No matter how strong, skilled, or adept in magic you are, Ragnvaldr will encourage - or, all but force - you to stay behind him or hide to keep you out of the way of danger. It came to the point where he nearly killed the stray wolf down in the catacombs, if it hadn't been for your offering of rotten meat to quell the beast. All the more reason why you made such a great team! Ragnvaldr was a man of action, and someone who was able to step back and attack trouble from a different angle was refreshing and, much as Ragnvaldr loathed to admit, good for him. Good for the both of you, even.

🏹 The closer you grow, the more desperate Ragnvaldr's behavior becomes. He even goes so far as to begin devouring the bodies of enemies so as to allow most of the food to go to you, designating the rotten food to Moonless. He fights with even more determination and fury, not even daring to allow a chance for an enemy to get a hit on you. If you give any signs of wanting to part from him, Ragnvaldr will at first try to subtly redirect your or change your mind, but it won't be long until the Outlander will be begging for you to stay, threatening to harm himself or any allies you've met on your journey. He may even begin to align himself with Sylvian in an attempt to successfully become a marriage with you, if he really believes you'll leave him.

🍖 Whether Le'garde is alive or dead, it doesn't change the outcome. You knew full well by this point why Ragnvaldr is here, and whether you agreed with his methods or not didn't matter… He… He was your friend. He deserved closure. He'd beat Le'garde to death, until his fists were bloody and he was shaking with effort and spent rage. He'd keep going until Le'garde is unrecognizable. The floors, walls, Ragnvaldr himself… All covered with blood. Even if Le'garde was already gone, he'd brutalized the man's body until he's satisfied. Afterward, he'd acknowledge that the captain was good for something, at least - meeting you.

🏹 You are what soothes Ragnvaldr's tortured soul. You're all he had left now. You and Moonless. He couldn't just let you leave! Without you, there was nothing. No reason to go on. You couldn't part now! Meeting each other had to be fate. He could take care of you. Please? You don't think you could really just say no to him, do you? When he was strong enough to break all your limbs or saw them off, leaving you dependent on him forever. Please, just make this easy on yourself. On him. He's been through so, so much. He just wanted to have you. Love you. And he would do whatever it takes to make you realize you and he were meant to be. He'd been through too much to start taking the easy route now…

[tofixtheshadows]

given that maizuru also has stories of toshiro needing external motivation to eat even as a child without a time sensitive desperate rescue mission... that right there is a character that works better as a comparison to kabru than mithrun if you must compare at all. especially in terms of being seen as aggressive in ways unsupported by the text lol

I don't begrudge people making the comparison, because it is true, but I do think people look at it the wrong way. I've said this before, but to me, Mithrun is Kabru's dark mirror: a warped, twisted version of him. In Mithrun, Kabru's self-deprivation has become self-destruction; they are both fixated on a goal, one that superficially meets in the same place, but where Kabru wants to seal the dungeon to save people, Mithrun cares only about his revenge-suicide hunt for the demon; Mithrun physically uses people as tools, where Kabru uses ("uses") people by trying to get them on his side, whether that's through simply asking for help or by trying to persuade them with a well-crafted story; Kabru drags his feet over the idea of killing Laios even when he thinks it might become necessary, while Mithrun immediately says that they should kill Laios as soon as he hears about him.

Even before he was Dungeon Lord, Mithrun was not too dissimilar to Kabru for being someone who was charming and well-liked, but hiding an inner darkness; in Kabru this is just his trauma and the goal he keeps close to his chest, while in Mithrun it was his contempt for other humans combined with his own inferiority complex.

I really wish fandom would see that Toshiro and Kabru are friends, that Toshiro (and Namari) is who Kabru looked for and fought beside during the climax, and that Toshiro is the person that Kabru chooses to hang out with during the week of the Faligon feast.

Toshiro and his childhood sickness (an illness? disability? food sensitivity?) is one of the many wonderful examples of how Kui always finds a way to tie the story back to food and hunger. Maizuru became a mother figure for Toshiro by cooking for him when he had trouble eating otherwise; Falin brought Marcille gifts of food as tokens of friendship; Laios uses the idea of Falin having to eat her meals alone as a symbol of his failure to do right by her; Marcille says she wants to eat another meal with Falin and with her father; Kabru watched his mother be eaten by monsters; Senshi makes food and the ecosystem his life's passion after nearly succumbing to starvation.

Okay time to put on my jester hat and say that it's kind of funny that a couple weeks of running himself on not enough food and sleep left Toshiro near-collapse but we can infer that Kabru is apparently so accustomed to living that way that it's just how he functions. Can you imagine Kabru watching this like ): Wow, he's really pushing himself. Meanwhile Kabru died twice and kept going deeper into the dungeon on nothing but field rations. This is proof of how good Maizuru is at her job that Toshiro is clearly operating on a healthier baseline when he's not wracked with stress and grief.

[manawari]

Go Gun-hee and his wife w/ Jin-chul (+S-Rank hunters) headcanons!

The Chairman's wife is the most caring woman in the planet — as the employees in the association boast. The old lady would bring food and ask them how they were doing as she passes by.

Woo Jin-chul is the person she'd want to see the most. She kindly takes a quick peek in his office to check if he's busy, and whether he is or not, she still comes in to have a nice chat with him.

Jin-chul being a coffee addict and the only times he can't drink is when his boss' wife is around because he knows she will give him an earful for consuming too much caffeine like her husband and persuades him to go for something healthier.

Go Gun-hee and his wife having lunch/dinner together one time and Jin-chul accidentally enters the office. Before he can apologize and excuse himself, the old couple invite him over to join them and won't stop until he gives in.

Jin-chul often receives messages from the old lady and as much as he doesn't admit it, his heart warms every time he sees her text. It reminds him how tender a mother's love can be. And for her sake, he does his best to take care of himself.

Go Gun-hee thinks his wife might be too fond of Woo Jin-chul even though they have their own children. His wife glares at him and says that it's never too late for them to care for someone like their own.

It's not only Jin-chul who gets the treatment. S-Ranks too. Baek Yoon-ho being extremely meticulous of himself whenever the chairman's wife is around, but as it turns out, the old woman smiles at him and reminds him to be careful with raiding dungeons always. She also tells him how sweet and kind he is after he greeted her, which never fails to melt Yoon-ho's heart.

Choi Jong-in once gave her a ride home and from there, they get into a nice conversation with each other. She then offers to bring him food in his guild next time, which Jong-in politely refuses until she does, in fact, stop by his office with a bag containing food. Jong-in thinks it's a lot, but she shrugs it off and says Jin-chul never complained about it when she brought him food.

Grandma getting reminded of her daughter because of Hae-in.

Jin-woo sees his mom in Gun-hee's wife and can't help but want to protect her too.

Byung-gyu bonding with the chairman's wife over TV and historical dramas and she gives him one of her favorite books as a gift. The healer treasures it forever.

Tae-gyu does his "best" impression every time he's at the association and the chairman's wife is visiting. However, the old woman just finds him hilarious and gives him a hat as a small present the next time she saw him.

Her knitting another scarf for Eun-seok!!

She and Dong-wook often chat over tea flavors.

Even though he doesn't want his wife to be exposed to the public or known by everyone very much, Go Gun-hee appreciates how his wife brightens everyone's day simply by being there and checking on them.

Her inviting Jin-chul and the S-Ranks over during the holidays.

She knits a bunch of sweaters for her husband, children, Jin-chul, and the S-Ranks during her free time.

[without-school-or-style]

7 - Morsel

Word Count: 709

((No card today. By the time I remembered to draw one, I already had an idea. Some small Dawntrail spoilers for the first dungeon. Lavender Helltear belongs to my wonderful girlfriend, @abeat.))

Thanks to at least two setbacks, the trek through Ihuykatumu took longer than Joey anticipated—first by Bakool Ja Ja, then Thancred. And as the party continued their trek through the dungeon, the dark knight suddenly vanished into thin air.

“He shall be back in a moment’s time,” said the party’s astrologian.

A few seconds of silence later, Joey heard his stomach grumble. “We could clear some of the pathway while waiting for him to come back—”

The astrologian said nothing in response. Instead, she perched upon a rock with a ray of sunshine now beaming down on her. Placing her small satchel by her feet, she procured a spot of tea and some coffee biscuits to be nibbled by her lonesome. Her gaze stared everywhere but at the rest of the party—only the path ahead and the stars that guided her instincts. At least, so Joey and his rapidly increasing hunger believed.

‘Not a bad idea, though.’ Joey thought and took a seat himself.

The blond viera rummaged in his bag for something to snack on. He usually carried at least a quarter of a satchel full of consumable goods—purple carrot juice, sykon bavarois, some cinnamon-spiced chai, or even loaves of knight’s bread. At this point, who knew how long the dark knight would take to show himself again? Some lentil curry sounded filling right about now.

Except when Joey rummaged through the bag, all he found were some materia, pieces of random ores, and a variety of stock potions to cure ailments… every ailment except hunger.

‘Of course. I was cleaning out my bags before the call to duty happened.’ Joey thought. ‘Stupid me. Leave it to me to go unprepared. I should’ve just thrown everything back in the bag, but no. Oh well. Nothing else I can do except wait things out.’

He hugged his legs in a fetal position. When was the last time he ate? Or did fighting physically with little to no magic take that much toll on one’s physical well being? How did people like Teremy manage? Obviously with food, which he didn’t have. Joey’s curiosity to try fighting with only his dual swords and a handful of his magic became a fool’s endeavour at this rate. The rest of the body had caught up to his mental state and he started feeling light-headed, as he did when hunger struck. His body trembled slightly as though searching for nutrients it didn’t have. He selfishly thought to ask the astrologian to share some of her blessings, but she seemed off in her own little world, and Joey felt too guilty to ask.

“Here, Sous-Chef. It’s not much but take some of this,” said the voice of Lavender Helltear, the party’s dancer and Joey’s long-time travel companion.

Joey looked up to see the gorgeous viera woman holding out a hard-boiled egg and a slice of a knight’s bread loaf all wrapped underneath with a napkin. “Are you sure, Chef…?” he asked, using his nickname for her.

“Yes, I’m sure. I brought plenty of snacks to eat,” said Lavender. Leave it to the Mom of the group to come prepared like this. She was always like that. “I know you—you’ll be all I don’t want to burden anyone, but you’re really hungry. Besides, you look like you’re getting faint. So eat up.”

Joey chuckled as weakly as he felt. “Sorry, you’ve been hanging around me that long.”

“Well, I notice these things too, you know,” said Lavender. “And the point is, you need to eat. Who knows what other dangers lie out there, and hunger will just make you prey instead of the predator.”

Joey was too hungry to argue. “Thank you, Chef,” he said and gratefully took the food in both hands.

He slowly nibbled through the food. In minutes, Joey felt energy returning to his body. He felt like he could stand up and fight again. He smiled again at Lavender, this time a little more brightly.

“I owe you one.”

Lavender put her hands on her hips. “Nonsense. This is what friends are for, aren’t they?”

Joey nodded slightly. With a wonderful Mom friend like Lavender, he felt lucky to be alive.

[figbian]

Tell Me of the dunmeshi wip 👀 that title bangs. also tell me about frat au and how much of it is based on The Frat.

dungeon meshi wip CONTAINS MANGA SPOILERS so putting it under a readmore. everyone else has to suffer thru frat au info.

frat au is only Sort Of based on The Frat (dear readers, this fanfiction author joined a fraternity and is a brother of [loud car horn]). due to the like ways fe3h works narratively, it felt a lot more true to a Good AU to be honest to an all-male fraternity, so it draws on The Frat's past (as we didnt haze, but hazing definitely used to occur) as well as info from other fraternities or fraternity-like structures (and a handful of How Do College-Age Boys Behave anecdotes coming directly from my real life college-age brother who is Not a frat boy).

sylvain, dimitri, and others are in a frat. their fathers (plus rodrigue lol) were in this frat. etc. not exactly explored but crucial to the narrative: how traditional fraternities uphold like lineage and legacies in college settings and why that creates bad gatekeeping etc etc etc. basically the ways fraternities suck on an individual level (hazing, unhealthy relationship to substances, pressure to conform to a certain set of standards, etc) AND the ways they operate on a structural level in a shitty way.

the plot however is: sylvain returns from some time off at university. in his time off, he's effectively ghosted his friends and no one knows what happened/why he vanished. felix is recovering from an injury that delayed his journey to become a professional tennis star (<- lol). they've known each other for so long, they both have dead brothers, but also how much do they really know about each other?

posting this snippet SPECIFICALLY for brothers of [siren wail]. i think youll all recognize the inspo for 'the green room.'

“maybe we should shift to explosions,” raphael said as he came back into the room, looking over at the car crumpling into a tree playing on the television. “for the vibe.” “the vibe,” agreed sylvain, privately wondering if there was that much of a difference between crashes and explosions. he figured that any kind of disaster suited the green room. the windowless room in the phi ep basement––named for the carpeting, which had, once, allegedly, been green (sylvain’s efforts to deep clean last spring had failed to prove anything except that one should always wear shoes in the green room)––was less of a vibe and more…well. the couches were all leather––easier to clean if someone puked on them; the ceiling had suspicious stains; the walls were covered in bad murals painted over several years of pledging––and sylvain would know they were bad, being an art history major; the tv sat on a pile of wooden crates. at least the sound system wasn’t terrible. when sylvain wanted to impress girls, he never brought them to the green room. he sat back on the couch and spread his legs. “yeah, fuck it,” he heard himself say. “explosions.”

dungeon meshi fic is suuuper rough rn. its Probably a 5+1 of 5 times marcille's friends died and 1 time they didnt (hahaha) but what i have written so far is all about chilchuck going senile and dying. the fic is very obviously tackling like "what happens when the people you love and remember as young and full of life grow old, and how is preparing for someone's death as painful as their death itself" BUT ALSO is about "what if the dragon part of falin makes her age at the same rate as marcille...and how is that, in some ways, worse than if she just lived as a human did?" bcs As You Know im always interested in the question "when is it true that living beyond when the narrative expects you to is worse than dying?" that part just doesnt have a lot written.

there is NOT a lot written that i posted for wip wednesday but here:

chilchuck has lost most of his teeth, so he has to eat porridge and other soft foods. “at least it’s not monsters,” he says to marcille every morning, which was funny the first few times and now is depressing. “yeah,” says marcille, pouring some sugar into his tea. it’s unclear to marcille––who, despite having half a century to prepare for this, feels unprepared––exactly when chilchuck seems to think it is. he keeps asking about his wife, his shop, his daughters, whether or not they could resurrect falin.  “have i reached out to her?” he asks. his wife, he means. mostly he seems to think they’ve just defeated the winged lion. marcille has not gained much patience in last fifty eight years; having to admit to mistakes she made fifty eight years ago every day for the last couple of years has been––hard. it’s been hard. “no,” she says, gritting her teeth. chilchuck’s ex-wife died fourteen years ago. marcille learned many mornings ago it’s best to convince chilchuck to write her a letter that cannot be sent rather than make him relive his grief every day.

[moronic-validity]

Stockholm Syndrome

Part 3 of Stockholm Syndrome

18+ as always, Warnings: This one includes near-drowning

The day passed. 

He drifted to off at some point, but couldn’t seem to stay asleep.

He would wake up every few hours, walk around the cell, then lay back down and try to drift off again.

He could hear footsteps coming near the dungeon, but never going in.  

He could be patient.

In fact, it would be better if he stayed out. 

Simon wasn’t sure how much time passed before Winter walked in, pulling a small cart behind him. 

“Ooooh Simon,” Winter called cheerfully to his captive audience, “I’ve brought you breakfast!”

Simon perked up, then steeled himself. 

“There’s no catch, my love, I just want to make sure you’re eating,” Winter didn’t bother unlocking the cell, he just melted the bars, refreezing them once he was inside. 

Winter raised a table from the ground, complete with a delicate tablecloth that appeared to be made from snowflakes.

“Simon, will you join me?” 

Winter set the table, setting one plate on the ground and the other on the table. 

That’s when Simon noticed there was only a single chair. 

“Here love, I made your favorite,” Winter uncovered the plate on the floor, showing a bowl of cereal, “Come on over here?” 

Winter took his place at the table and waited patiently. 

Simon walked over to the plate on the floor and stared at it. It was a bowl of corn puffs, the breakfast he ate when he missed home. 

“Before you even consider it,” Winter said knowingly, “dogs do not eat at the table. Your food stays on the ground.”

“I’m…not a dog though,” Simon weakly argued. He was still determined to not give him the satisfaction of breaking him, but he was hungry. 

Winter clicked his tongue in dissatisfaction. 

He stood up and walked around Simon, placing a hand on the small of his back.

“Dogs should be obedient,” he mused, “but they need proper training, don’t they?” He smiled, rubbing small, usually soothing, circles into the small of Simon’s back, “Kneel for me.”

Simon considered his options. He didn’t want to give in, but he didn’t want to face Winter’s wrath. 

Winter rested his other hand on Simon’s shoulder.

It was his last warning. Simon knew that. 

Winter shoved him down, forcing him onto his knees in front of the bowl.

The impact made him clench his teeth in pain. His body wasn’t what it used to be and his knees weren’t the best to begin with.

“You always make things so difficult,” Winter moved his hand from the man’s shoulder to the back of his head, stroking tenderly, “Now eat.”

Simon looked for utensils and found none.

“Don’t you want a taste?”

“I don’t have anything to eat with.” His voice was flat.

“Oh, you are just so silly,” Winter said with a laugh, “Dogs don’t eat with spoons, do they?” 

Simon stared at the bowl.

He had lost his appetite. 

Winter saw the color drain from his lover’s face and frowned.

“Eat.”

“I’m not all that hungry…” Simon trailed off, knowing his words would have consequences.

“I didn’t ask if you were hungry, I told you to eat.” his voice grew colder and he tangled his hand in the older man’s hair.

“I would really rather not..” his voice wavered.

Winter clicked his tongue in annoyance.

It took one forceful shove to put Simon’s face in the now soggy cereal.

Simon gasped in shock, only to be met with a mouthful of cereal and a noseful of milk. 

He did his best to push up and away from the milk, but Winter’s hand stayed firm, forcing him to hold his breath. 

“Eat.”

The command rang out through the dungeon.

Fearful of being cut off from the air for much longer, he did his best to swallow the cereal that had invaded his mouth. 

From the angle, he couldn’t seem to get it down his throat and began to panic. 

He started coughing, causing milk and cereal to splash from the bowl and cover the surrounding floor.

Winter finally removed his hand from the back of his former advisor’s head.

Simon’s head shot straight up and he kept coughing and gasping for any bit of air.

“Enough of the dramatics Simon,” he rolled his eyes, “can you eat on your own or do I need to continue helping you?”

He took several more heaving breaths, closing his eyes and attempting to calm himself down.

Winter danced his fingers along the backside of Simon’s head yet again, a warning.

Simon bowed his head again, said a small prayer, and carefully took a swallow of what was left in the bowl. 

He wasn’t sure why, but after the first mouthful, it seemed to get easier. 

He kept eating.

Winter hummed in contentment and took his place at the other side of the table with his own food.

Once they were both finished, Winter took their bowls and put them back on the cart, then pulled the table back into the floor.

“You’re such a messy eater, my love,” Winter pulled the pocket square out of his jacket and wiped the milk and cereal off Simon’s face. 

The act was filled with such gentle affection, that Simon closed his eyes and found himself leaning into his touch. 

Winter smiled, then placed his handkerchief on the cart. 

“I love you, Simon.”

“I…” Simon trailed off, opening his eyes, remembering where he was and how he got there, “Then why did you do all of this to me?” He stared at Winter, his expression hardening. 

Winter tensed and frowned.

“I must be going now,” he walked to the door of the cell, having forgotten the cart entirely, “I’ll be back.”

Winter rushed out of the dungeon, clearly upset.

Simon sat back on the bed and eyed the cart that was left behind. 

There wasn’t anything of note left on it, just the empty bowls, Winter’s spoon, and his handkerchief. 

He couldn’t believe he had eaten on the floor like a dog. 

He couldn’t believe all that had happened.

He couldn’t even remember what had started all of this.

He laid back on the bed. 

He found his mind wandering again.

He knew he loved Winter, or better put, that he loved Winter at some point, but how do you love someone who treats you this way, He reminded himself of all the ways Winter had hurt him, but then his mind looped back, wondering if he didn’t have some blame in the matter. 

He shook his head, a physical action to help clear his thoughts. 

He had heard of it before, hell, he wanted to rely on it to get a wife.

Stockholm Syndrome.

Mix the cruelty with the loving gestures and eventually, they begin to justify the cruelty. They say the acts of violence were deserved and that none of this would have happened if they behaved. Eventually, the person would believe that it was love between them, not obsession and the brain’s attempt at survival. 

Even as The Ice King, he could never bring himself to truly act out the level of cruelty needed. He never wanted to hurt people, he was just…lonely.

Maybe that was Winter’s issue, that he didn’t actually want to hurt Simon, that he was just lonely and terrified of losing him. 

That made sense.

He knew that Winter had an amplified version of his own personality, and while the madness of the crown was broken, he knew from personal experience that there was a lasting scar. 

The next time Winter came in, he would do his best to talk to him and, more importantly, listen.

[loshik-orig]

To love forever

A dark room. Wet bedding in the corner. Rusty grilles.

How did it all start? You didn't remember. As soon as you woke up, they grabbed you and threw you into this dungeon. And only rarely did one man come to you. And he always asked the same question, "Do you remember me?"

The answer was always no. And after that, he would leave. Food was brought to you when you were sleeping, they didn't let you see anyone else.

The sound of drops. The squeak of a mouse. The smell of mold.

—Levi. What does this name mean to you?

It's him again. But the question is different. You were looking at him. Only with his arrival did the lights turn on. His black hair and gray eyes. It's like you've seen them before. But you don't remember where.

—no. He doesn't say anything. Will you leave again? Then hurry up.

It's been a lot longer than usual. He just stands there and looks at you. Until he waved his hand, took out the keys and opened your cage.

—Then we'll have to talk more.

Scary. You step back until your back hits the wall. And he comes closer, putting the blade to your throat and making a small incision.

You start screaming in pain and fall to your knees in front of him in tears, clutching at the cut.

—There is no pair… Still, our fears were not true. I'm sorry.

You don't understand what he's talking about. What kind of steam? What are the concerns?

He did not answer, only handing you a handkerchief so that you put it over the wound and led him by the edge of his shirt to the exit.

It was scary to leave such a familiar place. You've already gotten used to the darkness. So the street light blinded you, forcing you to close your eyes.

Then everything flew by in a couple of moments. You were taken to a house, washed and dressed, and then fed. But that man didn't show up anymore.

It was only three days later that he returned, walking into your room. A room that has belonged to you for more than you can remember.

—You lived here. With me. Before the Titans' attack happened. You've been turned into one of them. But Hanji decided to use some of her chemicals on you. You became human again, but there was a chance that you could turn again. And you didn't remember anything.

You were looking at him. And he's off to the side. The man leaned his shoulder against the door frame while you slowly got out of bed, walking towards him.

He didn't move, he waited. As if he didn't want to scare me off. And then he looked into your eyes when you were standing a couple of steps away from him. He held out his left hand to you with a ring on his ring finger. Then I took out a second, the same ring, but smaller, from my pocket and put it in your palm.

—Were we married?

—There were. You don't remember. You can live here, I won't touch you. I'll help you find a job, and then do whatever you want.

—Do you think I'm going to hate you for being imprisoned?

You put your hand up to his face. A familiar movement. Lightly stroke her cheek, and then pull her into a kiss.

But he moved away from you a little, not letting you do it.

—I'm sorry. I didn't think. I… if we were together, maybe you can help me remember the past. Remember you?

—I don't think I can help that much. Only if you want to.

A year ago. Exactly a year ago, his love died. He killed her himself. But you looked so much like her. He initially looked for her replacement in you. Now he's found a way to erase your memory. To make up false memories of yourself. To give myself the opportunity to see my beloved's face again every day. It was good that she had a twin sister.

[abloomingsunflower]

[TW: Toxic forced relationship, implied murder, implied kidnapping, mentions of suicide.]

About time I introduced some Sunflower AU characters of mine for those who don't know them, part one

As it's written above, this is Iris. Iris is secretly some kind of a superhero/guardian in the city (along with three others), she uses her abilities as a phoenix to help people in need.

Passivemare took an interest in this lady, since she resembled Vera (her ancestor from Dreamtale many years ago). You'll see Passive's history with Vera right below.

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This is Vera:

Vera, as I mentioned above, is Iris' ancestor from over 600 years ago. Vera lived in Lanny's magic empire, she was always quite the curious one. She wished to see the other empires, and one day visited the Feelings Empire.

After a long time of flying, Vera landed in the palace's garden, where the tree of feelings resided. She just wanted to rest a little, but soon she was seen by Passive and he called for the guards, thinking she was an intruder. Vera got scared and immediately flied away to escape. But Passive couldn't forget about the beautiful lady he saw. He wanted her to be his.

Passive told Nim about Vera, and Nim immediately ordered the guards to find her and bring her to the palace. After a few days, the guards had managed to capture Vera, and she was brought to the palace. Vera explained to the tyrants this was all a misunderstanding, and apologized. But Nim ordered for her to be thrown into the dungeons..

Passive offered Vera to be his slave in exchange of not being thrown into the dungeons, but Vera refused and Passive slapped her in the face. Vera spend weeks in the dungeons. Nim had ordered to let her starve to death down there, but Alphonse and Frieda would go to Vera time to time and bring her food and clothes, and these three formed a good friendship.

Passive would go down and still insist on convincing Vera to be his slave. He was mesmerized by this phoenix's beauty and he wanted to have her all to himself, but no matter his efforts, Vera kept refusing his offers and kept rejecting him. She was disgusted of Passive.

Soon Lanny came in search for Vera, and Nim let Vera go and hesitantly apologized for treating her that way. And things went well, until the wars begun. Vera fought for the Magic Kingdom with all her strength and survived the wars along with the remaining phoenixes from her tribe. She never saw Alphonse again, and was deeply upset about Frieda's death.

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Back to Iris:

-Her hero name is Indigo, her phoenix form resembles Vera a lot

-She used to have a small crush on Dream/Yume, the two know eachother.

-Iris had two little sisters and one adopted kid, Passive ended up killing them to make Iris accept him. Iris was forced into a romantic relationship with him.

-Her and Ink have a sibling relationship

-Alphonse found out about Iris being Indigo and once kidnapped the poor woman, and for what?

"Look, don't panic. I just need you to be my friend."

"AND YOU HAD TO KIDNAP ME JUST TO ASK ME THAT?!"

-Iris listens to Hamilton and Heathers

-Sometimes she cries when she remembers her dead daughter and sisters, and wants to be left alone when she cries. For this reason she got a fake butterfly to scare Passivemare away because she doesn't want him to see her cry- (Yes when I asked Rose what Passive was scared of, she said he was scared of butterflies-)

-There are just a few other superheroes/guardians like Iris, and she is their leader! :DD

-She and the group she leads are called T.M.P or The Multiverse Protectors, because they come to aid other AU's that are in trouble and are a huge help for Ink.

-She comes home late sometimes, her job as a lawyer and the responsibilities as a guardian take a lot of her time and energy.

-Iris tends to be paranoid and anxious sometimes, and the reason she's still with Passive is because she slowly grew attached to this idiot. Basically, Stockholm Syndrome. Iris has none else anymore, only her abuser. But that doesn't mean she will let him take advantage of her 24/7. She's a strong and smart woman, and she does want to get free of Passive.

-Iris believes there's good in everyone, so she puts up with Passive's bullshit and usually tries to talk to him and get his rotten heart to change.

-Passive made her drift away from her teammates and other people in her life. When Dream notices her odd behavior and asks what's wrong, Iris only comes up with excuses and avoids him.

-Passive stalks Iris 24/7 and she can feel his presence, but can't do anything about it.

-When Passive killed her sisters and her adopted daughter, Iris fell into a spiral of despair and depression. Poor woman was miserable. She tried to suicide once to join them, but Passive didn't let her. And she's grateful he did, because she doesn't want to lose against him after all he has done to her.

-Iris finds enjoyment in scaring Passive with the fake butterfly, it's her little revenge.

-Iris knows Swap, she stopped by his AU to help once, and healed his legs with her healing tears.

-Only Alphonse, Passive and T.M.P know Iris' identity as Indigo.

Iris in her guardian form (a.k.a Indigo):

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E.L.A Passive, Nim, Lanny, Alphonse and Ink (implied) belongs to @anotherrosesthatfell

E.L.A Iris and Vera belong to me.

[jigglypuff1994]

The Treaty of Miraculous Nature - Ch 31 Execution

The day after the rebellions struck, Gabriel sat in his prison cell, rotting in the dungeons beneath the castle. Wrought-iron chains clasped around his wrists, neck and ankles, making it so he could only move a meter. There were no windows to peer out.

The rats kept him company, feasting on the meals he refused to touch. Even when Gabriel had the world at his feet, with fresh cuisine prepared by the castle's chef, he ate very little. Now? He could barely consume a bite of the putrid food without so much as heaving it back up. He was sure the pigs received better slop than whatever 'food' he was given. 

His back was against the wall both physically and metaphorically. He could feel the rigids of the stonework jutting out and piercing into his boney back, but he paid no mind. His only thoughts were of Emilie and his son.

Gabriel was grateful to have sent Adrien away before the traitors struck. He wondered where Adrien was and if he was safe. He hoped Adrien stayed away from Paris. He hoped he would never return home again. He couldn't bear to see him suffer. 

Gabriel had no communication with the other prisoners. He was kept away from anyone else; alone to ponder his thoughts and live out his remaining days. He was uncertain of how many days he had left. What fate is awaiting him? He hoped for a swift death for he and Emilie if the rebels secured all of France for themselves. He could stand tall knowing in his heart that he had done all he could for his family. He was blinded by his good faith in others. And for this, this inability to save his kingdom, he understood why he was locked away in this musty prison cell. This punishment is just.   

He was a fool. 

The guards holding him in his cell did not speak to him; they laughed at his expense, would kick over his plate of food or gave him a small punch in 'honor of Vent Rouge'. Vent Rouge...that's what Tomoe had called herself. Tomoe may not have the ability of see with her eyes, but Gabriel had been blind to not foresee this quiet storm erupting. 

There are few cruelties, but none so large as what the Tsurugis had done. Where did he go wrong? Were he and Emilie unaware of the dangers coming? Gabriel berated himself. His ancestors had been right, they should never have brought the Tsurugi's back into the fold. Once a backstabber, always a backstabber. It's in their blood. It cannot be helped no matter how many generations have passed. 

Gabriel heard footsteps and a cane walking toward his cell. Out of the shadows and into the dimly lit area, Queen Tomoe slowly glided toward him. A patient, disciplined woman was she. She might have been a charlatan in another lifetime. She certainly deceived Gabriel.

Standing in front of his cell, Queen Tomoe asked the guard to unlock his cell door. The guard unlocked his prison door; the metal slowly creaking open with a loud grinding sound. As the cells were not used often, the doors reflected a negligence in their tune.

WIth mirth lacing Tomoe's tongue, she spoke freely, "Oh, how the mighty have fallen." A small quirk of her lips; satisfaction in its finest form.  

He didn't want to give her the gratification. Instead, he smoothed his tone. "Forgive me, Tomoe, for not leaping for joy in your presence. I didn't expect you to grace me in my lowly cell." Gabriel mocked.

Tomoe clicked her tongue, holding her cane gracefully. Evenly, she said, "Yes, I'm full of surprises."

Gabriel gave a loud hum. His head hit the wall; he dared not look at her; the woman who took over his kingdom; tearing apart everything his family had built right under his nose. He could not grant the woman, who held contempt for a reason he would never understand, attention.

"Hmm. Perhaps I was not the only thing you misjudged." She provoked. 

-------------Continued on Link------------------

[lovemesomeeddiemunson]

Jealous Cookie

Summary:  You appear to be spoken for, but Eddie wants you to be his. He risks telling you so. 

F! Reader Insert, 2454 Words

Warning:  Minor ST spoilers ahead. Food mentions. Mentions of drugs and drinking. Cursing. You’re a part of Hellfire club and have minimal baking skills. Smidgen of angst with a fluffy ending.

Authors Note:  Jake is actually Jake Ryan - as in 16 candles’ Jake Ryan. I am always looking for inspo, so I will absolutely take requests for one-shots, blurbs, and head canons. If you don’t have an idea and just wanna chat, that’s cool too! I promise I won't bite.

Eddie had tried unsuccessfully now to ask you out a total of three separate times.

Well, tried, was putting it generously. What really happened was that Eddie had come to you, casually inquiring about your plans for the evening - only for you to have already made them.

It was his own damn fault really. He was apprehensive about asking you out on a proper date, waiting for the last minute, always, to ask instead what your night would entail. 

The first two times had been just dumb luck - you happened to have made plans with Robin one day. The other, you had a shift at work.

But this time…Eddie’s hopes were dashed.

He’d asked what you’d be getting up to that night, as usual, only for you to shrug, saying “Nothing really. Was gonna cuddle up with Jake, maybe watch a movie.”

Eddie’s heart sank.

Jake, who the hell was Jake? In his short time knowing you, he had not heard you mention him even once.

Now here you were, hugging your binder to your chest with a smile curling around the corners of your lips, all at the thought. Unmistakable hearts in your eyes.

“Oh…cool.” Eddie forced himself to grin - just a small, tight one as he bit back the bitter jealousy. “Have fun.” He adds, the words sounding insincere but he can’t help that.

You smile - a genuine one, eyes crunching together in confusion when he suddenly turns and flees with his tail between his legs. 

After that, Eddie suddenly finds himself hearing about Jake much more often. Little snippets here and there.

“…We weren’t at lover’s lake for an hour before Jake was dragging me out to skull rock.” You laugh at the audacity, a knowing smile on Steve’s lips as he restocks videos, making a joke about how you at least had someone to go to skull rock with. It made you giggle hysterically. Made Eddie sick.

“…Jake’s birthday is coming up, I was thinking about baking him some pumpkin cookies. What do you think?” You asked Gareth, who thought that Jake might like peanut butter better. You ultimately decided to try your hand at both and Eddie wanted to bang his head against his locker. You had brought him cookies before, but you’d never had to stress about what kind - you knew the kind of cookies he liked. They were your favorites too.

“…My parents are out of town, so Jake and I will have the house to ourselves.” He couldn’t even tell you who you were talking to at that time. It didn’t matter. That one fucking hurt. Eddie lost sleep that night, thinking about all the things you two could possibly get up to in an empty house. He had to stop himself - hide his keys from himself and get stoned and drunk out of his mind to keep from driving over to your place.

It leaves him bitter and miserable. Here you were, his literal dream girl, just out of reach.

And you were doing things for Jake, with Jake, that he wanted to do with you.

Still, he tells himself that as long as you're happy…repeating the thought like a mantra as he starts to withdraw from you in the coming days and weeks. A fact which does not go unnoticed, and frustrates you to no end.

You’re close to a confrontation when you join him at the Hellfire club table as usual. He isn’t looking at you - he’s engrossed in some Newsweek, reading from it aloud in a deep theatrical voice.

"The Devil has come to America." He thunders, voice taking on a much more teasing lilt as he continues. 

"Dungeons and Dragons…at first regarded as a harmless game of make-believe, now has both parents and psychologists concerned…Studies have linked violent behavior to the game, saying it promotes satanic worship, ritual sacrifice, sodomy, suicide, and even,” he smacks the magazine down on the table, his tongue sticking out, lowering his voice into a mocking rasp. “Murder.”

The group at the table laugh, trays clattering as Dustin and Mike join you all.

“You know that’s all bullshit.” You tell Eddie, who crosses his arms over his chest.

“Society has to blame something. We're an easy target.” One of your fellow club members laments.

Eddie frowns deeper. “Exactly. W-We're the freaks because we like to play a fantasy game.” He looks at him, head tilting to the side as he adds, “But!” Smacking his hand against the table as he swung a leg up onto it, walking with deliberate theatrical steps.

“As long as you're into band…or science…or parties.” He sneers, ignoring the finger it gets him, cupping his hands around his mouth to yell. “Or a game where you toss balls into laundry baskets!” 

“Loser!” Someone calls as Jason Carver stands up, shouting back. “You want something, freak?”

Eddie throws up devil horns atop his head, spluttering with his tongue in demonic fashion. You giggle along with the others at the sight, as Jason stared uncomfortably.

Eddie slowly lowered his hands as Jason muttered  “Prick.” Sitting back down without a confrontation. 

That was too bad. Eddie wouldn’t mind starting a fight right now. It would be a nice physical outlet for all his pent up frustrations.

But he wouldn’t goad the jocks any further - instead he plastered a small smile to his face, and turned back around, slowly walking the table back towards his seat.

“It's forced conforming.” He declares. “That's what's…” charged, launching himself to the ground. “…killing the kids!” Nearly giving a teacher a heart attack, his arms bent behind his back.

Most of the people your age are ignoring his small show, especially the cheerleaders that he gives a faux bow for as they pass. Forever the gentleman, even all worked up like this.

“That's the real monster.” He continues, dropping back down into his seat and popping a pretzel in his mouth.

“So, uh, speaking of monsters,” Dustin has a way with timing. “Uh, Lucas has to do his, uh, balls-in-laundry-baskets game. So…” Dustin laughs nervously, “He’s not gonna be able to make it to Hellfire tonight.”

Eddie glares at Dustin as he continues. “And I know there's no way we can beat your sadistic campaign without him. So, me and Mike, we were talking, shooting the shit, and we were thinking that maybe we might…”

Eddie pops another one of the pretzels, waiting impatiently.

“Postpone.” Mike finishes for Dustin. Protests quickly ring out, to which Eddie silences them all.

“Shut up!” He yells, waving his hand erratically. “You saying Sinclair's been taken in by the dark side?”

“Uh, something like that.” Mike admits.

Eddie harshly throws the pretzel currently in his hand. “Something like that?” He mocks.

“Jesus Christ.” Dustin balked.

Eddie makes sure he’s hearing this correctly. “And rather than find a sub for him, you want… you want to postpone "The Cult of Vecna"?”

“I…I don't want to postpone it. We don't want to postpone it.” Mike flounders as Eddie pushes back his chair with a scrape, standing up.

“It's just that, you know, most of the subs will be at the championship game.” Mike tried.

Eddie’s hair flies as he whips around. “Oh, it's the championship game?”

Mike is confused. “Yeah.”

“Can I level with you?” Eddie’s eyes narrow. “Jeff and Y/N graduate this year. Gareth's got, what? A year and a half?” He points you all out, hands pointing to himself as he goes on.

“Me, I am army-crawling my way toward a D in Ms. O'Donnell's.” His hips jut forward, legs shaking with anticipation. “If I don't blow her final, I'm gonna walk that stage next month,” the guys chuckle. “I'm gonna look Principal Higgins dead in the eye,” he turns slowly. “I'm gonna flip him the bird,” thrusts his middle finger in the air slowly and deliberately. “I'm gonna snatch that diploma and I'm gonna run like hell outta here.” He makes a small loop to the laughter of his devotees.

“Didn't you say that last year?” Gareth questions.

“And the year before that?” Jeff snickers.

He comes bounding back. “Yeah, yeah, and I was full of shit. This year's different. This year is my year. I can feel it. '86, baby.” He grins wildly, winking at you.

“You know what that means?” He saunters over and lays his hands on Dustin and Mike as they shake their heads. “It means you boys are the future of Hellfire. I knew it the moment I saw you. You sat on that table right over there, looking like…looking like two little lost sheep.”

He looks at Dustin. “You were wearing a Weird Al T-shirt, which I thought was brave.”

“Thank you?” Dustin mumbles.

“Mike, you were wearing whatever shit your mommy bought you from goddamn Gap.” The table bursts into laughter, the loudest bray coming from Dustin.

Eddie yanks the boys to their feet. “And we showed you that school didn't have to be the worst years of your lives, right?” He asks them. 

They shake their heads. “No.”

“Well, I'm here to tell you that there are other little lost sheepies out there who need help.” He surveys the cafeteria. “Who need you. And all you guys gotta do is get your Bo-Peeps on and go and find one.” He shoved them roughly before sauntering back to his seat.

The two scramble off, off to complete their mission. 

Then Eddie addresses you as he takes his seat once again. “You-” he jerks his head at you over the crunch of a pretzel. “You’ve been surprisingly quiet, Y/N.”

“Just taking in the show.” You smile at him. He could live off that damn smile. But then the bell rings, and both of your smiles fall. You sigh. “Kinda missed seeing your performances lately.” You tell him as you walk away.

Eddie feels bad. He struggles all day with how to fix things between you. He even bounces ideas off of Chrissy Cunningham when the two - surprisingly - bond over a drug deal.

Chrissy insists that he tell you everything. Saying you deserve to have all the facts rather than some bullshit excuse. 

He leaves her with the weed and a promise to repay her somehow for being so kind. She promises she’ll take him up on it - ideas already as she looks at the marijuana she hopes will be strong enough to last until she can cash in his promise.

That night after Hellfire Eddie asks you to hang back, the kids whooping and cheering as they leave, Erica Sinclair in tow.

You stay, confusion evident on your face as Eddie hides his nervous smile behind a piece of hair bashfully. “I…feel like I owe you an explanation about why I’ve been so…dodgy.”

That peaks your interest, and you settle down in the seat you had occupied earlier in the night. Gesturing for him to continue. “I’m all ears.”

Eddie opens his mouth, the speech he has rehearsed in his head beforehand completely forgotten. Instead of all that, he tells you simply, “I was…jealous.”

“Jealous?” You don’t understand.

“Yeah you see uh, the thing is…I really like spending time with you. Like a lot. And it…even just the thought of someone else getting to…to…I don’t know. To cuddle up with movies…spend the day at the lake…be at your place while your parents are gone, it…it drives me crazy to even think about.”

Why did that sound like…your eyes narrowed. Eddie winces “I mean I was really struggling Y/N, thinking that you had someone else to do all that for you. Especially with you being just so sweet, and you - for Christ’s sake you’re so thoughtful, and you were worried about what cookies to bake him.”

“You got jealous of cookies?” You repeat.

“Yeah.” He admits. “Here you were going out of your way, and worrying because you didn’t know what kind of cookies he would even like!”

“Well I - it’s not like we’ve talked about it.” You say incredulously.

“You and I talk about everything.” He pointed out.

“What…what’s your point, Eddie?” You press.

“I-I don’t know. I’m a…jealous mess and I…I guess I just, I want to be the one to spend all this time with you and be on the receiving end of your affections and just…we know each other…so I felt like we would be the perfect match and…”

“Eddie?” You’re dumbfounded.

“Shit. I…I’m not explaining this very well.” He sighed. “I just…you should be with me.”

Your jaw drops. You can’t help it. “I…Am I dreaming?” You ask.

Eddie is confused. “Do you normally dream about me embarrassing myself in front of you?”

You shake your head. “No, you’re right…if this was a dream we probably already would have gotten to the good part.”

“The good part?” Eddie asks incredulously. You flush. You hadn’t meant to come out with all that.

“So,” you change the subject. “Let me get this straight you…you think I should be with you?”

“I do…I…I really like you, Y/N and I…I know I could treat you right.”

“Oh, Eddie,” you sigh. “Why didn’t you say anything sooner?” You're ecstatic, but Eddie pouts. He thinks he’s too late.

“I was nervous at first. And then there was everything with Jake and I just-”

“Jake?” You gasp incredulously. He’d been hinting around it earlier, but now he’d said it outright. Everything becomes much clearer.

He nods. “I tried to tell myself to leave it alone, so you two could be happy, but it was eating me alive-”

“Eddie!” You gasp. “You’ve got it all wrong. Jake and I aren’t dating! 

His eyebrows draw together in confusion. “You’re not?”

“No!” You laugh at the thought. “Oh, Eddie…is that what all this was about? You thought I was dating Jake?” You press your lips together. “I guess I shouldn’t laugh. I could see…where you would have been confused but…Eddie…Jake’s my dog.” You admit cheekily.

Eddie’s eyes widened. “Jake…is a dog.”

You nod. “Yes. My dog.”

Eddie is…relieved. “So…you…”

You nod again.

Eddie can’t help himself, he takes your face in his hands and he kisses you.

His heart feels like it’s going to nearly hammer out of his chest when he pulls away, his eyes wide at his own sudden bold move.

He wants to apologize immediately but you’re smiling. He had kissed you and it made you smile.

“So um, my parents are out of town again, do you wanna come over?” You question, and Eddie feels a massive relief that you are asking him.

“I get to meet Jake?” He smiles teasingly.

You let out a short laugh. “Oh no, Jake gets to meet you. He’s heard all about the man who jumps on cafeteria tables.” 

[hcrringtonsbat]

BEING EDDIE’S S/O AND COOKING/PROVIDING FOOD FOR HIM

↳ a/n: i literally think about this a lot so, I decided to make a headcannon about it. this is also my first piece for eddie. hope you enjoy! GIF CREDIT GOES TO DROGONSTONE!!!!!! it’s not my gif :)

Eddie Munson x Gender Neutral!Reader

word count: 0.8k+

it should be expected that Eddie Munson lives off of junk food: chips, soda, beef jerky, cereal, the occasional piece of toast…. that’s basically what his diet consists of

his uncle wayne was almost never home: always working, picking up someone else's shift so, Eddie did what he could to provide for himself and didn't think twice about it

but all of that changed when you slithered your way into the Munson boy's life and stole his heart

one of your many love languages was act of services so, you often found yourself cooking for Eddie

when you were grocery shopping for your own family, you found yourself picking up things that you know Eddie enjoyed (while also trying to slip in new and healthy things for him to try)

you'd even ditch your parents some nights and have dinner at the Munson trailer

it usually consisted of you and Eddie packed tightly in his kitchen. Eddie constantly trying new and fun ways to distract you: whispering in your ear, kissing the sweet spot on your neck that he knew made you crazy

while you we're trying (and failing) to shake the boy off of you: giggling and throwing miscellaneous things at him

but, this didn't just stop at you making dinner for him. you also helped out with his lunch

similarly to dinner, you always thought of Eddie when you'd pack your lunch in the mornings

it was a newfound habit to make an extra sandwich or bring his favorite snacks in your lunchbox for him (since we all know what he keeps in his lunchbox)

he'd get super excited when the two of you would sit down to have lunch together during the school day. his favorite thing to do was to guess what you brought him and make it everyones problem

"you are the be- you know… my partner is the best! always looking out for me!" he'd shout in the middle of the hallway, getting the attention of his peers

he took both of your hands and lifted you from your seated position on the hallway floor, “y/n.. you make my young heart swoon.” eddie planted a kiss on your cheek

this is basically how it went when you had lunch with Eddie. he enjoyed drawing attention to you. as much as you swore you hated it, you secretly loved when he’d go all out

sometimes the man would be busy with deals at lunch. on these particular days, you’d attend the Hawkins Environmental Club meetings that always met during lunch

one day it completely slipped you mind to pack something for eddie. you had a huge test coming up and you were overloaded with stress

eddie was so hungry that he nearly gnawed off his thumb while dealing. after it was over and he secured his money, he ran to the school and found you making peaceful conversation with some girls in the environmental club

he stormed in, cool as a cucumber, strolled over to where you were sitting and just hovered. the girls you were speaking to noticed his presence before you did

“oh, hey eddie!” you said, surprised to see him. he never finished deals that quickly

“hi.” he replied. he was just eyeing the peanut butter & jelly sandwich in your right hand. then came that smirk and….. you caved

“here.” you giggled, tearing off a piece for him.

he then sat down and began talking about his new dungeon’s and dragons campaign. this immediately caused the girls you were sitting with to go find someone else to talk to but, you didn’t care. you wanted Eddie all to yourself anyway

like i mentioned before, you liked to make eddie try new things. it scared you that eddie only ate things that came from a box

he would often tease you because one of your many sayings was, “you need to eat things that come from the earth.” he thought you sounded like a hippie trying to get him to smoke weed

so, you tried to find healthy snacks for him to snack on

you started with vegetables. he hates baby carrots, and claimed one chipped his tooth in middle school and he couldn’t risk losing his perfect smile

you had better luck with fruits. it was odd, you’d gone through every basic fruit you could think of: apples, oranges, grapes, bananas. nope. Eddie wasn’t a fan of any one of them

until you stumbled upon peaches. Eddie loved peaches. he said it tasted like the lip balm you used and he could eat peaches for days

as cheesy as it might sound, it warmed your heart a bit. plus, you were finally able to find something with nutritional value for the man to eat

all of your efforts didn’t go unnoticed. Eddie saw how much you cared for him and he loved you even more for it

so, when you asked him to try something new or when you’d drag him away from his campaign notebook to go grocery shopping… he didn’t complain

he was lucky to have someone who cared that much for him

still, no matter how hard you tried…. he still never touches those damn baby carrots

[angelsdevils]

Sanji x Reader

Title: Reunion

Sanji was walking through the streets of a summer island. He was currently stocking up on food since they had run low. He decided he would overbuy this time since Luffy is constantly eating everything, and maybe some things to set up some traps for the food thief. He looked at the sky. It was amazing outside which wasn’t a surprise. He was just glad to have some time to himself since he hardly got time to think, mainly because Luffy was always asking for something to eat.

Sanji took his cigarette out of his mouth as he looked at different spices at a stand. He soon realized there were spices that he didn’t have yet. He quickly bought some before going onto the next stand. He saw several types of meat and decided to buy the meats in several bundles so they could last before buying a lot of fish. Once he was done at the meat stand, he moved over to the vegetable stand. It wasn’t long before he had several bags of food, but it wasn’t anywhere near enough because one never knew how long they would be out on sea before they saw land again.

He continued to buy food before taking a break. He leaned back after setting the bags down, looking at the sky again. He closed his eyes. For some reason, lately, he has been having the same dream. It was a certain (h/c) hair, (e/c) girl he had known since he was young. He wondered how she was holding up at the Vinsmoke mansion. He missed you greatly because you were so sweet and pure. He had a huge crush on you when he was younger before running away. He wished he had brought you with him, but he didn’t, which he had carried the regret with him.

He put the cigarette back into his mouth before grabbing the bags again. He began to walk around to see if he saw anything else he needed food-wise or kitchen utensils. Just as he turned a corner, a familiar scent filled his nose. He closed his eyes as he recognized the familiar smell of the desert. It was one of the deserts you and him made on your own when he was younger. You used to cook together when he wasn’t stuck in the dungeon. Just the thought made him shudder in pure disgust at his former family.

He followed the smell, and there he saw you setting the pastry out on the windowsill to cool down. He couldn’t help but smile as he walked up to the window, making you look up. He smiled at you, and you shyly smiled, waving at him.

“Strawberry Vanilla Pound Cake with chocolate drizzle on top.” You blinked before tilting your head, but the smile graced your lips. Sanji looked you up and down, and man, you had matured into a beautiful woman. You still had the same face but not being a perve. You just matured greatly.

“Yeah, how did you know?” You asked. Your voice was just as soft as silk. He almost forgot to respond as he listened to your voice, but he quickly shook.

“Have I changed that much?” He asked, leaning against the wall near your window. You tried to remember, but the only other person who made this dessert with you was your childhood friend...

“Sanji?” You asked, unsure, but he gave you his famous smile, which made you blush slightly

“Yeah (Y/N), it’s me.” You froze on the spot with a heavy blush, you couldn’t help that smile spread across your features, and Sanji felt his heart leap out of his dress. He had to look away before he got a nosebleed.

“I can’t believe it’s you.” You say before realizing he was standing outside.

“Wait, come on inside. I will meet you in the front.” You say, he chuckled at you before walking to the front of your home where you stood. He stepped inside, looking around your home. It was cozy. You didn’t have much, but you had always been a simple girl and never the one who enjoyed shiny things.

“You look amazing (Y/N),” Sanji said, setting his bags down before wrapping his arms around you in a tight yet comforting hug. You missed his hugs because they were always so warm and gentle. You hugged him back, burying your face into his chest. You guys stayed that away before you both parted from the hug.

“T-Thank you. You look great yourself.”

“When did you leave the...mansion,” Sanji asked. You flushed and looked down, playing with your fingers.

“Uhm, not long after, you ran away. I think maybe a few months afterward. I only stayed because of you, and when you left, I had no reason to stay. If I stayed any longer, I don’t think it would have ended well for me.” You whispered. Sanji rubbed your shoulders slightly as you explained. He tucked some hair behind your ear before kissing your forehead as he used to when young.

“I see. Maybe I really should have brought you with me.” He said, but you shook your head slightly.

“I wouldn’t have wanted to slow you down.” You say, rubbing your neck as you led Sanji to the living room, and you both sat down. Sanji smiled, shaking his head. You were always worrying if you would be a burden to someone.

“You wouldn’t have been. You will never be a burden (Y/N),” Sanji said, staring into your (e/c) eyes. He felt all of his old feelings for you come rushing back. He felt like he would be sick because no other girl had given him the feeling you gave him. You were not only his childhood friend but his childhood crush, first love. He knew he would have to leave this Island soon, but he didn’t want to leave you behind.

“Sanji, you always said that.”

“It’s because I mean every word I say. You are never a burden. You are the only person who brought a smile to my face after mom passed. You lightened my dark world when I was stuck in the dungeons and abused by my brothers.” He said, holding your hands, you blushed, looking down, but Sanji tilted your head up.

“Sanji....” Your voice trailed off, and he smiled. He leaned down to kiss you, but his transponder snail began to ring. You felt a heavy blush cover your cheeks when he leaned in, but he quickly pulled away and answered it.

“Sanji, where are you!?” A female voice was heard, and she sounded scared

“Nami~swan~ what’s wrong?” Sanji asked, concerned. You were confused but stayed quiet.

“The Marines are here. We need to set sail.”

“Oh, I see. I am on my way.” He said, standing up after hanging up. You looked up, and he shared another look with you. He bit his lip. He didn’t want to leave you behind. He just found you.

“You are a pirate?” You asked, and he nodded his head.

“Well, you should get going.”

“I can’t leave you. Please come with me,” Sanji said.

“W-What?”

“We could always use another cook for my captain’s appetite. He would let you join if we asked.”

“I am not a fighter, though.”

“You don’t need to. That is what I am there for. I will protect you.” Sanji said; you looked down at your hands.

“Plus, you may not be a fighter, but you know how to if the time ever came.” He said.

“Are you sure he would allow me to?”

“We have a reindeer, a skeleton, a liar, a moss head swordsman, a rubber man who is my captain, a cyborg, a beautiful archeologist who has a devil fruit, and a beautiful, money-loving navigator. I am sure he wouldn’t mind you joining.” He explained. You giggled at what he said before nodding your head.

“A-Alright, if you truly want me to.”

“I do. I don’t want to leave you again.” He said with a smile; you could never say no to. You nodded your head before packing a few things you would need before putting the rest of the food you had bought in a bag so you guys would have extras. You then grabbed the pound cake you made because you were never one to waste food anyway. Sanji took the rest of your bags, much to your protest, and you only carried the pound cake.

You both managed to make it to a ship, but you became scared and froze. Sanji looked at you before frowning softly.

“I will talk to him quickly if it makes you feel better.” You nodded your head, and Sanji went aboard. It wasn’t long before the boat was setting sail. You frowned when Sanji didn’t come back for you. So you assumed the rest, but it wasn’t long before arms reached out for you and wrapped around your waist.

“Shoot men.”

“W-What the~!?’ You let a scream out as you flew towards the ship. Sanji’s eyes widened as you squeezed your eyes shut, expecting a rough landing. It wasn’t long before you landed on something soft, and the cake was no longer in your hands.

“SHISHISHISHI! WELCOME TO MY CREW (Y/N)!” You blushed before quickly backing away from the rubber man you assumed was the captain.

“LUFFY, YOU IDIOT, SHE COULD HAVE GOTTEN HURT!” Sanji and Nami punched their captain in the head.

“Are you okay (Y/N)-chan?” Sanji asked, checking to make sure you weren’t bleeding anywhere.

“I-I am... I wasn’t expecting that.” You say with a blush, but Sanji laughed softly.

“You will get used to it, trust me...maybe...” the green-haired guy mumbled, looking at their captain as he deflected the bullets and cannons.

“We will do proper introductions once we are in the clear,” Sanji said with a smile. You smiled back before looking around for the cake.

“Where did the....”

“I managed to save it before it dropped since you worked so hard on it,” Sanji said, pointing to the cake. You smiled shyly before hugging him. Sanji hugged back before breaking the hug. Everyone was expecting a severe nose bleed, but it didn’t come.

Once you guys were clear, Luffy got close to your face, and you hid behind Sanji. You were timid of new people, so Sanji decided to speak for you.

“Everyone, this is (Y/N), a close friend since childhood. (Y/N) the moss-head is Zoro, the cyborg is Franky, the guy that sent you flying towards us is our captain Luffy, that’s Usopp, Chopper is the reindeer who is our doctor, that is Robin and Nami, and the skeleton over there is Brook.

“Hello, miss, may I see your panties?” Sanji kicked Brook into the mass before glaring at him.

“As if!”

“Sanji says you can cook. Can we try the cake pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaasssssssssssssseeeeeeeeeee???” Luffy asked. You couldn’t help but nod, and Sanji sighed at his captain and cut everyone a piece. You watched as everyone ate it and looked down as Sanji handed you a piece.

“Here (N/N), you should have a piece too.” He said with a smile which you took.

“Thanks, Sanji.”

“This is amazing (Y/N),” Nami said.

“It’s better than swirly eyebrow’s cooking,” Zoro said. You quickly shook your head.

“O-Oh no, I am nothing like Sanji.” Sanji glared at Zoro before looking at you. He smiled as you blushed at the compliments.

“ITS SHO GOOD!” Before trying to grab another slice, Luffy said, but Sanji gripped Luffy’s hand, which caused Luffy to whine.

“But Sanji!!!”

“No.” Luffy huffed, and you let a small laugh out, and you covered your mouth. Sanji heard your laugh, and he couldn’t help but smile.

“Robin, do you think it’s weird how Sanji isn’t nosebleeding and not flirting with (Y/N)?” Nami whispered.

“I think that may be his first love, and he still has extreme feelings for her,” Robin said.

“It seems she may like Sanji too.” Usopp joined in the conversation. You two were conversing as you both were walking towards the kitchen. Robin grinned. Nami and Usopp picked up on what was going through Robin’s head.

“Go for it, Robin.” Nami cheered on.

“Go for what?” Franky, Chopper, Brook, and Luffy asked. Zoro had already fallen asleep and didn’t care what was going on.

“Getting (Y/N) and Sanji together,” Usopp explained.

“So what have you been doing all that time on that Island? How did you even get there?” Sanji asked as you both talked in the kitchen sitting at the table.

“Well, I was selling the pastries to make a living, and I got there safely by Shanks. He visited that Island, and I hid in the barrel. It wasn’t long that they found me after we went out to sea, I was so scared when they found me, but when I explained why I ran away, they were more than happy to bring me here.” You explained, and Sanji laughed softly.

“You have always been terrible at hiding.”

“Hey, I lasted for three days before I grew hungry and decided to go grab food, but Ben came down from his spot of keeping watch when he smelled the food.” You giggled softly, and Sanji shook his head slightly.

“At least it wasn’t some terrible pirates, just them.”

“Yeah, I was lucky.” You say, rubbing your neck. Sanji took your hand into his. You bit your lip when he kissed your knuckles. You looked away, hiding your face with your hair. Sanji wasn’t having any of it as he moved the hair out of your face and pecked your cheeks.

“You were so beautiful then, and you are even more beautiful now,” Sanji whispered, but you blushed heavily.

“S-Sanji...” You stuttered, and he felt his cheeks eat up.

“Hey, can we dance around the kitchen like we used to?” Sanji asked. You smiled before nodding your head. He pulled you up gently before placing your hand on his shoulder, and he placed his hand on your waist before grasping your free hand in his. You both moved around the kitchen slowly. 

You tried to look anywhere but Sanji because you were blushing. Sanji couldn’t help but smile at how he made you shy. You both soon heard a soft melody being played. It was the perfect dancing song. Sanji twirled you before bringing you close again.

“I feel like we may be being spied on,” Sanji whispered.

“Why?”

“Brook is playing the perfect slow-pace song.” He said. Your eyes widened when you realized, and you let a small laugh out. Sanji kissed your cheek before letting you go when the song ended. You smiled as you parted from Sanji’s embrace, you went to sit down, but you tripped and fell. Sanji went to catch you, but a hand pushed him on top of you. He quickly grabbed you and pivoted so you would land on his chest.

“A-Are you okay, Sanji!?” You asked, staring at him in shock, you didn’t know what tripped you, but something ended up pushing Sanji.

“I am fine,” Sanji said, looking up at you before seeing some hands coming out of a wall. He instantly knew what Robin was trying to do.

“I should have known.” He said. You tilted your head, but you went to get up, but something held your legs down, and your upper body was forced down on top of Sanji.

“W-What is going on?” You asked, confused. Sanji covered his eyes with a shy smile on his lips.

“I know what’s going on. I know how you can get up,” Sanji said, removing his hand from his eyes. You looked up at him as you struggled to get up from the position, and went you looked behind you. There were hands.

“Uhm, Sanji?” You asked. Looking at him. He decided to place his lips on yours. Your eyes widen at the sudden kiss. Your face turned multiple shades of red, but you slowly kissed Sanji back. It wasn’t long before the hands left your body. You could get up now if you wanted to, but Sanji placed his hands on your waist.

He swiped his tongue over your bottom lip, and you shyly parted your lips. He slipped his tongue past your lips, he explored your mouth, and you let a small noise out. He slowly parted from the kiss, and he smiled, placing a kiss on your nose. He noticed how red your face was, and he placed a hand on your cheek.

“Sanji?”

“I love you.” He said suddenly, you smiled as you slid off Sanji, and Sanji sat up.

“Really?” You asked, and he nodded his head.

“You weren’t only my childhood friend. You are also my first crush, love, and now first kiss.”

“Sanji, you are my first everything too...” He smiled before wrapping his arms around you and pulling you into his lap.

“Well, not everything, but I will be first everything.” He said. You blinked, confused, before blushing heavily, slapping his chest. He felt a nosebleed coming on as he thought about your form.

“S-SANJI! G-GET YOUR MIND OUT OF THE GUTTER!” You squealed loudly as you continued to slap his chest. The crew laughed as Luffy was confused. Sanji chuckled as you slapped his chest.

“I am joking...kind of... But I wouldn’t do anything you were uncomfortable with (Y/N).” He said, stroking your hair.

“B-Better not.” You blushed, hiding your face in his chest.

“Are you too uncomfortable with being my girlfriend?” He asked. You looked at him, and he smiled warmly. You shook your head before pecking his cheek with a smile.

“Of course not. I would love to be your girlfriend.” You told him, and he smiled, but Luffy soon interrupted it.

“SANJIIII! (Y/NNN)! I AM HUNGRY! MEAT, MEAT, MEAT MEAT, FOOD, FOOD, FOOD!” Luffy busted through the kitchen door, Sanji groaned, and you giggled softly. Nami punched Luffy in the head just as Sanji helped you off of the ground.

“Alright, we are starting dinner, Luffy. Get out.” Sanji scolded.

“Congratulations, new couple,” Nami said, and everyone else congratulated you two. Sanji kissed the side of your head as you hid in Sanji’s side. You both began to cook and were sharing stories about the things you had done since your separation from when you both were younger, shared memories, and a lot of kisses. There was one thought that crossed both of your minds. Best. Reunion. Ever.

[foilfreak]

4 Lords Raise Rose AU Ideas

Not a single person asked for this, but that other post where I talk about the 4 lords adopting Rose but still technically being terrible people got way more popular than I expected it to, so, with about 6 shots of tequila in my system and a terrible urge to spit my thoughts out for all the internet to see and judge, I’ve decided to make a follow up post. Here’s how I think the 4 lords would take care of Rose in the event they rebelled against Mother Miranda and decided to raise Rose as their own instead, but like under the cut after a little bit cuz i accidentally went way too fucking hard with this and I don’t want ppl to get mad at me for making them scroll for an hour to get past this post:

First and foremost, I think they’d do it in stages, and what I mean by this is that Rose would essentially be given to a specific Lord for some period of her life, like a couple years, and then when she was deemed old or strong or annoying enough, she’d be moved to a different lord for some period of time and so on and so forth. They would do this because a) they all live in different areas and have shit to do so it’s easier to have Rose live with one lord at a time and then the other lords can just go visit her there from time to time, rather than try to work out a weekly custody schedule which we all know Alcina and Karl would NEVER be able to agree on so let’s not even bother, and b) because each lord would have either some skill or set of knowledge that would make them the best for caring for Rose at that specific point in her life. This way, all the lords have a (somewhat) equal chance to be a part of Rose’s life and teach her something while she’s with them. So with all that in mind now, let’s get down to who would have Rose and at what point in her life.

1. Starting off with infant Rose, I think she’d end up with the Dimitrescu’s for the first few years of her life, and the reason why I think this is because... well, Alcina IS already a mother to 3 girls, and while we don’t know a terrible amount about Bela, Cassandra, and Daniela’s “upbringing” under Alcina, we can gleam and theorize from her notes that, despite their fully grown bodies, the girls could very well have started out with the mental and physical capabilities of infants, and thus needed to be cared for and brought up in a similar manner as infants or children until they reached a certain point where they could officially be considered adults in mentality and ability, not just in physical appearance. So with this in mind, it’s entirely possible that Alcina could have at least some vague idea of how to care for an infant child through her experiences with the bug sisters; perhaps there’s some gaps in her knowledge, but if nothing else I imagine Alcina would be an infant Rose’s best shot at surviving infancy if only because the other 3 are so incompetent on how to care for a baby that Alcina looks like an expert in comparison. Not to mention that, of the possible locations for an infant to be raised, I do genuinely think that castle Dimitrescu would be the safest place for Rose to be kept during this vulnerable part of her life. Not only that but if Alcina has actually come to care for Rose as though she were one of her own daughters, then she would absolutely spoil Rose rotten with all the nicest clothes and fanciest toys, things that a small infant wouldnt be able to appreciate but would show that she’s loved and cared for nonetheless, and don’t even get me started on the bug sisters, I could see them fawning over Rose for hours on end, playing with her, singing to her, telling her stories of all the man-things they’ve gotten to play with today, and so much more. Overall, Rose would just be the most spoiled and pampered little baby with the Dimitrescus and there’s no changing my mind about this. The only thing I’m struggling to wrap my head around is how they’d feed her, since I doubt a small infant would take very well to blood wine and human flesh. I suppose it wouldn’t be terribly outrageous for them to hire a wet nurse/nanny to care for Rose during the day while the other Dimitrescus go about their daily duties, and when Rose is finally old enough to be introduced to solid food (I.e. fried human flesh cubes) they could do what they always do and turn the nurse into wine too, I guess. It’s not a solid idea but it’s more plausible than anything else I thought of so it’ll work!

2. After spending about 3 years with the Dimitrescus, Rose would then be moved to the Beneviento house. Now, If u don’t know anything about 3 year olds, then you’re probably ignorant to the fact that they are some of the craftiest, sneakiest, and most coniving groups of people to exist on this planet. 3 year olds are masters at getting into and touching just about anything and everything u don’t want them to touch, and worst of all, u won’t realize what they’re doing until they’ve already done it and left a huge mess behind, so while the Dimitrescus love and adore Rose dearly, they know it’s sadly time to hand her over when they find her sitting on top of a pile of dead bodies playing with a metal scythe in the dungeons. Once Rose is dropped off at the Beneviento house, I imagine Donna is her usual stoic self the first few weeks Rose is with her. She’s not cold or distant necessarily, in fact she’s quite happy that it’s finally her turn with precious baby Rose, but Donna isn’t exactly known for being outwardly expressive herself (and even Angie isn’t being quite as forward as she normally is), so things are quiet and peaceful for the first little while that Rose is under her care. It’s not until Rose takes an interest in her doll Angie, and more importantly the things that Donna can do with Angie, that things really start getting fun. By the end of Rose’s first month in the Beneviento house she and Donna are the best of friends and often spend their days either playing dress up and make pretend with Donna’s extensive doll collection, or playing elaborate games of cat and mouse, where Donna will set up lots of puzzles throughout the house for Rose to find and solve (I.e. rose has to match her dress to the doll with the same one as her to find a map telling her which kitchen cabinet Donna hid the chocolate in, or something like that), but be careful little Rose, Angie has been trying to get her hands on that chocolate all day, and if u take too long, she’ll find the map first and eat all the chocolate without saving you a single piece. Just silly little puzzles with enough at stake to engage the mind of a curious 3 year old, but never enough to put rose in any actual danger. Donna is nothing if not a watchful caretaker, so she makes sure she has sight of Rose at all times, occasionally giving her a hint if she’s struggling, and perhaps occasionally making things harder if that day’s puzzle is proving too easy for her. Overall, Rose’s time with Donna, while not as grand and luxurious as the Dimitrescus, was still a fun and enriching experience for the young girl, and there’s nobody in this world who thinks that Donna’s scar is cool more than Rose.

3. After another 3 years with Donna, Rose is now 6 years old and officially far too good at puzzle solving for Donna to keep up with. No matter what she tries or how hard she makes it, Rose just keeps blazing through the puzzles at an almost alarming rate, making it clear that Rose is desperately in need of not only a change in scenery, but also a change in education, and this is where Salvatore finally comes in. After leaving the Beneviento house, I think the next logical place for Rose to stay would be with Salvatore, who, with lore hinting at him perhaps being a scholarly man of some kind, would basically act as her elementary school teacher throughout the duration of her stay. Now, to be fair, Rose could have gone to Heisenburg’s factory, but Heisenberg outright refused to take her and the other 3 lords decide that the factory is simply too dangerous for Rose rn, who thus far hasn’t shown any signs of being anything other than a normal human girl with no noticeable abilities (save for a smart mouth and a terrifying habit of popping up when least expected, a habit she mostly uses to mess with Heisenberg, much to his disdain and Lady Dimitrescu’s delight), so it is to the mutant fish man’s unimaginable delight that he is unanimously voted Roses next caretaker, and the one responsible for her basic education. Despite his initial excitement however, when Rose is finally dropped off at the windmills by Donna, Salvatore realizes that he’s not 100% sure what to do with Rose now that he has her. He’d like to get started on her education right away but at the same time he’s so fearful of Rose hating him because of his disgusting appearance that he kind of just... avoids her entirely at first. He’s never far away from the little girl and is always ready to jump to her rescue should she need it, but other than that Salvatore seldom allows himself to be seen for the first month that Rose is with him, the only sign of him still being around being the platefuls of food that mysteriously appear in Rose’s room 3 times a day, as well as the occasional shiny trinket Salvatore found and thought Rose would like. At first, rose doesn’t seem to mind being left entirely to her own devices, but after every stone, log, and rotting fish corpse within 5 miles of the lake has been turned over and thoroughly examined, Rose decides she’s had quite enough of her Uncle Sal ignoring her, prompting the headstrong little girl to go looking for him herself. She finds Salvatore hiding underneath a patch of floating algae not far away from where she was playing and all but demands that the mutant man come out of the water and give her something to do or she’d tell Mother on him. Salvatore, shocked by the small child’s fearlessly blunt request, hesitates, not wanting to frighten Rose, but ultimately relents, crawling out of the water and timidly suggesting that he teach her how to read and write. Rose quickly agrees, seeming totally unbothered by Salvatore’s grotesque appearance, and the two quickly move to the schoolroom that had been set up specifically for Rose, where Salvatore spends hours upon hours a day teaching Rose everything he knows, filling the little girl’s head up first with the basics, letters and words, then numbers and simple equations, followed later by historical dates and time periods, algebraic formulas, and classic literature analysis, then biology, chemistry, physics, astrology, calculus, ecology, and so much more. Basically, anything there is to know, Salvatore knows at least something about it and he’ll make sure that Rose knows about it too. In the 3 years Rose spends with Salvatore she goes from already sharp as a whip, to being smarter than most adults even, and Salvatore takes immense pride in how intelligent and knowledgable Rose becomes thanks to his surprisingly effective teaching style. Overall, as a caretaker, Salvatore is pretty weird and doubts himself a lot, but Rose thinks he’s funny and loves learning from him so they get along very well and she loves him very dearly! He probs teaches her to swim and fish too.

4. So another 3 years come and go with incredible speed, and its with great sadness on Salvatore’s part that Heisenberg finally comes banging on the fish man’s door, all but demanding that he now be given his turn with Rose. Now, personally, I can see several different arguments being raised by the other 3 lords over why its a terrible idea to let a 9 year old anywhere near Heisenberg, much less be given into his care fully. After about 9 years of seeing his siblings paling around with the constantly growing child, and looking like theyre having the time of their lives all the while, however, Karl decides that perhaps there’s more to this little girl than he originally thought, and, with his interest now piqued (or at the very least looking forward to pissing the other 3 off for entertainment purposes), that its only fair that he be given a turn with her now too, seeing as how he’s the only one who hasn’t been given the chance to be her caretaker yet. This naturally does NOT go over well with the other 3 lords. Alcina all but threatens to kill Karl should he step so much as within 10 ft of Rose, while Donna pipes up and demands to know what his sudden interest in Rose is. Even Salvatore, who is quick to flinch away from direct conflict, goes as far as to harshly point out the plethora of times Karl had outright denied their previous attempts to get him to engage with Rose, so why on earth would they hand her over to him now when he’s previously shown to have absolutely no interest in her? After a long spout of yelling between the 4 siblings, an agreement is reached, wherein Rose herself will be given the chance to decide whether she wants to go with Heisenberg, or whether she’ll return to one of the other 3 lords for the time being. It is to Alcina, Donna, and Salvatore’s absolute horror however, that Rose enthusiastically agrees to go with her Uncle Karl to live in his factory, and with the deal already set, the other lords can do nothing to stop her from going. The trip to drop off Rose at heisenberg’s factory is a long and arduous one, especially for Salvatore, who sobs the whole way there about Rose forgetting about him despite the young girl’s insistence that she’d visit. The first thing Karl does after officially having Rose handed over to him, is give her an extensive list of all the places in the factory in which she is under no circumstances permitted to enter without his permission (which basically only leaves the control room and the old storage closet that acts as her bedroom as viable places for Rose to go and explore). The second thing Karl does is dump her in her new storage closet bedroom and then hightail it for his workshop to work on whatever sick and twisted amalgamation he’s got cooked up this time around. At first, Rose isn’t terribly bothered by this, since she’s used to having something of an “adjustment period” when she’s with a new caretaker, but unfortunately for her, this adjustment period lasts a hell of a lot longer than the others did, and by the time 3 months of almost no meaningful contact with Karl, Rose decides to take matters into her own hands and ascends into the depths of the factory despite the express orders not to do so. Now, going back to the idea that the 4 lords are still pretty terrible people, I doubt Rose has been kept ignorant to the less savory aspects of her caretaker’s lives, and tbh she probably doesn’t think anything of the fact that the Dimitrescus makes wine out of the blood of virgin women or that Salvatore still does cadou experiments (and had her help on occasion), but I imagine even Rose would find the projects Karl works on to be at least a little

4, cont. gruesome and horrifying in nature, especially since Heisenberg is the one she knows the least about. However, instead of turning Rose away from Heisenberg, these terrifying metal creatures she sees locked up only spark her already insatiable curiosity, and by the time she finally tracks Karl down, Rose is all but trembling to learn more about this horrifyingly fascinating metal world. Unfortunately, Karl is not nearly as happy to see Rose as Rose is to see him, and the engineer all but grabs Rose by the scruff of her neck and drags her back up to the control room, yelling and screaming at her all the while about how she was explicitly instructed not to enter these parts of the factory without his permission. Needless to say that Rose does not enjoy this treatment and immediately lashes out, half out of anger and half out of confusion as to why Karl was treating her like this. He was the one who wanted her here in the first place, so why the hell was he just ignoring her now? It didn’t make any sense and it was starting to piss Rose off, so naturally the only thing left for her to do in order to solve this complicated situation would be to continue to disobey Karl until he either gave up and sent her back to one of the other lords, or finally payed some damn attention to her for once. So that’s exactly what she did. Every single day Rose left her room (which Karl kept telling himself he needed to put a lock on, but never did cuz he’s an idiot) and descended down into the depths of the factory looking for something ogle at or tinker with, and every single day Karl would track her down wherever she’d managed to get to and throw her back upstairs threatening to feed her to the lycans if she did it again. This incredibly frustrating cycle continued on for the better part of the next month or so, finally coming to a head when Rose managed to wander into the part of the factory where the... less than successful experiments got put whenever Karl doesn’t have any further use for them but is feeling too lazy to kill them off himself. Long story short, Rose runs into a Sturm that chases her around the factory, causing all manner of mayhem and destruction, and would have torn her to ribbons had it not been for Karl, who jumped in at the last second and was able to fend the damn thing off long enough for Rose to get the ever living fuck out and back up to the control room where it’s safe. There’s a lot of loud noises and explosions coming from deep within the factory that last for what feels like an eternity, but Rose doesn’t dare venture out again until everything has gone eerily quiet and a deep sense of worry has settled in the pit of her stomach over what had become of her latest caretaker. Turns out the Sturm had recognized its creator and, after watching its initial prey escape because of said creator, quickly decided that it fucking hated Karl with every fiber of its being and wanted him dead if it was the last thing it’s propellers did. Now, we all know that Karl is a big strong boy who’s more than capable of handling his own creations and taking down strong enemies, but the Sturm is a creation that even he struggles to control on good days and today is decidedly not a good day so not only does Karl not have the slightest bit of control over the death machine trying to kill him, but its also a lot stronger than Karl initially thought and apparently not picky about the method which causes Karl’s death, which is evidenced by the nearly dead Sturm ramming itself into a power generator as a final act of defiance and nearly blowing up the whole factory and everybody inside. Heisenberg is able to contain the explosion somehow but not without considerable damage to himself first. Rose is, naturally, quite horrified to find Karl passed out in the elevator that had taken him up from the lower levels of the factory where the explosion was, skin burnt nearly to a crisp in certain areas and blood pooling from just about every part of him, and immediately heads over to try and help her injured caretaker.

4, cont. again cuz I physically can’t stop myself. Now, I imagine that any normal 9 year old probably wouldnt be able to handle this sort of situation in any meaningful way, but i think we can all agree that Rose is the furthest thing from normal (especially considering who raised her) and has probably seen enough blood and gore to not be terribly freaked out by it, but this is where things get a little speculative because we don’t know what Rose’s powers are exactly but we do know from the final cutscene that she does have them, perhaps even a plethora of abilities, and I like to think that some of those powers are related to Ethan’s superhuman healing capabilities, but unlike Ethan however, who from what we’ve seen could only heal himself, Rose can actually heal other people (tho this isn’t something she’s aware of at this point in time). The second the elevator door opens to reveal, what looks to be, a half-dead Karl slumped over in the corner, Rose panics and runs to him, doing everything she can think of save for maybe grabbing him by the collar or slapping him across the face, to try and get Karl to wake up, except nothing works, he wont wake up no matter how hard Rose tries and i imagine this must be incredibly distressing for Rose who never intended for something like this to happen or for her caretaker to die because he had to protect her even tho he told her not to go down there because its dangerous and anything down there WOULD kill her if given the opportunity. Anyways Rose is now full on sobbing on top of Karl like only a 9 year old who just discovered that her actions have consequences can, but unbeknownst to her (and technically Karl cuz he’s a little busy bleeding out all over the floor) Karl’s wounds are slowly beginning to close, the burns on his face and hands shift from a bright red to a dark brown before crusting over and flaking off, and even his breathing, which had been labored and inconsistent at first, began to level out slightly. Karl woke up not long after that and was surprised to find that a) he was still alive, which was cool, b) he was injured but not in indescribable pain, also cool, and c) there was a literal sobbing child all but sitting on top of him, which is definitely not something Karl was expecting but he supposed he’s been met with worse things upon waking up after almost dying so why question it. After taking a moment to gather their bearings, the two return to the safer parts of the factory to rest and recover and for the most part this little incident of their’s goes largely unspoken, with Rose not exactly in the mood to talk about how her disobedience nearly got herself and Karl killed, and Karl being too fucking tired to go after her about it, especially since she seems to have learned her lesson. The only downside to this whole thing is that now Karl has a busted up fuckin leg thats gonna take an eternity to heal even for him, and with so much work to still do he’s more or less forced to drag Rose around the factory and use her like the annoying assistant he never wanted (except he did want her, thats how this whole fucking mess started, you lug), except that Rose, who is more than used to playing lab assistant from her time with Salvatore, quickly proves to be a rather capable and handy person to have around, if only because she knows the difference between a philips and a flathead screwdriver even better than he does. An amicable, if still slightly awkward peace settles over Heisenberg’s factory once Karl starts actively engaging with Rose and giving her something to do on a daily basis, even if its just standing around watching him work and occasionally having her questions about what he’s doing answered. It doesn’t take very long after that for Karl to begin realizing that perhaps throwing a huge tantrum to get Rose to come here only to ditch her upstairs by herself for 3 months might not have been the smartest (or most considerate) thing he’s ever done, and even goes as far as to (kinda) apologize to Rose for being such a dick to her since she arrived.

4, last one i swear. Rose forgives him, though not before adding that she already knew he was an asshole from Alcina, which earns her a halfhearted swipe from Karl that Rose easily dodges with a childish giggle. From that point on their relationship improves astronomically as Karl finally gives in and teaches Rose about about engineering and everything else that goes into making the metal horrors that he’s known for. Karl is shocked at how quickly Rose picks up on the trade, getting to the point where Karl wonders if he should start giving Rose her own projects to work on, but quickly rolls his eyes and groans when he remember that Salvatore was the one responsible for her education up until this point, the mere thought of having to give compliments to that “moronic freak” for giving Rose such a good educational foundation makes him want to vomit despite how secretly impressed he is. Overall, Rose’s time with Heisenberg starts out shaky, very shaky even, but after a bit of disaster and some swallowing of the pride on Karl’s part, they end up growing quite close and have a nice fun Uncle and martass Neice dynamic. They make a good team and Karl does genuinely enjoy having a little assistant around to help him with his projects, even if Rose can sound a bit too much like Alcina on some days for his liking.

5. 3 more years come and go and now Rose is a strong and healthy 12 years old, perhaps riddled with a few more scars and smearings of ash and motor oil across her skin than when she first arrived but still strong and capable nonetheless. Going back to that first statement however, this of course means that it’s time for the other 3 lords to come banging on Karl’s door for a change, all but demanding that Rose be handed back over to them. Karl of course refuses, telling them all to fuck off and that Rose didn’t want a leave the factory, so upon realization that all 4 lords were gathered here with the intention of taking Rose back to live with them indefinitely, a fight immediately breaks out between the 4 siblings, as each one makes their case as to why Rose should be returned to them and not the other 3, which of course none of the 4 lords can come to an agreement about because they ALL want Rose to stay with them. So after another long and pointlessly arduous argument, Alcina finally breaks, proclaiming that they’d be here for all eternity of they didn’t make a decision now, and that, like the first time the 4 siblings argued over whether Rose should go with Heisenberg or return to one of the previous lords, Rose would be the one to decide which of her four caretakers she would return to. The agreement is made reluctantly, mostly on the part of Salvatore, Donna, and Heisenberg, but there was seemingly no other way for them to come to a decision, so it would unfortunately have to be up to Rose to decide which of her 4 caretakers she wants to stay with permanently. Rose is quickly brought before the 4 lords and explained the situation, before being given some time to herself to think and make her final decision. A tense and uneasy silence falls over the 4 lords as they wait for the little girl, who they had shown an uncharacteristic amount of mercy and time and devotion and love in the 12 years since Mother Miranda had brought her to the village with the intention of using her to revive an already lost and long-gone baby that she never would have gotten back no matter how hard she tried. Although they refused to admit it to one another, the lords all secretly knew that Rose had wormed her way into each of their cold, dead hearts, reviving an aspect of their humanity that they’d all thought had been lost ages ago. Rose came to the village bringing with her a wave of death and destruction, and yet throughout her childhood she has brought them nothing but light and life, illuminating their previously dark and desolate existences. The 4 lords loved their Rose very dearly and desperately wanted her to be happy, yet each of them possesses a dark and selfish desire to have Rose pick them over the other 3, to come and live with them forever and fill the hole deep inside them that they never knew needed filling. After a short while, Rose comes back out and stands before her 4 beloved caretakers, looking around nervously as she picks at her fingernails. The silence is thick and heavy as the 4 lords stare at the young girl, waiting with bated breaths for her to give her final verdict. Rose continues to say nothing as tears begin to flow from her eyes, sliding down her cheeks in thick streams as the girl begins to sob, dropping her head and clenching her dress. The 4 lords look between one another in confusion, unsure of what to do with this sudden burst of tears. Rose tearfully admits that she can’t and doesn’t want to choose which of the 4 lords she wants to live with permanently because she loves them all very much and wants to be able to see and live with all of them, like they’ve done thus far. Although the lords detest the idea of having to share Rose with anyone, they reluctantly come to an agreement for the girl’s sake, deciding that they would continue with the arrangement they’ve had thus far, only that Rose would switch between caretakers every 3 months instead of every 3 years, giving rose plenty of opportunities to see each of her caretakers just like she wanted. From then on, Rose continues to live her life

5, cont. growing up and learning more and more from each of her beloved caretakers. Although Rose would likely never know what a normal life looks like, living with 4 criminally insane monsters in the remote mountain village in Romania, it would be impossible to say that she wouldn’t have a happy life despite that. Perhaps its because the girl simply doesn’t know any better, so she doesn’t have the ability to see just how messed up her life and her 4 caretakers really are, but i imagine that Rose probably wouldn’t care very much to learn even if she had the opportunity. She’s a happy little girl living a strange but enjoyable life with the only family she’ll ever need. What more could she possibly ask for?

6. As for how Mother Miranda would play into this whole scenario I’ve just drunkenly spat out, im honestly not 100% sure. Ive seen some people suggesting that MM just kinda chills and lets the lords do what they want with Rose, but tbh I honestly don’t see that happening in this universe. MM would still have been just as crazy and driven to get Eva back as she was in canon, so i doubt she’d willingly standby and let her “false children” take away her one shot of getting her real child back simply because they didn’t want to hurt her, i just don’t personally see that happening. The two most likely scenarios i can come up with is that the Lords either banded together and look Miranda on together, their combined forces being enough to take her down and kill her, OR, Ethan is the one to take down MM like he did in canon but he passes out before he can get to rose, giving the lords (who he hadn’t ended up killing but just escaping from i guess) the opportunity to slide in, grab rose, and hightail it out of there, leaving Ethan’s body to be retrieved by Chris, who, due to not seeing or hearing Rose anywhere, believes that Rose must have been accidentally killed along with MM, which he later tells to Ethan and Mia. Regardless of how MM gets taken out of the picture (or if she’s given room to potentially come back later), the 4 lords retreat with Rose and begin the whole cycle I explained up above, but i did want to briefly address how I saw MM fitting into all of this since she is a vital part of the original story and the biggest obstacle to the lords having anything to do with Rose.

Anyways, that was so much longer than I intended it to be but I had so much fun with it just because it gave me the opportunity to spit some fun ideas and potential plot points out about this cool AU that I like and hope someone does SOMETHING with, please god someone do it, I’d do it myself but i have enough projects at the moment unfortunately. If you managed to make it all the way to the bottom, thank you for reading all of that, I appreciate it, and I hope you enjoyed at least some parts of this, and maybe even agree with some of the things I said. Feel free to leave your own ideas in the comments, I’d love to read them and hopefully if enough people like this maybe i will actually do something with it. Who knows? I certainly dont. Anyways thank you for reading all this, i hope you have a great day, and maybe ill see you around in another post. Bye!!! <3