#he had a close one when he accidentally jolted her memories! so close...

[cat-n-rabbit]

[[ @soulxsteal idk how to shorten tumblr threads ahhh ]]

The wave of embarrasment began to dim bit by bit as she listened to Kzinssie's ramble and even more through his forced laughter. He seemed to be finding the idea just as ridiculous as it sounded to her now that she had spoken it. In fact he seemed just as awkward and nervous as her right now! Her shoulders eased and a shy smile formed shortly after. He didn't mock her for believing Bokhohn's words but laughed the situation off instead - he really was a hero!

Somehow this whole thing played in his favor... until... "imagine" ... "...giant, terrifying worm-- with razor sharp teeth and claws and a cape!"

For a brief moment her look turned empty - far away from the room and Kzinssie's presence. Her memories pieced together the description into an image form a moment she had tried so very hard to forget.

"No." Her lips barely uttered, "...don't." a faint whisper.

But she had to run from this memory - from this moment, just how her mother told her to. 'Run, don't look back'. Immediately Rabbit shook her head, forced a smile and waved her hands, "I, I ah, I don't want to imagine that, haha... ah.."

Her focus was back into the room, onto him - her favorite hero! He who went through such dramatics to ease the awkward misunderstanding!

"When he said you turn into a worm, I imagined a teeny-tiny worm!" Rabbit continued, holding hands behind her back, leaning in looking at him with a familiar curious smile, "The cutest of worms! But I was worried someone would step on you or something may try to eat you." A pout followed right away, "I couldn't allow that!"

"I know you are...way...way stronger than me, Lord Kzinssie but..." her eyes trailed down over the clutched curtain in his hand. 'What an iron grip. So tense...Being a hero must be a really heavy burden.' ... "... if I can, I will be your hero too! It's only fair!"

With that she put her hand over his in hopes that poor curtain will be soon released from this deadly grip. And then she felt it - the cold clammy hands. There was a flinch in her fingers, something he undoubtedly caught. But she didn't let go, in fact she reinforced her hold with her second hand.

"And... you are right - the moon is really pretty! We could go out for a walk!"

[[ @soulxsteal ]]

Fussy was one way to describe her today. Ever since her conversation with Bokhohn, Rabbit was preparing for this day, well, night in particular. She made sure to ask the Inn Keeper that no one would bother Kzinssie tonight, even if strange sounds come from his room... to which he gave her a very unsure nod, asking her further if Cat knows.

Thankfully Cat was away to check on some other tower with someone else, which Rabbit had hurried to inform the Inn Keeper about as well. But that only made him look even more surprised. "Well, good luck."

Rabbit nodded, unsure why she'd need luck or why was the Inn Keeper winking at her. It was Lord Kzinssie turning into a worm tonight, not her!

And so her mental to-do list was all checked. No unwelcomed guests tonight to accidentally step on him, a little bed made out of matchbox and tuft of feathers tucked into her pocket and her own resolve to make sure he stays inside and away from any birds who may decide he is a very delicious late night snack.

And so the hours rolled. And he started to find her presence awkward or so she thought. "Err, don't worry about me, Lord Kzinssie!" Rabbit hopped off her own chair and waved hands dismissively, "I don't....really sleep much at night, if at all." There was a note of hesitation there. "The night is for walks and work. It's much more safe than in the day anyway cause everyone is asleep!" She added with a small grin as if her logic was flawless here.

But she walked right into a corner with that one. Kzinssie pulled the curtain revealing the full moon and urged her for a walk outside. But she couldn't answer that right away. Her favorite hero was within his element right now, exactly as he usually resided in her head - basked in the moonlight as if he ruled all that the shadows would ever touch.

And he certainly did not look like a worm right now. Embarrassment began to wash over her. Flight-or-fight...or freeze. It was always the first option but not tonight. Right now she surely found herself frozen in place. She only managed to shift so very uncomfortably and look aside as if someone had just caught her red handed.

"Lord Bokhohn told me you um, that you turn into a worm on full moon nights." Rabbit muttered, "So, I ah... stayed to make sure you will be ... safe."

She thought, maybe if she stared at the ground long enough, maybe it would be kind enough to swallow her right now.

[metal-mouse]

Don't Ever Leave

pairing: Garreth Weasley x f!MC (M/F pairing)

themes: 18+ minors DNI. smut. fluff. so, so many tropes. pourn with plot. confessing feelings. idiots in love.

warnings: smut. p in v. unprotected sex. a hint of body worshipping. f receiving oral. not even an attempt to pull out.

summary: 7.1k words of whatever this is. It has been one year since you have graduated from Hogwarts. You've returned to Hogsmeade for some shopping, and you run into a familiar face. You spend the afternoon catching up with Garreth Weasley, when a rain storm rolls in preventing you from returning home.

note: I'm thirsty for Garreth Weasley and I'm a filthy slut for tropes. This got way longer than I expected it to. Editing? Never heard of her. Unicorns shed their horns like moose because I said so. I'll make a Garreth stan out of you if it's the last thing I do 😤

tagging @the-ominis-gaunt and @cuffmeinblack bc the red haired boi.

s/o to @anto-pops for letting me yell in the dms and also being an enabler and a pot-stirrer. luv u.

You called one last good-bye to Albie Weekes as you left his shop stepping into the cool November air. It had been well over a year since you’d last stepped foot in Hogsmeade, and it was nice to catch up with some old friends. Your next step would be visiting Parry Pippin, who had been most fond of you while you were in school. You’d always helped him make deliveries to Fatimah Lewang, which had gotten you a decent amount of pocket money. He had always paid you handsomely for having to deal with that unpleasant woman. You made your way up the street towards the potions shop, savoring the sights and sounds of the bustling village. Seeing students wander the streets talking and laughing filled you with so many fond memories. You could almost see yourself with Sebastian and Ominis, or perhaps Garreth Weasley, walking through the village and stopping in at the shops. 

Your mind lingered on the idea of walking through Hogsmeade with Garreth. The two of you had formed a very close friendship in your sixth year. You had been immensely fond of him, and something deep down inside of you had always hoped the two of you might become more than just friends. Besides Sebastian and Ominis, he was the one you spent the most time with. The amount of time the two of you had spent flirting was obscene, with delicate touches and priceless banter. Garreth had been quick to blush, and how you loved to make him blush. 

You got to the entrance of J. Pippin’s, and were jolted by the door opening suddenly. A man with a friendly face and a messy head of red hair bumped into you. 

“Garreth?” You said, momentarily wondering if you’d accidentally summoned him.

“What are you doing here?” He asked, and then frowned at his choice of words, “er… I mean It’s lovely to see you!” He added quickly. You couldn’t help but smile at the blush that bloomed across his cheeks. 

“I needed to buy a new broom, I figured I’d come and visit some of the other shopkeepers while I’m here.” You said. 

“Still up to trouble, I gather?” He asked. 

“Naturally.” You gave him a wink. He laughed, and opened his arms for a hug. You embraced him briefly before stepping back and inspecting him. In the year since you’d seen him last he’d grown out of being the boy you knew. He was taller, his shoulders broader and he looked obviously strong under his clothes - which you noticed were very well tailored. The boyishness of his round cheeks had lessened, his cheekbones and jawline more defined now. You’d thought him handsome while in school, but now… he was breathtaking. 

“I can’t believe you’re really here.” Garreth said, his eyes searching your face. 

“I only live over in Feldcroft. It’s not that far a journey. I’m more surprised to see you here.” You said. A sullen look flashed across his face so fast you almost thought you’d imagined it. 

“Feldcroft? Are you living with Sallow?” He asked, an unexpected bite to his voice. 

“Anne Sallow, yes. Sebastian and Ominis moved to London to be closer to work. What have you been up to?” 

“Oh… right! I… well… it’s a little embarrassing.” His hand reached up to push his hair back. 

“What, are you shoveling dragon dung for a living?” You asked. He shot you a scandalized look.

“No, I’m Parry Pippin’s assistant.” You arched a brow at his response. That seemed like a respectable job to you. 

“Why would that be embarrassing? Mr. Pippin is an excellent potioneer.” 

“Speaking of Mr. Pippin, he is patiently waiting for one Mr. Weasley to go gather his ingredients.” Parry Pippin’s voice made you nearly jump out of your skin. You looked over to the shopkeeper, who had his hands on his hips and a little frown on his face. Garreth’s face flushed again. 

“Hello, Mr. Pippin!” You reached out and shook his hand. 

“It’s lovely to see you dear, now, if you’re insistent on distracting my assistant, why don’t you make yourself useful and help him collect the ingredients I need? He could use someone to watch his back.” Mr. Pippin said sternly. It was your turn to blush. You looked over to Garreth who had a hopeful look on his face. You nodded, it wasn’t like you were expected anywhere else - not with Anne visiting Ominis and Sebastian - and there was no way you could say no to that face. You would certainly rather be with him than be in the frigid sky on your way to an empty house. After a final sharp word from Mr. Pippin, Garreth started on the road that would take you towards the Forbidden Forest. 

It felt a little surreal, to be walking down that familiar path with Garreth Weasley. Truth be told, you hadn’t anticipated running into any of your school friends. You hadn’t really been close with many students under your year, and most of your friends were busy with their new jobs. Natty was back in Uganda, Poppy was running around the wilderness looking for beasts, Ominis was apprenticing in Diagon Alley, Sebastian was working in the Auror’s office… Even Anne seemed to be spending more and more time in London. 

You did think it a little amusing that you found yourself yet again protecting someone while they entered a dangerous location. It had become a habit during your school years, and it seemed to be carrying into your graduate life. The villagers in Feldcroft often asked for your help when it came to potentially dangerous situations. 

“I needed a job so I could save up and open up my own shop - Mr. Pippin was looking for someone to help out around his shop, it just seemed right.” Garreth said, jolting you from your thoughts. His tone was a little dejected, as though it was a disappointment for him to not own his own shop. 

“It certainly gives you good access to ingredients for your experiments. You’ve only just left school, you have loads of time Gar. You’re brilliant, I know you’ll have your own shop in no time.” You said encouragingly. He really was brilliant at potion-making, despite his unfortunate mishaps with his personal experiments. 

“You think so?” He asked, a little smile on his face. You nodded in response, returning his smile. His green eyes seemed to sparkle as he held your gaze for a moment - before promptly tripping over his own feet and stumbling. You moved on reflex, your arms wrapping around his, and hauling him upwards so he didn’t fall down. 

“Even if you can’t walk in a straight line to save your life, yes I do think so.” You said, laughing at him. His face was red as he joined in your laughter.

“I can walk perfectly straight, thank you very much.” 

“Hurt your pride, did I?” 

“At least I can reach the top shelf.” 

“That’s a low blow, Weasley.” 

“Yes, because you’re so close to the ground.” 

You and Garreth bickered back and forth as you walked along, without realizing you were still holding onto his arm. You loved spending time with Anne, and you did appreciate your neighbours in the village, but this was wonderful. It had been a long time since you’d laughed like this. Before you knew it, you stood at the entrance of the Forbidden Forest. You dropped his arm, pulling your wand out of the hidden pocket inside your coat. 

“Alright, I’ve got to find unicorn hair and hopefully some unicorn horns. They’re shedding this time of year.” Garreth said. 

“Really? That’s not going to be easy. I know where some unicorns stay, but it’s very deep in the forest.” You said, frowning a little. You’d gone to see the unicorns several times during your time at school, especially after you’d chased all the poachers out of the woods. You wondered if they would remember you - and if they would just run from Garreth. 

“You know where their den is?” He looked at you with an amazed expression. 

“Well, Poppy Sweeting wasn’t the only one who was fond of magical beasts.” You said, stepping through the gate towards the forest. You’d never shown anyone the Room of Requirement, preferring to keep it your own little sanctuary. There was no way Garreth would have known about your beast rescuing services. He merely tilted his head in agreement and followed you through the gate. 

It had been a long time since you’d set foot in the ancient feeling forest, and it was just as unnerving. Despite going into the forest countless times, the feeling of it was something you’d never gotten used to. It was always so unnaturally quiet, despite the abundance of life you knew dwelled under the dark canopy of trees. Garreth’s hand quietly found yours, and you didn’t have it in you to tease him about it. The forest could really be scary. You didn’t speak as you guided him down the path, trying to remember the way to the unicorns all while listening carefully for the tell-tale signs of trouble. You navigated the twisting paths, taking the route which you recalled to have the least amount of spiders. 

You both froze when a spine-chilling howl echoed in the distance. Garreth’s hand tightened over yours. You had no idea what sort of beast had made that horrible noise, and you weren’t in a rush to find out. Dark mongrels you could handle. Werewolves, you weren’t all that eager to try and fight. Anything else… Unless it was small and easily defeatable, you truly weren’t interested today.

“Please tell me we’re not going towards that.” He whispered to you. You shook your head, looking towards the direction of the noise. It was, thankfully, in the wrong direction. 

“I can’t believe he wanted you to come here alone.” You whispered, unwilling to speak any louder. You wondered in part if that was because of Parry Pippin’s cowardice. The man wasn’t exactly known for his bravery, which was showcased so brilliantly in the delivery job he’d given you. If he wasn’t able to face Madam Lewang, how in the world would he have faced the forest and its denizens? Perhaps you’d have to have a talk with the master potioneer upon your return. You gently tugged on Garreth’s hand and started walking again - increasing your pace when another howl echoed. 

“You never said what you’re doing now that school’s done.” He said quietly, clearly desperate to break up at least some of the tense silence. 

“I’m not really doing much these days, I mostly help around Feldcroft and take care of Anne. St. Mungos reckons they’ve nearly got a cure.” You said, stepping over a large root and turning slightly to make sure Garreth didn’t trip over it. After everything you’d done, from stopping the Goblin rebellion to destroying the poacher trade in the Scottish Highlands, you figured you were owed a well deserved break - not that you were doing much relaxing. 

“That’s wonderful to hear, I always did like Anne…” He trailed off, as though there was something more he wanted to say. Heavy footsteps made the ground tremble slightly, and you shoved Garreth into the shadows against a tree before pressing against him trying to make the pair of you as inconspicuous as possible. He made no noise as a troll thumped across the path. You were steadily growing more annoyed with Mr. Pippin by the minute. What if he had been alone? It was inexcusable! You at least knew you could take on a fully grown troll. He may have been decent at defense against the dark arts, but Garreth had never fought a troll on his own. Hell, even Sebastian struggled and that was with your help. It was a tense few moments before the troll moved deeper into the forest.

“Come on. He didn’t see us.” You kept the steady pace up. 

“This is awful. How in the world are you still alive? I am so sorry for asking you to collect ingredients for me all the time.” Garreth hissed as he followed you. You snorted, his requests for you to go into the forest were often the least dangerous adventures you went on. The forest got darker as you ventured deeper, and now you really had to be on your guard. You jumped when something wet and cold dripped onto your face, and looked up with your wand out. You sighed when you felt more drops and realized it was just raining. You wondered if you’d lost your nerve, which was not helped when Garreth huffed a laugh at your reaction. 

“Not a word out of you, Weasley.” You shot a glare over your shoulder. 

“Are you frightened of the rain? Do you need me to protect you?” He teased. A stick cracked nearby, and with a nervous gasp he moved closer to you. You smirked a little, not even needing to tease him for his face to go red. You fell into silence once more, hoping the rain would stay light. If it was storming by the time you were due home, you weren’t going to be happy about it. Hand in hand and wands at the ready, you and Garreth pushed on into the darkness. 

You smiled when you heard the soft nickering of horses. You pulled Garreth to the side behind some bushes, quietly casting the disillusionment charm on yourself. He did the same, and you guided him forwards a little. You let go of his hand, beaming at the sight of the unicorns in front of you. You could feel him looming over your shoulder, his fingers gently pressing against the small of your back. It was a stunning sight, to have so many of these rare beasts all in one spot. 

“They’re beautiful.” He bent to whisper in your ear. You nodded despite the fact he couldn’t really see you. 

“Stay here. I want to see if they’ll let me approach them.” You whispered back, stepping away from him and removing the charm. You stepped forward slowly, letting yourself be seen by the unicorns. A massive white stallion moved forwards, staring you down with deep-set eyes. His coat was majestic, it almost seemed to glow despite no light hitting it. You stopped, and lifted your hands carefully. A loud whinny made you look to your left, and you gasped when Hazel the unicorn trotted happily towards you.

“Hazel! You look wonderful, my friend.” You said, smiling at her as she stopped before you. You lifted your hand and gently stroked her forehead. She truly did, her coat was shining bright as ever and she was plump from eating well. You flicked your wand, summoning a horse brush to give her a nice brush down. You momentarily forgot about Garreth as a few other unicorns you recognized moved in closer - including Hazel’s mate who you had named Ares, and the now-grown foal they’d had just over two years ago that you called Honey. You were laughing now, greeting each of them and letting them all take their turns with your brush and summoning little treats for each of them. 

You took a moment to glance around the clearing that they lived in, and indeed there were a few horns littered around the ground. You looked over your shoulder to where Garreth was hidden behind the bush, and carefully beckoned to him. The unicorns froze, going on high alert as he took a careful step into the clearing. 

“This is Garreth, he’s my friend.” You said, the word friend leaving a slightly bitter taste in your mouth. He came to stand beside you, careful not to move too quickly. He didn’t want to frighten them. Hazel moved a little closer to you, assessing him carefully. You swore that she understood everything you ever told her, and when she turned her head towards you and then back to him you felt that she knew just who he was. You held your hand out for Garreth’s, and he placed his hand in yours without hesitation. You lifted his hand, gently pressing it to Hazel’s forehead and stroking it downwards in the way she liked to be pet above her nose. You watched him while he repeated the motions you showed him, reveling in the awed look on his face. His green eyes were wide, and almost sparkling. A smile slowly spread as his nerves faded, and he met your gaze. He was so handsome it almost hurt. To see him so happy to be doing something that you loved… you hadn’t expected it to make your heart pound like this. 

“Hello! It’s lovely to meet you.” Garreth addressed Hazel, and you thought you were going to drop dead at the way that made you feel. You thought about how so many witches and wizards completely disregarded beasts and their intelligence, and to see someone so important to you regard beasts with respect… you were getting flustered with the overwhelming urge to kiss him. 

The rain really started to pick up now, and you were reminded that you stood in the middle of the Forbidden Forest, probably surrounded by dangerous creatures. You and Garreth got to work, he searched for fallen horns while you brushed unicorn tail hairs out carefully. 

“You know, this has turned out to be a very pleasant adventure.” Garreth said conversationally, coming closer to you to help with harvesting some tail hairs.

“Are you only saying that because Pippin won’t be complaining about his unicorn ingredients now?” You asked with a grin. 

“Not at all! It’s nice to see you again. If I’m being honest, I wasn’t sure I would. I’d assumed you would disappear wherever Sallow went.” He said, giving you a nervous glance. Your brows furrowed as you thought about what he’d just said. Why in the world would he assume that? 

“With Sebastian? What do you mean?” You asked. 

“Well… It wasn’t just me who thought this, of course, but I thought you would end up marrying him. You two were always so close.” He said awkwardly. You were close with Sebastian, and you had been through a lot with him, but not once did you see him as a romantic partner. You could understand why others may have thought that; the man was an unbearable flirt after all, but he’d never sought you romantically either. In fact, you’d played wing-man for him far too many times to count. 

You shook your head, “Sebastian and I were never romantically involved, nor will we ever be. That would be like kissing my brother.” You cringed at the thought of kissing Sebastian. Garreth was quiet for a long time. You looked over at him and saw him deep in thought as he gently brushed Honey’s tail. 

“Oh… so, you’re not… involved with anyone?” He asked, tilting his head cautiously. 

“No, Garreth, I am not.” You said. Your love life was indeed woefully empty. Some part of you still clung to the idea of somehow being with him. Why would he even be bringing this up? Did he truly care about your love life, or was he being polite?

The rain was lashing down now, leaving you both absolutely drenched while you worked. The unicorns began to retreat deeper into the woods now, looking to find some sort of shelter from the rain. You had started to shiver from the cold rain, chilling you down to the bone. Hazel was the last to leave, leaning against the palm of your hand one last time before turning and walking through the trees into the darkness. It was bittersweet, seeing the unicorn go. You resolved to come back and visit more often - you’d handled the forest as an inexperienced witch, you had so much more skill and experience now to navigate the twisting paths. You looked around, wrapping your arms around yourself to try and gain some sort of warmth. The thick clouds in the sky and the rapidly setting sun bathed the surrounding forest in an impossibly dark shade of black. 

When the clearing was suddenly bathed in light, you turned to see Garreth holding his wand with its tip shining brightly between his teeth as he finished stuffing unicorn hairs and horns into the satchel he’d brought with him. He looked at you, and you squinted as the light hit your eyes. 

“You’re blue! Come on, let’s get you somewhere warm and dry.” He said, taking his wand out of his mouth. You frowned, not happy that your little adventure was coming to an end. Garreth was right, you were freezing. Your hands had gone numb, and you could feel your teeth starting to chatter a little. It was going to be a long trip back to Feldcroft. You lamented your loss of the Hogwarts floo system, an annoying decision Phineas Nigellus Black had made upon your graduation. 

“I’ve g-got to p-pick up my br-broom from Alb-bie. Got t’ f-fly home.” You stammered out, the cold effectively locking your jaw. A powerful gust of wind made the trees swish and made you even colder. 

“Don’t be stupid. You’re going to fly home in this? You’ll catch your death.” Garreth shook his head, holding his hand out. You took it, and he apparated before you could even put another word in. 

You looked up at the little cottage you stood in front of, blinking in surprise. You supposed Garreth did have a point - the wind had picked up far too much now, flying would be dangerous. You’d go see Sirona again and see if she had any rooms available. Garreth unlocked the door to the cottage and practically dragged you inside. The door closed behind you, and the lamps flickered to life lighting up a cozy little living area. Garreth wordlessly waved his wand towards the fireplace on the wall adjacent to the door and it roared to life almost instantly flooding the room with delicious warmth. 

You moved closer to the fire, looking around the room as you did. There were two narrow bookcases crammed full on either side of the fireplace, and a squashy green armchair and matching loveseat with a small wooden table in front of the fire. On the next wall was a potions station complete with an extensive storage system. On the other side of the room was a small kitchen with a little dining table that had only two chairs. A door on the very back wall led to what you assumed was the bathroom. It was a charming little house, somehow very maximalist despite not having much for decor - how typical of him. Leander Prewett had once described their dormitory to you, and he apparently hadn’t changed much in terms of taste. 

“Are you listening?” Garreth’s voice jolted you out of your snooping. You looked at him, shaking your head. 

“I wasn’t, I’m sorry.” You said, your jaw still tight. Your wet clothes were extremely uncomfortable. 

“I was saying that I’ll find you something dry to wear, just follow me.” He sounded equal parts amused and concerned. You nodded, and followed him up the narrow flight of stairs that led up to a loft. A four poster bed lay under the window, with a desk on one of the other walls and a large armoire across the room from the bed. The walls up here were much less bare, with the Gryffindor coat of arms hanging above the desk, and banners from different Quidditch clubs decorating the walls. He also had some artwork on the walls, including photos from school. You turned, and watched him open the doors to his armoire and dig through it looking for some dry clothing. He tossed a soft looking green jumper onto the bed, and dug around a little more before pulling out a pair of pyjama pants. 

“Thank you.” You said, taking the pants out of his hand as he walked towards you. You set the pants on the bed next to the jumper. You were too cold and too uncomfortable to care that he was still in the room as you began to fumble to take off your soaked clothing. Garreth made a startled noise, whirling around and looking away from you. 

“Do you want me to go?” He asked in a panicked tone. 

“Don’t care. Too cold.” You mumbled, shedding your wet clothes onto the floor and pulling the jumper over your head. It was an immediate relief. It was massive, hanging almost to your knees, and so warm already. You pulled on the pyjama pants which were far too big for you. You took a step forward to pick up your wet belongings, and the pants promptly dropped right to your ankles making you giggle. Garreth turned around at the sound of your laugh, and saw the pyjama pants pooled at your feet. 

“A little big, I suppose.” He said sheepishly. You waved him off, picking up the pants and putting them back onto the bed. You’d just go without, you were fully covered - what difference would it really make? 

You took your wet clothes downstairs so he could get changed in peace. You pushed open the door to what you thought was the bathroom and were pleased to see you were right. Along one wall was a rope with some clothes already hanging to dry, you just added yours to the mix. You took a moment to towel dry your hair, before standing directly in front of the fire to capitalize on the pleasant heat with your eyes closed and hands outstretched.

“Enjoying yourself?” Garreth asked, and you nodded without opening your eyes. He chuckled and nudged you to the side so he could also capture some of the warmth of the fire. You blinked your eyes open, looking up at him. His hair hung in his eyes, messier than usual thanks to the rain. It was strangely intimate, seeing him in a comfy jumper and pyjama pants with wet hair. It was something so mundane, but it felt… personal. You forced your eyes back to the fire with a newfound determination to just never look at him ever again. Your eyes slowly closed again, this time from the day’s journey catching up with you. Garreth huffed another laugh, and hooked an arm around you to help you back up the stairs to his bedroom. 

“You’re asleep on your feet, you can just sleep here.” He said, helping you sit down on his bed. You didn’t protest, allowing him to pull back the thick quilt while you made yourself comfortable. Garreth mumbled something about delivering the ingredients to Mr. Pippin, and he disappeared. In his absence, you couldn’t fight the sleep. You were so warm in his soft bed surrounded by the smell of him, and you drifted off to sleep. 

There was no way to tell what time it was when you were startled awake by a loud clap of thunder. 

“It’s only a storm.” Garreth’s voice came from the floor. You sat up, rubbing your eyes and blinking. The room wasn’t completely dark, the light from the fire downstairs gave the loft a dim light. As the blankets fell from your shoulders, you shivered against the cold air. 

“What’re you doing on the floor?” You asked. 

“You’re in the bed?” He said as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. You rolled your eyes and beckoned towards him.

“Don’t be stupid, you wouldn’t do anything I didn’t want you to anyways.” You grumbled. Sleeping on the ground? You were adults, you could share a bed. You’d only bite if he asked, anyways. He stood up and sat down on the edge of the bed beside you. You absently reached out and fixed his hair so it wasn’t in his eyes. His eyes searched your face with a cautious expression.

“Am I a fool?” Garreth asked you suddenly, making you frown. 

“A fool? What for?” You asked.

“For thinking that there is something to that look in your eyes. That there is some part of you who might want more,” Garreth’s hand closed around your arm and you stared at him stupidly, “there have been so many times I’ve wondered if I should just kiss you, or if it’s all a hopeless daydream. This past year without getting to see that look has been agony. I haven’t known if it was all in my head, if you were with Sallow or someone else, if I ever stood a chance.” An agonized look passed across his face in the dim lighting and he looked away from you. All of your breath left your body like you’d been punched in the chest. This day truly had taken a turn you’d never expected.  

“Gar…” You murmured. 

“A week ago, I’d thought that I could try to move on, and now you’re here. You’re in my house, you’re in my clothes, in my bed… I feel like I’m going mad.” His voice was thick with emotion, and his distress was visible. His hand left your arm. Garreth reached towards your face, but hesitated and started to pull his hand back. You took it and brought it to your cheek. 

“I..” You opened your mouth, cursing your sleep-addled brain for being unable to come up with a reasonable response. You wanted to tell him how you felt about him. You wanted to tell him that you loved him, and you’d been hoping and wishing he’d say he felt the same about you. A flash of lightning showed Garreth’s pained expression as he awaited your response. There weren’t enough words in the world that could adequately describe the way he made you feel. You would rearrange all the stars in the sky if he asked you to, and you didn’t know how to tell him that. 

“I love you.” You whispered instead, and watched as Garreth’s expression changed from stunned to bright as sunshine. You let out a gasp as he lunged forward and kissed you with so much fervor he knocked you onto your back. He pulled back and started to apologize, so you wrapped your arms around him and tugged him back down as you kissed him. Garreth’s strong arms held you tight against him. His kiss was sweet as honey, and you poured every drop of emotion you held into it. You might not be able to tell him how you feel, but you could certainly show him. As your tongue brushed against his lower lip, Garreth let out a groan that seemed to settle right between your legs. You wondered what other delightful noises he was capable of, arousal swiftly spreading through you. 

You spread your legs a little bit, and he fell right between them with a surprised noise. He lifted his head a little, looking at you with a look of disbelief. You could see the want in his eyes, but you could also see the hesitation. You gently squeezed his waist with your bare thighs, and you could see his cheeks going an even darker red. 

“I want you.” You whispered, tugging him down for another kiss. Garreth relented with a gleeful look in his eye, his hands gripping your hips holding you in place as he gently ground against you. He kissed you deeply, his tongue lazily exploring your mouth. His broad hands slowly moved under your borrowed jumper, stroking over your skin slowly and gently. The feeling of his skin against yours was heavenly, and he already had you wanting more. It was unfair that he had this effect on you. 

“You have my heart, darling.” Garreth murmured against your lips, his fingers curling slightly into your skin. You couldn’t stop your smile, your heart beating just a little bit faster. You’d waited years to hear those words. Garreth’s lips trailed kisses along your jaw and down your neck. He nipped gently at your pulse. His hands worked in time with his kisses, pushing up the jumper to expose more of your skin to him. Impatiently, you pushed him back a little bit and pulled it over your head, dumping it onto the floor. Garreth’s green eyes scanned you up and down, his jaw slack. You wondered if you’d caught him off guard by being completely bare under his jumper. 

“You’re beautiful.” Garreth breathed out, his hands reverently running over your skin without restraint. Your back arched as his warm hands cupped your tight breasts, massaging you. The slight roughness to his hands made the most delightful sensations on your skin, you let out a small string of moans as he gently tweaked your already sensitive nipples. He continued to grind against you, becoming more breathless himself. You looked down, watching him work his hands over your skin. He moved them lower, and lower, making sure he touched every inch of your skin with his burning hands. You were panting now, wriggling under his touch as his hands smoothed over your belly and down onto your thighs. You ached for him, needing him to give you some sort of relief to the pressure that had built up between your legs. “Please, Garreth, touch me.” You whined out. 

“I am touching you,” He said with his most charming grin, “I’ve wanted this for years, I intend to take my time.” He whispered in your ear, before giving your neck a sharp nip. 

“Bastard.” You said, despite the smile that played on your lips.

“Do you have any idea what someone like you does to a teenage boy? Seeing you every day at school and not having you was torture” His tongue traced up your jaw and you whimpered. You captured his lips in another kiss, wondering if you could tempt him into giving you what you wanted. He groaned against your mouth at the feeling of your kiss, you pulled out all of your favourite tricks, proving to him you could do many things with your tongue. Your wicked little plan seemed to be working, until Garreth pulled back and looked at you with soft eyes. He began to press kisses all over your face. Your cheeks, the tip of your nose, oh-so-gently over your eyelids, and onto your forehead. He held your thighs in a bruising grip, contrasting with the sweet kisses that now were trailing down your jaw, onto your neck, then down your collar. You were a whining mess as he massaged circles on your inner thighs and kissed every part of your body until his lips hovered just below your belly button. His hands on your thighs tugged you so your lower half was dangling off the side of the bed. 

“Please Garreth.” You whispered, certain you’d burst into flames if he didn’t do something. He looked up at you with hungry eyes, a smile playing at his lips. 

“Anything for you.” He promised, getting on his knees and guiding your legs to rest on his shoulders. He held them in place and licked a firm stripe against your soaked, aching heat and moaned. Your eyes rolled back and you let out a loud moan of your own. He concentrated on your aching clit, his tongue swirling around it carefully before he gently wrapped his lips around you and sucked. You arched into him, crying out loudly because of this. He let out a hum of appreciation, squeezing your thighs. You propped yourself up onto your elbows to watch him. His eyes were closed, and his head dipped and you felt him tonguing at your soaking hole before he moved back up to latch onto your clit again. This time, his tongue flicked across your sensitive nub while he sucked it and you swore violently, your hands gripping the sheets tightly. Your hips bucked, and he planted one of his hands on your belly to firmly hold you in place. Your core tightened, pressure building inside of you as he kept up the same motion. 

“I’m– Oh Merlin– That’s…” You couldn’t string a sentence together, and the pressure reached its peak and you cried out as a mind-shattering orgasm crashed over you. Your thighs clenched tight around Garreth, and he let out a moan that added to the sensation of his tongue and lips while you rode out your orgasm on his face. He only stopped when your legs twitched, and he was laughing softly as he pulled away from you. You stared at him, your jaw slack. He was a mess, and he was beautiful. The lower half of his face was shining with your slick, his cheeks flushed, and his smile was more than a little arrogant. Your eyes scanned down his body to the bulge in his pants, and then back up to his face. Another flash of lightning lit up the room, almost reminding you to move. You pushed yourself back enough that you could sit up and reach out for him. 

“You, taste amazing.” Garreth murmured to you, stepping in closer so you could reach him. You palmed the bulge in his pants, and he let out a flustered breath. You hadn’t the patience to toy with him, that would have to come another day. You wanted him inside of you now. You pulled his pants down, looking up at him while you did so. His thick cock sprang out, and you let out a little eager whimper at just the thought of him being inside of you. You looked up at him, and he was watching you with love and hunger in his eyes. 

“Come here.” You said, pushing yourself back on the bed and spreading your legs a little bit in invitation. Garreth flashed you an eager smile, pulling his shirt over his head and dumping it on the floor. He stepped out of his pants and crawled onto the bed between your legs. You wrap your arms behind his neck, and lick from his chin up to his cheek tasting yourself on his skin. Garreth let out a strangled moan, and tilted his head to capture you in a scorching kiss. You can almost feel that he’s reached his limit, and now he needs reprieve from his aching arousal. He grinds into you, his head dropping as he does so. You reach down, and guide him to what he seems to be so desperate to have. 

“Oh fuck.” Garreth hisses as he slowly presses into you, his teeth gently clamping down on your shoulder. You couldn’t even make a noise as your eyes squeezed shut at the sensation of Garreth’s thick cock stretching you out. As he fully sheathed himself in you, he stopped moving.��

He lifted his head, looking down into your eyes. His adoration was clear in his eyes, and it caught you a little off-guard. You’d taken men to bed before, but not once had it been someone you loved. This emotional connection you felt to Garreth… It made this feel so much… more. 

“I love you, Garreth.” You reached up and traced your fingers along his jaw. Garreth’s hips began to roll slowly, and he gave you a sweet kiss. He thrust into you with a slow and deep rhythm that had you whining and clawing at his back. The delicious way he stretched you out, paired with the way his pelvis ground against your sensitive nub had you in ecstasy. He clearly felt the same, with the pants and quiet moans that escaped his lips at every movement he made. 

“You feel amazing, Darling,” Garreth whispered to you, “You take me so well. You’re perfect.” He continued with his little praises as he ground into you. He picked up his pace ever so slightly, the steady thrusts had you clenching around his cock already. His forehead dipped and pressed against yours, his hands on your hips as he pulled you against him to get as deep as he could. You planted your feet on the mattress, lifting your hips to help get a new angle. Garreth’s groan was sinful, he sat back on his knees and abruptly began to pound into you. Your eyes rolled back, your pleasure peaking again.

“Right there, shit… right there.” You panted out, and Garreth obliged your wishes. You screamed out his name as your knees buckled and you came hard. The bolts of pleasure had your eyes screwed shut and your mouth making incoherent sounds. He caught you by the waist, holding you up as your walls pulsed over his cock. He fucked you, his groans becoming more and more guttural as he chased his own pleasure. His grip on you tightened almost painfully as his head fell back and he came, thick ropes of cum painting your insides. He allowed you to fall back on the bed now, flopping down beside you. For a long time, the only sounds in the room were the storm still raging outside and the sounds of you and Garreth trying to catch your breath. Eventually, you got enough energy to roll over and nestle into Garreth’s side, with your head on his chest. You stretched up and kissed his jaw, and his arms wrapped around you. 

“I don’t want morning to come.” Garreth said, his voice soft. Morning meant returning to reality. Garreth would have to go to work, and you’d have to return to Feldcroft. 

“Mmm, neither do I.” You agreed. You didn’t want to leave. You knew that you’d made a promise to take care of Anne, but she was spending so much time in London these days that you almost wondered if she would just move in with Ominis and Sebastian. 

“Please don’t ever leave…” He said. 

“I’ll have to get my things.” 

“That’s alright, I’ll help you with that. Mr. Pippin won’t mind if I take a couple days off.” 

“And I’ll have to tell Anne.” 

“I’ll write a letter to send by owl right now.” “And then there’s the matter of you meeting my parents…” 

When Garreth didn’t have a quick solution for that, you let out a little laugh. You would stay, regardless of how much work you’d have to do. You never wanted to leave his side again. 

“Will you stay?” He asked. 

“I’m not going anywhere, Garreth. I’m staying right here.” You promised, kissing his cheek. With a cheeky grin, he rolled over and loomed over you and captured you in a deep kiss, his hand smoothing along your waist. Yes, you’d stay.

[goodlucktai]

Ooh would you write a sequel to the one where Luffy tells the crew about Sabo and paints their flag, then Robin goes and calls Sabo to come n visit them??? 💕

sequel to this

x

Luffy is holding his hand so hard it’s beginning to hurt, but it doesn’t even cross Usopp’s mind to let go. 

The man who boards them looks nothing like Luffy, or even Usopp’s memories of Ace. He’s very pale and fair-haired, with a graceful, willowy sort of frame that Usopp’s storyteller mind leaps to associate with princes and castles. 

The man looks extremely nervous. He holds himself absolutely still with picture-perfect posture, like it was something drilled into him at a young age. Once his eyes find Luffy, they don’t look anywhere else. 

He came alone. The solitary figure he strikes on the opposite side of the deck tugs at Usopp’s heart. 

Robin makes a disapproving sound under her breath when he stays rooted where he’s at and strides across the grass to meet him. 

“Sabo,” she greets him, holding out her hands. He seizes them with equal parts gratitude and desperation but he still doesn’t look at her.

Next to him, clustered as close as they are together, Usopp feels the jolt go through Luffy like a surge of electricity. 

It was the name, Usopp thinks. None of them have said it out loud since that shocking conversation with Robin, which Luffy had absorbed without speaking for four very long minutes before bolting from the room to hide with Sunny on the figurehead for the rest of the afternoon. 

Usopp tries to imagine being told his mother was alive, after growing up and apart from her for half his life. He tries to imagine the shock and disbelief, and how it would fold slowly into reluctant hope, and how much it would hurt to claw open a wound that’s ten years healed and how ready he would be to do exactly that if there was even a chance he might see her again. 

Luffy lost Ace two years ago. It happened right in front of him. It happened in the worst, most traumatizing way it possibly could have. And it happened when his crew had been forced apart and flung to the far corners of the world and he was left to bear that impossible grief all alone. 

Take care of him for me, Ace had said, smiling with his teeth beneath an unrelenting desert sun, all reds and golds and warmth. 

Usopp holds Luffy’s hand tighter, the rubber skin and bones compressing in a familiar way beneath the unrelenting grip of his fingers. 

The morning after The Conversation With Robin, all of them packed around a breakfast table laden with hearty biscuits and gravy, strip steak and eggs, and cinnamon rolls the size of their heads—Sanji’s unspoken spoiling of their captain after the previous afternoon’s bombshell; he even let Luffy try his coffee, which never fucking happens. They were all poised to do and say and be exactly what their captain needed, if he’d only give them a cue. 

Luffy, for his part, breezed into the galley bright and early, like it was any other day, and he hadn't spent all of last night all by himself. He called out cheerful greetings, tussled playfully with Zoro, fought with Franky over the spicy potato hash, filled his plate, and then, in the red flag of all red flags, ate exactly zero bites of food before turning to Robin. 

“Hey, Robin,” he said, “why didn’t Sabo come find me?”

The only sound in the kitchen was the unobtrusive steaming from the medley of pans on the stovetop and the sharp clunk of the glass Nami accidentally set down too hard.

Robin smiled at Luffy, the special way she smiled that was reserved solely for him. She grew an extra hand and nudged his plate towards him.

“I told you, captain,” she said. “He had amnesia. The only thing he remembered from his childhood was his desperation not to return to Goa Kingdom.”

“Retrograde amnesia is a medical condition,” Chopper piped up, desperate to be helpful. He’d been on the edge of his seat all morning, ready to fly to Luffy at the first tiniest indication that he should. “Several different things can cause it, like disease or injury, but it sounds like S—like his memory loss was probably caused by trauma.”

“Yeah,” Luffy said easily, accepting what they told him without question. He scooted food around on his otherwise untouched plate, expression giving nothing away. “But after that. Robin said that seeing Ace in the newspaper made him remember. That was two years ago.”

Dread sank in Usopp’s stomach like a stone. He glanced quickly around the table and found his friends’ faces mirroring what his own probably looked like. 

“He didn’t come find me,” Luffy said. “Does he hate me?”

“No,” Zoro said at once, his tone a guarantee that it would be the last thing Sabo ever did if it was true.

“Why would you think that?” Sanji forced out between gritted teeth. 

“Because I let Ace die,” their captain said frankly. “He was right in front of me and I couldn't save him. Now Sabo doesn’t want to see me.”

Everyone started talking at once, and Chopper upset his apple juice in his scramble to finally fling himself into Luffy’s arms, and Usopp decided that getting his ass beat by Mr. 4 and Miss Christmas hurt a hell of a lot less than this. 

Robin rose gracefully and rounded the table. An extra arm bloomed out of the table to grip the back of Luffy’s chair and wrench it around, facing it towards her.

She kneeled and took his hands, and then her wrists grew hands so that she could hold Chopper’s little hooves too. But her eyes were all for Luffy when she said, “He loves you. He’s making a better world for you.”

Luffy stared back at her and finally his blank expression cracked. His mouth twisted a little, brows furrowing above shiny brown eyes. 

“Then why didn’t he come?” 

“Because despite your separation, you two are more alike than anyone could have guessed,” Robin said warmly. “And he’s afraid you hate him, too.”

And now they’re both here, standing beneath the cloudy sky, and Luffy—wild, relentless, unassuming Luffy—doesn’t seem to know what to do. He’s always the one who makes the first move, who barrels right in with a noisy laugh, but instead he just clutches at Usopp’s hand and presses his opposite shoulder into Zoro’s and drinks in the sight of the man across the deck. 

Studying him, Usopp realizes. Recognizing him.  

Then Luffy blinks, and the wetness in his eyes falls down his cheeks, and the blond man jerks like he’s been punched in the gut. 

“I, um,” he says, digging hastily into one of his inner coat pockets, “I brought you something.” 

He tosses the gift over and Luffy lets go of Usopp’s hand to catch it. It turns out to be an old brass monocular telescope, shining dully in Luffy’s hands. Worn and scuffed in quite a few places, easily decades old. Luffy studies it very quietly. 

“All of my things were lost when my ship was shot down,” the man says. “Nothing could be salvaged. But that was in my pocket. It must have been important if it was the only thing I was carrying with me, so I kept it all these years.”

He tries on a smile. It pulls at the side of his face discolored and puckered by burn scars. It seems like a miracle he’s standing there and smiling at all. 

“You wanted a telescope when we were kids, remember? I finally brought you one. I’m sorry it took me so long.”

“Sabo took forever,” Luffy says. He sounds young. 

It’s the way he sounded in Alabasta, when Ace showed up and interjected himself in the chase between the Straw Hats and Smoker’s men—like it was his body’s natural response to plant itself like a tree between Luffy and whatever danger was behind him. Luffy ran away laughing, bright and untroubled and certain of his safety. 

Peak little sibling energy, Usopp had later thought wryly. It explained so much of who his captain was as a person to know he was the baby of his family of monsters and mad men. 

Luffy sounds that way now, his face all screwed up, blotchy and streaked with tears. 

“He took forever,” he says again, emphatic and bewildered and hurt. “I missed him so much and he was too busy being stupid to come tell me he’s alive. I thought—”

Robin steps out of the way in time to avoid being trampled when their guest moves the way a missile shot from a cannon moves. Luffy lurches forward, too, but he doesn’t have time to make it a single step before he’s being snatched up in bigger arms and hauled into an embrace that looks like it might leave a bruise. One gloved hand on the back of Luffy’s head cradles it against a broad shoulder and the other grips the back of Luffy’s jacket hard enough it starts to tear. 

“Robin told me,” the man gasps, like he’s not getting enough air. “I don’t hate you, how could I hate you? You’re my brother. I’m so—I’m so grateful you survived, Lu. I don’t know what I would have done if you—if—” 

He can’t say it, can’t speak the words into existence, as if the world would be a dark, unlivable place if Luffy weren’t in it. In that instant, Usopp understands this stranger completely. 

Sabo pulls back, but only so he can hold Luffy’s head in his hands. Luffy goes on tiptoe to knock their foreheads together, a gesture Usopp has seen him do with his nakama, and always chalked up to Luffy’s weird feral energy. It’s a gesture that makes Sabo’s next breath sound like a sob. Or maybe a laugh. 

Luffy laughs with him, wet and choked. Neither of them are self-conscious about the state of themselves. They sit right there, a graceless collapse into the warm grass, somewhat on top of each other like clumsy, half-grown wolf cubs. 

Usopp feels a weight lifted. He thinks he must be smiling like an absolute idiot and his own eyes are definitely damp, but he’s unselfconscious, too. A person learns a thing or two about what appearances actually matter, sailing with this crew. And tears come easily when you live honestly, the way Luffy always has. 

He’s rattling at a million words a minute now, speaking in an Eastern language Usopp is unfamiliar with—probably a regional dialect from the island he grew up on.

Sabo follows along effortlessly, interjecting now and then in the same language, but content, for the most part, just to listen to his little brother talk.

He absorbs every second of Luffy’s presence the same needy way plants unfurl to soak up sunlight. 

[silent-sanctum]

would like to request jotaro with f!reader who has a very sensitive waist... and he accidentally finds out when they get attacked by a stand user and he grabs her by the waist to get out of the way and she accidentally moans and he realizes 😏also stardust crusaders setting

Sooo hey 👋 Sorry I just got to you anon. The time you sent this request was when I was still knee-deep in school work (and i thought my requests were closed) but I figured I should make you a short fic regardless. Enjoy!

Sensitive - Jotaro x Reader

word count: 1.3k

There were a lot of things you never knew about yourself and unfortunately this was one of them.

Apparently, your reception to touch was sensitive… really sensitive to the point where one tiny poke would make you jump and squeal like a child, or one cut on your arm would sting like hell.

But there was also that one embarrassing discovery about that skin sensitivity that your head wouldn’t let you forget. Ever.

An enemy Stand had ambushed the Crusaders in the middle of the desert and the group had to deal with the problem before the person could do something worse. This Stand’s ability in particular was simple and it involved homing projectiles that were persistent on tracking its target down for a solid minute or two.

The user was cocky enough to let himself be seen by everyone at a distance, confident that you won’t be able to survive the multiple flying arrows shooting around and about.

You had suggested that Avdol and Kakyoin be the one to deal with the enemy since their Stand’s attacks were long-ranged and able to release their own projectiles back, and to create that opening the others could distract the arrows away from them.

For a while, the plan worked. The two managed to make them invisible from the sensors of the arrows, and for them to chase after you, Jotaro, Polnareff, and Mr. Joestar instead. The whole situation grew more annoying than threatening the longer this went on, constantly having to dodge and duck every new second maybe even deflect some of them if possible.

And for some reason, even if you did well so far evading the homing projectiles, it didn’t occur to you that while you dodged one arrow, you forgot the other heading straight for you.

“Y/N!”

And this was the moment you remembered with vivid recollection.

In an instant, you gasped as a strong arm wrapped around your waist and tugged you back, barely missing the sharp tip zipping past you. Oh, someone just pulled me away from death. You figured because that was over, the arm would let go. It didn’t.

“Hey I think you can-” You turned to the person who pulled you away and paused immediately, heat creeping up your neck when you realized that it was Jotaro who did it- your crush ever since meeting that first time during a group project. And it just occurred to you that again… his arm secured itself around your waist.

And it looked like he hadn’t noticed that he didn’t let you go yet. Knowing that it was him holding you combined with the fact that a simple press of your waist was sending jolts and jolts of tingling sensation throughout your veins made you feel like a fuming mess. “Uhm-”

“Watch out,” You couldn’t say what you needed to say when he jumped out of the way of another arrow with you still in his grip, and there was that one spot that got touched when his arm tightened just then that sent another mind tingling feel under your skin. You had to bite your tongue to not do anything inappropriate. He should let go before this gets worse.

But Jotaro still hadn’t noticed you were still in his arm, too focused on eyeing every single projectile flying around, but you couldn’t entirely focus on them when you were feeling many things at once with every second his arm continued to press against the sensitive sides of your waist.

All it took was another arrow aimed at you for the infamous memory to happen.

Jotaro tugged you in, holding you with both arms and pressing your whole body against his chest when multiple arrows zipped past you.

But with the strong pressure around your body, together with every inch of your heated skin now brushing up against the muscled frame of the delinquent, you couldn’t hold back the audible moan you held in for the longest time, breathy and unintentionally prolonged.

You froze.

As did Jotaro.

And an ice cold bucket of water washed you when you realized what happened. In an instant, heat rushed up your neck and flooded the entirety of your face and ears, and you couldn’t even hide yourself when your arms are trapped to your side. He didn’t look any better with the way he couldn’t move at all with those red-tipped ears and tightened lips.

It didn’t click to both of you that Kakyoin managed to take down the enemy Stand user and that the group gathered to recollect themselves after that inconvenience.

Awkwardly, you finally stepped out of his hold and cleared your throat. “Uh, I- well- the team’s done so…”

Without looking at you, Jotaro shoved his hands into his pockets, feigning casualness as if he hadn’t blushed as well. “Looks like it…”

“I’m just gonna, you know… head on over there… with the others.” You chuckled nervously.

He nodded and so you bolted, still fuming with shame and disbelief.

Now you can’t think of any way you could approach Jotaro after that.

It would be alright if the group kept moving and everyone’s minds would eventually forget what just happened, but unfortunately for you, traversing at night was a bad idea and god forbid you were to sleep under the scorching daylight sun.

Mr. Joestar managed to get the group to a small town and book out 3 rooms with the same room arrangements done during your stay at Singapore… where you get to share the room with the one person you still didn’t know how to talk to up to now.

Though before any of you could get some shut eye, you all had your dinner first at a nearby eatery without any rude interference of enemies.

I have to clear things up with him. I don’t think I can handle this weird energy of when it’s just us in one room again. Just as Mr. Joestar went to talk things with the cashier and most probably negotiate for a discount, you steeled your resolve and let out a deep exhale.

You timed your approach just as the guys stood from their seats and strode towards the delinquent with all the courage you mustered for the past hours. “Hey,” you started, reaching forward to grab the flap of his school uniform and drawing his attention to you, a brow raised.

Upon eye contact, you hitched your breath for a moment before speaking your mind out. “About earlier, listen… that sound came out involuntarily. You see, I’m sensitive to touch so there’s that too. If that made you uncomfortable, then I’m sorry.”

Jotaro continued to stare, waiting if you had more to say. And you grew even more flustered. “H-Hey! You kept on holding onto me even after pulling me away from that arrow! I could have done just as well as before if you were aware of you keeping me hostage.”

“I was aware.”

Huh?

“You thought I forgot to let you go?” He scoffed. “I’m not that dense. What if I wanted you to make that sound on purpose?”

“Y-You…” On purpose?! Once again, your cheeks fumed a bright red.

“Looks like I made you flustered this time,” To make matters worse, he walked a few more steps towards you, leaning down until his face was beside your ear to whisper into it. “That’s what you get for teasing me all this time on our way here. Don’t think I’m through with you just yet.”

Jotaro pulled back with an obvious, slightly mischievous glint in his eyes as he turned around, amused and satisfied at your current state. “I’ll see you back in the room.” And as if he wanted to hit the nail on the coffin one last time, you yelped a bit too loud when a pair of hands grabbed your waist out of nowhere, pressing in.

You wrapped your arms around yourself, glaring at Star Platinum as he returned to his user with a wide grin meant to imply Jotaro’s delight in turning you into this blushing mess.

“Don’t think I’m through with you just yet.” “I’ll see you back in the room.”

I can’t believe this. You scoffed, hands on your hips as your head remained heated and red. Fucking hell. “That bastard.”

[beachy--head]

Drabble time, because one of the thousands reasons I love Japril so much is that they're both equally attracted to each other, even though Jackson is the one always pictured as constantly horny for April (which he is, obviously, but she is as well). So here are our two horny idiots, Boston's style, pre-reunion.

___

Jackson looks hot today.

Which is no mean feat, because those damn Avery-Fox genes always make sure that Jackson Avery looks good every day, but there’s something about the way he looks today that makes April hyper aware of everything he’s doing.

He’s in her office, bringing back some paperwork she had asked him to sign, and she cannot concentrate on a single thing he says. She doesn’t know if it’s the rolled-up sleeves, showing off his forearms, or the way he’s been letting his curls grow lately. If it’s the salt and pepper sprinkled on his stubble, or the way his shirt is tucked in his pants, or the fact that she knows the sound he would make if she’d just trail her hand through his hair and on his neck, and she finds herself blushing. 

She absolutely hates it.

Because she cannot find him hot. Good-looking, yes (she has eyes, after all), but attractive? Attractive is a slippery slope. Attractive would lead to opening a door that she thought was forever closed, and would threaten to destroy everything they've built so far in Boston – the friendly co-parenting, the dropping at each other’s place unannounced for a family dinner, the Saturday afternoons in the park with Harriet, the dance recitals seated next to each other. 

It’s not fair, that she still finds him handsome, when both have moved on (or at least are supposed to). Even more, it’s ironic she has these thoughts about her first ex-husband when she’s supposed to be grieving the second one (in the last six months since she moved to Massachusetts, Matthew has only crossed her mind when she thinks about poor little Ruby, and she cannot even muster the courage to feel bad about it). 

She’s lucky that Jackson gets a call in the middle of his explanations and has to rush out. She’s left to gather herself, and notices that he forgot his jacket in his hurry. She bends to pick it up to hang it so it doesn’t wrinkle, and, after looking left and right to make sure no one’s looking, she buries her nose in it and can’t help but take a sniff. It still smells the same, this infuriating good smell that is not only caused by expensive cologne, and she closes her eyes, assaulted by a thousand memories. 

When she comes back to reality, she shakes her head and walks to the hook behind her office's door, hanging the jacket before she can do something stupid like call him back and kiss him senseless.

__

April is acting weird.

Years of being apart haven’t weakened Jackson’s knowledge of April Elizabeth Kepner, and that’s why he knows something’s up. She hasn’t been looking him in the eye lately, and now he’s in her office, there are other telltale signs that something is up. She’s hiding something from him, and he’s afraid of finding out what.

I hate working for the foundation and Boston is so cold, I wish I never moved here.

Bailey offered me my old job back and I’m moving back to Seattle with Harriet, see you on the weekends.

I made a huge mistake, Matthew is the love of my life and I’m going to Philly so we can have five children and live happily ever after.

He doesn’t know which scenario scares him the most (the third one, definitely), and he wonders if he should simply ask her what’s going on, if she’d open up to him like she used to. They’re great friends again, but nothing more, mostly because he’s afraid it would be greedy to ask for more, when she has already given up so much to follow him here, and he’s afraid to mess this up. 

Lost in his thoughts, he’s reaching for a file, not noticing she’s doing the same, and a jolt of electricity courses through him when their hands accidentally touch. She quickly removes her hand, murmuring a quick word of apology he waves off, but it unnerves him. Does she feel it, too? That can't-bear-not-touching-you thing that used to be theirs? Is something still there, or is it simply a remnant from a past he thinks about way too often?

Later that day, he’s dropping off Harriet at her place for the weekend (though he’s going to see the both of them the next day so they can go roller-skating, so “for the weekend” is a little bit generous), and as he says goodbye, he leans towards her and, in a gesture of habit, almost kisses her. A simple peck, a routine kiss, a “see you later” that usually goes unnoticed (that is, when you’re married to the person in question and kiss her every day). He manages to stop himself before actually doing something, at great cost, because a part of him is ready to kiss her, consequences be damned. He takes a step back, almost ready for April to slap him and slam the door, but then he sees something in her eyes. Something that reminds him of elopements, of Sundays spent in bed, and of a time when from his lips, the phrase “my wife” sounded like he was praying. 

As he leaves her building and starts walking home, he smiles to himself. When he gets home, he opens his laptop and starts looking for the best florist in town, because maybe some things aren’t better left in the past, and like always when it comes to her, he’s ready to go all in.

[kisskissbanggang]

Provocation pt. 2

[3.9k words/15min Read, Lee Know x Female Reader - Non-Idol!au - NSFW/Smut w/Plot - Pegging, Situationships, Light D/S, Minor Bondage, Unexpected Identity Panic, Hyung Kink, Suit Kink, Feelings are Hard]

[Part 1 | Come Say Hi!]

Minho called you hyung.

Minho called you hyung, and he was now currently locked in his bathroom in a mortified ball of nerves. You were both still only partially dressed as you tried to reason with him.

“Minho,” you half-sympathetically, half-sternly called through the door, “you need to let me in so we can talk about what just happened.”

“I promise you, we can talk about this later,” Minho barked back.

You sighed, stooping down to sit on the floor in front of the bathroom. Another sigh could be heard as Minho presumably joined you on the floor from where he sat inside.

“You can tell me if there’s someone else,” you gently offered.

Minho could be heard uncomfortably shifting behind the door. “There really isn’t.”

You paused for a beat, trying to decide what would be best, but instead coming up with two equally fine options that you couldn’t quite choose between at the moment. “Do you want me to leave?”

“... Yes, please. But not because you did anything.”

“I didn’t think I had,” you assured him, “but I’d appreciate it if we talk about this.”

“I’m already working on it.”

“Just… Call me, okay? Or text me…? Bye, Min.”

“Of course. Thanks. Bye.”

And, yeah, you didn’t think you’d done anything, but that didn’t stop you from freaking out once you quickly got dressed, grabbed your things, and rushed down to the parking garage to your car. You and Minho were not serious by any means. Minho was not expected to be committed to you whatsoever. And even though you thought you had a grip on this, finally had a grip on Minho and where the two of you stood, you still caught yourself so lost in thought that you ran a stoplight and nearly rear-ended the car in front of you. 

🖤 🖤 🖤 🖤 🖤 🖤 🖤 🖤 🖤 🖤

A husky, beleaguered sigh exposed how annoyed you were with yourself and all of this, and you pulled up to the one cafe on the street that appeared to be open. There was a rare parking spot and you took this as a sign. The cafe was familiar now. You’d been here once before you and Minho fooled around at the museum. Actually, you and Minho ran into each other here, accidentally ordering the same drink. The memory of getting so flustered over him gave you butterflies. 

Lovely Cup was appropriately cute, with a counter up front, some booths and tables, and another counter near the back. This counter was where you settled upon, collapsing onto a barstool. Your head fell into your hands after you took the empty mug from its spot in front of you and flipped it over. Thankfully, you watched as your mug was filled – except a compact mirror was also slid across the bar top to you. You picked up your head and sheepishly pointed at the small mirror, looking for your mystery benefactor. The waitress on the other side of the bar smiled sympathetically.

“Is this for me?” you asked. 

“You look like you’re having a rough night,” the waitress explained, “and I didn’t want to be the stranger to just fix your hair like some psycho.”

Embarrassed yet grateful, you flipped open the mirror and took a look. Sure enough, in your hurry to flee from Minho’s apartment, you hadn’t tended to your ruffled hair or smudged makeup. You quickly patted down and roughly brushed your fingers through your hair before grabbing a napkin to smear off what excess makeup you could. Once you were as content as you figured you would be, you closed the mirror and held it back out for the waitress to retrieve.

“I like your bracelet,” you meekly complimented when she reached for the compact.

“Thanks!” the waitress beamed, chipper, giving you a better look at the simple band holding an American penny as a charm. “What brings you in, then? Trouble in paradise?”

She jolted when your gaze shot back up at her. You must have been giving her a look. 

“Sorry,” she quickly apologized, “I know it’s rude to pry.”

“No no,” you reassured her, “I’m just… wondering if it was even paradise to begin with.”

“Have you been together long?”

You thought about this while you sipped on your coffee. “Like, together? Not really. We’ve been seeing each other for a bit, but I don’t necessarily think we’re together.”

“I don’t get it,” the waitress replied flatly. “So what do you do with him? Do you see each other, like… outside of the bedroom?”

“We, uh,” you stalled, trying to think about it. “We go to yoga together sometimes. We get drinks, we go dancing, we’ve been to Ikea a few times, nothing I haven’t done with casual dates before–” “Wait,” the waitress interrupted, flabbergasted. “I’m sorry, you’ve been to Ikea? Multiple times? With casual dates before?”

“Well, no, that one’s been exclusive to this one, but–”

“But did you just pick up some new dish towels, or a whole new dresser?”

“I helped him pick out a new bed frame,” you abashedly clarified while you recalled the one morning you both finally got a bit too rowdy for his wooden four-poster.

“And you were both civil about it?” the waitress carefully asked. “You pointed at one and said ‘that one’ and he just went with it? Or maybe he said ‘no, this one’ and that was that?”

“No,” you heatedly ranted as you recounted how it happened, “because Minho is exactly the kind of idiot that likes to coordinate materials in each room and the whole kitchen is already accented in iron and the whole bedroom is accented in oak, and I told him twenty times that an iron bed frame would look amazing with the color palate and–”

You paused now, catching the waitress expectantly leaning back against the counter, arms folded with an eyebrow raised.

“Oh my god,” you miserably grumbled once you dropped your head back into your hands, “I do actually really like him. I think we actually might be a thing.”

“I don’t think there’s such a thing as platonic Ikea dates,” she mused, “not ones where you’re asked to help pick something and then fight over it.” The waitress stepped forward, tentatively helping lift your head out of your hands and topping off your coffee. “Did you just now realize you might be a thing? Or, for that matter, that you might be serious about him?”

You chewed on your lip, thinking back to that first morning after, the one on Minho’s balcony you shared following your tryst at the museum. “No,” you decided, “but it’s the first time I’m really acknowledging it.”

“Because something happened tonight that made you doubt it?”

The waitress paused when you curiously wondered how she knew that.

“I'm guessing,” she awkwardly explained with a gesture towards you, from messy hair to blotchy face, “based on… You know.”

You sighed. “I think he wants something more than I can provide him and he doesn’t know how to tell me that.”

“Is he stubborn? The proud, bottle-it-up type?” She paused, waiting for your exhausted nod. “Then how do you usually get him to open up about it?”

“Honestly? I usually confront him about it so forwardly that he has to step up to the plate or walk away until he can.”

“Couldn’t have suggested a better plan myself,” the waitress contentedly nodded her head.

“You seem to know the type,” you grinned.

“My boyfriend apparently works in an office that breeds guys just like yours, that or they employ them exclusively.”

You sat up a little expectantly, your interest instantly piqued. “And you snapped him out of it?”

“God, no,” she wheezed, “I’m not a magician, and I’m definitely no saint myself. We’re learning we have to – god forbid – talk about things, so I think your confrontation method could help start that up.”

“As long as you’re sure,” you smirked.

“As long as you report back,” the waitress smiled. 

You dug into your purse and grabbed a couple bills to set on the bar before she slid them back. “My treat,” she insisted. “Pay when you have a better night.”

🖤 🖤 🖤 🖤 🖤 🖤 🖤 🖤 🖤 🖤

A confrontation seemed easy enough. You reviewed everything that had happened in the bedroom before Minho’s little slip. In the quest to cross things off both your lists in what you “brought out” in each other, you had finally found out how Minho enjoyed both giving and receiving. You were just warming Minho up when it happened, and your cleaned rubber member and harness had been sitting in your bag even while you bemoaned your woes to that waitress in the cafe by Minho’s apartment. 

And, now that you and Minho were hanging out again, even though you still had not talked about that night, you had a chance to try and start something.

Minho was getting ready at his dresser for another night out, checking his shave in the mirror while he spritzed some cologne onto his wrists to rub together and dot onto his neck. He jumped, but instantly melted into you when you came up from behind and nuzzled him behind his ear. 

“You smell good,” you softly murmured into his skin, “I love this cologne on you.”

This was going great. Minho even responded positively to you getting a hand on his hip and pressing up against him. You subtly grinded into him for a moment, savoring the way Minho was beginning to relax and roll his hips back against you, when you tried to take it a step further.

“You know,” you teased, letting the lilt in your voice make Minho shiver, “I brought something you may be interested in trying again–”

Minho disappeared from under your grasp so fast you were reeling.

“Hah, I knew it!” he triumphantly accused. “I knew you’d try to spook it out of me!”

“Minho,” you scolded, “we still haven’t–”

“I’m still not ready!” Minho excitedly countered. “You’ll either have to wait or try harder than that. Now come on, our reservations are in thirty minutes.” 

With that, Minho gleefully kissed you on the cheek and went to grab his keys while you stewed.

🖤 🖤 🖤 🖤 🖤 🖤 🖤 🖤 🖤 🖤

Try harder. 

You were currently going mad doing just that, laying in your bed and staring at your ceiling. What else happened that day that Minho slipped up? You had texted each other in the morning and you told him you’d pick him up for drinks after work. You had gone to Minho’s office, a ridiculously nice building with five receptionists just at his company’s front desk alone. Minho had been running a little late from his meeting and you saw him down the hall when he emerged, yukking it up with the guys on his team as they spilled out of the conference room.

They were still talking shop, laughing obnoxiously and swapping crude jokes when you self-consciously noticed maybe four sets of eyes had landed on you. One was Jisung, of course, who simply gave you a cheery wave while he bantered with the others. He was already fairly aware of what was going on between you and his brother, and even though it still wasn’t a conversation you’d really had yet, nothing seemed to be ruining their relationship. Not to mention that as the younger of the two, Jisung absolutely was not Minho’s hyung, regardless of whether or not they were fully brothers which they assuredly weren’t. 

The other set of eyes on you for a moment belonged to Seungmin, which made you both bashfully jump for a second. Seungmin did eventually explain himself and apologize profusely, just like he promised Minho after your run-in at the museum, but it wasn’t exactly like the two of you were friends all of a sudden. The last two sets of eyes on you were, of course, Minho, almost looking relieved to see you – and someone you’d never seen before. 

The young executive appeared to be in charge as, no matter how many times anyone glanced at you at the end of the hall, they were all listening intently to every word he said. This stranger was undeniably handsome, someone perhaps Minho’s age or a little older, unmistakably defined under his ludicrously nice suit, and very well taken care of, whether that was by himself or someone else. 

And Minho, particularly, had been paying careful attention to him, up until the moment this mystery man clapped a hand on Seungmin’s shoulder and led him down the hallway away from their group. 

With the exec gone, Minho had finally jogged over to you, almost in a rush to get going now. “Thank god,” he’d enthused with a devilish gleam in his eye, “that was torture. Meetings like that always get me so fired up, I could tear you apart right now.” He may have even looked a little flushed, now that you came to think about it.

So maybe it was the meeting? Made sense. Work probably got him all mixed up. 

You probed Minho about his job a little more diligently from that point on, waiting for just the right day when you finally got what you were looking for.

🖤 🖤 🖤 🖤 🖤 🖤 🖤 🖤 🖤 🖤

>>Ugh, today is torture. I’m not looking forward to my meeting this afternoon, but I’ll survive.

<<How about I pick you up and we can do something after? I’m sure you could blow off some steam.

Easy as that, you were back in the lobby of Minho’s office waiting for his meeting to get out, and it was the same dance all over again. A friendly wave from Jisung, a tepid glance and nod from Seungmin as he hurriedly excused himself to go badger some young intern, and a cryptic gaze you caught from the nameless executive before Minho jogged up to you, except he paused a few steps away this time. He really did seem frazzled again, maybe a little flushed again, and he was very aware of your outfit.

You’d gone with a suit, for the first time since you met him. It wasn’t particularly masculine by any means, you still had on a nice pair of heels and a cute cropped top under your suit jacket draped over your shoulders, but you’d gone with a suit nonetheless. The idea was to get under his skin in just the way he knew you liked to, maybe bring the meeting into the bedroom.

And it definitely felt like you struck the intended nerve when Minho accidentally slammed you into your dresser back at your apartment, having skipped drinks or a date whatsoever and going straight to afterwards. 

“Sorry, sorry– ow!” Minho grunted against your lips when you returned the favor, turning you both so you could back him up against the dresser.

“What’s got you all worked up, Min?” you sweetly asked, maintaining an alluring edge while you slipped off his tie and jacket.

“Just work stuff– fuck!” Minho gasped when you whipped his belt out from its loops. You dropped the belt on the bed behind you before you got his tie back between your fingers. He sucked in a sharp breath as you draped the neck tie over his eyes and knotted it in the back. Next, his belt was wrapped meticulously around his wrists. Minho jumped.

“This alright?” you carefully asked. Minho nodded adamantly, letting out a content sigh with a shiver of pleasure when he felt your fingers trace down his shirt, unbuttoning your way down his toned chest before you brazenly smoothed your palm over the rigid length in his slacks. “You know what I want to do to you?”

“I have a pretty good idea,” Minho taunted, cracking a grin at you, still flustering you even while he was blindfolded. You gently squeezed his hard-on again, making him involuntarily flex inward with a groan.

“So you do want to try again?”

“Please,” Minho nodded, quietly cursing as you ran a hand over his shoulders before you pushed him face first into your bed.

“Then be good and sit still. I’m right here.”

Minho shivered again when you stroked a hand down his back. With the relaxed and flared fit of your suit pants, you’d managed to wear a low-profile harness unannounced, making this a fairly easy transition as you picked out a non-threatening model from your modest collection of toys and a bottle of lube before you sat on the bed and dragged Minho closer by his bound wrists. He was so serenely compliant as you stroked his hair with one hand and fed your dildo between his lips with the other. Minho let out a groan, something you couldn’t stand to ignore until you reached over to push his slacks and briefs down. Now Minho was obediently bent over your bed before you knelt up to admire him, savoring the fake phallus in his mouth before you reached back with your other hand and began to soothe and caress your fingertips down to his ass.

“Baby,” Minho whined, “more–”

“No,” you gently tutted at him, “not baby. Tell hyung what you want.”

“Oh come on–!” Minho sputtered, backing up in your hold a second before he let out a sharp moan when you rubbed into his entrance. You momentarily relinquished the rubber cock while you coated your fingertips in lube before you returned to teasing him.

“Come on, Min,” you prodded, “you can do this. I know you love the way I get under your skin.” You knew you were being ruthless, punctuating your taunt with a thrust of your fingers. Minho shuddered and bent over more into the bed. “Tell your hyung what you want.” you encouraged him again.

“I–” Minho gasped as he rocked back against your fingers. “I want you to fuck me. Fuck me, hyung.”

“There we go,” you praised, “such a good boy for hyung.”

You slid the forefinger of your other hand under Minho’s chin, tilting his head around towards you so you could give him a deep kiss, the caress of your tongue on his making him whine even more against your fingers. This was, in fact, a million times easier – and maybe even better – than your previous attempt started out. Once you were satisfied with his stretch, you slid your cock of choice into your harness while you strode around behind Minho. You gently, sweetly swept his work shirt down his biceps but kept it on him, looking almost pretty slung off his shoulders like this as you took your time rocking your length into him.

“Oh fuck,” Minho whimpered, “it’s so good, hyung, it’s so fucking good.”

The sheer deviousness you felt from getting such a reaction out of Minho made you feel invincible, made you feel unstoppable and irresistible in a way you’d never experienced before in having your partner be so pliant and submissive. You gripped onto Minho’s hips as you fucked him. He was really putty in your hands, letting you work him over however you wanted. If you lightly slapped the soft skin of his firm ass or teased his nipples, he whined. If you hooked a finger or two into his lip, he hungrily lapped at the digits. It was so good, that just the small friction from thrusting against Minho was adding to the intense arousal coursing through you. When you reached down to play with his cock, you found his hot length was coated in precum.

“So wet for hyung, aren’t you,” you teased, “are you close?”

“Yes, hyung, fuck,” Minho cursed, “if you keep this up I’ll cum.”

“Good, baby,” you praised, “tell me how you want to do it.”

“Ah fuck, I don’t know,” Minho shook his head with a broken laugh, “just keep fucking me.”

“What if,” you grinned, pumping as deep as you could and getting a good cry out of him, “what if you fuck me?”

“What?”

Minho went rigid against you at your suggestion.

“Fuck your hyung, baby,” you cooed with a grin as you slipped his blindfold off, “fuck me and show me what you can do.”

Your exploratory remark worked amazingly as you tried to get a feeling for what exactly Minho wanted out of this. Maybe too amazingly as you slipped Minho’s improvised restraints and blindfold off before he immediately grappled you down onto the bed. Right away, he quickly stripped you of your suit pants. Your legs were roughly kicked apart and pinned up when Minho pulled the crotch of your harness aside to tease his length into you.

“Oh– fuck– Minho, show me what you want, give it to me,” you desperately goaded. It was almost cute, the way Minho grabbed your fake erection and stroked it while he sank into you. 

“You feel so good like this, hyung–” he choked out. 

“Close your eyes baby, really feel what you're giving me,” you instructed. Minho did as he was told, letting his eyes fall shut and soon enough, his hips fell into a smooth rhythm even while he had you practically bent in half. 

“Gonna wreck you, hyung, really show you what you’ve been missing,” Minho groaned under his breath as he fucked you harder. You bit into your lip, letting Minho fully fall into this fantasy the best that you could help him to do. It almost felt sinful, how much pleasure you got out of Minho living out whatever it was going through his mind. By now, Minho’s breaths were growing more ragged and you held down a moan, feeling your own orgasm coming soon, too. Minho’s hips rocked hard against you as he had you almost folded in half with your knees in your chest while he continued stroking your rubber cock, giving you just enough friction to finally ride off this high into a blissful orgasm. Your head pressed back into your sheets as you gasped and sighed around Minho’s length. He wasn't far behind, it seemed, and now you wrapped your legs tight around him. 

“Oh, fuck, hyung,” Minho hungrily moaned, groaning deep as you grabbed onto his arm for support, “I’m going to cum inside you so goddamn hard. Fuck, hyung – oh fuck, Chan, I'm gonna–”

Chan?

Minho's fingers clawed into your hips as he shuddered inside you, but your eyes had snapped wide open while his own stayed dazedly shut. 

Who?!

He shakily gathered his breath before he carefully withdrew from you, and ultimately collapsed on the bed beside you. 

“So…” 

“Hmm?” Minho asked, half lucid, face still in the sheets.

You were internally screaming.

But that was too fucking bad.

You steeled yourself with a composing breath.

“I was just wondering… just now… You said Chan.”

Minho’s eyes flew open now. He hadn’t even realized what he’d said. The bed rocked, the mattress squeaking with how fast Minho scrambled to sit up. Now he was internally screaming.

You both could only stare at each other for a minute. 

And all you could think to do was supportively hold his hand. 

Minho was mortified, staring at his hand in yours until he coughed out a miserable laugh. “I… Heh, I guess… You really do bring it out of me.”

“You don’t have to,” you carefully encouraged, “but can you tell me who that is?”

Minho had already assured you there was no one else, and you trusted him. There was no way it was actually so bad. It all had to be nerves. 

Right?

Minho clearly fought with himself, back and forth a few times, before grabbing a pillow. You watched as he pushed it into his face and got up off the bed, cursing into it while he walked back into the bathroom to lock himself in.

Square one.

Maybe it wasn’t just nerves.

[Who's Chan?]

[To be continued.]

[sincerely-sofie]

I’d always love to see any more scraps of dadnoir content sofie🥺👉🏻👈🏻drawn or written, idc, and any concept would do—but maybe him sitting down and helping Twig’s learning to read or him ending up ironically being the person she goes to when she’s emotionally overwhelmed and needs to sit in companionable silence for a while without pressure to talk about it? Maybe eventually she gets comfortable enough with him to accidentally nap in the curve of his arm agains this side and Grovyle or Ark happens upon them and he just gives them this deathly look like “don’t you dare wake her but also never breathe a word of this to anyone”…idk I just have so many feelings for how you portray them🥹

Bone app the teeth!

Twig wasn't one who found it easy to stomach silence— Dusknoir knew this all too well. He couldn't put a number to all the times a conversation would begin to lull and Twig would pipe up with some additional comment to prolong it. In the discussions he'd have with Twig where he tried to help her work through her struggles, a surefire way to have her speak what was really on her mind was to go quiet and allow her to fill the silence herself. He didn't know why she hated moments of quiet so deeply, but it was a noticeable quirk of hers. 

She and Darkrai stopped by the home he shared with Grovyle and Celebi to pay a visit, and it was immediately obvious upon their arrival that the woman was exhausted. She didn't look physically tired— not more than was typical for her, at least— but something clearly wore on her as she smiled and made pleasant conversation. He would have liked to offer her a listening ear, and even though the tangible fragility of her happy front warded him off from offering it directly, he hoped that she would catch on to his unspoken invitation when he excused himself from the conversation to sit in the garden. 

Thankfully, just a few minutes later, he heard the back door creak open, then click shut, and Twig came into view as she stepped into the garden. 

Dusknoir was seated on a bench that stood in the furthest corner of the raised beds and trellises. Twig wordlessly sat down beside him, tail burning low with nervous, pink flame.

“Would you like to speak on what's troubling you?” He asked. 

“Not really,” she answered. 

He hummed. “Alright.”

Silence fell. Dusknoir allowed it. To his surprise, Twig didn't rush to fill the space with nervous chatter. She just sat still beside him, slumped against the back of the bench, tail curled around her feet as she tucked her legs against her chest, watching the plants in the garden sway back and forth in the gentle breeze. For the first time in his entire time knowing her, Twig seemed grateful for the quiet. She closed her eyes and sighed, and he could nearly hear the world fall from her shoulders as she let out that breath. 

Time passed in continued, silent company. Dusknoir found himself lost in the peaceful scenery, letting his mind wander. He considered his plans for the next day, what recipes he could adjust and with what ingredients… He didn't notice Twig's gradual shift to lean against him until her tail changed hues to a peach-toned flame and drew his eye, confused. 

Oh. She'd fallen asleep. 

A memory shot through him like a lightning bolt— the first night Twig had fallen asleep around him, and how it was a complete accident on her part. She had refused to sleep for days on end after he, Grovyle, and Celebi arrived in her era because she didn't trust him not to harm them, instead keeping a constant watch over her friends until she couldn't stay awake any longer. That had been years ago— the foundation of the hazy truce now between them only being laid when Twig jolted awake the following morning to find her patchwork family still alive and well. She might have overcome her wariness of sleeping around him after that, but she certainly hadn't ever felt so comfortable as to fall asleep at his side. 

Warily, he shifted to put his arm around her to help hide her from the growing chill when the breeze picked up. The pink tint to her tail’s flame gave way to a content, golden orange. He let out a quiet laugh at that, disbelieving and honored in equal parts. 

Some time later, Darkrai exited the house, casting confused glances around and no doubt looking for where Twig had disappeared to for the past hour. The predictable anxiety he developed when away from her was something Dusknoir could place winning bets on. Raising a hand and waving to catch his attention, Dusknoir jerked his head to indicate where Twig was slumped against his side when he approached. Darkrai stopped short at that, impassible expression twitching in some half-formed flicker of emotion, and gave Dusknoir a brief nod. He then turned back to the house, disappearing from view. 

They didn't see eye-to-eye on much. Dusknoir was grateful they could find some common ground when it came to Twig's deplorable sleeping habits. Regrettably, she woke herself up not long after that with a particularly sharp snore, but the point still stood.

[elm-writes-stories]

Cuphead: Isle of Memories (Rewrite)

*Hey guys! Happy New Year! I'm sorry that I've published this late! I've been busy with work and had been running into a writer's block, but I'm back! Anyway, this episode is published on January 1, 2024. If you guys like this chapter, don't be afraid to heart, reblog, and comment! That would be greatly appreciated! Happy New Year and let's hope this year will be a good year! Enjoy!*

Episode Eleven: Turning Up the Charm

Today was a relaxing day for once in Mugman’s life.

No demons. No Tremaine.

Just him reading a story with Cassidy sitting on his lap to read. Her purring were the only sounds that he could listen to all day. Now, he wished every day could be like this. It didn’t help he was sitting on the bean bag in the corner of the library Djimmi made.

She was resting her eyes while they were reading, which was causing him to fall asleep reading the story with her. And he didn’t mind as long as she was in his arms. But he could’ve sworn he would accidentally drop the book falling asleep like this. He started to move around to close the book, which woke her up a little.

“Oh, sorry,” Mugman whispered to her while putting the book back on the shelf.

“It’s okay,” she said tiredly, cuddling her head on his shoulder. Her paws were making biscuits on his shirt with a content smile.

Once he put the book away, he leaned back so that she could get comfortable laying on him. A smile formed his face. He began resting his eyes and holding her in his arms.

Before he could sink into a deep sleep, Chalice appeared by his side as a ghost.

“Mugsy!” Chalice shouted with a sudden urgency, waking both Mugman and Cassidy up with yelps and jolts.

Mugman took a few deep breaths with a groan. “Chalice…”

“I have a crisis,” Chalice replied. “It’s urgent…and, uh, private.”

“Private?” Mugman questioned.

Chalice nodded her head. “I promise it’ll be real quick.”

“Okay…” Mugman moved a little while Cassidy scooted off of him. “I’ll be back.”

“Okay,” Cassidy said while watching him get up from the bean bag.

He felt his legs ache from letting Cassidy sit on his lap for too long. He shook off the aches and followed Chalice around the corner away from Cassidy.

“So, what exactly do you need from me?” Mugman questioned.

“I’ll tell you in a minute,” Chalice stated. Once they got away from Cassidy, she turned to him. “Okay, there’s been something that has been bothering me and you’re the only one…well, besides Cuphead by now, that knows what to do.”

“Uh…know what to do about what?”

“Ya know? Uh…this…um…well, you know how you are when ya first met Cassi.”

Mugman tilted his head for a moment until he realized what she was talking about. Then he smirked teasingly at her. “Yeah?”

“Well, let’s say that there’s a fella who knew how to play the violin, fix some things, and he’s a nerd when it comes to myths and legends. I dont’ know if he likes me back the same way though,” she responded.

He blinked in shock. “I thought he already likes ya.”

She blushed. “He does?!”

“Yeah, I thought that was obvious.”

“Wait, we’re talkin’ about the same guy, right?” she asked.

“Canteen Hughes?” Mugman inquired.

“Yeah, we’re talkin’ about the same guy,” she said.

He arched a brow. “And you like him back.”

“Well, yeah…I mean, I think he’s neat. I dunno how this works. You and Cuphead might be the only two ding-dongs I know that knows about this kind of feeling,” Chalice replied. “Ugh, now I realize why Saltbaker kept saying he’s my future boyfriend.”

“Okay, okay, calm down,” Mugman responded while rubbing his hands. “Maybe you can ask him out on a date.”

“Oh, like you did with Cassi?”

“Yeah.”

“Good one. But if I were to ask him out on the date, it has to be spectacular!”

“Uh, well, it doesn’t have to be—”

“I know! We can start arguing and then not getting along until finally we confess our feelings for each other and we are dating officially!” Chalice replied.

“Uhhh, I’m not sure that’s how romance works—”

It was sudden that Cuphead zoomed into the scene with a panicked look on his face. “Hey, Mugsy! I just asked Nat out on a date and she said yes! What do I do now?!”

“Whoa, whoa, one at a time!” Mugman shouted until he noticed his brother’s legs bruised. “Wait, what happened to your legs, Cuphead?”

“Uh…it’s a long story,” Cuphead answered nervously.

“Wait, you asked Nat out on a date?” Chalice questioned with a gasp.

“Yeah,” Cuphead responded nervously.

Chalice’s smile brightened. “Way to go, Cups! I knew you had it in you! Now, I have a question for you. How did you do it?”

“Do what?” Cuphead asked.

“Ask her out on a date?” Chalice persisted.

“I dunno. We got ourselves into a dangerous situation and kind of confessed our feelings to each other. I mean, we kissed on the lips first and then I asked her out on a date,” Cuphead responded.

“Wait, what?!” Chalice and Mugman gasped.

“You jumped into it?!” Mugman shouted.

“No, she kissed first!” Cuphead said immaturely.

“Aww,” Chalice replied. “Wait, you said you were in a dangerous situation?”

“Yeah?” Cuphead uttered.

“And you confessed to each other about your feelings?”

“Yes.”

She pondered for a moment and then smirked mischievously. “That gives me an idea.”

“Wait, Mugman, which one of you kiss on the lips first? You or Cassi?” Cuphead asked.

“We haven’t kiss each other on the lips yet,” Mugman answered sheepishly.

“WHAT?! You two have been together all this time and haven’t kissed each other on the lips yet?!” Cuphead yelled.

“Not so loud, Cuphead!” Mugman whispered harshly to his brother.

Chalice groaned impatiently. “Can we get back to the matter at hand?”

Mugman nodded. “Yes, yes, please.”

“How did you two ding-dongs get those girls to like ya? Let alone letting girls kiss ya first?” Chalice asked the brothers.

The cup brothers were silent for a moment while looking at each other. Then they glanced back at Chalice.

“I dunno,” Cuphead responded.

“Yeah, me neither,” Mugman replied.

Chalice slapped her forehead with a sigh in discouragement. “I thought you both would be more experts on romance.”

“Chalice, I just asked Nat out on a date. I don’t know how I got her to even like me,” Cuphead responded. “I mean, I did tell her how I feel about her.”

“Yeah, I did the same to Cassidy…although I thought I was confessing it to you,” Mugman said while looking at his brother.

“Hey, at least, you got together with Cassi thanks to me,” Cuphead replied with a smirk.

“So, I guess I got to tell him how I feel then,” Chalice replied, pondering. “While turning up that charm of acting like a ding-dong! That’s what I’ll do! I get him to come with me on a perilous journey, get trapped in a cave with him, confess to him on how I feel, and then ask him on a date. Or kiss him on the lips first and then ask him out on a date. Whichever works!”

“Uh,” the brothers uttered.

“Thanks, fellas! Wish me luck!” Chalice said as she flew away.

Cuphead and Mugman froze and looked at each other.

“Should we go after her?” Cuphead questioned.

“Nah, she’ll be fine,” Mugman responded and shifted his attention back to Cuphead. “Soooo, you asked Nat on the date, huh?”

“Uh, yeah,” Cuphead said with a blush. “Mind helpin’ me out?”

“Helping out?”

The cup brothers turned to see Cassidy walking to them.

“Oh, Cassi,” Mugman replied excitedly and hurried over to her. “Sorry I was taking so long to get back to you.”

“It’s okay,” she said with a smile. “I was wondering about what’s happenin’ with Chalice.”

“She’s on her own journey. Say, maybe you could help us,” Mugman suggested to his girlfriend.

“Ooh, help with what?” Cassidy asked excitedly.

“You see, Cuphead just asked Nat out on a date,” Mugman replied.

“Hey, no need on tellin’ the whole world about it,” Cuphead responded defensively.

“Shush,” Mugman replied, continuing to talk to Cassidy. “I’m going to get Cuphead a nice suit for his date. Do you think you would want to help Natalie with getting ready for the date? Kind of like what they did with us?”

Cassidy seemed uneasy for a moment, which was noticed by Mugman.

“Oh, you don’t have to help if you don’t want to,” Mugman replied.

“No, I want to,” Cassidy said. “It’s just…I’m never a fashion expert. Natalie knows more than I do and I feel like I’m going to mess it up for her.”

“You won’t,” Mugman said softly. “I’m sure you’ll do fine.”

Cassidy thought about it. Her ears perked as soon as an idea struck her. “Ooh! I know someone else who’s a fashion expert!”

The red feline kissed Mugman on the cheek and ran off with a newfound determination.

Mugman gazed at her with a lovey-dovey smile.

Cuphead rubbed his arm. “So, are you gonna help me pick out a suit?”

“Yeah!” Mugman said excitedly. “Right this way, my dear brother!”

Cuphead walked with Mugman while rolling his eyes.

~.~

 Canteen had been trying to get back into building things in his tent.

Ever since he was a kid, he had a mechanic family that didn’t have a happy family. Remembering those families that died all those years ago still brought him back to that trauma. However, he wanted to build something…something like a plane.

Canteen had been drawing on a blueprint paper of all the screws and parts needed to build a plane on his wooden desk, but his mind started to drift off today.

Instead of drawing screws, he drew a face on the blueprint. His pencil outlined the details of the person’s face and he found himself drawing Chalice. It appeared to be accurate to the detail. He kept drawing her face, including her eyes and her dimples when she smiled. Then he drew her torso and a skirt she always wore since he first met her. Her heels were last. A smile came on his face as he drew more in detail.

“Whatcha drawin’?” A familiar cheery voice spoke beside him.

Canteen jumped with a yelp and covered the drawing of Chalice. He looked over his shoulder to find Chalice floating next to him.

“Uh…nothing. Nothing…j-just working on a new project,” Canteen stuttered with his face red.

“Ooh, can I see?” Chalice asked excitedly.

“Uh…i-it’s not really complete yet.”

“That’s okay. I don’t mind seein’ it anyway. Unless you don’t want me too—”

“No! No, uh, I just…uh, haven’t sketch the full picture yet.”

She turned into her physical form with a bright grin. “Well, you can show me it when you’re ready! But, on a fun side of things, I got an adventure we both can go on! Together!”

“T-Together? As in me and you together?”

“Yep! I heard that there’s a really cool place that we can explore together! It’s about…maybe thirty miles from this place. What d’ya say we go and see what’s there?”

Canteen blushed at the thought of going with Chalice someplace. “Um…yeah, sure.”

“Alright! Let’s go!” Chalice started to walk away.

“Wait,” Canteen urged while leaving the blueprint behind. “Where are we going exactly?”

“Well, that’s for me to know and you to find out,” she said with a wink.

He blushed and followed her out of the camp.

~.~

Natalie had been pacing in front of the ship with her anxious thoughts running through her liquid mind. She couldn’t believe she said yes to dating Cuphead. First, she kissed him and then she accepted his offer for a date.

She had been many dates before because her mother forced her too and most of them were little boys richer than her. Or guys that were way older than she liked to admit. And of course, she chased away the dates who were boys her age. She always thought it was them, but now she believed it to be her once she realized how badly she mistreated Cassidy. Natalie couldn’t believe that it took Cassidy being under the Devil’s control to wake her up.

“Natalie—”

Natalie screeched and spun around to find Cassidy behind her. She grabbed her chest and sighed in relief. “Oh, Cassi, it’s just you. Sorry, I was thinking about stuff.”

Cassidy gave her a smirk. “About your date with Cuphead?”

Natalie’s face turned redder than a tomato. “How did you—?”

“Cuphead told Mugman and Mugman told me,” the red cat said.

“Oh,” Natalie uttered while rubbing her arm nervously.

“And I came to help you get ready for your date. You know, the same way you helped me get ready for a date with Mugman.”

Natalie frowned. “You remembered that?”

“Of course I remembered,” Cassidy said. She noticed Natalie’s frown. “Are you okay?”

“I didn’t think you would remember what I’ve done that was good.”

Cassidy softened her gaze. “Well, I would be lying if I said that you never did anything to help me.”

“Yeah, but I—”

“I want to forget the past.”

Natalie glanced up at her friend in shock. “But—”

“You have done horrible things to me in the past,” Cassidy said softly. “I stuck around you, because you were the only friend my age who even tolerated me at the time. I feel like I have to want to do things with you so that I can be around you. Or do the things only you want to do just to be around you. But you’ve changed. I’ve noticed that you’re not like that anymore.”

Natalie widened her eyes more.

“I don’t hate you, Natalie. I’ve never hated you. I’m always going to be your friend…I’ve always made that promise to you. But I want to forget about what happened in the past. It brings pain to even talk about it.”

Natalie softened her gaze and nodded. “Okay. I just want to say I’m sorry…for everything.”

“I forgive you.”

There was silence as both of the friends exchanged soft smiles.

“Now,” Cassidy began excitedly. “Let’s pick a cute dress for you.”

“But you don’t like clothes shopping,” Natalie pointed out.

Cassidy grinned. “Well, I know someone who knows about fashion. C’mon!”

She grabbed Natalie by the wrist, pulling her away from the ship and hurrying away to pick a cute outfit for her.

~.~

“Are you sure you know where you’re going?” Canteen asked while strolling through the forest with Chalice.

“Oh, I’m sure of it,” Chalice said while looking for a cave around them to get trapped in.

Canteen didn’t seem convinced by Chalice’s answer. He looked around the forest to hear the pretty birds chirping and the sun shining through the leaves of the trees. The branches swayed to the gentle breeze, setting chills down on his spine.

He glanced at her and softly gazed at her. “Sooo, are you going to give me some hint as to where we’re going?”

She turned back with a small smirk at him. “It’s gonna blow your socks off.”

“That’s not a hint,” he teased with a blush.

“It’s some hint,” she quipped.

He rolled his eyes playfully. “Look, if you think it’s my birthday, you’re way off by two months and twenty days.”

Her smirk widened. “I’ll be sure to note that. But it’s not for your birthday.”

He dropped his playful look. “Then…what are you taking me out for?”

“Well, there’s something I oughta show you and I thought you would like it—”

Both Chalice and Canteen stopped when they noticed a temple ahead of them. For some reason, the white stoned temple seemed familiar to her.

Canteen gasped in recognition of the temple. “Whoa.”

“Whoa what?”

The silver canteen headed off towards the temple, taking the lead now with fascination in his eyes.

“Canteen, wait!” Chalice chased after Canteen towards the temple.

The kids reached to the bottom of the steps, looking up at the two front statues.

Chalice softened her gaze at one of the statues of a cup woman with long wavy hair resting on her shoulder and her name engraved under her feet of her name.

“Esther Cupchal.”

Chalice frowned at the name and then looked at the other statue, a man with a cup for his head that was chipped on the side. His name was engraved under his feet as well, but it was barely readable.

“Chester Cupchal.”

Canteen focused on the entrance of the temple with an awed look. “Is this what you’re trying to show me?”

Chalice faked a smile. “Yeah, definitely. Definitely! Since ya like myths and stuff, you might like looking at a mausoleum.”

He turned to look at her and saw her fake smile. “Are you sure this is the place you want to show me?”

She waved off her emotions and took him by the hand. “Yeah. C’mon. There’s so much to look at.”

They head into the mausoleum. Once they were inside, Chalice found herself more familiar with her surroundings. She looked at more statues of familiar friends, remembering their dead bodies in the glitch of her memories. She moved her eyes away from the statues and focused forward, leaving Canteen in confusion.

Canteen noticed one of the statues that was a spoon with the name under her feet:

Silversmith Spoon.

The canteen realized that Chalice was trying to keep her gaze away from the statues. He frowned at the sight of her and hurried beside her, faking a grin.

“Hey, if you want, we can find somewhere else to explore. I’m sure there are plenty of things in the forest we can explore other than this mausoleum,” Canteen said.

She faked a smile. “Aww, I thought you liked myths and legends.”

“I do,” he replied with a blush. “But I’m sure there are more adventures out there than this old mausoleum.” As he was saying the last part, he stepped on the floor plate that sunk below his foot.

He widened his eyes in shock and looked down to see that he pressed the floor plate.

The ground began to open under their feet as they wrapped their arms around each other and fell into the dark abyss with screams. 

~.~

Cassidy was guiding Natalie through the village, looking for this supposed “fashion expert” to help her find her friend a perfect dress for the date.

Natalie was surprised to see this side of Cassidy, the one who was all giddy and excited for her best friend’s date. Not that Cassidy had never been happy for Natalie before, but Natalie could see a gleam in her eyes that were filled with pure genuine joy. She knew Cassidy didn’t like clothes shopping as much as Natalie, but it didn’t feel like Cassidy was sacrificing her own happiness for Natalie’s sake. Or forcing herself to dangerous situations to please her best friend. Maybe because this time…Natalie didn’t ask her too. And maybe this time…Cassidy wanted to do this.

However, Natalie felt a slight disappointment when she was taken to Porkrind’s shop. She blinked in confusion and glanced at her best friend.

“Why are we—?”

The answer was revealed immediately after Cassidy opened the door. The girls noticed Dice leaning over the counter and talking to Porkrind, who seemed to lean a bit towards the former gambler in interest of what he was saying.

“So, here’s the thing, if we can make your shop just a tad bit fancier,” Dice began while gesturing to the shop without looking at the girls. “You should be getting more customers and more customers means more money.”

“Make it fancy?” Porkrind questioned. He crossed his arm with a brow raised. “How fancy are we talking?”

“Well…” Dice looked around the shop until he noticed the girls. “Oh, hey, girls.” He glanced at the pig to whisper, “You got your first customers.”

“Actually, Dice, we’re looking for you,” Cassidy clarified.

“Me?” King Dice glanced at Porkrind, who shrugged his shoulders. Dice shifted his attention back at the girls. “Why me?”

“We need your fashion expertise,” Cassidy replied excitedly.

A smug smile formed on the die’s lips. “Well, well, you came to the right place. So, who do we need to dress up?”

Cassidy glanced at Natalie, who waved at Dice nervously.

“Hi,” Natalie uttered.

“Hello,” Dice responded.

“She needs a perfect dress for her date with Cuphead,” Cassidy said with a bright smile.

Natalie’s entire face turned red and she smiled nervously.

“Oh,” Dice responded with a small chuckle. “I didn’t think that cup is gonna get a girl because of his lack of…well, intelligence. But I see he’s got you fallin’ for him.”

“Hey, Cuphead is not stupid,” Natalie argued with Dice in a defensive manner.

Dice blinked in shock.

Porkrind put his hand on his hip and looked at Dice with a teasing smirk at him. “Better not talk bad about her man.”

Dice giggled and glanced at the one-eyed pig. “He ain’t a man just yet.” He shifted his attention to Natalie while rubbing the bottom edge of his square face. “Buuuut…I can get you pretty up before the date. You know, if we put some light make-up and a pretty pink dress on ya, you would look fabulous. It’ll even knock Cuphead’s socks off.”

Natalie suddenly became uncomfortable when Dice offered his hand to guide her. Cassidy noticed the discomfort in her friend’s face along with Dice and Porkrind.

“You okay, Nat?” Cassidy asked with a brow raised.

Dice blinked in realization and frowned for a moment. He shook off his frown and gave Natalie a comforting smile. “Would it better if you have a lady help getting you ready for your date?”

Natalie glanced at Cassidy for a moment and then back at King Dice with a small nod.

“What—?” Cassidy seemed confused until Dice pulled her aside and whispered to her about what happened to Natalie before they went to rescue the feline from Hell. The red cat gasped in shock and glanced at her friend with a soft look.

Natalie looked away in shame and embarrassment.

Dice turned to Porkrind. “Hey, Porks, you got a phone? I gotta make a call real quick.”

Porkrind darted his gaze at Natalie and then back at Dice. He pointed at the phone hooked on the wall next to him. “Knock yourself out.”

Dice nodded and headed to the phone. He dialed the number and leaned against the wall, holding the speaker.

“Hello, is this Sally?” Dice called. An answer came, causing him to smile. “This is Dice. Uh, say, someone needs your help in dressing her up and getting her ready for her date. Do you mind helping her out?”

Dice smiled when he got a response he wanted to hear. “Great. We’re right inside of Pork’s shop. See you soon.”

He hung up the phone and glanced at the ladies. “So, I got someone on her way to help ya out.”

“Thanks, Dice,” Natalie said with a weak smile.

Not even a minute later, Sally entered the shop with a bright smile and dresses on her arms.

“I heard someone is trying to get ready for a date,” Sally replied excitedly.

Natalie rose her hand slowly. “I am.”

“Ooh, I got a bunch of pretty dresses that are not costumes. Wanna try them on?” Sally asked while showing many dresses on her arms.

Natalie nodded her head. “Sure.”

“I can come with you if it’s okay with Dad,” Cassidy said while looking at her father.

Porkrind smiled. “Yeah, yeah. Just stay safe out there and have fun.”

The feline grinned and stayed by Natalie while they walked away to go with Sally to try on dresses.

Once the girls left, Porkrind huffed a sigh and looked at his desk.

Dice noticed Porkrind’s sigh. “Everything okay?”

“Yeah. I’m fine,” Porkrind said.

“You sure?”

The one-eyed pig glanced at Dice to notice the former gambler leaning forward a bit in interest.

“It’s nothing. It’s just that…she keeps reminding me too much of an old friend I had once.”

“Shayna, right?”

Porkrind glanced at Dice in shock.

“Uh, Jerry told me about you lost her. I’m sorry for your loss.”

The pig waved it off. “It was years ago.”

Dice frowned to notice him looking away. “But it still hurts you to this day, right?”

“Sometimes.”

Dice tilted his head. “Is she Shayna’s daughter?”

“Yeah.”

“Oh…well, that puts things into perspective than.”

“What?”

“Well, most people hate red cats back then. But you didn’t because your friend was one of them. I guess it’s why you cared so much about Cassidy since she’s your friend’s daughter.”

Porkrind huffed a laugh. “You’re a detective now?”

“You can say that I’m connecting the dots here. Am I getting any of it right so far?”

The pig looked away sadly again. “Yeah, you’re getting it right.”

There was a brief silence while Dice frowned and looked away.

Porkrind noticed Dice shifting his glance away and cleared his throat to get his attention back. “You know, I’m wondering what the boys are even doing to get Cuphead ready for his date.”

Dice huffed up a laugh. “Yeah, I wonder that too.”

~.~

Mugman searched through the closet of their new home, finding a bunch of clothes he didn’t know they even had. Suits, shirts, shorts, and pants. Heck, even coats with two pairs of winter boots for the snow.

Cuphead sat at the edge of the bed while staring at his brother looking through the closet.

“Man, to think Djimmi would add clothes on top of giving us a house to live in. Oh! There’s that red suit I was lookin’ for!” He turned to show the red suit to Cuphead. “What do you think, Cuphead—?”

Mugman noticed Cuphead looking at the ground without lifting his eyes up to see the suit. He tilted his head in confusion. “Hey, aren’t you excited about your date?”

“Huh?” Cuphead snapped out of his thoughts and looked at his brother. He faked a smile. “Uh, yeah, I am.”

Mugman wasn’t convinced. “Cuphead, the date is gonna be fine as long as the Devil, the demons, and the infectees won’t find us here. Which they won’t tonight. Or any other night hopefully—”

“I ain’t worried about the date.”

“Then…you’re worried about something.”

Cuphead rubbed his hands without saying a word.

Mugman set the suit aside and sat by his brother. “Hey, if there’s somethin’ bothering ya, you know you can talk to me about it, right?”

Cuphead nodded his head, but there was no response still.

Mugman looked ahead with a sad look. “Did I…do anything that made you feel like you can’t talk to me?”

His brother shook his head. “Nah, you did nothing wrong—”

“Are you sure?”

“Mugman, it ain’t got anything to do with you. I just—” Cuphead couldn’t finish the sentence without hugging himself.

“You just what?”

“I just thought about how I was trying to help you set up for your date with Cassi. Now you’re trying to help me set up for my date with Nat. It’s kind of nice, you know? Like how you were trying to keep me from losing my soul to the Devil. And now, sometimes I feel like I’m trying to keep you from getting hurt.”

Mugman frowned while listening to his brother.

“I’m sorry I hadn’t been the best brudda to you in a past,” Cuphead said.

Mugman chuckled a bit. “I hadn’t been the best brother to you either.” He placed a hand on Cuphead’s shoulder, getting his brother’s attention. “It’s okay, Cuphead. You don’t have to feel guilty about it anymore.”

“I know…I just…can’t help but think about what it could’ve been if I ain’t so stupid.”

“Well, what you did a lot of stupid things,” Mugman corrected his brother. “Going to that carnival where the Devil tries to steal souls, getting answers wrong on Roll the Dice, stealing cookies from the cookie factory, getting ourselves arrested being in that said cookie factory, almost getting yourself injured at every turn, blowing up wood for the winter, stealing the Devil’s pitchfork—”

“Are you trying to make me feel better? Because it ain’t workin’ so far.”

Mugman sighed. “But besides all of that, Cuphead, I couldn’t have asked for a better brother who is also my best friend. You annoy me and irritate me, but you also taught me a lot of things….good things! Like being brave and making decisions that were opposite of yours when situations arise.”

“Okay…”

“You also were there for me when I’m hurt, sad, lonely, and when I needed you the most. You get me into a lot of trouble and it was all fun while it lasted. What it could’ve been doesn’t matter now. We got each other and right now, I’m gonna help you get ready for that date of yours. Just like how you helped me.”

Cuphead smiled softly. “Thanks, Mugsy.”

Mugman nodded and skipped off the subject. “Say, you want to wear the red suit or…any other suit?”

“I’ll stick with the red one since it suits me more.”

“Perfect.”

Cuphead pondered for a moment. “I wonder how Chalice was doing confessing to Canteen.”

“Oh yeah. I’m sure they’re fine.”

~.~

Canteen and Chalice were laying on the ground with groans of pain from the fall.

Chalice sprung herself up on her feet and dusted herself off. “Well, that was quite a fall—” She noticed Canteen barely standing up with wobbly legs. “Golly, Canteen, you okay?!”

“Yep…” Canteen answered with a thumbs up. “Are we still at the mausoleum?”

Chalice looked up at the hole they fell from. “Looks like we’re under it now.”

“Geez…”

“Hey, we got ourselves trapped in the cave.”

“Uh…yeah?”

“Ooh, okay. Um…how should I—how should we—?”

“We just look for the way out,” Canteen said with an obvious tone. He pointed straight ahead. “There might be something ahead. Let’s go.” He limped forward, causing concern for her.

She clenched her teeth. “Man, I didn’t think about the injuries for this trip.”

Both of them walked through the cave, shivering in the soft breeze. Canteen’s limping started to bother Chalice to the point where she contorted her face in guilt.

“Man, this is not how I would imagine this.”

“Imagine what?” Canteen asked with confusion.

“Well, you see…um, I was thinkin’ that we go on a perilous journey—without gettin’ injured…and, you know…say our deepest feelings.”

“Deepest feelings?” Canteen questioned.

“Yeah. What’s your deepest feeling right now?”

He rubbed the back of his head. “Well, I’m the one that got us trapped here. I didn’t think there was a pressure plate.”

“Yeah, I didn’t see that either. Don’t feel bad. It happens.”

He frowned.

She noticed it with a curious look. “What’s wrong?”

He shook his head. “It’s nothing.”

“Canteen…”

He went silent for a moment until he glanced at Chalice. “Have you ever felt like…?”

She leaned a bit to listen what else he had to say.

“You know…have you ever felt like you’re a bad omen?”

Chalice blinked at the question. “A bad omen…?”

“Yeah.”

She pondered for a second. “Well, before I met the two ding-dongs, I did feel like a bad omen. But when I did meet them, I didn’t feel so…alone. I felt like I gained something that I’ve lost a long time ago. It’s…hard to explain.”

He reached his hand out for hers to comfort her until she noticed. He pulled away, blushing in embarrassment. She gave him a warm smile and held his hand. He was shocked at the gesture for a moment until he exchanged a warm smile back to her and held her hand a bit tighter.

“Soo, do you feel like a bad omen?” she asked softly.

He lost his smile. “Well…yeah. I get called ‘Bad Luck Hughes’ growing up.”

“Oh golly! Why?”

“Heh, it’s complicated.”

“I’m all for complicated, you know.”

He paused for a moment and then sighed. “Whenever I get adopted…my parents just died…”

Chalice blinked in shock.

“Like…one of the parents who adopted me got into a car accident. The other parents got themselves killed in a fight…Heck, the third time I got adopted, my parents just got jumped by a gang and died. That’s when the rumor started to spread by the caretakers in the orphanage. They would tell the parents who would think about adopting me that I was ‘Bad Luck Hughes’ and to not adopt me if they don’t want bad luck in their houses. Then the kids became afraid of me…like I was going to hurt them…and I would never hurt anyone…ever…” He started to choke out the words at the end.

She widened her eyes in shock to hear this from him. Then she watched him trying not to sob in front of her with a frown.

“I wouldn’t want to hurt anyone ever…not even you.”

She smiled softly and held his hand tighter while listening to him break down and cry.

“Now I got us trapped in this cave and I’m sorry. I’m sorry I haven’t brought the best of luck with the group…it’s almost like every bad thing happened and I’m scared that if I lose you…I-I don’t know what would happen. I just…I guess I don’t want anything bad to take you from me.”

She blushed at his words.

He shook his head while wiping his tears away. “Sorry…that was pretty stupid thing to say.”

“It ain’t stupid. Out of all of the things I’ve heard in my past lives, you ain’t saying anything stupid.”

He glanced at her and sniffled. “Sorry.”

“You don’t have anything to apologize for,” she said while leaning her head against his.

He smiled softly and let her lay her head on his. They continued to walk through the cave and saw a door ahead.

“Is that the way out?” Canteen asked timidly.

Chalice opened the door. They both widened their eyes to discover there were three orbs resting on both sides of the wide hallway. One was glowing pink, one was glowing bright green, and one was glowing dark blue.

By the end of the hallway, there was a glowing pool. She stepped forward towards the pool, followed by Canteen.

“Chalice?” Canteen called, but she didn’t respond.

Her eyes started to tremble as she continued towards the pool. She looked down to find that there was no bottom of the glowing pool. She didn’t want to jump into it, but she remembered something about it…something familiar.

“I—I remember this place…”

He looked at her in shock. “What?”

She tilted her head and got on her knees, trying to find the source of the glow in the pool. “I remember this pool.”

He arched a brow in confusion. “What are you remembering?”

She glanced at him. He could see the tears in her eyes.

“I don’t know…” she said sadly.

He frowned and looked at the orbs. He was curious about the dark blue orb, but he didn’t draw near it when he turned to look at her. He came by her and sat next to her to stare at the glowing pool.

“Canteen…there’s something I oughta tell ya…and I need you to not tell the others about it,” she said finally. “Not until I can be brave enough to tell them.”

He looked at her and nodded. “I won’t, I promise.”

She smiled at him softly. “You read the legends of the Legendary Chalice, right?”

He nodded his head.

She continued, “Well, what those legends didn’t tell ya was a long time ago, the Calix Animi were supposed to serve the Most High and protect mortals from dealing with demons, but the gifts from the Most High became their own gifts when the members of the Calix Animi became prideful. The members say that only people who are chosen by the Most High and worthy will obtain the last two gifts. Then a ding-dong thief managed to mix the last two gifts together and became one of them.”

Canteen tilted his head. “ The two gifts mixed together? Wait! Are you talking about the Eternal’s Orb?”

She smiled. “Yep. That’s how the Eternal’s Orb was born. Anyway, the other members didn’t react too kindly when they saw a thief having the Eternal’s Orb inside of him. Of course, that caused a lot of division between them. The Devil sees this and well…took advantage of it. There was a battle and…let’s say that the Legendary Chalice lost everything. She’s the only one who survived the battle.”

He frowned when listening to the story. “She must have felt alone.”

“And a bad omen too.”

He perked his head up.

She sighed sadly. “She decided to do something that she regretted and caused her to reincarnate so many times. She threw her spear down into that pool, gather the powers of her dead friends, and hid them away in this place…except for one.”

“The Eternal’s Orb?”

“Yeah, she placed it over at the other mausoleum at someplace different that eventually became Sugarland,” Chalice replied. “Don’t ask me why…I still didn’t get why I decided to place Eternal’s Orb to this day. Probably scared that the demons might find it…? Not sure.”

He frowned. “And now you’re here.”

“Yep…”

He held her hand, catching her attention. “I won’t say anything to anyone. I promise.”

“I know. I trust you, Hughes,” she said with a soft smile while she grabbed his face and kissed his lips. He widened his eyes before melting into the kiss. He grabbed her face to keep the kiss going until they broke away to look into each other’s eyes. Their eyes suddenly broadened cartoonishly as Canteen let go of her face.

“Whoa,” he uttered.

She felt sudden chills coming down her spine. “Wow…heh, I’ve never felt this before.”

“Me neither…” he said while blushing madly.

She got excited and kissed his lips again, almost knocking him down. He gasped in shock once her lips crashed into his again, but his shock melted away as he caressed her face.

They both broke away, causing Chalice to bounce away like a little kid.

“Whoa, wow! Wow,” she responded, trying to keep herself together.

He giggled giddily. “Yeah…” He realized that they were still in the hallway. “Uh, should we get out of here? Maybe later we can…you know, find someplace to hang out and…”

“Date?” she finished with a smile.

“Yeah.”

She came up to him and helped him up on his feet with a lovesick grin. “I would love that.”

They both turned to look and found a door to the side. They went to the door and opened it to find that there was a way out from under the ground. As they went up the stairs, they were holding hands and walking as close to each other as they could.

~.~

The night was young.

Cuphead had been standing outside of the theater with his red suit after the brothers were told by Cassidy through the phone that they were getting ready at Sally’s theater.

The cup became impatient, which was noticed by his brother.

“She’ll come out. Don’t worry,” Mugman reassured his brother.

Cuphead looked away ashamed. “I know. I’m just…well…you know how it feels, huh?”

“Anxious, impatient, nervous, and excited all mix together?”

“Yeah.”

Mugman smiled softly. “Welcome to dating.”

They heard heels clicked and turned their heads to notice their girlfriends coming out.

Cassidy let Natalie walk towards Cuphead.

Cuphead’s pupils dilated when he saw her wearing her dark pink dress with a skirt that appeared to be fluffy and with feathers dragging on the floor. She had only light make-up with light pink eyeshadows and light blushes on her cheeks. She had her brown liquid hair up in a bun, pinned by the dark pink feathers. She had long light pink gloves on that went up to her elbows and heels.

She seemed nervous. “Heh, I don’t know if I picked the right dress for the date—”

“Pretty,” Cuphead blurted out.

She stopped her sentence and blushed. Then she gave a smile. “You think so?”

He nodded his head. “Yeah.” Then he noticed Natalie wearing the pink pearl necklace that Cuphead gave to her when Mugman was first dating Cassidy. “Hey, you’re wearing the necklace I gave ya a long time ago.”

“Yeah…you don’t mind, right?”

He shook his head. “I bought it for you. I don’t mind at all whether you wear it or not.”

She grinned at him. “Ready?”

He nodded and held his arm out. “Ready.”

She wrapped her arm around his and stayed close to him.

Mugman watched them with a proud smirk at his brother. He felt someone lean against him and looked to see Cassidy rubbing her head against his with purrs. He wrapped his arm around her waist while her tail embraced around his waist.

“Are we going to spy on them like they did to us?” she whispered against the side of his head.

He giggled. “Maybe. Maybe not. I ain’t too worried about them.”

She sighed and laid her head on his shoulder. “You know, since everything is getting calmer, do you think we can try another date?”

He looked at her. “Like going out to eat kind of date?”

She nodded her head with a ‘Mhm’.

He gave a small chuckle. “I would love that.”

Chalice and Canteen approached them with bruises and scratches, which were noticed by Mugman and Cassidy.

“By golly, what happened to you both?” Mugman questioned Chalice and Canteen.

Both Chalice and Canteen exchanged glances at each other and snickered a bit.

“Well, let’s just say that we went on a perilous journey,” she said with a shrug.

Mugman looked to see Chalice holding Canteen’s hand. “Oh. Well, congratulations.”

“Thanks,” Canteen answered bashfully.

Chalice looked to see Cuphead and Natalie going to Fly Trap and sitting at the dock of the ferry ship. “Did I miss anything with Cuphead and Natalie?”

“Other than them getting ready for a date, not that much,” Mugman answered.

They watched as the cups were going on date. By the end of the date, Cuphead and Natalie danced with each other to the music played by Ribby and Croaks.

As Mugman watched on, he felt something strange in his body. His vision became a blur for a moment. He almost stumbled, but he felt Cassidy holding him up. He glanced at her to notice her concern look with a clearer vision.

“Are you okay?” she asked.

“Yeah, yeah,” he said.

His friends and his girlfriend didn’t believe him, but they didn’t push further.

As they watched, Mugman couldn’t help but felt like something was calling him. It was calling his name. He tried to ignore it, but it was getting harder and harder to ignore. A vision of a pool came and went for a second. He became light-headed from trying to ignore this weird vision. He felt like he was going to throw up, but he couldn’t. His legs were shaking and he was breathing shallow breaths. He could barely hear Cassidy’s concern tone, but it was muffled. He could assume that she was asking if he was okay. He gave a slight nod to her as his vision became a blur. Then the blur became black. He lost his balance and collapsed onto the ground.

He could no longer hear the voices asking him if he was alright. It was just him and the darkness. 

To Be Continued...

[scribble-dee-doo]

HAHAAAAA LOOK WHAT I FINISHED FOR DOCTORDONNA WEEK. kind of. i had a whole idea and when i sat down to write it the words didn't want to word so instead there is a SCRIPT! Or a really advanced outline! I want to actually write the fic and fill in the gaps, lol, but until the week is over please accept this placeholder. For now, please enjoy:

DoctorDonna Week 2023, Day 1:

FIRE/GLOW

@doctordonnaweek

1,711 words, full of ALL CAPS as my heart led me and SPOILERS FOR THE DOCTOR WHO 60TH ANNIVERSARY SPECIALS STARTING IN THE FIRST SENTENCE

THE DOCTOR collapses after the events of The Giggle (bi-regeneration sickness, mumble mumble), people are very worried, Doctor-Donna snuggles and the beginning of discussing the rest of their lives together.

INT: WILF’S spare bedroom, night. THE DOCTOR is lying in the full-sized bed under a hideous quilt that may have come from the bottom of TARDIS storage or Sylvia’s linen closet. His SHOES – obviously borrowed from somebody – , COAT, and OTHER ASSORTED are draped over an armoir. He’s wearing his undershirt and is resting uneasily, sweating with a subtle golden sheen to his skin. DONNA enters, juggling a thermometer, cup of tea, and crazy space gadget.

DONNA, to a figure outside of the door

“No, I’ve got him. Really, go stay with Rose. Are you sure I shouldn’t -”

SHAUN, just a shadow in the hall behind the cracked door

“Absolutely. She’s putting on a brave face, but she’s tough. I’ll put on the telly and we can have a cuddle.”

DONNA smiles. She loves this man so.

“Yeah?”

SHAUN

“Yeah, you know she’s worried about him too.”

DONNA leans back out of the door and kisses SHAUN, slowly. It’s a moment of relief, savoring a return to normal with new appreciation for things she already loved more than she thought she could stand. They bump foreheads and smile, looking into each others’ eyes.

DONNA

“I love you.”

SHAUN

“I love you too. Now take care of your spaceman and give us a shout if you need anything.”

DONNA laughs and pecks him on the lips one more time before shutting the door.

~AUTH NOTE: DONNA GETTING SETTLED IN, SHOWING HOW BADLY OFF THE DOCTOR IS~

She runs her hand over the DOCTOR’S forehead the way she’s learned to do as a mother, but forgets about the psychic contact points. When her fingertips brush them, both she and the DOCTOR jolt. The DOCTOR resettles, facing DONNA. DONNA sits back with an expression of focus and then realization.

DONNA, as though recalling a long-buried memory

“Tannins.”

DONNA looks down at her cup of tea. She puts it on the bedside table and starts rearranging, finding another pillow or two and stacking them at the head of the bed before attempting to wrangle THE DOCTOR into sitting more upright. He’s floppy and uncooperative and she scolds him as she’s trying to get her arm behind his shoulders. She presses him forward and he falls so that he’s folded in half, nose on his knees. DONNA pauses in rearranging the pillows, looking at him.

DONNA

“How are you that bendy at your age?”

It occurs to her that, rather than folding comfortably, he may have torn something from being unable to support himself. She rushes to get the pillows in place and resettles him more gently. He exhales a little rush of gold but doesn’t otherwise react.

DONNA, while picking up the tea like a surgical instrument

“Okay, let’s give this a try.”

DONNA gingerly wafts the teacup under THE DOCTOR’S nose like smelling salts. When he doesn’t react, she wafts it more aggressively. She studies him closely after every pass. On the third pass, she accidentally bumps it against his chin and splashes a little.

DONNA

“Oh, shit! Sorry, sorry.”

She dabs the spill off his chin. THE DOCTOR gasps a big breath, opening his eyes wide, and DONNA startles badly.

DONNA

“SHIT!”

THE DOCTOR, bleary

“Issat tea?”

DONNA, looking down at the tea she forgot she was holding

“Yes! Yes it is, here, have a sip. Is it okay with milk?”

THE DOCTOR, being force-fed tea a little too quickly

*affirmative hum*

DONNA, pulling back

“Is that enough?”

THE DOCTOR is still swallowing his last sip, so he makes grabby hands for the mug. DONNA hands it over and sits back in her seat, wringing her hands.

THE DOCTOR, in between sips

“What, no honey?”

DONNA

“No, it’s late. Trying to calm down, aren’t we?”

THE DOCTOR finishes the mug in a long swallow and clumsily wipes his mouth with his shirtsleeve. DONNA looks disgusted but unsurprised.

THE DOCTOR

“So you made black tea?”

DONNA looks at him with her eyebrows raised, unimpressed.

DONNA

“It’s got you up, hasn’t it?”

THE DOCTOR

“Yeah, fair enough. Oooh –”

THE DOCTOR winces, falling back onto his pillows. DONNA sits forward in alarm and takes the teacup.

DONNA

“What? What is it?”

THE DOCTOR makes a face and then belches up a plume of regeneration energy. DONNA jerks backwards, trying to avoid it. It follows her, curling slowly like water but definitely in her direction. She swats at it like a fly and it clings to her fingertips.

AUTH NOTE: SOMEHOW THEY GET TO THE PART THAT I ACTUALLY WANTED TO WRITE

DONNA looks down, smiling tightly, reluctant or not ready to talk about the difficult subject of THE DOCTOR leaving her without her memories for fifteen years. He looks at her, endlessly old and endlessly regretful.

THE DOCTOR

“I’m sorry.”

DONNA, shaking her head as if to brush it off and still smiling

“No.”

THE DOCTOR

“No, really, I’m so -”

DONNA leans forward jerkily. She’s restraining huge, complicated emotions behind a smile that’s wavering a little bit. She raises her hands, controls them, and folds them firmly and decisively together on the bedspread. THE DOCTOR watches her. She takes a deep, shaky breath and sighs it out.

DONNA

“I keep thinking -”

She bites down on the rest of her sentence, looking away and sniffing. Her body language and expression are tight. She’s barely holding tears at bay. THE DOCTOR is also tearing up.

DONNA

“No.”

DONNA stands up and flips the covers off THE DOCTOR. He’s confused, but moves with her as she focuses hard on pushing him over on the bed, pulling up the covers, and pushing the pillows onto the floor. She toes off her shoes and climbs into the bed. She arranges them to her satisfaction, so that she has his head tucked under her chin and he can’t see her face. Under the thin blanket, they’re obviously tangled together like best friends at a sleepover. THE DOCTOR noses closer, hungry for contact.

DONNA, slowly

“I thought I was broken...for fifteen years.”

THE DOCTOR’s expression crumbles, pained. DONNA is staring at the SONIC SCREWDRIVER in the pile of stuff on the dresser, steadier now.

DONNA

“Mum was being nicer, and Grandad just – he looked at me in this way I didn’t understand. He’s always been so encouraging, we’ve always shared so much, and suddenly... I kept going. I met Shaun. There was,” she starts to tear up again, “so much good, he’s so good, and then we had Rose and we were so happy, I was so happy, but there was always this great...big...hole right through the middle of it. It felt...like I was missing someone so important, and I couldn’t tell if it was me or my best friend or – or both.”

She finally closes her eyes and lets the tears fall. Then her expression relaxes. There’s some relief in saying it. She squeezes THE DOCTOR closer and kisses him on the top of the head. He sniffles.

DONNA

“I’m not really angry about that yet, we’ve been so busy, but I will be. I’m gonna hold this over your head forever, I’m going to squeeze you for every-every drop of guilt shopping and chocolates I can get.”

They both chuckle wetly and sniffle. DONNA sobers.

DONNA

“I keep thinking, what if it was Rose or Shaun? What if I finally had someone I loved and...and I had to make that kind of choice? I don’t have all the memories but I can remember feeling how lonely you’ve been, how much you’ve been hurt. I don’t know what I would have done, if I was hurting that way.”

She pauses. Her expression firms.

DONNA

“But I would have come back. Even if I had to leave them, I would have come back. I would have kept trying to help.”

THE DOCTOR

“You’ve always been stronger than me.”

DONNA pulls back and they look at each other. THE DOCTOR’S expression is dull, defeated, DONNA’S angry. After a moment, DONNA sighs. Closing her eyes, she presses their foreheads together. THE DOCTOR softens, still all pain underneath, but DONNA is calmer.

DONNA

“No more excuses for you. I’m putting you in feelings boot camp. You’re gonna wake up and do two hundred happy push-ups tomorrow. It’s a big job, but I’m going to whip you into shape. You’re gonna be miserable. I’m going to make you the biggest emotional bodybuilder in this town.”

THE DOCTOR, smiling

“You promise?”

DONNA

“Yeah, I do. There’s no escape for you now.”

She tweaks his nose. He wrinkles it and grins his big old grin.

DONNA

“Glad we got that settled. Now! Sleep time.”

THE DOCTOR

“But-”

DONNA shushes him and budges them both down the bed so that they’re lying comfortably. THE DOCTOR protests, citing Time Lord sleeping habits that DONNA shoots down with a snort, but he lets her bully him around.

THE DOCTOR

“But Shaun -”

DONNA

“You wanna keep trying to tell me things about my own husband or do you wanna enjoy this while it lasts?”

THE DOCTOR settles in. They both relax, still tangled together but less likely to wake up with cricks in their necks and hands fallen asleep.

THE DOCTOR

“Alright, don’t blame me if you get weird in the morning.”

DONNA

“You have no idea how much weird I can handle. Normal life has weird you can’t even imagine.”

THE DOCTOR

“I look forward to learning about it.”

DONNA

“I know you don’t snore, but I remember that camping trip in the Diamond Mountains. No wiggling.”

THE DOCTOR

“And I remember the kicking.”

DONNA

“Shush. Sleep time.”

<THE END>

CODA: THE DOCTOR sits on WILF’S couch, sick with bi-regeneration/”my 11th-dimensional self got too close to the not-things from the end of the universe” flu, doped on Gallifreyan cold medication and an accidental ginger-ale someone who didn’t know about Gallifreyan biology gave them. They’re swaddled like a recalcitrant cat at the vet because they keep falling over when they try to get up. DONNA is filming them acting like they just got out of wisdom tooth surgery and choking on laughter.

[mad-hunts]

[ scars ] a gentle kiss on the partner's scar(s)-Violet!

all barton knew when he'd suddenly jolted up during the night was that he had had one hell of an upsetting dream. and that, even though it hadn't been about his bio father this time, that it had stung equally as much. barton nearly thought that he was stuck in the same vicious cycle that he'd been before in fact. a loop that consisted of the doctor feeling awful while he was with this person; but also feeling like he deserved every bad thing he'd done to him. that is, until one of them eventually deemed the other had crossed a line. then they would decide to break up. but unfortunately, like the tide, barton often came back to his ex eventually. and he cracked that up to the both of them being the 'same brand of fucked up.'

though barton hadn't contacted his ex-boyfriend in a long time now. all of the bad memories he'd given the doctor had stuck around in his head, however, and it even left barton feeling panicked that the person next to him in bed might be him. it was violet, though. someone who was considerably better than laurent. and who wouldn't brush barton off if he randomly (or perhaps not so randomly, in this case) got the urge to get close to her in an attempt to comfort himself. so, after barton let out a relieved albeit shaky sigh, he moved to embrace violet. he also seemed to have accidentally woke her up in the process. thus, when she posed a question to him about what was going on, barton tried to say something in response.

unexpectantly, what ended up coming out was something that sounded like a mix between a voice crack and a sob. the doctor tried really hard to keep his breathing level, but when he felt violet's lips tenderly kiss the scar he had on his shoulder, barton held onto her tighter. he spoke up then, ❝ i... i'm sorry, i just — i had a bad dream, ❞ something about saying it aloud, combined with the kiss she gave him, managed to break down the dam he had build inside of him then. a choked sob slipped through barton's lips as he sniffled. ❝ can i just stay here like this with you for a bit? ❞

[dp-marvel94]

Face to Face - Chapter 56

Summary: When Danny went through the ghost catcher, he expected to be cured of the ghostliness that had haunted him since the accident, not to wake up on the lab floor with his parents saying he’d been overshadowed but everything’s back to normal now. But why does Danny Fenton cry himself to sleep to then dream of flying? Why does Phantom, the ghost who was supposedly possessing Danny remember a life that wasn’t his? Most of all, why do both the human and the ghost feel that something vital is missing, in their very soul? Or: Trying to cure himself of his powers one month after the accident, Danny accidentally splits himself but neither his ghost nor his human half know that that is what they did

First -> Last -> Next

Word Count: 4,253

Also on AO3 and Fanfiction.net

Penultimate chapter ya'll! 😍😍😍

Grabbing a quick snack, Danny settled onto his bed to do homework, textbooks and paper spread around him. 

“Alright. Math worksheet. Bio vocab. Spanish notes card.” The half ghost mused to himself, pointing at each assignment.  “And… I need to read a chapter for Lancer and take notes.” He scowled at the thought before shaking his head. The boy put his hand together, forcing himself to focus. “The easy stuff first. Then math. And… ugh, English.”

Biology was pretty good, definitely his favorite subject right now. Plus it was easy; with his Mom’s interest in biology and medicine, he’d known most of this by the time he was in fifth grade. Spanish…. Making the notecards and going over them a few times wasn’t hard. The words lodged in his head, making a surprising amount of sense… Maybe he did have a knack for this.

Math was… math. Boring, a little difficult but…

“What did Mr. Faluca say in class on Friday…. Oh, that’s right. First, you’re supposed to…”

The memory flickered through Danny’s mind. His two halves on this same bed, talking through the math together. The suggestion to keep the talking-to-himself up once they were back to normal… 

A shrug. “Well, if it works, it works.”

And it seemed to. Danny talked himself through the math, finishing in fifteen minutes. And then the English… the half ghost read the chapter, half-muttering down at the page. He opened his reading journal, first jotting down a summary. And then looking for different literary devices: allusions, symbolism, foreshadowing. 

“What’s the point?” He scowled down at the page. “It doesn’t make any sense. What’s with the red…. Wait.” He flipped back a few pages in the notebook. “That was mentioned in the first chapter… Yeah!” He pointed out the sentence he’d written. “That was foreshadowing, wasn’t it? And now…” Connections sparked, almost faster than Danny’s tongue could fly. “Loneliness seems to be important. That’s a theme, right?” A flurry of words, of jolting down thoughts. “That sounds familiar…. I bet that’s referencing something… Wait! I remember now! It’s….”

Ten minutes passed, the page full of words. “Alright. That’s done.” He closed the book with a thud. “So we’ve done….”

The sound of footsteps approaching the slightly ajar door…

“Bio. Spanish. Math’s done. And English. That was all, right” He nodded, counting on his fingers. “Right. And…” Danny glanced at the clock, eyes widening. “An hour and a half! We got that done in less than two hours!” A flicker of orange at the door….  “Good job, Danny!” The half ghost turned, eyes bright and one hand up for a high five…. 

Eyes falling on nothing, his expression fell, a complex feeling flickering in his core. “Oh.”

“Are you okay?”

Danny jerked his head at the noise. There was his sister, standing in the doorway. “How long were you standing there?”

“Just a few seconds. Mom wanted your help with dinner.” Her expression softened, concern in her eyes as she repeated. “Are you okay?”

 The boy blushed. “Yeah, I… I’m okay. I just… forgot for a second there.”

That worry just seemed to deepen. “Do you want to talk about it?”

Danny considered for just a moment. He could say no; he kinda wanted to…. Shaking his head, he dismissed the impulse, instead patting the bed beside him. “Yeah. I’ll talk about it.”

Jazz closed the door while the half ghost cleared the bed for her. The older sister sat. “What do you mean you forgot for a second there?”

“I guess….” The boy frowned, brow furrowed. “I kinda forgot I wasn’t still split.”

The girl blinked, concern flickering to confusion. “You forgot… that? How could you manage to forget something like that?”

“I was split for a month, Jazz. I guess…” He crossed his legs under him, sitting criss-cross on the bed. “By the end there, I think I… we were almost used to it. I mean, being split wasn’t fun. It definitely wasn’t good for me. But we… Fenton and Phantom were making do, I guess.” A shrug. “And…” Danny bit his lip. “We talked to each other… er.. Ourself through the homework all the time. Sitting on the bed doing that just felt familiar.”

“Danny….” That worry was back. “Should I be worried about the… pronoun swapping?”

The halfa could read between the lines of that question. “I’m only one person, Jazz. There’s just one of me here, I promise.” He sighed. “It’s just…” He rubbed his head. “Actually figuring out how to talk about it out loud is hard.”

Danny had thought about what he’d experienced while split, that first night after merging while floating in front of the portal. In his head, it made sense. He’d been split in half. He had two sets of memories for the past month, both of which were equally his, equally him. But actually verbalizing that…

“I think you should try.” Jazz offered gently.

“You would.” The boy rolled his eyes, a hint of a smile on his face. 

“I’m serious.” The girl poked him. “On Saturday, you said you remembered everything. But it kind of felt like you’d been gone for a while. Do you think you can talk about that?”

“Yes.” Danny said simply, letting the word hang in the air.

Jazz gave him a look that screamed, ‘really?’

“Alright. Alright.” He held up his hands, surrendering; he should stop being difficult on purpose. He sighed. “I do remember everything that happened from both perspectives. But still… it doesn’t quite feel like I was there.”

“Like they feel like someone else’s memories?” His sister offered.

“No.” The half ghost shook his head. “That’s not it. It’s…” He sucked in air through his teeth. “Phantom and Fenton were both me. And still are. Those are just names I gave to each of my forms. I am both of them but… I’m more than that too.” Danny furrowed his brow. “When I was split, I…we… my two halves… they knew they were incomplete. Even if both of me, Fenton and Phantom, were sitting here, side by side,” He motioned vaguely to the spot on the bed beside him. “completely on the same page, in sync, agreeing on everything…. There still was something missing. Fenton and Phantom together… that still… that still wasn’t me. I’m… more than that.” He rubbed his full chest. “So in a way… I wasn’t really there then. Even though I was.”

Jazz’s face scrunched up, still focused in thought.

The boy deflated slightly, legs unfolding and pulling to his chest. “Sorry. I guess that still doesn’t make any sense.”

“No.” The girl shook her head, a hand reaching out to rest over his. “You make sense… even if I don’t understand. I don’t think I ever really can. But I know how unhappy your two halves were to be split. Phantom you told me you feel incomplete, like you weren’t a whole person.” She squeezed his hand. “But you’re back as one person now. And I know how happy you’ve been because of that. If you say you’re finally back, that you feel like yourself again, then that’s good enough for me.”

The boy smiled softly. “Thanks Jazz.” He turned his hand over, palm meeting hers. “You’ve really been the best sister. I…I can’t even tell you how much you helped both of me when I was separated. I wouldn’t have gotten here if it wasn’t for you.”

His big sister had done so much. She yelled at their parents for him, convincing them to rethink their ghost bias and actually see Phantom as part of their son. She talked to his ghost half and encouraged him to make things right with his human side. She was there after the ghost catcher blew up, when he’d finally broken down over Mom’s avoidance of his ghost side. She checked on him after Mom apologized after their fight, reassuring him that he wasn’t a bad son for not being ready to accept the woman’s apology yet. (That apology…. something niggled in his mind). And after his halves had talked about the accident, mourning their own death, she’d comforted him. Jazz had been the first one Phanom had told about that first week, about him thinking he was an imposter.

So much had happened and Jazz had been there through it all.

The boy lowered his legs and spread his arms out, leaning forward for a hug. His sister accepted it. “Thank you Jazz.” He repeated.

“You’re welcome.” The girl squeezed him tighter. “I love you little brother.”

“I love you too.” Danny returned.

The two stayed like that for a long moment, arms around each other. Then with a heavy breath, the half ghost lowered his arms, pulling away. “Alright. That’s enough mushiness for today.”

Jazz let him leave the hug, rolling her eyes. “There’s nothing wrong with talking about your feelings.”

“I never said there was.” The halfa stuck out his tongue. “But I can still only take so much.”

His sister stood up, shaking her head. “Come on then. We still need to see Mom about dinner.”

“Coming. Coming.” Danny rolled his eyes.

Jazz hurried to the door as the boy stood. Down the second floor hall and the stairs. The living room. The kitchen. Excited voices carried up from the basement. 

The half ghost reached to open the door but… a hand rested on his shoulder. He turned to his sister, a brow raised.

“If you want to talk about it more, you can ask me. Anytime you need.”

Danny's face softened, his reply not the excuse they would have been just a month ago, but completely real, trusting, authentic. “I know.”

His sister’s eyes shone with pride. 

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

“You’re saying, because the portal is on top of Danny’s lair, it’s in his territory.” Mom asked. “So that makes it a privileged, permission-restricted area?”

“As in… other ghosts can’t enter without Danno’s okay.” Dad said.

“Well, it’s not that they can’t…” Sidney pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. “Entering without permission is highly frowned upon. And doing so repeatedly will get you in trouble with Walker. Most of the time, the resident ghost beats up or scares off the intruder…”

Well… Danny had been planning to talk to Mom about dinner. But of course everyone got distracted. It’s a wonder Jazz hadn’t stomped down yet, wondering what was taking them so long.

“But that’s just unspoken societal rules keeping interlopers out.” The woman’s brow furrowed.

“You mentioned doors earlier, with phase-proof paint.” The ghostly nerd pointed out. “Infinite Realms paint would probably do the trick; ghosts can only phase through things in the material realm.” He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “You would need something to trade for it… Material Realm goods fetch a good price.” He looked to Danny. “And you could try shaping the lair so it hides the portal at least partially.”

The half ghost sat up more fully, attention drawn. “What do you mean, shape the lair?”

Sidney tilted his head, eyes narrowing slightly like he couldn’t believe the question. “You’re already almost as strong as me and you’re only two months old, buster. Of course you’ll be able to manipulate its form once your lair settles.”

“By-passing the two months old comment…” Danny blushed at the words. “Lairs can be changed like that? I thought… I don’t know… they just came pre-made and stayed like that.”

“Oh.” Sidney nodded, apparently getting the misunderstanding. “It does take a considerable amount of time and effort but it can be done. I never bothered to do much with my own lair, besides make myself a bedroom. I’ll show it to you next time you come over.”

“So I can probably do something like that too…” Danny’s eyes widened. “How do I even do that though? Is it just supposed to, what, come naturally? Or could you teach me?”

“I could help.” Sidney nodded. “You would be able to make a bigger change sooner that way as well.” He smiled slightly. “I’ve never been a part of making one but I know that’s how some of the larger islands form: groups of ghosts working together to form free-floating rocks into a kind of communal lair. That’s how the Acropolis and Far Frozen originated, according to the histories in the Library at least.”

“What are the Acropolis and Far Frozen?” Danny asked.

That tail-spinned the conversation into another direction. Sometime later….

“...And that’s why it’s called the Carnivorous Cannon.” Sidney finished.

Danny’s stomach growled, earning an embarrassed chuckle from the boy. “Okay. We really need to go figure out dinner now.”

“I should head back to my lair.” The ghostly nerd gave a nod, floating back towards the portal. 

“Yeah. Bye.. Oh!” The half ghost’s eyes flickered to the jars still sitting on the tables. “Let’s plant these before you go.”

“Of course.” Sidney nodded, eyes widening in remembrance. “They won’t be happy if they have to stay in those jars much longer.”

“I’ll get the gardening tools!” Dad offered brightly, already digging through the closest. “Here we go!” He slung the bag onto the table, contents on display. Shears, trowels. A hand fork and weeder. Even gloves and a knee pad.

Danny blinked. “Why do you have these down here?” In the basement, far away from any dirt…

Mom gave a casual wave. “You know us, Danny. Always prepared.”

The boy shook his head, chuckling. “Sure. I guess.” He turned back to Sidney, reaching for one of the jars, but suddenly paused. “I should transform.”

Danny summoned the ring, light flickering out once before passing over him. Now in ghost form, he floated off the ground. He took the tiger shrub cutting and with his ghostly friend, passed through the portal. Mom and Dad followed.

Sidney surveyed the dirt for a few seconds, drifting closer to the edge. “Right here is perfect.” He knelt, placing his own jar down before patting the spot beside him meaningfully. “Let’s do the tiger shrub first.”

Danny lowered himself to the ground, handing over his own jar. “Here you go.”

The nerd unscrewed the lid, placing it to the side. His head turned up, looking towards the half ghost’s dad. “Mr. Fenton, can I have the garden trowel please?”

“Here you go, kiddo.” The man handed it over.

The ghost accepted, using the tool to dig a small hole. “This is good soil.” He hummed, pleased. “Loamy, not very compact.” He ran his fingers through the upturned dirt. “A little dry but it’s not too bad.”

With that comment, Sidney gently lifted the plant cutting out of the jar. He placed the small portion of soil, thick with roots, into the hole, and with his hands brushed the dirt back into place around it. Again, Danny was reminded of Sam, of watching her care for her plants and helping her in her greenhouse. 

The other ghost sat back slightly, studying the cutting. “See, easy.” He turned to look at Danny. “Now you just need to water it.”

“Oh.” The half ghost turned his head up from the plant. A glance back at the portal. “I can go get some water from the house…”

Sidney shook his head. “It’s a Realms plant. It needs water from here.”

“But… where?” Danny looked around, wide-eyed. But there was no water here…

“Here is the first lesson on shaping your lair.” The ghostly nerd reached out a hand, grabbing Danny’s. “Place your hand over the soil like this, palm down.”

The half ghost did so, questioning gaze flickering from the ground to his friend. “So… what do I do?”

Sidney smiled encouragingly. “Things are malleable here, not like in the Material Realm. They’re shaped by thoughts, feelings, intentions, as much or more than by the normal rules of cause and effect. And here, this place. This is your lair. Your home. It’s an extension of you, a part of you. It reacts to your mind.”

Danny’s eyes widened. He saw where this was going…

His friend continued. “So tell it what you need. Focus on it. Picture it in your mind. And the lair will draw from the matter and energy around to make it.”

Danny closed his eyes. “Alright. I need to water this plant so…. I need a watering can. With plenty of water….” He tried to picture it in his head. The shape of it, the weight, the texture….. There was a strange, fuzzy feeling at the edge of his perception. 

Surprised, excited voices behind him. “Madds, look!!” “Shh. Jack!” 

He needed to focus. The square shape of the body. White plastic with some kind of floral design. A spout coming out. The water inside: liquid, not too cold or too warm. 

The fuzzy feeling swirled, solidifying. There was something under his hand…

Danny’s eyes popped open. “I did it.” The words filled with awe. There, sitting in a slight depression in the ground, was a perfectly formed watering can. Tentatively, the boy reached out for the object, fingers wrapping around the handle. He lifted; it was heavy, solid, real. He tipped it, slack jawed as slightly green water gently poured out. “I can’t believe I did that!”

“Nifty work, pal.” Sidney congratulated. 

Dad patted him on the shoulder. “Good job, son!”

The halfa beamed. “Thanks!”

The two ghosts returned to working on the plants. Danny carefully opened the second jar, holding some kind of viney plant; Spotted squa-pump-chini is what his friend had called it, right?

“Tiger Shrub needs lots of space.” The ghostly nerd said. “Let’s plant the squash a little farther away.”

The halfa dug the hole, pulled out the plant, buried the roots, and watered it. Moving another few feet over, the process was repeated with the midnight arugula. All plants in the ground, the two ghosts stood, surveying their work.

“It looks great, sweetie.” Mom approached, wrapping an arm around her son in a half hug.

Danny returned the gesture. “Yeah, it does.” Smiling in satisfaction, his eyes flitted from plant to plant. Each so small and delicate now but…. He could picture it, over months of time. Plants growing and spreading, multiplying. His little island, no longer bare. “It’s gonna look awesome once the lair’s done. I’m thinking, a dome over the top, like a greenhouse.” He motioned above him. “And see that staircase. The door to the actual house will be down there so everything’s underground… kinda like a hobbit hole from Lord of the Rings. Super cozy.” He started counting off on his fingers. “It’ll have my bedroom. A kitchen, living room, game room. And guest bedrooms! One for Sidney, at least. And maybe I’ll make some other ghost friends…” He pictured Dora, fleeing from her brother and needing a refuge. Maybe Johnny and Kitty would stop by; the biker dude seemed to like him at least. “It’ll be a cool place to hang out.”

Dad slapped him heartily on the back. “You’ll have your own little place in no time!” His eyes flickered to the watering can. “And check that out.” He stepped forward, eagerly lifting the object. “It feels just like a real watering can!”

Mom wrapped her hand around the spout, eyes widening. “It does. And you made this.”

Danny blushed. “Not really. I mean, I just asked the lair to make it.”

His parents’ excitement failed to wane. “It’s still incredible.” The woman’s eyes shining with pride. “You’re going to do so many amazing things here, Danny.”

The ghost boy’s heart twisted, a burst of complex feelings but… “Really?” That was hope.

Mom nodded and Dad agreed. “I just know it.” 

They sounded so proud of him. And the words… that was an acknowledgement for what he had realized to be true. His core hummed, pleased and content.  That this was his lair, his home as much as  Fentonwork. And what’s more…. He was a ghost, a resident of the Realms; this was his world too.

“Thanks Mom and Dad.” Danny wedged himself between his parents, an arm around each. “Thanks for working so hard to understand. I love you guys. And…” He’d reminded himself of it earlier, the words heavy in his heart. Making the decision, his voice quieted, earnest eyes fixed on his Mom. “I accept your apology.”

For just a moment, the woman startled, a flicker of hurt…

The boy blushed. “I wasn’t sure if I actually said it before but…. I forgive you Mom. I want to put that fight, when I ran away, behind us. All of that, all of it…” He motioned vaguely, shaking his head. “It’s in the past, where it’s going to stay.”

The last of that icy hurt chipped away, something in his core finally sliding into place.

His mom wrapped both arms around him, the sensation so much fuller, so much greater than when it had been both his halves clinging to her in a hug. “Thank… thank you, Danny.” A hint of a sniffle but he felt her muscles relax, could almost see the weight lifted off her shoulders. “Thank you.”

They stayed like that for a long minute. Then…

Over his mom’s shoulder, Danny caught a glimpse of black-and-white, awkward shuffling. Embarrassed, he pulled away. 

Mom turned around, towards what he was looking at, brow furrowed in question.

“Oh. Uh… Sidney. I forgot you were still here.” The half ghost rubbed the back of his neck.

“It’s alright.” His friend smiled understandingly. “You were having a moment.” 

There was a hint of sadness, of longing there. A second of wondering then… the memory. Sidney had said he wished he’d been able to talk to his parents, when Danny told him about the fight with his mom and making up. 

Danny didn’t comment, instead drifting forward, eyes full of compassion. “Well, thanks for waiting. And thanks for everything.” He held up his fist for a fist pump.

The ghostly nerd quickly caught on this time, raising his fist. “You’re welcome, pal. I’m happy to help. I will see you on Friday?”

The half ghost nodded. “I can come to your locker after school. We’ll talk more about plans for the library. And how to change my lair.”

“Ghost Zone Field trip!” Dad cheered, rejoining the conversation. He took his wife’s hand, the two meeting eyes for just a second before continuing. “We need to design some kind of vehicle to navigate. A blimp? A jet? Oh! A submarine!!”

“And communications equipment. Maybe some kind of bluetooth headset?” Mom offered, excitement rising.

“We can set up satellites to ping the signals off of. What if we set up a dish on the Zone side and connect it to a receiver in the lab through the portal?”

“They’re going to be making blueprints the rest of the night.” Danny stage-whispered to his friend.

“Of course we won’t.” Mom waved him off.

“Yeah! We need to get dinner!” Dad exclaimed. “And there’s a new episode of Spector Hunters tonight.”

“It’s not Monday night if we don’t get to insult… I mean critique, other… researchers.”

The ghost boy rolled his eyes. “Only if I get to watch the new Supernatural too.” 

“That’s just as bad.” The woman complained, raising her hands.

“Come on. It’s a good show. I mean… this season hasn’t been that good but…”

Sidney chuckled at banter. “I’m going to go. See you on Friday, Danny.”

“Bye, Sidney.” Danny waved. “I’m invested. I have to see what happened. And last week…”

With that, the ghostly nerd flew away, leaving the family to debate (and insult each other) about their preferred shows.

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

“Okay, okay.” A short trip through the portal found the three back in the lab. Danny summoned the rings, feet softly landing on the metal floor. “We’ll watch both.”

“You guys are supposed to tell me if you go somewhere.” 

The boy turned at Jazz’s annoyed voice. “Oh. Sorry.” He smiled sheepishly.

“I knew I should have gone down here with Danny instead of going to work on my thesis.” She rolled her eyes. “It’s almost eight.”

The half ghost glanced at the wall clock. “We were talking for that long?” Then he asked. “What can we make fast, Mom?”

“We have cans of soup in the pantry and plenty of ingredients for sandwiches.”

“Sounds good to me.”

Soup and sandwiches were served around the table. Danny ate on the tiger fruits his friend had brought. Then the family gathered for evening tv.

Even with the blob ghost claiming one of the couch cushions, the scene was cozy, safe, familiar. Danny remembered: Phantom’s feet draped over Fenton’s lap, Fenton, half laying on Phantom. His core purred contentedly. Satisfied, intertwined, nestled in its place beside his heart. He was both. Both were him. But… he was also more. He was whole.

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

Drown in a contented kind of tiredness, Danny watched the credits roll.  

His ghost sense went off, blue mist billowing past his lips. He sat up, suddenly more aware. All eyes fixed on him, eager and expectant for explanation. 

“There’s a ghost.” The boy stood. “I should see what it is. It…” brows furrowed… “Feels familiar? Maybe like that ectopus I sent back through the portal.”

A hint of worry, of doubt from his parents. But… “Make sure to take the thermos, sweetie.”

“I’ll be fast.” Danny summoned the rings, his core buzzing pleasantly. And… “Yes!” The light spread smoothly, the ghostly chill expanding, blooming effortlessly. In his core, something had at last realigned….

Finally, on the first try, he transformed.

[stunie]

“YOU’RE INVITED TO UMEMIYA’S WATCH PARTY!”

╰ ❤︎ ft. alpha! umemiya hajime x omega! bunny hybrid! f!reader . . .

summary : taptap.. “is the stream on? looks like it. listen up, all you former furin students— oh, and you two from shishitoren. pay close attention, cuz she’s only down to show you guys once! soo.. this is gonna be a tutorial on how you can care for a bunny hybrid. my way. just watch— and make sure you’re looking closely! we wouldn’t want you to miss anything.”

contains : explicit smut (18+) — a/b/o dynamics, omegaverse, knotting + creampie, bonding, consensual streaming, lingerie, oral (receiving), biting n marking, fingering, sakura (n hiragi kind of) develop a crush, pet name usage, praise, size kink, rough!ume n overstim ໒꒰ྀི ^ ᵕ ^ ꒱ྀིა

4.7K WC — note : hihi so this is my submission for the lovelyyy @goxjo’s omegaverse collab !! thank u for letting me join akiii ^ ^

“Oh, it’s here.”

“Really?”

“Let me see.”

“Connect it to the projector, Nirei.”

“Um…hold on one second. Ah- like this?”

A loud gasp of unison fills the room as soon as the screen displays itself on the wall of Hiragi’s living room— all the former students of Bofurin as well as Shishitoren’s infamous top two now huddled closely together around the projector with furrowed brows, eyes fixated on the blank screen in front of them. “Hmm,” Suo hums, “Click there so we can join, Nirei.”

“Oh, right…”

The tension in the air is so thick that a blade would easily slice straight through it. Sakura hugs his knees a little closer to his body, cheeks deepening into a darker shade of crimson as soon as he realizes exactly what he came here to do. He had actually ended up coming here with everyone else tonight to watch you, and his senses are suddenly heightened from the nerves— ears picking up on each and every word about just how excited everyone is to finally get a glimpse of Umemiya’s girl.

After all, you being a bunny hybrid was nothing more than a rumor up until recently, because no one had ever confessed to actually seeing you before.

That’s why when Umemiya brought up the offer of letting them watch him fuck his pretty bunny dumb, everyone pounced on it. The shocked looks on Nirei and Suo’s faces when they heard you were a bunny was all Sakura needed to understand just how rare someone like you really was.

This was a once in a lifetime opportunity.

It was clear to him that no one else in the room had ever seen a bunny hybrid before, which meant that he was left as the only one who had- and it was you. Ever since he accidentally snuck a glimpse at Umemiya’s phone, the image has been stuck in his mind. Even if it was just a quick glance that he knew he wasn’t supposed to see at all, he couldn’t deny the fact that you did resemble a bunny—a really cute one, at that.

He swears on everything that his brain acted on its own when it decided to ingrain that blurry image of you deep into his mind. That specific photo of you- held up by the ears and speared deep onto umemiya’s cock with your eyes rolled back into your skull…. since then, it hasn’t left his mind for a single moment. Even now, he’d still rather die than admit that he’s fucked his fist to the memory nearly every night that followed. He hates it, but he can’t help it.

You just looked so cute all teary eyed— so helplessly lost in pleasure and it was starting to drive him mad. All he needed was to see you again.

“We’re in!” Sakura jolts at the sound of Nirei’s voice, a part of him relieved when he sees that everyone’s attention is still locked on the screen in front of them and not on the way his cock has already begun to throb and bulge against his pants at the memory.

“Quiet down,” Hiragi speaks over the group, “Make sure we can hear her nice and clear.”

Silence falls the next second, and Sakura’s heavy breaths are suddenly much more noticeable now. Suo gives him a knowing look, eyeing the way his friend perks up as soon as there’s a loud rustling coming from the stream. The screen is still black besides the blurred streaks of light peeking through, and he thinks you might be trying to prop the camera onto something.

“Um….ah… there!” The sweet sound of your voice has everyone stiffening in their seats, “Can you guys see me..?”

It’s so soft that it almost sounds like a little chirp. You start talking some more, mumbling to yourself about how the camera might fall like this, but their attention is locked on just how cute you sound. They’re already balling their hands into tight fists- Sakura pushing his own deeper into his lap to fight the way his cock involuntarily twitches just from that. You sounded… shy.

He thinks there’s a subtle neediness to your tone, but he can’t quite put his finger on it.

“Ah, I guess I can’t really tell if you guys can see me..” You think aloud, and your face finally comes into view the next second- cute eyes staring straight at them as your lips puff into a pout, sighing before you adjust the camera a bit more. The adjustment has the angle dipping down slightly, everyone just barely catching a small glimpse of the baby blue lingerie set you’ve got on.

“Oooo wow! how pretty,” Tsubaki chirps, “That blue looks good on her, don’t you think Sugi? I mean- you’re already blushing! How cute.”

There’s a grunt of protest from him in response, but it’s silent otherwise. Everyone’s eyes are still fixed on the way the lace cups your tits, pretty blue patterns luring them in to look a little closer- watch the way they bounce when you scoot closer to re-adjust the camera again.

It’s only because he’s watching you so closely that Sakura finally notices it- the impatience in your eyes that you’re trying to mask with a smile and the way your chest heaves up and down with each breath. Hiragi catches onto it at the same time, eyes furrowing at the weird behavior from you… except he knows enough about omegas to know exactly what’s coming before you could even figure it out yourself, and the thought alone has his stomach flipping inside out.

You were starting to feel weird ever since you came here, oddly hot and awfully needy. A part of you just wants to shut off the camera and climb onto your alpha, but you shake your head at the idea. Umemiya was waiting nearby for you to introduce yourself, after all. “Um…I really..” your audience perks up at the sound of your voice again, their cheeks flushing when you start to rub your thighs together, “Really hope Haji comes soon…”

That’s all it takes to confirm Hiragi’s suspicion.

It was painfully obvious that you were losing your composure with each passing second, pretty mouth falling open with heavy breaths and your eyes have already glossed over. This was going to end up rough, hiragi thinks— Umemiya’s always been sensitive to things like that.

“Wow,” Suo hums, sneaking a curious glance at Sakura and chuckling at the way he tenses, “Looks like she’s going into heat.”

“H-huh? Heat?” He retorts, nails digging into his thighs “…now?”

He’s heard his friends talking about it once or twice. omegas go into that thing, he thinks, and they always referred to it as their heat, right? He’s never seen one before. You look like you’re about to cry, and a part of him wishes he could be beside you to help out instead of being stuck here with the others.

“They look like that when they’re in heat?” Kaji’s next to talk through a clenched jaw, and kusumi’s slowly nodding. “Rrrreal easy to tell, isn’t it?” Enomoto laughs.

“But it looks like it came a little early,” Togame peers over at Choji, “we’ll have to see how Umemiya reacts to the—”

“She’s terrible at hiding it, huh?” Choji tugs at Togame’s arm before pointing at the screen. “Look at her face! She’s so cute.”

Their eyes all flicker back to you, watching through clenched teeth as you struggle to climb onto your shared bed, needy eyes staring back into the camera when you prop yourself up on your elbows. “U-um…” you barely choke out a stammer, clearly uncomfortable with the ache that’s worsening between your thighs with each passing second, but it’d be far too late to reschedule something like this.

You have to keep going. This was supposed to just be a demonstration— Umemiya was planning on only showing them how he normally takes care of you, but now that you’re suddenly in heat, it changes everything. It wasn’t normal for you to start your heat this early, and it wasn’t normal for it to be this intense. You had always taken your suppressants on a regular basis, so your heats were always regular.

You made sure they were.

It takes everything in you to try and stifle the tears that have begun to collect along your lashes, angry and frustrated with how needy you feel without your alpha, but you peer up at the camera with a sharp inhale. You have to be good. Umemiya would be so proud of you if you could power through. He’d be here to take care of you soon— you remind yourself of this over and over again. He’s just letting you get comfortable with the camera by yourself first.

“..R-ragi…” Hiragi’s breath hitches in his throat at the lewd way his name comes out of your mouth, “He said I should show you guys first… right?” Your brows furrow a bit, embarrassment forcing you to tear your gaze to the side as your lips press into a tight line, “So..look closely, ‘kay?”

He shouldn’t have worn tight jeans, he thinks. He really shouldn’t have- knew it was a terrible idea as soon as your big ears flop over your face as you scoot yourself forward, the room falling eerily silent while everyone watches you settle down on the edge of the bed, thighs pressing together as your hands slides between them to cover your cunt. “O-okay,” they hear you mumble, craning your neck to the side to peek at the camera, “Look.”

It’s obvious that you’re still nervous from the way you shyly move your thong to the side, but the wait is worth every second when they’re faced with the prettiest pussy they’ve ever seen. It’s glistening with slick, and you hesitantly spread, being as good as you can be and doing exactly as Hiragi had told you— let everyone get a close look at what a bunny’s pussy looks like.

“Um… and I think Ragi also said…” They can barely process your sweet voice anymore; hardly picking up on the way your breaths come out labored and heavy now. They’re just too enamored by how pretty you look all spread out like this for them. “He told me on our call that I should do this too…. so here.” You flip onto your stomach, the little ball of fur high in the air as you angle your ass towards them, and they can only watch through wide eyes as your slick begins to drip down your folds, soaking through your lingerie as you shakily sigh.

You felt dizzy.

Your heat must have been in full effect now, mouth falling open to pant and the throb of your pussy is so strong you swear you can feel it pulse against your fingertips. You briefly wonder if the others could tell what was happening to you right now. It wasn’t like you could see or hear them— there wasn’t even a way for you to tell if the stream was working in the first place.

Your fingers dip down to run along your folds, and they hear you inhale sharply as soon as you brush over your clit. Umemiya wouldn’t mind… right? He had warned you not to touch. His earlier words play out in your head, “Just get comfortable in front of the camera and I’ll take care of the rest,” but it seems impossible with how badly you’re aching for something inside. Anything at this point.

“H-hah…” you pant, fingertips coming to lightly circle and rub at your clit, and your hips jerk almost instantaneously. You’ve never been this sensitive— each touch has you desperate for a little more, each little movement sending violent shockwaves of pleasure shooting down your nerves.

It’s impossible not to touch. You push two fingers deep inside your cunt, digits desperately curling against your walls as you moan loudly, head falling back at the dizzy feeling while you try your best to work yourself towards your high.

“E-eh? That’s odd….” Nirei stammers, his pen tapping against his notebook, “I thought she wasn’t supposed to touch herself.”

“She isn’t, huh! You’re right.” Tsugeura adds.

“Ah, ah,” Togame drawls, “What a naughty little bunny.”

This was bad— you knew good and well that you weren’t supposed to touch yourself right now. If you had any control over your body, you’d stop- let Umemiya take care of you, but there’s no way you could stop now. Hot tears begin to blur your vision, frustrated whines leaving your lips when you try and push your fingers in deeper, trying to replicate how good Umemiya always does it for you. “D-don’t…” you gasp, “Don’t tell haji. please.”

The ache in Sakura’s pants at the sound of you begging is borderline painful, and he swears he might not make it to the end of the stream like this.

“He’s not gonna be proud of me, and …. and… ahh. need it so bad…”

You’re still babbling when the door behind you finally opens, fingers still knuckle deep inside your cunt as you fuck them in and out of you, completely oblivious to your alpha even when he towers over your figure. His face is just out of frame— but his presence is enough to have the entire room falling eerily silent.

“Shit,” Hiragi’s jaw is clenched tightly, “i need my medicine.”

“Uh oh, bunny! Look behind you!” Choji yells, and Nirei’s babbling incoherently.

“Mm…” you sigh, eyes slammed shut as you bury a third finger inside, “I need Haji so bad… so bad. Please—ah!” There’s a loud gasp from you before you’re suddenly being tugged by your ankle, halfway out of frame and they can just barely see you struggle to grasp at the sheets, peering up at your alpha through wide eyes.

“The fuck?” Sakura sputters, “What happened?”

“Looks like Umemiya’s finally joining us,” Suo smiles.

One look at Umemiya and it all makes sense now. His eyes are dark and hungry when they look into your own, and you can’t bring yourself to move an inch, body stiffening underneath his gaze. You had forgotten to take your heat suppressants today. It’s the only explanation as to why you’ve gone into heat early, why it’s so intense— and why Umemiya looks like he’s about to devour you whole.

He’s taking in a sharp inhale before his strong hands pry your thighs open, dipping down to hover just over your cunt. It’s the only warning you get before his face is buried in your cunt the next second, tongue roughly lapping at the juices, and your audience watches as your face suddenly contorts, hands tugging at the sheets when your thighs slam together.

“Oh dear,” Suo muses, chuckling when your eyes roll back and your back arches, followed by an ear piercing shriek from you, “Looks like Umemiya was really affected after all, but.. that’s to be expected.”

“H-haji!” They hear you sob before your hands are clamping over your mouth, trying to preserve some dignity even if your thighs are squeezing and trembling wildly against his head. His hands feel big around your hips when he forces you to spread even wider for him, letting him bury his face deep into your cunt. He’s messy with it— messier than usual as his tongue roughly flicks at your clit before he’s lewdly swiping it up and down your cunt, prodding in and out of your hole and you’re clenching the sheets so hard you think you might bruise your own fingers.

“Why….” he sighs into your cunt, “…smells good…why is it so strong..? Baby…” his eyes are dark and hungry when he dips back down to suck at your clit a second later, practically growling when your hips instinctively buck and tremble underneath him, “Tastes so good. Fuck….” he’s mumbling between each lap of his tongue, “..losing my mind.”

It takes everything in him to not wrap his hands under your thighs and pull you even closer to him, eat you out until he’s had his fill— because he knows you’d break. He can tell your body is already feeling hot, knows you’re dizzy with heat and that you’re starving for more of him, and so he complies.

Umemiya shifts you onto your back, pulling you by the ankle as your chest heaves up and down, cunt fluttering around nothing and aching for more of him. You spread your legs wide— just the way he likes it, because just maybe he’d reward you for being so good if you give him a good view of your dripping cunt that’s on full display for him. You spread wide, then you look up at him, giving him the pleading look you know will have his composure cracking.

One look at your cunt and it’s obvious to him that you’re deep in your heat now. Leave it to him, he thinks— he'd take care of it like he always does.

“Relax…I know. I’ll handle it, baby.” His voice is just above a growl even when he tries to loosen up and stay gentle with you, heavy cock prodding at your hole, “I will. just not sure how gentle I can be like this, so hold tight, okay?” The soft warning he gives you registers in your head only a moment before your eyes are rolling back into your skull as soon as he buries his dick deep inside you, your entire body rocking back against the bed.

“Ahhhh— everyone’s watching, right?” He calls out through clenched teeth, “Fuck… so tight…. keep your eyes on her, got that?” His hands wrap around your wrists, pinning them above your head. “And you, pretty bunny. You’re driving me a little crazy. I thought you took your suppressants? You smell so strong,” his words fly straight to your cunt, little shivers running down your spine, and he leans down to bury his nose into your neck to confirm, “Gonna have to… control myself.”

“Oh, so he does remember we’re here after all,” Suo chuckles, “Although it looks like the bunny’s already forgotten all about us, huh?”

Nirei hums. “I think she’s blurred out everything in her head except Umemiya…. and she’s been arching up for him a bit. They usually do when they want to bond, right?”

Sakura’s hands ball up into tighter fists, and a part of him wishes he could get a better look at you right now- take Umemiya’s place for tonight, maybe. You really weren’t looking at anything else— only Umemiya. he’s never heard of bonding before, but he wants to see, wants to do that. His eyes are fixed on your body when you reach and grab onto Umemiya’s shoulders to hold him closer and pull him deeper inside you as your sweet voice fills his ears.

Your alpha’s always so good to you. Always gentle with you, always taking care of you, always doing everything you needed— except letting you visit the others. You’ve never seen these friends of his yet since meeting him. “You’ll meet them soon!” is what he’s always told you, but today’s the closest you’ve ever been to meeting them.

He’s not sure if he’ll ever tell you his true feelings. Umemiya’s not even sure himself if he’s protective or just selfish when it comes to you. you’re just too sweet for your own good, too oblivious to those around you that he’s worried about what could happen to you if you accidentally rubbed up against an alpha who held bad intentions. He couldn’t have that happen. He’d bond with you tonight, bury himself deep in your cunt and knot you up, and then maybe you’ll be safe.

He’s sure you’ll be safe.

“A-ah!” Your whine sends a violent shiver coursing down his spine, gaze locked on how your cunt struggles to fit him deep inside you, and your thighs have already begun shaking against his own. He’s barely even started moving, he thinks, and you’re already crumbling underneath him. It takes everything in him to keep his composure, admire the bunny beneath him— pretty face brimming with tears and those big ears now drooping beside your cheeks. You look pretty- absolutely gorgeous like this. There hasn’t been a day where he hasn’t considered himself lucky to call someone like you his own. When did you first start clinging to him? To him, it felt like you’ve always been his omega.

He can’t seem to imagine a life without you in it anymore.

The camera rocks from where it’s currently propped up on the desk beside your bed, and you instinctively glance over, but Umemiya’s hands are quick to squeeze at your cheeks, forcing you to look at him as he picks a rougher pace against you. Each thrust sinks him a little deeper inside, rocking your whole body back from the harsh way he’s ramming into you, his fat tip prodding against the spot he knows will have you gushing in seconds.

Maybe if he wasn’t actively trying to keep himself together, he would have filled you to the brim already… just from the look on your face. But he has to keep himself grounded, keep on reminding himself that he’s teaching everyone a lesson on how they could take good care of a little omega, so the least he could do was provide them with a good demonstration.

A part of him wonders about the look on everyone’s faces right now, curious as to what kind of expression they have watching his cute little bunny taking every inch of her alpha. so well behaved. You always were. He could talk about you all day— tell everyone how good you are, and he’s certain you’re no different from him.

“H-haji!” Your voice comes out as a strained squeal, “I love you…!” You’re grasping onto him, words barely coherent with the way he’s pounding into you. “Need you to knot me… wanna bond…..please..!”

He hears you even with the shaking of your voice, and your begging has his composure fraying along the edges, teeth grinding together to stay gentle and not break you under his strength even if he’s only one ‘please’ away from snapping.

You jolt when two hands slam on either side of your head, Umemiya leaning down to prop himself on his elbows and loom over you with a scary hunger in his eyes. “Yeah, baby? You know what you’re doing to me?” He groans through a strained smile, your tits pressed against his chest as he leverages himself to hit the spot inside you that has you seeing stars. “M-mhm!” You nod, shaky legs wrapping around him like a koala as he bullies his cock into you.

“They’re really going hard!” Tsugeura says, jutting a finger at the screen. “the bed might break, right?”

“I’m sure he wouldn’t let her get hurt though,” Kiryu soothes, “He’s taking such good care of her, after all.”

The fullness is driving you crazy. You wonder exactly how loud you’re being, but you don’t have it in you to care when he feels this good inside you. The noise is still embarrassing, so you’re covering your eyes with your arms, floppy ears bouncing up and down with each thrust as you try and hide your squeals from him.

But he doesn’t like that very much.

“Baby…” he grunts, and his hands are easily prying yours off of your face, “We can’t have that. You know that.” His body dips down a little lower, lips hovering above your own before he’s capturing you in a breathless kiss. His hips stutter— cock slamming particularly hard against your spot and your mouth falls open, giving your alpha the perfect opportunity to deepen the kiss, tongue exploring every crevice of your mouth as you moan back into him.

He doesn’t slow down once, and it’s driving you mad. Even in your current state, dizzy with pleasure and needing his knot so badly that you’re practically crying for it, you can tell he’s getting close from the subtle stutter of his hips each time he bottoms out.

“Need me to knot you?” It’s almost as if he can read your mind, tone still soft with his bunny even if he’s feeling feral from the way your cunt so desperately flutters around his cock, “Use your words with me. remember? I know it’s a lot.. it is for me too. You want it, don’t you? My knot? Be good for me and tell me everything in that pretty head of yours.” Your walls clench around him when he gives you a hard thrust and you swear you’ve never felt so good in your life, “Oh dear—gotta stay with me baby.”

His hands wrap around your ears as a warning and he pulls, your chin jerking up and forcing you to look at him.

“…N-need it, Haji— please..” You’re slow, well beyond your limit and too fucked out to try and beg, but you think you should try for your alpha anyways. “Need your knot, wanna bond— need it so bad-” He cuts you off with a harsh kiss to your shoulder, tongue jutting out to lap and suck on the skin.

He’s practically panting into you, hovering so close to your neck and you gasp, “Please hurry…” you’re begging him to give you what you need, and he finally does.

Your eyes widen when you feel it— one, two, then three more thrusts until he’s pushing deeper inside you, pace increasing and you’re left with no other option but to cling onto him and slam your eyes shut. “My—mine… ahh” his words come out slurred, groaning when your thighs jerk against his own, and then he finally bites. It’s rough, hard— a mating bite straight to your neck, and you scream.

“H-haji!” It’s the loudest your audience has heard you scream all night, the bond flinging you headfirst into the most intense orgasm you’ve felt, body reduced to nothing more than a shaky mess, your walls pulsating around him and your eyes rolling back into your skull. He’s not far behind you, staying true to his word as he fucks you a little harder, thrusts growing sloppy and he’s panting into your neck, tongue lapping at the bite he’s given you.

“Ah—” He growls, and you feel it. Your mouth falls open in a silent scream when he buries himself inside you with a groan, shooting his load deep inside you and filling you to the brim. they’re all thick and heavy spurts, and it’s only when you think it might start spilling out of your cunt when you finally feel him swell up inside you, heavy groans falling from his lips and you feel so full.

“There’s my good bunny…” He mumbles into your ear, hands running up and down your sides to soothe your shaking frame, and you’re so dizzy. So full you wonder if you can feel his load up in your stomach. “You did so well for me. Took my knot so good… still feeling okay?”

“I think…” You mumble, chest heaving up and down and he thinks it’s endearing that you’re still instinctively leaning into his touch in such a state. “There’s a lot, Haji..”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry” He chuckles, “But i bet the others learned a lot, don’t you think?”

Oh.

Your eyes widen at the reminder, and the familiar heat of your earlier nerves is flooding your cheeks as soon as you remember you’ve had an audience. How could you have forgotten something like that? The thought of them seeing every face you’ve made, hearing every noise you’ve made… it was too much.

“H-haji…” He’s laughing when you pull him closer into you, burying your face into his shoulder and nuzzling into him. “Turn it off already....”

“I will… I will.”

There was the shy bunny he loves so much. Only now, you were properly his omega, and he was your alpha. Only him. With the way his knot fits so perfectly in your cunt, he thinks maybe now he’d consider properly introducing you to the friends he adores so much.

No one would dare lay a finger on his omega like this anyways.

[princesslightgiggles]

Relaxing massage

In the softly lit living room of Izzy’s quarters, Simon Lewis sat on the plush couch, where he had been invited for a drink after a mission. His nerves tingling not just from the general chaos of his life, but also from the close proximity of Isabelle "Izzy" Lightwood. She noticed his discomfort and moved closer “Simon, you seem really tense today. Everything okay?"

"Yeah, just the usual chaos, you know? Vampire stuff..." Simon’s voice trailed off, his heart rate picking up as Izzy proposed a seemingly innocent solution.

"How about a foot massage? I took a reflexology course a while back. It might help you relax a bit," Izzy suggested.

Simon’s heart raced at the thought. His feet were embarrassingly ticklish, a weakness well-exploited by his sister in their childhood. He hesitated, memories of breathless laughter and pleas for mercy flashing through his mind. But it had been years since those tickle attacks—surely, he has outgrown being so ticklish. Besides, this was a massage. Massages were meant to be firm and soothing, right?

“Uh, sure, I guess that could be… nice, thanks,” Simon replied, trying to sound nonchalant as he reluctantly stretched out his legs onto the coffee table.

Izzy’s hands approached his feet. Simon braced himself, but the initial firm strokes on his arches were genuinely relaxing. Just as he began to let his guard down, Izzy’s fingers accidentally brushed against the base of his toes, and a jolt shot through Simon’s body. He twitched noticeably but managed to stifle a giggle.

Izzy noticed but didn’t let on. Instead, she continued with her massage, occasionally letting her fingers stray to provoke another jolt of ticklish laughter from Simon, each one quickly suppressed into a sharp intake of breath.

Simon's discomfort grew with each "accidental" brush of Izzy's fingers. He realised that if anything, he was more ticklish now than when he was a kid, each touch causing dizzying sensations that tortured his nerves. Izzy’s fingers danced around between massaging, teasing the spaces between his toes, causing him to clench his jaw and grip the couch tightly to contain his reactions. Her nails lightly grazed along his soles, each stroke a line of playful torment.

All the while, Izzy maintained a serene expression, concentrating on her task as if she were merely massaging, not tickling. Simon was in ticklish agony, he was losing his mind, caught between how unbearable this was and not wanting to admit it, his body tensing in waves of ticklish torture.

She continued this for what felt like hours to Simon, who was fighting an internal battle. His feet twitched involuntarily under her touch, breathless with the effort of suppressing his reactions. Every nerve ending in his feet screamed for relief.

Finally, after thoroughly enjoying the playful power she wielded over him, Izzy's movements slowed, and she looked up at Simon with a grin. "You're really ticklish, aren't you?" she revealed, her voice filled with laughter.

Simon, a mix of relief and embarrassment flooding through him, let out a breathy laugh. "Was it that obvious?" he gave her a wonky, shy smile.

"Only a little," Izzy teased, her eyes sparkling with amusement. "But don't worry, I think it's cute." Simon flushed a deep red at her comment.

Flustered but relieved the ordeal was over, Simon couldn't help but smile genuinely, the tension finally leaving his body, replaced by a warm flutter of joy at the playful intimacy they had shared. "Thanks, Izzy. That was really……. relaxing” he said with good-humoured sarcasm.

Izzy laughed, her hand reaching out to squeeze his. "Anytime, Simon. Anytime” and got up to get him the afore-promised drink.

[voidtouched-blue]

Forgotten-contract--prior

“I…I’m not lying. It was work. Unexpected, but… I’m fine now.” He’d already fixed most of the damage just as he removed coiled ropes that held his wrists. Or the shards of glass from empty bottles against his arms - the gore of drugged fingers clawing into his throat as that greedy body used him- It was so much easier to feel apathy. So much easier than whatever this was that brought a stone to his tongue and heat to his eyes. If he had to hold these feelings for every dark souled contract from now until forever, the beast didn’t quite know what he would do. Tainted by insatiable hunger, and now tainted by the light of kindness that woke the selfish desire to be treated with compassion. For now… He could just try to be honest.

There was a reason Cyra chose to pursue her talents in the arts of healing.

The expression on his face, his hesitancy, and his silence had all been things she had understood more than she had even dared to speak. She had seen the scars that left branded shapes in his skin, and they had been no different from the ones she kept hidden herself, ones that he had seen. It wasn't physical pain that plagued him.

The healer couldn't stop the hitch of her breath as she watched as he removed the jacket, and then the vest. She had seen all manner of wounds, and their origin didn't matter as long as she could identify if any foreign bodies needed to be removed. It was then, and only then, that the Miqo'te would ask questions.

The only part of her emotions she couldn't hide was the worry that held firm in her gaze. Her tail had kept it's gentle sway from side to side, but her ears had slowly flattened against the sides of her head as she watched the way he hesitated to remove the tinted glass from his face. The gruesome bruise that colored his face had brought a memory to her mind. It was one of the very same that he had seen upon that accidental touch at his manor.

Focus. You can't get lost in the past now. He needs you.

It was with a shuddering inhale that she returned her attention to him. She would not say a word unless he spoke first. Yet, as she continued to watch the way he leaned back to untuck his shirt from that manicured appearance, she felt the jolt that shot through her from the scattered marks of violence across his torso.

She had seen far worse than this on others, but because it was him, she felt it hard to keep up that professional nature that had been expected of her.

Cyra remained quiet.

Many of the scattered shapes that marked his body had brought back memories long buried, ones that she did everything she could to forget. She closed her eyes for a moment, fighting that pull of the Echo every step of the way. Despite there being no urgent injuries that she could see, she found this one of the hardest treatments she'd ever have to make. That steadying breath allowed her to open her eyes once more, pushing down the emotions that threatened to distract her from the task at hand.

“I…I’m not lying. It was work. Unexpected, but… I’m fine now.”

Unexpected was an appropriate word to describe this whole situation.

He was not fine.

Not to her.

She took a moment to study him, the way he had averted his gaze caught her attention more than the wounds that littered his skin. All she could wonder was what kind of work he did that would leave him in so much pain? It wasn't just the pain of the bruises, abrasions, and cuts that greeted the open air. It was an emotional pain that this ordeal had left him in.

Without a word, she simply turned to pull close the chair he had brought in the hours before she had awoken from her rest, when he had laid her on the bed with such care for her mistakes. She placed the items collected on its surface, stilling her shaking hands that held such history beneath the greyed and scarred flesh of her palms. Cyra relaxed her expression into a smile, smoothing that pinched brow with the same focus she had kept for her attempt to fix the imbalance of his aether hours before.

Quietly, she opened the salve. Knowing it would hurt, she wished she hadn't lost herself to that task that left her exhausted and bloodied so she could have spent the energy on the frightening number of marks on his body. It was the best option for any physical ailment. Though, aside from the sting, it always felt quite greasy. It wasn't a texture she enjoyed feeling on her own skin, but maybe it wouldn't bother him as much as it did her.

"Forgive me, this will sting, but I'm sure you knew that already." She said softly.

She dipped a finger into the thick paste before kneeling down to take one of those scraped hands into her own. Cyra offered him a smile before lightly dabbing the salve onto his knuckles. She took her time with each one, only deciding once she had covered the abrasions on each hand with the ointment that perhaps bandages were needed. As she stood, she placed a hand on his knee to push herself up from the floor. It was a thoughtless action.

She returned to her spot with the last of what she deemed would be necessary and began working her way up his arm, covering what she knew the salve would help, and gently brushing a finger over the things she knew it couldn't. Upon reaching the painful marks of teeth to his collarbone, and the tender flesh of the muscle besides, she paused to stand. It was with a small sound, a clearing over own throat that had been followed by a swallow that she delicately held her fingers to his chin.

It was a gentle urging, but she wanted to get a better look at the bruise that discolored the skin around his eye. She wiped the residue of the medicine that coated her fingers onto her thigh before holding his face softly with her hands to look upon his stained visage. The pain that he held in his eyes was something she wished she had the power to heal. But her skills could only go as deep as the flesh, and not beyond.

She had no words to offer him, nothing that could calm her own emotions that swirled dangerously close with every touch that threatened her gift. All she could think to do was to tuck those straying hairs behind his ear, and press a soft kiss to his forehead.

Cyra let out a breathy hum, a short phrase taught to her by the other children of the island she wouldn't dare to call home. It meant nothing to him, but it was a heartfelt apology for the pain he had to bear.

Wounds of the body, wounds of the soul...I would bear them for you if I could.

[a-tiny-frog-girl]

To Mars and Back

chapter 2 (ao3)

Welcome to my very favorite fic to write! I'm a little nervous to share it, but I hope you guys like it. There are two more chapters of this done and a third one on the way, so if you want to see more, please tell me!! Thank you to all my followers and friends who've been supporting me!!

Warnings: injury, panic, fearplay (accidental), cussing, negative self-talk, implied abuse. please make sure to tell me if I missed one.

Words: 1,105

Summary: The BAU makes an interesting discovery in their current case. Her name is Mars and she's a borrower.

Mars had been extremely out of it from the moment that loud bang rang in her tiny ears. Then, when the human fell onto her leg, the pain whited out the rest of her memory. So as she groaned and woke up, she had no idea what she was waking up into. But she had her expectations, assuming she'd wake up on the floor of that cold bathroom she had been on to take care of her leg by herself, most likely in the dark. 

She opened her eyes to a dim light and several humans staring directly at her. Her eyes practically popped out of her head in shock and fear and she tried to back away, but found herself sitting in some sort of circular hole in the ground. With her leg like this, she probably couldn't get herself out and not hurt her leg worse. Plus she had a feeling the humans would not be very fond of that, so for the moment she just pulled her legs close and tried not to hyperventilate too much.

"She's awake." One of the humans announced as soon as she moved. She winced at the volume of the humans but kept her hands off her ears. Until she knew these humans' expectations, she wasn't going to chance anything that might piss them off. As she looked around a little more, she finally recognized her surroundings as a car. She'd never been allowed out in the open in a car before, so she soaked it in as much as she could without taking her eyes off the humans. 

She gasped as she felt something poke her in the back, and she whirled around as fast as she could to find another human had been behind her. She was completely surrounded by humans she didn't know anything about. This was a borrower horror story, the beginning of a tale parents told kids to keep them in the walls. She was about to die, there was no doubt in her mind.

"How's your leg?" The human who had been behind her asked with a much softer voice than the one on the other side of her. 

"Fine." Her mouth lied before she could even take stock of her leg. Her leg was most definitely Not Fine, but it had been worse before, so she didn't pay it too much attention.

"Good, good." The soft voiced human said. After a moment he started reaching for her again, causing her to pull her body together as tight as she could and hold her breath. He stopped suddenly and took his hands back.

"Oh, sorry, didn't mean to.." He trailed off. Before Mars could even process that confusion, a new human talked. Her head jolted around to see the one of the two humans in the front turned back around to look at her.

"Hey, are we all good back there?" She asked, just as loud as the first human, who replied to her.

"Yep, all set."  He said.

"Can you guys keep your voices down, please?" The guy with the quieter voice piped up. 

"Oh shit, yeah." The lady in the front replied. Mars tried not to react to the curse, she didn't want to seem like a wuss. Still, it put her on edge. That plus the confusion of the current events really just made Mars an anxious mess.

The car started up with a loud rumble, making Mars jump. The quiet human's eyes flicked to her for a moment, but then flicked back towards the front of the car. She braced herself on the back of the circle wall thing as the car started. At least that was a sound and feeling she knew, although the bumps hit a little harder when she wasn't in a pocket.

A few times when she was bounced by the car, she saw the quiet human reach for her, but when she turned to watch him and pushed herself away, he put his hands down again.  

"Where are we going?" The quiet human asked, in a sort of awkward way. She had a feeling he was more asking to have his attention somewhere other than her and less because he actually wanted an answer.

"We're going back to the police department. This.. development in the case is too important to wait until morning. After we show her to the-"

"NO!" Mars blurted out without thinking.

The silence that followed was terrifying, as everyone, even the driver turned to her with their jaws dropped. The driver man turned quickly back, but she still shrunk back into herself. She tried to keep her eyes on all the humans at once, but only succeeded in making herself even more frantically scared. It didn't help that the human that had been talking was the quiet serious sounding one. Oh gods she was regretting every action in her stupid little life. 

"I- I'm sorry, I just-" Mars stuttered, trying to force words out of her frozen mouth. "I won't do it again, I pro-promise." 

Why?" The woman in the front asks, luckily still in her quieter voice. Mars stopped, her brain freaking out and barely understanding the question.

"Why can't we show you to the police, I mean." She clarified.

"They can't know that w- that I exist." Mars shakily replied, trying her best to keep from getting too quiet. She sees the two humans in the back make eye contact over her head, and she tensed, her hand leaving nail marks on her leg through her cloth dress thing. If she were still regulating herself, she would notice her rasping breaths that were loud enough for even the humans to hear, but she was far too scared to pay attention to anything other than the humans and any quick movements they might make.

"Okay, how about we go to the hotel instead? We'll make sure nobody else sees you." The scarier human next to her said slowly. Mars considered her options, and nodded. She never liked what happened at hotels but she would take it over outting her people to any more humans every single time. 

"Hotch, head to the hotel." The human said to the driver. 'Hotch' nodded and turned the car, making Mars slide into the side of the thing surrounding her, hitting her arm and head a little bit. She recovered and put her hand to the side of her face she had hit. She deserved that, she supposed. Honestly, she was amazed that that was all that happened. But she couldn't test them again. For sure next time she wouldn't walk away.

[renaisaibaam]

good nights sleep.

xiao x female reader

CONSENSUAL somnophilia

shy xiao sobs

im writing this drunk help

plot who? just smut

xiao didn't think his first time would end up like this.

hell, this shouldn't even have happened in the first place if it were not to his carnal desires that overtook his body like it was forced to be put on autopilot.

his hips shudder as he continues to pound into your dripping cunt that he's holding up with his hands that were digging into the skin of your own hips, your sleeping, clueless form only making his blood rush to his cock even more than how much that was already in it.

just what exactly happened?

you had already told him about what you were into, and one of them was something he never thought existed until now. being devoured while sleeping.. just how in the hell was he going to act on that? you constantly reassured him that if he ever wanted to that it was fine, but he didn't really remember it. hell, he didn't even take you yet. there is no need to rush, he tells you and himself.

he taps his foot on the floor and looks up, arms crossed as he patiently waited for your arrival. you had informed him that you were going to a party in mondstadt, and that you'd be home late, so here he was, in the couch inside of your teapot's house, the room quiet until he hears the click of the door opening.

"im home.." you called out from the doorway, setting down your shoes on the entrance. xiao peeks from his position, and stands up to walk over to you, giving a kiss on your forehead, an action he has grown accustomed to when you two had started dating.

"how was it?" he asks, coming back down on the couch. you whine and set yourself on his lap, taking off your coat and letting it fall to the floor as you spoke.

"it was so tiring! i'm not having it anymore, thank god venti didn't make me drink or i'd have come home a drunk mess." you pouted and rest your chin on his shoulder, lazily wrapping your arms around him as you closed your eyes.

"well, i'm glad he didn't, otherwise i'd have to take care of you." he laughs and gives your hair a gentle pat, kissing the side of it softly. he notices your breathing getting slower, and you getting slightly heavier, to which he speaks up on.

"are you falling asleep?"

"no i'm not." despite the immediate retort, your tone is quiet and quite obviously drowsy, your body not even moving from how sore you were from walking all day.

"if you're going to sleep, go wash up and change. let's head to bed together." he speaks, lifting you up and taking you to the second floor where your shared room is. he kicks the door, and gently sets you down on the bed, staring down at your figure.

"can you wipe me down and change me? i'm too tired." you yawn and snuggle up into one of the nearby pillows, the adeptus growling at your behaviour.

"come on, don't be lazy now." he tries to nudge you off, but before he knew it, you were now snoring, a sign you were fully asleep and that there was no way to wake you up. xiao sighs in annoyance, but pulls you by your ankles closer to him, starting to take off your clothes despite his earlier protests.

he has seen you naked countless times considering you and him take baths together, but he didn't think about it much. he goes to the bathroom to grab a wet towel, and comes back to wipe you down with it, starting with your arms.

now this is where he starts to have his thoughts.

he never thought about it, but your skin was smooth and soft to the touch. he didn't get to touch it like this. the towel moves down to your neck, making sure to be gentle so he doesn't accidentally choke you. he stares at the skin of your throat, the pretty skin that he wants to mark and leave patches of red, blue, and purples.

he gulps, and trails it down to your torso, trying to shake away the thoughts and continue to wipe you down. when the cold cloth hits your breast, you jolt up and let out a quiet moan, xiao getting a shock from your responsiveness. he was about to stop, assuming you were awake, but when he looks up to see you still asleep, the blood starts to rush to his cock.

what the hell? why did you look like that? is this what you meant by liking this somnophilia you spoke about to him?

he swallows, a rather thick sounding one, and lifts up your leg, wiping down on your inner thigh so he can finally finishing things. his face is red just thinking about it, and his pants are getting tighter by each second. but he comes through, and spreads your legs to properly wipe your crotch, hesitant. he brings the cold cloth down, and when it comes in contact with you, your hips jolt, and this is when all his reason is thrown out the window.

next thing he knows, your legs are up on his shoulders, and your cunt is on his mouth, his tongue feverishly tasting you without any hesitation.

though he was eating you out rather sloppily, it was a surprise that you managed to stay asleep and let your body do the reacting. you were practically dripping on his mouth, and he loved the taste of you. one of his hands holding you up moves to thumb on your clit, the palm of his hand pressing down on your abdomen. though you were asleep and showed barely any reactions, the new sensation from his hand making you let out a whimper and have your hips buck into his mouth.

xiao growls, and lets go of your pussy, letting your hips back down on the mattress. he lets your legs rest on his hips as he starts to unbuckle his pants that had been tight for quite some time now, and feeling his cock be released from the restricting fabric has him sigh in relief, scooting in closer to rub the underside of his cock in your dripping folds.

it's now that he realizes that archons, he's about to take you. in your sleep. your first time with him. but with how far he's gotten, how can he back out?

he lines his tip into your throbbing hole that has been stretched with his tongue, and slowly pushes in, the tightness making him grunt. he looks up at your face to see if you're reacting, and when he sees nothing but a flushed but sleeping face, he pushes himself all in without thinking.

although it was his action, the heat enveloping his cock causes a shock on his body, and if it weren't for his amazing restraint, he would have shot his load inside you then and there. archons, it felt so good. his breathing is heavy, and he looks up, wondering if you had waken up from the sudden penetration.

but you didn't. you were fast asleep, and your sleeping face edged him on to continue.

and so this brings us back to where we started.

his hands lift your hips up to be able to slam his hips into you easily, growling at the new found pleasure he was experiencing. "god, taking her like this in her sleep.." he mumbles to himself as he pounds into your dripping cunt, his nails digging at your flesh. drops of sweat were dropping into your stomach from his forehead, and his breathing was ragged. god, you felt so good around his cock. he knew an addiction to your pussy was forming from this.

he feels his high coming, and his hips move into you in a rushed pace, rutting into you as he finally cums and shoots his load inside you without thinking.

'god, god god god..' he thinks as he slumps down while still being inside you, taking a moment to catch his breath. he was spent and beat. he leans back up, and looks at your cunt thats stuffed with his cock, the sight of it making him shudder. god, so pretty.

he thinks of pulling out, but seeing you makes him think 'to hell with that!' and lifts you up so you sit on his lap, thrusting his hips up into you and continuing ravishing you. the sounds of his cum inside you make the lewdest noises, but it only arouses him further and makes his impact rougher, his arms keeping you up by letting you lean on him.

xiao didn't know how much he played around with your body, but he made sure to clean you up and dress you after he was done. the morning light hits his face and when he opens his eyes, he sees you up and running, looking rather fresh as you spoke in a jolly tone.

"good morning, xiao! god, i havent slept that good in ages!"

he stares at you, and the memory of last night comes rushing in, and his cheeks turn pink, turning even darker when you turn around and make him see his cum dripping out of you through the short shorts he put on you.