#he's not eggy but that's where the force comes in right?

[sol-flo]

within a span of twenty minutes my friend said he's meaning to read whipping girl and he's surprised he hasn't read okaeri alice yet. i could see isuggestforcefem in my hud

[pico-digital-studios]

Into, Across and Beyond! Scripting: Farewell from Home

Dimension MP-2021, after the events of Sonic 3K

Sonic and Tails came to a stop together after they saved Angel Island from harm.

Sonic: Phew! Another of Eggy's schemes foiled once more! Heh, gotta say, you kept up pretty well there, little bud. I knew you had it in you!

Tails: Hehe! Thanks, Sonic! Though, I should really be getting back home now. My parents must be worried for me.

On cue, they both showed up on the beach.

Rosemary Prower: Hello! Hi.

Tails: And speaking of...

Rosemary: You must be Sonic the Hedgehog, right? I'm Miles's mum.

Sonic: Ah, Rosemary, right? I heard about you from your daughter.

Rosemary: Oh, we're using first names? Okay!

She handed Sonic back his coat.

Rosemary: This is a nice coat. We found it in Miles's room this morning. So, I guess you must've been there?

Sonic: And you must be Amadeus?

Amadeus: Heh, he called me Amadeus. You must mean Special Forces Team leader Prower! Soon to be Commander Prower of the Royal Army.

Sonic: Hey! Pretty cool!

Tails: As it happens, me and Sonic grew into close friends ever since he saved me from some bullies.

Sonic: Of course! Me and her were just catching up.

Rosemary: Aww, please don't take her from me!

Tails (embarrassed): Mum!

Rosemary: Heh, I'm just kidding. She was grounded before, so you can't do that. Don't shatter her trust, alright?

Sonic: You got it. Well, the wind's calling me! I better dash off! See ya later, Tails!

Tails: Bye, Sonic!

He raced off. Rosemary looked to Amadeus - "give me a minute with him" - and he quickly got the message.

Amadeus: Alright. See you back home!

He left, leaving Tails and Rosemary alone with each other on the beach.

Tails: ...I can hear you being quiet, mum.

Rosemary: Oh, sorry. I really hope I didn't make things more embarrassing for you there. It's just hard to see my little lady not be my little girl all the time.

Tails: I... I'm sorry about earlier, mum. I've just been questioning my current identity recently, and I really wanted to see the world with Sonic.

She nodded, understanding what her daughter (soon to be son) wanted.

Rosemary: Go.

Tails: Huh?

Rosemary: Sonic does seem like a nice guy to hang around with.

Tails: Is this a trick?

Rosemary: Of course it isn't.

She helped straighten her clothes.

Rosemary: For years, I've been taking care of this little girl, right? Making sure she's loved, that she feels like she belongs wherever she wants to be. She wants to become a trans boy, go out into the world and do great big things. And what I worry about most is... not everyone will look out for you like us. They may not root for you like us.

She looked into her daughter's eyes with worry.

Rosemary: So, here's the deal; wherever you go from here, you have to promise to take care of that little girl in your heart for me. Make sure she never forgets where she came from. And... that she never doubts she is loved. And she never lets anyone at those big fancy places she's gonna be in tell her that she doesn't belong there. And when she finally comes home, and I really hope she finds the time to, it's gonna be early in the morning with a nice normal cake.

Tails: Heh, okay, mum. I promise.

Rosemary: Just... don't get lost out there. We cool?

Tails: Alright.

She kissed Tails's cheek, this gesture having a bit more meaning tonight, gently trimming her eyelashes to give her that extra boost to transition.

Rosemary: Now go on, sweetheart. Go and chase your dreams.

Tails smiled, getting ready to leave.

Rosemary: And if you do come back, just know that you're still grounded.

Tails: Heh, okay, I understand. Well, see you later, mum.

She gave Rosemary one last hug before she headed off, and she watched her only child head off into the horizon, knowing she was growing up very fast.

Back in the present day (pre-Many More Heroes), OMT!Tails looked at a picture of his family, feeling sad that he never got to reunite with them before OMT's strike.

OMT!Tails: *sigh* I miss you, guys.

Nitro and Max, who were next to him, gave him a gentle backrub of reassurance.

Nitro: It's okay, Tails. I can relate there. I'm sure they'd still be proud of how far you've come from then.

Max: Yeah. I miss my old family just as much as you do, Tails, though no matter where they are, they'll always love us.

OMT!Tails (smiling softly): Heh, yeah.

Nitro: Wanna go get a cheeseburger, guys?

OMT!Tails: Sure!

Max: Sure thing!

They headed out.

[jamesintherye91]

Just something I've written a while back as a little test for the Sonic Fanfic I'm currently working on. It's my eager attempt to write a scene of Amy Rose battling against Dr Eggman. Enjoy!

Clutching her huge oversized hammer tightly with both gloved hands, Amy Rose stood defiantly with the faintest trace of her nerves showing. As the young hedgehog looks up in anticipation of the inevitable confrontation above her, she lefts out a quiet little sigh. Hovering closer and closer to her eyesight, the sinister Dr Eggman sits proudly inside his floating eggmobile. He leans himself forward to look down upon the sight of a determined looking female pink hedgehog looking intent on starting a fight. As he inspects closer upon Amy’s intense look at him, Eggman sneers at her before beginning to address her presence in his usual loud pompous manner.

"You!? The jumped up little pipsqueak that's always chasing after Sonic's heels right? You came all this way to die?"

Amy froze slightly before giving her direct answer to Eggman, seeing his manical toothy grin below his flowing mustache and dark blue eye glasses in a manner that only added to her mounting discomfort.

"I'll... I'll always follow Sonic to the end of this Earth. No matter what. He trusted me to help save these people that you've held hostage. And I won''t let him or Tails down. And I don't like big bloated bullies like yourself! So get ready to taste the full force of me and Miss Piko Piko Hammer, Eggman!"

Eggman snickered at a such a direct response before snarling at the girl with increased anger.

"So you've come all this way to die with all of your little friends, eh? Well... Let's see what you and your little toy hammer have got, if you think you're brave enough?"

With her huge hammer still held tightly in both of her hands, Amy slowly moves a couple of steps towards Eggman where she is almost directly below him. The doctor with his glowing blue glasses stares down at her with growing disdain. She breathes another soft sigh before shooting back an intense, serious look right back at Eggman's eyeline.

"I'm... I'm ready when you are..."

"Heh! We'll see if you're as tough as you think... You little nuisance."

In the moments after Eggman gives his incensed retort at her, Amy launches herself from the ground to Eggman's shock. Then, with rapid, ferocious fashion and with great force from her body, Amy spins herself around with her hammer towards the direction of the eggmobile.

"What?!?"

Eggman is taken somewhat aback at Amy's attack but braces himself and the eggmobile for the upcoming assault. Amy then flings herself as a mini tornado directly at Eggman. Upon impact, her spinning hammer attack violently shakes the eggmobile and it's driver. Eggman struggles to maintain his balance upon the multiple hits to his vehicle.

"Get off!! Get off my vehicle, you damned little rugrat!!"

After several blows, Amy flings her spinning self onto a nearby tree. She wedges her hammer onto said tree whilst holding both hands very tightly onto it. Feeling secure in her placement, she pulls herself to leap upwards in the air. Whilst in the air, Amy braces herself for her downward descent by curling herself into a spiky pink ball to cushion her landing. She lands with balettic grace. She then leaps up to stand on top of the tree. Feeling fairly proud of her actions, she brushes herself down over her bright green and brown coloured clothes. Moments after her self cleaning ritual, she turns to face Eggman once again. Full of barely concealed rage that looks to explode in a volcano of redness that's already filling his burning face, the doctor shoots a burning stare right at Amy whilst hovers closer. In response to Eggman's red filled anger, the pink hedgehog unveils a sudden half smile, now feeling some earned confidence in her recent heroic actions.

"Are we feeling too upset now, Eggy-weggy?"

Two gloved fists slam onto the console with considerable force. Eggman growls with increasing anger at Amy's rising defiance of him. But sensing that she's getting under his skin, she continues to boast.

"If I'm too much for you, then maybe you should--"

"Silence!!! I've almost had up to here with you!! It's bad enough that the likes of Sonic often gets the better over me! And now, I won't let the likes of you get the same chance to lord that over me! You're just a little, inconsequential nuisance! And I will destroy you here and now and get what I came here for. Whatever it takes..."

"Whatever it takes, huh?"

Amy stands waiting for Eggman's next move. With some strong muscular force, she effortlessly pulls her hammer from below the tree with her and then holds it in her left hand. As Eggman begins to make his next move, she begins spins her hammer with her left hand with more and more rapid force to make it into a cartwheel spin. Eggman notices as Amy speaks directly at him, a growing sense of unbridled confidence in her speech that even he subtly notices.

"Ready for round two, Eggster?"

"So be it…”

[theubb]

Part 2 is done! i could have done more but there is not alot of time left so i want to get a move on and im quite tired. Besides its good enough!

But anyways ya this AU that Nine finds himself in is one where Eggman & co are the good guys and Sonic & Friends are the bad guys! In my notes i have just refered to it as "The Anti-Verse AU" or just "Anti-Verse" & such and i think Thats a good enough name.

The basic Idea of the AU is as follows:

The Evil Tyrant Maximillian Acorn, King of Moebius seeks to conquer the world in his own name for only He has the vision for a perfect world, it's his destiny! or so he believes.

Sonic and friends are his loyal followers and lackeys. They might have their own reasons for helping King Acorn’s conquest of the world but help him they shall.

But on the forefront to oppose him, from humble beginnings as a simple toy maker is the Brilliant Dr Ovi Kintobor and his friends! They seek the freedom of all and schtuff, essentially mainline Sonic’s deal y'know?

So far the only design i have done is Anti-Verse Eggy but for the AU i changed his name to Ovi Kintobor! I obviosly used Fleetway Kintobor and IDW's Mr Tinker as an inspiration but i have not yet decided if i want to use that alias in the same way Ivo Robotnik is Dr Eggman.

A comparison of my designs.

Whilst its not 110% done i am still very happy and proud of the Mech i built for Kintobor. I decided to make it green to contrast against how most Eggman Mechs are red. And again to contrast against Eggman Kintobor only has the 1 mech as opposed to Eggy's absurd amount. Eggman makes Mecha for specific purposes whilst Kintobor has more of a swiss army knife approach with 1 modular all purpose mech.

Which is why im fine with leaving it this unarmed for now. In the context of the scene Kintobor doesnt want to look threatening to Nine. Going back to the scene; whats hip happening is Kintobor and Nine meeting and Kintobor trying to convince Nine he is the good guy here (which he 100% is) and to come with him.

To add some extra context i decided to make use of @donelywell 's Loose rule of Sonic & Tails meeting Nine quite quickly after arrival and with that in mind; Sonic and Tails be bad guys in this AU and with Kintobor & Crew noticing Nine's arrival first he naturally wants to get Nine out of there before Sonk and Tails get him. And rember that ship from part 1? that was Kintobors.

So to Recap and add some more: Kintobor and Crew notice Nine quite quickly after his arrival. Luckily They were already about to disembark so they could desend via the ships elevators quite quickly. Plan is for Kintobor to make a B-Line to get Nine and convince him to come with Kintobor whilst Anti-Verse Metal Sonic and Shadow are to be lookout and give a heads up when they see Sonic & Tails as Kintobor & crew knew it would only be a matter of time before they got there.

And with that lets get back to talking more about the AU itself!

Mainline Eggy obviously has no qualms about using lethal force but obviously that doesnt feel right for a Good Guy Eggman and yet he needs some way to combat the fastest thing alive and his companions. So eventually i landed on the idea Kintobor stunning his opponents, just like how Stun works in Star Wars; Zap em and they go to sleep/are knocked out and with tougher individuals requiring more zaps.

but what would be the method of Kintobor's zapping? I figiured a gun of some kind, that kind eventually becoming the Retro-SciFi Ray Gun you see before you now.

And the Mech got such zappers in its palms, like Iron Man y'know? Speaking of the Mech, as you can see here i did give it a sword. My idea again being a very vercitile machine its gotta account for many scenarious, like for instance bad guy robots and mechs; and so a Sword! I have plans for even more weapons and different arms and other pieces since as said; i wish it to be quite modular.

Wow this long wasnt it? I will try to not say as much for parts 3 & 4 (no promises) whilst part 5 will be all cards on the table meaning probably as long as this one if not longer, we shall see.

But hopefully next week part 3 and introducing this AUs Shadow, See you then!

[tessathegamefreak]

Eeee! Clara is seeing a dragon version of herself being born out of an egg! With different versions of her parents or Mama Dragon and Papa Dragon, as she calls them) present!

Now, if this happened in the arcade of the Next-Gen universe, what are the Next-Gen children's reactions to this?

(These were drawn by @redscorpiocat X3)

Tootsie Fluggerbutter: Aw! Look at how happy that family is

Autumn Eve Orangeboar: So awesome! And cute!

Pepo "Fun-Sized" Orangeboar: It's so freaky, but cool!!!

Jolly-O Wipplesnit: Whoa, this is like a really cool manga scene!

Telrina L'amato: Oh- The popping out of the egg is kind of gross, but... The baby dragon is so cute...

Kaffe L'amato: The miracle of life...

Sabrosita Chamoy-Bing-Bing: Ah, I see a new life force has been added to the world. Welcome

Cerecita Chamoy-Bing-Bing: Uh.... Clara, you do see the dragon looks like you, right?....

Cadbury Treat: That's where babies come from?? Did I come from a chocolate egg?...

Akai "Pez" Treat: ... No Cadbury... But, you gotta admire how happy the family is

Oriana Batterbutter: Oh, It's always so beautiful to see the start of life!

Brezziana Flugpucker: *cracks open a soda and sips* Nice.

Dade Brumblestain: *He watches the scene, his eyes wide* ... Baby?.. Eggie.... Babies come fwom eggies? I need to tell mommy, now!!!

Sourpat just watched. She knows babies don't come from eggs, but she does remember when her dad told her she was kneaded and stretched from gelatin. She wonders if this is how Sourbill and Coalette felt after she finished forming.

Guard-It Gloria: Well, ain't that just something?

Deidamia: Wow. It's like watching a baby Cybug hatch, except I don't want to kill it....

Felix the III: ... *He looks at the dragon, then at Clara* ... *He chose to stay silent about the resemblance*

Steep: Huh. S'o that's what it'th like to have loving parentth...

Florence Von Schweetz: Wow... I know this is a happy moment, but it makes me miss my own father...

Anatoly: WHOA! That is wild! I have never seen a live birth before! It's a miracle!

[atangledfate]

🎀 ― a childhood memory. To Sticks

The young badger stood on the side of the fence watching the big reptile on the other side of the fence. She could see her Daddy on the other side, with one of the other trainers. She was excited! this was the part where he'd GRAB it and wrestle it! her dad was amazing! and she never got tired of seeing his shows! she wanted to be just like him someday!

The tall badger knelt close to the water and grinned at the audience watching not far away.

" OY see that! that's a saltwater crocodile! one of them big boys from earth! imma go say hello! "

He dove into the water and right onto the back of the big animal! wrestling and turning before he had the creature subdued!

" as you can see! they have AMAZING bite force! but only when they close there mouth! so right now as long as i hold him just like this! he can't go no where! ain't he just a beaut! well let's not keep him forever! as fun as it is he got's a mama to make eggys with so lets lett'em go! "

The badger jumped away and the gator annoyed as it was fled into the deep waetr! the crowd cheered! and Sticks was waving her hands at her father! who picked her up on his shoulders!

" blimey girl yer a right stick ain't ya! come on lets go get some lunch shall we! "

==============================================

The Badger jerked awake pulling at thorns covers to pull them closer to her but, even now the memory faded. why couldn't she? oh right it was one of them memes! that made sense!

" may sticks go sleepies now... thanks... "

[lanternouslobster]

Yayy someone who wants to hear about this!!

So, the RP was called Accursed. It takes place in an alternate universe where there was no competition. Instead, the Announcer had come to create an actual sense of law and government within Goiky by establishing Yoyle City. But then he disappeared, anarchy ensues, and in all the chaos FreeSmart (mostly Match and Pencil) manages to take control of the city. Surprise, surprise: nobody likes them leading and plans of a rebellion begin brewing. Suddenly, Pencil and Match take a “business leave” and, while they’re gone, public outlook begins to shift for no discernible reason. By the time they return, the city’s population is willing to tolerate their leadership. Everything is fine. The city thrives, and Pencil and Match continue to go on those “business trips” every month or so.

But then the curses start setting in. Objects start developing these seemingly supernatural, mystical illnesses of some kind that can’t be reset by recovery and cause permanent death when they run their full course. Pencil and Match are spurred on to do something about it when Bubble permanently dies, and the Yoyle City Center of Aide for the Accursed is created. Every object found to have a curse is sent there and kept under lockdown, not allowed to leave or even have visitors. They’re stuck there until they rot away from their curse. For the safety of the cursed and those around them, Pencil and Match say. Really, they just know that the accursed are the most likely to discover what’s really going on.

^^ You see that? Yeah, that’s all the background info before the RP actually started. The real RP followed a group of the accursed making their escape from the center and discovering the truth to everything while they’re fleeing. The drawing is of the escapees, and here are their curses, from left to right:

Golf Ball - Perception of reality is completely altered based on what she believes

Coiny - Slowly rusting

Teardrop - Causes excruciating pain to anyone she comes in contact with

Flower - Wilting

Clock - Turning into a ghost

Fanny - Turning into a dragon

Bomby - Whatever material he’s made of will randomly shift into different things (the danger lying in the chance of him turning into a gas and dispersing entirely)

Eggy - Whenever she touches something, a brick spawns ~100ft above her (the obligatory comedic curse)

Pillow - Forgets everything (was probably on track to forget how to breathe)

So, the first part of the RP was, like, 600+ comments of them plotting and executing an escape. There was chaos. Ruby had a gun. Match had a gun. I originally played Pen (alongside Clock and Pencil) but he got outright shot in the face so I was reduced to two roles. Somehow Coiny got ahold of a gun and absolutely decimated Pencil’s face. Either way, the characters shown in the drawing all escaped and fled to the forest while Pencil and Match stayed at the center to recuperate and prepare to make chase.

Second part of the RP. The escapees are in the woods deciding on what to do. Eggy mentions a legend she once heard of mysterious deities who may be willing to grant favors (the algebraliens in this universe) and dilapidated ruins of shrines (the Pillary Ruins). The group’s like “Screw it, let’s go” and head north. As they near the ruins, though, their curses start to get exponentially worse. Flower is on the verge of dying. Half of Clock is spectral. Fanny is going feral and attacks Clock, forcing the group to tie her up for everyone’s safety. It’s not looking good. Then they find the ruins, and one intact shrine. They go up to it, and Four appears. He’s like “what do you want” and Clock kinda blanks out and goes “fix Flower” bc she’s about to die and Four’s like “fine” and makes the progression of Flower’s curse slow down greatly. And everyone’s happy! This is the solution to the curses that they’ve been needing!

And then Clock completely disappears without warning bc there’s a cost to asking for favors, which is usually the placing of a curse upon the requester (because Four ✨feeds off of suffering✨) but since Clock was already cursed his just consumed him entirely. Oops! That’s not good! Doesn’t help that Pencil and Match (with a clueless Ruby in tow) arrive at the scene immediately after.

Chaos. Violence. Fanny is a little fighting terror. Match gets beaten to a near pulp by multiple of the accursed. Then Pencil commands Four to freeze all of the accursed in place, and the truth comes spilling out. Pencil and Match have known about this shrine for quite some time. They came to it when the city was calling for revolt against them as a last ditch effort to keep their power. In exchange for the city to love them, they offered the citizens of the city to be cursed in their place. They’ve been coming to Four for favors ever since.

So now the secret’s out. Ruby didn’t know about any of this, and she’s devastated. But before she can do anything, Match completely snaps. Beats up Eggy. Beats up Coiny. And then whirls on Pencil with an extensive list of complaints before absolutely slaughtering her. Amidst the chaos, Eggy (who’s somehow still alive despite the beatdown) calls out to Four and makes a proposal. Four will remove all the active curses, and they would all be transferred at an accelerated rate to herself, Pencil, and Match (because bigger tasks require more tributes. This was a pretty big request). Four agrees. Eggy freaking dies. Probably disintegrated or something idk. Match is dispatched. There wasn’t any official end to the RP (we kinda petered out at this point) but it’s assumed that there’s a happy ending of all the alive characters returning to the city and Ruby being given leadership of the city (plus Book and Icy bc they’re competent and also didn’t know about the Matchcil curse-causing shenanigans).

So that’s a simplified version of the RP, with all the unnecessary fluff and constant ooc chatter cut out

Shoutout to one heck of an RP that went down on the BFDI wiki

[fartstoriez]

(based on true events that happened to me)

Dirty plumber:

You hear the door bell and leave the room to answer it, you seen a hot chubby man at your door and he says he’s here to fix your toilet. “So where is it?” he says. “Uh upstairs on the right”you say back to him as he looks around.

He goes upstairs while you sit back down and watch tv. As your watching tv you hear a long loud rumble upstairs.

Pfffffrrrploprt!!

You walk to the bottom over the stairs while your cock begins to harden, the eggy smell hits your nose and burns your eyes leaving you underwear dripping.

PFFRT!

A short loud fart comes out the bathroom, you make your way upstairs and stand in the bathroom with smelt so strong of fart. He doesn’t notice you so you silently close the door and kneel in tue floor.

FRRRPPPOLP!!!!!

A massive fart shoots out his ass and fills the room. “Damn i’m gassy” he says to himself. you move you face close to his ass making you nose basically touching his smelly jeans.

pfffrt!

You moan quietly as he rips another eggy fart. He turns his head. “what are you doing?” he asks. “uh uh i- i was just watching” you stutter. “you don’t mind this room smelling like my farts?” he asks. “uh no” you reply. “you must like them them, have some more.” He grabs the back of your head forcing it into his wet smelly jeans.

FRTPPPOTTTRFFTYEOPppt!!!!

PFFT!!

2 massive farts echo in the room filling your lungs with pure fart. He gets up and closes the window.

PFFFTTRRRTPOO!

A wet one leaks out his crack making a bigger wet patch in his smelly jeans. “My work here is done, but you need some more. i’ll be back tomorrow.” he says with a big smirk.

[renova-writes]

Coney Island Hotdogs

Requested by: @maximeevansblog

Summary: “The reader is the daughter of bucky barnes, and the have a daddy - daugther Day, but the reader wants to sleep but her dad has other plans , and end of the Day the asks what do you wanna eat Mac donalds and the watch a movie, but the reader falls a sleep trough the movie, and he carries her to bed, but she wakes up and her dad she go back to sleep button, i am carring you to bed, and allot of fluff and cuteness and if its ready you tag me right thanks”

Words: 2,004

Warnings: Just basically a bunch of Fluff. Some mentions of bullying and death, but very light and fun

Other Works: masterlist

"Five more minutes," you whined. The clock on your bedstand read 5:39 am.

"Hey, button," you heard a voice whisper. The dark locks dangling over you told you that it was your father. "Get dressed. I have a surprise for you."

"It's too early."

"I know, but I'll make you a (your favorite caffeinated drink)" Your dad obviously wanted you to get up but was not going to force you. That was one of your favorite things about him. He never forced you to do anything you didn't want to.

"Really" Your sleepy eyes lit up at the mention of caffeine.

"Yes button, really. I promise. Just get yourself ready to go, and it will be waiting for you" he smiled and walked out of your room, "Also, bring a jacket. Just in case."

With that, your dad left. As you paused for a moment in your bedsheets, soaking up the last moments of fluffy warmth before you needed to get up, excitement crawled up your spine. It wasn't often that you and your dad did things, just the two of you. He was always busy with the Avengers, or you two were over with Sam and his family. When you did make time for special days, he usually asked you what you wanted to do beforehand.

His walking into your room at five in the morning, asking you to get up so that you two could have a bonding day, was unusual. He must have something special planned.

You forced yourself to get out of bed. That was going to be the hardest part. Half asleep, you dragged yourself over to the bathroom. You did your business and paused after washing your hands to brush your teeth and your hair. A smile crept across your face in the mirror as you tried to guess what you were going to do.

The zoo? The park? Maybe the museums?

You lived in the Avenger's tower in the heart of New York City, so there were many options. You gave up trying to guess and decided to go with whatever. It was going to be fun no matter what.

It was the beginning of spring, so it was warm during the day but cold in the mornings. You picked out a light floral dress, leggings, and a cardigan so that you could have layers. Some essential jewelry and your boots would also be a part of your outfit.

After putting on your clothes and some basic makeup, you made your way to the main room of your apartment. Just like he had promised, your dad had gotten your beverage from the Starbucks next to the lobby. He had probably gotten it before waking you up as it was sitting in the microwave/fridge.

"Hey button. Nice to see that you finally have awoken from your cavern of blankets," he joked, "You ready. I've got an amazing day planned out. Just the two of us."

"Yep. Where are we going."

"Button, that's a surprise!"

"Tell me!!" you giggled.

"Well, it wouldn't be a surprise if I told you," he smiled. A goofy grin was on his face, with admiration pouring out of his eyes.

"Just a hint…" you begged. "I'll probably forget by the time we get there."

"No. I want it to be a complete surprise," your dad insisted, "that's why, after you drink your drink, I want you to put on a blindfold."

Oh dear, he was very insistent about this whole surprise thing.

"But first, BREAKFAST!!!" he exclaimed as he presented you with your favorite breakfast, waffles, and strawberries. The plate seemed to sparkle with deliciousness as your stomach cried out in hunger.

"Yummy!!!"

"See, I remembered your favorite" he seemed very proud of himself. You had mentioned that you liked waffles when Wanda had made them for a birthday breakfast.

"Dig in! I put some strawberry syrup into the waffles themselves so that we would have extra strawberry flavor."

He handed you a fork and a knife, and you cut into them. The heat fell off of the bite on your forked, and you braced yourself in anticipation. Your father could cook; he and Steve used to make dinners for the team. But that was with Steve, now that he was gone, your dad rarely cooked. It had been hard for him. He was slowly getting over it; you definitely helped. Having somebody to take of, his therapist agreed, was very good for him. But his food was very hit or miss. This morning, however, the waffles were amazing.

The strawberries tasted fresh and had the perfect amount of sweetness. The waffles were eggy, precisely the way you liked them.

"Dad! These are delicious!" you exclaimed.

"I know, right, they're so good," he nodded in agreement, "but can I admit something? I stole the recipe off Auntie Wanda."

It didn't matter where he got the recipe from. They were delicious. It took the two of you a total of 10 minutes to eat the entire plateful.

He pulled a blindfold out of his pocket and put it around your eyes. You had faith that he wouldn't let you bump into anything. You weren't going to have to worry about the crowded city streets. When the strangers passing by got a glimpse of his metal arm, they always made a beeline away from him.

You knew it hurt him. You could see it in his eyes. He was your dad, after all. When you were younger, you couldn't understand why they were afraid, but now that you were older, you knew. It never, even for a second, hurt your relationship with your dad. You loved him. You knew that the real James Barnes was a cinnamon roll. This was a man who wouldn't kill spiders when he found them in the kitchen. This was a man who hung out with the Parker boy and played video games.

Even though the blindfold around your eyes took away your sight, you knew that your dad was checking to see if his gun was where he needed it. After all, he was the Winter Soldier. But that was an everyday thing. When he stopped rustling with his pockets, you felt a hand on your shoulder guiding you out of the room.

------

As soon as you heard the crowd's excitement, you knew where you were. The smell of cotton candy and hot dogs confirmed it.

Your dad had taken you to Coney Island.

You hadn't been there since you were a little kid and couldn't control your excitement. The hand that had been guiding you on your shoulder disappeared and removed the blindfold.

After taking a moment to adjust to the light, your eyes took in the flashing lights and kids running around. The roller coasters and carnival games all around you captivated your attention and caused a smile to form on your face.

"How's this for a surprise Button?"

"Dad, this is amazing! Thank you!!!"

"What ride do you want to go on first?"

The morning flew by in a blur. You and your dad had decided to go on every single ride you could. He had enjoyed the bumper cars and had won you a stuffed panda bear on one of the shooting games. You got the famous coney island hot dogs for lunch and ate on a bench on the beach. The entire morning, there was one thing that you really wanted to do… Ride the Cyclone.

"Hey, dad….."

"Yes Button"

"Can we ride the Cyclone"

"Um. of course. We have to. What's the point of coming here if we don't."

You threw away your trash and got in line. A man with purple hair and tattoos strapped the two of you in and took your picture.

"Alrighty ladies and gents," the loudspeaker in the car said. "Are you ready for the Cyclone"

Everyone on the train whooped and hollered in excitement, and the car lurched forward. Slowly you crept up the first hill and felt the adrenaline follow. At the top, you saw the people on the benches below. You couldn't help but compare them to little dolls from your height.

With that, the car reached the top of the hill and falls.

"Whoa, Button, I think I'm going to be sick," Buck said once you were off. He was looking somewhat green and queasy.

It was your turn to guide him... to a trash can. It turned out he wasn't going to throw up, which you were grateful for, but the Cyclone's toll had been taken. He rested his body on a bench and called it quits.

"What time is it," he asked. You checked your watch. It was two in the afternoon. "How about we do something a little, slower."

"Sure," you agreed. You were in Brooklyn, his home borough, and he decided to take you on a tour of where he grew up.

"And this is the alleyway where your Uncle Steve decided to get in all those fights," he said you passed by. "One time, after I saved his tiny ass, he told me that he thought he had pulled a muscle, and I was all like, 'Steve, you can't pull what you don't have."

You giggled at the thought of skinny Steve. Continuing on your tour, you saw his old apartment and walked through the one he shared with Steve. It had been turned into a museum, and you laughed together for an hour as he pointed out every single detail that had been changed.

"There was no way that we could have two beds! There was no heater, so we shared one! Why would they change that! It wasn't like we had anything going on between us!" he argued. You laughed as the tour guide still could not recognize one of the old occupants of the apartment.

Once your dad seemed satisfied with his tour, the two of you walked down to the nearest subway stop. In the underground station, you passed those golden arches.

"Dad, can we get McDonald's," you asked.

"Are you sure, Button, we can get much better food back a the tower"

"Yeah, we haven't had it in forever, and I need to feed my inner Chicken nugget," you joked.

He must have been in an excellent mood because he gave in to the lure of the golden arches. He also seemed like he really wanted a burger because he got his usual order, Two big macs, a large fry, and an M&M McFlurry. The super-soldier serum had granted him the ability and need to eat loads of food. You also figured that he wanted a break from Pepper's food because she had decided that the entire team needed to become more healthy conscience. It wasn't that anyone hated her food; it was just somewhat bland. And besides, who wants couscous when you can have Micky D's.

After Bucky had wolfed down his food, and you had savored each bite of Chicken Nugget, you got on the train back home. You could feel yourself grow tired as your body finally rested from an exciting and full day. Your head drooped down and rested on your father's shoulder.

"Hey, button, let's watch a movie in the tower."

He picked out a classic, The Wizard of Oz, and made popcorn. You barely made it to the tornado before your eyes finally gave up. You were so tired that you didn't feel your dad pick you up and start carrying you to your bed.

Your eyes fluttered open as you heard 'If only I had a heart' playing from the TV.

"Hey, Button," your dad's voice whispered, "You fell asleep. I didn't want you to wake up on the sofa, so I'm taking you to your bed."

He laid you down and pulled up the blankets. With a kiss on your forehead, turned to leave.

"Dad, I love you," you called out.

"I love you too, Button" On that note, he turned out your light and closed your door

[elizabeethan]

Spaces Between Us- 1/12

The hardships of real life separated them six years ago, and Emma has been struggling to put that fact behind her ever since. But then, only after she’s convinced herself that she’s moved on and that her new life is enough, Killian Jones comes back.

A Captain Swan Modern AU

A/N: first, the chapter count is a big fat probably, definitely not definite! I’m  really really excited to share this story! i’ve got four chapter pre-written so far, so i’m planning on posting on a consistent weekly basis. 

More tags will apply to later chapters and i’ll put warnings where they're necessary, but if you have any concerns or questions feel free to message me!

Thank you, as usual, to my beta and friend @the-darkdragonfly, and to @donteattheappleshook and @xhookswenchx for listening to my ramblings and helping me figure out the plot to this <3

(also bonus points if you can guess what the title is based on :) it’s a hint)

This story will be rated M

This chapter: ~3200 words

Read on Ao3

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Tagging: @courtorderedcake @kmomof4 @stahlop @klynn-stormz @laschatzi @emelizabeth88 @lfh1226-linda @kday426 @elisethewritingbeast @timeless-love-story @captain-emmajones @gingerpolyglot @ebcaver @ilovemesomekillianjones @teamhook @superchocovian @itsfabianadocarmo @tiganasummertree @gingerchangeling @jrob64 @onceratheart18 @xhookswenchx @winterbaby89 @swampmedusa @ultraluckycatnd @dancingnancyy @love-with-you-i-have-everything​ @shireness-says @snowbellewells @hollyethecurious​ @ouatpost​ @daxx04​ @the-darkdragonfly​ @donteattheappleshook​ @therooksshiningknight @eeteeaytay​ @xsajx​ @itsfridaysomewhere​ @alexa-fangirl-forever​ @jonesfandomfanatic​ @wefoundloveunderthelight​ @qualitycoffeethings​ @rapunzelsghosts​

~~~~

She wakes before the sun as she does most mornings, with a start and a jump as she springs her head from her pillow and clutches her hand to her pounding chest. Glancing to her right, she sees her still sleeping husband and breathes a sigh of relief, letting her shoulders sag and her eyes flutter shut slightly. He’s fast asleep, just like he is each time she has one of her horrifying nightmares, never noticing her fearful thrashing. Rolling her eyes, she removes the blankets and lets her bare feet hit the hardwood floor and stands to make her way to the bathroom. After her shower, Emma dresses silently, applies minimal makeup, and sneaks out of their bedroom, still successful in not disturbing her husband. 

 Her son is already on the couch downstairs waiting for her, of course. If there’s one thing the two of them are equally bad at, it’s sleeping. She smiles when she sees him curled up with his picture book, his orange tabby, Abby, purring away beside him. “Morning, bub,” she greets once she’s downstairs, and he grins up at her happily. 

 “Hi, mommy.” 

 Crossing the room to the couch, she leans down and presses a kiss to his cheek and asks, “do you want some breakfast? We’ve got to get you ready for the library soon.” 

 “Is dad coming?”

She shakes her head. “No, bub. Dad has to work today, so it’s just you and mommy. I’m sorry.”

 “Okay!” he says happily, jumping from the couch and disturbing Abby. “Me and mommy day!”

 She giggles softly and grins, following as he bounds for the kitchen and trying to ignore the ache in her chest that accompanies his complete lack of concern over his father being absent for something he enjoys, again. 

“What do you want for breakfast, bub? Eggs?”

 “Eggies!” he calls, crawling up onto his dining chair. “Scrambied.” 

 “Scrambled,” she corrects gently. “With cheese?”

 “Yes! Cheese please!”

 “Very good manners, Henry,” she praises happily as she takes out a bowl, a whisk, and a pan before heading towards the fridge. “Aren’t you going to help me crack the eggs?” 

 His eyes widen and he drops his jaw dramatically, jumping off the chair with enthusiasm and running towards her. “I can crack the eggies?!”

 She smiles down at him, taken by his excitement and his refusal to say real words, and says, “yes, my love.” 

 Choking on her words, she wants to kick herself. Six year and she still finds herself using his stupid phrasing. It sends a jolt of discomfort and a twinge of longing pain through her entire being, the ability to remember small details at the most inopportune times having always haunted her. It tells her how she feels. It tells her she’ll never forget. It tells her how she’ll never feel again. 

 Her husband grumbles as he enters the kitchen, grabbing a banana from the fruit bowl and grabbing Emma’s ass in full view of her son, which makes her stiffen and glare ahead out the window, grinding her teeth. “Morning,” he says. 

 “Do you have to do that, Walsh?” she asks quietly through clenched teeth. 

 She doesn’t need to be facing him to know that he rolls his eyes. 

 Taking a deep, grounding breath in, she bends towards Henry and scoops him up easily, placing him on the counter and handing him an egg. “Remember how I showed you?” 

 “What are you doing, teaching him to cook?” Walsh asks in an incredulous tone. 

 “I don’t know, giving him life skills? Just tap gently against the counter, bub,” she instructs, and he does just that. Well, almost that. 

 He smashes the egg against the counter and she quickly helps him to drag it over the bowl, splitting it open messily and letting the yoke fall in. “I did it!”

 “No shells; excellent job!” 

 “Dad, look!” 

 Walsh makes no effort to turn from his damn phone, instead nodding once and grunting in false acknowledgment. 

 He cracks another egg, this time getting a bit of shell in the bowl but able to fish it out with help, and Emma begins beating them with just a bit too much force. “What exactly are we doing today?” she asks. 

 “Swearing in ceremony. The new sheriff starts.”

 She nods. The new sheriff was appointed by the state, so no one but Walsh knows who they are or what their deal is. Why they’re in Storybrooke to begin with. What kind of town they think they’re going to be protecting and serving. It shouldn’t be as exciting as it is, greeting a new citizen, but Storybrooke is a sleepy little town with very little excitement. 

 She has no idea how she got here. 

 “That’s why you can’t come to the library, dad?” Henry asks sadly, and his father nods without making eye contact. 

 “Yeah,” he confirms. “I have important work to do.”

 Emma rolls her eyes, then smiles softly at Henry and says, “it’s alright. It’s just Henry and mommy day, remember?”

 His face lights up again and he nods, grabbing for the cheese and stealing a slice for himself. She glares at him playfully and he giggles, squirming to the edge of the counter before she assists him down and he runs for the living room. “Food in the kitchen!” Emma calls after him. Walsh looks up from his phone for a moment, then straight back down. 

 Henry returns quickly, holding a small piece of cheese down towards the floor and taunting poor Abby with it as she chases after him. “She wants some!”

 “Henry, we don’t give Abby human food, remember? Why don’t you eat your cheese and give her some of her food?”

 He nods, gobbling his snack and then tossing a small piece onto the floor for the cat when he thinks she’s stopped paying attention. God dammit. 

 “Hey, dress nice today,” Walsh commands from behind his emails. “After the library, come to the town hall. There’ll be photo ops for the paper.”

 “Okay,” she mumbles. 

 “Make sure he doesn’t make a mess of himself.”

 She can’t respond with words without shouting, so she stays quiet. God forbid a child have a little fun and get a little dirty. “Henry, come get your breakfast. Did you feed Abby?”

 “Okay!”

 “Did you?”

 “Coming!”

 She signs and rolls her eyes, plating his eggies and tossing the pan into the sink too loudly before feeding the cat and heading upstairs, hoping her child’s father can watch him for the five minutes it will take for her to pick out a newspaper-worthy outfit for the two of them. 

 ~~~~

 “There it is!” Henry calls as he runs into the children’s section of the library, dodging other kids and parents and beelining towards his favorite. “Mommy! Come on!”

 She apologizes to the people he bumped into and finds him with his book already open to his favorite page. “Henry,” she says seriously. “Bub, you’ve got to slow down. You ran into some people and you have to be careful.”

 “Sorry,” he says, not looking up from the dog in the illustration. 

 She sighs and sits beside him, nudging him over and taking a spot on the oversized bean bag chair. “What is Mudge getting up to today?” she asks him, using the skills Belle taught her to get him to engage with the words and the pictures. 

 He’s quiet for a while, pointing out details to her and trying his hand at a few words. He’s starting to get good at reading since starting kindergarten, and she couldn’t be prouder when he sounds out family without much help, beaming at him and stroking her fingers through his chestnut hair. 

 “Mommy?” he asks after taking in an illustration of Henry and Mudge going up a hill. She hums in response to urge him to go on and he asks, “why doesn’t dad like to read with me?” 

 She can feel her heart plunging to her stomach, dropping like an anvil and sending a cold sweat across her body. Walsh has always been distant. When they first met, he seemed so sweet, and when he proposed as soon as they found out she was pregnant, she thought she had hit the jackpot. But as soon as their son was born, she saw a change in him. He became a different person, never around, never helping much, never showing either of them any affection. She blamed it on his new role as the Mayor of Storybrooke; he couldn’t have had a scandalous extramarital pregnancy on his docket and being a family man helped his chances for election. But knowing that doesn’t make it any easier to know that the man she’s stuck spending the rest of her life with isn’t shy about how little he regards her. 

 She can deal with a lack of love from her husband. What she can’t deal with is his lack of love for his son.

 Through her anger, she responds calmly, telling Henry, “dad’s just so busy, bub. He has an important job and it’s hard for him to focus on other things sometimes, because he’s so tired.” 

 Henry nods softly and turns the page. “So he doesn’t like me?” 

 The tears that spring to her eyes are instant and unstoppable, and she’s grateful that they're sitting side by side so that he can’t see her reaction. Clearing her throat, she says, “no, Henry, of course he does. I think sometimes he’s just… stressed.”

 “You’re stressed, but you love me,” he points out. 

 With a gulp, she says, “and I always will, more than anything. But your dad… he… Well, he just isn’t the type of person to say that like mommy is. That’s why I say it so much,” she smiles. 

 Her son looks up at her and smiles, his enigmatic gray eyes shining despite the sunlight not reaching this secluded back corner of the library. “I love you, mommy,” he tells her, and he gives her a hug that makes her feel more love than she’s ever felt with her husband. 

 She’s always been able to compartmentalize the fact that her husband doesn’t love her. That he never once told her that he does. That he married her out of obligation after knocking her up. But she can’t ignore the fact that he shows no love for their son, either. 

 What’s worse, is that he’s noticed. 

 ~~~~

 The town hall is nothing special, the cinderblock walls and the tile floors enough to keep the cold, fall air inside and make Emma shiver when she takes her coat off. Her husband, miserable as he is, gives her a quick smile and a curt nod that tells her she’s only welcome here because of the cameras and their need to portray a happy, loving family. It’s true, he’s always provided for them and made sure that they want for nothing, but it’s limited only to basic needs and material things. 

 “Hi,” he greets quickly, leaning in to press a kiss to her cheek as a camera flashes. She forces herself to smile. “Hi, son.” 

 Henry grunts up at his father, not making eye contact and not letting go of Emma’s hand. “Hi,” he mumbles. 

 Emma knows, as much as she hates to admit it, that Henry should give his dad a hug so that Sydney Glass can snap a photo of the wholesome moment. But after their conversation earlier, she isn’t inclined to make him. So, she bends at the knees and gives him a smile, asking, “bub, do you want to give your dad a hug hello?” 

 He shrugs, looking down at his feet, and reluctantly reaches for Walsh. He laughs happily as he picks Henry up, giving him a squeeze and successfully tricking the few townsfolk here into believing his show. “How was the library, buddy?” 

 Henry says nothing in return, shrugging and then squirming until Walsh puts him down. He runs back to Emma and takes her hand again, holding on tight, and she paints on a smile and runs her fingers through his hair. “Let’s find a seat, Henry,” she suggests. 

 “There's seats here for you,” Walsh tells her, gesturing for the first row where there are three folding chairs, each with a placard on them. Mayor Walsh Oswald is first, with Mrs. Walsh Oswald to the right and Mr. Henry Oswald in the center of the two. 

 Emma takes a seat and has Henry do the same, and after a few more handshakes and photo ops, Walsh sits as well and the ceremony begins. Sydney Glass continues to snap pictures of the crows and of the stage, until the lights dim and the state’s police chief walks on stage. 

 A speech is made, as if this event is anything more than mundane, and then the mayor is called on stage to complete the induction of the town’s new sheriff. Walsh graces the stage excitedly, earning applause from the small crowd as he waves, and takes the microphone. He says a few words about the town’s safety being the number one priority, and assures everyone that the state police chief surely couldn't have made a better decision when he hired their new sheriff. 

 And then he calls him onto the stage. 

 And Emma’s world goes dark. 

 Killian Jones. 

 Her eyes must be three times their normal size as he walks onto the stage, and she’s grateful for the dramatic lights because they mean he likely can’t see her. But she can see him. 

 For the first time in six years, she can see him. 

 Her breathing quickens and her vision feels blurry, and she realizes that in her haste to get ready this morning, she had barely anything but coffee. She takes a deep breath and clings to the seat of her folding chair with white knuckles, gnawing on her bottom lip until it bleeds as she watches the one that got away place his hand on the bible and repeat a vow of servitude to her husband. She wants to die. 

 “Mommy?” Henry whispers in the darkness. “Are you okay?” 

 She swallows against her bone dry throat and nods, giving him a shaky smile, which only serves to worry him some more, likely due to her sudden paleness. “Yes,” she whispers. “Hush, bub. It’s almost done.” 

 The heart in her chest, the one she gave away to the man on the stage years ago, slams against her ribs almost painfully, until Walsh announces the new sheriff and the crowd begins to cheer. Through panting breaths, she claps, and then grabs Henry’s hand and pulls him as subtly as she can towards the exit and into the chilly November air. “Where are we going?” he asks in confusion. 

 “Mommy just needs some air,” she explains, gulping in a breath as she throws herself through the double doors. 

 She squats down and presses her back to the brick wall, burying her face in her hands and trying to steady her breathing before she feels Henry's small hand on her head. He does what she always does to him when he’s upset and begins scratching his fingers against her scalp, and the thoughtful notion brings tears to her eyes. “It’s okay, mommy,” he consoles, and she’s sure he has no idea what’s going on, although he shows her endless compassion either way. She wonders how she got so lucky with such a thoughtful son when he was basically doomed by genetics. 

 “I’m sorry, bub,” she says softly. “I’m fine, really.” 

 She hears the doors open to her right and assumes the ceremony must be over, so she turns her head away from the crowd. She hears someone ask Henry if he’s alright and starts wiping at her tears, intent on interrupting the exchange, but when Henry says, “my mommy is sick,” she laughs and shakes her head. 

 “Shall we get her some help, lad?” he asks, and Emma’s certain that if she had eaten breakfast, she would lose it. 

 “I don’t need help,” she mumbles, breathing heavily and hiding her face in her hands. 

 “It’s no problem,” he insists. Then he makes a joke, his tone light and flirty and exactly like she remembers it. “I don't know if you noticed, but I'm here to protect and serve.” 

 It’s impossible for her to hold in a soft chuckle, cut off by a surprising and breathless sob, and she can’t help but to look up at him. She watches as his jaw drops and his eyes widen; he falters backwards as he takes in the sight of her, denial and shock ever present on his face. He looks like he wants to say something, but words die on his lips and he remains still before he snaps his mouth shut. 

 “Aren’t you gonna help my mom?” Henry asks in disgust, staring up at Killian in a way that makes Emma want to throw up. She never did think that these two worlds would collide, as much as she may have wanted them to. 

 He hasn’t broken his gaze from her until he looks at her son and gulps before staring back down at her. “Uh, aye,” he says to Henry. “Do you need some help, miss?” 

 Without waiting for her answer, he offers her his hand and she takes it. There’s a shock that rushes through her entire body at the feeling of his skin touching hers, and it feels like she’s coming home and losing her sanity all at once. The pains in her chest are overwhelming and she can feel more tears stinging her eyes as he pulls her up from the ground. She nearly topples into his chest once she’s finally standing, because she’s so unsteady that her legs feel like they’re made of the noodles Henry likes in his soup, and he catches her before she can stumble. 

 He asks, “alright?” with such soft concern that she thinks she would smoothe out his brow and kiss him if not for Henry standing beside them. 

 She’s about to answer before she hears, “sheriff,” coming from her husband to her right. Her husband. Right. 

 They spring apart and she looks down at Henry, who is staring up at her with his brows drawn close together and his lips set in a straight, thin line. She gives him a small smile before looking at Walsh and blinking rapidly. “Hi, honey,” she greets. “I just met the sheriff; he was just helping me up. What a great addition to the town.” 

 Walsh glares at her with a look on his face that tells her she’ll be hearing about this later and then turns to Killian and offers his hand. “I look forward to meeting with you, Mr. Jones,” he says as they shake hands stiffly. 

 “Pleasure,” he responds. “It was nice to meet you and your family. I’ll see you next week.” 

 Her husband places a stiff hand on her back, calling for Henry to follow them without bothering to make sure that he actually is, before hissing, “let’s go,” into her ear. 

 Her heart races for an entirely different reason than it had when she saw Killian Jones. 

~~~~

~~~~

[ninjakasuga]

Sonally Celebration Week! Year Three, Day Six: Rescue

Sonally Celebration Week, Year Three, Day Six: Rescue

Day six, and admittedly the toughest piece to write since well, action scenes require more finesse than a domestic/slice of life story. The journey continues, and since my main focus mostly centers on Sonic and Sally’s post Robotnik/Eggman war peace time lives, I like to flex different events when the prompts give way to good inspiration. When one has to do with rescuing, well, let’s just say, if you’re dumb enough to harm someone’s children, woe comes to you in waves.

Day Six: Rescue.

It was supposed to have been a nice, pleasant day. Go to Spagonia with your big bro and his wife, enjoy flying in a fancy transport ship. While Sonic and Sally do the diplomatic thing, Sonia and Manic would watch J.C. and Kathy as they got to enjoy the city. See the sights, enjoy some ice cream and crepes from the city vendors, and just have a good old time! However, it wasn’t to last, the day was ruined when the sound of their ‘secret tail’ security guards crying out after being, well truthfully Sonia didn’t get to hear what exactly happened to their bodyguards (she hoped they were alive). All she heard was some muffled noise; some people screaming, and suddenly a van rolled up, and people in masks and jumpsuits grabbed and knocked them all out.

After coming too, she woke up to a bag over her head, only to have it torn off, and bright lights flashing in her face. A camera was aimed at them as some jerkoff using a voice-modulating helmet to obscure his identity was making some long list of demands and basically laid out they were collateral if those demands were not met. She tried to make everything out, but she was still groggy from waking up from whatever they used to knock her out. Manic was no better when she asked him if he gleaned anything she missed, sadly he was as groggy as she had been. She knew better than to ask the kids, clearly the six-year-olds were ‘terrified’ and wanted nothing more than to go home and jump into their parents arms.

Hell, the sixteen year old herself wanted to hug her parents just as badly. After that song and dance with the camera, all four were dragged to this cell of sorts, and left there with a guard detail. Whatever they wanted, they seemed to be serious, or at least wanted to come off that way. Her keen eye noticed some of their guards seemed unsettled. Like they were not keen they had kidnapped children. Maybe she, or Manic could use that? A little of the ol’ duo-charm to-.

“Auntie Sonia?” The small, childish voice snapped the older hedgehog out of her thoughts. Instantly her head snapped to the small child resting in her lap.

Forcing a calm smile, Sonia gently petted Kathleen’s soft auburn hair, which had blue tips at the end. Many thought it was dyed, but it was merely something that seemed to happen to both children, who inherited their Mother’s auburn tresses. Yet at the tips, bits of blue would form over time. No doubt the stubbornness of her big brother’s genes at work. Just hand to mingle with Sally’s.

“What’s up kiddo?” She asked her niece as she continued to stroke her head, and did her best to seem calm and collected. She and Manic were the adults here, they needed to be strong for these precious babies.

Green eyes look up, then over to the cell door, then back to Sonia’s own. “I wanna go home.” A simple request, but what child wouldn’t want to go home with this kind of situation abound? “Why do these guys wanna be mean to Mommy and Daddy?”

Another voice spoke up, the disdain high and snark on full. “Cuz they’re- and I quote.” Manic Hedgehog interjected, keeping his voice calm, and then upping the volume as he aimed his words at their guard. “A BUNCHA COWARDS WHO RESORT TO KIDNAPPING KIDS!!” He shouted with full malice at their captors, which made both children recoil, and his sister wince.

“Manic!” Hissed Sonia as she reached out and yanked at his ear. “Stop it! You’re just making it harder for J.C. and Kathy!” She growled at her brother, her eyes going to the door to their cell and sure enough their masked guard had turned to regard them. Thankfully he just turned away and went back to guarding.

“Well these bozos need to know what kind of d*ckless, wussies they are!” Retorted Manic, the green-dyed-furred hedgehog with a growl in his voice. Usually Manic was chill, and easy-going with a touch of mischief. He was running red right now, his niece, nephew and sister being put in danger can do that to someone. “Plus they’re f*cking idiots!”

“Manic, language!” Sonia chastised further as she covered his mouth with a hand. “Not that I disagree with you, but is antagonizing our captors the wisest idea?!”

Removing her hand from his mouth, Manic let out a dismissive snort. Yet his gaze softened some as he saw the kids were looking antsy again. “Maybe not, but seriously what kind of idiots kidnaps the Prince and Princess of a Kingdom? I mean, you want a war? Plus think of their parents, heroes of the war against the Big Robo and Big Eggy! I mean that’s a recipe for doom more than my Taco Tuesday Blowout Cookout.” The food wasn’t the issue, so much as the aftermath, but worth it in Manic’s eyes.

A small rumbling was heard and J.C. blushed as eyes rested on him. “...I’m hungry, and Uncle Manic makes great tacos.” He managed a smile, despite clearly still being scared.”

“Heheh, once we get out I’ll make us all some.” Manic promised as he lovingly scratched the back of his nephew’s ears. He did the same for Kathleen, not wanting her to feel left out. “Also, sorry about the yelling and language, I’m just pis-er-pointedly angry at the bad guys.”

“We’re ‘not’ the bad guys.” Their guard finally spoke, snorting loudly. The way he seemed to clutch his weapon and his covered tail (they seemed intent to make it hard to guess their species) twitch and move, hinted at his anger at such an accusation.

Despite having just chastised Manic for antagonizing their captors; Sonia found herself unable to not engage them. “Not from where we’re standing. Uncouth as my brother put it, he called it right. Nobody who kidnaps children are the good guys.”

“We’re not going to harm you, we’re just sending a message.” His steadfast tone, carried a firmness of whatever convictions he carried about their unknown ‘cause’.

“What sort of message? We’re kidnapping your kids, so we invite you to come kick our butts? Seriously, what else do you expect?” Sonia inquired, keeping her tone polite, hoping perhaps this guard might spill some kernel of information they could use. Then a thought occurred to her. “What happened to the bodyguards watching us? I heard them cry out, did you capture them too or did you kill them?”

“We shot them, but we didn’t shoot to kill.” The guard callously responded. “They should live.”

“Do you know that for a fact? Even a crippling gunshot can lead to death if they bleed out before they get help or the injury causes the right amount of trauma. I heard multiple muffled sounds… If they got shot multiple times that increases the chances they didn’t make it.” The magenta-dyed hedgehog stated with cold, medical fact. “They also had families, so nice job dipwad, you possibly widowed and orphaned two families.” It was petty, but seeing his body language shift and just slightly shake before firming back up gave Sonia a sense of satisfaction. “You could have used stun-blasters.”

The guard hissed back his reply, but she could tell he was trying to justify his words to himself. “You can’t silence stun-blasters.”

Rolling his eyes, Manic decided to chime in. “So you bozos prioritized not making noise, over making your little power grab as bloodless as possible.”

“If they die, our leaders will make it right, all of this has a purpose! It’s to make things better-!”

It wasn’t Sonia or Manic that cut the man off, but J.C.’s small but clearly angry voice. “So making Mr. Hunigan and Mrs. Fletcher dead is alright when you say so?” The boy’s fists clenched tightly. “They were nice people, and we know their kids, they’re our friends… you took their Dad n’ Mom from them you-you, j-jerk!”

“Gee, even the six year old can see it clear as day.” Sonia icily sneered at their captor, scooting closer she slid both her arms around her family and kept them close.

“Mommy, sh-she and Daddy are gonna find us.” Kathleen managed to speak up, wiping her eyes, like her brother managed the most fearsome glare she could. “They’ll find us and kick your butts! They’re heroes, they always save the day!”

Turning, the guard’s helmet, visor and cloth covering their mouth obscured whatever Mobian species they were. “Your parents are part of the problem! If not for the Acorn Kingdom’s meddling along with the other outsider nations, we wouldn’t need to do this!”

“Only meanies justify their actions by blaming others!” Humphed the young princess as she turned her head away, as if to utterly disregard her captor. Oh Sonia and Manic’s heart swelled.

“I gotta agree with Kathy here, sounds like blame-gaming here-.” Manic mused, only to be cut off by their clearly irate captor.

“If they hadn’t meddled with the trade tariffs making exporting goods harder, not to mention their invasive meddling with our affiliate cities-!”

A lightbulb went off in Sonia’s head. “Wait, wait, time out!” She put her hands together in the referee gesture to hopefully get a word in. “You guys are blaming them for the trade issues and the Acorn Kingdom’s presence in your sister cities? Um, dude, hoo boy, you are probably being played by whoever your leaders are.”

“Bite your tongue-!” “Okay you know what, screw that, and kids I’m sorry but-.” After giving her niece and nephew an apologetic look, she quickly sent her captor a fiery glare. “First off, F*CK you! Second, the Kingdom sent delegations to those cities BY REQUEST! The mayors asked for aid in looking into some oddities with exports from Spagonia going in and out because they realized something was hinky with the weird laws and micro-managing coming out of Spagonia’s Trade & Commerce Ministry. Any of your Minister’s calling the investigations meddling or preludes to occupation are trying to play the dodge game moron! Second of all, the tariff problem? I shouldn’t say this, but I love talking shop with my sis-in-law, and boy a lot of the issues stem from how they were set up, like someone ‘wanted’ the tariffs to cause issues and sow discord. It’s a big political set-up but my big-brained Sis likes big-brained chess and she’s onto some corruption from within Spagonia’s Trade & Commerce Ministry.”

She watched as the guard looked uneasy, and his compatriot to the far way seemed to be listening in as well and had lowered his weapon some. “That, that can’t be possible.”

Footsteps could be heard as another similarly dressed guard walked into view of the first one. “Ignore them comrade, they’re trying to unnerve you.” “What if it’s true our leaders are lying to us? Given who some of them are-.” “Shut your mouth before you give anything away!” The other, more burly guard hissed as he raised a gloved hand, poised to smack his comrade if he didn’t do as he said. With his associate cowed, he turned to the cell and pointed his weapon. “Shut your mouths or I might just have to shut it for you.”

Manic moved in front of his sister, nephew and niece, arms out. “Touch them buddy, and you and I are gonna tussle!”

“Uncle Manny don’t!” “D-don’t get hurt!” “Manny…” Sonia held the children close, but tried to soothe her brother. “Don’t, they’re clearly too deluded to listen.”

“You will see it is you who is delusional!” The burly captor spoke, with a zeal of a true-believer. “Once it’s clear your Queen and your treacherous nation are outed as the villains they are, things will become bet-.”

Suddenly the entire room rumbled, and the sound of muffled shouts, and fighting could be heard in the other room. All their captors turned toward the metal door just out of view of Sonia, Manic and the children. Suddenly the door flies off its hinges, slamming into the far guard who cried out in pain and terror as they are taken out. A familiar ‘rev up’ sound is heard and then a blue blur slams into the burly captor sending him flying. As the sounds of fists fly, another far off captor raises their weapon, only for the sound of jets to get clouder and a familiar southern drawl is heard shouting. “TAKE A NAP YA’ CREEP!” A blaster bolt is heard firing off screen. Soon a blue energy blast hits the captor, causing them to drop their weapon as the stun-bolt freezes their whole body. As another guard attempts to fight, the flying Rabbot zooms him and body-tackles the would-be-attacker, a loud, thick ‘crunch’ of metal hitting flesh is heard. Clearly a one-hit-KO.

The original guard readies their weapon, trying to pick a target, clearly panicking. “Ho-hold or I’ll shoot!”

*KER-SLICE!!*

Their weapon is cleaved in two, falling from their hands, and in the next half-second, the tip of the weapon responsible is held at their throat. This man finds himself looking into the very, angry blue eyes of the Queen of the Acorn Kingdom herself, Sally Acorn. Wielding an ornate sword with the crest of her family on the hilt, and ornate lines etched into the blade. For a second the guard swore the weapon’s blade glowed for a moment, but whatever the case, it was clear the Sword of Acorns (reforged and imbued with Sally’s residue Super energy) was capable of cutting quite nicely.

Her voice was ever commanding, calm and serene, yet deadly and potent. She was clearly angry, but using said anger as a laser-focused weapon instead of being consumed by it. For now.

“You will let my babies and my younger siblings out of that cell. Now, no questions. If you so much as dare do anything but I ask, you will regret it. Do not force me to spill blood before my children, because you WILL live to regret it.” She vowed.

“N’ she ain’t the only one you need ta’ worry about.” Uttered Bunnie Rabbot, as she got up from pummeling her foe into unconsciousness. She flexed both of her cybernetic arms which transformed into blaster mode on the right, and nasty energy axe on the left. “You further threaten my God-Children or Manny and Sonia’s well-being. I might just forget I’m a Southern Lady.” While plain and frank, there was a menace in her eyes mirroring Sally’s, and the hum of her weapons furthered showed she was not playing games.

A small ‘boom’ and a flash of blue from across the room, and the guard found Sonic the Hedgehog on the other side of him, arms crossed, and foot tapping rapidly. “Door, open, my kids and siblings safely in arms, now!’ He didn’t bother making threats, he didn’t need to.

The guard simply let out a pathetic sound, wet himself and passed out onto the floor.

Without a word, Sonic dug at their belt, found the key and quickly as he could unlocked the cell door, and threw it open. All anger, and intimidation left his face (as well as Sally and Bunnie who put away their weapons) as the look of a worried parent and brother overcame all else. “Are you four okay?! Did they hurt you any-?!” “DADDY, MOMMY!!” Instantly Kathleen, and J.C. dashed into the arms of their Father, with their Mother soon joining in the hug, checking them over.

“Oh my babies!” Sally clutched her family tightly, kissing the children all over their faces and tops of their heads, as she checked them for injuries. “It’s okay now, Daddy and Mommy are here, oh God I’m so sorry this happened, that we weren’t there to stop you from being taken.” She babbled, as the kept-in-check emotions burst from the dam she erected to focus on the rescue.

“We’re sorry, we’re sorry…” Sonic murmured, his heart still racing even with all his joy held firmly in his arms. Lifting his gaze, tear-stained he looked to his siblings worriedly. “How’re you two holding up? They didn’t hurt any of you did they?”

“Nah, they just… dragged us around at most.” Manic shrugged, but was clearly relieved this whole thing was over. As he stood he found his legs shaking, and leaned against his equally leg-shakey sister. “All that said, glad you guys found us so soon.” Moving closer, Bunnie shifted her arms, what was metal now, began to flash with energy and seemingly disassemble back to flesh and blood. The wonders of bio-nanite tech. Once her arms were organic again she pulled the two hedgehog siblings into a hug. “Sorry we didn’t get here sooner sugah, but we had to basically strong-arm some of the Spagonia government to give us the okay to act. Though once Sally n’ Sonic scared these bozos' supposed leaders into talkin’ they squealed like- well sumthin I can’t say within earshot of kiddos.”

Sonia let herself chuckle, relief and a sense of security flooding her being as she leaned into the hug. “So, lemme guess, the Trade Minister and his flunkies were the culprits?”

“Yeah, I mean we were gonna confront em’ with the evidence Nicole uncovered, but you all bein’ taken kinda forced our hands.” Bunnie further explained as she scratched the back of their ears soothingly. “U-Uncle Manny and Auntie Sonia, looked after us, we’re okay…” J.C. managed to speak once his throat wasn’t sore from crying (this time from happiness).

“Hmm-hmm, they’re the best as always!” Kathleen agreed, sniffling and wiping her eyes as she remained cocooned by her parents and brother.

Smiling, Sonic reached over and managed to give each of his younger siblings an affectionate arm-punch. “Somehow I knew they’d have it under control.” Well more hoped, but he didn’t want to devalue his sibling’s efforts. No if anything he wanted them to ride the pride of keeping themselves and the kids safe.

“Lucky for us, as Sonia called it, these guys were morons. Dangerous ones, but morons.” The green-furred hedgehog blew out a breath, and then he recalled something. “Um, ah, how’re Agent Fletcher and Hunigan?”

“Alive.” Sally replied, still nuzzling her children, still unwilling to let them go. Her own heartbeat was finally starting to calm down and the adrenaline high was crashing. “They were hurt badly, but both are tenacious and they got help just in time. They might have to retire from active duty early but we’ll be sure they’ll be looked after, their families too.”

“Oh thank goodness!” The two teens, and the younger children exclaimed, as joy at the news eased their hearts from the dread they felt prior.

Footsteps could be heard approaching, but the boot clomps’ were familiar. So no one tensed or got ready for another fight. Especially once Captain of the Royal Guard, Antoine D’Coolette emerged, wiping his sword blade clean with a cloth before sheathing it into its scabbard. “My Queen, ze fools have been disarmed, and rounded up. As you requested, we managed to take them all alive, if injured.” After a beat, he contemplated making a joke about some being ‘literally’ disarmed, but with the children there, he decided against it. “How are ze young ones?” He asked, decorum giving way to concerned God-Father, and as a fellow parent.

“Thankfully unhurt Sugah-Twan.” His wife replied, flashing a smile his way. “Where’s Tangle n’ Whisper?”

“Helping out Tails to ensure we didn’t miss anyone and secure the location.” Informed Antoine as he walked over, making sure all were fine, if to soothe his own fretful nature. They also will wish to zee’ that our rescuee’s are le’fine.”

Sniffing away the last of her tears, Kathleen looked up at her Mother. “Uncle Tails came too? I thought he was testing his new plane in the South Seas?”

“Once he heard the news, he jetted over as fast as he could and offered to help.” replied Sonic with a wide smirk of pride and relief for his ‘not-so-little’ bro. “Family sticks together, and well you guys are as much family as his own. Which by the way, I’m sure Tails will wanna set up a face-chat so Mina can see you’re all fine.”

“She is very fond of her biggest fans.” Chuckled Sally, who internally still found it ‘very’ weird, that Tails and Mina Mongoose hooked up. Their age gap wasn’t too bad, and clearly whatever happened to bring about their dating didn’t occur until Tais was eighteen/nineteen-ish. Then again he clearly had a thing for older women, at least his choices after Fiona Fox were an improved taste. As long as Mina was good to Tails, that was all she cared about, and they did seem like a good couple. Still weird but that was on her.

“Can we leave now?” J.C. asked softly looking up at both his parents hopefully.

“You got it son, we’ll juice n’ jam out of here and get you guys some food and tucked in for the night.”

“Can we have a sleepover in the hotel suite? Like all of us with blankets on the floor and pillows nests?” Asked Kathleen with big, hopefully eyes. A look her brother mirrored and nodded to her suggestion.

“Yeah, can we have a sleepover?!” Manic echoed, doing his best impersonation of the look.

“I don’t see why not, if everyone else is on board.” “Wouldn’t be hard for us all to fit in, big ol’ space, and like you could ask us to stay away after today.” Bunnie voiced her opinion with a warm smile at the children. Giving them assurance she was on board.

“Like the saying goes, the more the merrier.” Antoine stated to voice his blessing. “Plus I’m sure Bunnie and my own angels would love the idea as they too were worried about you four. As was your Nanny Miss Cream.” The coyote gently ruffled the hair of the two youngsters, his mind drifting to his children two years their senior. Yes, if they had been through this, he’d gladly acquiesce any whimsy they wanted within reason, and a sleepover to help soothe their nerves? A piece of cake.

Kathleen’s face fell as childish concern flooded her mind. “Oh no, that’s right, we were supposed to meet Jacque, Belle and Miss Cream after lunch…” “Hey they know we didn’t stand 'em’ up by choice.” Manic interjected as he flashed a smile and reached over to ruffle his niece’s cheek tufts.

“Let’s blow this pop stand, I want a hot bath, lots of bubbles and all the cheese cake…” Sonia muttered, feeling her own adrenaline rush and the weight of the whole ordeal finally sapping her energy.

“I hear that, let’s go home everyone.

[old-crabapple-mckinley]

unfocused reaction to Path of Daggers

I finished Path of Daggers and hoo boy. not a lot happened. but kinda did. a bunch of stuff was set up for the next books but not a huge amount happened in this one. we're in the slog now babey!!

i can imagine reading this in like 1998 and being dissatisfied and having to wait another year for more story. i kinda feel like that and i can just roll on to the next book.

there were bits and bobs where i was interested, particularly about the aes sedai, but it seemed like this was the filler to get to the major plots later. which i get, but that basically happened for every single character and that's frustrating.

okay lets get into it story by story.

elayne, nynaeve & aviendha:

they use the bowl

they transport the kin and sea folk to andor and make a nuke accidentally

they travel to camelyn

very cool 7 second scene with dark friend reveal in the party

elayne claims the throne, nynaeve bones down but doesnt want anyone to know, aviendha is kinda there, birgitte is a bamf for takin all them arrows in the begining.

writing this out, i'm struggling to remember individual scenes with them, which is a bummer cos i like this crew a lot. the bowl was very cool in the beginning, the magic nuke was cool* how affected the plot later (*v confused as to what actually happened to the power here tho, they didn't explain it more in rand's part)

egwene, siuan, and aes sedai rebels:

they're on the move from salidar

egwene struggles to carve out her authority, siuan coaches her about amyrlin badassery

eggy asserts herself v publicly when gathering their forces with the nobles, declares war on elaida, all around wins

salidar forces move on tar valon (but doesn't show us the battle? is it over in the last chapter? i was confused), siuan tragically has fallen in love with gareth bryne (rip to moiraine), TUNE IN NEXT TIME FOR THIS PLOT.

This one had more meat than the other wondergirls, so i was into it, but it was a little slow in parts. i wish the siege of tar valon was something i got to see, cos if not, that fuckin sucks. its a huge moment and if its offscreen, im gonna be bummed. love siuan, but damn these romances.

honestly i wish that bryne and morgase would be reunited. that's a stronger plot for them than being paired off with the next person they see after breaking up. like morgase publicly shamed and exiled bryne while mind controlled! there's good story and character moments there. they had been together like 15 years! wouldn't morgase feel guilty and want to make it right? wouldn't bryne think something was fishy but was too hurt to trust her again? that's way better than having morgase rob a cradle and whatever bryne & siuan are doing. anyway.

perrin & faile:

get to where messima is, accidentally find morgase (comediè)

elayas comes back (tragediè)

meets messima for 1 scene

faile gets kidnapped by the shaido

oof this one. this was a lot of wasted time. that scene with messima should have been halfway thru the book, more drawn out, more drama! i don't get why people like elayas, perrin already accepted the wolves help at dumai's wells, it seems to me he has already come to terms with that, what is elayas bringing to the table. he felt out of place in the first book and here too. berlaine hate is tired, i don't dislike faile but jordan is doing everything he can to assassinate any of my good faith with her. come on.

rand and that whole thing:

he did something between getting ilian's crown and attacking the seanchan, but i'm totally blanking

kinda whiffed that attack on the seanchan

wtf is up with cadsuanne? she's kinda the worst

captured aes sedai swore fealty to him

very confusing end sequence where some ashaman tried to kill him?

honestly, im tired of rand's story at the moment. i get he's under stress, i get he's being forced to do things he hates, but i don't care about him. im sorry i tried! but i've realized im not reading the book for him, i have other favorites. a lot of it's the same angst and im ready for something new from him. the idea he wants to tap nynaeve to help him clean saidin is a neat idea. yes, do that. give it a rest lews therin.

the only parts i really liked, no reservations was the stuff in the white tower. Dark friends babeyyyyy!!

tl;dr lots of set up for next book made this one unsatisfying on its own. bits of cool stuff here and there, but overall a bit of a bore.

[winterfluffs]

A Chance Meeting

Pairing: Bucky Barnes X Reader

Summary: All he wanted was a night alone but fate had other plans

Warnings: Fluff. Major fluff.

Word count: 1.9k

Author's notes: I have finally finished something! This has been a very long time coming, so I am super nervous and excited, even a little afraid as no one else has read a thing I've written in 7 years. Maybe longer. Hopefully this isn't too bad! Also, apologies for any improper punctuation. And also for not knowing how to do an undercut as this is kind of long. I'm still new with posting/using the app on my phone.

Bucky Barnes slid on his coat, placed a hat on his head and as quietly as possible, slipped out the front door into the frigid December night air.

It wasn’t that he wasn’t happy: he had his best friend, close friends who saw him for who he was and not what he was or what he had done, a nice warm place to stay, food in his stomach. Hell, he was an Avenger for Pete's sake. He had come so far from his time in the war, the time where he was brainwashed to be an evil assassin – he knew he should be grateful, and he was – there was just still something missing. How can one man have so much and it be like nothing at all?

The thoughts ran through his mind as he walked through the dark streets; the snow that had started light only minutes ago was now coming down heavier and faster. He had no idea of what time it was, nor did he care. He just had to get out. Clear his head. Maybe force his body to get some sleep after some much-needed fresh air.

Even though he hadn’t been a Russian assassin since Steve Rogers had found him and helped him get back his memory, he still had awful nightmares. Terrors that lasted long through the night and well into the next day. Some so bad they shook him for days on end resulting in him not being able to sleep.

Which was why it was in the middle of the night on December 24th and he was in the middle of the town square staring at the giant Christmas tree in an effort to shake the bad thoughts that crept through his mind.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” a quiet voice came from beside him. Bucky had no will or want to talk to anyone. Especially at whatever ridiculous hour it had been.

Bucky gave the person a slight nod wanting nothing more to be left alone.

That was a downfall of being an Avenger. People always knew who you were, wherever you went, always knew where you’d be, and had always wanted something of you. He loved attention back when he was a kid, even thrived off it, but now that he was older, colder he loved to be left alone.

“I’m so sorry, but – “

“Here it comes.” Bucky thought and turned to the person, ready to put on his act.

“– do you know where this is?” the woman pointed to a map she had out in front of her. “This street, that is.” She shook her head while looking at the map, heavy snowflakes resting in her hair.

“Oh.” He blinked and gave her a curious look. He waited a few more seconds for her to ask him if he was the Winter Soldier, if she could get a date with the Captain America, or have drinks with the Iron Man.  When none of those questions came, he was stunned.

The woman was so focused on her map that she had temporarily forgotten about the man standing next to her. Bucky coughed to get her attention. “I am really sorry. I know it is late, it is super cold, and you’re a stranger who probably doesn’t want to be bothered. It’s just I was supposed to be at my parents’ house hours ago. My cab left me stranded on the side of the road when he couldn’t find my house, it started to snow, the streets have been completely empty, and you are the first person I found to ask for directions.”

God she was beautiful Bucky thought to himself while trying to concentrate on her words. His eyes wandered over the women. Long dark hair framed her face perfectly, her cheeks and nose rosy from the cold, her eyes warm and inviting. His stomach tied in knots as she looked at him helplessly.

“This is turning into a really awful Christmas.” She sighed heavily packing the map back into her bag. “I am so, so sorry to have bothered you, sir. Merry Christmas.” She smiled at him within a troubled glance then began to walk away.

“Do, uh, d-do you like hot chocolate?” Bucky stammered calling out to her back. He kicked himself for being so awkward, so troubled that he doubted himself in his ability to communicate with people.

“Sorry?” the woman turned around unsure if she heard him correctly.

“Hot chocolate. It is freezing out here and from the sound of it, you’ve been walking around out here for a pretty long time. Would you…want to go get a hot chocolate? Warm up a little?”

“It’s 12:45 in the morning.”

“I know a great little diner that’s open 24 hours. Best hot cocoa in the surrounding area.”

She smiled thankfully unsure as to why she couldn’t get enough of the quiet dark-haired man. “I would absolutely love a hot chocolate. Possibly some pancakes, too.”

“I don’t know about pancakes, but they have the best French toast I have ever had.” Bucky smiled as he made his way over to her, needing more time with her.

“Even better.”

 -----

“Oh my God you weren’t kidding!” she moaned as she let the melted cinnamony, buttery, eggy goodness slide down her throat. Bucky laughed as she took another bit, moaning louder as she chewed. “These are to DIE for.”

Bucky smiled as he watched her eat, a calmness coming over him that he hadn’t felt in an exceedingly long time. Like he was supposed to be here. With her. Like tonight wasn’t just a chance meeting between two strangers. He thanked his lucky stars that she didn’t take him for a dangerous person, even though deep down he knew differently.

“Thank you.” She looked at him her eyes locking onto his. “For all of this. My parents and siblings only just moved here a few months ago and this is my first time to visit. Mom thought she gave good directions but….” She pointed around in reference to her being lost in a diner with a random stranger at some crazy time in the morning. “Anyway, I really appreciate it.”

“Glad to be of service.” He laughed, his eyes crinkling on the sides. Bucky couldn’t remember a time when he felt this relaxed, this calm, this happy. He and mystery woman spent over two hours in the diner talking; about anything, everything, and nothing at all. He was happy to be in her presence, to make her laugh, to make her forget her worries for a little. It was only then that Bucky realized she did the same for him, too.

Since he laid eyes on this woman, he felt lighter; forgetting his troubles, forgetting the reason why he was awake at 2:45 A.M. on Christmas morning instead of asleep in his bed. She made him laugh. Laugh like he hadn’t laughed since the 40's, before the war, before the training, before the brainwashing, before the fighting, before the blood.

And he felt free.

He didn’t have to be Steve Rogers’s best friend, he didn’t have to be the Winter Soldier, he didn’t have to be an Avenger, he didn’t have to put up a wall he did when people got too close.

He was just James Barnes. It was a feeling he never wanted to forget.

 -----

“Do you want me to call a taxi for you?” Bucky looked around. The snow was coming even faster now, a good four or five inches already on the ground with no looks of stopping any time soon.

“No…I’ll have to think of something.” She shrugged. “Can’t be too far off, right?”

“I know this is going to sound really crazy but hear me out: I live right around the corner. You could stay a little, warm up and dry off in front of the fire, maybe have some more hot cocoa, hot tea if you’d prefer. And if you’d like, once you’re ready, I can drive you to your parents’ house. Or call you a cab.”

“I don’t even know your name.” she laughed blushing slightly. Or maybe it was the cold. What Bucky knew was that it made her even more adorable than she already was.

“I go by Bucky…. but my first name is James.”

“James…” she smiled taking his hand in hers. “[name].”

“Now that we officially know each other, what do ya say?” God he would do anything to spend more time with her, to know her inside and out. To spend the rest of his life making her happy, knowing he was the reason behind her bright smile.

“Fine. But only because I am still frozen solid and would love another cup of something hot.” She smiled that bright smile again. The smile that Bucky couldn’t get enough of. The bright smile that was now aimed at him. He was the reason for that smile. The thought made Bucky’s stomach turn and his chest tighten; the need of wanting and not knowing of what could be lingered in the air.

“Bucky, I want to thank you.” He froze at the mention of his name, the sound going straight to his heart.

“If you hadn’t stop to help….” She trailed off with a distant look in her eye. Bucky pulled her in for a hug feeling her sigh into his embrace. He moved the hair from her face, him finding himself lost yet again in her eyes.

Without thinking, Bucky gently placed his lips on hers smiling into the kiss when she instantly kissed him back.

“Don’t think either of us thought this is how our Christmas would start.” She laughed making Bucky laugh as well.

“No. But I know I am definitely not complaining.” His eyes crinkled when he laughed, something [name] found adorable and charming; she knew she was teetering on dangerous territory, yet she couldn’t get enough. Didn’t ever want to get enough.

He pulled her in closer, his lips hovering above hers. “This might be way too soon, but I think I’m falling really hard for you.”

“Funny you should say that – I was just thinking the same thing.”

Bucky’s heart nearly jumped out of his chest.

Having gone from being utterly miserable to meeting the woman of his dreams in one night was a story that no one would believe. He wouldn’t even believe it if someone had said it to him. Yet, as he and [name] stood together in the falling snow, [name] happily in his arms, kissing him like he had never been kissed before, Bucky couldn’t get enough. For the first time in his life, he didn’t want to fight off the pure happiness he felt.

“Let’s get out of here before we freeze to death.” He gave her a crooked smile and held her tightly as they walked the short distance to his house.

---

“Still cold?”

[Name] nodded her head, scooting over into Bucky’s embrace when he motioned for her to come closer. She sighed at the warmth of his body really relaxing for the first time since her trip began. She knew she was crazy being in a stranger’s home, cuddled up in front of a fire with a man she barely knew. Her mom would surely go crazy if she ever found out. Yet, she didn’t care.

All that mattered was her and him.

Together.

And that’s the way she hoped it would be.

Forever.

[eggytranslations]

Volume 1, Chapter 11-Fate

Content warnings: n/a, maybe prequel to some nsfw?

The night was deathly still; even the candlelight barely flickered.

In this meager space, Shen Qingxuan’s voice was soft, yet it shrouded every corner, his expression serious, even solemn.

With such an expression he had asked, “Shall our separate paths converge into one?”

Yi Mo was somewhat surprised.

How could he not be surprised?

He was originally just a snake, and only because of his cold and unfeeling personality, was he chosen and enlightened by someone who had already ascended to the heavens as an immortal.

He had cultivated for thousands of years, and after one more heavenly trial, he, too, could shed his mortal body and be born anew. Joining the immortal ranks was just a matter of another two or three hundred years. But now there was this mortal, Shen Qingxuan, saying clearly and resolutely: Shall our separate paths converge into one?

Where could that possibly be, Heaven or Earth?

He could tell that Shen Qingxuan did not have the constitution needed for cultivation, which had something to do with his fate. Because of this fate, Shen Qingxuan was destined for prosperity and abundance beyond compare, yet he could only drift about in the mortal realm, endlessly reincarnating. Although he was in dire straits at this moment, it was just a fleeting period of misfortune.

From the first time they met, Yi Mo understood that this was his and Shen Qingxuan’s fate.

They were destined to meet, otherwise why would he, who had always hid himself in the mountains, enter the Shen family’s courtyard on a whim, go so far as to coil himself around the railing in his true snake form to bask in the sun, and let Shen Qingxuan drench him with a cup of hot tea?

Helping him was just a matter of yielding to fate.

As the mortals would say, he was Shen Qingxuan's , fated helper, and assisting him through adversity would allow him to obtain merits as well.

This was inherently a good thing for both parties, and after Shen Qingxuan overcame this calamity, he would naturally follow the currents of fate. In the future when he became some high official, he would no longer have anything to do with him. Yi Mo could care less about the wealth and status of the mortal realm, but Shen Qingxuan’s fate was predestined. With a body weighed down by oppressive, mortal bones, he would never be able to transcend this world.

Moreover, a mortal's life lasted less than a hundred years, and to him a hundred years was just a drop in the ocean. In the future, when Shen Qingxuan died of old age, and his bones returned to dust, he would still look like this, wandering throughout the world. How could their paths converge into one?

Mortals, they were always so greedy. They wanted to live long and healthy, enjoy fame and fortune, and even dared to meet with a yao at the end of the road.

Yi Mo slowly walked over until he stood with his head bowed over Shen Qingxuan, and after intensely scrutinizing him for a long while, he remarked, "I really underestimated you.”

Shen Qingxuan knew that his words were rash, even offensive, but even he did not know why Yi Mo would say something so out of the blue. At this moment, Yi Mo’s expression was as indifferent as usual. Unable to find any clues from his face, Shen Qingxuan decided to take this sentence as a compliment.

He did not expect Yi Mo to drily continue after a pause, “Although you are so thin and weak that even the wind can blow you away, your lust is awfully strong.”

Shen Qingxuan, who did not hear clearly at first, stared at him blankly with his face still turned up. When it dawned on him, a brilliant cloud abruptly blazed across his face. Suddenly unable to speak coherently, he berated hoarsely, "W-what nonsense are you talking about!”

Yi Mo, still standing with his hands clasped behind his back without a single ripple on his face, merely uttered each word slowly, "I saved your life, and promised to restore you to full health, so it is only natural that you want to repay me with your body. But I have not shown any indecent desire, and yet you are already this eager. You have truly surprised me.”

His words were spoken clearly and distinctly, yet they churned Shen Qingxuan’s mind into a muddied bog. He knew perfectly well something was not right, yet his tongue twisted into a knot, rendering him unable to utter a sound.

As he watched Shen Qingxuan’s control rupture into a blush across his face, Yi Mo raised his hand after deliberating for a moment, fingers delicately curled, and touched that shamefully hot face with his fingertips. It seemed as if he were inspecting something and toying with it at the same time. His actions were impetuous, yet Shen Qingxuan was in a complete daze. He did not even think to dodge, and allowed those ice-cold fingers to touch his burning cheeks.

They were so cold. Cold and icy, like lifeless porcelain. Yet soft and nimble, a living being devoid of warmth.

A snake yao—not even a human. Shen Qingxuan truly could not make sense of his deep infatuation. He could not help but gaze at his face through half-lidded eyes, taking in those picturesque and indescribably beautiful features. Then his heart began to flutter in his chest, beating so quickly that it did not make sense. But since when did this world ever make sense?

While in a world of his own, Yi Mo continued to graze his cheeks with his fingertips, taking in their warmth, the delicate skin suffused with a radiant blush. With such thin skin, how could he be this shameless? He opened his palm, turned his wrist, and let his ice-cold palm thoroughly cover that heat source. Extremely warm. A foreign yet familiar warmth flowed through his palm, and he could even feel the faint pulsing of tiny vessels beneath the delicate skin. A moment later, his palm slowly traced Shen Qingxuan’s face, moving from his forehead to his cheekbones, then to his cheeks, before finally resting on his sharp jaw. After enduring those ice-cold caresses for a short while, Shen Qingxuan's face not only did not cool down, but instead grew even hotter until it was scalding to the touch.

Yi Mo was a yao who had lived for over two thousand years; what strange stories had he not heard? Yet he did not understand how this half-crippled mortal of merely twenty or so years could have such ambitions. Nevermind that they were both men, he dared to entertain such delusions between a human and a yao.

Aiya—this truly made him open his eyes.

Absorbed in his own world, Yi Mo caressed him for a while before leisurely retracting his hand and remarking, "Thinner, but still smooth.”

Shen Qingxuan finally reacted with a low "Ah" and instinctively shrank back, coming to his senses and scolding at once, "You think this is a business transaction that you need to inspect before buying?”

Yi Mo raised his eyes and looked straight at him. "So you want to repay me with your body, yet not allow me to appraise the quality?”

Although Shen Qingxuan was still blushing, he had regained his wits for the most part. Seeing Yi Mo speak so directly and shamelessly, with just the two of them alone in this room and almost no distance in between them, Shen Qingxuan decided that he might as well lay down his shame. He murmured, “According to your words, I am only repaying your kindness. But have you ever seen a man offer up his body in the name of gratitude? There are no such records in all those books.”

However as he spoke, Yi Mo stretched out his hand again and untied his belt.

As soon as his belt loosened, Shen Qingxuan pursed his lips and swallowed back what he had wanted to say. All at once his heart realized—It was not that Yi Mo had misunderstood.

He had not misunderstood. Rather, Yi Mo had understood him so well, that he deliberately credited his feelings as mere gratitude. In this way of borrowing and returning, coming and going, repaying a debt was much easier to resolve, without too much entanglement.

––Yi Mo did not want to be entangled with him at all.

Once Shen Qingxuan understood this point, his heart felt like it had been drenched with ice water, the chill permeating his core. Even he could not describe his emotions. But he was somewhat calculating after all, and he recovered without betraying his feelings. He could not compete with that shrewd and experienced old yao. Whatever he says, goes, and Shen Qingxuan could do nothing about it. So he remained motionless, allowing Yi Mo to undress him.

The atmosphere in the room abruptly returned to silence, only the faint rustling of clothes audible.

Shen Qingxuan looked down to see the collar of his robes wide-open, exposing his snow-white inner robe. He watched as those slender yet forceful fingers worked nimbly, loosening the ties on the side of his waist, before untying the next one. When those frigid fingers touched his skin, Shen Qingxuan would shiver, goosebumps rising from his skin.

Sensing his reaction, Yi Mo halted, and after a moment of silence, asked, “Are you still willing to give yourself to me like this?”

Shen Qingxuan was also quiet for a moment, before giving a low chuckle and removing his own crown from his hair. A head of long hair flowed down, the silky strands covering half of his face.

"Since I am repaying your kindness, I should show some sincerity.” The corner of Shen Qingxuan’s lips quirked as he put his hair crown aside and turned back with an easy smile on his face. "Not to mention, you are a snake and cannot freeze me to death. Even if you were a glacier, I would still be willing.”

Hearing his attempt at courage, Yi Mo simply pressed his ice-cold palm firmly against Shen Qingxuan, deliberately making him shudder.

"Then show me your sincerity.”

~~~~~

This chapter is translated by Renee (wooo her first!)

Edited by Eggy and Tao 

Happy 520 (an informal valentines day because it sounds like “I love you” in Chinese) so posting one day earlier :~)

Next chapter in two weeks

[mellointheory]

Sand on the Soul chapter 2 is up. I can't sleep. Egg!Punz and Tommy dynamic possesses my soul now.

“Does anyone have any spruce?” Tommy stuck his head out of one of the tower’s half finished windows, raising his voice to be heard down below. Tubbo shook his head, not even looking up from where he was leaned back against a rock, strumming his ukulele without even trying to form a tune.

“Um, I can check.” Ranboo’s hands shimmered palely as he flicked through his inventory. “I think I gave all mine to Foolish, sorry.”

“Fuck, do I have to go find some?” Tommy slumped over the window frame, chin hitting the wood with a soft thump. He winced, lifting his head and rubbing his chin with one hand. It didn’t hurt, exactly, but it was jarring. He needed to be more careful.

“I can go back to Snowchester and get some.” Ranboo unfolded his long legs and stood up. He pulled his trident out of his inventory.

“Thanks, Ranboo,” Tommy said reluctantly.

Ranboo walked to the edge of the water, netherite armor shimmering into place to cover him from head to foot. He knelt in the waves, then flicked up and into the air on his trident. Tommy watched him go, envy twisting in his stomach. His own trident—stolen from Dream himself—still lay untouched at the bottom of his enderchest. He couldn’t stand to use it now. Every time he was in the air without the solid ground under his feet, his stomach seized up with the fear of missing a landing and hitting the ground.

“You know, Tommy.” Tubbo said, snapping Tommy’s attention back to him. “Your tower actually doesn’t look so bad.”

Tommy grinned. “It does! I’m actually really proud of it.” He patted the spruce wall. “My tower’s definitely a woman, cuz it’s tall and strong. I should name her.”

“Name her Michael.”

Tommy frowned down at the horned boy. “I’m not gonna fucking name her Michael, Tubbo. That’s a stupid name.”

“Hey!” Tubbo said indignantly. “Michael is a fantastic name.”

Tommy started to answer, but was momentarily distracted by a shimmer of purple on the cliff overlooking the tower. Punz was sitting up there, legs swinging back and forth idly, staring at the prison. Tommy opened his mouth to mention it, then managed to pull his attention back to the matter at hand.

“I like the name Sylvia.” He ran a hand down one of the stone brick pillars in the wall. “Or Sally—oh, fuck, that was Wilbur’s girlfriend’s name. God, I hope I don’t turn out like him. Imagine fucking a—no, wait, don’t imagine that.”

Tubbo laughed. “Yeah, I don’t think I want to.”

“Do you have any good name suggestions? I’d ask Ranboo, but he’s not here.” Tommy paused. “And he’s dumb.”

“Tommy.”

“What? I know you’re, like, married to him and everything, but he’s still—“

“Tommy!” Tubbo’s voice lowered, just barely reaching Tommy where he stood. “You might want to come down. Look over there.” The scarred brunette nodded at the overlooking cliff.

“Wot?” Tommy looked up, shielding his eyes. “It’s just Punz, man.”

Tubbo grimaced. “Yeah, but he’s gone all red and eggy. He’s dangerous now.”

“Don’t worry, I can speak to him. I can communicate with the beasts, Tubbster. I’m like Tarzan.” Tommy waved up at the mercenary. “They waved back down at him. “God, he needs a haircut.”

Tubbo laughed. “You’re not much better, you know.”

“Yeah, but I have an excuse. I was dead.” Tommy told him.

“Actually, that’s a good question. Did your hair grow while you were dead?” Tubbo tilted his head, resting his chin on his palm.

“I dunno.” Tommy put his hand up to run his fingers through the strands of too-long blonde hair flopping down the side of his face. He hesitated, resting a palm on top of his head for a moment, remembering the ghost of someone else’s warmth. His own hand was smaller than Punz’s, not as warm, and less calloused. It wasn’t the same.

“Yeah, I’ve got no idea.” He blurted out, pulling his hand down.

“It seems longer, but that could just be cuz you haven’t cut it in a while.” Tubbo tilted his head back, glancing back up at the cliff. The ukelele in his hand flickered away, replaced by a netherite axe from his inventory. “Are you sure about him?”

Tommy’s eyes locked on the weapon. “He’s saved your life, Tubbo. I don’t think he’s a wrongun.”

He wanted to ask Tubbo to put the axe away, but he was just protecting him, after all. Tubbo wasn’t going to hurt him. Tommy turned around instead, unwilling to force himself to stare at it any longer, and leaned up against the wall. “Where’s fucking Ranboo gone?”

“He could be talking to Foolish. I—Tommy!”

Tommy ducked instinctively, flinching back against the wall. His stomach twisted, anxiety balling up in his throat. What was it—was it Sam, was it a mob? Was it Dream?

“Tommy?” Punz asked, crouched on the wall above him.

“Punz, what are you doing?” Tommy turned back around to see Tubbo with a loaded bow in hand.

“I brought Tommy some food.” Punz shrugged, straightening upright and stepping off the wall to land silently behind Tommy.

“Tubbo, could you put the bow away?” Tommy asked, sidling a little bit behind Punz. The mercenary was in full netherite and Tommy was wearing diamond armor. Between the two of them Punz could handle an arrow to the face far better. Tommy had had his share of arrows to his face, both in the sleeping and waking world. They were far from pleasant.

Tubbo nodded silently, letting the bow vanish back into his inventory.

“Look, Tommy.” Punz pulled somethign out of his inventory and placed it on the window cill. It was a cake, squarish, with white frosting and red sprinkles. Punz gave it a proud look. “Cake.”

“Do you—can I have some?” Tommy glanced at their face. Punz nodded, so he reached over and broke off a piece, shoving it into his mouth. God, it tasted good. Most of what Tommy had eaten in the past few days was just bread and raw carrots.

“Hey, I want some!” Tubbo got up and dashed into the lower level of the tower.

“Punz,” Tommy said through a mouthful of cake. “Why is your hair so long? You’re really letting yourself go, man.”

Punz laughed, fingering a strand of the shaggy hair reaching to his shoulder. “I just haven’t cut it in a while. I’ve been busy with the egg.”

“I don’t like the egg.” Tubbo’s head poked up from the lower level as he climbed up the ladder. “It’s mean."

“It doesn’t bother me.” Tommy grabbed another chunk of cake. “I’m immune. Like a…canary.”

“I don’t think canaries are immune to much of anything, really.” Tubbo came over and broke off a piece of cake for himself. Punz stepped back as he approached, moving to the opposite side of the tower and jumping up to sit on the half-built wall.

“That’s only in mineshaft. Out of mineshafts, anything’s possible.” Tommy mumbled through a mouthful of crumbs. “That’s why I don’t go mining, it’s dangerous for me.”

“You should go mining sometime soon, you’re so poor.” Tubbo laughed.

Tommy let out an incredulous huff, turning to his friend and protesting. By the next time his eyes crossed the space where the mercenary had been, they were gone.

—————————————————

Punz waited quietly, watching as the enderman returned and gave Tommy the spruce he needed to complete the tower walls. He watched them argue over who got the most cake and whether normal or black glass would look better and how many dolphins were probably pissing in the ocean at that exact moment. He watched them escort Tommy safely inside the gates of his property after it grew dark, watched the kid farm and replant his wheat. It wasn't until Tommy finally disappeared inside his house that Punz rose to their feet and took the trident back to their property. Tommy wouldn't leave his house until morning, and they had other obligations as well.

The bloodlines opened up underneath him, leaving a clear area for him to land on top of the tower. They curled away from under his boots, deep red writhing against the tower’s pale stone. Out here all the vines had thorns, curving, some of them almost half as long as his thumb. Beautiful, dangerous. He loved the colors.

As they slid down the ladder the vines crawling down the walls seemed to hum. They’d spent enough time with the bloodvines that he could hear what they wanted to say.

The boy isn’t necessary.

“Tommy?” Punz stepped away from the ladder, jumping down the hole in the middle of the floor and landing in a pool of water that served to break his fall. He was in his bedroom now, where the vines grew the most prolifically. They twined between the chest son the walls, arching through the open windows. He used to have little pots of flowers there to entice his bees to wander in on the search for nectar. The flowers had withered now, replaced by the blooms of the vines.

He is a nuisance. He shouldn’t be alive.

“That’s not very nice.” Punz let the armor covering them shimmer into their inventory. “Tommy’s not so bad.”

Tommy is an interference. The translucent red leaves quivered.

Punz ran their fingers through their hair. Tommy was right, it was getting long. They hadn’t been paying much attention to it—really, they hadn’t been awake much for the past few weeks. The vines and the scent they gave off was too relaxing. It made it easy to just close his eyes and fall asleep.

“He liked the cake.” Punz remembered in satisfaction. He hadn’t baked it himself—Hannah had so many to spare, and Punz didn’t ahve the ingredients he needed. He wasn’t stacked on food either—potatoes and stolen cake were their main options. Potatoes were for some reason off the table for Tommy, but everyone liked cake.

The vines’ voices settled down to a displeased hum in the back of his ears.

“Tommy’s kinda my responsibility at the moment.” Punz shrugged, lifting his chain from around his neck and hanging it on the wall. They stopped, brushing their fingers across the petals of one of the flowers drooping beside the windowsill. “He’s my job now.”

The plans will move forward.

“It’s okay, I’ll make sure he’s not a problem.” Punz reassured them.

Sixty-seven gold blocks. Punz had one overarching principle in life: his employees got what they paid for. Sam had paid for someone to protect Tommy, to take care of him.

Sam would get what he’d bought. The egg would understand.

[abused-virgil-oneshots]

Patton’s Perfect Family- Chapter 4: escape attempts

Masterpost

TW: drugging, isolation, locks, running away, leaving people behind

written with @wittlevirgilsanders

Every morning at precisely eight Patton came downstairs. The only reason everyone knew that, was because whenever the door unlocked it made a sound. Logan, who was typically up by that time, said that was when he saw Patton coming down.

Sometimes, he came down with food, other times he went back up again to make it. It depended on whether Logan was awake or not. It was always the same food though. Coffee, toast, and eggs for Logan, a bowl of cereal with water and sometimes coffee for Damien, a fruit bowl and an energy drink for Roman, and for himself he brought a granola bar and water.

Typically if he came down again, Logan had gotten at least Roman if not Damien up as well. Sometimes, this annoyed Patton. He would say something like, "Our kiddo needs his sleep, you can't keep waking him up so early," or "Can't I just spend time with you in the mornings?"

Not that Logan really cared how upset it made Patton. Roman and Damien deserved to know when their captor was here and when he wasn't.

Of course, Logan had never counted on it backfiring so spectacularly.

This was one of the times where Patton had to go back up for breakfast. Logan was never sure whether he came down with the food later on purpose, or whether he actually forgot it. Of course, Logan went and got the others up. Damien was such a light sleeper, he was practically already awake. Once awake though, he was groggy and easily annoyed. Roman, on the other hand, was one Logan had to fight to get up. Once he was up though, you couldn't stop him from running around.

By the time Patton had started his way through the doors to their side they were all at the table waiting. He always brought breakfast on a big tray. They all had their own ideas as to why; to make it easier for him to come down or keep them from running, or something else. It really wasn't important, just something they could think about to kill a few seconds of their otherwise incredibly boring days.

The one thing it did do, however, was give a space where Patton couldn't use his hands. So, of course, Roman and Logan both talked about how they could use this to their advantage, maybe to leverage him or get past him. They'd quickly stopped talking about it when Patton had confronted them both while Damien was in his room, pointing out the cameras around the room.

Roman, against Logan's better judgement, decided to ignore any warnings from Patton about escaping.

It was like any other morning. Patton came down, talked to Logan for a while, went back up, Logan woke the others, and they sat at the table.

Then Roman decided to break schedule. He managed to overpower Patton enough while his hands were full. He left Damien and Logan behind, knowing they wouldn't be able come. Logan had to stay anyway. Damien didn't move fast enough. They would get caught if they brought him, and someone had to stay with him, they couldn't just leave him alone. So they both had to stay, which left Roman. He would come back, obviously, with police and backup. For now he had to go.

So up he went. Right past Patton, up the stairs and through the second door at the top. The door opened up to a bedroom with light blue walls. He slammed the door, which, on the other side, looked like a bookcase, and attempted to open the door on the other side of the room. He found the door locked and so, being the man of force that he is, tried to open it by slamming his shoulder against it like he was in some kind of action movie.

Giving enough time for an angry Patton to pop out of the staircase.

Roman, still attempting to strong-arm the door, quickly got a neck-full of some kind of drug, probably the same one that made him pass out the first time. Patton managed to get him back downstairs where both Damien and Logan were still frozen in shock.

Patton managed to quickly get Roman back to his room and tucked into his bed, taking everything that could be any form of entertaining out of his room before locking it.

"Well, now that my brother has ruined our breakfast, I suppose I'll have to make more. Logi-bear, would you mind cleaning up this mess for me? I have to take care of all the things that were in his room and make more food. I can't just allow my two good boys to go hungry, can I?"

"Pat-dad? What about Roman?"

"Your uncle is in big trouble, kiddo. I'll talk to him when he wakes up. you just go hang out in your room, alright? I'll get you when breakfast is ready again. Maybe we can go upstairs later, to the living room. Maybe watch a movie, hm?"

"Okay," Damien went off to his room quickly.

"I'll get you a rag Logie. He made quite a mess, didn't he?"

"Of course Patton."

It was hours later when Roman woke up.

"Hello? Patton?" Roman tried the doorknob, "Hey! Let me out!" a static like sound drifted through an un-seen speaker.

"Hiya Roman! I'm glad you're finally awake! you made a really big mess earlier. It took Logan a really long time to clean up."

"Patton, unlock this door right now!"

"Mm-mm, No can-do Ro. You broke the rules. I told you not to go upstairs unless I said."

"Ok, ok. I'm sorry Pat! I-I don't know what came over me! I promise, it won't happen again."

"Promise all you want Ro. You're still getting punished. You can't come out of the room for a week."

"I- Patton, wait! You can't just leave me in here, please! I'll starve! Die of thirst!"

"Sorry Ro! You know that your actions have consequences. I can't have you setting a bad example for my kiddo! Bye now. See you soon Ro!"

///1002 words

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