#having the wind knocked out of them and immediately standing at attention again

[letitbehurt]

A living weapon Whumpee who is beaten when they fail a mission or refuse an order.

[daycourtofficial]

In his sheets

Pairing: Azriel x reader | WC: 1.9k | warnings: brief sexual language

Summary: Azriel is quite smitten with you, a fact he doesn’t want to confront until he overhears an intimate moment between you and his brother

Azriel strolled through the House of Wind, the chill of the halls raising the hair on his arms. He had several plans for the day - the biggest one was to search for Solstice gifts. He went over the list of gifts in his mind, half of his family’s gifts accounted for. He had already gotten gifts for Rhys and Feyre, he had picked up nail jewels for Mor, and something for Amren that the sketchy fae who sold it to him had warned ‘not to look at directly’. But he had yet to pick up gifts for you and Cassian. 

There were still a few weeks before Solstice, but if Azriel didn’t have his gifts ready at least three weeks in advance, it made him spiral with nerves and anxiety, causing him to bring gifts of lesser quality. 

And Azriel hated losing at anything, even gift giving.

The only ones left to buy for were you and Cassian. He could stroll the streets and vendors of Velaris this afternoon, finding the perfect gifts for you and Cassian before dinner. 

The two of you had plans to meet for dinner out in Velaris - you insisting Azriel had to try this new restaurant with you, and Azriel taking any chance he could to bask in your warmth.

His long legs carried him through the halls, halting when he heard your sweet voice through a doorway. He paused outside of your room, the sound of delicious moans coming from your mouth. 

He felt his pants tighten, his shadows start pawing beneath the door, wanting desperately to take a peak. o, Azriel wouldn’t violate your privacy like that. He yanked the shadows back, watching them pull as if they were on a lead. No, he’d stand outside your room just listening to you touch yourself.

Because that was better. 

He shook his head, shaking the arousing pictures from his head, the hope that maybe you were thinking of him. He picked up one of his feet, not wanting to leave but not wanting to get caught listening when your voice came through the door, the words from your mouth like a bucket of water over his body.

“Mmm, Cassian.”

He stopped, his brother’s chuckle coming from under the door as well. His foot hovered in the air, his body unable to move. Had he gotten things wrong again? Had he put too much stock into the small touches, the lingering gazes, how the two of you seemed to linger after everyone else had departed?

How had he gotten this wrong again?

He continued down the hallway, his shadows swirling and bouncing off the walls as his thoughts raced, trying to figure out where he had gotten it wrong once more.

He headed toward his room, his plans for the day changing immediately to include wallowing in his chambers.

Alone.

Just like he always found himself.

-

A knock at his door interrupted his thoughts, your voice coming through the door instead of the lingering remnants of your sighs in his mind.

“It’s me.”

Of course you would come check on him. He had one of his shadows leave a note for you that he couldn’t make it to dinner. He should have told you he was out working, but he hated lying to you. The thought of it churned his stomach, which was why he decided to tell you he wasn’t feeling well, which wasn’t technically a lie anymore.

He opened the door, stepping to the side to allow you in. You entered his room, carrying a tray with a water pitcher, a couple of glasses, and a bowl of soup he could see steam rising off of.

The sight made him close his eyes, his heart beating around his chest, unable to calm down. You were so impossibly sweet, even when you were breaking his heart. A small part of him wanted to play pretend - to lay in the warmth of your gaze and affection, make a home in your attention, forgetting all about what he heard this morning.

That wasn’t possible now, and it wasn’t possible this morning, Azriel having forgone his shopping plans, opting to stay in his room, listening to your moans over and over.

Your concerned eyes pulled him from his trance, a shadow whispering your moans from earlier into his ear.

Right.  The Cassian of it all.

He sighed, watching you drop the tray off at his desk before pouring him a glass of water, the condensation from the carafe dripping onto the floor. 

“You didn’t have to do this.”

“You’re not feeling well - you never cancel plans. I knew you had to be knocking at the Mother’s door if you were cancelling on me.”

Had he always been that obvious? Had you and Cassian thought his affections a mere joke?

“Well, uh thank you I-”

His words were cut off as your hand reached his forehead, your tongue sticking out as you stood on the tops of your toes to reach.

“No fever, but you feel a bit clammy. What were your symptoms?”

“Really, sweetheart, you don’t have to-”

The nickname fell from his lips naturally, and he stopped speaking at the realization of what he had done.

“When did they start? Have you been eating? Drinking? Here.”

You pushed the cold water glass into his hands, and he accepted it, taking a sip from it.

“Good, good.” You muttered, pouring yourself a glass.

You were being so sweet, so nice to him, and all he wanted was to curl back into his bed and wallow in self-pity. One of his shadows hit him in the head to get him to focus back on you.

He can’t live in this misery anymore. He has to just get it out there that he knows, then he can move on, fall for another unattainable female.

Again. 

“I’m happy for you. And for.. Cassian.”

There. He did it while rubbing the back of his head, trying to soothe the spot the shadow hit. He said the hard part out loud, but your quirked brow did little to soothe the ache in his chest. 

“What did we do?”

His mouth dried, unwilling to explain this even further to you.

“On account of your uh relationship with Cassian?”

You spit out your drink unceremoniously, water covering your front. You start coughing while Azriel grabs a rag for you and you dabbed at your shirt as you asked, “what relationship with Cassian?”

Azriel tries not to scream as he has to choke out, “ya know - you two are together in some capacity?”

You laugh, a big uproarious laugh that nearly knocks him off his feet. What was going on? Surely the two of you had been sneaking around in some capacity. Why were you so amused by the fact that he knew?

“I’m not seeing Cass. I’m not seeing anyone - especially not Cassian!”

He stills, his brain working overtime to connect pieces that aren’t there.

“But you- I heard you earlier..”

His voice trailed off, the tips of his ears heating pink. 

“You heard me what?”

He looked at you incredulously, unable to believe you were going to make him spell it out. He could feel the blush creeping across his cheeks and nose as he said, “I could hear you and Cassian… ya know…”

Your eyes were wide with bewilderment, still not grasping what he wasn’t saying.

“I know…?”

He huffed, “I heard you moaning Cassian’s name earlier.”

It was your turn to be flustered and red, spluttering at being caught. The spymaster part of Azriel wanted to hum in delight, having caught the perpetrator in a lie. But the romantic side, the part of him that was deeply in love with you just wanted to shrivel up and blow away in the wind knowing his brother has gotten to be with yet another female his heart soared for.

“Um,” you stutter, and Azriel would find you so endearing if you weren’t blushing over Cassian’s hands all over you.

Azriel shook his head, trying to remove the unwanted thoughts and pictures once more.

“Cassian uh.. We were training earlier, and Cassian,” he filled in the gaps of your story as you paused, wanting to stop you from explaining in detail how his brother got his grubby hands on you, “Cass and I were sparring, and his practice sword hit me pretty hard in the back.”

Oh god, you were using euphemisms for his brother’s cock.

“It caused my back to spasm pretty bad. Cass felt terrible, so he carried me to my room and gave me a massage.”

Cauldron, just stop with euphemisms.

“So are you two a thing now?”

“A thing?”

“Yeah, you two fucked because of training.”

How stupid did you think he was?

“Az, I think you’re confused. Cassian massaged my back. I have a massive bruise from where he walloped me.”

You turn, pulling up the back of your shirt to show him. Aziel practically short circuited at the sight of the bruise on your back. It was massive, and he could make out the clear outline a sword hilt.

He felt his stomach bubble in anger at his brother, but for a different reason. How could he be so rough with you? How could he be so careless with you. His thoughts whirled before he stilled at the expression on your face.

“Were you… jealous, Az?”

“No.”

It came out quick and clipped, and one of his shadows hit the side of his head in annoyance. You stepped forward, your body only a few inches from his own.

“So it wouldn’t bother you if I went on a date with Cassian?”

His fingers formed a first, and he exhaled slowly, “no, it wouldn’t bother me in the slightest.”

“What if I went on a date with his brother?”

“Rhys is-”

He stopped, looking down at you, taking in your words.

“A date? With Cassian’s brother?”

You take your lip between your teeth as you look up at him, and he desperately wants to take your lip between his own, pulling you into his arms, He doesn’t. Instead, he listens as you say, “I heard he wasn’t feeling well, but maybe when he’s feeling better we could get dinner.. Maybe walk along the Sidra..”

He raised his eyebrows as you pressed your body closer to his. “The latest report I received said he was feeling better.”

He wanted to run his hands across your forehead as your brows quirk, “any reports about his availability tonight?”

You were bouncing on your feet before him, and if he didn’t find you adorable enough, the action would have made his heart soar with endearment. He hummed, enjoying watching your palpable excitement over him. “My reports say he’s available around seven.”

You peer at the clock in his room, the minute hand showing it was only a few moments until seven.

“I’ll be there to pick him up at seven.”

He watched you pull away, his body already missing your warmth, stepping outside his door. He waited, standing in the same spot, unable to move like a lovesick fool until the clock in his room chimed seven times, the last chime immediately followed by a quick knocking at his door. He opened the door to find you standing there, a small bouquet in your hand. He had no idea how you procured it in such a short amount of time, but your big grin made him stop thinking entirely. 

“Hi, I think we have a date tonight?”

Permanent taglist: @vanilla-seabass @cyrygher @lees-chaotic-brain @topaz125 @chessebookgirl @fides25 @lady-of-tearshed @ashbatz @fxckmiup @lilah-asteria @justvibbinghere @daughterofthemoons-stuff @mybestfriendmademe @heartless-tate @tsunami-of-tears @idrkwhatthisisimsorry @olive-main @azrielsmate3 @pit-and-the-pen @durgenyx @dee-writes-smut @chairofchaos @thelov3lybookworm @berryzxx @throneofsmut @kennedy-brooke @prythianpages @itsswritten @acotarxreader @milswrites

Azriel taglist: @brieflyclassymortal @thisiskaylin @magicstrengthandcourage

Thanks for reading ❣️

[vin-taege]

Hiii, if you're willing to, could I request a chishiya x reader where reader gets seriously injured and knocked unconscious during a game and chishiya carries you out of there and treat your wounds, and they only find out about it when they wake up and kuina tells them (+bonus points if they just assume someone else like ann or anyone else really was the responsible for letting you live🙏🏽) just had this thought and was like aaaaa👉🏽👈🏽🤔

Flesh Wound

Summary: Your body is aching all over when you wake up, but you have no idea who put the bandages on you.

Genre: fluff

Pairing: reader x chishiya

Words: 2k

Note: I got carried away aGAIN ; O; This is set during the five of spades game :>>

The wind blew against a lock of your hair softly. Chishiya leaned over the railing beside you, looking expressionless as always. Three stories below, you could see the Horse Mask empty another round of bullets into two poor souls—the girls who might have been friends. They stilled for a second, probably gauging their surroundings. Suddenly, they looked up, the front of their mask pointed directly towards you.

Chishiya swiftly grabbed your arm, pulling you down as he ducked. You shared a held breath, though you stubbornly peeked from behind the concrete. Horse Mask was unmoving, until they finally tore their gaze away and went back to loading their gun. After cocking it, they trudged slowly down the hallway. 

“It has a blind spot,” you told him. In response, he raised an eyebrow, tilting his head to the right a little. “It didn’t see us, I think. Kept on going the same direction.”

“That’ll come in handy later. I’m still figuring out where exactly the safe zone could be.” He leaned back against the concrete barrier, eyes scanning the night sky above you before landing on your own. You tensed up, but for a different reason this time.

Don’t let him intimidate you, Kuina had told you before you entered the game. This was the first time you and Chishiya went to a game together. Kuina usually went with you, and your trio was granted the same group each time. But ever since the tension with the militants grew, Hatter had to reshuffle the groupings in an attempt to quell Aguni’s temper. 

You opened your mouth in response, words caught in your throat as you heard another bout of gunfire. Carefully, the two of you peeked over the rails again, eyes drawn to a scraggly mop of hair poking from behind one of the lower floors. You craned your neck, trying to get a glimpse of were Horse Mask might be.

Chishiya tapped your shoulder to gain your attention. “It’s below us. The noise came from our area.”

“We need to move out then,” you muttered, getting ready to stand up. Chishiya stopped you with another tug on your arm. His eyebrows were furrowed a little, gaze transfixed on the spot Horse Mask shot at.

“It’s that room,” he nodded towards the bullethole-riddled door. The kid with messy hair dragged a man wearing a cap away from it, no doubt to seek a safe spot. “The tagger wouldn’t have shot at them from far away if it wasn’t.”

Without a second thought, you leaned over the railings and shouted as loud as you can, “Fourth floor, sixth door!”

Almost immediately, heavy boots smacked against the staircase on your far right. Shifting his hand to wrap around your wrist, Chishiya steered you toward the left-wing staircase. Your feet padded against the steps, heart beating rapidly. You let Chishiya lead you through turns and stairwells until you found yourselves back on the fourth floor.

You stopped momentarily, planting your hands on your knees to catch your breath. Chishiya panted next to you, though he tried to control his breathing more. In any situation, he’d never fail to keep up the mask of calmness.

“Let’s end this. I’m so hungry,” you attempted to banter. Despite having played several games together, you still didn’t know where you stood with him. At times he would act uncharacteristically… nice. Getting you meals unprompted, bringing you back trinkets he’d find lying around—like the hair tie that held your hair right now. And other times he’d be so withdrawn, going for days without a single conversation with you, as if he’s deliberately trying to ignore you.

Like now. He glanced at you blankly, eyes flicking for the briefest second towards your lips. Or maybe you imagined it?

“Let’s go.” Without another word, he peered around the corner before walking in like he owned the place. You were left to trail after him, anxiously glancing at the upper floors surrounding you. Sensing your nerves, Chishiya turned his head towards you. “We’ll hear the tagger coming because of his shoes. Don’t worry your pretty head too much about it.”

Oh! Pretty? Did he just call you pretty? 

Thankfully, you were behind him, meaning you’d be able to hide your cheeks heating up. To distract yourself, you looked up only to find the same mop of messy hair and a cap trailing behind him. Chishiya spoke first before you could. 

“You figured it out too, huh?” He said, almost as a challenge. 

The boy nodded at him, saying how he also noticed the tagger’s protectiveness over that one specific door. He watched the taller man grip the door knob. Chishiya leaned against the wall, voice cool as ever. “What puzzles me is why the tagger isn’t here yet.”

You perked up, and you could tell that the other two players were intrigued by this statement as well. For a moment, everyone was silent. You turned your head towards Chishiya. “That means…”

“We don’t have time,” he cut you off, eyes meeting yours. He flashed his phone, showing the timer counting down from three minutes. His gaze never left yours, a silent plead for you to keep quiet in the meantime. You glared back at him, having a bad feeling that this was one of his tricks again.

“Arisu, he’s right. We need to finish this now.” The man in the cap whispered to who you now know as Arisu. 

Arisu nodded back at him. He took a deep breath, then swung the door open. The four of you peered from the doorframe, scanning the inside of the apartment. Suddenly, gunfire started once again. This time, you felt a bullet graze your calf. All at once, everyone yelled, ducking into the safety of the apartment. You squeezed your eyes shut, letting yourself fall forward into the darkness. 

When you opened your eyes, you were met with Chishiya’s chest. His arms were wrapped tightly around your back, and you could hear him try to stifle his heavy breathing. Slowly, you tilted your head to meet his gaze. His eyes widened a little, realizing the position you were in. He quickly retracted his hold over you, as if you were hot metal.

With the moment broken, you rolled off him with a grimace. You muttered, “Thanks for—Arisu!”

Behind the apartment door, a second tagger emerged from the shadows, shotgun trained on the back of Arisu. He whipped his head back upon hearing you, dodging just in time as you pushed the gun out of line. 

The tagger thrashed against you, bringing in a leg to kick at your stomach. With a step back, you managed to dodge them, taking the opening to knee them in the torso. Your fingers still wrapped around the barrel of the gun, struggling to point it towards the ground.

From behind you, Chishiya lunged at the tagger. The charge of his tazer broke through the air, the man driving its points deep into the tagger’s leg. The tagger let out a pained yell, their leg giving out. They managed to catch themselves on their other foot. With the sudden shift in position, the gun slipped from your grasp. The tagger brought their arm back, bringing the butt of the gun on the side of your forehead.

The room spun around you. It felt like your head was dunked inside a fish tank, with all the noise sounding so muffled. Through the bleariness of your vision, you saw another spark in the dark—probably from Chishiya’s tazer again. Before you fully blacked out, you could recall Chishiya calling after you.

ˏˋ°•*⁀➷

You woke up with a groan, not even bothering to sit up because of all the pain. There was a light throbbing in your head, and your legs felt incredibly sore. You squinted your eyes, letting them adjust to the light. When your vision cleared up, you recognized the room you were in to be yours.

There was a blanket covering you from the hips down.  A wide bandage was wrapped over your head. Gauze was wrapped around your forearm, held in place by medical tape, a faint red mark seeping through the light fabric. You hadn’t even felt that injury from the game.

The game!

Does this mean you won? Is Chishiya okay? What happened to that Arisu kid and the man in the cap? Before you could stand up and get answers for yourself, a soft knock on your door echoed in your room.

“Come in,” you called out softly. Your voice was hoarse, and if you had spoken any louder, it would start up the headache again. 

Kuina walked into the room, a bread basket slung on her arm. Chishiya shuffled in behind her, his gaze trained on the floor. They brought out some of the hotel chairs in your suite, sitting on either side of you. With a smile, Kuina proudly plopped the bread basket on the empty space of your bed.

“Where’d you even get that?” you chuckled lightly.

“Chishiya nabbed it on the way home,” she wiggled her eyebrows, a teasing smirk on her face. Across her, Chishiya scoffed, eyes not leaving the carpet. “He was very worried you know. It was the first time I saw him shaking in his flip-flops.”

“She’s pulling your leg. Not that it’s been injured already,” he replied curtly. 

Through the pain, a smile made its way to your lips. With your uninjured arm, you gingerly ran your fingers across the basketweave. Your eyes found their way to Chishiya, his face framed by loose strands of hair. 

“Thank you, for getting me out and for the bread.”

“I didn’t say I got you out,” he narrowed your eyes at you, though a smirk quirked at the corner of his mouth.

“I know, but you’ll never admit it anyway,” you grinned. Bringing your attention back to Kuina, you nudged the basket closer to her. “Here. I want you guys to have some too. Oh, and please bring some for Ann down in her dungeon as well.”

Kuina raised her eyebrows in confusion. “What for?”

“For patching me up,” you shrugged, gesturing to your bandage-riddled body. Kuina still looked partly surprised, before a wave of realization washed over her. 

“Ah… I see.” She shot a knowing look toward Chishiya. It almost looked like he had a small pout. You could sense him starting to deflate a little in his seat, one of his knees starting to bounce repeatedly. “You know what, Ann isn’t the only person in the medical field here.”

With a wink, she grabbed two muffins and waltzed towards the door. “I’ll leave you two to talk. I’ll drop this off at Ann’s too. To thank her for her ‘help’.” She emphasized with air quotes.

With a soft click, the door shut, leaving the two of you in silence once more.

You broke the silence first this time. 

“Chishiya?”

He hummed in acknowledgment.

“Who treated my wounds?”

He stayed silent for a moment, too stubborn to meet your gaze. Finally, he let out a long sigh and still his knee. “I used to be a doctor in the other life.”

It was a non-admission, but an admission nonetheless. He had this way of things where he’d never say anything directly. He loved puzzles so much, that he became one. But you were getting used to his hints. And over time, you were learning how to piece together his thoughts. 

“‘Shiya.” He finally looked at you. No one’s called him that since his mom. 

You shuffled to the side, patting the space you made. Hesitantly, he crawled beneath the covers with you. You laid down in now comfortable silence. Slowly, you placed your hand above his. 

He tensed for a moment before turning his palm up and enveloping yours. Your thumb traced his knuckle.

“How are you feeling?”

“Better.” You turned your head to face him. “Way better.”

He thickly swallowed, turning his head to face you. In the softest voice, he said, “I’m happy you are.”

The throbbing in your head faded. With that one small sentence, you understood most of the things he wanted to say, bubbling just beneath the surface. Over time, he’d be able to fully let his walls down. You just needed to trust that he will.

[hotchner-edu]

hi! I know you’re on a little writing break but if you get the chance what about where reader has to do like hand to hand combat with an unsub like JJ does in s7 bc her and hotch get paired up but they take him out first and so it’s up to her to get them both out of there alive or something and then him and everyone on the team is impressed bc reader doesnt look like the type to be able to do that or something 🤓

The Claws Come Out (Drabble) | Aaron Hotchner

It was no secret that you and Spencer were a bit coddled on the team, being the two youngest agents with, according to Derek, the demeanor of a kitten cosplaying business casual. You and Spencer have grown to just accept the picture the team has painted and prove your capabilities in other ways on the field.

"How's it looking so far, Spence?" You mumble and stare at the map he's pinned up on the board. Derek has his arms crossed, swaying a bit in his chair as he waits for the next phone call from the unsub. Hotch is standing beside your chair, eyebrows pinched together as he directs his attention to the board.

"I've narrowed it down to two places." Spencer hums, stepping back to analyze his work.

"But..?" You can sense how he's trailing off.

"They're on opposite sides of town. Deducing from the echoes we heard from his last calls, and the strong emotional connections he has with the previous crime scenes, we're left with..." Spencer points to two distant ends on the map. "The warehouse he was fired from and the church he frequented as a child." He finishes and clears his throat, turning around to look at Hotch.

"So we split?" You suggest and whirl your chair around to look up at the stern man.

Your unit chief considers it for a second before nodding and looking around the precinct. "Alright. Reid, you and Dave stay here and wait to see if Thompson calls again. If he does, keep him talking." He then turns to Derek. "Morgan, I want you, JJ, and Prentiss to go to the warehouse."

"And we'll go to the church." You finish softly and smile, standing up and stretching your arms as you turn to your boss. "Can I drive?"

Unfortunately, you're yet again relegated to the role of passenger princess as Hotch navigates through the town, caution for the speed limit thrown into the wind. "He's not going to go down without a fight."

Hotch's words sound cautious, and when the car turns into the church parking lot, your eyes widen as you see Thompson's vehicle parked haphazardly by some bushes. "He's here. I'll tell the others."

"We can't wait for them to get here." Hotch is already unbuckling his seatbelt, only waiting until you send a swift text before hurrying to the church entrance.

You're trailing behind him, gun unholstered and pointed toward the concrete. "Only one entrance." You huff out with a worried sigh, watching as Hotch gently pushes one of the tall doors open, his other hand gripping his gun.

Fortunately, neither of you are immediately gunned down as he swiftly opens the door and ducks out of the way. It seemed that your unsub wasn't sitting at a pew, firearm at the ready.

You motion that you're going to go investigate one of the narrow hallways to your right, and Hotch goes deeper into the church. With your gun raised, you carefully step through the dimly lit passageway, seeing stacked storage bins coated in dust, and old books stacked on some rickety shelves.

No sign of Thompson.

Just as that thought brushes across your mind, you hear a familiar grunt along with some crashes. Hurrying out of the room, you rush back into the nave, eyes immediately zeroing in on your unit chief laying on the ground.

Some of the candles by the pews are knocked over, and you're only able to snap out of your shock when a harsh kick from your right sends your gun sliding across the floor. Recovering quickly, you see Thompson's shoe coming in for another hit, this time aimed at your face, and you duck breathlessly.

Seeing that the man is unarmed, you pop back up on your feet and close the distance between you both to send a punch across his face. Your right hook ushers a surprised grunt from his lips, and you quickly take advantage of his unsteady balance by sending a spinning back kick right to his sternum.

He flies back a bit and hunches over before letting out an enraged cry and lunging for you, hands flailing. You meet his hits with a sidestep and you send a kick to his backside, his momentum combined with your kick sending him headfirst toward the ground.

You see him trying to reach for your gun that's a few feet in front of him and you hurry to kick it away, yelping when he grabs your ankle and tugs you back, sending you crashing to the floor too.

He tries to get on top of you, breathing in harshly as he shuffles closer. Flipping onto your back, you grunt and lay your foot down on the ground to steady yourself before using the other to kick up toward his chest. He groans as he falls back, clutching at his chest that was likely aching from your previous kick.

Getting up on your feet, you watch him scramble to do the same. You can tell from his hunched shoulders and heavy breathing that he's having a hard time catching his breath and that this exchange was nearing its end. Grunting in frustration, you roundhouse kick him in a flash, the adrenaline practically bursting from your pores.

It's almost comical the way he flips over the pew behind him, crashing onto the floor in an unconscious heap. Catching your breath, you immediately hurry to retrieve your gun. However, as you turn around you're met with the shocked faces of your team at the entrance, guns lowered.

Blinking slowly at them, you offer a sheepish smile before turning to go check up on your boss. Your movements snap them back to reality as they hurry to call for backup and medics, Derek already marching to cuff your unconscious unsub.

No one says anything about the altercation until your hand is bandaged up and Hotch is cleared of any serious injuries. As you're walking away from the ambulance, Emily sidles up to your right and swings an arm over your shoulder.

"Kitty's got claws." She hums out with a bright smile.

"It was nothing." You shake your head and chuckle softly as she leads you over to where the team is circled together.

Rossi smiles brightly when he sees you, hand moving to pat your shoulder. "I heard from a little birdy that you saved the day. Good job, kiddo."

"Yeah, we were going to intervene, but you were winning." Derek jokes and shrugs. "But when were you going to tell us you could do all of that?"

"I was honestly going to wait for the day where you challenged me to hand-to-hand." You snicker softly. Derek rolls his eyes and shakes his head affectionately, calling out to Spencer with a teasing remark as he approaches with his hands in his pockets.

Your eyes dart around the vicinity, your head perking up a little when you see Hotch walking toward you all after shaking hands with the local police chief.

Slipping away from the group, you walk toward him with a small grin. "You gave me quite the scare, y'know?"

An all too fond smile flickers across his face. "I'm fine, but good job today. You've got a great roundhouse."

"It was nothing." You shrug before furrowing your eyebrows and looking at him inquisitively. "Wait, you saw that?"

"Yeah, I came to after you landed on the floor." He says with a faint smirk, raising a hand to brush against yours. "Are you okay though? It seemed like a hard fall."

You don't comment when his pinky hooks around yours. "Yeah, I'm okay. I'm more sturdy than I look."

His eyebrows raise in amusement and his face softens as he keeps his gaze on you. "We should have you training the new recruits then."

"That'd be fun." You muse out as you turn to look at the cars around you. "Actually, Hotch, I'm so okay in fact that I think I'm fine enough to drive us back."

His chest rumbles with a chuckle as he shakes his head and walks toward the Buick you both took earlier. "Not a chance."

[chaimilkshake]

Brother’s Best Friend - Nicholas Chavez x fem!reader

summary: you’re Cooper Koch’s sister, coming to visit him after his success in Monsters where you meet his co-star.

warnings: slightly suggestive at the end!

word count: 752

a/n: lmk if this needs a part two because i will write it.

Being the sibling of an actor wasn’t easy. Your older brother, Cooper, quickly became well known after Monsters blew up. To celebrate, you drove to LA to see him.

You had visited plenty of times before, living in California, but this time was different. Something in the air felt so wonderful as you drove, windows down, wind through your hair. Today was going to be good, you could feel it.

You pulled into the driveway of your brother’s house, noticing a couple of other cars, but not thinking anything of it. When you strolled up to the front door, you didn’t even get the chance to knock before the door flew open.

Cooper exclaimed your name, pulling you into a tight hug. “I didn’t know you were coming!” He said, hugging you still. You chuckled, hugging him back.

“That was the point!” The two of you stood on the porch, simply enjoying each other’s embrace for a minute before you whispered. “I’m so proud of you.”

He relaxed at that, slowly pulling away to look at you properly. “Thank you.”

Before you could say anything else, your attention was drawn to the man standing at the doorway. It only took a second for you to recognize him.

“Oh! This is Nicholas. Nic, this is my sister,” Cooper said, stepping back to introduce you two.

You smiled, nodding at him.“Nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you, too,” Nicholas nodded, although his eyes lingered over you a little bit longer than they should have.

Cooper cleared his throat, putting his hands together and smiling. “Okay, come in, come in!” He ushered, pulling you inside with them.

“I hope I’m not interrupting,” you say as you walk into Cooper’s house, entering the living room.

“Oh, not at all. We were just hanging out,” Cooper explains, sitting on the couch and patting the spot next to him. You joined him, Nicholas taking the spot on the other side of you. “So. Fill me in. What’s new and exciting?” He asks, smiling at the cliche question and picking his drink up.

You chuckled, shaking your head. He knew how much you hated when your relatives would ask that after a long period of not seeing them. “Same old, same old. School, work, sleep, and repeat, y’know?”

“Nothing new at all? No new friends, more than friends?” Cooper teases, nudging you and sending a wink your way.

For some reason, the question makes your cheeks flush. You knew this was just Cooper being Cooper, but something about Nicholas sitting next to you made it awkward. “You’re acting like we haven’t spoken in months, I texted you yesterday,” you laughed, shaking your head. “You would already know.”

He smiles, nodding his head. “I know, I know, just teasing you. Do you want a drink?” He asks, moving to stand.

“Uh, maybe just water?” You ask, thanking him as he moves for the kitchen. Nicholas takes this opportunity to speak up.

“What school do you go to?” He asks, and it’s clear his eyes have been on you since he sat back down.

“Oh, University of California San Diego,” You nod, smiling at him. It was nice of him to fill the silence, because you know you wouldn’t have the courage to.

“Really? That’s cool. What do you do there?” He asks, sipping at his drink.

Fuck. You knew he’d ask that. You clear your throat, suddenly finding a loose thread in your shirt very interesting.

“I’m an anatomy major.”

Nicholas chokes on his drink, immediately bringing a hand up to his mouth. You can’t help but chuckle, seeing him struggle to swallow it. He laughs once he does, nodding and wiping his mouth.

“Anatomy, really?” He asks, the two of you chuckling again.

“Yup. Gonna do something in the medical field, not quite sure what yet.”

He nods slowly, putting his drink back down. “You gotta be pretty smart to do that, huh?” Nicholas asks, smiling at you.

It takes you a minute to respond, finding yourself hypnotized by him. His pretty smile, eyes, hair. Everything, really. Your smile sticks until you remember he asked you something. “Oh! Yeah. I mean, I guess. It’s not easy work,” you ramble, trying to recover from that awkward silence, feeling your face heat up again.

Nicholas laughs again, watching the color bleed into your cheeks. “Well, if you never need a reference, I’m here.”

[impish-baby]

Ummm, a lot of my asks have been eaten lately, but I figured that typing this out again probably won't hurt. Sorry if you got it and I'm being annoying, but what if we went grocery shopping and met the twins by accident. The thing is, we don't see it as us running away. From our POV, we were distancing ourselves from our toxic family, so we're just like "Hey, wassup?" And the twins are like "wtf, where have you been asshole?!"

And then we just get pulled into a bone crushing hug and shoved into their car while we're just shocked bc literally when was the last time they showed us affection? Physical affection at that? And (small fact about myself) we don't like being touched bc we didn't grow up with it, so we're struggling in the backseat as one twin practically suffocates us and the other twin drives home.

-🏹

Hihi! I am pretty sure I've gotten that ask, although it didn't have a sign off, it was this premise. (Don't worry about being annoying! I understand the anxiety about tumblr eating asks ^^)

Don't you know it's fight or fly, little wolf - how the twins react to seeing reader out shopping

'It's just groceries, you're fine..' It's repeated like a mantra as you wonder down the aisles, anxiety pooling in your gut and making you queasy. Too bright, too much noise, too many people, every single thing is grating on your already fried nerves. You're constantly reminding yourself that you can do this, that you're just buying what Pam needs, and then leaving. It's simple, you're an adult, you're not having an anxiety attack just because you're shopping and it's crowded-

If you weren't already having a horrible enough time, there's a sudden hand on your back, tightly gripping your hoodie and pressing you up against the aisle you where browsing. "So you are in one piece... Jack has been worrying himself sick, you know?" You have to crane your neck to the side to see your older sibling, Theo standing as close as humanly possible. There's a cold look on their face, frowning disapprovingly at you when they turn you around to be face to face with them. "I think he was starting to go gray, honesty.."

You can't even get a word out between the panic you were already feeling and their sudden presence, momentarily stunned. Theo is too busy checking you over to pay attention to your reaction, scrutizing your form for any injuries before your hoodie is released, vice like grip holding onto your hand instead. You don't even do anything when they start dragging you through the store, only stumbling helplessly behind your older sibling.

When Jack eventually catches sight of you both, you're immediately crushed into a hug that knocks the wind out of you, squirming once you can feel him start to press kisses to the crown of your head, is... is he crying?? He is crying, tears tricking down the man's cheeks as he holds you like you're the most precious thing on the planet. Since when...

"God, where have you been? Are you ok? You're not hurt, right? T- Theo, they aren't hurt?"

"They're fine." Theo huffs, still holding onto you even though Jack has you in a suffacating embrace. "...stop making a scene."

"Ok.. ok.." Your older brother sighs, taking a few breaths to calm himself down. He doesn't let you go however, swinging an arm over your shoulder as they both begin to leave the store with you in tow. "You.. you can come to the apartment, alright? We'll call dad and then-"

That gets your brain to start working again at least, starting to drag your feet and cause Theo to curse as you begin to struggle. "I'm not going anywhere with either of you! Do you seriously think-" Your breath hitches in your throat as a hand wraps around your neck and squeezes.

"He wasn't asking your opinion, he was telling you that's what's happening." Jack has let you go now, standing off to the side as he nervously wrings his hands. It's Theo's intimidating figure standing over you, clutching your neck with a warning glare. "You're not a toddler, but if you don't walk, I'm carrying you out of the store."

Theo sighs when you stubbornly make no move to be cooperative, now carrying you out to the parking lot, uncaring that you're still trying to squirm out of their grip. "Jack, you have to drive.."

The older boy startles when he's addressed, having been trailing you both like a lost puppy until now. "Y- Yeah.." Jack hums meekly, fumbling for the keys in his pocket. He's shaking so bad you're unsure if he'll even be able to pull out from the parking spot, almost dropping the keys as he tries to unlock the doors.

He gets it eventually though, and you're dumped into the backseat, theo caging you back into their arms before you can even try to reach for the handle, the sound of the door slamming shut and locking only sealing your fate.

(a/n: theo would not care if you bite them :> they'll only scoff and use it as evidence against you. You're how old and biting people still?)

[shaunamilfman]

evermore

Summary: "She screams your name as she gathers your limp body in her arms. “Baby. Baby. Baby.” She keeps saying it, again and again as if she truly believes that you'll answer if she just says it enough. She has such childlike desperation as if she can't understand that she's broken her favorite toy.

OR

You die out in the snow, cold and alone. You haunt so much more than just the narrative. "

A/N: Shauna Shipman x reader if it wasn't clear. Warnings for canon typical themes and violence. I have very spoilery content warnings at the very end if you think you might need to see them ❤️.

You scoff loudly, tears running furiously down your face. You rub them away pointlessly, new tears taking their place the second your hand falls. You stare at Shauna in disbelief that she could ever be this mean to you. You knew her capacity for cruelness better than anyone, but never in a million years did you think she'd turn it on you. “Oh, it's my fault is it?” You ask bitterly. “Stupid Y/N didn't give you enough attention at a party so you just had to go and get yourself knocked up with someone else's boyfriend?”

Jackie flinches slightly at the reminder but still stands firmly at Shauna's side. That one had surprised you too, but leave it to Jackie to side with Shauna against someone even if she got hurt in the process. You knew they’d probably have an argument of their own once they were alone, but you still resented Jackie for taking Shauna’s side at the moment. 

 “Maybe I just realized you don't deserve me.” Shauna spits out defensively. “Maybe you never did.”

You nod slowly as you take in the information. You keep your eyes firmly on the ground, desperately trying to keep a hold of your emotions. “Well, I certainly didn't deserve this.” You say quietly. Shauna flinches slightly but doesn't back down. You finally look back up, seeing the rest of your friends standing behind Shauna. You don't even have it in you to be surprised how vehemently they seem to be on her side. “All of you?” You ask. 

Lottie shrugs, a cold expression adorning her face. “We're all crazy, right? That's what you keep saying.” She says. Jackie looks slightly annoyed at being included in that statement but just rolls her eyes. 

“This is about your fucking cult bullshit again?” You ask bewilderedly. You couldn't fucking believe this, but that seemed to be a common issue with you. Your lack of belief in Lottie's cult only seemed to further divide you from the other girls. 

“This fucking cult bullshit is the only thing keeping us fed,” Mari says, instantly jumping to Lottie's defense. 

“Nat is the only thing keeping us fed.” You refute immediately.

“And where's she now?” Lottie asks. 

“Why don't you go ahead and wait outside for her, since we're so crazy,” Mari says. You sigh irritably and start to respond when you catch the expression of the girls around you. You can't help but get nervous, remembering all too well what you watched them do to Travis last night. You fidget nervously with the sleeves of your jacket, your sudden burst of anxiety effectively taking the wind out of your sails. 

You suddenly notice the way they've surrounded the room and you back up slightly in response. “Go ahead,” Lottie says. “Go.” You laugh nervously as you look over at Shauna, some part of you still believing she'd back you up. She looks a little unsure, but the second she notices you looking her expression hardens. 

“She's not going to help you.” Someone says behind her, though you can't quite make out who as your panic rises. You slowly look around at all of them, wishing that at least one of them would say something in your defense. This was crazy, wasn't it? If someone else thought so too they didn't bother to speak up about it. 

You scoff as you back up towards the door. You take one last look at Shauna, with one hand still on the door. “Well. Fuck you too then.” You say bitterly, slamming the door behind you. 

You stare wearily at your fire with your arms wrapped around your knees. You're desperately cold even with the fire roaring. You stare at the front door for a few minutes as you consider just going back inside. It was late enough that you were sure most of the girls had gone to sleep already, late enough that you felt safe slipping back inside. 

Still, you remembered the hateful look on Shauna's face and decided that she'd just have to come to you. You were sure she'd come after you after she calmed down. Your girlfriend had a habit of blowing up about stuff but she always came crawling back to apologize. You really do think you'd forgive her if only she'd actually apologize to you. You knew that you probably shouldn't, given that she's cheated on you at least once; Though you know I'm the back of your mind it was probably more than that, but she'd always been so good so you otherwise. Still, the longer you were out here the more your hope started waning. 

You pulled your jacket tightly around you as you started shivering. You stared blankly into the fire, never once seeing the figure watching you from the attic window. Maybe things would be a lot different if you did.

You were getting pretty tired though, so for now you decided to sleep. You could hash things out in the morning when Nat got back, you knew she'd understand. 

… 

“Hey,” Shauna says softly, shaking you awake. You stare up at her blearily as you blink your eyes open, still shivering from the cold. She kneels down on the ground next to you, gently pulling you into a sitting position as she wraps her arms around you. You scoff and try to pull out of her arms but she holds onto you tightly, not letting you go. You relax slightly, thinking of all the mornings you’d spent trying and failing to get Shauna to stop cuddling you so you could get out of bed. You just wish she’d get over herself and apologize already.

“It’s not your fault” She admits quietly, pulling you closer against her. You’re incredibly surprised, and you don’t bother to hide it. “It wasn’t really about you, I’m sorry.” You’re quiet for a long moment, gently running your fingertips against her arm. She was so warm and it was really everything you could do not to bury yourself in her arms. You weren’t even sure if you could feel your fingertips anymore. You felt pretty strange, honestly.

“What was it about, then?” You ask. Shauna sighs, her breath incredibly warm against your neck.

“Jackie.” She admits. “I just wanted to take something from her for once, and we were fighting.”

“That’s not,” You start.

“I know.” Shauna interrupts. “It’s not an excuse, but you asked why. I was just mad and I was being stupid.” You smile softly, even though you know she can’t see it. Leave it to Shauna to act without thinking. You lace your fingers together gently, nearly groaning at the warmth of her hand.

“I don’t forgive you.” You say, honest to a fault. “But we can work on it.” You can feel rather than see the way Shauna smiles against the back of your neck.

“Okay.” She says happily, dragging the both of you to stand back up. She pulls you by the hand back into the cabin. You let the door shut gently behind you, careful to step over the sleeping girls on the floor. You climb up into the attic after her, tip-toeing over to your cot on the floor. You lie on the cot next to each other, both of you a little unsure of what you should do now.

You turn on your side to face her, throwing your arm over her when she does. It was a role reversal to how you usually slept, and you could tell Shauna was silently questioning it. You gently place your hand against her stomach almost reverently. Shauna inhales sharply as she reaches down to place her hand over yours. “You’re really…” You trail off.

“Yeah.” She says somberly.

“Hey.” You say comfortingly. “None of that now.” You rub comforting circles against her belly as you pull yourself tighter against her side, desperately trying to chase away the cold feeling that’s encased your entire existence. “Everything will be okay.” You murmur quietly into her ear. Shauna makes a noise in protest but seems too tired to really fight you on it. She pulls your arm firmly against her as she tries to get comfortable on the floor.

“Will it?” Laura Lee asks sadly. You glance up in shock, eyes going wide as you see her.

“What?” You ask bewilderedly. You look over at Shauna only to realize she isn’t there. You have the strangest realization that she was never there. Somehow, you’re still lying out by the fire. You look back towards Laura Lee in a panic to find that she’s no longer there either. You’re all alone, and you think you always have been.

…

You look down at your body somehow completely disconnected from it. It takes you a long while to realize just where you are. You stare for a while in disbelief, unable to deal with the idea that she had left you here like this. You'd truly believed that Shauna would come for you, and you're not sure how to deal with the harsh reality that she hadn't. Your dream had felt so vividly real, but you should have known it was too good to be true. Nothing good has happened to you since that plane went down, why should this be any different? Before the crash, you used to dream of dying quietly beside Shauna one day, ripe with old age. Seems like you died because of Shauna instead.

It's so cold, you think absentmindedly. You've been cold for a while, but this is different. It wasn't a biting cold anymore, the kind that nipped at your fingertips and left you shivering on the ground outside. It was a cold sort of numbness like you were standing in the abyss just surrounded by complete and total nothingness. It isn't nearly as bad as you thought it was going to be. 

You start to wonder why you fought so hard in the first place. You can't help but laugh at the realization that everything you've done in the last few months was for nothing. All the prices you have paid since that plane crashed were for nothing. You were nothing to no one, not anymore. Hell, You think bitterly. You were nothing to no one long before you died.

It had been so quiet for so long, so cold that even the birds weren't chirping. Nothing but the sound of the wind through the trees. You nearly die a second time when the silence is broken by a sudden agonized scream. You whirl around to see Shauna frantically running out of the doorway and dropping to her knees next to you. 

She screams your name as she gathers your limp body in her arms. “Baby. Baby. Baby.” She keeps saying it, again and again as if she truly believes that you'll answer if she just says it enough. She has such childlike desperation as if she can't understand that she's broken her favorite toy. You're never going to take in another breath, but in this moment you can't help but hope against hope with her. 

She shakes your body violently back and forth; It's not like she's trying to hurt you, but rather that she seems to think that all she has to do is shake you hard enough and you'll wake back up again. It's like she's trying to restart your heart just with the motions of her own body, a fucked up version of CPR. But no matter how hard she tries you'll never wake up again. You wish you could feel her hands on you, wanting nothing more than to feel her touching you one last time. It had been a while since she did it last, and you miss it desperately. You miss it even more as you realize you’re never going to get it again.

It's too late for that even if she doesn't seem to realize that herself; You just wish she would've realized that she loved you when you were alive. You felt a lot of things at this moment, but more than anything you felt like an idiot. You couldn’t believe you fucking died because Shauna couldn’t even bother to be the slightest bit sorry until she lost you. You were being irrational, you knew but felt like you deserved to be anyway.

Jackie and Tai both desperately try to pull her off of your body– no, your corpse– but Shauna just won't budge. She holds on to you with every ounce of strength she has, but she still manages to be so gentle with you now that she's finally accepted that you aren’t going to wake up. The expression on her face as she looks at you is absolutely devastating, and you can’t even bear to look at it any longer. She doesn’t speak anymore, she can’t think long enough to even form words. She just shakes desperately as her body is wracked with sobs.

You wish she’d go cry inside. It’s cold out here, as you well know.

… 

Jackie had come to sit with Shauna for the first few weeks, staunchly loyal to the end. She couldn't bear to look at your body, whether due to guilt or disgust, you were never quite sure. Eventually, even she had to tap out as it got far too cold for her to stand being outside for long periods. She begged and begged Shauna to just come inside with her but Shauna had steadfastly refused. You wondered where all this loyalty was when she fucked Jeff. 

Jackie's concern over Shauna's mental state was mostly unwarranted, but it's not like you could explain that to her. Most of the other girls had written Shauna off as crazy for sitting out with a corpse all day, but Jackie knew more than most even as she fervently protected that secret. She'd watched for weeks as Shauna talked to thin air, pleading with her to realize that you weren't really there. You wonder what it must look like for Jackie as Shauna sat next to your corpse for hours and begged you to say something to her; You wonder if Shauna herself even truly knows you're real. 

You were still so angry, but there wasn't anything you could do about it. So you did the only thing you do: nothing. When Shauna begged you to talk to her you said nothing. When Shauna apologized for hours on end you said nothing. You sat there and watched her sob in the cold, just like she did to you. She had her chance to apologize, but she was so stubborn she'd rather let you die. 

Still, the more time passed the more you started to feel sorry for her. She just seemed so pathetic. You never knew yourself to be capable of such cruelness, but then again you'd never died before either. As you stare down at your killer you find yourself unable to resist the urge to comfort her. You don’t know why she’s the only one who can see you, but you’ve long grown tired of punishing her for it.

You slowly kneel down next to her spot on the ground, the closest you’ve let yourself get to her in a long time. She’d known better, subconsciously or otherwise, than to try to get near you during the time she’d spent in the meat shed. You reach your hand out towards her dreadfully slow, more than a little terrified to find out if you can actually touch her. Judging by the distraught look on her face you know she’s had the same thoughts. You both gasp when your hand makes undeniably solid contact with her arm. You grip her arm tightly as a sudden feeling of wrongness overtakes you. This… This isn’t right. 

Your fingers loosen as you start to pull away but Shauna surges forward to grab you tightly, her nails digging deeply into your skin. You stare down strangely at her fingers. You knew that, had you been alive, her grip most certainly would have drawn blood; As it was, you couldn’t even really feel her in the first place: you get nothing but the faintest sense of pressure. As nice as it is to be touched for the first time in weeks, that only makes it more upsetting that you can’t truly enjoy it.

“Y/N.” Shauna says panicked, frantically grasping at you as if you were sand falling out of her fingers. You smile slightly, the metaphor feeling apt as you start blinking in and out of existence. It happened less now than it did before, you’d gotten much better control over it over time but you always fell victim to strong emotions.

“See you later?” You ask wryly as your vision goes black, the first thing you’ve bothered to say to Shauna since you died.

You peer curiously over Shauna’s shoulder as she writes in her journal. She used to get defensive the second you stepped a foot towards her while she had her journal, but the two of you had long since grown past the need for secrets between you. Shauna hesitates for a second before she shifts her shoulders slightly so that you can have a better view as she keeps writing. This was such an interesting insight into Shauna’s psyche that you understandably never got to experience when you were alive. You found yourself endlessly fond of reading Shauna’s warped view of her day-to-day activities with the rest of your teammates. 

You'd realized pretty early on that you couldn't go very far from your body, which made haunting get awfully boring pretty quickly. Shauna didn't even react when you floated through the walls or discorporated out of nowhere anymore. You'd even tried experimenting with Shauna to discover that you could even hold a pen if Shauna was also touching it. Despite being able to hold it, you couldn't seem to actually write with it– much to your disappointment and Shauna's silent relief: she really did not want to have to share her journal with you.

Shauna didn't cry nearly as much as she used to, not from grief anyway. Still, you found yourself wishing she would. The colder it got the more concerned you became with the amount of time Shauna was spending out here, and how much your pregnant girlfriend was isolating herself from her friends. She'd need them badly soon with the baby coming and you were intimately aware of how bad Shauna was at repairing bridges on her own. 

There wasn't much you could do about it out here, but you'd come up with an idea that you hope might work. 

…

“You need to go back inside.” You say. Shauna sighs, getting tired of rehashing the same argument over and over again. You were getting pretty tired of it yourself, but your girlfriend had always been incredibly stubborn; It seems that she still hasn’t learned her lesson on that one.

“I’m not leaving you out here by yourself.” She insists. You know her well enough to know her motivation is much more selfish than that: she doesn’t want to be inside by herself. You weren’t sure what had gone down between her and Jackie that had left her suddenly so dependent on your company over hers, but you certainly weren’t going to complain. It made you feel awfully selfish to monopolize Shauna’s time like that, but you figured Shauna was more than happy to let you.

“Then don’t.” You say simply. She gives you a wry look as she looks over at your body and then back at you. Her lip quirks up in amusement. You can’t help but laugh at the idea of your severely pregnant girlfriend hauling your corpse up into the cabin. She looks mighty proud of herself for making you laugh as she finally shuts her journal to give you her full attention. “Not my entire body.” You suggest through peels of laughter. Shauna’s eyes widen slightly as she looks contemplatively at your body. 

After a long moment, she carefully gets up on her knees, grabbing the knife from the table as she moves over to your body. She slowly holds the knife up to your ear and watches you closely as she starts to cut it off. You flinch reflexively at the sight but feel no actual pain; It’s extremely strange watching your own ear being cut off without actually feeling any of it. You weren’t actually sure if it would work or not, but it’s by far the best idea you’d come up with. Shauna glances rapidly back and forth between you and the ear before she sheepishly stuffs it in her pocket. “What now?” She asks unsurely.

You gesture to the door and she rises slowly and unsteadily to her feet. She carries the bear meat she’d been sent out here for in the first place as you follow unsurely behind her. You reach your usual limit from the meat shed and cautiously take a step forward, incredibly relieved to find yourself without the normal tugging sensation that accompanies it. Shauna lets out a relieved sigh as she walks into the cabin. The other girls eye her wearily as she holds the door open for seemingly thin air. You didn’t actually need her to hold the door open for you, one of the few perks of being dead, but you desperately held onto any reminder of Shauna’s chivalry from when you were alive.

You sit quietly next to Shauna by the window, who keeps glancing back at you to make sure you’re really there. You’re sure it just adds further fuel to the belief that Shauna’s going insane, but you were just glad she knew enough not to try to talk to you in front of everyone. Small victories, you thought. 

You watch the other yellowjackets curiously– a cruel part of you that you try to bury is pleased with how awful they look– and realize how hard this winter has hit them. You can't help the concern it sparks in you, but you're much more concerned with the state of your girlfriend. As much as you had assured her she wasn't going to die giving birth you didn't truly think the outcome was going to be all that hopeful. Secretly you wonder if it would really be that bad if she were to join you, but you know you'll do everything you can before that happens. 

You sit up with her, long past when the other yellowjackets have fallen asleep in various positions on the floor. Jackie tried to convince Shauna to come and sleep with her, but Shauna refused. You were irritated that she was still avoiding taking care of herself to be able to talk to you.

You observe her carefully as she pulls your ear out of her pocket, fidgeting with it as the two of you sit in silence. You think it's an awfully morbid nervous get sure till you notice the way she looks at it. “Shauna.” You say quietly, barely above a whisper. She seems to snap out of her intense look as she meets your eyes. “Are you hungry?“ You ask sympathetically. 

She scoffs and gives you an annoyed look, but you can tell her heart isn't in it. “It's okay,” You tell her. “No one would know.” 

You laugh, holding your hands up placatingly. “Who would I tell?” Shauna's lips quirk up, but you can tell she's seriously considering it. You place one hand on her shoulder and rub comfortingly at it. You slip your other hand down to gently grasp her wrist and bring it to her mouth. She resists at first but quietly breaks as she stuffs it in her mouth in one fluid motion. 

“Hey,” You say with a roguish grin. “That's the spirit.” Shauna groans, her face still uncharacteristically unsure. You place a gentle kiss against her forehead before you finally manage to send her off to bed. 

… 

You wrinkle your nose slightly in disgust as you look down at your corpse. You can’t believe Shauna’s done you up like a clown; What happened to dignity in death? You were embarrassedly fond of the sight, however. Shauna was always awful with makeup and you found yourself glad that at least some things haven’t changed between the two of you. “What the fuck are you doing to me?” You ask with a grin. Shauna flinches, looking up quickly with a slightly guilty look on her face. She relaxes when she realizes you don’t seem that upset about it. You’d been away most of the day, finding it harder and harder to keep track of time the longer you were dead. You’d gotten tired of watching her sleep a long time ago and tended to just pop back out when she woke up.

“You just seem so lifeless.” She muses, staring at your corpse thoughtfully. You wince as she applies a crooked line of lipstick. How could someone be that fucking bad? It’s not like your corpse was shifting at all.

“That’s because I’m dead.” You suggest helpfully. Shauna sighs in exasperation, not even giving that a response. You thought she was awfully judgy for someone currently putting makeup on a corpse. You open your mouth to make another dead joke when the door to the meat shed opens. Oh shit. You have to hold your hand over your mouth to hide your grin at Shauna’s expense, but that doesn’t stop you from shaking with silent laughter.

Jackie watches the scene in absolute disbelief, her eyes quickly focusing on Shauna almost straddling your corpse as she ‘applies’ makeup to it. You can’t help but agree with the slight look of disgust as she takes in just how bad your makeup looks. Jackie looks more upset at that than the fact she was doing it in the first place. She looks achingly concerned for Shauna once she gets past her initial reaction. “Jackie,” Shauna starts but Jackie just shakes her head softly and walks back to the cabin presumably to tell the others. 

“You should go after her.” You say quietly. Shauna jumps slightly, forgetting you are still there. She seems so unsure and sad as she looks up at you, almost like a child who’s gotten lost. She nods slowly and heads after her. You stay in the shack, not wanting to deal with that confrontation. You laugh softly as you hear Shauna yelling all the way from here. A real spitfire that one.

You watch quietly as your former friends lift your body onto the pyre. Shauna had fought and fought with the other girls about it, but you silently agreed with them. You hope that it will finally help Shauna move on, as much as you want to keep her out there you know it’s for the better. You wonder if you’ll disappear when your body is burnt, or if the flesh Shauna consumed would keep you tied together till she died as well. You found that you weren’t entirely opposed to either option.

Shauna looks over at you pleadingly but you just shake your head. You weren’t entirely sure what she expected you to do anyway, as no one else could see you. You suspected Lottie could sometimes, she stared off in your direction way too often. She never seemed to acknowledge it so you chose not to either. You still weren’t very happy with the rest of your friends for what they did, so you weren’t going to go out of your way to talk to her; You try not to think about it much so you don't need to address the double standard of forgiving Shauna for it. You hum in agreement as Shauna yells at the other girls for trying to take your clothes, shuddering at the thought of Travis of all people seeing you naked.

Shauna looks directly at you as she steps up to your corpse. “I was wrong.” She says so quietly that you can barely make it out. You weren’t entirely sure you were supposed to. “You weren’t the one that didn’t deserve the other.” She steps back as your body starts to burn. 

You stare numbly as the flames lick up your body, not really sure how to feel about the whole thing. You give Shauna a small smile as you look through the fire at her. You walk with her back into the cabin and stare out the window long into the night completely captivated by the sight.

… 

You stare down at your cooked body with a horrified expression. You'd seen the snow fall on it, sure, but never in your wildest dreams were you expecting this to be the result. Out of all the awful things that have happened to you since your plane crashed you were sure this had to be the worst. It was somehow weirder than dying, as that had at least happened in your sleep. The smell of your cooked flesh was absolutely nauseating even as a ghost. You startled slightly at the sound of the cabin door opening. “What… What smells so good?” You hear someone ask from inside. 

You tense, moving defensively in front of your body. There's no fucking way that… You hesitate as you consider just how hungry Shauna has been lately. You let the rest of them starve before they got your body, but your girlfriend– your very pregnant girlfriend– was a different matter altogether. You reluctantly step out of the way as they start surrounding your corpse. There’s not anything you really could have done to stop them, but it still feels weird to let them do it without the slightest bit of protest.

You see her watching you as she walks out with the rest of them, looking horrified as she glances back and forth between you and your body. She seems to want to say something but can't find the words as she finally fixates on your body with an undeniable look of hunger on her face. You'd been on the receiving end of that look more times than you can remember, but you've never seen it in this context. You sigh as you realize you're going to let Shauna eat you one last time.

Shauna manages to tear her eyes away from your corpse as she looks up at you. She looks wild, verging on feral, and you're honestly surprised she managed to tear herself away from it. She looks around at the others and her eyes start to narrow and a familiar expression that you know means trouble starts to appear. You consider letting her shoo them away from your body, telling by the way they’re all staring at her you think they’d listen, but you knew this was finally something you could do for Shauna.

“It’s okay.” You say softly in the most compassionate voice you can manage given your general disgust with the entire situation. She looks startled as she turns her head slightly to look at you. “I want you to. It’s okay.” She shakes her head in disagreement, but you can tell her heart isn’t truly in it. Her eyes keep trailing back to your body with a slightly longing look on her face. The whole scene is heartbreaking, you wouldn’t wish this decision on your worst enemy. Still, Shauna needed to eat. If not for her, then for the baby.

“Let me take care of our baby.” You plead quietly in her ear, tearing up at the utterly lost expression on her face. “Please, Shauna? It's the only way I can.” You'd do anything for Shauna: this was nothing. It didn't even cost you anything. Shauna still looks reluctant, but you’ve convinced her to do things she wanted to do a lot less with a simple please before. 

“She'd want us too,” Shauna says hesitantly as she slowly kneels down next to you. It sets a chain reaction as the others quickly join her in consuming you. You keep a hand on her shoulder as she ravenously digs in, but you can't bear to look. You're on the verge of finding out if ghosts can throw up as you try your best not to gag at the sounds of tearing meat. You think you might hear the squishing sound of your flesh being chewed on for the rest of your afterlife. 

The things you do for love. 

… 

“-know that, but Tai’s supposed to be my friend!” Shauna argues. Jackie sighs, holding her hands up placatingly.

“I’m just saying that I’m here for you too,” Jackie says softly. Shauna softens as she gives her an apologetic look that Jackie just waves off. Jackie continues, “They may have all gone crazy, but it’s you and me against the world Shipman.�� Jackie leans her head against Shauna’s shoulder as she looks back at the prayer circle. Shauna murmurs something in response that you’re not quite close enough to pick up, but you can tell from the affectionate look on Jackie’s face that it is at least positive.

“If it helps, I think Tai’s a bitch too.” You agree as you step closer. Shauna's lips quirk up as she gives you a knowing look. “She ate my fucking face, Shauna.” You defend. She gives you a fond look as she shakes her head and goes back to glaring at the cult. You’d missed your angry girlfriend, she'd spent far too much time being your sad girlfriend lately; The return to normality felt comforting. You tune out the sounds of Jackie and Shauna talking shit about the cult, content to just enjoy the moment. 

Shauna’s relationship with the others seemed to get more and more strained the more Lottie seemed to focus on Shauna’s baby. You were hoping she and Tai found some common ground on this soon as Shauna desperately needed to talk to someone other than Jackie and a ghost. You trailed a bit awkwardly behind them as Tai, Shauna, and Jackie argued on the way back to the cabin. You were about to go away for a bit when Shauna suddenly cries out in pain. You rush forward to catch up with them, watching in concern as they try to get Shauna back to the cabin in the snowstorm.

Shauna holds on to Tai and Jackie’s hands as she screams her way through it. She tried desperately to hold your hand instead, but Tai grabbed it before you could get to it. Privately you were a little relieved about that given that you had no clue how she’d be able to explain that one away later. You sat by her head, clutching onto her the best you could. You murmured soothing words, but most of your energy was spent trying to stay present. You flickered back and forth as you tried to get a handle on your own panic, but managed to push past it by focusing on the fact that Shauna would literally murder you if you vanished right now.

You don’t bother to give Lottie’s little prayer circle a second glance until you catch “-hope Shauna doesn’t die.” You finally manage to tear your eyes away from Shauna to glare over at Mari, despite knowing that she can’t actually see you.

“Die?” Shauna asks panickedly, trying to look back at you. Jackie grabs at Shauna’s chin, forcing Shauna to look at her as she tries to soothe her worries. You can tell that Jackie’s barely holding it together herself by the look of intense fear that graces her face whenever Shauna looks away from her. Jackie looks up as she tries to find what Shauna was looking back for, and there's just a fraction of a second where you swore she saw you. Her eyes go wide and her mouth opens slightly in shock, but it seems to disappear as quickly as it appeared. She shakes her head in disbelief as her eyes seem to go straight through you once again. Regardless of your mutual curiosity, you both keep all of your attention focused on Shauna as she finally starts pushing.

…

You’re absolutely devastated as you stare down at Shauna. As her eyes start to flicker open you almost wish she’d pass out for a little longer, anything to stop her from feeling this. Shauna’s eyes slowly blink open as she looks around the room. Her eyes land on you and she smiles weakly before her expression suddenly becomes horrified as the truth slowly dawns on her. “How are you holding my baby?” She asks quietly as if she can barely force the words out. You flinch as you look away, not able to bear looking her in the eyes. You gently try to rock the crying baby in your arms.

“How are you holding my baby?” She repeats over and over again, sounding more and more desperate each time. She’s practically screaming it now, her voice cracking in the middle. Her baby is crying louder and louder in response and you're still frantically trying to calm him down. You give Shauna a helpless look as you try soothing him as she watches in horror. “No…” She says in disbelief, voice barely a whisper. You think it must hurt her to speak after all the screaming she’s done, but at the same time, you know that she’ll never hurt again. This isn’t what you wanted for her, but at least she’d never starve again.

Shauna sobs as she watches you hold her baby. She reaches forward slowly as if expecting her hand to go right through him and exhales shakily as she makes real solid contact with him. She glances down at her hand in surprise and you watch as she finally notices. You wonder if it was the sight of her own body, or if she finally took in the sounds of Jackie’s desperate screams as she rocked Shauna’s body back and forth.

Shauna glances back and forth between her corpse and her own arm. You knew firsthand how disorienting it was to wake up for the first time, so you gave her an encouraging smile as you finally got the baby to calm down. You smile down at him as you hold him more gently than anything else you’ve ever had. You’ve always thought babies were a little ugly, but you’ve heard it’s different when it’s your own. As you look down at him you can’t help but realize that it’s true. You glance back up at Shauna in awe: he looks so much like her, and nothing like Jeff. You were privately very pleased about that one.

Shauna slowly moves up to her knees, seeming unsure and awkward as she moves out of her own body. She gets her feet back under her, with all the grace of a baby fawn as she stumbles her way over to you. She sits down next to you and she shares your awed look as you slowly hand the baby to her. She seems unsure of what to think or feel about the baby. On one hand, there was the baby she’d spent nine months growing, on the other hand, there was her killer. As you let Shauna make her mind up you stare compassionately over at Jackie who’s gone absolutely hysterical over Shauna’s body. Tai and Van are both trying to pry her off of Shauna’s corpse, but Jackie’s a lot stronger than she looks as they don’t seem to get one finger off of Shauna. You knew that you would have been joining her if you were still alive, and your heart truly went out to her. You don’t think you’ll ever forget the sound of her screaming.

Shauna glances up at Jackie a few times with a guilty expression on her face. You knew she wanted to do something to help Jackie, anything really, but there wasn’t anything she could do. She focuses on the one thing she can, her baby. You watch happily as she coos down at him. You’d never thought much about Shauna being a mother, but you couldn’t deny that she seemed to be a natural at it. There was so much love in her eyes, despite the circumstances.

…

Shauna smiles as she gently rocks the baby in her hands. She stares at him in awe, even after all this time. You wrap your arm around her as you lean your head against her shoulder. Shauna rests hers on top of yours. She sighs quietly as she looks back up at the cabin. “I miss Jackie.” She admits. You gently rub at her shoulder as you try to comfort her.

“If it helps,” You offer up, “They’ll probably eat Jackie soon.” Shauna snorts in laughter, raising a hand to cover her face in embarrassment. She puts her hand down as she glares at you, the corners of her lips twitching up despite herself.

“Don’t joke about that.” She says, but you can't help but notice that she doesn’t disagree. 

Sometimes, just sometimes, you almost swear that Jackie can see you just out of the corner of her eyes. She’ll whirl around in your direction, searching frantically for whatever it was that caught her eye. You hope she’ll make it out, but as you watch the cards being handed out you don’t find yourself all that hopeful. You smile affectionately over at Shauna; You’ve lost many things out here, but you’ve certainly gained some in return. You smile ear to ear as the baby grabs at your finger. You weren’t sure this was a happy ending, but it was enough.

Content Warnings: Major Character Deaths (You and Shauna), Infant mortality (the baby is also a ghost lmao), cannibalism, descriptions of seeing your own body, as well as descriptions of seeing/hearing it being eaten. It’s also implied that jackies gonna get merc’d soon 🤷. Bittersweet ending ig?

[inuhalfdemon]

No One Can Know... (4/?)

Word Count: 2,270

Chapter 4

"Meet me on your best behavior, meet me at your worst…" - Death Cab for Cutie

Wondering who-the-fuck-in-Hell would be there knocking this late at night; Lucifer opened his door. Seeing that it was, in fact, Alastor standing at his threshold with a seemingly pleasant smile across his face; Lucifer immediately bristled.

“What in fuck’s – wait. Is that wine?” Lucifer peered behind Alastor’s waist; seeing his separated shadow clasping a large bottle of Riesling and a pair of wine glasses.

“Yes. I thought it might pair well with our…discussions. May I?” Alastor asked him, politely.

“…yeah, ok.” Lucifer stepped aside; letting him in.

Alastor stepped inside; his shadow following close behind. The shadow paused briefly beside Lucifer; offering him the bottle. Lucifer took it, and the shadow swept further inward to be closer to Alastor. Looking at the label; Lucifer closed the door.

“Where in Hell did you get this!?”

“I don’t just deal in souls; your grace.” Alastor told him. “And I’m rather partial to a rare vintage every now and again. This one has been made ready for us to enjoy.”

“No shit. Damn.” Lucifer led him to a small suite; directing him and his shadow to some plush chairs and an ornate table for them to recline by. There were less rubber ducks and circus trinkets scattered throughout here than were piled in his work-room. Alastor didn’t seem to pay much attention to the surrounding room though; his gaze never straying across items, walls, furniture, etc. He was very focused on his business here.

Alastor’s shadow; taking the bottle from Lucifer – opened it and began pouring wine into the two glasses. Alastor and Lucifer both sat down. Lucifer reached across for his wine glass; then leaning back he asked:

“So…what the fuck do you want to talk about?”

“I’m sure you are well aware of the subject matter that I wish to address with you tonight.” Alastor said; taking his own glass from the table and gently swirling the liquid. His shadow excused itself into a dark corner nearby.

“Hm…how forthright of you. You seem to be in a more…agreeable…mood tonight than you were yesterday.”

“The extermination is merely a couple months away…I had hoped that I might avoid having to address my…“rut” until sometime after, but I’m afraid that won’t be the case.” Alastor explained. “I’d like to discuss the best…approach to the problem; if you are so inclined.”

“Uh, huh.” Lucifer said dismissively. “So, what exactly are we discussing then?”

“I’m afraid that the effects of the cycle will greatly influence my duties in safeguarding Charlie and the hotel. During that time, I won’t be getting much sleep and –“

“Do you actually sleep?” Lucifer interrupted, prodding him.

“Yes.” Alastor answered him honestly. “Maybe not as much as most but I do require a reasonable amount.”    

 “I must have really taken the wind out of your sails.” Lucifer tipped his glass to his lips. “I didn’t anticipate you coming here and being so candid with me.”

“Yes, well, I can admit when I’ve made an ass of myself.” Alastor allowed.

Knowing this was as close to an apology as he was liable to get; Lucifer stated: “Well, I won’t say that I’m sorry. If anything, I think I should have gutted you sooner.”

Lucifer waited for Alastor to make a quip at that but then; he said nothing. Instead, he raised his own glass to sip from – offering no comment.

Interesting.

“Ok, so I assume you are wanting to formulate some plan going forward, is that it?” Lucifer clarified.

“Indeed. Initially, I preferred the idea of you safely displacing me from the hotel until I cycled out but, the timing is not ideal. There’s too much to be done and I don’t like the idea of leaving the hotel unguarded for any extended length of time.”

“Ah, lock you away in a tower just like you’re Rapunzel and I’m the dragon.” Lucifer japed; unable to help himself.

“I don’t recall a dragon in that particular fairy tale.” Alastor remarked.

Lucifer nearly choked on his wine. “The fuck do you know about fairy tales!?”

Alastor shrugged then waved him off; “Essentially…I suppose, but it’s not a good solution; not now.”

“Oh?” Lucifer absently traced a sharp claw around the rim of his wine glass. “How long do these things usually last for you, anyway?”

“You are somewhat familiar with Cervidae demons, yes? You’ve commented on it once before. We are commonly known for our deer-like tendencies. One very prominent one being that we experience fluctuating periods of cyclic mating periods or “the rut”. There’s a lot that gets rather muddled with it though; it’s confusing even for us demons that experience it because each and every individual is different in the timing, frequency or intensity of their own personal mating cycles.”

“Sounds frustrating.” Lucifer offered.

“It…is. I never know when a rut will happen or for how long. I can usually tell when one is approaching due to certain…changes. Even now though; I know one is coming I just don’t know when. I could start the cycle tomorrow or in a couple of weeks; it’s terribly inconvenient. Judging by personal experience; my cycles range anywhere from part of a day to several weeks. Unfortunately; avoidance is what lengthens the period. If I…sate, the need and rather quickly, the period tends to be much less.”

“So what if I contact Asmodeus? I’m sure we could find you some willing participant from the lust ring to fulfill whatever needs you need satiating.” Lucifer suggested. “He might even have another Cervidae in mind.”

Alastor shook his head. “I’m not comfortable with that. I assume when you offered and agreed to our deal that it was implied that you would be the actual one to…manage this. I’m afraid now it might have to be quite literal. Lilith wasn’t wrong in saying that I’ve killed other demons during my rutting. After your explicit demonstration yesterday; I am confident you would be well equipped in governing my actions.”

 “Honestly, I meant it in whatever way you wish to take it. I’m no prude.” Lucifer shrugged; tipping his glass. “While we’re on the subject though; I’d really like to know –“

“If you are referring to my moment of sexual homicidal infamy; I’d rather not discuss it.”

Lucifer very much wanted to prod more into it; but, he could see that Alastor was making a great effort here in being professionally courteous. Which led him to his next question;

“So, what exactly is your deal with all of this?” Lucifer asked him; setting his wine glass down now. “You’re here pitching off your plans to me like we’re discussing something terribly unpleasant. I get that you might think sex is beneath you; or rather you’d prefer you didn’t need it but, c’mon…if you have to go through it anyway, why not own it and enjoy it?”

“You misunderstand. It’s not my perception of sex that has anything to do with it.” Alastor told him. “I simply don’t…care for it.”

“What?”

“Apart from when I am in rut; it holds no interest to me.”   

“None? Whatsoever, just….nothing?” Lucifer gaped at him.

“Truly.”

“So, you just can’t get it up unless you are in one of your rut thingy’s?” Lucifer was trying to make sense of this.  

“Not exactly…” Alastor huffed. “With enough effort; stimulation and finding the right mindset – sure…but, it doesn’t just happen. It’s really and truly something I don’t care to think about or pursue, otherwise.”

“I can’t…I can’t wrap my head around that. I mean I-I could fuck anything that moves. Not that I really would but, well…you know.” Lucifer shrugged.

“No…actually, I don’t.” Alastor reaffirmed.

“So, do you – do you like know what you want to actually like…do?” Lucifer asked him.

“How do you mean?” Alastor’s ears slightly leant back; whether it was him being uncomfortable by the question or a display of true confusion; Lucifer couldn’t tell.

“Mutual masturbation? Oral? Anal? What have you?” Lucifer threw out.

Alastor’s ears stiffened; pressing further back. Definitely discomfort.   

“When I’m in in rut; I’m sure anything and everything will be open and on the table.” He sighed.

“So do you like, turn into an even bigger asshole when your rutting?”

“No, not quite…that more tends to happen to the time leading up to it.” Alastor was telling him; briefly remembering his friend Rosie dismissing him from a brunch they were having in Cannibal Town once telling him: “come back after your damn rut; honestly, you’re worse than a woman!” He couldn’t remember details; only that he was terribly aggravating to her that day.

Meanwhile; Lucifer was waging an internal battle. So, you were PMS-ing yesterday? He very badly wanted to say it…he very nearly did, but he reigned it in; feeling it prudent to continue with the good footing they had established here.

“It’s more that I’m…” Alastor was continuing with his answer. “I’m just – Well, I can be a lot in those moments.”

The Radio Demon promises a good time… Lucifer thought, then he asked:

“Ok, so circling back. When or where are we going to…hash this all out?”

“I’m naturally crepuscular; and I’m generally more nocturnal in my activities. I can easily manage myself during the day. If we spend too much time at the hotel; even in my radio tower – we run the risk of being found out or discovered. If I spend too much time here or elsewhere; it leaves the hotel vulnerable. I propose we go back and forth; it won’t be so different to my normal activities – no one would think to question it at this point – and I have Niffty and Husker established so that if anything were to happen while I’m away; I’d know and can be there almost immediately.”

“Hm…yes, that might be wise. We can always tell Charlie that you and I buried the hatchet, as it were, and are meeting to discuss ideas with how best to proceed with the upcoming exterminations. She’ll wish to be included – of course – but if I tell her it’s something you and I are bonding or getting to know each other over; she’ll let it be.”   

“How…very manipulative of you.” Alastor commented; ears perking up. He was…impressed.

“Yes, well…” Lucifer reached back for his wine; lost for a moment in his thoughts. Then leaning back in his chair again; he offered:

“You’ve been very…frank with everything tonight. Do you have any questions you wish to ask me?”

“This meeting Charlie has with Heaven…do you think it will accomplish anything?” Alastor had in fact; been holding onto some questions.

“No.” Lucifer told him bluntly. “I don’t but, Lilith foresaw Charlie asking me to arrange it. I’m not…comfortable with it but Lilith will be there – Charlie won’t know that, of course – but it’s the only reason why I’d allow my daughter to go up there without my being there with her.”

“Do you think Lilith will succeed with her plans?” Alastor asked him, wanting to know. “Do you think that she can actually overthrow Heaven?”  

“If anyone; it would be her.” Lucifer finished off his glass; Alastor’s shadow quickly slid out from the corner to refill it for him. Lucifer nodded to it, taking a sip as it shifted itself back away. “She’s been planning this for some time now, making sure everything falls into just the right place at just the right time. The only hiccup we’ve ran into was you slipping yourself between the cracks but maybe that was fortunate for us – it remains to be seen.” He gave Alastor a hard look.

“If I get what I want from this, I’ll be as beneficial to your cause as I possibly can.” Alastor told him. “But, why are you choosing to do this? Weren’t you amiable toward Heaven; even after everything?”

Lucifer sighed. “Lilith has been with me through all of it…since the beginning. I’ve tried to make the amends to my mistakes; tried to make Heaven see that what we did…it wasn’t for the intentions that they thought. I’ve been fighting a losing battle for thousands upon thousands of years…Lilith stood by me; supported me all that time. Now, it’s time I stood by hers. We got nowhere with my plans and ideas for our future; so it’s time I supported hers.”

“How disgustingly devoted of you.” Alastor made a face and movement of his tongue; like he had actually tasted something terrible.

Lucifer laughed. “That’s just who we are. We depend and rely on each other.”

“So…she really has no issues with…this? What you and I are going to be doing?” Alastor asked him; wondering. “Call me ‘old fashioned’; but I’d hate to come between a man and his wife.”

“Lilith never would have agreed to it if she had reservations.” Lucifer told him. “She wasn’t lying when she told you that our relationship has been…unconventional, at times.”

“Hm…” Alastor remembered his wine and sipped from the glass.

“How long has it been for you anyway?” Lucifer asked him. “I’ll be coming out of a bit of dry spell myself; Lilith tends to get focused on other things when they’ve claimed her interest and I haven’t found much motivation in seeking out an outlet.”

“Years?” Alastor though. “Very nearly a decade, maybe.”

“Fuck.” Lucifer blurted. “You’ve got me beat then. You weren’t kidding when you said these mating cycles of yours were unpredictable.”

“Also part of the reason that I’m relying on you…specifically. I’m not sure just how…enthusiastic I might be.”

“Oh, don’t worry – my King.” Alastor fixed him with a sharp gaze. “You will know.”

“So, how will I know that you are in rut?” Lucifer questioned him.

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

Scene inspired by: @applepartysins fanart/comic here

Chapter 5

[dronebiscuitbat]

Give me a Reason: Chapter 16 - "Ego"

Fucking Lizzy.

She'd been silent for three entire weeks, perhaps waiting until school was in full swing to truly start her torment, or just to catch Uzi off guard.

But at the beginning of math class, when she was turning in her (hastily done) homework. That she struck, her prissy, chemically sweet voice attacking her ears.

“Didn't expect you to still be here, Doorman.” She said with a sneer, a quick glance around the room confirmed the fact the teacher had left the room, making it safe for her to make her attack.

“I could say the same, weren't you the one who said you could “finally spread your wings?” at graduation?” Uzi spat back, setting her paper down in the pile the former queen bee was standing next to.

“It's called an internship loser, not that you would know. It's a real job.” Lizzy flipped her hair, nearly smacking Uzi in the face with it. The smaller girl rolled her eyes.

“You know it's not a job unless they pay you? You're just providing free labor. So jealous.” Uzi sneered back, sarcasm dripping off every word. Lizzy made a face one between disgust and annoyance, before a small smile replaced it.

And with a quick, subtle movement. Sent the neat stack of papers on the teachers desk tumbling to the floor. Giggling as Uzi stepped back in surprise.

“Whoops.” Lizzy hummed, a shit eating grin on her face. A long-suffering sigh escaped Uzi's mouth, already, she could feel the headache coming on.

“You're the teachers assistant dumbass. It's your job to clean this up.” Uzi deadpanned, standing in the middle of the flurry of papers.

“Not if I tell him you were being disruptive and knocked it over on purpose.” Lizzy grinned back, flashing her a shark-toothed smile.

“Ugh.”

Uzi bent down slowly, beginning to pick up the scattered papers with a grumble. Lizzy as a student was bad enough, at least she didn't have any real power over her, but now she was worse, no way any teacher would belive Uzi over a teachers assistant.

“Missed one.” Lizzy pionted at a paper closer to her own feet and Uzi could feel herself growl in annoyance as she bent down again to pick it up.

Only for Lizzys knee to connect with her stomach. Hard. Knocking all the wind out of her with a strained grunt. It took everything in her power not to tumble over, pain wracking into her ribs and chest.

No one else in the classroom seemed to notice, or if they did, they didn't say anything. But Uzi refused to show any amount of pain, not to Lizzy, not to anyone.

She picked up the last sheet and placed it on the desk, Lizzy was smirking, trying to pretend she hadn't just kicked the shit out of her.

“Aw. You okay?” She asked, false sugar to insure she knew she'd done it on purpose.

“Fine. You kick like a bitch.” Was her immediate response ignoring the way her ears rang loudly and pain radiated through her torso. Heading back to her seat just in time for Mr. Reese to come through the door.

Immediately, Lizzy went up to straighten the papers, making them look all nice and tidy where Uzi had haphazardly slammed them down. The young teacher smiled at her.

“Ah, thank you Miss Brown.”

Uzi just sighed and held her throbbing stomach.

Two faced bitch…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was hard to focus in English, she was supposed to be paying attention to the lecture about the meaning of the book they'd just read. But her insides felt… uncomfortable. Like something had been moved or bruised by Lizzys knee.

If she moved a certain way, the pain would flare up again and she had to force herself to not react with a wince. She looked around, eyes settling on N, who unlike her wasn't having any trouble paying attention to the lecture, and who's eyes were locked onto the front of the room.

She did her best to absorb the information, honestly. But a droning voice talking about sled dogs and the representation of freedom was hardly any distraction from the pain.

A small adjustment in her seat had her hissing in pain quietly, a sound that seemed to rouse N's attention from the lecture and he looked at her curiously.

“You good?” He whispered, cocking his head to the side.

“Fine.” She replied automatically, placing a hand over her aching stomach to try and stop the throbbing, it only about half worked, the skin there was tender and she gritted her teeth as the pressure agitated it further.

“You sure, you look like you're hurt.” His voice was a little louder now, a little more urgent. She looked over, taking in the concerned look on his face.

“I'm fine. Stop asking.” She snapped, which she almost immediately felt bad about but couldn't exactly help it. Her temper on a short fuse.

N flinched at the venom in her voice, but did as she asked, turning his head back to face the front.

He was still looking at her from the corner of his eye though, something was clearly wrong. And she was trying to hide it.

Every time she sifted to the left, she would (barely) wince. Her hand holding her stomach tenderly, sometimes her breath would catch shakily, and she steeled herself to try a breathe normally.

He knew that behavior. She was in pain but didn't feel safe enough to express it. So she was riding it out, pretending it didn't hurt when it very very much did. The only problem was that he didn't know how to help.

He didn't know what happened, or how, or where. (Though he could at least guess generally) and she clearly wasn't willing to tell him if she wasn't even comfortable displaying that it hurt at all.

So when the bell rang and class ended, he was the one who bent down and picked up her backpack from under her desk beaming wide as he handed it to her.

She froze and stared at him for a moment, standing up with a little bit of effort.

“Thank you…” She mumbled, something he could barely hear but he grinned all the same.

“No problem buddy!”

“Sorry…” Came even softer, and he had to force himself not to give into the sudden urge to wrap her into a hug. Instead he didn't even acknowledge she said it, just continued to smile radiantly.

“See you at lunch!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

She was trying to wait until she got home, but the pain was not getting better, it had waned a little at lunch, enabling her to interact with N fairly normally, but now it was back, and she was squirming in her seat during her entire history class, unable to absorb anything the old man had said.

So she headed to bathroom in-between classes. Going inside one of the few stalls which lock wasn't broken or nonexistant. And lifted up her hoodie and tank top

She winced at the sight, there was a large, nasty bruise beginning to form on her side, already a light shade of purple and grey that she was certain would only get darker, she ran a tentative finger over it. Wincing as the muscles jumped in protest.

Fuck.

She sighed, the nurse would probably have painkillers and something to stop the swelling, but if she went she'd have to explain where she got it, which she was sure the woman wouldn't believe. She couldn't just say she fell either… her pride wouldn't let her.

She grit her teeth and sighed, dropping her hoodie and tank top and heading to computer literacy, just two more classes… she could get through two more classes…

Next ->

[danikamariewrites]

Hello there saw you wanted some requests for Gavriel so here it is, could you right something with a reader who loves horse back riding and often goes alone to explore the woods for fun or just to decompress after a long week, but on one of these rides reader gets ambushed and when they dont come home Gavriel knows somthing is wrong and eventually finds them( if you could also add the Cadre helping Gavriel find reader).

Hope this request finds you in good health happy writing!

Light in the Dark

Gavriel x reader

A/n: I added Aedion as part of the Cadre lol. I love the relationship between Gav and Fenrys and imagine that he and Aedion would be like brothers so I threw that in there too. Thank you for the request anon!

Warnings: angst, fluff, and unedited lol

You love going horseback riding through Oakwald Forest. The fresh air helps you think and calm your anxieties from the day. Sometimes Gavriel would go with you as a silent companion. Sometimes he’d walk beside you in his lion form. He could feel when you were stressed through the bond and reminds you to go on rides.

He always encouraged you to take breaks, saying you wouldn’t get good work done if you couldn’t focus. And as always, he was right. Throwing your pen down on your desk you stand and stretch. You had been working for too long and policies have started blending together.

You tug on the bond to get Gavriel’s attention, sending a message to tell him you were going for a ride. He flooded the bond with love. You could distantly hear him say, “Be careful, my heart. I’ll see you soon.”

Approaching your horse’s stall you heard Clara huff, scrapping her hoof against the hay that lines her stall. Peeking over the door you smile at her. “Hi girl, I brought you a treat.” You hold out an apple in the palm of your hand that Clara chomps down on immediately.

While she’s busy with her snack you start to brush Clara’s golden mane. She’s so beautiful, you could just stay here and brush her silky hair. The stable boys always insist on prepping her for rides but you like doing it yourself. It makes you feel like you did something productive.

Clara was a gift from Gavriel when you first started working in Aelin’s court. She’s well taken care of in the stables at the castle. And you love that you get to visit her whenever you want.

Strapping the saddle on her back you lead Clara out of the barn to the courtyard. Mounting her you lightly dig your heels into her sides to get her moving. Starting off at a walk you head off for Oakwald.

An hour into your ride you pull on Clara’s reigns bringing her to a stop. You look around confused. You should be at the lake by now. Where are you? Clara knows where she’s going, so why were you lost? You slip off the saddle to look around for landmarks that might tell you where you are.

A groan that sounded like a tree breaking echoed through the small space. You covered your ears waiting for it to be over. Darkness rolled in above the tree and the wind howled. Clara tensed, throwing her head back letting out a neigh that was practically a scream. She turned on her hind legs and started booking it out of the forest.

“Clara! No! Come back!” You start running after her until an invisible force hits you square in the chest knocking you to the ground. Gasping for breath you sit up on your knees. You whip your head around wildly looking for the source of your attacker.

A misty dark mass takes shape in front of you. It’s only discernible feature two white glowing eyes. Your eyes go wide, watching the darkness swirl in and out. You feel frozen. The darkness moves forming an arm, extending it toward you. Fingers separate and close around your throat. A chill runs through your body before your vision blurs and you fall into a deep sleep.

——

As Gavriel’s meeting with Rowan and his advisors, he pulls on the bond. It’s quite on your end. He tugs harder and floods the bond with concern and love. No response again. Worry takes over his features as he leans back in his chair, Gavriel’s knuckles turn white from how hard he’s clenching his knuckles.

He jumps a little at the feeling of Rowan’s hand on his shoulder. “What is it?” His tone hushed as the rest of the Cadre file in. “It’s y/n. She’s there but…I can’t feel her.” Rowan bites his lip in thought, a small frown forming.

Lorcan sits on Gavriel’s other side. “I have a bad feeling. Y/n never does this.”

“Do you want to ask if anyone in the stables has seen her?” “Please, thank you Fenrys.” The white wolf nods, leaving the room at a hurried pace. He’s like a son to Gavriel, meaning that he’s very protective of you. Aedion and Fenrys were the first two people Gavriel introduced you too. He knew both would go to the ends of the earth to protect you. You were growing to be a mother-figure for both of them so gods forbid any harm come to you.

While waiting for Fenrys to return Rowan and Lorcan talk him through where you could possibly be. He lists them all, talking through the steps you take and what you like to do.

Taking a break, Gavriel looks out the window and notices the late afternoon sun. It’ll be dark in a few hours. He wouldn’t be able to do anything if you weren’t home for dinner. He’s considering going out in his lion form to search for you when Fenrys comes barging back into the meeting room.

The young pups face is wild with rage and worry. “No one has seen her. And Clara isn’t in her stall.” He growls out. The three males turn to Gavriel, waiting for orders. Aedion comes flying into the room seconds later, slightly panting, his chest moving quickly. He could smell the fear and anger rolling of Fenrys as he ran through the castle.

“What’s going on? I saw Fenrys running and knew something was wrong.” “Y/n is missing. We don’t know where she is and no one has seen her.” Aedion’s eyes meet his father’s. Worry simmering in those Ashryver blue-greens. He stands straight, his hands clasped behind his back. “What do you want us to do dad?”

“Follow me.” He said storming out of the room and down to the stables. The Cadre followed, ready to follow his command.

The plan is to split up to search different sections of Oakwald that you like to explore. Lorcan and Aedion mounted their horses and headed east. Rowan transformed into a hawk to look overhead and covering as much ground as possible. Fenrys transformed into a wolf and headed west while Gavriel headed north to the lake.

He didn’t transform yet, he was just focused on getting as far as he could to find you. Gavriel squinted as he approached a clearing. A wall of darkness between trees separated a section from the rest of the forest. He heard rustling from all sides and drew his sword.

Rowan landed first, then Lorcan and Aedion emerged, and then Fenrys holding the reins of your horse. “Clara?” He whispered, reaching out to stroke her snout. “I found her wandering then she noticed me and pulled me back here.”

“My shadows found the wall a half mile that way. I sent them in to try and find her.” Gavriel felt the blood leave his face. His eyes went wide as he turned back to the swirling mass. Reaching out a reluctant hand, Gavriel touched the darkness. He expected resistance but his hand fell through. Stumbling a little he righted himself, taking a deep breath he formulated a new plan.

The bond was glowing making his protective fae instincts kick in. His mate was in danger and he had to go in there.

“Gavriel,” Rowan says cautiously. Before they could talk Gavriel out of his new plan he leapt into the darkness. Without thinking Fenrys and Aedion followed, leaving Rowan and Lorcan to keep watch.

Fenrys and Aedion flank Gavriel, drawing their own swords. “We stick together.” Gavriel says as he steps further into the woods. It feels like hours before there’s any sign of you. Gavriel sniffs the air picking up your scent.

He starts running until he’s skidding to a stop. Dropping to his knees Gavriel pulls you into his arms from your spot in the brush. He presses his ear to your chest to make sure your heart is still beating. The bond humming with joy at the fact you were reunited. Gavriel’s only focus now is to get you back to the castle.

——

When you came to your head was pounding, your vision swimming in and out. You let out a groan and you hear Gavriel scramble to sit on the edge of the bed. “My heart, are you alright? Can I get you anything?” “Water,” you croak out. He moves to grab the glass of water from the bedside table.

Helping you up Gavriel holds the glass to your lips. You gulp the water down like you’d never have any again. Letting the glass go you slump into Gavriel’s side.

“What happened?” Gavriel lays you back down, fluffing your pillows. “We aren’t exactly sure. Lorcan and Rowan found that phantom-thing and chased it down. They lost it but the guards are on the look out for it and Aelin has the little folk keeping their eyes out too. The healers checked you out and your ok, just cold for a while which scared me.”

You gave him a small smile, bringing your hand to cup his face. “I’m sorry I scared you.” “Hey, you don’t need to apologize. I’m sorry I didn’t find you sooner.” “But you did find me. And brought me home, like you always do.”

He let out a breathy chuckle, “Yeah, and I will for the rest of our lives.” You pull him closer to you for a kiss. You break apart at a soft knock on the door. Gavriel sighs, tilting his head back in annoyance. You giggle at him. “Fenrys and Aedion want to see you. They’ve been worried about you and want to see you.” You let out a small aww.

When you and Gavriel first started dating you jokingly called and treated Aedion and Fenrys sons. You are older than both of them so they viewed you as a mother figure, always coming to you for advice over Gavriel and hanging out with you when he was out on missions.

When you accepted the mating bond you asked Aedion if he would be ok with you officially adopting him, even though he’s an adult, you just wanted him to know that he was part of your family. Since the bond the two boys have been very protective of you.

“Let my boys in.” You sit up as Gavriel begrudgingly opens the door. You heard him give them a stern warning before they entered quieter than usual. “Hi y/n.” “Hi boys. Come, sit with me.” You pat the bed and they happily jump up.

Gavriel slides in next to you, a gentle arm, wrapping around your shoulder. You love moments like these where your family is together and safe. You squeeze Gavriel’s hand as a thank you. For bringing you home and always looking out for you.

[genmaichafan]

i did my best boss o7 again almost not following the prompt

no beta we just die

“You know you can tell me anything la Mia preda?”

Donna sat next to you on the long and upscale couch. She sat close but out of arm's reach. Her body language attentively leaned in but open.

You looked deeply into her eyes, sparkling a beautiful brown in the dim artificial lighting of her house. You would love to have gotten lost in them but it would've been rude to ignore her.

“Yeah.” you trailed off into thought despite being aware the answer was not quite good enough.

You always got a sense of danger coming from Donna after she clearly caught wind of your affections. Although you'd thought that you were mostly past the point of being just a lay because well it's been a couple of weeks of hanging out with Donna and there had been none of the aforementioned “laying”. In fact this was the first time you were in Donna's house where you didn’t feel you were in ‘danger’ of being a one night stand. Even if in past times you only made it as far as the door.

Despite the big step you were much more comfortable that you were not just going to be eaten up.

You had the sense in the past people only came in to never come back, whatever reason that was. 

You were not letting yourself be one of those people.

You made sure to try to get to know the real Donna and not just her professor, but damn if she didn't keep you at arm's length.

“Something wrong? You put the smile back on your face.

“No, I'm fine just thinking about you.”

This caused a wry smile to crawl onto Donna's lips.

Ah. there was that sense of danger again.

“You know i don't wanna just sleep with you right?” you couldn't help but blurt out in the moment. While maybe not true to the initial impression you truly meant it. Feeling slight guilt for the initial lusting.

Donna's face shifted into an expression of slight melancholy and culpability.

“What if i told you that's what i wanted from you instead.:

“I wouldn't believe you.”

Despite all Donna tried there was a loneliness about her, big and apparent as an Olympic size swimming pool.

It wasn't immediately fathomable to the average person why she would be. She was quite the popular person on an opinion-al level and mostly kept to herself otherwise.

But to you it seems it was clear as day every one that comes leaves the way they came.

Donna was silent. She could say the opposite but a silent understanding was that it'd be a lie.

“And if you knew the real me, if I actually did want more, would you leave?”

“Never.” you didn't hesitate to answer back.

“ the most amazing part is that i somehow believe you [y/n]”

“Then let me make you more than believe.” you reached a warm hand towards hers. Gently lacing your warm fingers with her icy ones.

She stared at the contact with a shy smile. You've never seen you look so bare.

_________

It's been a couple weeks since you've gotten Donna to open up. You've learned many things about her. A couple of things being:

Donna's is actually shy and embarrassed often enough to see her face flush a bit. Especially when she receives compliments from you nowadays. It seems she really believes you now, and doesn't keep you at arms length.

The few times you had seen Donna eat it had been medium rare meat. You'd offered to cook for her but she insisted that you don't since she was a picky meatatarian. Which you'd tried to scold her about but she assured you that she was as healthy as could be.

She loves cats and she has one of them of her own named Angie: A ragdoll with unique markings.

She's slightly allergic to the sun, and that's why she mostly lives at night.

And while naturally shy she'd learned to be confident in her ‘many’ years alive. (although she barely look 30)

You've noticed that her ears twitch excitedly when she sees you for the first time that day.

And finally noticed that when open she truly loves people and things deeply.

______

You went to knock on Donna's door for the third time this week, and like all the others Donna seemed to have noticed you coming because before you had time to knock she had already opened the  door.

Donna seemed genuinely happy whenever you came over and you could say the same.

“Mi-” she coughed loudly 

“[y/n]- would you like some wine this very late evening?”

“No thank you, I know you don't personally drink.”

Hearing this Donna couldn't help but pull you close to her.

“That's true, I prefer to get drunk on your presenza.”

Wrapping her arms around your waist; Donna smiled at you dreamily.swaying gently while humming, savoring the moment between the two of you. Leaning into the moment you rest your head on her chest.

Making note of,, the lack of heartbeat…?]

Donna was truly enraptured by the moment to notice the worry going on in your head for your lover.

You slowly pulled away.

“Donna, are you feeling well?”

“Better than ever, why?”

“Your heart beats are very faint, I can't hear it.” you half lied.

“Ah, don't worry, that's not a problem.” she gave you an assuring smile.

“It's been like that for a long time.” she assured you. Holding on to your hand leading into the next area of the house. She really did seem ok so you pushed worry and that ever bleeding sense of danger away for the time being.

_____ Donna leads you around to a part of her house that you had seen but really explored before. The most noticeable feature was a slightly ornate door that clearly led to the backyard.

You had never been there but you could tell it was a special place for Donna.

Yet today, She let you in.

It was the most splendid beautiful garden the moonlight could provide.

All the flowers were heavily budding, the various smells of each mixed and perfumed the air in an enchanting way. 

You felt gifted to be shared with this.

“-[y/n]” again she almost called you something else and hesitated. Donna was clearly holding back. 

“I wanted you here specifically tonight because this moon the flowers will bloom, and i wanted it to share it with you [y/n]”

Just like a flower a smile blossomed across your face.

“Thank you, I know how special this place is to you.”

Donna bit her lip and wrapped her arms around your waist once again.

“Of course m-mi tesoro” she paused, not sure if you could understand what was being said “my darling..” 

You beamed in the moonlight as you returned the gesture. Resting your arms on her shoulder, lacing the fingers behind Donna's neck.

Finding yourselves intimately close once again you could feel her exhale against your skin. Her hands moving down to the small of your back. Both your gazes flickering between the others eyes and somewhere lower.

“Mi tesoro, may i kiss you.” you nodded as the distance closed between the two of you. Sharing the first of many kisses. Paying no mind to the now blossoming flowers you had come here for.

[skyward-floored]

Whumptober Day 6: Made to watch, “It should have been me”

This took way too long to finish and didn’t even end up the way I wanted to in the end exactly but it’s fine! It’s fine!!!

*cries*

Warnings: blood & injury, being electrocuted, slight torture-y elements.

Read it on ao3

————————————————————

“Link. Hey, Rancher, wake up.”

The serious tone of voice dragged Twilight from his comfortable sleep, making him blearily open his eyes. He found that his head was under the thicker blankets the inn had provided for their beds, and he reluctantly poked his head out, frowning at the cold that met him.

Warriors looked down at him, arms crossed and face unreadable, and Twilight blinked at him, still waking up.

“What’dya want?” he mumbled, squinting at the window. All he could see was dark grey. “...Wars, what time is it?”

“Early, I don’t know. About dawn I guess,” Warriors shrugged, and unceremoniously pulled Twilight’s blankets off. “Come on, we’ve got work to do.”

“What?!” Twilight sputtered, and grabbed for his blankets. “Give me those! It’s freezing in here!”

“I know right? It’s awful. These people have no clue how to keep an inn warm, I mean it’s snowing outside.”

“Captain,” Twilight growled, seriously annoyed now. He’d been having a rather nice dream about a warm, sunny field with goats in it, up until Warriors had decided to drag him awake. “Why are you up so early, and why are you waking me up so early?”

A smile twitched at Warriors’ lips. “Why Rancher, I thought you country folk were used to waking up at the crack of dawn.”

“That doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate sleeping in on a freezing morning when we’re at an inn for once,” Twilight bit out, snatching back his blankets and wrapping himself in them. “What do you want.”

“Sheesh, you’re cranky this early,” Warriors said with an eye roll. “Anyway... do you remember what we were talking about last night after dinner?”

Twilight stared at Warriors, and pulled his blankets back over his head.

“Rancher come on, hear me out!”

The blankets were peeled back again, and Twilight looked up at Warriors’ face, only barely apologetic. The captain gave him a grin, and Twilight groaned, sitting back up with no small reluctance.

He was wide awake now, he supposed he might as well hear what the captain had to say.

“Fine. What.”

Warriors cleared his throat, looking excited. “Okay okay, so last night Wild and Wind wouldn’t shut up about how similar they think we look, right?”

Twilight nodded, frowning a bit.

The night before, after they’d all eaten dinner and were sitting around talking, Wind had asked the others if they’d ever noticed how similar Twilight and the captain looked. Wild had immediately agreed, a grin on his face, and the others had quickly hopped on board as well, loudly debating their similar features.

Some of the arguments had been valid, and Four had put together a surprisingly long list of resemblances between Twilight and Warriors that Twilight was inclined to believe, but several of them were just ridiculous. Even when Twilight voiced this, he was immediately shot down, and Wild and Wind wouldn’t let the matter drop, repeatedly bringing it up until Twilight and Warriors couldn’t stand it anymore and went off to bed.

“What does that have to do with dragging me out of bed at the crack of dawn?” Twilight asked, and Warriors grinned, holding up two green tunics.

“It’s so we have lots of time to prepare. I think we should show them just how similar we really are.“

Twilight sat up a bit straighter, paying more attention now as he looked between his and Warriors’ tunics.

“Oh?”

“Let’s switch clothes. Just for the day. We’ll give them a shock,” Warriors grinned, and Twilight found himself grinning as well, picturing the looks on Wild and Wind’s faces. “Maybe get them to knock it off with the twin jabs too. What do you say?”

Twilight reached out and took Warriors’ tunic, and gave the captain a smirk.

“Show me how you usually pin your scarf.”

(...)

Wild and Wind’s reactions were, to say the least, exactly what Twilight had hoped they would be.

Warriors and Twilight had quickly dressed, then stationed themselves so they weren’t facing the stairs, their differences harder to notice from the back. Wind had come down to breakfast soon after, yawning into his hand, and had tugged Warriors’ scarf to ask him when they were going to leave.

Except Warriors had been Twilight, and Wind nearly jumped out of his skin when he looked up and realized who it was he was actually talking to.

Wild had had a similar reaction, though it had taken him a bit. He was most of the way through breakfast before he’d suddenly jumped up and pointed between the two, face so gobsmacked that Twilight nearly choked he was laughing so hard.

After the chaos had died down and they’d finally finished breakfast, they’d headed out from the inn, a light flurry of snow falling on their heads. Warriors and Twilight stayed in the wrong clothes as they traveled through the snowy forest, responding to the wrong names and just generally confusing the others.

It was driving Wild crazy, and Twilight was loving every second of it.

A few small flakes fell on his head, and Twilight shivered a bit as the wind blew at his face. The weather was even colder outside the inn, and the Links had all bundled up in their thick clothing, Wind and Four looking especially chilly. Twilight actually wasn’t bothered too much by the cold, especially with Warriors’ scarf wrapped warmly around his neck, and he noticed with a smirk that Warriors himself looked quite content in his wolf pelt.

“You know, you smell like a wet dog, Captain,” Legend mentioned offhandedly. “Look a bit like one too. You’re giving Wolfie a run for his money.”

Warriors shot him a look from under the hood of Twilight’s pelt, and Legend smiled innocently.

“Well perhaps so, but I’m much warmer than you are,” he pointed out, and Legend’s smirk fell a bit.

“Well at least I’m not swimming in clothes made for someone twice as muscled as me.”

The two continued to exchange jabs, and Twilight shook his head in exasperation. Warriors may have been wearing Twilight’s clothes, but it didn’t change his personality a bit.

“You look nice in the captain’s scarf Twi,” Four said at his side, his own hood up to block the snow. “The colors set off your eyes.”

Twilight chuckled. “If you say so. It is rather soft,” he admitted, holding up a bit of the rich, blue fabric. “It definitely does the job, but I don’t know how he handles this thing in warmer weather.”

“I could ask the same of you,” Warriors said back, and Twilight shrugged. “All this fur must be awful if you’re ever anywhere warm.”

“Oh I manage.”

The conversation stopped for a bit, and Twilight looked around at the road they were following, noticing with some concern how high a couple of the drifts of snow were. If the snow had blown across the path like that anywhere, some of their shorter members were going to struggle.

“Think I’m going to scout ahead a little,” Twilight said, tapping Time on the shoulder. “I’ll see if I can make it to that bridge the villagers were talking about, see how much snow we’re dealing with.”

“That sounds like a good idea,” Time replied. Then his face twitched into a smirk. “Don’t trip on your scarf.”

Twilight snorted and shook his head, already walking away.

“Hey, I’ll come with you,” Warriors offered as he jogged up to join his side, and Twilight looked at him in surprise. But he nodded and made room so they could walk side by side.

“You didn’t have to come you know Captain. Not that I mind, but just because we swapped clothes doesn’t mean we have to be together the whole day,” Twilight mentioned once they were out of earshot of the others, and Warriors shrugged, looking around at the woods.

“Eh, I wanted to. Besides, I was getting real sick of Legend calling us the ‘wolf twins’.”

Twilight barked out a laugh, and he and the captain continued ahead through the snowy woods, silent and cold.

They were quiet for a while as they outpaced the group, the snow falling softly around them. Twilight had no clue who’s time they were in, but wherever they were, the forest was beautiful, covered in snow and ice, flakes falling silently around them.

Twilight felt almost like he was in a storybook walking through the picturesque woods, and the unfamiliar clothes he was wearing only added to the almost otherworldly sense. It was odd having a scarf around his neck, but he didn’t mind the way it flared out behind him when he walked. It was sort of fun.

Twilight looked over at Warriors, keeping pace next to him, and studied him a minute. He had to admit to himself that Wild was right, at least a bit. With the pelt’s hood up covering his lighter hair, Warriors really did look almost exactly like Twilight.

“What’s that look for?” Warriors asked, and Twilight blinked, realizing he’d been staring.

“I was just thinking,” he admitted, and looked Warriors up and down. “I hate to admit it, but the others are kind of right. We really do look similar.”

“Yeah, I know,” Warriors said, and his eyes took on a distant look. “...Did you know there’s a statue of you in my time?”

Twilight startled. “What?”

“Well, there’s ones of a bunch of us actually,” Warriors reprimanded, and met his eyes. “Even Wolfie. We didn’t realize just how many there were until we were clearing out the Temple of Souls after the war. We were making sure there wasn’t any leftover dark magic or monsters, but we mostly just found statues, and... paintings.”

Warriors shook his head as if to clear it. “Anyway, I originally thought the one of you was me. We were so similar-looking, especially at the time with the hats and everything, it took a while until we figured out you were a separate hero entirely.”

“Well, that explains why you recognized most of us when we met,” Twilight said with a smirk, and Warriors chuckled.

“Yeah, I’ll admit I cheated. I don’t know if I saw one of everyone though, now that you mention it. I wonder—”

“Wait, shh,” Twilight said abruptly, holding a hand out.

Warriors went silent, and Twilight swiveled his ears around, the snow softly falling on their heads.

The woods had gone even more silent then before, no birds, no wind. Twilight knew he had heard something, but he wasn’t sure if it was just a twig snapping from the weight of the snow, or something more—

An earsplitting screech rang out through the woods, nearly sending Twilight and Warriors to their knees. Twilight’s heart stopped at the familiar sound, but before he could even grab his sword or raise his head, something crashed into him and threw him against a tree so hard he nearly blacked out.

He heard a shout through the ringing in his ears, and forced his eyes open, gasping at the sight of a Shadow Beast mere inches from his face.

No, no how is this possible it can’t— does this mean— the Twilight Realm—?!

Twilight struggled to grab his sword, but the Shadow Beast tightened its grip, and it held him so tightly against the tree Twilight was worried it would break something.

He looked frantically around for a way to get out, and saw that while Warriors wasn’t pinned like he was, he was completely surrounded. The captain was looking around at the shadow beasts with a worried look in his eyes, and he made frantic eye contact with Twilight. But before either of them could do or say anything, Twilight heard footsteps crunch through the snow nearby.

He looked up, and felt ice drop into his chest.

Zant stood in the center of the clearing, like a blot of spilled ink against the pristine snow. Twilight stared, praying that he was somehow mistaken, but as Zant strode forward, there was no doubt that it was the usurper himself.

He barely seemed to notice Twilight, giving him only a single glance, then stalked over to Warriors, standing just inside his army of shadow beasts.

“Hero of Twilight,” Zant said with a hint of glee in his voice. “It’s been so long, did you miss me?”

Warriors flicked his eyes over to Twilight, then back to Zant, a glimmer of confusion in his eyes. Zant was clearly referring to him, and Twilight stared at them both for a second before realizing what was happening.

Oh sweet Ordona, he thinks Warriors is me.

Warriors obviously realized what was going on as well, for he quickly smoothed his face of its confused look, casually pulling the hood further over his head. Twilight thrashed against the Shadow Beast, opening his mouth to shout, but one of its hands moved to cover it and his cry was cut off.

Warriors glanced at him again, then exhaled, and tightened his grip on his sword.

“That’s right Zant, that’s me,” he said steadily, even adding a bit of a twang to his voice that made him sound vaguely like Twilight. “The Hero of Twilight.”

Twilight thrashed even harder against the shadow beast holding him, but the monster didn’t budge, no matter what he did.

Wars you idiot it’s me he wants!

“Hmm... you’re scrawnier than I remember...” Zant hummed, leaning down to stare at Warriors’ face. “I suppose you haven’t been doing so well without your little shadow? So sad that she shattered the mirror the way she did.”

Twilight ignored the sting the words left in his heart.

“How have you returned?” Warriors demanded, never lowering his sword. “The last I heard, you were dead.”

“Ah, it was my new glorious god! The Creature of Shadows!” Zant crowed, twirling in place. “He has allowed me this return so I may have my revenge on those who have wronged me, in exchange only for his allegiance!”

Zant abruptly stilled, voice dropping into the tone he used when he sounded more sane.

“And you, Hero of Twilight, are the first on my list.”

Warriors barely had time to leap away as Zant drew twin swords and jumped at him, avoiding his attacks and striking back as best as he could.

Twilight clawed at the Shadow Beast holding him, desperate to help the captain, but it only struck him across the face, and retightened its grip. Pain exploded across Twilight’s face, but he ignored the sharp pain in his nose, watching Warriors fight with an increasing panic.

He couldn’t do anything. He couldn’t even call out advice or encouragement with the Shadow beast covering his mouth, just sit here and watch, with his nose throbbing and blood trickling down his face.

When he was the one who should have been fighting in the first place.

Warriors fought almost like he’d faced Zant before, neatly dodging his attacks and easily matching his swings. At any other moment Twilight would have admired his technique, but he was too worried. Zant’s speed was nearly impossible to keep up with, and Twilight could see Warriors was quickly tiring.

Right about when Twilight was growing truly panicked, Zant stepped back, pausing in his frantic attacks.

“This has been quite fun, but I’m afraid I didn’t come here to fight,” he said coolly, and his helmet shifted, revealing his mouth pulled up in a smile. Warriors paused as well, but kept his sword up, still ready and willing to fight.

“Then what do you want?” Warriors said breathlessly, and Zant’s smile twisted into a grin.

“To make you suffer.”

Two shadow beasts leaped at Warriors from behind, catching him off guard and throwing him to the ground. They pinned his arms and legs in a similar manner to Twilight in mere seconds, and Warriors’ sword went flying, Twilight letting out a muffled shout.

Zant stalked forward, his weapons skimming the snow on the ground.

“I should have killed you back at the Spirit’s Spring long ago, but now I’m almost glad I didn’t. I think I prefer to draw it out,” Zant said in a voice filled with glee as he stood above Warriors. “I’ve waited to repay you for stealing my rightful throne for a long time, Hero.”

“Rightful throne? It was never your throne to begin with,” Warriors scoffed, and gritted his teeth as Zant pressed the tip of his sword to his cheek.

“It should have been!” Zant hissed, and dragged the sword across Warriors’ face, leaving a bloody line in its trail. “I am the Twilight Realm’s rightful king! It is my throne, and I am it’s ruler!”

“I’ve met the true ruler of the Twilight Realm,” Warriors gritted out, and Twilight’s brain stalled for a second. What? “and you’re not her.”

“I am the rightful ruler!” Zant shouted, and dug the tip of his sword into Warriors’ shoulder, pulling a gasp from his lips. “Say it!”

Warriors glared. “Midna is—”

“DO NOT SPEAK HER NAME!” Zant shrieked, and lit his swords up with a dark, crackling magic.

Warriors’ eyes went wide and Twilight let out another muffled shout, but the two of them could only watch as Zant stabbed the blades downward into Warriors’ arms.

Lightning ripped across Warriors’ body, and he screamed, his back arching with electricity.

Twilight had never heard him make a noise like that.

He kicked out madly against the shadow beast holding him, but its grip never budged, and he couldn’t do a thing as Zant slowly removed his swords, leaving Warriors to gasp for breath, twitching slightly in the snow.

Tell him you’re not the one he wants, Twilight mentally begged, watching in horror as Zant repeated the action, making Warriors scream again. Tell him you’re not the Hero of Twilight, Captain!

“I am the Twilight Realm’s king,” Zant practically hissed as he yanked his swords out of Warriors again, leaving him shaking and bloodied on the ground. He thrust a blade under Warriors’ chin, lifting it so he was forced to meet his eyes. “And you and that imp are nothing but insignificant worms under my feet.”

“I... th-think she’d say the opposite,” Warriors rasped.

Zant howled in outrage and lunged forward, but it was then that Twilight finally managed to bite the Shadow Beast’s hand with enough force that it removed it from his mouth.

“I’m the Hero of Twilight!” he screamed, and Zant froze, turning slowly towards him. “I’m who you want Zant, leave— leave him alone,” his finished thickly.

Zant didn’t move for a second, staring at Twilight in silence. Then he turned back to Warriors, grabbing him by the collar and lifting him up so they were practically nose-to-nose.

The hood of the wolf pelt fell back, fully revealing Warriors’ bright blond hair, and marking-less face.

“A fake!” Zant roared in outrage, and threw Warriors to the ground, the captain still twitching with electricity.

He turned towards Twilight, practically shaking with fury.

“You,” he spat, small crackles of energy leaking from his sleeves as he approached. “You. Hero of Twilight. How dare you—”

A golden arrow flew across the clearing, and buried itself right into Zant’s shoulder.

Light burst outward and Zant let out a primal scream, clutching at his arm. More arrows followed, and Twilight heard the Shadow Beasts cry out as well, but he couldn’t see very well due to the sudden increase of light. The monster holding him let go, and Twilight didn’t stick around, catching a glimpse of armor and knowing the others would deal with the monsters.

He made a beeline for Warriors, stumbling a little as he ran. His head still hurt where the shadow beast had slammed him into the tree, his nose was bleeding all over his face, and his whole body was sore, but he wasn’t planning on stopping.

“Captain, are you with me?” he asked as he slid to his knees, and Warriors blearily looked up at him, eyes bright with pain. “Warriors, can you hear me?”

“You... you got a little...” Warriors croaked, reaching up like he was going to wipe the blood off of Twilight’s face, and the rancher waved him off, hands fluttering over the captain’s bleeding body. He was still twitching occasionally, blood soaking his clothes, and the cut across his cheek was bleeding steadily, dripping blood into Twilight’s pelt.

“By the gods Captain, you’re an absolute idiot,” Twilight said with a surge of guilt and horror, putting pressure on what looked like the worst injuries. “You should’ve just told him who I was, why didn’t you?!”

“He wanted... you. Better this way,” Warriors breathed, and gave Twilight a bloody smile. “I am... sorry I... I wrecked your tunic.”

Twilight glared at him, then untangled the scarf from around his own neck. “Permission to get your scarf bloody?”

“‘S only fair,” Warriors chuckled weakly, and Twilight bundled it over him, stemming the flow of blood.

Warriors let out a cough, a twitch running through him again, and Twilight helped him sit up when he tried to himself, the captain leaning heavily on his shoulder. He moved his head so it was resting more easy, and looked at the blood on the captain’s cheek, guilt still laying heavy in his chest.

It should have been me.

“...Rancher?”

Twilight looked over at Warriors again, wincing at a screech that rang out much too close by.

“Yeah?”

“I don’t regret it,” Warriors said firmly, shivering with another tremor. “Not... not at all. Don’t be... guilty.”

Twilight looked away. “Well what am I supposed to do then?”

Warriors gave him another bloody smirk.

“Y-you could say thank you.”

Twilight felt a smile twitch onto his face against his will, and he snorted out a laugh through his still-bleeding nose, lightly bonking his head against Warriors’.

“Fine. Thanks.”

Then he turned and looked Warriors directly in the eye, pushing aside the still heavy guilt in his chest.

“And once you get a red potion in you, I want to know how on earth you know Midna and Zant.”

Warriors smiled as a triumphant cry came from the battle around them.

“Sure thing.”

[da-rulah]

hey!! hope you’re doing well :) your writing always makes my day better and you are so immensely talented, i mean it!! 🥺❤️

if you’re feeling up to it i would love to hear your headcanons on mary goore with an insecure s/o regarding their looks/body. no rush or pressure:)

Hi lovely! Thank you, I'm doing alright. Could be better, could be worse, but that's neither here nor there. 🤷🏼‍♀️ Thank you so much, I'm so glad I can have a positive impact on someone's day 🥹

So Mary with an insecure reader, hm? Let's see what the brain rot builds...

NSFW 18+ MDNI!

TW/ No pronouns used but female genitalia referenced, blindfolding, talk of insecurities, body worship, fingering

You trusted Mary. Explicitly.

That's why you'd told him about your insecurities, told him you didn't mind if he wanted you to hide parts of yourself, to disguise your least favourite parts if he found them as repulsive as you.

What you hadn't expected, was to find yourself spread out in your underwear and the baggy shirt you'd thrown on that morning, blindfolded...

But still, you trusted him...

"You don't have to look at yourself if you don't want to..." he whispered into your ear, hovering above you, "but please... don't deny me the pleasure."

Your skin broke out into goosebumps, and if he hadn't been laying between them, your thighs would have pressed together in an attempt to find some friction.

Mary noticed your heart rate and knew he had to take this steady, to show you nothing but love - and of course, how fucking hot you made him...

He started by your ankles, planting kisses along the inside of both of your calves, your knees, reaching your thighs where his hands kneaded and squeezed at the flesh while his mouth worked to leave wet trails all over.

"Love these thighs... Fucking love that you could suffocate me between them if you wanted to..."

He avoided your core and instead brought his hands under the hem of the shirt you wore, roaming the bare skin underneath while his lips searched out any stretch marks you had, any moles or freckles, any scars, and marked them with a kiss.

He continued his ascent, his lips and hands roaming the soft expanse of your chest, paying close attention to your nipples as they stiffened under his touch.

Every sense was heightened with your vision hindered... his touch felt sensational.

You couldn't help the whimper that tumbled from your lips, and you felt Mary smirk against you.

He pushes your shirt higher, suckling at your collarbone while he reaches for your hairs, only to tangle them in his hair for you.

Involuntarily your hips rolled underneath him, pressing against him only to feel a familiar stiffness in his jeans...

"Feel that, baby? Feel what you fucking do to me?" he groaned against your neck. "Love every inch of you..."

Any hint of insecurity you had about your body had been wiped clean with the flick of his tongue.

"Mary, please..." you begged, for nothing in particular. He just chuckled beneath your ear, catching your lobe with his teeth.

"Tell me something you like about yourself..." he commanded, his voice low and yet somehow soft.

When you told him you didn't mind your thighs, he was between them in a flash.

"These thighs?" he asked, diving in again to leave open mouthed kisses to the soft flesh, casually nipping with his teeth every so often.

With an affirmative hum, he asked you for another, and subsequently focussed his kisses to wherever you told him you loved until you couldn't stand it any longer.

You told him you loved your core, hoping he might finally give you the attention you wanted.

Instead, he sat up onto his knees, his hands grabbing at your thighs. Suddenly, he dove his hand into your underwear, immediately shoving two long fingers inside you. All his teasing had you prepped and ready to take him.

"Oh, right here?"

The pleasure knocked the wind out of you and had your back arching off the bed.

"Mhm, right there..."

The way Mary worshipped you for the rest of the night, had you coming undone for him multiple times on his fingers, his tongue, toys and finally... finally... his cock...

Well, you'd never doubt how much Mary adored you and your body ever again.

[radioproto]

Merry Christmas, @goopi-e! I was your @portal-secret-santa this year! As much as I had hoped to do an art piece again this year, I was unable to due to a massive load of personal projects on my shoulders, so I went with a WheatDOS fic instead! This is my first time every working with this ship, so it was mostly experimental with writing and all. I hope you like it ^^ best wishes!

Skipping Stones (human!WheatDOS)

Word Count: 1,950

Peaceful, one might have called it. A day so still and quiet one might have assumed the earth had stopped spinning. Not even a breath of wind stirred the tree’s leaves, and few birds sang that afternoon, all feeling drowsy in the sun’s warm rays. A lovely day, s- oh. Never mind. Hard footsteps thumped the path, and fast.

"Bet I can beat you, old lady!" Wheatley chortled as he ran. Glados, not far behind despite not making an effort to catch him, only scoffed and rolled her eyes. "I never confirmed it was a race, moron," she retorted lightheartedly.

"First off, not a moron," he quickly stopped and whipped around to correct her, panting lightly. "Second, you said 'yeah, okay.' Sounds like a confirmation to me." He pointed a finger to her chest once she walked up to him. Glados only shook her head. "Not what I meant…" She sighed and gave Wheatley a firm pat on the shoulder, letting her hand linger for a moment before sliding it off as she walked forward to stand at the riverside. Wheatley ran up to join her, his clumsy feet knocking a few pebbles into the water and creating ripples in the stillness.

"I beat you." Glados said with a smug grin. Wheatley groaned. "Oh come on, you just said it wasn’t a race!" He faced her, seemingly frustrated. "I did. But that was before I won. I changed my mind." She chuckled as Wheatley groaned again.

"So, why was it you wanted to bring me out here again? I mean, not that I didn’t want to it’s just, you know, I don’t think you ever made that clear. Maybe you did, I don’t know. Probably forgot, actually. But hey, I-" Wheatley’s rambling was quickly cut off by Glados’ hand. "I saw a deer here yesterday." She turned her head to look at him. "I thought maybe it would travel through here again, and I wanted you to see it." Wheatley’s expression turned to one of curiosity and perhaps slight excitement. He couldn’t recall the last time he’d seen a deer. "Really? A deer? Here??" He gestured to the area around them. "Mhm. A deer. Here. Really." Wheatley turned to look out over the river. "Wow…do you think it will show up here?" Glados half scoffed again. "With all the ruckus you’re making, probably not anymore." 

Wheatley let out a frustrated grumble, turning away and putting his hands over his head in an irritated manner. He hated his clumsy nature; he knew he was a klutz, and he so wished he was more attentive and keen, but he knew he couldn’t help it. He sighed, shaking it off and facing Glados as she crouched down and picked up a stone at her feet. Wheatley peered at her curiously as she stood back up and studied it in silence for a moment before she suddenly hurled it over the river and across the water.

The stone seemed to jump on top of the water, like a frog jumping across lily pads at lightning speed. Wheatley’s eyes widened as he watched the rock skip the water several times before it finally skidded to a halt and sank below the surface. He stared at the tidal wave for a moment before looking back at the taller lady, eyes still shining in awe. "How did you do that? Wait, wait, don’t tell me. I can do that, easy." Deep down, Wheatley wasn’t entirely confident he could do it, but it seemed easy enough that he was determined to try and succeed anyway.

He picked up a random rock near his feet and studied it in his hand for a moment before winding up and throwing it across the water. He grunted as it left his hand, putting in a good bit of effort just to see it sink the moment it touched the water. "Aw, what? That was supposed to work!" He grumbled frustratedly, immediately leaning back over and scanning for another stone to try again. He picked up another one next to Glados. "I just have to…" Wheatley yelped, startled as she suddenly grabbed his wrist before he could wind up to throw the rock.

"You’re not doing it right," she said. "There’s a certain way you have to do this. You don’t even have a flat stone." Wheatley looked down at the awkwardly shaped rock in his palm. "You know you have to use a flat skipping stone, don’t you?" He quickly looked up and nodded at her. "Of course I knew that!" He lied. "I was just…warming up! Yeah."

Wheatley studied the rock for a moment longer before dropping it and crouching down to find something more flat. He found one he thought would do, standing back up to face the white-haired woman. "Like this?" His eyes widened slightly when she shook her head and held up a perfectly smooth, flat stone. "No. Like this." Glados took his hand with her free one and placed the stone in it. Wheatley ran his thumb over it, impressed by how perfect it was and how quickly she’d been able to find something like it so easily. Perhaps she’d already had it on hand?

Wheatley stood back and began to raise his arm, but was immediately stopped again as Glados grabbed his arm and lowered it, stepping partially behind him. "You’re not even holding it right. You don’t know how to do this, do you?" The blonde looked up to face her, opening his mouth to say something and quickly shutting it as he realized he didn’t know what to say. He didn’t want to admit that he didn’t know how; it was embarrassing to fail like that in front of her. Glados cut in again before he could come up with something. "I didn’t think so. I just wanted to see how long it took before you realized you’d need my help."

Wheatley’s cheeks turned a light pink in embarrassment. He didn’t necessarily NEED her help; he could toy around with it and figure it out on his own soon enough. But, as much as he didn’t want to admit it, he could’ve probably really used her help. He didn’t say anything else, instead sighing slightly and handing her the flat stone. "I mean, it’s not that I need your help or anything, I would just appreciate seeing your own effort too, you know? You teach me your technique and all…huh?"

Glados prompted him to take the stone back, half shoving it back in his hand. "I’ll show you. Here." Wheatley took it, but hesitated. "But, don’t you need to…?" She cut him off, putting her hands on his shoulders as she stepped behind him. "You need to hold it. I’m going to show you and you’re going to do it." She explained. Wheatley tensed under her touch, a nervous chuckle escaping him and the blush never leaving his face. "Right, right."

Glados reached over the shorter man’s shoulders and placed both of her hands on one of his, the one that held the stone. "Now, to hold it, you want to grab it between your thumb and middle finger. Use your index finger…" She went on explaining how to hold the stone, but Wheatley was starting to zone out. He only caught the first part, watching her hands bend his own to hold it properly. For some reason, he couldn’t tear his eyes away from her busy hands, nor could he hear what she was trying to tell him. Should he have been paying attention? He didn’t know nor care; she was doing most of this for him anyway. She was strangely gentle with him, like if she pulled on his fingers too hard they would snap off. Her touch was almost nice, he thought, and it was endearing that she obviously knew what she was doing, not to mention she…

"Hey, moron, are you listening?" Wheatley was immediately pulled back into reality, a startling awakening when he realized Glados was slightly bent over staring at him with her bright yellow-orange eyes. He gasped slightly, shaking the daydreams out of his head. "Yes! Yes! Listening." She lightly rolled her eyes. Wheatley looked down at his hand, which was now holding the stone in what he assumed was the proper way. "Ready to throw it?" Glados asked, resting her hands on his shoulders. He nodded, a little reluctant to fail again but more confident now that he was at least holding it right. "Now, when you throw it," she continued, "make sure you throw it at an angle. Don’t just raise your arm and throw it." She stepped back. "Pull back and let it leave your hand as flat as possible."

Wheatley took a deep breath, holding his arm up behind him slightly at an angle like Glados had advised. He hesitated for a moment before swinging his arm and letting go of the stone, watching as it darted across the water. It bounced off the surface about four times before it finally sank. 

Wheatley put his hands up triumphantly. "Hah! It worked! It bloody worked!" He gave a sort of exasperated laugh, glancing over at Glados as he lowered his arms. She stood back with her arms crossed, a hint of a genuine smile on her face. "Congratulations," she said in her usual monotone voice. "You managed to complete a simple task with my help."

Wheatley puffed out his chest slightly with pride as he turned more to face her. "Well, you know, I don’t like to pat myself on the back or anything, but…" He chuckled resting his hands on his hips, a content smile on his face. What he didn’t realize was that Glados had already approached him and was bending down to plant a light kiss on his cheek. His eyes shot open and his cheeks flushed a deeper red than earlier. Flustered, he looked up at her, stuttering like an idiot. "Huh? Wha- f- I-" he stammered, not able to form anything coherent after having been caught completely off guard. Glados stood up straight and looked at him. "Consider it your 'task completion award.'"

Wheatley’s hand came up to cover the spot on his cheek where Glados had kissed him, trying to remember and relish that feeling. It was warm, comforting, and it made him feel like she genuinely cared, an attribute she rarely showed. He managed a weak squeaky chuckle in response, and a quiet "yeah…thanks."

For the rest of that quiet evening, they walked the riverside, finding perfect skipping stones and making them glide across the water together. It took some time for Wheatley to perfect the skill, but he eventually got the hang of it. As the sun was setting, the two returned to the trail they had taken earlier to walk back to Aperture’s living quarters.

"You know," Glados began as they started the trek back home. "That deer I mentioned I saw? I saw it again today, just before you skipped your first stone. Then you scared it off." Wheatley glared up at her in slight frustration and disbelief. "What? Why didn’t you tell me?! You could have told me before I threw the bloody rock!" Glados laughed. "I’m only joking." 

She smirked over at Wheatley, who gave an over-dramatic exasperated sigh. "Don’t worry," she added. "I’ll tell you when I see it again. Or perhaps I can just bring you out here every day." 

Wheatley sort of beamed at her. "You know what, I think I’d like that actually. Sounds pretty nice. I’d like to see this deer. And NOT scare it off this time, preferably." Glados chuckled under her breath. "We’ll see."

[cosmica-galaxy]

Comic time! Woop woop! (I finally finished after much procrastinating, WARNING FOR SHITINESS IN ADVANCE, I don't have god hands so you get flat colors and wonky hands :sob:)

(but I did enjoy making it :D)

Let's begin, shall we? ---------------

The human and their mimic friends are currently returning to the Alliance base from a day mission, a simple recon mission around the edge of Alliance territory. But where is the Alliance Trio? They are sadly caught up with work in their own faction which, unfortunately for them, left the Mimic Trio with the human. So as the day hours bled into the early night hours, the skies darkened and cast shadows over the group.

From a dark alley nearby, a faint thumping of footsteps sound out, but they are so far away that none of the mimics or the lone human can detect them. Well, all except Pal.

He doesn't seem to catch it at first but after a moment he flares out his frills, pausing mid-step to listen. While they are just footsteps, these are footsteps of a larger entity, even bigger than Pal himself, at least from what he can detect from the weight behind the footsteps. So with a chilling rattle, he alerts the other mimics and the human to the entity.

Sadly, this warning comes too late, and as Fiend turns to look in the direction Pal had been rattling in, a large, slightly translucent hand slams into Fiend's head, knocking him off his feet.

The hand continues to carry Fiend away before dragging him along the asphalt and coming to a stop on the road about forty feet from the group. Pal reaches a hand in Fiend's direction, as if he had been reaching to catch Fiend.

Another hand, this one larger than the one that slammed into Fiend, slams into Buddy's back. The force almost knocks the wind out of him but it does knock him over in the end, slamming him down to the ground before holding him down, claws digging into the asphalt.

Pal turns again, detecting more objects nearby that could be a threat, but he is once again too late as he is surrounded by over two dozen small sharp, from what Pal can feel by the one pressed against the back of his neck, pieces that seemed to be the same material as the hands that slammed into Buddy and Fiend. In response to the effective surrounding, Pal's frills flop down since he is too close to the precious human to use a sound blast.

The human, ever so compassionate and caring, reaches out towards their friends, shouting their names. As they do so, a shadow looms over the human and a chill runs down their spine, leaving them feeling cold. So with shudder, the human turns, and a green ring immediately catches their attention.

So the human looks up, and up, and up, so much so that they are almost looking straight up at the sky. The entity that had pulled their protection away from them, separated the human from their friends and left them vulnerable, was now before them, staring them down. Veteran and a few other agents had only rumored about this entity, it apparently goes by Jacob but the Alliance calls it something else, not exactly a friend or foe, but one to just avoid in general, and now this entity stands before the human. This entity... this... IS JAAKOBAH... Their intentions? Unknown...

(to you at least 'wink wonk')

AAAAAHHHHH!! <3 <3 <3 I LOVE IT SO MUCH, KATARI! You put so much effort into this little comic, I ADORE IT! The poor human, now only armed with their survival instincts and wits, stands alone while their mimic allies struggle to free themselves. For the first time in a long while...the human felt...

Helpless.

I will definitely draw a response to this as soon as possible! I wonder what "jaakobah"'s intentions are?

[larz-barz]

The Brightest Star in the Night Sky

Chapter 1

“Stop it!!! Leave Nezuko alone!!!” Tanjiro yelled, struggling in the serpent hashira’s grasp as the wind hashira stabbed his katana through the wooden box containing Tanjiro’s demonic younger sister.

Everyone’s went wide when a small form knocked Sanemi away from Nezuko. “Shinazugawa-sama, you’re being quite rude… You haven’t even given all of us, or Oyakata-sama, a chance to speak on the matter…” A young girl with long, light purple and blonde hair spoke in a soft, soothing voice. Her piercing, purple and blue heterochromatic eyes held unreadable emotions. A pair of soft cat ears sat atop her head, as well the boy who moved to stand next to her.

“My sister is right, Shinazugawa-sama. At least wait before making such a harsh gesture towards the Kamados.” The boy spoke in a similar tone as his sister as the twins gazed down at the dumbfounded wind hashira.

Soon after, each hashira bowed down in respect towards the young children who came out to announce the arrival of their father, Oyakata-sama.

As Tanjiro rested in the butterfly mansion, he couldn’t help but think about the twin hashiras who had so boldly protected Nezuko. ‘I’ll have to thank them if I see them again..’ He thought as he gazed up at the ceiling with a small, content smile grazing his lips.

His attention was soon turned towards the door of his room when a soft knock sounded from the other side. He smiled as he carefully moved to sit himself up. “Come in!”

The door slid open to reveal the girl who he felt he owed the most gratitude for. “H-how are you feeling..?” Her soft voice slightly broke which immediately caught Tanjiro’s attention. He sniffed the air to check for any signs of sadness or discomfort from the girl.

The air held the scent of mostly anxiety and fear. ‘Hmm.. I wonder why she’s so scared?’ He thought to himself before realizing he hadn’t answered her yet. “Oh-! I’m alright! Thank you so much for protecting Nezuko!” The neko raised her hands and slightly waved them, her mask concealed the nervous smile on her lips. “I-it was nothing, really..! I-I’m Mikitama Suzuki by the way…” He looked at her with a soft smile as she moved to sit in the chair by his bed, finding her personality to be very endearing and adorable.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mikitama-sama! I’m Tanjiro Kamado!” Her anxious demeanor seemed to relax slightly due to Tanjiro’s sunny personality but then he became concerned when he detected pain in her practically unreadable eyes. “Hey, uhm.. What’s wrong?” He asked with pure concern in his kind eyes.

The small girl’s shoulders tensed as her eyes went to the floor. She slowly shook her head as she started to absently play with her claws. “I-it’s nothing, don’t worry about it, Tanjiro-san…” She murmured softly and Tanjiro’s worried frown deepened. “Don’t lie, Mikitama-sama. Did something happen after the meeting?”

Tanjiro’s concern for Mikitama only increased when a hesitant nod came from her. He moved so he could better see her face. “You can tell me… I promise.” He knew she probably wouldn’t want to put her complete trust in him since they just officially met only a few minutes prior, but he felt he needed to know if she was unsafe or anything like that.

A soft sigh came from the masked neko’s lips as her ears slightly went down. Tanjiro’s eyes stayed trained on Mikitama as he prepared to listen to whatever she had to say. “U-uhm… After everyone else had left already, including my brothers, Shinazugawa-sama… wasn’t happy… He uhm… hurt me pretty badly…” Anger boiled up within Tanjiro, all he could think about was how someone could be so cruel that they’d attack a young girl like Mikitama.

Tanjiro took a moment to register what she’d said next. “I’m used to it though so.. It’s not a big deal…” His eyes widened when he realized what she’d said. “Wait.. You’re used to it??” He frowns more when her eyes widen and she quickly shakes her head.

‘She’s clearly been through quite a bit… I don’t want to push her to tell me anything.’ A sympathetic expression took over his face and he gently pat her head. “It’s okay, I’ll take care of Shinazugawa-sama so you won’t have to worry about him anymore.” His eyes held a glint of determination to protect his new friend.

Mikitama’s eyes lit up with a glimmer of hope. “Y-you will..? Thank you, Tanjiro-san.. I-I really appreciate it…” Tanjiro flashed her a smile that firmly cemented his confidence that Mikitama would always be safe with him.

‘No one will ever hurt her again. Not if I have anything to say about it.’

~the end~

Aaaahhh sorry if this suckeddd-