#found out he probably watched his dad die today.

[beholdingslut]

finally writing about that hot little pirate, sextus pompey

[persevereforahappyending]

A Legacies Secret |12|

Pairing: Tara Carpenter x Reader

Summary: You just wanted a happy life with your girlfriend but then Ghostface attacks, revealing long thought to be buried family secrets.

Warnings: Language, Crime Scene, Talks of Murder

Word Count: 2.9k+

Main Masterlist | Series Masterlist

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15

Sam sighed, running a hand through her hair as she stepped back into the hall. She understood where her sister was coming from, hell, she couldn’t even blame Tara. Sam would probably tell herself she was a danger and to stay away as well. She knew it wasn’t completely rational, but there was an officer right outside Tara’s room, another down the hall, and another in the lobby. There was no reason to think Tara would be in danger unless she was with Sam herself or with you.

Ghostface attacked Tara to draw Sam back to town and it worked. He then attacked you when he knew you’d be away from everyone else. So far, Ghostface’s plan has worked perfectly. This Ghostface knew who Sam’s father was, it took her reading her mom’s old diary to learn that and yet, this monster somehow found out. Then there was you, you were the daughter of Gale Weathers and Dewey Riley, Ghostface learned that before even you did. Ghostface somehow learned Gale had a child, and that child grew up to be you.

Sam knew every previous Ghostface was a part of the friend group, and the killings always went back to the very beginning. This all seemed like a lot for one of Tara's friends to plan though. Whoever did this would have had to do their research; they would have had to have connections. Gale did everything in secret with you, she even left you outside the hospital to remain anonymous, Sam couldn’t even begin to imagine how Ghostface learned that information, if they specifically went searching for some reason or they got lucky and dug from there.

You might not believe it, considering you were at the top of everyone’s suspect list, but you weren’t even on Sam’s list, not anymore. After watching you and Tara together she saw how much you loved her sister, you would literally die before you let anything happen to her, there was no way you’d ever hurt her. What really sold her was your reaction to hearing the truth, like she told Tara, you’d have to be one hell of an actor to sell that. You looked exactly how Sam felt all those years ago, your world shattering before your eyes.

Sam felt for you, she truly did. Learning her dad wasn’t her dad and her real dad was in fact a serial killer definitely sucked, it was something she’d be dealing with in therapy probably for the rest of her life. Despite all that though for the first half of her life she had a loving family, everything was perfect. You never had any of that though, you grew up knowing your family didn’t want you, you grew up alone. The only person you seemed to truly have in your life was Tara. Sam sighed; she asked you to stay away from Tara.

“You, okay?” Richie asked. Sam didn’t have time to stew in her guilt for long as she came back to reality, seeing Richie in front of her, watching her with concern all over his face.

Sam nodded, she looked around, the same officer was still outside Tara’s room, typing away on his phone. Judy was down the hall talking to another officer and pointing to your room. All of Tara’s friends had left though, just as she asked. Part of Sam wondered if she should do the same and just come back in the morning, so far, every time she visited Tara, she seemed to be making things worse.

“Want to go back to the motel?” Richie asked, giving her an awkward smile. “You need to rest, today was a lot,” he reached up and gave her arm a comforting rub.

Sam gave him a sad smile and nodded. “Yeah,” she whispered. Maybe she just needed a break, she just needed to go and sleep in an actual bed, her mind might be more at ease staying at the hospital, but she didn’t think she’d get much sleep in the waiting room chairs.

She followed Richie out of the hospital. “I’ll grab the car,” he whispered before running off across the parking lot.

Sam bounced up and down on her feet outside the hospital. She tried to ignore the fact that Dewey and Gale were clearly arguing a few feet away from her.

“You kept our daughter from me!” Dewey tried to shout but his voice ended up cracking. “Our daughter.”

“I know, I know,” Gale said. She reached out for Dewey, but he stepped away. Sam really was trying not to eavesdrop; she just couldn’t help it. “I’m sorry, I know that’s not enough. I don’t know what else to say.”

“There’s nothing to say!” Dewey gestured widely. “I knew your career was important to you but why didn’t you say something? Out of all the ways…” he shook his head. “Why didn’t you just leave her with me?”

Gale opened and closed her mouth a few times. “I was scared.” Dewey shook his head, clearly not wanting to hear this excuse. “We had just broken up; I was in New York.”

“But you came back to town, you left her here, you-you-,” he gripped at his hair. “We could have figured something out.”

“Let me make this right,” Gale whispered, stepping closer.

Dewey looked at Gale long and hard for a moment before slowly shaking his head. “I’m not sure you can.” With that he walked off, leaving Gale to stand there crying alone.

Sam let out a relieved breath when she saw Richie pull up. She ran to the car as quickly as she could. She had enough going on at the moment, the last thing she wanted was to get caught up in your apparent family drama. She couldn’t blame you or Dewey though, Sam couldn’t even forgive her own mother for keeping her birth father a secret, she didn’t see how you or Dewey could ever forgive Gale.

Sam rested her arm on the door and her head in her hand, she stared out the window as Richie drove them to the motel. Sam had picked out the motel, it was one of the only ones in town, and she had yet to even enter the room.

“And we’ve arrived,” Richie said, breaking Sam out of her trance.

She got out of the car and followed Richie to the door. Richie opened the door, doing a little wave with his hand as he gestured inside the room. Sam smiled at his theatrics but as soon as she got to the doorway she stopped. “What’s wrong?” Richie asked.

“You know, I think I need to clear my head,” Sam said, stepping back. “I’m going to go for a drive.”

“Want me to come?”

Sam shook her head. “I think I just need some time alone.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah,” Sam nodded. “I won’t be too long.” She leaned forward, giving Richie a quick kiss before plucking the keys from his hands.

“Okay,” Richie said before entering the room.

Sam got in the driver’s seat of the car. She stared at the motel building in front of her, her body was absolutely exhausted, the only thing calling her name was the crappy bed she knew was inside. Her mind was going a mile a minute though, she knew she’d never be able to rest like this, she just needed to clear her head. She started the car and slowly began to back out of the parking space and turn back onto the main road.

Sam drove around aimlessly, despite growing up in the town she didn’t have a destination in mind, she just kept turning at a stop sign. She furrowed her brow when she saw blue lights flashing up ahead. She looked around, her heart picking up slightly when she realized what street she was on exactly. She pulled over on the side of the road, away from the emergency vehicles. She rushed across the street, her eyes frantically searching for a familiar face, specifically one she was desperate to see safe and sound.

There were already several police cruisers and an ambulance at the house, officers had even already taped up the scene. It hadn’t been too long since everyone left the hospital, when Sam left Judy was still there. Whatever happened had to have just occurred, the quick response of the authorities did nothing to ease Sam’s anxieties.

Sam began to go under the police tape when an officer appeared in front of her. “Sorry ma’am, this is an active crime scene,” he said, holding up his hand.

“What happened?” Sam asked, trying to see around the officer.

Sam’s eyes landed on a yellow tarp being placed over a body on the front porch. “The sheriff.”

Sam’s eyed widened, she had just been with the sheriff, Mindy said the sequel characters, as she liked to call them, didn’t matter, there was no reason for anyone to think Judy would be attacked, besides, she was the sheriff, that wasn’t an easy person to go after.

“What about her son? Sam asked, her eyes instantly scanning for him. “Wes, please, I’m a friend.” Wes only had his mom; she couldn’t imagine him witnessing this or discovering her body.

When Sam looked up, meeting the cops' eyes for the first time, she saw it on his face, she knew what his next words would be. “I’m sorry,” he whispered. He turned to walk back across the lawn, back to the crime scene.

Sam ran a hand through her hair. She was just with Wes, he wasn’t supposed to be a target, there was no reason for him to be a target. Mindy was naïve enough to believe this Ghostface was only going after those connected to the first set of killings and Sam was stupid enough to believe it. Judy might not have liked Sam but without her around, the investigation would slow down even more, everyone would be more concerned with the sheriff's death than actually stopping Ghostface.

“I can’t believe you,” Sam heard a man say. She turned to see Gale Weathers walking across the sidewalk, speedily in her heels away from a news van. Dewey was trailing after her, clearly unhappy with whatever Gale was doing or about to do.

“This was the only way to come,” Gale snapped, spinning around to glare at Dewey.

“Oh, was our secret daughter being in danger not enough for you?” Dewey whispered harshly.

“I didn’t report at the hospital. I would never do that to her,” her voice cracked.

Dewey let out a humorless chuckle. “Gale Weathers putting someone else before her career? Guess that makes you mother of the year.” Dewey brushed past her, not waiting for her to say anything.

While Dewey began to talk to one of the officers close by, Sam watched as Gale ran her hands down her blazer, smoothing out any wrinkles. When Gale turned around Sam couldn’t even tell Dewey’s words had affected her, she kept her face completely neutral as she walked to a spot in front of the police tape. The only indication that Dewey’s words hit her was the way she gripped the microphone in her hands. When her camera man popped up, propping the camera on his shoulder as he pointed at her to begin, she fell right into reporter mode. She smiled at the camera and began to recount the recent Ghostface killings, effortlessly leading into the latest attack on Judy and Wes.

“Hey!” Sam shouted when she caught sight of a familiar officer. “Hey, what are you doing here?” She shouted again, finally getting officer Vincent to look at her.

“I heard the call about the sheriff,” he said, as if that explained everything.

“Who’s guarding my sister?”

“All hands-on deck,” he shrugged and made his way over to the sheriff's body and the other officers.

Sam let out a frustrated groan, she knew the murder of the sheriff was top priority, but she couldn’t believe that cop left his position. Deputy Vincent had orders to protect Tara, he clearly wasn’t doing that, Sam highly doubted he could bring something new to the table that the other officers couldn’t. Sam’s eyes widened when she realized the cop who had been guarding her sister’s door was now standing across the lawn, nowhere near the hospital.

Sam didn’t hesitate to take off back towards her car. “Where are you going?” Dewey shouted after her.

“My sister is in danger!” Sam shouted back; she didn’t have time to waste. She told you to stay away from Tara, she herself left the hospital, now the one person ordered to protect Tara was also gone, there was literally no one standing between Tara and Ghostface coming after her.

Sam didn’t know shit about the movies, she didn’t know how any of this was actually supposed to work. What she did know though was that whoever was doing this was trying to hurt Sam for some reason and now that her sister was defenseless the easiest way to hurt Sam would be to go after Tara again. Ghostface let Tara live the first time, that was just to draw Sam back to town though, there was no way he’d let her live the second time.

“What are you doing?” Sam asked when she saw Dewey running after her.

“Figured you could use backup,” Dewey sighed, though he didn’t seem thrilled about most likely running straight into the line of fire.

“You don’t need to stay?” Sam flicked a glance across the way where Gale stood, talking to her camera man as she gestured behind her, talking about the crime scene.

“This isn’t where I’m needed,” is all Dewey said.

Sam didn’t waste anymore time before she jumped in the car, quickly starting it, she barely checked her mirrors as she whipped back out onto the road. She ignored the way Dewey groaned, his hands flailing to grasp the handle on the door as he was flung back against the seat.

With one hand Sam whipped out her phone, quickly tapping on Richie’s contact. “Hey,” Richie greeted after a few rings.

“Get to the hospital,” Sam said quickly.

“What? Why? What’s going on?”

“I think Tara’s in danger.”

There was a long pause, Sam wondered if she somehow had lost him. “You want me to go to the hospital where a psycho killer might be?” She could hear the hesitation in his voice.

“Richie, please,” Sam begged.

“Okay, okay, I’m going.”

“We’ll meet you there.” Sam made an abrupt right turn, letting her phone fly out of her hand and into Dewey’s lap.

Dewey let out a groan and held out the phone to Sam. “Sorry,” she whispered. She quickly took the phone back, scrolling through the contacts until she found the one she wanted.

“Now, who are you calling?” Dewey asked.

“Y/N,” Sam answered instantly. Dewey furrowed his brow; he opened his mouth to say something else but before he could Sam heard the little click indicating someone had picked up. “Y/N,” she practically screamed into the phone.

“Too what do I owe the displeasure Samantha?” you asked, clearly still pissed at her.

Sam couldn’t blame you; she couldn’t even be bothered to care you called her Samantha, there were more important matters at hand. “Ghostface is going after Tara.”

“What?” You instantly got serious. “How do you know?” It sounded like you were shuffling around.

“Judy’s dead.” There was silence on the other end, Sam couldn’t even hear you moving around anymore. “Wes too.”

“Fuck,” you whispered.

“He’s going after Tara.” Sam let out a shaky breath, she knew how hypocritical she was, she told you to stay away from Tara because you were going to put her in danger and now, she was calling you, her only hope at protecting Tara. “Look I’m-”

“He’s not laying a fucking hand on her,” you cut her off. Sam couldn’t help but glance at her phone, your voice had gotten much darker, she really wouldn’t want to be Ghostface at the moment.

“Thank you,” she whispered.

“Whatever,” with that you hung up.

Sam blinked away a few tears, you were there, Tara would be fine. She didn’t miss the way Dewey was glancing at her. “I told her to stay away from Tara,” Sam whispered.

“And yet she was the one you called,” he said.

“I knew she’d ignore me,” Sam let out a humorless chuckle.

“She really loves her,” Dewey whispered more to himself.

Sam spared a quick glance at Dewey. He was slumped in the seat, staring out the windshield but at nothing in particular. Sam couldn’t imagine what he must be going through, his wife, ex-wife, love of his life, never told him they had a daughter together. Sam might not have known Dewey all too well, but she knew he was a good man. He and you were robbed of getting to be a family. He was robbed of getting to be a father and you were robbed of getting a loving father.

Sam nodded. “She’s very protective,” Sam said quietly. “She won’t let anyone, no matter who they are,” She smiled to herself, remembering how you got with her when it came to Tara, you didn’t care she was Tara’s older sister, your only priority was making sure Tara was okay, “hurt someone she loves.”

Sam caught the small, yet sad, smile on Dewey’s face. Sam whipped the wheel, making another sharp turn. Everything was going to be fine, you were with Tara, you would protect her, and she and Dewey were on the way, no one else was going to die today.

[minhosimthings]

Girl Dad!Skz headcannons

Pairings: husband!Skz × wife!fem!reader

Warnings: fluff fluff fluff, mentions of pregnancy, reader wears a dress, mentions of food, teensy swearing

A/N: GUESS WHO HAS BABY FEVER AYY ITS THIS BITCH RIGHT HERE. I am so DONE with watching my fav idols play with babies and not expect me to die. WHERE IS MY CHAN WHO'LL GIVE MR A BABY HUH? anyways enjoy my very drunken headcannons

Bang Christopher Chan

DID I JUST HEAR BEST DAD IN THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD

This man was born to be a dad istg

He'd be so amazing when you're pregnant, like he'd ask his mom for advice, give you belly rubs if your ask and will willingly lend his entire closet to you.

Would be so supportive through the birth process, is not disgusted or anything because he is him.

"She looks just like you."

Would be just a teensy bit overprotective, just a teensy bit.

"And you will bring her back by 7 yes? Oh and what's your address for unrelated purposes?"

*sends the address to Minho incase he needs to murder anyone*

Would be so comforting when she gets her period

"you know I used to do this to your mother.", While massaging her back.

The baby would grow up multilingual and Chan would be so smug about it

"my daughter is my second producer

Lee Minho/Lee Know

Would have such mixed emotions when you tell him you're pregnant

On the one hand A PERSON MADE UP OF BOTH OF YOU? WOAH

On the other hand OH SHIT A PERSON WHO HAS BOTH OUR GENES

Cooks all your weird ass cravings for you but not before giving you a side eye

"Alright y'all are gonna get a sibling." *Is talking to the cats*

Buys everything cat themed

"baby what if the baby is a dog person?"

Y'all have twins, a boy and a girl (manifesting my twin dad Minho fantasies)

Would dance for them when they're babies and would get elated when they try to copy him

Pouts when their first word is mama

Brags so much about them

"I mean they are MY spawn, obviously they're better at dance than your kid, Susan"

Seo Changbin

GIRL DAD GIRL DAD GIRL DAD

So elated when you tell him you're pregnant

PREGNANT CUDDLES KZKSNSNJ

Would be a 100% on board with lifting your belly to save your back

When you find out it's a girl, he straight on sobs.

"I CAN'T HANDLE ANOTHER PAIR OF ADORABLE YN EYES LOOKING AT ME"

Holds the baby extra carefully in his buff ass arms

She looks like you part 2

Tea parties with her are serious buisness for him

"jagi can't you see im currently discussing with the princess about her magical dragon I'll do the dishes later."

Would probably ask her if she wants to go to the gym with her dad and when she says yes he'd be so happy

"you're better than your mother she can't even lift her ass up and go to the gym"

Hwang Hyunjin

When I say this man would paint you a portrait when you tell him you're pregnant-

HE'LL PAINT YOU A FUCKING PORTRAIT

So sweet with you all throughout but also a nervous wreck

Much like me

Would love to paint your belly if you allow him to

Would try your weird cravings with you

And actually like them

Let's not pretend like Hyun doesn't do the pregnant woman pose everyday

Cries so hard when your baby is born

He doesn't mind the gender or anything, but when he found out it's a girl-

"GUYS ITS A MINI Y/N"

She looks like you part 3

Such a clumsy mess when it comes to taking care of her

ART CLASSES ART CLASSES ART CLASSES

"Darling, we painted this for you."

Han Jisung

Immediately freezes when you tell him

Jisung.exe has stopped working

"wait so the protection didn't.... Protect?"

Now Y/N.exe has stopped working trying to figure out whether you actually used protection or not

Talks to your belly all day

Treats the baby like a gossip partner

"girl you won't believe what Hyunjin did today."

"what did he do?"

"yn shush I'm talking to our baby girl."

Is your personal high school cheerleader during the birth

"jagi you are slaying right now you can do this."

Cries when baby is born part 3

Calls her a co-producer part 2

Spoils her shitless

She has him wrapped around her finger, much like her mother :)

Making playlists with her is his love language

Lee Felix Yongbok

Did I just hear breeding kink

Cries when you tell him

Bakes so many brownies when you tell him like one time that you're craving his brownies

Makes your weird cravings part 3

Idk what it is with me and DanceRacha making all your weird cravings

Runs you baths, with bath salts, bath bombs, scented candles and massages your aching muscles I WILL DIE RIGHT NOW

Is the best during the birth, holds your hand allowing you to squeeze it as hard as you want

Dresses baby up like the fashionista she is

Is so amazed and ecstatic when the baby gets an Aussie accent

"JAGI SHE JUST SAID BREKKIE"

Kim Seungmin

Tsundere daddy meow

Will literally melt like his face will be like 🥺

Buys all the cute stuff on day one

I'm talking cradles, blinkies, toys, bonnets for some reason

"of course she needs a ponyo outfit darling come on"

Tones down his teasing a bit

Still makes fun of your penguin walk tho

And if you cry, he will comfort you and never forgive himself for it

Is kinda disgusted by the birth process but he's a strong soldier

Cries when baby is born part 4

Like Kim Seungmin crying is a real thing chat

Singing lessons are free for her, and she has her dad's angel voice!!

Also inherits her dad's roasting style, and she's the only one who can roast him back hehe

He kinda died inside when she told him he was old (he's never been prouder)

Yang Jeongin/ I.N

Bruh this guy istg

Mixed emotions part 2

"IM TOO YOUNG TO HAVE A CHILD"

Calms down eventually (after a slap on the head)

BELLY RUBS

Spoils the shit out of you because obviously

Asks his mum for advice part 2

Sings to your belly at night when he thinks you're asleep

Secretly hopes baby will have his dimple

He loves kids, so parenting is a natural thing that comes to him

Probably more experienced at holding a baby than you are

Feeds her for the first few days when you're tired

Perfect husband honestly he should marry me

Loves braiding her hair and giving her fashion advice

Mini fashion shows!!!

Dances with her a lot

[jackiepackiee]

How bout 16!stormbringer chuuya x reader where reader is one of the targets that veralines tryna kill and him and adam have to save them but their in school so adam and chuuya have to like follow them around all day and make sure nothing happens.

𝟣𝟨!𝒞𝒽𝓊𝓊𝓎𝒶 𝓍 𝐻𝓊𝓃𝓉𝑒𝒹 𝑅𝑒𝒶𝒹𝑒𝓇

𝒲𝒶𝓇𝓃𝒾𝓃𝑔𝓈 - 𝒱𝑒𝓇𝓁𝒶𝒾𝓃𝑒, 𝒜𝓈𝓈𝒶𝓈𝓈𝒾𝓃𝒶𝓉𝒾𝑜𝓃

𝒯𝓎𝓅𝑒 - 𝒽𝑒𝒶𝒹𝒸𝒶𝓃𝑜𝓃𝓈 / 𝒹𝒾𝒶𝓁𝑜𝑔𝓊𝑒

Will DIE so he doesn’t lose you

Wanted to state that first, I mean he’d go full corruption on the city and have his power overwhelm him if it means you’re safe

Especially now, since your death would be caused by him (not his fault, but would think it was)

Things also depend on if he’s already lost the flags or not

If he hasn’t?

Well he isn’t fully aware of the threat

He also isn’t aware of the pain

But if they’ve passed…

He knows how quickly the king of assassins will strike

And with the pain of losing his only friends all at once, he’s like a guard dog.

And if Verlaine is a bitch and sends his own spies or small assassins?

Chuuya will OBLITERATE them

He can’t very well kill Verlaine that quickly

But, he can fight him off

And keep him off your trail

Originally found out by a threat by Verlaine

Some cryptic letter in French left on your pillow

(He broke into your house, left a note, and left, all undetected. What’s scarier?)

You couldn’t read it, so you skipped on up to your favorite person, Chuuya, and asked him to translate it (even if you can read French, the letter made absolutely no sense. Riddles and mentions of names you don’t know)

His eyes stilled, no longer moving left to right as they had when he was engaged by the writing. Their usual light tone when he was with you had disappeared.

“Chuu? What’s wrong, you look…”

“Nothing, it’s nothing. You know what, I probably left this at your house last weekend… Don’t you have school? How about I walk you?”

He loved walking with you, a great start to his day. But today’s motives were different. He needed to make sure you were safe.

“Okay! Wait… who is that?!”

It’s… well it’s Adam. Maybe he could get some practice in on explaining confusing situations with you now?

“Hello, I’m Adam. I’m for Europole-“

“Shut up!.. Sorry bout him… let’s get you to school.”

Every time you questioned who the man with you was, Chuuya changed the topic

You knew Chuuya was a mafioso, but knowing Adam would make you ask too many questions

When you finally got to school, he was annoyed

He hadn’t planned this far and didn’t know what to do for your safety

Human version of “fuck it, we ball” and goes inside the school

“Yes, I’m a new student. Chuuya… And this is my dad, Adam.”

Gets let it?!? You don’t mind, of course

“What the fuck is trigonometry?”

“You ask like I know…”

“You’re the actual student.”

“You’re the one who chose to be here.”

Adam buts in. “Trigonometry is the study of-“

When you get to science class, it’s your lucky day that you have physics

He is amazed by gravity, seeing how his ability works in a scientific way

Definitely shows off, making the whiteboard marker fly across the room

“So that’s why I can lift heavy stuff? I wonder…”

Also definitely got yelled at cause the teacher thought he threw it

Chuuya definitely tells Adam to shut up at least every other minute

When you get to literature class, hope you aren’t reading a book on the human condition

Or anything with relationships of the family kind

Quickly gets reminded of Verlaine, and remembers why he is there

Holds you hand tight

“It’s not weird, I just… my hands are cold, that’s all” “Most teenagers who hold hands are involved in romantic-“ “Shut up Adam!”

It’s finally your last class and he’s nervous

On one side, he doesn’t have to worry about you surrounded by so many others

On the other side, it’s gonna be more difficult to protect you when he just has you and Adam without the cover of a whole student body

So, he takes you to his apartment

It’s… dull

He makes Adam watch the door, and you to his bedroom

Helps with your homework to try and ease any creeping ideas in your mind that this is all suspicious

Even if he isn’t any help, like at all

Sleepover!

Overall, you’re surviving

No fucking way that he’s losing you

Not you, never you

[honeygrahambitch]

Summary: Hannibal and Will question whether they are overprotective when it comes to their daughter.

Hannibal watched the blueberry jam boil softly in the pot and added two more spoons of sugar. Will entered the kitchen just as he was stirring.

"Smells good." He commented and grabbed the spoon from Hannibal, earning a scolding yet playful glance. "Where's Maeve?" He asked while tasting the soon-to-be-blueberry-jam.

"Still in the garden. I was supposed to help her catch butterflies but she clearly figured it out by herself." Hannibal replied and nodded towards one of the kitchen counters.

Five jars were aligned, each of them containing around two or three poor butterflies.

"That's impressive. Make sure to tell her they escaped by the time they die." Will said.

"Hopefully they don't die too soon, she said she was grabbing them a snack from the garden."

"I'm surprised you are fine with the bugs in your precious kitchen."

"She asked me to keep them company and I couldn't say no." Hannibal smiled. "You know, Will, I was thinking...are we doing what we are supposed to be doing? When that poor bird died we told her that she flew back to her family. When the squirrel died, we told her she found herself a better tree."

"Nah, it's fine. She is six, she shouldn't be worried about stuff like death. It needs more sugar." He said as he handed the spoon back to Hannibal.

"Only if I was trying to induce someone a diabetic coma." Hannibal commented, still thinking about the previous subject. "I sometimes wonder if we are overprotective but then I convince myself that I would rather have that than any other outcome. Isn't it the least damaging mistake we could make?"

"That's right, doctor." Will said as he wrapped his arms around Hannibal's middle, hugging him from behind. He rested his head on Hannibal's shoulder, watching the blueberry jam. "What were you saying about that bottle of wine?"

"Maybe later we could..." Hannibal started seductively but was interrupted by Maeve who excitedly burst into the kitchen, taking aback both of them.

"I brought them a snack!"

"That's amazing." Will said awkwardly after immediately stepping away from Hannibal. "So, did you get to name all of them?" He mumbled awkwardly.

"Are we really naming every creature?" Hannibal asked while innocently going back to his stirring. "Every time you name a bug, I am no longer allowed to...set it free."

Will's glance was what made him avoid the word "kill".

"I mean, Jeremy the bathroom spider hasn't hurt anyone." Will replied.

"Yet."

"I think there are too many to find names for all of them." Maeve said thoughtfully. "Help me feed them."

"Yes, you both go outside and do that. I don't want butterflies lurking around my blueberry jam."

"It would give it a special crunch." Will suggested making Maeve squeak. Hannibal arched an eyebrow that only added to Will's amusement.

Will's cheerful expression vanished in a second.

"What's that?" Was all he could mutter, his tone drawing Hannibal's attention too.

A drip of blood went down Maeve's forehead, reaching the bridge of her nose. She was just as confused so she reached out to it with her little hand. She was in fact more scared by her dads' reactions than the actual wound.

"When did you get hurt?" Will asked as he knelt on the floor and brushed her hair away, immediately followed by Hannibal.

"I think it was a twig-"

"Does it hurt, baby?" Hannibal followed carefully carefully turning her head so he could get a better glimpse.

"No. I'm okay-"

"What if it's getting infected?"

"What if she hit her head and will get a concussion? Baby, do you know what day is today?"

"Tues-"

"Do you think she will need stitches?"

"Maeve, don't be scared, it's nothing."

She knew from previous experiences that it was best to let them do their thing. Bomb her with questions, think about the most absurd causes and consequences. Then she would help the calm down.

"It doesn't even hurt-"

"It's probably the shock." Hannibal concluded.

"Did you get any other bruises? Let's lie down for a few minutes."

As if seeing them in utter shock was the most amusing thing, Maeve wiped the blood on her forehead with the back of her hand and smiled. "Now it's fixed. And the scratch is matching dad's. Can we feed the butterflies now?"

Blood didn't stop but was a lot less abundant this time.

Will and Hannibal sighed and looked at each other.

"No stitches. For now." Hannibal declared.

"It was worse when dad got his hand stuck in the meat grinder machine. I'm okay."

"He made quite a scene, didn't he?" Hannibal asked and earned a glance that screamed "fuck you" from Will.

They were, in fact, overprotective. Hannibal scolded himself for their reaction. He should have known better than to scare a child. Not that she looked scared. He didn't exclude the concussion possibility just yet but smiled when he saw Will's expression soften. He was probably thinking about the same thing.

"I can start listing the periodic table of elements if you are still worried. From the end to the beginning. Atomic mass included. But my butterflies are really starving."

"That's fine." Will said as he got up and grabbed two of the jars. "Let's go feed these weirdos."

"Just be careful." Hannibal said and kissed her forehead.

"I will. However I would be more worried about your blueberry jam. It's overflowing."

[lemon-russ]

They tried to flea bomb me but I endured. The fleas return.

Thank you as always @squishyowl for the dividers

Part 15/ ???

< previous || next >

Ao3 || Taglist request ||

Cato Sicarius x F!Reader

CW: Mentions of sex, not much going on today

Summary: Cato and Titus have to hitchhike the galaxy, Ambassador is grounded

word count: 1,849

Cato Isn’t sure he actually wants to go home now. Sure, he and Titus are being forced to work together to find a way to get home, and for once at least have a shared dread that is helping them get along. Nothing brings Brothers together like getting in trouble by Dad, it seemed.

But if he goes home, he has to face the consequences. Has the Ambassador explained anything to Guilliman? How much did she tell him? Was he walking into a guillotine? He doesn’t know the penalty for sleeping with a Primarch’s diplomat / assistant / Pet?, but he knows that he also disobeyed his orders, technically hijacked a ship, and went AWOL for two days. AWOL to go bury his face between the legs of a baseline human that he’s starting to think his primarch is treating like a surrogate daughter.

“Maybe you can go on ahead and I’ll catch up.” He says to Titus, who is looking over the ship ports itineraries for a way home. Titus glances over at him with a confused look.

“What? You want to hang back and see if there are any other vulnerable baseline girls for you to defile?” He says with a small snort, turning back to the papers.

Cato presses his lips into a line. “I may be a little reckless, but I’m not unfaithful.” He grumbles, turning to watch ships land and leave.

Titus chuckles tiredly. “That’s the part you have a problem with…?” He mumbles as he turns a page. “Look, I know you’re afraid of what Guilliman is going to do to you, but you don’t get to just hide.” He gives a casual shrug. “If you die, you die. Face it like a man.”

Cato glowers at his battle brother. “Wow. Thanks. Really comforting, Demetrian.”

Titus rolls his eyes. “Don’t call me that. We aren’t first name friendly. And I’m not going to rub your back and tell you it’s going to be ok. You committed like, four crimes. I know I’m not one to go around thumping the Codex at people like Leandros, but even I have a line. Four is a lot of crimes for a week, Sicarius.” Titus says tiredly. “Plus, I still hate you.”

Cato huffed a breath out his nose and crossed his arms. “It was probably only three crimes and maybe a grey area misdemeanor, Titus.” He grumbles.

“Ah, grey areas, we all know how much the Ultramarines love grey areas.” Titus says sarcastically. “I think I found a route we can take to a trade planet, and from there we can probably get a ride home or at least charter one.” He says, closing the stack of pages. “We have about an hour until the ship arrives.”

Cato sighs deeply, slumping his shoulders. “Do you think Lord Guilliman will believe me if I say I had a lapse in sanity? A mental break from over work?”

Titus chuckles. “I think you would be the first Astartes to ever break their programming to do so, so, no. I don’t think he would. I think your only chance is to confess to it all.”

Cato grimaced. But Titus was right. Guilliman valued honesty and taking responsibility. The issue was to be honest meant he would have to admit he had no regrets. He wasn’t ready to apologize and agree to stay away from the Ambassador. He tried staying away from her and it made him lose his mind and steal a ship. Even now, he was anxious that she was out of his sight again.

Was Guilliman being easy on her about this? Likely. He spoils her, and he probably assumed everything was Cato’s fault. Which was absurd- He is the victim here, if anyone. The Ambassador was the one who wanted to talk about feelings after they slept together, and she was the one to kiss him when they got home the first time. She clawed her way into his psyche and cursed him with obsession. Not that he can be mad with her, which is only further proof of her mind games honestly.

“What about you? Aren’t you nervous, or are you too used to getting reprimanded?” Cato asks, following Titus as he leaves the hangar and walks to the lodging areas.

Titus rolls his eyes. “Getting in a scrap with a brother is not a serious offense, especially not when he finds out why I hit you. I think in this case of ‘I was trying to defend the Ambassador from a predator’ I will be okay. You, not so much. But that’s what you get for being a deviant.” He says with a mocking shrug and smirk.

Cato scowls at him. “And I think when I explain you were checking out her ass all day and just are jealous because of some crush you don’t wanna admit, you’ll be in trouble with me.”

Titus grits his teeth. “I am not- you’re insane, you know that? You’re projecting your perversions on me.” He snaps. Cato rolls his eyes as they walk into the lodging area, heading to their rooms to pack. ”Right, well have fun trying to unravel all that. I just know the way you were looking at her in that dress was the same way I was, and only one of us has her permission to do that.” He huffed, heading to his door.

Titus growls a little, then slammed his door behind him. A moment later he flung it back open. “You still have my clothes, too, asshole, and left your dirty ones on my floor.”

Cato laughs a bit. “Sounds like a you problem, Demetrian.” He says as he shuts his door behind him.

Titus lets out an angry huff. “Don’t call me- argh!” He grumbled as he slammed his already splintered door again.

__________________________________________

You stare at your pile of paperwork, pouting a bit and doodling aimlessly on a scrap paper. Things were a little awkward since you returned to the Macragge’s Honour with Guilliman. He knows about you and Cato now, though he has to keep asking you to clarify that yes, it is romantic, like dating, like intimate, and yes you are a willing participant, and noCaptain Sicarius does not have blackmail on you.

He also made you get more head scans, Recalling how Cato was worried you’d bumped your head when you got back from the first mission together. The scans thankfully showed your brain was squeaky clean and, despite what Cato says, full of wrinkles. You even got a copy of the scan to show him when he got back, next time he calls you smooth brained.

None of this comfoted Guilliman though. And now you were grounded. Well, not grounded, but lets be honest. He grounded you. He doesn’t want you to speak to Cato until he does, and in fear of your apparently “erratic and confusing” behavior, you now had new babysitters.

Brother Gallan and Brother Brutus took turns hanging out outside your office door, reporting to Guilliman any time you left the office and where you went. They were specifically not allowed near you quarters though. Embarrassingly, Guilliman would not take your word for it that you don't have some sort of low level psyker effect on his Sons that makes them fall in love with you.

You shudder at the thought. It was a new, previously unknown level of mortification that now your boss is afraid of letting his supermutant soldiers around you too long for fear they will fall for some siren song of yours. He actually locks down your quarters- if you leave, he gets an alert. You’re allowed to go where you like of course, but now he wants to make sure no one is leaving with you, or Emperor forbid returning with you.

You sigh and rub your face. You haven’t gotten any of your work done, because also mortifyingly, you still can’t stop thinking about Cato. Is he ok? Are he and Titus pummeling each other still? How do you get home without imperial ships? You frown and rub your temples.

There’s a knock on your door, and you can tell who it is by the height of the sound. “Come in, sir…” you say tiredly, as Guilliman lets himself in and comes to stand at your desk. He smiles awkwardly down at you.

“Ambassador. How goes your work?” He asks with forced casualness.

You press your lips and move a paper over your doodles. “Uh, fine, sir.” You lie.

Of course he doesn’t actually care how your work is going, so he doesn’t press. “Of course, diligent as always. On another note, I have been… Thinking.”

You frown a bit. “On what, sir…?”

He clears his throat, glancing at the wall. “About… you and Captain Sicarius.” He says. “I think, if I can talk to him- and after he serves punishments for his actions, I can’t let hijacking go- then if he seems sufficiently reasonable and dedicated, and you in turn…” he sighs and gives a resigned frown. “I’ll consider looking the other way on your…. relationship.”

You sit up, eyes widening. “Oh- um, thank you sir” you say with a little surprise. “That would mean a lot to me. I know it is odd but, I do like him a lot.” You add with a small smile.

Guilliman gives a tight frown. “Yes. You’ve made that abundantly clear, Ambassador.” He says with a small sigh. “…I mean… Have you considered Ventris…?”

“Sir!” You gasp, blushing. “Please! Th-this is not just me wanting to hook up with any Astartes-” you stutter.

He lets out a small groan. “Fine, fine. I just thought maybe you could consider your options. I have so many nice, obedient, responsible sons, and you choose Sicarius?”

You frown, crossing your arms, face still pink. “Please, sir, don’t make me explain it in any more detail than we are both comfortable with” You plead.

He sighs a long, deep sigh. “Okay, fine. I’ll be heading back to my office then. Just… keep up the good work.” He says tiredly. He starts to the door, looks awkward, then walks back to your desk and pats you on the back. “You… you do a good job, Ambassador.” He says, clearing his throat.

You blink up at him, knitting your brows. “Uh… thank you, sir?”

He clears his throat again. “I did some reading. Some literature suggests that baseline women who do not feel like they receive approval from their patriarchal figures in their life will seek out men who do not value them well-”

“SIR!” You snap, cheeks burning.

He puts his hands up defensivly and returns to the door, “Okay! I’m going.” He chuckles. “I value and appreciate you, Ambassa-”

“LORD GUILLIMAN!” You interrupt with a shout as he chuckles and closes the door behind him.

[klbwriting]

Broken Prism

Chapter 1

Fandom: Red Hood

Pairing: Jason Toddxfemale!Reader

Warnings: Some violence, Batman level of violence

Summary: Everyone sees the world in black and white until they meet their soulmate. Jason Todd assumed Gothamites didn't have souls let alone soulmates, so when he as Robin saves a girl from thugs attacking her school he is shocked when their eyes meet and the world is suddenly a vibrant rainbow. Before they can speak she passes out and he decides to keep her safe he has to watch from afar. Until he dies.

You saw Robin and you saw color. You knew it must be dangerous to be Robin so you let him stay away, hoping someday you could meet and at least hear his voice. Then, it's all black and white again and you mourn the loss of a soulmate you never knew.

A year later you wake up and the world is back in color. You are confused and frightened, not sure what is happening, but you know one thing, you accepted your soulmate hiding before, but now you would find him.

Notes: Hello! This Jason Todd fic is brought to you by the people see in black and white until they meet their soulmate. I thought how crazy it would drive someone to first know their soulmate is a masked vigilante, then they die and everything is back to black and white, and then its color again. That person would probably be obsessed with finding out what happened, why it happened, and who exactly their soulmate was to go off and die and then come back to life. I hope you enjoy! Comments/critiques always appreciated! PS. once again, my Jason Todd fancast is Lewis Tan (but also this GIF of baby Jason Todd brings a sweet tear to my eye)

The first day of high school could be a lot of things. The day you met a new friend, the day you get a lunch tray dropped on you, the day you have a mortifying wardrobe malfunction. What it shouldn't be was the day you almost die AND meet your soulmate. One or the other, not both. However, your life always seemed unnecessarily complicated so when a pair of armed thugs arrived, taking teachers hostage and diligently searching lockers and bags it shouldn't have surprised you. Honestly, it didn't surprise you when they found what they were looking for inside your backpack. You knew your foster dad was shady, shady enough to try and steal money from Two-Face and hide it in your bag like the coward he was. The minions took you, kicking and screaming, out a side door, dragging you by your hair. You tried to fight, swinging wildly and trying to pull away, yelping when you were yanked back easily.

"What are we taking her for? She's just some snot-nosed kid," one of the thugs said, looking around warily. "We don't have time to take a hostage, the Batman's out early today." The other minion scoffed, yanking again on your hair.

"I'm not scared of that psycho, and I want a new plaything, this one looks fun," he said. "A little young normally but she's filling out well." You felt sick rise in your throat at what he had planned for you. He pulled you ahead of the other attacker, letting him fall back to watch his back. You were rounding the side of the school towards the alley, certain you were going to horribly mutilated and murdered, when you swore you saw a shadow amidst the dumpsters.

Then you heard the other thug collapse, grunting. You tried to turn and look, worried that some other gang was coming to join the fun, but the one holding your hair threw you. Your head rocked against the brick wall of the school. You muttered out a curse as you sat down, starting to see black engulfing you, when you made contact with Robin. Before you lost consciousness you saw it, his eyes suddenly in full color, then you succumbed.

Gotham wasn't the place Jason thought he would find a soulmate. He didn't he'd ever see color in the world. Between the rich trying to buy, sell, or steal anything and everything their sick hearts' desired and the criminals who would kill you on sight just for fun he was surprised anyone, including himself, has a soul to begin with. So when black and white suddenly became color he froze, almost missing the fist coming for him face. Almost. His dodge was late, the thugs punch grazing his cheek, not enough to knock him down but enough that he felt pain in his jaw. He still recovered before the attack, throwing his own punch that was reinforced with black brass knuckles, landing true right to side of the thug's head, knocking the man down and out.

Batman looked at him, gaze dark. He dropped the other attacker on top of the first, grabbing the backpack and getting the money from it. They had been tracking this cash, needing it collected before the toxin that it was doused in caused anyone to start laughing. He promptly lit the stack on fire, making sure it burned to ash, while Jason picked up the girl and took her out of the alley, nearer to the school. He waved down the GCPD that was there and saw two officers come running, waving for an ambulance to follow them down the street. He took one more glance at her, his soulmate, before going back to the alley. Batman motioned to the building next to them and Jason followed, grappling to the roof and landing just after Batman, knowing he was going to get chewed out for at least two things.

"Brass knuckles Robin?" Batman asked. "Those are something you aren't able to use properly yet." Jason glared, but bit his tongue. Better a tongue lashing now than extra training drills in the evening. "And what happened back there? You hesitated, that isn't like you." Jason didn't answer again. The last thing he needed was Batman knowing that the world wasn't in shades of gray for Jason anymore. He could see the red of the bricks of the school, he had seen the brown in your eyes, and the auburn of your hair. He had no idea what these colors were actually called, he would have to borrow the flashcards Dick had bought when he'd met Barbara. "Start talking Robin."

"The brass knuckles are helpful, I didn't need to use more energy to take out that guy who is literally twice my size," he said. He hated to remember that while Batman was fully grown, in his mid-30s, and the peak of his physical self, Jason was still just 16, a little scrawny despite his weight training, and maybe had some growing to do. "And I don't know why I hesitated, maybe it was seeing a kid my own age almost getting her head smashed in." He was watching the EMTs carting her to the ambulance. He felt the need to follow them, make sure she was safe. He wanted to find her tomorrow and talk to her, hear what she sounded like when she wasn't screaming. Batman watched Jason as he watched the girl they saved. Something was up, but he wasn't sure what. They weren't in an area of town that Jason had ever lived, nor did he go there when he wasn't Robin so he didn't know the girl. He would have to keep an eye on his sidekick. For now he just told him to go home. He would do one last sweep of the city and make sure the tainted cash was all collected and destroyed.

Jason should have gone back to the manor, but instead he followed the ambulance to Gotham General, perching on the roof. He watched them drive inside and wished he had a change of clothes, he could at least sneak in easier. He moved to the access stairs and headed down, keeping to the quieter hallways and stairwells until he was able to find her. She was still unconscious, though it looked medicinal now. He stared at her, memorizing her face, counting every freckle, watching her chest go up and down as she slept. He heard voices in the hallway and looked back at her for a moment, silently promising her that she would safe from now on, he would make sure of it. He disappeared into a vent, heading back outside and starting back towards the manor. After about three blocks he knew that Nightwing had found him, so he stopped, waiting for his big brother to catch up.

"Batman wanted me to keep track of you little bird," Nightwing said. Jason rolled his eyes at the name but didn't say anything. It secretly made him feel special, hearing his brother call him a nickname. "So who was the girl?" It figures he had seen him in the hospital room.

"We just saved her from some of Two-Faces bitches at Gotham North high school," he said. "The asshole threw her into a wall, I looked at her and her eyes, they're the most beautiful color I've ever seen." Nightwing's eyebrows got high enough that Jason saw them peeking out of his mask.

"Going to need those flashcards, did you tell Batman?" Nightwing asked. Jason shook his head. "I get it, but he should know..."

"No Dick," Jason said. He knew that Batman would have him running laps around the grounds until he collapsed if he heard Jason calling Dick by his mortal name, but right now he needed his brother to understand how serious he was. Jason didn't want Batman to know, didn't need Batman or Bruce Wayne worrying about him, about what finding his soulmate might do to him. He would be considered a liability, too young to handle the responsibility, balance the need to see her, to protect her, with the need to keep Gotham safe. Dick had already been Nightwing when Barbara had come along, Bruce had simply told him to not let the soulmate urges distract him, and that had been enough. Jason was younger, more reckless, more unpredictable and Bruce would be waiting for him to screw up, another thing to add to the list of things Jason didn't do as well as Dick with.

"He will figure it out," Dick said. Jason stood up and shook his head, grappling away, wanting to get back home and get a shower before patrol tonight. He needed to think.

You started learning the names of colors as soon as you got home. It was amazing, seeing everything the world had to offer, so much beauty and so bright. But nothing could drive the image of Robin's eyes out of your mind. You knew that he probably hadn't come back to see you again because he was Robin. No one knew who Batman, Robin, or Nightwing were and despite being soulmates its not like he knew you, knew he could trust you. So you went about your life, telling only your closest friends that you had a soulmate. They of course questioned you on who it was but you said that it was a quick glance, no names exchanged, no phone numbers, nothing, so you weren't sure how to find him. They had plenty of suggestions that you pretended to entertain but you knew it was useless, if Robin didn't want you to know him then you wouldn't. You would gaze at every boy with dark hair and brown eyes you came across, at school, at the arcade, the library, your job at Big Belly Burger, everywhere, just trying to find someone who's eyes matched his. You never found him. Then everything changed.

It was evening, you were sitting in your room, watching a movie, once again marveling about the colors in the mountains as the camera swept over the scenery. Your new foster parents didn't understand your fascination with nature documentaries but you didn't want to tell about Robin, they would be worried you were crazy and send you back to the group home and you didn't want to be there ever again. The documentary was just changing to the ocean, your favorite part, when suddenly the world went back to black and white. Your breath stopped, eyes getting wide. You blinked once, twice, three times, but it stayed black and white. You stood, wanting to run out the door, find Robin, but you couldn't, you had no idea where he might be. You knew what had happened, the world only went back to black and white when your soulmate died. You couldn't believe this. You'd never even heard his voice and now you never would. You collapsed on your floor, tears streaming down at the future you had been imagining, all of it crashing down around you. Your parents found you like this, inconsolable, and despite not wanting to go back to the group home that's where you were taken a few days later, the world still dull and gray.

You spent the next year in gray, unable to bring yourself back to the person you had been before. You bounced around homes, therapy seeming useless for you, new parents not sure how to draw you out of your depression. Your friends told you about support groups for people who lost their soulmates, people who could help you recover, but you didn't want to. You wanted to hear his voice, feels his hand, know what his name was. It wasn't fair, nothing in your life seemed fair. You went to bed every night with dried tears on your cheeks.

Until, one day, you woke up, and the color was back.

[affixjoy]

Today I continued my Star Trek journey by rewatching Star Trek (2009) and boy howdy do I have some thoughts.

So first off, I saw this for the first time when I came out in 2009. It wasn’t my first experience with Star Trek, but it was probably my first with Kirk and Spock and that gang. I remember liking it a lot.

Now that I’ve watched all of TOS and a few of the movies with the original cast my feelings are a little more complicated.

Overall, fun movie! I imagine they had to have felt the weight of recasting and redoing such iconic characters, and in a lot of ways they succeeded. It certainly got younger people like me interested in the franchise!

💫 Spock: I do love this version of him. His “live long and prosper” to the VSA is perfectly bitchy and I’m obsessed with it.

💫BONES!! if you’ve read any of my other posts you’ll know that somehow Bones snuck up on me as my favorite character. I love his intro here, and I think Karl Urban gets the tone just right. This really is a buffet for the McKirkers out there, I can see how this led to 1000 academy era fics of them.

💫Kirk: oh Jim. Jimmy Jim Jim. Baby boy. What are you doing. How did being played by Chris Pine (who is incredibly hot) make you LESS attractive??

Obviously this Kirk suffers from some Kirk drift and the added trauma of losing his dad. He’s so much angrier, so much less sweet and nerdy. Rewatching this now I can see why I was so hesitant to like him in TOS because he’s a lot less lovable here.

💫 I get it’s an emergency and they had to for plot reasons, but almost all of Pike’s staffing choices make no sense. Sure, Spock as acting captain, I get that. But everyone else?? Imagine being one of the other people there who has been with starfleet for years and seeing him hand Kirk the role of first officer. The ship can’t be entirely cadets can it?? Imagine the group texts going around after like “thank god he didn’t die because I really need to bitch about this.”

💫 I love all three Uhuras (tos, aos, and snw) and I get why they made her Spock’s love interest here because they’ve got fun chemistry! They have a lot in common, they’re both hot and smart, I get it. But cmon guys, that man is a 6 on the Kinsey scale. You keep pairing him with women and it doesn’t work.

💫 I feel like they worked in lots of little references to classic trek, from plot stuff to smaller details like when Spock enters from the turbolift at the end in a very TMP way. I love that, it makes me feel like the people making the movie really care about the stories and the characters. When Spock Prime says good luck I felt all the weight of his relationship with his Jim and how it changed him. So lovely and touching.

And just how close they made Kirk and Spock stand, especially towards the end of the movie. They were always glued to each other in TOS and JJ must have known us Spirk shippers needed something to latch on to 😅

💫 There’s too much action in this movie for me. We didn’t need to see Scotty beamed into the water tank. The best sf stuff is always story based, I don’t need extravagant fights and cgi shit. I’m sure there are people who watch science fiction for the spectacle but I’m here for the ideas and the feelings.

💫 goddddd everything with Vulcan and losing Amanda. Rip all our hearts out why don’t you. Spock’s mom dying is just heartbreaking. I know they had to lose someone we knew to make the destruction of the planet more real to us as viewers but so crushing to see it.

💫 Old Spock 😭😭😭

He knows right away who Jim is and expects that Jim found him on purpose.

Old Spock just launched right in to the mind meld huh. To me this really says that he and his Jim are on very casual mind meld terms and he’s not fully understanding that this Jim is not his Jim.

Think about how fucking weird all this must be for old Spock. How heartbreakingly strange it would be so see a young version of your husband and send him to a young version of yourself. Meeting all your old friends young selves, years after you’ve lost them all.

And from here out it’s just miscellaneous thoughts I jotted down while watching that don’t fit great anywhere else:

⭐️I love when the redshirt is so excited to get the Romulans and Kirk gets this look like… that’s why you’re here? Dude the battle not the appeal here. A nice glimpse of how this Kirk is similar at heart to TOS Kirk.

⭐️Love you Sulu and your fencing skills

⭐️I love when they stop the lift for emotional reasons.

⭐️“Our destinies have changed” goddddd great speech Spock

⭐️Jim has the look of a man who is frequently escorted places by security

⭐️Spock wants to break Kirk so bad 😂

⭐️When Jim slaps Spock’s back and Spock has a look of “I think that just awakened something in me.”

⭐️Spock you’re calling him Jim already? You slut. (Delighted, affectionate)

Overall I think it’s a fun movie but it misses a lot of what’s at the heart of the classic Trek I love. They try to do everything too fast and it just doesn’t work as well for me. I’m excited to rewatch the next two and see how these versions of the characters change!

[sinner-sunflower]

P.2 HH Lucifer-centric AU 26/?

STORY 1, PART 1, PART 2, PART 3, PART 4, PART 5, PART 6, PART 7, PART 8, PART 9, PART 10, PART 11, PART 12, PART 13, PART 14, PART 14.5, PART 15, PART 16, PART 17, PART 18, PART 19, PART 20, PART 21, PART 22, PART 23, PART 24, PART 25, PART 27

I wish this was longer but death goes by faster than you think.

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

Lucifer thought it was a myth, you know, the idea that life flashes before your eyes when you're dying.

But as he recalls everything that happened since the beginning beginning, he wonders if he is reliving it all in a loop. Can a memory experience it as well? Can a memory exist within a memory? He doesn't know if he's just a copy of a copy, and that thought terrifies him.

But this feels real. Dying, that is.

Roo: You were always so arrogant.

A voice echoed somewhere. It was Roo, appearing suddenly like she always does.

Arrogant or misunderstood? Lucifer replied internally, voice laced with a hint of weariness.

Roo: Does it matter now? You're dying, fallen. Even you cannot cheat fate.

Oh Father, this is really happening. He's really going to die; just when he found new people to care about, someone to love again, and reconnected with his daughter—he's going to leave them. Leave Alastor. The Sins. God, Charlie.

He wants to spend the rest of eternity making her happy. He wants to tell her more stories of his good times in Heaven and Eden. To teach her how to properly use her powers. To watch her fulfill her dreams. Damn it, he wants to see her get married. To walk her down the aisle. To welcome Vaggie to their family. He wants to be there for every laugh, every tear, every triumph, and every setback. He longs to witness every precious moment of her life unfold.

It'snotfairIt'snotfair!It'snotfairIt'snotfair!It'snotfairIt'snotfair!It'snotfairIt'snotfair!

He wants to spend one more moment with Alastor. To kiss him. To hug him and never let go. He wants to find another stupid Marigold in every corner for him to find. He wants to hear Alastor's voice, to share in his laughter, to feel the warmth of his presence. He wants to be selfish and let Hell be destroyed—just please, 'Dad, please I just want to live one more day!'

He yearns to see Earth's sun rise one more time, to feel its warmth on his face as he sits on it's grassy plains. To share another meal, another conversation, another fleeting second of joy. He wants to hold onto the fragile, beautiful moments that made life now worth living. The thought of leaving now, of abandoning this newfound happiness, is unbearable. He’s desperate, clawing at the very fabric of existence for one more chance, one more breath, one more heartbeat.

How will Alastor learn to love again? How will the Sins cope with losing the person who raised them, who gave them their everything? How will Charlie-

How will Michael and the others...

But it's not them who he calls out to. Because he's also once a child. And like a child in their time of need, he calls out to his father.

'Father! Please! I need you! Don't let them take me yet, DAD PLEASE!'

Lucifer wants to scream it all out, but he only spits out blood as the sword of his older brother impales him right in his heart. For a moment, he thinks it is Michael holding the sword—that he has betrayed him again.

The relief he feels when he realizes it is the exorcist who just stabbed him almost makes him forget what's happening.

Almost.

Lute pushes the sword further into him and twists it. Shit! It hurts like a bitch. He could probably destroy her now, but he's honestly too shocked to do anything. He's frozen in place, but his entire body is shaking.

Roo: This is it, fallen.

The battlefield is chaos and screams, but he can't hear any of it—only a dark, broken laugh from Lute.

Roo: Make them pay for it.

Her eyes are pure black now, and Lucifer knows that there's only a sliver of sanity left in her. They are both dying here today.

One way or another.

They don't move and it feels like an eternity before he finds the strength to speak without coughing blood.

Lucifer: Exorcist.

Lute: What? Here to say your last words?

He ignores her taunts and keeps his voice calm.

Lucifer: Tell me again. What is your name?

She digs the weapon deeper and gets all up in his face. If she had more control of her mind, she would not answer and would spit in the devil's face. But she's losing it.

So she answers.

Lute: I am Lute. Leader of the exorcists. The first man's former lieutenant. The angel who just rid the world of the devil.

It's funny, really. Getting killed by Michael's sword wielded by an angel named Lute. Guess that part about "the instrument of Heaven will be the Devil's slayer" bullshit in the prophecy was spot on.

It's funny so he laughs.

He feels himself slipping away and Roo clawing her way up. There's a distinct sound of cracking, and he sees that it's his skin breaking apart like he's a porcelain doll. But he pays it no mind.

Lucifer: I have to congratulate you, Lute.

Lute: Oh yeah? Why's that?

His laughter fades, replaced by a somber tone.

Lucifer: See. I may have damned humanity.

Her eyes narrow, suspicion mingling with her fading sanity.

Lucifer: But you. Ohhhhh you.

He continues, a dark smile tugging at his lips.

Lucifer: You've just damned Heaven.

Then.

Then, the light fades from Lucifer's eyes as life slips away, and his body slumps against his brother's blade.

He's glad to have at least something familiar for comfort.

Someone calls the angel's name that made her pull the sword out of him and jump back.

The devil falls to the ground, motionless. And for a moment, everything is quiet, and then—

'Finally. I can sleep.'

What happens after is a cautionary tale.

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

So.

I'm sorry?

This was always how this was going to go.

Also one more update before this is done!

Please let me know what you guys think! I'd love to hear your comments <3

Do you guys think this is entire AU was just Luci's life flashing before him?

[brewstersbru]

A little riz ficlet i started last week and finished today (pok feels 💚)

Your name is Riz.

Riz knows Kristen didn’t mean it, knows she was just being funny, trying to ease his nerves before his first big game on the Owlbears. But he can’t stop hearing his mother’s voice in his head, digging, nudging him to buck up and fight against it.

He regrets snapping at her, but not as much as he should, probably. He’s not certain he would’ve even said anything if his mom hadn’t had that conversation with him.

And now Kristen’s getting expelled, but not really, and instead they have to go through a harrowing trial of standardized testing coupled with fighting monsters where it only ends if all of them die or they kill all the monsters.

No one has ever killed all the monsters before, and Riz isn’t arrogant enough to actually believe they’ll be the first. Not with the weight of Junior year on their shoulders. It’ll be nice to see his dad again, outside of the tiny little hologram on his watch, or when he talks to the air around his grave- never knowing for sure but believing that he’s there, listening.

But dying hurts. Riz still gets nightmares about that first time he did it, and it doesn’t help that the video of it happening is still up for everyone to see. The views keep climbing, no matter how time marches on people still search it up. It makes him a little nauseous to think about.  

There’s a lot on Riz’s mind tonight- not that there hasn’t always been- but for some reason he can’t tune it out right now, can’t push it down with work or school or trying to solve a mystery. His mind is just running, turning over and over itself, churning through the complicated web of problems he’s found himself caught in.

There’s just so much that needs fixing, that needs to be worked on and chipped away at and he can’t do anything about it. Just has to stare at the ceiling of the living room in Mordrid Manor, trying to will himself to sleep while his friends snore beside him. Well- Adiane isn’t really sleeping, but after finally dropping the mental weight of her finances, she’s been falling deeper into her trances to regain her energy.

It feels almost like his heart is about to jump right out of his chest, like it’s squirming around, trying to wedge itself up his throat and out of his mouth. Riz would never tell anyone this but he’s terrified that he’s still that same futile little thing he was in the palimpsest. Scratching at thick walls until his hands bleed, littered with shards of the effort, but in that righteous violence, ultimately having done nothing of real use.

How many times does he have to bleed for it to mean something? How many times does he have to die before his friends can stay with him? Before people and gods and monsters stop trying to pry them away from his bloody, clenched fingers. He worked for this, he dug deep and rent himself in six equal pieces for the hope of staying together. How much more could the universe possibly expect from him? When is it enough?

There’s a soft beep from his wristwatch- which, unlike all of his other gadgets, he never takes off, not even when sleeping- and Riz takes the opportunity to get away from staring at the same crack in the ceiling he’s been looking at for the past hour. He stands and picks his way through a maze of limbs and drool to the kitchen.

With some semblance of privacy, he checks the watch. What could his dad- Agent Gukgak- need from him at this time of night? Does time work the same way up there? Is he ok? Is it possible for him not to be?

A small hologram of his father appears above the watch, disheveled, as if he just got back to the office. As soon as he appears, he steps back for a moment and quickly catalogues his son’s state. After about a minute, he heaves a deep sigh.

“You’re ok.” It’s not a question. Riz nods, slowly.

“I am, sure. But what about you, Agent Gukgak- sir? What’s wrong? Why’d you call?”  He tries to keep his voice quiet, and moves towards the front door, hoping to get outside so he and Agent Gukgak can have a serious business conversation without him sounding like a teenager at a sleepover. He is a teenager at a sleepover, but that’s beside the point.

Agent Gukgak tilts his head at him. “Kiddo, I didn’t call for me, I called for you. Your heartbeat spiked about a half hour ago and hasn’t returned to baseline since. I called as soon as I could get back.”

Riz, having just made it outside- the door creaked just slightly, but he’s not worried about any of the others having heard; they sleep like logs- stumbles a bit as he tries to settle himself on the porch steps.

It’s late, so he can be forgiven for lacking his usual tact as he stutters, “Wha- huh? This thing can track my heartbeat?” Like that was the most important part of what Agent Gukgak had said.

Agent Gukgak smiles at him, wry. “Course it can, and your blood sugar, iron levels, as well as body temperature. You should talk to your mom about iron pills, actually, I’ve been meaning to talk to you about that. I know you haven’t been to the doctor for a while, but we’ve been detecting low iron in your blood for a while. And don’t even get me started on your eating habits, you’re just like your mother, waiting until you’re near ready to faint to give your body anything substantial.” His tone starts warm, but quickly devolves into something more scolding. Riz allows the conversation to derail a little bit.

“It’s not that I do it consciously, I just forget. There’s a lot of work to do and it’s hard to schedule out non-school-mandated mealtimes for myself. I’ll make a note about the iron though.” Riz thinks they’re both overtly aware of the fact that he doesn’t move to jot anything down. Iron pills have got to be expensive, and if he’s made it this far without, he doesn’t see a reason to ask for them now. Agent Gukgak sighs.

“Riz- it’s- I-“ He pauses, takes a second to collect himself. “I often find myself wishing, when we talk, that I was able to come down there and live with you and your mother. At least until we sent you off to college.” There’s a wistfulness to his gaze that Riz can’t find it within himself to watch, he knows what’s at the end of this train of thought and it’s never pretty. ‘What ifs’ and ‘could have beens’ are only as good as a wish, because they’re never rooted in reality. Always washed with rose and drowned in nostalgia.

Riz cuts in, “You’ve been doing good work where you can. And- and I think I turned out pretty okay. All things considered.” It feels a little strange to be defending his father to himself, but Agent Gukgak just shakes his head.

“More than ‘pretty okay’, kiddo. You’re the best thing I’ve ever done, not just in your work, but in who you are. I see the way you care for your friends, the way you help your mother, the way you meet every problem head on with a plan and a backup plan, just in case. I just wish the world had been kinder. Wish I coulda been there to make it be, when it couldn’t get there on its own.”

And then, for some, mortifying reason, Riz bursts into tears. It’s not loud or messy or even really all that different than what he usually looks like. At a distance, you probably wouldn’t even be able to tell. But there are tears streaming steadily down his face and every so often he has to sniff and blink his eyes to catch up with the stream. He swipes an arm roughly across his eyes to try and stem the flow, or better, stop it completely.

“I’m sorry, Agent-“

“Dad. Just call me dad kiddo. Please. Or Pok, just- not ‘Agent Gukgak’.” Pok’s own expression has crumpled, brows furrowing at the sight of his son so obviously distraught with no way to physically comfort him.

Riz nods, “Sorry, dad, I don’t-“ He sniffs, “I don’t know what’s wrong with me. It’s just Kristen’s being expelled unless we do this last stand thing tomorrow where we’re probably gonna die at the end, and I saw my name in Kipperlilly’s file but I haven’t had time to figure out why it’s there, and Fig skipped class again, which, I know isn’t going to fail her probably but it makes me nervous because what if she starts skipping every day again? Also our vice principal might be crazy and evil and I haven’t had any time at all to look into that-“

He cuts himself off with a gasping, cut-off sob, burying his face in his arm in his overwhelm but keeping his wrist level so Pok remains visible.

It’s hard to see through the rivers of tears that are spouting from his tear ducts, but Riz thinks he sees his father tugging at his hair, pacing as he watches this unfold. Huh, they kind of are the same.

“You’re seventeen. Seventeen, you shouldn’t- I can’t-“ He seems at a loss for words, baffled by the injustice of it all. Riz has stopped trying to fight the waves of tears, instead letting them wash over them, swiping at his cheeks every couple of seconds to keep them dry.

Pok paces for a few more minutes, fiddling with different parts of his outfit until he’s gathered his thoughts.

“I’m sorry, Riz.” Is what he settles on, moving close to the image capture of the hologram so that, if Riz were to tilt his head forward, it could almost be as if they were touching foreheads. Pok continues, closing his eyes.

“I’m sorry I can’t be there and I’m sorry that you have so much to deal with right now. I wish I could do more, but all I can give you is advice. What you’ve got on your plate right now, every piece of this hellish puzzle, both is and is not a war. There’s you, and there’s the problem, and a lot of times it seems like the problem is so much bigger than you are, so much more than you’re equipped to handle. Like you’re a man at the base of a mountain with a shovel, hoping to dig a hole through it. But once you start thinking that, the moment you let yourself become less than, that’s when you start losing. You either gotta grow to match the size of it or cut it into little pieces you know you can handle, and I’ve never met anyone who could do the first of those.”

Pok takes a deep breath, then his lips quirk into a rueful smile.

“Also, it’s a lot easier to do things when you eat, and you let other people help you.” He emphasizes the last parts with a heavy look directly into Riz’s eyes. Like he knows exactly how he’s been doing things thus far and is telling him to change it up, for his own sake.

Riz sniffles, nodding. If he closes his eyes, he can almost feel the warmth of his father’s skin through the hologram. Or the illusion of it.

“I can do that.” Riz takes a deep breath. “I can do that.”

Pok smiles. “I know you can, kid. Just take it slow. Don’t lose yourself in it.” He speaks as if he’s learned from experience. The realization of how little he truly knows his father hits Riz like a bucket of ice water. A shiver works its way up his spine.

For a moment, he considers asking. Thinks about spending the night on this porch, effectively on the phone with his dad, talking and learning things he’s wanted to know for as long as he’s been visiting Pok’s grave. Then, Pok clears his throat, expression pinched with regret.

“Sorry, kid I-“

Then he remembers that life isn’t fair, and the world moves on, whether you’re ready for it or not. Riz blinks away his tears.

“Yeah- no- I know. You’ve got badass angel things to do. I’m good. Thanks for calling.”

Pok gets a look on his face, equal parts proud and devastated. His eyebrows furrow into poignant resignation.

“I’ll try to do it more. Love you.”

“Love you, too.”

And then he’s gone, and all Riz has is the cool fingers of the wind, grasping over his shoulders in an icy embrace. He puffs a breath into the air and watches it fizzle from fog to nothing.

It’s dark. It’s going to be dark for another eight hours at least.

Riz is going to die tomorrow, probably. He’ll be fine, but he doesn’t want to.

He really doesn’t want to.  

[whumpsday]

Pin and Needle

Whump writing masterlist | G/t writing tag

g/t sideblog here! @smallsday

content: g/t, whump, tiny whump, borrowers, animal attack, caretaking, needles/stitches, hurt/comfort, fear, past child neglect, probable medical inaccuracies, found family

Whumpmas in July Day 3: Stitches & Bandages GT July Day 3: Impulsive Two Weeks of Whump Day 2: Needles

of my 10 Whumpmas in July entries, 3 of them will be combos with GT July! here's the first of those! i will never get tired of writing borrower whump. i should write a borrower whump series someday. for any non-g/t people unfamiliar, borrowers are a species of tiny people who secretly live in humans' houses, like fairies without wings. if you've ever seen anything labeled "tiny whump", this is that.

-

Pin had been a dad for five years now, and he liked to think he was getting pretty good at it.

The kid was already seven and self-sufficient enough to not die on her own for who knows how long when he found her, so he didn't have to deal with any of that baby crap. Now she was twelve, and she was better at some stuff than he was.

Pin decided to go borrowing while the kid slept in today, with the human off at school. It was perfect, because then he could take his time looking for a surprise. Today was the five-year anniversary, and he wanted to make it special. There was a lot he'd missed in Chime's life, and from what the kid had said about her old parents, they weren't exactly in the habit of celebrating her.

He had to make it special.

Pin had already gathered all the food and supplies he needed to grab, so all that was left was the present. He'd been looking around every time he went out, but he couldn't see anything. The human lived by himself- mostly, aside from that damn cat he'd brought home last month- and was a starkly healthy eater. Not a lot of little bits and bobs he could use to make toys for her, either.

It had been easier to get treats for the kid with the family who used to live in the apartment, who always kept sweets around, but food was food. It was better for the kid this way in the long run, anyway. But he really wished he could get her a treat, just this once.

He didn't really go into the human's room. He was of the opinion that a man needed his privacy, and food was supposed to be kept in the kitchen, so why would he need to? Most of all, the cat liked to hang out in there, and that was a risk he didn't need to take. Apparently the human was just watching it for a friend, which was the only reason he hadn't taken the kid and moved. But maybe the guy was hiding some snacks in there. From all the studying he seemed to do in there, it was likely, right?

Just this once.

Pin approached the bedroom. He could probably have squeezed himself through the gap under the door if he needed to, but the door was open a crack. He peeked in.

The cat snoozed happily on the chair left messily pulled out from the desk. Perfect, it was asleep. All he had to do was not make noise and-

It didn't take long for Pin to find his prize. There, right on the desk, a bag of marshmallows. Bingo. The bag even proclaimed them "mini", like they were made for borrowers. He could probably fit two or three in his rucksack to surprise the kid with when she wakes up.

Even with the chair pulled away, it was a little too close to the cat for comfort. He really should turn around and just try and make the kid another toy.

Ah, fuck it.

Pin could take a little risk. The cat was asleep. He readied his sticky hand- a human children's toy, a little less reliable than a grappling hook but much quieter- and climbed his way up the desk.

No issues. He was in the clear. He ripped a small hole in the bag and stuffed three marshmallows in his pack.

When he turned around, the cat was not asleep.

It stared straight at him with huge, yellow eyes, pupils constricted and tail flickering back and forth.

"Oh, shit. Hey, kitty," Pin whispered, backing away slowly.

The cat hunkered down, its hindquarters wiggling slightly, like-

Heart pounding, Pin dropped the pack and ran. But he was too slow, of course he was too slow, he was five inches tall. Borrowers weren't made to be fast, they were made to be sneaky, and he'd done the one thing a borrower was never supposed to do: he'd been found.

The cat was on the desk in an instant and its paws pinned him to its surface in another, their fuzzy exteriors giving way to claws stabbing through his clothes, through his skin. He screamed, trying to squirm away, but that only made the agony intensify, the claws dragging through flesh as blood stained his ruined clothes.

"No! Stop!" he cried uselessly, gasping with pain, but the cat didn't listen. Its head drew closer, mouth opening to reveal a maw full of sharp teeth that could easily crush bones.

Pin wailed in despair. He was going to die a violent, bloody death before he even hit forty. It wasn't supposed to end like this!

He kicked wildly, and by some stroke of luck, he managed to land a hit on the cat's snout, causing it to rear back a little.

That was all he needed. Pin tore away from the paws, letting out another shriek as they popped through his skin, and ran toward the front of the desk as fast as he could, dropping blood behind him.

The cat spun, tail flickering and ears forward with excitement.

"Fuck off!" Pin shouted. He shoved the desk drawer open just enough to slide in, landing on the bottom with a grunt.

The cat's paw dove in after, reaching for him. He scrambled to the back of the drawer, trembling in terror.

"Calm- calm down," he told himself, trying to get his quick breathing under control. The drawer was too small: even if the cat got it open, it wouldn't be able to fit all the way in the back. He wrapped his arms around himself, quickly becoming soaked in blood as his midsection throbbed with pain.

It was so dark, the only light coming from the sliver where the cat's paw batted around, searching for him. Pin grabbed at the piece of paper he found himself sitting on, tearing off a piece with shaking hands and wrapping it over himself like a bandage. He pressed it there tightly, even as it became soaked with blood, too.

Pin always tried to be strong for the kid. But Chime wasn't here right now, so he let himself cry. It was the worst pain he'd ever felt in his life, and he might still die. What would happen to him? How was he going to get back home? What if he didn't stop bleeding and he died here in the dark?

He didn't know how long he'd been sitting there when the front door clicked open, making him startle in his frazzled state. The human wasn't supposed to be home yet, was he? Or had he just been sitting here that long?

"This is why I need to check my emails, Yarny!" the human called. Right, the beast that might have caused his slow, painful death was named Yarny.

The cat's paw retreated and it hopped off the desk, exiting the room with a loud, insistent meow.

"Yarny!" the human gasped. "Is that blood!? What happened? Are you hurt?"

Oh no. The human was going to find him if he didn't move. Pin stood up: now that the cat was gone, he needed to get out of here.

He took one step, stumbled, and sat right back down as his vision spun.

"Oh, thank god," the human said distantly. "What, then, did you catch a mouse? Please tell me it's not still running around my apartment."

The human was going to kill him.

He would die without even getting to say goodbye to Chime. She was going to be abandoned again, this time by him. No kid should have to go through that. He was supposed to be getting her a present. How had this all gone so wrong? He didn't want to die.

But the footsteps drew closer, and he didn't have a choice. He scooted back into the corner of the drawer, clutching the paper around himself like he would even have the time to bleed out. He sobbed, hoping it would at least be quick.

The door creaked as the human swung it open, pattering over to the desk. Pin's whole world rumbled around him as the human slid the drawer open, revealing him trembling in the corner.

"H-hi," Pin said weakly.

The human stared, eyes wide with disbelief. Pin had never been so close to a human before. He was even bigger up close. He looked like he might have been, well, a scrawny nerd, maybe a little more than half Pin's age if he had to guess, but things like that didn't matter at his size. A human baby could crush him, let alone a young man.

"What are you?" the human asked, incredulous.

The last thing Pin was going to do was put his species at risk. He shrugged. "Dying," he squeaked, unable to keep casual.

"Oh, oh no." The human seemed to snap out of his incredulous stupor, enormous hands reaching toward him. Pin cringed back, but the human scooped him up anyway.

Pin squeezed his eyes shut and held his breath, trying not to whimper, but no death came for him. The human's hands were gentle, carrying him out of the drawer.

"Yarny, no," the human chastised, closing the bedroom door behind him as he walked out to the kitchen. He turned his attention to Pin. "I'm so sorry, I don't even know what you are. Yarny hurt you?"

"Yeah." He slowly opened his eyes, staring up at the giant. His trembling started up again. "Are you gonna kill me?"

"What? No!" The human seemed to realize he was making Pin uncomfortable and set him down carefully on the counter. "I won't hurt you, I promise. I'm- well, I'm not a doctor yet, I'm just a med student- are you still bleeding?"

Pin let out a shaky sigh of relief. His heart still raced with terror, but if the human was able to help him- well, he'd already been found.

He pulled the paper away from his injuries, getting a good look for the first time. Several bloody marks raked down his left side where the cat had sunk its claws into him. Blood oozed from them, warm and red.

"Look, uh," Pin didn't know the human's name. He almost never had company over, and no one just says their own name to themself. "Human guy. I know you don't know me but, you gotta help me, okay? I have a kid waiting up for me." It was risky revealing Chime's existence, but he never said he lived here, and since the human knew nothing about him, he'd have no way of knowing. His voice shook a little as he pled his case. "Single dad. She's got no one else. I can't die here, alright? C'mon. It- it hurts."

"Of course I'll help you!" the human exclaimed. He wrung his hands nervously. "It's just- I'm really not qualified, yet, is the thing. I could drive you to the emergency room? Or maybe, um, given your size, a small animal vet?"

"I'm not an animal!" Pin insisted, offended. "No, no, kid, listen. You can do this, alright? I've seen those books you keep in the living room. You got all the diagrams and shit. I can't be going to an emergency room and showing myself off to everybody. Just fix me and I'll be out of your hair."

"I haven't even done residency yet!" the human protested. "I've done a suture practice kit, but that's for normal-sized wounds, and it's just for practice, and I can't even determine that you need stitches because I'm not a doctor!" After a moment, he added, "And my name's Kendry."

"Pin," he introduced himself. "Practice kit's better than nothing. Just do that." He couldn't have this human take him out to get prodded at by a bunch of other humans, it sounded like his worst nightmare. "And I'm rushing you, 'cause I'm getting dizzy here."

Kendry looked alarmed at that. "Oh- okay!" he agreed, obviously still anxious. "Can you take off your shirt so I can examine you?"

"You got it." Pin removed the tatters that were once his shirt, wincing as the movement ignited more pain in his side.

Kendry peered closer. "I- yeah, I'm going to give you stitches. I would really like to take longer, but you can't have that much blood in you... I'm not a vet..." he trailed off.

"Good, 'cause I'm not a mouse," Pin grumbled, but the repeated broaching of the topic made him nervous. If Kendry saw him as a fellow person, he would probably be okay. But if the human saw him as an animal... who knows what he would do to him? The fact that his life laid entirely in this giant stranger's hands was terrifying.

"I'll be right back." Kendry dashed out of the kitchen, returning with a black fabric case. He unzipped it to reveal a cut-up silicone pad with all the cuts neatly sewn closed, curved needles of various sizes, thread, a bunch of different tweezers, and a few sets of scissors as tall as Pin.

Oh, he didn't like that last part at all.

But Kendry reached for the smallest curved needle, which still looked pretty damn big. "This is the practice kit. I did pretty well with the suture pad, but you're so small..." he fretted. He threaded the needle, pulled a packet from a drawer, ripped it open, and wiped the needle, thread, and one tweezer down with the tissue inside. He opened another one and held it hesitantly in front of Pin.

"I need to sanitize you first. Cats' claws can carry germs, I don't want you to get infected. It's going to sting," he warned. "I'm sorry, I can't give you anything for the pain, I'm worried you might even overdose on ibuprofen at your size..."

Pin maneuvered himself onto his other side, letting his injury face up toward Kendry, way too vulnerable. "It already stings, and I don't know what ibuprofen is. Just do it."

"Okay. Here goes." Kendry swiped the wipe over Pin's side, and he had to bite his cheek to keep from shrieking. It hurt, the fluid inside seeping into his open wounds.

"Are you okay?" Kendry asked.

"I will be once this thing stops bleeding," Pin said, voice strained.

"Alright, I just need you to hold still. Is it okay if I...?" Kendry brought his other hand to hover around him.

Pin hated the idea of being held in place, unable to move, but he nodded anyway. Whatever the doc-in-training had to do. "Go for it."

Kendry rested a finger on his back and a thumb on his chest, holding him gently but firmly in place despite Pin's continued trembling. "Just try and stay still. I'm sorry if it hurts. I'll do my best," he promised.

The needle entered his skin, dipping in and out as Pin fought the urge to squirm away. He couldn't hold back this time, sobbing harder every time the needle re-entered him. There were no more check-ups from Kendry: Pin could see, through tear-blurred eyes, all his focus was on the wound.

After way too long, Kendry released his hold, allowing Pin freedom of movement again. He didn't take advantage of it, exhausted by blood loss and his ordeal.

"Don't move," Kendry told him anyway. He grabbed one of the scissors.

Pin put his hands up, adrenaline flooding him. "I won't! What are you doing with that!?"

"Easy." Kendry wiped that down with the stinging wipe, too. "You still have the thread attached. I won't hurt you." He glanced down at the scissors, then back at Pin. "I know it must seem frightening to someone your size, but I'm just going to cut the thread. Honest."

"Right. Right, yeah." Pin forced himself to relax, lowering his hands back down as Kendry snipped the thread, leaving several wounds in his side stitched up relatively neatly.

Kendry grabbed a band-aid, one of the few medical tools Pin liked to take to keep around under the floorboards, and peeled the plastic away. He dropped some clear-ish gel from a tube onto the center. "I'm going to add some Neosporin on it just to be safe. An infection would wreak havoc on you."

"Sounds good to me," Pin agreed, sitting up. Kendry wrapped the band-aid around his body, the stitches hidden underneath. Good. He didn't want the kid to freak out about it.

"There. That went... pretty well, I think," Kendry said, almost stunned. "Where can I... discharge you to?"

"Thanks. The floor," Pin instructed. He could just get back home when Kendry wasn't looking. He'd have to find a new place after that, now that the human knew. Even if he was friendly enough to help, there was no way he'd want them to stay. "I'll be out soon as I can move around right."

Kendry tilted his head, the situation finally clicking. "Were you... living here?"

"Uh, yeah," Pin admitted. "Since before you moved in, actually."

"Oh! Well, um, I'm not going to kick you out after you just got attacked. You're... my patient. That wouldn't do," Kendry decided. "Does your daughter live here, too?"

The jig was pretty much up at this point. If Kendry wanted to hurt him, he already would have. "Yeah. Which is why I'm not telling you exactly where. I'm thankful and all, but... you get it."

"Oh, of course," Kendry agreed quickly. "You're just being a good dad."

Pin smiled at that, despite the pain. He wiped the tears from his face. "Thanks. I try, you know? She's not even my kid by blood, she actually lived here before either of us. I was scouting for a new place when I found her here all on her own. Seven years old, could you believe that?"

"What!? That's crazy!" Kendry pulled up a chair and sat, transfixed. "Seven years old, four inches tall?"

"Three tall. She was little. Apparently her parents had too many kids, so they just started kicking 'em out as soon as they were old enough. I don't think seven's old enough, but hey, what do I know?" Pin shook his head. "Today's the five-year anniversary of when we met. Usually stay out of your room, you gotta have your privacy, but I wanted to get the kid something special. Could I still get a few of those marshmallows?"

"Oh! Yeah, of course!" Kendry ran off toward the room, returning with a handful of mini-marshmallows as well as Pin's rucksack and sticky hand. "I figure these are yours?"

"Yeah. Thanks for being cool about everything." This was going so much better than he'd expected. "We'll move out soon. Probably should have the day you brought the cat."

"Um, you could stay if you want." Kendry offered, hope flashing in his eyes. "You were here first, after all."

This guy was obviously ridiculously lonely. But he mentioned having a friend? "I mean, yeah, that'd be great, if it's really alright. You okay?"

"Yeah! It's just- I lost my parents a few years ago," Kendry admitted. "You seem like... a really good dad. I don't want to make things harder for you. I don't mind having roommates."

Ah, so that was it. Pin reached out and patted Kendry's hand. He wouldn't mind having another pseudo-kid. "Me neither."

-

here's some more borrower whump i wrote if you like this! and be on the lookout for a Tiny Kane AU on thursday :)

feel free to ask to be on any of my taglists, btw!

everything taglist:

@lilac-and-lemon-whumps

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@whump-for-all-and-all-for-whump

@dismemberment-on-a-tuesday-night

@whumpshaped

one-shots taglist:

@icyheart-and-friends

@kira-the-whump-enthusiast

@lilac-and-lemon-whumps

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g/t whump taglist:

@whumpinthepot

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just this one

@a-crumb-of-whump

event: @whumpmasinjuly @gianttol @promptsforyourwhumpfic

[forest-reblogs]

Chapter 2 of Loving You Is A Losing Game

Danny had, very reluctantly, joined his parents in their once-in-a-blue-moon family dinners. He had only done this because he had needed to figure out exactly how his parents had captured that shade. He would have preferred eating Nasty Burger takeout in his room, or going to Elmerton and eating at one of their breakfast-for-dinner places, or accepting one of the many, many dinner invitations Johnny and Kitty kept sending him now that they had finally agreed to keep property damage to a minimum whenever they entered Amity Park.

Duty calls , he thought to himself sourly.

“So, mom, dad,” he asked, “did you do anything interesting in the lab today?”

Jack Fenton immediately replied, “We created a device that can find ghosts and used it to capture one! It was invisible, of course - probably trying to evade capture. But never fear, Danny, because we caught it! It’s successfully contained in the Fenton Ghost Containment Device, and your mother and I are going to study it before ripping it molecule by molecule!”

Danny ignored the sinking feeling in his chest. “Right. Any chance I could take a look at your tracking device after dinner? I wanna learn how you guys make such cool things.”

It wasn’t even a lie.

“Of course, honey,” Madeleine Fenton said. “You’ll have to make do with the blueprints, however, as we need the device so we know where the ghost is. Unless it realizes there’s no point in hiding from us.”

You’ll be waiting a long time in that case, seeing as I sent it to the zone , Danny thought to himself.

Danny woke up to a blue mist rising above him, and mentally groaned. Why couldn’t he have just one night of peaceful sleep? That was all he was asking for, but noooo. He was exempt from pretty much anything even remotely normal.

He slipped out of bed and turned himself intangible, falling through the floor and into the basement, where the ghost was (hopefully) located, and found himself staring down a ghost vulture.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Danny groaned. “Why are you out, Nutty?”

The vulture’s name wasn’t actually Nutty, but Danny thought it was funny, and despite the fact that the vulture had protested the name before, he got the sense that they liked it.

“I got a new job, kid. Pays well, too. All I gotta do is find and kill this one guy. Apparently he got on a lotta people’s nerves.”

Hopefully it’s not Dad, he thought. Out loud he asked, “Yeah? Who is this mystery person?”

“Some kid called Wes Weston,” Nutty croaked.

Danny froze for a full five seconds. Then he moved. He slammed Nutty into the wall so hard the vulture left a crater.

“Who paid you to kill Wes?” He snarled. "̶̠̅̓Ẁ̸̢͔̻̘̍̃̈́̀͘h̵̡̘̥̠͇̒õ̵͙̰̬̦̻̹̂͗̌̈̐̏͑̊̓͝?̷̢̟̰̮̗̲͘"̵̝̂̿̽̓̒̑͐͑̓̆̊̄̚

“I don’t know!" Nuty squawked. Danny pressed them further into the wall, and Nutty seemed to panic. "No, really, I don't know! It was some person in a hood! I never saw their face!"

"You sure it wasn't Plasmius?" Danny asked. If Vlad had decided to go after Wes, for whatever reason, Danny wouldn't hold back. Not this time, not anymore. Not when the life of his only remaining friend was on the line.

Wes couldn't die.

"I'm sure!" Nutty croaked. "Now can you please let me go?"

“Not until you promise not to hurt Wes,” Danny growled. “Promise me that, and I’ll let you go.”

“I promise!” Nutty all but shrieked, and true to word, Danny released him.

Nutty squawked once, flapping his wings in indignance. “Forget this, I’m going back to the Ruins. Much less of a chance of getting your body slammed into a wall there.” He shot a look at Danny.

Danny sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck. “Sorry about that, Nutty. I just - I couldn’t let you hurt him.”

Nutty snorted, then took off through the open portal. Danny watched him go before returning to his room. He sank back into bed hoping to finally get some sleep -

His phone rang.

Aggravated, Danny threw back the covers, snatched up his phone, and said, “What?”

“You left the portal open,” came Wes’s dry reply.

Danny stiffened, before falling through the floor and into the basement - again - and yes, he had indeed left the portal open. Danny groaned.

“Just one night,” he said into the phone, “all I want is one night I can sleep through without having to worry about ghosts.”

When Wes spoke again, he sounded tired. “I know. I don’t like it either.”

“Well, guess it’s time to die,” Danny chuckled. He took a deep breath. “I’m going -”

“Wait!” Wes exclaimed.

Danny paused. “What’s wrong?”

“The portal’s open. You could leave.”

All of a sudden, Danny was extremely aware of the glowing green tunnel in the wall (the tunnel he had died in). He swallowed.

“I don’t think I can, Wes,” he whispered, hating the words even as he spoke them, hating the weakness they revealed.

Wes was silent on the other end of the phone.

“Do you want me to be there when you do it?” he asked.

Danny released a shaky breath. “I think that would be worse, actually.”

“Danny. I know you don’t want to, but you need to leave. Amity Park isn’t safe for you anymore. Your parents have contracts with the GIW. Vlad is kidnapping you pretty much every week. Valerie hates you. Sam and Tucker don’t even care that you exist at this point.”

“I can’t leave you,” Danny whispered. His hands were shaking. “You heard what Nutty said. Someone wants to kill you, Wes. They could -”

“I can protect myself.” Wes cut him off. “And whoever wants to kill me hired Nutty from the Zone. If you want to find out who’s after me,

you’d have to go to the Zone regardless. Why not go there permanently?”

“Because you and Jazz are both here!” Danny shouted. “I can’t abandon you! If the GIW realize that you’re liminal, they’ll kill you both!”

“You wouldn’t be abandoning us, Danny,” Wes soothed. “The GIW are only after you and the other ghosts. They don’t even know that liminals exist. After you leave, if the ghosts attack again, Val, your parents or the GIW will scare them enough to send them back to the Zone for good. And when the ghost attacks stop and Amity Park settles down a bit, I’ll see what I can do to come visit. I have the blueprints for the portal. I’m sure I could convince Kyle to help me build it.”

With every word Wes spoke, Danny relaxed a bit more. Wes was right. Everything would be fine.

He’s lying to you, he’s going to turn on you and leave you just like everyone else as soon as he realises how worthless and insignificant you are

“Okay.” Danny said. “I’ll do it.” And with a click, he hung up. Bracing himself, and turned to look at the self-destruct button. He jumped forward and pressed the button, leaping back almost immediately.

The basement lit up in red. A siren wailed. A pleasant, robotic voice said, “Self-destruct mode activated. You have 60 seconds. Also, the ham is spoiled.”

Danny flew up, grabbed his parents, and flew out of the house. He left them on the front door of their neighbours, then flew back in. He hesitated in his room, before grabbing his model rockets and returning

to the basement. With a deep breath, he flew into the green, green, green portal, all the way to the other side. He flew till he was surrounded by the green, till he could feel the ectoplasm in the air, till he could see the Ruins surrounding him.

The Ruins are gonna get ruined , he thought, and chuckled.

Behind him, there was an explosion.

[persy-r-bozo]

My Moms Adventures with Dhmis-

i Was talking to a friend today and i suddenly remembered that a few years ago i made my mom watch Dhmis (Web) with me. before i was even half confident to even make a tumblr account.

And then i realized that Dhmis tumblr would maybe get a giggle from this.

i was wondering if i should tell this. then i remebered my mom shares silly story's about me on her facebook. so this is revenge of the silly stories now. so here we go.

-From what i remember-

CREATIVITY: is when I realized that she was probably the Key demographic Becky and joe were going for tbh. She went from "This is weird.." to "This is weird in a fun way!" to " D: " Real quick. it was like those fake reaction channels from 2014 but in real life. it was crazy.

TIME: She got suspicious of tony real fast. She Also gave Roy a face that i could only describe as a face you'd give someone before crossing the road to avoid them. also!- She isn't a big fan of the trio. she found them creepy, she feels bad for them! but she also wouldn't get within 30 feet of them either.

LOVE: Guys lemme tell you. SHE IS SHRIGOLDS #1 HATER She hated him the moment he flew on screen. She was cussing him out and giving him the stink eye every time he spoke. She still talks about how much she hates "The creepy ass butterfly" to this day

COMPUTERS: She was jamming on the computer song fr. cant blame her it is in fact a banger. like she was worryingly looking at the screen while also bopping her head along. and when reds head exploded she froze and said "DID HE JUST FUCKING DIE!!!?" in the same vain as marks "WAS THAT THE BITE OF 87!!!?"

HEALTHY: She was confused and quiet most of the time here till THE SCENE. where she openly gasped and went "whhhAAAAAATT THE FUCK!!??????????" Jaw AGAPE, Eyebrows FURROWED. and then the end scene, She put her hand over her mouth and watched red walk away from the phone as the credits rolled and- "HE ATE HIS FRIEND??? WHY?" "They forced him too" "HUH? WHAT? THEY FORCED HIM TOO EAT HIS FRIEND? HIS FRIEND IS EATEN! ATE! GONE!" if DHMIS is mentioned in any conversation her first words will always be "THEY MADE HIM EAT HIS FRIEND!!!" Even is she hears it across the room. she will yell it.

it happened a few days ago actually! in the car.

"They made him eat his friend!!"

DREAMS: She was still in shock over duck getting canned. she was the most confused by the surrealism of dreams. Common questions from this episode "So is the bird dead dead? or dead like the clock made them dead?" "Is the mop in the real world? or a mop man world?" and "Why is he (Yellow guy) So upset?"

My answers: "I don't know. its kinda up to the viewer" "I don't know. its kinda up to the viewer" "safe to assume he's having a rough day."

Anyways, when red started pushing buttons and all the old teachers popped up it was "No! there all awful!" then shrigold popped up for a sec and. as said before - she's shrigolds #1 hater- so it was "NO! GET THAT BITCH OUT OF HERE!!" And she was quiet, making concerned faces at Roy. Confused face at the end. and shocked silence as the credits rolled.

Her final thoughts: "It was interesting to say the least, not my full cup of tea but i can understand why you like it, its very artsy and weird and speaks to you in that way. . Its like visual artists version of going to a underground concerts mosh pit, Crazy yet exhilarating. you never know what's going to happen next!

Tv Show?: she wants to see it but at the same time doesn't, Its an odd limbo. and she doesn't have a VPN. so she's going to hold off till further notice.

Funny names for characters she has.-

(Yellow)" Yellow Boy" "Noodle Boy"

(Roy)"The ugly squiggly one" "His dad" "Methhead puppet"

(Red) "Mop Man" - i still call him this too this day lol.

(Duck) "Bird boy" "Bird Dude" "Borb" "The friend who got Eaten"

(Shirgold) "Bitch Butterfly" "Creepy ass butterfly" "Cult Butterfly".

Every other object has been deemed "The Fucking _____" Example "The Fucking Steak."

Except for Larry the lamp.. i was given a Larry lamp from Esty on a birthday once, and he has helped us though multiple blackouts sense. so Larry's cool but He's on thin ice

[honeyhobi]

Idea Time

Just me rambling / half writing about a modern avatar au

Tags: Kidnapping, mentioned child murder (no kids actually die though you'll see what I mean), mentioned actual murder, domesticity??? The Sully Family rock idk

BASICALLY what if Spider went missing as a child and Quaritch went to jail for it AND THEN SPIDER TURNED BACK UP AGAIN YEARS LATER??? Maybe I'll actually write this for real maybe I won't. Just felt like jotting it down is all.

The Sully Family is having a typical day on the weekend. Things are normal, the weather is nice, everyone is off work and school on Saturday. Neytiri and Neteyam are in the kitchen doing dishes after family breakfast. Tuk is in the living room watching morning cartoons, and Jake is pretending not to be as invested in them as he really is.

Kiri is also in the living room on her nintendo switch playing Stardew Valley. She's got earplugs in to block out the sound of Tuk's chattering and the cartoons on the tv screen. Lo'ak is at the dining table on his phone, repeatedly typing out and deleting a text message to his classmate Tsireya.

Hey?

Backspace backspace backspace

Good morning, Tsireya!

Did you want to go to the movies today maybe?

Backspace backspace backspace back—

Jake's phone rings and he excuses himself into the hall to answer it. Everyone barely pays attention to the phone call as Jake answers it. Why would they? It's a typical day.

Less than 5 minutes later Jake reenters the living room and calls for everyone to "fall in." His voice is strained, something in it grabbing even Lo'ak's attention immediately.

They all stop what they're doing and crowd into the living room. Neytiri wipes her hands dry on a towel and slings it over her shoulder as she stands in the entryway, Neteyam sits next to Kiri as she pauses her game. He mutes the television and pulls Tuk off the floor and into his lap. Lo'ak sits carefully in the recliner, looking at his dad's face which has paled significantly.

Jake is gripping the armrests of his wheelchair tightly. The phone call must have been bad news. Maybe another military buddy died? Maybe the school called to tell him about Lo'ak's frequent tardiness which is totally not his fault by the way—

What Jake says next sends the world dropping out from underneath everyone's feet.

"They found Spider. He's alive."

Spider. As in Spider Socorro? None of them have heard that name in....well in probably a decade, when the boy first disappeared. An image of the smiling six year old boy from across the street flutters up from the recesses of Lo'ak's mind.

Spider had been presumed dead for years. His dad, Miles Quaritch, has been in prison for the past decade for killing his wife and son one night. The Sully Family were at Disneyland at the time, and while he hides it well, Jake still blames himself a little for not being there. If he had been, maybe he'd have heard something. Maybe he'd have been able to intervene, or see where Quaritch ran off to with the boy.

Quaritch has held onto his innocence every day since. All the way through the trial he insisted that he didn't kill his wife, someone broke in and knocked him out. Yes it was his gun, yes it was his prints, yes it was Paz's blood on his hands when the police showed up after a neighbor called 9-1-1. But if you had woken up to your wife bleeding out right next to you and your son gone, wouldn't you try to put pressure on the wound, too?

Even when Paz's mother begged during the trial for Quaritch to tell them all what he did to her grandson, where he buried the poor boy's body, he wouldn’t budge.

"If I knew where he was I would be the first one at the scene. I didn’t kill him."

But there were no other leads. No other suspects. Quaritch had no alibi or evidence to support his claims.

Lo'ak had been much too small to understand what really happened. He went to Paz and Spider's funeral but barely remembers it, at the time he just knew that his friend across the street wasn't going to be around anymore. Not until he got to middle school and did some research himself did he actually get the situation in its entirety.

And now, everything is changing. They found Spider, somewhere, somehow. Quaritch might very well have been an innocent man this whole time. Jake hasn't gone into detail just yet.

Neteyam asks, "What happened?"

Jake sighs heavily, runs a hand over his head. "That was Norm on the phone."

Norm, their old family friend who works in the police station as a CSI. He was one of the people that analyzed the evidence at the crime scene, he helped put Quaritch away.

"He says that an officer was doing his rounds last night and saw a kid walking aimlessly down the road. When he stopped him, the kid identified himself as Miles Socorro."

"Could he be lying, though?" Lo'ak wonders aloud.

Jake shakes his head. "The fingerprints match from the school database."

Lo'ak remembers vaguely the school-wide event years ago when all the students got their fingerprints taken. He still has the ID card he got from it, buried somewhere in his memories box underneath his bed. The event was for the Child Seeker's Program, developed to protect kids in the district in case they ever went missing.

So much help it had been for Spider.

But here he was, a decade later, showing up with the police. There’s got to be more to the story that dad isn't telling them, or maybe Jake doesn't yet know the details himself. What started off as a normal Saturday has been flipped onto its head.

That leaves them all to ponder the same question. What happens now?

[cleoluvrr]

The Last Days of Summer VII (Rafe Cameron x Heyward!OC)

Warnings: violence, underage drinking, drug use, verbal abuse, jealousy, forbidden relationship, enemies to lovers, gaslighting + manipulation

Synopsis: Stuck in a situation she never dreamed of, Neriah Heyward blurs the line between Kook and Pogue; Rafe Cameron a witness.

masterlist

word count: 2.4k+

↠━ღ◆ღ━↞

The later half of the humid, North Carolina evening was spent with Londyn, once again. Her parents were away on the mainland to visit her older brother, leaving her home alone. She hates when they go but refuses to leave the island if I can’t come with her.

Sometimes I wonder if she has some serious codependency issues, her blatant refusal to go anywhere if we aren’t attached at the hip worries me deeply. 

However, I don’t think about it tonight, needing a distraction from the earlier events of today.

“It’s not that I can’t leave the island, I just don’t want to.” She refutes, flopping down dramatically onto the bed next to me. “I’d be bored and lonely and hanging out with old people all day. Plus, you’d miss me too much and would probably die without me.”

“That’s what phone calls are for.” I chuckle. 

“But it’s not the same!” She whines, rolling over to lie on my back. “I need to be in a ten-mile radius of you or else my body starts slowly shutting down.”

“You are such a drama queen.” 

The two of us go down to the kitchen to grab something to eat. The taller girl watches the popcorn in the microwave closely as I stare out the large windows behind the sink. Suddenly I hear sirens in the distance, and only a few moments later a bunch of police cars speed down the road. 

I hum in curiosity, not thinking anything of the situation. That is until my friend says something that makes my heart drop.

“Oh my God!” Londyn says, stopping the microwave before rushing up to me. “Kelce just texted me. He said he found John B in his house!”

“What?” I say, standing so fast that the stool I was seated on almost topples over.

“Yeah, the police are on their way there right now.”

“John Booker Routledge? That John B?” She nods. “Shit.”

I rush out of the house, Londyn hot on my tail as I grab one of the bikes in her garage. She does the same, the two of us hauling ass to their location. I spot the red and blue lights of police cars in the distance after a few minutes, speeding up my pedaling as Londyn calls my name from behind me. 

My thighs burn, legs wobbly as I jump off my bike and run to the crowd with it in tow. I watch as the police run out of the house, saying something about a creek as they speed off in their cars. The crowd of Kooks follow, and so do I.

I stop abruptly before I get too far, wondering where John B could have possibly gone with the entire town looking for him. I search every corner of my mind, nothing surfacing. I ignore the sound of Londyn calling my name as I rake my brain as fast as I can.  That’s when I hear the sound of a bell, my ears perking up immediately.

The church.

John B took me there once when we were a few years younger. My brother doesn’t know this, and never will, but his dear friend was my first kiss. John B has an unreciprocated crush on me in middle school, right before I left for the kook academy. He took me into the woods one day, showing me the chapel when my brother was out with my dad working on something. 

It was something neither of us could tell the rest of the Pogues. JJ would tease him to no end, Kie would go on and on about “Pogue-on-Pogue macking,” and my brother would definitely kill him and lock me away in a tower.

I start pedaling my bike again, steering it in the direction of the rundown building. I see the tip of the cross in the distance amongst the green of the trees and speed up as much as I can on the dirt floor of the woods. My legs burn with exhaustion and my heart tightens with anxiety. I throw my bike onto the ground when I get close enough, running towards the church.

I don’t even notice the footsteps behind me, the sound hidden by the soft dirt beneath our feet.

“Woah, princess.” I hear, a pair of arms wrap around me from behind and stop me from going any further. “What do you think you’re doing out here?”

“Let go of me, Rafe!” I fight against his hold, arms held tightly against my chest by his.

“Hm, I don’t think that’s a good idea.” He tuts, leaning down to speak lowly into my ear. “I asked you what you’re doing out here.”

“What are you doing out here?”

“Oh, me?” He feigns innocence. “I’m just being a good citizen and helping get a criminal off the streets.” I hear the smile he has on his face and I shiver. 

“He’s not a criminal. He would never kill someone.” I say still pushing against his arms.

“Maybe you don’t know him as well as you think you do?”

“He’s not a murderer!” Blood rushes to my ears, the sound similar to that of white noise.

“Well then, who killed Pertekin?” I don’t answer, chest heaving as he speaks into my ear.

“He’s innocent, Rafe.”

“This is why I don’t want you near those Pogues, princess.” He tuts and shakes his head in disapproval. “First they corrupted my baby sister, now they’ve brainwashed you too. We just can’t have that, can we?”

“Nobody has ‘brainwashed me.’ You sound like a crazy person.” He chuckles darkly into my ear, the sound giving me goosebumps.

“If John B didn’t kill Peterkin, then why is he running? Hm? Are you calling my father a liar?”

“Because there’s a bounty on his head!” I don’t answer his second question because he wouldn’t like what I have to say. “You guys are chasing him down like a wild animal! Of course he’s running.”

“Well maybe that’s what he is. A fucking animal that needs to be put down.”

“Rafe, let me go.” I say, tears welling in my eyes ready to spill over. 

“I can’t do that.” He lifts his head away from my ear, motioning Kelce over to the two of us. “I need to make sure you’re safe and not getting into things you shouldn’t. It’s a dangerous place with killers on the loose.”

I start to smell smoke, the strong scent filling my nose causing my face to scrunch up in disgust. I look up in the direction of the church, watching as the wooden structure slowly lights up the dark woods. The building is slowly eaten away by fire, the orange-colored flames traveling up the base of the chapel.

“What did you do?” My voice is quiet, only loud enough for the boy next to my face to hear. He chuckles, grabbing my bicep firmly before dragging me toward the front of the church.

I hear the police pull up in the front of the old church, the mob close behind. My heart drops.

I fight against him but he doesn’t relent. I almost forget about my friend until I hear her voice speaking in a hushed tone, asking Kelce what’s going on. He tells her not to worry about it and she doesn’t push any further. The fire grows, the smoke thick in the air and flames flying out of the windows as they climb higher and higher.

“Behave yourself.” Rafe says when we reach the front, the gaggle of police and Figure 8 residents appearing before us. He lets go of my arm, opting for a firm arm around my waist.

“What are you kids doing out here?” Shoupe asks when he spots us, suspicion heavy in his tone.

“We found them walking through the woods, sir.” Rafe answers, his tone drenched in false worry. He looks down at me as he feigns a look of deep concern. “They had no idea there’s a murderer running around here. I would just hate myself if something terrible happened to them on our watch.”

“Okay, son.” Shoupe says nodding in understanding. “Hey, you’re Heyward’s girl, right?” The officer asks when he notices who I am.

“Yes sir.” I answer lowly.

“Your brother is friends with John B?” I nod. “You have any idea where he might be hiding?” Rafe digs his fingers into my side as a warning. I shake my head side to side.

“No sir.” I don’t look up at him, sight firmly set on my own shoes. “I don’t really know him very well.”

Shoupe stays silent for a moment and I can feel him watching me, his gaze heavy on my frame. I look up finally, our eyes catching each other. I give him my best doe-eyed frightened look, trying my best to make him less suspicious of me.

“Alright. Officer Leon!” He calls out, motioning a large black man over to us. “Will you take these young ladies home?” The officer nods, prompting Londyn and I towards a car a few yards away.

I turn my head to face Rafe as I walk away and lock eyes with him. He looks at me smugly, waving before turning back to the burning building. My neck throbs, the phantom feeling of his hand wrapped around it returning as I get into the backseat of the patrol car.

“Shit, boy, get in the house!” I hear my father say, swiping at the gas canister Pope held in his hands.

My brother showed up this morning on a bike, his loud arrival waking me out of my not so peaceful slumber. I stumbled outside after a couple minutes, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes. Heyward beat me to it, already outside having a confrontation with his son.

“I’m walking out of here with these damn cans and you’re not getting in my way.” Pope states standing chest to chest with our dad. His face is hard, set firm in his decision to defy the man before him.

“Oh, I’m getting in your way.” Dad says, stepping closer to the boy. “And one day, you might be able to whoop my ass, but it ain’t today.” He pushes him back and Pope stumbles, dropping the cans.

Pope shoves him back, much harder than our dad did. The man stumbles back a few feet as well. The two of them start getting physical, pushing at each other in an attempt to prove their dominance. I almost go back inside, letting them work out their issues alone, but watching Pope land a fist on Heyward’s face stops me in my tracks.

“Pope! Dad! What the hell?” I yell, trying to get their attention. They ignore my voice.

“Oh, yeah! It’s gonna take a little more than that.” My father says as he gets in Pope’s face again. “Try again.”

Pope raises his fist, breathing heavily as he gears up to punch him again. He hesitates.

“C’mon. You wanna hit your daddy?” Dad taunts, encouraging him to land another one. “Try it again. You wanna hit me?”

Pope drops his fists and backs away, leaning down to place the gas canisters in his hands once again. He looks up at our dad angrily before speaking.

“I don’t have time for this, I gotta help my friend.” He storms off, leaving my father to stand alone. 

“Yeh, you just go ahead!” Heyward shots after him, following a bit behind. “Yeah, you take everything, son.”

Pope doesn’t look back, just keeps walking away without sparing my father a glance. 

He turns his head towards me for a brief moment, catching my eyes as I look at him disappointedly. There are tears in his eyes that he tries to fight back, ready to spill over onto his dirty face.

“You’re an ungrateful son of a bitch, Pope.” Is the last thing my dad says to him, leaving the both of us in silence as we watch him walk away.

Pope’s back gets smaller and smaller as he retreats back to wherever he came from. My own face is emotionless, eyes dry of tears and body still. 

A dangerously quiet rage fills my body as I stand outside with my father.

Angry with John B, angry with his friends. Angry at Pope for ditching his own family for days at a time like we mean nothing to him. Angry for making me have to console our mother when he vanishes without a word, trying to convince her that her son isn’t dead when I don’t even know myself. Angry with him for doing stupid shit that only lands him in trouble.

Angry with myself for still caring about what happens to him when he clearly doesn’t care himself.

“If your brother comes back here, don’t let him in.” My father instructs me as he walks into the shop. “He can sleep on the streets since he’d rather be there than home.”

My parents got a call later that night from the police informing them that they needed to pick up Pope. They almost had a heart attack, rushing out of the house before the officer could even hang up the phone. 

I was in my bedroom when they returned, the sound of the door opening and shutting the only indication that they arrived.

I rushed into the living room to spot a wet, disheveled Pope in a bloody t-shirt, his face drenched in rain and tears. I look between the three of them in confusion, the atmosphere of the home suddenly filled with despair and sadness. 

My dad walks up to me while our mom holds my brother in her arms tightly as he shakes with sobs.

“John B…didn’t make it.” He tells me sadly, his own face is tired and sad. I knit my eyebrows together, mind not allowing me to comprehend what I was just told.

“What do you mean he didn’t make it?” I ask, looking between my mom and dad once again. “Didn’t make it where?” My question is answered with a tense silence, dread filling my stomach as my heart drops to my feet. I swallow dryly, nodding my head as I walk back to my room. 

Shutting the door quietly, I slide down the wooden frame, body racked with silent sobs of my own.

I hear Pope enter his own room a few minutes later, door shutting loudly with a thud. I listen to his pained screams and sobs through the wall, heart tightening at the sound. 

I feel my brother’s grief in the air of the house, my parents speaking in hushed voices in the living room. I hear him destroying his room, throwing objects at the door and assaulting the walls with his body.

I am angry again. Angry for my brother. Angry for his friends. Angry for John B.

Eventually he stops, crying himself to sleep after being restless for hours. I didn't fall asleep that night, mind racing and stomach churning with grief.

[confessions-sm]

Okay. So I will begin with something that will be important later in the story.

TWS FOR HALLUCINATIONS, DELUSIONS, PARANOIA

Basically, there is this thing that I will only be dubbing The Illness until its actual name is revealed. The Illness is basically a disease that is caused by a lot of things—doubt, fear, paranoia. Anyone can easily catch it if they give in to either of those things. Victims of the disease often hallucinate, and become delusional. And it gets worse and worse with each stage until the end stage, where they usually err.. kinda claw at their own throat until they die?

This is important—trust me. /lh

So the beginning of the story

Kevin wakes up in an ordinary day like any other. He is staying over at Ethan and Strebers house, with none of Strebers other friends being there since they have something they're busy with. He has to get ready for work though, so he does, and heads into the kitchen. Streber, Ethan and Kevin converse when he gets to the kitchen. But before he leaves, Streber gives him a piece of toast. Kevin is grateful for this.

Kevin then later goes to work, and toward the end of his shift, he starts cleaning. But he's then pranked by the hatzgang, because they end up pouring water all over him. He tries to chase them out, but they leave before he can scold them. He tries to head back in, but he slips on the water that poured from the bucket and falls face first onto the ground. He only mutters out of defeat that he hates his job.

Later, Kevin goes back to Ethan and Strebers house. The two manage to soothe him, and they get to their backyard night picnic which they were planning to have with him that night anyway. They of course make sure that he wants to do it, and when he makes it clear that he does, they do it.

They have the picnic in the backyard, but as they converse, Streber mentions a festival/upcoming celebration by the name of Fiesta de las estrellas.

The celebration is pretty simple. It is themed around the stars, and toward the end of the celebration, everyone who attends goes to a certain area and makes a wish and then blows on a dandelion flower. Metaphorically, this is a way of letting their wish be sent to any gods that may be listening to their wishes. And then afterwards, everyone who is attending then proceeds to stargaze in that said area.

Streber seems pretty eager and excited about it, which makes Kevin decide "Hey why not", so he decides that when it comes around, he'll go to the celebration with both him and Ethan. Streber becomes more excited, which causes Ethan to start teasing him a little.

Then, after the picnic, Kevin is ready to go back to his house. But then Kevin catches Streber muttering something to himself in a frustrated manner. Streber explains that he forgot to go look for something he lost near a construction site the other day, and that he can't possibly just go out now to go look for it, even though he was planning on finding it today.

Out of pity, Kevin decides that he can at least try to help him find it before he heads back home. Streber is a little hesitant about this, but he excitedly accepts his help, very grateful.

After telling Ethan about it, Streber drives Kevin over to said construction site. Once they get there, Streber immediately heads in. Kevin decides that he'll let Streber take a look around to see if he can find what he lost. So he sits in a nearby area as he watches Streber search around. But then, he is startled by the arrival of someone. It's Richard, Roy's dad.

Richard and Kevin have a bit of a tense argument/conversation with one another since Kevin doesn't like Richard due to his snobbish attitude. In a small attempt to lighten up the mood at least a little though, he jokingly says that Strebers probably searching for a corpse.

Richard looks at him in a rather tense manner. Kevin tries to say that he was joking, but then Richard suddenly says, "...**you shouldn't joke about it. They still haven't found one of the arms, you know?**". This catches Kevin off guard, obviously.

Before Kevin can even reply though, Streber comes back. Streber seems to be done searching around, saying he can't really find it in the dark and that they might need to come back some other time. Richard decides to leave there, how convenient!

Streber and Kevin decide to drive back so Kevin can get back to his house, but Kevin tries to hesitantly ask if there were any murder cases around the area that he didn't know about since he didn't hear about there being one in a construction site like the one they were in.

Then, Streber suddenly says in a very cold tone as if he is supressing some sort of anger, "I don't know."

(Stopping so people can read)

I am stupid I forgot about those first details.. NOW I fully understand what happened 💔